It's almost but not quite 3 months since my life shifted.

Looking at my To-Do list, I have checked off 71 items and only have a few items left and those are not getting accomplished by me since I am waiting on others who have official things to take care of.
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I have bad days and good days and there were weeks when it was only bad days. Recently I have noticed that l am having many more good days and I do feel happier. I can also tell because I am not avoiding things and I am now working on a list of things to do around the house as everything stopped in January.  First on this list is to start/resume cleaning the house and donating the items we moved here 6 years ago that we didn't use as well as going through Erich's clothing and his other stuff. 

As I find multiples of things Erich collected (i.e. hoarded) I have been giving some these items to friends, if they could use it; so far I have passed out magnifying lenses, personal head lamps, flashlights, radios, pocket knives, dosimeters (yes he was worried about that), cans of Spam and more. I know there are things I have not discovered yet so the fun and head scratching will continue.

This is the last picture I took of Erich and Boots, just days before he passed.

Erich and I really enjoyed going on road trips together - seeing new things; stopping at bad tourist spots; rock hounding and taking pictures of interesting road cuts; hours of talking to each other about this, that, and the other things; and just being together!

For our road trips we would use Erich's blue Subaru Baja (a.k.a Babe the Blue Ox) since it had a shell over the truck bed and the AWD allowed us to get up old roads for when we did go looking for rocks plus it could hold all the rock stuff we needed better than my Prius C (a.k.a Brienne of Tarth).   

Last week I decided that I don't need two cars and between Erich's which was almost 20 years old and had 113,000 miles on it plus it needs some work. My car is almost 10 years old with 115,000 miles I had to decide which car(s) to keep. After much pondering I have decided to sell both cars and get something new that would probably be my LAST car; because no matter which car I did keep I would have to either have repairs and/or get something else within the next 5 years so why not get it now.  

I spend several days playing with searching for a car that would suit my needs

• something that would have a higher ground clearance due to rain, snow and possible local flooding
• All Wheel Drive (AWD)
• good cargo space for hauling stuff and road trips
• rear fold down seats (60/40) for extra space
• good visibility out all windows
• very comfortable seats with good leg room and support
• Keyless entry and start if possible but not a hard requirement
• Hybrid if possible but not a hard requirement
• Power seats if possible but not a hard requirement

Well when I looked I was shocked, shocked I say at the prices! So I lowered my expectations and removed the hybrid, keyless systems and power seats. I eventually settled upon the Subaru CrossTrek base model.

Friday I cleaned out Erich's car and on Saturday I took it to the local Subaru dealer to sell it and test drive the CrossTrek. I got a few thousand for it which I felt was fair considering the things that needed repairing and then I looked at 2 Cross Treks; I could not drive them as they had been sold and there were no other ones on the lot nor were there any base models in the San Antonio area. The salesman priced the model (no extras but the color I wanted) and said it would be a 3 - 4 month delivery window and that I could put a $500 refundable order deposit down and I would be notified when it had arrived and oh it would be a 2024 version; which I did do. This order window then allows me to rearrange my finances so I can pay CASH and figure out how much the trade in value for my Prius would be.

By the way here is a list of every car I ever owned and their name if they had one:
1974: 1965 Chevy Corvair Convertible (rebuild by my father) - The Jobber
1976: 1965 Chevy Impala (rebuild by my father) - The Boat
1979: 1977 Chevy Vega (rebuild by my father) - Brown Bomb
​1980: 1978 Honda Hawk 400 Motorcycle - The Jackrabbit
1981: Renault 11 (Brand New) - Renny
1987: Toyota Supra
1990: Nissan Axxess
​2000: Camry LE
2005: Mitsubishi Galant - Johnny Winter
2009: Honda Fit - Mr. Weasly
2014: 2014 Prius C - Brienne of Tarth

Today I attacked cleaning Erich's car - a 2006 Subaru Baja that we used for rock hounding and road trips.
I started by emptying the glove compartment, door pockets, the front and back seat consoles, then under the front seats, behind the read seats, and in the flat bed area that has a shell on it.

