New Yarn

 A new yarn order came in so I started a new project.  

It is slow going as it is a new to me mosaic pattern. 

Spring house cleaning continues...one more day and I will be done in the living room....all that remains is to move a couch and an area rug and scrub the floor underneath them.  Then I will move along to a different area of the house...maybe.   It feels good to have some heavy duty cleaning done.  One room is a start...no windows will be done at this time...well not on the outside anyways.

Our snow is slowly melting.  We had a high of 35 F yesterday!! 

Today is grocery adventure day.

Far Side

Dust and the lake

The dusty open shelves have been cleaned up...everything is sparkling again.

I have a love hate relationship with the open shelves...I love that dishes are in reach to use and to put away. I hate them when they get dusty...and that top shelf is a real dust collector.  Far Guy did the ladder work for me and took the plate rack apart...it all helped!

I am done in the kitchen for now, the fridge and the oven await my attention some other day.

After our kitchen accomplishment we took a ride down to the lake.

There is still ice...I figured as much as the wind has been real cold.  Where the water isn't rippled is the ice.

Something large plopped into the water near the dock...a beaver, muskrat or maybe a turtle.
The Pussy Willows are out.

Spring might be coming soon. The light in the evenings is pretty much a waste as it has been too cold to enjoy an evening outside.

We are both feeling just fine.  No new cases of Covid-19 in our County the count remains at 2.
Far Side

Keeping busy

Our trip to town last Thursday was uneventful.  Groceries were picked up.  Far Guy is getting real good at getting other supplies ordered online.  My sister in law and other baby brother were kind enough to do our Walmart shopping ...some stuff is only available in the store.

My other baby brother was by and fixed our driveway.

He has a soil conditioner attachment that works miracles fixing and leveling a driveway!

I have five skeins of yarn the same color.  It was a sale!

This is a wrap...or a scarf...Lion Brand Yarn Shawl in a ball colorway Restful Rainbow.
 This is a shawl...the front.

It is very pretty from the back.  I still have three skeins left.

I spent most of Friday in the kitchen.  All the cabinets and drawers are cleaned, I have a few of the open shelves left to do.  The window was washed and the curtain changed.  The backsplash  was scrubbed and the top of the stove cleaned...the oven was opened quickly and shut again.  Far Guy says I will probably have lots of time this spring and summer to keep on cleaning.

We are both feeling okay.  There are still just two cases of Covid-19 in our county.

Far Side

Yarn, snow and busy work

My new yarn arrived, the walk to the mail box was worth it!

I am happy with these earthy colors.

It snowed off and on all day....some were real flakes and some was graupel or snowy balls.

I worked in the kitchen again yesterday.  Progress is slow...I have 1 cupboard and 3 drawers left. I have an open cupboard above the microwave...Far Guy said he could skip his upper arm exercises because I took my sweet time cleaning under the microwave while he held it up in the air.

I finished up a shawl while watching Love Wedding Repeat on Netflix...I give it an 8 out of 10...it is a romantic comedy.

I made steak enchiladas for supper.  New York Strip Steak fried to perfection...sliced thin and dumped on a soft tortilla shell rolled up and covered with green enchilada sauce and some cheese...yummy.  Better than any restaurant. 

Far Guy helped me with the cupboards, ran his vacuum,  did dishes, worked on his woodcarving and walked inside.

This is day 37 of Isolation for us.

Far Side

My Projects

I can get lost in yarn colors and types for a long time.  Mindless looking and wondering what colors would look like together. 

I balled up this yarn as soon as it arrived.  The project is a wrap and every two rows you switch colors.   I just wasn't feeling those colors together.  I looked a long time before ordering more yarn.

One project became two or more projects...the two colors on the left the torquoise and the peach were thrown out of this group...and they await brighter colors...the other colors are earthy and I was feeling them.  This yarn is Sheepjes River Washed series on the right, Stone Washed on the left.

I finished a bunch more kitchen cupboards and drawers.  I have four cupboards, three drawers and the open shelves left...so I am making progress.  Then I should probably give the stove and fridge a good clean....and the backsplash.

I still have a couple of shawls in the works.  I have done absolutely nothing outside as it has been snowy, windy and cold.   I started watching Hart of Dixie on Netflix...I am curious to see how it ends...but not sure I want to suffer through it.

