New Start, New Year, New Growth

While the new year holiday has long passed, I am still reveling in the idea of it being a new year. For me, a new year always represents a chance for new growth and a renewed excitement for personal development as well as improvement on the way things have been done from the previous years. This Christmas season was rather successful, with all but my Dad's gifts being sent on time. (And yes, I am going to start working on his gift finally tomorrow!) Once the holiday glow seemed to be finally ready to head back into its storage boxes for the year, I looked around the house to realize it was absolutely filthy. I guess with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays my cleaning, as usual, went by the wayside. So, I decided to make good on a promise that I made to myself around this time last year. We were moving from the old apartment to this new one, and upon finishing a 13 hour cleaning day at the old place, I promised myself to never let a place get that way again. Since one of my goals for the year is to follow through on things as well as finish up old projects, I decided to do a top to bottom cleaning of the house.

When I say top to bottom I don't just mean the whole house, I mean every nook and cranny of the whole house. Furniture was moved to ensure vacuuming could be done under every surface and not just around it as usual. This meant taking up the mattresses on the bed and going all under there, moving couches to make sure that was all cleaned. Shower stalls were scrubbed and then scrubbed again. Entire shelves were emptied, items sorted, dusted, and then either shelved again or placed in the donation pile. Floors were vacuumed, dust mopped, and then wet mopped. Papers were organized and either filed or shredded. Cabinets in the kitchen were scrubbed down thoroughly, and the top venting of the microwave was completely degreased. It has been a down right marathon of cleaning that I have not ever performed in a place that I was still going to live in, and I am so happy that I have done this. There was nothing more demoralizing to me than cleaning an old place top to bottom after moving out and realizing that I would not get to enjoy the squeaky clean that I had just created. I am currently enjoying the clean and organized house way more than I ever thought I would. I hope to keep up with the cleaning more in the new year.

Other goals I have for this year are also personal improvement aspirations. I hope to do more fancy cooking and to serve that cooking on the wedding china. So far, I have done it once this past weekend with an in home date night. It was fun, and I am looking forward to another one of them soon. Another food goal is to cook some ingredient that I have never worked with every other week. I worked on cooking a squash type that is new to me, and I still have quite a bit of that to work through. I also want to add some more things to my cooking schedule to remove more store bought items off the list. Yogurt is one of them, and I think that I may have it down to the point where i can share with you all. I also want to nail down that winning English Muffin recipe... it is getting close. I can feel that one being knocked out soon. The hardest thing for me on the goals list is the harp. I really want to be able to play that thing, and I want to commit to it more this year. I have gone through spurts and false starts with it since my husband finished it for me. I hope this year to move past lesson one on the DVD lessons I have. The last, but not least of the goals for the year is to keep in contact with friends better, including the writing of actual letters that you send in the mail. Unsolicited cards and mail from friends showing up out of the blue always makes my day. I hope to do the same for friends and family this year as I try to write more handwritten letters to people. This includes Thank You notes... yes I am bringing them back into my realm of being. I hope you all have not abandoned your goals for the year yet, and if you have perhaps now is the time to recommit to them. The year has just started after all. Forgive your lapses and try to move forward and commit to changing things you would like to see improved in your life.

Lists Working?

The Google Task lists seem to be working.... well at least a little. I now have things written down in a priority form that I cannot lose because it is on my phone. This makes for a somewhat stress inducing reminder of all the things I would like to accomplish and what I have yet to do. I did have to move Monday's tasks back to Tuesday, so that made yesterday's list look very intimidating. I did, however, plow through many of the items, including cleaning the dreaded bathrooms. It isn't that the bathrooms were so dirty that I did not want to tackle them, far from it, I just hate cleaning the bathrooms. I have no idea why that is, but it is. So, after many avoidance techniques yesterday and the day before, I buckled down and got it all completed. I also got the curtain panels cut out and ready for sewing up today.

In gardening news, I restarted the Aerogarden last week. It needed a complete overhaul, new motor, light bulbs, and new plantings. I ended up going with the very old herbs that came with the thing. I was not expecting much in the way of germination seeing as the seeds were so old, but I am happy to report that I have dill that is ready to have the cap removed already and the mint is fast approaching the same state. I don't see any other shoots yet, but the chives are also starting to develop fog on their dome, signaling the possibility of new growth there as well. Nothing yet from the thyme or the parsley, and I also did not plant the two basil plants yet as they germinate so much sooner and would overtake the other plants before they are established. I am going to give all the other herbs a big head start before planting those basil plants.

I hate to cut it short today, but I am feeling sewing inspiration today as the clouds are starting to break and let the sun in, so I should seize on this inspiration and go!

