See How Much I Love You?

A speaker I once heard told the story of her husband, who took one whole Saturday and worked in the living room, polishing the furniture. It was carved wood, and he went into every little corner, cleaning and polishing, all by hand.
At the end of his very long work day, he walked into the room where his wife was, pointed to the living room, and said, "See how much I love you?"
She was mystified until she figured out that doing things was the way he expressed his love.

So I thought I'd try it. Dear Husband, "See how much I love you? First project off my machine is a mug rug for you."
His response: "You made me a Eur 7500 coaster? Thanks!"

LOL

Pics below.

Thanks, Castro, I love it!

Castro is the person who did the final testing on my new Bernina 830 machine. Everything seems to be working fine, so thanks go to Castro and the whole team for designing and building a great product!
I'm busy sewing and learning. Yesterday, my introduction to the machine at the dealer lasted 3 hours! But at the end, I knew all the sewing screens and was able to competently sew last night. OK, at least as competent as I normally sew.
I've also played with the V6 software, but don't really know anything about it yet.
First project is for DH, who has been *mostly* an angel throughout the buying process. I'll show you when it's done.
In the meantime, here are the first pictures of the unpacking...

A small non-profit announcement of my friend's new blog

Dear readers,
I would like to briefly point out that one of my dearest friends, Ms. Mouse, has started a blog, and you should check it out. There aren't many posts yet, but I'm counting on her adding some pictures of her fine textile-based work. She's already confessed to having 2 Berninas, and she has been recently doing quilts with hand-made chenille. The only thing that annoys me is that her colorful blog design is so much prettier than mine. Grr. Just wait - I'll find a way to do better.

My design inspiration

The picture I'll use for the summer challenge

Over the years...

All grown up...

Expressing herself...

 And today...

Kept my game face on

Short version:

Awesome dealer! She has the heart of a teacher, and gave me my price with extras.
First, she went below internet price, even including training. Then Dear Hubby exercised his negotiating skills so I got the humongous Jumbo hoop at a heavy discount.
I kept my game face on, and left my purse in the car, and got everything I could reasonably hope for. Happy happy day.

The long version:

She was indeed ready to receive me and show me the machine. She recognized me from 5 months ago and still had my phone number. She let my inquiries drive the discussion, acknowledging that I had done my homework. Her passion is around satisfied customers.
She does not teach an introductory class, but rather does 2 sessions with each purchaser, one for basics and one for embroidery. She was straightforward about this instruction having a value, and that it is focused on the customer's wishes, not a training "package."
She is not very software competent in generic terms, but can digitize and manage her designs effectively. I figure I can handle the software myself.
She knew the internet prices and talked about the value of a good dealer. Her reputation is so good that the new European Bernina manager is coming to visit her this week, one of just a few stores in Germany he will visit.
I found that she has the heart of a teacher, calm confidence in her knowledge, and practical solutions to problems. She could talk intelligently about the most common user problems (threading and being in too much of a hurry).
When it came to price, she talked about the value of the training, the willingness to do the right thing, then brought her husband over to do the actual price calculation. I requested that the price include the training.
He hemmed and hawed (it was like a little play, our negotiation), brought up a price, she corrected him. In the meantime, my husband started asking about the Jumbo hoop and if it were useful. She mentioned it's invaluable.

Then they offered a price for the 830 with training that was 99 Euro less than the internet price. That knocked my socks off, but I kept my mouth shut. Then DH inquired if something could be done about Jumbo hoop price (300 Euro), and they took 100 off that.
After that, we did the small-talk dance that is part of the negotiation, talking about world economics. I suddenly recognized that I was being offered the machine I wanted from the dealer I want for the price I wanted, with training for free, AND with a Jumbo hoop for a 100 extra.

I took it. The machine will be ordered from Switzerland tomorrow and could arrive as soon as Friday. I am very, very happy.

