Miscellaneous Musings No. 22

Those who know, know. When you see the heading of Miscellaneous Musings, you know it's time for another brain dump. These are an assortment of happenings and sightings that have amused me in one way or another over time, captured like journal entries. This is number 22, not to be confused with tutu, but could be too too much for those without a sense of sarcasm or humor. Here we go....

Panoply 2021: It's a Wrap!

Once again the Christmas decor is packed away, and now it's time to collage all my blog posts for 2021 as a final step before closing the book, figuratively and literally, on 2021. Soon I'll have all my posts bound in a yearbook style format using Blog2Print (no affiliation, I just love the product and service). 

I only blogged 24 posts (counting this one!) in 2021. That's even fewer than last year. I suppose I didn't feel I would be entertaining or informative enough to sustain your interest, so 24 it was. Plus, I found myself super busy by late summer with another move!

Miscellaneous Musings No. 20

Hello, my friends. Time for another musings post from yours truly. Please don't be offended by anything written here. It's just the way my little brain turns, and every now and then I need to spill through what has become a series. This is Miscellaneous Musings No. 20.

I've actually seen people write solely on the subject of decorating with branches. Well, here ya go. I even threw in a spider lift since it's so appropriate for fall and Halloween.The pin oak tree (above and below) is was on the corner of the lot of our new home, and it is was very precariously positioned over both our slate roof and the city electric wires overhead (the wires I deplore, but it's an old neighborhood). Here was the emotional state of the tree this past Tuesday:

I have plans for the corner, and hope to have them in place by next spring when the soil is amended, after the stump is gone. I also have an interim plan. More to come.....

Graphic signs are often another popular subject seen and written about as trendy. Here's one for you, in case you can't remember what this part of your house is....PORCH. (Full disclosure: upon blowing it up, it says Welcome to Our PORCH).

More Kroger math spotted in the grocery store since my last musing: 

Oh yea, I'll take Charmin for $7.00 per square foot, please. Puh-lease.

From the organization files....here's an easy way to tote clothing short distances, you know, Beverly Hillbilly style. Just fill a yard waste bag of your hanger clothing, then wrap the ties over each side of the hangers, tighten, tie and go. Then, later, you can re-use the bags for their original purpose. Hey, worked for me in moving, and later with my little landscape I'm about to take on.

This next one is both gross and funny. I am notorious for getting rocks and tiny debris in my socks/shoes as we walk, which causes me to have to pause and take my shoe off, empty it, and go on. Recently, we went to a nephew's wedding and had to walk from our parked car to an outdoor garden venue for the celebration. Thank goodness I didn't take my shoe off there! When I got home and took my shoes off, this is what I found:

My interior lining completely deteriorated on my bare foot! These are Franco Sarto shoes, and I bet I've only worn them less than a half a dozen times. Problem is, I never wore hose with them. I had to peel that stuff off over the trash can before ditching the shoes. Notice the farmer tan line at the ankle...

Here's one from the purging files....as most of my longtime readers know, we downsized two and a half years ago from a nearly 5,000 sq ft home/landscape garden to just under 2,200 in an urban condo. We got rid of ALL of our yard tools but one little tote I kept (and leaf blower that won't even touch that pin oak!). Well, we just moved into a 2,900 sq ft home with small landscape. Easy enough to manage....if one had the right tools. The best part? We gave our lawn mower to the guy who we are now paying to cut our grass. We did manage to negotiate rakes, hoses, and a few other things from the sellers we had previously purged, including those yard waste bags I mentioned earlier.

I'll leave you with views taken a couple blocks from our urban dwelling...

...and from just one block from our newest home...

...just crossing the river once again.

This is what I feel like after this past month of moving:

Thanks for your visit. Please send someone who'll clean for me. 

Rita C. at Panoply

Miscellaneous Musings No. 19

Hello, readers, and welcome to my Rolodex brain dump of miscellaneous musings. These tend to be random thoughts that strike a chord with me at one time or another, usually in a funny way (except for that last one on Life in Limbo. To see my priors, they're listed here.

