Addicted To Fabric

 Welcome back to my little corner of the world.  It's wet and cold, but I can't complain.  Except for my heater.  I can complain about that.  Somewhere along the way a ghosty must have followed me home.  When I left in December, I set one of my two heater controls down to 55 degrees.  How weird when I got back and went to reset it.  

I thought I must be losing it.  Every section was set to 69 degrees.  How can that be??  I KNOW I changed it.  So this morning when I got up, it said 55 degrees.  Every setting was at 55 degrees.  WHAT?  There's something fishy going on here!!!  I changed them all back to 69.  We shall see what happens!!

I really could use some heat with this foggy soup.  It was a little worse than this picture looks.  There I was ... all dressed up and no place to go at 9:00 because you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  It got SO much worse.

Well BUGGER!  I sat with my boy for almost three hours, playing phone games, until it cleared enough to drive.  By the way ... anyone realize how amazing it is how our phones now rule the world?  I mean really ... you can keep in contact with anyone in the world, play games, check the weather, look at the stars, check your bank account and level your RV ... all from your recliner.  

Or from your computer chair while Kitters watches.  She's waiting for the grub dispenser.  It's weird because I'm sure she has another house to visit.  She gets up early, eats and disappears until dinner time.  She always comes back from over the neighbor's fence where the goats used to live.  Or maybe two fences over?

While I waited for the fog to rise, I had the perfect breakfast.  Warm cherry pie with whipped cream.  Note to self ... do NOT buy another pie.  They are way too big for one person!!

FINALLY at noon I headed out to the quilt store.  First on the list (I'm a little late with this one) ... two pieces of green to match the flower fabric.  I am not a GREEN person.  I think over the years I've only purchased two pieces.  Maybe, if I'm lucky, I will get this finished by NEXT Christmas!

Next up ... this one.  I've been looking for backing for this one for at least six months.  Finally ... this will work just fine.  Did I mention I'm addicted to fabric?  Good grief .... when I got back home I looked in my sewing room and thought I will never EVER be able to sew all of this fabric together in the years I have left.  I think I'll have to take up residence in Arizona so it can be sold at a yard sale.

I rummaged through the piles to find these three fall color pieces.  I'm a little late with this one too since fall is long gone.  I spent the next hour cutting it up to begin sewing.  I LOVE THIS FABRIC!

That became a little difficult when you-know-who would not leave me alone.  You are becoming quite annoying little girl!!  

Apparently my motivation to sew has returned.  AND I think there are some peanut butter cookies in my near future.  Even better ... Mr. Cooper is eating great and by his actions, feeling much better.  Here's a shocker ... he is even eating a tiny bit of the low fat cottage cheese the vet recommended.  Oh how I love THAT!!!

It is once again foggy city, so I'll be in the sewing room whipping up another quilt!!

TWO SHADOWS?

 Mostly cloudy with a high of 63.  That's what the next couple of weeks look like for us.  With lows in the 40's, it's not bad ... not bad at all.  Here we are 30 minutes after getting me up at 3:15 am.  I guess I can't complain since he grabbed his ball on the way out.  Let's play Mom!!  It's been quite some time since he has felt good enough for the ball game!!

Yessiree ... Miss Kitters has made herself right at home.  It's hard to think she was starving just a few months ago.  It sure makes me wonder where she came from and what happened.  I'm guessing she was left when someone moved away. What a terrible thing to do to a beautiful kitty.

Wild cats are usually ... well ... wild.  They don't jump up on your lap and make noises like this!!  As I said, she's so very affectionate.  Being fixed, she had to belong to someone.

So now I have not one, but TWO shadows that follow me around the house everywhere I go.  You guessed it .... this is the bathroom!

On this morning, I had a list.  The same list I have had for three days now and can't get motivated enough to get out the door.  I think most of that involves couch sitting with Cooper, which is my favorite pastime.  At any rate, I finally made it to the truck.  I'm happy to report that after a little over 30 days, she started right up.  Woohoo!!

Off we went to pick up this beauty from the bakery.  Lemon bars for the neighbors because they were so kind as to check up on Kitters food, and bring in my garbage cans.

On the way back, I made a quick stop at Tar-Jay for tortillas.  Not the best place to look for those, but easy in, easy out and no other shoppers to worry about.  Seriously, I don't know how these guys stay in business.

