What are you reading?

 Oh, I love your comments, and I'm a bit behind in responding to them! Patience! And yes, I think using ChatGPT is a matter of experience, and I'm brand new to it. I need more information, Tammy - like, did he get it saved to a PDF, and if so, I would love a copy! 

Not to tempt fate or anything, but I am having the most relaxing days and no dreams last night - at least none that I remembered. After I delivered my project (more on the project in a second), I had time to spend a leisurely afternoon chatting with a friend - FOR HOURS. It was glorious. Neither of us was in a rush; we had much to discuss, we hadn't had that much free time together in eons, and it was just an excellent way to spend the afternoon. 

What was even nicer was getting up, knowing that the day was relaxed. I hope there are more of them! In case you think I didn't like what I was doing before, that is NOT TRUE. I love what I do, but the constant pressure of not having enough time for myself and to prepare properly was driving me crazy. Now that I have time for both and still get to do the things I like, I'm feeling a whole lot better and enjoying the preparation much more. 

Let me tell you about my project. The little tweaks that I made were PERFECT! I had gone to bed the night before, realizing that something had to be done. Since I have no one to ask, I just let my brain do the work, and it came up with a plan. I executed the plan, and it was perfect! I had to solve a few more engineering issues before it was completed, but my past experiences came into play, and all was good. 

That's why it's so good to just do things. If you mess up, that's when creativity kicks in. To me, creativity is all about finding solutions to problems. Experience allows us to solve those problems much faster and with greater success, the more you do. Yep -- I've had many screw ups, but I've also been able to recover almost anything where I made a mistake! Just DO IT!!!

Since I want the project to be a surprise (OK -- it's for a publication, so I can't show it to you yet), but here's what my sewing table looked like when I was done! A bit dusty! 

The remnants of completing my project

And it required a bit of ingenuity in sewing the last bits. And that's all I'm saying! 

Creative sewing position

This was the sunrise yesterday. It's getting so late - this is just after 7:30, and in the summer, it was almost 2 hours earlier? That can't be right, but the sun came up a lot earlier. Now, sunrise in the city is a totally different thing than if you're in the country and can actually see the sunrise over the horizon. I get to see it rise over the rooftops. 

Sunrise in the city

Nothing can beat the sunrise near the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. This would be at an altitude of almost 18,000 feet above sea level. That was quite the morning, and I will never forget that sunrise. It was cold, my nose was running, and it was freezing (gross!), and I was tired of climbing. However, the view from the top was so worth it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Any takers? 

Sunrise on Mount Kilimanjaro

There are so many beautiful flowers around - I like to take pictures to appreciate the colors and the beauty of nature, and hey, this reminds me of the sun! My flower pictures are taken on the walk with Lexi, who loves to stop and smell the flowers. With Murphy? There isn't time to even spot the flowers. 

Beautiful flower

Well, I even had a few minutes to start tidying up, and oh my -- it felt terrific. I have now returned all the accessories, including machine embroidery hoops, to their rightful spot on my storage shelf. At least those that don't have some project in them waiting to be finished. A few random items are piled on the cutting table, and I hope to clear them away later today. However, I hear the weather is going to be spectacular, and it will be hard to keep me inside! 

The storage area for excess machine bits is tidy

By the way, if anyone is looking for blank sisal mats to use for painting (example coming), IKEA has them. I saw piles of them in the store, and they come in two sizes - large and small. Good price!

Blank sisal mats

Here's one that I painted several years ago. This is one of Lexi's favorite spots to sit and eat snacks. It's hilarious because sometimes she runs to the mat when Murphy is chasing her. I think she lives in a dream world. Remember when we were kids and we had certain spots where we were safe? That's the world Lexi lives in! I used a digital cutter to create the stencil. HEY -- I should have bought a mat, cut a new stencil, and made a new one for the front door!

My painted mat

OH -- I found another flower picture. A pink one this time. The flowers are so beautiful. 

