Geocaching by bike

It would almost appear that I've lost my commitment to quilting! I haven't - but I'm just trying to get other things done and show you (and me) that I'm not a one-trick pony! 

I walked the girls yesterday and did a few chores around the house because now that things are looking great, they have to stay that way! And then I was upstairs to see what I could do about that massive stack of receipts. Yes -- I could have taken the lot and dumped it in the box that goes to the shredder, but that's not my style. Besides, it's always fun to know when you buy a significant item that you don't even own any longer. That's especially true of electronics! 

We no longer have a personal shredder -- another thing to clutter up the house. We have a box where we keep the receipts or other items to be shredded, and from time to time, I take it there and dump it. It's almost time -- actually, I hope to make a trip this week to get rid of electronic waste, donation boxes, etc. 

But the weirdest receipt I came across was this.  

A receipt for a parakeet? 

I immediately texted M and asked her -- did she remember having a bird? I don't remember having a bird, and finding that receipt was bizarre. 

As I was going through the pile, I also sorted out the one-sided paper we could use. Apparently, MANY people use this method, and there's even a name -- GOOSe paper -- (good on one side!). I LOVE that -- I learned a new term! 

We don't print a lot in the house, but it's rare that we print on good paper, as most of what we print is for us personally, and I don't mind recycled paper. Eventually, it gets completely recycled. 

And it's so nice to see that I'm not the only one on this decluttering journey - Good luck, Suzie! And I hope that we can all stay motivated as we work through the messes we've made. We will  -- I have a LONG way to go in the decluttering world, so I expect to blog about it for a long time. 

I've even become the naysayer about gift giving. Someone asked recently what you give for a baptism. Money or nothing! Seriously -- does a baby need another toy? Or, at the minimum, ask the parents what they would prefer. It appears that many hostess gifts and gifts to children are never used or abandoned so quickly that what was the point in giving them? 

We have this insane culture that DICTATES that you must bring something when you attend a party, arrive at someone's house, or whatever. If you feel compelled to buy something, buy an experience or a consumable and make it something they like! I'm thrilled if someone were to arrive at my house for dinner with a bottle of wine and NOTHING more. I don't need another candle or whatever! I could even live without the bottle of wine, but if you brought me a bottle of Corona - I wouldn't say no to that! 

We are always joking that our quilting is like therapy. Well, our quilting is like therapy, but so are the group get-togethers, and I've found the Zoom sessions incredibly therapeutic. Why? Because you realize that you are not the only one who uses two-sided paper, not the only one who doesn't want another candle, not the only one who has issue A or issue B. Knowing that you are in the same boat as everyone else is THERAPY that money can't buy!!

Speaking of Zoom get-togethers, My gosh -- it's VIRTUAL RETREAT this weekend. I'll post the links at the end of this post. Come by and say HI or stay and sew with us for a while. You're bound to discover something, and if you need the answer to a question -- it's a great place to ask! 

Now let's look at what else happened in Studio U. I will admit that it was boring to go through those receipts -- I'm ALMOST done. By the way, they were from 2009, 2010, and 2011. I don't think any of them are worth keeping, but I did sort out a few that I'll file and look at later. I know -- I should have done it right there, but remember -- I'm OCD, systemic, and I NEED to do it MY way. Thanks, Frank! 

I have to laugh as I put significant tasks in my calendar, and this one has been moved forward many times. At some point soon, I'll be able to remove that task! This is the beauty of electronic calendars, as it's easy to move stuff. 

From my electronic calendar!

All the bits of batting that were sitting on the ironing board are now stored in the closet. I have several batting rolls in Studio B, but this is the cut-offs, pillow forms, and anything else related to the inside of a project that isn't on a roll. 

The batting closet

It looks a bit messy, and I will go through it better later. I aim to get all the bits together (for anything), and then it'll be easy to sort through. Most of that batting on the right is for community project quilts, so the pieces will be joined, and I'll use them for those quilts. I NEED to get to the long arm so I can quilt some community project quilts. 

Then it was back to sorting. I needed to take lots of breaks as this was boring. I should have put music on, but I was good with the quiet. Well, the windows were wide open, and I had birds to serenade me. Maybe I needed a sorting hat to make it more fun! 

The sorting table

See how huge that stack of receipts is? And I need to empty my bins with the garbage and the recycling, so it doesn't look so bad. I might do that today, but I MUST get through that pile of receipts first. It's much smaller now. 

I had to laugh when I found these. Those are the paint chips for Studio U. I guess it's been over 10 years since that room was painted! Not my colors, but I like the room's brightness, and I do not need to get it painted right now, so the color stays. I did toss the paint chips. 

The paint chips for Studio U

There is only one negative thing about that room: and most of the upstairs. The signal for streaming anything is so weak that it's not worth trying. I wanted to stream the Amazing Race Canada -- I know -- you would all say that technically I'm watching TV, but I'm mindfully watching TV, and I don't get sucked into watching other shows. I had to watch it in the office, and I LOVE seeing the views of Canada. We live in such a wonderful country, and I can proudly say I've visited the entire country, except for one territory! Even though I've been back and forth from coast to coast on numerous occasions, there's still much that I haven't seen.  

Here's the ironing board where the batting used to sit. That's NOT a good place for the ironing board, but if I'm not sewing, this works. 

The batting is gone

And yes -- the box on the table came from downstairs. I couldn't help myself. But I won't bring more up as I haven't started on the box I brought up the previous day. Although I sorted through it and made a pile for paper and one for other things, I took a break from time to time to remove a couple of things. 

