Oh my oh my, these two older folks on Stauffer Avenue need to rest and regroup this weekend. Yesterday we hosted Thanksgiving for eight plus two puppies for my children. Just a fantastic day of laughter, giggling and being together. Dennis was happy as the food was hot when he had his plate filled with his favorite goodies. Nailed that!
Today we traveled to Mankato. Dennis’ daughter Sandy hosted the Curry gathering. Within the mix: a railroad worker who is home every three weeks, a county worker from north of Duluth, a nurse, two military people, etc. It was a total of 28 from the age of 82 to 14 months. The decibel level of noise was at times horrific. As winter can bring predictable weather, it was also their gathering as a total family for Thanks-Christmas.
I found myself loosing a month of days for stitching that I wanted to do for the daughters and granddaughters. The hint had been given to me that they all enjoyed the old fashioned feed sack dishtowels. The six of them were not disappointed.
When Megan was here for her sewing retreat, her and I talked about being brave and trying to sew a purse that would have good utility. I have seen them at craft shows. With a downloaded pattern complete with a companion video, I was getting a good vib.
As long as Dennis and I were traveling to Mankato, I suggested we leave a little early and stop at JoAnn Fabric for some of the metal clasps and buckles that the pattern indicated. What was I thinking? The first clue was that there were no shopping carts available. Immediately as I walked in the checkout line caught my eye as it was halfway down the store with various looks on those who had carts in front of them. I saw three tills going. As I walked down the main aisle to where the sewing notions were, I couldn’t help but see the line of shopping carts, some with more bolts of fabric than others lined up at the cutting tables. It finally clicked. Some men got in line with a cart to pull a number that would be called for the fabric to be cut. The men got in line with their cart while the women were cruising the aisles and kept adding to their stashes in the cart that they intended to have cut and purchased. These couples had taken part in Black Friday lollapalooza sales before. That line soon became so congested that they were lining up two wide.
When Dennis saw me coming out of the store empty handed I could see he had his hands palm side up over the steering wheel as if to say “What . . . they didn’t have anything you needed?” There is no way we would have made it to the family gathering if they had planned on eating at midnight. Amazon and I will be having some intimate time later tonight. I do give some credit for hanging tough. Having to go through what I saw in JoAnn Fabric would totally take the fun out of the sale prices.
I am home loving the fact that Dennis and I hit all the marks for taking in the family time that we had, having a thankful Thanksgiving.