What not to say at a funeral

Chris left yesterday, so.I woke up alone. At least I got to use his pillow. And maybe later the remote. In addition to my regular morning activities, I had trouble with my laptop. The touchpad stopped working, so I plugged in a mouse. But it wanted to download a driver to make the mouse work. And without control of the cursor, I could not initiate the download. So I rebooted. Then the mouse and the touchpad worked just fine. Go figure. The mailman came to the door as I was brushing my teeth. He handed me a box and some mail. The mail was junk, and the box had a book in it. I did not open it until later, and it turned out to be Chris' book, not mine. Sigh. I swallowed a package of the LS vitamin C. It was awful as usual. Since today was a nice, sunny day, I raked leaves in my bare feet in the back yard. I had beef tongue for lunch. With a little salt, it was very good. MaryAnn called to talk about her mother's death. The funeral will be in Pennsylvania so she has a long trip ahead of her. Chris e-mailed me that he arrived safely in Lancaster. I wonder what army he will be playing in the tournament. I ran out of prepared vitamins, so I made up 8 days worth. After supper I took the stack-n-whack top downstairs to find a backing and some batting. I pinned it all together and decided to quilt it in straight lines on my machine. I quilted through two audios before the laptop battery got low. When I came up, I checked e-mail. Netflix wanted to know when I received the movie they sent. I guess I didn't change the address in time. It must have been delivered to the address on post. Then I googled appropriate things to say at funerals in preparation for tomorrow. Some of the things I thought were good were on the "Do Not Say" list. Since I did not know the deceased, my responses are limited to various forms of "I'm sorry, is there anything I can do?" One site suggested "There's a ton of bacon in my car with your name on it." (Hope they are not Jewish) And on that note, I am going to bed.

* Yesterday's fish "

Searching for videos

Chris did not go to work today, so I slept a little later than usual. He took his shower, dressed, had breakfast and packed his duffle bag. It took him no more than 10 minutes to pack. I would have spent days. He read e-mail for a bit, then kissed me and headed for PA, or at least the halfway point. I read e-mail, tapped, exercised, and fixed breakfast. By then it was nearly lunch time. I had trouble with the toilet. It needed plunging but the bowl would not hold enough water to make good suction. I paper-folded a fish and practiced my trombone. I put the kombucha jar back in the diningroom where it belongs, freeing up space on the kitchen counter for other things. I poured a glass of water in the blender and added some cilantro. It made a green drink, not exactly tasty, but close enough. I put the beef tongue in a casserole dish with water and placed it in the oven to bake. I forgot to note the time. I read more e-mail, googled the benefits of removing amalgams, and then went outside to rake leaves. When I came in, I remembered the tongue. How long it had been in I will never know. I took it out and it peeled easily so I pronounced it done. I ate some. After more e-mail, I went to bed to rest, not feeling so good. My phone rang so I answered it. Chris was calling to say he'd arrived at his hotel. We chatted for a bit, and he told me about the snow in Richmond. I went back to bed. I think I dozed off for awhile. When I got it, it was an hour before choir practice. I took a shower and redressed. I did a Sudoku puzzle and jumped in the car. They were just starting when I got there. We practiced a piece for the funeral on Friday, as well as music for Holy Week. I am so uncomfortable at funerals that I find any excuse not to go. It's like I can feel the grief of every person in the church and I am drowning in it, even when I do not know the person who died. But I don't see how I can get out of this one, and Chris won't be here to go with me. When I got home, I used my laptop to google quilting videos. The next BOM is next week and this one is complicated enough that I want to give out a link to a video tutorial. But the only tutorial I found for the block is half an hour and that seems longer than necessary. I am giving up now and going to bed.

