But it showed up cracked down there.

It’s been tagged and put in the queue to be fixed – which should be about a month – so in about a month we would will know what other damage has been done to her.  The good news is I took out the insurance, so if they actually still make the parts it can be fixed.  If not, I’ll have to go from there.

I know it’s just a sewing machine, but it makes me sad.  I should probably mention this was the very last birthday gift my father bought me before he passed away suddenly the following February.  I remember the exact conversation when I told him this was the one I wanted.  I shopped and shopped – testing them out and decided on this one without the computerized front (which was a newer thing at the time).  I figure a mechanical machine would last a long time.  Well… there you go – thank you UPS for tossing things around.

I know I don’t need any more fleece… but this BFL in deep mulberry purple.  Then there were also yarn acquisitions.  Yum!

There were also a few patterns, little treats bought, and visits with friends.  All and all this a good day.

She was gorgeous.

We also saw Sue.

And you can’t miss the man eating lions of Tsavo.

We ended up spending the whole day at The Field and I don’t think we saw it all.

The next day we went to the Shedd Aquarium.  That was very interesting as well, but since it was Saturday it was really busy.  The penguins were quite funny as usual.  They seem to like to ham it up when they know folks are watching.

We had a very nice time.  Chicago is doing a wonderful job with their green space and saw lots and lots of butterflies and moths on the plants.

If you want to see more pictures – you can find them here.

Now let me tell you about my MagEyes.  These are the. Best. Invention. Ever.  Yes, I know not stylish and the band is a bit loose on my head, so I wear it like a head band.  But – What it lacks in style it makes up for in usefulness.  OMG!  This thing is incredible.  I don’t know if I will stitch without it again.  I was able to go so much faster not having to guess where the stitch goes.  I was able to see it so much clearer and I just have the low setting in.  I have fairly decent vision, but my eyes would get tired focusing and squinting… last night my eyes did not get tired.  The best part is you can look up and then refocus quickly when you look down.  It’s so much smoother than my little clip-on lenses I was trying — and so much more comfortable.

I knew I needed something, so I did my research on these and by the rave reviews I knew these were the ones I wanted to try.  I went to Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Jo-Anns and they weren’t stocked anywhere, they had the other brand but these got the good reviews, so I ordered them from a vendor on Amazon and they were worth the few days wait.   They had two choices – I picked the regular view, but they have higher magnify lenses if you need it.

Faygo says – Happy Whisker’s on Wednesday.

Also —- Big thank you to Bubblesknits at Alabama Fiber Dreams – I won the prize for following her to her new blog home.  I’ve never had Wollmeise before and I can’t wait to find the perfect pattern for it.  The Baba Jaga colorway is just gorgeous and a perfect colorway for me.

I didn’t make it to Pewabic this time, but I did manage to acquire a lovely frog from the Edsel and Eleanore Ford house.  It was a toss up between the frog and the Tudor Rose, which was also lovely, but the painting on the frog really spoke to me.  I felt like he could jump off the lily pad he was sitting on.

I finally decided that I needed to finish some spindle spinning and get the plying done.  I have about 310 yards of the pink and 98 yards of the blue.  The blue ended up being a sample – I need to work on that some more as it’s not good for the project I have in mind.  Thank goodness I only bought 1 pound 10 ounces… I have more than enough for the shawl in mind.  The pink – well I’m still mulling over what to do with the pink.  Another should shawl?  Because a girl can’t have too many? I’ve been studying Ravelry, but nothing has spoken yet.  I should mention it’s average fingering weight.  Since it was a superwash it was slicker and bounced from lace weight to sport weight.

Happy Whisker’s on Wednesday.  Jasmine said, “Talk to the paw, ok?  Because I’m not in the mood.”

Also – I’m still getting in my 250 words a day.

DH came home and looked at it and he asked what the button on the handle was for – well it’s to fold it down.  Of course we didn’t know that because we never had a deal with a child’s stroller.

We first took a spin around the house.  The girls seemed ok with it and even Madison liked it.  Coco wasn’t 100% sure, but gave it a whirl also.  Once it cooled off a bit, we headed out on the maiden voyage.

Jasmine sat up and looked around.  Sweet Pea laid down and watched me out the back window the whole way.  We were fine through the whole neighborhood even around the man cutting his lawn.  However, they both got skittish when we had to walk by someone smoothing out gravel with a front loader.  I think that was an extreme circumstance though and they just laid down to the back where they could see me.  I think Coco would have been very skittish as well with that big noise.  I just took the girls this time, because I wasn’t sure I could manage the dogs and them at the same time.  I think I may be able to manage them all on short stints, so we’ll give that another go tomorrow.

Overall the AT3 pet stroller by Pet Gear is a quality product.  I looked at a cheaper model in the pet store and I wouldn’t waste my money on that one.  This one was very sturdy and I felt safe rolling the girls around in it.  I found it to be good size and easy to push.  It’s easy for me to handle and I’m about 5′ 2″.

I did a lot of research before hand and knew that the zipper could be tricky and the drink tray was not square, so I focused on getting those right.  My zipper works fine and the mesh is all in place.  I could take or leave the tray.  It was a good holder for my garage door opener.   The drink cups are a little small.  The inside seems comfy, but not plush.  I would probably put an extra pillow when the weather cools down.  I could easily walk down to the post office with packages or to drop off books at the library, with the carry bit underneath.  Overall I’m extremely happy with this purchase.

It was $5 a bag book sale day at the library and I got a bag full.  I think I’m going to have to donate some back before the next sale as space is always a premium around here.  I’m in a romance mood, so I picked up quite a bit of romance… for study purposes of course with my writing, which I’m still working on and getting in my 250 words a day.

So after much research I decided to go with the red AT3.  It should be here next week or so.  I can’t wait to get out and use it.