I Wonder?

This morning as I started a small load of whites… I wondered just how many times I’d have to wash that same load of whites before I actually got them into the dryer… You see I originally threw them in the wash on Friday morning.  Saturday morning I realized that they were still in the washer.  So a little dash of bleach this time and a refresh cycle should do the trick right?  Except that I left the house that morning and then I never thought about laundry at all… so here on Monday morning I realize that the same small load of whites was still in the washer… I’m glad I added that little splash of bleach on Saturday – I’m sure that’s what kept the clothes from getting smelly.  This time I put soap, bleach and hot water to the task and washed them yet again!  And I’m happy to say they are now dry – and bright and sparkly too.  As annoying as those machine beepers are I do need the reminders… Apparently I just need to be inside the house for it to be effective.

 

Last Wednesday I went to the shops at Kitchen Kettle Village on the Old Philadelphia Pike in Intercourse, PA.  I was looking for a book as a gift and thought I might find it down there. I cruised in and out of many of the shops and only found a new purse to replace the one I’ve carried non stop for over two years – but nothing close to what I had in mind for a book.  Since I was there I wandered into the Lancaster Yarn Shop and ended up with some new yarn and the info for a Ravelry Pattern called Leftie (in that you would use up a lot of leftover yarn scraps).  They had a couple samples of the Leftie there and I was intrigued… I love this Kettle Dyed yarn (Tuscan Green) that they carry and the Zauberball will fill in for the leftovers I don’t have.

In chatting with the lady there she suggested I might find a book across the street at The Old Country Store.  I actually went upstairs to the Quilt Museum and found a book there.

All that to say on my way back across the street I fell… now in my defense it was the roads fault… LOL really!  Well that and the fact I should have been a little more careful.  There was traffic so I walked up the street waiting for a break.  When the lull came I didn’t look down to evaluate the surface I was stepping onto.  (Even though my knee has progressed well and I can walk with barely a hint of a limp and I can walk faster - I am usually very careful on uneven surfaces.)  I hadn’t expected the uneven surface I stepped onto.  So the first step was a bit off because of the ruts in the road from the buggy traffic - the next step wasn’t any better… and I think I must have taken another step because when I did fall I was in the middle of the road… very much doing the side stroke - I am positive I would have scored a 10!  I landed on my left hand and hip.  The bag I was carrying protected my hand from road rash but not completely from injury.  I have a sprain at the base of my thumb but my knee and hip are none the worse for wear.  The quick care place took x-rays and ruled out a break and gave me this to immobilize my thumb/wrist… I can move it but it does hurt. 

When I went into the ER I asked if this was the place I could pick up my sign?  The attendant looked at me and then smiled when I said “you know – my stupid sign”.

Oh My…

Do you suppose if I sit right here being annoyed with myself the problem over there on the table will fix itself?

No - I didn’t think so either…

Those of you who know me… or if you’ve read this record of my misadventures in quilting long enough you know that I have a mantra that goes… “I haven’t met a border I can’t screw up!”

And you know that I am nothing if not consistent.

I have no idea why I have more than one piece of black yardage…  Yesterday I picked up this piece and tore the 3 yards lengthwise into 4 long strips to use as borders for the 4 Patch Stacked Posie I’m working on.  Last night before quitting for the day I pressed them all so that I could put the borders on today – there was enough length to miter the corners – Yea!

Today after putting 2 opposite borders on I realized that the black was not right!???  That was when I found the yardage I needed over there with the other fabrics… you know - over there where ALL the fabrics for this project are sitting!!

AAAaaaaauuuugggggghhhh!!

So I now have 4 nice strips of black fabric approx. 10 1/2” by 108”… but I’ll have to find a use for them another time.

Hmmm?  I wonder if this is the black fabric I thought I had for the Bouillabaisse project?  NO… I don’t want to think about that… I do know that I need to quit moving fabric around this sewing room – oh and maybe get better lights… and maybe check and recheck when I’m using black…

I think tearing these new border strips out of the correct black fabric will be good for my psyche… such that it is…

New Rules…

I have developed a new rule for myself…

No decisions are to be made after dark… at least no quilt making decisions can be made after dark.

