Safari has created a monster

As we all know, for some reason my favorite place - Chrome - has decided it hates me and won't let me post pictures.  Well, Safari feels sorry for me - probably even more so because I still don't have any Apple based computing stuff.

But I do have pictures to post, and Safari will let me put them into Blogger.  They love pictures I guess.  I just wish I were better doing it.  I will not spend the next half hour putting them where I want them!

Ok - these are THE dresses.  Getting this picture involved Daughter coming back toward home to meet SIL and Granddaughter #2 at Starbucks because the doll was in her car.  The destination for Granddaughter #2 was school and "Show and Tell" day.  I didn't ask how the presentation was received! 

This is a dress I made for her last year.  It is Rodeo time in these parts partner, and we dress as such.  Believe it or not, the Houston area really does have a number of horses about.  In fact, when we first moved here - we had three!  Now back to the point.  Today and tomorrow at school, the kids are doing some kid are doing some sort of dance thing, so western wear was in order.  This dress has little horseshoes in the print, and the vest is fake ultra-suede.

So here are the pictures!  And surprise of all, I managed to easily get them put into the text. The text with the first one was centered all the time, but I was verbose enough that  it doesn't really look like that - at least not too much - I hope!

Happy Rodeo days (all 20+ of them).

THE dress

Well, the dolly and me dresses were a hit.  Looking back on that phrase, the English minor/major in me cringes a bit.  I am pretty sure it should be dolly and I, but ...  There it stands as written.

Anyway, the look on Granddaughter #2's face was worth every bit of it!  I commented on a post about how expensive fabrics have gotten, and it's true.  I know I bought extra fabrics, but those dresses ended uposting me all together in excess of $50.

The look on her face was worth every dime and every minute I spent on them.  You would have thought they were  made of 24 karat spun gold!

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I hit the wrong key in the above, which for me is par for the course.  If I make more than four words without a typo, it is really unusual.  Between my lack of typing skills, my sticky laptop keys, and the fact that I am a very poor speller, that is a common thing.

It  made me think about using my Kindle Fire.  I was reading the book Monday Morning, which is the basis of a new show on TV that interests us.  G used to work in a hospital, and as such they had their Med/Surg conferences on Tuesday mornings. These are held in the hospitals to go over cases.  Since his was a teaching hospital, these conferences were part of the teaching aspect.

I am getting way off topic here with the explanations, and this is way off.  He even missed Son being born because I went into labor on a Tuesday.  He had to get there to post the results on the chalk board.  This was 36 years ago - no computer usage as such then!  And the hospital said I would be hours giving birth.  Nope, Son had other ideas.

Anyway, the book was talking about giving the patient fluids through the IV.  When I used the speech part of the Fire, the computer voice would read this as "4."  The doctor was named Villanueva.   I still don't know how the computer voice translated this because I could never understand it.

All this certainly changed the way I was reading (listening to) my book!

Back to dresses - SIL is supposed to send me a picture of the two of them as they went to school for "Show and Tell" day.  I hope he does, and I will go to the other place and post it here.

Sigh.

Yesterday was one of those days - you know the kind where everything you touch turns bad!  I could have phrased that differently, but I don't do that here.'

Everything I touched - I dropped or it found another way to escape.  I went upstairs with a great idea for ruffing ribbon.  Well, it was wonderful to me.  To cut to the chase, I dropped the main part of the foot of the machine that everything else attaches to, so I ended up moving furniture in half of the room to find it.

I really don't understand why when a small item is dropped onto carpet, it will bounce three feet and usually end up under something.  And the something that is hardest to access.  That was what happened to that foot.

So since I was already under there, and a good cleaning had not happened since before the Christmas rush, I decided it was time.  Which brings about another question - how do threads travel so far?  And why do they end up on the floor even though I try to be so careful to put them into the little bucket meant for those threads?

So the craft room - a room of unanswered questions.

