Is That a Banana in Your Pocket?

What will they think of next? My friend and I were perusing the Not Martha site when we read about the Banana Bunker. Now, honestly, we could not help sniggering a bit - OK a lot - about this product. I mean LOOK at it! We even felt compelled to email it all the way downstairs to John, who was using the computer in his basement lair. He had pretty much the same impression we did. It's obviously a product that is intended to look very innocent - in case, say, your bags are being searched at the airport. No longer do you need to fear embarrassment at what might be pulled from your bag. "That? Oh, that!" *light laugh and toss of head* "That is simply my ribbed banana protector." At which point you open it and pull the banana from within with a flourish.

Perhaps you could even purchase it with an upgrade! "Why is there a battery pack attached? Ah, well, you see it's refrigerated! Yes, yes indeedy it is." Mmmmm hmmm!

Now, if you go to that Not Martha site (I'm going to make you go there if you want to see the other one because she has a great site) there's also a link to the Banana Guard I'm not sure I should share my thoughts on this G-spot other banana protector, so I will let you form your own opinions.

In other breaking news, it's cold here!!!! Yeeesh! It's not as cold as Wisconsin was, but it's cold enough. No, it's too cold. The kids are getting cabin fever. We took them all to sparring today, and even after an hour of lighting up their partners, they were all nimbly-bimbly when we were leaving the do-jang.

In light of the weather, I guess I need to get back into the sewing swing and make those Sew Baby slippers. Look for an S&S soon.

After that flop of a baby gown, I made myself some lounge pants. Suffice it to say that they had problems of their own. Sigh. I'm not feeling very sewing-savvy right now. I used something kinda veloury and forgot about nap when cutting, so the nap on the front goes one way, and the nap on the back goes the other. Wah! I decided on a whim to lettuce the bottom edges, and they have a fun flare-y look and feel. They're pretty comfy, but I feel like a dork about that nap issue.

I'm definitely in my "Blue Period" in scrapbooking. Out of the 5 layouts in my book, 3 are blue. Well, they're winter pics, and that's about all that seemed to work. I need to pull diff pics I guess...

On a totally unrelated note, I can no longer type the word "the." Instead, it always, ALWAYS comes out "teh." I hate that. I'm not sure what to do. Maybe I'll abbreviate it to just "t." Maybe I could start a new trend in blogging, or even REAL writing. "T quick brown fox jumped over t lazy dog." Hmm... I could be onto something. Think of all the ink and paper we'd save just by omitting the "h" and "e" in every "the" in a book. "Save a tree, use a "t!"" Yep, that could be my slogan. Or maybe "Get the he out of the." Remember, you saw it here, first!

Now it's late, and I need to get the he out of here. :o)

Bloggity Blog

Well, not a whole heck of a lot is going on right now. I'm back to writing again, as planned. I have something almost revised that I wanted to get out by Friday, but may slip 'til Saturday. (children's picture book)

We had class and sparring today. That's always a blast! :o) I kicked my 1st poor sparring partner in the face, though. Yikes. I didn't mean to - I was just going for the head. John says my kick was right on, but he turned into it. Ouch. I felt my heel contact bone (spinning hook kick and it hit him in the cheekbone) and then he was just standing there all dazed for a while. Oops! :o( But he gave me a nice head shot, too (good thing we wear headgear!) so hopefully he feels better about that. :o)

I finally finished and mailed both calendars on Tuesday! WOO HOO!! So I made my first scrapbook page (2 pg spread) for MYSELF after that, and then I finally got to sew again.

I made a baby gown for a friend today - well I meant it to be for a friend - and it came out all wonky. I used a lap shoulder shirt pattern and just lengthened it for a gown.






As you can see, the neckline is all rippled. The instructions said to turn under and stitch, but that made it all wavy. Even washing and drying on hot didn't help. On top of it all, I serged on the elastic, and it gathered the bottom of the gown, but it was too weak to gather it once I'd turned it under for a finished edge, so I had to pick that out again. Shoulda made a casing. I guess it will be a dolly gown. :oP Some of the sewing mamas said to try clear elastic, so I'll have to find some of that.

