A Puzzling Hack

I like doing jigsaw puzzles. Sadly, I have no surface area large enough, high enough, or far away enough from Spooky to access.

My hospital table folds up down and sideways, but the surface area was far too small. So I duct taped a scrap piece of baseboard to it. (No picture; sorry). On Saturday, it was resting on a folding stool and a coffee table. Still not large enough. 

On Sunday, I went to Ollie's ("Good stuff cheap!") to buy a whiteboard or bulletin board. They didn't have anything near the size I needed. As I was headed to the checkout for other things, I noticed an empty end cap for Herr's Jalapeno Poppers.  (I know - the N needs a tilde over it). The staff let me take the HUGE cardboard base home. How huge is it? 40" x 48". 

                                

Note the side end is almost cat-proofed. Spooky landed on it twice until I scared the you-know-what out of her. There are now two folding chairs boosting the table.

The position of the cat tree is near Spooky's food table. She doesn't like to jump, almost as much as I don't like to bend. Spooky has trouble getting her belly off the ground. Yes, she's on a diet. She meows constantly until she gets a second or third helping. She's onto my skimpy extra servings. We're going to the vet tomorrow to get her flea medication. I can't wait to see if reducing her intake has made her slimmer.

The picture below shows the ersatz puzzle table had another boost from Spooky's cat tree, plus a thick coffee table book ("Hamilton," which I have yet to read).

See under the box's circled 17 oz. words. Spooky's cat tree enabled my fat cat to reach her food. I since replaced the cat tree with a rocking chair.

I don't mean to brag (it ain't bragging if it's true), but I'm getting good with my creative hacks.

I'm about 3/4 of the way finished putting the puzzle together. A few puzzle pieces have fallen out of the box. 

Yuck; I have to get a flashlight to look under furniture. This is when living alone sucks. There was a time (over ten years ago) when I could hand a nasty task over to a roommate. 

           Spooky . . . have I got a job for you!

                                        

Bedroom Cat-Proofing

Spooky rules the roost. Wherever I put my earring trees, she always knocks them down, scattering everything. Here are three views: in plain sight; a t-shirt slipcover; and a pizza box.

Then there are my bureau drawers. I removed the old fashioned handles from my tall dresser, replacing them with quiet, static drawer pulls. 

Spooky likes to open my long bureau and nightstand. Just plain nosy with the latter; I connected my two-drawer nightstand by putting an elastic book strap over the drawer pulls. 

The long bureau was fun for her to open, with the bonus feature of the bottom drawer becoming an ersatz bed. (Yes, we girls like our comfort)!  To stop her opening any of the six drawers, I created a custom connector by cutting a second hole in a Dollar Tree door sign. 

And below is my little terror darling, Spooky, thinking, 

"Curses! Foiled again!"

Identity Theft

It happened again...someone tried to order electronics in my name.

This happened in 2010, when I was living in Texas. My shady roommate went to Best Buy and was allowed to order a laptop when he applied for a store credit card in my name. Luckily for me, my credit card company called me because they flagged the expense. I evicted the thief immediately. 

There were additional repercussions from this event: my anxiety level went through the roof, affecting my temp job performance, so I was terminated. 

Yesterday's news was a kind of refresher, and not in a good way. It began when a Spectrum rep called me and claimed to have just spoken to me (which she hadn't). The woman went on to say "The cell phone you ordered. . ." 

I stressed that she had not been speaking to me. . . I don't want mobile service with Spectrum. . . The only thing I expected to receive from her company was a new modem, per my discussion with a male Spectrum rep two days before.

At 5:30 PM, I received email confirmation that this phone was on its way.

New Order Details

BARBARA's Device (New Phone Number Not Yet Assigned) Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max Silver 512GB     Device Payment Plan $38.88   Unlimited $29.99/line/mo $29.99   One-Time Activation Charge $10.00   New Order Subtotals* $78.87     *The following taxes, fees, and other charges are included in the price of the applicable service:

Many details deleted. . .

Grand Total                                                    $173.37

As soon as I received Spectrum's email, I emailed them back,  but that didn't leave me feeling warm and fuzzy. I called Spectrum to nip this matter in the bud (or is it butt?).

At first, I thought the cable company had screwed up. Towards the end of our phone call, it dawned on me that maybe Spectrum was not to blame. I wondered to myself, "Who would steal my identity?" 

The first solid candidate was Miss ___, a former roommate whom I evicted from my North Carolina home a few years ago. Then I considered some neighbors who have my business card. That card names every means of reaching me, listing everything but my SSN, blood type, and next of kin.

I may never know who to blame for this incident, but perhaps it's my fault for being so open, Luckily, Spectrum cancelled the order before they shipped the phone.

Lesson learned? Not really. I am naive, too trusting, yada-yada. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes I do get bitten on the butt, but I wouldn't want to be any other way.

