Monday, December 1, 2008

I've Seen the Light

. . . Unfortunately, it was in the middle of the night, and I didn't much like it! I really love having Christmas trees all over the house, but I've slept--or tried to sleep--with the one in my bedroom the past two nights, and I haven't had a very restful sleep. I keep feeling like someone's shining a spotlight on me. Tonight it's getting unplugged!


No decorating occurred today. It should have--it would have been nice to go back to work tomorrow and have it all done--but I decided to spend the last day of my vacation playing with fabric instead. Want to see what the wool from four men's suit coats looks like after it's cut up and felted in the washer and dryer?


Not too bad a result for about $14! That stack is maybe about a foot high or more. What else did I play with? Well, now that I think about it, I guess this DOES fall into the decorating category, so I'll have to take that back. I finished and hung the trees wallhanging.


Still, the only tree I've actually gotten decorated thus far is the one in my bedroom that's been causing all the wee hours angst. So, over the next couple nights, I'll have to get the trees decorated. Hubby spent much of the day watching football and getting the big tree assembled, so I have to decorate that one too. He used to put the lights on for me, but it's gotten harder for him to move around, so now that's my job--and it's one I don't enjoy a whole lot, so I'll probably procrastinate and hope the tree light fairies pay me a visit. In the meantime, though, he's gotten five strings of lights coiled all over the living room so it's handy for me--he's also given me detailed instructions on how the strings won't tangle as long as I pick them up by the "male end." Why are men such freaks?


Gosh, do I sound a little grumpy tonight? Well, let me tell you a little story.

Some months back, a representative from Dish Network came to our door--they wanted to do an upgrade to our system. I was somewhere in another part of the house, so Hubby talked to the woman. Later, I asked him about it, and he said they just wanted to sell us something extra and charge him more every month. Hummm. Okay.

Fast forward to the present. Hubby got me a new TV with a DVD player through a promotion at his work--it will go in the Sweat Shop and provide me endless hours of entertainment. I DO have a TV in there, but no DVD player. The other day, the new TV arrived. Well, being in the middle of a frenzy of decorating, I was disinclined to stop and open the box and set it up right then. Last night Hubby decided he should open the box and get it out. It then sat in the living room until this afternoon when he decided it was in his way, and he moved it to the kitchen table. This evening I decided it was in MY way, so I figured I'd set it up.

Remember how I reorganized the Sweat Shop the other day? So today I had to crawl under my sewing table and move all the "stuff" I'd stored under there to try to find where the old TV was plugged in. Turned out I didn't need to get under the table after all--the extension cord ran up pretty close to the TV shelf. So all the stuff had to be put back. I took out the old TV, put in the new TV, hooked it up, turned it on, and pretty much had a blank screen. Oh, the power was on--the TV was working--but where were my TV channels? I called Hubby in to do the set up, but after reading the instructions and pushing random buttons on the remote, it was clear he was pretty clueless, and he soon got bored and wandered back out to watch more football.

At that point, I too read through the instructions and found very little about set up that was at all comprehensible to me, so I also started pushing buttons. Unlike Hubby, though, I didn't wander off. FINALLY I found the channel set up. Ah ha! Success!

Well, no. Turns out the TV couldn't detect any digital cable channels. About then the light dawned and I realized that's probably what that upgrade was all about--the one Hubby deemed unnecessary and simply an attempt to weasel more money out of him each month. So, no new TV. Of course, I then had to disconnect the whole shebang and bring the old TV back in and set it up again. ARGH!


Just before I killed him, I asked Hubby to pick a number for the winner of the Santa stitchery pattern, and he picked 9. Comment number 9 was from Lori Genovario--congratulations, Lori! I think I have your address, but just in case, email it to me anyway, and I'll get the pattern in the mail to you!

And don't forget--if you haven't already entered, I have one more giveaway tomorrow night for three patterns. If you'd like to enter the drawing, please post a comment on yesterday's blog entry.

Thanks for dropping in to listen to me whine!

