(Inedible) Chip Bags

This month was Hubby Tony's turn to host his friend poker group. In preparation, he got out his special decks of cards and his stash of poker chips in Ziploc bags. Each member of the group only hosts a couple of times a year. With only occasional use, the chips always smell musty to Tony, which precipitates a process of washing, drying, and airing them out.  

To save him the work I told Tony I would try to come up with a better solution.

After some research I decided fabric drawstring bags would work. I looked through my stash of material, but I didn't have any pieces large enough. Just as I was headed to the fabric store I spotted a pair of blue khaki pants in the donation pile and the light bulb went off in head.

Making up the bags were an easy task. I cut the pant legs into appropriate lengths, sewed a bottom seam on each, then made a casing at the top and threaded a piece of ribbon through. I was able to match the colors of the chips (red, white, and blue) to the tie for each bag.

These bags are much sturdier than the former flimsy plastic bags, and the fabric is breathable so there should be no issue with smells. After Tony pronounced my work satisfactory I placed the chips into the proper receptacle, then found a box large enough to hold the bags so they would be easier to get to in the closet. Five years ago: Purposeful Road Trip

Cat Owies

In the past seven weeks Pimento the Foster Cat has been having some skin issues, which has led to several vet visits. Each was precipitated by the discovery of a lump under his fur, which turned out to be a scab, which fell off and left a nasty red spot. Like this:

When we find a lump, Hubby Tony or I contact the shelter to authorize an appointment to check it out. The clinic works the shelter cats in between scheduled visits, so we drop Pimento off and pick him up several hours later. He's not a fan of getting in his cage and going in the car. Tony and I are not fans of the schedule, but we all make it work.

At the first visit the vet said the spot was healing nicely and of no real concern.The second time Pimento got a long lasting antibiotic shot, and the vet opined that we might need to investigate food allergies. At the third appointment earlier this week, we came home with a liquid antibiotic, instructions to clean the area with a damp rag twice a day, and directions to have Pimento wear a soft donut cone to keep him from scratching the sore area.

We picked up a tiny colorful donut from the shelter. The eleven-inch wide circle of soft, fiber filled material had an interior tube that could be cinched with a Velcro strap to fit it to a cat's neck.

The internet is full of cats serenely wearing a donut. Some almost look happy to have it on. And then there's Pimento.

I have no idea what his life on the streets was like before he entered into shelter care, but even after more than a year of love and attention, standing over him or quickly putting two hands on his body to hold him freaks him out. Tony and I have tried daily to get Pimento's head through the hole, but eventually we figured that as long as there was no sign the sore had been disturbed we would let him be.

Five years ago today: Not So Traditionally Chinese

Ragged Is The Rage

For the past few years distressed clothes (like this skirt with a frayed hem that I saw last week when I walked at the mall) have been in fashion.

I could care less about fashion, but yesterday I put on an old pair of well-loved shorts and realized some people would pay good money for my raggedy hems and little holes 😀.

Five years ago: Working Up A Sweat, Literally And Figuratively

Pre-sliced And Packaged

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If you're a sliced bread lover, today is a big day. According to Wikipedia, on July 7, 1928 the first sliced bread was sold by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri (a town about an hour northeast of Kansas City).

The story actually starts in 1912, when Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa built a prototype of a single loaf bread slicing machine. All of the paperwork was destroyed in a fire, and it took another 16 years for the machine to make its debut.

In 2019 Missouri state statute 9.240 designated July seventh of each year as "Missouri Sliced Bread Day", indicating that the citizens of this state are encouraged to participate in appropriate activities and events to commemorate the first sale of sliced bread on July 7, 1928, in Chillicothe, Missouri.

There's also a St. Louis sliced bread connection. Gustav Papendick, a St. Louis baker, bought the second bread slicing machine. He knew that sliced bread got stale faster than an uncut loaf, so he developed a way to keep a newly-sliced loaf aligned so it could easily be wrapped in wax paper.

Five years ago: [Not] Great Customer Service

Who Does Something Like This?

I've almost reached the end of the get rid of old paint project. Several of the cans were picked up by people from my Buy Nothing group. The ones that didn't were dried out and tossed into the trash.

Eventually I was down to one five-gallon bucket, which felt to be about half full.

It took several weeks of looking at it, but eventually I was inspired to tackle the project of getting it out of the condo. When I opened the bucket I was shocked to see that the last painter had forgotten to take out their paint roller frame/cover and bucket grid.

Who does this?!?

Our trash people strictly follow the rules about discarded paint, which means the liquid has to be turned into a solid before it goes into the bin. In order to do that, I had to get the equipment out. 

