Totally Frustrated

How is it possible that something that worked like a charm yesterday doesn’t work at all today? After trying for months to get my Brother printer to work I finally invested in an HP printer. It came in, I set it up and enjoyed printing off a lot of information, but then the building WiFi went down cutting that off.

So, this afternoon I had a signal again, opened the laptop and the printer, made sure both were on the same network and tried to continue the printing. Now the printer is in error state according to the laptop but working properly according to the printer. AAAaarrrrggghhhh! How on planet Earth is this continuing to happen? At least I can still send this one back, but what do I try next? I WANT TO PRINT OUT MY INFORMATION. Consider that last line my shouting at the world of electronics even though I know it is a futile attempt.

There have been a few other frustrations lately. Well, not as serious as losing the WiFi last night and again temporarily this afternoon. How on earth did I get so hung up on the Internet? Probably has a lot to do with all of my books being on my Kindle and unavailable wihout the Internet. Especially when in the middle of an Agatha Christie story. And Miss Marple at that!

Fortunately I do have other interests, like quilting. So when I was almost finished with the latest quilt, I pulled a bottle of OJ out of the fridge and shook it up because of settlement, began opening it when it began to fizz out all over the place, including the new quilt. Huge Sigh! Now how does orange juice that is still supposedly new manage to ferment in the refrigerator? Use by date was still a month away, bottle previously unopened, but fizzy OJ anyway. I give up on that one. Frankly I didn’t know orange juice WOULD ferment.

Looking inward now to find something good about today. It was the candy sale day and for $3 I got 30 mini Hershey Bars, Heath bars and 3 Musketeers bars. And I was able to pay for them by unloading a bag of change that had been weighing me down. The ladies who were selling the candy helped me a lot by sorting out all of the small change leaving only the quarters for the most part behind. That was good. And my bag doesn’t weigh a ton now.

Next week I will begin Physical and Occupationel Therapy once again. That usually does a lot of good as far as my efforts to stay erect while attempting to walk are concerned. The OT will be for that pesky left shoulder that I had the replacement surgery on. It hurts more now than it did before the surgery 11 years ago this month. Big sigh! I’ve heard it helps for some people but not for others. I guess I’m one of the others but at least I can still use my left hand. Just have a few problems washing my hair and getting into a coat or flannel shirt. If I forget and start in with my right arm I have to take it off and start over putting the left arm in first. And to think I started dressing myself as a very young child with few problems.

Speaking of dressing myself, when I was working for Hospice I got dressed in dim light one morning, no problem that I could think of except the pants felt wrong. Went on to work, Monday morning staff meeting, back to my desk and tried to put something in the pants pocket. Couldn’t find the pocket! Stood there for a few, looking down at the pants and finally noticed the sewn in pleat in the front was also missing. Yep, I had them on backward. That answered the question of why they felt so strange when I moved or sat down. My very helpful grandson told me later to look for the label the next time because that always goes in the back. Thanks E! You should have told me that earlier.

I think I’ll attempt a few photos. Hopefully no frustrations this time. I kinda remember how to do that.

But before I try, I found a quote on Pinterest that really hits home. “It’s not the forgetting that bothers me. It’s the remembering that I’ve forgotten to remember what I’m trying to remember that makes me crazy!”

And one more frustration before I look for some photos. I just tried to find some photos after checking my “comments” page but WP kept me bouncing back to a paid subscription page. Sorry WP. Been there done that a couple of times and was pirated both times. Not interested in trying it again, especially since you refused to help me get my pirated blogs sites back.

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Photos are another frustration, but the one with the sailboat is the latest quilt, almost finished, the one the OJ erupted on. The violets were taken here on the grounds — last spring. Lousy weather prevents looking outside lately. The doll dress is one of the Barbie dresses, and the last photo, which I’ve probably published already is the tomato vine I grew in the window while at the Roosevelt House. I had a fairly good harvest by the time it finished, grape tomatoes that were soooo good.

MS and the Month of March

Once again it is MS Awareness month, shared with Breast Cancer Awareness. Breast Cancer has always received the most press during our shared months, but now maybe someone should come up with a ribbon for COVID as well. I’ve heard rumors about cures for breast cancer, I know there are vaccines for COVID, but still there are no cures r vaccines for MS, one of the truly orphan diseases. It gets two months of awareness per year but for those of us living with MS there are no months of respite at times. It just keeps on going and going but not as cute as the Energizer bunny. More reliable than Timex though, it just never stops completely even though it sometimes slows down a bit. At least it used to slow down a bit for me but for the past few years it just keeps on and on with the fatigue getting worse every day.

After saying it doesn’t slow down I have to admit I’ve had a short energy spurt these past couple of days. And true to form when I get an energy spurt I tend to overdo things a bit just to catch up on the things that have fallen by the wayside during the other months. So I’ve been moving furniture lately. One chair has been where my kids placed it 7 or 8 years ago while another one has been in the same place the 22 years I’ve lived here. My lift chair is kinda heavy so I seldom even try to move it but a couple of days ago just decided to give it a nudge from the usual place next to the window where the cold air was getting in. The first little nudge worked so well that I got behind it and gave it a shove, I can now sit there without wearing a fuzzy hat and muffler to keep the cold off my head and shoulders. Now that I have started that I’m going through papers that were stacked behind the chair on some shelves that were too close to get to and getting rid of a lot of trash that way. Looking at some of them makes me wonder why I ever saved them in the first place, and why I kept them in the second place. Recipes for dishes I have never tried because each time I came across one that looked good I wanted to try it. Just never got around to actually doing that for most of them and the ones i have tried and liked are now in recipe binders. Ya know, big stacks of paper get kinda heavy after a while and I think I’ve personally filled the big dumpster a couple of times without even trying. And always shaking my head at the waste of paper and ink involved.

