uh DUH!!

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The new washer and dryer arrived. Gee whiz, what a mess under the old washer. No wonder it almost caught on fire. All the oil and grease from the motor and clutch is on the floor. Without oil and grease the motor and clutch got hot enough to put smoke all through the house. Not a single clue that it had been leaking for a long time. The evidence of a leak stayed conveniently out of sight under the washer.

The delivery guys couldn't give me enough time to clean up the mess. They were on a deadline to get to the next delivery. With the recent flood in this area and all the people getting FEMA checks to replace appliances the guys are quite busy. They left the washer and dryer like this.

I didn't buy brand new hoses for the washer or a brand new vent pipe for the dryer. I thought these were included in the initial cost but they weren't. The delivery guys weren't allowed to hook them up because I didn't buy new ones. There's no reason for me to buy new when the ones I have are still new. It's not difficult to hook up a couple of hoses and tighten a screw on a band clamp for the dryer. I saved myself almost one hundred dollars by doing this myself.

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So that's what I did. I wanted to test the machines to see if they work properly. I hook up the water lines, load the washer with a high load, then go outside to cut some branches off trees growing in my fence. I want to get some work done before the construction guys get here. I needn't have bothered with the fence because this is what happened over the course of the day. This is a mound of dirt higher than the fence and going the whole length of the fence.

About half an hour later, when the construction guys show up, I go back inside to check how the clothes look. My house is flooded!! Duh! I forgot to put the drain hose in the drain. There is two high loads of water all over the place. One is the wash and the other is the rinse. I want to cry but there isn't any time for that. I immediately start mopping up water. The mop takes way too long so I gather up all the bath towels I have. I put these on the floor to soak up all they will hold. I put these into the washer to spin out the water (after putting the drain hose in the drain) and repeat this over and over.

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Finally, three hours later, all the water is up. I assess the damage. Nothing on the floor to get ruined except cardboard meant for cardboard furniture. Cardboard is easily replaced. Water didn't make it into the studio. Thank heavens! I have lots of fabrics setting in boxes on the floor in there. I had been sorting through it a little at a time.

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My nice laminate flooring is completely ruined. Almost all the seams, where board meet, have swelled and buckled in every room but the studio.

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This is what it looks like.

And this.

And this.

That flooring cost me about 8 months of quilting income. No way can I afford to replace it. Especially since I've retired. The money to replace it just isn't there anymore. No flood insurance either. Homeowners doesn't cover flooding. I'm sick about this but I'll just have to live with it.

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The construction crew got the foundation poured for the house next door. Looks like I will have new neighbors pretty soon.

Oh, and before I forget.... I did work on a quilt for awhile. I got it stabilized and started doing the border designs.

There are days when I just feel like giving up! So many things going wrong and so many things need repairing!!! I can't give up though. Too many are dependant on me to allow myself to give up. Giving up would be worse than having lots of bad luck. What's the saying? If I had no bad luck I'd have no luck at all.

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I think I'll go get some quilting finished. At least there's nothing to go wrong there..... uh maybe I shouldn't say that. Shhh.... you didn't read that.

Super easy chicken dinner

You ever think about what might be a very easy and quick dinner? Well I did.

This is what I came up with. Put some pieces of chicken in the crock pot. Pour in a bottle of your favorite salad dressing and let it cook. Serve it over rice or noodles or what ever. It's that easy.

If you want a thicker sauce you can put corn starch in the juice before starting it to cook. By the time its done you should have a gravy like sauce. You can change the flavor by changing the type sauce you use. Mexican? Use Salsa. Italian? Use Italian dressing. Etc.

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I had 20 bottle of salad dressing I bought a few months ago. I paid 20 cents a bottle with coupons. That was before I stopped using coupons. These were getting close to expiring and I had to come up with a way to use them or donate to the food bank. I'm sure my idea isn't original. Surely someone someplace has already thought of it. Still, it's original for me.

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You can vary the type of meat you cook. Pork, beef, chicken, fish, polish sausage, spam.

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You can vary the sauce. Thick sauce, thin sauce, catalina dressing, italian dressing, salsa, french dressing.

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You can vary what its served over. Rice, beans, mixed vegetables, noodles, spaghetti, macaroni.

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You can vary the bread to accompany it. Homemade, french loaf, texas toast, biscuits, crackers.

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This should give you a few hundred different meal ideas. The combinations are endless.

