end of Q3 2025

  end of Q3 2025 ... shorthand / tic notes for 09/30/25 .... 'tis my world

  the world is spinning a little bit the last couple of days -- 

  

  mom has a lotta hip pain -- after we got home from the lake she started to complain and so there was a trip to er ( st peter) and they couldn't / wouldn't do much other than refer to walk in ortho clinic (mankato) which resulted in a "shot" to a muscle above the hip -- she's still in a lot of pain and has a lot of difficulty walking -- so, I stayed home and streamed my tax conference from the cave ... yesterday late afternoon -- I went to office to put out fires and finish payroll (can't do payroll remotely) ... and today I hung out until noon and then went to town to attempt to tame my chaos .. hate that damn chaos

selfie from the cave -- i don't do selfies -- I dressed for the conference -- actually I didn't have any clean shorts downstairs so I tossed on my favorite mu mu dress and rolled with it .. I really need to cut a pattern and sew a couple of these .. stretchy knit -- not full and swirly, covers the knees and has pockets  -- before I do that however, I'll get the ceiling tiles back up .. argh.. the endless projects 

sunset shot at the cabin from the back sidewalk .. new perspective .. sort of ...

Monday after Ron delivered Mom from the ortho appointment - grateful for family, friends and others that fill in when I can't go .. very grateful ... shortly after she got home we received the call that Joanne had passed away -- sometimes we just wear out .. she had struggled since Christmas when she fell and broke her leg/hip/joint -- things were going pretty okay until just after Labor Day .. Mom is going to be a little lost -- she visited Joanne faithfully twice a week at Pheasants Ridge -- health and weather permitting .. arrangements have not been made/finalized .. the boys ( aged 70, 68, 65 and 58?) are working on it .. it all takes time ... 

cave office with mega monitors -- I love these big monitors .. and well, my crochet project is cool too .. traditionally during these webinars I tidy the spaces .. so yesterday parts of the sewing hazmat zone got a little attention and this morning I started rolling yarn for projects .. fabric, yarn, thread -- I got lots ...

 

stitching saturday

I pieced another jelly roll into 2 20 strip blocks .. need a larger cutting mat to trip them down and chop them in half .. it was another nice afternoon of "porch" sewing .. 

since the darkness arrives to early -- I actually had to zip on the overhead porch lights to see ... argh .. I really hate the darkness ---- really hate it -- I haven't found a way to embrace it yet ... other than working non stop

there was a spot of lawnmowing, stick picking up and general tidying .. today I will be the vacuum cleaner boss .. lots of thread and fuzzies from the jelly roll(s)

I spied this on the www .. I have a large (too large) collection of Kona solids -- always looking for ideas .. a little concerned about the solids bleeding onto the whites ..  need to find a pattern and start plotting -- or get out the graph paper and start designing

 

on today we made history

the cc and I mowed lawn -- 82' -- shorts, t shirt, bug spray and a can of orange pop ( it was the only thing in the fridge) ... I started at 4:15 and by 7:15 -- punched out a lot of it .. there's either nice grass or no grass -- I go faster in the no grass spots and things get done.  

had a supper / gas break -- dashed to zip trip for more gas ... this will be trip # 4 which = 60 gallons of overpriced high octane gas.  not that I'm keeping track or anything.

tomorrow it's beach time -- well, working at the lake -- i have projects -- work projects and sewing projects and fun eats.  family things are happening and the beach will be comforting 

Sunday will be more mowing, vehicle washing and vac'ing and weed wacking ... 

 

life

life lately -- running from one disaster to another ... and never catching my breath ... well, it's finally Friday and a lot of things are "done" at the office -- it's feeling good too 

two trips to Mankato in the last 25 hours .. that damn 169 is the new "indy 500" speedway .. wowzer they roll at 70 mph ... good to be home - in one piece

can't wait to see the changes at the lake this weekend .. my sewing projects await me -- as does a book or two -- I've been cleaning like a madwoman tonight -- basement, bedroom, trash, recycling, laundry .. tomorrow will mow mow mow .. so Saturday I can play at the lake -- where things need to be vac'd, maybe mowed and raked .. 

Eddie sent me this jewel last weekend  -- must have been in the basement in Oshawa .. Maddi put a slide show of pix to stream on Joanne's tv .. mom said there are some other jewels sliding past on a regular basis -- Mom with "brown" hair .. real brown hair :)  

 

memories, anniversaries and projects !!

