Category: Crafting a Plan

Smitten English-paper-pieced quilt illuminated by the glow of a fire during a power outage during a windstorm in Washington State

Windstorm Aftermath

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I mentioned, in Friday’s post, that we were experiencing some rain and that I was hoping for more rain that wouldn’t knock out the power so I could have more time to sew on the Penguin Party quilt.

I got half of my wish.

Saturday was a really big sports day for the kids with Nathaniel running in the League Cross Country meet and Rachel participating in the Unified Bowling Tournament. We left the house at 6:30 am and didn’t get back until after 3:00pm, all while battling pouring rain and gusts of wind that had us literally leaning forward over our toes to stay upright. I tried to talk our family out of going to the church Halloween party that night on account of the weather, but everyone thought I was being overly anxious and pooh-poohed my concerns.

The Brookelets in their costumes for the 2025 church Halloween party: Two witches and a pink party boy
Nathaniel asked Rachel to help him come up with a costume fifteen minutes before we left, so she outfitted him with odds-and-ends from her camp counselor costume trunk!

Our power went out around 5:00pm. The power was still on at the church, and teaser photos on social media showed the promise of a banger of a party, so the fam insisted we head out to enjoy it. The road into town was a warzone of leaves and downed tree limbs that elicited quite a few gasps from us as we drove by, and the drive home treated us to a traffic backup on the highway as the police diverted us around an accident that was in the midst of towing a car out of the ditch. The rain continued on, the wind gusts picked up and our entire area lost power around 10:00pm.

Black light photo of teenage boy from church Halloween party

Power still wasn’t on in the morning, so Michael went into Super Generator Man mode and had us set up by 5:30am with all the extension cords our hearts could desire. Each year he invests in another piece of “Power Outage Kit” to make our lives a little easier during power outages and this year’s investment was a very nice, very long extension cord that he snaked through my second floor craft room window so that I could still sew and iron to my heart’s content AND supplies power to the internet router. True love, right there. All the bases covered with one simple extension cord!

Extension cord running into a craft room during a power outage in order to power sewing machines and irons

Unfortunately, I didn’t do any sewing because I was simply too tired from all the running around the day before, the stress of the power outage, and the lack of sleep from how loud the rain and wind were throughout the night. So, yes, I got half of my wish and I really could have gotten my full wish had I not been exhausted. I guess, in the future, I also need to hope for the energy to sew…silly me!

Smitten English-paper-pieced quilt illuminated by the glow of a fire during a power outage during a windstorm in Washington State

We Brookes decided to power through the last bit of our goal to watch all the Harry Potter movies before Halloween, and so we did that once we found out that the church didn’t have power and services were cancelled. It was a very chill day. I got out my Christmas Alphabet embroidery sampler at one point, but the mental load of trying to work on it was also too much so I just put it away and rested.

Power came on around 4:30pm for us, while our friends were without power until late this morning. I’ve been running around attempting to catch chores and the like back up to pre-storm conditions and restocking our groceries. So, no sewing over the weekend AT ALL. Oh well.

Looking ahead for the week:

I’m hoping to make A LOT of progress on the Penguin quilt. Maybe even to the point of ignoring all my other projects-in-progress. Ride the wave of motivation, right?

I’ve made a lot of progress on the Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler in recent weeks, but might set it aside in favor of working on the Penguin quilt. If I can stand, I’ll work on the Penguin quilt. If standing is difficult/my back is hurting, I’ll work on the embroidery sampler.

I am tiring of my Peppermint Blossoms EPP quilt, mostly because I’m wishing I’d worked on an autumn/Halloween project over the last couple of months. I’m wondering if having different, seasonal, EPP projects in-progress might work best for my interest cycles in the future? Or maybe I’m not as in love with Peppermint Blossoms as I thought I’d be and it should be scaled back to a smaller finished project? Or maybe I’ve been working on it for two years with very little progress and I’m just fed up with it? Thinking on those ideas at the moment.

It is so weird that this is the last week of October. Next week is the doorway to the Christmas season, y’all! (I’m a Christmas junkie; it starts on November 2nd for me.) It doesn’t even really feel like it’s time for Halloween yet, how can we already be nearly at Thanksgiving and Christmas, too?!?!

Homemaking Goals for the Week: Prepping for Homecoming and Halloween, and other Autumn Vibes

Good morning! It’s such a good feeling to start my Monday morning off with a planning session for the week! I’ve missed this part of my routine—there’s something about having a deadline to post about my plans that makes me far more likely to make the planning happen.

Conditioning

I’ve added two new categories to my homemaking planning routine: Conditioning & Currency. Conditioning encompasses the various categories of self-care that keep me healthy: Physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, social, etc.

  • Physical Goals this week: 3 swimming sessions, 15 minutes of sunshine/outdoor time each day
  • Spiritual: Pray once a day, read one article a day on LDS Circles (I’ve backslid a bit in this category over the summer and am slowly rebuilding my spiritual health habits. Slow and steady wins the race.)
  • Emotional: Go through my Morning Manna ritual each day
  • Intellectual: I am trying to transition to reading actual ink and paper books at night, rather than e-books and/or scrolling on my phone in bed. This is proving harder to do than I would have thought. So, for this week’s goal I’m going to shoot for loading my nightstand with three books to choose from in the evening when I’m tired and don’t want to think anymore: 1 fiction, 1 serious non-fiction/informational, 1 creative/beautiful. I also need to figure out where my phone is going to live while I’m sleeping.

Currency

Update my money book/register twice this week. The ultimate goal is to do this daily, but I fell out of practice over the summer, so we’re rebuilding. Everything else is pretty much automized, so yay.

Cooking

This week’s meal plan: It looks like we’re heading into some seriously autumn-feeling weather this week! Cooler temperatures and some rain means it might be time to start dipping into some soups and comfort food! Woo hoo! Yay for autumn!

