Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from March, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 3:31 pm on March 2, 2026 Permalink  

  The Secret 

  The secret for me getting up before eight in the morning, is to drink a glass of water when I do a bathroom call at three in the morning.  I do enjoy getting up earlier than eight, but it just feels so comfy, I can look out the window and the evergreen boughs lull me back to snoozing.

  All of the laundry was done by noon.  In between swapping out loads, I filled the last of my mini pillows with crushed walnut shells and glued the openings shut.  What remains is a bit of trim around all sides.  My mini pillow phase is nearing an end.

  The next chapter in the studio is going to be a quilt.  I know just what box to take off of the west shelves in the studio.  I am seeking orange fabric and that which may be companion hues or colors.  Orange is the color of Nicholas’ University of Tennessee.   I have researched the motto.  This project may well keep me out of trouble for some time. 

  This evening we are having the remaining Manwich meat with the remaining beans, mixing both together for a supper with some spinach dip and chips.  Kind of like a home on the range supper. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:23 pm on February 27, 2026 Permalink  

  Friday the 27th 

  Not much doing here on Stauffer Avenue on this Friday.

  Nothing worse than getting a bill in the post that has already been paid by a check that has already been cleared by our bank.  Never can you take your household accounts for granted.

  Dennis used the leaf blower to clear leaves, twigs, and pine cones away from the back door this noon before we get snow to muck up the mix.  Right after that the wind came up from the northwest much like a dry blizzard.  It didn’t keep up with that velocity, but it hasn’t simmered down either.  Dennis might tell me when he comes in this afternoon that it has all blown back into the back door area.

  I didn’t leave our first floor today.  Completed projects brought about contemplation.  Now that I know Nicholas will be attending the University of Tennessee, I will soon be starting a quilt for him as I did when Megan was at that point.  Mulling things over.  Making good plans and not rushing into anything.

  With that plan in the mix, I am going to make an appointment to take my sewing machine in for its yearly checkup.  It has actually been a bit over a year.  I checked and Creative Stitches is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the month of March.  I will give Kelly and Amanda a call on Tuesday to set something up.  My machine has given me zero problems and I would like to leave it that way.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:38 pm on February 26, 2026 Permalink  

  Thursday the 26th 

  We are rounding down on the shortest month of our year.  A month of some cold interspersed with unusual warmth.  Today there is a patch of snow no larger that six inches square on our front yard.  Even where snow had been pushed and piled . . . there is nothing.  How blessed we are.

  I have resources in the studio that serve me well.  Older picture frames that I had hung on a nail in the cistern closet.  I re-measured my stitched design that was inline to be stretched and pinned.  Short memory that got a jog.  It measures 14.50 x 10.50.  After stretching and pinning, I have a scant quarter inch showing of the width of the base fabric and a half inch on the length showing.  I am very happy with that.  There was a piece of foam board that was cut to put on the back.  The frame that I used already had the saw-tooth metal hanger on the frame.  Hmm.  Above the thermostat in the living room was a nail.  I feared the length of the frame needed more room than there was.  Nope, there is even a few inches to spare.  Everything fell into place.

  This newly hung project is the second such project that took months to stitch.  I did enjoy doing them.  It brought great satisfaction that I could manage getting them from a wrinkled finished stitched piece to a framed addition to our home.  

  I know I will have a new stitched design in place before long.  My break of doing heavy duty stitching, brought about mini pillows that are also finished.  Having items finished is important to me.  Going forward it will be more difficult throwing out finished items than a wrinkled mess with frayed edges. 

