In the nick of time

 Do you ever feel that the days just blend one into the other? Am I making progress? Yes, but it seems that things take so much longer than you plan. 

I almost don't know what to do with myself with no immediate deadlines. HA - that's a laugh. I'm keeping myself motivated and have loads to do, and it will get done. 

One of the things on my list was to get to the library and free up my account as it was blocked. Why? I do NOT pay much attention to it since they went to the fine-free system. That means the library's computer does all the renewing. Somehow, THREE books got way overdue and could no longer be renewed, and I didn't see the email, and I was being charged for all three. That's what happens when you ignore email!

And I couldn't renew the other two I had, and I could NOT take any new books out. So I was stuck. All is fine now. But while I was there, I had a look around. Actually, I was looking for a book on Lightroom, but it wasn't on the shelf, even though it said it was. 

It's incredible because there is a book for EVERYTHING. 

Yes -- there are books on how to maximize your smart speaker. I'm sorry -- -but they are only getting data from me on the radio usage and timers, and that's all we use them for. And one of them isn't even connected at the moment. 

Books on how to use your smart speaker

And then this book title blew me away. If you are a lifestyle blogger and have nothing to write about, why are you writing? It seems a bit silly to be a blogger if you have to struggle to come up with topics. 

I peeked inside and got a laugh from some of the suggestions. If your weekend routine is boring, how do you make it interesting? I think some of that is you have it, or you don't. 

But this one made me laugh out loud! Yep --- if you take up quilting, that's tons of material. And get a dog!

Do you overthink things? There's a solution to cure that. 

But this one? What? I didn't even open this one up, but I should have. Oh well --- someone felt there was a need for this book. 

Speaking of books, I was cutting it short yesterday. I had an audiobook to finish, and I knew it would automatically get returned yesterday. Did I have enough time to finish it? Yes, I did but just. 

You see - at 4:23, it was due in TWO hours. 

Two hours left before the book is returned

And at 4:23, I had 1:32 minutes left. It was tight! 

There's still 1 hour and 32 minutes

I HATE running it that tight as I like the option of reading or not. I don't think I'll listen to any audiobooks today. I need a break. You have to be very intense and focused when you listen and do something else!

But I got work done in Studio B, not nearly as much as I thought I would, but enough to make it a good day. 

The hourglass units that were sitting on the table are now trimmed. 

Hourglass units are trimmed

And they got put away, and can you believe that I'm missing ONE unit before I can start to sew my scrappy quilt together. ONE!!! 

I'm missing ONE unit before I can sew my quilt

The last of the flannel squares are cut and ready to sew into the quilt. 

Flannel squares are cut

So this one is ready to be sewn together and fix that darn star! How many projects do you have in your stash that needs a bit of work before they can be finished? And it didn't take long to get a handle on this project. I'm not sure if I'll sew it here or wait until the next retreat. 

The flannel quilt is now ready to sew together

I also managed to get another customer quilt done. NO issues. The next one, which is HUGE, is on the machine and ready to go later today. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I spent the requisite 2½ hours at the computer in the morning working on paperwork. I haven't touched the emails yet, and I know I have more of the same today. I need a few more days before I can say I have a handle on that stuff. 

As I walked back and forth to the long arm yesterday, I was startled by something on the stairs. I glanced over, and this is what I saw. It was 4:59, and her feeding time was 5:00. I guess DH was intensively working and wasn't paying her any attention. She was just sitting there! Watching! What do you think is going through her head? 

MOM -- it's FIVE o'clock, and I'm hungry!

Then I was sitting outside on the deck, and this is the look I was getting. Woe is me! No way -- is her ball under the deck? DH said absolutely not. But I checked with my phone (as a camera), and sure enough, the ball was under the deck about where her nose was. It was TOO HOT to play, and even she knew that. 

Woe is me!! My ball is stuck under the deck!

Lexi was exhausted after our walk in the morning. Well, not so much exhausted as hot! I'm trying to brush her or pluck the excess hair off her every day, but it's hopeless. Every time I do that, it's like a snowstorm of dog hair in the backyard. And then it blows up and all over the place. 

Hey Mom -- who turned up the heat?

As I was starting out on my walk, my neighbor, who is moving out shortly, was in her garage. I asked how her garage sale went, and she had puzzles on a table. So I walked back home with FIVE puzzles. Four of the five are very small and can be done in no time flat, but they were all Jane Wooster or Charles Wysocki, and I love them. The big one had quilts on it! I'll make them and pass them along, so technically, they won't stay in my house long. I might even do one of them this week, just for something different. 

Jigsaw puzzles

And then back to the MacBook learning last night. OK -- so I found the software I installed, and I managed to open it and get some stuff done. Some of the directions in the book are going right over my head as I'm technically not going to be saving things on this computer, and I don't have any files to play with. I'm sure all those things can be done with Windows, and I don't know all the ins and outs of Windows either. 

However, I can find my program and open it up and work, and I can get around the keyboard -- no issues. I'm sure I won't be using the shortcuts -- I don't do them on my computer even though they exist. I want to go through a couple of other chapters, but I don't need the section on music and TV and other things that I will never use. 

But I swear if you happen to click on something like Apple Music -- a BIG button comes up to START LISTENING -- it's all about using their products. But I discovered the ONLY way to close that window was to hit the button START LISTENING, and then you could close the window. They will NOT fool me into using their stuff when I already have stuff set up with other devices. 

What I need to focus on now is how to use Parallel to split the computer into windows and mac. 

I love how everything is connected so quickly. My iPad -- it's connected and can be used as a second screen. That might be handy sometime, and my external speaker is already connected, and I did NOT do that. 

Well, I'm off to spin class. I'm tired -- but if I don't go, there is no other class, so off to that. Then I might have a nap this morning -- while I was tired yesterday, once I got to bed, I couldn't sleep, and I HATE when that happens. Fortunately, there is NOTHING on the agenda today -- well, nothing that I can't work around. 

Don't forget the Hamilton Quilt Show is THIS WEEKEND. Well, that's June 3 and June 4. Be sure to check it out!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!