Life

Frustration?

/ LDSVenus / 4 Comments

Upsetness must be going around this week.

I had an argument on Thursday with an automated answering machine from UPS. I just wanted to talk to a real person to explain to them that the 2 deliveries they made to me this week were delivered to the apt building across the street and is there someway they could let their drivers know that the back door of the building they are delivering to has the front of their building on the next street over (it’s a short block and takes up the whole short block) and could they mark this street as a problem because several other people in my apt are having the same problem.

I had this problem with the post office (who should know better, but to the defense of my reg postman it wasn’t him, it was the subs) and after losing 2 packages and almost a 3rd, explanation below, I went to the post office to complain because the person they were delivering to never returned it to me (just across the street mind you, but for the 1st two I didn’t know that at the time) and that person never sent the packages back and a friend let me know she sent me a package did I get it, and I had not and it was Sunday so not a normal day to deliver, but I had seen the postman make a Sunday delivery to the apt across the street, so I went over there to see if it was my package but there wasn’t one outside the door and people did not answer my knock so I put a note on their door to let them know the post office had delivered the package to them by mistake and would be picking it up the next day if they would leave it out side their door when they left for work it would be fine. I called the post office first thing on Monday and yep they picked it up and brought it to me, I figured fixing your mistake will help you remember the next time and things have been good since but the post office put a pink slip in the deliverer’s mail pick up box to remind them to check the address when delivering to our apt building. So when the notice came both times this week that the package had been delivered but there was no package at my door, I went across the street and yep it was in front of the apt door that mirrored my address, except for the street part, across the street and I rescued them.

I thought maybe it would be just that easy to fix with UPS too, serves me right for thinking, sigh. This helpful AI answering machine had no idea what I was trying to tell it and so I politely said customer service, but it wanted to know more so it would get me to the right place, but my problem wasn’t in it’s vocabulary. So it offered to send me to claims, nope I’m sure the claims answering machine would be just as unhelpful. So I hung up and tried again, not sure why I thought it would end up any better and it didn’t, I was finally so frustrated that I just kept yelling, customer service, customer service and it kept saying it didn’t understand what I wanted. So I just hung up. Just know UPS has no intention of letting you talk to a real person and if I ever get any more packages from UPS I’ll be ready to go across the street and rescue those too. I’ve calmed down, repented for that little burst of frustration and determined I wouldn’t let that machine upset me anymore, will try anyway ;).

FO and a Little Gift from a Friend :)

/ LDSVenus / 7 Comments

I finished the Flax baby sweater for a church friend. Her baby was about 2 weeks early and weighed a little over 6 lbs. The sweaters I knit in the 6 month to 1 years size, so about Feb he should be able to wear it if they roll the sleeves up a bit and it will fit him next fall into next winter. 🙂 I like to make them a little large so they can wear them longer than a couple of months because sweaters are a little more time consuming than a hat or booties.

The next picture is a gift I received from a friend, whom I help with her mail packages when they go on vacation in the summer. I love this, it is my favorite mug!!! Yes, it has hot chocolate with marshmallows in it, what else?

I’m dealing with getting well from a rather ugly cold, at least it’s a head cold and not a chest cold (which drags on for 6 to 8 weeks of coughing). People tell me everyone is getting this so I’ll be thankful it was enough time before Christmas that I can enjoy Christmas instead of staying home and being sick.

Looks like we might be minus temps at night next week with wind chills and a little snow but not much they said. Should just be glad we didn’t get all the lake effect feet of snow they got by the lakes a little farther east a week or two ago! Hope you all are staying well and warm!

RIP Sundance (alpaca) :(

/ LDSVenus / 3 Comments

This is Sundance, one of my son’s alpacas. The little one, with her head on Sundance’s back, is Star Sundance’s last cria (picture taken 2 years ago). My son and his spouse called the vet because she was not feeling well, the vet said it would be kinder to let her go, there wasn’t much he could do to help her and she was suffering, so they let the vet put her down. She was 17 and had lived a good life. My son and his spouse are very sad at her loss, they look at them as pets, I know Heavenly Father is taking good care of her, He loves all of his creations. She was in the first flock he bought when he started to raise alpaca. She was very sweet and had a wonderful fleece. If I am correct she was a show alpaca back in the day (most of those in his first flock were).

