Category Archives: Stuff

Mostly me, Stuff

House of depression.

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I need to start making lists again so I can accomplish more than just sitting around listening to podcasts and sci-fi stories on YouTube. I’m barely accomplishing the daily minimum of washing dishes and making my bed. I’m sleeping more than usual.

I haven’t been working on my paintings although I don’t have that many more to do to reach 100. I haven’t been using my studio lately except to hang my coat which makes it a very expensive coat room. So what’s my excuse? I actually have anti-depressants, but I think I need to get a different prescription. They do become ineffective after a couple of years.

The other thing I need to do is to get the Boomerang Child out of my space. He needs to find work and get out of my space. I’d sell my house to get rid of him, but I can’t afford an apartment in this city. Well, not a two bedroom which is what I would need for my crafting, weaving, and bookbinding.

The Boomerang Child needs therapy, medication and a job. Especially a job. He spends most of his time upstairs sleeping with the lights on and the tv going. He’s made himself a little space in the garage where he can sit out of the weather and smoke. He gets money by donating plasma twice a week so he can afford cigarettes.

He’s not really looking for a job. He used to be a cook, but almost everyone in the food business in town has been burned by him not showing up because he feels bad or got stupid drunk.

He seems to have given up drinking which is a good thing. I no longer find beer cans in the recycle bin. The Not-Wife cut off his phone again. So even if there’s a job offer out there, he won’t get it. Their relationship is more toxic than my former marriage to his drunken sperm donor.

Oh well, new year, old crap.

Stuff

Great! Just great!

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I got an email from the water utility Friday, saying I’ve been using 92 gallons an hour for the last week. I can’t wait to see that bill. We tried turning off the water. It seemed to work. I sent an email back to the utility. Monday I got a new email saying it was flowing at 59 gallons an hour. Back to the basement.

I tried clamping off the outlet hose and made my own water park in the basement, complete with fountain. D’uh! So I fiddled with the controller until I got the water stopped. However, that stopped the water from flowing into sinks and things. Fortunately, I was able to get a plumber out in an hour. I now have water, just not soft water.

I can deal with that for the short-term. My next project is to drain the water heater, but that can wait until I get the new softener — next year, which is like tomorrow. What a great start to the year.

Hopefully, 2026 will be survivable. Happy New Year!

Mostly me, Stuff

What am I doing?

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Well, the first thing was waiting for files to transfer to my backup drive from my laptop since I stupidly got rid of the working drive and kept the dead one.

The next thing was to trip over the cat and spill juice into said laptop and kill it. I swear I’m not brain dead, but it’s certainly starting to seem that way. Most files were in various clouds and a couple of external drives, so now I’m double-checking to see what’s missing.

Some files and programs are from a previous laptop that died midway through setting up the maker-space’s library. I pulled that hard drive, bought a housing for it and use that one for storage as well as a 2-terabyte portable storage device.

I use the portable drive to store files and programs to run on an inexpensive laptop I bought to keep at the maker-space to teach members to use software for our Cricut cutting machine and for use with other CNC tools such as the laser cutter, the big vinyl cutter, and the embroidery machine.

Right now, that’s my only computer until I save up for a better one. I still have my iPads, although the older one is used more for watching YouTube videos and is kept in my studio. There’re no programs of value on it except Pinterest, Slack, Zoom, Chrome, YouTube, and my maker-space email.

I’m still doing my watercolor project. I finally got caught up. I was a bit behind – by about six paintings, I think. I’m also making mini blank notebooks. They are tiny, suitable for a pocket or purse, and great as a small gift for a child. I’m doing some watercolor abstracts to be trimmed down as covers for the mini books.

Crafting, Stuff, Watercolor painting

Projects and stuff

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I’m almost caught up with my miniature watercolors. I set a schedule of one painting every three days. September and October had so many things going on that I got behind in painting Now, I’m only two paintings behind and I think I’m finding a way to do decent landscapes. I still need more practice.

Some framed mini paintings- you’ve seen these already..