I laughed when I saw the paper bags.  I asked the girl ... we are killing trees now?  She looked at me sideways.  You know, first it was plastic because we are killing the environment by killing the trees.  Now we are killing the trees because plastic is killing the environment???  There was a blank stare as she processed that information.  It's the LAW she said.  Uh huh ... and wasn't it the LAW to use plastic?  Another five seconds of blank stare as she thought about that and handed me my receipt.  I left her to contemplate a response.

At least I USE the plastic bags ... what am I supposed to do with the PAPER bags?  Throw them away of course.  But I didn't have time to think about it.  I had weeds to pull.

It seems my gardener thought all he had to do was mow the lawn while I was away.  Just look at this mess!  And then ... THEN ... he called in sick.  

Why is it gardeners think they don't have to do the flower beds???  I pulled most of them out and left them on the lawn.  Hopefully he will be back next week to clean up the mess I made because "I" am NOT doing his job that I pay him for.  There will be lots of leaf raking when he returns also.

That's when the doorbell rang.  My big solar lights for the back yard arrived in a tiny package.  I discovered they would be so easy to install if I had wood instead of plaster siding.  I have a little bit of wood facing by the roofline, but I think it's got an overhang that will block the solar part.  I guess that will be today's problem to work out.

Feeling a little sore from all that weed pulling, I went out for a walk.  I'm always careful, but almost got run over three times.  Busses backing up into driveways ... gardeners driving on the wrong side of the road ... I quickly did the two step to get out of the way.  Two miles later I gave up and came back home, wishing I had only done ONE mile.  

I watched National Treasure, trying to stay up later in order to sleep later.  Sadly, that never works for Cooper.  I love watching those old movies ... everyone looks so YOUNG!!  Great movie though ... filled with edge-of-your-seat moments. 

Today I'm off to the fabric store.  I'm out of red fabric for the quilt that needs to replace the one that was stolen ... or thrown away as the case may be.  And my to-do list gets longer ..........

A Nice Black Eye

 GOOD MORNING FREEZING CALIFORNIA!  Yessiree ... it's another 38 degree morning with frost and fog blanketing the Central Valley.  You know it's bad when you go outside with Cooper and come back in wet when it's not even raining.  I have to laugh because Miss Kitters refuses to walk on the grass.  If I call her, she walks completely around the yard on the concrete mow strip to the concrete sidewalk.  She doesn't want to get her tootsies wet!!

I began the day clearing out the kitchen so I could fix the kids breakfast.  Cooper is barking because I'm not fast enough. 

There are now clothes hanging all over the kitchen.  If my Levis ever dry, I will be able to move these to the laundry room.  

On another EXCELLENT note, Mr. Cooper is back to his barking-for treats-self, eating VERY well and getting in my face for licks.  I can't tell you how relieved I am.  We are definitely on the upward swing to healthy again.  

The first problem of the day was my Photoshop program refused to work.  I seriously did NOT want to call because you get someone in India who can't speak English.  EVERY SINGLE TIME.  Of course they also wanted to hook up to my computer.  Ummm that's not happening.  You will just have to speak slowly and tell me how to fix it.  

At long last, he discovered that my subscription had been changed to the wrong email account.  I changed it back and it now works.  For $9.99 a month, it BETTER work!  Just another scam to get more money out of you by not selling a disk with the program.  

Next problem please (like I need another one), my computer required updating.  Not once, but TWICE.  That ALWAYS, and without question, screws up something!!  I set it up and walked away.  No use watching paint dry.

The next hour was spent looking at foldable electric bikes.  They are ALL heavy and hard to lift for an old lady.  The best rated ones run 75 pounds or so.  Oh I can lift it, but who knows for how long.  Why do I need foldable?  Because I doubt I can lift one three feet in the air to a bike rack.  I might be able to lift it 12" up the steps into my rig, to live between the two front seats.  I haven't measured it yet, so there's that!  There is only one I've found that weighs 59 pounds.  I'm thinking I can just take the battery out before loading.  Nothing came from this foray into internet land.

Trying to think ahead, I threw together the sweet and sour meatball recipe from the 14 year old.  Dinner will be served in 6 hours.  

I then went to the closet to gather up the throw-aways, including 89 coat hangars.  I made it to the back door, got it open and headed for the trash can.  When I opened the lid, one of the hangars caught on the edge and I got whacked in the eye ... HARD!  Oh yeah ... that made a very nice shiner of my left eye an hour later.  How will I explain this ... I got whacked in the eye with a garbage can lid!!!

