2012? No Problem...but when?

[NiniMorris]

WOW... I really wish I had my camera with me when we came back from therapy! They were actually filming at the convenience store at the corner! I can almost see those cameras from my house ...they are at least on 30 foot booms!

Unfortunately most of the area they are filming in seems to be 100% woods, so we won't be seeing much from here. I may have to break down and actually go see the movie to see if anything looks familiar...right...LOL


Nini

 

[babynala]

That would be worth the ticket price but you might have to get the DVD so you can pause it.

 

[NiniMorris]

That would be worth the ticket price but you might have to get the DVD so you can pause it.

LOL...we actually have a DVD collection of movies that were filmed close to us that have a special meaning...like way back in the 80's a movie was filmed in our back yard (literally...our back yard was Arlington Cemetery) it was supposed to be the Army's answer to Top Gun, but it bombed (mainly because Francis Ford Coppola was the director and his son was killed during the shooting in a drunk boating accident). The movie was called Gardens of Stone. My husband's company was involved very heavily in the shooting. As in my husband was one of the consultants on the movie, and lots and lots of our friends were extras on it. (side note, because they were active duty military, they were not allowed to get paid, so FFC paid them with wine from his private stock).

We also have a couple that hubby was part of the paid security that were filmed locally, and I can't remember the names of all of them because I never actually saw the movies...not my type, but my husband's favorite was one about Gospel singers starring Cuba Gooding Jr. (no clue what the name was... never saw it) In that one he actually met CG Jr's family and became the kids' unofficial body guard...in other words he played with the kids all the time!

Some of the most recent ones filmed around here have been the remake of Footloose, American Pie Reunion, and the Odd Life of Timothy Brown ( I think that is the name...it was a Disney movie that didn't do very well). Of course, this area got started in the television series filming...I think the first one was Dukes of Hazzard back in the mid 70's. That one was fun...the guy that played Skeeter was a local guy...and one of my regular customers at the coffee shop. Because it was a bunch of unknowns, we were all asked to be part of the back ground...and it was very low budget...the props in the 'bar' came from my restaurant...

Of course, who can forget Heat Of The Night! THAT movie was jinxed! Every season they had someone die from the production...mostly from drugs...and all of them died in the same hotel! More than one in the same room...seems to me I would stop letting my people stay there...but that is just me!

For the most part, movie and television production around here is nothing but a pain in the but! I can never get where I need to be, too much traffic, and lots of 'entitled' people walking around ( not the actors, the extras!)

Well, hubby came home from working last night and said they did some scenery shooting yesterday, and will be actually filming today and tomorrow and then packing up over the weekend.

There has been a flurry of activity all morning, cars coming and going. The police have the actual road closed off so no one can get back there and all the extras are being corralled about a quarter mile down the road in a church parking lot. They are being bussed in on an as needed basis...

The only problem I see is that I NEED to get gas! I always let it get almost to the empty ...as in fumes only...before I get any gas... and they are filming at my corner gas station...I hope they will let me in! Other wise, it is going to be a long 30 mile walk to therapy! LOL!


Nini

 

[NiniMorris]

Boy, I only thought there was a lot of activity this morning!

I managed to get gas today before we had to go to therapy, but the gas price was REALLY jacked up...about 50 cents more than a little bit up the road. There were so many giant camera booms in the parking lot it was really hard to get in and out...but I really needed the gas!

As we came out of the subdivision, there were signs as we head toward the high way telling us there was road construction ahead...right...road construction...that is what it was. Then, one of those electric signs with a message telling us to be prepared to stop due to wet roads.

From what we could see, not much had changed when we got home, but shortly after...a steady stream of vehicles going in and out...lots of vans carrying people in and coming out empty. A couple more dressing room trailers and several black SUV type things...and a police type car on a trailer.

For the past several hours we have heard the pumps on the water storage trucks running. The main problem with that is that noise is one that causes me to hae migraines, so I am not really able to get much accomplished. I can not hear it too much from the bedroom, so I have grabbed some munchies and am holding out in there.

And of course, now there are so many strobe lights going on in the back yard...did I mention that is another thing that causes migraines in me?

They have started refilling the water pumping trucks, and are using 3 or 4 of the tankers now, so I am guessing the water machines must really be working hard.

Al this has given me a new appreciation of what goes on behind the scenes of movies. Most of it is boring, but necessary. A ton of work for a little bit of product. Amazing that people actually go through all this on a regular basis just so I can watch a movie!
++++++++++++
On another front, my grand Princess gace us a bit of a scare today.

