What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I goofed!!! The painted eyes on Cathy's raccoons were done by Cloe, not Colette! Cathy has way too many quilting friends and sisters—I can't keep them straight! Thanks for the correction!

There was one thing that I wanted to check for at the old farmhouse to see if I could find it. I had found a flat box of paper dolls a couple of years ago. I set it aside, and as we rushed to leave the house with our other treasures, I left it on top of a cupboard. The next time I went, I didn ...

OH -- I'm a scammer! I did NOT dust any teapots yesterday! 

I arrived at the apartment and decided to work on the binding (edge) of that hexagon quilt while I finished drinking my tea. I'm a slow drinker. 

Well, then, we got a call that someone (the lady who used to rent the farm) was coming to visit, so that preempted any teapot dusting. Once she and her new beau left (her husband has passed away), it was time to head out to visit one more aunt, and well, there just wasn't time to dust those teapots ...

 If you read yesterday's post, you saw at the very end a note that the technician was on his way to the house. WAY ahead of schedule—he was scheduled to come in the afternoon but arrived at 9:30 AM instead. I quickly notified my SIL, who had just gotten out of the shower. 

Well, it's hard to believe, but the technician fixed the problem and was gone before we even knew what happened. I told you—those tech guys are smart!!! 

The issue? I'll try to tell the story in a few sentences. At DH ...

I am not going to get into the details of what each phone call to my service provider has entailed, but it is incredible that each time, the story has been different. What I find shocking is that each person doesn't know the entire story, or doesn't know the product very well. 

I've been like a dog with a bone this time, just because. It's definitely been a test of my patience, and in the past I would get angry, raise my voice (OK -- I'm being very polite when I say that), and I decided ...

 OH MY GOSH --- I feel like I'm sleeping in my nephew's basement. WAIT --- I am sleeping in a basement -it's not my nephew's. My host is a single, youngish man (used to be a bank manager, now drives a school bus, from India), and well, it's rather a very bizarre situation, but I feel perfectly safe, and you just learn to roll with the punches. 

It's all a good lesson to book a hotel in advance, because you never know when a rodeo is coming to town! 

And the house is in a decent ...

I'm so sorry to everyone for switching the dates around for the Virtual Retreats! I had to because I'm away this coming weekend, and the same is true for November. I could let you all have fun having a virtual retreat without me, which I've had to do occasionally, but if I can switch it, I will. I try to give advance notice, but I don't think I did for October. 

Someone gave me a Waterpik challenge—I need to get one first. But I will let you know that I flossed my teeth last night ...

Thanks for the ideas about getting rid of the stamps. It's summer time, so I'm not going to worry about them for the moment, but yes - even my Mom said - I guess it's a fad, and no one does that stuff anymore. 

She's right, and she recognizes that --- there is a silver lining in the fact that she acknowledges that. But it doesn't help to get rid of this stuff. Although I listed a grouping of them on one site and received a bite, I'm dropping off a bag of stamps this morning. I ...

Hmmm - about the manual shifting in the car. I'm not so sure it's "manual" shifting because you have to change from reverse to drive or park. I am not accustomed to driving a North American car, and I find it awkward. I'm always trying to remember how to get into reverse and then into drive. With most automatic vehicles, you simply turn a knob or shift the gear stick to shift into each gear. With this one, getting into each gear requires a DIFFERENT move of the stick. I'm definitely not a fan. But no worries ...

It's kind of nice to have some "spare" time to do nothing. LOL -- that never happens in my life, but I'm technically on vacation, even though I have loads of stuff that needs to be done and there's stuff that I should be doing now, like ordering a couple of things I need for my upcoming vacation. I'm going to try to make that happen this morning. 

My 2019 Corolla had a safety feature that prevented the car from moving without the seatbelt being fastened, and I thought it was a strange feature. Our new vehicle ...

GRRRRR --- I still can't figure out how the darn shower works, so I have to lower myself to ask again. I've twisted and turned everything, and NOTHING works. NO instructions on the wall! It will be some silly little thing that I've overlooked, but good lord! Just make a shower with a pull knob that works! 

I don't like this room anyway, as it's on the ground floor. It's not my favorite place. I'll ask for a different room next time. I won't worry about it—there are many other things that ...

