Garden Dreaming...

Frida Kahlo Rose

Now that I will be moving into a house with an actual yard, I've been thinking about gardening.  Mostly vegetable gardening, but then I came across this beautiful rose, so now all I can think about is flower gardening.

I can't wait to get moved...my daughter and her family have started the move, but the previous owners of the house left some heavy unusable furniture in my space.  I have until the end of the month to vacate my apartment, but since I'm off for four days beginning this Thursday, I want to get EVERYTHING ready to go! 

Then...I want to start ordering some plants...herbs, flowers, all of that stuff!  We have window boxes to fill and lots of space for all kinds of gardens.  Can't wait!

The only good thing about snow...

The temperature last Thursday was 64 degrees.  Rainy, but still...64 degrees in mid-January.  I'll take it, right?  Around midnight, the rain changed to freezing rain and sleet.  It then turned to snow sometime after daylight.  Fortunately, I pulled my windshield wipers away from the window and tucked them into little plastic bags, just like they featured on Good Morning, America Thursday morning. Also fortunately, I had a full pantry and refrigerator.  Around 8 PM Thursday evening I was notified by group text that the libraries would be closed on Friday...Yay!!  I immediately sent out a text to the employees at my little branch library.  All were happy.  After all, who wants to drive around in snow and ice?  Friday evening was a repeat...the libraries were closed on Saturday.  Our location is never open on Sunday, and Monday was a holiday.  A four day weekend.  The bad news...no one plowed the parking lot of the huge complex where I live.  All told, we had nearly eight inches of snow over two days...then the temperature really dropped and we woke up to actual -2 degrees yesterday.  Snow is messy...ice is messier.  I finally dislodged my car from the parking place late yesterday afternoon, and managed to drive to work today without incident.

Since I was off, I played around with a few cocktail recipes...the one shown below is a Boulevardier, consisting of bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth.  I saw the recipe on Smitten Kitchen's Instagram feed.  Pretty good! A few of my other cocktail creations were a Dark & Stormy, a Negroni, and some plain old red wine.  It's been ages since I've had alcohol, and it was fun experimenting with new to me recipes.

The other thing I enjoyed was having plenty of hot beverages...teas, hot chocolate, and of course, coffee.

The time off from work was excellent, but it's nice to be back around people...I could turn into such a hermit!

I can tell...

...that I'm feeling better.  I have all kinds of projects floating around in my head.  For the most part, I even have the supplies already on hand.  Now all I have to do is harness the brain waves and sit down and do something!

It has been super cold here for what seems like forever.  I don't like getting up and going to work in 1 degree weather with wind chills in the sub-zero range.  No fun!  By the time I get home from work, it is dark (and still cold both inside the apartment and outside), so my usual routine is to go into the house, put my throw and/or quilt into the dryer to warm up, and jump into pjs.  Therefore, not much gets done around the house, because I usually fall asleep early and don't ever get out from under the covers until it's time to shower and get ready for work.  Not good habits to get into at all. 

Maybe tonight will be the night...

Intentional

So this is the start of a new year...no "new year, new you" or resolutions for me.  I decided several years ago that I could/would not keep promises to myself, or that they were just too big in scope to handle.  This year I just want to "be good"...be a good citizen, be a good neighbor, be a good supervisor, be a good mother and grandmother.  That really shouldn't be hard...I always (almost anyway!!) try to do the right thing.  It may sound silly, but I want to live my "dream" life this year...to come home to a relatively clean and uncluttered home and do whatever my heart desires...read, knit, whatever.  Since I've severely down-sized, I'm fairly certain that I can make that happen without too much stress and strain.

Trying to get the creativity mojo going...

A few months ago, a friend was at an auction, and knowing how much I like relics and religious medals, she bid on this item (Infant of Prague) and got a bag full of other interesting religious things.

I've been trying to get back to the creative zone, and the little medals have inspired me to do something...what, I'm actually not sure of, but probably a mixed media piece crocheted with C-Lon, beads, and a few scattered medals.

I had my last round of chemotherapy yesterday (YAY!!), so I'm hoping to feel more energetic and inspired in the coming weeks.

The dust is starting to settle...

11 Chemos down, 1 to go.  The last one (yesterday) had been postponed 4 times, due to either high or low numbers.  Not good, and very frustrating!  I feel fabulous today...but it's a work day!  I'd like to feel fabulous at home so I could get some things put away!

The move...long and drawn out, very exhausting.  If it wouldn't have been for my daughter, it still wouldn't be complete and I'd be paying rent on 2 locations (and it would have made the old landlords pretty angry...they want to renovate so they can attract the new medical school students and personnel.  Too bad they didn't do anything for the past 14+ years!

