by Kat | May 15, 2018 | General, In This Moment
It seems with blogging daily I am telling you everything that is going on in my life. Close, but not really. A good bit of time has passed since my last Currently post, and Tuesday’s being an inordinately challenging blog post day, I figure it might be time for some more current and pressing things in my life right now, right?
Watching: I recently binged the London Spy on Netflix. Wow. It was good and had crazy twists and turns. I highly recommend. I am also watching Season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale as they drop each week on Wednesday, also so good! And, The American’s is winding down to the series finale. So, lots of mystery and wtf moments in the watching department!
Experiencing: Incredible relief! I had a little sit down about my volunteer activities and it worked out better than I thought it might! Yes, I am still doing some volunteering, but it now feels more like volunteering and less like free work! This is a very good reminder to me that setting boundaries in all things are a best practice.
Planning: Lots of things (some of which I shared yesterday) but really… MEALS! I have somehow strayed from healthy eating. Okay, that makes it seem like I was not at all responsible for what I eat and drink, lol. The fact is I have gained some weight back and it is a good reminder that being healthy is a lifestyle, not a temporary fix. So, we have been spending the month of May focusing on getting back to that lifestyle. It has been a challenge, but I think we are turning the corner. I am not beating myself up over this lapse, but rather using it as a motivational point.
Loving: This post from IG that January One shared on Sunday. It struck a cord with me and was just what I needed to see.
Repurposing: I have discovered that Lotta Jandottor’s Esme Top with cap sleeves (which needs no binding around the sleeves) fits PERFECTLY in a repurposed 100 Acts of Sewing Dress No. 2. I will be sewing up a few more tops in the next week or so and it makes me feel so good that these dresses are not going to waste!
Contemplating: Planting!! Specifically, tomato and pepper varieties and pondering beans with the hopes that Operation Keep Bunnies Out does do just that.
And, there you have a list of what’s current in my world right now! What about you?
by Kat | Jan 16, 2018 | General, In This Moment
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver
This quote is the January inspiration from The Balanced Life and it is speaking volumes to me each day. I have included it in my morning mediation and it has been a wonderful help in homing in on that which improves my one “wild and precious life”!
This year, I have not made “resolutions” nor have I set any “intentions”. I did not spend time thinking about any little words to choose for the year. But, rather this year I have decided to move forward with those things that worked well last year with hopes of improving them even more this year. Those things include healthy food and activity, inspiring creativity in myself and others, and giving more – especially my time.
So, with these things in mind, here is my “right now”:
Queueing Up: as many healthy Instant Pot recipes that I can for these cold winter days. I have started a board on Pinterest, and last night began day one of our “Instant Pot” suppers. I am always wowed by how easy the Instant Pot is, seriously. In less than 30 minutes start to finish dinner was ready! I would like to get to the point where I don’t need a “recipe” and feel comfortable using the Instant Pot for a variety of meals. Vicki shared a link yesterday, and I will be making it later this week. I will let you know what I think! Last nights supper was super easy: Boneless pork loin chops, frozen diced red peppers from last summer, 1 diced onion, a bit of salt and pepper, half a cup of water and half a jar of salsa. I served this on warm cannellini beans and topped with a diced jalapeno. It was so good, and the pork chops were so tender and moist!
Stitching: For a much longer time each day. I have already filled about half of my fabric and I am really happy with how Winter is progressing. I am using the books Margene sent to me to help me learn new stitch patterns and I have been enjoying practicing the new things I am learning over the course of several days. I have also been planning how to put together last years stitching, and I think I am ready to begin that process! Then I just need to figure out what I want to use for backing!
Procrastinating: Yes, this is still a problem in my life, but I am working on it! I want to participate in Beth’s Weave Along, but I have yet to wind my warp. I am procrastinating because the thoughts of warping the loom are more than a bit daunting. I am not sure I remember exactly how to do it. However, I have queued up a Craftsy class with hopes that it will jog my memory and spur me to get this done!
Selecting: Yarn from my stash to knit Kirsten Kapur’s mystery socks in February. I am also wondering why I can manage to finish mystery socks, but non-mystery socks remain in the unfinished category. Perhaps, non-mystery socks need to go in the procrastinating category! Ha!
