painangrrfear

home decorating... help!

2009-01-20T00:19:54Z

Got my map print fabric in the mail the other day, and made new chair cushions out of it. It was a great deal of effort for end results that are, eh, okay. The chair is about seventeen years old and pretty beat up. Definitely looks better with the new upholstery. I still need to do a refinishing job on the wood--impossible this weekend because of the cold. I'll take pictures when the entire thing is finished.

I'm thinking this is the year I'll actually put up curtains in my living room. We've got two huge windows that look out toward the woods. Because the windows are gigantic and curtains are expensive--and because there's no one living back there in the woods behind us, so privacy is not a major concern--for four years now the windows have been utterly bare. I have some wrought-iron-looking curtain rod thingies with spear-point-kinda finials on the ends (actually aluminum bars salvaged from a neighbor's discarded storm door, but pretend with me here). I'm going to start looking for some saris, maybe, or maybe just a sorry remnant or two to make stationary curtains. I just want some panels to frame the sides of the windows.

Now for my question: I need brackets of some sort to hold up my storm door/spear rods. What should they look like?

I was thinking dragon heads, like you'd see on old Norse church beams. They could grip the rods in their ferocious jaws. But then I thought, nah, too Medieval. I want something Steampunk. And behold, I thought of something perfect!

But I forgot what it was.

This blank space here? That's the interior of my brain.

This happens to me a lot. I don't think it's gonna come back to me, either; it's been a couple of days, and no clue. It's not gears. Because working gears would be really cool if I was going to use a traverse rod, but I'm not. The curtain panels aren't going to be moving at all. I hope. They might fall down at some point, but as far as being drawn open and closed, no.

Oh well, if my history of home decorating is any indication, I'll have months, possibly years, in which to ponder.

speechifyin'

2009-01-19T21:24:01Z

So when I read sometime last week that Bishop Robinson was going to give a speech at the presidential inaugural festivities, I figured it would be a good subject to discuss in Sunday school. I gathered a bit of biographical info, since I figured some of my students wouldn't even know who the guy was.

Did you know the famous Bishop is the son of tobacco sharecroppers from Kentucky? The family had no running water in their home until Robinson was ten. (Tangent: Neither did my mom!) Bishop Robinson also racked up thirteen years of perfect Sunday school attendance--pretty impressive!

To me, the controversy was not about Bishop Robinson's sexual orientation, but rather his decision to offer a non-sectarian prayer. "I will be careful not to be especially Christian in my prayer. This is a prayer for the whole nation."

This has always bothered me. I'd honestly rather have no prayers at public events, rather than clerics invoking Nicholas Von Hoffman's 'mush god'. If a Christian can't pray in the name of Jesus, then really what's the point? It almost seems as if a Christian is expected to be embarrassed to invoke their Lord's name.

Apparently Islam, Roman Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity, and Judaism will also be represented during President Obama's inaugural celebrations. This is a good thing, as far as it goes. I hope the rest of these religious leaders will feel free to offer prayers that are true to their beliefs, however controversial those tenets might be. I'm pretty sure Rick Warren won't water down his prayer; he'll catch hell from his Evangelical flock if he does!

I'm afraid praying to Allah is probably an even bigger public no-no than praying to Jesus.

I'd like to see other faith groups represented, not just the Abrahamic religions. After all, the 'whole nation' has a whole lot of religious diversity. Maybe President Obama will invite clerics of other religions to offer prayers at future events--real prayers that don't try to conceal their beliefs.

Either that, or stop including prayers in our public ceremonies altogether.

Ironically, HBO bought the rights to broadcast the concert that Bishop Robinson opened in prayer. So that 'prayer for the whole nation' turned out to be a prayer only for those who subscribe to HBO.

Except not, because HBO didn't deem it worthy of broadcast.

Maybe if the Bish had prayed in Jesus' name it would have been racy enough for Home Box Office.

Costumes for a little prince

2009-01-10T23:11:54Z

My two-year-old godson has two older sisters, age six and four. Needless to say, he is not a stranger to playing dress-up. Recently his dad told me about a rule he'd tried to institute at their house: 'Princes wear pants.' This in reaction to finding his son dressed up in his sisters' frilly princess costumes.

This cracks me up. I don't remember Bob being too upset when Robert played dress-up, but when the girls (and therefore the boy, too) went through a nail polish craze he wasn't too happy with it. Even though I made it a point to only paint Robert's nails in manly shades of black or blue!

Anyway, I decided to make my godson some suitably masculine dress-up clothes. These should have been done before Christmas, but I was clueless as to what size to make them. A two-year-old looks impossibly tiny to me! When we saw the gang over winter break, I borrowed one of the little guy's shirts to use as a guide.

All costumes are made from other clothing items that I bought at thrift stores over the years with the idea of making them over into costumes... 'Someday'. For the record, someday was today. Also for the record, yes, these are extremely foppish fabric choices. Keep in mind that I'm competing with the Disney Princess get-ups his sisters wear! Figured I had to give the little guy a bit of glitz. At any rate, all of these will be worn with pants!

Short-sleeved green tunic. OMG this fabric is so shiny! It's velour. It's also green. No idea why the camera insists on making it look turquoise. I sewed a couple of gold shisha mirror dots on for trim.

I like this blue cape. The fabric is velvet with hundreds of silver glitter stars. This was made out of a very disturbing backless spaghetti-strap evening gown with a thigh-high slit... Disturbing because it was sized to fit maybe a six-year-old. I bought it because I loved the fabric. The spaghetti straps are now the drawstrings for the cape.

Long-sleeve (I hope!) black tunic with oh-so-glam red shiny metallic threads woven throughout. Added some gold zig-zag stitch and a little applique at the neckline. The fabric was extremely stretchy and annoying to work with--glad it was such a small project!

the plus side of arthritis:

2009-01-10T01:11:44Z

Called in 'broken' to work this morning--I probably could have made it through the day, but between the miserable cold, rainy weather this week and just general overdoing it, my back was hurting pretty bad. Once the thought was in my head, it didn't take much to convince myself that putting my feet up for the day wasn't a bad idea.

