Today was a good day

And not only because I didn't even have to use my AK (for the younger generation, look it up).

I sewed! Started and finished a dress for Mabes. Granted, it's not the most complicated dress, and it kind of looks like a pillowcase with a bow on it. My mom could have made this dress in 45 minutes, and baked cookies at the same time. But this is me. If you look closely, there are gathered layers. And sleeves. And beautiful, straight seams. I didn't have my mom looking over my shoulder via Skype, as I had initially planned. I didn't even call her to ask what a basting stitch was or which edges were the selvages. (This is especially huge, as I still call her to ask how much salt to put in lasagna and what temperature to set the oven. Though now it's become more of an inside joke and a good excuse to call my mom and tell her what I'm making for dinner. Yeah, I'm 30.) I did call my mom to tell her about the dress, and she was very excited for me. I realized her tone of voice was pretty much the same one I get when Mabes shows me her latest drawing of our family, including Ricecake and Rocket. It's not a fake tone; I love Mabes' drawings and each time she finishes one I just want to--and usually do--squeeze her. It's nice to know my mom still feels that way about my minor accomplishments.

The downside of an all-day sewfest is that Mabes gets a little stir crazy, so we decided to go out for a walk around lunchtime. Just as we were about to head out, my friend Jen called to say she was dropping "something" by for me. I was trying to remember if I'd left a pan or Mabes' cup at her house. When she came to my door, she said, "I don't know if you already have some, but I saw these and thought of you."

My first thought was that she had somehow smuggled these in from a faraway Costco, since we had been lamenting the fact that Costcos here don't carry these tortillas. I must have eaten a whole package when I was visiting Sarah. But no, OUR Costco has them now. She said they were in a different spot than at other Costcos, so I'm wondering how long these gems have been hiding out there. No matter, I'm just thrilled to have these now. I thanked Jen profusely and told her these made my day. Tortillas. If you don't get why these are worthy of a blog post, then you clearly haven't tried them. I could--and have been known to--eat these by themselves fresh out of the pan. In fact, I may go have one or two now...

Oh--and I got my camera back! In researching this camera, I had read that sometimes there's a "lens error" that causes the camera to just stop working, and that if this happens, you're screwed and Canon won't fix it (according to bitter reviewers on Amazon). But given the sweet deal and the fact that my old Canon is still chugging along after 5 years, I took my chances and got it anyway. Then I got the lens error. So I sent it to Canon's repair center, hoping that they'd stick with the "7 business day" online estimate. Again, Amazon reviewers would have you believe that Canon will assume you're just giving your camera to them to play with and never return. So I was thrilled that it was fixed in less than a day and sent back via 2 day express mail. I'm very happy to have it back in excellent working order--the old camera was really starting to hurt my wrist.