Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from May, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Noreen 2:06 pm on May 16, 2025 Permalink  

  A Day! 

  What a difference a day makes.  24 little hours.  I can hear that song in my head.

  Yesterday we went to the Limb-lab for Dennis’ appointment for new shoes.  They give excellent service to the veterans.  Dennis’ shoes will be in the shop for pick-up in several weeks.

  The Limb-lab is right around the corner from the JoAnn’s store that is in the process of closing.  I had to have Dennis stop so I could check it out.  Most of the store was cordoned off.  If there was one packet of upholstery needles, there was 2,000.  The warehouses are circling the wagons to have the retail stores try to clear it all out.  I found three items for mending and spent $7.00.  At that it was ringing up as 60% off.  I looked and was satisfied that I had checked it out.

  We had no groceries to purchase and we headed home.  I have never ever been in such a horrible dirt storm.  It was beyond a dust storm.  There is a huge detour as Lake Crystal is getting a huge overhaul.  The traffic of every type of every vehicle imaginable was caught in coming and going on a two-lane highway with visibility sometimes next to nothing.  The situation did get better the closer we got to home.  I was so happy to be home safe and sound.

  

  Before we left yesterday I took a photo of the east side of our home.  The Hosta, the Fern Peony and some Lilies of the Valley were the backdrop of the Star of David flowers that were blooming in the yard.  They are just too cute for words.  You never know how far or where they will spread to.  In a short time all their greenery dies back and you wouldn’t know they were even something the camera’s viewfinder would see.

  With the horrific winds that were had, by the time we got home, the Fern Peony blooms were wind-whipped and gone as were the Star of David blooms.  The white lilacs had turned brown with the hot, whipping winds.  Not much pretty was left.  The Hosta plants somehow made it.  Well . . . those that the deer haven’t been lunching on.

  The strong winds of this morning did bring a shower of rain.  I missed most of that as I was in the studio.  The For Sale sign that Kevin had put out and up for us was totally bleached out from the sun.  Dennis had brought it to the studio for Grammie to work her magic.  The black oil paint is drying on both sides of the sign.  I did the best I could.

  Yesterday was blistering hot and today it feels like 32 degrees out.  Go figure. 

  For our evening meal, we are having the refrigerated beef tips with gravy, instant potatoes, cranberries and cottage cheese.  I really enjoy the tart cranberries over the cottage cheese.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
• 

  Noreen 2:55 pm on May 14, 2025 Permalink  

  Oh Happy Day 

  Today was my six month eye checkup with Dr. Pinke just five blocks up the street.  When my eyes are dilatated, Dr. Pinke can see oh so much more.  In times past, when Dennis had had his eye checkup, that was how Dennis knew his corraded arteries were clogged . . . big time.  I will gladly go in every six months.  I have a hint of macular.  That hint has been there for ten years.  The test for glaucoma was a pass.

  Today there was another change for Dennis and me.  Going forward, Dennis’ son-in-law, Tom, will be using our zero-turn with our gas to do the 1.3 acre mowing as well as our residential home lot.  There was and is an amicable monetary agreement.  Dennis used the Sear’s rider to show Tom the lot lines.  As with me . . . there is a reasonable amount of energy to be expended for our not so young bodies.  Everyone is happy with what has been made off.  Tom is AJ’s dad.  Tom will be using his own zero-turn to keep up with the back garage lot for AJ.

  I knew that grocery shopping was in the cards for this hump day.  Dennis removed several of the glass shelves in the refrigerator so I could work my magic before groceries would be bought.  Something had either gotten spilled or something had leaked to the point that my little jar of minced garlic was not able to be moved.  It was schmucked down tight.  Another day, I will wash out the crisper drawers and also remove the multiple storage pods in both of the refrigerator doors for a freshening.  A bit every day and none of it feels overwhelming.  But . . . as I have said before, what my eyes see the mind cannot ignore.

  I worked in the studio for a time today.  Someone special has asked me for an embroidered item.  I used the Tool Box software program to pull a design together.  I did share the image as I had taken a photo of it.  Today was time spent pulling together stabilizer and various spools of bright colored thread.  Time will tell how it all turns out.

  When I was at the grocer’s, their steam tables of their noon specials were turned off.  At that time each day they portion it out and sell it in the cooler area along with other items such as Mrs. Gerry’s products.  Yup, we are having tater tot hotdish for supper with Mrs. Gerry’s coleslaw, cranberries and cottage cheese.

  Last night was a shot in the dark.  I had bought a bag of Simply Potatoes from the refrigerator section in the grocery store.  It was the option that contains some spices.  I had used half of the bag last weekend.  Last night I put the potatoes on a paper-plate, covering it with a damp paper towel.  While giving it two separate blasts of two minutes each in the microwave, I was heating up a small can of Dinty Moore’s Stew.  The stew spooned over those hot spicy hashbrowns, made a great tasting meal.  The potatoes soaked up the gravy . . . it was a very easy meal.  Of course Dennis liked it as it was a hot meal.

