Sunshine, Growth, and Refreshing

This time of year, I always get that sappy John Denver song stuck in my head. You know: "Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy. Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry."

It's true. There are times when the sun comes out in late January and early February when I feel like I could literally weep with gratefulness. That doesn't sound like SAD at all, does it? *snort* 

Because it's warmed up a teeny bit, we've been getting a far amount of overcast days, so when the sun does shine, I feel like a thirsty dog, lapping it up in big, sloshing gulps.

Of course the one day I didn't want the sun to shine - Sunday, Groundhog's Day - the sun was out bright and early. Six more weeks of winter. She says as though there was any possible alternative to that on February 2nd - of course there's six more week of winter . . . if not more. Le sigh.

Now that the newness of the new year has worn off, the winter doldrums are settling in. I figured one sure way to make spring feel like it's coming really fast was to start a massive knitting project that must be completed by the end of May. Wedding afghan #4, day 1: 

Last Thursday, I consciously avoided Facebook and all other social media all day. And it was glorious. Far too often, I poke that little blue box on my iPad and start mindlessly scrolling through other people's lives, clicking on links, looking for the next dopamine hit. Turns out, a lunch break spent reading a book is far more fulfilling than one spent on Facebook or Bloglovin'. . . .

Speaking of social media, does anyone else use Buffer to schedule social media posts? I just discovered it this week and may be in love. It allows me to schedule posts and tweets days in advance and I can use a little "Buffer" button on my browser to put any website I stumble upon that I want to share into my Buffer queue. I just started using it for some of my social media work this week and so far, it's saving me time and keep me from getting sucked down the social media rabbit hole.

Also, happy 10th birthday Facebook. And now I feel ancient, although my Facebook account is only 8.5 years old. Still.  . . wowzer.

My little Meyer lemon seeds haven't sprouted yet, but the rosemary plant above has been putting on all sorts of new leaves lately. It's so lovely to have something growing this time of year. The lemon seeds take about two weeks to sprout and apparently that tests my limits of "gardening faith" because I had to root around in the pot until I found one of the three seeds I planted to make sure it wasn't rotting. Glory be, it wasn't rotting, it was sprouting so I tucked back under the soil. We should have the first little shoot of lemon trees in a couple days now.

I brought home my mother's sewing machine a couple weeks ago, because I feel the need to develop my sewing skills. I used to sew quite a bit in high school, and a teeny bit in college, but I was never especially good at it, which may (or may not!) have stemmed from the fact that I never actually read the machine's manual. . . . First things first, eh?

How are you beating cabin fever this winter?
 

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Frost nip and other sundries

You know it's been a rough winter when Minnesotans can't bring themselves to discuss the weather anymore. I'm tempted to throw a "F*ck It's Freezing" Party where we drink hot cocoa, play board games, watch bad movies, and maybe even whimper a little bit.

But take heart: it's February on Saturday, and at some point in February there's almost always bring a brief and temporary thaw. So that's something!

It actually warmed up a bit this past Friday, so Andy and I packed up ye olde snowmobile and head down the trail to one of the large lakes in the area. Of course, temps in the 20s just meant the wind was howling as the next batch of frigid blew in. I'd never actually been on this particular lake before and it was a nice change of scenery.  We'll be back, maybe even when the wind isn't blowing 30 mph.

We didn't stay long enough to catch anything. I was hot to trot to get home to make a batch of boeuf bourguignon. As it was, the infamous beef stew wasn't ready until well after 8 p.m., but it was well worth the wait and I feel that Julia would approve of us eating European style (aka, real late). 

I had my first real brush with frostbite on a brief snowmobile ride in -12 temps on a windy lake on Tuesday. It's just frostnip really, which nipped at my cheek and bridge of my nose through a leaky snowmobile helmet visor. I'm familiar with the warm burn of windburn on winter evenings after a day outside, but whereas windburn kind of makes you feel alive, the sting of frostnip is a humbling reminder of just how deadly cold can be.

