Those Little Things

I've been thinking about things tonight that are so small but so useful. Like the little things my youngest daughter brings to me sometimes. This afternoon she brought me something she'd found on the street on her way over to see me. She said she thinks it's something cafes use to put condiment bottles in to serve at tables. But she said she thought I could use it to put my cones of crochet thread on. I tried it and it works perfectly for that. I've been fighting a losing battle trying to keep my threads from tangling when I'm working with them. This turns out to not only be the perfect tool for that, I could even put several colors on at one time if I'm working with more than one color. It's stainless steel and so sturdy that it will last for more years than I probably will myself.

Last night when she and Cory took out my trash they came back with a big bookshelf thing that I put right to use for my beads and crafting stuff. They found it out by the dumpster and it was in perfectly fine shape once I wiped it down to get the rain and dust off.

Then I went to check my mail late this evening and found that a book I'd ordered was in my mailbox. It was so interesting I read it cover to cover. I just finished. It's 3am and I checked the mail around 9pm. The book was Behind the Candelabra written by Scott Thorson who had been Liberace's lover for several years. Very interesting. Now I can get back to finishing the first volume of a 2-volume set about the writings from World War Two. The second volume is on the way, along with a 2 volume set on the Vietnam war. These war chronicles are part of the library I'm building for Gabriel.

So here I am, still wide awake at after 3am. I'd been burning the candle at both ends lately and had just gotten myself back onto a more moderate shedule for the last few days and now I've blown that by getting a book in the mail that was too good to put down. Sigh.

I found a recipe online for some air drying clay and gave it to my daughter before Christmas. She brought me the cutest little tiny gnome she made for me with it. When I first moved here, she gave me a cute little sea otter she'd carved from soap.

Just little things here and there but they bring so much into my life. As we go along every day, it's easy to get into a run of thinking about what we don't have, can't do, don't want in our lives. But if we think differently and stop to think about the little things that make a difference for us in one way or another, life can be so much more fulfilling and rich in the little ways that count.

I've always hated throwing things away. I'm not a hoarder. I get cluttery because of my beadwork and other crafts. But everything I can find a second or third use for cuts down on what I add to the garbage mountains of the US. I'm using empty egg cartons to put my smaller balls of thread in for crochet. I was given a big box of thread and to make it all tidy, I wound most of it into balls.

I use a cake cover from the bakery for a mixing bowl. Right now it has potato salad in it, though, And when I made a split in one of my cake topper mixing bowls, I just washed it good and cut it up into smaller pieces to use as the stuff in between two pieces of leather for the barrettes I make. The bottom of a cake container has grooves in it that can be used like those premade things that are purposely made to lay out beads for stringing necklaces so I kept that, too. I've also kept a lot of small plastic bottles with lids to free in the summer to put in with a picnic lunch instead of messy ice.

Well, enough for this time. I'm working on some items to put into the Jewels'n'Jeans Boutique. This weekend I'll be taking photos and putting some of my Tarot decks in there that I've decided to part with. I've crocheted simple bags for them. I'll also put in some other things I've made, too, because this New Year's season there's a resolution I've kept and that's to be working on beadwork and things every day of this year. I'm doing well so far. When that free table comes around in November, I'm going to be able to have piles of good stuff on it this year. I missed the first one because I was so busy moving and settling in here in Washington.

How to Work this Blog

For people who are looking through my blog, I need to explain about the additions to the pages in the menu here. I was thinking that each page would work like this particular page, only to find out that that's not how it works. Each of the pages is updated manually by me. I add to the information on each page manually, so that after a brief statement at the top of each page, there will then be the most recent post I've made on the topic. You won't get news of the updates here on this page if you're subscribed to it. You'll need to check each page yourself to see if there are updates under any topic. The topic most likely to be updated currently is the Jewels'n'Jeans page. I'm listing things for sale through that page this week, and that will include some Tarot decks I've decided to part with in addition to things I've made or works in progress.

Hey, Santa Baby---this Elf is Tired!

Every year I vow that I'll start in January getting Christmas pulled together throughout the year and every year, I don't do that. Sigh! So right now I'm burning the midnight oil as usual. I've almost made a whole scarf since 4pm on what is now yesterday because it's 2am. I have three more gifts to finish before Christmas Eve. I've gotten the beadwork done on them but still have to assemble them and put the beaded edging on. I don't have to cook Christmas dinner, though. I have a new passion and it's those Dorito tacos at Taco Bell. So we're going to have that and all I have to do is make dessert. Yay!

My oldest grandson's Christmas is so meaningful this year. His real father disappeared before he was even 6 months old and he's never had any chance to know him. He found his other grandmother via the internet and called her. It turns out that his father had a major mental illness that showed up right after my grandson was born and she's been taking care of him ever since. Cory got to talk to his two uncles and his grandmother told him she's prayed for him all these years. I'm so happy for him. And I'm also glad for his sake that he found out his father didn't willfully just never keep in touch. I know this means so much to my grandson and I'm very happy for him. Sadly, his other grandfather passed away a couple of years ago. But he's welcomed with open arms into his father's family and that's beautiful. It's beautiful for his grandmother, too. She wants pictures of Corey all his growing up years and has requested that she can also hear stories of all the things that happened to him all those years. I know she was so thrilled when he was born and she was trying to keep in touch with him but her address was lost along the way. Thank goodness for the internet

In spite of being so busy trying to cram a ton of things into these last few days before Christmas, I'm still really enjoying this holiday. I may be tired, but I'm also very content and very thankful for everything.

