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| Time to Put Another Blanket on the Bed |
The forecast says it'll go down to 35F tonight! Yes, I have the heater on, but, I thought it was time to put another blanket on the bed, as well! I already had two blankets (one a purchased, woven blanket; the other one is what I had knitted) and a quilt on the bed, but, I pulled out this one that I crocheted. It was one of my stash-buster blankets. I think Dancer approves because he's been sleeping on the bed practically all day!
I was not very prompt, today; it took me a while to get going, but, once I did, I made some progress. I spent the morning replying to blog comments, reading and commenting on other blogs, emailing a couple of friends, and watching a couple of online videos. Then, I made egg salad sandwiches for brunch.
After brunch, I tidied the dining area. I cleared the dining table, put a new table cloth on, removed the holiday chair pads from the chairs, and dusted the china cabinet. I also watered the houseplants (three of my houseplants are in the dining area, in order to receive enough sunlight from the south facing windows.
Then, I removed the dust sheets from the family room sofas and washed them. Put new dust sheets on the sofas.
Then, I put away the holiday linens back in the suitcase where I store them and put the suitcase back in my closet.
After that, I put all the clothes hangers backwards. It was something I had been planning to do. The plan is to replace the hangers the usual way when I put back those clothes I've worn and washed. Any clothes still on the hangers facing backward, at the end of the year, will be donated. I have some clothes that are favorites, which I wear over and over again, and others that I will wear only occasionally; this might be the year when I will be ruthless about decluttering them!
I hand washed one of my wool sweaters and a pair of wool socks that I had knitted. They are drying flat on a towel spread on the coated wire clothes dryer.
I also started undecorating the Christmas tree, but, I didn't finish it.
Instead, I had a long phone conversation with friend R and another, longer phone conversation with my aunt C. I also exchanged some texts with my cousin N. So, it was a good day for family and friends.
I cooked some frozen gyoza (pot stickers) for dinner and had some yogurt and treacle for dessert.
Today, I am grateful for:
- An abundance of warm blankets and quilts
- Working appliances
- Emails, texts, and phone calls with family and friends
- Access to the internet
- A warm home
Today's joyful activity was crossing off some of the things on my to do list!
Plans for tomorrow (Friday):
- Tree trimmers arrive to trim the eucalyptus at 7:00 a.m.!
- Take the packages that arrived for my friend to her
- Remove the decorations from the Christmas tree
- Have M take the bins and the tree back to the garage
- Tend to the garden with M
- Put away today's laundry
How was your Thursday? What are your plans for Friday?
That's a lovely crocheted blanket on your bed and good to know Dancer approves. I use different weight duvets, a summer weight in the simmer I think that's 4.5 tog and 13.5 tog in the winter although I have an extra blanket on top of that now as it is so cold.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting way to hang your clothes in the wardrobe. I really must declutter clothes and handbags next something I find most difficult to do, I like your word be ruthless.
Will you need to be up so early for when the tree trimmers arrive?
Thank you, Eileen. Duvets are not that common, here, and I just have blankets, quilts, and comforters (which tend to be thicker than quilts, I think).
DeleteI've accumulated a lot of clothes recently because my cousins have given me items they've decluttered from their closets! They love to shop and dress and they have good clothing styles; I dislike clothes shopping, don't really have a sense of style, and am generally happy with whatever fits! But, when I last spoke with one of my cousins, to wish her for the New Year, she mentioned she had another couple of bags of clothes for me! So, I want to go through my current clothes to make room for the new ones! I'm OK with handbags - I have one that I use for every day (which needs to be replaced because the handle is peeling!) and one spare one which I bought for an occasion, some 7 years ago (because the everyday bag I had at the time was so worn out).
I got up at 6:30 a.m. today and the tree trimmers arrived at 7:15 a.m. They did a good job! I'll post pictures, later.
Sounds like a busy, productive day for you. I worked from home, so not much got done around the house. I was scheduled to work in person today, but I received an email yesterday evening postponing. Woo hoo!
ReplyDeleteWe have had meetings with the retirement planner and, for my husband, the pension and benefits planner. You’re so right to suggest those. I would have been lost without them.