Finished another quilt.... finally

The last three days have been a whirlwind of activity for me. Friday was shopping day. I didn't buy a lot but what I did buy took a bite out of my budget. All I bought was 50 lbs of meat for the freezer. Then I took Saturday morning to put it into bags and into the freezer. This should last through the winter for both my daughter and myself.

Saturday afternoon was spent going to different stores looking for a good bargain on a new washer and dryer. I knew if I didn't find a good brand new set then I would start looking at used ones. Wow, did I luck upon a good bargain! I got a brand new washer and dryer, hoses and cords, vent pipe, delivery and hook up, haul away the old set, and a one year warranty for $438. It wasn't what I had hoped for but I can live with it. They were both discontinued and floor models. They will be delivered Wednesday afternoon.

Geeze, I didn't know people had to pay for the cords on new appliances. What good is buying a new appliance if it doesn't come with a cord to run it? What if I had said no I don't want a cord? Everything these days is about finding hidden, sneaky ways to get our money. Why can't they just include the cost of the cords in the price of the appliance? The cord IS a part of the appliance isn't it? So why not just put it into the price? I guess that would be too much like right.

Well anyway, Sunday morning I cleaned the kitchen really good. I went to put the covers on the stove burners... huh?.... one is missing. Where on earth could I have put it? I search all through the kitchen. I'm baffled. There couldn't be a reason I would have taken it to another room, yet, it isn't here.




Then it dawned on me. I HAD taken it to another room! I was using it for a template for the center of the necktie quilts. Gee whiz.... my memory is.... hmm.... what's the word? ..... SENIOR. Yup, that's the word. A senior moment memory. Mystery solved.



So here are a couple of pictures of the finished quilt. It was too late in the day to get good pictures. I took the best ones I could. This is the center of the snowball blocks. It goes with the border design.

This is the nine patch blocks. A simpler design to speed the work along.

This is the corners of the snowball blocks.

Today is a holiday so I probably will do more house organizing and start the next quilt. This afternoon I plan to go with my brother and SIL to the peddlers mall and out for dinner. He wants to talk to the owners of the mall about setting up a booth. He has bunches and bunches of hand tools he doesn't use anymore. I have a bunch of nick knacks and dishes I haven't used in years. We are both thinking that if we sell a few things we can put the money toward some house repairs.

Have a good holiday ya'll.

A bit of this and that

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The lot next door got cleaned up a bit yesterday. They did just enough that the construction can begin. This is how it looked before.



This is how it looked after the crew finished. It's much better but not really right. See the hanging branches?

This is next to my fence.

See how it was cleaned? Now why couldn't they just finish cleaning next to the fence too?

I guess it's easier for a little ol' lady, with not much income, to get it cleaned out than for 6 young men getting paid to do it. I'll have to see if I can borrow some tools and get my behind out there and do it myself. I'm NOT going to haul it away.... just move it away from the fence. What really irks me is that I loose two feet of my yard because of the trees.

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I did get some quilting done. Not nearly as much as I wanted to do but the house is much cleaner. Especially the fridge.

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I got the stitching on the border of this quilt finished. This is the corner.

This is along the top. It doesn't show up really well but there is two different colors of thread on a pretty blue fabric.

I'm going to do as much as I can on this quilt today because tomorrow is grocery day. I will simply be along for the ride. I spent my grocery money last week while traveling back and forth to the hospital. Fast food stops got it all because I was constantly on the go. I do the driving because my SIL doesn't drive. Thank goodness I have enough food in the house to feed myself for at least 6 months before I would run out.

Necktie quilts & other stuff

My brother got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon. After a little while with him, having a late lunch, it was time to get back to the business of quilting.

The necktie circles are done. Oops! They are smaller than I originally planned. Only a couple of inches smaller but this leaves a lot of blank space in the background. I have a stove burner cover on the center because this will be the pattern guide for cutting the centers. I'll need to talk with the owner before I go further on these.




I really, really, really need to get some things done this week. Not just quilting.... other things have been put on hold for several days and now must be dealt with. Phone calls to make. Some to return, some are required before my mother's court date. The refrigerator stinks... needs cleaning. Laundry to be done.... by hand. Sheets and quilts are the hardest to do.

One thing has made me feel guilty over the past week. I didn't get back to the fair with the other grand kids. I'm glad I was able to help my brother; yet, it took away from the plans I had made to spend with my sons and their families. My sons said they understood. Even though my sons never complain when I cancel our plans; I can't help but think maybe they feel cheated of my time. Heck, I even feel cheated of my own time. I have very little time to call my own. I guess I best get to work. Nothing will get done if I'm sitting at the computer.