Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 2:24 pm on December 7, 2022 Permalink  

  A Day 

  Today is a day of abstinence.  No studio work.  Arthritis can be bothersome.  It sneaks into vulnerable joints when least expected or appreciated.  Staying on the first floor was for the day.

  The laundry was bidding and clean clothing is always enjoyed.

  The remaining red russets of the five pound bag were peeled, ready to be paired with several servings of pork roast and carrots from the freezer. 

  There were two dozen muffins to be bagged individually for the freezer.  There is a tip for muffins that can be readily enjoyed at any time.  I can no longer successfully bake.  If my supplies are not dropped, they are likely to be spilled.  The enjoyment from decades ago is past.  For the sum of $.74 each, we pick up two dozen muffins at Sam’s Club.  Each muffin is huge.  Banana Nut, Blueberry and Cinnamon are Dennis’ choice.  Each muffin is popped into a sandwich baggie.

  I plan and prepare our hot meals with the balance that Betty Crocker would approve of.  When Dennis heads out to the patio porch in the mornings, my eyes may not even be open.  Dennis can put a frozen muffin in his breakfast box with a plastic fork the night before.  In the morning he pours a large thermos cup of coffee and is out the door.   No . . . not the best of choices, but at least he is not taking his pills on an empty stomach.  

  For myself, I choose a breakfast as to what is needed to start my day off right . . . no pastries.  There comes a point in an 86-year-old cowboy’s life when I may loose a few battles while yet planning on winning the war in my care of him.

  So my day is progressing. 

  Tomorrow the stitchers and myself are meeting at Baker’s Square.  I have missed the October and November luncheons due to medical appointments.  Tomorrow will feel like quite the treat.

  Hopefully by this weekend, the studio and I will once again have the lights on, KNUJ tuned in and the Bernina ready to stitch.

   
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  Noreen 4:12 pm on December 6, 2022 Permalink  

  Home From the Big Town 

  Dennis had a good clinical visit today with the wound doctor in Mankato.  We won’t be seeing her until the middle of January.

  Our doctor appointments out of town are becoming fewer and fewer.  Gotta love that.

  The bright sun made driving against it difficult coming home.

  Nothing additional new today, and who knows what tomorrow will bring.

  Check back with me then.

   
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  Noreen 2:24 pm on December 5, 2022 Permalink  

  Just a Day 

  Today is a day that I have not dipped my toe into anything new.

  The studio has a project that requires the same old, same old: refilling bobbins, cleaning lint from within and staying the course for consistent seams.

  Dennis visited the studio this afternoon and his day was not breaking any records for “new” either.

  I have turned a corner of the project and can remove some of the safety pins as I go.  I swear they went in a lot easier than they are coming out.  Besides . . . now I realize my fingers are cold as well as the tip of my nose.  Days such as these with temps hovering at the 30s, the furnace does not run as often.  

  I am going to shut down the studio and see what is perking on the mail floor.

  I do know that I will need to set the alarm for tomorrow.  Dr. Renee, the wound doctor, in Mankato has Dennis on her schedule.  Also on the schedule is cat food and kitty litter.  When it is cold as it has been, the kitties are not doing picnic potties.  It is the litter box . . . times three kitties.

  Take care everyone!

   
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  Noreen 2:55 pm on December 4, 2022 Permalink  

  Busy Day 

  Happy Sunday!  For some reason our little household was up early this morning.  Dennis punched the coffee pot at six, which usually wouldn’t go off until seven.

  A breakfast of yogurt and blueberries; I took my breakfast coffee into the studio.  I felt like I could get a lot done today.  The schematics of the quilting on Luella’s blanket was done yesterday.  All that was needed to be done was to turn on the lights and get the Bernina fired up.

  My major elf was enlisted to the living room after he had greeted the patio kitties in the porch and had enjoyed his breakfast and coffee in the porch.  This would be Dennis’ maiden voyage in putting up our Christmas tree.  All I did was put an electric bar close to the activity for easy plugging in and out.  I put the suggestion of the tree out there and he ran with it.  I came up at noon for more coffee and the tree had been put together and the lights were on.  100% success.