  • Monday: Corn Soup with Bacon & Sage, green salad with Italian vinaigrette
  • Tuesday: Quesadillas
  • Wednesday: Baked Chicken Parm, Caesar Salad
  • Thursday: Waffles, Bacon, fruit
  • Friday: Pizza
  • Saturday: Chicken Pad Thai
  • Sunday: Chickpea & Quinoa Chili, cornbread

Clothing

The regular upkeep plus getting Rachel ready for Homecoming. It’s that time of year! I’ll need to do the autumn wardrobe rotation soon, but Homecoming prep takes precedence this week. Also need to check with the kiddos to see if they need anything for their Halloween costumes. (Are they even planning on trick or treating?)

Cleaning

I’m still slogging along with the house decluttering. We did a phenomenal job of getting the kids’ rooms done over the summer, so I’m still very proud of that. I’m currently in the process of moving my home office out of my bedroom and into my craft room, which will require decluttering both of those worlds so they can fit into one room together. It is not a fun task whatsoever. But I’d like my bedroom to be less “business” and more “sanctuary,” so I’m making this long overdue move. I’ve been hit with all the back-to-school sicknesses in the past couple of weeks, so I don’t know if I’ll make any novel gains this week because I’m just trying to get caught up on the regular cleaning tasks around the house.

Caring

  • Getting Rachel ready for Homecoming.
  • General Conference is this weekend, so it’d be nice if I could do something special for that. It’s a busy, busy week leading into it, so I don’t know what I’ll actually be capable of doing.
  • It’s Week #13 in my 12 Week Year goal cycle, so I’m also deciding and planning my goals for the upcoming Autumn Cycle. I’d like to revisit my Life Vision plan and rework it, as the last time I updated it was in 2020 and things have changed A LOT since that time.
  • Nathaniel Driver’s Ed drives and tests scheduling
  • Make optometrist appointments

Creativity

  • Rotation Project: I am currently working on Renaissance’s Christmas quilt. All the penguins have fully formed heads! Next up is the wings and bodies. It’d be great if I could complete all of those this week.
  • Scrap Project: Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt. Why am I still working on this?!?! It’s gathering dust somewhere; the goal for this week is to unearth it and put in some work on the last bits of quilting it needs before it’s done. The resistance I am feeling towards this, guys…yeesh.
  • Crafting-in-the-Van Project: I am currently working on a Christmas EPP quilt that will look a lot like, if not identical, to the Tales of Cloth “Bonnie” quilt. I should probably count how many “blossoms” I’ve completed and extrapolate how many more I have to go. It’d be good to cut up the charm pack of Christmas fabric I bought a few months ago to add to this project and make sure I have enough fabric cut for the remainder of the quilt. I’ll get an hour’s worth of work done on it while I’m waiting for the kids at Mutual this week, and I’ll also get some work done on it during a kid’s dentist appointment as well. I also need a name for this project…Peppermint Blossoms EPP quilt.
  • TV Handwork Project: Uhhh, *checks notes*…huh, I’ve decided to unearth another long overdue project that I think I started working on back in 2005? Decluttering the craft room will have you finding all sorts of stuff! The embroidery floss has long since been lost or allocated to other projects because I thought I lost the instructions to this project, but I FOUND THEM while decluttering, so I really want to finish this up and be proud of myself for finishing a thing. I need to go shopping and purchase replacement embroidery floss this week, hoop the embroidery back up, and hopefully get some actual stitching done whenever I’m watching television/movies. This also needs a name…Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler.

Gardening

Yeah, work should be done out there. We’ll see. Michael went through the yard this past weekend and burned away all the weeds and it looks so nice and neat. There’s a FAT SQUIRREL that is snapping off the heads of all my sunflowers and stealing them away to his nest, so I’m leaving them up while he does his harvesting. All the herbs have bolted so I probably won’t try to save them.

Oooh, I’d also like to start up my countertop AeroGarden, probably with herbs or lettuces, because The Big Dark is creeping in and I like the extra “sunlight” that the countertop garden shines on us during breakfast and dinner time.

Celebrating

  • Put out the last of the September apple decorations that I still haven’t gotten to. (Oops.)
  • October starts on Wednesday?!?! *sighs* Alright, put out the Halloween decorations, too.
  • I’ll have to tell you more about my newest obsession when I get a chance: Whimsical Days, where I just spend a day getting ready for the next holiday/celebration. I generally have been doing them on Wednesdays, so with October starting on Wednesday this week, I’ll be focusing on Halloween this week.
  • Beginning of October means I need to send out some birthday cards to Canadian family.

Community

  • I’m not involved with a lot of stuff this year. I’m focusing on getting Rachel and Nathaniel to their various activities.
  • I am still in charge of music at church and we’ve been taking a little break after a jam-packed summer of music. I should do a debriefing on that because I’d like to do things differently next year. I need to get the Christmas Sacrament Program written up and submitted for approval. I also need to get October and November’s special musical numbers planned and organized. And get October’s sacrament hymns chosen and posted.

Top priorities this week:

  • Homecoming Prep
  • Driver’s Ed schedulings
  • Swimming & sunshine
  • Aerogarden
  • Halloween decorating
  • Church music stuff
  • Consistent time for creativity so I don’t go insane

As I look over this week’s plans, I’m reminded that homemaking is less about checking every single box and more about creating an environment where peace and progress can flourish. The lists keep me moving forward, yes, but the ultimate reward I’m aiming for is the good feeling that comes from making my home a place of care, order, and creativity. Here’s to a week of steady steps, small victories, and the joy that comes when we pause at the end of the day and see the good we’ve accomplished. Let’s get to it—one task at a time! And Happy October!

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

A Final Stitch for February, a Fresh Thread for March

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I’m grateful that the end of the grayest month of the year opens the doors for the most hopeful month of the year. We made it, folks! It only gets brighter and greener from here! Whew!

