My preshuzzz!!!! and other saturday stuff

Ok I admit to doing a little drunken monkey dance of joy. Look what I bought today. The universe decided that it was fed up to the back teeth with having to listen to me, covet, yearn for, dream about, drool over and basically ramble on to the point of hair pulling about wanting a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I am the only one in my family that does not have one (yeah I know, poor poor pitiful me), or was until Zellers decided to turn into Target and decided to start to sell off their inventory and had these babies on a really good sale. (Irun on sentence much?) Thanks to some puppet earned cash, this baby is mine, mine, mine.  I could not be happier. I have been fondling these darling machines in various stores for quite some time and now I have one. It was, I swear the only thing standing between me and my dreams of becoming a FABULOUS CHEF!!. (If this does not come to fruition it will be the fault of the mixer and will have nothing whatsoever to do with my cooking talents, thank you very much!! Just sayin')

 This mixer was meant for me, it came at a really good price, the store had four in stock when I went looking when they usually have only one when they have a sale like this and it's sold the instant the store doors open the first day of the sale. The only down side is it's silver. I would have rather had white but the white ones had a smaller motor size. I can live with silver. I may make a cake tomorrow just because I can mix in Martha Stewart style now. The fact that I should never, ever, ever have spent the money is neither here nor there.

So today is Saturday, I ran errands today, scooted all over town stocking up on butter. Limit of four does not stop me!! Pfft! I also made stop at my favourite butcher shop and stocked the freezer with a couple of tasty items. Then I came home and spent the majority of the rest of the day wrestling the kitchen back into looking like a kitchen. I also managed to get the stuff I rescued from the old car, sorted, purged, and stored back in the new car.

Garbage was bagged at last (due to the fact I finally managed to buy garbage bags) and hauled to the dumpster. All the recycling made the same journey out of the house to the recycle bin. Apparently this simple little job is overwhelming to me, I tend to put it off as long as humanly possible because the physical act of hauling the garbage out to the dumpster is the equal of a drug free root canal in my world. Why? I have no idea but I do struggle with it and usually have to make myself do it on threat of death. Happily the kitchen is fit for humans again. The dishwasher is chugging away and all is well with this portion of the house. The dining and craft rooms are another matter and they are a chore for another day.

For now I am going to dine on stuffed pork chops, hash brown casserole and a crisp green salad. Greek yogurt and strawberries for dessert. Then I will park my tired butt in the comfy chair, lament the fact that I cannot seem to find my ratty black sweater and knit while watching the Brit Coms on PBS. Where would I have put my ratty black sweater??? It has disappeared and I am not happy. You cannot be properly schlumpy without your ratty black sweater. Hmmph!!

I am going to start another scrap afghan that will eventually be donated to the local women's shelter. I have three made already!! Go Me!!

Toodles,
Linda

Oh my goodness I bought a car

Well that opinionated cat of mine can pick her sarcastic little self off the carpet and move on because I believe I have bought a car. I found it on the internet and I liked the look of it, the price was ok, and its a make that I know is a good car. Its an Impala and once the paper work has been signed, sealed, not to mention delivered it will be mine all mine. First car I ever found all on my own and bought all by myself. It felt right, and I go with my feelings. I feel like such a grown up. Well if feeling like a grown up means you are slighly dizzy, a little sick to the tummy and all sweaty at adding yet another debt to the budget.

Excuse me but I have to go lie down in a dark room for awhile.

Toodles,

Linda

Monday Moment with Minou

Oh I feel faint, she's going buy a car all by herself. Heaven help us all

Bye Bye Intrepid

I no longer own an Intrepid, its gone to the big scrap yard at the edge of town. I don't even have a picture of my poor crumpled baby. I am thinking the local jail is easier to break in and out of that this scrap yard. Sign in, sign out, date, time, phone number,  leave your driver's licence, phone, camera at the desk. NO PICTURES FOR ANY REASON IN THE YARD... thank you very much. Present your official letter that you and you alone are the registered owner of the car and are allowed by King and Country to enter you own car and remove your own personal items. You can only have one other person with you at the most, no children whatsoever. You will be observed at all times, (that was true, there were so many people around I could not have got away with anything). List and sign for every item you remove from the car, leave a blood sample, your first born child and then maybe you can get out of there alive. Well maybe I went overboard about the blood and kin but the rest is all true. Not to mention you have to wear a nifty orange vest so no one runs over you while you are there. Yikes.

