One Week on Wednesday

Neck Warmer

Another View

I knitted this neck warmer with wool leftover from knitting a pair of socks, earlier.  I had envisioned a slightly different style of neck warmer - one that crossed over in the front to form a V and was held in place by buttons.  However, since I was using leftover wool, I didn't have quite enough to make it long enough to overlap in the front.  Instead, I just sewed the ends together to make a loop.  It is big enough to slip over my head and snug enough to keep my neck warm, but, not so snug that I feel constrained by it.  I finished sewing it up, earlier this month (but, forgot to post a picture), and have worn it almost daily!  I find that as long as my neck is wrapped warmly, I feel warmer.

Today (Wednesday) marks one week of self isolation for me.  The last time I went out of the house to run errands was on Wednesday of last week, when I went to get my taxes done and to the post office to mail the forms to my daughter.  The only person I've seen since then (other than a neighbor or two when they stood several feet away, in their yards, and we waved at each other) has been M when he came to tend to the garden on Friday.  I am perfectly fine, staying at home, except for the general anxiety about the reason for staying at home!  But, one of the benefits, if one can call it that, from all this is, I no longer have people asking me, "So, what do you do the whole day, now that you are retired?"  LOL.  I felt obliged to be doing things, going places, etc., once I retired.  Instead, I am now doing what I've always wanted to do - staying home and relaxing!

Today, I made waffles for brunch.  I make them with a boxed pancake mix, following the recipe for waffles that is printed on the box: 2 cups of the mix, 1 1/3 cups of water, 2 tbsp. oil, all mixed together to make the batter.  Heat the waffle iron, grease it with butter or oil, pour some of the batter, and bake until the light goes off.  Pry open the waffle iron which won't open because the waffle is stuck to both top and bottom, and scrape the waffle which is now split into two, horizontally, with the spatula.  Sigh.  I had washed the waffle iron the last time I used it and, I guess, I didn't "season" it well enough before I made the first waffle, today.  Even the second waffle proved to be stubborn and refused to come out in one piece.  But, the rest of the waffles turned out well.  But, I didn't waste the waffle bits I scraped off - I ate them too!  I had some of the waffles with the spicy onion sambol and the scraped off bits with a little syrup.  Later in the evening, when I had my evening tea, I ate another waffle.  The remaining waffles have been covered and stored in the fridge for breakfast, tomorrow.

The morning was somewhat cloudy and overcast and it rained in the afternoon!  I didn't go for a walk, today.   Instead, I stayed indoors, washed the dishes, tidied the kitchen, practiced the piano (twice!), made a birthday card (sorry, didn't take a picture), chatted with neighbor T, friend R, and cousin P, tried to knit a scarf and took it apart, again, because I didn't like how it looked, watched news, cleaned up after Dancer (it's hairball time!), and video chatted with my daughter.  It's day 9 of staying at home, for her. 

For dinner, I ate some cucumber salad, some of the roast beef/pot roast from yesterday, and raw cashews and dried raisins for dessert. 

Today, I am grateful for:
- The rain to water the garden
- Neck warmers
- Phone calls, etc. and keeping in touch with family and friends
- Kind blog comments
- Waffle irons

Today's joyful activity was video chatting with my daughter.  She made a loaf of pumpkin bread, today, with whole wheat flour, honey, and maple syrup:

Daughter's Pumpkin Bread

How was your Wednesday?  Are you being required to stay at home, too?  If so, how are you doing?