New Year - New Start

Well, it is the start of a new year.  They seem to actually be showing up a lot sooner than they used to.  Remember being young and thinking on New Year's Day as you eat you black eyed peas that it going to take forever for it to get to Christmas again.  So many things can change in that year.  Loved ones lost, loved ones just beginning.  Now, as this year starts, I cherish the memories of my parents that are no longer living. I miss them something terrible. I look forward to a new grand baby coming. 

Along with that comes all the plans for the year.  Do any of you make resolutions?  I used to, but just don't any more.  I just don't get them resolved.  Don't get me wrong, I still make out goals and plans for the future, both immediate and longer, but I just don't label them.  Keeps the pressure of so I don't feel disappointed or a failure because I didn't loose that weight, clean the house, eat more healthy or what ever a resolution would involve.

Are there areas I want to work on?  Yes there are, many of them, too many too list.  Okay, so I do have a list, just not going to share it.  I will say that I want to work on me this year.  I have been so busy giving me away to so many other people that I have disappeared a bit.  I think I need to find me, such a cliché saying, and then work on making me better.  I need to define my relationship with my Savior, only by getting that in order can there be any type of order to myself.  I am no good to anyone if I am can't even pull myself together.

I want to be better at being a wife, which means better at taking care of the house. Better cleaning, better meal preparation, working on getting the house fixed up the way I...repeat "I"...want it.  I have been in this house for going on 13 years and it still doesn't feel like mine.  I want it to feel like mine.  You know, like I belong instead of visiting. 

I want to be better at being a mother, which means paying more attention to my kids.

I want to have time to do all the craft things that are stuck in my head.  The counted cross stitch projects (my new obsession) that I have started.  The quilts I have planned.  All the quilts in various stages that were put away when life got in the way.  In other words, I am determined to finish all that I have started.  For a change.

Oh I am great, stupendous in fact, at making list and organizing.  Problem is, the organizing just doesn't quite get there.  I start, like sorting out a closet, then way to easily get side tracked by some sort of thought that blows through my head.  I buy all the needed supplies for doing the organizing, then just don't use them.  Maybe it is time to re-visit Fly Lady or the SHE school of thought.

I had planned to play along with a challenge or two, but am also thinking all that over as well.  I did give up and quit the Crazy January challenge.  You can read more about it on that page.  Needless to say I am way too slow at stitching so it is already driving me crazy to have the two projects I started just sitting around.  I will continue to work on them, that gives me a total of three WIP in the cross stitch department.  I have no UFO's any more as far as cross stitch is concerned.  The one UFO I had, was the Nativity, but since I am actively working on it again I have updated its status to a Work In Progress (WIP) now.  I use to have an intense passion for quilting.  I am good at it.  My dad would call and ask me what I was working on, I would email him photos, he was my biggest fan.  What ever I made - quilt, ceramic, garment construction, crochet - he was interested and loved it all.  When he died, it hit me so hard I don't think I really let myself go through a proper or rather healthy grieving process.  At any rate, I kind of stopped quilting for a while.  Now, that little bug is back and wanting to do a lot of stitching.  Besides, I think it would kind of be like disrespecting of me to not pick it back up.  I even learned in a bible study class that craftsmanship is my gift from God and I feel that by not using it I am not honoring that gift.  On one of my groups, there is a WIP/WHIMM challenge that I am the coordinator for.  The WHIMM (Works Hidden In My Mind) category in my case is about to explode.  I even bought a little bit of fabric this evening to put me in the mood.

