Hurrah! I am NOT AT WORK!

And I intended to make you a rare Thursday list last night, but I forgot.  Sorry!  I can share with you what I have done so far today, so you will know I am not just sitting around being a bum even though I have the house to myself and plenty of yarn.  🙂

This week has been as crazy as predicted, and my new boss is a stickler for the Federal Labor laws, AND we don’t have a budget for OT, so I had to take the day off when it became apparent that I was working a bzillion hours this week.

Though A works from home now, she has a day with a client today, so she isn’t home.  That leaves me and the cats and loads of puttering time.

 

She had to leave at 5:30, so we were awake really early, and I decided to get up and get going on chores.  As a result, it isn’t quite 11 o’clock, and here is what has been done so far:

• cleaned the pellet stove
• following that, cleaned out and emptied the shop vacuum I use to do that.
• cleaned our bathroom thoroughly including really scrubbing the shower, not just giving it a lick and a promise with some water.  🙂
• chopped all the veggies, etc. and got a chicken/sausage stew going in the crock pot
• chatted with the big boss about some work I did this week and got that off my plate for early next week.
• set the oven to cleaning itself (a bigger chore than you would think as it involved locating the instructions first)

Still to come:

• change the bed
• do some laundry
• KNIT
• SPIN
• work on the jigsaw puzzle I started for some reason last week.
• feed the cats

A busy day, but it means we will be more free this weekend, which is good, as I will be going to Whorls and Purls on Saturday, and Sunday we head down to see my sister in her new house.  So, a busy week followed by a busy weekend!  Glad I have this little oasis to be at home.

 

 

 

 

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Friday list late!

Sorry! With all the holiday eating I forgot to give you my Friday list!

It’s pretty short.

Hang out and knit

Hang out and spin

Eat leftovers for lunch

Make turkey broth

Probably nap after that, making broth is so taxing!

Hang out and play on Ravelry

Create listings on Etsy for craft fair leftovers.

Hang out and veg.

Get cleaned and dressed to meet mom and B for dinner with step brother J, remember him from amazing yard work this summer? He is visiting again for the holidays. No yard work but he is putting up Mom’s tree and putting the lights on for her. The guy is a rockstar!!!

Anyway, as you can tell it is a pretty low key day. The last few were crazy as we went from chaos in a fairly grubby house to holiday ready.

From this

To this

(Although it looks like no one is speaking, they actually were lining up nicely for food. 😉)

To this by the time went to bed:

No point in wasting all that “clean”!

Here’s another great shot from Wednesday night –

Yup, Allie Cat was watching TV. She loves Hallmark’s Happy Yule Log, watches the kittens and puppies very carefully in case they escape the TV and come into her house. Like watches them intently like that for hours. Pretty funny. We taped it in case she needs entertaining later this week.

Well, as much fun as it is visiting with you, I have to go stir the turkey broth and go hang out and knit. I already did some spinning today so I can cross that off, too.

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Here’s the only photo of my table that I got! Not very close up, but you can see the shawls and jewelry pretty well.

The day went very well. Lots of lookers but enough shoppers that it was definitely worth the effort. A few friends made purchases and a few strangers did, too. Lots of interest in the blue beaded shawl but no takers on shawls or scarves. A few people couldn’t believe I made everything. One lady said “where did you get all of this?” and I don’t think she believed the answer! I said I didn’t make it all last week but I still think she thought I was lying! I got orders for three more ornaments and a hat, so that feels good, too. I totaled it up and counting the pre-sales and the orders, I am committed to making more than 20 hats for charity! Wow!

However, in spite of doing very well financially, it was so completely exhausting, I nearly passed out doing the grocery shopping later in the evening. So yesterday was a low key day with puttering on strange chores that needed doing (like descaling the coffee pot) between knitting and spinning and Hallmark movies. Glad this week is a short week!

I finished these socks, a few weeks late (due for October) and I haven’t yet started the November sock- going to fall way behind if I am not careful!

