February Ends

February is just hours from being gone, the year is (more or less) 1/6 over already.   It's true what they say about age, this downhill journey is going a lot faster than the climb.   

There is, as is so often the case, little to report.   Still, as my mother used to say, no  news is good news, which I always took to mean that when life seems ordinary it means that there are no big dramas or problems on your mind, and that's a good thing.

My brother sent me home from my last visit with two cans of wild caught salmon from Nelson Crab and told me to see what I thought.   I am not a fish eater, and not a canned food user, but I am a sucker for testing recipes and using foods that are foreign to me, and my brother knows it.    I used the first can, king (or chinook) salmon, to make salmon patties.   They were a huge hit, my DIL and grands loved them.   The king salmon was mild and delicious, even for someone (like me) who doesn't like salmon, and not smelly like tuna, which surprised me.   I commented that it didn't taste fishy and my granddaughter corrected me by saying that this was exactly how delicious fish should taste.  My son was working late and I wonder whether he got to taste them at all, because they were disappearing quickly when I left for home.   The second can, coho salmon, will be used for a salmon noodle bake.   I was dreading this whole adventure but now I am looking forward to opening the next can!

We enjoyed our annual King Cake, as we have every year since my son's family moved back here from New Orleans, shipped directly from Joe Gambino's in New Orleans.  They arrive unfrosted because of the shipping and the kids enjoy frosting and adding the colored sugar.  We always cut our King Cake on the Friday before Mardi Gras.   As I'm sure you must know, King Cakes are a Carnival tradition during the period starting on 3 Kings Day and ending on Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins.   They traditionally have a bean or plastic baby, and the one who gets the slice with the token is the lucky one, or the King of the event  -- or maybe just the host of the next party, depending on how you play the game.   My grandson got the baby on first slice, a rare-ish event since we usually don't find it until later, and a delight for him.   One of these years maybe I will get the baby!   Or maybe not.

I also made Rice Krispies treats in the traditional Mardi Gras colors, purple, gold and green.   I used Peeps for the marshmallow and pressed the layers into a loaf pan, a super quick and fun microwave confection that the kids thought were pretty neat, although the colors weren't as bright as I'd hoped.  They tasted good, too, slightly different from the traditional recipe, but just as good.   I'll make some other colors for Easter, I suspect, when we will also have our annual Peeps war, where the Peeps joust in the microwave with toothpick swords.

Not much more sewing has gotten done, but  I found a button in my button jar that I was able to use to finally finish my February purse, just in the nick of time!

My goals for March include sewing two items of clothing, not yet cut out, several Solstice quilt blocks (I am two weeks behind already!), and my March purse.    It is even possible that I will get a little housework done this month, despite the real and equal possibility that I won't.    I had a strange dream last night, about a fried fish that came back to life as a beautiful blue and red koi, and my basement full to the ceiling with trash bags of items I was ready to discard.   Perhaps my dream self thinks it is time for a few changes around here!

Happy Fat Tuesday!   Enjoy it while you can!  :)

Flying By

The month, good grief, the YEAR is flying by, but I am still waiting to feel like I've got my feet firmly planted underneath me.   If I ever had any motivation, it is eluding me now.  Does anyone else have the February Blahs?   Not enough sun, not enough warmth, not enough exercise.  I need to get my mind moving!  Even my sewing has suffered.   I made, or more correctly I tried to make, a light cardigan jacket this week and it was a bust.   It doesn't fit, it looks awful, there is nothing about it that I want to salvage.   So I'll move away from that pattern and try another tunic of some kind.     The sewing takes only an hour or so, but the procrastination about cutting out the pattern can take weeks!

Last week's solstice block had hearts as part of the design, appropriate leading up to Valentine's Day.    I had intended to make the block in sea greens and white, but I ran out of the white so I added a little sunshine.   It's an odd color combination and I like it.

I have another Solstice block pattern that is cut out and ready to sew; my self-imposed deadline is tomorrow night because the next pattern will be released tomorrow morning.  It could still happen but it hasn't happened yet.

