I Had To Do It

The more I sit here and write and draw and paint and knit, the achy-er my knees get so despite not wanting to I bundled up and went for a walk this afternoon. The picture I'm posting shows a dry street but it wasn't dry today. The pavement was wet and in places it was icy but there was sand from earlier applications of it so I could walk pretty confidently. I have to do it at least a couple times a week because I don't want to get to the point where I can't walk anywhere. And I'm creeping up on it.

 

I put my new giraffe pen cup to work on the table. I picked out my favorite pens, pencil, scissors, and nail file, things I use all the time, and now they're where I can grab them when I want them. The extra pencils, ruler, and colored pencils are in the old pencil cup on the counter within easy reach if they're needed. 

 

I enjoyed watching a squirrel leap from the crook to the top of the square green feeder, then drop down and grab the perch, then pull itself up and into the feeder this afternoon. Durwood would be totally bothered by the squirrel in the feeder but it amuses me. I don't mind.

 

Today's drawing is an Acorn & Candy Corn. I like them and I especially like the little comments she wrote next to the drawings. But I think the candy corn is wrong. I like it and I know other people who do. DD does not. She had a bad dream about candy corn when she was little and never got over it. I'll eat her share.

 

I got out the watercolors again and tried my hand at the Blue Horizon project from the Seascapes lessons. I like this sky better but I'm still not crazy about the water. Maybe it's the color. She uses Phthalo Turquoise and I use Cobalt Turquoise. Mine looks too greenish to me or maybe I don't layer darker blue on top of it enough. I'll give it another try.

 

In the afternoon I wrote thank you notes. DIL1's mom is a big one for thank you notes and once she joined the family I got back into the habit of writing them. I like it.

 

And drew a gratitude journal page. I was most grateful for my walk, although the leftover pizza was delicious, and I was grateful for writing 988 words. But I need more conflict in my story. I'm thinking about it.

 

--Barbara 

Whirlwind

Today felt like a whirlwind. DD and family picked me up to run around town to places they wanted to visit. First stop was Zambaldi to pick up beer for SIL1's dad and to have a short visit with DS.

Then we went to Seroogy's, a local candy store, where we walked around sniffing chocolate and making poor (good tasting) choices. The store is owned by the family of Tony Shalhoub the actor who grew up in Green Bay. And whose sister gave me the recipe for the best cheesecake I've ever eaten. Shh, it's a secret recipe.

After that we drove up the road to Lambeau Field where DD, SIL1 and IM went over to the Lambeau Leap display and took pictures of each other. There weren't any parking places so DD parked in a loading zone and I stayed in the car so we didn't get towed away. So I didn't see the leaping or take any pictures.

 

Next we went across the street to Kroll's for lunch of burgers and cheese curds. IM wasn't impressed with his burger so I offered to make him a PB&J when we got back home but he declined.

 

Both DD and SIL1 have colds so they went back to the Airbnb for a nap and IM and I came back here so he could play video games and I could show him the scuba gear which he was very interested in.

 

A squirrel wrapped itself around the suet nuggets feeder and hung there for quite a while not moving. I assume its jaws were moving but I couldn't see it.

 

While I waited to be picked up this morning I wrote a bit. I was a little distracted so I only managed to write 314 words but I left myself someplace to go next time I sit down to write. Which will be tomorrow.

 

After DD's nap she picked up IM and me and we went to Meijer for Packer shirts for a bunch of people and a six-pack of SIL1's dad's favorite Zambaldi beer which they were out of in the taproom. It's no wonder I'm tired. We ran around like crazed weasels all day. 

 

I made a meatloaf, baked potatoes, steamed carrots, and steamed cauliflower for supper. It's been a very long time since I made a meal like that. It took longer than I thought it would but it was good. Of course I forgot to take a picture of it. There are lots of leftovers from the last three days--pizza, Texas breakfast & coffeecake, and the whole meatloaf dinner. I won't have to cook for the next week, just reheat things.

--Barbara 

Merry Christmas!

