Conquering technology one step at a time

OH MY ---- shipping to Canada. I didn't even think of that, as some companies won't ship to Canada and vice versa because of high shipping costs. Isn't that just the silliest thing, considering we are next-door neighbors? 

I have found a solution: an account with a cross-border shipping company. If I want something from the US and the shipping is high, I send it to my "address" in the US. Then I pay about $10 to have it shipped from the warehouse to Canada, and that warehouse is about a ten-minute drive from my house. 

I recently ordered something, and it came back undelivered. Hmmmmm --- after some investigation, I realized I had two addresses for the warehouse. The old and the new. Let's just say that the old address is now in the recycling. Why would I hang onto the old one when it had been replaced? I am my own worst enemy sometimes. So when that package finally arrives in Canada, I'll share it with you. Obviously, I don't order much from the US. 

However, if you want one of those fine tips for the glue bottles, check out the dollar store. Yep -- I found some of those applicators with the short needle at the dollar store. It was a smaller, lesser-known store. The tips I bought were on plastic bottles, so you can put the glue in and all is good. 

I believe someone mentioned you can buy them at Michael's in the cake-decorating department as well. 

Here's the thing -- as soon as someone discovers a tool, and it becomes a useful one for quilters, the price goes up! I'll try to take pictures of what I have and share tomorrow, although that might be a challenge since I'll be on the road. I'll see what I can do. 

I'm happy to report that the two presentations for today are DONE! It took a lot of work to make that happen, and I could still fuss with them, but they are as good as they are going to get! 

I can't believe how hard everyone worked over the last couple of days to complete the quilts for Color My World! Of the 50-some people in the class, many have completed (or almost completed) quilt tops. I can't wait to share those with you. 

Here are a couple more items I bought while I was away. This is a cute highland cow, digitally printed, and would be perfect for experimenting with thread painting. 

Highland Cow digital panel

And here's another panel that I didn't really need, but it looked like something fun to play with. It would be good for the sides of a bag? 

A sewing-themed panel

I have learned what causes me great angst in my life. It's when I am not in control of things. And by that, I mean, I may have tons of stuff rolling in my head, and they need to be written down. I have to prep something, and I'm pressed for time, or I haven't even started. Or it can be a technology issue that needs to be resolved because I need the technology to do whatever I need to do. 

Yesterday was no exception, but I'm happy to say that as the day went on, my stress level decreased. The thing that I have to combat is that I'm a stress eater, so when I'm stressed, I want to eat chocolate. In particular, milk chocolate, so I won't even allow it in the house! 

I don't think I mentioned this the other day, but when I went to the gym, I stepped on the scale. OH, and that's all I'm going to say. I know it's only a number, but I can't afford to let things get out of hand. I have worn-out tendons in both knees, and I can't afford to be carrying any extra weight. Let's say that I ate a few too many donuts over the past couple of weeks. I was not happy. 

I know what the culprit is - SUGAR. I might as well tape anything with sugar in it to my hips, as that is where it goes. And when I cut sugar completely out of my diet about 12 years ago, I weighed the least I have weighed in a long time. I don't want to become anorexic, and that will never happen in my life. But I'm starting to cut out sugar again. 

I do like my small bits of chocolate every day, and I won't eliminate that. I have decided to halve the quantity—from four Ritter bar squares to two. Guess what? I'm OK with that, and with my high stress level yesterday, I was able to talk myself out of eating more. I don't need it - it's a crutch. No alcohol, which is easy to eliminate, I barely have anything to drink. No pop, which I don't drink much of anyway. It's the desserts -- those are the killers in my world. So there will be no more desserts. 

Nope—not even a taste, because I don't need it. I don't want it, so why should I eat it? That will be tough, but I should be able to manage it - we don't have desserts in our house, and it's easy to just say no. But I've become lax in that department, and the scale shows it! 

Just say NO!!!! I'm a big girl, and I need to think about my mobility! Someone recently told me that the majority (I've forgotten the percentage) of fire department jobs involve picking up people who have fallen in their homes!!! And if you are heavy, it becomes an even greater issue. I refuse to let that be me. 

