AC and machine update

Adrian did a good job explaining the whole air conditioner situation. My question is: did the owners think there was air conditioning? I am absolutely positive it was in the Craig’s List ad, and I actually even remember talking about it. Now, on the control panel thingy you CAN select “cool”, which one would assume means air conditioning, but there is no unit outside. I even walked around the house to double check just to make sure (I couldn’t remember seeing one, once it occurred to me, but that is one of those things that just gets absorbed into the background normally). As far as I know, you can’t actually have air conditioning without one of those big things outside. Anyway, kind of a bummer, since the AC and the gas stove were two of the big reasons we chose this house. I’m sure we’ll survive, it’s just kind of annoying to be sweating inside your own home… even with the fans going. I was really wondering what was wrong with the AC for it to be so ineffective after running it all day long. Hahaha.

Since I got so many comments from helpful people on the sewing machine deal, here’s a quick update on that, too: I’m going to wait a little while. I’ve realized that in order to make a big enough step up from what I already have, it would be a lot of money. Sewing machines are expensive! It seems silly to buy something that’s just a little nicer or a little heartier than my machine, because if I’m going to spend a good amount of money it might as well be really worth it. So then the question is should get a machine that is about where I’m at now, or one that I would grow into? My ideas are always a little bigger than the realm of possibility (Adrian and I definitely have that in common, though his are about vacations we could take and things like that and mine are about things I’m capable of doing… and in this particular case what my machine can help me do). So do I reach up high enough that it would be capable of everything I envision myself wanting to do? You know, I don’t do a lot of quilting now (I did try… but it was puckered on the back after I tried to quilt it and not so good and I got frustrated… perhaps my own fault for thinking it was a good idea to jump into the world of quilting with one that could fit a full bed?), but I would like to. So do I need a machine big enough for that? Etc. I don’t want to spend tons of money on something that I think I’d then want something else after a little while, even if that little while is five years.

Also, in all my reading and research about machines I’ve realized that mine is actually pretty good, relatively speaking. The things that people complain about in reviews it either doesn’t do at all or only slightly. So for a lower-end machine, it really does do what it needs to do. Also, I figured out that tension issue–not why it’s happening but at least I can feel it while I’m threading the machine now so I can fix it immediately, rather than doing test stitches every time I sew. So that has removed a lot of my headache. Of course, then last weekend we went to this quilt shop and I tried out some of the machines there and they were SO smooth and quiet. It was pretty crazy. I’ll leave it at that before I sound nutso and completely bore anyone who doesn’t sew.

So. That means I’m trying to figure out how to earn some extra money specifically for a sewing machine so that I don’t feel SO wasteful or insane in wanting a really crazy nice one. Well, I still do, but I feel like if I can also prove that I’ll really use it, then it’s more justified. We’ll see how that turns out. Maybe in a few years I’ll get there… by which time, of course, I’ll perhaps have another kiddo and have even less time for my own creative endeavors.