Jeff succeeds where another has failed.

I packed a small suitcase the night before. In the morning, we took our showers, I had breakfast, and then packed a box with supplements and my breakfast foods. I also filled a water bottle for the trip. But when we packed the car, I forgot both, although I wouldn't realize it until much later.
We left just after 9, and then went back for my embroidery machine. But we made good time along the way and arrived in Augusta before 4. First we stopped at FGFCU, and then went to Jeff's sewing and vacuum. That is where I bought my embroidery machine. I explained the problem. He confirmed what the other technician said, that touch screens are very expensive. But then he plugged it in and tried something. I did not see what it was 'cause one of the ladies who works there recognized me and we chatted. But lo and behold, Jeff recalibrated the touchscreen. I was amazed. And grateful. What did he do that the other guy didn't? He was just more persistent, I guess. But he did tell me it wouldn't last. He showed me how to do it, but said it wouldn't work forever. He told me how the newer ones do so much more and are cheaper. I asked if they were any lighter, but he said no.
After he made my day, we went by our old house in Merrymont to see how it was doing. Then, to the Doubletree hotel where people were signing up for the tournament. We said hello to various gamers that we hadn't seen in years. Then Chris dropped me off at Silvia's house while he went to visit Neal and April. Silvia was preparing chicken for a dinner with the ladies. I was sorry to drop in early, but she was ok with it. We talked about old times and recent times. The other ladies came by and brought food too. When the chicken was ready, we sat down to eat. After supper, Mary brought a chocolate cake for Linda's birthday. she was surprised. We had a great time. Then we sat in the livingroom and continued to share our lives and experiences and opinions. Just after 10 Chris arrived. I thought he had been to see Trish (whom we were to stay with) but he couldn't get a hold of her. So he came to get me so we could drive over there, and not keep her up too late. That is when the ladies brought out presents for each other and me. Sadly for once I had nothing to give, except a box of Korean chocolates. I wish I had a pic of the group, but I did not think of it at the time. Then we went over to Trish's house, having a hard time finding it in the dark. But we did, and Larry was there by then, too. We all sat up talking until after 1 in the morning. We went to bed, too tired to blog. I slept well, but Larry knocked on the door at 6:30 in the morning to wake Chris. It was too early for me, so I went back to sleep after Chris left. It was after 8 when I got up and washed and dressed. I called Mary to see if we were all going yardsaling, but no one seemed up for it. Trish soft-boiled two eggs for me since I had left my breakfast at home. Trish gave me a tour of the house, yard and workshop. Then we went out to pick up Trish's prescription. Then we stopped at a yardsale in a garage. They had all kinds of christmas and fall decorations (and other stuff since they are selling their house and PCSing to Germany). I bought two curtain rods and a rake. Then we stopped at a Dollar store to pick up some white t-shirts. Then we went to the hotel to pick up Katie, her daughter, who had to be at soccer practice at 1. Trish had a terrible head ache and kept running to the bathroom to heave. Chris had some Aleve and that seemed to help her headache. I got to talk to Greg for a bit while Katie put on her soccer outfit. It had rained all morning, and was still raining off and on. I was pretty sure soccer would be canceled, but Katie really wanted to go. So we went looking for Augusta Soccer Park. Whoever built the place did not make it easy to find. The gate was locked, but then, we were 15 minutes early. Trish drove around looking for another entrance. Nope. But when we got back, the gate was unlocked. We found two coaches and three kids on the field. They were going to do their best to have as much soccer practice as they could. So we dropped off Katie and ran to Foodlion to pick up a few groceries. When we got out, it was raining hard, so we drove over to the field as fast as we could. She was in one of the cars with kids and a coach. With her in the back seat, we went to the gas station. Trish ate a few crackers and started to feel better. We went back to her place. Katie helped us bring in the groceries. Trish built a fire in the fireplace, and laid down on the couch. I got out my laptop to post to my blog.

I forgot...

...to add several things this week. Yesterday I meant to mention that the man from Knology came. He and his wife are both quilters. He likes to piece, and she likes to handquilt.
Also, I was sent a couple of great links to quilting sites: http://quiltsbykriswebber.shutterfly.com/
http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml
and here is an amusing video series on life in Korea - www.eatyourkimchi.com

I should have smelled it coming

I am talking about the potpourri collection. Is there anything I didn't collect? Since Knology was supposed to pick up their cable equipment today, I worked upstairs so it would be easy to hear the doorbell. I washed the walls in the hall and bedroom. They were covered in polyurethane dust. I unpacked three boxes in the master bedroom. Then I went through 5 boxes in the guest room. It was mostly decorative glassware. Some of it went into the donation pile, the clear ones went into the diningroom, and the red and blue ones went back into a box for later. I also found tablecloths, napkins, and placemats in with the glassware. Some of the glass items had potpourri in them, but in other cases, the potpourri was wrapped separately, in paper. Weird.
I took a break at lunch to eat an egg. It was so sunny out that I decided to spend some time raking the lawn. We had bought a rake just for that purpose. It was going fine except for the raw spots developing on my hands. I filled a box twice and emptied it behind the carport. And then the rake broke. Brand new rake, too. Handle is fine, but the plastic top cracked.
Chris came home, we had leftovers for supper and then I vacuumed the main floor, got up some polyurethane dust and some monster dust bunnies. We went downstairs to watch episodes of Castle. We quit a little early to leave time to pack for our trip tomorrow. I've been putting it off as long as I can, but now it is time....
*This is the underside of the pic I posted yesterday. I got two responses to my plea for suggestions. Thanks, ladies. *

