Sizzling Friday

​

Today has been another hot day…once again we are under a heat advisory and have been for a couple of days and will be for a couple more.  I think we are all looking forward to some Fall temperatures and some rain…so hot and so dry!

I stuck to my Friday schedule and went to the grocery store.  I bought a couple of things for recipes and shopped some of the sales…such as they are these days! My main way of shopping is to shop sale items…especially in the meat department.  If I don't have immediate plans for the meat in a recipe, I freeze it for another day when I will plan a meal around what I have already purchased.  Today's sale wqs a pork loin…I plan to cube part of the roast for sweet and sour pork or a soup recipe that calls for cubed pork.  I think that this time I am going to cut the rest into pork chops…not going to use it as a roast at all this time.  Sometimes I use half for a recipe and the other half I roast. A week or so ago chicken thighs were on sale and I bought some…skinned and boned them and popped them in the freezer to use in a recipe that I like to use thigh meat. With the cost of everything these days, I’m trying to shop and cook smart!  I can't aways shop smart if I go in wanting to make a certain recipe and that week some of the ingredients are sky high in prices…just watching these days!  Doing it this way I find that I have a good varied diet of recipes that I enjoy cooking…when I let my freezer do the inspiring rather than the grocery store aisles!  

I bought a new pan to replace two of my cooking pans that had gotten old and probably shouldn't be used any more…those nonstick surfaces on pans just don’t hold up no matter how careful I have been with them…no dishwasher…no metal utensils, etc.  I am in the process of switching to stainless steel.  I have been very pleased with the ones I have gotten as replacements so far…hoping the new one I am pleased with…less in my cookware drawer by replacing two with one.  One of the ones I am replacing had a bit lower sides and the other a bit higher sides.  I hope that this one in the middle will do the job of both of them…time will tell! I am planning to make New England Clam Chowder sometime this weekend so will try this new pan out.  

After getting the groceries bought, brought in from the car, and put away.  I was pretty done in…this hot weather seems to wipe me out…or maybe it is my age…probably both!  But I was very ready to stitch and read this afternoon.  I finished the book and did a little more on the latest Christmas ornament. 

I’ve got my dishwasher running and that is it for this evening…more stitching and reading is in store for me this evening. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as once again it is time for my Cottey Bookclub tomorrow late morning. I’d probably better go find a summary of the book and read it prior to the meeting as I read tomorrow's selections some time back…probably need to refresh my memory!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Thursday With Friends

​

Today I met with some of the ladies in my Sunday School for lunch.  We had a nice time  visiting and eating.  It's always good to spend time with these friends!  

I swooped through the house today picking up and putting away things that I had put for my decorating efforts.  So the rooms look finished now.  That was one of the things that I wanted to get done today.  I have also read on the book that I am close to finished.  It is at that point in the story that I really want to find out what is going to happen.  I hope I will finish it before I sleep tonight.  I am also making good progress on the next Christmas ornament.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Mid Week…Mid Month

​

Tonight's photo shows the dining room table and I included a close-up of the cutwork, that my grandmother or her sister did (that I mentioned the other night in my blog). I thought that the cloth that had the fruit on the corners was a good one to use for Fall decorating.  I have a feeling that this may have been a dresser scarf rather than a table runner. It only has the design on two corners and the other side is just a finished edge.  But it works well for my purpose on the dining room table.

I have enjoyed looking around at my decorations today.  I am fairly pleased with the way they have turned out.  I never know how I will use the pumpkins, etc. that I have…I just start placing them and this time what is on the dining room table were the ones left…worked out well, I think!  

Today I did finish the Christmas ornament that I had hoped to finish last night before I went to sleep.  But I ended up being too tired to stitch so I got up this morning and finished it.  I have also read quite a bit today…sort of resting after my extra effort towards cleaning over the last days.  I did a little planning for a possible sewing project.  

