Monet and Me

would like to show the February journal made from paper bags. This is the project I chose to do for the Creative Hand Lettering and Doodling with Lindsay group on Facebook. Lindsay had suggested decorating a small box, but I didn't have anything that would work

The title page is the group project page folded into an origami heart with pockets. Inside the pocket, an origami cat.

Lindsay's suggestion for the first page. Washi tape, watercolor hearts, and faux calligraphy

For most of the pages, I decided to go my own way. So celebrating Ground Hog Day. The nasty groundhog saw his shadow meaning we get 6 more weeks of Winter, and the groundhog goes back into his hole. In this case, the groundhog gets tucked in the flap provided by the bottom of the paper bag.

This idea was a combination of Lindsay using the John Lennon quote, "All you need is love" and a heart doodle that was done in the Monday Doodling for Stress Reduction class. To all you need is love, I added and chocolate along with a Love and Kiss stamp from an envelope I kept.

Lindsay did a tag with Start each day with a grateful heart, tucked inside a belly band on a card. I used a piece of origami paper for the background.

Lindsay had talked about the candy hearts with saying we used to get as kids. I punched out a bunch of small hearts, colored them with Tombow markers, and wrote the little setiments.

Another hybrid piece. Lindsay painted flowers and cut them out. I think she mentioned hearts and flowers, too. I colored a heart using the bottom of the bag as a tuck space for the flower. The sentiment was something someone had written in a photo album my mother had when she graduated from high school. "Hearts and flower go together, True friends part never."

I saw a meme that had and image of a heart which said normal person's heart

and my heart was a cat in the shape of a heart. Perfect image to go with soul. I was Ink's heart and he was my soul. It will be 10 years this year since he passed away. I still miss him.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

 

There's still a good 8 to 10 inch snowpack on the ground. Instability clouds left a dusting on the ground Thursday when I went to visit Teague. Temperatures got just over the freezing mark so there has been a little melting going on. The video title is  Is this what winter is doing to you?

Only 126 days until the Summer Solstice.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

I just heard about Internet Archive.  You can watch movies, television, listen to music and borrow books all for free. You just have to create an account.

I was hoping to find a translation and critique of the Arthurian romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, by J. R.R. Tolkien and I did. Except the book was listed as Borrow Unavailable Bummah! But what does it mean, Borrow Unavailable? Are there so many Medieval Lit scholars out there clamoring to read a book translated somewhere in the 1930s or 1940s and published in 1975 after Tolkien's death?

"Summary

More than 500,000 books have been taken out of lending as a result of Hachette v. Internet Archive, the publishers’ lawsuit against our library, including more than 1,300 banned and challenged books.

Books that are shown as “Borrow Unavailable” mean they cannot be borrowed by our patrons, including books you may have previously read or consulted. .."

Bummah. The lawsuit is under appeal, but that may take a long time to settle the dispute.

Meanwhile there are lots of other books, movies, and television series you can read or watch.

The Archive has the complete series of The Time Tunnel, a 1960s sci-fi series from producer, Irwin Allen (Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)

So while there may be books you can't borrow because of the pending lawsuit, there are tons of other things that can happily waste your time.

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1.  I started the Feb. homework for the Empty Page journal class

2. "A" came early to clear the snow from driveway and walk

3. A report from the dermatologist: nothing to worry about

4. The Tuesday night into Wednesday snowstorm turned out to be a nothing. We only got 1 inch of snow from the storm and no sleet/ice

5. Teague baked gingerbread with whipped topping for afternoon snack.

How was your week?

TBT Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

 In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The Laying On of Hands

Long ago, in my former life, I was a computer programmer/consultant. Back in those days, the computer systems were the size of a Buick automobile, and programmers were treated like gods. I'd go to a client and personnel would part like the Red Sea as I walked through the office.  I would lay my hands on the machine and bring crashed programs back to life. Heady stuff along with the satisfaction of solving a problem, usually human error.

