A Few Random Things

This is kind of a miscellaneous post since none of these things alone are enough for their own post.  Of course, like all of my random things posts, there will be cat (and other) pictures sprinkled throughout. 

Howard

I’m trying to reply to all of the comments now.  I’ve posted about it before, and the opinions seemed fairly mixed.  I replied to comments when I first started blogging, way back in 2012, but just stopped somewhere along the way.  I’ve decided to try it again for now.  I can always stop if no one seems to read them, or if I don’t really have anything to say.  I haven’t responded to some of the comments on my photography post because they were really long when I started to, and I’ve decided to just write a post instead.  I’m hoping to have that finished soon.

Mortimer

My best piece of random news is that my dad got his first dose of vaccine last week.  My parents live in South Carolina, so my dad got vaccinated shortly after they opened up appointments for people 65 and over.  They’ve lowered the age limit now, so my mom has an appointment scheduled for next week. 

We’ve had almost a week of wonderfully nice, warm weather, even getting up to 70 degrees.  The daffodils are starting to bloom  I’ve been wishing the tree hadn’t destroyed the hammocks when it fell!  Today is the last of the good weather.  It gets rainy and colder, even going down to highs in the 50s for all of the 10 day forecast.  I hope that will be the last of the colder weather, but I’m not counting on it.  March tends to lose its ever loving mind every year and torments us with another bout of cold weather.

The company, Corel, that owns WordPerfect has absolutely terrible customer service.  We’ve been trying to contact them for over two weeks about an issue with the program. They take a few days to respond to every email, and it feels like they’ve been deliberately dragging it out.  Nick sent them all of the information they might need in the first email, but they’ve been emailing and asking for the same information he already sent, one thing at a time.  Email on Monday asking how many systems it’s installed on, email a few days later asking for a screen shot of the error, etc. 

Their latest response is that we have a pirated copy of the program and need to buy a new one.  We most certainly do not!  We bought it brand new, from Best Buy.  It’s old, but it’s not pirated or stolen.  When we first started having problems with it, I was mostly prepared to buy the new version of it since ours is old.  It seemed worth checking to see if we could get a little more life out of ours first, though.  I really, really like WordPerfect, a lot more than Word, so I wasn’t opposed to replacing the program.  Now that they’ve been so obnoxious, I’m less inclined to buy their product.  Bad customer service is bad enough, but I really don’t like being accused of stealing, which I feel is what they did when they said our program is pirated.  I use Word every day on my work computer and if the Corel people want to be jerks, I can certainly use Word on my personal computer. 

 

Caroline

I’m making mask adapters again.  One of my coworkers asked for one for his wife.  She works in retail, and had one of the ones I made early on, but it disappeared at work.  I made a few for her, and some extras for her to take to work as well.  I was really happy that someone asked for them.  I’ve been telling people to let me know whenever they need them, and I’m glad someone finally did.  My sister has handed out all of the ones I sent to her a few weeks ago, so I’m working on another batch to mail to her. 

I found a new chiropractor that I’m extremely happy with.  I hadn’t been since before the pandemic.  The chiropractor I had been going to has been open, but I won’t be going back there, ever, because of their COVID behavior.  I kept putting off finding a new one, but persistent headaches are a good motivator.  I Googled “chiropractors in my town” and then looked for Facebook pages to see what their practice was like.  I had never realized how helpful a business’s Facebook page could be!  I eliminated two from my list immediately, and found what looked like a solid first choice and a decent second choice.  I called the first choice to ask about their mask policy and ended up making an appointment for the next day.  They are awesome!!!  The practice reminds me a lot of the one I absolutely loved when I lived in SC.  I’ve been going weekly and feel so much better. 

Dogs make people smile.  Especially friendly, happy three-legged dogs.  Since almost everything is curbside or drive-thru now, I’ve been taking Duke with me almost every time I go anywhere.  He loves going for rides, and I think he misses seeing other people and going places.  He’s always so happy when I get his leash out.  And people are always happy to see him.  Everyone just seems much happier when I have Duke with me. 

Duke

So what about you?  Have you been enjoying warm weather?  Do you have a favorite word processing program?  Have you found it helpful to look at a business’s Facebook page?  

A Long Catch-Up Post

 I know it wasn’t a very realistic hope, but I was kind of hoping that things would be a little more normal by the time I posted again.  Nope.  Not even close.  It seemed like North Carolina started off fairly strong, compared to neighboring states, in taking COVID precautions.  But now, despite all of the pleas from the experts, we seem to be on a crash course to disaster.  I don’t know of anyone now who hasn’t had a close friend, family member, or co-worker have COVID.  But enough about COVID.