I’ve spent each evening this week up in the studio working on several things – one of which was the 4 Patch Stacked Posie I had shown you before.  I had planned to use the border print in that collection as the border.  I had an inner border fabric cut and added to the border print and after putting one side on the quilt (I had planned to miter the corners) – it just looked like it was going to be too much… too heavy… or so I thought at the time… late Thursday evening.  So I whacked it off even with the edges and put a block of inner border fabric in the corners.  It was late Friday afternoon by the time I finished the corner blocks and got the borders all around.

IT LOOKED AWFUL… truly awful.  I took a picture… and it’s so awful I won’t even show you.  (I don’t mind telling how stupid I was – but I’m not going to give you a visual to go with it.)  I sat last night and tried to figure some solutions – and after a couple hours of pondering this that and the other… I got out my seam ripper and took it off.  Already it looks better!  Those who know me know that one of my quilting mantras is… “I haven’t met a border I can’t screw up”.  I am, if nothing else, consistent.

Today when the icy roads melt up – I’ll run out to the shop and pick up another couple yards of border print. 

Other projects… Last weekend I started a table runner out of the recent Kim Diehl’s Simple Graces book.  This picture is with the machine appliqué done (not a great picture) – it is now quilted and I’m stitching the binding down – so another picture will follow at a later date.

Raise your hands if you are tired of winter… yep that’s what I thought… me too.

Don’t Let Your Daughters Run Wild in the Garden…

Don’t let them move out and live where ever they please.

Too many daughters living in a small area puts a strain on resources… and in no time the place is looking like the slums.  Everything is crowded and jumbled up and nobody is getting the nutrition they need and many are lost in the shuffle and overlooked.

Next thing you know they are having daughters themselves and the whole garden goes to hell in a hand basket.

Oh… you thought I was doling out Motherly advice?  Nope! 

Just a little ‘learned the hard way’ Gardening Advice going on from the Accidental Strawberry Farmer. 

Did you know that those new plants that grow from the main or ‘mother’ plant are called daughters?  Me neither… until recently when I did a little (too late) reading on the subject of strawberries.

I made the mistake of buying 2 strawberry plants last year.  Well – ok – I thought it was 2 strawberry plants in those 4” pots.  What I actually had was 25 plants… in each pot.  NO – what I actually had was more than 25 plants in each.  So I planted my 2 plants 50 plants (I gave the extras away) and reaped a small but yummy handful of berries last year.  Imagine my delight when my strawberry plants made more strawberry plants… I mean hey – who doesn’t like free stuff right?

So I began this growing season with 2 overly full raised boxes of plants… and this was after pulling out most of those daughters that made an attempt at setting up housekeeping outside along the edges of the boxes.

Lessons learned… DO NOT LET YOUR STRAWBERRIES BE IN CONTROL.  Oh sorry, was I yelling?  There is probably a correlation to that whole mother-daughter thing… somebody has to keep the rules and rein in the wild daughters.  So I’m going to be putting my mother hat gardening hat on and pulling on my gloves and getting ruthless about the rules and keeping order.  I’m going to be making up a new bed later this summer and we will set up a new orderly community.  And then I’m putting my foot down and yanking out anyone who doesn’t cooperate.

Below you see my freezer… it contains 10 half pint jars of Strawberry Freezer Jam.  It also contains in excess of 109 cups of crushed strawberries in various containers and bags.  AND 24 plus cups of frozen whole berries…

Yes there are indeed 4 cartons of ice cream there… how do you think I’m using up the crushed berries that haven’t made it into the freezer?  Over ice cream, yogurt, and bananas… and I’ve been giving them away.

My sister came over the other day… she asked if she could have some strawberries.  I told her she could have what ever she wanted to pick… but I wasn’t helping.  So she went home with a bunch… probably between 6 and 8 quarts.