As the self-appointed repairer of the vending machines, I failed to get the soda machine out of its “out of service” mode and had to call the person who sold us the machine. Because he was going out of town, he couldn’t get to us until Oct. 31st.

He got it working and I spent another hour testing and resetting the slots. He also gave some tips on keeping it running such as getting dust out of the cooling unit and cleaning out the junk that was stashed in there “in case we need it.” The machine is working better and I should be able to maintain it.

I’ve been teaching sewing to students from the city’s alternative high schools. We have two, with limited curricula for students who don’t do well in standard classes. They come to the maker-space to try things like woodworking, leather craft, sewing, stained glass, and pottery.

I’ve taught them to make pillow cases and stuff sacks, utility aprons with pockets, and our latest project – bags to use to microwave popcorn. When I teach them, I show them and explain each step of using the sewing machines, how to measure and cut fabric, and how to mark the seam lines by using a piece of masking tape as a guide next to the sewing foot.

This student has used a sewing machine before so she didn’t need the masking tape.

One of the teachers also made a bag.

When I take project pictures with these groups, I only picture the hands of the students since I don’t have parental or guardian permission to film them.

Crafting, Mostly me, Stuff

Still stressed but good medical news

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My last blood test results were in normal ranges. In another couple of months if all stays improved, they’ll start weaning off my meds. Yay, Rah!

I’m a little behind on my paintings. I have two in progress but I’m not satisfied. The size limitation is what gets me. I have a chance to start watercolor classes again, but I’m leery of spending money for a non-essential while the Social Security issue is in crisis.

The Melon Felon is going all out for Fascism. I’m surprised he hasn’t had a sparkly gold uniform made. Probably, there’s one in his closet with bogus medals hanging on the jacket and he’ll start parading around in it next month. Enough said.

It was Craft Night again. This time I took a new cat coloring book and some markers. I need to make a list of unfinished projects and work on them. But not too fast. I can’t die until I’m done with all of them. Given the number of items in progress, if I never start a new project but just work on existing ones, I’ll be close to 200 years old when I die.

Mostly me, Stuff

Two new paintings

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Here are paintings 3 and 4 along with the model for number 3.

Captain Hydro and his portrait along with some not-quite-Van Gogh trees.

I’ve been busy typing up my end-of life instructions for the young’uns. They keep bothering me like I’m going to keel over in the next few days. I don’t know why. I have a couple of graves I plan on dancing on, and both of the inhabitants are still alive. As time goes on, the list may grow longer. I can think of a dozen or so politicians I plan on outliving and so long as I can afford gas for my car, I might as well dance on their graves too.

I like to dance. It’s good for the heart, hips, and legs. I put on some rocking Cajun music and dance my blues away. I was really disappointed that I missed Beau Soleil when they were near here, but I rarely read the mailers that show up in my mailbox. That includes the newspaper for the suburb I share a zip-code with.

I should pay attention to the news from there because they frequently announce crafts sale sign-ups there. The sales are small, but the one time I did sign up for a fall one, I made quite a bit of money, considering it rained all day and the temperature never got above 40 degrees.

By quite a bit of money, I mean I had a few sales and made back my entry fee and the cost of all of the items I sold. Considering the Sunday Market I used to do out of town where I made practically no money, I felt very successful. The only reason I did the Sunday Market was that I was going to be in that town anyway, visiting a friend who was in a rehabilitation facility until she could walk again.

The two of us had been doing the market together for a year until she temporarily lost the use of her legs due to an injury to her back. Because she had steps into her home, she needed to be somewhere that was one level until she could handle the steps again. It took her two years of rehabilitation before she could return home. I continued the Sunday Market without her, but would stop in to see her. Before she could return home, she had a ramp built so she could use a walker to get in and out of her trailer home, and had her car modified for manual controls.

Since I really didn’t make enough at the Sunday Markets, I stopped attending them once my friend was able to get around on her own. Right after my final time up there, she drove down to visit me and we spent all that day going to craft stores so she could get more supplies for her crafting. She was so happy to be able to get around on her own. She had an aide who came to help her bathe and dress, but she could do most of the other things on her own.

