DIY Haircut 18/60

I don’t really have good before and after pictures. But a few weeks ago, my hair felt like a floppy mess. So very much on the spur of the moment, I decided it was time to give myself a trim.

I looked for a YouTube video but lost patience with trying to find a helpful one. I figured how ever bad I cut it, hardly anyone would see it.

With a mirror, hair clips and some crummy little scissors, I just went for it.

This (above) is probably two weeks before I cut it.

I convinced Rem to trim the very back. He was apprehensive and wasn’t thrilled with the results, but I was glad to have the help.

Here is the after.

I wouldn’t want to cut it again without a professional cut in between. I had a great cut, but if I did it again myself, I’d be going from my choppy, amateur job. Kind of like when you make a copy of a copy of a copy, it starts to get distorted. But I don’t regret it.

Thank you for stopping by.

 

 

Visit Pilgrimage Site 17/60

 

When we were on vacation in New Mexico, we stopped at this Pilgrimage Site in Chimayo, between Santa Fe and Taos. Because of the Corona virus, the site was nearly empty.  Our visit was not during one of the annual religious expeditions to the shrine, and we were there as sightseers, not pilgrims.

Concern over spread of the virus cancelled the Holy Week pilgrimage, but Wikipedia states “Each year some 300,000 people from all over the world make pilgrimages to the Santuario de Chimayó during Holy Week.”

There is evidence of these visitors, with offerings in the form of notes, figurines, candles, painted rocks, crosses and, most of all, rosaries, tucked into every nook, cranny, fence, altar and tree in the place.

A few other people were wandering around the large but mostly empty grounds.  A giant container of hand sanitizer graced the entry of the chapel where we stopped.

It is hard to imagine this place with even 1,000 other people milling around.

It is traditional for pilgrims to take some of the holy dirt available from a hole in the floor of one of the chapels. The church doesn’t take any position on the curative powers, but they do truck in dirt from nearby hillsides, which is consecrated, to replace the dirt that is removed.

Although formerly seekers of cures would eat the dirt or rub it on their bodies, now most people just keep in in their homes.

Even if you are not a person of faith, this site is worth a visit if you are in the area. There are many statues, mosaics, and murals as well as the offerings of so many pilgrims.

And if eating dirt doesn’t appeal, you can always stop at nearby Rancho de Chimayo and enjoy some traditional Chimayo red chili. It may not be miraculous, but it will be delicious.

Thank you for the visit.

Jump Rope -Fail 16/60

When I was a kid, I loved jumping rope. I remember the little rhymes we chanted as we jumped. I liked to skip solo, sometimes traveling around the playground. I liked spinning the rope faster and faster for red hots. I liked doing it with two friends turning a long rope, and jumping in.

So when I decided to do my 60 New Things Project, jumping rope was one of the things I looked forward to. I procrastinated about ordering one. By now we were on lockdown so I couldn’t go to a sporting goods store and compare ropes.

My sister loaned me one. It was kind of long but I figured out a way to fold the stiff material and hold it. I started jumping. Oof! My head remembered my childhood joy but my body wasn’t cooperating.

I knew I would need to practice. I watched some jump rope basics videos. I tried some more. My lower back hurt. I read about the importance of having the right length rope. My sister suggested trying on the Astro Turf surface by the batting cage at the middle school, as it was more forgiving. My neighbor suggested getting a thin mat to jump on.

I gave my sister back her rope. Maybe I will try jump rope again. Maybe if I can order a rope that is the right length and get a better surface. I will be sure and let you know. In the meantime, I ordered a hula hoop.

Thanks for stopping by.

thredUP 15/60

When I decided to try Stitch Fix in January, I knew I needed to do a little closet cleaning. In fact, it was while exploring different combinations of tops and skirts, that I decided to try on all the clothes in my closet that I was not wearing on a regular basis.