I have just gotten home from Bible study and am ready to settle in for the evening.  I plan to start another Christmas ornament…this is one I have stitched before…perhaps memory of the pattern will come into play for this one.  I have plans to make this one a couple more times and would like to add another one on for my tree…but that will only happen after I get ones made for Christmas gifts first.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel for "to-be-stitched ornaments" for 2026!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Busy Tuesday

​

You are seeing the last of my decorating efforts.  I am finished…I think!  

Donna and I decided to play hooky from the library today.  We really are caught up for the moment in the library and since we both have a busy week ahead of us, we decided that we could skip the library.  I stayed home and worked on cleaning and decorating and stitching.  Besides finishing Fall decorating, I am hoping to finish another ornament today.  I am in a good place to say that I am pretty sure I can finish it before I sleep tonight.  I just have some outlining to do and quite a few little French knots.  On my breaks today I stitched for part of them and read for others.  Moving along in another book. I finished listening to a book over the weekend. That made my books-read list grow a bit, but I am definitely way behind on my yearly goal of reading a book a week.  But stitching takes away from reading time…reason that I listened to a book over the weekend.  My only problem with listening is dozing off and then having to go back and try to find the place I was just before dozing…I relistened to quite a bit of this last audio book! But in the end I did get the whole story and found out who did it!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! 

Monday Musings

​

How about this bunch of bananas?!? I took this photo at the butterfly garden in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Probably not a photo expected from our Alaska/Canada visit!

Fall pumpkins continued to roll to various places in the house today.  I got the kitchen pretty much finished today.  I then moved on to the dining room table.  I usually keep a tablecloth on the dining room table as it tends to be a place where things get put down…purse, key, sometimes mail that needs to be tended to, etc.  This time it also had things on it that are needed to finish the front door…it still hasn't been painted…I’m hoping soon, once temperatures cool down just a bit.  I put those all in a plastic tub put them aside…at the moment on the floor in the dining room…just to keep them close to the front door where they will be used.  Anyway, I totally cleared off the dining room table and removed the cloth and pad.  Then polished the table.  It's all shiny and nice…now to NOT put things on it for a while!  I am now trying to decide which of the special hand embroidered cloths/doilies/runner, that my grandmother made, I will use to put the decorations on…round or rectangular…have to iron whichever I choose…a decision that I will make in the morning.  The embroidery that is on these is cut work!  Lovely work.  I say that my grandmother made them, but there is a possibility that her sister made them as they both did wonderful handwork and, I imagine that they gifted each other their work so it could belong to either of them…either way I treasure each and every piece that I have of theirs.  I really don't remember my grandmother, as she died when I was two.  But my Aunt Mabel, I got to see several times in my life.  She lived in Massachusetts and we lived in Arizona.  We would visit with the Massachusetts relatives when we visited my mother's sister in MA…so I saw her there and visited in her home.  Then she and Uncle Bill visited in Arizona and so got to visit them in my home so I definitely have more memories of them than my grandmother.  Since I love doing needlework, I really love having pieces they made.  And, I have a drawer or two full of various linens that they embroidered over the years.  I love using them!

At this point I just have to distribute pumpkins on the dining room table and then put a cornucopia filled with Fall leaves and wooden apples on the family room mantle…then my decorating efforts will be finished.  Surely I will be able to finish up tomorrow! 🤞

I am home from prayer meeting and hope to relax in my recliner, stitching on the latest Christmas ornament and watching a cooking show or a needlework YouTube (what we stitchers call FlossTube).

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious.

