Flowers in BLOOM

 If you were an early reader of my blog yesterday, you stumbled upon a MESS. When I left for the gym, I didn't realize that the completed file did NOT get uploaded. It was a rough draft full of spelling errors and terrible grammar. Sigh...   When I returned and realized what had happened, I had to edit it and finish writing it. Oh well --- I need to be more careful next time. 

Yep, even though I started the customer quilt earlier, it was almost bedtime by the time I finished it. I never even made it to the garden. As I reflected on yesterday, I was trying to think about how I spent my day? I did have some paperwork to do - I have to prep the presentations for the next two weekends - as much as possible, so I don't have to do it on the road. So that took some time, and I have more to do this morning. 

By the time the dogs got walked, it was lunchtime. The hours just slip by - I am getting stuff done, but man -- it takes way longer than you would like these things to take. 

I came across a list of 12 time management tips. 

I've got Number 1 down pat --- start each day early and give yourself time to wake up. Thankfully, I don't need time to wake up, and I've been getting up early for years. 

The second one is to assume everything will take longer than you planned. YES -- I know that, and I'm getting better at realizing that. Case in point, I'm leaving on Monday, and I've been working and planning, so I don't have to do everything at the last minute. I guess Sunday night will be the test to see how well I fared in my planning process. 

So -- I've got two of 12 under my belt. I'll talk about a couple more tomorrow. 

I should have noted that my driveway was up for grabs much earlier than I did! This section had been untouched the night before!  

More stone harvesting

And there they were getting more of the stone during the day. I have no idea how much they have taken, but it's a lot, and they only use their car to transport it. I wonder how many tons that dumpster weighs now? And we have a small problem. The dumpster is sitting on the driveway, and there is still stone under the dumpster. Perhaps they thought they would need TWO dumpsters, but with all the stones this couple has taken, that may not be necessary. 

More harvesting of stones

Although the boulevard still has stone on it, and guess what? When the new pavers arrived, the palettes got set ON the boulevard, which still has the stone. Don't ask -- I wasn't home when it arrived, and the driver and DH had a discussion, and that's where it ended up. So I blame myself for not being here because it would NOT be sitting there. I hope the dumpster can be moved. 

All the stones, river rocks, and ivy is now gone from the side of the house. Yeah -- that was a mess. They are prepping it to pour concrete along the walkway with an edging of river rock for drainage. ZERO plants will go in this area. The step is also gone, so there's another huge jump to get off the deck in that area. Thankfully, we still have a side door that is easy to get in and out of. 

Prepping the sidewalk beside the house

The back deck is a bit of a mess, and the girls' little circuit behind the shed is blocked off, and they are NOT happy. I expect our deck will look like this for half of the summer. Yeah!

The mess in the yard

Speaking of the backyard, this is the fish pond. Those lilies are growing like mad. 

The lily pond

Here's a close-up of one of the blooms. They are gorgeous, and I should try converting that photo to machine embroidery. 

A lily in full bloom

And I have one peony, and it's in bloom as well. Stunning. 

Peony bloom

Well, I should say that it's just starting to bloom. 

Peony bud

It's a long story, but I had to send my quilt samples to Quilt Canada rather than take them with me on the plane. Those got bundled up and are gone. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they safely make it to the hotel. It's always a crap shoot to send stuff, but this is MY stuff, and there was a LOT of it. 

Then it was back to the long arm. Things were going great, and then the bobbin ran out. No -- there is still thread on the bobbin. AHA -- the top thread ran out, and I never even noticed. Not to worry -- I usually have two spools of each color. But I think I might need to do some shopping as I am on the last spool of black. 

The top thread ran out

And there's the quilt -- DONE. 

Customer quilt - DONE

The next one is loaded and ready to go -- I hope much earlier than the previous two days. Then I have one more to finish before I leave on Monday. That's a job for tomorrow, leaving the weekend free of quilting. Then I'll have six to finish by the end of the month, and I'll be up to date! What a great feeling that is!

But more quilts are waiting to be done in July, but the pace will be more relaxed! 

Here are the girls who are discombobulated. With people coming and going, the backyard mostly off-limits, and all that stuff -- MOM -- what is going on? In defiance, I see Lexi has claimed my new mat as her own. Silly girl!! Murphy just sits wherever. But notice that they rarely look at the camera!

Lexi and Murphy

I got lucky with the box of crap last night. I have an article to write, and there was a bunch of stuff in the box for that. So I started another box of things to deal with, and I suspect there might be a few. What will be nice when all this mess is gone is that I can put those neatly organized piles on the desk and still have room to work, but they won't get buried!

All this stuff is for writing an article

I found random notes that I took in a class, and then what do those notes mean? Well, it's gone. 

Random bits of paper

Here's the status of the table. HALF of it is clear. The previous day, I found a brand new Samsung Chrome book. Does anyone want a Chromebook? It's not free, but not expensive either. Otherwise, it's going on Facebook Marketplace. I'm pretty excited about my progress, and most of the paper has been dealt with. Now comes the hard part -- the crappy little things that accumulate, and you've no idea what to do with them. 

Half the table is clear

The crappy little bits will get evaluated, and if there's no reason to keep it -- it all goes. Yep --- that will be tough for me, but why am I cluttering up my space with these little odds and ends? 

I almost feel like I must stop when the table is clear, that I should go through that bucket of stuff I need to deal with. But NO -- I think I'll continue on. It would be great to eliminate the visual clutter, which will also give me loads of room to deal with that bucket of stuff. So -- let's keep plugging away. The big question is, can I empty that table in four days? And so much for learning -- I've just not had the time or been too tired. Baby steps! One can't do everything in a day, and I should bask in what I have done, not what I think I should have accomplished. Remember the second rule of the time management skills - everything takes longer than planned. 

If I was smart, I'd leave that table clear and work on clearing the desktop. Then I could have one clear surface to work on, and the other can be the temporary storage surface - like the current projects table downstairs. I might just do that, although it's hard for me to have a clear surface! ACK!! Not when there is stuff on the floor. May I can cover HALF the table. The bottom line is that it sure looks a lot better than it did, and it didn't take much effort. I can't imagine what it'll look like when it's complete! 

I need to take ONE hour this morning and deal with some more paper. I hate it -- well, not as much as I used to, and I can only imagine how easy it will be when I'm completely organized! 

On that note, it's time to get moving! So much to do and so little time!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!