How do I like the new car?

I don't know.  Why you ask?  Because I sat across the desk from the young frazzled Ford-Man, and with check in hand, frown on face, said ....  can I change my mind?  At this point, my husband's ball cap brim was covering most of his face, and he was so slumped in the chair one would have thought he was sleeping.  He was fully awake, just looking for a hole in the floor to crawl in to.  My newest new car will be in tomorrow.  I had already served them a coconut cherry zucchini bread and the chocolate zucchini bundt cake the day before, hoping it would compensate for the time and ream of paper expended on me.  What could possibly soothe the mood of having your employee drive 4 hours to get a vehicle, wash and detail, remove stickers and protective covers, only to have some wacky woman say ..... nah, changed my mind?  A Kobe steak and Jack Daniels?  Poor man.  He kept saying it was OK but I knew that as soon as I walked out, there would be some fighting words behind that door.  Was it all my fault?  Of course not.  Weeks earlier I had asked another dealer if the forward collision protection/blind spot and cross traffic warnings were to be offered in 2018 models.  He checked and said only the Titanium package (too rich for my plasma).  I also kept complaining that I was buying last years model because the 2018s would be out soon.  Nothing said.  The morning I was getting the car, the Ford website showed the 2018, with the safe and smart package, ON THE LOTS.  My new car will be the latest model and have the safety features and warnings that I wanted.  Same color, same car, just newer and smarter.  This cost me $5000 more but I didn't care at this point. With those features I won't worry about trading it in a few years to upgrade.  So as long as it's not a lemon, I will keep it for 10 years.  And frazzled Anthony will have a nice meal.

I needed a vehicle today so took my sister's (my old yellow Escape) and I did not want to give it back.  Can't tell you how I love that old car and the different feel driving it.  Such zippity-do, full length windows for excellent vision, more space without all the technology features, and my yellow and black queen bee hanging from the mirror. 

I stopped to get a pumpkin, holding off as long as I could to acknowledge the fall season.

But I am still clinging to summer also.

Won't be long until Christmas!  I happened to see this darling offer on Etsy (already sold) and searched until I found the designer.

Primitive Stitchin by Shelly Auen on her Etsy page, here.  Offered as an e-chart, instant gratification!  Why did I not see this before?

 

 Two of the brats, Bud and Missy, were de-flea'd yesterday along with yours truly.  Nitzy is just too wild and I lost hold of him just as I squeezed that fricking tube. 

 

We're all feeling the sadness this week.  I hope something has given you a reason to smile and brought some joy.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Thanks!

When I read "two birds", I agreed.  Then I would read "one bird", and that was the plan.  Until another comment changed my mind.  This went on and on until I started the second bird, and thought it was too much.  So I tried a vine.  For now, it will stay.  I appreciated your help!

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Opinions?

I removed the stems, leaves, and flowers, just weren't right.  I will probably stitch a simple branch with just a few twigs instead, but wondered if a mirrored bird would be too much for this very narrow piece.

To test this I entered Paint and pasted it.  Even though the linen shading doesn't match, it certainly shows me what I needed to see.

 

What do you think?  One bird with simple branch or two birds?  With the 3" width, I'm leaning toward option one.

 

My car is being located and I will have it Tuesday.  Here's the result from weeks of investigating.

 

The Rogue - nice vehicle, alloy wheels in top package only, but the seat height adjustment didn't raise enough for me.  I need to see the hood and couldn't.  Otherwise, it would have been my choice.

 

The Forester - you end up paying more after taxes than the sticker price, no real discounts, alloy wheels in Premium only. But the interior is very light and looks greenish, we do NOT like light cloth interiors. 

 

The Hyundai Tucson - great vehicle, alloy wheels, the best dashboard layout, more front seat room, only one light color (silver).  Two other colors were not available for us to see in person. The dark wine I chose came with light interior, and two colors on dashboard and doors.  I love spectator style shoes, but not two tone interiors. 

 

The Escape - bingo.  I bitched about this car for two years and then .... bought it again.  Alloy wheels, black interior, the quietest and smoothest ride of them all, 4 wheel (all wheel) drive, and a color I like with black pinstripe.

As with every purchase whether thousands or a few bucks, I always question my decision.  And I have.  But I'm fine with it.  The redesigned interior now offers several bins for storage which was my main complaint previously.  I so hate big purchase decisions and am very glad it's over.  I spent a month on this and can't believe September is gone! 

 

So what do you think?  One bird or two?

 

Oh - I am able to send mail through gmail now (today anyway), but not roadrunner.  Spectrum (Time Warner) has no solution or reason.

 

Hope your weekend is going well.

 

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Car-less in PA

Hello people!  Been a rough week.  Something I ate declared war on my body which made me Governor of Grouch which outranks Commander of Crab.  Carole finally asked if something was wrong and became the Target of Temper.  Did she deserve it?  Yep. 

 

Going to buy a car this morning and I am at the point that I don't care what it is.  They all have a feature I like, and some that I don't, so what does it matter?  I just wish I didn't eat that entire watermelon half yesterday, because my healing body is making freight train sounds.

