What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

About that new author I mentioned yesterday - Iona Wishaw. Her latest book is coming out on April 29th, although Daphne noted that it's already out. If you live in BC, she's doing book tours and signings, and you should go! It's great to support our authors. I hope she can get a more extensive reach! I finished the book yesterday and I loved it. Lots of thinking and fact contemplating, which I love! 

Let's support our Canadian authors. And for our US neighbors, I do read lots of US authors, but I'm always excited to ...

We're back!! DH and I both read the story in the graphic novel EXIT Game. Then we collaborated, and between the two of us, we got the answer! Not before I goofed AGAIN and missed a bunch of letters, so we had to redo the puzzle multiple times. Although DH insists we found the answer unconventionally, I don't care! We solved it without using the clues. He's so black and white; I'm every shade in between! 

Teamwork! It's all about teamwork! 

Should I mention what happened to the kitchen table? This happens when you use ...

Well, this message has hit very close to home! 

I'm listening to an audiobook by Oliver Burkeman called "Meditations for Mortals." Oh boy -- it's about trying to do everything in life and not always succeeding. It talks about our busyness, which is me! 

It also mentions how we feel we must read everything that comes into our house—that's me. We must listen to audiobooks/podcasts at double speed (NOT me) and millions of UFOs (OK—that's me). He wasn't talking about quilting but unfinished projects—like painting the living room, fixing the bathroom door ...

Good grief -- I am NOT nervous about this MRI, but it's obviously in my subconscious as I had another dream, and this time, I was headed for surgery. Yesterday afternoon, I got a reminder call from the hospital about the appointment, which is very early tomorrow morning. In my surgery dream, the hospital gowns were see-through? Too much Janet Evanovich (I just finished Now or Never #31), and I seemed to have bathroom issues (I had a conversation with my Mom earlier in the day about that very thing, but it was her, not me!) I love how the ...

OH MY! As I create a folder each day to store the blog photos, I date it. It's January 25 already! Where has the time gone? 

Someone mentioned the stand-up/sit-down exercises. The chair height is important! Obviously, we are NOT doing this from a step stool. If you can do that, then you're still young! But try various chair heights, and as you become comfortable with one height, find something a bit lower. I get it that some of us have knee issues, so the height can't be too low. But how easily can you get ...

This morning, I made a list of everything that needs to be done this week. Hmm—there's not much time for sleeping, so I'll have to be efficient with my time! However, there are two things that I will not skip: writing the blog and going for that afternoon walk! 

Did you notice that both of those things involve ME time? Yes, even though I might give up some ME time in other areas, these two will always happen—unless there's a significant issue! 

Both of these are for my mental health. And when I say mental ...

Remember I said I was feeling overwhelmed the other day? Why? A lot is happening in the next few months, and I ignored my schedule and work-related tasks during the holidays. As soon as I started putting things on paper in the form of a plan, the overwhelming thoughts were gone! 

Does it have to be an elaborate plan? No! You can type it out or write it on the back of a napkin, but if writing it out gets you back in control, that's all that counts. I have not completed the task, but I'm well on ...

It warms my heart to know that I am not alone! Boxes and bags of stuff are being donated to various organizations nationwide. We will conquer this mess we've created, but we must be mindful not to let it happen again. Slow and steady is all I can say. 

Let's not forget to keep celebrating those little steps. Maybe it's one magazine that got tossed, or perhaps it's a book that you donated. It all counts. What's most important is that as you start to let go, the more you want to let go. 

I ...

It's hard to believe, but it's New Year's Eve 2024. Tomorrow, a new year begins with many goals, aspirations, and plans. I don't make resolutions, although how different is a resolution from a goal? 

Remember, we do NOT need New Year's Day to make improvements in our lives. EVERY DAY is a new day, and if you screw up one day, you can restart the next day! 

So, consider making the Stand-up/Sit-down exercise a goal for 2025. You can start at any time, at any age, and at any ability! Yes, even if you ...

I hope everyone has recovered from their Christmas! It was easy for me to recover from mine. We ended up doing nothing. Nope, we did not watch a movie. I won't go into details, but working out the details of the movie (at home, no less) became a production, so I decided to read instead. 

