Dismay X 2

Yesterday we took our ancient grill to our local landfill to discard it. We used it for 10+ years before it became too rusted and unsafe to keep, so I didn't feel bad about trashing it. I've been to the dump before, and this time it seemed remarkably clean with very little trash in sight anywhere. My guy thought the same, and asked the attendant where all the trash has gone.

Turns out our landfill is currently used only as a transfer station for waste now because there's no more room for any more trash to be processed there. As the man was telling us this I began noticing all the big trucks filled with tires and things, and the grass-covered mountain beside us, and felt a bit chilled. It's not a big deal if we can keep finding places to open new landfills, but what happens when we run out of room for our garbage?

The other moment of dismay came when my guy stopped at a taco place for lunch. It's $15.61 for two taco meals now, but that wasn't what gave me pause. The lady who waited on us had to be 80 years old. She should have been home enjoying her retirement, but instead she was ringing up our order. She did fine, but I've never seen someone that elderly working at a fast food place. I'm starting to notice more 70-80+ workers around now, too. Is this how we should take care of our seniors, by making it so tough for them to get by they have to go back to work?

DIY

Katherine sent me this pic of her posing with a robot she repaired at her lab. It was broken and unusable when she arrived there, and would have cost the university thousands to fix the machine. She knew this particular robot would make her job easier, so she got out the manual and figure out how to make the repairs herself. That natural mechanical ability comes from her dad's DNA, but the DIY attitude is one she got from both of us.

We are big DIYers here at Casa Valerean. We almost never call outside contractors to deal with problems at home; we do it or figure out how to do it ourselves. Our neighbors call whenever they have a repair problem to see if my guy can fix it for them; right now he's rebuilding a shed with rotted wood floors for the minister next door. I came up with the solution to repair our buckled tile floor by remembering where some spare tiles were hidden in the kitchen. I also just figured out what was slowing down my work computer and fixed that earlier this month.

Besides being frugal, the DIY attitude allows you to get things done. You also learn constantly; I can't tell you how many times I've watched a cooking, embroidery or quilting video to learn how to do something. My guy does the same thing when he works on our cars or an appliance; he's now learning how to take care of the new car by watching videos.

Not taking advantage of the enormous volume of information on the internet is where society bogs down these days. You can find instructions on how to do almost anything online now. Or is it that people are just too lazy, and it's easier to hire someone else to do it? DIY means work, so maybe. In reality my guy and I were raised to fix things ourselves because our families were too poor to hire outside help, but also as a point of self-respect. If you owned something, you took care of it. Not anymore, I guess.

If You Dare

Love Me if You Dare is one of the few Chinese drama series I've enjoyed (with some reservations), so I thought it deserved a write-up on the blog. This is a mystery/romance/psychological thriller with some glaring flaws, but it has some merits that make up for those, and overall doesn't seem like a Chinese drama at all.

The series begins when Bo Jin Yan (brilliantly played by Wallace Huo), a criminal psychologist specializing in profiling serial killers, returns to China from the US after nearly becoming a victim of a cannibalistic killer. He needs a translator and a personal assistant, so his best friend and techno wiz Fu Zi yu (Yin Zheng) hires Jian Yao Yao (Sandra Ma), a young, intelligent but naive recent college grad to work for him for about a week before she starts her new job in the city.

While cold and unfriendly, Jin Yan soon learns he cannot do without Yao Yao, and so goes to great lengths to convince her to become his permanent assistant. Meanwhile, young teenage boys start disappearing, and Jin Yan is called in by the local police to help out on the case. That case leads to another and then another, and Jin Yan discover that someone is orchestrating the cases and stalking him.

There's a lot to like about this series, but the reason I kept watching was Wallace Huo, who is completely convincing as a Sherlock Holmes-style detective but with some terrific differences. Slightly less convincing was Sandra Ma, but she's so cute and likeable in her role you don't mind. Yin Zheng could have been a third wheel while playing the Watson role but managed to hold his own as a buddy and a genius. Add a talking AI car, some very sophisticated plotting and a major final twist, and you have a pretty absorbing series.

The series does have some major problems with the script writing and the secondary cast. The series goes back and forth between China and the US, and I'd say the biggest head-scratcher is the ability of every English-speaking actor to instantly and perfectly understand Chinese, and all the Chinese actors understanding English in the same way. Everyone talks to each other in their own language, and still understand each other, which is pretty ridiculous. Also, most of the actors portraying Americans spoke with heavy non-American accents, so casting dropped the ball there.

