So far, with all of our visitors and home repairs/renos, this has been a crazy busy winter.

So how do I cope with all of the “busy-ness”? Well, I add more things to do, of course.

My first goal was to master basic French macarons, which I managed to do after 7 batches.

My second goal was to try crocheting again. I hadn’t done any crocheting since the early 1980’s, but it didn’t take too long before I was managing that again.

My feature photo is of Mexican mandala coasters I’ve been making. Because of our location in deep South Texas, and our close proximity to the Mexican border, I’m trying to decorate our winter home in a Tex Mex theme, so these coasters are adding some bright colours to the accent tables in our living room.

I’ve been learning to paint on rocks using acrylic paint pens (I’ll save that for another post), and have again been collecting palm sheaths to paint. In addition, now that I know how to make basic French Macarons, I want to learn how to fancy them up with decorations, etc. I’m going to try some heart-shaped ones for Valentine’s Day.

I’m still playing bridge once a week and mahjong twice a week, so overall, I’m not idle too much of the time … and I like that.

“Good, old-fashioned ways keep hearts sweet, heads sane, hands busy.”

Louisa May Alcott