feng_shui_house

Put ScumE in the pool, dumped the last 3 1/2 raspberry muffins on the ground where the doves/pigeons can see it from their perch on utility wires, put the couch cover in washing machine, combed more of the carpet, put 'Tasha back in the scratching box- she scratched! Yay! went for camera, returned to find 'Tasha out of the box and happily rubbing her cheek on the edge of the metal dustpan--- *SIGH* Cats.

Went out front to dump litter, check for trash in the verge, refill bird/cat water bowls, water plants, pull up long crawlers of grass in one of the Sad Lantanas, say Hello to loquat seedling, THINK about weeding around amaryllis, take photos of some pretty weeds, come in, put couch cover back on (so MUCH cat fur in the drier), set kettle on for tea, while waiting for whistle cut the remaining roll of small plastic bags apart. Tiny motion is better than sitting all day. Keeps me from having puffy ankles.

Went to bring in SCUM-E. Put more Teflon tape on the house pipe before rinsing off SCUM-E. The pipe only drips when turned on, so hasn't become a priority for an expensive plumber visit to replace. The tape isn't enough, but BT0 (better than nothing). Teflon is ok I think in applications that a) won't get hot and b) don't involve food- the pipe just waters outside the house and c) aren't near birds. In my various wanderings about animal info I came across a forum about 'home farming?' where a man's chickens all died because he'd put a warming light in their coop- and didn't know it was Teflon coated (fine print, who reads the fine print? And when he was told to look at the packaging, after the birds were dead, it didn't even have a warning about not using the warming light- DESIGNED for small animal enclosures- for birds, as Teflon fumes are highly toxic to them. If breathing the vapors kills birds, it should NEVER have been permitted for use on human cooking utensils. SHEESH.

Moved the 6 Easter bunnies to the Bag of Holding (where little stuffies I make on whims reside). Generally, they wind up as package stuffing on Christmas stuff I send to Z. I have hope that Z can find homes for any of them she doesn't want. No one in my family ever seemed to really like them, even when they were kids. Stuffies need LOVE, TOO.

Time to pay bills online. I let them pile up a bit, so I have 3 to do at once. It takes me a while to change my ways. It actually is nice doing it from my bank account on line- it saves the info so all I have to do is check that I've chosen the right bill and put in the amount.

Does DW have any private messaging? Since I gave up on putting out bills for pickup (one theft was all it took to make me go to online bill paying) I have Forever stamps I seldom use (and I recently found stashes of unused greetings cards). I thought it would be nice to send some DW friends a card, but I wouldn't want to risk anyone's email or even worse, physical address, being publicly visible.

More carpet combing. SO much cat fur. Not so much dirt, that was mostly at doorways.

Fire rescue truck parked next door (house is rented to multiple people, I only know a few by sight and none by name). The truck wasn't in a hurry, and stayed for a short while before the paramedics packed up and left. Wonder what was up? I'm only mildly nosy, I just LOOKED from in my yard and didn't get out to where they could see me.

Found a few books in computer room here that belong in other places. They were on a 'Hope Chest' a lidded box my dad made of plywood and fake wood paneling leftovers (2 Ft high, 2 ft wide, 4 ft long). I've got so much stuff on top I haven't opened it in years. I'm guessing it has fake fur? Need to clear off the stuff on top of it to find out.

Found stash of brown paper salvaged from Amazon etc, packaging in a heap. Rolled up some of them will fit inside empty Tidy Cat bucket (the large size. The lid will keep bugs out, too.) I found some paper with chew holes and tossed that. Most people would throw it all out, but it's a COLLECTION. OMG, yes, I admit it, I'm a hoarder. Some won't fit in Tidy Cat, but rolled up can go into an empty pool chemical bucket.

To be fair to myself three of my best selling Spoonflower designs began as Crayola (using childhood crayons) on brown paper.

2nd place- Moo Dy Texas Longhorn Cattle Cows Calves and Steers

https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/10581485

3rd place- Bison Buffalo Herd

https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/6718377

6th place Wild Horse Herd 2 in Crayon on Brown Paper

https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/6707039

Carpet combing is done. Tasha was disgruntled when I moved her dishes in order to comb where they were. She lay down with her paws around the stacked bowls and I could FEEL the pressure of her indignation. Bowls are to be FILLED when they're moved! I was going to fill them afterward, Tasha! Sheesh. FINE, here.

Under the brown paper were 2 more refrigerator bins, and next to them a large Coleman ice chest (moved all into the guest/library/box/tools room). I only use it when there's a power failure likely to be more than a day. Frozen solid meat, packaged and packed tightly with ice in a well insulated chest can stay good for quite a while. I have a gas stove, which has come in handy more than once.

Went out to dump paper on the compost heap- 1 1/2 muffins left. :^)

Taking a break from rolling up paper I went out to check the mail. My fireplace lighters had arrived, yay. I don't need them very often for lighting the gas fireplace (and pretty much never for the wood burning stove) but if the power fails my gas stove needs it to ignite (the old stove had a pilot light so was burning a little gas all the time) since the electronic ignition won't spark without power. I have some really old box matches, I bet, but this is much more convenient.

And guess what? There was a check in the mailbox for Four Hundred and Forty Four Thousand Five Hundred and Eleven dollars, made out to me. Wow, uhuh. All of it is large font either black or dark blue lettering, easily readable *except* the tiny white font on the bottom hidden in a blue line: disclaimer: this is not a real check. To receive your real cash offer, call *phone number* today!

I wonder how many people try to cash it? I kinda like getting this, because it makes it sound like my House of Busted Stuff and Too Much Crap is worth that much.

Stlll not finished rolling paper to store neatly, but getting close to end of 'work day' because my back is getting a bit ow. I want to do that, and then relax a bit, have a couple fic updates to read, and maybe do a little sewing on the oven mitts.

Going to 5pm, think I'll post this now.

When I had a shufty through a lot of Christmas stuff last December (could do more, but after a while my discrimination meter stops working) I came across my card montages. I used to prop them up along the back of a couch or shelf for a little added holiday spirit.

This was the first card montage I made long, long ago. I particularly love the old mica-sparkle cards. One day I was admiring them and thought-- hey, these two would go together to make a bit of landscape.... one thing led to another.

3 poster boards worth of montaged Christmas Cards

This one started because one card had a cut out window looking on a toy store. I thought 'Advent calendar'! And made another montage with cut windows and bits pasted behind. The 24th was a Gimme, because it had 24 Dec printed on it.