I think the story would have worked well for me, too, if not for the final resolution. I don't want to do any spoilers, but it just seemed tacked on so they could do another three episodes. Also, the romance (which could have been pretty great) was a bit tepid and (at times) silly. I even thought Wallace Huo rolled his eyes a few times, trying to portray the character as written.

If you can overlook the problems, then Love Me if You Dare is a decent series to watch, and Wallace Huo an actor to follow. Available on Viki.com.

Water Water

I have to drink a lot of water every day to help regulate my blood sugar, but after three years of this I've grown tired of it. I've tried a couple of alternatives like sparkling mineral water, but everything I'm allowed to drink has become pricier so I'm back to making my own drinks. I'm trying to avoid caffeine, all sugar substitutes except stevia, and anything with dye in it.

Caffeine-free iced tea is one good substitute. A pitcher lasts me pretty much all day, and it's not hard or expensive to make. Some herbs teas are also actually good cold, like Celestial Seasoning's Lemon Zinger.

Diet cranberry juice has become my go-to daily breakfast drink, as a small glass has only about 2.5 grams of sugar. I buy a generic brand, and a bottle lasts me all week.

Lemon juice + stevia = sugarfree lemonade. I'm hoping once our lemons are ripe I can make pitchers of it this summer.

Another strategy of mine to keep hydrated is to always have a glass of something with me whatever I'm doing. I've found if I put it in a reusable tumbler with a straw it's a lot easier to drink, too.

My Reward

My reward to myself for finishing the first novel for the day job in 2023 was this beautiful vintage lot of YLI metallic silk embroidery ribbon on 30 yard spools. These aren't made anymore -- the company that originally owned the line sold it off -- so they retail for $10.00 a spool or more when you can find them. I purchased them for about a dollar each.

I'm extra over the moon to have these because I just ran out of embroidery ribbon, and they're vintage, so I'm sticking to my intention not to buy any new materials this year.

It's really a beautiful thread to work with in embroidery. The blue feather stitching above the violet ribbon on my calendar scroll was made with the new ribbon.

Now all I need is a bigger specialty thread box. :)

Knockoff Salad

This week I tried this new recipe for a Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad that is a copycat of Applebee's Asian Chicken Salad, which I've always liked. It's pretty close to the restaurant version, too; the dressing is super close. The only thing I did differently was used chicken breast I cooked in the air fryer, and sliced raw almonds rather than slivered and toasted. My guy liked it enough to eat three plates, and he is not a fancy salad lover.

Bits and Bobs

My reward for finishing the latest novel for work was collecting some vintage ephemera for a couple of projects. This lovely old velvet drawstring reticule has cut steel beading, which dates it to maybe the turn of the 20th century; I've seen similar reticules dated to 1910. I may actually do nothing but treasure this piece because it's so gorgeous.

This adorable mushroom ornament was crafted from an old crazy quilt patch, beads and a cinnamon stick as a stem.

I've got a nice pile of vintage bits and bobs to play around with; maybe for a shadow box-type project.

Also a nice mini collection of old clothespins. Stay tuned to see what I make out of all this.

Garden Update

In the garden things are rolling right along for spring. My guy planted a new bunch of lettuce and brussel sprouts in our new big bed.

We eat a lot of salads, and since lettuce is just getting more and more expensive we thought we'd try growing it.

Brussel sprouts are one of my favorite veggies, so I'm always glad to have them in the garden.

Although it's only 3/4 of the way grown I'm using our celery as I need it, but once it reaches full growth I'm going to process and freeze it all for future recipes.

We just picked and ate most of the mature radishes, but more are on the way. Our second planting of Cosmic carrots have also sprouted.

The watermelon managed to survive the worst of winter, and is now getting ready to bloom.

We picked the last of the grapefruit, and Mom's tree gave us a whopping 25 grapefruit this year. The lemons on our new Meyer tree are just now starting to turn yellow.

Scaling Back, Dining Well

This was the bento box meal I ordered when we took Kat out to her favorite Japanese restaurant over the holidays. Like a lot of my dining out experiences it's becoming a fond memory, because it's just too expensive to eat out anymore.

