Pearl's heyday is over

First thing this morning, I got up for breakfast and posted yesterday's blog entry. Sadly, there was no sun. Chris sent me an e-mail about hazardous weather on the way. I wondered what might happen in our basement if we got a lot of rain again. Bob did not actually fix anything. He just identified what needed to be done. So I went into the basement to move boxes and stuff away from places that got wet last time. Boxes that were too heavy to move got a plastic shelf shoved under them to get them off the floor. Then the phone rang. It was the repair man at Huntsville Sew and Vac called to say that the touchscreen on my embroidery machine had shifted so badly that he could not access the test screen. It would cost almost $600 just to replace the screen. It was bad news indeed. I bought that machine 15 years ago in Augusta. It was hard to justify the $3000 price tag, but I thought of it as my pearl of great price, the last sewing machine I would ever have to buy. And now, it is just a sewing machine, and only on the default stitch. Chris did the math and asked me if it was worth $200 a year. Well, I had to really think about that. $200 is a lot of money and that doesn't include all the dollars spent on special thread, stabilizers, bobbins, hoops, etc. It was supposed to last a lifetime. Silly me, I guess. Naive. My sewing-only machine cost $120 about 30 years ago. I use it more and it is a steal at $4 a year.
A older lady came by just after noon. She wanted to pick up some small boxes. She told me an incredible story about her son and his new wife and 4 teenage kids and their 4 dogs and 2 cats all moving in with her. I don't remember all the details, but I was thanking God that it wasn't happening to me. About 1:30 Bob stopped by to see if the basement was dry. Since it was hardly raining, it was. He seemed to think it was a sign that everything would be all right. After he left, I went to H S&V to pick up my machine. They did not charge me for checking it out. Nor did they try to sell me a new one. I did learn that there is some special way of accessing screens most users never see. I tried googling it, but did not learn anything useful. Maybe the dealership in Augusta will have a spare screen or know another trick to adjust the touch. We are heading that way on Friday for Seige of Augusta. Chris is borrowing someone's medieval Spanish army for the tournament.
I was ironing scraps to fit in a box when Chris came home. He warmed up pork for supper and fixed brown rice. He made himself a salad, but I ate mine with kimchi. It goes so well with pork. After supper we watched three episodes of "Castle" which Chris checked out of the library.
This time I am posting before I go to bed.