Merry New Year!

SO, I got the New year off to a good start. I finished my last UFO project before I watched the ball drop.

 This Hexi table runner was something I put together, but kind of lost interest in, I still don't know if I love it or not, but it's done.

 I wasn't too sure how to bind it around the zig zag ends, but it came out fine.

And it looks good on the fireplace. Then this week it's been super cold! Like below zero cold-I had to snow blow for the first time on New Years Eve Eve too!

 Then last Tuesday morning at 4 am hubby called me at work and said-"hey, do you know how to turn off the smoke detectors?" I said, Are you sure there's no smoke? He said yes and he had used the stick to push the hush button but they weren't shutting off. I could hear them (all 5 of them) going off in the background-so he had to suffer through that noise until I got home from work-I had to work late too! SO I unplugged them all from the ceiling. Did you know you're supposed to replace your smoke detectors every 7-10years?

 Well I know now! I picked up replacements and Ben came over and helped me get them installed. Look at his silly dog baby Ladybird on the chair helping him! She's a circus dog! Of course the brackets were just a tiny bit different than the old model, a little bit more effort! He did 4 of them in half the time it took me to do one! Thanks Sweetie!

 Then it was time to take down the Christmas tree. Ringo helped. I like to think he felt badly because he was the cause of the only ornament breakage this year.

 Don't the vintage ornaments look good in this bowl?

Ringo pushed by me and rammed into the hairpin leg table(he always takes the smallest possible route to squeeze through) and that made a picture fall off the wall, and that landed on the bowl of ornaments.

 And of course it broke one of my favorite vintage ones! Oh well I'll find some more I'm sure.

 Sad news too....Dannie hit a deer on New Year's Eve night, and poor little Sparky car is a goner. She was driving down Old Hwy 6 and a deer ran right in front of her. Not an uncommon thing- luckily, she was right near the trailer court so she could pull in there and stay safe and warm. It was below zero of course!

 Thank God Dannie & Yeager are fine, but a new car will need to be found!

So today we went to the car dealer to look at a model we saw on line. It was almost too much for Dannie to stand!

 But we got the job done, and here's the new part of our family fleet!

 It's a 2017 Jeep Renegade-just like mine, but newer, and has 4 wheel, drive, and a removable sunroof....and heated side mirrors.

It's really nice car, and we got a good deal on it too! SO January is really off to a busy start! I could take a little bit less busy while I get over this darn cold!!

It's New!

So, it's about time I went car shopping. I know, I know, the G6 is such a great car. But it's 11 years old and it's time. I made my chart and started on line shopping. I had 5 cars on my list and got it down to the Chevy Trax, the Buick Encore, the Ford Escape and the Jeep Renegade.  I was  stalked by salesmen and test drove like crazy.  The ford just lost me on the bottom line price-over my budget, so on to the Chevy & the Buick-which are really the same-just the Buick is more fancy-I LOVE fancy! But it is just a tiny little 1.4L motor and just didn't have the power I wanted to merge aggressively on the interstate.  So on to the Jepp, I've never even looked at Jeeps before, but I really liked what I saw! SO look at this.....yes, that is the control for heated seats and heated steering wheel and the passenger can control their temperature too.

 Yup, that's the dash.

 And lookie here! This is it!

 New 2015 Jeep Renegade front wheel drive. This color is called Glacier. Looks gray to me, but whatever, that warm steering wheel when I got off of work last night was the BEST!

So I'm styling in the Jeep! Gotta love that new car smell!

 Here's a look at the back seat area-there's enough leg room-I always sit in the back seat when I test drive...

 and here's the passenger seat and take a look at those fancy Jeep branded floor mats. They're the kind that don't let the snow and crud get out on to the floor!

And a whole new thing to me-these "keys" they aren't keys at all! They work like keys but have no keyhole! I can open my doors without even pushing a button! Lots to learn here let me tell you!!

But it's so fun to have a new car!If you're shopping, go see my pal Alan Baker at Deery Brothers in Iowa City. He'll do his best to get you a deal like he did for me!