I went to an estate sale last week which was held on a farm. The parking attendant even found a treasure, or his twin, I'm not really sure which.

Blog Refresh, Email Subscription Update

I am one who thrives on organization. When Blogger announced it was eliminating Feedburner as its email subscription service in July, I knew I needed to do something before the rush. 

Miscellaneous Musings No. 18: Life in Limbo

Dear readers, I will not bore you with what my corona has been about, probably much like yours, just suffice it to say we are well here, and for that I am so grateful.  I've had a few thoughts on a recurring theme over the past few months that I'd love to share with you. This is a different take on my normal style with miscellaneous musings, but because my blog becomes my journal, I wanted to write these thoughts down. I hope you'll continue reading. The tune with video attached below is one I love. "I'm Alive", by Kenny Chesney, and accompanied by Dave Matthews. It's just right for right now. I invite you to listen, and read on. I do not own the rights to this music or this video.

In my life, I have had several lulls of time that I have felt like I was in limbo.

lim·bo¹

/ˈlimbō/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. 1.

   an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition.
2. "the fate of the Contras is now in limbo"

• As a teenager, I was diagnosed with severe scoliosis at age 14, just when thoughts of becoming a varsity cheerleader was all I thought life was. 🙄 I wore the Milwaukee brace for the next 3 years, 23 hours out of 24 daily, participated in regular physical therapy, and had way too many x-rays, just to avoid invasive spinal surgery with rods and a year in a body cast (treatment has changed drastically since the mid-1970s).  My patient compliance paid off in a couple ways. I learned a sense of humility in that brace and, after gradual weaning, was able to deliver my high school graduation salutatorian speech sans Earl (my nickname for my brace) and move forward without the brace. 
• As a female in the workplace in some capacity since 1974, I waited for the opportunity to reach my potential after college graduation. I plodded through graduate school (part-time) for 7 years and six months beyond the allowed time (with Dean approval) to finish my MBA, while married and working full-time, with two elementary school-aged girls. I was also a part-time, contracted ballerina (my paid avocation) in the Charleston Ballet. I was not a career-long employee to one organization; rather, I sought opportunity to better myself and my family through my working years. I reached what I considered my vocational (work) potential by 1996 with my first managerial promotion. I retired from the ballet at that point.
• As a young parent and primary breadwinner, I gave up more than 12 years of vacations, and worked many a budget revision to manage a household of four. At one point, I changed jobs and took a nearly 30% pay cut in order to continue my dancing, education, and improving my overall quality of life that the former job was sucking out of me with 60 hour work weeks. Even though this was financially difficult, I considered it a payoff in the long run, as the job I took was the eventual path to my success in becoming a manager. 
• As an executor of my father's estate, I handled managing / distributing his assets for 15 years. I learned a LOT about family relationships and how fragile they are.
• As a young married woman / parent, I waited 20 years for my first husband to give up his addictions in hopes he would choose me, his spouse, and his children first. Hard work and tough personal decisions led me to an independent life as a single parent, and eventually to the love of my life (Mr. P.), with two adult daughters, successful by their own doing. I also learned that new beginnings are full of potential.
• As a manager, I worked through 7 years of various corporate bankruptcies and reorganizations until my retirement in 2003. I learned that new beginnings in business are also full of potential.

Here's my point: limbo - a period of uncertain waiting - has been a big part of my life. I feel as though we are all in a state of limbo right now. Here's a suggestion: allow yourself some time to grieve all that was before the pandemic. Then, either choose to move forward or stay in limbo a while longer, but try to understand your choice and adapt. We each have to go at our own pace, in our own time. I've always wanted to get out of limbo and find a way to move forward. Limbo is very uncomfortable for me, and taking steps to feel like I'm moving forward has always been better for me than feeling seemingly stuck in a forever state of going nowhere (limbo). We are moving at a slower pace as we learn to live with this pandemic until a cure is found and proven.

