Mysterious Ways

I wrote about the loss of my personal CD player. Not lost, actually, like my really good Sony that was stolen two years ago. Just non-functional.

I saw an ad for a 512 MB MP3 player. Now...MP3 players have seemed like nice toys, but I haven't really been interested in owning one. The price was excellent, however, and I've really been missing listening to the Book of Mormon. When I checked the reviews for the unit in question they were uniformly positive. In fact, they were exceptional.

This particular player accepts an SD flash media card, expanding the capacity to (a maximum of) 2.5 GB. That also offers the potential to copy the Book of Mormon to SD cards permanently, instead of having to copy the section I want to read to the player every few days.

There was a 1GB SD card, from a manufacturer that I trust, on sale for $10. By using Google checkout for the first time, however, I received a $10 credit on my purchase. Shipping was free on both items; they didn't charge sales tax on the purchase.

Bottom line? For approximately the cost of replacing my CD player ($17) I will have a highly-rated MP3 player with removable storage.

God does indeed move in mysterious ways.

(edited to correct capacity)

Moving the pantry

I'm much happier now that I've moved most of my pantry system to the linen closet. Of course, the linen closet stuff is still on the floor of the hall, but...baby steps.

The canisters that I use for most of my dried beans turned out be be just shorter than the cans of wheat that I'm using as shelf supports. The effect is wonderful.

The taller space above the beans is perfect for my grains, including spaghetti, fettucine, etc, stored in tall cylinders.

I've definitely made some progress, both environmentally and mentally.

Shelves, part 3

Well, the shelves are in place. The stuff is not.

I really wanted to avoid pulling everything out at once. I wanted to deal with once kind of stuff at a time...linens, first aid, household. I also plan to move my pantry system to one of the new shelves. It is currently scattered among four different rooms. (Custom Kitchen Planning using Tupperware's Modular Mates.)

I also would rather not have aggravated the injury to my left wrist. It started with that same accident in August. I aggravated it in September dealing with the plumbing clean-up, and I aggravated it maneuvering the shelves into place. Now it hurts unless I hold it in one particular position. Unfortunately, it's not the position that my brace maintains.

And I burned both dinner and lunch, too.

Don' mess with a woman who cooks! (shelves, pt. 2)

When my mom remodeled and expanded her home I made the plans. My drawings were used for the zoning hearing, they were used by the contractor and carpenters. I was careful, I was precise, and the results were what we expected. Well, as far as can be expected in a house that was more than 100 years old, and that had been expanded, room by room, by homeowners who were good farmers.

What is with the professionals who build these apartments??? The left side of the closet is nearly an inch more shallow than the right side, and the back wall isn't straight!

After composing my last entry I went back to the closet and got the first shelf in with much less effort than I had previously expended. That happens, sometimes, when I just let a project go for a while.

While getting it in place I temporarily removed the original shelf that was on top of it. (My technique for getting the shelves into the closet involved removing all three shelves, stacking them, inserting them into the closet vertically then dropping them into position. While maneuvering around the existing shelf supports.) I knew I should replace the shelf, but I was having a hard enough time maneuvering one shelf, much less three stacked shelves.

Success! I got the first new shelf into position. Almost. I didn't worry about it too much as I wanted to make sure I could get the second (lower) shelf into position. I knew that I might have to lift the first shelf to drop the second shelf into place. I did. It went.

I returned to the first shelf. The right side fit just fine -- there was room to spare in front -- so why wouldn't the left side drop into position??? Because that side measures an inch less from front to back than the right side. Huh??? Didn't they measure? How did they put the front wall on?

Since I was really close to having my shelves in positions, and since it had taken a lot more effort than I anticipated, I was unwilling to remove the shelf and ask someone to trim it again, especially since it fit just fine on the right side.

I have a lot of tools but I don't have a rasp. I do, however, have a very expensive stainless steel microplane that I never remember to use when I'm zesting citrus. It did the job.

I had just one shelf left...an original shelf that I had moved up one position. I should have replaced it before I finished the other two, but I didn't. It was also cut badly. I don't know how they got it close to the wall on three sides in the first place; there is now a triangular gap in the back on the left, where it won't snug against the wall. Oh, well, that won't matter with what I plan to put there.

The shelves are in. I'm going to watch some TV before I start replacing the contents.

[Apparently I don't have a photo of all three shelves in place but empty. I'm not going to empty the closet to shoot one!]

"A three hour tour...." (linen closet shelves)

I didn't mean to tear up more than I could put back. Honest!

My previous apartment in the same complex had a pantry and a linen closet that were lovely except for one feature: the shelves were about 22" apart. This was not particularly useful. Also, although the closets were each nearly three feet deep the shelves had only one board each, about 12" front to back.

