An Interesting Week

Hello, happy Monday and happy February. How is your week starting out? Last week, for me, was a strange kind of week. One of those weeks filled with a lot of different things. Some highs and some lows. First of all we had some snow. Not a lot. Not enough to have a snow day at home. However, the snow was beautiful while it was hanging around. It started early Tuesday morning and for about an hour it was a winter wonderland. It was the heavy wet snow that sticks to everything, well everything except the road that is. I went out and took a few pictures and then took a few on my way into work. I did go in a bit later because according to the weather forecast we were supposed to have freezing temperatures shortly after the snow started and everything was supposed to freeze. Didn’t happen.

My driveway and clearly you can see no snow on it.

Still no snow on the road

I pass this old barn on my way into work every day.
The snow made it kind of magical.

Wednesday after the snow started melting.

I am glad that because of modern technology we can text our friends and loved ones to our hearts content. But do you ever feel frustrated that sometimes trying to get your point across is lost in translation. I had a few times like that last week and it is a very frustrating and sometimes hurtful thing. This was a low point for me and I am trying not to dwell on it. I sometimes miss the one on one communication instead of the convenience of texting and emailing. Sorry I just thought I would throw that random bit in there because it can be very frustrating thinking that you or someone you are texting may be missing the point.

I took a vacation day on Wednesday so I guess I sort of got a snow day. I stayed at home and enjoyed the warmth and my fur babies and worked at my craft table.

As you can see I have several different projects going on, you know me.

Thursday I had a meeting with an ad representative about 45 minutes away and we had a lovely lunch and then I went home.

On Saturday my niece Amy R texted and wanted me to go thrift shopping with her in nearby Maryville. I was right in the middle of cleaning my bathrooms but I reached a stopping point and we took off and had a great day. Amy has a wonderful eye for decorating and I love to be with her and hear her ideas on how she would use certain items. She makes me think of arranging things in ways I never would have dreamed of.

Made beef stew on Sunday

I am a little frustrated that I didn’t meet all of the goals I set for myself for January but you know what? I will continue to work on them and we will see where February gets me. You may remember I shared them with you in January.
1. I did try to help someone every day even if it was on a very small level. This gets me out of my own head for awhile.
2. I did not lose five pounds. I did not gain five pounds but neither did I lose.
3. I did not work out at least four days a week nor did I get my steps in. I will try harder.
4. I didn’t try a new recipe. I will for sure this month.
5. I did visit with a friend I hadn’t seen in awhile.
6. I did try something new. I made the arm knitted basket. I wasn’t too happy with the results but that is another story.
7. I did try to be present every day and enjoy the things around me. Taking lots of pictures in the snow helped me to do this.
8. I did buy a shirt because I loved it and the shop was going out of business and it was on super sale.
9. I tried every day. That is all I can expect of myself.
10. I did a devotional almost every day. I missed a few days.

So there is definitely some room for improvement but isn’t there always?

My crazy husband ordered this Duncan Yo-Yo and brought it home tonight we have had the most fun playing with it and trying to remember all the old Yo-Yo tricks like rocking the cradle and walking the dog. Kitty Kitty wants to play with it so bad she stands almost straight up and tries to bat it with her paws.

Have a wonderful week. You know we are having an early spring right?

Love you day your way!!!

Being Frugal Isn’t Always About Money

Hello friends, at the beginning of the month I decided I was going to try and be more frugal. Webster’s defines frugal as: Economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful. Economical in use OR expenditure. Yet most people automatically think when you mention trying to be frugal you are saying you are not going to spend any money or cut back on spending. But by not wasting, and using what you already have you will probably find yourself saving money. You will also find yourself being kinder to the environment.

