We survived!

 We survived the weather event. I'm not sure what to call it.  It got cold.  Real cold. 

This is what I woke up to on Saturday. Note the time stamp. 

A little bit later ... 

Crazy, right? 

The wind wasn't blowing much, thankfully. Otherwise I think it would have been really miserable out there. 

When my son was little we listened to a LOT of Frog and Toad.  This image seems so appropriate right now. 

I'll complain about the snow, the ice, and just about everything else, but I don't much complain about cold.  Why? Years and years ago I listened to a podcast where a WW2 vet was interviewed, and he spoke about the coldest December of his life, when he was serving, and his group/regiment spent at least 30 days outside in the cold. Hearing someone speak of their experience puts things in perspective, and how good we have it now. 

Saturday we went to town, partly because we didn't have anything pressing to do at home, and I had a grocery list of things to get. 

I decided to take some photos on the way. 

The ore dock in Allouez. 

The Richard Bong Heritage Center

The S.S. Meteor Whaleback ship.  The last one in the world. Can you see the haze in the background? That's fog coming up off the lake. 

Then we got up on the Highbridge This is overlooking Superior, mostly industrial. 

Still on the Highbridge. I was trying to get a better shot of the fog/mist coming off Lake Superior. The strip of land you see is Park Point. 

Now we are over in Minnesota. Part of the whole "Where rail meets sail" bit. 

We stopped at Sam's, Fleet Farm and a few other stores, before heading back home. 

Nothing really exciting happened on Saturday afternoon/evening.  I tidied things a bit, and made supper. Then I did some knitting and some cross stitching.  I was feeling a bit crappy so I didn't have much motivation to do anything if I didn't have to. 

Sunday we woke up to temps below zero again.  This time I didn't bother doing a screen grab of the current temp and real feel.  No one needs to see those low numbers again and again. ... I was feeling a bit better so I had the energy to make some chocolate chip cookies.  It wasn't until I had half the batch already cooked that I realized I forgot to put the baking powder in. *facepalm* The texture was off, but the flavor was still good. 

My son still ate them. 

What it looked like outside when you looked out the kitchen window. 

Again, I didn't spent more time outside than I had to. 

I spent some time in the morning watching flosstube videos and gardening videos. 

It was so nice to see some green, after seeing snow for the last couple of months. 

I worked on my Armande Cardigan, mostly, during the day, when I was sitting long enough to knit. 

I suspect I may have goofed on the pockets. Ope. If I did, no biggy. Depending on how bad they look will determine if I rip out, or keep going.  I'm not on a deadline or have a timeline for this project. 

In the evenings I worked on my snapping turtle. To paraquote a movie line, I just can't quit it. I want to keep working on it until it's complete. 

This photo is actually from Friday. I'm too lazy to take an updated photo right now. 

It looks like this may be it for the subzero temperatures.  At least for a while. 

And I just realized I didn't write show notes yet for my last flosstube. ... *sigh* 

How do these brats know it's safe to be seen during the day now?  And they are all flocked together. 

Every year it still marvels me. 

The coldest day of the year, more to follow, and some pretty sky shots

 Yesterday was the coldest day of the year. If I remember correctly the temperature never got above zero degrees F.

This was a screen shot I grabbed yesterday, after being roused before my alarm and being told the Northern Lights were going. 

My gosh, they were SO pretty. There were flashes in the sky, like lightening.

When they weren't dancing across the sky. 

If it wasn't so bitterly cold I would have been out there longer than the two to three minutes I was.  It took a bit to warm back up once I stepped back in to the house. My husband shot these photos. 

Today was better, temperature-wise.

Today was also my first day back to work after taking a week off.  In what has become a recurring theme, I was using up vacation time before I lose it. Next month is my work anniversary.  This year will mark my 23rd year at the paper. 

Not much to say about work.  Work was work. Though there were more emails than I was expecting.

I checked the book of faces just a bit ago.  This is one of the local news sites. 

Yes, the blasted cold (no pun intended.) I had heard the digital whispers about the cold arriving this week. I didn't want to think about it just yet.  Then someone messaged me, asking if I was in the area where there is the "exploding trees" warning.  

Turns out I *am* in that area. I've heard trees pop from the severe cold, when I'm out in the back 20, sitting in a hunting blind.  It does catch you by surprise.  To see them write "Exploding trees," however, paints a different picture in my mind's eye, and it does give me a bit of concern about just how quick the temperature is supposed to drop tonite. 

But, as I told a coworker today, I'd rather the cold than more snow. You don't have to move cold. The last round of having to move snow made some muscles very unhappy and I'm just now starting to feel better. 

Earlier in the month Becca of SambrieStitches held a giveaway over on her Instagram account. I won and the prizes were received in the mail yesterday. 

It was so much fun to win these from Becca.  She included some stickers and you know me and stickers.  I saw the one and thought "Hmmm, I wonder if that will fit in to a cabochon."

