I did a naughty thing.....

Feeling pretty lazy for once, and not feeling guilty for once....

For the Love of Books

I purged books yesterday.  Books are always a difficult item for me to clean out, and get rid of.  

I have a bookshelf dedicated to homesteading books, herbal books, etc.  I have a bookshelf simply for my "how to" writing books, and a bookshelf for my fiction books.  

In my living room, we have a large bookshelf that still contains non-fiction books from my homeschooling days.  We kept most of them.  

I guess I have a terrible time donating non-fiction, considering how the internet is taking over the book reading industry.  My one college daughter has to get her books online, and read them from the computer.  They are not issued most of their books in book form anymore.  So sad.  Even one college book store in my home town closed for that very reason.

So......

Christmas Homemade ~ 2016

We finally had our family get together (a winter, non-Christmas gathering) yesterday, with my side of the family.  I can share what Christmas gifts I gifted.  I ran out of time, then you know, got sick, so it was not very much this past holiday. I had them ready, other than the recipe to attach to the sage (but emailed everyone it, along with what to do with sage).

Nasty Weather Inspiration

Although the weather is better now, it was nasty a few days ago.  This was a "small" rain shower.  We had thunderstorms and 50 degree weather most of the day.  It was a swamp.   Nasty weather is always a welcoming reason to deep clean and then treat myself to crochet time.

...or baking time.

 I've been a bit lazy getting breakfast made with greens lately.  I just love the home canned cherry jam I canned last year.  LOVE IT!  It's on the list of restocking this summer.

 A large container of homemade hot chocolate has been restocked.

...it's also a good day to restock supplies like dishwasher detergent.  My laundry detergent needs restocked too.

I started my 30-minute per day/per area cleaning/clutter clean up challenge.  Now that the blanket is done, I have time to get my home in order.  It's the first thing we see when we wake up and the last when we go to bed.  It's important for me to keep it clutter free, while teaching the kids to clean up too.

...from the handiwork journal

The baby blanket is finally finished.  I used the diamond pattern that I used for two other previous blankets.  I edged it in a row of white and pink to give it a different look.

I crocheted a newborn baby beanie to go with it.  Just for fun!
I hope the gift recipient and my cousin (buying it) likes it.

It's all good!

The "mason jar" challenge:

I have a cousin, who lives in CA, who has been in TV commercials and even been included as a character in her friend's published novel.  She is now a life coach.

Bad Weather ~ Baking with Booze

Weather was nasty. School was canceled.  It's was a perfect excuse to bake a cake for dinner.  We woke up to ice, sleet, slush, then pouring down rain on a layer of half melted ice....then in the evening 55 mph winds.  We may have lost a pillow to the back porch swing (should have run out and collected them, but forgot about them).  It's too dark and early to tell.  When the sun is up, I'll go take a looksee.
 

I dug out my old, hand-me-down cake pan, and baked a maple-rum pound cake with maple-rum glaze.  It was a new recipe that had been floating around the kitchen.  I believe I tore it out of a King Flour magazine.

The results?