Winter’s Lion

It has been one cold nasty spell here in Wisconsin and throughout the states. How very strange to have thunder and lightening while snowing. Driving is 3 inches of slush is no great delight either.

The folks that didn’t need to go out this past week should have been wise and just stayed home. It was ugly. I am located near the lake as the weathermen say and we do get a great variety of weather that does not apply to the rest of the state.

One of the funny weather events involved a drive to the hospital one morning. The lightening was striking directly into the ground and how I wished I had a camera to capture this most unusual event, since it was also snowing like crazy. When I arrived in the parking lot, my first thought was that Aurora was right on top of things and had the foresight to get out and salt the lot. Foresight is not a usual part of our maintenance team, so why I would think that for even a moment is ludicrous.

What I initially took for salt, was little ice balls, making the trek from the lot into the hospital all that much more treacherous. One of my great fears is falling while “and I can’t get up” echoes in my mind. Yup, must bet getting older with a fear for my hips.

Little old ladies are ladies with broken hips are our frequent Sunday companions in surgery. They go to church and never quite make it home the same day without a stop at the local hospital.

Visions of seed catalogs are dancing in my head these days as the light is now a part of my drive to and from work. I do like that. It gives me hope for spring. I am weary of the darkness, cold, ice, slippery travel, and the numbskulls on the road that haven’t bothered to invest in decent tires event though snow is an annual event in Wisconsin. And of course they feel they own the road and must drive in the left lane and block all the drivers who do know how to drive and plan for the weather.

Even though I no longer commute to Milwaukee daily, it never ceases to amaze me that I can still feel road rage at the other discourteous drivers who feel that they are the only ones on the road and that they own it. In my particular instance, sometimes I hope that it is their relative that is waiting for me in surgery on an emergent basis, while they slow me down with unconscious driving habits.

As usual dear reader, I remain
Fragrantly Yours,
Patti

New Beginnings

It may be the start of a new week to most, but for my house it is much more. So much of January is taken up with recovery from the holidays and then taxes. Ick, ick, and ick some more. How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways! Done and thank you very little Uncle Sam for making January such a miserable month.

The weather hasn’t been too spectacular of late either. It has been nasty cold here. Recently I took a trip to Oak Creek to see the store Just 4 Ewe, of my friends and wholesale customer Jan Massie. She has the most beautiful yarns and fiber imaginable in this quaint little shopping district. I purchased some yarn and made myself a hat and mittens from this incredibly soft wool. It sure has kept me nice and warm.

I digress though. February is my month to start working on all the things around the house that have been neglected since the Harbor Market started last Memorial Day. Oh sure, I keep up with the daily things, but the big overhauls have to wait until now. Honestly, I am booked every weekend from Memorial Day until Christmas with shows, markets, and of course the day job. They get me for a full weekend every six weeks.

I have a wonderful and large office with a cathedral ceiling which I love for its’ spaciousness and light. It was time to paint it though and oh my, but those ceilings are high! I had entertained thoughts of doing some fun faux finish but with two days into the project, I don’t think so. I just want it done at this point. I have one more section to go and then I can start putting some accent color on the mish-mash of furniture that I have collected. Then I move into the upstairs hallway and the bathroom.

My computer desk is so old, it used to house a 286. Yes dear reader, there was something before a Pentium! Ah, I think that was one generation away from the military issue back in the 50’s. I think my son was a sophomore in high school when we got it and he must be almost 28 by now.

I think it is time to do a little something different! And while I have priced new window treatments, I will probably just enjoy making them for a quarter of the price. I’m a smart girl and can do this.

Days Off

Days off of work are such a wonderful thing. I never quite know what to do with myself first as the to-do list is always so long.

I love to take my coffee back to bed and snuggle for just a bit longer under the quilt. Delaying the day is so nice after having to hop out of bed onto the cold floor when the alarm clock signals the start of the day job! I’m always on a tight time schedule on those days.

While I’m drinking those first cups of coffee on my day off, it is nice to check my emails and see what my family, friends, and colleagues in the soap business are up too. There is always something new to learn.

