Happy New Year

This won’t be the post I was expecting to do today, but I’ll save that for tomorrow!

TV:

I have spent a lot of time watching the Great British Baking Show again. I finished season 4 and tried 5, but really missed Mel and Sue and Mary so I’ve gone back to watch the Beginnings show instead. What am I going to do when I finish this???

Knitting:

I have been watching a lot of TV because I finished my sweater today:)🎉🎊

I am super happy with it even though the sleeves did end up being slightly different lengths. I’m really not sure how that happened, but I spend my life with my sleeves rolled up so it won’t bug me:)

I used Caron Simply Soft yarn and am super happy with how soft it is. The entire sweater only used 1.75 skeins!!! I have another 2.25 left for the stash.

The pattern is called Waiting For Spring and is free on Ravelry. The pattern was relatively easy to follow, but I think my thirty plus years of knitting helped. There were some issues at some of the decrease areas. I had to use my knowledge of knitting to get it to work so I wouldn’t recommend the pattern for beginners.

Eating:

Once done the sweater my parents and I had turkey dinner. It was very yummy and nice to feel like I had Christmas dinner with them.

Family:

My mom and I had bought puzzles when she was last home from Costco and we finished one tonight. Maybe we chose way too easy a puzzle🤣

Well I’m hoping tomorrow to do a recap of my year, but it will have to wait for tomorrow:)

Have fun!

AJ

Quiet Inside

It was beautiful and sunny today but I have to admit I never set foot outside.

Exercise:

I did none today after being frustrated yesterday when my exercise disappeared:(. Maybe I’ll make up for it tomorrow.

Knitting:

My sweater is going well. I split for front and back and finished the back. I now need a quiet time to work the front as it has a lot of different shaping happen at the same time. Maybe I’ll get brave and tackle it tomorrow. I think I’m also stuck because I’m not sure how I’m going to do the sleeves as I have no DPN sets with me.

Movies:

I watched Coffee Shop with my mom this morning and really enjoyed it. It ended happily so I was happy.

I have to admit most of the day was spent watching the British Baking Show. I am now on season 3. I have to admit I was shocked by the winner of season 2.

I just saw British Baking Show: The Beginning so I am curious about whether I should have started with that one.

Baking:

After watching so much of the Baking Show, I of course, had to bake. This can be great but also tough at my parent’s place. It’s great because I can use normal ingredients and not contaminate my kitchen, but it can also be a nightmare as they don’t bake, so they don’t have a lot of ingredients. Today I made brownies from this Recipe.

I learned an awesome dessert from a colleague so I took the brownies, put some cherry pie filling and whipping cream on top and called them Black Forest brownies. My parents both ate them and enjoyed them.

Well that’s it for me, and yes I’m going back to The British Baking Show🤪🤪🤪

Have fun!

AJ

Grrrr!

I woke up this morning to cold!

Exercise:

I decided not to go out this morning as I had only brought capris and a t shirt to run in.

This afternoon I realized that I may have trouble tracking my run. I walked the 5km necessary for the Squad Runner mission, but unfortunately it disappeared completely when I got home, without giving me any points:(

Grrrr😖😖😖😖😖😖😖😖😖

Shopping:

I headed into town with my mom to drop a friend off to pick up her truck. We stopped in at the local IGA and I happily wandered the aisles. I brought home a nut treat that was truly awful and went to the hens!

Thankfully I also brought home Schar entertainment crackers. They are amazing!!!! They taste like real crackers!! I’m going to have to get my mom to bring some home for me!

Knitting:

I have been knitting away while enjoying the British Baking Show. I am up to the point where I need to separate for front and back, but I decided I will do that tomorrow when it is quiet and I can concentrate.

Well I’m just starting season 2 of The Great British Baking Show so I’m off:)

Have fun!

AJ

What is this???

It was a quiet holiday day, but I was supposed to be escaping the rain!

Technology:

Last night in bed I was thinking that maybe I had dropped my headphone charger in the truck, but unfortunately it turned out not to be true:( I also haven’t heard back from any of my inquiries☹️

Family:

My mom showed me around all their recent projects. It’s neat to see all the things she has been talking about. Now I just have to talk them into letting me help.

The cutest part of the tour was the black lab who belongs to the owner:)

Exercise:

I didn’t get any exercise today so it’s going to be scary if this continues! I’ll have to talk them into letting me do work if no running occurs or I’ll go home a roly-poly little one.

The cool thing I learned today was that one of the members of my Squad Runner team lives near to where I am! Hopefully I will get the chance to meet her!!!

Knitting:

I have spent a lot of today knitting. I have decided to go ahead using the same needles as I usually have to size sweaters down. It’s a nice knit so far because it’s mostly just knitting and yet it has thirteen interesting stitches every round.

Shows:

I am officially obsessed. I am working my way through season 1 of the Great British Baking Show. This was actually the compromise between my Hallmark movies and my dad’s violent movies. Of course now all I want to do is bake!

It has rained, thunder and lightning all afternoon. I was supposed to be avoiding this by coming to Arizona!

