Monday Book Date and more!!!

I'm still not getting a lot of reading in lately.  I'm sure I will when Fall closes in on us and we have rainy, windy nights here....great cozy reading weather!  For now, I did finish this one which was excellent and I think I gave it 5 *****.........very sad about the brainwashing and abuse of women and children but it was very revealing about what went on in the FLDS community and probably is still going on.  It's hard to believe that it was/is allowed in this supposedly democratic country!  Anyway, I highly recommend it!  There's a 2nd book out by her....I may have to read that one too!

 I'm still reading this one...........very well written but I've just been too tired by the time I 'hit the hay'.....I'm going to have to go to bed earlier so I can read for awhile without dozing off by the 2nd page! LOL!

My new non-fiction is something a bit lighter and so far very well written, enjoyable and entertaining....... it is a book containing 20 essays on knitting by Rachel Herron and I highly recommend this book even though I'm not finished!  Each essay is unique though and if you are a knitter this book was meant for you!  I got it on sale with one of those Kindle deals.
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Amazon states: "In these 20 heartfelt essays, Rachael Herron celebrated romance novelist by day, 911 dispatcher by night, shows how when life unravels there s always a way to knit it back together again, many times into something even better. Honest, funny, and full of warmth, Herron s tales, each inspired by something she knit or something knit for her, will speak to anyone who has ever picked up a pair of needles. From her very first sweater (a hilarious disaster, to say the least) to the yellow afghan that caused a breakup (and, ultimately, a breakthrough), every piece has a moving story behind it. This beautifully crafted and candid collection is perfect for the knitter who loves to read and the reader who loves to knit."
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 I'm still reading this National Geographic from August 1992....the stories and information remain relevant..........

 What's up next?  Well, I have read Margaret Atwood before but never The Handmaid's Tale and now that it won an Emmy I want to read the book!  I may just succumb as I am REALLY wanting to read it and with the Kindle I could be reading it tonight!  But I should check Thrift Books first....they probably have it much cheaper............okay...I just checked and Amazon is $10 while Thrift Books is a little over $7.  Hmmmm.....I'm thinking the Kindle version tonight!?!?

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Amazon states:   "Now a Hulu Original Series 
The Handmaid's Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population.The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment’s calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid's Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and a tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best."
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Doesn't it sound so interesting?   I read Margaret Atwood years ago...like over 20?  Maybe longer than that when she first started writing and I thoroughly enjoyed her but then I went back to school and work and REALLY did not read anything but textbooks and IBM manuals for years! LOL!   I forgot what a great writer she is.....I can't wait to read it and more of her books!
As for t.v. or movies.....no  movies and only 1 or 2 podcasts but I have been watching the Father Brown mystery series on Netflix....so good!     
What have you been reading, listening to and watching this week? 
Happy Trails!!!

YOP Week #12

I missed last week because of my garage sale and general exhaustion! LOL!  But I'm back and I have a sad tale to tell.............I had originally said that Saturdays were going to be blogging about outdoors but I am revising it so I can totally devote the day to crafts.  So, with that in mind, I set out yesterday morning to 'sew the day away' and I was pretty pumped about it too............until........I started sewing 'in the ditch' with my walking foot on my sewing machine to quilt the I Spy quilt (1 of 3)..............and first I noticed this...........see those stitches?  Some are very tiny and some are very large...............

then when I let my foot off the pedal the machine wouldn't stop!!!  It kept sewing and I had to turn it off to get it to stop...........this is what that looked like.............see those wild very tiny stitches above the green rooster's head?  They are so tiny that I am having a hard time even getting them out with my seam ripper! 

I have had problems with this machine since the day I got it and I am done with it!  I called around and one shop in Mountain Home said they had a Janome that was just used in a class for around $500....they didn't sell used or reconditioned and no trade-ins.  Then I called a shop in West Plains, Missouri which is actually closer and they take trade-ins and have machines starting at $33!  Now, we're talking!  It seems the minute I spend some money on something I need or have wanted then something else breaks!  What's up with that?  I have to have a machine though because almost all my Christmas presents this year are sewing projects for which I have already invested money in the materials!  If you have any suggestions as to what machines are the best at a reasonable price.....please let me know!  The one I have is a Walmart Singer which I should have known but I was new in town and there was no place else to get one at the time.  I just need a reliable machine.  It doesn't have to be fancy but I use it for quilting and sewing clothes and curtains and stuff for the house.  So, tune in next week to see if I have a new/used machine!  Being without a sewing machine would be like being without yarn and crochet hooks and knitting needles!  I know...........a nightmare!
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The first sock of the pair is heading towards the toe..................... 

