Half-square triangles

OH MY --- there are so many stories of how people just "randomly" meet, and it's meant to be. The blog is going to be late, as I listened to another story of just such a situation. Life is so full of coincidences, or are they really coincidences? The next time a coincidence happens --- think about it --- that happened for a reason.  

I am not sure that I'll go for a walk this morning - at least not in the direction that we have been going - down the local road. The black flies are out, and, well, I had a little extra protein for breakfast, and I have more lumps and bumps on my head and a bite or two on my arm. I might walk to the grocery store to get some bananas!!! Hoping that along the road, there will be fewer bugs. Oh, silly me! 

I made great progress in the day and found several more bags of HSTs in my retreat bag. Good grief -- you would think that I would work on one bag at a time. Nope—I like working on multiple groupings. Can you tell me why?

I found this one with some black, white, red, and grey. I'm happy to report that all is sewn, trimmed, and ready to be put away when I get home. 

Working on the first group of HSTs

Here is proof that all is done! 

All is done in this grouping.

Then I found this bag of cream, pink, and orange. A good part of them are sewn and trimmed, and I'm using them as enders and leaders as I work on my quilt tops. 

The second bag of HSTs

Yes, I'm working in groups of four. And this is what I accomplished yesterday! 

What I accomplished yesterday from this grouping

There are three other bags of half-square triangles in the retreat bag. One bag contains units that just need to be trimmed - that was the one that I have been trying to find, and I was pretty sure I had tucked it in that bag. One is just the triangles waiting to be sewn together, and the third one I had forgotten about, and some of the units have been pressed and trimmed. Some need to be sewn. That will be for later. 

Then it was time to get back to work sewing the scrappy flannel squares together. And this is what happened. I was pulling one row off the wall to sew it together, and a whole section fell off. Thankfully, I had taken a picture, so it was easy to put them back! 

Ooopsy

And later in the day (much later), it was finally assembled. 

One quilt top done!

Yes -- it's pretty scrappy, and yes, there are four very bright spots. And you know what? I'm OK with that! 

Then I pulled out the next bags of scrappy blocks. I got those put on the wall last night and got part of it sewn. 

The next very scrappy quilt

This is a very scrappy quilt, but all of the squares have a wintery theme. I'm making good headway on getting it done. But so much for sewing three quilt tops together in one day! I should be able to sew this together today, and hopefully the last one as well? We'll just have to see. 

I also removed five more raindrops from the Cherrywood Challenge. The large ones are super easy to remove, the small ones with slightly narrower stitches are a bit more of a challenge! No Prince song this morning as I write this. 

Removing more raindrops

And then there was the puzzle. It's a challenge as well - the easy bits are done, and now we are onto the greenery. There are three of us working on the puzzle, and hopefully we'll get it done before we leave. 

Progress on the puzzle

Plus, two of us went to another quilt store in the area. And we spotted this barn quilt along the way. Oh shoot -- we saw one the day before as well, and I keep forgetting to post that picture! 

A barn quilt

How is this for organizing half-square triangles? These are not mine. Of course not! Mine are always in a jumble, while these are super neat and organized!!!!

Nicely organized HSTs

We have no plans to go out today, except to walk to the grocery store and hopefully avoid the bugs!!! My head is itchy!!!!

Will I get through everything that I brought? You know what? I'm doing pretty well, and I should be able to touch almost everything I brought.OKK -- that's a lie - there might be a couple of things, but it's good to have variety!!!

And that's it for today. I must get back to the sewing machine. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!


PS --- YES -- the arm that doesn't move while walking is the arm I use to hold Murphy's leash. I try to keep a tight grip on her, and it shows!!!!

WAIT WAIT WAIT ---- I have something else to share. My artist friend (we've never met but have stayed in touch via social media for years) has been shortlisted for a jigsaw puzzle for Villager Puzzles (amazing company by the way - Canadian owned by a woman with women artists). 