I thought to make a quick trip to the bakery for sweets to bestow on my neighbor for checking on Kitters.  She has quieted down a bit, but is constantly checking out every room in the house.  Other than Patty's kitty Snoopy, I have never EVER seen a cat this affectionate.  Though she doesn't stay more than 30 minutes in one spot, she purrs constantly and has become a real pain walking back and forth across my lap.  

Patooie ... spit spit ... and in spite of lots of brushing, leaves kitty hair all over the place!!

I never got to the bakery.  I can talk myself out of going to town so easily it's pathetic!!

Instead, I installed my new lights ... the same that Ray and Cindy have in Yuma.  I love these lights.  They are solar lights that look like flames

They said it takes two days to gather up enough solar energy, but as soon as it got dark, they turned on.  They will show up brighter when I get the solar yard lights (in my next Amazon order) put up.  

Dinner was delayed because SOMEONE forgot to turn the crock pot on.  I'm SURE I told someone to do that!!  It was even LATER when I opened the just-purchased bag-o-salad that Walmart picked out for me.  It has a Use By date of January 20.  Was that LAST year?  I mean really, would YOU eat this???

I called them, but they said I would have to return it to the store.  It would cost me more in diesel than to just throw it in the trash.  I picked out enough leaves to make one salad and threw the rest away.  What a ripoff!!

Dinner was fabulous!   I pulled out my new microwave rice cooker for this one, and even watched a video to be sure I got it right.  OH LOOK ... stale popcorn I hid last month so I wouldn't eat it all at one time!!  

Rinse, pour in less water than most recipes call for, add a tiny bit of oil to keep the grains separated (most important you know) and cook for 15 minutes.  Mine did NOT look like the video.  For one, the entire cooker top was covered in greasy oil and it was not quite cooked.  A few more minutes and ... okay, it tastes like rice, so I guess it's edible.  At least it's good enough that I will use it again, but without the oil.  Wait ... doesn't rice on the stove take the same amount of time to cook?

YUMMM YUM!!  I love sweet and sour, so this truly simple recipe is a keeper.  I even got the meatballs and the pepper/onion mixture from the frozen section at Walmart.  A can of pineapple chunks and a bottle of barbecue sauce and voila!!  It's interesting how the barbecue sauce has a different flavor after cooking all day. 

I SWEAR today I'm going to get up and get going.  Hanging out with Cooper and Kitters is just too addicting.  

And because I know inquiring minds want to know .....

Did I tell Bingo I was home?  NO

Did I get a call from Bingo?  YES

Did I ANSWER said call?   NOOOOOO.   (Insert cackles a witch would be proud of)

Glitzy Glamorous and Gaudy

Mr. Cooper would like to thank everyone for their prayers and well wishes.  It's a miracle thanks to you!  This was his Merry Christmas picture that I'm not sure I posted.

This is him this morning, feeling oh so much better, though a bit haggard!!  There was no getting up in the middle of the night except once to let Kitters out.  She decided to stay inside where it was warm since there is now frost on the pumpkin every morning.  I'm sure we are getting in the way of her night life schedule.

We got up at 4:00 ... much improved over 3:00.  Coop slept through the night, has not been sick, and is eating like a normal dog again.  I did have a thought however ... the lady vet he saw last time that told me he should be on Senior food instead of Sensitive Stomach?  I think that was a BIG mistake, even though I mixed it together for over a week.  I think that change of food is what brought this on.  

SO ... we are going back to his old food with boiled chicken.  The less fat in this kids diet, the better.  He's so much better, barking for his treats, nosing the kitty away and jumping up on the couch.  That is major improvement!!  So thank you everyone for your prayers ... they really worked!!

First things first ... laundry!!  AGAIN!  And I still haven't washed the main rug from the rig.  Nor have I vacuumed the rocks and pebbles out.  I need a different type of tennis shoe that doesn't pick them up and deposit them on the floor.  

I had one OH CRAP moment when I realized I had turned the fridge off before emptying out the bottom crisper drawer.  That got a little messy.

After vacuuming out the last two carpeted rooms, and dumping a horrendous amount of dirt in the trash can, I went straight for my closet.  If the house smells, the clothes smell.  This is one of my vintage outfits that I no longer wear.  It's time for this stuff to take a hike.  Gals from the little town of Sonora up the hill are always looking for clothing to wear for their events.  They just got lucky because three of these outfits will be free.  The white thing is a hoop skirt to wear under the skirt.