Sunday Favorite Alaskan Photo

​

Saturday Doings

​

I have zoomed around today…well…as fast as I zoom these days!  I just know that I did a lot of tasks today all related to cleaning and decorating. And, one task just lead to another.  I did accomplish quite a bit, but am not finished yet…but getting closer! My living room is finished except for clearing off the pumpkins on the table in the living room.  Those are the pumpkins that are waiting for me to pick for their place in my Fall decorations for this year.  I cleared off the dining room table getting ready to make a center piece.  Then I will finish in the kitchen and do the mantel in the family room.  I also have the buffet in the dining room decorated. I did a lot of furniture dusting and polishing.  And, moving aside furniture to vacuum under it.  Once I got started, I just wanted to keep on…but…at a point my back said it was time to stop.  On top of the decorating,  I did two loads of clothes

I will rest tonight and hopefully get to put a few stitches in a Christmas ornament…or give myself a treat and stitch on a sampler.  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Remembering

​

Can you believe that it is the 25th anniversary of September 11th?  

I have had a fairly low-key day…though a bit busy.  I did go to the grocery store and ran another errand.  I have done a little decorating…but not as much as I wanted to…a lot of my energy went out the door with my getting groceries, putting them away, etc. 

I did get the Christmas ornament finished last night and got underway with the next one…the number done is rising and the to-do list is growing shorter! I think the count of finished is 16…(seems like it should be more!).

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

A Peaceful Moment

​

Tonight's photo shows one of the most peaceful moments that I had on our Alaska cruise…walking into Tongass National Forest. We visited this area while we were in Sitka, AK.  I just looked it up to make sure of the name of the forest and found out that the Tongass National Forest covers 16.7 million acres across southwest Alaska. It's the world's largest temperate rain forest.  There's your school lesson for the day!  But walking into that forest was a very reverent moment…very peaceful, though there were others from the tour all around me.  A refreshing memory!

I have kept pretty busy today…vacuuming, dusting, polishing, and distributing pumpkins to cleaned surfaces.  I have even moved some pieces of furniture so I could vacuum under them…now this was only smaller pieces of furniture…no couch!  But I have moved end tables and the coffee table.  All these efforts took place in increments  of time during the day.  I cleaned one area and then sat and rested for a while before I moved to the next area.  And, the living room is not cleaned nor decorated completely.  But it is cleaner than it was and hopefully tomorrow it will be even cleaner…and, decorated! 

I did stitch some last night and am closer to a finish on another Christmas ornament.  I’m hoping that I will be able to finish it this evening.  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! 

  

Cook, Clean, Decorate

​

Of the three things that I listed in tonight's blog title, cook took up the most time.  I did clean off one half of the countertop on the sink side…moved everything, wiped off the countertop really well.  Then when I put things back I added in some pumpkins and got out the cooking items I needed for my cook of the day.  

I made chicken and shrimp gumbo…tasted very good for a late lunch.  While cooking I tried to keep the mess under control.  And, it did help when I had the gumbo finished.  I haven’t run the dishwasher, yet…waiting to put the last of today's dishes in.  I plan to turn it on in a little while.

I’m later checking in tonight as a couple of friends and I visited while their husband's were in choir practice.  

It has been a good day…really a little cleaning, a little decorating (at least I have started!), and spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen.  My house smelled like gumbo when I came in the house tonight.  There are worse smells!  I guess I had better get that dishwasher going to perhaps take some of that smell away.  

I hope to stitch for a while tonight.  I need to get back to working on Christmas ornaments.  Last night I took a break from Christmas ornaments and stitched on a sampler.  I think I need to be disciplined tonight and get back to Christmas stitching!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

A Fun and Busy Day!

​

I did get underway with my decorating for Fall today..but didn’t make a tremendous amount of progress as it is slow at first since there is cleaning to do.  I washed a lot of glass objects and started clearing off tables to give them a good dusting and polishing.  I got the vacuum out to do a more thorough vacuuming job then my usual "push it through traffic areas." 

I put the cleaning/decorating aside to head off for an early lunch with Linda H.  We had a nice visit.  She came to Tullahoma for an appointment so we met up before her appointment.  That worked out perfectly for me to meet Donna to work in the church library this afternoon.  Donna and I worked and visited.  So I got a lot of visiting done over the hours that I was away from home!

