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