Cook, Make, Think

See that sunflower? it stands in the middle of our garden. We have one other already open and half a dozen that will open over the next week. It is a beautiful thing.

September is such an inbetween month that using it for a bit of winter prep makes sense. Have a good month!

Live, Love, Laugh

Yesterday was supposed to be a fun day but it nearly became a disaster twice. The second stemmed from the first so I'll begin there.

I have trouble with my memory a lot. Forgetting words, forgetting what I'm looking for and forgetting things I need to do whatever it is I'm doing that day. More than once I've left my ODSP papers at home when I needed them to get a bus pass or medication. Before they changed the process at the pharmacy, I was glad I no longer needed a drug card.

Last month we were supposed to take GS#1 & GS#2 to the circus but I gave the tickets away. I made a decision that caused all kinds of problems between the professor and my daughter and between both of them and me. I did not intentionally lie indeed I didn't really lie at all. I was working from a false assumption. The professor had kept saying he wasn't sure, didn't want to take the boys because their disabilities might have caused some problems. He also seemed really tired so I d…

Well, I have completed inventorying my shelf. I got rid of three black garbage bags of stuff though there is still far too much there. I need to take a look at the top of it a bit closer though because there are a few things up there I am not sure about.

This week I'll be tackling my desk and environs, it would be good to know what stamps I have, How many and what kind of paper punches I have among other things.

Not today though, for some reason today I am very tired so other than packing a few books to make them easier to carry away I'm not going to be doing much. Every week it seems these days I end up sleeping most of a day. Usually, Monday which is supposed to be home cleaning day.

Wednesday we will be taking GD#3 and GS#3 to Lego Land the good news is that that is the last trip of the summer. After that I will be concentrating on preparing for Christmas and the birthday yet to come including my 59th and my son's 40th, oh and GD#1 turns 21 all-important birthdays. GS#1…

Vinnie's has opened a third store. I didn't know they had two already but that is what the article said. I know the building they have set up in, it used to be a funeral home. I am looking forward to going to check it out next month.

Why next month because currently I have two cents to my name and I know if I go there I'm going to spend money. It is very seldom that I go there and don't buy at least one thing. But why am I mentioning that here?

Well it turns out that there is a special day called Secondhand Wardrobe Day. I did a search on google cause I wanted to see if there was much about it online. I should have known better. I got over four million hits. A lot of them were advertisements for various stores but I did find a couple of articles that looked promising.

The first one talks about a "Zero Waste Wardrobe" which I thought was a really good way to look at it. We all want to save money and help the environment and anything Zero Waste is good for that. 

Y…

With the bat houses done I'm looking for a new project to take me into the winter. I have lots of options as I found out as I was doing the inventory of my 5 x 5 shelf which is almost finished thank goodness only 3 more cubes to go, that one of them holds my yarn and knitting needles means that it won't be quick but still ... unless I plan to make inventory my project for the Fall. That would not be a bad idea come to think of it but it would hardly be creative.

I need to keep my hands busy else I would probably just sleep all day and that most certainly is not good for me! Keeping my hands busy is what keeps my depression at a manageable level.

As I was going through the boxes I discovered a lot of unfinished sewing projects which I think I need to make my first priority. I have the makings of three or four quilts and I have wanted a handmade quilt for my bed for a while now. Instead of buying one I'll just finish the ones I have that way all it costs me is time and maybe…

I've been talking about bat houses all summer without really explaining what & why. At the beginning of the summer I was bored and wanted to make something challenging. I mentioned it to my landlady who said that they wanted bat houses for the garden. It is exactly what it sounds like a home for bats. Bats eat bugs and we have a lot of mosquitos around the building but we don't want bats living inside the building so ... bat houses.

Once I found the design I asked my son to come by so I could get access to the tools and materials I needed. He surprised me by saying he would build them for me. So a few days later I had four bat houses. They looked like this:



The second request by my landlady had been for them to be painted to represent the Hogwarts houses. The basic colours were simple enough but the animal significant to each houses shield was much more difficult and is what took me the longest time. What do you think about how they turned out?



I didn't add the house n…

So far so good, I'm not 100 % yet but I am back to 75% of my norm in terms of pain and energy, as usual I just needed a few days rest

Are their nerves in the breasts? I guess there must be but I never noticed any sensation there. Anyway I woke up this morning with the queerest pain in my right breast. Even the slightest contact sent a sharp pain from the top to the nipple. Entirely new pain for me. It is beyond annoying to find out just how many ways my body can hurt. I miss the days when I was basically numb everywhere.

Onward into the day. My morning walk is complete, the gate is open and I am enjoying my morning coffee. I like having a donation box nearby, I can give away stuff much easier and I have found a couple of things I've been wanting including some decent chairs. Today I found a couple of those hangers that you can store more than one thing on. I've been wanting to try one of these for awhile.

