Wednesday, October 29, 2008

well it wasn't my NEXT post per se

Today, we're going on a field trip (yay!) to one of my favorite little shops, Bob McDougal's Sewing located in the lovely Houston Heights. McDougal's has been in business for 40 years now. McDougal's is both a dealer and repair shop. They sell machines, repair machines, sell supplies and give lessons.
First, imagine my delight when I drove up and saw this little lovely upon my arrival. Has nothing to do with the field trip, but how could I resist snapping a picture of this bitchin '71 Chevelle? Aaand in the background is my bitchin...um... minivan.
Of course the person greeting me is Fernando. I believe he's been referred to in previous posts as 'the man at the repair shop' or 'the repair shop guy'. He's my guru when my Brother acts up and despite his very serious face, he actually is so helpful and friendly.
So I get there and of course, Fernando is making a sale. I didn't catch this sweet lady's name but she told me she bought her first sewing machine from McDougal's when she was first married. By the way she's the owner of the bitchin Chevy outside. Gimme that hotrod, granny!
McDougal's repairs all kinds of machines and has refurbished machines for sale. There are machines from different manufacturers and eras! I love going to the very back of the store where machines awaiting repair are kept. It's like they're all waiting to be brought back to life. But my favorite machines are the ones in this glass case...beautiful singers from days gone by. I'm not sure why these particular machines are behind the glass, but I love standing at the case and just oggling them. There are even these two little ones, presumably for little girls, that do actually work! How cool is that? McDougal's does have refurbished old Singers for sale. Dang it! Shoulda took pix of those too.
So what I wanted to show you was the latest machine Fernando has refurbished. It's been his pet project, he says, for about 6 months now. It's this oh so cool red Singer. He fixed the machine, refurbished it, even put beautiful new detailing all around the base. He'll be selling it soon and I can assure you, it won't be me buying it. But I HAD to get a picture of this vintage beauty. Kinda like a hotrod huh? But for a nerdy crafting mom....like me.
So I pick the thread and needles I came in for in the first place. I took about 2 more shots of the red machine cuz I'm in love with it. I might have to marry it. Sorry, Mr. McD.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Vacation Day

...but not really. So I'm taking a vacation day at work. Today is one of those days where my boss is the busy one. Which means anything I need to get done will be pre-empted by his need for copies, stapling, sorting etc. It's bad for my 'to do' list but good for me because all I can do is sit here and wait for him to give me little chores. SO...today I'm on vacation. and THIS

...is what I'm doing. That's right, I'm watching scary movies found at Emol. The movies are free but there are commercials. Yes, commercials!! Come on over...and bring some popcorn!

Monday, October 27, 2008

The Red Hot weekend


Yes, this weekend was a fiery one. It was warm yes, but mainly I refer to the Houston Fire Fest put on by our Fire Dept. There were demonstrations, moonwalks, food, music, trainrides and several vendors. Sadly, Mr. McD was working this weekend so it was me, Little Man and Princess Buttercup. They made sure to wear the FD shirts Mr. McD got for them. Of course, Princess Buttercup just HAD to wear her 'fireman' boots to top off her look. Little Man was mostly 'checking out the babes'...and hiding out in a sea of tough guys!
I've been working like crazy on bags for an upcoming craft show. No, no sneak peek, but I can tell you, they're pretty much like Princess Buttercup's first bag...the giant one. Except these aren't so giant. Yes, I've made some adjustments.
There's a great messenger bag tutorial over at Craftser. I like this one because I always want folks to explain stuff to me like I'm four years old. Pics n everything. Go see. I'll soon post a few pics of the bags I have going.

In the meantime, I give you a hint at what my next post will be about ...

Friday, October 24, 2008

Yay for stamps!...now, what?

So I'm stoked about my own customized clear acryclic stamps I got from Anna Mae over at Village Impressions. They take your images, your logo, your text, whatever and create clear stamps from them for an unbelieveable, obscenely low price. I ordered a half sheet (8.5 by 5.5) and filled it up with different logo styles, some thank you's, an address stamp and more. It cost me the same as ordering only 2 custom clear stamps elsewhere. check it out!

So I made myself a few simple 'starter' calling cards to hand out. I need to get a little more creative. Maybe I'll ask some of my favorite bloggers for ideas. Especially Shelly over at Lily Eden and Cathe at Just something I Made. They always have such neat little ideas! But for now it's these simple candy color cards. how fun! Thanks Anna Mae!

Yesterday was picture day for Princess Buttercup. I (gulp) let her dress herself. She went to school looking like Stevie Nicks and Rainbow Brite had a baby. She was so excited about her outfit until we were walking to school. She said, 'I hope I'm wearing the right clothes'. Asked her if she was wearing what she wanted to wear. She said 'yes'. I asked her if she liked her outfit. She said 'yes'. 'Then you're wearing the right clothes' Am I right or what? She also showed me the picture of her with The Queen Mother on Grandparents' Day. As of yesterday, the Queen Mother is calling every clerk in the school to make sure she gets! that! picture!

Mr. McD has been up to his own handcrafted goodness. I came home to find THIS on the stove top:
Yes, Mr. McD will again brew his very own beer to drink...well, actually, he's not a very big drinker so guess who will be downing most of the home brew. Yeah. He also added his own brand of furnishing to our bedroom... Adds that 'college dorm room' touch to my pretty drapes in the background. Isn't it romantic?

Monday, October 13, 2008

Back to normal...mostly

Well a month has gone by since the hurricane and we're back to normal...mostly. We got our lights back on Sunday, the 29th (of Sept). We haven't filled the fridge back up but we may go shopping this evening.

I thought I'd bring you some pics from our little neck of the woods. Not of damage or destruction but of the little clan in 'survival mode'. First of all there was of course...clean up. Little man started off (or was firmly coerced into starting off) by picking up fallen branches in the front yard.


Mr. McD is seen here also picking up some of the ba-jillion branches that fell ALL OVER the place

Princess Buttercup was so kind as to sweep up the deck which was, unfortunately cover by some super slickery (slick + slippery) stuff that made me fall and BADLY sprain my wrist (but we'll save that for another cloudy day).

The Queen Mother did mostly cooking, cleaning and helping out in every way she could (especially after my wrist thing but we won't talk about it right now) here she is helping Little Man pick up even more branches and debris!

The hurricane did have one victim at our house (besides me of course, when I fell and sprained my wrist, but we'll talk about that much later)...it was Mr. McD who struggled with the dang generator for days. He did finally break down and get a new one. But not before this happened....see if you can spot him working on the generator:

Of course it wasn't all bad...Princess Buttercup knows how to make the best of a bad situation. Once clean-up was over and she realized that tv, radio, internet and other electrical goodies were temporarily suspended, she decided to take the lemons and make lemonade. She took a blanket, her drink, an umbrella, a couple of stuffed animals and her phone (read: old flip phone she uses to call Hannah Montana) out onto the front stoop and relaxed ...not unlike a celebrity, poolside. Don't know if I should be tickled or scared....you decide.