Weekly Overview 02.07.18

 

Outside My Window…  the sun is shining, but it’s oh, so cold!  We’ve had about one warm nice day in the last week where I worked outside some.

I am thinking…  about all the items I found in the Alabama storage boxes that I sorted this morning.  The butterfly blocks in the above picture are a few of the 72 9×9 inch appliqued squares I rediscovered.  I knew I had all these things, but after a decade or more of not seeing them, I’d forgotten.  These will make a beautiful quilt…someday.

I am thankful for… butterflies and flowers, which was a recurring theme in all most of the boxes I sorted.  Below is a wooden butterfly that my Grandpa Shipman made for me probably 25 or more years ago.  It needs a little glue and then I will hang it in the house.  Our winds here are too strong much of the time to hang it outside.

 

 

I am hoping… to figure out a way to display this cross stitched lap quilt that Doris (Bill’s mom) made shortly before she died.  When I gathered up her sewing and craft items, I thought this item needed completing, but upon closer examination, it is finished.  I’d like to display it so we can be using it without ruining it – all that beautiful stitch work won’t hold up well to actually using it as a lap warmer.

 

 

I am reading…

• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (for 100 Bestsellers Code reading challenge)
• Building The American Empire, Volume I: A Narrative History to 1877 by Harry L. Watson
• Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey
• Jeff Gordon: His Dream, Drive & Destiny by Joe Garner
• Fast Food Genocide: How Processed Food is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It by Joel Fuhrman

 

 

I am busy creating… a blue and white waves baby blanket for a friend who just had her first grandchild last month.  While I’m finishing that up (which it really isn’t close to being finished yet), I’ll have to do some yarn color and pattern planning for a wedding gift afghan for one of my cousins.  I’ve chatted with her about the project, so I’ve got a good idea of the colors I need to be looking for.  If I ever run out of crochet projects, I can pick up this counted cross stitch kit I discovered this morning.  Doris began it, but as you can see, it has a long ways to go to finish it.  It’s very pretty though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am hearing… Bill, his coworker, and their client talking, talking, talking, which is my usual background noise and why I use my earbuds and phone so much to listen to music.

Around the house…  Christmas décor has been taken down and carried upstairs – boxes are everywhere in the guest room, waiting to be put away.  Bill mentioned the possibility of putting them in the attic to free up closet room, so I am waiting to see if that is the actual plan.

Around the garden…  I have daffodils poking up and I planted two primroses in the small bed that contains all my spring bulbs.  And that’s about it – no real change from last month.  Hopefully we’ll begin to have some warmer weather soon, but so far, that’s not been the case, and I am a warm weather gardener.

 

In other news…  I have made progress on February goals – Christmas is gone, estate conversation has been had with the lawyer, focus on food has been 100%, I’ve done some walking and a lot of stair climbing, I’ve blogged a bit, and continued crocheting on the baby blanket.  Skipping mochas and no snacking is working, as it usually does, and I’ve lost 2 of the 5 post-flu pounds.  I’m encouraged.  Quicken and office cleaning, not so much.  I really have to buckle down to that.

One of my favorite things…  my Santa bells.  Bill bought me the first one while we lived in Arizona.  The other two, Mama and Papa Claus, I found in the boxes of Christmas items brought back from storage.  I’d eventually like to fill the shelves of this filigree unit with Santa bells and other bells, like birds or butterflies, if there is such a thing.  I’m going to keep my eye out for them.

Our Weekly Overview… 

 Karen:  Monday I had a visit to the chiropractor and I’ll be going back again on Thursday.  Tuesday I had a DCMGA (Denton County Master Gardener Association) Newsletter meeting in the morning, at which I ended up being Managing Editor of the group’s newsletter, something we are starting back up after a 7 year hiatus.  I’m excited about the work, but also cognizant of the fact that I need to make better use of my time in order to get everything done, as it will add to my workload significantly.

I also had a phone conversation with the estate lawyer Tuesday afternoon, which I hope will result in forward motion on the lawyer’s part.  Wednesday is a home day, as is Thursday, other than running to the library to pick up books currently on hold.  Friday morning will be JrMN (Junior Master Naturalist) Preschool class and hopefully afternoon will be continuing work on Quicken.  I expect Saturday we will do some more work on the bonus room wall – it’s getting very close to being ready to paint!

Sunday is the opening race (no points race) for NASCAR.  Football season ended this past Sunday and now here’s racing!

Bill:  Bill is working from home all week.  He’s also continuing to putter with his remote control airplane that he brought back from the Alabama storage unit and also practicing on the flight simulator that he bought last week. He’s been visiting the chiropractor on a regular basis also, with appointments scheduled for Monday and Wednesday.

David:  College class homework has been keeping David occupied, along with continuing work on his game.  He sent me a link yesterday to his latest blog post, in which he updates his readers on game building progress:  ATOMIC SPACE NEWS #9: Glowing colors

 

Here’s a picture thought I am sharing …