Equipment and Television - Pretty Much My Sunday - LOL

We actually had a really nice Sunday. The weather was perfect - slight breeze, not super hot temps. We sat on our chairs on the patio and soaked in the warmth, then looked at our various plants, I pulled some weeds, and then we sat and soaked again. It was a semi-lazy day. 

My Fletcher 2000 mat cutting machine is a lot 
more expensive these days than when I purchased it 
many years ago. It's a great piece of equipment, and 
works like a dream. I need to give it a good cleaning 
and pop in a new blade and I'll be good to go. 

DH got my table set up in the den, and put my mat cutter on it, so I'm one step closer to being able to mat and frame our artwork. We're also thinking about taking the glass cutter from the store basement room where it's been mounted to the wall for 20+ years, and mounting it on our back porch wall at home instead. I'd love that in a lot of aspects. It would make things a lot easier for me when I'm framing prints and other items that need glazing. But it will deposit a very fine collection of glass shards below it, and that might be a problem since we're accessing our cars through that room several times each day. I don't want glass shards traveling into my home if I can avoid it. We're also not 100% sure we'll have enough access there. But, it's actually a good place for it. 

My Fletcher 3000 vertical cutter is used for glass as well 
as mats, backing boards, and other items. It has a blade, 
but also a glass cutting wheel. It's finicky - getting it mounted 
and adjusted to be a true 90 degrees is the challenge with 
this equipment. But once it's set, it's pretty much ready to 
go for anything I toss at it. 

DH said his secondary location would be in the garage, where he currently stocks his lumber. He'd put a lot of the lumber into the eaves, and that's fine, but it's not super convenient for him when he needs access for a project or something that needs a fix. So, plusses and minuses. But, it's looking like I'll be able to work on framing at home, and that pulls our artwork out of "immediate" and into "a bit more time" on our calendar. It means that I don't have to have everything framed before we leave. We're bringing one of our print drawer sets home (it was always our intention to do this), and we can keep unframed art that needs framing in that and then sell them at auction when they're framed. 

I have two sets of 12 drawers each of these - they're 
usually called "print drawers" and they're used in 
industrial applications for blueprints, as well as in artistic 
applications for storing artwork flat. We'll take one of 
the sets home. We've always planned on putting them 
in the sub-basement. It'll be a struggle getting them 
into the location, but they'll fit really well once it's there. 

I haven't checked out auction numbers for the current batch which we shipped to Santa Fe. I know DH was complaining about one item, but I pointed out that anything we got was better than having it sit in a case or on our shelving, unsold at all. Point taken! LOL

"Patience" is a new series this season, for our PBS 
station. DH and I have really been enjoying it. 
There are plenty of synopsis out in the web for it, 
so check them out for a description of the series and 
the characters. But it's really well done and it's very 
quickly made its' way onto our MUST SEE list. 

Finally, last night was a delightful TV night with "Patience" and "Grantchester" following. I've loved "Grantchester" for years. It's fun to have a new season with new challenges. "Patience" is new for us - she's almost like a female "Professor T" in many aspects. I like the character, and I'm enjoying the interactions between her and the police people she's been assisting. Each side is broadening their understanding one step at a time and it's ringing true. 

So, I'm out of here. We'll have the 4th of July off, of course, to celebrate Independence Day, and I might even let myself sleep in that day. Who knows. All I know is I get a mid-week day off this week, and I'm already celebrating - LOL. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

It's Treadmill Installation Day - And a New TV?

DH was at the Comcast store shortly before 10:00 am and was astonished that a line was already forming! (I wasn't surprised - with all that Comcast does, there are so many different things they are consulted on). But, he gamely joined the line with our documentation and, after running into an old friend and former customer of mine for a quick chat, was paired with a customer service rep who was VERY helpful and VERY efficient. The transcript of my former conversation with Comcast was also helpful - apparently I'd been given a LOT of very incorrect instructions. *sigh*

The whole reason for the entire TV replacement event 
is to get our hockey games. Well ... (I can hear you 
laughing and the eyes rolling) ... it's IMPORTANT to 
us - LOL. 

