Where Does The Time Go?

I've lost time.  It happens to me frequently.  Today is Tuesday but I look up and suddenly it's Saturday.  How does that happen?

When I worked I longed to be retired because I pictured it as such a restful time...full of days where I lounged around reading a good book, eating chocolate.  I don't know about you but it doesn't happen at my house!  I've been busy the last week or so but I'm not sure exactly what I've done.  I finished another pillow - are you getting sick of these yet?

I think this might be my favorite - the antlers and sash are a deep brown narrow wale corduroy.  I confess I saw a similar pillow at a local department store one day and refused to pay the steep price tag for it.  I came home, searched Google Images and found similar antlers, and made my own pattern.  It works beautifully in our "boys bedroom."

Several weeks ago I finished a cross stitch piece from Just CrossStitch magazine - a cup with an herb in it.  There was a series of four and I planned to do all four and hang them in my kitchen.  Until I remembered I have no spare walls in my kitchen.  So I made this one into a cover for my box of essential oils.  I love the way it turned out!

Both of these were UFOs and in my ongoing effort to get some of that empire state building size stack a little smaller I also prepped this kit,

and got this one out to prep next.

I think my favorite thing I've stitched this week wasn't a UFO at all.  I bought this kit last week at The Shepherd's Needle in Little Rock and couldn't wait to make it.  It is a Shepherd's Bush design and is the perfect size for holding a couple of pens, a kleenex or two and even some note cards with my Bible and journal beside my chair.

It would also be a good size for scissors, needles and thimble so I think I'll consider making some for gifts - I love making zipper bags and they stitch up quickly.

I made a big pot of soup this week too - one of the best I've made in a long time.  I love homemade vegetable soup that starts with a beef roast as the base.  I cooked mine in the electric pressure cooker for an hour and a half with a jar of home canned tomatoes and a can of beef broth.  It was falling apart when I added the onions, celery and carrots and let it simmer for a while.

When those vegetable were done I added some potatoes, corn, okra and black eyed peas left from New Year's.  Yes, it was a huge pot but I shared some with one of our daughters and her family so we've only a tiny bowl left now.

I also made some cinnamon raising bread that was so wonderful - I use a sourdough starter and it's fast, easy, and delicious.  Isn't this loaf pretty?

The bowl it's in was my grandmother's.  I carried it in my lap on the plane home from California after she died.  Here's the finished product....

It was scrumptious!  I only make bread about every 10 days because I have no will power when hot bread comes out of the oven.  I'm on Weight Watchers and while I can have this it's more points than I want to indulge in very often.  We keep one loaf and I give the other two away.

Anybody else lost time lately?