I’m going back to the baking show!

Have fun!

AJ

Boxing Day

Definitely not my typical Boxing Day- no parties and no shopping.

Travel:

The day came early at 4:30am and I was at the airport for 6:10am. I had quite the wait, but spent it catching up on the reader and making my photos smaller in the hopes of freeing up space for more photos.

I did finally arrive in Phoenix this afternoon. All was good until I discovered that I’ve lost my storage case and charging cord for my Aftershockz headphones☹️😫😥😢. I have emailed the airline but I don’t hold out much hope. I also emailed the company in the hopes I can purchase a cord and case. Next step will be try to contact Visa. I really hate when I do this type of thing:(

Family:

I got a very nice hug from my mom and I plan to get many more in the next week. Have to build up my stores to get through another 2.5 months! We managed to get out of the airport without yelling which is quite amazing!

Shopping:

We stopped in at Fry’s in Maricopa on the way home and I was amazed at the selection of Free From products. I tried to be good as I’d like to go home weighing less!

Knitting:

I had sent yarn and needles down with my mom and brought a free Ravelry pattern called “Waiting for Spring”. I got the ribbing done and made do with yarn for a stitch marker, but I may be in trouble as it now calls for changing to a larger circular needle and I only sent one set of circular needles down. Do you think I can just go on in the same size needle?

Netflix:

I have already made myself at home and taken over my dad’s Netflix. I was super excited to see The Great British Baking Show as I’ve read about it on so many blogs. I loved it!! I liked how I could just listen and the fact that they were nice to each other and helped each other out. I will definitely be trying to watch more of this series before I go home!

Now I’m onto a Hallmark Christmas movie- Christmas Inheritence. So far it’s cute!

Well, that’s it for me:)

Have fun!

AJ

Merry Christmas

My day was surprisingly quiet but lovely. I have a few pictures to show you but unfortunately I’m yet again out of memory:( I guess I’m going to have to step up and pay and change my site. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

Baking:

I was supposed to go to my brother’s for 8:45, but my sister in law texted about 7:30 and said they were already awake and to come anytime. I quickly baked the maple nut scones I had made previously for the Fantastic Bake Along. I knew immediately they weren’t going to be as good as last time. The batter was just too runny:(. I took them anyways, but at this point I’m almost afraid to try baking anything☹️

Family:

I sat and opened presents with my brother, sister in law and nephew. I love how they do one gift at a time so everyone can see what people got. I love watching people open gifts! They surprised me with a gift card for a pedicure. It was so not necessary!

My sister in law made an amazing breakfast of egg cups, bacon and fruit salad. It was all so yummy!!!!

Cooking:

I came home and got my dressing prepared. It’s always drier when it’s made outside the bird, but boy is it yummy! I tried cornbread stuffing but definitely prefer my pork and poultry seasoning- easy and yummy!

Exercise:

With my dressing done, I got out the door for a quick run. It was painful as I was way too overstuffed from breakfast! It did feel great to get out though in the cold!

Knitting:

I finished a green vest for next Christmas season (and I wore it tonight). I also did a green headband with the leftover yarn so that’s two skeins off my stash list.

I then started a cowl for the holiday market next year when I was at Brenda’s. I’ve used up two skeins on that so far so I’ll be able to take four skeins off the list:)

Movies:

I got a change to take in Christmas Kiss this afternoon and this evening I am enjoying The 12 Men of Christmas. I have to watch this as we watched Die Hard 1 & 2 at Brenda’s and I need something sweet and happy before I try to sleep🤣

Eating:

I spent the evening at Brenda’s knitting and watching movies. I enjoyed the quiet time and the dinner was amazing!!!! It takes forever to make and it only took twenty minutes to eat and clean up🤣

Gifts:

I ended up getting two tea pots, two boxes of tea and four tea mugs. Does everyone think I do nothing but drink tea? I’m going to have to go through and cull my mug collection so I can fit these new ones into the cupboard.

Well I’m off to bed as I’m getting up super early for a flight to visit my parents in the morning. I’m not sure what the WiFi situation is down there so you will either hear from me continuously for the next week or not at all. Let’s hope for the former!

Have fun and Merry Christmas everyone!

AJ

Happy Christmas Eve

It’s been a lovely day:)

Exercise:

I went out this morning for a run, but it didn’t go all that well as I was super hungry. Running after not eating for 15 hours wasn’t very successful.

I got out again this evening for a much longer run! This one was much more successful and finished off my 9km Squad Runner mission.

Home:

I spent the morning cleaning and tidying my place. I gave myself three hours to get as much cleaning done as possible. I love having a clean house, but so don’t love cleaning!

Baking/Cooking:

I spent this afternoon cooking and baking. I started to make the dressing for tomorrow when I realized the ground pork I had wasn’t gluten free so then I had to go looking for more. I tried two stores before I found ground pork, and I never found any more non dairy eggnog:(. There went being organized and prepared:(

I am still waiting for the pork to thaw so I got the apple crumble done for tomorrow night’s dinner. I also got the maple nut scones prepared for morning. They definitely aren’t the eggnog snickerdoodle doughnuts I wanted to make, but they will hopefully be good.

