There's plenty of time!

The best laid plans and then life happens! But yesterday was an amazing day, even if I didn't accomplish anything. WAIT  - I actually accomplished a very important thing -- nurturing a friendship, which is way more valuable than making things, except when you are supposed to be making things for your daughter's wedding! LOL. 

I had planned a lunch date with a friend, and yesterday was the only day we could make it happen this month. That "lunch" date turned into hours and hours of lively, energizing conversation. It was glorious, and I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out of the restaurant. But we were sitting in the overflow area in the mall (my favorite crepe place), and they didn't need the seats. When we finally decided to get moving, a huge group arrived, so that was fortuitous timing!!!

Thank you to my lunch companion. We have both been super busy for so long, and it was so refreshing to just sit and chat. It was worth the "panic" I'll have to do today to finish my wedding things. 

And you'll love this story. I walked to the mall, and my friend drove their two-month-old Tesla. They have the FSD (Full Self Driving - Supervised) software component, which is exactly that—the car drives and parks itself; you do nothing except set the destination and the driving mode—more on that in a moment. You can even fetch the car if you are at the mall door and it's pouring rain. But you can't have the car let you off and then park itself. You don't touch anything once it's set. I had to laugh as she described the FIVE levels of driving you can set it for. The bottom level is called Sloth (drives just under the speed limit, with maximum distances between vehicles and little to no lane changing). It progresses to Chill, Standard, Hurry, and Mad Max. Mad Max, in case you are wondering, is a bit aggressive and goes for bold, lane-changing maneuvers, maximizes traffic flow, and certainly drives over the speed limit. Hmmmm—I'm not sure I want to try Mad Max. They have not tried Mad Max. 

But it all sounds intriguing, although we will not be getting an electric car, and certainly not a Tesla. It's just the principle of it all. 

Anyway, what was hilarious is that since they have had the car (no more than a couple of months), they have had THREE software updates. No big deal. When she got in the car to come to the mall, the FSD feature wasn't working - the latest update had happened earlier in the day. So when she asked if she could drive me home, I said "yes" as I wanted to see the car driving us home. Alas, that feature still wasn't working. It figures—I must have jinxed the car as I approached it!

Supervised means that it will keep you awake or pull over if you fall asleep. It has cameras on you to monitor your activity, and if you are not paying attention to the road, it will remind you. So I get that the car is driving, but it seems silly that I can't do something while it's driving. I guess I'd rather be driving. Most people of my generation have been driving for years, and we have developed coping mechanisms and reflexes. Imagine you are new to driving and have an FSD - Supervised in your car. What skills are you learning? And then what happens when you have to drive a real car? That will be a very dangerous and slippery slope for everyone. 

Something to contemplate as you sit in your supervised self-driving car. 

Trust me - we also chatted about the use of Grammarly to write!! Without it, my writing would likely suck, but I'm hoping that, at least with prolonged use of Grammarly for writing, I have learned a few tricks and rules, so it shouldn't be too bad without it. But it's amazing how quickly we become accustomed to using those tools as crutches, and how we struggle without them. If I don't see the error list, my mind goes blank! 

As a result of that lengthy engagement, not much sewing got done. And I wasn't panicked in the least - my creativity will be fired up today because of the short time available. I still have to make that last item for the wedding today. It's today, or it doesn't get done. And that will be a disaster, so this afternoon, after my two morning Zoom sessions, it will be do-or-die! But it shouldn't take long, and I mean that in the best of intentions. The item is not huge, and I already have it laid out in my head. What I don't have is room to redo any part of it, so I must pay attention!!!!

Plus, I tried on the pants for my outfit -- there is no need to try on the top -- just the pants, which is why I'm always flying by the seat of my pants! Anyway, they are made for someone who is 7 feet tall, so they have to be hemmed today as well. Good thing I checked, or I would be walking around with very long pant legs, and they would be hard to roll up! 

Plus, I have a quilt that needs to be quilted today. Yep -- it will be busy. And I have two Zoom sessions this morning! 

However, I managed to take that small cushion cover apart and turn the backing around, so now the opening is in the correct orientation. The opening should be facing DOWN, not up! 

The opening in the back is now oriented correctly.

I inserted the pillow form, and it's very cute. It's called A Birdie told me so by Kimberbell. 

The completed cushion cover.

I have more pond pictures! It appears the pond is about to explode. There were two blooms yesterday, and it's amazing how quickly those buds appear. 