And we also had to pick cherries…

but the bugs and birds had been feasting already.  The Engineer and I picked for us and I told my sister she could keep whatever she picked.  After tossing the bad ones on the ground I still ended up with 3 overflowing 2 quart containers before I said I quit.  After pitting and trimming bad spots I made 2 batches of Spicy Cherry Jam on Saturday.  The remaining cherries are in my dehydrator – um getting dried out… LOL

And then there is this tree with a smaller darker cherry… should be ready in a day or two… and another tree behind this that will be ready a week or so later I think.

 

Make them stop… make them all stop…  LOL

The Key to Having a Good Day...

Sunday was a beautiful Fall day here in Lancaster County Pennsylvania.

The Engineer and I went up the road to a little Diner that we enjoy for a breakfast of Grilled Sticky Buns and crispy bacon.  Oooo so totally not good for you yummy!

Since it was still early (9:00 am) we went over to Renninger's Antique Market in Adamstown to browse through their outdoor area.  We've found that if you go later in the morning or heaven forbid at lunch time... there are hardly any vendors left and those that are there are busy packing up.

Having arrived early we had the pleasure of browsing through a fairly full compliment of vendors.  I saw 2 Featherweights that were each in fairly nice condition - $375 and $275 as well as 2 of the folding tables for the Featherweights - $75. 

There was also a strange abundance of chicken items.  Yes - chicken related items.  There were the usual assortment of iron chicken door stops, and pictures of chickens, and dishes with chickens on them.  But there was also a large welded chicken statue... like 6 feet tall kinda large... I kid you not!  But I laughed out loud when I saw the 8 foot round rug with chickens on it.  Where would you put something like that?

I'm going to have to start taking my camera when we go there.

As I wandered around I found a lovely avocado green enamel pan for $3.00.  I like finding things I can use!  And the color goes nicely with the avocado green mixing bowls I still have from the mid-70's.

As we headed back to the car I was thinking that we'd had a Good Morning... breakfast out, a couple hours poking around antiques on a beautiful fall morning and a cool little green pan for my kitchen...

Then I reached into my purse for my keys...

...they weren't there.

They weren't in my jeans pockets, or the pockets of my vest...

They were gone... I had lost my keys!

I've never done that before - it's not a good feeling.  After retracing our steps up and down each lane of vendors - I stood over by the car while The Engineer went to check at the office. 

Fortunately they had been found and turned in!

I had learned that the Key to having a Good Day is to not loose your keys! 

The Finer Details of Laundering $$$

After washing - lay out on a flat surface to dry...

If you put them through the dryer you will have to iron... and nobody likes to iron... even if it is money!

Lessons Learned...

I think it's important to continue to learn as we go along in life...

Today's lesson...

If you wash the dark red cotton rugs... don't wash white linens in the next load.

Unless of course you want light pink sheets...

Altitude... and other thoughts

Did you know that altitude effects the weight of an object?

I learned this practical lesson the other day while pounding 7 ft. gardening stakes in the garden with a 3 pound sledge hammer.  I had placed a sheet of plywood over the gardenbox and put a step stool on it to get me closer to my work but...

I know that hammer weighed waaaay more than 3 pounds as I lifted it over my head to pound in the stakes...  by the time I finished it must have weighed 200 pounds - I can't believe I'm that strong!  LOL

Another lesson learned this week... if you forget to wear sun screen - you will get a sunburn if you stay out from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm.  It doesn't matter if you've already gotten a nice base tan - that sun is brutal.  Long gone are the days of my youth where I could lay all day in the sun slathering on baby oil - my Italian and Choctaw heritage have always done me well in the sun - but this sun is different and so am I... I'm too old to not wear sunscreen.  Funny thing - in addition to my farmers tan (I do need to find my sleeveless shirts) I noticed that I have a glove line... who ever thought that would be an issue?  LOL

I am a Country Bumpkin...

Yep... and it only took a trip to the Dallas area to settle it.  Although I guess I've know that all along... I was never really comfortable with trying to dress up for occasions or events over the years.  Always felt like a kid playing dress up.

