Where does the weekend go?

I want to live in a country/planet where one only has to go to work for 4 days and has a 3 day weekend, but I don't want to cram 40 hours into those 4 days. I would like the 32 hours that you work during those 4 days,  to be considered full time, so you still get all the benefits, vacation time, etc. Is there such a place? 

I was working 'part-time', 31.5 hours a week, but spread out over 5 days. It left me more time to do the fun things I like, but I still had to be there 5 days a week, so it really didn't feel like part time.  

I'm now back to 40 hours and it sure has cut into my sewing time.  

And it seems like I am cramming everything into that little 2 day weekend.  I even get up at 5 and go to bed after 11, just so I can have more weekend hours.  

So this weekend, I managed to weed my vegetable garden, transplanted some pumpkin plants that came up out of no where, planted some other plants that my best friend had grown for me, cleaned and swept the garage, washed, vacuumed and Armor-Alled the inside of my car, trimmed a couple of bushes, visited with my daughter and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, got a hair cut, went for  DQ Blizzard, went to the grocery store and the fabric store, cleaned my laundry room, family room, vacuumed the whole house, and took a walk through the woods where we had to fight off the mosquitoes. 

Whew!

And I still found a little time to sew.    

I finished about 20 items for my Etsy shop,  got all the pictures taken and most of the descriptions written.  I even started to making a tote bag for a girl at work. 

Every day she brings in her lunch and newspaper in a plastic grocery sack and it drives me crazy.  So I thought maybe if I made her a tote bag, she would lose the goofy plastic bag.  And I'm thinking that even if she doesn't like it, that she'll still carry it, only because she doesn't want to hurt my feelings.  

Well, at least that's the plan.  I'm just not sure if the colors are right for her. Oh, heck, who am I fooling?  If she carries a gaudy plastic sack everyday, surely she'll like the colors on this one!

Spring can't come fast enough

I know that spring is still 6 days away, and that this is Michigan and we probably will have a couple more snow storms before it's all said and done, but today there was lots of sunshine and 50 degree weather and if I closed my eyes, I could see spring.  It gave me just the tiniest bit of hope that it can't be long before we'll have green grass and flowers, and hands that don't hurt when you walk outside to the mailbox.  

I checked the upcoming 7 day weather forecast and not one of those days will be below freezing. Yippee.  It might only be 33 or 34 degrees, but that's not freezing, so it sounds pretty good.

I trimmed a couple of plants in the  front flower garden, in anticipation of spring, but as I was wheeling the wheelbarrow across the frozen grass, through the shaded areas that still have some snow accumulation, I realized the neighbors are probably laughing at my eagerness.  So, I came into the house and sewed. 

I got a few things done for my Etsy shop, and did a little cleaning of the scraps. I have a habit of saving very small scraps and tucking them into bin and every once in a while I'll pull them out and sew them all together to make my patchwork pouches.  It takes me twice as long as the other pouches, but there is something satisfying about cutting up fabric and sewing it back together again.  

More Etsy

Still working on the upcoming sale in my shop.

This cold weather seems to have zapped my desire to sew. You'd think the cold weather would be a great excuse to sit at the sewing machine for hours, but apparently I don't think like most people. As for this cold weather, it's supposed to get to minus 10 tonight, without the windchill. I know it's Michigan and it's January, but even this is a little too much cold and snow for me.

Today was my early day at work and instead of coming straight home, I went to the local yarn store because I think I need to knit this scarf.

I don't like my scarf flapping around in the wind and thought this might be something I'd actually finish. We'll see.......

I finished up a few new pouches for the shop over the weekend and will be listing them tonight. I wish I could talk my husband into taking the pictures and doing the listings, all the stuff I find tedious, but he just won't jump at it, no matter how fun I make it sound.