I think the weather is changing again as my sinuses are acting up, m…

This is GD #4 She is 3 years old. The Professor and I take the 5 young ones out every summer on a day trip but this is her first year and since she is the youngest of them I wanted to share my impressions of the day.

The first thing I noticed is that she is very independent so even if she is small you just can't treat her like a baby. She will not allow it.

The second thing I noticed is that her hand in mine felt tiny. I kept being scared I would hold on too tight and end up hurting her.


The third thing I noticed is that she seemed very quiet much like GD#1 was at that age. The Professor commented on the similarity which he has never done before. I think this one is also going to steal his heart. :)

We took her to Woodbine Centre which has a Fantasy Fair inside it year-round. If you have some little ones you want to entertain check out this place. The play all day wristband was only $18 and it allows her to get on any ride she wanted to as many times as she wanted to. They also h…

I have gone through 6 out of 25 shelves and can not believe what a packrat I am. Right now there are several categories of items on the shelves.

Books: All kinds from learning to dance to the study of Psalmistry. I have only sorted one shelf of books so far, I have five. Ideally, I'd like to get that down to two but I have several antique books that though they have limited use I am reluctant to give away. There are several subject areas as well, some of them are from old hobbies and some are for new ones. I am reluctant to
give up my doll making books for example because I still want to make dolls it has just been delayed for a bit as I become more proficient at sewing.

Quilt patches: both knitted and sewn blocks that are waiting to be pieced together into blankets

Knitting: I gave away a lot of yarn at the yard sale but I still have a lot and some looms I want to use them on as well as several hand knits I want to do and a few scrap yarn projects like a summer wreath

Kits: From…

GD#1 came over yesterday to work on a t-shirt quilt that she is making which kinda lead to me beginning an inventory so I know not only what I have but where it is.

We had to search several shelves just to find the unfinished quilt, then we had to look for the thread ripper so she could fix the mistake she had made, then she needed the rotary cutter to cut the patch she needed, (never did find that), but she ended up using scissors cause I could not remember where I had last seen it.

As she was leaving I apologized for not being more organized, she suggested that I do an inventory. Sounded like a good idea to me. I could find out what I have, where it is and cull what I don't want to keep. After I know what I have I'll put them in some sort of order that is what I have that 5 x 5 shelf for.

The last bat house needs a couple of more layers and the clearcoat then it is ready to go. The landlady has found a Welcome sign she likes so I do not need to make one. I may anyway just to…

Today I went to see the foot nurse. I go every 12 weeks to get my nails cut and my feet checked for lumps, bumps & cuts that can turn deadly when you are a diabetic.

I like the nurse and the chat is usually interesting but mainly I like to feel as if I'm being pampered. I am not sure what a foot nurse is supposed to do but she cuts my nails and the hard skin around my toes then uses a moisturizing cleanser to remove the dead skin so she can look for lesions and stuff that get hidden by it. Some nail filing to help the hangnails to grow up instead of out and another batch of moisturiser. There is more of course but that is what I pay attention to.

My feet have never been healthier and the hangnails are coming less often which is a bonus. It costs me $50 but that is every 12 weeks so that isn't too bad.

The rest of today will probably be spent in resting as the professor and I are taking GD#4 to the zoo on the 17th and I'm going to have to save a lot of spoons for that.


…

The professor and GD#1 had a charity lab installation yesterday in a mosque in Etobicoke and invited me along for the ride. I've been getting itchy for some travel so I figured I'd go for the trip.

While they were doing the network install I worked on the design of the welcome sign for the garden of our building. I had figured everything out but I asked GD #1 for her opinion and she gave me a couple of good ideas. I still need to redraft the design but at least I have a solid idea to work with.

From there we went to one of the biggest outdoor malls I've ever seen, it easily covered two blocks and I think probably more. We grabbed a bite at Costco then drove around to look at the stores before choosing one to go into for a bit.

We stopped at a Marshalls because GD#1 and I had never been in one. I saw some things I liked but since the only thing I'm in the market these days is skirts I was disappointed. It was not organized well and I did not have the patience to go thro…

Nearly every day I check Checkiday to see what I can celebrate today, it provides so many chances to learn about something new. Granted most of the holidays there are USA specific but sometimes I find one that I wish would be celebrated in Canada so I look into them and share them with you.

There are always three or more to choose from which are date specific then there are the weekly and monthly topics and finally there is This Day in History at Time & Date if I've not found something interesting yet. From Time & Date's front page you can also find special days celebrated in other countries.

