On ordering food

Happy Canada Day!!!! Look—I found a new pattern yesterday, and while I won't have time to make it for this year's Canada Day, it would be simple to make next year. I got it at Stitcharie, but I think I bought the last one, as someone else in the class purchased the second-to-last one. And we can celebrate Canada Day any day of the year! It will be great to use up some red and white scraps. 

New Canada pattern

I'm home! It sure feels great to be home, and I didn't find the drive that bad last night, though I did stop at one of the OnRoutes for something to eat. AH -- there is a Booster Juice at this location (Woodstock). I swear the two girls in front of me, one of whom was chatting merrily on her phone instead of with the person she was with, took forever to place their order. I had no idea what they ordered, but seriously - pick a flavor and be done with it. 

The world is getting so fussy, and there is a certain coffee chain that caters to this. The orders are so long and so complicated that you wonder why. If you want a coffee, then just order a coffee, and maybe you put sugar or cream in it, but all these options? Some of those "coffees" are laced with hundreds of calories, and then you wonder why our society is so unhealthy. But I digress. 

Wait --- while the staff member was preparing my Berry protein drink, the lady with the phone came back (still on the phone) and asked if she could have her smoothie thinned out as she couldn't drink it through the straw. It was a slow process to get my smoothie! When she first came back and asked for the drink to be thinned out, I didn't hear what the staff member said to her. The customer's response? "I don't have time for that!" 

My smoothie was the perfect consistency. I have no idea what the other lady's problem was. There are just customers like that, and there is nothing that you can do to please them. 

Anyway -- I digress. I will admit that I am tired this morning and will probably need a nap, and then we are on to change the leaders on the long arms - mine and hers! I'll remove my leaders this morning and clean the rails. WAIT --- I have to sew the metal bits in for the magnets. Yikes -- I completely forgot about that. Hmmm -- there might not be time for a nap!

We had great sessions on software at Stitcharie yesterday, with loads of questions, and many people went home with their heads full of information. Now it's up to them what they do with it. 

I wish I had access to a session like that when I was new to software. At least when I would have opened it, I would have had some idea of where to start. 

When I left the hotel in the morning, I decided to use the luggage cart instead of making several trips. It worked very well. 

Using the luggage cart

It was so cold in that hotel, I almost froze. The first thing I did, and I do in all hotels, is turn off the AC. It is set so high that I'm about to freeze to death. The lobbies and hallways were like ice boxes. I get it that people are hot, but the more you are used to the heat, the less it will bother you. We are NOT AC people at our house, and with a couple of strategic fans, it's just fine. 

Perhaps by the fourth day of this heat wave, we will turn on the AC just to get rid of the humidity in the house. But the basement is like a refrigerator, and with the dehumidifier going, it's comfy once you start moving. 

Before "work" yesterday, I went to Tim's, and this sign is located on the side of the building. 

Outside the Tim's

Other provinces have similar signs with their own provincial symbols. Wait—after a little bit of research, I found the artist and some other information. Here's a screenshot from Cindy Scaife's Facebook page. 

The art at Tim's

I see they also have magnets for various areas of Canada. I am NOT buying the magnets. 

Tim's magnets

Nor did I buy a donut. 

The donuts stayed at the store.

But one thing that I noticed is that the person who comes into the store is THIRD in line to get served. What do I mean by that? Well, Tim's has always had a drive-thru. Well, maybe not at the very start, but it's known for its long drive-thru lines. And many staff members are assigned to fulfilling the orders from the drive-thru. 

A few years ago, they introduced mobile pickup ordering on the app. That has now taken second place for fulfilling orders. I watched a guy walk into the restaurant and step in front of me. He was older; I didn't argue, but I was standing at one of the order counters, and he went to the other one and got served first. 

He got his coffee and left, and I'm still standing there. So I moved to that order desk. The staff member said, "Wait a minute," while he fulfilled a few orders and placed them at the Mobile Order Pickup spot. That location is for any orders placed on the app or at the in-store kiosk, which this store didn't have. Or at least, I didn't see it. 

The mobile order pickup 

This reminds me so much of being with a person, like the person at the Booster Juice stand. It's more important to talk to the person on the phone or to fill the order for the unseen person than to deal with the person standing in front of you. I felt invisible!!!!

One day, I will get the ordering right! But now that I am home, I don't need to worry about ordering anything. If I want a tea, I just go to the kitchen and get it. 

I had taken a drive around Petrolia earlier, and there are some amazing old Victorian houses. Some made from brick and some made from wood. All are beautiful, although some of them needed a bit of TLC.

But as I was walking back to the store from Tim's, I spotted a giant Canadian flag on top of a building. Hmmm—can you tell me how they get the flag up there? It would weigh quite a bit, and well, now I want to know!

How did this flat get on top of the building?

When I got home, I unloaded the car and unpacked the suitcases. I was tired, but not so tired that I couldn't at least empty the suitcases. I hate having my samples crammed into them, and when I pack up wildly as I did, I'm not always neat. So the two big suitcases got unpacked, and the items moved to their respective locations. Upstairs for finished samples, downstairs for working samples. 

This is what I faced this morning when I went downstairs. Of course,  Murphy was there to assist. It was more like supervising than helping. 

Mom - I'm here to help if you need me!

And there was a stack of items on the chair that needed to be dealt with as well. 

More items to sort

There were items on the cutting table, but as I made progress, they were put away. With the two trips back-to-back, there was no time in between to deal with stuff. I now have a handful of thread to find a home for and then to tackle putting away the remaining things on the right-hand side. I have one urgent project to work on, and I have two weeks to make that happen. The items I need are in that envelope. Stay tuned! 

The cutting table is almost clear.

