Just an ordinary day! LOL!!!

AHA -- the wasitabands without elastic are yoga waistbands. I should have guessed that, but it's what everyone is wearing to the gym and outside the gym! And yes—buying shorts in the men's department, and even better if they come from the thrift store, probably works as well!!! Thankfully, we have so many choices, we are bound to find something that works for us. 

We have all had those days where we intend to do one thing and something totally different happens. It's kind of like my August - I was supposed to be relaxing the entire month, and well, that wasn't the case. But you know what? That's just how I roll. I'm not a relaxing kind of person. WAIT -- don't get me wrong - I can be a slug in a heartbeat, but I need to be doing something - just not perhaps at every moment. 

If I were to completely retire - would I survive? I'm not sure. I have loads to do, but if I were the one to dictate the schedules 100% - would I be happy? Thankfully, I have friends who take charge of my schedule from time to time to keep me on track. And work does as well. I would be bored out of my mind otherwise, even with all the things I have to do. 

I had some stuff to do in the morning, and then I was ready to go downstairs to start cleaning up the cutting table and get that sewing machine out of the box. DH arrives in the kitchen and asks if I could pick up lunch when I went to the recycling depot. WAIT -- I wasn't exactly planning on going to the recycling depot that moment. I had contemplated doing it today. Then I remembered he was going to be playing golf, and thus I wouldn't have a car. Shoot! 

So I quickly packed the car with easy stuff. I grabbed all the ballast that had been sitting at the curb waiting for the scrap guy to come around, and he never did. So I grabbed some of the crappy outdoor lights and loaded them in the car. I didn't have time to sort things, so I grabbed the big things that didn't need sorting. 

Then I finished packing up the last boxes for my SIL and loaded them in the car since the UPS store is not far from the recycling depot. The UPS store owner knows me from all the quilts I sent to the US, so I get very good service from him. He didn't like the way one box was packed, so we opened it up and added more packing. 

My load of stuff for UPS and the recycling depot

You have to admit there is some satisfaction in tossing this stuff into the bin. Heave ho! 

The white ballasts are now in the bin.

But they will take all the wiring because someone along the way strips the wire to get the copper on the inside. My kind of people. So now I'm going to sort out another load and will take it another day. I don't have time until I'm back from my whirlwind trip. 

I have to say that it is so refreshing to have clutter-free zones in the house. At the end of the day, it takes mere seconds to get things back where they belong. We have a couple of rooms that fit that bill, and there are others in various stages of tidiness. It all works, but the more I clean and tidy, the more I want it clean and tidy. DH hasn't quite subscribed to that agenda. He wants neat, but doesn't know what that means! 

After lunch, I remembered I had purchased a new bra from the lingerie store but never picked it up, and I found out the store was closing. Apparently, they had been trying to contact me at my home number. So I was off on another errand, and at the same time, I was going to stop at the garden shop to get that weeding tool. 

At the lingerie shop, I bought a couple of other bras since they were on sale and I'm stocked up for a long time. I just don't want to add or subtract too many pounds, or they won't fit properly! That's OK - my weight is pretty steady. 

The garden store was a delight to visit, and I hadn't been there in years. Oh my --- look what they sell!

You can buy puzzles at the gardening store.

Yep -- that's a rack of puzzles. The darn things are everywhere! I did not buy a puzzle. 

They also have small needlework kits. I guess this is for the backyard. I mean to do while lounging in the backyard! No kits followed me home. 

Cross stitch and punch needle kits at the garden store.

They had some lovely furniture, and I looked to see if I could find a replacement for my zero-gravity chair, but I didn't find anything I liked. I've thought of this egg chair, but it's so big and, well, I'm not sure I would like it as it would fill the gazebo. So it stayed in the store. 

An egg chair at the garden shop

But yes—did you glimpse that orange bench? 

A beautiful orange bench

It's beautiful, but where would I put that? Actually, I have a spot for that bench. Hmmmmmm

And they also had this orange Adirondack-style chair. It was very comfy, and I contemplated that, but I prefer something I can stretch out in. So no furniture came home with me. 

The orange Adirondack chair

However, something else caught my eye while I was looking at the furniture. Look how beautiful this lawn ornament is! I added it to the collection along the back of the fence. 

My new sunflower garden ornament

And this metal flower as well. 

And a new metal flower for the backyard

They add a bit of color to the backyard. WAIT—did I get the weeding tool? Of course I did. 

The weeding tool and new garden gloves

I also picked up a new pair of garden gloves, so I'm all set to do my gardening clean-up this morning. That weeding tool works amazingly to clean between the boards on the deck. That was one of the reasons I bought it. It wasn't expensive, and I should have bought two, but they only had one. Now to see if it removes those errant weeds along the edges of the gardens and rocks. 

