Tag Archives: random thoughts

four things | three

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what I’m reading

One of the libraries I belong to offers access to Hoopla, an online resource for ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, music, and videos (TV and movies). I try to keep my book buying down so when I find something I might like, I check it out on Hoopla.

I found one that I loved: Norah Gaughan’s Twisted Stitch Sourcebook. Mr. Aitch surprised me with the book for Christmas.

I’m so enamored with it and all the different stitches that I might see a newly designed sock in my future.

what I’m learning

A new word for my vocabulary is: voluntold (vŏl′ən-tōld) forcefully volunteered; ordered to do something. One of the teens at church was voluntold to be the lector for the service. I read online that this word has been around for several years but this was the first I’d heard about it.

what I’m loving

This luxurious lotion bar for my very dry skin.

The light scent of mint, lemon balm, and lavender also has a hint of honey from the beeswax. The sunflower oil and Shea butter make it a little sticky but glides across the skin like, well, butter. No more dry, flaky skin on my arms and legs.

My BFF’s daughter’s family has a farm in Pennsylvania where they raise bees, sheep (for meat, not wool), pick-your-own blueberries, chickens/eggs, flowers, and a pumpkin patch. Her sons also show sheep, dairy beef, pigs, and goats.

Katie makes salves, lotion bars, sprays, and candles as well as wool dryer balls with most of the ingredients sourced from her farm. The only things she not from her farm are the Shea butter, sunflower oil, and green tea. She has a list of the different scents and products here and here.

You can find more about her farm on her FaceBook page here.

what I’m working on

We had some pretty gusty winds starting Monday evening through Wednesday. One of our big oak trees in the side yard lost a huge limb.

The view from inside the kitchen
The limb stretches from the base of the trunk to the
lower right-hand corner.

I was sitting at the kitchen table facing the window and watched it snap and fall to the ground. Some small broken branch pieces and twigs hit the window. Fortunately nothing was damaged other than the tree.

I’m helping Mr. Aitch with the cleanup.

Patti

four things | two

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what I’m watching

We have a population of pileated woodpeckers around our area.

We’re not sure if it’s the same family year after year but we love watching them and other birds at our feeder.

what I’m eating

Most days Mr. Aitch and I have a late lunch/early dinner that my brother named “linner”. Our charcuterie board “linner” was fabulous.

Two kinds of cheeses, leftover prime rib bits, fresh veggies, thinly sliced apples, assorted dips and crackers, plus wine.

what I’m loving

My pedicure.

I’ve been going once a month since October. I don’t go for the polish color during the cold months but having someone massage my feet is such a relaxing experience. With the bitter cold temperatures we’ve been having, I went with a frosty, shimmery ice blue. Next month maybe bright red for Valentine’s Day, a different color or none at all.

what I’m working on

Our dishwasher doesn’t completely drain and there’s always a puddle of water (estimating a gallon) covering most of the bottom when the cycle is complete. I know the cycle is complete as I run it mostly at night and it doesn’t take eight hours. I also turn off the heated dry cycle as the dishes are 99% dry in the morning. No point in making our electric bill any higher than it already is!

I got on YouTube to find some answers and what I could do to try to fix it. It amazes me what information is there!

It looked easy enough for me to tackle. Plus I was tired of water sitting in the bottom.

I grabbed a couple of screwdrivers, a pair of pliers, and a roll of paper towels. then I donned my headlamp (a gift from Mr. Aitch), some disposable gloves and got to work unscrewing all the screws and discovered grossness.

Most of this was hard lime scale and some soft gunk. Fortunately it didn’t stink.

A vinegar soak, an old toothbrush, an old turkey baster, some elbow grease, and various other “tools” helped get the parts cleaner, not brand new clean but clean enough.

I found a screw and rivet from a saucepan, a small chard of glass, and some paper from a label. Nothing looked large enough to restrict the water flow to the drain.

After three hours with my head inside the dishwasher, I climbed out, cleaned up the wet mess and turned it on..

The whole ordeal cost me three hours of my life, a gallon of vinegar, and a broken thumbnail.

It still didn’t drain completely. I’m certainly no repair person but I’m pretty sure it’s gotta be the pump. Since this dishwasher is 22 years old, I’ll be looking at buying a new one.

Things I want to do this year

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We’re already two weeks into the year and I’ve been thinking and writing down things I want to get done this year. If they are good, I can keep doing them in future years.

  1. Post at least once a week. And on a schedule. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Pick a day and stick with it.
  2. Knit at least one row a day though I tell myself it’s five rows a day. That’s not really hard when it comes to socks which I seem to knit most of the time. I’m joining a KAL this month and surprise, I’ll be knitting a sock.
  3. Plan and finish one sewing project a month. The first project is a bag to hold my new yarn swift. Our church will have a baby shower in the spring with items donated to a local pregnancy center. I will sew burp cloths and perhaps knit a few hats.
  4. Practice makes perfect (or at least improvement). I painted wooden sorority and fraternity paddles for pledges in college which it was quite profitable. My Old English calligraphy was pretty good back then as that was the most popular font style. I even designed and printed invitations for a wedding and parties many years ago. Now that skill has all but disappeared. Lindsey at The Postman’s Knock is my go-to for inspiration to get back into calligraphy. I have the materials. I need to sit down and do it at least 30 minutes every day.
  5. Organize and declutter the basement is on my list Every. Single. Year. My grandson helped me paint one cinderblock wall one summer. I painted another wall myself. Two more walls to go so it’s brighter and cleaner looking. It’s cool in the summer but cold in the winter so this will be a warm weather project. Making zones might be best: craft zone, workshop zone, paint zone, storage zone, etc. Having rubber-type flooring would make standing on the cold, hard concrete floor much more comfortable, too. I could make space for a sewing room and get my sewing machine out of the tiny laundry room.
  6. Speaking of cleaning and decluttering…this blog needs some major work. Posts, tutorials, and how-tos need updated tags and categories that include specific words about the content. All posts related to the Dots and Stripes Purse should be tagged as such so all posts pertaining to that sock would appear in a search for that particular project. That will be time-consuming with over a thousand posts but tackling a couple a day should make that go faster.
  7. Include some self-care by relaxing and unwinding in healthy ways. I started getting a pedicure every month last fall and will continue this year.
  8. Stop playing mind-numbing games on my iPad for hours and use my time wisely. I’m pretty sure I have fewer days ahead than behind. I seriously doubt I’ll live to be 144 years old so I shouldn’t waste time with nonsense. Life is too short.
  9. Learn something new.
  10. Show gratitude.

Those are some goals, resolutions, things I want to do this year.

What are you doing this year?

Patti nona