Weekly Mileage #173 and the 10K Treadmill Race

Monday I power washed the basement patio area: the siding, the cushions, the chairs, etc. I only lightly did the decking- that will need to be done in more detail when we have time to re-stain it as well. It's too hot to do that right now though.

I also uploaded all the pics to the posts for the last few weeks. It was a lot of pictures, so it took awhile.

I started my third try at the waxed canvas and leather bucket, but ran out of time to finish it before Sunshine and I headed out to a socially-distant Scout meeting.

Tuesday we had online music lessons then I finished the third version of bucket. It's still not quite what I want, but it's just about there. I also spent some time figuring out the costs of materials for the bucket so I can decide on a price. I still need to see how long it takes to make each one before I finalize the price.

Wednesday I did some tidying around my desk. It was becoming a disaster area since I'm not using it much right now- I'm downstairs at my work table more often.

I ran a 10k on the treadmill: the Wonder Woman virtual race I signed up for awhile ago. I don't love running on the treadmill, but we're at a point in the summer where if I want to do any running and still be functional afterwards, it has to be inside. I was still pretty tired, but not as wiped out as I would have been if I'd run outside. Of course, my tired might be because I ran 5.7 out of the 6.2 miles of the race :)

Jeremy and I replaced two led lights on the RV. They weren't working well and caused us to fail the annual safety inspection. Nobody carries them and while the shop that fixed our broken window was willing to order them from the manufacturer, that would have taken way too long to arrive. We're supposed to fix the issue within 15 days of failing- we're a bit past that now. I finally found the white oval backup light on a random website that sells auto/trailer lights. Amazon only had red oval lights. I did find some orange lights for the front cap on Amazon, though they're not an exact match. They're high enough up that you really can't see them though. The white light was quick and easy to replace, but the orange one was a pain. Jeremy had to dig out a bunch of silicone in order to get the wires out, then had to re-silicone afterwards to make sure there's no leaks in the overcab area.

Thursday after I wen to the chiropractor I started cutting tote bag straps and realized the leather I intended to use for them is way too thick. I bought some skirting leather that's 10-12 oz and quite stiff. I ordered some 8-9 oz leather that should be a better fit. For comparison, the leather I use on the body of the totes is about 5 oz.

Since I'd already cut them, I did install a set of straps on my largest tote, but that further solidified that I don't want to use that leather for the straps. I also worked on pricing out the materials for the totes. I need to track my time making these as well before I decide on a final price.

After I installed the straps I rubbed in some leather protectant (should have done it before I attached the straps), then ended up doing the whole bag. You can see the difference above, but the darker color faded a bit as the protectant soaked in.

socially distant tree picture

Friday morning we went on a short hike to the river with some friends. We tried out the canvas buckets and I got some good pics for social media posts. In the picture below, the lighter colored strap is made from that thick saddle skirting. Too thick for what I want, but more sturdy than the other leather.

Heading home with wet buckets after a fun morning.

I had planned on working on more totes or my first "official" tote from nicer leather in the large size, but I wasn't feeling well enough. Maybe I was in the heat too long that morning?

Saturday I went to YW camp kit pickup. Those in charge of organizing the YM and YW camps this year put together materials packets for the classes each youth signed up for. After that I had a bit of a wait before it was time to pickup some pork we bought.

I thought about going in to Whole Foods to get the shopping done (so it wouldn't need to be done on Monday), but the line was outside and moving very slowly. Which reminded me why I don't like shopping on Saturdays.

Since that wasn't happening, I found a reasonably shady parking spot in a nearby shopping center and worked on my logo and care tags (for leather and waxed canvas) for a little while. Then I went back to Whole Foods to meet our local dairy farmer that we get our raw milk from to pick up the milk-fed pork we bought from them.

After I got home, I worked some more on my logo and care tags and new business cards. I need to get this all figured out so I can update my site and social media branding before I start listing new products and driving traffic to my site.

Sunday was a home church day. Jeremy got to go help someone in our ward with a burst pipe in their basement.

Earlier in the year I volunteered to be the medical form person for our Scout troops (the boys and the girls troops share adult leadership). We're in the process of updating everyones health forms now that we're starting to meet in person again. So I spent a couple hours updating the spreadsheet we use to track everything.

Then I had a Stake YW camp meeting. I wasn't feeling stressed before that, but afterwards I was. It's going to take a bit more time than I thought and more involvement on my part than I expected.

Between the spreadsheet updates and the zoom call I ended up with a massive headache that started to turn into a migraine (I could feel the nausea coming on) so I went to bed early.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.0 miles walked outside
Wednesday- 7.0 miles run and walked on the treadmill (6.2 mile race + .8 cool down)
Friday- 1.2 miles hiked
total- 9.2 miles

2020 totals

27 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

164.19 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
18.00 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
200.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
382.19 miles total

Weekly Mileage #172 and All the Leather Projects

Monday I went grocery shopping, which tired me out. I'm going back to pickup/delivery as much as possible, then I'll only have to go into Costco and pickup at Kroger. Whole Foods and Target will deliver.

