Trial and Testing

As I write this post, I still don't have my number one choice to replace my regular daily planner. That planner had an extremely late in the year ship date, and because I missed the first preorder, I'm at the end of the queue to receive this planner. It's wreaking havoc with my need to set things up well in advance.

It's frustrating, but understandable that the people who ordered first get their planners first, but I do so much set up that waiting is hard for me. I have tabs to add, and I need to put in birthdays and anniversaries, stickers for garbage day and watering plants and charging my Fitbit. Well, there are just a lot of things I do that take time.

I do have Option B and Option C if needed, but I can't set either of those up in case I need to use them for something other than my daily planner.

In the meantime, I've been testing things out in case the planner I'm waiting for doesn't work. I've done some messing around in my 2024 weekly planner's blank page section and discovered that if I needed to handwrite in the sections that my current daily planner has, that I'd be fine with it.

Using a dot marker instead of having boxes isn't as neat looking and writing in the sections for water, sleep, meditation, vitamins, and meals also aren't as nice as having everything pre-printed for me, but I honestly cannot spend another year in my 2024 daily planner. I'm chafing over the lack of space, especially on the weekends.

I also have stamps I could try out if Option A, the planner that has yet to arrive, doesn't work.

As an aside, the reason why the daily planner I am abandoning in 2025 has Saturday and Sunday sharing a page (SHARING!) is because they insist on putting in grocery list pages. 

Who makes out their grocery lists in a planner? Do people really do this? And if they do, why? I have apps on my phone for the two grocery stores I shop at. Both have list features. I add what I want to the list, and it tells me where that item is located right down to the aisle number. Who would use a paper list when they can use an app with all the features?

I wish I'd realized earlier that I could live with the handwritten sections I created in my weekly planner. If I'd known that, I would have abandoned the PITA planner this year instead of waiting for 2025. It's too late now since I nearly completed the year. It will be the planner of record for 2024 and then I'm done with that brand forever.

I'm sort of sad about what happened to my former favorite planner. It used to be awesome! I used to be so excited to use it, but the shared weekend was always an issue and then they started making changes to the weekday pages, shrinking the list section farther and farther with each revision until I simply ran out of room to plan my life. Now I mostly just get frustrated with it. Frustrated with having to write two items on each line in order to squeeze into it.

2025 is the end of my frustration! I'm sure the new planner won't be perfect either, but at least I'll have full pages for Saturday and Sunday. I'll figure everything else out.

Walking the Amazon

It took me 434 days to complete 1609.34 km, but I finally did it!

Way back in June I blogged about why I hadn't been sharing any pictures of the medals I earned. It's because I signed up for the long course on the Amazon challenge.

To sum up some of what I said back in June, I thought that because so many of my Paladin League books are set in the Amazon Rainforest, that I would walk the full route. What I didn't realize is that the course was on the actual river and that there were no pictures.

That's why I signed up for the long route, to get all kinds of rainforest images.

I did try to switch to the shorter route when I realized my mistake, but the app didn't allow me to get a medal, so I reverted to the long route and kept going. I'm all about the bling! And as you can tell from the picture, it's very pretty bling.

You better believe that going forward, I'll be signing up for the shorter route every time. I won't make this mistake again. :-)

Concurrently, I also earned my Challenge 2024 medal.

I believe the names on the ribbon are the people who designed the medal. IIRC, this is a contest that the company puts out each year for designs.

Fussy, Fussy: Part Two

Please read Part One from Tuesday for the first half of this story.

When we left off, no one was available to change the batteries of the chirping CO2 detector except for me and I have a serious fear of heights.

I was trying to figure out what to do, but more chirping settled the matter. I went out to the garage, hauled the ladder into the house, and set it up under the PITA detector.

Now I actually needed to climb the thing. :-(

I knew one rung wasn't going to do it, but I hoped two would be enough. It almost was. I could kind of reach, but it was difficult to do anything because I needed to be a couple of inches higher. With great reluctance, I forced myself up to the third rung.

I tried to notice the direction each of the batteries was facing, but I was hanging on to the top of the ladder for dear life and reaching up with one hand to get the generic batteries out of the detector. They both fell before I could figure out which side was the plus, and which was the minus. Well, how hard could it be? I'd try one direction, and if that didn't work, I'd reverse them.

This was not a winning strategy.

First, I didn't realize there were red, plastic springs that needed to move into position with the batteries. The lighting in the hallway is terrible and I really didn't want to tip my head back very far because that's scary on the ladder.

Second, getting the batteries in at all was a challenge. They didn't snap nicely into place and the first one fell. That meant I had to climb down the ladder (gulp) and back up again (double gulp) once I retrieved it. All the while that PITA is chirping.

