The rhythm of winter....

We are having winter full force..   I was worried about DH  getting home yesterday  as he had to take a group on the eagle watching cruise and it has snowed heavily nonstop all day. There has been a big winter road hazard alert posted. I have an anxiety attack when he is out on the road in this kind of weather.

 

But when suffering an anxiety attack I head for the kitchen....Last fall I was searching for recipes to use my bountiful supply of spaghetti squash from the garden.  I found a recipe for a frittata with spaghetti squash.  If you never have made a frittata, it is just a quiche without a crust... I actually think "frittata" translates to "clean out the refrigerator" So if you have eggs you can add anything...  This one has ham from Christmas morning, roasted red peppers, kale, goat cheese and 2 cups of cooked spaghetti squash..  Also started  a big batch of Italian meat sauce in  the slow cooker, baked a huge spaghetti squash ( partly for the chickens and partly to use in the ham and veggie frittata tonite) and tomorrow we will have the meat sauce on some of the squash and freeze the rest of the sauce. 

 

On Christmas morning I fixed Danish ableskivers for breakfast (a first for me)... a very light puffy pancakes which called for buttermilk.  I served them with blackberries and whipped cream.  Now I have 1/2 quart of buttermilk left over.  Found two buttermilk scone recipes which I will do - one lemon and one cranberry. I just hate throwing anything out so it is always a challenge to use up leftover bits -  a crazy quilter to the core.

Morris is all excited because there is a young coyote  in the barn...catching lots of mice I'm sure... Every time I go out Morris stands at the big  door of the barn and barks like crazy but doesn't try to corner it.  I can see it but not well enough to ascertain its age  or condition.  A few times over the years we have had an old coyote crawl into the wood shed or barn to die but this one seems pretty agile.   Keeping chickens in their coop while we have snow...they make an easy target against the white.    

So now it is full blown winter I have a big fire going and am doing the finish work on Madi's wedding guest book. Luckily we made our Christmas  trip to Seattle just before this storm but even still I held my breath over the pass both ways.  We arrived home safely but saw it all - snow, freezing rain, compact snow and ice, and flying slush from trucks.   We came across in the morning and by afternoon chains were required.  Won't see   that part of the  family until March now so glad we had a fun visit. 

 

 On the way over the left lens of my glasses fell out I saw it hit the console and disappear.  I looked as well as everyone and it could not be found so I was practically blind as that was my only sighted eye.  The youngest granddaughter appointed herself "grandma walker" and guided me everywhere.  I usually travel with an extra pair but forgot them.  As long as I am home with  heat and power I really love winter.. there is a whole other rhythm to my life.  In another couple weeks I'll start planning  my garden.... just about the time the poinsettias have wilted and the amaryllis in the kitchen have finished.

A Welcome Visit

 One of my Alaskan granddaughters, Leigha, came for a short visit and left today.. As a teenager she decided she wanted to be a geriatric nurse and has never wavered from that goal.  After 10 years of working and putting herself through nursing school, she will graduate this April.  I am so proud of her.

Because of unusual circumstances she and her brother  spent most of their early years with us and we became especially close.. .










But even though she is now a grown woman, educated and beautiful, every time I look at her I see her like this in my heart...my cheerful loving sweetheart.











She had an older brother, Aaron, (on the right). 

This was the last time we were all together and just before I rode my bike off the mountain.
I wish he could have been here this week also.





Even though he has grown into my ginger-haired gentle giant, every time I look at him now this is how I see him in my heart.

There is something so special about grandchildren...

Buttons out of control

I love to paint in miniature on buttons.  It is something I can do under my super magnifying lamp and I can get totally absorbed in doing it. Its relaxing and satisfying and I wanted to get back into doing it regularly.

  But I had barely painted for over a year and lost control of the whole process. Selling on Etsy really stretches my limits to stay disciplined and organized.

Just keeping track of an inventory of items as small as buttons was a challenge from the very
beginning.  I tried sectioned storage boxes, flat trays, plastic bags and they all left me frustrated.  But I finally found a workable solution.

This was a hanging earring organizer and it has worked really well. I can get 10-15 buttons into each pocket and find them easily.  The buttons don't get to this stage until they are posted on Etsy so you can see that I had very little inventory on line...pitiable little!
On the back side of this I have a hanging  shoe organizer with all the mailing supplies.

It's not that I didn't  have buttons...  I had little trays of  them everywhere in every stage if completion. Many were just drawn in pencil and others were partially completed.  I usually work in batches of five and would start a batch and get side tracked and start another batch.  I had literally stacks of trays of incomplete buttons.

Then I had trays of completed buttons just waiting to be put on Etsy which requires scanning, formatting, resizing, and the Esty red tape... all very time consuming.  They also need signing, shanks attached, put in tiny plastic bags and inventoried. 

Often I find a tray at some stage of this process and I can't remember just where or what I was doing with them.  Now I try to remember to leave a sticky note on the tray to help me.

Then there are all the odd piles that materialize while I am sleeping or in the shower.  There's always odd buttons on my desk and I can never remember how or why they are there.






And another pile on the upper left of  my painting

table..these are usually there because I am unhappy with some little detail and want to fix it... But I seldom remember what it was I was unhappy with by the time I get around to looking at the buttons.

I usually work in two or three batches at a time to use the same paint palette.  Here is a current batch of hummingbird in process.  It take about 5-7 days to finish a batch from sketching to sealing.

Then I have a pile in a basket from the last time I sold at a booth and they are still on cards.  I need to get them off and online.

I figured if I did nothing else for an entire week I could get it all under control again.  Well I did it for an entire week and now I am just finished the second week and realize that with luck and perseverance  I will be lucky to be able to accomplish this goal by the end of the year. 

I know you have noticed how often I admit I don't remember... I recently stocked up on sticky notes at the dollar store and am using them all the time now.  I have added a lot of buttons to the Etsy but have many more to go..  After the holidays stop by the shop and take a look. https://www.etsy.com/shop/olderrose  Once I get things back in order I can start painting valentine and spring motifs...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND FEED THE BIRDS!!

Projects everywhere

 

Projects everywhere... and making progress on all fronts.  I did finish the vine part of one side of the spider bag and it is getting a good stretch. I used a silk ribbon back stitch and wrapped it with more silk ribbons in different shades of green..

 Now ready for adding webs... fun part.




Making the jewelry is helping to fill the time I can't stitch and it feels good using all the stash I had accumulate over the years for "some day"  Well now is the "some day"  It starts with just adding bits and pieces to a pile on the table.  This time I especially wanted to use an old green brooch with sirens on it.  When the pile gets large enough I start fussing with it.  In this pile are 4 old necklaces, some filigree findings, a bracelet and assorted beads.

I have several of these forms that work great for draping bits and pieces to make final decisions.  I am close to actually starting to disassemble parts and reassemble them for a new life.

I had lost complete control of the Etsy button site and have finally tackled it.  What a mess of half-finished buttons, expired buttons, buttons to be carded and posted, etc. ..  It didn't help that Etsy made a lot of changes in the site.  Hope to finish that project next week and will feel redeemed as it has been nagging at me for literally months.

And somehow I have lost my phone... On a positive note I had some leftover duck in the freezer and am inspired to use it in some puff pastry that needs to be used.  Should go well with braised red cabbage and roasted beets...

Also today finishing up a secret project for granddaughter  Madi's wedding reception... can't photo it yet.