May 2016 Reading list...so far..

1. A Rose In Scotland

2. In Your Arms

3. Goblin Moon

 

4. Shadow Dance

5. Someone to Watch Over Me

6. The Highwayman

April 2016 Reading List (so far...)

1. Wait For Signs

2. Daughter of Time

3. Wrecked

March 2016 Reading List (so far...)

1. As the Crow Flies

2. A Serpent's Tooth

3. Any Other Name

4. Among Wolves

5. Follow the Crow

6. Spirit of Steamboat

7. Dry Bones

Quick check in...

I was excited about sleeping in this morning. Silly me, my back decided differently so I will just plan on napping later.

Had a very productive week over all even with my behavioral issues (lol) every time I felt myself losing my temper I went and worked on a project. Been doing a lot of papercraft this week.

Yesterday I decided to break in my new cutting mat and I completed a full gift tag set, repaired and then completely revamped a writing box and upcycled & rebound some leftover materials into a nice journal.

It was a hard week but it was a good one too.

Fall Launch (we'll see)

So today marked on my calendar is the latest start date for Fall/Winter listings for Etsy for me. What this means is I have determined this is my last personal deadline to start getting stuff listed on Etsy for the 2015 holiday season.

So. I've got a ton of stuff that needs to be listed. Getting myself together to create listings is the big challenge. I'm going through all the vintage inventory and since I've had no set office all the boxes are in different locations around the house and in storage and wow, it's a lot (did I mention that already? LOL) and it's in all those different places.

I will be doing this slowly...well, actually even slower than normal for me as I spent the latter half of this weekend trying to recover from processing over 70 lbs of fruit and veggies for canning and freezing. I lucked on to a major deal at a local grocery store I shop at and it coincided with a windfall of zucchini and other bumper crop donations from a couple of local gardeners I know. I am stiff and sore and my arm, back and shoulder are very tender but my freezer and pantry is full and it gives me a huge grin looking at my destroyed kitchen. I will be able to cook some wonderful meals from the veggies preserved. So many choices: soups and sauces and casseroles and oh the yummy plans of meals to come, meals that I have prepped for to make easy but amazingly tasting dishes. All the hard stuff is done, now 30 minutes or much less and dinner is in the crockpot or on the table and it will taste like I spent all day on it instead of grabbing it out of the freezer and running for the kitchen LOL

WORTH IT!

Happy Monday all, I am going for my second cup of coffee and some well deserved rest. The listing chores will start around 9 a.m. for now, it's coffee and chill. Yep, Happy Monday indeed :)

Wednesday couch surfing update

Well this week and the weather have combined to kick me straight to the couch, no passing go, no collecting $200 bucks and no get outta jail free cards to be had. Just lots of little naps and swollen joints and blechhhhh...

Even the good life events produce stress and combined with cruddy weather it's enough to throw me for a bit of a loop but everything is on track so it's all gooooood :)

On the bright side of this supergrey day: chili in the crock pot (planning ahead pays off yet again) bubbling away, fuzzy slippers & PJs and warm drinks and kids who will willingly bring me them AND come get the remote for me if I drop it. I just have to remember to put it down BEFORE I doze off. LOL.

Happy Wednesday, hope you all are having nice peaceful evenings

Just another day in the trenches...

It's Monday and since "planning day" is traditionally Sunday and I didn't do it, I'm technically starting out already late this week. I didn't feel up to it yesterday----this heat wave is sucking the life out of me on these dead air afternoons so I moved "planning day" back until Monday morning, along with "Question of the Week" (which I did get posted in plenty of time).

Well it's early afternoon and I still haven't even started planning and the heat has descended with a vengeance. I'm not going to stress over it. My huge list of self-imposed tasks can wait while I enjoy life. Today.

Today I realized we are on the back end of Summer. Summer is almost over and there is so much I haven't done because of so much I haven't gotten done. I haven't sat around and enjoyed the sun, the weather, the smell of Summer, the beads of condensation on the glass of iced tea and the purely frivolous reading material... the enjoyment of the season has been put on hold by me because I haven't done so many things that all need to be done before the rain and cold seasons return. All work work work...but no play until done...wait, I can't do that. I can't be that way anymore because I'll never be done which means I will never play again...unless I change how I look at it all.

