Great Expectations

 Yesterday, I fully expected to have a working stove. It did not happen. I readied the defective stove for pick-up and went about my chores of the day. HeWho would lay abed until after noon was up by 10 and also expecting a delivery/pick-up.

It was scheduled for the afternoon and we were to expect a call about 45 minutes before arrival of the delivery team. The morning left and noon came with no call. I hiked up to my retreat and finished hanging all my thread holders on the wall behind the intended position of my sewing machine. Fate smiled upon me, as I found the manual for my machine!

The more I put things in their permanent home, the more things I find that need to be put away in places where they can be readily seen. I have some curtain rods I bought at thrift stores. They will serve as holders for spools of ribbons and such. Now I need to find a place for bias tapes and other things wound on similar pieces of cardstock. My goal is to store them where I can easily see all of them and not have to dig around in a container or drawer. 

Buttons are a different story since most of them are loose and in various containers, like candy and cookie tins. I never throw away anything with buttons on it. You never know when you might need that exact button. I inherited Mother's button tin. They had some buttoms from my Dad's Navy uniforms. I made pleated skirts for my granddaughters when they were young enough to appreciate Gramma's sewing and used those buttons. They are all grown up now and would, no doubt, wrinkle their noses at a home made outfit.

The button tin always fascinated me as a child. I could entertain myself for hours with Mother's button tin. I would pour them all out, then separate them by color, then size, then 2 holes and 4 holes. I suppose I was born with that gene that likes to put things in place. Grandson Gavin spent a few weeks with us the year he turned 4 and was also fascinated by my button tins (yes, I have more than one). I bought a plastic dump truck and a front end loader from the thrift store and he spent a morning with my button collection, scooping them up in the loader and dumping them into the truck. I was sewing away in between customers and was happy I had found something he liked to do indoors. Children need naps, they get tired and cranky. He wouldn't ASK for a nap, but I knew he was ready when he picked up handfuls of buttons and spun around, throwing them everywhere! Naptime.

But, I digress in fond memories. Dusk was beginning and still no delivery. HeWho had called them close to noon to be told the order had been cancelled ... by ME. Oh, no she didn't! He had words with them and she (the person at the store in Murphy) told him the stove to replace the one still in my kitchen with the bent door frame was still in Atlanta, but was expected that afternoon and they would keep us informed.

Of course, we were not informed of anything as night fell. So, here I sit, coffee gone and no idea when or if a stove will appear. To be continued .....