Tuesday, I got my list done

 I am so proud of me.  I was able to get all the things on my list done, plus I had a couple of pairs of missionary pants to let down, that needed to be faced. I also picked Kelsa up from ballet. Then I came home and basted binding around a blanket.  I was just a whirl wind.

I was able to face the pants this morning, those boys have to quit growing taller.  Then I sewed the binding on the blanket and removed the basting stitches. Now I am working on the last wedding dress, and it is a b*tch.

It is a full ball gown and has not one but two layers of horsehair braid.  You all know how I loves me some horsehair braid. NOT! I have the under-lining cut and sewn and the braid removed from the inside layer.  SO much work.... 

I wanted to take a chair and ottoman that has been in my garage for the last 5 months to my daughter's house as she has no furniture yet.  It needed to be deep cleaned, and Dan is doing this as I type.  Love that man he does so much for me.  I don't think anyone told him that when you marry an identical twin, you get chores for both.😀

I also want to clean out my car, I wonder if I can get Dan to do it......snicker.

1. sew horsehair braid on under lining

2. take horsehair braid off top layer and trim

3. resew braid back on top and fix lining

4. put on bustling buttons and loops

5. hand stitch some loose flowers down and reinforce bra cups so they stay in place.

Whew!  all for one dress!  And I already cut and hemmed the under lining and cut the top layer of tulle.  It is 20 yards around.

No rest for the wicked.

Kim

Monday, Will I ever be back?

 Hello! It is me!  Kim that is! I don't know where I have been, other than living in a fog of my own making.  I have been taking it rather easy.  Not that there is not sewing to do, but just not the pressure.  I do work better under pressure, and I am trying to break that habit.  It is hard as it is a lifelong habit.

I am still really struggling with widowhood.  Not that I am crying or suffering, just the finality of it all.  I stay busy and enjoy myself.  I can't say that I am lonely, as I have never thought of myself as a lonely person, a busy person for sure.

Arthritis has been flaring some so I am on another booster med, and I hope that this helps. Both hands and feet are affected. But this too shall run its course. I just limp around and then play the piano until movement comes back.

Sissie comes up almost every single day which is nice.  She keeps me on track. Dan and I have slot of fun together and he is such a big help with the yard and projects. He seeded the front yard, and it is looking great.  We are still fighting the loss of grass do to not being able to water last year. So next spring we will work on the back. 

I have one wedding dress left for this year and I want to get it done before I leave this week.  I am going to Jethelyn's either Thursday or Friday.  She needs help with a baby shower she is hosting and then the two of us are flying to Florida to see Joel's little sister.  We will be there 5 days.  I would have stayed longer but Jess only has so much time off at the courthouse. I was going to stay the whole month but have decided to come home and go back for Thanksgiving.

Lots on the to do list today.  I think I will make a list.  I have not done this for a long time.  So here goes!  A Kim list!  You know the lists that are humanly impossible to accomplish...

1. blog!

2. shorten two pants

3. fix waist on pants

4. shorten two sweatshirts

5. make covers for sofa arms

6. replace military patches on a coat.

7. hem a blue mother of the bride dress

8. alter a white dance dress

9. pull out wedding dress and assess what needs to be done

10. go get a proof of insurance house and take to bank

Okay that is enough.

DO you think I can do this?  On your mark get set, SEW!

Kim

Well if is not one thing, it's another!

Sissy here...

Another crazy week and more sadness for Sissy and I.  Our Little Sisters Fiancés only sibling passed away in Seattle yesterday and She and Her Significant other have left to handle matters, as Her Significant other had only one Sibling and Parents have passed. A real shock I tell you. and Dan and I are taking care of their animals.

We will be spending nights at their house, as Lil Sisters Dog is a bit neurotic and needs a familiar environment.

On my way up to Sissies this morning my check engine light came on and that scares me to death, and I cannot get it into a Mechanic until the 31st.  Now I have Lil Sisters car until they return, and I will be able to borrow Kim's Daughter third car next Wednesday when they return from vacation.  So, all is well.  The mechanic told me I could drive it, but that just makes me too damn nervous.  We paid 32 thousand cash for her in 2013, and she has been very well taken care of.  She is due for Her 100-thousand-mile checkup in 400 miles, so she is due.  I drive a Ford Taurus and have had five of them since they first came out, and they are no longer being made!  We have always had our Taurus's for at least 200 thousand miles.  The bodies fall apart before the engine!  So could be a big expense but we shall see. 

I will be processing tomatoes all weekend and Dan will be painting another bedroom at Lil Sisters house.

Both Kim and Lil Sister have gardens, and the tomatoes are abundant this year. I have already made 16 quarts of sauce and frozen it, and I think this batch will be about the same.  I may turn some if it into Pizza sauce as I have eight balls of pizza dough frozen, and we love Pizza!

Kim is busy sewing, sewing and the shop has become manageable.  This is great.

