A New Chapter

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

January is over!

Photo by my brother Gary

I have come to realize that January is my least favorite month! It's cold and gray, and I just want to hibernate.

And OK, I did more than my share of hibernating so far this winter. But you know we've recently had a few days of sunshine, and I'm ready to bust out of that sluggishness and DO SOMETHING. ANYTHING.

So what can you do during cold days? Visit with friends and family. And yes, sometimes there is eating involved...

We checked out a new restaurant in Fountain Square with our friends Chuck, Brian and Stacy. The restaurant, Pioneer, specializes in its take on Western European food, and Mike and I shared a small plate of German potato pancakes and a wonderful sausage plate served over mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. I can't wait to go back there again!

Brian, Stacy, Chuck, me and Mike at Pioneer

John Gorka

After dinner we headed to a concert at the local community center. John Gorka is an awesome singer-songwriter, we enjoyed his music in this small venue of about 100 people.

There was a fun birthday party for my great niece Violet. Her favorite gift seemed to be big pink slippers with claws.

Where do I get slippers like that?

John, me and Mike at Capri

We celebrated our friend John's birthday at a great little Italian restaurant called Capri.

Me, mom and Mike in the family truckster

We visited mom last weekend. On Saturday we decided to go for a drive and ended up in New Harmony, Indiana. We toured the town and drove through the beautiful Harmony State Park.

It seemed like we had Harmony State Park to ourselves. It is a beautiful, hilly, forested park that is adjacent to the Wabash River. We ventured off the beaten path to travel some oil well roads that were next to the river. Once or twice we questioned driving through some muddy areas, but it sure made for an exciting trip!

Bridge over the Wabash River

Mike standing next to this tall field of grass near the river. Kinda creepy (tall grass, not Mike)!

Beautiful hillside

Yes, those are sheets of ice along the water!

On Sunday we enjoyed my nephew Dane's basketball game which was a nail-biter for sure. They won by two points in overtime!

Who has the ball? Dane is in the center of the picture.

Enjoying the game with family. Mike, Adam, Peggy, Gary, Angie and Eric.

And as you might expect, I have been spending time in my studio working on various crafts.

Here is a latch hook rug that my mom completed. I finished it with rug binding, and Mike hung the rug. It is absolutely beautiful!

I sewed a couple of valences for mom's windows, and we hung them this past weekend.

We started our second semester of jewelry and metalwork. Our first project is silver earrings, and I'll share some pictures when I finish them.

One thing that you can't miss in January of a presidential election year is the Iowa Caucuses. And this year I was homesick for Iowa and my home in the Des Moines area. The T.V. coverage of the city, views of the downtown area and reviews of restaurants made me wish I was back there. Or at least I thought so until I heard they had a blizzard there the day after the caucuses!

In early January I wrote an article that was published on the Retirement and Good Living blog. You can find it here: Ten retired friends. Ten very different retirement paths.

And now that I've survived January, I'm looking around for Spring. I thought I found it yesterday when Spring-like storms moved through the area. Here's a picture I took yesterday near our house...both beautiful and scary!

Hope you are having a great week!
Diane

Saturday, January 16, 2016

January nesting

50 degrees

8 degrees

It's a strange January. 50 degrees one day and 8 degrees the next. Rain one day and snow the next. I guess this is El Nino in the Midwest.

Enjoying road trip to Dunkin' Donuts in the Jeep

And you know what snow means??? A trip to Dunkin'' Donuts! We started this tradition a couple of years ago. A new snowfall gives you "permission" to eat donuts. What can I say? We try to make the best out of winter.

Breakfast with Foghorn Leghorn

Preparing a meal

We started the new year with our friend Stan visiting us for several days. Stan joined us for a great New Year's Eve party with our friends Brian and Stacy.

We cooked meals together, watched a lot of football, and Stan and Mike completed a few chores around the house.

I may have a slight case of cabin fever as I continue to fight this crud(cold? pneumonia? sinus infection?). I decided to tackle a few projects that have been waiting for me.

I added rug binding to a latch hook my mom made for me.

Cutting mesh to 1 inch wide

Folding mesh over and using iron on rug binding to secure

Finished latch hook rug ready for hanging

I also pulled out a needlepoint project that I'm sure I haven't touched for at least 20 years. I've been working on it at night while watching television. Somehow that makes me feel productive and less of a couch potato!

Side view

I asked Mike to make me a wooden box for the mantle. I saw this idea on the Thrifty Decor Chick blog, and I thought it would be fun.

Mike used leftover pieces of red cedar from our screen porch to build a 37 inch long box.

I found these silver balls on sale at Pier One, and they add some great texture to the mantle.

Box on mantle

And I've been in a cooking frenzy this week. Chili, barbeque pork chops in the crock pot and banana bread to name a few. And this morning we had steel cut oats in the crock pot, a recipe from the Nita Dances blog. Yum! Here's the easy recipe if you want to try it.

Crock Pot Steel Cut Oatmeal
3.5 cups of water
1/2 cup milk
1 cup steel cut oats
Put in small crock pot (at least 6 cup) overnight on low heat.
In the morning stir the oats and serve.
We added brown sugar, cinnamon, dried cranberries and pecans.

I've also been enjoying reading more this month. I finished the book "Trident" by Jason Redman. He was a Navy Seal in Afghanistan and Iraq, this is his story. I would highly recommend this book for an inside glimpse of a true American hero.

Winter sunsets are amazing!

So, here we are. Half way through January. And a few projects await. I'm getting ready to start sewing some valences for my mom. I purchased the fabric this week, and it's been pre-washed and is ready to go. And then there's a book in progress and my 20 year old needlework project. Hopefully that will get me through this longest month of winter...

Have a great week!
Diane

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Look back at 2015

Possibly I've been watching too much television. As the news programs review the events of 2015, I have been thinking about my own year. If a picture is worth a thousand words, you might want to grab a cup of coffee and prepare to read this novel...