So I had plenty of time to browse online for patterns and fabric and stuff. I bought some map print fabric to make new cushions for the rocking chair I've been meaning to spruce up. Been meaning to do that for, oh, three or four years now.

I had a variety of map-themed fabric to choose from, so I tried to involve Bob in the selection process. He was unimpressed with the choices available. Since the patterns repeat, any project I make will have duplicates on it--two Australias, for instance. This apparently offends Bob's engineer sensibilities.

Alas, real maps printed on fabric are rare. I did find some cool Rand McNally maps made of cloth, but they are small and limited to street maps--the Las Vegas strip, NYC theater district, and the like. It occurs to me that such maps might be used to make nifty travel-themed throw pillows. Someone is probably making a killing selling 'em on Etsy even as I type this.

There are WWII maps printed on silk that were supposed to help pilots escape from behind enemy lines, but that's not the kind of thing any sane person would want to cut up. Oddly enough, one can buy leather bomber jackets, replicas of real military-issue jackets, with the lining printed like those antique maps. I was originally hoping to find a source to buy yardage so I could line a coat of my own with cool map fabric. A whole lotta searching yielded nothing, so I got the idea for reupholstering the chair instead.

Still going to make this jacket, (the three-quarter length version) just not with a map lining. I've got both brown fabric and some yellowish-tan that are just crying out to be made into a nice princess-seamed coat.

I love my job

2009-01-08T23:41:58Z

So, have I mentioned that my little guy who likes to yell "Eeeeeeeeee!" all the time is also kind of a musical savant?

'Savant' might be a bit much, but the kid is extremely musical. Academically, not so much. Think of your average toddler, that'd be the kind of skills we're working on--colors, shapes, what have you. Language? Forget it. Like a toddler who only has to point to get what he wants, this kid might be capable of speech, but we can rarely coax any words out of him.

Today he was looking at a book, which he does from time to time--more often tapping out rhythms on the cover than actually looking at the pictures. I noticed he was really absorbed in looking at the back cover for some reason, so I sidled over and observed him from a few feet away. The book was part of a series of 'easy readers' graded one through four, so it had a little blurb about each reading level on the back cover, along with the numbers one through four.

He was touching each number in turn and reciting "one, two, three, four"!

I was so excited to see him using language, without any prompting. When he stopped counting and started touching a picture on the cover and just humming to himself, I couldn't resist sitting down with him and trying to get him to count again. He complied, taking hold of my index finger and making me touch each number in turn as he said them. He then touched my finger to the little picture at the bottom of the page, and hummed again. When I failed to sing along, he jabbed my finger insistently at the logo and sang louder, "da-da-da-DAH!"

I had no idea what he meant, and had to hold the book away from me to see what the heck he was pointing at (darn farsightedness!) Yep, it was this, the Twentieth Century Fox Films logo:

Only the one on the book was black and white and no more than half an inch square. You know how the logo shows up on the screen before a movie or video, and that trumpet fanfare theme music plays? He'd identified that music from that itty-bitty logo.

We spent the next fifteen minutes counting to four and manically singing the 20th Century Fox theme music.

In other news, I said something witty enough on a forum that someone deemed it worthy of quoting me--on an icon, no less. I'm inordinately proud of myself. ;)

Back to work

2009-01-06T02:43:56Z

First day back at school after winter break went pretty well. Most of the boys came back refreshed and ready to work. Not quite as much excitement about Christmas and what Santa had brought them as I'd expected, but then again it was a very long break this year--guess there was enough time for the novelty of new toys to wear off.

We did have one little guy who did not want to come back. The bus driver reported that he'd screamed off and on during the ride to school. This is a kid with a lot of anxiety, who spends a great deal of time worrying about the other kids 'breaking the rules'. He just wants everyone to do as they're told and toe the line! If an adult has to tell another student 'no', he points an accusing finger and SHRIEKS at the top of his lungs. And if an adult raises their voice? Forget it. Unfortunately, raised voices are pretty common this year. We've got a couple of kids who won't back down for anything less than a disciplinarian tone, not to mention that the general noise level in the classroom is so high that we wind up raising our voices just to be heard. On a good day we can manage to calm our anxious boy down or at least help him to use his words. Poor little guy doesn't have a whole lot of language to express his anxiety and frustration.

Today was not a good day by any means. There was a whole lot of shrieking and finger-pointing going on.

Did I mention that the noise level in the classroom tends to be just a trifle on the LOUD side?

Apparently two weeks off is enough time for me to forget just how loud--not to mention grating--it is when a student screams, "Eeeeeeeeeeeee!" for extended periods of time. When this kid (I should mention that this student is a different student than the boy who shrieks and points his finger!) was in the classroom next door, I used to think the one classroom aide was a little off her rocker. We'd hear this little guy screaming and I'd say something along the lines of, "Wow, little 'Jimmy' is having a rough day today, huh?"

And half the time she'd answer, "Oh, no, that's his happy scream."

But it's true! The pitch and tone are always the same, but based on his facial expression and body language, yep, 'Jimmy' definitely has a variety of reasons for screaming. Today was all happy screams, but damn that non-stop "Eeeeeeeeeeee!" was getting to me.

In desperation, I put some music on the CD player to distract him. Normally I'll just play the music on low volume, but with the decibel level already enough to make the average person's ears bleed, I decided to try something new... Headphones. 'Jimmy' had never worn headphones before, and immediately pulled them off when I put them on his head.

The expression on his face when the music inexplicably stopped was priceless. For the next ten minutes he explored the headphones, putting them on and pulling them off over and over again--mercifully silent the entire time.

Fortunately by the end of the week I'll be able to tune out the screaming; it's amazing to me how much repetitive noise a person can just learn to ignore.

