Still sorting, but also sewing 07-14-21

First I want to answer questions from Gayle M-P about e-waste.  The collection last weekend was to benefit the local school district.  The way I understand it is that private companies conduct these collections and remove the precious metals and anything else that is reusable.  They sell these to companies that can reuse the materials.  The school district, or whomever set up the collection, gets a cut of the money.  I have not researched how this all works, just taken a friend's explanation.  I had collected all those broken laptops over the past 30 years because they contained a lot of private information.  When I mentioned it to friend Dick he offered to remove the hard drives.  I asked what he did with them and he said he just put them in the trash.  Once the hard drive is taken out it has no use.  He did say he has a little box full of tiny screws now!  The paper is a different matter.  Only I can go through and shred or take to a shredder, but three days have gone by and I have yet to touch any of it.  Tomorrow, or tomorrow, or tomorrow!! I am a champion procrastinator.   Thanks for you comment, hope you continue to find my blog of interest.  

Way back in March 2020 I started a quilt project of little houses which was posted by Diane Perin Hock who lives in NCalifornia.  It is a simple pattern and her idea was we would work on these blocks while Covid kept us in isolation.   Of course she didn't know that the isolation would go on for over a year!  Some quilters got right to it and finished their little house quilts and posted the images.  I fiddled around and finally finished the blocks sometime in the summer. Then last fall I sewed the blocks together.  Finally this spring I decided to finish the quilt.  I quickly discovered that I would need to piece the back, for which I had already purchased fabric.  Today, at last, I have pieced eight more little houses to use as a strip on the back and tomorrow I plan to baste everything together and start quilting.  It will just be straight vertical lines - what we called channel quilting in the 60s and 70s, but is now known by several names, mostly matchstick, I think.  

Four of the eight houses in the back strip.   I am enchanted by the "Celebrating Women" fabric by Maria Carluccio for Windham Fabrics.   Wish I had purchased a couple more yards!  

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Flowers and Cleaning Out 07-11-21

This morning the water slide was collapsed and ready to be hauled off, but the truck didn't come until afternoon.  Guess it wasn't scheduled for another party today.  It is kind of sad seeing it all wrinkled up, like a dead dragon. 

The plumeria are blooming and lending their sweet fragrance to the air.  There are a number of different colors and some say that the darker the flower the stronger the fragrance.  I'm going to start sniffing around to see if that holds true.  The most common color around here is white, but there are shades up to about a lilac color. 

Darker pink. 

And a paler pink.  The flowers are 2" to 3" and the larger leaves are about 9" long.  Not a gorgeous plant, but the flowers make up for any deficiencies. 

Aren't the petals interesting?  They grow in a sort of spiral and have just the tiniest turned up edge. 

And cleaning out!  The impetus for me was the local school district holding a two day e-waste collection.  And I had a LOT of electronic waste.  But I had to clear off around many of the items and get them in the back of the car.  Yesterday I took five laptops (from which friend Dick had removed the hard drives), five plug in phones, an answering machine, a printer, a small TV, along with two boxes of clickers, wires, dodads, and whatnots.  The laptops were accumulated over about 35 years and the phones... well, forever!   Now I only have a cell phone. Today my neighbor in the cul de sac came to carry the huge old fashioned TV out to the car.  Bless good neighbors.  I also had two printers and, of course, more wires.  AND I have about ten boxes of papers, pamphlets, and other junk to go through, shred, and put in the recycle bin.  I feel very virtuous, but every room needs sorting and de-accessing more stuff.  I suppose the realization of my mortality as 83 approaches is a large part of my motivation.  I'm on a new antidepressant and have started PTherapy again, so that might be helping also.  If I could re-build some strength I could accomplish more.  A two hour completely-zonked-out nap was required this afternoon and I still have achy muscles.  As the saying goes, "Getting old ain't for sissies."

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Favorite rose and decluttering 05-22-21

My favorite rose again - Brandy.  My second choice is Mr. Lincoln, but I managed to kill that bush and have not replaced it.  I miss the fragrance. 

The changes in medications the doctor recommended may be working!  Although I am still dragging my tail and get so very, very tired at times, my mind seems to be back on track, or almost.  So, not only have I taken books to the Bookman, yesterday I took four smallish boxes of "no-longer-needed" stuff to Charity's Closet, a resale place supporting philanthropic efforts of the Placentia Presbyterian Church.  It is impossible to tell that anything has been removed from my very messy house, but I know they are gone and I feel good about it.  Now to start a few more boxes, putting in things that I don't use or need as I come across them.  Might start with the upper shelves in the kitchen since I have shrunk and can no longer reach them without a ladder and am too old and wobbly to climb a ladder.  Anyway, it is a bit of progress. 

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Still sorting 08-04-18

On July 25th I picked up two carloads of sewing "stuff" from my friend Toni who is moving with her husband into retirement housing.  I don't have excess room in my garage which is full of my own "stuff", mostly junk that I just need to haul away, so there is still some of Toni's things in my car.  I have been trying to sort and fill boxes for a number of different organizations and people who will be able to use things.  But the heat gets to me quickly and I have to cool off and rest a bit.   I can't sort in the garage since it is about 120F in there, so I move some boxes into the family room and sort through them, putting different things in different boxes.  Toni has definitely lost her organizational skills in the last few years as everything is just mixed together in a pattern I don't recognize.  I wish I had been more diligent at the sorting this last few weeks as I have only two days left and I haven't gotten through half of it.  I am driving to San Diego on Tuesday to take some full boxes to the Visions Veranda Sale, which is one of their best fundraisers each year.  Guess I will just have to take what I have ready.  There are lots of different fund raisers by quilt guilds and groups so I know I can find a home for everything.  Some things will go into raffle baskets for SQG, I know that the baskets of thread I have donated in the past have sold well and there will be another one this year at November Fest.  And I think I will put together some of the gently used items for another basket, maybe for a somewhat beginning quilter.  Anyway, I have to hustle the next few days.  In fact, I have to hustle tonight to move things out of the way so I can walk through the family room to get to bed!  

But it all makes me think that I, and almost everyone I know, need to go through our own "stuff" before leaving it for someone else to sort through.  How 'bout it, eh?  

And KoKo hasn't made this easier.  He demands his normal walks and play time and he wants to look in every box in case there is something he can't live without.  What a pest he can be. 

By the way, this is my 3333 blog post.  Wow! 

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Too hot to even think! 07-24-18

I seem to be suffering in the heat these days, more than ever before.  It was 100F in Placentia, CA, today with humidity in the 70s.  I take KoKo for a walk before 7am and in the evening at 7pm or when the temp drops below 80F, tonight it was still 82F at 9:15pm, but we went for a walk anyway.  Fortunately, there was a breeze so it was okay while we walked, but back home I was sweating big time.  The Disney fireworks start around 9:45pm and KoKo is still frightened by them, so we need to be in the house before they start.  Even he can't hear them with the doors and windows closed. 

I have a friend who is giving up her sewing completely because she and husband are going to move to a retirement facility.  Her daughter called me today and asked if I could help dispose of everything.  I'm going at 8:30am in the morning to see what there is and what I can do with it.  Some will go to the Visions Veranda Sale in August and some to the Surfside QGuild November Fest.  Although where I will put it until then is a mystery yet to be considered. 

The kids in the cul de sac across the street are big on drawing with chalk on the sidewalk.  Of course, since it won't rain until (maybe August) October their efforts will be with us for a while.   This one is somewhat mysterious, I hope it isn't obscene and I don't recognize it!

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