Christmas Greetings!

If you look carefully, you can see the wreath on my front door.

My house is still in turmoil. However, the broken-down boxes and the packing materials that are no longer needed have gone on to a new home to be used again, thanks to the Redmond Online Yard Sale group on Facebook.

Our trials have continued, though. We managed to get the stove hooked up. The plumber gave us a senior discount, which was nice. We are repeat customers for him, because he put in the gas to our laundry room for our dryer. However, when we took all the tape off the stove, we found this:

Oops! It appeared to be missing three screws, but when the people from Lowe's came out to look, they said there were three rivets missing. They can't order just the drawer, so we are getting another new stove. It will take two to three weeks, as this one did. However, good people, Lowe's.

We couldn't find an electrician to fix our wires, so DH wrapped the two wires with electrical tape, so we wouldn't have a fire.

Our home warranty was able to find us an electrician, and he came on Saturday and fixed it good as new. However, a new problem emerged. The fitting wanted to cross-thread, though, so, after several hours of struggle, DH gave up and decided to call a plumber. I have 10 people in the house, and the hot water is turned off to the kitchen. I'm carrying water from the powder room to wash dishes. And it's Christmas Eve. I have lot's of adult help, though, so that's fine.

This week Billy finally got his professional haircut. Here he is, with my (and now his) stylist, Sylvia Burger at Bella Hair Salon in Bend, Oregon. (She does a great job on me, too.)

Here he is at home, after it had dried.

And the back:

It was a challenge, because the rooted hair gives him cowlicks all over. The back couldn't be cut too short, or it would stick straight out. I think she did a fantastic job. The haircut will enter into the first story in January.

I had to tidy up the fiber studio, so it could be used by family as a bedroom this week. I discovered it was a great place to wrap packages.

There should be plenty of room on the floor for an inflatable mattress, because we haven't set up the work table yet.

The pups went to the groomer on Wednesday, so I was able to get a nice photo of them in front of the tree. (That was before I started wrapping packages.)

My little angels wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten, joyeux Noël, hyvää joulua, vrolijk kerstfeest, buon Natale, feliz Navidad, selamat hari natal, щасливого Різдва, счастливого Рождества, عيد ميلاد سعيد, and the same in Doll Language, which is a very silent language, something like telepathy. If you listen carefully with your mind, you will hear them.

What's on my needles: Still the Kisu Takki Cardigan for Jolena, the same as the Stavanger, but with a different chart.  

What's on my Sparrow 15: Christmas wrap. It's a great surface for holding tape, scissors, ribbons and paper.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress again this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Santa Visits. This week's story is Santa and why he gives children gifts. Next week the dolls will share their presents with you. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Ladies of Ivy Cottage by Julie Klassen, no listening this week. I'm listening to Christmas/holiday music.

What's in my wine glass: Lar de Oro Tempranillo Syrah. It's from Spain. Very nice.

What's my tip of the week: When you buy appliances, it's probably cheaper in the long run to pay them to install them.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Progress!

The first of the big wall quilts is up!

The clock in the corner and a couple of pictures still need to be mounted on the walls, but the living room is almost done.

The mantle quilt is up, too, although the rest of the family room isn't ready for prime time yet. That will take a while, especially because the rail that keeps people from falling over into the family room still needs to be reinstalled. (They took it out to put down hardwood flooring, which is now showing a lot of wear, and never put it back. Not to code!) We have the rail propped up with boxes on one side, and a table on the other.

You may remember we had some trouble with the Arrow Mod Sewing Cabinet. Someone from the company talked us through making the corrections, and we were able to find a YouTube video that described how to make the airlift go up and down. (It turns out, they were serious about using WD-40 on all the moving parts.)  The link they had on the website for adjusting the airlift to the right height for my machine went to the same video for the other kind of cabinet, but I found the correct video on YouTube and sent them an email with the corrected link.

We also had trouble getting the doors to slide into the slot provided for them. That was partly due to the thick carpeting, but also the door hinges needed some adjustment.

I used my lovely Eversewn Sparrow15 sewing machine to sew a couple of sleeves (split in the middle) under the binding of the Pine Burr quilt and will do the same for the others.