I have to make some diamond blocks for a Crazy Quilt challenge, so will be starting on them no later than this week end.  They are small blocks, but have a lot of embellishment that will go along with them.  Thankfully, with quilting I was blessed with speed.  Guess so much of the speed gene was used for quilting that none of it is left over for cross stitching.  Sounds good anyway.  My biggest obstacle with sewing has been being able to get to my machine.  It seems that just when I get my sewing room cleaned up, something happens and stuff gets dumped in it.  Mainly, that is where boxes of Mom's things get set for me to go through.  So very hard to do.  I still need to finish up her bills, she passed in July.  At any rate, today I worked around Mr. M as best I could (along with the diversion of catching up on emails after being gone for a week) and was actually able to get quite a bit accomplished.  I bought the stuff for shelving, just need to get it attached to the wall now.  I also bought some cheap but pretty fabric to make the curtain to hang over the closet doors (now removed) and purchased a little extra to make a window topper to match.

Well, it took forever for me to get out of Walmart tonight.  Have to go back tomorrow because the idiot man checking was too busy talking and charged me twice for an item.  I also have to go to the bank in the morning, it would seem that someone has once again gotten our bank account info and made debit purchases.  Metro PCS...again...$118 dollars worth this time.  Last time it was our daughter's account and she didn't have any money in it so it only debited $1.51 but it is the hassle of it all.  Now, I have to find out whose card is being used, mine or hubby's, and they will block that card.  That sets off a whole new set of irritation as we both have so many things that are automatically debited each month.  I kind of hope it mine, hubby and the two of our kids are on a trip at the moment, won't be back until Sunday, so can't block his card.  I hate people who think they have the right to just take what they want.  Any way, I am headed to the bath and then to bed.  I would go straight to bed, seeing as how it is almost two in the morning, but I am freezing and a bath helps warm me.  Crazy thing is in another few hours I will have a big old hot flash and sure won't be cold any more. 

That's life I guess.  Speaking of which.

Meet my helper.  She has made her mission in life to eat all my threads and to see just how much skin she can take off my legs by crawling up them.  Yesterday she has started climbing up the back of my computer chair and then sitting on my shoulder.  Her very loud purrs in my ear tell me she is content there.  Just makes it a bit difficult to do anything.

Thanks for stopping by the zoo, come back soon.

Busy Day.

So...have laundry going.  At least enough to make hubby think I have done house work today.  Will be fixing spaghetti and meatballs for supper, unless that makes hubby take us to grab a burger.  Miss Zebra has her Christmas band concert tonight that we have to go to.  She actually requested that we come to it.  Mr. M is in a mood today, so he needs a little extra attention.  Fortunately, Miss Zebra is home today to help.

I stayed up way to late last night crocheting a scarf out of this new Sashay yarn made by Red Heart.

It comes looking like this.  This color is called Mombo. Rich colors that are berry, navy, olive green and magenta, all blending together.

It opens up to look like this.  A mesh, net style. Reminds me of the fish net hose I use to wear in my younger days.  The bottom edge of the mesh is wider with a metallic thread that runs through it.  I had never seen this yarn before, but found it on some posting somewhere, talking about the great scarves it makes.  I posted a photo of the scarf to my FB page and my oldest daughter Mrs. S promptly posted that there was several shades of the yarn with, and I quote, "rich hues that flow together" and she hinted that she would like some.

Like the loving mom that I am, I went online to search for patterns.  Apparently, this yarn is better used for knitting.  Which I can't do.  However, I did find some crochet ones.  I talked to a lady at JoAnn's who had used the yarn, she knits of course, but she was very helpful.  She suggested going on YouTube.  Which I did.  The few videos I watched had a little different crochet technique, but it seemed easy enough. One lady stated that the scarf would only take less than one skein and about 30 minutes to work up.  Another lady stated one skein would have yarn left over and only takes about 30 minutes to make if you are used to working with it, about an hour if you haven't.  She said the hardest part of making a scarf was pulling the thread out as you crocheted.

