What's in your basket? And how did you load it?

If you can't beat the system, try a different way. Seriously? This darn bone density pill and I have a love/hate relationship. To remember to take the darn thing, I left my pillbox on the counter yesterday to remind me all day that I needed to take it this morning. Then I put the pillbox on my phone so I would remember first thing this morning. 

Then I had a bad night, couldn't get to sleep, and woke up several times. As a result, I slept in. Now you think that I would take the pill in the middle of the night, but you are not allowed to lie down for 30 minutes after taking it. 

I got up at the time that I would typically make breakfast, so I just threw in the towel. I took the pill, and I'm waiting 30 minutes before I eat. But seriously? This pill is the bane of my existence, and if it ruined my sleep, then I certainly need to do something about it. 

I need to make an appointment for a physical, and I am demanding that they wipe that prescription from my file. I hate the restrictions associated with it, and my brain is rebelling, and I don't need or want that! Another medication does the same thing without the time restrictions. 

I don't care that I am going to throw some of it away to get the one I can take without any restrictions. At this point, the medication isn't doing me any good. 

Phew -- I got that off my chest!

OK -- if you are in my Show and Tell, Forty Shades of Grey, or My Kinda Town class, you should have received an email yesterday from me. If you did not, and I just realized I forgot to do an email search, so I may have missed an email or two, then let me know, and I'll add you to the list. I'm preparing the information email that goes out to the groups, and I hope to get those out soon. 

It took me two hours or perhaps a wee bit more, and I accomplished all the errands that needed to be done by car. Well, almost. I went to return a light from the lighting store and to check on ordering a lighted house sign that they were supposed to get back to me about. I walked up to the counter with my bill and the light, only to see the Return Policy staring at me, which I had not noticed before. Or maybe I did, but it didn't register. TEN days, and it was now 24 days since I purchased the lights. 

I need authorization to return a light, so I sent an email and got a response that YES, I could return the light, so I have to go back on Monday to make that happen. The gentleman thanked me for my order—yes, you should! It wasn't cheap. 

The other light from a different store was returned, no questions asked. But it's a big box store, so that was OK. 

I stopped at Chapters to see if anything new was in. Oh my, the magazine section for knitting and crafts used to be crowded, but it's not so crowded any longer. 

The magazines left in the craft section

I am surprised that the Golden Media titles are still hanging in there. And I notice that the bookstore staff pepper the shelves with books - like the Sashiko book! And I found this on that shelf. Totally unrelated. 

A puzzle book on the craft magazine shelf

I swear, my brain loves puzzles. I decided I needed this book. OK -- so their strategy worked! It's filled with 50 logic puzzles that I LOVE doing. I've been doing those kinds of puzzles since I was a teenager, and well, if I wasn't a quilter, I'd probably have been doing puzzles for years. 

Logic puzzles

One other thing I spotted on the craft shelves was this GIANT book. I've seen and posted about them before, so it's not new, but this one was HUGE. This is a PAPER book - it's literally filled with stickers, mini books, papers, cardstock, etc so you can make journals or whatever else you want to make. 

A paper book

But look at the price!!!!

Ouch!!

I suppose if you want a variety of stuff, it would cost you the same amount if you purchased all those things individually at the craft store. So maybe it's like our quilting kits—pay one price and get it all!

Then I went to the pet store to get dog food for the girls. They do not eat the same food. I winged my way to the back of the store and spotted an employee from the dog food company as she scouted the shelves. I found the two bags of food and whipped them onto the cart. I always turn them upside down on the edge of the cart so the cashier can easily scan the code on the back. 

Then I decided to mention that to the lady from the company. So the heavy bags are placed face up on the shelf. No big deal -- that's where the pretty pictures are. But as I take them off the shelf, I have to turn them over and place them wrong side up in the cart so the pricing label shows. Then, when I go to the cash register, it's an easy job for them to scan it. 