So this is what I decided to do today. I'm taking my planning notebook outside and setting it within easy reach and I'm going to do some things I want to do so I can have some fun. I want to eat dinner outside at my table like we usually do when the weather is nice but like we haven't been able to because of twenty million other things I have to do before the table can be moved to its "Summer" spot. I'm just going to do it. I'm going to enjoy my gardening efforts--- the tomatoes are just amazing and the peppers are going great guns too :) I'm excited to see the final color of the Cherokee Purples:

while I'm currently enjoying the huge flavor bursts of the tiny but oh so mighty tasty Early Girls:

and I can't wait to see how big the German Striped Tomatoes are going to get. Plus the basil, the lavender and all the other herbs that combine into this aromatic mishmash hodgepodge of an olfactory wonderland when I'm out there weeding, gathering and watering...sigh.... you know what...

I'm not waiting anymore. This post can be done and other stuff can wait...I'm going outside...see ya later! Happy (late) Monday!

I've busy sleeping a lot in between other stuff

Trying to get myself together. Summer has finally arrived and the weather has been record breaking HOT.

The resulting effect of the hot weather upon me has been me sleeping. Excessively.
But I'm feeling pretty good over all :)
It's like I'm catching up from all the restless unrefreshing sleep and constant fatigue from pain from this winter.

My pain levels are down down down. I still have pain yes, but not like this winter.

I am truly enjoying it while it lasts :)

We've been busy. Well. I've been busy trying to get stuff done before the rains come back. Stuff like the downstairs floor. The kitchen. The living room. The roof. Ug!

BRB...

Up from the first nap of the day. Nap. Huh. Like it's a voluntary thing. LOL. yeah. right. LOL.

Just going to go crawl in the shower and get on with the day before it gets too hot to function! Maybe pictures of progress later :)

Well, it never got at hot as predicted and that is good :) :) :)

I've busy sleeping a lot in between other stuff.  I'm going to be busy for awhile. Not just with our projects at home as it turns out. A friend (who lives in AZ) called and needed us to help her out with her storage unit here in WA. It seems a church group told her they would help her out and take everything in the storage unit as donations and then sweep out the storage unit etc so she just went ahead and turned in the keys since they were just emptying it out etc. It turns out they only took the big $$$ stuff and left a huge mess going through all the boxes etc. That was last month. She just found out about the mess left (she was supposedly cleared out of there last month) the day before yesterday. The storage unit owner said if we can get the stuff out and get it swept they won't charge her another month but they are elderly and can't do it themselves and would have to hire someone so they would have to charge her for that too. They were shocked the church group did that too and they feel sorry for my friend and have been really nice in helping us to help my friend but what a mess! It's going to take at least two more days of moving stuff and I figuring five days (at the least) for me to recover from the thing (and I'm not lifting anything, I'm just packing boxes etc).

Saturday in pictures...

Olympic Mountains, up one side and down the other through the Olympic National Forest looking for prospective camp sites for an upcoming group camp event. The snow is mostly gone and Spring is in full throttle on the ridges and in the valleys. Oh the scenery was amazing :) I took some pics but I didn't get any of the really good stuff, I forgot at times I had my camera I was enjoying looking everywhere so much.

Up the Wynoochee Vally past the dam headed towards the falls

Just one of the many small waterfalls along the road headed back toward Wynoochee Lake & then over towards Satsop Center

Old rail road trestle up past Satsop Center towards Satsop Lakes

It's off in the weeds on the road up towards Satsop Lakes, there is a little road going to camp site by a creek that runs parallel to it. 

We tried tracing it from the larger road but they've cut through the grade so just these remnants. 

Sometimes we go out there to muck around in the woods & look and see if there is another side across the creek. No luck yet, lol

Headed back towards Satsop Center then off towards Spoon Creek Falls & further on towards Spider Lake

The lake is surrounded by tall evergreens in a valley and you can see glimpses of it, peering through the trees and brush, high up on the road but have to walk a steep trail on one end to access it. Pictures of the actual lake next time, I promise, lol

Govey was one of Dad's old work stops, we passed the site of Camp Grisdale going up the Wynoochee side of course but no pics of Grisdale this time.

site of Camp Govey, I'm standing on pavement in all the following pictures.

Still standing on overgrown pavement

still on pavement, looking at a big concrete rectangle

Love the re-bar up against the little sideways growing apple tree... can you see what is left of the paved road I am standing on to the right?

So weird to stand here and try to remember where everything used to be.

Headed down past Govey towards the Skokomish Valley

Almost down into the Skokomish Valley and then heading for food & then home :)

Just a frond off of one of the hugest bunches of ferns I've seen in years. This wasn't even the largest frond! 

Awesome back roads trip and awesome day.

Happy Saturday :)