That said, when I was a little girl playing hockey on an outdoor rink, I used to come into the warming house at the end of a game and sit crossed legged on the bench after taking off my skates, trying to warm up my painfully cold, bright pink toes and not cry. The frostnip pictured above did not make me clutch my cheek and softly sob, so it really wasn't that bad. 

Turns out, frostnip feels a lot like sunburn and by Wednesday morning, it was kind of itchy. A friend suggested I put honey on it, but I had visions of sticking to everything I touched if I did that, so I opted for some dabs of Smith's Rosebud Salve throughout the day instead. Really just glorified petroleum jelly, one of Andy's coworker's dad's company packages Rosebud Salve, which is how we ended up with a tin of it. We've actually had it for a few years and I wasn't sure what to do with it, but lately have been using it as lip balm, and now, frostnip salve. The tin describes the salve as "all purpose skin preparation," which "aids in the relief of chapped skin, diaper rash, blemishes, detergent burns, and rough cuticles, and it softens rough hands." They sell it at Antropologie, so you know it's cool.

On a warmer note, I made my annual batches of marmalade over the weekend - a batch of Triple Citrus (grapefruit, lemon, and orange) and Meyer Lemon. Making marmalade is exceedingly tedious and at almost every step of process (but especially when you're in the midst of supreming 12 citrus fruits which takes forever) you wonder why you bother. Then you see those jars of processed marmalade lined up and it's like you've bottled up sunshine - in the throes of January no less - and suddenly it's all worth it. Plus it tastes pretty good, even if my Triple Citrus got a little gummy. 

Don't laugh, but I actually planted a few Meyer lemon seeds in the pot above. It felt so good to touch dirt. We'll just see if they decide to sprout. . . Meyer lemon marmalade with homegrown lemons in as few as six years, you guys! ;)

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Weekly Teatime

I feel like these weekly check-ins are working well. The pressures off on trying to get blog content up as frequently as humanly possible (even if I haven't really got much to say) and it feels a bit as though we have a teatime scheduled in wherein I have a cup of tea and then proceed to have a very one sided conversation about the week gone by. Fun, no?

I've been writing a lot (actual, physical writing), which means I have a lovely case of "left-handers" on my knuckles on any given day. I'm juggling several projects at the moment and I (happily!) received lots of "go-aheads" from queries I sent out at the start of the month. Deadlines are coming fast and furious, one right after the other. I have to remind myself that nothing everything needs to happen all at once. It will all be okay if I just focus on what needs to get done today and let tomorrow take care of itself.

I made the worst cookies of my life on Saturday. At least I wasn't expecting them to be amazing (I was trying them out to see if they could accompany an article I'm working on), but I also wasn't expecting them to be so, so horrid. Let this be a lesson - a cookie recipe must white flour, white sugar, and butter. Any omissions from that list and it just tastes like sadness.
 
A good friend is getting married in June and this past week I ordered the bridesmaid dress, as well downloaded the pattern for the afghan I'll knit for her and ordered the afghan yarn. I feel so on top of things. Now I just have to hope the dress actually fits (although there's plenty of time to exchange it), find me some pretty silver shoes, oh and actually knit the afghan. But June is still a long ways off, right?

Speaking of marriage and babies and all the other major life milestones that I am failing at just 100%, has anyone else stumbled across this British ad campaign trying to get women to have babies when they're younger? Le sigh. So much could be said about this, but in general, let me just say "Aaaaaarrrrrgh."

I'm almost done with the current writing WIP. That's right: I put the first tentative words in a Word doc. on November 24 and now, a mere two months later, I'm almost done. Wait, what is that noise? Angels singing?

We just got out of Internet jail yesterday. Whenever we exceed a certain download cap, our internet service gets slowed down considerably until our internet usage falls within a certain percentage of allotted bandwidth. (The system makes about as much sense as that last sentence.) Our internet went out on January 3rd and just came back today. The really sad part? The last date that we were released from internet jail was December 22. I do not want to do the math on that one.

