My Favorite Project

I made a lot of stuff last year.  In addition to my tried and true items, I learned a few new techniques and tried new patterns.  I even created a pattern of my very own, after losing my favorite knitted slipper pattern and realizing it’s no longer free online.  It’s only $2 to replace it, but it’s the principle of the thing.  It was free for years, now it’s $2.  And I’m not paying.  So I combined elements of what I could remember from that pattern with a baby bootie pattern and came up with a very serviceable adult slipper that is still not perfect, but I’m tweaking it every time.

Out of all the things I made last year, I’ve decided my FAVORITE is the sweater I knitted, then embroidered for Lyla’s Christmas present.  Here it is:

 

 

 

 

What, you may ask, is on my agenda for crafting this year?  I think there are several quilts in my future.  More sewing of all types, I want to expand my knowledge and ability in the area of sewing clothing.  Nothing fancy-shmancy, just more than pajama pants.  I definitely want to learn to sew pencil skirts for myself.  I love them and find them flattering.  All the knitting I've done this year was with heavy acrylic yarn because that's what I had on hand, but this year I want to try making clothing with lighter weight yarn, possibly even cotton.  This is Florida, after all.  The heavy knitted items won't get much use unless we vacation in cold places.  Which isn't out of the question, but still.  I need to be practical, learn to make things we can use often.

 

Returning to normal?

I had some dental work done on Friday.  I’m recovering nicely, it‘s sore today but I’m at work and doing OK.  I still have to be careful while eating, last night for supper I ate a bowl of oatmeal.  This morning I’m having toast with marmalade, it’s good but I have to chew slowly and carefully.  I have a can of soup for my lunch.  I think the new partial fits better, well it’s the same partial but they changed up the right side to accommodate the new work.  It used to slip up and down a little bit and was uncomfortable sometimes.  Now, it seems to fit better.  Time will tell, once I can start eating properly we’ll see, but I think this is better.

While I’m glad this dental work is behind me, I have to say it put a pretty good sized dent into my savings.  If I‘m going to meet my goals this year I’ll have to buckle down on the savings by being more frugal, more careful with spending.  I know there are still changes I can make.  Also once Ayla is recovered from her C section she’ll be going back to work, that will ease some of my spending.    

Since I was recovering, I had a very restful weekend.  I spent it watching TV, reading, knitting and holding Zane.  Several times I’d let Drake get on my bed and he’d play all around me, all I had to do was smile at him and he was fine.  We told him I didn’t feel good and he was not pushy with me at all.  I finished the book I was reading, 1000 White Women, it was good but sad at the end, as I expected it to be.  I didn’t get to finish watching Downton Abbey but I did watch several episodes of Hawaii 5-0.  I also knitted a slipper, once I finish the pair they’ll go into the gift box and probably go to my dad, or Shane or Randy, for a birthday gift.

I cooked some dry kidney beans yesterday and Ayla used them to make a very good pot of chili last night.  She uses less chili powder and more sugar in hers but otherwise it’s the same recipe I taught her, and Shane and Drake prefer hers, I have never seen Drake eat so much.  She said she feels bad, making “my” recipes in front of me, and changing them.  I keep telling her, if you cook, you do it to YOUR taste.  I was able to eat some of it because the beans were really soft, and it was delicious.  I also taught her how to get tomato stains out of her shirt and explained, that’s why I change clothes before cooking, and we also have 2 aprons.  She had never noticed the aprons hanging on the wall but said she would use them from now on.

Apparently the lid I grabbed this morning for my tea cup is the wrong one.  Every time I take a drink it dribbles on my shirt.  I hope I can get the stains out tonight, this is a new and very comfortable shirt.

What a ride

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy.  On December 29^th, we woke up with the flu.  Of course our biggest fear was that the newborn might get it, and sure enough, a few days later he did.  He and his parents rang in the new year from a hospital room.  And he’s back in the hospital again, apparently he also developed an ear infection, and can’t kick the cough (none of us can) and he was refusing to eat.  But I’m told he’s much better today and might even come home.  This has been miserable for all of us and I am so ready to discover anew what “normal” feels like.

I’d like to say I’ve been focused on my frugal goals because it’s a new year but seriously, with all of us sick we’re barely putting one foot in front of the other.  It’s been a chore to keep enough clean laundry around, and some sort of food on the table.  But just before Christmas I did make a list of goals, I’m sure it’s not complete but it’s a place to begin.  Some are related to being frugal, others are not.  Here’s what I have at the moment.

In 2013 I plan to:

Travel to New Orleans to my nephew’s wedding in April

Travel to Italy

Complete at least 2 semesters

Make bread at least once a week

Continue menu planning and cooking from scratch 4-5 nights per week

Continue my quest to utilize leftovers so there is no waste

Bring breakfast to work every day, eliminating my personal relationship with the drive-thru person at Burger King

Pay down credit card and KEEP it down this time

Increase personal savings, in addition to travel fund

Make most, if not all, gifts again this year

Further declutter my house, beginning with my bedroom closet

 

Regarding gifts, there will be several quilts made this year.  I’m sure people will be expecting their annual pajama pants at Christmas and I have no problem continuing that tradition but to accomplish that, it has to be spread out over the year.  I never want to get caught at the last minute having to buy fabric and make a dozen pair of PJs!  That would not be frugal or fun.  And half the fun is taking advantage of sales throughout the year to get the best possible price on new fabrics.  At least that’s fun for me.

