Sunday Sundries--Favorite Last Minute Trips

So, for our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, my husband who does occasionally have a romantic bone in his body, suggested a day trip to Louisville, KY, to visit bookstores. We left town in the morning and had lunch at the Big Boy in Corydon.

Gotta love anyplace that serves sweet potato fries!

The drive to Louisville is very pretty.

We ended up at the Half-Price Books store on Hurstbourne first:

We found all kinds of fun things. Some of my characters are game designers and they had a section of games and all things geek:

We also went to the other Half-Price on the other side of town and the Books A Million in the area too. We got quite a haul:

This is just one of three piles of books. Not that we needed them, but it's what we've always done when we went out of town. I love running around with my husband to find out of the way stores. We spent the night and ate at Waffle House in the morning, making another stop off before we headed back home.

My first novels start out in Las Vegas, with four sisters on a bachelorette party for the oldest, who is getting married later that week. They had to move the trip and the wedding up when she got pregnant. Since they went during the week, the rates were very reasonable.

My parents were always up for an adventure too. Sometimes, before the time of cell phones, I'd try to call them and find out later they had gone over to one of the area casinos.

So, do you have a favorite, spur of the moment adventure? I highly recommend them, even if it's just getting out of town for lunch.

Whoever You Were—Rest in Peace and Thank You

So, one of my local friends who knows of my obsession with all things counted cross-stitch, woke me up Saturday morning to tell me about a yard sale just a couple of blocks from her house. She was excited because she scored an office chair for $5. But she knew I would want to see the massive amount of craft supplies.

Not that I need any more @#$%, mind you. I have more patterns and supplies than I will ever be able to do in this lifetime or the next. In fact, I got rid of a bunch of stuff by shipping it to a needlework store where they sell such things on eBay. While I only get 60%, I don’t have to mess with it and I’ve done pretty well over this past year. Since Mr. Laptop died last month, I went through and got another two boxes out a few weeks ago and STILL have two boxes (one of XS magazines) to go out to them.

But, I went to worship The Cash-Giving Goddess and drove across town for a look-see. Oh my. She was right. They had about a half-dozen big boxes of all sorts of craft stuff and about that many bags. I went to my car to get my cloth Half-Price Books bags, because I knew, well, that the mystery woman would love for this to go home with someone who would appreciate her years of collecting stash.

I tried not to be greedy. There were two other women there going through stuff. I helped one by offering her first crack at some of the kits and patterns that seemed to be her style. Most all the stuff was more country, but there were a lot of Christmas leaflets. I recognized a few of the patterns that had been in my collection at one time. A lot of them had tags from the three cross-stitch specialty stores or the one craft department store that had closed. I probably saw her at Red Rooster or Stitchers Count, as much time as I spent there.

My bags and another were packed full. I got to go through them tonight and I wanted to share a small fraction of my S.E.X. (Stash Enhancement eXperience) with you. Even if you don’t like needlework, it’s fascinating to see what other people bought. I had an auction service deal with my parents’ house in 2003. I came up to one of the tables and a woman said, “This is someone’s life!”

I replied, “And yes, it was a very good one.” I hope it was the same for this lady.

There were dozens of pieces of fabric for stitching. I kept the even-weave and linen (a whole half-yard of a beautiful cream Irish linen!) and put the aida and other stuff in a box to be sold, including a baby’s blanket that was still in the packaging. This is a small sampling of what I kept.

My mystery friend had one of her pieces framed. It’s not my style, but I wanted to keep it as a remembrance of our shared passion.

I have a goal of someday sewing a Christmas tree skirt of hand towels and I added to my collection. The one she actually stitched (only one side, the other is partially finished) and the others are store bought.

I kept the dozens of partially used DMC embroidery floss skeins, but collected a gallon-sized bag full to ship off to sell. You guessed it, I already have all the colors. Kind of pretty though, don’t you think?

Here is a small fraction of the kits and ornament frames. There were a few finished pieces I sent on for sale too and some unfinished that I tossed.  It made me sad, but I have dozens of little projects of my own to finish.

I picked up this CD of Christmas music. Or so I thought. Look what was inside.

So, I went up to the bored and not-so-grieving family, plopped the bags down and said, “How about $20?” I think they were relieved they wouldn’t have to cart that stuff to Goodwill. My friend chided me when we got in the car that I probably could have given them a ten. I know, but it was worth it.

I got a blue and white teapot pincushion for her (still in the package) and I’ll take her out to dinner when I get the check from the service as a “finder’s fee.”

Somewhere, there’s a stitcher looking down at me with a smile. I enjoyed visiting with her for a while and I hope her soul is at rest knowing everything will go to new homes and people who want it. I’ll think of her whenever I use my new laptop and say a quick prayer of thanks.