The Humble Hanky


The weather in North Texas has been inexplicable this winter.  It has always been variable but it has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime this winter.  It was 70 on Saturday and freezing with ice and snow on Sunday.  I have been sick for over a week.  I thought it was seasonal allergies but I think I was wrong.  I believe I have either had an old fashioned cold or a sinus infection but whatever it is I feel bad enough to not want to leave the house but good enough to be bored out of my mind.  So, what is a sneezy, honking, coughing girl to do?  Well, I decided to sew.  And what did I decide to sew?  Hankies. 

The decision was fueled by a very raw, painful nose and by the plan to use up some fabric scraps that were big enough to do something with but not so big to constitute yardage.  Plus, I had a block of time that I could actually sit down and get involved in something but I didn't feel good enough to have to actually get involved in anything I had to THINK about.  So, being the person I am and always researching ways to be thrifty and green, I had been looking at making handkerchiefs and flannel cosmetic squares.  So, I fished around my fabric stash and found a bunch of flannel left over from making baby blankets, I cut it up, hemmed it down and this was my final product. 

9 flannel hankies

I then decided to take the scraps from making the hankies and make some cosmetic squares.  I don't wear a lot of makeup and all of it washes off with soap and water.  I also don't wear nail polish so I don't have to worry about removing that so these should work really nicely for applying the rosewater I use after I wash my face. 

cosmetic squares

I simply cut the leftover flannel into 2 inch squares, stacked two together and zigzagged around the edges. They are nice and soft and just the right size.

I was planning on using a lingerie bag to store the soiled items waiting for the laundry but I have decided to use a small, plastic trash can in the laundry room and just place the items in there.  It will be small so I can wash it out and spray it down from time to time.  Unless I am sick, which rarely happens, I don't use many tissues so I think this new hanky plan will work for me. I have been using them for a day now and I have to say I have kept up with the one I have in my hand/pocket quite well and am not having to go around and pick up stray tissues all over the floor.

I do have a lovely collection of vintage handkerchiefs that I pulled out before making these but somehow they just didn't look so comfy and besides, they are pretty and I didn't want to use them for actually blowing my nose.  Plus, I think my flannel ones are really absorbent and they feel really good.

So, that is what a half sick, bored person does on a ice and snow day in North Texas.  You might be asking yourself what will she do today?  Well, I am going to finish a set of placemats I started about four years ago and make some matching napkins for them.  I will post photos.

BTW -- in case you are wondering, yes, I did visit my little Dr. man and I did take an antibiotic and I now think the whole thing is breaking up and leaving me so hopefully I will be back to my old self completely in the next couple of days.

I Thought I Was Getting Lucky and then....

Yep, the cedar got me.  At least I think it is cedar fever and not the flu but I feel rotten.

Pollen off cedar bush outside San Antonio

It is a miserable time of the year for me and especially this year as I have been babysitting and the child has been sick since Tuesday with SOMETHING -- they are treating it like the flu even though her rapid flu test came back negative.  However, I don't feel fluish -- I feel allegy-ish -- itchy throat, eyes, coughing my head off but I was spiking a low grade fever last night so I don't know.  However, I am really tired of coughing now and nothing seems to help. So, I will probably be off to see the little dr. man tomorrow but, in the meantime, I am probably going to have to miss my grandson's 7th birthday party.  However, I would rather miss it than be in a roomful of kids and pick up who knows what from them.  I am not sure what shape my immune system is in after chemo treatments so I am trying to be sensible.   I have felt so good and had so much energy that I don't want to put myself in harms way.  There was a time when I wouldn't think of myself first but that only got me into trouble so now I have to put myself first. It isn't easy but for now that is what I have to do.

So, I am going to start some bread in a bit, if I can quit coughing long enough to do it and that will probably be it for the day.  Ugh -- don't like this -- no, not at all!

Booking Through Thursday


If there was one book you could make sure nobody ever read again … what would it be? And why?

It would be "Bramwell Valley" by John Harold McCoy.  It was the first book I read on my Nook -- I got it free and it is a good thing because it was just plain awful.  I don't usually say that about books but with this one, I just can't help it.

Sorry Mr. McCoy.

Granola

 I cook.  I haven't always enjoyed it and still don't enjoy a lot of cooking but I have a few things I do like to do.  Granola is one of them.

Six cups of regular rolled oats

2 tsp, cinnamon and vanilla, 1 tsp salt, diced walnuts to taste

2/3 cups local honey, 1/4 cups neutral oil

1 cup currants -- more or less to taste or you can use raisins

All mixed up and spread on cookie sheet to cook

Ok, you mix everything together except the currants (or raisins), spread in a thin layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for.....well, that is a tricky question.  I have tried timing it but it messes up on a regular basis so my advice would be to WATCH it.  It burns easily because of the honey so just watch it until you get it browned to your satisfaction.

After it cools add the currants or raisins and stir.  

Sometimes, when I can find it, I add a cup or two of shredded, unsweetened coconut before I bake it.  It adds a little texture but, being unsweetened, it doesn't make it overly sweet.