I went into a yarn shop the other day and felt totally out of place... totally... in a yarn shop!  It was a 'high end' yarn and womens clothing shop.  Beautiful, wonderful, luscious yarns and nary a price to be seen.  The clothing were all lovely too... you know - the kind for those tall slender ladies, trim and neat!  Me - I'm not tall... and I've got lots of hindsight... so not the clothes I'd be wearing - especially since I turned one tag for a simple top and it was $90ish dollars.  I was just looking at yarns and yet I felt sooo out of place.  LOL

I found myself wishing I'd put on some makeup - which I don't much feel compelled to wear at home very often anymore.  And the flannel shirt I pulled on over my shirt because it was cool out - well it just didn't work as an alternative to a light jacket.  Then there were those sneaks... which probably would benefit from a roll around in the washer.  I was clean - I just wasn't spiffy enough to feel comfortable there.  And I wasn't asking what the yarn cost... because you know - if you have to ask - you probably can't afford it.

Now I have been to 2 other shops - one that same day that I felt perfectly fine in... and the yarn was priced too!  LOL

I'm Howdy... the Country Bumpkin... and I'm OK with that!  LOL

Pook, Pook, Pook...

I want to know why this needle wasn't saying Pook, pook, POOK?

This is the needle (a Microtex Sharp by the way) that was in the machine when I set it up a couple weeks ago.  Since I haven't been sewing much at all the past year and a half - I can't remember when I put it in...

Maybe it was the summer of 2007 when I worked on this for the quilt shop in Mass... (in the midst's of packing and painting to move)

or the Hunters Star I worked on as a store sample as we moved from Maryland to PA in Dec. 07...

it might have been back at the apartment the spring of 2008 when I worked on this for a 10 FQ Challenge.  I'll tell y'all about the challenge another day.

OK back to the '''Point''' at hand...

Since I started sewing again this month I've sewn all of this Maple Island BQ2 top...

and I worked on these for the Quilt in a Day Tossed 9 Patch...

After finishing these 9 patches I decided to clean the dust out of the machine... which is a sad tale I'll also tell another day.

But this is what the needle looked like when I took it out.

Look at it... it's clearly bent... I didn't even need my glasses to see the bend in it!  I was completely surprised because it had made not a peep or a pook as a bent needle should.  Nope... quiet as a mouse...

I might have to frame it...

So... when did you change your needle last?

The Question...

Do you like flavored creamer?

 

OK... so you're wondering how would I get coffee creamer all over my kitchen?

No I didn't spit my coffee out laughing... there was no laughing going on...

No I didn't trip over a dog - that's a real possibility but I'm very good at dancing around sleeping dogs...

And trust me when I say I got it all over the kitchen - from one wall to the next and everything in between.

I wanted to add a splash of creamer to my freshened up cup of coffee... so I opened one side of my fridge - grabbed my flavored creamer... and shook it... only once back and forth... but that was sufficient to send the creamer through the unsealed cap in a wide arc.

I hit the wall, trash can and pantry door on one wall... the cabinet and sink on the other wall... the floor between those two... and lets not forget I was standing there with the door to the fridge open - so of course it was all inside the door.

A picture would have been good... but that didn't occur to me until after I had it all cleaned up.

A Quarter ain't a Quarter all the time...

And as a quilter I know this... a quarter inch seam is usually a scant quarter and even that isn't cast in thread.

There are lots of things that effect that scant quarter - and those are the things I wasn't taking into consideration yesterday when I sat down to sew the nine patch units for Double Delight.  My biggest mistake was not sewing and CHECKING a complete unit.  I was so happy to just be at the machine... I was just sewing, and sewing, and sewing!  Then I measured... uuugh!  Then I cut new strips... tested and sewed and measured again and then sewed a complete strip set to measure.

On the left is what I made a bunch of... on the right is the correct size...  yeah - there just isn't any way to stretch out that nearly 1/4" of missing width.

