More on rediscovering

I have gone back to things, I loved long ago, in a big way. See my last post.

DOGS

Dogs is probably the biggest one. I loved pets as a child. 

When the kids were quite young I was diagnosed with asthma. The asthma was not new, I have likely had it since birth. It had never been diagnosed or treated. I had really suffered. Untreated asthma impacted my life in a big negative way. 

I then developed what I now think of as asthma PTSD. I was terrified of something triggering an asthma flare, which, for me, can last for weeks/months. I avoided animals. I was nearly hysterical about perfumes, cigarette smoke, incense, etc. 

The neighbor’s dogs changed this for me. As I interacted with them, and my respiratory system did not crash, I grew less afraid.  I loved spending my days with them. Eventually I realized the dogs could be in my house and not crash me. 

With my neighbor’s dogs full time 2017 - 2020, intermittently 2022 - 2023, and now middle’s dogs (turning 4) full time, I have gone back to dogs in a big way. 

Middle’s dogs are here, with me, a lot. She drops them off each morning on her way to work. They stay here when she is out of town or has an event.

Middle and I are now (very) active with our local dog club. I am in the dog club building, surrounded by dogs, with no fear and no respiratory problems. 

Why is this? I went through two rounds of allergy shots. I am on daily allergy and asthma meds. We have huge filters at our house. I have my sleep machine which has improved my respiratory system. 

Dogs is a big, positive back in my life.

BOOK GROUPS

I loved book groups starting in 2011 and continuing for several years. I am not sure why I stopped. I have gone back to book groups in a big way too, I participate in four locally, my husband I both read Youngest’s book group selections also. Reading her book selection each month and giving her feedback for her group, is good for all three of us. It gives us positive/energetic talking points. It expands everyone’s reading lists. 

CROSSWORD PUZZLES

During my four high school years, maybe my two junior high years too, I did cross word puzzles out of a printed Chicago newspaper. 

I loved cross word puzzles at that time. When I went to college, I think I got the Chicago paper for a bit. 

Then things got busy, it was expensive to get the paper long distance, and I fell off the crossword habit. I forgot all about my love of crosswords.

I started doing online Wordle a year or two ago. This is via the Wordle app.

Two weeks ago I started doing all the other NYTimes online games too, except for Sudoku which I do not like. 

The kids and DIL all play some of the New York Times Games, including Wordle and Connections. 

Youngest and I are the only two who do the full Crossword puzzle each day. We both pay the premium so we have access to the full NYT crossword. 

On the harder days, primarily Sunday, youngest and I do the puzzle together, talking on the phone. 

QUILTING 

I have to limit/pace myself carefully, but I am able to quilt now. I have rejoined the local quilt guild. Middle attends the monthly meetings with me.  I went to a guild weekend retreat in March. I have started going to a once a month Saturday guild quilt bee.

I painted this week

Two weeks ago, I would not have been able to do it. Paint. At the community theater.

Moving ladders, up and down ladders, standing on ladders, painting over my head.

This week, I made it just fine. (Middle went with me. Both times.)

On Tuesday, I walked the dogs early, painted (2 hours) in the late morning***, ran a couple errands, and then sat outside with the dog’s for about an hour.  Then, I worked on copying photos over to Shutterfly. (I am up to 2012.) I did not let myself take a nap.

On Wednesday the dogs went to the beauty parlor, so I had the day off.

We painted (4 hours) in the afternoon. Then ran errands. I did not let myself take a nap (again). And it was easier than it had been on Tuesday (to stay awake and then go to bed st a normal time).

I purposely did not do any arm weights all week. Painting, particularly over your head, for hours at a time, is  tough.

Sunday and Monday, I tried not to take a nap. I might have dozed a little in the evenings.

So noticeably better this week.

And this was the first week of weaning off my last steroid inhaler. One puff twice a day. Two weeks at that level and then I try to stop.

To recap - major asthma trouble most of July. Major steroids. It took me all of August and will take nearly half of September to wean myself off oral, nebulizer, and two inhalers. Goodness.

***I figured out that if I walk the dogs early, we can paint for two hours (morning volunteer shift is 10am-12pm) and then let the dogs out when we get home. I am not sure why that did not occur to me.  So I can go paint a couple times a week. Two hours of painting is more pleasant than four also.

cold air returns

We have cold air returns in most rooms of the house. Interestingly, not the kitchen.

I have two Goldens that keep me company most days. They belong to a neighbor. It is a mutually beneficial situation.

However, middle and I both have asthma and assorted people have dog allergies. And I did not want dog dander pulled into the duct work of the house.

So our heating/air conditioning guys came and put filters on the three cold air returns that are exposed to dogs. We keep all the bedroom doors in the house shut when the dogs are here.

The cold air returns (with filter added) are in the living room, top of stairs, my sewing room. So these are in the “main” areas of the house.


Purpose of filter - to keep dog hair out of the duct work. The dog is only in the kitchen, hall, living room.


When the service man came to clean/check air conditioner, this past week, he took out the filters and had me wash them with the hose in the kitchen sink. Then he put them back. Interestingly, the cold air duct at the top of the stairs, is always the dirtiest, it must pull from downstairs kitchen. We do not have a cold air return in the kitchen/hall.

We are going to do the same thing in the late fall when he comes to check the furnace.



And we have two tower filters in my bedroom. And two tower filters in the other downstairs bedroom. There is also one in the living room. These are good quality tower filters from Target with permanent/washable filters.

Framed Needle Work

This first framed, cross stitch piece is why I decided to include this set of pictures for 4th of July.