We set out the remains of the Christmas turkey once I'd boiled it down for stock the day after Christmas. I planned to throw it out after a couple days of letting the pine marten and birds pick at it, but here it is, nearly a month later and the birds are still finding eating off of it. It just struck me that I've been spending all this time watching birds peck at one of their own. Kind of pervy, really.

I have a big expense dentist appointment on Thursday to permanently fix my front teeth which have been giving me grief since 2011. Call it vanity if you must, but it's really only funny for so long to have "Ada the Brown Tooth" be your Game of Thrones bandit name.

Lake trout season outside of the Boundary Waters opened on Saturday and Andy says we're off to fish on Friday.

 

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January Calm

I hope this second week of January find you well. I'm feeling happier, calmer, and more accomplished than I have in a long time which is to say, 1) I've started exercising in earnest again and 2) The sun's been showing his pretty face on a more regular basis. It's been a quiet week around here, but a good one indeed.  

This new year, I've been discovering the beauty of MITs, or Most Important Tasks. Each morning I set three MITs and write down a few other things I'd like to get done before evening. Having three things that must get done keeps me on track with the multiple projects I juggle at any given moment and then the rest of the stuff I get done in the day is just gravy. I like to live by a saying I found in an article my dad shared with me from the Irish Times: "Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow." There are certain things that must get done each day, but without setting MITs, it's easy to let other projects which maybe don't need to get done right. now. take centerstage while important (but maybe not so glamorous) projects languish in the background. By setting MITs each morning, I know my day will be well spent and I also know that if I put something off until tomorrow, it will actually get done. 

I'm now signed up for Shamrock Shuffle 8K in Chicago in March and the Ham Run Half Marathon in May. Last night I had a nightmare that I spent most of the half marathon hanging out at the halfway point, but never actually made it to the starting line to actually, you know, start racing. I think my subconscious might be a little concerned about actually being ready for these commitment. But yay for keeping new year's resolutions, if only on paper so far. ;)

I hit my 100th sale on Etsy today.  To sweeten the deal even more, the sale was made by dear, far-flung friend. When I first stocked the shop in late July 2012, I had no idea what to expect. Since then, I've been humbled and amazed to have so many people invite my knitting into their lives. Thank you!

Remember those firestarters I mentioned in last week's post? Here they are in action. They're essentially made out of rubbish (egg carton, dryer lint, and melted wax from the bottom of candles) which makes them an upcycling success. I kind of love that.

The polar vortex is behind us and temps are hanging out in the "perfectly acceptable" range, at least for now. This means we've stopped hemorrhaging firewood. Thank goodness.  

I hit the 20K word count mark on the current WIP. Progress indeed.

I've always had a thing for late afternoon winter sunshine. So serene.

An otter slid down the bay and then right past the cabin, leaving fun slide marks through the woods. I think an otter's life can not be a bad life. 

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The Best Laid Plans - Obligatory New Year Post

Despite my best laid plans, I did not spend this past weekend at crafting weekend. I'm not sure if you've heard anything about this, but we've been having some crazy nasty weather as of late and between the -35 temps and blowing snow/terrible visibility, in the end, I opted to spend the week at home with my new kitchen gadgets. So apologies for lack of baby photos or harrowing crafting tales that follow. However, a makeup crafting weekend has been scheduled for May, so all is right with the world.

As sad as it was to miss out on crafting weekend, I was happy to spend a quiet weekend puttering about the house. Truth be told, I was suffering from holiday sensory overload - too many new shiny things all vying for my immediate attention! It felt right to whir up a batch of chocolate chip cookies with the new stand mixer in record time (that beast be powerful), test out the  yogurt maker, take down the Christmas decorations, and yes, even to clean the bathroom. It was a lovely, peaceful way to herald in the new year.

