10 days and counting

 I think Rob is still putting up decorations.  Where does he find the time?  I'm mostly focused on cleaning and keeping us fed.  I spent both weekend mornings in the yard, prepping for freezing temps and yesterday afternoon in the kitchen.  I'm ready for a workday so I can just sit down.  

Last Sunday, we were in the grocery and I saw these amaryllis on sale for $7.50.  I joked that they were probably prepped for Christmas bloom but were going to bloom late, so they were on sale.  The poor plant was so dry the spikes looked dusty.  Brought it home and gave it some water and a week later, we have blooms.  So, maybe they were on sale because they're going to bloom before Christmas.  Doesn't matter.  They're beautiful!  Rob has challenged me to keep the bulb and try to get it to do this again next year.  The flowers are about 7" across and there's a second spike coming up.  .

We have a fireplace, but it's rarely cold enough to use it.  And, if it gets cold enough, it's quick enough to move the quilt and a few things and light a fire.  

But Rob goes all out on the mantle.  We try to buy a Santa every year to add to the collection, tho they seem to get smaller and smaller out of necessity.

Rob sets up two villages every year.  There's the Victorian village and Retroville, which was a limited edition collectable village from JoAnn's many years ago.  He's short one piece and it's so hard to find that we haven't been able to get it for him.  

And, there are Christmas quilts.  This one was a paper pieced block of the month that I found online many years ago.  Thanks to whoever posted it!  I altered the Christmas ornament block to have 6 ornaments instead of 5 so that I could use the colors of the rainbow flag there.  

And, this one.  This is one of the first quilts I made while still working with my mentor.  She had purchased this as a kit and let me use the patterns to create my own version.  

And, this one, from when I was learning to machine quilt.  Look at how much of the quilt's pattern is from the quilting.  So, much quilting.

We went Christmas shopping on Saturday.  We talked about going to large retailers, but decided to go to the small boutique "booth" shops where vendors can rent a booth and you never know what you're going to find.  One of the things I found for myself was a copper bowl.  It was heavy and large and black on the inside.  I'm pretty sure the previous owner used it as wall decor and only polished the outside, which wasn't in great shape either.  But, I know what to do with copper and in just a few minutes yesterday, I'd turned it into this!  It will be so much nicer to unwrap on Christmas morning now that it's all shiny.  It's about 50% larger than the copper bowl I already have and I pulled out my ginormous whisk and gave it a test run and I can't wait to whip egg whites in it.  I barely have to move my wrist at all to get the full effect.  Too bad it will be wrapped in a box when I make my Christmas cake next week.

One more work week to go and then I'm taking a bunch of time off.  I deserve it.  Everybody have a great week.  If you like decorating, do it all over.  And, if you don't, then let your open loving heart be your Christmas decoration for all to see.  

Lane

Decorating and then some

We really need to work out this greenhouse/holiday thing better.  Right now, we're doing all the things we do to get ready for Christmas.  But, we're also putting the garden to bed, setting up greenhouses and moving tender plants in anticipation of a freeze in the next week or so.  Yes, I realize some of you are reading this in front of a fire on a cozy, white winter's day...but in TX, the grass still needs mowing.  

I spent both weekend mornings in the yard, getting plants ready to go in the greenhouse.  I've learned this lesson.  I can't just drag them in and expect everything to be fine.  I have to clean them up, take out dead leaves and branches and take the fall leaves out of the pots.  If I don't, I get mold in the greenhouses that can take years to recover from.  

We've been doing our usual "it looks like Santa and his reindeer exploded in here" level decorating. 

This is the Li Bien tree.  The ornaments are theoretically hand painted from the inside.  The older ones probably are.  Anyway, we'd go shopping at Pier 1 close to Christmas when they were on sale, sometimes buying 5-6 a year for us, and we gave them as gifts.  When Pier 1 closed, World Market started to carry them, but they're not the same and they're a lot more expensive and they don't go on sale as far as we can tell, so the collecting is probably done.  They make a nice tree, tho.  But, we forgot to change the quilt behind them to the Christmas quilt.  Oops!  On top of the china cabinet, there's a small wire tree hung with vintage ornaments from my parent's first holiday together and from my Grandparents.  

Rob puts these spring curtain rods in the windows and hangs vintage "Shiny Bright" brand ornaments from them.  But, first, he had to clean all the windows.  And, I got him to clean the kitchen window too, while he was at it.  Thanks, dear!!!

This is the ceramic Christmas tree Rob's Mom made.  He had strong memories of this, so before he got this one from her, we'd bought another at a garage sale (where the lady didn't know the value, so Rob paid her double what she was asking...talk about surprised!)

