Phooey on Futons!

Last weekend I spent two nights at my sister's house while I attended a craft show. I was given my niece's old room, complete with a futon bed. I (almost) wish I'd slept on the floor instead.

First problem: height. The damn thing was too low, even as a couch. It was lower than my knees, making it difficult to get up and down. I don't know how my niece does it, especially since she's at least 6" taller than I am.

Next, the mattress. Or rather, the lack of one. Even with the addition of a padded mattress pad, the featherbed was not much better than a couple of folded blankets.

It was marginally more comfortable than the last time I slept on it, mainly because they'd added some plywood so guests couldn't feel the slats through the featherbed. On the other hand, I ended up sleeping on it as a couch the second night because as a bed the only semi-comfortable spot was right in the middle between the plywood panels. (Which led to another problem: having to roll over to get close enough to the edge to get up.) It felt like old times: I used to stay with them regularly, and I always slept across the middle of the sofabed to avoid having a steel bar in my back. At least in the couch configuration I was resting on the most padded part of my anatomy. LOL

If we stay there again, I think I'll bring a camp mattress and sleep on the floor.

Phooey on futons.

I want to meet you at the Fall Craft Show!

This Saturday I'll be attending the Fall Arts & Craft Show at the First Church of the Nazarene near Ft. Worth, Texas, along with my sister Joy. If you're in the area, come on by to see all my baby things and more for yourself. And don't forget to check out Joy's beautiful jewelry right next door.

The church is located at 2001 E. Main Street in Crowley. Show hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more info, including directions, go here.

Hope to see you there!

The Friday 56 -- The Best of Jim Baen's Universe

A weekly meme hosted by Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions on your blog or (if you don't have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog. * Post a link along with your post back to this blog. * Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

This week's book is The Best of Jim Baen's Universe, edited by Eric Flint. It's a compendium of sci-fi and fantasy stories drawn from the online magazine. The quote comes from a tale called "Bow Shock" by Gregory Benford. I went with the fifth line, since it has some very short sentences at the top.


"Andy pretty well showed there was no pulsar beam," Harkin said helpfully, "so . . . ?"

How I spent my day; or, the never-empty dresser.

I cleaned off one of my dressers today.

I wasn’t planning to, I just wanted to find a particular item. But as I kept searching, I ended up with more and more stuff on my bed and it turned into a monster cleaning session. Finally, I was left with an empty dresser scarf.

Well, ALMOST empty. Let me tell you, if you feel like using a vacuum on your dresser scarf, you’ve left it waaaaaaay too long. ;P

I finally found what I was looking for, but along the way I also found all of this: 2 emptied giftcards, an immodium packet, a small can of baby powder, ribbon holder with umpteen ribbons, 2 fabric scraps, old caladryl bottle, ladybug trinket box, lots and lots and lots of long hairpins, old ponytail bands on caladryl, heart trinket box, 2 price tags, card case, little chest, deposit receipt from ‘98, pocket bandaid case, basket, 2 pairs earrings (never worn because my ears closed up), 2 combs, yellow tray, a pair of nylon footies, 2 brushes, 3 hair scrunchies, trim scraps brought home from work, pocket comb, deodorant, a small lego block, a steel crochet hook, assorted business cards, mini screwdriver set (incomplete), 2000 datebook, old watch, wallet insert with old family pix, 12+ paperclips, 6 good rubber bands, lots and lots of barrettes, empty pinbox, 2 pieces fabric, train ticket, 2 packets hairnets, assorted sm. plastic bags, empty card box, 2 snoods (one too stretched out to use), several craft instruction sheets, spring barrette still on card, an unused giftcard to JoAnn Fabrics (!), 2 bookmarks, throat drops, instructions for walkman & headset, a miraculous medal, 4 extra shirt buttons, 43 receipts from as far back as ‘05, and enough dust for a respectably-sized dust bunny. LOL

(By now you're probably thinking I'm a packrat.)

Wait, there's more! The yellow tray contained a 7 day pill box, exacto knife, more old ponytail bands, spring barrette, assorted scraps of paper, a recipe written on printer tape, more long hairpins, an inexpensive green rosary, 3 loose large barrettes, 3 large barrettes still on the card, 3 holy cards, a Happy Easter paper basket with a lot of small hair clips and the ponytail bands I actually use, and a checkbook box containing EVEN MORE long hairpins, a box of oldfashioned hairpins, 5 screwhooks, a rubber ball with colored swirl, a few small bobby pins, old single ball ponytail bands, an ancient pair of small barrettes with bluebirds, 3 God Bless You Dad cards, and 2 more extra shirt buttons.