I was amazed at how much stuff I had in the car. I had to get a little cart to haul it all away with me. Methinks I will need to purge some of the excess so that it does not all go back into the new car when I get one. Thankfully you were allowed to bulk list the items you removed, use group terms not each individual thing, I would still be there if that was the case. I am also grateful that I had lots of things in tote boxes, for easy transport.

So that was my morning today, signing the agreement for the settlement for my poor crushed car, cleaning out the old car and then getting myself to work. I still have the rental car but as of tomorrow I am paying for that baby myself. The pressure to get another car is mounting. I could not feel more overwhelmed. But hundreds, of hundreds, of thousands, of people do this car buying thing every single day and they manage it. I see no reason why I cannot do it either. The perfect car is out there waiting for me. I just need to find it. Like yesterday. Personally I just want to keep the rental car, I love it. Its a Mazda 5 and its so perfect. Lottery Gods are you listening????

Toodles
Linda

Monday Moment with Minou

OMG get off the computer already and get to work, this quilt will not make itself!!

In Mourning and Sewing

Well yesterday I got the bad news, not unexpected but bad still the same, that my car is totaled. Sigh, I am sans car and not at all happy about it. My car and my television are very important to me and both have died this month. I am not happy, I am in mourning, Part of me is stomping her little footies in frustration  but this too shall pass. It the grand scheme of things its just a minor irritation. Lots of people have far bigger problems than I.

To be honest its already getting better and brighter, thanks to my wonderful, wonderful friends. I have had so many calls and emails of concern and offers of rides, cars even, and lots of "let me know if you need anythings". I feel so special!!. Little Mommy brought me a flat screen tv as a loaner. She did not even ask, just brought it so I could watch tv in my comfy chair. She thought that would make me feel better while I missed my car. I also have a rental car at the moment so I am mobile again. Its a lovey Mazda 5. I would like to keep it but that would take a major lottery win. Are you listening Universe???? Major lottery win would be helpful, I'm just sayin'.

So I have tv and a car, the world has righted itself for a moment and all is well in Lindaland. I will find out on Monday or Tuesday how much they will offer on my car. Once I know that, I will know where I stand on getting another one. Until then I am just going to have to let things slide. I cannot control it until I know what I am dealing with. I would really like to get another car without having to borrow money. Its wonderful to borrow it but then the buggers want you to pay it back. Imagine? T he nerve!!

Enough about that, whilst I have been mourning the premature death of my beloved car, I have been sewing. Happily sewing on a king sized quilt that I have owed to a lady for three years now. Ack!! Shame on me. My plan is to have it completed so she can pick it up in mid April.

Yesterday I finally got the tubs of material out and found the bits and pieces I wanted for this scrappy creation. Once I had the sewing table mounded with material I commenced cutting and sewing on this quilt I am calling "Square Dance"

As I cannot be trusted to sew anything these days
on my own, the house Snoopervisor took up residence on my material and did her best to hinder
help me get the job done.

Even my trick of taking a break to noodle around on the computer failed to move her off my work. She mearly shifted position to keep an eye on what I was up to.

She has that exasperated look on her face doesn't she? Like she is fed up that I am on the 'puter and not at the sewing machine. Baby girl takes her job of supervising me very seriously

She eventually decided that I could be left to sew on may own and moved her royal butt off my material and I could make headway much quicker. Personally I think being disturbed by me pulling material out from under her had something to do with it. She squeaks at me every time I do it. Its rather funny, this annoyed little squeak she give. Minou does not meow, she squeaks, croaks, grunts and chirps but she does not meow.

So the piles of material have gone, they are packed  back into the storage tubs to await the next quilt and I have  piles of these now, completed squares, waiting to be assembled into the beginnings of a quilt top. I am not usually so tidy about my work but this time I took the time and I am glad. The sewing.craft room has limited space and I am trying to keep it from becoming a disaster.

