Monthly Archives: July 2012

Let There Be Light

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Many dog people turn off the interior lights of their vehicles.  (Dog people are those of us who take their dogs hither and yon for agility trials, hunt tests, tracking tests, earth dog tests, obedience trials, fly ball tournaments (and more) and training for such.) We turn off the lights altogether because in central Texas, it’s hot about nine months out of 12 and we leave our vehicles open in various configurations (windows, doors, hatchbacks, etc.) while we are training or competing.  We don’t want to find out at the end of a training session or a canine sporting event that the battery is dead because of that itty-bitty light.

So we turn off the light completely.  Sure, some vehicles have the “fading” light setting, where it will turn itself off after a specified amount of time even if a door or the hatchback is open, but not all vehicles have that feature.  And some of us might have it and not know that we have it.  Or can’t figure out which of the three settings takes care of that situation.  (Ahem.) So many possibilities.

I turned off the interior lights in my vehicle probably a few weeks after I bought it in 2001.  Since then, I’ve packed up my dogs and driven them all over Texas for training and competitions.  I took a break from competition when I retired my last agility dog, Clint (HRCH UH Bakbay Make My Day MH MX MXJ CGC WCX) in 2007.

That break stretched out a bit longer than I intended when I encountered some unexpected difficulties, like a sprained knee.  That was three years ago and I haven’t returned to training or competition.  (I’m thinking about it; don’t rush me.  But it’s hot.  Or cold.  Windy.  Too sunny.  Foggy.  Too cloudy.  And look, a quilt fabric shop!)

On Friday, as I was getting out to open the gate in the pre-dawn hours of the morning on my way to work, it occurred to me that it was dark inside my vehicle.  Maybe, I thought, I could turn the interior light back on.  And I did.

Oh, it was so bright!  Then I vaguely remembered that there was a light near the hatchback.  I checked and sure enough, there it was!  I turned it on as well.

Oooh, aaahhhh. Of course, I had to sit at the gate in my vehicle after I closed the hatchback and the door to confirm that they did turn off properly.  Yep, they still work.

Will wonders never cease.

The Willpower Instinct

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book cover: Willpower Instinct

Willpower Instinct

 
I just received my copy of The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.

I can hardly wait to start reading it, but first I’m going to finish off this bag of potato chips.

Hand Made Gifts

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Here’s my Thread Tales column for the July newsletter for Austin chapter of the American Sewing Guild.

Hand Made Gifts

I make no secret about how much I like – love – fabric.  It’s beautiful in its natural state.  I also love making gifts for my family and friends.  When I give my gifts, the recipients know that someone spent time actually thinking about them.  I like that, too.

I have a long list of items that I can make as gifts.  These items are on the small side, so that I have a chance at actually making them in time for the upcoming occasion.  No heirloom quilts or wedding dresses for my family and friends, at least not from me.

While cleaning off my computer desk top — looking for something else, of course — I found my master gift list.  I counted 37 items on my gifts-to-make list.  I already have all the fabric, patterns, thread and other notions to make any of them at a moment’s notice. I’m just not sure when that “moment’s notice” might be because I have made only eight of these items, and none in recent memory.

Everyone’s birthday is recorded on my smart phone’s calendar.  And I know when Christmas is, of course, but it sneaks up on me each year anyway.  (It’s the end of May as I write this and I’m almost ready for last Christmas.)  Maybe I’m calendar challenged.  But that still leaves me with good intentions and zero results.

I looked at the calendar. My best friend’s birthday is coming up.  I looked at the pattern and fabric I bought for her future gift.  I looked at the calendar again.  Wasn’t going to happen.

A gift bag with fabric and pattern for a quilt

A hand made gift, just waiting to happen

But there it was, fabric and pattern all kitted up.  All it needed was for someone to take the time to turn it into a handmade gift.  But, if not me, then who?  That’s when it hit me!  Judy can turn it into a handmade gift!  All I had to do was put the kit in a gift bag and voilà!  Happy Birthday, Judy!  

 (This is so much faster than actually making a gift.  However, I don’t recommend it for those of you who have promised someone to make an heirloom quilt or wedding dress for them.  Handing over a sports equipment-sized bag of fabric, notions and a pattern instead of the finished product might not go over so well in those situations.  The gift bag I used was store bought, of course, or else I’d be late in giving my almost-handmade gift.  Yes, it is always something.)

What A Mess!

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What a mess! My kitchen — and hands — that is.

It was Sample Day at Whole Foods Market. (Actually, every day is Sample Day. This is a Good Thing.) I tasted a cherry-almond-vanilla snack/dessert. It was good. I picked up the recipe and found all the ingredients.

Then came the hard part. Quarter and de-pit two pounds of cherries? That took forever and I got cherry juice all over! (Two things:  I didn’t read the instructions at the store and I had never made anything with cherries.) That was last Sunday and I still have stained hands and fingernails. Not a pretty sight. I’m not doing this again without a cherry pitter.

Next came mixing the rest of the ingredients in the food processor — that I don’t own. I used to own one but I gave it away after letting it gather dust on my counter for a few years. (See it does happen: you give something away and then a decade or so later, you need it!) I used my blender instead. Ack! Wrong again. Everything got mushed instead of mixed. I was supposed to spread the mixture on top of the cherries. Didn’t happen. I globbed on the mixture and there it sat.

Cherry crisp dessert

I stained my hands blood red for this?

When I tried to spread it out, I ended up just moving the glob around. Fine. I put the cherry dessert into the frig and then I cleaned up the mess I made.

This is why I think food tastes better when someone else prepares it. I may have to stick to the store samples for my desserts.