Now back to the technology woes. I needed to scan a document, but my printer wouldn't connect. Nope - it was offline, and I struggled to get it back. However, I managed to make that happen and scan what I needed. But why? Can you tell me why the printer was offline when I had no issues printing something the day before? 

Then, when I tried to print, the page was entirely blank. But it worked just fine the day before. I didn't have time to fix that issue. 

The biggest issue was that I had to update some software that I needed. I kept getting reminders that an update was available, but every time I checked, it said that all was OK. I knew it wasn't because I was missing a couple of features. Sigh....... Yesterday was the day to fix that - of course it was, when I was under the gun for time!

I sent a note to the support team, and then I thought, all I have to do is uninstall the software and reinstall it. That leads to signing in and passwords, which are a struggle for me, but guess what? It worked, and the new features are there. That was a long overdue update! 

I sent another note to the support team, and can you believe I got a response a few hours after I sent the original? Yep!!!! That was impressive. And they essentially told me that uninstalling and reinstalling was the only way to solve the problem. I should have done that months ago!

Anyway, this is the result of my messing around. I'm experimenting, and while it didn't work quite as I wanted, getting all the technology to work was huge. 

The results of my experimentation

I'll mess around with it later today and see what I can do to improve it. It's interesting to see how the different fabric (green) was much more successful than the red. It's the type of fabric (batik versus regular cotton), and it's also the size of the letters and the fonts! So much room for experimentation. There is NO fusible on the back of this, and those pieces are very tiny! 

So much for a guard dog!! Lexi was sleeping on the job! I guess that is why she was stretched full length so that anyone had to step over her to get into DH's office. 

Mom - I'm on the job - privacy please!

And Murphy? She likes making a mess! Her blankets are now strewn across the floor! 

Mom - just doing a little housekeeping and fluffing the blankets!

Bob Ross is still going strong! It's hard to believe, but I spotted this magazine at the drug store. 

Bob Ross - still going strong.

Well, I need to get myself going. I have to walk the girls, then head off to do the two presentations. Then I'll spend the afternoon prepping for my three-day road trip. It's by car, so that should be easier than the plane? OH -- I just checked -- it's only 2½ hour drive, not three as I thought. That half hour makes a huge difference! 

If you are in the Petrolia area, be sure to check out the events on Monday and Tuesday. Lots of stuff about quilting and embroidery software. It's going to be super fun!!! The store is Stitcherie in Petrolia. 

Here is the link to one of their events. You can find the others on their Facebook page. 

Have a great day!

Ciao!!!!

 

Tracking

Most things we buy online or send have a means of tracking them. I recently bought two large items online (CDN store, which was the only way I could purchase the items). OK, one of the items I could have bought in the store, but I didn't. 

Well, I've been watching the tracking numbers. For one item, I was contacted by phone yesterday, and we agreed to have the item delivered tomorrow. There was no online confirmation, and I was going to get in touch yesterday, but they touched base with me. 

The second item has been sitting in limbo with a note saying they were waiting for UPS to pick it up so it could be shipped. I know this item is available locally, but it's being shipped from BC. I just saw a change in the notification system this morning. What do I know about this stuff? As long as it comes, that's all I care about. But that seems like a lot of shipping for something I could have driven 10 minutes away and bought! 

Then, I sent that box on Friday, which was scheduled to be delivered on Thursday. Nope—it's going to be delivered TODAY. That one went from here to BC, costing $22 for a jam-packed box of odds and ends. That's a pretty good deal. Thank you, Canada Post. You have my vote for shipping things, and I have another box to send today and will start prepping yet another box. I like sending things! 

It would appear that the saying, "April showers bring May flowers," is true because we are going to get a lot of rain in the next week. I'm OK with that - I have an umbrella to keep walking outside. 

OK—after Monday's sewing, I had no choice but to sit down and finish reading The Sequel. And all I will say is, "Oh, I did not see that coming." I will not say more except that the author has a very twisted mind. 

But then I'm listening to a Louise Penny novel and nearing the end of it, and it's also twisted! What is it with women authors? I would NOT be able to write a book like this—my brain is NOT that twisted!

While searching for some missing books in a series, I stumbled upon another series—I felt like I needed to add another author to my list! I'm reading Murder in Marais. Cara Black is the author, the series is set in Paris, France, and Aimée Leduc is the detective. 

