R.A.D.

Rape Aggression Defense.

You might remember middle took this class about four years ago.

Youngest is taking it soon.

Here is the website to see if it is located in your area.

I think several of youngest's friends are taking it with her.

The response of youngest and the friends was pretty much - hell, yeah, we want to pound on somebody.

(They practice/beat on a heavily padded guy. Middle loved it, maybe a little too much, she wanted to come home and practice on her dad. He was not willing.)

Youngest might actually be a beast in this class. And as I write that I am wondering if she should have taken martial arts classes. If they offer that as gym option in college, my guess is that would be for her.

Middle's first boy, long ago, was taekwondo instructor. Two black belts at that time, I think. She did not take classes, but went with him one time for fun. And she chopped a board in half with one whack. She still has it.






And I remembered I ordered two books for Middle as part of this RAD process -

The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals that Protect Us From Violence
by Gavin de Becker

Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane)
by Gavin de Becker

Angel update

NOTE - I shoved several posts back in time this week, lumping two exercise ones in one day and two cooking ones together in another day, and moving everything back in time.


Angels -

Reminder - these are the cross stitch stockings middle requested, she has seen them, I am doing the cross stitch part and then putting away to finish for future grand kids.

Three are finally done. Two of them had darker stars that did not show, I unsewed those and redid in lighter thread color. I don't think you have seen the curlie cues on any of them. One of those was in too light of purple and I unsewed and redid those too.

In this picture, both the star colors show, but in real life the darker star color on the far right did not show.

Three with the cross stitch part finally finished!
(I was almost finished before I realized they had feet.)
Really pleased with all the colors.
Four more (Angels) to go. All four are in progress.
Then on to snowmen and  Santa's. I think I am going to do two or three of each because I now really understand it is fast to do multiples at the same time. And that means I will go back and make more of the reindeer too. Still doing a very good job of spacing this out, many days off, so I limit the stress on my hands, no issues of any kind so far.

Muscle relief

Sore Muscles? 8 Tips to Ease the Pain. 

College preparations right now, because it will be August move-in date in two blinks of an eye

One blink of an eye will be May graduation.

Two blinks will be college move-in date.

I am not kidding.

Last week we got a wrist watch for youngest. I realize in this day and age, people just use their phone. But cannot always have an iPhone out in many college circumstances (tests, practicums, performances, etc). I get Timex from Kohl's with light up dial. I buy them when they are on sale. This time they were on sale, I had a 30% coupon and I had $20 in Kohl's cash. I also bought a back up band (for the watch) because they always break on a key day. (Middle uses her wrist watch every day. Youngest will too. This might be a family thing. It might also depend on major. Nursing and teaching being two obvious watch oriented fields.)

I ordered LL Bean duck boots for youngest last October or November (2015). Lots of college walking in the rain. Duck boots are a must in my opinion. They arrived a couple weeks ago. (They are hand sewn in the USA and have consistent backlog of orders.) She needs a wide. LL Bean was the only one I found with a duck boot in wide. We took the boots into our local shoe guy to confirm fit. 6W was the smallest women's size. But we could have called customer service to figure out the equivalent next size down in boys, for example, if she needed smaller. We bought supportive inserts for the boots, size was confirmed, I got two pairs of replacement laces (they always break on the worst day).

College physical is required. Youngest is scheduled for next week. She needs a physical for another project. So we are getting one physical, having two forms completed, she is good for the next year.

If you remember, when we moved Middle into her apartment last fall, we turned right around, took inventory, bought what else was needed and packed youngest for college (fall of 2016). Bedding, towels, lamps, step stool, storage, bathroom caddy, long charger cords, power strips, bolster pillow, stuff for walls, etc, etc, etc are all packed.

I got her the right size suitcase for travel. She already had overnight size. (This makes a very good graduation gift, kids travel a lot in college).

I have already stocked extra underwear, sports bras, socks for youngest. I need to get more volleyball or softball (thick, tall) socks for her to wear with the duck boots. They are about the same height as ice skates and we know they rub without tall socks.

Stocked jeans and jeans shorts. Youngest is a very hard fit, so this is an important thing for us to do in advance. Waiting until the week before she leaves and we might not find anything. So that is done.

I stocked college appropriate shirts and jackets and sweaters last year. She has clothes appropriate for dress up and interviews. (This is different for us because our kids have lived with school uniforms K-12.)

We have been doing one thing a week or so.

A while ago it was stocking a lot of good quality bras. And regular shoes and dress shoes and good snow boots.

Paperwork has been flying for a couple  months really a year now. (She is currently taking placement tests on line. We discovered she could do all of that now.) That is just a constant.

One week it was jeans. She had to go with me for try ons.

Another week it was shorts (as soon as they hit the stores and all sizes were stocked). With the shorts I bought two sizes of six kinds, she tried them on at home, I returned the rejects and bought more of the keepers. That is what I did with sports bras when I found them on sale too.

Last week it was the watch. Today was confirming fit of boots. Next week is doctor/physical.

So we are getting it all done, spacing out the demand on her time, spacing out the demand on my brain. And many, many things have been on sale. Like all the college dorm room stuff I got last fall.

I have known moms who have taken the week before college move in off work and done all the shopping then. I think that makes for a very emotional, stressful week for all. I think the getting ready process is really important to the transition. And I think having the stuff organized and the things needed (placement tests, physicals, etc) done early makes a very big difference in how the kids do.

The same way that I think college visits/deciding on a college should be (mostly) done during sophomore year in high school, I think college packing starts a year in advance of move-in date.

The missing pan, Christmas tree skirts for wedding gifts, water jugs working well, mountains of laundry, cross stitch Angels, errands, paperwork, looking for suggestions.

Odds and ends post.

I may have mentioned this previously. I have two sets of three each, nesting 9x13 glass pans. I use the "9x13" label/term roughly, because if they were all 9x13, they clearly would not nest. The middle ones are 9x13 sitting in ones that are slightly bigger and with slightly smaller ones in them. Only one of the middle ones, an actual 9x13, is missing. It has been missing for weeks. We cannot think of anywhere we took it. It did not break. It is not in another cupboard or the refrigerator. The two older kids did not take it. Mystery of the ages.

Between us, oldest and middle we have five weddings later this year. I am starting on Christmas tree skirts as wedding gifts. I made a similar type for my mom years ago. I have always liked it. It requires no batting and no backing. My mother's was made from regular cotton fabric and was proportional for a small tree. I am making the current versions from upholstery fabric and on a larger scale. I am collecting fabric now. I will post pictures as I get going. My machines are both in the shop. So no sewing yet. (I have a pile of mending for middle's boy that is next in line when the machines return.) Extremely strange feeling not to have instant machine access. I do have a couple other machines in a cupboard for an emergency. But hoping my regular ones return quickly enough that I do not have to dig them out for set up.

If you recall, I took water jugs with pumps to middle and her boy (who lives with two other guys). The boys go thru a jug a week, so they are clearly using it. It takes middle about three weeks to use hers, living alone. So they are working well. Again, transporting full jugs with pumps attached, like when traveling to or from camping, simply belt jug into seat. It works very well and protects pump.

