The Great Debate and It's a Wash(er)

I had no intention of watching last night's Presidential candidate debate. I've already voted, for me it was wasted air and broken promises. But DH wanted my company and promised me I could fall asleep on his shoulder while he watched, and I couldn't turn that down. So, we hunkered down and watched the debates - he watched, I drifted. I was able to ignore most of it, although it seemed as if the moderator did a much better job in this debate than the earlier debate. If the mute feature was used, it wasn't blatant, and it seemed as if actual issues were being discussed without too much mud being flung from one side of the stage to the other. 

I liked the fact that Biden was in a blue tie and Trump in 
a red one. I think it was the opposite in the last debate 
(I'd have to check photos to be sure). I wonder if their 
stylists bring a selection of ties to each event for them 
to make last-minute decisions. Of course, the ubiquitous 
and obligatory flag pins were precisely placed on 
the lapels. Cookie cutter politics at its best. 

I have no idea who DH will end up voting for. We're generally diametric opposites - his yin, my yang. I keep joking that I was put onto the earth to void out his votes, and that's probably not too far off base. But he's not enthralled with our current President, and really doesn't care for Biden either. I suspect he'll choose the lesser of two evils, and that's a horrible way to have to cast your vote. We see more eye-to-eye for local politics and rarely disagree on our state and local elections. But for nationals - we are rarely in step. 

Maybe make your decision based on the women behind 
the candidates. I'll pick Team Joe any time! 

I am relieved, however, that I've already voted. I checked the progress of my ballot and it was received, approved, and scanned in. The actual vote won't be counted until Election Day when the data banks of absentee ballots will be added into the election totals and we'll have an accurate count (under ideal conditions). What I care about is that I did my civic duty, and I won't have to stand in the cold November morning, waiting for the doors of the church to open for voting. I think that mail in votes and early voting is becoming more popular this year than ever before, so it will be interesting as the votes are tabulated and counted, since many states won't have final totals until 1-2 weeks after the election. 

The YiREGO Drumi is a portable washing machine that is operated 
by using the foot pedal in the front. The clothes go into the 
large stainless steel ball, with the detergent in the very 
top of the ball. It's very cleverly designed, made in Canada. 
I ordered it quite a while ago, so it wasn't fast delivery, 
but there are things I want to wash in it that I really 
can't or shouldn't wash in my regular washer. I'll 
be using it a lot. 

In other news, I received my YiREGO Druni foot-operated washing machine yesterday. I have to admit, I'm really happy with the design. It's quite clever and if I take care of it, it's going to do everything I purchased it for. I wanted it for hand-washables - delicate fabrics and fleece that I couldn't trust to my larger electric washing machine. The Drumi is made for small loads, minimal detergent, and foot-operated agitation. I'll get exercise at the same time as I'll get clean clothes or clean fleece. I can use it in my laundry room with the floor drain, or if I prefer, I can use it in my shower with that floor drain. It's a separate wash cycle, rinse cycle and spin cycle, all powered by me. It's only 20 inches high, and I think it will j-u-s-t fit underneath my laundry tub next to my washer and dryer. I'll bring it home from the shop on Wednesday morning and see if it will fit - it will be tight, but I'm crossing my fingers. 

Writing Writing Writing, and Still Not Finished

I finally got my first B2MeM story (Strings of the Heart) posted at both LOTR Community Stories and B2MeM and almost caught up on reading and reviews. I also got two drabbles posted in Tolkien Weekly - since I had two characters wanting to be showcased, I wrote a quick drabble for each of them. I didn't get any work done on my next B2MeM story, but it's well under way. So, my writing world is progressing. A lovely chat with Aearwen crowned my Wednesday day off.

I use a smaller version of there bright pumpkins as my B2MeM avatar.
It's so much fun to be participating in this once again. 

That said, I didn't get as many books scanned yesterday as I had wanted. I really had wanted to finish the hallway bookcases, but I still have two remaining. Hopefully by the end of Sunday I'll have those two finished and can start in on the next section of paperbacks. I have cataloged more than 500 paperbacks so far. It's been interesting to see what boxes are already full. DragonLance books are already filled - that's one of DH's favorite series, and I like it too. If we have more DragonLance in a different spot, I'll have to start a new box. And my "B" box is also filled to capacity. I blame that entirely on Marion Zimmer Bradley and her Darkover books (and other series besides). I adore her work and own almost everything she's ever published. I'm surprised that my M box isn't filled yet. I have a lot of McCaffrey's Pern books. But I may have most of hers in the Library bookshelves which is the last shelving unit I'm planning to scan.

