Porthos the Pirate

Introducing the dashing new stranger residing in my home! His name is Porthos the Pirate, and he was given to me by the Queen of America. Those of you who get the reference are smiling right now. My friend who buys and refurbishes old machines gave it to me the other day: "Since you're like an adopted daughter to me, I've decided you must have one, and I couldn't possibly make you PAY for it since you're family!" Woah! Erm, thank you!

He is a Singer treadle sewing machine, one of 50,000 made in Elizabethport New Jersey on April 18th, 1921 (yes, 50,000 were made THAT day). That means, folks, that this is an entirely uncomputerized, non-electric sewing machine. Yay! The head (what you call the machine itself) is in great working condition, and I think the decals are to die for. :-P

It also weighs a ton. The head and the big pedal underneath are cast iron. Heaaaaaaaavy

Well, I Gone and Done It.

In all this time away from my poor, neglected blog (I'm sorry!), I've been attached to my sewing machine. You see, my dear Cowboy saw THIS and asked me to make him a quilt out of old jeans for his upcoming trip to Alaska. "No!" Cora said. "I hate quilting and you know it!" Well... not really. She does hate quilting, but she did make it. *sigh* It was a trial.

Then that led to making a patchwork dress out of old blue jeans, which turned out to be a very post-apocalyptic-esque style. Kind of cool!

And now, you demand, where are the pictures? Pictures or it didn't happen, Cora!

Well...

In proper post-apocalyptic fashion, we will pretend that there are no cameras... because I can't find ours... anywhere... :-/

BUT since I can't leave this post without a picture, I'll put in this one. I posted a picture of my hair a while ago, and I thought I'd update that. :) Here's my hair sans shampoo. Yep. I've switched to using solely baking soda and vinegar after my dear sister Jocelyn inspired me to.

BEFORE...

AFTER...

Hmm... I don't think it looks all that worse for wear... Very fluffy...

Interesting Article

I read THIS and thought it was interesting. Sowers Of Hope posted it on their blog.

The last 10 days have been a flurry around here. My brother was back in and out of the hospital, but hopefully he's done with hospitals for another few months at least. The last stretch was 10 months out of the hospital. I'm hoping for a year this time!

Yesterday At Work

Yesterday while at work, we were busy putting products out on the shelf, when suddenly I turned around, and what did I see?

Mighty Mike!

So, in natural Cora fashion, I stared at him for a second, squeaked some version of "Hi!" that I don't remember now, and hugged him right then and there in front of EVERYONE at the store. :)

He is home now, recovering. Recovering his pride from being hugged by baby sister, also, no doubt.

Mighty Mike, February Edition

Mighty Mike should be coming home soon. Today or tomorrow. He posted on facebook that he hopes I'm his nurse because my cooking makes hospital food taste good. Hmm... I'm THAT bad? ...Narcotic pain killers, much?... He then apologized and said he meant to say my cooking is WAY better than hospital food and he can keep eating and eating and eating and eating...

***

I had an interesting thought earlier. It went like this...

Is YHVH-God more important than loyalty our country? What do you mean by that, Cora? Well, whenever we hear the National Anthem, we are compelled to stand, gentlemen remove their hats, and treat the occasion with utmost respect (unless you're the one singing, in which case you can apparently mess it up all you want...). How many of us totally zone out while singing hymns, praises, and psalms? We have rules regarding honoring our nation's flag by keeping it in as pristine a condition as we can. ...while our books of Scriptures are hidden under piles of junk on the coffee table or sitting on the floors of our cars to get stepped on or become moldy.

Is that ok? Please discuss...

Do Adventures Ever Cease?

Mighty Mike is in the hospital again with pancreatitis and minor internal bleeding. They don't know what's causing the bleeding yet.

My poor brother. :(

A Few Good Songs

 No one said I couldn't use this spot for advertising. But I only advertise good causes!

Come Thou Fount

Star of the County Down

Suite 16 (Rosie's Own Music)

These are done by a for-charity music group in SW Washington called Rosie and the Posers. They're a bunch of young and young-at-heart people, and all of their concerts are held to benefit local charities. I went to one of the concerts, and I'm hooked now.

You all should buy their CD, "Harrumphing Toward Euphoria." It's only $10, and I think you'll like it. This from a girl who hates, loathes, and despises listening to CDs. "Walkin' Pneumonia Blues" is great, and so is "Falling Upwards." Their genre is... You tell them! There's a blues song, Irish-inspired tunes, some Latin-flavored stuff in there... It's great.

They're primarily on facebook, so at the very least, go "like" them and see what they're about. HERE can be found their blog.



And, no, Sir Dale (the leader of the group) didn't pay me to write this. :-D