Geocaching by bike

It would almost appear that I've lost my commitment to quilting! I haven't - but just trying to get other things done and to show you (and me) that I'm not a one-trick pony! 

I walked the girls yesterday, did a few chores around the house because now that things are looking great, they have to stay that way! And then I was upstairs to see what I could do about that massive stack of receipts. Yes -- I could have taken the lot and dumped it in the box that goes to the shredder, but that's not my style. Besides, it's always fun to know when you bought a major item that well, you don't even own any longer. That's especially true of electronics! 

We no longer have a personal shredder -- another thing to clutter up the house. We have a box that we keep the receipts or other items to be shredded and from time to time, I take it there and dump it. It's almost time -- actually I hope to make a trip this week to get rid of electronic waste, donation boxes, etc. 

But the weirdest receipt I came across was this.  

A receipt for a parakeet?

I immediately texted M and asked her -- did she remember having a bird? I don't remember having a bird. It was very weird. 

As I was going through the pile, I was also sorting out the one-sided paper that we could use. Apparently, MANY people use this method and there's even a name -- GOOSe paper -- (good on one side!). I LOVE that -- I learned a new term! 

We don't print a lot in the house, but it's very rare that we print on good paper, as most of what we print is for us personally and I don't mind the recycled paper. Eventaully, it's gets completely recycled. 

And it's so nice to see that I'm not the only one on this decluttering journey - Good luck Suzie! And I hope that we can all stay motivated as we work through the messes we've made. We will  -- I have a LONG way to go in the decluttering world, so I expect to blog about it for a long time yet. 

I've even become the naysayer about gift giving. Someone asked recently what you give for a baptism. Money or nothing! Seriously -- does a baby need another toy? Ot at the minimum, ask the parents what they would prefer. It appears that many hostess gifts and gifts to children are never used or abandoned so quickly that what was the point in giving them? 

We have this insane culture that DICTATES that you must bring something when you attend a party, arrive at someone's house or whatever. If you absolutely feel compelled to buy something, buy an experience or a consumable and make it something they like! I'm perfectlyhappy if someone were to arrive at my house for dinner with a bottle of wine and NOTHING more. I don't need another candle or whatever! I could even live without the bottle of wine, but if you brought me a bottle of Corona - I wouldn't say no to that! 

We are always joking that our quilting is like therapy. Well, our quilting is like therapy, but so are the group get togethers and I've found the Zoom sessions especially therapeutic. Why? Because you realize that you are not the only one who uses two-sided paper, not the only one who doesn't want another candle, not the only one who has issue A or issue B. Seriously-- knowing that you are in the same boat as everyone else, is THERAPY that money can't buy!!

Speaking of Zoom get togethers, My gosh -- it's VIRUTAL RETREAT this weekend. I'll post the links at the end of this post. Come by and say HI or stay and sew with us for a a while. You're bound to discover something and if you need the answer to a question -- it's a great place to ask! 

Now let's have a look at what else happened in Studio U. I will admit that it was boring as heck to go through those receipts -- I'm ALMOST done. By the way, they were from 2009, 2010 and 2011. I don't think any of them are worth keeping, but I did sort out a few that I'll file and look at later. I know -- I should have done it right there, but remember -- I'm an OCD person, I'm systemic and I NEED to do it MY way. Thanks, Frank! 

I have to laugh as I put major tasks in my calendar and this one has been moved forward many times. At some point in the near future, I'll be able to remove that task! This is the beauty of electronic calendars. It's easy to move stuff. 

From my electronic calendar!

The batting closet

The sorting table

The paint chips for Studio U

The batting is gone

The temporary sorting room

My new phone case

I also ordered a PONCHO for the phone in the event I'm on my bike and it starts to rain. 

The two Quad Lock mounts

I wanted to get out for a bike ride (geocaching actually) and it's so handy to have that phone on the handlebars instead of stopping to check. 

Obviously I couldn't take a picture of it on my handlebars, but here's the mount. It's the blue thing on the right and my bike computer on the left. The metal clips are for my front carrier if I ever use it and in that case, I'll have to move the phone mount. 

My handlebars on the bike

Let me say that the bike mount and the new case were worth EVERY penny. That phone never budged and I was in some rough territory yesterday. Now I can only hope that the one for the car will be equally good. The only problem I had was to line up the phone case with the clip. On the video, they make it look so easy and I'm sure it is, once you get the hang of it. But WOW --- so secure. If you know someone who has a bike and wants a GOOD SOLID mount, this is it! And that package came the next day! Thank you QUAD LOCK people. I'm going to send them a note to say how pleased I am or make a review or whatever. 

So I had points to collect for geocaching and I was running out of time. I was only going to get five geocaches yesterday, but it was such a nice day and I was on a roll and I got a couple of bonus points (OK -- over 100 bonus points) that I reached my goal of 500 points!

I reached my geocaching goal

That was great, but I had NOT taken a snack with me as I didn't expect to be out so long and when I got home, I was ravenous! 

Good thing I got home when I did as look at the battery power on my bike computer. 

1% battery on the bike conputer

And there is nothing more fun that getting out on your bike and having no real destination. I felt like a kid in the 70s (when we didn't worry about our kids) and I just rode around the city and collected geocaching points and KM. I ended up doing 30 KM. A slow 30 KM by a serious cyclist standards, but I had a mission and was using my bike as transport, NOT as a sport. It's so freeing and there are so many bike paths in the city. It was a great day!!! I'm learning to let go of the distance I go on my bike and instead just use it as transportation. That's a very freeing moment when that happened. 

I had to get to this small cemetery, which by car is NOT easy. You have to find a side street and walk to the cemetery, I just rolled in on my bike and parked in the middle of the space!

Parking the bike is easy

And I got to see parts of the city that NO ONE sees or only very rarely. This is one of the gravestones in that small cemetery. 

Gravestone in the cemetary

A bigger geocaching box

And little tiny ones like this bison tube. 

A tiny bison tube for geocaching

And this is the resting place of that large box. Sometimes, the boxes are not exactly where they say they are and GPS signals often get messed up in trees. But then you start wondering around (collecting steps, of course). 

A hiding spot for the geocache

And then you spot weird things. Like why is this tree in a concrete circle?? There's absolutely NOTHING around here. It's in a small isolated wooded area that has ZERO pathways to it and in the spring, I don't think you'd get there because of the small creek (that was dry yesterday) to get into it. 

A concrete circle around a tree

I spotted two concrete foundations not too far away, so there must have been a couple of buildings at one point, but what? No idea. It's a forgotten area. 

Concrete foundation

Well, that wraps up today! What a fun day I had yesterday and I was super productive -- I got my geocaching done, went for a bike ride, cleared out clutter and basically had fun! I don't need someone or music or whatever to entertain me. I do a great job of that myself!