The Queen's Rambles

*I finally have my sewing machine back! The repairman is only in the store on Mondays, so I called yesterday to find out what was going on. The woman who answered couldn’t believe it had been so long. She went back to look and said it was all done.

I drove down there at a really stupid time (just on the cusp of rush hour) and was hoping for a quick in and out. She came out with my machine, but couldn’t find the pay slip. She called the repairman over and he said “Oh! No, no. It’s not done. Why’d you think it was done? The part’s been backordered, but luckily it just came in today! I’ll get it fixed right now.”

Hmmmmm. . . did UPS run on Columbus Day, because I know the post office was closed.

The important thing is he did fix it and he did educate me. Did you know there are different bobbin sizes? I had no clue. I’ve been using the wrong size for the past 7 years. I suppose if I only have to repair the machine every 7 years it’s not that horrible of an ordeal.

While I was there I bought some embroidery supplies and am thinking about trying my hand at some book titles for my Harry Potter bookshelf. My original plan was to forget about the titles entirely since I didn’t think I had the skill or time to complete them before the finishing contest was over. Now that the contest is off the table I have all the time in the world. I may as well try it out and see if I can do it. It’s a big project and has taken many, many hours. I don’t want to regret not giving it a try every time I look at it.

*I’m not longer planning on doing a traditional dirt cake for Erik. I realized that he hates pudding. A friend sent me a link to an awesome dirt cake that is just regular cake, frosted with a deep chocolate icing and then covered in crushed chocolate graham cracker crumbs. I’ll be working on that Friday. I have way too much to do Friday! I wish I could do it tomorrow, but I don’t want to take a four day old cake to a party.

*Elsa is such a goofy girl. She likes to crawl up behind me on my big chair, then fling herself forward, doing a somersault in the air. It’s scary enough when you know she’s going to do it, but she’d done it a couple of times when I wasn’t prepared. Catching a 30 pound weight that is suddenly flying over your shoulder is nothing to joke about. And she’s so tall! I can barely handle her when she wants to flip around or stand on me. We went to a story hour today and she towers over the other kids her age. I need to get some pictures uploaded, don’t I? She’s absolutely adorable, make no mistake.

*We went to parent visitation at Erik’s school yesterday. There were a total of three parents in Erik’s class–me, Mike and one other dad. Apparently the other dad is there every day and just sits in the corner and reads a newspaper (which we saw him do). I know from past social things that the boy has serious problems, but I still find it odd that the stay-at-home-dad would come to class and just sit around. I could understand him coming in to volunteer or coming in to observe a few times, but Erik says he is there every day. We know he is not the most reliable witness. I want to ask the teacher about it, but it’s not really my business.

*Erik wants to take green cupcakes to school for his birthday. I went in to Safeway to order them, just like I did last year. They always have cupcakes out, but he doesn’t want Halloween cupcakes–he wants green. The lady had no freakin’ clue what I was talking about. Then she told me a whole bunch of stuff in very, very heavily accented English. I literally had no clue what she was saying. I very, very rarely point out that I can’t understand something if someone from a different country is talking to me. I try to make due. I lived in a foreign country and know how difficult it can be to move to a new land and not speak the language.

I had to tell her that I didn’t understand anything she said. I didn’t know if she was trying to take my order or telling me no or asking me what day I was picking things up. It was terrible.

In the end I think she told me I had to come back when a manager was on duty because you can’t order cupcakes. I will be there tomorrow. Can’t order cupcakes from a bakery? Excuse me, but WTF?

*I think Campfire is happening! Bethany is joining us! Will be interesting to see the collision between blog world and real world. Ha! We are just waiting to have the main lady answer some questions, then we will send in our forms and hopefully get started quickly. Erik is trying to recruit the whole neighborhood, but I am definitely not talking about it with people that I wouldn’t want to work with. No way am I inviting the crazies in.

*Way past my bedtime. I need to get some sleep. I’m perpetually tired, so why do I stay up so late? Bad Carrie