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Archive for the ‘Everyday’ Category

Toasty Warm On A Frigid Day

Posted in Everyday, Food, tagged , , on January 21, 2013| 7 Comments »

How are you all on this lovely Monday?  Things couldn’t be better at the Auntie B’s Wax World Headquarters.  I’ve been away from the day job since Thursday afternoon and this long weekend has been spent gloriously.  So many things accomplished!  So much well-deserved rest!  Tomorrow I return to the day job, but I’m not going to think about that right now.

An interesting thing about this weekend ~ I didn’t turn on the computer for two whole days!  I know, for some of you that may seem like nothing.  Others may wonder, how did she do it?  For one thing I’ve noticed my right (mousing) wrist is a little painful.  I didn’t avoid the computer for that reason, but I’m sure my delicate wrist appreciates the vacation it got.  For another thing, I found plenty of other things to do.  That’s right, there is a life outside of Facebook and Monkey Gems.

I may be sharing posts about some of the things I’ve been up to.  Like what I found when going through three boxes of stuff I nabbed from Husby’s parents’ house when we cleaned it out for sale.  Or like what I’ve been thinking about while laying about in bed in the mornings, not having to get up at the crack of dawn (earlier, actually) to go to the day job.

One thing I’ll share with you today is that it’s -6 degrees here at the headquarters in Minnesota.  I’m happy to be cozy in my house without any reason to go out into the blistering cold weather.  But I’m also happy it’s cold out, because that’s what winter in Minnesota is supposed to be.  On icy cold days like this how can one resist baking something sweet and delicious?  I know I can’t.  So I whipped up a couple of loaves of pear bread.  They’re cooling on the racks as I write this, and I can hardly wait to dive in and taste some.  The house smells of cinnamon and sugar and juicy, ripe pears.

If you have an itch to make some of this wonderful pear bread, you can find the recipe I used here.

I hope you’re savoring all the winter season offers, even if it’s something as simple as a piece of warm pear bread you’ve made yourself.

Off I go to make the best of the rest of my day, for tomorrow I’m back to the grind.  Stay warm!

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There Is No Better Motivator Than A Flannel Nightgown

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , on January 17, 2013| 6 Comments »

It all began with an uber productive weekend.  I couldn’t believe all the things I was accomplishing and thought some kind of weird energy pill was slipped into my morning Diet Dr. Pepper.  (No, I’m so immune to caffeine by now the pop didn’t give me the energy.)  Not only was I accomplishing things on Friday when I got home early from my day job, but Saturday and Sunday were also filled with satisfying task completion.  I felt so good about all I had accomplished I wanted to keep it up…for the rest of my life.

Then came Monday.  I went to the day job and when I got home I was exhausted.  Husby said it’s no wonder, seeing how hard I worked all weekend.  I brushed that excuse aside and continued to berate myself for not feeling like doing anything.

As I sat on the couch staring at the TV my mind began to wander.  I was thinking about going to bed, even though it was only 6:30 p.m.  It was a good thing, though, because I visualized myself in bed with my favorite winter nightgown.  What?  I hadn’t worn that nightgown in two winters!  Where is it?  I need its flannel lovliness! 

It was stored in the Rubbermaid hamper in my closet, along with all of the other sewing and mending projects I had put off for, yes, years.  Although I was tired I decided I could at least mend the torn seam on the sleeve of my nightgown.  So I did.

How refreshing it was to take to the needle and thread and hand-mend that seam!  Not only did I get it mended up, I came back to life and decided to do some more! 

I finished up a pillow covering I had started years ago, made from an old blanket from my grandparents’ house.  I sewed a couple of buttons onto a sweater I haven’t worn in years, and I stitched up a torn seam that was separating the neck from a sweater.  These things had been laying around for (do I have to say it again?) years.  And now they are repaired and ready for action!

I wore my favorite nightgown to bed that night, and none of my stitching came undone, so I think I did a pretty fair job.  As much as I didn’t want to do anything that night I was amazed at how just a little motivation and discipline kind of snowballed. 

P.S.  The rest of the week has been going well too!  Getting lots of things done and feeling very energized about it!

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Of Cleansers And Vampires

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , , , , on January 11, 2013| 6 Comments »

Oh what a sorry excuse for a blogger I am.  But the good part is I’m actually writing every day as I resolved.  None of it is good enough or interesting enough to show you, though.

It’s a dreary, wet day here at the Auntie B’s Wax World Headquarters, the kind of day I just love.  It inspires me to be domestic and cozy.  I like Fridays because I get to leave the day job at 10:00 a.m., which gives me a long weekend every weekend.  I also use Fridays, for the most part, as a homekeeping/cleaning day.  Another of my resolutions that I didn’t site in the resolution post is to honor Friday as a homekeeping day more than I have been.  It’s so easy to look upon the hours ahead of me as freebies.  But now that I’ve become more disciplined I should be able to get my weekly housekeeping chores done while most people are still slaving away at their day jobs.