Right after Christmas, I'll start taking photos and putting some things into the Jewel'n'Jeans Boutique.
I'm sure people are wondering if that's ever going to get done. And probably even doubting that it will. But I promise. I'm just slow, as usual.

That Poor Little Bird

Quite a few years ago, I lived in an old hotel that had been made into apartments. I lived on the third floor. One night, a noise was keeping me awake. I could hear a chirping noise from the shorter building right beside my apartments. The chirping sounded like a little bird and it was the time of year when little birds start learning to fly. I thought it must be a fledgling that had fallen from a nest in one of the trees outside and it was cold and chirping for its mother. It would chirp for awhile and then stop but always, once again, that pathetic distressed chirping would start again. Finally, I just got really upset for that poor little bird. I knew I couldn't do anything for it, even though if I'd been able to figure out a way to do it, I'd have tried to rescue it. It just went  on and on.

 That  chirping was so pathetic and loud. Obviously it was really in dire straits. After awhile, I started wishing a stray cat would go up there and put it out of its misery since obviously the mother wasn't going to rescue it. I couldn't think of anything else that could help the poor thing. Since it was doomed, I just hoped a cat would manage to get up there and at least it wouldn't suffer anymore.

After about three hours of this, I started praying for a cat to come do the evil deed so that poor bird would just shut up. Every time it stopped for a little while, just when I started to drift off to sleep, it would start up again. As I was praying for the little bird, asking God to just let it die so it wouldn't be suffering so much.,

God must have nudged me or something because the thought came to me "Wait a minute. That chirping stops for exactly the same length of time each time and then resumes. It must not be a little bird. It must be something else." I still couldn't get to sleep because the chirping sound was so loud but in awhile it finally stopped.

The next day I found out what the chirping was. It wasn't a bird. Some neighborhood kids had discovered that if they hit the button for the crosswalk twice in rapid succession, it would make the chirping sound. The chirping sound was an intentional function for the blind so that it would let them know when not to cross the street. But in addition to having learned how to make the chirping alarm work, the kids had also been jumping up and kicking the button with their feet instead of pushing it with their hand. That made the chirping alarm stay permanently chirping after awhile. Eventually the city fixed it so it wasn't stuck on and peace reined at long last.

Christmas is Shaping Up

I love Craigslist. I was looking on freebies a couple nights ago and found an ad had appeared for a big box of crochet thread. I love working with thread but was running low. I pounced on the box of yarn and thread! And the lady was so sweet. She made me a beautiful Christmas centerpiece of cedar, holly, a white candle and big red and gold bow. She also gave me an adjustable desk/table that she'd gotten for her father when he lived with them before he passed away.

Last week my wonderfulness from Craigslist was a big box of goodies I won't mention because they're going to be Christmas gifts and I know my grandkids know about this blog. Far be it from me to blow the secret. Sorry kids. The girls and their fiances are going to come to visit the day after Christmas if they can so we'll get to open presents together. If they can't make it, I'll just ship the gifts down to them by UPS. I like those late presents that show up around Christmas. It always makes the holiday seem to last longer. And the girls and I, while they were teenagers still living at home, made the decision to do our Christmas late so we could take advantage of the big after-Christmas sales, so 

It really amazes me how things work. I've been wishing I could make spa washcloths but I didn't have any of the worsted weight cotton yarn. When the big box of thread and yarn arrived, there was the right kind of yarn for the spa washcloths I want to make! My daughter Crys has been needing a warm scarf since it's really, really cold outside. There's just enough worsted weight yarn for a scarf for her scarf. I've made about a third of it while watching television tonight. And I've still got bunches and bunches of various weights of thread to make pretty things out of throughout the coming year. I want to have enough stuff for a table at next fall's holiday market since I didn't have enough done for this first one just passed. Now I have a lot of size 20, 30, 50 and even 100 weight. The 100 weight is like thin sewing thread because the higher the number, the thinner the thread.

I'm watching a nature show on this beautiful big TV I got from a really nice couple I found on Craigslist. It's "old school" flat screen. I see so many of the newer flat screens on there that say the  newTV is broken, so I really prefer this monstrosity. It has a wonderful HD picture and I love watching nature and travel shows. I wish my laptop had a screen like that. I love to watch travel shows on Youtube before I go to sleep at night. I didn't have anything suitable to sit the TV on so they even brought me the chest of drawers they'd bought to use as a /TV stand when this TV was new.

So this is how my Christmas is shaping up for this year. I get to give some honest-to-goodness "bought with money" gifts instead of just handmade things like I always make.I know handmade gifts are wonderful, but for kids who aren't blessed with parents who can afford the latest big "deal", things that are homemade are disappointing. I raised all six kids with good values about what's really important in life and all that, but every kid deserves to be able to dream they might get the latest thing all their friends have gotten because sometimes they really do. All the kids are grown up now, but it hurt my heart when they were small and Santa didn't bring anything truly stupendous. I'm not able to give stupendous wonderfulness in the area of gifts, but my heart feels good that this year, I can give some things I didn't make along with the ones I did make.

