Back to work...

I'd been easing myself back into recording after Christmas but now I'm back full-steam. 

My next project is a mystery.  Tiaras & Texans (The Presley Thurman Mysteries) by Laina Turner is the latest book in a series.  Presley Thurman is a woman in her 30's who has finally decided, after two earlier careers, that she wants to be an investigator.  She teams up with her old high school boyfriend, Cooper Sands, who runs his own security company.  Unfortunately, Presley is less than thrilled when her assignment turns out to be protecting teenage beauty queens in a Texas pageant.  Although when one of the contestants is found dead, things begin to pick up and Presley finds it much more interesting.

I'm beginning the prep work on Tiaras & Texans and will post my progress here along with any other books I'm able to land.  Yep, the new year has officially begun for me. 

A Garage Sale and more recording...

My friend, Linda, needed to have a garage sale because she's in the process of redecorating some rooms in her house.  Duane and I took some things to Linda's house on Saturday and we had the sale.  Linda had quite a few pieces of furniture (which she was practically giving away) and we had lots of misc.  As usual, we had our first theft within an hour of the start of the sale.  Honestly.  Who steals an item that's being sold for a quarter?  Well, apparently, an older lady who came with her daughter and teen-age granddaughter.  I saw this woman looking at a necklace I had in a little clear baggy.  The granddaughter bought (and paid for) several items and after they left, I walked over to check the tables.  I just had a funny feeling about grandma.  I looked at her hands after I saw her with the necklace but one hand was holding keys and the other was clutching a small leather change purse.  THAT'S the hand where I'm sure she hid the necklace in it's baggy.  It was a very dainty necklace in a tiny baggy -- worth much more than .25 but I wanted to get rid of stuff.  Why do people do this?  Over the years I've noticed it more with older people than with younger ones.  I think many people like to believe the opposite but that hasn't been my experience.  At least not at garage sales.  I guess she got her thrill for the day.  (insert rolling of eyes here)

I was able to help my younger nephew, Ben, who is moving from a furnished dorm room to a house with roommates (and owns almost nothing to take with him) by lightening Linda's and Duane's load.  I bought a night stand, 2 table lamps and some dishes from Linda.  I bought more dishes from Duane which included some bowls, too.  Ben was very happy to receive these things.  The stuff that didn't sell is being picked up by the Salvation Army so Linda can get her garage back.   We were all three pretty pooped afterwards (the heat was awful) but we always have a good time when we're together.  Now Linda has a lot more free space so she can continue with her re-deco projects.

I was able to record and edit two more of the short stories for Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes yesterday which made me a happy camper.  I also started editing chapter two of A Dixie Christmas.  Unfortunately, today has been a washout -- in every sense of the word -- as far as recording. The thunderstorms moved in pretty early and are still rumbling.  Loudly.  I'm so bummed.  I had hoped to record the last two short stories for "Sweet Tea..." today.  I may be burning the midnight oil on these -- provided the storms don't continue.  I used the time to work on a couple of yarn projects that I'll post about here when they're finished.  They're all turning out well and I'm pretty pleased.  In the mean time, I think the thunder may finally be fading away...

Family visit, shopping and a floppy sun hat

I decided to give myself a few days off from recording during the latter part of last week since my sister Heidi and her family were here for a short visit.  This meant that other than some reading prep for a new book I'm recording called Shifting Positions by Jennifer Dellerman, I did no recording or editing.  I spent time with my two 'out-of-town' nieces, Bailey - age 5 and her sister, Taylor - age 3 and then went estate/yard selling with my friends Duane and Linda.  We hit three small sales but got lucky.  All three of us bought books at a sale in Duane's neighborhood.  Linda's are pictured.

     
I also snagged a little globe note holder.  (I have a thing for globes and maps.)  Linda was the big winner of the day, though.  She also bought a nice used set of luggage ($10 for the set) AND we went to one of our favorite stores, A Modern Line, so that Linda could pick up the vintage double size headboard that she had refinished by the owner of A Modern Line.  It turned out beautifully.  You can really see the grain of the wood.  Now all Linda has to do is advertise and sell her current guest room bed (along with a desk) and she's one step closer to completely revamping her guest bedroom.

  
In the mean time, we also sent off the package we were readying a couple of posts ago to The Humble Stitch Project.  So now we're starting all over again for the next batch of items.   I did make one other item during this time.  My sister, Carol, and her family are getting ready to go on a Disney cruise so she asked if I could make a floppy yellow sun hat for her 5 year old daughter, Ava.  I looked at a number of patterns, picked one that both Carol and I liked and got to work.  I purchased the pattern from a blog called Crochet Dreamz and it was SO easy to make.  I used a bright lemon yellow yarn and decided to go with all white flowers after finding Mickey Mouse ears buttons at the local Jo-Ann's.  There were quite a few colors in the package of buttons but I decided to stick with primary colors.  I used the smaller buttons in the center of the flowers and decided to add one of the large ones on the back of the brim.  Now Ava can feel stylish and and right at home among the Disney crowd.

To borrow a quote from one of the characters from one of my favorite '80's movies, "Sixteen Candles", it's time to "no more yanky my wanky" (spoken by The Donger) and get back to work.  I recorded and edited today so I'm off to a good start for the week.