We went for a walk yesterday evening, so cold! Today isn’t much better, we walk in full winter regalia.
Attila is beginning to turn his head towards the yard and the outdoors. Spring is calling his name.
I am adamantly insisting that the pantry project be brought to a close before attention is turned elsewhere. Today he completed installing a new electrical outlet to run the freezer in the location to which it will be moved. Now he needs to take down a wall, which is necessary to move the freezer into position. Then the wall will be reconstructed.
Once the freezer is moved into position and the wall reconstructed, I am hoping that the project will speed up considerably. Structural work always takes a long time, particularly when care is taken to do it properly.
Bug season has begun. When Attila painted the house last summer, he spent some time caulking small openings in the siding, that we surmised were entry points for insects. So far it appears that his efforts were not in vain. There seem to be fewer Asian Beetles and Stink Bugs in the house this spring. It is early days though, maybe the population is going to explode as the warmer weather arrives. Oh, the anticipation.
Yesterday I asked Attila if he knew where our card table is located. Everything in the basement has been moved, so the question was asked without optimism. He did know where it was, and up it came to the living room. Then we went downstairs together and he found a box of jigsaw puzzles, from which I selected one 1000 piece puzzle. The table was setup in the corner of the living room, and puzzling began.
My plan is to turn off all computers, tablets, etc. the hour before bedtime. We will turn our attention to the puzzle of an evening, it is something we both enjoy, and find relaxing. Both of us grew up in families that shared simple amusements together, like jigsaw puzzles, and card games, so this activity is familiar and comforting.
With the card table in the living room, it is a bit more challenging to get around in Mist Cottage. A bit of purging was done as things were moved around in the basement, but that had no effect on the state of affairs on the main floor of the house. At least I can still find things on the main floor of the house, there is that.
It was baking day today, a dozen Chocolate Muffins for my breakfasts, as well as a loaf of bread. The muffins are very enjoyable, I feel like I am having chocolate cake for breakfast every morning, which means I feel indulged from the get go. Of course the muffins are super healthy, low in sugar, fats, cholesterol, and sodium. I checked some delicious looking muffins being sold at the grocery store, each muffin exceeded the recommended amount of sugar for a day, I didn’t look at the other ingredients. The enjoyment of the muffins helps tremendously in maintaining enthusiasm for intermittent fasting; never feeling deprived is very important.
Worldly
Weather
-11°C
Date: 7:00 AM EDT Sunday 23 March 2025
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.4 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: -9.7°C
Dew point: -15.7°C
Humidity: 62%
Wind: NNW 5 km/h
Wind Chill: -13
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“If all the world’s a stage, I want to operate the trap door.”
Paul Beatty
1962 –
Wow! You have had it cold! We only went down to -5 last night and then up to +4 today. Right now this evening, it’s snowing lightly outside. (I take that back. As I’m finishing this post the precipitation has picked up. Sounds like it might be sleet, or possibly what we teasingly call “snain”.)
There was a time that DH and I tried working on a puzzle. I’d thought of buying one but hadn’t made the effort. Now that I think of it the neighborhood rec center actually has puzzles to borrow, if I remember correctly. I wonder what they look like…
I’m with you on the sugar thing. As I’ve added back in foods after my ordeal – and even before that with low carbing – I’ve been dismayed with the massive amount of sugar in everything. I can’t eat many ice creams because they’re so sweet. And it took me 4 tries to find an ice tea that was acceptable – and I still have to add about an inch of water to my glass to tame the sugar.
I hope your pantry can be finished without a whole lot of trouble. It’s good that you’re aiming to not feel deprived food wise. Keep warm!
Teri, “snain”, lol, a good term for March weather!
I buy jigsaw puzzles second hand, when I see them at yard sales, or charity shops. At one point I did buy a few, they were images I loved. When I do jigsaw puzzles digitally on the computer, I enjoy art images I’ve collected over the years from the internet, and my own photographs as we. I find them good for breaking up the energy when I am worried about something and can’t get it out of my mind. If I work on them enough during the day, I can also focus my thoughts on them, rather than counting sheep, to drift off to sleep.
Glad to hear you are able to add back foods, I hope you never have that issue again.
I love sugar, always have. My Mom has a sweet tooth, and so did my Grandpa. But these days a little goes a long way for me, my palate has adjusted. Glad you have found an ice tea with relatively low sugar. Our Kombucha starts off with a lot of sugar, 1 cup per gallon of tea, but by the time we drink it, there isn’t much sugar left in the brew, the bacteria and yeast have consumed most of it.
Joan, the pantry is a huge project, similar to moving house in its intensity. Tonight Attila is moving the freezer, slow going, but the cold weather is actually making it easier to accomplish. Items are staying frozen while stored in totes in the garage.
Keep cool!
I did digital puzzles for a while, both my own pictures and other images but haven’t done that for years. I’m now getting back into playing solitaire on the tablet but comes a point where you can’t get any better, so eventually I guess I’ll move on to something else.