I am a planner, an organizer. In times of physical limitation, I made sure I was compliant with every possible facet of my care plan, and I tried doing as many activities as I possibly could. In times of job dissatisfaction, I would polish my resume and monitor classifieds and online employment ads. In times of financial difficulty, I would revise my Excel budget spreadsheet to make things work, cutting where I had to (I still have the template). In times of past personal difficulty, I sought professional help to guide me through the transition. In this pandemic, I am doing small things like wearing a mask in public places like the antique mall and grocery stores, doing things by appointment as much as possible, and increasing measures to wash germs away. We are still choosing to not eat inside restaurants as of this writing.

Throughout these past few months, I have busied myself in the strangest ways. Given that we downsized significantly in 2019, I had few home organizational projects pending. So, my time has been spent planning weekly menus, grocery lists, and picking up curbside orders, and wiping things down. I have spent an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen, cooking and baking, just trying to keep safe and avoiding curbside meal pickup for the first 39 days. We've selectively started more curbside meal pickup. I've helped a brother who's single, sharing some meals and even curbside pickup with him. I even helped him empty a storage unit in anticipation of him selling his home. Walking has been the best diversion of time, mostly in our former neighborhood where we can easily distance. It's given me endless opportunities to enjoy Spring to the nth degree and get some decent exercise. Through it all, I have kept my faith. I read inspirational material, I pray, and I try to be positive. In prayer, I've thanked God for my blessings, and offered up intentions for those who've asked or who I think need a blessing. 

I realize some people suffer depression and cannot, at times, even muster the energy to get the mail. I encourage you or anyone you may know in this kind of mental state, or stuck in the state of inertia this limbo may have you in, to seek help, either from friends, family, professionals or any combination thereof. If you aren't ready to reach out just yet, I hope you're able to cope with this state of limbo in a way that's moving you forward, and to have some introspection as you do.

(Special thanks to Richella at Imparting Grace: "Grace at Home No. 383" for featuring this post).

Rita C. at Panoply

Sharing: Grace at Home

Blenko 'Blow Your Own Water Bottle' Workshop

At the end of January, a friend and I took the opportunity to participate in one of Blenko Glass Co.'s workshops they offer for the public. Glass manufacturing has a long history in West Virginia, and Blenko's been manufacturing glass in our state since 1921. It's a great experience to not only tour glass manufacturing, but to take part in the process! For one price, participants are allowed to go onto the glass factory floor and work alongside the veteran glassblowers, creating one of their designated production items, and take the item home (after a week of firing in the kiln). The January workshop was to make the iconic Blenko #384 (the 4th design originally introduced in 1938): the water bottle (decanter).

The first thing you do when going to one of these workshops is enter through the gift shop doors - temptation right off the bat!

We then moved in groups onto the glass factory floor, which is basically a huge, 100 year old warehouse with glass furnaces scattered throughout, heating up to 2400° in each. We dressed in layers but most workers were in t-shirts. I went first, and my friend followed after me.

We were shown a table display of colors to choose from that day. My friend and I both chose Azure blue. The master glassblowers led us through steps of guiding a wooden spoon dipped in water beneath the glass blob to cool it, coaching us on blowing the glass into the mold, using the tool to bend the spouts, and then walking alongside us as we put the decanter onto the lehr (a type of oven that cools the glass). They handled the more dangerous and delicate steps in between of heating the glass in the ovens, rolling and breaking off the excess glass from the molds, and the handing off tools used.

A very smart marketing move on Blenko's part is giving each participant a $5 coupon toward any purchase, good only for the day of the workshop. If you bought anything, you were then given the chance to spin a game wheel for a chance at another free item. I bought the water bottle in Elderberry, and won a mini water bottle (I chose Cobalt)!

