Category Archives: Sashiko

Menus and misc.

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, Sashiko by

A few pictures. The champagne was delicious. And the Superiority Tofu burgers came out really great.

Last night we had nachos with home-canned beans. It was ok, and it used up some stuff. Tonight I have some potatoes to use, so I’ll figure out what to have with them. I have some chicken broth to use, so maybe a small pot pie or soup? We’ll see what inspires me later.

I’ll check the freezer and see what needs to be used up. The freezer is about half full, so I’m making progress for sure. I’m pretty sure I won’t get rid of it unless it stops working) But I do want to completely defrost it before winter.

I got my labs yesterday and came straight home. I didn’t have the energy to go down the hill to do anything. I did some house chores and tidying, but that’s it. I slept really badly last night, so today could be iffy. It’s early yet, so if anything, I’d go to the gym because I could do the treadmill. It’s too hot to walk later in the morning right now. I also have a Sashiko book to pick up at the library.

I hope I can get the Goodwill done today, as it’s sitting in the back of the Santa Fe. So I think that’s my goal today, plus the gym. I also need to do a recycle run this week.

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY DAUGHTER!!

THEIR BOOK WON GRAND PRIZE OUT OF 2000 ENTRIES!! I’m really proud of them. Now for an agent to sell the book.

Thankful Thursday and a day trip to Napa Valley

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, Gratitude, Sashiko, travel, Uncategorized by

I am very thankful we had a wonderful day trip to Napa. I’ve wanted to go back since B died and show my daughter some of our favorite places. We didn’t spend the night, as that would have added to the expense, but we did some fun things. First and foremost, we did the Napa Valley Wine Train for their 3-course lunch.

It was such a great experience and something Barclay and I always wanted to do. the food was exceptional.

First, I showed them the RV park where we stayed in Napa. Such a great place. This time it was packed due to the fair but they got an idea of what it was. Then it was off to Oxbow and Modele’s bakery. We loaded up on goodies to bring home including their famous English Muffins.

Again I’m grateful to still be able to do these things.

It was a long day, but I felt pretty good overall.

I’m thankful we have window coolers as this heat and now the smoke from the fires is terrible. Today and tomorrow look like the hottest days.

I’m thankful that I have this time.

Today, is a home day except having to go down to the post office as a piece of important mail was put in our box by mistake and I want the person to get it ASAP.

I don’t have anything else much to do but need to tidy up some. Yesterday, at the library I got some non fiction books so I’ll look through those. One is on Sashiko, which I did enjoy doing. Maybe I’ll order some new thread. I think I got that from Etsy.

Anyway, the road goes on and on…


  (?)

J.R.R. Tolkien

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

tags: road

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, home stuff, Sashiko, Uncategorized, Walking by

A lovely fall morning. I feel pretty good this morning. Most of the dex has worn off and isn’t affecting me too much. We had a nice walk without anyone there again. It’s kind of weird since the two nice ladies haven’t been there all week. Maybe they’re on vacation. It’s pretty dark when we get there but daylight savings is less than a month away so that’ll change things.

I decided NOT to go into Anytime gym this morning and instead power washed the outside windows with the outside Windex. I’m really late on this since I do the windows once a quarter but not last quarter. It’s very easy to use the spray bottle attached to the hose.

I also started a loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread. Not sourdough just yeast. I almost always use King Arthur’s recipes. This one called for a 1/4 c veg oil which I thought was a lot but did it anyway just to see how the recipe turns out.

I’m rethinking a bread machine to make dough but not really sure yet. There are a couple of ones that I like that are in the $125 range so not like a Zojurushi. Unless I found another used Zoju I wouldn’t spend that much money for just doing the dough cycle. The one I looked at a Youtuber was using and liked that the pan was ceramic not teflon so that was interesting to me. We’ll see. mixing in the Kitchen aid is just as easy for the most part.

Here’s the quilt frame set up with the Japanese quilt on it.

I’m not trying to do perfect rows or anything, just quilting using the Sashiko stitching.

It may take a while….

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, California, camping, cooking, decluttering, Flylady, freezer cooking, Lake tahoe, minimalism, Sashiko, simplicity, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

A lovely walk this morning with a few people there. Sundays are my favorite day to walk as usually there is no one. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the weather turns.

Yesterday the pool was quite busy and I shared a lane. I noticed more of the ‘regulars’ there so it must be the news is out that the pool is open. It was still great. This week will be different as I have 2 days of doing other things and then next Sunday we’re off to Tahoe for the week. We do plan to use the gym at least 2x and walk when we can.

Here’s a sample of the Sashiko I’m doing on a pair of old jeans.

I got these 2 books from the library. Both are quite good with patterns. I liked the one on the left more.

Working with the denim was more difficult but it’s just a patch so I’m not concerned about even stitching. Just random running stitches.

Here’s a picture of the sourdough rye I made. It had good flavor and it did a fairly nice spring for being rye. Rye is hard to do but I’ll do another loaf eventually.

I’ve been playing around with sourdough focaccia too. I still haven’t gotten the top all crispy like the YouTube channel showed. I’m thinking the oven needed to be hotter?? Not sure, but I’ll keep trying. I wanted to perfect a bread that we could use for sub sandwiches and the focaccia seemed like a good option.

This morning, I plan on going to the gym for just weights, no treadmill as I walked this morning and I don’t want my knee to be overworked. Then I have double-stuffed potatoes to make and freeze. Yesterday PGE had our power off all day so I couldn’t use the oven.

Flylady zone is the bedroom. If you follow along a tip I read from Peter Walsh was ‘ask yourself what the room in question is for’, so like the bedroom is to sleep, rest, etc. So remove anything from the bedroom that doesn’t support that. No electronics for instance. After having done Feng Shui for years, I do think what you have around you does affect you on some level. I don’t do FS anymore but the principles of FS and minimalism are quite similar. Keeping things harmonious and uncluttered is key, along with subdued color palettes.

I get my labs tomorrow so I should know by Friday what we’re going to do with treatment.