January 23 2019

Influence (Five Minute Friday)

What you say and do can have a significant influence on those around you. You get to decide what sort of influence you want to be on others. If you are open and welcoming when new people come to a gathering you attend regularly, they just might come back. I never thought I had much influence on others until one kind soul told me that I was the reason she came back to a gather a second time, and then became a regular. Wow! I had no idea! The fact that they shared this with me made want to try it again and again. If I’m not careful about what I say to others, and I have been told I can be blunt, I could be a bad influence and cause people I really enjoy having around to stop coming to gatherings just to avoid me and my big mouth. (Open mouth, insert foot.)

So, if I have ever offended you in any way, please forgive an old lady her big blunt mouth that seems less and less capable the older I get of editing and keeping quiet when it should. My hope is that we can all just get along and be kind to others. I hope that I can learn to speak to others as I would like them to speak to me. I want to be a good influence. Has there ever been a time when you were positively influenced by someone? Were you a good influence on someone else? Please share these stories in the comments below, I’d love to learn from all of you.

Enjoy this catchy tune on the subject:

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is:  Influence
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Five Minute Friday | Comments Off on Influence (Five Minute Friday)
January 17 2019

Putting Away the Holiday

Now don’t laugh, but we still have our Christmas tree up and we are even “those people”. Yep, “those people” who not only haven’t taken down their holiday decorations, but are also still lighting them up for all the world to see well after the middle of January.

Why are they still up? Because we are too busy or too lazy perhaps to take them down and put them away. At this point, the closest we’ve gotten is Hubby bringing the tubs for the decorations down from the attic. I thought I might get ambitious and put a tub full away each night this week, then we could take down the tree over the weekend.

It just hasn’t happened. Between working and the commute to and from work, dealing with snow last weekend, and trying to get dinner on the table and have some time to myself each evening, it just hasn’t happened. So what is my plan since the last one didn’t work out too well? More snow. We are supposed to get more snow this weekend again and I get to work from home on Monday since it’s a holiday. I figure since I won’t have to commute, I can use the extra hour to work on packing away the holiday.

What I don’t plan to pack away again is the holiday mugs that have been packed away for several years to the point that we forgot we had them. Only a couple are even meaningful to us. We might keep those couple and donate the rest to charity.

I want to number or label the tubs so I can make inventory lists for them to tell me exactly which tub each item is in, but honestly that likely will not happen this year.  I did pull a few things that we weren’t using this year and didn’t need to keep out to donate as we were going through the decorations deciding what needed to come out and be put to use and what could go. I think evaluating each item when you are getting stuff out or putting it back is a good plan.

Most of our ornaments, ok probably only about half of them, get packed away in their original boxes each year as a way to protect them from dust and debris, then those little individual boxes are packed into a large plastic tub/tote.

While I’m thinking of it, my favorite thing about our Christmas tree every year is the rotating stand. I LOVE it because it allows us to fill the entire tree with ornaments and you can tell it’s moving even from out on the street and it is really a cool effect. Because it is always rotating, you get to watch the ornaments go by as it rotates. Now I’m sure at least one of you is thinking to yourself that it would never work because the tree lights would wind themselves around the base of the tree, but the manufacturers thought about that and the lights plug into the base that rotates so the lights rotate with the rest of the tree.

So, if, like us you still haven’t packed away the holiday, whichever one(s) you celebrate, let’s challenge ourselves to get it down before the month ends. Leave a comment below and let us know if you have finished putting it all away. Remember when you get busy, be kind to future you, declutter as you go.

Category: Organizing | 1 Comment on Putting Away the Holiday
January 17 2019

Better (Five Minute Friday)

It’s been a couple of weeks and I am kind of out of the habit of regularly writing already. So, let’s get better about writing a couple of times a week and see what happens.

The start of any new year makes all of us want to be better and do better at whatever our goals are. This year I struggled with choosing the right word to guide my year, and to be honest, I still don’t know what my word is for sure. I’m leaning toward “finish”. I know I want to try to follow the ideas from the article I read recently, Go Deeper, Not Wider, by David Cain, which was brought to my attention by Burgess Taylor in the video below. (THANKS, Burgess!)

Watch from about 0:55 to 2:00 to hear more about it.