Needless to say, I didn't get much done with all the furniture moving and vacuuming.  And the ribbon - that is a lost cause.  The big machine didn't like doing that task.  It does have a mind of its own, you know.

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Sadder events transpired since we last met.  My good friends from church lost their mother (grandmother) yesterday.  Grace was admitted to the hospital last Wednesday.  She was unresponsive for a long time.  She has been having little strokes for quite a while which turned into what appeared seizures.  These are called TIA's.  Little blood clots going through the brain.

She became a little responsive on  Friday, and they were able to remove her from the ventilator.  But things turned bad for the family when it was suggested Grace go into hospice.  Somehow the family got the idea that Grace would, in effect, be smothered and starved to death because hospice wouldn't allow a feeding tube and oxygen.

This bothered me a lot.  I had hospice for my step- mother and dad.  G had them for his father.  Our experience was very good.  With my step-mom, it was a little rougher than normal because she was released from the hospital just before Christmas.  Even hospice works on a smaller staff, and the places that provide equipment are a bit slower.  But all in all, they worked immediately to make sure she was comfortable.

I don't know why they thought Grace would not be allowed oxygen.  She certainly would have.  I wonder if they were thinking of the ventilator.  Feeding tube - perhaps that wouldn't have been allowed.

These things are the reason I have  been very vocal about my wishes when/if I am in this kind of shape.  I have the written directives some place around here, but they haven't been notarized.  (Note to self, do that today)  Grace could have saved her family so much grief if she had done that.  I think like a lot of us, she felt she would live forever - or at least long enough to realize she was deteriorating.  That doesn't happen.  In my experience, when things begin going - they go pretty fast.

My heart is breaking for this family.  One of the daughters (granddaughters) is having a really bad time with this.  I don't think she has lost a close loved one before - and to see her grandmother suffer to the degree Grace did has really hit her hard.

Now they are facing funeral arrangements.  That alone is horrible!  That is why we are already pre-paid for cremation - all set, and all wishes are recorded in a book that came along with our boxes.  I want to remove as much as I can from my kids especially.  I have faced the end once, and it may still fool me and sneak up again.  But I want them to know exactly what my wishes are so they don't have to guess.

On a roll!

Since I have found a place where I can post pictures the way I want - well with some reservations - I will post more.  This one is for you Marti.  This is the wreath I made out of the plastic mesh.  So far this is the only one I have done.

These are the heart candy/penci holders I did for the oldest granddaughters to take to their friends at school. I don't know if the oldest one got to give them away. On the 13th the school (Middle School) robo called telling kids and parents ANYTHING  brought to give would be taken away,  So....

I did this bookmark for a new member at church who is going through radiation now for her breast cancer. I just wanted to do something for her - and this was the most recent thing I have seen.  So I did it.

Ah yes, a monster has been created!

Third try!

So this is the talked about picture of what I did last weekend.  This is the third try to get it published.  I used Firefox to try the last time.  Normally I use Chrome.  I know!  There are many folks who are having real problems with Chrome.  Normally it works so well for me, but not with Blogger.  At least not right now.  So I decided I would try to use Firefox.  It let me post the entire thing, but at first, the only problem was that  it would not let me put a title on the post.  As I went along, there were error messages that it was having problems publishing the post.  And at the end ...  Right - no publish.  So that was wasted.

So how am I here?  Explorer? No - I am not sure Explorer still exists on this computer.  I have used Safari.  It still loves me even though I am not on an Apple computer.  At least I think it still loves me - haven't tried to publish yet.

So another problem with posting is that after all these years, there must be enough junk accumulated under the keyboard on this laptop that some of the keys don't work properly.  Plus today, my dyslexia that has not been diagnosed, but I have always had - at least a little dose of it - is in high gear this morning.  So I am having to replace a lot of p's and b's along with some other letters.

But I did get the picture, and I probably will return here to Safari (ummmm - that was my favorite cologne that was discontinued!) to post pictures especially!

