Christmas Preps

I am having a small anxiety attack over where I am going to put people when they come to visit. Even though we’ve kept beds in all the bedrooms, those rooms are also full of sewing stuff. I am trying very hard to clear out some projects before I have to put everything away. I am also making a plan of attack for what needs to go where. I suspect some stuff, like the Accuquilt cutters and dies, will have to get moved to the yarn room in the basement for the duration. DD#2 arrives next Tuesday and she needs a good spot to set up her home office. I put her on the table with the Q20 last time, and that worked well, but what do I do with the six basted quilts that are stacked up there? (Put them on the couch in the basement, probably.) I also need to have enough stuff available to work on so that I am not sitting around with nothing to do. Oh, the horror of having to sit with nothing to do, LOL.

I’ll get it figured out. I made two weighted blanket covers yesterday afternoon and will deliver them this morning, so that’s nine yards of fabric no longer sitting on my cutting table. Grocery bags are up next. I still have to cut out my Christmas top and a sample T-shirt for my January serger class and make those. I will probably finish them on the Janome 1000cpx coverstitch and wait to unbox the new one until after Christmas. No sense adding a new variable to the mix. The closets will be filled. I’d like to put up some extra shelving in DD#2’s room, but the husband is rather stressed out at the moment and I hate to ask him to add another job to the list.

[The check engine light has not come back on and the computer is not throwing any more EGR codes, but I am still getting the drive train malfunction message. It comes on and goes off—and it did that all the way to Seattle and back—so I don’t think it’s more than a minor issue. The car is running fine. The Diva and I hauled eight bags of pig feed and did a Costco run yesterday.]

The concert for tomorrow night has been canceled, which I think is a relief to all involved, especially the music teacher. This time of year is just so hard. I am struggling with feeling like I haven’t gotten everything done that I wanted to get done in 2021, and it’s almost 2022. I am aware that some of that is the result of having a ridiculously ambitious to-do list, but if you think mine is bad, you should see the husband’s. We are two peas in a pod.

************************************************

Robin brought these pins to co-op one Thursday and I loved them:

These are made by Dritz, but I’ve also seen similar ones from other manufacturers. I usually use the yellow ball-head pins, which are fine, but I like these better. I also have the very thin glass-head pins, but I tend not to use those as they seem to have an affinity for stabbing me. I’ve picked up a couple of packages of these on my travels.

************************************************

I ordered four fruit trees from Stark Brothers this week. I would have ordered from Fedco, but they didn’t have what I wanted. I got a Macintosh apple, a Hale Haven peach (the variety my grandfather grew), a Reliance peach, and a crabapple. DSIL’s mother was telling me about a pickled crabapple recipe at Thanksgiving and it sounded good, so I thought we should put in a crabapple tree, too.

The trees should arrive in April. I would like to move the peach trees to a more protected area of the property, but I need to think a bit about where that might be. I suspect the one peach that has produced for us is also a Reliance and I think I bought it at Costco. I like that Stark Brothers tells you if what you’re selecting is hardy for your zone. Hale Haven is supposed to grow here, but we’ll see.

I’m also working on getting the indoor lettuce-growing operation up and running. If it goes well, we should have fresh lettuce after Christmas. Stay tuned.