Here's how I did it: I removed the hand stitching on the back of the binding of the side I wanted to go on top. I cut two rectangles out of some inexpensive muslin, 8" X half the width of the quilt, left the selvedge edge but hemmed the raw-edge ends under. Then I folded each strip in half lengthwise to form a 4" deep sleeve, and pressed. I pinned them to the back of the quilt with the raw edges even with the seam allowance of the binding, putting the pins in on the right side. Then I sewed over the same seam as for the binding with the right side up, as exactly as possible over the original stitching. Finally, I sewed the binding back in place by hand and sewed the bottom of the sleeve to the backing, also by hand. I'm using wooden battens for most of the quilts, although curtain rods will work just as well; they just stick out from the wall more. The wooden battens are 1/4" thick and 1 1/4" wide. The 8' length was fine for the 88" X 88" Pine Burr quilt for the living room. The battens will bend some, but when you place them flat against the wall, they will hold the quilt. I put a nail where I wanted the middle of the quilt to be, about where the bottom of the batten would be with the quit in place. I measured the same distance down from the ceiling and put another nail the same distance from the ceiling, but half the width of the quilt away from the first nail. Then I repeated for the other side, so I had three nails, one 44" from the one on the left end and the other 88" from that nail. I put the space between the two sleeves, where the batten is exposed, on the middle nail, then flattened the batten against the wall and wrestled it onto the side nails, one at a time. I had to get up on a ladder to do this. Finally, I adjusted how much batten was sticking out on each side by pushing on the longer side while pulling the quilt and its sleeve toward myself.

The other battens will have to be trimmed for the smaller quilts. I had to move my sewing table away from the wall a bit, to allow the quilt to hang over as I was sewing. I usually set up a folding tray table to the left of where I'm sitting, to hold the weight of the quilt. The folding tray tables are still buried in the garage, so I coped. I have plans to get a nice desk chair with no arms, so I can raise my seat a bit to accommodate my diminutive height. I will also need a plastic chair mat.

I thought I had lost my bobbins for the Sparrow. We found them when I emptied the sewing table so DH would work on it.

I finally settled on a prefinished, three-drawer kitchen base cabinet from Lowe's as a base for my cutting surface. The top (brought with me from Utah) is 3/4" thick frosted plexiglas, so it doubles as a light table, with two under-cabinet lights upside down in the top drawer for light. The other two drawers will be good storage. It's 24" wide and just under 24" deep. It will be just under 36" high with the plexiglas top. I have a cutting mat that is 24" X 36", just the size of the top. The top will hang over on both sides, one side more than the other. I may have to put some kind of support under the end that hangs over more. There is a heater vent on that side of the room that limits where I can put it. Here's a photo from the website.

I don't know how I'm going to deal with the toe kick. It was very expensive to buy a new toe kick, because it comes much longer than the size of the cabinet, and you have to buy the whole thing. I might be able to find someone with a small piece left over. If not, I may just leave it, unless I can think of a way to cover it up. The space at the bottom for the toe kick will come in handy, though. I have big feet.

Thursday morning, I was in the mood to make oat bran cinnamon rolls, which pleased DH. We had a coupon for 10% off our entire purchase at Lowe's that would expire at midnight on Thursday, so late Thursday morning DH and I set out for the store to order, as they only had the 18" cabinets in stock. We wanted to buy the battens for the quilts, and DH wanted to get a large tarp to cover the trailer. We had to go through the appliance department, where his eye was caught by a dishwasher, and my eyes drifted longingly to the gas ranges. We had planned on replacing our kitchen appliances eventually. The dishwasher, which is very old and white, works well, but the way the racks are laid out, it won't hold many dishes. (I should say here that my preferred color for appliances is white, but these days white often means plastic handles and white appliances with a lot of useful features are hard to find. DH prefers stainless steel, which is a logical choice anyway, because the microwave over the stove is stainless.) The refrigerator we have is stainless steel, as is the free-standing range. The refrigerator has a broken foot and is missing a freezer shelf. The side-by-side layout makes digging around inside difficult, like looking through a brightly lit cave. Don't get me started on the stove! Well, since you ask, the oven works, but the temperature is unreliable. The burners work, but they have been cleaned so often the stove looks as if it had been given to Methuselah at his mother's baby shower. What I really dislike more than anything is the arrow-up or arrow-down way of setting the oven temperature. I like to keep food warm at 170º, and you have to stand there a long time before that temperature shows up on the display. I'd rather punch in the numbers.

