Mushroom soup and the bottom line.

Last night, after pushing myself out the door to walk with Roy, I had to think about dinner.

DH and I take turns deciding on, and cooking, dinner.

It seems to work for us.

It was my turn, but my head was making it hard to concentrate.

DH was understanding, and said he would bring home subs for him and my mother.

I made cream of mushroom soup.

But I didn't know where my recipe was, and I had read somewhere that adding dried mushrooms to 

regular mushrooms really made a huge difference.

So I didn't bother with a recipe, instead, I winged it.

Believe me, this was one time when it worked out.

There is not a drop of soup left.  I can't believe it.

I posted the 'wing it' recipe on the Recipe tab at the top of the page.

I made myself a grilled cheese with guacamole.  The picture is not so great,

but the sandwich was.

Today was a couple of notches better than the last four days.  I hate that I categorize my days with a number, but really, that's the least of it.

Smoky, aka Lucy, aka Also, has gone to her forever home with my friend Bonnie.

She has put on some weight since we rescued her, and now relaxed, she has become a 

very sweet girl.  She will be happy in her own space, the only cat, Queen Bee.

I spent the day alone at the studio.  It was quiet.

As I was puttering around, I noticed these purple towels, and realized that I never posted a photo of them.

They are a little weird, not exactly my color combo.

I worked on some placemats, finishing my 60 yard warp.

Now THESE are my colors.

Some days you do what you can.  You let the rest go.

Years ago, in a rough place in my life, I started a gratitude journal.   In my despair, I struggled some days to find 5 things to be grateful for.  But they were there, from the simplest of comforts like a cup of coffee; to gifts we never think of, like a crystal blue sky.
I found myself grateful for a steady job, for my daughters, for my mother, for my dogs, my home.
Grateful for  the chance to take a nap, pay my bills, make cookies, walk in the woods.
I kept that journal for two years.   I still have it.
What I learned from writing down 5 things I was grateful for, every day, was this:
There is always something to be thankful for.   Always.
So even now, mystified and some days nearly crazy with this headache..........I am still grateful.

Hard sometimes, confusing and challenging, life is still good.

Breaktime.

It rained hard all night.  Our back yard is practically flooded, the first time in the 7 years we have lived here.

The slush on the roads is deep, and it is still raining.  And while it is messy and annoying, my fear is what it will be like when the temps drop.

Oh, winter.

I did so well walking right into the first of January, but for the last week and a half, between my headache and the icy roads and sidewalks, I have not done much walking.  Roy looks at me with those big browns, and I feel guilty.

This headache has been an 8-10 for four days now.  I can't really figure out what changed to make it this bad.

I went to the studio this morning, with a few chores that I wanted to get done.

First, I had some orders to pack up.

Then I had three sets of placemats I wanted to put on my web site.

Here are the pink ones.......can you see Tweety peaking out at you???

These cream and green ones are my favorites.

Right now, I have about 38 sets of placemats.  I told you January was placemat month.
Yeehaw.

I knew I wasn't going to last long at the studio.   I haven't had to come home midday in a few weeks, but that was then, and this is now.

Sydney just watched me doing what I had to do.
She has molded this box to her shape.  None of the other three cats dare to get near "her box", and I have left it on the counter, just for her.
I couldn't resist putting her name on it.

Sydney says:

You look like crap.  You'd better go home.

And even though I had every intention of sewing the hems on this 'tote bags' in progress, I did go home about noon.

I came home, ate something, and took to the couch with a heating pad on the back of my neck, and sweet boy Roy.

I have an appointment with a headache/pain doctor in about 10 days.

I am focusing on that.  Getting there.  

Getting someplace where there is no headache.

Yay.

Is it winter?

I have always bought my books on Amazon.

Until today.

L has been a good  bad influence.

Going to the library every week, ordering books from the library online, and then going to pick them up.

Paying zip.  Nada. Zero.

So today, I dug my library card out, and trudged in.

Actually, we have a beautiful new library, and there is really no reason NOT TO USE IT.

And it's 5 minutes from my house.

Duh.

So today, I got three books....until I can figure out how to use their website, and figure out what I want to order.

I must admit to having NO rhyme NOR reason for choosing these books.
They just seemed to speak to me.

 And since they cost NOTHING, well, bringing them home was sure easy.

Tonight DH took me downtown for a cozy little dinner at the Gourmet Cafe.  I had some french  onion soup, some wine, some pasta primavera, and garlic bread.
Watching the snow fall softly on the street outside.


Now I'm glad to be home, curled up on the couch, with my afghan and my laptop, and a cuppa tea.

