Chess Tournament

Kevin is running his first chess tournament today, and its going well! I came with him to help him with set-up/tear-down and also to run errands (like grabbing lunch for us both). In the downtime (I have lots of it), I've been playing with my computer, catching up on some work stuff, and will read my book later.

Our alma mater was nice enough to provide space to us (2 classrooms - one for the games and one for the checkin/waiting area, etc) at no charge, and he has 13 paid competitors, and one 'house player' so there is an even number of players. They are quite an age range, from kids of 6 to 8 to grown men, and the kids are tough competitors. the girl will represent the US in Brazil for her age group!!

Kevin just judged his first dispute, the fun part of being a Tournament Director.

He's also the sponsor of a new chess club that meets near our house, website here.

It is fun to see him in his element and with people as passionate about chess as he is!

Lefthanders Day

Happy Lefthanders Day! I missed it last year, I found out about it the day one day after it happened, so this year I'm making a point to honor it - even joined the facebook group.

I did buy myself some left-handed scissors for the curtain project, and I guess they are left-handed - they work really well!

Here are other things I've noticed are designed for right-handed people:

- my eye doctor has pens attached to clipboards to fill out the paperwork necessary to be a patient, and the location - you guessed it, on the right side. So I kept having to move the chain out of my way since it went across the page, I also tried having it under the clipboard, either way was awkward.

- the ladle for a punch bowl is right handed when it only has the lip on one side and is designed to poured using the right hand, really awkward for me. the best solution, get a ladle with the lip on both sides

- the lawnmower has the cord you have to pull to start on the right side, again awkward for me, no wonder I have to get Kevin's help to start it..

I swear, even some of my necklaces are righthanded. if the pendant can come off I just reverse it, but some the pendant won't come off and I have to hold the clip open with my right hand so i don't end up with it on backwards

PSA: Civic Visor

I drive a Honda Civic and recently received a letter about a class action lawsuit regarding defective sun visors. I happily set the letter aside since my sun visors were fine, and later that same week the driver's side sun visor split and wouldn't stow away properly....very annoying (and dangerous) since it was in my line of sight.

I grabbed the letter to read it more closely and found that they'd extended the warranty for the visors to 7 years (probably the only thing ON my car that is still under warranty), and so Kevin took my car to the dealer and got it replaced at no charge to us, woohoo!

Since then, I've found out that BOTH of Gwendolyn's visors have broken and here neighbor's broke as well...I'm starting to see why a class action was created, I don't know that many civic owners and already have 3 examples of them breaking..

The dealer will replace it OR Honda will reimburse you if you paid to get it fixed.

Here is more information on the class action.

I'll take this problem over uncontrolled acceleration, but still annoying. I'm not a car person, I just want something to get me reliably and comfortably from point A to point B.

random Carol thought of the day

I see bumper stickers on my drive in to work every morning and think they are missing out not making "spouse" stickers, they have mom, dad, grandma, grandpa...I'd totally buy a sticker saying my hubby goes to Sam...even better, "my hubby and our money go to Sam"

Last of the curtain projects complete!

This past weekend, I finally finished a project I'd had in mind for the last 6 months and had started working on a couple of months ago.

Our media room has french doors with glass panels. We've been wanting to get curtains for the doors both to block out some of the light when we watch a movie and to give privacy since it doubles as an extra guest room when my family comes to visit (a queen size air mattress fills up most of the room).

We thought about buying some but quickly saw they were more expensive than we were willing to spend, so we had the idea to make some.

I took measurements, picked out fabric (and then I made a second trip to the store since I'd bought only enough for one panel, not two). I do not own a sewing machine nor do I know how to sew very well (my experience is with sewing on girl scout patches and those didn't turn out too pretty), so I was lucky that I was able to get my friends Jay and Gwendolyn to help. Gwendolyn is the craftiest person I know, and the two of them made a beautiful art car so Jay is crafty in his own way.

I went to their house on Saturday and got their help to make them (read: they made them for me). Their experience with sewing (and her mom a phone call away) was invaluable. I had the fabric pinned, but they gave great suggestions of making another fold so we had finished edges, and so we pretty much started over, with the ironing board and a bunch of pins. Jay can sew!
Added bonus: I got to spend much of the day with both of them and their 2 cute kids. Advice to Stella - find a man who can sew and who will kill bugs, just like your daddy!

That night Kevin and I hung the curtains - they are on tiny cafe rods and they block the light really well for the movie watching and really make that corner of the room look much more complete.

Thanks Jay and Gwendolyn!

Here is a before and after shot (I actually remembered to a take a before picture!)