And, I guess I was tired as I was awakened by the phone about an hour ago.  I can't remember when I have fallen that soundly asleep in the middle of the day!  I guess…that I must have been tired!  Wondering now if I will be able to get to sleep at a decent hour tonight! 🙄

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Maybe the Great Pumpkin Visited?!?

​

Looks to me like the Great Pumpkin visited and turned my table into a pumpkin patch!  I guess it is time to do some picking and choosing and placing of them throughout the house…a job for another day…at least they are all gathered in one place!

It has been a nicer day…heat and humidity were down some.  When I got to church tonight for prayer meeting, I actually sat in my car with the windows down and didn’t burn up and there was a bit of a breeze blowing through the car windows.  Now it isn't actually cool yet, but we "only" got into the upper 80s for a high today. But it does seem that the weather folk were right.  They put us under a heat advisory last Wednesday at 11am…that was just supposed to last until Friday, but they ended up extending it a couple of times and their last extension took it through last night at 8pm.  Glad that that advisory is behind us.

Today I had a hair appointment after lunch.  Which made this a good day…as all hair cut days are!  I have stitched a little and plan to stitch more this evening now that I am home from prayer meeting.  I’ve looked through cookbooks trying to decide on which recipe that I want to use for Chicken Gumbo.  Wade and Melany brought me some okra and part of the barbecue feast they provided on Saturday was some smoked pulled chicken…that should be good in gumbo.  And, I have some shrimp in the freezer that should be good in it, too.  BUT…it is still rather hot for gumbo!  So I am gearing up to do some cooking.  I also want to use the leftover pulled pork in a tamale pie…both of these items freeze well so I may sample them, but if they make me feel too warm, I may slip them in the freezer for upcoming cooler autumn days.  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! 

Sunday Favorite Alaskan Photo

​

A Cool Scene for a Hot Day

​

We had another day and when I looked through my photos to choose one for tonight's blog! I saw this photo taken at the Butchart Gardens and it just made me feel cooler!  Supposedly the heat advisory ends in less than an hour…we will see what tomorrow's temperatures bring!

I had a nice visit with Melany, Wade, and Erin today.  I was hoping that Erin would feel like coming with them.  I thought she might come since it could be a shorter visit.  Melany brought her stitched Christmas stocking and we visited for a while.  Then Wade went to pick up lunch.  He got Piggy's Place barbecue.  This is a local barbecue restaurant.  Woody worked with one of the original owners so we used to get it more than we have lately.  Piggy's Place had a special part in Melany and Wade's Wedding celebration.  Their rehearsal dinner was held there.  So we shared some memories with Erin today.  We sat around for a while after lunch and talked.  One of the things we talked about were things we can remember where we were when something in history happened.  What started that train of thought was that Dolly Parton died on Erin's birthday.  I told Erin that I would remember the date Dolly died because of it being Erin's birthday.  Then we went on to remember where we were when other things happened…like the day Elvis died…Woody, Melany, Nathan and I were visiting in Massachusetts.  We were sitting at he dinner table when my Uncle Don casually dropped that piece of information…well, my cousin, Sue, was one of the biggest fans of Elvis…I think we went into mourning for most of the rest of the trip!  We remembered about: where we were when the Challenger Shuttle exploded;  our location on September 11, 2001; where we were when the assassination attempt happened for President Regan.  Erin, of course, didn’t remember most of those.  And, I shared where I was when I learned that President Kennedy was assassinated.  And, one very random one…when Marilyn Monroe's death was reported…Daddy, Mother, Cheryl and I were visiting San Francisco.  I’m thinking that maybe I heard that news called out from a newsstand…not absolutely sure about that…but I know we were walking along a San Fran street when I found out…and in those days we wouldn't have anything with us that would give us news when out walking!  I just looked that date up for Marilyn Monroe's death and it was announced on August 5, 1962…so I was 14 and my sister was 7…I doubt that Cheryl remembers that.  Funny the things that stick in your mind.  But that was the direction that our memories ran this afternoon.  