Since going out to lunch now costs $20.00 for the two of us, and dinner runs $35.00 to $40.00, we're dining at home almost exclusively now. This doesn't instantly tame our food budget either; prices at the market require us to shop at four different stores to get the foods we need for the least amount of $$$. I've become an aggressive bargain hunter, too, and never pass up a good deal on anything I regularly use.

I want us to eat well, too, but inflation has prompted me to make some changes to how I cook. When I used to make my guy's favorite pasta sauce I thought nothing of adding a pound of lean ground beef (which is now $10.00/lb.). Not anymore; I've cut back on the meat in that recipe to 1/4 of a pound. That still gives it the flavor he likes, we've discovered, and I can make a pound of ground beef stretch to make a quadruple batch, which helps when I freeze portions for future meals.

I make my guy aware of the cost of pricey foods now, and what he can do to help out with the budget. He used to go through a dozen eggs per week making three fried egg sandwiches for breakfast whenever he wanted them (every other day, really); I've asked him to only make them once a week now and have cereal, waffles, english muffins or bagels instead, which are better for him anyway.

Another thing I'm doing is making half-batches, especially when I try a new recipe for something. I wanted to taste-test a new slow-cooker chili recipe, but I didn't want to waste ingredients if we didn't like it. So I made a half-batch (and we liked it, but it needs some tweaks with the heat level and the ingredients, so I was glad I made a smaller batch.) I also make my staple quickie dinners with less ingredients so I can eliminate any waste. That means two cans of tuna instead of four when I make tuna salad, but my guy and I can eat it for dinner and there's still enough for a sandwich for lunch the next day.

No leftovers go to waste in this house, but I find we get recipe fatigue if I make the same thing over and over, as we're probably going to be eating it for two or three nights. To combat this I'm trying new recipes at least once a week again, and also discussing the week's menu with my guy before we do our weekly shopping to assure I've got things planned that he wants to eat.

Scaling back while dining well puts a lot of pressure on me, both in the shopping and cooking phases, but as any woman will tell you, what else is new? I do what I can to keep my spirits up, and trying new recipes definitely helps. I also give myself permission not to cook if I don't feel like it. That's when my guy gets tuna salad sandwiches, or some of the frozen pizza bread he likes for dinner (as long as I can find them on sale.)

Goodwill Haul

For saving him a lot of time and headaches with the floor repair project (I found sitting under the stove two tiles that match the ones that broke during the buckling), my guy took me out for lunch. Across from the restaurant was a Goodwill store I'd never visited, so I asked him if we could stop in to see if they had a few things I needed.

I didn't find the to-be-recycled item I wanted for this year's thrift flip project, but I did find another pretty hat box in pristine condition and no bad smells for $4.99. I'll still going to detox it, but very happy to have this one as my special embroidery thread tin is packed to overflowing lately.

Because I'm nice I swapped with my guy my arm support pillow for his head pillow, as his had become pancaked and was uncomfortable for him to sleep on (it's probably ten years old.) Unfortunately his pillow hasn't been supporting my arm all that well, either. When I spotted this new hypoallergenic standard pillow for $3.99 I grabbed it, and it appeared unused and smelled perfectly clean (I'll still wash it anyway.) I know they're a little cheaper at our Wal-Mart, but they're always out of stock of all hypoallergenic pillows.

This 100% cotton Threshold brand queen-size flat sheet was the real steal of the trip. It's in like-new condition, and Target sells them new for anywhere between $16.00 - $34.00. But the reason I paid $3.99 for this sheet is because queen size flat sheets usually measure about 96" X 102" -- which makes it wide enough to serve as quilt backing fabric (which retails from $10.00 to $20.00 a yard for 108" wide fabric.)

Denied

Well, it's bad news here, my pals. State Farm has denied our claim for the damaged floor, and they gave us a spectacularly ridiculous reason: our tile floor was not installed properly. The structural engineer evidently used his psychic powers to determine this, as he didn't pull out any of the baseboards to check for expansion joints behind them, ask for any original installation paperwork, etc. My guy is still debating on if he should pull the boards and check. He's really ticked off, too.

Anyway, at this point we're talking about canceling the policy and finding another company to insure us, but we have more research to do, and need some time to evaluate our options. One good thing came out of this -- now we can do some temporary repairs.