This was the scene before I turned off the lights last night. There's nothing on the window seat, and while there is loads of paper, it's all nice and tidy. I LOVE using this room to sort! Thank goodness that little brainstorm hit me, as it's great to leave all that paper out and not have it cluttering up the kitchen. Find yourself a spot to sort if you can! 

The temporary sorting room

Remember last week that I ordered something online (NOT from that big store) but directly from the company. Well, it was time to open the box yesterday. See?  -- is there ever a need to get something the next day? Not in my house! 

I ordered a new case for my phone from Quad Lock. Now, why would I do that? Well, I ordered a new case and TWO mounts that use that case. One for my bike and one for the car. 

My new phone case

I also ordered a PONCHO for the phone if I'm on my bike and it starts to rain. 

The two Quad Lock mounts

I wanted to get out for a bike ride (geocaching, actually), and it's so handy to have that phone on the handlebars instead of stopping to check. One must be highly attentive and not get into an accident with distracted cycling! 

Obviously, I couldn't take a picture of it on my handlebars, but here's the mount. It's the blue thing on the right and my bike computer on the left. The metal clips are for my front carrier if I ever use it; in that case, I'll have to move the phone mount. 

My handlebars on the bike

Let me say that the bike mount and the new case were worth EVERY penny. That phone never budged, and I was in some rough territory yesterday. Now I can only hope that the one for the car will be equally good. The only problem I had was lining up the phone case with the clip. On the video, they make it look so easy, and I'm sure it is, once you get the hang of it. But WOW --- so secure. This is it if you know someone who has a bike and wants a GOOD SOLID mount! And that package came the next day! Thank you, QUAD LOCK people. I will send them a note to say how pleased I am or do a review. 

So I had not completed my geocaching quota, and time was running out. I was only going to get five geocaches yesterday, but it was such a lovely day, and I was on a roll, and I got a couple of bonus points (OK -- over 100 bonus points) that I reached my goal of 500 points!

I reached my geocaching goal

That was great, but I had NOT taken a snack with me as I didn't expect to be out so long, and when I got home, I was ravenous! 

Good thing I got home when I did as I almost ran out of power on my bike computer.  

1% battery on the bike computer

And there is nothing more fun than getting out on your bike and having no real destination. I felt like a kid in the 70s (when we didn't worry about our kids), and I just rode around the city and collected geocaching points and KM. I ended up doing 30 KM. A slow 30 KM by serious cyclist standards, but I had a mission and was using my bike as transport, NOT as a sport. It's so freeing, and the city has many bike paths. It was a great day!!! I'm learning to let go of the distance I go on my bike and instead just use it as transportation. That was a very freeing moment when that happened. 

I had to get to this small cemetery, which by car is NOT easy. You have to find a side street and walk to the graveyard; I just rolled in on my bike and parked in the middle of the space!

Parking the bike is easy

And I saw parts of the city that NO ONE sees or only very rarely. This is one of the gravestones in that small cemetery. 

Gravestone in the cemetery

Shoot -- you can't read that, but it's dedicated to the Kindree children, of which seven are listed on the stone. They died between 1829 and 1839. Interestingly, the boys' names are listed; the girls have no dates and no names, just Daughter! I wonder why??? Shoot -- I should have read the historical plaque that was there. 

Then I did some bushwhacking with my bike. I did NOT take my bike into these wild wooded areas, but just enough so it wasn't sitting outside in plain sight. 

But I found all kinds of geocaching containers. Big boxes like this green ammunition-style box. 

A bigger geocaching box

And little tiny ones like this bison tube. 

A tiny bison tube for geocaching

And this is the resting place of that large box. Sometimes, the boxes are not exactly where they say they are, and GPS signals often get messed up in trees. But then you start wandering around (collecting steps, of course). 

A hiding spot for the geocache

And then you spot weird things. Like why is this tree in a concrete circle?? There's absolutely NOTHING around here. It's in a small isolated wooded area with ZERO pathways to it, and in the spring, I don't think you'd get there because of the small creek (that was dry yesterday) to get into it. 

A concrete circle around a tree

I spotted two concrete foundations not too far away, so there must have been a couple of buildings at one point, but what? No idea, as it looks like a forgotten area. 

Concrete foundation

Well, that wraps up today! I had a fun day yesterday and was super productive -- I got my geocaching done, went for a bike ride, cleared out some clutter, and had fun! I don't need someone or music or whatever to entertain me, as I do a great job of that myself! 

Now here are those links which I keep remembering AFTER I post. 

Saturday, July 30  --- starts at 6 PM

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89254233911?pwd=VGQrTnFybW1HMWpleHA4M2Q2NGVwZz09 Meeting ID: 892 5423 3911 Passcode: 982797

Sunday, July 31 -- starts at NOON

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81693717518?pwd=STNoVVQzbDd4ZnROQndNNlpvcC90QT09 Meeting ID: 816 9371 7518 Passcode: 579285

I'm looking forward to the retreats as I need to get myself together and finish tidying up Studio B, and I have stuff that needs to be done!! I have classes this weekend, so I must finish the homework, and there's a demo on batting this weekend from Hobby Horse. The ONLY way to get the link is to be signed up for their newsletter!

Bring on the decluttering -- we WILL get it done!

Don't forget about QUILTsocial. Day two of the stationary quilting machine (Husqvarna Viking PLATINUM Q160 is available. I had so much fun with this machine!!!!

Off to spin class!

Have a great day!!!!!!

Ciao!!!