If I still haven't found something I want to learn about I'll go to Wikipedia whose front page is covered in interesting information including a "Did you know" and an "In the News" section. From here if I still need something (though I rarely get this far) I'll click the "Random Article" link in the left column until something catches my e…

You will notice that my posts are a little irregular at the moment I don't know what it is about July and August but I have a difficult time keeping to my routines during them.

I thought I'd do a search for Summertime blues, turns out that SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), can occur in the summer as well, go figure!



Check out this article: 5 signs you have the Summertime Blues

Melatonin is a bitch. The Professor takes a melatonin supplement and it looks like I'm going to have to too. If Melatonin is one of those things my body is low on then I will do my best to fix it same as I do with other issues like the generalized depression I live with every day.

But why these two months I don't know. There are lots of ways to chase them away but in some cases there just isn't any way to chase away the summer blues, you just got to get through it is all.

I know come late August, Early September the mood will swing into the up position again I just got to get through it til …

I need to get to the grocery store soon before I spend all my money on "Skip the Dishes". When my GD#1 suggested I try them I figured sure that way I get what I want and I don't have to make it or go get it myself. It sounded good especially when I saw all the restaurants I had to choose from. I've used them four times as of last night and while having someone else to do the cooking and running it to me sounds good it gets expensive in a hurry.

In four uses I've spent the equivalent cost of two weeks of groceries. That's right in four runs I spent $100. Upon realizing this I figured it was time to get my butt out the door to the grocery store. Except that as usual I really don't have enough energy to do that.

I have other options open to me but it will still cost me a delivery fee. Some of the grocery stores will pick orders for you, all you have to do is go pick it up. Since I don't drive that means asking someone in my family to go fetch it for me. …

Do you nap? What kind of Nap do you take? Here is some info about why naps are useful!

Do you recognize this doll? Most of the women will and some of the men may as well. She is very famous!

What does that have to do with anything? Well let me tell you a story!

I was about 8 years old and I went to visit with my neighbours daughter who was a little older. When we went up to her bedroom I saw something I had never seen before. She had a large collection of Barbie dolls. I itched to play with them. When I asked I was told no, they are only for looking at.

That made mo sense in my eight year old mind, if I had owned them I would certainly play with them. I wanted one.

Fast forward to Christmas that year, I had bugged my mom for a barbie all year long. When I opened one of my gifts I saw that it was a fashion doll, one of the knock offs.

I didn't care I played with that doll for a long time until we moved from that house. She sort of got lost in all the packing and for a long time I forgot about her.

In my adult years after the internet came into being I ran across some…

Today is my daughters birthday, she is 41. It does not seem like that long ago that she was a mere child. I don't have many pictures of her when she was young but I remember some special moments before life went to hell. Anyway... not where I want to go today.

There are several different "days" today but my chosen one for today is "Clean your floors today" and after I get back from the dentists that is what I want to do because my floors are a mess and have not been cleaned in a long time. Or at least completely cleaned ... I've been known to sweep and mop but not nearly as often as I should.


Kids always make it look like fun don't they?

One thing I've noticed is that the floors feel sticky after I scrub them with a commercial cleaner so asked google why that happens. Here is what I found:

You don't rinse shampoo from your hair with more shampoo, or soap from your hands with more soap, so don't expect to achieve well-rinsed floors with soapy,…

Do you like to colour?

I do but like most of the stuff I do I colour on my tablet. Using pencil crayons and markers makes my hands hurt with the tablet they don't. But what can you do if you don't have a tablet?

Well, there are always the colouring books and crayons from the dollar store, (yes I said crayons they are fun), and do it the old fashioned way. Plus I've found that using crayons hurt less than using the other stuff.

If you have a printer and don't want to leave your home you can download lots of colouring pages online.

Just Color has over 1500 free pages for you to print and colour.

Super Coloring had a lot of pictures and you can print them or colour them online

And if you do a search for colouring pages in Google images you will find many more

If you don't have a printer there are several colour by number apps for your phone and PC

Microsoft has Get Zen
The App Store has Happy Color for Android and IOS - This is the one I have on my tablet. You need to b…

Lammas, which takes its name from "loaf-mass," is the first harvest festival of the year, and celebrates the first wheat harvest. Other grains are also harvested around the time of Lammas, such as oats, rye, and barley, as are plants such as mint, meadowsweet, sunflower, and Calendula. Lammas is celebrated in some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, such as Scotland, Wales, England, and Northern Ireland. On the day, Lammas bread has traditionally been made from the new wheat crop, often being baked into shapes such as wheat, owls, or other figures. It was customary to bring a loaf to church where it would be blessed. In Anglo-Saxon England, it was then sometimes broken into four pieces and put at the four corners of barns, to protect the recently harvested grain inside. The day has also traditionally been marked by making corn dollies, and Lammas charms such as sprigs of mint, green Lammas ribbons, and twigs that are bundled together, called besom. Feasts…