11.29.2016

Three weeks post election...

Wow.  Three weeks have passed and I'm still not wanting to accept the results.  Day after day, and Tweet after Tweet it becomes more surreal.  While I do not "care" for PEOTUS, I do follow him on Twitter and reading the tweets usually raises my blood pressure.  I cannot imagine four more years of this nonsense.  Can you?

Life goes on, but sometimes I feel so hopeless/helpless.  Ridiculous...grow up, Teresa!  Get over it and accept it.  Easier said than done.  Instead, I mope--especially after watching the news.  I think that I need to crawl up into a little dome or bubble and just "be"...shut off the worries of the world and retreat into my own little world.




11.28.2016

Cyber Monday, after a nice long weekend

On my list of To Do's (or rather, To Buy's), my main item was a 2017 planner from OneCanoeTwo. 50% off between noon and 1 PM today.  Tah dah...done!
I'm definitely not much of a shopper, especially "in person", and especially at this time of year.  I do love on-line shopping, especially with a nice discount.  Gotta admit, this planner is for me.  All of my other shopping is nearly finished, with most of it done on-line earlier this month, or in the little shop I work in once or twice a month on Sundays.

It was a super-nice four day weekend, divided between hanging out at home in pajamas, and hanging out at my daughter's home and being amused, entertained, and enchanted by Vivian Rose.

11.22.2016

Planning...doesn't always work

Trying to think of an ideal five days off...would they include:
  • lots of time spent in pajamas or yoga pants?
  • great "easy" food?
  • good books to read and explore?
  • knitting or some Alabama Chanin stitching? (yes...this!!)
  • playing with baby Vivian? (yes, this too!!)
  • Gilmore Girls!!
After tomorrow, I'm off through Monday.  Originally I was going to have guests (relatives) in town for several days, but too much fence-sitting on their part, and too much working right up to the holiday on my part led to an invitation "take-back".  Believe me, it did not sit well with those involved.  Live and learn, Teresa.  Live and learn.  Now I just want to spend a little time with friends for turkey day, and then shuffle off home and spend some time with the "nuclear" family...and veg out.


11.18.2016

TGIF, but it doesn't really matter...

Yay, it's Friday.  But I work Saturday and Sunday, then Monday through Wednesday.  No rest for the wicked, I guess.

The day started off with a Benefits Meeting...(finally) getting the scoop on our insurance information for 2017.  Good news!!  No increases, either in payments or deductibles.  Good job, HR!  The meeting started off with a Chocolate Mindfulness exercise.  Click the link to go to the Ted-X Talk.  It was rather interesting, and a nice way to "center" before a meeting.

The weather is gorgeous right now...78 degrees and sunny.  Not bad for the last third of November. We've had such a warm autumn...it's hard to imagine bundling up in coats, boots, and scarves.  That happens tomorrow...the coat part anyway.  Moderate to severe storms are supposed to move through the area later this afternoon, bringing on a cold front with a high temperature of 46 tomorrow.  No problem...I'm working anyway.  It will be a good day to bring in a crock pot of soup to share with my co-worker tomorrow.  I've tried some really great recipes from Pinterest lately...Irish Beer cheese soup (so good, but so bad for you), and yesterday's effort was Crock pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup.




My suggested modifications for the Irish Beer cheese soup...

  • Instead of coating the cheese you've shredded with corn starch, do what you've always done with corn starch...mix it with a little cold water and add it to the pot of broth, then add the shredded cheese.
  • Substitute the Harp's Lager with a regular old American lager.  It will taste the same.  Save the Harp's for drinking, not cooking!

11.15.2016

Twisted Tuesday

Things that made me happy today:

  • $2.99 Chicken Breasts at Fresh Market
  • Delightful deli items, also at FM...chicken salad and yummy Greek artichoke salad
  • Morning coffee from Starbucks.  I'm always game for the bonus stars opportunities they provide, and I hoard free food and drink bonuses until the last possible minute, trying to see how many I can build up.  I'm currently at 3.
  • Packets made up for my mixed media arts program at work tomorrow.  It's always so good to have and carry out a plan! We're doing putz houses...little glitter cottages.  It's a repeat program from about four years ago at another library location.  By tomorrow at this time, I will have glitter all over.
  • A few knitting projects lined out...mostly mindless knitting, the kind I do best.
  • "Cheap" gasoline...still at around $1.86/gallon.  
  • This is an odd one...listening to Christmas music on my lunch break.  Leslie Odom Jr., Simply Christmas.  Just beautiful!
Things that made me sad today:
  • Newspaper headlines about Paul Ryan, Breitbart, Trump, etc. blowing up MediCare and possibly Social Security.  Not good news when I'm 2 years away from collecting.  Not good at all.
Looking Forward to:



  • My library hold should be here tomorrow...Hag-seed: The Tempest Retold by Margaret Atwood.

11.14.2016

Birthday Weekend #63






Feelin' old and cranky.