My Worn Stories

After watching Worn Stories on Netflix I thought I'd raid my closet for a few garments I've saved over the years and talk about why I've kept them. Weirdly, I didn't pay for any of them.

This field jacket was the first issued to me by the Air Force way back in 1979. I've kept it because of all the uniforms I wore during my service, this was the one that meant the most to me for a bunch of reasons, including surviving basic training. I definitely earned this jacket.

This is a pair of scrubs given to me by a surgeon from a civilian hospital where I worked. He had just learned that I'd turned in my notice and told me I should really consider going to medical school (he even offered to help me get in a great one) and told me to wear the scrubs so I'd know what it was like to dress like a working surgeon (my normal scrubs were blue.) That was the biggest compliment I'd ever gotten as a paramedic. Never went to medical school, but I often wore these scrubs whenever I worked on StarDoc.

This is one of the oldest garments I own, the t-shirt I wore when I was seventeen and showed my art at a high school exbition. All the kids who had art in that show were expected to buy one and wear it that day. I was too poor to do that, so I just wore a plain black t-shirt that I borrowed from my brother and hoped no one would notice. I was terribly embarrassed about that, too, as the shirt was way too big on me. Anyway, my art teacher found out from one of my classmates that I was the only student who didn't have the money for a shirt, and she bought it for me. I was even more embarrased when she gave it to me, but it was one of the kindest things any adult did for me in my teens.

I only wore the shirt once for the exhbition. I've kept it all these years because it was a gift from a teacher who ultimately changed my life and helped me believe in myself. 45 years later I haven't forgotten her.

Only One Mend

When this sample black dress shirt (photos lightened to show the details) arrived from Fabscrap, I expected I'd have to make repairs everywhere there were safety pins.

It really was covered with pins, too.

Yet once I removed all the pins and checked each spot, the only mend required was a tear in the fabric at the top of one sleeve.

That was a pretty easy fix to stitch from the inside, too.

The shirt is so black you can't see the repair. It fits me, too, so I'll be wearing this whenever I want to go goth. :)

Kit Review

Rachel's of Greenfield Birches quilt kit occupied me for most of December and January, but I took my time and followed the directions almost exactly. I've wanted to learn more about applique and working with wool, and this project taught me a lot.

Like most kits this one came with almost everything needed to make the 13" X 15" quilt (some quilting thread is needed for the border stitching, and to applique the little bird and trees.) There wasn't an overabundance of fabric or thread, so I had to go slowly and not make mistakes with the cutting, piecing or embroidering.

The instructions were pretty clear, too. I deviated from them only when quilting the border (I used a cut-out leaf that I pinned to the fabric rather than try to trace the quilting design on that dark gray cloth) and how I made the binding. I also did some of the applique stitching differently to make the trees look like actual trees. I've never done applique so it was fun to learn how to from the kit. Working with felted wool also makes the process a lot easier; I didn't have to turn edges or try to replicate intricate shapes.

I liked this kit a lot, so I didn't rush through it. I'm learning to slow down instead of hurry to finish everything so I can move on to the next thing. A confident beginner could easily handle this project, I think. Great experience. :)

Wishing You

Happy Valentine's Day from Valerean.

Image credit: Luisella Planeta Leoni LOVE PEACE 💛💙 from Pixabay

How the Brits Ghostbust

British paranormal/dystopian thriller Lockwood & Co. just dropped on Netflix, and if you're willing to go along on the rather implausible ride it's a fun young adult series. Here's the premise: some 50 years ago ghosts began attacking people in the real world; by touching the living they kill them. People can't go out at night without risking death so a permnanent curfew is imposed. When you can't see what wants to kill you, you have a pretty grim world.

Luckily some teenagers (most of whom have authority problems) turn out to be sensitive to these spirits and can see, hear and otherwise detect them. They're trained to fight them with iron swords, silver chain mail, salt, etc. With absolutely zero regard to their safety, ghostbusting companies then recruit such kids once they're trained and pay them to ghostbust professionally. Conspiracies abound in this world, along with an impressive utter disregard for the welfare of the kids who are basically saving the world every night.