Here is what I found (the big items have been put away and are not in the picture above. 
And if you are thinking, what I am thinking - "You could knock someone out, kill them and bury them with all of this" - then go right ahead!

• The compress air tank with no air
• 2 pick axes
• 3 shovels
• 4 crow bars
• 3 tarps
• 2 dozen bungie chords
• 5 flat tire repair kits
• Bleach
• 2 tie down straps
• 1 package of Industrial strength Duct (cable) ties
• 2 two gallon gas containers, no gas
• a pipe wrench
• a lead mallet
• a funnel
• an empty bottle of engine oil
• 2 - 3 dozens of Power/Energy bars that are so old they could be used for bricks
• a Geiger Counter
• 7 Dosimeters and 2 calibration units
• 2 different types of can openers (but no canned food)
• 2 cans of bug spray 
• 8 magnifying lenses
• 1 dozen roller ball pens
• 3 sharpies 
• 3 screw drivers
• a crescent wrench
• 5 heavy duty pocket knives
• 4 pairs of reading glasses
• 3 tire pressure gauges
• a roll of duct table
• a tape measure
• 5 mylar emergency blanket
• 2 lasers (red and green)
• 2 flashlights in assorted shapes and sizes 
• 7 cigarette lighters
• a fork, knife and spoon
• 2 calculators
• 2 AM/FM radios and 2 weather radios all double wrapped in aluminum foil
• batteries in all shapes and sizes and most are leaking
• foam ear plugs
• a socket wrench set
• and hundreds of pieces of nicotine gum and most so old they too could be used for bricks.

But NO guns or ammo <whew!>
And the icing on the cake - $300 in 20's!!!!!

I came to realize that my life is kinda divided into 30 some-odd year increments - like mortgages and T-Bills but I can't refinance or invest more.

Let's review why I think this.

• I lived life as a single person for 32 years before meeting Erich. Yes, I hade my parents, my sister, various roommates, boy friends (live in and not).
• Then I met Erich and we got married and lived a wonderful like together for 35+ years

That's TWO 30+ year segments.

I plan on living at least another 30+ years and with luck maybe (??) 40 as I would like to live to be at least 100.

​So what's instore for me, over the next 30 years??
I have my arts & crafts, I read, I have my friends, I would like to take long trip to Japan but what's hovering just over the horizon that would be new to me?? Only time will tell

.."being a Prepper"?  I am going with the first one since it sounds nicer and the second makes the Shop Elf sound too weird and out there.

Note: Erich was born at the end of the Great Depression and grew up during WWII so I am going with that as the reason why.

Back in late October 2022 I started to do a full house cleaning; we had been here 5+ years and I knew there was lots of stuff that we really didn't use or need despite having done a major purge for month before the move.
By New Years I had done all the big rooms - living, dining, kitchen, bedrooms, family and it was time to move onto the pantry, hall closets, the loom room, my studio and the shop elf's workshop. 

Then IT happened and everything ground to a halt. In between all the arrangements I am slowly addressing the OTHER stuff that has to be done like TAXES, grocery shopping, laundry, dishes, gassing the car, cleaning the litter box, getting the mail; it is amazing all the stuff he did for US, around the house.
Plus I have to change account names, cancel services and credit cards, etc.

