Things I Like Thursdays Aug 27

 Greetings!

• This is supposed to be a post about things I like, but I need to share with you this little thing first:

We don’t have enough smoke from our own fires or California, so a high pressure system is pulling smoke from the Colorado and New Mexico fires into Az.  So, with no measurable rain in months, and 115 degree temps we have really dirty skies for almost a month now.  If we didn’t have Covid, I still can’t go outside.  This is crazy stuff.  I pray for the thousands of people affected by these fires!  I can’t imagine losing your home and loved ones in this devastating manner. 

As well, I am praying for everyone in the path of Hurricane Laura.  As I write this it is listed as a very dangerous category 4 to land between Texas and Louisiana.  I was living in Houston in 1983 when Hurricane Alicia arrived and it was pretty scary. 

Back to our original purpose of focusing on “likes”  with Lee Anna at “ Not Afraid of Color” which keeps us sane!

1. Amazon Prime. ( Ok- Amazon period.  I’m still keeping Amazon in business since I can’t go shopping outdoors).

   Since there’s nothing to watch on cable tv, I’ve taken to finding good movies or series on Prime that are free.  Recently, I enjoyed “Radioactive” starring Rosamund Pike.  This is the story of Marie Curie who won 2 Nobel prizes in Chemistry in a man’s world while raising 2 daughters. Excellent. 

Note- her daughter received a Nobel prize also many years later.  Just sayin.

We also watched a series called “White Dragon”, a story of a British man who receives a call that his wife has died while working in Hong Kong. He travels to Hong Kong but makes a shocking discovery of her secret life while there.  It was an 8 episode series which we binge watched.

2. My books this month

The Other Einstein. This was so good , I read it in 2 nights!  This is a fictional account of Einstein’s first wife, Mileva.  But, there are many accounts of her that portray a similar telling of her genius mind in a scientific world dominated by men. I really enjoyed this book. Someone in our “likes”group recommended this book and I’m grateful.

here’s another:

This is number 2 in the mystery series based in Leavenworth, WA. Sloan Krause is an amateur sleuth. It’s a light and cozy read.

3.  freezing rice.  Cooked that is

I just cook up a batch with chicken broth in my Rice Cooker, then freeze individual servings for later. I love a bowl of leftover rice with a soft fried egg on top for breakfast.  It only takes a minute or 2 to defrost the rice in the microwave.

My daughter has requested some table toppers so I will be quilting again for the first time in quite awhile.  I  spent a long time with her just pulling fabrics! I’ll update you later. 

Thanks for stopping by.  

Stay safe and take care.

Mary

Things I like Thursdays Aug 20

 Greetings

Happy August!  Not here-we are past 40 days this summer of 110 degrees and many over 115.  The mailbox is so hot the junk mail is hot and sticky. Unbelievable. Thank God for air conditioning.

But, I do have some “likes” for this week:

1.  The DNC convention.  It’s so nice to watch intelligent speakers and professionals give me hope in the future.  I prefer the roll call from each individual state rather than the old chaotic convention center.

2.  My new air fryer.  My son showed up one day with this gift:

It’s pretty easy to use but takes up half of the counter and weighs a lot.  I tried zucchini but need to keep tweaking the time and temp to get it to come out the way I like them.

Then I tried frozen onion rings:

I followed the instructions but used half the recommended time and they still came out burnt! So, I guess I need to keep trying. My son has been using his fryer with great results and wanted me to have a good experience as well.  He even cooked beautiful Cornish hens in 20 minutes!

3.  My new Visco soft mattress topper.  My orthopedic mattress is only 5 years old and was a disappointment from the second week. It’s already caved in the middle.   I shopped around a lot and luckily settled on this 3 inch foam topper. My bed is cooler and supportive. It’s been about a month so it’s good.

4.  RECLAIM HER NAME.  Republishing books by women that were originally published under a man’s name in order to get them published!   I am currently reading “Middlemarch” by George Eliot but really by Mary Ann Evans. It’s not a book I would have chosen but is listed as one of the Best British novels.  It was written in 1871.  I would describe it as proper English prose of the time period and about the Puritan life.

You can read more of the project at womensprizeforfiction.co.uk.

5. My new Solid as a Rock painting.

Thanks to CEECEE CREATIONS for the tutorial. I had a lot of fun playing with this. 

Whimsical but solid, dude.