The solution was simple. I went to Home Depot, bought two pieces of bullnose shelving, had them cut to size and installed more shelves. I ended up with three additional shelves in each closet, most of them two boards deep. (The top and bottom shelves I left one board deep.)

When I moved into this apartment I left those shelves in place. I no longer had a pantry, and the linen closet was wide and shallow instead of narrow and deep. The single closet had the same design flaw: shelves 22" high.

That move went really badly, and I didn't have the time or energy to deal with shelving. I stuffed the contents of the linen closet into the shelves any way I could and added shelving to my wish list.

While my sister was here last month I mentioned the problem. She took me to Home Depot and bought additional shelves. We stood in front of them, debating at length whether to buy 11" or 15". We chose 15". We goofed.

I knew immediately that there was a problem. There was a small piece of shelving left over and I used it to check the depth. The shelves would have fit fine in the center, but were about 1/4" too deep on the sides, where there is a short stretch of wall to either side of the bi-fold door.

I decided the problem could be solved by trimming 1/2" off the back of the entire shelf. The day that my sister left I went to a church supper. I asked who might have the right tools and was referred to someone who took the shelves home with him and returned them 36 hours later. He was clearly disappointed not to install them for me, but I explained that I needed to pull everything out first, and I wasn't ready.

So the shelves sat in the corner for six weeks.

FlyLady tells us that we can do anything for fifteen minutes, and admonishes us not to pull out more than we can put back in an hour. As I thought about how I wanted to reorganize the closet, and looked at the space, I realized that I didn't have to do it all at once. I could clean the space where one of the new shelves would go, then install it, put things away, and have more room to clear another shelf. It still wasn't at the top of my list.

This afternoon I ate lunch while watching TV. Oprah came on just as I finished. I wanted to watch, but had things to do, so I compromised. I told myself that I could watch TV as long as I worked on the closet at the same time.

I emptied the space for one new shelf. Then I emptied the entire shelf below it so that I could clean it. I went to the master bedroom closet to get the cans of wheat that I plan to use to support the new shelves. I pulled the new shelf out from behind the bi-fold door...and couldn't get it into the closet.

Oh, it would fit in the space, and I could install it if those wall extensions weren't there. I did not realize the logistical difference between a closet 14.5" deep and one 30" deep. There's no room to maneuver the shelf into position.

I decided that if I took out the next shelf I could insert the new shelf vertically and rotate it into place. That involved hauling everything out of the closet. I now have first aid supplies, linens, fragile artwork still packaged for protection, back stock of household cleaners and personal care items and cat food all over the hall and living room. (Cat food? Don't ask.)

The shelf didn't want to come out. It had been painted into place. Even after I loosened it from its supports it was held in place by the depth of the paint on the walls around it. My hammer and I prevailed.

I still can't get the shelf into position. The 1"x4" shelf support prevents my getting the new shelf far enough into the closet to rotate in place.

Sigh. This was supposed to be a 15 minute job while I watched Oprah.

My new lunchbox! / Flickr!

I finally bought myself a Laptop Lunch system.

I've wanted one for about a year, but until I started making so many trips to Phoenix I couldn't justify the cost.

I've been going to The Wellness Community once or more each week since I discovered them in September, and I seem to either arrive or leave during rush hour. It makes sense to wait out the traffic, and it makes more sense to take a meal or a snack to avoid the tempation of the neighborhood restaurants.

Today I shared my new toy with some friends. I mentioned to them that there is an entire subculture which posts photos of their laptop lunches on Flickr. Follow the link and enter "laptop lunch" in the search box.

There's a lot more to Flickr than meets the eye. Members have the option of adding notes to specific portions of their photos when they upload them. Many of the people who upload Laptop Lunch photos use the feature to describe their meals in detail. It's fascinating to me to see the variety of foods, even the shape of the foods! I saw some meals in which the two smaller containers were left out to make room for a burrito or a tamale.

More on the produce co-op

I wrote this as a response to a comment on my Eating Green entry. It got so long that I decided it deserved its own entry.

The co-op is up to two dozen or more drop off sites, so I estimate the number of participants to be in the hundreds.

We place -- and pay for -- the produce order by Wednesday. The organizers pool the money and on Saturday go to the same produce market the local restaurants use. Site managers haul the items for their site in a pickup truck, more volunteers arrive early to divvy it up among the laundry baskets and the rest of us pick it up.

They also have bulk items from time to time. Available for ordering last week were Utah apples, two varieties in 40 pound boxes, dried beans and rice. I ordered the last two. I'll pick it up on the 7th. This is the first time they're doing rice.

The bulk items are handled differently. When I arrive at the site I'll have to scoop my own of each of the varieties available.

Diety kills CD player

Heavenly Father apparently believes I'm well enough to read my scriptures in hard copy, again.

