Stormy Weather
8:49 a.m. - 2010-01-19


We are having a series of strong storms this week. I am sure they will say that even though three quarters of the state had flooding, the drought is still bad and we have to ration your water and raise your bill. That is how it rolls in this liberal state.

My brother's wife gave me a sewing machine that had belonged to a friend of hers. It is a Bernette (Bernina) 500 but is unfortunately missing the foot pedal, power cords, all attachments, and embroidery hoops. I am going to get an estimate on getting it working again, but I hear that Bernina parts are muy expensive so it may just be an interesting exercise. Oh well, it's not as if I don't have 7 or so other sewing machines. We are gearing up to get the big, long desk back from my dad's house and paint it white. It will look very nice in the guest room with three sewing machines on it. I also have two new Anaboda chests in white from IKEA. One will go in the closet to hold my sweaters (those girls took the bureaus I was using for their apartments), and one will be by the desk to hold more patterns.

The spouse, in an effort to thin down my stash of magazines, has purchased for me the DVD from Threads with all their issues on it in a searchable format. My sister, Melissa, has expressed interest in the hardcopies, so I may have more room in the cabinets soon. In addition, Abby has started setting up the ETSY shop for me. I have been a pattern hoarder for my entire life, so I have quite a stock of vintage patterns I will never use and wonder why I bought in the first place. I still don't want to throw them away, but I will cheerfully sell them. It should be interesting anyway.

Evan's birthday was last weekend. I borrowed the big, big pan and made J's macaroni and cheese. I boiled way too much macaroni so I made macaroni salad, too. When I got to J's house, my sister Melissa helped put the custard over the mac&cheese (I have trouble figuring out the amount of salt to put in), and it took forever to bake that huge pan. It was delicious eventually though. J has figured out a great recipe by using the one in an old Betty Crocker cookbook and using three times as much cheese as called for. It is not a healthy recipe.

Next up will be January's birthday, but she has volunteered to make the enchilada pie. We will probably make beans and rice to go with it, salad, and maybe guac.