We returned a week later to pick up our water bottles. So, how did my water bottle turn out? Let me preface my answer by saying that when we participate, we are told that not all products make it through the cooling process. In that case, you're allowed to choose a 'second' from the gift shop as a replacement. Well, mine made it through the cooling without breakage, but.....

Look closely at the dimple on the front of the bottle (L frame, above), and then look at the interior of the bottle (R frame, above). Evidently I didn't blow hard enough because the glass didn't fill out the mold completely! No problem, my friend gave me hers (same color), and she chose Elderberry (same color I bought the day of the workshop). It was all good!

I love the iconic Blenko #384 glass decanter, and I have been growing my collection, using each one frequently. They are 8" tall and hold 32 oz (minis are 6" and hold 16 oz), easy to handle with indented bodies, and have pour lips on both edges, great for either right-hand or left-hand grip. They are often colorful elements featured in my tablescapes, such as the Elderberry in this tablescape.....

.....the Cobalt Blue in this tablescape.........

.....the vintage color, Antique Green, from this tablescape......

.....as well as this tablescape....

I also love using them in seasonal displays, such as the Antique Green one, below.....

.... and this one (Spring Green).

The water bottles can also be used very handily as flower vases. Below is a photo of my current growing collection of Blenko #384s: (L to R) Cobalt (including a 16 oz mini), Azure, Elderberry, Antique Green, Spring Green.

I participated in one of the earlier Blenko workshops in 2016, making Easter eggs. You can read about that here (btw, if you read that earlier post, you'll find I am 0 for 2 in success for end results, lol). If you're ever coming through West Virginia or making plans to, you really ought to check out the Blenko Glass Co. website and see if one of their workshops is being held during your trip. The workshops fill quickly, so keep that in mind! Here's a link to the official Blenko Glass Co. Facebook page also, where I first saw my workshop advertised.

Do you like Blenko or have any pieces, vintage or new? Do you think you'd enjoy a workshop like this? I love reading your comments, so do tell, and thanks for your readership today!

Rita C. at Panoply

(A special thanks to Cecilia of My Thrift Store Addiction's Vintage Charm Party #221 for featuring this post!)

Sharing at any of these given parties: Pieced Pastimes, Best of the Month, Happiness is Homemade, Love Your Creativity, BNOTP, All About Home Common Ground, All About Home Follow the Yellow Brick Home, A Stroll Thru Life, My Wee Abode, Thistle Key Lane, Bluesky at Home, The Dedicated House, Zucchini Sisters, French Ethereal SYS, Delightsome Life H&G, Katherine's Corner TFT, Grace at Home, My Thrift Addiction

Miscellaneous Musings No. 17

Welcome to another instalment of Panoply Miscellaneous Musings. These are a collection of random thoughts from a racing mind, quirky things noted around me, and sometimes just life imponderables. I have a category devoted to these on my blog because, well, it's how my mind works. To know me is to know I typically have many tabs open on my computer and my brain at any given point in time. You may want to grab a drink, as it's been awhile since I've compiled them. The length proves it. So, here we go with Miscellaneous Musings No. 17.

When I created my Thanksgiving tablescape back in November, I told y'all I had a story to tell about the Juliska salad plates I used. Try as I might to eliminate dishes stored in this downsized living, I ended up with 12 of these when my intention was to have 4.

A scam seller attempted catching me in his web on eBay after I ordered these on a Buy It Now transaction. The scammer sent me a total of 3 sets (of 4 plates each) when I paid for 1 set. The seller later sent me an email (in poor English), trying to get me to send money for his [intentional] duplicate shipment to an email outside of the eBay official account (a huge red flag!). I contacted both eBay and Juliska directly. Without going into the dirty details, the seller had apparently tapped into the Juliska wholesale customer database to fake orders under bonafide [business] customer accounts for drop shipments. The eBay representative confirmed fraudulent activity and told me the seller would be handled (no further details). Juliska told me to keep the dishes, but encouraged me to only purchase from authorized Juliska dealers in the future. Turns out the 3rd set ended up back with its rightful Juliska independent distributor after reaching out to me with the shipping address the fraudulent seller had provided. I still have 2 sets, the eBay seller has not been blocked, and I will not be buying other than from authorized dealers. Lesson learned.