Wednesday morning of the next week, the aide she found my friend dead in her bedroom. Apparently, she had gotten up out of bed and then had a fatal heart attack. There was a memorial service for her that I attended with several other friends who knew her.

I’ve lost several more friends since her death, all of them younger than me. The funny thing is I have outlived most of my parents’ generation of relatives and more than a few cousins on both sides. However, I am in no danger of running out of cousins. There are a couple of hundred of us on both sides particularly when you step down the generations – my siblings and cousins generation, their children, and their children’s children.

At some point in time, I will be the last of my familial generation, but today is not that day.

My own damned opinion., Stuff

The weather and other stuff

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This winter is weird. The South got all of our snow. I think the combined total snowfall for up here in the north so far equals less than 4 inches. I saw a snowflake a couple of days ago. This is not good.

Not that I want to be slipping and sliding all over the place or falling down and hurting myself, but the lack of significant snowfall will result in low groundwater which means low crop yields, fire hazards, and bans on campfires and fire pits. In the summer, I like to throw some twigs and a log into my fire pit for a small fire that lasts long enough for a drink and a marshmallow or two. Can’t do that with a burn ban.

I was planning a good sized garden this year, but may have to limit myself to only a few types of plants – a couple of tomato plants, some onions, and kale, mustard, and turnip greens. I’m a big greens eater —greens and rice with a little ham or sausage and some chopped onions can make a filling meal cheaply.

I have both a freezer and a dehydrator so I can preserve my harvest. Plus there are several local farmers’ markets all over, held on different days in different locations around the city and county. The biggest ones are on the weekends, but there are smaller ones during the week.

I don’t think I’ll get too many plums this year. The weather has been too warm, relatively speaking, and buds are already appearing on the trees including my plum tree. In March, we’ll probably get a bout of freezing weather, and the blossoms will freeze, so I won’t have a good harvest.

Last year’s harvest was phenomenal. I have several bags of frozen plums and quite a few dehydrated plums are still in the cabinet. I should be good until apple harvest time. I do still have several pounds of frozen apples in the freezer so I’m good there as well. I can make applesauce and pie filling. I only need to buy oranges and bananas until they get too pricey or disappear due to lack of harvesters or outright shipping bans. My frozen fruit stash will do otherwise.

My tiny freezer is full and I should get through the rough times. I might be able to get a couple of friends to go in on a side of some dead animal. Not really. I prefer my meat already processed by someone, not that I don’t know how to cut up a side of beef.

Give me access to the back room of a butcher shop, and I’m fairly certain I remember my cuts from my class in commercial cooking. We got to practice on deer during hunting season. It was a learning experience for us and a lot cheaper for the hunters.

Now that you’re all grossed out, I’ll take my leave and get back to book binding. I had to reformat the last few pages and reprint them. Oh well. The wasted paper will be recycled as pulp at my next paper-making class this summer.

As Snagglepuss used to say, TTFN. Tata for now.

My own damned opinion., Stuff

Sir Farts-a-Lot

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Sadly, I must report that the dog I watch has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. He was a Good Boy. But old age and health problems got him. It’s still tragic because we weren’t expecting him to go this soon.

While the scent of doggy farts will no longer fill the air as it did after certain treats, he will be missed. There won’t be the walks around the neighborhood to sniff the markings of other dogs and the ones he left for them will wash away.

I won’t have my twice a week cuddle buddy on the couch. And the rapid wagging of his tail when I mentioned treats will be missed with his doggy smile. I think the cat will miss him too. It will be interesting to see if she goes to the door in the morning. She knew when he was coming and looked forward to attempting her escape when the door was opened.

I hope he was met by his owner’s previous pets and by my much loved and missed cats when he showed up at the end of the Rainbow Bridge. Goodbye Toby. Be young and frisky again in the afterlife.

My own damned opinion., Stuff

Food math – rotisserie chicken style

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Is it worth driving 8.3 miles and paying $65 a year to buy a $5 chicken twice a month? Or is it better to drive 2.7 miles and pay $8 a chicken unless I buy 2 at $6 each? Or is it better to drive 5.1 miles for a $5.99 chicken that’s the size of anemic parrot that gets eaten in two meals by a single person and makes slightly strange tasting soup? It’s the seasonings, not the freshness.