Politics and Medicare .

I've moved to Washington from Oregon and it's been nothing but a mess medically. First I couldn't see my doctor because I need a Washington medical card. My prescriptions were filled with no problem at that time.

Then when I got the Washington medical coverage, now my part D shows the pharmacy as not covering me according to the pharmacy. It's been days and days that I've tried to remedy the problem. Today I spent literally hours on hold while calling one number who would only refer me to another government or state agency, around and around and around. Pass the buck. In the meantime I can't get my medications for blood pressure and my other medical conditions---they're sitting on the shelf at the pharmacy waiting for me to BUY them with money I don't have. It's just ridiculous. The card they asked for is the one I gave them but they've rejected it but it's valid and nobody seems to know where the problem is. If I ever needed my blood pressure medication, I certainly do at this point but I can't afford it unless we can get it filled with my coverage so that I only have to do co-pays of about $1 each.

And then when I try to watch TV, the only coverage seems to be the Chump. We need to dump the Chump and get on with some sane stuff. His methods are exactly like an abusive person handles people. He spouts bigotry and then when called on it, he say's "oh no, you've gotten it all wrong. I'm not bigoted at all, I'm the least bigoted person you'll ever meet".  He's playing the public who are stupid enough to be cheering for the Naked Emperor, while the Naked Emperor swings his inadequate little naughty bits in full sight of the world. He so obviously considers his followers to be gullible, ignorant , ineffective little minions who will buy whatever he's trying to sell them without realizing that his baseball hat just looks stupid on him, which he knows, but he's playing to this ignorant group by making them think he's just a good ol' boy like they are who can play tough and make everything right. Everything he's presented has been just garbage that would only cause the country even more problems but his followers lap it up but on and on he goes.

I just saw a news clip where an eagle tried to bite him when he was doing an interview. That made my day. What more needs to be said?  Even the national symbol, the bald eagle, doesn't like him. The eagle has more sense than followers of this chump, evidently.

On the other side of it, maybe the big crowds cheering this guy are just spoofing him and egging him on to see just what lengths he'll go to. They may mostly have no intention of voting. They're just enjoying the show. We can certainly hope that's it for lots of them. No sane thinking person would ever want him to be the Commander in Chief. We'd all be doomed. But at least if he's the nominee the Republicans choose, we can be sure Hilary will be a shoe-in.

I also have a question. If Obama has been mistrusted because his father was Muslim in Africa, then what about Ted Cruz? His father is Cuban and Cuba has been under US sanctions for most of the last 50 or so years. Why is Ted Cruz not ostracized right along with Obama?

Just Thinking about Christmas

This year most of my family isn't going to be here with me for Christmas. They're back in Oregon and with all the rain from the "pineapple express", we'd need to build an ark to get there. I've been feeling twinges of homesickness the closer it gets to Christmas. My youngest daughter and her sweetie are here in Washington so I'm going to cook dinner for them for the holiday. Once I got the two little grandchildren to raise, my energy didn't cover being the mom who does big family dinners after the kids are grown. Having just come back from a lupus crash, then becoming caregiver to two babies, my energy just didn't cover big family dinners. My oldest daughter stepped up and started doing the family dinner thing but she's in Oregon. I'm gonna miss her holiday dinners and especially the way she makes brussels sprouts with bacon.

I didn't bring any Christmas decorations with me when I moved here from Oregon. Who can be thinking of Christmas when it's 100 degrees every day and stays at nearly 70 degrees even after dark? We had to move me in the wee hours of the morning just to get through it. Every one of us was so bedraggled and exhausted from the heat that Christmas was the very last thing on my mind. My grand-daughter Sadie came along to help me get settled. She and I both just opened the windows of the apartment and went to sleep in spite of the sea gulls causing a ruckus outside.

I only have $19 left to stretch for the rest of the month, so I guess I'll be hitting the Dollar Tree for some decorations. I think $5 and a lot of imagination will work. I have to go to the doctor for some lab work tomorrow and then grocery shopping. It's been raining cats and dogs for days and days now. The town of Olympia reminds me of San Francisco or Hood River or Oregon City because it's  built on hills. It also reminds me a little bit of Carmel, a little hobbit town with all the twisty little windy streets. I live at the bottom of the hills, so water is going to tend to all end up down here where I live. The port is only a block away. I should go have a look to see where the water level is.

Speaking of seagulls----the window washers came last week and washed the seagull poop off our windows. The forestry people or somebody came earlier in the fall and moved all the seagulls off to somewhere else so I don't hear them anymore, They were nesting on the roof and it was so bad that they said the seagull poop was running down the walls on the outside of the building. They had to put a new roof on both buildings. I realize the gulls were a big problem but I still miss hearing and seeing big flocks of them. I do see and hear an occasional one but not very often or very loudly and in spite of wind storms,  there's no more  gull poop on my windows. Yet.