Archive of Marcia's Musings February 25-March 3, 2002
Sunday, March 3, 2002
Once again . . .
. . . Just not much happening. I have the runners ready to slap batting between them and the same with the quilt except for the template markings. Wish there was an easier way to do that!! Man, I always struggle so to see what I'm drawing on the fabric-- if I ever find any pen/pencil that works, I'm gonna by 50 of them!! Very frustrating work-- its the only thing that I find frustrating about quilting!!
Anyway, other than the grocery store run this morning by myself (no Costco run, thank goodness!) and a quick trip out to the fabric store for marking pens/pencils, I haven't been outside. I haven't been bored, mind you but I haven't gone out a lot. I did finish the laundry this afternoon while Brian bathed Sally. Oh, yes, it was another one of those days!! From my end of it (the drying part), it went better this time but it is a warmer day today, too.
More of the same tonight after a dinner of cod and broccoli. Nummy-- I actually like cod!!
Have a nice evening!
Saturday, March 2, 2002As expected . . .
. . . I've spent the day sewing. I made a trip over to the fabric store to pick up the backing fabric (and I think binding) for the last quilt project. I'd like to have that quilted and ready for binding by the next class that I have in a couple of weeks. The rest of the time, I have spent sewing up the runners. That has taken most of the day with the exception of a nap this afternoon on the sofa with Sally. (Brian had me turn off the alarm before he got out of bed so there went the rest of my sleep! I spent the next hour worrying he'd over sleep and miss the morning session of his Contact 2002 conference.)
Brian came home for dinner from the conference and has now (at 7:30pm) left to go back to it for the last session. There wasn't any food offered tonight and since he had enough time to check email and make a phone call or two, he came on home for dinner. I had prepared the veg and chicken for a stir fry so we had that which was a quick meal.
I'm back to quilting some more-- I've got the shorter of the two tops almost finished and want to get to the same stage on the second one yet before the evening is over. As a result, I'm outta here!!
Have a nice evening!
Friday, March 1, 2002Happy March!!
Two months down already!! Whoda thunk, eh? It seems like the time goes faster and fast and, if I were any older, that would be true. ;>)
I left work at about 1:45pm today-- that's after getting their at 6:35am and putting in more than a 50 hour week. I figured I wasn't breaking any rules so I could leave. If I'd had any pressing work to do, I would've stayed but, since that wasn't an issue after the morning that I put in, I went ahead and left. Upon arriving home, I took Sally for a walk-- she really loves her walks but she did get tired quite a bit earlier than usual. Must be she knows its Friday, huh? When we got back, I had lunch since I couldn't find anything edible in the cafeteria and I was finally hungry. Yes, it is a good thing that Brian's not "around" tonight or I'd really have screwed up my schedule.
Because Brian is at "Contact 2002" or whatever name they've put on it, Sally and I are having an "All Girl Weekend". We're gonna watch chick-flicks and sew and eat popcorn and . . . wait a minute: Sally doesn't eat popcorn or sew!! What's up with that??? How can we have an "All Girl Weekend" without that? Oh, yeah, Brian's not around (except for at night) so it is just us-- All Girls!!
Memories for the Taking
Part of the reason that we all do this is to communicate with each other and the outside world. Every now and then, someone writes to me and tells me about something that's touched them and, from the sound of this email, this site helped to weave some memories.
Hi Marcia, My husband wandered onto your web page and when I saw what he had found I couldn't believe my eyes. The pictures of Martins Beach brought back wonderful memories, it has always been my favorite place in the world and now my two daughters feel the same way. In one of the pictures I could even see the cabin my grandfather built in the 1920's. They tell me I was six weeks old the first time they took me there. I can remember during the war we had to have black out curtains on the windows and there were soldiers with dogs patrolling up and down the beach. Until I was 11 years old we lived in San Jose and then moved to Pacific Beach so your pictures of Wind and Sea beach brought back more memories. I attended La Jolla High School and during our art class we would walk down to Wind and Sea Beach and sit on the rocks and sketch.Sounds like she had some interesting and wonderful memories of her time in California-- thanks for sharing, Joyce, and come back as often as you'd like to reminisce.Thanks for the wonderful pictures and thanks for the memories.
Joyce (lives in Texas now)
Projects
I've got the pillows ready to stuff and sew shut; the stuffing is at my chair in the living room for when I get completely bored with sewing and need something different. Then, I'm working on the leaf runners; I'm up to the part of sewing in the stem veins. I'm preparing the next project which is a smaller sized wall-hanging. I'm making it from something else and adding patchwork borders onto it. Now, I'm just kinda curious to see if its going to work!