Duke

We painted and re-did the floor in our kitchen in October.  We postponed our annual Folly Beach trip to next year, but still took the week off of work. We both have a lot of paid time off accumulated, so we decided to take the week and do the kitchen project.  

And that’s probably the last house project we’ll do for quite a while!  It took much longer, and was much harder than we expected.  You know how people complain that romantic comedies paint an unrealistic picture of relationships?  Well, I think that’s nothing compared to the lies Lowe’s and Home Depot are selling in their commercials.  The couples in those always look so happy during their projects.  They have on nice clean clothes and are smiling at each other.   There’s none of the covered in sawdust and paint and seriously re-thinking being married to someone who wants to blast whiney 80s music, or doesn’t know the name of every single tool.  Anyway, that’s my take on who sets couples up for unrealistic expectations.  

Fortunately, both of us, and our marriage, survived the kitchen project.  Here’s a progress picture.  I haven’t taken a finished picture yet because I only think about it once I’ve started cooking, and I’m so messy, I don’t want to take a picture of that.  You can at least see the colors.  Almost everything was a very ugly beige before.  

Painting in progress.

I’m still crocheting mask adapters/extenders.  There was a lull in people asking for them for a while, but people have started asking for them again, so I’ve been making and mailing them.  If you need one, let me know in the comments.  

Mask Adapters

We had a health scare with Tara in October.  It turns out that she has bladder crystals and has to be on a special diet.  She had to have an ultrasound to look for crystals (which the vet suspected) or stones, and to rule out any kind of mass.  Due to COVID, the vet’s office isn’t allowing people into the office, so we had to wait in the parking lot when Tara had her ultrasound.  One of the vet techs came out as soon as it was finished and told us, unofficially, that there were no masses, but the vet would be out later to tell us that officially and talk to us.  I wanted to hug her!  Every other time we’ve had a pet have an ultrasound, the news has been devastating, so we were pretty nervous.  I thought it was so sweet of her to come out and tell us the good news right away.

Tara has to be on a special diet, and we’re limiting her stress.  She’s a very timid cat, and is afraid of almost everything, so limiting her stress isn’t the easiest thing.  It has taken a lot of trial and error, but we seem to have figured out the food situation for her.  There are three different kinds she likes, for a few days at a time, so we have small bowls of all three brands of dry food out for her, and we alternate the brand of wet food every day or two.  Tara is also currently living in our bedroom, away from the other cats.  She seems to have no desire to leave!  Howard goes in and hangs out with her (and eats the special food he’s not exactly supposed to have) every day.  For now, it seems to be working.  We’re tossing around ideas for later on, but for the moment, she’s happy in the bedroom.

Doesn't she look happy?

We didn’t host Thanksgiving this year.  I was very disappointed about that, but I believe we made the right choice.  We did still get to drop off the meal for the hospice house, though.  I wasn’t sure if they would want us to, so I wanted until the week before to ask, since things seem to change so quickly.  The lady I always coordinate with was incredibly nice.  She said a few people had asked if I was bringing the meal, so that made me happy.  They aren’t allowing volunteers inside, but said that as long as we were okay dropping the food off at the door, while wearing masks, they would love to have the meal.  We were more than happy to do it that way.  We now have an uninterrupted streak since 2016, so I was thrilled not to miss a year.

Everything went smoothly with the drop off.  We’re normally able to use a cart they have, but couldn’t this year, so there were a lot of trips back and forth to the car, but nothing was spilled or forgotten.  We ended up talking to a very nice lady in the parking lot.  She was nice, but made me cry.  I’d like to go one year without crying! 

Two older couples that we’re friends with were also staying home for Thanksgiving, so I offered a drop-off/pickup of food for them since I was already cooking and it’s practically impossible to cook Thanksgiving dinner for only two.  One couple came and picked up desserts.  We talked for a few minutes through the glass door, which was strange, but also nice.  The other couple lives just down the street from us, so we dropped off desserts and sides, and they sent some different desserts and sides home with us.  It was a fairly warm day, so we sat out on their patio, six feet apart, in masks, and talked for a while.  Again, it was weird, but nice to see them. 

Like so many people, our Christmas plans look very different this year.  We’re not doing our usual trip to my sister’s.  We talked to her and to Nick’s mom and step-dad and all agreed to forego gifts this year, since we can’t be together, and plan for an insanely huge celebration next year.  Everyone was happy with that idea, so it’s nice that we’re all in agreement.  I imagine it would be very stressful if the people you normally celebrate with are taking a different approach from you.  

