Cloth Napkins and Other Miscellany

27 and spitting snow this morning. Yesterday and the day before, in the 50's-70's, a nice break, but today it's back to winter.

It was nice to be outside without a coat on the past two days, but only the hardy--or foolhardy--would venture out like that today. Brrrr. Winter is back, but there are signs that the Old Man is beginning his retreat. My Lenten Roses, a gift from a friend last year, are almost ready to bloom and I am so excited. I've wanted these flowers for years but the price for plants was always out of my reach. These were free, and they adapted quickly to their new home. I'll post photos soon as they actually open.

Other bulbs are slowly poking their heads through the mulch. Some years we've had daffodils just about ready to open on this date, but they're being cautious this year, and I much prefer it that way. Is there anything sadder than daffodils all bent to the ground because their stems have frozen?

I was folding laundry today and got to wondering, how many people still use cloth napkins? I like them because I never have to worry about running out; just throw a load in the washer and there they are. I sometimes buy paper ones, like when we have visitors and I need a plentiful supply on hand. But I like the cloth ones best. I put out seasonal ones in the fall and at Christmas. I keep an eye out at thrifts for them and usually find sets for a dollar or less. It's one more little thing I can do to reduce my carbon footprint.

The past few days I've been moving like a slug, not able to really concentrate on anything. I think it's because of 2 things: one, I'm working on getting all my selling data up-to-date in the computer, and that is a mind-numbing task. The end is in sight, and I feel happy that I am ahead of where I usually am at this time of year. The second reason for my fuzzy mind is because the chairs we have been working on this past week are just not worth the work we've put into them, and I feel so bummed out about that. Larry spent hours trying to remove layers and layers of paint, but had to give up. So I threw some new paint over the mess and will sell them as garden/porch chairs for vintage decor or for plant stands. Ah me. 

Then I started painting a table, got interrupted, and when I went back in there I found where the paint had run and had started to dry. So that had to be sanded off. I was also working on a china cabinet--painted the inside but had to wait on Larry to do some work on the outside, and that stopped me until he could get to it--which wasn't until this afternoon. Another cabinet, an oak flatwall, is also in limbo. Larry stripped it back to the wood and I painted the inside white, then intended to stain the outside but when I got out the stain I wanted to use, the can was nearly empty. So another project on hold until I can get to the store. 

But on the other hand, I did get the herbs spices sorted out today. It's been a year since I did that, and I was able to find some that were mysteriously hidden when I was looking for them, and others that just needed to be dumped. I mixed up a large batch of my Italian seasoning while I was at, using the herbs I dried last summer. 

And I baked a batch of cookies--Snickerdoodles. My son Derek was here for dinner last night after working on a renovation project at the community center with some neighbors. I mentioned that I dumped out some chocolate chip  cookies from Christmas that I'd forgotten about, and he said that he didn't care much about chocolate chip cookies, but snickerdoodles were a different matter. So of course I made some today and will take them to him tomorrow when he helps us with moving a huge woodenIndian at the antique mall. Not our Indian, it belongs to another vendor but the buyers are coming up from North Carolina to get it tomorrow and the mall owner recruited us to help load it---so we in turn recruited Derek, so we'd have some younger muscle for this huge heavy Indian. 

Cookies, spices, and more data entry--along with the usual housework, ebay and laundry, not too bad a day in the end.

Do you ever have days like this, when you feel like you're just beating your head against the wall? Now that I read back over what I've written here, I realize that it really wasn't too bad a day after all. Here's to a good weekend for us all.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.