At the end of the day, I met with the regular ed. kid I mentor. In theory this is supposed to be me providing extra encouragement to a fourth grade kid who's kind of on the edge... Not so bad off behaviorally or academically that he needs major intervention, just a little extra help. I monitor his homework and encourage him to be an upstanding little classroom citizen.

Mostly, I bribe him with the promise of a treat on Fridays if he's had a good week.

This kid is always trying to weasel extra treats out of me! Usually he starts in on Wednesday afternoon. Today, Monday, he's in rare form. This is the conversation, verbatim:

'Mentee' aka Mini Mooch: "Can I have a treat today? I was good today."

Me: "Yes you were good today! I'm proud of you. You can have a treat on Friday as long as the rest of the week goes well. That's our deal."

"You should give me a treat today because you haven't seen me in so long."

I point out that he got an extra-special treat before winter break--"Don't you remember the chocolate Santa, cookies and Pez dispenser I gave you?"

"That was two weeks ago. You didn't give me anything at all last Friday."

"We weren't in school last Friday!"

"I know. You owe me."

Kids. Gotta love 'em.

First steampunk outing...

2009-01-04T03:11:04Z

The girls and I dressed up in our recently-created finery and took Metro into D.C. to meet up with other steampunk enthusiasts in the gardens behind the Smithsonian castle. There were easily forty people there. It was great fun to check out everyone's outfits and accessories and chat about sewing patterns, thrift store bargains, and construction methods. We hung around in the gardens for an hour or so, causing a minor stir among the more mundanely dressed tourists.

I was pretty happy with how Spike's goggles turned out. I expect to see a great many more pictures posted at steamfashion over the next few days.

After the meet and greet/photo session, it was off to visit some of the museums. A high point for me was the Freer Gallery, where I finally got to see the Peacock Room in person! Doing so with a large crowd of fancifully dressed fellow museum patrons was an added bonus. :)

Another high point was the early flight exhibit at the Air and Space Museum... Several steampunk gentlemen took turns striking 'scoffing' poses in front of a 'newfangled' biplane: "It will never catch on!" Unfortunately by that time my legs were killing me (must remember to take advantage of park benches and sit rather than standing for a solid hour--duh) and Spike was jonesing for ice cream, so we took our leave from the group.

Ice cream at the Smithsonian Castle cafe, then metro back home. The girls had a great time--they are hooked on steampunk now! Woot! All in all, a fitting end to winter break.

Robert Jordan...

2008-12-30T20:00:56Z

Major milestones occurred yesterday at Maison de Pain when I finally managed to purge our overflowing book shelves. Turned out to be less painful than I had anticipated. I took all the books off the shelves, dusted, then put back the ones I knew I wanted to save. The remaining books went on the dining-room table. I asked everyone else in the household to look through these piles, choose any additional books that they thought were 'keepers' and put them on their chairs. Once everyone had their chance I re-shelved the books they'd chosen.

Our living room bookshelves are no longer overflowing. Yay!

I was really surprised that Bob was willing to give up so many books--among them the massive 'Wheel of Time' series by Robert Jordan. Those books alone filled up an entire shelf and must have weighed twenty pounds! This morning the kids helped me pack up three boxes which I'll take to the 'too good to waste place' at our local dump. Someone will snap them right up.

Also destined for the dump is the overflowing bag of fabric I weeded out of my sewing trunk; it will go in the 'fabric recycling' bin. Murphy's law: a week after I've purged the trunk, I'll discover a desperate need for something I just got rid of. Still, at least now I have room for all the latest remnants that I know I'll want to use eventually. Our bedroom was starting to be a fire hazard with all the bags of cloth sitting around.

I feel very virtuous and tidy now. ;)

More sewing and a trip to Wal-Mart

2008-12-28T00:28:06Z

You know what? This digital camera is kind of addictive, as is sewing on my friend D'Andrea's sewing machine, which runs like a top, unlike my own weepy emo Singer. At Wal-Mart I bought spare bobbins, so I don't have to waste thread every time I want to change colors, and spare needles, so I don't have to worry about breaking a needle. I will give all these things to D'Andrea when I return her sewing machine...

Sometime in late August of 2010, I think. ;)

At any rate, this blog is turning into a dress diary until after New Year's, when we will no doubt return to my usual bitching and moaning.

This is a 'waist cincher' sort of belt thingy that I made for a local steampunk get-together. Yes, I know it accentuates all my worst figure flaws. I don't care. The picture is huge because I could not get all the detail to show in a smaller resolution.

I am just so tickled pink with this thing. The red fabric is a remnant from the Renaissance gown I made for a co-worker's daughter. The black is a synthetic linen-look remnant from ye olde fabric box. It's lined in the black, with pseudo 'boning' made from plastic pallet straps scavenged from IKEA. The brass trim is all from a piece I bought from a thrift store years ago, that I never could figure out what to do with until yesterday. I never could figure out if it was meant to be a really big necklace or a teeny-tiny belt. Now it is trim on my waist cincher of DOOM. Oh, and the longer chain is a pocket watch chain, also thrifted, which is the same old tarnished brass color as the necklace bits.

Consider that we started this project with Spike wrapping my waist in duct tape (which may sound kinky, but it's a tried-and-true method for making an accurate pattern). Spike was very enthusiastic with her duct-taping--by the time she was done, well, let's just say I actually had a waistline for the first time in years. Yay! I was also having difficulty breathing--Boo!--which is one reason why there's a considerable gap here in the finished product.

The channels for the 'boning' are all covered with various scraps of upholstery trims left over from different projects. Proof that it can be good to never throw anything away. I had to go out and buy the grommets, as I only had nickel colored ones on hand. Bright brass would probably have matched better, but they only had nickel and antiqued brass at Wal-Mart... Which is actually pretty cool; I'd never seen antiqued brass grommets before. The grommets and the grosgrain ribbon are the only things I had to purchase to make this, and I used the gift card my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas. So, I didn't spend a whole lot. Woot!