So...here is the finished scarf.  Pulling that yarn apart, or stretching it out, as you work it is a bugger.  The bottom edge, as I said, is a wider edge with a silver metallic thread running through it.  The top edge of this mesh yarn is narrower and that is the edge that you work with.  For the first time to work with this yarn it took way more than an hour.  Maybe I am slow stitching, but here's the thing, if you loose your stitch, it all comes out.  This yarn in my opinion is a real pain in the ass to work with and I would never become one of those people that makes them to sell.  I would charge way too much for them because I hate working with it.  However, that being said, this scarf will go to Mrs. S and I have another skein in a different color to make for her as well.  I will say, that I did have quite a bit of yarn left over and I made it longer than the one shown on YouTube.  I also have to admit, that after I dropped the stitch and had to start over...three times...I did hit a groove in working with the stuff.  I will say this as a warning.  Do not start this project unless you have a couple of hours to work it.  It is not like regular crocheting where you can just pick up where you left off.  I mean you can, but only if you have a safe place to store it that your hook won't come out.  Also, I would suggest using a bamboo handled hook.  The handle helped immensely in keeping the thread on.

I bought a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse to go with my new computer today.  LOVING them.  I am starting to get the hang of the Windows 8 thing as well and it is growing on me.  I was upset that I had some how lost my scanner, on every computer, but this morning I had an update waiting to be installed for my printer series and it seems that it is working now.  OH YEAH!  This is a big deal to me because I just purchased EQ7 quilting software program (rather pricey but I did get a good deal on it over on the Quilt in a Day site.  The main reason I bought this particular version of EQ7 is the capability of scanning my fabric to fill in the block in the quilt design.  That way I can see how it looks before I even cut it.

Speaking of awesome quilts.  Take a look at this Pinterest site. I love it when I can combine my hobbies into one project.  Like using embroidery on a crazy quilt. Well this quilt is a little different in that it is not your traditional crazy quilt that is built from odd shapes of fabric sewn together.  This quilt is what is known as an apple core pattern.  Very traditional, considered a charm quilt, dates back to the late 1800's I believe (late 19th century).  Victorian era ladies would collect charms of fabric, buttons and pins and such.  At any rate, this quilt is a great example of a traditional pattern, embroidery embellishment, and...it happens to be a die I just purchased for my AccuQuilt cutter. 

I cannot wait to get through the holidays so I can actually start working on something.  I added the last pieces of furniture to my craft room.

This is my mom's little rocker that she was so attached to.  She didn't use much, as she preferred the comfort of her Lazy Boy, but my parents bought this rocker in 1951 when they adopted my older brother.  Mom always talked about how she rocked her babies in this chair.  My brother and I were adopted, not blood related, but we were related in a loving family.  At any rate, while it is not the most comfortable chair to kick back in, it does fit the space perfectly. 

It is harder in some ways, easier in others, than I expected getting through the holidays with out mom.  They say the first ones are the hardest.  I know I am missing her terribly.  Christmas was her favorite time of year.  All the church services, celebrating Christ's birth.  Family getting together for gifts on Christmas eve and then again on Christmas Day for a huge meal.  It was just always on Christmas.  Growing up was my brother and I with mom and dad.  We never went anywhere for Christmas, never had anyone visit.  I think earlier, before I came along, there was Christmas with one uncle and his family and my granny (dad's mom) but I only know of it from home movies.  I don't ever remember it that way...and I do have a superb memory for that kind of thing.  Now my kids always had several Christmas times.  One with just us, then one with my parents, and one with hubby's parents.  I know I just want to make it through the holidays with out falling apart and that is getting harder each day.  I want to get past the holidays, get all the decorations packed away and get on with life and working on things. 

Speaking of which.

Update on the Nativity.  I have finally made the decision to start another cross stitch project (that is smaller) and quite pushing myself to finish the Nativity.  Now that I realize I will never finish it for this year. 

I hope hubby never finds out how much I have spent on quilting/stitching supplies on eBay. LOL  I am now feeling better about my stashes though.  Plenty of kits, plenty of patterns, plenty of thread (since I won some large lots of embroidery thread on eBay) and enough quilt fabric to at least plan a quilt.  I think also, after the first I will start selling off some of my paper craft supplies (rubber stamps, punches, papers) to feed the kitty so to speak.

