The Professional Domestic

Day 1 and 2 without Facebook

“Let’s just stay off of Facebook for a bit,” this is what I told myself on Saturday after the week’s events.

We need to post less on Social Media and start mowing our lawns. Am I right??

Things I got accomplished on Sunday without thinking about social media:

-Went to Sunday School, Church and we had a coffee hour after. I stayed and chatted without rushing to leave.

-When I got home, I baked 2 pizza bread and a raisin bread and dropped one pizza bread to a friend, and chatted a bit.

-Made a ham, mashed potatoes and beans for dinner, had the kid come over and eat with us too. Speaking of beans I picked all of the beans from the garden and boy were some of them tasty right then for dinner!

-Mom stopped by and I gave her two bags of beans and a container of cookies to share with her friend for her dinner.

-I got to work getting 8 lbs of peaches juiced for peach syrup and got the rest of the beans trimmed and cut for canning.

-We ran the dishwasher 3 times!

-Did my 3-week SAL update with the girls and stitched some more on Lavender Girl.

-Folded and put away the laundry.

-Listened to 30% of my current book while working in the kitchen.

-Relaxed and watched the Bills game and the Chiefs game with the hubs in between it all.

Sunday, I got so much accomplished and felt so much better mentally that I carried it into Monday!

Things I got accomplished on Monday without Social Media:

-Baked 2 dozen scones and a peach crumb pie for an order before I went to work.

-Worked a typical Monday at the office.

-Walked with the hubs after work and while walking we dropped a deposit at the bank, turned in a lottery ticket at the gas station and went to the library and relaxed for a bit. I picked out a couple of books to bring home.

I figure I can just double these recipes for 2!

-We ate an easy dinner, relaxed and watched football again as I stitched more on Lavender Girl.

-Worked on bills and finances. Our new system has been working the last 3 weeks! More on that later.

I love being off of social media so much that I am going to keep going without it to see how much I can get done.

I’ll post again!

-MM

The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence.

–Norman Vincent Peale

SAL-Girl in Lavendar Field 7

Happy Sunday to everyone! It’s time for our three week update!

Here’s the before:

And here’s the after.

I got a ton stitched these last three weeks!

That’s it for me this update. Time to blog hop the other stitchers in our group!

Thank you, Avis, for organizing this Stitch-a-Long. Please visit the other blogs to see what other fabulous stitchy projects they are stitching. We are all working on different pieces!

Avis, Claire, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

SAL-Girl in Lavendar Field 6

Happy Sunday to everyone! It’s time for our three week update!

Here’s the before:

And here’s the after.

I stitched a little bit in all the places, her skirt, the right side of the lavendar, the left of her skirt, her right arm is about finished, and more on the sky.

That’s it for me this update. Time to blog hop the other stitchers in our group!

Thank you, Avis, for organizing this Stitch-a-Long. Please visit the other blogs to see what other fabulous stitchy projects they are stitching. We are all working on different pieces!

Avis, Claire, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

SAL-Girl in Lavendar Field 5

I didn’t get a ton done in the last 3 weeks on this project, unfortunately.

Here’s where I was last update:

And here I am now.

I stitched more on her right arm, and I stitched to the very top of the project.

I did get an old project finished, though! Remember the seat cover I stitched for my desk chair? Well, I agreed with Avis when she said it was too nice to sit on, so I quilted it (first time ever for that), and although I am not sure if I am going to hang it or use it on a table I am pretty darn proud of myself!

Thank you, Avis, for organizing this Stitch-a-Long. Please visit the other blogs to see what other fabulous stitchy projects they are stitching. We are all working on different pieces!

Avis, Claire, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Not Impressed With Our Debt – Still working on It

I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since my last official Not Impressed post.

Paying off our debt is still a struggle and sometimes I just want to give up but we have to keep at it right?

In March I came home on a Sunday after church and sat at the computer and something just gave way inside my brain. I needed to make a big move with our debt. I got on line with my credit card company and applied for a credit increase and the response was immediate. Seriously, it was!

I now had enough credit to transfer my husband’s credit card balance to my credit card. Whoa…that doesn’t sound like the greatest idea MM. I’ll admit, I have been contemplating this move for a while but when I came home that day I had had enough of fearing it. If you want results sometimes you have to make a bold move and accept the risk.

I then called my credit card company and asked the very nice woman to help me with transferring $10,000 from my husband’s credit card to mine. She said no problem she would get the process started but first he needed to put my name on his credit card account. She set everything up and she said once my name was added to his account the process of the balance transfer would happen automatically. The rate of interest would be 0% through February 2026.

I told my husband what I had done. He looked a bit concerned but he got on the phone with his CC company and added my name to his account. It took about one extra billing cycle to go through but in the end his balance was transferred to mine and I added his name to my account also.

His rate of interest was 28% and only once did they have a promotional lowering of interest. Mine on the other hand would lower the rate of interest significantly IF you called and asked. I did that also this time.

Here is the breakdown on this:

$10,000 was transferred from his to mine
I finished paying his by making one last small payment of about $130
His interest rate was 28%
After asking for a better rate mine is now 15.99% for 6 months
We were paying over $250 per month just in interest on my husband’s card!
We are now only paying about $60 a month for the balance I had on the card and zero interest on the $10,000 I transferred from his.
Doing this balance transfer and asking for a lower interest rate has saved us about $300/month!