Steampunked Christmas Gifts

2008-12-25T21:08:38Z

Last summer (or maybe the summer before last) my friend Anne gave Amber this brocade suit, which her mother had made sometime back in the fifties or sixties. The lady was a home ec. teacher; the workmanship on these is impressive. Reminds me of my own mother and some of the clothes she made for herself back in the day.

Gotta love that pumpkin orange satin lining! The skirt is fully lined, too. Anne's mother was also seriously tiny! Spike, who wears a dress size 0, could not quite fit into the skirt. (For the record, Amber wears a dress size 2. Poor baby!) I am planning to eventually make a reticule out of the fabric and give it to Anne's daughter. A little memento of her grandmother's awesome cocktail suit. ;)

Meanwhile, I cut the jacket down a bit to make a bolero; it just seemed appropriate to me, with the top hat and all. I added gussets so Amber could actually move her arms while wearing it. It was a tedious job, as I'd much rather make something entirely new than pick out seams, but it was worth it in the end. I will add a black frog closure at the neckline... Once I find the frog that I know I have somewhere among all my sewing odds and ends! Started this project before Christmas, but didn't finish it until this afternoon.

I made the top hat before Christmas, working in secret when Amber was asleep or out of the house. Finished it up at two o'clock one morning last week! It came as a complete surprise when she opened it this morning, and she declared it 'all kinds of awesome!' Woot!

The base is a felt top hat from Party City, covered in 'vintage satin', aka 'a really old, faded remnant from the bottom of my scrap box'. I am not entirely happy with the upholstery job, but for a first try, it will do. The brim is covered in satin ribbons. It's meant to be crinkly and gathered like that. I'm actually pretty darned pleased with how that part turned out.

The clock keeps time; there's a little battery powered clockwork inside. For this to work you need a tall hat and a low forehead. ;) Bob had to help me with the clock, since I test the outer bounds of the term 'foolproof'. The clock face is a picture I scrounged off the internet and printed out on parchment paper that I'd sprayed lightly with gold spray paint. If I had it to do over again, I'd mount the clock face in some sort of frame first instead of just sticking it to the front of the hat.

And if I had it to do over again, I'd get someone else to trim the damn hat! Photo doesn't really show it, but there is a length of tulle and some black and gold organdy ribbons, all of which were a pain in the ass to arrange. My millinery skills are not up to par. If I'd lived in the Victorian era and had had to make a living trimming hats...

I'd have turned to prostitution.

Trip to NYC, part two

2008-12-24T22:55:40Z

So we went to New York City, which is still an agoraphobe's worst nightmare. Fortunately driving in the city doesn't faze Bob, not even in Times Square where, I swear, every third pedestrian is actively suicidal.

We spent a couple of hours before the show walking around doing sightseeing. It was about seventeen degrees! I tried to warn the kids that it would be cold. Don't think they really believed me until they experienced it for themselves.

Somehow Rockefeller Center, though beautiful, didn't seem quite as impressive to me as it should have. Then I realized I was basing my opinion on a picture book I'd had as a child--the illustration made the tree seem half a mile high! Bob said, "Well, it would look massive to a four-year-old."

When we got there, the ice-skating rink was vacant except for this one couple and some photographers. Apparently a marriage proposal had just taken place. I dunno, maybe I'm just perverse, but if someone proposed marriage to me in a public place in front of hundreds of people, I'd refuse. (From the sounds of it, this particular proposal was accepted.)

Spamalot was hilarious, the perfect musical for a family of geeks. The original movie script was followed so faithfully in many scenes that I'm surprised people in the audience were (mostly) able to refrain from quoting along. The scenery was impressive, the costumes were great, and the music was fabulously overdone. We all loved the Lady of the Lake, a real diva who belted out "Find Your Grail", which is just about the best high school graduation theme song ever. Seriously. I'm going to start petitioning all my kid's school band/chorus directors right after the holidays.

Trip to NYC, part one

2008-12-24T01:47:10Z

On our way up to NYC, we stopped off for lunch at Harold's Deli, easily accessible from the highway. This place is known for its comically oversize portions. A 'single' serving of most items on their menu could easily feed a family of four, although we did see a lot of large men who were not sharing their portions!

One large man let Spike take a picture of his pancakes. In the background you can see the loaf of bread they'll bring you if you request bread with anything you order.

Service was fast and friendly. The kids were very impressed with the pickle bar. Having grown up with aunts and uncles who would pickle any vegetable they could get their mitts on--and more than a few fruits as well--frankly, I've seen more varieties of pickles in one place. Even so, this was probably more pickles than any normal person could want.

We got the corned beef 'sandwich', which was basically a big stack of meat skewered between two pieces of bread. Sandwiches are served with one's choice of bread. Bob and the kids wanted kaiser rolls. Not wanting the waitress to bring me an entire loaf of rye bread, I picked up a couple slices of rye and pumpernickel from the pickle bar. The corned beef was delicious, (I don't think it's possible to mess up corned beef) as were the fries. We finished slightly more than one half of the sandwich at the restaurant and had the rest as a late-night snack.

Their cole slaw was very good. Almost as good as the stuff you could get at Curly's Chicken House when I was a kid, which to me will always be the gold standard of cole slaw. :D

On the way back from NYC, we stopped at Harold's again for a slice of chocolate cake. Here's Spike carrying the slice out of the deli. She looks less than enthused; the weather in New Jersey was a lot colder than the kids are used to.

This single slice of cake could easily serve a crowd. We cut it up by layers, then cut each layer in half. You could cut them in thirds and still have a decent sized portion by anyone's standards! It was good cake. Honestly, if this place was close by, I would stop in and get a slice of cake for parties or potluck dinners.

The main appeal is the entertainment value of the huge portions, but the food is definitely good. This is one of those places the kids will remember forever. I'm glad we got to go there.

