• Art - Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: Christmas and catching up edition

    January 5, 2021 - By 

    It’s certainly been a while since I have joined in on T stands for Tuesday. So much, yet so little has happened.

    This doodle is from before Winter break. Since I have had the same class over and over, I tend to doodle while waiting  for my small group time to begin. I never realized how often I doodle until distance learning began.

    Winter break started a bit early for me…similar to last year. My back was giving me trouble from all the sitting. UGH! At least we found out that we are going to back to hybrid in-person learning mid-Feb. Since all the sitting is really hard on me I tackled making a new table for the treadmill.

    It still needs a bit of work as it now tilts backward a bit which is kind of uncomfortable to type. But now I have the ability to slowly walk or just stand when I need to and still work. I’ve been working from school some days as well to change things up.

    Christmas was a quiet one. We had a blizzard on the 23rd that lasted into Christmas Eve. Not a big deal when you aren’t going any where. The drifts were crazy in places…these were just cool!

    We had fondue and played a couple board games…a nice and peaceful day.

    Marvin always enjoys posing in front of the tree for me. He’s kind of a diva.

    And what self-respecting cat wouldn’t crawl into a present box. Of course he’s huge and didn’t completely fit.

    Since I hadn’t been creative at all for what seemed like weeks I did a page in an art journal to start off the new year. I don’t love it but that ok. Just trying to start the year off right.

    Speaking of starting off the year right…I have chosen the word Strength for my Word of the Year.

    You can check out the post by clicking on the image in the sidebar.

    And if you were curious how I did with last years word: Mindful…be sure to check out that post as well.

    I’ll leave you with a my breakfast and my fortune from last evening.

    T stands for Tuesday
    Today has me working from home.
    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: turtle shell edition

    November 9, 2020 - By 

    I can’t even begin to tell you how long it has been since I have even considered posting or even visiting other blogs. I have been “turtled up” so to speak in my shell. Sometimes I feel the need to do that. When things are out of my control or I feel I have nothing positive to share. At times like that I often turn to my art to walk me through. Other times, it’s all too much.

    I finally felt the drive to create. Maybe because things are starting to look better. We still have a long way to go but I’m trying to see the silver lining. I think COVID is really starting to weigh me down. My emotions are raw. 

    Regardless…I made art!  It felt amazing. I wish I could get that into my head when I’m feeling down. Art this good therapy. It’s just like exercise…I feel so much better after I do it…it’s just the getting out there and doing it that is the challenge.

    So what else have I been up to? I made a few more masks for both my family and commissioned orders for kid sizes.

    I’ve also been making pretty envelopes in hopes of sending out purchased items from my Etsy store inside. Of course I’d have to get a few more things listed for that to actually happen. Baby steps…

    I had a health scare almost a month ago now which I believe sent me into my proverbial turtle shell. All is well on that front though. I went back for further tests and got the clean bill of health.

    Mini-me has committed to her college of choice for next fall. We will be empty nesters with kids almost 3 hours away in different parts of the state. So crazy. The thought has given me very mixed emotions. Can you tell I’m extremely emotional right now? It’s not my usual state of being. I am usually quite stoic. I’m Norwegian…it’s the way we are made. But I feel as if I’ve been running on adrenaline and now I’m crashing.

    As usual. I dressed up for Halloween at school.

    What else made sense in a pandemic but to be a doctor?!

    School continues in-person for me so far. I can’t imagine it will be much longer before we go to distance learning though…at least for a time. Exponentially more positive cases and self-quarantines every day. 

    One of the things I do when I’m stressed is starting purging things. This weekend I tackled my clothes. I’ve lost 20 lbs and it was time to get rid of the old, the ugly, the ill-fitting, the “why did I ever buy this” and the vastly out of style. Amazingly, I still have a ton of clothes. Nothing super cute but we aren’t going anywhere now anyway. The time will come and I will buy myself something cute. I may do a bit of thrift shopping between now and then to fill in some gaps but the thought of going into stores to browse doesn’t thrill me. I’m shopping out of necessity only these days to stay safe.

    In keeping with the rules…here is the obligatory beverage alongside a yummy open faced bagel with cream cheese and lox. 

    Another day of school is in front of me followed by my at-home teaching day.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Blog - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: preserving the harvest edition

    October 26, 2020 - By 

    Despite the lingering snow, late season canning and preserving is still happening around here.

    In addition to our garden, we purchased a farm share or CSA again this season. However, it was through a different farm than we had used in the past. Unfortunately the CSA we used wasn’t the best. Even though it was disappointing, I was able to do quite a bit of canning. One of the main reasons was lack of variety. The standard family cannot eat a dozen jalapeno peppers in a week. But a large amount is good for canning as well as jams and sauces.  So thankfully it wasn’t a complete waste of money.

    I’m also drying some herbs right in the kitchen. In the past I hung them in the storage room but that area is honestly a little chaotic right now. I just used some bread twist ties to attached to the hanging fruit basket…ta-da. Once the herbs are good and dry, I’ll remove them from the stems and store in jars.

    I thought I’d share this book I finally purchased from my Amazon wish list. It’s been on the list for a couple years. I’m thrilled with all the recipes and ideas its gives me for items I had never even thought about. 

    My mom had always canned quarts of whole tomatoes when I was a kid…so of course when I started gardening I did the same. Turns out my family doesn’t care for the recipes in which she used those canned tomatoes. So for years I’d mainly used our garden for fresh, eat it now veggies and hadn’t given much thought to preservation.  Over the past 5 or so years my thoughts and interest has changed on gardening. It’s not just a fresh veggie patch, its food and seasonings for the coming year. Back to those “old-timey” skills. 

    My school life continues to consume most of my energy. The weekends are spent catching up on household chores. Perhaps as winter settles in and the outdoor chores are at a minimum, I will regain some creative momentum.

    I keep making lists of things I want to try, ideas for projects, etc. I just need the time and energy to align.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?