An Early Christmas Gift???

It's not what you think.

It's not a gift for my husband.

It's not a gift for my oldest son, or even my youngest son.

Nothing for the brother-in-laws in my life, nor my father-in-law.

It's not really even a gift.

So why am I posting a photo of a new set of tools from Sears? What do tools have to do with quilting anyway - isn't this suppose to primarily be a quilting blog??

Glad you asked!

You see, I received a "tool list" from my friend Jamie Wallen, fellow longarm quilter AND fellow A-1 dealer. Yep. These are the tools he said I needed to be able to set up an A-1 plus a few more that he said we'd shop for together later. Gosh darn it, that meant a trip to the mall today was a necessity.

For those of you that don't know, I 'm not really a shopper. Unless it's quilt related of course! Couldn't tell you the last time I went to the mall. Just not interested. I'm a pretty simple gal and don't have a lot of wants and needs - shopping just isn't something I make a habit of doing. If and when I go it's with a list - boom, bang, in and out, I'm done.

Not so today. Today my hubby went with me (after all, I needed a man to help decipher my tool list which I had neatly printed out and tucked in my purse for safe keeping until we hit Sears). I would have been content to park right outside of the Sears entrance, you know, the one by the tool department...nope...he said "while we're here, let's just walk the mall". Okay, sounds like a fun date - but I didn't have my walking shoes on - nope, good ole high heel boots. Fashionable with jeans of course. That's okay, I'm a Texas gal, hit me with anything and I can handle it! Keyword in my life - flexable!

All kidding aside, it was nice to 'walk the mall' -- so many things have changed since I'd been there last -- and not just Christmas decorations! New stores and such. I was glad he was with me because I get so turned around in that mall, I never know where I am. That's why when I do go I always park outside of Sears so all I have to do is look for the Sears sign and I know I can find my way to my car!

Oh, and I did do a little shopping while there -- found a store that carried beauty supplies. Last week when I got my hair done my stylist gifted me with a manacure -- don't fall over gals, but this was my FIRST professional manacure. I'm serious when I tell you I'm not a high maintenance sort of gal. It was a real blessing though because it was prior to open house and I was proud to have nice nails for my 'hands on' demos. Well, this store in the mall had the same brand of nail polish my nail technician used so I thought "why not? I can touch up the paint myself!" and found the exact color!

So as my hubby just stated "we went to the mall today to get a pry bar and nail polish!" -- they were out of the recommended size pry bar so I guess I'll just have to go and do more tool shopping between now and the first A-1 set up on Sunday! But I've got the nail touch up covered! It's all about priorities!