Trail Mix update and more!

I'm sewing down the binding on Trail  Mix!  Hopefully, it will be finished this week, but there's about a mile of binding so who knows.

I will be extremely glad to have it finished!  Am I 100% happy with it?

Absolutely, NOT!  

I am somewhat of a perfectionist but this one is over and above the norm.

Will it keep me-or someone else warm?  

Absolutely!

Better finished than perfect.

At the moment I feel very certain I won't do any more large quilts or if I do

they will go out to be quilted.  This is the point where I always get frustrated and unhappy with my work.

My reading this past week.

I was devastated on January 6, 2021.  It is, however,  a part of our history and I can not ignore it.  I watched the final televised report of the Committee and was so impressed with their work that I pre-ordered the book.  I want to fully understand what happened both before January 6th and on that day.  I need to be able to ask intelligent questions as things progress.  I'll have to say - it's a tome!  The Summary of the report is 157 pages long and includes 762 end notes!  It seems to be a careful, well investigated, well documented and well written report.  I am surprised that once I start reading I don't want to stop. It is going to be a bit before I finish it!

 

That thing with wings.

HOPE!

My word for 2023.  There's great need for hope these days and I need to practice.  Like the piano, meditation, and happiness-they all get better with practice.  I will also continue to look for the JOY in everyday--I didn't do too well with that one last year guess I need more practice!

READ!

Normally, I devour everything printed that comes before my eyes.  I can't help myself.  This past summer I was so sleep deprived I didn't have the mental bandwidth to read Children's Books much less any literary fiction or Non-fiction (history books are often challenging as there is so much information to take in.)  In an attempt to get back on track I have chosen 23 non-fiction books to read this year and I have already finished one!

Using traditional Genealogy methods, DNA, Living History sites and travels to the land of the Vikings the author filled her family tree with more than just names and dates.  In fact, she developed a spiritual family tree as well.  An interesting, well written book which I enjoyed very much!

I have to start up my outings again since the holidays are over.  Must make a list of things to do, places to go, movies to see.

There are other things I will do this year as well.  All very mundane (except for the Australia trip) things like replacing a light fixture and re-doing a bathroom.

 

 Some stitching to do--Chasing Dreams is finally calling my name, but I have to finish trail mix first, and there is always cross-stitch and I'd like to do some clothing construction and some knitting.

That is not all the creative stuff on the list but I should be busy.

Must get past the Procrastination Problem (that's actually the title of one of the books on the list!) and stay off You Tube!

Saying Goodbye to Christmas

So, today was the day to begin packing up all the Christmas "Stuff" and hauling it up to the office closet.  I'm always sad when I do this,  the house looks so naked!

Step one:  bring all the red totes (7)  and the tree box down from the office closet.

Step two:  take all the ornaments and lights off the tree, then pack everything into smaller boxes wrapped in tissue paper as needed for safety. Wrap the lights around a storage roll.

Step three:  take the tree apart and force it back into the box it came in.  Squeeze that box until the handle appears!

Step four:  carry the tree box back upstairs to the closet.

Step five:  Collapse!

I should get everything else packed away tomorrow-may not have all the totes back in the closet though!

Some progress has been made in tying Trail Mix.  One 4' x 6' section is complete and the next one is ready to go.  I think I'll go down and work on that a bit yet tonight.  I get sore fingers really quickly!

 

Getting lost on the Trail?

Remember the day before yesterday?  I had Trail Mix on the table for pinning-hum.  I got one 4' x 6' section all pinned and began getting the next section ready when I realized I had put the backing on going the wrong way!  Today, I made my fingers very sore when I took out all the pins, carefully measured each layer and labeled the short side/long side so I didn't get confused again.  Then, since I had it apart I thought I might as well fix the borders which looked like the ocean on a big wave day!  So now they have all been taken off.  Tomorrow they will be measured,  and starched heavily enough that they could stand alone ~they are flannel after all and therefore STRETCHY!  Hopefully, I will get them sewn back on as well.  I have to say all this difficulty comes from putting away one quilt to work on another!  I no longer knew the measurements, etc.  Maybe, I won't make that mistake again?   No, I probably will, sigh.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 63F/17C  Low 31F/-.5C

When I went out at noon didn't need a jacket!

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75 more days!

 

What do you do. . .

when you've run out of words?