Every year, Rob creates a new display...that's how we've gotten here.  I bring you this year's display (drumroll).  He found these glass shelves when he was cleaning the garage and built the display around them.  When he was building it, I asked why it needed to be temporary.  I can certainly think of things I could display here, so it became a permanent installation.  The little ceramic tree in the bottom right is the one from the garage sale.  It needs a brighter light.  

This is the swag that hangs across the living room ceiling.  Every year, I say I'm not going to put it up and every year, I do.  

To really appreciate it, you have to look close at the variety of red ornaments.  Rob and I have been collecting them for 25 years.  

There's candy and cardinals, Santas and apples,  reindeer and snowmen and every other kind of red ornament we could find.  Before I got the ornament collection from my Mom, we did red trees with white lights and a white pearl garland.  That was lovely too.  

Okay, couple pictures from the garden and I'll let you go.  I stopped in the middle of setting up the greenhouse to build this trellis for the blackberries.  Rob asked if I had time to stop and build a trellis and I explained this was part of putting plants in the greenhouse, but I think he was still skeptical.  Anyway, it took a nondescript plant and made it look really nice.  I hope it still looks this good when it comes out in spring.  

And, this is the Japanese maple, doing exactly what I always hoped it would.  Last year, I put it in the greenhouse too early, while the leaves were still green, and they just browned and dried and clung to the branches.  That usually means a tree is dead.  When I pulled it out in spring, I pulled the dead leaves and set it to the side to see what happened and it leafed out, so I was very happy.  This year, I've left it out and the leaves have turned purple/red.  Loving it!

Everybody have a great week!  My boss is in town tomorrow, so I'll be in the office and will have an after work dinner.  Yay.  Not sure who all will be there, but it should be an interesting day.  

Lane

Back to work

It's back to work for me today after 6 days off.  I am not looking forward to it.  But, it will be easier than what we've been doing for the last three days.  Most of the Christmas decorations are up.  I'm pretty sure Rob has a couple other things planned and there are a couple things he's still tweaking into perfection, but the big things like the trees and the swag are done.  It's not that they take so much time, but my shoulders ached when it was done from reaching up and down.  

This is Rob's village tree.  He built this A-frame shelving unit out of old fence wood, so it looks very aged.  He has stories about what the people are doing. 

Last night, everyone was gathering at the pub for shenanigans.  

I was decorating the tree yesterday.  I unpacked all the ornaments in the collection.  There are more than it looks like.

This is where I almost gave up.  

This is where I took two Aleve.

But, I got them all on the tree.  The tree doesn't have the 'sparkle' it usually does.  There's a box of balls missing.  I asked Rob about it yesterday and he decided the tree had enough on it.  Who was I to argue?  I definitely went and sat down instead.  

It's fine, but it's as lackluster as my Thanksgiving dinner was.  It was just the three of us.  I pared down the menu some this year, including all the favorites, but not the extras that no one but me likes.  Sydney had trouble with her corn casserole, but it came out good.  My cornbread dressing had too much poultry seasoning and I baked it til it was dry as sand.  And, I added sautéed onion and bell pepper to the green bean casserole.  Don't do that.  The sweetness of the peppers made the cream of mushroom soup taste sour.  No one liked it and most of it got thrown away.  Oh, and that butterball turkey was very moist, but it had NO flavor even though I did all the things I normally do to impart flavor, even putting seasoned butter under the skin.  But, we laughed and visited and had fun together and that's what really counts.  

Rob and I were done with the leftovers Friday night and yesterday, I rendered the turkey down and made a small pot of turkey soup for me to have for lunches and enough leftover to make tetrazzini.  

I danced around with a sewing machine on black Friday sale over the weekend.  Ultimately, I decided not to pull that trigger.  I didn't know that you can buy a new machine without a computer.  I don't want a computerized machine, partly for the cost and partly because that stuff wears out faster than the moving parts and when it does, it becomes a large paper weight.  Anyway, I discovered that you can buy a "mechanical" machine without a computer for a fraction of the price.  If it had been something I was actually shopping for and not a black Friday impulse purchase, I probably would have done it.  It was on sale 40% off.  But, maybe I'll start studying sewing machines because as much as I love my Berninas from the 80's, they're not going to last forever.  

I tried working on my Mom's machine the other day and it exceeded my skills, but I found another machine that fits her cabinet.  I think I'm going to like this as my sewing station.  I worked on a little quilt over the weekend.  I struggled with seam allowances and was kind of frustrated until I realized that it wasn't the machine or the seam allowance I had set...it was the pieces I'd cut that were off, so I'm paper piecing some flying geese to get the right size out of them.  This is my Singer 301 machine.  It's lightweight like a featherweight, but a full sized machine.  I'v used it for piecing and it's great at free motion quilting.  

The noose tightens.  I can't think of any other way to describe what we're watching in politics.  There's a knot that tightens the more you struggle with it.  It's like we're watching that process in slow motion.  But, slow is still motion.

