word of the year

      So this year, I am joining some people who are doing a thing where you try to live up to an ideal.  There is a website that shows the words etc.  So my word that I have is serenity.  That's an interesting word.  Each day I will try to write how serenity features in my day.  Does that make sense?  You know how bad I am in explaining things.

     According to an internet search on the meaning of serenity:

             "Sarenity" is a modern spelling variation of Serenity, meaning a state of being, calm, peaceful, and untroubled....It signifies a deep inner peace, a lack of agitation, or a calm environment, often sought through mediation or nature, and calm."   \

     In other words, the core meanings  are calmness and peace, tranquility and composure.

     All that is good and well but it isn't that easy which I guess is the reason why we need to work on it.  The basic things that I need to work on, for various reasons, are crafting, SCA, budget, food, and friends.  What are my plans to work on it?

     Crafting:  even if I don't do anything except wind bobbins or reorganize my floss, I need to keep crafting in the forefront of what I think on or work on.  Why is this?  It actually does make me feel better.  I feel accomplished and don't get stressed as much when I see a stack of unfinished craft items.  It is time to open my eyes and just work on it a little bit at a time.

     SCA:  This causes me stress for more than one reason.   At our SCA Business Meeting on Sunday, some of the stress has backed off.  Now there is movement again on what needs to get done for an event in October.  It is still stressful but part of it is getting  resolve.

     Budget:  What is there to say.  I'm retired and on a limited budget.  I survive and life isn't too bad.  Dan has assured me that if, for some reason, I lose my housing here in Trumann (and no, I am not in danger of that) he would make sure I had a place to live even if I had to move in with him (he owns his house).  While I appreciate it, neither one of us wants that to happen but it is nice to know it is one thing I don't have to worry about.  Other budget things is just normal stuff.  Slowly paying off credit cards, refrain from ordering more than what I can pay for, etc.  On the good news is that I am slowly adding to my silver stack.  I did have to cash some in to cover a bill but that is also why I have a small amount of silver.  I will survive but it is still something I have to keep a close eye on.

     Food: In today's society, Food is something that coms and goes.  What is available at the store?  What WILL be available at the stores? There is a lot to think about when you are a limited budget and don't always have access to a store that has somewhat decent variety.  It isn't as bad as it sounds.  Dan and Shalom makes sure that I get to Walmart or wherever O need to go to get groceries and meds.

     Friends:  Yes, I worry about my friends.  That is a good thing as long as I don't over worry about them.  Obviously Dan and Shalom are at the top of the list of friends that I worry about at times.  I have others also.  That is ok.  It is also by worrying about them it tells me how good of a friend they are.  You guys know which friends I am talking about and I will look sternly at you if you think I will EVER stop worrying about you.  :)

     All of that is enough to interrupt anybody's serenity.  I have some plans though.  I will take some more naps and light some candles  and just relax.  I also need to send a note to my brain to tell it to relax also.  LOL.

     That's it for my meandering today.  It is time to take a nap, light a candle and relax for a bit.  Hang in there everybody!  Hugs to all.

Another Great Day...

   I had another great day.  Dan picked me up and we made our way to Jonesboro and to the  coin shop.  That didn't work out, however, since they weren't back yet from the coin show out of state.  We will try that again.  I'm going along to keep Dan company.  This is not my time to buy some silver.  I have to wait until I get my water bill and electric bill which are my highest bills.  

   Since we couldn't go the the silver shop, we went to the bank instead so I could get some deposits done for our SCA group.   

   Our next stop was Hobby Lobby  which was both exhausting and fun.  I  was glad that Dan was with me because he was handy figuring out how much fabric I would need for some SCA projects.  It was fun and funny.  He would hold up the bolt of fabric against his chest and see how much I needed.  Then we had to walk ALL the way across the store to get some other things.  That was ok.  it was so much fun being able to use some gift cards I received for Christmas!  The best pat is that Dan paid for some of the fabric which meant that I still have $12 left on one of the gift cards.  :)  I would take a pix for white fabric isn't that exciting. We were working up our appetite and off to Kandala's we went. 

   

 I think it was one of our best meals there.

