I’m working. Y’all all have a wonderful day. Think about me here:
It’s A What?
You remember the piece I wrote about motorcycles? Well, I have to tell you that when that happened, I was standing right next to the motorcycle. When the car hit it, I jumped backwards to get myself out of the way. A few days later, my back started hurting, not a constant pain, but if I move in certain ways, like bending over, or when going from a sitting position to a standing position, or from standing to sitting, it feels like a knife stabbing me in the back.
So, last week, Fabgrandpa and I went to Kanab to take me to the doctor. He said I had strained a something something maximus, NOT glutious maximus but some other maximus, that goes over your shoulder blade and makes your arm work. Anyway, he prescribed me some flexeril and told me to take it 3 times a day, along with some Alleve. The meds help a lot. He really wanted me to go to physical therapy, but I love 85 miles from town and that is just too far to go for it. So, instead, he gave me some exercises to do at home. These exercises involve putting a couple of tennis balls in a tube sock, and rolling around on them on the floor. Fine, except I don’t have any tennis balls. So, I posted a status on Facebook, asking for someone to send me some tennis balls. One of my friends responded and is mailing them to me. I hope they get here soon.
Decisions Decisions!
It is really hard to believe that Fabgrandpa and I recently celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. It seems like only a few days ago he presented me with a marriage proposal. We got married with el cheapo gold wedding bands from Wal-Mart because we were so poor at the time. About two years after we married, he gave me a wedding ring set that I love! They are beautiful, but I have been searching online looking at diamond engagement rings, trying to decide if I want another solitaire or an anniversary band for our 20th anniversary.
When Becky and Rafe got engaged, he gave her a gorgeous ring:
Then Becca and Ken got engaged, and he gave her a gorgeous sapphire ring:
I had always thought I wanted a diamond anniversary band, but since I saw how pretty that sapphire is on Becca’s finger, I have been thinking about maybe an emerald one, because my birthstone is emerald, and I love them!
So, I have been spending a lot of time surfing around the internet, looking at all sorts of rings. Then I foundSince 1910.com, and now I wonder if I could have all my old gems made into a designer ring made just for me? Hmmmmm. Decisions decisions! It’s a dang good thing I have almost a year to decide.
Still Trying To Fix The Store
I have been working on this same problem off and on for weeks now! Somehow I think this stuff shouldn’t be so dang hard to do. Other people get their downloads to work just fine, but I just can’t seem to get it going in my store. I am trying to offer a quilt pattern for sale as a downloadable PDF file. It is supposed to work seamlessly, where the person who wants to buy the pattern clicks on the pattern to add it to their shopping cart, then clicks on another button to pay for it through Paypal. After the payment is made, they are supposed to be taken to the website to download the file. But it is not working that way.
I have had three people helping me do the website testing by completing an order all the way through for Amelia’s Quilt Pattern. But each time they do it, I get the money transfered to my Paypal account but they are not taken to the page to download the file. I have tried doing a website analysis to figure out what is wrong, but I really don’t know what to look for. I have joined the support forum for the shopping cart software I am using, but they have been no help to me so far.
It could just make it where the person (customer) pays me through paypal, then I send them an email with the file attached for them to download, but I would really really like for them to get it automatically. I may not always be in a place where there is internet for me to check my emails right away, so the customer would have to wait a couple of days to get their file. And THAT is not acceptable to ME. This is proving to be a big challenge for me, and I am not someone to walk away from a challenge. Sigh…..
Tutorial: Make A Zippered Cosmetic Bag
Even if you have never sewn in a zipper before, you will be able to make this cute little bag in about an hour and a half. To make it, you’ll need two fat quarters of fabric (18″ X 22″), two pieces of batting that measure at least 8″ X 10″, one zipper at least 10″ long, scissors, thread, pins and a sewing machine.
To get started, cut two pieces from each of the fat quarters that measure 8″ X 10″. Decide which one will be the outside of the bag. In this tutorial, the outside will be the puppy print fabric, and the inside will be the yellow prints.
Make a “sandwich” using one piece of each fabric and one piece of batting. Make sure the right sides of each fabric are facing out, with the batting in between the wrong sides of the fabric.
Sew some lines of stitching through all three layers to quilt them. I usually sew from corner to corner in both directions, then do a couple more lines. It is up to you how much you want to stitch.
When you are finished quilting both sides of the bag, set one sandwich aside for later.
Lay the remaining piece right side up, and place the zipper face down along the edge of the piece.
