While I am trying to pretty up my blog, it looks like a mess! It will be either back to the old green boring blog soon, or it will be the purtiest blog you have ever seen. Or not. Just bear with me please. All the same old drivel that I have written or will write in the future will still be here, it will just be smartly decorated. Thank you for standing by!
I Am A Big Weather Chicken
We spent the day yesterday listening to The Weather Channel and looking at the Radar Now on the Droid, in anticipation of the severe weather that was forecast for the area. I am a Weather Chicken! I lived in Georgia for 49 years, the last 16 years or so in the same house on a hill. I had to have the roof repaired four times in 16 years due to storm damage. I kept a “Weather Basket” in the downstairs closet that was under the stairwell, just in case. It had among other things, a change of clothing for each person in the family, a flashlight with extra batteries, some matches, candles, and a weather radio. I was P.R.E.P.A.R.E.D for anything that might happen, and was just lucky that nothing ever did. I like to think it was BECAUSE I was prepared.
The wind blew yesterday all day long. All day, that is, until about a half hour before the storm hit. Then, all the wind just stopped. That was very creepy. Not a leaf on a tree was even wiggling. I can’t remember ever seeing something like that happening. The electricity went off a few minutes later. I think if the power had stayed on, I would have been less frightened. I went into my “self preservation” mode of distracting myself from the weather. I have had a stack of quilting magazines sitting on the dresser for months, waiting for me to tear out patterns I want to keep. So, I sat on the bed going through those while the storm raged outside. (we have a battery on the RV that keeps the lights on when the electricity goes out. It just doesn’t power the TV.)
It was all over in about an hour, and we survived it with no damage, but other areas of Alabama were not so lucky. While there were no tornadoes in Alabama yesterday, lots of trees and other wind damage did happen throughout the state. In Georgia, five people were killed! I hope there are no more storms here until after we leave.
A Gluten Free Giveaway
I am getting the trailer ready to roll again in a week or so, and in the process I am cleaning out cabinets, cupboards, and closets. I found a whole bunch of gluten free stuff, so much that I need to “thin the herd” so to speak. So, I am giving away a BIG BOX of gluten free goodies. To enter, hop on over to my review blog and take a look at the pics of the prize!
Boots, Bras, and Barbecue
When we got to town yesterday, I had a shopping date with my daughter, Emily and my friend, Suzanne. We went to the mall so I could shop for boots and bras. Yeah, my two favorite things in the world to shop for. Not!
Last year, we went to a shoe store in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to buy our boots for the job. I bought Wolverines on the recommendation of someone who has worn them all their working life, and paid quite a bit for them. They were comfortable and fit the criteria of being brown polishable boots. But after only two months of wearing them on the job, they started coming apart at the seams. That left me to represent my employer in raveled, ugly boots.When I emailed Wolverine, they pretty much told me they were not going to do anything to help me, that I should expect some wear and tear on a pair of work boots. Well, yeah, but you would think that a pair of boots that cost over a hundred dollars would last more than two months. Even at the Grand Canyon. Especially since I am required to keep them polished and clean. So, sorry, Wolverine. You don’t get any more of my money.
This year, I bought a pair of Craftsmen 6″ Sport Boots from Sears. They looked pretty good on me, were comfortable, and were on sale. I hope they last through the season. If they don’t, I hope that Sears will stand behind their product.
After spending half the day finding boots, it was time to shop for the dreaded undergarments. And you know what a hard time I have shopping for bras! I wanted to buy five new ones, but it seems that most of the women in this town wear the same size as me. With three of us searching, I could only find two bras in my size. Sad but true. At least I didn’t come away empty handed.
After the shopping trip, we all went to our favorite barbecue joint, Hudson’s. It was delicious as usual. I have to tell you about Suzanne. We met over 40 years ago when we were both working at Southern Bell. She was my first room mate when I moved out of my parents house. We kept in touch with each other for about 10 years but then lost each other as life went on. Then, a couple of years ago, we hooked up on Facebook. Yesterday was the first time we had seen each other in at least 30 years! It was really fun to see her again.
My son in law Tommy and grandson, Spencer met us at the restaurant, too.
Spencer is like most other third graders I have known, and puts off doing his homework as long as possible. But because Emily is a teacher, she makes sure he does it. Here he is working on his homework while we waited to be served last night.
The Egg Police
The last time we were in our home town, back in November, we stayed at what we had come to call our “home away from home”, the Holiday Inn Express. It was convenient to our family, close to a shopping mall, and right across the street from Cracker Barrel. We had been staying at that same motel every time we were in town for about three years. To say we were loyal customers was putting it mildly. So, the last time we checked out, they charged us $20 more for the night that usual. When I asked why they went up so much in just a couple of months, the reply was “there is a soccer tournament in town.”
OK. We were not in town for the tournament, and we are supposed to get a senior discount. “Oh, no”, the lady said. We don’t give any discounts for special events. No amount of arguing with her could convince her that we did not consider a soccer tournament for little league age players a “special event.” So, on the way home from that experience, we decided to take our business elsewhere. Which is why we wound up at the La Quinta Inn, which is right behind the Holiday Inn Express and was built at about the same time.
For $20 LESS a night than what we had been paying the other place for a “non special event” rate, we got a surprisingly similar room. The bed was the same, the TV the same, the free wi-fi the same. We think we have a new home. The only thing? This morning when I went to the lobby for the free continental breakfast? The eggs were locked up in the mini fridge on the counter. Seems you can have all the bread, pastries, cereal, and waffles you want, but if you desire to have a frozen omlete? You have to ask at the front desk.