February Finishes & Highlights:

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  • Stripey Christmas Socks
  • Piscis Project, which I only just gifted to Rachel over the weekend and still haven’t taken pictures of…
  • Quesnel survived her kidney infection, thanks to our consistent administration of antibiotics twice a day, which is not a task for the faint-hearted
  • Nathaniel received a Superior rating on the xylophone at Solo Competition
  • Rachel celebrated her 17th birthday
  • Nathaniel was awarded the “Rookie of the Year” award for Auto class, which is a CTE award given to freshmen
  • I managed, with help from other band parents (obviously), to distribute, collect, and award both the Band Senior Scholarship Essay competition and the Annual Headphone Fundraiser Raffle.

February Progress:

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

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A Woven Star quilt block made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for her Star Climber Scrap Quilt.

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Plans for March:

  • Quilting the King David’s Crown Quilt, perhaps finishing it altogether
  • Star Climber Scrap Quilt progress
  • Cherry Twilight sock progress
  • Midnight Lark sock progress
  • Garden preparations
  • Track Season
  • Michael’s birthday
  • Prom prep (Rachel is still deciding whether or not she wants me to sew her dress)
  • Easter Sacrament Meeting Program prep
  • Maybe some Easter celebration prep, if time allows

As much as I love to see the door hit February in the butt as it exits the room, I will miss the quieter pace of the last two months of winter hibernation. The sun is shining more and more each day, I actually hear birdsong when I venture outside, and I know that the activities of spring will soon start crowding out my time set aside for crafting. I struggle with this transition every year, trying to figure out how to spend as much time as possible on so many activities that I love for various reasons. Thankfully, I live on the wet side of Washington State, so we are still in for some seriously rainy weather, so darn, I guess I’ll just have to stay inside on those days and catch up on my stitching!

Happy March! Enjoy the return of the sunshine!

A Woven Star quilt block made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for her Star Climber Scrap Quilt.

Starry Stitches & Snowfall Wishes: A February Fresh Start

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Happy Monday! Happy February! I don’t know if you can wish anyone a happy Monday or a happy February, but here I am, trying to inject some semblance of cheer into the grayest part of the year! I found an image on the internet last week that I absolutely loved from Pippi Post, and I have been quoting it to myself over and over again ever since:

Credit: Pippi Post

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There’s a lot of stuff going on right now that is upsetting for people, it’s February and we haven’t seen the sun in months, and almost everyone I know is recovering from some bout of illness. We’re all tired and we’re all overwhelmed, so prioritizing joy is a good idea right now. I’ve been trying to avoid being a grump and it really is weird how you can just choose to be optimistic if you really put your mind to it.

Something that brings me joy is figuring out my week ahead, so here we are with a Crafting a Plan post! Enjoy!

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:

  • Monday: Tuscan Meatball Soup with gnocchi
  • Tuesday: Grilled Cheese & Lunchmeat sandwiches, Salad with creamy cider vinaigrette
  • Wednesday: Breakfast Soft Tacos
  • Thursday: Costco Lasagna, Caesar salad
  • Friday: Chicken-Tomatillo Soup with Chipotle Chiles
  • Saturday: TBD
  • Sunday: TBD

Clothing

I am so caught up with laundry! It is exhilarating! I actually have time to work on rotating our wardrobes at the moment, so there’s a big upheaval with the warm and cold weather clothing. I read a fantastic book about decluttering over Christmas Break and am applying the principles to my wardrobe as I work through the rotating.

Cleaning

I’m trying to do some decluttering and it’s going pretty good. The book I read is called Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff, by Dana K. White, and it’s got a completely sane approach to dealing with decluttering that does not involve dumping out an entire anything and spending hours at a time on the process à la Marie Kondo. I’ve gone through the front entrance of the house, the dining room, and I’m slowly working on the craft room. All the background thought that goes into the process makes the upkeep of the cleaned area much easier, so those areas of my house are looking really good, even weeks later. Very good book, highly recommended.

Caring

  • Haircuts for Michael & Nathaniel
  • I need to make a vet appointment for Quesnel. She’s not looking like she’s feeling very well.
  • I need to keep an eye on spring sports registration for Nathaniel.

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Creativity

  • King David’s Crown is assembled and awaiting basting. I decided that I wanted to quilt it nicely, so I’ve ordered some quilting stencils and the company has taken forever to ship them to me. They should arrive on Thursday, despite having ordered them last weekend. Hmph.
  • I started working on my scrappy Star Climber quilt last week and I am loving it! What a great pattern for using up scraps! Love, love, love. I’m planning on this one taking all year to complete so that I don’t have to rush it. I really enjoy working with the Woven Star foundation papers* and I think I’ve picked out a great color palette for this quilt that will use up a lot of scraps from particularly overflowing scrap bins. My schedule for this quilt calls for me to complete eight blocks in February, and I’ve finished four thus far. Another two are in-progress right now and I’m hoping to have them done by the end of this week.
  • It’s quite possible that I could finish the Christmas Stripey socks this week. I’ve made it to the toe decreases, so there’s not a lot of work left on them.

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Celebrating

  • Emily just celebrated her 21st birthday. I think you’re officially old when your kids start turning 21.
  • Next up is Rachel’s birthday. How in the world is she almost seventeen years old?!?! Nathaniel mentioned that her next birthday will allow her to vote. That was not on my radar. These kids just went and grew up on me when I wasn’t looking.
  • Michael and I aren’t up for a big night out on Valentine’s Day so we’re planning a family Mario Kart tournament for that evening. Depending on how into it the kids are, there could be some cute things happening. If the cute things don’t happen, whatever; we’ll still have fun and eat tasty treats.
  • Michael’s birthday is on the horizon, but I’m not quite into planning mode for that yet.
  • Same with Nathaniel.
  • Easter IS on my mind because I’m trying to get the Easter Program together for church. I’ve got my rough draft written up and submitted for approval, so we’ll see how much the bishopric likes it. I’d also like to do some planning in regards to Easter dinner; the kind of planning that will repeat itself every year and make my life easier.

