It’s been a while, let’s see if I can get back into this shall we?

1. Walter LOVES watching the birds at our feeder… we are absolutely plowing through bird feed in these cold temperatures and with snow covered ground. I think we’re going to have to start purchasing industrial sized bags or something! I filled it to the top this morning and 2 hours later it was empty. This is Walter’s favourite hang out and entertainment of choice… starlings, chickadees, crows, and seagulls all add to his entertainment value.

2. I sidetracked from custom orders today to sort some fabric scraps and kept a wee bit for myself. These being some of them, aren’t they lovely? I’m working on this project now, so it will be done tomorrow with photos. It’ll be up on my FB page if you’d like a peek, otherwise i’ll share soon!

3. I miss sitting out here relaxing… reading, doing puzzles, bird watching, soaking in the sun, hanging out with my youngest as she loves being outside as much as I do! I really can’t wait for spring. I will need to add another coat of paint/sealant to the deck as the salt has done a doozy on it this winter… *sigh*

4. I have the BEST sister, bar none. She noticed this book sitting on my Amazon wish list, for like 2 years, *blush* and just found it at Goodwill for 50% off! She thought of me grabbed it for the huge price of $2.50 – Score!! I’m so excited to receive this book and finally see it in person! So thankful! Made my week!

5. It’s the little things. My husband downloaded the “Viki” APP for me as he knows I love to watch K-dramas & have been wanting to watch “Ghost Doctor” with RAIN in it. I don’t watch much tv, but K-dramas are fun and I love the storylines. Anyway, i’ve been wanting to watch this since it came out, and now I can! I’m 4 episodes in and enjoying it so far!

Ok, that’s 5 things! I’m off for now, hope everyone had a great Friday!

1. Current Read: My next read from the library, “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein. I don’t know why but lately i’m loving these books based on animals. I think i’m getting soft in my old age, *wink* and also, they’re easier to focus on. My mind is so cluttered lately, my days have been so busy from morning til night, so reading something intense right now (usually I read historical fiction & non-fiction) is just not something I can do. Everywhere I turn lately there’s something “bad” that just happened to someone or somewhere, and it’s disheartening. I just want to focus on the good… it’s better for my heart & soul.

I saw this on my library book site and thought it looked & sounded sweet. So this will be my read this weekend!

2. Finance: In just *one week* we can make our first lump sum payment on our mortgage! I’m pretty excited, I know this is probably ridiculous but I managed to save more than what I had planned on paying so i’m going to add a bit more to our first payment! Ideally if we can repeat this payment yearly, in 9 more years we’ll be mortgage free! Which means the entirety of our mortgage would only be 10 years, compared to 30. *thud* God willing with a tight budget and minimal spending on “luxuries” (basically we buy food and needs), we can pull this off! Ahhh seems so unreal, and we may not be able to do this, but i’m going to give it my best!

3. Food Waste: Last week I posted a pretty shameful pile of items which hit the compost bin due to food waste, this week, *zero* food waste, not one thing! Quite happy with that… now to keep it up! Also, food prices, ugh. So horrible… we went shopping a couple times this week as the first time we went there were no sales on meat and everything was so expensive. So we grabbed the other items we needed and decided to try again for meat on sale, score! We found a full weeks worth of meat and ALL of it was on sale! Either because of the flyer flip or it had $4 & $5 off stickers slapped on them!

Side note: I have a lot of food allergies, so please don’t suggest that I “eat beans”.

4. Embroidery: I purchased this beautiful canvas print on sale a while back, actually it was last fall to be exact and as of yet, I have not started it. It is my intention to start it this weekend, if I don’t update with a progress photo within the next week, feel free to call me on it. lol! Isn’t it beautiful though!? I love to put on classical music and simply focus on handiwork, I find it very soothing and calming.

Do you hand embroider or cross-stitch?

5. Weekend Plans: I have absolutely no weekend plans, and i’m hoping that it stays that way! We’re supposed to have a horrible few days of weather out here, no sun, tonnes of rain, and with all the snow we have right now, it’s going to be a huge, messy, slippery ice rink out there! It makes my heart skip a beat just thinking about going out in icy weather… so, hopefully I get my wish and can stay home all weekend. Warm & dry, no broken bones & just do things around the house. I have plenty enough to keep me busy anyway! If I get bored enough I may even turn on the tv and see if I can find a half decent movie to watch on Amazon Prime.

Any movie suggestions for something “light”?

Well, that’s it for me today! I hope everyone had a great week! Do you have any exciting weekend plans?

1. Food Waste: Ugh. Over the holidays was not good… I cleaned out my fridge and the following had to be tossed – homemade soup (it didn’t turn out as well as it usually does so we didn’t get through it) old pasta that the kids weren’t sure when they cooked, some cake that Mya didn’t eat, the bottom tub of a yogurt (again Mya) and an old lemon that got lost in the back of the fridge. I pledge to do far better over the next week! I feel so guilty tossing food in the compost, food is so expensive right now, it makes my stomach turn when we have any type of waste.

2. Amendment on my New Years Goals: Goal #3, instead of donating to the local food bank during the first week of the month, i’m going to move that to the end of the month. It gives me more time to collect a few things throughout the month, therefore i’ll be able to donate more in the long run.

3. Need a solution/suggestion for clothes hampers please: The photo below is how our clothes hampers are stored beside my stackable washer & dryer. It drives me nuts… clothes can’t really be sorted as they’re tossed in so i’m sorting everything once their full. I’d like one for clothes, one for “others stuff” (kitchen rags, cloths, towels, etc). I realize I could buy one of those metal sorted cloth hampers, but I’d much rather use the hampers that I already own. Does anyone know of a way to stack them so they’re not “stacked on top of each other” so to speak? The only things i’ve seen to separate these baskets are wooden shelves & cost $300 & the like! *faint* Too rich for my blood, does anyone have any ideas/suggestions to share by chance?

4. Christmas ‘comes down’ at my house this weekend! It is time, and my husband is off all weekend, so it’s a great time to take down the tree and pack away my nutcrackers and other decorations… I do absolutely love my Christmas tree and the gazillion lights I have on it, but it’ll be nice to not have to ‘shoo’ the cats from it a million times a day and climb under the tree to fix the tree skirt a million and one times a day.

This was our very first Christmas in Cape Breton, and although it was quiet, it was really lovely. A little tough not seeing my family & friends, especially my two oldest kids and their wonderful spouses, but that’s life. Perhaps next year…

5. My one week blogaversary!! Ok, i’m just kidding, but seriously it’s been one full week since I started to blog again and i’ve received such awesome feedback!! Thank-you so much for reading and your kind & thoughtful comments! I’m really enjoying blogging again, and am glad that I took the plunge and went for an ad-free blog! I’m lovin’ it!

I’m still working on the layout of my blog and trying to sort things out and make it look good, without accidentally deleting the entire thing… lol! I’ll keep trying to work things out until I get it exactly how I like it! WordPress sure has changed a lot in the last however many years since I used to blog on it! For the better though – I absolutely LOVE the WordPress APP!! It’s amazing!

Anyway, a BIG thank-you to those reading and an extra thank-you to those to take a few moments to comment and like my posts! xox I’ll be back tomorrow with an update to my “Declutter 100 Things Challenge!”

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How has your first week of January been? Good, bad, or downright ugly?