Marion Zimmer Bradley is one of my favorite authors for many, many
years now. I love almost everything she's written and the worlds
she has created are wonderful, rich and diverse. 

I have been using my new washer and dryer a lot and can conclusively say, after more than 50 uses, I'm very happy with them. The one negative that had been noted in reviews held true - water doesn't evacuate from the detergent dispensing drawer completely and the drawer has to be removed and emptied after each load - but that's a minor inconvenience. I'm thrilled with how clean my clothes are, the amount of clothes I can put into a load, and the general everything about the new washer and dryer. It was a great holiday gift and I have no regrets.

I'm very happy with my washer and dryer and have been using them
a lot since we got them in January. This was a good decision. 

The other product that I had discussed getting is my Misfit Shine fitness tracker. This has positive and negative aspects, but as a fitness tracker, I'm quite pleased with it. I wish it was also a heart rate monitor, but I knew it wasn't going in, so no surprises. I purchased the Coral color and that's what I would change if/when I get another one down the road. The finish doesn't survive contact with the swimming pool's tiled wall and has a few scrapes and dings on it. But it works really well, I've been wearing it 24/7 since I got it more than two weeks ago, and it tracks my sleep as well as my varied activities. It works really well in the pool for my swimming days, and on the cycle for my machine days, two exercises that can challenge a lot of trackers that are focused on treadmills and elliptical machines. It's well designed, it does what I bought it for, and it was only $100. I declare myself satisfied right now. We'll see how long it works before I have to replace it. Fitness monitors have a history of short lifespans.

I'm very pleased with my Misfit Shine. The surface finish isn't as durable
as I had expected, but the performance is excellent. 

And on that note, it's time to get ready to get out of here and hit the gym. Have a fabulous Thursday, everyone. Write something, review something, tell someone that you love them. Make some happy waves today.

Success!

See this whirling person out of the corner of your eye? That's me doing a happy dance. I have a washer and dryer installed and ready to go. Call me ecstatic! I phoned the appliance store when they opened and spoke with them about having one of their tech team come out or if they had any subcontractors they could recommend. They gave me two different subcontractors to contact and I took a chance and called Jim at Appliance Install Inc. He thought he might be able to get to it by the end of the day, and sure enough, he was on his way to my place by about 3:00 pm. DH later said that he could have done everything that needed to be done except (a) and (b). I pointed out that I had someone out within 24 hours and that it was all done now and ready to go. DH shut up. Wise move.

They aren't quite aligned yet, but I can adjust that over the weekend. They're
just beautiful and I'm so very happy! 

So I really pleased and already plotting my plan of attack in my crusade to get some serious bedding washing done. That washer/dryer is going to be working hard over the next few weeks. Now maybe I can just concentrate on trying to recover from this miserable cold which just won't let go.

I'm dancing with joy. 

Today is short and sweet, but very happy. I hope each of you has a wonderful Friday. I might not feel good yet, but I'm pretty darned happy that my reading material will be the user's manual for my steam dryer. LOL.

2 Steps Forward, One Step Backward

Still sick? Yes. 'Nuff said.

My life is a series of stutter steps and yesterday's installation of my new washer and dryer was no exception. I purchased new dryer conduit at the home improvements store in the morning and spent more than two hours getting the darned thing up. But it was ready to go.

The old dryer tube was a plastic expandable tube. That no longer
meets code, so I had to change it to a metal one. 

I was A MESS. Covered in dirt from head to toe, so a quick shower was mandatory. I still had a couple of hours until the installation guys would arrive so I settled down to wait.

The new dryer tube is metal. They taped over
the hose clamps. Now I'm less afraid that it
will fall apart. 

The guys were great. They got the washer installed quickly and efficiently. But the dryer was a different matter. They shored up my conduit job with something called "vent tape", an item that apparently gets stickier as heat goes through the tubing so it sticks better and better as the dryer gets used. That's great.

My old washer and dryer were pretty ancient. The washer hasn't
worked properly for more than six months and the dryer, although OK,
really needed upgrading at the same time. 

But my old dryer was hard-wired into the electrical conduit and they weren't allowed to unwire a hardwired appliance. So, they put the old dryer back into place because it still works, and I have to contact the appliance store this morning to arrange for a different crew or an electrician to come by and deal with this. Ideally, I'd prefer a box installed on the electrical line and a plug wired into the new dryer, but I'll have to wait and see. That would be easier all around, I think.

This is my current set-up. The white corner is actually my
new dryer, waiting to be installed. The new washer is happily
washing a load and the old dryer is waiting to squeak through yet not
more time. I hope I can get this handled quickly (and inexpensively). 

