Prize Winner

I have been able to get more done today than in the past couple of weeks.  Hubby has been getting a lot of pain in the shin which made walking difficult.  I took over the care of the chickens and some of his indoor chores.  I didn't have a lot of time left over to do much other than my usual wifely responsibilities (not those!  I meant cleaning and cooking.).  He went to the hospital and got a scan and an x-ray and are now awaiting the results.

I hired a neighbour to come and help me catch up with the bigger cleaning jobs and she did a fantastic job.  We almost need to wear sunglasses in the bathroom.  She will come back next week and finish up.  It would be lovely to have her come on a regular basis but, unless I start selling more quilts, that won't happen.

I finished my magazine article early this month as my nephew and family are coming from England on Sunday.  I also finished the scrappy top I was working on.  I like it enough I want to do it again but set the blocks on point.  I will post when it is quilted.

The photo is of a sweater a lady in our quilt group made.  She knitted the sleeves etc. and then added to the quilted part.  I think it looks fantastic and suggested she enter it in our local fall fair.  A prize winner for sure.

Blessings, 

Happy! Happy!

 I am a happy camper.  I have finally got a program downloaded that will allow me to speak and have it printed as text right into my Word co.  I just finished dictating a section of a chapter and it worked perfectly.  I still have to learn to remember to say comma, new sentence etc.  Something new to learn.

We had quite a rainstorm last night but the sun is shining now.  We did need the rain as do the farmers around us.  I have found a home for one of my quilts.  We have wonderful neighbours (quite a few of them, actually) who are always there to help when we need it, looking after our dog and generally just making life easier for us.  this particular family loves cats and I have a quilt that I did some time ago and decided to give it to them.  I would much sooner give one away than have them molder away in a cupboard.

I can't find a photo right now but will share it when I do.  I am sewing the label on tonight while watching TV and will give it to them tomorrow.  Now I have room to make another quilt!

Blessing,

Found it!

Planning Ahead

 Another week over and tomorrow is the start of the weekend.  Our Heritage Home (museum) is having its annual community event tomorrow with lots of activities for everyone.  The big attraction is the firefighter's challenge.  Individual firemen compete against each other doing tasks like climbing a ladder and rescuing a person, replacing equipment in the truck etc.  It is a fun and interesting look into what they face when they get called to a fire.

A lot of our firefighters are volunteers which mean always being ready to go no matter if you are in the midst of a celebration, family event or meeting.  You get a call, you go.

I have had a busy day.  I did a bit of gardening; pulling weeds, moving some plants and setting out a few more lawn ornaments.  I am going to be planting some thyme ground cover.  I want it to take the place of our lawn as, once it gets established, hubby won't have to cut grass.  I keep trying to plan for when we aren't able to do some of the usual chores.  With a bit of planning, I am hoping we can stay in our home until we pass away.  That may sound gruesome to some people but after seeing how elderly friends and relatives exist in care facilities, I am going to do everything possible to avoid the same fate.

I got some more work on my charity quilt and finished a chapter of my book.  The weather has been really nice 18-21 C which makes it so much nicer to get things done.,

Have a great weekend,

Blessings,

Still Searching.

 I hope everyone had a good Canada/Independence Day.  I don't expect the Canadian government of the time paid a lot of attention to the fact that our special day would be so close to the American one.  It is interesting when they happen on the same weekend.  Personally, I think it is rather nice as the two nations, although very different, always manage to get along when it is important-rather like families.

Hubby and I were invited to a neighbours for a Canada Day barbecue followed by a nice visit.  We took Heidi do as she gets along well with their cat.

I thought I had the speech to text search solved but I haven't.  None of the free programs worked well so decided to buy Dragon which is the number one recommended program.  They had a set up for under 100 dollars.  However, when I went to buy it, I found that it was no longer available.  All the others are anywhere from over two hundred to 600 hundred plus.  Too expensive for me.