The bucket didn't have a date on it, but it's not been opened in the five years I've lived here. When I tried to pick up the grid it fell apart, and the metal on the roller frame disintegrated in my hands. I used a paint stirrer to fish the pieces out and get as much of the paint off the roller as I could before putting both in a plastic container pulled from the recycling bin to dry.

Later in the day I went to Walmart and bought the cheapest bag of cat litter they had. It took the whole thing, but in the end the paint was successfully dried up and the bucket went into the trash bin. I'm enjoying a little extra space in the laundry room.

Five years ago: A Song For The Fourth Of July

A Fun Opportunity To Do Good

Hubby Tony found a two hour volunteer opportunity for today in the area affected by the May tornado. He asked if I was interested in signing up. I was.

This one took place at a church not too far from our last shift. When we arrived, I knew we were in the right place when I saw the banner indicating the church was a location for FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) assistance. After figuring out which door to go in, we found the church office, where we were greeted by an assistant pastor and escorted to the food pantry area. 

The food pantry was a large room lined with rows of donated perishables (fruits, vegetables, bread, and pastries) and a few large displays of processed snack foods. Looking at the packaging, I could tell by the price tags or brands where they had come from.

We had to wait for about ten minutes for the manager of the food pantry to show up. She told us they were normally open on Thursday, but closed today for the Fourth of July holiday. However, several people showed up looking for food and no one was turned away.

There were four one-time volunteers, and several people who knew what they were doing. Since there would be no official food pantry until next week our first task was to bag up the bakery products to move to another location where they could be frozen. By the time we were done, a minivan and two sedans were crammed with boxes and bags of bread, rolls, bagels, and buns.

Unfortunately, some of the fruit and produce was past its prime, so the next step was to separate the good from the not so good. Eventually the discarded stuff filled a huge cardboard watermelon box, which was moved to a pallet outside so the janitorial department could deal with it.

Close to the end of my shift I was able to help a lady get her food. I pointed out the different items, and she told me if she wanted them or not. After she made her selections, one of the permanent volunteers got her a bag of meat from a chest freezer in the back area. I walked with her to her car and put her things in the back. When we were done she thanked and blessed me, which made me feel good.

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I couldn't believe how fast the two hour shift went. After we signed out, the food pantry manager invited us to come back again. As we were walking out the door, a driver from the food bank arrived, saying he had pallets of donations to drop off. There was a big panel truck with the food bank logo in the parking lot.  It would have been interesting to see what it held.

Five years ago: Financial Freedom

Six Means Coffee

But since it's after dinner I better make it decaf.🤣

You Dot This

What about you? What do you need today?

You're Going To Give Me Money? Sure!

Yesterday I received a post card in the mail that indicated that I might be entitled to a payment from a class action lawsuit. Usually things like this go straight into the recycling bin, but when I turned it over and started reading I learned that in this case the "entitle to a payment" information was correct.

In this case, the defendant was Lee Enterprises (the owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper). Allegedly, they disclosed subscriber's personally identifiable information to Facebook without consent.

The records indicated I was a class member, and the postcard encouraged me to fill out a claim form with a provided login and password. This morning I went to the website, logged in, filled out the form, and chose my settlement delivery method. Before I signed off on the application I had to agree that:

"I am a person in the United States who, from December 1, 2020, until March 4, 2025, have or had a Facebook account, and was a subscriber of a Lee publication during that time."

A hearing on the proposed settlement is scheduled for early August. If the Court approves the settlement I will receive a payment 90 days later. The payment is anticipated to be approximately $41.01. Definitely not a huge amount, but enough to have made it worth my while. 

Five years ago: Time To Count

An Arachnid Good Deed

Every couple of weeks I see a common house spider in the laundry room or master bathroom. During my years of being a "boy mom" to three sons I got over my fear of most creepy crawlies. Now I figure that as long as they stay out of my way and build their webs in inconspicuous places, they're keeping my home insect free.

Two nights ago I went into the bathroom at bedtime and was surprised to see a spider in one of the two sinks in the double vanity. It was trying to climb out, but between gravity and the slick porcelain it couldn't quite get there. I used the other sink to brush my teeth and went to bed.

The next morning the spider wasn't anywhere to be found in the sink, so I was surprised when it was back again later in the afternoon. (Had it been resting in the drain underneath the stopper?) After spending a few minutes watching it's futile locomotion I decided I would give it a little help. I draped a piece of toilet paper from the bottom of the sink up to the vanity, tucked the end under the drinking cup, then turned out the light and left. When I checked five minutes later the spider was gone back to whereever it normally hangs out.

I haven't seen it again.

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Is This A Positive Or A Negative?

Did you realize that today is the midpoint between January 1st and December 25th? Yep, it's Halfway to Christmas.

And as fast as time is flying the holiday season will be here before I know it.

Five years ago today: Scrap Spice Shelf