Lucky escape!

 We discovered upon returning from our trip that the plug-in receptacle in our bathroom had quit working.  Not a huge problem but it does have a nighlight that we use to fumble our way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  So...I put in a work order for a repair.  The super showed up early yesterday morning and checked it and also went into the storage room to see if the problem might be a fuse.  Good thing she did!!!  She discovered two of the fuses were extremely hot (burned her finger) and she promptly pulled them out and called an electrician.  He repaired everything and installed a new 'fuse section' (don't know the proper name for it).  It turned out that one of the two fuses in question was charred (!!!!!) and was ready to start a fire.😰😱  The fuse should have tripped and shut off but it didn't.  We are so glad we were home and that everything evolved as it did because had it caught fire when we were away we most likely would have lost everything, to say nothing about not having a place to live.  The bathroom receptacle was an entirely different issue so had the super not checked the fuse box, it could have been far worse.  

The clear-out and cleaning continues and I'm currently working in my sewing room.  The rest of the apartment is pretty much done.  Took a huge load to the thriftie yesterday and have lost track of how many bags went to either the recycling or simply was not donatable. Working on a bag full of excess linens that are perfect to donate to the local humane society.  Oddly enough, looking around the rooms, nothing looks much different but certainly behind-the-scenes has changed pretty dramatically.

All that to say, there are no pictures to show you because you really don't want to see our junk!

- Some of you may not want to be thinking about THAT day that's rapidly approaching, but just in case you are, perhaps you might like to make some of THESE.  Or perhaps THESE.

- THESE would be a pretty addition to your fall decor.

- I think THIS technique is cool - not sure if I could pull it off though.

- There are a number of nice Christmas-y themed designs HERE.

- I like the simplicity of THESE.

The quote of the day..."It costs $0.00 to be a decent human being"

We're back....but.....

 Yes, we're back from our trip.  Tired, but fully enjoyed spending time with #2 son and daughter-in-love and 3 little grandies.  Now we are facing this...

Well, it's not QUITE that bad, but close!  Most of you will remember that we had to remove every . single . thing from all our cupboards and pull all the furniture out from the walls in order for the building management to spray for cockroaches.  We haven't seen any in our unit but they are certainly lurking in other places.  All this happened two days before we were due to leave on our trip and we simply couldn't face having to return everything to its rightful place and pack too.  So...we left it until we came back.  The entire weekend has been spent going through 'stuff' (and I use that term extremely loosely!) and making decisions about keeping/donating/tossing as well as washing down all cupboards and surfaces in case there's any residual bug spray anywhere.  Not sure how happy the thrift store will be with us when we arrive with a carload..or two....of donations!  My sewing room still needs a lot of work but at least the rest of the house is somewhat in order (if you don't count the piles of donations, the garbage and the excess towels/sheets earmarked for the humane society.  Hopefully most of that will be gone today ready for us (me!) to add a whole lot more as I go through my sewing room.  

Hopefully I'll be able to return to my regular schedule on Wednesday and will have some time to find you some fun links to explore then.  

Leavin' on a jet plane

 

All my bags are packed

we're ready to go

(and you're welcome to enjoy the ear worm while we're gone!)

We're going to visit our family in BC and spend time with three active little grandies.  Our apartment is a gigantic mess but we're not going to think about any of it until we return.

Enjoy your break from reading my Mumblings...be safe, be well. Thoughts and prayers remain for the people affected by the hurricanes.

 See you soon!

I need a whole lotta what this guy's got!

 

The Resident Chef and I are likening ourselves to monkeys as we navigate our way around our apartment.  Not a wise thing to think we can walk anywhere at night!  One thing all this enforced moving of 'stuff' has done is reinforced in our minds that we really need to downsize dramatically.  My sewing room is certainly going to have a huge day of reckoning and RC's kitchen will be the same.  Weighing the mental cost of holding on to things against the price to replace them should we really need them down the road is going to be a huge factor.  The thought of having to go through all this if they have to fumigate again is definitely an even bigger factor and odds are, in a building of this size, it will happen again at some point.  I'm certainly looking a lot towards a minimalist lifestyle.  I know we'll never get to that point, but it's something to aspire to.

- If you travel with your iron, perhaps making one of THESE would be beneficial.

- THIS is a cute project for this time of year (and there's links there to more as well).

- THIS is cute as well.

- You might have the raw materials on hand to make THIS.

Today's quote:  Two things define you - your patience when you have nothing, your attitude when you have everything"

Progress and a rant

 There has been a start on the embroidery on the landscape as you can see from this...

Now for the rant (feel free to scroll down to avoid the entire thing).  Apartment life sometimes is a complete and total pain in the derrierre.  Monday we received notice that the powers-that-be have decided that the entire building has to be fumigated for cockroaches.  I know...yeww...but we haven't seen any in our unit.  We have traps in several places so we'd know if there were.  We won't mention the area in the building where all such things seem to originate!  So.....we have to pull EVERY.SINGLE.PIECE.OF.FURNITURE out from the walls two feet so they can spray behind.  We have to remove EVERY.SINGLE.THING out of EVERY.SINGLE.CUPBOARD.  We have to vacate the premises for a minimum of six hours during/after the spraying.  Oh, did I mention that both RC and I are dealing with sore backs (him from sciatica and compounded by his fall a couple weeks ago).  Needless to say we will NOT be moving furniture and have had to throw ourselves at the mercy of the management who have arranged for people to come and move things for us.  That will happen Friday...and then we have the weekend to try to get between everything to get to anything.  Monday they spray...and then they're supposed to come back to put the furniture back, but no word on when that might happen.  Then - there's a good possibility (if they find roaches on our floor/wing) that the entire thing will be repeated in 14 days.  Oh, and did I mention we'll be trying to pack to get ready to leave on our trip on Thursday?  Ain't no stress in MY life!!!!!

Because of having to spend the entire day yesterday packing everything up and trying to put it somewhere (anywhere!), I'm sorry to say there's only a couple links for you this time.  However the first one should keep you amused for quite awhile.

- If you want to see eye candy galore, have a look at the AQS Worldwide Quilt Parade HERE.  There just might be two or three of my pieces there!  You can also vote for your favourites.  

- HERE is an 'awwww' thing and THIS is another one.  

Today's quote is from Dede Hawkins..."Never let your heart be so forgiving that it gets comfortable with disrespect"

hmmm -

 I really don't have anything that's worth sharing as far as creating goes.  I finished quilting the landscape and have started the embroidery but it's not far enough along to be of any interest.  And showing you a partially knitted hat is somewhat akin to watching grass grow.    It's seems I'm going to have to resort to mumbling yet again (I know...I'm sorry)

- I found THIS article to be quite interesting.

- You might find something of interest HERE.

- Have a scroll through THESE amazing creations!  And THESE too!

- THESE would make a great gift - easy and quick.

- THIS is a technique I've never seen before.

- Using scraps to make THIS would be fun.

- And THIS would be too.

Today's quote...