I scored at the resale shop for Fishy today! Neat stuff I couldn't have made myself for the prices! I always love a good bargain! Sluggie got new tennies, too, for $6.50. That girl's feet are growing like crazy. Zoiks! Maybe it's just that she likes shoes so much she *thinks* she needs new ones. The girl does like her shoes... But I saw her pass up a pair of cute shoes that she liked today because they were too small, even though they were a size larger than her current ones! I think she may outgrow the Mollusc soon!

Mollusc went to the orthodontist and I was shocked yet again that they didn't recommend doing anything. (Have YOU ever known an ortho to pass up recommending any kind of treatment? That's like a shrink saying "OK, you're done. All Better. Bye-bye!") So she doesn't have to go back till next October, and both visits have been free. I'm a teensy little bit worried about that in the back of my mind. Wouldn't you be?

I still need to sew. Obviously the wonky baby gown would not satisfy my creative urges, and I need to make some kind of baby present, if I can just figure out what...

Prawn and her friend (the Master's daughter) did great at TKD today and both got stars on their foreheads (a big deal, believe me!) After that, they proceeded to decorate the dojang with bandaids and salve during the homeschool class. We all realised they had been WAAAAY too quiet. Little stinkers!

Still doing Flylady. Not sure if I'm doing it right... But I'm decluttering more and took in a load to the resale shop today. More goes on Mon if I'm on the ball. I also really need to post some of my goodies on eBay as SOAA auctions. I have a lovely purple cape, a fairy skirt, etc. that need to go.

I'm currently coveting a new camera. Turns out my old one is broken and that's why it's been giving me fits. What I really want is a Powershot Pro1. My uncle (a photographer) recommended it and I apparently have his and my dad's bloodsince I just LOVE to take pics, and am dying for an awesome camera with a superb lens like my old film camera, but digital. I also want a guitar. Must be entering the "creative" phase of my life... In the meantime, I need to get my current camera fixed, at least.

Hallelujah! One Calendar is DONE!!

Yay and hooray! I finally finished that October page and did December's. One calendar down and one to go.

I'm dragging myself back onto the Flylady wagon. Someone told me about using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on my porcelain sink and I am THRILLED with the results! I always have a hard time making it past the FlyBaby stage. I don't understand what she means by things like "make sure you have your weekly vacumming done" since I don't already have my own schedule. I do it on Mondays and when it looks like it needs it. I guess I need to pore over the site more and figure all that out.

It's really wonderful to have a washing machine again. Really! I sat for a while today, just watching it go 'round and 'round and marveling at the miracle of modern technology. If it weren't for washers and dryers, I'd spend the better part of my week scrubbing the family's clothes. Yikes!

My fabric stash is calling to me. I'm not sure which pieces of fabric are actually making all the noise, since I won't open the drawers until my calendars are done. Well, not completely true. I did open one today to put away a piece of glittery pink rib knit I had to wash after my kids managed to slime it with something. At that point, a tan, striped knit with foxes and backpacks tried to convince me to make pants for Gogo, but I was firm, even though it begged and pleaded. It even tried to guilt me into sewing it up, because the grey striped pants I made him last year are now about 3" too short. But I was resolute in my steadfastness (or maybe steadfast in my resoluteness) and pointed out that he can wear jeans for a few more days if neccessary. Still, I can hear the fabric calling out in muffled voices. It's worse at night when the house is (more or less) quiet.

I'm going to have to try the washcloth idea one of the moms at The Swap told me about. You fold a washcloth in half, sew up the sides, turn it right side out and put 2 or 3 snaps across the top. Soap scraplets get slipped inside and are easy to use up!

