IT'S A NO GO, BUT I KNEW THAT

 Fog fog go away, come again another day!!  The forecast says ten days of this.  It's beginning to feel like I live in a little box with only a tiny light overhead.  It doesn't help that there is absolutely NOTHING on television any more.  Reruns from 2017 .... really Dish Network?

These kids keep me on my toes however.  This is my desk, where Miss Kitters spends her morning purring and wreaking havoc.  The plastic white container ended up on the floor.  No one ever said she was dainty ... more like a bull in a china shop.

My two watch pups keep a sharp eye out for other critters and bark/purr at every car that goes by.  My mornings are filled with STOP THAT and WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!

Once everything was back in place, I headed off to Wally World for a few strategic groceries.  Mostly I needed DEF for the rig.  I didn't go down this aisle on purpose ... it's on the way to the car oil area.  Okay, so maybe I went the LONG route to get there.  I am now addicted to these thanks to Mr. Dan.

Somehow I got distracted by all the red lights, meaning every self serve aisle was closed, and the guy and his wife who ran into my cart .... so I forgot a couple of items.  I am happy to report though, that 18 eggs are now $2.50.  So who do you think got all the profit from when they were $12.00 a carton?

By now I was beginning to stove up ... meaning I sat WAY too long and my muscles are screaming at me.  I hit the streets for a nice fast walk.  I met Steve and his pup Lucy, a little boy in a thin T-shirt (shivering from the cold) who was waiting for his little brother to come out into the street with their little electric cars to get run over ... and a gorgeous fat siamese kitty that I'm was told is a "feral" kitty.  Probably one of the pack Kitters used to run with.  This is a little library in front of their house.  Take a book, leave a book.

Feeling 100% better, I headed back home.  Too bad I looked up at this before I got in the house.  Yup ... it's time to get back in the gutter.  I knew if I didn't do it NOW, it would not get done. Then it would rain and I would be SO MAD I didn't clean it out. 

Out came the ladder and my big spoon.  It wasn't the worse I've seen, but it was bad enough.  It's all clean and spruced up now, though somehow I ended up with mud in my hair.

Back inside, I finally got a call from Toby, my best buddy from Arizona who would do just about anything you asked ... like he came to my house and helped me pack up this beast when I sold the place.  The bad news, no surprise since the Cathey's Sew and Vac has been taken over by the SON, they refuse to cover anything on my machine.  It's a no go, and I knew that.

My only choice was to call the manufacturer, who knows they have a BIG problem because every single one of these tablets has done the same thing.  Here is their solution ... they will send me a box, I will pack up the tablet and send it to them, whereupon they will put in a new battery and send it back, NO CHARGE.  What can I say, it is a Chuwi and MADE IN CHINA. 

It will take them up to six weeks to repair it, not counting the time to get the box.  Otherwise, I have to BUY another tablet for $1,095.00.  Why so expensive?  Because they cannot transfer the programming from one tablet to another.  They have to install the software on the new machine, and so will charge you for it.  Let me just say this is a big racket.  

On the other hand, this machine was half the price of the GOOD machines fabric stores use to quilt for their clients.  With no clients, and not that much money, it is what it is, and all I could afford at the time.  Maybe, just MAYBE, I'll get these six quilts done by the end of this year, assuming it works when repaired.

To add insult to injury, THIS arrived today.  I have a tall overhead cupboard with NO shelves.  Cans are stacked atop each other, and at least one falls on my head every other day.  I expected this to be assembled, but what do I know.  It looked very well made, so I was happy with that.  On the other hand, there was a big bag-o-screws that had to be installed, with a teeny tiny Allen wrench.  

How do you get a screw started with an Allen wrench?  I finally got it going (after reading the directions twelve times because I just could not see how it should go together), until I heard CRACK.  No kidding ... the screws are too big and too long and broke the piece right in half.  GREAT!!  It's going back to Amazon today.

I also got THIS kind of rack ... metal, so no wood breaking ... which was even WORSE to put together.  I needed a magnifying glass to read the instructions.  So it's together ...  and it's really wide (adjustable), which is a plus, but truly, I think I need to sweet talk someone into cutting a shelf for me, though I'm not sure if I can fit it in through the cupboard door.  That may be why there was NO shelf when I bought the place.  