Speaking of tablescaping, I saw a great video on a Facebook group I'm a member of, Tablescapes and Tablestyling. It was on competitive tablescaping.

Although I really enjoy tablescaping, I didn't know the competition of such was a thing. Back in 2017, I first noticed our local ReStore sponsoring a tablescaping competition with local small business participants using their items, which would be donated to ReStore afterward for resale. It was great! Winner had bragging rights and all the participants had the opportunity to promote their business through use of items they typically offer for sale.

ReStore Tablescaping Competition 2017

Besides the video and what my local ReStore sponsored, I found another article about competing with themed tables from Apartment Therapy (click on link, here).

Besides dishes, textiles (mostly throw pillows) have been a major weakness for me since the downsize. I read somewhere that throw pillows are stuffed animals of grown women. LOL. Truth! I take comfort in the fact that a girlfriend told me she currently has 15 new ones stored in her basement her husband has yet to see. 😂

My attempt to control the space which throw pillows can consume is in buying Hefty vacuum seal plastic storage bags (no affiliation) until I decide which ones will be purged through my next yard sale. I don't buy pillows anymore unless they have zip closures so I can pull the forms and store them flat. In the collage below, you can see how easy the storage is. The bottom left frame are some of the many no zipper pillows I have vacuum sealed.

The purge still continues, even though it's been almost one year since we moved (which has flown by). Just this morning Mr. P. asked me what I was doing with the four area rugs rolled and standing in the coat closet (top L frame of collage below). Likely, I'll be selling those pictured in the yard sale, too. I thought I'd use them, but haven't. It's just so much easier cleaning wood floors without rugs.

I have at least five or six smaller hooked wool rugs (holiday) in the storage unit, too, not to mention other small rugs I moved and am storing at the loft.

Sigh.

January seems to be the month everybody gets on the bandwagon for purging / organizing. I guess I'll be re- re-organizing. I have one closet in the loft that I call my household closet. It definitely needs re- re-organized, even though it's gone through at least a couple iterations already. What you see pictured below is about one-third of the actual size (R & L sides store nearly equal amounts). Love those high ceilings, but all those boxes you see stacked on the floor have still not been gone through since the move.

Speaking of purging, when you find money or uncashed checks, let me caution you about trying to cash them. We found two last year, one of which cost us a returned check fee after cashing (later waived by our wonderful bank rep) due to its age. Even though both checks were over six months old, one issuer apparently enforced the timeframe, one didn't.

Also related to purging, and this one's important to note! From Time magazine, please read this article. You may want to pin it (from the original source, of course). It tells why you need to make a "When I Die" file, and it's never too early!

Out and about in our neighborhood.......
Our capitol building is undergoing some major structural repairs and this is its current look:

It kinda reminds me a huge Jiffy Pop popcorn pan - remember those? - but most residents around town call it the giant condom. Maybe so, but it doesn't seem to keep bad politicians from proliferating.

You've heard how Southern mamas put bows in their girls hair, right? This Blessed Virgin statue was spotted along one of our walk paths in the new neighborhood.

We occasionally drive through the old neighborhood and walk there when we have errands to run in that area. I still can't bring myself to walk past the house, just drive by. This past weekend we drove by and there must've been over 100 Canada geese on the riverbank. Ugh. I don't miss chasing them at all. One former neighbor sent me a video of the geese crossing the street, told me she missed us. 🙄  I memorialized the geese at the loft, did you notice? It was part of my Christmas decor, at the front door. That lighted floral arrangement is a resting Canada goose.

Can't miss the chance to share my granddogs. Two under two and one spoiled rotten. Can you tell which is which?

