Things I like Thursdays Aug 29

Greetings!

I can't believe I just ordered my At A Glance Calendar Notebook for 2020!  I've been using this type for years, plus a pocket calendar notebook in my purse and a calendar on the fridge for my brother.  Sad but necessary.  August is just about done and not a moment too soon.  We are dying here from the heat and humidity. With that in mind, here are my "likes" for this week:

1.  AIR CONDITIONING!!!!  Here's a photo from my phone the other morning:

It is not a dry heat.  This is very unusual when there were no clouds in the sky. It's been like this a couple of days.  Our monsoon is now called a nonsoon.  We are down in rain received this year and we are having 110 + degrees every day.  Ugh. Whoever invented A.C. should be given a medal.

2.  New Easy Spirit Traveltime shoes.

They just arrived as I was typing this so I am excited.  I have several pairs of sandals, flip flops and tennis shoes for the summer but I prefer to wear these for the support for my back.  For me, they are expensive (around $69) but they last at least a year. And, for a slip on- they stay on.

3.  Clean floors.

This is the view from my recliner after I collapsed from washing all  the floors.  We have tile throughout. I vacuum every week but the mopping is a killer on my back every few weeks.  We take off our shoes from the outside but we still seem to drag stuff in and there's spills.  Thomas' wheelchair drags stuff in too.   Of course,  I sure like the look of clean floors, though.

4.  Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok. My current read.



I just started it 2 days ago and I'm almost  finished  because I couldn't put it down. It's a Chinese immigrant family story with secrets; recommended by Jenna Bush .  I like it.

Once again, no sewing this week or crafts for that matter- just sitting around keeping cool- hah! I wish.  The usual doctor visits, grocery shopping, chores, etc., wear me out. Maybe this quiet weekend coming up- I can play.

Stay cool and safe.
mary

Things I like Thursdays Aug 22

Greetings!

Hope ya'll have had a good week!  Here's my list of "likes" for this week.  (Please join us at Lee Anna's sight for more "likes' at  Not Afraid of Color):

1. My new chiropractor.  I had a chiro for 20 years  paying full price because he wasn't covered on my insurance but he changed his business operation so I had to find a new one. Of course, I didn't do that right away and waited till I was in pain to the point of headaches. But, I got lucky and found a new one I like.  Here's her business card:

Isn't that a picture of serenity?  Smart.  And, yes she is.  This is my first time a female chiro worked on me. She looks and acts like Lindsay Wagner! Very cool.

2.  Decoupage red and white box

Here's  the simple supplies- shoe box, fabric scraps (red, white and pink),  decoupage Modge Podge and brushes.

4.5 hours later I have a pretty box;

This was the first time I tried to  decoupage.  It was pretty messy and took longer than I expected to do the box, lid, and sealing them after drying.  I didn't realize the lid wouldn't fit at the end. Oh well. I like this box  for holding my greeting cards.
I didn't like the finished product originally but when I saw it the next morning , I liked it.

3.  "Sister Act" musical at the Broadway Theater here.

Great performance and funny writing.  Of course, great music of the 70's.  My daughter and I went and had a great afternoon together.

 Here is a photo of the flowers in the lobby.  Can you see the little nuns?

And the "stained glass" done in flowers? Genius.


4.  Strawberry flavored cake.  Made in the microwave.  This time it's more like a sponge cake. 2.5 minutes and tasty.

I used strawberry  extract cause I can't have seeds. This is a same day cake that doesn't store well. But, it's only 6 inches wide!  Just sayin.

5.  Spanish Rice in the rice cooker.  Thanks to Jocelyn at Canadian Needle Nana once again for a cool recipe.

I used a brown rice, red rice blend.  This was really good and so easy.


6. Tomato paste in a tube

It's imported from Italy and of course more expensive than canned.  But, so convenient, tasty and no waste.  When I used the canned tomato paste, I never used a full can and even froze 1/2 can if I remembered but usually it was just waste.
I used this in the Spanish Rice dish-really good.


So, I haven't been sewing this week, but instead tried new recipes, made a pretty box  and went to the THEUUTER.
heehee.

Have a wonderful day!
mary

Things I like Thursdays Aug 15

Greetings!

