Connected or Not

Our modem died at home so we've had no DSL for the past week or so. It's amazing how we've become accustomed to having the 'Net available all the time, surf this, look up that. Now I've had to read my FaceBook feeds on my phone, as well as other web look-ups. Not so fun on a 3" screen.

I like that some sites/companies have streamlined sites for mobile devices, but sometimes they are too streamlined. Amazon and mobile eBay are fine if you know what you're looking. I don't always. I like to surf around.

Oh, and I can't print out quilting patterns from my phone, either.

We started having trouble with our service around the same time we turned down Verizon's generous offer of Fios service, phone and 'Net for $80/month. Currently we pay $50 for phone and DSL, and that includes taxes. Why do we need to pay more, right? Dan assures me it's purely coincidental our DSL service is going out at the same time they want us to upgrade to Fios. Really?

Anyway, after resetting the modem and router on my own, I called Verizon the other night for help. The guy stepped me through the modem reset procedure and tried to get a connection but it failed, we need a new modem. Good news is, they are going to send us one. The bad news, another weekend without the 'Net.

We've been toying with the idea of a DVD recorder for a while and Dan saw an ad for one at Kmart a couple weeks ago, but we missed the window. If we have one and get it hooked up, we can save stuff to disc from the DVR and therefore not worry about disk space.

Yesterday I was at Costco ordering new glasses for The Girl and noticed they had a Sony DVD recorder. I bought it. I didn't unload it right away, it sat in the trunk for a couple hours until the hubbub of the evening settled down. By the time I brought it in, the store was closed. I mention this because there is no manual in the box. And we have no Internet so I can't print off a new copy. Grrr.

Now I'm back to work, and Internet access, but I can't remember the model number of the DVD recorder I bought. Sheesh.



 

Mid-week Rambling

I'm so behind in blogging. I'm still doing the single mom thing, Dan doesn't come home until tomorrow night late. I'm kinda caught up on laundry, maybe just one regular load and one utility load to do and the hampers will be empty. I can't get too excited about that though, Dan'll be bringing home a suitcase full of more laundry.

The local power company has been doing work in our town to improve the reliability of the power supply. That means they are ripping down the trees within twenty feet of the lines.

Here's our backyard before:



Here's our backyard after:



Entrance to the neighborhood before:



After:


Depressing, isn't it?

We're getting $100 per tree they took out. They call them vouchers, but really we have to pay for any new trees out-of-pocket and they will pay us back up to the limit with proof we've installed trees from the approved list. Nobody bothered to mention to us the value of ten full-grown trees is about $10,000 and $1000 in vouchers won't even come close to providing shade and a privacy barrier like we had before. Furthermore, the price of the tree does not include installation. I went to one nursery to check out what they had in stock and their labor charges. I calculated each tree installed will be about 175% of the original price.

I've envisioned filling that space with a row of pink crape myrtles. They grow pretty fast and are so pretty in the summer. Two problems: the smallest size starts at $150 ($262 installed) and I'd need/want seven for a total of about $1840 which is way over our allowance, and they are out of pink ones and I don't like the white or purple crape myrtles.

I started considering other options, different varieties of trees and large shrubs. I started poking around on the 'Net and one click lead to another and I found a coupon offered by the state of Maryland for $25 if you plant a tree on their list. Many of trees on the state's list match the trees on the power company's approved list.

There is a nursery, one with a more expensive reputation, that takes the state coupons. I poke around on their site. Well, they have plenty of the pink crape myrtles in stock, which start at $130, are on sale and can be installed for about 128% of the original price. It looks like I can go back to my original plan, or at least start planning based on my original idea.

Maybe I should look into fruit trees while I'm at it....

College Prep

Tuesday in Fern's Algebra2/trig class she had to take a placement test. Huh? Wouldn't they already know which class the kids should be in? Didn't they do that last year at scheduling time? Apparently not. Yesterday she messaged me, results are in and she's been moved up to the top level class with an American, English-speaking teacher. That was one of my biggest worries about this school year for her, getting a teacher she couldn't understand and not doing well as a result. The subject is hard enough as it is.

Class requirement: a graphing calculator. They will be teaching the class to the TI-83 and although other models & brands are acceptable, the student is responsible for learning how to use it on their own. The TI-83s retail for about $150, though the warehouse stores have them for $100. I found many on eBay and tried to bid on one which had about 12 minutes left to go.

It had been so long since I'd bought anything on eBay, I'd forgotten my password. So I had to reset it. They don't let you change it to anything it's been before. Which just makes it easier to forget in the first place. And harder to reset. I had to keep trying new passwords until I didn't get the "you've already used this one" message. Finally, after ten minutes, I get logged in, and placed a bid.

