Keep Calm & Carry A Camera

I took this last month when the leaves had begun to change.

The industrial park where I work is actually a very pretty, very woodsy & very critter filled area that also encompasses an historical landmark from the Civil War era.

A few weeks ago there was a movie crew camping out for awhile while they filmed scenes for a new motion picture about Pocahontas, she’s from this part of Virginia.

Big deal.

You know what they should have been filming?

A remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS. That’s what.

(insert freaky music & bird squawking noises here)

Yesterday I was coming back from lunch when I saw these guys chillin on a lamp post:

Then I noticed the rest of them:

 Of all the times I’d wished I’d had my real camera with me to capture something really pretty and instead I capture TURKEY VULTURES.

DID YOU HEAR ME? I SAID VULTURES!!!!!!!!

I won’t lie. I stayed far enough away, in my car, with the window rolled down only enough to give the lens a clear shot.

This one tried to punk me:

I swear he started posing too. He was kind of hopping like maybe he was hurt or trying to line dance (you never know in Virginia) so I inched the window down just a tad more so I could get a closer & that bastard spread his wings & took flight at me! Ok, not at me, but over the car. Still, it scared me so much that I accidentally pushed the button to roll down the back windows instead of rolling up the front window. 

It’s a good thing I didn’t have to pee. Just sayin'.

Wiki says they are a protected species, even though they are known to carry anthrax (ANTHRAX!!) and hog cholera. I'm not sure what hog cholera is all about but it sounds detrimental to my bacon consumption. Not cool. 

You know what else I learned from Wikipedia about Turkey Vultures? That when they feel threatened they regurgitate on their attacker & feign death. Oh my god, ME TOO!!

Maybe I should star in the remake?

Pictures

Remember how I told you my husband has a tool bucket? Well, the truth is, he has TWO. And he prefers the buckets to the box in the back. I can only attribute this to his native american roots - he is (by way of his mother) half Pomo Indian (a small tribe of basket weavers in back home in NorCal). Maybe his inner Dances With Tools feels the bucket is more akin to a basket? I don't know. Sometimes there is just no explaining the male species.

This next picture has nothing to do with anything except that I loves it. How can you not love banana splits and pedicures? I attended this holiday luncheon gig at The Great Wolf Lodge last week and found this little spa adjoining the grown up ladies spa. So the seats are not exactly comfy (or roomy) enough for my derriere, but what they lack in backside support they more than make up for in adorableness.

~cliche title here~

Out with the new, in with the old!

Eh.

Everything old is new again?

Hmph.

Look, I tried. I thought what was killing my mojo was feeling haunted by nosy old busybodies so I started a fresh blog. Turns out – fresh starts are overrated and overwhelming. I couldn’t pull off the consistency of posting to establish myself. So here I am again.

Mary Engelbreit says “Wherever You Go, There You Are.”

She’s right.

Of course, she also says crazy stuff like “Life is just a chair of bowlies”.  Um...what does that even mean?

I’m pretty sure we can all agree that Forrest Gump is far more accurate in his statement that “Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates”…..until you try! And that’s what I did. I tried. And now I’m baaa-aaack.

~~~

So who’s ready for Christmas? I’m not – at least not in the sense of getting the gift part accomplished.

I started getting into the spirit about Thanksgiving time and started making some stockings. Cute & easy peasy. Well, easy peasy except for the one with “the toe”. That one made me cuss & rip seams. Even so, holiday cheer was starting to seep into my psyche.

And then the stupid car threw a hissy fit. It’s all my fault.

You know how they say not to say certain things out loud because giving voice to them pretty much activates it? (Think: Wonder Twins) Well, there was this one day that gas had gone down to $3.09/gallon (dirt cheap in there here parts) so, being the very grown up person that I am (shut it), I decided to fill ol’ Miss Daisy all the way up. 


As I was pulling away from the gas station my dashboard was telling me I had 396 miles to go until empty. First I was all, “HOLLA! I can get back & forth to work all week without any gas pitt-stops, go me!” And then I was all, “watch this thing break on a full tank”. And then it did! That bitch broke.

Well, not like right there dead in its tracks or anything. I mean, made it the 25 miles to work, pulled into my usual spot, turned it off, and then it broke. I sat and watched a cloud of smoke (or steam, whatever) billow from under the hood. You’d a though Snoop Dogg was up under therrre!

I cried and called Craig and got mad at him, as per The Wife how-to manual. 

·         Me: *sob* The car is *sob* broke.

·         Him: I can’t hear you.

·         Me: *sob* The car is *sob* BROKE!

·         Him: I still didn’t hear you, you’re breaking up, are you...
                                        ~CLICK~

·         Me: *The clicking was me. I hung up on him. Oh come on! He couldn’t hear me, what was I supposed to do?*

He called me back but I didn’t answer. What if I had been stranded on the side of the road somewhere? Hello, I needed him to be worried!! So I waited until the 3rd ring of his 2nd phone call  - and then I answered. It's all about timing people. 

·         Me: *SOB!* HELLO! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

·         Him: Yes, calm down, whats wrong?

·         Me: Are you SURE you can hear me? Because I don’t have all day for you to go get a hearing aid…

·         Him: I can hear you, what is wrong?

·         Me: The car is broke. There’s all this smoke wafting out from under the hoo-oood *sob*…

·         Him: Is it smoke or is it steam?

·         Me: How am I supposed to know? It’s like I’m sitting to close to the stage at a KISS concert and I’m scared shooting flames are up next! What if it EXPLODES?

·         Him: It’s not going to explode.

·         Me: It might. You don’t know. I filled it all. the. way. full of gas this morning.

·         Him: It won’t explode.

·         Me: You are gonna feel so bad if it does.

·         Him: Go inside, I will see you in a little while.

Later in the day he arrived with his tool bucket. That's right, tool (old 5 gallon paint) bucket.

He has a tool box.

He brought his tool bucket.

But I can’t pick on his in good conscience at this point because the man is like House, M.D. when it comes to diagnosing cars. Pure genius. He figured out what I needed to do to make it to work & home all week until he could do the major repair that weekend. I knew he could do it!

Now if only I could find a way to speak a million bucks into my bank account….