Everyone have a great week!  I hope your holidays were all you wanted them to be and that you're looking forward to round 2 in a few weeks. 

Lane

Thanksgiving week

Like most US households, we have a turkey thawing in the fridge.  It was easier this year to get a small bird and I don't know why, but the butterball was on sale for about the same price as the store brand, so we  upgraded.  The menu is written up and soon I'll assign start times to everything and later, I'll assign casserole dishes.  The goal this year is smaller amounts, sometimes cutting recipes in half, sometimes breaking them into two casserole dishes and freezing one to pull out for Christmas, which has a similar side dish menu.  It always seems like there's so much waste at Thanksgiving (even though we waste very little food) and there's no need for that.  Sydney is bringing the pumpkin pie.  Last year, I gave her our traditional pie plate, our traditional mixing bowl (same as the one featured in the cookbook photo), and a copy of the vintage cookbook the recipe comes from...and told her I was not planning to ever make a pumpkin pie again.  From now on, that's her job.  If I need a pie off-holiday, I'll call her.  

We love pumpkin pie and I really should make it more often.  But, I also love apple pie and chocolate pie and peach pie, pecan pie and cherry pie and...well, you get the picture.  

I've learned better than to try to feed Rob turkey for a week, so I splurged and bought a roast.  And, it was quite a splurge.  Over the last week, I've been reading about why beef is so expensive.  People don't think enough about how fragile our food supply is.  Another example is cranberry sauce.  I pointed out that our can was 2.50 this year, way up from last year and commented that it was probably because there was no one to pick the berries.  He said a machine does that, but while I continued grocery shopping, he looked it up and turns out it's not pick the berries, it's a shortage of workforce to can them that's affecting the cost.  Anyway, this year I plan to make all the traditional dishes because I can, and because I may not be able to next year.  

Eat, drink, and be merry...

I'm always looking for new ways to use my spaces and have recently rearranged furniture in my sewing room and yoga/music room.  Is it better?  Yes, it's a more efficient use of the space.  But, mostly, it's change.  I crave change.  The unofficial motto at work as long as I've been there has been 'the only constant is the change.'  And, that has carried over into my personal life.  Rob grew up with constant change, so he craves stability.  I grew up with an oppressive level of stability and I crave change.  We are who we are.  Anyway, some things in the house that should be in the garage now have places out there, and a whole lot of stuff has gone to dumpsters and Goodwill and it feels like there's some space to breathe.  I swear, this is going somewhere.

It's resulted in some new places for plants.  I've had this little gossip bench (phone table) for many years.  Many, many years and it came from a couple of friends that sold all their stuff and moved to California.  I wonder what happened to them.  Anyway, there was a little corner that it fit perfectly, but we decided to do something else there and it came into the yoga room and sat there with nothing on it, or when it had something on it, it wasn't the right thing.  I used it to create this plant emergency room.  There's a grow light in the lamp and it's on a timer and the sickest of the houseplants are there.  It was an idea I had on a lark in Lowe's one day when we were shopping for lightbulbs.  And, it worked out.  I had my first graduate the other day that moved into a more visible place.  It's not fully recovered yet, but it's not dying anymore and has put on a good bit of new growth, so that's a win.  

When I moved furniture around in the office/studio, I created this plant station in front of a sunny window.  Some of these plants won't like it in summer, but they'll love being here this winter.  

And, yesterday, I cleaned in the greenhouse (yes, this is clean).  I had to so I could work on those two pencil cactus in the back right corner.  Pencil cactus love it here.  Right now, we have 5, one 7' tall, one 5' tall and three 3' tall.  We started with the big one in a 2" pot, 25 years ago.  They've been in tall slender lightweight plastic pots for years but have gotten so big that the slightest breeze knocks them over, so we bought larger, heavier pots with wider bases.  To help with the transition, I wanted to get them in the greenhouse where I can tie the tree to the rafters where it will be steady as the roots get used to the new pot and the soil compacts.  I sure won't need it tipping over in the greenhouse this winter.  

Bella on a good day.  She had a couple bad days last week and I was pretty sure it was time, then the next morning, she attacked her breakfast like it was going to try to escape and put weight back on and got back to normal and wanted to be walked.  Like Lazarus, y'all.  She may look sad, but she was feisty enough to both lick me on the nose and bite my hand this morning, before she peed down my pants leg on the way out the door.  (the things old people get away with...)

Today is my only "work day" this week.  I'll work my butt off the rest of the week, but it's not the work I get paid to do.  Sydney's the only one coming, so I'm not quite sure what I'm doing all this housecleaning for.  Being prepared, I guess.  I have some back yard chores to do to give us a better view, and some inside chores to do, and then Wednesday is prep and Thursday is cooking, Friday I'll put away dishes and decorate the first Christmas tree.  Saturday is swag day and Sunday is big Christmas tree day.  Rob has already put the lights on the outside of the house.  Other people put theirs up and he couldn't let us fall behind.  But now, what's he going to do while I cook on Thursday.  That's traditionally been how he stays out of my hair.  I might have to teach him to knit...

