mini update, poorly sick, wife, Fill in the Blank Friday, maybe's

So I went swimming like I'd planned to. And I made cookies. I didn't sew. I have all the pieces cut out for another square, but I haven't done the actual sewing. Maybe today at some point. I did laundry too.

I'm rather tired today. I'm not sleeping well, as every time I lie down my nose blocks up and so I have to breathe through my mouth which doesn't feel right and leaves my mouth dry and awkward and my throat really dry and sore. Add to that all the pain in my right wrist, and you've got yourself a bad night's sleep. I don't know what I've done to my wrist, but it hurts like anything when I try to move it. It's something that's gradually appeared and then got worse, and I now find even lifting a cup or plate in that hand too heavy and really painful on the wrist. Very frustrating!

The wife's coming down today - yay! She told me yesterday (I think that was when she actually decided to do it at all) that she had been going to surprise me but then she realised that I might go out or something and miss her. I am incredibly overjoyed though - it's so thoughtful, and I do miss her something awful.

And of course, today is Friday! So here are my blanks filled in:

I started my blog because it seemed like a good idea at the time? I'm not really sure if I'm honest. I think I wanted somewhere to document some of the more interesting things that had happened to me. It was kind of meant to be an online diary but I realised I was screening the most emotional stuff from it, so I started a paper diary for myself. And then this carried on going anyway.

 One thing I love seeing on other blogs is pictures. I love seeing the pictures of what people have been up to, and the stories that are completely relatable. These are also the things I worry that my blog lacks.

Something I love about blogging  is the let-out. You can put things up that are too small and petty or too hurtful to say to an actual person. But you can write them in your blog and feel better for it.

A favourite blog post of mine is this one. Because it really feels like it was at a turning point for me - I was on the verge of changing jobs, everybody had left for uni, and I had made that frickin' awesome quilt for the wife. Okay, so it's the quilt stuff that really makes it for me - it just meant so much to me to do it; and having pictures up of it makes me feel really fuzzy and warm inside! It was also a time when I was sad because everyone was leaving, but in myself I felt truly content and positive. I can spend a lot of time feeling sort of vaguely miserable and tired and it can be hard, because there's often no real reason. But when I wrote that blog post I was feeling really happy in myself, despite my sorrow at people leaving for uni.

Something that my friends in real life know about me that I've never before mentioned on my blog is that when I'm really angry I become much politer in my tone. The words coming out will include swearing, which is something I avoid on my blog; horrible clipped insults which leave people without a leg to stand on; and a tone of voice that makes people step back - I don't yell at people. When I'm angry, my voice is lower, and quiet, and slightly slower because I speak clearly. The none thing you do not want when you're speaking to someone angrily is to have to repeat yourself. I don't get angry very often, in truth. But I don't get angry on my blog at all.

My new favourite blogs to read are My Milk Toof, which is an awesome blog that creates stories about two little milk teeth with models and photographs. And The Bloggess. I guess she's not so recent for me - but she is more recent than a lot of the other blogs I follow. And she's hilarious, so I always feel the same as I did when I read the first post by here - the one about Beyonce the big metal chicken. Beware, by the way, as that link is really slow to load for me now, it has so many comments!!

Some things I tend to avoid doing on my blog are swearing and naming people. I want to talk about the other people in my life, but I'd rather not have to ask them if it's ok. So I make them anonymous instead. Then I can be as rude as I like!

So that's that! I don't have much else to say today, really. Maybe another day. Maybe I'll bake today. Or sew that square up. Or just go back to bed with a book. I don't know.

Love love xx

weather and work, quilt, pecan butter, pecan butter, pecan butter, today's plans include soup, peeling fruit

Goodness, it's cold today! Well, I was out of the house before the sun was up in order to go to work, but then Big Boss Daddy rang to say that he and the girls were ill so they didn't need me today. So I came back home! I'm quite okay with all that, since there are lots of things I want to do!

So yesterday I made another two squares for my own quilt which I started back last summer but put on hold and never got back around to until now. I also decided I didn't want one of the squares I had made in my quilt and took it out of the group. I promise, once I have made all my main squares I will take pictures and put them up. All the squares I'm making are from Crazy Mom Quilts' star Quilt along. I have about 6 squares so far, and I need 13. Then I'll need the setting squares, sashing, back, etc etc etc. But I should do the main squares first.

I also made pecan butter - like peanut butter, but with pecans instead. Turns out it's really easy! I roasted 6oz pecans first so they would be a little easier, then I tipped them into the mixer and whizzed! Nothing else, just pecans.

 At first it just shattered the nuts down into tiny little pieces. Not very appetising, I must say.

 But then... look! They kept getting smaller and started to clump together a bit!

 They stopped trying to climb up the side, and got to this point - the oils were coming out, and it was binding, but still sort of lumpy.













And then it went like this! Seriously, I just kept whizzing the mixer and scraping the nuts down from the sides, and eventually the oil came out of them, and they turned all liquidy and like peanut butter but with pecans instead! How awesome, right?!









See? Check out the glossy liquid of that!












So that was hugely exciting for me, and I had a look at the label of a peanut butter jar, and they put other stuff in there, like palm oil and salt and stuff, and it's totally unnecessary. To make a nut butter, all you need to use are the nuts! (insert childish giggle) The oil in the nuts will make the butter for you. Some are easier than others, but for most if you roast them first it makes it easier. And you can flavour these things too, however you like - nutmeg, cinnamon, honey, anything at all!

So today I'm hoping to complete another couple of squares, maybe go swimming, and make some cookies! Very indulgent of me, I know - no housework featuring on my radar (except some laundry that needs doing). Just a day where I can do stuff I want. And I'm making parsnip soup for supper. I really love soups! They're just a really yummy way of eating vegetables. I've been mulling over the idea of trying to make tomato soup for a while. It's such a common soup, after all, and yet I've never even attempted to make it! Hmmmn...

Oh, and I ate a whole lot of fruit yesterday. Turns out you can peel oranges. I know that probably sounds insanely stupid; but I swear, for years we always used a knife to slice the skin of big oranges. Well, I peeled and ate one yesterday. And then I discovered you could peel a grapefruit, too. And under the grapefruit skin is really thick pith which you can peel off as well, in a second layer! So I had a lot of fun eating fruit yesterday.

Love love xx