Iron caddy class

I heard the alarm go off in the living room. I realized Chris was already gone, probably to PT. I stayed in bed to do some mental programming. Then I got up and dressed. I bagged up the recyclables and carried them out to the curb. I collected up all the produce bags, kept the 5 best ones and put the rest in the recycling bin for next week. I watered the potted plants. I saw that the peas were being eaten even though they were covered with tulle (fine netting). So I took off the tulle. I found a caterpillar underneath the seedlings. I threw it in the ditch. I moved the small pea seedlings to the front porch. I made little cardboard sleeves for two of the larger ones and planted them, one in the front bed and one in the side bed where the squash plants are withering away. I drank a quart of lemon water. Myra called and it ran over the 9am start time for my skype call. I called him when I hung up with her. We worked on perfectionism. After hanging up with him, I watered the peas and took a shower. I saw an e-mail from Linda wanting a strip of stabilizer so I threw that in my bag and headed to class. I hoped to be early to make a pattern for the iron caddy but I was only 5 minutes early and Suzanne was waiting for me. Linda came in soon and later, Myra. But Myra had to leave early. So I helped Suzanne with her gi pants and Linda with her daughter’s costume. Chris stopped by to say there was no mail. I had time to trace the iron caddy and all its folds. Chong came and picked out a quilt from a magazine, but it required a special panel fabric. At 10 till 1, Nela came in to start on the iron caddy project. She got some cutting done. After she left, we all left. I came home to have breakfast. I started a loaf of bread. I changed clothes and went outside to mow. I mowed the lawn next door as well. It started raining on me, but it was light so I stayed on task until it was finished. I came in to check e-mail and drink water. I called Myra, but she was still in Daegu. I sewed a few seams on my version 3 dress. Chris came home for supper. , Went to class, first one there, Linda came in with her daughter, She wanted to work on the costume but her little girl kept her busy cutting up scraps to make an impromptu pillow, Princess came to make an iron caddy. She paid me for that and later, for a cone thread stand. Nela came in and started on the iron caddy. She did not have the money for the kit. I cut out pieces of Insulbrite and gray anti-scortch fabric for them. I showed them the picture of me in the blue evening dress. Mari arrived and wanted to make one too but I did not have enough Insulbrite because of the dimensions – remainder can be pieced so she can use it next week. I had to re-thread both machines in use multiple times. I cleaned up the plastic case of needles, and small accessories ‘cause the little girl was going through it. Myra came in at the end and stayed to talk. Then we cleaned up and left. I took Nela home first. Myra and I talked in my car for a while, then she went home, tired after her long day. I drove home and parked the car. Chris was on a conference call. I read e-mail and checked out ozonated oils on Swanson (none) and on Amazon. I wrote my blog entry for the day and posted it.
This is my version three dress being cut out on the bias. I only had to piece one panel. *