Everybody have a great week!  I'm intentionally not focusing on negative thoughts...but what about that Lindsay Halligan, y'all?  I'm glad I'm better at my job than she is at hers...wait, is that wrong?  No, it's right.  I'm glad she's so bad at hers, which makes me even prouder to be good at mine.  

Eat, drink, be merry, be kind.  Be thoughtful.  Be uplifting.  And do your best to ignore cousin Durwood, who you know is going to be an asshole at your dinner table.  Because he is every year.  But, you love him, so you keep inviting him.  And, on Black Friday every year, you wonder why.  

Lane

Fortress of solitude

Okay, last week was unusual.  There was a thing at work and I took a couple days off.  By the time Rob got home from visiting his Mom, the house was very cleaned up and I'd done some pre-holiday reorg and now, it's time to start another week.  And, they were playing holiday music in the grocery store and it's just too early y'all...way too early.

Last week, I planted a fig tree in the garden to replace one of the crabapples that we lost.  And, somehow, I didn't manage to take a picture.  I didn't even take a picture of the ginormous hole I had to dig that I was so proud of.  I've got to get better at taking pictures of the interesting things that happen...like being able to dig a ginormous hole at 63.  

I did some laundry last week.  I do laundry so rarely I have to study the machine a little before I hit start to make sure everything is set up right.  I put the dry towels on the sofa and forgot about Dottie's love of warm laundry.  She didn't waste any time getting in the middle of it and going to sleep.

And, speaking of Dottie, in the latest furniture move, the chair that used to sit next to my desk got moved into the 'music room.'  Rob took these pictures and narrated for Dottie.

"Rob, this is my chair."

"Lane, why is my chair in here.  This is not where it belongs"

Unfortunately, this chair is too low for playing ukulele.  My knees are up around my chest if I sit forward enough to play.  So, my previous chair is still in this room and I'm still working out how to incorporate it.  

Did you know that snake plant will bloom?  I grew up calling this mother in law's tongue.  I started with one a few years ago.  Now, I have several.  I'd never noticed them bloom.  The bloom isn't a "feature" of the plant.  Kind of straggly, but it must be happy or it wouldn't have bloomed.  The others are in more sun and have more white in the leaves but maybe they'd prefer a little more shade.

I got a little sewing done this weekend, but no quilting.  One of the things coming out of the music room is this foldable bed.  It's a comfortable mattress that Rob bought when he was sleeping on the floor next to Dottie's crate.  I want to move it to the garage, but don't want it to get dusty, so it needed a bag.  I spent about 3.5 hours Saturday afternoon and when I was done, I had a pretty nice custom bag.  It has mitered corners and a drawstring.  The fabric I chose wan't quite enough, so I made a sleeve for the drawstring and attached it to the opening.  It worked out great!  And, I made the whole thing on my white featherweight.  Because it really is a grown up machine in a small body.

I was going to use my Mom's machine, which I've set up in the sewing room.  But, the bobbin gear that I replaced when I got it it broken again.  That means I installed it wrong or that it was a cheap replacement part.  I've ordered another from a reputable parts warehouse and will install it when it gets here and hopefully be able to use that machine.  

I've been feeling a little low, so it's been a good time to stay away from the news.  I have to take breaks every so often.  I did see that t was pushing for the release of the epstein files, which can only mean the doj has altered them to make him look uninvolved.  Or, we'll find out they've been 'lost'.  It's definitely corruption by the hour around him now.  I wonder if my birth family would still support him if they found out he was a statutory rapist.  And, I'm very afraid they would, so I hope I don't have to find out.  

I checked my deleted email folder the other day and was surprised at the number of democratic party fundraising emails that my email blocks were sending there.  I'm in favor of starving the party of money until they accomplish something.  I've stated my terms.  There should be one of them on the news 24 hours a day speaking about he corruption.  Until that happens, they'll keep losing.  

Everybody have a good week.  Keep your chin up.  If you can, take a break from politics.  It's helpful for keeping everything else in perspective.  

Lane

Bachelor week

 Rob is visiting his Mom this week, so it's just me and his chores around here.  He usually gets up before me and I forget how much he gets done in the morning while I'm leisurely enjoying my coffee.  

Not a lot going on around here.  Last week, I was busting my butt to get things done and then got a surprise 3 week extension on the project I'm working on.  That was a welcome relief.  It didn't make my to-do list any shorter, but it sure gave me some breathing space to get it done.  When I found out about 3:30 on Friday, I just walked away from my desk in relief and spent the rest of the workday playing ukulele.  