To date I have made three $1000 payments to our combined credit card balance. It currently stands at $12,781 from $15,500.

Keep moving forward even when you have to take a step back to see your progress. Don’t give up!

Until next time -MM

SAL-Girl in Lavendar Field 4

This time around, I started working on the horizon line. I am pretty sure this project will fit perfectly in this frame without having to move it, which is a bonus!

Here’s where I was last update:

And here I am now.

I also did a few stitches on the skirt and on the lavendar.

Thank you, Avis, for organizing this Stitch-a-Long. Please visit the other blogs to see what other fabulous stitchy projects they are stitching. We are all working on different pieces!

Avis, Claire, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

2025 Goals Update

My BFF reminded me at our campfire on the 4th that I hadn’t done a goals update in a while. Here’s where I am at in the goals department.

Home Repairs Professionally Done -New back door and cut down all sumac in the hedgerow.

We got a new back door installed last week! So happy!

We went from a 50+ year old door and aluminum screen door to a brand new solid fiberglass entry door with full glass storm. Although it’s darker in the entryway when the solid door is closed the light when the door is open and it’s just the full glass/screen door open …amazing! This winter when the snow and wind are beating on that back entry we will be nice and toasty inside I tell ya. Plus I feel more secure. Our home could have easily been compromised with just one good punch of the glass. I did keep the wooden door. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet but we’ll see.

Home Projects Done By Us – Paint everything in the kitchen and revamp some of said kitchen.

Well I bought the paint! That’s about it though. I have been too busy messing up the kitchen with all of these cakes.

Learn to Sew DONE!

I took another sewing class for pillows but it was a bit of a bust. I was stressed out before I got there and right before I reached the store I caught a train and it stopped right in the middle of the tracks so I had to go around and I got there 10 mins late…the zipper gave me issues and I didn’t like the teacher as much so I went home a little frustrated. It’s OK though, I experimented with stuff on my own and made another “bag” with no straps. I practiced quilting with some random fabric I had and made a liner and boxed the corners and did a decorative stitch around the top. I was very impressed with myself and my new found sewing skills! Now I keep all of my current cross-stitch supplies in it by my living room chair. Love it!

If you are local and would like more info on sewing classes, contact Sew Creative in Fairport. They offer a ton of great classes. Tell them I sent you!

Add my husband to all of our household bills and finally change my name to my new married name instead of my old married name (it’s only been 15 years lol) DONE!

All three have been changed and I feel much better.

Try 10 of my Granny’s recipes from her stash

Still haven’t done anything yet.

Go to three cultured events this year like a concert, play, musical, etc

So far, just one event done. An afternoon with Cary Elwes and watching the Princess Bride at UB

Wear all 18 dresses I have at least once this year

I wore a dress for Easter, a dress for a funeral, and a dress for Mother’s Day so far.

Three down 15 to go!

Get my mom and son moved into their new homes and re-arrange our own home now that the kid will be on his own

Done with the kid and mom move. Still have to finish getting a couple of couches out of our house and over to the kid’s house but we did start to re-arrange our house. My husband finally has his own closet! I’ll post photos when everything is more complete.

Everyone is settled in. It was hell moving the two of them and I had to go back to therapy for it but it’s done!

Try 10 recipes off the internet

Nothing more on this.

Do some continuing education for cake decorating technique for myself

Still working on this.

Pay off $10,000 in credit card debt

I want to do a post on this, this week. Lots has been going on behind the scenes with this goal.

Get that fruit garden installed this year that I wanted last year

Well I have the ground ready but I still haven’t gotten the plants yet.

Watch Masterclass

I canceled Masterclass. I didn’t want to pay the $100+ subscription fee again this year!

That’s it for now. I am just so happy to have that back door done! Yippee!

Until next update! -MM

Construction of a Sunshine Cake

I posted a photo of the sunshine cake I decorated for an order this Spring but I never posted about it’s construction.

I made this cake with a 12″ flower shaped cake pan. To feed the number of people needed, I did a double layer of this shape, and it was half chocolate and half white,

The filling between the layers was just the buttercream frosting

Here’s the cake frosted.

Piping the center circle, the right size is key for balancing the size of the petals. If I ever needed a sunny side up egg cake, this would be it! Lol!

Each petal was started at the very top and center of each rise and piped wider and wider until I reached the center circle.

Then I piped the smile of the sunshine and outlined each petal in black frosting. Then for an extra decorative element, I piped a few more lines for rays of sunshine.

This order was for a little one’s first birthday so a double layer 6″ baby smash cake went along with the big cake.

Such a sweet themed cake! What do you all think? -MM

SAL-Girl in Lavendar Field 3

I definitely needed a break from stitching the gray. So I started a bit of purple and green and now her arms are taking shape!

Here’s where I was last update:

And here I am now.

With the 95 degree temps making it our way I might just spend my spare time stitching in the air conditioning!

Thank you, Avis, for organizing this Stitch-a-Long. Please visit the other blogs to see what other fabulous stitchy projects they are stitching. We are all working on different pieces!

Avis, Claire, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

SAL-Girl in Lavendar Field 2

I am absolutely in love with stitching this project, and I have made a ton of progress!

Here I was last update

And here I am now.

I am all the way to the bottom of the chart and will be stitching up and side to side now.

Thank you, Avis, for organizing this Stitch-a-Long. Please visit the other blogs to see what other fabulous stitchy projects they are stitching. We are all working on different pieces!

Avis, Claire, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen