I Like Thursday: Back to the Grind

Back to work this week.  I like that.  But I am wiped out every evening from learning and installing... and I haven't even started the real work!

Slowly making progress on the quilt - I'm just about three-quarters done quilting the top.  I suspect I'm going to run out of thread and time and not finish it by the end of the month.

When the bridge up the street was closed off, a sign was installed warning of the bridge was out.  That sign disappeared; then this one appeared.  Ever seen one like this?  The other oddity is that it doesn't face the north-bound traffic - it faces straight at the road.

Very strange.

I just finished The Orphans of Raspay, the latest in a series of short novels by Lois McMaster Bujold.  It's a fun set books (a continuation of her Five Gods world) about a mild-mannered powerful sorcerer possessed by bunch of wise and sassy female souls and the trouble they get into (and out of).

I Like Thursday: Outdoors, Indoors

My potted tomatoes are ridiculously happy.  The others are doing pretty well, too.  I'm not having so much luck with the kale and carrots, but the sage and basil are growing gangbusters, along with some scallions and the mystery melon/cucumber/squash.

I Like Thursday: Buried

I had been hoping that 2019 would calm down a bit from the end of the year stress.  Not really.  We've added some new fun features!  But I have carved a little bit of time to share the good things I have experienced (even if it's a bit later than usual).

Work has been brutal, being asked to work weekends and evenings and it needs. to. stop.  However, the coworkers I deal with day-in and day-out are the best.  One guy I jokingly call my work-husband - we've been working together since '91.  He keeps me sane on the worst of days.  The rest of the team - I strive to do my best for them because they help me out whenever I need it, too.  I hope we all catch a break soon (we deserve it).

We spent a chunk of the weekend at the hospital.  Everyone is fine (and I certainly like that).  I also liked the staff we dealt with: doctors, nurses, orderlies.  They all treated us with professionalism and kindness.  It made a stressful and unexpected experience a lot more pleasant.  

Now for some fun stuff!  Don't you love finding unexpected treasure?  This week it was in the form of Christmas cookies.  I had been positive I had polished them off.  But  behold!  One last box of the good stuff.  Yum!

Baltimore Berger Cookies

Years ago, one of my coworkers lived in Baltimore.  Every Christmas she'd send a care package that included boxes of Berger cookies.  Our whole team got excited when that package arrived.  I swear the sole purpose of that cake-like cookie was to transport the thick layer of fudgy frosting.  Sweet, rich and absurd looking.  They're delicious.

It's been several years since the office closed (we moved to home offices) and the care packages stopped.  Yet our team still reminisces about Berger cookies.  So when I came across a recipe for Baltimore Berger Cookies I knew I had to give it a try.

Nowhere Fast

See this?  This is the UDS 9D table, my current project at work (if you don't know what it is, count yourself lucky).  I'm obsessed with getting it to run correctly and it's burning me out.  After weeks of research the output is starting to come together - I got numbers now.  Yay!  But some calculations are off by over $100k.  Nice.  So I'm spending just about every waking hour thinking how to fix it (when I'm driving, doing housework, falling asleep).  I mean, I skipped an evening of quilting to research sliding fees.  Crazy, right?  Gotta love medical billing and government reporting.

Time Out

As Boadicea adjusts to life in our house, she's been upping her dominance over Cannoli.  She's a small pig, but she really throws her weight around.  She will oust Cannoli from cozy or hay for no other reason than Because She Can.  Rotten rodent.  It results in more screaming than I'd like to hear, but Cannoli doesn't seem to be too put out.  I suspect Noli makes it sounds worse than it is.

There was a lot of fussing Monday afternoon.  At some point Noli got cornered in the tunnel (only a guinea pig could manage to do that) and her cries sounded truly panicked.  I decided Boadicea needed to spend some time out quality time with me.  I normally plop her in my lap while I do my work, but I couldn't balance her and keep typing.  So she ended up in the desk - and was not happy about it.  Does that look like a repentant rodent?  She didn't budge.

Arrowhead Mug Rugs

I had a couple of extra squares from Antia's Arrowhead that didn't go with the rest of the set.  I put them aside and decided to make mug rugs with them.

The squares were perfect to practice freemotion quilting.  I tried new patterns and focused on filling in specific areas of the block.  I have a terrible time quilting up next to borders.  I picked a leafy design for the purple one.  It's not terribly even, but it wasn't too difficult to do.

I chose the dizzy daisy for the blue one.  I have a thing for spirals.  I practiced filling in along borders for this one, too, working one quarter of the block at a time.  I probably shouldn't have done that with this pattern, and just meandered across the whole square.  I think it needed more space to do it justice.  I will definitely try dizzy daisy again on a larger piece and remind myself to spread out. 

I enjoy making mug rugs, but when I finished my first one last year, I wondered how useful it really was.  The coasters I have worked fine.  Then I threw it on the corner of my desk.  It is constantly occupied by my tea mug, often with a snack or cereal bowl keeping it company.  I'm glad to have new mug rugs so I can rotate.