I’m settled in for the night.  I haven’t done any stitching today.  Maybe I’ll stitch in a while…not sure I feel like stitching tonight! 

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! 

Friday…Again!

​

It seems like all I have to do is blink and another Friday has rolled around.  Today I chose not to go to the grocery store…I really didn't need anything, at least as far as I know…now.  Another reason to skip grocery shopping today is the fact that it is Labor Day weekend and I’m sure that more than usual would have been at the store getting ready for cookouts, etc. Pretty hot for cookouts, though!  Our heat advisory has been extended until tomorrow evening.  I think most of us are ready for a break in this heatwave. Once again, today, I stayed inside keeping out of the heat…so thankful for a comfortable air conditioned house!

I have done more puttering around doing a little of this and a little of that.  I did get a bit more physical and actually vacuumed…finished vacuuming downstairs and then have started upstairs.  I plugged in the vacuum in my bedroom…vacuumed in there and then as far as the cord would let me vacuum…the bedroom, the sewing room, half the hallway, halfway down the stairs, and just through the doorway into Melany's former bedroom.  I’ll hopefully do the rest of the upstairs tomorrow morning…or when I plug the vacuum in next!  I have the downstairs vacuum parked next to the stairs to vacuum the other half of the stairway…I will definitely do that in the morning so I can put away the vacuum.  I did do a lick and a promise with dusting downstairs.  I will be doing a better job dusting when I get underway with my Fall decorating.  

Melany and Wade and maybe Erin are coming for a visit tomorrow.  Melany is bringing the Christmas stocking she has cross stitched so I can make it into a stocking.  She brought it once before, but I suggested that she do a little more stitching at the top of the stocking that the pattern didn't say to do. I think it will make the stocking top more stable.  She has finished doing that extra stitching and is bringing it back tomorrow.  And, we'll get to visit for a while, too. 

I managed to do some stitching today, too, so I am closer to a finish on it.  I think that I will work more on it this evening…ready to rest from the more vigorous efforts that I have done around the house today!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! 

It's Mighty Hot in TN

​

This is one of the hottest looking photos that I found in my Alaska/Canada photos.  This was taken in The Butterfly Gardens that we visited n Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.  And, I will say that it was very hot inside this building…they definitely had it at a tropical temperature.  And, most of us had on jackets due to cooler temps outside.  

It has been very hot here today.  Alexa just told me that our high today was 99° and the heat index reached 109°.  I can't say much about the heat, as I just stayed in today…I only went outside to check the mail and put something in the outside garbage can.  All I can say about that short trip out is that it made me glad that I had stayed in and just puttered around, again.  I did start my vacuuming downstairs and also mopped the kitchen floor.  I finished the ornament that I had been stitching and moved on to the next one.  I counted and I think that I have finished stitching 17 ornaments so far.  I checked on my list today to see how close I am to finishing and I am getting closer.  I think there are 6 ornaments so far 7 left to stitch for gifts…then there a couple that I want to stitch for myself…but those can wait! 

I pulled down a cookbook the other day that I am now enjoying going through and just reading about the recipes in it.  It is the 15th Anniversary edition of the Test Kitchen TV show…one that has every recipe that they cooked on their show in the years 2001-2015.  Woody gave me this cookbook, probably in 2015.  We used to look at the show together.  Now this is one very big and very heavy cookbook!  I have it stored with the rest of my cookbooks in the cabinet above the stove.  It is so heavy that I rarely get it out.  But I was looking for a recipe the other day and thought that there might be one in it so I got the stool out and got it down…very carefully!  I put it on the small section of counter next to the stove.  I looked up the recipe and then left it there on the counter to put up when I had the stool out the next time and when I had the energy to hoist it up there!  Well, I left it open and stopped when walking by and got to looking at some of the recipes…each recipe tells you why the recipe works…interesting in and of itself!  So I have been thumbing through it when I walk by and stop for a moment to read about another recipe.  So not cooking from this cookbook at the moment, but am enjoying perusing the recipes and information about the recipes…and enjoying it on the counter, since I don't have to feel the weight of it on my lap or in my arms. Maybe I’ll find a recipe I want to try!  Then, again, maybe I won't!  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!  