Mountains of youngest laundry. I tend to wait until she is in need and then do it all at the same time. This is that time. There is something very satisfying about laundry.

Angel stockings. Husband went with me this time. Back over to my friend, who is good with color, for a consult. Stars were too dark on one fabric and too light on another. Curly cues were too light on one fabric. Skin fabric was too light on one fabric. What to do about the ecru wings and doves on light fabric? The result was I picked out/unsewed several things on Saturday night. I started, again, on Monday, now more confident that I am actually finishing five. Hopefully no more unsewing. Then I have two left where we have to pick dress colors, but those are on the darker fabric, so it should be easier. I am still very careful not to do too much cross stitch at a time nor days in a row, to protect my hands.

My husband swims at a local high school several days a week. I give him errands to do on the way home nearly every time. He is out anyway, so it is convenient. If he does one or two each time he swims, we keep up with all errands.  And honestly, he is learning where things are and how to do them. An example is water jugs. We keep two full ones in the garage at all times, ready for a water emergency, and for normal use. (We take full jugs to middle, and bring the empties home. We also go thru jugs at home.) So if we have an empty jug, it gets refilled immediately. I am getting him in the pattern of refilling immediately. Patterns are important.

Youngest is still in the midst of major paperwork. Oldest, husband and I are all helping. Oldest has proofed a couple essays. I supply some missing information. My husband supplies more (copies of taxes mostly). So much paperwork.

I AM LOOKING FOR SUGGESTIONS - I found new, unopened, Creative Memories, photo album stuff while cleaning out my closet last fall. I found more last week in my sewing room. I contacted a local Creative Memories sales person to verify what I had because the items did not have labels. They are (still) sealed in plastic, so you can see them. I want to sell all of these. I also found a lot of doll clothes patterns. I am keeping one of each and want to sell the rest. They are new, unopened, discontinued, duplicates. I am thinking my best bet for all of this is either Amazon or eBay. It is all ship-able, it might be my best bet of the most $$$. Oldest has used Amazon to sell electronics and books, in past. I buy things in eBay, but have not sold there. I have considered, it might be easier to sell from home, mini garage sale with very good ad in paper, no shipping. But not sure how much money I would get, garage sale people are looking for cheap, normally. I have two sewing machines I would sell too, if I was doing mini garage sale. Not shipping those, clearly. A good sorting of attic and rest of house might yield a lot more. That would be good. And I could probably get my husband to man the sale. He likes cleaning out, he likes $$$. If you have any thoughts on any of this, please leave me a note.

20 lb rice bag for passive yoga poses

I mentioned, months ago, I bought a 20 loud bag of rice to use as a weight (pushing my body down, deeper into poses) at home, in passive yoga poses. Mostly on my lower back in child's pose.

If you google "sandbags in yoga" and then click on the "images" option, there are some great pictures. Look for the one with the mother in child's pose with the toddler on top of her. (Youngest was a moveable weight for a Pilates class long ago). And look for the one with the woman covered in sandbags in corpse pose.

A weight in passive poses allows one to sink deeper into the pose.

I use bolsters and blocks in poses a lot.

I craved a weight (like a sandbag).

I craved a heavy weight.

If you buy a yoga sandbag on line, it comes empty and you add your own sand.

I did not want to deal with sand.

I decided on rice.

I bought 20 lbs in a very sturdy bag.

My husband asked if 20 lbs was too heavy. I replied that Yoga Lisa used to sit on me. It would be like having youngest sit on me. So, no, 20 lbs for an experienced person is not too heavy. I think 5 lbs is normal for a sand bag in case you are wondering.

I used the rice in the bag it came in for a long time. Eventually it sprang a leak.

And using it in the store bought bag showed the need for a non slippery bag/case. It slid off of me, all the time. I never was able to fully relax, because I was expecting it to slip at any moment.






I went to Joanns looking for non slippery fabric.

Not a lot of options.

I ended up with the dotted fabric used on the bottom of the feet in toddler footie pajamas.

I poured my 20 lbs of rice in a very sturdy plastic bag (Karen had warned me about bugs), squished all the air out, zipped the double zip locks, got rice gathered in a corner, wrapped the excess plastic around it like a Christmas present, and then packing taped the daylights out of it.

It ended up about 17" X 17". Most yoga sand bags are long and skinny. I wanted square.

That rice package then went in a casing I made from muslin.

And then all that went in a casing I made from the footie pj material.

I closed the last casing with Velcro so I can wash it. (Unfortunately the only color of the footie pj fabric readily available was white.)

It is good I used Velcro, because I have already flipped it inside out twice and made that outer casing smaller to really hold the rice. The picture above, shows my first try (before decreasing size twice).

So, it is not at all cute (in white) but it is very, very functional.

Feeling the footie pj fabric at the store, neither my husband nor I was convinced of the quality of the non slip-ed-ness. But an older clerk at the store said she put it in the bottom of her mother's chair cushions (wheel chair, kitchen chairs, lawn chairs) and they totally stay in place while her mother transfers herself. It was $12+ a yard for 50" width. I had a 60% coupon. So a yard was a reasonable investment.

And it definitely works. It does not slide off my back, at all.

I have quite a bit left of my original yard, so I can use it for other things too.

How to modify burpies

Bridge vs hip thrust

It amazes me how fast I can go when I repeat the same things

I have only been cross stitching a few days a week, and only in the evenings, to guard my hands/wrists.

Still working on seven Angels.

And I have been doing the same sections, on multiple Angels, one right after the other.

So the star that is above their heads, on multiple ones, all in a row.

And my speed greatly increases.

Mostly, I think, because my eye knows where to go on the paper pattern.

My doing time increases. My thinking or trying to orient myself time decreases. I am much more relaxed and I am much faster. Amazingly faster. So much easier.





I am  now done with Poirot on Netflix. I loved all of them, but starting with season 7 is when they really got good.

I started X Files. Good to do while sewing. I am able to mostly listen. (There are somethings where I have to watch. I have to look for things where I can just listen.)

Middle finished Call the Midwife and loved them. She was very sad to reach the last one.

Oldest finished Would I Lie To You? And he was really sad to have them done.

So coincidental, I just sent a note on this same subject (Squatty potty topic in comments)

I bought a lot of gloves

Stocking update

Rather than just emailing pictures to middle, I decided to post them here. She will see them. You will see them.

This is the continuing, proactive supply of cross stitch stockings for middle's future children, at her request. She knows about these. She reads this blog.

All of these pictures were taken at the same time, in the same place. About 3pm on Friday.

I take these cross stitch pictures in front of our big living room window (using a piece of white foam core board board on top of the window bench; it helps reflect light, I think) on a cloudy day. So I have a lot of light, but no window reflection and no shadows.

I actually ended up resting my hands for three days over the weekend. And then have worked on these a lot this week. But I am careful to keep my hands relaxed as I sew. And then when not sewing, I am careful to rest my arms/wrists/thumbs in the opposite direction than I use them for sewing.

I was curious, what did the new one look like next to the rejected pink?
(It is still rejected, I just have not picked it all out yet).
As I was sewing on the new one, I was worried for a minute I had grabbed the rejected blue. 
I was worried I would not like the new one either. 
But I like the new one very much.
 This picture does a good job of showing the difference between the two shades of 10 count.