In other news...

2008-12-21T23:53:32Z

Some people recommend braiding one's hair before going to bed to keep it smooth and tangle-free. Somehow I don't think this is what they mean...

That'd be me after putting my hair up in about nine braids a couple weeks ago. My tactful co-workers looked askance but refrained from making any comment... All except for one of the lunch ladies--the one with purple hair--who said my kinky hair was 'cute'. :D

I should have used this icon for the post about Spamalot. Durr.

I'm not dead yet...

2008-12-21T23:32:37Z

So Bob's parent company, which is based in New Jersey, offers a number of occasional perks for employees, most of which he has never taken advantage of, seeing as we don't live in NJ. But discount Broadway tickets proved too irresistible...

We are taking the kids to see Spamalot!

Woo-hoo!

Never mind that I hate New York, this will be fun. Still haven't finished my Christmas shopping, nor has Bob, but this will be worth it. I have decreed it and thus it shall be. We will drive up tomorrow, stopping at Harold's Deli for lunch on the way. Bob calls this the "House of Big Food"; he eats there whenever he has to make an appearance at the home office in NJ. Once he brought home a half slice of chocolate cake big enough for dessert for the whole family.

We'll also have to take a look at Rockefeller Center with the ice skating rink and gigantic Christmas tree lit up at night. We are staying overnight, so we can do other sightseeing the next day depending on how long we want to hang around. Should be a memorable trip for the kids.

I camped...

2008-12-10T01:42:46Z

So Robert and I went camping with the Boy Scout troop at what I like to call one of our 'urban' campsites within view of Route 66, aka the 'babbling brook' as one of the other Scouters dubbed the non-stop hum of traffic. Being on the Dulles airport flight path only added to the ambiance.

Seriously, it was a fun campout, featuring shotgun shooting. Robert qualified this time around, yay! That's another merit badge successfully completed. An even bigger draw, I think, was the frozen pond adjacent to our campsite. The ice was about a half-inch thick, not nearly enough to support a person's weight but very intriguing for tossing rocks, sticks, pinecones, etc. out onto. I was sure at least one Scout would fall in, most likely candidate being Robert. Fortunately, I was wrong.

Temperatures got down to about 19 degrees F. on Friday night... Damn cold! Only about 41 degrees on Saturday, which I discovered is too cold for me to be out in all day. Even dressed in multiple layers and keeping active, I was not able to stay comfortably warm. It started to snow late in the afternoon, just a light dusting, but very pretty and certainly made us all feel really hardcore, camping in snow. Saturday evening found me huddled at fireside, eagerly awaiting bedtime so I could crawl into my nice, warm tent.

And thank God, it was warm. I tried out a teeny-tiny backpacking tent belonging to a friend of ours. Said tent was supposedly 6' long, however when I stretched out, my head and feet touched both walls of the tent, and I am only 5'9". No room to fit my back pack in the tent with me, which I could see being a problem if we were actually backpacking, but as we weren't, I just left my gear in the car. I had a foam mat, my little self-inflating air mat, and an old Coleman sleeping bag under me, slept in a new(-ish) Coleman sleeping bag with a polar fleece liner, and was blissfully toasty in my cocoon.

In other news, returned Sunday, cleaned up, and dressed in decent, non-camping attire to attend a Madrigal Feast. I sewed a Renaissance gown for a young lady in the choir, and her mother purchased a ticket for me as a thank-you. I have to say that the young lady in question was one of the better-dressed performers. The decorations and music were lovely, the food was good, and I had a good time.

Came back home, crashed, and spent Monday laid up in bed with a severe migraine! No more cold-weather camping for me!

brand spankin' new Scout uniforms

2008-12-04T02:58:12Z

The boy and I attended a Boy Scout meeting tonight and I noticed one of the new Scouts who'd just recently 'crossed over' from Cub Scouts was wearing these odd forest green shoulder tabs (Cubbie's tabs are navy blue, while Boy Scouts are red.) Then noticed his troop numerals were also green. The Scoutmaster called the kid up front to show off the new uniform... Mystery solved. Among other changes, the red trim is now forest green:

OMG new BSA Uniforms!

I guess I'll get used to 'em. Typical Episcopalian that I am, my first impulse is to dislike the changes. Heck, I still like the old collarless uniforms from the Seventies!

Actually, I'd like the new uniforms a lot more if they'd bring back the collarless option. It looks so much better with the neckerchief; the collarless shirt had a nice, clean line, whereas both the current and brand-new styles look really stupid with the collar poofing out over the neckerchief. One would think the Boy Scouts would want to avoid anything even remotely poofy-looking. ;)

The shirts aren't cheap, so I don't see myself making any major uniform changes for either myself or Robert any time soon... Although I will probably spring for the new green shoulder tabs and numbers next time I happen by the shop.

In other Scouting news, shooting campout this weekend, woo-hoo! And the ever-popular lock-in next weekend, for which I am serving as a chaperone. (Staying up all night and supervising teenage boys playing video games, now there's an experience.) Turns out the troop across the street at Prince of Peace is holding a lock-in the same night! Robert has a lot of friends in that troop and wants to 'raid' them...

Our Scoutmaster thinks it's a good idea (a guy after my own heart) and is going to pitch it to the other Scoutmaster. What fun to send out a little 'raiding party' in the middle of the night!

I bravely sally forth...

2008-12-03T01:03:58Z

Rigth after work I headed out for the first round of X-mas shopping. I am making Daughter Number Two a steampunk tophat with a working clock mechanism in it--which I honestly thought was a unique idea that had never been done before...

Except it turns out that it has been done before.

Oh well, whatever. It hasn't been done by me. Why am I making a steampunk tophat for my daughter who is totally uninterested in steampunk you might ask? Basically, because I realized that I am always making or purchasing cool costume-type things for Daughter Number One. Seems unfair for Amber to get short shrift in the costume department.