I did manage to do some work on the chicken coop so we could integrate the chicks in with the chickens. It would be better if they were a bit bigger, but they were getting pretty cramped in their little brooder area. I hauled a couple loads of mulch to the pen for them to scratch around in and it did me in. The combined heat of 91* and high humidity felt like 100* 😥

Tuesday I made two notebook orders made and shipped them out. The alcohol ink supplies I ordered forever ago finally arrived so I can do some more experimentation when I've got a minute.

The boys talked their sister into setting up the slip-n-slide for them and they had lots of fun.

Sunshine made a <late> Fourth of July cake. The colors didn't quite work, but she had some nice smooth fondant on the top (she skipped it on the sides, though). It was a good learning experience for her.

Wednesday I had planned to do a 10k on the treadmill (to knock out the last virtual race I signed up for), but I woke up with a migraine that got worse throughout the day. I was pretty useless and didn't get anything done- too nauseous and headachy.

Sunshine had a board of review and is now a First Class Scout!

Jeremy and I had our stake presidency temple recommend interviews via zoom. It was nice to catch up with him- he was the bishop of the first ward we were in when we moved here and were renting for a year.

Thursday I was still a bit headachy, but not nauseous, so I was much more productive.

My tote bag patterns are good to go, now I need to figure out how much materials I used so I can calculate costs and what I will charge for each one.

The medal for my 50k finally arrived.

I re-did the notebook cover- third times the charm, and I'm finally happy with it. The unfortunate thing is I used this cool brand on my first try, when I should have saved it for when I had a better idea of how it would turn out.

First try on bottom, second in the middle, third on top.

And the inside:

I started to mess around with the gather basket handle (I was going to double up the leather), but decided it didn't look good that way, so single layer handle it is.

I also did a sewn cover for music notebook, and machine sewed the papers. The edges aren't quite as neat as when I hand sew them (all in one group versus split into 5 groups), but I may start doing it this way- it allows me to sew a cardstock cover to the papers, which then allows it work in this style of cover (this has been a hangup all along). I realized this style cover should also work for spiral bound music notebooks, but we don't have one in decent shape in the house, so I'll need to go buy one to make sure.

I didn't quite get the dimensions of the cover right, so I'll re-do it, but so far I like it, and I can do a larger one for 12 stave notebooks or guitar tab notebooks, which I have received requests for.

Good timing on all this since those last two notebook orders I filled used the last big pieces of my good, expensive leather. All I have left now is smaller pieces that will work for smaller notebooks. I do have another roll of the good, expensive leather, but it's a lighter weight and doesn't work as well with the original notebook design. It works really well when two pieces are sewn together, though it definitely increases the materials cost of each one.

I'm not sure if I want to order more of the expensive leather or not. On the one hand, the notebooks are easy to make and I have a lot of 6 stave paper (I re-ordered a whole bunch right at the beginning of lockdown). On the other hand, I'm kind of bored making them and I'm not really satisfied with how I sew the pages to the covers, and the leather is about twice as expensive as the other leathers I've purchased.

Friday morning I took the kids on a hike, which was hot and humid, since it's always hot and humid now. We found two geocaches, tried to find another,  and then played in the river a bit before heading home.

Being brave and trying to cross the log:

And he's off:

Stop!                     (I'm not sure why)

The first geocache required me lifting River since none of us were tall enough to reach it.

The boys had fun jumping in the river.

The elusive teenager (she wasn't feeling great).

Cannonball into the shallow area

Great view!

We found more wild blackberries on the way out.

Reading Ocean's favorite book: Alexander the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

I ran a couple errands with my medium tote bag.

Saturday I power washed the small shed by the cars. It's oddly soothing for ocd. We recently bought a new power washer and I wanted to make sure I knew how to use it- Jeremy doesn't have time and can only use it in short stints even when he does have time.

Then I made some waxed canvas and leather buckets. They're not quite right, but they're close, and overall I really like them. First time using waxed canvas and I'm liking it.

The left one has a double layer of canvas on the bottom, the right has just a leather bottom. The issue is sewing the bottom to the sides without leaving a lot of red under that lower leather strip. The leather strip needs to stay as it helps provide a bit of rigidity and shape and I like how it looks. On my next try I'll extend the lower leather strip all the way to the bottom of the side so I'm sewing two layers of leather together instead of a layer of canvas to a layer of leather. That will bring its own issues, so we'll see how it goes.

Why is red so hard to photograph? This one's a bit closer to the actual color- it's not nearly as bright as the other pictures might imply.

And here's the tote lineup. I will use a different, more rigid leather for the straps and I'll also experiment with different leathers, but I like the pattern.

I used cheap utility leather for the totes, gather basket, and notebooks since it made it a lot cheaper to try things out without worrying overly much about messing up. Now that I have some patterns I like, it's time to start using the nicer leathers. The leather I used on the canvas and leather bucket is a more pliable leather that I've used on a couple notebooks. The flexibility allows the bucket to squish almost flat for packing while still providing shape and structure.

Sunday Jeremy took Sunshine and River went to church for the first time, Ocean and I stayed home. Things went pretty well there, though whoever prepared the sacrament didn't put the gluten free crackers on a separate tray. The bread and crackers were placed in cups on the same tray, which might have been ok, except that the cups kept tipping over and everything got mixed together. Part of the learning process....

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 0.8 miles walked outside
Friday- 2.07 miles hiked
total- 2.87 miles

2020 totals

26 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

161.99 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
11.00 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
200.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
372.99 miles total