Current Mood : Tired, but happy.
Spent on Doll Furniture : $1.08
You're gonna laugh, but I got the thumb-screw from Brother today, to replace the stripped one in my embroidery hoop. The box it came in - yup, it was a box ! - was big enough to hold six hoops, stacked, and UPS delivered it. I kinda felt bad bugging them about it, so if I strip it again (which is probable, I tend to over-tighten), I'll just hie m'self over to Ace. All that for just one little thumb-screw...
Had to run a quick errand for Beloved Hubby this morning, and I found a new thrift store. They're very nice, but don't have much stock yet. I think next time I'm out, they'll get whatever I can cram into Molly's trunk. Found two small metal chairs that used to be planters, but are perfectly in scale for Barbie and co. They reminded me so much of the metal chairs on Grandma S's porch, I had to get them. A cushion can hide the seat hole easily, and they have the same sort of weather-beaten look to them. I remember how the metal legs gave just enough to allow a bit of gentle rocking. I'd love to find those again !
Today was bathroom cleaning day, and boy, was that a job ! Took over an hour, and I'm still not done - the tub and walls and floor-scrubbing will have to happen later. But I got all the toys and trash and clothes out of there, and got the counter and toilet clean, and the floor swept. Much better ! I've come to figure out that an hour of housework before noon, another before Dearest Son comes home, and another about an hour after he's home is about right for me. I'm not worn out, I get lots of breaks to do fun stuff, and I'm catching up on the cleaning. Of course, while I'm busting butt on dishes and the bathroom, the living room's a mess and the laundry's piling up, but there's not much anybody can do about that ! Once I get to where things are easier to maintain, I can do more with less time. Right now, it's ‘wreckage recovery' more than routine housework.
I was kinda tired, but still had nearly an hour before I had to start bus-watching. So I put the new screw to good use, and re-hooped the wide white ribbon I had out. I really should have ironed it before I sewed on it, but I'm lazy and impatient. The first heart came out nice - in regular thread, too ! - so I decided to do a second. I wrote down the positioning numbers on Brody's screen, and positioned the needle for a new heart just above. Came out well... but was there space for a third heart ? I'm just glad I was sort-of paying attention in Algebra, otherwise adding together negative and positive numbers would have thrown me. Luckily, it's easy to figure that, if Heart #1 is at -1.44 and Heart #2 is at +.20, I should try to get the third at +1.64. Too bad I ran out of hoop, and had to put #3 at +1.44 ! So it looks a bit off, but I tried sequential designs today !
And now I know that satin-type ribbon needs a heavier stabilizer behind it. You can't really tell from the photo, but the design pulled the ribbon a bit out of shape, and it's puckering, too. Well, live and learn, and enjoy a new bookmark ! I think it's pretty and very spring-like, it's just too bad I finished Memoirs of a Geisha last night...
What I did with the bulk of the day, well, it'll probably make you laugh again. Y'see, even though I probably have about 2000 embroidery designs already, I'm forever on the hunt for more. But I have to like them. I don't just grab up everything that's free or a buck or two. With as many designs as I already have, I can be picky-selective about anything new.
So when I found a site that offered a new design for free every ten minutes, I looked in their catalog and found a lot to like ! And I also found another site that offered different designs, a freebie every ten minutes, too, and a third that gave away a whole set every three hours. I went through them all, writing down the sets and pieces I liked, then hit those sites in the morning, and continued on ‘refresh' when I thought of it. Scored a few, but not many. For some reason, all three sites are on an angel kick right now - nearly everything's had wings on it for the last week.
Of course, there's a membership you can buy to get everything all at once, no waiting. But I didn't know if that was for just one site, or all three. During my hunt, I found a fourth site that had some of the same designs, available free all the time. So I snagged those, and crossed them off the list (which spanned two Steno-size notebook pages, mostly single designs).
Today, I visited the main site, and took careful note of the sets the $5./month membership bought access to - and saw every last one of the designs I wanted somewhere. So, next time I have a few bucks and a long weekend, I'll join up, and snag it all. Luckily, it's not one of those automatic renewal sites, either. Only reason I'm not doing it now is because I feel rather glutted with what I already have. I mean, I haven't even had time to put that roller skate I bought yesterday on Brody. And I just burned a back-up CD last week ! So it can wait a week or so.
But it's odd, not to have a hunt or something like it going on. It seems strange now, to not keep an eye on the clock, and refresh a website every few minutes, or half-hour. Maybe now I can get off my butt, away from the monitor, and get some fun done ! It's easy when you have everything...