Time to put on my game face

When you are a seller or a buyer, it pays to put on a "game face."

A game face is the behavior you exhibit to your negotiation partner, so she will see only what you want her to see. That gives you power in the negotiation, because the other party does not know how far you are willing to go, and they will be more likely to give in to what you want.
A colleague of mine at Philips became an expatriate, and took his family over to The Netherlands for a couple of years. They needed to buy a used car and went shopping.
As the salesman showed them a particular car, the man's wife turned to her husband and adamantly said, "I want this one."

Negotiation over. He paid sticker price, got no discount.

I need my game face tonight. After 6 months of analysis, I've decided to negotiate for a Bernina 830, which comes with a normally expensive, but in this case free software. Check out the machine here. Does everything but clean your toilets.

One of the dealers in my area has this special offer, and she is my first choice to buy from, because her shop is well set up, they have (apparently) a lot of knowledge about this model, and she's the closest.
But the chance that she will insist that I pay list (Eur 7999) is pretty high. Online retailers who have the special are offering it for Eur 7399. Eur 600 is a big difference.
That Eur 600 is why I'm putting on my game face. With that money I can buy a huge number of accessories, or as my husband put it, an iPad.
Dear Hubby went even further. If I skip the machine altogether, I can buy 8 iPads. One for Monday, one for Tuesday, and so on. Even one spare iPad. Dear Hubby is almost as crazy as I am. :)

My only problem is, I DON'T HAVE A GAME FACE FOR THIS NEGOTIATION!!! I'm so excited about the prospect of having this machine that I feel like I can just walk into the store, hand over my EC card, and say, "Quick quick! Give me the machine! I can't wait any longer!"

Just nine hours to get my game face together. This is looking bad.

Vacation impressions

Just got back from Hochschwarzwald, where we stayed in Todtnau and walked and rested and played.

Here some photos...

Sinking ever lower into depravity

Not only did my fine for my car accident arrive in the mail today, but I also got a parking ticket on ANOTHER day.

Will my crime spree never end?

Distracted

What do you do when you’re distracted, but don’t know why?

Last week, I went to pick up a package at the Packstation. Pulled back out of the parking lot and hit a parked car. A car I KNEW was there. Here’s the result.

That’s my first accident since 1986. Sigh. On top of it all, there’s almost nothing damaged on the very old VW Golf, it’s all my bumper. Oh well, that’s how they’re designed now.

Then the very next day, I met some friends in Stuttgart. We went to my car, and in the parking garage I walked confidently to my car. Only it wasn’t there. I stood there and wondered what had happened, and my friends were getting concerned for me, when I realized I had only THOUGHT about parking there, but had taken another space. The I turned around, saw my car, and realized we had walked right by my car.

Yesterday, I woke up too early, but couldn’t sleep, so I got up. After being up for a while, I got a cup of coffee. Sitting in my easy chair, looking at my computer, holding my coffee cup, I dozed off. Yes, you guessed it – I poured coffee onto my keyboard. After disassembling it last night, it was declared a total loss, and I get to buy a new keyboard. Cheaper than a new bumper, anyway.
This morning, I walk into the office, saying “Guten Morgen” just like you’re supposed to here in Germany (at least I don’t work for one of those companies where you have to shake everyone’s hand every day). I greeted the only two people in my office, and asked one guy sitting alone, if he were the only one there so far. He replied, Yes. After a few minutes, I hear an odd tap tap tap, as if someone is using a keyboard at one of the empty desks. I got up to investigate, and I had walked right past someone who had been directly in my line of sight. He’d been there the whole time.

Whatever’s going on in my mind, it’s taking a lot of processing power. Sheesh. I hope I find out soon.

How are you today? I bet you're...

Sewed my butt off this weekend...

... but can't show anything yet.
I do love wonky stars and sewing letters to make fabric words.
In other words, it's FAB!
Sorry for the bad focus. I'm too lazy to retake the pics.