~~~

Summertime

I hope everyone is enjoying a fabulous summertime! 

We haven't done much more than use our Busch Gardens for summer entertainment this year. Seems like we've become the "stay-cation" types since moving to Virginia. I don't mind so much, but I do miss hopping in the car and heading north into the mountains around Lake Tahoe or west to the city streets of San Francisco or south to see family. I always loved that a 2 hour car trip in any direction could land you in a completely other landscape but still be in California. 

Not to pick on Virginia at all, it has some really beautiful aspects. And tons of history. DC has become a favorite car trip. But we sure are a long way from any mountains & for some reason we've all got the camping bug. 

Friends & coworkers have praised a local nature reserve for its camping fun. But honestly? I am not packing up the car just to drive 20 minutes to sleep outside. I drive farther than that to get to work everyday! It wouldn't feel like we "went" somewhere, you know?

So we're on the hunt for a real camping excursion. Somewhere under 2 hours. Charlottesville maybe? 

Anyone else have vacation or staycation plans?

Peace & Cupcakes Pillowcase Dress

Meet my Monday night project: a little trial and error (mostly error) dress I named "Peace & Cupcakes"....

Firstly(?) & most importantly you should know I bought this really stinkin' cute pattern called "Sew Easy" Pillowcase Dress from Foot Loose & Fancy Free on ETSY. You gotta love it! I really hope to someday do it justice. As those of you with keen sewista eyesight may notice my armpit armholes needs some work as do my bias tape making skills. 

Cross your heart promise not to judge this awesome pattern by my first attempt! 

{IMPORTANT: Pics of the way I added my border hem are not part of her pattern for I would not take liberties with the designers rights by so blatantly posting photos of her hard work! And I'm serious as a heart attack about that. Its simply the way I was taught to put a border on a pillowcase to "trap" the raw edges inside the casing & so I began with what I knew how to do in an attempt to personalize & doll up my version.}

LOVE the pattern so much I put it in page protectors & cute pink flex-folder :)

Mid-roll (after stitching on cupcake border)

then closing it all up inside....

....and pulling it out the ends....

And Voila! Wait. Stop the music. I totally sewed it UPSIDE DOWN. Crap...
Ok, so those errors I mentioned? Well there's one major one that turned a size 5 dress turned into a 4T. I cut that  border off & started over the right way! Then I got down to the business of following the pattern & here is my outcome:

{{{ TRUE LOVE!!! }}}

Like I said, the armholes need some work and I know won't win any Project Runways for Rugrats anytime soon but I'm still having a ball!

Lazy Sunday

It's Sunday afternoon, technically evening, and I'm sitting here bored. How lame is that? I don't think I've been really and truly bored in a very long time. But I am. And even though I normally think that only boring people get bored, I'm not going to think that right now. Because it's me. 


Friday I sewed myself a little purse/bag/market tote thingy from 4 fat quarters. I like it plenty but I can now see the importance of lining. It's reversible so I don't mean that kind of lining, I mean the kind that makes something stiffer. Interfacing? Don't laugh, learning to sew means also learning a whole new language.