I made vegetable soup yesterday...the way I make it takes all day...chopping and adding....Far Guy made some bread.  Soup will be frozen into individual servings....I should be good for the summer.  Far Guy eats it only once  the day I make it...he has other freezer food he likes better...Gumbo and Chicken Tortilla soup that I don't care for.

We still have 2 Covid-19 cases in our county...no more lately.

We are both feeling just fine!

Far Side

Biscuits and Yarn

The grocery store was out of several items that were on our list.  Carrots... who knew there was a rush on carrots....maybe people have more time to peel their own now.  English Muffins that Far Guy likes to make egg and ham breakfast sandwiches and Pillsbury Biscuits that I wanted to use when I resurrected some Thanksgiving Turkey out of the deep freeze... for Turkey and Gravy over biscuits.

I spring cleaned one of the kitchen cupboards.  I filled the flour containers...I use a mix of white flour and wheat for bread.  I wanted to make sure I had enough if it comes down to me making bread.  I had a bag of self rising flour...so I decided to see if I could make biscuits.

I could and they are really good!  They are a bit tall and rustic looking!  Far Guy said they were really good too...I handed him the recipe card and said "You can do it! " 2 cups self rising flour, cut in 1/4 cup butter then add 3/4 cup milk stir well and then knead make biscuits bake 12 minutes 400 degrees on a greased cookie sheet.

My new yarn arrived earlier this week....I have four shawls in the works now...one will be frogged as I am not happy with it...one is being blocked and two others are in progress....here is one. 

You will see more of this yarn as I had to order five skeins.  It is called Restful Rainbow.  This is another Crochet Along called Keep Calm and Crochet On hosted by a gal on a facebook crochet group.

Far Guy did most of his walking outside yesterday.  I started  to watch a show called Tiger King on Netflix.  (I have to keep closing my eyes during the sssnake parts and one time I forgot to open them back up and fell asleep.) This week I watched Valentine's Day and give it a 9 out of 10 stars....a fun movie.
Far Side

tsundoku

I encountered  a new to me word yesterday tsundoku.  The art of buying books and never reading them.  I suppose I qualify as I can never pass up books at garage sales...and at the thrift shop I have to give the book section a wide birth.  During the big sort upstairs I ran into several books that I had not read....I recall some from 25 years ago.  I packed them up and they will go on the garage sale I intend to have sometime in the Spring when and if it ever warms up.

I looked to see if I could find a word to describe my magazine hoarding problem...no such luck...no fancy word...Yes I have been hoarding magazines.

In the living room we have an old copper boiler that was overflowing with magazines.  All ones that we had read and MAY or MAY NOT read again someday.  I sat on the floor and sorted through them only keeping The Minnesota Conservation Volunteer and Woodcarving Illustrated.   Good bye to Martha Stewart Living, Rachael Ray, Food and Family, Reminisce, Farm and Ranch Living, House Beautiful, Country Living, Woman's Day, Car and Driver...six grocery sacks full that were really heavy...off we went to recycle them.

On the way home Far Guy said "I have a few Train Magazines upstairs...I replied "I have a bunch of Farm and Ranch and Martha Stewart Living in the huge file cabinet upstairs."

In the old copper boiler I also found two small rice bags that I had been looking for and a blue ball that Little Elvis or Miss Miney must have dropped in there.

I emptied out the stainless steel boiler that stores all our extra "throws"  and I washed them all.

It felt good to have the boilers all cleaned up again!

Far Side

What is next?

Not sure what big project I will take on after the Farm Diaries.  I do indexing for Family Search and can do more of that.  I can work on Find A Grave entries...I have some obituaries that need to be entered.   One side of Far Guys Mother's family can be traced back to The American Revolution I just need to prove that step by step.  If proven our daughters/granddaughters could  join Daughters of the American Revolution.  It may or may not be something they are interested in.

Presently I am keeping my head above water here at home, trying to stay ahead of housework and laundry just incase the call comes for new lungs.  I am working on the big sort and doing some spring house cleaning in the winter.

I have several crochet projects in the works and two pairs of socks on the knitting needles.

Yesterday I worked on some of my stamped cards...always a fun project and makes me feel good.  I tried out some new pens that I got for Christmas.

