And today's trip

I joked on Twitter that if I were a mean girl, I'd say "Get in the car, loser, we're going antiquing."

Except I didn't have anyone to go with
And I wouldn't call someone I was friendly enough to want to go antiquing with a "loser." (I probably wouldn't call anyone that.)

But yeah. I went to a few places I'd been wanting to go to - Home A La Mode, in particular.

Home A La Mode is a quilt/gift shop that also has an attached tearoom. And they do classes and retreats. It's a cute little old-house shop - the retreat rooms (which are kind of like really upscale camp cabins - they have mostly bunk beds but v. nice bathrooms) are upstairs, the shop and tearoom is downstairs.

I bought a couple "charm packs" (5" squares) and also went back there for lunch. I had a grilled brie-and-cranberry sandwich. It was good, and it was especially good that I was able to ask the waitress (who was also one of the cooks) to "grill it lightly, please, I have sensitive teeth" and she did it PERFECTLY. (I gave a bigger tip than I normally do - and I am not a stingy tipper - because of that). I also had a cup of passionfruit tea and banana pudding for dessert.

And it was just nice - I forget, because I mostly have to shop at big-box stores, how much more the small businessperson has invested in his or her business - one of the owners of the shop gave me a "tour" including showing me all the retreat rooms (Oh, if only I had four or five quilting friends locally who would want to do a weekend retreat....). They also do classes. The other owner showed me her newest "toy" - a Bernina* (I think) model called Sashiko that is a dedicated lock-stitch quilting machine. It really does make stitches that look like the Japanese Sashiko stitches. (It's $3000, so I don't see me getting one any time soon, as nice as it might be to have a dedicated machine to do machine quilting that would fit in my house easily: it is the same size as a standard sewing machine).

*Correction: the brand is BabyLock, not Bernina. 

But yeah, they were super friendly and I liked that.

 I also ran to the antique mall there - and found a Bromwell sifter for $8.

Bromwell is about the only brand that is any good - they are one of the few still made in the US and still properly made. My mom has an old, old Bromwell that I think she got when she got married. I had wanted one, and Amazon sells them, but the new ones are like $60 and as casual of a baker as I am, I couldn't justify that cost. (I had some cheap cruddy little Chinese-made sifter; the handle comes off regularly and I have to put it back together.)

So anyway. I bought the sifter. It has a *tiny* bit of rust on the lower rim, I do not know whether to try to clean that off with some steel wool or not. I will have to think about it. It is in at least as good shape as my mom's and it looks really clean, so I don't worry about using it. (I might sift a little flour through it and throw that out, just to be sure it was clean).

But yeah. It makes me very happy to have one of my big "wants" that I couldn't justify buying new at $60.

I think the model I got is the same as my mom's; it makes the exact same sound as hers does.

I also ran to the other antique shop (in Sherman). I bought a couple more of those "bird and fence" vases - once I have a few of a thing, I have a "collection" and I often wind up adding to it. (Maybe I will add pictures tomorrow).

I also bought a goofy thing: they had (new, not vintage) solar powered "hula girls" - they shimmy back and forth in the sun. Yes, it's dumb and tacky and is probably kinda un-PC but there was something about it I liked, and it was $3, so I got one.

Then I ran to the JoAnn's and got my new bottle of Best Press (and a couple new magazines). And then to Target, but I was running down on energy, so I went home after that.

Saw lots of bad driving behavior - had someone pull right out in front of me, not their turn, but because they "wanted" to, I guess (they had done that thing of pulling way far into the intersection on red). And there was a screaming kid in the Target so I bought what I needed and got out.

****

Also I found something out: remember my frustration with disappearing mail? And how I did a test mailing of about a dozen cards (10 of which reached their destination). And I had mentioned it to my mail carrier and she was unhappy about it.

Well, somehow it came up Monday night at CWF - and the head of the local Chamber of Commerce, who is a member at church, mentioned, "Oh, they very recently indicted someone from the local post office; I don't know what for."

Well, the other day I was coming home as my mail carrier was coming up the street so I walked down and met her. I laughingly told her "I mailed my mom's Mother's Day card on Friday and she got it Monday!" and she kind of laughed and said, "Well, I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell you but your problem with mail going missing should be over" and I mentioned what Janet had said and the mail carrier kind of chuckled and nodded and said she had been pushing her supervisor to look into it and they had.

So yeah. I'm glad that at least for now that's resolved but really, what a slimy thing: to steal greeting cards out of the mail stream hoping they contain money or a gift card. (And how stupid: working for the post office is, by and large, pretty well-paid employment with decent benefits, or at least I thought so, and why risk a job that you can stay in until retirement? But then again, my mom is fond of saying "Smart people don't become criminals," so. I suppose it's a combination of greed and pride - wanting the stuff and thinking you can do it stealthily enough no one will find out).

But I guess I don't need to try what I threatened to do - mail out cards "booby trapped" with a thin piece of card the same size as a gift card, and then a payload of glitter.....