* Here is a pic of the stack-n-whack with borders *

The indestructable wall of Jericho

I slept in until 9. It was a usual morning, except that I put a card and a check in the mail. The mailperson delivered a box, which had my order of lypo-spheric vitamin C. I took a tongue out of the freezer to thaw. I wanted to spend time outside raking, but it was rainy. The next best thing was to stand just outside the door and breathe deeply. I did a lot of tapping on grief for Shannon whose father died on Sunday. I got no sewing done. I did do a few Sudoku puzzles while listening to an audio. I scheduled a consultation with the dentist recommended to me yesterday. I hope it will go well since I just want to be mercury-free, not start a new career interviewing dentists. I researched more effects of mercury toxicity. I came across this statement ...if they have as few as 4 amalgam fillings present in their mouth, the average person's saliva is so high in mercury they cannot legally spit into the toilet. Their saliva exceeds the EPA maximum legal municipal discharge standard for mercury..--David Kennedy D.D.S. When Chris came home, I told him about it and he said there is an exemption for household use. Still not reassuring. He hadn't had lunch, so he fixed himself a burrito while I made myself a salad. He whipped up a cruet of salad dressing for me. It'll have to last until Monday. When he was ready, we went down to watch TV. He hadn't gone by the library to get the next season of Eureka. So we had to choose from our collection. I enjoy a new movie over one that I have already seen. And I'd seen all of our movies. So, we watched Star Trek episodes on vcr tapes. Sure I have seen them before, but it has been a long time. Then he went to bed. I reminded him of the time change this weekend and that he uses his phone as an alarm. Since he won't be here, he programmed my phone to ring then. I hope I hear it.

* This is the wall that the kids could not knock down by blowing their 'trumpets'. *

Carolyn's Quilt

The morning went quickly. I read e-mail, exercised, and had breakfast. I loaded the bread machine and started it. Then I packed a lunch and two projects, and took my sewing machine to church - the church where we quilt on Mondays. Being the first Monday of the month, ladies with birthdays were honored. Two cakes were cut after they blew the candles out. After lunch of course. Before lunch I ripped out and replaced the centers of all the orange blocks. After lunch I worked on a scrap quilt started in Korea. It is turning out badly, which is quite good. The worse it is, the less I shall mind practicing free-motion quilting on it. Mary Ann gave me a recommendation for her dentist. Around three I packed up and left. I made a left turn onto Whitesburg, which is a gutsy move. I proceeded to Publix to buy some organic kale, but they were all out. I bought the regular instead. When I got it home, I brought out the juicer. I put in a good amount a kale and half a hank of cilantro. Cilantro binds with mercury to pull it out of the system. I figured juicing it was the most potent way to consume it. But neither it nor the kale was juiced very well. Mostly it bounced off of the spinning blades and into the pulp basket. So I dumped the pulp basket into the blender. I drank the little juice there was, and added water to the blender. The result was pretty thick. I ate some of it with a spoon and put the rest in the frig. I washed up the juicer and blender parts. I emptied the dishwasher. I had just started an audio when Chris came home. He ate supper and worked on taxes. I practiced my trombone and did some tapping. Chris heard a knock at the door and found a man delivering a box of supplements. I folded a what-ever-it-is from the calendar. Then we watched "The Femme Musketeer" from Netflix. The lead female was unbelievably beautiful. Really. I could not believe she was the daughter of D'artagnion, raised in a small cottage in the country. If nothing else, where did she get the make-up? Anyway, so then it was time for bed.
* Carolyn showed off her completed quilt *