I decided to frog this hat:

Because even though I like the design and colors, it is the wrong yarn for the pattern and came out too big. I ripped it back and have cast on a smaller hat, different pattern. More of a striped hat.

I also did some knitting on the ornament on my needles so I can clear the needles for the three custom ones.

And I finally started spinning my challenge yarn. It is going so fast, I should not have trouble meeting the January deadline. Felt good to be back on the wheel!

This week is a short work week, just two days… but Wednesday will be spent getting ready for the feast. We are seven this year, just some of A’s sisters and parts of their families. I think I can cope. Got a huge bird so everyone can share leftovers. And will make copious mashed potatoes per request. I’ll work on a list for you for Wednesday, but it will mostly be boring, I think… you will have to tell me!

Until then-

Wish every weekend was three days long!

Well, that nice long weekend is over.  Sigh.  It felt really good to have three days off.  Just what the doctor ordered.

I feel like we were busy in spurts, and of course, I did not do all I intended, but I chose not to, in favor of knitting time.

I did get the bedroom and our bathroom dusted and basically cleaned, and A did vacuum them.  I am most proud, though, of the closet change over.  That basically means that I  empty the whole closet onto the bed, pack up the summer clothes, get out the winter clothes, wash them all (no matter how tidily I pack them, they get dusty) and put them all back.  I did that, and all the ensuing laundry, as well as the regular household laundry AND the bedroom curtains.

A and I also did return the trundle bad and have a short visit with SIL.  She is doing very well!  Ankle is extremely stiff, and it does get tired and swollen, but she knows how to manage that.  She can walk and she can drive!  Life is good. We put the bureau back in the guest room, and all the porch plants, too.  It is looking more normal in there now.

We brought in the last ton of what I like to call sawdust – we now have 6 tons of sawdust stored in the cellar!  Actually, it is 5 tons of pellets  and 1 ton of bio-bricks – all sawdust compressed into different shapes which we will burn up all winter long.  We can now park in the driveway again!

I also went to Whorls and Purls on Saturday, and just kept knitting away on ornaments and hats.  The ladies seemed to like how the ornaments came out, which was gratifying, and they helped me sort out my pricing for them. I think I will have at least 8 ready for sale this weekend, maybe a few more?  Depends on how the evenings go.

(I think this is one of my favorites.  Can you spot the red bead on the nose?  🙂 )

I did NOT set up my display or do any signs or tagging, MUST work on that this evening, so I have time to tweak as needed before set up on Friday afternoon.  Debbie at the Purple Fleece was kind enough to lend me several Styrofoam heads and a torso (named Violet) to display things, she is making my display ever so much better than it would have been otherwise – since I only have one head!

I managed to do a couple of small things around the yard – like cut back the asparagus, and pull a few weeds.  Nothing too arduous.  🙂  The pool was frozen over yesterday, so I can’t scoop out any more leaves until it thaws.  Might be spring, but it might not be that long, right?

Oh, and yesterday I pulled out all the yarn and fiber that I have tucked around my seat in the living room so that A could vacuum that room, too.  (She calls it my nest.  🙂 ) I tucked it all back in again neatly, much to her dismay.  She seems to think I should get rid of it or something.  I guess it is almost time to move some of it upstairs to the craft room closet, but then I don’t have it where I use it, lol.  I think I will just keep knitting and spinning and pretend that someday it will be gone.

So, as I hoped, it was a weekend of puttering about and getting things done in spurts, interwoven with long bouts of knitting.  A perfect weekend!

Three day weekend, with a Friday list

“Today is my Friday!” is what one of A’s former coworkers liked to say at the end of a short week. It always makes me laugh. And today IS my Friday, tomorrow is a holiday. I am so excited for this time to get our house cleaned and put back together, and to spend time with A and the cats.

SIL got a great report at the doctor yesterday. Cast is gone, she has a referral for PT, clearance to drive, and go to work next week. A got her moved back home and settled in yesterday afternoon. 