Armed with new hardware, he returned home to deal with the physical aspect of updating our televisions. He succeeded with the set in the bedroom (our main TV and our newest one), then tackled the smaller TV that we have in the computer room. That's a TV that he has on a lot. I don't watch TV except at night with him, so it's not urgent for me to have it working. After a lot of examination, etc., he determined that this TV is too old to be compatible, which set both of us on an internet hunt for a new TV that could fit the restricted space we have to work within. 

We both rather liked the Feihe TV, but it was one of those 
that "couldn't ship to our area". I have no idea. All I can 
think is that there's a component in there that's illegal 
with our environmental laws. 

I went to bed with this issue still unresolved. One brand we liked (somewhat) wouldn't "ship to our designated area" (whatever that means) and others had poor reviews for sound (very important since DH is hearing impaired) or angle of vision (important for me since I sit at the other desk and am at an angle to the screen). Things were unresolved when I went to sleep. 

The Westinghouse would work in our space (with some 
adjustments) and can be shipped quickly to us. That's 
probably what we'll end up with. The cost is good also, 
only $116. 

I found a note in my keyboard this morning, since DH had continued to search through the web and Amazon. 

   "Looking at Westinghouse D2 (type into Amazon search). It's not smart TV, but they say 
  picture good and easy to set up. Everyone says sound is tinny, but no one has good 
  sound. It's 21.6" wide x 14.5" high (we have 19" of unrestricted space available, everything 
  larger will require some changes in our shelving) so we'd have to set board across top 
  because base is not adjustable which means top of screen will be about one inch higher than
  top of current TV. $115.99 and quick delivery."

So, I'll take a look when I've finished this post, and see. I really don't care that much. I rarely have any TV except the kitchen set on, and that one is just to listen to the news while making dinner, watch "Wheel of Fortune" while eating, and that's about it. As I said, I'm not much of a TV person. He's the one who wakes up and immediately turns on the bedroom TV. I would be quite content with a single TV to watch PBS on, and a decent DVD player for those odd times when I feel like watching a film. I'd much rather stick my head into an ebook - LOL. 

My problem is that although Etsy automatically set the 
sales tax rate, it was the wrong rate because my City 
sales tax hadn't been included. I tried to alter that several 
months ago without success, but found a new place to 
enter my rate yesterday morning, so I'm hoping that 
future orders from Etsy will be appropriately charged. 
In the meantime, the store had been eating that extra 
0.05% and we're priced about as low as we can go, so 
it wasn't making me happy. 

So that was yesterday's catastrophe - LOL. I had my own catastrophe at the shop with a couple of Etsy orders, but got that resolved and they're on their way to their respective purchasers. Our financial books will be messed up until the monies are deposited into our account from Etsy, but that won't be long. They're usually quite efficient. 

Today this baby is coming home to me! I can hardly wait 
for it to be set up in my den so that I can start working out 
 on a treadmill once again. It's got all the bells and whistles, 
so getting used to it will also be a lot of fun. 

The big thing today is ... TODAY IS TREADMILL INSTALLATION DAY! I'm SO looking forward to this. I need to remember to bring my vacuum down from its' storage because I haven't vacuumed underneath the old treadmill in YEARS. Having a new, functional treadmill in that room is going to be absolute HEAVEN, and will mean that I'll be able to exercise on my off days, not just swim three days a week. Happy Me! Have an excellent Friday, and if you haven't voted for my current tale on LJ Idol, I'd really appreciate a vote. The link to the tale is https://erulissedances.dreamwidth.org/1061653.html and I'm sure it will be a tight competition, as always. I don't think I've ever made it in the competition for this long before, and I'd love to continue to write for it. Slava Ukraini. 