I cannot tell you the joy I feel when I am quilting. It's one of my most favourite thing to do. I love making something from scraps of nothing. A beautiful, practical, useful something. These squares will form the center of the quilt, 7x7 rows of squares that are 12" square. (yeah I'm old school, I still do inches, not metric). Each square consists of a center 6" square with 12 3" squares dancing around it hence the name Square Dance.

I have the windows open today, enjoying the spring like weather. I have taken a short break to blog this and now I am going back to the machine to start sewing the squares together. Oh it is a happy day after all. All the bad things can drift away while I am busy creating.

Later!!
Toodles,
Linda

UPDATE::

The center section of this quilt is put together. Oh it
has been a good, good day here on the homestead.

Tomorrow I will get back at puppet making and try to finish the  university order. Only five left to make.

Whoot!!

Purpler!!

For those that are curious, my seat belt bruise bloomed last night. It went from this

To this overnight.


The plus side is it looks worse than it feels. I am amazingly almost pain free this morning, not nearly as stiff as I had feared I would be. Thank goodness for Ibuprofen.!!

Toodles,
Linda

On my first day of vacation I crashed the car

Well I have had better days but on the whole it could have been a lot worse.  I could have sworn car crash was not on my "to do" list for today but I did it anyway.

I am fine, the fellow in the other car was fine, the cars not so much but cars are replaceable. He just turned infront of me, he was busy watching the traffic in the other lane and did not once look my way. I saw it but could not stop and we crashed. I have some scratches and bruises from the seat belt. I am sore and a little headachy and I expect to be more sore tomorrow morning but I am fine.

See just some scratches and you can see a little pale purple just at the edge of my shirt. It gets more purple as it goes across the top of my boob and under my arm but I am not taking pictures of that, cause I am shy. And for heavens sake ignore my cottage cheese neck. Blech!!

I now get to sit and wait to see what the insurance people say about my car. I will pass that bridge when I get to it. These are the silver linings in the crap cloud of my day. The guy in the other car admitting instantly to the police officer that it was totally his fault. He also paid for my cab to get me home. A fellow from across the street voluntarily gave me his name and phone number as a witness, with out having to be asked and I have my wonderful friends fussing over me and making sure I am ok. Its all as good as it can be.

Tomorrow I will sort out some wheels for myself, I hope. I do not do well without a car at my disposal and since my tv has croaked I feel like I am in the seventh circle of Linda hell. This too shall pass,

Toodles
Linda

Monday Moment with Minou

But I don't wanna have my picture taken!!

33 Years Ago

Wow when you say it like that is sounds so long ago, a life time for some, so long, decades, and yet it was yesterday. I can still hear my mothers voice on the phone, sounding not at all like herself, giving me news that would change my world, our world, forever. That phone call that tore half of the foundation of my life out from under me. My father had died, suddenly, without warning, and oh my God, way too soon for all of us. We had him for 57 years and then he was gone in the blink of an eye.

To be sure a swift and sudden death was best for him. He would never have tolerated a long lingering illness that would have turned him into a burden to anyone. His independent spirit would have hated that. He would have hated to not be able to do for himself, look after his family and to be helpless or weak. So to be clinically fair this was the best way but, why so soon, why when he was young and vital and just beginning to reap the rewards of a hard working life? I don't understand and maybe I never will.

I miss him, I miss the man who loved me unconditionally, who treated me like I hung the moon and made me feel  so special. I miss his humour, his strength, his love, his goofiness, his ease with people. He was a good man, flawed in some ways, perfect in others but at heart a good man. He gave us the best that he could and we were so  lucky to have had him.

In the great and grand scheme of things I have come to terms with the fact that things happen for a reason. We have no say in these things, something else guides such decisions.  I can come to terms with that but I want to know why. I have so many questions that I need answers too and the sudden early death of my father is only one of them.

Some years the anniversary of his passing slips by me and I don't remember it until a few days later, some years like this one it haunts me all day long and I mourn once again the passing of this man who left such a big hole in my heart. An empty space that will never be filled again. Its still there, I checked today, 33 years later and its still there. Not so fresh and raw as it once was but still there, right beside the one left by Mom 19 years later.

