Patchwork Dress

I bought this pattern a long time ago and forgot about it.

It would be great in batik fabric. You can find it at Sewthankful.

Cats Like Fish Lamps

The cats and I have had problems trying to carry on after losing Midnight.  She was a big part of all of our lives.  Molly is very intelligent and spent a good part of the day playing games with Midnight.  She was getting bored easily. The birds were gone for the year.  I was tired from work and allergies and sometimes sore.

 I remembered a lamp that my aunt had when I was about three and visiting her with my parents.  It had a shade that was motorized somehow and made it look like water flowing in a waterfall. That made me think of fish lamps I thought I saw for sale.

Not long afterward, I stopped at a yard sale and found a fish lamp for sale. Molly loved it.  She likes to lie in the laptop box and watch it. The colors in it are a little odd. I think they were toned to go with the current decorator colors.  I found a more pleasing one at a second-hand store which was also well appreciated.  However, both light bulbs blew and I have yet to get all the screws off it to replace the bulbs.  I think the screws might need some lubrication.  It's not a bad idea to have two fish lamps if you have the room.  Even cats can figure out that it's the same fish all the time.

Sometimes Nice People Win

Recently at work an employee was moved to a new cubicle near mine.  I suspect it was because the management hoped that her positive attitude would have a positive affect on her neighbors.  About a week later one of her neighbors was very rude to her.  

The rude neighbor also frequently criticizes the callers with her other neighbor.  For the most part I keep my opinions to myself, but I wonder what makes these twenty-somethings feel they have all the answers.  I sure didn't at that age.  I wonder if the rude woman thinks she's a Christian.  She sure isn't loving her neighbor.  Our job is not to sit in judgement on people but to help them obtain what they need.  We are not judge and jury.

It didn't take me long in the work world to learn that I certainly didn't have all the answers and I had a lot to learn.  I was a lot better off mentally when I realized that.  However, I have also been overlooked because I was support staff, not a professional person.  That hurts, but it's not an excuse to take it out on other people.  It's a reason to show people "your stuff," and a reason to treat people how you would like to be treated.  Does that phrase ring a bell?

Also recently, upon taking my car to the garage for inspection, I learned that the radiator was splitting from the top down and needed to be replaced right away.  The brakes needed work and the battery replacing.  Somehow the conversation with the garage manager led to the fact that I needed another digital camera so I could post photos of items I'd made to make more money.  The manager very kindly offered to give me a camera.  He was moving, had three cameras and didn't need them all.  Later he said he didn't think he'd ever used it. As I discovered later, it is a good digital camera that had to have cost over 300 dollars. Needless to say I made him know how grateful I was.  Why else did he offer the camera to me than I've been nice to him every time I've been in the garage?

I've been so overwhelmed that I haven't even played with my new camera yet.  My sprained right shoulder is getting better.  I found using a bag of peas, or any tiny vegetables, really is the right treatment for some parts of the body, mainly my underarm.  However, the spring allergies have already arrived.  Maybe they'll be offset enough by sunshine, warm temperatures and green growth so that I'm productive again.

I am also happy that the turquoise and purple fingering yarns I bought for a shawl are also the right shades to go with a skirt that I found at a rummage sale.  It's linen blend with large, modern abstract flowers.  I found out last year that I'll need a shawl in the summer too. Now I need to decide on a pattern.  I've been pondering it for a while.  I also want to figure out how to shorten the very long skirt and use what I cut off to make a vest.  It's too pretty to waste.