Small Accomplishment = Good Day

​

Tonight's photo shows that small accomplishment…are you laughing!?!  I took a picture of it on my cutting board that is marked in one-inch increments…so it is just a little over an inch in diameter.  I stitched this little acorn and fall leaves a year or more ago.  This morning, when I was shuffling through a pile of stitched projects, I found this tiny stitch.  I had it all ready to finish…even had the interfacing ironed on the back.  I got it ready last year when I was finishing Christmas ornaments.  Since it was past Fall, I set it aside to do some other time.  I ordered the covered button size that I needed at some point when ordering from Amazon…so had that on hand, too, as well as had already copied the circle size I needed to cut it our with.  So I decided that today was the day to finish this tiny stitch.  I will prop it in with other Fall decorations in my antique scoop. An accomplishment that made it a good day.

I spent more time in the sewing room today,  I did start getting all the things put back that I emptied from containers that I washed yesterday.  Still have to sort through pencils and pens.  I brought my needlework bag upstairs and neatened up the linen pieces by serging cut edges so they won't fray when I stitch on them.  These linen pieces were ones that I have stitched something on already, but there is still enough to use them to stitch something else on them.  I very much enjoyed my time in my sewing room…one of my favorite places in my home.  I just haven't spent much time there over the last years.  When Woody was so sick, it was just so hard to find blocks of time to be able to accomplish sewing tasks.  Plus the sewing room is upstairs so was farther away from him…couldn't hear him when I had the machine running.  So it was easier to do things downstairs…at that time or do stitching in my chair upstairs.  Stitching can be set aside more easily than sewing can!  I am hoping that what I am doing…organizing some of the sewing supplies…that I will be ready to get back to sewing an actual garment.  I have a top in mind that I want to make…I found the fabric online and ordered it when sitting at Vanderbilt, I believe during Woody's last inpatient stay there.  So the fabric has been hanging in my sewing closet for a little over two years, waiting for me to get back to sewing.  I’m getting closer to being ready to make it.

I went to Bible study this evening and am now home ready to sit and relax for the rest of the evening.  I plan to finish another ornament.  All I lack is a small portion of the border around the design.  The Christmas ornament stack is growing! 

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Another Calendar Page Turned

​

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

How can it be September…already?!? Time is definitely flying.  Fall is just around the corner, but one wouldn!t know by our temperatures…today's high was 97° and the heat index climbed above 100°.  We have been issued a heat advisory from tomorrow morning through to Friday evening.  Heat index could get up to 109°.  I’m staying in unless I have to get out.  Today I waited till the sun went down to take the garbage can down to the road.  That's the only time that I stepped outside today.  I got my mail while I was out there.  Donna and I didn’t work in the library today.  