If you're on Facebook, there was that 10 year challenge of pictures of yourself. I didn't post it, but this was me, 2009 and 2019.

While we were away in early December, I was in the bathroom and noticed a short hair, either an eyebrow or from my crown, that grazed my face, which happens fairly frequently. I actually don't brush my hair, just comb it after washing, and then run my fingers through it with water each morning. Whoa! That hair was attached, and was on my chin! Baby fine, but still, that was a first! Geez, I'd always heard women talk about that, now I guess I have that to add to maintenance. That's one thing hypothyroidism has not left me without (thin hair). Even my hairdresser said to me, "I thought people with hypothyroidism didn't have eyebrows?" Not this chick.

From the imponderable files......
Are you like us, and basically use the heels of loaves of bread as freshlock mechanisms and never use them much or at all? They're kinda like the bookends of bread books, aren't they?

Lastly, random thoughts at bedtime....this is so me.

Source

If you stuck with me this far, I so appreciate your loyal readership. Drop me a line, anytime. I'm open all night...well, my mind pretty much is, anyway. If you want to see my other Musings, here's a link that lists them all, here.

Oh, and don't forget to come back on January 15 for a special edition of the Traveling Tote. It's our 5-year anniversary, and we've got a great giveaway. You're gonna love it!

Postscript to publishing: I didn't even realize when I hit publish on this post that it was exactly seven years ago on this date that I started my blog!

Rita C. at Panoply

(A special thanks to Rebecca from Zucchini Sisters' Celebrate Your Story #214 for featuring this post!)

Sharing: Pieced Pastimes, Best of the Month, Happiness is Homemade, Love Your Creativity, BNOTP, All About Home Common Ground, All About Home Follow the Yellow Brick Home, Inspire Me, My Wee Abode, Thistle Key Lane, Bluesky at Home, Make it Pretty, Celebrate Your Story,French Ethereal SYS, Delightsome Life H&G, Katherine's Corner TFT, Grace at Home, My Thrift Addiction

Panoply 2019: It's a Wrap!

Well, I've packed away all my Christmas decor, and now it's time to collage all my blog posts for 2019 as a final step before closing the book, so to speak. I'll have all my posts bound in a yearbook style format using Blog2Print (no affiliation, I just love the product and service).

I only blogged 24 posts (counting this one!) in 2019. That's a testament to my year of downsizing (and the fact that I was too busy to write about the action I was in the midst of). The theme of downsizing was definitely the center of my universe in 2019 and a recurring theme throughout the year. What you'll see below is a photo collage of each of my topics this past year, with individual post links below the photos if you're so inclined. I boldfaced one or more of my favorites in each category.

Home & Garden

Welcome! Our Urban Dwelling; July Garden Memories; Cozying Up the Condo; Christmas Home Tour 2019: It's Christmastime in the City

Travel: Tales of the Traveling Tote

Tales of the Traveling Totes #18: Urban Renewal;  Tales of the Traveling Totes #19; Tales of the Traveling Tote: Fun in the Sun; Tales of the Traveling Tote #20 and a Giveaway; Tales of the Traveling Tote #21: Fall in Utah's National Parks

Tablescapes

Purple Passion Fire and Ice Tablescape; Spring Blooms Tablescape; Embracing Summer: Pineapple Delight Tablescape; A Patriotic Tablescape: Celebrating Freedom, Always!; Tete-a-tete Summer Tablescape on the Balcony; Feline Fondness for Fall Tablescape; Tutu Fun! Danse Macabre Tablescape; Forest Walk Thanksgiving Tablescape; Black Tartan Plaid Holiday Tablescape

Miscellaneous Musings and Organization

Downsizing: Tips on Purging, Organizing; Top Tips as We Gather Together; Miscellaneous Musings No. 16

Panoply Antiquing

Panoply Booth Displays: Purging Household Items; Panoply New, Vintage Finds

All of the categories of my topics are pulled from my main menu. If you click on each of those topics at the header of my blog, you'll see the list of the posts pulled for each of the categories. It's just another way of keeping things organized.