Anyway, if you wish to vote for the puzzle, here is the link. It appears to be only on Instagram. Cynthia Frenette is one of the three. Vote for the best (which is hers!) OK -- so I'm biased. 

A new retreat house!!!!!

I love how we are all so supportive of each other!! And how we are all the same. We lose things, we go through recoveries, we screw up! It's so comforting to know that I'm not alone!!! 

I'm at a new retreat house this morning, getting myself organized in a new space. I realized, as I was setting up my computer, that I had NOT brought the mouse or the mouse pad. Sigh......  As I was packing up, I thought to myself to throw that in, but I did not. It sits under a shelf upon which my computer sits, so it's not super visible. Oh well, I have the built-in touchpad on the computer, which I'm not a fan of, but for a few days, I can make it work. 

I had packed some of my stuff over the weekend, and DH asked whether I was taking my entire sewing room. NOPE -- just stuff that needed to be cut. Well, have a look. 

The car is packed for the retreat.

OK -- perhaps that was a bit too ambitious for a four-day retreat. Oh well!!!! Better to have variety than not. And I left most of it in the car! 

I had some extra time to kill before arriving at the house, so I decided to stop at the thrift store in the town closest to my destination. Oh my—I found some interesting things—yes, a couple of puzzles came home with me. Don't say a word!! I am working on them, and then they are being donated, so they are not staying. 

I forgot to load the pictures and am too lazy to resend them to myself, but I got the next one all laid out and the border done, so when I get home, I can tackle it. 

Anyway, I love how the thrift stores are making the end caps look pretty neat. They created several displays, and it was very striking. 

Colorful displays at the thrift store

They even had an orange one, but I wasn't looking for this kind of stuff, so I skipped it. 

The orange display

I quickly checked the book section and found this book. Hmmm --- the answer to every problem? It sounds too good to be true!! I didn't even glance at it and certainly didn't buy it. I just make stuff up if I need help!!! 

The only book you need? 

But a few things did come home with me - well, they are sitting in the car. A couple of textile things that will be awesome for machine embroidery. I know -- how much machine embroidery does one need? LOTS!!!!

I had a ton of mini-quilts that I had made or won over the years, and when I heard that Kim was starting My Quilt Retreat (I hope I got that name correct), I asked if she wanted any mini quilts for the house. She went through the quilts and picked the ones she liked. The two on the right came from that stash. Oh shoot -- I need to take a closer picture of the one on the top --- it's a scrap quilt!!! The leftovers from a Thimbleberries quilt, I think. And the one below I won at a guild show - maybe someone will recognize it as their own. 

Mini-quilts on display

And this small one, which is very artsy. I guess I could have hung these around my house as Kim did, but I didn't. I'm OK with that. 

Another donation

And here's one more. I don't think I made this one - I made one that says "I Like to Teach". There are two more on the wall behind me, so I need to get a picture of those today when it's a bit brighter in the house. 

Another donation quilt

I did not bring a sewing machine with me - only some handwork and some cutting. So I got some table risers (I borrowed them from the house, but I have mine in the car) and started cutting. 

My workstation

WAIT A MINUTE -- let me tell you what happened on the way. While I packed somewhat carefully and didn't want to stack things, one bag sort of got tossed on top of the rest. At one point, a police car with flashing lights was coming towards us. The car in front of me pulled to the right and stopped in front of me. I had to put the brakes on a bit. I heard something fall with a thunk, but I didn't have the time to check what happened. Everything breakable or that could leak was safely stowed, so I didn't worry. 

When I stopped at the thrift store, I realized the bag with the box of white scraps had toppled over, and white scraps were all over the back. Yikes!!!! What a mess. 

Some of the mess with the white scraps

Now I will admit that this box was chock-a-block full, and the contents were "mildly" exploding out of it. But after this incident, the contents seemed to grow two sizes bigger than they were in the box. How did that happen? 

Good grief --- there were white sdraps everywhere, and I tried to keep them contained in the box, but they wouldn't fit. I worked on this yesterday and a bit this morning, and it barely looks like I've made a dent in the box. This box of white is long overdue for a trim. 