and I did manage to work on my cross stitch and it is getting to the end.  I looked for snowflake buttons at Hobby Lobby the other day but no luck so I guess I will have to order them online.  I think it mentioned they were from Westrims.  The words...'is on the' don't show  up very well but I guess it will be alright.....I'm not doing it over! LOL!

I have not been watching podcasts for several weeks now except Friday night I did watch the latest one from Joyce at Ruby Moss Cottage....love that gal!  Here's a few websites I discovered and wrote down to share with you all.

 Ruby and Custard  
 This is a crochet site with free patterns, a book she has published on Amazon and patterns you can purchase
Knitography
This site is a combo of photography, geography and knitting....she also has a vlog on You Tube
 Jan Patek Quilts
If you're interested in primitive quilt designs and a very talented lady check this site out!
 Samelia's Mum
This gal is an excellent seamstress with some really cute projects 

Well.............I'm doing laundry, I need to change my sheets and make dinner.....I thought this was supposed to be a day of rest? LOL!
 I hope all is well in your world!
Happy Trails!!!

Fun Friday!!!

Yes, for 2 days now I have driven to Mountain Home...3 hours round trip.  Nothing tires me out like shopping and driving but I have to say it is a beautiful drive....lots of great scenery.  When I was going across the bridge over Norfolk Lake there was a rainbow colored sailboat and of course lots of other boats.  The weather here has been beautiful and the trees are turning color and the leaves are starting to fall so it was gorgeous driving, I must say.
Lowe's was supposed to have the sample roof shingle for me today but when I got there the guy said he hadn't been in yet.  So, he called him and the guy said he couldn't make it today.  Really?  I just drove 1 1/2 hours to pick it up!  So, wanting to turn a negative into a positive I gave my sample shingle to the Lowe's 'pro' with my name and phone number.  I told him when the sample arrives to see if it matches and to call me and if it does (which I feel very positive it will) then I will order it over the phone and he can call me when it comes in and I will come and pick it up.  Problem solved!
So, not wanting to waste a trip to Mountain Home......I drove on over to Hobby Lobby and picked up a few things that I had on my 'never-ending list'..........can you guess what these supplies are for?

Yes....another new project...or 2!  I'm going to be trying my hand at making my own soap and my own lip balms!  After that I will be moving on to body butter and who knows what else?  There's goat milk soap base, lip balm containers, a soap mold, almond oil and shea butter plus some colorant.  Stay tuned!!!
 I also treated myself to a Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte...which means it is officially Fall regardless of the temperature............it was wonderful!

and since I had the last of the soup last night and knew I would not be in the mood to cook when I got home...........I stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings and got one of their pulled barbecue pork and slaw sandwiches with some potato wedges.............yum!  I ate half for lunch and the rest I'll have for supper....although I am still full actually! LOL!

 Yesterday when I went to Lowe's I picked up a few other items that had been on my 'never-ending list'....not very glamorous purchases but much appreciated none the less...........a new toilet seat..............which I have yet to install.........

and a new garbage can that is a 64 gallon 'tough' one.....now I can throw out my other broken ones.........can you believe this thing cost $65 and that was on sale from $75!!!  But the 32 gallon was $50 so it was a no brainer to go with the 64 gallon.....oh well, it's only money but this will probably be the last garbage can I ever have to buy.......

I also picked out a sample of the laminate flooring I would like to get....down the road...............
not too dark and not too light....dark shows the dust and light shows the dog hair! 

That 's all for Fun Friday, although I do have an Amazon order on it's way but I'll save that for next Friday.  Now, I think I'll 'kick back' and try out my new cross stitch/embroidery hoop! Oh, I forgot to show you....here  it is....one of those new fangled ones..........anything's got to be better than my old wooden ones!

 Have a great Friday night............Happy Trails!!!

Wednesday and Thursday combined..........

