Thursday, January 12, 2017

Think Write Thursday| You are invited . . .

Carole and Kat's prompt for today was to invite 3 people to a dinner party either alive or dead.  I agree with Carole that the topic itself is not tough, but narrowing it down might be the hard part.  I loved Mary's posted about past family dinners, and I totally cringed at seeing my big hair and glasses.- I did love the 80s!   I have to say my food palette, hair and style of dress have certainly matured since that photo was taken.  Anyway, it didn't really take me long to come up with my 3 people.  I'd invite PJ, cause I'd want to be able to talk to him one more time [I miss him terribly], Elizabeth I, and the apostle Paul.  All three of these individuals were very passionate --PJ [music], Elizabeth I [her country and who she was], and Paul [his faith].  I've seen and studied a lot of paintings about the road to Damascus and I'd love to hear about that experience.  Elizabeth I was one of my favorite monarchs to study in college, and I think she's just so cool.  Of course, I'd let Andrew decide the menu and cook the meal.  I'd be happy to help, and hopefully it would be cooked in a kitchen like the one we had in our last house [in the photo] where we could be together and enjoy a nice red wine while Andrew cooks.  This prompt also reminds me that I need to plan a family meal soon!

Monday, January 9, 2017

Weekend Rewind| ice and an excursion

In anticipation of a 4 day weekend [Monday being the day my Mom is having hand/finger surgery] I brought home a bunch of work in order to get caught up and not get behind.  I'm glad I did as my plans for Friday to visit the High Museum's exhibit of Eric Carle's work didn't play out.  I was going to do the museum on my own, but with the changing weather predictions I decided it was best to stay where I was to avoid being "stuck" in Atlanta.  I'm glad I did too!  I ventured out Friday morning only to buy propane for our camp stove in the event we lost power.  We didn't thank goodness as that would have also meant a loss of heat.  I got Sophie out for a good long walk knowing whatever the weather brought it would definitely bring ice, and I didn't want to deal with that and a very strong dog who doesn't mind wintery weather at all!  Sure enough around 1:30 the rain started.

This was my view for about 4.5 hours, and I got soooo much accomplished.  Several things required reading and editing and that's hard to do at work when you are constantly interrupted.



Steve made it home from the city Friday evening with no problems, but had to be out the door at 5 am on Saturday to get to headquarters where the JOC was set up [Joint Operations Center-gotta love government acronyms, right].  Thankfully there were no issues with his drive, and Sophie and I went back to bed until 7:30!  I never sleep that late unless I don't get to bed before 1am.  The weather I woke up to was ice and a smattering of snow.  Since there was no snow to photograph I took pictures of some of the shrubbery with ice, so pretty, but not fun at all.  Sophie got a short walk and I went to the fitness center.  I used the morning to clean the apartment and do laundry.  It felt good to have everything in order.  Much later in the day Sophie and I ventured out for a longer walk to check out the roads and sidewalks which seemed pretty clear except in a few places where the sun didn't melt anything.




Sunday morning included another trip to the fitness center, and a long walk for the d-o-g.  I decided that to venture to the High since it was at least sunny, but still  very cold, and I'm glad I did.  It's a wonderful albeit a small exhibit, but I learned so much about Eric Carle.  I really need to dig out the boy's copy and the little stuffed caterpillar that came with the book.  I took our rather pitiful, but sometimes useful, train into Atlanta.  While exiting the station I looked up to see this-it was hanging down a good 7-8 inches.

I was so nice being able to drive 15 minutes from our apartment and let someone else drive the rest of the way!  I only had to wait a couple minutes for the train on both ends of my travels which is great because the station at the beginning is an open air train stop!



Everyone needs a random photo on their blog right!  Here's my new ride [2015 Audi A3 Cabriolet Quattro which give me all wheel drive!] -and if the weather predictions are correct I might actually be able to put the top down later in the week-gotta love living in the south!  This is the first time I could get a photo of the whole car.  I am loving it too.


Afterwards there was a required stop at the grocery store and then home for football.  While I'm thrilled that the Falcons have done so well, and are going to the playoffs I'm a bit apprehensive of the teams we will/could be facing in order to go all the way.  It can get pretty dirty at this point in the season.  I don't know if I can watch or not!  Next weekend will include the Falcons-Seattle game on Saturday and then hopefully [weather not being an issue] we'll make a trip to Clemson to see Andrew on Sunday.  It was so hot in August when he moved up there we really couldn't walk around campus, so we're hoping to see a bit more this time.  It'll be another long weekend that I hope will be filled with more knitting and sewing-we'll see.  Hope everyone that got tons of snow are able to return to normal and at least got to throw a snow ball or two!




Sunday, January 1, 2017

2017-Hello and Welcome

2017 is here-ready or not!  The decorations are packed away, but I'm not sure what we'll do with the tree.  Our complex has posted a notice to NOT put them in the compactor.  I'm glad I was able to get this done today, and I'll have all day Monday to get some knitting and other projects completed.

Edited to add a link Carole and Kat's prompt since I just posted on the topic! I'm not sure what is in store for this new year, but I know there are things I'd like to accomplish.  I'm not going to call them resolutions, but simply goals and objectives [gives me something to focus on].

I hope to . . .
   eat better-I've let my eating habits slip so clean eating will be my mantra this year [less white carbs, more veggies, and leaner protein.  Along with this I want to amp up my work out.  I feel like I'm sorta spinning my wheels and not really improving my strength or muscle tone.  I plan to incorporate more resistance and a higher level of cardio training.

   knit down my stash- I know I've said this before, but I really need to do this, so I'll probably be absent from Ravelry as I don't really need anymore inspiration between my current yarn stash and pattern library.

  de-stash my fabric.  I need to get rid of the fabric I've just collected, and only focus on one project at a time.  I have several cuts that are fabrics I like, but would require me to buy more fabric in order to complete a project.  I hope to sell a "bundle" of fabric on Craig's list or on Let-go.  Going forward I need to be more selective with my purchases.  I don't have the space or time to "save" fabric for that special future project.

  de-clutter in general.  Despite the moves we still have stuff we need to consider letting go, and I hope to have this accomplished early in 2017.

 find a church-it is still difficult for me to attend services-I don't want to go to church and be sad but that's where I'm at right now, so I will be working and praying on this one.

 journaling-I've never been much of a journal writer, as  I found I was just writing the same thing over and over, so maybe if I only commit to once or twice a week I'll have "more" to say.  What got me to thinking about this was that I almost tossed my Get to Work Book for 2016, but realized that it really told the story of my year.  3 moves- my Mom's, my office, myself and Steve, along with family trips, get togethers, birthdays, gradations, etc.  I think I'll hang onto it for a while, and maybe even compare it to 2017 this time next year.  Above all else,  I hope for peace and good health to all my family and friends.  It's a new year let's make the most of it