Thank you all for the encouraging words! It's good to hear I'm not alone! I also love that so many that have this machine really love it and have a good history with Viking machines in general. The salesman said "this machine will still be purring along when your girls are in high school." And then one of my best friends said the same thing, so it's good to know it's a lasting investment. I'm up this morning and plan on getting it out of the box and trying it out. I will call the shop Tuesday and set up my first of what I'm sure will be many one on one lessons with it. We met with our small church group last night - 3 members head our community's youth football league and mentioned they have a lot of items they'd love to get embroidered - so now I'm not feeling so scared about the machine not "earning its keep". The excitement is starting to ooze out...so what am I doing here? I should be unpacking my machine!!
And yes, the hubby is a keeper. He's also an enabler - I wanted a less expensive machine, but he said "just get the other one - I don't want to have to buy another machine in a year or two so just get the nicer one now and enjoy it." He is too good to me. He drives me nuts sometimes, but I do love him dearly. He supports any idea that pops in my head and never complains about the cost. He just makes it happen for me. You can't go wrong with a man like that!