Tomorrow is Monday already. We're doing Around the World in 180 days and the kids wanted to start with Australia. We've been enjoying it so far. I have some books and movies on order at the library that look good. Maybe I can review them when we're done with them. I'm not actually sure how I ended up with the program. It came with a botany book I'd ordered, and it was listed on the order form. Suffice it to say that it's better not to order things late at night - especially when you've just gotten your internet back after a dry spell. But we're enjoying it, and learning, too, so maybe I should actually go on a late night ordering binge and see what else arrives on our doorstep. :o)

P.G. Wodehouse was a comic genius :o)

Holy cow, could that man write!! Douglas Adams wasn't kidding when he said that Wodehouse was "the greatest comic writer of all time." I lie in bed reading those books and just cracking up. Jeeves and Wooster books are my faves so far. And I can SO see the influence in Douglas Adams's writing. Sigh. :o) There's just nothing quite like the pleasure of having a good book waiting for you, is there?

Now, for those awaiting the latest with bated breath, I shall press on lest I disappoint...

We went sledding at Kensington park again today. We bought our 3rd annual membership sticker for the park. It doesn't seem like we've been here that long. Sledding was a blast, though I'll prolly have bruises on my bum all over again. I'm eyeing up that extra piece of chair cushion foam in my sewing room pretty seriously now. I know it would fit in my sled. :0P

So my friend and I are scrapping calendars (yes, STILL!) for our moms and MILs. I thought October was in the bag, but I got socked over the melon with a bad case of the dreaded Scrapper's Block. Argh! It's just not coming together the way I wanted it to. Cute pics, but too much white space (wall backround in the pics and if I silhouette the pics they're gonna look dorky.) I think I'm going to just emboss a bunch of pumpkins and fill in the spaces. I dunno. She and I are both down to about a page a day, and unless you're an addict or somthing that is not a Good Thing. I wonder if there ARE addicts. I wonder if there's some kind of Betty Ford Clinic for scrapaholics. "Hi, I'm Betsy and I'm a scrapaholic. My last layout was 2 weeks, 2 days and 4 hours ago, and I didn't see my family for 3 days. The kids ate fruit snacks and dirt, and I actually gave the baby a box of matches to play with. He set the curtains on fire, which was not cool, but I threw them in the swimming pool, and I did get some great pictures for a House Fire layout."

My friend and I went to the scrapbook store yesterday (no matter HOW MUCH stuff you have, you always need "something else" when you have a specific project!) and we walked in with our herd of 5 kids, collectively. The lady at the register said, "Wow! That's a lot of kids! Are they all yours?" Nope. We just thought we'd borrow a bunch of kids on a school day and take them to the scrapbook store to hinder us while we shop. :oP I almost told her it was a homeschool field trip day, but I wasn't sure how that would go over, so I refrained. The kids were really good though (of course they were! They got to watch Star Wars while we shopped. I have turned them ALL into Star Wars Geeks - even the one that's not mine! :o) ) and while I was rounding up the kids and my friend was checking out, the lady told her "the kids were really good - very quiet! To tell the truth, we were all a little afraid when you all came in." Bwa ha ha ha!!!

After shelling out all my food money for supplies (what problem? ;-) OK it wasn't really quite that bad) we went swimming at the pool at my friend's apartment. Wow. It must have been too long since we last went. Prawn (age 3) started the Series of Weird Questions and Comments by asking if we were going to wear our clothes for swimming. Nope, we're going to wear swimming suits. OK. A while later she wanted to know if we'd be wearing our coats. Nope, just our swimming suits, babe. OK, she was good with that, but what about our boots? Did we plan to wear our boots for swimming? Uh, no. We don't need to wear our boots for swiming. Then, when we got to the pool it was Gogo's turn. (he's 5) We were all ready to jump in and he kinda pulled me aside and informed me "I'm not wearing any underwear." snickersnort! I told him that was just fine, he wasn't supposed to. And that's when I really knew we had to get out to the pool more!

In spite of being fish out of water for so very long, we all had a great time, and my friend got some really good pictures at the pool. I'm pretty sure we can crop out the charred curtains in the background.


