The Rock and Roll Edition

 One of the good things about cleaning out your parent's house is that you find big chunks of your past in boxes in the attic.

 The Mister came home with a box of his old music magazines.  I had a blast from the past going through them. It's scary that I know most of the lyrics to most of the songs.

I was a total groupie for about an hour or so last night reading all the articles.  Cat Stevens....he still does it for me. I'm listening to him right now. I still want to ride that peace train. Ever see Harold and Maude? It's on tonight at 8 on TCM. I hope I remember.

Women were hard to come by but there was Janis. She was still alive when the article was written. She was but a moment's sunlight fading in the grass wasn't she? I adored her.

The ads were the best part. Remember filling out these coupons and sticking them in the mail and then waiting for stuff for 6-8 weeks? Ancient times.

Did you ever fall for the Columbia House thing? I did. If something looks too good to be true it usually is. I think they invented that saying just for them.

 How many of you did this? I did. I never won anything but I did join the Rosicrucians.  My mother was furious with me. She thought they would show up at the front door. They didn't. They just wanted my money.

Is this the pantsuit you were talking about Kathy B? Tee hee.....

 Hmmmm....why was The Mister checking off song lyrics? House at Pooh Corner? Seriously, dude?

 Then it hit me. We have a room downstairs filled with these.

 He has 10 of these single containers and 5 crates of albums from the good old days. He was quite the music man. Not so much anymore-unless it's Stevie Nicks. She still lights his fire.

Now it's me who keeps the tunes going all day. Me and Alexa grooving to the oldies. Rock on.

Even More Boxes

 I should have planned this better.

 The house is a sea of boxes and piles of stuff that need attention and I just added several more to the problem. The IRS surprised me with a nice refund check that I wasn't expecting so I thought I would put it to good use. Something for me.

I gifted myself a big girl sewing machine. For years I have been reading reviews and watching videos trying to decide what I wanted. I decided on this Juki because....I don't know. It seems that they all have their pros and cons but I wanted something specifically for free motion quilting and I think this will do it.

 There is lots more work room to shove a quilt through. It's a big machine.

Here is the machine I am using now. Big difference. I've quilted several big quilts on this machine and it was not fun.

 This machine is simple. It does one thing. It sews a straight line. Nothing fancy here. That's just what I wanted. I've got four other machines that can do the fancy stuff.

 It's a serious quilter. It came with two quilting feet and a heavy duty walking foot. That's good. They are pricey.

Homework time. I've got plenty to learn but at the moment I am still trying to put my house back together so it will have to wait. One mess at a time.

Chaos Theory

I mentioned yesterday that things were a little bit messy around here. It seems that the leak we thought we had conquered last week was not.

This time it wasn't just the understairs closet that got wet, my downstairs sewing/card making room also was flooded. It was covered in soapy water leading us to finally understand that it was actually the washing machine drain doing the damage. Golly what a mess.

 In the midst of all this chaos, the living room still looks like this from the Ikea adventure that never got finished. We still have boxes of furniture that needs to be assembled. The Mister has been MIA for days working with his brother to spruce up and empty out his Mom's house. The probate people only give you so much time to get all this done before you have to answer to the courts and we don't want to stir them up again. No siree.

 My dining area is heaped with projects that don't have a home at the moment.

 And all the tools and whatnots that live under the stairs are once more in wet heaps. We've got fans and dehumidifiers running all over the place. The hot, humid weather is not helping and now the AC drain is acting up, for crying out loud. We're drowning here.

Making it worse for me is that when The Mister is gone his old doggie becomes anxious and clingy. That makes her whine and pant and cough and chew herself raw. That means I have to carry her around in the pooch pouch all day which means I get nothing done which makes me cranky. I'm afraid we've spread ourselves a bit thin, the old man and me. Hopefully there's calmer days ahead.

Father's Day Interrupted

 The Mister won't be having much of a Father's Day this year. It's been crazy around here. Crazy with a capital C.

 In between trying to get our own house under control (see tomorrow's post) and working on his late mom's house that is on the market, he's about worn to a nub. It's an old place-1918 and in dire need of serious fixing up. When I asked The Mister what he wanted for Father's Day, he said "to be left alone" which is usually my line for Mother's Day.

 To make matters even more complicated, he is the Personal Rep for his mom's estate and the will is in probate at the moment. Judicial probate because of some costly mistakes she made when making out her will. As you can she was certainly not a woman of means but in her will she left lots of odd stuff to lots of people which is a big no no-a lesson we have learned the hard way.

You can't say that you are leaving the Blue Boy painting and the Chinese vases to so and so and just have your Rep give them away. The court has no idea if your vase is Ming Dynasty or if the Blue Boy is the real one or a dime store knock off. It cost The Mister lots of time, trouble and money to find all the things she wanted to giveaway and then have them appraised-at $200 an hour. What a headache it's all been for everyone involved. Lesson learned. Keep stuff out of your will. Keep names out of your will.  AND give your junk away before you go. Your family will thank you.

 In spite of all the insanity around here, he will have something to mark the day. Daughter sent him what I believe is a new golf bag.

The critters and I made him a card and maybe, if we are both not too exhausted I can figure out something special to cook. Or order in. Or something. Is golf on? That'll do it. We both need a day of normal.

Tea for One

 In the winter I can't wait to get up to a nice hot cup of coffee but as soon as the AC comes on, I'm all about tea.

 My summer box of teas just arrived. I am a big fan of Rooibos and Adagio has a big variety. Since it's just me who drinks it, I also like that I can just buy small sample packs that will last me until the first autumn chill. I got this box full for about $10.

 They also send along free samples. Yum.

My new little teapot from Amazon is also proving to be a big win. It filters the loose tea perfectly. After brewing, I pull out the basket, drink a small hot cup for breakfast and then pop the rest in the fridge for iced tea in the afternoon. Sweet.

Blissful

 When I finally got a chance to sit down and play with my new card kit, I remembered why they were so much fun.

 The kit always has things in it and techniques to do that I would never have thought of on my own.

 I almost wrote off this ink that came in the kit. You can hardly see it. After watching a few videos I learned what it was for.

 You use it with the watercolors that came in the kit. The beige ink absorbs the colors so it looks like you have spent hours painting details that were actually just stamped on.

 See? Cool, huh? I can't wait to try it with some of my other stamp sets.

 This  particular kit is all about wedding cards in case you were wondering.

I've got quite a pile already and I'm not even halfway through the tutorials. This month anyway, it was money well spent.

Warped and Woven

 This is a familiar sight but it is not the ends I photographed last week. Oh no.

 Those ends had to all be taken out and re-pulled through the reed because it seems after tying them all on, I had forgotten one small section of the burgandy. I was all ready to weave so I was not happy.

 It's all behind me now. I've got what I hope is a good start.

It's a waffle weave type of pattern that I hope is going to work out. I am making this one up as I go along. I wanted texture. I think I got it.

Here's a peek at the next towels-to-be being warped. I think warping might be my favorite part of weaving.