The eBay interface has really changed since I was on last. Now they have a active count-down clock, you don't have to keep reloading the page to see how much time is left. The number of bids and the current price also automatically updates so you can watch your cushy bid margin dwindle away to pennies before you actually win.

I hate bidders who bid $xx.01 on something. Really? Why'd ya have to do that? Now that makes my winning bid $47.01. Where's the take-a-penny leave-a-penny cup when you need it? Sheesh. This isn't The Price is Right. Well, ok, maybe it kinda is. But still!

Hopefully the seller will send it ASAP so The Girl won't be behind in class by too much. Not a good way to be the first week of school.

Wonder what else I need on eBay?


 

Buying In

It took me a long time to learn this, and I'm almost embarrassed to admit it took even longer to put it into practice.

When Kevin runs out of deodorant he'll use what ever he finds in the bathroom (mine). He'll latch on to it so it becomes his and it doesn't matter where I hide it, he'll find it. It didn't matter if I got him a new stick, mine was his. Then I got the bright idea to have him with me when I bought him more. And it worked. He helped me pick out a 4-pack at the warehouse store and my deodorant is now cootie free.

It's so much easier for me to shop without him, he tends to have his own agenda in stores, but it's so much easier to get him to buy-in to a purchase when he's there. A while back he took my phone and took 60 pictures with it. I decided he needed his own camera. I took him to Walmart to pick one out, but he wondered off to toys to browse. I got a low-end Kodak camera without his approval and he won't use it.

So now, I'm learning. Or remembering, as the case may be.

I took the kids out Friday with stops at Old Navy and to get new shoes for Fern. Kevin lounged on the hassocks while she shopped for shoes. I saw a pair of brown Chucks in his size on the sale rack and remembered to get him involved in the purchase so he'd take ownership of the new shoes. Which he did. He picked out some shirts at ON too and was wearing one before the night was through.

He likes crew-height socks, which, in my opinion are not quite as fashion-forward as anklets when worn with shorts. I've tried to get him to wear some of his dad's with no success. So yesterday I had him help me pick out some new low-cut socks. He completely accepted them.

Kevin went off to the first day of school today wearing his new shoes, by choice, and I have high hopes for the socks next time he's in short pants.



 

Traveling With Large Groups

If you missed yesterday's post start there to catch up.

Last night I ordered 50 green fire neon tetras (Aphyocharax rathbun) from the pet shop. They should be ready for me to pick up after work. They should look like this:

I'll post my own image of them tomorrow.

Wonder if I'll qualify for the carpool lane, me and 50 companions?


 

The Bad News

The new washer won't get delivered until Saturday.

Oh, darn, I can't do laundry this week at all.


 

Letter City

Recently Kevin painstakingly stacked all his letters by letter. The outcome was a mini-city of letter buildings occupying a lot of real estate. Click to enlarge.

Mother's Day

Dan went golfing and I drove out to Winchester to see my parents on Sunday and took the kids with me. I originally thought I'd meet my folks at the plant fair at the State Arboretum at Blandy, but they went on Saturday. That meant driving to the homestead and visiting there. Mom's knees were bothering her so I couldn't talk her into going back to the fair on Sunday. But Dad went with us. At first the four of us stuck together, but Dad is very social and stopped and talked a lot with the folks he knows from his years of volunteering there.

I bought a lot of plants, not a lot a lot, just a flat's worth, but now I have to find places in the gardens to put them and plant them before they wilt. I suppose Greeny is going to want to know what I bought. A pineapple tomato and lantana. And a bunch of stuff I can't spell or pronounce so I'll have to look at the tags and tell you later.

Saturday

Kevin swam in another Special Olympics qualifier and did well this week. First in 25 free, 4th in 50 free, and first in 25 back.

That's it, that was my weekend. Pretty boring compared to others. I didn't even get any laundry done. It's getting deep in there. sheesh.

Fore!

Monday afternoon our golf cart looked like the inside of the family car after a long trip.
A long camping trip in the rain, to be more precise.

We had soggy towels, at least four. We had soggy golf gloves. At least four.
Left-over sack lunch bags.
Empty M&M bags and chip bags.
Soggy pair of socks.
Dripping umbrella-ella-ellas.

Dan and I joined AM & Mark again for a charity golf event. Rain or Shine. My rain gauge measured almost an inch of rain on Monday. We were a little damp. Mark got the closest to the pin on the par-three contest hole for a $50 prize and I didn't even come close to winning the Ladies' longest drive contest again, as I did last year. I didn't play so well. The company was good, but I was a bit tired of the rain.

Other Weekend Stuff

Sunday morning, raining, I took Kevin to a Special Olympic swim meet qualifier. He has to compete in at least two qualifiers so he can participate at the state games in June. When they arrange the heats, they group the swimmers according to their seed times they already have in the system so no one competes against someone who is a lot faster or slower than they are. By the luck of the draw, Kevin had the slowest of the seed times in each of his heats and finished third, second, and third in the 25 free, 25 back, and 50 free, respectively.