At my attempt at being more frugal I noticed that I’ve spent less money. This comes from not wasting, more than anything else. I concentrated on using the food in my pantry and freezer instead of throwing out a ton of food that has gone bad or is out of date. It is from making more conscious decisions about what I really need to buy. I am terrible at making impulse purchases only to find that I have something exactly like it when I get home. I am making an attempt to try to find a less costly solution instead of just barreling out and spending money. I guess the thing that really hit home with me was when I cleaned out my closet at the end of the year and found several shirts with tags still on them. I had forgotten all about buying them. That my friend is ridiculous and wasteful. I don’t want my closets stuffed with clothes I don’t even know I have.

(Not my closet but it could be)

I am at a time in my life where I will not deprive myself of what I need. Last month we had a new deck put on the back of our house. The old deck was over twenty years old and quite frankly a little scary. We also replaced the doors which had gaps in them and was probably causing a lot of wasted energy. As usual it cost more than we had anticipated, just as most things do. But it was something we needed and had to be replaced and I don’t regret a penny of it.

I love to travel and visit new places. I like to be able to do this without worrying about the money I am spending for each trip. If being less wasteful in my home and life does this then that is just an added bonus. But this is me. It may not be you. You may enjoy eating out every night and shopping every weekend. And If you do then I am happy for you. Go for it. Life is short you know my motto, Love your day your way because that is what life is all about. I certainly don’t want to impose my thoughts and beliefs on you or appear hypocritical when I do indulge or splurge on things I want and need.

Here are a few things I noticed about being more “frugal” this month:
It reduces waste (both food and otherwise)

I can see everything in my pantry.

I can see everything in my refrigerator (like even way back in the back)

I feel like I have a better idea of what is in my closet. I have taken lots of items to good will and unlike past times I didn’t run out and buy things that would fill up closet again.

I discovered many things in my closet I had forgotten I had.

Every time I think about buying a new piece of clothing I go into my closet to see what I might have that I can use. This has actually been pretty exciting.

But anyway with all of that being said. I am enjoying cutting back and reducing clutter and waste in my home and life. Just a little tidbit for your Tuesday morning and man it is snowing like crazy here today. I am headed out to try and get some pictures. It is one of those nice wet snows that cling to everything. Happy Tuesday.

Love your day your way!!!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday everyone. I am so ready for a couple of days off. I may stay in my pajamas all day tomorrow.

I wanted to share some of my latest favorite things with you. These include some of my scarves I have been knitting lately. I think I told you that I love to knit scarves. They are so easy and usually you don’t have to worry about much of a pattern, and you can take them anywhere with you. I usually have three or four scarves going at one time. This is not totally a bad thing because I also finish them almost at the same time. So here are the scarves I have recently finished. A big thank you to my friend and coworker Shelby who agreed to be my scarf model.

I love all of the vivid colors in this scarf.

This black and white scarf is a favorite of mine because I LOVE black and white and I wear this combination all the time. You can see how nice it looks against a bold color like Shelby’s red shirt.

This scarf was the softest. It was also Shelby’s favorite so I gifted it to her for being such an amazing “scarf model”. I got this yarn on clearance at Hobby Lobby and it knits up perfectly.

Last but not least on the scarves is this fun red-pink scarf. The yarn is really thick and you can knit a scarf in no time flat. I think I used size 35 needles. This yarn was on sale at Hobby Lobby back in October and a friend of mine snagged it for 90% off! I had her pick me up several skeins. I think I may use some of this yarn to make a Valentines Wreath I will keep you posted on that

Yesterday I had a late lunch with my bestie Lorie and after lunch we went to a couple of our favorite thrift stores. Look at this little plate and stand I scored for $1.00 I love it!

I am also loving this curling wand from Bed Head this wand gives you those nice wavy curls and it is so easy to use And it was free!!! Given to me by my niece Amy B. because she had gotten another one. I love it! Thank you Amy!!!!

