Lucille Finds Her Own Way Home

I did not have the best of mornings. That will teach me to rearrange the sacred day of domesticity! I decided to shop and do groceries before cleaning. It seems this is wrong. OK.

On my way to the first shop (candle wick) I wasn't sure where it was and turned down what I thought was a nearby street. I turned smartly as a police car was parked on the corner. He or she was as whacked out as I was as that street was one way, and neither of us seemed to notice my car was not headed in the right direction. Not to worry law person, I was properly scared straight on my way to the first cross street. No cars or people were scared physically in this debacle.

Got my wick. $.45 a meter at Maritime Hobby if you need some. Then off to the Superstore on Portland for groceries. Picked up sherry for the fruitcake and popped it in the car so I didn't need to deal with it. Back in the store I stopped in to the washroom first (yes, it's part of the story, you need to know). I remember putting my purse on the tidy door hook. I'm pretty sure I took it with me. Anyway, some shopping later I realize I have no purse in my cart.

No tears, no panic. In times of crisis save those thoughts for after, with the sherry. However I was adding up what was gone and figuring Christmas was off my list for the next 10 years. I'll try to make this long story short. There were many trips to the customer counter, parking lot (to see if my beautiful truck was still there), garbage cans (was it dumped?). I gathered an entourage as the crisis spread throughout the kingdom. Superstore people were great.

Fortunately I remembered early on that I had an iPhone, and had registered that puppy for Find My Iphone. Dashing off to the Aliant store in the mall I found all the employees were doing their best "I'm so busy" routines. When I couldn't get their extremely slow web browsers to work (an 8 year old was called upon for assistance and he was helpful) I knocked on the back door where 2 employees had just disappeared and I dumped my woes in their general direction. Aliant Mary got out her own iPhone and we used the Find app to locate my phone. IT WAS STILL IN THE STORE!!!

You could see it. The dot was at the back of the store. NOOOOO!!!!! It moved! We watched it move to the front of the store where it settled and stopped. With everyone searching, calling the phone (it quacks) and using the locator sound option we still had no luck. I also had to run out every 10 minutes and check on my truck. I love my truck.

Finally I hear my name paged to the Joe Fresh counter. This was at least an hour later. It seems my purse had been found in a shopping cart at the back of the store and these lovely (very wet behind the ears) ladies had brought it to their counter. They were so pleased to see me as the phone had been driving them crazy with all the ringing and quacking.

They never thought to answer it or take it to customer service, where all lost things go. I didn't burst their bubble by hammering them over the head with a ham, but I wanted to. I thanked them very much and then bought the ever faithful Aliant Mary with a Timmies card. That girl never left my side, which was good, as it was reassuring to watch that little red circle stay still.

Nothing was missing from the purse. I have no idea what happened. I had no cash - maybe someone was only after cash. Maybe someone just found it and set it out? Maybe I switched carts in mid aisle? I don't know. I just know I like to have faith in the people around me and it does seem to work out.

I went home and made fruitcake. Lots of sherry in that fruitcake! Some in me too!

Yoyos vs. lace

I have been a bit obsessed with yo-yos lately. I got a little yoyo maker at Sew With Vision and have been converting stash scraps into yo-yos ever since. Working there gives me way too many ideas. It can be done without thought while watching TV. I have quite a pile, but if I am to make a coverlet I think I need 2500. If I could just get a popcorn maker converted to popping out yo-yos? I need them at that rate. Whatever. For now they are fun.

Today the Lace Guild met at my house. I needed that. I haven't touched my lace in way too long. I'm still working on the same endless lace edging. I hope I can stick with it this week as I've got the hang of it again. I can't watch TV and lace though - hence the yo-yos. 

Household hint - dump the oil from your recipe in the bowl first. Then everything else that goes into that cup just slides out. These are the things I know.

Former Day of Domesticity

I had my day of domesticity down to a science. Monday was the day to do the wash, house clean, buy groceries and run errands. It worked for me. Now I find things interrupt my domesticity and I need a new plan.

I volunteer at school Monday mornings now and it is really lovely. I get my needed dose of cute children and enjoy using what I know for good, rather than evil. I don't know how the evil thing would go, but the threat is out there.

The afternoon is not enough for me to get things done, and I seem to get distracted more easily. I was halfway through the kitchen debris today when the Met sent me an email to announce lots of PDF downloads I needed to get right away. They have loads of out of print books now available and there are great fashion books in there too. http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications
is well worth a look people!

So now my house is only a little clean, and not so you would know for sure, and Tuesday is my day for Atlantic Lit class and dirt class. Tomorrow we test for ph! My soil sample is drying as we speak. Do I have the control needed to finish the clean Wednesday? Wednesday is far, far away.

