Two more parties

I got up at 8:40, later than I intended.  It seemed like I was awake most of the night, listening to the rain.  The only good thing about it was that it wasn’t snow.  The HappyLight did not help me get to sleep after all.  I read some e-mail and finished an audio from last night.  I read about epsilon wave entrainment and tried one on Youtube.  I juiced celery, zucchini, baby kale and cranberries.  Chris left the bread machine out, so I took the hint and filled it with the usual ingredients and turned it on.  I ate breakfast.  I took the toy and went to see the Tuesday group at University Baptist.  I was greeted by lots of ladies.  It was heartwarming and I wish I could remember their names.   Sadly, there were too many ‘late riser’ comments.  I don’t know if they are being insensitive or if I am being too sensitive.  I left when they lined up to eat their pot luck, having just finished breakfast.  I stopped on the way home for tissue packs.  I measured the different choices and none matched the covers that I had.  I ate kimchi, and liver when I got home.  I read e-mail next to the HappyLight, and took my supplements.  I sewed 17 tissue covers, and filled them with packs of tissues. I made an ornament like I saw Rebecca do, and I made another bag like the one I made on Sunday (but forgot to take a pic of).  It is just a folded 16 inch square.  I found a basket to put the tissue covers in.  (I think it was Michele’s Easter basket).   I put a new rotary blade in the bag and wrapped it in a fat quarter.   I attached a bow and the ornament.  Chris was home by then and asked me if I needed him to do anything.  He offered to cube the ham and cheese.  He put the cubes on a plate and covered it with plastic wrap.  I grabbed my stuffed tree for show-and-tell.   Then I drove over to UAH for the guild meeting and party.  I saw Elaine and her mother there.  She looked so familiar but I did not recognize her until she mentioned doing the HQH meeting last month. I walked around with the basket, inviting the ladies to choose a tissue pack they liked.  It was such a little thing, but they seemed touched.  Deb opened the meeting with show and tell, future dates for meetings and Sewing Saturdays. After the meeting we ate from the food table.  Lisa had brought brownies made with almond flour, and no sugar, so I tried one and it was good.  For our gift exchange, Elaine was asked to draw names from the basket to pick or steal a gift.  I chose my own gift since there would be no chance of someone else getting it and being disappointed.  If someone really liked it, they could steal it.  Logical, yes?  No one stole it, so it was a good plan.  Then we broke into small groups, chatting, and packing up.  On the way home I stopped at the Asian grocery store for kimbap, but they were sold out.  He gave me a calendar with their number so I could call ahead next time.  When I got home, Chris was ready to watch TV.  I crushed a garlic clove into some hummus and mixed it with fermented cod liver oil.  Then we saw the first 2 episodes of Bones Season 8.  It seems like I had been waiting for a long time to find out what happened after she drove off with her baby.  Now I hear that the next BBC Sherlock episode will air on January 1^st.  I have been waiting even longer to find out how he faked his death. 

