New Years Eve

It was another long night spent trying to breathe. I got up at some point and did exercises and stretches designed to get lymph moving. A little yoga, too. I put some eucalyptus on my hand to sniff when I went back to bed, but the scent dissipated pretty quickly. The exercises helped enough to partially open one nostril. I also put my knee pillow behind my head so my head and shoulders were elevated and I went to sleep.
When I got up, Chris was already up. He boiled water for tea and for steam. While the tea was steeping, he poured boiling water in the bathroom sink and I added drops of peppermint and eucalyptus. Sadly, even though I had pushed hard on the drain stopper, the water trickled out. So I boiled some more. But that did not stay either. Still, two facials was a nice bonus.
I read a few e-mails and deleted the rest. I took some of the stitching out of the purse lining and re-cut it. Then I went looking for a pair of socks to keep my feet warm. I got sidetracked when I remembered an actor that I wanted to look up. But as it turns out he hadn't been in anything I had seen before.
Then I got dressed and put on socks and earrings. Gotta keep those holes from healing shut. I mixed up more chia/flax for today's breakfast and future breakfasts. Then I made and ate breakfast while listening to an audio and playing solitaire.
Chris took a shower and went to the grocery store. I took advantage of the daylight and worked on the purse. While I was working, he came home, put away the groceries and started a movie called Bright. I resewed the lining. I handstitched two halves of a magnetic clasp to the inside. I made straps by folding strips in towards the center and stitching the folds together. I pinned them to the bag and folded the edges of the inner bag and outer bag to match. Then I went looking for matching thread. As daylight was waning, it got harder to do. I finally decided on a blue-grey thread. I loaded it in the machine with white thread in the bottom. Sewing the edges was going to be tricky so I left it for broad daylight tomorrow.
I sat with Chris and watched the rest of the movie. I had to close my eyes at times. There was violence and constant bad language. But other than that... It had an interesting story line.
I ate a bowl of soup and scrolled through Facebook feeds looking for amusing stuff.
Anna called me on Facebook. We talked to her and Terry and said hello to their kids and the kids from next door. We got to see the Star Wars quilt that Anna made for Terry.
We watched one episode of Travelers and that seemed to be the end of season 2. So we switched to Voyager and watched two episodes.
I needed two games of solitaire before I could focus on my blog. I wrote down what I could remember. And now, are we going to bed, or staying up to greet the new year? Happy New Year, y'all.
* From the quit show *

Everything but the kitchen sink

I think I got up around 8. I felt like I had a cold, mostly congestion in my sinuses. So, I spent pretty much all day looking up cold remedies on the internet.
First Chris boiled some water and put it in the washbowl for me. I put some peppermint oil drops on a small towel in the water and made a tent over it with a big towel. I breathed in the scent until the water ran out. I drank some water and boiled more. I pushed the drain plug in harder. This time I used eucalyptus oil and it worked better. But I still felt sick and the congestion would not entirely go away.
Following an example on the internet, I decided to take one gram of Vitamin C every 6 minutes. I had a little digital timer that made it easy. I mixed 4 different types of powdered C in a small container. As I explored more remedies, I waited for the timer to ring and then put a gram in my mouth and chased it with water.
Next, I boiled some cinnamon in water, adding cloves and diced ginger. When it was done steeping, I added honey and lemon. It was tasty enough, but I still felt sick.
I read about taking a bath with 3 pints of hydrogen peroxide, but I did not have that much. I also read about ionic silver, but I somehow never got around to taking that.
After a while, all that vitamin C got to my stomach. I must have taken 20 grams. I ate a little coconut oil. Then I wrapped myself in my warm fleece bathrobe and laid down on my infrared heating pad to sweat. I listened to an audio and fell asleep. But I did not sweat.
It was hard to find any solutions that I had not already heard of. So I randomly picked things I had and searched for “treat a cold with X “. I took some probiotics. I ate some kimchi and sauerkraut. I listened to a binaural beats audio at a frequency of 1.8. I think it would have worked better if I were laying down, but the laptop had run out of juice while I was laying down before and it still needed to recharge.
There was a baking soda cure which involved dissolving a half tsp of baking soda in a glass of water and drinking it 6 times the first day, 4 on the second and maybe two on the third? It sounded yucky. But in the comments someone said they mixed it with maple syrup instead. So I tried mixing it with local honey. It tasted ok as long as I did not try to savor it. But my stomach did not care for it. Chris made a big pot of soup for me, so I tried to eat some. Maybe because of the baking soda, it did not digest well.
I took a break to work on the purse for Michele. I made the pockets and sewed them into the lining. Then I sewed the lining pieces together and boxed the corners. Then I put the lining inside the bag. The fit did not seem right. I gave up.
I took some propolis and that helped a little. I watched Youtube videos on strange inventions and other 'dramatic' stuff.
At 8 my stomach was feeling better, so I made breakfast. I ate it while watching Travelers with Chris. Again, we watched too many episodes and it was well after 11 when I called time. I took my evening supplements and sat down to write up my blog. Chris went to bed and I am about to join him.
* quilt show *

Back to the C

I got up at 7:40. I took some mimosa pudica. I turned on 'the router and folded laundry and put mine away. Then I drank a quart of water and read e-mail. I got dressed.
At 9 my tapping buddy called. We talked and tapped for 2 hours, but it seemed to resolve the issue.
After the call, I made and ate my breakfast. I read more e-mail and listened to an audio on intuition. Then I took advantage of the daylight and sewed beads on the purse in progress. I also joined the edges of the little bows. It was getting late, so I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I passed a van of people trying to catch their dog. The girl kept screaming for me to catch the dog. But it would not come close enough for me to get it's collar and I did not want to tackle a strange dog.
I wished them luck and finished my walk. I filled a bottle with salt water and changed my clothes. Chris came home from work. He said interview did not go well and to forget going to California.
I bundled up and took the bottle of water with me. I drove down the access road to my massage. Traffic was backed up on the parkway. I got there right at the time she said, but her previous person was still in the room getting dressed. So I sat near the front window and waited.
After bit she came to get me and we put clean sheets on the massage bed. I told her how I had been sick for a day but ended it with lots of vitamin C. She gave me the toe to head massage. Then we talked about some Chinese stretch that she keeps recommending but forgetting to send the link to. After the massage, I paid her and set up another appointment. Then I went home.
When I got home, I checked e-mail, then put a bowl of onion soup in the toaster oven to heat. Then I fried up a carton of sliced mushrooms and half a squash in a pan on the stove. They finished about the same time. I ate the mushrooms first and then the onion soup. I watched videos on how to build a 3-D hologram projector for a cell phone.
When Chris was ready, we watched three episodes of Travelers, which was one episode too many because it ended at 11:30. I started sneezing and coughing. So I started loading up on vitamin C. I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* Still no pics, so here is one from the quilt show. *

The audit

I allowed myself to sleep in because I didn't get any sleep the night before. I woke up feeling back to normal. I unloaded the dishwasher while I swished. I read e-mail for a bit, then I boiled some ginger slices in a quart of water on the stove and dissolved a cup of Himalayan salt into it. I added that to a tub of hot water, along with almost 2 cups of Epsom salts. I relaxed in the bath while listening to an interview.
When the water cooled off, I washed up and got dressed. I made and ate breakfast, then grabbed my tablet and some scratch paper.
I drove to Stitchits. There wasn't time to sew but I got to chat with a few people and I handed out lip balms. Then I raced off to the library to do an audit with the treasurer of the local chapter of the modern quilt guild. Neither one of us had any experience with accounting, but she had a print out from her sister on auditing for small groups. So we went line by line. For some things, it was suggested just to take a random sample. So we did. And when we filled out the balance form, it all added up, including the one mistake we found for 20 cents which we think was a bank error. I realized that audits are not about the math. Then we talked about health issues before we split up.
On the way home, I stopped at the bank to deposit the check Cecily gave me for Christmas and to get cash for my massage. I decided it was easier just to cash the check. Then afterward, I realized that there was probably no paper trail. How do accountants keep track of such things?
When I got home, Chris told me William had called, so I called him back. I opened the package Chris had picked up at the post office. Then I read e-mail for a bit. I went out to get the house mail, which was mostly ads. I put some leftovers in a bowl to heat for supper. I started listening to an interview. The man spoke about the energy of Tesla's purple plates. So I looked into it and decided to buy the smallest disc available to try it out.
Then I turned my attention to the purse. It was too dark to work on the trim (black thread on black fabric) so I looked up the directions for the inside of the purse. I chose some fabric for the pockets and cut them out.
Then Chris had the latest DVD from Netflix cued up. So we watched all the episodes of F-Troop on it. In one episode, there was a character who was too much like Maxwell Smart to be a coincidence. When we were done watching the DVD, Chris went to bed while I looked into which came first: F-Troop or Get Smart. They both started in 1965. But according to Wikipedia, the F-Troop character B Wise, was a parody of Maxwell Smart.
Then I focused on writing up my day so I could go to bed.
* I didn't take any pics today because I left my phone at home. *