Version 3

I did not sleep well again last night. The cicadas were loud and I flipped upside down on the mattress to get my head farther from the window. I got up at 7:15 and found that Chris was already up. He hadn’t gone running, but was reading e-mail. I drank a quart of water and got dressed. I put the food waste out and checked the yellow bowl of flowers for overwatering (since it rained again last night). Chris took a shower and went to work, I greeted my new tapping buddy online, but he thought we were meeting tomorrow, so I read e-mail instead. About 8:45 I realized I could go to Daegu with Nela after all. I texted Nela, but they had left already. I muscle-tested the supplements I was running out of to see if my body still wanted them. The results were frustratingly inconsistent. I read articles on uses for beeswax. One is cotton fabric soaked in beeswax yields a moldable cover for dishes and food that replaces plastic wrap and is reusable. I might make one if I can find my organic cotton fabric. Chris came home for lunch. I kept reading e-mail and listened to a couple of audios. Chris took the car back to work in case he needed to drive John somewhere. But 5 minutes later he called and asked me to bring him his CAC card. So I grabbed it from the card reader and headed toward his office. He met me halfway to get it. I wondered why he did not drive home to get it if he needed it quickly. I spent a long time selecting a contrasting fabric for my next try at making a dress, version 3. I wanted to use the striped fabric, but I had nothing of similar weight to use as a contrast, so I went with the floral on black. I tweaked the bust fit on both previous versions. I re-did the hem on my shorts. I added one sleeve to the purple dress (version 2), then decided that finishing the dress was not important. I had a bite to eat. I cleared more e-mail. I prepared the pattern pieces and pinned them to the black floral fabric. I cut them out and sewed in the darts. Chris came home from work and made himself supper. In trying to pin the sides to the front, I realized that I hadn’t cut the front from the contrast fabric yet. So I did that, and pinned the first set of seams. I stopped to make and eat breakfast. I put magnesium glycinate in water but it did not dissolve as a previous product did. One of the reviews on Amazon had said to add an acid. So I tried ascorbic acid. No. Lemon juice, no. Vinegar, no. I drank it and scraped up the particles left behind. I posted to the community Facebook page that we would be teaching a class on making iron caddies tomorrow. We watched Stranger Things on Netflix. Neither of us were impressed. Chris changed the sheets around so we could sleep upside down again. I found earplugs, which gave me hope that I might sleep tonight in spite of the cicadas. He went to sleep while I stayed up. I cleared the latest e-mail. I listened to an audio from the Tooth summit. There was no working link so I had to work out the name of the podcast address. I jotted notes to my blog while I listened. I figured out how to download the rest of the pics Jane sent. Then I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* Jane took this pic of me in Busan trying on evening dresses. *

Labor Day: cleaning and laundry

I did not sleep well last night. But I did not mind getting up this morning. I guess I solved adrenal fatigue. I went out to water the potted plants. I saw the Korean yard crew, buzzing away with their weed eaters on the hillside. I drank a quart of water, made coffee, exercised, dry brushed, and rebounded. Chris stayed home for Labor Day. I cleaned the hall bath and the kitchen and swept the hallway floor. I folded the laundry Chris did yesterday and put mine away. I listened to audios and saw a video of a woman knitting with 1000 strands of yarn. Amazing! I made and ate breakfast. I realized that I was almost out of cacao nibs. I went to Amazon to order more, but it was not enough for free shipping. So I investigated shapewear for under my Navy ball gown. I finally decided on one after reading dozens of reviews. But when I put it in my cart, Amazon did not register it as eligible for free shipping. Argg! I went looking for other models, and other products but did not want to order anything I wouldn’t order anyway. I worked today’s puzzle. I looked at pics of dresses on Yahoo and Pinterest. I imagined trying to combine design elements and try them out in fabric, but the dress form won’t hold its stuffing. Chris went to work to sign out a car for later. Nela called to see if I wanted to go to Daegu with them tomorrow, but they wanted to leave by 9 and I couldn’t quite make it. She called back later to ask me to issue the same invitation to Princess. She said they did not go rafting today. We watched the season ender episode of Castle. Chris left to pick up a new hire at the airport. Princess wrote back that she had to work tomorrow so could not go to Daegu. I checked out the new tapping video by Brad Yates. I tried on my new blue tops with my new navy blue pants. I even draped the ball gown fabrics with it. No inspiration struck me. I made up supplements for the next nine days to see what needs to be ordered. But I felt too tired to do the order all of a sudden. I listened to some meditation music. I drew a pic of a dress idea, but it looked better in my head than on paper. I worked tomorrow’s puzzle, then wrote up my blog post. Chris came home from the airport as I finished up. I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* Jane took my pic at the beach on Saturday. *

