Crazy, Silly, Fun day

Perhaps it's the Vicodin I took last night for an ankle that was complaining loudly, but today's been kind of a rollercoaster of FUN!  So much better than yesterday!

Yesterday wasn't...yesterday started with me spilling my Diet Pepsi on the seat of my beloved old beater of a truck, which then rolled on down and promptly soaked into the backside of my jeans and panties.  So arrive to work in wet pants with customers looking at me funny.  It progressed to be overly stressed trying to rush out the door to get to a job site, while my software wouldn't load and I had 3 clients on the phone - all of whom HAD to talk to me - and no headset for either of my cell phones.  I promptly spilled hot water all over the kitchen sink at work as I tried to too quickly fill my thermos with tea for later.  I got lost on the way to the job site (phone GPS failed), had to call my co-worker who was patiently waiting for to arrive for directions, and arrive 1/2 hour later than expected.  I spent the next 6 hours going up and down ladders, mucking about in drop ceilings, and wandering around with a laptop to test out wireless network signals.  By the end of the night, my patience, ankle, and both knees were shot.

Today I arrived at work, unloaded last nights equipment just inside our front doors, and walked in to find my boss (CEO and owner of the company) putting all of the equipment I had unloaded into it's proper spots - without asking!  I do love where I work.  Small companies are much more fun and understanding.  And it's awesome to have a boss who'll roll up his sleeves to move ladders, cables, and assorted rolly devices without asking.

Work then evolved into my making a bone-headed mistake on a cut-over for a customer (reminder: check file dates on secure certificates!) which another co-worker helped me figure out and quickly resolve.  Best part is he admitted doing that in the past too, so didn't rub it in and we both got a chuckle out of it.  It's always the last place you look, even if that's right under your nose.

Then my hubby texted me that my big box from Goodwill arrived - it's a bunch of brand new zippers and other assorted sewing stuff to make purses and totes with, which will help out loads with getting my Etsy store a few more items to post for sale.  Happy dance!

He's ready to do happy dances himself as his new computer is supposed to arrive today (early Christmas present), so he's got a new toy to play with as well.

Better yet, it's sunny out with white puffy clouds, and I just learned that our fearless President of GRRWG actually reads my blog!

Yes, Cheryl, I'll post those Farmer's Almanac link for you.

Farmer's Almanac

I needed to verify a weather pattern for a back story in a future Jess Barker book.  Of course my first thought when I think of weather is Farmer's Almanac not the Weather Channel.  I've got farmer genes in my blood, I think of the Almanac as my default reference book for pretty much anything and buy a new one every year.

To my delight I found on a very cool research tool on their website: a historical weather calendar.  It even includes snow depths for states with snowfall.  Pretty cool!

Just thought I'd pass this on for anyone that may be doing historical story lines that needs to verify weather data.

Who knew? I love research!

Did you know that Gimbels once had a sewing machine made for them?  I saw this poor, neglected vintage machine up for auction and laughed when I read them name.  Of course I was instantly whisked off to Christmas movies like Miracle on 34th Street, and A Christmas Story.  So I had to go digging.

There isn't much information out there, but I needed it for Stewart's storyline.  (Of course he kept smugly chiming in "I already knew this.")  I've discovered that in addition to Sears' Kenmore lines - Gimbels, Montgomery Wards, and even RH Macy's had sewing machines made for them from factories in Japan.  Models were pretty much interchangeable, but the name and color would change from time to time.

This practice also led to the wide variety of colors we see in the 40's/50's/60's machines.  Anything from light teal to bright red was fair game. I've found some bubble-gum pink machines that are amazing!  The more I learn about these vintage machines the more I miss the variety and style from back then.  Not only are they solid metal, but they're quite beautiful as well; especially when compared to today's plain, boring, white colored plastic machines.


I mean seriously, how can you NOT like a machine that looks like this?  (And I'm only a fan of pink for Breast Cancer ribbons).