Another failed plan, I think

There's a long story with this.  A couple of years ago, I found an audiobook of Nerilka's Story by Anne McCaffrey at Goodwill.  Read by Anne Herself, so I could finally know how she really meant all those names to be pronounced (okay, at least all the names in this story - so Brekke will by a mystery for a while).  But, it's on audio cassette, and the only working cassette player is in my car, so the whole thing got put on hold. 

A few years later (Last year, in other words), a friend mentioned a gadget that looks like an old cassette Walkman, that will play a cassette and convert that sound straight to MP3 on an attached flash drive.  Off I go to Amazon and look at said gadgets.  Got distracted and put the project on hold again.  Then, this month, I decided that it's time to get this audiobook, and a few assorted music cassettes, finally converted to digital.  Because the CD of the audiobook is $$$, and the music cassettes are obscure stuff that will never be on CD or MP3 or whatever. 

While trying to figure out which of the many variations of the gadget to get, I realized two things.  A, the main complaint seems to be that the cassette player portion is the weak link, both in durability and in sound quality.  And B, there's a related gizmo that will connect an existing stereo with cassette player to your hard drive, via USB, and skip the whole cheaply-made cassette player gadget thing.  Plus, half the price ($12 or so less.)  So, I spent a whole afternoon digging the stereo out of a closet and making a space for it within connecting distance of the hard drive.  And then realized we had to go spend $15 on wire to connect the speakers to the stereo, since they're on a unique hookup and we seem to have lost the original wire. 

And, a week later, I have finally plugged in the stereo and put in a cassette to test it (with no speakers hooked up, because why waste the wire if the thing won't work).  Yeah.  Neither of the two cassette decks seem to work - they play for a few seconds, reverse, play a few seconds, repeat.  And one of the 3 CD trays doesn't seem to work either. 

So.  Barring the engineer of the house being able to fix at least one cassette deck, looks like I'll be returning the $15 of speaker wire, and buying the more expensive gizmo and hoping the cassette player doesn't crap out.  Bleh.

The ongoing hunt for a card catalog

For some reason that I can't fully explain, I want (really, really WANT) an old wooden card catalog from a library.  It's sort of like the joke about asking a dog what it will do with the car it's chasing if it catches the car.  Where will I put it? What will I use it for? No clue.  But I want one.

The problem?  They are wicked expensive.  Also, hard to find.

The university had a nice one in a surplus auction a couple of years back.  Unfortunately, I had a dentist appointment that day.

I was this close to having one last month.  One popped up on Craigslist not far from my sister in Colorado, at the make-me-faint price of $125.  But someone else emailed first, and anyway, my sister kept finding excuses for not being able to drive 20 minutes to get it.  Oh well.

A week later, three were on the government-surplus auction site, in Champaign Illinois.  Nice ones, with a leg/base section, three 15-drawer sections, and pull-out shelves.  Just the kind I'm wanting.  They were under $200 when I started watching, and I was looking into ways to get them here (Greyhound takes small freight.  Who knew??).  And then in the last half hour, the three shot up to about $650 each, plus whatever it would cost to get them here.  

The surplus auction had another one pop up this month, although it wasn't quite a library catalog.  The drawers were 3 different sizes, and the labels were very un-library-like - things like anthrax, cholera, Legionnaire's disease, and chick embryos.  Had a legged base, pull-outs, and it looked sectional.  Hmmmmmm.  But, I went on Tuesday to the viewing hours and had a good look at it.  It would have been workable, although the drawer bottoms weren't solid - they were all missing a strip down the middle for the metal card holder (I'm sure there's an official name for that thingy). 

And today I sucked it up and went to the auction.  Signed up for a bidder number, and stood around an unheated, cold building for 3 and a half hours before they finally got the the cabinet.  It blew past my upper limit ($150ish) by the third bid, and ended at a whopping $1,000.  Plus tax. 

I was not the only person there interested in it, just based on the other three people who left right after the bidding ended on it. 

And then I skipped my other two errands, because it was 1:00, and came home for a lunch of PB&J on week-old bread, because I somehow botched the grocery shopping over the holidays, and the bread is off-schedule. 