So off to Party City to purchase the hat itself, then on to Michael's to buy a clock kit and some incidental notions. Sheesh, I can't get out of that store without dropping forty bucks or more.

And... After battling scary rush-hour traffic, arrived home to find another X-mas gift for Amber had already arrived in the mail! Woo-hoo. Spike and I picked these out for her:

Funky Rain Boots!

These are perfect for Amber's unique sense of style, and will replace her too-small hot pink kiddie snow boots that she insists on wearing no matter how much I nag. My only gripe is the turquoise trim, in person, is more what I'd call a forest green. Odd, but not enough of an issue for me to return the boots. They look cool despite not being exactly the color combo I'd been expecting.

Now I need to figure out what to get my son for both Christmas and his birthday next week! Argh!

In other news, still no Advent candles. And I was at Michael's and didn't even think to look for candles there. D'oh!

Your basic holiday whining

2008-11-30T23:12:34Z

Call me Scrooge. I hate Christmas.

Was actually looking forward to Advent. Got the house cleaned up a bit, dug out the Advent calendar and the wreath (no candles yet, but hey, what do you want?) It's only the first day; I'll get some candles tomorrow and burn the first one double.

Slight tangent: My mom got her birthday gift from me and was happy with it. I was pretty happy with it myself. She's 78 this year and has pretty much everything she needs or wants. No hobbies to speak of because she's clinically depressed all the time, thus kind of hard to buy for. (For the record I am only clinically depressed during the Christmas insanity. So no pot/kettle comments, thank you very much.) So anyway, I got her a pair of earrings this summer when we were out in Yosemite: Little gold owls with topaz-colored beads (her birthstone). I mailed her those, along with some cute kitchen towels and placemats, all with a snowman & snow-woman theme. So she can think of snow while living in sunny Florida. Also some cute snowman salt and pepper shakers and snowman paper plates and napkins I got at Harris Teeter--the idea being that when Mom and Dad have friends over during the holidays, she can use the cute paper plates and not have to do dishes.

For Christmas, I got Mom one of them thar new-fangled digital photo frames. This makes exactly two Christmas gifts purchased for family and friends on my list. Bah, humbug. At some point I'd hoped to get most of my shopping done in October. This ambitious dream faded with work and the kid's school activities and of course me just not wanting to leave the house to go shopping.

Speaking of clinical depression, yet another year where I feel totally overwhelmed and inadequate at the prospect of the holidays. This morning in church, our new seminarian preached the sermon. The usual exhortation to use Advent as a time of contemplation, prayer and quiet reflection. It's the Church's new year, a time to make resolutions to lead a more holy and prayerful life and draw closer to God.

Where the hell do we get these clergy, anyway? What planet are they from? Contemplation and quiet reflection, what? Do they not have family, co-workers and friends to buy gifts for? Kids to drive to parties and school events? Homes to clean? Charities to support? Cookies to bake?

I suspect they are all organized, energetic people who love Christmas and put their decorations up moments after the Thanksgiving feast... That they home-cooked themselves, of course. While wearing high heels and pearls. All their gifts are already bought, wrapped, mailed... Their Christmas tree is probably real, with needles that never shed on the carpet. They probably had family photos taken last August to be made into Christmas cards. I can just picture their attractive, unblemished, competent faces, with gleaming white and toothy smiles, arriving in my mailbox.

Did I mention I hate Christmas cards, too?

Seriously, I know of no one like this in real life, and yet every year we get this whole 'take time for a holy Advent' spiel. Downsize the commercial aspect of Christmas.

I would love to. Somebody give me a clue as to how one accomplishes that here in big, fat, commercial suburban America.

Bah, humbug, I say.

On the bright side, this year our new assistant rector is having a 'Blue Christmas' service for those of us who aren't into the happy-clappy and the ho-ho-ho. No idea what it's supposed to be about, but I've worked out a deal with Bob wherein if I attend that service I get a pass for the traditional Christmas Eve. Now that's something I can actually be merry about.

Update

2008-11-30T03:58:42Z

So I turned forty-three on Wednesday. The kindergarteners at school sang to me. Very cute. Bob baked me a chocolate cake and put forty-three candles on it. I was surprised that the smoke alarm didn't go off for that one.

The cob oven has been put on hold until spring. Not much fun to mix the mud when it's cold out. In other project news, the Renaissance Gown of DOOM was completed on time and under budget. I get to attend the big madrigal feast next weekend to hear the young lady and her peers sing, and have been promised photographs of the gown.

Made five new shepherd costumes for the church Christmas pageant. They were fun to make. I spent a good chunk of time this morning making 'steampunk' costumery; when I get into a sewing groove I can spend hours making stuff. The end results were a pair of bloomers for Spike (I wish they had fit me, but the skirt I made them out of was way too small for that to come to reality!) and a skirt for me. Both were made from old black skirts.

The girls and I have been working hard on batches of Christmas cookies to give as gifts to friends and co-workers. Tomorrow I want to make chow mein noodle cookies--yum!

Got my Mom's and sister's Christmas gifts. Not nearly enough but it's a start. First day of Advent starts in a few hours... And Mom's birthday! I need to remember to call her!

Ah, Christmas Pageants

2008-11-16T19:56:47Z

This morning marked the start of rehearsals for 'The Gift', our church's perennial Sunday School Christmas pageant.

My favorite lines: Shepherd #1 (upon hearing that the Wise Men plan on bringing gifts to Baby Jesus): "We can give the baby this nice, soft wool blanket."
Shepherd #2: "Yes, and we can give his parents this cheese!"

I think my middle kid reached the Pageant pinnacle in the fourth grade when she beat out her arch-rival for the role of the Angel Gabriel. Gabriel gets to recite her lines from the pulpit, which in our Colonial-era church stands a good twenty feet off the ground. I'll never forget her bellowing "FEAR NOT" at the shepherds.