And so ended a lovely day ... not really the best I've ever had ... but I ate the last of the yummy Swiss steak while Cooper slept beside me.  Today he and I will go for a little walk together.  He's eating like a horse and needs to watch his waistline.  

You all know where Kitters spent the night.  She has developed a bad habit however ... she walks into the bedroom and pats the blinds from the table top, which wakes me up so she can go outside.  I suppose that's a good thing, but at 3:00 EVERY SINGLE MORNING, it's not all that fun for me.

Have a great day ... January is almost gone already!!!

THANK YOU DEE!!

Oh look ... not QUITE as much fog this morning at 4:00, but it will "dense" up in no time.  We are still sitting at 43 degrees ... perfect humidity weather, just not hot.  This is expected to continue for the next nine days.  Sadly, there have been lots of accidents from people driving too fast without their lights on.  They also tend to follow too close when they CAN see another car, thinking it's not that bad.  That's when they rear end the guy.  Though my plans were to return to Q for the rest of the reservation, it doesn't look like that will happen.

I prefer to stay safe at home with Mr. Cooper.  Besides, if I move just half an inch, he wakes up with a "what are you DOING!" look.  You know the saying, let sleeping dogs lie.

But on this day, I really needed to drive up North to the gal who does embroidery work.  I promised the Veteran he would have his quilt as soon as I got back, and now that my machine is not working, it's going to take another month before it's done.  Maybe more depending on how busy the quilt shop is with quilting.  I'll be lucky if I can get mine up and running in 3 or 4 months.  The backlog is big!  Lucky for me, Mary Jo still has this particular work stored in her machine because she did the last one that disappeared, so there will be no setup.  YAY!!

I contemplated lots of stops on the way and even did a drive by Walmart just down the street from her.  I needed DEF and some groceries, but their parking lot was a madhouse.  It just boggles the mind how busy town is.  Doesn't anyone work any more?  On workdays it was always a ghost town, but now it's no different than Saturday Jammies Day!!

I did make ONE stop on the way home.  You probably guessed this one ... Panda Express.  This is a BIG plate and only HALF of the portions.  If nothing else, you can feed two people for $11.00 and it's delicious.  

When I let Kitters in, I expected her to go straight for the chair.  Instead, she went straight for the scratching post.  This is too funny!  She just LOVES this thing.  Never did I ever think she would play with anything.  She's a WILD kitty.  I thought it was over when she got so crazy it tipped over, but when I put a heavy rock grinding stone on the base, she went back at it for 15 minutes.  

That brought about a round of chair sitting, though peeking just to be sure I didn't get up.  If I do, she and Cooper both follow me like puppy dogs.

Trouble is, they both follow me right into the sewing room and I get nothing but cat hair in my mouth from her sitting two inches from my face.  Instead, I whipped up some peanut butter cookies.  I tried the new method of baking them at 400 for less minutes, but unlike the video on my phone, it did NOT work out well at all.  Never believe those videos!

I just can't believe this kid turned into such a pretty kitty with a weird white spot on her nose.  She is always up in my business and looking for pets and rubs.  Starved for affection as well as food I guess.

Big thanks go out to Dee for reminding me that meat recipe I used to have as a kid was called Swiss Steak.  It could be fixed one of two ways.  One ... Lipton onion soup mix with water, or Two ... Lipton onion soup mix with stewed tomatoes.  

I tried the second one, but let me just say DO NOT USE ROTEL!  Ooooweeeee that stuff was HOT, and I don't mean stove hot.  I only used half a can with water and it was WAY more than needed.  Note to self ... use regular stewed tomatoes.  

In the old days, when we butchered our own cattle, only because they died of something or other, the cuts of meat were not exactly the pretty ones you see in the grocery store.  One time we sent it to a real butcher to cut up, but it was way too expensive for us.  Instead, my dad just cut it up kinda sorta like he thought it should be and we froze it.  

