Five Things Thursday

I'm a little late today with this post and here's why. I decided to make this post about traveling and getting ready. Here's how I approach every trip:

1. We're leaving today for our trip and river cruise to Egypt. Butch has been asking me when I'm going to pack. You would think that after all these years, he knows, I do not pack until I'm getting ready to leave the house. That way, I don't usually forget anything. For example:

    A. I take off my nightgown to get in the shower--grab two fresh ones to pack.

    B. While in the shower, I remember to check my shampoo and conditioner. It's unlikely that I wouldn't have it in my already packed (that just stays packed) "ditty" bag. Plus, if I'm out of something, I usually replace it when I get home.

    C. Next I put on underwear--grab however many I need and add it to the pile. Same with bras and so on. 

    D. Blow dry my hair--pack my blow brush (most hotels have a hair dryer these days).

    E. Then on to clothes. As I choose each outfit, I consider the footwear and jewelry to go with it. I think you get the idea. 

2. I use packing cubes--you know, those lightweight organizers for everything. I love them. They hold so much. Whether you are an "unpacker" or "live out of my suitcase" like me, these cubes are the way to go. Everything stays nice and organized and doesn't slide all around the suitcase. I've had a set for years. When we went to Quebec City a few weeks ago, I was distressed to realize that I had lost one. That means I left it behind when we were in Savannah. Not sure how that happened. It was a small one that would have contained socks/footies, underwear, and bras.  I checked my bras and had all of them. If I lost a few footies or underwear, no big deal--I have dozens. But what distressed me was losing the bag. 

Fast forward to today. I go to get my organizers and realize I've lost another one!! I couldn't believe it. But then on the way to the airport, I was trying to figure out how I could possibly have lost one. Then I realized that I was thinking about the packing cubes I bought for my friends and family this year for Christmas. Those came with a 4th bag. Mine was only a 3 pack, to begin with! Whew! I don't generally lose things. 

In fact, while traveling with friends, I have one, who shall remain nameless (okay, Karolyn) who I have to keep track of--and her stuff! She's been known to lose or forget stuff. But last February took the cake. We were going on our scrapbook retreat. When we got there, she realized that she had ALL her scrapbooking stuff, but had forgotten her suitcase!!! Lucky for her, we were able to scrounge together things for her to wear. Plus on this particular retreat, we weren't going anywhere. But thank god she had all her scrapbooking stuff! Anyway, I have to keep my eye on her!

3. Back to the packing. It took me exactly 1.25 hours to shower, do my hair, and makeup, and all my packing. That's why I don't need to pack in advance. I just know how long it will take me to get ready--only an hour if it's just a long weekend. Going to the beach takes even less.

4. Another thing I want to share that isn't exactly trip related, but more of an everyday necessity for me. I do not like the feel of bare feet in my shoes. So, I always wear "footies" or socks (if I'm wearing tennis shoes which is not very often). I have discovered the BEST footies ever made. 

They come in a 3-pack for $12.00. I bought them at the Sperry's store at the beach. They absolutely do not fall off or bunch up in your shoes. They are super thin so there's no bulk to deal with. Plus with them being flesh-colored, you don't even notice them. I can't live without them now.

5. Traveling lately has been really stressful due to getting to the airport and flight delays. This time, I told Butch that I was going to handle the plans for getting us to and from. So what if we got to the airport 2 hours early!! That's how I had the time to do this post!! So there!

As we were going through TSA, Butch said, "See, how nice and relaxing this is? I told you we just needed to leave earlier!" Ha! Yeah, right, he's the one! Being early is just how I roll!

Oh, but there might be one little fly in the ointment. I'm wearing a white sweatshirt--for the first time. Most likely it will be the last time for it. I ruin white tops faster than anybody! Well, except for maybe Connie! The next time I'm at her house, I'm going to look in her closet and see how many white tops she has. Everyone needs a white shirt (ahem---FAMILY---how can you not own white tops?). 

Anyway, my friends and I were discussing clothes yesterday. I don't recall how the "white top"  subject came up, but Connie wins the prize for ruining the most. I'll never forget her spilled coke on our way TO vacation. She had to wear that sloppy looking mess of a thing ALL day!! Plus, then she was one top down for another outfit! She's a good sport so she won't mind that I'm making fun of her. She knows that for me, poking fun is a term of endearment! I only kid around with the people I love!

