Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 3:42 pm on November 20, 2019 Permalink  

  We’ve Got This 

  Keeping busy is a slam dunk for the two older ones on Stauffer Avenue.  

  The first thing on the agenda for me was to take a long walk on the Hammond Highway just north of our driveway.  My favorite place to walk as it is a hard surface road and the shoulders are wide.  Right now Stauffer Avenue is a mud trail.  I do not enjoy cleaning off my walking shoes as they are also my favorite shoes to be in the sewing studio.  Lena always warned that standing on concrete floors with poor shoes would make the legs ache later on.  She was a firm believer that the legs would draw bad moisture from the bare concrete.

  With us having a different vehicle in the garage this year, Dennis had ample room to work on his wood project.  It also is right by the furnace register, so he stays warm with just a shirt on.  This particular shirt of his has been on a few other paint projects.  Dennis admits it might take him a while as there is no end to the paint layers he is finding.

  The pinwheel quilt blocks are twirling right along.  The quest is to have all the points meet in the middle.  It’s all about the consistent seam allowance.  I know I will be raiding the scrap box before long as it is taking a lot of pieces.  I am fussy about using 100% cotton throughout.  I am not fussy about the combination of colors.  Hey!  It’s a scrappy quilt.

  We’ve got this!  We will keep each other busy in the coming months.  Life of Stauffer is very sweet.    

   

   
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  Noreen 4:14 pm on November 19, 2019 Permalink  

  My Solo Day 

  There were appointments to be kept.  The alarm was set and it served both of us well as today is Dennis’ coffee date day with the fellows at McDonald’s.

  My first appointment was at eight at physical therapy.  I have assured Mike that the pack mule antics of mine that have included outside work and most recently the fall house cleaning work is now completed.  It’s time to chill, jell and whatever it takes to take it a bit easier.  I am sorry, but in regards to the house cleaning, when I know what is visible, you dang well know there is more that cannot be seen until you clear the area.  I have seen, I have attacked and I have conquered.  From here on in, as of November 15, 2019, we are now collecting new dirt and new dust bunnies.

  In May I had a procedure that took out and off skin cancer on my right facial cheek.  Today was my six month checkup.  A total body scan was done.  When all was said and done, within my medical records, there was a photo gallery of various moles with the sizes noted.  I will be going back again in six months to see if there is an indication that one or any of them are suspect and have changed in color or size.  Fair skinned, blue eyed and with a tinge of auburn in my hair in my earliest days . . . the checkup will be honored.

  When Dennis went for coffee, he was curious as to how much rain we had had over the ten hours that it came down.  Who knew!  No one had a rain gauge up for this time of the season.  The glass ones are the best and the glass ones tend to break if any moisture is left in it during freezing temps.  We live in ignorance and I am O.K. with that . . . on so many levels.

   
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  Noreen 4:36 pm on November 18, 2019 Permalink  

  Hum in the Air 

  Today on Stauffer Avenue there is a hum that can be heard.  He doesn’t stay at it for a long period of time.  He assured me, he is making strides.  With that he was off to have coffee and run a few enrrands.

  With mild temps, the humming outside was Dennis was using his sander on his project of refinishing an old highchair.  It’s been a long time since the sander was out of the cabinet in the garage.  Most of the chair is turned spindles.  The flat areas were a treat.  It will take quite a bit of hand work and patience on the rest.  Dennis does know that it is pine wood throughout.

  I had the sewing machine humming in the sewing studio.  Sewing a bit and then some pressing, keeps the body moving rather than getting stiff or sore from doing one motion for too long.

  Dennis came home from the afternoon out and he reported that it was raining.  I had not stuck my head out from the lower level.  There were meds for Dennis to pick up at Lewis drug.  Most of his prescriptions are for a three months supply.  The labels before insurance would have been $63.89 for four prescriptions.  After insurance was applied it was $15.63 for the four prescriptions.  One prescription is filled by the VA pharmacy in Minneapolis.  The Gabapentin for three months is $12.00, which is a huge savings from filling it here at Lewis Drug.  Dennis is set for three months.