Why can't that scan code be placed on the FRONT of the bag? Then I only have to take the bag off the shelf and put it on the cart. I don't have to rotate the bag. I can manage it, but what if I'm not as strong as I am? More on that in a minute! 

She thanked me, and I headed out. And never drop a heavy bag of dog food INTO the cart—how the heck will you get it out? I balance the two of them on the top! 

When I do my car errands, I have a route. It's about three blocks long, and it's where I buy the big stuff, like dog food, etc. There is a thrift store along that route, and Fabricland and Chapters, etc. So I start at one end and work my way to the other. I hate driving a short distance and then reparking the car, but it's practical that way. 

When I popped into Fabricland to find the bias tape, I spotted a completely empty spool rack. Hmmm --- is that thread on its way out? 

An empty spool rack

From the corner of my eye, I spotted this fabric. It's a stretch velvet with sequins on it that shone as if it belonged to Dolly Parton on a stage with thousands of lights. It was brilliant. The picture doesn't do it justice. 

A bright sparkly fabric

It came in different colors. I have no use for it, but boy was it brilliant. 

I managed to find some bias tape, so I'll use that for my bag. 

The double-fold bias tape

And I found this Clover tool for making jelly roll rugs. I have seen a video of it, and it looks pretty cool. I still have batting strips, so I thought I would try it. 

Clover Fabric Tube Maker

I bought a pack of buttons and placed the three items on the counter. All of them were face up, with the scanning code on the back! The cashier even mentioned that she had to turn them over to scan them!!! I almost died! Well, she was right, but hey, these items were a lot lighter than a bag of dog food! 

Then I was onto Staples, where I dropped off our shredding. I have a drawer in the office where all the personal papers go, and when the drawer is full (it's not a big drawer), then I bundle it up and off it goes. It's usually once a year? Maybe twice this year because I tackled the drawers in the filing cabinet. Yes - I could have a shredder at home, but I found that any shredder we had in the past didn't last long, and it was boring to sit there and shred stuff and then you had to find a home for it. I paid $6 to drop off four pounds of paper. The only negative thing is that you have to shove it through this narrow slot. 

The narrow slot on the paper shredding container

But seriously? I'm getting very good at it and have no issues. So the paper is gone, and that was my last errand. With access to this kind of service, I would NEVER consider having a shredder in the house. 

Wait -- there was one more thing to get. When I returned the second light at the hardware store, I checked for the drill extensions, but I needed to go to the washroom, and I didn't want to make any "major" decisions as there were many options. So I walked to the hardware store near the house in the afternoon. And look what I found! A set of extended screwdriver heads with two extenders. This was exactly what I needed. 

My drill extenders

My drill is old - I didn't spot anything Black and Decker in either store, but the Dewalt ones work just fine. 

And then I got to work on my table. 

Soon, I had most of the leg assembly screwed to the table top. YES—there are cords involved because this table is electric! It is an adjustable height table, and because of the size I wanted and whatever, I couldn't get a crank version for that size. I tested the legs when it was like this, and they work!!! This way, I can sit and sew, or I can raise the table to do machine embroidery! I can't wait to try it out. I still have to tidy up the cords, but I'll do that later. 

The leg assembly is almost done.

Then the leg bases went on, and I waited for DH to get home. I was certain we wouldn't be able to right the table because it was so heavy; I could barely lift one end off the floor. 

The entire leg assembly!

But he used his engineering skills, and we flipped the table on its side and then righted it!!! With two people, it took very little effort. 

My new table

Oh my --- that is a sturdy table. It's supposed to support 450 lbs. I just need it to be stable when doing machine embroidery! I now have to move two machines so this table can slide into the back area of the worktable area. Then I can put one machine on it, and I've started to bring the components of the second table downstairs, and I hope to get it mostly done today. I need to do that while the assembly is still fresh in my mind!!!

But I think I'm going to love them. How will they ever get out of the basement if we move? That's another story!