 We Christmas-ed the heck out of today. First thing, DD and her family came over and we opened gifts, then I made Texas Breakfast for brunch. It was so good, if I do say so myself. What's not to love? It's a layer of hash browns with onions and bell peppers (Potatoes O'Brien), beaten eggs, then crumbled bacon, shredded cheese over the top, cooked until the eggs are done, then broiled to dry and brown the top. Mm.

 

I fried up bacon to crumble into the egg mixture and used Mom's old aluminum grease canister for the excess. It's such a handy way to deal with something that is hard to dispose of. This canister was part of a wedding gift in 1950 and it's still going strong.

 

DD, IM, and I played Quicktionary, which is a word game that's so fun and easy to play for even an 8 year old to play along (with a little coaching). I got this cool wooden giraffe pen holder, a red journal, a book of crochet amigurumi patterns, and an IM calendar too.

 

A squirrel twined itself around the suet nuggets feeder doing its best to nibble some of the yummy stuff. I watched to see if it would leap across and get into the square green feeder so IM could see it but it didn't.

 

I took a couple minutes to draw this afternoon when we had a lull. It's a Campfire & a Bat (flying mammal, not baseball). I drew the campfire logs too close to the top of the page so the flames almost went off but I managed to keep it on the paper.

 

We went to DS's house for supper. We had roast turkey, roasted potatoes, roasted broccoli, salad, crescent rolls, and chocolate cake. Yum. It was great to be all together for a few hours. I insisted that someone take a picture of me with my children. We haven't all been in the same place for over a year. The occasion called for a picture. You can see I used up all the height when I made DS. DD got short changed. Get it? Short changed. I crack myself up.

 

I didn't write today so I'm breaking my streak of writing every day but I don't have two awake brain cells to rub together tonight. It's a Christmas miracle that I'm getting this blogging done.

--Barbara 

Merry Christmas Eve!

I know it's almost over but I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas Eve. I'd wish you a merry Christmas but that feels too early. Maybe not. Maybe I'm just being pedantic. Oh, what the heck. Merry Christmas!

I was lucky enough to notice the Red-Bellied Woodpecker on the suet nuggets today. When I took the picture I realized how low the nuggets are getting. I think I have another bag of nuggets in the can. I'll have to put on the big boots and go out to check. Maybe on Friday. When it's supposed to rain. Can you believe it?

 

The sky was bright pinkish orange when I gave up on writing this afternoon so I grabbed the camera and went out onto the porch to snap a picture. It was so overcast all day I was surprised to see that the sun figured out how to weasel its way through to make a sunset.

 

While I waited to hear from DD that they'd arrived safely in town, I decided to try my hand at the first project in my new seascapes watercolor class. It's called Blue Horizon. Just sky and water but I think it turned out okay. The sky isn't as blue as I'd like it to be. I need to call this a study, a practice painting, and have another go.

 

I only managed to eke out 416 words today. They just weren't cooperating so I gave up before I finished two pages. Some days are like that.

DD and family arrived around 6 o'clock at the end of a loooooooooong drive. SIL1 and IM settled into the Airbnb and DD came over to have supper and visit with me until she got too tired and went back to hit the sack. They'll be over for presents and breakfast/brunch tomorrow, then we'll have Christmas dinner with DS and family at suppertime. There are a few places they'd like to visit on Friday and then they leave on Saturday. It's a short visit but so much better than no visit at all.

--Barbara

Birds

 I saw some birds today. Naturally they were in the shade so they're not very visible except as silhouettes against the white snow. These Mourning Doves were slowly exploring the fallen seed under the square green feeder. The squirrel was in there this morning but not very visible so I skipped taking a picture.

 

These Sparrows were probably tossing seed down for the Mourning Doves. Two of them sat side-by-side which was unusual. Most of the time they shove and flutter, driving the other one away, but not today. 

 

I caught up on two days of gratitude journal pages and today too. I'll only pop today's page on here. It'd be too boring to see all three of them in a row.

 

Tonight I'm having the last of the lemon-lime jello. It isn't the last forever but it's the last of this batch. The odd thing is this flavor jells the firmest. Cherry is the wiggliest, orange is kind of in the middle. All lime is pretty firm but the lemon-lime combo is the winner.

