{ A yarny kind of Friday }

I often get asked how I managed to do get my housework done and still have time for crochet or watching a show or doing the things that I enjoy.

It's not the first time that I've talked about this, but it has been quite a long time ago so I thought I would quickly mention it again.

{ A wee peek into my Sunday and a little Monday too }

I never got to show you how I spent my Sunday, by the time I settled into bed and snuggled up to my husband, it was quite late and I wasn't about to pull my laptop back out for anything.

I swear the minute I slide under the covers, it takes nothing but a miracle, someone on fire, the house caving in or the dog about to throw up, to get me back up.  Anyone else feel that way?

So, here I am, again quite late.  We were sitting in the living room, I was reading my book (almost done with it and starting to feel quite sad, actually), and my Nick and hubby were playing Mortal Kombat on the Xbox and have the time of their lives.

I stepped out back with Marley, took my book and sat at the patio table, just enjoyed the sound of the birds overhead and the wonderful evening air.  I was totally distracted {again, that distraction thing}, and didn't realize it was already 8PM.  Usually by this time I'm in bed.

But anyway, here I am, realizing that I didn't get my post up and I need to do that before going to bed.  I'm weird like that, if I have a certain post in mind, or pictures of a specific day, I need to get it up pretty quickly.  I could keep the pictures for another post, but then I don't feel like I'm staying true to my daily entries and it makes me feel out of whack.  I'm a nut case, there, I said it.

Sunday morning, I let Marley out and was in awe of the gorgeous sunrise happening right before my eyes.  It's not often that I'm able to capture the beauty of it, especially those long bright rays shooting up from the sun.

I always find that even the best photographs don't quite capture the real feeling you see with your own two eyes.  I mean, sure it comes pretty close but it is never really quite capable of showing the beauty in person.  Never mind that, I still continue to shoot and try to catch all those little things that I love about being alive.

We had another busy day of yard work.  It's a busy that makes us happy, if that even makes any sense.  Curt and I have been renting this house for the past 2 years and we have signed on another lease agreement for another 2 years, with the option to buy.  We want to buy it so badly, but we want to be smart about it and knock off some debt, before we take the leap.

Anyway, the work we've been doing around the yard, as hard and tiring as it is, it brings a smile to our faces because in essence we feel we are working towards our dream home.

Before we started the day, we sat down with the kids and had a really yummy breakfast.

Let me tell you something, it had been about 2 years since we had been able to do this.  It used to be our family tradition, every Sunday we would have bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy and omelets.  Then the kids got older, their sleeping schedules went completely out of whack and we never saw them before 3pm.

The past two weeks or so we've all been working hard to get them back into a normal schedule and it's finally working.

It was amazing sitting at the table at 8 in the morning enjoying one of our breakfasts.  Surely blessed and thankful for that.

I've been completely captivated by the Alpacas that have just moved in across the street.  I thought it was three that I had seen, but turns out there's 7.  How amazing is that?

I see myself taking a lot of pictures of these guys, just wish I could get closer, but I don't want to just haul myself with the camera in hand, across the street and start snapping pictures.  I don't know if the owner would be ok with that.

The Monarch butterflies have also been migrating and my yard is filled with these gorgeous creatures, fluttering about.

Sunday was spent mainly outside working, but today I got all the housework done and then had to run some errands.

I took Jasmine to base to pick up her prescriptions, because she's 18 years old now, I can't really do it for her unless I have her ID and information etc.  It just makes it easier to have her do it.

After the hospital we stopped over at the base library, and I have to tell you, it made me quite sad.  Most of the book shelves had been pushed all the way to the back of the library, I no longer could find the New Fiction books, all they had was one shelf of Juniors and Young Adults, a bunch of DVD's and a few cookbooks.

I grabbed one cookbook, that's it.

I felt quite defeated as I went to check it out and made a comment to the young girl there that I couldn't find the fiction books etc.  She told me that they are changing things around and matter of fact, they're trying to go pretty much all digital and make room for more DVDs and such.

How sad is that?  It makes me wonder what is going to happen to all the libraries in the next few years.  I'm all for technology and digital, I love my Kindle, but nothing will ever come near an actual book in your hands.  I was quite shocked at what she said.

The book is chock full of delicious looking recipes, but again, quite sad that I walked out with 1 book where before, my library trips almost always ended with me walking out with a bag or two of books.