The best part about getting the house work done on Friday is that there are still two whole days left to do as I please.  I can work on creating things for the upcoming 2013 craft shows.  I can write blog posts.   I can list things in my Etsy shop.  Husby and I can go out and do something together, like go antique shopping or take on a home improvement project that requires both of us.  I can also just laze around and watch movies or read magazines if I want.  The possibilities are endless!

When I’m finished with my cleaning and tidying today Husby and I are going to settle in by the fire and watch Dark Shadows.  I used to be a huge Dark Shadows fan when I was in grade school and would race home so I could watch.  Of course looking back on that dreadful soap opera it is practically comical, and I hear the movie isn’t much better.   But it’s got Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, so it can’t be all bad.

Are you old enough to remember the Dark Shadows soap opera?  Have you seen the movie yet?  I’m looking forward to it.  For now I’m going back to my cleaning duties, and I’ll leave you with this little bit of ’70s entertainment.

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The Day The Decorations Came Down

Posted in Everyday, Holidays on January 7, 2013| 2 Comments »

It was sort of a sad weekend as I spent a lot of it taking down all the Christmas decorations.  The twelve days of Christmas are now officially over, so down to storage it all goes.  Except for the tree, of course, which is now propped up against the woodpile in our back yard.  The squirrels are always happy to see a new addition to their playground.

I’m happy about getting the house back to normal for only one reason ~ I applied one of my resolutions to get it done.  Discipline.  I didn’t want to take it all down because 1) it means Christmas is really over, and 2) it’s hard work for something that just went up a little while ago.  But I remembered myself and said in my mind, oh, just do it!

When I was finished I was glad I applied myself despite the fact that we’re now lacking that rosy glow and sparkling shimmer that comes with a Christmas tree.  To combat complete withdrawal I lit a bunch of candles on Sunday night to give the room a softer glow.  And as you know there is no shortage of candles at the Auntie B’s Wax World Headquarters.

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I Resolve To…

Posted in Everyday on January 1, 2013| 4 Comments »

It’s time once again to make those dastardly resolutions. I know I don’t really have to do it, but there are so many things I would like to make habit, and that’s where resolutions come in. The problem is, I don’t usually remember my resolutions beyond February so I’m going to document them here for quick and easy reference. I might even add to them as time goes on.

1. Write every day. Even if I’m just writing on my invisible blog (yes, one exists) I want to write every day. I don’t know why I want to write every day, I just do. I wish I wanted to play the piano every day because I’ve neglected that for way to long, but I’m not compelled to do that like I’m compelled to write. I don’t even know what I want to write about. That doesn’t matter. I shall try to write something every day whether or not it is published.

2. Organize my dang self. Every year I vow to become more organized. Every year I fail. Not that I’m terribly disorganized, but I would love to have a place for everything and everything in its place (lesson taught by my dad). The problem is, I don’t feel like organizing my things or my time even though I know I’ll be much less anxious if I do. Which leads us to resolution number three.

3. Get myself some discipline. I don’t care if I feel like it or not, I must do things like organizing the closet, fixing dinner more than twice a year, and *gasp* exercising. If I had more discipline I would definitely be more organized and have time to write every day. I would also be able to pull myself away from those time-sucking, games I play on the computer to avoid doing what I want/must do.  (Mah-Jongg Dark Dimensions and Monkey Gems. Yes, you heard me correctly…Monkey Gems) Therefore, I’m going to formulate a little drill sergeant in my head to get myself going. A very mean and hateful drill sergeant. But he’ll be so proud of me when I do as he says.

4. Don’t be so uptight about my business and blogging. I don’t really consider myself “uptight” about these things, but I could be more loose. It’s all just for fun, so why don’t I have more fun with it? I impose my own quotas and deadlines so why do I become riddled with anxiety? So what if I don’t have enough product to do thirty shows a year? Or seven? There’s no law that says I have to go and sell my things at a specific number of shows every year. There’s also no law that says I must post every day, about certain things, or have X-number of pictures posted. Criminy, lighten up.

So how does that sound? When all is said and done I guess I basically want to simplify my life so I can do more things out of pure enjoyment. There’s no excuse for someone like me to feel cluttered and chaotic so dang it, I won’t. Hopefully. You all know how New Year’s resolutions turn out.

But I have new pages for my planner and I’m also making excellent use of my new List Book (we might get into that some other time…or not). Much more important to executing resolutions is taking actual action instead of making lists about it. I think I’m ready.

How would you like to see your life improve in the coming year?

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