 

I did a lot of piddly things today like Dryel-ed three sweaters and hung them up to air out. I shoved another lime into the garbage disposal and started grinding it up to keep the crud back. Then I washed a sink full of plastic containers that held the last 10 nights' servings of Investment Cooking. Some of them made me want to write out a huge shopping list and cook for a week. But first I'd have to defrost the freezer. It's a real glacier in there. I got some containers and sorted out some English Toffee and Chex Mix for DS and DD. If it all stays here, I'll just eat it and that's not a good thing. I'd eat them all exclusively. Nope. No can do.

I had a Zoom with cda this afternoon and got some good suggestions and an idea for my manuscript. I also splurged and bought a series of 6 separate online watercolor classes that were on sale. They'll give me something to do this winter when I'm not writing. And in between all the chores today I wrote 960 words. They're okay, not great, just okay.

Tomorrow DD and her family are driving up from Lexington, KY for a few days. I've got a couple things to pick up tomorrow for the meals while they're here and then it'll be Christmas! I'm excited. I kind of dread going to the grocery tomorrow, though, because I suspect it'll be a madhouse.

--Barbara 

Coffee With Old Friends

I had a great time today. A former neighbor reached out the other day and invited me and another former neighbor over for coffee today. We juggled our calendars and got together in the late morning. It was great. We did a lot of showing off of grandkids and kids on our phones and talked about this and that. All three of us paint with watercolor, we took a class together at the technical school this summer, and are planning a trip to an art gallery and store about 30 miles away after the first of the year. I took bags of English Toffee to share and DT gave us each a little bag. Mine had this tube of sumptuous face lotion in it. I can't wait to smooth it on and look years younger. Or at least not as dry and flaky.

 

But first I went over to Michaels to ask them to frame one of my watercolors from last spring's class at The Clearing. I've looked at it a hundred times and thought, I should frame that. Well, yesterday the decision got made and today I followed through. Of course, it'll be a few weeks before it's ready and it cost half again as much as I thought it would but it's this long skinny painting of hollyhocks. I love the orange/yellow against the teal background. I'll show it to you again when it comes back.

 

Walking to the back of Michaels on my way to the framing department I noticed that they'd moved the drawing books to an end cap near the sketchbooks so I skimmed over them. After I'd signed on the dotted line for my framing job, I went back to look at the books and found this one of step-by-step drawings. I'm much better at copying someone else's drawing than thinking things up on my own. The funny thing is that the book I'm drawing out of right now is called Drawing Cute. The new book is called How to Draw Super Cute. Are you sensing a theme?

 

When I got home the squirrel was hanging out of the square green feeder again today. I was glad to see its furry little face and know you'll be able to see it instead of just seeing the lid of the feeder at an angle and having to trust me that a squirrel was under there.

 

The drawing today is of a Mum & Jack-o-lantern. I don't think the flower turned out big enough but the jack-o-lantern isn't bad. 

 

I got a late start writing today and wrote some more about the arrest of the fleeing, non-paying guests. I only managed 756 words before I lost steam and quit. By then it was dark and I was tired.

 

It snowed overnight. It was supposed to snow this afternoon but evidently it came early. That meant I got to go out and shovel the driveway before going anywhere. It wasn't too bad, kind of crunchy, but on the west edge of the driveway there was a long drift of blown snow that was heavy and hard to shovel away. But I persisted and got the job done and salt spread on the top half. Whew.  

Tomorrow I need to take things out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge. Can't forget or there will be no coffeecake on Christmas morning or meatloaf on Friday evening. I made sure that the places I need to go to on Christmas Eve will be open to pick up a birthday cake and a pizza. Both important food groups.

--Barbara 

As Ready As I'll Ever Be

I did the last Christmas prep thing on my list today. I stirred (and stirred and stirred) up a batch of English Toffee. I splurged on a bag of dark chocolate chips to melt over the top because it's my favorite and I'm all about pleasing myself these days. Once it cooled, I got out the cleaver which is the easiest way to chunk it up without getting my hands all chocolatey, then I bagged it. And I only ate a little bit--just to make sure it was edible, you understand.