You probably can see where this is leading. Lowe's was having a big sale, and we learned that the 10% off coupon would apply to our entire order, even items on sale. We had to go home and measure the space allotted to each appliance. The refrigerator is the worst, because it's a skinny space, and there's no way to make it bigger without knocking out cabinets, granite countertop, etc. DH got to choose the fridge, because he had more requirements he considered essential. I chose the dishwasher and stove, because I suggested that he let me do that. This is what started our day and what we are ending up with.

We learned from another customer in the store that getting service on appliances not made in the US requires bringing in someone from the other side of the mountains and is expensive. Local appliance-repair people can work on the US companies' products. The GE had a skinny fridge (with ice maker down in the freezer section, where we don't need as much space) and a range and dishwasher with features I liked.

Boom! Lowe's got a lot of money from us for one day, but we saved a bunch. The cabinet will be delivered to the store, probably sometime this week. I should be able to fit it in the back of the car. The appliances are supposed to arrive on December 20th. They will install the fridge (plug it in and hook up the water) for free, but were going to charge for hooking up the dishwasher and gas stove. DH will get his brother to help.

I think I'll make those rolls again soon.

Other things are getting done. In our home in Summit Park the ceiling in our bedroom was too low for the mosquito-netting frame, with the added complication of a much-needed ceiling fan. (We didn't have much of a mosquito problem in Utah and don't expect to have much of one here, but we do have the mosquito netting, which we brought back from Indonesia with the bed.) DH repaired the post that had been broken off by the movers, and after the glue had set, we wrestled the mosquito-netting frame onto the posts. 

We still have a lot to do in our bedroom and bathroom, but downstairs and our respective work areas are a priority. 

Saturday, someone came by and paid us $15 for Miss Havisham's (she of the Dickens novel) dust-catching chandelier. That brought the net cost of the replacement down to $35 with the Black Friday sale price. The young woman who came and bought it said it was for her sister who had her dining room decorated in French Provincial, and this would be perfect. She had sent her my photo of it. Not my taste, but I'm glad someone can use it. Miss Havisham's spider, evicted from the dusty relic, has found the new chandelier. If I can catch the little guy/gal, he/she will have to go live outside.

I had finished the body of the Kisu Takki Cardigan for Jolena, so I finally CO Saturday for the sleeves. I'm doing them together, in the round, with steeks between them. That will require a seam, but I can match the stripes without a jog that way, and the cuff will be neater. Here's the body. There are cats at the top and fish swim around it at the bottom.

The Doll's Storybook had a new episode on Friday, "You Are Special," where Billy explores the need for new purpose, now that he has rid himself of his girly clothes and hair. I started right away on the special Hanukkah story, where Charlotte shares her special holiday with her non-Jewish friends.

I wanted to get our wonderful son-in-law to look it over for any errors or omissions I might have made. The story is intended to explain Hanukkah to children. Our daughter and her family celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. They will be here for Christmas.

In related news, this is the view from our bedroom window. Our neighbors really like to decorate. The black silhouette to the right is our huge fir tree, undecorated, as it will probably have to remain. We would need a cherry picker to reach the top.

What's on my needles: Back to the Kisu Takki Cardigan for Jolena, the same as the Stavanger, but with a different chart.  

What's on my Sparrow 15: Sleeves for hanging quilts.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress again this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: You Are Special. This week's story will be about Hanukkah. Charlotte explains her rituals to the other dolls. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Ladies of Ivy Cottage by Julie Klassen, but I've taken a break from it to listen to Rachel Maddow's Bag Man podcast, relating the history of how Spiro Agnew fell into disgrace and had to resign as vice president. I was around when this happened, but new details are only just now becoming available.

What's in my wine glass: Black Box Premium Wines California Red Blend. It says on the box, "Stays fresh for six weeks after opening." We wouldn't know. It runs out long before that.

