Day 11 - Not Exactly Olivia Walton

Between the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and tending to the children, many times Olivia Walton could be found doing some hand sewing. But me today? Between the cooking and laundry and scrubbing of cabinets and washing of dishes I could be found with my feet up in the recliner, watching The Waltons marathon on the Hallmark Channel's free preview.

If you’ve never watched The Waltons, you should. It’s a TV series from the 1970's set during the Depression. The lessons they learned back then may wind up being relevant to our lives in these tough COVID-19 days.

Day 10 - Below the Clouds

Today should have been the day we would be looking at the clouds from above. We should have been on a flight to San Francisco on our way to join the Grand Princess tomorrow.  But as we know, not only were all cruises cancelled, the ship is still under quarantine and anchored off of San Francisco. Our crew member buddy is among hundreds still onboard, locked down in passenger cabins, with temperature checks twice a day.  Thankfully he’s stayed well (at least physically) throughout the ordeal. An ordeal with an unknown head-home date.

When I look at those I know around the world, I’m thankful I’m safe and sound in my own home. Whether I am able to see the clouds from above or below, I know I’m one of the lucky ones.

Day 9 - Cancellations x 2

As I mentioned on my weird Monday, the one where mayonnaise splattered everywhere at the checkstand (and on me) at the out-of-the ordinary grocery store trip, we had a plumber come out and take a look at our shower. We've had a leaky faucet for a couple years now. I've replaced it myself more than once and it seemed to help, but many months ago it started up again. Everything I knew to try (or read about on the Internet) told me the permanent resolution was above my pay grade. We've been traveling so much we're never home long enough to worry about a permanent solution. Since we're not going anywhere anytime soon it was time to tackle the issue.

The plumber tried. He really did. But even after running to the plumbing store for additional materials he couldn't get it. His only recommendation was a biggie, one we didn't expect to be such an expensive and time consuming solution. It would require working inside the wall behind the shower - from the other side of the wall. After being shell shocked at the $1,600+ price tag from the plumbing company we came to another arrangement. A plumber willing to work on the weekend, me doing some prep work beforehand, and a cash only job.

As much as we wanted the plan for tomorrow to go ahead, I had to cancel. I’ve thrown DayQuil and NyQuil and some antibiotics from Mexico at whatever it is making me feel not the greatest. As my symptoms don’t qualify me for you-know-what kind of testing I’ve decided to try and keep plugging along. And cancel any human interaction for now.

Cancel like the cruise line did on us earlier this month. (Which I completely support as the right decision, by the way.)  I check my account frequently to see if we've been credited for the cancellations. While no credit is yet showing, they really don’t need to be rubbing it in our faces. When I logged in today I see they are still showing the upcoming cruise on our account. Dang them!

Day 8 - Window Quiz

Back for the second week - Day 8 of my picture a day project - and I'm already having to tell on myself.

We purchased the house we're living in over seven years ago. My mom occupied it for the first year before we made the move, so technically we've lived in it for only six years. I need to say "only" six because it tempers the sting of how little I really know about it. Yep, if I took a How Well Do You Know Your House? quiz I just might flunk. Or at least flunk the window section.

Now I don't wash windows much in this house. We're either usually getting ready for a cruise, on a cruise, or just home and catching up on the must-do's before heading back out. When you travel all throughout the year, there are plenty of things getting pushed to the bottom of the list. For us, windows is just one of many things getting shoved to the bottom of that list. The list that never really gets completely checked off.

With lots of time at home, today was the day to put window washing at the top. With a full roll of paper towels and brand new bottle of Windex in hand I made a discovery as I tackled the very first window. The sliding part of the window comes out of the track so I can take it out and wash both sides. Surprise, surprise.

Some way, some how I never knew it was even a possibility in this house.  I can now pass the window section of the quiz! I can also now see the crazy tree out my sewing room window.

Believe me, it'll look better in the summer.

My goodness, what else don't I know about this place? Guess I have plenty of time to find out.

Day 7 - Vintage Sewing

Will you make me an apron?

It was a strange request coming from our hard-working daughter. Not the one to wear an apron or be much concerned about housekeeping or baking or cooking, she isn't the apron-wearing type. But she, like so many other people in American, has been laid off due to COVID-19. (Kudos to Kohl's for paying their employees two weeks' worth of pay.) To keep herself occupied during her empty days she's decided to focus on her home. (Kudos to her as well.)

That's where I come in. Any time an item of clothing needs repairing she calls on me. Need a wallhanging or pillow covering or appliance cover or quilt or something she saw on Pinterest? I'm on it. While I've gotten rid of so many patterns (not even close to what I had here!) I did find I still had a few apron patterns in my collection. After several back and forth texts and me sending pictures of the patterns and different fabric choices, she settled on one.

