Mama's Got a Brand New Treadmill!!

Yes, sports fans, I am the proud owner of a brand new treadmill.  Longtime readers will remember that I used a NordicTrack ski type exerciser for years until I burned out on it, then I went to a local fitness center.  Then life happened with my mom and dad.  Even after their passing, I just couldn't get up the energy to hit the fitness center again even though I now had the time.  

I finally decided that going to a fitness center took up too much of my day and that what I needed was something to use at home, whenever the mood struck me, no matter what I was wearing or how I looked. Enter 2019 and all the fitness machines on sale.  I talked it over with Dan and we decided to take the plunge and order.  

It came in pieces , . .

. . . but Saturday we had help!  (Keat was out of town at a basketball tournament or he would have been here, too.  They took first place in the tournament!)  So grateful for those engineering genes!  And a cute little overseer!  

Three hours (!!) later, we had a treadmill!

So far I've logged five miles on it.  Love that it has a holder for the iPad so I can watch movies while I walk.  ♥

I Think I've Got It!

No, not the flu!  I think I've got the fabrics to make the snowy day quilt!  I actually did write yesterday's post and then go downstairs to pull fabrics.  As I was looking at the pattern (printed for free from the All People Quilt website) I realized that it seemed to be made of flannel fabrics.  Hmm.  Then I remembered that I had a small stash of flannels, some going back years and years. Could I have what I needed? Why yes, I think I do!

I only have one fat quarter of green, but I think I have enough of it to make all the trees if I cut carefully, and it's okay with me if they're all the same.  Actually, all the fabrics are fat quarters and will take some figuring and maybe some piecing, but again, it's doable.  My biggest question was what to use for the background.  Then I spotted a blue that was in my pile of bib fabrics.  It has white stars and spots and I think I'll be perfect.  Snowy day quilt, you're on!!

And here's the view from my sewing room window today.  It did snow enough to turn everything beautiful! 

And it's below freezing so it'll be here for a while.  ♥

Soggy Sunday

It's foggy and wet.  It's trying hard to snow but the temperature is just at the edge of freezing so it's what we call "snain".  I'm sure not far from here it's piling up, but here at the resort, it's a good day to snuggle in and drink something warm.  Maybe under a quilt!

I'm trying to muster up enough creativity to head to my sewing room and start something, anything! I found a cute winter quilt pattern at the BH&G We All Quilt website and think I'd like to make one.  I'm hoping I'll hike myself downstairs when I'm done here and start pulling fabric for it.  Here's a picture from the website:

Pretty cute, huh?  Here's a link to the pattern (click here).  There are lots of other cute patterns to choose from, too.

The other cute thing I found on the web today were these scissors:

I'm finding them irresistible and am ordering a pair pronto.  I use small scissors like these all the time and really need a pair next to each machine.  Here's a link for them (click here). 

So, now that I've put my purchases and project in print, I guess I'd better get busy!  ♥

Catchin' Up

Just a little check-in.  Can't believe it's been a week since my last post!  The tree is down, always a bit of a sad time, but it needed to go.  So, Saturday morning I took the first ornament off, and after that we were committed.  I'd said "good-bye" to it the night before and thanked it for being such a beautiful tree.  (Yes, I always do that.) The take-down went quickly and before we knew it, we were sweeping up the needles and putting the boxes away.

I've slowly started to take down other Christmas decorations as the days go by.  The main hall bath returned to normal today.  Yes, I decorate even the bathrooms.  I don't think a room in our house goes without signs of the season, even the laundry room has its decor.

Later on Saturday, I dropped in at a baby shower at three before heading out to Keat's basketball games starting at four. The shower was for a young couple having their first child and I remembered going to the shower when the father-to-be was born.  Continuity! Oh, and both games (JV and varsity) were won.  Poor Keat was feeling a little down from a cold he's had, but played in both games although he'd come back to the bench with a red nose and looking a bit dazed. 

So what else is new at the resort? I have started a new doll sweater, in purple.  One sleeve is completed.  I hope to start on the second today.  Dan has fallen in love with the pecan pie granola and I need to make him a new batch this afternoon.  In further kitchen news, I have no idea what we're having for supper tonight.  Hopefully, something will come to mind before six o'clock! 

Lastly, last Wednesday was our forty-seventh anniversary!  We spent the evening celebrating Daniel's eighth birthday (way more fun than dinner out), but Dan did find this little item on Tuesday and thought it was just "us."  I think so, too! It's just perfect sitting in the kitchen as a daily reminder. 

