Cooking, cleanin' and sewing

Lately I've been sewing, drying foods and clearing out clutter. It's nice to get things out of the house that haven't been used for a long time, and send it on to a new life with someone else. We have some great 2nd hand stores that support organizations such as St Vincent de Paul's and the Old Town Mission, so I try to send most of my things to them. Two big bags of clothing, several flower vases and even some silk flowers are off to the 2nd hand store. Right now I'm making a skylight cover for Heather's house for the front room. It's nice for the winter, but makes it really hot in the summer, so hopefully this will help. The project before that was a button-up shirt for David as a father's day gift, then an apron and pot holders for my niece, Franki's graduation. She loves to cook! I want to make me a nice caftan-style dress for casual wear around the house, but pretty enough to wear out if I want. Since it's a little too hot to do any canning, I've been drying apples, celery and next will be peppers. I want to make 'dinner in a jar' recipes. I found them on Chef Tess' blog, and they are so interesting. Done in bulk, they use freeze-dried meats, dried vegies, etc. Put together in quart canning jars, all you have to do is dump them in a pan to cook. I'll let you know how it works out.

It's been too long!

Man, I haven't written in this blog for months, so sorry! Seems I've lost my attention to Facebook, and it's games. That, holidays, sewing, family- it just distracted me for a while.

We had a wonderful visit with Dakota last month, she was here for a week before school started again. Now that Nic and Gina have moved into their own apartment, she won't be staying with us much any more. I hope to have her spend the night at least once when she comes out to visit though. I made her a pair of pajamas with my new Bernina sewing machine. Yes, I'm pretty excited, David gave me a beautiful machine that does embroidery as well as regular sewing. I've been taking the free classes to learn how to use it fully, and can't wait to start some more clothing and home decor stuff.

Whitney Houston died yesterday, it's such a shock. She was only 48, and left an 18 year old daughter behind. I don't know what happened, but it saddens me greatly, she was so talented, and her demons started taking her down a very dark path. This is what I wrote on facebook:

My thoughts on Whitney Houston's life, and death. We all have amazing talents and character flaws. Even the smallest of us has something to offer to others. No-one is perfect- Whitney had a perfect voice, and we were so happy to share her gift, but she also had flaws and challenges few knew about. Do our flaws or sins negate what we offer to the world? No, of course not, thus the joy and pain of life. The best we can do is continue to strengthen our talents and improve our weaknesses. Sometimes our dark sides overcome our strengths, but it still doesn't diminish whatever good we have brought into this world. Luckily, most of us don't have our dirty laundry aired before the whole world, and can have some dignity in our trials. Rest in peace Whitney, and thanks for your beautiful music in my life.