Believe me, Sally and I will keep busy-- we're gonna have a blast, I can tell!!
Have a nice evening!
Thursday, February 28, 2002Exceeeeedingly Busy!!
Today was an exceeeeeedingly busy day-- with one customer!! I spent nearly three hours on a conference call negotiating a "shrinkwrap" license agreement. Yes, that would be the kind of agreement that isn't supposed to be negotiated. It is being negotiated because the customer first told us that they wanted to make a couple of changes and they have done that. Then they wanted to re-write our document-- which I couldn't let them do. So the deal didn't get done today but it is with good reason, i.e., because they were unreasonable. They wanted us to re-write our warranty and indemnification to suit them and, while we're willing to stretch, we aren't willing to give away the family jewels!
After the nearly three hour phone call, I spent the next three hours re-writing the document to try to accommodate their needs. For us, there were 3 legal issues that were drop-dead/can't-do-'em kinda things. Well, we figured out a way to do them to a degree but for the fourth issue, it won't be happening. Oh, well. They are getting a lot of what they wanted but, in this case, they can't get everything that they want. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings, as usual.
Stellar Stats
For a short month, we did really well here at my little corner of the internet world. In January there were 7,823 page reads and for February, as of the time of this writing, there have been 7,733 page reads-- less than a hundred off from a month that had three more days in it!! Very good indeed-- I like to know that everyone is enjoying themselves and that's what the feedback says so far so, keep on keepin' on, eh?
Winding Down
The week is truly winding down-- maybe because the last two weeks were short weeks for me at work but, I'm really feeling the "working" part of this week!! I'm tired and can feel it in my bones and my face, particularly my eyes. As I write this I'm yawning so that is not a good sign!!
Anyway, tonight is going to be more afghan work and then tomorrow evening starts marathon sewing on the quilt runners that match the wall-hanging and the other quilt needs a back put on it, too. Should be a fun weekend!!
I'm going to get to it-- again, thanks for stopping by and have a nice evening!!
Wednesday, February 27, 2002The Verdict is In
Well, in my ear, actually! My doctor appointment this morning was to check on my hearing. I've been deaf in my right ear for ten years and, since there was no real cause ever given to me AND my ear drum was intact, I've been trying to figure out if there's something I should've done that I didn't do. This came about mostly because one of Brian's bosses' friends had a surgery done which reversed her deafness. I thought if I could reverse this, it would be great.
Unfortunately, for the time being until all of the software and hardware catches up with the need, there is nothing that can be done. The surgery that Brian's bosses' friend had affected her three ear bones; my ear bones are fine. In fact, everything in my ear that is visible to the doctor's instruments, is fine. That leaves two possible causes: a stroke (I was way too young for that to have happened) and a tear in the membrane in the cochlea. We figure it was the latter and, according to medical information, they don't heal all of the time and they do cause a lot of tinitis. BUT, the good news is that because I do have the tinitis, I have a better shot of a cochlear implant working once the hardware and software have advanced enough that it is something we want to do. So, I've got some websites to watch (www.cochlear.com and www.cochlearimplants.com) for developments. Looks like I'll be living in the Land of Huh for awhile longer. Bummer!!
I Don't Need A Mother!!
When I got to work, at around 10:30 or 11am, I had eight voicemails-- five of them were from one sales rep! He also had sent me three email messages and called several of my co-workers trying to track me down. Upon not receiving any responses to their phones, he started calling people around the building to try to find me!! When he and I finally hooked up, his reaction was: "Where were you? I was worried sick!! You're always there-- why weren't you there?" Who knew? I had no idea that Brad could be that much of a motherly type!!
The rest of the day was just hairy-- with perms and perm rods!! I got a phone call from one sales rep and started talking to him about another sales rep's deal because I misheard his voice. (That was pretty funny actually!) It was a bit stressful today, needless to say!!
So, once again when I got home from work, we (Brian, Sally and I) went for a walk. We took the short block this time but any exercise is better than no exercise, right? Right!!
Too many things on the agenda that need attention-- gotta get to it! Have a nice night!!
Tuesday, February 26, 2002Creative Cap
For the vast majority of the day today I had my creative cap on-- I had to be very creative when it came to revising a customer's document. Thankfully, Word decided to cooperate this time which also helped, let me tell ya!! Anyway, we've been instructed to not accept any customers' terms and conditions for orders under $500K. Now, let me ask this question: "Are we going to turn business away because the customer is insisting on using their paper?" I didn't think so!!!
