Cheryl's Arts 'n' Crafts

Whew. I have just responded by email to a bunch of blog comments going back to early last year. I replied only to those for which I had an answer or other response.

I will try to be better at responding to future comments… (but no promises - life gets in the way sometimes).

My heart broke. And it is still broken. The Favorite, my Cleo died. In June 2010, she wasn't feeling well and had been moping around, not eating much for a day or two. Tests found a lump in her abdomen.

Cleo had surgery on July 5, but the lump was located where it couldn't be removed. The area had begun bleeding so the vet stopped the bleeding and sewed her up. After recovery, I was going to take Cleo home and spoil her for as long as she lived, was happy, and not in lots of pain.

However, two nights after the surgery while still in recovery at the vet's office, Cleo was having bloody diarrhea. The vet called me around 5:00am to ask permission to give Cleo a blood transfusion.

I didn't want her to suffer more. I had hoped she would be cured, and when that wasn't possible, I hoped she would recover from surgery and come home with me. But that didn't happen. The bloody diarrhea was a result of the bleeding lump in her abdomen. I elected to have Cleo "put to sleep" which the vet did the morning of July 8, 2010 after Bill drove me to the vet's office to say goodbye.

It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I still cry when I think about it.

I know I tried to help her by arranging surgery to remove the lump. But I caused her more pain. And I feel so bad about that. Guilty. Rationally, I know I was trying to help her - to save her - because I loved her. But in the end, she was in lots of pain. Caused by my decision.

If given the choice all over again, I would not have chosen surgery. I would have cuddled, loved, and spoiled her until she indicated it was time to go.

I miss her.

What have I been doing for the past 2 years?

Short answer: Not being creative. My creative juice dried up.

I haven't crocheted, quilted, sewed, knitted, or done any other type of craft.

Which pretty much explains why this blog hasn't been updated. Not much has been done to blog about.

So, what have I been doing? What's been going on in my life?

* I've been reading a lot. Being creative was replaced with sticking my nose in books. It all started in, I think, January 2009. I read lots of vampire novels, including the Twilight series. My favorite is the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

* I've been watching lots of TV on our DVR (the ability to skip commercials is better than sliced bread), as well as TV shows and movies on Netflix DVDs.

* A grandson was born to Bill's oldest son and his wife on May 24, 2010. More later.

* My heart was broken in July 2010. More on this in the next post.

* I was tested for and diagnosed with sleep apnea in January 2011. I began CPAP treatment a few weeks ago and am still getting used to it.

* I bruised my tailbone by sitting too much. Sitting at work all day. Sitting 45 minutes twice a day commuting to and from work. Sitting on the couch at home all evening and all weekend. There was no injury that I'm aware of - unless the sitting so much irritated an old injury I don't remember.

For months I had ignored the numbness in that area after sitting for long periods. Then, the numbness changed to pain.

I've been seeing my chiropractor about once a week for a few weeks now, and am using a coccyx cushion at work and one in my car to sit on to relieve the pressure on my tailbone. I have a timer on my work computer that goes off every hour to remind me to stand for a minute or two, move around, and stretch. Now, instead of sitting on the couch, I spend more time laying on my back to relieve the pressure on my tailbone.

* I still hate exercise. Too much sweating for not much effort. But I had begun exercising regularly (walking about 30+ minutes a day, for about 6 days a week) in spring 2010. But then my heart was broken and I didn't get into it again. And still haven't - even though I know I need to for my health, my comfort on vacations, my comfort walking to the corner store, etc.

Well, that's all on this for now…

Breaking the silence here to just say that I've spent 12 at least 14 hours this weekend preparing 3 amended Federal tax returns (2005, 2006, 2007) and 3 amended State tax returns (2005, 2006, 2007). Changes to the Federal tax returns resulted in changes to the State tax returns.

I found the problem last weekend and researched what needed to be done: For each year, file a Form 1040x with an amended Form 1040 and revised schedules, and file a Form 540x with an amended Form 540 and revised schedules. 6 sets of paperwork. 6 manila envelopes.

I can't believe I forgot to deduct the property taxes on our home for the past 3 years! And, while preparing the amended forms, I discovered I didn't deduct on our 2006 Federal return the 2005 State taxes paid with our 2006 State tax return. So, that was added to amended 2006 returns.

I'm filing our 2008 tax returns based on info in the originally-filed 2007 returns, so I'll need to file amended 2008 tax returns after April 15. I think I'll wait until after we hear back from the IRS and Franchise Tax Board about our 3 years of amended returns to file the amended 2008 tax returns.

FairTax anyone? Count me in.

Easy and quick to make!

In large pan on high heat, saute onion in oil until almost clear. Add bell pepper and meat and mix well. Reduce heat to medium, stir regularly, and cook until meat is 1/2 done. Add taco sauce and reduce heat to simmer. Stir regularly and simmer until meat is cooked and sauce is desired consistency.