And so we come to the end of this week’s  fun.  I hope you’ll join us at LeeAnna’s site at lapaylor.blogspot.com for more “likes”.

Stay safe.

Mary

Things I Like Thursdays Aug 13

 Greetings!

Are you as tired of summer ( insert Pandemic, heat, political commercials, etc)  as I am?.....ok, we’ll focus on likable stuff.  Here’ s my list of likes for this week:

1.  Making my own sweet relish.  Ok, maybe some of you have done this before but I am over the moon on this.  I had no idea yellow #5 food dye was in the relish I had been buying for many years. I’m allergic to yellow #5-it’s actually a poison and banned in Europe.  But not here!   I tried to buy any brand without it included but they all had it.  Surprise!  What’s a girl to do? Make my own:

I was only able to buy Persian cucumbers (huh?). They are about 5 inches long and almost seedless.  Anyway, I peeled and chopped them , salted and drained them for 3 hours.  Then I squeezed them in a towel to remove excess moisture. That was the key. I cooked them with sugar and celery seed and a touch of spices.

Voila! Maybe got 1/2 cup of really good all natural relish.

2.  Apple+ on my IPad.  I should have checked both of my TVs to see if they are compatible before purchasing it. They are not.  Oh well. I’m not going to purchase stuff to make them compatible as I’ll only use it occasionally.  I’m enjoying “The Morning Show” on Apple+.  It’s a dark show about a network morning news show  and all the goings -on behind the scenes.  It stars Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carrell.  Sure gets my mind off of real stuff happening around us.kinda like a soap opera but more serious covering current events.

3.  “Modern Love” on Amazon Prime.  It’s a different “love” story each episode that was sent into the New York Times column. There are all kinds of complicated love stories. It’s interesting and mostly upbeat.

4. My Sunset on Water painting. 

This was fun. I’m glad I purchased this watercolor journal as it holds the water much better than my last journal.

5.  My son built a wood enclosure for his pool equipment and then purchased a webbing polyester type material for the top.  He then needed it hemmed.  I wasn’t sure my Janome 6600 could handle it but it did beautifully.

That Janome machine is one of the best investments I’ve made.  It cost a fortune 8 years ago but it has been a workhorse over the years.  And , my son thinks I can do anything. Lol  The covers (one plus a spare) were about 6’x6’. 

6.  KAMALA HARRIS  picked for Vice President running mate for Joe Biden. Enough said.

Hope y’all  are having a good week and I’ll see you over at LeeAnna’s site for more likes.

👵

Stay Safe

Mary

I Like Thursdays Aug 6

Greetings!

I hope everyone is safe and sound.  We are good here in our little prison. LOL.

Here is a list of my “likes” for this week:

1.  My new mop-as I always say-it’s the little things. 

Isn’t it cute?- still In it’s package.  Hmm-maybe tomorrow. I’ve gone through several types of mops and none seem to do the job that I expect. ( Yeah, maybe I should lower my expectations.). Anyway, I’m ready to try something new again.  I like the idea you can turn it over after the first side gets dirty and it can be thrown in the washing machine when I’m done.

2.  Flattening my warped painting.   Here’s the before photo of the painting:

Sometimes, if too much water is applied to the paper, it can warp.  I do tape my paper down while I’m painting but it still happened. So I googled ways to fix it:ironing it!

Pretty cool, huh?  Just a cloth on top while on the ironing board. Granted, I used a warm iron and soft touch several times. I’m so pleased.  But. it also showed me how easily this can happen in the future. 

3.  Hanging my log cabin over the bed.

It’s just been sittting in a drawer!  

4. Two great grandkids 

Sorry bout the duplicates-it’s the only way blogger would accept the photo.  I wish they hadn’t gone to San Diego for a vacation  cause I fear for their safety but supposedly the family was careful.  They sure look happy.

5. My Gold on Snow painting

Peaceful and fun to paint.  This was an Ellen Crimi Trent tutorial.  

I have been busy but get tired easily so I’m back on oxygen more than not but still taking it easy and gearing up to take care of Thomas this weekend.  He is worth all the workouts.

Please join us at Lee Anna’s site at lapaylor.blogspot.com for more likes. 

Stay safe and thanks so much for stopping by- you make my day with your ideas!

Mary

Things I like Thursdays July 30

Greetings.

I don’t like starting my day frustrated but you can read my previous post.  The new Blogger is not my friend but I refuse to give up. 