How are things goin in your day?  Hope they are fun.  We are ok here-just hot. I have a few things to show you that made my life good if not different. (heehee).

1.  Avocado toast with egg:

It takes a few minutes to put together but it's so good.  It's just toast, mashed avocado and an over -easy egg.

2.  Minimal scraps after squaring (35)  4 square blocks:

That's unusual for me so I was happy I cut and sewed the 4 -squares correctly. 

3. Post it quilt top is on the design board.  It's made from 10 fat quarters.-cleaning out the stash.

Ready to start sewing the 4 squares together. It's about 46 x 68 inches.  It'll be donated to a church group to back and quilt.  

4. Amazon service.  I love shopping for unusual or no-longer-carried items at Amazon and most items are delivered in 2 days. There happens to be a distribution center 20 miles from my home. 
The other day I ordered Bobs Red Mill gluten free flour.  This is what I got:

The label says what I ordered but it was a bag of coconut flakes!  I laughed.  It only took one phone call ( plus emailing the photo) to customer service and my account was credited the same day of the phone call. That is good service.  Whoever pulled the product at the warehouse made a mistake. I've never received the wrong product before and have been very pleased with Amazon service. 



5. Braylee's 4th  birthday.  

She was very sweet and had so much fun. 
 But, my days of going to "Chucky Cheese" are over.  My ears were actually ringing when I left and walked to my car 2 hours later.  It was very cramped and crowded. The music, game machines and people were so loud. Us old folks ( great and grand parents) sat in a little group waiting for it to end. (While others were running around frantically)

6.  Trying new things. I saw the ring binder way of keeping received greeting cards in a special way.

I bought binder rings and punched holes in all the cards. I put it together  but it did not turn out well. The cards are flopping around which seems sloppy;  plus, how to store that. .  I don't like the result and took them off. Back to square one to make something to save these cards prettily, but at least I tried it.

7.  Watercolor Portfolio.  I needed a place to store my paintings as they were piling up on the one shelf I use to display them:

I  used a mauve  piece of poster board from Michael's that cost about a dollar, and some stash embroidery thread. Done in a few minutes and I love it. 

Well, that's about all for me this week.  Hope you will join us at Lee Anna's post:Not Afraid of Color
for more "likes".   Hava a great day.


mary

Things I like Thursdays Aug 8

Greetings!

I'm gonna be real honest here and tell you it's difficult (again) to list" likes" with all the bad news in this last week of bad news everywhere.  I won't list them here but just know it's affecting a lot of us.
And, more importantly, nothing is being done here in the U.S. to stop the gun violence or hateful rhetoric.

Luckily, I have really cool people to watch on You Tube, bloggers who share their thoughts with artistry and Hallmark movies.  Self survival. Some would say I'm avoiding or escaping  and they are correct.  It's overwhelming some days. I have Tune In radio on my electronics and just installed Pandora on my I phone so I can listen to  calming (elevator) music. Needless to say, I go to my quilting or painting for solace.

So, here are my "likes" for this week that have brought me joy:

1. My "Trees" painting

Serene. It only took about a half hour!

2.  My great granddaughter's new bag.

 It's a cute, lined, zippered bag for her 4th birthday. It measures 10 x 10 x 4. I decided it needed her name on it AFTER IT WAS FINISHED!
Insane choice.

Here is my work space where I was trying to figure out how to monogram  with my Janome 6600!
Manual, I pad, notes, and of course Cheez Its.  It took 2.5 hours to monogram a small pink fabric and sew it to the front:

That's as big as the letters got. Not even an inch tall.  Disappointing.  I can't figure out how to enlarge the width or length of stitch as this a preset setting.  I checked on chat lines for this problem and they just say "enlarge the length and width" but that's not possible. Any ideas my friends?  Anyway, I was short on time as her party is this weekend so I got it done.  It does have a little pocket:

I hope she likes it.  I'm going to stuff it with Dollar Store school-type items like colored pencils, stickers, etc.

