All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind. - Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

i’ve been working every day since the 19th, which is unusual for me. i usually only work a couple days in a row. so i’ve been busy with that, and my schedule has completely suffered. i haven’t gotten much done except some work on the NIN cross-stitch. and i’ve been playing too much frontierville on facebook. XD it is sooooo like harvest moon 2.0 or something. lol

i plan on posting my monthly menus again, starting in july. i also plan on recording how closely i stuck to the plan, too. i figure if i keep it public it’ll help by making me more accountable. i tried that for a while, and it worked pretty well.

my fiancé did the grocery shopping this week, and he did a *really* good job getting some produce. he got 5 peaches, 3 pounds of strawberries, 4 pounds of grapes, and a couple zucchinis, all for less than a dollar a pound! he also got a pound of cherries for $1.50, which is a pretty good price for cherries, and 9 ears of corn for $3. i have a lot of healthy stuff to be eating this week. :D

True power is held by the person who possesses the largest bookshelf, not gun cabinet or wallet.

it’s been a very productive 10 days! so productive i haven’t had much time to post. i got all the kitchen curtains done, a couple shower curtains done, hemmed a pair of pants for my fiancé, and worked more on the NIN x-stitch. my fiancé got the childproof latches installed on the cabinets, and we almost have the baby gate to the kitchen situated. we have the living room all situated now. we sandwiched the couch in between two bookshelves shelves, and have a table-like shelf behind it with blankets folded across it, and throw pillows. it’s a really cozy little area now, and i’m really really happy with it. :D i’ll post pictures eventually. we watched a movie called ‘doubt’ this week. it’s really good. the whole movie makes you doubt everybody’s assumptions, including your own. it’s very much like a rorschach test. i recommend it. the highlights from the past week’s menu were crock pot stuffed peppers, meatloaf in the crock pot, and tonight we’re having chicken divan.

My skirt with tears is always wet - I have forgotten to forget

it’s been a productive few days. on saturday i started a skirt made out of some really beautiful crinkle textured purple/black chameleon cloth. i made it into a simple, floor length, straight skirt. the cloth it’s self is so pretty it doesn’t need any further embellishment.

the actual fabric is a bit darker and a little less blue.

i also got the itch to do some x-stitching. it’s been quite a while. i picked up an old project i haven’t worked on in months, that i started years ago. it’s a cross stitched screen shot from NIN’s the perfect drug video. it’s very detailed and stitched on some of the smallest aida i’ve ever worked on. it’s going to take years to complete. just the highlighted section took me a better part of 4 hours.

there’s some water stains on  the fabric, but once embroidered over it won’t be visible, so i’m not worried about it.
it’s a screen shot of within a few seconds of this one.  

yesterday i didn’t get too much done. i wasn’t feeling well and slept most of the day. because of that i couldn’t sleep last night, and ended up playing magic: the gathering with my fiancé until 3:30 in the morning. lol

today was a lot better. i got a ton of cleaning done in the living room, it’s just detail work now. my fiancé has gotten a TON of cleaning done in the kitchen the past couple of days. <3 i can’t wait to get it all done and make a couple minor cosmetic repairs in there.

as far as projects go, i finished knitting a dish scrubby and i’m attempting to cover a few old potholders with new fabric. they’re horribly stained, but still functional.

me and my fiancé watched mutant chronicles while we had dinner. it was pretty good. *very* steam punk, and a bit on the gory side for watching while eating. i tried a  new recipe - turkey taco skillet. it came out pretty good. i need to refigure the points, because that’s A LOT of food for that few points. if it’s accurate it may be one of my new favorites. very filling and quite good. i used regular rice instead of instant, and had to keep adding water, and it took much longer, but it was still really good. i had mine on a bed of lettuce with some diced tomato, taco salad style

I reached for sleep and drew it round me like a blanket muffling pain and thought together in the merciful dark. --Mary Stewart

spent most of the day working on the embroidery for my Sister’s childrens’ christening blanket. it was used (though, unfortunately incomplete >.<) when my godson was christened. it will be used again for my Niece’s christening. i have most of the border embroidery done. i still need to finish the words on my Niece's block, and put a certain cross on both of their blocks. i plan on giving it to my Sister, to pass down in her family. hopefully others will enjoy using it for their special occasions, marking each celebration with embroidery.

an overview of the blocks. names have been blurred for privacy.

embroidery details

twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star

my fiancé and i are working on sewing some curtains. i discovered that i like cloth shower curtains better than plastic ones. they don’t let out water like i thought they would (well, at least if you don’t let them ‘puddle’ on the lip of the tub), and they don’t get sucked in while you take a shower. and you can wash them a lot easier. we’re also working on sewing some curtains to go between our kitchen and living room. it keeps some of the heat out of the living room and saves on the electric bill. and hides a cluttered kitchen when we’ve slacked off. XD  the kitchen curtains and one of the shower curtains will be (mostly) black satin. <3 i plan on upgrading  the kitchen curtains and the window curtains to velvet eventually. <3 <3

we plan to start babysitting to earn a little extra money, so tomorrow or early next week we’re going to install some baby proofing  devices, like cabinet latches and locking doors. the latches will keep the kitten out of the cabinets when we get her, too.

i had to work yesterday. my fiancé ran errands and picked up some goodies while he was out. found strawberries for $1 a pound! at aldi’s. we also got a refillable aerosol can for oil. will save a lot on the grocery budget, and is way more ecologically friendly.

goals for this week and next:
finish the curtains
baby proof
make covers for the couch pillows
get the living room 100% clean