Feeling Mighty

Today has been a very busy day. I had gone to Walmart and returned by about 8:00 a.m., after which I jumped right in to making the dessert for tomorrow. Our Sunday School class is making a “Thanksgiving” dinner for the halfway house across from the church, and I signed up for a dessert and mashed potatoes. So I got the dessert made first thing and put it in the fridge.

Then I sliced a lot of onions and peppers:

And also put them in the fridge. I also made a sauce before cutting up a bunch of chicken and making a marinade for it. Then that also went into the fridge.

I took a break to drink my morning tea, during which I managed to write about 600 words. Then I peeled and chopped six apples, made a crumble topping, and got the apple crisp for tonight in the oven.

While it was baking, I had my main meal of the day (beef and eggs) and wrote some more words. I am very rarely this productive.

My friend Rosalinda came over at 1:00 to watch some more Star Trek, during which I finished knitting the non-sparkly scrub cloth:

I like this one a lot better than the sparkly one.

We watched four episodes, I think, and then after she left I wrote some more and hit my target of 2000 words. I also made some peanut butter cookie dough and got it into the fridge, before getting the chicken and veggies into the roasting pan to make roasted chicken fajitas for everyone else’s dinner.

The Annas came over and Jasper joined us for dinner too. He’s been holed up in his room all day as he is sick.

The fajitas were a hit, as was the apple crumble. And I felt so mighty for getting all that cooking done and also writing words. But I wondered if I’d get any sewing done.

So here’s the thing: when it comes to both sewing and writing, I am highly motivated by deadlines, and I really need to build up momentum in order to meet those deadlines. Right now, after a two-year stall, I have that momentum with my writing. That’s all I want to do, in fact. But the sewing deadline is more urgent, and if I miss it, I disappoint my two very favorite little girls. So after the Annas left and after we watched our nightly video, and after I took my shower, I forced myself to go back to work on the sewing.

It involves sewing with tulle, which I don’t enjoy, but I got one of the skirts done. By which I mean the tulle is attached to the skirt and I’ve done the gathering stitches and it’s all ready to be attached to the bodice that I haven’t even cut out yet. And tomorrow is another really busy day! Somehow I’ve got to carve out some sewing time.

Meanwhile, my husband has had plenty of time to work on that puzzle.

I thought it would last him until Thanksgiving, but look how far he’s got in just four days! I haven’t placed a single piece.

Joy Spark: Learning that our Mongolian friend Gana will be able to join us for Thanksgiving again!

Thankfulness Day 15: Today I am thankful for my son Jasper. He has always been so good-natured and easygoing. We enjoy having him around, and I love him very much.

Yesterday’s Word Count: 2112

Total Word Count (yesterday): 27,765