I always stamp the images on watercolor paper, I did some watercolors and some Prismacolor pencils this time around.  I use a special blender pencil with the Prismacolor Pencils.  These images will be cropped and matted before attaching them to the front of a card.

I have a woodcarving project that is lost someplace...possibly I left it in the greenhouse last Fall and now there is too much snow blocking the doorway to go take a look.  I could take the time to shovel the snow away....there is about 3 feet of snow there...seems easier to just let it melt! I have another woodcarving project that is almost done... a Santa.

 I have my small Wooden Barn Quilt Square that should be finished. Once upon a time I was missing the paint to finish it...still have that paint and it might be getting old!

So you see I have enough projects and hobbies to keep me out of trouble for a good long time.  I am hardly ever bored. 
Far Side

Brrrr

It was cold out...at 10 PM Wednesday night we have -23 F or -30 C  eh! and it will probably get colder.  Time for the  full length down  parka.  We didn't get much snow a little fell and blew away.  The Wind Chill temperatures are brutal.

We stayed busy all day.

A Pileated Woodpecker came in for a snack at the suet feeder. 

We stopped by the accountants office on Monday and had our taxes sent electronically...good to have that done for another year.  I asked them how long do you keep tax returns and the substantiating paperwork.  The reply was three years.  I had returns in my file cabinet from the 1970's.  AND I was keeping returns and substantiating papers for seven years.  Many papers were shredded.

I finished the last eight squares for the Crochet Along Project.  These squares are all going into a box until I get the proper board and dowels to  block them all to exactly the same size before I join them.   I have eighty squares all together.   It was a project...but I was ready to be done with it and move onto something else.

The something else was finished also and sent off in the mail today. 

Afghan yarn was packed away for now.  I kept all small bits of yarn to make hearts for The Peyton Project.  Yarn to crochet wildlife nests is still around to work on as are socks to knit.

 More stuff was rounded up for the big sort...my table is full to overflowing.

There is no lack of projects around here.
Far Side

No list day

I flitted from project to project and got nothing completely done except a nap which could have been longer!

I sorted files upstairs...I have lots of paper to shred.  I filled another box with books.  I put some stuff on my work table, when it is full to overflowing I will go back to that again.  Far Guy even sorted through some of his crap treasures.

We have three trunks to go through...one was accomplished, we did it together and decided what to do with some of it.  Things were discussed...that is a beginning...and it helps that we are mostly on the same page.

I did some laundry, dusted part of the house, crocheted for awhile and worked on the old Farm Diaries from 1926 and shoveled.

It was a day.  This week I would have picked these orange roses for myself.
Far Side

Stuff

My word for the year was time.

Time to go through and sort "stuff".   I continued on where I was a week ago before I was struck down by the cold from Snotsville USA.  Yesterday I got through the Christmas sort that I left in a big mess...I worried about that...if the cold from Snotsville ended in my demise my youngest daughter would have to deal with it and she would be very unhappy.  All no longer used Christmas items were marked and packaged for sale.   I sorted through another misc tote that I had up there...and began a craft sort.  At least you can walk through the back storage area now..  Sorting will continue. 

I have to admit I opened a few drawers up there...peered in and quickly shut them again.  Maybe in a few days...

When we had a snow over Christmas my favorite and only son in law Andy got out the snowblower that I cannot start by myself.   It started for him and he moved a bunch of snow.   Then we had a big snow and people were looking for used snowblowers.  I took a photo and within a few minutes it was sold on Marketplace.  Then other fellows offered me more money if I would sell it to them...of course I didn't...and the snowblower left the next morning.   I am just happy to be rid of the hunk of junk that I could not start....we originally bought it because it had an electric start...well that worked a time or two...and was replaced several times and still did not work more than a time maybe two.

So it was the right TIME to get top dollar for an old snowblower with a broken electric start!

Flowers from Miami...no I did not go there...but blog reader Kay did!

Far Side

If it isn’t one thing

it is another.  After a certain age your body falls apart.  

I knew I had an abscess…but I was not prepared to be told that I have two abscesses and will require extensive oral surgery.  YUCK.

It has been a week of appointments…I am waiting not so patiently for them to call with my appointment for surgery.  I finished a course of antibiotics but still have a big area of infection…if it gets worse I am supposed to call for a new prescription.  It was quite painful…keep you awake painful but for now it has settled down.

Far Guy said a Dairy Queen would make it all better and would also be lunch.