I don't remember any of the rest of the kids ever getting a speaking part, though each of them did a turn as a singing animal in the musical number 'The Friendly Beasts'. Most notably, my oldest forgot that she was supposed to wear a long-sleeve white shirt for her role as Sheep #2. The costume consisted of a headdress and fleece vest; she wore a hot pink T-shirt and came to me in tears at the last minute to borrow my cardigan.

My kids have all outgrown the Pageant, but this year I'm involved in making new costumes for the shepherds. There's been some trouble in recent years with shepherd boys coming close to mutiny over being made to wear the motley collection of floral polyester robes that have apparently been in use since the late seventies. It's definitely time for a makeover, so I volunteered.

This will be the second time I've made a big batch of pageant costumes, the last time being when my kids were little and we attended St. Margaret's. There, I made the garb out of old bed sheets, curtains and tablecloths that parishioners had donated for a yard sale.

Pohick does things a little differently. The Sunday School superintendent went all out, giving me a huge bag of striped fabric in nice, masculine greens, browns, and blues. There were some neutral beige sheets as well, but brand new.

I'll be spending the next week or so sewing a variety of tunics, vests, and the obligatory Yasser Arafat hats. Whee!

burning questions of faith

2008-11-11T20:47:32Z

So last Sunday was kind of up in the air whether we would have Sunday school class, or the first Christmas pageant rehearsal (where the Senior High students coach the elementary school kids in learning their lines). We did end up having class, but being lazy, I didn't bother to prepare a lesson based on the Gospel and Old Testament readings. Instead, I passed out index cards and pencils and invited the high school students to write down their own questions and/or topics for discussion. I put the cards in a basket to be drawn out at random, me acting on the assumption that anonymity might make the whole exercise a little more palatable for my hapless students. Turned out, it was one of the best Sunday school sessions we've had so far this year. Here are the questions, transcribed verbatim, with answers as I recall them from class:

Q: Who is Amos?

A: Apparently inspired by the Old Testament lesson read in church that morning. (Having decided not to prep for class, I didn't find this out until I attended the late church service.) Nice to know people are paying attention in church, huh? We determined that Amos was Famous and made delicious cookies. He was also a prophet. After reading a few excerpts, we decided the less famous Amos--like many of the prophets--was one angry dude.

Q: Why haven't we ever studied the books left out of the Bible?

A: Brief lecture on my part about why various books were left out of the canon, summed up by one student as 'it was all politics anyway' and a promise by me to devote one future Sunday to various apocryphal writings. Fun times ahead!

Q: Is it bad for a priest to have long hair? Jesus had long hair.

A: (The Episcopal church does ordain women, but I assume this was meant to refer to male long-haired priests; I have never actually seen a long-haired male clergy specimen!) I took myself out of the running for this one, being biased; my husband and son both have long hair. A lively discussion ensued, with students bringing up examples of everything from mohawks and dyed hair to a parent-labeled 'Satanic' studded leather belt from Hot Topic.

Q: Why do females wear high heels?

A: The girls in the class fielded this one, with answers ranging from 'it's yet another example of the patriarchy's attempts to cripple women' to 'I like them and think they're comfortable'. A facetious question but answered thoughtfully all the same.

Q: How do you carry on a good relationship with God?

A: I wrote down on the board as the kids yelled out:
pray... A lot!
trust He'll always be there for you
obey the ten commandments
go to church/Sunday school
give alms
Jesus!
help the poor and homeless
follow everything you're told in church/Sunday school

Pedantic person that I am, I then led a discussion on the difference between being saved and having a good relationship with God, simply because I felt it was important to make the distinction.

Q: Random Religion Question:
(it's mind-blowing!)
If we believe God is the beginning and the end an he knows all and what not, do we believe in predestination? And if we believe in predestination, do we believe the same things and Presbyterians? And if we believe the same things as Presbyterians, what's the difference?

A: (I feel as if that question had to be read in one breath!) Thank God, one young man in the class volunteered to answer, because I've never understood the whole free will/predestination thing. Nor have I ever set foot in a Presbyterian church, not even for a wedding; I have no idea what ideological differences there might be between them and the Episcopal church. The short answers are, apparently: 'No', 'no', and 'we don't'.

Q: Why are we held to the superfluous Puritan concept of formal dress=piety?

A: Pretty sure my oldest daughter put that question into the basket. (It's interesting having both my daughters as students... All too often they use me as an example!) The kids discussed showing respect for God and being sensitive to the elderly/conservative folks in the congregation. On the flip side, outward appearance and mode of dress were deemed irrelevant. Some families had a dress code for church, others did not. Thought-provoking.

Q: How do other religions tie into Christianity?

A: This was a fun one, with a discussion of the three Abrahamic religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--and a fantastic re-telling of the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael by one of the girls in the class. The question also led to a brief discussion of the followers of other religions and whether Christians should attempt to convert them or not. Suffice to say there are no evangelicals in the Senior High Sunday school class.

Q: video games + Religion. Discuss

A: The students saw no conflict here. I suggested 'Grand Theft Auto' might be a morally questionable game for Christians to play, to general laughter and comments along the lines of 'oh, yeah, that game is fun!' and 'anybody ever steal the riding lawn mower and drive it down the freeway?'

It was generally agreed that as long as one knew that 'shanking hos and jacking cars' (a direct quote) was wrong, it didn't hurt to play the game.

I love my Sunday school class.

homesick blues

2008-07-30T18:58:45Z

Robert is at summer camp. Robert is, apparently, miserable at summer camp. Spoke to him last night on the phone after talking to his Scoutmaster. Bad reception plus my hearing loss equaled a very frustrating conversation. He seemed to be crying during our talk. Spoke to the Scoutmaster again after talking to Robert; he said Robert 'seemed okay'.

So I have no idea.