I got all the bedding washed and hung out to dry, did the usual cleaning and cooking, watered the plants and so on, and then sat and finished Part 2 of my Sweet Caroline.  It's looking gorgeous, and it's not the usual colors I would go for, but together, they are creating quite a visually stunning pillow.

There is just 3 parts to this mini CAL, so Friday we will get the final part and be done with this pillow, though it's quite a big pillow. 

Alright ladies, I am going to end this here, shut this laptop off and watch a little bit of Everybody Loves Raymond with the hubster, before calling it a night.

{ Weekend in Review }

Hot, sweaty, stung by two wasps, hard work, a huge blister on the palm of my hand.

That's pretty much how my weekend went.  We did a lot of yard work, some landscaping and are really working at getting the yard looking how we want.

We've been in this house for 2 years, and the extent of our yard work has been mowing the lawn and moving on.

All the previous houses we lived in, we made the yard look pretty, we added pieces here and there, water features and solar lights and flowers.  But here, absolutely nothing.

It's not because we don't want to, but more because since moving to Texas, life has moved at turbo speed and we've had everything and anything throw in our path.  It's been rough friends, it's been exhausting and fun at times, heartbreaking, scary, frustrating, a lot of soul searching and extremely rewarding.  Yard work was the last of the last on our list of cares.  Rightfully so.

But now it's crept up to the top.

Funny how when certain things get taken care of, your priorities shift yet again.  As we knock things off our list of to do's and must do's, we are now able to have a little more fun time devoted to our home.

Since went spent most weekend doing yard work, meals were kept to a minimum, or rather, the cooking was kept to a minimum.  I did a delicious Spaghetti Bolognese in my Pressure Cooker, and made quite a bit for everyone to eat whenever they were hungry.

I wanted to have the recipe up today but I really didn't a chance to.  It will be done tomorrow and I'll share that with you all.

I also started a new Pillow, here is my Sweet Caroline.  It is a mini CAL (crochet a long) by Helen Shrimpton who brought us the lovely Mandala Madness.  It's just 3 parts and basically a way to use up yarn in your stash.  This is Part 1.

Isn't that just a beautiful design?

Not my usual colors either, but they do complement each other quite nicely.

While crocheting this piece, I watched a very interesting documentary on Netflix, called The Long Shadow.  It is about World War I's long shadow of influence and how it still impacts current events today.  It is available on Netflix so if it's the kind of thing you enjoy, be sure to check it out.

Alright friends, I know I haven't posted much in this weekend review, but we really didn't do much other than yard work.  I will take photos of what we did as soon as it's all done.

I'm going to get some more reading done.  I finally have my reading mojo back and it's been quite frustrating not being able to have the time in the day to just sit and read.  Wouldn't that be amazing, if we could sit on the couch all day long and read without stopping?

I do long for a day like that.  A good book, a cup of tea or coffee, two or three homemade cookies and a comfy blanket.  Ahhhhh perfect!!!

{ Hygge CAL 2017 by Scheepje's }

Hello everyone, so I thought I would start keeping track of my crochet projects, especially the big ones that require more attention, stitch counting and so on.

I think it will be a great way for me to have a record of the colors I used, the crochet hooks, the patterns and the progress as I work through each part of these projects.

You've heard me talking about the Hygge CAL, and I've shared a few pics here and there, but this will be my official post containing all the information.  As I complete each part, I will update it here and let you also know in my regular blog posts so that you know to come and take a look, if you're interested of course :)

So, all the CAL information can be found over at Scheepje's, more specifically on the CAL 2017 page.  The Designer is Kirsten Ballering from blog Haak Maar Raak.
 
Kits are available in 4 colour themes: Rainbow, Pastel, Juwel & Simy's Choice (The Danish Mermaid)
Would you like to buy a CAL2017 kit? Find your Scheepjes dealer here.
R.R.P. € 48,20 / £ 40,79 / USD 49,99.

I didn't buy a kit, I just can't afford that at the moment, but if I could I would love to have one, for sure.

I'm using colors from my stash, so basically just what I already have on hand, which won't surprise you are basically the colors I've used for my other big projects, the Sophie and the Mandala.

My crochet hook is 4 mm.
Yarn is Red Heart Super Saver.

This CAL is for a shawl, but I'm going to adapt it for a blanket as the yarn is not really soft enough for a shawl.   I do plan on making another one with softer yarn and definitely a shawl.

Week 1

Week 2