Not having "hung" in the walk-in for a week, meant the meat was always VERY tough.  Yes, all that meat you buy is hung in walk-in refrigerators at a specific temperature for at least a week to become more tender.  The longer it hangs, the more tender and expensive it is.

This recipe .. brown the meat, dump in one envelope of onion soup mix and 1-1/2 cups of water and cook for 45-60 minutes on the stovetop ... made that tough meat much more palatable.  And I LOVED IT!!  Boy did this dinner bring back memories!!  I'll be making it again very soon from that box of 50 steaks I acquired.  

It was a nice day with the kids, made even better by knowing that it was BINGO night and I was NOT going.  BAD Nancy!!

Today I have to drive the Beast (meaning the van) to keep the battery from dying, so I'll take the long route to Wally World.  If it weren't for needing DEF, I would probably not go at all.  Here's to another nice do-nothing day!!

COMPUTER DISASTER

 Goodness ... there has been absolutely NO change in the weather here in sunny California.  That makes for kids that do NOT want to get up off the couch, including me.

Do these tax papers make my butt look big?  Miss Kitters has the entire HUGE coffee table to lay on, yet she insists on smothering my income tax paperwork.  She had to have been an inside cat at some point.  If I call her from outside, she comes running as fast as she can!

Maybe because it's so cold and wet outside.  Again, no rain, just fog.

So when a quilt is done, it takes a few days to get back in the swing with another pattern and more fabric.  New patterns take longer to digest the directions.  I decided to work on quilting one of four sitting on the table just waiting.  Having had a few troubles in the past, I wasn't all that excited to start another project and have problems again.  I know Ray, I should have bought YOUR quilting machine.  LOL

Here I was, gloating over how "I" had no problems with the computer that runs the entire machine.  Everyone else had expanding and exploding battery problems with the cheap CHEWI tablets running their programs.  Let me just say that this was NOT cheap in any way, shape or form.  If I told you what this cost, you would say bad words.

Just because ..... I thought to take a sidelong look at it so I could gloat some more.  Bad idea Nancy ... BAD!  See that red thing in the middle?  That's the wiring INSIDE the tablet that you should NOT be able to see.  Yup ... I too have the battery problem, even though I never EVER left it plugged in or ON.

MOM ... why are you so upset?  Because little buddy, I'm absolutely SURE the people I bought this from are going to say it's not covered under warranty ... that only the MACHINE is covered, even though I paid $900 for the extended warranty.  That means I will have to put out $1,000 to get a new tablet with my quilting program installed on it.  To make it worse, that program has been upgraded many times and I will have to completely relearn the entire thing.  Nancy is NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!!   

The only thing that got me through the day was this sweet face.  I haven't heard back from the company, but I have no doubt whatsoever that they will say this is NOT covered.

To get my mind off it, I tromped out to the van and did lots of physical labor.  I took the tow car hitch off the back bumper.  It was heavy, but doable.  At least now I won't have to listen to the beep beep beep backup alarms any more.  Maybe I will even come across a small jeep I can tow because I REALLY need transportation.

Back inside still stewing about the quilting computer, there was a knock at the door.  Oh yes ... Miss Kitters got a scratching pole.  I think Cooper was jealous!  Anyway, she's been scratching at the back of this chair every time she comes in the door.  It has a little ball on a string at the top.  I moved it around and she went ballistic!  She scratched and played with that thing for 15 minutes.  Me thinks that was a good buy.

I suppose now I have to buy a toy on a string for her to play with.  

I finally decided on the next quilt ... a Christmas one because MAYBE I'll finish it by Christmas.  I cut out 120 squares, sewed them together and am ending up with this to begin with.  This pattern takes a lot of concentration since the instructions are written by someone who apparently doesn't sew or quilt.   It says 5/120 and you are supposed to figure out what that is.  Luckily I have lots of extra fabric for this one.

Evening found us all sitting on the couch together.  Kitters just kind of snuggles up and purrs a lot.