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It's late enough that it's the 8th now. Happy Birthday, Daddy. I miss you! Hope you're jammin' with Bach and Mozart. :o)

Kaboom=the sound of your body hitting the floor when you pass out from the stench!

Here's a warning to all you people who might have been thinking about trying KABOOM cleaner. DON'T!!! Here's what I had to say about it in my epinions review:

How can I accurately relay my feelings of revulsion here? I thought this was supposed to be some kind of miracle cleaner. I finally broke down and bought some at Costco - 2 packaged together. First, I read the warnings. There are a LOT. Basically, it says everything short of "do not actually use this product." I don't know how I didn't see all that before. Maybe because those folks had cleverly packaged it so the warning labels faced each other and the bottles were then conveniently shrink-wrapped together. In spite of all the warnings, and against my better judgment, I figured I'd at least try the stuff - hey, if it's this caustic, it must be effective, right? Well good luck spraying the stuff. When I tried to squirt the stuff in my sink, it gouted out of the nozzle and flowed down my hand. A pitiful "after-spit" did barely spritzle my sink. I was then over come by a completely NAUSEATING MILDEW SMELL! Holy Cow! My first thought was that the kitchen towel I'd used to try to tighten the spray head (a pitiful and failed attempt to reduce flowage and enhance spritzle-age) must have really needed a wash. Even the bottle and the sink smelled like mildew. I have a very strong stomach, but I actually gagged. I let the sink sit while I dealt with the towel and then scrubbed out my sink. The result was no better than with plain old water. I was afraid to use any more spray just then, because I had a sneaking suspicion that the smell was actually from the "Kaboom".

Since this was a 2 pack, I figured I'd give it a fair shot by using the 2nd bottle in my bathroom. I sprayed the sink (this nozzle did actually work) and sure enough - KABOOM! - the stench of mildew once again filled my nostrils. BE WARNED! When the manufacturer labeled this stuff as having a "New Fresh Scent," they apparently neglected to point out that it's a "New Fresh MILDEW scent!" KABOOM! There goes 6 bucks.

In Which All My Appliances Begin to Break

You know how bad things always come in threes? :-/

First it was the fridge. The door FELL OFF! Do not ever buy a Kenmore Elite refrigerator - I don't care WHAT Consumer Reports says! The fridge costs about $1000. The door costs over $800. I wonder how much the freezer door costs? Considering the main door price, I'm thinking $200 would not be out of the question. So why don't they advertise it as "buy these doors and get the fridge for free?" OK so the door fell off during the summer. John flipped it and rehung it so we'd get by until the service call. Thank GOODNESS it was still under warranty. They shipped a new door, which was beaten up, and then another new door, which the service guy hung for us. Now, a few mos later the part where the door mounts is cracked again. I'm so glad we were on the ball enough to do the extended warranty. But I don't get it. The kids don't hang on the door or push on it, or overextend it, so why is this happening? I guess cuz it's a piece of crap.

Next, enter the oven, stage left. It doesn't light. You turn it on, and the smell of natural gas fills the room, but no light. Fortunately, I discovered that this can be solved by beating the crap out of the oven. Care to guess how I came to that conclusion?

And, finally, the washer, not to be outdone, commited suicide. Now really, I ask you, isn't that a rather desperate plea for attention? Maybe a bit over the top? I certainly think so. John has fixed it twice before, but this was some electrical problem. So out comes Mr. Repairman and guess what? Because John has fixed it before (saving us a considerable amount of $) with parts that SEARS sent us, the Sears guy is "not allowed to touch it." OK, there is NO warranty to be voided here, so WHAT'S THE DEAL?!? Double sigh. For a family of 6, going washerless for the better part of a week is a Big Deal. Our options were 1) call someone else to fix it and possibly pay hundreds with no guarantee it gets fixed, 2)buy parts and start replacing via guesswork as to what could be wrong (with no guarantee it gets fixed) , and 3) buy a new washer. We went with 3. We are now destitute. On the lighter side, the one we wanted was on sale, had an additional rebate, and was bought before Jan 9th when the appliance prices will go up $50-$100 each due to rising steel prices. So we've got that going for us. I'm trying to focus on the positive things...

