Category Archives: doing it wrong

Remember back in December I reported that I had a DIY fix it project and I was going to attempt to fix the zipper on my backpack? I chickened out and decided to live with it. Here’s the post where I bought it in 2017.

The zipper situation further deteriorated. At some point I decided to check if they could fix it — I didn’t even mind paying. I hated to get rid of a perfectly good backpack just because of a zipper.

They had contact info and told me I could mail it in and they would check it out. I think the contact said there was a fee — but they didn’t charge me and they fixed it. Look at these amazing zipper pulls. And they gave me some tips to keep the zipper zipping smoothly.

Waterfield Bags are terrific. I have a laptop back and we have a bunch of laptop cases. All great.

Here’s my favorite dahlia. My dahlias aren’t the healthiest. The earwigs have taken over and my half-assed attempts to address haven’t made a dent. I am digging a few up at the end of the season. But this one is so pretty.

More posts on deck. I am just pooped tonight. I woke up at 4am and just decided to get up. (Tell me you are old without telling me you are old.) And then I cleaned house and made applesauce and did a bunch of laundry and worked out and went for a walk. I’m going to watch a show and go to bed early.

I have always struggled with knowing my left from my right. I would always need to take the extra step of pretending I’m writing and my writing hand is my left hand.

But also I wear a wedding ring. When I do yoga class I’ve gotten really good at quickly figuring out my left because I wear my ring on my left hand. In fact, I thought I’d gotten over this confusion.

Recently, my left knuckle seemed to be sore and swollen. Is this arthritis? Do you get arthritis in just one joint? Did I jam it and not notice?

Who knows? But my wedding ring was bothering me so I moved it to my right hand.

The next time I did a yoga class, I was paralyzed when I had to figure out which side was my left. I kept looking at my ring and looking at my left hand and on one level I understood that I’d moved my ring but on another level I was completely confused by which side was which. It was like translating from a foreign language — I had to think through the problem: my ring is now on my right hand so left is the other hand.

What next? Rings on both hands?

I wanted to do a representation of my “to read pile” except I couldn’t figure out a good way to do this. My eReader doesn’t have any great way to show my list. This is not my complete paper book to read pile — it’s just a shelf area. There are other shelf areas and unread books mixed up with already read books. I don’t mind a little chaos with my books.

Someone should invent a way people can show their TBR piles of ebooks.

If someone has, and you think I would understand it, please forward the info.

The NYT did a list of 100 books of the century or something like that. Like many people, I had to go through and see how many I’ve read. Only 22. For example: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I recommend! The HBO series, too.

There were about a half dozen that I tried and quit. For example, Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald. As I recall, I had something going on at the time and couldn’t get into it. But I also recall there were no paragraphs. The wall of text was overwhelming.

Most of the authors that had more than one book, I had read at least one.

And there are about a half dozen currently in the TBR pile.

I did a little better with the Reader Top 100. I read 33 of those.

I don’t care a lot about lists — it’s all arbitrary and a good way to get clicks. But it’s fun to see what makes the cut.

I am surprised by popularity of Elena Ferrante. I got the My Brilliant Friend series as ebooks and then could not make it through the first 50 pages. I hated the voice. I have been convinced to try again and it’s back in the TBR pile.

There are A LOT of potatoes in my yard.

Since I took this photo, I cooked about 1/4 of these. I have given away several pounds. But still, lots of potatoes.

Somehow, I cut one of my toenails weird and then it grew and somehow I wasn’t paying attention and it was like a talon. My foot was dangerous. I scratched my own self with my pointy toe nail.

I know, this is a weak post. See the manager for a refund.

I’ve had time to go back through some old non-priority projects at the office and I found this note to myself: a true classic. After reviewing the situation, I think I recall my thought process and I think it’s both incomplete and a duplicate. If we’ve lived without it since 2021, not sure it’s critical but I’m going to spend a little more time with it.

I had a tooth pulled last October (bottom of post). It was one of the very last ones in the back.

Initially, I decided I would not get the implant. At least one person advised I was unlikely to miss the tooth and I felt like I didn’t miss it.

Until,

on the other side of my mouth in the very back, the crown failed. That was a whole other not-wonderful dental adventure that I’m not going to detail here. But while I waited for the new crown I had only a nubbin for that tooth.

I missed having back teeth. Try eating a carrot without back teeth.

If you’ve ever read Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself there is a character San Glotka who was tortured and they pulled every other tooth so he can’t eat anything but soup and soft things. That’s not a spoiler. He’s in that condition when the story opens.

I had more appreciation for his problem and it was just two bottom back teeth.

I am getting an implant. Also, I’m not sure what dental insurance covers but so far it seems like nothing that I am doing with teeth.

The good news is: I figured out how to upload pictures again. The bad news is that it took all the time I had set aside to write some catch-up posts. I have pictures and all kinds of notes sitting here.

Here’s a quickie:

This is one of my rhododendrons. It was looking kinda peaked in the spring but I thought it would bounce back. After those few days over 100 degrees it said good-bye and now looks sad and withered and brown. I am in the process of cutting it down and will plant a native tree in that general area.

A similar thing happened to the one if the front of the house. I asked the landscaper if he could help me get it out and he pushed it back and forth and it broke right off. It took some work but I dug out most of the stump. I hope this one is the same.

ALSO UPDATE: my story, Loss Prevention, is not available yet. It will come out on August 15th and I will remind you then.