New Week, New Goals

This week is already off with a bang! Things are getting increasingly busy as dance performances loom in the not too distant future! Friday was filled with house cleaning. The house had been rather neglected since the beginning of the winter crafting season, so I too to and started a deep clean of the house. Lots of items were sorted, organized, and put back in the places they belonged. Dusting, vacuuming, and scrubbing of the living room, craft room, and bedroom were completed along with the usual Friday chores of laundry and business for Fabulous Pants. It was awesomely productive. Saturday was filled with dance sessions at the Fat Chance Studio. It was an awesome day there, as lots of the professional troupe were in attendance. We could get many perspectives and opinions on how to do different combinations as well as some wonderful performance tips and advice. It was, by far, one of the most enjoyable dance class sessions I have ever attended in my many years of dancing. The studio was filled with dance, laughter, and zaghareets.

Sunday was a recoup day before plunging headlong into this new week. I made some really great food out of both Cooks and Cooks Country magazines. We had their version of the Dutch baby pancake, and it dethroned our usual recipe for our new official recipe. We got to use two of our Meyer lemons in the batter, which was extra satisfying. I also picked up some blood oranges for a marmalade I am making for our friend.



She is always the gracious host for us during Bear's games, so it is only fair that she gets her favorite jam made for her in return. I hope to get that all made today. I have a good looking recipe in mind, but I am not sure if it will be bitter enough for her. I may do some more searching to compare what I have and what others suggest.

I also made some awesome s'more brownies from scratch! They were well worth the effort, and I believe that I am officially swearing off boxed mixes all together. I made a gram cracker crust on the bottom, added the brownie batter over that, then I melted some mini marshmallows once they were baked. I found this recipe in a Cook's Country from a few years ago, and it was a clear winner. Dan and I showed great restraint though and only took one each.



Today I am trying to be better about accomplishing things. My new idea is to adopt Google Task to try to get more done. I have downloaded an application for it to my phone, and I am hoping that having this new virtual to do list will allow me to be more productive. I have yet to cross a thing off that list, but as I finish this entry, I can finally tap that little box for my check mark to appear! Making marmalade is next, and then working on finishing up house cleaning and cutting out curtains. Hopefully I can get it all done before another studio session tonight! And now for that check mark!

Sudden Downpour

Yesterday was highlighted with a sudden and strong downpour during the storm. It was nicely timed as I had just finished up doing some yoga and felt rather refreshed in my soul. As I finished my short session, I saw the clouds approaching from across the bay, and then the skies just opened. It was by far the closest thing I have gotten to a good old Illinois thunderstorm since we left the state. I took a picture of the shrouded city skyline:



Here is the view of the skyline today:



What a difference a day makes. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up from the flurry of weekend activity and making dinner. I also got around to working a bit on a personal velvet wreath. I have made one of these for my mother, sister, and sister-in-law, but I have never gotten to make the one I wanted for myself. Now is the time I guess. I have quite a few of the leaves cut out and also on their wires, but there are still a few colors that need to be pressed and then cut out. Perhaps I will work a bit on that today if there is time. I am determined to get one of the gifts that is partially cut out fully cut out and mostly sewn up today. I know that was the goal yesterday, but there was more cleaning to do around the house than I expected. I am also going to try to pick up the harp and learn to play it again. This has been a multi year struggle, and I would like to kick the quitting train. I am resolving to watching less news in the afternoons and do more things that are good for my soul, mainly yoga, dance, harping, and reading. I hope to stick to the new plan. Well I am off to try to rouse the 770 into playing my station again. It has become difficult again as of late. Hopefully I can convince it to connect to the network, so I can groove away on this holiday sewing!

Focus?

Yesterday I was really unfocused. Today is also shaping up to be the same. I cannot seem to stay on one task and see it through to completion lately. I was hoping to get things more on track today, but I fear it is going down the same road. I did get my desk in order and also plowed through the three months of personal checkbook balancing that needed to be addressed. The desk, I am happy to report, is wonderfully clean now, and the books balanced on the first go. From there things just degraded. I wanted to get some new items ready for photographing this morning and uploading to the shop, but I could not stay on task. I debated making a pie. I debated working on the belt. I picked up a pair of pants and stitched for a bit. I then focused in on some Christmas stuff for family and pattern copying for their gifts. (I am a chronic copier of patterns rather than cutting them out of the paper. I like to have copies rather than have to buy the pattern over again if there is a cutting problem.) Then I went back to the pants and debating pie. Then I decided to get on line and attend the SF Etsy team chat. Then I researched a discontinued pancake mix for my parents.

I was literally all over the place. Seeing as it is noon now, and I have not a lot to show for the day, I think today may wind up the same way. I think the pie has to be made. Who can say no to chocolate pie? Then I am going to focus in on the pants that I have been trying to work on for forever and finish them. Preliminary pictures perhaps for tomorrow's posting. Then I want to work on a pair of repair pants for a Belegarth friend. He needed me to fix some patchwork pants that keep ripping apart. I hope the serger can fix that up. If there is time, then it is off to work on the red work tins. The embroidery for them is gorgeous; they just need to get finished.

Those are the goals. Hopefully I can make them! Hey what is that shiny thing?!