So today I asked Mollusc if she had clean undies for tomorrow. (New Washer Day!!) She said that she'd taken out today's, and, surprisingly, there was an unexpected, clean pair underneath for tomorrow. In her words, "it was kind of like Hannukah." Yep, it was The Miracle of the Clean Undies. ;o)


In Other Breaking News, John and I tested for (and received) our brown belts a few weekends ago. Woo hoo! We have been getting to do more free sparring on sparring night, too. Hooray! My jump-roping regimen is up to 3.5 mins, 30 sec or so break and 1.5 more mins. (still sounds kinda wussy, huh?) It has made a huge difference in my sparring stamina.

We went sledding at Kensington on Wednesday and had a blast! I still have a bruise on my bum. Which reminds me of a spectacular sparring bruise I got a few weeks ago. I'm not sure whether my "cup" saved me from a painful death, or actually caused the bruise. At any rate, it was a magnificent bruise, and I couldn't even show it to anyone, except for John. Wah!

I did sew a fair amount for Christmas - lots of lounge pants & fleece socks. Now I'm so busy scrapping calendars (yes, I know it's January!) for my mom and MIL, as well as revising stories, that I'm not sewing much. After my calendars are done I'll be able to sew more again. Yay! I'm also on a fabric fast, except for my gift card for JoAnn's (oh joyous JA's!)

I'm contemplating whether or not to invent New Year's resolutions to post. Maybe not. Then I'd be accountable. We wouldn't want that. ;o)



Hey, did I mention that our popcorn popper died, too?

Sigh...

In Which My Sister Gains Even More Fame...

Check it out! Navan made it into The Irish American News. The story is under Features, under Raised on Songs and Stories. Sheila becomes more and more famous! Meanwhile, I studiously avoid working on the kids' science fiction story I'm writing. Instead, spare moments are taken up with reading a near bodice-ripper (not really my genre) and messing about on the web. I should really be sewing. I have 8 pairs of lounge pants to make for Christmas gifts, and more goodies, too. I have already sewn things I need to list on the Amity's Market Board. I have jewelry to make. Yikes! Life is busy!

Kicking men, Shipping News and possibly more...

OK, so I haven't updated in a while and here's why. I was busy:

1) fighting with men

2) sewing like a madwoman

3) reading The Shipping News

And here's how all that went...

OK, fighting with men. Yep, physical fighting, but with protective gear and judges. You guessed it - it was my first Tae Kwon Do tournament. :o) There were only 4 of us adults and 3 of us were from the same school, and 2 of us were married to each other. I was the only woman. Yes, I had to fight my husband. And then another guy from our school. I won one and lost one and so took second place.

Let me just say how very different it is to spar at a tournament. Wow. I just can't express that enough. I think when I have more experience that will change (at least I sure hope so) but for my first one I foud that I really reverted to my early sparring days. My focus dropped down from the shoulders to the scoring spots on the hogu (ugh!) and my stomach was in knots and my wind - can I just say that though my endurance has improved a lot over this last year, I still need to work on it a LOT MORE!!!! So I immediately began a jump-roping regimen after that experience. I'm suprised little kids don't drop over dead on the playground from jump-roping. Seriously. And those marathon sessions - how do they DO that??!!? I started off with 2 mins and then, due to tripping a few times and getting the rope tangled on my toes ended up going for a total of 3.5 mins. That seemed like a really good workout, so I've kept up with that over the week, though last night I did a lot better and was able to tack on another 30 seconds after a short break and still feel good. So I guess it's helping already. Our matches are 2 rounds of 1.5 minutes with a 30 second break in between. Seems more like 5 minutes when you're out on the mat. Add to that that we had only free-sparred maybe 4 times EVER and the tournament kicked my butt. Oh and we weren't allowed to kick to the head (I think because it was mixed gender) which stank because that's the strongest part of my game and the weakest for the guys I fought (remember, I know these guys.) I definitely need to work on the lower part of my game. But it was a blast nonetheless. I had a lot of fun with the forms competition, got first place and was able to compete against the other 1st places for the "Grand Champion" trophy, which, to my surprise, I won! :o) The older girls competed as well and had fun and did great. Kacey racked up 2 insane scores (30s and 50s - good grief!) and was going easy on her opponents. She obviously should have been bumped up out of her age group. Molly had a good match. She needs to work on her timing and her speed, but I can appreciate that. Her form was really good!