  Raining weather indicates it will be tomato soup with grilled cheese and ham sandwiches.

   
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  Noreen 4:22 pm on November 17, 2019 Permalink  

  November Rain 

  The rain that we had overnight has taken all the snow away.  The gloomy weather is still a good trade off to allow us to start fresh with snow cover.

  Dennis has always taken several cookies with him into the patio porch with his early morning coffee.  My feelings were that with his morning pills that he takes right after getting out of bed, there had to be something in that stomach other than pills to irritate the stomach lining.  This morning, all I had to send him off with was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  The cookie jar was naked.

  There needed to be some baking done this afternoon.  I made a pan of lemon brownies.  Same recipe that I use for brownies, only adding lemon flavorings to make a yellow colored batter.  It did make the house smell like there was a wana-be Martha Stewart on the premises. 

  After kitchen duty was done, I headed into the sewing studio.

  I started using scraps last fall for a scrappy quilt.  It was put on hold while I worked on Carrie’s skate towels.  I worked on the scraps while I was on the quilt retreat. Then again they were again put on hold for an embroidery project.  Today those scraps were whacked at again.  After doing some sewing, a break was needed to see just exactly would be needed to make a double sized quilt top.  Sixteen various scraps sewn together to make a ten inch block that will be an eight point pinwheel design.  I always am up for a challenge. 

  The pinwheel design takes me back to the vinyl pinwheels that were attached onto two foot round dowels allowing the pinwheels to rotate at will.  Carrie and Kevin would run with them to make the pinwheels twirl in a fairyland of colors so fast there was not one individual color that could be picked out.  Fond memories of innocent times.    

  It will be some time before there are enough scraps cut and sewn for the quilt top.  My goal is to have a scrappy pinwheel quilt backed with warm fussy flannel completed for my bed in November of 2020.  The quilt that I made for Dennis’ bed is backed with flannel and is wonderful.  The flannel on the back does not allow for the quilt to shift off of the sheet while the body moves during sleep.  I learned that trick from my sister-in-law, JoAnn.  Sewers are never too old to learn a trick of the trade.  

  Time to close down the sewing studio and get supper going.  Hmm.  Fixing meals . . . not so much fun anymore.  I’d like to wiggle my nose and have it appear on the table to enjoy.

  The rain has done its duty of taking the snow cover away.  We could do with a break on having new snow.

   
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  Noreen 4:04 pm on November 16, 2019 Permalink  

  It is Going Well 

  A good Saturday with good weather outside.  My day is going well.  Laundry done and a chauffeured trip to the grocery store . . . can’t beat it.  I picked up the ingredients that I needed to try out a new cheesy cauliflower dish for Thanksgiving.  Got it done for supper and time will tell.  There will be some beef meatballs to go with it this evening.  Slam dunk and even got the dishes done.  I always make quite a mess in the kitchen . . . even more so with my T-Rex arms and shoulders that don’t reach as well as they once did. 

  Dennis is hatching a project for himself in the garage.  That meant that we also needed to stop for a can of Zip Strip.  There has been an old wooden highchair in the patio porch for a number of years.  I paid five dollars for it at a garage sale on a day when Lois and Calvin had come to see us and Lois and I made a few stops up the street.  That was before they moved to Iowa.  Ya . . . it’s been in the porch for awhile.

  I had such success with my green lamp shade that I painted yesterday with semi-gloss interior paint, I decided to so the second hanging lamp shade in Dessert Stone . . . which is actually a lavender.  The semi-gloss paint was used in the bathroom quite a few years ago. 

  There are now plans underway that call for me to get our supper going and then I am off the clock for the day.  There is a good schedule of PBS shows that come on at seven.  Dennis has gotten hooked on them as well.  They are mysteries and the best part is that there are no commercials.  