Promised the boy he could call home daily if he wanted to. Promised him I'd come down--five hour drive--and visit him if he needed me to. Basically promised him anything but what he wanted, which was to come home. Immediately.

Bob didn't even get to talk to him because he was on a conference call for work at the same time I was on the phone with Robert. Very frustrating. I think Bob would have had a better chance of calming Robert down. Sometimes less sympathy is better.

This morning, the 'care package' I'd sent to camp came back in the mail, marked return to sender and unclaimed. I suspected this would happen! The camp web site as well as the information sent home by the troop stated that "all mail must be mailed prior to departure and no later than Tuesday". And no later than Tuesday, not or. Which, to me, means the Tuesday prior to the troop's departure for camp, right? Which is ridiculously early, but whatever. I figured if I clearly marked it with the troop number and Robert's name, it would get to him, right?

No, obviously not. I can't believe they wouldn't hold the package. They must have a schedule of which troops are arriving when. They could have held on to the package for three freakin' days. Idiots.

I am so mad I want to call the camp office and ream someone.

Meanwhile, Robert's Scoutmaster left a voicemail telling me that Robert is doing okay today. At the time of the call, he was playing bocce ball.

Oy. I really hope the crisis has passed.

my ears are weird

2008-07-29T15:27:50Z

So I have this comfy high-backed computer chair on rollers. It rocks. No, really, the seat has springs or ball bearings or something that allows it to rock.

So I'm sitting here between tasks, vegging out, rocking back and forth in my computer chair, and after a couple of minutes I realize that I've got this rhythmic, intermittent, high-pitched tone in my head. I'm actually 'singing' along with it, silently:

Eeeeee... pause... Eeeeee... pause... Etcetera.

I rouse myself from my stupor enough to wonder what the heck this tone is, and why it's got this strange, repetitive rhythm.

It's my new computer. As I rock back, the sound cuts out--not because it actually goes away, mind! It's a continuous high-pitched whine. The sound only seems to cut out because when I'm more than two feet away from the computer, I can no longer hear it. As I rock forward, the sound comes back.

If I sit upright and pay attention to whatever's on the screen, i.e. not vegging out, my brain tunes out the whining sound. Which is why I didn't notice it until just now, I guess.

It's like those high-pitched 'mosquito' ringtones the kids use in school, because the average teacher--or basically anyone over the age of forty--can't hear them.

Sometimes hearing loss is an annoyance; other times it's like a science project.

sewing stuff, aka OMG I am so thrifty

2008-07-27T20:11:06Z

My mother gave me a cloak--a seventies era monstrosity that I can remember her wearing for years of playground duty during the cold winters up north. She's been asking my sister and me if we want various things from the cottage. Usually I say no, but this was something I could actually use. It's fully reversible, turquoise blue poplin on one side and a heather grey and turquoise buffalo plaid wool on the other side. Mom always wore the plain turquoise side out and I can remember thinking the 'inside' plaid was more attractive. It's heavy, waterproof, and I can see myself wearing this quite happily for... You guessed it, winter playground duty.

There is only one problem--the sleeve portion of the cloak is too short. Even on Mom, who is a few inches shorter than me, the sleeves were only three-quarters length. On me, they barely reach to my elbows. But! I have figured out a solution. I'll make some sleeves, specifically a teeny-tiny bolero jacket. Since the cloak is so heavy, I don't need a full layer underneath. Heather grey wool should not be too hard to find, so with a little luck I should be able to construct perfectly matching sleeves. I think I'll switch out the original utilitarian plastic buttons, too, for something a little more stylish.

In other news, I just repaired an underwire bra! Yeah, TMI, I know. I'm so proud of myself. I love this style of bra and have three of them. I've actually repaired all three before, but this time the underwire on one side actually broke, as in snapped in half, on two of them. And these bras are expensive, at least by my standards--around forty dollars! I spend less on outer garments! Granted, I do most of my shopping at thrift stores, but still.

I cannibalized another bra (one I liked much less) for spare parts and replaced the broken underwire--all hand sewing. Not exactly pretty, but the structural integrity seems to be fine. No one's going to see it anyway, right? I'll see how it holds up to actual wear and laundering before trying to repair the second one.

someday people will learn...

2008-07-27T17:41:21Z

So today was 'Mission Trip Report' day in church. Something of a command performance; our assistant priest who'd organized the trip wanted a good turn-out, so the girls and I dutifully donned our official trip t-shirts and joined the rest of the gang in the front pews. During the announcements, the priest said, "Now our young people will come forward and each say a few words about their experiences on the Mission Trip."

I figured I was in the clear--obviously 'young people' refers to the teenagers, not the chaperones--and stepped aside to let the kids go up and do their thing. But no. The two guy chaperones decided everyone had to speak and ushered the rest of us forward. And of course they went on at great length, bless their little hearts. When it was my turn to speak I just said,

"Only in the Episcopal Church do they use the term 'young people' to include those of us over forty. Amen to that."

In other news, we saw Robert off for a week of Boy Scout camp before church. I know he will have a good time. Still, it feels strange to have my 'baby' gone for a week. I have left him with my husband or with my parents, but he's never left me, nor gone away for so long without another family member accompanying him.

His Scout Master delayed departure for a good twenty minutes as he had all the boys practice lining up in squads, marching in formation, and standing at attention and parade rest. Apparently there has been some complaint that our boys don't look very sharp when compared to the other troops at camp.

"When I was a boy, scouts knew how to march," I overheard him saying. This is a common refrain from our Scout Master: when I was a boy...

Apparently also in the interest of looking sharp, our troop has instituted a new uniform rule. In the past the boys have had to be in uniform only from the waist up--shirt, neckerchief and slide. Some parents wanted to require the BSA uniform pants or shorts as well. The compromise was 'decent' tan, olive green, or brown shorts--no baggy shorts, no excess pockets, and no 'girly' decorations. That last made me giggle uncontrollably. Heaven forbid any of our boys wear 'girly' shorts!