Speaking of kitty.

She likes mom's rocker too.  I didn't realize when we took her in how much comfort it would be to have her around.

Oh...and also speaking of feeding the kitty.

Here is my change kitty (on the left) that is fed by all the change I find around the house.  The other decorative jar is what my mom used to keep cotton balls in.  I am going to use it for a TUSAL jar.  Found out about this on some blogs I read.  It stands for Totally Useless Stitch Along.  All the bits and pieces from cross stitch (ends and frogging) goes in the jar and I post a photo of the jar each new moon.  I always keep a baggy taped to the sewing table when I do machine embroidery.  I have used all those little pieces in other projects. I guess you can see one of my sets of machine embroidery thread in the background.  I only have three. LOL

This is a free standing lace cross that I stitched out on my embroidery machine a while back.  All the various colors you see in it was done by using two layers of tulle and placing the cut threads I collected between them then stitching out the design.  Oh I hope I can find those files on a computer somewhere in this house when I get ready to start doing some machine embroidery work.  I know I have a disk somewhere that has designs  to embroider out that are the cutest vintage children.  I hope to put them in to some quilt blocks.

Well, time to move the laundry around.  Thanks for stopping by and do come back to visit soon.  Feel free to leave me a comment.  I love to read them.

Oh What Fun!

Okay, so you know how you eat all the cake and cookies the week before you know you are starting a new diet?  Because you know that  you won't be getting any after that day? And you really want to get them out of the house?

Well, I am preparing for my diet date.  A stash diet that is. Jan. 1 will start a no buy, use the stash, finish the UFO's personal challenge.

For quilting, this means that I will only purchase what I need to complete a project.  I will be making a list of all my UFO's (unfinished forgotten objects) that are stuffed folded up neatly on the shelf. I will be feeding the PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) so that they fatten up in to wonderfully completed quilts to go to new homes.  I have an obscene amount of PIGS.  Good thing I love ham so much. I did find a great deal on EQ7, quilt design software, over at the Quilt in a Day site so purchased it...on Thursday, it arrived Friday.  I was in total shock at the speed. I can't wait to load it and start playing with it.  Next week though, I am going to play with my AccuQuilt Go cutter and the new tumbler die I bought.  I purchased fabric today for a purple and grey quilt to made out of the tumblers for a gift for youngest son's girlfriend.  I do suspect however, that in the not to distant future she will become family.  Think, hope anyway, they are planning on waiting until they are both out of college.  They have been together for like five or six years already.  Also, purchased some iron on interfacing to use for the t-shirt quilt I plan to make out of youngest son's t-shirts I have collected.  Actually he collected them, kept them stuffed in his closet, I found them when he moved out.  So, figured if held on to them, I can make them in to some thing he can really hold on to.

Now, the "Stash Diet" as it deals with my newest fascination of counted cross stitch.  For this re-visited hobby, I call it that because years ago (many, many years ago) I enjoyed this particular craft.  But, like so many things in my life it was boxed up, put away, not to be thought of for far too long.  Well, in the process of sorting through boxes in the storage to unpack and place in the sewing room that was no longer needed for a bedroom for mom, I found some UFO's that had not been touched in at least 12 years or more.  I have developed a new determination to finish all unfinished works in my life.  Guess it is a by product of the loss of mom, dealing with all the final disposition of her things and such.  At any rate, there has opened up a new window of interest again after being closed up for far too long.  Getting rid of the musty part of old I guess.