It Was a Lovely Sunday - Yard Cleanup, Football and Television

Happy Monday, everyone. We're in the middle to end of Autumn now, up here in the Frozen Northlands. The trees still have leaves, but the glorious colors of one or two weeks ago are fading to brown and the leaves are getting ready to leave the trees and mess up my yard - LOL. It's getting colder. Although I still have my hummingbird feeder up, it's almost untouched - the amazing birds are on their way south to Costa Rica, or at least to a warmer climate. 

Just a few of the more than 100 different types of hummingbirds 
in nature. We don't see any of these up here, I think, but aren't 
they just amazingly beautiful? 

The grass is still green, but it won't be for much longer. Halloween is on the horizon, and I'm already thinking about what I want to wear to the shop on that date. It's a Tuesday, so we'll be open for business. It's usually cold, and sometimes we've already had snow, or have snow on the actual date. My thoughts of a short skirt and my spider blouse may be superseded by my long, black velvet "Morticia" dress, simply because the dress is warmer. But those are decisions for almost three weeks from now - I have time. 

I have a form-fitting stretch velvet black floor-length 
gown that I absolutely love. I've owned it for decades. 
It doesn't have the drooping sleeves, but it's a perfect 
Morticia Addams gown, and I love wearing it. It's one 
possibility for Halloween's work garb. 

DH and I took a load of branches to the composting center yesterday. They open at 11:00, and there have been plenty of times over the summer when we've been able to be first in line, or to go right in. Not yesterday. There were three vehicles in front of us, and at least eight behind us. Not everyone was there to deposit brush, some were there to dump grass clippings, or deposit organics for recycling. But more than half were there to dump brush, so we got in, dumped our load, and left, as the gate guardian was letting the next truck in to take our space. 

We're quite fortunate because our local recycling center 
for yard waste is actually quite close to our house. It 
makes things a bit easier when we have a large load that's 
not hanging on well under the bungee cords and tarps. It 
also accepts food waste, which is well used by many people. 

Returning home, we relaxed and watched hockey pre-season, and then switched to football. Both Minnesota and Denver lost their games yesterday, so that was a disappointment. But so it goes in football sometimes. We capped the day off by watching the final episode of "Unforgotten" and "Van der Valk" and the next episode of  "Professor T". I end up having to stay up an extra hour for "Van der Valk", but it's worth it. 

I wasn't that fond of "Van der Valk" in the first season I 
watched, but I've gotten to really enjoy the show. It makes 
me think, which is never a bad thing - LOL. 

So, all in all it was a good Sunday and a good day off. I'm diving back into the fray today, and we'll see how things go at the shop. It's a day for DH and I to work together, and sometimes those days aren't the smoothest. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

My Day Off was Busy, Busy, BUSY!

I ended up so busy yesterday that I didn't even have time to do any work on my beading project. But, I did get a lot done. I was making food like crazy yesterday - a stir fried chicken in a totally yummy sauce for a couple of dinners, a bowl of meatballs for a meal here and there, my next batch of Ogre Juice, and and the ground beef patties that needed to be cooked. I'll be moving some of these to the freezer today because space in my refrigerator right now is tight and I have that pork roast to marinade overnight and cook tomorrow. Oh, and of course, I made hummingbird food and got them fed for the next few days. 

When we bought our new phones 2-3 years ago, I picked 
up a Samsung tablet for DH for a very good price. It's 
not fabulous, but I like it. He used it for a while, but then 
let it sit, and I needed one for a large project that I've been 
working on for the shop, so he lent it to me. I'm finding 
out that I really like having a tablet and that I'm using it 
a lot too. I may add one to my Christmas list. 

DH has been lending me his tablet computer and I've been using it a LOT. Yesterday I had it set up next to the stove and watched Le Tour (GREAT ride yesterday!) and then switched over to continue streaming through episodes of Project Runway Season 20, which has been a blast. I'm loving seeing all of these on Peacock because the ads are minimal and very short, and I can cut it off at any time and simply ask it to "resume" when I turn it on again. So easy. 

