Sunday, May 7, 2017

I’ve had a busy day. I spent my morning cleaning and oiling two of my sewing machines. Ruby is very easy to clean and oil (and it really needed it) but until today I’d never taken apart the SUV. The oiling points were very vague, even when I consulted the manual. The cleaning was quite easy except once I had the bobbin casing out I had a lot of trouble getting it back together. I was about to give up when it just sort of slipped into place so I’m hoping it went together correctly.

I went along with Pat to the Song Circle this afternoon. It was a very small crowd; I sat in the corner and did some hand stitching while the music played. I took some Ginger Snaps and Butter Tarts that were left from the show on Friday; the Butter Tarts were the winner on both occasions. Everything at the Song Circle is by donation and with only three people (besides Pat and I) I didn’t expect to see much in the jar but we did okay.

We’ve had two days of sunshine in a row and after several showery days the grass really needed to be cut. When we got home I went out and got the grass inside the fence finished. I can’t handle (or am not qualified on) the trimmer so there is still some work to be done. I dragged the mower out to the boulevard but when I got it there I couldn’t get it started. I guess the lawn used up all the battery power – at least I hope that is all it was. If there is no rain overnight I’ll get out and try it again tomorrow morning.

I’m off now to finish the hand stitching I started this afternoon.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

The show last night was a great success; we ended up with a sold out crowd, and I even sold a couple of extra tickets that were turned in because they couldn’t be used. The concession did much better than last week, even though we ran out of coffee shortly into the intermission. I’ll have to pay closer attention to the pot next time. I take my 30-cup Party Perk (the one Mum and Dad gave me for Christmas so many years ago) and I have never run out before, at any of our events. We ran out of hot water for tea as well, but it was easy to boil the kettle a couple of times and keep the tea selling.

Blue Moon Marquee, our performers, were truly amazing. Pat had been impressed by their videos but I hadn’t taken the time to watch any of them. They will be touring all summer and, if you get a chance, be sure to go see them. They will be playing at the Saskatoon Jazz Festival on June 27th; my other readers will have to check out their schedule to see if they are playing anywhere near you.

My back felt pretty bad this morning so I’ve been taking it easier today; I know it is from all the standing yesterday. I had a load of linens to wash after the show so they went in first thing. I cleaned up the kitchen, put a few goodies into the freezer, and cleaned up a bit in the laundry room all spaced out with some time in a chair with my feet up. When the laundry was done I took it back to the hall.

On the way there I stopped at the fabric shop to pick up my Splendid Sampler book. As you know I have been using the individual blocks for cards for the past couple of years (and there are still a few to go). At the Guild meeting on Thursday one of our quilters had all her blocks put together into a quilt top; I was so impressed that I can’t get out of my mind the thought of starting all over again! While I was at the shop I picked up some fabric for another birthday banner for our care facility; I’ve already made one but they need more so I’ll find a simple pattern and make another one. We have also been asked to make some fidget quilts so I’ll be on the lookout for a pattern for that as well. Should I mention that I ordered another book from the shop?

I’m going to put my feet up for the rest of the afternoon and do either some hand stitching or some cross stitching; I have projects in both areas begging for attention.

Friday, May 5, 2017

It was a lively Guild meeting last night. I’ve mentioned before that the local Senior Citizen’s Association is having some internal political struggles and the Guild got caught in it last night. We knew that their executive wanted to talk to our executive; that meeting took place over the past month and we were faced with some expensive options. The Senior’s Association were going to start charging us $65 for a meeting (we have two a month) plus an extra charge for our Tuesday bees. The end result is that our membership in the Guild would jump from $35 to $125 to cover the extra charges. The Senior’s also expected us to pay a $20 cleaning fee if they didn’t think we had cleaned up after ourselves (in spite of the fact that before we can start to sew on Tuesdays we have to wash down all the tables due to someone else’s mess) and we had to take out our own garbage. In the end our Executive found a new location for us and we will be out of the Senior Centre at the end of the month. It became clear with all of the rules they were imposing that the Senior Citizens’ Executive didn’t want us. There is some talk that when the Senior Citizens membership hears of this they will be outraged but we’ve made our decision and, in the end, were quite happy to end our association with them.

I spent the entire morning baking. I have three dozen tarts, three dozen cookies and a dozen Rice Krispie Squares ready for the show tonight, along with the baking I did yesterday. We will have a few tickets to sell at the door tonight but we are within a dozen seats of another sell out. From all the standing this morning my back wasn’t very happy but I spent some time this afternoon in my cross stitching chair; my back still hurts but I feel much more relaxed. Surprising how doing something you really like just makes the day better.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

I started baking again today; I’m loving my new mixer. I made a lemon bundt cake (a new recipe) and I was worried when it didn’t come out of the pan easily. I managed to get it out and only lost a tiny bit off of what will be the top. If I were icing it you’d never know but since I want to be able to serve everything on napkins there will be no icing.

Next up were the cookies. I made Mum’s Chocolate Cookies. I made them once before for a Song Circle and we thought they were a little bland. Of course I didn’t remember that until after I had them mixed. The recipe called for walnuts (which we don’t like) but I had some pecans so I added them in. Hopefully the nuts will add a bit more flavour.

While I was waiting on things to bake I looked over the other recipes I wanted to make. When I did my shopping list I thought I had enough corn syrup but today I realized I was making a double batch and I wouldn’t have enough. I debated about using some agave syrup; I checked the equivalency and you would use about 1/4 as much but you’d have to add up to 1/3 of the liquid. That math was just too much so I decided to get some.

I had some packages to get into the mail so when they were wrapped I headed out. Pat wanted me to pick up a prescription at Safeway and, since it didn’t matter where I bought the syrup, I said I’d get it for him. The Post Office visit went fine and then I stopped at Canadian Tire for my clothes pins (and a package of napkins for the Hall). From there is was a quick trip to Safeway and home.

I fully intended to bake another batch of cookies this afternoon but a nap sounded like a better idea! My allergies were acting up this morning and although the pills I took say non-drowsy I’m going to blame the pills and not laziness. I was only down for about ten minutes when I realized I had forgotten to buy the corn syrup. I’ll head out to the Guild meeting a bit early tonight and pick it up on the way.

So what do ideas have to do with this post? I was wondering this morning why on earth I volunteered to do another concession at the end of the month. After the Board meetings when everyone is coming up with ideas of things we could/should do, I feel like I have nothing to contribute. I think if they come up with the ideas the least I can do is some of the work!