I've been listening to my scriptures on CD. I've been listening daily, spending more time than I probably would reading.

I first ordered the CD's six or seven years ago. Before the problems with my neck were diagnosed properly I had reached a point where I could not hold my scriptures. I considered the CDs "second string," however, and went back to reading, rather than listening, as soon as we found a treatment that helped my neck.

Two years ago my neck caused other problems. Most of you know that the pressure on my spinal cord caused extensive, disruptive digestive problems, and I spent a lot of time lying down in a dark room. I turned to the CDs again when it became clear to me that I could not complete President Hinckley's Book of Mormon challenge any other way.

I discovered something completely unexpected: I heard things that I had previously missed. Now, that happens when I read; I believe that's part of the reason we are encouraged to read our scriptures regularly. As we grow in understanding we are able to recognize and accept greater light and knowledge, and thus able to gain new insights from familiar texts. As I listened to the scriptures, however, it happened over and over again. Every day I learned something new. I began listening to the Book of Mormon every six months, then every four months.

In 2006 I finally received an effective treatment for my neck, which has brought tremendous relief, but then I developed leukemia. I'm back to spending a lot of time lying down. My scriptures on CD have been a great comfort to me. I've been listening an hour or more most days.

Apparently Heavenly Father has decided that I need to return to reading. I finished listening to the Book of Mormon a few days ago, and my personal CD player (Disc-man type) hasn't worked since. I've changed the batteries, I've tried other disks; nothing helps. It makes horrid noises for a minute or so, then "Er" is displayed on the LCD panel.

Now, this is not my only CD player. I have a boom box in my workroom, that can be heard in the kitchen. I have a CD/clock in the bathroom. I can play CDs on my DVD player in the living room. I even have another CD player in the bedroom, in my alarm clock.

What I can't do is listen to the scriptures lying down. With the personal CD player I use an earphone; no sound escapes to bother my neighbors. If I use the CD player in my clock, I have to turn the volume way up to overcome the muffling effect of the pillow. Even then, clarity is lost, which matters for the scriptures more than for music. Also, the controls of the personal CD player are within reach. If I want to hear something again I move a finger and press one button.

Apparently Heavenly Father wants me to return to reading my scriptures. There are aspects that I miss while listening. I can't follow the footnotes. I can't mark my scriptures, or add my own footnotes, or maintain the personal "topical guide" lists that I have in the back. I can't go back and re-read a single verse or paragraph; when listening I have to go back to the beginning of the chapter.

Apparently I have the chance to do all those things again.

My new avatar, and why I changed it.

In my new avatar I'm not just on vacation, I'm on vacation in the Yucatan, exploring pre-Columbian archeology / anthropology sites.

That is a goal I've had for several years: to take a Western Caribbean cruise that focuses on the Pre-Columbian history and accomplishments of the area. (Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayans. Yucatan, Veracruz, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize.)

That goal is my "carrot" when my motivation to exercise wanes. It would be pretty pointless to spend the money if I didn't have the stamina to explore the sites, or had to rest for two or three days after every shore excursion.

After being diagnosed with leukemia I wondered whether I would ever be able to make the trip. Leukemia impairs my immune system; I didn't know whether my doctor would give permission.

She did, last week. She actively encouraged me.

Eating green

Well, the Internet ate my first attempt at this post.

I picked up my first share of produce from the co-op today.

Bananas, apples, pears and a personal watermelon. Potatoes, carrots, celery, onions. Broccoli crowns, tomatoes, romaine, acorn squash.

I traded my mushrooms -- more than a pound -- for an extra acorn squash.

Cost? $15 plus $2 because it was my first time. That was to buy the laundry baskets the food is sorted into by the volunteers. I did a cost comparison with Basha's. (Because I could do it online.) I saved about half, even taking sale prices and coupons into account.

Lookin' Good! (Graduation Day)

More later...for now: I graduated.

I saw my oncologist today. She's satisfied with my condition; I'll see her now every three months, instead of every month.

October? How'd that happen?

Time seems to be slipping by at warp speed.

It's been a week; my tooth still doesn't hurt. That's a blessing.

The temperature in the Phoenix area has dropped, finally. It's not even 90F yet, at 11 a.m. Today the sky is overcast, a side effect of a storm just off Baja California.

I missed my meetings yesterday. Saturday I developed a sore throat, serious enough that I had trouble swallowing. I decided that I needed sleep more than I needed to be in a room with lots of people. I slept very late and was back in bed before 9 p.m. I went to bed in the middle of watching a television show; I couldn't stay awake. I'm feeling better today, but still tired.

I received a notice last week that maintenance workers would be entering my apartment sometime this week, something about the A/C unit and drywall. I didn't get it, but it means I can't shower for another four hours. By then I may be asleep again.

In fact, I may go right now.