Make rules - take CONTROL!

It's another day! Of course it is. Well, if I take the book I'm reading into account, who knows what day it really is. It's called My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney, and — well —it's bizarre. At first, I thought it would be boring, but then there was a plot twist, then another, and then another. And I'm now so turned around - well, I'll just have to listen to the last 5 hours to see what happens. 

I have a road trip today; however, I have company, so I won't be able to listen. That's OK -- there's always tonight. 

As I surveyed the mess on the floor in Studio B after moving the tables filled with "current" projects, I came to a conclusion about how to solve the problem. I also found another hidey hole on a shelf, so that is three decent-sized spots to put things. 

I made a few rules so I could take control! If the project is listed on the Visual To-Do list, then it stays on the tables. If it's one of the "less than one hour" items, it stays on the tables. Anything else will find a home in a storage spot. It's going to be a challenge to do that sort, but really it shouldn't be - it fits in one category or the other, or it doesn't. It sounds simple!!

I may need to make a few more rules along the way, but I can get it cleaned up! 

The main thing here is that I am taking CONTROL of the situation, because otherwise it's driving me mad that I never make progress on what's on those tables. The other plan is to take one small project a day OKK - that may not always work out that way) and actually finish the darn thing. Seriously? Do I expect someone to stop by in the night and do the work? 

So when I get home this afternoon, I have a few things to tidy up, and I'll continue with my sorting. 

Let's start with technology because technology is never far from my mind. The first issue is the CD-ROM drive. I have no idea why my computer won't read the darn thing, so I headed off to the library to see if theirs would work. 

I had checked before, and there was no need to book a computer - there were lots available. I spoke to a person at the desk and asked if they had a CD drive, and he said no. So I was hoping mine would work. On the way there, I realized I needed TWO USB ports to connect the CD drive AND my hard drive to copy the files to. 

Thankfully, the computer had two open USB ports, but it was a challenge to connect them because they were hard to see. 

I attached my CD and external hard disk to the computer.

I took FOUR machine embroidery patterns with me, and I got them all copied into the appropriate spot on my SEWING external hard disk. I swear that breaking my files up onto three external hard disks was the best thing I ever did. It's easy to travel with them; no need for USBs and then transferring to the computer when getting home. It's brilliant. 

Transferring files

There were a lot of files, and it took quite a while. The first two groups were fast, but then the system slowed down. Anyway, while I was working, the person from the desk came over and asked how it was going. I said fine, and he said they do, in fact, have a CD drive, so I could use that in the future. That is good to know!!

So those machine embroidery files are now usable, and I should keep going to the library once a week or so to transfer the files I need. It's a nice walk to the library, so on a day when I have no other errands, I might just do that. 

Hmm—I should always do that on a Tuesday, and then I'll have no excuse to go to the thrift shop. Oh good grief—I noticed a sign the other day—the Mississauga Symphony Used Book sale is this weekend, and they have puzzles, books, games, etc. Should I go? I always find a treasure or two, and it's supporting a good cause! 

My other technology woe right now is my Google Drive, which is FULL. I got a notice yesterday that if I don't do anything, I will lose the ability to get email in 29 days! Yikes!!!! The first thing I did was turn off the photo backup on my phone. I do NOT need a backup of my photos, so I have no idea why that is there. And can you believe that when you start to clean up, it helps you! Here's a look at my BLURRY pictures. 

What Google defines as BLURRY pictures! 

Yes—there are a LOT of photos my camera takes on its own, including a couple of long videos taken from my pocket. So I'm getting rid of those, and I also tackled my email. I do not know why it is taking up so much space. A simple email shouldn't consume a ton of space, but I suspect it is all the emails with presentations/pictures attached. I need to delete everything that is no longer relevant. I've done that in the past, but I've never seen my email storage decrease.  

And I don't know why email does funky things. It's been keeping a duplicate, or almost a duplicate, of everything in an "important" folder. For heaven's sake - I don't need that. Again - it's going to be a matter of taking control and just deleting stuff instead of thinking that I will one day have time to read some of the stuff. 

I'll figure out a solution, but I need to take charge NOW!! Some of the backup photos I'm coming across are at least 10 years old. Why is all that there? I move all the photos from my phone to a hard disk, and then everything gets deleted, but it doesn't get deleted from that damn drive. Why? Because then they can sell me more storage instead of me dealing with it. I don't need more online storage. 

We discussed this the other day at lunch. Technically, why would you want ANY online storage? I'm certain that the big companies use that data for whatever purposes they deem worthy - training Google to detect blurry pictures, or identifying other things. We are so afraid of having a presence on the internet, yet if you let Google back up your photos, EVERYTHING you take is online! 

And don't worry—if you don't use Google, I'm sure Apple has all kinds of crap in its cloud. I also don't get this new trend of tracking people! Why the heck would you want that? I know several people who track family members or friends. Seriously? That is an invasion of privacy - I don't care if you are my mom or my sister - it is NONE of your business where I am at this point in time. And if I can track you, then everyone else in the world can track you as well. It's just darn creepy! 

