All the best laid plans

Hello!  How ya doin?  How's your family?  Glad you dropped in.

Things are normal here.  I did get to the grocery store.  Remember all those wonderful organization tips I gave in my last post?  Yea...well, I got some of them done.  I got my pantry organized, my fridge wiped out/organized, and a list made up.  I wasn't able to get my freezer defrosted or bread made.  Rubic had the flu so we spent about three hours at the..ahem Quick care center Thursday morning finding out that he had the flu and getting him a doctors excuse for work.  That set me back some.  Still the things I was able to do, made it pretty simple to bring home a months worth of groceries and get them put away.  I was then able to get some bread made for sandwiches and pizza crust made for dinner (thank you bread machine).  So all in all a good trip and planning helped.

I did have a bit of a set back which had nothing to do with my grocery shopping trip.  Back the end of December I started some tomato seeds for this years gardening season.  The plan being I would start the season off with larger plants and hopefully have them produce more before getting taken down by our rather hot summers.  Well, they sprouted and were thriving.  We've had some warmer than normal weather and so I have been taking them outside to get some good sunlight.  I don't have great windows for sunlight in my house.  Things were going swimmingly until, while taking them out for their morning sun bathing, I tripped.  Yep!  I tripped.  Seedlings went flying, across the room to land on the floor.  I lost about half of them immediately and about half again since then. The ones still living are not very happy.  THWARTED AGAIN!

Last on my list; this weekend marks a year since I started my weight loss journey.  My goal for the year was at least 52 pounds lost.  I figured that would be a pound a week.  Alas I fell short by three pounds.  My total is 49 pounds lost.  You know what?  I'll take it.  So I didn't make my goal.  I lost.  I helped care for my dad.  I lost my dad.  I started a new venture in my Etsy shop.  The holidays came just like they do every year, but these were a little tougher.  "Life" Happened.  There were many other intrusions that kept me from obtaining the goal I set for myself.  Funny how life happens.  Life happening is not an excuse we use to not workout as some would have us believe.  It's just a fact.  You adapt.  All the best laid plans you know.  The difference between now and then when it comes to life's intrusions was the fact that I didn't stop or give up.  Each  day was a new start and I made the most of those days.  I accepted the consequences of my actions and moved on.  That's why whatever you chose to do to lose weight, needs to be something easily adapted to YOUR LIFE.

All our lives are different and what we need to accomplish our goals is also different.  We're individuals after all.  Adaptability is the key.  To find that silver lining in mistakes you might have made and learn from them, grow from them, not to repeat them. To take lemons life hands you and make lemonade from it so to speak.

So I will keep plugging along.  I'm not going back.  I am told the longer it takes for weight to come off, means it will stay off longer.  Yay!  So I will keep on keeping on.  I'll get the rest of the weight off in due time.

Taking Inventory

So this coming Friday is my normal monthly grocery gettin day.   If you can ever get to the point of monthly grocery shopping, I highly recommend it.  Anyhoo, because of said grocery gettin day, I will begin the process of inventorying what I have on hand and what I need.  I would love to be the organized woman who keeps a list near the fridge or something, adding to it as needed, but that is not the case.  I can make a note of something I need mentally, but it never quite gets to paper.  So!  I inventory.

In a way, this is good because while I inventory I clean out my pantry, refrigerator and freezer.  I also go through a "Use it up" week where I make things based on what I need to finish up before grocery day.  Cleaning out the fridge also means using up leftovers.  I can either serve them as is or turn them into something new.  Case in point, I currently have in my oven a loaf of sweet potato bread; like pumpkin, just with sweet potatoes.  We had sweet potatoes as a side last night and had some, but not enough to serve again.  I made the bread this morning with the left over sweet potatoes as well as the syrup they were canned in.  We also had some left over corn and green beans, but those are in a container (together) in the freezer to await my next veggie soup night (Probably next week).  This will be added to as the week goes on until all the tidbits are ready for soup.  I have some fresh spinach that will be turned into a quiche for breakfast probably tomorrow, and some left over chicken that will be turned into a chicken casserole more than likely tomorrow night.

Fast forward a few days......well I made all the things I planned with the exception of veggie soup.  That will more than likely be tomorrow night since I now have two patients in the house in the form of DH and Rubic.  Bless their hearts they have some kind of bad cold or flu.  Rubic has the worst I'm thinking.  Tonight I'm making a batch of cough syrup for both of them.

I'm nearly out of bread so before I shop on Friday, I want to bake about 4 loaves and 2 batches of hamburger buns.  That way they will already be in place in the freezer before I have things to put in there.  It insures I don't end up with something left out of the freezer.  If I have time I will clean out the freezer, and wipe down the fridge.   I know all of this sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't.  By taking these steps before I go to the store, I have less to take out or move around and, since everything will be organized, it will be a simple matter of putting things away once I get home.