The white scraps

How long is it overdue? I don't remember ever using the white scraps for anything, except for the occasional piece for applique. Well, what do they say in the barber world? This box is getting a Number 2, or more likely a Number One, which means that everything, or most things, are being dealt with. 

But look at what I found. This fabric was for a project that I made in 1999. And the scraps are still in the box. 

OK—this scrap was generated in 1999!!!

I'm not going to share all the details on how I'm dealing with the box or what I'm cutting. I'm going to save that for my scrap class in the fall. But needless to say, it's an eye-opener. I will share the pieces I'm cutting later. I honestly don't think I can finish that box today, and I don't want to spend all my time on it. So I'll work until this afternoon, and then I'll switch to something else. I need to touch everything I brought with me - just to prove a point!!!!!

I went for a walk yesterday afternoon, and it was glorious. I realized that the main road, 1 km from the house, is Highway 2. Why is that significant? That is the road we cycled on when we passed through this area in 2013. We are near Newcastle!!! Oh my --- what memories, although the entrance to this road is not memorable because of anything on it! 

On my walk, I spotted this. Seriously? How is this even possible? There is still snow on the ground—OK, not much, but still. 

A caterpillar?

And look—there's a beautiful barn quilt on the garage. I knew I had arrived at the correct place. 

A barn quilt

And last - do you remember this quilt di that ended up at my house? Look what I found here!!! And that's all I'm going to say about it! I refuse to say more to protect the innocent!!! They know who they are. 

Hmmm -- is that a quilt di? 

Well, I'm off to continue cutting scraps!!! Oh, shoot —I just realized I didn't bring the charger for my FitBit, and I'm at 45%. I should be OK because, like my phone, I turn absolutely everything off. I don't get phone messages, I don't get any kind of notification. It doesn't even show the time unless I push the button. I like my solitude without a phone or Fitbit interfering in my day! When I need something, I check. 

I see there are some geocaches within walking distance, so I may do that this morning, although it's minus 6, which is nothing! Just get out there and walk!! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

On the beach

Sometimes it's great to run away! And that's essentially what I did yesterday. I was the guest speaker for the Goderich Quilter's Guild. I've been to Goderich before, and it's a quaint little town right on the shores of Lake Huron. I knew I had to visit the beach before I left. 

Before I show you the photos, I wanted to say how beautiful those small Ontario towns are. The houses are so far apart - that I could swing a golf club and not hit the house next to me. Of course, that is in the older sections of town. Beautiful architecture that is unique to each house. The town is on a hill, and as I drove along the beach road, massive staircases led down to the beach. Murphy would have loved it! 

I wish I had more time as I thought I needed to get home for the girls. In the end, DH came home early -- I think he worries about them a whole lot more than I do! What a softie! He is of the mindset that everyone is ANXIOUS about physically getting back to the office, and that is not the case! He ended up there alone and so came home early. 

But isn't this a glorious view? 

The shores of Lake Huron

I could sit and watch for hours. I think I'm just a lover of nature, and there's so much to see (or not see) and just veg out. Who needs any outside stimulation when you have nature in front of you? 

Miles of water

So if I ever have to move, I'll be looking for some component of nature near to me -- the water, a forest, or something. I think I really need it. I think there was a dog park near the end of the park --- Murphy and Lexi would love it! Actually, they would love ripping up and down that beach chasing seagulls!

And I believe this is a restaurant down by the beach area. There were ships docked in that area as well. I would have stopped to take more pictures, but I wanted to get home. 

A restaurant on the beach

It was fun to get out and meet new people. The guild has been meeting on Zoom for two years, and this was their first time getting out! It was nice that I was their first speaker, and we chatted about scrap quilts. I love presenting my scrap quilts! I'll be doing it again on Wednesday night at the Hamilton Quilt Guild, but on Zoom, so I'm sure they take guests if you want to catch that lecture. 