I also FINALLY ... after all these years of hoping to wear them ... cleaned out the bridesmaids dresses, the short black numbers, the Hawaiian hula outfits and the glitzy glamorous gaudy Las Vegas wear, 16 dresses in all, to be donated to a friend and her daughter that can fit in them.  Everything comes around again in fashion, and they are right on target now.  I mean really, it's not like I'm going to wear a VERY short strapless dress covered in rhinestones ever again in my life.

While Cooper slept, I snuck out to pick up an online Walmart order.  SURPRISE!  When I opened the bags, I got four cans of corn, two deodorant bars and some sour cream I didn't order.  I double checked  everything and I didn't pay for it, so I guess it was FREE day.

I quickly mixed up a batch of turkey pot pie to use up the leftovers I had in the rig fridge.  I'll bake it with a biscuit on top for quick dinners.

All the while, Kitters sat in her adopted chair.  By the way, I had ONE shadow, now I have TWO.  They both follow me everywhere!!

When the football game came on, she adopted this position.  Every once in a while she would reach out with her paw and touch my shirt.

The claws would go in and out, but she never caught them on my clothing.  I guess that "Kitty" for I'm glad you're back.  

Two hours later, she still there.  I think Rex is right ... cats own YOU, not the other way around.  I must say however, she is fixated on FOOD.  No surprise considering she was starving when I found her.  I really think she is getting food somewhere else because she's fat as can be.  If she's not careful, she won't be able to jump up on the table any more!!

And so ended a lovely COLD day in sunny California.  

Cooper, Kitters and I will be ON THE COUCH!!

Houston We Have A Problem

 Welcome home to sunny COLD California.  It's a lovely FREEZING 39 degrees, that didn't get much better the entire day.  The sun must have run out of propane, because it didn't help one little bit.

SO ... here we go with another day of Cooper meds.  It's a knock down drag out fight to get one little pill down his throat.  I finally gave the peanut butter ingredients a good once over and I THINK there is no xylitol in it, which is lethal to dogs.  

I gave Cooper a tiny bit ... and amazingly, he ate it.  I gave him two more before sneaking in the pill.  He spit it out.  No kidding ... this kid .... it took two more bits to get the pill to FINALLY disappear.  

On the other hand, these big "cherry" pills, disappeared in a flash.  I had Cherry PIE for breakfast after I toasted my toast until it was black as coal.  

That's when I heard it ... the meows at the door.  This pictures doesn't even really show the wide body she has become.  The difference in this kitty since I found her is shocking!!

But FIRST ... this house smells SO bad!!  I steam mopped all the hardwood floors while I washed two loads of rugs from the rig.  Only two loads of rugs to go.  While the second load of actual clothes was washing, I vacuumed every carpeted room.  

In a flash, the vacuum said it was full.  How could that be?  Yup completely full of whitish dust like talcum powder.  I dumped that before taking on the spiders that have invaded the house.  We call them Daddy Long Legs.  I appreciate the fact that they eat all the little flies, ants and creepy critters, but they leave their carcasses in piles by the windows.  

Next I mixed up some hydrogen peroxide and water, washing down every counter in the house.  I was literally on a rampage!!  Finally done, the house smelled a little better, so I sat down on the couch.  In two seconds, guess who was tapping me on the leg for some scratches. 

Houston, we have a problem.  This cat is so affectionate and attention starved, she would not leave me alone for the next two hours.  Finally she cuddled up and was still for all of 30 minutes.

More cleaning ensued as I cleaned out the rig.  What the heck?  Where did all these come from?  Apparently I was planning for a happy hour.  By the way, those Dot's Pretzels are AMAZING!!  These were honey mustard and delicious with a capital D.

More cleaning ensued as I hit my bedroom and bathroom.  Two MORE loads of laundry appeared on the floor.  Today I'll take the vacuum out to the rig.  That little dust buster I got just isn't doing the trick.  Oh and every time I sat down, guess who joined me.  She was like velcro the entire afternoon.  I put her out three times, but she just cried until I let her back in.

By lunchtime, I discovered my cooking skills have disappeared ... I burned the grilled cheese.  I ate it anyway, along with some of those snacks!!

And yet again .... she must have been a lap kitty in another life.  Every time I let her out, she cried to get back in.  You KNOW what happened next.  She ended up spending the night inside.  

Houston ... we have ANOTHER problem.  She came in the bedroom at 1:30 crying.  I petted her a bit and put her out.  She cried.  I let her in and petted her a bit until she left the room.  An hour later she was back meowing.  She didn't want out ... she just wanted scratches.  I've created a MONSTER!

