50% Off!

I heard that Joann's was having a 50% off sewing notions and fabric sale yesterday so we rushed on over to our nearest store... 30 minutes away... as soon as P got home from work. The pickings were slim, but then they generally are over at Joann's. I managed to get a number of notions and things that I need in my sewing room... rotary cutter, self healing mat, decent pins, fabric marker, zipper foot for the machine and what I thought was a decent pair of dressmaker scissors... that turned out to be pinking shears! (drat!) They didn't really have all of the things I was hoping to get, but I am happy that I managed to cross a few things off of my "Must Have" list.

Then I hit the fabric department... boy were the pickings slim by 5pm yesterday afternoon... there was a queue that felt a mile long for cutting... I fought my way past crowds of mothers with all their children in tow. I swore quietly under my breath at those who thought it was a great idea to stop with all their kids and chat with another mom and her brood in the middle of the discounted fabric aisle... Seriously... the fancy fabric aisles were empty, why block the busiest aisle in the whole store with your chit chat?? I will never understand people!

I picked up the above fabrics... the three blue's on the right were cute and cheap so I got small pieces. The stripe was flawed and therefore extra super cheap and since I needed 3 yards of it to make blinds for the office I snapped it up and it ended up being a total bargain! The green floral is going to be made into chair pads for the dining table. I just love the pattern, the colors everything. Peter doesn't even mind it which I was worried about. The whole trip was worth it just because we found that.

When we got to the till I find out that the sewing notions sale ended yesterday and today is now the fabric sale... so I was paying full price on the notions and next to nothing for the fabrics. Oh well... Peter would never have dragged me out there two days in a row so I should be happy I got something discounted. This though, is why I need my drivers and pronto... I could have run myself out there on Saturday to score on the notions and again Sunday to score on the fabric.

I am scared to start the blind, but I know that I need to do that one first... the chair pads are a little more complex and I need to really take my time on them to get them perfect!

In hillbilly neighbor news... Saturday morning I woke up to a wonderful cool day. I floated downstairs for some tea, put the kettle on and went to sit on the back step as I do most mornings to get some fresh air while I wait for the kettle to boil. Only on Saturday morning I was greeting by the hum of flies and the most horrific smell. I got up and closed the door right away thinking the neighbor, an avid fisherman, must be rotting chicken livers again. I look through the window and what do I see? Well.... I don't actually know what it is that I saw... I still don't. I took a picture and would post it here, but it's really really gross. I THINK it was a dead armadillo... but Peter says it's a turtle. Anyway, by Saturday afternoon whatever it was, was removed. The stench still hung around last night and the flies... ugh... don't get me started. Then this morning I hear Peter taking the trash outside. He comes in spurting expletives and calls me downstairs pointing to the garbage can through the window... Their trash can is SWARMING with flies this morning... they have this nasty habit of going fishing, coming home, gutting the fish and throwing the innards directly into the trash can outside... this has of course caused a fly frenzy and the cats are coming from far and wide as well. While we are out there looking at this mess and swearing at them quietly a truck pulls up. He proceeds to walk up to us at the front door and Peter asks what he is there for. "Don't worry," he says, "I am not here for you. I am here to cut off the gas for next door." Ack!!

I made Peter promise me that no matter what, those people are NOT going to be using our shower... and I have no doubt that they will ask if they can. But no way. As it is our driveway looks like a complete disaster with living room furniture (and I hesitate to call the scrappy, torn stained smelly, dog hair encrusted mess "furniture"). The appear to have emptied out the garage and just left the contents lying all over our driveway. Peter went over there the other day to ask if they had a drill we could use and the inside was so filthy that even Peter wouldn't sit down in there... which is saying something as P is not what anyone would call a neat freak...

Anyway... they are apparently setting up to move at the end of the month. With a bit of luck the lack of gas to the abode will bring their move date forward and we can hopefully be rid of them any day now... unless they like cold showers, which I suppose is still possible given the heat here...

Ok... I guess I had better get back to work. See y'all later!
Have a wonderful week!