  Not to be surprised if there is no post tomorrow.  At 1:45, Dennis has an appointment at the Limb-Lab in Mankato.  It’s in the old Madison East shopping area.  Once a year, the VA writes a prescription for a pair of leather shoes that the lab makes the orthotics to fit into allowing for the space that toes would generally fill.  They don’s assume to order the shoes from last year’s mold.  They begin the process from step one. They also make sure that the right shoe has the correct innards for stable, even walking.  Sweet.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
• 

  Noreen 2:27 pm on May 4, 2025 Permalink  

  Summer Sunday 

  Going from a spring day into a summer day.  Welcome to Minnesota.

  The success I had yesterday in the yard gave me a very sound deep sleep last night.  When I don’t need a bathroom break during the night, when morning comes I am on a beat-feet mission.

  Dennis had my small gallon sprayer that we had gotten at Harbor Freight loaded and ready for me this forenoon.  It was sneaking up to the huge dandelions and giving them a good shot right into the heart of their greenery.  It was a lot of bending from the waist.  North of the patio sidewalk, there are Hosta slowly making it out of the soil.  I didn’t want any overspray.  I have an empty five gallon pail to strip over individual Hosta to spray the area around them.   In some areas there is greenery coming up as thick as the hair on a dog.  It looks like someone had an abundance of green sprinkles that were scattered.  Time will tell if the stuff I hit today will have tell-tale evidence of dying.

  When I came in at noon, the first thing I did was change into something cotton for a shirt.  I felt very warm.  Two hours is about all I can take with yard work in this day and age.  The shoulders and arms start to buck.  Dammit!  I tried doing some hand stitching after coming in, and taking out more stitches in error than good ones, told me a lot.

  It’s a good thing we have leftovers for supper. 

  Tomorrow at ten Dennis has a VA appointment here in town.  At 1:45, the ortho surgeon wants to check on Dennis’ hip replacement and Dennis’ mobility.  The x-ray was done here at our clinic last Friday.  There will be checks and balances with Dr. Stuart up and until the one-year mark. 

  I believe, that a blog post for Monday will not take place.  After the ortho appointment, I do want to stop for several items on my grocery list.  Not to worry . . . I’ll be back on Tuesday.

  With that I will take my leave.♥

   
• 

  Noreen 3:12 pm on May 3, 2025 Permalink  

  Saturday 

  What a great spring day.

  This morning, the studio found me deciding on the fabric for the binding of the purple quilt.  It will take 260 inches for the binding.  I cut enough three inch wide strips to equal that.  The strips are sewn together.  I checked the temps outside and the studio went dark.

  I got in some gardening this morning.  Twenty plus years ago, I had bricks outlining a flower bed off of the concrete patio.  It was time to realize that those perennials had not made it through this last winter.  Too many warm days, followed by cold rains that left a layer of ice.  We have the sweetest three tined fork.  It was perfect for me to use the fork to flip out the bricks that were in the dirt.  It will allow the mower to get closer as grass is spreading.  The bricks are on the west end of the patio.  I do have a barter system going with Dennis’ granddaughter Sadie.  When she visits and brings her tee-shirts for a quilt, grandpa Dennis will know by that time where he wants the bricks put.

  I have not kept up with the public school’s calendar.  Today is prom day.  I give Dennis’ daughter from Silver Bay credit for coming to St. James for Addison’s prom.  It has given the opportunity for visiting and catching up with her siblings and for Dennis and me.   

  Dennis has his two-gallon gas cans filled.  Batteries in the Sears rider and the zero-turn have been checked.  I have an inclination that tomorrow the 1.30 acre is going to be mowed.  We drove past it this last week and I would say it has greened up nicely.

  Last night as I was winding down snuggled in my bed, I ran through ingredients I had for a Saturday night supper.  Sure enough.  I now have my blue speckled round roaster ready for the oven.  A bag of refrigerated shredded hashbrowns, a diced onion, 8oz of sour cream, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, two cups of shredded cheese and some bacon bits tossed in for good measure.  I had two different types of the shredded cheese.  350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.  I know there will be a container to put in the freezer for another day.

  We do enjoy pan seared raw, deveined shrimp.  I took a batch out of the freezer this morning.  Enough butter in a fry pan to coat the bottom.  The shrimp get tossed about until their gray appearance turns pink . . . and they are done.   Five o’clock supper coming on.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
• 

  Noreen 2:42 pm on May 1, 2025 Permalink  

  A Duck Day 

  As damp and wet as it is today, the ducks would have had a great time in the puddles.