The best news is Mr. Cooper slept through the entire night ... or at least until 3:00 when we were once again AWAKE AND UP!!  Ugh .... if only I could sleep until 4:30 again!!  We seem to be stuck on Arizona time!!

And so begins another day of cleaning and getting rid of STUFF.  I've finally decided that those formal dresses in my closet from 43 years ago can be let go.  I don't want to say I'm a hoarder, but I still have Levis from when I was 21 years old ... because SOME DAY I will be able to wear them again.  Hey ... I've finally lost 15 pounds ... only 20 more to go!!!!

I THINK I OWN A CAT

 PROGRESS!!  Only got up three times with Mr. Cooper at the Indio Elks Lodge.  It was a nice quiet night except for all my door slamming.  The rig is so airtight that the slider doesn't close easily, and makes a loud noise.  I have to open the vent fan first, and even then it isn't exactly quiet.  

We left at 7:00, knowing it was going to be a  L O N G drive.   6.5 hours to be exact, but little did I know that would not be correct.  And so we were OFF heading out of Indio.

In order to "avoid the strong wind warnings" that popped up constantly on my phone, I took my usual shortcut North to Barstow.  Someone forgot to tell me about the Morongo Valley.  Good grief ... I was all the way down to 45 mph to keep it on the road.  Luckily there wasn't too much traffic.

Two hours later, we were fueling up at Barstow.  It was a miracle.  Diesel was only $4.69 a gallon.  I don't think I have ever paid less than $5.00 at this staton.  The worst part ... it's B20 fuel, that I am NOT supposed to use in this engine.  I'm going to have to find another fueling point.

All was going well until just as I was taking Hwy 58 to Tehachapi, there were trucks on either side of me and two big pieces of tire on the road in FRONT of me.  There was no missing them.  YIKES!!  And no place to pull over to see if there was any damage to my under-rig generator or propane tank.  

At last I ended up in Boron for a check and all seemed ok.  Has anyone stayed at the Arabian Knights RV park there?  In the old days, our group used to stay there a lot.  It's mostly full-time people now, and looks just as bad as it did back then!

Over Tehachapi I went, trying not to get run over by trucks.  In California, there are no speed limits.  These guys were going 65 mph and over.  The heavy-haul wide-load truck almost took me out by not even staying CLOSE to his own lane.  I really didn't want to tangle with the D9 cat that was hanging on for dear life.

Time for a quick stop in Bakersfield at the PIE SHOP!!  How could I not say hello?  Hey ... they have a Chevron station ... might as well top it off while I'm here.  Yes, it was $5.49 a gallon, but I only needed 10 gallons.  Unfortunately, I got a little irritated when I had to pull up to THREE different pumps to get ONE to work.  And I was off once again.

Traffic is just crazy.  NO ONE goes the speed limit.  I tried, but I kept getting stuck behind stinky trucks hauling who knows what that splattered my windshield.  I finally joined the crowd and went 75 mph almost the entire way home.  It took me 7.5 hours.  

We no more backed into the yard and Kitters came running.  Then she stopped.  She would not come to me and acted really scared.  Weird!!  I began unpacking necessary stuff and soon she was rolling on the concrete.  

She kind of wanted to come in the house, but was very wary, not letting me touch her.

There were NO purrs, and she would not let me pick her up.  It didn't take long however, after a few pets and scratches.  I think I own a cat!

Okay, you're being pretty annoying now, patting me with her paw and getting nose to nose.  Of course this morning, she was outside crying to get in.

Mr. Cooper seemed better the moment he hit the ground.  This is his territory and he knows it.  He slept for a bit before eating dinner, and I figured out how to get the pasty stuff in his mouth ... or at least smashed into his teeth so he has to lick it off.

We were only up once last night ... what a relief ... but at 3:00 am (4:00 Arizona time) we were wide awake and raring to go.  There was no "let's go back to sleep for an hour".

I did have a thought last night ... Cooper has never had any trouble like this until I was told by the Vet to switch his food.  Today I'm going to the store and go back to the old stuff he used to eat.  I'll make the switch slowly, and we will see what happens.  

I'm getting inundated with kitty rubs ... so I guess it's time to feed everyone.  I'm happy to be home, and oh so happy Cooper seems to be doing better.

Next up ... a deep house cleaning.  It smells like an old folks home in here, mixed with a little sewer because I forgot to cover one bathroom drain.  I'll leave you with that thought!