Here are the two new angels. 
They are on a lighter 10 count fabric than the original ones. 
And there is more of a peach undertone to this fabric. 

Notice I did not use ecru for the lace nor the pindots. 

Ecru did not show on the light background, at all.

Here are the two new ones next to middle's original stocking. 
Blends super well. 

Here are the two new ones next to the original three. 
I think these blend also. 
I used a very toned down brick/red for the one new dress. 
It is not as deep a color as the three original dresses.
 Because any shade of red is so prominent, it really needed to be toned down to "go".
Notice I replaced the white in the flower centers with a pink on the green angel. 

Here is everything so far.
The fact that they are cross stitch makes them blend well.
The reindeer colors blend well with the Santa.
(I think it is the browns and the greens that do it).
The reindeer blends well with the angels colors too, in my opinion.
I am very okay with all the different 10 count fabric colors. They blend well.
I am pleased. 

Still a lot of work to do on the angels. It takes me an evening to do half of a wing set. 
So it is eight days just to put wings on all of them. 
Then I will spend a few days on stars, another few days on doves. 
And it takes an evening to do a face/hands/hair, so that is several extra days there.
I am not quite sure what I am doing for a dove color on the two light pieces. 

And then, when all that is done, I have two more pieces of the original/darker angel fabric (have to pick two more angel color sets) and one Santa and one Snowman to do. The Santa and the snowman fabrics are slightly different than any of the above, which is good. 

So everyone else might be ready for spring, but I am not ready to let go of winter yet.

5 gallon purified water with hand pump

I might have mentioned college town water is not good where middle and her boy are living. As in it tests poorly. And it tastes terrible.

They both have lived on campus in past. And the university runs the city water through a major filtration plant.

Now they are both off campus, They have regular city water out of taps.

All of us use stainless steel water bottles (Kleen Kanteen). We only use the plastic bottles sold in stores (individual serving size) when there is a need (can't take a Kanteen for some reason). We do not want anyone drinking out of the kind of plastic used for individual serve bottles on a regular basis. Other points against individual water bottles - amount of recycling it produces, and the cost.

So, I spent some time on the phone last week looking for a better solution. An easy, safe water solution that would work long term.

I ended up going with the same water company we use at home. Their water comes from a big filtration plant. No water is produced from city water in the towns where their stores are located. There is a location in our home town and in their college town.

This (bottle above) is the same style 5 gallon bottles we buy for our water cooler (upstairs at home).  The same type of bottle in the picture above (minus the pump) gets turned upside down in our water cooler at home.

Water coolers are expensive and not very portable. At home, it works great.

But I was looking for a better solution for middle at school.

And I was also looking for a solution for middle's boy 1. because I would not do something like this for her and not him, 2. because he was concerned about the water quality and taste, also 3. because middle is at his house a lot and a water source for her there too is smart.

In talking to the water supply company we use here, the guy told me to drive out to their location because they had several options (other than water coolers). So, I did.

The picture above shows what I ended up buying.  (Two $20 pumps. Two 5 gallon water bottles. One of each for middle and her boy.)

That is a 5 gallon bottle in the picture. (I think it looks small in the picture, but it is a big bottle).  To install the pump - The cap on the water bottle is removed, the pump fits securely on the top of the bottle. 

This is how the company works - we put a one time deposit on each bottle. It is around $8. We then buy the water for just under $5 a bottle. (So, I went home with two pumps and two water bottles for middle and her boy.) When their bottles are empty, they pull up at the water store. They do not get out of their car. The guy at the store takes the empty bottle(s) out of their car and puts in a new full one. So the store does not refill the empty bottles for you right then, they give you a whole new bottle. The empty bottles are then sterilized and refilled at the plant. We pay just under $5 per bottle for the new water. There is a punch card system. 10-12 purchased bottles nets a free one.

The plastic of these bottles is different/safer than plastic used for individual water bottles.

The guy at the store said people buy these pumps for offices and camping mostly. BRILLIANT for camping. Brilliant for a trip/weekend away from home anywhere really. That bottle is easily set in a seat and safety belted in to the car so it does not move around while driving, and to keep the pump safe. The pump makes it very simple to use directly from the car's back seat.

Middle's pump was defective. She took it back to her college town location and they replaced it without even asking for her receipt. The second one is fine. One push on the pump button produces a lot of water. Two pumps fills a 27 oz Kanteen I think.

The boys who live with middle's boy all thought this was stellar. They are all using the bottle and then splitting the cost of refills.

When I took him the water/pump, I said if this is not a good solution for you, just pass it back and I will use it in our kitchen pantry. So, if he hated it for some unknown reason, he had an out. They clearly did not hate it.

Yes, having good bottled water increases the amount of water they will all drink, hugely. It also decrease the kind of other drinks they will buy, I think.

My husband calculated the cost of a case of individual serving size water bottles from the store is about the same cost of the 5 gallon bottle; and, the 5 gallon bottle has one more gallon of water than the case of water. A trip to the store is the same as a trip to the water supplier. And at the water supplier, you do not even get out of the car.

We keep three 5 gallon jugs full at our house all the time. One is on the cooler. Two are ready in the garage. I do this so if there is a water emergency, we have a stock pile of water. (The water store would simply send more truck fulls from their plant it this happened, but there might be a delay.)

And I think this (all) is a good life lesson for middle and her boy. I think this whole experience will make them think about what water they are drinking. And whether they end up together or not, it will make both of them think about what water they are giving their kids. If they are on a well, I think they will have that water tested. If they are on city water, they will check the reports. (Actually we will all have our close friend check the reports, she gets them regularly and reads carefully. She is the one who sounded the alarm about their college town water last week).

So freaking many pictures

First, as I mentioned a week or two ago, I move posts backwards quite frequently. This week I moved a lot back, so if you only get on occasionally, you will want to glance a week or more backward each time to catch all posts.

Second, I worked on pictures for about six hours today. First I looked to see what digital pictures were on the computer that had not been put in our youngest's album. My husband had the albums. I had the computer. It went faster with two of us. There were a lot. I ordered all those. I ordered on line from my local store. 4x6 matte.

When I was in the photo files, looking to order for youngest, I put a new file in each file labeled "pictures". So the photos stayed in their original file, but were easily found. So there might be 50 pictures in the "2010 Chicago" file, but I only wanted 8 printed. I put those 8 in a "pictures" file within the "2010 Chicago" file so I could find them easily.  I had a window open for the photo lab. As I filled each "picture" file, I immediately uploaded those pictures to the lab website. When I had all the photos uploaded, then I went in the site and did my cropping. 

I am not sure I mentioned, youngest is not a dedicated picture taker. So, I contacted her friends (weeks ago) and asked them to email pictures (with her in them) to me. I got several dozen. Most I had never seen. Some were from grade school.

Then I worked on the picture computer files from the years when we were using digital cameras. The way we were downloading at that time produced files on the computer with more than one topic/occassion in them. I found a lot of duplicate pictures. I found the same pictures with different digital dates on them (I guess because of when they were downloaded). I did not delete any pictures. Instead I filed all of them. We figured better to have the same pictures under 2007 Zoo and 2008 Zoo than to accidentally delete all copies. I opened two windows. I looked at pictures in one window and clicked and dragged to new files I made in the other window. I start most files with a year. (Middle has so many college files that I have a whole big grouping that start with her name.)