Community

  • Ren and I will be performing the special musical number in church this week because I couldn’t find anyone else to do it. We are becoming very good at throwing pieces together at the last minute! So we’ll need to figure out some rehearsal time during the week.
  • Track down some flute music for Ren for the Easter Program.
  • Compose an ending/reprise for my arrangement of “As Bread is Broken” for the choir.
  • Pick up raffle tickets I had printed for band boosters.
  • Check in on the t-shirts we’re having printed for the band’s Disney trip

Top priorities this week:

  • Vet appointment for Quesnel
  • Rachel’s birthday
  • Valentine’s Day
  • Getting the quilting going on the King David’s Crown quilt

I wish you a happy first week of February! We’re getting some snow right now and I’m really hoping it translates into a legit snow day tomorrow so we can just bum around and drink cocoa all day. I’m reeeeeally hoping for that. May you get your snow wishes granted as well, if that’s your jam.

Meals, Tomatoes, Pumpkins, Hopefully Some Sewing

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Recovery from surgery is going much, much better. I think I may be able to pull off a somewhat “normal” amount of activity this week. I’ve made the choice to stop taking Tylenol for my post-op pain because I think we’re getting close to the end and any amount of pain is a signal that I’m doing too much and that I should slow down rather than pop a pain reliever and keep going at the same pace. I know it’s a wise decision, but ugh. But hey…we are definitely getting to the end of this!

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:

  • Monday: Tortellini in broth, Peasant rolls
  • Tuesday: Creamy Pumpkin Soup, European Boule
  • Wednesday: Roast Chicken with garlic, lemon & rosemary, Normandy vegetables, Rice pilaf
  • Thursday: Chili in pumpkin bread bowls
  • Friday: Taco Night
  • Saturday: Leftovers
  • Sunday: Pork & Tomatillo Stew

Renaissance also plans to make a Butterscotch Pumpkin Pie.

Clothing

I am doing laundry pretty regularly now, but I can’t lift the full baskets of clothes. It’s not much of an issue most days because there’s almost always someone else in the house with me.

Cleaning

Cleaning is still a little difficult for me, so I’m keeping an eagle eye on the kids’ chores and not letting them get away with doing half-hearted jobs. I don’t think I’m anyone’s favorite parent right now.

Caring

I’m just trying to get back in the swing of making all the meals regularly because hungry people are grumpy people. There’s also a lot of office work to catch up on, so I expect to spend a lot of time on that this week.

Creativity

I am going to try my hardest to get some actual sewing done this week. The fabric for the band fundraiser table runners is here and I’ve pre-washed it all and am in the middle of cutting it to size. I’m a little optimistic that I might get these done quickly.

I need to really, really get knitting on the secret Christmas knitting project(s). Eek!

Gardening

The tomatoes. Oh, the tomatoes. The green ones are ripening on the counter, so that’s good. We’ll be using a lot of the pureed pumpkin this week, which makes me pleased. I’m hoping we’ll get the garden cleaned out this upcoming weekend, too.

Celebrating

Happy Halloween Week! The kids have costumes, I bought candy, and there are pumpkins for carving, but I don’t know if they’ll get carved at all. There is ONE carved pumpkin, so everything’s ok in a minimalist fashion.

Community

  • Pep Band potluck this week
  • The work continues to get ready for the band fundraiser
  • Ward Choir sheet music is arriving on schedule
  • I still need to find a pianist(s) for our Christmas program
  • I need to schedule the special musical performances for November and December

Top priorities this week:

  • Halloween celebrating & traditions
  • Band Fundraiser Table Runners
  • Scheduling special musical performances for November
  • Finding a pianist for the Christmas program
  • Make some headway on the secret Christmas knitting
  • Rest when I’m tired or hurting

Busy with Harvesting

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Last week’s decision to have little goals to work towards each day was a great success!  I felt like I was going to be physically ill at the end of Monday and Tuesday from the effort, but by Wednesday I could do each thing each day with relative ease. Unfortunately, I caught a cold from one of the kids and the symptoms began manifesting on Thursday evening, so I didn’t get much more done after that point. I felt much better by this last Monday and have been slowly ramping up efforts yet again. It’s nice to actually do stuff again!

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:

  • Monday: Pizza (Michael)
  • Tuesday: Corn & Zucchini Soup, Whole Wheat Rolls
  • Wednesday: Beef & Pumpkin Stew that turned out terrible, so I converted it into a Beef & Pumpkin Curry that was more than decent
  • Thursday: Pork & Tomatillo Stew
  • Friday: TBD
  • Saturday: Marry Me Pasta, Salad
  • Sunday: TBD

Clothing

Just trying to get strong enough to handle doing laundry again. The goal is one load a day and I’ve met that goal once thus far this week.

Cleaning

Cleaning is still a little strenuous for me, so I’m doing light tidying. The kids don’t like that I’m noticing messes now and I’m coherent enough to keep on top of them to clean up after themselves. They’re good kids, but geez, if they aren’t going to be nagged to clean, they are not going to do it. I could worry unnecessarily about this, but I was the same way when I was their ages, and I got my act together at some point.  I’ll just keep nagging and hope they sort themselves out in the future.

Caring

When I was cutting up garden vegetables for freezing, I took the time to dice up some of the green peppers, and added some onion and garlic to the bag so Michael could have a ready-to-go bag of diced veggies for when he makes roasted potatoes for breakfast on the weekends.  It’s a little thing, but I hope it makes him feel loved.  He hates chopping things because his hands are better suited for brute strength activities and not so much for fine motor things like dicing vegetables.