Whatever your method, a little organization can go a long way in making a rather tedious chore rather ...less tedious.  I can buy groceries nine ways to Sunday, it's the putting them up that's the problem.  Whatever I can do to make that easier is a plus.  I hope maybe something in here might help you in doing the same thing.  Have a great day!

A thrift store date kinda day

Hubby and I went on a date!  Well sorta.  The two of us went out to paint the town beige.  We set off this morning and drove to the Ric Rac in  Dawsonville Georgia.  If you have never been there, you need to remedy that.  Anyway, there is no way we out did the time spent by my sister and I when we go to the Ric Rac, but we gave it a valiant effort.  We were there about 1.5 hours give or take.  During the course of our stay we found a set of 6 heavy duty glasses for $1.50 for all.  DH found three men's shirts in great shape.  I think two were new.  I found three shirts as well as a denim vest.  I have to say, being 48 lbs lighter has made trying on clothes FUN!!!!!  I actually found many more shirts, but settled on the three I choose.  I had to have the vest though.  It's fitted and cute as all get out.  I also came away with a white toy chest.

It's in pretty good shape.  Especially for $20!  It's all real wood.  None of that particle stuff.   I'm gonna use my paint remover gun on it and see if I can stain and varnish it.  Instead of a toy chest, it will soon be a trunk to store blankets and such in.  I will post a picture after it's done.  It will take up residence at the end of my bed where my makeshift Table stood before.  That one didn't last too long, but then it wasn't supposed to.  It also wasn't supposed to be sat on and my son didn't realize that soooo.

I found some other odds and ends, but the trunk is my main find.  We also had lunch out.  Not very frugal mind you, but a date none the less.  We don't get these days too often so it was a great time out and a great day to do it.  If you can believe it,   It's 70 degrees outside today this Jan 14th.  Welcome to Georgia.

So that's my day.  How has yours been?

Just now have my head above water

As of last night I am finally caught up with what is listed in my Etsy shop.  I put the final snaps on three little slip sets.  Now my focus can change to making the little creative outfits I truly enjoy.  I have a few of those in the works.  My store stock fell to 13 items from 30 and that was with me continuing to add items.  The last week before Christmas, however, I put the sewing away and focused on the holiday with the family.

I made 110 sales before New Years Eve this year.  It is my first year on Etsy.  Not to shabby.  My bread and butter were the doll diapers.  I sold 57 sets of those in various sizes.  My goal for the coming year is to have 65 diaper sets of various sizes in stock going into next years Christmas season.  That's 185 diapers ya'll.   Yikes!  In addition, I would like to have my store stock level be at about 50 if possible.

Lest you think all I would talk about is Etsy (My sons says I'm a spokesperson), I have ventured into a few normal things again.  I've started making bread for us again.  There for a while it was too crazy and I bought bread at a local bread thrift store near us.  Still not as cheap as making bread, but cheaper than at the grocery store.  I am bummed to hear the Sams is no longer carrying the 80 oz packages of regular honey.   Now all they carry is the raw honey half that size, but the same price of 13.98.  I know why, apparently raw honey is all the rage.  I get that, but if you are baking with it, then you might as well use the regular.  Once raw honey is heated up past 95 degrees, all those wonderful attributes go away.  I use raw honey to make our cough syrup (Which is never heated up), but other than that, I use honey for bread and granola.

Here is the cough syrup recipe lest I forget:

COUGH SYRUP

3 TBS FRESH THYME-  I use lemon thyme, but you can use whatever you have on hand.  I just like the lemony taste with the honey.
1/3 CUP RAW HONEY
2 CUPS WATER

BRING THE 2 CUPS WATER TO BOIL.  ADD THE THYME AND REMOVE FROM HEAT.  LET STEEP AND COOL DOWN TO BELOW 95 DEGREES.  POUR THE TEA THROUGH A STRAINER TO REMOVE THE LEAVES.  ADD THE RAW HONEY TO THE TEA AND MIX WELL.  YOU CAN ADD EXTRA LEMON JUICE OR CHOP A FRESH LEMON TO PUT IN THE JAR.  STORE IN THE FRIDGE FOR UP TO 3 MONTHS.

The best thing about this cough syrup, is it is non toxic.  You can give it to small children, just not children under two if you use raw honey.  If you make this with regular honey, you can give it to any child, though many of the benefits are lost if you aren't using raw honey.  The Thyme is still medicinal.

In addition to the few things I've managed to accomplish aside from sewing, I have managed to start some of my seeds for gardening in 2017.  The tomatoes are doing fine.  I have about 36-40 plants right now.  I had to replant the broccoli and cabbage and a few snow peas.  The cold weather stuff I'm hoping I can start hardening off soon.  Soon will be the time of warmer weather.  With a temp of 15 degrees this morning and a projected low tonight of 9, I will take whatever warms thoughts I can get.

So not a barn burner, but hopefully this post is a start back on a new year.  How are things in your neck of the woods?