There were pictures on our computer that I had not seen. There were pictures my husband had not seen. Because pictures have been coming off of multiple digital cameras and iPods for years.

So, you guessed it, I ended up with a second on line order from pictures I found tidying files.

I am not done tidying files.

All this showed me that our current method of everyone putting all digital pictures in drop box and then me moving them from drop box to specific picture files is extremely effective. Yes, at this point we have lot of picture files. But I am consistent with my file labels, so we can easily find things.

Interestingly, I eat very little when I am involved with any type of project. The time just flies. Two days in a row now I thought it was about 5pm and it as actually 9:30pm. Friday it was because I was watching a marathon of Shark Tank and cross stitching Angels. Saturday it as because I was knee deep in picture files on the computer. Both days just flew.

And I have figured out how to be very fast on the Angels. I do the same thing on multiples. So I do the stars on several. Or I do the doves on several. Same placement, same thread. The only danger is I have to be very careful of what I am doing. If I do the wrong thing, I am doing it on several pieces, not just one. So far that has not happened.

Meanwhile my husband has envelopes of old family pictures ready to go to his brothers. He had me go through them to see if I wanted copies of any of them for the kids. (He has the originals or has scanned every picture.) The ones I thought I wanted, he put in groups on the table and then took a picture (of the group of photos) so he can have prints of those made for the kids' albums. It was a way to touch it once and be able to send to his brothers.

So we have contemporary pictures going and very old pictures going. We keep them in two different spots in the house.

Oh, my, goodness.

pictures

These are in the same order as the previous picture (earlier in the week) when I was changing out the purple dress on the left for darker periwinkle to avoid duplicate colors. I also changed the star color for the green dress angel slightly. I like her with the lighter yellow. Keeping previous yellow (which is more gold) for purple dress angel.

I am not sure I ever posted a picture of the picture shelves (living room) after we finished them. These black frames with no matting or white/off white matting really unify.  Very pleased. Previously there were dozens of small frames on these shelves. Too many. No unification.

I saw a pinterest with a huge wall of photos (picture rails very much like these, but whole length of wall) where they had used both white and black frames. For a sea of photos, that was a good idea.

Important picture note - On the shutterfly pictures, where we had never changed the title of the picture, the date appeared on the back of all those pictures. So the ID the camera gives to each picture, which includes the date, automatically printed on the back side.

These are the first three of five albums, middle's. It gives an idea of the scope of our albums. 

Mending pictures

Seven year old and her mom were here part of the weekend.

She had mending that needed done for her oldest's husband.

It was not normal, sew on a button mending.

It was a brand new pair of pants that had gotten caught on a nail (on his chair at work) and a coat  side seam. So a MAJOR hole in the seat of pants and a side seam of a lined coat totally come undone.

I also patched a hole in a quilt not too long ago, and thought to take a before picture in case I ever needed to show someone.

This technique is not the only one, I am sure. But it is the way our alteration shop lady has taught me. If you remember, most of the time when I take something in to her, she tells me I could fix it myself. If it needs her heavy denim machine or involves youngest's thick letter jacket, then she takes it. Some other things I just insist she take. But after the first couple patch things, with her explaining to me what she did, I started doing those myself.

First here is the quilt. It is the first hole (it is in the lower border) on one of the quilts I have made. This is one of a pair of (beloved) Brown Bear quilts. The hole was only in the top of the quilt, it was not all the way through it.

I put this quilt on the floor and then stood on the kitchen table right above it to get this shot. You are seeing the rug that it under our kitchen table and one of the hall runners, behind the quilt.

Some of the fabric was actually missing from the quilt which required a patch. And I could not put a patch behind the hole because the batting and backing were still intact. So the patch needed to on top of the hole. (Normally I put the patch behind things, as you will see in the pants pictures below).

This picture is from the back of the quilt. I used blue thread in the top of my machine and white in the bobbin. It is rarely perfect when one does this, you can see blue thread from the back and white thread from the front, but it helps.

PANTS - I save the pieces we cut off pant hems to use as patches. I have a variety of colors. I do not use any adhesive.

These are size 34 x 34 men's pants to give you can idea of how huge this tear was. I left all the rawness of the tear intact and just sewed over it. So there were a lot of dangling threads that I left on the tear. My experience is if I start cutting all that off, then I end up with a much larger hole. You can see that my fingers found two other places where the nail had torn away part of the pants fabric, but not left a hole. But the fraying there would have eventually caused a hole. My fingers found these places, I did not see them with a naked eye at first. 

I use pinking shears on the edges of the patch so it does not fray over time. I do the sewing from the front, I can't see where the edges of the patch are exactly. I start in the middle and keep feeling with my fingers until I have worked my way to the edges. 

The coat would not have show in pictures. It was a black coat with black lining. The side seam had come all the way open from the arm pit to the hem. I opened the side seam of the lining. I pulled the top layer through the hole so I had turned the whole thing inside out. Then I resewed the side seam and also zigzagged it to reinforce. I then turned the coat back to right side out, and machine sewed the lining. I had to sew the lining from the right side of the lining. But I sewed very close to the edge so it is not readily obvious.

Photo shopping update

Update on Shutterfly.

I first ordered matte finish 4X6 with $20 coupon. Was not pleased with clarity. But I was not sure of the quality of the photos, to start, because they were mostly taken by other people. These were photos of seven year old and a lot of them were taken by her family.

Middle ordered a poster for youngest and it had nice clarity.

My husband said perhaps the matte was the problem with the photos.

Middle got another $20 coupon.

I had to order A LOT of photos to hit $20.

I ordered glossy finish this second time. I ordered a lot of the same photos I had ordered in matte. So we could compare side by side.

The clarity of the glossies was better.

I will put a note in comments about this later. My husband is going to compare, photo to photo, later, and he has the best eye.

ADDED LATER - my husband said the matte is better. I was looking at different pictures (ours) than the original order (theirs) when I thought the glossies were better. He said the detail on the matte was actually better, when he compared, picture to picture, with the original order.

I got shutterfly photos for free, both times. I paid shipping, both times. It was much less expensive (total bill) than local shop because of $20 coupons.

I had to wait longer to get them. But the wait did not matter.

We will have to be extremely careful putting them in album so they do not have fingerprints all over them. (They wear white gloves at photo labs.)

I do not know how I feel about matte and glossy in same album.

So if we have a coupon for free prints, maybe Shutterfly does make sense, with coupon. But it is a lot of "if, than and buts". It is not a straight comparison.

So, now we are just looking at cost. If we wait for shutterfly coupon, pictures will be cheaper.

But my husband reminded me of one other thing. The Shutterfly coupons are just for 4X6 and sometimes that does not crop well, depending on picture. Our local shop will still print square or odd sizes (remember we work with a lot of old photos in our albums).

And I just remembered to add - I check every picture on shutterfly orders and adjust cropping. I do not like their auto crop. I upload all the photos, making sure I have enough for my $20 coupon, and then I go thru and adjust cropping.