Creativity

I did not finish a penguin block last week because I got sick. I also realized that I’ve been having a hard time with this quilt because I’m making it out of flannel, which I’m not enjoying piecing with at all. I’d like to sit down and calculate whether or not it’s feasible to finish this quilt before Christmas decorating season this year—if it’s not feasible I might move onto something else for the time being.

Oh…I will need to move onto something else for a little while. The decorations for the band’s big fundraiser are looking more than tired and we’ve decided to replace the table runners this year, which I’ll be sewing up. I ordered the fabric today, so I don’t know when it will get here, but I’ll start working on those once the fabric arrives.

I also need to keep going on the secret Christmas knitting. I was supposed to be 50% done with one project last weekend, but I’m only at the 25% mark.  Eek. I do have a fabulous excuse, but still…I like to finish my projects no matter what.

Gardening

There was a Freeze Warning issued yesterday and I made the decision to just harvest everything in the garden, ripe or not, seeing that it’s the end of October and true freezes can legitimately start happening now. I had hoped to focus on getting caught up on office type things this week, but Mother Nature forced my hand and I’ve been processing produce for storage.  Mostly chopping and freezing things because canning feels like it would be too much at the moment. I think I will try to can up some Green Tomato Mincemeat tomorrow, though. I’ve read good things about the recipe, and there’s a lot of green tomatoes sitting on my counter. I’m absolutely chuffed over the garden’s output this year. It’s easily my best year of gardening ever; I just wish I had been strong enough to can a lot of the veggies because that’s one of my goals in life. I aspire to have the pantry full of jewel-toned jars of homemade yumminess lining the walls. It’s always such a beautiful sight.

See that huge zucchini in the box? It yielded twenty-two cups of shredded zucchini! That’s a lot of future zucchini bread!

Celebrating

The girls are helping with the church Halloween party and Renaissance cut down my corn stalks after we harvested the corn and she’s planning to tie them up nice so they can be placed on the front porch as decorations. Rachel ordered herself a costume from Amazon and Nathaniel has come up with the laziest costume that will still work for him, so we’re covered on costumes. Yay, Halloween. Should probably buy some candy to hand out.

Community

Ward Choir: We’re changing our meeting time and I’m meeting with my pianist this week to discuss Christmas music. I was not able to attend our last/first rehearsal because I wasn’t feeling well, so a friend ran the rehearsal, for which I’m very thankful. I am really hoping to be done with feeling poorly and get these Christmas rehearsals going!

Band Boosters: We had another fundraiser planning meeting this week and made a lot of decisions. So much work to do! Music programs in our schools do not happen on their own, folks! I am thisclose to creating vinyl lettering for my van’s rear window that has a Venmo QR code for people to donate to for the band. People donate to bachelorette parties, why not music in our schools? I truly wonder if that would work…?

Top priorities this week:

  • Processing the garden harvest. Ren and I have ploughed through a lot of it already, but still need to figure out what to do with the tomatoes that are over-ripe, under-ripe, and green. We also need to puree a pumpkin, and I want to oven-roast the green cherry tomatoes to have on-hand for adding a handful to soups for extra flavor, etc.
  • Ward Choir logistics.
  • Band Booster everythings.
  • Walks. They stopped happening while I was feeling unwell, so I need to get back in the habit.
  • Secret Christmas knitting, because I’m behind on it, but also because it forces me to take a break during the day and I can feel that I’m sometimes a little more tired than I should be due to the harvest processing.

I wish you all a happy and productive week! It’s so nice how good you feel when you’re able to dig in and just get some work done! Ren and I worked hard this morning in the kitchen and while we were eating lunch she sighed and said, “It’s just a good day. I did work that matters and that I like doing, and I’m eating a lunch that tastes good. That’s a good day.” I just looked at her and felt so proud. She gets it. Life is a lot of work, but a lot of the work is really enjoyable if you let it be enjoyable. Hopefully this beautiful time of year brings you numerous opportunities to enjoy the work that’s being asked of you!

Inching Along

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I’m still recuperating from surgery, but starting to feel like I might just live after all.  It’s been four weeks since my first procedure, and two and a half weeks since the second.  I have to keep reminding myself of that second date because I can easily remember the first date and I get discouraged that I’m not further along in my recovery, but then I remember the second date and I feel better about where I am.

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:
Monday: Orange Chicken Bowls (Renaissance)
Tuesday: Beef & Pumpkin Stew, if I have the energy.  If not, quesadillas made by someone else.
Wednesday: Beefy Pasta (Ren or Emily)
Thursday: Pizza
Friday: TBD (Michael)
Saturday: TBD (Michael)
Sunday: TBD (Michael)

Clothing

We’ll see if I can handle doing any laundry this week.  I tried a week or two ago and could load clothes in the washer, but that was about it.  Michael’s been good about keeping the laundry caught up, but it’ll be good to take over that task from him so he has less to worry about.  Trying to fold and put away clothing will once again be a focus.

Cleaning

I’m still restricted quite a bit in my activity, so I shouldn’t be doing much cleaning.  If I have the energy for it I try to wipe down the kitchen table and counters after breakfast.  At some point that should become an easy task again, right?  I’ve also been puttering around in my craft room, putting away a thing here and a thing there. I tire extremely easily, so there’s not a lot getting done, but every little bit helps.  Maybe I can aim to clean the kitchen surfaces each morning, put away a certain number of things in the craft room each day, and spend a set amount of time (5-10 minutes) each day unearthing my office desk from beneath the mountain of paperwork that is currently camouflaging its existence?

Caring

I’m still healing, but also trying to regain energy, which is a tricky balance to strike.  I’m trying to walk further distances and/or go on more walks each day, and that’s going relatively well.  I’ve added in Stretchy Calf Raises to the end of all my walks in an attempt to fend off any plantar fasciitis that may be brewing as I’m sure my muscles have atrophied everywhere and I do not want to have to deal with plantar fasciitis on top of everything else.

