Monday, March 10, 2008

Gatsby, Car Troubles, More Stuff

I have had a continuation of the curious and aggravating things that seem to be happening to me lately. After recovering from being without the internet and phone for 3 days, I wasn't ready for a Lemony Snicket Sunday, that's for sure.

The commode handle came off in the "guest" bathroom and my SIL Mark and family came over Sunday morning so he could fix it. He fixed it and we visited and ate some junk and shared Nintendo DS games so we can all have the same ones, lol. Of course they have a much different time schedule than I, so this happened early, by that I mean before noon. :>)

After they left, I took a nap since I didn't go to bed until 4 Sunday morning, lol. Then I get up, the weather is warmer than it has been, and I go get some gas and pick up some bread and buttermilk, get myself a Starbucks, and come home. Pull in the garage, turn the car off, and the brakes lights do not go off. So I fiddle with them and try different things and finally decide I will just have to let the battery run down and have the car towed Monday morning.

I come in the house, have a nervous breakdown for a couple of minutes, and call Mark, my SIL. They live a good 40 minutes from me, but I am hoping he will know what to do. He ends up coming over, bless him, and we fiddle with the car, and he cleans 4 years of gook off of the battery, and checks everything and the brake lights do not go off. In the meantime he has shown me how to open the hood and he has disengaged the battery as a last resort. I can't remember about taking pictures all the time, so of course I have no visual record of all of this. Then I follow his instructions and undo one of the battery cables and have all of this down pat in my head. We leave the hood up so I don't have to fool with that. And he goes home, and I have a plan.

Ok, the evening progresses and about 11 o'clock, Aud is hungry and so I decide to fix us a milkshake and some cinnamon toast. Aud has been sick for a week now with the same stuff I have, only hers is worse, bless her heart. So I fix her milk shake, taste it to be sure I have put enough vanilla in it, and guess what, are you sitting down?......I have made it with buttermilk!!!!! Have you ever tasted a buttermilk milkshake? LOL....not good! So I remake the milkshake, fix the toast and nothing else happens, thank goodness. By now I am spooked real bad, so I didn't try to do anything but watch tv. Of course I couldn't sleep either.

I intended to get up real early this morning to rehook the battery, clean out the car because it has quilts and coats, and all of that cold weather gear in it "in case we get stuck somewhere", and get my car down to the dealer. My daughter calls me at 10:30 to see where I am since no one has heard from me and Mark wants to know if I have made it to the dealer yet. They have a bet as to whether I am even up yet, lol. So I get out of bed, call to make sure they can fix it, and get dressed, tighten the battery cables, the brake lights come back on, and take the car to the dealer. Dana picks me up, we have lunch, go to the bank to do some stuff, drive the bank person bananas, lol, and my car is ready, so she takes me to pick it up. It was only a wire that had come undone, and bless their cotton picking hearts, they did not charge me for this! Talk about perking my day up!

So I am firmly convinced (maybe) that my Lemony Snicket period is behind me for now. I could smell spring in the air, even saw it peaking around the corner as I was driving home. And the best part is it is going to be 72 tomorrow!! Yea!!

If you have held on through this long diatribe then you deserve a picture.

One of my missions in life at the moment is to help the stash situation at my lqs, lol. Take some of theirs and add it to mine, that's reducing stash, right? It doesn't have to be your own. So, in the interest of "helping the economy and reducing stash" I picked up this kit. It is made with the Gatsby collection from Timeless Treasures, and it is just gorgeous! I tried real hard to resist it but, alas, it called my name. The pattern is on the Timelss Treasures web site, not a very good picture, but it will be a beautiful quilt if I ever get to it, lol.

15 comments:

quiltmom anna said...

HI Perry,
I can identify with the car problems- I just took my old car( fondly named Bessie) to the garage and had a new battery put in after being without my car during the cold spell.
I went to start it on Friday and it wouldn't go- not sure why - thought it might be the alternator so I left it at work. My dear husband drove me to work- went out today after work and she decided maybe today she wouldn't mind starting immediately. She didn't want to work too hard over the weekend I guess LOL
WHo knows why - I guess I better talk nice to her if I want her to work for the next little while....
I hope your car problems are over..
Regards from a Western Canadian quilter,
Anna

Red Geranium Cottage said...

OMG did you say Buttermilk shake?? YUCK!! My mom loves buttermilk. She drinks it with corn bread inside. GROSS!!!!!!!! I remember her giving it to my oldest when he was little and you should have seen his face. LOL!!!
Love the new fabs and can't wait to see your new quilt you make with it.
Hope things go better for you. And that Aud feels better soon.

PiecefulChaos said...

Hate days like that - you just can't wait for them to be over! The Gatsby fabrics are gorgeous!

Cindy said...

Well I love buttermilk but I don't think in a shake. LOL. I thought you weren't buying anymore fabric. Any by the way, it's MARCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yvonne said...

I sure do hope your Lemony Snicket period is over too....lol I hope Aud is feeling better. Your quilt is going to be gorgeous and I do really like your thinking on stash busting. :)

Libby said...

I am a HUGE fan of buttermilk . . . the only one in this house*s* . . . but I don't think I could go for a buttermilk shake.
I find when I have a day such as yours - my best defense is to just find a place to sit down and let everything pass by - it's far less dangerous for everyone near me *s*

Julia said...

I am snickering about the milkshake, YUCK!!! It is a good thing that you tasted it first before you gave it to her. hehe I hope that Aud will be feeling better soon.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you new kit. I don't blame you for not passing it up!
I think the fact that the dealer didn't charge you to fix your car is a good sign that your luck is about to change!

Gena in Dallas said...

The fabric prints (and colors) are terrific!! As for how your day went... we all have too many of those, don't we? Can't wait to see the prints made up.

Karen said...

Did you taste the buttermilk milk shake? Sounds like you created a new recipe. Hope your luck has changed for the good.

Latharia said...

Your car sounds like it is possessed. Creepy in the extreme. I am glad your SIL could help out!

Yeah, right, helping with the stash problem. I'm SO not buying that. But I bet you'll need to buy more thread soon. ;)

Shelina said...

So sorry about all your problems, but it certainly does seem like today is a new day. You have internet connection, a car whose brake lights turn off, and wonderful fabric. A buttermilk shake does not sound good to me at all, but maybe Aud wouldn't have been able to taste it if she wasn't feeling well anyway.

Kim said...

Lemony Snicket has been visiting me lately, too. Woke up to dog barf to clean up...old girl Tanna ate some nasty dead thing with a lot of fur.

On a lovelier note. I too love this fabric and look forward to seeing it evolve into something quilty. :)

dee said...

Hi Perry, I just checked out the post with the KF blocks-great idea. This fabric is so adaptable t many patterns. I love the Gatsby line.
We had a Jeep Cherokee that was possessed. The check engine light would not go out. Changed the computer-big $$$$, wiring..more big $$$ and countless mechanics, including the dealers, couldn't correct it. Didn't bother us after a while but then NY state wouldn't let it pass the registration inspection so we had to sell it to our friends in Pa. who don't have such issues to deal with...yet.
Hope all your gremlins are gone and spring is in full bloom soon.

Granny said...

I can see why you were waiting for the next thing to go wrong! What a day!! Nice to see that you're trying to help the quilt shop like that! :)

Lisa D. said...

Sounds like a truly horrible, no good, very bad day. It's bound to get better - at least you've got some pretty new fabrics to play with! And say, though buttermilk would be BAD in a milkshake, I use to replace the liquid whenever I'm baking something and it makes everything taste yummy!