It’s Raining, It’s Pouring, It’s even Hailing

Wow! Rainy, cold and now hail! The thunder just started! Maggie was always so afraid of the thunder and then Major would be afraid. But now he just sleeps through it. I think we are having Hamburger Soup for dinner. Sounds good for a cold, windy, rainy day. 

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/easy-hamburger-soup/

Puppy Pillow

I finally bought a design and cut some heat transfer vinyl to adhere to a 18” x 18” square of muslin. I’m happy to report my heat press works. It’s awesome. Im very happy with the finished product. Now to turn it into a pillow. Once I figure out where to put my cutting machine, I will drag out the sewing machine! I am really enjoying this new part of my hobby of paper crafting...hence the name Papertracks. 

Hygge

It has been helpful to be off social media during this trying times; quarantine, covid, and politics. 

I decided to extend my gratefulness to include Hygge. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygge 

It’s a Danish word that translates to a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. 

A nice place to be! I found a 7 day challenge of how to achieve HYGGE. 

Gratitude

Laton and I have noticed a side effect of this quarantine is a feeling of gratefulness. We are grateful for our home, our friends, our family, food, gas and the fact that we still love each other!  

One of my goals this year is to reread my Simple Abundance series by Sarah Ban Breathnach.  Today’s reading referenced a gratitude journal. Today’s essay starts with the following. 

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision of tomorrow.” -Melody Beattie

New New New!

Part of my Christmas included the purchase of a silhouette cutting machine and a heat press. I have visions of cute tee shirts, farm deco signs, baby onesies and drink koozies bearing clever sayings and pictures. 

I unboxed it and gathered the recommended supplies which required 3 Amazon orders and a JoAnnes curbside pickup. 

I prepared to download the design space software and I discovered the internet is not strong enough to allow a download. OK, plan B, I found a beta testing app on my phone that allowed a partial use of the design space program. 

I found a design, spent 2 hours, and 3 sheets of paper to successfully cut out a circle with some flowers. Whew! 

The learning curve is quite high on this venture. The visions of completed projects appears to be further in the future than I had thought. 

Going into the program again! Stay tuned! 

Yep, a circle! ⭕️ priceless?

Goodbye Facebook

I am leaving Facebook. I have loved it for keeping track of friends and family, communicating with like minded people and many not so like minded people. 

The divide that is occurring has created a frustrating situation where some people have used verbiage that borders on abuse and an atmosphere of “you are wrong and we can’t be friends unless you agree with me”. I find that unacceptable and I could scroll and block and unfriend, (Yes, I know how to use the snooze button!) but I am choosing to leave a platform that practices unequal censorship. I will let Facebook allow Iran, Venezuela and Turkey maintain their Facebook presence but I will not be part of their base. 

Follow me here and I will continue to post our adventures, travels and thoughts here instead. 

Just to show you I have not lost my sense of humor! YET!