Moving: Several times a week I have been doing this HIIT workout that Robin sent out; it is HARD but I feel so good when I am done! This has been super helpful in these bitterly cold days when getting outside at all is a challenge!
There you have my life currently, what are you up to?
P.S. A big thanks to Gale for her photo inspiration!
by Kat | Nov 14, 2017 | General
The mind moves in the direction of our current dominant thoughts. Earl Nightingale
Finishing: I am closing in on the finish of the body of my Rusty. My goal for today is to finish these last few rows and get my crochet steeks done so that I can cut it apart tonight at knitting, per request. Apparently, no one there has ever steeked before, so I will attempt to alleviate some of the fears about doing it!
Watching…very little recently. But, I do have some catch up to do from Sunday night’s PBS line up! So in order to assure that I get my finishing gets done, I will be queueing up Poldark and The Durrell’s shortly. I also have been watching The Collection which is a very interesting series from Amazon that my local PBS station is running.
Reflecting: I just spent seven days with Michelle GD immersed in gratitude – there were wonderful messages and much to think about. This year was especially wonderful with some new ways to consider gratitude in my life.
Drinking: Lots of Old Fashioned cocktails! My favorite was a pumpkin-spiced Old Fashioned and I was asked for the recipe, so here you go! This one is really thanks to Steve because he created the pumpkin spice ingredient for some beer he is brewing. He did not use all the liquid, and so a new Old Fashioned was born.
Pumpkin-Spiced Old Fashioned:
- 4 ounces Crown Royal Black Label
- 1-ounce simple syrup
- 1 tsp. pumpkin spiced vodka **
-
Pour all ingredients over ice and stir well to chill. Pour over ice and garnish with a flamed zest of an orange. Enjoy!
** Pumpkin Spiced “syrup”: 6 ounces neutral spirit (he used Skyy Vodka) and 2 Tbsp. Organic Pumpkin Pie Spice (we got this at Whole Paycheck Foods but it was the cheapest and organic) Do no refrigerate and shake daily for at least 7 days. You can strain if you want, but it was not necessary at all.
There you have what is dominating my thoughts these days. What about you?
by Kat | Aug 22, 2017 | General, In This Moment
There is so much going on every day and not all of it good. So, every day I try very hard to have something good to focus on, I thought I’d share a bit of that with you!
Watching: The eclipse! Even though in Pittsburgh we only got a partial eclipse – it was spectacular even with some cloud cover. The changes to the light were stunning. You will be happy to know that our household listened to the directions of not looking at the sun to prevent retinal damage. This was not the case for everyone… Perhaps this should be a test for competency? And, as for the digital watching: Game of Thrones (of course!) and Endeavor! I also watched the finale of Broadchurch and honestly, I was a little disappointed. But, I won’t say any more than that for all those who have yet to watch it.
Stitching: Every single day and I am really pleased with how August is unfolding. Really pleased! I also went and got some button craft thread and my hope is that I will soon turn this pile of tee shirts into my first AC garment.
Reading: and listening like a maniac as I chase down my cover all! I am just 2 squares away and have about 18 hours of listening to do. I am eager to get them done because Beach Music by Pat Conroy just came off hold for me at the library! I am also reading the Essays of E.B. White on my Kindle and I have both books by Laurie Colwin (Home Cooking and More Home Cooking). I am almost done with Home Cooking – I should have it completed this week. This has really been the most spectacular summer for reading. Ever.
Picking: Tomatoes…so many tomatoes. That picture above is from this morning! I know, you are all probably sick of hearing about tomatoes, but this year, the volume of large tomatoes has been really quite spectacular. In past years, I have been happy with the dozen we have picked, but this year has had a bumper crop with no signs of production slowing down! Also, raspberries… I picked enough again this morning to make a batch of jam. I know these are such awful problems to have. Spending time in my garden is really the best time, I would not trade it for anything – even with the bunnies decimating our beans! There should be a “not picking” category perhaps, because outside of the handful of zucchini we picked at the beginning of the season, it has not been a good year for them at all. We have picked a sum total of zero since then and it does not look like that will change. I am not sure why they are having such a bad year, but my neighbor is not having any success with his squash plants this year either.