What's my tip of the week: When you're making a quilt, if there is any chance you will ever hang it on the wall, a simple sleeve is easier to add as you put the binding on. You can use the same fabric as the backing, so it won't be obvious if you use it on the bed or as a lap quilt.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

At Last! Part I

Wow! What a week! I had hoped to get the loom put together, but it was too busy. I did get all the heddles loaded onto the rods in the shafts. Here it is with just two shafts loaded, and there are four, but I did finish that part.  There are enough heddles (those things that look like wires hanging down in the middle) to weave something with more than 400 warp threads.

The heddles hold the warp thread, and the shafts can be lifted in various configurations as the weaver works with the weft thread on a shuttle. I hope to make some rag rugs for the house, and then (after I have the techniques down) for gifts.

The arrival of the final part of our shipment on Wednesday stopped the work on the loom, as there were other things to be done.

We were glad to have it come, because most of my kitchen equipment was missing or partly missing. (How can you use a blender if the container is missing?) We were lucky to have our 5th wheel parked in front of the house, and we ended up using most of the pots, pans, cutlery, knives cutting boards and towels from the trailer in the house. I'm still missing things, but we are still unpacking. Wednesday evening the kitchen was unusable because of all the boxes piled on the floor.

Thursday morning we went out to breakfast with my DBIL. It was nice to be able to sit for a bit. When we got home, it was back to work...to this:

I had brought half of my omelette and pancakes home, so I skipped lunch and had my "doggie bag" for supper. Working flat-out, pausing only to fall into bed late Thursday night, I started again in the morning, and by lunchtime on Friday, I had a nice cup of tea and this:

That's just the kitchen, mind you, and the breakfast bar was/is still covered with papers, DH's computer and some other stuff he will have to remove, so my job in the kitchen is now just to clean up after us.

I took time off from unpacking on Friday to advertise our packing materials on the Redmond, Oregon, Online Yard Sale Group on Facebook. We had this overflowing box of foam peanuts.

Then we had this large garbage bag full of bubble wrap (which had been tempting me to sit and make pop-pop instead of working), and an overflowing box of foam sheets and envelopes for putting between dishes.

We had seven or eight of the giant yard trash bags full of clean, wadded-up newsprint.

Then we must have had 40-50 boxes of various sizes, opened and flattened.

A nice young woman responded to the listing and said she would take it all. She had four children, and their landlord had said they had to move because he wanted to sell the house in the spring, and needed to start working on it. She came Saturday afternoon and got it all...in four trips with her large car (family of six, remember) packed.

We are gradually meeting some of the neighbors. DH was working out in the front yard, trying to tidy up our lawn hoses, when a gentleman from across the street stopped to talk. We found out from him that the previous owner had spent a month working in the house, fixing things. We can kind of understand his perspective now, how he didn't understand that we had such a long list of things to fix and wanted him to come down on the price. He had seen the house before he spent that month fixing. I'm glad we didn't see it then. We probably would have written it off. In spite of all the things we've had to replace, we're starting to feel like it's going to be a nice house. We keep discovering things we like about it. For instance, I hated to give up my laundry chute in our bedroom closet, which dumped laundry right into the laundry basket in the middle of my laundry room. Here I don't need a laundry chute, because the laundry is upstairs with all the bedrooms. All I have to carry down the stairs is the kitchen towels, cloth napkins and the occasional tablecloth.

Another fun thing about this house is that small planes land on a landing strip that is next to our street, but further to the north. We live on SE Airpark Dr., but off the bottom of this photo. Occasionally a plane will come down just above the trees across the street to land on the strip.

We watched one sail over us on Saturday. It will be fun if we can see one when the grandkids are here. It reminds me of when I was a small child, spending the summer with my mother and brother in New Hampshire, in a cabin just across the train tracks from Silver Lake. We saw an aquaplane land on the lake one day. The trains were fun, but that aquaplane was unusual. We hear the trains frequently here, too, which brings back pleasant childhood memories.

The long-awaited Billy has arrived. He was expected for some time, and progress was slow, often with no word at all. However, Thursday I received a notice that he was in Bend and would be delivered the next day. Here he is:

I think he looks a little like our youngest grandson, so I have named him William (Billy) Johan (for the grandson) Gotz (for the doll company).

