Tuesday, November 29, 2022

We had a lovely weekend on Texada. Although we thought we had planned perfectly it turns out the Cancer Clinic in Vancouver is very responsive to referrals. We were nicely settled in with a fire going Friday morning when a call came through on Pat’s cell. Our coverage over there isn’t great but we managed to get the details on some upcoming appointments before the call dropped. They had left two messages at home before they found the cell number and I’m so glad it worked. It seems if the phone sits on the counter by the sink it will ring and if you walk over to the window in the living room you can actually talk and be heard! Other places you might hear it ring but not be heard or you won’t hear the ring at all.

While I sat in front of the fire I finished a lot of things for my 12 Days packages. I’m working now on the very last piece and I hope to have everything wrapped ready for the mail on Thursday. We went out late yesterday afternoon and I was able to pick up the last items I needed for birthdays and Christmas packages. I’m waiting on a package from amazon and then all the gifts will be ready to go.

I sometimes listen to Christmas music when I’m working on Christmas gifts but this year I’ve been obsessed with my African safaris. Today it is snowing out so I decided it seemed more fitting to be listening to winter carols than to be driving around in Africa.

I decided to get back to my scheduled cleaning tasks today. I did three loads of laundry and cleaned two bathrooms, including scrubbing the floors. Both Christy and Kathryn took care of some cleaning when they were here but it was time to do it again. It’s the first time I’ve swept and scrubbed (Pat has been handling the sweeping and vacuuming) since my surgery and it didn’t hurt at all. I guess that means vacuuming will be in my future.

But for the rest of the day I’ll get back to my quilting.

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Although I’m almost finished my Christmas shopping I can’t help but admire all the neat stocking stuffers that arrive on my Facebook feed. I keep thinking I should add them to my list for next year.

When I search for the websites the ads are coming from something called ScamAdvisor.com always seems top of the search results. This would seem to be a legitimate way to verify those “perfect stocking stuffers”. And, sadly, in all cases so far the websites are listed as untrustworthy.

On a happier note I searched the site for myowncreations.com and I’m 100% trustworthy!

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Christy’s first job was to do marketing surveys for a company. Whenever Pat or I fit into the age category she or her friend was looking for we were happy to answer their calls. A long time has passed though and now we always decline to answer any surveys when they call.

A few days ago I received a letter asking me to go online and take a survey regarding my stay in hospital. Of course I completely ignored it. But today when the telephone rang and caller ID suggested it was the hospital I answered it. Sadly the woman at the end of the line wanted me to do the survey by telephone. I agreed to answer her questions, all of which were very positive towards the hospital staff, nurses and doctors. It went on an on and before we were done a half-hour had passed. Next time I’ll do it online.

I started my day in the sewing room by finishing up the project I was working on yesterday. It still requires some hand stitching and a lot of ends need to be knotted and buried. I had to spend a bit of time online taking a refresher course on how to face a quilt and how to add corner triangles for hanging. How quickly you forget the techniques if you don’t use them.

I’ve also managed to work on another set of projects for the 12 Days packages. They too still need some handwork done and, again, I had to do a refresher on the Nun Stitch. These two projects will go over to Texada with us tomorrow where I’ll hopefully finish them by the end of the weekend.

Yes, we plan to head across to Texada tomorrow afternoon. We won’t go in the morning just in case I get a call regarding any one of my upcoming appointments. I’m sure the calls, when they come, will be in the morning and I’m quite sure none of them will be for appointments the following day – more likely I’ll have several days notice. The wind has picked up this afternoon, as well as the rain is starting, so we’ll hope the ferries keep running.

I’ll get back to work now and wrap up a couple more sets for my 12 Days packages.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

I did an extra lap on the treadmill this morning. I’m determined to be in the best possible shape before I start my treatments. Between the walking and my arm exercises I feel like I’m doing more now than I have since I quit yoga.

My attempt to keep busy worked well too. I wrapped up two more packages (times three) for my 12 Days packages; I have one more set ready to wrap and another set that need a bit added. I think by the time those are done I’ll be ready for another trip to the post office.

There are two more packages that I need before I’m finished. Unfortunately I still have work to do on both of them. I’ve been putting off even working on one set of projects – I’m not sure why. I was determined to at least get my machine threaded and ready to go tomorrow but once that was done I made a start and now I’m almost finished one of them.

I was going to have a nap this afternoon but then remembered that a quilter was coming to pick up some items for their Christmas party. While I waited I opened up my Diamond Dots and got quite a bit filled in. I’m working on the last three colours, although I’ve missed a few spots throughout the picture that will need to be filled in at the last.

So, while I listen in on my Sunset Safari, I’ll get back to work.