For the nine months of the school year, we long for those three months of summer vacation, anticipating  less stress, relaxation, and a sense of freedom – the freedom to do all those things that there doesn’t seem to be enough time for during the rigid routine of the academic year.  So here we are, weeks into this much anticipated time.  What are we doing?

It seems we both have an issue with lack of structure.  The more we have to do, to more we get done.  No routine brings with it an almost paralyzing sense of “what do I do now?”  Our almost daily conversations have an element of “Where has the day gone?” or “I don’t feel like I have accomplished anything!” or “There are so many things that I want to be doing and I’m not doing any of them.”

We decided to stop and take a serious look at the source of these uncomfortable feelings.  What is it that we really are doing?  How are our days actually being spent?

from Kris B.

• I seem to spend more time planning than doing.  I make lists of books I want to read instead of reading them one at a time and moving on.  I peruse recipes and knitting patterns looking for things I might make “later.”  I write chore schedules in my planner and then don’t look at them.  This approach gives me a clear picture of what I want and what I need to do.  Unfortunately, it also gives me perhaps a more clear picture of all of the things that I am not getting done.
• I have discovered the Happy Color app on my iPad. It is truly mindless entertainment, a digital color by number activity.  For whatever reason, it has a power over me.  I don’t have to make any creative choices.  I can spend an hour or more with this and it feel like only minutes.  I simply match numbers to colors and the magic happens.  My brain gets a rest without being totally idle.
• I am less aware of time.  During the school year, I live by a very rigid schedule.  Everything that needs to be done is written into my daily planner and I look at and follow that schedule faithfully.  I know where every minute of every day goes.  Not so over the summer.  I don’t set an alarm most days.  We eat when we are hungry rather than at a predetermined time.  I don’t worry about how long things take.  I write things in my planner and then fail to look at it; this would be the death of me during school.  It almost was today as I hadn’t looked carefully at this week and didn’t realize that I have theater tickets for tonight. 🙂

I am worried that August will come and I’ll head back to work being resentful of the fact that I didn’t do all the things that I thought that I wanted to do over the break.  But, if I am gentle and compassionate with myself, I also realize that my mind and body need this kind of break.  I can’t go 24/7 all year long with the kind of intensity with which I do from August to May.

from Tracey G.

• I too seem to have fallen into the “there-are-so-many-things-I-want-to-do-that-I-can’t-seem-start-anything” trap. I’m paralyzed by having TOO many things I want to do and learn! I’ve a gazillion wanna-do knitting projects – which I just started one today that’s actually for me, instead of it being solely for the purpose of *learning*. Even though it is something I’ve never done before, it’s going to be trial by fire learning!

• That first entry leads me to the “wanting to learn” thing. I’ve spent so much time teaching myself how to make things (I’ve maybe not mastered them but by gosh I can make them) – I can now make: mittens, gloves, fingerless gloves, hat, scarf and many variations on fingerless mitts! But that has left no time for actually creating something – I have all these practice pieces around! But, I’m also reminding myself each stitch made is a practice and will boost my skills.

• And lastly, the above two have lead to the next thing I’ve wasted time on – knitting pattern searching. It’s a rabbit hole for sure that I’ve gone down. I’ve got so many things I want to make I have no idea if I’d ever accomplish them all! And that in a weird way also lends itself to brain inertia – overwhelming choices! But I’ve found that I’ll set out to find a certain pattern for something, and 2 hours later I’m looking at patterns for stuffed cats, which I do for another two hours…

So, dear readers:

How are you spending your summer?  Do you prefer routine or spontaneity?

It is May already!  How did that happen?  In honor of the start of this month, which begins with the letter “M” and has three letters, and because today is the 3rd of May, we are sharing our three favorite things that begin with the letter “M.”