Wow -- those AI bots are creepy. It's incredible how they can drill down into one of my posts and pick out something like CNC when I don't even mention it! It's a crazy world!

Anyway, I was in the car early and made it to class on time, but not before stopping at Walmart to find some stuff for my Mom. I almost completed the mission, but I will try the local store here to see if I can find the last color of yarn she wanted. 

What's even more bizarre is that once I connected ...

And then this happened. I was up early, wrote the blog, gave the dogs a short walk, called an Uber, and soon was at the airport! I know!!! Don't worry - I had at least 20 minutes before the luggage cutoff time.

I see they have new check-in kiosks at the airport, and they are nice. And they WORK!!! So I was able to print my two bag tags with zero problems. Actually, it wasn't the printing of the tags that was an issue in the past; I couldn't get the darn thing to recognize me. But with ...

It makes me chuckle while I'm here. Whenever I come, I think, "That's it—we've got everything figured out." Then I return, only to find that new things have popped up. These things are simple to us, but to aging parents—one housebound, with a mindset still in the 40s, and the other who doesn't like change—life is a challenge. 

It's so bizarre because my Dad is into computers, and you would think he would be fascinated by the self-checkouts and ATMs, but NO - he wants human contact when he shops. So, there will ...

I'm home! I can't even call it a travel day since I did a lot during the day and my flight was at 7:15 p.m. The plane arrived, and we left early. We arrived 22 minutes early last night, but with the time change, I wasn't home until 1 a.m. I think a nap will be in order today!

We arrived at the same gate we left at, and let's say the airport was deserted at that late hour. Another flight had arrived shortly before us, and our baggage was coming at the ...

Someone asked what will happen to the house. Actually, there are two houses on the property. One is the original house that my parents moved to the farm when they bought it in 1956. Hmm—I had better check that date—but it's somewhere in that era. Perhaps I can ask Mom today because I probably know, but yet I don't know. 

That house was heated with a wood kitchen stove and two oil burners—one in the living room and one in one of the bedrooms. There was no bathroom and no running water. I lived there ...

Thanks for the stories in the comments. I've mentioned this before, but I'm not alone in dealing with hoarding issues. I hate to say that it runs in the family since my parents both have issues. All three siblings have hoarding tendencies, and I see it in M. I found an interesting article about hoarding—check it out because it's interesting. 

Hoarding is now being labeled as a branch of mental illness and is widely discussed, and some companies will come and get rid of the stuff, etc. But it's only recently in my world I ...

Wow!!! There's a powerful story in yesterday's comments about cleaning out a house in ONE day. We've been at it for 8 years! But only sporadically, of course. 

I can't stress enough that you need to start looking around now. I don't care if you acquire new stuff but think about what you no longer need and get rid of that. Saying I don't care and will let my kids worry about it is irresponsible. Why should your kids deal with your mess? If you think it's too overwhelming, how will they feel ...

Wow!!!! What a day! We spotted one coyote and one moose on the way to the farm. There were never moose in this area, but their habitat is changing, so I guess they are in the area now. We also have bears -the big kind, but I haven't seen any here, although I had a dream about them last night. Little Bear, meeting a real bear! 

However, the most "exciting" critters I met were SIX ticks. I found one on my forehead while taking a break, one in the truck on the way home, and another on my head ...

There seem to be many travel days in my life, but this was a pretty uneventful one and I'm thankful for that. 

Off to the airport nice and early and as I lugged a large suitcase out the door as the Uber was close by, Miss Murphy decides that she NEEDS to come with me. Ah -- NO Murphy, no dogs allowed. I thought I was going to have trouble getting her back in the house, but she's a good girl and reluctantly came back inside. 

I practically skipped through the security line. That NEXUS card (priority through the ...

It was a very productive day. It was one of those days that fit me to a T. Minimal planning for the day had been done, but yet, it was like the stars were aligned, and EVERYTHING And EVERYONE we wanted to see or do got done! I was mentally exhausted at the end of the day, but so much progress was made. 

And everywhere you go, you meet people! That's the beauty (or not) of living in a small town. It doesn't matter where you go - you meet people! So, all around, it was a great day ...