Basically, the “Depth Year” is a year to use what you have instead of buying new stuff, finish projects you’ve started and set aside, learn more about subjects you are already familiar with instead of some new shiny thing. I think this will be better for me. “A big part of the Depth Year’s maturing process would be learning to live without regular doses of the little high we get when we start something new. If we indulge in it too often, we can develop a sort of “sweet tooth” for the feeling of newness itself.”

I am really excited about going in depth this year. I already know I want to dive back into genealogy research. I have been out of it for too long. I might want to branch out with my crochet for charity and do something besides hats, or maybe at least try a new pattern or two. I would also like to bring some closure to the numerous novels I have started writing and written enough to win NaNoWriMo, but never even reread after November was over. I’m not saying this is the year any of them get published, but I need to make myself read them, examine them, decide if they should be forever shut away in some dark drawer, or edited and rewritten until they are ready to query perhaps. I feel like this depth year will be a great way to practice being fearless (2017) and having confidence (2018) which were my most recent words of the year.

So I encourage you to read the article, it is only one page long. I wanted to keep it handy, so I shrunk it down, printed it out and glued it inside my new 2019 bullet journal after the yearly calendar and before the index/contents. Yes, it is that important to me. I want to reread it often to stay focused on my depth year. So, what do YOU think? Does finish sound like the right word for me in 2019? Can you think of a better choice? I’m open to suggestions, please email me directly or leave a comment below. Please subscribe using the box in the side margin so you can get notified by email when I post something here and feel free to check in and ask what I have gone in depth on. Should I choose something new each month? Each quarter maybe? If you been here long, what do you think I should choose to go in-depth on first?

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Better
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Depth Year, Five Minute Friday | Comments Off on Better (Five Minute Friday)
January 10 2019

Recipe: Spinach & Tortellini Soup

As I work on this post, it is a brisk 22 degrees outside, so soup wins for the recipe to share. I got this recipe from my mother-in-law who clipped it from the newspaper. Unfortunately, I have no idea what newspaper or when but I do have a scan of the original if that makes you feel better. This is a great soup because it combines the indulgence of pasta with the healthy stuff like spinach, so it tastes good and you can stop feeling guilty because you ate spinach.

I usually buy cheese or sometimes chicken tortellini and I often use chicken broth I have “made” myself by boiling chicken breasts with the skin and fat removed before cooking. I then cut the cooked chicken and freeze it in 2 cup portions to make things like chicken salad with, but that is a recipe for another day. I have also been known to but the Fit & Active brand of fat-free chicken broth from Aldi and that works great too.

Extra spinach is not a problem, throw it in. Fresh spinach works great too, though I’m not sure how much you would use to replace the frozen spinach since the texture is so different. I also confess that I usually skip the egg and the parmesan cheese at the end, especially if I’m using cheese tortellini, because to be honest, the cheese sticks to the silverware and that is more trouble than I am willing to deal with. This is a very forgiving recipe, as long as you don’t go too far astray, it will turn out delicious.

If you try it out, I’d love to hear how it went over with you and anyone you deemed worthy of sharing home cooking with. I have to admit when my mother-in-law first mentioned this recipe, I was doubtful, but for some reason, I eventually tried it and it has been a hit in our house since then.

Tortellini and Spinach Soup

1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach                  1 can (14 oz) petite diced tomatoes

2 cans (14½ oz each) Fat-free chicken broth        1 tsp. Sugar (granulated)

1 medium onion (or ¾ cup chopped)                   1 pkg (9-10 oz) tortellini

1 tsp. bottled minced garlic                                   ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

2 cups water

Remove the spinach from pkg and place on microwave-safe dish. Microwave on high for 5 minutes to defrost.

Meanwhile, heat the oil on medium in a 4½-quart Dutch oven or soup pot. Peel and finely chop the onion, adding it to the pot as you chop. Add the garlic, and stir and cook for 1 minute or until the onion is tender. Add the water and broth. Raise the heat to high and bring the pot to boil.

Drain the spinach well, squeezing out the excess water. Add it to the pot. Add the tomatoes with their juice and the sugar. Stir to mix well.

Add the tortellini and bring the pot back to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, maintaining a slow boil, and cook for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile in a 1-cup or larger glass measure, combine the Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and egg. Stir vigorously with a fork or small whisk.

When the soup has cooked for 5 minutes, slowly drizzle the egg mixture into the pot, stirring constantly. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Spoon into shallow soup bowls and serve immediately.

Notes: If you can’t find seasoned chicken broth, plain chicken broth is fine. Any kind of tortellini is wonderful in this soup. Makes 4 generous servings.