Afterward we went up to G-Street Fabrics. They are moving store locations so everything is on sale. Sewing machine presser feet, which normally sell for $30 and up were 30% off and an additional 25% off if you had a coupon. I did, so I got a couple. I didn't buy any more fabric. Yes, really.

I got back to Bowie in time to pick up Fern from play practice. We stopped off at the library on the way home so she could get some books. She didn't have her card because it was in the other car so I checked them out on my account. She better not lose any of them, that's for sure.

Fern dashed off right after we got home to an award ceremony with her friend. They got second place in the county in the Write-a-Book contest. I stayed home, I don't think The Girl minded, perhaps she was relieved I wasn't in the audience making a big deal out of a little thing. I'm still proud of her.

Saturday was less rainy. Dan and I double-dated with AM and Mark. We played par-three golf to practice for Monday's tournament and then had dinner at Moulin de Paris. I had a nice time out. I don't know about the other three.

Fern's spring ice skating show was in the afternoon, the last 'home' show before they close the rink for maintenance. Now all her lessons will be at a neighboring rink to prepare for the Championships in Orlando at the end of the month. She's skating in 3 solo events and one with her team.

Before the skating show, I took Kevin out to the Arts Fair at the Montpelier Cultural Arts Center. I only 'lost' him twice. He likes to explore new territory and usually stays close to where he thinks I'll be so he's pretty easy to find. I took him into the ceramics studio with me and gave him a hunk of clay while I worked on some of my pots. I still am having a hard time centering my clay on the wheel and don't have many quality pieces to show. I bought another 25 pounds of clay last night so I have lots to practice with. I'll have to photograph the glazed pieces I finished. Oh, and the piece Kevin made.

I don't remember much before Saturday. You'll have to trust me I survived it all.


 

What I did

I told you about my dilemma with the make-up I bought. I'm pretty sure it was an honest mistake, leaving the price of one thing off the ticket so the totals were different. And the person who put the prices on the tickets was not the person who totaled them up. They worked for different companies.

I took back two of the items on Saturday, the other four things I felt good about and kept. I'll be getting back a bit into my account. One of the things I kept was an indigo mascara which looked very good on me. I wore it yesterday and by the end of the day my eyes were stinging. So, that's going back, too. Oh well.

Other weekend activities included cleaning the kitchen, and not just a cursory wipe-down of the counters. I promised Fern money if she washed the cabinet fronts for me. I still owe her for that. Bought a book of Japanese quilt block patterns at Borders along with Jennifer Chiaverini's new book The Lost Quilter and went to Ikea again to get the last set of castors I need for the new shelf in the sewing room. They are still out, but I managed to still spend money on other things.

Sunday Fern and I drove up to Newark Delaware for Fern's District ice skating championship competition at the U. of Delaware, and had lunch with my college roommate and her husband, too. I hadn't seen them in several years, we had a lot of catching up to do but not enough time. We ate at a place called Matilda's and Fern had the Roo Burger. Tasted like very lean beef. I didn't like it much. maybe it was too cold by the time I got a taste, or maybe it was too lean, but 'roo is not for me. Fat tastes good.

Here's my college roommate, looking puzzled because she didn't know I was taking her picture (sneaky iPhone camera):

Now What?

OK, remember last week I ordered a bunch of make-up from Smashbox? It was ordered though the personal shopping department at the Annapolis Nordstroms. When I saw the total on the original order I gasped, to my self, but I was taken aback, nonetheless. It was more than I wanted to spend, but I went with the flow since I was having a good time that evening.

I waited and waited for my shipment, excitement waning each day. The box of stuff came on Wednesday, via UPS ground. When I opened it and saw the actual cash register receipt, I was beside myself. It totaled about $25 more than what I expected, which originally was a lot more than I was comfortable with anyway.

Upon inspection of the receipt and order form, I saw two items had different prices and one item listed on the original didn't have a price next to it so it wasn't included in that total. I have a call to the lady I ordered from, but haven't heard back yet.

My excitement now is totally gone and I feel like taking the whole lot back. Except I've already been using the tinted lip treatment. I'll keep that. But I have this very deflated feeling about it all now.

Now what?

 

A Night for Day

The League for People with Disabilities celebrated their new Day Habilitation Program for Adults with Autism and other Developmental Disabilities last night. They're the folks who run Greentop, the special needs summer camp Kevin goes to. They do tremendous things for folks of all ages with disabilities. Dan and I support the League so we're on their mailing list. That's how I got the invite to the celebration.

The invitation was for me and a guest, but I ended up going alone. The League's offices are in north Baltimore, which turned out to be a longer drive from my office than expected, about 95 minutes. In the rain. And tolls on the Harbor Tunnel. Both ways. Thank-you EZpass.

