The Other One

Who or what is the other one? It's the other blog.

Last year when I finally published my book on cruising, I gave the whole social media presence a go. A halfhearted go, actually. Twitter, Instagram, and a blog dedicated to cruising. But it didn't last long. I was forcing myself to have this Internet thing going on. Except it wasn't me. I was trying to intertwine travel and cruising and gratitude. And I gave up on it.

So back to one blog. I'll gradually start moving things from the other one to this one. (But who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind again and go back to two. Why am I so indecisive???)

The first move-over is a post I wrote about gratitude from last year. Looking back it was more about money than gratitude:

Whenever I talk to people about cruising, I talk about the value. Compared to a night in a hotel, cruising can be downright cheap. A year ago we paid a total of $549 (not per person) for seven nights on a cruise ship. That ship took us to Belize, Cozumel, Mexico and Costa Maya, Mexico. With that price we received lodging, meals and snacks, entertainment, beautiful scenery, and transportation to three different ports. We also received $250 in credit to use on board. For one full week.

I'm wishing we were on a cruise right now. Because today I walked out of a hotel we just spent the last six nights in. In the city we live in. In a room with a king bed and a very limited breakfast. For a price of $1027.31.

Why in the heck would someone as smart as me pay such an outlandish rate at a hotel? And not even in a fun, new destination? We're just a few miles away from our own home. And we're doing it again, in a different hotel, in our same city. But this one is (thankfully) being paid by our insurance company. In fact, they will be paying for us to stay here for at least a couple more weeks. (They reimbursed us this afternoon for that $1027.31 bill. Whew.)

Let's get to the bottom of this with some more questions.

Ever heard of the word mitigation? According to FEMA, mitigation is the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. I hadn't heard the word until last week.

Did you know the bottom of a hot water heater can leak? Did you know it can flood the area around it? (In our case that area included the closet, the bedroom, and the bathroom.)

Did you know that manufactured home floors are made of pressed board? That if those pressed boards get really wet they don't dry well? In fact, in some cases they need to be pulled up?

Um, yeah.

Hello, bedroom floor.

Hello, living room/dining room/kitchen.

Hello, mitigation.

Wonder if I could convince the insurance company to send us on a cruise instead of paying for an overpriced hotel. I'm sure I could find us a voyage that will be cheaper than the payment they will be making to the hotel.

Yeah, probably not. Grateful for insurance anyway!

Productivity

Yesterday I was thinking the last month wasn't all that productive for me. I take that back.

I taught a dog to fetch. To sit. To stay. To walk on a leash. To shake his paw. Not bad for someone who doesn't like dogs. (Except for this one. He's a keeper.)

The Friday Five

With February here I was thinking about how I've spent my 2017 so far and have boiled it down to five photos.

#1 Snow, snow, and more snow. Thankfully after 54 straight days with snow on the ground it is finally starting to melt.

#2 Charity quilt making.

#3 Puppy dog and kitty cat babysitting.

#4 Ebay sell-off of some of my fabrics.
Dozens of boxes are now down to just a few packages.

#5 Protein shakes. I'm not sure how many cases we've been through in the past month but it has been more than one.

A sort of productive year so far.

Yep, a Big Help

Yep, he sure is a big help.

A Big Helper

This week's project? A Valentine heart wall quilt for my daughter.  This week's helper? A dog named Baloo.

We're Still Frozen

The weatherman on the radio this morning tells his listeners here in Boise, Idaho We're still frozen. While I wouldn't typically be in my car listening to the radio in 10 degree weather, I have puppy duty today so a drive is required.

And thank goodness because otherwise I would have missed an inspiring sight in my driveway. Something about a sunrise being reflected in my speckle-frosted car window makes the day a bit brighter. 

Done is Better than Good

Recently I've been checking out ebooks and audiobooks from my local public library. Because I mostly never leave the house unless it's puppy sitting time being able to check out an electronic book and have it downloaded on my device without ever having to leave said house is AWESOME.

Today I finished listening to a book by Elizabeth Gilbert, the Eat, Pray, Love lady. I listened to Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear to get me motivated to get back into the writing game. She makes several great points and I took mental notes of many of them. One of her mom's sayings was, "Done is better than good". It is a pretty freeing thought. Getting stuck in perfection isn't a productive place to be.

Except when it comes to my colorful contribution-to-society project from the other day. This one:

This colorful project, after the cold water wash, now has a middle section that looks like this. See all the red blotches?

Despite all the color catcher sheets, despite the cold water and the delicate cycle, the one color I hadn't prewashed - the red - bled through. And won't come out. So the question I'm asking myself...Is done better than good?

Perfection or no perfection I just can't send this off to The Painted Turtle Camp. So change of plans. It will go in the thrift store donation pile. I'm certain someone will purchase it and be able to make something out of it. Heck, if I saw something like it in the store I would probably buy it and work on it.

I can't believe I just talked myself (actually wrote myself) out of giving it up to the thrift store. I can figure something out, figure out a way to fix it. 

So yes, done is better than good. I guess it's just not done yet!