Snippets

I'm in catch-up mode. So today you get the snippets of stuff running through my head.

Finally, my sewing machine is off to the shop for cleaning and minor repair. For months my Bernina has had something strange with the tension going on, and when I called the Bernina dealer (with the great, kind repair guy) over the summer, I was told that he couldn't get to it in MONTHS, to check back in October or November. So, I called last week and learned that I'd have to leave the machine for 4 to six WEEKS. Could I make an appointment and then bring it in when my slot was approaching? I asked. (Eminently reasonable, yes?) No, they replied, the repair fellow likes to have things there in the shop. Now, c'mon...What serious quilter could do without her machine for 4 to 6 weeks? So... my machine has gone to another repair fellow in the area -- the kind and goodhearted magician who was so nice about fixing my Juki foot pedal cord after the cat chewed through it 3 times. John is an official trained Bernina repair guy and he will turn it around in 3 to 5 DAYS. Now that's how things should work, right?

My friend Laura and I saw the new George Clooney movie "Michael Clayton" yesterday. Ooh, a dog tired, depressed, and ethically puzzled George Clooney and he's still terrific too look at. I won't be surprised at an Oscar nomination for this performance. We both liked this movie quite a lot. (And I usually find legal thrillers annoyingly unrealistic -- this one was believable.)

We are liking the Dyson vacuum cleaner around here. It still shocks me how much animal hair and dirt it pulls out of the rug, but it provides good vacuuming incentive. I think if I vacuumed and there wasn't any dirt coming up, I'd lose interest. (Not that I'm all that interested in vacuuming as it is...)

I cleaned out my jewelry box this morning and forced to get rid of a whole bunch of heavy, big, faux gold "power earrings." In my office/trial lawyer days, I wore a lot of the heavy gold costume jewelry that pulled an outfit together and said "successful" (if not "laden down by chainage"). Now it just seems silly, although we were able to deck Caroline out quite handsomely when she dressed as Cleopatra for a school report one year... I'm sure not ever going to wear that stuff again.

Have you checked out Bookmooch yet? You can trade books with others for free --just the cost of postage to send your books out. I've received several books I wanted through this, and felt pretty virtuous about recycling these books so efficiently.

What did you do with your extra hour today? Me, I sat in bed with a cup of coffee and read the novel I just started. I love reading in bed on Sunday morning.

Oh, and speaking of books...Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen is one of the most charming books I've read in a long time. I just adored it. It's the story of a family that has odd, gently magical powers, and how two sisters come together after a lot of misunderstanding. It had echoes of Alice Hoffman, sort of, but not. Anyway, I loved it. One of my favorite aspects of the book was an apple tree in the garden that would throw apples at people when it wanted them to eat one, or pull its branches out of reach when it was annoyed. How could you not love that?