I finished my last presentation last night, which felt great, but it was later in the evening, so I just left everything and will clean up today. Some of the quilts have been put away, but I have an in-person presentation tonight, so I must dig physical quilts out and pack them in a suitcase. The quilts from last night and the ones I need tonight have no cross-over, so a great quilt shuffle will happen. 

Last night, it was all about machine embroidery on quilts; tonight, it's about scrap quilts (Quilting Corners Guild - Alliston); tomorrow (Zoom meeting for a guild - Limestone Quilters - Kingston) is about modern quilts! I do NOT have a presentation for modern quilts, so guess what I'll be doing as I pull quilts for tonight. I must pull the modern quilts as well. Oh, what fun it's going to be, and then when this week is over, I'll have all the quilts to put back on the shelves. But that needed to happen anyway. 

Speaking of tidying up, look at that cutting table.  

There is room to cut on the cutting table

Oh my—the one mat is clear, and there are a few things on the right-hand side that must be dealt with, but I'll keep plugging away. I'm trying to work as fast as possible, but you know how it is. Everything takes much longer than initially planned. 

Let's just say that despite reading for a bit in the afternoon, I'm making significant progress on clearing up some sewing projects, and I have this to show you. It's my ender/leader project. 

The ender/leader braid

I'm trying to be careful that it doesn't get a wobble. I'll check it when I return to work today, but I think it's just how I threw it on the floor to get the picture. There were a couple of light prints in there, and I've just added them. I'm not worrying about that - it's a scrap quilt, after all! 

When I was pressing the seams, I could tell that there were a few polyester pieces. How can you tell? The SMELL gives it away every time. Cotton doesn't smell (or shouldn't) when you iron it. Polyester has a plastic smell when heated. That's a hard one to describe, but it smells. I didn't care. The pieces are small; it's a scrap quilt, and so the polyester stays. 

I should take a picture of the box of pre-cut pieces. How far will I get with that? Will I have to cut more? I bet I will. I'm debating whether to start a new braid or should I continue until this one is the correct length? I should determine how wide the braid is and how many braids I need. Maybe I'll take a few minutes later today and figure that out. Then I could start a new one, just for fun! I could always put a sashing strip between the columns if I don't have enough pieces. Lots of options. 

I need to get back to focusing on the books on my shelf to read. There are two shelves of books in various series, and since I like to read them in order, I will focus on tracking down those I'm missing. Some of them were written in the 1960s! I know! There is a good used bookstore in Orangeville, and there used to be an excellent one in Chatham. I'm not sure it's still there. Any others? I know I could Google the books and buy them online, but I want to visit the bookstore - that's part of the adventure! 

I spotted one in Burlington, which is reasonably close to me. Well, I'll check everything out and see what I can find! Does anyone have some old Wexford series by Ruth Rendell? 

I have a bit of paperwork that must be done today—actually, I just need to keep plugging away at it, and it will soon disappear. Then, I can dig into the "archives." That desktop needs to be cleared up! I will make this happen! 

On that note, I'm off to see what I can accomplish today!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!

 

I got MAIL!!

And that wraps another day! They are all blending together! I know you will laugh when I say this, but the Zoom presentations during the week are messing my schedule up! They will last another two weeks, and then things subside - somewhat. OK -- you can pick yourself up off the floor!

Speaking of picking yourself up, I was out shoveling the driveway. I did two more one-half-hour stints as this stuff is brutal to break up and shovel. However, I managed to clear most of the driveway, the step, and most of the sidewalk - there's one spot that is frozen solid. Half of the windrow at the end of the drive is gone, so about another half hour and all will be clear. 

However, there was a sheet of ice-encrusted snow on the lower part of the driveway, and I was busy clearing it and thought it was a good idea to walk on that to shovel. I was tentative; however, I went down! Oh boy! I lay there briefly, and the first thing that crossed my mind was, "did anyone see me"? I quickly got up and went back to work. Fortunately, I landed on the largest part of my body -- right on my butt, and I didn't even get a bruise! Phew --- it could have been so much worse. 