So...as with the quilting, I am going on a diet with this area as well.  Problem is, I haven't really got the huge amount of stash to supply my addiction with the counted cross stitching as I do with my quilting. But, I am in for the game.  I have only one project in the works currently, that will be an ongoing project for some time it would seem.  I stitch very slow.  Don't know why I can create a quilt in a day, two at the most, completely finished, but it takes forever to make all those little x's of thread everywhere.  On the agenda for this new project, it will be a lot of organizing, just like with quilting. I already have planned which project I am starting first.  I am so tired of working on my current project, the nativity.  Once I tasted reality and swallowed the sad fact that I will not be able to finish it for this Christmas, I immediately placed it at the top of my "ongoing finish for 2013" list. 

To "prepare" for my  upcoming stash diet, I have gone on a little spending spree.  Not a lot, but I did buy the thread for my next project, but forgot the cloth.  I will have to remember to get some.  I am thinking that it would be much cheaper to buy some cloth by the yard.  I have a serger and can finish off the cut edges.  Maybe though, I will just have to buy the cloth as I go.  Not sure which would make more sense, money wise, at this point.  Any way, at this time, I am really concentrating on building up my thread stash.  Last week, I bought a thread of each color, sorted it and have it all inventoried.  At the moment however, I think I went a little overboard on bidding on Ebay.  I will only have a problem if I actually win them all.  However, I have budgeted for just such an occasion. At least I will have on hand all I need to work with, supply wise. As with the quilting, as of Jan. 1 there will be no more purchases of thread, charts, kits to just stuff find a place to store away.  I will only use what I have on hand.  Of course, it doesn't count if you have to buy a few threads to replace what you use up, or run out of before finishing the project.  Yep, that's the story...I'm sticking to it.

Oh this is going to be so much fun.  Wonder if I can stitch while on the treadmill, which I will be starting back on Jan. 1 as well. Well, exercise anyway, thinking of getting some hand weights and a ball for scrunches.  Will start simple.  Also need to get back on track with my food as well.

I have decided to re-organize my day a bit and starting on the first of the new year I plan to sew during the day.  Well...as much as I can around Mr. M and his needs that is. Cross stitch when everyone has gone to bed and it needs to be quieter.  By that I mean I won't disturb hubby who goes to bed at 8:30 each night.  I have to fit in menu planning in there somewhere as well. It seems to really run a lot smoother at meal time if I have planned it out a bit.  We eat out way too much, my fault, and since I am the largest instigator of it, I will be hardest to push for home meals.  It is better all around financially to plan out the meals and eat at home, emotionally I don't have to worry what is for dinner, and physically is much healthier for us as well.  Hubby eats out a big meal every day for lunch with his job.  Miss Zebra eats at school each day, she tries to make healthy choices but sometimes that is really hard with what the school offers up.  It makes sense to make the evening meal more nutritious for all of us.

Pulled some more items from mom's storage out today and brought them to the house to go through.  I finally got the furniture I want for the sewing room all in place, just need to clean it back up as every thing was just kind of piled here and there willy nilly to change out the pieces of furniture.

Cross over between these two crafts will be the crazy quilting projects.  They are both quilting and embroidery and they are embellished with all kinds of embroidery stitches and decorative pieces.  I have a box of my mom's clothes that I saved, her more favorite pieces and a sack of my dad's neck ties.  I will cut them up and make a crazy quilt for myself and my brother, just throw size, and then will make smaller pillow or lap size projects for each of the grand kids to have. This project will take a long time I am sure, but that is okay too.  This project will not go on any list, no deadlines, nothing but time to heal and remember.