Yesterday, I was watering some flower pots and decided I wanted to clean up my flower bed, so I sat on the stone path and pulled out dead branches and leaves and fronds for a couple hours.  It felt like such a waste because I'll have to do it all again after the first freeze, but it sure looks nicer.  

This mum just keeps on giving.  I don't usually have good luck with mums.  If I get them in enough sun, I can't give them enough water.  And, if I put them in a shadier spot so they stay watered, they won't bloom.  But, I'm enjoying this one in a pot this fall.  No matter which back window I look out of, I can see it.

I also added some stakes to this prayer plant.  I've had this for several months and it's in a tiny little pot so I'm surprised that it does so well, but it must be in a spot it likes in my kitchen window because it's gotten a nice size.  It had laid over and was pretty with a vertical stem and a leaning stem and a horizontal stem (wish my bonsai would do that) that kind of circled around the others, but it stuck out in the space over the sink and I kept bumping it when I did dishes.  Eventually it was going to fall into a sink of dish water and I was not going to be happy with that.  When I propped it up, I thought it would take days to recover, but it was still beautiful the next morning..  

Dottie misses her daddy so bad.  This was her yesterday when I came home from the grocery, standing at the door waiting for him to come in.  She did the same thing at 5:45 last night, which is when he would have gotten home on a weekday.  Last night, she wouldn't come to bed and slept half the night in the living room.  She finally came to bed in the middle of the night.  It's cold here so she's wondering if she's ever going to get to walk again.  I plan to take care of that a little later, when it warms up.  I know that if she's not walked, she gets bored and then gets in trouble, so we'll both be happier with a nice walk after the sun comes up.

What kind of narcissist stands there when someone falls to the ground?  No matter why they fell, why wouldn't everyone rush to help.  But, I guess it's more important to nap through press conferences...although I'm sure it was hard for everyone to stay awake while the fake dr oz droned on.  

Everybody have a great week!  Find something you enjoy and do it until you smile.  Then do it again.  

Lane

The dinner adventure

When Sydney lived here, we started a tradition of going out to dinner every Saturday night.  It gave me a night off and it gave Syd experience eating out, different food, interacting with wait staff, getting her way, and not getting her way.  When she came to us, her experience of restaurants was ordering the most expensive thing on the menu and then deciding she didn't like it.  That was from a lack of experience and a bad teacher, but we taught her to read the menu and figure out what she might like and politely poke around at it if it wasn't all she'd hoped it would be.  

Rob and I still go out every Saturday night.  We've kind of gotten stuck in a rut, going to the same place week after week, but when you find something comfortable and where the food is good, it's easy to get stuck in a rut.  Anyway, Saturday evening was rainy here (yay!!).  When we got there, it was packed and there was a wait, so Rob asked if we could sit on the patio and get a table quicker.  This was a mistake, but a mistake we were able to laugh about.  They sat us at a dry table...there were tables that were getting rained on...next to the tarp wall.  It was cold and it was wet and the wind kept blowing the wall in so it humped over our table like a man with a big belly resting it on a counter.  And, we laughed and joked and enjoyed our drinks and ordered heavy, high fat entrees.  We made it a dinner adventure.  And, we agreed we are not patio people.  We'd like a table inside, please.    

We've had a re-org at work.  I generally work for two people, one is experienced and stays, one is in the role to learn and changes about every 18-24 months.  I'm kind of in a transitionary stage where I'm still supporting the former manager as he winds up projects and the new manager as he starts new projects and the experienced manager who needs me to do all the stuff I normally do.  It's been a lot.  But, I'm able to work steadily, moving a project forward until I can't anymore and then working on something else for a while.  It's nice to stop and summarize the work I've done and get it ready for a fresh mind with a new set of ideas to look at and contribute to.  We have this issue that's been going on for years that we haven't been able to solve.  It's been nice to see each manager's contribution and fresh ideas that either bring us closer to a solution, or prove that what we thought might work ain't it.  

Yesterday ended up being a big cooking day.  I made the egg casserole (sausage and veggies with salsa and four kinds of cheese) and a tamale pie, half of which goes in the freezer, a vat of beef stew like my Mama used to make, and a pan of cornbread that's better than hers if you ask me, but she said mine had a bad taste from all the ingredients I put in it...Aunt Lucille's cornbread didn't need all that...but it reminds me of my paternal Grandmother's, so I keep making it.  We don't do a lot around here, but we do eat good.  

Rain, rain, rain, rain.  We woke up the other morning and looked at one another and said 'I can't breathe.'  We are both allergic to mold and all the rain has awoken all the mold that went to sleep during the dry months of summer.  It'll be worth it when we get next month's water bill, tho.  Our water bill includes a chart that compares our water use to average use in our neighborhood.  We look crazy high, but then if you look up from the water bill and look out at the lawn, it feels worth it.  

