How to remove stress from your life

You know that I was addicted to Tim Horton's and NEEDED a hot chocolate every day and often more than one (thankfully, that was years ago!). I love their cookies and muffins. I gradually weaned myself from a large hot chocolate to medium and then moved to steeped tea and then down to decaf tea with no sugar. The cookies are saved for a special day. I don't go that often any longer, but I do go from time to time.

I was going on a wee road trip yesterday, so I decided that it was an excellent time to get tea and a cookie for the road.

There's a Tim's very close to our house - well, it's about 1 KM away. That's close. I used to go to this one all the time, but the service got so bad and the lane to the drive-thru - well, it's insane. So I stopped going. In the essence of time, I stopped at that location—big mistake.

Even though it was fairly early and, therefore, not busy, this is what happens ALL THE TIME.

The line in the drive-thru

There are TWO brightly painted arrows for TWO lines of traffic through the drive-thru. If there are too many cars, the line extends out onto a fairly busy street.

Do you think that the drivers are grown up enough to share that silly line? Nope - they have to drive right down the middle of the laneway. It's very wide - plenty wide enough for two cars. People are so afraid that someone else will jump the line and advance before them. What is wrong with this world?? And then we wonder why children can't share.

Yep - little things like this bug me to death, while something as severe as the pandemic doesn't bother me. What is wrong with ME?  Anyway, in the future, do NOT ever return to this location. I just can't deal with stupid drivers. Yep - that stressed me out, and that's just silly! Stress can lead to heart issues, which are the leading cause of death these days. We don't want that!

My second to last assignment is written, and I need one quick proof as soon as the blog is done, and it goes out. I have to finish some sewing to finish the last assignment. That's the plan for today - to spend the entire day in Studio B. I've got quilts to quilt, projects to sew, and perhaps a wee bit more tidying up.

As I was digging through (and emptied) one more big blue bag, I found this. It's a printout of a pattern from Bonnie Hunter's web site. I guess I really want to make it since I have two copies! I put it in with my patterns, so when I decide to make it, I'll know where the instructions are. One was printed in 2011 and the other in 2012. It wouldn't surprise me if I printed it yet again, not so long ago. How silly is that???

Instructions for a scrap quilt

I added two new projects to the NEW project tub. The lid is just lifting a wee bit. That's it - it's full. There are 28 NEW projects in that tub. Yep - 28 projects with a pattern and fabric. That's insane, but I know where I'll go to "shop" for a new project. I added one project to the second UFO tub as well. I think there's a total of 21 UFOs so far between the two tubs. However, I have been pretty liberal about winging stuff into the "current" projects. The table is getting a bit full. I may need to cull that pile once the mess at the bottom of the stairs is gone. If I take some of those projects and put them in a tub, so they don't clutter the space, that'll help a lot. But it's a process. You can't rush the process.

Here's one of the projects I found this morning. A biscuit quilt! And look at that cute little dog!!!

The pattern for a biscuit quilt

Look, I have two rows already completed for the dog bone version.

The dog bone biscuit quilt

And it appears that all the pockets are made. They just need to be stuffed with batting scraps.  Why did so many projects get abandoned???

The pockets for the rest of the quilt

I found another quilt that is perfect for Quilts of Valour, so that got moved to that pile. One block is made, and there is plenty of fabric to make the rest of the quilt. Thank goodness I no longer work for a fabric company. As much fun as that was, it stretched my time resources, and it certainly made me want to make a lot of stuff.

I should make a gauge to see how close I'm getting to my goal of raising money for the roll of batting for Quilts of Valour. Yes - I could buy that roll myself, but HEY - I'm already doing lots to make these quilts - including donating a lot of fabric, making kits, sewing some of the tops, and let's not forget the quilting and the binding.

Unfortunately, with the shut-downs due to the pandemic, the fundraising effort of Quilts of Valour themselves is down. Most of the money they receive is to buy batting. So there's no batting to be had locally to quilt the quilts. That's why I hope to raise enough to buy one roll so I can continue to quilt the quilts for them. I have no idea how many tops I have now that need to be quilted, but thanks to Diane, it's a lot!!!

So if you want to make a donation (any amount will do), you can e-mail me, and I'll give you instructions for an e-transfer.

On my virtual walk on Route 66, I see that I'm the closest to the Grand Canyon that I'll ever be - virtually as I'd like to see it in person one day. If nothing else, looking at the Google Maps every day (both for Canada and the US) has been like a geography lesson. I love seeing all the little towns and the names of the stores and resorts. Oh yes - Google Maps go down that deep. It's fascinating!!

And what happened to the temperature? Holy! We went from wearing practically nothing to bundling up! I refuse to put pants on yet!

I walked to the grocery store yesterday to pick up some supplies. Hmm - it was heavy, and I was curious to see how heavy it was. Hmm - 19.6 pounds. That's heavy. How much should one carry when hiking? I'm just curious! I checked - for long-distance hikes - you should carry no more than 20% of your body weight and for day hikes, no more than 10%. Hmm - that means I should be carrying a couple more pounds. Yikes - could I really hike for hours on end with twenty-some pounds on my back? Well, a proper backpack would certainly help. I'm just checking!!!

On that note, I'm out of here!!

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!