A good deed

So my Master Class list is keeping me on track, and so far, I'm doing OK. But I'm going to run into trouble this weekend, and I don't think I'll get everything done in time. But I'll do what I can. Part of the problem is that I was behind on some homework for one of the projects for tomorrow, and I absolutely MUST get caught up. Sigh................ 

Yep -- instead of making all those hourglass units, I should have been focusing on the homework, and I'd be OK. It's all about setting priorities. I'm still struggling with that a bit, but the list is helping me. I'll get it worked out one of these days!

So - we had a couple of days of high temperatures, which caused a LOT of snow to melt. There's a little creek in the forest, and while it was way too icy to walk in the forest, this was the view of the creek from the street. It's usually dry in the summer, but lots of water when the snow melts. The city has set up a series of drains to take the water into the sewer system. 

The creek in the forest

And remember those huge piles of snow at the end of our driveway? They are significantly smaller in size but still block a good part of the end of our driveway. I did get all the driveway clear, but I decided not to shovel those piles of snow away. 

The end of our driveway

It's a hassle parking the car as we back in, but I'm getting used to it now, and at least the opening is a bit wider than it was. Although we had snow last night, and now I need to go and shovel once again!

We did go for our usual walk in the morning, and the girls came in wet; one of them was wetter than the other. I swear that Lexi (the Husky) has a silicone coat. Water just slides off her, Murphy? Nope -- it clings to her body!

This is how they pass a rainy day. It's too wet and icky even for them to be outside. 

Murphy

Lexi

I managed to get out for my second walk before the snow started, but it was still raining. At one point, I heard a grinding noise and turned to see the source of the noise. I never did find out what the noise was, but I spotted this on the roof of a house. Oh boy -- we had high winds the previous day, and I guess some shingles blew off. 

OH -- a few shingles are missing

Now keep in mind -- we had a LOT of rain overnight. I didn't stop but decided to go past the house on the way back home. Hmmm --- I'm not sure what the house looks likes inside, but look at their driveway. Obviously, there's no car, and only a path was shoveled on the driveway. And there were shredded newspapers on the front step -- it looked bizarre. And a large sign (decorative) in Chinese was on the door. 

I decided they needed to know about the roof, so I rang the bell. I was about to snap a picture of the front step with all the shredded newspaper and a garbage bin for used masks when someone answered the door. A young guy, who spoke English, answered the door, and I alerted him to the problem. OH -- they had leaks in the house and NO CLUE where they were coming from. 

He at least came out and looked at the damage. I suggested he call a roofing company and gave him the name of the people we used. I'm sure the inside will not be pretty! But I did my duty of the day!

On my way home, I picked up the mail. Hmmm - a package. I don't remember ordering anything. 

A package for me?

Hmm -- it's from Amazon. Did I accidentally hit ORDER? And it is definitely my name on the package. 

The smiley face

I opened it up. A what? Oh -- it's a wildlife camera!! Seriously?? I know I looked at them -- did I actually order one? NO -- I'm forgetful, but I would remember ordering this. 

A wildlife camera

Then I thought of you! Did one of you order this? DH then pipes up and says -- how do you all know my address? Good point. Although I've heard of people who set up wish lists on Amazon or other sites and through their social media, their followers buy the items on their wish list so they can play with the toys on their social media. 

I thought you all wanted to see what happens in my backyard at night. Then I remember M saying that she bought me something and it was being shipped. I checked with her, and YES -- she is the one who ordered it. So now I need to get it installed. That's a job for next week. 

But just in time, because the night before, Murphy woke everyone up with her EXCITED barking at something in the backyard. Probably a rabbit!

Hmmm --- I know that this happens to you. The more you get done, the more follow-up and things need to be done. While not perfect, our internet has been pretty stable, except in Studio U. Someone suggested I get a different Wi-Fi booster for the house, and I did buy it -- almost $200. And we've had nothing but trouble since. Dropped calls, low bandwidth, static -- it's been a mess. 

Even moving the devices around hasn't helped. I'm tempted to scrap the whole thing and return to the original, which I still have. Or do I see if there is some setting that's not right? 

Grrrrr --- the more you try to get ahead, the more you don't!

But I did get a lot of writing done yesterday, and the first VERY ROUGH draft of the two documents I've been procrastinating on is done. Now comes the tough part -- verifying the information -- it's sort of technical. Yeah -- that's a job for Sunday afternoon. 

I'm trying to get all my homework done on time, and part of that involves quilting a quilt. 

I started off by changing the foot on the long arm. I love being able to do that. 

Changing the foot on the long arm

And there I am, stitching in the ditch with a ruler. It's going well, just not fast. I do not know how many times my phone rang yesterday. I'd just get in a groove and RING. More follow-up for something else that I'm doing. Oh well --- these things need to be done -- it's just all the follow-up that kills me. 

Stitching in the ditch

In addition to cranking out those two rough drafts, I caught up on a LOT of paperwork, so that was great. I felt very accomplished. There's still a stack of it sitting on the floor beside me. I will get it done, but it just takes time! 

And I'm so bad at advertising what I'm doing. I was the guest speaker at the Oakville Quilters Guild last night, and the topic was scrap quilts. This is what my set looked like for the presentation. 

The backdrop for my presentation

I did NOT open up any of those quilts. It was all on my presentation, but it looked good!

I have two more guild presentations booked - both are in April, and both are in person, so that'll be interesting. 

I will present another serger session in English if anyone is interested. It starts in March. Let me know, and I'll pass along the name of the shop to you so you can sign up. It's an excellent session and not so much based on techniques, but what to do with a serger and how to troubleshoot. 

And don't forget the Virtual Retreat. It's on February 26 and 27 -- so not this weekend, but the following weekend. Gosh -- the weeks are just flying past. 

So it's going to be another busy day. I see we have a new barn block coming today, and it looks a whole simpler than last month, so that's good. 

Well, it's time to get those girls walked. I have a lecture to sit in that starts at 8:30. Then I'm off to the sewing machine all day. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!