Crazy Days of Summer

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Oh summer! Whatever happened to the concept of lazy days? That’s certainly not the way it is around here lately. My poor, neglected blog is really suffering. Yes, I refuse to give it up. Nope, not happening. I just need to make it a priority to blog a few times a week. I would love to do daily posts, but I am not sure I can realistically commit to that.

I get so annoyed with Facebook, but because part of my job is maintaining social media, I’m on it several times a day because I have to be, so I end up posting there instead of here. I’d love to move away from that.

So. Anyway. What’s been going on? Lots. Really, I feel like life is just going from one thing to the next and at the end of the day I’m exhausted! So here’s a quick & dirty update

Family…
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The boys just got back from various BSA camping activities. Drew and Noah headed off to camp in the Adirondacks, and Jake went with a group of the older scouts on a canoe trip along the St. Croix River on the Maine/Canada border. It was such and amazing experience for him! Four days of paddling and camping — lots of excitement, stories, and memories that will last a lifetime. The troop also hit Acadia National Park and now I have it on my list of places I want to go. Maybe for a family vacation in a year or two. Laura has been enjoying a local rec camp — just good old-fashioned fun: swimming in the pond, playing on the playgroup, arts & crafts, reading, games, spending time with friends. It’s just up the road from work, so it’s incredibly convenient for me, too!

Work…
Speaking of work, it’s good as well. I’m really busy with summer programs and sometimes it makes me crazy, but it’s all good.

Crafting…
Atlanticus CAL through part 4
I’ve joined in with the Atlanticus CAL. I’m about four parts behind, but there’s no rush to finish it. The pattern is written by Vanessa Smith and it is such a joy to work on! I love the different stitches. It’s going to be huge and heavy, which is going to be wonderful when winter gets here!

I’m going to try, really try to get back into it here, friends. I miss documenting my days and posting photos. Feel free to give me a prod if I go too long!

Hello March

Hello March

I must sound like a broken record, talking about how fast time flies, how busy the days are, and how I can’t believe (yet again), I haven’t updated with a decent post. So I’ll promise (yet again) that I’m vowing to get back to it, LOL! Must be a first-of-the-month thing, right? Spring is just around the corner, and it’s a great time to start and re-start good habits.

As for me, I’m coming off of some kind of cold or virus. Saturday afternoon, all of sudden, it hit me. It was weird, I can almost pinpoint the time I started feeling sick! Body aches, a headache, and I just could not stay warm. I cozied up in my rocking chair next to the roaring wood stove wearing a long-sleeve tee, a heavy hoodie, my bathroom, and a fleece blanket and I was still shivering. A cough decided to show up as well. Ugh. Sunday I just took it easy and started to feel better. Yesterday morning I was well enough to run a few errands, but in the evening the achiness returned. Still, nothing like Saturday.

Today I’ve just been catching up on things around the house, and not trying to do too much because I need to shake this. I caught up on the family’s laundry, and got things tidied up. I’m already itching to start some spring cleaning and switch into spring decor, but I need the temperatures to warm up a bit first. I’m growing weary of the cold and so very ready for some spring temperatures.

I also snuck in some calligraphy practice before the kids got home from school. I’m trying to be more deliberate and critical, and working on my letterforms (today I practiced full-pressure strokes) instead of just writing out pretty words.

 

A photo posted by Carol Bancroft (@carolwrites) on

It’s really the only way to improve. Think of it like barre exercises for ballet dancers — unless you fully understand each pose, you can’t exactly put everything together and expect it to be beautiful. Does that make sense? Next weekend I’m attending a workshop down in the city and I am really looking forward to working with two talented teachers and really diving in and studying Engrosser’s Script. I already know it’s going to make a big difference in the quality of my work.

Well, I think I’ll wrap this up and get to work on some crochet. I didn’t exactly keep up with the Mood Scarf I started last month, so now I’m just finishing it up using a stripe pattern. I love how it’s coming out — very simple, but sometimes that’s OK.

Striped scarf

Think I may just have to make a cup of tea and have a slice of berry pie for dessert, too!

Berry pie

Hope you all have a great evening!

 

Taking a Break

 We love tea.

No, no! Not from the blog, don’t worry. It’s just that I have been going all day so I decided to take a break and check in on blogs, Facebook, etc. and pop in and update here since it’s been a while. I’ve been keeping up with my #HandletteredABCs over in IG, but I probably won’t get to post them here today. But here’s one of this week’s letters.

 

A photo posted by Carol Bancroft (@carolwrites) on

Honestly, I’m just wiped out! I’ve been cooking, cleaning, doing laundry… Drew and I brought in wood for the wood stove stove and stacked it. I poached chicken, made peppermint brownies, made turkey tacos for lunch, then cleaned up all the dishes from that. Might not seem like much but as many of you know, all those little things add up.

Finally, I’ve decided it to call it quits for the day. I made a fire, made a cup of tea, and that’s about it! Let’s see… what else has been going on? Drew was in Boston for work this week, and I admit I was a little jealous. It was funny — he texted me that he drove through the same intersection we went through all the time when we were dating and he’d drive me home from his apartment in Framingham to mine in Somerville. A lot of stuff has changed; it’s been almost 18 years, after all!