3. Pulling fat quarters to use up from my stash for a new 4 square quilt.

They are  much prettier in person. I don't know why the colors are not true from my I phone.  The very top pieces are light blue not gray. Gheeze. There is a main print of white, blue, red,turquoise, yellow, green, pink flowers and so I pulled those colors to enhance the main print. I'll cut them (maybe today) into 5 inch squares and then do a four square block. 

Here are some close-ups:

That's better.


Well peeps, hope you are healthy and happy.  Thanks for dropping by and please join us at Lee Anna's site:Not Afraid of Color

Have a great day.
mary 😃

Things I like Thursdays Aug 1

Greetings!

Okay-what did you do with July????

Anyway, hope you are keeping cool in this crazy heat.  I feel like I've been busy, but I don't have much to show for it.  Haha.  Saturday started with a pedi with my daughter then lunch at Panera Bread. We love their sugar cookies- plain and so tasty.
 Of course,  we were across the parking lot from Hobby Lobby, so we spent 1.5 hours there looking at Christmas ideas!! She bought lots of little stuff for Christmas gift crafts with my grandson which is so smart to start now instead of her busy end of year month at work in December.

I purchased one item and it starts off my list of likes:

1. My carved, wooden  nativity scene:

It was $5.00!! Delicate but sturdy. It could be painted but I love the natural wood look. I remembered I had a beautiful navy fabric with stars for a background.  And, it is perfect.  Now I just have to make a quilt and attach the wood carving somehow to make a hanging.  The nativity scene is about 12 inches by 12 inches.  perfect size for a wall hanging.

2.  my Facebook Christmas Club group.  It's my second group on Facebook and it is so cool.  People post Christmas scenes-real and imagined.  It is so fun to look at in these heat waves.

3. Taking a risk with a new class.  I did not like it, but at least I tried.  It was a "learn to watercolor" class at my local Scrapbook store.  Here's what I made for $15 and 1.5 hours. A three inch cactus on a card:

The teacher was not experienced, organized or prepared for the class of 9 ladies. So, it was chaos.  I thought I had asked enough questions about the class in advance but the cashier who signed me up wasn't  knowledgeable about it either. When I told my daughter about the  experience and what I made, she could not stop laughing- she knows I hate cactus.  Oh well, you  don't know till you try.  Just keepin it real, folks.

4.  Kate in Northern England's vlog on You Tube.  Jocelyn of Canadian Needle Nana  blog offered a video of this woman last week and I am addicted to her Vlog.  Kate  is smart, fun, down to earth and has a lovely farm with cows, hens, cats, etc.  She talks (and shows) about cooking, quilting, pottery and much more. She is so charming.  Here is the link to her You Tube vlog:The last homely house east of the sea..  I sure hope this link works for you.  I believe the title is from a Tolkein novel or Lord of the Rings, something like that.
I hope you check her out.

5. This poster I made for over Thomas ' bed here at my home.

Sorry for the poor photo quality.



 He had an old drawing he did in the 4th grade and it was long time ready for something new.  I can't wait for him to see it-he loves his Suns and basketball.

That's all folks! Gotta get ready for my last Wednesday with Thomas before he returns to school on Monday.  This is so hard on kids here to go to school in this heat. I'll still have him every other
weekend after school starts, thank God.

Have a great day!
mary

Things I like Thursdays Jul 25

Greetings!

Yes, I'm still here, not melted. I haven't left the house for 5 days due to bronchitis and the heat.  Today I need to go to the library and Walmart. Pray for me.
I had let the non breathing properly issue go for weeks and finally realized I needed to do maintenance.  I'm feeling much better.

Here are my likes for this week:

1.  COPD meds on hand.  I have the best lung doctor.  She understands her patients. Just sayin.
I have necessary meds on hand for flare ups of bronchitis.  I am so grateful. It usually only takes 4-5 days to feel better so I can function. I don't have to run to Urgent Care or try to get into her office.