  Sure hope everyone had a day that went well for them . . . as I did.

   

   
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  Noreen 5:57 pm on November 15, 2019 Permalink  

  That Was Then 

  I can vividly remember when there was a lamp purchased in my parent’s home, the plastic protection that was on it when it was chosen in the store remained on it for the entire life of the lamp.  I can still see the cellophane glisten in the light that came into the room

  Today’s homes bear those shades.  We have several hanging reading lamps.  They have been in our home for the last twenty years.  They came with the pleated shades that must have been dipped several times in corn starch.

  As of this late afternoon, one of the cream colored shades is now a wonderful soft hue of green.  What did I have to loose.  I had paint left over from doing some painting in the living room several years ago. It was time for a make-over.  That may well be the depth of my remodeling this season.  Time will tell after the paint is dry, if the paint dries, and if the soaking of the latex paint does not turn the shade into a limp mass on a metal frame.  I feel quite positive about this and . . . then it will be put back onto the hanging lamp that is above our computer.  We are moving on to a more eclectic stance in home decor. 

  I really appreciate this mild weather.  It gives hope that winter will resume to being normal for this time of year.

   
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  Noreen 5:14 pm on November 14, 2019 Permalink  

  Poked a Fat Hog 

  Do not know where the phrase “you sure poked a fat hog in the butt” came from.  I do know that the inference of that phrase meant a situation had been caused that was not going to be dealt with easily.

  Of course, that is just the type of situation that I caused today.  Me! No surprises there. Dennis has a great shop vac that is lightweight with a ton of suction.  The vac can sit in one spot as the hose is fourteen feet long.  Today Dennis brought it into the house and I was determined to vacuum all the upholstered furniture.  When the dust on flat surfaces can be used as a writing tablet . . . you get the rest of the story.

  We had cleaned the cold air returns on the furnace a while back.  Why we didn’t do the heat runs at the same time is a mystery.  The registers with their metal fins needed a good cleaning with hot sudsy water.  I made sure to take the attachment off of the vacuum hose, so as to not loose it, and poked the hose down as far as it would go into the heat run to take in whatever loose dust could be had.  Sweet!   

  It was so sweet, I couldn’t get the hose back out of the heat run.  Quite a length of it had gone down quite easily.  Dennis came to do a quick rescue.  Not so quick.  It would not budge.  The hose was blessed, I got a bit of blessing and the situation got a bit heated.  Twisting the hose at bit this way and that way did give hope that we could get it all the way out.  Finally, Dennis had his arm into the heat run far enough to feel the end of hose.  The hose came out . . . it didn’t come out alone.  A screw driver had been the hold up.  The twisting of the hose had gotten the screwdriver so it was being sucked into the hose in the correct way rather than being wedged.  

  Our heat runs are round, prior to the nice rectangle lengths that are in most homes today.  This screwdriver had been waiting to be rescued for a long time.  That heat run was the first I had tackled and I did not misunderstand Dennis in the warning I got when doing the remaining ones. 

  We got through the rest of the day without further complications.  The shop vac is back where it belongs and I have had a very good day closing down the last of the fall housecleaning.  I got’er done Mom.  Lena would not have been dealing with heat runs.  In her early days, it would have been the remains of burning wood for heat.

   
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  Noreen 4:44 pm on November 13, 2019 Permalink  

  ABS Light 

  When we had been in Mankato for a birthday party, the ride home prompted an ABS light that came one.  Dennis made an appointment with the repair shop for today.  It was all about a wheel bearing that needed to be replaced.  The poor performance of that wheel bearing linked to the Automatic Braking System light to give us fair warning that all was not good.  Quick service and this afternoon the little red pickup is ready for any type of a road trip.

  It was mild out today.  Too bad the sun couldn’t have come out of the clouds and really given us a feeling that it did get into the 30s today.  Lots of slush on the streets.  