So, he got home around lunchtime on Friday and then Friday night was Cub Scouts. Aside from Blue & Gold Banquet in a couple weeks, it was the last pack meeting we will ever have to do. While we have certainly enjoyed our time as Cub Scout leadership, I have to say that I’m ready for it to be over and let someone else take the reins. Noah will be bridging over to Boy Scouts, and we will be taking a back seat. Drew is still very involved because he has a lot of fun, but it will be nice to relinquish the responsibility, you know?

On a completely different note, I’ve been having fun playing around with the Silhouette Cameo I got for Christmas. I am still learning, and there’s a lot of trial and error, but I’m figuring things out. I bought some vinyl the other day, so I am looking forward to making a custom travel mug for myself. The hardest part is deciding on a design! Mostly, I’ve just been making stickers for my planner. It is really cool to have the machine make the detailed cuts. Using an X-acto knife or small scissors is so much work. This speeds things up considerably!

A photo posted by Carol Bancroft (@carolwrites) on

And while I haven’t actually done any crochet, I’ve been organizing my yarn and patterns with the intention of getting back into so projects this week. I bought a lidded basket to keep my current project stashed away, safe from playful cats. And I’ve been putting my patterns into a binder so they’re all in one place. 

Well, I guess that’s about all for today! Hope you are having a great weekend!

The Week I Turned 40…

 

A photo posted by Carol Bancroft (@carolwrites) on

It’s true. I turned 40 last Monday. Eek, right? LOL, honestly it was painless. I’m OK with it (it’s certainly better than the alternative, right?) And truthfully, I had a spectacular day and a wonderful week. Since I never got around to posting on my actual birthday, I thought I’d just do a recap of my entire, awesome week! Actually, let’s start with the prior weekend. I actually went into my blog archive vault. Yes — there’s a vault! I have my pre-Wordpress archives stored there and I decided to look back at 2005. This is the entry from the day I turned 30:

Sweet 30 
Am I goofy to be totally excited to be turning 30? Well, so be it! So far I'm having a happy birthday, indeed! Jake made me a fantastic card and gave me some earrings. Drew gave me an absolutely gorgeous necklace, handmade by the woman I did the lookbooks for last fall (Drew maintains her web site, too). Photos later. I got to take a shower and wash my hair AND shave my legs. Plus, I actually got to do my hair this morning and put on makeup, woot! The boys and I are leaving shortly for a Halloween party. And the dusting of snow melted (as I knew it would) and the sun is shining and it's a perfect fall day!
Oct 26, 05 | 10:31 am

It was a perfect fall day this year, too! Glorious sunshine, cool temperatures. I don’t think I would change a thing if I had control over the weather. Although I didn’t get to sleep in, I was surprised first thing in the morning. As you all know, I’m a pretty quiet person. I joke that I’m a “professional homebody” and I’m so glad my husband gets that. So there were no surprise parties or big to-dos. Instead, he told me that he had arranged for me to have a quiet spa day — he’d made the appointment and all I had to do was show up! Again, he knows me well. He made the appointment because I’d never do it for myself. So sweet! Pedicure

Spa DaySo yes, I had an indulgent morning: massage, facial, manicure, pedicure. They even gave me a glass of champagne since it was my birthday! The rest of the day was nice and relaxing. Drew and the kids made me dinner and then we had caramel apple cake. (Please excuse how I look here, LOL! I was not about to put on makeup after my amazing facial.) I got a few other goodies, too: a new bag, candy (ha — look at the emotions on the Snickers bars), and someone thought he was being funny with the large-print word search book. My birthday!

Birthday GoodiesTuesday was back to the grind! I did some grocery shopping and opened up orders for Christmas elf hats. I have two that I am finishing up so I’ll share photos once they are done. Wednesday I started working on hat orders and did work around the house. Thursday I met my parents for lunch at O’s Eatery up in Chatham. I’ve driven by this diner probably hundreds of times, so I was excited to finally try it out, and it did NOT disappoint. I was hoping to order their deluxe fish sandwich, but they had run out of the cod. I was a little bummed, but happy to learn that their fish is delivered on Fridays, so in the future, I know when to go! Instead, I had a grilled chicken sandwich with pesto, mozzarella, and roasted red peppers. SO good! I also got a cup of their split pea soup — delicious as well. I will definitely be going back there.  Diner

My mom also gave me this beautiful afghan for my birthday! No one appreciates a handmade gift like another crafter. She made it with Simply Soft and it is so smooshy and cozy. I think I’m going to have to fight the kids for who gets to cover up with this one in the mornings, LOL!

Friday night we had some friends over (OK, Jake had some friends over, mostly) for an outdoor Halloween movie party. It got so cold, but the kids had fun. We showed a Tales from the Crypt episode and Transylvania 6-5000. Nothing too creepy.

Party ListSaturday, of course, was Halloween. We went out to lunch and ran errands earlier in the day and then went out Trick-or-Treating in the evening. This was probably Jake’s last year for ToT — sad as it is, at some point you have to stop. He’s actually OK with it. He felt a little “old” out there with the little kids, he said. Kind of a coincidence given his costume, LOL! Halloween 2015

Yesterday was a quiet day at home. I made Zuppa Toscana. Drew made a big pot of Marinara. We watched movies and were generally lazy. But today it’s to business! I have so much cleaning to do and things to take care of. I think I’m going to fortify myself with one more cup of coffee and then start tacking my to-do list!

 

A photo posted by Carol Bancroft (@carolwrites) on

Hope you all have a fantastic start to your week!