In the meanwhile, I read the washer's manual, did the calibration stuff it recommended, and did two loads of laundry. I'm really happy with the way my clothes are turning out. Now if I only had a dryer. Happy Thursday...

So Much To Do Today - Still Sick (Yadda, Yadda, Yadda)

So, yes, I'm still sick. I have a feeling that will be my mantra for a while longer, so it's really not worth talking about any more.  But I got a new cool long-sleeved t-shirt in the mail yesterday. This is from TeeSpring. They present ideas and after enough people have pre-purchased, they go ahead and make the shirt (or sweatshirt or whatever product they were offering at the time). This is the second item I've purchased from them and I'm really impressed with their quality. They're using good quality tee-shirts as a base and my hoodie was also excellent quality. If they offer another design I like, I'll probably buy from them again. Here's a pic of the one I got yesterday. I'm wearing it already and just love it!

There was so much that rang true for me on
this shirt. 

My new washer and dryer are scheduled for delivery this afternoon. I have a lot of work to accomplish this morning before they arrive. Looking at my laundry room setup, I have to replace the plastic dryer hose that leads from the dryer to the wall vent with a metal hose to meet current code. Of course DH didn't think about this *sigh*. So I'm off to Home Depot this morning to buy supplies. I expect it will take me 1-3 hours of work to get the hose replaced properly because it has a VERY tight fit between the ceiling joists and the water pipes. But it has to be done. The dryer people won't hook the dryer up if the connection isn't code.

But, with luck and everything going properly, I'll have a new washer and dryer installed and ready to work for me by the time I get to sleep tonight. I can hardly wait.

It may not be a lot of snow, but it's still a long and large driveway. 

And of course we had some snow overnight. Oh joy! That means I get to add shoveling to my plans for the morning and that guarantees I'll be coughing like a woman dying of tuberculosis. *sigh* I'm not going to the gym because I don't want to infect people, so I'll just go out into the general public instead. Oy! Have a glorious Wednesday, and for those of you also dealing with this crap illness, feel better soon!

Little Disappointments But Extra Sleep

I'm not at the gym today. I'm very disappointed about that. But I wouldn't be welcome there - I can barely go two minutes without coughing, hacking, or blowing my nose. So as much as I want to be there working out on the machines (and tomorrow in the water), it's not going to happen until I feel better once more. Any advances I was making over the past two weeks have just been sidetracked and maybe even reversed. SIGH. Still, the last thing I want is making anyone else sick with my cold.

I can't go back to the gym until I'm over this cold. I miss it! 

Because I knew I wouldn't make it to the gym today, I allowed myself to have an extra hour of overnight sleep, waking at 4:30 am instead of 3:15 am. I also went to bed earlier - at 8:00 am, so for a change I got lots of sleep. But I'm just not shaking this cold. Call me NOT HAPPY.

Mine is a pale golden color, thus the name "Smaug". 

My new laptop, Smaug, has been having problems connecting to the internet at the shop lately. I'm not exactly sure what's going on with it and don't really have time to try and track things down until tomorrow. But I'll continue to try things out. It's very frustrating because I really like to be able to use it at the shop when necessary. It's just been the last three days or so that it's been having issues. I'll turn it on quickly here before I leave today and see if it is having the same problems with my home Wi-Fi. The kicker is that the network seems just fine, so I'm not sure what the heck is going on.

Time to run some trouble-shooting suggestions and see if I
can improve my connectivity. 

I should hear from my appliance store installers today about when they'll be by tomorrow for the install of my new washer and dryer. I can't WAIT! So, have a great Tuesday and don't come down with the Creeping Crud. It's really NOT FUN!

Monkey Wrenches - Why Does Someone Throw Them?

The saying goes rather like "...throwing a monkey wrench into it ..." to indicate when something that had been running smoothly suddenly stops or changes course. I've seen similar things in cartoons when an item is tossed onto a conveyor belt of some sort and its process through the system brings a large factory to a halt. I rarely experience monkey wrenches in my own life, preferring to schedule and keep to the schedule. Yesterday was a monkey wrench with both good and bad aspects.

Having to go into work on my day off certainly was the monkey'
wrench in my schedule. But at least I got my washer/dryer
purchased on the final day of the sale. 

DH has been sick. He started coming down with a cold/creeping crud on Sunday, and by Monday was starting to sound like a goose in flight calling to its mates. He worked on Monday and managed the day, but spent most of his time in the back room working on the numbers from the year just ended. Tuesday he was a bit worse, but he only had to work for a few hours while I registered for my classes at the Bead & Button Show. Once I got into the shop, I was able to send him home.

