I begin my morning with a hot shower and a large mug of strong coffee. Lately, I’ve been rather proud of myself that that is usually the only caffeine I have for the day. I have even begun my morning at school with a glass of ice water. Now, I don’t finish it before the ice melts, and I don’t even finish it most days, but it’s a good step, yes?
Archives for January 2021
Happy Birthday, Sam!
I forgot to make a post last night, so this is it. Have a good one, Sam.
Not a seamstress
My regular coat has a rip. As you know, it is tough for me to get rid of coats, and I wanted to fix it.
I love watching those videos where someone repairs a hole by turning it into a flower or a leaf or whatever, or doing sashiko, a Japanese technique that is pretty and translates to ‘little stabs’. I want to, but I can’t. My brain can’t process it and my fine motor skills are nonexistent.
Here was what I wanted:
I watched the video and had to make a numbered diagram so I could copy it. I even drew an outline.
…… then I started. SO MANY THINGS WENT WRONG. The coat fabric is really thick, the needle was too big, I was driving that speeding bus and the crash? It was bad.
After my grueling half-hour, I ripped the thread out and did my standard Frankenstein stitches. (That also took a half-hour.)
“Fixed!”
Cost per night: $2000
I slept in the shed Friday night. I had planned it earlier in the week and had my heart set on it. (I needed to test my incomplete insulation job.)
However, we had a blizzard on Friday – a good old, rip-roaring’ blizzard. It wasn’t a lot of snow, but it was a LOT of wind, which was supposed to die down around 6 p.m.
Um, it did not.
I got everything set up, then went out after dinner. It was pretty gusty, but I had all the stuff to keep me warm: sleeping mats, lots of blankets, and a heater if I needed it. (I was determined to not need the heater.) I did pretty well except for trying to figure out how to burrow down and keep my face warm without suffocating. It got down to 28, but it wasn’t terrible.
The bad part was the wind. With each gust I thought, t”This is stupid. I should go inside. Could this thing take off on the skids? That would be cool – like a sled. That oak tree can’t fall, right? Right. But a branch……”
Anyway, I made it and it was fun. Around 4:30 I turned the heater on to 50 degrees so it would be bearable when I got up. The lesson I learned is to not sleep out there on a windy day until I get the ceiling insulation covered. The wind shook down a few bits of mineral wool on my face. Stupid wind…..
Let’s just say it.
Instant potatoes are the bomb. More than one night they have saved dinner. A dollar for a pack and totally worth it!
(Ha! If you read this before I fixed all the typos in that very short story, please laugh and call somebody to help me. I was stuffing my face as I typed on an iPad. Good grief.)
A little side project…unfinished.
I’m insulating my shed! Just half of it, and I’m doing a really bad job, but I don’t care! I had so much fun this weekend. I listened to the soundtrack of Hamilton while badly cutting foam board and bashing it between the studs. I made some big mistakes with the ceiling and had to stop until next weekend. (Let’s just say I wasted some materials and forgot to protect my face against the fiberglass that’s in mineral wool batts. My mouth and eyes, yes. My forehead and cheeks, no.)
It’s all good. Er, good enough.