Last warm weather, I think

As there's supposed to be a freeze warning tonight. It's about 70F right now, and by midnight here, it's supposed to be a freezing rain, with a winter weather advisory until 4PM tomorrow. Amazing how the weather can go from summerlike to midwinter in just a few hours. Guess it's a good thing I have plenty to keep me busy in the cold. All stocked up with stuff to do in the bedroom, as I will likely spend a lot of time hunkering under blankets there and doing needlework. Quentin prefers to freeze to watch TV so he's comfortable on the couch, but not me. I'll watch my TV online and stay warm, or watch a DVD and stay warm, while I work on things. Never have mastered the "art" of staring at the TV and not doing anything else. Guess it's a matter of how I grew up, lol. TV is background racket, with occasional glances up to see what's going on if it sounds interesting.

I did get that fifth butterfly done yesterday and got a bit of a start on the sixth one. Four butterflies to go and I can start assembling and basting and quilting. I was going to go with ribbon of some kind for a border on the quilt, but I found some just barely off-white material yesterday and got 1/3 of a yard of it. As it's 108" wide, what I'll do is cut it in half lengthwise and put them together and it should be more than enough to bind the edges nicely. It will also cover up the little dirty fingerprints around the edges where people keep grabbing at it to see what it looks like without asking lately. I snapped at one lady last week who did that and she got all offended at me. Well, don't touch stuff that's not yours just because you want to see it. ASK first.

That's a good rule with a crafter in public. If you want to see what they are doing better, keep your hands to yourself and ask them about it, ask to see it. Chances are, they'll be glad to show you what it is, or at least to talk about it. Grabbing is almost as bad as one lady one time when I was knitting at the laundromat, who wanted to "help" me with it and do a few stitches on a complicated lace pattern, because I could "just rip it back out anyhow." Seriously? Why do people get offended when I say NO? Is it just that they actually expected me to share my crafting with them in a more tangible way, or that they never learned manners and what no means? Often, I tend to think it's more the latter, as many times as I've had to say no, and been told *I* was the one being rude.

Finished off Thanksgiving leftovers yesterday, so I actually have to do some cooking and cleaning today. I even did some Christmas shopping yesterday, and am proud of myself. Covered DD weeks ago, Mom's is in the works and got hubby some neat stuff yesterday for less than $20. Yep, cheap shopper, but it's all good stuff. (And yes, once the lap quilt is fnished, I will take pictures. If Tink and Raffles would ever stay still for more than 30 seconds together, I'd get a photo of them, too.) I also need to get shower water going so I can get cleaned up before it gets cold. A warm bathroom for a shower is a lot nicer than a chilly one, trust me. Plus I have to get dishes done as well. So while that all gets done, I'll find y'all some good books!

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I'm pooped

But I'm content as well. Everything's done for the weekend again, other than normal daily chores that will have to be done tomorrow no matter what. Grocery staples and laundry are all put away, and I have plenty of time to goof off the rest of the weekend. When your only livestock is four cats, and it's a bit off in the weather department to get out and do things, you tend to get a lot done indoors.

For me, that means a lot of crafting and either DVDs or my half-dozen shows I watch on the computer. All the harvesting and putting up for the season are done, and thus, I have as much as six months of things to do like needlecrafts, soap making, various lotions and potions for health and beauty, deep scrubbing, organizing, and just all the things that long summer days don't generally tend to lend themselves well to, as there are so many things that have to be done when the weather is cooperative.

Though today and tomorrow are odd. We're having an uncharacteristic warm spell this weekend, with summer weather and fall winds. It makes for a nice couple of days, and allows for some extra cleanup outside tomorrow during daylight, so probably a lot more wood will be cut and stacked for the winter from the pile of seasoned large brush and small trees. Make hay while the sun shines, as the saying goes, or in this case, make firewood. Much easier to haul in a bit at a time that's ready to just chuck in the stove than to have to cut it as you need it.

Good weather on a homestead means quite a bit of heavy chores. Bad weather means repairs and other things that can be done indoors and out of the weather. I'm just glad weather is nice this weekend, as it means a few extra hours of outdoor work that I wasn't expecting. Plus all this wind will bring down more dead branches that I can cut up for firewood.

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Great news!

Hubby got the truck fixed and the new heater core is putting out some serious heat! The truck is put back together, and now, even on cold days, if the roads are bad, we can take the truck and not worry about freezing our butts off. Ditto all the weekend running, because we usually use the truck, as it has more cargo capacity (so says hubby; obviously, he forgets I know how to really pack my car full to the gills).

