Day Brightener!

Look at what I received this morning; isn't it just the best?!! It was created for me by our DIL and Lynnleigh, I couldn't love it more! Our DIL got a sublimation printer for Christmas. You can click on the hyper link for more info, this was all new to me; I'm so VERY excited about the result!

I'm including a day brightener for you, too; a dear friend texted this to me yesterday. It hits close to home. 

Are you smiling? 

Life is Good!

Chain Reaction

Do you see that cute strawberry-motif thermal carafe on the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet? It was a gift that was left on a doorstep for me last week from a friend who works at the LQS. She knows that I love strawberries and that I have strawberry dishes; she passed this along to a very grateful me! Mr. Goodneedle brought it in and left it on the counter top one day last week. It sat there for a good while, I admired it's beauty whenever I passed. Later in the day he went to pick up dinner for us at a local restaurant. While he was gone I decided to put it away, up on that top shelf. That simple act began a chain reaction of disastrous events that would rival any I Love Lucy episode! To begin with, I crawled up there, and in an effort to rearrange items already there, I inadvertently knocked off a jar of homemade seasoning salt onto the granite counter top below. The jar was substantial in size-- an old applesauce jar, and, naturally, it was glass. When it made contact it virtually exploded, sending shards of glass, salt, pepper and garlic powder everywhere! It was a huge mess. I very carefully crawled down, began to pick up and sweep up, and, in doing so, knocked my favorite hand-warmer mug over onto the counter top where it fractured and fell into two pieces, immediately releasing its contents of hot, freshly-brewed English Breakfast tea onto the counter top, into the drawers in the drawer stack underneath, onto the floor and onto me and my shirt! I couldn't believe what was happening. Certainly I didn't want my shirt to commemorate this disaster by bearing a permanent tea-stain; I peeled it off, ran to the laundry room and threw it into the laundry sink. I turned on the tap and decided to let it sit there under cool, running water. I could only handle one occurrence at a time!  Grabbing towels from everywhere that I could reach, I ran back to the kitchen and continued to frantically mop up-- sweep up-- pick up. Right around the time that I felt I was starting to gain on the mess I suddenly remembered the running water and my shirt in the sink. NO! You guessed it; in only a few minutes the laundry room sink was pouring out water onto the counter top and floor, my shirt had acted as a stopper and plugged the drain. I was beyond exasperated at this point. I grabbed the sopping mess out of the sink and tossed it into the washing machine. This was followed by more soaking-up, more mopping; this chain-reaction calamity seemed to go on forever! By the time Mr. Goodneedle came through the door carrying our dinner I had my shirt and a load of towels in the washing machine, another load in the dryer, a spic and span laundry room, a freshly cleaned kitchen floor, spotless counter tops and dried and polished drawer and cabinet door fronts. Broken glass, the mug and seasoned salt debris had all been securely wrapped in brown paper and disposed of. "What did you do while I was gone?' he asked. Believe me, we had plenty to talk about over dinner.

Yesterday a package arrived in our mailbox. Mr. Goodneedle ordered a replacement for my beloved hand-warmer mug. What a wonderful surprise and loving gift; I was thrilled to pieces. Well-- not too many pieces,😲 that's a poor choice of phrases in this instance; let's just say that I was delighted at his thoughtfulness; what a guy! 

As for that precious thermal carafe, I really do love it and will certainly use it; just not right away.

It's going to take time for me to work up the courage to get back up there and get it down, 

I'm not quite brave enough yet. 

Life is Good!

Out With The Old...

... in with its replacement! This photo is of my hand-warmer mug, it's as much a part of my morning routine as brushing my teeth and taking a shower. I received it for Christmas a few years ago from our daughter and her family. As someone who's perpetually cold, this mug offers as much hand-soothing therapy as it does a perfect cup of tea to start the day; I couldn't imagine my mornings without it (nor did I want to!). Well, you probably know what's coming next. One morning, a few weeks ago, I was drying my hair with my trusty mug of tea nearby on the bathroom countertop when I noticed a puddle underneath of it, I thought that I must have bumped the mug, cleaned up the spill and went back to what I was doing. Another puddle immediately appeared. My heart sank-- yes, on closer inspection, there was a hairline crack all the way down one side. I muddled through with a substitute teacup for a few days and made the decision to bite the bullet and order a replacement. Of course, even with lots of color options available, I wanted one exactly the same (I don't like change!😉) as the one I had before. I placed the order and received the replacement thanks to great service!

This box appeared on our doorstep the very next day!

Okay, that's going to leak much worse than the cracked one I had. 😬

Again, the wonderful customer service at Mast General Store saw to it that this would be made right. 

Back in business, a replacement for the replacement arrived almost immediately; the tea is hot and my hands are warm (and dry, no more leaks!); all is right with my morning routine once again!

When we visited Quiltville Inn back in November, Quiltkeemosabe and I were both in love with the provided sewing chairs that Bonnie had positioned at every station.  They were small enough in scale to move easily, super comfortable and easily adjustable, height-wise. My friend received one just like we had used there from her husband for Christmas for her re-vamped sewing space. I decided a new one was on the horizon for me too; I always take my own retreat chair (except to Quiltville Inn where everything is provided!) and the one I have used forever for that purpose had stopped playing nicely in that ever so important height-adjustment capacity. Quiltkeemosabe brought hers over to Chez Goodneedle for show and tell at a recent sew-day here. I was sold; (I had already researched the affordability, and when I found out that this was available in red!) it was a done deal. Out with my old worn-out retreat chair, in with the new. This arrived in two days, thanks Amazon Prime (Boss Office Products Perfect Posture Deluxe Fabric Task Chair)!  It won't replace my everyday sewing chair but it will fill in quite nicely as a second chair and will accompany me on sewing road trips!

Life is Good!

Up next: Stitching Up A Storm!