 

Just because English Toffee tends to smoke when it's almost ready, I opened the patio door before I started and scared the bejeebers out of the squirrel in the feeder. The lid clanked shut and there was a furry gray streak across the back yard. Sorry to interrupt your meal, squirrel.

 

The Red-bellied Woodpecker visited the suet nuggets again today. For all I know it comes every day but I don't always see it because I don't just sit at the kitchen table staring out the window. I do a lot of other stuff, you know.

 

Today's drawings are a Sunscreen Bottle & Sunglasses. The perfect things to draw on a sunny but cold first day of winter. You know what that means, don't you? It means that every day it'll stay light for another minute or so longer. More light! Hooray!

 

After supper I sat down to watch a movie but couldn't get into it, so I switched over to the crackling fireplace and crocheted on the Fiesta & White Crocheted Hat Redo. I'm finished with the crown increases and now I just go around and around and around until it gets long enough. Then I cut the colorful yarn and crochet the last few rounds in the white. I also looked and looked for a crocheted Christmas stocking pattern I used when DS was a baby, one for OJ, and one for IM. I'm not sure why it was so important tonight. It isn't in Ravelry or in my Dropbox so I went downstairs and searched through patterns and binders and didn't find it. Then I noticed a few page protectors tucked behind some pattern books in a file and there it was. So I brought it upstairs, scanned it, and put it in Dropbox and two other places in the computer so I won't ever have to hunt for it again. 

 

I had an  idea when I sat down to write this afternoon and wrote 1,117 words in a little scene about guests paying with a stolen credit card but not getting off the island before they got caught and arrested. Fun times! 

--Barbara 

It Came

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from Verlo, the mattress factory/store, to tell me what time the delivery guys would bring the new bed. He said between 8:15am and 10:15am. So I set a 7am alarm, got dressed immediately, and moved my car onto the street at around 7:45... which is exactly when the Verlo truck backed into my driveway. They were half an hour early, or two and a half hours early! The delivery guy said he double checked that they brought the correct bed and were quick to bring it in and set it up. They helped put on the bed skirt and electric blanket controls between the mattress and box springs. They were so efficient that they were gone before they were supposed to arrive. I'm looking forward to sleeping in it tonight. I hope I remember where I am when nature calls in the middle of the night. Or maybe the angels will bless me and I'll sleep all night. Nah, probably not. (Next to the bed you can see my desk and writing corner. That's where the magic happens!)

 

I watched a squirrel leap from the ground to the birdseed cans, to the Adirondack chair, to the (frozen) birdbath, to the top of the crook. It perched there, balancing on the narrow pole, and looked like it was thinking about nibbling on the suet nuggets. I need to go out and check if the heater is still plugged in. I know the socket is live because it's on the same breaker as the bathroom plug so if the night light is on, the heater should be on.

 

Instead, it jumped across, caught the perch on the square green feeder, and clambered up inside. But first it hung out so I could take a picture of it. Naturally the feeder was in the shade so the picture looks like a silhouette but you can tell it's a squirrel, can't you?

 

While I wasn't paying attention this afternoon, Santa dropped a bag of gifts in the guest room. I peeked and there's presents for everyone in there and the stockings too.

 

Today's figures to draw were Sandcastle & Palm Tree. Odd things to draw on a day when it was in the 30s and so windy it kept the wind chimes dancing all day.

 

And after supper I drew a gratitude journal page for today, not yesterday. I'm most grateful for my new bed, at least I hope I'm still grateful for it after tonight. We'll see how comfy it is.

 

 

Writing went okay today. I made 1,125 words stick to the page over a couple hours. Not the most interesting words but I'm ever hopeful.

--Barbara 

It Looked Stuffed

The squirrel that was clinging onto the suet nuggets feeder this morning looked like a stuffed animal. It was chubby and squishy looking but I'm guessing no one would want to snuggle it and it surely wouldn't want to snuggle me.