If anyone has a program they use, I would love to have your recommendation.  As I have said previously, I want to be able to dictate my book onto Microsoft Word. In the meantime, back to Google search.

Blessings,

Speech to Text

 Sometimes the best solution is the easiest.  I have been looking at speech to text programs for a few weeks without much success.  I want to be able to read my book (that is currently typed onto paper)  into MS Word so I can edit and get ready for publication.  I don't need anything fancy and I didn't want to have to pay hundreds of dollars.  I tried numerous apps and nothing met my requirements.  Then I saw one that was strictly for Microsoft and was already installed on the computer.  I opened Word, clicked on the program? app? and away I went,  It printed exactly what I said.  Now I can get the book done before I loose all my faculties.

The weather has been cooler the past couple of days so I actually got some gardening done.  I bought a few half priced annuals at our garden centre and will get them into the ground.

I think I may have ruined someone's day on Saturday.  I had my credit card declined when I tried to make a purchase on line.  I knew I wasn't overdrawn, my bill had been paid and I had entered the correct information (I double checked at least four times.  Time to call customer service.  Great.  They have an hour wait time (why can't they take your number and call back?) I put the phone on loudspeaker and played computer games while keeping an ear open so I could hear the repeated messages.  Three quarters of an hours passed and they disconnected me.  I then tried their on line help but it wasn't any use.

The next day I decided to call the fraud/lost card number as I was reasonably sure that would get me a person, which it did. I got a very patient man who went over all the possible problems with me but none of them seemed to be the solution.  It was then I finally realized I was contacting the wrong company.  I thanked the man profusely, apologized equally profusely and then called the right people. I now, once again, can use my card.  The problem: my mailing address is a post box number and I have a separate street address-country living.

I finished the quilt that was on my frame and it has gone to its owner.  Not sure what I will start next.

Blessings,

Retirement??

 I have been doing far more house work than anything else lately.  I wanted to give both the main bedrooms a complete cleaning  as they hadn't been done in a while.  We have also been getting a lot of ants and I thought that maybe something  was attracting them.  Everything on the beds was washed, mattresses vacuumed and flipped.  We put an insecticide around the floorboards after washing the walls.  It took ages to get everything done-four days in fact.  The headboard on the master bed is wood so it was taken out, swept and sprayed.  It is still outside airing as is the rug. Today, we set up the air conditioner and installed a new (to us) washing machine. I hope I am done for a while.  The rest of the house can wait for cooler temperatures.

The weather was a lovely 23c today which was considerable better than low 30's.  I was even able to take the dog for a nice walk.  This weekend, the Art Club is having a show and sale but I am not taking part as I have too many other things to get done.  My to do list includes writing up a quilt pattern that I have sold to a magazine, finish 2 charity quilts, write my magazine article before the end of the month and finish a customer quilt.  My poor book keeps getting shoved to the bottom of the pile but I did get a bit of work done on that this week.  Retirement?  What does that mean?

Blessings,

Dust Bunnies

 Despite the heat, I got quite a bit done today.  I worked on the charity quilt that is on the frame and my scrappy. I also, finally, put the new thread holder together and got the spools on it.  I know have to figure out where to put it.  I thought about the top of a cupboard but then I wouldn't be able to reach the top most rows so, right now, it is on the ironing board.

I bought a new mattress cover for the master bed and took the opportunity to wash all the bedding including the quilts.  I slid the bed away from the wall so I could sweep and was amazed at the dust.  I probably could have made a couple of bunnies from it. When the floor was carpeted, the dust wasn't so obvious (which is rather gross).  I will have to make sure I get the mop under the bed every time I change the sheets. Wouldn't it be nice to have a housekeeper to look after all those things?

There was a tornado warning south of us but I think it passed by.  We are not in an area that gets hit although that isn't a guarantee.  Barrie, which is just under two hours away, seems to be a favourite target.

As much as I dislike black flies, I will take them over a tornado.

Blessings,