Week in Review - January 6 - 12

The first full week in January has passed and I think (maybe) things are coming together and starting to get into a 'routine'. 

Sitting here on Sunday morning, we are under grey skies, just missing the 'winter weather' here in Charlotte. And of course, the forecast for next week is rainy and grey....again. I had forgotten how the rain in North Carolina seems to hit on the weekends!

This past week was Texter's last week at the 'original' Lowe's where she worked. And was known as 'Cookie' because of the cookies she brought in during the holidays. Tomorrow she starts at the Lowe's by Mr. Racecar's house where she is living now. And I DON'T HAVE TO DRIVE HER TO/FROM WORK!

Yep, the store is less than a mile from the house. And on the same side of the road, so no crossing busy streets. Just zip down the sidewalk. She is planning on getting a bicycle to ride to/from work in the next couple of weeks. But that saves me anywhere from 1.5 - 2 hours a day, in each direction, depending on traffic!

My goal is to work during the day while Lady K is at school and then have my weekends free for other stuff. Or for working at GameStop.

Texter, Lady K and I did some 'errands' on Saturday. I wanted to go by Trader's Joe for some 'Everything Bagel' seasoning. And then to Fresh Market for Ramen base. A stop to check out a new-to-us store - Jazzy Cheesecakes. 

What a selection of cheesecakes, cakes, and cupcakes! The individual portions are very, very generous. As in 2-3 individuals can eat on 1 piece. 

I got the Pecan Pie Cheesecake...OMG!

Lady K picked out a piece of yellow cake with tons of sprinkles. I got a Snickers Cheesecake slice for Savvy and Texter got this brownie-cookie-cheesecake combination.

Otherwise, in the food department, I received my first Home Chef shipment on Wednesday and made the first dinner last night.

If anyone is interested in trying, I can supply a discount code.

One thing I have found is the meals are generous. I opted for 3 meals for 2 people. So for me, 6 meals. Easily. 

And I found out a new way to fix peas. Not shelled, but chopped and drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted in the oven for about 15 minutes. 

I am also leaning toward Miso and Ramen soups and have the broths for lunches next week. I actually have the second week of meals planned. Which was a bit of a cheat as I still have one meal of leftovers from Home Chef and then 2 more meals to prepare - thus 5 dinners.

And what about Lady K? Well, she is beyond picky. Textures and colors have to be taken into consideration. So we have lots of raw carrots, corn and chicken nuggets.

But my BIG project done for the week was this...

My wall of boxes and bins has been reduced to this neater, more manageable stack. Both the girls came over and went through their folders where I have saved items from their school years. Old pictures, papers, drawings, certificates - a great walk down memory lane for them.

All my unused notebooks and journals I have purchased are all in one box so I can find a notebook without thinking I need to buy more.

This pile is the next to work on...

This is the needlework stash I need to start ebaying. Along with two more boxes which need to be brought upstairs. Two of the bins are nothing but fabric and three are fibers. So my plan is to iron some of the fabric and make 'lots' of probably 6 or 12 pieces to sell on eBay. As I have 100's (literally) of patterns I know I don't want, I will be selling on eBay for months!

I also need to, as I get toward the end of the other patterns, go through and be more realistic about whether or not I will ever stitch them. I have two bins of 'future' projects in the closet.

After listing my free 50 items on eBay this week, I know I need to devote about 4-6 hours taking pictures, writing up descriptions and listing. Of course, I can figure more time packaging them up for mailing. Unlike when I did it ages ago, I can print out a mailing label/postage and not have to take them to the post office. Hopefully, sometime soon, I can up my limit I can list in a month. Otherwise, I will be selling until this time next year. I may try selling some boots I have which are sitting in a bin, never worn.

Otherwise this past week...

• Finished 5 books
• Wrote 6 posts
• Meal planned for next week
• Took Amani over to Savvy's for playtime with Noel

This coming week...

• Up my exercise 
• Max my hours for my work from home
• Be sure my outline is ready to go
• Start ironing and group needlework linen for future sales

But in the meantime, more coffee, toast and scrambled eggs!