Speaking of which, hello there 2014, you beautiful thing. Are we all ready to make 2014 the best year ever? If there's one word I want 2014 to embody, it's "forward." It's time to put the wheels of change in motion and start going confidently in the direction of my dreams. No more mampy, pampy stuff. As Maggie says over at Gussy Sews, let's have 2014 be the year we stop watching and wishing and the year we start acting and accomplishing. 

I've known for a while that I'm ready for change, but I've been unsure of just how to create it in my life. To help me craft a successful, exciting, and rejuvenating 2014, I spent a portion of the last two weeks of 2013 (and a couple days in 2014 too), filling out Leonie Dawson's 2014 Create Your Amazing Year workbook. The workbook helps you break down your goals, wants, habits and so much more to get a clear vision of just how you want to shape the year ahead. While I know you could do the same exact thing with a pen and paper on your own, to me it felt right (and more inspiring) to have a "special" colorful workbook to work with.

Since Leonie's really into breakdown your goals into bite-sized chunks, the workbook felt much more helpful to me than just scribbling out a bunch of new year resolutions. As a result, I've set a pretty ambitious income goal for 2014 - one that should lead to wonderful things in 2015, like a trip to Ireland and perhaps some changes professionally - along with a bunch of other totally do-able personal goals.

One of my favorite exercises was making a list of 100 things to do in 2014. 100's a lot of things and my list is only in the 50s at the moment, but I've actually already completed two of those things: making a batch of firestarters (holy cats, those things really work!) and finally dealing with a Christmas sock project (don't even ask) that's been hiding in the Christmas decoration bin for the last five years. A smattering of the other things to accomplish in 2014: take a nap, pick berries, fix my hockey skates, sew something, finish the current writing project, etc. etc. 

Over the last couple months, I've already been working to change up the status quo around here. I went on a major purge this autumn, donating clothes that were never worn, getting rid of or fixing stuff that wasn't work, donating and selling stuff that no longer meets a need. While this might seem a little "woo-woo," I do think the cabin feels more peaceful now and it's nice to know that if you pick up a flashlight, it'll actually work. I also started investing more time in creative writing and as a result, I'm over halfway done with a draft of my current story. It feels like I'm starting 2014 ahead of the game and it makes me excited for what the rest of the year will bring. I hope you feel the same.

Whatever your dreams for 2014, I hope they all come true.

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Bonne Nuit 2013

Well 2013, it's come to this. Just a few hours left until the clock hits midnight and you'll be nothing but a distant memory. To be honest, I'm kind of relieved to see you go. I'm ready for a fresh start, even if the new year is just an arbitrary date on a calendar.

You know how every few years, a year comes down the pike that just feels incongruous? Where you meet with "square peg, round hole" issues at seemingly every turn? Where the harder you push, the more you feel like you're spinning your wheels? Yeah, 2013 just never really happened for me. I have vague memories of 2006 kind of being like this too and I suppose, every seven years or so you're due for a year that's not really bad, but certainly not great either.

Aren't you happy you swung by to spend some time with Debbie Downer this New Year's Eve? ;)

But while I might not have been thrilled with 2013 on a whole, that only motivates me to make 2014 a really super year. And there were moments of 2013 that really sparkled and sang. I mean, how could a year that started off like this be all bad?

NYE 2012

 Without further ado, some favorite memories of 2013:

Season tickets for Broadway Across America at the Orpheum in Minneapolis with Sarah.

The advent of homemade bagels. The advent of a Ankarsrum mixer for Christmas so I don't have to incorporate all of that blankity blank flour into the stiff dough by hand has been much celebrated.

A trip to the lower peninsula of Michigan with Mom to visit brother and girlfriend.

 

This is kind of a lowlight really, but let's not forget this cheery little picture from, oh, April 19th. I was talking to my dad today about hoping that 2014 would be a better weather year. "Yeah, but that's kind of a low hanging fruit," he said. I mean, how could 2014 not be better. Honestly, it's been so blasted cold for so blasted long now that I catch myself thinking that's the end of January. Today, we're a destined for a high of about -12. You guys, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take.

