1/21/20

Whine One One

Do you ever have a day when things don't go right, and you're tempted to get back in bed and pull the covers over your head? And let me just tell you...cats are no help at all.


It isn't true that nothing went right. After all...I finished the stitching on the second Snowflake.


This morning, I'll try to get the beads sewn on it, and then it will be ready for rinsing and pressing.

After that, we panicked a little about where Mike was parking his truck. We were in a site that had a drainage ditch to the right of it, and that made our space five feet narrower than other sites. This might not be a problem, except for Mike's pig of a truck. He was parking it at an empty site, but the park information informed us his truck could be towed for that. Also, I mentioned my concerns yesterday about the cat next door.


The cat was able to roam freely, which meant I couldn't be sure Smitty and I wouldn't encounter him/her while out on a walk. And Smitty, being the territorial cat he is, has a propensity to turn into Fang when he meets up with other cats. It's something like what happens to the Incredible Hulk.

So, with those things working against us, we decided to move to a different site. We've moved about 30 spaces south of where we were, and everything is much better on the home front now. There is plenty of room to park Mike's truck in our site, and there are no other cats in view either. This all took about an hour's time, and then we were ready to get out and run our errands.

So here's my sad story. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm gathering supplies for the International Embroidery Month Sew-along with Crabapple Hill Studio. The first stop was at Staples to print off the four-page PDF. We were successful printing something at this very same Staples when we visited Hemet last time, and so we expected to have no problems. Only, when we got there, all the computer stations were shut-down because they couldn't connect to the printer. Mike inquired at the "tech support" desk and a young man came to the rescue to "work the magic," in his own words.

 And so he turned on all the computers and determined that actually, no, they were not connecting to the printer. "Looks like it's not working," he announced with a smile. And that was the end of his contribution. We found ourselves wondering about the "magic," which seemed in short supply on this particular day. And what exactly was his value-added? Were there other places in town we could get this accomplished? "Only the library," the employee behind the desk informed us. "But it's closed on Mondays," she added...a little too cheerfully.

Well, okay...as long as we were there, I picked up a box of crayons to color my embroidery background. Is there anything better than a brand new box of crayons? With no broken ones? And all with nice sharp points?


So that was another good thing that happened. A new box of crayons. Remember this if you ever need a lift from a dull day. A new box of crayons will brighten things up significantly...temporarily, at least.

We had a few more errands to run, including a trip to Jo-Ann for the rest of the supplies. I won't go into what happened at the Jo-Ann cutting table, but I left the store in a bad mood, as expected. On the other hand, I had a coupon even Jo-Ann couldn't find a reason to reject, and so I walked out of the store with that one small victory under my belt. Also, I found the rest of the supplies I needed.

While we were out doing our errands, I realized we could have the printing job done at the RV park. There is a "library" with some computer stations. Sadly, none of them were connected to a printer. Inquiring at the front desk, they offered to print it for me if I would send it to them via email. So I did. And all was well until they handed me the printed sheets...printed on both sides, which will make tracing difficult to impossible. Also, they were printed in portrait mode rather than landscape, and so the pattern is too small for my needs. Oy. Okay, so I gave up on that for the day.

Instead, I decided to wash the sheets from our bed along with several pairs of jeans. Our RV washer/dryer combo is a great little machine, but it doesn't do a good job on jeans, and it's too small to wash a set of sheets. So I hauled the two heavy loads a significant distance to the park laundry room along with a bag full of quarters. When I arrived, I learned that ALL of the machines...every single one...required a credit card. Not a single one would accept quarters. Of course, I hadn't brought a card with me...I was feeling so smug about my pocketful of quarters! So I hauled it all back the same long distance to the RV and gave up on attempting to accomplish anything more for the rest of the day. Mike came to the rescue later and we drove to the laundry room together (with a credit card this time) to get the laundry done. And then we had clean sheets to sleep in for the night. Clean sheets are a very good way to get a new beginning.

And now, please, permit me one more whine because we are Oregonians, and there is nothing Oregonians relish more than complaining about the weather. When we arrived here on Sunday, it was sunny and a warm 74 degrees. Right away, we started complaining about how hot it was. Only then, right away, the skies clouded up and it was overcast for most the the afternoon. And to this we whined as well. It continued overcast and chilly all of yesterday. Last night I woke up to rain. And don't you know we are "rainbirds." We came here to escape the rain. So waaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Somebody call the wambulance!


But you know...complaining about the weather is what Oregonians do best, and so we're happy campers. The rain was like adding a cherry to the icing on the cake.

Today's activities will be built around getting the RV waxed...although with last night's rain, I'm not sure if that will actually happen. I want to get the beads sewn on the snowflake, and I'm making Overnight Lasagna to serve up for dinner tomorrow. Mike's sister will be joining us. Aside from that, I'm going to set up the sewing machine and have a sewing day. Sounds like a good way to start fresh, doesn't it? I'll be working on getting the Pumpkin Pie quilt finished off. It's my OMG for January.


It needs free motion quilting and binding. If I can get it to the binding stage today, I'll feel as if I've had a productive day.

15 comments:

Julierose said...

Yup I totally empathize with your "Whine Out";)))
Sunday I decided to cut the batting for my Franken piece and because it was a huge piece of batting-- long, but not wide enough-- I folded it in 1/4's--then proceeded to try to cut through it with my rotary cutter...not smart--I had to make multiple passes and ended up wrenching my shoulder/arm--so silly--I could have used scissors much better!!
So I am laid up with heating pad, Aleve and the "grumps" as I canNOt even lift the arm...so painful...so that is my own "bad day" story...hopefully you can get your printing done...
hugs frpm "grumperina" aka Julie Rose-- one hand typist!

