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.