I Like Thursday #154

 Whew a wee bit late today.  Welcome to my 154th I Like Thursday post.  Thank you LeeAnna for encouraging us to find things that we like, love during the week to share with others to throw kindness, and uplift others.

I have been going into work at midnight and getting off by 8:30 am.  The trouble is, while most people are sleeping, I am working, and there are times I need to sleep during the day.  I always think of this poem by Robert Louis Stevenson:

Bed in Summer

By Robert Louis Stevenson

In winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candle-light.

In summer, quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or hear the grown-up people's feet

Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,

When all the sky is clear and blue,

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

The upside to the crazy schedule is that I can enjoy the beautiful weather we have had.  The beautiful weather translates to lovely growing things. 

 

Daffodils raising their sunny head and exploding throughout the flower beds!  (Those flower beds really need to be cleaned up!)

The promise of tulips.  

 

Confession time....after Jeff and the great aunt died, I fell off the rails in many ways.  I have been really working hard at cleaning up my house, choosing what to keep, what to donate(this is easy).  On top of that I have accumulated enough fabric to open up my own fabric store, either through purchases or what others have given me.  I am very slowly getting it folded, or cut up and organized.  

 

One such task is a garbage bag full of reproduction feedsack, 20's, 30's fabrics.  Many pieces had chunks taken out of them, looking at them I decided what I would make, and started cutting them into 2 1/2 inch by 20 inch strips.  I ended up with a pile of  2 1/2 inch strips which were shorter, some 2 inch strips, 1 1/2 inch strips and anything smaller was thrown into a string bin.  I swear that the bag is bottomless.  I will take out 4 or 5 pieces, starch and iron and place by my cutting table.  When I go to cut something while sewing I will cut up some of those pieces too.  The shoebox below is just the 2 1/2 inch by 20 inch strips.  It is running over already and I have much more to cut!

Near my cutting table I also have an apple box full of scraps from previous projects.  Those too are getting trimmed into a scrap system.  I think just cleaning up my scraps could be a full time job for years.  Sigh!😞

I have managed a wee bit of sewing.  

Little block 3.

These blocks are so fun to make and I enjoy choosing the fabrics.  

Last week I had 2 days off in a row.  Thursday was my "cheat day" from my normal healthy eating.  Bobbin and I ordered and picked up deep dish pizza.

Since I was off for 2 days in a row, and the weather was beautiful the grandsons wanted to have a fire.  Then the rain started.  Initially it was a light drizzle, but we stayed, and roasted marshmallows, and made s'mores, chatted, laughed and told stories--the kids planned it since it was my cheat day and they thought I needed a treat.  Then the rain started a wee bit heavier, yet we stayed.  Finally it was time to call it a night and we found this guy nearby us.  

There are random holes throughout the property.  Jeff used to tell me they were crawdad holes.  I would look at him and think, "Seriously there is no water for hundreds of feet."  But when it rains hard here they are.  Since our water table is so high I think they live just a foot or two below ground and when it rains hard they emerge. 

Once inside a doozy of a thunderstorm came through, dumping a lot of rain in a short time.

Here you can see just how much precipitation fell.  

Trying to keep up my healthy eating regime I have learned to change up recipes to make them healthier, but also another change is to make smaller portions.  I love my small ramekins that I purchased recently.  I could make up 4 from my recipe.  Perfect portion for a meal, and the rest could be put in the fridge for the next day or even frozen.

I am grateful that while I am sewing, cutting or working out many times I can listen to a book while doing those tasks, so at least I get some entertainment or things to make the think.

My book reads for the week.  

I had ready Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen a few years ago. I am surprised at how much literature is out there which Jane Austen plays a role, such as The Jane Austen Society, The Jane Austen Book Club, Pride, Prejudice, and Poison just to name a few.  A whole genre' of its own.  

I am sure most of us know the story of Emma who is always matchmaking.  

The next book I read was The Lady Vanished by Gretta Mulrooney.  It is the first book in the Tyrone Swift series.  Tyrone is a retire police officer that has opened his own detective agency.  He inherited a house from an aunt, and sublets part to an elderly gentleman.  Tyrone is hired to locate Florence Davenport's step mother that has gone missing. 

Many intriguing characters and some main characters that you thoroughly enjoy.

Finally my third book I read this past week was The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.  I will admit that initially I didn't like the character Nora Seed.  While in life there are circumstances that can be a wee bit out of our control, many are controlled by our choices.  Unfortunately Nora has had more than her share, and the final straw is the death of her cat Voltaire, that she thinks has been hit and killed by a car.  At that time Nora chooses to take her own life.  But instead of death she ends up in the Midnight Library with the librarian from her youth.  I like this write up:

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

While there are a plethora of regrets through our life, if we chose differently would it really make our life better?  

Finally I want to apologize, with my schedule, trying to eat healthy, and exercise I don't always get a chance to read and comment on everyone's blog weekly.  In fact many times my reading is spread out through several days, and sometimes I read, but do not comment, or I play catch up reading a couple of posts from a blogger at a time and commenting.  I do miss having the time to read blog hops.  :(

I used to laugh and say those that stay fit, at least many that I know, usually spend more time at the gym than they do at anything else during their free time.  While I do not go to the gym (yet) I will admit that yes; trying to get at least 10,000 steps a day in, do the joint workouts and other strengthening exercises in during my day takes out a huge chunk, almost 2 hours.  

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color and check out the other I Like Thursday posts.