I complained to my doctor about being bored out of my skull at my last check-up and he suggested I allow myself to read as much as my heart desired.  I think I read nine books and seventeen magazines last week.  I’m getting tired of reading.  Kristin Hannah’s The Women is excellent.  I can’t read anything else by her while I’m recovering though—she writes the most heartbreaking stories and I feel like I need to avoid the downers right now while my body is trying to manufacture warmth and light and healing vibes.  It’s hard to convince your cells to rejuvenate when you’re feeding your mind and heart a bunch of tension and sorrow.

I don’t have any extra space to care for others right now.  Which is ok.  Stinky, but ok.  I do need to remember to reach out to my brother on his birthday.  Which reminds me that I should get back into the habit of checking my To-Do List app each morning, if only to make sure I’m not missing any important reminders.

Creativity

I’d like to start doing some creative things each day.  I’ve got the time, and it would require me to sit and stand up, which is good for helping me regain my strength.  Major Post-Back Surgery of 2015 vibes going on here, but hey, that’s how I ended up making my Farm Girl Vintage quilt!  I would almost start another Farm Girl Vintage quilt now, but there’s a lot of other projects that I really should work on instead.

  • Complete a penguin block for Renaissance’s Christmas quilt
  • Spend 30 minutes each day doing some Christmas knitting

Gardening

There’s not a lot that I can do in the garden, which is so beautifully overgrown and ripe that it hurts.  Michael and Renaissance are doing their best to use up what we’ve got out there, for which I’m profoundly grateful.  Renaissance has processed two of the pumpkins into puree and Michael has been picking my tomatoes and peppers and cramming them into everything he cooks for us these past few weeks.  I grew a boatload of beautiful San Marconi peppers—they’re about ten inches long each and a vibrant red that just makes you happy to look at them.  We ate the purple corn I grew and it was really good—when you cook it, the purple turns black and grey, which made for excellent Halloween-ish corn on the cob.  Renaissance called up a friend who really likes making salsa and gave him four pounds of our tomatillos, which he was really jazzed about.

This may not be a great food storage year for us, but we had fun in the garden throughout the summer and we’re doing the best we can with the harvest.  Hopefully this surgery solves all the problems that have made it difficult for me to process harvests and spend extended time in the kitchen to do canning and preserving.  Losing out on this harvest is worth it if I can do the work in years to come.

Celebrating

I’m not sure what my kids are doing for Halloween.  I think Michael’s taking care of it?  And, honestly, the kids are set up with their teen accounts on Amazon and can just order a costume if they want one and I’d approve it.  They know this, so I’m not going to worry about it.  If they forget, they can throw something together from what we already have around the house.  I’m not going to stress about Halloween this year.

Community

I was supposed to resume ward choir practice this week.  I pushed it out another week because I knew I didn’t have the strength.  We’ll be starting up this Sunday.  It’s going to be rough.  I need music for them to practice, especially Christmas music.  My contact in the bishopric was released and now I need to go through whoever the new guy is.  It takes a while to figure things out.  I had hoped to do a big Christmas program this year, but I’m now leaning towards a more simplified one because I know I’m stretched too thin.  Getting caught up with life is going to take a while.

Band Boosters are chugging along without me.  Sigh.  I mean, it’s what you want to happen, and they are all exceedingly capable women, so everything is good.  I’m just sad that I’m not there with them.  I get extremely bummed out about missing out on it all, but so very thankful that they’re handling everything just fine.

Top priorities this week:

  • Complete 2 walks a day, with 10 Stretchy Calf Raises at the end of each of the walks
  • Wipe kitchen surfaces after breakfast each day
  • Clean up 10 things in craft room each day
  • Spend 10 minutes clearing off office desk each day
  • Spend 30 minutes doing Christmas knitting each day
  • Finish 1 penguin block by the end of Sunday
  • Fold and put away 1 load of laundry each day

So that’s me. Just trying to get up and moving again. There’s a lot of hope and a little bit of budding excitement that this surgery may have drastically improved my quality of life, given that my back doesn’t hurt anything like it used to and I’ve now gone a full four weeks without a pain flare-up. I just need to be careful with my recovery and find that delicate balance between enough rest and enough activity. Patience, patience…

</graduation> <summer>

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While I am very pleased that I didn’t throw Renaissance’s graduation party until two weeks after graduation, I also feel like our summer vacation didn’t really get to start until now after the party is finished because we were so busy with putting the party together. I spent this past week trying to summon up the will to do anything and then just gave up because I figured it was my body’s way of taking a break after many, many months of non-stop activity. All good things, of course, but it’s been a lot and recovery is an important part of the wellness cycle. I’m hoping I slowed down enough and rested enough that I’ll be good to go for the rest of the summer.

I have missed my little weekly posts to begin and end each week, and I’m hoping I can get back into a routine that includes writing them. The past six weeks were really busy! Here’s the plan for the next week, as we really sink into our true summer schedule:

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:

  • Monday: Chicken Shawarma (Emily), Cherry Tomato Salad w/ Burrata & Pesto
  • Tuesday: Grilled Chicken, Cantaloupe Soup, Grape Salad, Breadsticks
  • Wednesday: Cheeseburgers (Because Rachel has been asking for them repeatedly), Shaved Summer Squash & Peas,
  • Thursday: Hot Dogs, 4th of July Jell-O, etc.
  • Friday: Ribs, Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob
  • Saturday: French Bread Pizza, Caesar Salad
  • Sunday: Panzanella

Clothing

Laundry is pretty caught up on the daily stuff; I still need to fold and figure out some of the other season stuff and do a wardrobe rotation to make sure all the cold weather clothing has been put away and all the summer clothing is out and in use.