A year or so ago, we gave Dad a computer. I thought it would open up a new world for him, as well as keep him out of Ma's hair. I signed him up with America On Hold. Assured him I'd pay the bill so Ma wouldn't see anything. I'm not overly fond of AOH, but it is the easiest portal to use. I spent lots of visits with Dad going through the basics of turning the machine on and off, how to get his mail. Dad spent many hours trying percussive maintenance on the machine. h I constantly heard complaints. "They don't give me my email," as if there are little people inside the machine who like to aggravate the user. "I've never seen that screen before," in reference to the Windows logo that comes up when la machine is turned on.

DSL became available in their area through the phone company and for less money than I was paying for AOH. A lot of his complaints had to do with not being able to get online. I thought high speed would be the answer as he'd always be online. I cancelled AOH and signed him up for DSL. DSL would be better. He could surf and the phone would still be available in case of an emergency. The dial up always worried me as I thought what if there is an emergency and in their panic he forgot the phone was still connected to the computer. Yes, DSL would be better.

The phone company sent me an entire kit to make the connections, the modem, splitter for the phone. I only had one phone that proved to be a problem as it still had the four prong jack instead of the modern module system. It was an easy enough problem to solve. Since the room isn't in use, I unplugged the phone. There's a bit of residual static on the line. This from an old phone in the basement that was hard wired into the phone line. Not an approved telephone company procedure. However, it doesn't seem to interfere with the computer.

So, I got him up and running and still hear the same complaints. "They" are really out to get him.

Dad called this morning and as I thought he had given up on the computer was surprised when he said, "I turned it on, but nothing happens. It's been like this for three days."

Now, the Young One had played on the computer during the Ave Maria festivities. She didn't have any problems getting online to YouTube.

"What do you mean "nothing happens"? I asked instantly going into consultant mode.

"The screen is blank. I can hear the sound when I turn it on, but don't see anything."

"Is the computer on now?"

"No."

"Okay, turn it on and tell me what you see."

A few seconds later, I could hear the CPU drives engage and the happy chime of the Windows logo.

"There? Did you hear that? Now nothing."

"Nothing? Did you see the Windows logo on the screen?"

"No."

I started ticking off possible problems, the video card was blown, or a problem with the monitor, and I decided to go for the obvious. "Did you turn on the monitor?"

"What's that?"

"The television screen in front of you. Did you turn that on?"

"No. I never had to do that before."

I've always had to turn on his monitor, but I didn't want to get into an argument. "Ok, try turning on the mon...the television screen in front of you."

"How do I do that?"

I tried to picture his monitor. "There should be a button on the front of it."

"Oh, I see it."

"Push it."

"Oh! There it is!

Nineteen years away from the industry, and I still haven't lost my touch. I just might have to wear two cowboy hats because my head is so big. 

Sausage Apple Breakfast Casserole

 

Last week, I mentioned I had made a Sausage and Apple Strata. I was asked for the recipe. Regular readers will know that I am a half-assed cook.

What's a strata you ask? It's a layered egg casserole. You can put pretty much anything you like in it.

This is the recipe I used as my template for the number of eggs, bread cubes, sausage, and apples, what temperature to bake it and how long.

Sausage Apple Breakfast Casserole 

The recipe called for Dubliner cheese. I've never heard of it, and I don't really like cheese. If I had to use cheese for this recipe, I would have used a mild cheddar, but you use what you like. I left the cheese out.

The recipe called for bulk sage sausage. I had frozen breakfast sausage links. I cooked the links according to the package directions and then cut them into small pieces.

The recipe called for Sourdough or French bread. Didn't have any. Bread in a strata should be a bit stale. I toasted about 6 bread slices and cubed that.

The recipe called for fresh rosemary. You guessed it in the cheap seats. Nada. I left it out.

We're pretty much non-adventurous eaters here. Salt and pepper is fancy enough spices for us.

The casserole was made for a Sunday brunch and I heard no complaints from the diners.

T Stands for A Puzzle

 

Can you guess what it is?

Scroll ⬇️to find out

It's An Elegant Polka Dot Tea Set

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.