Julie Barrett is a freelance writer and photographer based in Plano, TX.

Monday Mumblings Has Been Busy

Fresh when it gets here from Julie Barrett
Monday, May 28, 2012


I sort of fell of the face of the web site, didn't I?

I've been dealing with stuff. No, nothing is wrong. I've just had a deadline or two. Just finished the radio play for SoonerCon. I've also been working on some new deerstalker hats.

Oh, and if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may have seen reference to Fish Tank Incident. Not only is that the name of my next band, but it refers to last Sunday's day of joy. I went to give the aquarium a cleaning and discovered that the top of the piece of furniture it sat on was on the brink of collapse. Let's see: a 20-gallon tank full of water and fish all over the dining room. No, that doesn't bear contemplating. Well, it did for just long enough for us to realize we really needed to deal with the problem now rather than later. 

Fortunately, we had a credenza in the garage that was perfect for the spot, and gives us more storage! (It also opened up a little bit of space in the garage. Double win!) Of course, we had loads of fun pumping most of the water from the tank, moving it to the kitchen, swapping furniture, moving everything back, and so on. It was a big job, but I'm happy to say the tank looks the best it has in a long time. It got a much more thorough cleaning than I'd planned.

Of course, that was only one small thing. The day after I wrote my last post I found some drawer units for the utility room and ended up overhauling my fabric stash (hey, it's a nasty job, but someone has to do it) and turning the small cabinet that had been in the utility room into a hutch for the sewing table. 

I still have stuff from those two projects to clean up.

My other big project was to figure out a display unit for upcoming art shows. I finished that off today. 

Friday I went in to do some rearranging on the kitchen counter and ended up pulling everything out of my china cupboard and putting in new shelf liner. The thing that precipitated that was the removal of an appliance mounted under the cabinet. We hadn't used it in years. It still works, so I'll donate it to charity. I think I'm going to get an under-cabinet book holder that swings out so I can place a recipe book or my tablet off the counter while I cook. 

Also, Chris was at the Destination Imagination Global Finals. It was ...interesting, apparently. 

And we're up to this weekend. I did a little programming yesterday and spent some time today just surfing the web. Oh, it was educational. I was looking up some sewing machine resources. My Elna is making an unusual noise, but only at certain speeds. Looks like the fix will be easy. Hooray! While I was at it I found some manuals for my Featherweight and some resources for the Singer Model 99. I need to clean and oil both of those again and see what other service they might need. 

The 99 was inherited from my grandmother on my mother's side. It was made in the early 1920's and she kept it in top shape. The electrical cord has been replaced, and in my copious free time I'm going to see if I can find a reproduction cord from the proper period for it. The Featherweight was an antique mall find. The serial number shows it was built in the summer of 1950. It only needed a cleaning and oiling when I bought it. I want to look more closely at the wiring on both machines, though. The Featherweight would be handy to take to conventions for costuming repairs. I think it might come in particularly handy this fall at Octopodicon.

Oh, and Abby has the Cone of Abject Humiliation. Yes, it's allergy season for her again. 

So yes, it's been quite busy around here. Tomorrow looks like another full day, too. Hey, it's nice to be busy but not so slammed that I don't get any sleep.

I'll try to post more later this week. I do have some things to share that may be of more interest.

Tags: Life

Filed under: Life            

 

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