Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 32

Adventures With Laundry

So this happened.

My dad asked me to wash his white undershirts. I don't own any clothes that need to be washing in hot water, so the only time I do is when he needs a load done.

With a lot on my plate for the weekend, I messaged him on Friday and I said, hey, why don't you put what you want washed in the machine and I'll do it when I get home from work.

And that's what I did. I put down my tote bag and phone, and headed back to the laundry room. I briefly thought about wearing my work clothes while I was pouring bleach, but every other time I'd done my dad's white clothes wearing around-the-house clothes, I never got bleach on me. Why would it happen today?

Guess what?

I still don't know how the bleach sloshed onto my polo shirt, but it did. In more than one place. The shirt was ruined pretty much instantly.

Next time? I will 100% change clothes before touching the bleach. Lesson has been learned.

Tote Sweet

It was my week for sagas, I guess. Or maybe everything felt harder because I caught the flu and was still recovering last week.

I want to make a tote bag. I've been searching and favoriting patterns for months. Lots of months. And finally I decided it was time to pick a bag. How can I sew one if I have no pattern or instructions?

It was while I was tooling around, trying to decide on a pattern that I saw it. Not a tote bag, but something awesome.

A pattern to make a case to hold knitting needles! (Or crochet hooks.)

I have small little book-type cases to hold my needles now, but I have more than one because I can't fit everything in one. And I have circular needles and interchangeable needles and double-pointed needles and short tip needles. Well, you get the idea. This case would be perfect! And I could put all my other cases inside it, too.

It never occurred to me that it wouldn't be a PDF pattern. We're not talking one of the big pattern makers. This is an indie pattern company.

I had the pattern in my basket and was checking out when I saw my shipping options. I'm like, shipping? I started investigating and this designer only has a handful of PDF patterns available and this was not one of them. Why? Not because of pirates, although that was my first thought.

No, she has them in paper only because she wants to support quilt shops.

Lady, I understand your desire to make sure we don't lose more brick and mortar retailers. I'm still heartbroken that my yarn shop went out of business during the pandemic, but I don't have a quilt shop close to me and I do not want a paper pattern.

I want PDF.

That way, if I mess up, I can reprint it and try again. With a PDF, I can throw the paper away at the end of the project and just reprint if I ever decide to make another one which saves on clutter and storage space. And besides, I hate paying for shipping.

I actually removed this pattern from my cart because I couldn't get it in PDF. This designer had a lot of patterns and I was excited about half a dozen of them. But if they're all paper, I'll see what I can find from another designer. Someone else must have designed a pattern for something similar, right?

And if not, I'll eventually hold my nose and order the needle case because I can't find all my knitting needles at the moment. They're in too many places.

Well, Huh

Last week, I noticed something weird. Amazon had marked down the price on my ebook of Eternal Nights. I wasn't running any promotions, so I worried that one of the other retailers had gone rogue and Amazon was price matching.

I searched everywhere I could, but no one had the incorrect price. Then I started to worry some pirate was selling a copy and I was going to have to fight to get that taken down.

Without any idea what was going on, I emailed Kindle Publishing and asked.

The answer was that there was a new copy of the paperback for sale and the ebook must be priced lower than the paperback copy.

Dear reader, this book has been out of print for more than fifteen years. I got my rights back to this book around fifteen years ago. The publisher is out of business and has been for more than ten years. I never did a paperback version since there were so many mass market paperbacks available used. There are no new copies of this book.

Or there shouldn't be.

But I went over and sure enough, there was one copy of the paperback marked as new. Sold by Amazon, not a third party. I'm like WTH?

I'm wracking my brain, trying to come up with answers. I decided on two probably scenarios.

One: They were cleaning the warehouse and found a stray copy.

Two: It was really a used copy and it was somehow mislabeled as new.

So I ordered it. The book arrived on Thursday and guess what? It was used. And not just gently used either. It's stained and icky to the point I think I'm going to throw it away instead of donating it somewhere.

New Podcast Recommendation

 

I found another new podcast!

Not that I was looking for one. I have plenty right now, so many, that I'm only downloading episodes from my favorites and letting the others sit. And sometimes I just delete some of those podcast episodes without listening to them. But I digress.

This one is called One Hit Thunder and it looks at songs labeled as one hit wonders.

I've only listened to two episodes so far, but they were one-hit-wonder songs from two of my favorite groups: The Boomtown Rats and Devo.

I knew they both only hit once, but I have their albums and CDs and love so many of their songs that sometimes I forget that most people can't sing along with Windchill Factor (Minus Zero) or Diamond Smiles. (Both are by the Boomtown Rats.) It also kind of amazed me that the two hosts were surprised by the origins of the song they were discussing--I Don't Like Mondays. It was such a huge controversy, that I figured it was common knowledge to music listeners.