Wednesday is supposed to be decorating and indeed I did but 'the roof boys' came by and my afternoon went by also!  They needed more shingles so I had to try and match with what they brought from the local lumber yard....well.........that wasn't doing it and I was pretty sure my son said they had gone to Lowe's and found them.  By the time they left my afternoon was gone and I was beat since I get up about 2:30 or 3:00 now a days.  So, needless to say...I did not get my blog post done.  But before they came I had painted the rest of the entryway closet alcove............here it is!

 I still have the floor to do.............gray porch paint on the plywood.............

 I also need to paint the shelf which I sort of forgot...why I don't know as it was right next to it!?!?
 So.........there will be more decorating next week for sure!

 Meanwhile....Thursday is cooking day although actually this cooking took place on Sunday and good thing because I had to go to Mountain Home today to match the roof shingles....they are ordering a sample which will be in tomorrow so I have to go again tomorrow!  If it matches then I will order and have to go back and pick up next week!  Crazy huh?  But this is my life! LOL!
But I do have some 'keeper' recipes for you...........this may not look like much but trust me it was/is delicious!  I went back to All Recipes and I had wanted to either make a tortilla soup or some white chili.........I ended up with this white chili recipe because the tortilla soup was an 8 hour crock pot recipe and it was a little late in the day.  I'll be trying that one later.

  To go with it I spotted a Krusteaz cornbread mix at the store and I grabbed it.  I usually don't 'do' mixes but Krusteaz is very good so I thought I would try it and it did not disappoint!  I  used to use Jiffy but then went to making them from scratch but this was heads above both...more expensive yes, but I'm worth it! LOL!
 This was my 'prep' before making it all..............

  Here's the cornbread muffins when they came out of the oven............and they were very good!  Also, see how you actually get 12 full size muffins!  Amazing!

For breakfast this week I made some blueberry muffins to go with my soy yogurt that I eat.  This was another All Recipes recipe.  Now, granted, neither the soup or the blueberry muffins are exactly 'healthy' recipes but dang they were good!  I need to start looking at the 'healthy' section of All Recipes!  By the way, All Recipes has recipes for diabetics, gluten free, healthy and all kinds of other categories so you can really customize your browsing for recipes.  Here are the blueberry muffins

Okay!  So hopefully now I am caught up with my blog schedule..........tomorrow is fun and shopping and I have a bunch to tell you about there! So exciting!  For me anyway! 
Happy Trails!!!

Tuesday - Cleaning and Organizing....still!

I bet you wondered what happened to me...well...I was either glued to the t.v. trying to keep tabs on Irma or I was getting ready for my garage sale which was Saturday.  It was a big disappointment...maybe $20 tops.  But the good side is I spent a lot of time and energy cleaning and clearing out the garage.  There's still more to do but Golly Miss Molly....I got rid of so much stuff!!!  Granted, it is still in the garage as garbage day was today but 80% rain and wind leftover from Irma.....needless to say it has not been windy nor has it rained a drop!  They are so bad here about predicting weather!  I could have taken lots more out to the street but I have cardboard boxes full of stuff and if it was going to rain it would have been a real mess.....so I declined.
The garage is looking better despite the fact that the sale stuff is still in there and the garbage....but you be the judge..........

 below is a before picture........

 here is an after picture with sale stuff on table and freezer........whatever didn't sell is either going to Thrift, metal collector man or garbage...it is NOT coming back...lol!

I got most of that shelf cleaned and cleared off and now it holds my gardening supplies but there is a piano in front of it that I couldn't get all the way behind.....the movers left several pieces of furniture in my garage instead of putting them in the house and there they sit!  As soon as I get it cleaned out I am going to hire some local movers to move them into the house where they belong!

The ladders (tall extension ones are going) and so much more!  The screens are from the porch where the roofers were working so I took them out to the garage but back they went to the porch now!

This was part of the sale..............

and this.............

and this............

This is all the garbage except for the 2 tables which will go to the Thrift Store..........

more sale stuff on my new shelf..........

I got all around the garage except for the back wall which is mostly hardware that will go with the metal man when he comes...........those shelves will come down and I will have a work bench back there with my tools..........

I just got to the corner there when I quit and I didn't do the shelf yet....I was exhausted and filthy!  But the whisk broom was my friend for getting cobwebs etc. off of the wood and items.  I have quarter round and some wood pieces that I will save and I whisked each and every one of them and got them off the floor. 