I think I've at least five episodes into Project 
Runway Season 20 now, and it's so much fun 
to be back in the studio once again, and see these 
designers from the past again. The competition is 
hard and the decisions sometimes questionable, 
but just watching again makes me very happy. 

The grocery store had Tuscan melons and small watermelons on sale, each of them 2 for $7. So I came home with two watermelons and two Tuscon cantaloupe melon, which are now sitting on my kitchen counter. I need to get them cut up and into bowls in the refrigerator, but don't have any room right now because of yesterday's cooking binge of "make food for while Chickie is out of town". I'll have to do a refrigerator shift late today to clear out some space. 

The mini watermelons are almost the same size as the 
cantaloupes, so my kitchen counter is now overtaken 
by four larger fruits, waiting for me to cut them up. 
I like my melons cold, so I need to get these cut up 
quickly. Maybe after I've got the pork marinading 
tonight, or tomorrow morning after breakfast. 

On today's agenda - have breakfast, go to the shop, bead one of my beadwork panels for my cards, get the store open and work for the day while watching Le Tour and maybe more "Project Runway", and then home to have dinner and then prepare the marinade for the pork roast. Get the roast covered with the marinade, then relax for an hour or so before I totally collapse - LOL. I hope to relax on Sunday because Monday starts a VERY LONG NINE DAYS. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday. 

A Dreary But Relaxing Sunday and Plans For the Week Ahead

It was a bit of a dreary day yesterday, so when we went out to look at the garden and see what plants might be starting to come up, it was drizzling and rather cold. I didn't stay outdoors long, deciding that staying dry and warmer would be my better choice. DH stayed out longer - the garden is really his thing, not mine, and he wanted to check on all of the plant beds. Right now we're probably up to two weeks behind schedule because we've had such a cold Spring. I might not have Lily of the Valley blooming for my birthday next week, which would be disappointing. A few really nice, hot days would help a lot. 

I love my Lily of the Valley plants, and DH has planted a lot 
of them along the side of the house for me. He started planting 
them for me when we first moved up here, as a Spring gift. I've 
always loved the tiny flowers, a promise of Spring. 

It was a relaxing day, though, and those days are always a plus. I did my standard Sunday load of laundry, but that little bit of work barely counts. I sat at the computer for the day, playing LOTRO's Anniversary Festival and listening to golf in the background since DH knows I really don't want to have news of the war on all day. We ended the night by watching two hours of "Naked and Afraid XL" which was highly entertaining. The teams (4 teams in groups of three) were left off in the Amazon - NOT a healthy environment. Two people abandoned within two days because of serious reactions to plants or insects, two more abandoned by Day 4 because of insect issues. 

The insects were outrageous, causing a lot of problems with 
swollen feet and legs from excessive bites. Several teams 
didn't get above-ground sleeping platforms built until their 
second or third day, meaning the contestants got no sleep 
during the nights at all. That's non-functional for anyone. 
The two teams who burned termite mounds to help against 
the bugs were more successful than the others. But when 
one-third of the people abandon a 60-day challenge within 
the first four days, you know it's a tough environment. 

I was chatting with my tattoo artist on Instagram and he suggested I watch a program called "Moon Knight" on Disney+. It does sound like something I'd enjoy - a reimagined Egyptian god, which is what drew his attention to me. I don't subscribe to any streaming services, although I've gotten used to using Peacock on my laptop for Project Runway and the Olympics. I might look into this, though. Time to research the program a bit. I also plan to email the scheduler at Rodney's new tattoo shop to get a consultation scheduled. I don't want the work done until the Fall, but I would like to get onto the calendar and make sure we're on the same page with the next batch of ink. 