I got a chucklet earlier in the day as I spotted a gold thread - a long one this time on my quilt top that I was going to work on during the virtual retreat. There's always a gold thread somewhere.

A long gold thread

That new table surface came in very handy last night as I spread my Tequila Lime quilt out so I could remove the paper from the back. It turns out that I was working on the four corners and the four middle sections. At one point, I thought I was done, so I took the quilt into the backyard to shake all the wee bits off. 

Removing paper from Tequila Lime

No - I had done 6 of the 8 sections. But that was good progress, and I was working on the final one last night when we shut the retreat down. I will continue to work on it today, and hopefully I can get the center star points (8) done today. 

There's my little garbage bin of paper. This was near the beginning of the process. 

My bin of paper

And this is what it looked like when I shut down last night! I'll have a mess to clean up when I'm done. So better to get all the paper out in one go and clean up once. 

What a mess to remove paper from a foundation pieced project

And my new turtle is done. I just need to remove the old one from the rest of the block and replace it with the new one. That should be an easy job today. You can actually see the turtle's head now. 

The old turtle and the new

I grabbed this picture from one of the Facebook puzzling groups. This is a small portion of this person's puzzle collection. Mine pales in comparison. 

A small part of someone's puzzle collection

I guess I feel about puzzles the same way I feel about novels. Once you read them, there are so many to read/do; why would you want to reread the book? Or redo the puzzle? Unless it had a very special meaning. Nope -- get the puzzle done, read the book, and GONE!!!!

OK - I waited an hour and just made breakfast. That will work! I'll just change my schedule on Sunday morning and use up those ridiculous pills! 

I noticed people were asking questions about my upcoming Facebook Live on the PFAFF creative icon 3. That was on the Embroidery M.O.M Facebook group, and she reposted my event. Oh my --- no pressure to do a good job! But it's going to be fun, and let's just go with it! 

And yes—we have a Virtual Retreat today, from 3 PM to 9 PM. Here's the link. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89869001291?pwd=h57kT9axwTnd2xtJvuO0z2UOmUo45w.1

Meeting ID: 898 6900 1291
Passcode: 136711

And it's going to be another great day!!! 

Ciao!!!!

Class sign-ups begin!!!!

We all had a decent night. Murphy is content to sleep outside - I just don't get that, but if it keeps her happy, then I'm willing to do it. But should she ever bark, I'll be like the Dad in The Night Before Christmas - "I awoke with a flash and flew to the window and tore open the sash!" That will be me! But so far, so good. And when I brought her in around 5 AM (that's kind of the witching hour for raccoons), she was happy to sleep in Lexi's bed, but when she wanted some attention, there was one somewhat subdued BARK at the top of the stairs! 

So she is learning to cope - she doesn't ask or attempt to go through the barricade at the top of the stairs. OH WAIT - I need to take pictures of my barricades. I'll do that for tomorrow. So all is good. Needless to say, I was a happy camper yesterday because I had a decent sleep. I accomplished a lot, and, well, I just felt good. We don't have a perfect workaround yet, but we are getting there. 

You all know that when Murphy wants to go for a walk, she likes to walk very fast. The one "positive" from her slowing down is that she's not so keen on pulling on the leash. No kidding. The pressure she put on her legs to pull like she did was insane. 

And by the time we headed home, she was getting a wee bit tired, which you can see by all the slack in that leash. I swear she was walking like a properly trained dog on a loose leash! 

Mom - I'm a wee bit tired

Can you believe that it's August? Where has the year gone? Just flying past, or do we just forget that we have lived all those days! Lots has happened, the days are full, so no wonder it goes by quickly. BUT lately, when walking in the forest, I hear PLOP PLOP PLOP. Hmmm—it's not time, but yes, it is!! The squirrels are harvesting their acorns, and some of them are plopping on the ground. 

The acorns are ready for harvest.

These ones look a bit green still, but those squirrels are having a grand time! 