A road-trip to Bloomington, IN on Saturday morning...Bloomington Hand Made Market, and lots of little shops (especially yarn shops!!), and delicious food at Function Brewery.  The trip to Bloomington is so easy now since I-69 is open all the way from Evansville to Btown.  Nothing exciting along the highway though...just miles and miles of farmland and quarries.

It was a four-day weekend, and it absolutely flew by.  I spent some time with my daughter and grand-daughter, and spent the day with my friend Carol (my usual travelling/shopping buddy).

Still feeling half sick about the election...can't seem to shake it.

11.09.2016

Oh my...

Despair is in the air.  While I hope that we will all pull through this "national, world-wide" disgrace, I fear that will not be the case.

Sad, sickened, and angry...not a good combination.

Hope springs eternal...

11.07.2016

Central Standard Time, Day 2

Pre-birthday (mine) "portrait" with Vivian Rose
Day one of CST started early, of course.  As I suspected, I was awake at 4AM.  Not so bad...in the general scope of things.  I felt like I was accomplishing lots of things way before 9AM.

I met up with a friend at my daughter's house early in the afternoon, and we all went to another friend's open house, followed by a hang-out at Starbucks.  All in all, a very good morning/afternoon. Since we were a bit thrown off by the time change and changing light patterns, we had either a very late lunch or a really early dinner at the local Mexican Restaurant.  Delicious!

I caught up with Chicago Fire--all of this season's episodes--and promptly fell asleep long before 8PM.

Day 2 has started the same as day 1.  Early to rise.  Way too early!

11.05.2016

Darkness Falls...

Tonight's the night...er, early tomorrow is the time-- to fall back.  The only real positive for me is that tomorrow morning will be glorious...it will be light out earlier than the current 7:20 am sunrise, so it will be a day to get up really early (for a Sunday morning, that is).  The bad news--I almost always wake up at 5 AM.  Does this mean that for several days I'll wake up at 4AM until my body adjusts? Yikes!

In preparation for the long dark winter, I've pulled out the fleece pj's, fluffed up the quilts, and have made my bedroom nice and cozy. I'm hoping that the fabulous weather we've been experiencing will hang around a bit longer though...I'll take 85 degrees in the first week of November any time!

Tomorrow is my friend Scarlet's open house...she's a full time artist, and she creates beautiful things...paintings, jewelry, journals, notecards...the list goes on and on.

I can't wait to see some of her new stuff!  We're taking a carload to the open house...Megan, little Vivian (her first open house), and my friend Carol.  Fun times...Starbucks after, I'm sure!

11.04.2016

Off schedule already (Sad face)

 Day 4 of NaBloPoMo, and I've already missed a day.  Sad but true...but I was pretty industrious yesterday.  Errands were run, granddaughter was watched, dinner was shared with daughter, and many many projects were thought out.

This morning when I came in to work, theses delightful books were on my desk.  My holds came in...Flora Bowley's latest book
 and this interesting read about creative women and their businesses:

It's going to be a busy weekend, library work tomorrow, and attending an artist's open house on Sunday afternoon.  Should be interesting!

11.02.2016

Things I do that make me crazy...

Bad habits...yeah, I've got lots of them.  Most of them I've learned to live with...I'm messy, unorganized, unable to complete a task straight through without straying off course, and one of my biggest faults...too many "hobbies."  In the past several years, I've tried to "specialize"...pick one or four things that I actually enjoy doing and leave the rest behind...then something pops up and I'm off to the races again, with a new and different--shall we say--interest.

Last year at this time, I was taking a sock knitting class.  I still have that same sock cuff on the needles.  I'd really like to finish a pair of socks, but working with those tiny needles and that thin yarn just takes So.Much.Time. One of these days...

Lonely little sock cuff


Alabama Chanin poncho, ballet/natural colorway

My other interest is nearly anything Alabama Chanin.  I've blog-stalked a few people, watching and admiring their progress on those wonderful hand-sewn creations, and even have made a few little items myself, such as the fingerless gloves and a book cover. Over the past several months, I've tried to "infect" a few friends and library program attendees with the AC bug.  We've had three or four AC-inspired classes...fabric flowers, gloves, samplers, and of course, the book covers.  I've almost finished a beautiful Magdalena stenciled poncho, ordered from the DIY School of Making.

I'm always bargaining with myself...if/then scenarios.  If I clean the kitchen, then I can sit and stitch. If I sort through the bookcase, then I can sit and read.  I'd like to be able to power through projects, but it seems like most things just make me tired.  No staying power!



11.01.2016

November...


Usually by the 1st of November, it's time to snuggle in...hot tea savored in a cozy reading nook.  Not today!  We're looking at a high of 85 degrees...a record here.  The good news--no humidity.  It's absolutely beautiful here...autumn leaves, sunshine, and a gentle breeze.  Thursday, a day off this week, should usher in a cool front with maybe some showers.  Time to break out the Trader Joe's Spicy Chai!

Catching Up

  It's been awhile...as usual, not much going on.  As I look through photos on my phone, I decided to do a little blog post. Last Monday...