I was careful not to step on that sheet of ice (OK -- I did, but I was much more cautious!), and the work got done! You have to love the power of the sun. Even though it was cold yesterday, the heat from the sun was very powerful, and my driveway is nice and dry. We are so fortunate in the direction our house faces as other people on our street and those across the street shoveled right after the snowstorm, and their drives are still a mess. 

And when I went for my walk, the majority of the sidewalks were dry. Yep --- that's why I rarely wear boots of any kind. Why am I going to trudge on those dry sidewalks in heavy boots? 

The sidewalks were clear

On my afternoon walk, I trudged through the forest in my running shoes, and my feet did not get wet or cold. There was a beaten path already, which I stayed on, but even that was tough due to the snow's nature. It wasn't completely hard-packed, so the footing was dodgy. Not slippery, just hard to walk on. But as I entered the forest, this made me think of the line from The Night Before Christmas -- the "crust of new-fallen snow." OH -- it's actually -- "the moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow." Oh well -- it doesn't matter -- that's what it made me think of! 

The crust on the snow in the forest

I stopped by Diane's to pick up more quilts which I flung onto the cutting table and will deal with them later. I saw that crooked tree in the forest from her side of the fence. That tree is leaning, to be sure, but it seems to be stable -- so far. 

The leaning tree in the forest

So it looks like another house in the neighborhood was damaged (by fire?). No idea when that happened, but they have been trying to redo the roof. And guess what they were doing yesterday? YES -- they were reshingling part of the roof. 

Shingling a roof

I think they had heaters up there to try and melt the snow. Seriously??? No safety harnesses. And the windows on the top back of the house are gone. So imagine how much crap is in the house. If that were my house, I would move! Well, no one is living there at the moment, of course! I get it that houses are built in the winter, but I can't imagine what will happen to the damp wood on the roof and their piecemeal shingling job. A bit today and then more tomorrow. They've been working on that roof for over a week. 

It was worth it to clear the front step -- I got MAI! Not once, but twice!!! 

This first one was my order from Mad About Patchwork. That was shipped on Wednesday and was supposed to arrive on Thursday, but it didn't because of the storm, so it arrived yesterday. How about that pink packaging --- you sure can't miss that!!! I quickly opened it but had no time to absorb the contents. 

Package from Mad about Patchwork

Then I got this package as well, which I ordered from my FAVORITE store (no chance of finding this anywhere else) on Thursday, and it was delivered the next day. 

Another package!

My third package, ordered on Wednesday, is ready to be shipped and hopefully will arrive early next week. So - if anyone is complaining about shipping? It's not happening at my house! Mind you, I live very close to a fulfillment center (my favorite store) -- shouldn't I be getting SAME-DAY service! I'm kidding!!

Oh crap -- I see it is snowing this morning. Not much, but enough to cause trouble! Like having to shovel again later today. 

Here's a shipping story for you; I suspect this is the issue with many horror stories about shipping. A friend placed an order with a Canadian store, and she had several delivery priority options. She chose the least expensive as she didn't need the item immediately. That delivery time was listed as four days. After two weeks, she decided to call and find out where her package was. 

The response was that the four days started counting once the package was in the mail, and this person hadn't even prepped the order yet! Seriously??? We want to support local small businesses, but get it together, people! If someone is ordering from you, get the order in the mail! I don't know if she got the package yet, but I'd be very disappointed. Some companies are happy to take the orders and your money and then delay processing them. I won't mention any names! 

Here's the thing --- hire help! Or those customers will go somewhere else next time!!!

Well, look who is looking super cute this morning! 

Thank god - I don't have bangs! 

It's not perfect, but she looks so cute! She's pretty good when I trim her hair, but it would be much easier if she were on a table and outside. But we manage! 

I have two presentations this morning; one is done, and the other is almost done. I should have done them last night, as I forgot I had some photos to take, so I've been running around doing that. But no worries -- it'll all be done when the presentations happen. 

And the BARN STAR SAMPLER e-mail will go out today. I had some work deadlines that had to be dealt with yesterday. 

Remember the Virtual Retreat this weekend. It starts tonight at 6 PM. 