She has no feelings in her foot, so it is hard to know what is going on in there. When she was putting her shoes and socks on to go to therapy today, she ran over to me and said something was wrong with her toenail. She held up her foot and her toenail was holding on by just a thread. Now I know if that had happened to me I would be screaming.

I held her foot asking her if she wanted a band aid so she could put her sock on and all she kept hollering was not to pull it off. Her tiny foot was resting in the palm of my hand, and I noticed the whole nail had fallen off in my palm. It was a perfectly shaped nail, no tear, no blood, just nail.

When she noticed it was off she thought I had pulled it off...and of course she was mad at me, but got over it pretty quick. She then ran off to put on her shoes and socks.

I sent a quick email to her mommy and daddy and they called her surgeon. She wanted to see her immediately, since this could be a sign that her foot had taken a turn for the worse.

Nope...she had a perfect, complete toe nail underneath! The surgeon is not 100% sure why, but it looks like the nail was pushed off by another nail underneath...sort of like the way your baby teeth are pushed out when the new tooth is ready to make it appearance. That is NOT the way it is supposed to happen...but then again, nothing about this foot has happened the way it was supposed to!

She gave us a scare, but it ended up being nothing! Now, back to watch another episode of Dowton Abbey.


Nini

 

[cogero]

we tend to have a lot of things filmed around here. They used to film a lot of Rescue me in my neighborhood and they filmed part of I think it was the Paper Boy with Nicole Kidman near here.

In high school we watched them film Coming to America with Eddie Murphy near here.

THey haven't filmed much around here lately but Law and Order used to love coming by here.

Glad the Grand Princess is okay I am sure that was a relief.

 

[DMGeurts]

The movie sounds exciting!

So glad the grandprincess is OK - what a relief!

Which episode of Downton Abbey are you on? We are such addicts and can barely wait until our Season 2 DVD arrives... (considering that Season 3 is already here - it's been rough)

D~

 

[NiniMorris]

I finished all that was on Netflix...so I have only seen season 1. I think I can get to season 2 on the computer...and I will have a HDMI cable come in next week so I can hook it up to the tv in the studio and watch!

I haven't actually checked to make sure it will be available online, because if it si, I might spend even more time on the computer watching that....and Lord knows I have enough stuff to get done without another distraction on the computer! LOL!


Nini

 

[miprender]

How scary about the toe nail. Will your GD ever have feeling in her foot? Poor little thing has been through so much.

 

[NiniMorris]

How scary about the toe nail. Will your GD ever have feeling in her foot? Poor little thing has been through so much.

Probably not ...at least not the way we have feeling in our feet. She can feel when it is touching the ground and when the sock is on her foot...but can't really feel anything other than the bottom of her foot. The top and sides have lost most of the nerves...

You know how you can use your toes to pick something up...she can't curl her toes. As the doctor said... the toes are just along for the ride now. Although they sometimes get 'itchy' the doctor said those were more like 'phantom' pains that an amputee would feel.


Nini

 

[aboveH20]

I'm posting from my iPad so I don't think I can quote (I'll have to ask Chiara's son) but where are the tag fairies? I think "the toes are just along for the ride" would made a great tag.

We'll have to have a Big Give and get you a camera. Too many things are going on that we need to SEE.

 

[NiniMorris]

Right now...if I took a picture behind my house, you would only see trees. You can't even tell there is a road back there. Very well camouflaged even in winter.

With those big blue tanker truck thingys parked back there, it was very obvious that there was a road and a bunch of people. Unfortunately, the pictures were pretty bad. I actually have a good camera...but I just don't know how to use it! If I posted a picture...it would have been just a bunch of brown trees with bright blue behind them...didn't show up nearly as well in pictures as it did in real life!


Nini

 

[DMGeurts]

Just stoppin' by to see if there is any trip news????

I know you are busy enjoying your new sewing machines... We'd love to see them!

D~

 

[NiniMorris]

Actually, the machines come in today...they missed the truck yesterday. So I am trying to get some last minute stuff done around the house so I can play!

The latest on our trip front, is that my son and dil (and Grand Princess) may not get to go with us in December. They are trying to buy a house, and the late Christmas gift my dil gave herself (jewelry) has made them rethink the trip. They have to pay off the rings before June so they can get the house, and that will put them in the danger zone of paying for the trip...unless Free dining is offered!

We have decided we are going even if Free Dining is not offered...but it is going to be a really tight trip! LOL!

But I do have a question for you D~.... how do you make sure the funds gained from selling your fantastic bags go directly to the Disney trip fund?