Vitamin C to the rescue

I did not sleep much last night. Between trouble breathing and a headache, I could not quite fall asleep. I got up several times to take vitamin C, or activated charcoal. My joints and skin hurt, but I was not coughing or sneezing. So is it an infection or a toxin?
I tried computing the 12th root of 2 to help take my mind off of my headache. It was a very long night.
I finally got up at 8:30 because there was no point in staying in bed. I felt the same either way. The recyclables were still sitting by the door where I left them last night. I put on my heavy coat and took them out to the curb.
Since it was my usual day for detox and meditation, I went ahead with that. I was hoping that would get rid of the headache, but no. Then I cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen.
I laid down for awhile. I had the shivers and needed more blankets, but I could not get warm. Finally I got up and read e-mail. Then I got a small dish to put the tiny beads in so I could pick them up one at a time and sew them to the bag.
When Chris came home from work, he cut up peppers and cabbage to roast in the oven. Then I asked him to cuddle with me in bed to keep me warm. Eventually I was able to go to sleep. He left and went back to his laptop.
When I got up, the cabbage and peppers were ready and I had a small plateful. As I read e-mail, I ingested several forms of vitamin C and ate a banana. I read through my list of notes of flu and cold remedies. I made some ginger tea and put some raw honey and tumeric pieces in it. I mixed some colostrum with coconut oil and ate that.
I started listening to an interview and paused it when Chris was ready to watch TV. We watched three episodes of Travelers season two. Chris looked up one of the characters and he was from Galaxy Quest. Then Chris went to bed while I took my evening supplements and typed up my blog for the day. I took one Advil to give myself some hope of sleeping tonight.
* I did not take any pics today so here is one from the quilt show in October. *

Star Wars, episode 8, in 3-D

I got up at 7:30 and took some mimosa pudica. I swished and checked e-mail. Chris sent a message saying that I had a car appointment at the dealership at 10. I did not understand why my car needed an appointment, but he said he kinda remembered that we set it up when we bought it.
I got dressed and listened to an interview. At 9:30 I paused the interview and packed the purse project in a bag with needle and thread so I could work on it while my car was being worked on. I figured on going to Joanns which was just down the street, so I texted Beverly in case she wanted to meet me afterward.
I headed down Jordan to University. I kept looking on the right to find the dealership. But somehow I didn't see it until it was too late to turn. So I took the next street. I thought I could cut through to the next light, but that didn't work. Since University was so empty, I decided to make a left turn. Which would have been fine, but there was a curb in the middle of the center lanes which I couldn't see until I got to it. There was nothing to do but drive over it, which wasn't too bad. So I pulled into the service lane at Landers Mclarty about 9:55. I got out of my car and a lady with a tablet met me and asked why I was there. I explained about the e-mail Chris had gotten. She explained that the e-mails were sent out automatically from some other location and that my car did not need servicing until it reached 6000 miles. She said to call next time I got one of those automated e-mails. Sigh.
I drove down the street to Joanns. I texted Beverly and called Chris to tell him about the automated e-mail. I went to the bead department and obsessed over what size and shade of beads to buy. Finally I chose a vial of several shades. Then I went over to the strings of lights on sale and chose one. I saw Beverly come in the store. We walked around together and eventually found some teal fabrics to buy. Her friend Anita sent us scores of coupons and we got 50% off the entire purchase.
Then we got in Beverly's car and went to WalMart. I needed a calendar. But first we went through all the Christmas leftovers and I got some cards. I wanted red glass balls, too, but not the fire engine red ones. We looked at the fabric section but did not buy. We also went to the food section and I got a quart of goat milk.
After we checked out, she went by her bank. While she was inside, I sewed trim sitting in the car. Then she took me back to Joanns to get my car and I went home, not stopping for kimbap.
When I got home, I started making breakfast because I was so hungry. When I finished breakfast, Chris called from Kroger. Since I had promised him I would return DVD's to the library, I jumped in the car to accomplish that before he got home.
Then I continued reading e-mail while listening to the interview. It finished and I started another one. I ate some ham with the honey mustard dressing on it
I got fed up with the nagware from Microsoft telling me to install updates and reboot. I checked it out online and did not see where others were having a problem, so I let.
I wondered about the Waterfox 53 update. Some people did have problems, but apparently they were up to Waterfox 55 or 56. So I wondered if it would take an extra update to fix the next one. The next time the pop-up for 53 came up, I allowed it to update.
As I was eating my daily 10 almonds, one of them tasted really bitter, so I spit it out. But soon I had the makings of a headache. I ate a can of organic soup. I worked on the trim of the handbag. Then I put on my shoes and coat because Chris had made reservations at the theater for Star Wars. It was cold outside, but my big warm parka kept me cozy.
When we got to the theater, Chris went to the desk to get the tickets. He showed the man his phone with a QR code and -presto, we had tickets. Nearby was a box of 3-D glasses. We each got one, then we stopped by the restrooms before entering the auditorium.
Our tickets gave us assigned seating in the 3rd row. The chairs reclined, to my surprise. That was nice, but I still had to crane my head to see the whole screen because we were so close. I closed my eyes during the previews, but the headache persisted.
Eventually we were instructed to put on the 3-D glasses. It was pretty cool, even with a headache. I felt like I was in space with the ships flying around me.
The movie was good, but it seemed long because I was not comfortable. When it ended, we watched some of the credits to listen to the music. But then I wanted to go home and lay down. I found it hard to move and keep my balance. But we made it out of the theater, down the street to the parking garage and up to the second floor. Chris drove us home. I noticed that my purse had a wet spot. My first thought is that it was from the drink of the lady next to me, but it smelled like hot flash spray. I don't know why it would leak in my silk purse but not my usual black one.
When we got home, I realized I felt like I had the flu because my skin was sensitive to touch. So I took some high-powered vitamin C. I looked up cyanide poisoning on the internet. Now I had a pop-up asking me to update to Waterfox 54. I made a mug of hot bone broth. Chris polished his shoes, checked his e-mail, and went to bed.
I was feeling better, so I typed up my blog and went to bed myself.
* My pics at the movie did not turn out, so here is one of the ham from yesterday. *

A low-key Christmas

I woke up at 7 with hot flashes. I went to the bathroom, took some activated charcoal and went back to bed. When I got up again, it was 8:30. I took some mimosa pudica and drank several cups of water. I read e-mail for awhile.
Chris put a ham in the oven with sweet potatoes. I made and ate breakfast. Afterward, I called Dad to wish him a merry Christmas and I talked to Kurt, too.
Then we called Marie in DC and spoke to Michele, and Cecily as well. That reminded me that Cecily had sent presents along with us at Thanksgiving. So Chris got them out and we opened them. I got a check for quilting supplies and Chris got socks, underwear and belts.
We read e-mail until the food was cooked. Then we ate ham and sweet potatoes. I listened to a Youtube version of Dad's cantata. Later we went for a walk. It was quite cold outside. I ran part of the time just to keep warm and get home faster.
We went back out our e-mail. I watched videos on cleaning my iron. It had some black gunk which was no problem up to the #5 setting. But above that, it became sticky and got on the fabric. I tried the salt method, but it did not work. The magic eraser worked much better. I tried setting the cool iron on a soapy washcloth to loosen up the remaining black sticky stuff. Then I used a baking soda paste. Finally I decided it was close enough to clean. I put it back in its spot.
I found some white fabric for the inside of Michele's bag. I cut and fused interfacing to inner bag pieces. I downloaded I-tunes so I could listen to an interview, while sewing the bag trim on by hand.
Chris set up up the TV to play Netflix and we watched three episodes of Voyager. I had taken my evening supplements beforehand, and I fell asleep several times during the third episode. So when it was over, I went straight to bed. And I fell back asleep without blogging.