Serve as tacos, burritos, and/or nachos with your choice of extras.

About 8 servings.

I wanted to replace all hyphens in all filenames starting with 2003- and ending with .php. Here's how I did it using sed (no guarantees, no warranties, use at your own risk!):

Note the use of the backtick character (`) (also known as backquote) which, on my keyboard, is located to the left of the "1" key. The backtick character is used in addition to the single quote character (').

[Update January 4, 2009] I totally forgot that I could have used the "rename" command instead of sed! There is control over which underscore in a filename is changed. More about renaming files using "rename".

Here they are! My Quilt Block Curtains for the craft room! Today I bought a thicker and better quality curtain rod. The rod in the photos is slightly bent from the weight of the curtains and moves when the curtains are opened or closed!

The stained glass look was a pleasant surprise!

The curtains have a backing cut from the set of sheets we replaced recently when I bought new sheets.

I'm organized. Very.

I felt good with this setup. But it didn't leave much workspace on the table.

So, on the day after Thanksgiving while Bill was working, I cleared off the bookcase in our bedroom and moved it into the craft room (thick felt pads on the bottom of the bookcase made it easy to move!). Then, I added the containers of fabric sorted by color. (Cleo is testing access to the cat bed!)

Ah, workspace on the table! I'm inspired to work on a project when I see it!

In June on the longest day of the year, I'm reminded that it will be coming again as the days get shorter and the nights longer. It usually starts in September or early October and ends in March - sometimes April.

The greyness. The heaviness. The cloud. Around my head, in my eyes, on my face, in my body.

The tiredness, slowness, sadness. Even tears at times. Withdrawn. No energy.

I'm a low-key person, an introvert. I'm not usually upbeat or excitable. But, people who know me can and hear the greyness when it hits.

I remind myself that December 21 (the longest night of the year) is coming and I can look forward to gradually feeling better with more daylight.

This year was different. No grey, no tiredness, no sadness, no tears.

This is the first winter in I don't know how many years that I feel good. Clear. Rested. At peace.

I spent the past few hours cleaning up the hard drive of my computer. Here are a few photos I took in February but never got around to posting.

Horses next to the campus where I work. There are cattle in the hills too. I've personally seen a coyote and deer (not together though!). There have been reports of tarantulas, rattle snakes, and other wildlife.

These were taken while driving. Not recommended.

Yes, there are palm trees in California!

Green hills in February (golden brown in summer!). Cattle on the hills.

The bad traffic jams are on the other side of the freeway! Reverse commutes are nice!

Concrete jungle.

Not much posting the last 4 months of 2008. On weekends, I've been wrapped up in making the Quilt Block Curtains for my craft room (photos to come!), and during evenings, I've been enjoying television sans commercials courtesy of our DVR.

I stopped crocheting at the end of July - I was bored with it and it was too hot to have yarn touching me. I've been thinking about it again though - colorful yarn is a huge draw for me!

I had been thinking about upgrading my "look" at work for about a year or more. Finding dress shoes that fit for Greg and Lauren's wedding in August was one of the triggers I needed to get started!

At the end of October, I began a hunt for shoes for work - Zappos.com is great! I ordered no less than 30 pairs of shoes from Zappos and 3 more pair from 2 other online websites. I kept 6 pair of shoes to use for work - for a total of 9 including the 3 pairs I bought in July. I also have 1 pair of Keds for home use. The remaining pairs of shoes were returned. Free shipping both ways!

The 9 pairs of shoes I have are: 2 brown (low heel, higher heel), 2 black (low heel, higher heel), 1 red (mid heel), 1 bone (mid heel), 1 taupe (low heel), 1 navy (low heel), 1 burgundy (low heel).

Since shoes for my wide feet were no longer a problem, an upgrade to my work wardrobe was in order to look a bit more professional. So, new pants were needed - pants that were not too short to wear with the new shoes! With new pants came the need for new tops. Thank goodness, JCPenney was having an excellent sale on the type of clothes I like to wear! The 2 weeks before Thanksgiving were busy, busy, busy shopping at 3 different JCPenney stores for items in my size. I even bought a $250 black, lined, long winter coat for less than $93 including tax!

I'm hot nearly all the time. Finding short-sleeved tops in my size, in colors I can wear, without frills and patterns (solid colors please!), wasn't easy. I found only a couple - one style that fit really well. So, I searched online and discovered I could order that top in other colors at JCPenney.com. So I did - along with several Pima Cotton (soft!) short-sleeve and 3/4-sleeve tops.

My wardrobe is lovely - and I feel great with my upgraded look!

I also bought new bathroom towels as well as new sheets and pillows for our bed! One set of sheets is deep purple, the other is deep red - very rich!

Thanksgiving was the usual quiet day. Mom and Bryan came for dinner - turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pie and ice cream. We skipped vegetables in favor of more turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing!

