sevenfold success

in which our plucky heroine is astonished...

Haven't been so relieved about election results since 2008. I had forgotten what even a glimmer of hope feels like. Very aware that this is not the solution for all that troubles our country and our planet, but rather a chance for mitigation, amelioration, and finding pathways to a future that includes all beings. So mote it be...

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~ south window sunshine ~

I wish I could share the delightful scent of quince with all who read my words, and the way early morning light just glows...

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Every once in a while social media shows me a reminder of how good Past Internet once was... just found The Far Woods earlier this morning. Two sisters making and heartfelt and beautiful objects and tutorials, for example this wall shelf/tiny altar tutorial, and this shadow puppet crankie video

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Sadly, almost every one of the persimmons on the tree in the parking strip have been stolen, so there will be no replenishment this year. No new dried fruit, and no persimmon pulp for tea bread, and other harvest season treats... sigh... I was waiting for them to be ripe before harvesting them, and most were not even fully orange yet. Perhaps next year I will put up a sign saying "please don't steal these" (and I most sincerely hope that the thieves were folks who were actually hungry, and not just opportunistic passers-by)

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~ sevenfold success ~

Am right chuffed with my success at carefully duplicating the size, shape, and the curved cut away portion of the drawer front, which is an exact match for the already existing one. It isn't just a half circle, as I discovered by measuring, and took rather a lot of Tinkercad time to get right. Access to high technology has allowed me to begin this adaptation DIY, while also giving my mind a bit of a workout. 

Today I ordered a "sample size" pot of F&B "Oval Room Blue", the identical grey/blue dark robins egg color I used for the exterior of Caer Cardboard, and for my advent shadowbox. Once these new tiny drawers are primed and painted (and once I manage to make the right sized seven divider box to hold them) they will be able to take their place as this year's improvement to my advent shadowbox.

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	mini sanding blocks	-	-
2	7 tiny drawers	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Bartlett pears - slurpily sweet, tender, and so local and seasonal
- managed to get laundry most of the way dry on the line
- waking up to not-a-nightmare morning...

Time of Isolation - Day 2300

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine notices the few random sunbreaks...

... and an amazing sunset tonight, called to everyone's attention by Helpful Gretchen, leader of the library maker space crew. The combination of latitude, the time of year, and the clock shift means that sunset is starting at around 5PM. What can't be cured must be endured.

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~ a small helper ~
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This sanding block is just 1½" square. While the initial attempt with PET-G didn't work (stronger plastic, but made a coarser print and threads didn't match up well enough function), the PLA filament printed out perfectly. (note to self, remember to allow prints to cool completely before removing from plate. Fixed bent edge caused by my enthusiasm by using boiling water because remembered was PLA was a thermoplastic (set slightly bent part in a bowl of boiling water from teakettle for a few minutes, then use fingers to press firmly into together with the other matching part) et voila!

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This "easy Chinese thread book" might be fun to make

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Looking at the Advent calendar shadowbox, I decided that this year's improvement would be to add a second row of tiny drawers to the bottom, to have drawers all the way to 31 instead of stopping at 24. This will necessitate making a box with 7 dividers, and 7 tiny drawers. 

I have been messing around with the laser cutter at the library, and with learning Tinkercad - and managed to create a file for tiny drawers perzactly the dimensions of the drawers in the shadowbox! Unfortunately, the box of 7 compartments had one of the dimensions just a bit too small (my error), so must needs a do-over. Past Me should have cleverly noted what program I used for the various files. Past Me is not always clever. I did save the link to the "clean up your SVG" website but didn't for the box generating website, and there are a lot of those (I spent hours last night getting the box dimensions just right on one site only to find out at that point that it wanted a spendy membership in order to download the file. Ummm nope, start over somewhere else)

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	mini sanding blocks	-	-
2	7 tiny drawers	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- both the 75 and the 6 were perfectly aligned with my trip to the library, and the trip home the longest wait was about six minutes! 
- my file for the tiny drawers makes pieces to create a perfect match for the existing drawers. I am chuffed, and it impressed Gretchen
- many more Advent swap boxes of goodies are arriving this week, still not 30+ participants, but far more than a few. 
- found out that black pipe insulation can be substituted for white, which means I can fill in the peculiar gaps in the furnace room air handler pipe coverings

Time of Isolation - Day 2299

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine voted ...

... not early, but not at the last minute either. Actually my ballot had been filled out for a while, but riding my bike in the rain wasn't a great option. Managed to get out during a sunbreak for some errands (and voting). 

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~ a bit more than half... ~

Here are 30+ pounds of quinces, more than half this years harvest - all of the windfalls and all those ripe enough to be picked. There are still quite a few left on the tree, but these will take some time to deal with. Nonetheless, the house smells amazing!!

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The hardware store did not have the right sort of conical rubber feet similar to the one that went missing from the air filter, so instead, am trying out using four rubber corks, as suggested by the store clerk. Fingers crossed that they stay glued to the masonite; using epoxy (rather than RTV) was suggested, as a better option. We shall see...

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This week I was able to print out the Tinkercad files I made for the MCM Kimball "bullet planter" pots. The "sparkle black" filament has a similar look to the textured fiberglass of the originals. Have been mulling over how to solder together the metal (wire) support tripod.

Handmade Houseplants is definitely full of ideas and suggetions for creating decorative botanical denizens for your home. Of course, the book has you make more life-size paper plants, but the suggestions for shaping and coloring the materials will hopefully be applicable to the tinyworld as well. At the grocery store earlier this week, I took photos of houseplants to help with understanding plant structure.

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Finished knitting the bike helmet earmuffs, as hours on the bus today was conducive to making progress. Once home again, they fit in place perfectly, and while it was too rainy to actually go out on the bike today, the double layers over my ears should do well, and the ribbed band joining them together atop of the head should reduce drafts. Just still need to take a photo for my Ravelry page...

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny Wishbone chair	wheels for 2nd RÅSKOG	greenwaste bin
2	laser cut trinket shelves	tidy living room	recycle bin
3	vortex bottles	files for tiny plant pot	recycle bin
4	2 wee Dala horses	new feet on air filter	greenwaste bin
5	miniature spider plant	-	recycle bin
6	tiny picture frames	x	x
7	mini rocking chair	x	x
8	bike helmet earmuffs	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- the library has easy safe accessible ballot deposit
- figured out a slightly better transit route to Clackamas
- the bike helmet earmuffs are cozy and cute!

Time of Isolation - Day 2295