Recently we had a discussion on one of my lists regarding favorite books. The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon was a hot topic which compelled me to go to my local library site and put the book on hold. How nice is that service by-the-way! Do a quick search, place it on hold, and the library calls when it is in.

I’ve been enjoying this book. It’s mostly a nice escape from reality to a time in the distant past. It is a Time Machine type of book or a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. I loved both of those books. Serious literature it is not, but what the heck! My day job is serious enough and lightness in a book is good for me. It’s nice to delay the start of the day with a book too.

Then off to the treadmill to get in some cardio and stretches. I learned long ago, that no matter what the day brings, I deserve some top time for myself and that is a nice work out. I do it only for myself because I just plain feel good afterwards and no one can take that away from me. Even if the rest of the day is not satisfactory, I did something nice for myself.

Now I can do some of the things that I love most. I have new fragrances to test and make into soap so that is where I’m off to now. Feel free to stop by my website and see what’s new!

Brrrrr! It's Cold!

It is 9F outside. Feels like –8F. No matter what it feels like, it is darn cold. The kicker s that this is now February and it is just plain wrong. Of course some would say that it was wrong to be playing golf continually through the second week in January I don’t think so.

Back in my youth and hey day, the weather was much more predictable. Frequently we had snow by Thanksgiving here in SE Wisconsin. It was mandatory UP North – yeah dare hey. November is deer hunting season and snow makes for good tracking.

Snow was a mixed blessing that early. We grew up on a small lake in Waterford and our number one activity was ice-skating. There was nothing as sweet as fresh ice that had not been tarnished by snow. It was a slick and smooth as it could be. Oh how we loved it.

Once it snowed, well, first we had to shovel and that was work. After the ice was cleared we would beg Dad to hook up the hose and flood it to once again regain the smoothness of that first fresh ice.

We were pampered kids. Not only would our dad shovel and flood the ice, he had floodlights hooked up so that we could skate in the evening, and skate we did!

Ours was the biggest skating rink on our little lake. Hockey games were the norm. I didn’t play hockey but I dreamed of being an Olympic skater and practiced my twirls with great diligence.

There was no such thing as staying indoors any more than was absolutely necessary. The snow begged for sledding and the ice for skating. So what if you had to shovel first. It was better to shovel than have the smallest bump on the ice that could cause a nasty fall.

As adults, we would gather our parents house on Christmas Day and once again skate our hearts out. We had children of our own by then and introduced them to the joys of skating. They were always amazed at the speed with which my older brothers could smack a hockey puck.

I digress. It’s cold and it’s February. We should be thinking about spring. The seed catalogs have been arriving for weeks already causing us to dream about lush greens and vibrant flowers.

No longer can we expect snow at Thanksgiving, a white Christmas, and accuracy Punxsutawney Phil’s forecast of spring.

Fragrantly Yours

Patti

Special Days

I love my grown up children. I have been blessed with extraordinary ones. They are of the independent variety which is something that I forced upon them. I was a single mom for much of their formative years and was known to use some unusual tactics to get their attention and listen to what I had to teach them.

Yesterday, I was able to enjoy my favorite middle child. Yes I have favorites. I have a favorite first born, a favorite middle and a favorite son.

My Erin - a.k.a. favorite middle child, called me this past week and demanded some mom time. “I miss my Mom!” Gosh, I hated hearing that. She recently advised me on purchasing my first down comforter and said that she would help me make a duvet cover.

I’m a fairly accomplished seamstress but have heard something about ribbons on the corners which meant nothing to me.

My beautiful daughter arrived around 10 am and we started the project. It was a whole day affair and I’m so glad that she brought her duvet cover along so we could examine some of the finer points. Had I been doing this alone, it surely would have been a much greater struggle.

Isn’t it only a big bag you might ask? Well yes it is, but since this is a king sized duvet cover it was a bugger just getting it laid out.

We had a fine time and gabbed our heads off while working pretty steadily. She showed me the houses that they are looking at and more that they will attend open houses for. Obviously we did not work all the time.