All right, so here's my "accident waiting to happen":

At least I have a pashmina to cover up with if I need it. So far so good. I had peanut butter and jelly for breakfast and managed to NOT drip any jelly on me! One eating event down. All I have to do is make it through the day because I brought two more white tops with me!!

I'll keep you posted!

    

What I Buy Wednesday

Actually, I bought a package of felt a couple months ago. I saw these felt journaling pockets on a page that Ali Edwards did. I decided that I wanted to make some. The only problem is that I'm not really a "sewer"--as in so-er--NOT sue-er!

However, I do have a sewing machine I bought for scrapbooking--probably 12 years ago or so. I don't use it often enough to even know how to thread it. On New Year's Eve, I spent 45 minutes trying to thread it before I gave up. I texted my friend, Karolyn, and asked for help. She's a master "sewer"--so-er--NOT--sue-er! She said that she needed an organization consult from me--so we made a date.

She came over yesterday and got me up and running in about 5 minutes. I need to use the machine more often so I'll remember it. 

Anyway, then we went to her house. She showed me her butler's pantry which needed organizing and her closet. We had about an hour before our lunch date with friends, so I suggested that we get started. I wish I'd taken a "before" picture of the panty, but we finished it in an hour. Here's the "after."

Everything she uses regularly is easily accessible without having to move anything out of the way to get to it. The things she doesn't use very often are on the top shelf and floor. Still easy enough to get to when you need it. I convinced her to try my "box rule." Put everything you haven't used in the last year in a box. Date it and put it in the garage for a year. If next January, you haven't needed anything out of the box, just haul it away. 

I have another rule about organizing--"If in doubt, throw it out!" Meaning, you don't have to think about the things you need, use or want. Those things jump out at you. If you have to think about it, you can let it go. I "invented" this phrase when I started my organizing business years ago. At that time, I meant it for paper---if you have to think about whether a paper is important, you don't need to keep it. Obviously, a passport or birth certificate is a no-brainer. But do you need to keep your electric bills---NO! 

Okay, off the soapbox now. 

When I got home, I tackled my project.

The first ones didn't turn out so well. I'd never sewn in a circle before. I've only sewn in straight lines. But, I finally got the hang of it.

I should have practiced on some of the red ones. But there are way more than I need, so I'll share some when we go on our scrapbook retreat in February. I'm planning an entire Christmas album. We will journal in a circle and punch them out to tuck into these cute pockets! They are not as perfect as Ali's, but I'm pretty happy with them!

Oh the things I do for scrapbooking!!

Morgan on Monday

Well, in light of the story Morgan told us over the holidays, I just have to give her a feature!

Now I'm not going to get all the medical terms correct, but I do have the gist of the story.

When Morgan got her first job as a Nurse Practitioner in September, she went to work at an urgent care clinic on a college campus in Illinois. There's just her and the doctor who owns it along with some nurses. At the very beginning, he told her that since these were kids there would most likely never be any heart issues. Mostly sick kids--but she did put stitches for the first time in a guy's finger. He had some cock n' bull story as to how it happened. Morgan was a little nervous since it was her first time stitching a person. She had a little trouble with the knots, but in the end, she managed. Nothing like "on-the-job training!"

Well, a few days before Christmas, she had a 19 yr. old boy come in to the clinic with chest pains. She went through all the normal questions. She ordered an EKG. She did not like how the results looked. She took them into the doctor who impatiently asked her why she ran that test. He sort of blew her off along with the results saying that there were a number of things that could have caused the reading. 

So, not to be deterred, she moved the boy to another room and ran the test again. Same results. She went back to the doc who then realized that she was right and there was a serious problem. The boy was sent to the hospital. I don't really know what his problem was, but basically, Morgan saved his life!! 

She overheard the doctor singing her praises and quick thinking. The boy's family thanked her too.

She was feeling pretty proud of herself---and so are we!!! She is one smart cookie!

Happy New Year!

Hello 2023!!

Are you ready for my end-of-the-year re-cap? Here we go:

1. Blog: I started my blog in 2007. I cannot believe it's been 16 years this month. I've written 3,265 posts. I did 319 posts this year. As I've said before, it's another form of scrapbooking for me.