I'm just not used to huffing around big suitcases! But I managed just fine. 

I noticed some barn quilts on the road and stopped to grab one picture. I'm guessing they grow pumpkins on this farm. 

A barn quilt block

And since it was on my way home with a slight detour, I stopped by the NEW retreat house that will open this summer. OH MY --- it's smack in the middle of farm country. If you want peace and quiet -- this would be the place to go. It's on a short road (about 3 KM) long, and the road is NOT paved, so I'm guessing that it's super quiet traffic-wise. 

But no worry about that as the house is very far back from the road. So for those that want to go for a walk, it's a fair distance to the road, with a small hill. 

A new retreat house

OH -- you can't see the house? Well, here's a close-up. I did NOT go onto the property. It didn't look like anyone was home -- it is a farm, but I'm guessing the farm was sold, and these new people will make it into a quilt retreat. This is very much dairy cow country, but I did NOT see any dairy barns on the property. I just Googled it, and it was a horse boarding/training farm! 

The new retreat house

There is the house, and it looks like some sort of building on the other side, which I believe is attached to the house. No idea what it looks like, but I'm in! I've already booked a weekend -- totally sight unseen. I'm game for anything!  It's just over 1 hour from my house, which is very doable. I can't wait. There is an open house at the end of May. They don't have their website up yet, but I'll alert you when it's up. And ONLY after I get all my bookings in!!!

When I finally got home, it was after 6 PM, making it a long day with lots of miles in the car. I listened to an audiobook -- well, I finished one and started another. I hate driving long distances. At least by myself -- I'm NOT good with just sitting -- it doesn't matter if I'm in the car or at home; sitting like that just puts me to sleep, so you can see why driving is not my thing!

I got some paperwork done, but there's more today. And I've got homework and quilts to quilt, so it will be a super busy day. But no appointments, nothing to worry about. Yeah!!!!

I think I mentioned that my neighbor's house sold on the weekend. $200K over the asking price, and she doesn't have new windows in the house, and her ceramic floor has cracked, so that are two major things that should be fixed. I would bet that I could sell my house and start with what she sold hers for and still have it go over asking. What is the world coming to? 

I was at spin class yesterday, and for the most part, everyone spaces themselves out, so no two people are sitting side by side. A younger woman who usually sits in front of me sat beside me. I need to clear my throat from time to time when exercising. The last remnant of asthma that, thankfully, disappeared years ago. She yelled at me because I didn't cover my mouth. Ooops --- I wasn't even thinking, but as I sat on the bike huffing and puffing, what is the point of covering my mouth for that little cough. OK -- I get it-- cover your mouth, but I thought it was silly given the setting. However, I used my towel or kept my throat clearing much quieter for the rest of the session. I did feel bad as I usually do cover my mouth! 

I'm off to get some paperwork done and then downstairs to focus. I'm prepping homework today, and it seems like I sew one seam and then have to rip out two more. When I was selecting blocks to sew sections together, this one block wouldn't fit. So I have to take it apart to resize it. Then I realized that I used the WRONG block last month when I had to make that one larger. Sigh................   If only I had checked that more closely last month, I wouldn't have all this extra work! No one will know what happened; just a bit of extra work. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Mom's HOME!!!

The best part of going away is coming home! My plan was to be packed up and on the road by 2:00 PM. I was the last one to leave, and it was 1:45 -- perfect. 

OH -- before I forget, I checked the app on my phone, and my Sonos speaker works with my Alexa app. I know -- it belongs to that online conglomerate. More on that another day, but it works! I just need to connect it. So many little things, and it's hard to keep on top of it all. 

It took me forever to get home as I had to make a detour to pick up something that I had forgotten to get when I was at the training earlier in the week. Sigh.............   The GPS took me on a very scenic tour of the area, and I passed several barn blocks. 

A barn block

I love how the colors in this one match the barn. This was the only one where it was safe to stop and get a picture. The rest of the roads I was on barely had any shoulder on them, and I wouldn't stop. 