I did spend a bit of time (OK - all morning) dealing with paperwork and managed to clear some of the backlog, so that made me feel quite happy. I hope to put out a small stack each day and get on top of it again. Once I get to it, it's not so bad, but miss one day? Yikes!!!

When I pulled those boxes out with all my early-memory things, I noticed I had kept some of the work things I had done. I know -- why? Well, I was a newly minted MBA, and I wanted to show how useful I could be by generating reports after studying how people worked in the office. I guess, at the time, I felt it was worth keeping! 

My first report at a newly minted MBA!!!

That report was quite thick, but it was mostly the backup data that took up all the space. 

That's a thick report!

But I put these details here so my spreadsheet-loving friends know that I was once capable of generating all sorts of tables and charts and knew how to massage the data!! 

Charts and graphs in my report

Actually, this was Lotus 1-2-3, which I had used quite extensively. I used to work at a bank, and we used spreadsheets to assess traffic at specific branches to see which had the least traffic and so on. 

It's just that using a spreadsheet to track some of the stuff that people track - that's not in my vocabulary. I know you can create input forms and generate nice output, but I'm not taking the time to do that! I don't need that level of sophistication!

Anyway, the report is now in the recycling bin! Yes, when I put something like this in the recycling bin, I remove the pages that are still blank on one side for printing. I have a nice little pile beside my desk. I remove the coil binding, put it in the garbage, and put the double-printed pages in the recycling. 

Miss Murphy is quite happy to spend a good part of the day outside, and the side of the house seems to be her go-to place. But why does she lie like this? She has always slept this way, but you would think with her leg that she wouldn't be comfortable, but if she's happy, then I'm happy. 

On guard if anything should come through the gate!

So the next block of the Down on the Farm (Sew Fresh Quilts) is done! While I'm behind in the pattern testing, I think the pattern will be available for purchase in the near future. 

The dragonfly and bullrush block

So whose idea was it to use DIRECTIONAL fabric for the pond? I found this water-looking fabric and thought it would be a great idea! And it is, but it was a challenge to cut the variety of shapes needed. And when I put the dragonfly block in its place, all the water was going in the opposite direction to what it needed to be. Thankfully, that was easily fixed by rotating the block so that the dragonfly faced left rather than right. PHEW!!!!!

BUT -- I have no idea how Lorna even went about designing that dragonfly. It's an engineering feat to be sure. Sew on a square with a diagonal seam, add two more pieces, then another diagonal seam and VOILA - a dragonfly. OK -- it's a lot more complicated than that, but seriously - these blocks are creatively designed. 

And now there are my five blocks so far. I'm almost done with the 6th block, and I hope to get the entire middle row completed today. It's doable as I have NOTHING else on my agenda!!!

My five blocks so far for the farm quilt

I have sewn a LOT of enders and leaders together in making the quilt so far. And I'm using up those little triangles, and now I have a lot of things to press and trim. I'm OK to leave that because I want to focus on getting this quilt top together. 

A huge stack of triangles to press and trim

Hmmm -- I was wondering what to do with this quilt, and I have a second cousin who just turned one. Maybe it would be good for him. I wonder if Mom would appreciate it, though. If I were going to teach this quilt, well, I could take some pictures now and use the pattern to help people through it. Hmm -- got some thinking to do about that. 

This is my setup as I sew the blocks. I printed out the cutting charts because it's much easier to check off the pieces as I cut and sew them. But the pattern is 25 pages in total, so I have downloaded it to my iPad and then follow along. It's working very well, and when I need to zoom in to see some of the very small bits, it's easy as pie!

My setup for sewing the blocks

I have to use the mini design boards sparingly, as I have three in use with my current puzzle!! I managed to get some work done on it last night, but it's a challenge. 

OK - so you are wondering what happened with my appointment at The Sports Clinic. Well, in all honesty, what my doctor told me years ago is basically the same advice I got yesterday! STRENGTHEN and STRETCH!!!!!! 