  All of my endeavors are about keeping me content with having something to show for my days.  My grandmother, Laura Wendlandt, who lived her days of 90 plus while being wheelchair bound, always, yes always, stressed to me that if God gave you a day, you had to show something for that gift.  As she dispensed her wisdom she would be rolling back and forth just by inches in her wheelchair.  I cherished her.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:51 pm on February 25, 2026 Permalink  

  Night’s Rest 

  A good night’s rest brought kitchen duty for tidy, tidy.  Our preferred method of cooking is either via the crock pot or the oven.  We do however use our cook top.  This morning it was bubbles and elbow movement.   Dennis needs to stand against something solid to get his jacket zipped up to head out to the patio porch for his breakfast routine.  It works to prevent falls.  This morning I surrendered.  All of the remaining items left on the front of the refrigerator after a goodly amount hit the floor as Dennis and his jacket swiped on by.

  The best way to allow safety is to have nothing on the front of the refrigerator to be swiped or pushed off.  It was also a way for me to do a full frontal cleaning of our Samsung stainless steel refrigerator.  The surface is streak prof.  All of the removed items are in a far, far better place.

  The studio went well.  Working with crushed walnut shells and glue in somewhat of the same vicinity can be problematic.  My fingers could resemble a suet treat.  As of today, all of my small pillows have reached the finish line.  The WIPS:  works in progress: mission completion.  My next course of action is to stretch and pin the last stitched design that measures 10.75 x 5.75.  I have my foam board for the design to be pinned onto, to fit a frame I have saved.  That will be a slow process.  Two pins on all four sides and then adding more pins on all four sides.  Let the stretching begin!

  I am fixing baked porkchops for supper.  Two boneless chops, I couldn’t believe how thick they were, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 package of Lipton’s dry soup mix.  I did brown the chops in the fry pan a bit.  I am also using some heavy cream into the combination for baking.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:03 pm on February 24, 2026 Permalink  

  Warm Up 

  Warm up . . . but not by much.  The strong winds again from the northwest didn’t let the 39 degrees feel its best.

  I went out to Lewis Drug to pick up several prescriptions and I made my way carefully through the wind gusts hitting the sidewalk.

  My enjoyment of KNUJ was cut short as they broadcast the Twin’s game at one this afternoon.  That worked out fine as I needed to concentrate on my task.  The task was filling up my small pillows with crushed walnut shells.  A steady hand.  It can also be a messy task.  It doesn’t take much of the coloring of the shells to get onto your hands and then get transferred to where you for sure don’t want it.  After the fill-up was done, I carefully glued shut the tiny opening that was left.  The Wonder Clips secured the opening with the least amount of the fabric caught in the clips.  Tomorrow may see some trim put around the edges of them.

  I came up from the studio for a snack.  I have enjoyed the Golden Delicious that I core and slice.  With just a dab of peanut butter on each slice.  Yum.  I will have one avocado ready to enjoy for tomorrow’ snack.

  Last night we had a can of Progresso’s creamy chicken with broccoli and brown rice.  That with a half sandwich hit the spot.  It was the first time we had tried that flavor of soup.  We will do it again some time. 

  Dennis is hard at work in the garage fixing something that has taken him to Fleet/Farm several times.  Good to keep the economy going.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:07 pm on February 22, 2026 Permalink  

  Finagling 

  When in my studio, sometimes the finagling could dumfound the average crafter.  Small narrow 2.5 x 7 inch double sided projects that need to be turned with right sides together takes patience.  Slow and steady.  It all brings me contentment.  I Actually had seven such little weasels to turn inside out.  Some were machine embroidered designs and some were hand stitched designs.  A good knitting needle helps to poke out the corners, but not so much poking that the fabric is punched through.  Giving them a good pressing afterwards tidies them up a lot from being crumpled.

  The next item on the agenda was to glue enough of the opening shut so I have just enough to wedge my little plastic funnel into it for the crushed walnuts to fill them.  After the gluing, the studio lights were shut off.  Enough is enough.

  I was surprised when I came upstairs that we were having snow flurries that were being blown around by the 25 mph northwest wind.  The wind does not cease.