And that's the news on Monday, January 14! ♥

The Crazy Knitter

As my faithful readers know, I have a few dolls that I have on display in our family room.  I don't actually do much with them, but I do love dressing them.  And I've enjoyed making doll clothes as long as I can remember.  I have amassed quite a collection of patterns over the years, even a few left over from my childhood.  The problem is time; sewing for dolls can be as time consuming as sewing for a person, sometimes more given the fiddly nature of sewing in miniature.  

I have several sources of patterns that show up in my Facebook feed and the other day a sweater for American Girl type dolls surfaced.  I decided to indulge myself and so bought and downloaded the pattern.  And decided to make one immediately, before the desire wore off.  I had several choices of leftover sock yarn and thought each would be enough.  After all, how much yarn could one small, actually tiny, sweater need?  Well, as it turned out, more than I had left of any one color.  

At first I thought it wouldn't matter, I'd use this as a test run.  But I hadn't reckoned with the intricacies of the design and as I knitted I wasn't certain I would want to make another one. I kept knitting however, and it almost seemed miraculous that the yarn continued. I got much further into the sweater than I ever thought when at last the yarn ran out.  I had another color in the same type of yarn, and the knitting had finally gotten easier, so I attached it and kept on going.  When I finished, I was amazed at the result.  I think it's cuter than it would have been in just one color!  Amazing!

I used my new yarn holder which was a Christmas gift from Ann and just love it!  It holds the yarn and makes pulling out new lengths so easy.  Not to mention that it's just the cutest!

I even think I'll try another version of the sweater.  I'm a glutton for punishment!!  ♥

Appearing This Week in the Kitchen

Some time ago I wrote a blog post that mentioned my trusty bread machine.  We got it probably twenty-five years ago after spending a skiing weekend with some friends who had one and enjoying several loaves of bread with them.  It was an Hitachi and it worked wonderfully for many, many years.  Then I kind of got out of the habit of using it, and when I hauled it back out recently, it seemed it had, well, run its course.  

While I really like to make bread with my Kitchenaid, it takes some care over the next four or so hours to get it into usable form, and sometimes I'd just like a loaf of homemade bread that makes itself.  I realized I was thinking, "Yes, like a bread machine does!"  So I investigated the possibilities, realizing machines have changed over the years.  Christmas was approaching and it would make a good item for my up-to-that-point nonexistent list.  

BUT!  A major problem arose.  Where to put the one if I got it?  The one I decided upon was larger than my old one, and much heavier.  I'm to the point where I don't relish hauling a twenty-five pound appliance out of a cupboard and heaving it up on the counter.  And I don't have a lot of counter space to just leave it out.   I thought I was going to have to squash the idea and told Dan as much, but as I wandered back into the kitchen, an idea came to me.  With a little rearranging, it looked as if it would work and I told Dan it was back on my list.  

(Here is where I have to explain that I have what is probably one of the most bizarrely laid out kitchens in existence.  We have an angle in our house and the kitchen has walls meeting at strange angles; it's right in the V.  We have three separate counter areas and they are not connected.  It's a pain, but I've lived with it for more than nineteen years and survived.)

So, of course I got to unwrap a new bread machine on Christmas morning.  And I LOVE it!!  My old machine made a tall loaf, nothing like a standard looking loaf, and the slices were large squares.  This one makes a normal loaf.  I've only made two loaves so far, just plain white, but they are delicious.  And one of them is totally salt free!!!  There is a special program for it and an accompanying recipe, so I decided to try and it's a winner.  Color me one happy bread maker!!

Zojirushi Virtuoso in its new home

And here's a slice of my salt-free bread before being slathered with peanut butter and peach jam at lunch today.

It was yummy!!  ♥

At Year's End

I totally stole that title from another blog, but I love it and the thoughts it brings.  It leads one to ponder.  

Yes, it is the end of another year.  How quickly they seem to go these days, but I guess that's the way it goes as one ages.  Or so I've heard.  And now it's almost 2019.  Impossible! Almost twenty years of this new century lived by Dan and me, who as Dan likes to say, "were born in the first half of the last century."  Yikes! And yet mostly so good, filled with beautiful days, like this one this week:

I love our backyard and the views beyond.  I'm so happy we still have snow! It lights these short days and keeps me energized.  Inside the Christmas tree lights up the evenings and makes everything so cozy.  We also have those amazing faux candles and tea lights that bring even more coziness to the darkness.

I love this little wooden "basket" that hold a tea light that actually flickers like a real candle.  And I don't have to worry about burning the house down!  

It may be the end of the year, but our Christmas decorations will continue to light our days and nights for a few more weeks.  Christmas day is not the end, but just the beginning and as we go into a new year, we'll take the gift of grace that Christmas brought so long ago and carry it with us each day. ♥