Thankfully, it was just a dream or was it?

Two curious things happened yesterday - well, one of them was a dream, and it just shows how our brains can twist so many details in one story. 

I woke up angry, which I don't think has ever happened before. I've woken up shaken, or with a racing heart, but never angry. 

Last night, as I was falling asleep, I was going through the list of people who will be attending the next quilting retreat. And I suppose my brain was also preoccupied with some of the global volatility. Please note that no specific individuals were in this dream - they were merely placeholders. 

I was at the retreat, and we still had a couple of hours before we had to leave. However, three members of the next group arrived early and had no issues about coming in and sitting down to chat. Then the rest of their group arrived and also proceeded to enter the retreat house. The next thing I knew, they were working on my jigsaw puzzle (MY jigsaw puzzle!) and then pinning my quilt squares together. They were all throughout the house, and I was angry. 

For whatever reason, the house owners showed up, and neither she nor her husband was phased by the intrusion at all. I was so angry, I was pounding my fists on the table, shouting, I'M SO MAD - in the dream, of course. 

But then I woke up, and well, it was just a dream. But seriously --- that was a bit unnerving. It had nothing to do with the retreat at all, but my brain used the retreat as the venue to showcase my anger! WOW!

The second weird thing that happened concerned the gentleman whom we helped the previous day. As I was walking Murphy, I spotted him across the street. I knew what street he lived on because he told me, and we were on that street. His hood was up on his jacket, but I recognized him because he was wearing the same clothes and shoes as the day before. He must have recognized me as well, even though I had a different dog. He immediately turned around -- we were on opposite sides of the street, going in opposite directions, if that makes sense. 

I walked slowly to see where he was going, and he entered a house on that street. Even though I had a different dog, I was wearing shorts and the same oversized grey sweatshirt as the day before. And let's not forget the orange flowers in my hair! So was he just starting out on his walk? Does he go for a walk and then gets lost? I'm not sure. Was it a hoax, as the dispatcher asked me? DH says, 'Just think of how you helped someone and let it go!' He could have been embarrassed or intimidated. I'm not sure, but it was a bit unusual. 

It was all about Murphy yesterday. After I got both dogs walked, I had to walk Murphy to the vet. The new vet is right beside the grocery store, and they wanted to check her blood pressure and do blood work. That's because of the medication that she has been on for many years. She is no longer on the medication, and everything seems fine. 

I was hoping to see how they take a dog's blood pressure, but alas, the technician took her into the back room, and they did all the work without me seeing a thing! I paid a lot of money for that procedure, and I saw nothing in return. I feel cheated!!! Murphy did NOT want to leave my side, and I heard she was NOT happy as they attempted to get blood from her. Poor thing! The vet will call me with the results later. 

But she got to check out the giant pumpkins at the grocery store. They called these colossal pumpkins, but I have a friend whose son grew pumpkins for the local fair. Although I didn't see them in person, one pumpkin reportedly weighed 650 pounds or something similar. It was huge! Muprhy was still happy to check these ones out. 

MOM -- these balls are too big for me!

The "giant" puffball we spotted earlier in the forest was pretty small in comparison, but for a puffball, it was pretty large. 

MOM - that's a giant puffball

Before we headed home, I popped into the grocery store to get a few things, and I made her wait outside. She didn't say one peep as I walked away and into the grocery store. BUT when I came back, she couldn't stop barking as I approached. We had a brief training session. I swear I need to do that more often, and I used to, but I'm getting a bit paranoid about someone taking her or Lexi if I leave them unattended, so they lose all their training. I guess I'll just have to do it where I can still keep an eye on them.

MOM - I thought you would never come back! 

Look at her. She is entirely still, yet panting and excited like a mad dog! She's just the friendliest and enthusiastic dog I've ever met. 

However, this was a bit of an eye-opener, and this is why my dogs do not receive many treats. This ad for dog treats claims that one tablespoon of peanut butter is equivalent to eating 2 1/4 hamburgers, if you equate it to humans. This is why dogs should NOT eat people's food. I need to show this to DH. 

Interesting claim about people's food and dogs

Muprhy weighs 58 pounds, and she is all muscle - at least she feels like she is all muscle. 

Those two love to play together, and they are hilarious to watch! 

MOM - We love to play together

And there is Miss Lexi, all curled up on the mat outside, quite happy in this cooler weather. 

