Category: To Occupy my Time

Dropcloth Sampler Schoolhouse Sampler

Finished! This one took a while. It had a lot going on.

Here’s the overview, and then a bunch of pictures of things that went well.

I think I did a great job with the color choices for this alphabet, and I was pleased with how the variegated cursive alphabet turned out, because I don’t love backstitch and also often variegated doesn’t look so good. But this did.

The different kind of arches around the edge were where I used up bits of thread.

You might not have guessed, but the name and date thing really held me up. I spent a lot of time sketching out what I wanted it to look like and that sketching involved rulers and a lot of math. Given all the prep, it looks a little wobbly. I do like my whipped backstitch frame, plus the chain stitch and green alphabet below it. The color contrast with the numbers turned out great. I don’t love that the number six was so small on the sampler. That makes me look like I couldn’t handle the six.

On the left side, are some fun variations. Given a chance to do this again, I would do all the right-side stuff before the left-side stuff. The left side involved a lot of thick thread and it made it hard to keep tension in the hoop once I got to the right side.

Good old French knots. Yet another way to use up bits of thread. I had to stop making them because the back was a tangled thicket I couldn’t get my needle through.

Having some fun with variegated perle cotton and that backstitch. Also the thick yarn and couching! Love it!

These wagon wheels were fun. Whipped backstitch. Those colors became the alphabet colors on the right-hand side.

The squares showed off different things to do with basic stitches. I liked how this zig zag ended up reminding me of a 70s sweater.

Variegated thread also worked out well here in this basket weave. And I thought I did a good job choosing the gray color to set off the colors. I also tried to do a different style border around all of the squares. This was an alternating running stitch.

Stripes! Another good use for bits and bobs.

Clouds was my favorite square and also rather thick when I finished it.

I like what I did with polka dots. French knots surrounded by different variegated thread in chain stitch. What I don’t like is that this square is not square. It’s not me! It’s designed that way.

Who doesn’t love a good chain stitch rainbow?

My pink/purple color palette came in handy for this one

I also thought I did a nice job choosing colors for the plaid box. Very 90s.

And here’s the back, for those who are interested.

My New Computer Setup

Now that my job has ended, and I’ve given back the monitors and laptop, I’ve reverted to my previous setup.

I gave this monitor to Matt when I got the KVM switch so that I could use the work monitors with my desktop. He used the monitor for a time, and then it sat on his desk, just waiting for me to be laid off. So I happily took it back. You will note that some canning jars are raising the monitor to the correct height.

You will also notice the 2-Hour Job Search book on the corner of my desk. It is helping me network.

22nd Anniversary at República

We’ve eaten at República before. It used to be in a smaller space in the Ecotrust Building. It’s moved into a space near Powell’s that once housed that mediocre pasta chain restaurant. This is a huge upgrade. As we like to do, we had the tasting menu.

I can no longer recall what this course was, but it was delicious, as were all our courses.

The bill was delivered in a book along with a card, and we got to take home a little treat for the next morning with our coffee (amended to tea when we told him we didn’t drink coffee).

It was a delicious sweet that melted well with the tea.

República is a splurge that is well worth it.

My Computer Setup c. April 2024

Memorializing my three-screen setup for my work computer. It allowed me to keep track of all the things.

The horizontal monitor was where I did my editing work. I could fit a document at 120% and also be able to pop the style guide up when I needed it.

The laptop screen was where I kept track of the requests coming in (or not coming in, as it came to be). I also did my internet searching on additional tabs.

The horizontal screen allowed me to monitor both Teams comments and messages as well as email. It was also where I kept my To-Do lists and opened relevant files.

You can barely see my keyboard, but it’s below the my desk’s top, arranged at just the right height.

Quixote Nuevo at Portland Center Stage

Matt and I took in PCS’s Quixote Nuevo, and had a great evening of theater. The story transports Don Quixote to La Plancha, Texas, where a retired English professor with dementia heads off on a journey for his long-lost love.

Among the great performances and great songs there was also great puppetry. The cast of nine was kept busy with multiple roles, and the story was compelling.

Also, this was a co-production and traveled from the South Cost Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, California, to the Seattle Repertory Theater and then ended its run in Portland. The set was designed to fit all three stages, and the actors worked for longer because of it. In a time when arts organizations are struggling, this seems like a brilliant plan.