I gave away a sewing machine this weekend.  Our neighbor has decided she wants to sew.  She's played around with machines a little and has the bug.  On Saturday, I pulled out three machines that I thought she'd like and let her try them.  One had a knee control instead of a pedal and she didn't like it and the other was kind of a complicated machine and she didn't care for it, but my friend Linda's old Kenmore worked perfect for her.  Yesterday morning, I opened it up to clean and oil and it looked brand new inside.  There was no cleaning, except around the bobbin case, so all I needed to do was oil.  And, it works perfect.  I only have a straight stitch foot for it, so she's shopping eBay for more feet.  I made up a little maintenance kit and some sewing supplies and extra bobbins.  I explained how tension works and the point of perfect balance so the threads cross to form the stitch between the layers of fabric instead of above or below them.  And, I gave her a pattern for boxer shorts and explained they're about the easiest thing in the world to make along with some fabric and a spool of thread and some elastic.  I hope she enjoys sewing as much as I do.  

Since Rob and I talked about counting Bella's good days compared to bad ones, she's only had good days.  It's like she heard us talking and decided she better get with it.  She gets a monthly injection to help with hip pain and she's half way between shots this week, so we'll be watching to see if that affects her quality of life.  The vet says we have room to expand that as she needs it, and it may be time to ask for more.  

I feel like things are starting to close in on the administration and I fear that's going to make the orange trumpette more and more desperate and that his actions will get more and more outlandish and authoritarian as a way to distract the public from 'losing, losing, losing, we're gonna lose so much you may get tired of losing.'  We've all watched TV enough to know 'follow the money.'  But, nobody is following the money.  Occasionally, there's a story about the graft and corruption, but that should be on blast all the time, every hour.  It will be interesting to see if they can beat the law and humanity and avoid paying SNAP benefits this week.  Also, there are going to be a lot of stories soon about medical insurance price increases.  Those should be the top stories with the shutdown receding into the background.  We'll see.  

Everybody have a great week!  I'll be working on keeping everything moving in the same direction...because sometimes, that is achievement.  Achievements don't all need to be great things.  Sometimes just keeping on is enough.  

Lane

Autumnal

I suppose it's the change in weather and workload that's making the days feel like they're flying by.  I mean, I don't mind that on a weekday, but suddenly we're a week closer to Christmas.  And no, I am not ready for that.  

We're so busy at work, there's no time to sit and think.  I work on one project until my brain won't think about it anymore and then I work on something else, and back and forth.  I'm getting good work done.  I squashed a project that had no cost benefit, but took up way too much time.  And, I'm wrapping up a document that needs to go to the state.  And, I'm trying to convince an attorney that if he wants to get paid, he has to use our processes...we're not going to stop to follow his.  And, life goes on.  

This weekend was for house cleaning.  I am the world's worst at wanting everything to be at my fingertips.  I want everything on a convenient table top, next to where I sit.  So, that's where I put it.  And, then one day, I get truly disgusted at myself and put it all away.  Saturday was that day.  And, I did it in the least efficient way possible; one thing at a time.  That was all I could focus on.  And, I got plenty of steps in doing it that way.  But, I also made some small changes as I worked.  Updating my travel items to include things I wished I'd had in Cleveland a couple weeks ago, finding a place to display that Tupperware full of my Dad's marbles where I can see them, putting away that piece of fabric I've been holding out until I had time to put it where it really belongs.  Stuff like that.  

And, I cooked yesterday.  I made Rob's egg casserole and I made a big pot of Chicken Tortilla soup.   It was supposed to be a small pot of soup, but an error was made and by time I added enough chicken stock to correct it, it was a big pot of soup.  And, I made Mac and cheese.  Twice.  One got dropped on the floor, breaking the cute orange casserole that was on its maiden voyage in my kitchen.  Luckily, it dropped on the kitchen rug, so we held it up, folded it like a taco and I scraped it into the garbage, then hosed off the rug.  Quick cleanup.  It was a new recipe and fortunately, just enough spilled on the stove on the way to the floor that I got a taste.  I "added some things" to the next batch that should make it even better.  

I picked up this mum for $2.50 the other day.  I wish I'd bought more of them.  It's definitely turning out to be my money's worth.  

Bella has found new life in walking.  I don't know why these short walks would change her so drastically.  She's up, running around the house, chasing Dottie, nipping at her heels.  It's like that little bit of extra stimulation has gotten her up and given her a new boost of life.  But, she still does cute stuff like roll around in the yard and turn her belly to the sun.  

On the way to the doctor's office the other day, I had to drive through downtown.  I took this in stop/go traffic.  It's so crazy how different downtown is today than it was when I moved here.  

