Sturbridge Sweets

Date "night" this week was Sunday Brunch at a place in Sturbridge, MA called the Whistling Swans. It was worth the drive and the price, believe me. 3 weeks of hotel living is finally getting to us. It didn't help that I had to pull some double shifts at work with a massive 'unplanned' shutdown incident. Oh well, we were cranky for sure after a long week.

Sturbridge Village holds a place in my heart, I went there with my mom and brother as a child and many times since. I just love it. An old historic and 'preserved' new england village from the 1700's. It's pretty, peaceful and fun, a great place to bring Magpie when she comes home. Sturbridge is also the site of our big family wedding, it's a place that pulls us back from time to time.

After brunch we went shopping, of course, and got yet more crap to put in our hotel room. We picked up the norm, things we saw for Christmas for others, things for Magpie, stuff for Secret Pals, etc. We also found a hole in the wall orchard that had 'prize winning' wine and hard cider... 2 bottles and a 6 pack and we're all set for the week! At Sturbridge Village we each selected a quilt square for Mapgie from their gift shop. I picked up the blue one cause it made me think of a million peppermints on the ocean, E picked up the other but there's no story to go with it!

Lastly, check out the train letters, Nessie the pull toy (E's pick!) and finally the 'Laptop' in the background. For $9.99 we got this thing that I thought would just be a 'noisemaker', what more would you expect to get for under $10 these days? Once we get to our new home, $10 with my commute will get me to work and back... I'm not kidding.

So when we get home and pack things away we try out the 'laptop', it's got a working mouse with buttons, a full keyboard, it plays games, music (classical, christmas, childrens tunes), does math and word problems too. Even came with a plug in adaptor so we don't need batteries. I can't believe how cheap it was. We put it away quickly thinking it's likely to work for only a few hours before breaking so let's have Magpie get some time on it!!! And to think, we bought it only as a distraction so that when Daddy plays on his real laptop Magpie has her own keyboard to pound away on and abuse instead of the expensive one.

I have a TON of quilt squares newly arrived from friends and family, due to the number I'll post a few each day in the order they were received. We have about 15 or so from family and friends that have yet to show... fingers crossed they make it into Magpie's quilt.