Thoughts on my name

 I started thinking about my name today because I hired a young friend from my church to paint my kitchen. I pulled off the old wallpaper a while ago and the thought of painting it myself isn't fun anymore.

So, William is from Puerto Rico and the name Carolee isn't familiar to him. I told him to call me Carol. That brought back memories of when I was Carol Luppino because my husband shortened my name. Even my brothers started calling me Carol.

So, for the first 20 years of my life I was Carolee Alt. Then, for the next 25 or so, I was Carol Luppino, except when I was Mrs. Joseph Luppino. In the 60's married women didn't have first names. In the church membership records we were listed as Mr. Joseph Luppino and Mrs. Joseph Luppino. One of our male members was married and divorced 3 times, in the church and his wife's name naver changed.

When I was widowed, I decided to use my maiden name, so I was and am still using the name Carolee Alt Luppino. I hyphenate it when I want to be at the beginning of the alphabet. 

edit. My on-line persona is Cara, it's easier, and my phone identity, when I don't want customers to know it's me, is Charlie. My IM id, my 'inner emoticon', is a smiley face with sunglasses and one of my dear friends calls me 'Hollywood' (because of the sunglasses).

So, my friends call me Carolee, except those that I met in my married years and my brothers and SILs, who call me Carol, . My dauther calls me Mom and my sons call me Ma. I answer to all of them, but most of all, I love being called gramma.

 Another stroke of genius I didn't think of that's too good not to share. This has been one of the hottest summers on record and I find myself keeping a small bottle of water in my car. I never found this necessary before, thinking that I could make it from place to place without food and drink. Most of my stops are less than half an hour apart. However ... here's the genius part ... fill your water bottle half full and keep it in your freezer. Fill it the rest of the way when you are ready to go. You'll have cold water for much longer. No extra charge. You're welcome!

 I came across this tip and think it's really good to know. I want to share it with everyone!

Machine sewing tips you wouldn’t think of. Depending on what you use it for…if you are doing something like solid embroidery, or even a straight stitch….all metallic type threads works better if you put them in the bobbin and work upside down…because, the thread is not sawing through the needle dozens of times, so it stays strong….I realize that not everything can be sewn right side down…but when possible it’s much better….

Shopping for Mom

When I first became my mother's 'purchasing agent' we had a bit of a communication issue. I didn't know what the heck she was talking about and she was frustrated. She would say, "You know. You've bought this for me before". Trust me, I didn't know, but I'm learning...

The first one was 'sliders' which she assured me I knew. Me: You mean White Castle burgers?  Mom: NO. You know ...

Clearly, this is not a productive conversation. She finally provided a little more information and I was able to find sliders, little hamburger buns, in the bread aisle. They're pretty good. Now I buy them for myself, too.

The biggest challenge to date was when she wanted Jockey Shorts. I have to remind you here that she's 100 years old. This was a real head-scratcher. 

I asked her what she needed them for. She finally said that she wanted to sleep in them. I confused her further by asking if she wanted boxers or briefs. She said it didn't matter, so we debated the size for a bit, and I went to the store. 

I thought the plaid boxers were cute, so I bought those. When I showed them to her she was very surprised but willing to try them. Or, so she said ... She gave them back to me the next day. Not the right thing.

She said she wanted white cotton. I finally asked if she had any that I could see, so I could get the same thing. She showed me women's white cotton 'granny panties'. Problem solved...for now.

 A funny story about getting older.

I have severe dry eye. (That's not the funny part.) Because I spend so much time on my computer during the day, for business and social reasons, I limit my TV time. I have always loved to read novels and audiobooks give me much enjoyment. I listen to them at night, instead of watching TV. I love that I can 'read with my eyes closed'.

I have used up two CD players over the last 10 - 20 years. The other night, I was enjoying my latest book when my player just stopped. 

Fortunately, I keep a spare, portable CD player in my guest room. That's where I stash my little bookcase of Audio-Books that I have to own. I want my guests to be able to enjoy them, too.

So ... I retrieve my spare player and set it up to continue with my book. It has three small control buttons, which are labeled. Unfortunately, I can't read the tiny print, so, by trial and error, I found the PLAY button.

I often fall asleep while listening, so the next time I listen, I skip through the disc until I get to where I remember leaving off. Which of the three buttons to push? I tried one, which turned out to be PAUSE, so that left one button. I tried it and it worked! The book went to a chapter I hadn't heard. Great!

It took me a while to realize that I was recognizing parts of the story and others didn't seem to make sense. I gave up and went to find my magnifying glass. The 3rd button is labeled RANDOM.

I'm shopping for a new cd player.

If anyone is out there, Welcome! I haven't blogged in a long time. I got involved in Facebook and it kind of 'took over.' Visiting my blog is like meeting an old friend. So many smiles are here, and so many good memories. 

I hope to create the same feeling on my new newsletter "Carolee's Notebook'. I 'm planning to publish once a month, so we won't be taking over your mail box. 

I would love to hear from you about the items in Carolee's Notebook, and questions you may have. I would appreciate any suggestions for topics.

I've been thinking about all the different forms of social media. The first one I got involved in is this one - Creative Executions. I always enjoyed it a lot but didn't know how to grow my audience. I was putting all this energy into 3 - 5 readers and they were all personal friends.

I have been posting on Facebook, but mostly shares and now am thinking about Twitter. I would appreciate any advice anyone cares to share. My goal is to find new doll makers, My product is SewSweet Doll Patterns.for cloth doll making.