Living with less - sounds like the way to go

 So I'm reading that book I shared with you the other day and have to finish it today. 

Love People Use Things by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

WOW -- what can I say? The more I read this book, the more I have found people with pretty much the same principles as myself. HOWEVER, I was NOT always this way! I wish I had discovered them years ago. If you get a chance to read it -- you should. Not only are they chatting about decluttering, but they are also talking about MINIMALISM in all aspects of your life. 

How to shop with INTENT and intent is the key word there. If you don't have the money to buy something, do not buy it. Why are you financing furniture and your education? The bottom line is we are getting sucked into the advertising world, which in a nutshell, says. "If you buy Object A (whatever your Object A is), you will be happy." Almost 100% of the time, it's not the object we want, but the act of buying something, usually on impulse! 

I can so relate to this! I used to be that way, and when I started to clean up Studio B, I found bags of stuff that had never been unpacked! That's very shameful! I highly recommend that EVERYONE read this book - yes -- it's that good. I can't do it all in a day, but I'm headed in the right direction, and that's important to me! 

I am trying to catch up on all the photos I have to share with you. So you know I always wear a headband (or is that a hairband?) with orange flowers. Sadly, my orange flowers are faded after many years and need to be replaced. Margaret has made me a bunch of embroidered flowers that I can use to create a new one, but I did a Google search to see what was out there. What do you think? 

Flashing lights, no less! I think I'll pass on the flashing lights! But there are tons of orange hairbands if you search! And I will BUY or make that new one with intent. It's' something that I would use every day so it won't just sit here!

Anyway, it's time to make one or buy one. I know it seems a bit juvenile, but hey -- you have to have fun in life, and the number of times people have commented on it -- "hey, I like your flowers!" and people remember me because of it! Time to get more flashy -- maybe I will think about the lights - just kidding!

When I was out walking Miss Lexi, I spotted this sign. This sign needs to be on every light post where drivers can turn right on a red. But soon, it will become invisible to everyone. Or the drivers are looking left to see if they can squeeze into the traffic and won't notice this. 

YIELD

It's shocking how quickly drivers forget the rules of the road. DH was coming home in an Uber the other night, and the driver blew through a STOP sign. DH asked the driver about it, and the reply was, "there wasn't anyone we needed to STOP for!" Sigh.................... The unexpected (like dogs, kids, or pedestrians have ZERO chance with an attitude like that. 

So I was off for a bike ride yesterday. I could go out into the country and ride uninterrupted, but I've decided to ride in the city and enjoy the bike paths. I road 26 KM and NEVER rode on the road, except the 1 KM from my house to get to the bike path. I did have to cross roads, but I never rode on the street. 

There are some beautiful shared paths, and once you get on this particular path, it goes almost from my house to the north end of the city without interruption, as the trail goes under significant roads or the roads don't intersect the path, making it a great place to ride a bike. 

Yes --- it takes a bit longer to get in the distance than if you rode in the country, but what's the rush? Why do I need to crank out hundreds of KMs, when I really just want to ride my bike? So I can ride in the city, enjoy what's out there, and I can geocache at the same time. There is a geocache in this photo! You just have to know where to look for it!

Yes -- I am trying to be less focused on the numbers as it's not about how far your ride; it's about RIDING. 

Anyway, it was a great ride. I don't think I'll go out today, but I will tomorrow. And I must confess, I felt awful all day because of something I said to a person while on my bike. I yelled because her dog took a poop, and she was just standing there, not picking it up. I yelled at her, but it seemed she was waiting for the dog to finish peeing before she started the dirty task. Ooops, I apologize to everyone, especially this lady, for yelling at her when she was doing something good. 

Next time -- if in doubt, keep your mouth quiet! I did feel bad because I know how words can cut, and I should NOT have ruined her day. 

This is how loving Lexi is. She'll sit under the table while we eat and often puts her head on our feet. WAIT -- she does that to DH, never to me. But he was out last night, so she had no choice! She looks cute, so I would feel sorry for her (like DH does) and give her a scrap or two from the table. He is terrible, and I've told him repeatedly, DO NOT feed them scraps. He has taught them to be beggars. 

The Princess, resting her weary head

Another customer quilt got done! Just need to get this one trimmed, and it'll be ready for pickup. I still have a few more to get caught up on - I think there are four, and then I'll take a wee break, and when I start back up, I'll be doing one customer quilt and one community project quilt. I NEED to work on those as there are a "few" waiting to be quilted - the community projects quilts, not the customer quilts. Those are pretty much up to date. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I was back out doing some more weeding last night, and I tidied up another small area and tackled more of that flagstone. I hate using my bare hands to weed and found gardening gloves useless for weeding. However, I discovered that latex gloves are the BEST for weeding. I've been using them for other cleanup jobs in the backyard and then decided to extend that to weeding. 

I love them as they are skin-tight, and with the rubbery surface, they grip weeds perfectly. As the cheapness in me go, if you are careful, you can reuse them. I mean -- it's not like I need them to be clean. So I will reuse it multiple times. A bit tricky to get off sometimes, but I don't garden in the heat! It's a perfect solution to a nasty job. And I only have one as I only weed with my right hand. 

I figure another couple of nights -- well, I'll keep weeding until the gardener guy gets here (on Tuesday), so I should have most of the weeding done. Here's the thing -- I'm trying to expand my horizons beyond quilting, which gives me more time to do other things! Before, I was too stressed or busy to devote time to weed.

More research (reading) on putting together the family history book. I'm making good progress through the first book and got some great tips. Then I'll move on to the ones I want to check out -- how to do it digitally! My Dad sent some stuff yesterday, and I said -- these are great. 

It was only when I slept on it that I realized that I do NOT want pdf versions of stuff; I need a jpeg so I can manipulate the items. But I also noticed that he sent me black and white stuff and probably scanned COPIES of the original. I'm sure my Mom has copies of some of this stuff. I get it, but please scan the ORIGINAL, so we can better capture the image and get the color. Sigh..............  Let's see what they come up with. The scanned copy is better than nothing, BUT let's do it right!

So my Among the Stars Again is together, minus the borders. Yeah -- I'm working on the borders, and you'll get to see it after the class sees it later this month! All I can say is that I'm super happy to have a steam iron back again, and that ceramic plate works like a charm. While we think the iron is leaking like mad, it's incredible how just a little bit of water on the ironing board cover seems like a HUGE amount. There is zero accumulation in the ceramic plate!

Among the Stars Again minus the borders

So this is why we do NOT wind thread onto a partially filled bobbin. For some reason (and I should know better), I wound grey thread on this almost empty bobbin. Yes -- I'm cheap! 

As I was sewing this morning, I heard a change in how the machine sounded. This is how my thread should look on my quilt. 

But this is what happened. When the grey thread in the bobbin was done, the machine picked up the blue thread. 

There was no break in the seam - it went from white to blue, which is not a good thing on a white quilt. 

So while you think it's a good idea, it is not! If you insist on saving those bits of bobbin threads (I use them to sew bindings on quilts), don't wind them with piecing thread. Keep them separate -- buy more bobbins if you have to!

I got some fresh lettuce and cucumbers from the neighbor last night, so I can't wait to make a yummy salad today. 

Well, that's it for today! I MUST sit at the computer and get some e-mails done as I'm way behind in answering them! That's the one area where I need help! Actually, I know what to do -- I just haven't done it yet, but this would be an excellent place to have TWO e-mails -- one for the junk and one for the stuff I really care about. I do have two e-mail addresses; I should start doing that. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!