Monday, October 17, 2016

It was a small crowd at the Song Circle yesterday but, while the songs were sung, I did some knitting. I have to keep the coffee fresh and the water hot for tea, although I think everyone was drinking coffee yesterday. The treats were appreciated, and I had some left to bring home.

Today was more cleaning and baking. I was done about two, but unfortunately there was almost two more hours of work left!. I did more than I really wanted to do but less than I could have so I’m calling it even. I’ll have to repeat all of the cleaning for the House Concert next week so the things I didn’t do today might get done next time!

I baked two dozen butter tarts and tried a new recipe for a pumpkin slice for the concession tomorrow night. I need to serve items that don’t require more than a napkin and the pumpkin slice was a risk. I tried a piece after it cooled and it holds together well but I think I’ll serve it in cupcake papers just in case. We’re planning on Shepherd’s Pie for dinner tomorrow so I got the potatoes cooked and mashed for that; Pat will put it together in the morning.

One of the curtains in the guest room has been hanging by push-pins since our last House Concert. The rod gave way and I needed help putting the new one up. I used one of the rods I purchased for my Farmer’s Wife quilt; since that quilt is a long way from being done I don’t think I’ll miss it. Pat changed the rod and the room is ready. We need two beds for this show but I had the downstairs pretty much finished yesterday.

Do you remember this? Do you have one? Who gave them to us? Were our pjs really small enough to fit in them? I’ve used mine over the years for various things; it’s latest use was to hold my clothes pins. With the deluge of rain we’ve had (and will likely continue to get until Spring) I decided to wash the holder and do a bit of repair on it. I may repurpose it yet again; Emma knit me a tube that I’ve used to store my summer socks in but I think this might be a good place for my winter socks.

Time now to gather my projects for the bee tomorrow.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

About the time I was going to write my Journal last night the lights went out. I’ll be tied up with the Song Circle until dinner time so I’ll do today’s post early and yesterday’s late.

I started my day yesterday at the grocery store. I had a small list of things I needed for baking and there had been a few items added to our personal shopping list. I was home in time to get everything put away before sitting down to watch Dylan’s football game.

It was a disappointing loss (by only two points) and had they won they would have made the playoffs. I’m getting better at anticipating where to look for Dylan on the field but I have to imagine his face because those helmets don’t allow for even a peek. The announcer for the game was particularly biased – he actually cheered when Chilliwack scored a touchdown. It wasn’t a good day for playing outside; it rained the entire game but at least it wasn’t windy.

After lunch I started baking. I intended to use Mum’s recipe for peanut butter cookies but when I was at the store (to buy peanut butter) I found a PB cookie mix. They aren’t bad and they look very homemade – I don’t think anyone will know! I got two dozen cookies from the mix but I would make them a bit smaller next time and I think I could stretch them to close to three dozen. I’ll offer them today at the Song Circle along with some Girl Guide cookies.

My second batch was Mum’s Oatmeal cookie recipe – the one with coconut and raisins. I swapped the raisins for cranberries to make them a bit more seasonal. These I’ll save for the Mary Flower concession.

The day was almost over by the time I finished. Pat was going out for the evening and I settled in to catch up on a Netflix series. I had a good chat with Stacia and Deloise as we made plans for our Houston trip. Pat laughed at me for keeping the flashlight beside me but I was glad I had it when the power went out. I got out the candles and had enough iPad battery to do a puzzle. Pat’s event was just a block away; he came home about 10 and said they had never lost power. This is the second time this week that we’ve lost power – about two hours each time. According to the forecast we won’t see the sun for a week but they haven’t announced any further storms.

I’ll do a bit of cleaning this morning before we head out to the Song Circle. We need two beds for the Mary Flower concert so the basement needs some organizing. I need to do load of laundry to take back to the hall from the clean-up I did last week. Now that Pat is up I can start that and finish the dishwasher cycle that was interrupted last night.

But first a shower and some breakfast.

