My lazy Sunday

My husband headed off to Lambeau field yesterday morning and I had a whole day to myself. I was a little over ambitious. After two hours on the couch watching Sunday morning television I took a trip to Michaels and the Woodmans. I made it home in time to watch the Packer game, even though it was an unfortunate game.

During the game I made my first batch of homemade chicken stock to freeze (thank you Gwyneth Paltrow). I crafted a picture frame/dry erase note board for the house and made paper flowers for decorations. Both of these tasks involved my new LAVENDAR hot glue gun.

 This first picture is a whole bowl of the flowers. They are made out of pages of an old novel. You cut a scalloped circle, spiral it, roll it tight and then hot glue it. I got the idea from this blog via Pinterest. Check out the link for more thorough instructions.

 Here is what single flower looks like. I had grand plans of making enough for a few decorative bowls and my hurricane jar. Instead I made about 20, enough to barely fill a bowl and few to sprinkle around the base of a candle around the hurricane jar.

After the Packer game (and I lost my will to make flowers) I finally relaxed a bit and watched the 2 hour season premiere of Downton Abbey. It took all my will power to not start the next one - it was amazing. Luckily, I am all about delayed gratification. Instead, I baked pumpkin bread - I had to get the chicken smell out of the house. I also cruised through the Golden Globes.

As I fell into bed exhausted at 11:30 last night, I told myself that I was so productive because I have the day off today and can recover. This morning, I popped up and got dinner in the crockpot and paid bills. While this sounds like the same insane level of productivity, I hear Barbara Kingsolver calling my name. Yesterday, I did not finish The Lacuna. I think that is a noble goal for today.

Downton Abbey

I have recently discovered Downton Abbey. I watched the last few episodes in Season 1 and I have the first episode of Season 2 saved on the DVR. I am husband-less on Sunday and am anticipating two hours of escape to WWI England.

This week I have been trying to get my Downtown Abbey fix without finding out what has happened in the first episode. I stumbled across this article by Julie Bosman from The New York Times about the increase in similar genre book sales related to the show. Not only do I love Julie Bosman (I no longer hear her weekly on my Times Book Review podcast), but the article satisfied my Downton Abbey fix for a bit.

Although I enjoyed the article, I am not sure I jump on a bandwagon so much so that it is all the reading material I consume. I have not been yearning to find out more about early 20th century England. For me, I enjoy being consumed by the world in the show without analyzing it too much. For further evidence, right now I am reading Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna and looking forward to The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Although, I must admit I turned the pages of Middlemarch the other night (for the British part) and looked at images of World War I fashion (for the time period). Needless to say, I am not looking for a corset to wear.

For your own Downton Abbey fix, here is a short clip and preview for the new season.