  We both agreed it was a tree lacking appeal.  It was a tree I had bought in Michael’s several years ago.  What had tripped my trigger to purchase it was that it was seven feet of one very skinny tree.  The branches do have a bit of frost adorning them.  As you can imagine the branches are not very long.  Hey . . . we have a tree up and the lights work.  I may well be satisfied to enjoy it as is when I sit down fore the evenings in my rocking chair.

  Back to my quilting.  I have quite a few weights that I use to keep the blanket in place to begin quilting.  My sewing table is close enough to the church tables that they carry over as extra area to keep the weight shifted in good proportion while I herd one block at a time under the needle.

  Half way through, I needed a new filled bobbin.  I check under the needle plate and decided additional thread was not all that was required.  Yuck!  What a fuzz mess.  It was a combination of quilt batting that gets pulled up with each stitch and fabric fuzz.  I got out the can of air to use after I had pulled off as much of the mess with a brush as I could.  My hint from the machine dealer was that if canned air was used It was wise to stand facing the front of the machine, not the open bobbin area.  The air is sprayed so the lint will blow out of the opened bobbin area.  A few drops of oil were also applied.  As per the photo, the thread is not exactly free of its own lint.  Cleaning the machine often guarantees happy stitching.

  I was back to stitching and Dennis came down to the studio and said he would take care of supper.  Beggars can’t be choosey.  I will take whatever finds its way to the table.  Dennis did comment how nice the quilting made the blocks look.  As I stitched, I was running through my mind as to what will be used for the binding.  I had two inches on either side of the width of the pink and not enough to talk about in the length.  Yep, I was cutting it pretty close.  There will be plenty of time for deciding that.

  The entire quilting process of the 42 blocks was completed today.  There were no problems and it went well.  I know that after this posting is done, the studio will go dark.  As time goes on today, I will begin to feel some stiffness in my neck, shoulders and hands.  No surprises.  It is part and parcel in projects such as this.

  Tomorrow will play out as it will.  No pressure.

   
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  Noreen 1:47 pm on December 3, 2022 Permalink  

  Not Good 

  Today is not a good day to do more than hunker down doing what needs to be done indoors.

  During the night the winds howled and roared.  I got up at 1:30, only because a bathroom trip was needed.  I don’t see well without glasses, but . . . it was shift change out at Smithfield and there was a lot of traffic going by.  I also went up close and personnel to the window as I couldn’t believe what I was seeing . . . A fellow bundled up riding a bicycle down the street.

  For me, the task was to get the second bed within our home stripped and laundered.  With that going, I actually had time to fiddle around with a stitching design.  I do not like zip files.  I don’t do them often enough to make it easy on myself.  The design is now on a flash drive for another day.

  I have one block quilted on Luella’s blanket.  I now know the machine is ready for more on another day.  Just seeing that this is going to work out does my heart good.

  Dennis is in from the patio porch and is taking verbal lessons on supper.  I am going to whip up a small hotdish.

  First things first . . . getting the bed made.

  This cold is brutal.  I send prayers up for all family members.

  Catch you all tomorrow.

   
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  Noreen 3:25 pm on December 2, 2022 Permalink  

  Dreary 

  Dreary day!  The air feels raw and cuts deep into my joints.  When the temps are as high as they are, the furnace is not apt to run often.  That cooler air in the studio makes all the difference in my level of comfort.  Today was my day off.

  Today was laundry day for the bedding in Dennis’ bedroom.  In between swapping out the two loads, I quieted myself with reading.  It’s always good to have more than one plan for the day.

  Dennis’ grandson, Ryan, came over and the two fellows went and inspected the tax forfeit property we now own.  When Edna, the gal that lives next to it, came out to her front door to bid Dennis a hello, she chatted up Ryan immediately telling Ryan she was so happy that in time, there would be some clean up.  She didn’t miss a beat to also share with Ryan that she was 98.  Sweet. The consentience of the two fellows when they came back that it was doable when the weather turns.  Everything relies on that. 