Virtual Retreat -- February 25 - starts at 6 PM EST

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

And here's the link for February 26 -- starts at NOON EST

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86119598156?pwd=ZDFxcElxS0NmeTRjczdSR2FXd3N2Zz09

Meeting ID: 861 1959 8156
Passcode: 053861

On that note -- I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!!

There goes the neighborhood

 OH! 

So remember that pretty landscaping in my new front yard? 

Did I show you a picture of the lights at night? 

This is what it looks like from my front door. A few soft lights illuminate the walkway. There are FOUR lights in total, including the one around the corner by the side gate. 

My new front yard at night

WELL -- our new neighbor, two doors down, had lights installed at her house yesterday. I feel like we moved to Disneyland overnight. There are MANY lights on that house now (there were none before), and they are BRIGHT LEDs, and the house looks so out of place! And the neighborhood is no longer filled with soft or no lighting, but this garish bright thing two doors down from me. 

All I can be thankful for is that the house is NOT next to me. I imagine the lights are on a timer, and they are off now, but I'll get a picture to show you -- it's not pretty. I've seen some new houses built with so many lights, but it's harsh and doesn't look attractive - at least not to me. I hope she likes it. 

I spent the entire day married to the computer. Well, a good part of it, but I got more writing done. I think the longest sections are over, and the rest should be shorter. I have to stop being so verbose. 

When I went to school, I'm guessing we learned grammar, but it didn't stick well with me - at least in some parts. Thank goodness for Grammarly. It's worth every penny, and after I wrote the rough text, I had 211 issues to correct. UGH!

Lots of issues to correct

Not only do I correct the grammar and spelling, but sometimes what I write rough doesn't make sense at all, and I go back and try to make it work!

Now, Grammarly tries to use synonyms if you use the same word frequently. But seriously -- thread is thread! I think my grammar has improved over the years, but I still get trapped in some areas - like writing in the passive voice. That one is tricky to avoid, but I'm getting better. Usually, there is a suggestion to get around most of the issues, but sometimes, it takes a few rewrites or adding a comma or whatever. There are NO suggestions for correcting the passive voice, which has taken me a long time to figure out. 

According to Grammarly, this is how many words they have checked since I started using it in 2016. I can't believe I've been using it for that long. Who knew? Time passes quickly when you're having fun! And that's a lot of words to have written! The average word count in an adult novel is 70,000 to 120,000. Sheesh -- I could have written 100 novels for the same word count! 

I'm happy to report that my US mailbox service is working like a charm. Thanks to Laura for alerting me to it. 

So I have a US address that technically is a unit in an industrial building in the US, with a "suite" number attached to it. I do NOT pay for that address. Then I can have anything shipped to my "address"; the shipping is often free in the US or greatly reduced. 

When my package arrives, I receive an e-mail letting me know that my package has arrived. I go into the website and pay any taxes owing to the CDN government and $10 to ship the package to Canada. I suppose if there was any duty to pay, I'd also pay that. Then the package gets released and shipped to Canada, where it arrives at one of two locations, one of which is about 15 KM from my house. So I go and pick it up. 

My US parcel has arrived

And that was one of my errands yesterday to pick up a package. The process is fast. I think the package arrived at the US address on Thursday last week. I paid for the shipping on Thursday, and it arrived in town on Friday, but I could only pick it up yesterday. 

The first time I used the service, that initial e-mail got lost, and it took a LONG time to find the package and have it delivered, but now that everything is working and I know where to go to find my package (on the website), everything is amazing. The service is called CrossBorderPickups, and it works like a charm. 

I do NOT order much from the US; this package was for someone else. But if I need the service and can't get something delivered to Canada (which is common) or the shipping is going to be totally out of whack, this is a good option - at least for me because of the closeness of that pickup location. 

For any of you that loved the Dream Big panel -- the one with that flower --, they are going gangbusters trying to find a new one. I've seen a poinsettia and yesterday I believe I saw a rose. 

I don't think the new designs will ever be as successful as the first one, but they can try!!

I really need to get my printer working with my desktop computer. Every time I try to make a paper pieced project and send it to the phone and then print it -- the pattern is slightly smaller than it's supposed to be. I might try loading that file on my laptop and see if that makes a difference. What a pain to not be able to print directly from this computer. And can you tell me why I can scan documents whenever I want, but I can't print anything? I don't get it. 

