FRICKIN MISSED IT!

LAST NIGHT WAS THE FULL MOON!

PoD and I were quibbling over when it was going to be. My calender said tonight...but what did that really mean?


So I checked...


For the northern hemisphere, last night’s moon was the full Hunter’s Moon. In the southern hemisphere, it was the second full moon of spring.
The full moon reached the crest of its full phase today (Saturday, October 23) at 1:36 Universal Time. For the Central Time zone in the U.S., that was 8:36 p.m. yesterday, on Friday, October 22.
Tonight’s moon is past full. It is actually a waning moon. However, no matter where you live worldwide, it will be a full-looking waning gibbous moon – not a full moon – that will be rising over your east-northeast horizon this Saturday evening. As a rule of thumb, the moon rises approximately 50 minutes later daily.
However, it is early autumn in the northern hemisphere now, and at this time of year, that rule is broken for the several nights following the full moon. If you reside far enough north of the equator, in fact, you may even see tonight’s waning moon rising before sunset. At Fairbanks, Alaska, for instance, the waning moon will rise before sunset for the next several days.
Our charts are designed for temperate latitudes in North America. Look at the position of yesterday’s full Hunter’s Moon 24 hours ago. (Look at East on the sky chart.) Now note the waning gibbous moon on today’s chart. After 24 hours, the moon has swung almost sideways (instead of downward), so that is why the waning moon rises sooner after sunset in autumn than at other seasons.
Last night, the full Hunter’s Moon shone all night long last night. However, watch again tonight, as the waning gibbous moon repeats the performance, lighting up the nighttime from dusk until dawn!



Hope you understood that.....;}




Why is it important to me?






I had plans on remaking my broom with this year's bountiful harvest of wheat stalks taken from Superb [where we used to live] land. My other one bit the dust a few years ago and I have always wanted to replace mine, as I miss my vehicle of choice....




;)

Must leave you with this scary sight...

No.......not the Space Cat or Space Devil

[PoD & QoH many, many, many moons ago and that many pounds lighter]

NO DECORATIONS IN THE BACKGROUND!

This was one of my "Repressed" periods!






The decor snuck in once the first kid flew the coop!






Speaking of decor...




Need a fast idea to make little "Ghosties" and all you have are those annoying tampons left around...

Or maybe get gruesome...

I LIKE TO BE HELPFUL...;}

JILL TIP...

Sick and tired of blowing your nose constantly! The irritation of plugged sinus, head stuffed up and all is making you miserable!

THEN THERE'S THE COST OF EXPENSIVE KLEENEX!

Well, cheapo me refuses to buy boxes and boxes of Kleenex [that's what I have to go through] and so I use "Toilet Paper" instead!

Yah, I guess that makes me a "Redneck Jill"!

But I didn't say you couldn't be classy about it! They make the stuff soft enough for your butt so why not for your nose?

I like to remove the tissue from the center [like you would for string or yard] than unwinding from the outside. I found that I spent more time chasing the roll around because it like to jump off of the table and hide under something [but fun for the cat].

I needed to keep this pesky roll in something and so why not make it stylish?

I'm using my decorative tea pots [I collect by the way ;)] right now. But have change them up for special occasions like Xmas, Easter, etc.

The weight of these containers helps control wayward rolls and I have a handle to help carry them around. If company [?] were to suddenly drop by, I would put it's lid on...:)

SOME OF MY JILL ABILITIES.... and I have been training PoD to use hers!

When PoD & Trebor moved to Dodge they bought Wilma and Puffy Kracker's old house. This one of the oldest homes in Dodge but in good structural shape with a large backyard for her kids to be safe in.

One late August evening in 2004 PoD had expressed the possibility of having two rooms upstairs for the kids bedrooms.

As it was the kids slept downstairs in separate rooms and PoD & Trebor slept upstairs, which consisted of 1 bedroom, an exposed toilet/sink, a double closet and all was accessed by an open stairwell with a rickety rail surrounding it. All of those things were not great for two active and curious kids.

Still fresh from her "Intruder Nightmare" she wanted sleep on the main floor and be able to hear any noise so she could protect her kids when Trebor is not home!

I used to be a set designer/builder for our theatre group and figured if I could do that why not for real in PoD's place.

So I came up with a brilliant idea that involved our splitting up the main bedroom into two rooms with platform beds accessed by stairs that housed storage space, with a work/play station under the platform and outside of their rooms I would create a play area/TV stand by enclosing the stairwell for safety reasons. Pod also would get a place for her books, 3-D puzzles and tote container storage.

Sounds massive doesn't it...well it was!

So in early Nov., PoD and Trebor removed the toilet, sink and gutted the whole upstairs so all we had left was and empty hole that looked like this....