Eating: Tomatoes from my garden! Every.single.day! And, for those things we aren’t growing: sweet corn, peaches, and an incredible variety of peppers! August is the month where I am quite certain I could become a vegetarian.
Looking forward to: Our trip to Michigan! We finalized the dates and have our Airbnb reservation all set. It is the one thing that is really giving me something to look forward to! Why? Because…
Dreading: The end of August. The arrival of Labor Day. The return of dark mornings. Having to turn lights on at night earlier. This summer I have really tried to not “wish ahead” but rather spend more time in the moment enjoying. This has been an eye-opening practice – I am much happier with each day and I am worrying less about tomorrow, or next month, or next year. September, you can just wait your turn – there is lots of August left!
Celebrating: Sherman’s 5th Birthday on Saturday! Every day I am so incredibly thankful for him. He is a bright spot in our day.
That is a slice of what is good in my life right now; how about you? What’s good in your life?
by Kat | May 23, 2017 | General, In This Moment
Reading: After being on the wait list for eons at the library for the second Tana French book, I got the loveliest email late yesterday that it is now available. So, I downloaded it this morning and will start reading it today! I also was stunned to get an email this morning that a book suggestion from Mary for my Book Bingo list came in also. Gah! I have not downloaded it yet… But I did add a few more books to my summer book bingo list. I basically have mapped out my summer reading and I could not be happier. I shared Book Bingo with some friends at church on Sunday and I was thrilled to get an email yesterday filled with excitement about book choices!
Watching: Not much, really. I finally caught up with Call the Midwife and Homefires on PBS. There are things I want to watch, but have no burning desire to sit down and watch them. I had been an avid watcher of The Leftovers on HBO, but this final season has been a huge disappointment. So much so, I am not certain I will finish watching it. Perhaps a plan of 60 minutes in the morning riding the stationary bike and watching something on Netflix or Amazon Prime will accomplish two things at once? Stay tuned!
Listening: My audible book library is chocked full of good things to listen to and all of them are on my summer reading list. I am slowing down on Moby Dick to finish it on Memorial Weekend (and thus giving me my first square!)
Knitting: It seems like every year about this time, Knitting Ennui strikes. I am restless and not much interested in any of the projects I have going. It is indeed a sad state of affairs. However, last night I might have found the cure…I got some yarn to sample from Love Knitting – a lovely cotton from Sweden “MillaMia” and they sent three colors. Hmmm, a method to their madness? I have never knit any creatures so I was unsure how much I would like it. But, I cast on Alex the Mouse to test out the yarn and the pattern last night. So far, so good! I also have finally (almost) finished half of a pair of socks for Steve. I will be finalizing my summer knitting projects today and will share my list tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Eating: All the asparagus, really – all of it! Janoski’s shared yesterday that this is about the end of it. Will there be more next week? I do not know, but they can keep these amazing strawberries coming, please! They also had the most gorgeous Swiss Chard yesterday. The eating is so good in my neighborhood right now!
Loving: So many things!
- To start out – the weather, although we had a couple of days in the 90’s, for the most part it has been the perfect spring.
- Next up, the variety in my garden this year – we have 10 different varieties of tomatoes, 3 varieties of peppers, beans, some kind of squash (thanks to no plant labeling but they are either zucchini or summer squash) cucumbers (thanks to a happy accident at the greenhouse) and we added in a new variety of rhubarb this year! In the perennial beds, we added in some new plants this year as well; all of the deer resistant variety. So far, so good! Although the bunnies are making quick work of the cone flowers and they also love the leaves on the lilies! All this gardening makes me so happy!
- Last, but certainly not least: my stitching! I could not be happier than I am in the few moments I spend each day stitching. I have also been watching Vicki and Kym stitch such beautiful Alabama Chanin garments. I am absolutely intrigued. Perhaps over the summer I will stitch up one of these and see how it turns out and I bet Steve has an old tee shirt I can use!
And, finally: Selling LipSense… and loving it. If there is something you’d like, message me and I will be glad to help you! (Also, I have been using their skin care for over a month now and if you want to hear about the changes it has made, I would be thrilled to share with you!)
That is what is currently my world. What’s in your world right now?
