The Second Purge Begins

Now that I have moved from one county to another, it is time to start the second purge. By that I mean dramatically downsizing everything from furniture to collectibles. This is a panoramic image of just the shed. 

Items I intend to keep include my craft/book cabinet, certain pieces of fabric, original artwork and some of my sewing pattern collection. Of my collectibles, there are the wooden duck decoys, various dolls, blue Bell jars, and so. much. Christmas. 

The fabric is intended for the local quilting guild. They are always spinning together amazing gifts for those less fortunate. And there is so much of it. Hoarding behaviors were an outcropping of the environment I lived in. 

Housing continues to be a challenge. While I am living with family, it is not the ideal situation. I have placed at least 8 applications for an apartment, with waitlists from 6 months to 6 years from Sacramento to El Dorado counties. My goal is to be in a Mercy Housing community by the time I am 70. Right in my time frame of three years from now, give or take. 

Had it not been for a series of events that have happened in the past few months, I would not have been motivated to plan for the upcoming five years. Our family had to take a hard look at where we would be aging. Maintaining a three bedroom rambler on a good sized lot is more than one person can handle. That one person would be me. 

The organization of the estates then continue. All that is important will be narrowed down to one bedroom each. *sighs* Freeing yet sad at the same time. 

Final Fantasy Flash #8

Part of the fun of the game is being able to change the costume as often as you want. I'd like to add some shimmery stuff to my outfit. I was able to slightly turn her head for this pose.

I had been playing a couple of months when my son pointed out and enlarged the compass for me. Found in the right corner of the playing screen. I am the blue pointer with flashlight and the green check mark is the destination.  

One of my dislikes in the game are all of the tasks you have to perform. Stepping and fetching. And running, so much running around. Sometimes I am in no-man's land and see none of the other players in the game. Sort of disconcerting. 

One of my likes are the dungeons. Dark and scary, lots of monsters. Potential treasure chest loot. Palace of the Dead in the Black Shroud is on my sites to visit.💀

While I would like to be puttering around outside, but we have hit the heat of summer. I am mainly game playing and YouTube watching. 

Happy 4th of July

These patriotic cuties are from my pattern collection. Undated Advance sewing pattern priced at 25 cents from a bygone era. 

I just keep adding to the vegetable garden. Giving a go at growing leeks. 

Wish I had more to report on the thrifting front but I have moved to a less-affluent area. Main items I find now at thrift are athleisure clothing, scented candles, and books for the grandbaby. 

It is interesting that items trend in certain areas. As an example, when I worked in downtown Sacramento, I was a frequent visitor of a Goodwill boutique. There, over the years, I found my tiki mug collection of 10. I have never found a tiki mug at thrift in the outlying areas. 

There were also more sewing patterns to find at thrift the farther out in the country you ventured. Nearer to the city = less sewing patterns. 

I don't pick up all the original artwork that I see at thrift. This painting, while exquisitely framed original price $450, thrift shop price $15, the composition seemed off. 

Just remembered a box of collectible patriotic stuff was left in the move. Unless I missed it when items went from storage to onsite shed. Patriotic cloth doll started the new collection - 25 cents at thrift. 

I buy fresh flowers each week. This week's bunch are particularly fragrant! 

Wishing everyone an enjoyable holiday weekend.🎇🎆

Final Fantasy Flash #7

Finally, I was able to "glam up" to my liking by purchasing the Thavnarian headdress and bustier on the marketboard. Greercourt did the welcome emote. 

A skosh of info on my lack of game-playing ability. I have never played Xbox games. There was an obscure game called Bad Day on the Midway that I loved to play. It was dark and scary. A psycho killer character lurked in the ride section and routinely ended my game sessions. 

Back to the Xbox. I had never operated an Xbox controller. In Final Fantasy battles, I was pushing any button that would do anything for me. He heard me frantically trying to kill a big bully, and discovered I wasn't pulling the trigger and pushing the B button to cast the spells (I am a conjurer). I was damn lucky to make it through a couple of dungeon runs not knowing what the hell I was doing with the controller. Sheesh! My son's online group thought it "cute" that Gramma Tami was trying to learn the game. 

Reading through the player agreement, one's character could be placed in "virtual jail" for online misbehavior. If it is anything like the dungeons in the game, I would not want to go there. 

I am curious to see how the interaction with other players will change now that I have joined the full version. I will have to expand the chat box for one. I pretty much ignored it other than issuing character commands. 

I have yet to gain a "ride" or mount so I have to keep running around or teleporting. I also don't have a house. Kind of like in real life, I am always living in other people's houses. I briefly owned a Craftsman bungalow in midtown Sacramento but let it go on short sale (underwater real estate no bueno). I wonder if there is a Final Fantasy condo or retirement community? I will report back. 

My son exclaimed "You are RP walking!" I was walking through the games populated areas rather than running. Sometimes I do that to look at the other character's costumes. So sue me. 

I see there are a lot of sprouts (players new to the game). I've yet to reach out to make virtual friends. Maybe invite them over to my house for tea and crumpets? 