  Our small flag on the end of our front step never gets a chance to rest.  In times past we would purchase the little flags in a big-box store that were imprinted with the stars and strips.  In short order they were shredded.  This last spring I ordered two via Amazon that could be stripped onto our steel electric fence type rod.  Each faction of the flag was double sewn.  I put the cap of a Sharpie on top of the rough rod.  One of my quilter’s Wonder Clips held the width of the flag tight onto the rod.  Both the top cap and the clip has held tight throughout this entire windy winter with no signs of wear.  Our history with those little flags had not been great so I had ordered two.  The second one is still in its wrapper.

  Dennis had called me up at noon to have a sandwich with him.  We had hot bacon sandwiches.  Yum.  We haven’s discussed supper yet.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:11 pm on February 21, 2026 Permalink  

  Saturday 

  Saturdays on KNUJ are predominantly sports.  I have not minded listening to the wrestling tournament stats of the various schools.  Dedication to maintain weight for the class the boys want to remain in.

  I am on a mini pillow kick.  I didn’t realize that at first.  Using up hand stitching fabric is perfect for small designs, thus small finishings.  Big, small it doesn’t matter to me.  I stay busy and I stay mobile.  What I did realize today was how long my iron takes to get to the green light to use.  And where am I going?

  Using the embroidery module and letting it stitch while I am at my prep table to the left of the sewing machine works slick.  I have never gotten comfortable to leave the embroidery module running with me not close by.  The 770 model of the Bernina sewing machine that I have has its own Facebook group.  The horror tails that I read by women leaving a machine run without being close by is unbelievable.  You’d think it was a sewing machine that they snagged in a gumball machine.

  Dennis’ grandson AJ spent a good session with Dennis in the patio porch this morning.  AJ has a steady girlfriend but has no plans for marriage.  His brother Adam is doing likewise.  Both boys have very good jobs that come with a lot of responsibility.  Happy for them in what they seek.

  Our oven meal of the cubed meatballs and hashbrown potatoes with cream of mushroom soup was very tasty.  I realize that round meatballs are not cubed.  Too funny.

  My last avocado was breakfast this morning.  That plus a few other items may mean a trip to the grocery store in the near future.  Avocados are tricky to purchase.  I will take the ones that are very firm knowing that by putting them in the refrigerator they will not all be ready at one time.  Then I will pick out one that is semi-firm allowing it to sit on the kitchen cupboard, ready to eat in two or three days and then take out one I know I will have for breakfast the next day.  Moving them from refrigerator to the cupboard is all in the feel.  Slicing avocadoes in half is easy.  Taking the sharp tip of the knife and casting out the pit is something else.  Years ago, a friend of ours in Buffalo Lake, Elsie Webb as in Frank and Elsie from the best hometown restaurant ever, would try to raise avocado plants.  She would have the pits suspended in water glasses with them being held up by toothpicks.  Sure enough there were some in various stages of shooting out a spear.  It took forever.  I don’t have one every day but it is a pure form of fats and fiber in the healthy diet.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:27 pm on February 20, 2026 Permalink  

  Pay Grade 

  Sometimes things happen within our home that tells me my pay grade needs to be changed.

  Dennis on a computer could be like an asteroid hitting the small abode on Stauffer Avenue.  I do not know which keys on his keyboard may have been hit simultaneously.  Last night I was commandeered from my bedroom porch where I had settled in on a Hulu movie.

  His Facebook was not working.  I do know that the email that his Facebook acknowledges is no longer.  I tried to enter information and the little beast of a laptop said all info would be transmitted to noreen.curry@mchsi.com.  Oh well.  We limped along last night as best we could doing a round-about my Facebook page to get to Dennis’.  I knew that the steps I had taken could and would not be remembered by Dennis.

  Today I tried again.  What I have come up with is not the be all to end all but will suffice until I get an 8 year old in here to help with the computer issues. 

  I did enjoy the studio this forenoon.  I finished a cross stitched design a while ago.  Today I cut some foam board to fit into a frame I had stored in the cistern closet.   A temporary lineup until I get the pins out to begin stretching the finished needlework.  One small step at a time.  The little pillow with the crusted walnut shells now has the final embellishment trim glue on it.  Mission completion.