After the tournament, I had to sew like a madwoman for the bazaar. John made some AWESOME display trees for me - 2 table-standing trees and a floor-standing one. Gotta do the picture thing soon. I sold more than I ever do in one day online, and made more than I'd expected to, though not all that much. (yep - online biz is slow, mainly due to lack of advertising) I have a lot left to put up on my site, which I should have done today, but didn't. Molly manned the table with me and we had a good time talking and knitting and shopping the other booths. (So did I actually bring home any profits? you ask. Um - not sure...) I found out that 1) our tiny town is not really ready for Playsilks, and 2) I should have brought more non-Christmas children's aprons. It was a good experience, though, and I had fun making everything and would like to do it again sometime. I'm not sure I've ever spent such a long time not having to take care of anyone before (since having kids.) So it was very relaxing just sitting there at the booth. OK, I guess I was gone for about that long when we went to the Sarah MacLaughlin concert in October (which was AWSOME, by the way), but that's the only other time.

Now for The Shipping News. Well, this one's a bit complicated. Right. First off, I picked it up free at a library sale after having it recommended to me by my sister, who had not read it and who gave me a very odd and non-related description of it based on what I can only guess was a dream she once had combined with whatever Irish song lyrics she was currently decoding. ;o) OK, so going into the whole thing, I had this vague (and as it turned out, completely wrong) idea of what it might be about. When I started into it, all I could think was "man, this sucks. The writing style is SO obnoxious. HOW did this win a Pulitzer?!" Granted, I do not actually know the criteria for being awarded a Pulitzer, so that thought may or may not have had a leg to stand on. Maybe a Pulitzer is given for the most innovative use of grammar. I should check that out. So anyway, I started complaining about it to my friend and asked if she'd read it. She had, and said that it was really good. So I gritted my teeth and read on. I'm glad. :o) I still can't explain it, but it became a page turner. Maybe it was that picture of Kevin Spacey on the front. I did turn back to that a lot. But seriously, even though I could NEVER make this book sound interesting by describing what happens, I truly wanted to find out what happened. Maybe because I'm a romantic sap and wanted desperately for Quoyle to find his true love, and figured (judging from that cover) that it would happen. I mean, really, you don't put a picture of Kevin Spacey and 2 beautiful women on the cover of a book unless someone's going to fall in love, right?

The thing other than writing style that really bugged me was the handling of that poor Quoyle guy. First off, he was not beautiful (sorry, Kevin- you're too lovely to be a realistic Quoyle.) So Kevin on the cover was a sort of distracting, hovering-in-the-wings guy, because no way was he Quoyle. But I was able to pretty much turn that off while reading. The big thing that got to me was that throughout the first part of the book, he really came off as a sub-intelligent, Of Mice and Men's Lenny sort of character. And then suddenly - maybe a fourth or a third of the way into the book - he had a brain and was a quasi-intelligent human being instead of this pseudo-retarded caricature of a guy. So he never quite jelled for me. It's disconcerting to think you have a character all figured out and then have the rug pulled out from under you like that. But the story - well it was a page turner and I'm glad I pressed on (with glory, hoo rah.) I'm very curious now to see the movie and see how the whole thing was handled. There's a lot going on as thoughts and descriptions that I'm not sure how you could get across in a movie. I'm curious if it even comes off as being the same story. Gotta rent it I guess, or check the library.