Friday, October 14, 2016

I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and stressed since we got home from Portland and I’ve been having trouble sleeping. There is no good reason for me to be overwhelmed and stressed; as they say I am allowing myself to feel that way but they never actually tell you how to stop. So I took matters into my own hands and found a way to relax. For the past couple of days I’ve been cross stitching. I’m working on some Hallowe’en cards and, while I’m under some pressure to get them done, I’m enjoying the process. I’ve always thought of knitting as the hobby that relaxes me but lately my knitting projects haven’t been working out so I stayed away from my needles.

We have survived everything the weather has thrown at us – so far. The storm on Wednesday night was a non-event; some wind and rain but nothing we aren’t used to. Last night was quite calm when I went to bed, but the rain and wind started up shortly after midnight and it really hasn’t stopped since. There have been some brief stoppages in the rain and the wind dies down occasionally but it isn’t weather I want to be out in. The big storm is to arrive tomorrow night and hopefully it will be no worse than we’ve seen.

I was working upstairs today and when I came down for lunch I felt cold. I checked the thermostat and, although it should have been 70 degrees, it was only 67. Pat called “the furnace guy” and they are here right now taking a look. Pat thought perhaps the pilot light had just gone out; the temperature has dropped another couple of degrees and I haven’t heard the furnace kick in yet so I expect whatever the problem is it will be expensive.

Okay, back to my stitching.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

It’s been awhile and I’ve been busy, mainly with Cranberry Hall and Guild work.

I spent most of the day on Thursday working to get my Guild business ready for the meeting that night. The evening included the regular business meeting as well as a quilt show meeting so there was lots to do. We also went to an afternoon movie that day. Thursday is my “office” day and I barely got to my own work so I took most of the day on Friday going through e-mail, filing, and getting Pat’s year end off to the accountant. I took time in the afternoon to have coffee with Carola; we had our own Show and Tell session as she made some purchases at Hands Across the Water and I was able to show off my Portland purchases.

Saturday morning was the bee at the Cranberry Hall rental house – it was a bee if you count only two people working as a bee. I arrived ahead of Dee and, although it is dark and creepy inside the basement, I headed in. I didn’t feel qualified to make many decisions but I found some loose screws scattered about and I thought I could at least gather them into one place. All was going well until I found a dead rat in one of the bins – I barely remember getting outside and into my car but that is where Dee found me when she arrived. I wasn’t keen on going back in but Dee said she wasn’t squeamish and anything I didn’t want to touch she would handle. She was amazing and we were done in a couple of hours. We have a pile to give to the economy shop, a pile to sell through some of the local auction sites, and a whole lot of stuff for the dump. I commented to Pat in the afternoon that my legs were sore – I think it was from being ready to run every time I moved a box or looked into a container!

We had a lovely day on Sunday and celebrated Thanksgiving with a turkey dinner in Lund. The Boardwalk is better known for their fish and chips, but they had a four-course turkey dinner for Sunday and it was very good. We enjoyed the drive out and sat on a bench in the sun by the ocean before it was time to eat dinner. Since we had gone out for dinner there were no leftovers to enjoy on Monday so I went out and bought a roasted turkey breast; with potatoes, dressing, carrots and gravy it was just like a leftover dinner.

Yesterday was a bee day and I showed you the birthday banner I finished. The banner did double duty as it was also my mini project for the month. I worked on hand stitching and got a bit more done on my second I’m A Farmer’s Daughter block.

I had an appointment this morning with the accountant that handles the Cranberry Hall accounts. I went directly from there down to the hall. One of the Board members generally does a weekly cleaning but she had some surgery this week so I volunteered to take it over until she is back on her feet. I’m not sure I did all that great a job (it certainly isn’t House Concert standard) but after an hour and a half my back was aching so I had to leave.

We are to get the first in a series of three storms tonight. We’ve been getting warnings about them for a few days now so we should be prepared. We lost our power one night last week (there had been no warnings); Pat had to walk upstairs in the dark for the flashlight so we’ll try to be better prepared tonight.