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I have been sewing away and finished some American Girl doll outfits and a couple of aprons over the past few days.

I am not by nature a very mechanically inclined sort of person. I like to sew, but I have been known to put off the taking apart of my machine to give it it’s life-giving elixir. If I spend an afternoon in my sewing area, Mike is bound to ask about the last time I gave the sewing machine a good oiling. Now, I hear his voice in my head, so I try to be better about that maintenance responsibility.

Whenever I expose the guts of the machinery, I am totally surprised by the amount of lint that accumulates so I’m telling myself I have to get more committed to the care of feeding of an old machine that has served me well.

I learned the hard way with an old car that machines really do require oil to keep running. During the gas shortage back in the ‘70’s the lines for gas were always so long that I never felt I could ask to have the oil checked and hold other people up. Unfortunately, I never checked the oil myself either. One day I was driving to school in the little Buick Opal and a tremendous noise started coming from the front end. The radio wouldn’t even go loud enough to drown it out. Then the car just stopped--blown motor. At least now I do have the oil changed in any car I own on a regular basis. Live and learn.


It was raining early this morning so I cleaned closets. I bought a pair of jeans and two tops yesterday. I found a pair of jeans to take to the resale shop and two tops that I no longer wear.


I demoted a few things to "for garden or camping" status. A filled a bag to go to Goodwill. My deck working clothes are just going into the trash when the job is done. I think I have arrived at that point where the closets are now manageable. I retired five years ago and have been slowly weeding out since then.


Mike and I spent the afternoon sanding the deck. There is light at the end of that tunnel! We may actually finish the job before the end of July. I'm throwing a cookout party in August if we do. In the meantime, a Friday night cocktail and then a take out pizza for supper seem in order for today.
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  1. LindaJune 11, 2010 at 7:50 PM

    Oh my, that engine blowing story brought back memories. Count me in the group of engine blowers from the 70s.

    I love the doll clothes. Your granddaughter is a very lucky little girls. Are you designing the patterns are do they make patterns for American Girl dolls?

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