Miss you Dad.

Linda

Change of Plans

I was going to be spending the day spinning today with several like minded fibre fans but as sometimes happens, the best laid plans go up in a puff of smoke. Long story short, its been cancelled. I am pouting just a little bit. On the practical side of things it gives me a chance to focus on puppet production. I am hoping to churn out at least three today. The cash will be welcome.

So breakfast has been had, laundry has been sorted, pre-soaked and ready to go. The dishwasher has been loaded and the counter wiped clean. The house is clean thanks to my thinking that people would be coming today. I am taking a wee break to do a quick blog and then its man the crochet hook, full steam ahead. Mud ducks, squirrels and whiskey jacks. Should be a bit of a challenge. Last night I made two magpies while I watched Camelot on Netflix. Today Coronation Street will be my entertainment and then a Netflix movie.

Still no tv in the living room and I have to admit I really miss it. I miss my comfy chair and the bigger tv. Oh well its only temorary.

Must dash, the puppets need me.

Toodles,
Linda

Alive, Well and Slightly Rumpled

To ease the fears of  her concerned fans, here is her ladyship, alive and well and giving me the stink eye for having the nerve to come home from work, thus waking her up from her day long nap, not to mention taking her picture with out hair and makeup. Poor baby is rather rumpled from a full day of napping. Life is so hard on a pampered feline. 

Oh Goodie, I think I have been forgiven for waking her up. Right now she is  at my feet as I type this ( my leg is the grey patch at the bottom right corner of the picture) bunting my hip with her paws demanding some attention. Belly rubs and ear scratches are required, I must take my leave and attend to Madame.

Toodles

The resident house slave

A Pause in Puppet Production

This evening found me lacking the correct colours of wool to continue on with the puppets and since I cannot just sit and watch tv without something to occupy my hands, especially if I am alone, I needed a project. So what to do? What to do? I was not in the mood to do housework, I did not wish to knit, no wool to crochet puppets and I did not feel like getting started on one of the quilts that I need to make. I wants quick, easy and  gratifying, something to kill the boredom.

Out of boredom was born Ornsby the Owl

Once again, I am sure you are dazzled by my stellar photographic skills. He is over exposed and fuzzy but he is cute, no?  He is a lovely olive green and pumpkin orange but you may not be able to see that in the photo. I stumbled on a tutorial on YouTube and thought I would give him a whirl. I love owls and I can see me making some more of this little charmer. I will definitely  make some bigger as Ornsby is only about the size of a softball. The pattern needs some tweaking for me but all in all, for a first attempt, I am rather pleased with his little self. He is going to work with me tomorrow and will sit on my desk just to make me smile.

I started looking on YouTube for a tutorial for this when I found the owls:

A zippered pouch to store all those till slips and instant teller receipts, etc that accumulate in my purse and make it look a dreadful mess. My wallet is not big enough to hold them all, so they get stuffed into my purse, willy nilly and it ends up looking like a mini version of hoarders. I wanted something to stuff them into and still keep the purse neat. I found a tutorial that was so quick and easy, I will definately be making some more of these for myself. I see endless possibilities for them in different sizes. Make up, knitting notions, sewing kit, coupons, jewelry when you travel, bits and bobs etc.

Look how neatly lined it is. I recycled the zipper from my stash of reclaimed zippers, the material came from the quilt scraps so it suits my sensibilities perfectly. Win win all around I would say. It really took no time at all to zip it up on the machine. My next one will be big enough to actually hold my makeup. The current make up bag is half the size it needs to be, crap spilling out everywhere.....yuk.

Another thing I want to do when I take another mini break from this last puppet order is I want to sew a cover for my sewing machine. It really needs something to keep it dust free when its not in use and I saw one on a blog that I read regularly.  I may go hunting a tutorial for that or I may just throw caution to the winds and do it with only my sewing machine and my imagination. It really did not look that complicated.

Making something useful out of something that would normally have been thrown away, like an old zipper and some scraps of material, gives me a happy.

