Time is going by

On days like today (Saturday), with Zach now working, he and Joel were gone early in the day for work, Chelsea and Ben had plans for the day and I found myself alone in the quiet house with not a list of things I had to do, but a list of things I wanted to do.

And so I worked on my crafts, read for a while, threw in a load of wash, put a roast in the oven, all without once turning on the television or any other noise distraction. I just enjoyed the quiet that the day offered me.

And once the evening arrived, after dropping Zach at a Halloween party and returning from a trip to the store, I have to say I was taken back when I drove through a development and saw all the little costumed kids running from house to house, with their parents awaiting their return at the end of the driveway. I remembered those days and they really don't seem that long ago.  All the school parties, parades... heck, we didn't even carve pumpkins this year...

And that was when it dawned on me that that phase of my life is over.  No more trick or treating, carving pumpkins, all those fun things we did with the kids when they were little. But it does give me time to do those other things I enjoy to do!  Here's a little project I started working on Saturday and finished up Sunday.

I took these ingredients plus 2 cups water

and made this mixture

and dragged red and white chenille stems through it so they looked like this

of which my family thought was either bacon or beef jerky

After drying all night and fluffing they looked like this

And then twisted them together to form Primitive Candy canes!