I have my old wagon wheel pot rack my son made for me and my old screen door...now those are precious items!  I unearthed some other items I've wanted to use but they were buried amongst the junk! LOL!  So, that's what I've been up to and Sunday was recoup and then yesterday was laundry and make a dinner so who knows where the time goes but I know a lot was spent checking on Irma!

I hope you are all fine and dandy.  Oh, Irma has finally arrived here.....it's sprinkling! LOL!

Happy Trails!!!

Tuesday - Cleaning and Organizing!

Well....I had some interruptions today so not much got done but I have been cleaning and organizing during the week too and I will post what I got done.  These are not pretty pictures as it is cleaning and organizing my messes but it is what it is and progress has been made!  I also get motivated when I see other people's posts about organizing or cleaning so I hope it does the same for some of you.
 This was at the beginning of 'the project'............when I had only cleaned the top shelf............

Then it got washed and cleaned and reorganized...........this was when it was all clean and I was starting to organize it..........

there were things that got thrown out and there were things that would go in the sale..........

then I cleaned out my pantry and put the canned goods and my cleaning things on the big shelf...........

The round piece of furniture is a plant stand that is going in the sale and a few other items...........I also picked up this metal shelf unit at Walmart the other day.  It is heavy duty and holds 150 pounds per shelf!  It was on sale for $20 so I grabbed one.  If I like it I might get a few more but for now it will help with placing items on it for the sale................

This is   my real pantry right outside the kitchen door and I emptied it and washed all the shelves....I also got rid of a bunch of outdated goods................

It left me with 3 empty shelves!  I am really liking this cleaning and organizing!  I want so badly to paint these shelves and shelving units but now is not the time...................

It has doors too that close but no latch...............I'm sure my dad built these............

I also used my new mop and washed part of the ceiling and walls in the laundry room....I love this mop....it is flat and I got the advice and tips from Debbi at Nobody Needs to Know videos on You Tube. She is a professional house cleaner and uses natural cleaning solutions.  She's been cleaning for 26 years so she knows what she's talking about!  I highly recommend her videos!   This made wall washing and ceiling washing so much easier than rags and buckets and dripping!  You can use it dry to dust your walls too.  You can learn more about this mop in her videos and see it in action.

I was going to show you my clean (but still needs to be painted) wall but my camera ran out of batteries....need to put those on the list!
I found several great pins on Pinterest regarding garage sales...one was on pricing items and the other was a time table of when to do what prior to the sale....good information but I am way behind as usual!  But if I can just get rid of stuff before winter I will feel good.....anything is an improvement and I am motivated now to do even more!
I hope you had a great Labor Day and didn't labor too hard!  Happy Trails!

Emergency Post!!!!!

I can't believe I forgot to mention this yesterday!!!  Craftsy has ALL their classes for free today all day long!!!!  Isn't that amazing?  If you have the time take advantage of it as their classes are GREAT!  I'll be back later but I wanted to let everyone know first thing this morning!  Have a great Labor Day and let me know if you take any classes and how you liked them. 
Happy Trails!!!

YOP Week #10

Happy to be back knitting Magic Loop cuff down and my vanilla sock.........and I am loving this yarn!  It is Paton's Kroy 4-ply fingering weight sock yarn.  I wasn't sure about the color but I really like it now that I'm seeing it in the sock.  It is so much prettier worked up, I think.  I'm on the heel flap right now............

I also got the quilt 'sandwich' put together and pinned although I ran short of pins so I may have to quilt a bit and then remove some pins and reuse them in a different place....it's all about the 'logistics'! LOL! 

Can you see the pins?  I use those curved ones which are easier when 'sandwiching'.....

I worked on my 'Frosted Pumpkin' this week and the hat pattern is fun to watch take shape with the different colors.............

I didn't blog yesterday because I thought I had lost my wallet and I spent 2 hours looking for it....I found it PTL but then I had to go to Wally World and didn't get home until almost 4:00 p.m. and then had to unload and put everything away.....yada, yada..........today I'm feeling a bit under the weather so I may go and lay down for awhile....I'll catch up with you all later or tomorrow.
Happy Trails!!!