Four Days in the Dark

      For a little spooky Halloween preview, a nor'easter treated us to four days with no power!

      So let me first say, if you ever think that time is moving too quickly, you're tired, and you'd love a few days "off," just throw that main switch you have in the cellar... you will experience the MISERY of days that WILL. NOT. END. The STAGNATION of not having anything to do. The YEARNING for life to return to normal. 

(a house around the corner-- MISSED, thank goodness!)

     All that being said, I didn't have as much to complain about as some. As I frequently tell the artist-in-residence-- marry an Eagle Scout-- he'll always be prepared. And so we have been, since Y2K, with our handy little Honda generator. As most of you recall, it was not required at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 1999, but has come in handy a few times since Mr. SFO was out in the yard, ready to pull that cord on the millennium.

    Unfortunately, this time Mr. SFO was not at home, and it was up to me and the aforementioned artist to stand in 85mph gusts and drenching rain and pull that cord 100 times before our 21 year old Honda roared to life. We are able to save our food, charge our phones, and have a few lights. The episode is now passed and I don't want to harp on about the existential crisis I suffered--  I'll simply conclude by saying my frozen Thanksgiving turkey has been saved.

    So there's not much to talk about this week! I did a little cross stitching by candle light-- it will forever be a mystery to me how those ladies of old accomplished anything after the sun went down. Here's me feeling punchy on Day 3... I have a bit of ripping out to do, now that I can see it again, but at least my lovely AUTUMN piece did not catch on fire.

     Word games-- not a favorite of mine, as a kid-- do not require power and are now slightly more interesting with a cross stitch tie-in. I was able to think of A to Z Thanksgiving with no help from Google this time-- LOL. I'll be releasing this later in the week. This didn't start out as a monthly series idea, but I'm enjoying digitizing them. There are only so many words that begin with X, so if I have to use eXcitement every month, it may get a bit old!

    Worst of all, I had the Scrappy Oak Leaf tablerunner just hours away from releasing before the blackout-- hoping I can get this done early this week. I love it! We also made a video tutorial on how to machine embroider appliques-- you probably already know how, but there's a few tips you might enjoy. My cinematographer said, "At least you knew what you were talking about this time," and I took that very kindly, indeed.

     Another thing you can do during a power-out is, EAT, and when one occurs so fortunately before Halloween, you can eat candy. I worked my way through a giant BJs bag of 135 Hershey's chocolates, Heath Bars, Kit Kats, Reese's cups, and Whoppers. At Weight Watchers, they tell you to buy candy you don't like-- but I like them all!

     Despite supply chain warnings, I was able to restock yesterday-- so come on over! I'm gonna try to have a candy free week now-- except for ONE "Frankencup." I really want to know what that is-- but, I already know I'll like it!

So that's about it for this week! Today, I'm going to carve up my pumpkin, finish Scrappy Oak leaves, and make giant bags of candy for my trick-or-treaters. We live at the end of a half-mile long deserted road-- so any intrepid ghost or goblin who makes it this far  deserves to be treated very well.

Happy Halloween!

xox

Carol