The new apartment...kinda love it because it's so much smaller and SO MUCH quieter. The exterior of the building needs some serious TLC, but my place has new carpeting and fresh paint.  Makes a huge difference.  I haven't hung anything on the walls...trying to figure out where I really want things.

I cooked yesterday...the first time in about 8 months, not counting throwing a frozen dinner in the microwave, or opening a can of soup and microwaving it.  The weather has turned very cool, so I made a shepherd's pie...a huge recipe, so I brought in single-serve dishes to work for a co-worker and myself. Hope it's tasty!

No crafting adventures lately...no art, no knitting, no Alabama Chanin-ing.  I did have a class at work on Wednesday, altering Altoid tins for Halloween.  Pretty much fun!

Hellacious Spring and Summer...

But first, a cute baby picture...

Little Vivian, looking either a little perturbed, or pondering what she wants to get into next.  Always a toss-up. She has just been the best "medicine" for me in the past several months.

On April 1, I was diagnosed with colon cancer.  I had surgery the next day and had 1/3 of my colon removed.  In May I began chemotherapy...not the most pleasant thing in the world, and it seemed like every time I'd go for a treatment, something different would pop up...low blood counts, low potassium, etc., then I'd have to build myself up (funny...) and have the treatment the next week.  It's always something.  Anyway, I'm down to 4 remaining treatments, and my doctor took me off of the "killer" chemical...the one that was knocking my stats down. So, I had a treatment on Thursday and I was able to work a full day on Friday and Saturday.  No 3-day weekend for me!

On the plus side, I've lost 40 pounds...no appetite most days.  On the minus side, my hair has thinned out so much...and the gray hairs are outstanding!  I went to the local wig shop with my friend Carol (who has stuck with me through the long chemo sessions), and we found a wig that looked like my hair did before cancer, only better!  Hopefully the insurance company will reimburse me--it's called a cranial prosthesis...not a wig.

In the meantime, I haven't planted anything and my house is a mess.  No energy, but I'm feeling so much better!

Currently...

• Enjoying spending time with Vivian.  She loves those rabbit ears!
• Knitting...still working on that first sock.  I've signed up for another knitting class at another library, and it begins on April 4.  We're working on a shawlette or scarf.  Linus is the pattern name and it is a free download on Ravelry.
• Reading...

Stamped Metal Jewelry by Adrianne Surian

DIY Hand Lettering by Melissa Averinos and Asharae Kroll

She Sheds by Erika Kotite

I have flipped through this book dozens of times in the last week.  So many wonderful little hideaways and studios.  This is my favorite...

 Paige Morse's La Casita.  So exquisitely beautiful, inside and out.  I would love to have all 250 square feet of it to live in.

This is actually what I could have in my little backyard...

Via Pinterest

I think I'll make it my late Spring project...definitely doable, even with my lack of  skills. Anyone have any old doors to spare?

Things that make me happy...

Words just cannot express...I love anything Frida, and these emojis are pretty hysterical!  They add so much to my meager text messages.

I totally love Trader Joe's.  We visited the location in Louisville this past Saturday and now my fridge and pantry are stocked with delicious items!  I know that Aldi is a "sister" company, and I do lots of my shopping there locally.  TJ's is the fun place though!

Another fun place to shop...grocery items from around the world, and fun household items.  I usually shop this place online, but Louisville had a location in the same shopping center as TJ's.  They also had another of my favorites...

For several years I would buy spices and herbs at places like Rural King...all priced at 99 cents or less.  After trying Penzeys spices, it's impossible to revert.  They have so many blends and individual herbs and spices...something for everyone!  They are also located in that same little shopping center in Louisville.  Almost one stop shopping...awful traffic in the lot, but still...all of my favorites in one location!

March 13...the first real snow of the 2016/2017 season...

This had been a pretty spectacular winter...plenty of blue skies and sunshine, and more importantly, plenty of warmish weather.  When the temperatures are in the 60's and 70's for most of February and the beginning of March, it's such a good thing!

Today (worst Monday of the year...the Monday morning after DST becomes a "thing"), it was super-gloomy.  By the time I got to work, snow started flying.  Granted, it isn't sticking to the roadways, but it is piling up on the grass and trees.

Our little daffodil garden is covered!  According to the weather service, this will all turn to rain this afternoon, and by the end of the week it should be near 60 again.  No real complaints...we aren't in the mess many along the upper midwest and east coast are in.

Making crepe paper flowers...

A few weeks ago, a friend donated a gigantic batch of books.  Most of these were crafting books, knitting, stencils, embroidery, and several clip art books/cd's.  I've been going through them and putting together library programs.  This is a super interesting one from 1922:

 Note the price...ten cents!  It has directions for making over thirty different flowers.  I want to try to make a lotus flower...looks easy enough, but we'll see!

Lotus Flower directions