I have two cell phones. One functions in the usual way--I can make and receive calls with it. The other is non-functioning; it still works for everything except the one purpose for which cell phones are meant to be used. Why do I keep it? Because it makes a great "reminder" calendar, alarm clock or timer! It has up to four different alarms that can be set with all those different ring tones, which not only clue me in to something I don't want to forget, but also (by the use of the different ring tones, which I have mentally assigned to different purposes) tell me what it is I'm trying to remember!
Any "reminder" having to do with husband has one ring tone; things pertaining to each child have their own ring tone (WHO is it I'm supposed to be picking up after play practice this afternoon?) and kitchen-related things such as bread coming out of the oven have a ring tone of their own. I'm an artist/craftsperson, so art-related events have their ring tone as well. You can see this is a very useful cell phone even though I haven't made a real phone call with it in something over three years.
But I lost it last year. I really thought it was gone for good, that I had lost it far from home and would never see my little NFCP ( non-functioning cell phone) again. You see, I couldn't even call my own cell phone to find it...it's non-functioning and doesn't take calls.
Then, many months later, husband was searching under the bed for something of his own he'd lost, and there was my little NFCP hiding in a dark corner. (Shows how often I clean under the bed.) Of course the battery had long since run out of charge, but that was minor--just plug it in, and within a few hours I had charge again, good as ever.
Just to keep this from happening again, I set an "everyday" alarm to ring at a time when I'm usually around the house, 3 pm. As long as it's in the house, no matter where it is, I will find it at that time of day. Even if I'm not searching for my NFCP at that time, the alarm is a convenient reminder that the afternoon is half over. And theoretically, if the cell phone was ever lost somewhere outside the home, someone else might find it at that time of day and I'd have a chance of getting it returned to me.
The main problem with this clever system is that I occasionally, just once in a great while, walk out of the house to do errands with the wrong cell phone, the NFCP, in my pocket. It makes a wonderful clock and alarm/reminder, but it's not all that great at taking urgent calls from loved ones at home.
The Stardust Irish Dancers will be performing at a Celtic festival in a few weeks. This is the dress they will wear. The Celtic-style applique motif on the detachable collar/bib was designed by the teacher; the collar itself was designed by me and I did the sewing. Unnamed Irish dancer models the outfit, which looks OK except you can't tell how hard I worked pressing the whole thing, and the shoulders look much nicer once they were actually basted down instead of just being temporarily secured by hidden safety pins, as here.