The other craft that I enjoy, or hobby, but I just hate the word hobby because to me it conjures up time spent doing some project that is of no use to anyone.  When you say you have a craft, it sounds more artsy, more special.  Regardless, I also crochet.  Love the things I create, but like with cross stitch, am totally at a snail's pace with it.  I will never be able to understand how someone can sit there and tell me how relaxing, calming, crochet is.  I can only work so long, by that I mean not long at all, for I become a nervous irritable wreck.  So, because I have a weird sense of need to punish myself, I bought some this new yarn out to make a scarf for my oldest daughter, Mrs. C, the teacher.  You can crochet with it, but it has a net, much like the old fishnet hose, built in to it.  Apparently, it makes really great scarves because the yarn design naturally makes a spiral or ruffle.  I talked to a woman at the store that has used it quite a bit.  She knits though, will never be able to learn that, and she showed me a little of how to do it, but with wanting to crochet it she advised me to check out YouTube for videos on working with the stuff.  Mrs. C has already hinted that she would like one.  She finds things on Pinterest, then lets me know...in not so subtle hints...that I should make it for her.  She has a lot of misplaced confidence in her mother's abilities sometimes.  But hey, makes me try new things...once.  If you haven't looked around that site, you really should, it is amazing.  Make sure you lots of time when you do.

Well, it is late and I have written a book in this post.  Thank you for dropping buy and listening.  I have a year's worth of cleaning to get done tomorrow.  Hubby loves me so much he had to share his little bug with me.  I have been sick for a week or so.  So...nothing has really been done around the house because as you all know, only mom can do it.  And, even if she can't really hold her head up, is sneezing a storm, coughing up a lung, it will all be alright when ever she does get around to it.  Come back and visit soon.  Will be updating later in the week the nativity progress.  I kind of hit a sweet spot with some large areas of the same color to stitch.  Oh my stars, that doing three or nine stitches of a color at a time just kills.  I should just nickname the project Small, because, "you're killing me Smalls).

That being said, I am off to soak and then to bed.  Have a really full day waiting for me tomorrow.  Will see how much I can get done.  Have you finished your Christmas shopping?  I am about a fourth of the way done.  Need some online orders to arrive, then wrapped, and one more shopping trip with hubby and we will be finished.  I am so excited that we are heading to Texas to see family right after Christmas.  I will have to pull some photos off Facebook of Buddy, Mrs. C shelf elf.  If you haven't heard of this craze you really should look it up.  She is so creative in story ideas that I just eagerly anticipate reading each day's post about what he was up to during the night.

Got the bug!

It's official, I have the bug.  The quilting craft bug that is.

This was the last project I did.  My youngest grand son, Mr. M, was born 7 weeks early, weighing in at around 3.5 pounds.  I made this small quilt to cover his isolet in the hospital.  He is now over a year old.

Ain't he a cute thing?  I have fun with him, since I am daycare for him.  My oldest two grandsons live in Texas and I only see them about once a year.  That is hard, but that is how it has to be.

Before that, I made these.

The quilt set was a baby gift, although as I look at it am pretty sure that the sweater did not fit.  It seemed a little small when I made it, but I went with it any way.  The casserole carrier was a wedding gift.  I made the little pot holders out of the fabric that was cut out to make the handles area.

Now however, I am so ready to get working on some projects from my UFO list.

If you have been  following my blog, you already know that I have been on a long break from any crafting.  I used to have a corner of our bedroom for sewing. Then I was foolish and took a job outside the home, worked there for three years before resigning due to health issues.  Sadly, I don't qualify for any type of disability yet cannot go back to work.  I only went to work in the first place to earn work credits so I could draw my social security. Seems that even though I put in a fair amount of money over the years I worked before kids, I cannot draw any of it because I am lacking in the work credits.  Now I will never be able to get it.  Yes, I can draw on my husband, but darn it I paid that money in and should be able to get it.  At any rate, thought I would be working longer so packed up most of my quilting supplies since I didn't have time to work on anything.  Of course, when my dad passed away in 2003, I just kind of lost interest in any of it any way.  He was my biggest fan and with out him it just wasn't the same.  At any rate, I thought that I might like to start up scrapbooking.  So, I would take my check and buy all kinds of gizmos and gadgets for scrapbooking and lots of supplies in general for paper crafts.  Thinking I was preparing for my eventual retirement and would then have it all to work with when I no longer worked.  Only problem, I don't really like scrapbooking and it would seem that I am allergic to paper, well wood or wood products actually, and break out when ever I work with the papers.  I do however love to make cards, so guess the investment wasn't for nothing, except for a ton of rubber stamps I will never use.

