From Resolutions To Challenges

As I explained at the beginning of the month, I'm doing monthly challenges instead of resolutions this year.  January is at its end so it's time to see how it has gone for me.

Overall I am very happy with what I have accomplished.  I've discovered I was a bit ambitious in just how much I can do in a month so I have made adjustments here and there.  And as I explained to Himself, some challenges are to be finished by the end of that month and for some challenges the goal is to get started and continue... perhaps for the rest of my life.

My 'home' challenge was to KonMari the upstairs and our downstairs laundry room.  Got it done!  I was amazed at what I missed from the first go around.  This is one of the challenges that continues after the first month.  February I will finish my studio.  I've already started and am making huge progress.  A big part of that comes from deciding what creative projects I really want to do and enjoy doing.  Stash that doesn't work for those is going away.

For the yard I planned on pruning my lilacs.  They had gotten WAY tall and Himself took down about a third of their height.  I realize I won't have the best flowering this year but I'm OK with that.  And while he had the pruner out, he lowered the crepe myrtle and the hibiscus.

Making a shopping price guide was the kit of the month.  I'm not done with this one because it is pretty labor intensive.  I will be finished by mid-Feb and will show it then.  But so far it is proving rather interesting...

It has been so cold that my "sloth running" has been more like "stone running".  Snow, ice, and temperatures that didn't get above freezing stopped that.  Even the elliptical was a no go... my basement studio where it sits average 48*F.  No thanks.  

A new hair and skin routine didn't get far either.  Kept forgetting.  But earlier reviews of the coconut oil for skin is good.

In the creative challenges, that went a bit slower.  Didn't do a thing with my assemblage projects.  Again, too cold to work in my studio.  The quilting project I got started... the components for the two quilts I'm going to do this year have been gathered and put into a tub each.  And I decided to do a small lap quilt for Himself's auntie in MN.  It's called a "Fidget Quilt" and is a very tactile quilt that calms dementia patients.  That will also be done in a couple weeks and you'll see it then.

My writing challenge was haiku and this was definitely a 'starter' month.  So easy but so complicated too.  I'm working on a piece for an EHC writing contest, the deadline is the end of Feb.

Photos... oh my goodness!

For basic photography I made my first challenge to deal with the photos I've already taken... both on my laptop hard drive AND on my external back-up hard drive.  What a nightmare.  Double...triple... even quadruple mass saves from different times.  It all had to be consolidated and then the duplicates deleted and then deleting of all those photos I just didn't want (like when you take 50 photos of the baby playing with her new toy).  I worked every single day of January on this.  Seriously, I have deleted at least a quarter million photographs.  I have learned a lot in the process.  Not quite done, but I will be by mid month Feb.  This is NOT going to get this way ever again!!!

I finished ~ as in done-stick-a-fork-in-it ~ my photo album from my Mexico trip in 2006.  Journaling is complete and excess photos have been dropped in the trash.  Done!

My photo book on the Scotland 2011 trip is also done.  Blurb has put up a 40% off coupon so I am doing my last proofreading today and hitting 'publish' tomorrow.  (I'm only going to publish when they have a good coupon!)

And finally my bonsai.  I have planned my new bonsai garden for when they wake up in a couple months.  I've cleaned up my tools, taken stock of my pots, and reorganized what I have.  I'm ready for spring!

How Are Those Resolutions Coming?

This first month of the year is almost over and most people's New Year resolutions have already been abandoned.

Consider this...

Snow Time for Marmalade

I've had enough winter for the year!  Remember my last update on Monday the 15th when I said we were going to see if we could drive up the hill?  The road was good and we made it to the Dollar General to get my eggs and some milk.

Good thing... it snowed that night. 

Around 4 inches, part of which melted on the road and froze ~ leaving us yet again with an impassable hill.  We didn't get out until Thursday.  The below video was taken on Wednesday afternoon.  See the issue?  LOL  

So we entertained ourselves by making goodies!

Orange marmalade goodies to be exact, from the bag Cara Cara oranges I'd bought before all this snow stuff started.

First batch gave us 17 half pints of vanilla orange marmalade.

We had some Amish sourdough bread to try it out on.  It passed the test.

A year's worth of treats.

Then I got to thinking on flavors.  Wouldn't lavender orange be pretty good?

Yep!  It was delicious ~ especially on Himself's fresh hot homemade biscuits.

Hmmmm... maybe this snow stuff isn't so bad after all...

