Living Day to Day

I hate to say that I'm living this week from day to day, but I am. There's so much going on and still lots to prep and fit in some writing that I can't focus beyond the current day. Today is a bit of a wild card. Why? I have NO presentations. Well, that's not true. I do have a presentation, but it's IN-PERSON! Now, how weird is that? 

I'm at the Stratford Quilter's Guild, but I'm unsure if they are taking guests. I had to go through the quilt collection yesterday and pick out the modern quilts as that is the topic of the presentation tonight. Now I have a huge stack of quilts culled from the pack - so many were crying, "pick me!" but  I only have so much time to speak! I need to go through them this morning and decide which ones actually go with me. 

My quilt collection has literally been tossed all over the house. And it's time to get them organized. I had to move them off the guest bed a while back, and well, they never made it back, so I'm in the process of putting some of them back on the bed. It's a great place to store them UNTIL you need the one on the bottom. So I'm trying to put them back with the ones I'll least likely ever use on the bottom. 

Storing quilts on the spare bed

Let's just say that there's a LOT more work to do to get that area cleaned up. OK -- THOSE areas since the quilts are everywhere!

But I also had a few minutes, and I cleaned up the corner of the living room. I'll take a picture today after the dust is cleared from the corner. But my living room is almost back to a living room with NOTHING extra in it. I now have three boxes of Christmas decorations that I NEED to donate today so they can get rid of them this Christmas. 

I have ONE giant tub of Christmas stuff left. It's primarily ornaments for the tree (we no longer have one), and some things made by me or by M. OH -- and I have one ornament box, as well. I'm sure there is stuff that could go, but I decided going from SIX tubs to one was pretty significant. This is how it's going to stay for the moment.

One empty tub, one tub, and one box of Christmas decorations

So that tub and box need to be packed away in the storage area under the stairs. Nope -- I'm not decorating for Christmas. I've left out a wreath to put on the door. I'm tired of being the one to do all the decorating and then the one to put it all away. We haven't decorated in several years, and I'm OK with that. OH -- I will dig out a couple of unique ornaments to display when the time comes. I should have left them out when I had them in my hand! I must remember to do that before I put the box away.

The second tub is empty. And ready to be filled with something. I'm not sure what yet, but I always seem to have extra stuff, whether that is Community Project stuff, my tops to be quilted, or samples that I've made. So it'll get filled with something. I'm just not sure what yet. 

I really need to start thinking about getting rid of those extra quilts that I'll never use. There are so many of them, and I don't need to keep them all. I could donate them, but that seems a bit excessive! I was hoping to at least sell them for the cost of the materials. I've got to start posting them online, and then if I sell them for too cheap, people will yell at me for devaluing the market. Sigh.............

Until I figure it out, they remain where they are!

Somewhere along the line, the cutting table got cleared off. Although I won't be sewing for fun any time soon. I have samples to make and some homework to prep, and I hope to get some of that done today, but I won't be touching anything of mine! At least I have a space to work. 

The cutting table is clear once again

I don't know what's been happening to our internet. Last week, DH had terrible issues with it, and he's practically sitting on top of the router. I was in the basement and had zero issues. This week, the tables are turned. He has zero problems, and my internet connection is very sketchy. To the point, I've had to run calls from the kitchen table. I think I'm connected, and then I take the laptop downstairs and lose the connection. Why is that? 

I moved to the basement last night,  but I had to Zoom from my scrapbook area, which is right at the bottom of the stairs. I did NOT dare to venture a bit further in. I might need to reboot the Wi-Fi booster that I have. Let's hope it's totally temporary like DH's problem was. No Zoom today. But I have three sessions tomorrow, four on Friday and four on Saturday. Personally, I don't care where I'm sitting as long as the connection works. It HAS to be that booster. 

My temporary Zoom area

The more that I play with the mySewnet Embroidery Software, the more I love it! Let's just say that I've come a long way from when I first started to play with it. And I still feel like I'm scratching the surface!! I had three software sessions yesterday! 

I managed to get out for a walk, and just as I was getting home, I heard sirens racing down the major street by my house. Then I saw big thick black smoke and the sirens stopped. Oh dear -- that's very near to me. I hadn't met my KM quota for the day, so I popped out to the street to see what the issue was. Yep -- I was a looky-loo, but since I was walking, it didn't matter. 

Burned out truck

The interior of this truck was completely gutted. Not sure what happened to it, but it was toast. Those firemen did a great job and were swift at putting out the fire. But the traffic was a mess. Thankfully, I was walking. 

If you didn't know, here's something to ponder when looking at Google Maps. Some of the landscape where I'm currently walking is NOT mapped. There are no roads; I'm in the middle of a desert in California. BUT, if you Zoom out and use the little yellow avatar guy, you can see the terrain around you. And those little blue circles? Those are pictures that someone has mapped in that area. It's totally fascinating, and I love looking at where I am or as close to where I am. One day, I found a blue circle in the middle of a museum, and sure enough, there I was INSIDE the museum! 

So if ever you see those little blue circles, click on them to get the "street view," which are 360-degree pictures! 

A view from the desert in California on Google Maps

Surprisingly, some people have complained about the "boring" pictures they see along the way on the Virtual Challenges. It's is NOT a video game, folks! It's reality!!! You can spin around 360 degrees with those photos; you can go forward or backward. 

Well, I'm off to spin class this morning. Oh -- I can hardly wait. Well, I can, but I'm thinking about the 10 minutes in the steam room afterward! 

And then home to get more samples made and perhaps a wee bit of organizing. The living room is so close to back to normal, and that leaves just the darn office. I'm running out of excuses, but the time required to tackle that is more than I have at the moment. 

I see that I already have bookings for next year and some super exciting stuff, so I can't wait! 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!