Debut of "Loose Strife" and a yard sale goes bust

Our community holds a yard sale twice a year, in the Spring and in the Fall. So, I signed up to participate. My buddy, Jane, (of Goodwill hunting fame. Okay, it's not funny, but it's early)brought her stuff and allowed her son, The AC/DC Fan, to spend the night with the Boy Scout. Well, I got up early to get it all out there, and it started to rain. sigh...so I kept taking clothes off the tree, putting them back, it was nuts. Finally the weather cooperated. However, the yard salers did not. I probably only had 7 or 8 actual stops. Jane sold the most, including the wildest set of boots I'd ever seen. My prize was selling my octagon table that I had bought some 9 years ago at a yard sale. The going price was a whopping 4 bucks. This little gal loved pedestal tables and mine was pretty heavy-duty. I'm glad it found a good home.
We were entertained by our sons, calling themselves "Loose Strife". I feel like I'm watching "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure", but unlike Bill and Ted, Boy Scout and AC/DC are actually pretty good. They set up their amps right on my steps.

Of course, Mr. Dyl Pickle had to get in a few pictures. He was our 'greeter' for the yard sale, telling the customers about each toy and how old he was when he played with it. Not a bad salesman. But he'd rather be in the walnut tree.

Lightening struck the same place twice

Yesterday, I went into the Goodwill again. I was looking for a sewing machine cabinet for the Singer 201 that I picked up there for $9.75. Behind a couch, table, lamp, and chair...there was a cabinet! Upon inspection, I noticed it had a Singer head in it. Another BLACK Singer. The difference was that this one had all the presser feet, power cord, bobbins, button holer, etc. As best I can figure, it's from 1948, and it's a Singer 15-91. It also had a whole slew of wound bobbins! I kept thinking..."But I really don't want to spend $45 dollars on this. Hunnybunny will kill me!" But all the gadgets were compatible to the 201, and they were $10 bucks a piece on Ebay.

Then the manager walked out. She had seen me perusing this machine and said, "We've had this for 3 weeks and here it sits. I'm gonna mark it down."
"Down to what?" I asked, thinking it would be around 5 bucks or so.
"25.75."
"Consider it sold!"





Singer doesn't have any records for the serial number except that it was made in Canada around 1948. She cleaned up like a new penny with some shaving cream. I know, that sounds crazy, but it works on those old machines.

40 Quilt Service Project

Well, friends and neighbors, it's done! It's hard to wait when you are the first leg of the completion process, but it sure looks great! I "borrowed" this picture from the Quilt Studio website. Pam did the binding while Suzanne quilted it.



This quilt on the right was actually the BACK of the bug jar quilt. Deborah decided it should be a front. I was a little disappointed in it, but some kid will love the I Spy aspect and the colors are cool, too. Pam did the binding, Suzanne the quilting.

Fun and Games

Art For God by Stephen S. Sawyer

Here's another of Stephen S. Sawyer's depictions of Christ. "Storm Pilot". Click on the link if you want to know more.

And no, I'm not being compensated for this endorsement. I love Jesus, and I really like the way that Mr. Sawyer has made Him come alive on canvas.




Used with Permission
Stephen S. Sawyer
www.Art4God.com

Guess what I got?

...thanks to my buddy Jane. She called to tell me about some fabric they had, which I didn't get,and I found this for $9.75! Thanks again, Jane!

Ain't she purty? Believe it or not, I got this at Goodwill, thanks to my buddy Jane. Can you believe that? And I've already heard back from Singer...it was made in 1950, and is considered to be one of the best Singers of all time. Truth be told, even if it doesn't work, I got this for sentimental reasons. My mother had one just like it. While she didn't think I could learn, (too much of a Tomboy, she thought)I always admired her sewing for me. She's most likely getting a kick out of this!

WIP Wednesday

Okay, it's not REALLY a WIP, but future one. Does that count? I've been purging stuff getting ready for a community-wide yard sale, so quilting has kind of taken a back burner. I did get this great piece of fabric this past weekend. Can't give you a name, but it's some kind of Island print that I got at Joann's.


Now these I got the last time I went by the fabric store. I'd link it, but they haven't gotten with the times and gotten a webpage. They are 9x11, and only .50 a piece. They're Sherrill Kahn's "Fire Within II" Collection .
Ya'll know what an abstract bent I have. Now I have to figure out what to do with this stuff. Any suggestions?

Living with Spiderman

I wish I could tell you the attraction. The movies have been out awhile now, and The Pickle is now all about Spiderman. His Grandma Hunnybunny sent him money for Easter, and this is what he wanted. And in his hand, you'll see the Spiderman action figure that hardly ever leaves his sight.
Last night, he wore the costume OVER his Lighting McQueen P.J.s. I guess they all have one hero. For the Legal Adult, it was Batman. For the Boyscout, it's all Star Wars. So, little brother is coming up the rear with Spiderman.