Devo has a lot of albums with a lot of great music! Their song, Girl U Want is the theme song for Ravyn's Flight.

I have a few more episodes on my phone I still need to listen to, and when I'm done with those, I'll queue up some more. I think, though, that this is one of those shows where I'm only going to listen to the episodes that interest me and not every one of them. There are songs they looked at that I've never heard of and I don't have much interest in those.

They also have an interesting choice for one episode--Rick Springfield's Jessie's Girl, which isn't anywhere close to being a one-hit-wonder. Just because most people only remember one of his songs doesn't mean there weren't others. I remember singing along with I've Done Everything For You with some heartfelt oomph in my more dramatic teen years.

Despite a few nitpicks, I really enjoyed the two episodes I listened to and would give a recommendation to anyone interested in music.

Friend Groups

 

I don't know how I got started thinking about this--as an overthinker, my head goes a million different directions all the time--but I was contemplating friend groups in relation to my musketeers.

Ryder (Wicked Obsession) is the peacemaker of the group. When Finn and JT are squaring off in Wicked Intention, it's Ryder who tries to smooth things over. He did this at the end of his own book, too.

JT AKA Griff (Wicked Salvation) is the mother hen, the one who worries about his friends. The reason he squares off with Finn is because he's worried about him and the chances Finn's taking since he met Zo.

Kyle (Wicked Deception) is the...well, I was going to say smart ass, but he's not exactly that. He's the one who pokes at his friends' buttons for amusement purposes. If they're on their game, they ignore him and don't let him know it worked. When they're less on top of things, they react. Griff was not on his game when he met his heroine and Kyle had a good time in that book.

And Finn (Wicked Intention). I had to think about this for a longer time because I wasn't sure what role he had in the group, but I think I have it. He's the glue. He's the one who makes sure everyone keeps in contact. He's the steadiest one of a group of steady guys. If one of them needs to get rock-solid advice, Finn is the one they'd talk to. Of course, Finn does not merely say what someone wants to hear, he speaks the truth, and sometimes that's not what someone wants to hear.

I also spent some time mulling Mako who was the original fourth musketeer and what his role with the group was, but I didn't come up with an answer for him. Yet.

I never spelled it out in the series, but Kyle was Mako's replacement on the team. That's why in Wicked Intention he's the newest team member in the flashback scenes. It's why when Finn checks in at the bar, he, Griff, and Ryder refer to themselves as the three musketeers. Kyle was working his way to good friend/musketeer status with the other guys. And then, two years later when the current day action takes place in Wicked Intention, he's a musketeer.

I'm thinking through the next series arc now, trying to figure out the relationships. I know who my heroes are. I know who their heroines are. Now it's a matter of figuring out how to weave it all together.

Game Ads or WTF?

I play games. Usually on the elliptical at the gym to make the time go faster. Most of these games have in-app purchases, but a player can sometimes watch an ad instead.

I've noticed something. Nearly every ad features our heroine of the game being cruelly cheated on by her husband/SO/boyfriend. Frequently, she has a child or she's pregnant with the cad's baby, but his new side piece is pregnant too and he's all gooey eyed over her. Our heroine then leaves town and starts a new life wherever the game takes place.

The first couple of times, I figured it was just how the game was set up, but as months went by and ad after ad after ad featured the same setup, it made me go huh?

There's one app--I hesitate to call it a game--where it's like an online coloring book. I have this game and I played it at the start of the pandemic because it was calming. They had an ad where the heroine's SO has his eyes straying to a new woman.

Only I have this game. I still login to it regularly to get the daily bonus. My version of the game still has these two together and there's no sign there's ever been an other woman drama.

Then another game shows our heroine pregnant, she tells the father, and he puts her on a raft and pushes her out to sea. The name of the game? Family Island. That's right, this is a couple with two other children and the previous ads for this game featured the entire family fleeing an exploding volcano, the father doing what he could to protect his wife and children.

This makes me ask what changed the advertising strategy for these games? Did one game have an abandoned woman setup, advertise it, and do really well? Is that why all these other games are following the same ad strategy even though their games do not have an abandoned woman?

I'd love to discover why this is a trend and what other casual game players think of it. I'm invested with my coloring book couple and it pissed me off when the ad broke them up. And Family Island? Isn't the whole point of the game that they're a family?

The strategy makes me wonder what sort of demographics and market research they have. Or if one person posted on a forum somewhere and all these other game companies went, Eureka!

I'd Like to Make That

It's time for the latest edition of I can make that! This post features no actual attempt at making something, so I'm not putting the "Adventure" tag on this post.

There is a maker who creates some pretty awesome knitting project bags. I received a newsletter from her recently and there was this large bag, perfect for knitting a blanket or a sweater. Something that requires yarn and space to put it when not in work.

