Happy February!!!!

February already!  Yes, it is still cold and snowy but March is on the way.  I go back to work in March. Happy Days.  Yesterday I vacuumed and mopped the wood floors in the great room.  Everything looks nice.  I even washed Riley's Moo (a cow pillow) which was damaged at Sleepover Camp.He chewed a large hole in Moo's rear end.

Yesterday, I tried stuffing the feet separately (with new stuffing) and stitching them closed on the sewing machine (breaking yet another needle).  I then decided to do the stitching on the rest of the cow, by hand.  I had removed the cheap balled up stuffing before washing and I filled the cow with good stuff and even stitched down the backbone to keep the new stuffing nicely positioned.  Then I stitched the torn and chewed areas along the bottom seam.  Riley watched all these things with extremely close attention.  The cow was then returned to him and he gently licked the cow's face to welcome her back.  And promptly fell asleep with his head on the cow's side.  All's well in Riley's world.

I was watching the TiVo'ed recordings of three hours of the Good Wife and liking the clothing being worn by Diane.  So I jumped up and got my journal and did a few quick sketches of the items I particularly liked. My new Chinese horoscope for the Year of the Dragon (beginning on Feb 4) mentions wearing more black.  It also requests that I do more work facing north.  Guess what?  I am facing north as I type.  And my sewing machine is facing north.  Sounds good to me.  I wonder which way I face at work?

I have received a tall stack of mail from unemployment.  Why can't they send it all in one envelope and save taxpayer money?  The end result is that I must reimburse the state of Maine for the $72 I got for Christmas pay.  Because Sunday was in a different week.  The good news is that I am still getting my benefit checks.  And not in jail.

I finally gave up on the Cuisinart coffeemaker and unplugged it and opened the carton holding the new Krups coffeemaker.  The Cuisinart started out grinding the coffee beans and then brewing the coffee.  Then, after years of this it stopped grinding but would still brew coffee.  It still does that, but now it shuts itself off whenever it feels like it.  Not keeping the coffee hot.  The coffee from the Krups is very tasty.  I'm using Dunkin Donuts Decaf (like I had in Florida--yes!, in the expensive Italian coffeemaker) and it is very tasty.  Doesn't have the creamy top like in Florida, but just as rich and flavorful.

This morning I ordered a black knit dress from Coldwater Creek.  Boatneck with little capped sleeves.  There was a $25 off coupon which just about covered the tax and shipping.  In the end, I saved $10 on the dress. I figure it will be nice to have a "little black dress" in the closet.  I can wear it with a jacket, filmy blouse or sweater.  I can even wear it with pearls.  The "new" Coldwater Creek sizing chart is interesting.  Large is now just 14.  Large used to be 14-16.  Now 16 is XL.  My recently purchased pencil skirt is a 14 so I chose the 14 in the dress as well.  While watching Project Runway last night (recorded) I heard something interesting.  Celebs on the red carpet are usually wearing "double Spanx" under the clothing.  Two pair of Spanx (and I am sure they are not wearing the appropriate size for their weight--going smaller).  I find wearing one pair to be claustrophobic enough.  I'll use my savings of $10 (on the dress) to purchase a pair of control top pantyhose.

As a note:  My custom made wool skirts from the mid 80's have a 31.5 inch waist band.  Which in those days was really large.  Now it's a size 10.  I believe I was wearing a size 12 or 14 then.  (42 and 44 in European sizes)  I know, because I still have the clothing, that everything is pretty small.  I remember feeling really fat back then.  Now, I dream of being that "small" again.

I have a lunch date set up for tomorrow with my walking buddy (and she will pick me up), a movie date with my daughter on Sunday and another lunch date for next week sometime with my library friend. Hello February!!!