I haven't cut his hair yet, just pulled it back in a low ponytail. My hairdresser offered to help me with the haircut, but she was leaving Saturday morning from LA for a cruise for two weeks. Billy says he doesn't mind waiting for his haircut, because he wants it to be right. So the hair will become part of the story. He looks pretty masculine in his cardigan and hat.

Wondering what he looked like as a girl? Here he is, right out of the box, still fastened in with the restraints. He has a puppy, a female Dalmation named Freckles. (The doll comes with a pink knitted hat, which was almost off when I opened the box, so I had already removed it for this photo.)

The girls will love the clothes. I like him better as a boy, I think.

This week's story was about recycling. I think I'm getting divine inspiration. I didn't know this was National Recycling Week in the US.

Saturday morning we went with my BIL to the Holiday Food and Gift Festival at the Deschutes County Fairground in Redmond. They had some interesting booths, offering wine, spirits, oils, vinegars, fudge, salsa, shortbread and other tasty treats. This place has a store in Bend, which we plan to visit sometime soon.

There were also several booths with quilted and sewn items, like table runners and aprons. This lady also had knitted dish cloths.

This booth has some lovely items, Hilltop Quilts. The owner doesn't have a website, but she gave me her card. Her phone number is 971-645-8772, and her name is Rita. She says she's living surrounded by boxes, too. She moved three weeks ago.

Here's the booth for Imperial Yarn. We bought some of the dryer balls, which you can see (barely, because we got the last package) in the top tray of the stand in the middle of this photo. They are made from felted alpaca. You can add them to your wet clothes in the dryer, and they function as dryer sheets do, to reduce static electricity and soften clothes. You can also add a few drops of essential oil of your choice to add a nice scent to your laundry. I already knew about them from my visits to the Blue Moon Ranch Alpacas in Utah.

We bought a new lampshade with a silhouette of a family of bears and some trees on it, and a hummingbird feeder made out of a fence post. We also picked up a bar of special soap for each of the younger grandkids from Penelope's Soaps and Such. (Each bar contains a LEGO Harry Potter character.) They will want to wash and wash to get the figure inside.

You may remember that we had to take Rocky to the vet on Sunday. By Tuesday, he was running and playing with Dusty in the backyard, and I had dropped the pain medication, just keeping the anti-inflammatory medication. We have an appointment for Rocky for November 20th for his intranasal Bordetella booster, as well as a check for blood pressure and thyroid, to make sure his medications are working. My BIL is coming for Thanksgiving, and (if no one gets sick), our Oregon son and DIL will come down from Beaverton on Friday with their two boys to spend what's left of the long weekend.

My foot has gradually improved with the treatment prescribed. I wish I could have gone to our new doctor before all the other attempts at treatment, but I'm so grateful to be able to sleep at night and to walk around without discomfort. I have much to be thankful for. Which reminds me, Thanksgiving is coming this week! Here's my favorite offering for my quilting friends at Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What's on my needles: Back to the Viipuri Cardigan for Jolena.

What's on my Sparrow 15: Still sitting in my future sewing room.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Reading, Writing and Recycling." This week's story is about doing homework and recycling, oddly enough, from the title. I'm working on the story introducing Billy. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: The Ladies of Ivy Cottage by Julie Klassen. I've made some progress with the story.

What's in my wine glass: Terrain Vineyards, California Red Blend, 2015.

What's my tip of the week: I keep a basket at the bottom of the stairs for stuff that need to go up. It's elongated, so it doesn't take up much space but holds a lot. It saves time and effort.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Waiting for the Final Shipment

Well, the loom didn't get put together. This week got away from me, and the light in there isn't too good yet, so from late afternoon on, it's hard to work in the alcove where the loom is.

However, Billy's hat to go with his cardigan is done.

I CO the Cur-Pic-u-lum pullover by Deb Denair. You make the sleeves first and then join with the body when the body is done to the arm scyes. One sleeve finished and one partway done.