2. Books: I read 69 books this year. Many of them were very good. These were what I considered to be my 5-star books this year:

The Vanishing Half

Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty

The Last Flight

No Honour

Fearless

Betrayal

Eternal

Majorie Merriweather Post

Every Fifteen Minutes

The Match

The German Midwife

Falling

Take My Hand

Emma in the Night

The Nine

The Light of Luna Park

Carnegie's Maid

Finding Me

The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist

Someone Knows

Lessons in Chemistry

One Year After

Stories I Tell My Friends

One Day in December

Remember

Pieces of Her

3. Movies: My friends and I continued with our "Movie Mondays" this year, adding another day or two when possible. I saw 44 movies in 2022. Considering my Regal Unlimited membership is $24.00 a month--you have to see at least two movies a month to break even. Basically, I saw 20 movies for free. Actually, there weren't that many new movies this year. There were so many times that we'd seen everything worthwhile. These were my 5-stars for the year:

American Underdog            

Betty White        

Marry Me

Belfast                              

Uncharted            

Death on the Nile

The Lost City                      

Father Stu            

Ambulance

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent         

Downton Abbey

Top Gun                              

Elvis                    

Don't Worry Darling

Till                                      

Armageddon        

She Said

Devotion                             

The Fableman

4. Trips: We took 15 trips this year. In addition, we made it to the beach 8 times.

5. Music: According to Spotify, I listened to 274 hours of music this year. That works out to roughly 11 and a half days! That's more than 67% of Spotify listeners. 

My top song was AA by Walker Hayes. I listened to it 33 times this year. I do love him, but that one isn't even my favorite. 

I listened to 1665 songs. My top artists were: 1. Walker Hayes 2. The Beatles (they never get old) 3. Frank Sinatra 4. Andrea Bocelli 5. Eagles

According to my listening habits, I'm a "musical time traveler and a sonic historian."

Okay, I get that Spotify has all my stats, but I'm pretty disappointed that my musical theater show tunes didn't rank this year. Yes, I listened to a lot of country this year, but I would have ranked show tunes as second. I never get tired of those either!

So, what are your stats this year? I'd be happy to share them here!

Happy New Year! Okay 2023, we're ready for ya'!

Those Grandkids!

There's something about--after Christmas and January coming up that motivates me to really clean out. I've been working hard all week. I have a huge list of everything I want to accomplish and have gotten quite a lot of it completed this week. Of course, the freezer biting the dust added more work. 

All the things I've done look like this:

1. Cleaned out the freezer.

2. Cleaned out the refrigerator/freezer in the kitchen. Actually that happened before Christmas as the giant, restaurant size spinach that Justin got me (since our store was sold out), leaked all over--every shelf, nook and cranny. Butch helped as we removed everything. That's when it was almost full--so quite a big job--in the middle of cooking and baking for the holidays!

3. Cleaned out my box of wrapping paper, ribbons, tags, bows, and bags in preparation for next year. Note to self, buy more wrapping paper. It's on the list.

4. Took down and put away all the Christmas decorations. I did it over 3 days rather than killing myself to do it all at one time like I used to. Spreading it out wasn't so bad.

5. Spent a few hours putting scrapbook pages into albums. I hate this part--I shouldn't wait so long.

6. Did my round-robin layout with a custom cut title. Loving my new, easy-to-operate Cricut.

7. Moved all of the old garland and wreaths from one side of the attic to the other (that's what this post is really about---but just hang on a bit).

8. Got the laundry caught up and put away all the Christmas linens.

9. Sorted through and put aside dozens of Christmas decorations for the family to go through.

10. Sorted a hundred pictures for a Christmas album.

11. Made the list of physical labor I needed "the boys" to help us with (also what this post is really about).

12. Made a list of all my needlepoint and who's getting what. 

13. Cleaned out the cabinets in the library that are full of boxes. They still are, but I organized it a bit better. I have a box problem.

14. Cleaned out the pantry:

Before:

Kind of a jumbled mess from the holidays. 

After:

I have a lot of paper products. I took all the Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff out and put that in the Christmas closet. It was all just too stuffed and messy looking. 

Considering we rarely use water bottles (on that upper shelf), Butch wouldn't get rid of a single one! He has some of his own hoarding problems. You should see our coolers!

Okay, now on to what this post is really about---those grandkids!!

So, I had a list of things we needed help with. Heavy stuff. I enlisted the boys--Olly and Robbie. I had intended to get Mitchell involved, but they got here first and just got right to it--almost eagerly!:

1. The nutcracker on the front porch weighs over 100 lbs. For years, Butch and I carried it around from the garage. I can't do it anymore and it's not good for him either. Those boys acted like it was nothing--of course, they properly flexed their muscles for me first! Boys! Never having boys, I guess this is just what they do. They are so cute!

