Monday, Monday

Here's a picture of the hoscah after it came out
of the oven. It is really tasty. I cut the smaller
loaf in half and took half to my great uncle here
in town and mailed the other half to my uncle in
California. My great uncle's mother, my great
grandmother, is who taught me to make hoscah.
It is an egg bread with raisins in it that is braided.

I love this bread. It was a staple at home when I was growing up in my great grandparent's home. Mammy, my great grandmother, made it every week. Grandpa always said "who needs cake when we have hoscah?". I believe that his mother may have made this for decades also. I do feel a real sense of accomplishment in being able to make this bread. It's something from Mammy, and that's important to me.

She is the woman we named our daughter, Johanna, after. I really wish my husband could have met her. She died before I met him. He did meet Grandpa (my great grandfather, but I just called him Grandpa). They were hard working, good, solid people. My husband is a very thin man and I always told him Mammy would have made it a point to try and fatten him up!

While I'm on a roll here about why I named her Johanna, I might as well explain why we named our son Nicholas. When I was young I always wanted to have a baby boy born near Christmas and name him after St. Nicholas. Well, our son was born within a few days of the holiday, so I got my wish!

Yesterday I sewed, yay! I made two red bags out of the homespun I picked up at Wal Mart for 61 cents a yard, I might add. I do not intend to use that material for anything other than bags, because the weave is pretty loose. It would not be good for quilts.

I also started to quilt the baby quilt for charity. I was going to do some free motion quilting on it, but kept putting off starting, out of fear that I would mess it up, I guess. So I chickened out and am just doing a grid. I'm such a wimp...

Made tacos for dinner tonight. They are a great meal for me when I'm on a diet because I can do a veggie one for myself and really load it up. So far I have lost 14 pounds! This is a big big big deal to me and I'm feeling great about it.

Almost noon and the kids are sleeping....what a surprise!

Both kids are home this morning and both are still sleeping! That's no surprise, although I thought Johanna would be up because she did get up and take a shower. Then went back to bed! Nick has to work at 2:30 so he probably won't roll out of bed until 1:45. or later...

The hoscah is rising on the counter. The next step is to braid it and let it rise again. Then into the oven for yummy goodness!

I've got some red material all ready to make Valentine's bags for the kids. Here are a couple of goodies that are going to go into each of them. I'll pick up some other little stuff as the week progresses.

And of course, since the kids are asleep upstairs, I'm being a nice mommy and am going to set up my sewing machine on the kitchen table. So this is a picture of two of my favorite things - the computer and the sewing machine!

Superbowl Sunday Morning

I'm up before everyone else, although I don't know why. Actually haven't really slept since about 2a.m. Thinking about putting together some hoscah (a sweet bread with raisins in it). It's lots of work, but it's so worth it!

Got on the scale this morning and my weight loss now totals 13 pounds! woohoo! I know I'm going to hit a plateau, but until I do, I'm really enjoying seeing that kind of progress.

Haven't sewn yet this weekend. If everyone is still asleep when I'm done putting the hoscah together I think I'll bring the machine downstairs and do something. Anything. I just have to get back into the groove!

Kit cut

I finished cutting the pieces for the mystery quilt this morning. I put everything in a big plastic bag as a kit, so it's ready for me to sew when I want to. I was going to make another kit up tonight, but fizzed out on that

Ev's working tonight. Nick's on the computer playing games. I made spaghetti for myself for dinner and some chili mac for Nick. Made two rueben sandwiches for Ev when he gets home.

Cutting pieces and making pizza

I finally got off my duff and started cutting on a mystery quilt I intended to start weeks ago. I even said to the group doing the mystery I would be starting it, then lost my mojo somewhere! I think it may be returning, at least I hope so! On the kitchen table are the tools and material to be cut. I have my different sized baggies all ready to be filled with precut pieces.

On the counter I have the makings for a homemade pizza. The crust isn't pictured, but it was from the artisan bread recipe. It was another successful pizza and I really really liked it.

I have lost 12 pounds! I know it's not going to contiunue to come off this fast, but it sure feels good.

Ev is working tomorrow. Nick went to his friend's an hour away. I've got tonight all to myself and probably most of tomorrow too. Next weekend I'm planning to go to my mother's for a couple days. It's a four day weekend for me with a holiday on Friday and a holiday on Monday.

Since Nick is staying gone all night, if I want to get up and sew early tomorrow morning I won't be disturbing him, since he has been sleeping in the sewing room lately.

Possible snow coming

The weather folks are predicting a snowstorm for tonight and tomorrow. I sure wouldn't mind a nice blanket of new snow.

I made myself a plate of spaghetti for supper. Made Ev some Italian Sausages and some buttered noodles. Nick picked up two sub sandwiches before he went to work. One for himself and one for Ev to take to work. Actually, Ev's was supposed to be for his supper but he ended up taking it to work! I wasn't planning on cooking tonight, but that's okay. The sausages weren't difficult or time consuming.

I have lost 11 pounds so far. I am so very pleased with this! Getting on the treadmill is a big help, I think.

Tomorrow I am going to the funeral for my great aunt. She was my paternal grandmother's sister in law. I didn't know her very well.

Totally Tuesday

I received my w2 in the mail yesterday. You know what that means? Yes, now I get to do our taxes. Ugh. I'm sure Ev's w2 is on the internet, just haven't checked yet. Last year was the first year I did our taxes and I'm a little nervous about doing them again this year.

I made chili tonight for dinner. I figured up the points for it and had a cup of it for dinner with cheese and crackers. It was a good dinner. Looking forward to having a cup of ice cream later. or sooner... Nick is making a version of his vegetarian chili for himself.

Mondays are not my favorite days

Well, I guess I have proven, once again, that I do not work well with deadlines. I thought if I challenged myself to just make one block a week this year I would be able to follow through. Not so. I blew it. I didn't finish a block last week. I didn't even go into the sewing room! So, after one month, I have decided to drop this challenge to myself in the hopes that now the pressure is off, I will start sewing again! Maybe I need to seriously rethink having a longarm business when I roadblock myself when there are deadlines.

I am doing well on my weight loss. I did not exercise last night because my back was hurting. It continued to hurt all night and all day, but I was determined to exercise tonight at least for 20 minutes. I walked the treadmill at a slow pace for that amount of time and feel good about it. It actually seemed to make my back feel a little better to walk a bit. I think maybe when I walked the dog the other day I might have over done it.

For dinner I made grilled turkey and blue cheese sandwiches. Yes, this was okay for my diet! That is the great thing about losing weight this way...I can eat anything I want really. I counted all the points for the sandwich and even had some baked homemade fries. I even saved a point to have some ice cream if I want it later.

Sunday

I made a big turkey dinner today. I'm still on my points and have lost 8 pounds. I feel pretty good about that. I have been walking on the treadmill and walking the dogs outside. Today I'm not going to exercise because my back is hurting. I'm going to give it a rest for today but intend to get right back on track tomorrow.

Saturday night

Not feeling too good. Stomach troubles. Sewing room too far from the bathroom to do anything in. Hopefully tomorrow. ugh.