Finding things I can listen to without looking very much, sewing at my machine, free/hand weight work, Pilates, hand stitching

Netflix has quite a bit of Agatha Christie's Poirot available. Beloved character for me.  That is from Masterpiece/Mystery. David Suchet and Hugh Frasier did such a good job. Philip Jackson and Pauline Moran too. There are 70 of them, I think Netflix has them all.  I read all of them (book form) long ago. I have seen most of them. Perfect for doing something, listening and just looking up every once in a while.

Wiki
"Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. David Suchet stars as the eponymous detective, Agatha Christie's fictional Hercule Poirot. Initially produced by LWT, the series was later produced by ITV Studios. In the United States, PBS and A&E have aired it as Poirot.

"At the programme's conclusion, which finished with Curtain, based on the final Poirot novel,[1] every major literary work by Christie that featured the title character had been adapted."

Oldest got us hooked on Shark Tank. It is on CNBC and ABC. Entrepreneurs pitch investment ideas to a panel of business people. So someone has a fledgling business and wants a millionaire to help them with connections, ideas and money. Really clever products and services are featured.  I have quite a few things bookmarked (future gift ideas) on my iPad, that were shown. Actually very interesting show. Some people are so smart. Other people hang in to an idea beyond all reason. It is very interesting to watch. And I have learned if you are every really stuck for a gift idea, go to Bed Bath and Beyond and just wander.

Oldest also got us hooked on Would I Lie to You? Also BBC; we have only been able to find it on Youtube. Really, really funny. I have a link that he sent me to find all of them. As soon as I verify it is a regular link and not tied to our personal accounts, I will put it in comments.

Photo processing hunt

Someone and I were talking about where to have pictures developed.

I just looked, it was JSP, here, in comments.

I am helping my close friend with an album for the seven year old.

It started because Middle had 50 free prints available from Shutterfly.

I was not at all confident of the quality of their prints, so I did not want to order for our albums. (Yes, we are photo snobs).

I wanted to put the 50 freebies to good use. Like a project.

To be honest, our friends have lower photo standards. And I have a lot of pictures of the seven year old in my digital photo files. So I texted my friend asking if seven year old had an album and mentioning the 50 free prints.

She was game. And she ordered 250 Shutterfly prints. Different pictures, same kid, from her phone. We are making an album for seven year old.

Over the weekend I found more pictures of the seven year old.

And it occurred to me it (this album) was a good opportunity to order prints from other stores in my area. To try other, cheaper systems.

My first attempt was Walgreens until I discovered I could only get glossy from my local store. Glossy is a fingerprint nightmare. I only do matte. I did not want to get into mail order at this time. So I rejected Walgreens for now.

Next I tried Walmart. Website said matte was available for in store pick up. I submitted my order online and then refused it at the store (which they let me do). The finish was not glossy, but was also not matte. I had made the online selections that said slow download (most pixels possible and pictures intact) but that was not what the order had. The pixels were very funny and heads were chopped.  The lady at the in store photo lab said the software says one thing and does another. It was not me, it was them. So they are out too. But they also have mail order available which she said was higher quality.

Target and CVS only had glossy available for in store, same day pick up. Both have mail order with higher quality available, I think, it is all sort of running together now.

So, I did not find a printed locally, option that pleased me.

Yes, all these places are cheaper, but they are not doing what I want. So, cheaper doesn't really get me anywhere, but unhappy with their pictures.

If anyone thinks of other larger chains for me to try, I would appreciate a note in comments.

What I want - matte, 4x6, ability to see how the machine will crop and the ability to adjust that cropping, easily. Slow download with the most pixels possible.

Most of the time I would be okay with mail order. But this week, I honestly wanted pictures in my hands, to compare. Mail order experiment involves shipping cost, so a couple to compare is not easily, cheaply done.

Electricity

We have a power strip at each end of our couch in the living room. They are plugged in behind the couch, set so they are peeking out of the corners. They are always there, available. They are in constant use.

There is a two plug socket built/set into the floor in front of the couch. If we had little kids here, it would stay covered. Currently it is uncovered and available for use. It is handy.

I have a power strip next to my bed.

The kids have electrical sockets right next to their night stands.

We have charger cords set in key places all over the house. Middle's boy comes without his phone charger and uses mine, because there are three available. In my car, next to the elephant by the backdoor, in the living room. When our friends stay, they use my husband's charger, always plugged in the same spot in the kitchen.

An extension cord lives in my travel case. If I got somewhere without it, we would have to go buy one.

iPad and phone for me. iPad, phone and lap top for everyone else at my house. If we have 2-3 of us gathered in one space, in the house or traveling, we require a lot of plugs.

We have two TV's, a DVD player and a wide variety of gaming systems all set together in the living room. Cord heaven. Lots of plugs in use.

We have lots of Amish neighbors. Their plug useage is much, much smaller. Cell phone charger and probably a freezer. (I honestly do not know about refrigerators). Maybe a washing machine. All run by generator, not on the grid. (They cook on a wood stove and hang wet laundry on a line and sweep the floor with a broom).

When our power goes out, which very rarely happens, I am at a loss. Everything I go to do requires power. Eventually I find something that can be done and I settle in, maybe with one of the battery lanterns, with cards or a game or cleaning out a drawer. It feels like a lost time, not a found time. I am just marking time until the power returns.

Grid dependent, yes.

Netflix

I rewatched the entire Luther series (BBC) in preparation for the show that appeared on BBC America recently (in the last two weeks I think). I like Idris Elba's character DCI John Luther and Ruth Wilson's character Alice Morgan very much. I have liked a lot of the characters that appeared for a few episodes or a season, I think they are well developed. It is a somewhat gritty show. There is talk that this series will roll into movies. I think that is a good idea. (It sounds like a lot to say I rewatched the whole series, it was something like 12-14 episodes, so not a lot.)

Oldest and I watched the first season of Dark Matter while we were tending youngest last week. It is sci-fi, by some of the same folks who did parts of the Stargate (multiple) series. We think it shows promise. It has been picked up for a second season.

I am now watching George Gently which is BBC and is set in the 1960's. There are seven seasons with the first six on Netflix so far. I believe the show is still in production. The seasons have between 2-4 episodes. So, not a lot of shows, but they are 1 1/2 hours each, which helps. Really enjoying it. Not a gritty show. Plots are good, in my opinion. I like the characters. And I am having fun watching the clothes, hair styles, cars and furnishings. (There is a lot of smoking. A lot.)

My little store

I think I may have mentioned that I cleaned out my closet, when my husband was out of town a couple months ago. It was a big job. I found a lot of things stashed in that closet. A lot. For example, I found Christmas gifts for middle stashed away, most of which I had forgotten were there. All her presents came from what I found.

I also found a lot of other gifts.

I used three cubby units, left over from Middle in college dorms, in the studio, to organize all these gifts.

I think of this as my little store. As in stored goods.

And I am very pleased with it.

It has come in very handy in the last couple weeks.