That's it fr today. I'm off to spin class. 

Have a super day!

Ciao!!

If you have money........................

When you're in a hurry to set the microwave to cook the oatmeal, it's never a good thing. Boiled over! GRRRR!!! Oh well -- I don't care! The two quilts are gone, and they are in the hands of UPS, and I don't care about anything else!

OK -- so that's not true as I have two classes (three different quilts) this morning and two lectures (the same topic) this afternoon. 

Here's the really GOOD news. Everything is prepped. Don't ask me how that happened!

And now, back to the story of the custom quilt. Well, the second one went faster than the first one but still required a bit of finagling in places. It doesn't matter, I figured it out, and if I needed help, I had the Quilt Path Facebook group. I love the sense of community -- you help me, I'll help you! It seems there are many others in that group in the same boat as me - lots to learn. 

I had to finish quilting the quilt, trim it, attach the binding (that was already made,) and hand stitch the hanging sleeve on - after I made it! Then get a box and take it to the UPS store. My printer isn't printing properly, and I don't trust that whole issue with the commercial invoice. So off to the store I went. 

It was all good since I had donation stuff in the car and still hadn't had time to drop it off. There was a donation center close to the UPS store, which got taken care of on my way home. 

Here are some observations about UPS. I got to the store at 4 PM. The pickup cutoff is 5 PM. The store was filled with boxes, and the driver was there loading his truck. I sort of panicked. I thought, "did the cutoff time change?". NOPE -- Matt, the driver, comes THREE times a day to empty the store!!! Are you kidding me?? Yep --- three times a day, and how many UPS stores are there around? 

There's even a new station inside the store for those people dropping off. If you have prepared labels, there's a scanning machine, and you scan the label and drop off the package. Shipping and logistics is a HUGE business right now, with everyone shopping online and returning stuff. I can't imagine the added COST to all things because of the returns. 

I know I've mentioned this before, but when you work for a large company and walk into the mailroom and ask that a package be sent overnight -- you don't think twice about it. But when you're an independent freelancer, you think very much about sending stuff overnight as the price difference is HUGE. 

I don't have the specific prices, but here's what happened. The first package went out with five-day delivery, and it should be there two days before it needs to be there. I paid $36 to ship that. It got stuck at customs but now appears to be sitting in a warehouse - waiting.  

Yesterday, I had to send the package with a three-day delivery, which cost $142. If I had shipped it overnight, it would have been over $300. The package weighed 11 pounds. Although I wonder about the UPS people at the store. The box was actually 18 by 18 by 6, but they put it in the system as 19 by 19 by 7. The weight was 11 pounds, but it went as 19 pounds. I wonder if I paid for that extra. I don't think so, and maybe they have a buffer? I need to check that.  

Here's the other thing. I had to deal with a different employee as the owner (who comes running when I walk in) was on the phone and couldn't get off the call. Anyway, there is a list of options for shipping -- express, overnight, etc. The guy was trying to sell me something completely different when I said I wanted three-day delivery. I pointed to the monitor and said, "I want that one.". OH -- that's three BUSINESS days, not three days. I KNOW THAT!! I guess they've had issues in the past, or they just try to jack up what the unsuspecting consumer pays???? 

Now, let's look at the tracking of both packages. 

This is the package I sent yesterday with a three-day (business days, that is) delivery. It's already in the state it's supposed to be in. Not the city, but at least the state. 

Now, where is that first package? Hmmm -- It seems to be in the warehouse in Michigan. Oh yes -- this package isn't supposed to arrive until Wednesday, so let's NOT ship it out of the warehouse until the day before it needs to get to its destination!!! 

Sigh -- if you have money, anything can happen. If you don't, well, you get the slow boat! 

I've sent the tracking numbers to the destination person, and they have a person tracking the packages -- just like Santa Claus. I'll leave it in their hands! 

I got out for my first walk of the day, but it was getting dark when I got home from the UPS store, and I had to get my presentations prepped for today, so NO second walk yesterday. That's been a LONG time since that happened. I usually say -- poo-poo to the deadline, but I needed to make that 5 PM cutoff at UPS. I have barely checked my Virtual Challenges online as there just has not been time. 