2. Cleaning out this old PC.  I need to get a new PC-eventually.  I have an I pad but it's not as comfortable as sitting at this PC with a large monitor and keyboard.  My thumbs get sore with the I pad.  But, if this PC fails, I'm very grateful for the I pad.
Back to the topic at hand. I've had this HP unit about 7-8 years and of course it's obsolete or will be.  I also am using Windows 7 which I prefer to Windows 10 ( and have not purchased 10 but was forced to use it at my old job).
 I received a notice recently from Microsoft they  won't support Windows 7 anymore- I think that's wrong. I paid dearly for your product-I shouldn't be forced to spend more and upgrade. Anyway, I digress-again.  I've been deleting old recipes, quilting tutorials I've never used, files, etc on this system to free up space and just organize better. It is very time-consuming. I'll keep at it. Don't even ask how many photos I need to delete.

3.  Easy Microwave chocolate cake

Needless to say, I am not using the oven due to the heat.  But, I wanted a piece of cake and found this on allrecipes.com.  It's great!  I baked it in a stoneware pie plate so it's pretty flat, but good.

Then, I decided I wanted a white cake so I did not use the cocoa and instead changed the vanilla to a tablespoon.  This is my vanilla 6 inch sponge cake from the same recipe:

I liked it as- is but it would be good with fruit or jam on top. It's the perfect size, too.
I have no idea why it has a whole in the bottom- it cooked in a glass bowl.
I didn't spend 10 minutes making either cake!

4.  Bud Light's tweet:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/18/us/area-51-bud-light-trnd/index.html

I hope this link worked. (It did work on my end.)  I thought this was hysterical.   If you are not aware, many (like thousands) of people are wanting to go to Area 51 to "see the aliens  the government is hiding from us" in September. Of course, most rational people think this is a joke.

5.  Being "Notification free".  I changed my Iphone to "no notifications"  in my Settings.  I used to be a news junkie and liked to know what is going on around me and in the world.  But, the notifications were affecting my serenity!  My daughter suggested it because she had done it and felt less alarmed.
I am much happier not knowing every horrible thing that has happened today. I can check the tv news if necessary.

6.  Dits and Dots quilt is done.

It's 44 inch square made with disappearing 9 patches pattern from leftover charms  and solid blocks.  It's  very cheery.  I'll wash it today.  I'm not sure where I'll donate it yet- I have several options.  See the orange fabric used on the back?- it's old from 2014 and from my stash.  It's from Fabric Traditions on the selvage.  I got it in a discount baggie at my LQS.  I do not recommend it.  It's so stiff and difficult to work with.  Hope the quilt softens up in the wash.

Well peeps, time to go-hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my world. Please join us for more likes at:Lee Anna's Not Afraid of Color

have a great week and keep cool.
mary

Things I like Thursdays Jul 18

Greetings!

Hi to all.  Unfortunately, this post will be short as I honestly cannot come up with more than a few "likes" to post.  I know, sad. Life is pretty dull around here while we sit in front of the tube keeping cool. No cooking unless it's the microwave and  staying home out of the heat.  I'm even putting off going to the grocery store till later this week when it cools down to 105. And contrary to public opinion, it is not a dry heat as the monsoon is coming. Gheeze.
 Our pantry and freezer are full so it's not like we're gonna starve- I just need to get creative with cold foods.


Here's my list such as it is.

1. Hallmark Christmas movies all month.  They were on one channel till last Sunday and now they are on the original  Hallmark channel till the 28th.  We have seen all of them but are watching them again cause there is nothing  much on the tv, now that Wimbledon is done.


2. The Gentlemens Match at Wimbledon. (cool title) That was 5 hours of tennis.  "Well done!" to both of them.

3. Purple Butterfly

I spent over an hour on this one whereas the others have taken about  a half hour.  I made the butterfly first and then tried to fill in where he had landed.  That was fun. I'm not a fan of the color orange but I liked how it balanced the colors here.

4. The tv show, Instinct - on CBS , Sundays. A fomer CIA operative who now is a professor of abnormal behavior studies  pairs up with a female NYPD detective  to solve crimes.  Alan Cumming ( of Broadway fame) is the gay professor and does a wonderful job as well as the female lead.  We really like this show.

5. Dits and Dots is sandwiched.  It  was so easy to work on at the kitchen table cause it was only 44 inches square.  Love those small quilts.

Well peeps, that's about it.  Hope ya'll are keepin cool.😎
Please join us at Lee Anna's for more "likes":Not afraid of color

Take care and thanks for dropping by,
mary
😎