Maybe this is one more reason why I dislike monkeys so much?
Or maybe not. Who knew there was an ale called Monkey
Wrench? News to me., but an interesting title. 

Yesterday was supposed to be my day off. I hit the gym first thing (discussions about my swimming prowess or lack thereof below), had coffee, did some of my own bookwork at the shop while I got things ready for my staff, went to have a lovely breakfast of oatmeal, an eggwhite omelette and English muffin, and went to the appliance store to purchase my washer and dryer. Task accomplished (cheers rising in the background for accomplishments well done), I headed home and put a load into the washer (my old one which still limps along).

I chose to buy the Samsung washer/dryer set. I am getting white
because I don't need to spend the extra money for the fancy color, and
I skipped the platforms because they are close to $300/each. I came
in at just under $1400 for the set with free install and delivery.
Expensive, necessary, and a wonderful holiday gift from DH. 

I decided to check in and find out how DH was feeling. Texting Chickie, I found out that he was still in the back and hadn't even removed his parka yet, although he had been at the shop for more than 1-1/2 hours. This was NOT good. I started texting him to find out how he was feeling and discovered that 'he would tough it out'. No, I need him to get over this cold, not tough things out. I left the laundry in the washer to finish up after dinner, told him I was on my way, grabbed my laptop and went to work.

My day off disappeared into a puff of smoke. Oh well,
I didn't need a day off anyway, did I? *sigh*

Monkey wrench, see? My day off disappeared into a puff of smoke. I had to text Aearwen and cancel our weekly phone chat (very bummed - we haven't had a real good chat for WEEKS), my bedding and towels still need to be laundered, and I didn't get anything accomplished on the task of cleaning my laundry room so that my new washer/dryer can be installed next week. But I sent DH home and that, I think, was a good thing.

While searching for puff of smoke images, I came across
this old Lucky Strike ad. It looks like he's getting ready
to assault her, and in the text, doctors given Lucky Strikes
agreed that it was "... less irritating to the throat than
other cigarettes." Oy! What we believed when we were
young and stupid. 

Now, a quick thought on my morning of swimming yesterday. When I was young I lived for the water. Swimming and swimming pool activities were among my favorite things. I was an excellent swimmer, fast and sleek in the water. Now? Well, now I resemble (except in size, of course) a drowning guppie. Sleek? You MUST be kidding. But, after a couple of difficult laps, I gave into reality, grabbed a boogie board, and started kicking my way up and down my lane. I sometimes used one arm, sometimes not, and sometimes put the board away to actually swim a lap. I stuck with it for 45 minutes and I'm glad I did. Today it's back to machinery - elliptical and recumbent bicycle. I've only lost one pound thus far, but my muscles are feeling it and that's really my key.

I am appalled at how out of condition I've allowed myself to become
over the past ten years. Next week I'll be back in the pool again for another
boogie board session. Maybe I'll let myself use a water noodle too! Oh my! 

Have a great Thursday, all. Be kind to yourselves.

Christmas Was Wonderful

Christmas was really wonderful. I had a bunch of gifts for DH, all of which he really liked. I think the best was the new parka - he really needed it and tried it on immediately. We both had ended up at Total Wine and chosen some new Port varieties for each other. That will be lots of fun. And we had cookies and eggnog in the morning and prime rib for dinner. It was a lazy day, an easy day, and was just what we both needed. Now we're recharged for ...

We had lots of Christmas cookies to eat, but basic sugar cookies
are among my favorites. 

Our four-day year-end sale. *sigh* We have our main sale going on for Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. I hope we get a good response to the emailing, and I'm hoping we'll have just enough to keep us busy but not too much. It's a balancing act when we run a sale. We never know how it will hit and whether we have enough people on staff for the day. The only day I'm a bit worried about is Monday, but Chickie might work it in exchange for a different day off in a week or two.

So we're right back into retail hell, but it's only for four days. 

DH brought me to tears for Christmas when I opened my gift and saw my old cardboard washing machine with a check inside for a new washer/dryer. The original cardboard mock-up had been my holiday gift from DH more than 30 years ago when we had just moved up to Minnesota and were making barely anything. I was doing laundry in his grandmother's old wringer washer and the local laundromat, neither of which were a good solution. He saved and gave me the cardboard washer to show me that we would go choose a new washer right after the holidays. It was so amazing to me then that I kept that cardboard washer on a shelf through all these years and he found it and used it again. And I cried again. Silly me!

I've spent a lot of time in laundromats over my life. They're
boring places but they serve a function. 

So I'll have a new washer within a month or so and I desperately need it. I'm going front-load model, either Maytag or Samsung, and the matching dryer too. I can hardly wait because my current washer has been trying to die for the past six months or more.

