Since we're in a heat wave and Wonderful Husband and I've been doing the borrowing-the-spare-car shuffle with my parents (WH's car went in for its XX-thousand mile tuneup), yesterday I put the Singer 401 in my car and left it in the sun, windows up, all day, and then took it over to my parents. The heat loosened a few screws that I hadn't been able to move previously, and my father was able to free up the presser foot bar. Hooray! Now I just need to put a foot on it, adjust the bar height, and I can actually sew on her! (The 401's name is Megan. This makes over half of my sewing machines, as well as my car, named for Transformers references. At least the car makes sense.)

TiVo failed to record the two-episode preview of Dragons: Riders of Berk, so last night I found them on YouTube and watched. I'm... a little disappointed. I mean, the series was never going to live up to the richness of the movie, but a lot of it is too... flat? caricatured? obvious? Still, I'll probably give episodes 3+ a chance when they come out.

Due to the aforementioned heat wave, I've been watering the (neglected) garden a lot this week, and have decided there is no WAY I'm hitting the fabric district in 100-degree-plus temperatures this Saturday. We can go curtain-shopping next weekend.

And, yes, I felt both of the SoCal earthquakes this week. The Tuesday 11:24pm one I was lying in bed for, and correctly gauged it in the 4-5 range (it was a 4.4 epicentered about six miles from the house), and the Wednesday morning one (4.5, just about same epicenter) I felt at work, seventeen miles further away, though about half my coworkers didn't. I suspect my ability to accurately assess the magnitudes is a sign of having lived here too long. How does that Jeff Foxworthy joke go? "If you've been on the news more than three times describing what the tornado sounded like...."

Yesterday morning I did a run of five estate sales and four thrift stores. I spent a grand total of $7. ^_^;; I can't decide if that means the shopping Force was with me or not. I was very amused at the one sale where everything in the entire house was new. Agressively new. Even the stuff out in the (carpeted) garage, which is where people usually keep old/junky claptrap. It gave me a little insight into why Old Money families traditionally look a bit askance at the Nouveau Riche.

The blood pressure machine at Rite-Aid said my BP was 127/79. So I'm within spitting distance of acceptable, and I haven't even been watching my sodium intake recently! (Wonderful Husband took his right after me and his numbers were ~20 lower for both systolic and diastolic. Grr. I must do better.) I suspect going to the gym (546 calories burned last night!) is helping.

( Once Upon A Time )

( Thundercats )

Start: 117400
Finish: 119480
Daily Total: 2080
Monthly Total: 10764

Finished chapter 22, started on chapter 23. Realizing I need to learn more about painting in order to deal with Owen getting the PoV. Also that when I finish this book, I need to get a topographical map and draw lines on it.

Watched episode 2 of Once Upon A Time. Grateful that Emma is retaining her kick-assness (her versus the tree was a woohoo/fistpump moment) and that the Evil Queen is more than a one-note character. Hoping Maleficent shows up again; she was interesting. Also, I was muttering quotes attributed to Edmund Burke. Specifically the one about "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Still trying to figure out if the Sheriff is the Queen's Huntsman, or the Big Bad Wolf, or neither of the above.

ETA: I can stand some illogic in the OUAT universe, such as the apple tree bearing fruit clearly out of season, because, hey, magic or whatever, but, really, the fact that they claim it's a Honeycrisp? The apples look nothing like Honeycrisps. Was bugging the heck outta me all episode. Worse than whatever type of engine Mikaela claimed Bumblebee had in TFs1 because I don't know engines. But fruit! I mean, c'mon, we all hit the grocery store from time to time, right? /ETA

Am very amused at how disparate yet intriguing both theatrical variants of the Snow White story coming out next year are. Snow White and the Huntsman seems to be taking a very serious, epic, Narnia-esque slant to the story, while Mirror, Mirror seems to be taking a much more tongue-in-cheek approach to the story. Thus far, I am looking forward to both.

My parents came over for dinner, which was good in one way (good food, my father's leg is mostly better, we discussed plans for Christmas with my inlaws, and I sent them home with jars of stuff and a loaf of bread), and bad in another: my father's youngest brother collapsed earlier today and is in the hospital in a coma. No further information yet. I'm worried, and my wishes and prayers are with my uncle and his family, of course, but... there's nothing I can do but wait to hear.

Watched the first episode of Grimm after dinner, digesting before going to the gym. NBC has definitely given their fairy tale show a bigger budget than ABC did. And, on a pilot-to-pilot basis, it's less cliche and more interesting, even though the only character whose name I had in my head by the end of the episode was the hero's aunt.

Then we went to the gym and for some reason, I don't know why, I had a hard time burning up the calories; I barely made it to 500. And Once Upon A Time was showing on one of the TVs, but another was showing Hitch, so I mostly watched that. Far better than last week, when there was only a TV movie about Selena to compete with it. Or, as always, six channels of sports, which don't interest me. I love the warm feeling I have in my thighs by the end of a session. I love the feeling of the cool outside air against my heated body as I leave. And I'm learning to love the moment of prickle on the backs of my forearms when my body registers that hey, yeah, exercise session!

942 words done; 725 to go for the night...

Wonderful Husband and I went to the gym at different times today since he wanted to try one of the classes and I needed to do a bit of shopping on the way home. So I was pulling into one aisle of parking just as he was pulling out of another. I saw him; he did not see me.

After doing my hour of cardio, I came home and while he washed dishes I cooked mini taters and some bratwurst sausages, and broke out the sauerkraut for its debut. It is very pink, and not nearly as sour as the stuff you get out of the cans from the grocery store. Which is probably good; while I like strong tastes, Wonderful Husband isn't nearly so big on them. While dining, we watched the first episode of Once Upon A Time. Which didn't really grab us per se, but which we'll keep watching to see where it goes.