Yesterday was great with all the food, and I don't know about anybody else, but I had a good time. Even caught up on some of my shows I watch online as hubby hogs the boob tube for his shows (which I can't stand, but that's another story). Smudge is curled up next to me, cuddling and snoozing and snoring. Me, I have to work, but since hubby is taking the day off as his hire-in anniversary holiday, he doesn't, which means I get to get a bit of a nap in before I have to pull together to go. If not for bills, and that I just got that point back Tuesday, I'd bleeding well call in, but money is needed and I am trying to work points off. So instead of having to rush around to head in by 230, I can take a bit of a nap and not have to worry about heading to work till 330.

It means no more work on the lap quilt until I get home tonight, but I got almost all of the fifth butterfly done. There's just a bit more stitching and the details to do with the backstitching, and then it's on to the next one. I got tired of it last night. It's worse than all the vinework was. At least those five shades of green were different enough you could tell what color was what. This thing is four or five shades of blue, a couple medium greys, and white and a light grey that's almost white. Most of the colors blend together so well that I have had to be extremely careful not to mess things up!

Time for books, a nap and then work. Hugs, all! And if you go out shopping today, BE SAFE!

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Happy Thanksgiving

And it is a happy one, this year. I'm gainfully employed, which pays the bills right now. I have four loving furkids in Bouncer, Smudge, Tinkerbell and Raffles (though Raffles is still determining whether or not she likes humans enough to allow petting again). My car runs well. I have a reasonably liveable home, even if it is a rental. I have plenty to eat and wear. I have plenty to keep me occupied in my free time. And above all else, I have a family and many friends who fill my life with love and friendship, including my husband (I love you all SO MUCH!!!). There are days I'd cheerfully wish him in the ground, as I'm sure he could me as well, and I know that's normal with every couple. There are days as well when I can't imagine life without him, because I'd be completely miserable. So Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you all have as much to be thankful for as I do.

Our food is waiting on final touches. Morning wake up time is upon me, and I am busy with that, and then there's chores to do. On a homestead, there's NEVER a day when there's absolutely nothing to do. There's always something. Today, hubby is trying to get that heater core done, though he thinks we may have to make a holiday run to the auto parts store (which is open today) and take the heater core back that he got last weekend, because he thinks it may not be the right one, even though they ordered it for his truck. I hope not; the traffic will be miserable and I really don't want to go out. Me, I have several things to do. Trash has to be gathered up and burned, the bed needs remaking, cat boxes have to be cleaned as usual. Plus what cooking needs doing, but that will come later, to keep things more or less in line with our usual break time at work.

Most of today, however, will be spent on Mom's lap quilt, in an attempt to get a huge chunk done on the last butterflies. I know I won't get it done, but I can make a stab at getting a ways further. Time right now is not my friend in the case of this thing, because I know I won't get it done by Christmas by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm putting effort in to TRY. Anyhow, my day has to get crack-a-lackin', so I'm outta here. Life's good, I'm reasonably happy, and once I get things organized and chores done, I'm rewarding myself with a short nap (even though I should put that time into the lap quilt ... I do need enough sleep, too).

Not doing books today as we all deserve a day off of whatever to spend with our families.

Wednesday whoopies

I can hardly wait for today to be over with at work. Tomorrow is Ham Day and I want it to get here. Lots of food, lots of relaxation, and sleeping in. Is everybody ready? I know I am. I'll get started on things tonight, as most of tomorrow's "prep work" is just cutting stuff up. There's some cooking, mostly involving heating up water for hubby's silly instant potatoes and the stuffing, but mostly it's going to be very little cooking but a lot of eating. The cats will all get turkey, as the only way turkey comes in the house is as pet food after working at Butterball. (Trust me on this one, folks. If it's a whole bird, you're safe. If it's been processed in any way, it may not be. If you want details, wait till Friday and PM me.)

It's hard to believe this year is almost over already, but it is. Five more weeks. Where has the time gone? But it's a been a bit rough this year, though not nearly as rough as prior years. I look forward to next year and seeing what it brings into my life. Plus I know that each day that passes is one day closer to getting things in my life lined up like I want and need them to be. There will come a day when I get back on a first shift schedule because I'll have to be in order to be vending at farmer's markets on a regular basis instead of hit and miss. I can't WAIT for all the good things to happen that are starting to take shape!

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No shopping on Thursday

For shopping, that is. We go by what we grew up with, that if you don't have it by 5PM the day before, you don't need it and even if you do, you are not getting it. I plan on lots of food making and time with friends (furfriends, aka The Kitty Clan). Hubby plans to work on the truck's heater core. Then there will be lots of eating and fun. I also plan on getting a lot of work done on Mom's lap quilt. With a bit of free time, I can get another butterfly finished and maybe start the sixth one. And since I'm running a bit behind today, I have GOT to get my butt in gear. Tonight and tomorrow left to finish work out, then it's Ham Day (since we refuse to eat turkey after working at Butterball) and then one more day before the weekend, which I hope they don't schedule us for Saturday because that would suck.

