Amy Currioman

As I get older, I find that my relationship with time has changed dramatically.  The minutes and hours, days weeks and months just fly by.  How I wish I could slow time down!  My kids – just babies a few months ago are already in college!  My mother, who was always so beautiful and youthful is slowing down and breaking down.  And every time I look in the mirror I notice a few more gray hairs and wonder if I should think about dying my hair back to its youthful color.  Time is precious, time flies, time is money.

When I was younger, it seems that I got a lot of watches as gifts.  They were fashion accessories, and vitally important to help me stay on track with where I needed to go and be.  Now some people ask me why I bother to use a watch – they use their cell phones to tell them what time it is.  Well, my cell phone is kept in my purse.  I keep it turned off unless I need to make an outgoing call.  I like glancing at my wrist to see what time it is – not hauling out my phone to check the time.

And I think that watches make great gifts.  There is a certain “class” about them that I love.  And there are so very many different styles of watches to choose from!  One of my favorite graduation gifts are Casio watches.  I think that they convey a sense of “time is valuable” message.

Yesterday afternoon I was videotaping my sister and I during a brainstorming session; I thought that it would be better than trying to take notes.  I set up the video camera on a new tripod I had bought.  I was disappointed in the tripod; it was flimsy and kept wanting to fall over – it acted as if it wanted to buckle under the weight of the camera!  When I was finished taping I tried to collapse the tripod but I had trouble with it.  It had those little tiny buttons on it that you have to push in order to get it to collapse; they hurt my fingers a lot!  I did the best I could and then had to ask my son for help.  He had better luck than I did, but still there were several that just would not collapse all the way.  I tried tapping the ends on the floor – no luck.  So this morning I asked my hubby for help and all he did was give them a little push!  Why they wouldn’t collapse whenI  tapped them I’ll never understand!  I guess I just wasn’t holding my tongue the right way!

I have a son who says he would like to learn how to cook.  And I’d love for him to do that; it would be really nice to have him help out more around the house.  And it would be really nice for him to pick out a few new recipes to try.  The biggest drawback that I’m seeing right now is that he is not inclined to want to get his hands messy!  Well, I can’t seem to cook much of anything without getting my hands really messy!  After all, how can I wash poultry or carve it without getting my hands covered with it?  So I’ve been trying to find an inexpensive source online for buying protective disposable gloves that are food grade.  I want to buy some for my son to wear.  But I don’t want to buy case lots of thousands of them, and I don’t want to spend a lot of money!

My hubby suggested that I look at the website that he uses to buy his safety glasses and safety boots.  He said it is a discount place that is dedicated to selling safety gear, such as safety harnesses, protective clothing, and Miracool products.  I was really interested in learning about the Miracool products!  I had never heard of them before!  I just might order something from that selection!  I would probably spend more time outdoors in the garden if I had some of those products!

But I was confused about the food grade disposable gloves; the ones that I want to buy says that they come 100 to a box and only costs 99 cents per pair.  That sounds to me like a box will cost about $50, but when I click on it to place the order, it says I’m only paying 99 cents plus shipping (which is about $10.)  So I’m not sure whether I would get one pair of gloves for 99 cents, or 50 pair for 99 cents, or exactly what I would be getting for 99 cents!  Very confusing.  I think I’ll have to call their customer support line to clear that one up.

I was vastly entertained today by an article that I found on the Forbes.com website. The article was about how the writer (and team) tried to destroy a Panasonic CF-30 Toughbook laptop computer. They tried giving it to a tiger, and an elephant to destroy. They tried shooting it! They dumped a Diet Soda on the keyboard. I didn’t see where they dropped it into a swimming pool, however! They were doing all of this to test out Panasonics claims that the laptop was hard to break. They proved the claims were right! But they certainly went crazy trying to break the thing!

So here I am, in the middle of sewing a new scarf, and the bobbin binds up. Well, I’ve had that happen before, it’s usually no big deal. I just take a few pieces apart and remove the thread, put it back together and I’m on my way. Not this time! I can’t get all of the parts off that I need to take off. I asked my hubby for help; he couldn’t do it either! What a bother! I don’t know where any local sewing machine repair shops are! And I don’t want to have to take my machine and drop it off somewhere and wait for repairs. (Sigh.) Well, I called the local fabric store and asked them where I can take my machine to have it fixed. Would you believe the local hardware store? That’s a surprise!

So, machine is now in the hands of the repairman, and I’m annoyed. I love that little machine and although I have a back-up machine, I don’t like it as well. So now that I’m in the mood to sew, my favorite machine is in the shop, and it will cost me at least $60 to have it fixed! GRRRRR…….