Hi everyone! Yes, I have reason to celebrate! After 12 long days, my blog is back to normal… at least for now. Sarah called me today after spending quite some time on the phone with Blue Host… the server of my blog. (I owe Sarah Big Time!) Long story short, I was absolutely and totally out of data I could use to run my blog. It will be 11 years this coming August 1st, that I started my blog, and after 38,944 pictures and countless videos used in my blog posts, I didn’t have a single bit of data to accept anything new, not even one picture! Apparently when you start up a blog with Blue Host, they give you a certain amount of data or Gigabytes to use, and I guess I used all mine up these last 10 years. Sarah said it was the first time she knew of anyone who had ever run out. Great! :o(
So Sarah explained that I needed to pay $62.50 to get things back up and running. It was a no-brainer and I didn’t hesitate to do it. Sarah was checking things on her end of the phone as we were talking and she said, “I think it’s back up like you had it, Jeanne!” I was in town and could hardly wait to get home to check my desktop and see if she was right. She was!
But, and there always seems to be a but… this is just a temporary thing and I’ll need to decide what I want to do next as the price for the blog is going up at sometime in the future. She told me I could try deleting some things on my blog that I don’t need anymore… like maybe pictures of things that don’t matter terribly… So I was thinking, maybe some of my antique shopping trips… where I showed numerous pictures of things that probably won’t be looked at again. I could also try and find video’s that didn’t matter too much and delete them, like sometimes when I’d show my hubby cutting down a tree limb, or the birds fluttering at my feeder… those kind of things.
Right now I’m just so thankful it is all familiar and the way I’m used to it.
Sarah also said she’d help me look for a different server and see if something may be just as good for less. She told me if I wanted to monetize my blog by using an affiliate, like Amazon, I could make some money and offset the cost of the blog. These are all things I know absolutely nothing about, so that will be later on, but for now, it’s just nice to know which buttons and tabs to push!
Now, my news for Thursday… Cindy and Tom are coming in today (I think) and they will spend the night and then they are taking me to Springfield, Missouri and we are going to stay with Deb for a few days… We’ll get to see Deb’s new puppy, as she’s supposed to get him on Friday. My hubby is staying here to tend to the chickens and Reuben. It will be Boys Week I guess! I’m SO excited to spend time with my sisters and their hubbies! I hope to have some scheduled posts everyday…
It was so good to hear from Charlotte and Anne as they were our “World Travelers of the Week!” I hope you are having fun…just wait till you are both not so tired and it was be so much fun! I’m sure it already is, though. Keep us posted when you can…
With all my great news, you might croak when you see what I have to share today… but I’m going to do it because my pictures are already cropped and ready to go. I’m going to share how I covered my hubby’s lawn mower set with some leather I had. The plastic molded back to the riding mower had cracked and broken off in places and it was gouging him in the back… I actually started taping the back before I realized I hadn’t taken a picture of what it looked like from the very beginning. The whole back was broken off.
We first covered it with some Gorilla Tape he had…
Then I took a piece of brown leather I had in my stash and soaked it in water for about 15 minutes until it was nice and pliable, dried it off with a towel a little bit and draped it over the back of the seat. I did all this on the small island we have in the kitchen. I also added some bags of beans and rice to help hold it in place and mold the shape of the leather to the seat.
I let it set that way for 2 days, smoothing it out around the curves as best I could. I found out it was chrome tanned leather instead of vegetable tanned leather. Chrome doesn’t conform to the shape as nicely as the veg-tan does, but my hubby said he wasn’t picky and the wrinkles on the sides weren’t a problem for him.
Then I began to figure out my plan… (The whole thing was pretty much a fly by the seat of your pants project!) I used a chalk pen and marked some dots along the back side of the edge of the leather and using my leather punch, I punched them all out from one side to the other.
Then I used some leather thread and sewed through the holes over and under from end to end going right to left… then I sewed around the dots again, this time going under and over and filled in the holes… I used an empty snaps card to keep my dots spaced apart… the chalk marker I used was water soluble so they disappeared when I wet them after I was done.
Then I pulled the threads from each end and using my fingers gathered up the leather…
Once I pulled it as tight as I could, I distributed the gathers as evenly as I could…and then used some leather cement, called Barge, and glued the leather to the seat where he would be sitting… You apply the glue to the leather and to the seat, but let them sit for about 10 minutes before sticking them together…
I then had to cut a piece and lay it across the back underside of the seat…this would hold the new seat cover on. I glued it as well as stitched it to the sides. It glued and stayed in place very well… I also glued under the edges of those gathers.
After it dried for a day, he took it outside to “try it on” his mower and see what he thought…
Don’t tell him, but I took this picture as he was giving it a test run around the house. It’s not a big mower like a zero turn mower… just a small one, and he’s a big 6″ 4″ guy, so the seat looks small. He said it was perfect! Yay! Another job crossed off my list!
Well, I hated to post about a “lawn mower” on my first day back with such glorious news about my blog, but I wanted to get this done.
I definitely will see you tomorrow! Happy Dance!!!