Example one -
On Friday, middle mentioned she was going to her boy's nephew's baptism today/Sunday. And I knew I had supplies for quiet church bags (post one, post two) in my store. When she looked, there were three canvas bags (from which to chose) and a variety of things to put in them. She customized (a combination of items for) her bag as her gift. It was very cute, very unusual, and very fast. And we would never have been able to put it together in time if I did not already have the items on hand. I (immediately) reordered a few things to replenish the quiet church bag stash. Many times there is not much notice for baptisms. This feels handmade, special.

Example two -
I had four autism T-shirts and flatware on hand as part of middle's graduation gift. I knew I had the flatware stashed. It is my traditional graduation gift for our kids. But I had forgotten I had the autism shirts. They are hard to find. I had found good ones long, long ago. I was very pleased to refind them in my closet.

Example three -
I had bought four really great hats at our church craft show. I picked up three first and then went back and got the fourth so each girl had a choice. When our friends' college girl was here, I let her pick hers first (and take it with her, she wore it to middle's graduation). It was our Christmas gift to her. While we had them out, I let youngest pick one, I wrapped that one and added it to the stash under the tree. That left two. I wrapped the one I thought Middle would like best for Christmas. She opened it and loved it. I showed her the remaining one, the fourth, so she still had a choice. She kept the one I had picked. She had seen the college girl's pick and youngest's pick. Middle liked her own the best. But, honestly, no girl ended up with the one I originally thought they would like. They picked differently than I would have picked, choosing for them. So the four hats for three girls ended up being very smart. The remaining one goes back in the stash. These were handmade, just not by me.

Example four -
Middle and my close friend both used cherry pit bags (links to two posts) for gift giving this year. I made 36 bags between the two of them, 18 each. Two shipments of cherry pits used. Middle used these as thank you gifts for student teaching and as Christmas presents for all her boy's family this year. My friend used them as teacher, therapist, tutor, coach gifts for the seven year old's people. And as gifts for her very hard to buy for sisters, brother in laws and parents. I have a few (of middle's 18) left in my stash for future giving. Again, handmade, which people love.

Example five -
I have (lots of) swaddling blankets and baby books in my stash. We use them, all the time, for baby shower and "congratulations on the birth of your child" gifts. I even shipped three blankets to oldest to use as a new baby gift. People really like homemade. Swaddling blankets are hard to find.

Example six -
I have two toddler towels put away for middle for next year. If all goes well, another one of her boy's siblings will have a new baby by then. Toddler towels will be great Christmas gifts. Huge hooded towels, handmade, for both babies.

Example seven -
My dishwasher was down and out for a couple days. I had a house full. I gifted a 9x13 glass pan out of the stash to myself.





There are many, many more gifts in my stash. A very wide variety. Some I will be very glad to see used/gone. Others I will restock as they are used, like the cherry pit bags, toddler towels, swaddling blankets and quiet church bags.  I always keep a few card games on hand too.

I am pretty sure I have never discarded a cord, in my life

Not a charger cord, not a connection cord.

If it looked like a cord, I kept it, in a big bin in the garage.

Big bin in the bottom of the cupboard with the tools.

The bin was overflowing and a tumbled mess.

I hauled it in the living room.

It was all I could do to lift it. Evidentally cords are very dense.

I dumped the bin.

Oldest said - I guess we're committed now.

I had labels and zip-ties ready.

I detangled.

He identified.

It went very quickly.

It either went in the recycle pile on the floor at his end of the couch, or I coiled/zip-tied/labeled it and it went back in the bin at my end of the couch.

He was helping youngest with her game, so she was there too. Sometimes it took both of them to figure out if we were really ever going to need a cord again.

We found a cord for middle's Apple laptop in there. We found cords for camcorder in there. We found cords for one of the digital cameras in there. We found a lot of other cords and Y connectors and things that he had me keep. And now he knows what is in the box. So if he is on the phone, long distance helping me, he will be able to say - go get the one that says xxxxx, that is what you need.

Probably 80% went in the recycle pile, which my husband boxed and put in the garage. I will take it to the electronics recycling center this week.

There is now enough room left in the bin that when I find stray extension cords or plug in timers or power strips, they can go in there too.

Older kid game ideas in comments

Notes to myself on 8" flannel squares, with fleece as the backing, quilt

I have some type of a glitch with drop box on the new computer right now. Waiting for computer guy.   Will post a picture when I can. BUT if I don't get directions to myself written, in a couple days I will not remember what I did.

So, making notes so I know for next time.


8 rows by 10 rows
approximately 60" x 90"
which is a great size for a nap/lap type quilt


I cut 8x8 flannel squares and sewed them into rows. So 8" cut. 7 1/2" finished.

I had a few cotton pieces and a few interfaced T-shirt squares too. But mostly it was flannel. I alternated light and dark color values so it flows. So it was very much a "scrap" looking quilt. But the eye has a way of knowing where to go with the light and dark diagonal rows. I almost always do this either thru color or light/dark when I make a scrap quilt.

And it truly was scrap. I started with squares I already had cut for the baby quilt project I rejected after trying one quilt (exposed seam allowances which made it too linty for me). I added some prints to the original pieces, but most of it is non baby prints I was planning to use for a series of baby quilts. One big quilt instead of several small ones. I still have squares left for other projects.

I sewed the rows together, attaching to white flannel, quilt as I went, method.

I sewed strips of white flannel together, as I went, as Joanns did not have wide widths.

When I got the whole top together, I serged the outer edges, all the way around.

Then I sewed three more sets of white flannel together to make a big enough piece and added another layer to the back, making sure the white flannel seam allowances did not end up in the same places.

I then quilted through all three layers, on the machine, in the horizontal ditch. Or I should say about 1/8" out of the ditch, reinforcing all those seams, by sewing on the seam allowances.

When I sew rows together or machine quilt, I alternate directions so the quilt stays flat. So I sew right to left one time, the left to right the next. Otherwise the fabric "walks".

Then I sewed around the outside edge again, zigzagging, to hold everything together.

I put fleece on the back. I put a pin in the center, through all the layers, of each 8x8" square. Then I sewed, through all those layers, vertically in the ditch. BECAUSE the stretch of the fleece was horizontal. So I got everything held in place vertically first. (That is why I sewed horizontally through the top and two layers of flannel backing, because the fleece stretch was horizontal. Quilter told me to do that.) Then I went back and sewed in the ditch horizontally and then cross hatched (corner to corner to corner thru all the diagonal rows which makes an X in each square).

The fleece was slippery, but manageable.

I cut my binding at 3" and used a wider seam allowance to sew it to the quilt to hide the serged and zigzagged outer edges. I used a cotton print for the binding. Same cotton as one of the squares in the quilt. I knotted most of my stitches, all the way around that quilt for longevity as it is a thick, heavy quilt and it is going to a guy, who I think will really use it.

Really good weight for winter. It is tactile because of the fleece and flannel.

My quilter had told me I needed two layers of flannel as "batting" to work with the fleece and I think she was right. Just sewing the quilt top to the fleece would not have had a quilt look. The top would have disappeared into the fleece in an odd way. This has a quilt look.

This was a very simple quilt, because the blocks are not pieced. But it still took time because I quilted it myself and there was a lot of fussing around all those layers.

I layed it out, arranging blocks one night. Added a few blocks another night. Sewed into rows one day. Then sewed the rows together and did all the quilting and sewed on the binding in one marathon day. Then I did the handwork of the binding, one side at a time, over four days, to protect my hands. My left thumb is greatly impacted by too much "holding" at one time.

