If you have money........................

When you're in a hurry to set the microwave to cook the oatmeal, it's never a good thing. Boiled over! GRRRR!!! Oh well -- I don't care! The two quilts are gone, and they are in the hands of UPS, and I don't care about anything else!

OK -- so that's not true as I have two classes (three different quilts) this morning and two lectures (the same topic) this afternoon. 

Here's the really GOOD news. Everything is prepped. Don't ask me how that happened!

And now, back to the story of the custom quilt. Well, the second one went faster than the first one but still required a bit of finagling in places. It doesn't matter, I figured it out, and if I needed help, I had the Quilt Path Facebook group. I love the sense of community -- you help me, I'll help you! It seems there are many others in that group in the same boat as me - lots to learn. 

I had to finish quilting the quilt, trim it, attach the binding (that was already made,) and hand stitch the hanging sleeve on - after I made it! Then get a box and take it to the UPS store. My printer isn't printing properly, and I don't trust that whole issue with the commercial invoice. So off to the store I went. 

It was all good since I had donation stuff in the car and still hadn't had time to drop it off. There was a donation center close to the UPS store, which got taken care of on my way home. 

Here are some observations about UPS. I got to the store at 4 PM. The pickup cutoff is 5 PM. The store was filled with boxes, and the driver was there loading his truck. I sort of panicked. I thought, "did the cutoff time change?". NOPE -- Matt, the driver, comes THREE times a day to empty the store!!! Are you kidding me?? Yep --- three times a day, and how many UPS stores are there around? 

There's even a new station inside the store for those people dropping off. If you have prepared labels, there's a scanning machine, and you scan the label and drop off the package. Shipping and logistics is a HUGE business right now, with everyone shopping online and returning stuff. I can't imagine the added COST to all things because of the returns. 

I know I've mentioned this before, but when you work for a large company and walk into the mailroom and ask that a package be sent overnight -- you don't think twice about it. But when you're an independent freelancer, you think very much about sending stuff overnight as the price difference is HUGE. 

I don't have the specific prices, but here's what happened. The first package went out with five-day delivery, and it should be there two days before it needs to be there. I paid $36 to ship that. It got stuck at customs but now appears to be sitting in a warehouse - waiting.  

Yesterday, I had to send the package with a three-day delivery, which cost $142. If I had shipped it overnight, it would have been over $300. The package weighed 11 pounds. Although I wonder about the UPS people at the store. The box was actually 18 by 18 by 6, but they put it in the system as 19 by 19 by 7. The weight was 11 pounds, but it went as 19 pounds. I wonder if I paid for that extra. I don't think so, and maybe they have a buffer? I need to check that.  

Here's the other thing. I had to deal with a different employee as the owner (who comes running when I walk in) was on the phone and couldn't get off the call. Anyway, there is a list of options for shipping -- express, overnight, etc. The guy was trying to sell me something completely different when I said I wanted three-day delivery. I pointed to the monitor and said, "I want that one.". OH -- that's three BUSINESS days, not three days. I KNOW THAT!! I guess they've had issues in the past, or they just try to jack up what the unsuspecting consumer pays???? 

Now, let's look at the tracking of both packages. 

This is the package I sent yesterday with a three-day (business days, that is) delivery. It's already in the state it's supposed to be in. Not the city, but at least the state. 

Now, where is that first package? Hmmm -- It seems to be in the warehouse in Michigan. Oh yes -- this package isn't supposed to arrive until Wednesday, so let's NOT ship it out of the warehouse until the day before it needs to get to its destination!!! 

Sigh -- if you have money, anything can happen. If you don't, well, you get the slow boat! 

I've sent the tracking numbers to the destination person, and they have a person tracking the packages -- just like Santa Claus. I'll leave it in their hands! 

I got out for my first walk of the day, but it was getting dark when I got home from the UPS store, and I had to get my presentations prepped for today, so NO second walk yesterday. That's been a LONG time since that happened. I usually say -- poo-poo to the deadline, but I needed to make that 5 PM cutoff at UPS. I have barely checked my Virtual Challenges online as there just has not been time. 

While I was out, I saw this truck. Hmm --- this is how a new car is delivered if you bought one online. Why would you purchase a vehicle online? I would want to test drive the darn thing before I bought it. Maybe people test drive the model and then have their actual car delivered. How much does it cost to ship a car? And do they offer an overnight service? 

Buy a car online, and it gets delivered like this

Speaking of walks -- it's FREEZING outside -- minus 20 C on the thermometer with a windchill of muns 32. Do I even want to venture out with the dogs? They will love it. I might sneak out for a quick walk with both of them. Thankfully, they can't tell time -- that's not true. They know the TIMES of the day, but not the duration of time. There's a difference. Thank goodness for that -- I can trick them!

Tomorrow is UFO day, and once I'm done with today's sessions, I need to finish my UFO. Yep --- now with two clubs, I have TWO UFO assignments each month. Thankfully one of them is done! 

And then -- an entire week away. But I'll be working during the retreat. I'm a bit behind, but it's all sewing work, so that works out just fine!! 

It'll never happen that I'm not on a deadline for anything, and I seem to thrive on it, and I learn super quick and work very well when there's an impending deadline. Thank goodness for that. 

I think we have a problem with our new kitchen window. I haven't checked any others. But it's cold in the kitchen. You can feel a drop in temperature when you walk to the sink. I felt the window -- yes -- one side of the slider window is frigid. I get it - it's cold outside, but there is a DRAFT -- a considerable draft coming in the center where the two panes join. I don't think the seal has been made correctly. I need to call them. We never noticed it when the weather was warmer, but this draft is pretty darn cold. I may have to put something along the window to stop the draft. I checked the window in the family room (slider window), and it's just fine. I need to check all the other windows in the house. 

I spotted this droplet of water on the locking mechanism. 

Water on the locking mechanism

The rest of the downstairs windows are fine, but I must check the upstairs windows before I call. 

Keeping with the decluttering theme, I'm sharing a link to Maryke's blog post about her decluttering challenge.   I had to chuckle because one thing leads to another, and well  -- go read the post to see what happened. 

So here's the next area of focus. What's happening with all your essential supplies - like needles (hand and machine), rotary cutters and blades, binding supplies (clips), scissors, bobbins, etc. Are the LIKE items together? If not -- why not? You need to get these things grouped together and find an appropriate container for them. Then you need to find a spot for all those containers. I use the plastic drawers on wheels to store everything, and it works like a charm. So get compiling and culling as you go!! I'll share photos tomorrow so you can see what I've done. 

OK --- so that's it for today. I hope to have some show and tell from the next couple of days, but there's nothing to show today!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!