Happy 5th Birthday Cabin!

a lot of memories in this pix -- our first night after closing -- a lot of hours spent in this porch -- she now has mossy green siding, white trim and soon a new brown roof!  sidewalks, landscaping, furniture and a lot of time well spent.  

Mom and I spent the weekend out here -- came out Saturday morning, unloaded, did a spot of work ( always ) -- came to town to pop in on Shorty's Art Crawl booth -- and feed the cats (always feeding those damn cats) -- back to lake for supper, a spot of reading and ended up watching Farm Aid 40 -- honestly, I probably slept thru the best artists -- at 1:00 I went to bed, slept like crap, moved to recliner at 4 -- and slept until 8:00ish .. kinda ruined my sleep schedule !

after lunch - I moved the workhorse to the porch and started striping a jelly roll -- because all good ideas come from either instagram or pintrest ... ya, here we go.  42 strips pieced in 2 1/2 hours .. 2 - 20 strip pieces and a couple left overs .. I shopped the stash ... 

here's the two hunks hanging off the long arm .. next up ..

squaring and chopping and 

eventually it should look like below

eventually ... those bias edges are already scaring me :)

back to the normal things in life tomorrow 

webinar, meetings, client gigs and more tax returns 

( the end is near )

 

Road Trip

I spied a quilt show event on wastebook and tagged it as interested -- so today, I loaded up Mom and we drove to Faribault to see the quilts ... the sanctuary had quilts on every pew and a couple of other rooms also had quilts -- a couple of vendors too 

it was very pretty

the commute to Faribault had really heavy rain between Cleveland and Le Center -- then nada - we came home scenic and more heavy rain by Morristown .. 

I actually left the office at 2:00 --- LEFT THE OFFICE -- locked the door, didn't roll over the phones and LEFT.  First time all summer -- literally .. 

I had tentatively planned to go all week -- but the afternoon phone calls were setting me on edge.  So much drama over nothing, literally nothing.  I needed to get away.

the plan is happy place tomorrow and Sunday - it doesn't matter if it is raining -- one of us reads and watches TV all day, one of us works, sews and stares at the lake ... I've froze some leftovers and will pick up a squash on the outbound.  the Art Stroll is also happening -- will pop in on a few favorites before leaving town.

I cannot remember the last road trip - it has been way too long.

 

moments

 moments, adventures, stories

and the "stuff"  a lotta stuff in my world 

another day another dentist appointment -- oral surgeon this time ... " the extraction site is looking fabulous" -- oh really -- implant to follow 10/01 -- less than an hour he says ... okay dude

so this week the only thing I've done well is shuffle paper, a lot of paper, hoping to tame the piles in the morning and then zip over to Faribault for the quilt show and maybe a spot of supper somewhere

Taco Tuesday

Monday I left the office at 6:45 pm

This morning my day started at 4:02 am

I'm fading dang fast tonight 

 

weekend projects

we made it out to the happy place fairly early - for one of us .. us and a truckload of crap for an overnight stay.  

the Friday night project continues

I copied 4500 pictures from my iPad (tired iPad) to my home computer 

I have a zillion sunset pictures from the cabin  --- a zillion

and I've started deleting them off the iPad and slowly purging them from the home computer too ... 

a good project while waiting for the washer or dryer to finish it's cycle

most of them are duplicates -- there are some jewels amid them

here's two more from last night -- I was busy surfing the www and missed the best part ... 

the real deal now comes early 

the love hate relationship with the darkness continues

 

24 years

well, 24 years and 1 day of old house ownership

a lifetime

an old favorite picture - when life was simpler .. although, the lamp, salt lamp and wine bottle are still around .. I seem to hang on to stuff forever

I think I took this during covid .. 

and this one was in the last 11 years -- Ruby's in front of the garage ... 

Jessica sent me this one -- I may not be a Bernie fan but I thought it hilarious at the time -- I think it's a picture of the house from somewhere on the www -- note -- no weeds and she photoshopped Bernie  .. 

taking time this morning to give thanks for the little things in life -- 

another tough week in our world --

watching old quilting videos on youtube

organizing the project piles

cleaning the corners 

and sending prayers of gratitude to the weather gods

just another day in paradise 

 

 

Hump Day

dang, this week is kicking me .. yesterday I was on the run from 6:00am straight thru 4:00pm, answered the ever present emails -- home for supper and a couple hours of cave time.  Bed by 9:00 and started all over this morning.  