• Music – Music is not a favorite because it is what I do for a career.  in fact some days that might be a reason for it to be removed from my favorites list. 🙂  I included music here because it has such a power over us.  It can change our mood in an instant.  It can conjure up memories.  It can help us create memories.  It can put a crying baby to sleep.  It can put a stressed out adult to sleep.  Playing music on an instrument can block out all of the ugliness in the world.  And playing music with other people is the ultimate manifestation of teamwork.
• Macaroni and Cheese  – What can I say?  I am a kid at heart.  Macaroni and Cheese is the ultimate comfort food for me.  I’ll eat the stuff right out of the blue box or a fancy “Adult” version. I’m not picky.  My favorite adult versions are Cauliflower Mac and Cheese in which the roux is replaced with pureed cauliflower.  This gives the illusion of being a bit healthier.  My other current favorite is a Pesto Mac and Cheese.  I may have to share that recipe on the blog at some point.
• Mail – I still like to get good ol’ snail mail.  Just like with real books, I like to be able to hold a letter or a card in my hands and read it again and again.  I like to know that if it gets lost, it is my fault, not the cyber-world conspiring to hide my memories.

from Tracey G.

It appears our lists would’ve overlapped a couple times, if not completely, soooooo I had to get a little bit creative. And I must say, I thought this would be so very easy to come up with 3 M things. I was wrong. Aside from the ones Kris mentioned, I was stumped and forced to look up lists of “Things That Start With M” to help jog my memory. I love Monkeys but didn’t think I’d actually list them on a list of 3 things.

Well, here it goes;

• Mayonnaise – Yes, it might sound odd, but I really do love the stuff. It’s so versatile. I think my favorite thing to do is transform store-bought into flavored varieties. And my favorite one to whip up for burgers or to dip fries in is Balsamic Mayo. I just mix in balsamic vinegar to a cup or so (more or less, depending on amount needed/wanted) to taste.

• Movies – I love watching movies. I don’t get too much time these days to indulge, but I do like to watch a good movie either home or at the theater! I really enjoy mini-marathons at home with either Star Wars or Harry Potter Movies!!

• Mobile Devices – I have come to do more on my phone these days than my laptop! It’s so convenient – I can learn things via video, watch a tv show, watch a movie, read a book, take & edit photos, find recipes, talk with a friend either via phone or text and even pay my bills! And I can do all these things (and more!) wherever I happen to be!

What are your favorite things that begin with the letter “M”?

From Tracey G.

Wow. Where did February go?? This short month really caught Kris and I “short”! So therefore, we are declaring today, March 1 2019, our own personal February 29th!

I know my month has been off-the-rails crazy. A crazy February usually is due to the birthdays of Harry and me, but this year, 7 out of the 28 days were School Snow Days. That really threw me out of whack, I started forgetting what day was what, and now having had a couple of full 5-day school day weeks has added to the confusion of where I am and what I’m doing!

I made cookies for Harry’s class treat in honor of his birthday. This year I tried something new, the paint-your-own cookie thing. There are great stencils that you apply to your plain white cookie that you covered in royal icing using black, stiffer, royal icing. When it dried, you can paint it. In the package, you include a little paint palette that’s made from food color that is activated by dipping a little paint brush into some water. It’s really cute and proved to be a lot of fun! It was an easy activity to do in class – plus not too complicated/time-consuming etc. But, the preparation took a good week of my time, lol. I set myself up a timetable to have x, y and z done by to make my life easy and a little less stressful. So, that week seemed to go by in a blur of frosting and cookies!

As for my birthday, I treated myself to a BluPrint Box – a starter kit of everything you need that corresponds with one of their start-up classes, on learning how to knit! I am having so much fun learning this, even though I’ve had my share of frustrations too, lol. I look forward to seeing myself improve and am enjoying an activity that’s non-food related and I can do anywhere, anytime. I used to crochet, but I just never really liked it much, it was just something to do, so I gave up on it years ago. It also helps I have Kris the Knitting Ninja on speed-dial when I have problems!!