I picked up my new metal hoop for the embroidery machine, and then I was on my way home. 

So I have been trying very hard to pack light for the retreats. This is what the car looked like on the way there. 

Lots of room on the way to retreat

It was packed but not uncomfortably full. And I was getting rid of FOUR sewing machines/sergers packed in the car. Phew -- the car will be that much emptier (or so I thought) on the way home. 

NO  -- I picked up four boxes of stuff at the training session and a HUGE sewing machine in a box. Needless to say, the car was jammed with things on the way home. 

Packed even tighter on the way home

It was packed even tighter on the way home. Sigh.....................

And when I got home, it took forever to unload it all. 

All this fit in the car

I had removed some of this when DH walked by and said, "what is all this?"  He even questioned how I got it all in the car. As if! I'm good -- I played my share of Tetris when I was younger! Besides the extra boxes and sewing machine that I brought home, there was the coffee maker and the humidifier that I always take to retreat. My bag of foodstuff, my clothes, and my office backpack. I had two bags of projects and a couple of oversized pillows that I demoed in the training session, and it all took up a lot of space! Because of the training, I took the PFAFF creative icon 2 and the embroidery unit with me, as I usually wouldn't take that big machine. 

The next retreat will be better -- less stuff and a smaller sewing machine! I HOPE!

Let's just say the two girls were quite happy to see me. Even Miss ALOOF Lexi came for a cuddle and stayed to get more. Murphy was just Murphy! But once I started to carry stuff in the house, they left me alone. That's boring stuff! 

Mom's HOME!

But at dinner, she was by my side! Silly girl!!!!

OK --- so I totally slacked off on the walking this past week. The numbers are the lowest I've done in years. It was 4:30 by the time I got home and had everything out of the car. I was going to take the girls for a walk, but I had bought tea, and I needed to sit down and regroup. Then it was dinner, and I didn't go for a walk! I'm heading to spin class this morning, so I'll be back in the groove this week. 

Now that I'm done the virtual walk across Canada, I don't need as many KM in a day. No, let me rephrase that -- I don't need as many WALKING KM -- I still need CARDIO KM, so I might get my bike out as I'm behind in my goal for the year by about 300 KM. The biking will give my legs a bit of a break from walking. 

I took a couple of pictures at the retreat before leaving. This is Kathi's thread stash! It's a great way to store thread, and she has a LOT of colors. 

Kathi's thread stash

There was a green square of fabric behind Katheleen on the floor during most of the retreat. She was so busy that there was no time to pick it up, and none of us stooped to pick it up either. Maybe we were all waiting to see how long it would stay. 

Before she left, the piece got picked up, but we spotted this thin piece of the same fabric (or close) on the floor once she was gone. So even though she had to leave a bit early, she left something to remind us of her!!!

The scrap behind Katheleen's spot

Dede was quilting some projects and decided to check under the stitch plate to see how dirty her machine was. OH!!!

That's a LOT of lint

It's amazing how dirty a machine can get from sewing! That's a lot of lint. It's all clean now and ready to sew! I'm NOT a fan of sewing machines with a stitch plate that screws in place, as one is less likely to open it up and clean it! 

Did I get anything done at the retreat yesterday? Well, yes, I did. I finished two things, but I'm only going to show you one. 

My pinwheel quilt

I got all the pinwheel blocks together, except for the bottom right corner, where I have to add two more. I love it. Each one of those half-square triangles is 1" finished. Does it need a border? I'm not sure! I'll add the two triangles and then contemplate my options. White border or a colored one or nothing? 

The other one is for my Out of the Box class, and while it looks like nothing at the moment, I'm going to make you wait until it's complete before I show it. 

Today is Monday sewing -- yeah -- more sewing! But I have a few small things to finish off -- sleeves for two quilts, some ripping (more on that another day), and those two half-square triangles. The key is to get these things COMPLETELY done before I set off with more stuff. The norm is to set them aside, and that's just going to create clutter. I need to get them done to move them out of Studio B. 