Church, church and more church

I woke up in the dark because my back tooth ached. I was afraid it was cracked. I tried so hard to relax and go back to sleep. It took a long time and I wanted to sleep in, but did not have the time.
I got up at 8:15. My tooth was better, though not 100%. I drank some water. I played a few notes on each instrument and then packed them in their cases. Then I took a shower. I got dressed while Chris took his shower. We carried the trombone and flute and trombone stand out to the car. Chris drove us to church.
When we got to the church, we carried the instruments to a corner near the organ. Then we got bulletins and sat in our pew. It was one service at 9:30 instead of an 8 and a 10:45. So there should have been extra people there, but it did not seem that way.
It was a fourth Sunday of Advent service with the lighting of the 4 candles.
After the service, I practiced the flute and trombone with the organist. Both pieces went well. I left the instruments in a warm corner. Then I collected Chris and we went home.
I made and ate breakfast while Chris did laundry. I checked e-mail and deleted most of it. I worked on the purse for Michele. I got the outside sewn together and started work on the black trim. Chris put on clean pants (he got some black marks on the previous pair). Then he went to the 5pm mass at the Catholic chapel. I made a bowl of onion soup with the last of the pulled pork. I posted a Christmas message to my Facebook page. I dressed in a sparkly top with extra wide sleeves and a dark blue skirt. I got my choir music from the car and practiced it. I waited until 6 but Chris did not return. So I hopped in my car and went to church.
I was there by 6:20 to rehearse with the choir. I was the only alto. I breathed into the flute and trombone to warm them up. Then I sat in the front pew. About 6:45 Chris came and sat with me. The church was filling up. Two girls went up to the piano to play their pieces. Then it was my turn. I put the hymnal on the music stand and stood ready with my flute until the organist played an introduction. Then I played two verses of Let all Mortal Flesh keep Silence. Maybe I should have kept silence 'cause I messed up the last phrase on both verses.
I handed the flute to Chris and picked up the trombone. The organist played an intro and we did two verses of Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. It was ok but not great. Then I sat and breathed a sigh as the organist continued with pre-service music. The church was beautifully decorated. The chrismon trees, the poinsettias, the white flower arrangements, the candles – so pretty.
So the service began. It included communion and everything. The choir sang and did well. The pastor read the Christmas story to the kids. Then he gave a sermon. It went pretty long. Finally, we passed candlelight around the sanctuary until every one had a lit candle. The we sang Silent Night and the service ended.
Our choir director had asked Melody to take her place 'cause she went out of town. I happened to know that Melody and her husband both play trombone. So I asked if we could play together sometime and she asked me for my number. Then I packed up my instruments. Chris took them to his car and went home. I stayed behind to pass out some lip balms. Scott invited us to lunch tomorrow but I declined because we are baking a ham. Then I had to hurry back before the gate closed.
I wanted to take the route over the steep hill to view the city lights but it took longer that way. As it was, I went through the gate at 8:54.
Chris was on his laptop. I changed my clothes and put the instruments in the closet. I made a mug of hot bone broth. We watched two episodes of Voyager. Chris put clean sheets on the bed while I typed up my blog post. Then I joined him for a good night's sleep.
* Sadly I did not get a pic of the church. But I did manage to get this pic while driving by. Every time we pass it, it reminds me of a certain spaceship... *

Christmas Eve Eve

I got up at 9:15, surprised it was so late. Chris had been up for awhile. He had wanted to go running but it was raining. Maybe the rain contributed to me sleeping so late?
I took some activated charcoal and read e-mail for a bit. I listened to some brainwave entrainment. I watched a video on A=432 vs A=440. Then there were those who thought A should = 430. I practiced my flute and trombone.
I made and ate breakfast. Then I looked at the fabric choices from last night. I settled on one set after trading out some of the blacks. I went looking for the pattern. I checked in boxes in the sewing room and the drawers. But no luck. I had to print out another set of pattern pieces. While I was at it, I re-did one of the recipe sheets on the wall and printed it out.
I cut and ironed fabric while Chris played ARC with Michele. Somehow one of the fabrics went missing and I had to search the house for it. I put some of the many stacks of fabric back in the sewing room.
Then Chris took a shower and dressed and invited me to go to the grocery store. I thought we were going tomorrow. Anyway, I put on shoes and we went. We got back just after 5. He could see that the service at the Catholic chapel had started already so he left and I put away the groceries by myself. To get all the food to fit in the fridge, I had to put the onion soup and the pulled pork in smaller containers. As it was suppertime, I filled a bowl with some of the leftovers and put it in the toaster oven. I washed the bigger containers while it cooked. I also heated some sauerkraut and kimchi on top of the toaster oven.
I ate while watching some tapping videos. Chris came back from the chapel almost as soon as the first video started. I took my evening supplements early. The computer got slow and the tapping videos were not responsive.
I sewed three strips together. I cut out the back of the purse. For the front, I had to make a pleat and use the back as a pattern piece. But the shape did not fit anymore. I cut it out as best I could. Then the next step was to fuse it with interfacing. I wondered if I had done that the first time I made the purse.
It was after 8 so I mentioned the time to Chris. We put on Voyager and watched two episodes. Then I went back to my computer to type up my blog and got sidetracked looking up one of the familiar characters.
After finishing my blog, I went to bed.

The last strip

I got up before 8. The teapot with ginger slices was still on the stove, cold. So I poured the liquid into ice cube trays. I put some more water in with the slices and turned the stove on again.
My laptop was still in the guest room and the router was still on. I drank a quart of water while reading e-mail. I turned off the stove. I listened to an interview on active dreaming while I rested on my infrared heating pad. I read an article about honey vs sugar. I finished my blog post for yesterday.
I made and ate breakfast. I meant to put some honey in it, but forgot.
I investigated the idea that A should be 432 instead of 440. I found some Mozart music remastered to play at A=432. So I set it to play in the background of my laptop.
I practiced my trombone and flute on Christmas songs in the hymnal. I sewed on the last blue strip to the quilt top and took pics. I sent a copy to Anna in Chinhae.
I came across the idea of the Mandela effect, wherein there are two versions of history and some people remember it one way, and others remember it differently. All the references point to one version but so many people remember the other version in exactly the same way. It gives rise to parallel universe theories. OR time travel gone wrong.
Then I took a walk around the neighborhood, circling the athletic field. When I got back, Chris was home from work. I went back to reading about the Mandela effect.
I heated a bowl of onion soup and pulled pork for supper. I also ate some seed crackers with hummus.
I pulled fabric from my stash to make Michele a handbag. But it was hard to get the right shades. I brought selections into the guest room and tried to coordinate fabrics. I couldn't find a set that worked. I decided to leave them until morning when the light was better.
At 8 we sat down to watch Voyager. Three episodes later, we were ready for bed. Chris turned in for the night and I stayed up to blog and take my evening supplements.