We haven’t even put up our Christmas tree this year.  Neither one of us felt especially motivated to on Thanksgiving weekend (when we normally put it up), and then we were sick (NOT COVID, we both had negative tests) for a while after that.  Then it just reached the point of not being worth it to drag everything out for such a short time.  It’s weird not having the tree up, but that’s 2020.  I did put up some wreaths on the doors, and we’ve been listening to Christmas music, so there’s some Christmas spirit here.  

The only Christmas shopping I’ve done has been for my chemo/senior buddies.  Their packages have all been shipped and delivered.   Caroline helped with the wrapping and packaging.  I decided on mostly small things that would fit in a stocking, so I hope they like everything.  We also did a family package for my buddy who’s married and has a young son and a dog (the dog toys were from Duke and the cats to her dog).  I asked Nick’s mom if the family package would be weird, and she said it wouldn’t.  Hopefully they’ll like it.  We included a DVD of Home Alone in it, which the kids next door LOVED, when they were the same age as her son, so we’re hoping his taste is similar.  

Caroline "helping"

I’m still working from home, as it seems a lot of you are.  I’ve worked from home longer than I worked in the office before we shut down.  And it has already been over a year since I started the new job!  I still love it, even if it’s a little weird working from home, so I’m so glad I made the switch last year.  

I think those are the highlights of what I’ve been up to since the last time I posted.  So what about you?  Any home projects?  Are you working from home?  What have you been up to for the past couple of months?  

I’m almost certain I won’t post again before Christmas, so I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, or a happy holiday.  I hope you’re all safe and well.

Not Much Has Changed

I can’t believe it has been over two months since the last time I blogged.  Not much has changed, really. 

North Carolina was supposed to have a phased reopening, but that was wishful thinking.  As soon as things started reopening, people started acting like the pandemic was over.  We also have a mask mandate, but it’s largely a joke.  So many places are blatantly refusing to enforce it.  My job is requiring masks.  Nick’s job isn’t.  We’re still staying home as much as possible, but when we do go out, most people aren’t wearing masks. 

So it comes as no surprise that NC is consistently on the list of places with quickly rising numbers.  I keep wondering what the number of deaths has to be for people to take it seriously and follow the rules.  It makes me nervous to think how high that number may have to be.

I’m still working from home, which Duke is very happy about.  He spends most of the day on a blanket next to my desk.  I did get to go into the office for a total of three days in June.  It was nice to see some of my coworkers again.  It was so strange, though, with everyone walking around in masks and standing so far apart from each other.  I don’t know if that will ever feel normal.  There are a few things going on at the office this month, but we’ve been told not to go in unless we’re directly involved them, or told by our supervisor to go in.  I’m not working on those things, so there aren’t any office days on the horizon for me.

So that’s pretty much it in pandemic news for us. Moving on to other things.  

Our gardenia bush bloomed!  It’s still very small, but the blooms were pretty. 

I have crocheted a lot of mask adapters!  A few people at work needed some for family members.  A few people Nick sees through work needed some.  I thought that was probably going to be the end of making mask adapters, but then the lab my sister works in started doing COVID-19 testing.  She asked me for mask adapters after one of the things she was using left bloody sores behind her ears.  The other option left her face bruised by the end of the day.  On a side note, that probably contributes to my total intolerance of people who refuse to wear a cloth mask for 45 minutes in the grocery store.  When the tests are coming in so fast that the folks working in the labs running the tests are wearing masks for so long that their faces are bruised and bloodied, the rest of us can suck it up a little.  Anyway, I quickly crocheted these two, and mailed them to her.  We wanted to test out the size before I made a lot of them.

They worked for her, and two of her coworkers asked about getting some.  So I  crocheted this batch and mailed them to her.

Then more of her coworkers saw them, and asked about getting some.  People were offering to pay for them.  I refuse to sell them, though.  It’s the one thing I can do to help during all of this, and it makes me feel better to do it.  So I got another small batch mailed.

By that time, more and more people were asking about getting one, so spent a day making them, and got this batch mailed.  So far this appears to be enough, but they’re going to let me know if they need more.  They sent me a very nice thank you letter, which was awesome. 

I made a sourdough bread starter.  For the bread machine, so I’m not sure how much that counts.  It took a little longer than the recipe said, so I gave it a few extra days.  The bread was delicious.  I made bread with it twice, and then totally forgot about feeding it for over two weeks.  We weren’t sure if it was alright to use after that, so I threw it out.  It has been so hot lately, we’re not really making much bread anyway, so I think I’m going to wait until it cools down some before I start another starter. 

So what have you been up to over the past few months?  

Crocheting For A Cause

This post could just as easily have been titled “Hanging On To My Sanity With Yarn”, but “Crocheting For A Cause” sounded a little nicer.