  Today, first thing, after I could get my eyes to focus, I did wish Megan a Happy 19th Birthday.  Megan shared a birthday with my mom, Lena.  Megan’s middle name is Lena.  Dennis and I learned much from that little one when we took care of her over the years.  Oh for the sweet memories. 

  The winds are swaying the evergreen boughs.  I do wonder where all the birds that I see during quiet moments . . . where do they take refuge?  Dennis does report that the shell corn pan is licked clean from the night before.  Those deer have great shelter with all the trees, shrubs and such next to the creek which is just a block south of us.

  The first weekend of the month is here.  Blink, blink . . . the days pass too quickly.

   
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  Noreen 1:57 pm on December 1, 2022 Permalink  

  Lost Day 

  Somewhere, somehow, I had lost a day.  At the end of my post yesterday I made a reference that today would be hump day.  Dah!  Yes . . . today is Thursday.

  Dennis had done a lot of walking yesterday behind his snowblower.  Today he and Dwayne would be doing the McDonald’s run.  A time to catch up with fellows with no timeline.

  With a good night’s sleep under my belt, my plans were to be in the studio while Dennis was gone.  Of course the coffee cup was kept full by making multiple trips back up to the kitchen.

  As of this afternoon the Luella blanket is totally pinned together.  Amazingly, towards the end the choice pins had been used and the smaller ones needed to come into play.  The blanket stretched over the two church tables, plus.  I put into service a row of large hat pins where the excess fell off of the table top.  That allowed me to pull the excess when it was time for pinning and making sure all layers pulled the same.  No bunching was allowed.

  My plan was to put no pins in the design squares.  I will do meandering within those squares.  Once all have been stitched, I can stitch in the ditch on either side of the pink sashing.  No more decisions on the blanket today.  The machine needs to be cleaned, oiled and checked for possibly a new needle.  I believe I will use an ecru colored thread for the quilting process.

  My final pinning came just when Dennis came home and we shared a cup of coffee at the dining room table.  Dennis caught me up as to the latest and greatest news from around town.

  The sun is bright and there are quite a few patches of bare concrete showing.  Amazing what 32 degrees can do after a heavy snowfall.

   
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  Noreen 3:40 pm on November 30, 2022 Permalink  

  Merry and Bright 

  The bright sun would lead us to believe that it is warmer outside, rather than what it actually is.

  I can tell you that the marketplace on Facebook does indeed work.  Hats off to the older ones on Stauffer Avenue.  I even remembered to go back to the site and let the world know a sale had happened.

  After Dennis went out to check on the patio kitties this morning, I sat in my bedroom porch for a time enjoying breakfast coffee and a good read.  I couldn’t help but notice a huge brown curled Oak leaf as it danced and pranced over the top of the snow that had no blemishes on it.  A thing of delight in the winter wonderland.  A gust of wind gave the leaf flight to . . . where . . . I do not know.  If the gusts persist road conditions will be anything but a delight.  The snow was so wet and heavy, once walked on or driven on, it was ice.

  Dennis has been outside cleaning around the door openings with his Simplicity snowblower.  That included an area on the back patio next to the patio porch.  The pan holding the nightly corn for the deer will have a cleared spot.  This morning the backyard of fairly deep snow looked like many deer had traveled through. 

  Again this afternoon, I spent some time putting more safety pins down to hold Luella’s blanket in place before quilting can begin.  I have no time frame on the quilting process.   

  This evening we are enjoying two bone in pork chops, smothered in cream of mushroom soup, that have been in the crockpot since morning.  A kettle of instant mashed potatoes will be also on the menu with green beans.  I think Dennis will enjoy the tasty hot meal.

  As we had no errands to run today, I still think the sun makes me feel merry and bright.

  Catch you tomorrow on hump day!

   
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  Noreen 3:20 pm on November 29, 2022 Permalink  

  Snow For Sure! 