What was NOT to love?  Chicken on the bottom, steak on top of that and on top of the steak was shrimp.  It was so good we ate the plate (he ordered the same thing) without having the tortillas or eating up all the chips and salsa!  The seasoning  was perfect and we will make sure to order it again.

  

    The good things weren't done yet.  When my mail came, it had my patterns from Bird Brain Designs!  I haven't decided what color I will do them in but I have plenty of time.  Here is what came.

I have plenty to work on now.  I just need to have the weather and my hands cooperate!  LOL.

I hope you all have a great day/night.  I hope you all have a great day/evening.

YIPPEEE!!!!

    Today was a good stitching day.  Even though it was cold outside, I had a good day of napping under  warm blankets.  Then my mind finally decided hat it wanted to do.  I pulled out my LeFleur blocks and am back to stitching on the two that need it.  Once I finish stitching down the two blocks, I will put them up on the wall to make sure I get them right before sewing.  I think I have to cut out some of the mini filler blocks on rows etc.  We'll see. how it goes.  I  have an online stitching session on New Years Day but I have decided that I won't be doing the Mayhem Mystery Quilt.  I will show up and do some hand sewing though..  

   The other thing I am working on is blackwork.  Instead of working on 16 count or 14 count (per inch) I will be working on 11 count.  I will be using 3 strands of blackwork.  Right now I am starting on the border.  The design I am using is a little different but I think I might like it in the long run. Working with 3 strands will be different but it seems to look nice so far on the 11 count,  I'll let you now.

I had a great day!

    Yes you read that right.  I had a great day.  It was a cold night and was still cold this morning but I was warm enough.  Then Dan called and asked me if I wanted to go to Jonesboro with him.  He had to  do a bank run and one other stop.  Of course he knew I would go with him since we had already talked about it.  LOL.  I had to pick up some meds at Walmart so we did that to.  Even though it was a cold  day, we both were nice and warm.  Of course that could  have ben because we were talking a lot of BS.  LOL.  Anyway, it was a fun day and nice to get outside with a friend.  Even when he took the wrong turn on the way home after all these years and he had to figure out where to do a U-Turn to get back on the right side.

   That is it.  I felt it was only right to let you guys know that I had a good day and actually didn't have anything bad to report.  That's not a bad way to end your day or eve your month or year. My brain is mush right now and I can't remember what else I was going to say so I'll sign off and go take a nap,  I hope everybody has a great day and if I don't post again this year, have a safe holiday and I'll see you in 2026.

Merry Christmas

    I know this is a little early but I know that you will forgive me for posting early.  I haven't been working on anything but I did get some new Aida cloth in.  It is 11 count.  I haven't used that size before so we'll see how it goes. 

   I just wanted to say I hope you all have a Merry Christmas .  Thank you all for reading my blog.  It keeps me going and I hope that you might get some small enjoyment from reading it.

Christmas from Dan

 Hello my friends.  

                    Dan just came back from his trip to see his friends and they gave him a lot of food so he split it with me.  It will last me quite a bit.  I was happy to see the Knorr sides because you can use them in a lot of recipes.

He also gave me am amber necklace for my SCA outfit.  He loves amber so I am surprise when he gave it to me.  I think it will look great on my outfit.  This is a sneak peek.

     I managed to put up some of my winter decorations so hello and happy holidays from the reindeers!

  The other cute pix I have is of Shalom.  Shalom drives for Amazon (independent driver) and when he was picking up a car load of deliveries, the counter person said he looked cold.  He said that he lost his winter hat and hasn't been able to replace it yet.  So she gave him a hat to wear.  He rolled his eyes and then said thank you and went on to do his deliveries.  He showed me and grumbled but you know what?  He has been wearing it every day.  I think he secretly likes it.

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night.  Hugs to all.

December 11, 2025

   The year is almost over.  Can yo believe it?  How is everybody doing?

   Hopefully this will post.  My internet connection has been very spotty the last couple of days.  That also shut down my mind.  I have no energy now (ok, perhaps cold weather had something to do with that) and so far I haven't found where my energy went.