Anyway, the event was for women to "refresh, re-energize, and renew" and featured vendors to do just that. When I arrived, I made my way around the room counter-clockwise. The woman at the first table displayed facial care products. I can't remember the name of the company, I didn't recognize the brand, but I put my name in the hat for a door prize drawing. A woman from Merrill Lynch was next. She gave out packets of information. It wasn't the typical financial planning stuff, but more a planning sheet where you could record pertinent information about you, like bank accounts, credit cards, and accounts you might not even think of like EZpass, so it's all in one place.

Smashbox had a large set-up along the back wall with three make-up artists working. They looked busy and crowded so I kept going. The lady at the next table had a pile of pens and desk paraphernalia spread out. She said she wasn't selling the mess, she is Ann from SOS and helps you get organized. I told her she had my attention and she got me a chair. I spent a long time chatting with her.

My whole life needs reorganizing but we talked mostly about my sewing room. I got some superfantastic help I hope to put into action soon. The coolest tip is for decluttering and purging. Say I'm going through a bin of sewing supplies. First I'll sort by functionality and put like things together. Then I'll "shop" in one pile. If I have a pretend limited amount of money, what would I buy right now. I would not buy the 30 yards of laces and trims now, I don't sew with that stuff. Then, she says to put away what you didn't buy, either get rid of it now or store it out of sight for a year. If you don't miss it, get rid of it. I know the 30 yards of trims will be out the door soon.

Her "shopping" technique works for everything, especially clothes. She says it's also good to have a impartial friend hang with you while you sort, to keep you anchored and focused.

After I took up enough of Ann's time, I toured the rest of the room where nothing really grabbed my attention and got a snack at the wine and cheese table. I ate and listened to the welcoming speeches and missed having one of the winning the door-prize ticket numbers by one digit. I didn't need a $200 gift certificate to Neiman's anyway. Pout.

Then there was an empty seat at Smashbox. I don't normally wear make-up much but it's always fun to be pampered. I ended up staying there the rest of the evening. The make-up artist, Timber (interesting name, huh?), spent a lot of time asking what I like and what I'm comfortable with. So many make-up folks doing demos in department stores do way too much and I always feel I need a mini skirt and stilettos when I see the results. Not Timber. He was great. He talked about each product, the ones he used and the ones he didn't, and why they were right or wrong for my skin or style.

I looked really good and was so pleased with the result I ended up ordering several items in the Smashbox line. I love getting goodies in the mail and I'll have them tomorrow if I'm lucky. Most of the vendors were packing up with I was finished with Timber. I told you I was there for a long time. I stopped back by the first table. I won the door prize: $100 of products. She was out of catalogs so I'll have wait until she sends me a catalog in the mail to choose my booty. I love winning things.

I got home a bit after 9:00 feeling pretty good, it was a fun night.

Progress

Our quilt guild's show is this weekend and I have two quilts to be shown. I still need to get them finished first!

If you're in the area, please stop by the show, details can be found here: Southern Comforters

Here's the quilt I'm still quilting. I'm almost done, maybe 5 or 6 more hours of work. I've to two more of these 'trilliams' to do and two feathers to fill in (notice the difference between the two feathers at the top of the picture).


Here's a larger picture of it.


It still needs to be trimmed and bound, then washed to get all the markings out. I did an experiment the other day with kids' washable markers. Some aren't. But the black one from the dollar store did wash out of the test fabric so I'm hopeful it'll wash out of the quilt.

After I get the quilts done, it'll be time to get the sewing room in order. I bought a new table for my machine which I'm excited to put it in place and use but I didn't want the room to be unusable until the quilts are finished. Whew.

I'll post pictures of the table soon. Maybe a whole before and after thing of the room make-over.

Weekend Round-Up

This weekend I finished 12 scout vests. I often use a glue stick to hold the patches down while I sew them. I learned this weekend there is a window during which I need to sew after I glue, too soon and they're not stuck enough and too long and the glue is completely dry and the patches peel right up. I went through 3 glue sticks on 9 of the vests. Good thing I buy in bulk.

It feels good to get the big backlog out, now I just have three to go, one of which is a monster. This girl has been in scouting for many years and brought me about 75 things to sew on. The front got done right away, everything has a specific place, it's neat and orderly. The back of the vests is for participation patches and they just go where ever they fit. So this monster vest, I've be stalling on finishing it for a long time. It just overwhelms me, trying to get 50 patches of all different shapes and sizes on the back so they all fit and there is room for more. I finally came up with a plan I'm happy with so I should be able to knock it out this week.