While I was out, I saw this truck. Hmm --- this is how a new car is delivered if you bought one online. Why would you purchase a vehicle online? I would want to test drive the darn thing before I bought it. Maybe people test drive the model and then have their actual car delivered. How much does it cost to ship a car? And do they offer an overnight service? 

Buy a car online, and it gets delivered like this

Speaking of walks -- it's FREEZING outside -- minus 20 C on the thermometer with a windchill of muns 32. Do I even want to venture out with the dogs? They will love it. I might sneak out for a quick walk with both of them. Thankfully, they can't tell time -- that's not true. They know the TIMES of the day, but not the duration of time. There's a difference. Thank goodness for that -- I can trick them!

Tomorrow is UFO day, and once I'm done with today's sessions, I need to finish my UFO. Yep --- now with two clubs, I have TWO UFO assignments each month. Thankfully one of them is done! 

And then -- an entire week away. But I'll be working during the retreat. I'm a bit behind, but it's all sewing work, so that works out just fine!! 

It'll never happen that I'm not on a deadline for anything, and I seem to thrive on it, and I learn super quick and work very well when there's an impending deadline. Thank goodness for that. 

I think we have a problem with our new kitchen window. I haven't checked any others. But it's cold in the kitchen. You can feel a drop in temperature when you walk to the sink. I felt the window -- yes -- one side of the slider window is frigid. I get it - it's cold outside, but there is a DRAFT -- a considerable draft coming in the center where the two panes join. I don't think the seal has been made correctly. I need to call them. We never noticed it when the weather was warmer, but this draft is pretty darn cold. I may have to put something along the window to stop the draft. I checked the window in the family room (slider window), and it's just fine. I need to check all the other windows in the house. 

I spotted this droplet of water on the locking mechanism. 

Water on the locking mechanism

The rest of the downstairs windows are fine, but I must check the upstairs windows before I call. 

Keeping with the decluttering theme, I'm sharing a link to Maryke's blog post about her decluttering challenge.   I had to chuckle because one thing leads to another, and well  -- go read the post to see what happened. 

So here's the next area of focus. What's happening with all your essential supplies - like needles (hand and machine), rotary cutters and blades, binding supplies (clips), scissors, bobbins, etc. Are the LIKE items together? If not -- why not? You need to get these things grouped together and find an appropriate container for them. Then you need to find a spot for all those containers. I use the plastic drawers on wheels to store everything, and it works like a charm. So get compiling and culling as you go!! I'll share photos tomorrow so you can see what I've done. 

OK --- so that's it for today. I hope to have some show and tell from the next couple of days, but there's nothing to show today!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Fun Friday!

Not to bore you with my UPS package, but it's in the right state, so it should be delivered on Monday! Yippee!!!!

I can't wait until I have another package to send to see how to fix this commercial invoice problem! It doesn't matter, the package is arriving one business day late, and I can certainly live with that!

It makes me laugh because when I worked for a fabric company, which was concerned about the cost of shipping things but had zero issues with shipping overnight instead of 5 days. So what's the difference? Well, I sent that package for $30 CDN. If I had sent it overnight, it would have cost $228. 

WOW -- that's a HUGE difference. When I left that company and had to get things ready FIVE days before the due date, I thought I would die. How will I cope with the deadline? Well, you just get it done five days before you need to ship it. 

So - imagine all the companies shipping stuff OVERNIGHT and then passing along those costs to the consumer! Yep -- it happens all the time. Amazingly, they tracked who sent what, but no one ever got their wristed slapped for shipping overnight. I'd have been on my employees like a dirty shirt -- DO NOT ship overnight unless there is a darn good reason!

Anyway -- I had one presentation yesterday, and it went super! I'm done until Monday when the circus starts all over again! For the next three weeks, I have 9 or 10 presentations a week, and in some cases, I've still some major work to finish prepping the series because it's brand new. So it'll be a busy month. 

But before I did the presentation, I had an errand to do. Om the way, I saw these clouds, or should I say CLOUD. Wow -- this picture doesn't do justice to it. It looked very ominous and unusual, just like a thick layer of batting hanging in the sky. 

A thick cloud layer

And then this happened. 

