Pete's grandma Olah's sewing machine

Yes it works. but it needs a new leather flywheel belt.

vacation is over

Poor Petey had to go back to work this morning. He found a silver lining in the cloud. He found his clogs. They were under the bed at the Wallace house. He was a happy guy, well-- his feet are happy.

My folks came down to check out our new old house and Mom rescued me on two counts. She brought her flower books and we got almost everything Id-ed in the garden. AND she loved the lighthouse paraphernalia from the master bath and she adopted it all. YAY Mommy!

Daddy was a priceless treasure. I kept asking him shit and he kept answering. I felt like a 12 year old, but he had all the answers. Sump pumps. Barn doors. water softeners, aquifer levels, dryer plug grounds. fridge door hinges. My dad is the shit and the shizzle. He may *think* he is the bastard love child of Henry David Thoreau and MacGyver, but I've seen my grandparents and they are perfectly normal. No anti social tendencies or even super human skills of repair-osity. My dad likes our farm.

He is pretty sure we need to buy Zoli a riding lawn mower. I agree completely but there is that cash flow thing. We all kept teasing Z that he was gonna have to mow 3.8 acres with the push mower. Prior to finding this house Zoli and I were sorta shopping for an old school push roller--not so much now. (oooh I should find the sonnet I wrote for Eric. I think it is on the desk top harddrive.

Are ya sick of the house yet?

I'm not.

But we did do something non house related last night. We went into a2 and while Petey hung out with Carl and learned Jazzy guitar stuff I went to Orchid Lane (1/3 head shop, 1/3 dress shop 1/3 import store) to look for a new toe ring because the old one died. (somebody get Trex a tissue--he loveded the toe ring) The toe ring died because a.) it was about two years old and was worn every day b.) Brooke and I scraped an air conditioner across it. I was able to re-shape it. c.) I dragged a box of books across it and it finally was warped beyond redemption. Apparently toe ring technology has become very advanced. The new fad is a bit of elastic fishline holding a single charm. cute but not what I wanted. I was unable to locate a "real jewelry" one that went all the way around and wasn't a pinchy "C" shape. Both Middle Earth and Orchid Lane had lots of little glittery flowers but no "classy celtic spiral" designs. sigh.

Our "date" perked up when we got to the "Peak" and had a lovely bite of dinner in the bar. I got the Salad Nicoise. A perfectly proportioned hunk of seared tuna and that amazing citrus vinaigrette dressing. boiled egg & tater, lots of haricort vert and huge (and pitted! yay!) black olives. NUMMY! (Petey got a lamb burger and a couple of porters he was pleased also Grizzly Peak is a grand place.

THEN we toddled over to Ann Arbor Home and Garden because it seemed to be the thing to do. We got a doorbell. I love it. A lot.

THEN we drooled on Matt Damon and Julia Stiles in the new Robert Ludlum book--er I mean spy thriller movie. Two thumbs up but be warned--it is so NOT a chick flick! (giggle) I liked it. It was fun and I totally stopped thinking about water softeners, roofers and chimney sweeps.