First Few Days...Done!

Hi There!

I hope this finds you well and ready to enjoy a lovely late summer weekend. Our weather is supposed to be warm (hot?) and dry. A good weekend to be out and about. Both girls made it through their first few days of school and their enthusiasm and spirits are still very high. Jessica told me there's a new girl in her class from Afghanistan! Her teacher is still really, really nice and she comes out of class with a bright smile on her face. Amy adores, I mean, adores her teacher! It's so nice to see my girls excited about school (kind of like I was when I was their age). Amy's teacher had them sitting on top of their desks while they were doing a social studies lesson on the continents (I think). Anyway, they were "flying" from continent to continent during the lesson. Way to make it fun and interesting, huh? Amy was in awe that the teacher let them sit on TOP of their desks! LOL I heard Amy's friend, Hattie, tell her mom...I just LOVE Mrs. H...I think Amy feels the same way.

I thought maybe I'd get out into my craft room during the week, and obviously, that has not been the case. And I'm not sure just when I'll get back out there. Someday, soon, I hope. Here's the deal, just to give you a heads up. Several weeks ago, Steve bought a new version of Quicken. He's been inputting all our financial data into it. He wanted to show me the facts and figures and said, now that the girls are in going to be in school full time, have you thought about going back to work? The answer to that is no. And I felt a little mad that he wanted me to think about it. But I couldn't ignore that my purchases weren't helping our situation(it's not bad by any means, but the economy has done a number on our investments, like it has so many others). So, knowing that it's very important to me to be able to stay at home, I've been extremely conscious of my spending since then. I'm making use of free resources where I can and the library has proven to be a good thing. It's an older library and for a long time didn't have books I wanted to check out, but that's changed somewhat, or I'm more open to what they have to offer, LOL. Plus they are building a brand new building up the road that I think is supposed to be bigger. ANYWAY...I've been checking out books on cutting costs, living frugally, being thrifty, whatever you want to call it. And, some crafty books, too. (*wink*) If I'm brutally honest, there isn't a thing I really need in terms of crafty supplies. Sure, there are things I think I want, but I've got enough supplies here to last me a long, long time. And I've made a vow to myself to USE it! LOL So, when I get back out to my craft room, that's what I'll be doing. Stretching my brain and creativity to use what I've got. That should definitely help the budget(and give the old brain a workout).

As an off-shoot of that whole way of thinking...one of the things I've been really looking forward to now that the girls are in school full time is finally getting to work on getting better organized around the house. You know...without distractions! And I'm hoping doing these things will help me "earn my keep" around here. Maybe if I work on not spending needlessly AND taking better care around the house, I'll be able to be at home for a while longer yet. I don't think I'll be bored, but if I am, once I get done what I want to around here, then I'm sure I'll be much more open to maybe looking into some part time work.

So, with that in mind, I've gotten started on some of the things I've neglected for too long around here. Yesterday's project was finishing up washing the screens on the windows and getting the windows washed. Which entails much more than that implies. Our windows have storm windows in front of the actual window, so it's like I have two sets of windows to wash, plus all the debris that accumulates on the sills. And because it's time-consuming...I've not done it in a long time, making it take that much longer to get done now. I'm proud to say that I've done ALL the screens and gotten three more rooms of windows done, as of yesterday. I still have two more rooms to do and then this project will be done for a while. With plans to do it more regularly, so it doesn't get this bad again. LOL

BUT, if you've gotten this far, it's not all work and no play for me. I HAVE been working on crafty stuff...just not making cards. I've finally been working on making a pair of socks for me! Remember I started a sock earlier this summer? Well, in my recent library visits, I came across a book about knitting a pair of socks at the same time! Not just one, but both, so when I'm done with the project, I'll have a pair completed instead of just one and then having to start all over again for the second (which makes one want to sigh...I have to do this all over again??). I hear they call this Second Sock Syndrome, meaning a lot of times only one sock ever gets made. LOL

I found two circular needles similar to the length recommended in the book (a smidge longer than called for, but it still works) in my mom's stash of knitting needles that I found several months ago. They are all plastic, which I wasn't used to at all, but they are working out fine. And here's where I am with the project as of yesterday...

I've actually done the heel part (the part that intimidated me the most about making socks) and it wasn't too bad at all! Last night I finished the sole and am now working on the foot part, then it'll be the toe and I'm all done! Because I have rather "muscular" calves, thanks to my mom and grandmother (I could never wear tall boots comfortably because my calves are kinda large, couldn't zip them up without catching some skin-ouch-or squishing them so tight the boot never fit right) I am making these shorter socks than the pattern calls for. I figured I'd never get the sock over my calf and I don't want to do the work and not be able to wear them. This is just a basic sock, no fancy stitches or designs. I wanted to figure out how to do it first before trying to get all fancy. LOL

And if you got this far, bless you! I hope I didn't bore you to tears. I just wanted to give you a heads up as to what I've been up to and thinking about lately. I'm not upset or anything about the changes...I'm thinking of it as an interesting challenge and something kind of, sort of, fun to see how well I can do at cutting costs.

I hope you have a terrific weekend! The girls are itching to swim again and now that the weather is supposed to warm up...I think that's what we'll do.