A new year's resolution

I'm not usually one for resolutions, but last year, I ended the year exhausted and resolved that this year, I would spend more time doing nothing and less time multi-tasking.  It's not a competition to see who can do the most things.  I need to spend more time relaxing and learning and less time getting stuff done.  Because no matter how hard I worked, there was always something else that needed to be done and I could not rest.  

That said...

I decided to take the tatting up a level and see if I could make something other than a snowflake.  I made about 25 of them and was bored.  I looked for patterns and had printed a few and this one looked like a good step up without being too difficult.  Even then I had to make sections of it about 5 times before I got the hang of the pattern.  On this one, I learned about turning my work, which was hard for me to wrap my head around at first, and I learned a new way to bury thread ends and I made a set of picot gauges so all those would be a more consistent size.    Anyway, I managed to slog through it once and then started one with a prettier thread and finished it last night.  

I also quilted the greenhouse quilts and got them washed.  They only took a couple hours each to quilt.  I did parallel vertical lines, so it was quick and easy.  They're ready to store until our next hard freeze event.  

All the plants in the greenhouses made it through the freeze with no damage (I get better at this each time).    I pulled a bunch of the biggest pots out to water them yesterday and that gave me plenty of space to walk around and water the rest.  Wow, that picture looks really messy, but it's not messy at all compared to past years when I couldn't move around in there because there were so many plants.  

I cleaned up the studio/home office and did a little organizing, but you wouldn't be able to tell because it's still very cluttered looking.  You'd need before and after pictures.  But, Rob and I could see the difference.  He's so orderly that my studio probably makes him a little crazy.  

And, I left several things undone without trying to force them into my schedule so I could spend more time practicing my resolution by doing nothing.  It felt good to look at something that needs doing and think 'I'll get to you later'.  Rob bought me a bonsai starter kit for Christmas.  It turns out that bonsai is not about growing a mini tree from a seed.  It's about having the patience to grow a mini tree from a seed.  That feels like a good metaphor for my resolution this year.  

The only other pictures I took last week were food.  

I made air fried chicken as the last dinner of 2022.  

And Suzanne's potato soup (yes, you Suzanne) as the first dinner of 2023.  Suzanne shared this recipe with me a long time ago...maybe 12 years? and I've made it every NY day since.  I freeze the last of the Christmas ham for a few days to use in it in the soup.  And of course, we had our black-eyed peas for good luck in the new year.    

Here's wishing us all a very happy new year.  May it be filled with all we want, whether that's getting more done (or less), or learning a new skill, or just relaxing in this short interim between elections.  May the year be filled with peace and joy and love (especially peace!).  And may we learn something good about ourselves that we didn't already know.  

Lane