Honey

I got up about 8 after having a strange dream about marrying two guys and never saw either one of them again. I plugged in my tablet to recharge. I mended a pair of socks that Chris gave me last night. I practiced my flute and trombone.
I turned on the computer to check e-mail. I tried a new toothpaste that Jennifer had given me last night at the church. She had ordered it for me. It tasted fine, but when I read the ingredients I wondered why I had ordered it. I checked the safety of the ingredients online.
I drank a quart of lemon water while reading e-mail. I got a message from Myra and responded to it. While reading e-mail, I came across an article on frankincense oil. So I mixed some with my salve and put it on my ear. Then I made and ate breakfast.
By the time I moved my sewing stuff to the car, it was almost noon. I drove to Stitch-Its. It was a smaller group than usual. I did not feel like getting my machine out and setting it up. So I just talked to people and looked through some magazines that one lady had brought in to give away. I put the container of dates on the table to share. While I was talking to Pat, she mentioned giving away little gifts at the retreat and it reminded me of the lip balms. But when I checked my purse, I only had three with me. So I handed her one, gave one to the other Pat and then one to Christie. I promised to bring more next week.
Christie's husband arrived with a basket of honey and beeswax candles for sale. I bought a two pound container. I asked him about the honeybee die-off and he said it was overblown and that the news (in general) was overblown and … soon we were off on a conversation of debunking Darwinism and the progression of entropy, etc.
I don't remember when we packed up to leave. I went directly home. There was no mail waiting in our box. I had left some kimchi in a dish to achieve room temperature. I ate that and heated up some onion soup and added some pulled pork.
There were only two things left on my to-do list: I peeled ginger root and boiled the slices in a tea pot. I boiled water to make hair spray with sugar, then added aloe and castor oil and rubbing alcohol. I sprayed my hair to see how it works.
William called to talk about the recliner and to complain about work. He talked a long time, so I started sewing---
Chris took roasted cauliflower out of the oven. I ate some as I read e-mail. I finished sewing the blue strip to my quilt top. Then I took my laptop into the guest room. I brought some water to drink. Soon my tapping buddy was calling me on Skype.
She needed to record a session with her using certain EFT techniques. And I had the perfect issue for that. So we worked on it for almost two hours. And it went well.
So it was about 9 when Chris and I sat down to watch TV. We saw two episodes of Voyager. Then he got frisky and we ended up going to bed without turning off the lights or shutting down the computers (or blogging).
* This is a picture from the party Wednesday night. *

Caroling out in the ... rain

Other than heavy rain, it was a usual Wednesday morning, with exercise, meditation, and coffee. But I had to rush the cleaning afterward because my massage was scheduled for 12:30. I took a swipe at the bathrooms, then took a shower. I had oiled my hair and did not get out quite as much oil as I wanted. But I got dressed anyway and headed out.
When I got there, she was ready. She put stones in the warmer to heat up. She started with just her hands, but when the stones were hot, she used them one at a time to run over my back, my arms and my legs.
When it was over, I paid her and we set a time for next week. Then I went home.
I cleaned the kitchen. I made a loaf of bread. I filled the hall tub while cleaning the masterbath. I dissolved Epsom salt, pink salt, and baking soda in the water. I put an audio on and listened while I soaked. It is not a very comfortable tub. Then I laid on the infrared heating pad to induce sweating. I got dressed again and went for a quick walk.
I was making breakfast when Chris came home from work, late. He put brussels sprouts in a baking dish and drizzled them with olive oil and spices. Then he went to the Catholic chapel on post for a confession mass – or something like that.
When 6pm rolled around, I left for our Lutheran church. Two choir members were inside, so I went inside, too. Kurt handed out maps. Within 15 -20 minutes more people had arrived, including the choir director. She handed out song booklets and gave out driving assignments. I rode with Elaine and Susan and Roz. Susan used her phone GPS to find the houses. At each house, the choir went inside and sang songs, then went to the next house. We ended up at Jim and Barbara's house. We put our cookies or treats on the diningroom table and sang holiday songs. We looked through all their Christmas decorations. There was a decorated tree in every room! We ate the treats. I stuck to my dates with almonds.
Finally the party broke up and Elaine took us back to the church. There was no way to get back to base before Gate 8 closed. So I called Chris and he said to go down 565 and take the Gate 9 exit. I did not know the quickest way to 565, so I went to gate 8 first. The green light was on (yes – holiday hours?) but then I saw the barricades up. Sigh. I took Jordan to 565. I could not see the lane markings because of the rain, but there were cars in front of me so I followed them, hoping they could see better than I could.
565 had more traffic than I expected. But once I merged, I was ok. I stayed kind of to the right. It was two exits down. And what a funny exit it was. But I followed it around to Research Road. I showed my ID to the guard and followed the car ahead of me to know where to U-turn and where to turn right. Soon I was home.
There were crispy brussels sprouts on the stove. Apparently by the time Chris came home from chapel, they were overdone. I ate most of what was left.
Then Chris and I watched one episode of Voyager. He went to bed. I stayed up to blog and take my evening supplements.
* The wreath I hung yesterday. *

Paying attention to tension

I got up around 8. My ear itched like crazy (and like normal) so I scratched it and sprayed it with magnesium oil. Yikes! Then I stuck a cotton ball soaked in witch hazel behind my ear and left it there.
I tried to comb my hair but it would not cooperate. I drank a quart of water while checking e-mail. I looked at recipes for home made hair spray.
I was going to make up supplements for the week, but discovered that I had one left from the previous batch. So I used it to make breakfast. I also took an E3 and then ate breakfast while looking at more e-mail.
I cut the backing fabric for the rail fence top in half and sewed the selvedge edges together so it would be ready for sandwiching. I put it in the box with the top.
I traced and cut a circle of cardboard to stabilize my wreath. But then I didn't know how to attach it.
I checked my e-mail one last time and saw a message from Mary the organist. I jotted her a reply and headed out. I found a box on the front porch and moved it inside.
Then I went to Beverly's house. She had a serger that the dog had tangled the threads. So we clipped the thread mess off, and rethreaded it. But the stitches were not good. So we tweaked the tension while sewing a dozen samples or more. I was ready to give up when it occurred to me that the thread might not be properly seated in all the tension discs. So I sawed the thread in each disc and then – perfect tension.
It was 2:30 by then and threatening to rain, so we said goodbye and I drove home. On the way I passed the chapel and its lot was full of cars. I wondered what was going on there at 3 in the afternoon?
When I got home, I checked the house mail – nothing. Then I checked e-mail. Mary had responded, wondering if I could play flute and trombone back to back on Christmas Eve. So I tried it and it was ok.
Then, as I added notes to my blog, something happened. The window closed and I lost everything for today. I recreated as best I could what I had done this morning.
I made up a batch of supplements for the next 12 days. I took a break to eat supper – a bowl of veggie soup with pulled pork. Then I made up 10 days worth of evening supplements. I added three to my Swanson cart. When I have enough for free shipping, I will submit the order.
Michele called Chris to play ARC, the dinosaur game. I took a box of pitted dates and stuffed them with almonds. I pinned two Christmas panels to the walls, one in the foyer and one over the piano. I pinned my Christmas wreath to the cardboard circle and attached it to a ribbon and hung it on the front door. Then I made a mug of bone broth and ate a section of aloe. I put filtered water in the coffee pot for tomorrow and added more to the filter unit.
Chris ended his game with Michele. Then we watched two episodes of Voyager. We both nearly fell asleep. Chris went to bed and I stayed up to finish my blog post for today.

Soup just for me

I slept in, woke up, went back to sleep, woke up, went back to sleep. Finally at 9, I got up. I drank a quart of water while reading e-mail. I cleaned up in the kitchen, putting away dishes in the strainer and sweeping the floor.
I took some activated charcoal and played the flute. I processed e-mail for another hour. Then I made and ate breakfast. I got dressed. I packed a plastic box with the rail fence quilt top and everything that came with it. I set it by the door. I packed the hashtag quilt rows into my sewing box that held my machine and notions. I also had three panels in there to be hemmed. I rolled the box out to the car and drove to quilting.
Sadly, I realized when I got there that I had left the rail fence quilt behind. We agreed that I could bring it back in three weeks and someone would bring batting so we could sandwich it. Hopefully there would be a volunteer to quilt it at that point.
The ladies were eating lunch when I arrived. Carolyn had brought soup and she had a special portion for me. It was still warm. I thanked her and ate it. It went well with my cooked food diet this week.
After lunch, we sewed and talked. After a while everyone left except Carolyn. I got all the rows on the hashtag quilt sewn together, but I could not take a pic because I had left my phone at home. Carolyn wasn't quite ready to leave, so I got out the panels and hemmed two of them. Then we packed up and went home.
When I got home, I unloaded the sewing stuff from the trunk and put it in the house. I also put the recyclable container on the front porch for later. And I checked the mail – nothing. So I decided to go for a walk. That is when I noticed that my ID was missing from the neck pouch that I keep it and the keys in. I checked the house and the car. Then I put the keys in my pocket and headed out. I took a longer route today.
When I got back, I found my ID on the lawn. And Chris was home.
I went through the tasks in the task manager on my laptop with Chris to see which ones I had that he didn't. I did an internet search on all of them looking for malware, but they all checked out.
I put a bowl of veggie soup in the toaster oven with some pulled pork. Then I listened to an audio on clutter until the soup was hot. I ate it with some E3. When the audio was over, I practiced my trombone until Chris' alarm went off at 6. Then we watched two back-to-back episodes of Big Bang Theory, followed by Lucifer. After that, we wanted to stream Voyager through the little laptop, but it would not connect to the router. I suggested rebooting the router but he did not. He hooked his laptop to the TV and we watched two episodes. He looked up a character on IMDB and went to bed. I took my evening supplements and posted to my blog. Then I collated the recyclables and went to bed myself.
* From the Galaxy of Lights *

