The Week Ahead

This well be a short week for many of us this week. I only work 3 days this week, then get a 4 day weekend. Will be a nice break. We have family coming to town so that will make our Turkey day a little more special this year.

There are several things on my agenda for the week, starting with the last minute grocery shopping today. I don't usually wait this long, but I am a procrastinator by nature, so this year I waited. Just need a few extras for the big Turkey dinner, not anything to crazy. There are also some last minute house chores that will need to be done before our guest arrives.

In other news, I am almost finished with the special order of pillowcases, which will be a relief. While they are very cute when they are finished they have taken a tremendous amount of my time. It will be a while before I delve into the world of embroidery again. I have completed some new baby hats for the shop as well. I have been experimenting with sock yarn, and what a wonderful result I have gotten. I will be posting them after turkey day.

Many new projects are a head and many new shop changes will be coming at the first of the year. I have several new goal and thoughts on how to make the shop even better this year. I will be revealing some of these thoughts as the last few weeks of 2009 wrap up the year.

With Turkey day and company blog posts will be a little sporadic this week, of course I guess compared to the past few weeks I guess that won't be much different than normal at this point. Have a great Thanksgiving!

It's Only a JOB....

There are a lot of you out there, I am sure, who think this banter of making my shop on etsy a full time gig is a joke. However, it's days like yesterday that keep me in touch with this dream. I long to work for myself, away from the hen pecking, back stabbing and idle gossip of office women. I just remind myself that it's only a JOB!

Now I could sit here and tell you all of the things that I despise about my current job as a bank teller, but that won't change my situation. Instead, it's days like yesterday that make me refocus myself on the goal of leaving the world of women co-workers and joining the forces of the self-employed, the creative minds that make our world a better place!

This is no small goal and is no laughing matter for me. I cling very tightly to this dream of all dreams. I am working on being more focused on the things that matter and shedding the baggage of things that weight me down - things like hurt feelings, being the outsider and being shut out. I am a very strong, confident, out-spoken person and for these things that I can not change, I am often viewed as a threat and even disliked. It took me 31 years to become this person and I hope to become even stronger, more self confident and remain out spoken in the years to come. I never want to look back on my life and "wish I had...." Life is way to short to wish it away on hind-site. The decisions and choices I make help shape me into the person I am.

The next time you decide to shun a co-worker, because you find their strengths to be your weaknesses, think twice about it. Finding insecurity and brewing jealousy isn't the right answer, it only breeds discontent and sometimes even hate. Befriending someone who has the strengths you find as weaknesses in yourself, just might help you learn to develop those strengths in yourself.

Mean and judgmental is no way to protect what you have, it is only a way to lose what you just might be looking for.

Hats for the Colder Weather

I have several new hats in my shop - great for the onset of colder weather that has already hit most of us! Stop in and check them out! For more info about each hat click the photo, it will take to straight to my shop! These lovely hats will make great gifts this Christmas season!

Gray Wool Beanie

Blue Wool Beanie

There are more styles available in the shop! Stop by and take a look!

Seasons Change

As the seasons change so do many peoples cooking habits. I know mine has slowly evolved from meals on the grill to comfort food from the crock pot. We go from tons of fresh fruits and veggies to many of the frozen and canned varieties.

The other thing that has taken a toll on my cooking at the current moment is the fact that I work days and Hubby works nights. It may sound silly, but it's true. We're both pretty tired when the time to fix dinner comes around, so quick and easy wins out most of the time. That's to say we have done a lot of soup and sandwich type meals as of late. This factor will change in a week or so, when Hubby leaves his night job to finish school and seek a position in his field of study. With that change will also come my friend the tight budget, which always factors into one's cooking habits.

Last night we did well for dinner - I made baked fish, green beans, quinoa and fruit. I took a couple of flounder fillets, dipped them in flour, then and egg wash and finally into some cracker crumbs with Parmesan cheese. The fish was baked a 400 degrees for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until it flaked nicely. The green beans were fresh, so I steamed them first and then added them to a pan with some sauteed mushrooms, onion and some bacon crumbles. The quinoa was cooked in our rice cooker with a little bit of chicken broth. Quinoa is a whole grain, about the size of couscous, is nutty in flavor and cooks quickly. Over all this meal took a little time, but was well worth it!

Tonight's meal will be a much simpler affair - Tacos! Fast, easy and delicious! Try my recipe for taco seasoning and you'll see what I mean!

Friday the 13th......

I apologize for no post yesterday. Friday the 13th as it was, came in quietly and went out with a screaming headache! So I chose not to write with such clouded vision.

Today is a new day.... It's a beautiful, calm and dark morning. I am wondering if it's not the calm before the storm. All the old farmers in the area keep talking about what a rough and long winter this one is supposed to be, but we have yet to see signs of it. It was 68 degrees at 4 o'clock, yesterday afternoon, when I came home from work. That really doesn't speak of a long hard winter to me.

Other discussions this week have been of disaster preparedness, with co-workers having friends and family in the path of the latest hurricane. It really does amaze me how many people would be lost if disaster struck. So many of the younger population, my generation in fact - and younger, have little to no pantry or freezer set up. They rely to heavily on the convince of "stopping at the store on the way home." Not to mention the many other areas they take for granted - heat, electricity, water, etc.

I have done several posts on pantries and how important they are to those of us on tight budgets, but they are and important part of everyday life. More people should really create some sort of food stash, no mater how small.

Our previous home was a single wide trailer, a nice on, but space was limited. However, even with limited space we had about 4 cupboards that contained enough basics to get us through a rough winter storm in Wyoming. Now that we live in a little bit bigger home in Missouri I have a nice size pantry that is part of our laundry room.

Think about it....do you have enough food to get you through a storm, even a short storm that only last a couple of days, not to mention a week of no power? What is your plan for cold weather, winter storms and the like?

New in the Shop!

I have just added a couple of crocheted wool hats to the shop! I am hoping they sell well. Once I have finished the special order pillow cases there will be many more hats and things to come.

For now enjoy a little shopping trip, stop in see what's new, find something for that special someone on your gift giving list this year!

Shopping handmade this gift giving season means something special for everyone, give the gift of handmade this season.