Nashville Highland Games

 
I forgot to say anything about our anniversary excursion, probably because I didn't blog much in September.

The Nashville Highland Games are back!

He's the guy in the poster.

We wandered around a bit until I saw one of my clan tents!

MacFie!

Or McFee or MacFee or MacPhee or MacPhie or, or, or...

Anyway... there they were!

We sat and visited for a while, and when we went exploring we could leave our chairs and stuff there at the clan tent.

The games start with the "massed pipe bands" meaning everyone who plays comes together to play and lead in the clans.  All of the clan parade in together by clan.  It's so cool.

So you can imagine how excited I was in Jim asked if I'd like to walk with him in the clan parade!!

Ginger let me borrow her tartan rosette and pinned it on for me.

SO much fun!!

After the field was cleared and set up, the athletic games began.  There are some big men competing in these!

Then it was time for the not-so-big guys over on the small field...

The girls had other places to be...

... with the fabulous Merida (of Pixars "Brave").

There was dancing ...

...and sheep...

...and fun shops too!

Can't wait til this next September!

Thai Banana

On a recent trip to Bowling Green, KY I waaaay over estimated how long it would take to get to our destination... like about an hour and a half.  Oops!   So we had some time to waste.  

And we happened upon an area with THREE international markets!  One of the three was was Thai and east Asia.  We picked up a few things I needed for some recipes and as I was checking out I noticed some LITTLE bananas... definitely not the Cavendish bananas seen everywhere.  I grabbed a bunch and added to my order.

The grandmother who was checking out my order immediately told me "Thai banana...not plantain!"  (yes, they were pretty green).  Then she said "Yellow!!!" while miming eating.    She was quite serious that I knew not to eat them green.  Told me several times.  As I picked up my bags, one more time she warned me with "NO green" and a very scrunched up face.

Once home we let them sit.  They went to yellow, then dark yellow, then they started getting a red tone, and finally turned pretty dark (we were sampling thru all the stages).

These are the last two... look rough, don't they?

At all stages the skin had to be cut through.  It is very fiberous.

Even tho the skin looks pretty gnarly the fruit is perfect.  Firm and blemish free.

The flavor is gently sweet and kind of "apple" but not.  It's really hard to describe.  But it is NOT like a Cavendish banana.

I'll be looking for them at the various international stores I shop at!

Baby, It's COLD Outside

The high for today is predicted to be 13*F, with tonight's low at -1*F.  For mid Tennessee, that is brutal.  Only hope for many folks water lines is with 4 to 6 inches of snow, it will insulate the ground from the super cold.

Cold Snap This and That

Still hanging out here at The Sticks... keeping busy.  

During the early month cold snap we put away our Christmas decorations and did some general neatening.  I had to bring my small bonsai into the garage because it was just too cold for them.

We started the second KonMari.  I'm not as ruthless as some, so I definitely need another go around with it.  Hitting areas in my studio this time that haven't been done at all... like ALL writing/drawing instruments.  Seems I have a bit of a problem with Sharpies...

Not even Persia can escape!  I pulled out all her toys I could FIND (she is a cat, after all...) and went through them.  You can see I don't spend much on cat toys.  About half of her above stash disappeared.

The leaf?  SHE put that in her toy box!

Then we got a 2 day break from the cold.  It was lovely.  

We used the warmth to open the windows to air out the house.  The Christmas decorations were taken back to the shed and the winter decorations were brought in.  We cleaned up the garage (it really needed sweeping out badly) and bonsai were pushed out the garage door.

But all good things come to an end.  You see that cold and snow for last Friday?  

It hit.

Friday morning we woke up to this.  Ice glaze.  I walked over to the road to see if it was as bad as I thought.

It was worse.

Then it snowed 2.5" on top of the ice.

Persia was NOT impressed.

We were VERY happy to see this Saturday afternoon.  But it was still undriveable until Monday (today).  The salt, chemicals, and sunlight had to do their work.

So we waited and amused ourselves by working on the KonMari.

Found this in the pantry.

Doesn't a loaf of hot bread sound perfect on a cold winter day?

Yeah, we thought so too.

I'm going to tell you a secret...  That beer bread mix was at least 8 years old!  It was a gift from a friend and was misplaced when we moved.  Once found, I just didn't get around to making it.

So Himself whipped it up.  It turned out deliciously perfect.

Plus I've been working on all of my January challenges... some more than others.  But I still have half a month left so life is good.

Well, it is time to see if the road up our hill is passable.  I need eggs!