The books I read

I felt like a shut-in yesterday. I didn't leave the house. No that's not true - I took the girls for a walk a couple of times. I just didn't drive the car anywhere. That happens frequently at my house these days. I do drive to the gym - it's 4 KM away. I could walk, but then I'd just turn around and walk back so what's the point?

Yes - we had snow, but nothing like was reported. I wonder - when people go to school to learn how to report the weather, are they told to make it seem really, really bad outside to warn people? to cause great fears so they'll be careful? And have you noticed that we don't get snow anymore? We get snowstorms, storm warnings, weather advisories. Good grief - we're dumbing the world down so that every normal thing becomes something huge.

Let's just say that it was a GLORIOUS day for a walk. Keep in mind - you need a hat, scarf and the right mittens, along with boots to make it a glorious day. There were far fewer kids walking to school. Now, why is that? So the parents can drive them which is way more dangerous than walking on a snowy day. Oh well - I'll just keep quiet about it. Yes - there was a bit of a wind chill in the afternoon when we walked to the library, but it wasn't bad. I do have fleece-lined jeans for those very cold days, but yesterday wasn't one of them.

So I did a bad thing yesterday. I went to the library. I had two books that needed to be picked up. One is a novel (I know - I said I wasn't going to get more) and one was a reference book for a project that I'm researching. But then I saw this and I couldn't resist.

What's the book?

February is library-month and there are all kinds of activities. They have a drop-in session scheduled for tomorrow. I bet they'll have CAKE. I saw this book covered in brown paper. There's a description of the type of book it is. How could I resist? I plunked it on the signout plate and the name of the book did come up, but do you think I'm going to remember??? We chatted about this concept at dinner last night and DH wanted to open that package, but I wouldn't let him. It'll be a surprise.

I seem to be friends with a couple of Goodread followers. I get e-mails from Goodreads with their recommendations or reviews. That's totally deadly. I have a friend who spends a LOT of time reading. He has ALS and is unable to handle a physical book, but he's got all the technology for reading e-books and communicating. We had a chat yesterday about some of the choices he's been reading lately. We were talking about reading outside your normal genre and he mentioned WWI and WWII books. Yep - not my thing, but I'm enjoying reading them. Now I have another huge list of books that he recommended. One of them had already been recommended by Rose.

I need to explore the Goodreads website a bit more to see if it can help with my book series. I'm not getting a chance to read because I'm so busy with all these other books.

Thank god, the library is free! Well - it's included in our city taxes - I call it free. Now if I could find time to read more!!!  I'm working my way through The Warehouse by Rob Hart. Holy - it's such a spoof on our society - I love it!!

You may think that I'm obsessive, but I don't think I'm compulsive and there's a difference. I loaded some cutlery into the dishwasher in the morning. When I went to put my spoon in there from lunch, I noticed that the cutlery had been changed around. Yep - we have a culprit in our house who has to have the cutlery just perfect whether in the dishwasher or the drawer.

I put my spoon on the right and they all got moved to the left. Hmmmmm.................

Loading the dishwasher

If you're into learning how to use a serger, this is an EXCELLENT book. It's called First Time Sewing with a Serger by Becky Hanson and Beth Baumgartel. 

First time sewing with a serger

It does NOT replace your manual. You need the manual for the threading. This book goes over what a serger does and how it works. When to use it and when not to use it. The types of stitches that you can make depending on the kind of serger you have. Anyway - I did borrow it from the library and for learning the ins and outs, I've found it super. Now I feel like I can truly explain this crazy machine to someone else.

The second half of the book has some projects. Some of them I might try, just to try out a specific technique. Oh - to have the time to just sit and play with the serger. I should schedule two days and I bet I could run through everything and be done with it.

I was prepping the homework assignment for Christmas Fig and of course, I ran out of time. The walks come FIRST. The e-mail will go out later today as I have an errand to do this morning. But I did manage to get a quilt quilted.

Customer quilt - DONE

This is one of the quilts made in our North Star class last year. This particular one was done with the fabric in the kit. I get it that designers want to be creative, but a good chunk of this quilt was made using the yarn-dyed homespuns which have a very loose weave - Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun by Robert Kaufman.  Holy - it frays like crazy. The ladies that used this in their quilts were VERY BRAVE. I don't think I would touch it. For garments yes - but for a quilt with loads of seams? It just seems silly.

Loads of fraying with the linen fabric

I love this saying that I hear from my boss for my freelance job all the time - " just because you can, doesn't mean you should".  Amen!!!  Keep the linen for clothes, NOT quilts. It adds NOTHING but a headache.

I've got a couple of things to share with you today. Have you seen this??  It's priceless. I think I know several people that this relates to. And I took a one year leave of absence many, many years ago because of this very reason. I never went back. Never looked back either!!!

And I was reading Bonnie Hunter's blog the other day and I saw this quote - "there are only two options - make progress or make excuses".   Now, how true is that one? I don't care how much progress I make in a day. Some days are way better than others. The bottom line is to make progress, however small. We shouldn't be discouraged because we only made a little progress. Anything is better than nothing.

Oh yes - I promised you a link about habits. Well, forming a habit or changing an existing habit takes work. I think for a habit to actually stick, you have to be committed to yourself that this is going to work. Case in point - the damn flossing thing. It doesn't matter how tired I am, I WILL floss before I go to bed. I've flossed every day since the beginning of December. I can't let MYSELF down. Yep - you heard me - if I don't floss, the only person I'm letting down is ME.

It's the same thing with Virtual Challenges. I'm now miles ahead on both challenges. I think I'm almost 30 miles ahead of my pace in the Route 66 challenge. I don't care how busy my day is, I will NOT let MYSELF down. I made a commitment and I will HONOR that commitment. Plus I love walking.

Here's a link to some tools that might help you to stick with your new habits. 

Keep in mind that you should ONLY change one thing at a time. If you try to do too much at the same time, you'll 100 percent fail at all of them. Pick one - could be organizing your house, organizing your life, develop better eating habits, get out and walk or whatever. But pick ONE thing that you want to change.

Remember I told you about that lady at the gym that wraps herself in saran wrap and then puts on a corset - a TIGHT corset. I see her EVERY DAY. Same deal - she does some cardio and then comes to the change room to remove the saran and corset. She lets out a HUGE sigh when all that comes off, then she's back upstairs to do more workout. I'm so tempted to tell that this fad from the '70s doesn't work, but it's none of my business. It just seems like a huge waste of time for her and the environment.

On that happy note, I'm out of here to get the day started. Don't forget to find ONE habit you want to start or one you want to change. But you have to REALLY want it.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!