Geocaching points

This is my geocaching score for the month. I need to get 5,895 this month, and I'm close! There'll be no running around on the last day to gather points! I'm doing great, as I only need four regular caches to get to the goal. How did I get this far, this fast? I found some quick geocaching games (Adventure Labs) in a cemetery close to where my errand was. I've passed this cemetery MANY times and never stopped. Wow -- it's an old cemetery and quite interesting. 

Actually, I need to investigate the Adventure Labs thing a bit more. That would make a very cool scavenger hunt, and you can incorporate it into Waze so you can do it in the car (I think!). 

The two geocaching games took me on a tour of the cemetery. And while the sun was out, there were huge trees in the place, and the grass was still very frosty. I was chilled for the rest of the day as the sun was out but totally blocked by the trees. 

Some graves were marked with a small cement pad with just one initial. A child? 

Grave marker

And then this person has a stump for a headstone! How cool is that? It's not a real stump -- it was made of concrete, but a very unusual shape. I've never seen that before, and there were at least two of them in the cemetery. 

A stump for a headstone

It was a glorious morning despite the wet grass. But there is no rhyme or reason to this cemetery. There were no real straight lines -- lots of curves, circles - it was hard to know how to walk across the darn thing. 

Beautiful cemetery

Another small stone with a little lamb on top. Definitely a child. 

A small headstone

And there were loads of monuments! Most of them were in good shape, but a couple, including one that I needed to find, had some broken panels, and I peeked inside. Totally hollow!!

Monuments in the cemetery

Anyway - that was a nice little diversion in the day. I did my errand and got back home in time to do the presentation. I have a little bit of geocaching planned for next weekend, and I should be able to get my goal for the month!!

It's the 6th of November, and we still have glorious colors in our neighborhood. This is at the end of my street and contrasted with the blue sky -- it's gorgeous!!!

Beautiful colors still

On the way home last night, I saw a Christmas tree in someone's front window. That's just wrong!!!

Don't tell Lexi this, but she's a goof! She did her business, and I had to walk it back about 100 feet to the garbage. She was too lazy to walk back, so I dropped her leash. Now she could have gone ripping through the forest, as Muphy would certainly do if I dropped her leash. Nope, Lexi just stands there - waiting! That dog is crazy! If she didn't have that leash on, she'd have been gone. Oh, what a silly girl!!!!

Lexi "tied" to a tree

And this is the two of them after the walk. Lexi is unhappy, and Murphy just looks like she wants something, which is always the case!!!

Murphy and Lexi

And here are the crazy fish. I plugged the pond heater in the other day, and these fish are no dummies. They love the warm water and flocked to the heater! OK -- perhaps I shouldn't have done that. They are supposed to be hibernating! I had to buy a new aerator for the winter and that's what I should get going today. 

Fish flocking to the heater

I actually had time to sew this morning. I haven't sewn or quilted all week and look at the cutting table. It was a disaster. 

The cutting table is a mess!

The ironing board was covered with more stuff. 

The ironing board is also a mess

But I did some tidying up, and I managed to get some sewing done! OK -- so I put a lot of that on the floor, and I'll deal with it later today!

The cutting table with room to work

I'm always telling people that I do NOT pin when I sew. And for the most part, I do not. However, when you are working with mitered corners, I pin. Well, whenever I'm putting a border on a quilt - I pin! And I use lots of pins!

Pinning the corner of a mitered border

I need to get those borders on the quilts. I think there are four in total that need borders! And I still have blocks to sew for one more quilt! I have two of the four mitered corners done for this border, and it shouldn't take long to finish the other two later today.

Checking that the mitered corner is square

We decided to go to another movie last night instead of going out for dinner as usual Friday night. I was still chilled from my romp through the cemetery, so I had a warm beverage laced with yummy stuff. We watched Dune, which was good, considering that Sci-Fi is NOT my genre at all. 

Hot beverage to warm up

And look, my package arrived yesterday! Can you tell that it was a COD package? But since I had prepaid it the other day, they just left it on the step! 

My package arrived

And now it's time to get the day started! There's a load of things to do, and well - I have big plans. Let's see how much I can get done. 

Are you trying new things? Or new ways of doing things? Try to change ONE thing up today that you wouldn't normally do!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!