There's a light at the end of the tunnel..Oh, Lord, please don't let it be a train

Sara and Vernon went to Salisbury to the attorney's office for a conference call with the attorney for MOSHA this week. They explained why they felt the Easton office was incorrect and I must say, I'm thrilled to announce the attorney for MOSHA (who seems much brighter than the folks in Easton) also felt the people in the Easton office must be smoking some funny weed as they were fining me under 2 names for the same accident which he also felt was double dipping, and several of the other charges made no sense as well. We had the proof that some of what they said was just wrong, wrong, wrong. Plus we had our "guy" there to refute the fine and we had our elevator guy on tap in case we needed him. So the attorney is writing up his report to MOSHA and it seems to be in our favorite at the moment. Instead of $22,000, we're instantly down to $11,000 just cutting out the double dipping. Then he crossed off a few of the fines, reduced some of the fines and in the end Sara felt we are going to be left with approx. $5,000 in fines, which may seem steep, but when you figure we started at $22,000 it's not so bad. I realized early on that fines would be given I just wanted to keep them as low as possible...so I'm satisfied with this. Today we got the call and I can accept the fines at this point or go to court in Baltimore. They got the fines down to $4400 so I'm settling...otherwise attorney's fees, etc., well I'd end up paying in fees what I might win back in fines. I'm cutting my loses. I'm not happy since they are still saying the private elevator is commercial, but I'm finished. Call it whatever you want...I don't give a damn. To celebrate I decided I'd suffered from my foolish ebay purchase long enough and just had to take home the limited edition Needle Books from the French Needle Maid Series. They just came in today and they are so pretty. Along with those I also snagged the Sirens of the Sea silk kit and the Counting Bats silk kit for the Just Nan pieces (we don't even have this chart in yet so I'm ahead of the game)...oh, yes, my tote is having a jolly good evening. And someone called to see if I had the new Blue Ribbon designs in and I couldn't get on their web site fast enough to see what she was talking about. On their blog they have broken the piece down into smalls and the Halloween piece as well as the sampler piece are just too cute. If you have a chance go onto their site and take a look. I can't wait, unfortunately they aren't shipping these until September. Gives me something to drool over. It's still hotter than hell down here. It's like an oven if you aren't in air-conditioning. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have it...I do know I'd move! The crowds are gone from Ocean City, so while we still have plenty of people still visiting it just isn't that crowded which makes it a little nicer when you have to move around the streets. Oh, whoppee...hats and horns time people...I finished another Blackbird stocking. Yes, I'm still behind but at least I have 14 done. So tonight I start on my 15th stocking. I am never going to win the race on this project, but I'm still hoping to have 36 done by the end of the year. I'll do the Halloween stockings as well, but I'm just shooting for 36 this year. Update on the freight elevator...I could have built this thing faster. You'll going to love this...they got the lift in, finally, started it up and it ran beautifully....that is until they put luggage on it. It seems the braintrust that are putting this in ordered a motor which would hold 600 pounds. The only problem with that is the freight lift itself, which the motor has to hoist, is 600 pounds. So as long as we just want to hoist the empty lift up and down...this thing is useless. So we're waiting once again for a new motor. Honestly, I've never seen anything to beat this...ridiculous. And they still haven't finished the personal elevator repairs (although we are able to use it) and I'm still holding their notorized bill which states they finished the work on this. People this is no way to run a railroad. I firmly believe they should be fined by me and my bill reduced...but we all know this isn't going to happen. I have written them a letter though telling them what I thought of the job they were doing, or not doing according to some of us. But we move on. Mary's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks so I thought I'd purchase a nice pair of maternity jeans for her. People...have you looked at the price of a nice pair of Jeans....$258 or in the neighborhood of that on a lot of web sites. I about died...jeans, we're not talking a cocktail dress....we're talking jeans. Well I have to say, I don't know who is wearing these jeans, and may I say you probably look lovely, but Mary won't be. I told her what I had wanted to do, the price of the jeans, and she agreed that was too much. So she went on-line and found a very nice pair reduced to $59.00 from $110. $110 for jeans, are you kidding me. I guess I've been shopping at Walmart too long. Jeans...$110...I can't go there. $59 I'm willing to go. I did compensate by ordering her a top that was $145...and I'm telling you I almost choked on that, but I bit the bullet and did it. Back in the day I made my maternity clothes...I may just be getting out the machine again...yeah, like that's going to happen. I'll just spend the money and forget it. But I think of all the projects I could buy...oh, my..wish I hadn't. I've got to end this dribble and concentrate on work. Talk to you later. Hope your summer is ending well...the heat is killing me...come on cool air. Have a great weekend.