Two blooms in the pond

The buds are well disguised because this is how the leaves form. They come to the surface rolled up and look just like a bud. Once the entire leaf touches the surface, it unfurls and then lies flat. As you can see, the pond is covered with leaves - or at least the section I want covered- and it provides shade and protection for the fish. Which they seem to be thoroughly enjoying since we rarely see them! 

A leaf is unfurling in the pond.

I looked a bit more carefully, and while you can't see in this picture, a few more buds are coming, and I hope we get to see more today. Just checked, and I see one more bug just poking its head out of the water. It won't open today. 

The lily pad leaves come bursting out of the water!

Then last night, I decided that I needed to fix this frame. Anything to avoid hemming my pants!! 

Time to fix the picture frame

I could not get the small, down-ended piece of metal back into one corner, so I whacked some wood glue on all three broken corners and secured it with some elastics. If that doesn't work, I'll just whack some nails in from the side. I don't really care - what I want is the frame back in working order, so I can hang the picture up! I probably won't have time to deal with it today, so it will have to wait for a bit. But at least this step is done. 

The frame is glued back together.

And then I did something very bad. I opened the next puzzle box - it's actually a tube and started sorting. Thankfully, I wasn't speed puzzling, because I don't think I got the pieces sorted and turned over very quickly. I was listening to the last part of my audiobook, and I wasn't in a hurry at all. This is going to be a tough puzzle, I think, and I started by sorting the pieces by color on the design boards. I have one with blue, purple, green, orange, yellow, and when I ran out of room, I put the remaining mixture on one board! Yes -- some boards have multiple color sections. 

The pieces are sorted mostly by color.

All the while, when sorting, I removed the border pieces. 

The border pieces

And then I sat there and assembled the border. At first, I thought a few pieces were missing as it wasn't going together well at all. And then I rearranged a few sections and VOILA - the border is intact. All the pieces were sorted from the initial sort. Hmmm - the left side looks much longer than the right - it must be the angle of the photo!

The border is together.

My goal is to complete it by the end of this month, which could be a challenge since I'm away for much of the month and have things to prepare on the days I'm home. But I'll make it work as this is for the Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association theme of the month - rainbows, colors, gradations. I think this puzzle covers all three categories. There is nothing better than "panic" sewing because you squandered your time working on a jigsaw puzzle. And you know what? I'm perfectly Ok with that! 

I also managed to get a task that I had been procrastinating about off my to-do list. Well, not quite, but it's almost done, and that took a fair amount of time in the morning. But the worst part is done, and all that remains is to update three small sets of instructions, then put it all in an email and cross it off the list! 

As you know, I'm not one to plan far ahead or book things, especially when it comes to travel, but I have what's needed for the first day of travel on the upcoming trip. Lots of emails with names, numbers, confirmations, etc. I have moved them all into one folder so when (and if) I need them, they are handy. Look at me -- how organized can I get!!! 

If you had a peek at those hoarding lists from the previous day, someone mentioned that, in the worst-case scenarios, hoarding is also accompanied by filth. I've seen some pretty bad situations online. We are clean hoarders in our family -- thank goodness for that. But the other day, someone sent me a list of things that accumulate in our house, and I'm going to have fun with that as I share it with you. But that has to wait until July, as there is no time this month to make that happen. But you will want to play along with me, so be sure to watch for that. 

And I have a special event later today -- yes, that wedding item and the pants had better be done by then! I'll share it with you tomorrow! Hey -- if I told you everything up front, what would be the fun in that? What if the event is a dud? I can at least lie about what it was, but if I tell you upfront, then  - well, it's best to keep the options open!!!

I have neatly stacked all the boxes on the floor in the office - it's mostly books that I need to get rid of, and I'll have to deal with them in July. I had a pile of paperwork that was sitting on the floor, and it was getting very untidy, so I shoved it into an empty box in the office (the only empty box - I might add), and that will also get dealt with in July. I must make plans so that July will be to clear everything off the floor in here, hopefully get rid of the old computer, and maybe one or two things off the tabletop or the second desktop. 

You know what they say -- things must get worse before they get better. And I have to call about that oven, but it's not going to happen this week, nor the following week. We are managing just fine with our toaster oven. I just won't be cooking a turkey or cookies anytime soon, not that I've ever done that. Well, cookies, but never a turkey -- too much fuss for me! 

And on that happy note, I'm out of here!!! The girls are patiently waiting, and there is much work to be done! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!