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I am pooped

Slept like a log, and still tired. It's just that kind of a day today, and of course, it HAS to happen on a Monday. Ah well ... a few more days and I get a midweek day off for the holiday. Thank goodness. If I sleep half the day away, so what. Everything is done other than finger food prep, which won't take long as I can enlist the help of hubby to cut up stuff. The trouble is, I have to hand him stuff he won't eat while he chopping and slicing, haha! I'm making really good progress on the lap quilt, and with the weekend time I had on it, I got the fourth butterfly completed and am well into the fifth. I still won't get it done by Christmas, but that's okay. Mom will understand.

Speaking of which, she's funny. She got a new cellphone because her old one was costing her a lot of money. Since she retired and got rid of the landline for the office, everybody has been using the cell number. In order to save a bit of money, she went to a contract phone. Problem for her is, it's a smart phone, and she keeps messing with it and accidentally dialing me, haha. Last night, 1AM her time, she's playing and calls me. TWICE. In under three minutes. So I had to text her and ask if she was messing with the phone again, which she was.

She has a craft show this weekend that she's excited about. Her first one was a bust, but the weather was crappy and it was a bad location anyhow. This one is an annual show that's well attended. I had photos my daughter had posted to FB of a couple of the crib covers she's made, so I put them up with a post to all my local groups back home to remind folks to go to the show and buy stuff, lol. If I had more photos of her things, I would post them on some of the local to me yardsale groups, too! The more exposure, the better!

Of course, once I get her lap quilt done, I can take a different project to work with me to work on before work, and go from there, as I sell similar stuff. Then again, I also use Etsy, because craft shows down here are few and far between. You have to have yard sales where everybody expects huge discounts or you go to swap meets and outdoor flea markets where folks still expect huge discounts. NOT going to happen on my crafting, as I put too much time and effort into it. Anyway, it's off to get ready for work for me, yahoo.

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Interesting day

Well, chores are done, finally, despite not feeling too well. Laundry's put up, water's on for showers, trash is cleared up (stored in front bedroom till tomorrow when it will be burned), litter boxes cleared up as the cats have finally started to use the one in the bathroom after several MONTHS of having two. I need to make myself something to eat, as we are doing scrounge night tonight, and I'm hungry.

Progress on things:

Garden is finally, completely cleared up for the year. Everything's pulled and tossed into the compost heap. Looks bare out there now.
Lap quilt is coming along. Talked to Mom today and she is done with all the green (butterfly names and all the vine work) and two butterflies. I am finishing up the backstitch detailing on the fifth butterfly today, but she is catching up. I know I won't have it done on time, and she has more time than I do to stitch, but it's still a bit wild to know she's gotten that far on the one for Aunt Liz.
Mile a Minute afghan is put aside for the moment so I can work mostly on the lap quilt. Also, the yarn that was going to go into the "antifreeze afghan" is going to go for this instead as there's about a quarter of an afghan's worth of yarn there that I won't have to go hunt down bits and bobs in the front bedroom to finish up that much of it when I get back to it. I picked up a washable lingerie bag at the dollar store yesterday, so next weekend, the whole thing, tote bag and all, goes in there and gets washed separate from the regular laundry to get the rest of the antifreeze out of the yarn and make it usable again. It's going to be a nightmare untangling it when it's washed and dried (thank goodness it's all acrylic, so it won't felt), but woth it, I think, to salvage some of those lovely colors and put them to use.

And hubby started in on the heater core this afternoon after his chores. He's now taking a nap, and annoyed that he hasn't gotten it done yet. He needs a really long ratchet extension that he doesn't have, so he has to make a choice. Either stop at the auto parts store in town tomorrow on the way to work and hope they have one at reasonable cost, or put back together what he's taken apart, and save up a bit to have the shadetree mechanic, Randy, do it. Hubby does not want to pay someone to do it, but I fear it will come to that.

But for now, I need to go eat before I hunt down books. Hugs all!

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Fall rainy season has begun

It rained last night, and today, and it's still raining, and it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, too.  But errands are done, and I'm happily relaxing with a bit of computer gaming and a lot of needlework in a comfy house. It's nice to come in out of the cold and realize we finally, after two years of working on it, got this place to where the main rooms at the least will stay warm even in cold weather. I'm having a good time with working on the lapghan this weekend, so with any luck, I'll have the fourth butterfly done sometime this weekend. The last wing is nearly done and then it's just the backstitching on that one, before I do butterfly #5 in the middle.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving again this year. Ham steaks because we can't stand turkey, cheese, summer sausage and crackers, pineapple chunks, peanut butter no bake bars, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, pickles, olives, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, salad, and more. Yeah, I tend to put on a spread for the Big Day, lol. Actually, I kind of tend to go ... err ... overboard. Good thing we have company coming, so there won't be QUITE so much in the way of leftovers.