I have made about 600 so far this year in commissions and selling dresses ...but so far ZERO has actually made it to the Disney fund! Seems I am using it to purchase new fabrics, designs, and now new sewing and serger machines! My pay pal balance never seems to make it directly to Disney...I think I am going to make a suggestion that they start taking PayPal funds! LOL!



Nini

 

[DMGeurts]

Actually, the machines come in today...they missed the truck yesterday. So I am trying to get some last minute stuff done around the house so I can play!

Yay! I hope you get the chance to play!

The latest on our trip front, is that my son and dil (and Grand Princess) may not get to go with us in December. They are trying to buy a house, and the late Christmas gift my dil gave herself (jewelry) has made them rethink the trip. They have to pay off the rings before June so they can get the house, and that will put them in the danger zone of paying for the trip...unless Free dining is offered!

Good for them to pay things off to get a house - having a home is important. I have all of my body part crossed for FD.

We have decided we are going even if Free Dining is not offered...but it is going to be a really tight trip! LOL!

I know that feeling all too well.

But I do have a question for you D~.... how do you make sure the funds gained from selling your fantastic bags go directly to the Disney trip fund?

This used to be soooo easy for me, lately, not so much. I used to just hoard the $$ in my Paypal account, then when I was ready to buy a batch of GCs, I'd transfer the exact amount I needed to my personal bank account. I don't have a Paypal Debit card - so my $$ is never readily accessable.

But lately... It's been much harder... I've been using my sewing funds as a trip fund/savings account... So - I used my trip fund for Christmas.... Then I filled it up again... I used it then for the oven/Josh's alternator/Josh's batteries/my surgery and other medical co-pays... Now I am in the process of filling it up again. I am determined not to use the $$ for anything but our trip.

Thankfully - I do have a few GCs that I've purchased here and there, through out this, but not as many as I would like. And I've managed to put a healthy stash of real $$ into our real savings (which I should have had before, but was being financially stupid )... So, now I hope to be free and clear to just save for our trip. It's gonna be close - very close - especially if no discounts are released... But it looks like Josh is going to help with airfare, and a portion of the trip... because, according to my calculations - I've put our entire trip fund x2 into our family budget over the last 5 months... And you know how much our trip is costing us.

Sorry to ramble... Anyways... Now I have plans for 2 HUGE auction releases between now, and when we leave... I won't divulge the themes - but I know they are going to be LOVED... I am hoping to have the first one sometime before the end of June (preferably before the end of May)... This will - hopefully give us the bump in funds we need. Then I am planning to have another one finish right before we leave for our trip, so we have some extra spending $$. We'll see how it goes in real life, when it gets closer.... It might be a train wreck waiting to happen.

So, if I were you - I would lock up your Paypal Debit card - if you have one... It will be way less tempting to spend the $$ if you have to wait the 3-5 business days for the transfer to take place. And really be devoted to keeping your spending to a minimum. I wish you all the luck in the world - because it's not easy.

I have made about 600 so far this year in commissions and selling dresses ...but so far ZERO has actually made it to the Disney fund! Seems I am using it to purchase new fabrics, designs, and now new sewing and serger machines! My pay pal balance never seems to make it directly to Disney...I think I am going to make a suggestion that they start taking PayPal funds! LOL!



Nini

I know the feeling... I have issues staying off of Etsy and Fabric.com (they take Paypal too ya know?)... Especially when I get an idea in my head.

Good luck... Maybe we can keep eachother in line? LOL

D~

 

[NiniMorris]

I decided to make myself accountable by posting here...

I just transferred all my money from PayPal over to my checking account...unfortunately it will take 7 to 10 days for it to show up...but as soon as it does I am plopping it over to Disney! Then I have a commission check I need to cash and put in Disney's account as well.

I wish I could just transfer it to the saving account and then send it to Disney after it has earned me a few pennies...but I know that is not going to happen...so I will get it over to Disney as soon as I can..

On my big customer order, I have two of the 8 dresses finished, and ready to get pictures so they can be packed up...and two more about 90% finished...just have to add the bottom ruffles (each have a double row), button holes and add the bodice to the skirt. (all 10 appliques are done and the skirts are put together and the bodices are all sewn together.)

Tomorrow I need to hit a couple of fabric stores to see if I can find a fabric for the last two dresses, and another coordinating fabric for the other set. i also need at least one more coordinating fabric for my launch dress.

My niece has asked me to make her baby a Minnie Mouse dress for her coming home from the hospital...and a big sister shirt for her 13 year old. And...of course, my grand baby will be here in May. I still have to put bindings on both quilts as well as make the window treatments. Then, I need to make something for the out of state baby shower her in laws are throwing for her.