A Bunch of Baking

Cheddar Onion Scones, Chocolate Chip Biscuits
Oatmeal Bread, GF Banana Bread

My friends and I had a Tea on Sunday.  Last Friday I had not yet decided on what I was making.  As I flipped through my recipe books I came across a number of Breakfast Club recipes.  Ah.  I haven't made many of these since our office closed.  I enjoyed baking for my coworkers.  I didn't realize how much I missed cooking for Breakfast Club.  So I dusted off a few favorites to make.

We had also polished off our last loaf of oatmeal bread and I had a few overripe bananas.  Altogether, that spells Baking Frenzy!

I baked some old favorites for the Tea:  cheddar onion scones and chocolate chip biscuits.  I also made some gluten/dairy free banana bread (since the scones and biscuits had loads of both).  The GF banana bread came out great.  I liked it better than the GF date bread I made earlier in the year.  This had good texture and everyone agreed it was delicious.  Alas, one of the mini loaves fell into a spot of flour on the counter when I removed it from the pan.  Oops.  I had to keep that one all to myself (you can see my big fat taste-test in the photo).

Two for One

Modified neoprene soles and socks

I love contra dancing in my sandasols.  I had a pair that wore out so much that they were no longer comfortable but I hated to just throw them out.  They've been collecting dust in a corner of my closet for a couple of years.  I finally figured out a use for them.

First, I cut off the heel straps and stitched them onto a pair of neoprene half-sole shoes.  The neoprene soles are very comfortable, but never stay on my feet.  It became such a problem I stopped using them several months ago.  I am hoping the straps will keep them in place.  I'll get to try out the new design on Friday. 

Next, I separated the bottom piece of leather from what remained of the sandasols.  I stitched these onto the bottoms of a pair of ragg wool socks I wear around the house all the time.  My last pair fell apart faster than I could darn them.  This solution doesn't help the wear on the heels, but it tends to be the ball of my foot that pokes through first.  Added bonus - they're not quite as slippery on the hard wood floors.

I'm not sure if this is upcycling or just plain recycling.  Regardless, I got two fixes out of one pair of sandasols.  I'll call it a win.

The Karma Quilt

A co-worker of mine was recently diagnosed with cancer.  We've been working together for over 20 years.  The news has been a shock to all of us.  Having just finished the Fading Charms quilt top (that went together so quickly), I was inspired to make a quilt for my co-worker.  It's a basic 6x4' throw quilt that I hope will be physical reminder of what he means to all of us at work as he fights his cancer. 

It was an insane project to start at Thanksgiving.  But I was driven:  I wished to give him the quilt soon after his surgery and prior to any other therapy.  I started by bouncing ideas off of a few co-workers, then announced it to the office so I was committed to making it.

As I began designing and calculating yardage, I realized many of my colleagues probably felt as helpless as I did about the whole situation.  I decided to add sashing after the initial design, so I could personalize the quilt with the names of people who work with him closely.  I invited co-workers, including those no longer with the company, to send me their signatures or give me permission to embroider their names into the quilt.

What a Wheeker!

Back in August, I noted Pinniped and Cannoli's lack of interest when Rob came home in the afternoon.  I also tried to capture Cannoli's loud wheeking on video.  Well, since then, they've ramped things up.  The two of them greet Rob in the afternoon:   they perk up when they hear his car in the driveway and work up to frantic squeaking by the time he steps in the house.  One would think I've ignored them all day.

Wheeking triggers have expanded as well.  In addition to opening the fridge and the running kitchen faucet, they go nuts when we chop on the cutting board.  They've become experts on routines:  Pinni and Noli wheek when I get out of bed, or if they're lazy, wait until I take my morning vitamins.  They yell at me when I make breakfast, or tea, or lunch and many times at Rob if he just steps foot into the kitchen.  Of course when either of us walk through the front door, it's the perfect opportunity to tell us how hungry they are.

New Routines

Between the new place and a new layout, we've also got a new routine going on, and Cannoli has been the quickest to adjust.  She knows where she needs to be to get the best treats first and is overcoming her wussiness.  Several mornings I've found Cannoli on the third level of the cage, awaiting her morning bell pepper and she didn't run away.  Excellent!  She was also the first to wheek from the second level, which is the part of the cage that is closest to the kitchen.  However, some habits die hard; I often find Pinniped up against the water bottle-side of the cage (which used to be closest to the kitchen) looking expectantly through the bars in hope for a treat.  Wrong way, you dope!

Girls at Work

My in-a-meeting pose
(snapped before the warm weather!)

My new office setup is so very different than it was in the old house.  I used to have a room to myself, upstairs and overlooking the street.  I was separated from Pinniped and Cannoli by three rooms and one story.  Now, I share my office with the living room, the kitchen and the guinea pigs.  Such a different setup!

The view behind me

First of all, Pinni is a noisy drinker.  I kind of knew that, but now it's really obvious.  She loves to rattle the bottle when I sit down for my morning standup meeting.  Makes it kind of difficult to listen to everyone else.  I've also discovered that there's more bickering during the day than I thought.  I hear Cannoli yell and scramble to another part of the cage a few times a day.  It's partially Pinni's fault, because she's ousting Cannoli from some spot or another or otherwise being mean, but as I watch the more I think Cannoli's stubbornness is a big factor.  She does not have the personality to fight back, but she flat out refuses to move until Pinni has hit her pretty hard.