A little light driving

We cuddled in bed until 9:20, then I headed for the shower. I got dressed in a blue top and pleated pants. It was the best I could do with the injunction to wear blue. I put some lip balms in my purse. There wasn't time to eat. I just drove to church.
I got there before the choir lined up. There was an issue with static cling and I suggested a wire coat hanger. After our choir warm-up, I tried one and was mildly successful at first, but the static came back. As I sat in the pew waiting for the service, I gave my legs a spray of the hot flash mixture, in case it might eliminate some static, and I think it did.
There were two tall Christmas trees at the front of the sanctuary. One was decorated with Chrismons from the earlier service. When the pastor had finished explaining the history and meaning of the ornaments, we were invited to pick some up from a tub and decorate the second tree. It was kind of nice.
When it was time for communion, I took my place at the communion rail. The pastor gave me a wafer as he went by. But the man with the cup of wine did not stop. He passed me and went to the lady after me. I tapped his arm and he brought the cup back so I could participate in intiction.
After the service, I spoke to the organist about playing songs for the pre-service music for Christmas Eve. We made some decisions and agreed to practice next Sunday after church. I hoped I would remember that the service starts at 9:30, not 10:45.
Jennifer was having special treats in the Fellowship hall for her son who had just graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. I went to be social. She had a bowl of dried apple slices that she recommended to me. Someone had tracked a bunch of leaf debris into the hallway so I got a broom to clean it up. Seeing me with a broom, Jennifer thought I was going to sweep up crumbs from the table. So I did. And then I went to the hallway to clear out the debris.
When I got finished and put away the broom, I tried to call Chris to have him meet me at the grocery store. But Jennifer wanted help putting the tables away. And Chris did not answer. So I helped with the tables and chairs. I called again, no answer. This time I went out to the car. I called a third time and left a message that I was coming home.
I drove back to base taking the parkway. The rain had stopped. When I got home, I realized I had left my umbrella at the church. When I opened the door, he asked why I didn't call him. Turns out his phone was on mute.

We took his car to go grocery shopping. But we went to the church first to pick up the umbrella. Then we shopped for food. On the way back, he put gas in his car – as much as he could possibly get in the tank.
After bringing in the groceries and putting them away, I made and ate breakfast. I cut the spines off the aloe branch with a carrot peeler. Then I washed it. I cut off a chunk to eat. I ate the gel-like portion and rubbed the aloe skin on my face.
I pulled out some Christmas panels from my sewing room to hang on the wall. They needed hemming so I left them on my sewing cart. Then I read e-mail and listened to audios for hours.
Later, we ate the onion soup Chris had made. I added some pulled pork to mine. I read e-mail until he finished what he was doing on his laptop. Then I changed my clothes and shoes. We took Chris' car and went to see the light display at the botanical gardens.
It was a slow drive-thru affair. Many of the displays were botanical and not holiday-related. Some were of fairy-tale characters. Each one had a sign saying which group or person sponsored it. We were encouraged to tune to a special station as we drove.

It played Christmas tunes with an occasional factoid from the announcer. I enjoyed seeing the lights and trying to get some clear pics.
When we got home, we watched three episodes of Voyager. Then Chris went to bed. I took my evening supplements and typed up my blog post so I could join him.
* I just spent way too much time deleting blurry pics and cropping the ones that were left to get rid of the taillights of the car in front of us. *

A little Christmas cheer

We slept in. It was after 9 when I got up. I arranged the quilt top on the bed so I could see all of it, but I could not stand back far enough to get a pic of the whole thing. Then I took it to my cutting table and trimmed the corners a bit.
I got dressed and brushed my teeth, then swished while checking e-mail. I read an article that suggested mixing beet powder with lip balm to create lipstick. Since I had a bag of beet powder, I tried sprinkling a little on top of my lipbalm. And it seemed to work.
After eating, I refilled my breakfast containers. I added things that were depleted to my Amazon cart. I investigated mimosa pudica and decided Amazon was the best place to get it. Then I submitted the order.
I mixed up a batch of seed crackers and put it in the oven. I called Beverly because she wanted some advice on fixing someone's sewing machine. Then I pulled the seed crackers out and ate some with hummus. Since the oven was hot, I put the jar of lip balm in it to melt (turning the temp down). I washed and dried 25 little pots and set them up on a tea towel. I read e-mail for a few minutes, then checked the jar. Several times I pulled some melted lip balm out and did a few pots but needed to melt it more. The balm cooled off pretty fast so I had to keep sticking it back in the oven. Chris started the laundry while I dispensed balm.
I drove to the library to drop off a book and a DVD set. When I got back, I checked the mail and found a handmade card from Rebecca. I put my coat in the wash. I moved some boxes around to make space for the Christmas tree. Chris helped me get it from the garage. Setting it up was easy because it came in three pieces, plus the stand. Ornaments? A search in the shed brought forth a strand of lights, but half of them did not light up. A quick look in the garage got me two boxes of glass balls. I cut some short pieces of yarn and tied them to the tree. Then I got a piece of Christmas fabric for the tree skirt. I sang Christmas songs as I worked. When I was done, I played some songs on the flute and then others on the trombone. My trombone lip did not last long:(
I put a bowl of veggie soup in the toaster oven. While it heated, I pressed all the rows I had sewn on Thursday. Then I sewed two of them together.
The soup was ready, so I took it out and sat down at my laptop. I had caught up on e-mail, so I checked my Facebook feed – something I so rarely have time to do. There was a video about a homeless man who was given $100 and he bought food for other homeless people. There was a video of a piano that lit up lights on a house as it was played. And so on... Finally Chris was ready to watch TV. We watched two episodes of something called Ballykissangel. It wasn't what we expected.
And then it was after 10. So I took my evening supplements and wrote up my blog post. Chris put clean sheets on the bed and we retired for the night.

No party for me

I woke up with a tickle in my throat. I got up at 7 to put hydrogen peroxide in my ears. I swished with coconut oil and brushed my teeth.
I cut borders for the rail fence quilt. I sewed them together and ironed them. I also ironed the binding and wrapped it on a piece of cardboard. Then I auditioned fabrics for piping. I cut 5 strips from the winner. I ironed them in half. I pinned and sewed piping and border on one side of the quilt top.
I turned on the router. I took some immune defense beadlets and finished the rest of my quart of water. I read e-mail and listened to an audio. While it played, I made and ate breakfast, taking one of my new supplements that is supposed to add all the right things to digest all the no-no's plus whatever else one might have trouble digesting. It is called E3.
I printed out another Christmas card. I put it in an envelop and addressed it. I called William to tell him I was sending it. I did another one for Kurt.
I did a second side and sewed piping onto the third edge. I pinned the border on afterward.
Then I washed up and got dressed. I filled a bottle with salt water. I put the envelopes in the mail. Then I headed out to my Friday massage. Traffic was heavy already so I went the back way.
When I got there, she wasn't ready yet so I had to wait for the previous person to get finished. I sat in a chair and closed my eyes, starting the relaxation process. Then she called me back to the massage room. She spent a few minutes with the previous client in her office while I undressed and and got under the sheet on the table.
I was almost asleep when she came in. She started on my feet and asked if I hurt anywhere. I said no, but when she dug into my calves, the answer changed. It felt like there were eggs inside there. She went after all of them. I thought she got them all, but she said later that there were some left. Anyway, she did my legs and arms and back and neck and head. It was really good.
After she left, I did some stretches, then got dressed and went to her office. I waited while she got the room and table ready for the next person. When she came back, I paid her and we set a time for next week. I decided to try the hot stone massage for next time.
I drank some water and drove home. I was behind a truck carrying a load of branches. Some fell off and I had no choice but to drive over them because it was on the off-ramp and there was no way around. Grr!
When I got home, I took another E3 and ate the rest of the lamb and most of the onions that it was cooked in. Chris came home from work and the post office. He had a package for me. Yep, more supplements. And another set of lip balm pots.
I suggested that maybe I shouldn't go to the party tonight and he said I didn't have to go. (So much for coming up with a dozen reasons not to go) But for some reason, I still felt like I SHOULD go. It didn't make any sense.
Chris and I both read e-mail for a while. I started to get a headache. When he was ready to leave, I stayed behind. I did some tapping for feeling guilty. I ate a can of organic mushroom soup. I put all the veggie pulp and remaining sprouts in a pot on the stove to cook. William called to tell me he had cleaned up spilled coconut oil at Dad's house. Then I worked on the borders and quite forgot about the veggies. When I returned to the kitchen, they had boiled over. I turned off the heat and let them cool. I put on a tapping audio. I had two bowls of the soup. Chris came home from the party. He said some ladies asked about me. Then he sat down at his laptop. I finished putting piping and borders on the quilt and then I pressed it. I laid it on the guest bed.
Chris changed his clothes. He put on an episode of Miss Marple. I sat with him and we watched one show from under a quilt. Then we went back to our laptops. I wrote up my blog post for today. I got sidetracked following a few links, and then I posted and went to bed.