My February purse is done, cute and Spring-y.   It has little bows that tie on the sides to give it shape.  It was easy to make, as purses tend to be, and I may just make another if I run out of other projects.   I am gathering fabrics for my March purse, which will be a tote-style bag in brighter colors.

And I found the cutest Bride/Groom fleece fabric so I made an impulse throw to send to a friend who is planning her wedding.  I made it and popped it into the mail on the same morning.   I also finished yet another blanket for my brother, who is getting older and doesn't take as much care for his comfort as I think he should.  I love those super quick projects, they are so satisfying when not much else is getting done!

My mind seems lately to be spinning with problems I cannot solve and so shouldn't stress about.   I am crankier than is usual for me and feel less optimistic.   I know from my many years of experience with my moods and reactions that this is nothing more than a bad habit, and the time has come for me to start again centering myself and controlling my thoughts.   Life is good, my personal problems are small, and there is no point in spoiling my days over problems and issues outside my control.   This week's mantra:  feel it, release it, move one.   And breathe.  

Mid Month

Still sewing, there isn't much else to do on these cold winter days, unless I want to clean and organize my house -- and of course I don't! -- thank goodness my sewing machine can save me from that! Here are the projects I've made the past couple of weeks:

One of my goals for this year is to sew something that I will actually wear out of the house.   Too soon to tell, but this might be it.   I also have a cardigan cut and ready to sew and I am hopeful that it will be useable.   Neither is like the jeans and tees I usually wear, but neither is entirely awful, either, and it would be nice to dress, at least once in awhile, a little more like a 'girl.'

My guy gave me a tshirt for my birthday last year that says 'not my monkeys, not my circus,' so I made him a sock monkey to include in his Valentine's Day package.   It was kind of fun to make a toy again!

It has been Cold. As. Heck. here this week, but beautiful, with the sun peeking through ever few days and the moon getting bigger and bigger.   There are many things I love about this bleak time of year.  My fella was gone for a week.   He doesn't drink so while he was gone, I did.   Wine with dinner a couple of times.   Lovely.   Not as lovely as dinner with someone you love, but not entirely shabby, either.

When my honey got home, we went to something we had been looking forward to for more than a year -- the Lego Batman Movie.   Like any self respecting 12 year old boy, we laughed our fool butts off.   There are so many advantages to being too old to care what people think.   No matter how old  you are, I hope you are having fun.  :)

Stop The World I Want To Get Off

Things have undoubtedly been this crazy before.   After all, I've read about such times in high school history and civics, studied them as an undergrad in college, learned about the legal battles that went into forming our rights in law school, and studied the ethics of it all when I got my theology degree.  Surely we will regain our senses soon.

Meanwhile, I am sewing.  Pillowcases (for a nurse who was recently engaged);

Another purse:

Quilt blocks for no apparent reason:

A pink hat by special request:

And the most recent Solstice block in the "February color", which I love.

Outside the sewing room, it is cold!

So most of us are finding indoor fun.  My granddaughter's art class was asked to help decorate our local "animal care center," formerly referred to as the dog pound.   They did a great job and it was fun for both of us to see several of her creations transferred onto the walls!

Not much else is new except that,  oh yes, I finally succumbed to the LuLaRoe craze when a couple of local people set up fundraisers for our Search and Rescue group.   I felt I had to support my peeps, so I bought a few pair of leggings.    Now I'm not young and not thin, so I doubt very much that I will ever consider wearing leggings outside the privacy of my own home.   Of course, as the family record keeper (my sister) would be quick to tell you, I said the same about capris pants, which became the foundation of my summer wardrobe as soon as they stopped being trendy.   At any rate, I do love my new leggings, which I wear under my nighties in the morning as I dawdle over coffee.    I am trying not to buy more because, goodness knows, I don't need more encouragement to dawdle!

Stay warm, stay safe and if you can, stay sane.  :)