Kiddo would only hold it long enough for a snap of the BlackBLURRBerry

Yes, blurry,but couldn't have you miss this awesomeness.

Saturday I met up with a couple of crochet friends at a coffee shop in the cute little downtown area. I made a coaster. One. Whole. Coaster. I know, watch me go! Meanwhile one friend was working on a double stand stadium in blanket in Redskin colors (and I'm still friends with her, see how tolerant I am?) and the other was trying to master a very confusing crochet pattern for a blanket she wants to make for her first grandchild - a girl due later this year. I hope I didn't intimidate them with my hardcore coaster. 


Also on Saturday I tried to have a yard sale. I sold a boppy cushion to the neighbor kid for a buck for his cat Sonya. And then I gave away a couple of books to his cousin. Donald Trump is dying to get me on The Apprentice. 


Our street ends at the beach less than 2 blocks down. We have foot traffic all day long every day. Yesterday? A perfectly sunny beach weather kind of day? None. Nary a stroller pusher or dog walker or bike thief (ahem, there's a story there I'll share sometime). I thought I was being very entrepreneur'ish by choosing lots of great beach reading material to sell. But no. Well, I mean I DID, but I can't help it if no one was smart enough to stop by for a bargain priced book. 


Yeah. So I packed that in early and spent most of the rest of the day flipping magazine pages in search of something inspiring. I fell asleep.


Of course now that I am sitting here on the front porch not having a yard sale, there are tons of people wandering past. They probably think I'm a geek sitting out here on the computer but the truth is, its the only place we can get wifi at the moment. It's an 81 year old house. It has mood swings. 


There is music at the beach tonight, like most Sunday nights thru the summer. I think they call it Groovin By the Bay. I call it Pick Up Your Trash When You Leave And Please Obey The Stop Signs Jerks! I think my name has a catchier ring to it don't you?


I decided blog hopping would be my best bet for finding inspiration. You guys in blogland never fail to amuse and inspire me. 


But before I go, here are some snapshots of those cherry curtains I made for my kitchen (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE): ((((PS: is it just me or has Blogger been especially sucky with the uploading of pics lately??)))) (((((PSS: Forgive my extremely low quality photo skills. Someday I will learn wield a camera!)))))

This last one I winged without a pattern - just your basic valance with an edging like the on pillowcases. Pretty much how I've been making all the curtains around the house so far. Easy peasy - just take the measurement of the width of your window & double it in fabric. 

And for anyone who cares, my seams are bitchin! Cleaaan & neat, no raw edges, everything folded & stitch or "French" seamed. Next project I will take crappy pictures of the insides too.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Cherry Curtains!

Well I did it. I officially turned 39 today. And guess what? I didn’t turn into a pumpkin or grow a wart on my nose. In fact, I'm happy to report it feels just like 29...but with 10 years experience. ;)

I was reading some blogs earlier & I’m suddenly fascinated with how other sew enthusiasts have their sewing rooms set up. Pretty cool! I’ve turned my dining room into my little sewista studio because it’s smack dab in the heart of the house. Even if I had my choice of one of the four bedrooms, I do believe I would still choose this very spot.

Sometimes on a Friday night I like to sort through my things, touch all the fabrics, flip thru craft magazines and fill my mind with ideas to sleep on. It helps me erase the week and get focused on what the hubs likes to call my “Anti-Sewcial Saturdays”.  (My guess is if the man knew just how quiet my motor mouth would become while sewing, he’d have bought me a machine years ago!)

Tomorrow (after breakfast out with my oldest son!!)  I’ve got plans to make kitchen window valances with the black/dot/cherry & the black/white gingham/cherry….I love these two fabrics, especially together! 

What I'm not so in love with is how Mr. Jones, ever the 80's hairband fan, feels the need to bust out in song with "Sheeee's my cherry pie..." whenever he see's it laying out. You think that will wear off once they are hanging? Gawd, I hope so. 

I also love this rose print which has no name but I found it super cheap at Hancock:

So feminine, the background is creamy colored, and although it's just cotton, it's very silky smooth. Not sure what to do with it since its just one yard. I wonder  if there is a book or website that shares 1-yard-only-ideas?

Have you tried Mary Ellen's Best Press? It’s the bestest. It gives fabric body without buildup or shine. It’s a little pricier than starch, but worth it. I've had it a few months and only use it sparingly, so it's lasting me longer than anticipated. I chose unscented. You can also get it in lavender, citrus, cherry blossom, & I think linen. Also purchased as Hancock:

 Sweet Dreams kids!