At last I made it downstairs! And I cleaned up several more bags of triangles. Thankfully, a few more held triangles that were no longer on my radar screen. So they got tossed into the scrap bucket. 

Triangles that are too small

I even found a couple that had been sewn together, and those got tossed as well. We all know that with anything, you must set boundaries or guidelines - what do you want to keep, what will you use, etc., and then you need to stick to that. Don't second-guess yourself because someone else does things differently. Make your rules and then stick to them!

Some of the now too-small triangles were sewn.

While I have made inroads into clearing those bags - I'm aiming for at least 4 a day, there are a lot of bags, and this could present a tripping hazard, so while I'm trying to clean the floor (vacuuming), I picked up the bags and put them in a bigger bag to clear the floor. Safety first!!!!

Still a lot of bags of triangles

I got the grass section cut to replace the one I made in the rooster block for Down on the Farm. I was hoping to get that sewn, but that didn't happen. It's on the agenda for today. 

The new grass section for the rooster block

The pile of scrap was exploding out of the box, and the two pet mats got filled and serged shut. 

The pile of scraps

The serger is now on the floor, and the new PFAFF creative icon 3 is sitting on the table with its embroidery unit. I can't wait to sit and play with it today. It's an amazing sewing/embroidery machine with so many cool features. I'll be doing a Facebook Live on it on September 9th, so be sure to mark that in your calendar so you can watch. 

Although I have an appointment with the physio today, I hope to get some serious sample making done. 

I still have so much to clean up - the shed, the garage, and the office; however, I don't have time at this moment. I hope to take two more loads of crap to the recycling depot before winter, and that will make me happy. I have boxes of books to schedule a pick-up and just so many other things. The hardest part of the clean-up is finding places to take things, and now I have enough places to take things that I can focus on clearing it all out, and then I'll have space to deal with what is left. 

While I keep saying I think we have everything dug out from the deep corners of the house, I keep finding other things. However, I think this is it - I honestly think we have hit all the areas at least once. But I notice that it's time to start at the top and go through the closets again, and this time, I need to be even more ruthless than last time. When the drawers don't close properly, it means you have too many clothes. 

While I was placing the new lawn ornaments in the backyard, look who plunked herself down and looked like an ornament. She looks so beautiful in that picture. 

MOM - can I be a lawn ornament? 

She is no longer on the pain/anti-inflammatory meds and seems to be doing just fine. She is still freaked out about staying in the house when we go to bed. If we try to force her to stay in the house, she goes mad and wants to sleep on the leather media chairs, which I don't really want her sleeping on. She's allowed to sleep on the loveseat in the living room, which is bigger and softer. But NO - she wants to sleep in that chair. 

MOM - I need a bigger chair

And last night, I got up at 2:30? and noticed her in Lexi's raised bed. Of course, I disturbed her and then shut the door, and she wasn't happy. The next thing I knew, she made it up the stairs by herself (GASP) and then slept in the bedroom for the remainder of the night. I should pay attention to that saying - let sleeping dogs lie! 

For my downtime last night, after I pulled the machine out of the box, I dug out the next puzzle. OK—I have a stack on the table of what is next, so I just pulled the top one off the pile. This one is doors and should be somewhat easy since it has big patches of bright colors, but there's lots of grey, brown, and black filler on the tops and bottoms of the doors, so I'm sure it won't be super easy. Can I finish it by Monday night? 

The next puzzle

I got this in a recent email. In case you are wondering what I will do with all my HSTs—there are LOADS of blocks you can make with them. Yes - mine are small, but does that matter? Absolutely NOT! And if you add sashing (or not), you can get some cool patterns. I have books just for HSTs, so it won't be difficult to find a pattern. The issue will be the color and value!! And deciding on one! Or two or three! 

As you can probably see, that came from the Quilting Daily people. 

As you know, we get all kinds of crazy things in our feeds, and this one came from "thought.minds" on Instagram. Oh my goodness -- they have so many of these mindsets, or philosophies, or whatever you want to call them, and they are wonderfully illustrated. But this one? This was how my day went yesterday!

Of the 15 included in this set, I think I concurred or followed all of them. Most of them were awesome life lessons; however, there is one I would like to change. I feel like I spend a bit of time on each line, but too much on the longer lines on the left and not enough on the lines on the right. What are they? 

From the left: to criticize, to gossip, to get involved, to encourage, and to help. 

Well, there you have it - another crazy day in my supposedly simple life. How does this happen? It's just me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

But now I must focus and get some major accomplishments under my belt today! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!