Choose the books you read wisely!

It's amazing how many spam comments I get on the blog, and I delete them once a day. Some days are worse than others, and it's amazing how the robots can pick up keywords in my posts and then provide rogue comments. It would be so nice if those robots could be put to good use rather than create more work for everyone. It's not that there are tons, but probably ten per week. I know -- not a big deal, but still one more unproductive thing to take care of. 

Speaking of productivity, I was at the grocery store again and always use the self-checkout line. It's relatively fast, and I leave the three lines with an actual cashier for people with big carts of groceries. 

Some people in the self-checkout will have one or two items, perhaps a small basket of items, and occasionally, you see someone with a small shopping cart. But yesterday, a woman had a full large cart, which she had parked behind her. I'm not judging her, as she is allowed to do whatever makes her happy in the store. 

What was annoying was her behavior. She turned around to the cart behind her and took ONE item at a time, scanning it and carefully putting it in her boxes. Then she turned and got one more item. It must have taken a LONG time for her to get through the line. 

Meanwhile, I am pretty speedy through the line, although I never have many items at one time. However, the young store employee must have been beside himself as he supervised this area. One step on the opening screen is annoying, and I always try to bypass it. He was over at my kiosk and had touched that button before I could even register that the screen was up! I didn't mind, but he must have wanted to vent some of his frustration at her. 

The other lines were NOT busy, so the slow bagger could have gone to one of them, and they could have checked her out much quicker! 

I must still be fighting something in my body, as while I'm up and about, I don't have the same energy levels as before. Patience—it'll all come back, but in the meantime, I'm getting lots of downtime, which is what I need. I'm not worried. 

I did make it to Studio B, and I completed the machine embroidery that I wanted to get done by tomorrow. So that was a bonus. I managed to sort out some of the crap on the cutting table, and I'll put it away this morning. 

The best news is that I completed loads of paperwork. All that pending stuff was just building up, and most of it required just a few minutes to verify a date, payment, or whatever. And now there is another pile of paperwork that I must look at today. I just can't seem to get on top of this stuff. How the heck does it build up so fast? 

Part of the problem in the office is that the paperwork that never gets attended to is sitting in boxes, and I must deal with it. I'll eventually figure out a system to see what can be done. I try to deal with it as it comes in, but it has built up with being away and procrastinating in the past! In the meantime, I'll keep chipping away at it! 

In the afternoon, I went to the Oakville Fiber Art Show. Oh my --- I've been to the last several shows, and it's good. There are lots of great ideas, and it's the sort of thing I'd like to give a try, but it's not on my radar screen at the moment. 

On my way home, I stopped at Indigo to check out any new stuff. My first stop was the magazine section. Then I decided to check out other stuff, and OH MY --- who ever thought we'd see this in a store again? 

Vinyl!!!

The next thing you know, we're going to spot CDs, or how about an 8-track? Or a cassette? It's amazing how those media didn't make the cut, but vinyl, yes! 

It was another beautiful day, and honestly, I can't bear to be inside when it's so gorgeous outside. So I sat behind my tree on the front patio. It's amazing how this small tree provides a lot of privacy and will provide more as it grows. 

My privacy tree

I don't mind if people see me or if I see them, but the tree provides just enough privacy so that I don't feel like I'm in a fishbowl. 

So, I have a Halloween quilt on the bed, but I dug out my machine-embroidered one as well. It's hanging on a wall upstairs. It took me so long to finish that I'd better get it out and enjoy it! 

My Halloween wall quilt

However, there is one thing about these heavily machine-embroidered quilts—they do not fold well. So I have a tube from a batting roll covered in muslin. The quilt is rolled onto the tube and stored in a closet. It works for me, and the quilt lies perfectly flat on the wall. 

My storage tube for the quilt

So, the audiobook I'm reading right now is not my favorite genre, and I'm not sure how the heck I downloaded it. Oh -- I know -- I was starting my drive in the mountains a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted something to listen to. I did NOT pay attention to the genre, and this one was downloaded. It's a supernatural/horror. I used to like that stuff, but it's no longer my favorite. I'm over half done, so I'll persevere until the end. Next time -- be sure to check the genre!

I recently finished another e-book about someone's journey on the Camino. While I genuinely appreciate that everyone's journey will be 100% different from the next, this one was a bit much. The author is a best-selling author; she has a PhD in something, is a life coach, a spiritual healer, and much more than she claims on her website. 

I also get that many people may be extroverted but are really introverts and put on that happy face on the outside. So she is out there "healing" the world while she's falling apart inside. 

OK -- so she starts The Camino in a total mess. Every day, something spiritual happens to her. If you genuinely believe in the spiritual world, then that could happen. 

But what bothered me was her reference to various locations on The Camino. They were FALSE! She talks about arriving in Santiago and seeing the massive cathedral from miles away. That is false. Because of the lay of the land, you do not see that cathedral until you arrive at it. When you come to Leon, you can see that cathedral from miles away.

There were other instances as well, and I think she just embellished the story and mixed up the locations to make it look like the most spiritual event that could ever happen. This is wrong, in my opinion. If someone walks The Camino and doesn't feel anything, they are going to feel cheated if they think it's going to be like her walk! Or some of us are less in tune than this person. Also, she said she walked an average of 29 KM a day, when in each chapter, she put her mileage, and her average was 22 KM a day. Just lots of inconsistencies. Not a fan of the book. After reading the reviews, I found that many others were in agreement! 

I finished the book, but I was disappointed that she messed up the locations to suit her story. But each to their own! 

Well, it's time to start the day, and the girls are waiting. 

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!