Thursday This 'N That

Still no sewing as "real" work has taken over for the week. But I promised myself I'd get up to the sewing room later today or this evening and cut out those capris that have been ever so patiently biding their time. With luck, I may get them sewn up in bits and pieces over the next few days.

Meanwhile, I bought a sofa last night. My mom and her POSSLQ (pronounced pozzl-cue and meaning Person of the Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters) will be here for DS#1's graduation in mid-May. We have no real guest room — yet. My mom suggested that instead of them paying for a hotel that she give me some money toward a futon that could be put in our living room as a guest bed. Hmmm. Good idea, Mom! So I agreed. Then I started looking on Craig's List for futons that were acceptably used (IOW, not gross!) and cheap, and found a great sofabed instead. (I'd rather have a sofa in the living room than a more casual futon, but I was trying to be budget-conscious.)

The only problem with the sofabed so far was that it was in St. Petersburg (about an hour from me) so if it was a dud, it would be a wasted long drive. (Have you seen gas prices this week??) The seller and I emailed back and forth and she offered Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evenings as choices for the pick-up. I'm so glad we went with Wednesday since it rained all day both Monday and Tuesday (desperately needed in these parts, but not good for sofas in the back of pick-up trucks). We loaded up both strong boys into the back of the cab and off we went.

We met the seller at her (retired and very sweet) parents' house. The back story is the parents were the actual sellers but she's the one who put up the Craig's List ad and volunteered to be the contact person. The sofa belonged to a friend of her parents. He had died shortly after it was delivered to his home and this couple is in charge of selling off his belongings since the man's family is all out-of-state. Or something like that.

As soon as I saw the sofa in person, I knew it was good quality (La-Z-Boy) and in brand-new condition. The mattress for the pull-out bed was/is still in the original plastic covering. Sold! So we (and by "we," I mean the guys) covered it in plastic, loaded it on truck, paid for it, and off we went. Definitely a steal at $300, I think. You can't even buy a crappy new sofabed for less than $600.



It's paisley, which I love (and not quite as red/purple as it looks in this pic), and it's temporarily sitting in the family room awaiting the transfer of computers and office furniture which should happen this weekend. So, before the family room gets better (and truly done), it gets even more crowded. But we'll manage. We've already decided that we like the big U of sofas in there so I see us looking for new stuff for that arrangment at some point in the next year. Uh oh!

I mentioned the rain, right? This is Florida and we're about to head into summer. The dry weather has been great comfort-wise even if it meant drought conditions throughout the state. But with the recent rain came the dreaded humidity we had been escaping until now. Where is this leading? Well, yesterday was also a dog park day and because it was hot and humid, I didn't see myself in long jeans, and my favorite capris are in the laundry room. So, I pulled out this recently sewn outfit to wear:



And I have to say it is going to be some of my favorite summer duds. So comfortable, and still casual enough with my brown flip-flops that I didn't feel overdressed for a dog park! The skirt (Kwik Sew 3287) is just wonderful made up in the cotton. I'm definitely going to be making at least two more before summer is over. (After those waiting capris, of course!) Yesterday was busy and I forgot to take pics of me in it before we left. And then I spilled Coke down my front in the truck so a photo will have to wait until the cami is clean again. Yeah, I'm a klutz.

Oh, to finish up the vacuum saga, my replacement PowerMate vacuum head arrived yesterday, and it's the correct one this time. Which means I can finally do a decent vacuuming. Sears credited me for the first wrong one, including the shipping, and also waived the shipping charges on the replacement. So I suppose I feel better. But, still, what a pain! And I'll reserve final judgment until I actually try the thing. Between dogs and floor-laying, we have plenty of "test material."