Knitting:

I have spent the rest of the time knitting my green vest. I’m hoping it’s ready for tomorrow but we’ll see. I really wanted to get a white tree put on it, but that is definitely not happening before 8am tomorrow morning.

Movies:

I have definitely been hitting the Christmas movies hard today. I have watched the original Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas in Connecticut, A Very Merry Mixup, The Christmas Ornament and I am now watching Hitched For the Holidays. This is a new one for me and I am enjoying it. The lead male is gorgeous, but human. Hopefully it ends as cutely as it’s been going along!

Merry Christmas to all!

AJ

Needs to be Rectified!

It was quite the day with lots of great things!

Exercise:

I got out this morning for a run, but it was very quick. We did 3.6km as it was so wet and cold. I had managed to step out of the vehicle into a puddle over my ankles and then my feet froze. I was happy to eat out of it for tea!

Family:

After a quick hot shower and a rice cake with Pb & j. I went back over to my brother’s though I hadn’t heard from anyone. I so hate being left out of stuff. I missed breakfast:(

It was miserable all day so it was a day of doing the jigsaw puzzle and watching movies. My sister in law says it’s not normal that I haven’t seen the movie Footloose. I will try to remedy this:)

Socializing:

After a nap in front of the fireplace I drove out to meet some friends. I really didn’t want to drive for an hour in the rain, but I made myself go and ended up having a good time! There were six of us and we met at Menchies.

It was great to visit and three hours went very fast! The above picture is my mango dairy free sorbet with coconut and banana chips. I won for the cheapest ice cream. Lol I suppose allergies are good for something.

I’m home now and watching the Grinch movie in bed. I have discovered that I don’t own It’s a Wonderful Life or White Christmas on DVD😫. This is going to need to be rectified quickly!

Have fun!

AJ

Early Christmas

Yesterday was quite the busy day!

Family:

I ran to Thrifty’s for some baking ingredients and when I got back my cousin and uncle were there to deal with the truck issue. I sure hope this makes them happy!😖😖😖

Baking:

I thought I’d be going for a run, but it turned out I spent the morning making baking disasters. My nan cake was a flop:) The cake was too hard, the pudding never set, and the cocoa whip was too runny. I guess I’ll have to practice.

I quickly made a set of multiple choice bars from the Hannah Swenson Lake Eden Cookbook, but I burned the top and it was too sweet. I ended up stopping at the IGA and grabbing cherry pie filling, whipping cream and salted caramel brownies.

Christmas:

My brother and his family came from the island to my other brother’s house and then my sister in law’s brother and his family came out too (he is my other brother’s best friend). We made gingerbread houses where the children ate a ton of candy and glued everything they possibly could to their house🤣. There wasn’t much candy left for auntie Ali to use on her house.

We then bundled up and headed out to a local lake that has an amazing light display. Here we were joined by my aunt and uncle and a cousin, his wife and son. It was so neat to have so many of us together. Not all of us, but probably the most for many years! We even got a picture, of course my oldest nephew his during it. My family is definitely not Hallmark, but we got close enough for me. I realized last night that I just like us all being in one house:). We are talking about Palm Springs for next Christmas though as it would be warmer, no rain and maybe we could convince my parents to join us as they haven’t been here for Christmas in three years!!! And mom, I’m not the one who made that comment last night!

Later in the evening we walked down the block to look at one of those crazy Christmas houses. It took care of the dogs and the kids!

I finally got to bed at about 11:30 and so didn’t post, but now you know how I almost had a perfect family Christmas:) Now I just wish someone would text me and tell me what’s happening today!

Have fun!

AJ

A Bump

Has my life been going too smoothly?

Teaching:

My day with the children went fine. We wrote about the Christmas concert, glued all our art work into the scrapbooks and cleaned our desks. We then got rewarded by watching a Santa Claus movie.

Unfortunately while my students were doing so well I got an email from my strata saying my truck would be towed and I owe $200. This type of thing always stresses me out! It seems having a truck and trailer in a long spot is fine, but having a truck and car is not, someone complained. I called and of course strata manager is on holidays, so I texted my mom. She told my dad to deal with it and my uncle and cousin are coming this morning. Ugh it was still enough to wreck my day yesterday though:(

Eating:

I left school quickly ( just like all the memes going around show) and met up with my co- teacher. We went to Edible Canada and I had fish and chips and vegan crane brûlée. I really wanted to order more crane brûlée but I managed to resist:) I also tried truffle salt for the first time and it was really good!

Theatre:

We went to see Miss Bennett’s Christmas at Pemberley and it was wonderful! The actors were great! I had never thought about it before but my friend pointed out there are some similarities between Mary Bennett and myself- reader, blunt, etc. I had to laugh:). If you’re a fan of Pride and Prejudice, you would enjoy this spinoff:)

I got home super late and now have to get up and going on dessert for tonight!

Have fun!

AJ