Yes, I have arthritis in my knees. Actually, I didn't ask how bad it was, but it doesn't seem to be an issue, which I knew. My joints are OK, except they get stiff if I sit for a prolonged period. But if I move them while sitting (and NEVER cross my legs), they are good when I stand up. 

After much manipulation and testing for strength in my legs, she decided that my main issue is the sciatic nerve in my left leg. That is an issue that I've had for 16 years, and of course, it has gotten worse. The first time it reared its head, and it may have actually been just a muscle cramp, was on a bicycle trip. I believe I mentioned that a couple of months ago. 

It has flared up over the years but not constantly. Now it's a constant and very annoying. Thankfully, she says it's coming from my glutes, NOT my lower back, since I don't have issues there. It can be "fixed" by doing some strength training. I have a good range of motion in my joints, although the muscles around them are tight, and she said the main issue seems to be my left hip, not my knees. The joint is fine - it's the muscles around the hip that are weak. 

I got a series of 12 exercises to do and will go over them with a physiotherapist to ensure I'm doing them OK. 

But you are going to laugh -- no, you shouldn't be laughing because I have been telling you this for months. Look at this exercise. 

Exercises for strengthening

Do you see what the second one down is? They call it Chair Squats - I call it Stand Up/Sit Down!!!!! 

Get off your chair and do 100! And try not to lean forward - try to keep your upper body posture straight! That's my downfall!

I MUST find a way to incorporate this into my daily routine, or however often the physiotherapist recommends. I MUST regain strength in my hip and quads to relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve and the tendons in my knees. I know this and have known it for a while, but it's not until someone tells you that you resign yourself to making it happen. 

I do not want surgery unless absolutely necessary (that was never the goal of this quest), and I do not want to lose my independence (that was my proactive goal). I also need to strengthen my core and improve my posture. If I start now, I can keep my independence that much longer. How important is that to me? I will need to remind myself of that daily! If I wait, I'll be in trouble. 

I was at the grocery store and spotted these Lego sets. Oh my—they have Lego for everything. 

Lego set at the grocery store.

And they keep up to date with trends. See the mountain bike with the fat tires? I got a chuckle from that. 

Fat-tired mountain bike!

Well, there are phone calls to make today, and emails to send, and just the usual stuff. 

I want to remind everyone that I am now officially opening registration for the fall classes. You can find the details in this blog post. If you need the 40 Shades of Grey pattern, let me know. And YES, I confirmed with Thimbles and Things, and you will be able to sign up for the scrap class once she posts it on her website. She has NOT prepped that yet, but if you are signed up for her twice-weekly newsletter, you will receive a notification about the class and a link to sign up. That will likely happen mid-August. 

For the other classes, please send me an email (preferably one email per class so I can file them in the appropriate folder) and include the class title in the subject line. I've been filing the ones that have come in so far, and hopefully I haven't missed anyone. I'll be scouring email to ensure that I've got everything. 

Confirmations will occur around the third week of August, and at that time you'll receive a supply list and any other information you need. I want to warn you that I have to reschedule the classes scheduled for October 17 (I think that is the date), and I need to do that today. 

On that note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a wonderful day!!

Ciao!!!

To-Do Lists

I see I am not the only one who pushes the long arm to the limits! Yes—you can get away with minimal excess on the backing, BUT only if it is your quilt and you are the operator! It's fiddly, and you must babysit that thing along all the edges! And sometimes things happen, like when the pin (I no longer use clamps) that holds the elastic grip on the side gets caught on the machine bed. I had to do a wee bit of ripping yesterday. But not a big deal because I was standing there and could press STOP. But if I hadn't been there? It would have been a big mess!

Have you ever noticed how so many little things accumulate on your "to-do" list? Just things around the house that need to be put away, fixed, or whatever. It drives me mad, and I finally had to write out a list (a long one) this morning so nothing would be forgotten. I hate having a long list. 

Here is the next community project quilt - done. This one was tight along the sides, and I had to join a small strip of batting on the end. But it's done and trimmed! That is number four of eleven. 