I have been watching the birds outside my window this morning—2 blue jays (very common here) and also a beautiful cardinal. It must be a male; it’s bright, bright red.
Daughter’s cat, who I think of as the world’s oldest feline, has been sitting by the radiator all morning. She is no fool. 🐈
I'm glad I was able to get a few things crossed off my to do list! :D Yay for being able to work from home!
DeleteSounds like you've done the preliminary work to get ready for retirement. You'll know when the time is right and then, you'll be ready. :)
You have some colorful birds! I mostly see mockingbirds and hummingbirds. Cats know the warmest spots in the house, don't they? :)
It takes a long time to put away holiday decorations, doesn't it? I think ours are all put away until, inevitably, we find something we overlooked. I like the picture of the rows of your crocheted blanket - so geometric.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, it took me longer to think about it and mentally prepare myself to putting things away than to actually put things away! It took about 1.5 hours to undecorate the Christmas tree and pack up all the ornaments. The Christmas Village probably took about the same time. I am now waiting until M is here to take the bins and the tree to the garage.
DeleteThank you; the crocheted blanket was a good way to use up leftovers and I tried to alternate a row of dark with a row of light. :)
An extra blanket is a good idea. We had -6.8°F overnight but the house stayed warm with the wood furnace. I had an e-mail from a cousin in British Columbia who said it was - 22°F when she was writing and expected to go down to -36.4°F in the night!
ReplyDeleteWe may be getting a lot of snow overnight so I will probably head into town this afternoon and prepare to hunker down tomorrow. Maybe I will even undecorated the tree.
Oh, brr! That's cold!
DeleteSounds like a good idea to pick up what you might need from town this afternoon and stay home, tomorrow! Stay safe and warm!
Your tree trimmers are coming very early! I am having my kitchen walls and trim painted, it hasn't been done in 20 years! But today the painter couldn't get here, too much snow falling. The forecast is for a foot, but I don't think it'll be that much. I like your crocheted blanket. Dancer knows it is cozy!
ReplyDeleteYes, they were here at 7:15 a.m.! They wanted to get an early start to the day!
DeleteSorry your painter couldn't get there, today, to pain the kitchen! Hope you get through the snow storm safe and sound!
Thank you! I'm pleased with how the blanket turned out! Dancer has switched to the blanket on my daughter's bed, today! :)
I've never crocheted anything so big as that blanket! It's very striking. Definitely doesn't look like a stash-buster...
ReplyDeleteElla
It was a big stash! :D I ran short of dark colors towards the very end, but, it worked out well enough.
DeleteSounds like a busy day! I've had a couple of blankets on the bed at daughter's for a while, though I have been kicking one off since they had the baby. They kept the house quite cold until baby came along.
ReplyDeleteIt was a productive day. :)
DeleteYes, baby would need a warm house, I'm sure, especially since you mentioned that she likes to have her hands uncovered. It's better to have extra blankets that can be removed if one is too warm, than to have fewer blankets and be cold! :)
I love your blanket! I'm not surprised that Dancer approves of it! Love FD xx
ReplyDeleteThank you, FD! :)
DeleteThat's such a pretty crochet blanket. I like the shell pattern you used for it. Yes, it is good to have extra blankets.
ReplyDeleteYou got quite a bit done last Thursday and are making good progress putting your holiday things away for the year.
I meant to comment on the previous post about your daughter having a choice about working from home given the covid spike. I'm happy for her that she has that choice. Numbers are up here by a lot too. A few weeks ago our state was moved to a medium covid rating from our previous low rating.
Thank you, Debra. My daughter's first piano teacher's mother had crocheted a similar blanket using a kit - it had about five different colors of yarn that repeated regularly. I was too cheap to buy a kit or even new yarn, so, adapted the design to use up my stash! I tried to alternate light and dark colors for each row, but, that was all.
DeleteThank you; yes, Thursday was productive and I finished up on Friday. M put away the Christmas tree and the bins in the garage for me, Friday evening.
Yes, I'm grateful that my daughter (and her colleagues) had the option to work from home. Covid numbers are going up everywhere, from what I've read and heard.