Quilty Christmas Party

After going to bed so late, I woke up at 8:30.  It could have been worse.  I changed the blood-soaked bandage on my finger.  There was a lump on the second joint and hydrogen peroxide made it bubble.  I skimmed my e-mail, while following an abbreviated morning routine and sitting by the HappyLight.   I left out the juicing and supplements.  I ate breakfast and dressed in red and green.   I did not have time to wrap my swap gift if I wanted to be on time.  I just moved the stuff we needed into my car and left for the church.  When I got there, I brought in the folding screen and clips and strips and bread and butter.  We hung two small quilts on the wall, and covered the folding screen with a quilt.  There were not so many ladies there by 11.  We played the fat quarter game twice and an anagram game.  The food table was full by noon.  I cut my bread wreath on a plate.  We lined up to fill our plates and sat at the decorated tables.  After eating, we were invited to grab a gift from the swap table.  I got a pair of salt and pepper shakers shaped like cupcakes.  We also got to open a wrapped box from our tables. Mine had a crocheted white cross in it.  The ladies who brought cookies for the cookie swap made their rounds of the cookie table.  We played the fat quarter game again.  Roberta and Mirna started cleaning up and taking down.  Eventually it was all put back the way we usually see the room.  While moving one of the tables, the bag containing my butter dish fell, and it shattered.  It must have been a cheap one, but it matched my crystal pattern and was the only one we own.  Thankfully the glass bread plate (from Germany) did not even chip.  Mirna and I got many compliments on our decorating.  If I can’t decorate at home, this is the next best thing.  When I got home, I read through my e-mail, (again with the HappyLight to regulate melatonin) and meditated.  I laid out the netting for the next tu-tu.  I figured out how to fold it so I can cut three layers at a time and baste them together while they still match up.  It did not work so well the first time because the netting kept catching on my sleeve or the pattern and it skewed.  The second cut went better because I pinned it to the tablecloth in lots of places.  At 7pm, we went down to watch an episode of Island at War.  It was ok, but I had a hard time following it.  Then we watched old episodes of Star Trek.  There are a lot of plot holes that I missed in the ‘60’s.  Chris went to bed, and I will too, after blogging and basting the second cut of netting, and listening to an audio.

Golden braided goodness

I heard my phone alarm go off at 8.  I did not get up right away.  Then I remembered that a shepherd costume needed to be shortened and I hadn’t done it.  Thinking it would be a quick job, I ran downstairs to do it.  But because it had an A-line hem, it was not quick.  I pinned it up, and then decided it wasn’t really needed until Wednesday.  I ate breakfast, skimmed e-mail, and took a shower.  After getting dressed, I put everything needed for one of the silver tu-tus in a bag for Cecelia.  Then I grabbed the gold tu-tu in progress and it went into a bag.  I ran out the door to my car.  When I got to church, the kids were practicing for the play.  I watched for a while, then pulled Elizabeth aside for a moment to try the tu-tu around her waist.  I spent the rest of the time hand-sewing on the band waiting for church to start.  April asked me if I needed any help sewing costumes, so I gave her the bag with the silver tu-tu material.  Cecelia did not come to church.  Shannon asked me if my hands hurt after all the sewing.  I did not think so then, but noticed it profoundly during the service.  Chris arrived just before the service started.  At communion I noticed Denise and her husband.  I was surprised since I hadn’t thought to invite her.  After church I got some silver ribbon off the roll I gave April, then I joined Chris in talking to Denise and David.  I also talked to Dawn.  In the multi-purpose room I talked to Jennifer, who told me that there was a dress rehearsal on Saturday at 2, for which my presence was requested.  We drove home and changed clothes.  I cut a piece of liver for lunch and sliced two fingers on the badly chipped edge of the small glass baking pan.  I put a bandage on before we went grocery shopping.  We got all the usual stuff and some for baking bread.  When the food was put away, Chris boiled eggs.  I put special bread ingredients in the bread machine to mix.   Then I plugged in my HappyLight while  I read e-mail and listened to an audio.  Mirna called to say she’d meet me at the church at 4 to decorate for the party tomorrow.  I went downstairs to find my greenery.  I threw it and some other things in a bag.  The tissue covers went in, too.  I found the red circle that was destined to be a tree, but did not have time to cut it.  When the bread machine was finished mixing, I cleaned and dusted the countertop with flour.  I divided the dough into thirds and rolled them into strips to be braided.  I left it to rise and started another loaf in the bread machine.  Then I got myself ready and drove to church.  Mirna was putting out tablecloths.  We decorated the tables with cloths and wrapped packages.and wished we could do the walls, too.   But tape on walls is a no-no.  We agreed to meet tomorrow at 10 with command strips and binder clips.  I went home in the rain, which seems never-ending.  Either someone is having a drought, or the ocean is getting low.  I put the risen loaf in the oven.  Chris was having supper, so I ate, too.  I started a third loaf.  So many parties this week, so little time.  I hunted up binder clips and command strips and a butter dish.  When the second braided bread wreath was set out to rise, we went down to watch a few episodes of Forever Knight.   Then I baked the second loaf and braided the third loaf which went into the freezer for Thursday.  Waiting for the second one to bake, I wrote my blog and picked out fabric for the gift bag.  Sadly I did not have room on my cutting table to cut the size squares I wanted.  I took the bread out of the oven and photographed it, then left it to cool while I finished sewing.