It almost did. I did have to trim a part off the image, which was a bummer. 

Now when I work on one of the charts I have from her I will have a thread charm (Floss bling? I can never remember) to go on the floss ring. 

The light is hitting it in such a way that it looks like a spill on there.  I promise that is not what it looks like in real life. 

Recently I started watching "Supernatural." I'm moving through the series pretty slow. I'm still in season one. 

Tonite I saw an episode and had to pause the show and look it up.  The storyline was about a family and the whole vibe reminded me of that one X-files episode with the mom and the sons.  You know the one. If it was like that then I was going to stop watching this particular episode.

Anywho, the family wasn't like that.  They just *really* liked hunting. A lot. ... 

But what really got me was the wikipedia description of that episode. 

Set in contemporary Hibbing, Minnesota? Are you freaking kidding me? Nu uh.  Nope.  That is false information. If that is what they think Hibbing is like, they haven't been there. 

Ahem. ... and that is my rant for the day. 

I don't know what the rest of these week will hold.  Probably not much, since we'll be bracing for cold and exploding trees. 

Somehow, I feel that since we are expecting trees to be exploding all over the place it won't happen. 

I'll just keep working on my snapping turtle project. I took a break from the shell section and decided to work on the tail a bit. 

A quiet, slower-paced kind of January

 A week ago, or so, I posted this meme on my social. It seemed appropriate for the month, at the time. 

It still feels appropriate.  

I read over January blog posts from the last few years.  It's sort of the same thing, with different angles, for the most part.  This year I decided to be still, or however you want to call it. 

Not long ago I either heard or read the phrase "resting your brain in January," and I suppose I took it to heart without realizing it. 

I've worked on this and that.  Puttered around, and generally kept still. 

I mean, there may be some health reasons for being still, buuuuutttttt ... there are not any pressing reasons for me to be moving around too much.  So why push it? 

The warm spell we had earlier this month? Oh, that is definitely gone. So there's another reason to be still.

The cold temps are here for the duration. Yuck. 

I'm not sure what else to write, since it feels like not a whole lot has been going on. 

I've knit. I've crocheted and I've cross stitched. 

I don't have any current photos of knitting. 

Here's a photo of my pile-o-battenberg squares 

Here's a photo from when I was cross stitching this weekend, and watching a hilariously cringey old Chuck Norris film called "The Octagon" 

After a while I wasn't really paying attention to the movie, but the inner dialogue scenes were dynamite. Ha!

The grow lights in my seed starting green house were finally set up.  I say this like I've been waiting for someone who is dragging their heels, or something.  The lazy pants person is me! 

We've been pushing snow around, because the snow finally decided to seriously grace us with it's presence.  Over and over again. 

It snowed again at the end of last week.  I did what I could for pushing snow around. I was having issues with riding the atv and had to give up on pushing snow around after a while. My hubby took the tractor out and decided to clean things up a bit one day over the weekend. 

And we've been doing some deer watching. 

Hunting season is over.  How do the deer know? Like clockwork each year, when hunting season is done the deer start showing up during the day, and in groups. 

Since I've been working on things as the spirit moves me, I've been doing a bit of fly tying. 

Close up of one in-progress. 

I need to get a decent amount of ties ready to go for when the ice thaws and we can start fishing this spring. 

What else ... I can't think of anything else to write about, at this moment. 

Oh wait, yes I can. Duh! 

I recorded and posted a flosstube video today. 

I'll write up shownotes in their own blogpost tomorrow or later this week. 

Getting back to the routine

I'm getting back into the whole work routine and I'm exhausted. 

It's a recurring thing I'm seeing on social media the last several days.  The holiday hangover. 

I took extra work off between Christmas and now. It went by in a blur. 

It was so enjoyable though, which makes the return even harder. 

Also, it's hard to believe it's Wednesday.  Just goes to show that my nose has been to the grindstone. 

Looking back at my last blog post to see where I left off. ... 

I feel inspired by my friend Becky to share a meme. 

The weather has been erratic.  Warmer than usual temps.  Then dropping down to below freezing. Snow.  Then rain. Yeah, rain. It wasn't even above freezing when that happened.

When I wasn't running around with people I was slowly working with crafts. 

Okay, okay, when I was running around with people I *was* crafting. 

After the start of the new year I took the tree down and did something I told myself I wasn't going to do. ...

Yeah, I did it. ... 

I put up the indoor greenhouse. Not all the way, mind you.  You'll notice I don't have the lights set up yet. Well, not the grow lights. ...   For now ... it has all my succulents and houseplants.  

Furby Jr. did such a good job guarding the Christmas gifts that I put her and her boyfriend in charge of the plants. The plant on the bottom shelf I'm hoping will come out of dormancy and isn't actually dead. 

What prompted me to go ahead and put the greenhouse up? 

This: 

Jan. 2, people. The earliest I've ever seen seeds at Menard's. 