My modern machine has the ability to move the needle sideways - I usually have it set to the right at 3.0 to achieve a scant quarter.  That is what I used to sew all these strips... which I'll set aside to use for something else.

So how'd I screw this up so nicely?  Many of the fabrics I'm using have some heft to them (both in weight or sizing) AND the thread I was using is a bit thicker (a coats & clark 100% cotton - I usually use an Aurfil for piecing)... both factors that play into your seam allowance... and if you have multiple seams that are off just a tiny bit - they add up to a big difference. 

I need to set my needle at 5.5 to the right to get my strip set to equal 3.5" 

 

I dreamed about this all night long... a lesson I won't soon forget.

Blast off in 3, 2,...

1!  Yeah! I've got all the fabric cut out and organized.  There are lots of pieces here... LOL

I'm ready to start sewing... but I'll tell you it wasn't easy to get to this point.

Look at my very favorite strip cutting ruler type thing in the whole wide world...

Mmmm yep - it's not my picture taking skills - that ruler is warped.  I can't tell you how careful I was about not letting my sewing stuff get packed into the PODS when we moved... apparently I missed the container my 3 Shape Cut rulers were packed in.  It probably wouldn't have been so bad but those PODS were packed top to bottom with nary a space - and whatever was put on top of this container squashed the heck out of it.  I still used it as it isn't too terrible at the front end - but was too wavy and warped past the 10" mark to be really reliable to cut there.  The original shorter one is toast - completely warped and the even smaller Quarter Cut I don't think is useable but I almost never used it anyway.  They can't be salvaged as it appears heat was involved in their demise - do  you suppose it was the 90 degree weather we had the week we had them delivered here??  LOL

I looked at Joanns the other day but they don't have this FQ size one that I love the most... only the shorter one.  I hate the thought of paying full price... maybe I'll look online and see what I come up with.  I really love this ruler.

OK I'm off to sew!  See Ya!

Some Thoughts and Observations on Exercise...

• If thinking about exercise were productive... I would be slim and trim...
• Why can't those exercise DVD's use older ladies who are out of shape to show you how to do stuff?
• I bought one of those big exercise ball... it came with a hand pump... I was worn out just blowing the darn thing up... honest - it's a workout all by itself.
• How's your balance?  Mine seems to be a bit out of whack... and I'm not liking that idea at all... maybe it's just the ball... but it was a surprise it took more effort than I thought it would to balance.
• Exercising makes my abs hurt... all 3 or 4 six packs of them.
• I wish I still had my elliptical machine... I liked it even though it kept telling me to get off... no - actually it kept telling me to go slower... almost to the point of standing still which is almost like telling me to get off.
• Lesson Learned:  Bring all ALL the Christmas Decoration Boxes out of the 3rd floor THIRD FLOOR Attic storage area and DOWN to the FIRST FLOOR before you begin your new exercise routine.  Because it would have been nice to have full use of my arms, legs, and the sorry excuse for abs...
• I'm not waiting until after the holiday food is gone...
• I'm not waiting to make it a New Years Resolution...
• I've got to get going on it now... a little bit at a time... My plan is 3 days a week with the weekend off
• It would be nice to drop the extra 10 or 15 20/30 pounds I tote around...
• I just hope I can make good progress and get past the warm up exercises - yep that's my first goal... getting past the warm up exercises!

The exercise ball was just 19 dollars at WallyWorld and it comes with a DVD.  It's the Golds Gym 'Stay Ball' - which means it's got some sand or something in it that keeps it from rolling away and gives it a little bit of weight.

Care to join me? 

Practice makes...

Well it makes ya nuts if you do the same 8-10 rows over and over...

Since I needed something new to totally waste time,  stimulate my mind, give me something to do until I unpack the sewing room - I stopped in a local knitting shop yesterday.

I've seen those cute knitted wash cloths and have read many a blog raving about those cozy knitted socks.  I have about a dozen socks that I love to wear during the winter... just your basic sportswear tan and olive green, hiking type, wool blend, sweat wicking, cushioned socks.  Nothing fancy... or cute - just warm.  So I thought it would be fun to try making a pair of socks and signed up for a January class. 