 

The last bud on the Christmas cactus has opened. My plant is no over-achiever like CS's SIL's plant but its measly trio of blossoms gave me quiet happiness. I appreciate its efforts. Maybe if it was in a bigger pot with better soil it'd do better. I'll think about it. 

 

I wrote for a couple hours today, a little in the morning and more after my eye doctor's appointment when I had trouble seeing because they dilated my pupils. Makes it hard to see, especially in bright sunlight which we had today. Today I logged 1,150 words. Still no big action or conflict but, like I said yesterday, I figure if I keep writing, something's bound to happen.

 

At Friday Night Knitting I worked on the Licorice Hat leaving the ribbing and starting on the body of the hat. I plan to make the hat taller than the pattern calls for because 5.5" just isn't enough to reliably cover the ears. And when it's as cold and windy as it is around here, that's important.

 

I realized this morning that I hadn't bought enough of our favorite bacon for Christmas morning so I went back to Woodman's to get more. It seemed like everyone on the west side of Green Bay and from the village of Howard was trying to get into the parking lot. I couldn't even turn onto the street that leads to the entrance at first. I did find a good parking place and went right to the bacon, got a package, and got outta there. 

I got a call from Verlo, the mattress factory/store, this afternoon that my new bed, the right size bed, will be delivered between 8:15 and 10:15 tomorrow morning. I called the store to make sure the correct size will arrive. I'm looking forward to sleeping on the new mattress tomorrow night. Not that I haven't been comfy in the guest room, it's very comfy. I was very sorry when we got the king bed to not be sleeping in the bed I'm sleeping in now. If I like it better than the new one, DS said he'd help me swap mattresses. He's a nice man. 

--Barbara 

Squirrely

It was a day for the squirrels to be at the feeders. When I opened the drapes over the patio door this squirrel was on the suet nuggets holding real still and looking at me out of the corner of its eye. When nothing happened it went back to nibbling nuggets.

 

This afternoon I came home from errands to find a squirrel hanging half out of the square green feeder grunting at another squirrel on the ground. In the time it took me to put down my keys and grab the camera the squirrel on the ground took off so the feeder squirrel went back under the lid. So that's the picture I got. I waited for a few minutes to see if it would come back out but it didn't. Oh well.

 

I visited DS at Zambaldi Beer this morning. He was making Clan Malcolm which is the beer he made for their wedding about 15 years ago. And in this picture he's testing the carbonation level of a batch of Arnie light lager. It was too high so he had to bleed off some CO2 and test again. He was hurrying to get it kegged and on tap because they're out and it's a very popular beer.

 

Another of my favorite Christmas decorations is this picture of Santa snorkeling down to visit a mermaid and her baby. It's actually a Christmas card I had framed because I liked it so much. I had a couple boxes of different cards like it and I sent them out but can't find more. Dang it.

 

Today's drawing is Balloon and Sand Toys. They're okay. Not fabulous but okay.

 

I went to Woodman's grocery for Nueske's bacon (because we think it's the best) and bought the boxes of cereal to make Chex Party Mix using Mom's original recipe. It's a little different from the one printed on the boxes today but sooooo good. I confess I had a bowl fresh from the oven instead of something healthy for supper.

 

And here's today's gratitude journal page. It got up to 43 degrees today and rained. It's supposed to get into the teens tonight so the roads ought to be icy in the morning. Hopefully the sanders will be out so I can get to my eye doc appointment just after noon.

 

Much of the snow melted away today. The birdbath is completely thawed and there are patches of grass showing all over and there were even puddles. OJ said there was nothing more disgusting than puddles and grass in the middle of December. The kid's a philosopher.

 

I woke up at 5:18 this morning to go to the bathroom and couldn't go back to sleep. Grr. I wanted to get up at 7, not 5, but noooo, I had to lay there staring at the inside of my eyelids until 7.

Writing was slow again today. I wrote 898 words but they didn't really move the story along. I need to think about what has to happen. I guess I'll just keep doodling along until some idea strikes. I can always take some of this stuff out if it's too boring.

--Barbara