Deb said...

Sorry to hear the day wasn’t the best. As for Joann fabric I truly believe the crabbier the people they hire the happier that company is. In defense of the staff I did hear that the manager of ours is a royal crab and treats the staff horribly. I rarely go there anymore. I prefer hobby lobby

Katie said...

Ah yes, I've had those days. The most surprising, though, was the smiling Staples employees. In my experiences, retail employees are often the grumpiest folks around. Smiling does not seem to be allowed. (I, in my "retirement" job in retail, try to smile and be pleasant as much as I can, but generally NOT when giving bad news...*eyeroll*) I hope things start looking up, but since you have the kitties along, perhaps just a snuggle day should be scheduled. Perhaps with a book and a good movie to entertain you between naps?

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Maybe with the move the stars will align? Hope the rest of the stay is more relaxing. I do like those little stars. I do not shop Jo-Ann. I get my stitchery supplies thru Herrschners - although I heard that a local shop is now carrying a lot of these supplies now - will have to make a visit.

QUILTING IS BLISSFUL, DI said...

Your day sounds a bit like mine yesterday shopping on line--won't go into it--but I was really 'whinny' and in a bad mood by the time I got off here--though I did order the new lightbox--finally--from Amazon--it was $22 in order to get free shipping though I had to order at least another $3--I tried to order a couple things--but they kept coming up--as didn't count towards the free shipping--finally ordered a skein of scrubby yarn for $4.25 and that did the trick!!
so I sure know where you are coming from-I could find a couple things I wanted--but the shipping costs were so high I wouldn't do it--like $9 on a $11 order--no thank you!!
hope today is better, warm sunny--and the waxing gets done for you--it is really cold here here in Fl today--in fact alot of the theme parks even closed today cause of the cold?????
luv, di

Kaisievic said...

Love the post, Barbara - it made me laugh although I am not being mean, it just reminded me of my bad days. Hopefully, the next day was much better and at least you did get clean sheets, eventually!

Linda said...

I had to laugh but I totally sympathize about your day. Our Joann's is pretty far away, so I only go there about once a year. I'm a regular customer of Hobby Lobby, but as far as cheerful employees, it's hard to find one there. Makes me wonder what places like Joann's and HL do to their employees to make them so unhappy. I'm glad you found a spot you like at the camp. Towing would not be fun. Uggghhh on the improperly printed pattern! I fawned over your snowflake on Instagram; it's just gorgeous.

Karen said...

Seems through other posts/comments there was a heavy dose of discontent from all parts of the land. Barabara, hugs to you. I hope the rest of your vacation goes much better.
The world is quickly going towards .. You can't do any thing unless you have a cell phone (I am so handicaped. I do not have a cell). You can't purchase anything unless with a credit card. What's a check? Money/cash? Huh?

Della said...

What is it with JoAnn's? They seem to hire the worst. I have no quilt shops within an hour and a half drive from me so sometimes I feel like I have to shop JoAnn's. Generally I don't have a problem cause I shop there enough to be on a first name basis with most of the clerks. Sometimes they confuse we with my sister but that works out about the same, they know her but not necessarily by her name.

Kate said...

Definitely a day that might have benefited from just the right wine at the end of it. Hope the weather has cleared and it's just right for whatever plans you have.

piecefulwendy said...

I hope you cracked open some wine to go with your whine. Uffda, as we say here in the Midwest. What a day you had. The whole printer thing frustrates me just reading about it. Geez. Technology is great, when it works, right?? Glad your new space is better, and loving that box of crayons, all pointy and fresh looking! Your snowflake is a beauty too. Here's to a better day!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Oh geez. I truly felt your pain while I was reading. When computers were invented, my friend's husband computer geek designed a Bio Rhythm program. I forget what it was all about, but when all three personal systems they tracked peaked together it was a Bad Bio Rhythm Day. That is what you had.
Here's to a better today.
xx, Carol

kc said...

Yikes, sounds like you had a day from down under! I was wondering about the truck in the empty site.. that would only cause trouble at our house... We have been on both sides of that fence, and it's never pleasant. In fact, we were assigned a site here we couldn't get into, so we changed, with office blessings. Didn't exactly win us any brownie points with the originally assigned campers. They arrived at lunch, when office was closed, and drove directly to "their" site. Which we were occupying. Parked in front of us, blocking entire street, finally came and knocked on our door(!)and told us we were in the wrong site(!!!). Glad you got moved to a safer spot.

If you want, I can print your pattern and mail it to you... Just text me your park address.

Joann is horrible, everywhere we go. And we have been to them all over the country! Horrible. I would almost rather slide down a razor blade into a pool of alcohol!

On the other hand, the snowflake is finishing up nicely.

Hoping for a better day ahead!

CA Bobbie said...

Wow! Empathy sent your way. I'd have quit and settled down with the purrbuddies way before you did- I have no patience for those kinds of days. Hate to go against the tide but my Joann's has nice clerks- the bad thing is the cash out line is way understaffed, but even there they are nice. Have to keep knocking on my desk as I type this!!!

Lyndsey said...

I've had a lot of days like that recently but little tings can really lift your mood. I love new box of crayons or paints, they always make me feel happy.