Having all these supplies was a storage problem as you can well relate.  So...when youngest son moved in with a friend of his, I promptly repainted his room, moved my youngest daughter in to his room and then repainted her room and took it over.  Hubby calls it "the cave", I have tried to figure out a name for it.  Craft Cave, Sewing Studio, Diva Den, and so forth, but when I am talking to the family it just always comes out as "my room".  Sounds like I don't sleep with my husband, so don't like that part of it, so now it has just become the "spare room".  At any rate, I settled in and was actually doing quite a bit of work in there.

This is one of the ATC (Artist Trading Card) that I did with paper.  They are the size of a business card.

And of  course, I did some with fabric.  These are crazy quilt style.

I made card for various occasions, various techniques.

Then, I just got bored with all of it.  I did find that I really love the embossing part of the paper craft hobby.  Both texture embossing and ink embossing with heat.  The positive side, I know what I like to do.  The negative side, I have way too many supplies.  The really neat thing about it, most of my supplies can cross over so to speak.  In other words, a lot of my embellishments and ribbons for paper crafts can be used for crazy quilting and embroidery.  Some of the paper cutting equipment, the Cricut and Sizzix (die cutter) and be used for cutting quilting shapes.  And of course, I have bought more gizmos lately, for quilting my first love.

Back to the point, I had just really gotten settled in good when my mom become ill.  Soon as we found out she was terminal I packed it all up, put it in storage and turned it in to a bedroom for her to live here with us. I had a huge, I mean HUGE desk that I got spoiled to, that I got rid of when we did the change over.  I am so missing it, but there just wasn't any where to put it.  When mom passed away, we put in new carpet and I moved my supplies all back in, but I have kept some of her furniture from her little apartment.  Also bought a new sewing cabinet that has a built in cutting grid.  SO COOL!

If you want to take a peek, go to this post.  It shows the room how it is now. There are still a few changes I am going to make.  We are actually in the process of doing some remodel work on the house.  It has to go in a certain order, to make storing furniture easier, but the recliner was my mom's, I don't really like it and it is too big for this room, so am moving it in to the living room when I change out the furniture in there.  Long story for another time. I will be moving my mom's sewing machine cabinet (Kenmore model 90 machine inside it) in to our bedroom.  I should get rid of it, even though it sews wonderfully I know I will never use it. I do have loving sentimental attachments to it though.  However, this space where it is, I really need to move a small desk in here so that I have a place to write, go over bills, write out the menu plans and such so I need to get the PC and printer in here so I can easily scan and print from this room.  I also want to purchase a smaller chair and ottoman that has a pouch on each side to hold magazines, remotes and such, for in here when I move the recliner out.

So, here we are.  I am so ready to start working on projects once again.  That was a really long story to just say that when I was unpacking my supplies and stash, which I still haven't gotten all of it unpacked, just the part my hubby knows about. LOL  Any way, I found many unfinished projects, all in various stages.  Quilting, sewing garments, machine embroidery, crocheting and of course some paper crafts.  I have a good year or more worth of work, so can't possibly start anything new.  Except for some Christmas gifts.  Maybe a swap or two...okay, I will wait until after Christmas to get involved in any of that.  Maybe.

Well, thank you for stopping by.  Feel free to leave a comment, it is always nice to know some one is reading this.  Come back for a visit to see how I am doing with my crafting and what I am working on.

Monday Menu...and catch up.

My goodness, it has been a while since I last posted.  That's what happens when I go down ill for few days. I have been working on the house as well.  Have all my craft stuff back in place, except for the fabric.  Still have a ton of fabric to unpack, but can see the end in site.  Am to the point now where I can actually see a time when I can actually craft.  More about that later.

