So, on Monday, January 1, I greeted the New Year by following our cultural traditions of boiling milk, making milk rice, and offering portions of both at the altar, which is considered an almsgiving of sorts. Then, later in the day, I called my aunt and friends to wish them for the New Year (notice I am not saying anything about the unwritten New Year's greeting cards! *wink*).
Sometime around noon, I accidentally knocked a stem glass off the kitchen counter and it shattered (have I mentioned that I tend to break glasses?) According to our cultural superstition, the accidental breaking of glass or ceramic objects on an auspicious day such as New Year's Day enable all the bad luck to escape! So that was a positive thing to happen! Or, at least, a positive spin on it! Fortunately, the shards of glass didn't hurt daughter who was standing right there, bare-footed! I quickly swept the kitchen and went over the kitchen floor with some damp paper towels to pick up any bits that didn't get swept up.
Later, I attended an aunt's annual New Year's Day luncheon and I gave my cousin a ride. After we came home, I did a load of laundry and hung it up to dry, watered the back garden (sprinklers), read and commented on blogs, and cleaned Dancer's litter box.
On Tuesday, January 2, I ran the dishwasher, first thing in the morning, while I had my coffee, replied to blog posts, read and commented on other blogs, and deleted a bunch of old pictures I had on my computer that I had taken last year. I had a relaxed and restful morning. In the afternoon, daughter decluttered her closet and collected two trash bags full of items to toss or donate! A lot of the items were clothing she has had since middle school (her middle school graduation dress, for example) and high school! She is planning to go through her dresser drawers, tomorrow.
While she decluttered, I did some mending:
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| Daughter's New Blouse |
Then, I did a load of laundry (mostly towels), put out new towels in the bathrooms and kitchen, took the trash can and the recycling bin to the curb, and checked the mail. Again, with my procrastinate less goal in mind, I went through the mail as soon as I brought it inside, instead of piling it up to go through later.
In the evening, one of my friends came over to visit me for the New Year. We had tea and exchanged gifts. I showed her some of the items daughter had decluttered from her closet and my friend was able to select several pieces of clothing for her granddaughter. Later, daughter and I drove my friend back to her apartment.
After we came back, I made curry puffs for dinner. I had browned the ground beef, earlier, so today, I added grated carrots, potatoes, and celery (finely diced by daughter) to the ground beef, along with some curry powder, curry leaves cut up fine, chili powder, salt, lemon juice, and a little soy sauce and cooked everything together. I had taken out two packages of frozen puff pastry to thaw. Each package has 8 puff pastry squares. I put about quarter of a cup of the ground beef mixture in each pastry square and folded over the square to form a triangle. There was enough filling for 14 pastry squares. The remaining two squares were topped with some cinnamon sugar and quartered before baking. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures, as I've posted pictures of my curry puffs and directions to make them in earlier posts, here and here.
While the curry puffs were baking, I did more dishes, washing them by hand, this time.
Daughter and I had some of the curry puffs for dinner; leftovers will be enjoyed over the next couple of days.
Today (Tuesday), I am grateful for:
- A sunny, warm day
- My friend's visit
- Being able to give her some of the items daughter decluttered from her closet
- New Year resolutions to motivate me
- Being able to accomplish all what I did, today.
I have also decided that I will start decluttering, again, this month! I am keeping that goal to just three items a day. On January 2, I decluttered:
1 gift bag from my stash
1 empty sparkling apple cider bottle
1 empty gallon sized milk jug
January 2 was a good day and I accomplished much. I did some housework, I did some cooking, I spent a little time in the blog community, I spent time with my friend, I spent time with my daughter, I received a New Year's greeting card from one of my cousins and his family (an accomplishment because this cousin has not communicated with me for several years although he invited me to his daughter's 16th birthday celebration, a year ago), I did some self-care, and I did a bit of mending.
How was your day? Do you focus more on the accomplishments or on the things that you didn't do?
Oh Bless, you are one of the most positive people I know of. I wish I was more like you, instead I often find myself dwelling on the negative or the things I didn't manage to accomplish. One thing we do have in common, however, is the ability to break glasses. I have a habit I catching the stem on the mixer tap! X
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jules. I admit to being a bit surprised at my daughter's take on things, because I do try to look for the brighter side of things, but, maybe there have been some degree of self-pity/seeking sympathy, or a need for validation in some posts? Some, "Poor me, I wasn't able to accomplish all what I wanted to do because I was tired, because I didn't feel up to it, etc.", which she thinks is similar to me seeking sympathy and validation, as my readers then respond by assuring me that I did very well, etc. I see it as being honest and sharing my frustrations about what I am able to accomplish; daughter sees it as being negative. According to her, she holds me to a higher standard than that! Oh, dear! :D
DeleteIt's hard for me not to go to the negative, but I try and often succeed in looking for the positive. Looks like you're off to a good start in focusing differently.