I wonder how my birth family is feeling about the orange monarch literally tearing down the White House.  I wonder if that will be something that finally resonates with them.  I don't think the r's care about bailing out Argentina or undercutting American cattlemen with Argentinian beef.  They'll be grateful that meat gets cheaper and won't care about who gets hurt, as long as it's not them.  They won't care about the orange temper tantrum the Canadians created by citing Reagan against the little t.  

But have you noticed how only the big voices are speaking out?  The people who make their living by speaking good of the devil continue to speak.  But, I don't hear so many little voices with much to say.  Average everyday people.  People for whom tearing down the people's house to aggrandize a demented orange is going too far.  People who are starting to see the future and seem to be realizing it's not what they were told it was going to be...and oh shit, it's looking bleak.  

Does anyone remember when Debbie Reynolds played Grace Adler's mother in Will and Grace?  She had something called the "I told you so" dance.  You can look it up on YouTube.  "I told you so, I told you so, I told you, told you, told you so."  Get it stuck in your head like an ear worm.  Celebrate it.  

Everybody have a great week!  Even if the only fun is laughing at the idiots, relish it.  Celebrate being smart enough to know a bad thing when you see one.  And, also find something you enjoy to throw yourself into...even if it's cleaning up after yourself like I did on Saturday.  In retrospect, looking around the house today, it was so worth it.  

Lane  

Where did that week go?

 Last week passed so fast and oddly enough, I didn't take any pictures.  I usually do all my doctor appointments in October, or "Doctober" as I call it.  Last week, I had blood drawn, an optometrist appointment, my flu and covid shots, and took Bella to the vet.  It was a full week of doctor-ey things.  

Instead, I'll share this piece of needlepoint I did a few years ago that I moved over the weekend and never found a place for, so it's hanging from Linda's needlepoint stand in the middle of my yoga room.  There was a lot of stuff that got started this weekend and didn't get finished, so this sitting in the middle of a room doesn't feel that odd.

The night after I had my vaccs was rough.  Chills, aches, I was up every half hour to pee, but by 2:30 the worst had passed and I was starting to feel better.  It was worth it.  I was still tired Friday, but I found a low impact project and there weren't many disturbances, and by dinner I was feeling much better.  

I spent Saturday afternoon quilting the double wedding ring.  To get the puckers out of the back, I had to un-quilt a whole row of arcs.  I don't quite know how that much extra fabric built up as I moved the quilt from center outward...it was like I didn't stretch the backing tight enough when I was pin basting it.  I'll be more careful about the other three corners to try to prevent that.  Anyway, I got that out and put back in and made a lot of progress quilting around all the little squares of fabric.  

Rob has been cleaning out the garage.  He's been working on it a couple months and it's not what I would have called cleaning out the garage when I controlled that space, which was mostly re-stacking.  He has transformed it.  He acquired a lot of free heavy duty shelving and he's gone through boxes and we've been to Goodwill to drop off a couple of times.  I think he's gotten rid of a lot of scrap lumber and broken tools.  I went out there one morning and asked if we'd been robbed.  And, I guess the garage has been "Rob-bed".  Now, we're moving into my space.  He brought home a couple sets of wire shelving and this weekend and  I cleaned out my part of the space.  Cleaned out is a misnomer.  I hardly threw anything away...well, there were the 6 skillets Sydney took home with her, skillets I'd been holding onto, but didn't need, especially after our switch from teflon to ceramic.  What I really needed to do was get rid of a bunch of crap and I didn't.  Yet.

Syd came to have dinner with us on Saturday.  After dinner, we brought her to the house so she could spend a little time with Bella.  We explained how Bella's health was changing and that we were counting good and bad days now so we'd know when the balance changed.  But, Bella had a good day on Saturday and a great day on Sunday that included a short walk, playing with Dottie, eating all her food...this is how we score days.  How many good things happened that day.  And, how quickly did she settle before bed.  I believe that's a sign of the dementia.  When we go to bed, she insists on sleeping in the living room and realizes she's all alone, nearly blind, deaf, and she cries.  I've learned that all I have to do is let her know I'm still there and she settles down and goes to sleep and I can go on to bed.

She and Dottie were being so bad at the vet's office on Friday, so instead of sitting in the waiting room and wishing I could smack them, I took them outside and we walked on the sidewalk in front of the building, back and forth until they were ready for her.  Bella goes in monthly for an injection that helps her hips so the appointments only take a couple minutes, but she was so freaked out sitting in the waiting room waiting to be tortured (because you know that's what all dogs believe is going to happen) and when we got outside, she thought we were on a walk and she calmed down and I think it probably helped the appointment go better.  

Today's laugh.  We did a drop off at Goodwill on Saturday and I should have bought this puzzle.  But, I was practical and thought 'when will I ever sit still long enough to put together a 1000 piece puzzle?'  And, I'm not sure that's the point.  

I read this last week and wanted to share it.  It was written about Mike Johnson, speaker of the house of representatives of the US.  But, it applies to my birth family as well.  Very much.  