2. With the arrival of our new furniture in January, I wanted to switch out the mattresses. Yes, Butch and I could have done it, but I'm not doing anything that can be a falling hazard. Our mattress is the best, so I wanted that upstairs in the guest bedroom. They put the mattress from that bed on ours. 

All in all, it took those boys about 15 minutes to do both heavy jobs! And so quick. And with NO complaints!

They just got to it!! They are sweethearts and I'm lucky to have them. It makes me so happy that I can ask them to give us a hand now and then! And without complaint! That's key!! They don't make me feel guilty. They just do it!

On the other hand, there's this:

3. Remember I mentioned that I moved all of the old garland and wreaths from one side of the attic to the other? It was no big deal. I simply wanted the girls to carry all of it down to the garage to be discarded. OMGosh! Could they have been more prissy! The complaining! "Oooh, it's so gross and dusty!" Uh, yeah, it's the attic! "It got stuff all over my clothes!" Uh yeah, but it's funny that I moved all of it without complaining--nor really realizing there was a problem. Steph was the worst, "You should have told us how bad this would be. We would have brought work gloves. The garland was a tangled mess and all pokey!" Uh yeah, it's been a jumbled pile for years. Somehow, I didn't think it was that big of a deal when I moved it.

I'm afraid the girls are "wusses!" (Oh look there, I spelled it correctly. I don't think I've ever written that word before, but spell-check accepted it!) Yeah, I have to admit, I've raised a bunch of big babies. I'm a hard worker and always have been. Or maybe, I never made them do enough hard work! Well look out girls, it's coming down the pike!!

And guess what? I didn't even ask them to vacuum the attic. I did it myself yesterday. Talk about backbreaking! There was an area that the vacuum wouldn't reach. I'm going to have to sweep that part. I'll get to it sometime this week.

All I can say is thank goodness for the boys!! I appreciate that they seem eager to help!

I hope you have something fun planned for New Year's Eve! As for me, I'm going to stitch, and watch a movie with my bottle of champagne! Butch will be watching sports. He'll come down to watch the ball drop shortly before 11. It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since we were in New York for that! 

Friday Funnies

Mindy texted this yesterday:

Look at this weather being all springy and cute

like it didn't just try to kill us last week!

Ain't that the truth! Wow, what a difference a week makes. Last Friday, it was 4 degrees below zero. Today is 63--sweater weather--or maybe raincoat weather. 

Five Things Thursday

As it turns out, you are never too old to learn new things. 

Here are five things I learned about our below-zero, frigid temperatures last week:

1. I learned about--"rolling outages." The electric company forewarned us via the news that they would be randomly turning off the electricity now and then. It was two days and only 15 minutes at a time. I have no idea how many times during the night it happened, but it happened 5 times over the course of 2 days during the day---really about 36 hours. Not sure how that helped, but it kept screwing up our clocks. And, our house got so cold immediately!! Remember, we have 4 sets of French doors across the front of the house and the entire back is just about all glass. EVERY threshold was iced over--not frost, ice! I already shared that picture. 

2. I learned that when the electricity is off, my nice, warm, heat floor throughout the master bath gets icy cold very quickly! When you are used to a heated floor, you tend to take it for granted---until---a single toe meets icy cold in the dead of night. It shocked me fully awake! There was no getting back to sleep after that! Once the electricity comes back, it takes a really long time to heat up again. I'm used to going in there during the winter months to warm my feet when they get cold. I know, 1st world problems. 

3. I learned that even though I keep my butter on the counter so that it's soft when I need it, it's as hard as a rock when it's that cold. Same with cream cheese--trying to leave it out to soften for a recipe didn't work. It never got soft. So then starts what I like to call the microwave dance--put it in, take it out, put it in, take it out...

not great at the time of year when I am doing so much cooking and baking.

4. I learned that when my closet door is open, there is a terrible draft. My closet is not heated--don't know why--maybe the builder forgot to run the heat in there. It's on two outside walls that are probably not insulated all that well either. While brushing my teeth, that draft is bone-chilling. I cannot just shut the door with my foot--like I tried. At nearly 71, the balance is just not there--even though I still feel like I'm 20. Luckily I grabbed onto the sink to keep myself from actually falling. That was an important lesson!

5. And finally, I learned that I need lots more wood for the fireplace!! I had it going just about non-stop--sometimes with only the gas flames! Whatever lets me get my heat on!