Decluttering

Today I filled the back of my car with the 3 newly made dog pillows and dropped the off at the Southern Arizona Humane Society.  The have new drop boxes for donations.  The were over sized dog houses.  They were very cute. My only problem with them is that they were not quite arthritis friendly.  The lids were very heavy and hard to lift.  I found this sad, because a few dollars of hardware would make the lids easier to lift.  

The next stop was Goodwill for 2 boxes and a bag.  I thanked the gentleman taking the donations and said that he was aiding in cleaning my house.  As a treat I stopped at Brugger’s bagels and got 3 Rosemary bagels for a job well done.  

My next deep cleaning task is go go through my knitting books to see which ones I will be keeping and which ones I will be listening on eBay.  I have one book currently listed and have lined up 5 more to list tomorrow.  My goal is to have my books sorted by project or craft type.  My second goal is to have all my books fit in the bookcase and not stacked around the house.  I am hoping that this is doable.  I am listening most books with a 99 cent beginning bid with the buy it now price 50% of retail at the time they were published.  I will put links on my Twitter and Facebook feeds. Some are in nice enough shape for gift giving.  I might even have some out of print books too.  Did I mention that I listed a first edition of a Noro book today.  It is only a 7 day listening so hurry over.  

Thriving Me Nuts and more.

 I just finished the next 3 dog pillows.. All I have to say is thank goodness dogs can’t see in the green range, because I had 2 pillows that were the same pattern but different colors.  No, I am not ripping out the final seam.  At least something is finely finished. I am so use to finishing multiple projects a week.  This not using my hands is driving me nuts..

I guess my sewing is done for the day.  I see lighting is the distance. Unlike my old Kenmore mechanical sewing machine which ran in any weather, my newish BERNINA does not like static discharges. It just messes with the programming. Not to mention it can fry the chip.  Newer innovations are not always better.  

Something else that is driving me nuts is the weather forecasters and the National Weather Service   They have decided that 100 degrees is a heat emergency. I live in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.  Did anyone bother telling them in school that it gets hot in the desert, it’s not unusual for the temperature to stay above 100f for weeks at a time. We usually only used to keep track of days above 110f.    I can really see setting it at 110f or 115f  or above for a heat emergency. I am the 3rd generation of my family to live in the desert. My grandparents came when swamp coolers we brand new technology.  The swamp coolers did not work during the monsoon season, which is our rainy season. For those of you who are not familiar with swamp coolers, they are also called evaporative coolers. The equivalent of blowing air over a bowl of ice cubes to cool off.  My point is that if you don’t like the heat don’t move into the desert because you like our winters.  We just don’t have enough water..

We have always known that we did not have enough water in Tucson. My dads 1st job after graduation from the University of Arizona in 1956 was with the Better Business Bureau to tell people not to move to Tucson, because there was not enough water.  Fast forward to 2021 and low and behold they were right.  We are 20 years into an Epic Draught.  One good year of rain is not going to fix this.  Growth is not always good.  

This blog post is a bit rambling and disjointed.  That is where my mind is now.  The rising COVID19 numbers across the country combined with a very low vaccination rate , means that I probably won’t see my family until spring. But to end the blog on a good note, here are the dog pillows.

Just Maybe?

 I am slowly getting back the use of my right hand.  It still gets tired very easily.  I did manage to fold one load of laundry today.  Most of the day my hand was to tired to do anything. Tomorrow before my hand gets tired, I will try to sew up 3 seems to get the dog pillows out of the house.  

I think I have a lot of small projects that can be finished with the sewing machine. This means that I just need to guide the fiber and let the machine do the work.  

I am still bored.  I need a new hobby. One that is not so hand intensive.  

Boredom Has Set In

 I have gone to the doctor about my hand.  I got 3 shots.   If my hand is not working in 2 weeks we might try something different.  Meanwhile, I am board to tears.  I can think more clearly now that the pain level is down.  

I finally figured out that I really crave sweets and coke made with sugar when the pain level is high enough. Oh, I did not go out and get a coke, the COVID19 numbers are rising in Pima County.  I also managed to keep surgery foods to a minimum too.  It was just to much work to wake up very early, find a mask, get in the car to drive to the store. When I get there are there too any cars in the lot.  What about other people wearing masks? To the massless I just want to scream that there is no ME in PUBLIC HEALTH.  It’s very exhausting, the snow birds are so judgmental.  I had one following me around the supermarket today,  I wonder if she thought that I had to many fruits and vegetables in my basket.  You know the type, dresses up to the 9’s to go to the grocery store.  Looks down on the rift raft who don’t meet their standards.  Oh well at least she did not say she was 50 something and shove her way ahead of me in line, because I was younger.  Many reasons to avoid the stores.

There is still no knitting, spinning or weaving going on.   I have been doing puzzles of all kinds on my pad  .  Thank goodness I found jigsaw puzzles at the App Store   I have been doing a couple a day, I can’t imagine what John would think of the mess of cardboard puzzles   I have also been play card and word games. Today I even managed a little cleaning until you hand stopped working.  I am still board. I would like to be board at a coffee shop so I could at least people watch.

 

A Small Repair

 My first reusable shopping bag got a smallish fix this afternoon.  I bought this bag at my then local natural foods store and restaurant, Follow Your Heart in Canoga Park, California.  I bought it just after I moved into my first apartment.  That was so last century, before John and I were even engaged.  Follow Your Heart had the best vegetarian burgers and shakes.  Oh well the whole truth was everything was wonderful and tasty.  Milk free donuts in the 1980’s awesome.  Carob everything to my heart’s content.  I was not allowed chocolate, nitrates or nitrides back then.  I still skip the nitrates and nitrides, they cause so many migraines.  They also have a wonderful cookbook to make things at home.  

But I digress.   I got my first reusable shopping around earth day, I got my second on my next payday.  Yes, I still have both of the bags.  They are a bit faded now.  One is starting to show some age with the beginning of fabric breaking down.  I patched the bottom with a piece of curtain fabric, leftover from dog pillows.  I am not sure if I should quilt the bottom.  My main problem is I forgot how to program the memory on my sewing machine.  I guess I will find the manual to morning.  My handy work is below.  

A Busy Day

 I had a very busy day today.  I ran errands until my lesson.  I transferred my students knitting from 14 inch straight knitting needles to circular knitting needles , in the process I knit one row.  All I can say about that is ouch.  

My big failure of the day was trying to write a lace pattern with just a pencil and paper.  I tried making a chart. That was an erasers heaven.  Then I tried visualization of the pattern in my head and tried to write it out long hand better, but I could not figure out if the knit 2 stitches together should be in the middle of three stitches or right before the yarn over. The shawl is on hold until I can knit again or figure out the knit 2 together thing  

I think I will look around my yard for inspiration on a washcloth patterns.  No yarn overs to place.  I was thinking of sitting outside and playing with cactus, no not literally. Rather with graph paper and a pencil.  Maybe even a small cottonwood tree.  

I have to find away to end my boredom.

My Day in a Nutshell

 This just about sums up my day today.  Yes, they are two different shoes. Both from Finn Comfort.  Similar but different styles and different colors.  I did not realize I had mismatched shoes on until we came home from lunch. Thank goodness that the skirt grew in the closet, so my shoes and feet were covered.  Yes the shoes are very comfortable. I have several different pairs that my husband who indulges my comfortable shoe habit buys.  

No money was received from Finn Comfort Shoes or their agents for this blog post.  I just like how comfortable they are and my husband buys them for me.  I hope this covers all the bases for regulations worldwide.