Little things make me happy!

Same old song

We are back again which means a much faster and more reliable internet connection.  It also means that I can sit here at the breakfast room table AND watch tv.  Yes, I am an addict - at least until about 1pm.  Then I either run out to do errands or head upstairs to play work on the embroidery machine and watch those programs I have DVRed.

So why don't I post when we are at the SSB?  Beats me.  I really have no idea.  It's not like I am busy, busy most days.  There are those when we go some place, or I have to prepare some bit of food to take to Community Club, but mostly I do ave time.

Anyway, I was busy this weekend.  And Marti  for a change I have a picture of my project. But between whatever is going on with my computer and/or Blogger I can't post it!  Things are getting ridiculous.  

The project I had for the weekend was making matching dresses for Granddaughter #2 and her doll.  They really turned out cute.  I followed the pattern exactly, but they are not finished out the way I would normally do it.  The pattern just called for attaching the skirt to the top (lining and all).  This leaves an unfinished seam at the waist.  Usually I have attached the skirt to just part of the top and then the lining is whip stitched to that seam to finish it off.

I think she will enjoy it immensely.  I have to finish her dress because I don't like the way the ancient Singer puts in buttonholes, nor do I like the way it does zippers.

As for the computer - I have run three different checks on it.  There is malware that I remove and "immunize" against, there were two "not-viruses" found, but still when I go to my main sites, there are pop-ups!

I will work on it more.  I will get those pictures up - someday.  In the meantime, I guess I will post them to the facebook page that is over there at te upper left.

Once again - my rant

Dear Spyware, Malware, Virus Makers, Hackers,

I hate you.  Not very Christian, not very sweet little old lady, but I hate you with a passion.  You cost me money.  You cost me time.  You cost me worries - are you getting to my deep dark secret passwords?  Am I going to find a million dollars charged on my credit cards?  Am I going to find Pay Pal has paid out millions?  Is my bank account going to be depleted?

I have every protection I know of on my computer, and I am still  getting the stupid pop-ups.  I clean them off, and they are back.  I have deleted possible programs where you lurk.  But you are still there.

I do not read your crap.  I do not respond to you. Why are you still there?  I detest you with every bone in my body.  You make opening emails a dangerous time.

In fact, you remove all joy from the internet.  You are everywhere - just lurking.  Just looking for a small opening.

What joy do you get?  You are like those annoying "lower your credit card interest" robo calls.  I wish all you people would fall off the face of the earth.

Just let me spend my remaining years in peace!  I don't want to be so annoyed by your intrusions.

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There, that's off my chest.  Sort of.  Anyway, we are here in the SSB.  That's why I have been missing in action recently.

I have some pictures to post, but I have to locate the camera first.  I will be working on "My Fake American Girl Doll and Me" dresses I will be working on this week.  Promised middle granddaughter to make her matching dresses.  She thinks she has a real American Girl doll, and is just as happy as if we had spent the hundred dollars plus.  Makes my purse happy too!

Granddaughter #2

I spent the day with Daughter's youngest who also happens to be granddaughter #2.  For so many years, I would have rather taken a bullet as take care of her for the day.  That isn't the case anymore, but I don't know if I can afford too many days with her!

We started off going to the sewing place.  I was going to make an appearance at the club meeting.  They are doing quilting, and I will not quilt!  I spend plenty of time doing machine embroidery and regular sewing.  Anyway, I also took my serger because I could not thread the bottom hooper at all.

So while I was there, I dropped a cool $50.  I have been out of the spray adhesive, and what was recommended to me at the fabric store just doesn't cut it.  I also bought some more thingies that look like slap bracelets to keep all my stabilizers from unrolling.  The serger works like a charm.  It was free!

Then we went to buy fabric to make her and her fake American Girl doll matching dresses - like I promised at Christmas.  Of course, I had to add to my stash by hitting their remnant area.  There she found what I thought was fuzzy fleece for a blanket.  OK - no problem.   Not much extra cost there.