I might have a picture up in a few hours or a week. Not sure when computer guy will get back to me since "Dropbox" is not an emergency.

And I have learned I have to make these notes or a week later I am not sure what I did. I have made so many things over the years that they run together. And you can tell when I write these that there are definite tricks/techniques with each one.

Yeahhhhhhh!

New computer was installed. I can order pictures today or tomorrow and have them Monday.

Computer guy (here, installing computer) wanted encyclopedias. Husband loaded them in the car for him (immediately). They were still stacked in the living room, with me trying to figure out what to do with them (storage wise in the house). Computer guy has an early grade school son who he said would like to read them. So it will be nice for him (the son) to have a set that is not viewed as expensive that he can just have like any other book. Pleased.

We kept the hard drive out of the old computer so if we discover something did not get moved to new computer, he can still retrieve it. He moved music, pictures, genealogy, documents. He set everything like we are used to having it. He put in Word 7, because 8 was terrible, and they are still working the bugs out on 10. I do not know about 9. We have 7 for now and 10 to come later. Keyboard was replaced. And maybe mouse. The new tower is freakishly tiny.

I thought I had a leak in my bathtub handheld tub device. Sighed. Well, I did have leak, but plumber was able to tighten something and it was fine. Very quick visit. He took off panel and looked under tub, no water. Relief. I called Friday morning after they were already busy for the day, but he still came, so I was not worried about it all weekend. I did not beg. I just stated facts. Even though it was a busy day, he came about 4pm on Friday. We have been with them thru two houses and probably nearly 30 years and I always pay bill immediately.

We cranked yesterday, including me, cleaning up stacks in computer room, so there are counters again. I am left with several bins of weird stuff to consider after the holidays, but I am okay with that. The cubbies/pigeon holes need a major clean out this winter.

It was nice enough so my husband washed outside of windows. Not every window, but he got the kitchen and porch, which were (really) bugging me. He also cleaned porch. Major leaves. He asked me what we use to clean front door, so he must have scrubbed that too.

I washed outside of some kitchen cupboards. Murphy Oil Soap kind of washing. Not every cupboard, but got the really dirty ones. Like the end where garbage/recycling sits. That was bad enough so that I wrapped wet rag around pancake turner and scrubbed with that. I mix murphy soap in a (cooking) pan that can then go in dishwasher. Then I do not have to figure out how to clean Murphy out of a bucket. Did not take long. Very pleasing. My husband got skirting/baseboard right where refrigerator and microwave are. I got over by stove. That was really dirty too.

Instead of feeling like I have so much ahead of me, I am feeling like we have done a lot. Still have momentum. Loft is next on my hit list.

We will not be in a panic next week.

Still working on pictures. Our reward for big work, each day,  is sitting down and working on pictures. Different mindset.

Photos, in frames and in albums

I have written about photos many times over the years.

If you remember I once had a huge mess. Negatives, prints, digital, behind in our albums. We set up tables in the kitchen and worked our way through all of it. Big job.

We keep a set of albums for each kid and one for the house. This is now a lot of albums. Probably 5 for each kid and more for the house. So we are talking about 25+ albums.

I have no regrets in keeping an album for each kid. I think that was the right thing to do. Our kids value those albums hugely.

I think the concept of scrapbooks gets many women buried. It is expensive, it tends to never get done. I think it is a negative thing.

I think albums where the pictures simply slip in the pocket are smart. I think a three binder approach is good. Can add or rearrange pages easily. I think it is smart to have full page pockets/page protectors and put big pictures, certificates, etc in there too.

We have an enormous amount of genealogy stuff at our house now.

The genealogy pictures are on, under, around our old kitchen table in my husband's office. So as we have been going through closets and drawers and run across a picture, that is where we put it.

The contemporary albums are in the studio. So as we find contemporary pictures, that is where we put them.

We have never thrown out a negative. They are in sleeves in a binder. We still have prints made from negatives for some photos.

My husband and I cleaned out the living room, big time, a few weeks ago.

One of the clean outs was three shelves of framed photos above the piano. Lots of small frames. Some tiny frames. Probably 50-75 frames. Not likely to get dusted regularly.

We were just going to put framed art on those shelves, but nothing looked right. And everyone wanted family photos back up there.

So we decided to put large frames with family photos on those shelves. Maybe 15 frames that can easily be dusted. We are doing all black frames, some with white matting, so it has a uniform look.

So last night we started looking through albums, deciding on pictures, and looking for original negatives, to have prints made for those frames.

My husband is very good at looking at negatives. He uses the light box. He has found several of the ones we need. A larger print is better quality made from a negatives. The ones where we cannot find a negative, we can have prints made from the pictures in the album. But these will need to be smaller prints. Same size retains quality. Enlarging from prints does not work well.

Big job.

We have run across prints I had made but never got in albums when I lost my album page supplier. I have pages now. So I have been sticking them in albums as we go.

I have never thrown away a picture. Remember the days when you shot a roll of film and every picture was printed? Our photo store did free second set. So we have two of every picture. That is a lot of pictures. I have all of them. I put the "rejects" in a basket with a lid. Those have been very useful over the years. That is where the kids dug for pictures for school projects and bulliten boards, etc. Those pictures can be cut up, glued, given away. We are going through that basket too.

I have digital pictures on the computer that I need to have printed too. Some for the black frames. Some for the albums. But we have no computer. The computer guy is moving old stuff on new computer this week.

My goal is to get to the photography store today with at least our prints order for the ones being made from prints or negatives (for the black frames above the piano).

We bought the frames so we know what size we need for prints. We have maybe 8 frames so far.

We found a few larger pictures bought on tours (like standing in front of a boat) that we need 6x8 black frames.

So it is an involved process. It is complicated.

We used to keep albums on the ledge on the landing of the stairs. That ledge has accumulated a lot of weird stuff. Going through it too.

I am working with intention of finishing, this week, not dragging out indefinitely. It is one of those things where if you walk away, you don't know where you are, what you did. So it is better to just push through and do it.

Qwirkle

At resale shop today, wandering while husband was at library.

What did I see? Qwirkle.

I remember it being in the recommendations.

I asked if I could open it to see if the pieces were all there.

108 tile pieces later, we realized it was intact.

Directions included.

$5.

Sold.

It looks very fun.

Saved collection of game ideas, Jill started it

Here is Jill's post.

Very good list of ideas in her post and in comments.

I added a "card games" label to my blog.

I think I have my previous posts on card games all linked now.

Ordered a new computer

We do not know what year we got the current computer, it might be as much as ten years old.

Dinosaur in computer terms.

And that was our second computer, ever.

So we have made it with two consecutive computers for a very long time.





We refer to this as the house computer.

Keyboard, big monitor, tower, printer/scanner/copier.

I use my iPad 99% of the time. I really love my iPad.

(Apple should come visit me to see what they should be saying in their commercials.)

My husband uses his iPhone and Apple laptop 99% of the time.

But that 1% of the time we use the house computer, we want the cd, scanner, big monitor, keyboard.

All of those things are valuable to us when we do certain functions.