Last Wednesday I bought two bookcases from Ikea, one was to be for my sewing room and one was for the living room. I'm getting rid of my ironing board in the sewing room and replacing it with a bookcase (on its side) on casters with an ironing surface on top. My logic was (actually I got this from someone else) there is just dead space below an ironing board, so why not? Now I'll have more storage available.

The first shelf went together just fine. The larger one for the living room, not so easy. I love putting stuff together, have been assembling Ikea pieces for 20 years, I have never had this much trouble before. It just didn't fit together like it should, there were gaps everywhere where the shelves didn't seat properly. I tried to take it apart and start from the beginning and that's when the dowels broke off in the shelf and I couldn't drill the pieces out.

Saturday & Ikea. Yes, I am nuts, there is a bed waiting for me at St. E's, btw. Anyway, I had a plan. I went to customer service and pulled my number: 90, now serving: 61. I had a 29-person window. I went over to the warehouse to find another set of casters for the shelf unit in the sewing room (I originally bought two and they recommend three) and to pick out a box that fits in the shelf for fabric scraps. No casters, but found a clear box, and went to pay. I actually found a "short" line, paid, and made it back to customer service. Now serving: 85. Whew.

When it was my turn I explained the problem. Evidently, since the shelf was shipped in two separate boxes, it possibly came from two different suppliers, and even if the specs are the same, the actual pieces might not be exactly the same. I got a new shelf and shorter dowels. The clerk told me if I still had trouble, bring it all back and they'd give me a whole new unit, no problem. I got it to work.

Fern and I went to week two of our ceramics class Sunday. This week we used the wheel. I love the wheel but since it's been so long since I've thrown, my skills didn't appear until about half-way through the class. I got to make four pieces. The first got totally warped when I cut it away from the wheel to move it to the drying board. Blah! The rest I'm pleased with, especially since it's been so long since I've thrown any pieces.



Next Sunday will be our last class, we will decorate/glaze our pieces. Next Sunday is also the Valentine Invitational. The Bowie Ice Arena hosts the first ice skating competition of the season in our area and Fern has been getting ready for it. She's skating in five events. Luckily, they are all scheduled for after our ceramics class so neither of us has to miss anything.

Fern is scheduled to skate her freestyle program at 3:37, then events in solo compulsories, jump & spin team, interpretive, and production team at about 45 minute intervals after that. I don't remember which event is when, but I'll be there for the duration anyway. If you live in Bowie, you're welcome to stop by to watch her skate.

Her production team had a practice last night at 6:00. That's when they could get the ice time. Go figure. Anyway, the second The Boss tells us to step away from the guacamole I get a text: come get me. I put Bruce on pause and fetched The Girl.

Somewhere between the ceramics class and picking Kevin up from skiing I went to a nearby quilt shop. It's typical for quilt shops to have big sales Super Bowl weekend. I was in a fabric mood, so I went. I took with me a filled-up punch card which entitled me to $20 off my purchases.

After all my fabric was selected, cut and written up, I had a large stack, probably over $100 of pre-sale fabrics. (Thank goodness for sale prices!!!) I handed the clerk a spool of thread, my fabric and my punch card. It was so old she'd never seen one like it, they use a different style now. And, get this, she wasn't going to honor it because it was so old. Hey--
1) I paid for the card, probably a buck or two, not much but it wasn't free.
2) There was no expiration date on it.
3) They should honor it.
I told her forget it, I'll just take the thread, not the fabric. But the fabric has already been cut. I immediately got passed off to the owner of the shop. I told her the same thing. She let me use the punch card. Really, why was this ever an issue? sheesh.
 

More about The Orchid

When I posted the pictures of my orchids the other day I knew I'd get a comment from Greeny.

I feel bad I don't take better care of the two I have left. When I was on top of my game I had about a dozen plants and was getting them to bloom on a regular basis. The nice thing about them is they are relatively low-maintenance, water them only when they are dry. But even still, watering three times a year is not enough. I've practiced ultra-low maintenance over the last several years and have lost all but those two. I put them outside in the summer and I forget to water them if it hasn't rained in a while. I guess last summer was good to them anyway since they are blooming now.

I was thrilled when I saw the three bud spikes on my two plants back before Christmas. The second nice thing about growing orchids is the flowers last a long time, six or more weeks. Here is a picture of what these flowers look like when they first open. I never got around to taking good shots of mine because I was busy getting ready for the cruise. Now my flowers have faded a bit and are not as pretty.

I'll have to remember to repot them after the flowers have gone. I've neglected that aspect, too. The roots have incased the pots, it'll be tough to get the plants free. Maybe I'll take them to a local shop and have it done. Any bets whether I come back with a new plant as well?

Let the Sunshine In

Dan and I ordered new windows for the house on Tuesday. We feel we got a really good price, but still 15 windows adds up quickly. I guess that's what home equity loans are for.