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Getting a late start to the day

Because I'm so sick with this stupid head cold that it's difficult to breathe. Alarm went off, got turned off and usually we are up and moving within an hour (we like to lay around, so shoot us). Instead, we both doze off till nearly noon. Oops. Hoping work is fairly easy again tonight, because if not for getting that point back next week and it being Friday, I'd call in and be sick today. I just feel that crappy. Oh well, time for that over the weekend.

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Crazy time

Well, we found out a few weeks ago that there would be "big changes" at the plant in the next year. Last night, we found out one of them. Come February, my current position will be disbanded, and I will be reassigned elsewhere, but do not know where yet. Reason being, they are apparently getting rid of my section in the department (tender line) and moving that section to the other plant in Berryville, with our tenders just getting toted off at the ends of the lines. This is fine, other than I will have a new job given to me. With other things going on in our lives right now, we aren't even certain I will be staying on second shift, as I may have to transfer back to first. Oh well ... take it a day at a time. The bad part about the whole thing is that apparently, the whole plant will shut down for two weeks to do all this retooling. That means temporary unemployment. Hopefully, we won't kill each other, because that is a LOT of time to spend with basically one person with nothing much to do. Wonder how many of our couples at work will survive that?

And it really cheeses me off, too, because with Arkansas unemployment rules, even though it will be a scheduled layoff, we STILL have to wait till we are laid off to file for temp unemployment and wait out the "waiting period week" to get anything. And since "anything" is really only about HALF your normal pay, we essentially are going to get screwed out of a week and half of earnings over this. REALLY???? Thanks, guys.

On a brighter note. Have you guys seen the videos I posted last night of my daughter at her voice recital? Two of them, and she is an excellent singer. You guys will LOVE them. That is what dedication to your craft from preschool does for you. All she's ever wanted to do was sing, and I've done my best, along with family and friends, to encourage her in her choice. No sense wasting that kind of talent. For those who've known her since basically babyhood, THIS is what we all knew she could do.

As far as needlework goes, I'm going to have to wait till spring to use the antifrozen yarn, because the crap has GOT to be soaked out. It's nasty and it's not usable with the glycol or whatever in the yarn. It feels too nasty to use without gloves on, and I can't work like that. May have to find a large net bag and throw the whole mess in that and wash/dry it at the laundromat one of these days. It's already a tangled mess in some ways, so that can't make it much worse. The lap quilt is coming along, as I'm half done with Butterfly #4 and working well on the third wing on it. Getting lots of compliments and curiosity at work, wishing folks would just leave me alone to work on it. I don't mind compliments, but I don't want to sit and talk about it when I'm trying to count stitches!

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Can't wait for next week

Because I get a day off midweek to sleep in, goof off and eat a lot of food. Why can't that be today or even tomorrow? Loads of progress on various projects but no time to take photos of things ... besides, I like taking photos of the finished stuff, not the in progress stuff. Still suffering some effects of this stupid cold like a stuffy head and a low-grade fever, but nothing worth staying home for, especially this close to getting a point back and a holiday. So while I don't feel great, it's off to work I go. Hey, at least I got another wing and most of the body done on Butterfly #4 yesterday! Progress is happening, very slowly, but it's happening! Still won't have the darn thing done by Christmas, though, darn it.

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Still cold but warmer than it was

The weather continues colder than average, which isn't good, but it's a good fifteen degrees warmer right now than it was this time yesterday, which is good. Makes it rather a toss-up for whether or not to call it "better" on the weather! Here it is only Tuesday and I am anxious for the weekend to get here so I can sleep in for a couple of days! One thing about working off the homestead that bugs me is that on cold days like today, you can't just get up long enough to do necessary chores and then crawl back under the covers. You have to still get pulled together and go to work. That I work in a cold, wet environment as well really doesn't make it easier to get rolling in the morning.

Hubby felt like crap with a headache yesterday, so he called in. As we weren't heading in together, I chose to get a couple hours extra sleep instead of heading in way early and then sitting there in a cold break room trying to stitch on the lap quilt. I know, I should have kept to schedule like when hubby and I are riding together, but the bed was warm and cozy and the break room isn't, and since the darn thing isn't going to be done by Christmas no matter how hard I try, I figure one day is not going to hurt on not stitching on it once in a great while. Which also meant I did no work on the scrap afghan, either, but I'm not worried. All my winter projects will get done again this year, and I know this because I have off days every year when I have to work instead of stay home and hibernate. I keep telling myself that each day that passes is one day closer to goal, and that's what keeps me going. So it's time to get this posted so I can go back to sleep for an hour while hubby pulls his crap together (he is so slow it's not funny - he has long hair so he spends over an hour on it every work day), and then I'll be ready in about half an hour after that while he goes and warms up the car. Hugs, all!

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