... best laid plans.....

A few drop dead gorgeous days in a row... (stole that phrase from John) .. no time to be inside. Okay ... well, on Saturday I WAS inside ... alllllll day and then today.... alllll day. But, in between.... what sunshine...what warmth... great days.

I took the first 6 hours of my, ... uhm ... "free" sewing classes that come with my machine. It was $65 for the kit: a binder and bits of fabric to stitch on. Then, because my machine is entry level ... it did not come with a table attached to the small arm ... so I pretty much had to buy one of those ... another $40. The woman admitted they usually try to have the classes within 3 months of you buying any machine .. so you get to see all the bells and whistles on the higher models the others bought ..... and they then happily trade you up; no charge and no questions asked ...from your 'almost new' to a 'brand new' one. It has been many more months than that since I bought mine even though I have hardly looked at it yet. For what I need to do ... this is more than enough machine for me. Every time they used a different foot...my machine did not come with it... although it did come with 5 that I am sure will do fine for me. So ... they passed around the one we should buy... ranging anywhere from $39 to $62. I just passed them right along ..... .

By the time I got out of there after the day I had a pounding headache .... and was totally boggled with information overload. Wouldn't you know it? ... The one thing I was sort of keen on learning... the invisible hem stitch .... was the one thing I absolutely could not get right. After about my fourth try and me saying to the teacher for the 4th time that I just did not "get it", she seemed a bit ticked and said ...just practice it at home. I think I may have even been trying to stitch it on the wrong side of the hem part but I haven't a clue. Hmmm... why couldn't she just tell me that then? I will be asking again this Saturday; bet on it. I have not even taken the machine out of the suitcase I hauled it there in.... And now...we are back to working on the bathroom. Won't be much practice happening before this Saturday and the second 6 hours of lessons.

Motorcycle lessons were so much easier .... and more fun.

6 hours in the yard on Sunday and my foot was feeling it (gee, no kidding!) In the a.m., it felt great. Must change my way of doing things. Saying "no" in a few more circumstances would be a good beginning but I am so used to just holding up my own end of things that I automatically just do it. I am learning that I can't do it anymore. We ended the busy day by finding about 2 more hours work. I thought it a job for another day altogether: sawing off about 10 overhanging branches of the neighbour's spruce tree that were drooping onto our shed and into the garden area by about 15 to 20 feet. Then we had to chop them smaller to fit into the van and clean up the mess it made. The trees are in horrible shape..so dead needles all over and infested with spider mites. What a mess.










Today was long and tedious. We hefted the very heavy tub up and over the opening in the newly tiled floor and lo and behold.... the pipe from the overflow just bumped on the tile...... oh, let me see....about 2 inches short of where it was supposesd to be!!! After tipping the tub on its side and away from the opening once more... we looked...fiddled and swore .... a lot. Like an idiot I plonked the tub down on my own finger too...so bruised a knuckle first thing in the day. We tried cutting off some of the pipe from the overflow to see if we could move the piping enough to get it to the opening....no luck...still over an inch away. Nothing for it but to ruin our great tile job. This stuff does not cut either.... it is like steel. We put the diamond blade from the tile cutting saw on the skill saw and Greg measured, remeasured, marked with tape and began to cut... hoping for the best. I squirted water on the wildly sparking blade and with all the towels stuffed in the opening, along with my 7 X 9 inch baking pan taped to the board under it...we managed to keep any water from dripping onto the drywall under the floor and into the electrical of the pot lights in it...(which is the basement ceiling).... it worked !! and so did the cutting job. Whew. Then, a lot of fiddling, cutting with a hand saw...chiseling etc...to get the 2 x 4 under that particular tile out and reshore things further in.... I hope it is enough. Neither of us could bear to lift an end of the tub to try it. He was exhausted and I didn't even want to chance my back and knees. I don't know if they will manage tomorrow either..... I sure hope it fits now.

I am taking another doll making class on line too, but have not done anything yet except play a bit with the tiny hands. Look how tiny they are.. even smaller than my Lotus Lady. Hmmm..... practising for your mermaid Judi ... soon as I see that magazine! lol.....