Community project quilt - number 4 of 11

And then I spent quite a bit of time making the backing for the next one. There are three different fabrics in this one. Some of the fabrics were strips, so it took some time to join them. It looks just fine, and it's helping to use up those flannel bits that are hanging around. The batting is also pieced and ready to go, but this one will get quilted tomorrow, so I'm ahead of the game!

The backing for the community project quilt #5

While I'm babysitting the quilt, I'm also trying to clear up those tables - yet again. This is a constant job. Anyway, I have the Trendtex challenge sitting there. I came up with an idea pretty much before I ordered the kit. I missed the April 30 deadline for the quilt to be judged. And I knew the deadline for it to be in the auction was coming up. I checked that date yesterday. Hmm -- May 20. I guess I won't be making a Trendtex challenge (for Quilt Canada in June). You know what? I'm OK with that. I took all the fabrics, put them in their respective color baskets, and tossed the paperwork. 

The Trendtex Challenge kit

I removed the Trendtex challenge tag from the Visual To-Do list and wrote on the back that I did not complete it. Am I upset? Not in the least. Things happen. I find that with this particular challenge, the fabrics are always very difficult to work with, not only in the type of fabric (the one on the left is a heavier weight than the other cotton ones), but also in the colors. 

Personally, I'd like to see a more cohesive coloring that would make it easier to blend (you can't add any extra fabrics), and perhaps more people would participate. Well, they typically get close to 100 quilts, so maybe they don't need or want more people to participate. Bottom line -- it didn't happen for me this year, and I'm OK with that. 

I typically participate in two challenges a year: Trendtex and Cherrywood. I'm not always a fan of Trendtex's fabrics, and the Cherrywood is getting so expensive. I think I might refrain from doing them in the future. I like making challenge quilts, so I may decide to make my own challenge. I'll have to think of a theme and go from there. Hmm --- what could the topic be? Or the fabric? 

Then I found this small table mat that was hanging around. I had used an orphan block (from a raffle quilt for the Brampton Quilter's Guild - many years ago) and tried a new edge finishing. The piece is completely done, and why is it still hanging around? So it went in the binding sample box, and one more thing off the table. 

A small table mat is complete.

And I stitched the final two half-square triangles from that group I was working on the other day, and those are now put away. 

The final two HSTs from a group

All these little things take up a lot of time and mental energy! But I wanted to get back to those two winter quilts. I decided to bypass the appliqué for a bit and settled on the next two blocks, which required a TON of half-square triangles!

This is what I accomplished last night. I finished an audiobook while I was working. If the book is good, that keeps me sewing. If the book is long and boring, then I struggle to stay focused! I know - abandon those books, but I can't!

Working on HSTs for my quilt

But I know why I work in groups of four! I start with a group of squares for the half-square triangles and sew one side of the pairs. And while you can't see it in this photo, the projection setting on the PFAFF creative icon 2 makes it so fast, with ZERO marking! I love that and will never (hopefully) be without a sewing machine with that feature! 

Sewing one side of the squares for the HSTs

Then, so it isn't totally boring and repetitive, I turn the row around and sew the second seam on two squares. Then I cut them apart, press, and trim. 

Working in a group of four

Last night, I finished one book and started another, and I thought it was going to be a bore, but it's quite interesting. I'll tell you a bit more in a minute. So I was on a roll, sewing, pressing, and trimming to my heart's content, and continued this morning.

Lots of trimming of HSTs

I also decided to tackle one more group of HSTs that had already been sewn. So, while I worked on four HSTs for my project, I pressed four of the other HSTs and trimmed the two sets simultaneously. 

And look how many of this group I got trimmed!! I was pretty pleased with my progress. And before you know it, I will be done with this group. 

Trimming another group of HSTs

As for the HSTs for my block, I got this many done! I'm over halfway done, and I should be able to make short work of those. I certainly can't count, though. I had to manually calculate how many squares I needed, and I ended up cutting way too many! 

