Sylvia's Simple Shots

It's been busy!  

I had my aunt and her husband over for tea on Sunday.

It's been a long while since she was over so we had a good visit.  I was able to ask a couple of guy questions - about the DeWalt drill I inherited from my Dad. One of the batteries won't charge so he recommended calling DeWalt.  On the ToDo List

I sent peaches from the case home with them.

The car went in for servicing at 7:30 am so I had to spend half a day in the area.  I read my book in a bit of a coffee shop till businesses opened at 9:00 am.  I stopped at Starbuck and did some craft ideas journaling while I drank my $4 chocolate milk! 

I then headed to VV.  I sure can spent a few hours there. Forgot my coupons at home.

I bought myself a light backpack because I did not take my big one from college days because it weighs too much. It has a slot inside to keep the water bottle upright and a waist strap. Yes we will take that.

I had several stops on my list.

I stopped in at Dollarama that day as well.  I was looking for tape but came out with these metallic watercolors for $2.

They are great.  Very impressed.

Easily moistened, sit in full sized pans and provide good coverage.  I will have to find a container/box to keep them in.

I have been using them a lot.

The Call of the Wrens by Jenni L. Walsh was the book a read this week.  A wonderful book with strong female main characters.  We meet Marion Horton in WWI and Evelyn Fairchild in the WWII which served in the WRENs. WREN stands for Women's Royal Naval Service in the United Kingdom.  

Marion Horton is an orphan and at eighteen she ages out of the support system and has to find her way in the world.  The war is on so she joins the WRENs and finds family.  Her boyfriend Eddie Smith,  a fellow orphan lies about his age to join the war effort as well.  They do their basic training and motorcycle dispatch training and are posted close enough to see each other.

Evelyn Fairchild is a teenager and loves to drive fast. She is found at Brooklands regularly.  She has a clubfoot for which she has had many surgeries to correct. It has not kept her down and she has pursued her goals. Her mother is very protective of Evelyn. Evelyn thinks it is too much and she does not want to just get married.

There is a wonderful twist at the end of the book was made a great conclusion to the story.

With needing to embellish my linen coasters I decided that maybe some Sashiko work might be useful.

I looked up where I might find such things where I live.

I discovered a new to me quilt shop - Trapunto ( which means quilt in Italian). 

The ladies were very helpful and I came home with the cheaper needles and some thread as well.  I have heard of this type of stitching through Kathryn and my slow stitching challenge.

We shall see.

I have decided to trade in my great Contigo plastic water bottle for metal ones.  keeping water in plastic contributes to micro plastic in my body so I made the switch.  Of course, metal Contigo bottles on the second hand market are non existant.  Will other brands be water spill proof?

I did buy a few before I found a couple I was happy with. I have the blue one for the car and the white one fits in the new backpack.  MTF had a 50% sale on the whole store. Good to go!

It feels like back to school. 

I have bought myself a couple of jean type pants in the last couple of weeks.  This pair of stretchy jeans are a bit short waisted so they needed a belt.

I bought the belt a couple of days later after I had worn the jeans a couple of times.  I still have to shorten them.  The price was $10 but with the 50% sale I was happy with the final cost.

The belt was $2 at VV later in the week.

Keeping with the feel of back to school I bought a pair of new to me runners as well.  

They fit well,the color was good at teal and black and they were in good condition.  They needed a good cleaning.

The cost was more than I am used to but that is with everything these days.  At $16 but after I looked them up on line I was happy.  The regular price runs between $130 to $150.

I gave them a good wash and let them dry in the sun on the balcony for a couple of days.

Good as new!

I dropped off art at the Spruce Grove Gallery for the Open Art Competition

Then did some shopping at VV.  The Goodwill store has closed. Bummer! 

I connected with my aunt and dropped by for a visit and a game of scrabble.

It has been a very busy week!