First thing out the gate this morning, John asks me to make an exception and, I'm sorry but I'm not going to turn business away, no matter what the dollar amount, because the customer can't do business on our paper. In the case of government regulated agencies, such as the one that I was dealing with today, they can't take our paper-- we have to use their paper. So I'm going to tell them they have to go on down the street to our competitor, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeesh!! People really need to learn to pick their battles in business, don't they?
A Walk Down Searching Lane . . .
Its been awhile since I've done this with you-- what are the search engines helping you hit my space on?
hair perm pictures - I am demented (I have to be to be married to Brian-- it was a requirement from the get-go) but, I am not so demented that I would ever dream of having a picture of me taken with perm rods-- Puullleeeezz!!!!!!!!!!
michigan pictures - Yep, that's the way that I'd recommend visiting the state!!
contract negotiator resume - Oh, really??? Drop me an email and we'll talk!!
sandra bullock and morro bay - Is there a connection there that I wasn't aware of? What does Sandra Bullock have to do with Morro Bay??? Enlighten me, people!!!
anchovie greeting - How would you know?
buy navy pumps - Amateur!! (Honey, if you gotta look up buyin' shoes on the web, there's no other explanation!)
clauses for sales reps employment contract - "I will not promise to sell my mother. I will not promise to sell my mother. I will not promise to sell my mother."
perm rods pictures - Please, people-- what have I said!! No, No, NOOOOOO!!!!!!
dykstra pronunciation - D-i-kx-tra. Its my maiden name-- I should know.
And last but, certain not least . . .
her sock puppet photos - This is why it is oh-so important to use quotation marks around your searches. I am quite certain that I have never (ever!!!) written a post about sock puppets let alone displayed any pictures of them. ARGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
CRS!!
Well, that tears it: I Can't Remember Something!! I know that there was something else I was going to tell you but I can't remember it now for the life of me!! Oh, well, must not have been important, eh? That's what my mother always used to say!
**********
I'm outta here-- gonna work on the leaves for the runners that match the quilted wall-hanging I finished a few weeks ago. I've got them all pinned and ready to roll through the machine so we're on the downhill slide now!
Thanks for coming by-- no matter how you got here!! Have a nice evening!
Monday, February 25, 2002Yep, You Got It!
I missed a post!! Well, my mother always said that if you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't say anything at all so, I decided I'd take a chance on the world coming to a crashing end but, as sure as I thought it would, it did not.
Every now and then, ya just gotta do something different, ya know? I spent much of yesterday relaxing all day--
see that spot right there? Yep, that one over to the right-- that's where I spent a good part of Sunday afternoon. You'll notice that there are no yarn baskets or sewing machines set up there? That's because I didn't do either of those-- I read!! Yes, I can do that!! I didn't feel like doing anything else so I just stopped and read. By the way, I finished Prodigal Summer (and was not as pleased with it as I have been with other Barbara Kingsolver novels, I might add) and am on to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Good so far but then I like the way that these books are written, too.
I did work on the afghan last night but, alas, I'm afraid that I won't be finishing the afghan in time for my nephew's birthday next Monday-- I'll get it to him soon but, not by then, that's for sure!!
That was Yesterday
"And yesterday's gone" . . . I do not remember that song for myself but, I had siblings who are all older than me and I vaguely recall it being played on a radio when I was a baby-- yeah, that's the ticket!!
Today was work as usual but I have to admit, it was a little odd feeling. Long story that I'll get into eventually but just not now. Word crashed on me three times-- the first two times, my documents came back as recovery documents but not the third time. The documents were completely gone-- no, I was not pleased.
After work, Brian, Sally and I went for a walk; we did the long walk and Sally and I both felt it on the way back to the house. She and I played ball until Brian came home so I had her pre-worn out prior to our walk or, at least, that's the story she's claiming! I am not going to argue with her-- she's too cute.
Since being home from our walk, I've made up two pillows from leftover fabric from the latest quilting project and had my dinner. Brian and I decided on leftovers but, since I don't have any, I had veggie "burgers" instead. I liked 'em and Sally couldn't tell the difference on the scent, apparently.
My sister, Karen, in Michigan sent me cookies!! A few weeks ago, I mentioned to her that I really wanted this particular kinda cookie that I grew up on but, I couldn't find them here. I didn't "mention" it as much as I begged her to go buy me some-- this weekend she did and they arrived today!! Yippeeeeeee!!!! Of course, I can only eat one a day because of the point value but I will savor that one-a-day, let me tell ya!!
That brings us up to now and you already know what I'm doing here. Tonight, I'm going to work on the runners for our bedroom; the runners are going to match the wall-hanging quilt and go on the long dresser and the high boy.
*****
Thanks for coming by-- I appreciate the support. I guess that's all for now-- have a nice evening!
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