winter

Winter solstice

December 21, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Oh, my heart! ♥ Tonight, for Solstice, we strung up apples, oranges, and cranberries to hang on the tree out front. It was absolutely everything I hoped for, as far as a project to do with the Little Mr. I’ve never given him a needle and thread to just play with, so I wasn’t entirely sure if he would have the concept down or even be able to get the chunky needle through the cranberries, but he went to town. Well, as much as a 3 year old has the patience for it, anyway. But he seemed to love the project, and we trudged out to the cold, dark yard to hang them on the tree.

I think this might end up being a yearly Solstice tradition for us.

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

December 17, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Hi friends. How are you? Things around here are slowly but surely getting into a rhythm and new routines. I switched jobs last month, which has been very much helpful overall to my mental health and sanity. Slowly I am starting to feel more like myself, which has meant more baking and crafting and, overall, the things I used to do and love.

With the holidays coming up, I’ve thrown myself into my holiday treat making. This week we made candied orange peels, while the Little Mr chowed down on the oranges when he was supposed to be juicing them for our breakfast orange juice. I can’t complain, really, because it kept him occupied. We played Christmas music and danced and laughed and, overall, had a lovely time together in the kitchen. Today I’m baking molasses cookies, and I’m supposed to be baking chocolate mint cookies, too, but at the rate I’m going I might just do those later this week. Now that I’m not stressed so much I’m finding that I actually have energy to come home and bake and cook again, so it’s easier to plan on that.

I think I’ve also decided to go full ahead with the garden again, this year. Can you believe that? Who knew a bad job could suck so much life out of you?! I’ve even begun thinking of 2018 and how I want to do things differently, now that I have some room to breathe again. Be more centered, I guess, and conscious of the ways I’m spending my time. I’ve started journaling (in a real, paper journal) because some things just aren’t really meant for the public to read and I think that’s helped a lot with some things. I want to start reading again, too. Right now I’m kind of cheating the system and borrowing ebooks from the library to read on my kindle and then turning off network so I still have the book long after my loan expires…. It’s taking me far too long to read a book these days and that’s a shame, really. So if you’ve got any book recommendations, please pass them my way!

I’m trying to think of something to do with the Little Mr for Solstice. It’s something I always want to do and then we never do. Maybe some bird seed ornaments for the tree outside? A craft of some sort? I haven’t decided what, exactly, I want to teach him about the solstice. Part of me loves the folklore/pagan roots of it all, so maybe we’ll explore that.

Nothing new to really report, craft-wise. I have more projects on the needles than I really need and I’ve had a commission or two come up from totally knit-worthy people, so I need to get a move on with those. I’ve always said I wouldn’t take on omissions for my work, but I’ve started making the exception for people I know will truly appreciate the items and so far it’s been a really enjoyable experience. I have been spinning, slowly, too – working on a bit of pretty fiber that I might use to make a pair of mittens out of. I think that’s going to be part of my 2018 goals, too – to spin more, and then actually use my yarn.

March

March 4, 2016 Marie 1 Comment

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Daffodils are already popping out of the ground, but winter hasn’t given up. Next week the weather calls for nearly 70s but overnight we received the prettiest dusting of snow. Perhaps this was winter’s way of giving us one last gentle hug? It’s been so mild this winter (not that I’m complaining – I like cold and snow but not below zero and ice) and it sometimes feels like we didn’t even have winter. No sledding at all, and I think we drank just one cup of hot cocoa. One!

There is much going on about this home, and really too much to really write about at the moment. Spring cleaning needs done, important decisions made in regards to a furry friend (and soon), a garden to get going… plus that pesky needing to eat every day and the routine chores. My planner is keeping me on track but a planner can’t make me stop procrastinating unfortunately. And some tasks really can’t be put off any longer. Dreading it, really. So much dread.

A January Spring

January 31, 2016 Marie Leave a Comment

Strange weather we’re having here – snow and ice, but then lovely 50-60° days thrown around. They’re lovely breaks from being indoors all the time, though everything is quite muddy so we’re not exactly getting outdoors every chance we can just yet.

But the Little Mr is getting more grown up and responds to questions more and more, so when you ask “Do you want to go bye bye?” and he nods his little head in that forceful, full-body nod that he does, well… you put on your shoes and your coats and you go somewhere. Today it was the zoo. It wasn’t overly busy, despite the warmish weather, but we also arrived early while everyone else was in church (my favorite time to go do anything on a Sunday, to be honest).

Winter days

January 11, 2016 Marie Leave a Comment

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My least favorite season has arrived officially. Ugh. Despite being a knitter, and loving to wear wool sweaters and socks and whatnot, I really could do without the bitter cold and ice of winter.

We’ve been homebodies these last few days, spending our time reading and knitting and playing. The toddler keeps asking “bye bye?” as if he thinks we need to go somewhere so I keep trying to come up with new activities that we can do around the house that keeps us from having to actually leave the house. Buttttt I’m quickly running out of ideas (and supplies) so I’m going to need to up my game and find some new things to do this week if we’re ever going to survive these winter days.

PS: If anyone is following along still on my quest for less, I’ve updated my sidebar to reflect my total yarn yardage in and out from 2015 (along with adding my 2014 numbers) and I’ll be adding 2016’s numbers throughout the year as I remember to do it. The ultimate goal this year is zero new stash acquisitions!