I was a good girl. I only took a photo for the blog.  I still need to go through my seed collection and see if there's anything I need. Some of the garden Youtube channels are already discussing what seeds to start this month. 

I'm staying strong, you guys. 

Monday I was back to work. While I was expecting a ton more email, the other work more than made up for the lack of messages. I'm still not fully caught up. We are, however, sitting quite nicely for the upcoming publishing day. 

In the evenings I've been working on this and that, on the crafting front. Not as much as I thought I would.  I've been wiped out and tired after work and when supper is done. I'm thinking maybe it's a barometric pressure thing, because the tiredness feels so random after having so much time off work. 

So, despite my best intentions of doing so, I didn't do any writing in the evenings like I thought I would. 

Proof that I've been doing *something* crafty: 

My work bench hasn't been this full of *stuff* in a while.  Last night I was inspired to make some floss tags, floss ring bling and a needle minder. It was all fun to make. 

I ordered a few new things to help with various crafty things and finishing cross stitch projects. And since things can't travel alone, I have a few new charts. One of these days I'll have my very own Stacy Nash Animal Cracker all done. 

If I remember correctly, I ordered the badger one. Why? Because I live in the badger state, of course. Now that I think about it, I might have ordered two, and the second one is a bunny. 

I've been working on my cross stitch, knitting and crochet. You'll see the start of my Armande cardigan in this photo. 

Back in November I broke down and ordered a yarn cake turner thingy. I finally got to use it this past week.  I LOVE it. 

This morning I was working on the second square for the granny square CAL I'm doing with my friend and fellow flosstuber Kat. I realized that maybe I messed up the first square.

The first square: 

I shared this one on social media.  Yes, nothing looks wrong, but I realized that I missed a few rows where you make that line. 

Have I fixed it yet? No.  I kept on with the square I was working on.  I had to rip back a bit and rejigger. 

How the squares should look:

Now I'm sure you noticed that the two don't look quite the same. Well, the second square I followed the directions.  The first one (green one) I thought I'd make some adjustments.  Since I have to rip back part of the square I'll be going back to what the directions originally called for. I made changes because I thought it would be easier.  Not really.  I'll be rewriting directions so they make sense to me and I don't have to keep rewatching the video that accompanies the blog post. 

Well, I guess that's all for now.  Catch you on the flip side! 

Looking towards 2026

 This week I have most of the week off work. I still have a mess of vacation time to use, and this is a great week to use some of it up. 

I spent Sunday evening working on kitting up cross stitch projects for the new year and writing show notes for my last flosstube of the year.  There wasn't much else to do since it was snowing. *sigh* 

Yes, I know I shouldn't be surprised about snow.  It is the end of December, after all.  

What I woke up to on Monday morning. 

I miss daylight in the a.m.

Photos I took when I went out to collect mail. 

It sure was bright and sunny towards the end of the day. 

Why I say we do indeed live in Narnia. 

It's so nice seeing bright blue skies. 

My road. 

The back 20.

By the she shed. 

Towards the end of the snow clean up my son stopped to take a photo of the sky (I assume) I thought it was such a sweet moment to capture that I quick grabbed my own phone and took a photo of him. 

He's such a good boy. 

Yesterday was a publishing day. The last one of the year. Once the day was done I went out and plowed and snow blowed the areas my hubby didn't do in the a.m. before he went to work.  It's a good partnership.  My son cleared off the back deck and front porch. 

I worked like mad on Monday to ensure I'd get the rest of the week off work. Today was kind of a slacker day for me.  Which was nice because I was feeling a bit sore from yesterday's laboring.  I did record my last flosstube video of the year. 

I pretty much covered what my crafting plans are for the upcoming year so I won't rehash any of that here. 

I'm looking forward to the new garden season, continued improved health (fingers crossed). I've been a good girl and haven't gone to the seed websites and perused, or anything. It won't be long before the big box stores start hauling out the seed displays and I'm not sure how long I'll hold up then. 

On the health front I've been gradually improving in how I feel. If I over exert too much I flare up for what feels like forever, but it is getting better. I'm feeling optimistic. 

 I've been thinking of changes in the workplace that will be coming our way. I work in an industry that is changing and we need to change with it. There's been a lot of uncertainty for several years and things have finally peaked (If that's the right way to describe it) There are a lot of different emotions going on with all of us. But if the end result is what I hope it will be, that will be a really great thing. I've been at my place for work for almost 23 years and I'd hate for the place to completely fold after being around for 72 years (Almost 73). 

If the last few years have taught me anything, it's patience and trusting that things will eventually work out. Some things just take longer than you expect. *ahem* 

In a nutshell, I recognize that next year is likely going to have some pretty big changes, but there will also be some great things happening, too.  I'm not making any great plans for anything. If something comes up, I'll just take some deep breathes and think of the best way to handle the situation. 

So that's my great and profound thoughts for the upcoming year.