And now it's time to go to Tae Kwon Do...

A fun Korean movie :o)

This one is fun for one and all! (adults that is) It's called My Tutor Friend and is so much fun - a love story, a little Tae Kwon Do, showdowns between good guys and bad guys, and a little risquee humour; definitely a keeper. It's 2 hours long, but no one dies, which, for a Korean flick, is pretty amazing. The subtitles are delightfully improper English at times, though not as much as those in Lost in the South.

I got a little inspiration, finally, in the sewing universe. I signed up for a table at a bazzar. I'm sure that whole experience will lead to some interesting blogging and probably notes to self to never do another one. But maybe not. Anyway, the new Ottobre came, so I whipped up a ton of fleece hats. Kacey swiped one for herself (purple fleece with a fussy cut Karate girl on pink fleece for the crown) and Mollusc scored an orca fleece blue hat. Prawn got a sushi hat (how appropriate) from the last of my green microfleece sushi (wah!) and I made it's twin for our TKD Master's 2 year old. I don't know if Gordo wants one or not. I think I want one! I might scarf one of the Hello Kitty ones from myself.

Speaking of scarf, I knitted my first scarf last night. It went REALLY fast on size 19 needles. :o) But don't expect this to turn into a knitting blog, cuz it's not gonna. I mean it.

We tried Bertie Bott's Every Flavour beans today. Whleah! (interpret this how you will) Sardine was overwhelming. And I got one like mold or dirt that I acctually spat out. I also had either spaghetti or vomit but it didn't taste like either, thank goodness. Gordo loved the earthworm flavour. I'm just relieved that they're gone. It was funny to watch Prawn's face, though, while she ate them, since she didn't really understand the whole concept. :oP


Argh! It's 1:16 am, my legs are sore from an extra TKD class and, um, other things, and I have to get up early for the kids' TKD and then have my own class and sparring tomorrow night. Better go to bed. Sorry to rob you of my sparkling humour. Mayhap I will grace you with it again soon.

Luke Skywalker's Head Fell Off

So that's a bummer. It's my old Luke - probably my first figure. But I guess I have to expect some fallout when I let the kids play with them. And it beats having them sitting around in some old box in a corner of the basement. All those guys are getting plenty of action these days. Like Luke. I'm not sure if Dags pulled his head off cuz she thought he was like a Lego guy, or if he fell off the countertop and lost it that way. It was probably the Evil Emperor in the conservatory with a candlestick. Or blue lightning bolts. I should never have mailed away those points for that guy; he's nothing but trouble.

Sewing has yielded more failure than success lately. I did another pair of pants for Gordy's friend and the waist was still too big. I was very uninspired about doing Gordy's so they're a UFO (UnFinished Object) sitting on the table right now. And I have a 3rd pair cut out waiting to be sewn up for another friend and found something funky with the front and back pieces. Looks like the front waistline is about an inch or more shorter than the back, which means I prolly traced the pattern wrong, but I can't check OR fix it since I lent my book and patt sheet to a friend. Blah. Next, I ripped off one of my Ottobre patterns for a shirt for Kacey. The cross neck shirt from the 3/2004 issue only goes to 110 cm and she needs a 128, so I folded a Kwik Sew sweatshirt patt (couldn't find my long-sleeved T patt if, indeed, I do have one,) traced, modified and re-cut and that worked all right. I made the shirt out of thin stuff with a high lycra content and BOY did the edges on that stuff roll. Very frustrating stuff. Of course the shirt was way too big, so I serged it down a bunch. I lettuced the sleeves and bottom - again very frustrating with that high roll factor - and the sleeves are really long on her. But that's the look these days, right? And it will fit forever.