I’ve come to the realization over the years that I handle practically anything much better if I have a task.  It doesn’t have to be anything terribly important, but I need something to do.   The worse things are the more desperately I need something to do.  I think that’s why I always bring food when someone is sick or has a death in the family. 

A global pandemic involving social distancing isn’t the best time for someone with no medical training, with a job that isn’t really essential to find something to keep busy. 

I attempted making crochet masks, but they’re not the best.  If things get worse and they’re needed I will definitely keep making them, but fabric masks seem to be what most people prefer. 

Last week I saw two posts on Facebook that involved useful crocheting.  The first  was mask adapters.  The post said that healthcare workers are asking for them because the masks are very uncomfortable when worn for extended periods of time.  There’s a crochet group in the upstate of South Carolina that is making them for some of the hospitals and clinics there.  I got an address to mail some to.

I watched this video and tried following the pattern.  I don’t have a stitch marker, and didn’t fully understand how it would be used, so I had to improvise a little.  Mine aren’t pretty, but I think they will work.  I’m mailing some to the group in SC, and we sent some to the local hospice house. 

They're not the prettiest, but hopefully they'll help.

One of my coworkers is married to an E.R. nurse, so I emailed him to see if his wife might want them.  He said her hospital is using them.  We’ve made arrangements for him to pick them up from our front porch tomorrow.  I’m hoping to get some feedback as to how make them more useful.

Another one of my coworkers is married to a respiratory therapist, so I emailed him to see if his wife might want them.  He said she does.  We’re still in the process of working out a handoff.

I started getting low on buttons.  I’ve ordered some, but they’re going to take a week to arrive, so I asked on Facebook.  I’ve been given enough buttons to keep making adapters for a very long time!  One friend gave us a gallon sized Ziploc bag that’s nearly full of buttons.  One of Nick’s coworkers brought a smaller bag of buttons to him yesterday.  Someone else has promised more buttons. 

Coins for scale when people started asking about button size.  

The next post I saw was about using crocheted straps for cloth face masks.  Most of the patterns call for elastic straps, but I’m told that getting elastic has become much like getting hand sanitizer or toilet paper.  You can’t.  

Someone figured out a way to make crochet straps instead of elastic.  I don’t have any of my own pictures of the masks with the crochet straps, and I’m uncomfortable posting someone else’s pictures.  The masks look like the ones in this pattern and this pattern.  Just picture crochet straps instead of ribbon or elastic.

I shared the post on Facebook and asked if anyone was sewing masks and needed straps.   A friend put me in touch with one of her friends who had been on Facebook asking for elastic.  I posted my offer of straps on her page.  One of her friends, Cindy, sent me a message that she was making masks for an assisted living facility and had run out of elastic.  So we decided to collaborate.  I made a batch of straps, using three different sized hooks, to see which one would work best. 

On a side note, the first person who had asked for elastic was given elastic much like I was given buttons. 

The next day we took my first batch of straps and dropped them off on Cindy’s porch.  The same day she was asked by someone at another facility for masks. 

The first batch of straps.

After trying the straps made with different sized hooks, it was determined that the “I” hook makes the best straps.   They’re 21inches long, with a 5 - 6 inch tail on both ends.  Cindy suggested the longer tail since some of the folks in assisted living facilities may have arthritis, and the longer tails would be easier for them to tie.

I crocheted straps for most of the day Friday and some on Saturday morning.  We dropped off the next batch of straps on Cindy’s porch on Saturday afternoon, and picked up a jar of buttons she gave me for the adapters.  

The second, much bigger, batch of straps. 

Yesterday Cindy sent me a text that someone from another facility had asked for masks, so she’s making more.  I had a small batch ready that she picked up from our mailbox.  I’m currently working on more.  Cindy says she’ll keep sewing the masks as long as people keep asking for them.  I’ll keep making the straps as long as someone can use them for masks. 

It’s hard to explain, but I feel so much better having something even slightly useful to do.  It hasn’t really changed much for me.  I’m still working from home during the day, and watching a lot of TV in the evening.  Now I’m just crocheting straps or adapters while I watch TV, but it makes me feel better.  

It was also nice to see so many people working together.  There have been so many examples of people behaving selfishly, whether it’s price gouging, hoarding food/supplies, or doing things to put the most vulnerable at risk.  It can make the world seem like a terrible place.  But then there are times when people reach out to help.  I know it’s small in the grand scheme of things, but it’s nice to see that someone can ask for something like fabric, elastic, or buttons to make things to try to help and be inundated with people providing those supplies.   

So what about you?  Have you seen examples of people working together lately?  Do you need a task to stay sane when things are bad?