Pink flower

Often, people ask, "Where do I get my inspiration from?" EVERYWHERE and EVERYTHING. I spotted this folk art cushion at IKEA as well (I did NOT buy anything), but it is painted/printed on the cloth. Any one of those components could become the starting point of a design or the basis for coloring. Or it could be from those flower photos -- look at all the colors! 

A folk art pillow

I had to laugh at Murphy last night. The baseball game was on, and while I'm not a huge baseball fan, this is different. "Our" Blue Jays won the ALE (American League East), and now they are playing the Yankees. As the game neared its end, it became increasingly exciting. Not because they might lose (if they screwed up that lead, there would have been hell to pay!), but because it was thrilling to see them push so hard, and it was the first game of the playoffs. 

You know Murphy loves ot watch TV. But I don't think baseball is her thing. 

MOM - I don't care if the score is 7-1 for YOUR team

Even when the game was over, she wasn't phased by any of it! 

MOM - big deal - just a bunch of men throwing a ball around

Perhaps if we were playing a game of ball, she would have been more interested. 

Speaking of reading - what are you reading these days? I'm all over the place, and I'm actually enjoying breaking out of that mold I was in for so long. I only read a particular genre, and they were the cookie-cutter ones. I hate to mention names. But they crank out so many books, you wonder if they are actually writing them. Hmm -- what about CHATGPT? WAIT -- I will NOT go down that route because it's a huge issue. The big question is, how could the AI company be so silly! And you can substitute many words for silly! 

Anyway, every time DH sees one of the mystery book reviews in the newspaper, it lands on the table at my spot. I add it to my pending folder, and I eventually add them to my reading list, which is very long! 

NEW mystery books to read!

And I get and give recommendations all the time. I sometimes get a book and wonder, "Why is that on my list?" Case in point about the latest audiobook I'm listening to. It's called "The Wager" by David Grann. What's it about? Back in 1740, a squadron of man-of-war ships left England to go around Cape Horn to fight the Spanish.

Anyway, it's the story of one of the ships that eventually got shipwrecked, and the few survivors end up back in England. Two different groups of survivors! A court-martial is held, and what will happen? I'm just at the point where the first group leaves the site of the shipwreck. It's actually pretty exciting, and I have no idea how anyone survived the conditions they were in. 

I have just under three hours left. 

And then what else am I reading? The second book of the Nancy Drew series - The Hidden Staircase! How diverse! But I think that's the fun of reading. You can be anyone and anywhere at any time! I love it, and I find rereading the Nancy Drew books to be kind of fun! Keep in mind that society has changed somewhat, so Nancy may seem a bit prissy, but the stories are well-written! 

And are there any coincidences? I don't think so, and according to Harry Bosch from the Michael Connelly books, there are NO coincidences. So, what's the deal with the word' confluence'? The only time I had ever heard it before was in relation to the Fraser and Thompson Rivers meeting in the interior of BC. Then it becomes the theme for the TrendTex challenge for the CQA - Canadian Quilters Association. And now I see the word everywhere! Here's a use of it in one of the Harry Bosch books! 

That is just too weird. But I have my Trendtex challenge kit and I have some ideas, so I need to get started on that. 

DH and I had time to look at the EXIT game last night. We had to cave and look at a clue for one puzzle. What I hate is when the answer is so darn obvious - if it were any more obvious, it would jump out and bite us! That was the case last night. I was mad - just a little, because we should have gotten that! However, we then solved the next one without any assistance. 

The EXIT Game

This game is a first for us. There are many things that we are "collecting", but no need for them yet. That was part of this game's trickiness. You have to figure out what you need and don't need to solve the puzzle. We are pretty good at that, but sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees!

OK - we need to prime our brains back up; it's been a while! 

Now I know why people use those little pill containers for the week. That's a lot of bottles to open every day! But because some of them are gummies, I would need an enormous container. I can handle opening them daily! I guess I could put the pills in one of those things, and then just open a few bottles each day for the gummies. 

My corral of supplements

And on that happy note, I have two presentations this morning, and both are ready to go! It's always fun to go through people's pictures to see what they have been working on. And it was fun because I have lots to share as well. Sometimes, I get "depressed" when I have done little or nothing! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!