I’m altering a flower girl dress for a friend’s daughter and it’s going pretty good thus far. I’ve basted all my alterations into the dress and the girl came over today to make sure everything was fitting correctly before I put in legit stitches, and it looks really good! I just took the very top of the side seam in a little too far and it’s going to rub her underarm too much, so I’ll let the alteration a wee bit there. Time to get going with permanent stitching!

Cleaning

  • Finish cleaning up the graduation party, which will require:
  • Decluttering and cleaning the pantry so I can find space to put the new chafing dishes and drink dispensers that I purchased for the grad party.
  • Let’s be honest here, those two things would be absolutely amazing to accomplish in just one week, so I’m going to keep it at two items on this list.

Caring

  • Driving lessons for Emily & Rachel, scheduled and everything
  • Spelling lessons for Rachel & Nathaniel, because that’s what we do in the summer
  • I’m teaching the lesson tomorrow for Family Home Evening and I’ll be walking the kids through the “Getting Things Done” filing system. I’ve come up with a great way to help them keep track of their incoming mail and schedule their stuff and keep track of their chores. I’ll write a post in a few months if it actually works well.
  • I need to find out more about the Fife & Drum Corps that I want Renaissance and Nathaniel to join.

Creativity

  • Much of my creativity time will be taken up by the flower girl dress alterations. I’m glad I’m doing it, but it also reminds of why I generally say no to these requests—I don’t have a lot of creative time and I’d like to use it for myself. No regrets on this particular commission, but it’s a good reminder.
  • I will be teaching all three girls the basics of garment sewing this summer with the end goal of Rachel being capable of stitching her own homecoming dress. I’m excited about this prospect because…
  • I am going to be learning a new skill over the next couple of months that should take my dressmaking abilities to new heights: Tambour Beading. Tools arrive today and I’ve made a promise to myself I won’t start playing with them until I’m done with the flower girl dress, so hopefully I can speed through the alterations this week so that I actually get to start learning how to do this beading technique ASAP. I am SO EXCITED!
  • I need to check in on the various quilt blocks I sent out into the world for Ren’s Signature Graduation Quilt. There were a handful of last-minute cancellations on attending her party as well, so I might reach out and see if they want quilt blocks to sign.
  • I need a Crafting-in-the-Van project because summer music lessons will be starting up this week or next. Obvious options include: Smitten Quilt, Beehive Embroidery, Roses Hexagon EPP Quilt, and the Star Spangled Diamonds Quilt (I think this is too big for van crafting, though). My heart wants a new project, preferably embroidery and/or historical costuming-related. I am really not in a quilty mood right now, or knitting, either.

Gardening

It is looking so beautiful. I am so glad for every hour I’ve spent out there to get it ready this year because the view is absolutely worth it. I take a thirty minute break every morning after I wake up the kids to sit in the backyard and watch the birds flit about and feel the sun on my face. I love summer mornings.

  • Keep harvesting the peas, which are coming fast right now. The peas I planted on President’s Day weekend are massively producing, and also starting to fade a bit. The peas I planted near St. Patrick’s Day are ramping up production and will take us through a few more weeks I think. It was a good experiment with those dates. The peas I planted in April haven’t amounted to much at all. I’m not sure if I’ll get any pods off of them.
  • The lettuces and spinach are producing marvelously right now, but we also have so much cut lettuce left over from Ren’s graduation party that we’re not using the garden lettuces at all. Hopefully we can plough through all the leafy greens before everything goes bad or bolts.
  • Everything else is in the growing/maturing stages: Zucchini, Summer Squash, Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant, Tomatillos, Hot Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Bush Beans, and lots of herbs.
  • There’s also some corn coming up, along with some pumpkins. I’m really excited for these two crops. Corn is always fun to grow, and I bought a purple variety this year. Hopefully it’s tasty. And pumpkins are just delightful.

Celebrating

  • Still cleaning up graduation stuff, but it’s coming along
  • Happy Canada Day today! I don’t do anything for it anymore because I have a lot to do for the Fourth of July, but I still like to wish people a happy Canada Day when it rolls around.
  • Fourth of July Jell-O preparations will commence tomorrow. I need to make sure we actually have everything we need, but that’s also something that can be remedied the day of if need be.
  • Pioneer Day is coming up and I’m not sure if we’re doing anything for it. Church is having a potluck or something and I think I saw something about a pie-making contest, which I’ll need to mention to the girls because they will absolutely commit.
  • Renaissance’s eighteenth birthday is coming up in a little over a month. No idea what we’re doing, should probably get on that.

Community

  • Ward Choir is on my mind as we get it started up. I like to have them perform once a month, so we’ll be hitting the rehearsals hard. I’d also like to start figuring out the Christmas program ASAP so I can get music ordered and have everything ready to go in September/October, depending on the difficulty of the pieces.
  • Hymns have not been chosen for July because sacrament meeting topics weren’t chosen when I was looking yesterday. A reminder text was sent.
  • Need to do July contacting with ministering sisters. My two companions are both moving out of state this week, so I’m also waiting to hear who my new companions will be. I’ve asked for it to be my own daughters, so we’ll see, I guess.
  • I have a couple of books about decorating and entertaining that I like to read from time to time, and I just read the summer chapter from The Collected Cottage and I’m all revved up to do some summer entertaining, but I don’t know what to do. That beautiful chapter just makes me want to have friends over and enjoy the beautiful weather while we can, but it’s a leap to invite new people over and everyone is so busy with travel and houseguests during the summer. I guess I just need a mentality of “Just keep asking until someone says yes?”
  • I’m sure there’s Band Booster stuff I should have my eye on, but I gave myself the last week off and am uninformed at the moment. I’ll have to reacquaint myself and start touching base with the other band moms.

