Saturday, August 12, 2017

It’s been a long day but we are in good shape for tomorrow, aside from the fact that neither Pat nor I are moving very swiftly. I spent the morning checking my lists and packing up my car. We headed for the Hall about 11:30 and I fully expected to be home by 2:30 with all my last-minute shopping done.

We hung curtains, quilts and a bit of bunting. I washed a box of glasses that I found in a box by the stove when I had to go hunting for the tape that had fallen through a crack. They are nice glasses and, had I known they were there, I wouldn’t have bought all those ones from the thrift store.

We set up the tables and chairs and I put all the handouts and donation jars on them. All the time we were at the Hall we had people dropping in – one was an elderly man who brought us a photo that we are going to frame and hang. Others just wanted to see how it looked.

It was after three before I left the Hall to start my shopping so I was quite a bit later than my original estimate. Pat and I shared a beer when I got home and then I started my Cranberry Tarts. I made a double batch and I thought it would be enough to fill all my shells but I was short by a couple of dozen. I thought about making more but they have to sit in the fridge overnight and even with a lot of rearranging there just isn’t room for any more. So what I have is all there will be.

The rain moved in around seven and even though I don’t want rain and wet for tomorrow it smells so good; we haven’t had any rain for weeks. We even had a glimpse of the mountains on the Island for a bit this afternoon but they are gone again now either from smoke or mist from the rain.

Time now to clean up the kitchen and do a load of dishes. Pat is making one last trip to the Hall tonight and I already know I forgot to send the bags of ice with him. I’ll add it to my list for tomorrow.

Friday, August 11, 2017

The day is getting closer, items are being checked off the list, things are being moved to the Hall. But will I be ready?

We had an early appointment on Texada this morning so we were out the door by 6:20. I am often up that early but I sure wasn’t ready to get up when the alarm went off today. So much so that when we got back I decided I needed a morning nap.

When I got up there wasn’t time to bake cookies before our next scheduled meeting and I didn’t even have room in the fridge for more dough. When our errands were done I made another double batch of cookies. Today while they baked I got our donation jars decorated with ribbon and packed up our give-always in wicker baskets. All those wicker baskets are coming from areas in my sewing room so there will need to be a major clean-up the studio when all this is over.

Pat is playing at the market tonight so I’ll take a load of things to the Hall which will clear up some fridge and counter space. When I get home I’ll do a final double-batch of cookies and hopefully get at least one load of laundry done. There are still a few things I can do tonight to prep for tomorrow’s set up but I’m managing to stay relatively stress free.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

My last cake is baked and in the fridge. Besides a bit of running around it took all morning. I hadn’t really planned to do anything else though so that was fine.

After lunch a friend picked me up and we headed off for our stitching afternoon. I had all my card stock pieces cut, as well as my fabric (those bits of time between oven checks were useful). Neither Gail nor Sandra had prepped their pieces so I was ahead of the game. We sewed and chatted the afternoon away; it was so enjoyable that we are going to do it again next week.

After a bit more running around and supper out I’m back in the kitchen tonight – a double batch of Cranberry Almond cookies. With four pans rather than two the baking is going very quickly, but with only seven minutes between pan shifts (bottom to top and top to bottom) I’m not going to get much else done.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

I got four cakes done today – well the fourth one is still in the oven – but I’ll only net three and a half! No, we weren’t sampling. The second cake of the day was baked in my new bundt cake pan and it didn’t come out of the pan very well. I managed to save half of it; if there is time left before Sunday, and after the rest of my baking is done, I may make another one. The cakes this afternoon were all done in my old pan and the first one, at least, came out just fine.

It’s amazing what you can get done while the cake is baking. I would wash all my dishes, prep all the ingredients for the second cake and then do a little work. I managed a very little bit of cleaning, and I got ready for a sewing session tomorrow afternoon. After the morning cakes were done and before I started the afternoon session I went shopping – I needed more flour so picked up a few of the things that were on my list for Saturday.

About tomorrow’s sewing – I was asked to join a couple of Guild ladies who are working on a hexi project. Sandra and Gail sew together often but they’ve never included anyone else before. Perhaps I’m on their good side because they both volunteered quilts for the celebration and I accepted them both. I cut out the card stock pieces while waiting for the first cake to bake and cut my fabric pieces when the second cake was in the oven. I must be crazy taking on another project but after all the baking an afternoon of stitching seems very relaxing. We’ll see tomorrow I guess. While the afternoon cakes baked I was less energetic; I did the dishes but then put my feet up with a puzzle on my iPad.

I’ll make a trip down to the Hall tonight and store my cakes in the fridge there. I planned to take a couple of boxes of items but there are groups in the Hall tomorrow so I’ll just take what needs to go in the fridge (Cranberry Juice, cakes and ginger ale).