Have you heard of Zenni Optical? I heard some people at work talking about ordering really cheap glasses. Guys I am rough on glasses. I sleep in them and throw them all over my car and house. I scratch them and lose them. And I usually pay a fortune for them even though I have a really simple prescription. No bifocals yet. So I decided to go online and try Zenni Optical. I went online and uploaded a photo of me, and picked tons of glasses to try. I loved it!!! I got my prescription from my optometrist and entered it into the site. Zenni is very user friendly. I then picked a pair of glasses that was about $40.00 and placed the order. The whole time I was thinking it can’t be this easy and this cheap. Well it is!!!! Two weeks later I received my glasses and I love them!!!! What do you think?

Tell me some of your favorites.

Love your day your way!!!

January Bliss

Happy Friday!!! How is your January going? It seems like it was Christmas only yesterday. We have been having a new deck put on the back of our house. We also added new doors, a new front door and doors on our new deck. I am really excited about the deck doors they have the blinds on the inside of the glass. Take that you dust bunnies. Our yard and then our living room has been in a state of disarray. Adding a new deck is something I have wanted to do for a couple of years now. We started the deck before Thanksgiving and then rain and all of the workers being sick slowed the process. They finally finished the deck just before Christmas. There was a mixup on the new deck doors and they had to be reordered and that slowed things even more. The doors were finally put in last week. Of course it was one of the coldest days we’ve had this winter and all of the doors in the living room were out. Mark took this picture from the upstairs. We still haven’t painted the doors. We are waiting for the temps to be a little warmer but I will show you an update when we do.

You can see a little bit of the new deck here. I am loving the new railing. I can’t wait until it gets warmer and we can sit on the deck and enjoy the sunshine.

Last Sunday I decided to make bread with my sour dough starter. I wanted the regular sour dough and the cinnamon pecan sourdough. So each cup of starter makes three loaves, and long story short I wound up with six loaves of bread I gave most of it away. I have to get it out of the house so I won’t eat all of it.

My niece Amy R and I decided to start a craft or project night once or twice a month. Here are some of the things we are planning to do:
Hook a rug
Paint with chalk paint
Stencil
Make candles
Make herb butter

These are just a few things we want to start with.

But we actually started out last Tuesday making one of the knitted arm blankets. Something we hadn’t really planned on at all. Man is that yarn expensive. It is a super bulky yarn and let me say it is a bit of an investment. We decided to go with a slightly smaller bulk. We don’t want to break our budget with these projects. We got the yarn at Hobby Lobby and we each needed two skeins. They are really large. They were on sale 30% off so we got them for about 15.00 each so $30.00 for each blanket. The super bulky that we really wanted would have been about $75.00 per blanket. A little pricey for me on a beginner project.

We picked out a YouTube video and got started. This is an excellent video for beginners

Arm Knit a Blanket in 45 Minutes by Simply Maggie

It took us a little bit to get started but once we got the hang of it it went pretty fast. It is basically knitting with your arms instead of knitting needles. I guess because we were new to it and using our arms the open spaces in the blanket were a little large. We finished in about two hours. I put it over the back of this chair and to be honest with you I was not really happy with it. I think it kind of looked like intestines. Now that Amy and I have the hang of making one of these we think we will invest in the higher priced bulky yarn and try again. I decided to unravel my blanket because I knew I would probably never like it and use it. I can make quite a few knitted scarves out of the yarn. The yarn is very nice and soft and will make excellent scarves.

So as you can see I have been in this sort of nesting mode. I guess with the hustle and bustle of Christmas behind me I just want to take a breather and enjoy being alone and doing things I really want to do.

This is the book we are currently reading for our book club. I just started it. It is sort of the sequel to, To Kill A Mockingbird. So far it is pretty interesting. I need to go back and read Mockingbird because it has been many many years since I read that. What a lot of people don’t realize is that Harper Lee actually wrote Go Set A Watchman first before Mockingbird. Just some trivia for you.

My goals for January are going pretty well you can see them in this post I haven’t lost five pounds yet but I have been more active and I have been trying some new things (like the blanket) but more on that at the end of the month

How is your January going?

Love your day your way