I'm back!

Hi everyone... yep, I came back! LOL
I haven't written in 15 days! WOW! Here is why:
I ordered some books online. Then I received them and everything just stopped for a while. Anyone who is an avid reader may understand! LOL
BUT, that is only part of it. One of the books I ordered, on a whim, was "Made From Scratch" by Jenna Woginrich. She is young, mid twenties, but chose to live a simpler life away from work (she is a web designer, I think). She wrote the book when she was living in Sandpoint, Idaho; which is only about a 5 hour drive away from my home. The book is a light-hearted look at some of her trials and successes at trying to get back to a homesteaders life. She learned how to raise chickens and angora rabbits, taught her dogs to be working dogs (as well as her house pets and companions), she learned how to plant a garden and harvest the fruits of her labors... then learned how to can or freeze all her veggies. She taught herself how to sew, knit, and play the fiddle.
I read the book cover to cover-- twice! She also keeps a blog, which I am now going to be following. Ms. Woginrich now lives in Vermont, and is writing another book which is just in the proposal stage (meaning she is looking for a publisher to accept her work). I will be one of the first in line to buy it when it is available.
Jenna has inspired me to take a closer look at my life and I have decided to "disconnect" myself from many things. I realized I have not been doing the things I love to do (like crafts, baking, reading, and being by myself in the Great Outdoors just taking a walk... stuff like that). I stopped most of my Internet stuff... I didn't check my e-mail for a week, and then only every 3 days after; I stopped all my freelance writing; I stopped playing computer games; I didn't check in on anyone's blogs; and I even stopped writing here. The only computerized- Internet thing I stayed current with was Facebook, but I cut down my time with that, too. Now, after all the junkie-jitters have worn off, the only thing I really missed was this blog. I work full time, so I don't really need to write for money... at least I know I can do it if I have to. And, it was fun, but took up quite a bit of my time. Freelance writing is going to be shelved for a while.

So, what did I fill my newly found time with? Crafts and reading! The other books I bought were cookbooks focusing on crockpot cooking or casseroles. I poured over them, mouth watering, ohhing and ahhing over new recipes. I can't wait to try a few of them. The only reason I haven't yet, is I just don't know which one to start with-- LOL!! SOooo, this past weekend I fell back to an old standard and made bread. Oh yeah... Jenna's book explained how to make fresh butter. Had I known it was Soo damn easy, I would have been doing it for all these years! For those of you who don't know, go to the store... buy heavy cream... leave it on the counter overnight... in the morning pour it into a jar (I didn't have a large enough jar, so I used a plastic storage container -- aka Gladwear or Tupperware)... sit at the computer and check your e-mail or Facebook page, while giving the cream a light shaking (nothing hard, just an easy shake)... in only a few minutes the cream will become the consistency of whipped cream, but with a few more shakes, the butter separates from the buttermilk into light yellow globs. Drain the buttermilk off the butter for later use... add some salt if you like. That is it! I did have to stir the butter a few times to get all the pockets of milk out of the butter, but that wasn't any trouble. All I can say is... YUMMY! This is from a die hard margarine fan!

I have also been crocheting an afghan. It is made with 64 large "granny squares" and now only needs to be sewn together. I will hopefully finish it this coming weekend! I also tried my hand at crocheting socks! I have been crocheting for over 25 years, but I have never made anything wearable. I have one sock finished, and I am so proud of myself--LOL! I was strutting around for about 15 minutes yesterday wearing my one finished sock, fawning over it like it was a handmade diamond ring or something! It is an awesome feeling making something wearable... I should have done this years ago.

I also received the book, "The Black Dahlia" from PaperbackSwap.com . Once the afghan is finished, I am diving into that.
And so... now that I am here, online,.... I am going to check all the blogs I follow to catch up with everyone!

Many things for this Monday

I have many thoughts today, so I will try to keep each one short in order to keep this from being a novella.

On my way into work this morning, driving between Helena and Great Falls, I was passed by a young lady. She wasn't speeding or anything, just going a little faster than I was. About a half mile from where she passed me, she blew out a tire. I pulled up behind her to see if she was alright, had a spare tire, whatever... since we were in an area where there is little to no cell phone coverage. As she walked back to me, I could see she was a bit shaken, and only in her young twenties. When I asked if she had a spare and a jack, she really didn't know! So I had her pop the trunk.. I saw she did have a spare AND the jack! (So many young people take them out and forget to put them back in). I handed her the lug wrench, and she just looked at it with a quizzical expression. I knew right then she had no clue how to change a tire. I personally think that should be part of the drivers exam. The Written, The Driving, The Changing of a tire. SO, I showed her how to loosen the lug nuts, position the jack and showed her how to crank it up (lovely scissor jack), I finished removing the tire (I was late for work, and I could tell she wasn't a girl who likes to ruin a good manicure) while I had her grab, position, and re-tighten the tire into place. All said, it took only about 15 or 20 minutes. The young lady thanked me over and over again, while telling me that she had no idea that changing a tire was SO EASY!

I smiled the rest of the way to work.....

Superbowl Sunday was yesterday. That is pretty much the only football game I like to watch. I was hoping the Arizona Cardinals would win, since I usually side with the underdog team. SO Close, but no cigar. Joe was happy that the Steelers took the title once again since he grew up in that part of the country.

I got a bit off track on the dieting thing, and gained one pound since mid-January (for a one month loss of only four pounds). I knew these past few weeks I wasn't sticking to eating right, with a pizza party one weekend, Superbowl treats, and eating out a few times... and yes, that lovely piece of cheesecake from the other night! It is time to get my (big) butt back in gear for February.

I did 15 loads of laundry this weekend! Washed, dried, folded, and put them all away! I think I need to stay home more often so this doesn't happen again. And to those people who really know me... yes, I even matched up the socks! LOL

I am putting five paperbacks onto http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php. If you like to read, check it out. Very cool idea.

Joe and I went out yesterday afternoon (before the big game) to the National Forest to go target shooting with Joe's new Taurus .40 s&w. My dad is an excellent marksman and has trophies to prove it. I am not! Out of 30 shots, I hit the board the target was attached to only twice. I totally missed the target!

Still no new snow. Everything is brown and dirty. We have had some pretty awesome winds though! We are talking 40-60mph, with gusts to 70mph. If this happened anywhere in the Eastern half of the US, entire cities would be shut down... emergency procedures in place...BUT, here in Montana, we just deal with it. It is just hard to drive in!!

AND-- I picked up my crochet hooks for the first time in many, many years. Here are the results: This one is a white yarn heart that really didn't turn out as nice as I had hoped, so the photo is from a bit of a distance.

This one is worked in #10 thread, and is a small doily. The hooks I used are shown, too. The white one was my grandmothers and is made of ivory. OK, I know... don't get all environmental on me! I didn't buy it, and when Grandma did (way back when) the tragedy of ivory harvesting was unknown to the public. That hook has made many, many items; and I couldn't bear to throw it away. We went to visit my parents Saturday night and I took these hearts to show mom. She thought they were nice and kept them!

So... that was my weekend! Hope yours was fun and productive as well.