Ordering online

I got up late as Chris was getting ready for church. I had been avoiding salt for a few days just to see the effect. I did not think there was one until I drank my lemon water with salt. I read e-mail. I spent a lot of time finalizing my Swansons order because the lemon oil kept getting kicked out and I needed it to make the $50 minimum for free shipping and $10 off. I did not eat anything. It got late so I quickly washed up and got dressed for church. Chris came home. I was in a brain fog and wondered if it had something to do with the Himalayan salt. He drove me to the chapel. He came in with me to make sure I saw Mandy and her dress, which was something like what I wanted for my dress. Her center front panel was ruched and a little drapey. She said she would bring it over later after she washed it, so I could look at the construction details. I figured on sitting with Jane for the service, but she did not come into the sanctuary. The service was normal. The chaplain talked about God blessing us even when we fall short. After the service, I talked to Suzanne and told her we’d found the ball gowns at the market on the third floor. She said she knew of a place on the 4th floor that sold gowns and did alterations. Chris came to church to pick me up. I went to the bathroom to see if Jane was in there, but she wasn’t. Chris drove me home to change clothes. Then we drove to lunch at the Korean church. Jane was there, having lunch. She must have left the chapel early enough to attend the service at the Korean church. There was pork, turnip green soup, rice, kimchi and sprouts. It was very good, especially the soup. Jane and I promised each other to send photos from yesterday. When we got back to base, we went to the commissary for groceries. We took them home and put the food away. Since Swanson would not ship lemon oil, I looked for it on Amazon. I spent a lot of time trying to decide which lemon essential oil to get to complete my Amazon order. Then I listened to audios. One was on dental health and several others reportedly contained quotes from Bill Gates saying his vaccines would reduce the population. The interviews really did seem to point to that but I wondered about the context. I cleared e-mail down to 40 unread. I watered some plants that had not been exposed to the rain. I walked with Chris around the base for exercise. When we got back, I made breakfast and ate it. He made supper and ate it. We read e-mail for a while. I searched for dress patterns online with a center panel, but did not find one. Then we watched two episodes of Castle together. Chris had stripped the bed and washed the sheets earlier, so we made it up together. Then…I had a hot flash so he got some ice cubes…etc. Still, the evening wasn’t over until the fat lady blogged.
* This pic is from yesterday at the beach in Busan. *

Suiting Chris

We got up late. I did not bother watering the plants since it was raining again. I made and ate breakfast while reading e-mail. Chris pretty much did the same thing. I took a cold shower. Cold water is supposed to make you more energetic. It did not work that well. I got dressed while Chris took a shower. I cut a piece of my blue fabric in case I needed to match or complement it. I put some seed crackers in my purse. I took pics of one of Chris’ suits, but he told me not to bother. I put on my shoes and grabbed an umbrella. Chris took his and we were out the door. We walked out the front gate and into town. I called Jane at 10 to tell her we were going to be a few minutes late, but she did not answer. We hoofed it to McDonalds, where Jane was waiting. She said the bus had already gone by, but there would be another one in 10 minutes. So we waited inside while she went to the restroom and then went outside to the bus stop. We gave our bus fares to Chris and he bought the tickets. The bus came shortly and we all got on. It took a circuitous route to Busan, stopping often. But it was less than the 50 minutes Jane had predicted. We all disembarked at an island in the middle of the street. As a group, we proceeded over to the right side and descended into the subway system. Soon we were on the platform and then I had to visit the bathroom. So Jane and I came up one floor and she asked the guard to let us out, which he did. We went to the bathroom and came back. She had to ask him to let us through again so we wouldn’t have to pay again. Then we rejoined Chris on the platform. He said the train came 10 minutes ago, which surprised me since I did not think we were gone that long. But the next train showed up quickly. It was practically empty so we had seats all the way to Bumil-dong. We came out exit 1 and walked straight ahead several blocks until we hit the fabric market – marked by the aerial pedestrian crossings to the other side of the street. But we went behind the main building. We visited several places selling suit fabrics. With Jane interpreting, we looked through their selection and asked questions. But when we got to the place which Eliza recommended, we found the fabrics we wanted. It took some time to pick out five suit fabrics and one for a tux. We asked for two pairs of pants with each jacket. The man agreed to 4 of them, but said for the fifth fabric the factory would not allow a second pair of pants. We could not figure that out because he had plenty of fabric and he had a staff that did the cutting and sewing. He gave a price that Chris thought was good. So Chris got measured and they discussed style details and a fitting date that Jane could make as well. The man wanted half of the money up front. We did not have that much, so Chris asked for the nearest Woori bank. The wife took us there and Chris took out money from Michele’s account, up to the ATM limit. We went back and paid what we had. Did I mention that Jane took pics at every point of the process and had us or the wife take her pic, too?