Since it would be nice to kinda look like I knew what I was doing I purchased a skein of Hemp/Cotton/Modal yarn, some tiny needles and received a free wash cloth pattern.  You see I had decided a washcloth would be a good place to start... and that's all I've been doing... Starting - over and over.

The pattern has you knit 2 rows, then there is a 8 row (knit & purl) pattern repeat... when those are done you repeat the 8 rows again until the item is the size you want and then you knit two rows again... easy right?  Right?  Nah... not so much - especially if you don't really know what you are doing.

I did check out some knitting videos... I found these very helpful to remind the 'girl scout' in me that learned to knit eons ago.  First I had to figure out whether I was a 'Continental' or 'English' knitter - who knew it mattered... seems that I'm 'English' as I hold the working yarn in my right hand.  Then I checked out the Casting On video... followed by the Knit and Purl videos. 

What I need to find is the "apparently I can't count' video, and the 'did I just drop a stitch' video which should be followed up with the 'why did I think that would fix it' video.

I've got the casting on down pat... I've done that 4 times now. 

Last night I got through 7 3/4 rows of the 8 row pattern before I screwed it up...  Then I got completely through the 8 row pattern and into the 2nd row of the repeat when I realized I had messed up something because I had one too many stitches??  Do I need to tell you that the yarn and needles are too tiny to try and take out a row and put anything back on the needles... so you end up having to start all over... again.  And Again!

But I've got too many things to do here to be wasting my time knitting... like touch up paint in the guest rooms so that I can seal those cans for storage... start the prep work for painting the master bedroom... wash off and store those 16 half-pint jars of Cran-Apple Butter that I canned on Monday (yeah they are still sitting on my kitchen table)... peel and process the last 12/15 lbs of apples in my refrigerator... repack into foodsaver bags and label the many pint containers of pumpkin puree, mashed cauliflower, apple pie mix in my freezer... cook or freeze those 10 lbs of chicken parts I purchased yesterday...

Not to mention the idea that my Grandson will be born in Hawaii sometime in the next couple weeks... is his quilt finished??? NO... is my sewing room unpacked... NOOOOO!

It's not like I didn't have enough to keep me busy... I don't need to be fussing with this knitting stuff...

I have a vineyard...

Um... well... actually I have a Vine in my Yard... which I guess one could stretch the concept of that into a Vineyard...

one could...

maybe...

if they felt stretchy...

 

 

 

 

Anyway, so there is this grape vine growing on an arbor attached to the shed.  According to my neighbor Mrs. B they are concord grapes and are suppose to be very, very good!

We were quite excited earlier this summer as there were all these wonderful little green grape clusters starting to grow.  I had visions of grape jam and jelly.

But look what happened during the summer...

 

Some of the grapes in all the clusters went and shriveled up?  This was not at all fair!

I've been keeping an eye on them and it looks like what ever happened didn't happen to all the grapes.

I decided to harvest what I could the other day - not an easy task because the vines are very over grown with a lot of dead vines.  I was showered with debris as I was moving vines around and snipping clusters out.

As I was cutting out clusters I thought - 'gee it smells just like grape jelly here'.  Well - Duh? I guess I just expected they wouldn't smell that good until they had been cooked up.  It really was yummy smelling.

 

Pretty aren't they?

I cooked them down and strained them through a jelly bag... I knew I wouldn't have enough to get 4 cups of juice out of these so I added some apple juice as they were cooking.

The juice is suppose to sit in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours so that you re-strain and remove any tartrate crystals that form.  I had to go and look up what a tartrate crystal was and why I needed to be concerned about it.  

 So what do you suppose I could make out of this lovely fluid?

Grape Jelly?  Grape Candy?

Do you know what the difference is between Jelly and Candy? 

I'd say about 10 minutes...

Yep - cook it a little too long and you get candy...

 

No this isn't slow motion photography... it was that thick.