As I’m sure is the case with many of you, I grab the same tried and true pieces from my closet most days. But because of losing weight*, some of the items I was grabbing no longer fit. In the glow of fitting into smaller sizes, and the excitement of shopping in regular instead of plus size stores, I’d made a few purchases that ended up not really working out.

I tried each item on and looked at fit, comfort, fabric and what I could wear it with. I tried to be honest with myself and realistic about what I would wear. The big Try On session went so well, that I expanded it to include my dresser.  As expected, I ended up a with a stack of clothes to sell or donate.

A friend told me about thredUP, an online consignment and thrift store and though I wasn’t sure how much of my stuff was resale quality, I decided to look into it.  I could get a Clean Out Kit sent to me for free and if my items were rejected by them or didn’t sell, they would donate them.  It seemed like it was worth a try.  I would have been dropping them off at the Goodwill, but if I could get a little money (to turn around and spend on some of the cute, gently used stuff at thredUP), it seemed worth a try.

Their site says they usually accept only about 40% of the items submitted, but I didn’t have any expectations.  I was happy to have gone through my closet and weeded out the items I wasn’t going to use, and if down the road I got a little something back; bonus!

I signed up and had to wait awhile for my Clean Out Kit to arrive.  It included a large, plastic mailing bag, already addressed and ready to go.  I just filled it with the items I felt had a chance of being accepted, and sent it off, at no cost to myself. Then more waiting.  Lots of waiting in fact.  It took quite a long time to receive an email saying my kit had been received and then even longer for it to be processed.  But I decided to wait to post anything here until my items were processed.  At long last I got the message that they had accepted 60% of my items!

And friends, I’m thrilled to say that one of the scarves I sent in has sold and I made (are you ready?) NINETEEN CENTS!  If you have have higher quality items, trendier items, more in-demand items, you might make EVEN MORE! Think of the possibilities. If and when other items sell, I could make more moolah.

It was easy and it was fun.  Could I have made more through another consignment or online seller – maybe.  But I didn’t really have to do anything, and that was appealing.

Thank you for visiting.

* Since my gym is currently closed and I don’t have a scale at home, I don’t know how much weight I’ve gained during the Corona Virus Shelter At Home, but I do know I’m grateful not to have to wear anything but leggings and T-shirts these days. Don’t worry, I didn’t get rid of anything that would have made a difference.

 

 

 

Create a Board Game 14/60

This goes back to Valentine’s Day. Rem and I make Valentine projects for each other every year and this year he gave me a board game. But it was kind of a starter game – he had an idea, and he’d found some sweet dice with hearts for the spots or pips. He got a little wooden box, painted the lid, put in a photo from our honeymoon, and added a smaller plastic box that fit inside to hold the dice. He added some old coins for playing pieces and wrote up a few rules.

His idea was we would play it using a board from another game. He called it the Lovely Game because we’ve used the numbers 1 4 3 to signify “I love you” (the numbers correspond with the number of letters in each word) and to win the game, you had to roll those three number: 1, 4, 3. Otherwise, we just took turns moving one space at a time until one of us advanced to the finish line or rolled those three lucky numbers.

I was charmed by his Valentine gift to me but after playing the Lovely Game, I asked if I could work on a new board with a few more rules and more variety. He readily agreed and this is the result.

We have only played this game with each other but I’m sure it could be adapted to a less smoochy, more family-friendly version that could be played with more players. Creating the board was a great crafty project on it’s own. But we truly enjoy playing it (and played it before we were housebound due to the pandemic).

Here’s the basics from our game: it has 47 heart-shaped spaces. They kind of spiral around the board and I added little arrows to help keep track of the direction of play. There is a “Start” heart and a “Winner!” heart. We each have three dice.

To start play we each choose one of the colored buttons that became our playing pieces, and we each roll a single die. Highest number goes first.