  I have no idea what as fallen but it was deemed a snow storm.  I was up at 3:30 and all was calm.  By the time I settled back in at 4:30 the snow was just beginning.  I fell soundly back to sleep.  Neither one of us had any reason to make it an early morning and I can tell you . . . we didn’t.

  Dennis moved snow from the back door to the service door of the garage.  It looked like water underneath.  I think shoveling this snow is what would be labeled as a heart attack snow.  Dennis and the three porch kitties were content watching the snowfall during the entire forenoon and now into the afternoon.  Wise on all counts.  Randy, our next door neighbor, will be by later on today to clear the drive, and Dennis clears where the tractor and snowblower can’t get to.  Actually, Dennis is at that right now.  I checked, snowmobile boots on and a face mask on.  Wise fellow.  

  Part of my morning was spent on the computer searching out the portion of the city’s plat map in regard to our holdings and the newly acquired lot via the tax forfeit sale of yesterday.  A map for Dennis to see is worth many, many words.

  According to the radio, the winds are quite brisk.  The cancelations were many in the surrounding area.  We have no where to be, but there is a lot of traffic going by and not all that slow.  In today’s world, I wonder what it would take to keep people homebound.

  My bag of safety pins got a workout this afternoon on Luella’s blanket.  Safety pins are the pits when it comes to my fingers and hands.  My sister didn’t close the safety pins when she had a project going.  Grant it, she had a long arm.  When fabric gets wrangled, the open pins would feel like little daggers.  Not for me.  That would be why an hour was all I put in on getting them to anchor the sandwiching of the layers.  Short durations on this project allows me to enjoy the books I stocked up on yesterday at the library and keeps the arthritic aching at bay.

  It is indeed a winter wonderland outside.

   
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  Noreen 4:25 pm on November 28, 2022 Permalink  

  Monday, Monday 

  Mondays are laundry day . . . thus was Lena’s way.  It worked for her and it worked for me.  The laundry basket is empty and is ready to receive new dirty laundry.

  I had caught wind that snow may be moving in.  I trundled my library books to the library as they were due this Thursday.  Staying out of slush and snow is my target.  Once I had new books checked out I thought I might as well visit the grocery store.  

  We don’t shop locally if a medical appointment in Mankato is due during the week.  We won’t have any appointments until the 6th of December.  The sticker shock of some of the items on the shelf made me happy that our basement pantry is quite well stocked.  I was disappointed as the 2% milk has a December 6th sell by date.  Good grief.  Nonetheless, what we needed to round out what we have on hand has been achieved.

  Our mail was late this afternoon.  In the mail was a letter from the county auditor that was typed November 21st.  Hmm.  Here it is the 28th of November.  In the letter was a notification of a tax forfeit auction taking place at three this afternoon.  One of the properties is adjacent to our holdings.  Hmm.

  With a quick late lunch under Dennis’ belt, he headed for the courthouse.  This was his decision.  I told him to act upon whatever he thought best for us.  When Dennis got home he announced that we own an additional lot of 46,200 Sq. Ft.  There are no special assessment on it and the abstract is available from the auditor’s office upon the sale.  Well now . . . 

  I do have thoughts about this.  This lot is adjacent to a land locked area of ours.  There has been an easement in place for ingress and egress, though not without cleanup.  I know that Edna, that lives on one side of the easement, will be thrilled.  Dennis has been mowing her yard for quite some years and turns a blind eye to what lays next door east to her yard.  Dennis came home with all sorts of talk about the cleanup of this, which includes an old barn.  It may well be just what my ole cowboy needs to stay in the loop of planning and doing and . . . feeling vital.  After all, where would I be if not for the commotion in the studio.

  I hope the snow is not serious, though Dennis has his snow blower ready. 

  Potatoes are peeled and a small frozen serving of pork roast and carrots have thawed.  Steamed veggies are also on the menu.  Two out of three options for Dennis is really quite good.

  Perhaps tomorrow will see the lights come on in the studio.