2025 OneThing #21 - April Summary

It is Wednesday, April 30th and I am exhausted. I subbed today and it was a very full day! I had an amazing six days up north (Grand Marais, then the lake), so I absolutely cannot complain. But I wanted to get this written so I can move on with getting my board ready for May.

 

It was a good month, but a little odd in some ways with a mix of challenging and "easy" / quick tasks. 

 

I got the first week's thing done so quickly that I added another thing. 

 

Week two was more challenging, but I made great progress. (A week later, I was at a quilt retreat and tore out the binding, made some changes, reattached the binding, and finished the piece for the show.) Here it is:

Week three was super fast . . . I can't believe I didn't do it sooner. 

 

Week four . . . I didn't set the goal early enough / promote it enough / pray enough??? Only four of us went to help pack meals. It was worth doing, but I wish I had brought more helpers.

Week five is technically not over, so I will complete that (and write about the process) on May 4. Life is good and I am blessed.

My verse for this month was Psalm 84:1-2

Buttons - Who Knew?

Minnesota Quilters had a guest speaker in early April 2025 who talked about buttons. It was so interesting! It's a whole world that I hadn't really thought about before.

 

Here are some random notes I decided to keep.

 

Buttons can be sorted by size:

• large - 1 1/4" or bigger
• medium - 3/4" to 1 1/4"
• small - 3/8" to 3/4"
• diminutive - less than 3/8"

They can be separated by age but there are only two categories!

• old is pre 1918
• modern / vintage is 1918 to present

 They can also be divided by back type, material, construction, etc.

The Minnesota Button Society (yes, that's a thing!) is holding their annual show May 8-10 at the Double Tree Hotel in Bloomington. I'm thinking of going if we're in town!

2025 OneThing #20 - FMSC

Tonight (Wednesday, April 23), Louie and I will go to the Chanhassen location for Feed My Starving Children. I signed up for a group of eight for our church and yet only four of us plan to be there. As seems to happen too often, people who thought they could make it cannot. What do I do?

I've thought about posting on Facebook. Perhaps I have local friends who would love to participate! Or perhaps that just seems lame. I haven't posted on FB in a long time. I haven't even gone on to look at birthday greetings that probably were posted there a few weeks ago . . . 

Do I go in to my reservation and delete four spots? I should ask my friend who works there what they prefer.

I only "set" this goal on Monday . . . and honestly haven't spent much time in prayer about it. Prayer makes such a difference! 

I knew this week was pretty full. And next week's looking busy as well. I think I'll post this less-than-fantastic but very real entry about this week's goal and go pray about serving tonight. I may update this post tonight.

God is good! He has everything in His hands. I am blessed and thankful.

2025 OneThing #19 - Sort and Organize Containers

This is one of those things that has been driving me crazy for a while but it took less than a half hour to do it!

I have one main shelf / drawer for round plastic food containers (Tupperware and "fake" Tupperware type things) and one drawer for rectangle ones. I also have a shelf / drawer for glass containers with their lids in a basket below. I have a fourth location with some oversize plastic containers and my Twixits / water bottles / etc. (Oh, and I keep excess empty yogurt containers in the cupboard over the fridge. I have a separate story to tell about those . . . )

Those first two locations were disastrous and getting worse each day. I pulled everything out, wiped down the shelf, and put things back with one lid per container neatly stacked by size. It went pretty quickly and now the drawers are neat and organized. It wasn't worthy of "before" and "after" photos, but I put extra "unclaimed" lids in a bag (reused the one from last time) and tucked it in back.

It looks as though I last did this in June, so ten months ago! It was overdue.

2025 OneThing #18 - Finish 2025 Challenge

Well, technically I haven't finished it yet. However, having this as my "One Thing" helped me to be more diligent about working on it!

It took me longer than I anticipated to sew on the gold lines, then to quilt the three layers. I made and attached the binding. My corners were cropped and they turned out awful! I made and stitched on the hanging sleeve. Attaching the greens was . . . interesting. They are pretty top heavy!

Here's what's left on my list:

• buy little gold buttons (21+)
• sew on all the buttons on the pineapple's sections
• zigzag the edge of the pineapple?
• add label
• remove loose threads
• do something with the four corners . . . large buttons?

 

I'm disappointed that it looks so wonky, but it has been a fun process anyhow. 

 

The challenge envelope gave me the batik fabric, the "ruler" fabric (I wrote the word "HOME" at the top by fussy cutting the rulers.), the red rickrack, and the shiny ribbon on my pineapple's leaves.

 

We were also given the theme "all buttoned up" . . . and asked to incorporate buttons. Part of me wants to "make do" with ones I already have and part of me wants to find some cheap shiny gold ones to sew on. Or I suppose I could put some fun contrasting color on the red "bowl" . . .  so no, I didn't FINISH it yet. But I'm close! 

Part of the reason I made this was because it's fun to change out seasonal decorations. Other than Independence Day, my summer theme is fruits and veggies. This wall hanging will be up in the summertime! Pineapples say "welcome."

 

2025 OneThing #17 - Budget Analysis and GE Water Softener Resin Tank Contact

I should call this blog entry "TwoThings" . . . because that's what happened!

I first set the goal of doing our budget analysis for 2020 - 2024. This has been on my to-do list for over a month! I had started it in February as we are looking at making some changes in our household and we want to make sure we're looking at things logically. Since we've been budgeting (2017 - present), we have a lot of data about expenses for the different categories. I did not, however, have ALL the categories with annual totals and monthly averages. Once I set that as my "OneThing" goal, I had it done in a half hour. I only did 2020-2024 because a LOT has changed since Covid-19.

So I decided to grab another of my long to-do list items. Our GE water softener worked really well for 3 1/2 years. Last fall, our showers felt different. Our soap and shampoo didn't really foam up. Our skin felt different. Louie checked the water softener to make sure it was working. I asked if I should buy more salt (even though I could see that the level was okay).

Louie said the resin tank is leaking beads. I got out the booklet and read through it, including the warranty info. I started looking for a new (non-GE) model to buy. Louie tried a few things. As the months have passed, I'm alternately "whatever" and "this hard water is making me crazy!" Our dishes all have a filmy coating on them. My skin and hair feel crunchy (it doesn't help that winter weather in Minnesota is brutal on the integumentary system).

I re-read the warranty booklet and it says they will replace the resin tank within ten years of purchase "if it fails due to defect in materials or workmanship."

So I called the toll free customer service number. I had a lovely chat with Janice. She transferred me to a repair guy (Nathan) who basically said the resin tank could be replaced IF there is a defect like a big crack. He wanted me to set up a service call. I told him my husband would look into it and asked him what were next steps / options for us. I'm thinking that rather than paying someone to come out here, we may just go shopping for a new water softener.

Thankfully, I have a wonderful life partner with whom I can talk about this. We can do the pros / cons, what are our options, and then move on. I'm ready to have soft water again. . . . 

I love photos, but I don't really have any to share this time. I do need to set a new goal for the upcoming week, though . . .