I did not make this one. I got the kit and then discovered it was wool. Very allergic to wool. I once attended a wool/quilting demonstration, didn't touch a thing, sat in the back of the room, and was covered in hives by the end. So a friend very kindly made it for me.

The same lady that made the first one, made this second one for me. This time it wasn't wool. But the count on the cloth was too high, weave too small, for me. If you know me well, you will realize the irony. The illustration needs a box of saltine crackers perched on the edge of the tub. My bath tub reading was definitely enabling of my obesity. I no longer read in the tub. I also no longer eat saltine crackers. I now only listen to audible books, in the car, and I do not eat in the car (unless I am stopped for an actual packed meal, on the road). And if you are feeling like I took advantage of this friend, do not. Many a time she brought me a mess of a quilt to straighten. The worst one I can recall is before she understood about bias. She ended up with the straight of the grain on the inside and the bias on the outside of every block in a quilt. By the time she brought it to me to put on the borders, there was many inches (like 6-8") difference between one side of the quilt length and the other. Ditto with width. A real mess. And it was expensive fabric and a commissioned piece for someone else. I did get it all to work/straighten/square. But it was a heck of a job.

I bought this one at GoodWill, took it out of a really terrible frame, hand washed, re-blocked, had it framed in a style I liked.  I have found lots of good handwork pieces over the years at resale shops. I have re-framed and given as gifts also (great baby ones with no name for example). This is setting on a shelf at the end of our bed, if you are wondering about the odd angle of the picture.

This is another GoodWill find. I think I have actually bought several of these other the years. It was either a class or group project or just very popular that I have found multiples. 

The poster in this same grouping was also a GoodWill find. The little print hearts I have had for many years, they are block printing. This grouping is in the other half of middle's room where the extra girls sleep when they are here.

My mother, made this one for me -

She also made this one for me -

My mother made two of these, one for each girl -

Those were in the days where it was sort of all I could do to keep her supplied with projects because that is what kept her doing well emotionally. I think this might have been when she stopped working and was home with her husband full time (in the midst of the amputation years). I found patterns, I got all the stuff, I had them framed when she was done. If you have ever tried to keep someone supplied, you will identify. She was home all the time, it was what she did beside taking care of him. She went through projects very quickly. She did lots of cross stitch, embroidered baby blankets, etc. Currently she is crocheting baby blankets for one of the NIC units (neonatal intensive care) in town.







If you know what you are looking at, you will realize, all the rest of these, made by me, are on very large weave/small count cloth (it sounds backwards to say it, but it is small count cloth, meaning there are few counts per inch because the weave is so big).

I tried in the day, with the shutter closed.

I tried at night. Every piece in this post is under glass, I had a lot of reflections, but none as bad as this one.

I have not made anything like any of these needle work pieces in many years. Cross Stitch was after my quilting years. I did not eat when I cross stitched (stains the piece very badly). So it was actually a very good activity for me in the evenings. I have known a lot of weight loss people who successfully took up knitting as a non-food evening activity.

I stopped because I started having hand and wrist issues. I was on the way to having carpel tunnel problems. I slept in a brace for a while, to teach myself to keep my wrist straight while I slept. And then I have been mostly fine ever since.

My thought process was literally - it is more important for my wrists and hands to be able to hold free weights or to hold the weight of my body in a plank or side plank, than it is to hold a needle. Weight bearing work and resistance work is SUPER important for all of us, younger years and as we age.

I also thought - I do not want surgery.

And - exactly how many pieces of needle work does one house actually need?







This one was made my middle, long ago, on super big weave cloth.

Linen Closet, packing up winter bed layers

We have space bags in closets all over the house. Yes, partially for the space saving feature. But mostly to store clean things in an air tight environment where dust mites cannot flourish.

The bag on the left has 5 very thick winter blankets from my husband and my beds (we have two extra long twins, right next to each other, my husband twitches and jumps in his sleep, I am a very light sleeper). We switched to summer sheets/blankets over the weekend. Those winter blankets are all washed and packed until they are needed late next fall.

The bag on the right has all the weird odds and ends of sheets, mattress pads and bed skirts from many years of different beds. They are all still in very good shape, keeping them for future use, but not needed right now. 

For example: There are at least two sets of queen size sheets in that bag and we have not have a queens size bed for years. But someday, one of the kids probably will and they are very good sets. There are also a lot of single, flat sheets in that set. The fitted part of those sets are long gone, but the flats are still in very good shape. And those have come in handy many a time. 

My husband helped me dig them all out of the linen closet over the weekend. They all fit in one bag. There is a lot in that bag. 

This is the bottom of my linen closet. This first bag, shoved way to the rear of the closet is the odds and ends bag from the right side of the picture (above). 

This is the second bag, put in front of the other bag, in the bottom of the closet. As you can see, 17" clearance to fit. Very good use of space.

This is the top half of that same closet.

The top shelf is full of small space bags with one or two extra bed pillow each. These are company pillows. The space bags keep them dust free.

The next to the top shelf has wash clothes front left, hand towels front right, all kinds of chucks/other mattress protectors back left, and pillow cases/sheets back right.

The shelf with the bright pink and blue has beach towels in the front and quilts in the back.

The bottom shelf has one quilt. And then you can see the space bags in the bottom of the closet. If you are wondering about the size of those shelves, they are 27 1/2" deep and 23" wide. The shelving comes all the way out to the front of the closet, no wasted space. 

I did not think to take a before picture.

This closet was VERY full looking just two days ago. All the odds and ends, that weren't actually ever used (right space bag) were cluttering the living daylights out of this closet. And there is actually more IN the closet now, than then, because I added the five winter blankets that were on our beds (left space bag).