Juice fast is over

I got up at 8, I drained the greasy water from the large pot that Chris cooked the pork in. Then I washed it. I drank a quart of water while watching a video from Autoimmune Secrets: He recommended mimosa pudica made from the seed for parasites. Take aloe vera and chlorophyll to heal the gut. Frankinsense oil for headache/brain fog – smear from temple to temple. Use selexon A – derived from lavender oil – for anxiety and focus.
I mended Chris' socks and his jeans. I auditioned fabrics for sashing for the leaf blocks.
The video ended and I put on another on, a tapping one. I stepped through it until it got to the tapping part. I listened as I washed leafy greens and carrots and a cucumber. Then I paused it while I ran the juicer. I put the juice in the fridge while I washed the juicer parts and listened to the rest of the audio. I did the tapping. Then I drank the juice. Not exactly tasty but not too bad. I saved the pulp for making soup.
I got dressed and went to Stitch-Its, taking my hashtag quilt project. I went down Bob Wallace because there was some kind of work going on Drake.
When I got there, I gave Pat the invoice for the book I brought her last week. Then I set up my machine. One lady had a bin of fabric and she invited me to take anything I wanted. The other ladies (not very many) had already picked what they wanted. So I found a few I thought I could use, especially with the leaf blocks. Then I sewed a blue sashing strip to each row of hashtag blocks while participating in the general conversation.
The group broke up at 2 and I packed up and came home. I brought the house mail in. One was from Neilson with a survey and $2. I drank two cups of bone broth while checking my e-mail.
I listened to two tapping audios on procrastination. Then Chris came home, so we chatted for a bit. I read about the GAPS diet. I broke down and ate a can of organic vegetable soup. Then I ate some lamb.
I played Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence on my trombone by ear because I could not find our hymnal. I only got through two verses before my lip wore out. Then I got out my flute. I googled Hark The Herald Angels Sing. I played it from my laptop screen. It went ok, so I continued on to Angels We Have Heard on High. That went ok too. Then I tried Oh Holy Night. But that wasn't so good. I do better in the lower register.
I watched a video on the problems with vaccines and filled out the Nielsen survey.
When the video was over, I put away the laundry left in the basket and packed up my trombone.
Then my tapping buddy called. We decided to switch places and work on her problems tonight and mine next week when she has renewed data for her computer.
After the call, which went long, Chris and I watched the last two episodes of F Troop on the DVD. Then we went to bed. After he fell asleep, I got up to finish my blog post.
* This is a quilt I saw today at Stitch-Its *

Busy day

I woke up while Chris was taking a shower. All the coughing and hacking and nose-blowing made me feel badly for him. When he finally got out of the shower, I offered him some vitamin C, and he accepted it impatiently. So I went back to bed and did not bother him further.
I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Maybe because of the daylight coming through the window. So I got up and started my detox day. I drank water and took niacin and activated charcoal. I exercised and drybrushed. I made a pot of coffee.
While I was meditating, a sound like something hitting the roof made me jump. Then I thought I heard voices above the meditation music. But I refused to be interrupted until the meditation was finished. Afterward, I looked outside but did not see anyone or anything unusual. I did lots of tapping.
Then, properly buzzed on caffeine, I started cleaning. I sprayed everything in the bathrooms with hydrogen peroxide. I wanted to kill all the cold germs Chris might have. I also cleaned the stove and kitchen countertops. I dustmopped the floor, and got down on my hands and knees to scrub at little spots of a tar-like substance. The fake wood floor has spots already so it can be difficult to tell the difference between what scrubs off and what doesn't. Then I mopped to get up all the little tarry bits.
Afterward, I read e-mail to get a break from scrubbing. When I'd caught up on that, I found more tarry spots by the front door. So I scrubbed them with my fingernail (works better than any cleaner or tool) and mopped. I also swept and mopped the bathroom floors. I threw the bathroom rugs in the washer along with some fabric that had mysterious stains on it. Then I filled the tub with hot water, and added Epsom salts, vinegar and essential oils. I left a video playing on my laptop so I could listen as I soaked, but it did not work out well. I could only make it out with my right ear and that was the one I wanted to soak underwater to heal the perennially itchy spot.
When the water started to cool, I pulled the plug and took a shower. I moved the stuff in the washer to the dryer, except for the white piece of fabric. I ironed it dry.
Then I called Beverly back because she had called twice earlier while I was meditating. She wanted to know how to hem cuffed pants, but I didn't know. Then Chris came home from work.
I decided to have a juice fast day because I hadn't eaten yet. I washed some veggies while he pulled out the pork that was slow-roasting in the oven all day. I juiced the salad stuff while he told me about his day. I jotted notes for my blog as I drank the juice. I got dressed. I washed the juicer and parts. I put the pulp in the fridge to make soup with later.
I remembered that Pat asked for an invoice for the book I got for the guild. I looked through my e-mails from Ebay and none of them mentioned the price. But when I tapped on “Track your package”, I found exactly what I needed. I highlighted it all, copied it to a Pdf and printed it out.
I took the rugs from the dryer and put them back in the bathroom. I reshelved the fabrics that were not chosen for the border. Then I searched through boxes for some denim scraps to mend Chris' jeans. I found one piece. Then it was time to leave.
I went to choir practice wearing two coats. My car read 45 degrees. When I got to the church, Jennifer laid out Christmas cards for us to sign. Melody directed the Christmas piece and then left. I took off one of my coats. We practiced with a cello player for the next piece. Then we sang from the hymnal and talked about caroling next Wednesday.
I went home using Airport road. There is something grand about coming over the hill at night and seeing the whole town spread out and lit up below. When I got home, Chris was ready to watch TV. I boiled water for bone broth. We watched three episodes of F Troop. I made some kava tea. And then we went to bed.
* Here is another one of Jane's quilts. It's kind of how I feel on caffeine. *

