42 Ramblings

1.  I've traveled around the sun 42 times today.

2.  This morning at the gym the instructor happened to mention his age, which is precisely half of mine.

3.  This knowledge made me feel strong since I was doing all the same moves he was.

4.  Then the tendinitis in my arm was killing me and making me feel old.

5.  As I type this I'm nibbling on raw cashews.

6.  I'm a total creature of habit and have been having raw cashews for lunch since August.

7.  I never actually stop and sit down and eat lunch like the way that I want my kids to stop and eat lunch.  

8.  It feels too indulgent to plan lunch, make lunch and sit down and eat lunch.

9.  I found a giant, old mirror at a thrift shop yesterday and have already cleaned it up, taped off the mirror, and spray painted the frame.  

10.  It's currently sitting propped up against the washing machine waiting to be hung in a bathroom.

11.  Surely over the ten years of living in this house I've seen other large, old mirrors at thrift stores.

12.  I wonder why this time it dawned on me to buy one and replace the too small mirror currently in that room.

13.  The above photo is an outtake from a series my 12 year old took of me in October.  

14.  I needed a photo to include in my book that comes out in July.

15.  Boom.

16.  I spent the first half of 2013 writing a quilt book and over a year later it will finally be published and out in the wild.

17.  Thrilling and somewhat terrifying at the same time.

18.  Usually by this time of year I'm pouring over seed catalogs, scheming, plotting, and planning what to start in my greenhouses soon.

19.  I need to get on that.

20.  Any good recommendations for amazing perennial flowers to grow?

21.  I'm in the process of making a king sized scrappy bear paw quilt that will contain 100 different fabrics.

22.  I'm Instagramming my progress fairly often and others are quilting along with me and making their own versions of scrappy bear paw quilts.

23.  I'm oldredbarnco over on Instagram if you want to join along.  Use hashtag #scrappybearpawquilt to tag your photos.

24.  You'll find dimensions and cutting instructions to make a 19" finished block in my feed.

25.  I laughed at myself over the weekend when I was doing laundry and lamented the fact that a pair of my sweatpants got a bleach spot on them.  

26.  It was funny only because I thought to myself, "Oh crud.  These are a pair of my nice sweatpants."

27.  Dude.  If "nice sweatpants" is a category in my wardrobe, perhaps it's time to rethink my wardrobe.

28.  Sheesh.

29.  Razor and I have been reworking/remodeling our play room the past two weekends.

30.  My kids are 12 and 14 and the room didn't need to be a play room anymore.

31.  The room is so beautiful now that I had to stop after #29 and go sit in it a second.

32.  I can't wait to blog about the room just as soon as some shelves are painted and things are hung on the walls.

33.  On this very same day last year I mentioned how my orchid from 2012 was re blooming.  

34.  Wouldn't you know it I just turned to look at that exact orchid and it's got early evidence that it is going to bloom again.  Again!  I hope I didn't just jinx it.

35. Can somebody please talk to me about kombucha.  And kvass.  

36.  My family loves meatloaf lately.

37.  Meatloaf and mashed potatoes are the perfect cold of January comfort food.

38.  My kids have started clogging with a new group.

39.  The next chance I get I'm going to video tape them clogging and share it here.

40.  Their feet are on fire.

41.  In a good way of course.  Not actually on fire.

42.  The preceding 41 sentences demonstrate how my mind works pretty much all the time.

-dana