Belated Birthday Celebrations

I was looking for some important documents and found this gem stashed in the top tray of our cargo trunk. McCall's mermaid skirt 3482 from 1955. Or skirt with flouce. When I get back to sewing clothes from vintage patterns and modern material, this pattern will move up on the list. The packet is pretty torn up, the pattern is cut, but most important the instructions are there. You can even see the thrift shop 39 cents scrawled on front in blue marker. 

The garden is going great guns. We've harvested a tomato or two a day this past month. Tomatoes are in the background near the ladder. Still trying to trim back branches resting on top of the shed. 

A close-up of the Blue Beauty heirloom tomato. The pepper plants are still growing, not yet flowering. 

It is a constant battle with the deer that roam the neighborhood. No predators here, unless you count bad drivers on the road. Around the fabric planter, I used pet exercise case fencing. Atop the fencing, I zip-tied chicken wire. 

Random thrifting news - needed a wine rack and found one, in fact there were about 8 of them at the large hospice thrift in Placerville, California.  

Other fun additions from my constantly creating environment, two birdhouses from the same hospice thrift. Two were from my mom's estate, so the other two fit right in. 

Gourd koi also joined my family. Bought retail at ACE Hardware in Cameron Park, California. He is keeping Buddha company in the garage right now.  

Belated birthday celebrations included red velvet cupcakes from Icing on the Cake in the Folsom Palladio. My absolute favorite! 💜💙💚💗

Final Fantasy Flash #6-7

Even though this is Flash #6, I have added 7 because it is my birthday today and I am 67!🎂 As an aside, I have now joined the full version of the Final Fantasy game. 

For those who have been following along, my life took a dramatic turn five months ago. A long-term relationship abruptly ended and I moved from one county into another. With that move, my eBay business ended and donated nearly all inventory to thrift. A grand-daughter entered my life and I now care for her once a week. 

My craphting projects also ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. The last quilt I made was for Mila, the grandbaby. I do not foresee quilting in my future. The last garment I completed was also for Mila but it is too big for her to wear right now. Sewing has also come to a screeching halt. Hand sewing was also ended after trouble with both hands. 

The three main interests in my life now are gardening, tap dancing, and playing Final Fantasy. I didn't intend on becoming a player of that game but there are only so many YouTube videos you can watch during the summer heat waves. It also helped that I was able to attend the Final Fantasy Festival in Anaheim. While I did not understand all of the activities that went on, I did get the gist of the game. 

I am almost to level 30. This is the latest getup for my character, Greercourt. Guess you need a hat to protect you in battle so I opted for the green beret. In fact, I used a glamour prism to add the green dye to the original black and white outfit. Had to have the fingerless gloves, just had to. 

I have added Volunteer to my resume. My first gig will be at the local Summer Spectacular as a worker in the Beer Garden.🍺 So looking forward to it. Now I can enjoy it by donating my time to the event, people watching, listening to the live bands, and watching the fireworks.🎇

Happy Birthday to me! A Round Table Hawaiian pizza is scheduled for lunch, and country line dancing in the evening.  

Update to post: When this post first went live, my page views which hover around 1,000-2,000 per day, showed a number of 49,000+!! Gotta be a glitch. Whatevers I will take it, an internet social media gift. 

Mila Country Music YouTube playlist

Red, white, and blue cowboy boots spotted at Lee's Feed in Shingle Springs, California. Perfect lead-in to the country music YouTube playlist. 

I started playing YouTube videos of music playlists from Mila’s baby books. There was ABC to ZZtop - rock classics, and AB to Jay-Z – hip hop. 

I would like Mila to experience art, music, and dance. This A-Z YouTube Playlist is Country/Western. Good ole Wikipedia had a list of country music performers listed in alphabetical order. I chose my favorites to play for her.  Some are from many years ago when I was immersed in the CW boot-scooting scene. 

A            Trace Adkins  Honky Tonk Badonkadonk

B            Garth Brooks Friends In Low Places

C            Johnny Cash Ring Of Fire

D            John Denver Annie's Song

E            Steve Earle Copperhead Road 

F            Flatt and Scruggs Foggy Mountain Breakdown

G            Lee Greenwood God Bless The U.S.A.

H            Merle Haggard Mama Tried

I              Burl Ives Ghost Riders In The Sky

J             Alan Jackson Chattahoochee

K            Toby Keith As Good As I Once Was

L             K.D. Lang Trail of Broken Hearts

M           The Mavericks All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down

N            Willie Nelson On The Road Again

O           K.T. Oslin Come Next Monday

P            Dolly Parton Jolene 

Q           NA

R            Marty Robbins El Paso

S            Ricky Skaggs Country Boy

T             Randy Travis Diggin' Up Bones

U            Keith Urban Somebody Like You

V            NA

W           Tammy Wynette Stand By Your Man

X            Lil Nas X Old Town Road

Y            Dwight Yoakam Guitars, Cadillacs

Z            NA

Next up for the YouTube playlist is Alternative.💥