I took a lasagna, a salad and garlic bread over to Lil Sisters last night so they would not have to cook before leaving town.  This is why I prep ahead for emergencies and had a Lasagna in the Freezer.

Kim and I are going to head to a little store in Clarkston where they have onions in 10 lb. bags for .39 cents a pound and I plan on buying 20 pounds to put in storage.  The potatoes should be harvested soon, and I will be buying 50 pounds of Russets.  This should last us through the late spring.  Having a canning pantry and fruit cellar is such a blessing, along with my chest freezer.  We save a ton of money this way.  I am not a big canner, but I do have a food storage I am working on and have a grocery budget of $60.00 a week for Daniel and I and we eat well, as I only shop loss leaders and cook from scratch.  I just wish the price of butter and eggs would come down and I do not see that happening anytime soon.  At least I will not be buying nuts and dried fruit!

I did make 16 pie crusts yesterday for Thanksgiving and such and they are in Kim's freezer as mine is full.  I know I will be making at least four pies for Thanksgiving.

I am busy in my head trying to plan next week without a car from Monday night to Thursday, so my brain is saying I will be staying with Kim, so I have wheels when I need them.  Right now, the plan is a boat load of ironing, (Sissy's) and making banana walnut bread and orange cranberry pecan bread and lemon poppy seed bread.  These freeze beautifully and make great gifts.  Sissy and I were gifted with (a ton and I mean bags and bags) of free almonds, walnuts, cranberries, blueberries, raisins, and dates, so our Christmas baking will be much less costly this year.  All of this spoil is in Kim's new freezer and there is still a tone of room.  I will also process all the nuts next week as in toast then and chop them, and then refreeze.

We will definitely need to lay in more flour, sugar, lard, eggs, and butter.  It was so nice when Kim had chickens, but the price of feed is so high that it is not worth keeping them.  Eggs and butter do occasionally go on sale, and I am so hoping they will for Christmas baking season, we will just have to wait and see.

Fast forward....

Now it is Tuesday morning and five days after I started this blog.  Survived the weekend with the Animals and cooked down two bushels of Roma tomatoes and made nine quarts of sauce.  Daniel finished Little Sisters downstairs bedroom and it is move in ready.  She was very pleased, and I had a dinner waiting for them last night when they came home absolutely exhausted.  The estate will take at least a year to settle, and they will do a major clean out of the house next month and Dan and I will be on Animal duty again.

I am up at Kim's having rousted her out of Bed and she is sewing. I am cleaning and doing laundry.

The ironing is calling me, but I have several errands to run with Sissies car, just waiting for Dan to get back with it as He is running errands.

Kim plans to take the entire month of November off and go to her eldest daughters as the shop is so caught up.  I will take easy mending as it comes.  No zippers and no wedding dresses, that is for sure.  I am just not ready for that yet.

I had a great talk with Sluggy and her Husband yesterday and she is doing so well and is on the mend. I am so thankful.  She sounded like her old self!

Now I am going to go and vacuum.  I will get Kim to blog soon!

Hugs to all;

Kay

Busy, Busy Week and more to follow

Sissy here and life is just busy.  Too busy for me right now.

Kim is so caught up in the shop and that makes us so happy.

I am putting finishing touches on my Freddie Krueger basement, and it needs to be vacuumed badly, but I have left the vacuum in the middle of the floor, and it is haunting me, and this is not like me?

I have an attack of the lazy.

Daniel and I are leaving once again for Montana and another wedding this weekend and that is the last for the year.

I will be glad I do not have to make that trip again anytime soon, although we may drive over for Thanksgiving if the weather holds, and the passes are good.

Kim is going to Eldest over Thanksgiving, and I just do not want to make the drive.  Traveling cross country less than five months ago and then four trips to Montana and a weeklong trip to St. Louis have jaded me.  I just want to be Home.

Today I must run a couple of errands, and I forgot my cellphone at Home as I am up at Kim's to make sure She is up! Have not convinced her to get to work yet?  It is going to be one of those days where I just putz around and accomplish little, so why should I expect Sissy to work?

Now I am off to fetch cellphone and run errands...

Kim here, Sis just back from Montana, and I have had grandkids of some sort for the last several days. I go there, then they come here, it gets somewhat confusing, and I sure hope the ones that are here are mine...

I cannot tell you how nice it is to be caught up in the shop.  I can actually be lazy and not feel guilty.  Oh, who am I kidding I can be lazy any time and not feel guilty.  Hence Sissie nagging.

Have a wedding dress to work on today and a few other dresses. I want the wedding dress out before Thursday.

I actually got out in the yard and did a good job of weeding a whole section of the rock.  The grass seed Dan planted is coming up, so we know the method works.  However, the weather will turn here soon, and I doubt anymore seed will sprout. But we have our method ready for next year!

Hope to blog more, now that I am... well I can't really say what I am.

Kim