We have two hearts marked with B/P, which stands for our nicknames, Boo and Peaches. If you land on a B/P, before you roll on your next turn, the other player (or if more players, it could be the player to your right) asks you a question. For our game, the questions is something from our years together, kind of a Boo and Peaches trivia question. They’re always easy questions. If you get it right, you get to go. If you miss it, you have to skip one turn. For a family game, these could be signified with a big question mark. You could even write questions on cards as long as the questions are ones that everyone would be able to answer.

Three of the hearts are marked with a big X which stands for “kiss.” When either player lands on the X, the players kiss. Maybe you could do high fives, hand shakes, or in the spirit of social distancing these days, elbow bumps, foot taps, clapping, winks or other positive expressions of greeting or affection.

One tricky heart says “Odd: Even” and if you land on this heart you roll the three dice as usual. If the resulting number is odd, you move back the number of the highest die. If it is even, you move forward the number of the highest die. An additional rule has been added that if you land on this heart 3 times in one game, you can treat it as any other heart and move forward normally.

Bad news if you land on “Lose a turn” but good news if you land on “Bonus 1 Die Roll!” You do not need to roll the exact number at the end to win, and if anyone rolls 1 4 3 (in any combination, it still counts if it is 4 1 3, or 3 1 4…you get the idea) you WIN!!

Here are the other rules:

• Roll three different numbers: move lowest die.
• Roll double: move forward one of the double numbers.
• Roll triple: move forward total of all three dice.
• Roll three sixes: START OVER!!

We wrote the rules on the board to help us remember as we play. Sometimes one of us will roll the winning combo of 1 4 3 and not notice, so a new rule we’ve added is if you roll 1 4 3 but don’t notice, and you move forward and the other (or next) player rolls the dice, it is too late and play continues. But we like to see the other person win and take a victory lap around the board, so we try and help each other.

Our game was created on a piece of cardboard that was the back of an old calendar, using paint pens, punched paper hearts and a washi tape border.

Maybe you could create your own version of the Lovely Game. The numbers 1 4 3 could mean “I Like You,” and perhaps with some searching you can find some dice. Now just might be the time for you to tackle this project. If you do, be sure and send me a picture!

Thanks for the visit.

Visit Iconic Church 13/60

When we pulled off the main road, I saw this building and felt a flicker of recognition. We were looking for a restaurant we’d seen listed in the notes at our Airbnb. But first we stopped to take pictures of the historic San Francisco de Asis Church, Rancho de Taos.

Though it was quite cold, I was excited to get out of the car and take a closer look at this adobe church that I recognized from both an Ansel Adams photo, and a Georgia O’Keeffe painting.

The back of the church faces the road and it is that view (first photo) that both artists captured.Rem and I walked around the church taking pictures and shivering. By this time, all the churches were closed, due to the virus, so we didn’t see the interior.I’m not sure what our dinner was that night, but the iconic architecture of this church will be one of my memories when I think of Taos.

Thank you for your visit.

Meeting Mo, the Macaw 12/60

A few weeks ago, I got to hold Mo, a macaw, in Madrid, New Mexico.  Madrid is a little town along the Turquoise Trail – the scenic route from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.  The town name is pronounced MAD-rid, not the traditional Spanish pronunciation. We stopped in town for lunch. This was in an earlier age when you could still eat in a restaurant.  This one had instituted mandatory hand-washing for all patrons before entering the dining room, and tables were 6-feet apart.

After lunch, which I don’t even remember, we went to Shugarman’s Little Chocolate Shop for dessert. I’ll get back to Mo, but first I have to say that this chocolate was SO delicious!  We tasted a few different types of chocolate bark before buying some and I just wish we’d bought more. 

Anyway, back to this sweet bird, who was murmuring his name to us.  He was so chill. We also met his people: Ron and Tim.  They told us that Mo’s full name is Yax Kuk Mo (pronounced Yash Kook Moe) which means “beautiful blue Macaw” in the Yucatec Maya language.  I thought we were at least a little bit birds-of-a-feather with the turquoise streak in my hair, but to be honest, I looked kind of faded next to Mo.

 

Thanks for the visit.