Sturgeon Moon Days

It was a busy weekend.

Friday, my brother and I ran some errands in the morning. My brother had to stop by the lab and then we went and did some grocery shopping. While we were out, I mailed off a deposit for the food tour we'll be taking in New York City, four and a half hours in an old-school checkered cab, hopefully out and about in the outer boroughs, where I've never really ventured.

In the afternoon, while Dave was working, I worked on decluttering some more and when that got boring, I worked on my sewing machine. It's been doing this weird "klunk" sound with each stitch and the balance/hand wheel has been sticking. I did some reading online and in my owners manual and figured out some troubleshooting type things to do. I changed the needle. I oiled the machine and took apart the bobbin casing and cleaned and oiled it. The problem turned out to be that the bobbin casing was not sitting correctly in the machine housing. With Dave's help, I put everything back together and now I have a happy, quiet sewing machine. I celebrated by sewing a new quilted cover for it out of some orange paisley material lined with lime green. While sewing it, I did something I have never done before: I bent a needle!

Friday afternoon, I got a shipment of 3 pairs of new shoes from Zappos--yay!--but none of them fit--waaah! So all three pairs will be returned. I don't think I've ever had success ordering shoes online, but I foolishly keep trying.

The hummingbirds had drunk their way through nearly the entire contents of the feeder outside the front door, so I took the opportunity to take it down, clean and sterilize it, and fill it with new sugar water. I love those little birds. I get very happy hearing and seeing them buzzing around the patio and come to rest at the feeder.

Friday evening, Dave and I got together with Chris and Grace for dinner. We went to a new Vietnamese restaurant and ate too much. Sadly, my pho was not as good as the good place where we used to go, but I would go back to try something else. After, we went and loaded a kiln--Grace had some things to put in a bisque kiln and we had enough to round out a kiln--and then we followed that up with ice cream. It was nice to sit outside and eat ice cream with good company and watch the world go by for a bit.

We came home, cleaned and decluttered some more in the casita, and then turned in.

Saturday we went to the studio to babysit the kiln while it fired. Before we started in on studio things, Dave and I went for a walk with Judi and Buzz. Judi's been requesting to go on more walks since she'll have to be a lot more active when she starts taking Buzz to dog shows in October. We walked about a mile and all of us except Dave were done. I'm so out of shape. I don't know how I did the twelve-hour plus shifts on my feet at the hospital. Luck, maybe. After our walk, Judi went in to do laundry and Dave and I hung out. While he glazed bowls, I made two small Christmas ornaments. Then I pulled out my phone and used my online account to study for the upcoming board exams. I think I'll be okay, but I need to study a lot more than I have been.

When the kiln was finished, we came home. It was just starting to rain and Kevin and Kelly were sitting on their porch watching the storm roll in. We stopped to chat for a bit. I told them that we have been seeing lots of bats around, which is very cool. I hope they're getting enough to eat. (The bats, I mean--and Kevin and Kelly, too, I guess!)

Dave made dinner--roasted veggies, gravy, and Quorn. Then, as has become our habit, we cleaned and decluttered. (The cleaning and decluttering is endless!)

I'm not sleeping very well, as usual. I stayed up far too late on Saturday and Sunday morning came way too early. I woke up in a grumpy mood that I couldn't shake all day.

However, that did not keep us from doing more decluttering. I have been tossing things out left and right. When I got sick of doing that, I sat down and sewed Dave a small padded case for his electric shaver. It turned out to be too small, so I sewed a second case that fit a little better.

With 99% of the sewing I've done so far, I just kind of make things up as I go. This keeps The Brain busy, but it takes awhile to figure things out and I make a lot of mistakes along the way. In addition to having to sew two cases for Dave, I also did something else I've never done before: I broke a needle!

In the late afternoon, Dave went off with my brother to get a haircut and I stayed home and sewed while longer. In the very late afternoon, I showered and finally changed out of my pajamas. I also did a bit more decluttering. It really is never ending, though I've gotten to the point where I'm down to, like, a pile of things I have to find a home for or just toss out. I did some of both, whittling down the pile some more.

I started dinner and Dave finished it--a repeat of last night pretty much--and now I'm ready for bed.

There's a full moon tonight. Alexa informs us that it's a "sturgeon" moon, based on some Native American lore about full moons in August being the best time to catch sturgeon. So there you go.