Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Some things to share...

I often run across fun (or funny) things and think, "Oh, I should link this on my blog!" But then I never do. Only today I have an abundance of fun, and funny, things so I'm taking a break from housework to post the links...

My SIL sent me to a post called "A True Southerner Knows..." by blogger Syrup & Biscuits. My southern compatriots can nod their way through the post with me, while my northern friends will be left scratching their heads. Sorry my northern pals, it's a southern thang :)

The bloggesphere has been buzzing about Pinterest for some time now, and it won't be news to you how addictive it can be. We're all guilty! But A.J. Willingham said it better than I ever could in her tongue-in-cheek article "The Agony and Ecstasy of Pinterest".

I may be the last one to hear about something called Texture Magic, but boy does it look like FUN! I'm sure I can't get any here, so I'll have to wait until our next trip to the U.S. Meanwhile, has anyone used this stuff? What did you make with it?

I made chocolate cherry dessert bread this morning. It tastes great but looks rather unappetizing. I want to ask my bread-baking friends out there: is it really necessary to make those criss-cross cuts on the top? Because I think if I didn't have to do that, it would look a LOT better.

~~~~~~~~~

On a completely unrelated note... we are having serious issues with our phones; both the land line and our cell phones. Ivan has called Telecom (we have the land line and internet through them) several times and they just keep giving him the run around -- when he gets anyone at all, and isn't just left listening to music forever. For some reason we cannot call a cell number from the land line. Telecom says we should be able to, BUT WE CAN'T. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, but WE CAN'T. They've been extremely unhelpful and it's seriously annoying, especially since they have a monopoly so it's not like we have any other options.

And our cell phones aren't working right either. We'll try sending a text message and it takes hours -- or even days -- to get delivered. Ivan was trying to get hold of me one day we were in Cordoba; he sent four messages and none of them reached me... until two days later. That's when the carrier sent me another annoying sales pitch (BUY MORE MINUTES NOW! GET DOUBLE FOR YOUR MONEY!) and when it came through, it showed I had four other messages. Yep, all the old ones from Ivan. Oh, and those annoying sales pitches come in the middle of the night as well as ALL DAY LONG. Last night Ivan tried sending me a text to open the garage door, since it was pouring cats and dogs outside. He arrived home about 15 minutes later and the garage door wasn't open. He waited... and waited... until the rain let up a little and he made a mad dash to open the gate and then garage door. He'd been inside about half an hour when my phone started buzzing to indicate I had a message. It had taken over an hour for his message to reach me. *sigh* It would be nice if at least one of the phones worked properly.

~~~~~~~~~

For over a month I've been making fabric yoyo's for a Pinterest project; a few here, a few there, and they're adding up. Yesterday I counted and had over 100 of them, so decided to start laying them out and playing with a pattern. I'm so glad I did! Just didn't like the pastel ones at all, so I pulled those out, leaving about 90. So far I like how it's looking but have no idea how many I'll end up needing since I haven't yet bought the canvas on which to mount them. I don't know what sizes of canvas are even available here.

So for now I'm taking a break from the yoyo's and pulled out an old -- a very old -- hand sewing project: Parasol Girls. I started making these blocks about 20 years ago, using fabrics from dresses I made Tina. Since I didn't make her many dresses, I realized I'd need to add other fabrics into the mix, and at some point along the way cut out enough for several more girls. Not sure what happened (I'm easily distracted) but I stopped cutting at seven blocks. Obviously seven is an awkward number of blocks to work with, unless I use one for a pillow. Not sure yet whether I'll cut out enough for a few more, or go with the pillow idea. Anyway, I periodically pull this out and work on it, and then put it away again, but I've decided that it's time to finish this project. I'll let you know how that goes.

~~~~~~~~~

The rain last night really helped cool things down a little. It was a very pleasant 63 degrees this morning at 6 a.m.! Hopefully the rain softened the ground enough for the guys to dig the leach bed out at the lot. A friend helped Ivan track down a crew of guys who take on digging projects like this, and the job will be a lot easier now that the ground isn't so dry and hard-packed.

1 comment:

Robin Lambright said...

Love the true southerner.....you can say anything about any one as long as you preface it with a bless their heart!

:)
R