Voting Day

I woke up too early and could not go back to sleep. Chris' alarm went off and he got up. I think he read e-mail for awhile, then got ready for work and left. Finally I did go back to sleep and did not get up until 9.
I drank my quart of water while watching a video the Autoimmune Secrets series. At 9:41 I paused it to get dressed and grab my bag of fleece strips.
I jumped in the car and thanks to coordinated traffic lights, was soon sitting at a table with Beverly, talking to the rest of the group. I handed out lip balms and then resume crocheting the fleece rug already in progress.
After the group broke up, Beverly and I went walking around the neighborhood. It was quite windy and cold. When we got back to the church, she had to go to work and I went to get kimbap. While at the Asian store, I gave a lip balm to the Korean lady who owns the place. Then I went home.
I ate kimbap and kimchi while finishing the video. Then I watched some tapping videos from a series that my tapping buddy suggested.
I paused the second one to use the remaining daylight to audition fabrics for a border. Several looked good, but I still felt like the light wasn't bringing out the true colors. Really, I wanted to stand back and look from a distance, but there isn't enough room in this house. I voted for the fabric that was least likely to go with anything else.
I resumed the second audio. While it was playing, I cut up the jicama into small pieces. I threw out the worst ones and juiced the rest. I put the pulp back in with the juice and added a probiotic. Since jicama contains prebiotic fiber, I thought it might make a good substrate for growing good bacteria.
When Chris came home from work, he brought two boxes from the post office. But I did not have time to open them. We left right away to find the voting place. And we had to drive through afternoon traffic to do it. When we got there, the parking lot was so busy that we barely found a parking space. We went inside the fellowship hall and waited in line for our ballots. I took mine to a carel to read. I had asked Chris earlier who he was going to vote for and he named a write-in candidate, unless there was a third party candidate on the ballot. Well, there was no third party, and I could not remember the name he had mentioned. So I continued on to read through the three referendums: they were all for continuing property taxes for the school system. District one is paying .95 on $100 of property value. After I made my decision on those, I decided any name for the write-in vote would do, more as a message that neither candidate was suitable.
On the way home, Chris headed toward Publix for wine and spices for a pork dish he wanted to make for another party at work. By the tine we got home, we had been gone for two hours. Traffic accounted for the extra.
I made hummus and ate roasted cabbage and seed crackers. We watched an episode of Miss Marple. Chris went to bed, coughing and blowing his nose. I stayed up to write my blog, if I can remember what all happened today. I also took my evening supplements and vitamin C.

Too much TV

I woke up with hot flashes, but I did not want to get out of bed because it was still darkish. When Chris left for work, I used the bathroom and went back to bed, but it didn't last. I think I got up around 7.
I pulled out the stacks of blues and filed the new ones into them, then put away all the remaining stacks of fabric. I took some pics because it was all so nicely arranged...for now.
I drank water and listened to an audio from yesterday about Lyme disease and parasites and heavy metals. It made me want to eat some papaya seeds, so I did. Blech. My forearm was hurting again, particularly when I moved my fingers. Resting the cold bowl of papaya seeds on it helped a lot.
I watched 4 tapping videos from Power Tools for Tapping. I made and ate breakfast. While I was reading e-mail, a very annoying pop-up froze my browser and proclaimed that my computer was infected and I should call the number on the screen or enter my name and password. It was not so alarming since it had happened before and Chris had made it go away. But I could not remember how he did it. Nothing was clickable. So I did a cntl-alt-delete and used the task manager to shut down Waterfox. But when I tried to open it again, the pop-up was there and everything was frozen again. So after shutting it down the hard way, I opened my e-mail in Edge.
But it was getting late. So I packed my sewing gear and the railfence project in my trunk and headed to quilting. I stopped to put gas in the car. I forgot which octane it needed and I used 89.
When I got to the church, the ladies were having lunch. I set up my machine at a back table. I showed them the quilt and they liked my arrangement of the blocks. Dinah had brought fabric for borders but the quilt would be too long with them. So I took a row off and made a column. They assured me that no one would notice that the last column did not quite match. I cut and sewed on a1” inner border. By that time, all the ladies had gone. But the light and space were better for sewing than at home, so I stayed. I cut and sewed together strips for binding. Then I put everything away and went home.
There was still daylight, so I picked some dandelion, and soaked it in water. Kurt started texting me so we had a sort of conversation, and later he called.
I started peeling the jicama. It did not look so good so I sliced it in half and saw that the inside was mottled brown. I wondered if it was worth a trip to the grocery store just to return it. I made a salad with the rest of the greens from last week. Then I pulled out floral fabrics (so recently stacked neatly on a shelf) to audition for a border, but needed daylight to make a good decision. But by then it was dark.
Chris came home from work, feeling fine. He had leftovers of the broccoli salad that he took to the office Christmas party. Thankfully I did not need to ask for his help with the pop-up. When I reopened the Waterfox browser after eating, it said it could not open all the windows and it gave me a chance to close some of them. Bingo!
At 6:30 Chris said that Big Bang Theory was on so we sat down to watch it. After that came the next episode of Lucifer. Then we watched an episode of Miss Marple. It was a lot more TV than I had intended to watch.
Chris went to bed afterward and I stayed up to tell the tale (and to handle recyclables for tomorrow).
* This is but one of many shelving units loaded with fabric. *

I've got the blues

Last night my right arm hurt. So I tapped for my arm and went to sleep. But it started hurting again when I got up this morning. I tried not to wake Chris up since he wasn't feeling well. I went in the dining room to drink water and read e-mail for awhile.
It was after 9:30 when I got up to get ready for church. I showered and put on a blue dress. It didn't fit well, but our choir director specifically asked us to wear blue. And I could not reach all the buttons in the back. Finally I had to wake Chris to ask for help. And then I headed for church, 10 minutes later than I intended. I sang Christmas carols to distract myself from worrying about being late.
The choir was already assembled for the run-through when I got there. I joined them and we sang through it twice. Then we were dismissed until the service.
We did ok on the anthem during the service. As soon as the last hymn was over, I wrote a check for the staff gifts and delivered it to Art who was separating the offering.
Then I stood in line and passed out some lip balms. I talked to a few people before heading home. I could have taken the parkway, but Airport road is much prettier. Sadly it was backed up at Whitesburg. I sat through the red light three times. When I got to the gate at the arsenal, the guard said my ID was no good because it was marked Overseas Only. He asked if anyone had ever mentioned it and I said no, but I would ask my husband. When I got home, I asked Chris and he said the Overseas Only meant that I did not have Px or Commissary privileges stateside, but it was still good for base access.
I changed my clothes, then made and ate breakfast. A friend wrote to say he got spam that looked like it was from me. I changed my Yahoo password. We went to the grocery store for food. But poinsettias were on sale for $7 so I got one. On the way back, we encountered a different guard at the gate. There was no mention of my ID being invalid. We put away the groceries. I dressed warmly and put on ankle weights and went for a walk. Chris did not feel well enough to go along. When I got back, I picked some dandelion and chive greens and put them in water.
I listened to one tapping video. Then I pulled out all the stacks of blue fabric and separated them by shade of blue, ranging from purple-ish to green-ish. I found places on shelves for all of them. Then I pulled out stacks of black and found ways to separate them into piles. I put them in the little cupboard. THEN, I found a whole shelf of blue that hadn't been separated. Arrgh! I brought it out to the hallway so I could see it well enough to split it up as before. But the blues from before fit so tightly on the shelves that there wasn't any room to add the next set.
I started to rearrange piles. At least my arm did not hurt. Then Chris asked me if I would watch TV early so he could go to bed early. So I turned off all the lights in the back, and made myself a small salad with the dandelion greens and a can of organic vegetable soup. I ate as we watched an episode of Miss Marple.
Then he looked up some of the familiar-looking actors and actresses. He went to bed and I stayed up to blog.
* This is one of Jane's quilts. *

Up to my eyeballs in stacks of fabric

Chris got up first and left the room so he wouldn't wake me. When I got up, it was just after 8. I played with the quilt squares, rearranging them and trading some out for others. I went in the sewing room to find something suitable for sashing.
As I was looking, I was reminded that I had intended to go through all the stacks and put them all in order. But the sewing room was so dark that I had to bring the stacks into the guest room to see them clearly. Stack after stack, deciding where each piece of fabric should go.
Michele called Chris and they played ARK:Survival Evolved, the dinosaur game. I took a break to make and eat breakfast. I read e-mail as I ate. I watched some tapping videos and meditated, then went back to sorting.
When my arms started to hurt, I took a break for lunch. I also took a quick walk around the circle. It was quite cold. I brought in the mail, which consisted of an ad and a letter from the church. I also put a thermometer outside. Chris brought in the pumpkin and carved away the worst part. Neither one of us wanted to do the work it would take to save some pumpkin meat. He planted one of the seeds that had started sprouting in a cup.
I went back to sorting to make the most of the daylight. It was especially important telling true whites from off-whites. But all too soon it got dark. I made a big salad for supper. I ate it while watching a tapping video. I thought we were going to watch TV, but Chris was busy with something, so I went back to sorting, even though my arms hurt from lifting the piles of fabric. I cleared the bed of most of the fabric. But I did not get to the stacks of blue or red.
Finally around 9, we sat down to watch an episode of Miss Marple. Chris was starting to feel under the weather so I gave him some vitamin C. I think he may have dozed off during the show. I paid attention, but afterward had trouble piecing the whole thing together.
We dressed the bed and Chris turned in for the night. I turned off the lights in the guest and sewing rooms. I took my evening supplements with kava tea. Then I sat down to write up my blog post so I could go to bed as well.
* 12 of the 26 blocks I was given 2 years ago. *