Kenny

I am a huge Kenny Rogers fan. Not the fake one that plays baseball, but the REAL one. Some would say I am a stalker, I prefer the term devoted fan. I have been to many of his concerts and I'm always checking out his website to see if there are any concerts within driving distance. So last night I was on his new website and discovered that he will be in Sault Ste. Marie in February. I only like to go to a concert if I can sit withing the first 8 rows. Any farther back and I don't consider it a good seat. Apparently, I am a seat snob. So I check the site for tickets, go through the word verification process that you have to do when checking on tickets and the price pops up. $398.00! I think, well maybe that's the price for all the tickets they have left or maybe that's for a whole section. But nooooo! It's for a single ticket.

Now, I like Kenny more than the average person. I have been known to drive 6-8 hours one way to see him, I've planned my Vegas vacation to coincide with his concert there, I've driven through a snow storm and I've even worn a goofy shirt to his concert, that just happened to be on my 50th birthday.

But my adoration has a price tag and $398.00 is way over that!

Just out of curiosity, I checked what the price of the tickets are going for in Biloxi in January. $45. Now that's more like it. I could probably get round trip airfare to Biloxi and the concert ticket, cheaper than the Sault Ste Marie concert ticket.

So, I guess Kenny won't be seeing me this year at any of his concerts......... sigh......

I guess I'll just stay home and sew for Etsy.

A wannabe knitter.

When I was in grade school, my mother taught my sisters and me to knit and purl and we would spend hours 'knitting scarves'. I don't ever remember finishing anything, mostly remember knitting the 'scarf' until we ran out of yarn and then ripping it out and starting over. That yarn was well used and looked it!

In my early 20's, I suddenly decided I was a real knitter. I bought yarn and books and proceeded to knit 'things', mostly kids mittens and for some unknown reason, couch pillows. (I shudder when I think of these and that my mother in law at that time, kept her handmade set on her couch for years.)

My greatest accomplishment was a knit jumper for my daughter who was 2 at the time. It was royal blue with red and white stripes along the top and the hem and I was quite proud of my accomplishment. I don't think she wore it too much, probably out grew it before she had much opportunity to wear it, but I still remember the feeling of completing it. Since then I have dabbled in knitting, mostly for something to do while watching TV, and rarely do I finish anything. Last year I decided I was a 'knitter' again, and started knitting socks. I probably ripped them out 7 times before I finally got them right. They were not the prettiest things, but I gave them to my DIL last Christmas, but forgot to tell her that they were wool, and I believe they shrunk! Since then I have purchased more needles, more books and more yarn with the confidence of an accomplished knitter. The all look really nice sitting in my yarn basket and anyone seeing that overflowing basket would believe that I am a knitter. I don't have the heart to tell them the only thing I really knit anymore is dishcloths. Basic knit and purl and easy to finish. But that doesn't stop me from admiring sites like this one.

Meanwhile I have been sewing more things for Etsy. Unlike the pretend knitting that I do, sewing I know for sure. I probably sew 2-4 hours every day and would do more if I didn't have to go to my real job.

The Calm after the Storm

I can no longer put it off, the remaining decorations just have to come down. Every room is undecorated except the living room, and the Christmas tree. Why is decorating so much fun but "undecorating" so much like work? And if I take the tree down, then I have to move the putting green that has taken up residence in my living room. How would Tiger get his practicing in? Funny thing about this putting green. My Tiger Woods can sink 15 out of 15 every time, and proudly so. I told him that he will rock the next time he plays a course that has a 10 foot astro turfed plastic incline. The look he gave me clearly told me that I don't understand golf.I'd rather be sewing and getting things ready for the upcoming sale in my Etsy shop, but someone has to put the Christmas stuff away and apparently that someone is me.

Maybe this is the year I get rid of some of the decorations that I no longer use. Why would anyone need 16 Rubbermaid tubs of decorations? (Probably the same person who has 7 tubs of 4th of July decorations!)

One year, I decided to 'thin' out the stash and gave my kids some of their ornaments from their childhood. Yeah, that amounted to 2 little shoe boxes and still left me with 16 tubs. So as I sit here writing this, I am motivated to pare down, trim back and eliminate the unwanted and unused. I'll let you know how that goes. Stop laughing.