 

I probably spent more time in running shoes in 2013 then I had for the entire rest of my life. Watch out world, because Santa brought me some high tech running tights and a Garmin Forerunner, so I can really nerd out with split times and all sorts of other details you never wanted to know about my runs. Happily, my test of Garmin proved that I'd been pretty accurately calculating my distance, which is a relief because I'd hate to find out what I thought was a mile was actually 6/10s of a mile or something and also because on Sunday I signed up for my first half marathon. Gettin' crazy.

Whenever I have a not so good day, I just have to think back to the Baby Crafting Weekend Shower back at the end of June to reaffirm that all is right with the world. Did I mention that this very weekend is New Year's Crafting Weekend?! And that I get to meet the crafting babies, Princess Grace and C. Liam Neeson, in just a few short days?!? (Spoiler alert: not the babies' real names.)

2013 was also the year of the mitten. Every time I turned around, I was knitting more mittens. Every time I finished a pair, I vowed I would never knit a mitten again. Surprise, surprise, I just cast on another pair of mittens last night.

It was the year of the snowmobile too. At long last, Andy purchased his dream machine. Who knows what adventures await in 2014?

What were your favorite moments of 2013?
 

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Christmastime is Here

If there was any question about the holidays being here, it was most definitely answered this week. You know Christmastime is here when suddenly it's Friday afternoon and the last thing you remember is listening to The Splendid Table on Sunday morning. Instead of calling the week that's been a mess/disaster/other negative term that I'm apt to use, I'm instead taking the week at face value: a lovely week of family and Christmas preparations and maybe not so much getting work done.

Lezbehonest, there's been a lot of the bare minimum going on around here when it comes to work, but if we can't let go of endless to-do lists when the holidays draw nigh, what kind curmudgeons are we?

The Etsy holiday rush basically wrapped up on Monday and I took that as my cue to put my feet up and have another cup of tea. All week I've been looking at the work to-do list and asking the following questions: What do I want to get done today? What needs to get done today? What will happen if it doesn't get done? Can it wait until after Christmas? I realize this sounds a bit like procrastination, but I assure you it's more about lowering expectations, because it's ridiculous to expect that we can maintain a typical workweek (at least when you have the luxury of working from home) and wrap all de presents, do Christmas baking, and have a clean and festively decorated home.

My brother and his girlfriend were around at the start of the week for a quick holiday visit and Andy and I got into town on both Monday and Wednesday to spend some time with them. Despite the fact that the heavens like to open forth with snow whenever my brother and I are near (whether it's on his turf in Michigan or here in MN), safe travels and good visits were enjoyed by all.

Mom made us pose for a Christmas card photo

We received a slight reprieve from the subzero temps throughout the week. That said, it's been below zero more often than not this week. This fact has not stopped Andy from using the new snowmobile. He just puts on approximately 40 lbs of clothing and heads out regardless.

Folks dressed up like Eskimos

We finally got our Christmas tree yesterday. I was kind of thinking that we might be able to get away with not having a tree this year, thinking that perhaps the assortment of holiday knick-knacks would be good enough. That said, I'm glad we got the tree (even if it does displace some living room furniture in a cabin with no place for displaced furniture) - it's so nice to have the Christmas lights on in the morning and evening, especially as the darkest day of the year approaches tomorrow.

Except for one last outstanding package, all of the presents have been wrapped and placed beneath the tree with care. I'm glad to see the presents all gathered in one place because it makes it so clear where my holiday gift budget went. I'm not even mad.

The Christmas baking is basically done, except for some quick stuff on Christmas Eve (Is it bad that I'm already kind of weary of Christmas cookies?) and all of holiday cards and packages have been mailed. I'm so prepared for Christmas that I'm going to have to start doing actual work. Le sigh.

Andy and I went for a ride down the snowmobile trails yesterday. It was pretty, but cold. I'm pulling on the bib snowpants next time.

Happy Solstice!

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