Making a T-Shirt Quilt Tutorial, Part 6
Making a T-Shirt Quilt Tutorial, Part 1
Making a T-Shirt Quilt Tutorial, Part 2
Making a T-Shirt Quilt Tutorial, Part 3
Making a T-Shirt Quilt Tutorial, Part 4
Making a T-Shirt Quilt Tutorial, Part 5
Making a T-Shirt Quilt Tutorial, Part 7
The last thing I needed to do before shipping the quilt to Utah to be quilted was to make the back. Now, I have always looked at the back of a quilt as a whole second project. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. It can be one solid color or you can piece the back and make it just as beautiful as the front. The only rule with making the back is that it needs to be 4″ larger on each side than the front. That means since I the front of this quilt measured 96″ X 96″, the back needs to be 104″ X 104″. This gives you enough room to secure the back in place when you make your quilt sandwich with the batting, the front, and the back. I send my quilts out to someone with a long arm quilting machine to be quilted, so I won’t be showing you that part of the process. This is just my preference, because I like the professional was the finished quilts look when they are quilted that way.
Judy had requested that I use the T-shirts that I wasn’t able to use on the front somehow on the back. She wanted to be able to see those shirts when she turned the bed down at night. Here is how it turned out:
Keep in mind that what you are looking at is the wrong side of the fabric except for the part at the top that is turned down as it would be when the bed is being readied for the night. This will make a lot more sense when we get the completed quilt back from the quilter.
It really is going to look better when the quilting is completed. I’ll be mailing the quilt to Jorja in Utah in the morning. She does her artwork with a longarm quilting machine, and will have it ready for me to pick up after April 26. The next time you see this quilt, it will be ready for me to send to Judy, where ever she may be at that time.
Don’t Look Now But There Is That Lady With Cooties Again–She Might Just Be Allergic To Toilet Paper
UPDATE! Can you be allergic to toilet paper? See the update at the bottom of this post.
Yes, again. I know you are all getting somewhat tired of me being all TMI and talking about rashes and itching all the freaking time, but I feel like if I talk about it and what I think is or is not causing it, I might just help some other woman out there to at the very least not feel so much like a freak or a medical anomaly. I have written about this in the past several times because I am hoping that by writing I also may reach someone who has gone through this and they will comment or email me and tell me what they did to make it go away. With all the thinking and writing and researching, I never thought I could be allergic to toilet paper. I mean, we all use it every day, from the time we are just toddlers, right? Who woulda thunk it could be the enemy?
I have tried everything I can think of to use to get rid of the itching and the rash and the misery of it all. Every single thing you see in the picture above, I have tried. More than once. And sometimes I have used more than one thing at a tome. One thing works for a while, then another thing works for another while, but nothing actually gets rid of the problem once and for all. I have been to the doctor, hmmm, at least five times, and have taken Diflucan and an antibiotic at two different times. I have spent tons of money on this. It’s like having a difficult, hard to manage child. One that demands your attention and makes you miserable. One that just will not obey you and gives you a headache. And an unbearable itch that you must bear.
I have googled every possible thing I can think of, like “can you be allergic to your own perspiration?” and “will jumping out of a truck on the expressway cure unbearable itching?”. But there are no answers out there. And THAT is why I continue to write about this topic. Because I WANT there to be information out there for the next woman who is going insane with itching to be able to find and say at least, that she is NOT crazy, that there is someone else in the world just like her.
And so, to that woman, I want to say, have you thought about the toilet paper you are using? Can you be allergic to toilet paper? While I have wracked my brain for over a year trying to think of what I could possibly have done different or changed about my routine that would cause me to suddenly start itching, I never once thought about the toilet paper that I was using. And that is because we have used the same brand of toilet paper for more than 15 years. Maybe more than 20 years. But the other day, when I was going through my “thinking about what could cause me to itch?” routine for about the 200th time, it suddenly dawned on me that 1. there seems to be at least 2, maybe 3 different types of itchyness going on, and 2. the itch in THAT place is different from the itch in other places, and 3. the toilet paper is the only product I use in THAT area on a constant basis and 4. that the toilet paper brand suddenly changed in appearance last year.
Now, why did I not think of those things before? Because, I thought if I itched in various places over my body, that it must surely all be the same cause. Never did I think in all this time that there could be several causes. That could possibly explain why, when I took the diflucan to treat yeast infection last year, that SOME areas quit itching for a while , and others did not. So, it surely must be a correct assumption that there is more than one thing going on.
So, now, I am conducting an experiment to see if I may be allergic to toilet paper. I am foregoing the use of toilet paper and using baby wipes instead. I am also applying a moisturizer to that area twice a day. It seems to be working for now. That does not make any other area that is itching stop. But it does seem to be helping that one area. When you are being driven insane, you WILL resort to extreme measures to change.
September 3, 2014: I have had great success to stop the itching using Tricalm, an anti-itch gel product that I was sent to review. It is working for me. If you would like to try it, this is my affiliate link at Amazon.com to purchase it.
31 Day Challenge, Day 16: Your Least Favorite Chore
I really don’t have to think very hard for this one. I absolutely hate to clean the bathroom. Luck for me, Fabgrandpa has done that chore for me for as long as we have been together. I never asked him to, he just started doing it when he moved in. I really really appreciate that, too.