Then Jane wanted to go to lunch but we had little money left. So she lent us $100. The three of us split a lunch for two. It was very good: soup and side dishes and rice. Chris paid. Then we went to the fabric market building. The tailor led us to the first place, but they did not have fabrics for ball gowns. Then Jane asked questions of people right and left. We found the place I had bought fabric before, and I picked out another set in green. We took a break to hit the restroom. We went back so I could pay for the fabric and pick it up. Then we searched for the ball gowns I had seen. Jane stopped every few booths to ask. We did find them, but we also heard about gowns on the 3rd floor. So we went up there. There were several and I stopped at one to try on a few. I thought they were too tight, but Chris wondered why I did not buy one. (Because we spent all our money on suits?) Jane took a pic and we got a business card. Then we walked back to the subway. We rode two stops to the hub and changed to another line. That train arrived quickly. Then we sat in the section for the old and disabled. As other seats became available, we moved to the next section. I was glad we had seats because we rode over 30 minutes. We got off at Hyundai Beach. Chris and Jane went to the restroom while I looked at a vendor selling fancy hosiery. Finally we walked up and out of the subway to a sunny beachy atmosphere. Our first order of business was to find the restaurant where Chris was to attend the Hail and Farewell ceremony. We had an hour, which seemed like way more than we needed, but in fact, it took 40 minutes to find the place. After Chris walked in, Jane and I walked the short distance to the beach. She stayed on the boardwalk, but I went down to the sand and removed my shoes. I walked into the water, marveling at how low the tide was. I could walk pretty far just getting my ankles wet. Or so I thought. Somehow, when I came back and scrubbed my feet with sand, I discovered that my rolled up pant legs were wet. I brushed off my feet and put on my shoes and joined Jane. She was contemplating her next photo opportunity. We walked along the beach, finding photo ops and taking each other’s pic or asking someone else to take our pic. It got to be a bit much, but she loved every minute of it. We stopped at a hotel to visit the restroom and cool off. I changed into the flowy pants I bought at the fabric market. We sat near the boardwalk to eat our snacks. The gulls (or pidgeons) were interested in my seed crackers. They would crowd around me and two little girls would scare them off. This happened several times while Jane was trying to photograph the gulls. Then they hopped into my hand looking for crumbs. Jane got very excited. She took my pic and then wanted my crumbs so she could have her pic with the gulls. But I guess she moved too much, because the gulls would not sit on her hand. But they came to me even though I was out of food. Then we walked to a grand hotel near the end. She hit the restroom again. We walked up the hill of what used to be an island. The path descended to the beach but I did not want to walk all the way down and have to come all the way back. So we only went half way. She took a pic and we came up and went back through the hotel. She asked the maitre’d how much the dinner was. It was over $80, so we left. We followed the beach back to where we had entered it, stopping to take more pics in more poses with landmarks and giant stones and such. The light waned. We walked back to the restaurant. I texted Chris to ask if we could ride back with the commander. We sat on the first floor and watched people come out. Jane recognized one man from years ago and we talked to him for a bit. He said that he would be Chris’ assistant come March. Interesting. We waited some more. Finally Chris came out and said we could come up. But I was too tired. So he went back up and later descended with the commander, and two other people. Chris introduced us to Hank Kim, the new chief of staff. He and Jane hit it off immediately. We had to drag her away to go home with the commander. I was so thrilled not to have to ride the subway back to the bus. Standing on the train for half an hour or more was out of the question. He had no trouble driving out of Busan, which was in contrast to his drive in (because of traffic). It was a relatively quick trip and we talked the whole way. He had read the Hornblower series but preferred the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian. He dropped Jane off at Home Plus at her request. She took a bus home. Then we drove onto post and he dropped us off at our place. I assume he went home. I ate four figs with cinnamon and drank lots of water. Then I checked e-mail and wrote up my blog post while Chris read his e-mail. I saw a blouse pattern that I wanted to try, but it was in Polish. 'Google Translate' did it's best, but the result was not clear enough. Chris showed me how to download pics from my phone to my laptop without taking pics of each screen shot with my camera. Then it was time to post and go to bed.