Reflecting on the major push of downsizing, purging and organizing, I am happier with fostering less material things which, looking back now with 20-20 vision, had me feeling a bit overwhelmed. My Panoply sisters and I are even purging in our antique booth spaces at this writing, and hope to have a fresh start in 2020. So, even though shopping will still be happening, it will be with more of a "just in time" versus "just buy it" mentality.

I so appreciate each and every one you, my readers, and love the friendships struck through blogging. I hope those of you who read but don't always comment will feel welcome to do so anytime. I always try to visit blogs if you have one, and try to respond by email to comments. It's rare that I can't figure out who the commenter is or that I don't have a contact to reach you, but if so (and you're no-reply commenter), I'll leave a response on the post. I'm really looking forward to hitting 2020 with optimism and enthusiasm. I hope you are, too.

Happy New Year!
Rita C. at Panoply

(A special thanks to Suzanne at Pieced Pastimes: Saturday Sparks Link Party #356 for featuring my annual wrap up post!)

Sharing: Pieced Pastimes, Best of the Month, Happiness is Homemade, Love Your Creativity, BNOTP, All About Home Common Ground, All About Home Follow the Yellow Brick Home, Inspire Me, My Wee Abode, Thistle Key Lane, Bluesky at Home, Make it Pretty, Celebrate Your Story,French Ethereal SYS, Delightsome Life H&G, TFT, Grace at Home, Vintage Charm

Miscellaneous Musings No. 16

Hey there, readers! Remember how I've I told you more than once that my mind tends to race, hardly rests, and that I'm a numbers girl? Well, the way I deal with that on my blog is through intermittent brain dumps. I have a name for them, Miscellaneous Musings, and this one's No. 16 (because I like keeping track). You can see all the rest of these musings at this link if you're so inclined. Are you ready?

Remember that PBS documentary on Andre van Damme and the Charleston (WV) Ballet I told you about, which I participated in (2017) and later celebrated its premiere (2018)? Well, among many awards, it was just bestowed a regional (OH, KY, IN, WV) 2019 Emmy award for Arts Programming! I know someone like Jeanie may know exactly what this now means, but I believe its benefits may include greater audience reach potential within PBS programming. Either way, it's a huge honor, especially for these folks pictured below (and really good documentary).

Ohio Valley Chapter 2019 Emmy Award for Arts Programming:  "Andre Van Damme and the Story of the Charleston Ballet" - Mary Anna Ball (Producer), Debra Novak (Director), Carol DelGrasso (Editor), Michael DelGrasso (Lighting). Photo courtesy Charleston Ballet's Facebook page

I have a new granddog, and his name's Brutus. He's another Muttaineer, like his sister Audra. His lineage has some blood hound in the mix, and something short of a horse. He weighs 80 lbs at six months, while Audra weighs in at 70 lbs (full grown). At 110 myself, I don't think I'm capable of walking either one.

This sweet man pictured below was honored in our hometown back in June on the 75th anniversary of D-Day. There was a great article of his recounting being on a Naval ship in the waters on that day in history at Normandy Beach during WWII. He was my mother's friend and companion for many years in the latter part of her life. He's outlived three women at last count.

Since downsizing, I've said before it feels like we're on vacation....except the maid service hasn't shown up. I've traded gardening for house cleaning and I don't like the latter nearly as much as yardwork. My new dishwasher mocks my skills by flashing a neon "washing HO" message every time I run a cycle!

I've also stated before that the purge I did for downsizing couldn't have been accomplished without the help of my sister. I kept getting distracted with things I found as I was working.

My sister is not an early bird, and having her come to help before noon resulted in her sometimes being a little discombobulated, as in putting on two different shoes.....

....or, leaving after a session of purging, and forgetting to pack and take her prized stash home. She left a load of baskets one day, only for the storm that night to drench it all.

