Good morning, my friends. It's been a long while since Friday meant the end of the work week to me. It's been nearly 20 years since I retired. Yes, I retired young. It happens when you're a social worker working with people who have been traumatized. I've whined all week about how busy the past several days have been, but it ends with dinner guests tonight.
It isn't the fault of the dinner guests that I've been too busy. It's my own darned fault for putting virtually everything off until after our camping trip the week before. And before you go thinking I'm some kind of clean freak, I can assure you that I am not. Thus, I've spent the week trying to hurry up and make the place presentable for our guests. Not to mention cooking. And gardening. And canning. Yes, it all adds up to a lot of work. Anyway...we're nearly done. One casualty of all this has been the shoulder I broke 2-1/2 years ago. It's been killing me. When I went to bed last night, it was hurting from shoulder to elbow. I blame too much vacuuming and too much hoeing in too short a period of time. It's the "too much" problem. Too much of everything.
Okay, but enough whining. Let's pause to smell the flowers. Deep breath in....now let it out. Regarding echinacea, did you know that several laboratory and animal studies suggest that echinacea contains active substances that boost immune function, relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and have hormonal, antiviral, and antioxidant effects. Right now, I'm going to take advantage of its pain relieving and inflammation reduction properties. Do you think just looking at pictures will do the trick?
Maybe not, but the bees seem fairly calm when they're around it.
The Fuzzy Wuzzy dahlia has opened all the way.
And the second flower is opening on Checkers.
Insert here a whole bunch of stuff I did yesterday, including spending many hours making a cheesecake that was doomed to failure. Everything was going along fine until the final step of adding a glaze. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I suspect it was not using the full amount of cornstarch required, or else not cooking it long enough. In any case, it wouldn't set up, and so my cheesecake was topped with a watery runny lemon syrup. Sigh. I was distracted by a text conversation I was having with my son, Matthew, and I think that caused me to mess up. So if anyone asks, be sure and blame it on Matthew.
Oh well. These a problems are easily solved with dinner out and a trip to the bakery section of our local megamart. Carrot cake was our choice. And I really like carrot cake, so it's all good.
While I was considering the possibility of failure on my cheesecake, I distracted myself with some sewing. I finished up Tiny House #27. This one took longer than any of the others, I think.
And there was just enough time left in the day to finish the second row of Vintage Linen blocks. There is one row to go, and I should be able to finish this part today.
After that, I'm going to need to decide how to finish it off. I'll probably add two narrow borders, but I've yet to decide on any fabrics for that. I was hoping to use some of those purples from my stash, but maybe not. It might require a trip to the local quilt shop. (Wouldn't that be just terrible?)
Okay, so most everything is done. Already this morning, I spatchcocked two chickens and dunked them in some marinade. (By the way, when did we start using the term "spatchcock" for "butterflying"? I tried Googling this, but my curiosity was not satisfied by the answers I found.) Mike will smoke and roast them on his Traeger grill. I have just a few small things to finish getting ready for our guests, and then I'll have plenty of time for sewing.
Still on my to-do list is Tiny House #28...this one:
It has far fewer sections than the previous tiny house, and so it shouldn't take so long.
The kitties are channeling me just now. After guarding the house all night, they need their morning naps. In an hour or so, they'll be yapping at the door to go out.
Right now, I'm heading for my slow-stitching. The weekend is coming, and things will slow down considerably at this end. I hope you have a relaxing weekend planned for yourself. Stay cool, everybody. There's a lot of hot weather out there. Don't forget to drink plenty of water.
8 comments:
Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. ~ Jules Renard
I completely understand and can relate to the flurry of activity leading up to "company coming"! I always chastise myself and wonder WHY did I put off the housekeeping chores for so long. Then, I scramble, like you are doing, cooking, cleaning, gardening, bedmaking etc. with little time for the fun things in life, like quilting! :) A dear aunt of mine used to say, "A well-kempt house is the sign of a misspent life", so I recite that mantra as I chain piece, surrounded by dirt, fur, a farmer tracking in the door, etc.
I hope your dinner party goes well and you can get back to what you really love!
Kitty naps are very critical. I'm sure your dinner with guests will be awesome and enjoyable. We have the whole family here this weekend. Both sons-in-law have already arrived and then left for the golf tournament they are all playing in with my hubbie. One daughter and their 2 kids are coming tonight after she gets off work. The other daughter will come with their 3 kids in the morning. That all means extra cooking around here. The main cleaning I've had to do is remove all of the Quilts of Valor "stuff" on the one bed - finished quilts, finished tops, and parts for quilts piled high.
My kitty stays in so he doesn’t realize how hot it is here in NC. But there’s a stray that has taken up with me and my neighbor that it’s too hot, so he has learned that he can go in their house to cool off, then comes out late evening when I call him to dinner. My neighbor is known as the cat lady because she has 6 cats that go out in day and sleeps in at night. Even though I had a cat, my neighbors know me as dog lady because they see me walking my 3 doxies.
Hope you have a good evening with your guests.
Your Vintage Linen blocks are among my favorites for sure--so pretty!!
Enjoy your dinner guests--just think --everything will be "spic and span" even after'))) That's what we always say...hugs, Julierose
Hope you enjoy your company - so sorry about the cheesecake though (although I'm sure you can figure a way to eat it anyway because, after all...cheesecake).
Those purple cone flowers are so pretty. Sorry about the cheescake failure. Hopefully the rest of the dinner went well. Hope you get in lots of stitching time this week.
There is no such thing as cheesecake failure. OMG, it sounds delicious. Lemony syrup...swoon. Enjoy your guests and the carrot cake. I, too have a shoulder injury (36 years ago) that flares up when I do too much. My go to is Arnicare gel. I'll give you a laugh, I have Smitty's twin brother from another mother who has taken over our new puppy's bed (and most of her chewy toys) and puppy is trying her hardest to pull said bed with the cat on it across the floor. He's just chilling and taking a ride. Pup is barking, cat is trying to sleep.
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