And that about covers my crazy month of February! (Oh and snow, lots and lots of snow…)

from Kris B.

As Tracey said, we are calling this our own personal leap year – as in February leapt into March without us realizing it!

I feel like February in Texas can best be explained and having a flower and pulling off the petals but rather than saying, “He loves me.  He loves me not.” we say, “It’s spring.  It’s winter.  It’s spring.  It’s winter.”  We have had days in the high 70’s and yesterday we awoke to a world covered in ice.  It’s crazy!

Since my spring semester started so late this year, on January 22, it wasn’t until February that I felt like the semester was truly underway.  And now it is March 1 and I am a week away from spring break; the semester is almost half over!  Time seems so weird to me these days.  Nothing seems relative.  It’s like one day’s twenty-four hours in different from the next day’s twenty-four hours.  Maybe that is an age thing!

As I look back at My month otherwise, it has otherwise been fairly calm.  The garden and greenhouse have not much going on.  We have no family birthdays or other celebrations this month.  I’ve had no travel.  And I still don’t know where the time has gone!

I have been busy knitting.  It is my winter “sport” of choice.  And I guess I should take responsibility for pulling Tracey down the knitting rabbit hole!  Two years ago a dragged her down the Erin Condren Planner hole.  This year it’s knitting.  I wonder where we’ll go next!!!

Happy March, everyone!  Hopefully spring will be in the air in your neck of the woods soon!

from Tracey G.

This weekend Harry & I have our Birthdays. Hard to believe 10 years ago tomorrow he was born, and I was still in the hospital for my 40th.

So yeah, via that math thing that puts me at 50 on Sunday. Yikes. Another “milestone”, but – keeping fingers crossed, lol, I’m not celebrating this one with hospital fare!

I don’t know what the meal will be, we usually try to go out, and Harry and I have a shared dinner because we usually pick the same kind of place. And that can vary – I love our favorite home-style diner, certain fast foods and even some of the “nicer” places. Just depends what I’m in the mood for!

And this weekend, I’m good with anything I don’t have to fix myself (although at some point either this weekend or this week I’m making my own Birthday cake because I want to!)

But, the The February Birthday Weather Curse That has plagued me from the time I started wanting to “do things” for my Birthday, appears to not be letting me down this year either – we’re in a Winter Storm Watch for freezing rain/ice on Saturday and snow on Sunday. So Birthday Dinner Out, may have to be tonight!

from Kris B.

What’s for dinner is a question that gets asked almost every day at our house.  During the work week, I usually fix something quick and easy, something that doesn’t require too much effort or too many pots and pans.  And during the work week I find myself thinking, I can’t wait until the weekend so I can spend some time making a nice meal.

Not only do I like to bake, I like to cook as well.  I enjoy the task of daily meal preparation most of the time.  What I don’t like is to feel rushed.  Over weekends, I often cook big batches of soup, pasta sauce, beans, or other freezable fare.  During the week we then can have a decent home-cooked meal without the prep time.  Most of the time, this works well.

So here it is Friday, the start of the weekend for me.  The last thing I feel like doing today is cooking.    I’m not sure why.  The anticipation and excitement That I had Monday through Thursday about finally having time to prepare good food has disappeared. Even the thought of just making a sandwich for lunch was unappealing.  The thought of eating, however, was quite appealing.  So, we went out for tacos this afternoon.  They were delicious!

The big question still remains…What’s for dinner?

The answer…leftover pasta and salad from a bag.  I cooked the pasta itself Wednesday night and served it then with sauce from the freezer.  There is enough left for another meal.  Tonight’s the night to finish it off.  It’s bad when you are having leftover leftovers on a night when you had all the time in the world to cook.  Go figure!

My meal prep mojo better come back tomorrow or next week is going to be rough…sandwiches and cereal for dinner may suffice for a night or two, but they wont work for an entire week!  I may need to make my way to Michigan and crash Tracey’s birthday dinner!

What’s for dinner at your house?