Tired of Tu-tus

We got up at 10:30.  Chris had stayed up until two playing with the voices.  I juiced all the kale since it did not look so fresh, and the rest of the spinach, celery, and carrots.  That made room for tomorrows groceries.  I ate the next section of aloe.  Then I made breakfast, read e-mail, and meditated.  I basted layers of gold tulle together by hand, then machine-basted them to gather to waist size.  I tried to serge the gold lame circle, but the serger ate up the inside curve at the waist. I basted the gold circle and gathered it to fit the waist and then pinned all layers to the gold ribbon.  Since it is only half done, is it a one-one, or just a tu?  While working, I listened to 2 audios on the tablet.  Then I practiced my trombone as a break.  I was going to work on the things for Monday, but instead I cut out a pre-printed apron and hemmed it.  I also made the ties and pockets.  It turned out nicely, and then I could focus on the tissue covers for Monday.  Chris let me know when the roast was ready and I ate supper.  Then while he gamed, I made a pile of the covers.  They are easy to make.  The hardest part is choosing the fabric.  When I realized how late it was, I quit and came upstairs to blog and go to bed.

It's beginning to look like Christmas

My day started at 7:15.  I deleted the first round of e-mails.  I did a long meditation.  My Achilles tendon was acting up so I alternated heat and cold on it.  After the cold, it felt worse.  I skipped the exercises.  I put on wedge shoes and that seemed to clear it up.  Pinterest suggested an origami tree, so I tried one.    Then I showered and ate breakfast.  I printed out Joann coupons on the desktop, after rebooting it out of Ubuntu.  I used a rolling ruler and a pencil to make the circle skirt pattern large enough for the biggest girl in the church play.  It had rained all morning and was showing no signs of letting up.  I practiced my trombone while looking out the window to the driveway.  When I saw Denise drive up, I grabbed a coat and umbrella and ran out.  First we went to JoAnns for sewing-related gifts and ribbon for the tu-tus.  Then to EarthFare where she asked me to reach a jar of sauerkraut from the top shelf.  I can't remember the last time someone asked ME to reach something.  I got raw cheese and a packet of wheatgrass powder.  She suggested it might give me energy.  Finally we went to Walmart for stuff and groceries.   She drove me home before n5:30.  Chris was home with a burrito cooling on a plate beside him.  I fixed my own supper of sweet potato, liver, persimmon, and hummus.  His game was delayed, so we watched one episode of Forever Knight.  Then he got online to talk to the players.  I heard footsteps and found the delivery guy dropping off my latest Swansons order – mostly nuts.  I listened to an audio with headphones because Chris was gaming nearby.  I played a second audio on the tablet in dining room while I cut the gold top circle and the six netting circles that go under it.  I made a pattern for the girls who will wear the silver tu-tus and cut the two silver top circles.  Then I decided that I should finish the gold tu-tu before I cut anything else, just in case the cutting has to be tweaked.  I went in the basement with the tablet to finish some edges on shepherd costumes,  then sewed the gold netting circles together in pairs.  I serged a sample of the gold lame to be sure the stitch was right.  The second audio had ended and I tried to start another audio, but it must have been coded differently because the tablet would not display the ‘player’.  So I came up to get the laptop and discovered that it was closing in on midnight. When I finish this post, I am going to bed.

I juiced and misjudged how much it would make.