The series centers around three of these kids, Lucy (a talented but abused and misused fighter who can hear the ghosts), George (the obligatory research nerd) and Anthony Lockwood (the young owner of a renegade ghostbusting agency). They all seem to be somewhere around 15-16 years old, and yet live like adults as they pursue their ambitions. There's a very subtle romantic tension between Lucy and Lockwood that I expect will be drawn out forever ala Mulder and Scully from the X-Files.

The eight episodes are pretty easy to watch, with decent special effects and fairly solid storytelling. You won't see anything new in this show, but it's an interesting mash-up of other ideas. The problem with this one for me was the flawed worldbuilding, which sits on a very rocky foundation and asks the viewer to make too many unlikely leaps of faith. Available on Netflix now.

Twice's Backstory

A couple of months ago I saw and picked up a faux gilded autumn leaf in a parking lot while we were out shopping. I usually find these in the yard when my neighbor's fall decorations begin shedding, and make them into quilted pieces (she still has no idea I do this.) I hand washed the fake leaf when I got home and put it in the sewing room to wait and see what it wanted to be.

I have a bag of scrap linen bits that I saved from bigger projects and keep to use in textile art projects, too, as well as bags of unusual buttons. I never throw away the bubble wrap that comes in my packages; I always find a way to reuse even the smallest scraps.

One of my art prompts last month was to go on a scavenger hunt around the house and make something out of the objects I found. That's how Twice, my little Goddess of Repurposing, came into being. She's now hanging out on the idea board in my office to remind me to reuse and recycle as much as possible. :)

So I'm Out Walking the Dogs . . .

. . . and I see this two houses down from us and think, "Whaaaaat? Snow?" It's only snowed here like twice in the last 16 years, but it was pretty cold, so I ran in to get my camera and snap a pic.

I also walk down one house because I want to get a decent shot, at which point I realize it's not snow.

It's egrets. Yep. Time to go get my eyes checked.

Worn Stories

While looking for some fashion shows on Netflix I came across the documentary series Worn Stories, based on the book by Emily Spivak, which has eight themed episodes in which people talk about a wide variety of clothing and what it means to them. There are also four different stories in each episode that showcase a specific item of clothing cherished by someone, who then tells you the backstory.

Since the first episode featured segments involving a nudist colony I wasn't sure I'd really care for this one. Forcing others to see you naked is a compulsion that I find tiresome and a little sad. Still, the other stories were interesting, and the nudity seemed restricted to the first episode, so I kept on watching. From a non-binary Jewish kid putting together an outfit for their gender-neutral coming of age ceremony to a survivor of US Airways Flight 1549 talking about his ruined boots, all the storytellers have very compelling stories.

Some of the stories are very sad, so it might be depressing to watch at times. Still, I liked knowing the backstories behind the clothes people cherish. I have a few of my own garments that I've treasured, including one shirt that is about fifty years old now. :) Overall I found the series very comforting, and really enjoyed the storytelling. Available to watch on Netflix.

More Mysteries

Mystery bin #2 turned out to be filled with mostly old photos, office supplies, letters, cards and other paper ephemera, but I did find a few pearls.

This is a picture of my grandmother when she was a toddler.

I also found my great-grandmother's journal. I thought I had given it back to Mom the last time she came to visit.

I never threw away the old bound manuscript Ace sent me to read for a quote for Patricia Briggs. Was that really 17 years ago? Ha.

Another Mystery

While spring cleaning the kitchen cabinets I needed a utensil drawer organizer that I'd lent to Kat for her apartment, and went out to search through the bins of her stuff to find it. In the process I found these two bins marked as my stuff that have probably been sitting in the garage for a couple of years now. I can't remember what I put in either of them (thank you, old age.) Let's look through one of them today, shall we?

I save everything people give me -- I find it almost impossible to toss or donate something that was a gift, especially books -- as well as cards, letters, programs, report cards, etc. That constituted about 95% of this bin, and a lot of it was from my mom (hence the really hideous yellow Clark's sign.)

Lots of miscellaneous junk, too. There was a manuscript copy of a novel I wrote way back in the eighties, of which an electronic copy does not exist, so I should probably keep that. The plastic fan was one my grandmother gave me, if I remember right. She had a thing for fans.

I still have every letter and card readers sent me as fan mail. How can I throw that away? Sigh.

One photo turned up that made me smile. This is me being made an NCO (Sergeant) in the Air Force, way back in 1980. :) Stop by tomorrow to see what's in bin #2.