DeeLan

I use to crochet a lot, mostly baby blankets.  When I worked at the hospital in Chicago I was coordinator of the NICU for our department (Respiratory Care)  I had a bunch of leftover yarn so I made little covers for them.  They weren’t big enough to wrap the babies in but they’d fit over them and tuck on the sides so they wren’t only in the standard hospital design receiving blankets.  They at least had some color and looked more normal and healthy when mom and dad came to visit.  

I’ve tried my hand at quilting but again only for babies.  I could sew but when I made something for myself I’d get tired of looking at it by the time I was finished but I did make some outfits for my mom and some dresses for a little cousin.  I whipped up a dress for a Christmas Concert at church in a weekend when I was visiting them.   I also made her dress when she was flower girl at her aunt’s wedding.  Now I’ll repair a torn seam or hem some pants and that’s about it.

My brother, who taught me to sew had taken a pottery class.  He made a few things and after he died I confiscated them.  the first thing he made was a vase.  It’s actually pretty good and you can tell it’s handmade.  His name and the initials are etched or engraved on the bottom.  I think they had to do that because they might not have finished something the first class.   He also sculpted a small statue but I never could figure out what it was suppose to be.  The vase is my favorite.  I would have loved to learn pottery but at that time was too young for the class he was in and never thought to pursue later on my own. 

DH and I are retired and he’s a computer or tech nerd and a gamer so he’s either got his eyes fixed on the screen killing zombies or some war game  or his head and hands are in a computer someone gave him to fix.

My blogs don’t take up too much of my time. I spend most of my computer time visiting my favorite sites like Salem Place.  When I do a review it may take me 15 minutes and that’s with organizing the information before I start writing.  Don will help me out by reviewing tech or game related items.  His daughter in Sweden asked if I could get some headsets she wants.  They’re not out yet and are to retail for $129.  She wanted to review them but when I contacted the company they wouldn’t ship that far.  He’s reviewing them, I’m writing it up and we told her the cost of shipping them to her is her birthday present.  I got an offer to review a printer but I have one so he took it, the same with an external ultra portable hard drive.  He just loves when I get something he can use.  Having 6 other women do reviews for me is a huge help and my mind isn’t as stressed as it was before.  I pitch the companies or they come to me and then I forward the emails of offers to a google group I set up for them.  They all get an email and can claim 1 each the first day and after that it’s up for grabs.  They’ve all expressed how excited they are about this opportunity.  One woman got some Crocs shoes for her little one, another got some sun protective clothing for her son.  They get make-up, a computer storage system and some console games.  I get excited when I give them something and they jump on it.   I did get a vacuum last year I didn’t need.  I kept telling the woman I didn’t want her to send it.  She wa sponsoring a giveaway on my site and that was enough but she insisted so I used it twice to review it then donated it to the Center for Aging who had an 80 year old woman who needed a vacuum.  I got over $400 in colognes around Valentint’s Day.  I have allergies and don’t wear much cologne but I did spray and sniff in the air then took the bottles to church and the women were like vultures crowding around me and grabbing.  

Don thinks I should write a book and be the next best selling author.  I love to write but doubt myself.  Everyone I know says I’m a good writer but they have to say that or they know I’d hurt them.  I think I do OK for the short story but not enough imagination to do a complete book.  Maybe one day.  My favorite class in college was creative writing and I’d like to find writing classes around her but none to be had.  Same with photography.  When I was in my 20’s I had a darkroom and did color and black & white processing.  I loved it but it was too expensive for the chemicals.  The chemicals for color had a very short shelf life once opened and I’d open a bottle once to mix and by the time I got back to it again I’d have to buy new chemicals.

Don in addition to being a computer nerd or geek is also very interested in history, especially WWll.  He’d like to go back to college and finsih the degree he started years ago and dropped but this time he’s like to focus on history.   He said maybe he could teach. 

We make sure to take time away from our "hobbies" for each other and have date night.  Sometimes we go out or we’ll pick a movie on PPV or VOD and make some popcorn or he’ll run to the store for movie time snacks and we snuggle with the puppies and watch our movie.  There are also some shows we both enjoy and we make time to watch those.  Not too much on TV that we like but there are a few.  

Don’t they try to do that all the time when they rewrite history.  When they do that everything is a SURPRISE