 

 

 

To salvage it I dissolved the 'candy' in apple juice and re-cooked it back to the jelly stage... and canned it again.

From this years harvest I have a couple small jars of Grape Jelly Grape/Apple Jelly Grapple Jelly.  But next year... I'm going to have lots of grapes and make lots of just plain ole Grape Jelly and Jam.

Sure Wish I'd taken pictures first...

Do you get wrapped up in fixing 'events' that it never occurs to you to document what has happened until after...

Yeah that happens here a lot...

So here is a recent 'After' picture...

And this is after most of the suds have been washed away down the drain...

Where did they come from?

Remember my new washer... the front loader that kept my Sweet Itty Bitty occupied on the day it was delivered...

That is where the suds came from...

When I came down early one morning and was fixing the dogs their breakfast - imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw NUTIN BUT SUDS in my washer.

The Engineer remembered where I showed him to put the soap... he remembered that I said to just use 'one'... he just didn't remember that I showed him the little TWO TABLESPOON measure that sits in a container on top of the washer - so he added just one whole cap full of the laundry soap.

I scooped at least 5 buckets full of suds out and he dumped them in the sink... Then I filled the washer with other stuff - set it for a quick wash and crossed my fingers.

I also took a quick look around for Lucy and Ethel... I was sure I saw them peeking around the corner...

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

Well no, not really swallowed - but pretty close!  I spat it out - EeWwww!

I was working in the bathroom peeling icky caulk outta joints and crevices and scrapping drywall wall mud offa the walls (whacky repair job by previous owners).  I had taken my cup of coffee with me and stuck a loosely balled up paper towel in the top to keep dust from settling in it.  I hadn't however thought about flies... being all clever and such (we have lots of OPEN windows while we are working on the house to improve air flow).  I bet he was surprised when he landed in coffee after wiggling into that crevice... not as surprised as I was when I took a swig of coffee... did I say EeWwww?

I wonder... Can you OD on mouthwash??

She must love me more...

On the day when we emptied the PODS...

The day that was well into the 90's...

The day that was humid... icky, sticky, humid...

The day after we had already spent days and days and days cleaning... in the heat and humidity...

On that day - as my sister Darlin and I were shoving the boxes and bins and other such nonsense around in the heat of the third floor attic storage room...

I told her that I thought she must love me more than I love her...

...because I wasn't all that sure I'd be able to do all the same stuff for her if she ever moved that she'd done for me during the previous couple weeks...

In the heat and humidity - through the dust and the dirt...

I'm pretty sure she must love me more...

Nitwits are forgiven...

I've been shopping at Costco for well over 15 years.

Our recent trip was a long time coming - we've only been there once since moving here to PA.  Our cart was overflowing and our pockets were... quite empty.  As we made our way across the parking lot - a box that was precariously perched on top tipped off the cart and landed in a heap on the pavement.  The only loss was a jar of sundried tomatoes in olive oil...

We picked up the other items and dropped the oil smudged ones into a separate bag.  As I was picking up what was left of the jar and pieces of broken glass off the pavement I heard a woman say "they will replace anything that is broken".  My thought was "yeah sure like I'm gonna go in there and tell them what an idiot I was and expect them to replace a jar I broke".  I looked up - fully planning to wave to the nice lady my thanks and continue with my cleanup and get outta Dodge.  To my surprise - she was a Costco employee.  She and another employee must have been in the lot and saw our mishap.  They came over - the young man took the box of oil soaked, glass shard coated sundried tomatoes from me and they escorted me inside as The Engineer took our purchases to the car. 

The young man threw out the mess and went to fetch me a new jar while the woman took me to the front desk and gave me paper towels and some Purell to clean my hands. 

I never in all my life would have expected them to replace something I broke in the parking lot... but she says they do it all the time.  It's nice to know that their customer service is such that they do care that I at least get out of the parking lot with what I paid for.

I'm also really thankful that they didn't report me - I would have hated to have my 'Shopping Cart Driver License' suspended for reckless driving.