Another milestone

This past Thursday, my '87 Honda Accord turned over 198,000 miles. While that might not mean anything to you, to me, it's so cool! God gave me this car to go to night college back in '97 with 108,000. Here it's 10 years later, and I still have it going strong. I'm real sentimental about "Baby".

My friend, Bell-ah, down in Georgia has still got me beat!

Scenes from a mall

(I apologize to you all for these being the ONLY pictures taken on this whirlwind visit!)
The weekend started off with my best friend, Robin and her girls bringing back the Boyscout from Chattanooga. The next morning, we headed for the mall, which you all know is NOT my favorite place. It rates right up there with getting a root canal, but anyway…… After walking around for an hour or so we decided to find some place that had caffeine. Lo and behold, Tmobile was right there. Now, Robin had the whole prepay plan, but with her father-in-law back and forth in the hospital, she was putting more and more minutes on her phone and could have bought one twice by the end of the month. We head in the direction of the phones. And after looking a bit, we were greeted by a young man, Brian, who sounded like Matthew McConaughey, soft, sweet and southern. See the resemblance? He was very polite, kind, knowledgeable and gracious. (Also, I found out later we attended the same church. Well, in a congregation of 8,500, you MIGHT miss seeing someone.)
It wasn’t long before he was showing her the phones that came free with the two-year contract, and the phones she could co-pay with. But Robin had her reservations about the whole two-year thing. She had just started as a new college teacher, incurring another debt wasn’t something she was happy about. I don’t blame her. I almost break out in hives when I make a major purchase, unless it’s fabric or something like that.
She must have talked to him for 45 minutes, then to his assistant manager, Ehren. (Pronounced: Aaron) Yep, that’s how he spelled it. He definitely was comic relief as seen in this picture. He knew his stuff, and was very gracious.
Brian went on break after we walked away to think about it. Thinking about it entailed talking to me, her husband, and her kids. She had to see if downgrading her home phone package would be beneficial to make up the cost. After about 25 minutes of working on that, we were back at the booth, now on a first name basis with the guys that worked there. The bottom line was that we had to get the exact price, taxes and all, before she would sign up. We even asked if Brian could come back, since he had worked so hard to answer some of our obnoxious questions, and done so with such a sweet attitude. You know, he cut his break short, and even went to another Tmobile site, (located at the other end of the mall) to get the exact phone she wanted.(Apparently, they were out of the color she wanted for the style she picked out.) Brian must've sprinted because he wasn't gone long at all.
I just took all this in. My buddy is definitely thorough, even if it annoys the heck out of the rest of us. But we love her!
Truly, these guys could have been rude to us, and blown us off when we walked away the first time. But they didn’t. They were some of the few examples of real customer service I’ve seen in a real long time. By the way, Ehren told us we were definitely the customers of the week!

Bluegrass Revelations

I go from wondering if I'm in menopause because it's so hot last week, to SNOW this week! Ain't this April???? Had to dig everybody's coat out...I wish Spring would come back.
It's just crazy...










And in other news...some of you know the basketball drama that has unfolded before us in the Bluegrass with the leaving of Tubby Smith. It was announced today that Billy Gillispie would replace him.Click
here to read the story, courtesy of WTVQ-36.

Etta May- Minnie Pearl with a migraine.

It was a girl's night out, and honey, there ain't no doubt...well, you know the song by the Judd's. The Boy Scout mothers (and a grandmother of a scout)went out for dinner at a nice seafood place in Lexington called Regatta Seafood Grill, conveniently located beside Comedy Off Broadway where we saw the very funny Etta May.


She made reference to a neighbor boy, whom she has affectionately dubbed, "Tackle Box", who is pierced and tatted up. The group of women I was with turned and looked at me, as I have my own version of Tacklebox in the Legal Adult. It's tempting to send Etta May a picture and tell her that Tacklebox is a real person.

My current "To Do" list

courtesy of Amy at The Calico Cat:

More than you wanted to know, part Deux

I saw this on Janean's blog, and thought it was pretty righteous.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Spring Break in the Tennessee Valley

The Boy Scout decided to visit our friends in Chattanooga for Spring Break this year, so we made the trek down to our ole stompin' grounds. This is a pic of his buddy Kate, who he spends the most time with. She's always been his best friend, since they were little. (We had her up here last summer and went to King's Island.)
We had moved here when the Pickle was just 8 months old, so he never got to experience the tourist traps in Chattanooga. Here are some pictures of my favorite tourist trap, Coolidge Park. It's situated on the Tennessee River, has a carousel, big area for picnics and walking, and a huge fountain for the kids. As you can see, Pickle had an awesome time.

Unfortunately, he didn't want to get out. Which led to many,many tears.
This is the first time he's been able to get in the water without a swimming diaper, so maybe that hurdle is over. We can only hope and pray.

Always clowning for the camera, Pickle appears to be blowing Mommy kisses. Other than almost turning blue, he had a great time. I wish we had one of these fountains up here.