I also have to clean the closet. I haven't trucked out the summer clothes yet. Each year when it gets just about that time, I start with the laundry. If I don't want to wear something again this season I just don't iron it. It goes in the pile. When the pile gets big enough, I complete the trade of summer clothes for winter. Everything needs to be ironed, of course. I consider each piece carefully. Is it worth the iron, or do I find it a new home? I plan to be ruthless this year. I always plan that way, but I really really want to mean it this year. I want to love all my clothes. Less would be fine, as long as I like them all.

Have you any suggestions?

And for those who keep asking if my Atlantic Lit prof is the famous Alexander MacLeod - well, who knew? I didn't, and he is. Take a look. I believe I mentioned the eye candy? I don't even pay for this!
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/866164--alexander-macleod-s-giller-surprise

The Shirt Off My Back!

So Nocturne was a blast, as always! Tons of people out! I needed to spend more time planning our route, and I would have seen more in less time.  I missed the field of ceramic bunnies. It was a bit cold and I really paid for that the next day (and on and on) with an unhappy jaw. The highlight for me was the steamroller prints at the Dartmouth ferry terminal. The woodcut prints were carved from huge sheets of MDF. That stuff is tough to cut into! The skill was much better than I anticipated. I don't know why. I should never underestimate NSCAD. I'm glad they use Nocturne so well to demonstrate why we need to support them in our community. Our trip to their print (letterset) shop was impressive as well!

But back to the steamroller. They were doing large banner style prints and you could buy them for a reasonable price. I couldn't decide, and as they actually require a steamroller, placing an order after the night was not possible. However later in the night (as we were heading back to the car) they were letting people throw things in to be printed. I took the shirt off my back and printed the back. The front had princess seaming and I thought that might be a bad idea. Hindsight says I should have done the front, but now I look great coming and going!

Look at this process! They had a rather authentic guy driving the roller.  "Least likely to become an artist" written all over his yearbook! I think he came with the rental. The students rolled the carved wood with ink and this took time and a huge amount of muscle. They laid down the wood sheet and put the material to be printed carefully on top. They used a blanket for the first pass to absorb extra ink and rolled most things twice before peeling them off.

Nocturne Halifax

Nocturne is this Saturday, and I can't wait! I went last year for the first time and it was wonderful. If you are anywhere near Halifax/Dartmouth this weekend you need to go and take everyone you know. Check out the schedule (http://nocturnehalifax.ca) or download the app. There are art events everywhere and you just roam the waterfronts and downtown areas looking for them. The app helps and keeps you up to date all night. I want to see the steamroller print making and the spinners.

All Stuck Up

So yesterday I tended to the fruit trees. We have a few little fruit trees and they had a buggy year, mostly because I refuse to spray and forgot to do the 'healthy' things you need to do in the cold, wet spring. As I spent the summer hand picking bugs each and every day, I probably won't forget again.

Who am I kidding? It will be cold and wet again next spring, so who knows?

But I did do the fall cleanup. First you wrap the trunk with a soft wrapping and then spread very sticky Tanglefoot over the wrapping. Bugs get caught as they go up or down. Then you spray some sulfur stuff (it's not a poison, or at least it's a natural poison) and then finally dig around the roots a bit. That's when I got into trouble. I think that may have been the wrong order to do things, seeing as the digging put my hair squarely in the Tanglefoot.

So today I shampooed with 2 servings of Goo Be Gone and followed with a chaser of 5 different regular shampoos. I'm ever so clean and fluffy now, let me tell you!

But none of this explains why or how I sewed a sleeve in upside down in the current project. However, if I held 1 arm up and 1 arm down, it did kind of work.

I Just Can't Get Ahead

So I'm at the Home Depot (just the 'Po to us frequent shoppers) with my DH. He's off to look at things that explode and I tell him to meet me in the appliances. We end up meeting in the middle and I flag him over to the upright freezers. There's a cute little 8 cubic foot model I like. Over he comes. He gets the freezer in sight and starts. I'll try to get what he said as accurate as I can. You need the face and the tone to make it perfect. It was a cross between patronizing and delight.

"Ohhhh. That's right. It's fall and a wife's thoughts turn to nesting before the winter. Freezing enormous amounts of things and food and preserving. Huge turkeys and stuff. (He opens the freezer door) Is there a ham in here?"

All I could do was walk away. The freezer could not be discussed after that. Do you laugh, cry or throw things? It may be the nicest thing that man has ever said. He knows me so well!!! That is exactly what I was feeling. The garden is overflowing. I like to be well nested before the snow falls. As for the ham, for those in the know that is a well worn joke. (Look up perfect murder weapon) I do believe I can now say this marriage will last forever. Stick a fork in us. We're done.

Not getting rid of the ham just yet, though. Just in case. And we may go back to look at the freezer.