MOM - I love sleeping on the mat

As for the writing, I am making progress. Not quite as fast as I would like, but it's happening and that's all that counts. I also did some more sewing last night and am working on another block. I swear that when I sewed this quilt, I left all the blocks with many pieces for the end! However, another one is done, and I believe there are five more to go. 

MANY pieces in one quilt block

I also completed some cutting for another project, which meant I needed to tidy up the cutting table. Half of it is clear, and that's a relief. The ironing board is almost clear. There is still a lot of stuff to be put away. All the thread boxes were returned to their spot on the shelf. 

As I was sewing last night, I emptied the little drawer of all the triangles. 

The little drawer is empty

Instead of just grabbing a handful, I sorted them by color and then selected two coordinating colors to sew together. I'm trimming and sewing as I go! 

The cutoff pieces are sorted by color

I also got to work on that project that needed reworking. My brain waffled back and forth with various designs, and I have FINALLY settled on the direction I want to take. I hate when that happens! I mean, I hate it when I keep moving from one idea to another and can't settle on one. Then the deadline looms, and I go for the one that I really wanted all along. Sheesh -- why do we do that to ourselves? 

I may have to set the writing aside for today as I focus on making that item. Thankfully, it's not a big item, but I think it's going to be super cute! 

We attempted one more puzzle in the EXIT Game last night, but it didn't happen. We both said we need to sleep on it. Well, you know where my brain was last night. There was NO room in my head to think about the EXIT game. Perhaps I can figure it out at lunch. 

I even managed to complete some paperwork yesterday. I have more that needs to be done today, and if I can eek a bit out each day to get caught back up, then I can start clearing some of the crap off my desk! 

That's a wrap for today! There are still plenty of things going on, as there always will be, but with fewer time constraints. The only time constraint these days is myself! 

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!

An instore shopping trip for craft supplies

 Well, it appears I can't see the forest for the trees. I went to attend the virtual funeral service and was stumped when I was asked for a password. I should have texted another friend who I know was going to attend. She found the password - it was right BELOW the link. Why didn't I do that? I feel bad that I didn't attend. 

I realized this morning that this is a third party company that organizes the live stream. Who knew? But I guess there's now a business to make those important events accessible to anyone regardless of where they are. Isn't this a wonderful thing? Imagine this service going forward - you don't always need to physically attend an event, but you want to be part of it. Or sometimes, you can't attend - bedridden, too far away, etc. This live stream option is good. Just pay attention to the instructions. 

I don't know if they recorded them - I sent them a notice. I don't think so. Recording a funeral service sounds a bit morbid.  

I'm almost done reading the book about the royal couple who split from The Firm. I don't want to get into a discussion here, but they sound like two spoiled kids. H is not as important as his brother, M wants to be the queen of the castle, so they are gone because they didn't get as much money and attention as they felt they deserved. 

I didn't realize the extent of the negative press they received from day one, especially the racial harassment. Now M can be the queen of her domain. I feel bad for H and the baby. I don't have high hopes for that relationship. I'm not a fan of what happened, and let's just leave it at that.  

And OH MY GOD - I slept like a log last night. So well that I woke up remembering an extremely vivid dream that I had. I was being accused of having an affair and not by my current partner. Nope - that would be my ex from years ago. Seriously??? Where did this come from? But what was even scarier was the technology he used. I'm guessing that this stuff is real - but he had this little device that somehow had all these videos. 

He grabbed a photo of my face and was able to pick out my face in crowds at different places. All while wearing my bright orange jacket, of course! WOW!!  Where did that come from? I'm not having an affair - hey - how could you have an affair under our current circumstances anyway? We're now supposed to stay in our houses for the next 28 days. We're allowed to make necessary trips - groceries, medicine, medical appointments, walking the dogs, and exercise. Phew - I'm good!

Speaking of walking, I was walking Murphy yesterday morning when I spotted this by the curb. Oh my - I almost caved and went back. Then I thought - what am I going to do with these when I already have extra containers under the stairs. They were still there last night. 

Bright orange containers up for grabs

I offered to audit a class for a friend, so I needed something to keep my hands busy while I was doing that. I got out some coloring stuff. But here's the thing - I needed some supplies. So I went shopping. Nope - I didn't need to go to the local craft shop. I went shopping at Chez Elaine, and I found EVERYTHING and more than I needed. 

It makes me realize that while similar things are in the same area, I need to pull a few things off the shelf and get them a bit more organized. I knew that was going to happen, but pretty hard to do when everything was scattered. I found all kinds of gesso, mediums, paint, and a ton of other things that I had no idea I had. 

