Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 5:24 pm on September 19, 2017 Permalink  

  Ya, it was a bit cool this morning so I wore long pants for my walk. My knees felt like they were smothering. The walking shorts are not done for the season, I’m just picking and choosing on a day by day basis.

  A challenge with machine embroidery comes about when companies that you purchase designs from have multiple brands of thread they may favor to use in their creations to obtain the finished product. The design is downloaded and as the embroidery unit begins sewing, a coordinating color is requested. I spent some time this afternoon on the computer printing out color charts from various companies. Nothing like having some prep work before it’s needed.

  I have started a shopping list. White cotton socks for myself is “major” on the list. In a time past I bought socks. Hmm, it was a good buy. Yup, they were white and in the shopping basket they went. Ugh! They were a poly/cotton blend. No cotton socks on my tootsies this last season. No matter how you try your very best of the Martha Stewart laundry tips, they are not going to come out white. I admit I may be out on the patio in stocking feet. Who has time to put on shoes every time you turn around. Wearing shoes that are not high tops lets in all sorts of dirt while gardening. Bleach and poly blend fabrics come out yellow. I want my socks coming out of the laundry as white as Dennis’.

  Oh for challenges. It sure keeps my days interesting.

   
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  Noreen 1:55 pm on September 18, 2017 Permalink  

  Seek and Search 

  

  All I was looking for was some small brads rather than going uptown. Obviously this meant several locations of this type of mess got tidied. A good job on a rainy day. BTW . . . no small brads in the garage, the basement or this kitchen junk drawer. The brads went on the list for the next time we head out.

   
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  Noreen 5:39 pm on September 17, 2017 Permalink  

  Today was a very quiet day here on Stauffer. Dennis has caught himself quite the headcold and I am running as far and as swiftly as I can to stay ahead of it. I must have not been fast enough as the head feels a bit stuffy. I did play around in the corner of my sewing studio that I can get at. Trying new things should keep my head too full of ideas to allow the cold to set in for a long visit.

   
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  Noreen 3:42 pm on September 16, 2017 Permalink  

  Today I had the best of the day during my walk this morning. It has since been gloomy, with rain every once in awhile. I came back from the grocery store a bit ago and it was quite cool. I still had my walking shorts on but a few of the other older folks had jackets, and I mean real jackets that I might drag out in December.

  It was a good day to work with my embroidery files. There are just a few too many flash drives on the shelf by the sewing machine. It was time to tidy them up onto the Bernina Flash Drive. Tidily named files makes it easy to scope out what I am looking for.

  When Lorraine was here I had downloaded some embroidery pattern that she wanted to share with me. At the time I had loaded them on the SanDisk flash drive. Today was the day to get them on the Bernina flash drive. I was making great headways. A file for the “7 Days of Dishtowels” and a file for embroidering recipes on towels called “Recipe Towels.” All was going well. Just one more file and it was called “Cut Work.” Sitting at the computer in the living room, something distracted me and I looked up not realizing my left hand was hovering over the palm pad. I had opened a file from the SanDisk and all the EXP files were ready to move over to a document file and after that the Bernina flash drive would be loaded with them. As I looked up it took me awhile to realize what was blinking like crazy. Talk about speed. Wham . . . they were gone. Honest to God, I have yet to figure out just where the hand hover needs to be to initiate the deleting.

  Needless to say there was a huge lesson learned for the remaining computer work. It has happened to me when typing for the daily blog that somewhere in that left hand hover, I would lose everything. I did ask the Geek Squad about disabling the palm pad 100% but that didn’t happen to be addressed at the last visit.

  Live and learn. When walking, keep those steps high. When typing, keep that arthritic left hand high . . . or AWAY from the palm pad.

   
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  Noreen 4:47 pm on September 15, 2017 Permalink  

  Wham-Bam 

  Less than 24 hours ago, Dennis and I decided to have an electrical plug added to our basement wall next to the sump pump.  At the time when Complete Basements installs our new windows we have decided to have a Complete Air unit installed next to the sump pump at the same time by the same company.  It will save us a delivery charge as well as the installation charge by doing both at the same time.  The new unit will have a filter for dust, mold, and mildew particulates as well as being a dehumidifier.  No more carrying the dehumidifier container from its current location to the sink.  It will be piped into the sump pump holding container.  When winter arrives, I spend a huge amount of time in the basement sewing studio.  It’s time Stauffer Avenue comes into the current century and acknowledges how important our basement square footage is to our day-to-day living.

  

  The nuts and bolts of Stauffer Avenue was cracked open.

  So anyway . . . I called Electrician Dale yesterday afternoon and laid out the plan for the work.  This noon I was clearing off the dining room table from lunch and the doorbell rang.  A mere several hours later and Dennis and I just got done sweeping up bits of wiring and some sawdust.  Talk about fast service.  Dennis has always commented that if you pay your bills on time, service people remember that.  I guess so!

  The visit just kept getting better.  I now do not have to stand on a step stool to plug in the overhead lights on the south portion of the sewing studio.  Just a flip of the switch.  In total the north wall is sporting two new plugin receptacles.  This is going to open up an entire new scheme of things at a time when I can get the stewing studio put back together.

  The switch for the overhead lights, just like the dehumidifier container not having to be lifted, is another item indicating that this ole-timer can be a bit safer while enjoying the basement.

   
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  Noreen 1:58 pm on September 14, 2017 Permalink  

  Just Hanging On 

  Sitting on the patio this morning after a good walk the dance of the leaves has begun.  The small maple leaves that came out early are the first to do their dance in flight.  The leaves with the clear blue background evoke many fall seasons such as this.

