Making a mess is hard work

Yes, making a mess is hard work. A puppy needs to take a nice nap after tearing up a newspaper, shoes, tissues, and a bottle of Dad's medicine! Agh. I came home from work to find quite a mess in the front room and bedroom. Ivy, having absolutely no shame, jumped up as if to say "see what I did Ma, see, see!" It's a good thing that she is such a cute puppy! She has worked her way into our hearts.

Wrigley is quite a good old pooch to put up with Ivy's antics. I do think Wrigs would be lost without her.

I have been working on the one mystery quilt from the Yahoo group I'm on. I have about 20 more minutes of sewing and then I can go no farther without doing some major pressing. Like 700 pieces that will need to be pressed. ugh. Not one of my favorite parts of sewing, but a necessary evil, I know. I have been going upstairs in the morning before work and getting a little bit done at a time. It's not too horribly hot upstairs in the morning at least.

I think I need a new belt for my old Kenmore. I called Sears and they don't even sell parts for that machine anymore! Isn't that a bunch of hooey? Well, I found the belt online that will fit, and I'm going to order one next payday, but it just gets me that Sears no longer carries parts for their machines. Guess they just didn't think anyone would hold onto their machines that long. Or maybe they think if they don't sell parts for them we would be forced to buy a new machine. I don't know, but I am considering buying two belts, but this first one has lasted 30 years and I will be 75 when I needed to replace it again, so maybe I'll just order one....

Stormy Sunday

We have had some pretty good storms this morning. They have moved out of the area, for the most part now. These are a couple pics I took of the storm around 9 a.m. when I was driving home from the grocery store.

Ev is going to put some good steaks on the grill later today. Yesterday Mom was down and we went to St. Louis (again - three trips to the house this week) to meet with the realtor and let the cleaning service in. Before we left the city we stopped at this meat market near the house. I bought four NY strip steaks, seasoned with the meat markets' special spice blend. I think I might have dreamed about them last night.... haha.

Still on my diet. The last two weeks have been challenging, with the funeral and all that has come after it. I've lost 40 pounds and intend to lose more. Doc did cut my blood pressure meds down again, so I'm taking 1/4th of the dosage I was taking when I was heavier. My goal is to get off them completely.

We went to a local bar and grill last night that just opened. It has had many names over the years as a tavern on our Main Street in this little town I live in. Seems that it opens up and the new owners do well for a while, then it fizzles out. I'm hoping it sticks this time because the food was really good. I am NOT a bar person, so for me to like it is saying something. I wouldn't go in there just to sit and drink, mostly because I don't drink much at all, but I will go in for a meal.

One day, two days...

Today I went to St. Louis to Gram's house. Had people there to take furniture and stuff being donated to charity. Tomorrow is day two and will have people there to take everything else out of the house. I have to say it choked me up a bit to see her furniture going out the door. But I will also say I will be relieved when it is all done. I truly hope tomorrow doesn't take too long. If the junkers get done early, maybe, just maybe, I will get a chance to go to the fabric stores.....

I'm not sure if you can see all of them, but there are five cows in this picture! When I take my walk in the afternoon at work, sometimes I walk by these half grown dudes. This time they were all in a big puddle of water, kinda part of a drainage ditch. It was a pretty hot day and that was how they were staying cool, I guess!

The other picture is of the sewing machine I inherited from my grandmother. I oiled and cleaned it. It runs very nicely so far. Going to give it a good workout one of these days!

My retreat in August got canceled. Boo hoo. Poor me. Okay, I have whined enough. I think I will still take the day off and just have an at home sew-in.

Already thinking about next April and the Paducah Quilt Show. I am going to talk to Donna about it seriously and get plans in the works. We both need some kind of trip to look forward to. We are also hoping to go to the Amish area and outlet mall before Christmas.

Strange stuff I've never heard of.

I have to share this oddity. While cleaning out the kitchen cabinets at Gram's house, I came upon a pill bottle with a white powder in it. The label was hand written, so not completely legible, but as best I could make out the label said "Hawks Horn". My mother, daring soul that she is, opened the bottle to smell it. She about fell over because it strongly smelled of ammonia. We threw the bottle in the trash, but I got to thinking about it this evening so I looked up hawks horn on the internet. Didn't get any hits, so I tried a few other combinations, not completely sure that the word was "hawk" on the label. I called Mom and she suggested putting in the word ammonia with hawks horn in the search bar. After a bit of wandering, I came up with the answer. The bottle contained Harts Horn, which smells like ammonia and is/was used as a smelling salt. Learn something new every day.

Now, to let everyone have a good laugh at my expense, I did not throw the bottle in the trash with the rest of the garbage. I put it in a small baggie and when we stopped at the gas station before heading home that night I threw it in the trash at the gas station. I just didn't know what it was and didn't want it anywhere near my family! Isn't that silly? Superstitious? Maybe. But I didn't know what it was or what it was used for at that time and it seemed weird to me. I didn't want anything to do with it.

In cleaning things out, I found some embroidered pillow cases that Gram had started. The embroidery was done, they just needed to have the ends sewn closed. I brought them home and did that. They are going into the washer with the next load and I will put them on the bed.

Gram didn't do much sewing in her later years, but did have a nice sewing machine. It is an older Kenmore, similar to the one I have and use and love. Her machine has not seen much use, and I'm really excited about the fact that Mom gave it to me. I'm going to give it a good cleaning and oiling, then cross my fingers and turn it on! If it runs as well as mine, I will be pleased as punch. Mine is quite the workhorse. I would take my machine in good condition over a new one any day. There's something to be said for metal gears and quality workmanship.

Been a difficult time lately

Gram passed away Wednesday night. The service was Friday. Saturday and Sunday Mom and I spent working on the house, getting it ready to sell. We are almost ready for Goodwill to come and pick stuff up. This has been a long weekend.