Looks like a muppet

We woke up early, so had time before the alarm went off. It went off at 8, giving me time to check e-mail, read the story about the walls of Jericho, shower, eat and dress. I also took that awful tasting vit C that the dentist gave me. It was as bad as it was made out to be in the reviews on Amazon, but swallowing it off the end of a spoon was more efficient than trying to mix it in water and drink it. When I got to church, I put my ss stuff in the craft room, then gave the baby quilt to the assistant pastor. I returned to the room to set out the papers and crayons, then sat in the sanctuary for the opening. A total of three kids showed up. Two were in my craft class. Although making the trumpets and blocks for the wall went well, destroying the wall by blowing the trumpets did not. And there was time left over, so we used paint bottles as bowling balls to knock the wall down. When the class ended, Patrick came to get the kids for their next activity. He told me that the grandfather of one kid died and his mother left for the hospital. It was not entirely unexpected, but we really felt for her. I cleaned up the room a bit, then waited for the choir to run through their song. I was talking to Cindy in the vestibule and then entered the sanctuary to find Chris already there. The service went without a hitch. The last song was "Guide me O thou great Jehovah" 2.0. Someone had updated the words, and we don't like that. Doris came by with some tickets to a classical concert. She needed to give them away and I accepted them suspecting that we wouldn't make it. Chris left for the grocery store and I went home. I changed clothes, and started my tapping videos when Chris came home with food. I helped put it away. Then he changed clothes while I folded the laundry. He seemed to be working on taxes and I knew that the concert would go on without us. I spent some time outside, sweeping the patio, picking up sticks, enjoying the sun. It was cold, but not as cold as yesterday. I dug up a garlic and ate a little bit. I spent the afternoon searching the internet again for dentists who came recommended and would be cognizant of the dangers of removing mercury. After supper, we went down to watch the last two episodes of Eureka. At the end, Allie was pregnant and Jack got fired. How's that for a cliffhanger? The library doesn't open again until Tuesday.

Trumpet for Sunday School

Chris got up early to take his car to the dealership for regular maintenance. When he left, I got up. I read e-mail and jumped on the rebounder. Interestingly, since I had three amalgams removed, I have not had any trouble with leakages while jumping (or sneezing, laughing, etc). Finally a cure for incontinence. I did four tapping videos, then I wrote a check to the Dixon meat people. I grabbed my cooler and checked the map. Chris pulled in as I was leaving. I found the meat truck in a church parking lot 14 miles away. It was bitterly cold and I did not need the cooler. I hope the eggs didn't freeze. On the way back I stopped at a HUGE Kroger. I found raw organic cheeses there. I could have spent all day looking at their wonderful selection so I had to hide my eyes and repeat "Don't look, don't look" as I proceeded to the self-check-out. I went home in the driving snow and put all the frozen meats and the eggs in the refrigerator. Today is a sewing Saturday, but I did not have any projects ready to go. I ate breakfast, read e-mail and listened to audios. Chris did several loads of laundry. I put borders on the stack-n-whack quilt. That cleared my cutting table so that I could cut up the posterboard to make trumpets for the kids in Sunday School. I could not find the directions, so I just guessed. All the trumpet-making materials went into a bag (not a grocery bag) for the trip to church tomorrow. I put the finished green and brown baby quilt in an unused grocery bag that I grabbed at Kroger. I figure if check-out lanes are among the germiest places, then the groceries on those belts must get pretty germy too, and that would contaminate any bag those groceries are putin. The quilt and my choir folder went in the car. Chris started gaming around 5. I came up for supper, which was a large salad. I ripped the big veins out of the kale to make it easier to chew. I laid down to meditate and might have fallen asleep. I did an internet search for the effects of electrical charges on teeth. These charges come from metal in fillings. One article had a long list of effects of mercury/electrical charges. I have nearly all of them. Scary. When Chris was done gaming, Michele Skyped me. We had a lovely chat, until I realized how late it was and I need to get up on time tomorrow. Chris went to bed and I have to find a pic to post. Maybe in the morning.

Origami for the week

I spent the day with my laptop. First it was e-mail, then tapping videos, then internet searches. I looked for a mercury-free dentist and I looked up people in my address book. I did not find any of them on Facebook. I took breaks to exercise, eat breakfast, and practice my trombone. Playing my trombone made my face hurt. That has never happened before. Hmm. I put together an order for the Dixon farm for pick-up tomorrow. I cut some pieces of brownish green batik to audition as new centers for my orange blocks. I decided to go with it. I took the blocks and my laptop downstairs to made the switch. But instead, I found myself trying to decide on a border for the green and yellow stack-n-whack. I also cut paper squares for sunday school. Chris came down to watch Eureka, so we did that until bedtime. He said he saw snow flurries on the way home, so we might wake up to a wintery scene.
* Here is a tee-pee and a box with lid and divider. *