Baby Shower

My sister Debbie is expecting her first great grandchild! Yesterday I travelled with my daughter to the shower. It was an hour and a half drive so we had plenty of time to chat and catch up. We had a lot of fun in the car and at the shower.
At 22, India, Debbie's granddaughter, is a lovely mom-to-be. Her mom, friends and cousins really turned out to give her a nice shower. We played games (I won the first one), ate ravioli, and talked non-stop. Jackie R., my daughter, made the cutest quilt with dots and little cars. It wil be a great blanket or playmat for the baby. I found some tiny workboots with help from my friends Tom and Vic and I included a Visa gift card to give India some cash to purchase what she still needed. My sister Jackie G. made a baby quilt and a quilted book which were adorable.
The gift that was a surprise was the baby tub and spa. How do inventors think of these things? I remember bathing Bob and then Jackie in the kitchen sink. It was easier on the back and afforded a better hold on the infant.
Debbie at 78 celebrated paying off her mortgage in the summer and just purchased a beautiful Buick. She is so involved in her church and family activities. Having a new car just makes her more active.

Gift for Jackie

This is a long story. My daughter, Jackie, is an amazing young woman...creative, lively, and with unique perspectives. Her 30th. birthday was last week. I sent her a nice chunk of money which she reported she was thrilled to spend on a great fabric binge. A couple of years ago, I gave her a Kenmore mechanical sewing machine as a Christmas gift. Just in case it was a passing interest, I did not spend more than a reasonable amount on this gift. To my great pleasure, Jackie has been sewing non-stop ever since! She has adopted this creative outlet and really invested time and practice into her projects. I have been a sewer all of my life and it seemed that Jackie did not have the sewing gene until now.

On Friday the thirteenth, my friend Betty and I planned a road trip up to Vernon to the Pieceful Choices Quilt Shop to purchase fabric for the project we were going to learn at the BBQ weekend in April. While there, Betty looked at a Janome machine to be her class portable. She was looking at a mechanical machine very reasonably priced. However, with a minimum of coaxing, she considered the Janome Jem Platinum 760 (which I was drooling over). I have a Janome Jem Gold which I take to classes, but the Platinum is computerized and I was amazed at the features it sported AND the price was great!!!! I decided to buy one for Jackie, but first tried to reach her on the phone. After I left a message for her, I decided to buy one anyway and check with her later. I knew she was lusting for a Bernina QE, but it might be a long time before she could afford it. In the interim, her Kenmore was at the shop and she seemed to have "outgrown" its basic functions. Betty decided to buy one also! We were both ecstatic and off to find Cracker Barrel for an early dinner.

Jackie returned my call to say that she would continue to save up for a Bernina. The next day I saw a posting on her blog with a photo of the thread mess that her "repaired" Kenmore was making of her current project. I called her back to ask why she kind of turned down my offer. She explained that the cost of the gift made her uncomfortable. Smile. What a kid. After a brief of description of the pleasure it would give me as her mother to support her sewing hobby and the joy I felt because she was pursuing a craft that I had enjoyed all of my life, she relented. I delivered the machine to her last night after work. She was happy. After I got there, I wondered what in the world I was doing leaving home at 6 p.m. to make an hour and a half (my speed) drive each way just to see her happy response.

Nice Day

Today was my day off. I felt comfortable going in to my office and working until 1:30 p.m. I caught up a bit and was relaxed enough to work through some piles of bills with our new account clerk. All morning I looked forward to calling Maureen at Pieceful Choices in Vernon to see if she was able to get one more wonderful little Janome Jem Platinum 760. She was. I drove up there in the afternoon to pick it up. It started snowing on the way up and really snowed on the way back. It was gray and nice :-)

While in the Vernon area, I weighed the pros and cons of moving up there. Beautiful surroundings, lower housing costs, the rural way of life, access to train service to the city in nearby Warwick, NY, the possibility of a ranch house with a stone fireplace and wood planked walls, the nearby Sussex County library. Perhaps I will check the real estate prices. It is pretty far from my family and friends.

Car Trouble 2

Okay, the CRV went to J & J this morning. I picked her up this evening. One trip to the chiropractic center and the engine light was back on. The hesitation was back too, but not as bad as yesterday. Jack says that he will have to replace the wires. He put in all new spark plugs today and a new distributor cap, but he could not get a new set of wires. So, back tomorrow morning. Sigh....

I really would like to keep this car a bit longer. It's fun to be loan-free!

Car Trouble

OH NO!!! My reliable, never a problem, CRV is sick! The engine light is on. It is trembling. It is Sunday and no mechanics are available. I drove slowly (like slowing down will make it go farther) to my corner gas station and asked the attendant to check the oil, etc. while he topped off the 1/4 full tank. I knew this was not going to help when he asked me for the manual. He said that my overflow tank had no antifreeze, but the radiator was fine. He could not find the cap for the holder of transmission fluid and recommended that I take it to a mechanic. Nevertheless, I was impressed because he used the index to the manual to find the information about the transmission. It was just the picture that confused him. He said the fill cap was not where it was supposed to be. So he did not want to just start unscrewing things. Anxiety caused me to thank him and just pull out of the station and get home via the shortest route (wrong way on my one way street) to my garage. I will deal with this tomorrow. In the interim, I have to come up with a new plan for today.