I'm just uninspired, lately, and that's unusual. Maybe I just need a good fabric fix. Or maybe it's because the kids are doing OK clothing-wise now. I'm signing up for a Jesse Tree ornament swap with some other Amity Sewing Mamas , so maybe that will re-inspire me. The SOAA theme should inspire me, too. Maybe I'll do some cloaks. In fact, now that I'm not NAKing (just got Dags down) I'm crazy to sit here blogging rather than playing with fabric and my machines...

Clowns SUCK!!!

I have always loathed clowns. Always. Not because they are scary, but because they are embarrassing. They have no dignity. How can a human being lower themselves to such a level? Answer: they aren't human. :-O And that makes me uncomfortable. I guess I'm NOT ALONE. Bwa ha ha ha ha!!!

You know that movie, European Road Trip? (or something like that) The best part of that whole movie was when Scotty kicked the French Robot Mime's derriere. :-D Mimes, clowns, there's not a lot of difference. The only one I know of is that clowns are allowed to make noise and are therefore able to add a whole extra level of irritation factor to their schtick. I guess there's the whole costume difference, too, but they both look like idiots so that's basically a push, IMO.

Navan RULES!!!!

Hey, look at that! you can click on your profile and click anything in your profile to see who else likes the same stuff. So Hello, Julia, fellow Navan fan! :) I am obliged to like Navan because my sis is 1/4th of the group, but I'd like it even if she wasn't, really Sheila. Yes I would. Bwa ha ha ha ha!! BTW when are you coming to see me again? I found a new Indian store with some rockin' curries, and Great Land (the Chinese Market) carries some AWESOME roti bread. Go figure. So is that enough to entice you out this way?

Impressive how many Atlas Shrugged fans there are out there! I'm going to have to play with this feature some more.

Why Fairy Anyway?

Well why not? And also because my of my business, The Fairy's Whim

I'm no good at performing under pressure - well not with sewing or making things or writing anyway. Actually, I'm not that bad at it, but I hate doing it; it takes all the enjoyment right out of it. So my biz is strictly what I feel like making when I feel like making it, no custom orders. You know how those custom orders can turn into nightmares when a demon possesses your serger and it eats a hole in the back of your nearly finished shirt and you're all out of that fabric and every place you know that carries it is backordered for 6 weeks? Yeah, that's why. The one time I did a custom order (6 fairy skirts in various sizes) I was so nervous and couldn't put it down 'til it was done. Yeah, I made good $, but it's no good for family life.

Here's something annoying - I made John a really cool Dragon Shirt (I'll link a pic as soon as I figure out how) and everyone was asking where he got it. One guy wanted to know if I had a site. Well, yes, but no Dragon Shirts are on it. Now, if I had figured out that I ought to make a couple to sell before that, it might have been fine. But now that I feel like I "should" make some for the site, well ugh. Isn't that annoying? What a dork I can be. Why is that, Captain Ron? No one knows.

I feel semi-inspired to write more, but the mixer is screaming my name. I think it wants me to make Congo Bars...

The True Meaning of Life 101

Yep, here it is. The long awaited blog. Let go your collective breaths, because I've finally done it. Make sure to tune in frequently, so you don't miss a single, scintillating post. Here you will find all manner of fascinating truths, and possibly fictions as well. Or vice versa.

How does one start a blog, anyway? Simply announce "here I am?" Or is it "Here I am, here I remain?" Fellow Dune geeks will know what I'm talking about.

Well, stay tuned and you'll find out about my sewing successes (and nightmares as well,) current obsessions (Dune Minis, YES!) and everything else I feel like rambling on about. I may also clue you in on which Korean movies to watch and which to avoid (The Quiet Family - ummmm not so much, Lost in the South, Mission: Return Home - or something like that - Yes!) In fact, while I'm on that subject, why is it that Korean movie scripts usually kill someone off? Are they all controlled by Disney or what? If you are clueless as to what I mean by that Disney crack, pick up any Disney movie from the last 12 yrs or so and watch it. Somebody will snuff it in the film, I guarantee it. If they don't snuff it in the film, it's because they're already dead. (a la Lilo and Stitch's parents.)

Oh yeah - the answer is 42...