I’m also going through the bins of fabric, pulling out all of the tiny scraps that I once thought I would sew into a quilt. I still make quilts but it’s been a long time since I used a postage stamp sized scrap in one. And half inch strips of fabric? I have to wonder if I ever used any of those since each seam is a quarter inch one. I think — no, I know I am a hoarder when it comes to a lot of things but happily I’m recovering from that lately. I do find myself wishing some of those tiny scraps were a lot larger though since the fabric they came from was so pretty. But of course, there are also the scraps that are so ugly I wonder what I was thinking about when I bought them. Probably not thinking at all at the time, but now out they go.

Speaking of quilts, I’m working on one now for a granddaughter who is getting married in April. It won’t be finished by her wedding day but she will know it is coming soon. Now to see if I have a photo of it:

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Since their favorite colors closely resemble mine I had the red and navy they requested already on hand for some future occasion and this turned out to be just that occasion. The quilt has several names, depending on how the blocks are set together and I think this setting is called Windmill. In another setting it can be Flying Geese or Birds In Flight among several others that I have forgotten after the 65 years since I began quilting. One of my favorites though, whatever it’s called.

I’m still dressing Barbie and some other dolls even though I’ve slowed that down until the quilt is finished.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Still fun to do and lately I’ve been finding more of the needles I’ve dropped over the years — most of them under, inside or behind the chairs I’ve moved as well as the shelving units that are being scooted around each time I open a new place for them. Some of those are just being dismantled since I don’t need them all after tossing out the papers and fabric, but I’ve learned to hang on to the shelves until the end of my energy spurts puts me back in the chair. I’ve given too many things away thinking I’ll never need them only to discover that I actually do need them after all.

Ah well, while the MS allows I will be getting back to it all. One thing about an energy spurt is that I don’t need much sleep until it’s over. I have wised up enough to know that a rest break every 15 minutes is absolutely necessary though. Old dogs can learn new tricks after they break a few bones due to ignoring the obvious. Remember, wear orange at some time this month is support of the millions of us with MS who are still here.

MORE FOTOS

IL

AND THE BEAT GOES ON!  I’M STILL WORKING ON CHRISTMAS, BUT WHETHER IT WILL BE CHRISTMAS PAST OR CHRISTMAS YET TO COME IS ANYBODY’S GUESS.

THE DOLL PICTURED HERE IS ACTUALLY DESTINED TO BE A TEACHING AID FOR MY GRANDDAUGHTER, FALEASHA.  SHE IS AN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST, WORKING WITH SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN AND ASKED ME IF I COULD MAKE HER SOME TEACHING AIDS THAT ARE MORE INTERESTING THAN THE STANDARD KIND SHE HAS ON HAND.  I WAS DELIGHTED AT THE PROSPECT AND MY BRAIN IS STILL WORKING OVERTIME ON THEM.  SHE NEEDS THINGS WITH BUTTONS AND BUTTONHOLES, ZIPPERS, SNAPS, THINGS TO TIE AND BUCKLES.  “HER” KIDS NEED PRACTICE WITH ALL OF THESE SKILLS. SOME OF WHICH GIVE ME PROBLEMS AGAIN NOW THAT MY HANDS ARE NOT HAPPY ABOUT DOING MOST OF THE SPECIAL LITTLE ACTS WE PERFORM WHEN GETTING DRESSED.  I’VE HEARD IT CALLED SECOND CHILDHOOD — THIS ARTHRITIS THAT ROBS US OF OUR FLEXIBILITY AS WE AGE.  I HAVE OTHER NAMES FOR IT BUT TRY NOT TO USE THOSE WORDS OUT LOUD. AND I CERTAINLY NEVER WRITE THEM OUT ON ANY TYPE OF SOCIAL MEDIAL

OKAY, A FEW MORE PHOTOS AND I’LL GIVE THESE HANDS A LITTLE BIT OF REST.

THIS IS A SMALL QUILT I MADE FOR MY GRANDSON, NOAH.  HE WAS ONLY A FEW MINUTES OLD IN THE PHOTO AT THE TOP AND THIS IS MY FAVORITE PHOTO OF ALL.  NOT THE BEST QUALITY, I WAS TAKING A CLASS AND DEVELOPED AND PRINTED THE PHOTO IN MY DARK ROOM, ONE OF MY FIRST EVER ATTEMPTED IN A DARK ROOM.  MY REGRET IS THAT I DIDN’T LEAVE IT IN THE SOLUTION LONG ENOUGH. I LOVE THE LOOK ON LOGAN’S FACE AS HE LEANS HIS HEAD ON HIS MOM’S SHOULDER AND GAZES DOWN AT NEWLY BORN NOAH, ABOUT 10 MINUTES AFTER NOAH;S FIRST BREATH.