Give your pets an extra hug tonight.

Last of the Alpaca Pictures, Fall has Fell and a Favorite Quote from General Conference.

/ LDSVenus / 1 Comment

This is the Yoga with the Alpaca on the Alpaca Farm Days picture that was on Sunday morning. My son-in-law was kind enough to send me one he had taken. It’s fun for everyone including the Alpaca, I think some of them were figuring out how to join in with the yoga and others were enjoying a snack!

The picture on the right is a large beautiful tree showing it fall foliage. The colors on my phone were so vibrant, however my computer screen doesn’t do it justice, hope your colors show up better than my computer. I love fall, but would love it better if it didn’t mean winter is right around the corner, sigh. Winter is when I dream of living in Hawaii or Florida. They are both very expensive, they both have sharks and they both experience hurricanes, but Hawaii doesn’t have large snakes or alligators, tho they do have volcanoes. Choices, choices, choice. Maybe the very cold weather and snow isn’t quite as bad as I thought, though I still don’t like it :P.

Some friends asked me to give several of my favorite quotes from General Conference. But giving several favorite quotes from General Conference was hard because there are so many, and to give several would make this too long of a post, so I will just do one in this blog post.

This was from the 2nd councilor in the Relief Society General Presidency (Women’s organization in our church), Sister Kristin M Yee in the 2nd session on Saturday, (I’m linking the talk in her name, it was so spiritually powerful, I hope you will go listen to it) “To all who are brokenhearted, captive, bruised, and perhaps blinded by hurt or sin, He offers healing, recovery, and deliverance. I testify that that healing and recovery He offers is real. The timing of that healing is individual, and we cannot judge another’s timing. It is important to allow ourselves the necessary time to heal and to be kind to ourselves in the process. The Savior is ever merciful and attentive and stands ready to provide the succor we need.”

We have all felt this way and I was particularly taken by her words that the Savior “stands by ready to provide”, it’s reminding us we need to do something, we need turn to Him and ask for the hope and healing he offers so He may give it to us. May the Lord be with you and bless you according to your needs. Have a great day all!!

Honey Isn’t Necessarily Healthy and Update on TdF 2nd spin

/ LDSVenus

This 2 lb plastic (thank goodness) jar of honey caused me to be unable to spin for a bit, hopefully soon I can go back to spinning. You know the instant you do something and you know it won’t turn out right and you get that flash of what could happen and you quickly respond to it? Well yeah, that is what I did. I had set this jar of honey close to the edge of the counter and turned around and a pot holder I had in my hand caught it and off it went, my mind in that instant just saw honey all over the floor and so naturally I stuck my foot out to buffer the fall, Oh My, wrong choice, it hit the top of my foot and ouchie!! Went to get an x-ray a few days later when the bruise wasn’t looking better, but no fractured bones, just lots of soft tissue damage. Lesson learned, let the jar fall next time, it was plastic, it wouldn’t have broken. Our reactions are sometimes too fast for our own good, but then again most of the time that’s a good thing.

Next picture; Before I hurt my foot, this is as far as I got almost 3 weeks ago on the spin of my 2nd Tour de Fleece skein, almost done with the 1st bobbin. Hopefully will finish that soon and I can begin the 2nd bobbin.

I have been working on my Hats for Warmth project (because I can sit with my feet up and not feel guilty :P), but I need to speed that up, fall is almost here and winter will soon follow!!!

Hope you all are working on things you love and that I haven’t cursed you with “Murphy” by talking about it, tho if he could find another person to irritate I can’t say I would mind a bit, tho I hope it’s not you :P.

2022 Tour de Fleece Starting 2nd Spin

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This is my new spin. It will be a fractal. The full braid is a 2nd braid in that color I had just to show you the braid before I split it to spin. The braid I’m using (Targhee wool/Bamboo/Tussah silk) is split in half (back left), then the other half is split into thirds (back right stacked on top of each other). They are all spun end to end on their respective bobbin, that way the ones split into thirds will be shorter in color length, and will be plyed with the half on the first bobbin where the colors will be longer. It’s an interesting spin :). Some of the colors will end up plying with the same color and others will be mixed up and look like barber poles. I took a picture of the tag on the braid of fiber, it is a deep stash pull. The fiber dyer is still around you can find them at Brenda and Heather Yarns .