I use the camera on my iPad a lot.

But there are times when I want the scanner on the printer and I want it hooked up to the monitor.

There are functions I cannot do on my iPad.

There are things that are easier on the house computer.

My husband has a lot of music files.

He edits songs.

He listens to all of it.

The house computer is easier for a lot of functions.





So our oldest thinks we too are dinosaurs that we want what we call a house computer.

He thinks there are other options.

But he is not doing any of the functions (in life) that we do on our house computer.

His life is digital.

We are straddling digital and pre digital.

We still have a lot of non digital things.

Like versions on songs on cd.

Hard copy pictures that were taken with film and are in a print form only, a lot of them.

Many generations of them.





The new tower, computer guts, is around $500-600.

That is a small investment for ease in working with pictures and music.

There is a lot to be said for our large monitor set up high so we can see it.

It is very hard for 20 somethings to understand older eyes.

It comes with a new key board.

The symbols are worn off our old key board.

Our fingers know so it still works, but is a little weird.

I like having the computer in its spot, a big counter to spread out things, the scanner right there.

I like having a tethered mouse.

And there is something to be said for doing things the way we are used to doing them.





Our computer room has built in counters.

It has great office chairs.

It has a door that closes.

Those things are valuable to us, but not the way younger generations tend to live.

We find value in a non moveable computer system.

Something that stays where it is and stands ready.





We will have twice the memory.

I have piles of pictures waiting to be scanned.

The computer room is a big heap of waiting stuff right now.

I have been waiting so I can touch it once and be done, organizing and scanning as I go.

Our external hard drive is big enough to back up the new system.

We bought, planning ahead.

It will not have to be replaced.





I have been on computer hold now for months.

Last year, we deleted everything we could spare from the house computer memory.

Major culling.

And then we limped along, waiting for something new to come out this summer.

Then I was sort of waiting for my husband to be motivated.






This week I could not scan a letter to email to oldest.

It was too detailed to take a picture with my iPad.

It need to be scanned.

I had to snail mail it.






Then I could not attach pictures to email to youngest's high school for a senior project.

I was able to move them from house computer pictures to drop box and then email them from my iPad.

But I had to do a lot of messing around to do even that.







The house computer had just ground itself to a halt.

I complained, a lot.







My husband said - call the computer guy.

The computer guy makes house calls.

We have loved him since he was in high school/college.

He is now married and expecting fourth baby.

About half his business is commercial.

The other half is people like us.

I always tip him when I pay the bill.

I appreciate his service hugely.

When he came, I stayed out of the way so my husband was talking to the computer guy.

Next thing I knew, we were get new guts with twice the memory.

It will be here Monday or Tuesday.






PS -

I am not happy with our scanner.

Our computer guy said it might be because it is talking to an old computer.

He said let us replace the computer first and then see about the scanner.

It is an office quality one. It should be working as I want. So he might be right.

Is there a reason to keep bound encyclopedia sets?

Ours is from 1993 or so.

I do not think anyone has touched it in 10-15 years.

I can't think that we will want to use it again.

I can't think where to donate it.

I realize all the historical data in it is still true.

I think I remember something like 80-90% of the information stays valid in encyclopedias, they are just missing all the new stuff.

I just can't imagine anyone looking for data in that printed format with the Internet available. Even Britannica stopped publishing bound sets, a couple years ago, and is now online.

Suggestions?

Sleeping in a normally made bed

I have been out of town a lot in the last several years.

So I have slept in a lot of different beds.

And I have actually been able to sleep.

The trick/method/key for me has been to put a blanket against me, under the covers.

One end of that blanket is folded under my feet.

I think I have mentioned I make sure to go to bed with warm feet. That allows me to fall asleep.

The blanket folded under my feet keeps them warm, makes me feel just tucked enough so I stay asleep.

Until last week I have used a blanket wrapped around the foot of my bed to really feel tucked. This is how our local Amish make a bed. A quilt placed horizontally and ticked firmly in the sides of the bed. That served me well for many years.

Last week I remade my bed with a sweatshirt blanket under the covers against me, two woven blankets, a quilt, another quilt folded at my feet. I tucked the two woven blankets at the foot of the bed. Nothing was tucked at the sides.

So I went from a bed wrapped like a mummy, to a bed only tucked at the end.

And I am sleeping.

This might be the most flexible I have been about being able to sleep in many years.




I take a sweatshirt blanket where ever I go.

I keep one in the car. I take one on a train, bus, plane.

If I have a sweatshirt blanket, I have been able to sleep everywhere/anywhere.

It is the combination of the thickness/weight and also the cotton.

It keeps air from "getting me" because it is snug against me.





I am still sleeping with white noise. I prefer a floor fan. But I can make due with white noise app on my iPad.





I now need circulating air.

I am not sure if I have always needed circulating air or if it is age related.

At home I sleep with the ceiling fan on a low setting. I know I need it, because if someone turns it off and I do not realize it, going to bed in the dark, I am awake and feeling suffocated a few hours later. Good science experiment.

Normal for me is going to sleep and staying asleep, not waking once.

If we are in a hotel room, we simply keep the temperature of the room low and then I am fine.

I think I mentioned, years ago I was asleep in a hotel and oldest was up grading papers. He said as the temperature of the room rose, just before the air conditioning flipped on, I became very restless. He lowered the setting and I slept easily. Good science experiment.




If we have traveled by car, I often take a floor fan with us. I always take one to Mayo. The circulating air, plus the white noise, helps. I sleep better, if someone is prepping for something, it helps them too. Circulating air helps middle with nausea hugely, for example.

In Europe, many hotels had electric fans available through housekeeping. That helped. Fans are inexpensive enough that if we flew somewhere and we're staying for an extended time, I would buy one and then just leave it there.





So that might not all sound very flexible. Dragging a sweatshirt blanket with me, taking a box fan if we can, turning the temperature if rooms down, etc. But this is the most flexible I have been, and sleeping easily, maybe in forever.





My husband thinks using props to help children sleep or relax just teaches the child to be dependent on the prop.

I am sure that is true. But it is worth it, in my opinion, if it works.

If the child is not going to sleep or not going to relax without the prop, then what is the point of with holding a tool that is going to work?

And my dependency is getting better. I have easy tools, doable tools.

As I read posts or talk to people, there are very few who sleep through the night. Very few. In the past year there have been a lot of posts about people sleeping with a monitoring device and realizing just how very bad their sleep is. At best people seem to be up once or twice to use the bathroom.

Yes, I take meds to help me sleep. Remember that. It is important. And I have my tools.

And the result is I sleep through the night pretty much every night. The nights I don't are because someone turned off the ceiling fan or changed the house heat setting unbeknownst to me. That just happens a few times a year. And if I wake, I know it is for a reason. I check the ceiling fan and the thermostat first. It is usually one of those two things.

My expectation and my reality is to not worry about sleep and to be able to go to sleep easily and be able to stay asleep. And no nightmares. It has been years and years since I had one.

I think this is a correlation to my expectations/reality/life with food. I expect food not to be a problem in my own home too.

And stress. I expect my family to live proactively. I expect us to do things as simply as possible. I expect good communication. I expect the house to settle down for the night early.