The top of old Smoky

I bought some cross stitch fabric from etsy and it came yesterday.  The first package I opened had a musty smell.  I laid it all out on the bed, spritzed it with a little Febreze, put a fan on it and left it overnight.  This morning it smells fine.  The second package smelled like stale cigarette smoke.  After I folded the first lot up and put it away, I spread this one over the bed and gave it a shot of Febreze, and I will let it steep over night.  It is funny, how people who smoke don't think there is much odor left after they stub out the cigarette and go indoors, when in fact it lingers a long time.  Phew!  I should be glad they aren't cigar smokers, I guess.

I am going to try my hand at dyeing some  of my cross stitch fabric, once I get all the bits assembled.  I am going to do tea and coffee as the dyes, and vinegar as the "fixer" .  With these ingredients I won't have to worry about disposing of a toxic solution, it can be poured down the sink.   I need to get a couple of disposable aluminum roasting pans to put in the kitchen sink, this crappy Corian sink will stain badly and I don't like doing the scrub and bleach to fix it.  I'd like it if I can get a crumpled tan/brown finish to look like old parchment for a pattern I have in mind.  I have lots of Aida fabric to experiment with.

For a wonder, the therapist I had given up on, the one who never returned my calls, called to apologize and to set up a meet and greet for next week.  She will call me when she can give me a solid time.  I was so amazed I nearly hung up on her, we get so many spam calls (I have answered two just this morning)  and she talks really fast, just like the spam callers who try to get you to listen past the first 15 seconds.  Now if she just calls me this time...  If she doesn't call this time I will give up.Update:  despite requesting that she call me the next day, when she had her appt. lists, she returned my call 3 weeks later.  I politely said I had moved on in finding a therapist, and she said she understood.  Geesh, three weeks to return a call, no one is that busy that they can't make a 3 minute phone call!

One of the spam callers yesterday was one who called on behalf of policemen and firefighters who are injured in the line of duty.  I told them to send me information, and I would check them out online to see if they are a valid group.  The caller told me they are a tax deductible group, and when I could get a word in edgewise, I said, yes, but that they are tax deductible does not mean they are a charity.  He hung up on me!  That is a first.  My usual ploy is when they ask, How are you this morning?  I proceed to tell them all my aches and pains, doctor advice, medications (all fictional), they usually hang up first, just to shut me up.

Our neighbor brought us a vegetable pizza, I had never tried one before.  It was delicious!  She is going to spoil us.  Originally I tried to keep up, sending brownies, bread, etc. back, but I have lost the match, and given up.  I wish she would send her apple cobbler again.

Kitchen duty is calling, so here is today's humor: