Saving Stuff

 I'm slowly trying to donate unused stuff to local charities.  And,  I am trying not to add new items to the stuff collection. The battle is real 😃. 

One thing that has been in my mind is a collection of Lenox Christmas china.  I enjoyed acquiring these dishes over the years,  as gifts or by finding a sale.  I love the pattern,  the glaze,  the weight and the shapes of this china.  I don't have an exact complete set,  but I do have about a dozen dinner plates and a variety of other pieces; both serving and place setting. 

I've been using some odds and ends for my daily dishes.  (A few bone-china plates that were Great Aunt Bubble's handed down to me with her cedar chest of heirlooms.  A few dinner plates from Grandparents Johansen, Golden Wedding gifts that Gus had in his collection.  I have to say that I enjoyed using those old plates. I always thought of my Johansen grandparents as I held the cream colored plate with a scalloped gold edge.  The white bone china was beautiful and while I don't have many memories of great aunt Bubble, she did raise my Mom from age 3 to 16.) Breakage had claimed most of the old plates and I was ready for a change.  I tried shopping at thrift stores to pick up another mixed collection of vintage plates but had no success. I did pick up a few plates at the Dollar Store, but once I had them home, I was not happy. 

So,  I decided to start using my Christmas dishes every day.  Turns out to be a really great idea.  I love these dishes,  I feel joy when I eat off the dinner plates and I love how they feel and look.  Eventually,  somebody will have to figure out what to do with all the serving pieces. But for now,  I'm using these little beauties. 🎄 

More and more I ask myself,  what am I saving stuff for?

The Runner

 I finally sat in with the Zoom sewing group today, Quilting Friends.  I have not been with them since our last quilt retreat, no reason, just have not made the effort. 

It's always fun to sew and listen to the chat.  One woman has Covid for the first time and is slow to recover,  another is going on a quilting road trip to Paduka and was planning her car projects,  several are working on a Gudrun project from her retreat, one woman lives in Sun Valley where the FIS World Cup Skiers are competing this week, a few were discussing products that colorfast fabrics,  there are discussions on new products,  quilt shops, recipes,  pets,  sports and family news.  It makes the tedious piecing and pressing work go fast.  I think I was the only one sewing today, one or two were trimming & cutting, but most were just enjoying the social time. A few did some show & tell of finished blocks.

After today's work, I have all my blocks pieced & trimmed for my barn quilt runner.  Now,  it is time to start sewing them together.  I think this part might go easy.  🤞 I have a layout, so it's just a matter of following the directions. No doubt,  there will be unsewing involved.  

I ran across some yardage that I had from one of the Quilt Shop Hops, it is all Wisconsin scenes. The colors seem to fit with my barn quilt blocks. It will work well for the border. 

It's a UFO, but it is in process now.

✨️✨️✨️✨️

We have Robins here now. The first signs of Spring.  No signs of my daffodils tho.   Yesterday I had an ortho appointment in Eau Claire.  I noticed as I drove South, the trees are showing signs of life. Just 50 miles North/South really makes a difference in the arrival of Spring.

🌱🌱🌱

I joined the new Costco in Eau Claire yesterday.  They have DEI programs and are not bowing down to the current regime.  So,  I decided to join.  I have to say that their employers are really well trained in customer service.  I had to wait to buy my membership,  but I was not ignored.  Once it was my turn, the process was quick.  She didn't miss a chance to push the higher priced membership,  advising me that if I am buying hearing aids,  it would be worth it.  Hmm.

Anyway,  once I had credentials,  I headed in to the abyss to shop. I ended up with fruit mostly.  A bowl of mango slices was a little spendy,  but so yummy,  I'm already planning to go back to restock.  Rustic bread that was still warm,  another repeater.  It was fun,  I'm happy with my purchases and ended up ordering a new tablet off their website after researching on line once I got home.  I saved enough on the tablet to pay my membership,  so,  all in all 👍.  I'll be needing tires this fall,  they have options for my consideration.  Any Costco tips?  My friend G, told me that the rotisserie chickens come out at 11am and that they are big.  I'll work that into my next visit. 

🍗🍗🍗

She's a killer

 She's a stone, cold, killer. 

About 5am, Barley stalked & killed a mouse in my bedroom.  Then sat beside it, so proud of herself.  

One less mouse in the house,  but it was quite a murder scene.  

Just another day in the life of a 16 year old killer cat.

Another leak in the plumbing

🚿 🔧 💰 😭

More of the same,  2 fittings on the lines going to the shower were disintegrating.  The Plumber, Ross, thinks that they have been leaking for a very-long-time.  

I have quite a collection of these evil doers.

This time,  he had to cut a hole in the wall to fix. 

Uffda.
Gross & wet.

Short term, I tried to prop the drywall back in to stop a caravan of mice from coming in.  

For the moment,  access denied to crawl space dwellers.

Long term,  I'm going to cover the hole with this cabinet door. It matches the vanity. It will look fine and give access to that area if it is ever needed again. 

 Things have to dry out a bit first. I think by Sunday I should be able to fix it. 

Ross also fixed the shower faucet that was dripping.  I bought the cartridge planning to do it myself,  now it is done. Yay. 

So,  another fun day. Ugh! But now that's over. 

🏀🏀🏀

Rice Lake girls lost their first game at Green Bay,  they never really got into a rhythm. But at least they played at State.  The star players are soph & junior, likely they can run at it again next year with that experience under their belt. 

Spelling

 I recently 'pronounced' for the Regional Spelling Bee.  This was my 10th year as pronouncer.  We had 31 spellers from area schools.  The kids were prepared and confident.  After 10 rounds, we had our 4 top spellers, who will go on to spell at Madison in the State Spelling Bee. 

For me, this was my last year as Pronouncer.  I offered to judge, if ever needed,  but I resigned from the stressful responsibility of pronouncing. 

I always enjoy the day of the Bee, but find myself very anxious in the days leading up to the event.  It is time for a new face at the microphone. 

Things that make my day

 My Art Teacher niece, Erin, sent me this text today.  

It's fun to see my Christmas cards getting used in her classroom.  

Both cards at the top of her display are from me. 

Bonus, now we have instructions for making a Cardinal. 

UPDATE: The Cardinal unit is finished.

Drew ♥️

 This is the most meaningful donation that I have made in, probably my lifetime.  Not sure why I have not done it before,  but I decided to do this annually in honor of Drew.

♥️♥️♥️