I stopped at Micheal's to get some supplies so I could play with the Scan and Cut. I dug it out, and I'll be calling Stitch by Stitch in Kingston today to place an order for the newer mats and cutters. I also wrote a note to Heather about the AMAZING service I got from her staff. We definitely need to do more of that. If you get good service, you need to tell the shop and tell others. 

We NEED to keep small businesses alive in our world. Imagine the daily satisfaction those employees get than do those working in a warehouse picking packages! I won't get started -- not today! 

So these ladies are allowed to come back to retreat. Why? There were absolutely ZERO extra goodies. No one baked cookies, no one brought junk food, or if they did -- it was their private stash. That's how I like it, and I wasn't tempted, nor was anyone else. We basically ate the same as if we were at home. I feel great. I think we will have a new rule for the retreat --- if you bring baked goods (other than for your meal), you have to put them in the car. In other words -- don't bring any! It's the same for junk food -- it stays in the car or in your room! 

I have several things to prep for the weekend, so I'd better organize myself. It's incredible how quickly things creep up! 

Oh my -- we are becoming so much more technologically focused in our sewing world. Scanners, software, embroidery machines, and we want everything to talk to the other. I said yesterday, "wouldn't it be nice if our EQ8 could print to PDF?" And then when I looked it up -- it can!! DUH!!! And it's all about creating SVG files for the cutter now. Yes -- we WILL get all these file formats to talk to each other! I have the software to do it -- I just need to make it happen! You just wait -- I will have a show and tell for our machine embroidery class this weekend!

Well, that's it for today. There's so much to catch up on, and I need to finish putting away everything that came home with me. It will take a while, and I need to get to the long arm this week -- heads down for sure. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Barn Quilt Blocks

 I caved! I turned on the laptop to watch a couple of The Great British Baking Show episodes. But I was productive while I watched and got a couple of the tasks done that needed to get done. I wish I could have done more, but that's the way it is. We always think we can do more than is possible in a day. 

For me -- it's the darn admin work that kills me. I did get one homework assignment finished up, and there's one more follow-up handout to work on. At least it's less time-consuming than it was in the past. But I need to address a small stack of stuff beside me and a small one on the floor. I'd better learn to write faster!

But instead of lamenting about what didn't get done or what still has to be done, let's look at what got done -- that's way more exciting anyway. 

I got this small customer quilt done. 

Customer quilt - DONE

And then the barn block needed to be done as the next one will be released this Friday. Yikes -- I was putting it off because I knew there were a LOT of pieces in this block. So while watching the baking show, I cut all the pieces. Then I trimmed the half-square triangles and laid everything out to look like this. 

The barn block laid out and ready to sew

You have to keep in mind that the original blocks assigned by Thimbles and Things are 18" finished. My blocks are 9". Yep -- if you do the math, eight squares across doesn't fit nicely with 9". Each of those units had to be trimmed to 1 5/8". And then, they needed to be sewn together perfectly so the finished block would be 9" (9½" unfinished). 

Let's not forget that I'm a fanatic about the direction those diagonal seams get pressed. We don't want bulk at any intersection. 

Then it got stitched together into four patches, and of course, I twirled the seams on all the four patches. 

Finished step two of the block construction

Then the four patches got sewn together into larger four patches, and all the seams were twirled as I proceeded. Did I measure each of the four patches to see if they were the right size? I randomly checked a few, and once I knew I was on the right track, I didn't measure them all. It doesn't matter how experienced a sewist you are -- it's a GOOD idea to check the size of those four patches before you get completely to the end and realize that your seams were slightly off. 

Step three of the block construction

And there's the finished block, with neat edges and hopefully no mistakes in the pattern. I've run out of that red fabric, and I've already used two different reds in the quilt. I may have to break down and go and buy some. It's a Northcott Toscana, so it should be easy to get more. 