  I hunkered down into the sewing studio for most of the day.  It was time to get some stitching designs organized into folders on the “C” drive of my computer and then get them copied onto individual flash drives for ease of finding them.  It was a lengthy task but well worth the time.  If too many design collections are on a singe flash drive it literally drives the sewing machine down to a crawl as it reads through the folders on the flash drive.  I have decided to have each collection on its individual unit as much as possible.  I am getting close to making use of today’s effort in working with the red velvet to do some embroidery.

  The mail brought a package from Amazon today.  With not having good vision for some sewing work in the recent past, I had broken needles in excess of what I had in all of the last five years.  300 hundred needles of the same brand that I have been using for a total cost of $33.99 in comparison to purchasing them in the quilt shops at $1.69 each.  300 needles in three different sizes.  Not to worry, local shops still get a goodly amount of business from me.  One of my stitching gals had clued me onto the needles as well as ordering 100 yards of the tear away stabilizer for the same amount as to what a 10 yard roll would locally cost.  I had burned through quite a bit of it with the skating towels.  I am set for the long cold winter with a goodly amount of supplies. 

  Time to shut off the lights in the sewing studio and work on supper.

   
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  Noreen 4:20 pm on November 12, 2019 Permalink  

  A Red Letter Day 

  Yippee!  A truly red letter day.  After three months and twelve days, I am at 20/20 vision.  I had not thought it would take this long.  Listening to what medical experts advise is the best route to take.  The prescription is not as strong as previous.  It just plain feels wonderful to have these sitting on my nose.  What a blessing.  May I never have other vision problems.  May I never forget what a blessing 20/20 is.

  The other portion of this red letter day is literal.  After visiting with the stitch group yesterday, I felt encouraged with the red velvet that is left from the SantaVS restoration.  I went online and watched some YouTube in regard to embossing on velvet using the wooden stamps that have rubber on the back of them that I used in creating greeting cards.  Scary, but worth a try.  Heating the iron, putting the stamp under the right side of the velvet, giving a light spray of water on the back side of the velvet and press!  I believe checking out Hobby Lobby for a stamp that was not quite as dense as what I had on hand would work better.  At least I know the embossing would work as an option.

  I had two embroidery designs for Christmas that came with the sewing machine that I tried on the red velvet.  I felt white would really pop.  It was a guess as to what stabilizer would work on the back of the fabric.  The best part was that no stabilizer needed to be used on top of the velvet.  The stitches stay on top looking crisp.  Dennis liked the Christmas tree better than the snowflake.  I had to agree.  Seeking and searching as to what is on some of my flash drives will be interesting.  

  I can see . . . oh yes . . . as of today I can see . . . either of these techniques on red velvet scarves and or red velvet pillows, red velvet table runners . . . with a bit more thought . . . who knows!  Using the velvet would give a very good feeling.  

  It is loaded hamburgers with raw onions for supper.  The suggestion got a good nod from Dennis.

   
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  Noreen 5:01 pm on November 11, 2019 Permalink  

  Stitch Luncheon 

  It may have been blustery and cold enough to intimidate, but us stitchers persevered.  We met at Baker’s Square in Mankato at Noon.  A little sharing of what has happened since last month and the enthusiasm struck where it may have been waning for each of us.

  My sewing studio has been quite quiet since doing the barns with the quilt block gables.  I have been down there checking out new possibilities.  Today I took a swatch of velvet with me of the fabric that I have left over from the Santa restoration of February.  I received some great ideas.  Creating with what is on hand is my goal.  This time of year I am thinking of white snowflakes on the red velvet.  Hmm.

  I think the food at Baker’s Square helps to bring out the creativity.  Today the Avocado on Toast topped with two eggs was something I would never get by making at home.  If I would put it on the table the first thing I would hear is “what is it” with never an intent of trying it.  Hmm, maybe adding ketchup would be the answer.

  I had better close and rattle the kitchen to see what there will be for supper.  The entire time the afterglow of a wonderful day of sharing with comrades will linger.