However, I have learned over the past year and a half that when I don’t feel like writing here…that is precisely the time when I need to be writing here. You know, dancing in the rain and all that. Some days, I want to say "Bah Humbug! to dancing in the rain. Some days, I’m kind of pissed off at myself for ever having the idea to keep a blog like this even though it seemed like such an excellent idea at the time. Other times, it does remind me to keep focused on things that I otherwise probably wouldn’t, even when I don’t particularly want to. I guess it serves it's purpose, even if I have a love/hate relationship with it.
So. Sunday, I didn’t feel like writing so I didn’t. And yesterday, I was mad at myself for not writing when I didn’t feel like it. Feeling guilty, I started writing late last night, when I was too tired, and I gave up and am writing now instead. Joyful Simplicities Sunday 2 days late.
Last week was a sucky week for lots of reasons. Every single day, it was something, or more than one thing. The week got off to a bad start on Monday, and really didn’t improve much. I’m not going to write about the sucky things that happened, but it was a crappy week (and an expensive week!) and I’m glad it’s a new one. I did however find a few things to find some joy in.
Homemade bread.
I wish I could make homemade bread every single day because really, is it possible to be in a bad mood, no matter what is going on, when you have a huge bowl of bread dough rising and baking and filling your house with a lovely aroma that puts an inch or two around your waist just from smelling it? I think not.
A gorgeous sunset.
The past two weeks have been full of gray, dreary, depressing days and the sun has been on vacation. On sabbatical is more like it. I think that is what I hate about winter more than snow and cold. (Although I do have a very passion-filled hate for both of those things!) I hate day after day of no sun. Well, this weekend, we finally had some sun. Last night, we all gathered on the porch to gaze in wonder at the beautiful sunset. Even the kids were impressed. The picture isn’t very good because my camera sucks, but the sky was swirled in stripey layers of every shade of orange and pink and purple. It reminded me of sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico. Only my toes were in slippers instead of warm, powdery sand. (Oh, if only they were in sand instead...)
Onward…
Creative juices are flowin’ through my veins.
I’m not sure what has gotten into me lately, but I like it! Last Sunday, I wrote about how I pulled out some of my old scrapbooking supplies and started making a small scrapbook. Well, this past week I had the strangest urge to do something I haven’t done since I was a kid in Girl Scouts…embroidery. So off I went to Michaels to buy some thread and a hoop. Weird, I know. I think my little project is turning out pretty darn sweet, even if I don’t have embroidery skills that anyone would envy. Considering I haven’t embroidered since I was 6th grade, I’m kind of impressed with myself. The worst part is the eyes ain’t what they used to be, and it requires me sitting next to a window, with a lamp shining directly on the fabric, AND my old lady Walgreens special reading glasses. And I can only work for about 30 minutes at a time before my eyes start bugging out of my face. It’s not finished yet, so I’m not ready to show it off, but here’s a sneak peak.
I also made some jewelry this past week. I haven’t done that since summer, and again, it was fun, and relaxing, to pull out my boxes of beads, make a mess all over my dining room table, and create something. Two somethings actually…it’s getting close to Angel Ball time, and I decided I needed to get moving and make a bracelet. This is what I came up with and everyone loved it:
It’s only half a bracelet right now because I was hurriedly stringing beads less than an hour before I had to get to an Angel Ball meeting Thursday night and half was all I had time for.
I also made this fun necklace. When I was out Christmas shopping, I fell in love with a necklace I saw at a kiosk in the mall. I didn’t however fall in love with the $85 price tag dangling from it. I knew it was something I could make, and while it’s not exactly the same as the one I saw in the mall, I actually like this one better. The turquoise beads on the mall necklace were bigger and chunkier, and the silver chain was chunkier, and this suits my style a bit more. I also like it better because I spent nothing on it…I already had all the beads in my stash. Bonus!
Big weekend breakfasts.
I have been making the effort to make a big breakfast sometime on the weekend, and so far, I’ve made it 6 weeks in a row. I have a better track record at that than I do at writing every Sunday on my blog. Woo hoo. I’ve made a yummy breakfast casserole, overnight blueberry French toast, eggs Benedict, cinnamon rolls, omelets, banana pancakes, and this past Sunday, I made biscuits and gravy and a loaf of really yummy orange cranberry bread. It ends up being brunch more than breakfast since my children think that rising before noon is “early.” They are definitely enjoying the big breakfasts though, and they have decided that they get to take turns every week choosing what I will make. While they are arguing over what delicious feast I will make next weekend, I’m checking into how much it costs to join Curves cuz I sure am going to need it. Soon. Oh, heck…who I am fooling. I needed it 5 years ago.
Measuring cups.
Yes, I said measuring cups. A week or so ago, I came across this on the Anthropologie website, and HAD to have it. It was a frivolous purchase, I know. But I still have my $100 gift card that Share’s board of directors gave us as a Christmas gift because I haven’t really had time to go shopping and spend it. I have never bought anything from Anthropologie, and I felt like a kid on Christmas when my doorbell rang on Thursday afternoon, and I discovered the box sitting on my front porch. The really great thing about this, other than the fun factor, is that maybe just maybe when my kids put away dishes, the measuring cups will all get put away together instead of one in this cabinet, another in this drawer, another in still another cabinet.
Cookbooks.
I adore cookbooks. I can curl up with a good cookbook just as easily as I can curl up with a good novel. I have so many cookbooks that I don’t even have room to put them all out in the cabinet in my kitchen that is there solely for cookbook storage. I think it’s a sickness I have, although I have been good the past few years and haven’t bought any at all. On Sunday morning though, I found THE cookbook that has been missing from my life, even if I didn’t know it. And it was only 89 cents on my Kindle! Best 89 cents I’ve ever spent…it’s a Gooseberry Patch cookbook of nothing but homemade macaroni and cheese recipes. I think I may have drooled onto my Kindle screen when I saw it. I make mac and cheese on a weekly basis, and I am always looking for new ways to jazz it up. Which is part of the reason I am thinking of joining curves. I haven’t tried a new recipe yet, but it is on my “joyful simplicities plan” for some night this week.
Well, that is all. I guess I didn’t do too bad considering I wasn’t in the mood to write at all. And I didn’t write much about food either!
No comments:
Post a Comment