What have I been up to??

Recovering from Christmas, mostly.

It’s been super chilly here the past few days, not like Florida at all!  At least we didn’t get hit with all those tornadoes like areas to our west!  That storm was bad.  Today is a little warmer here than yesterday but not much.  We’ve had the heat on higher than usual, for the baby.  He gets overheated if you put him in a heavy sleeper, starts sweating.  But in a light sleeper he gets a little chilly.  So til his body starts regulating his temp more reliably we’ll keep the heat up.

It doesn’t seem like Friday to me.  This 3 day work week threw me off.  And next week is the same.  I’m planning to see my parents over this long weekend, Ayla isn’t up to a long  drive yet so she and Zane won’t  be going with us, but Randy said if I would go on Sunday (his day off) he and Lyla will go with Drake and me.  So the plan for this weekend is to go there on Sunday, the rest of the time off will be to do as I please.  I want to use the theater GC Heather gave me to go see a movie this weekend, maybe a matinee on Monday.  Maybe do a little sewing, definitely do some cooking and housework.

Last night after we ate I froze the leftover stuffing, packaged up for 2 separate meals.   I froze the ham bone for beans or soup, there was no ham left on it so nothing there to freeze separately!!  It looked like locusts go a hold of that thing, it was so bare.  I divided the turkey into 4 packages, but each package is really enough to eat one meal of turkey, then use the leftovers from that in a casserole or soup, so at least 8 meals there.  I meant to leave out a little for tonight’s stirfry made from the veggie tray leftovers, but I forgot so that will be a vegetarian meal. No big deal.  I’ll make the turkey stock from the frozen bones this weekend, too.

I went grocery shopping last night and spent just over $40.  I need to stop at Sam’s on the way home tonight, get the big jug of laundry detergent and some spinach.  Hubby’s blood work registered too high on the Coumadin check so he needs to eat some leafy greens to bring it back down, and we’re out of spinach.  What this means to me is that we’ll be having spinach artichoke dip for New Year’s day.  Yum.  I bought a can of artichokes last night and I already had everything else.  I’d better make lots!!  That stuff goes fast at our house.   

Introducing…

Zane Thomas.  Born yesterday, weighing 6 lb, 15 oz.  Mommy and baby are doing well.  Big brother seems to be handling things pretty well also, he slept well last night despite his parents being away.  We sat in his room and watched Cars, so that was special.

Ready…Set…GO!

You know that feeling when you’re at the top of the roller coaster, just about to go over the top and down the big plunge, plummeting headlong to your doom?  But then you survive and it turns out the whole thing was really a lot of fun?  I’m hoping I look back on the next week and remember how great it was, not that it was stressful.  But it is what it is!  And by this time tomorrow I’ll have my new grandson in my arms, probably right alongside the 2 year old.  He’s not big on sharing.  With any luck they’ll be home from the hospital by Friday, then next week is Christmas.  It’ll be pretty low-key this year, pretty much all about the baby.  But then, wasn’t it always supposed to be about a baby? 

Money Musings

I read an article a few day ago where someone from the same general area of the country as me is having a hard time feeding herself and her 4 year old daughter on $400 a month in food stamps.  If this person lived somewhere else and I wasn't familiar with what things cost there, I might not think too much about that.  But I know where she lives, I know what prices are like there.  After I stopped yelling I considered posting a comment about how maybe food stamps should pay for cookbooks, but then I remembered a friend sending me a link to the free SNAP cookbook online. 

Moral of the story?
You can give someone financial aid but you can't give them sense or good judgement.

I once knew a man who often said, in America poor people have cable.  He's right.  Contrast many of our "poor" to those of other nations and you might see a startling difference.

The only person I can control is me.  I shouldn't worry about this stuff but it's frustrating at times.  I need to focus on my own goals, and I think I've done pretty well with that lately, my savings haven't grown but I've taken on a lot more financial responsibility and still managed to keep expenses down.  Two things are coinciding my life that are typically VERY expensive, Christmas and the birth of a new baby.  Not my baby, I'm way too old for that.   But without my help, this grandchild might be coming into the world with very little.  I've spent maybe $100 or so and kitted him out pretty nicely.  Between my daughter and me, we've pulled out every trick in the book, borrowing and asking for hand-me-downs, thrift stores, etc.  He'll have everything his tiny self needs, and then some.  As for Christmas, my goal was to make most of the gifts, and most of what isn't being handmade is second-hand.  I really don't know what I've spent, since I've been sewing, knitting, etc. all year.  But I do know I haven't spent a lot, and what I did spend has been spread out so much it's been no problem at all.  No January Blues for me.