We went to our favorite sundae eating spot in town.

We park here to watch the bike riders or the runners…their trail is covered with snow now.  Sometimes we see ducks here…not so much that day. (There is a river out there.)

The road home still shows our snow, little by little it is melting.

I managed to spring clean the downstairs bathroom….feels good to have one more room done.  My bum hand is tired now and needs a day maybe two of rest. 

I watched a movie called August Rush  I give it four out of five stars.  I was awake for most of it.

Spring Cleaning Update

Yeah me!!  The kitchen is all done…well except for the window, too cold to wash a window now.

No more dusting off dishes before you use them.

I am not sure which spring cleaning direction I will go next…laundry room or bathroom.  I may take a few days off…we have busy days coming up next week.

We still have enough snow, here is a view of some pretty “stuff” on the windowsill in the kitchen.  I have a hard time passing up paperweights and the pretty pink bird is one of my favorites and perfect for spring. The stained glass Lady Slipper was purchased at a garage sale.

11 inches of snow is at the snowstick.  The trees are starting to become little islands of no snow.  Spring progress is slow.

Skiff of new snow

We got a bit of new snow.  Enough to help cover up the dirty snow.

It melted quickly in the bare spots on the snow banks not so much.

I decided not to take a day off of spring cleaning but to switch things up a bit and tore the linen cabinet all apart in the downstairs bathroom…it is all put back together again.  When I get to that room it will go much faster.

I got a bit of summer in the mail! Made my day! I also heard the weather forecast and the big storm is supposed to go south of us…sorry southern Minnesota and Iowa.

 

Cleaning Ovens

This could be a new sport.  Yes I know my oven is self cleaning BUT the last time I cleaned it the darn thing locked and Mr Fixit had to come and unlock it for me and I think he charged well over 100 dollars to do so.  SO I clean it myself…and save 100 dollars.

I don’t use smelly caustic oven cleaners either…I use baking soda and a green 3 M scratch pad thingy and lots of elbow grease…and some super duper athletic moves.

I practically have to do an arabesque to get close enough to clean the sides of the oven.  I was wishing that my kitchen was a true galley kitchen that way I could have put one leg up on a cupboard for support! A modified yoga move called a Downward – facing dog will get me to the back wall of the oven.  At one point I got dizzy…too much blood up there in my head.  When I broke into a sweat Far Guy took over for a bit…it was nice to have a break.  Too bad they don’t design an oven with a removable door so you could get closer to scour…you have to be careful too…one false arabesque or doggie move will take out that oven door that you have been cussing. Luckily that did not happen.  The oven racks were scrubbed and scrubbed until they looked like new and I will be protective of them for a few weeks anyway.  I laid on the floor to clean under the stove…I was almost long armed enough to reach all the way to the wall…I had to use Far Guy’s Mom’s old picker upper with a rag on the end of it to reach the far wall. Everything that could be taken apart was taken apart.  I cleaned as far down in the downdraft vent as my hand would let me without getting stuck.

The first part of the day was spent moving the fridge out of it’s spot.  I had cleaned it inside a few weeks ago…yeah me!

Yes I know none of the appliances match…who wants to be all matchy matchy anyways.  Some day this 20 year old Amana refrigerator will bite the dust and I can get a black one…or one of those fancy smancy silver ones.  I hope my Jenn-Air never bites the dust as they are pretty expensive now …it was one thing that I splurged on when we built the house.

The kitchen has been holding me hostage this week.  I am happy to be almost done…so happy I am taking today off…the open cupboards above the sink is all that is left and I hear there is a snowstorm coming so I will clean all those dishes and shelves during the snowstorm.

It feels really good to be almost done with this spring cleaning project.  In case you were wondering, all the cabinets by the fridge were custom built by a local craftsman….when I needed the rest of the cabinets for the kitchen he was too busy to do them so he gave Far Guy lessons and Far Guy and I built them piece by piece.  We designed them and built them.  The drawers were the pits to make…but I love them.

166th day of winter

Not much melting yesterday.  What isn’t snow is mud.  The rutts will go away when we get a rain.

This first photo gives you a good view of June our resident snowbank.  Maybe we should guess when June will be all gone?  What do you think?  If you want to guess when June will be all gone leave me a guess …what day in April, May or June? The best guess will get a woodcarving of some sort.

