Simple Pleasures

I have spent the last six months or so adjusting to my new status of living alone, and while there have been days that were difficult, it has been a positive experience for the most part. At first, it felt important to make some obvious changes, like cleaning out stuff Steve left behind, and rearranging some furniture, but lately I feel like I've started to make changes that go a little deeper than surface level. It's hard to explain, but one example is my kitchen junk drawer.  It was full of miscellaneous odds and ends and one day I decided to dump everything that wasn't recognizeable or useful to me.  My kitchen has very little storage space as it is, and I was allowing one drawer to be completely wasted just because it had always been designated the junk drawer!  That may seem like a small thing, but it seems symbolic to me in the sense that I allowed myself to decide how to use the space, instead of just maintaining the status quo.   I also took down the dark burgundy bedroom curtains that we had had since we married and bought new white ones, which led to me buying a new pink and white quilt.  Now I've decided that I want to paint my bedroom pink, so I picked out some paint chips last Sunday.  I haven't had a pink bedroom since I was twelve years old, but it is exactly the color I want.   The yard is another area where I feel as if I'm flexing my decision making muscles.  I cut down the tree that was making the back of the garage a mess, had someone in to grind it down and clear out the rest of the debris that had accumulated back there, and now I'm planning to have a load of pea gravel delivered to put around it as a solution to the weedy dead zone it has been ever since I've lived here. I've also been pruning things that have been left overgrown, and created a new flower bed by the front porch, so that now when I come home, I feel a sense of pride in the way it all looks.    

This is one of my cherry tomato plants that is already producing!  I'm not sure how to tell when they're ripe though.

 

 

 

I received my copy of Making in the mail today; it is loaded with gorgeous projects and patterns.  If you think $24 is too expensive, just know that it's well worth it for the knitting patterns alone, and they're only a portion of what's included.  I also ordered a circular Lykke needle, as I've been interested in the idea of a driftwood needle ever since they came out.  I'll let you know how I like knitting with it, as I'm planning on using it with my Playground Shawl.  

I think I mentioned last time that Gracie and I are really enjoying the knitting/yarn room, now that I've finally organized it.  This week it's been so soothing to listen to the rain while I knit, with her either on the chair beside me or behind me, purring away.   

 

She doesn't really like the camera pointed at her; look at this side-eye!

I can't believe I only have three weeks left of school.  I feel like I have so many ideas I still want to do with my students but I'm running out of time.  I always feel like I need to be a better planner but after twenty years, I don't see much chance of changing, but I can always hope, can't I?