  An intense day was had in the studio.  And . . . it all happened before twelve noon.  All of the channel quilting and the stitch-in-the ditch has been completed on my purple wonder of a quilt.  In all honesty, this is the first time I have used flannel for the backing.  But this was perhaps the one and only time that everything would fall into place to use this beautiful purple plaid.  For it being approximately 52″ x 72″, it’s not even the prescribed size for a twin sized bed.  Perhaps I was just weary, but it sure feels heavy to wrangle under the needle.

  I did put a few pieces of fabric on the quilt to see which would work best for the binding.  That decision will be for another day.  I have not decided what to stitch in the plain purple blocks.  I feel more comfortable getting the binding on to cover all the raw edges now that I have the quilt trimmed of excess batting and backing.  I did manage to get a 45mm replacement blade into one of my rotary cutters after nicking myself on both hands for a total of four times.  It was a package of five blades.  To prevent rusting, they have oil on them.  I had tried to slide one blade off of the five.  Man, were they stuck together.  No serious injury was caused by this endeavor.  I do have a cutter ready to be put into service.  

  When I came up at noon, Dennis and I shared a bite of lunch.  We had planned on doing some tidy tidy in the potting shed this afternoon.  With the rain showers and it being chilly, that got postponed.

  With the rain, I do see some perennials coming up north of the patio porch.  I’m not in any hurry to rake out some of the leaves and such until I see what made it through the winter.  I do know my Fern Peonies, two plants, don’t have as many stalks coming from the tubers as in other years.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
• 

  Noreen 11:34 am on April 30, 2025 Permalink  

  Whew! 

  Whew!  I have had a great session in the studio.  Sometimes when I tackle a step in the quilting process and take it slow, miraculously the next step comes to mind.  I had no idea how to quilt down the two borders.  The center of the quilt is busy enough to carry the entire quilt.  I already had the walking foot on the sewing machine with the seam guide already attached.  I decided to channel quilt the two borders at two inches apart.  I do not have any definite plans on the center blocks.  They are large enough that there will need to be something done.  Sometimes, less is more.  I had already free-motion quilted them prior to deciding to make this quilt.  The original plan was to make pillows.  Seriously . . . making and stuffing eight pillows!  I have more to channel quilt but the shoulders gave it up.

  

  

  When Megan was visiting, she wanted to make something for Nicholas.  She finished it off by using the guide on the walking foot and did a lot of hatch quilting on it.  Her hatch design was about two inches apart at the intersections.  Sweet! With that coming to mind today, it was a huge surprise when she texted me with an attached photo.  Megan interned at a girl’s shelter during early spring.  Someone had donated a really nice Singer portable sewing machine.  No one knew how to use it.  Megan took it home to her apartment and cleaned it, and checked it out.  She even bought a small amount of fabric and took it back to the shelter.  When Carrie’s were here for Easter, Megan shared that the girls at the shelter were thrilled to actually sew some squares of the fabric together.  Megan gave me kudos for having taught her enough to pull it all together for others. 

  Today all of the dead lilac trimmings from last Saturday made it to the tree dump.  There was even a cedar bush that got cut down.  Years ago a birdie popped a seed and the trunk of the bush was now as big as my closed fist.  Time flies and some things grow faster than others.  Had we tried to buy a small shrub and get it started . . . the rest of the story.  

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
• 

  Noreen 2:37 pm on April 29, 2025 Permalink  

  April Showers 

  I think what we had yesterday was a bit more than a shower.  We have an old steel folding chair on the front deck.  That I picked off of the sidewalk.  We were very fortunate. 

  The tree across from us left a huge amount of pollen on the street.  What a mess.  The city had their street sweeper out this morning for here and several other areas.  When I went outside this forenoon, I do believe the forceful rains did a great job of washing the house off.

  Dennis is taking it slow today.  Over the weekend and yesterday the ole cowboy’s adrenalin had been kicked into high gear.  Several days of R&R, he will be back.  

  My studio time went well today.  Seeing the quilt sandwiched on the table is a lot different than getting the heft of it under the needle.  There is no race for completion.  I did have a chair next to me to help with the heft of it.  One pass around the 52″ x 74″ and I called it.  I had a few items to take care in the checkbook division.

  Our homeowners insurance increased to the point, I looked at it twice.  We have not been singled out.  The insurance and the sharp rise in estimated market value for 2026 real estate taxes has been spoken of in various settings. 

  Supper is Manwich sandwiches, coleslaw, dill pickle flavored chips and perhaps some real pickles.  We kind of like the bread and butter ones.  Lots of turmeric flavoring.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
• 

  Noreen 2:26 pm on April 28, 2025 Permalink  

  Possible Weather 

  There may be possible weather issues for us later on.  With the wind gusts we are having, it wouldn’t surprise me.