The most impressive part of the sales pitch was the heat lamp demo. A 250 watt heat lamp was set up and sample pieces of run-of-the-mill two-pane windows were put in front of it. You could feel the heat. Then another and another for a total of 6 panes of glass and you could still feel the heat through them all. Then a sample of their double-pane window glass was put in front of the lamp. No heat came through. During the opening and cleaning part of the demo I asked Dan if that meant I had to start cleaning windows.

They'll come out for a pre-manufacturing measuring next week, then in about 4-6 weeks when the windows are made they'll come back to install all of them in one day. I'm looking forward to being able to open and use them all. But not cleaning.
 

Pet Peeve # 4

I had a pair of dress pants on this morning. They were two or three inches too short. They didn't use to be, but now they've shrunk. So I changed them to another pair that still hides my ankles. I hate it when clothes are washed according to the label and they still shrink.

Do you ever calculate out the cost per wear for an item of clothing? If a pair of shoes is, say $100, and you wear them 4 days a week 25 weeks a year, then the cost per wear is $1. But the cost per wear for that party dress, which was on sale, but you only wore once, is still too much to confess to.

I'll spring for slightly more pricey dress pants if I'll get a lot of wear out of them, but I can't get a lot of wear out of them if they shrink. Those, say $50 dress pants, that you were going to wear once a week have a potential CPW of $5 for a season. If they shrink, the CPW is now $25 or $50, depending whether you spill your lunch in your lap or not. Not a good buy, especially if you have to purge them immediately. (Pet peeve #4.1: hems that you can't let out.)

My current favorite pants are the "Adirondack" pants by L.L.Bean. They're not "dressy" but I can wear them to work. They're made in "medium-tall" and "tall" so even if the talls shrink when they're not supposed to, they are still long enough to hide my ankles. They are on sale this week, so I bought four pairs. Cool colors too! Yippee! I had a LLBean gift card, too, so the CPW will be quite low. Double Yippee!

Now I just need to purge four pairs of now-too-short pants when the new ones arrive.

 

What the ... ?

Winter weight.

I just heard the cringing and moaning of all the women who read me. Sorry, but I gotta unload about this.

I haven't been under my Mendoza line in ages, maybe two or three months. I'm so tired of seeing that middle number on the scale every time I get on. It haunts me, it taunts me; I hate it. Every time I get close to the line, with just one more pound or even a half-pound to go, something will interfere with my progress: a birthday, a wedding, a house warming party, Halloween, and I'll have to start over again. One day recently I saw a number on my scale I hadn't seen since I was pregnant. Seven months pregnant. So utterly depressing.

I'm trying to be more aggressive about getting in shape, getting the weight off. I enrolled again for the deep water aerobics classes and try to do the weight class at the gym at work. I'm trying to be more proactive about weight-loss than just doing the 40-minute walk in the mornings, "eating better," complaining, and crossing my fingers hoping I'll lose the weight.

This morning I was pleased to see I'm back within striking distance of my "never-ever-want-to-go-over-that-weight" line. I could be under by the weekend!

Put all that aside for a moment.

Nordstroms is having their half-yearly sale and a couple weeks ago I found myself in the lingerie department after perusing the other departments' sale racks. I was tempted by a pair of $100 dress pants that were long enough for my 34" legs on sale but passed on them because I really don't want to buy clothes until I get well under the Mendoza line. Anyway, lingerie department. There was a huge rack of bras unmentionables, designer ones, pretty $50 ones, marked down to something I could consider. I tried on several and they all seemed to fit except they were a bit tight in the band. Once again I think, all I have to do is lose a couple pounds, do a couple more lat-pulls, get rid of some back fat and these will be golden. So I bought three. They still sit in the shopping bag in my closet.

Another day, another store, and as one thing lead to another as things tend to do, I got a bra fitting. Because of the weight gain I was mentally prepared for the fitting specialist to tell me I need to go up a band size to a 36. But she didn't tell me that, she told me I needed to go up a cup size. Or two. What?! She had me try on a 34D and it fit. I was stunned and stood staring at the tag. I had to see it with my own eyes. I was wearing a 34D. Me? A D? No way. I don't look any bigger than what I've looked like forever. I'm still stunned.

So, after all these twenty-something years of being a B-cup girl, I can forgo augmentation surgery, and go from a B-cup to a D-cup by getting a $79 dollar bra!

 

 

 

I gotta get under the Mendoza line soon, I can't afford a new wardrobe of $79 bras and the new clothes I'd have to get with them.

 

Shopping With Kevin

I took Kevin shopping for jeans the other day. He's in another growth spurt and is showing a lot of ankle again so I set out to cover them up.

