Week in Review: Sewing, Books, Cooking, Home and Family

Happy Friday!

Since I have transitioned into sharing more about my sewing crafts, I thought that it was appropriate to include Sewing as one of my Week in Review focus areas. You'll see that as a regular feature going forward.

I am also in the process of transitioning my site to be self-hosted at peetswea.com - get ready to change your feed readers!  I am very excited about this change and the learning process that I am going through.

Sewing

I mentioned in an earlier post that the PeetSwea shop had it's third sale this week.  It is exciting to see this little business of mine grow. 

On Wednesday, I fired up my serger, which has been neglected for many years.  I am excited that it will allow me to expand into more items that required a finished edge. 

Last week, I organized all of my available fabrics.  Spending time with fabric seems to spawn many of my creative juices.  For those of you who know me for my love of books, you will know how serious it is to hear that fabric stores are becoming even more dangerous these days than bookstores!

Books
I currently have two books running simultaneously on my Kindle:  Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon which is the fourth book in the Outlander Series and MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche.  The first is long and epic and finds the characters in Colonial America, the second is light and funny and explores the author's search to find new friends after moving to a new place.  I'm enjoying both very much.

I recently finished The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and OnLine and hope to post a review soon.  It was an excellent reference for individuals who are entering into the world of selling handmade crafts online.

Cooking
OK, so have you tried Martha Stewart's homemade macaroni and cheese? If not, please rush to this site and print the recipe and proceed to the nearest grocery store for supplies. It was divine! I divided the recipe in half and it was more than enough for the three of us to eat.  One caveat:  I was told (since I didn't have the privilege of enjoying myself -{cough} husband {cough}) that the leftovers were not as great as they were straight from the oven - still good, but not divine.  That will probably keep me from making the full-sized batch unless I have company over.

Still, VERY yummy recipe!

Home
I can hardly believe it, but it has been a year and half since we moved to Virginia from Florida.  I don't feel that I can genuinely offer the "we just moved here" line when breaking the ice with new friends.  We signed a two-year lease on our home, so we are beginning to discuss what will come next.  We like the house that we are in now, and may opt for another year, but there is something to be said about owning your own home.  Luckily, we have few months to figure out our options.

Family
We are busy!  I am beginning to think that our approach to involving J in activities was a tad too exuberant.  We're now doing Tae Kwon Do, gymnastics, religious education and Daisy Scouts. I can't exactly call myself a soccer mom, but my SUV certainly feels like a taxi these days.

I'm also very excited that we recently found two babysitters, which should help to spice up the adult social life around here.  Since moving to Virginia, also known as no-more-local-grandparent-ville, we have been using a sitting service.  This was expensive and unfortunately we never had the same sitter twice.  We'll be lining up our new sitters soon.  I'm thinking a day in DC doing all the adult tourist things we have enjoyed yet:  segway tour, Holocaust Museum, Capitol tour...

Any Northern Virginia, Maryland, DC locals, or fans of the area, that want to share a fun date activity that we should try?


Hope that everyone has a great week!