Toodles,
Linda

A Fate Worse Than Death

My TV died on the weekend.  (Insert much hair pulling, swearing and gnashing of teeth). Well it did not so much die as it started to make this horrible, electric loud whine that made me think it may explode into flames at any moment so I unplugged it and then started a big old pout that has not ended yet. I am not totally bereft of a television, I have a dinky one in the sewing room but I miss my livingroom set. I was going to get a new one at tax time anyway but I was hoping that mine would last until the new came in. Not so. So here I am, day two of the tv drought, hunched over my dinky tv and pouting like the true grown up that I am.

I do not spend all my day watching the tube. I do watch a lot of it but its always on for company. I like the back ground noise in the house. I feel lost without it and the sound from the sewing room does not carry to the kitchen like the livingroom set did. I miss it. Ask me the one appliance I could not live without, it would be my tv. So I am sad and pouty and grumpy and seriously being a tad childish about the whole deal. I have money to go get one but I would have to take it out of my "Holy Crap I am planning to go to Ireland" fund and that is just not happening. I know me, I would not put it back. Best to wait and be crabby.

The weekend went as expected. I got the house into reasonable order. The white kitchen cabinets got hauled to the back yard, and I spent some time working on the puppets. The Hostess and I did manage to get out for tea on Sunday afternoon. It was a lovely little break in the day. I came home and made Hungarian Mushroom soup which in spite of having a recipe, I managed to make some mistakes on but it was still super good. Its my favourite mushroom soup. Rich and smokey with hits of dill and lemon. Oh so delicious. I could drink it by the gallon and I will neither confirm or deny that I licked the bowl.

Today was Monday what can I say. I have not done a Monday Moment with Minou lately but Herself has not been very photogenic these days so we are taking a break. Best part of today is that Ladybug's Mommy came back to work, part time at the office. We really missed having her there. Its nice to have her back again and it was really nice when she picked me up and gave me a ride to work this morning. Rather spoiled getting into a nice warm car and being chauffeured to work. Its a good deal, I get a ride and she gets to use my parking space. I like this.

Right now I think I am going to head to bed early. I am deep into a book I am totally enjoying, A Discovery of Witches. I can hardly stay out of it and I am nearly done. So I think I will pry myself out of the sewing room and crawl into bed and read until I finish this book.

Toodles
Linda

The End of the Week

No matter how grizzly the week may be, how many stupid mistake you make, how many times you have ground your teeth in frustration, Friday makes it all better. Supper out with good friends, laughter, good food, coffee and  wonderful conversation and the world rights itself and all is well once again. Oh how I love my No Cook Friday nights. Its cheaper than therapy and tons more fun.

I have the whole weekend ahead of me to do as I please. Ah yes, to be free to spend the time in frivolous adventures like the laundry, vacuuming, dishes, washing floors, cleaning house. You know all those mad cap things us single gals get up to on the weekends. I know how to party the weekend away. I may throw in bread making and some mending just to cap off the mayhem.

Sad thing is  I actually don't mind cleaning the house. I rather enjoy it. If I didn't have to work I would have a much cleaner house than I do. SO tomorrow is cleaning day. Sunday will be tea with the Hostess if we can coordinate the timing, and crafting. I have puppets still to make for the university. I have them started but many more to go.

Oh I go such a good deal today. I got 9 balls of pure wool for $10. Someone had started a sweater and never finished it. They had the wool on the local web page and I snapped it up. Its a black with some beige flecks in it, its lovely stuff and I think there may be enough for a sweater for me. I am hoping. If not I will find something to do with it. I am just dancing with the bargain.

I bought a sweater at the local thrift shop last week that I plan to rip out and salvage with lovely navy wool. I paid $3.00 for the sweater. If this works reasonably well I will keep my eyes open for other sweaters that I can salvage wool from. I like this idea, it is a bargain and its recycling, two of my favourite things. I think this is an untapped market of possibilities.

Well I am going to go curl up and watch a tad of tv before I get to bed. Its been a long week and I am looking foreward to no alarm clock tomorrow. Love it

Toodles,

Linda