  I had one small stitched pillow that I screwed up on.  When I ironed the woven stabilizer onto the back, I skimped.  I can’t use the crushed walnuts as the crushed walnuts will work its way through the larger weave of the stitched item.  I will use poly-fill.  Lesson learned: don’t cut corners for the project you have worked hard on..

  Dennis helped with supper prep as I worked on his computer.  One half package or Amour meatballs cubed.  One half package of the refrigerator hash brown potatoes.  One can of cream of mushroom soup.  All ingredients folded over and over in the blue speckled round roaster.  375 degree for 45 minutes.  Cucumbers on the side.  Well done.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:10 pm on February 19, 2026 Permalink  

  Aroma 

  Hello, the aroma in the kitchen is quite striking.  Bacon having been baked in a 350 degree oven, each slice side by side on tin foil covered cookie sheets.  It has to be thick sliced bacon.  It is a no mess process.  When finished baking the tin foil hits the garbage and the cookie sheets are clean.  Much different than fixing bacon in a stove top fry pan or even in the microwave oven.  No splatter bacon is what I call it.  I save mail flyers to put on the kitchen counter covered with paper towels to drain the bacon on after it comes out of the oven about 75% finished.  When we use it, it pops into the microwave for just several seconds and it is hot and delicious.

  Last time in the grocery store the Farmland bacon was on sale.  Now that I have the wrappers done away with, I can’t say for sure each package was a pound.  Anyway.  Farmland has always been a brand that I took from Lena’s choosing, whether hams or bacon.  I checked and it was one pound packages.

  The snow was estimated at three inches yesterday for a .3 inch amount of moisture according to KNUJ.  No shortages of fender benders in the area.

  I got one small pillow filled with crushed walnuts.  I leave an opening on one side just large enough for the mouth of a small plastic funnel to be wedged into it.  A foam coffee cup filled with the crushed walnuts is squeezed together to make a spout for pouring into the pillow.  I keep pouring until I can’t hang onto the pillow without the weight of the pillow pulling away from the funnel. I don’t measure out the crushed walnut shells.  Thus each pillow having a slightly different heft . . . but close.  I use Aleenie’s tacky glue to put a slight swish across the opening.  My quilting Wonder Clips bite just the very edge to hold everything where it needs to be.  The pillow is stood on edge for the drying time.  The last thing to finish the pillow is to put a contrasting colored chenille trim on with the same tacky glue.  That is for another day.  I can no longer use needle and thread to close the opening.  If there is a will there is a way.  One of my mantras. 

  We are having waffles and bacon for supper.  The hard work was completed this forenoon.  Love it!

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:25 pm on February 18, 2026 Permalink  

  In a Blink 

  My cousin from Finland, Minnesota, had just texted me a photo this morning of the blowing snow they were having and had had since during the night.  I texted back that we had no snow to be found.  In a blink of my eye, the snow started here and it blew and it blew itself into a mini blizzard.

  KNUJ kept me up to date on all the closures as they took place.  I was warm and comfortable in the studio as the wind continued its howling.  I came upstairs at two and the snow had stopped and left our concrete drive wet but bare.  The several days of warmth that we had had didn’t allow the snow to stay on the concrete.  With that being said the yards are covered with clean white.  The radio went on to say that road conditions out in the open were not good.  What is out there is now in freezing temps.

  The binding of the Christmas placemats has been finished.  The sewing of snowflakes on them is going to be on hold for a bit.  I have several mini stitched out designs to make into pillows and then get them stuffed.  I don’t like UFOs.  Finish them up before starting something new.   

  I peeled the remaining cucumbers for supper also using up the remaining purple onion.  We are having a lasagna dish for supper that Carrie had brought for us on Sunday.  It just needs to be heated up.  An easy supper makes for a happy homemaker . . . me.   

  Today is Ash Wednesday with many churches in our area having cancelled services for this evening.  So the Lenten season begins. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