I learned years ago to expect little at Christmas time—I don't mean that in a negative way. But the more pomp and planning, the more likely someone will be disappointed. So, if you have no expectations, you are NEVER disappointed. And that ...

Someone mentioned where my feet are located on the floor, and that is a good point. They both need to be firmly on the floor, not twisted on the chair leg and have no crossed legs or ankles. I don't know that BOTH of my feet are always flat on the floor, but I'll be more aware of that. I'm still trying to learn all the things I can and cannot do and to avoid pain. 

And YES- I will follow up with my doctor next week to see what else can be done. Thanks for all ...

 Are you moving during the day? I confess I did something I hadn't done for a long time yesterday: I read almost an entire book in one day. However, I can no longer sit in a comfy chair for long with this silly leg issue. By comfy, I mean the chairs in our living room. Even stretched out, they don't work. Although I sat there long enough to attract the girls, and they put on a show for me. 

MOM - can you see us?

It's all how you look at it! I never considered getting up and down from my sewing machine as a squat. But it's a SQUAT! I'll take it! Elle mentioned that she works inefficiently in her sewing space, and so do I. We all need to keep moving, or you'll end up like my Mom. She can't move, because she didn't move! I need to move - if I don't, my body is going to seize up, and I'll be in worse shape than I am. 

But I love this little command station ...

When I left last week, my desk was pretty clear. Now, it looks like a disaster. It's not even old paper - it's new stuff that landed on my desk that I must deal with. There are even two piles on the floor. ACK!!! OK - some of it is older stuff I found as I'm clearing the class folder I took to the retreat. We had Monday sewing yesterday, so there was no time to deal with it, but this morning, I plan to attack this paper and get it off the desk. 

Some of it is stuff ...

Well, this is my first blog on the new computer. All is good—I'm connected to the Wi-Fi at the retreat house. What is impressive—well, not really—is that everything is FAST!!! My goal will be to keep the crap out of the memory and the storage to keep it fast! 

By the way, we are at the Springhouse Retreat in New Hamburg. It's a great place to sew! I got a chuckle when I went to bed. Some people have mentioned that my bedroom is cold, so imagine my surprise when I saw winter-themed flannel sheets ...

LOL—I'll have to get Elle to write a list of her suggestions and post them on the blog! She's almost as popular as I am! Maybe we should ask her questions. Perhaps we can get her to give us her TOP TEN decluttering tips! 

I have two questions. By the way, she worked full-time in the medical field for many years, so she wasn't sitting at home figuring out what to declutter next. 

1. Did she ever have clutter? And what about her SO? 
2. If so, when did the lightbulb go off for her? 

There is nothing to report about progress in the office except that I did deal with a few things sitting on the floor beside my chair. I must get that pile dealt with before I dig into one of the containers on either the filing cabinet or the desk. I'm excited to tackle one, but I had three Zooms yesterday and two today, and there was a wee bit of prep involved. 

All the homework except one email is done, and the two presentations are ready today. Yep -- I'm trying very hard to keep on top of things ...

Thanks for all those fantastic comments and suggestions!! I guess I could safely say that the art of decluttering has now become a daily routine in my life! I'm excited about that, but I'd rather spend the time sewing. However, the new "clean" house makes me want to do more, so getting rid of the junk is very positive. 

I had some work to do in the office, and I actually had an OPEN flat surface upon which to do that work. The surface is nice and clear this morning, but it was a euphoric moment to know ...

I thought about the stride thing yesterday with my KMs, and it's NOT the stride. I did measure that way back when I got a FitBit. I tried to verify it last night, but do you think I could find that in the app? Nope! 

The big issue is the translation from my FitBit records to the data on the Virtual Challenge site. It's sporadic, and I have no idea what's happening, but have a look and see what I mean. 

The data from the Virtual Challenge website for the last two days

For comparison, my FitBit ...

Good progress was made yesterday with the presentations and the sewing! Yeah! It will be a busy day again today, but I think I might just make it! It was an interesting day as I snapped pictures and put them in the presentation. Then, I received pictures from people that needed to be added to the presentations. I hope I got them all in the correct place! If not - well, we can laugh about it. 

OK—you have to check out this video! When I was at Golden Peak Media Studios to film a couple of Fons and Porter's ...