So I’m talking about three different stores here, Costco and two other multi-location stores that are also in town but don’t offer the same foods at all of their stores due to size differences.

The Costco chicken was huge compared to what I usually buy. I have a square container that can hold one of the brick shaped two quart cartons of ice cream. Every rotisserie chicken I have bought before the Costco chicken fit snuggly in that container and I could press the lid shut.

I had to put foil over the top of the container because I couldn’t use the lid for that chicken. I ate a leg or a thick slice of breast or thigh every day for an entire week. I finally tossed what was left at the end of the week into my giant soup pot with water and seasonings, carrots, celery and onions and simmered it until the carcass fell apart.

My original intention was to put it in the slow cooker, but it didn’t fit. So it cooked in the big pot and after picking the meat off the bones, I added noodles, and ate thick, meaty, chicken noodle soup for a week. So I’m debating in these perilous times, (bird flu reducing the chicken population, you know) where I should go for the best chicken value. Ultimately, they all become soup. What matters is the flavor and how much chicken winds up in the bowl with the noodles and veggie bits.

I saw large white free range eggs on sale for $9.99 a dozen at one of the local stores. I don’t eat that many eggs and lucked out with some local eggs at $3.49 a dozen. There were empty spots where some other egg suppliers were not able to supply eggs.

For baking, I have powdered eggs. For eating, I usually throw 10 eggs into my rice cooker for hard boiled eggs. I have some from a previous dozen to boil and by the time I finish eating those, the ones I bought last Sunday will be ready for boiling.

I should check with my son as to whether his friend will be able to supply us with eggs. Or maybe, I’ll use some of the lumber odds and ends and wire fencing that I’ve got in the garage to make a chicken coop and a run. A license costs $10/year to keep 4 chickens. I could build a winter shelter in the back end of the garage with hay and a heat lamp or some sort of heating set-up for them. I think the math works out to around $4.75 per egg, factoring in the food, shelter, and the chickens themselves. Quite the bargain, right?

Something to think about.

Stuff

I have a recipe for you.

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No, you don’t get my life story in 25 paragraphs before you get to the recipe.

Here it is, right here. You might like it better in the late summer when the veggies are fresher, but I live on salad year-round.

What you need is a bag or two of those little sweet peppers – the yellow and red ones, and a green bell pepper

or…

4 good sized bell peppers, 1 each – green, yellow, red, and orange.

A good sized cucumber, seedless or not.

A box of cherry tomatoes or any other bite-sized tomatoes. Bonus points for growing them.

A small red onion or a couple of bunches of scallions.

Sliced Kalamata, or black olives, if you like (optional)

A can of white beans, cannoli beans, or garbanzos, drained and rinsed – or not, your preference.

Olive oil

Wine vinegar or lemon juice

Balsamic vinegar – just a dash or two

Salt and pepper

Fresh basil or a few sprigs of parsley – finely chopped

Sharp knife

Cutting board

Really big bowl

Seed the small peppers and cut into rings. The larger peppers should be cut in half at the middle and then julienned. Dump into bowl.

Cut the cucumber into quarters lengthwise and then cut into small chunks. Dump into bowl.

Depending on the size of the tomatoes, you can cut them in half or leave them whole. If you decide to use full-size tomatoes, seed and cut into chunks. Dump into bowl.

Thinly slice the onion or scallions and add to bowl.

Drain and rinse the beans and add to bowl.

Add the sliced olives – optional

Mix together a 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of wine vinegar or lemon juice, a couple of tablespoons of the balsamic vinegar, the chopped basil or parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix dressing into salad.

Chill before serving.

Sometimes instead of beans, I use quinoa or couscous. You can also use bulgur or brown rice if you like. Kidney or black beans give a different flavor.

Feeds me for a week. It could be a nice addition to a potluck.

The bowl I use is the largest of the Ikea 5-bowl set.

Gratuitous Cat Picture. Her name is Gingersnap. A picture of grace and beauty.