This is Cooper's "Mom ... it's time for bed" look.  By the way, I took Cooper out for a short walk this morning.  Now I feel worse than ever!  He was happy as could be and walked much further than I ever expected.  Here I thought he was not wanting to go out because he was just getting old.  Instead, it was because he felt so bad, he didn't want to walk.  I FEEL TERRIBLE I didn't pick up on him not feeling well sooner.  I just have no doubt it was changing the food to something his stomach did not like that caused the pancreatitis event.  I've changed it back completely now and he's MUCH more active and feeling MUCH better.  So thank you for all the prayers and good thoughts!!!

I'm heading out North today to get the embroidery done for that quilt that "disappeared".  Maybe along the way I'll find a cat toy on a string and a new treat for my sweet boy!

SNOW AND COCOA

 Groundhog Day ... here we are once again in the fog, though not quite as bad as the last couple of days.  Things happen in the fog ... like really big accidents, because people nowadays don't know how to drive in it, so I try to stay home.  Luckily there were two football games to keep me occupied.

 Sadly, I was missing Jonathan yesterday.  I no longer have to make pineapple banana bread, or bird biscuits, or buy apples and Cole slaw.  Nor do I hear "Pretty Boy" from the kitchen.  He was one of a kind.

This little face brightens my day like the sun!

I actually did start out in the sewing room at 5:30 am.  You've heard me say a million times I'm up at 4:00 with "the boy who has to go outside or he will go inside".  You know how it is when you get old!  In no time I heard a big CRASH!!  Oops ... the long rug I hung on the shower rod to dry was just a tad bit too heavy.  There's nothing like that kind of sound to wake you up and get you moving. 

Time for cleanup.  I swept the floor, discovering that a good broom works so much better than the hand held vacuum, kicking all those rocks out the door.  They stick in my tennis shoe soles and of course come loose inside.  We are back in business!  Then I hooked up to power since the solar isn't working even a little bit.

Inside, it's always hide and seek with Kitters.  She's in a different spot every time you turn around, most of which you can't see.  Under the chair, under the saddle rack, in a dark corner where she blends in ... and nary a meow when you call her.  I guess she will remain a wild kitty for a very long time.

With copy paper and ink in hand from Amazon, I finished printing out all the backup for my taxes.  You can imagine how much I enjoy THAT!  It shocks me every year how much I have to pay, and you can't blame California because Arizona taxes is within a couple hundred dollars.  I checked.

Back to the quilt ... I finished it up in the afternoon.  It's not all that big ... perfect for the back of a couch or for a kitty chair.  Ummm no, she got a very small old one for the chair.  I forgot just how much kitty hair you get with a cat.

And then it was time for FOOTBALL!  Not that I'm a fan of these teams, but it passes the time in between quilt sewing.  You know what this pictures means ..... DIET.  Oh yes, in one short week I gained several pounds back.  Really, there should be a permanent solution to this problem.

This is the Texans and the Patriots.  I would not normally watch these games, but these playoff games in the snow are fun to see when you are warm and cozy in your house.  It seemed like the Texan quarterback was the only one playing the game ... the new kid on the block who was under too much stress.  Oh man that looked cold.  And so the Patriots won.

Hoping to make them feel better, I had a nice cup of HOT COCOA.  Nothing says marshmallows more than 1/8" pieces of crunchy goodness.

Next up ... even worse because it snowed the entire game.  This was the Rams and the Bears.  Good grief ... they were tied down to the very end when the Rams threw a crazy Hail Mary and the guy actually caught it in the end zone.  With literally seconds left to play, the Rams new kicker kicked the ball over the goal posts to win by 3 points.  The snow never let up.  BRRRRRRR

And so ended the day with a tad bit of sunshine and a few little clouds rollin over about 6:30.  Just in time for the sun to set with a high of 54.  

Kitters took her spot on the chair and went right to sleep.  This time she slept the night through with no meows waking me up.  It's cold and wet outside .... how could I not let her stay?

Unfortunately, I had to wake up Mr. Cooper to get him into bed.  MOM ... I was SLEEPING!!!  This picture just makes me laugh!!

And so ended another lovely day in my little paradise.