Menu planning...partly working and partly not.  I haven't posted to Organized Junkie Monday's Menu Plan   for a couple of weeks now.  I am actually thinking that it would be easier to post what we have  had the previous week as opposed to posting the plan for the week.  I have the best intentions, really I do, but it just seems that what ever I plan, doesn't happen.  I know what I have on hand, so that makes it a little easier.

This week:
Mon. - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans
Tue. - Beef Stew and cornbread
Wed. - Chicken enchiladas, pinto beans
Thu. - Talapia, corn, broccoli
Fri. - Chili
Sat. - burgers
Sun. - eating out

My hubby's parents are coming, picking them up on Sat. at LA airport so hubby will grill burgers or steaks, not sure which, haven't gotten that far with planning yet.  Will have the grand baby that day, his dad (oldest son) is taking the state test for an electrician, his mom is running in a mud run...Volkslauf.  The, on Sunday we will all be driving over to Hurst Castle and taking a tour.  We will eat out some where along the way.  Then Monday, hubby is taking his parents up to see the big trees, I will go if we can get back by 4:30, other wise I have to stay behind to get youngest daughter, Miss Zebra, to band practice.  Tues we will just be hanging out at the house, Miss Zebra has ice skating lesson, wants her grandparents to come watch.  I will attending my Wilton Cake Decorating class.  I tried to take this class once before, but due to health issues of myself and family, was unable to complete.  I hope to make it through this time.  I already missed last week, and thought I would have the baby today, not sure if I would be able to attend next Monday due to visitors, so talked to instructor and changed to her evening class.

I bought a bunch of candy molds and decorations to make cupcakes to take to the church festival on Halloween, and alternative fun night for the kids.  They are having a cupcake walk, as opposed to a cake walk, so am donating a few dozen cupcakes for the event.  More kids get to win.  I am actually looking forward to making them, have grand ideas, will see what actually ends up getting done.  Will post photos of course.

Now...about crafting.  I need to get more of the house back in order (still have some boxes of mom's things I have to sort through) before I can actually start taking time to work on any projects.  As for menu planning, I have to rethink how I am going about that.  It seems, I am spending so much time on trying to make up a menu plan, stick to the menu plan, organize the menu plan, that I am just not getting anything else done.  I need to SIMPLIFY my details of life so very much, so that is what I am working on.  I am going to have one day that I plan, simple meals, making more use of the crock pot.  Once I get a little more meat cooked, making room in the freezer, I plan to do a large cooking session over a week end to stock the freezer with cooked meals. That will work better for me I do think.  Then, I am going to designate a couple of days a week for cleaning, a few hours a day for computer time, then spend some evenings actually working on craft projects once again.  Will work during the day some if Mr. M cooperates with napping.

I unpacked three boxes of fabric, finding some quilting UFO's in the process.  I am determined not to start any new projects until I finish up all the UFO (Un Finished Objects) or maybe I should stick to calling them WIP (Works In Progress) which letter wise makes a little more sense for my OCD (you know what that is) mind.  So far, there are quilts, crochet projects, garments and embroidery all in various stages of progress.  That will be my first order of business, to finish up those.  Then, I can get to working on some charity projects and some items to finally stock the Etsy store I have. Maybe make a little pocket change in the process.  I have two boxes so far of items for the store.

Funny thing, in an attempt to get more organized, I had created a blog for just cooking.  Was only going to list recipes on it so I could join in this thing called the Mystery Cooking Club.  Well, I had just gotten it set up, with just a few post.  Went to post a photo that went with one of the recipes only to find that some one, some where, had determined that the blog violated terms or was suspected of being spam, the blog had been deleted.  I wish I had know this would happen so I could have at least copied the story I posted about the recipe.  Oh well, such is life.

This is the Texas Sheath Cake I made. Was the recipe that was determined to be spam.  So...I won't post it.

Got to get moving and get a little something done around here.  Thank you for stopping by and come back often.  Feel free to leave a comment.