18 comments:

Shirley--Knot-y Embroidery Lady said...

Can't live with them - can't live without them.

Good luck back at work tomorrow.

Claudia said...

Hello Kim,
what for a nice blog! And I love your little winter tree quilt!!!!
Best wishes
Claudia

Anonymous said...

What a cute little winter tree quilt and your other winter quilt is a very nice too! I have one question though. When you put some letters on your quilts, you cut it from the cotton fabric and applique it with seam allowance under, or do you use some "fleece" kind of fabric (I don´t know the correct english name for it)that you can just sew on your fabric without any other work. Hopefully you understand what I meant.
Happy sewing to all,
Jana in Finland

Lady of the Cloth said...

Oh too funny Kim, DH and I have been going through the same thing. I haven't had a TV in my sewing room for over 6 months. He went in there again last night and flipped around on the remote and declared that without the manual, he couldn't figure out how to get out of the set up mode. I got the manual out of the file where he knows I keep them and he gave it a cursory flip through and was gone to watch his TV. I'm totally mechanically declined so I guess that is the end of it. Notice HIS TV is working fine. Priorities.
Carline

Unknown said...

Well. Kim it looks to me like YOU need to call the cable Co. and have them do the upgrade, NOW.

Your winter quilts look great

Yvonne said...

Guess you'll be calling for that upgrade. :) I love your Winter Wishes clever girl and since you didn't mention anything about the other tree quilt, I'll just assume that's the one for me!!!!

antique quilter said...

oh love the trees on the door, that looks great :)
and the other quilt is wonderful
I love the fabrics you used in that too.
all that wool for $14. what a deal!
cute rabbit...
MEN, call the cable co this morning!

Busy Little Quilter said...

My problem isn't a TV, it's a computer in my sewing room. Everyone in my family has a laptop, except me. Everyone also has an Ipod, except me, but hubby lets me borrow his.

Hubby had an older laptop one he wasn't using anymore, so he gave it to me. I bought the thingy to make it wireless. My son set it up for me, but come to find out it doesn't have Windows XP. That costs close to $200, so I've given up on having a laptop in my sewing room.

I love the quilts!

Amanda

Judy said...

I'd be lost without the dvd in the sewing room...that's where I watch all my South Park episodes while I sew! Your jacket wool turned out fluffy and nice...good deal! I still have 2 jackets to take apart and felt.

I'm loving that wall hanging and wishing I had thought to make some extra blocks when I made my quilt...maybe next year.

Sew Create It - Jane said...

Love your Happy Winter wallhanging...it's really pretty and festive.

Ila K. said...

Beautiful quilts!

Next time you have technical difficulties, you need to rent a teenage boy. My son could probably give you the zucchini bread discount.

I'd love to see how you mount your door quilt.

MichelleB said...

Love the door hanging - those trees are so festive. That's funny about the tv - well, not really. I think comment about renting a teenager was great - I don't how they intuitively know how to do that crap.

MichelleB said...

Love the door hanging - those trees are so festive. That's funny about the tv - well, not really. I think comment about renting a teenager was great - I don't how they intuitively know how to do that crap.

Pat said...

Love your winter trees in the smaller size. Whine anytime! We are all here to listen. Have a great week.

Sølvis blog said...

I just love those trees

Greenmare said...

lights. oh don't get me started on the stupid lights! Once I tried to get them done ahead and surprise Jim with it, I ended up with the WRONG end of the last string at the bottom!!! ARRRRRR! then 3 years ago I got the brilliant idea to wire tie them to the tree so that it would be like the "prelit" kind you can buy now. It took about 6 horrendous hours, but for the last couple of years I have been SO GLAD we did it!!

Mama Spark said...

I love the split Christmas trees. What a great pattern. Yours turned out so cute!

Sherry said...

Hi Kim. I just love your trees wallhanging! Hubby & I disagree about a Christmas tree being left on in the bedroom. The lights don't bother me at all but he says he can't sleep, so we unplug it. LOL Hope you get all of your dishnet woes worked out.