Not Even Football Sunday Yet

 Well this is getting boring ... here we are yet again STILL shrouded in the cold wet stuff.  At least when it rains, you can see down the road.  With this fog, you can barely see next door.  It's another lovely 43 degree morning with highs barely reaching 60.  

Putting in solar, which admittedly cost a chunk up front, was the best thing I ever did.  I'm sure it has paid for itself by now.  My gas bill however, is ridiculous.  I'm paying $2.82 a therm.  That means I have a $200.00 bill every month JUST FOR GAS.   And I am VERY conservative.  I rarely cook with the gas stove and I keep the house temps at 67-68 degrees.    I can't even imagine the bills people are paying for actual electricity in California.  My next door neighbor said her bill runs $700.00+ every month.  Who can afford that??  By the way, mine was $99 a month when I bought this place.  It's just absolutely crazy!

Okay, rant over.  Here's Cooper tiptoeing outside.  That's not rain on the ground, that's from the fog.  It's so wet it actually runs in river off the concrete.

That's why Kitters tippy toes around the edges of the grass.  Here she is ... giving me that weird look with those really big eyes.  It's interesting to note she does not like people food.  I tried giving her a bit of Cooper's chicken (probably not a good idea) and she refused to eat it.  She prefers Meow Mix I guess.

By 9:00 she is sound asleep in her chair.  She and Cooper have become pals ... sort of.  She seems to want company, so she follows him around and lightly taps him on the butt to play.  She does the same to me ... comes up, stares, stick out her paw and barely touches my arm ... for which she gets scratches.  You all know I'm an animal lover!!

So here we are ... remember that puzzle Mr. Ed sent to me that I worked on for months with little to no success?  I'm just not made for hard puzzles where all the pieces are the exact same size ... TINY.  When in Quartzsite, I left it with Patsy, with the intention of us doing it when I returned.

Enter a sick puppy ... so I told Patsy to get it out and go to town.  She's a pro at puzzles, and was helped by another lady.  I told her to make it last at LEAST three days so I wouldn't look so bad.  Yes ... they finished it in three days ... maybe only two.  It's a stack of quilts ... and very pretty.  

I do better with THESE quilts.  It's a little wonky because it's not all sewn together yet.  I will finish it up today and see what borders I can add.  

That's when I remembered there are football playoff games in the making.  It's not even Football Sunday and there is football ALL DAY LONG!   AHA!!  I figured out why I bought all those snacks!  Here's what I learned.  The popcorn doesn't last long, it was stale.  The potato chips needed dip and the Cheetos were just okay.  But the DOTS Honey Mustard pretzels?  They won the prize of the day!!!

By the way, Patsy and Bill went to the Big Tent yesterday.  Patsy was looking for the pretzel/dip folks who sell their wares there every single year for $5.50 a package.  I think it used to be $3.00 when I first saw them.  They were not to be found.  The big tent will never be the same!  It's okay though, I still have four packages in my cupboard.  AND if you really want to spend that much, you can buy them online.

Time for a little football!  I was rooting for the Broncos, while one of my friends was for Buffalo.  We texted back and forth until the Broncos WON (after this picture was taken).

In between games I made this absolute disgusting looking beef stroganoff, poured over some leftover mashed potatoes.  It was really quite tasty and not something I normally make.  I remember my Mom making something on the stovetop, meat of some kind fried for a bit, then covered I think in onion soup mix and tomato sauce or canned tomatoes?  Does that ring a bell with anyone?  I would like to make it again, but I've no idea what the recipe actually included.  I know it cooked for over an hour until tender.

Next up San Francisco 49ers lost a terrible game.  It didn't help that most of their good players could not play due to injuries.  Seattle slaughtered them 41-6.  C'est la vie.  At least I didn't have any money on them.

Today you'll find me back at the sewing machine finishing up that quilt and maybe starting another one.  Mr. Cooper will be at my feet the entire day, followed closely by Kitters knocking everything off the tables.  She's not exactly coordinated.  Yesterday she fell over backwards onto the floor.  She landed on all fours, so she's okay!!

It's SUNDAY FOOTBALL time!!!