  I spent the morning in the studio.  First thing was to fill my plastic shopping bag with different goodies that are in our pantry that needed to get to the first floor today.  I don’t trust myself with hands holding items.  Slip my hand through the holes in the top of the bag and I feel safe.

  

  I sized up the next step in my purple quilt.  I knew I wanted to put the walking foot onto the sewing machine.  There is a scissor-like prong, seen in the photo, that needs to fit over the same shaft as where the screw is for inserting a needle.  When sewing, it allows additional grab bars on the bottom of the walking foot to help feed the fabric through under the needle with every stitch that is made.  There is also the grid guide that can be inserted into the back of the walking foot.  If one line of stitches has been made on the quilt, the guide can be either pushed in or out to follow that line. By staying on the previous made stitches it allows for even spacing without markings being made on the quilt.

  It may seem like a lot of fuss.  No, it is being able to sew more efficiently with perhaps a better outcome.  Just as a refresher, I plugged in a YouTube on Bernina’s site on the walking foot.  I may not use all of the functions frequently, so why not take the time to check it out.

  Once I had done an oil check, a new needle, I closed down the shop.  Several hours gave me the confidence for the next time I visit.  The first stitching will be done by stitching in the ditch on the two borders.  That will allow many pins to be removed securing the sandwiching.  It may be difficult to see on the photo, but there is a metal guide on the right hand side of the walking foot.  This is ahead of the needle.  When that guide stays on the seams where the borders have been sewn, the needle comes down right into that seam, making my thread almost invisible. That is why it’s called stitching in the ditch. 

  We may or not be in for rain.  Time will tell.  I know looking out my bedroom south window, Dennis is checking his little red pickup’s oil level just as a trusty trucker would. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
• 

  Noreen 11:00 am on April 25, 2025 Permalink  

  Friday the 25th 

  After it raining off and on for 24 hours the skies are trying to lighten.  Nothing like rain to bring out the dandelions.  Some are as huge as dinner plates complete with a blossom.

  After being out for less than two weeks our small USA flag has slipped down the steel rod that I placed it on.  That was my first item to tackle.  A whole lot of respect was required.  Mission completion.

  

  With the washing machine’s buttons pushed I headed to the studio.  My goal was to complete placing safety pins into the sandwiched project.  I am contemplating the next step.  The purple blocks are begging for a special embroidered design to be stitched on them, and I haven’t yet decided what design and what color thread.  The blocks that already have been embroidered with a colorful design will be quilted in a way to not take away from what there is already in place.  The safety pins are as if they are sentinels awaiting.  The embroidered blocks are done on a snow white background, disappointed in them showing up yellowed under the LED lights.  Anyway . . . I have a lot to think on before rushing into anything.  I already have achieved one goal with this project, which was to do something with these seven embroidered blocks rather than toss them into storage.  I am now at a point of no return.

  I do like this size of a quilt project as it fits well on the two church tables.  Food for thought if someone or something arises in the future.

  PT is at 2:30 this afternoon.  I am prepared . . . like in having done what I had on my agenda and then taking the aftermath as it plays out.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥ 

   
• 

  Noreen 2:09 pm on April 24, 2025 Permalink  

  Rain 

  It must have begun raining in the early hours as there were puddles already when my feet hit the floor.

  It is now mid-afternoon and rain drops are still making whirlpools in the now enlarged puddles.

  No walking on Stauffer Avenue for me today.  I spent three hours on my feet in the studio.  Half of that time stepping it off around the church tables and half standing still in-place bent over the church tables.

  My miniature train case holds all the safety pins of various sizes.  The only ones I was after today were the plastic encased heads of the large ones.  In actuality, those pins could well be called diaper pins as they cannot for safety reasons, spring open to injure.  They are easy on my hands and fingers to penetrate the layers of the quilt and close them.  Just as easily I can get them open when they have done their job.  All these years of pinning quilts into their sandwiches: tops, batting and backing, had I never given them a thought.  I was taken a-back when I got the package from Amazon via the Fairfax team.

  No, I did not get the entire quilt pinned.  I do have a solid 12″ around the perimeter pinned, every six inches or less, so I can take out the thumb tacks that were holding everything in place.  That will allow me to move the quilt from side to side or length to length to get to the middle for the pinning, saving my back from reaching too far for comfort.  After all . . . comfort feels good.  Using my hand weights positioned to make a small rectangle of quilt area, will keep too much sliding at bay as I keep pinning.  My objective is in view for another day.  That objective being that the quilting process under the needle can take place with everything tidy, tidy.  Fussy is as fussy does.

  Looking out my bedroom porch windows, the birds are having a hay-day plucking worms and bugs out of the sodden grass.

  We had canned beef, instant potatoes and cauliflower for supper last night.  There was enough of leftovers for me to make two TV-type dinners for us for this evening.  I love it when a plan comes together.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