In-between that I will occasionally look in his desk, closet, the pantry, or workshop and here are the things I have found that has stocked up on: (I know there will be more)

• Nicorette Gum (Coleman Ice Chest Full!!)
• Pasta (Coleman Ice Chest Full!!)
• Rice and Beans (Coleman Ice Chest Full!!)
• Batteries (Coleman Ice Chest Full!!)
• Spam
• Coffee
• Salmon
  
• Paper goods like TP and towels
• Plastic bags of all shapes and sizes
• Water - bottled and a Jerry Can
• Protein Shakes
• Protein Powders
• Vitamins and Mineral Supplements
• Geiger Counters - yes we have THREE
• LED Flashlights
• Other emergency lamp/lights
• Propane Tanks (I can use this up in the studio)
• Electronic Components: Resisters, Capacitors, etc..
• Glad ware (disposable plastic tubs)
• Stamps
• Permanent Markers
• Light Bulbs
• First Aid Items - band aides, gauze pads, tape, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, iodine tablets, Neosporin, old antibiotics cause you never know!
• Other Bathroom items - bars of soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, disposable razors, Mucinex, and more.

Update: 2023-February-06
I have now found a hoard of

• Magnifying glasses and loops
• Staples
• Post-It notes
• Solar calculators
• Highlighters
• Pentel Rolling Ball pens - red and black
• Push Pins

I might not have to buy these things for months if not YEARS!!

Well, I had my "GwtW" moment the other night.

I was watching Finding your Roots on PBS.  I won't go into the details of exactly what the episode was about but suddenly I found myself mad, crying. upset, and saying out loud - WHY NOW !!!

Coincidently my sister texted to see how I was doing, which as you can tell wasn't great, so she called and we had a great chat.  Somewhere during this Boots came into the room and settled on my lap so that also gave me comfort.

I know this will go on for a while but now I feel like I can start to move forward and take care of business.

Enjoy these pictures of the Shop Elf that were taken through the years during various trips we took

Someone recently asked how The Shop Elf and I met; again sit back and read on.

Back in 1987 a friend (Gylver) invited me over to their place in Orange County, for a bicycle ride, along with some other friends from when we all lived in Santa Barbara as well as some of their newer friends who also rode. It was late September.
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On the appointed day, I and my 21 gear bicycle arrived at the Gyl's home. Art, a mutual friend also from Santa Barbara, was there as well as this guy named Erich. No one else showed up during the hour we waited so all 4 of us took off and an hour or so later it started to rain so we headed back to Gyl's to have early dinner, conversation and eventually I headed home.   The next day I received a call from Erich and we spent quite a few hours talking on the phone and we decided to meet for dinner during the weekend. 

For our "date" we met at a restaurant that was equidistant as he lived in Tustin and I was in Temecula which is  60+ miles apart; it went well. When he asked about us meeting again in a few days, I had to say no, only weekends as I just started graduate schools and was very busy between work and classes; he understood.

One thing led to another and about a month later, in October he asked me to move in with him but I said no because of grad school, work and that I had lived with my last boyfriend for several months and that had not ended well. Again he understood. We would see each other almost every weekend and would talk for hours on the phone during the week.

At the start of November he proposed saying he "knew"; I also knew and so I said yes. We discussed many things and decided to elope over the Thanksgiving weekend as it was soonest for me to have a break in school and the best time to sneak off. 

We found a Rabbi and with Gylver as best man we got married exactly 2 months after we met; the rest is history.

Here he is during a road trip to the Arizona in 2010

I can't watch this movie at the moment and  no women in our family can watch it without tissues being at hand. 

Why, well sit back and I will reveal the reason.

Back in my early teen years Gone with the Wind (GwtW) was going to be shown at the local movie theatre with a 2 hour intermission for lunch. It was on a weekday any my mom said I would not be going to school that day so she could take me to see it. Note 1: I like going to school but when your mom says it's a girl day why argue. My sister had done this with my mother several years earlier and before we left she said " make sure mom has tissue"; was confused as to why and this statement went in one ear and out the other. 

The day arrives and we head into town and we get popcorn and settle into our seats and soon the lights go down the curtain was raised, the opening music starts and the intro credits start to scroll. Within minutes I hear my mom sniff and as the movie went on she was sniffling more and eventually she got up and then came back with a wad of toilet paper. Note 2: It was that thin Soviet Union type of TP. Intermission soon arrived and over lunch she did not explain, when I asked about what was going on but said she would explain on the way home and that I should just enjoy the movie. During the second half the sniffling changed to actual crying. I can and do acknowledge there are sad and emotional sections I still could not comprehend what was going on with my mother. By the time the movie was over and we headed to the car her eyes were very red and her nose was raw from that toilet paper in lieu of tissues.