   Did I tell you that Dan gave me a dryer for Christmas?  He and Zak took it back because it wasn't working although it worked at the store.  That meant they brought it back.  Shalom had his electrician come out today to look at it.  He says that Shalom needs to replace the fuse which he hopes to get to this week.  It never is  dull moment here.

   I did something that I haven't done in ages.  I bought a gam.  It is called Shut the Box and it came in.  It can be played with one person up to four people.  

   I have been having fun playing it.  That also got me in the mood to play Yahtzee so I have also been playing that in my down time.  By down time I actually mean by time that I didn't feel like anything else. That also has been a lot.  LOL.

  I have also been making egg nog for Dan and Shalom.  It its that time of year where cooking takes over rafting since I give food out for presents.  I am getting close to the time when I will get back to sewing.    First up with probably be the sewing machine table topper/candle mat.  I have decided what I will do for the borders so I can get past that stumbling block.

  

   So that means tomorrow I wall get some stuff set up.  I have to get things reedy for the cold spell that is coming in over the weekend,  Making sure that the battery for my heated vest (thank you Dan) is charged up.  I will make sure that I have the heaters all set up for the evenings to help keep the water pipes from freezing.  Nothing new there.  Stuff that I do every night in the winter time.  

   

   I don't have much else to report except that I have some nice new bookmarks and scissors to go with the new needle minder.  So much to consider and get somewhat organized.  I'll let you know how it goes.

   I hope everybody has a great day/night.  Stay safe out there.

Happy Thanksgiving

    That's it.  I just wanted to wish you all a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for all of you and wish you a safe and wonderful day.

Am I cleaning or just ignoring...

    That is the true question.  Am I cleaning or am I putting on blinders.  I am tired of a sewing room where I can't easily find stuff.  Soooo, this is my plan.  I am going to just stuff everything smaller than a sewing machine into a plastic bag.  I have plenty of Walmart plastic bags from grocery shopping so I am using them.  NOW, those bags will be stuff with things that were on my table.  Then once a day or at minimum once a week, I will take one bag and thoroughly go through it and put things where they belong.  This will probably be like a year long project (or longer) but slow progress is better than no progress.

   So another thing I worked on today was digging out my Christmas cards and started to address them.  I have addressed around five.  They will be sent out early December.  I have others I will probably send out if I get a card from them.  My card sending has whittled down so I won't have that much more to send out.

  Now I have to work on Christmas presents for my SCA group.  I think I might try to do something as a small medallion or ornament.  I am thinking of a white background and I will stamp a black raven on the front.  I might do a red leather blanket stitch around it to stitch it together.  I might have to get more leather since I only have a minimal amount of red thread. The only problem is I am running out of time.  I need to get around 10 done by December 7th.  Wish me luck.  :)

    

It's decision time...

    The worst part of a project is when you have to make a decision.  For e that is.  Maybe it is not so bad for you.  I finished stitching a center for a small wall hanging that I am working on and that means now I have to come up with material for borders.  The first picture is the actual stitching and the second pix is showing some of the option for a border.  I am leaning towards the flower border but I'm not sure.  I will think on it a bit longer.  What do you think?

   I will have to get used to it.  It is a bit more "rough" than I usually like but for some reason it drew me in.  

   That is all  I have to report on right now.  Tomorrow will be Dan's and my Thanksgiving.  This year we are going to go out to eat.  It will be BBQ this time .  I little different but that is ok.  IT is good sometimes to change things up.  The good part is that II already have my Christmas dinner all planned out too.  Now I just have to have time to get to  do it.

   I hope everybody has a great day.  Hugs to all!

A FINISH!

 This is just a quick note to say that I FINALLY have a FINISH!  Yes the wall hanging is done and hanging up on the wall.  I will have to work on getting the chalk markings removed because they are being stubborn.  It still looks ok.  I love the fabric that I used on the back and wrapped around to the front for the binding.  The binding really blends in but also stands out a bit...if that made sense.  That is all I have to report.  Time to rest the hands and put away groceries.  Have a great day everybody!  Love ya all!

The backing fabric

The finished wall hanging using the backing fabric as the binding.  :)