We have been busy beavers lately. Last year at this time, I had three jobs and was rapidly losing my mind. This year, I can actually focus on the house and yard. I feel much more settled.
We finally put up the hanging pegs we decided we needed in the bedroom. I think we’re going to paint it blue maybe, to match the bottom walls, but for now it’s grey.
We have some spring bugs coming in again, so it really was time to get my purse and work bag off the floor. The Husband also hung new work lights downstairs over my sewing area and now I really need to clean it up. I can see everything! 😳 I knew I had to clean up anyway, in prep for moving back down there for the summer sewing season, but those lights make it hard to ignore things.
We also broke down yard projects by section last weekend and started on some of them this weekend. We chopped a bunch of the out of control front landscaping and I pulled everything from the side of the garage. This was about halfway through.
I ripped weeds! Pulled dead things! I tore out trees! With my bare hands! Well… with a huge trimmer, while wearing gloves. 🙂 Now it looks like this:
Doesn’t it look so much better already? I’m going to put my fairy garden here. It will mostly be in planters and will have butterfly and bee friendly flowers in it. If the ground cover gets too crazy, we may rip it all and put down mulch.
The Husband chopped up some tree limbs that had fallen on our windy day, mowed the grass, and wielded the leaf blower and hedge trimmer. I feel much better about the yard now knowing we can take it in small chunks and get things done.
We were going to get the garden started, but we couldn’t find the tiller at our inlaws. We did get it staked.
Hopefully next weekend, we can till that spot up and get started. So that’s some yard/ house projects from the month. Let’s move on to the food!
Food Review
I used 19 recipes this month. 10 were new recipes. Hits were the fried chicken, prosciutto wrapped chicken, the white pizza sauce, and the dulce de leche ice cream.
The pasta in this picture is homemade fettuccine! Pasta is definitely not as scary as I always thought it was.
Chicken seems to turn out well for me. It’s one of the meats I can regularly eat more than once without texture issues. I also made a different version of spaghetti with a can of sauce and 3 cans of tomatoes. It was much less liquid.
We did have some misses, including one that was so bad, I didn’t even blog about it! 😬 It was a crockpot version of Italian Wedding soup, but it got weird after the noodles were added and got all slimey and starchy. Blech. I don’t even want to talk about it, except to say, don’t cook noodles in the crockpot ever… The other miss was more of just an “eh..” moment. Beef stew in the crockpot. Wasn’t great, wasn’t horrible.
I honestly think that this blog has improved my cooking skills. I wasn’t as confident about trying new recipes, or trusting my instincts when it came to seasoning. We also haven’t had very many misses lately, so that has to count for something. I also used my spice grinder that I got for Christmas and will be definitely using it again. It made it very easy!
Speaking of skills that have improved, let’s move on to the sewing review.
Sewing Review
I have made 5 projects this month. I have made four more in the past three days, but those haven’t been blogged about yet. Stay tuned for Monday or Tuesday!
My favorite has been my polka dot maxi skirt.
It’s so comfy and lovely. Plus, I saved $36, plus shipping! 🙂
I actually loved everything that I’ve made and am proud that I’m using my stash. It’s so fun to walk in wearing something I made and get to tell people that.
Here’s my other polka-dotted item.
My secret pajama shirt with my very first knit neckband. It’s a proud moment for me. I blame my friend and Instagram for that. She and all these other people keep making all these cute knit things and I couldn’t be left behind!
So far, I’ve made 28 or 29 projects since January. If I keep this up, I might beat last year’s record!
So, for goals this month, I have mainly the same ones.
Food Goals
* Try a new technique, or equipment
* Meal plan consistently. I don’t know why this one is so hard for us, but it is. I end up panic cooking halfway through the year
* Pantry meals 1x per week, at least
* Make more side dishes
Craft/ Sewing Goals
* Complete decorating office clipboards
* Decide on summer decorations/ make summer decorations
* Complete Me Made May
* Go through clothes and get rid of unworn ones
* Make 2 solid color or neutral pattern dresses
* Use my serger!!
I think that’s it. I’ve got another shirt waiting on me to sew, and a sad puppy wanting pets.
Have a good night!