Blessings, Jeanne
Hooray, Jeanne, for the good news! I can’t wait to see what you will have “cooking” in a new doll outfit next week! Of course, today and tomorrow you will be in Springfield with Cindy and Deb so we will have to wait. It will be fun to see Deb’s new puppy!
I have no idea of what Sarah talked to you about your blog, since my eyes just glazed over while reading that part (🙃), but it would be good to consider other options you might have so as to not have this “interruption” again!
You certainly did do a wonderful job on that tractor seat! I have no knowledge of doing such things, but you and George are just like the creative people who did things to keep their homes and belongings in tip top shape long ago, instead of just throwing things out and buying new. That’s what most people do now, but of course, not many have the “know how” that you two seem to have!
Good to hear from Anne and Charlotte! I’m happy that Anne’s cold seems to be over and hope she is having good weather, which we in St. Louis certainly don’t have! With tornado sirens blaring yesterday afternoon, we kept our eyes on the skies, but all my area got was rain, and a lot of it. And I wonder how that smoke is affecting where Charlotte is now. Perhaps we will hear something today.
Have a lovely time with Cindy and Tom, plus Deb and her hubby, and the new”baby”! Hope you don’t get rained on too much!
Hooray for you! Glad your pics are back. I for one would be glad to help you with your expensive costs to run your blog. I do enjoy reading the blog every morning. I do think the blog helps with you getting higher prices for your doll sales but that is a good thing as it takes a lot of effort to write every day. If any of us were coming to your house to sit on the sofa and have a cup of tea we would bring you a tasty treat to go with the tea so we can just think of us paying for some cookies! They keep telling me I am paying for cookies!!!!! Good job on the lawnmower seat, I have a couple with tape but no leather seat! Have a good day! Sylvia
This is such great news! What a struggle, and finally a winning result.
Your repair on the mower seat is incredibly well done, professional!
Happy Thursday, here we are at the near end of a week. It is getting quite warm in Virginia, It was 87º here yesterday and threatening to be near 90º today.
Tomorrow we will have rain.
I am looking forward eagerly to some Friday photos of recent dolly attire and accessories!!
That is great news that Sarah was able to find the solution to solving the blog problem. Yay!
That happened to my photos on my phone. They used up the majority of space and it was effecting my email. I updated my space and am working on deleting useless photos.
Actually, every once in awhile, I’ll delete some of the pictures from time to time.
Amazing job on the lawn mower seat!! Your ability and talent of sewing solved that situation. What a great job.
Enjoy the time with your sisters and the new puppy. That’ll be a fun vacation!
Well, such great news that the blog is back in it’s usual form. Love it. However, why oh why couldn’t have WordPress or whatever it is that is used simply sent an email telling you that your data storage was full and to delete things if you wanted to continue or update to a larger space for a fee? It appears that their customer service rep must have been on a very long vacation to the Himalayas. Ugh
That said, seeing your family and getting out of town for a bit should be some great excitement after the stress of the past days. How fun it will be to see the new pup too. And that mower seat recovering job was a great event. Jeanne had better watch out or she’ll be getting lots of calls for repairs from the surrounding area workers and farmers. 🙂
Well, as usual, I’m behind on the Sew Along. No time to work on my projects yesterday as I finally convinced other person to come out and help with the weed problem. He decided to trim the hedge, go figure, but did pull a few weeds to get there while I continued on my quest through the jungle towards the back fence. I’ve actually circled the perimeter and am now ready to attack the central positions. After filling several cans, we loaded them into the truck and drove to the other house and dumped them into the can there for pickup as ours was already stuffed. So nice to have a spare can that was still partially empty. Later, after there was some shade, I went back out and managed to yank and pull lots of blackberry and fill another can. This is definitely keeping me in shape, but not helping in the sewing department at all. Week Two’s pattern is out and it is another one of those things that you can somehow get from a print to your embroidery machine and magically have it do the embroidery onto fabric. Still not a clue how to do that with my machine. Ditz here.
So glad the blog is back. Thanks Jeanne for all of the great photos from the past. Loved them.
I am glad you figured out what was wrong with the blog! It is so nice to be able to show pictures!
You did a great job on the lawn mower seat. The lawn mower must be of good quality to be able to give you so much use out of it.
Today is the girls’ last day of school. 3 get out around noon and Marion gets done at 3:50 p.m. While we are waiting for her, a lady is having a gathering at her house. I am not much of a social butterfly, so I hope it goes well. If you want to say a prayer for me, you can 🙂
Dear Jeanne, well, here is yet another accomplishment you can add to your list of talents! I predict that farmers from near and far are going to be lining up outside of your door to have their tracker seats repaired (smile). Seriously though, you are the Macguyver of the “material” world.
I am so delighted that you will be spending time with your sisters. I can’t wait to read about your adventures.
How wonderful the blog is fixed, Jeanne. It’s great that you are able to show pictures again. What a fantastic job you did on the lawnmower seat.
I hope you have a lovely time with your sisters. How nice you are able to get together so often. The “pictures from the past” were very enjoyable.