After that I went to another fabric craft store that I won't mention here.  They had patterns for .99.   I got two that were doll patterns alone, and one that is the matching dresses.  The pattern maker has the gall to place an $18 price tag on them.  There is no way I would even pay that much money for a pattern - much less one to make doll dresses!

While there, granddaughter found buttons that caught her eye.  She was merrily putting them into the cart until I had her stop.  She was ready to buy a lot of other things!

We went to have lunch with her mom.  So that was a break there.  While at lunch I looked at the pattern.  I wasn't sure I had a coordinating fabric for that pattern, so we went to yet another store.

I haven't added the damage yet.  I did buy wreath forms for the mesh wreaths that are so popular now, along with several kinds of burlap for them.  There was some ribbon in the markdown area, so I had to have that.

All in all - I think I am broke from the day with granddaughter!  AND the "fleece" wasn't fleece.  I don't know what it was, but when I tried to fringe it, I had a mess with pink lint all over me, the table, the couch when I  moved there, the rug ...

I hate spammers, computer based info stealing, etc

I know I have said it before, but I will say it again - I hate those who send spam and those who try to steal information on the internet.  I hate those who make the viruses.  I hate those who try to put ads into places they are not wanted.

I know some of those whom I read have been plagued by computers spamming their comments.  In a way I hate Blogger for the way they have devised to stop that mess.  With my eyesight being what it is, I cannot read that stuff.  The numbers are small and usually dark.  The letters are skewed.  Well my vision is usually dark and skewed.  The retina in my left eye must resemble crumpled aluminum foil.

Also I seem to have a recurring problem with pop-ups.  My firewall is supposed to stop them.  It is a highly rated firewall.  I generally use Google Chrome which is supposed to block them, and I just checked  my settings - pop-up blocker is supposed to be on.  I installed another Chrome thingy to stop things like that.  Nothing is working.

Why do people have to make surfing the internet so dangerous and miserable?  I wouldn't use any of the products that are advertised on a bet.  My list is growing hourly.

Such a boring life

Saturday I had the very best time.  I went to Lady Bug's belated birthday party.  She has bloomed in Middle School.  She has become so popular that I know there were several people who had their feelings hurt because they were not invited.  She probably could have had a hundred kiddos there, but she limited the invitations to 20.  Fifteen were able to come.  Perhaps she should have had another list that could have filled in.  Just kidding.

The party was at a trampoline place.  They are becoming so popular here.  I didn't go back to watch that part.  I think tramps are dangerous.  When they came back for food, I so enjoyed them.  I was taken back to some of my favorite students!  These kids were so great.  There were four large pizzas, but they didn't eat all of them.  There were four pitchers of sodas, they didn't drink all of them either.  I was amazed.  Usually this age inhales food and drink.

They they began "dancing."  This wasn't to music, nor was it with one another.  It was like the old slam dancing.  It was quite a rough thing.  They were so funny.  Then they began a game of "I love you, don't smile" with the one who smiles becoming "it."  They were a hoot.  I had a great time.  I really did think back on my teaching career.  If I had kids like those, I would STILL be teaching!

We went to Daughter's house for the Super Bowl.  I don't think I watched a full minute of that.  I have gotten less and less interested in football.  A basket ball game is more likely to catch my attention, but probably not.  I was hoping for a very small gathering, but she invited a swim team friend and her twins (who are high school seniors).

Today was eye injection day.  When I finally made it through all the preliminaries and got into the injection room, I was hit by a thought  When I sat in the chair, it is not lumbar friendly.  So my spine which is degenerating got there, I thought how great this was.  It would take my mind off the business with my eye.  When the sciatica kicked in, better.  Well - it didn't work.  The speculum holding my eye open still hurt like the devil!  The injection wasn't pleasant.  And I forgot all  about my back!