"It never ceases to amaze me how conservative christians love to hate, and love to use the word hate as if their christianity allows them to be hateful.  Speak about hate, then condemn hate, then use the word hate to spread hate, and then speak about hate again.  

But, hate has become the new holy scripture for todays's republican party.  Jesus said in John 4:20-21, "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.  For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God."

I guess that line from Jesus gets lost on the phony christian conservatives among all the times Jesus said homosexuals would burn in hell.  Oh wait, he didn't say anything about that.  Then I wonder why they miss such strong advice from Christ?"

John Casey in The Advocate.

Okay, I don't usually go religious like that, but John Casey made many points in that article about the speaker.  I'm tired of pretending to be someone I'm not so people I don't like very much will spend time with me.  That need for approval is a childhood holdover that, like my childhood clothes, no longer fits.  

Everybody have a great Monday and a great week!  Find something that ignites your passion and throw yourself at it with abandon.  

Lane

Dapper

 No post last week.  I was in Cleveland on business.  I really thought I'd have time to write Monday morning, but my prep to fly that day got away from me and I ran out of time.  

The weekend before the trip was like many others...I subjected myself to a long game of "does it fit" then a couple hours of ironing.  The goal was to look "dapper."  "Hot" is gone, "sexy" depends on a rapidly dwindling audience.  In retaliation, I kind of went to "dumpy."  Now, I'm going for dapper.  Dapper isn't just the clothes tho.  I mean that blue sport coat that I took as a "light jacket" did wonders and multiple people used the word dapper that night, but it's more than that.  It's oiling and brushing my beard and keeping it trimmed and neat.  Same with my fringe of hair.  It's standing up straight and sucking in my gut when I'm talking to people.  And, it's walking around with a smile instead of a 'resting tired face.'  It's the little things that I can do to get noticed for something other than "sweet old man."  And, I must have done something right because some kid guessed I was 55 and I almost kissed him.  Right in public.  In front of everyone.  

This is me, headed down to Monday night's casual reception.  Just look at all that confidence.  

There were 300 people at this conference and this is where we met.  It was such a large space that it made me feel a little dizzy when I walked in the first time.  

Our second night's dinner was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Lots of people didn't tour the museum, but I did.  It's pyramid shaped so the floors get smaller and smaller as you go up.  Unfortunately, spending an hour and a half strolling the exhibits and occasionally sitting down to enjoy some video kept me at the event too long and I saw drunk people behaving in ways that changed how I felt about them.  They tell us to be careful what we do when our kids are small, but we also need to be careful what we do in front of other people that we want to respect us.  

We had a very fruitful trip to Goodwill on Saturday.  I've been shopping for an electric skillet.  Granted, I've been looking at new ones, but whatever.  I used to have a really nice one, but didn't use it for a while and let it go because they take up so much space to store.  I used to make a mean chicken fried steak in that one.  When we were walking through Goodwill, I saw it and it had all its parts and I decided that for $9 I could give it a try.  Brought it home, cleaned it up a little and put some water in it and turned it on.  And, watched it while it heated up to make sure it didn't burst into flames.  When I saw it worked, I cleaned it up some more.  It is a Century Futuramic Automatic Skillet and Casserole.  

Inside

And, I bought a bottle of Wesson oil to use in it.  Because one time Florence Henderson fried a whole loaf of bread in Wesson oil and it only absorbed 1 tablespoon.  You know, just in case you weren't sure that advertising works.  

We also got a new cookie jar.  Our old one is a Santa and we'll still pull him out, but we thought this one was cute too.  

I also got these two quilty things.  They were in a bag, each facing outward and I couldn't really tell what was between them.  The one on the left is the paper patterns to make the appliqué quilt My Roses Have Gone Wild.  We'll see.  I'm in the middle of a 20 year flower appliqué project already and may not ever want to take on another.  I thought the one on the right was a pattern and some fabric to make a tree skirt..."Skirting the Point" right?  It's not that, but it is a very novel concept that I wouldn't mind trying out.  It has a large piece of fusible interfacing with a grid printed on it.  You lay your fabrics on the grid and iron them down, then you can fold along the gridlines and sew the seam.  It seems like it would make a very quick quilt and I may give it a try, just for the novelty of it.  Like when I want extremely straight seams and perfectly matching points, which is what the booklet says I'll get.  

Walked around a curve in the dark the other morning and came up on this.  I left them a little of the crap it scared out of me.  It was very dark.

I read this the other day and it really struck home with me, so I thought I'd share it.  

The constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.  A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong.  And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies.  With such a people, you can do whatever you want.  -  Hannah Arendt, German and American historian and philosopher.  

Don't believe the lies, y'all.  And, have a great week!  Find something to enjoy, even if it's a $9 toy from Goodwill.  

Lane