The boy is rapidly approaching six feet tall, he's probably just a half inch shy now, and he weighs 110 pounds. Picture a light pole looming over everybody nearby, a light pole with a lot of sock glaring between the jeans and the high-top sneakers, that is. I headed to Sears so see what they had. In the Boys' department he's about a size 12 in the waist and a 20 in length. In the Men's department he's about a 25x32. However, the smallest waist available is 28". Sheesh.

I gave him a pair of regular fit 28x32 Lee's and took him to the men's fitting room. Three times I explained about going in the room, putting on the new pants, and coming back out to show me. I was apprehensive but hopeful. I waited outside the door for what seemed like forever, and eventually he came out wearing jeans that were finally long enough, but sereral inches too big at the waist and very baggy in the butt. They didn't droop too much as to violate the dress code at school so I decided to buy them. I found four pairs of 28x32 pants, each a different color and asked him to pick out two. I asked him if he wanted a belt. "NO!"

The next day I did some searching on the 'net for skinnier jeans. I found a place that'll make them for you for $135 but the smallest waist on their pull-down list was 28". Sheesh. Not that I would actually spring for $135 jeans for my baby, but why brag about custom-fit jeans if you're not going to make them small enough for your average bean pole?

And before you even ask, No, I'm not going to make jeans for him myself!

 

IQF

My cousin and her husband-to-be picked my up at the Houston Hobby airport last night, took me to dinner and then dropped me off at my hotel. I think "basic" is an adequate description of the my room, firm bed, clean towels and a 20" TV. Oh, and carpet.

This morning they picked me up and we headed off to the International Quilt Festival. I've been told it's the largest quilt show in the country. When we got in we met up with L, my cross-the-street neighbor with whom I walk most mornings. She had just flown in to Houston from a conference in Phoenix. We'll both be flying home on Sunday but on different airlines from different airports.

For many hours the four of us took in the rows and rows of quilts and aisles and aisles of vendors. My cousin and fiancé are not quilters but enjoyed themselves and found the displays fascinating. L would occasionally point out things about the quilts explaining patterns or techniques. For that I was grateful because I didn't want to seem too pushy about my craft and she's so good at explaining things without making people feel like idiots. Some of the quilts were absolutely stunning and awe-inspiring, others were whimsical and fun. Even the quilts on display in the vendors' booths were amazing.

I had great restraint in the vendor area, only bought seventeen and a quarter yards of fabric. I could have easily bought two or three times that. There was so much to see and look at and buy!

Jen and Stephen left around 2:30 for various last minute pre-wedding errands and fittings, and L and I stuck around for several more hours to see as much as wee could before we closed the show at 7:00. She took me back to the airport so I could pick up a rental car. I know what you're thinking: Why didn't I pick up one the night before? My Thursday-to-Sunday rental was $65 total. If I picked it up on Wednesday, it would have been about $100 more. I really lucked into a good special.

I made my way from the car rental lot back to the neighborhood where my hotel is on highways with hurricane-blown signage and found Kim Son, a Vietnamese restaurant and had dinner (see the post below for the review). When I got back to my room, I found I was locked out. The gal in the office couldn't find any reason I should have been locked out and let me in my room. She said they usually lock out folks for not paying but that didn't apply to me. Go figure.

When I eventually got into my room I dumped my booty out and visited with each of my purchases again. All in all, a good day with good people.

Ee-gads, it's almost 01:00 now. No wonder I'm tired. I'll add pictures to this in the morning. Goodnight.

Morning edit:


L is standing in front of A Slice of Life which won in the group category, each panel was made by a different person.



These little guys won first and second in the miniature category. First was Dancing Ribbons by Cindy Rounds Richards, I don't remember the name of the second place piece, and therefore can't match up who done it.



Aphrodite's Despair by Sue McCarty. I liked the machine quilting in this one.


Spirit of Mother Earth by Sharon Schamber won Best of Show, $10,000 prize.

Weekend Stuff, Oh, and a Rant

Brrrrr. It was cold this morning, 34°! I had to pull out my gloves and hat for my walk.

Fern got me to take her and two friends to the movie on Friday night; we saw The Secret Life of Bees. She wanted to see it because it had Dakota Fanning in it, the other characters were played by Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys. Given the demographic of the actors, the demographic of the audience was about the same. I didn't want to believe the stereotype that black audiences talk back to the movie, but they do. Oh well, the movie was still good, I enjoyed it. Nobody told me I was going to need to take tissues with me.

I went through my stash to find a fabric for the back of the wedding quilt I'm working on for my cousin. I have fabric stashed away in lots of different bins with no real method of organization. I always have to pull it all out to find what I want, and make a real mess in the process. That would be on top of the mess that already exists. Sheesh. So I decided it was time to sort the stash with some meaningful system: by color.