The block is DONE

Here's what the back of the block looks like. Nice and neat, and the block is perfectly flat, even with all those points and intersections. 

The back of the barn block

I wanted to see how all the blocks look together, so time to put them up on the design wall. I'm going to put my blocks on point, and I need 18 of them. The four blocks to the side are directional, and one is a 6" block, so they won't get used in the quilt. 

My barn blocks

We should be getting seven more blocks, and I only need four, so I'll have a couple of extra blocks to play around with. And hopefully, at least four of those blocks can be set on-point. I'm quite pleased with the overall effect so far. 

And my container for this project is getting full, so I looked at what was in the container and decided that I did NOT need the pattern printouts. I've redone them all in EQ8 to get the smaller size, so if I want to make those blocks again, I can open EQ8 and reprint a set of instructions. So all that paper went to the recycling. 

The paper patterns are now in the recycling

Our bonus task this month was to do an online puzzle from The Quilt Show website. I had done one earlier this month, and I should have taken a picture of that one. I think I chose 99 pieces (non-rotating) for that first one. Last night, I decided to do another one to submit everything before going to bed. Good grief -- I chose 300 pieces (non-rotating), and it took a LONG time to get that thing together. Thank goodness I didn't select rotating pieces as I'd still be working on it! 

My finished online puzzle

There's probably a spot where you can see a picture before you start? I didn't look for it, so I had to figure this thing out as I went along. 

In the process of making that block, I got two more hourglass units completed, and they are 5", so I now need to make 7 more before I can start to sew that scrappy quilt together. 

Two more hourglass units

I made progress on my Mixed Media project, not as much as I would have liked, but as I walked, I did more thinking about the logistics. Yes --- this will come together, but there's still much work to be done. I have one presentation tonight, which doesn't require any work, but the French one tomorrow will require a lot of work, so that's the task for today. 

And I have my guild presentation to the Oakville Quilters Guild tomorrow night, which requires a little bit of tweaking. So those two things are on the list today, as is some of the computer work. 

What a difference a couple of days can make with the weather. A couple of days ago, we were freezing, and yesterday, I could almost have walked without a jacket. I certainly took my mitts off and unzipped my coat! Now we are expecting some messy winter weather. I'm so glad my guild presentation tomorrow night is on Zoom. No need to worry about the roads!! They are selling guest spots (not sure if there are any left), but you can always check it out. This afternoon, it's supposed to be 9 C with sunshine. 

And look at this sad sack. For some reason, when I put Murphy's harness on to take her for a walk, you would think I was sending her to prison. But the moment that door is open, she's her happy self. 

Sad sack Murphy

Well, it's off to spin class, and I have my FitBit on! And when I'm back, I'll be at the computer trying to get some stuff done. 

I have to say that my monthly Master TO DO list is working out well. I love crossing stuff off, and I just need to figure out how to reduce the number of things on it. Well, some of it is learning stuff for me, and I like to set stretch goals, so that list will always have more on it than I can accomplish in one month. But at least all areas are covered, so I don't forget to do something - even if it happens next month!

And then I can update the list on the computer during the month, and at the beginning of the next month, I can print a copy. That sounds super easy, right? Well, not if your computer won't talk to the printer. For whatever reason, my computer will not print. It recognizes the scanner on that printer, but it won't print. So I have to send stuff to myself via e-mail and use my phone to print. Can you tell me why that is? I need to call support but haven't had time. 

Well, I'm off to spin class, and soon we won't need to show our vaccine certificates which will be very nice. Masks are still required, and I'm OK with that. It's all one more step to being totally open. Last year, I said things would be open by the end of March (two years after everything started), and by the end of March, things would almost be back to "normal."   OH GOD -- that's something my mother would say! I told you so!! Sorry for that!

But I don't see that my daily routine will change much. I'm pretty happy with things the way they are, and while I need to make three short road trips, I can't find time in the day to make that happen. Two of them are just to pick stuff up and would probably take 2 hours at the most each. But then I don't have two spare hours! Maybe next week. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!