Pin the zipper in place with a couple of pins. Then, starting at one end, stitch along the length of the zipper. Open the zipper part of the way to begin. After you stitch a few inches, close the zipper back up so that the zipper pull doesn’t get in the way of the needle and presser foot.
After stitching the length of the zipper, fold the zipper to the inside. Press with an iron.
Go back to the sewing machine with the piece, and top stitch 1/4″ from the edge of the fabric.
This is what it will look like when you have finished top stitching:
Next, repeat all the steps for sewing the zipper with the other piece of sandwiched fabric. When you have finished sewing in and topstitching the other side of the zipper, the bag will look like this:
Next, fold the two pieces so that the outside pieces of fabric are together, on the inside. Match up the edges, and pin. Make sure the zipper is open half way before you start to stitch.
Stitch along the three sides of the bag, starting at the zipper edge and ending at the zipper edge on the other side. Be careful not to stitch over the hard pieces of the zipper. Stitch the beginning and ending few stitches back and forth a couple of times to reinforce the stitches so they won’t come apart.
Stitch around the entire seam again with a zigzag stitch to prevent ravelling of the seams inside the bag.
Turn the bag inside out, and press with an iron to set the stitches.
This little bag can be used for so many things! I use one for manicure supplies, one for jewelry, one for holding toothbrush, toothpaste and floss, etc.
What is your bag going to hold?
Looking For A Spa Day?
After thinking about all planning the trip to Georgia, and all the other places we want to go, and all the things we want to do over the winter, I decided I also wanted to plan a trip to a spa for myself and maybe my daughters. We don’t get as many pamper days as we need, now do we? Going to a spa would be such a fun time to share, and spend some girl time together. I started looking for places in the area where we will be to see if I could find what I was looking for.
The last time we all got together, we just went for a manicure and pedicure. It was fun and relaxing, ut this time, I really want to be pampered: I want a massage and a facial as well as getting the nails done. I think this would be a great thing to share with Becky and Emily, and Becca if she were in Georgia instead in Calgary.
I have been looking around online for spa deals and massages in the west Georgia area. while I haven’t found it yet, I am sure I can find a place that offers the works. If you had a chance to spend time with your daughters, what would you plan for the day?
Almost Time To Get Ready!
When I looked at the calendar this morning, it hit me square in the face that it was time to start planning our trip back to Georgia from the North Rim. It is less than 2 months now before we hitch up the trailer and pull out down the Kaibab Plateau.
Our plans for this trip are to stop for a day or two in Clarkesdale, Mississippi to visit Morgan Freeman’s restaurant there and listen to some blues. We have been wanting to go there for some time now. We’ll also stop overnight in Greensboro, Alabama to visit our friends at Valley Grocery and enjoy a plate of fried catfish.
Our first destination will be Jellystone Campground in Waco, Georgia, where we’ll spend about a month.They charge $300 a month plus electricity that you use, so I’ll have to be sure to take an electric meter reading as soon as we get there. I have forgotten to do this in past and wound up being overcharged for electricity when we were ready to leave.
After our time is up in Waco, we’ll be heading out to Unicoi State Park in Helen, Georgia where we will be volunteer camp hosts until about mid April. We are really looking forward to spending time in Georgia this winter, and seeing all our friends and family again.
While we’re at Unicoi, we’ll be less than 10 miles from Fabgrandpa’s parents, and less than a hundred miles from our friend Terry who is working at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With two of our daughters living within eighty five miles, and numerous other friends and family in the area, it’s going to be a very busy winter for us! We’re going to be wearing out the route planning software for sure!
5 Things That Make Me Wonder
1. While I was cooking dinner tonight, I happened to start thinking about the lids to my pots and pans. They are made of glass and have a hole in them for steam to escape from the pans. And in those holes, there are little metal grommets. I wonder how they got those grommets in there?
Thinking about that set me to thinking about other things, like:
2. How on earth does Stephen King think up all those scary things he writes? The list of books he has written is long, but I have only managed to read one: The Mist. And now, ever since I read it, I get scared all over again every time it rains hard at night.
3. How did those guys who invented television know it would work? I mean, when I think about that, it really makes me crazy. I just wonder how someone can envision something that isn’t there and then find a way to make it work.
4. Why is that my telephone never rings until I have my hands in the food I am preparing for dinner? It never fails. I can be home all day long, and nothing. But let me get my hands on a raw chicken, and ring ring ring!
5. How does that one fly get in my house, and find its way to my bedroom, and buzz around my head over and over when I am trying to sleep late on my day off?
So, what do you wonder about?