I need large vessels to put the fabric in as I pull it out. I need something large, cheap, but sturdy. I looked in the dollar store and the largest things I could find were baskets the size of mixing bowls and gift bags. Not gonna work. Then I took a field trip to the mega dollar store and scored a dozen small laundry baskets. I got most of my fabric sorted and found my biggest pile was of greens, followed by blues, and a pile a pieces that clearly have more than one dominate color and I don't know what basket to put them in.

Now I've got to figure out how to store the fabric so I can find what I'm looking for when I'm looking for it. But first I have to fold all these pieces into same-sized bundles. That's going to take forever. I actually have a smaller stash than lots of my quilting friends, but still, it'll take forever to fold up neatly.

I got the greens and purples folded and put back into their baskets, then changed gears. I got the wedding quilt basted and started quilting it. The pattern I picked will take a while to execute, but it should look good when it's finished.

Last night Dan and I went to the Rams Head to see Rodney Crowell. It was a good show, I didn't know his music ahead of time but enjoyed myself, nonetheless. He played for a long time so we got home later than expected and both kids were still up. Oh well. Kevin had given himself a nap after church so he was very much awake at 11:30 and I have no idea when he actually went to bed. He did make the bus this morning, though. That's the important thing, right?

I just spent far too long on the phone with the high school. Our high school is the largest in the state and until when and where they decide to build another school, our 9th graders have classes at The Annex, 10th 11th, and 12th grades are at the main building, along with all the special-ed kids. It's the only school in the district with a split campus.

Well, it seems the lunch accounts systems are separate for the two buildings. Kevin is classified as a 9th grader so his lunch account is at the annex even though he eats at the main building. Which means he has not been able to use the automated account system yet; we have to keep sending in money instead of a check, and I don't want to send in anything bigger than a $20. Dan got fed up with it and started asking who we (I) call to get this fixed.

It took calls on three different days to get a real person to answer the phone. Still, the person I spoke with passed me on to someone else and that person said she wasn't the correct person. Somebody in the registrar's office will have to set the mobility flag so the lunch system will work. Kevin isn't the only one in this boat, why do I have to call? Why can't they just do it for all the special-ed 9th graders? Why does system have to be split? Why doesn't the school district care and fix the system? Oh that one's easy. It only involves one school.

And, for what it's worth, this post might hold the record for the number of labels I tacked on to any given post.
 

From the Weekend Files

I got a new battery for my watch on Sunday; it seems to be behaving now.

I got the copy of the receipt and serial number sent off to Vizio.

Why?

Because they wanted to research the history of the TV we just bought.

Why would they want to research it?

It's a long story, got a couple minutes?

Sure

We've been wanting a new TV for a while now, the old one was losing its picture off the edges and it was getting hard to read the scores of games. We kinda decided we wanted a 42" LCD HDTV. And we didn't want to spend a lot for it. About a year ago I suggested we wait until Super Bowl time, TVs usually go on sale then. But that came and went and we were still with a 25" CRT.

I went to BJ's and looked at their selection and found the 37" TVs were under $800, the larger units were $1000 or more. Yuck.

This past Saturday Dan, Kevin and I went back to BJ's (in the Honda Fit) to look and the same selection I'd seen the week before. But what I didn't do was turn the corner to look at the mumbo-sized units, the 50s and the 65s. And there at the end of the shelf was a discontinued display unit on sale, a 50" Vizio plasma HDTV, for $719.

Hot Dog.

I snatch the shelf tag and go to customer service to let them know we want that TV. While they are looking for the remote and manual I pay for the rest of our things. How are we going to get a 50" TV and the three of us home in the Fit?

Well, it turns out they couldn't find the remote & manual pack. It was supposed to be filed by item number with all the other packs from the other products on display. I ask what kind of compensation I'd get if they couldn't find the remote. $675.

I took Dan and Kevin home and drove back to buy the TV. I asked them to look again for the accessory pack to no avail. They helped me load the new TV into the car and off I went.

Dan and I moved the old TV and put the new one on the old stand. Meanwhile, Fern didn't know what was up. The first time she walked into the room, she was amazed.

Sunday I called Vizio tech support in hopes to get them to send me the accessory pack. They wanted to know the model number and the serial number.
It seems they were an invalid pair, could I please send them a copy of the receipt and the serial number, they would have to do more research.

To aid in this research, I photographed the back of the TV and sent them the serial number in picture form. That was when I discovered the serial number on the back of the TV didn't match the shelf tag from the store. It was a different unit altogether, still a 50" plasma, but the 2007 model, not the 2008. Sheesh.

Monday I called BJ's back and told them my discovery. The nice lady there found me a remote and told me she is supposed to charge me for it since I got a discount on the TV in the first place but then explained it was their own stupidity they'd lost it so it would be free for me. Yay.

I printed the manual from Vizio's site and now I just need Vizio to come through with the HD connection cables and all will be well. Oh, yeah, I guess I have to call the satellite and order HD service. And so on and so forth...