ReplyDeleteIt is easier to see the glass as half empty rather than half full, isn't it? Rather than rejoicing in the fact that I am recovering and regaining my ability to do things, I have been frustrated by the pace of recovery and the limitations it brings. A change in perspective and attitude is needed, apparently. The start of a new year is a good time in which to do so. :)
DeleteYour curry puffs sound delicious and nutritious! I love seeing your cooking. Andrea
ReplyDeleteThank you, Andrea. I don't know if the puff pastry can be considered as nutritious, but, I do try to incorporate as many vegetables into the ground beef mixture as I can - shredded cabbage, tomatoes, bell pepper, etc. Served with a side salad or some cut up vegetables, it can be nutritious.
DeleteYours sounds lovely me a positive day, even in the case of the broken glass! Certainly, my natural inclination is to focus on the negatives. Instead of being pleased that I have accomplished almost everything I wanted to do at work today, I came home annoyed that I hadn't finished a couple of things. I do have to fight against this sort of thing. I'm a natural worrier but I do work hard at looking for the "silver linings".
ReplyDeleteI guess we all have unrealistic expectations of what we should be able to accomplish in a day and when we don't meet those expectations, we tend to get down on ourselves. On the other hand, I don't want to come across as being all bouncy and upbeat about everything, either! That would just be too annoying, I think! A good balance between the two with a focus on what was accomplished rather than what wasn't is the goal. :)
DeleteCongratulations, you accomplished a lot! I'm always amazed that you are able to make new seams and all this complicated (to me) stuff to make or repair clothes! Your skills came in handy again. Have you taught your daughter how to do this so she can fix her seams or what not as well?
ReplyDeleteI have tried focusing on my accomplishments for several months but I think that not showing that I struggle sometimes would be disingenuous. I understand the concept behind positive thinking but sometimes you just want to complain and acknowledge that you've failed so you can motivate yourself to try again :) and again :) and again :)
Thank you, Nathalie. :) I have tried to teach daughter to sew. I've shown her all the basics, but, she wasn't very interested in it, at the time. Now, she's into cross stitch, so she knows to do that! What she does is go online and look up videos of what she wants to learn how to do. She's sewn herself costumes to wear to the Anime Expos, for cos-play, etc. I suppose, when she has the need to do it herself, she will.
DeleteHa, ha, daughter and I have discussed more of the negative/positive thing and she says it's because I didn't tolerate her pouting or whining or complaining about something without doing something about it! She says she tolerates it when other people do it, but not when I do it! I guess it is pay back time! LOL!
Would you believe I broke a glass the other day (my story is that it jumped out of the upper cabinet but I probably hadn't put it in carefully enough on the wire shelf). My immediate thought was of you because you sometimes unintentionally "toss" glassware by breaking it. So I was amused to see that you actually broke a glass around the same time as I did, and I'm glad you had a positive take on it.
ReplyDeleteDaughter's blouse is really pretty. What a good bargain for the sake of a little unpicking and stitching. I once got a bargain of a quality sheet set that was "seconds" because of uneven stitching on the top sheet. It didn't take long to unpick that small part and restitch properly.
Ha, ha, Bushlady, welcome to the "Sisterhood of the Broken Glass"! :D There are quite a few bargains to be found if one knows how to sew and do a little mending, aren't there?
DeleteI hope you are keeping nice and warm in your frigid temperatures, up there, Bushlady.
I really do want to learn how to use my sewing machine...some day when I can set it up at the dining table and leave it out. It is more convenient for me to mend clothes by hand stitching. That is what I was doing today. Do9 you have a separate room or do you have to set up your machine every time you want to use it?
ReplyDeleteThe 3rd bedroom/spare room was supposed to be the crafts/sewing room, but it has become The Dump, instead! So, every time I want to sew, I set up the machine at the dining table. Very often, it stays there (or on the floor next to the dining table) for days/weeks at a time! Sometimes, I set it up on a small folding table and then, I can sew in the family room and watch TV, at the same time. :)
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