 

Category: Recipes | Comments Off on Recipe: Spinach & Tortellini Soup
January 3 2019

Year in Review – Goals

Here is the list of my 2018 Goals.

FAMILY/FRIENDS
Spring Break Cabin Trip (March 23-30) (Read More Here)
London Trip(September 21-29) (details and photos)
College Avenue Stitchers (1st Saturdays) (10/12)
FlyFests (2nd Saturdays) (12/12)
Knit & Crochet It Forward (2nd Saturdays) (12/12)
YarnSlingers (3rd Tuesdays) (11/12)

HEALTH/FITNESS
Sleep (6 hours/night) (57/92 this Qtr) 61.9% (258/365 = 70%)
Water (6 cups/day) (86/92 this Qtr) 93.4% (324/365 = 88%)
Cardio (3/92 this Qtr) 3% (Achilles Tendon trouble since 7/1) (73/365 = 20%)
Strength (0/92 this Qtr) 0% (no excuses really) (4/365 = 1%)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE
Finish Cleaning Office (cleared table from the hall that I piled office stuff on)
Backup Floppy Disks to Iomega Drive (ALL 434 DONE! as of 4/24)
Paint Table for Porch (DONE! as of  4/29) (See proof here)
Master Bedroom (work on it) (destruction is done) (See proof here)

We have decided to Reclaim Our Home, one room or area at a time.
We turned our daughter’s old bedroom into our Reading Room.
We decluttered and cleaned the Landing, Garage and the Basement!

FINANCES

Pay Off Car Loan (DONE as of 7/17!)
Pay Off TAN (making monthly payments) (12/12)
Pay ALL Bills on Time (so far, so good) (12/12)
Save $6,000 for London Trip (scraped it up somehow)

We cut the cable and saved over $200/month!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GIVING
Donate 36 Crocheted Hats (55 DONE!)Donate $ to NaNoWriMo (November) (DONE!)
Gift Wrap for DAR (I missed the signup and they didn’t need me by the time I volunteered)

I have also added crochet edging to 6 baby blankets (30″x30″) this year and taught a great group of ladies how to do this as well. All blankets will be gifted to family or charity. I made 10 soap sacks too!

FUN/HOBBIES
Get Family Tree Maker (just have to decide which computer now) (gifted to me!)
Update My Genealogy Websites (ALL DONE! as of 4/16, see Karen’s Kin)
Setup a Way to Sell my Crochet Online (got Etsy Store up and posted 30 listings/49 pcs total)(Sold 2 hats!)

Got a My Heritage DNA test kit for my birthday (reviewed it)

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Read 100 Books (107/100) (DONE! see GoodReads for specifics)
Complete Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge (12/12)Read 3 Personal Development Books (21/3)
Update Resume (DONE and currently job hunting) 

BLOG
1 New Blog Post/Week (Thursdays) (105 new posts in 2018!) 
Continue Five Minute Friday Posts (My blog says I have written 81 FMF posts in about 18 months)

YOUTUBE
Continue to Add Content (video clips posted throughout the year) 
Try to Film Bullet Journal Flip Through (I filmed it!)
Try Being On Camera with Someone for a Virtual Write-In (still thinking about it/didn’t happen)

I did test Google Hangouts with my adult son who lives in another city
I took a free class (May 11-15) to learn how to edit videos and have posted a few to my IG feed

WRITING
Complete NaNoWriMo (November) (DONE) See wrap up
Read 3 Writing Craft Books (DONE 4/3)
Take 3 Writing Classes (1/3)
Submit 3 Guest Blog Posts or Magazine Articles for Publication (DONE)
Write 3 Contest Entries (DONE)
Thursday Night Writing Group (42/52) LOVE this group!

Word counts are steady but not as much as I’d like. Pretty much just writing blog posts, resumes, and cover letters these days.

How are you doing on your goals so far this year? Is there anything we can help you with? Let us know in the comments or email me through the contact form.
Please subscribe so you won’t miss anything I post.

Now to start figuring out what I want to accomplish in 2019, because this setting goals things works pretty well in my humble opinion, at least when you check in and hold yourself accountable by posting your progress for the entire world to see. Give it a try, I double dog dare ya!

Category: Bullet Journal, Crochet, Goals, NaNoWriMo, Travel, Writing | Comments Off on Year in Review – Goals