  My favorite fall seasons were the ones on the farm in Renville County.  Having Carrie and Kevin follow me around the garden as we rounded up the last of the harvest was pretty special.  Tomatoes were off limits.  Way too much squeezing going on there.  Of course we had left some cucumbers get too ripe for canning, but they sure made a huge pile in the red wagon to be trundled off to the chickens.  Carrie didn’t like the flutter of the chicken’s wings and Kevin didn’t need to inhale the dust so the doorway was as far as they got and mom got to spread the goodies out to the chickens.  

  We had a great fruit cellar and the red wagon came in handy for hauling the squash.  Our favorite was the Acorn squash.  Two of those halved and baked with a bit of brown sugar and butter . . . yum.

  There are so many aspects of that farm that I miss, but the fall of the year was just the best and because of those memories I savor the days ahead.  My mind’s eye allows me to put aside the hours of hard labor that the farm life required.  It didn’t seem all that bad or that hard at the time.  It was just one day at a time.

  Being on Stauffer Avenue is such a turn around from the farm days.  I now have the time to refresh my memories at will.  There is no garden to clean out as our shady yard says no to that.  The perennials are showing signs of being weary of putting on their show.  The grass is slowing down and the lawn mowers are breathing a sigh of relief.  I think my ole cowboy feels the same way.  Out in back is the last vestige of a lone snowball bloom.  It’s either a late comer or has its seasons mixed up.  It’s just like me . . . hanging on to see what comes next. 

   
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  Noreen 4:40 pm on September 13, 2017 Permalink  

  Today gave me a lift that indeed our basement window project would soon be here. The wonderful Watson boys came and moved our central AC away from one of the windows. The installer had looked at the window/AC situation and asked if we were planning on moving the unit. At that time I had said we were not intending such. In thinking it out, we could not be paying good money out for a once in our life time project and have it jeopardized because the workers could not get at the area properly. The Watsons will return after the windows are in and we have the dug out window wells in place. At that time the AC unit will be securely placed in good proximity to the house and the window. Soon all will be back to normal on Stauffer Avenue.

   
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  Noreen 4:33 pm on September 12, 2017 Permalink  

  Granddaughter Megan and I text each other usually over weekends. When I inquired last Sunday evening how the first four days of her seventh grade classes went, her response sentence included the word “difficult.”

  I can close my eyes and recall both Carrie and Kevin’s integration into seventh grade. Ya, difficult was a wise choice of words from Megan. Changes in classmates, routines and even physical locations all add up to many adjustments.

  If I go back even farther into my memories of my seventh grade it seemed like the same-old, same-old. All eight grades of us were in the one school room of Renville County Rural District 34. Mae Podratz returned as the one and only teacher for the 40 plus of us students.

  In many ways I believe Megan and many other kids might have enjoyed the experience and the comradery of kids of various ages all pooled together. There were no “clicks” or “the in group” or “nerds.” We were one just like the other. Each of the eight grades had one on one with the teacher while the remaining grades were assigned work. The teacher floated throughout the day from grade to grade, to child to child.

  I am not sure how it all worked when it came to lesson plans that needed to be approved of by the County Superintendent. For myself, when I entered public school for my ninth grade there was no catch up from what their curriculum had been. Amazing.

  Megan . . . Grammie hears you. There is way more to school days than the academic pressure in this day and age. That is all I have to say about that. I assured Megan that I believed in her and that in time things would level out. That being said, it doesn’t mean my heart isn’t breaking for her and so many children finding their ways during the first weeks of the new school year.

   
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  Noreen 2:29 pm on September 11, 2017 Permalink  

  When you have a hairdresser that makes house calls . . . you just can’t beat that. Our friend Jean has moved back to Minnesota last year from out of state. Jean is my age . . . hmm . . . 70 something, and didn’t want to go through the Minnesota licensing process. Dennis and I feel having her company while getting a good haircut deserves a good tip. Life on Stauffer is oh so good.

   
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  Noreen 1:53 pm on September 10, 2017 Permalink
  Tags: Dan ( 4 ), Lorraine ( 6 )   

  A Day of Piddle 

  Sunday is the day of rest and then there is the old saying of “No rest for the wicked.”  I am not wicked just in need of having something to show for my day.  

  Much to my surprise I did get all of the videos and photos of the day we spent on the farm with the threshing event loaded on a flash drive to send to cousin Dan.  I had never attempted that process and it went pretty darn well. I have it ready for mailing.

  Aunt Lorraine mentioned to me in a phone conversation that since her visit here in June, she would enjoy some extra items that I have in my fabric stashes.  Why not share!  I have the box ready for mailing.

  There are days that I regret taking down the sewing studio to the bare concrete walls as early as I did.  I felt that if the target date for the window installation came about and something had caused me to not be ready, I would have felt crushed.  God forbid if someone else came in here and touched and packed up my stuff.

  There is a beef roast doing a slow roast in the oven for supper and the extra time drove me down into the naked sewing studio.

  I was able to get to a tote that held numerous old embroidery hoops either of plastic or wood.  Re-purposing is my all time favorite thing to do.  I have been able to have enough room in the sewing studio for the minimum square footage for the sewing machine and the embroidery unit. I have enjoyed piddling.

    Today with the extra time and energy I decided to put the embroidery projects into some of the hoops for the ability to have them as accents on a wall.  In time to come I know I will find the perfect ribbons from the “Kersten Stash” to use as the hangers themselves. 

  By the time the roast is done for supper, I will have burned off enough energy to enjoy a sit-to on the patio with Dennis.  Unfortunately the last several days have brought about mosquitoes and they are the smallest stinging buggers ever, but still not as bad as the black flies.  All in all it was a great piddle day.