Two marriages in a nutshell

 

I call this my history pin.❤

The intact gold wedding bands belonged to my father and stepmother.

The white gold bar and diamond were from my melted down wedding and engagement rings. My marriage didn't last, but Daddy's did. 

💒

The shrimp ring (upper right hand corner) was a ten-year anniversary gift from my employer.

The blue stone (bottom left) was my mother-in-law's ring. Sadly, it is just glass.

Unfortunately, there are few opportunities to wear it in my post-retirement world. Not many women wear pins anymore. That doesn't make them less special.

Bedroom Cat-Proofing

I thought after Liberty died, I would not need to cat-proof my bedroom. Well, Spooky insists on knocking over my earrings. Here is my collection of shrouded earrings.

Then there are my drawer treatments. There are two very annoying feline routines. (1) slamming drawers when I want to sleep, and (2) Spooky likes to use the clothes in the bottom drawers for her cat naps.

How I dealt with my six-drawer bureau: I purchased two heavy-duty cardboard door-handle signs from DollarTree and cut them down (poorly, I admit) to be slid around the top two drawer pulls.  For my nightstand, I had a book elastic from my former tutoring days. A thick rubber band will do as well. That's what I use in the rest of the house.

The end result is one disappointed cat. Looks like she doesn't trust me.

Can you blame her?

Garden Shoes

One would not think the subject of garden shoes is important, but for me, it’s a big deal. My yard has poor, sandy, soil and pine needles and pecans galore. No matter what shoes I wear, I always seem to bring The Great Outdoors indoors. 

Choosing a sturdy, comfortable shoe is important to me. Decades ago, I recycled my tatty cloth sandals. Few pairs barely lasted one summer. More recently, I tried buying rubber shoes for garden work. These were either clog-type shoes with holes in the toe box, or plastic/rubber sandals that rubbed me and my instep the wrong way. Neither worked well. My feet ended up raw, sweaty and filthy. Add to that, all the tracked-in detritus. In the last ten years, I started a new recycling program. I demote my once-favorite, but now cruddiest pair of sneakers for garden use. The shoes are generally one step shy of the trash heap. It’s worked beautifully so far. 

Take, for instance, the shoes I discarded last month. The sneakers were an extraordinary closeout deal at Ollie’s. This was a unicorn: an attractive pair of Dr. Comfort sneakers in my size, 8 Wide. They were white with pink accents, with Velcro Mary Jane straps. Suitable for everyday wear. They had arch support, so they were comfortable and affordable for $15. I wore them daily for at least two years. You could say I got my money’s worth, and then some. 

The sneakers began to deteriorate noticeably. To wear them in public would no longer be a good look for me. They were about to be demoted to garden duty. 

I had to buy new sneakers, and I considered Skechers a viable alternative. My next-in-line contenders were a pair of black leather Skecher slip-ons. Since they lack arch support, I wear them with GoodFeet orthotics. Those were worn every day while I turned my attention to the old white sneakers. 

First, I replaced the insoles by cutting down a thin dollar store doormat and Krazy-glued them in place. (Yes, I’ll do anything to hang on to a comfy pair of shoes)! Twice, the straps stopped sticking, so I sewed on black Velcro straps. It wasn’t pretty, but who cares? The sneakers lasted about five years using these thrifty measures. I applaud myself for being environmentally aware. 

Shopping for new sneakers is not easy, considering my high insteps and what I refer to as “flipper feet” (D width). I need arch support, and Dr. Comfort and Skechers are not cheap. I discovered another brand on the Internet, Vionic, which became my go-to brand. I bought a pink pair. 

It’s a more expensive unicorn ($35), but they are perfect for me. Pink clashes with many colors on the spectrum, so I decided to get a black pair of Vionic sneakers, which complements any outfit. 

At three pounds, their heftier weight took some getting used to. A little later, I bought a pair of Vionic “boot” slippers. The cozy slippers are heavy, just like boots. I have mistakenly worn them outside on a few occasions. 

I wonder what other people wear to work in their gardens? Is my recycling sneakers system unique? Have I set the standard for environmentally friendly garden shoes? While I can’t pretend to know the answers, all I know is it works for me. I still track in mulberries, pine straw and weeds, but I do so in comfort.

Five Year Typo

There is usually no one as ruthless as me when it comes to

finding and correcting typos. However, how is it that I had

bought and worn this souvenir t-shirt for the past five years,

never once realizing its glaring error on the second line?

While folding my laundry a few weeks ago, I was stunned to see that January was misspelled. For someone who abhors typos, how could I have missed the mistake for so long? While I’m proud to have joined in the protest in Washington, DC, I’m ashamed to advertise to the world that this Buyer did NOT Beware. Why I chose this particular vendor was probably due to the discounted price. It was clearly a case of “You Get What You Pay For.”