Great upholstery job on that seat, Jeanne! It’s great to have all the fixings at hand and the knowledge of how to use it in order to do the repairs. Have a wonderful time this week. It’s nice to know all will be well on the home front while you’re visiting family.
No one needs to believe this but yesterday I wanted to see something on the previous day’s blog and wondered whether all of those previous posts were in the form of links or were actually stored on an outside server. I guess we have the answer, it’s all there. I save tons of pictures and have paid for more storage a couple of times. So glad it’s been solved. Wish I had thought of it sooner. Now I’ll sign up again and see if I can get on the list to receive it.
Yes, a huge YAY for you Jeanne! So happy to get that figured out. Looking back at all the things we have seen on the blog showing you and George doing so much for the house and kitchen, I just marvel at the two of you. And now, a recovered mower seat. Your talent never ends!
I am so happy for your time with your sisters. Looking forward to photos from that!
We just got back from the Y pool and the grocery store and now there is a chuck roast in the oven.
Have a great day, everyone.
Congratulations on a fixed computer. You still have decisions to make, but the pressure is off. Tomorrow you can celebrate with a photo fest.
I was almost afraid to read today’s blog until I saw the title. No question that it would be a positive one. So glad you have a solution now and can move forward.
Great job on the seat! I’m a big one for repair, recycle or repurpose rather than replace but I must admit I think I would have just told David to buy another seat, which did happen once but that seat was too far gone to even try to fix. Since we have such a large piece of property we’ve had to replace mowers every few years. My favorite has been the zero-turn mowers and they have lasted the longest.
Since I have to get on with a project I want to finish today, instead of waiting till Charlotte comments I just want to tell her I’ve been to Frankenmuth and it was a wonderful experience. Glad she is having a wonderful vacation. It’s been a tough year, and this is a good break for her. Wish I could join her, especially temperature wise. In the 90s here.
I forgot to mention that Frankenmjth is on my list of places I would love to visit! I love the old country architecture, and would also love going to the big Christmas store they have there. I am anxious to hear what Charlotte has to say about it.
Hi all! Here I am, and today was our visit to Frankenmuth. In a minute…
First of all, congrats to Jeanne on getting the puzzle solved. You still have some decisions to make as to your blog, but as others have said, the pressure is off for now.
Great job on the mower seat! You are surely a jack of all trades when it comes to sewing!
Well, Linda was asking, and I can tell you, Frankenmuth, MI, is a lovely place, very picturesque (Bavarian-style). The large Christmas shop is called Bronner’s; I’m sure there is a website. Ron and I went there 20-some years ago, and even then, it was HUGE! June and I didn’t go today, but did drive past it on the way to/from River Place.
River Place is a sort-of mall, several multi-shop buildings in a lovely setting with a stream running thru it. I took a few pictures and after I get home next week and get them on my computer, I’ll send them to Jeanne. There are many shops there, but we focused on one, The Michigan Shoppe, where they carry lots of things either with Michigan logos, or Michigan-shaped, or made in Michigan. Let’s just say I shot a very large hole in a bill with zeroes on it!! (actually, charged, but…) Because I decided against bringing my walker on the plane with me, I was just using two canes, and my knee and back don’t hold out very long that way, so I decided to be satisfied with what we did/I got, for this trip. Both River Place and The Michigan Shoppe have websites, too, just in case I need more stuff!!
I was happy to find Yooper bars there (candy bars shaped like the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), which come from Sayklly’s in Escanaba. Sayklly’s has a website, too. And I got some Mackinac Island fudge!!
Whoohoo, sounds like so much fun. Especially, the fudge. 🙂
Bronner’s does have a website and I often shop online from there around Christmas.
Jeanne what a wonderful job you did on the lawnmower seat. You and George are amazing you never seem to be out of ideas how to fix stuff.
So happy your problems have been fixed but I’m with Joy, why didn’t they tell you what was wrong an e mail would have been a simple solution.
I don’t take much regular medication but I do have to take a Vit D capsule once a month. Unfortunately my capsules are sitting on my dresser 12,000 miles away. I forgot to pack them. I went to the pharmacy but they won’t give me any because it is prescription only but they advised me to ring the 111 line and they might be able to help. Wait, what! why would I need the emergency line. Oh yes, I remembered sometime later that although 111 is the emergency line in NZ here it is 999. The “help” line wasn’t much help in the end. The pharmacy still couldn’t give me my tablets without a prescription from a UK doctor. I could go to my brother’s dr and get one, I am a citizen still and entitled to health care but the pharmacist sold me an over the counter lower dose that I take daily. I’ll get Sam to check with my dr and see if it will be fine, it isn’t as if it was anything vitally important like heart medicine or something.
Is there any way you girls can share a bit of that heat you are getting? It is cold and wet here and I didn’t pack many warm clothes. I got caught in the rain yesterday when I walked to the pharmacy (John had gone to town to his pottery class). I think, as well, that my cold has settled on my chest so I might rest up a bit today. Even though it was only about ten mins each way I found walking a real struggle especially coming back uphill.
Jeanne I hope you have a lovely time with your family. I look forward to seeing the photos