I store it in a glass jar and there you have it.

Busy work, busy work ----


The weather here in North Texas has been very Texas-like lately.  We have had several days of really gorgeous, springlike weather but as is usual in Texas, it changes quickly and so do our activities.  We have been getting out and about a lot during the good days which has been great but we have also been staying in a lot which requires having something to do so you just don't succumb to cabin fever.  I have been doing a lot of these.

They are very addicting and satisfies my need to do handwork and I can watch tv and not have to concentrate on it too much.  I am not sure what i am going to do with them when I am done but I will figure it out.  Since I am interested in making placemats and napkins lately, I might use some of them for that.  This is just a small sampling of what I have to work with -- trust me -- there are MANY!

I have also been doing some reading for my 2014 Goodreads Challenge.  Right now I am reading "French Women Don't Get Facelifts" by Mireille Guiliano.  I have just started it but it seems to embrace the same ideals of aging that I possess myself.  Trying to do it gracefully but perhaps this book will give me some pointers.

I am also reading "The Big House"  by George Howe Colt.  It is the story of the summer house owned by his family and a vanishing way of life.  I just started it but it is very good, so far, and takes me to a part of the country -- New England -- that I have never been to but always wanted to go to and gives a glimpse into the lives of people who spend their summers in houses in places they don't live -- an event less common today, I would suspect.

I have also been baking lots of bread.  I don't care for commercially made bread.  I don't know why, it is what I was raised on, but it just doesn't taste good to me anymore.  So, I have been baking bread and doing it the old fashioned way -- not in a bread machine -- because I prefer the form.  The bread machine bread doesn't make nice sandwiches and it also dries out much quicker. 

Venturing farther into the cooking realm, I have also been making my own granola.  Not rocket science, I know, but it is really good and the more I eat of this homemade food, the less I like the commercial, processed varieties.  I haven't calculated cost because that isn't really my emphasis in  making things myself, but I would imagine that it makes the products more expensive but at least we aren't throwing half the food away which is another calculated expense.  So, I have now taken to making my own breakfast cereal, my own bread, my own cookies and I discovered a lovely little cake in my very first Betty Crocker cookbook which was given to me as a wedding present.  It is called "Dinette Cake" and is made in a 9 inch cake pan.  It comes up in a nice layer and frosted it makes a great little dessert for us with only six portions (or eight if you cut it that way) which means a lot less for us to eat since neither one of us need it at all.

So, that is what I have been doing.  Sounds boring but it has been a lot of fun and I have been having a great time exploring new ways of doing things.

2014 Goodreads Challenge


I finished the second book for my 2014 Goodreads Challenge -- The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado.

I had seen the book in B&N many times and saw the ads for the movie but never picked the book up nor did I see the movie at Christmas.  I wanted to but time just never allowed.

I was reading a post at Brandon's Notepad and his review of the book and the movie made me want to read it right away.  So, while still reading the post, I  downloaded the book and started reading immediately.  It is a short read but it is very good, very satisfying.  Although it is a bit predictable, that didn't take away from its charm or its message.  It takes place in a small English village with a cast of colorful characters welcoming a new minister following the death of the rector that had always been there.  The young man is pleasant enough and catches the eye of the local young women but he has a hard and bitter heart .  The townsfolk are perplexed that he refused to believe in the legend of the candle -- a time honored belief of the people that really brings hope to them.  However, as the Christmas season progresses, the young rector has a change of heart and, at the end ..... well, maybe you should read it for yourself.

There are things about the book that are a bit vague such as what denomination does the young minister belong to.  I believe him to be Church of England.  The reason I say this is the term "rector".  In Methodist churches the ministers are called Brother (at least ours was when I was growing up) and in Lutheran Churches they are called Pastor.  Also, because this is set in England I think it is a safe assumption to make.  There is not a lot said about the village itself but you can picture a small, English village with a bridge going across a small creek or river at the edge of town.  You know it is small because of the population and their interaction with each other.  There is enough said, however, so that you can form a mental picture.  The author adequately makes you feel the cold of the winter and the warmth of the indoors as well as the light of the candle and the presence of the angel.

And then there is the sub-story of Abigail. 

This is a good little read -- a lot packed into a small book.  I don't generally re-read books but I think I will re-read this one around Christmas next year and I can't wait for the movie to come out next month.

I recommend.

Old School or Just Old


I am finally beginning to feel old.  Not old in that decrepit, old crone way -- just old enough to start comparing life today with the life of my youth.  It has come to my attention lately that, without much thought given to it, I have reverted back to doing things the way I used to when I was a young bride (no, we didn't have a pet dinosaur) or even back to the way my mother did things.

I noticed this the other day when I told my husband that if he wants to do any changing of things in the kitchen, he could do away with the microwave and have a double oven put in.  I find the microwave to be the most useless appliance around.  However, I could use two ovens.  I had two ovens in my old house and loved them but I barely had room for a microwave. 

I no longer have an electric can opener, haven't for years, nor do I have an electric skillet.  I cook on the stove and in the oven -- I have even taken to making toast in the oven like my mother used to -- you can make much more at a time.  When the pop-up kicks it, I am not sure I will replace it.