I'm happy to report that the items on the table and on the floor around it are put away. Yeah!!! I now have room to move the stuff from the chair to the table. That will leave my chair free to operate the sewing machine, which I will need as I sew the metal for the magnets into the leaders. 

Good progress on tidying up!

There is a pile of samples beside the sewing machine that I want to tidy up. 

Samples that need some tidying up

I love making technical samples. The ones that show you the good, the bad, and the ugly. But often the edges of the single fabrics go unfinished. It would take no time (yeah right!) to trim them to a nice size and serge the edges. 

Samples need to be upped in finished quality just a bit.

So I set those samples aside, and they will look a bit more professional the next time I pull them out. 

I also have a pile of things on the stairs to bring up. Don't yell at me; this is a good place to put them, and they never stay long. I have already brought up a fair amount of it. I am super careful of stairs, both up and down. I am very aware of that stuff, and since I am the only one who does the stairs, I'm not worried. By the time my helper comes for the long arm, this will be all dealt with. 

Things to bring upstairs

And that's it for today. I can't wait to see how this leader thing goes. I have THREE leaders to sew the magnets into. That means marking the stitching lines and then sewing. Neither should take too long, but there are three of them! 

The girls are happy that I'm home because that means they are going to get a walk despite the heat. I might make it a bit shorter, but they will tell me what they want. They don't care about the heat, at least when it comes time for a walk. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Retirement!

 

Nope - I'm not retiring. Besides, what would I do when I retire - sew more? I'd probably sew less! Nope - I'm not quite ready, but the day will come, but not yet. 

Katheleen retired this week. There's been a countdown for the last couple of months, and now she can do whatever she wants every day!!! A couple of us went and had a mini celebration. It was great to visit in person. 

A while back, Katheleen had mentioned that I still owed her a postcard from an exchange that took place YEARS ago. Yikes - that item has been on my list of things to do for a LONG TIME. Not on The Task Master, but just a regular to-do list. 

I'm happy to report that I finished the postcard yesterday and it's now in her hands. I gleefully put a checkmark beside that item. 

The postcard is finished!

The darn thing was ALMOST completed and had sat for years - many years. It took all of 15 minutes to finish it. Can you tell me why? It doesn't matter - it's now done!

After several conversations before the retirement, it was concluded that Katheleen would spend countless hours lounging by the pool drinking margaritas!!! So I made her this small wall hanging to commemorate that event!

Margaritas by the pool

We did have margaritas on the deck, and I was supposed to get a picture of it, but my brain was not functioning properly. I was positively giddy visiting in person. 

I was so excited to get them done that I completely forgot to take pictures and had to ask Katheleen to send these to me! 

Part of that was because of the label. I wanted to put a label on the quilt, and I got everything ready to print. I use muslin taped to a piece of paper so I can run it through the printer. I knew that the initial piece wasn't taped as flat as possible, but I thought it would be OK. 

Well, the printer had different thoughts about that. It jammed, and despite trying several times, I could not get this label to be printed. 

Jammed label

Then the printer had to be restarted, and I couldn't find the on/off switch (which was right on the FRONT of the printer). I was reminded by the printer that I shouldn't unplug the printer to turn it off. Seriously??? These devices are very clever! I had to reboot my computer TWICE to clear the jammed message from the printer application. 

And at last, minutes before I was to leave, I was able to print the label. I pinned it to the back of the piece. I had no patience for hand stitching at that time. 

And this is all I had left of the binding strip when I was done! That was a good calculation. 

The remainder of the binding

I think Katheleen is not going to have any trouble filling her days with stuff to do. She's got a fabulous set-up for sewing/quilting and journaling. And she's darn good at all of them!!! Enjoy your retirement!

I'm very out of practice for leaving the house. I stalled the car at the first stop sign and then realized that I had my slippers on, so I had to come back and get some proper shoes! 

It was very late in the afternoon when I finally arrived home. I made it home on fumes in the gas tank, but that's OK. It was a good test of the fuel pump that was recently installed. No issues, although I did have issues with the GSP. It worked just fine for one part of the trip, and on another part - it refused to recognize the phone. Sigh...............

Lots of people in my neighborhood had Canada flags out yesterday, which was wonderful to see. I did have a flag and my maple leaf on the gate. That's my neighbor's flag. Mine is to the left of that one. It's a bit faded - I should get a new one for next year!

Canada Day decorations

But the fireworks??? Seriously?? The city needs to put some by-laws in place for fireworks. It started at 8:30 or thereabouts, and it didn't stop until 11:30. Really people? 11:30 at night? I was annoyed as I'm sure many other people were - some people are trying to sleep here. 

At least, both the girls seem to be handling thunder and fireworks like grownups. They are a bit apprehensive, but not the drooling messes they used to be, so that's good. 

Here are a couple of shots from my walk with Lexi. She did NOT want to walk in the forest, but rather on the sidewalk, so we did our winter tour when the forest path is too slippery with ice. 

These flowers remind me of my mom, who loves all flowers but in particular the tiger lilies. 

Tiger lilies

And look at this cheeky little guy. It looks like he posed for me! 

Cheeky chipmunk

I didn't get the quilt loaded yesterday, but the backing is made and now loaded on the machine. I also have to put the binding on for this customer, and the binding is made. I'll be working on that later today. 

Binding for a customer quilt

OK -- I MUST stop looking at the news. There are so many crazy things going on, and I seem to have this morbid fascination with disasters. I'm spending way too much time, and it's time to STOP. 

We started our cross Canada walk yesterday, and three of us logged close to 30 KM. Yeah!!! We'll be eating up those miles and be across the country before we know it!!! Go, team, GO!!!!

Besides quilting, I have a couple of phone calls to make, some writing, and maybe get some sewing done. We'll see how the day goes, and I have an errand at the other end of the city. I HATE errands like that as they consume a ton of time!

That's it for today. Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!