Top priorities this week:

  • Finish cleaning up the graduation party, which will require:
  • Decluttering and cleaning the pantry so I can find space to put the new chafing dishes and drink dispensers that I purchased for the grad party.
  • Flower girl dress alterations.
  • Fourth of July preparations. Mmmmm, Jell-O.
  • Ward Choir prep.

It’s the time of year for enjoying the weather, and thankfully, I’m solar-powered so the sunshine helps me get loads of stuff done. Happy North American Country Day that you celebrate, if that pertains to you, and I’ll talk to you again soon!

I Just Need to Post a Meal Plan

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A little bit of a late post for a “week ahead” post, but late is better than never. I’ve found that I’ve started to rely on these posts for remembering what I’ve planned to make for dinner in the upcoming week while I’m out and about.

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:

  • Monday: —
  • Tuesday: Leftovers
  • Wednesday: Chicken Tostada Salad
  • Thursday: Burgers, Marinated Cucumbers,
  • Friday: Mint & Cumin Chicken Satay, Rice, Steamed Sugar Snap Peas w/ black sesame seeds, Cucumber Salad with yogurt-dill sauce
  • Saturday: Chicken, Roasted Red Pepper & Green Bean Salad, Wheat Rolls
  • Sunday: Chicken Fajitas, Rice

Top priorities this week:

  • Graduation party preparations: Housecleaning, gardening, food prep, party prep

School lets out, finally, this week, so that’s nice. We have a lot of work to do around here, so this post is short. Have a great week!

It Begins: Graduation Week

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Big week ahead!  I’m starting to feel really worn out by everything, but I’m trying to ignore the feeling and just enjoy everything that’s going on.  Next week will be much less busy and I’ll make sure to take some time to rest and recover, but until then I just gotta keep going!

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:  Don’t judge me, it’s going to be an extremely busy week where I’ll only have about thirty minutes to throw dinners together.

  • Monday: Costco Chicken Alfredo & Mac ‘n Cheese, Green Goddess Salad, French Bread
  • Tuesday: Waffles, Eggs, Bacon
  • Wednesday: Pizza
  • Thursday: Hot Dogs
  • Friday: Salad Bar
  • Saturday: Citrus & Honey Chicken Breasts, Cilantro Rice, Broccoli, Strawberry & Spinach salad
  • Sunday: Chicken Tostada Salad, Fajita Veggies

Clothing

  • Everyone needs dresses hemmed for some reason
  • I cannot find Michael’s khakis, which he needs for graduation.  Where could they have possibly gone?  Super annoying.  I’ve looked in all the places they should be and in places they could be and nope.
  • Continually monitor the wrinkly-ness of Renaissance’s graduation robe after each thing she needs to wear it to this week and re-iron as needed.

Cleaning

I didn’t even get to the toaster last week, so…don’t hold your breath on any of the other things!

Caring

All eyes are on graduation this week, so everything that isn’t that has been rescheduled for dealing with next week. Oh! Michael and Nathaniel needs haircuts before graduation. They look like shaggy dogs right now.

Creativity

  • The graduation signature quilt blocks are halfway assembled and they may stay that way through the graduation party.  What’s done so far is enough for them to be serviceable at the party, so I’m going to spend my time on more pressing things and circle back to finishing these blocks when I have time, which may not be until after the party.
  • I need to start sewing up the bunting for the grad party decorations.  I just think it will add the nicest touch.
  • Other grad party decoration preparations will probably wait until next week when I have more time.

Gardening

  • I need to kill some slugs.  As predicted, they’re gobbling up the petunias.  If I could just remember to buy slug killer at the store, I could easily move this problem to a much more positive outcome.
  • Still need to get the Three Sisters planted, but we’ve got an atmospheric river pouring on us right now and the weather’s not set to clear up until graduation ceremony day and I will be beyond busy during that time.  Maybe I can get to this on the weekend?  Same to the front porch plantings and figuring out what the heck I want to do with the front yard plantings.

Celebrating

There’s so much going on this week—Baccalaureate ceremony, a choir concert, and graduation!  There’s still a lot that needs to be done for some of these things, but we should be OK.

Community

  • I can push most of this stuff to next week and I am actively trying to do so.  I did reach out to my ministering companions to try to set something up for next week and one of them has gotten back to me, so that’s a start.
  • With the release of the thirteen new hymns I have some work to do on the music front at church and I got a bit of a start on it yesterday with good outcomes.  Someone recommended that I join the “Music Callings Resources” Facebook group for good ideas, but so far it’s only seemed to be a big bunch of squabbling complainers who are personally offended that the Church didn’t pick their favorite song for release, and if it’s not that kind of person, it’s the super annoying “I know more about music than you do” people who enjoy flaunting their musical knowledge and elevated opinions.  I’m hoping it’s just a little agitated over there because of the announcement, but I’ll leave the group if, after my 30 day snooze wears off, it’s still a lot of the same a month from now.  What an absolute downer of an experience.

Top priorities this week:

  • Graduation and all of its associated events
  • Keep everyday life afloat in the midst of all the graduation stuff

Graduation is really here! I remember my mom friends being all “it’s going to go by so fast!” at the beginning of the school year, and while I think we kept so, so busy this year with all the fun that a senior year brings, it is weird that graduation is actually here. I think I’m still recovering from the epic prom dresses, so graduation feels like it popped up out of nowhere! I was telling Michael this morning that I’m so glad there’s all these graduation warm-up events before actual graduation because, based on how much I’m tearing up at these pre-graduation events, I don’t think I’d make it through the actual graduation ceremony with any sort of composure if I was just thrown into it without any of this other stuff happening first. Emily’s graduation was a big deal, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t really involved with her activities and peer group because we were still kind of new to the area, COVID was still impacting things a bit, and she wasn’t involved in as many things as Renaissance is. Graduation feels so much bigger when you actually know the kids who are graduating and have a lot of memories with them. My cup runneth over…see you on the other side of this week!