On the way home, I again asked what was going on and she said something like "You might not understand now, but you will when I am gone!" - WTF MOM??!! Note 3: Being a young girl in the 60's I did not actually think that but you get get it. Then she proceeded to explain that HER mom had passed away when she was 12-ish and that she had seen the movie (released in 1939) around then; I do not know if she saw it with her mother or she saw it after her mother passed but every time she watches the movie all the grief and pain wells up and she can't NOT cry. Oh, and that is how I learned that my grandmother was her step-mom making her my step-grandmother and that my uncle was her half brother; it was a very strange day.

Years later, when GwtW was released to TV (1976) my sister and I made sure she had an entire box of tissue ready.

Then my father passed in 1988 and my mother passed in 1992 and NOW I understand; I was watching a movie yesterday, it was NOT GwtW, and someone died in the movie and I started to cry and changed the channel. 

I will NOT be watching GwtW any time soon.

Picture of Carol Burnett in the curtain dress from the the famous Went with the Wind parody (1976).

While cleaning - purging and re-organizing a hall closet that holds quilt fabric and other odd crafts I found a plastic shoe box with my pin looms. Note: All other fiber such as knitting yarn, warp and weft yarns is in a closet in the family room. I am still organizing the quilt fabric and have not finished the closet because I became distracted by playing with those little looms. 

I pulled the left over skeins from knitting projects out and have started to weave up squares for a couch throw.

BUT wait there is more!!

I joined 2 pin loom groups on Facebook. The first is just a general support group and the other is for making a Temperature Blanket. In a nutshell it is Data Visualization as Art - there are all sorts of projects like this; Google it and get lost on the web.

Well, being an engineer who loves data AND being a weather dork who likes to track rain fall I was instantly in.

I spent almost a week selecting my yarn and setting up the temperature ranges. I wanted a single color way that had 15+ colors so I could do high and low temps with most temperature bands being 5 degrees.  I went with Knit Picks City Tweed DK. Next, I had to select colors for the temperature bands and based upon historical data estimate yardage for each color; then I placed my order for it and it will be here next week. I am going to weave squares with the warp and weft being the high and low temps for the day and rain or snow I will insert a white warp thread for each inch and a weft thread for each 0.1 inch of precipitation. The last task was to figure out the layout and I settled on a modified linear calendar and I will use triangles around the outside.
Here are pictures of the yarn colorway, the temperature bands and assigned color(s), and the blanket layout.

On December 10th, I took a Temari workshop from Nicola of The Twisted Thread. Nicola is (also) working on her Temari certification(s) and has completed the Honka (Level 1) and Koutouka (Level 2) work and is currently working on the Shihan (Level 3) Certification which qualifies you as a teacher in Japan; you do not need this level to teach elsewhere in the world.

In the Temari Facebook group I belong to Nicola posted pictures of a Temari she designed and would teach it in an online workshop; the design being a swirl of Peacock feathers.  I signed up and then selected my colors and wound 2 mari in preparation.

The workshop started around 1 pm London Time (Nicoloa lives in the UK) which was 7am here in Texas. I woke up early (630 am) to get the computer ready and attached via the HDMI cable to the large TV in family room, I made a large coffee and put in my thermos mug and grabbed a quick bite. I was the only participant from the USA and there were 5 other students from England and Scotland.  
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The workshop lasted 4 hours which was more than enough time to complete 1 of the 6 feathers as well as talking about other temari things - I shared information on Rainbow Gallery threads which I use when I need a metallic, which everyone else were not familiar with. 

I finished the small temari during the next week and the following two weeks I worked on the larger temari, in the evening, while watching movies.