I'm all excited until I see the price. Almost a hundred dollars for a project bag. Ugh!

In my head, I'm guesstimating cost of fabric, thread, etc and I know it's nowhere near that price for supplies. As for the labor, well, I might not be a perfect sewer, but I'm good enough. I can totally make this and it will cost a hell of a lot less than $100. I think part of the price for this person is she has an actual physical storefront and real estate costs money. I love the bag, but not the price.

I began my hunt for the pattern. Or at least a pattern close enough to call it good. This is where I ran into issues. There are very few pictures of this bag available online. Even the person's website only has one picture and it's with the bag flat. I persevered anyway.

And failed. I couldn't find anything close to it on Etsy. I'm guessing she must have created her own bag pattern? Either that, or it's from someone not selling on that site.

I did, however, find a lot of other patterns for really cute bags. I ended up favoriting a lot of them.

An online search turned up even more cute bag patterns. This was not a rabbit hole I wanted to fall down because I have clothing patterns I want to sew.

Scottish North Coast

Yes, more virtual races! The Torres Del Paine was a short race that didn't take much time to complete. Sadly, there was no street view and that's one of the things I enjoy most about the challenges. There were virtual postcards. They also had a thing where there were pictures of local attractions with information about them.

My current race is a long one. The North Scottish Coast Challenge. This one does have street views and I'm including a shot below of my phone. The very top is the header for the race. The next section is the map of what I'm walking. The next area is the street view. Look at that gorgeous water!

I'm only 14% along in this race, so it's going to take a while before I finish and get my medal mailed to me, but I'm very goal oriented, so having something to work toward--a medal--keeps me motivated.

I keep signing up for more races from this company because everything works and works smoothly for me. There's another race company who has super cool challenges, but they've incorporated these into their normal fitness app. And their app never worked right for me on the challenges. I kept getting emails from them about not making any progress on the race when I'd already completed the distance. It was frustrating. It's too bad they don't create a separate app like the one from the company I like so much.

Phone Wallpaper

I'm easily bored and I'm frequently changing the wallpaper on my phone's lock screen. It was endlessly frustrating to search online because I was frequently disappointed with what I found.

So (and my regular readers know where this is going) I thought I can make my own!

I had some quotes on my white board that I liked, and I created a few images that I use on my phone. Then, while I was searching for blog topics, my friends suggested I share my phone wallpaper. And I thought, hey, why not?

First caveat: I am unable to provide tech support.

Second caveat: Do not sell these in any way. If you want to share it with someone else, please give them the link to this blog, rather than sending the file.

I think all you should need to do is tap the image to open it full size and then save it to your phone. Then do whatever you normally do with your wallpaper. I have an iPhone and have no clue what Android users do. ::shrug::

Anyway, the first one is my Gen X favorite. The other two are quotes. I think the first one, about the brick walls, is from a talk given by a professor who was dying of cancer. I can't think of his name right now and that means I can't link to the YouTube video of his lecture. The second quote? I have no idea where I saw/heard that, but it really resonated for me. It's my current wallpaper.

Calendars, Spreadsheets and Frustration

Now that it's August, we're starting to accumulate 2023 appointments. My dad has doctors' appointments in July, in February, etc. And of course, I don't have my 2023 planner yet.

Yes, I've entered the appointments in my phone's calendar, but I do better with paper. My planner does have a little two page thing to write 2023 events in, and it's okay, but it's not as awesome as a monthly calendar.

I went looking in my templates folder. I was sure I remembered seeing a spreadsheet calendar that was perpetual as in I could enter the year and it would auto update.

And I found a free calendar I'd downloaded in 2015 and it does everything I want a spreadsheet calendar to do. As in I can enter information on the page and it will auto populate the year overview for me. Perfect! I'll just update the year.

Yeah, no. It doesn't update. It's 2015 or nothing.

Okay, I'll go back to the website I got it from and get one for 2023. No dice. The owner of the website is apparently updating to Shopify and has one more step to complete. And has had this step to complete for about a week now. I keep going back to check. Honestly, I would pay for the the version of this calendar because the other templates I've found don't have all the features that this one does.

I began searching online, hoping she was selling it somewhere else. I found an Etsy store. Yea! I clicked over there, but she'd closed her store. Sigh.

I know this move to Shopify has to be fairly recent because this is the same site I bought my budget spreadsheet from, the one I love and use, and the site was up and running then. I'm guessing this was earlier this summer, so it's a matter of months.

The picture above is from a spreadsheet calendar I was trying to create. It's okay, but the tutorial I followed went so fast and I got lost somewhere along the way. While I'd like to know how to do more in Excel, I also realize that if I can buy/find a template that does what I need it to do, I don't have to reinvent the wheel. But when you can't even buy the perfect template, it gets frustrating to not have the skills to do it myself.