Third, getting the direction on the batteries right was supremely challenging. I must have tried half a dozen configurations before I finally found one it liked. A configuration, BTW, that I swear I had already tried at least once. Although maybe I needed the little door closed for it to stop that infernal chirping and I had it open in case I needed to change them.

Anyway, after a harrowing ordeal, the name-brand batteries were inserted correctly and that fussy SOB finally stopped chirping. Blessed peace reigned again in my house.

The ladder was returned to the garage, and it only took like an hour or two for my pulse to return to normal after I climbed to death-defying heights on the ladder.

Someone needs to invent a better backup system for these freaking things. It shouldn't be 1) so fussy about battery brands and 2) such a major PITA to put batteries in them. Whoever can fix this deserves to earn a fortune because this is beyond enough.

Fussy, Fussy: Part One

Recently, I had the batteries in my smoke detectors and CO2 detectors replaced. This is an ordeal because I have high ceilings and I'm afraid of heights, so I need someone to do it for me.

It's also a PITA because one wrong move, and these freaking things start chirping.

The smoke detectors aren't too bad. They're happy with any fresh 9-volt battery. And as long as I keep on top of the calendar and change them on time, it's fine.

The CO2 detectors on the other hand are fussier than the most finicky cat you can imagine. I can't stand these things.

The first issue is these things take AA batteries and that means making sure the positive and negative sides are facing the right direction.

The second, and biggest issue, is that these prima donnas won't take generic AA batteries. Not even Maxell batteries are good enough for them. Nope, you try to put in anything except Energizer or Duracell and these things will start chirping. And chirping.

I knew they didn't like Maxell because I had to run to the store and get Energizer in the past. This time is when I learned it's not just Maxell and some weird quirk with that battery. Nope, it encompasses generic batteries, too.

I thought I had enough Energizer, but I miscounted. I thought I have two CO2 detectors, but I have three. I was short two name-brand AA batteries. I had generic that I use for my Wii balance board and for my computer mice. The only other option was for me to run to the store, so the person putting in the batteries used the generic brand.

It was 8:30 on a Sunday morning when the first chirp woke me up.

Yes, indeed, it was the CO2 detector with the generic batteries issuing the complaint. How dare I not buy a name brand? How dare I insert generic batteries? The horror!

Emergency run to the nearest store for the Energizer batteries. Luckily, they were on sale, and I had a coupon for 50 cents off.

Now I had a dilemma. No one was available to climb that ladder and change out the batteries. Except for me. The person afraid of heights.

Please return for Part Two on Thursday.

Knitting Resumed

I know I haven't posted anything about knitting in a long time, but my therapist wanted me to do something relaxing. She suggested coloring books, but I've tried that before and it's too boring. It was boring this time, too, and now I have more colored pencils and coloring books. :-/

She suggested a few other things before we agreed I would start knitting again.

I had some shawls that I'd started and not completed, but I couldn't find the patterns for them. I needed those patterns because I mark my progress as I knit on the paper. Without it? I'd have to count rows and try to figure out where I was at. I'd probably be wrong, too.

Those paper patterns (with everything marked off) are somewhere in my house. I just can't find them. I will eventually.

In the meantime, I started another shawl.

This designer works with both knitting and crochet and I'd made the crochet version of this shawl previously and it's literally the only shawl I've made that I've actually worn. I'm not a shawl person, but this one is warm and because there's holes for my arms, it was usable.

The knit version would have to be equally as awesome, right?

Yeah.

First, I don't like working with bulky yarn. It's hard on my hands and the knitting is much slower for me than with thinner yarn.

Second, the designer said this was a beginner pattern, but neglected to mention that I had to turn the project to do the stitches for the arm holes. I know how to do a cable cast on. I didn't know how to do it in the middle of a row. A friend finally recommended a YouTube video for me that straightened me out.

Third, the crochet version of the shawl is a little short and I wanted the shawl to reach my butt, so I knit the middle (gray) section twice. In bulky yarn which means this shawl is heavy.

And four, after I was finished, I discovered that the arm holes are a little small if I wanted more than my wrists peeking out. Maybe that's what the designer was aiming for, but when I'm writing my stories, I need my forearms out, too, for the keyboard.

Oh! Number five. When I tried the shawl on, I discovered that this yarn is very scratchy and not pleasant to wear. I don't know if washing it will help or not.

Ta da. My shawl.

Luckily, it was a quick knit because I doubt I'll ever use this one. I'll just keep wearing the crochet version because that one is softer, and I do have enough room to stick my arms out to write.