Christmas ended up also being quiet. Greg and Lauren were expected but their flight was canceled. Because flights were filled with other holiday travelers and passengers from flights canceled in previous days during the snow storm, alternative flights were not available. So, they stayed in Oregon this year. Hopefully, they'll come down in spring for a long weekend. Mom and Bryan came for Christmas Eve dinner - Bill's wonderful cheesy lasagna!, garlic bread, and pie. Mom came over again for dinner on Christmas Day for yummy lasagna leftovers. We again skipped veggies both days in favor of more garlic bread and lasagna!

Through ebay or Amazon, I've bought Seasons 1-4 of Lost, Seasons 1-3 of Prison Break, and Seasons 1-2 of Heroes. While I've already seen these shows, I wanted something I could listen to - but not necessarily have to watch - while working on projects in my craft room. It's been great! I've caught a few things I missed the first time around in all 3 of those television series. I've also ordered the 4-disc collector's series DVD set of Gone with the Wind.

I don't read novels much, but I recently decided I wanted to read some of the classic stories that I missed in high school and wasn't assigned in college - as well as books I liked and want to re-read. The idea is to have books on hand to read here and there. I will keep the books I like so I can re-read them when I want to, and will donate the books I don't want to keep to the college library.

To start with, I have recently acquired:

After buying Melissa Etheridge's Christmas CD A New Thought For Christmas - which is excellent! - I fell in love with bluesy Christmas music. So, I bought several blues Christmas music CDs and discovered that Charles Brown and B.B. King have great Christmas albums!

Lots of spending in the past few months. But it's over now - at least for a while. I checked my retirement account savings balance yesterday and am disappointed, but not surprised considering the market slide in the past months, to see that it's down about $80,000! Ack!

Believe it or not, it has taken most of the time between 9:00am and 3:30pm to upgrade from Movable Type 4.1 to Movable Type 4.23. The process would have been smoother if I hadn't had to create a bunch of redirects in .htaccess when I upgraded to MT 4.1 (because I changed from using _ to - in filenames and directory names). I've now removed all those redirects (if old links on other websites aren't corrected by now, oh well!).

A few things to note about the upgrade to MT 4.23:

[Update January 4, 2009] Well, as it turns out, the assets_c directory can be renamed by adding a single line to the config file (via Assets Directory of MovableType). As I had been doing prior to the upgrade to MT 4.23, he uses .htaccess to change underscore characters to a hyphen (dash). To change the name of the assets directory: add this line to the mt.config.cgi file:

AssetCacheDir /assets-c

I busily crocheted for the first 7 months this year and then burnt out on crocheting. I did, however, begin the first step in quilting: cutting fabric into squares, rectangles, and triangles and then sewing them together. Using the pieced squares, I made Quilt Block Curtains to hang in my craft room.

When crocheting, I sit in the living room and watch TV while following a pattern in a book or making it up as I go after I've selected the yarn to be used. I don't need to move for hours!

Quilting is much more interactive. I sit or stand and think and select a pattern to use. I stand and think and select fabric and measure fabric and cut fabric. And, I sit and think and move between the work table and the sewing machine to layout fabric pieces and pin them together to be sewn and then sew them - and sometimes pull out the stitches and restitch. A DVR-recorded television show or DVD or music CD is playing in the background.

Crochet: 19 lap blankets for donation; 1 lap blanket for a gift; 1 round lap blanket for me.

Knitting: Nada. Nothing.

Sewing and Quilting: 1 set of quilt-top curtains using 24 12-1/4″ blocks; 12 12″ quilt blocks.

The Project List:

Projects started in 2008 but not completed yet:

Projects started in 2006 but put not completed yet:

In 2008 through July 23, I made 19 lap blankets to be donated. (No wonder I was tired of crocheting by then!) They haven't been dropped off yet, but I plan to do so tomorrow.

Left:

Right:

More quilt blocks for the craft room curtain project. These were made during weekends between August 3 and November 1.

I need 24 quilt blocks. On Saturday morning, I finished the 24th block and squared all 24 quilt blocks.

12 blocks measure 12 inches and the other 12 measure 12 1/4 inches (including the 1/4 seam allowances). If I trim the 12 1/4-inch squares to 12 inches, I'll cut off points and narrow squares on the edges. So, I decided to make 12 more quick quilt blocks with 16 3-inch squares - these measure 12 1/4 for the most part. If needed, I'll trim them to 12 1/4 inches.

Last weekend, I spent more time playing with the sewing machine, measuring seams sewed with the 1/4-inch quilting foot. I found some basting tape in a drawer and marked off 1/4-inch next to the foot. That has helped me get more accurate 1/4-inch seams.

Each of these are (supposed to be) 12-inch blocks. The additional 12 16-square blocks are done but are not included below.

Flower Pot

Flutter Wheel

Flying Dutchman

Gentleman's Fancy