
Gratuitous Small Black Dog Photo (otherwise, Bella Helps Take Out Trash)
I've been working in the house since my muscle issues seem to be in abeyance (at least for now). In the past couple of weeks, I've vaccumed and swept, cleaned and re-littered the cat pans, resigned myself to my 'sewing room' becoming a storage room for the forseeable future, and moved furniture (as my lower back reminds me . . . ). My sewing area is now in the living room, simply because it's just too cold to sew in the back; the cat door is in that room and someone is continually going in and out. I moved the small bookcases from the living room into the dining room and the big table from the dining room to the living room. My rocking chair is now in the dining room also, and my reading lamp. It's a bit chilly, because there are two windows and the door to the basement in there, but I can watch the leaves out one window, and it's a cozy setup.
Today I bought a new battery for the car. It was below 20 degrees a couple of nights ago; the next morning I had to go for my monthly INR check and the car started, but it was sluggish. I went to Advance today where they checked it for me and installed a new one when the tester advised me that it was Time For A New One. I can't remember whether I bought a battery since I got the car (5 or so years ago), but I do remember buying one for my Saturn ten years or so ago—it was only $50-$60. The new one was $159! But it's warrantied for three years and supposed to be good for six (which means I need a new one in five, just to be safe).
Next week, tires. My current set won't pass inspection again, and I may as well get them before winter. I live on top of a hill, at the end of a dead-end road, and it's shady. No traffic, other than the occasional person turning around, so I am pretty much last on the plowing list if there's snow. Of course, if there's snow, I don't go anywhere (I have a Subaru with AWD, so I COULD . . . but it isn't the vehicle that has problems, it's the operator. I know my limitations, and in snow/ice, they are legion.) So sometime next week I shall hunt up the local tire store and see how much that will set me back.
Visited the fabric store this afternoon, too; I was looking for the batting for those microwave potato bags, but it was sold out and reordered. I'm planning to make a potato bag or two and a set of those hot bowl cozie things for Karolyn et al for Christmas, and they require cotton batting/fabric/thread or they can't go in the microwave. So instead of an $8.99 package of batting, I bought three spools of cotton thread (white, black, and ecru, which should cover most anything I'll use), 2 yards of fabric for a top next summer, a yard of diagonal red/white candy stripe just because, and half a yard of doll clothing stuff. Also material for a lap blanket—chicken blocks, a chickenwire print, and a green print, which the owner sold me for $7.99 a yard instead of the marked $11.99. How could I refuse? I'll excavate in The Stash to see what I have to make bowls from; I know I don't have any baked-potato-print, but I think I'll look for some online.
And I have unearthed the doll I'd begun after Daddy died, when we divvied up Mom's clothes. This will be a beanbag jester, made from Julie McCullough's old Jess pattern (modifications by me—hands with fingers and a more elaborate face), and the body is from one of Mom's old skirts. I'd gotten that sewn up, but the rest is waiting. Plus, I found (in an unlikely box in the basement) the ten yards of original PolySuede that I like to use for faces and hands. I bought it at Walmart in Concord after the manufacturer announced they wouldn't be selling it retail anymore (what is called PolySuede now isn't the same thing at all; thicker and less malleable). Apparently they were planning to sell to the trade for car headliners. I wonder how that worked?
Maybe I can finish it next week. It would be nice to actually accomplish something creative.
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Also, I saw a deer across the street this afternoon, just after I got back from shopping and was taking the groceries (mostly catfood, as usual) in. A lovely doe, grayish brown, browsing along the road's edge. I stood watching for a minute, but then the mailman came up and she spooked.