 

My emails can be received, but I cannot send or reply.  No way, even with the techs taking over my laptop and working on it.  My server is the problem and there is nothing I can do.  Even if I use a tablet or new laptop, my email addresses cannot be used for sending.  Great.  To those I emailed about purchasing the stitchery, sorry.  They have been sitting in the Outbox and I didn't know it.  Elizabeth, I would be happy for you to have the clothespin bag, but I can't contact you and even if it was working, you're no-reply.  I will keep trying to resolve this. 

 

This is as far as I got on the sampler.  Because I'm working without a chart, I ran a thread down the exact center and am working the bands out from that point so they will be centered.

 

Our leaves are browning and falling without changing to the brilliant golds and reds.  Long time without rain, none on the horizon, so blowing leaves is like working in a dust storm.  Terrible.  And dirty!

 

Have a great weekend folks.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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The skinny mini

It's a start!  But how far will I go?

 

The bird was adapted from a Valentine free from Niky's Creations.  Link below.

http://niky-nikyscreations.blogspot.com/2013/01/valentine-free.html

Thanks for the mascara suggestion for emergency root touch up.  I've tried.  But my industrial strength sweat during a hot flash can disintegrate the waterproof barrier in a second.  I use a tissue to wipe my forehead while pushing my hair back.  The marker holds, mascara smears.  After menopause stole my eyebrows, the waterproof pencils did the same which is why they are now tattooed.  I don't make a habit of this and the marker doesn't touch my scalp.  The only way to grow out the gray is to heavily "frost" my hair and even then it would be very noticeable.  Except for one spot, the back is not gray but the front/top is almost solid.  If I looked good in very short hair, a cut would be best, but I don't, and am very uncomfortable being this tall without some volume on the noggin.

 

Have a good week!!

 

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Patience

Not a virtue of mine.  Not even close.  But this morning we drove to a recycling event for TV, tires, hazardous waste, paint, electronics, and appliances.  It is quite costly and I assumed not many would attend.  Holy kaboly.  It started at 10am and we arrived promptly, only to find roads blocked because of people trying to get into the fairground's event.  We were in our car for over 50 minutes before unloading.  For that, I have patience!  So happy to see so many turn out even though most people paid well over $100 for just a few items disposal.  It was well worth it for me to get rid of chemical strippers and gallons of paint.  I use the kitty litter and paint hardeners but full gallons need to be spilled into other containers for those methods, and I just didn't want to bother.  So all the smaller samples are poured onto cardboard and dried in the sun, other paint containers have the hardening products or litter dumped in and I've been working on that for a few days. Stirring constantly while slowly pouring these products was a lot easier.  The only paints left are extras for touchups.

 

My husband kept sniffing as we rode the half hour to the event and finally mentioned that he was surprised to be smelling fumes.  But he said it wasn't like paint, more like a magic marker (that's what we old folks called those big markers back when we were young'uns).  Oh, I said, that's me.  Remember a while back I mentioned that I use markers to color my roots in emergencies?  I plan to order the Madison Reed product for roots but haven't yet.  Leaving the cap off for a minute or two dries it somewhat and just touching the roots lightly is enough. My hair is messy enough to not notice a slight difference in color. 

I found an old one with a larger tip that is running out of ink, in black, and it worked much better than the dark brown smaller tip.  It doesn't take much, just enough to break that solid gray root line.  The smell left by the time we got there.  Personally, I love that smell.  I used to sit cross legged on the garage floor with my nose to the gas can when I was little.  That may explain a lot. 

 

I stopped shopping for a car.  We decided on the Rogue because of price and features, still not in love with it, but when we went to the dealer they had no recollection of the printed paper given to us.  Oh!  That must have been the gal that works the printer in the back and she just downloaded the internet price which had all sorts of incentives that you don't qualify for.  And geez, I don't remember saying the chrome bumper protector and appearance package would be thrown into that price, no extra charge.  And geez, I hate dealers that have the manager sitting right there so he can hear everything that is said by the salesperson.  Except of course when they are outside with the vehicle and promise you the world.  We left.  Back to Subaru and am still having a hard time with that very light interior (for all Foresters) which looks green because of the window tint.  And two tone doors and dash.  Seat covers?  That may work.  I even looked at the Escape which is what I have now and hate.  So confused and nothing is calling my name, so I give up for now.  Carole offered her car (which is mine anyway) since she has her son or us do all her errands and shopping.  She will need the car for lunch with the girls on Thursdays and dinners on Fridays though.  That's fine and probably what I will do until I decide.

 

The contractor to repair or replace the siding has not called for weeks so I am stopping that also.  We ordered the windows and they will sit in the basement until he can do the job in the spring, it's getting too late in the year.  He gave us no timeline at all and I do not want this happening close to holidays, probably won't be able to paint the siding before winter.  I am so tired of this and with all else, don't give a damn right now.

 

Bud, of course, could care less.

 

I found a shop that will take this vintage Champion clothespin holder (no consignment opportunities anywhere).   Hope whoever buys it will give it a good home.  There is really no where in this area to take vintage or antique items except Goodwill and Salvation Army which is where most of my items go.  My brother knew a man that picked up truckloads for them and both drivers sorted through, kept the good stuff, and sold the items on Ebay.

  Well folks, that's all I got.  A little stitching done, not enough to show, but now that I got the car and siding off my back, will hopefully focus more on down time.

 

Hope your weekend is wonderful.

Mine is nice and warm! 

Probably snow next week.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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