I managed to get next week's story done. This week's is up at thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com. It's called "Charlotte's Birthday." Here's a taste:

So what did I do all week instead of putting the loom together? I've been having trouble with my foot. We didn't have a doctor here yet, and I went to urgent care for extreme itching/stinging/burning of my right foot, which made it impossible to sleep well. It seemed they were just throwing things at it to see what would work. Eventually I had blisters on the bottom of the foot, possibly from the topical ointment prescribed or a further symptom of the condition. Possible diagnoses ranged from fungus to neuropathy. We finally were able to obtain a GP/internist who brought in a black light to shine on it. His tentative diagnosis was a possible bacterial infection, but he's doing a culture. In the meantime, I'm treating it with antibiotic ointment. While we were in his office, he noticed that I needed the second Shingrix shot, which he had on hand. (The local pharmacies are all out until January.) Just like the first shot, this one made me sick, but this time just for 24 hours. That killed the next day (Tuesday), though. I had a fever, aches and was exhausted. The foot seemed better, though.

Tuesday also was the election. DH stayed up all night to watch the returns, but I went to bed about 10:30. (I'm still catching up on lost sleep from the foot problem.) I woke up Wednesday morning feeling almost back to normal, but still very tired.

The pups hadn't been to the park for some time, so we walked over there on Friday. We have access to the Larkspur Trail just across the street and a few houses up from our place, so we went on the trail. When we left the trail, it was only a couple of blocks on regular streets.

One lady was dog sitting several other small poodles, plus she had her own dogs, one of them a Yorkie, I think. There were five all together. It was sunny, and we were warm enough with only light jackets.

Sunday morning, Rocky woke up not feeling well. He seemed uncomfortable getting off the bed, wanted the door opened for him instead of using the pet door, and then seemed to have difficulty keeping his leg in the air. He started shivering after he came in. He seemed uncomfortable for a while throughout the morning. We called our new vet, whom we had not yet met, and was able to get an appointment for 3:30 PM. By the time for our appointment, he seemed much better. On examination, the vet's guess was a mild back injury, not uncommon among older dogs. We left with some anti-inflammatory medication and a mild pain medication. We go back on the 20th for a recheck and for his twice-yearly blood pressure and thyroid check. The three of us are growing old together. Dusty, on the other hand, is taking his time about growing up.

This week will be busy. I have an appointment with the doctor today. The plumber is supposed to come on Tuesday. The rest of our shipment is supposed to come on Wednesday. I'm really missing things like the dish rack.

It's a good thing I have the tray that goes with it. I will also be happy to see the container for my blender. The blender isn't much good without it.

We're continuing to fix things in the house. One item is the refrigerator. The shelf under the ice maker was installed wrong, but that was an easy fix. One shelf in the freezer was missing. We ordered one, but they sent the wrong one.

Strangely enough, it had the right part number on it, but the photo didn't match what was inside. They're trying to make us pay for shipping on the return.

One good new purchase (one we're keeping) was this bench, with storage for shoes. We have it right by the front door, so we can sit to change our shoes. (We have boxes of packing materials--bubble wrap, peanuts, foam envelopes for dishes--to give away, sorted and lined up along the wall in the hallway.)

Billy landed in San Francisco on Saturday. I'm hoping they don't keep him in Customs and Immigration too long. Maybe he'll arrive this week.

What's on my needles: A new pullover for Billy, the other things still untouched.

What's on my Sparrow 15: Still sitting in my future fiber studio.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Charlotte's Birthday." Friday a new story comes out, "Reading, Writing and Recycling."

What's on my iPad/iPhone: The Ladies of Ivy Cottage by Julie Klassen. No listening this week.

What's in my wine glass: The most delightful Apothic Red. "California--Intense fruit aromas and flavors of rhubarb and black cherry that are complemented by hints of mocha and vanilla. The plush, velvety mouthfeel and smooth finish round out this intriguing, full-bodied red blend." No lie.

What's my tip of the week: We have several places where we buy groceries. There are certain things we like to buy at each place. We have made up a document with those items listed after the name of each store. We print it off, stick it on the fridge with a magnet, and when I discover something we need to replace, all I have to do is circle it. When one of us goes to the store, we grab the list. If there are items we didn't get because we didn't go to that store, we bring the list back, with the purchased items crossed off.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.