A vintage one. Like 1950's old. A falling apart, barely held together old pattern. Boy, following the directions in an old pattern is hard! It didn't help that I needed to add additional fabric to make up for the difference in female figures between then and now. And not surprisingly, kiddo requested the pockets be big enough to hold her cell phone. So an adjustment here and an adjustment there and just like that, she has a brand new apron.

She came by this afternoon to pick it up. We wrapped up in blankets, sitting under the carport while maintaining our 6 foot social distancing separation, as the wind blew and snow spit from the sky. Brrr, it was cold! We visited just as long as we could. Long enough to hear all her stories she's been holding onto since the last time we saw her. Long enough to even hear the story behind why she wanted an apron. During her time off from work she's being a tradwife. But without the submissive part. Huh? Tradwife? “Trad" as in traditional. This old lady had never heard of it before. It sounded like it's basically a stay at home wife. Rebranded by Milennials. Go figure.

I learn something new every day, and so glad she could explain it to me in person today. Because just a few minutes ago, Idaho has become the latest state to issue stay at home orders, whether sick or not. 21 days. Starting...now.

So thankful for being able to see our daughter when we did.

Make an Easter Egg Fabric Hotpad -Tutorial Tuesday

For today's Tutorial Tuesday I'm up with another Easter-themed project. It's somewhat similar to these Easter Egg Scrap Fabric Coasters I made earlier this month. While this hotpad uses a bit more fabric it goes together just as lickety-split fast.

For this project you will need:

• 4" x 8.5" cotton fabric for middle, cut 1
• 2.5" x 8.5" cotton fabric for top and bottom, cut 2
• 1.5" x 8.5" contrasting cotton fabric for stripes, cut 2
• 8.5" long piece of rick rack, cut 2 Caution...rick rack has polyester - it'll melt under high heat
• 8.5" x 10" piece of backing fabric, cotton
• 8.5" x 10" piece of cotton batting
• 8.5" x 10" piece of Insul-Bright
• Egg template downloaded from here
• Pins or Clover Wonder Clips
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

Looking for something else? 

Check out some of my other Easter sewing and crafting projects!

Ready for the directions? You can find the step-by-step how to tutorial for the Easter Egg Hot Pad sewing project right here:

Day 5 - What a Weird Day

Just as we always have toilet paper and paper towels on hand, we usually keep a well-stocked pantry. Rain or shine, summer or winter, we have plenty of food in our cabinets. We like being prepared for Idaho winters so we do our big pantry stock-up before winter and then do another after winter when our cabinets are again bare. With winter over it was time to stock up again.

Maybe it was a mistake in times like these.

Other than my disposable cup run the other day, we haven't been to the grocery store in a couple weeks. Yeah, I've read things about grocery stores on the Internet and have heard unpleasant stories from our daughter about what life is like in the stores now. Guess it had to be another one of those you have to see it to believe it things.

Our open 24 hours a day bag your own groceries store Winco, where we usually shop, didn't look like it did just two short weeks ago. Barriers at the door preventing more than a couple people through the door at a time. Someone counting how many customers were heading in. We didn't even have to ask why she was counting - the big huge sign outside told us no more than 200 customers could be in the store at a time.

Then even more signs once we got inside the second set of doors. So many it was a bit overwhelming.

Signs for new store hours and senior and vulnerable populations special hours. Social distancing reminders. Limits on purchases. A no-return policy for certain items. Another only 200 in the store notice. Notices about what they didn't have in stock. (We went first thing in the morning so the "out of the following" sign hadn't been updated for Monday.) The additional large bold sign about sanitizer tells me it must be an ongoing issue.

Once inside we saw those empty shelves we've been hearing about. Thankfully the type of things we were buying were plentiful. Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. Canned goods - beans and tomatoes and chicken and tuna. Pastrami and turkey breast and bacon. Greek yogurt and Special K and Stevia. And mayonnaise.

I hate mayonnaise. Like really hate it. Can't stand the look of it, the texture of it, and especially can't stand the smell. But Ed uses it as a base to make his salad dressing so we had to pick some up. Twice. Sort of. Once when I put it into the cart and the second time from the floor at the checkstand. As I was bagging the mayo it slipped onto the floor and busted. Splattered everywhere. Across the floor, up the side of the checkstand. And up and down my pants. Did I mention I can't stand mayonnaise?

Between the mayonnaise incident, the weird out-of-the-ordinary grocery store experience, and the plumber who paid us a visit to fix our shower (with a $1,600+ estimate), today was just downright weird.

Tomorrow will be Tutorial Tuesday so it just has to be a better day than today.