Starting Monday we will be in the 90’s every day except Wednesday and it will be 87. I try not to wish for Fall because that means Winter is coming and I know I will miss the warmth and sunshine, but sigh, what can you do. So glad for air conditioning because we are also very humid.

2022 Tour de Fleece, First Skein Done!

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This was a long time coming, yea!!!! This was about 219 yards, 14 wpi, 89 grams, it looks like a light sport weight. I still have a little I need to ply off the bobbins as it was so much finished plyed yarn I couldn’t wouldn’t fit it all on the bobbin. I’m thinking about 11 to 15 more yards maybe, I’ll ply that off tonight and see, got close to having the 100 grams on there. Thinking I might need a bigger bobbin for plying :P.

I’m preparing my next spinning project to start tomorrow. It’s a deep stash beautiful pastel multi color braid that I’m thinking of doing a fractal out of. I’ll put a picture in and more info on the braid tomorrow after I’ve prepared it for the fractal spin :).

The temperature has been in the 80’s but the humidity has been uncomfortable, will be worse with 90’s in our near future, sigh. Stay cool out there!

Tour de Fleece 2022

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Another year spinning with the Tour de Fleece while the Tour de France bicycle race is going on :). These are two pictures that show my progress. This is CVM (California Variegated Mutant) sheep fleece blended with about 15% alpaca. The mutant tag has to do with the fleece coloring. I already had the 1st bobbin spun and had started on the 2nd bobbin and they just sat there for months while I waited for my knitting/spinning mojo to come back, this event is helping to spark that :). I think I have about 1/2 oz of fiber left to spin then I can ply it and presto, yarn. 🙂 This skein is a surprise gift for someone who made me a gift last year. Hoping she will enjoy her little surprise. 🙂

My life has been pretty busy and there aren’t enough hrs in the day to try to squeeze in enough sleep, but that’s entirely my fault, if I would go to bed earlier it wouldn’t be a problem, but sorry night owl here and I’d rather be doing other things except when it’s time to get up hahaha.

Our temps have been very warm and humid :(. I did get to spin on my balcony this last week, that day was so beautiful outside and that is something I enjoy doing. I usually try to do that in the spring before the flies and mosquitoes and other biting bugs are out but this last spring was a lot of overcast and rain, not conducive for the care of my spinning wheel. But at least I got one day in so far this year. In case sometime during my years of blogging I have forgotten to mention, I wish I could give the man that invented refrigerated air a hug, it’s so amazing!

Hope you all are doing well and enjoying whatever weather you have in your area.

May the 4th Be with You

/ LDSVenus / 6 Comments

I didn’t get my Easter msg up or my General Conference msg up this year, both which are important to me and I almost didn’t get my May the 4th Be with You msg up, which is not as important but fun. Winter has been a little harder this year, maybe be cause it lacked a lot of sun (I need the sunshine) and this spring has been hard because it has been very overcast and rainy and more cooler off and on, and I was so ready for the warm sunny spring weather. Sigh, then I remembered April showers bring May flowers, and though oh my gosh go away LOL. Still a lot of over cast days (wow I could never live in Washington or Oregon by the coast), but it is warming up, this week is 50’s and 60’s and next week is into the 80’s sheesh.

I am trying to work on the hat for my friend, I had to try to figure out where she had left off (and I hadn’t been in the right head space to really concentrate to do that during the winter) and realized the stitch count wasn’t right and saw a couple of dropped stitches, so I had to tink back (for my non knitting friends tink is undoing the knitting one stitch at a time, oh so time consuming, tink is knit backwards – word and do wise, lol) 4 rows in the round and now I need to count the stitch count to make sure I tinked back enough to continue on. And oh yeah, with the lower light levels with all the over cast days and lower light level in my apt during the night I was having a hard time seeing the stitches because it’s knit in fingering in a dark brown yarn LOL. Anyway I can get out on my balcony now and have better lighting :).

Yeah this is more like a little rant, but hopefully things will appear on my blog now, it’s been over a month and I usually post at least one thing a month. Hope everyone is doing well and that Spring is bringing those May flowers, I have seen the robins so it’s really spring to me :).