It was a fun day with my favorite middle child. My Joey, son-in-law extraordinaire, sent some Godiva chocolates to make me feel better. I love that young man. He knows how to treat his favorite mom-in-law!

Fragrantly Yours,
Patti

Amazing Technology

I have just returned from a mini vacation in Colorado. This was the girls annual ski trip and we all had a blast. My sister Brigid was cut off by an out-of-control skier on a catwalk and was slammed into a tree. This was not a happy event. She was fortunate to ski away with bruises and scraped and no broken bones.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people go through major airports and how much luggage is handled. A little tag with a bar code does it all. I have no concept of how a bar code works but I am thrilled that it does! All of our luggage and skies arrived safely at both ends.

Today I was working with my new photo editing program and again, I’m amazed! It can do so many things. The training videos explained so much that was not intuitive for me.

And I will post some of this handiwork soon.

Meanwhile, I caught a bit of a bug while on the airplane. With all the security measures in place you would think the air could be sanitized in some way. Today I am drinking copious amounts of lemon balm tea. I also found a terrific recipe from Prairieland Herbs for whiskey tea.

Whiskey Tea (Irish version)

1 lemon
1 teabag black irish tea (Barry's, if you can get it)
honey
Irish whiskey (I prefer Jamesons)
whole cloves
cinnamon stick


Cut a 1/4 inch slice out of the middle of the lemon. Stick 4-6 cloves into this lemon slice, and set aside. Juice the 2 halves of lemon into a large cup (using a clear cup is easiest). Then add a roughly equal amount of honey, and a roughly equal amount of whiskey. Stir whiskey, lemon, and honey together, and add a cinnamon stick. In a separate cup, brew a strong cup of black tea - about 6-8 oz. Remove teabag, and pour tea into the whiskey/lemon/honey mixture. Float the clove-studded lemon slice on top of the entire mixture, and drink quickly before all the "good" stuff evaporates! This really does work to help cut phlegm, soothe coughs and sore throats, make you warm and toasty, and make you feel better!

Fragrantly Yours
Patti

Holiday

In Europe they say holiday. In the good old USA, we say vacation. Plans were made months ago and today we leave for skiing in Colorado. This is an annual trek to the mountains for a handful of women to bond and giggle. Hopefully all limbs will remain intact. That has not always been the case.

We are quite the mixed group. Mary is a land developer and is the mastermind behind all the arrangements. Cindy is a nurse from MN and is our resident musical director. She always brings her traveling guitar and plays for us. I’m not quite sure what Kim’s title is but she travels all over the country for her business. That woman can talk and keeps us entertained in numerous ways with her stories. Deb is a barber and up until this past year owned her own business. Most of us that are local go to her to be beautiful. Ellenthewench, and that really is one word, comes in from Charleston and is in the nuclear business. She is another quite fascinating woman.

We are hoping that the Colorado sisters will join us. Right now it looks like Brigid the tech writer will be up on Thursday after work with her 12 y/o son, our token male and Angel, receptionist/girl Friday and pursuer of recreational activities will join us on Saturday for our last ski runs.

We never fail to have much laughter and revelry along with some reading and some quieter activities. Our condo this year looks to be another winner. It is very large and has it’s own hot tub which we need at the end of the day.

Kim and Ellenthewench are quite extraordinary skiers and we only see them at lunchtime. The rest of us are solid blue intermediates and don’t care to take too many chances but if we get into trouble, we can get out.

We've always said, no men unless he can sling his ovaries around his neck. Christopher is the exception. He has been on the boards since he was three so he can hang with the gals or meet us at the bottom of the mountain. It is amazing sight to see him fly down the mountain. It’s ever more amazing that he actually seems to enjoy being doted on by a bunch of females who have moved into the grandma generation.

Oh yeah, our bones know that we are grandmas, just our brains have not engaged in behaviors typical of grannies. We are the Golden Girls and hope to continue with these annual treks for many years more. Hopefully, as we become more stable financially, we can add a warm weather vacation also. Several in this group are certified in scuba and some have already done the Belize trip. I missed that one. Heavy sigh. Maybe next year.

The journey begins dear reader and I remain,

Fragrantly Yours,
Patti