I am the first to admit…I spent a goodly portion of my adult life as a spoiled princess. While I’ve never been exorbitantly wealthy, I had pretty much anything I wanted. I was blessed, even though I wasn’t always aware of just HOW blessed I was till I became a widow and the majority of my monthly income instantly disappeared. I soon learned how to start watching how I spent my money and trimmed back my “gotta have that” list.

Even so, when I started dating Mr. FixIt and it became evident we were going to share the rest of our lives together, I still had some bad shopping habits. I loved shopping till I had to downsize. Now I hate it. I don’t have the patience to hang out in a mall all day and drag bags of crap home that I do not need. Still, every once in a while, I find something that would really make my life easier or that would help me get from Point A to Point B in a more efficient manor.

When I decided to make a quilt for my bonus granddaughter’s wedding, I realized I had a huge hurdle to overcome. I have an old Husqvarna Viking sewing machine, but the cassettes that make it run are stuck in a box somewhere in this house. It’s not going to do me a bit of good unless I go dumpster diving in the storage room in the basement. And that ain’t happening.

I’ve thought several times over the years that I would get a new sewing machine, but they can get really pricey. I was really lucky to be able to use the sewing machine at the little quilt shop in our town the last time I made some quilts. When I went in to buy material this week, I found out she stopped selling machines and she needed the floor space for more fabric so there aren’t any sewing machines in there now.

What to do? I already made the commitment to make they quilt by buying the material. I woke up yesterday morning and had the answer. I looked on FB Marketplace and there were two machines locally that would work fine. One was $100 and the other was $60. I figured I’d take whichever one answered first. Turned out it was the $100. It’s a Singer that also does embroidery. When I asked her if you need a computer to use the embroidery part she said yes, but straight sewing worked great…and, she would take $50. Sold!

We drove to town to pick it up. She had it set up on the kitchen table with a little fabric in it and sure enough…it stitched perfectly. Fifty bucks is a steal and if I can get the embroidery part to work, it’ll be icing on the proverbial cake. As we were packing everything up to take it out to the car, I mentioned that I’d be all set if I could just find a serger. She said she had a friend who was selling a Brother serger for $50! She called her friend, gave me the address, and in fifteen minutes, I had a new-to-me serger to complete the sewing room I didn’t know I was going to have!

I love getting a good deal. I love the hunt for the best price and finding exactly what I wanted or needed. FB Marketplace has really turned out to be handy for us. Once we had the two machines, we ran a couple of errands and headed home with our treasures. We sat out on the deck after the rainstorm and watched the sun go down. I mentioned to Mr. FixIt that we still needed to mount the new rain gauge somewhere. He went to get the drill and a couple of screws and in two shakes he had another job crossed off our list.

The next couple of days are going to be really steamy hot here so I’m happy the mowing is done and I can work on projects in the air conditioning. I bought buttons yesterday for the sweater I’m knitting. I’m ready to bind off the second sleeve then I can pick up the stitches and knit the front plackets. Once I have the buttons stitched on, I can set up a table in the family room downstairs and start working on the quilt.

I’ll put on a pot of beans with smoked ham hocks today and later I’ll bake a cast iron skillet of cornbread to go with it. We may not be living high on the hog, but we’ve got everything we need to live a sweet, comfortable life. And best of all…we get to do it together. That fact is not lost on me.

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“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.””

2 Corinthians 9:8-9 ESV