Thursday - working hard or hardly working?

Yesterday I went to Walmart shopping and that was pretty much it.  Just shopping for it, loading it in the car, unloading it when I get home and then putting it all away is enough for one day! LOL!  I made a menu this time but didn't get all the ingredients.  I tried to use Rain's method of making a menu and list and then shopping once a month.  It is fun to make the menu but then the grocery list was pretty big and I was sure it was going to be over my budget so I chickened out and only got  ingredients for a few meals and supplies.  I need to examine prices of things and make a price list of ingredients so I can judge how much my groceries will cost ahead of time.  But it was a good start!  I discovered 2 of my menu items were very expensive to make!
I did manage to stay up to date with my reading schedule and the washcloth I finished today but need to weave in the ends.  So, today was cooking and baking..........I was up early this morning and made blueberry muffins but no ordinary blueberry muffins...these have cream cheese and light cream (half and half).........so moist and with fresh blueberries,,,what a tasty treat for my breakfast! 

They are definitely something to crow about! LOL! 

I couldn't resist....on top of all that I put butter on them too.........heaven with a hot cup of coffee!
Later, I made a batch of laundry detergent...........not edible but needed.

Tonight I'm fixing linguini with toasted pine nuts, roasted broccoli and a feta cheese sauce.....it 's really good and good for you!  I'm just starting to make it now and the broccoli is waiting for the oven to heat up.
I'm going to list my recipes in a special section like Rain has on her blog.....it might take some time but I will get it FINISHed! LOL!  That's my word and I'm sticking to it!  I will also have a section for my cleaning recipes.
 It is 64 degrees F here but we have a Winter Weather Advisory! LOL!  Evidently there are some changes coming!  It is raining now and it is supposed to go down to 22 degrees F tonight....should be interesting!  Stay safe and warm!

Happy Trails!!!

Monday - Time to get back to work!

I am trying to be mindful of my time and use it wisely.  I need to set goals and work towards them.  It's funny how retirement lets you have all the freedom you want but that can be a dangerous thing.  It makes you feel like you have all the time in the world but we don't....none of us do.  There are not too many things that I truly want to accomplish before my time is up but there are still some....in fact, really 2 that are important right now and I need to be working towards.  1) Moving back to my hometown and 2) creating a handmade/self-sufficient life for myself.  Of course, these 2 alone have many, many tasks associated with them so I plan on setting daily, weekly and monthly goals to accomplish them.  I will take weekends off and as such Saturday is still Craft Day and I will not blog on that day.  Also, I have my Goodreads challenge but it goes without saying that books have been one of the greatest joys of my life since I learned how to read so it is a definite priority.  Also, I am taking my 2018 word of the year....FINISH very seriously.  I will be refining my goals as I go along but most importantly I will be breaking them down into measurable activities so I can track my progress.  Someone once said that goals without action are merely dreams.  So I am calling myself to ACTION!  Maybe I should have had 2 words this year! LOL!

  As I previously mentioned in another post, I failed miserably at my Goodreads Challenge last year.  I have kept the same goal of 75 books which is about 1 1/2 books per week.  So, I have taken the 2 books that I am reading and figured out how many pages I need to read daily to finish them in the next 7 days. 
Outlander is 627 pages but I am already at page 175 so I need to read 65 pages a day to finish in a week.  I also calculated what page that would be for each day:
Monday - to page 238
Tuesday - to page 303
Wednesday - to page 368
Thursday - to page 433
Friday - to page 498
Saturday - to page 563
Sunday - to page 627
Aunt Dimity and the Duke is 290 pages
Monday - to page 42
Tuesday - to page 84
Wednesday - to page 126
Thursday - to page 168
Friday - to page 210
Saturday - to page 252
Sunday - to page 290
This might sound and look a bit anal but I have so many things I want to accomplish in my life still that this is the only way I can ensure as much as possible that I can get them done...by keeping track of them and having milestones.  So that is my methodology and this is only for books.  I have yet to apply this method to other areas.  I will update you as I figure those areas out.
I did have a FINISH today though..........The Frost is on the Pumpkin is framed!  The only problem is the glass for it broke when I got it so I will have to buy a cheap frame and use the glass from it to protect it but I haven't done that yet.  This is the back of it before putting it in the frame.  You do the lacing on the long side and then on the short sides you stitch it down to the material on the long side.

 Here it is...finally.......

I also got 2 lovely cards in the mail today for my birthday.....the Post Office is scoring a big fat zero as she sent these last week........our government is dysfunctional on so many levels!
But they are much loved and appreciated (the cards not the government...lol)!

This is what Sam and Grayson wrote....too cute..........love the "meery cwismiss"!

and of course my daughter's sweet handwritten sentiment.....I am so blessed!

 I hope you had a great Monday and that you are off to a good start this week!
Happy Trails!!!

YOP Week #28

 My word for the year..FINISH....is keeping me mindful and on task.  I hope it lasts all year!  It is meant for all areas of my life not just YOP but it's helping there too.  I finished the 2017 Collectible Ornaments!  Yay!  There are actually 4 but mine is hanging on the tree.  This is a free pattern on Ravelry by Susan B. Andserson and it was a pleasure to knit.

I'm working away on the wash cloth for my friend and I just finished row 50 so only 21 more to go....so far so good...........I hope you can see the X's and O's now and I learned a new technique...a YO (yarn over) which creates a hole and adds a stitch.  There's a K2T (knit 2 together) right before it so the stitch count remains the same.

The socks have gotten some love but not a lot...........I'm on round 35 of 61 on the first sock.......

and last but not least I finally started to frame my Frost on the Pumpkin cross stitch.......I thought I might have it done but that stitching takes longer than I thought plus bending over the kitchen table is a back killer so I have to take breaks....hopefully next week I will have it done to show you.

  I worked on my sweater a bit but you've seen that enough times.  It's raining here but not much....just a drizzle but it's warming up!  This morning it was 19 F and now it is 36...by Wednesday it's supposed to be in the 60's!  If we're not going to have snow then what's the use of cold weather? 
With all those days of freezing temps and single digits......the weeds are still alive!  They never die here!
I hope you are warm and safe and dry and enjoying your Sunday and doing a bit of crafting!
Happy Trails!!!