I owe my dear followers an apology and do apologize and beg forgiveness! I could give you an excuse for every day since my last blog, with most days having been 'stinking income taxes'! Whoo Hoo, they are finally done and for the first time in a long time, we are actually getting money back! QuickBooks is great - provided you know how to use it! I learned accounting with a green columnar pad and a # 2 pencil so wrapping my brain around this program has been difficult, at least that is the excuse my friends (who know nothing about accounting and pay other people to do their taxes) are offering up. I guess I can be anal about some things but thankfully, quilting is not one of them!
So to celebrate the taxes being done I went to the garden center at Lowe's! And went crazy with the plants. What on earth prompted me to buy okra plants? I like fried okra but do I need a whole row? Well, they do grow very tall so I must have been thinking something like a 'privacy fence' between my garden and the dump next door. Yeah, I'll stick with that one! So, I get up yesterday morning and start digging, going build a raised bed where I had that beautiful compost pile for over a year ago until the Bermuda grass took over! I have been a gardener for longer than I have been a quilter and I love to dig in the dirt, but there is nothing worse for my bad back. I have learned to take care of this old injury over the years and I know better, but the thought of paying almost $2.per lb. for squash just makes me cringe! This is because once upon a time, (in another marriage, in another state) I had about 1/2 acre of squash in the backyard and picked on average over 100 lbs. per week! I swear! When I could not give any more to the neighbors, I would stalk them and when they would leave home, I would leave squash on the porch! I was selling squash to the grocery stores! Anyway, a neighbor offered up some rail road ties he had stacked in his yard so long story short, the Bermuda grass and the rail road ties whipped my butt and I had to take a pain pill to get to sleep last night! I still have to get them set and the planting done so as reluctant as I am to take any kind of pill, I am anxious to actually have my plants in the ground, as I see it in my 'minds eye'! My desire to be out there working and the pain in my lower back/hip are at a 'draw' so I am sitting in front of the computer. I'm looking at the bright side here, I got a blog drafted, maybe it will get posted too!
Not much sewing for the last few weeks...my 'not-so-beloved-anymore' 'golden X' brand machine is in for repairs again! This machine has disappointed me greatly, having been in for major warranty work 5 times now, in 5 yrs. It's their 'low end' machine but it was a huge purchase for me! Plus, I had the fluorescent light and the knee lift added on, another cha ching. I have bonded with it and miss it very much since it has been in the shop for at least 90 days of every year that I have owned it. Seems more like a rental contract! Some history here; out of the box the button-hole attachment did not work. That repair was 90+ days. Next it was the display panel; and I don't even remember the other 2 issues at this point. This time the feed is not consistent for the decorative stitches above #22. I mentioned my disappointment in my purchase with the dealer and I think I insulted her when I asked if this machine could be a 'lemon'. When, after about 10 days, I called to inquire, she said her DH (the repairman) was agreeable to exchange this machine for another (same model) that she recently got on trade in (upgrade) that is approx the same age. OK, I'm agreeable, provided it works! Oh well, he (DH the repairman) needs to go thru it and do maintenance/service b4 it goes out. Well, OK, when will that be? Likely August if history is any indication. She will call. That was about 10 days ago. This backache may have prompted more than just a blog post. I'm going to write a letter to the people at 'golden X' Company but aside from venting; what do I want? How about a $1300. machine that works 12 months out of the year without a 90 day vacation? I thought that was what I bought! I have known I was going to have to do this but I avoid conflict like the plague so here I am in pain, wishing I could just go sew and getting PO'd all over again. Given just the info I have told you....would asking them to replace this machine with a new one be out of line?
That's ashame they keep your machine that long
ReplyDelete90 + day is crazy!! I wouldn't take the other machine ,I would maybe go out and look for a different brand . but thats just me LOL!!
I would certainly have been jumping up and down like a crazy woman about my machine well before this. I'm thinking you've been very tolerant and patient. Basically if am understanding you right your machine is not functioanl at least 25 % of the time and in my opinion that's simply not good enough.
ReplyDeleteAnd 3 months to service and do any repairs on a machine that they want to swap with you is rubbish. These people are way slow.Is there another dealer you can go to ?
P.S. Nice to see you posting and I'm glad you got your taxes done.