Seventeen: A Puzzling Day or Skirting the Issues

K & D gifted us this Christmas with among other things, a jigsaw puzzle of all of the U.S. state birds posing on top of their states on a map of our country. When I first opened it, I acted surprised and excited, but thought to myself, "Yeah, right, that'll never happen....another thing to clutter up my closet." You may recall the picture of Kristin working on the puzzle at our party last weekend. I thought perhaps all of our guests would finish the sucker so that I wouldn't have to! Then I got hooked on it last Sunday! I would only allow myself to put in five pieces after breakfast, another five after lunch, and then five to ten before dinner. It was simply addictive!!! C caught the bug, and I would find him seated before the puzzle at the oddest times: the middle of the morning or the middle of the afternoon. Those are definitely NOT puzzle times now are they?

So, this afternoon, there I was having folded the laundry and I passed through the great room:

He was making great progress! Granted, it was a cold and rainy day. He had said yesterday that today he was going to work in the garden, but in his defense, the weather wasn't cooperating. So, I sat down across from him and:

For many years, we would spend two weeks every summer on Squam Lake, in New Hampshire, with all of C's extended family. We would rent three cottages and just have a ball, swimming, canoeing, playing tennis, Bridge, Trivial Pursuit and doing puzzles. The number one puzzle rule was that once you had taken your glimpse of the puzzle box, it had to be put away, never to be seen again until the monstrosity was completed. K remembered that rule, and made us abide! Do you like to do puzzles? If so, do you have a method of solving them? Do you go by color or shape? Do you sort colors and patterns methodically or just work sort of willy-nilly? I find that I'm mainly a color person, but I don't sort.

oh, and p.s.: we've ordered two Springbok puzzles....remember those?

Skirting the Issues?
I, along with so many others, am loving wearing skirts again....but I cannot abide by the obscene prices that are being charged for a simple pencil skirt! Gail K's (read the Insider's Tips you Project Runwasy fans) is one of my favorite clothing fabric shops.....well, er, I don't think there are any others remaining in Atlanta, because you surely cannot count JoAnn's or Hancock's! So I dropped in there the other day and picked up a couple of yards of lovely silk/wool blends and had a great, great time carrying on with the staff and just loving their great selection of fiber related stuff. In just a couple of hours this afternoon, I had nearly completed this little number:

well, once again Blogger won't turn my pic, so just turn your head toward your left shoulder so that the waist is at the top....does it really matter with this fabric anyway??????

So, I will have two new wool skirts, lined no less, for under $45!!! and the pleasure of sitting at my sewing machine constructing them! While I sewed, C was busy in the kitchen cooking up a storm! I love that he is so comfortable in there!!! He began by making a batch of his designer suet for the birds, and then he got into fixing a mess of turnip greens AND more charro beans. His last pot of beans was so yummy neither of us could wait for more! I am usually not a fan of turnip greens, but he doctored them up so that even this little Yankee loved them! MMMMMM! My sewing room is just around the corner from the new kitchen, so I could catch glimpses of him as he contentedly tasted and added more seasonings, sauteed onions, stirred the peanuts and raisins into the suet, and tinkered away over the range. He has even gotten good at cleaning up after himself. Ya know, I may just keep this guy after all!

And then there's the sock:

I am now shaping the toe, so will finish this guy tonight! Phew: it's about time!!!!

What a great, great rainy winter day!!!

PEACE