I put some of our living room furniture back where it belongs, since we don’t need wheel chair clearance. Allie Cat came out of seclusion and was very active. We all had a nice evening.

Today I have a relatively normal day so should get out before dark- yeah!

Here’s what I have planned for tomorrow:

Deep cleaning our bedroom (except for vacuuming, I leave that to the pros) and bathroom.

Change over my closet and get out the winter clothes. And I mean it this time. Been putting it off for weeks but now it is cold out!

Laundry

Grocery shopping

PO

A trip over to the Purple Fleece to pick up the fiber for the ornaments. I want to do that ahead of Saturday W and P so I can stuff a few and get a feel for how much is needed, then get more Saturday if I need to. I also want to get more of the white yarn so I can do more colors, lol. And a jar of a gold dye. I have yellow and should be able to mix gold but I can’t seem to get it how I picture it.

That actually should exhaust me completely so that I spend the evening knitting. 😂

Also this weekend I need to set up my display table, tag my things, make some cards to sell, and create my table signs for next Saturday’s craft fair. 

And I am going to make sure we run over to see SIL and return her trundle bed. Then I can work on getting the guest room back in order.

A busy weekend! Good thing it is a long one!

Three day weekend, with a Friday list

“Today is my Friday!” is what one of A’s former coworkers liked to say at the end of a short week. It always makes me laugh. And today IS my Friday, tomorrow is a holiday. I am so excited for this time to get our house cleaned and put back together, and to spend time with A and the cats.

SIL got a great report at the doctor yesterday. Cast is gone, she has a referral for PT, clearance to drive, and go to work next week. A got her moved back home and settled in yesterday afternoon. 

I put some of our living room furniture back where it belongs, since we don’t need wheel chair clearance. Allie Cat came out of seclusion and was very active. We all had a nice evening.

Today I have a relatively normal day so should get out before dark- yeah!

Here’s what I have planned for tomorrow:

Deep cleaning our bedroom (except for vacuuming, I leave that to the pros) and bathroom.

Change over my closet and get out the winter clothes. And I mean it this time. Been putting it off for weeks but now it is cold out!

Laundry

Grocery shopping

PO

A trip over to the Purple Fleece to pick up the fiber for the ornaments. I want to do that ahead of Saturday W and P so I can stuff a few and get a feel for how much is needed, then get more Saturday if I need to. I also want to get more of the white yarn so I can do more colors, lol. And a jar of a gold dye. I have yellow and should be able to mix gold but I can’t seem to get it how I picture it.

That actually should exhaust me completely so that I spend the evening knitting. 😂

Also this weekend I need to set up my display table, tag my things, make some cards to sell, and create my table signs for next Saturday’s craft fair. 

And I am going to make sure we run over to see SIL and return her trundle bed. Then I can work on getting the guest room back in order.

A busy weekend! Good thing it is a long one!

Longest weekend and no real plans!

This is my favorite weekend of the year. Although I don’t love the end result of rolling the clocks back, I do love the long Sunday!

We have no real plans this weekend, and due to the power still being out in the area, no Whorls and Purls today.  That makes me sad but means I will get some other chores done. 

On the agenda:

Laundry, of course. 

Make jelly with all the thawed berries. And maybe a cranberry duff because I have loads of cranberries thawed now, too and don’t need more cranberry sauce.

Bring in some of the three tons of pellets and bio bricks that are in the driveway.

Dye some bits of yarn different colors for knitting ornaments.

Knit some ornaments.

Clean the bathrooms

Mop the kitchen floor (AFTER I make the jelly!)
That seems enough to do for one weekend, even of it is a long one!

I already have the blackberries dripping for jelly, and some red yarn in the dyepot.  And A and her sister are off to Belfast to go the “big” grocery store to replenish the freezer and fridge. That gives me a quiet hour or two to relax and putter at my own speed. 😉

I think it will be a good weekend!