Shopping for fabric painting medium

The other day, I found a very nice set of water brushes. 

Water brushes

And one marker has been missing from this set for some time. Which color? Where is it? 

A missing marker

So I went shopping in the marking device drawer. Oh my - I had no idea there was so much stuff in there. But at least it was all in ONE PLACE. 

The marking device drawer

Guess what? I found the marker - it was the black one that was missing. Now the set is complete, and it will stay that way. 

AH - the missing marker

So I did a bit of coloring on this piece of machine embroidery. I'm just experimenting and trying different things. This design has been stitched through three layers - so it's essentially a quilt block. Doesn't the center look 3-D?? I love it. This is what I had done previously. 

Using markers to color on fabric

I did a bit more yesterday, and I've even started on the next color but didn't take a picture. How cool is that? I've got to find a color to use as the background? Or maybe not. I'll see how it goes, but I'm quite pleased with the results. 

Coloring fabric with markers

Then I wanted to try the INKTENSE pencils that I had found. I decided to use my set of 12 to do my experimenting. I had some embroidery designs that I had not done anything with, so I pulled them out. Actually, this stuff has been sitting on the craft table that's set up in that area. Do you know how exciting this is???  All that hard work at sorting, cleaning, and tidying is finally paying off. 

Getting ready to use the INKTENSE pencils

That set of INKTENSE pencils is BRAND new (of course). I had to remove the plastic wrap from the pencils. 

Brand new pencils

So let's get started. 

Getting ready to color with pencils

This is my finished fish. There were a few things (steps and products) that I forgot, but after consulting with a couple of friends, I went shopping again, found the supplies I need, and I'm good to try this again. I see that I've got to fire up the embroidery machines to make more outlines to color. I could trace designs and stitch them or just trace them with a black marker (I got lots of those) or do some machine embroidery. I have another class to audit on Friday, so I'll be prepared to do some more coloring. 

My finished fish

Then it was time to get to work. And just in case you think it's fun taking pictures - it's NOT. I have this giant reflector to get rid of the glare on the sewing machine. Then I toss my camera on a tripod in front of the sewing machine, and guess what? There's no room for me!! But I got what I wanted. Now to edit and write today and then move onto the next topic. 

Taking pictures of a sewing machine

I got a customer quilt done as well. The color of this is so rich and blue. It's beautiful. 

Customer quilt - DONE

 I did trim the remainder of the quarter-square triangles that were sitting on the current projects table. And I pressed and trimmed a few half-square triangles. A few a day - that's what I need to do. 

Some units that got trimmed

I decided I needed to get to work on the red scraps. So I grabbed the red/white box in addition to the two boxes I had already pulled off the shelf. I sorted through the two boxes and took out all the monochromatic reds. Those are in the rightmost tub. The red/white scraps are in the leftmost tub, and everything else is in the middle. Those need to be made into string quilts, but not right now. 

My red scraps are sorted

Again - it feels AMAZING to sort through those scraps in mere MINUTES, not hours. It was a struggle - a HUGE struggle to get things to where I want them to be, but now that I'm there - at least in the sewing studios - it's a breeze to do anything! It may not be spic and span and pretty looking, but it's the most functional it's ever been. I'm thrilled, and every minute that I spend making it so - was so worth it. 

Someday, the office will be the same, but not now, and I now have too much to do to focus on that area. At least for the next couple of weeks. But that's OK. 

I see that I have a few more e-mails to deal with today. All these class sign-ups take some administration time. But I worked out a system there as well, and so I'm good. I did manage to get the third library attached to my account and ordered my book. It's like the password to the live stream. Go back and look at things carefully, and it will happen. So I'm good there. But with the new shut-down rules, will we be allowed to do curbside pickup? Technically no! So we'll see what the library says. I'm not worried as I have loads of books to read here and audiobooks which don't require going to the library. I won't be running out of reading material any time soon. 

I'm down to one and a half sides of binding left on that quilt!! Yeah - a couple more nights and I'll be done and ready to pick a new hand project to work on. Wow -- I'm getting things done, and I'm a happy camper!!!

On that note, I'm out of here. Don't forget to set that time for TEN minutes. You'd be surprised at how much you can tidy up in ten minutes. When we need to tidy in our house, it takes so little time and everything is neat. I LOVE it. Pick an area - any area, and if you want to share your before and after photos, I'd love to share it. Or perhaps you can share the one organization system you have that you're the proudest of. I can post those so others can get inspired as well. 

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!