all the names (and a contest!)

I'm soooo sleepy. My own fault. Last night I worked the Kenmore until 3am. Getting up for work at 7 was impossible. 7 became 8, and that was still painful.

It's just that I'm over the moon about this machine, see. I had to finish a bag for Mr. Stevens, one he ordered back in -- November? October? It was a pretty heavy duty job, what with the denim and the woven interfacing and the lining and the seams like concrete and all. I'd started it way back when, but was dreading sewing over all that thickness, even with Rilla.

I promise, promise, promise, pictures in the next post. I'm having trouble naming the Kenmore. I'd like a little help from you, my friends.

I usually name everything after my maternal grandmother, Rosie. (When writing sample sentences for my grammar classes, I used Rosie so much -- "Rosie will buy candy for us, her beloved grandchildren," and "Have you seen Rosie, the girl in the blue dress, who was riding her bicycle?" -- that every time I'd pick up the dry erase marker my students would mock, Here comes Rosie.) Now that I've got, er, multiple sewing machines, I have to branch out. Rosie is my Featherweight, of course. Rilla, the 404, is named after Rosie's sister, the greatest great aunt in the history of the world. The names fit to a tee, as Rosie was short, plump, and darker brown, and Rilla was taller and very light complexioned (they had different mothers; Aunt Rilla's was bi-racial). Aunt Rilla wasn't a particularly large woman, but she had one of those legendary behinds that you could balance a tray on. Her real name was Ariller. Ariller Crowder. My grandmother was Rosie Lee Crowder Robinson. Anyway! I'm rambling. I guess I just miss my grandmother and aunt and mother and step-mother and great-grandmother and all the other women in my family who have passed on. Good girls, they were. Each and every one. What with the LOS (lack of sleep) my defenses against nostalgia are non-existent.

So. Naming. Here are the names I've picked out so far:

Blanche -- my stepmom

Maggie -- another great aunt

Ruby -- my grandfather's mistress (Don't ask. She was family like that.)

Ida -- my grandfather's mistress's mother (She was, too.)

Doris -- my favorite cousin

Virgie Lee -- my great grandmother (Rosie's mom)
Betty Jean -- another cousin

After I post pictures of the machine, tell me which name you think is most fitting. Know what? If I get multiple votes for the name I end up picking, I'll enter everyone who suggests that name in a drawing and send along a little prize. If only one person goes for the name I end up picking, it'll be an instant win. Odds for victory should be good!

Hey, in the words of the Golden Girls, thank you for being a friend.

A camera phone chronology of my walk to the library yesterday: