Cold Snap--Evening Update

  What a shock to our bodies-woke up to the mid 30's F this morning. Not ready to turn the heat on yet though.

 Yesterday I brought in the two large clay pots of the amaryllis bulbs so they wouldn't freeze and also the small pot of annual mums that I picked up a month or so ago-after tomorrow we are warming back up for the rest of the month-loving it  A bit unusual for October, perhaps I can work on pulling up some of those weeds

  My spinning is going well, so am very happy. As much as I love spinning fibers I have yet to really master really good yarn with no flaws-but mine does have character haha. 

  I needed to switch over to spinning just the bison fibers-which is a challenge as the fibers just barely hold together while spinning. I found a bag of a few huge balls of roving to spin. At the time I had found a seller that was getting out of selling this fiber so I was able to buy it-otherwise it is very very expensive I filled up the niddy noddy last night so I wetted the yarn to set the spin. Once dry will go back and finish up spinning more of this blend. I found another white wool I can use once I finish up what I am using now.

 I decided to treat myself to a new handmade spindle. The one I am using by Ashford works well but it has a crack that I mended on the top. Those are now rather expensive for as simple they are. So I shopped on Etsy for handmade spindles. I always preferred the whorl on the bottom instead of the top. I liked this one-the whorl (bottom) was crafted from black walnut. For the same price the seller had a spindle with a handmade bowl-to place the tip in while spinning, or two sizes of spindles-I went for the two.  I have a collection of awesome stone or glass  I enjoy using to hold the base.

Photo from the etsy shop here

 Things are much more stressful at this point-so I decided I needed a little gift for myself. I am encouraged that my spinning is going well, very relaxing and have always enjoyed it.

  Enjoy your weekend

Found this photo online frost on the pumpkin

update: does anyone have a hamburger goulash type recipe-but using No tomato products and gluten free? thanks

Evening update: sorry I couldn't get a photo of my slow cooker soup-my camera does badly with indoor photos.  

    I browsed online for recipe ideas-and ended up making a hamburger soup-which I have not made before or even heard of  smiles. I added unsalted beef broth to my slow cooker  sauted some chopped white onions-added to the soup, used a half package of usa hamburger and cooked in cast iron til just cooked through-kept the meat in chunks and added to the soup. I always keep those small packages of small potatoes around so cut up a bunch of those in half and added to the soup. I keep organic canned mushrooms on hand-added those. Added some dried chives, and frozen peas.  With  my acid reflux issue-due to all the stress-I don't add much spices any more but did add a little ground pepper. Let it cook all afternoon-then added handfulls of Bob's Red Mill dried potato flakes to thicken a bit. I just had a bowl-very tasty-would make this again-and I have enough for a couple more meals. I have always cooked and baked for my husband-so this is new cooking for myself.