And my sweet boy Roy, of course.

Partial labotomy anyone?

Two days of a screamer have left me a little shaky, and ready for surgical intervention.  Got a knife anyone???  There must be a YOU TUBE video with instructions out there somewhere.

Sometimes, honestly, I ask myself how I can get through another day with this headache.  And while I am wondering, I keep putting one foot in front of the other, and I do get through it.
Then I hope that the next day will be better.
Sometimes it is, and sometimes not.
Today, not.

Oh, but's let not talk about headaches.  They're so depressing.

Today, L and I disassembled the Union 36 loom, and moved it into the old kitchen.
I am convinced that the studio will feel oh so much nicer, with just ONE loom in the living room, and ONE loom in the front room that is mostly retail space anyway.

I like it better already.

And the Union looks like it belongs in its new space.

I wasn't very productive today, so I felt good about getting that done.

My mother informed us tonight that her TV was brighter and more colorful than ever before.

Uh.......do you think it might have something to do with the two cataract surgeries that you just had??
Maybe?

I find that there is an element of science fiction to life.  It occurs to me often.
But maybe it's just the book by Stephen King that I'm reading, 11-22-63.

I highly recommend it....it is totally engaging, and makes me feel that maybe there is a happy ending.

Weave, weave, weave.

Sydney says:

Where's Olivia???

Oh, Syd.  You look so sad.  She might not come today if it's going to rain.

 Wait.  Did you hear the door??

Yup.   It's her.

HEY Olivia.

Can't spend too much time schmoozing, got some weaving to do.

It's never too soon to be exposed to weaving.

You never know when a weaver is "in the making".

Oh, Olivia, you are too beautiful.

Today might have been gray and gloomy, even rainy, but we were swimming in color, lots of it.
L and I made this 5'x7' cotton rug.
Sure to cheer anyone up.

These are the rugs that are just too much fun.   Since they are going up on my web site for sale, and they aren't being made for someone specifically, we got to choose whatever colors we wanted.
Takes the pressure off.
And who needs pressure.
Not me.

One day at a time

Going through my web site, I have found a couple of rugs that are not logged in anywhere.
Can't sell them that way.

So far I have straightened up the placemat page, the blue jean page, and the Adirondack Lodge rug page.
Moving right along. A page at a time.

My youngest daughter commented that there were an awful lot of pages on my web site, so I am cleaning it up, deleting stuff that has been sold, combining pages.
Someone once told me that I should leave SOLD rugs on there, just so people would know that I am in fact selling them.
Is that silly?
I think so.
I did leave a few on there that were long gone, but I'm not doing it anymore.

The grandkids have left.

The house is fairly quiet.

Roy is sleeping by my side.

I love seeing them, laughing with them.  I love being run over by their youth and enthusiasm, their silliness.

It reminds me of a scene from my favorite show, Everybody Loves Raymond.  Frank walks into the house, kisses his grandsons on the head, breathes in the smell of their hair, and says something about sucking up all that youth.

But then, they're gone.  And I love the way my life snaps back to its own pace, slower, quieter, 

still occasionally silly.

Sometimes getting older is totally ok with me.

Say what?

I worry about Next, especially when it is bitter cold at night.

When I pulled in the driveway this morning, I hear him crying to me as soon as I got out of the car.  

"Rowr."  Loud.

That's what it sounds like.

I have tried to get him to come in, but he's having none of that.  He stuck his nose in the porch door once, and then right out again.

He has a heated water dish on the porch, and he gets fed well, every day.

Up in the loft of the barn, he has a huge box, surrounded by bags of selvedge to stop the wind, and inside it is full of hay, a wool blanket, and a heated cat pad.   It is plugged into a no fault breaker on the outside of the barn.  It only heats up when the cat lays on it, and then it heats his body to its normal temperature. 

So I guess all things considered, he has what he needs.

And he has a solar house.

Which he is smart enough to use.

And we love him up every chance we get.

Sometimes I have to tell myself to let it be.
We do what we can do, and then we have to let it be enough.
But I always wonder about the person who just let him wander off, that person who didn't care.
Without being neutered, he was destined to live a life of fighting and roaming, and generally struggling to survive.
And then he wandered up on the porch at Crazy as a Loom.
NEXT!!!!

Today was a grandkids day.  We went to Aimee's dinner and a movie......

Now they're chillin'.   One can hope anyway.

 Roy loves company.  Especially kids.

He never gets enough hugging.

Why the long face, girl??

mmmmm........let me think.

I get that.....sometimes you just don't know where that mood comes from.
And sometimes, if you think about it, you don't have one after all.