This and That - Housecleaning, Cooking and Hockey

Yesterday turned into a very busy day, but a good one. After doing the grocery shopping, I settled in to cooking. I wanted to make my 13-bean chili - since it's already the end of April and I only make it for the cold months, it may be one of the last times I eat this until the Autumn returns. The grocery store had bacon on sale, so I picked up a package of bacon to fry up and add to the mix of ground beef, herbs, chili powder and beans. It turned out to be a lovely addition - a great flavor profile. I also had picked up lots of fresh veggies and made my next four containers of "Ogre Juice" for the coming week. So, all of that was great. 

Take out the dairy since I don't eat dairy, and this is 
pretty close to what my chili looked like. It's really 
tasty, and adding that one pound of bacon to the mix 
this time made it super tasty! I won't do that every time, 
but it was a great addition. I wonder if it would be wrong 
to have a small bowl of chili for breakfast? LOL

My main project, aside from cooking, was the continuation of the drapery project. I've been cleaning the draperies in my home, one section at a time. I had done one portion of the bedroom a month or maybe even longer ago, and I wanted to tackle the larger double-drape across the double window of the Western wall. So, I pulled down the absolutely FILTHY drapes, got all of the hardware out of them, and took them down to the laundry room. 

If I ever have to replace the curtains in the bedroom 
completely, I'd probably look into getting something 
ombre, similar to this. I like the open weave I've 
currently got, but this would be nice as well. Of course, 
that room desperately needs repainting, and since that 
would require moving a LOT of very heavy furniture, 
it's NOT going to happen. It needs a new carpet also, 
so ... no. Just not happening. At least it now has 
clean draperies - LOL. 

There is a limit to how bold I am willing to be with draper that actually should be dry cleaned. So I cold-water washed them on a gentle cycle and then dried them in a low-temp dryer. After replacing the pins and rehanging the drapes (after thoroughly cleaning the wall and curtain rod), I rehung the drapes. They look great, and I feel SO much better. I think my next drape to wash and rehang will either be the single drape in our library/study, or the drapes in Sharon's room which could certainly also use a good wash. The computer room drapes could also use a good clean. I guess this is a project that will still take me months to finish. 

My food co-op was holding their annual 
bulk foods sale (which goes until mid-April, if 
I decide to indulge some more), so when I 
dropped by there on Wednesday, I couldn't resist 
a couple of granola mixes that I enjoy. I filled 
my "nosh" bowl with these, instead of the 
nuts that I often have in that bowl. Unfortunately, 
noshing on the granola is addicting and hard 
to stop. 

On the bad side, I had time to nosh, and a new bowl of seed and nut munchies that I had put together. I ate FAR too much of it yesterday, with full knowledge that I was eating too much, and I paid the price on the scale today. Up one pound. Oh well, I'll eat properly today and tomorrow, and it'll be off by Monday. Still, it was frustrating, even if it is all my own greedy fault - LOL. 

Both the Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche 
are in the NHL playoffs right now. We won last 
night's game against Dallas, which puts us up 2-1 in 
the first round. So far, we're doing well, and I have 
hopes for the Wild. The Colorado Avalanche play
their next game tonight. 

Still, it was a good Friday, and I'm heading to work today with some positive thoughts and vibes, and the knowledge that work is the best place to be today. I can't overeat healthy junk food at the shop - LOL. Have an excellent Saturday and a great weekend. I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini and Go Wild!