Chance was laying in a snowbank.

Washing his chin….back and forth back and forth…keeps his white somewhat clean.

I got the dreaded silverware drawer cleaned out yesterday. Now all the drawers are done…I have 17 drawers in the kitchen…love drawers versus cabinets. 2 cabinets left I can almost taste the victory of a completed project.

Meal planning for this week was a chore I gave Far Guy, he did great and supplies were purchased.
More Thistle Seed was purchased because the little Redpolls brought all their cousins to visit and feast.


June the Snowbank will be gone by:
April 22 Diane Daines
April 27 Tired Teacher
May 1 diane   Terry and Linda    Jo Annes Ramblings
May 5 Rita
May 6 diane in wis
May 8 zooperson
May 9 Wendy Danielson
May 10 Jean
May 13 Sandy B
May 15 Sam
May 16 KCD
May 22 Kathy
May 25 Cathrin Morgan
May 28 linda m
June 1 Lady Fi
June 3 Bonnie
June 6 Mildred

165th day of snow

We have had snow since October 28th.  Just incase anyone was curious..that was 165 days ago. 

Here is the snowbank I named June.

It was –3 F yesterday morning that is –19 C eh, unbelievable for April.

What is happening besides below zero temperatures and no snow melt?

I am still winter/spring cleaning in the kitchen, I have one drawer (the silverware drawer) left to clean and two cupboards and then the open cupboards that catch dust.  About half of the cabinets have been cleaned on the outside too. I should do the stove top and the oven too that will take part of a day….so in three days I might be done.  The laundry/furnace room might be next on my list.

We are working on the Christmas Ornament prototype…we have been “communicating” with each other about it.

We had the neighbors over for the card game Golf one night they are having a bit of Cabin Fever also.

We watched The Frozen Four and cheered when University of Minnesota Duluth won!  It was a great game!  Hockey is over now…at least College Hockey is.

Flowers of Summer

Seem a long way off this winter.  It snowed again….and probably not the last time this winter/spring either.  The muddy rutts are now frozen rutts.  The days are longer but with the wind and the wind chills way below zero it seems that spring is never going to come…and summer well that is just a distant memory.

I took this photo last summer at The Dead Beaver Area.  We just happened by there at the right time.

Even though the days are longer we have not begun our evening drives, Chance misses them…I do too but there is just snow out there.  In April snow loses it’s magic…

I am still winter/spring cleaning kitchen cupboards.  I had a good day and got a few more done the count is 21 out of 28.  When I get them done I must spend a whole day washing everything in the open cupboards…and weeding out some of the extra dishes…it is a project for sure. I would rather winter/spring clean with the windows open but that won’t be happening anytime soon.

Projects

This week I have some cards on my desk. 

I got a new stamp.  Ordered it off the Internet.

It makes a lovely card.

I love my Prismacolor pencils…and my metallic watercolors and my Spica markers! Fun stuff to work with.  I got some new Metallic Colored Pencils…they are pretty cool too.

Here is the other painting project. It is for a friend…Far Guy is trading it for a bunch of dental bits that he can use in his Dremel tool.

Yesterday I got three more kitchen drawers/cabinets cleaned…11 out of 28 are done.  Progress is slow.

It is cold here…bitterly cold…damp…it snowed and blew over the roads and made the roads icy last night coming home from Bingo with my Dad…he got to holler Bingo just once…me not at all.  One away …one away…

Carving and Cleaning

I got the little bark houses painted.  I also painted a bigger project for Far Guy.  Glad to have that project done.

We are working on a prototype for this years Christmas ornament…it is another woodcarving, different from anything we have done previously…we will see how it works out.


Now I am ready for the ever present snow to melt…we are very cold here…so that probably isn’t happening this week. So far we have record breaking low temperatures for the month.

I began some winter/spring cleaning …kitchen cupboards are on my list and I have a number of them accomplished…it is tedious work exploring cupboards.  I have 28 cupboard/drawers in the kitchen…8 are done…uffda.

I hounded Far Guy until he replaced all the batteries in the smoke alarms…even though they are supposed to be good and will let you know when the battery is low, I feel better when they are changed every six months.  He changed the batteries and tested them all…made Chance nervous.  For some reason we did not get them changed when the time changed…usually that is my reminder to insist it be done.