River Update - 12/28

A bunch of us went down to the River on a holiday-season day off to see where things stood, and do a walkthrough of a few things that the builder wanted us to take a look at.

There were a lot of changes since the last time I had been down. Plumbing and electrical rough in was partially complete, some HVAC work was underway, all of the interior framing was done. Windows and doors were all in.

Kitchen-to-be

The most significant difference though was the outside. Roofing was on. Siding was mostly done. From the outside, it looked almost done, as compared to the inside which looks nowhere near done.

River facing facade

I really like the style and color of siding we picked, and the roofing looks great too.

Exciting stuff.

Bernina 830

With all of the quilting, costume sewing and other sewing that Amp has been doing, she has been on the lookout for an upgrade machine. The Bernina she has now as her main machine is terrific, but it is on the smaller side for quilting.

The Bernina 830 has been the one she has had her eye on for a while, but they are prohibitively expensive. However, now that there is a newer model replacing the 830, she found one at the local sewing shop that she frequents that was a very good deal, relatively speaking. Done and done.

Bernina 830

As you can see in the picture compared to her old Bernina, this thing is huge, with a very wide throat which will make quilting much easier. It is fully computerized, and can even do programmed embroidery.

Amp has barely had time to scratch the surface of what it can do, but loves it. Which makes me happy. Many great projects to come...

Gratuitous Dog Pics - Late Fall Edition

My indulgence...another round of gratuitous dog pictures. Pardon me...

Comfy dog bed

One and a half year old blue tick beagle.

Bundled up against the cold (by Grace)

We have had a number of snow storms early in the winter this year, and Ryder has had a blast in all of them. He seems unaccustomed to the snow, which would make sense if he is from Georgia or the Carolinas, as we have been told.

New winter coat

He runs around, chases imaginary things, and generally acts as though he has no idea what snow is or how he is supposed to behave in it. It's pretty adorable.

Greater New York Invitational

The third and final gymnastics meets of the fall season was the Greater New York Invitational at Rockland Community College in Suffern NY. This would be a three hour drive from home for a mid-Saturday reporting time, but only a one hour drive from Amp's sister's home in northern NJ.

This was another larger meet with good competition, and Grace didn't have her best meet. She was doing her best to compete on a sore foot that had hindered her practices, and she just wasn't sharp.

5th in Beam

That being said, she still did pretty well, placing 5th in beam and 6th in floor.

6th in Floor

That was good enough for 6th in the All Around.

6th All Around

Epilogue - Grace knew her foot was hurt leading up to this meet, but not severely. She didn't want to go to the doctor for it, figuring that if they took an X-ray and found something small, she would be shut down for a while, and she didn't want to miss this last meet of the fall season. Her coaches thought she probably had a small stress fracture in the 4th metatarsal of her right foot.

So we went to her orthopod a couple days after the meet, got X-rays and an MRI, and sure enough, she had a tiny stress fracture of the 4th metatarsal of her right foot. She would spend 4 weeks in a boot, and miss the first meet of the spring season (the first weekend in January).