Disneyland Planning Books

Aside from Fairyweather Travel, we used these books to plan for our trip.

In order of helpfulness:

Disneyland, The Unofficial Guide. While this super-planned approach won’t work for everyone, I was a huge fan. It aims to get you what you want out of Disneyland/DCA by planning and prioritizing. It’s also quite amusing in places. The book provides many different touring plans (Two-day with small children, one day without children, etc.) and offers an app to help you plan. The app, alas, is only for IOS right now, so we used the website version in the parks.

Things this book did well: Encouraged walking back and forth across the park to hit rides at the best time rather than a close-by geographical approach. Provided reviews and rankings of all rides so that we could rank the rides into categories of must, maybe, and probably when planning. Provided reviews of every restaurant and recommendations of favorites at those restaurants. Explained how policies like rider switch or single rider could improve your trip. Talked through strategies for best viewing of the light shows and whether one should buy a dining package that guaranteed seats.

Things that didn’t quite hit: Despite the book’s attempt, I didn’t understand how Lightning Lanes worked until my Fairyweather Travel agent walked me through it (and gave me a handout). Having now been there with Lightning Lane access, I also would take a slightly different approach than they recommended (at least at the time we visited).

I would prioritize must-visit (and then maybe-visit) attractions without Lightning Lane access from rope drop to about 11:00 and then start the Lightning Lane process after that time. We waited a very long time for the Peter Pan ride (a maybe-visit) and used our Lightning Lane for the Matterhorn (a must-visit) at 8:30 in the morning when there was basically no line. We should have reversed those. While some attractions did “sell out” their Lightning Lane availability before the day was done, most did not. And we were planning to be there All. Day. Long. so we could have better used the Lightning Lanes beginning in the late morning rather than first thing.

Overall, though, this is a great book and well worth both the money and buying a year’s subscription to the app to view their extended content. At less than $50 total, this book and the paid website will add value to your trip.

The Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland. Somewhat out of date, this small book provides behind-the-scenes information and fun facts about how exhibits at Disneyland were created. I read it before we left and envisioned paging through it while waiting in line, but never actually did that.

The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney California Adventure. This is very out of date; things have changed a lot since this was published. Still, there was some good information including the relationship between Grizzly River Run and the water at Pixar Pier.

Mouse-Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland. This book was published in 1994 and contains the experiences of former cast members. There are some fun stories like the one where so many people at the local naval base moonlighted at Disneyland that one Friday when there was a navel emergency, and they were called back to the base, and Disneyland had to close due to lack of workers. Given the era, there were some tales of “funny” mild sexual harassment. The author also discussed the difficulties Black people and all women had getting promoted, which is important perspective. That said, it wasn’t especially gripping, and I didn’t finish it.

I put all four of these books in a Little Free Library. The guidebooks were gone the next day, and the Mouse Tales book lingered for about a week.

Oscar Viewing Party at McMenamins

Though I have no photo proof, Friend Jessica and I attended McMenamin’s Oscar Viewing Party. It was good fun. As usual, I brought along my Happiest Oscar Viewer game, so we could pick who we wanted to win.

While I wasn’t happy for every category category I picked, I was thrilled that the Zone of Interest won best sound design (truly amazing) and that the Last Repair Shop won for Best Documentary Short.

Ruth Carter at the Tomorrow Theater

Famous costume designer Ruth Carter was scheduled to come to Portland in January, and I neglected to get a ticket and was sad. But it turned out that her visit coincided with the ice storm and didn’t happen, so she was rescheduled to March, and I did buy a ticket.

After finding my assigned seat (instead of the random seat I grabbed because I didn’t pick up on the fact there were assigned seats, even though I had picked my seat hen ordering the ticket (the Disney trip really overloaded me, and I had trouble navigating spaces for a few days after our return)) Ruth Carter appeared and was interviewed.

It was a great interview, and I learned a lot about her many Oscar nominations (she said that Black Panther was the first time she was favored to win and that the interview requests scaled up to match that favored status, so much so that she was exhausted by the time of the ceremony. Also that when they were making Black Panther, no one knew it was going to be as successful as it was, so midway through she lost half of her team to a different movie (that was a flop).

She also talked about working with Spike Lee and their long collaboration.

For those of you not able to see Carter in person, you can check out her book, The Art of Ruth E. Carter.