Now -- if I were a risk because of mental health or whatever, then it may have a place, but in the unlikely event you are kidnapped, the first thing they are going to do is take your phone away, so what's the point? And your phone is constantly pinging a cell tower, so if you were kidnapped, they would use that to help locate you. 

I struggle with the overload of data as it is - I certainly don't want more! 

Back to the email - I'm going to try and eliminate everything except my current projects from online. NOTHING needs to be backed up, and nothing needs to be shared with anyone. Then I'll be in charge of my data, and my storage costs will be cheap! 

It was another fabric sorting session last night. I need some batiks, so I sorted through my batiks to see what I had. It's part of the road trip today. Thanks to a friend who gave me small swatches of the fabrics needed for a certain quilt. They were VERY helpful!! 

Sorting batiks

While searching through the basket of red fabric the other day, I spotted this rather large piece of fabric. That would make a great backing, so I measured it, labeled it, and put it on the shelf. 

One more backing

A customer's quilt got quilted—it was a big one, but it went very smoothly. You can't see the whole quilt because there isn't room in front due to all the project boxes on the floor. 

Customer quilt - DONE

And I think I now have the magnet situation under control for one side of the backing. It freaks me out to think it's just some magnets (albeit strong ones) holding the tension on that quilt. But no fabric slipped through, and it was pretty quick to remove this side of the backing when I was done. 

The magnets holding the quilt backing in place

I must work on the leader for the other side of the backing. But that's a project for another day. I have a couple of customer quilts to finish, and I still have FOUR of those community project quilts I want done! ASAP!!!! But I have to make backings for them, and since I'm using scraps, it takes time! 

I went to the gym yesterday, and as I was walking down the stairs, I spotted a beautiful rainbow in the sky. Why a rainbow since we hadn't had any rain! I went to my locker to get my phone, and by the time I got back, it was fading. But it was a full, bright rainbow. 

The rainbow

I had to zip into the rock climbing area to get that picture. I've never done rock climbing, and I don't think it interests me. I don't have the upper body strength required. 

Rock climbing at the gym

But that brings me to something else. While I was doing my stretching on the floor, I saw a woman - maybe younger than me, but not super young who was doing push-ups. The full-blown ones from her toes. Hmmm --- that looks hard. So after she left, I tried to do them, but only from my knees.OKK -- that wasn't half bad! I think we are aiming for a 90-degree bend in the elbow, and I was able to do a few more than 10 with not quite a 90-degree bend. 

Last night, I tried from the toes, and while I can do 10, I don't dip too low. But I can add that to my repertoire and see what happens. It's a good measure of increasing strength. By the way - a woman in my age category should be able to do 10 push-ups in one set, and I'm assuming those are from the toes. 

The other thing I've been working on is the ability to get up and down gracefully, or somewhat gracefully, from the floor. I do pretty well, but I was curious what the difference is between me and someone else. So I watched and AHA—it's the added use of the arms. I can get up very well, but I use my arms to assist. Younger people do it with just their legs. I am determined to turn back time - I already have by going to the gym. 

I have to tell you the story of the car and air pressure issues. We have the sensors in our tires (both winter and summer) that indicate when the air pressure is low. I don't know how much the pressure has to drop before the sensor triggers. Like most passenger cars, our tires need 32 PSI per tire. The driver's-side front tire started acting up about 6 weeks ago. 

Now we all know that sometimes on a cool morning, the pressure is lower than later in the day, and so I waited a few days OKK - weeks) to see if that made a change. It did not, so I went to the gas station and put air in the tire. It costs $2.50 to get air these days! 

The sensor stopped registering a problem for a few days, but then it came back. So I waited a week and booked an appointment to get the tire checked. Then I filled the tire with air again. 

This time the silly sensor did not come on, but I went to the appointment anyway. I explained the situation to the service intake person. He asked me where I put air in my tires. Hmmm --- isn't there only one place? The gas station - I certainly wasn't going to use my bicycle pump! Aha, he said - you can't trust the gauges at the gas station. 

DUH -- I know! I have my own gauge, and I check the tires from time to time. 

My tire pressure gauge

That still didn't faze him. He told me about the cool mornings. Yep -- I know about that too. The damn sensor was on, and I was pretty sure we had a leaking tire, but they temporarily fixed it the last time when I had the tires swapped in the spring. 

I totally get his point of view, since I bet MANY people don't have a tire pressure gauge in their car, and if they do, they have no clue how to use it. Mine is older, but it seems to work just fine. 

Anyway, he saved me some money. But dang it all - I had bought a fancy tea, and I had my computer with me, and I was going to clean up files while I waited! Alas - it wasn't to be. So now I'm going to watch the tire pressure and see what happens. Sigh.....................

And he didn't log that I was in the shop because I got a call later in the day asking if I made it in. No invoice, no appointment! I explained what happened. 

Here are my words of wisdom for the day. 

We had this discussion at lunch the other day, too. If you are in an evacuation alert, what do you pack? It's a very hard question to answer! 

I must run, as I have to pick up my passenger at a specific time, and I don't want to be late. 

It's going to be a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!