I have puttered around the house today…doing little things…one task that I had told myself that I would was put away some clothes that I had stacked up on my sewing cutting table instead of getting them into the drawers where they belong.  That task got accomplished.  Since I am working up to getting back to sewing! I decided to go though some of my many sewing notions and put them in a better order.  Some of these notions reside in mugs.  I had noted the other day that these mugs had gathered quite a bit of dust inside of them.  So today I emptied the mugs of their contents: pencils, pens, rulers, glue pens, tweezers, etc., etc., etc! Amazing all the little things that I have to help me with sewing tasks.  I wrote with each pen to see if they worthy of saving.  Some of the unworthy ones got taken to the road inside the garbage can.  I put the mugs in the dishwasher to clean them up.  I have some flat pattern weights that are shaped like sewing items—scissors, ironing board top, sewing machine, an iron.  These are coated metal and they had for some time had a sticky feel to them.  I wipe them off from time to time, but doing that never seemed to cut the film that was on them.  Having put the mugs in the dishwasher, made me think that these could go in the dishwasher, too.  From there I found several other items that could benefit with a good washing so added them into the top rack of the dishwasher.  When the rack was full, I ran a cycle just doing the top rack.  So I have some sparkling clean items to store my notions in, as well as some non sticky pattern weights.  I will put things back into these tomorrow.  It is good or me to go through these items and remind myself about all the helps I have when I get back to my sewing.  I will admit that what I dealt with today is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg!  I have many, many sewing helps stored in one place or another.  Today's cleaning mainly dealt with things that I use when cutting out patterns.  

That puttering dealt with sewing.  I also spent some time puttering in the kitchen.  I did make fried rice to eat with some of my leftover cashew chicken for my lunch today.  The other fiddly/puttering task that I did in the kitchen that may sound as funny as me washing some of my sewing notions.  I attempted to get rid of the crystallized sugar inside my honey container.  I needed honey yesterday and discovered that it was crystallized.  So I heated it up so I could get the small amount I needed for my recipe.  I knew that if I didn't get rid of all the crystals of sugar that it would just all crystalize again.  So I reheated it and rolled it around in its container…reheated it several times…and I have almost been successful, but guess I will reheat it again tomorrow to see if I can get all the crystals gone.  None of the jobs that I have done today are things that had to be done and wouldn't show if any of you came into my house…but I know that they are done and I’m glad that I puttered around and did them.

My latest cross stitch ornament is well underway and I am pleased with my progress and how it looks.  I plan to do more stitching on it this evening.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! 

Bidding August Goodbye

​

August is leaving on a hot note and it looks like September will be entering on that same hot note…predicted to be hotter.  I just got home from prayer meeting and the car's thermometer said that it was 91°.  I think our hi today was 94° and tomorrow's hi May get to 97°.  Oh, boy! 

Nathan, Isaac, and Joseph stopped by on their way home from the Motlow BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministry).  Today was their first Monday lunch offered to the students and faculty, etc. for a minimal price.  It is a way that the BCM raise money for mission trips. Nathan called on their way home asking if my lawn needed mowing.  It has been so dry that the front yard hasn't grown much…pretty crunchy underfoot!  But the back yard had gotten long and it was getting difficult for me to walk to the compost pile because I couldn’t see what was underfoot…like mole hills and walnut shells, acorns, and other hazards for walking!  So he came and made a very dusty run with the lawnmower through my backyard.  The boys came in and worked on their schoolwork. 

Today was a day for me to get into the kitchen and do a little cooking.  I decided that I wanted to try my hand at a new recipe—Cashew Chicken.  I had had that at the Thai restaurant that Melany and Wade took me to a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like a recipe that I could replicate fairly easily and that I could make it a bit healthier than the one that I had a the restaurant…I adjusted the salt levels, but I think I will lower them some more the next time that I make it.  But it was very good.  Both Nathan and Joseph tried a little and gave their approval.  Isaac doesn't like nuts in things so this wasn't something that he wanted to try. I enjoyed it with some Jasmine rice. I think that I am going to make fried rice with some of the leftover rice…I think that fried rice would taste good with he cashew chicken,  

Yesterday I finished another Christmas ornament.  Today I told myself that I could stitch whatever I felt like since I had finished another Christmas ornament, but in the end a new Christmas ornament was what I chose to start stitching.  I'm going to continue stitching that ornament after I go out and wash the few cooking dishes that need to be hand washed.  The rest of the dishes are getting clean in the dishwasher…so glad that after really messing up the kitchen that I don't have to wash them all by hand!  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sunday Favorite Alaska Photo

​

Russian Orthodox Church in Sitka, Alaska