Decluttering updated - Mid-January

A partial list of things that have gone elsewhere so far:

1. 4 magazines, quarter-collecting kit to Upscale
2. sorted out tote bags – 20 to get rid of; bag of CDs
3. grapes, 10 packs of very old Tim Tams, 2 bottles of gummy vitamins, fiber gummies, 10-yr old Karo syrup, olive oil, pounds of sunflower seeds
4. 3 weeks worth of newspapers
5. took series books (Trixie Uglies, Bobbsey tweeds, Power Boys) to library
6. Took 12 DVDs, 2 games to Vintage ($2.16); got rid of contents of Stephen Covey box (nice box), recycled library guide from 2017
7. Took to Barbara for Miles – one of the bouncy ride-on balls, Dinosaur Train puzzle 24pc, Toy Story Memory game; took a dozen or so CDs back to library; took 6 puzzles to the Friends for sales
   
   
   I've also mailed about 8 boxes of books to other people, and the recycling bin is full of paper.  
   
   
   Does not include the pile of stuff in the front hall to take to be donated, which includes:
   •  two Easter baskets
   • a dozen or so 3-ring binders
   • many, many CDs
   • decorative hand towels that are not useful

First Reads for January

January is another 2-book month.  However, the choices are skimpy for me this month. 

1. Psych thriller - When I Was You
2. Contemporary Fiction - The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock
3. Suspense - Thief River Falls
4. Domestic Suspense - Last Day
5. Non-fiction - The Future of Feeling
6. Thriller - The Names of the Dead
7. Historical Fiction - In a Field of Blue
8. Picture Book - Bird Hugs

I'm not a fan of thrillers or suspense, so that knocks half the books out right there.  The non-fic doesn't look interesting (subtitle: "Building empathy in a tech-obsessed world"), and picture books don't do well on a Kindle.  So, one Contemporary Fic, one Hist Fic.  

More decluttering - CDs

Spent the weekend in the office, trying to rearrange to make room for an endtable and the old stereo.  That's so I can buy the gizmo to connect the stereo to the computer and transfer some cassettes to MP3. 

Which led to sorting AAAALLLLLLLL the CDs, and now there's a big box and bag of CDs at the front door to go Away.  And the Breyers in boxes are not piled in front of the CD racks anymore, which looks better, but now there's more crap piled around the computer. 

Deck chairs on the Titanic?  And there's a card catalog at the MU Surplus Auction on Wednesday, but I have no place for it.  Was stupid enough to mention it on Facebook, so now Mom and Sister are nagging me to hell and back about it.  "Can't you find a dozen little things to get rid of, to make room?"  Well, NO.  What do you think I've been doing??

New year, new decluttering

For 2020, one of my returning goals is decluttering.  I don't seem to have much luck.  Two generations of borderline hoarders is working against me.  This year, I've started a list of what I've gotten rid of. 

Over the weekend, I  cleaned out a bit of the fridge (a stupid amount of moldy grapes is composting now.  Also, a watermelon.), and a couple of cabinets.  Tossed 10 packs of Tim Tams from 5+ years ago.  A ten year old half-bottle of karo syrup that was mostly solid.  A few pounds of sunflower seeds that had gone rancid. 

Otherwise, 20 cheap tote bags are going away.  Took construction paper and crayons to the library for the kid programs.  Took a bunch of series books that haven't sold and donated them to the Friends.  Four magazines to Upscale. 

More mending

After buying 3 packs (11 total) of denim needles, I spent another afternoon sewing belt loops and pocket corners.  Managed to only break one more needle, and it was a hand-sweing needle, while fixing a belt loop.

Next up, I still need to fix the straps on one tote bag, since they're unraveling at the edges, and try to fix my Friends of the Library tote that had an unfortunate run-in.  I managed to get tangled in the strap and trip, and my weight managed to put a 5-inch or so tear down the middle of one side.  It's a nasty tear, so there will have to be muslin backing to make up for the now-missing fabric that came unraveled along the tear.  Yay. I did find matching thread at Jo-Ann Fabrics, but also came out with 3 yards of fabric and about 6 remnants.  It would be faster and cheaper if I just did all my Jo-Ann shopping online.

2020 mending

My goal for New Year's Day was to work on the pile of mending.  Because apparently that's where all Chris' jeans were - 5 pairs.  And other things.

Behold, Mount Denim

I managed to fix the strap on the soda cooler, which required picking out all of the old attempt to fix it, and the hole in D's hoodie. 

 first attempt

 after picking out the old attempt

Patch #2, reinforced on both sides

 The holey hoodie

 Many, many jeans with pocket holes

 Oops

But the jeans were not a rousing success.  I managed to break all three denim needles on two pairs of jeans. 

And, possibly my biggest accomplishment of the year, I managed to somehow sew the darning foot to the jeans.  Before breaking another needle.

And now I've got 11 more denim needles (6 Singer, 5 Schmertz).  I hope they last long enough to fix another 6 or so pairs of jeans, if I don't run out of patch-denim before that.  Had to sacrifice a leg from a pair of jeans I made into shorts.