Apparently Moon Knight is yet another character in the MCU 
and the series is six episodes in total. The character becomes 
a modern representation of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu,  
and suffers from DID - dissociative identity disorder.
It is bringing this particular mental illness into more focus -
all told, not a bad thing at all. It might be worth looking at
sometime, but not right now. I'll have to find out more
about the character before I become invested in it,
and I do have a Dr Strange movie coming out very soon, so
that's taking front stage for me right now. 

So I'm keeping this short and sweet today. I got my fast-walk in today, and think I might start to push into an additional quarter mile no later than next week. If I can do that and manage to keep it up, I'll be doing two miles on my treadmill days and I'm already doing more than 1 mile in the swimming pool on my water days. I'm pretty pleased with how I've progressed over the past two years. Yippee. Have an excellent Monday, be kind and patient with others, and send prayers of peace to the world. I'll be back tomorrow - Slava Ukraini. 

Crystals, Etsy, Swimming and Acorns - A Busy Tuesday Ahead

Yesterday was slow at the shop, so I took advantage and did some serious work on the next category of Swarovski crystals that I intend to put up on Etsy. I've got the 8mm size ready to go live, and I needed to pull and make the blank photo charts for the 6mm size. I set the laptop up at my desk at the shop, and - fortunately or unfortunately, depending on outlook - ended up with plenty of time to work on the category. I'll try to get the final pages printed out tomorrow morning after swimming, and work on the photography tomorrow afternoon if possible, Friday if the day gets away from me. 

This is one of the final photos for my 8mm cube 
section. Now I need to start doing the photos for 
the 6mm size. I think I've figured out the pricing 
for the 8mm size - not the least expensive, but 
not the most. A nice mid-range, with a much 
larger selection than the others offering a similar 
product. I'll try to start the 6mm photos tomorrow. 

I want to quadruple-check the 8mm cube section I have waiting in the Etsy wings, so if time permits, I'll be doing that at the shop today. I've got everything loaded and all of the text added, but it's hard to change things once they go live, and it's a large category. I want to make absolutely sure I'm not allowing typos or inaccurate pricing to sneak in on me. 

My Mom had me in the pool when I was this young, maybe 
even younger. I love the swimming pool, and I really 
can't remember a time I wasn't at the pool in the summer 
as many days as possible. Sometimes, especially when 
I was a teenager, I'd stop going because I never felt 
as if I fit into "social" swimming, but when I could actually
swim laps, I was happy. Summer recreational pools,
however, rarely are focused on laps. 

It's my first of three days in the pool today, so that's always a serious positive. When I'm on the treadmill, I dream of swimming, and when I'm in the pool, I wish for the less hectic mornings of my treadmill days. Never truly satisfied, am I - LOL. But just being in the pool again makes me happy. My skin does not like the chlorine, but my body is happiest when swimming, so it's a toss-up. Both exercises are necessary for me, so I split the week between them. 

DH is going to be channel flipping tonight, and that's 
one thing that drives me crazy. I might have to watch 
Oak Island on the downstairs TV, just to get away 
from the clicker. 

DH is in a quandry tonight. He has the Ken Burns "Benjamin Franklin" 2-part on PBS that he wants to finish, but he also has Oak Island, and oh ... there's a hockey game on too. I think I'll watch Oak Island on the downstairs TV so that he can channel flip to his heart's content and not drive me crazy. Of course, he'll complain, because watching Oak Island together is our thing, but he may need to sacrifice this time. 

I'm an "acorn", as is anyone else who watches 
the progress (slow though it may be) on 
"The Curse of Oak Island". Although we're 
always getting closer, that goal is always just 
another hole or another idea away. Still, I've 
been watching it for years and I love all of 
the many finds they discovered that have
changed the history of the area dramatically. 

On that note, I'm out of here because it's a busy, busy morning. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Please pray for peace. What we're seeing out of Ukraine these past 48 hours is sickening and evil. We need to amplify the peace and love to help offset this black cloud. Every voice and prayer makes a difference.