I think about the oldest thing I found to purge was this cake mix below. Note the "best if used by Feb 22 2013". The worst part of this one is I purged (or thought I did) when we updated our kitchen in 2017.

Mishaps happen when you move. My moving company broke or lost one, 17" beveled glass shelf on the rolling cart pictured below. I always thought Frontgate was pricey, but I had gotten this on sale. Now I understand better about pricing. That one shelf cost well over $150 for the movers. I can't say exactly how much because the local glass company quoted incorrectly at that price, but honored their quote. They said their cost was considerably more due to the beveled edge.

We had trouble with moving our Sleep Number bed with a third party, too, and I won't get into that ugly story, but suffice it to say the invoice for that move was waived. Our bed tracks our sleep, scores, and provides feedback. Being the numbers gal I am, you'd think that'd be something that interests me. Not really. Back in January, while trying to wrap my head around the move, I didn't sleep well. Mr. P.'s and my sleep tracking in one week looked like this (below):

While Mr. P.'s sleep scores resembled the constellation Cassiopeia...

...mine resembled something more like an out of body experience, as apparently I wasn't tracked at all one night. I had a lot of restless nights through the moving process.

We're mostly sound tight in our new loft, and we've gotten use to most of what we do hear differently than where we lived previously, but the summer has been full of festivals and weekend events that draw people to the riverfront park and bars. The bars close at 2 am, and we could most always hear patrons going to their nearby parked cars on weekends. So, we ordered a great little sound machine (no sponsorship, just my opinion and endorsement):

It's incredibly small (great for travel), works like a charm, charges on a phone cable, plus it's also a speaker with bluetooth capability. I bought it on Amazon Prime deal day, along with a travel case. Since then, look what score I achieved on my Sleep Number bed!

Forget all the crazy scorekeeping, I do love my Sleep Number bed with its flex base adjustments. It was just a pain to move.

At this point in our lives, we value good sleep. Otherwise, someone might end up buying a t-shirt that looks like this one below, which I spotted on a guy in a park one day:

One of my kids' favorite features in Highlights Magazine was the Hidden Pictures. I still can't find the banana in the picture below. It's not Frosty's mouth, is it?

Well, it took Mr. P. four months to notice one of the areas I chose to place my hidden pitchers....ironstone pitchers, that is. It wasn't until he was showing someone in the family our loft did he happen upon them on the ledge in the master bath. I have several more in storage that I had in our laundry room at the house which I still want to pull and add to the mix.

Have you ever wondered why the makers of English muffins never bothered slicing those things before packaging?? That's the first thing I do when I buy a package - slice them all, and get most of the mess out of the way in one fell swoop.

I came across this little peach in the grocery store when they were just arriving in "peak" season. 😳

My local Panoply sister has been rehabbing with knee replacement surgery the past several weeks. I offered to take her to physical therapy one day before she was driving. While watching her do her exercises and wringing her hands in pain, I told her she reminded me of me, in the dentist's chair. Then, as she continued to wince, we were talking about how pain pills make you feel sick once you start feeling better, needing them less. All of a sudden, I felt nauseous, and asked if there was a restroom.

Next thing I knew, I was on the floor. My sister said she looked at me and said my eyes were rolling in the back of my head. I fainted.

After a couple therapists tended to me by putting cold water on me and raising my legs, a nurse sitting there, receiving shoulder therapy, said it was likely a vasovagal reaction. Weird, but I have fainted with blood being drawn once and after getting a steroid shot for poison ivy. Luckily, I haven't had any episodes like that one since. Like I said, I'm a numbers gal, definitely not medical.

Well, there won't be any more Saturdays between now and the end of the year without college football. West Virginia is in the Big 12, which only has 10 teams. Mind you, the Big 10 has 14 teams. Sounds like they need a numbers gal.

Thanks for stopping by. Have any weird, random things happening to you lately? Feel free to let your crazy fly and share them in the comments.

Rita C. at Panoply

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