More boxes get unpacked

I had breakfast with e-mail as usual. I wanted to load some files onto the YQ Facebook page, but could not find a suitable place. Of course one of Chris' friends saw me on there and wanted to chat. At the same time, one of my friends texted me on skype. I did not unpack any new boxes yesterday, partly due to moving things out of the 'flood zone', and organizing the sewing area to clear the table. So I felt compelled to be particularly productive today. I was finally able to clear the table (yea!), but not the desk where I sew (boo). However, I did unpack a number of boxes in the area where I plan to put a side table by the sofa. Most of the stuff was yarn, which I had to separate into categories and bag accordingly. But there was more fabric in with the skeins. I needed another box just for them. (If I take it out of one box and put it in another box, does it count?) And then there was the rolling suitcase of American Girl Doll clothes. I went through those too, putting the shoes and socks in a tiny box, and lining up the outfits to fit into the doll box. There were more games, and puzzles. And, wonder of wonders, a cat litter box. Now where did that come from? We have never had a cat.
I thought about Chris being a founding member of Seige of Augusta. Probably back when it was only Fistfight of Augusta. Records are not clear, but it might have gone something like this:
"You wouldn't recognize a flank attack if you ran into it head on."
"Hey, take that back."
"No."
"Take it back or I'll make you take it back."
"Oh yeah? You and whose army?"
And with the answer to that question, Seige was born.
Ok, so unpacking can be boring. Gotta keep my mind occupied somehow. Someone said to me "Aren't you about finished?" Makes me laugh. Better than crying. No, I am nowhere near finishing. And anyway, that would imply that there is a end point. Ha, ha. Can't see it from here.
Chris came home late, but as usual I was still unpacking in the basement. I came up to have a bowl of bean soup, and then we went down to watch another DVD of episodes of Castle. It is pretty good. Now that it is after 11, Chris is off to bed, and I sit here writing. I did try to google prices of Pokemon cards. I found a notebook full of them and wonder if they are worth selling, or should I just Freecycle them.
* Here is a picture of the stairwell going down into the basement. It is a source of frustration for two reasons. One, the heat in the basement collects here instead of being down where we watch TV. Two, it is empty and I wish I could find a way to turn it into storage. Any ideas? *

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.

Finding new space

I was hoping for another sunny day, but it wasn't. Still, the weather was ok. In the morning I had breakfast with e-mail. Then I went downstairs to unpack more. I moved some small shelving units to expose a greater storage space with shelves under the stairs. It's a great idea, though I suppose it would only look good in a basement. I filled the first space. Then as I found more fabric, I added it to whichever pile it seemed to belong to. That creates the problem that the box of that particular fabric is no longer big enough, so I have to either find a bigger box, or find two boxes that fit the volume without lots of leftover space in the second one. Having two boxes is better for fitting on the shelf and for me being able to lift them. Around 1 I took a lunch break. MaryAnn Skyped me. I sat outside with my laptop enjoying the fresh air, until my battery showed REALLY low and I rushed back inside. When we were done talking, the unpacking recommenced. I filled one Nature Cook box with craft supplies, and needed another for the overflow. I had already 'rescued' all the Nature Cook boxes from the garage, so I went out to the carport. I found two that were dry but warped. The rest were wet on the bottom because water had flowed under the pile. There is a grating to stop that sort of thing, but apparently the water went around it. I set two boxes up to dry, hoping against hope that the cardboard may regain some of its strength and rigidity. I used one of the dry boxes, and then used Clexia boxes. They, too, are a nice size for fitting on my shelves and in the cubby holes under the stairs. Then it was supper time. Chris made bean soup and I had two bowls of it. We went down to watch "The Deep". I had never seen it, and did not read the back 'cause I did not want to spoil any part of it. It was very suspenseful and a little frustrating because the suspense scenes went longer then necessary. As usual, we sat huddled under two blankets to keep warm. The suspense left me tense, but since Chris had seen it before, he was more relaxed. In fact, it must have given him 'ideas'. He led me upstairs to bed after the movie. ...and the blog did not get written until morning.
* I forgot to mention that I spent WAY too much time downloading blocks and instructions for sewing projects from www.lynbrown.com. *

Found two bathroom curtain sets

We went to church this morning. I thought we went too early, but it turns out that my watch is 15 minutes off. We sat in the second pew on the right because I noticed last week that it was empty. There was a guest pastor. It seemed like we were handed two bulletins and had to page back and forth between the two. When we passed the peace, the man in the pew in front of us asked Chris if he were married to me, then told him how lucky he was. After church the man blew me a kiss as his wife(?) went to get his wheelchair. Maybe that is why no one sits there.
After church we went home, ignoring the GPS which showed us some funky route this morning. After lunch, Chris got the big boxes down from the top of the stacked dressers so I could check for missing or damaged items. In there I found two bathroom curtain sets. Which one do you like - the white (ignore the green) or the off-white with green trim? I also found my child pillowcase fabrics, and the fabric from Hongkong. I brought up two empty boxes from downstairs to fill with denim and all the rest. I sorted a box of small sewing items on my table. I had no idea there were so many needles, both hand and machine. I filled a bag with each. And machine feet... And rolls of ribbon... I am running out of space and I saw two boxes in the far corner of the den marked yarn. I keep telling myself I am blessed. So blessed to have so much. Time to share. After supper we watched "Howard the Duck". Amusing and dark. Then we went upstairs to read a bit of e-mail. Chris went to bed, but not because he has to get up early. Tomorrow is a holiday. Chris used my camera to take pics, so when I was ready to blog, I tried to download the pics we had taken to my laptop, but it would only show me old pics. So I switched to my desktop. It down loaded my pics fine, but there was no sign of the ones Chris took. And the computer wouldn't locate our internet signal. Now it has, but the connection keeps going on and off. My laptop had no trouble, so this is really weird.