Playing with blocks

I slept so well this morning that I did not want to stop. So I went back to sleep after Chris left. When I did get up, I was surprised to see that it was almost 9. But I was in a good mood.
I drank a quart of water while reading e-mail and watching a video on using one of the quilting rulers I ordered. She made it look so easy, but then she has a stitch regulator.
I also read about Swedish Death Cleaning. It sounded impressive, but was mostly about keeping the clutter cleared out so your survivors don't have to do it. The last suggestion was to pack a box or two labeled “Throw away when I'm dead”. Another unfamiliar term I came across was ferret legging. I had to look it up, and it was pretty unbelievable.
I assembled my magnifying lamp so I could look at the side of my nailbed that is still swollen. I was wondering if perhaps a splinter was embedded, but I did not see anything.
So I decided to take a detox bath to soften the skin. It involved Epsom salts, vinegar, bentonite clay, and essential oils. I played Christmas music on my laptop while I soaked. The desktop computer would have been better, but it was unresponsive to even a shut-down command. I took a shower afterward to make sure all the clay got washed out through the pipes.
Wrapped in a towel, I listened to tapping videos while drinking coconut water. I looked for cruise control apps. There was one which involve wiring into the car. There was another one that simply alerted the driver when his speed varied from the one set.
When I needed a break, I got out a set of quilt blocks that the Thursday group gave me when I left for Korea. I grouped the blocks by color, then by design, batiks, etc. There were 26 blocks. They were too varied to all go in the same quilt so I thought I might divide them up into smaller quilts, wallhangings or tablerunners. I took a pic of each grouping.
Chris came home from work. He rebooted the desktop for me. He changed the color cartridge in the printer. I printed out the Christmas card again, and this time it looked like what was on the screen. I picked dandelion for supper. I took more than usual in case the upcoming frost killed them off. Then I tried to uninstall the Christmas calendar program from years ago, since it kept popping up and might have contributed to the desktop freezing.
I made a big salad for supper. I read e-mail, and looked up kava supplements. I think they might be helping. I wrote a review for the one I recently got. Waiting for Chris to wrap up, I played around with the quilt blocks. Then we watched an episode of Miss Marple. He looked up some of the actresses from the episode. I wrote up my blog post so I would be soon ready for bed.
* This is one of the quilts that Jane showed us yesterday. *

The bed-turning

Chris got up early (as usual) to go to work. I stayed in bed hoping to go back to sleep, but that didn't happen. Finally I got up a little before 7:30.
I put away lip balm stuff. I started a loaf of bread for Chris. I listened to the last episode of the Live Longer Feel Better summit. Today they were talking about how having a purpose and being connected to people helps you live longer.
I drove to Stitch-Its. I gave the book to Pat. She asked for the invoice. There were two pieces of paper stuck in the book that looked like invoices, but did not have the purchase price.
At 12:20 I drove to Huntsville Sew-n-Vac. I parked to wait for Beverly. The other Beverly was dropped off by her husband. She sat in my car until Beverly arrived. Then we got in her car and she drove us to Madison. We got there half an hour early, so we drove around looking at Christmas decorations. Then we parked in front of Jane's house. She was waiting for visitors. She had a book for everyone to sign. We looked at quilts she had on the walls and in her sewing room upstairs. A few other ladies arrived. Then we gathered in the front bedroom for the bedturning. She had 40 quilts of various sizes from small wallhangings to queen size. She had already shown them to her family and pinned the names of intended recipients to the corners. Terry helped her turn the quilts. We enjoyed the show. My hand started to hurt when I held my phone, so I put it down between pictures of quilts.
It was about 3 when we left. Beverly dropped the other Beverly off at the high school where her husband works. Then Beverly took me back to get my car. She told me the best way to go home to avoid traffic. I went down Oakwood to Jordan, to post. Very easy in spite of the number of cars.
Chris had just gotten home and was changing clothes. I opened the package he picked up at the post office: a bone supplement. I picked dandelion and made a salad for lunch. I also had some lamb.
I put on an audio and soon Michele started a game with Chris. It was too loud for me, so he went in another room.
I sewed the rows of quilt blocks together, finishing just in time for my skype call. We worked on her issues for an hour. Then I let Chris know I was done. He stopped the game, and made supper for himself. Then he made a bowl of popcorn. We watched two episodes of F-Troop. He put the DVD in the Netflix mailer.
I took my evening supplements and listened to part of another audio. I wrote my blog post and waited to see if we were done watching TV for the night.
* This is the quilt top that I finished today. *

Lost in the dark

I woke up early and did some mental programming. Then I got up about 7:38. I started swishing while listening to a CD and doing a cold detox bath. Later, I tried lying on the infrared heating pad. But I was not even close to sweating. Since my thermometers all said 65 and the thermostat said 70, I turned the heat up to 75. But the thermometers did not change. I put the ceiling fans on low to blow the heat back down toward the floor.
I boiled water for coffee and did my exercises and drybrushing. I did lots of tapping and meditation.
For some reason, I got a caffeine rush, which is unusual. But helpful, since I needed to clean for tomorrow. I did the kitchen counter tops and mopped the floor. Then I scrubbed the bathroom sinks and toilets. I scrubbed parts of the tub, too. I swept the floors, but was too tired then to mop them. I dustmopped the wooden floors in the living area. I also cleaned the diningroom table. I looked for anything else that might need cleaning before the maintenance people come tomorrow, and I spied the pumpkin sitting in the garage. It looked like a deflated basketball with juice pooling on one side. Yikes!
I looked for my new bottle of glutatione and when I could not find it, I contacted the company. Since I had just opened the box on Monday, the old bottle should have been replaced by the new one. The company said they would send a replacement.
I meant to have an Epsom salt soak, but did not have the energy for it. I made and ate breakfast. Then I took a shower and laid on the infrared mat again. When I got up, it was dark. My finger was hurting again and I couldn't figure out why it wasn't healing. It felt infected, but there was no cut so far as I could see. I trimeed the corner of the nail and put hydrogen peroxide on it anyway.
I laid out quilt squares in diagonal rows. Sadly my table wasn't quite big enough to lay them all out. When I noticed the time, I rushed out to choir practice. They were just getting started when I got there. We practiced songs I hadn't sung before. At the end, the director announced that in two weeks, instead of practice, we would sing for shut-in couples from our church. And then bring cookies for a party at Barbara's house.
As the members started leaving, I handed out some of the lip balms. I gave one to Jennifer and to Mary. I walked out with them and then headed home. I was almost home when Chris called. He was waiting to board his plane. I suggested getting a taxi and he said he would rather I picked him up. I told him it was really cold and he asked me to bring him a coat.
When I got in, I put my jar of lip balm in a double boiler. I washed and dried the remaining 15 pots. When the balm was melted, I used the syringe to fill the little pots. As the big pot resolidified, I listened to an audio on autoimmunity. I put the pumpkin in a large bowl and it went out the back door. Then I scrubbed up the putrid pumpkin juice. It had flowed under the wall behind the water heater so I could not get it all. I sprayed it with essential oil spray to cover the smell.
I ate some tomatoes, jicama, cashews, and a hard boiled egg. I sewed blocks together in rows. But by the time I got near the bottom, the blocks that were left did not match the pattern. There were two strips left, so I re-created some blocks.
Then I put my shoes on. I started cleaning up the lip balm project and Chris called from the airport. So I threw on my coat and a scarf. I headed out the infamous Gate 9. Being that it was dark and late at night, I got lost. I thought I had crossed 565 so I took a left to exit onto the highway, but there wasn't one. I drove around for awhile before I realized that I must not have crossed 565. I got back on the first road and continued farther. Then I saw the signs for a right hand exit. Finally I was on my way to the airport.
When I got there, Chris was waiting with his suitcase. He said he had just sat down. He loaded his luggage and got in the passenger seat. I drove us home with a little direction from him to be sure I didn't get lost again.
When we got home, I put finishing touches on my blog and posted it, more than ready to go to bed.