Stacking up the bodies in the lobby this morning, plus the phone calls and emails.  All are evil this week .. I had hoped to have some time to work at produce distribution -- alas, that won't be happening.  Meeting in Mankato at 4:00 so I'll be on the road by 3:30 and hope to be home early .. 

the piles are dwindling .. slowly ... all the corporate returns have been completed and there are 3 in the drawer for pick up ... about 20 individual returns to go ... waiting on docs from other sources for most of them ... this too shall pass ... so it rolls on 3rd street ... 

I made this beauty a long time ago and gifted to a friend -- spied the pic of it while cleaning up the picture folder on my desk .. I do have another jelly roll of similar colors .. might need to make one for myself.  It's really pretty ... 

 

I have an

   attitude problem.  

   It seems to happen every September/early fall .. the changing of the season -- to the season of darkness.  I like my light.  I have to challenge myself to accept said change and get myself in a better mood ... fall used to be my favorite season

  There are positives to the darkness -- not many but a few that lighten the load around here ... 
   

   1) the grass growing slows down as does the grass mowing 

   2) less outdoor time leads to more indoor projects ... good and bad projects

   3) 

   

I spent last night working in the cave on a corporate tax return -- I snatched this from the ring camera at the cabin -- it was a weird afternoon / evening with rain showers in full daylight -- mini hail - bold sunshine -- windy and seasonally cold.  We did road trip it out there to deliver a "cube" unit and retrieve a few things I left last weekend -- 

Add the cube unit to the closet to function as a dresser -- ordered some bins to fit it .. it will work ... got the windows shut and checked out the weed elimination progress - small steps .. today promises to be less windy and warmer -- I bought squash at the farmers market so I think the plan is to go out and have squash and meatloaf for lunch . will warm up the place too.

While crunching in the cave -- the furnace came on -- not me -- but it did take the chill off .. short lived.

 

still life

all the things on a Sunday morning -- old golf cart and wet truck with the bloom of sunrise, violets - one is actually flowering -- with paper plate drip trays ...  and a hoya that keeps sending out runners .. 

after the cooking, cleaning, laundry, lawn mowing, number crunching today's agenda does include the new William Kent Krueger book -- which at the moment I cannot remember the title -- but it awaits me on my iPad .. 

 the dirge of my professional existence -- every day seems to be a deadline in the happenstance.  for instance -- hopping in the truck after lunch and my cell pops off -- client's employee needs copies of W2's and earnings records for the past three years -- all this via text at 2:00 pm on a Saturday -- I ignored it and go figure -- they texted an hour later and asked if I saw the text -- yes, dear but I don't work weekends for you ... argh.  

well, I did work today -- the aforementioned deadline issue.  Only one more corporate return to finish before the 15th -- and 2 sets of payroll tax deposits .. and ... I finished up a large corporate return this evening -- sometimes working in silence is good .. a couple more projects tomorrow and then I'll be ready for the chaos of the week -- a heap of county gigs -- a heap .. a large heap ... many heaps ...

leaping heap .. 

yes, I need to go to bed

and i'll be done with the effinbirds ... 

pffftttt

    I have to admit -- back to work on Tuesday was ugly.  By the end of the day it felt like we had 2 Mondays rolled into one Tuesday -- all before noon.  The phone call count was over 35 for the day .... argh.  Never good after a holiday -- and weird calls ... really weird.  

   The constant barrage of email lately is getting bizarre too.  the inbox is bulging again.  

   Dweeb that I am -- I track my working hours ... August was 223 hours -- not a lot, the last time I worked that few hours in a month was September of 2017 -- that may have been my last year of the patch.  I only put in a few hours on one - Saturday.  One would think I would have accomplished more projects at home -- no -- it was a lot of lake time.

   We survived the weekend.  No more falling out of bed issues, still coughing -- I finally slept a full night -- much better for my attitude.  I did come back to the office for a couple of hours last night -- just to organize the chaos -- and get the trash to the curb.  Semi busy month ahead -- 32 hours of continuing education .. lots of County gigs ..  dentist .. more eye doctor .. 

   And I hope to get back to the cabin this weekend - my new William Kent Krueger book arrived on my iPad this morning -- I'm willing to bet it is a fabulous 3 hour read !!!!!

the tree on Sunday night -- I check in with it nightly -- 

it was a weekend of clouds lots of large puffy clouds ... and they rolled in just in time to hide the northern lights --