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.

Halloween

What a great job Judy did creating costumes for Kyle and Grace. My grandkids were the best-costumed kids, no kidding!

The weather was beautiful, the kids were excited, and I managed to get around one block with them before my legs gave out. I am adding these photos to my favorites.

Little Outfits

Last week I completed the pink series of coordinated outfits for Grace from Butterick pattern number B5017. Here are some pictures of Grace's new outfits...the coordinated Disney World travel collection.

I was really pleased with the result. I gave them to her last night. She spotted the Mickey Mouse appliqued to the top and dress right away. I will probably applique that Mickey on everything I make for her...even when she is in her teens ;-).

It was so cute to watch her as we all said "pretty, how pretty" and she smiled very big. She loved the hangars that were included in the bag with the outfits!

Now I have my own label? I created labels for this and future projects that say "Nana," the letters embroidered by machine on 1/4" wide white grosgrain ribbon. They are helpful in marking which is the back of pants.

The 18 months size of this pattern will also fit the Annie doll that I made 27 years ago for Jackie. She asked to have it recently and I was so pleased. I think she was too young for it at 2 years old. She had no interest in it then. Annie had been sitting on my bed and I would mend and wash her as needed and provide new outfits. Jackie has been learning to sew. She can appreciate Annie now for the time and attention to detail that it took to make her. She wrote about her in "The Orange Room," her blog.

Well, I am off to shampoo the rugs now. Can't wait to see them brightened up.