Our first major chore was to supply heat to both rooms. The drawback was there was only one vent but thankfully it was in the middle of the room. With some heavy thinking I came up with an idea about having the vents located under the bottom step of the kid's stairway to their platform beds. So with some measuring, cutting and fudging we ended up with something that looked like this....

We were lucky that the windows were centered in the main bedroom so each kid got their own window.

Next came the division of the room into two rooms. This included the building of the platform beds. It sounds easy to say it but it was harder to put up!

Remember...measure twice...cut once!

Here are some photos to show the progress....

Take note of some of the photos have "Orbs" in them. To those of you who think they are "dust motes"...how come there aren't millions of them because it was pretty dusty up there...that's where we did all of the sawing!

The whole time we were building I had this feeling that we were being watched and sometimes I felt these were childish like spirits! I always felt they were happy with what we were doing. It did make me feel uncomfortable at the time!

Will be sending more pictures on the building process....

Got to get to work....

Jill Tip - The Mover

My wonderful "moving tool" invention is the best helper in the world!

It's called "The Skateboard"!



Being of limited strength, I found it very difficult to move any heavy objects around the shop [I redecorate fairly often] and asking someone [or waiting for] to help me, grates on my "Jill" abilities!



I solved my dilemma by using BillyRoo's abandoned skateboard.



All I had to do was lift up one end of the heavy object and push the skateboard under the center of it, then keep it balanced while I moved said object to where I wanted it. This works really well on all surfaces except for very heavy plush carpeting and loose dirt. If the object is small enough and the curved ends protrude you can pivot the item just like a skateboarder would pivot themselves. As for how much weight it can hold...just imagine a kid/adult leaping off of ramps onto the board and the amount of weight this item takes when they do that.



I have moved 4' x 8' sheets of aluminum & wood to areas where I need them, just by balancing the sheet and using my foot to pivot it. The only strength needed was lifting one end.

It also was a great help in moving my boxes while I was moving out and into my new place. We also used the board in conjunction with the moving dolly when we moved the fridge. We could go forward with the dolly and sideways with the skateboard, it worked great in tight hallways/doorways and we never had to removed the dolly to replace it.



Being a Halloween nut I have also used the skateboard for moving creatures for scare tactics. My big white spider was a hit in my last Haunted Courthouse adventure. I had painted my skateboard all black so it couldn't be seen.

I now have two skateboards! I picked up my other one at a garage sale. You have to keep in mind what kind of system it has for the wheels. My second one has wheels that enables the skater to lean sideways because of the joining of the wheels to the base. My preference is wheels that are rigid...it hold the item better without the side wobble. I still use the other when the object it wide and using two helps to balance it better.


So now you have many uses for that object when you confiscate it from your offending children!

JILL TIP:

Flexible Vacuum:

To get something out of narrow places........like cat hair stuck in register vents!
Recycle a cardboard tube from paper towels, wrapping paper, etc and stick them on the end of the vacuum hose. It can be bent or flattened to fit these narrow spaces. Throw away when done!

JILL *Renovation* TIP:

Broken Glass:

- Use a dry cotton ball to pick up the little shards of glass ...ie: light bulb glass! The fibers catch ones you can't see.

- I have also used a wet paper towel [folded over a couple of times] to pat the area where the glass shards are.

- Glass gone but light socket remains...use part of a spud, the cut end and push into glass/socket...unscrew......first remember to disconnect the power!

JILL *Cooking* TIP:

Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yokes in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the corner tip of baggy, squeeze mixture into egg cavity. Just throw bag away when done....easy clean up!

I finally decided to find my work bench just in case I might need it.
I am such a pack rat that I had buried it under tons of crap...some usable and some not.
So like a busy bee I cleaned it all up and organized everything so I now know where everything is when I finally get around to building something.
The worst mess was all of the nails and screws! So I put a put a handy dandy container together and Jill of all trades can now be organized better!
Jill Tip:
I keep all of my laundry soap measuring cups and use them to house the wayward nails/screws and excess stuff like hooks & eyes, nuts & bolts, etc. They fit nicely together on a shelf when not in use and also fit in my carry-all. The carry-all holds hammer, drill, tape measure, pliers, drill bits and these nifty containers of screws/nails. I hate poking my fingers with the sharp ends of the nails/screws so I fill them with the sharp ends pointing downward. My hands are fairly small so large round/square containers are hard for me to get a grip...that's where the handy little handles come into use! When these cups break I just throw it away and use a new one...no expense.
Seeing as I am not do theatre this year maybe I can get busy and fix my living quarters now that I have no excuse that I can't find my tools!
Stay tuned for more Jill Tips!