I don't care for commercial bread.  I just don't like the taste of it and Hubs rarely eats it when I buy it so we toss copious amounts of the stuff in the trash.  I don't even feed it to the birds because I am afraid they would just keel over from ingesting it.  So, I make bread, in a bread machine.  A noisy, big, clunky bread machine that is hard to store.  So, I was reading some blogs the other day and realized that making the bread like I used to when my children were little (I was a real Earth Mother back then) was just as easy and not nearly so noisy.  So, I sat about doing just that and it was wonderful.  The bread lasted longer than the bread machine bread and it looked normal.  So, this morning I quickly mixed up another batch and am enjoying the smell of the rising bread as I type this. 

I also have a real dislike of emptying the dishwasher.  So, I have taken to washing the dishes by hand.  There are only two of us so how long does it take to wash a couple of bowls in the morning?  It seems like I get jobs finished completely when doing things "old school" rather than with all the labor saving appliances we have now. 

I sweep the floors with a broom and use an old fashioned dust mop that I bought online -- I only vacuum occasionally.  I dust with a lambswool duster -- I don't use swiffers or anything of that manner.  My husband prefers to dust with the vacuum cleaner but I find that to be exhausting -- too much arm work.

I have discussed here in the past that I tend to line dry more of my clothes than I tumble dry.  I just prefer not to be a slave to the dryer.

I have tried all sorts of exercise equipment over the years to get myself in better shape but they have all been an epic fail.  Our latest acquisition of about seven years ago is a Tony Little Gazelle.  The concept is great -- low impact on knees that are aging quicker than the rest of me.  Uh, not so much.  It completely wrecks my knees and back so I decided that walking, on my feet, on the ground is the best exercise with a few pilates thrown in.  Pilates is fantastic -- did it in college in a dance class I took and it completely changed my body.  I finished the semester, quit doing the pilates and the old body snapped back just like a rubber band.  Note to self - don't quit doing the pilates.  Anyway, I digress.  So, I decided that a fitbit would be a great thing to have -- linked right up to the computer to download your activity through the day.  Again -- not so much.  It wouldn't sync to my computer since we don't use windows and back to the store it went. 

What I ended up with is this

and this

oh, and a pencil but I didn't think I needed to show you that.  So, I am counting my steps with the pedometer and writing down the information daily.  It is working just fine.  I am keeping track of my water intake, my steps, my calories expended, etc and it doesn't involve a computer.  I was surprised that yesterday I walked almost 9000 steps, about 2.63 miles -- just in my house doing my daily chores.  So....

So, anyway, am I just getting old or could it be possible that doing things "old school" is really easier?  I am thinking it is. 

 Musing Mondays -- January 13, 2014

 
 

Question: Are “best” and “favorite” the same thing? If someone asked you “What’s the best book you ever read?” would the answer be the same as for “What’s your favorite?” {source}



I would assume that by "best" you mean the best written technically and "favorite" is the one you like the most regardless of the quality of writing.  I think these terms are probably more interchangeable in younger readers than adults.  A child can read a book (do they even still do that?) and declare it to be the best book ever but an adult will be more discerning. 

How would I answer that question?  I have no idea.  I don't know that I can answer because I don't know that  I have a favorite book although I have many that stand out in my mind.  As far as "best", unless the writing is just completely horrendous (like you can't understand what is being said because of lousy syntax) I tend to not be particularly critical if I am "into" the story.  However, if the writing is really awful, there is no way I can get into the story if I have to work too hard at figuring out what is trying to be said. 

My Book Beginnings on Friday today is from "The Christmas Candle" by Max Lucado.

"Light exploded in the small house, making midnight seem as daylight.  The bearded candle and his wife popped up in bed.  Wh-wh-what is it?  she said, trembling."

These are the first two lines in the prologue.  Unfortunately these aren't the most  compelling lines but trust me, it gets really good quickly.  Hope to finish it this weekend.

Friday Finds is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading.  The premise of this exercise is to post about books you found this week to add to your TBR list.


I was reading a blog that I frequent, Brandon's Notepad, and the author was writing about "The Christmas Candle" by Max Lucado.  I decided, on the strength of the blog post, to read the book so I downloaded the book to my nook immediately and began reading it.  It isn't a long book so I am sure it won't take long to read it and I am already hooked.

While doing some genealogy research recently I happened across a library card catalog card on Ancestry.com that made reference to a book in which one of my ancestors was mentioned.  It is actually a compilation of books of papers involving the Indians in Texas.  The title of the collection of books is "The Indian Papers of Texas and the Southeast".  I did a little research and found these books available on Amazon for the tidy sum of about $85.  I am still thinking if I want to purchase these books or see if the library has them but, at any rate, I would like to read them and they are on my TBR list.

Fitbit -- Not

Ok, I caved and bought a fitbit.  However, and I should have known, it won't work with our computer operating system.  No way.  Doesn't work.  So...back it goes to the store and I guess I will just try a regular pedometer.  Not as much fun, for sure.  Blah.