I'm looking at Maytag and Samsung washers. I'm also
looking for a sale before I buy it. I think I'll skip
the pedestals. They're convenient, but more than
I want to pay for a bit of convenience. 

Thanks go out to each and every one of you for the lovely holiday wishes on my Christmas post. I hope each of you had a wonderful day spent with family and friends and that all your dreams came true. Have a wonderful Friday.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

My new laptop arrived a day early. It came yesterday. That gave me some time to unpack it and try to get used to it during the late afternoon hours. I like it in a lot of respects, and hate it in others. I'll get used to it, but the one negative is killer. It's big.

The laptop is this lovely soft gold color with black. Really sharp looking.
Although I haven't decided on a name yet, the golden color is lending
itself to "Smaug".

I'm not sure when my inability to read dimensions and translate them back to my active brain failed, but it's a lot bigger than I had ever planned. On the other hand, it's pretty damned great for the money and I really like a lot of aspects about it. I don't own a carry case large enough for a 15" length, so I have to get to the office supply store and purchase something. I can't carry it along with me until I have a way to transport it.

Obviously the fact that it was a 15.6" diagonal measurement didn't
compute with me. I certainly thought it would be much smaller than
it actually turned out to be. 

I'll have to get used to working with Windows 8.1 and that's an education in itself. There are a lot of things I really like about it, but many things that are driving me crazy right now. I'm glad I got the touchscreen option because I think that's the most reasonable way to deal with this operating system, but it will take some time to get the hang of it. I estimate it will be about a week before I'm ready to take it out into public. It's pretty, though, and sleek, and light-weight for the size. I like a lot of things about it and I'll get used to the rest.

Windows 8.1 is also an experience to get used to. I'm sure it won't
take too long, but there's always a learning curve when getting used
to a new operating system. 

Between getting the laptop unpacked and playing with it, doing several loads of laundry, checking out new washers and dryers, and doing other errands, I also managed to get a lot of words written. I've passed the half-way mark for NaNo and still have a lot of story to tell. Sheesh! I have a feeling this book will be somewhere between 250,000-300,000 words before I begin editing it. I still have a long, long way to go. But it's a hell of a lot of fun. Happy Thursday to all!

Gearing Up and Looking Back

Today is the second day of our 2-Day After Thanksgiving Sale event and it should be very busy. Yesterday panned out to be twice our normal volume of people, so that was great. We had a good time with our customers, everyone was very happy with what they purchased, and miracle of miracles, I didn't make any errors on the sales register so the drawer balanced at the end of the day. The transactions were complicated and had to be performed in a specific order or they wouldn't give the proper discount amounts for sale items, so I felt fortunate that everything worked like clockwork. Today will be a bit easier - 20% off all Japanese seed beads. We'll be pulling a lot of product for people and, as usual, I'll be tied to the register. But I'll be really happy to see five-o'clock come around when we can lock the doors.

It will be a relief to lock the doors tonight. It should be a very busy day at the shop. 

My final word count for NaNoWriMo is 63,470 after this morning's writing. I may still get another 500-1000 words in before I open the store this morning, but I do have some fanfic to work on too, so I may push over and work on that instead. I also need to get my photographs for the week taken. I know what I want to take, but time has been an issue for me this week. I don't want to fall behind with the themes, though, so I really need to get this going.

I used Scrivener software for my novel this year. Great software!
I highly recommend it. I'll be buying it when my trial period is over in
a few days. It's well worth the cost. 

I'm thinking more and more about just getting a new washer instead of getting my old one fixed. I really want a washer large enough to allow me to wash my bedding. Right now, to do my bedding requires a trip to the Laundromat, and that's something that I rarely have the time/effort/spare change to do. Additionally, I'm just not that fond of sharing washers with other people, although I have used laundromats throughout my life. I have started researching possible replacement washers, though. If anyone reading my blog in the US who has bought a washer in the past five years has any input for me, I'd appreciate it.

Front Load vs Top Load seems to be quite evenly
divided. Does anyone reading have a subscription to
Consumer Reports and would be willing to do some
research for me on good washing machines? 

I have to work tomorrow, only noon to four, but still work. I am starting to design my Solstice cards in my head and will be doing serious work on them on Wednesday. I'll be putting my first "call out for cards" post out on Monday, so make sure you get back to me then if you want to be added to the list.

This is similar to what I'm thinking for this year's
Solstice cards. Well ... kindof similar. Well ... 

In the meanwhile, I hope all of you have a totally amazing weekend. Be kind to your local salespeople this weekend, they're under lots of seasonal stress :-)