(And a magpie.)

Hey, where are you going? You haven't heard about the basket that holds 2 claw clips, 1 mini claw, 1 butterfly clip, a spring barrette with a bow, 7 other spring barrettes, a french twist doodad, a magic bun doodad, yet another unidentified hair doodad, 3 terry hairbands, a tiny dolled wrapped in a ribbon, a banana clip, a packet of french hook earring keepers,2 pens, a really old pantliner sample, and an old deodorant container kept so I can color-match the lid for paint. Or the little chest, which only has 6 pins, 5 pendants, 4 rings, 5 pretty stones, 2 small safety pins, a crystal on a string, 2 pairs of earrings, my grandmother’s pearls, a wooden cross necklace, a gold butterfly slide, a long black ribbon, a silver ankh on a chain, another chain with 2 more pendants, a silver tone bangle, a gold/pearl necklace, a multi-strand seed bead necklace, a tarnished silver puff heart necklace, a cloisonné pendant from Greece, a turquoise and silver necklace, and a set of HB 0.5 mm pencil leads.

(And you'd be right. LOL)

I can see your eyes glazing over, but there's just a little more: a heart-shaped trinket box with a pink butterfly pin,a silver angel pin, a gold circle scarf pin, and a pair of small safety pins; and last but not least, the object of my original search, a ladybug trinket box containing an old watch face and a pin and coin from Russia.

(I was looking for the box, not the contents.)

While I was sorting all the junk out, I washed the dresser scarf and most of my ribbon collection. Then I relocated a lot of stuff and threw quite a bit out or collected it to give away. Here’s an “after” shot of the newly clean and organized dresser. It’s not empty by any means, but at least now I can not only SEE the scarf, I can even tell what color it’s supposed to be. LOL

Maybe next week I’ll tackle the other dresser.

Then again, maybe not. ;P

I'm gonna wash that dye right off of my fingernails . . . . .

Yesterday I finished the last of the pew drapes ordered by my brother's parish -- 40 in all. Hurray!!!!

What a relief! It took all summer to get these finished, what with work and health problems and more work. I don't even want to see this fabric again for a loooooong time. . . . . well, at least outside of work. ;P

The pile may not be very tall, but it weighs a ton -- it took 7 1/2 yards of drapery weight suedecloth, four rolls of stabilizer, and three spools of embroidery thread. And the dye kept crocking off the back onto my clothes and hands. My fingernails have been pinkish for weeks!

Tomorrow my brother will pick them up (and even more importantly, pay me!!!), and then I can concentrate on getting the dye off my hands, my fingernails, my machines, my iron, my tools . . . . . . . . . . .

If I ever work with this stuff again I should be certified.

Update: no money yet, but soon. :o( My brother had to submit the invoice to the parish board.

It's bedtime -- someone turn off the blankety-blank light!

I can sleep with the light on if I have to, but I'd really rather not. My mother, on the other hand, likes to go to sleep with the lamp on, especially if she's sick. And she turns the bathroom light on in the middle of the night, instead of relying on the nightlight.

Personally, I like my room to be almost pitch black when I go to bed. I keep my door open a few inches (I can't stand having it closed at night), and the dim glow from the bathroom nightlight twenty feet down the hall is all I can bear. All three windows have room-darkening shades, which don't always suffice when my neighbor has the kitchen light on all night (what the heck is she doing in there at two in the morning, hmm?)

A few years ago I bought a clock with big green numbers so my near-sighted self could read the clock in the middle of the night. It wasn't the best choice I could have made. Yes, I can tell the time at 3:00 a.m., but those green lights give off about a hundred times more light than the red ones. It's so bright I can do shadow puppets on the wall. :o( For the last 5? 6? years, I've put a triple-folded piece of paper over the clockface every night so I can get to sleep.

When I do end up having to sleep with the light on, I tend to turn away to face the wall if possible. Failing that, I pull the covers over my head, making sure to create an airway that I can see out of (yeah, I know it's for air, not sight. So sue me.).

So, what's your opinion on the subject?

P.S. Don't forget to turn out the light!

Moving Right Along

I know, I know, it's been over two months since I last posted here. Two months filled with tendonitis and steroid shots, short work hours, and a nasty stomach bug that I'm still not completely recovered from. And waaaay too many viewings of Sister Act 2 in an effort to boost my spirits.

Moving right along, let me show what I was working on when I felt fairly decent -- pew drapes for my brother's church.

I now have 23 of the desired 40 drapes finished and ready to box up. Tomorrow I plan to start embroidering the rest of them.