I was doing pretty well with the every day posting until Christmas day!  Now I have to do a little catch up.

On Christmas morning about 8AM I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to have made Cheesy Potatoes for dinner at Beth's that night!  Sheer panic and terror for about 5 minutes, then I set about seeing if I had all the ingredients.  Luckily, the pantry held 3 very large baking potatoes, and the frig had heavy whipping cream and plenty of cheese!  The seasoning are always in the cabinet so I was good to go!  Whew, dodged a bullet there as all the grocery stores were closed.  Potatoes were thrown into the oven and baked, then when done and cooled I realized that the dish I normally used was still in Columbia (a-hum Scott!) so I went looking for something else, settled for my little dutch oven which turned out to be perfect!  I gathered all the stuff and the dog and headed over about 1:30pm.  Helped Beth with her current jigsaw puzzle before dinner, then ate steak!  Beth's bunch ate Snow crab legs.  Good food all around!

On the 26th, Quinn had a vet appointment for shots etc.  She was, as always, very good.  We got about half-way home when the vet's office called to say they had forgotten a shot!  So back we went.  The vet just gave her the shot in the waiting room, cause she was so good!  Then I took her home and went to the grocery store as the last of the milk had gone into my coffee that morning!  Why is it that when you go to the store for bread and milk you end up with quite a few other items?  Also, it was laundry day so, ugh.

For the rest of the time, I did a little housework and made chili.  I brought up the cross-stitch, table and all.  Today I am working at getting Trail Mix sandwiched--for the second time!  I put it away to finish Paper Dolls and Tumbler Confetti and it had gotten all messy, plus the back had wrinkles.  So tonight and tomorrow I will pin it and begin tying it.  While the Baptist fans looked really nice, I need this one finished! It would have been really nice to have on the bed on those really cold days.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA  

The cold has departed!  Temperature: High 58F/14C  Low 50F/10C a little windy.  The day started out with a really amazing sunrise--gorgeous dark pink reflected on the snow--followed by brilliant blue and now clouds.  The snow is all but gone, I'm sure I am now living in mudville.

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77 more days!

December 24th. . .

I have nothing Chrismasy left to do so this afternoon I'm going to work at getting this room straightened out!

My office.  Where I work on Family History, write blogs and pay the bills!

It seems to always be in a messy state.  I organize and put away etc, then I start research on another family line and it's back to being a disaster!  My own fault for not tidying up each day.

If you look on the back wall you can see the top shelf of a bookcase filled with white notebooks.  Those are the paper files for my HICKAM line.  The bottom shelf is full as well, and I think there are some in the closet!  Even though I have everything on the computer I seem to NEED paper!  Guess that might be showing my age.

Weather wise we have crawled out of the Minus range (okay not in Celsius)!

Today's high is to be 19F/-7C and the low 4F/-15C

The sky is a gorgeous winter blue!  

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81 days

 

Today's News

 I actually did something creative.  I hung my 16 year old grandson's art on the wall.

Chalk on black.  I think it's amazing!

For my creative thing, I bought a 24 x 24 canvas and mounted this 19 x 19 piece with double stick tape.  So far I've had to re-stick it once~using larger tape~ I hope that holds!

The big news for the past two days is the weather.  In doing the little updates this month I've noticed that it really doesn't change much from day to day.  Check it out now!

December 21 Weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:: High 36F/-16.1C  Low 3F/-16C

Cloudy and windy.

That low indicates the arrival of the Siberian Express, and SNOW.

Today's Weather is quite a bit different from the norm.

At 9:30am it was -2F/-21.7C  With a Feels Like Temperature of -23F /-30C 

At 2:30pm it was -4F/-20C with a feels like of -26F/32C

There is no way we are reaching today's forecast High of 9F/-13C!

The predicted Low is -6F/-21C-that we might make.

Tomorrow is supposed to be single digits without that minus sign!

As far as snow goes I have an inch or so on the ground-it's hard to tell as it blew around like crazy.  This is powder snow, a skiers delight, and with very little moisture.

I'm sure Denise in Michigan and the Canadian girls got way more snow and way colder temperatures!

(Something really weird happens to Celsius once Fahrenheit goes below zero-I ran these conversions through TWO programs and got the same thing.)

It appears I will have a white Christmas!  Doesn't happen often.

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83 more get ups!