Progress on the HSTs for my winter quilt

I'm determined to use up these meds that the doctor gave me. The one that requires me to take it at least 30 minutes before eating. The boxes had been sitting on the cutting table all week. And last night, when I closed up shop, I put the container right in the middle of the cutting mat. So it was easy this morning to take the pill, and I consolidated all the pills into one box, which I will leave on the cutting mat. It's now so ingrained in my head that if I forget, well, let's see what happens!

I remembered to take the pill!

Last night, I took some time to work on the puzzle. I find this is a tough one, and with lots of birds and flowers, it's going to be a challenge. I still have not found all the border pieces! But slow and steady! 

Progress on the bird puzzle

I was going to work on the table assembly, but the first step of the instructions, which I had not looked at before, said to lay the tabletop upside down. Oh— I guess I need to bring the tabletop downstairs. A job for later today. 

The other job I had to do was clean the printer's print heads. The blue one is clogged, and I need to print something that requires all colors to work. 

Trying to clean the print heads

I Googled it to see what I could use from around the house, as I don't have an official cleaning kit. I used rubbing alcohol, and it didn't work the first time. So I soaked the heads again, and we'll see what happens. If that doesn't work, I'm just buying a new printer. This one is quite old, and I can't connect the app to my new computer, so it may just be telling me it's time. I hate to get rid of it since it still works, but not the blue ink, which is OK for printing text but not for anything in color. The problem is that we don't print much, so of course, the print heads are going to get clogged. Hmmm -- I need to figure out something, even if we get a new printer, the same thing will happen eventually. 

The print heads

Do you think Murphy is trying to tell me something? She just looks so dejected. How could you not grab the ball and throw it a couple of times? 

MOM - I'm so bored!!!!

And then when she decides she needs a nap, it's RIGHT where I need to stand when I'm on the long arm. Oh, Murphy—we love you, but you can be a bit too demanding!

MOM - I'm exhausted from playing ball

I swear that children would be less of an issue than she is! But we love her to death! 

When I went for my afternoon walk, I spotted some lilacs that were just coming into bloom. I love how they smell! It started off as a warmish day, then it rained, and we did get some sun, but it never got to the point where you wanted to sit outside. Which is probably a good thing, although I have several jobs that can be done anywhere, so I won't mind sitting outside. 

Lilacs in bloom

Let me tell you about the audiobook I started yesterday. It's called The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure by James Redfield. I'm not sure where I got the recommendation to read this book, but it's been on my HOLD list for well over one year. It's kind of a philosophy/spiritual book, but it's a novel, and I was a bit apprehensive as I started to read. Yes -- it's very contrived, but it does have some very good messages (about life and the earth), and I'm actually enjoying it a lot! Who knew! It's better than women suffering at the hands of their husbands or fathers. 

I was very curious about the book because of the long wait, and I just had a peek at its reviews. There are a lot of cheesy things about the book, and as I mentioned, it's very contrived, but if you look past that, there are a lot of good messages about our planet and how we interact with it. And without saying anything like "forest bathing," he talks about the energy one gets from nature! I couldn't agree more! 

After this one, I have two more audiobooks on my shelf, and then I can release something that is on suspend hold, or I might just get that murder mystery and enjoy the break! 

I have two things to take care of on the Visual To-Do list, which shouldn't take long, and then I'll share a before (January 1) and after (now). I've made good progress, but I still have a lot of things to do this year. I truly believe they are all doable this year, and I shall continue to work on them. It's been a great tool to allow me to focus. 

I didn't see the fish at all yesterday, and I'm starting to remove more debris from the bottom of the pond. There is a LOT of dirt and leaves in the bottom of the section without the lilies, and I am determined to get most of it out this year. Trust me, I'm checking very carefully that I'm not accidentally scooping up one of my expensive fish! 

Well, I'm off to tackle that massive list of things that need to be done. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!