Working for the perfect fit

I stayed in bed even after Chris left for work, probably around 8. I got up at 8:25. I drank some water and pulled up e-mail. It was a rainy morning and I had a slight headache. Myra called to ask about the community roundup. She had heard that it was changed to a department head meeting at 606. So I called Chris. He went to check on it. He called me back to say that community roundup was next week, so I called Myra and passed that on. A little later a notice appeared on the Facebook page. After I hung up with Myra, I went back to my e-mail. I did not feel well. I stopped to meditate. I listened to audios. I took a nap. Chris came home for lunch, bringing me a package and telling me that they were still out of Priority Mail boxes. They will be closed for the next four days. I laid down again. Chris went back to work. I got up later to go back to e-mail. I wanted to sew but it was too hard on my eyes. The easiest thing was to listen to audios. I did today’s puzzle. At some point, I finished the binding on the fish quilt. Then I went to my sewing room to work on the dress pattern. I put on the purple dress and pinned some tweaks. Then I stitched the pinning into place. I tried it on again and pinned some more and stitched that. Then I pinned green ribbon down the center seam line to get a good look at the center front. The final dress will have a contrasting center front. I asked for Chris’ opinion. He thought the front panel would look better if it were narrower in the waist and wider in the hips. Armed with all my tweaks, I re-drew the pattern pieces, adding darts and moving seam lines ever so slightly. I wasn’t sure how to change the side panels to match the changes in the center front, but I tried. It also needed to be 15 inches longer in the final form. I was taping paper together for that when Chris said he was ready to watch TV. We watched two episodes of Castle. Chris went to bed, and I took the last of my supplements for the day. I hadn’t had breakfast but I wasn’t hungry. I typed up my blog post and went to bed.

Aw nuts!

I had trouble sleeping last night, even though I used my sleep salve. I heard Chris leave to go running this morning. I hadn’t worn my watch to bed so I did not know what time it was. Because of the time of year, the pattern of sunlight is changing. Later I heard him come back in. He said it was not yet 7:30. I got up and got dressed. I drank lemon water. I sent a message to my tapping buddy on skype. I watered the plants on the front porch. My buddy responded and we had a session. He did really well, which made me feel good. Then I had something to eat. I watered all the rest of the plants. I noticed they are doing better now that the heat is over. I deleted the first round of e-mail and started reading what was left. At 11 I met Myra for yoga in the gym. She said it would not be strenuous, but some of it was. The school kids came in and used the other side of the gym for gym class. I wondered why it got scheduled during yoga and why they did not go outside on such a nice day. I walked Myra home and then came home myself. I had breakfast and tried to consolidate photo files because the list is so long that Windows scrolls out of control. Then I took a shower and put on nice shorts and a top. I walked to massage place, and even arrived a little early. Mr. Kim was not there even though I was told last week that he would be back. This week I was told he will come back after Chusok. During the massage I thought about my next massage. It was a full body massage this week so I scheduled a foot massage for next week. Then I walked around the corner to the Chinese place. I got a foot massage there. It was done by a man I had not seen before. I enjoyed it, but the chair there was not as comfortable as the one at the Foot Shop. Afterward, I walked to market and bought figs. Then I walked back to base, arrived just before 5. I called Myra to see if she was going running for a t-shirt. We had seen an MWR table set up at the start of the trail. She was not going running because her husband had just come home and was not feeling well. I went home to look up the event but could not find anything about it. I guess that was why we didn’t see anyone running. I ate a fig, a peach and a pear for supper. Then I read e-mail. Chris came home from the victory party (which marks the end of the exercise) and from picking up his drycleaning. He brought me raw chestnuts that he picked up on the path on the way home. I looked up how to eat raw chestnuts. The last step said to be careful because some are poisonous when raw. Really? They saved that tidbit for last? I worked yesterday’s puzzle and today’s while listening to audios on how to dress to minimize a large tummy. We watched the Season 1 ender of Lois and Clark, which was the last DVD we had. Chris used his computer to call in to the monthly ED session. He listened for an hour. I read e-mail and worked on my blog post. I cleared more e-mail, and then it was time for bed.