Here’s a list of my likes for this week.  Thanks to Lee Anna for keeping us focused on positive things in theses difficult times! 

1.  Sprouts Market store delivery.  I finally took the plunge and use Instacart delivery service to have someone pick out my groceries and deliver them.   It’s not free but under my circumstances it’s worth it.  So, I online ordered a list of specialty (gluten free, etc) items and fresh produce within a larger amount of options.  It all worked well twice now.  One thing I’ve noticed with online grocery/ household buying is the delivery drivers are mostly women.  Oh, and I do wipe down everything that enters the house with disinfectant wipes.  I use peroxide/ water mix for produce.

2.  Thomas making Christmas cards in July.  He loves it!

 I’m so pleased my daughter purchased Christmas craft kits many months ago for stuff to do during lockdown. He informed us Christmas is his favorite time of year!  Us too.

DOES ANYONE IN OUR GROUP BLOG ON ANOTHER BLOG SERVICE?

asking for a friend.

At this point I had to close my iPad and walk away due to the struggles and amount of time spent trying to use the new Blogger.  This is not fun or how I want to spend my time.

I’m back:

3.  This poster from a specialty shop in Glendale 

4.  Cleaning and reorganizing my fabric stash and art supplies

One space that is delegated to storage. Not pretty.

Done. 

 All my crafts and fabric are in my bedroom.   I have been feeling guilty for having so much fabric around me not being used.  I purchased 90% of it before I retired. I haven’t had a sewing mojo for almost a year. There were a few items made for Christmas or family last year but when the Corona virus hit, sewing came to a halt.  I have no idea why.  I did pick up painting instead.  Certainly not to the extreme my quilting was.  

 We have an 8 year old (going on 40) sweet girl in our family who needed a hobby.  So, I gave her my two year old , small/ lightweight Janome, sewing supplies and tools, as well as appropriate fabric as a gift.  As I suspected, she is over the moon learning to sew. I cannot go to see or teach her.  But, on day one she was reading the manual and trying things out!  In addition, she has a grandma who stays at her house a few days a week who will now teach her to sew.  Happiness all around.  I am so thrilled for us all. 

I gave 2 large bags of fabric (plus scraps) to Goodwill along with many patterns I never even used.  I gave a large bag of precuts to a quilter friend of my brother. She's a happy camper to have all those pretties.

I still have  3 sewing machines, a small amount of fabric and now my painting supplies.  I no longer feel guilty about what I have. I have maybe 4 quilting projects that could be finished but no other sewing in the future.   Oh, and a much nicer bedroom.

I’m exhausted from all this cleaning and moving stuff around. Hopefully, I can paint tomorrow.

In the meantime, I put up some Christmas lights that we are enjoying!

Stay safe and let me know how you’re doin with the new BLOGGER 😂😂😂😂.

Mary

P.S. in case you’re wondering how lovely it’s been outside:

14 days of lows above 90 Degrees and 25 days of over 110 degrees. SO FAR. 

Just sayin.  Fun fact: more divorces are filed in August than any other month, here.  

 

Train derailment

Hi everyone.

Just a quick photo of the news in our area:

There was a huge fire due to a train derailment and bridge collapse-this morning.  This was on a bridge built in 1912 over the Tempe Town Lake.  Basically, one side of the bridge is Phoenix and the other end is Tempe. 

The train was carrying tons of wood and “some type of fuel“.  The derailment and fire has caused major disruption in the area such as the light rail can’t carry passengers back and forth to the area, Tempe is closed, highways are closed, the Sky Harbor airport is only 2 miles away so planes are being diverted not to mention the pollution of the Tempe Town Lake,  a major water  area for the valley.  

Miraculously, no one has been hurt but there are several hundred fire fighters in the area including in the air!  They say it will burn all day on an already high pollution day. 

Unbelievable and so sad. This is 22 miles from me but smoke is still visible hours later.

Thanks everyone for help

Thanks everyone for your help on my latest problem with the new blogger.  First the photo icon didn’t work but miraculously worked 3 weeks later.  Then the save button has never worked and now it’s working.  There must have been a lot of complaints to the Blogger crew!

It’s a struggle.

Mary

So after I wrote this last night it wouldn’t post- just saved to a draft.  Luckily I tried again this morning posted it and it worked today.

Very frustrating.