On my Etsy page, I have PICC line covers for kids. They started as something for a little Mito friend to help keep her PICC line clean...and look cool. If I had the time to actually market them, I do know there is a BIG market for them at the children's hospital...but I seriously don't have the time to go up there with samples and a price list. Anyway, I have people almost every month asking me to make one for adults. I always say no. Last night I had a request from a daughter...her father is going through chemo treatments and she wanted one in cammo for him...something about her message touched my heart, and we are in the conversation stage of trying out a new pattern for adults. I will give it to them for free of course.


As you can see...I am a tad busy... But I do know that I will never again take on an order of 8 dresses at once...too much stress...LOL!

Nini

 

[cogero]

good for you for transfering the money. I hate large orders or orders that want something exactly how I made something else. I get bored easily.

 

[NiniMorris]

good for you for transfering the money. I hate large orders or orders that want something exactly how I made something else. I get bored easily.

LOL...so do I!

But at least when I made Miss B and the Princess' stuff, there were LARGE differences in their size...like one was a size 3 and one was a size 8...now these two girls are a size 5 ish and a size 6 ish...I had to keep marking on the wrong side which was which! You have to be MUCH more organized...whic I am not! LOL

Nini

 

[babynala]

Good idea to transfer your money and send it to Disney. It is a true Disney savings plan.

Your list of sewing projects is wearing me out. Hope the new machines arrive soon.

I hope you get the adult version of the picc line cover figured out.

 

[NiniMorris]

I have had my new machines for a few days and I have to say... I love them


My old serger sounded like a jack hammer...the stitches worked but they were not pretty. I could not do a decent rolled hem if my life depended on it! The machine itself looked all sleek and pretty, but I would give it a 5 out of 10 in the actual mechanics. (I paid around 150 3 years ago, and new today it would cost 198)

This new serger is so different! I actually hums as it sews. Gives a smooth nice looking seam without any problems...in fact, I adjusted a sum total of zero dials! All I did was thread it and go! The seams are so pretty! I read through the instruction manual to see how hard it would be to do a rolled hem...and the main obstacle is taking one needle out... which I hate doing. So, I ran a test stitch with both needles in and tried a rolled hem. I was pleasantly surprised at what I got. It was a very decorative rolled hem...something I would probably not ever use, but knowing it works makes me feel better...now if I could just finish my current workload so I could play around with it! (I paid 499 through HSN on a flex pay...so only 125 a month is tied up with zero interest)

My old sewing machine was another loud machine! It did all the things I needed it to, but I was just not happy with it. I WANTED a new machine that would not take an hour to adjust for what I wanted it to do. Considering that I learned to sew on a vintage machine (back before it was considered vintage! LOL!) that had a straight only stitch, my machine had enough bells and whistles to keep me happy for the 5 years I had it.

I really needed a machine that would shirr. That Singer would take forever to adjust just so...and then the bobbin would be almost empty...so after winding another bobbin you had to adjust again! (no wonder I hated doing the shirred outfits!) I had a great ruffle attachment, but was afraid to set it up on that machine...I knew it could be a bit rough on machines, and it took FOREVER to set it up and adjust it...I could attach all ruffles by HAND before I got that thing set right! (It was about 5 years old and I think I paid around 200 for it)

The new machine is a dream! Quiet. Perfect stitches. Nice zig zag. Knee lift. An automatic threader that WORKS! An automatic thread cutter. More feet than I will ever need or use! A walking foot. (yes, I know my old machine had one as well, but this one is different!) A button holer that WORKS (not only does it work, but the results are pretty!)

I was able to set up my old machine as a dedicated ruffle machine...and it actually seems to like that set up! Oddly enough, I did not have to really change any settings to set it up...she was very happy with the set up and has behaved herself through yards and yards and yards of ruffles!

My new Brother sewing machine also came from HSN (at a price of 499). With the ability for zero interests and 4monthly installments, my cash flow wasn't tied up...and that is always nice!


Over all I am happy with my set up. I see a few tweaks that need to be made here and there... but the main change (besides having machines I LOVE!) is that I moved the Brother sewing machine next to the Brother embroidery machine. I can now sew and still keep an eye on the embroidery process. Before the serger and Singer machine were next to each other. I think having the ruffler and serger next to each other is a better set up...of course that might be because I have a ton of dresses that have double ruffles on the bottom!

That is my mini review of my new machines... the serger is a Juki MO-654DE; and the sewing machine is a Brother PC-420.

Nini

 

[cogero]

So happy you love your new machines. I know when I switched to my Janome Sewing machine and serger I was so happy.

Can't wait to see your creations.