I didn’t have the wherewithal to tackle my office last weekend. I walked in with a cup of coffee (#4 for the morning, if you must know), looked around, and walked back out. I even closed the door behind me. I just couldn’t do it; it was too much for the day.

Instead, I took Stubby for a nice long walk. I lingered in the shower, wasting hot water just because it felt good. And then I tidied my side of the bedroom. I put all of my laundry away, and chucked all of the “potentially important, but probably not” paperwork that had wound up there. I cleaned out a tote of random stuff that had been collecting dust for eons, and finished unpacking my suitcase from our trip at the beginning of the month. I even organized the top of my dresser a bit, though I didn’t dust. Gotta draw the line somewhere, you know.

It’s been a week of setting up the pins and knocking them down. I’ve completed an entire To Do list, and am working through a second, which is unheard of around these parts since having children. To be fair, a lot of the items are basics like making my car payment, and having oil delivered. But there were a few items that felt good to get accomplished.

While J worked on prepping the chicken coop for winter the other morning, I took a little bit of time to scrub one of those cast iron skillets he had acquired for me. The weather was gorgeous, so we worked together in the yard while Beans played in the sandbox and had us take breaks to find “buried treasure.” I managed to get most of the rust off, and it’s now tucked in the shed, covered in oven cleaner and wrapped in a trash bag to strip off the layers of use. Tomorrow or Sunday I’ll begin to re-season it.

And today, I finished two trick-or-treat bags! The fabric was purchased on sale the day after Halloween in 2014, washed and folded, and tucked away until I finally had time to put them together. Last year, the girls ended up using paper gift bags that I decorated a bit, and I kicked myself the whole time for not getting these finished. It felt really good to put the final stitches in them today! I followed the Nested Fabric Buckets tutorial on Whipstitch, opting for the medium size, and made a few changes as I went. In my mama fog, I bought medium/heavy fusible interfacing, rather than the batting the pattern called for, so these are not quite as cushy as they might have been, but I think that works to their advantage. I went with a single strap, and used webbing instead of making handles out of the main fabric. I made sure that the ends were stitched inside the lining a solid inch or so, and reinforced each side with a big stitched X. The last thing I want to have happen is for the strap to tear loose when the bucket is loaded down with treats! I had Swee test it by filling it up with Little People, and it seemed good and strong.

The instructions were really easy to follow. I think the hardest part was cutting out all of the pieces and keeping them straight before putting them together. My hope is that the girls can use these for many years to come! Now, to figure out the costumes to go with them…

What did you accomplish this week?