Ready, Set, Sew! (Again)

I originally posted this yesterday, but something weird happened, and the page, although fine initially, began opening with errors. So, I decided to delete the whole post and start over. I made the pictures smaller, too, in case that was the problem.

The sewing room is finished, with the possible exception of the wall decor, if I had any. We had enough flooring (with a little patching) to do the closet as well. The only nice piece of furniture in the room is a cherry computer hutch that came from James' parents' house. It weighs about two tons, and it was an adventure getting it moved into the hall while we put the floor down. James hung his contribution to the decor in front of the windows, but it didn't stay there long.

Photo-Worthy Savings

I got everything pictured at Publix and (drum roll) saved 74% doing it! I have a hard time reaching the ever-elusive 70% + level, mostly because I'll have things on my list that aren't on sale and/or don't have coupons. But not today.

CVS would have paid me $2 to bring home a razor and two tubes of Colgate, but I blew the wad on Valentine's clearance chocolate. You can rest assured that it will be put to good use, though.

Happy 93rd Birthday

Yesterday marked the 93rd birthday of my grandfather and his twin sister and this afternoon there was a family party. Here are my three sisters and me posing, and then one of our grandfather along with us being a little goofy, a rare thing. You believe that, don't you?

Happy Valentine's Day

And please let me know if you have any leftover chocolate; there will be no need for recycling it.

How to Know If You Have Too Much Time on Your Hands

I've been accused of having too much time on my hands. Since this is probably true, the least I can do is to provide instruction to the rest of you so that you'll know if this "malady" strikes you. Here's how to know if you have too much time on your hands:
You start seeing Martians.

Everything your pet does is entertaining.

Everything your spouse does is entertaining.

You find humor in pollen.

Trashcans make you feel nostalgic.

You become obsessed with hair.

Colors of yogurt matter.

You take photographs of price stickers, food, medicine, and thermometers.

And finally, you keep blogging as if your life depended on it, even when you have nothing worthwhile to say, because you're pretty sure that your sanity does depend on it.

Incomprehensible (Except to the Preschool Set)

Caleb and Alexa have a nice playroom with an abundance of colorful, age-appropriate toys.
So what do they do? Play in Mommy and Daddy's closet and try on all their shoes.It got worse after that, but I'll need to explain it to Emily in person before I post it here. But don't worry. No small children were harmed in the making of this blog, and one Grammy is only slightly worse for the wear.

Sewing Room -- Part XIVLC?

The flooring came today for the sewing room. I had to take it out of the box and play with it. Don't worry. I'm not covering up beautiful hardwood with this rubber mat stuff. We'll be covering up the ugly pine sub-floor. Then, finally, we'll be able to put the furniture in the room and I can start getting all my sewing supplies organized. Three cheers!

Working at it All

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday because I worked 6+ hours at a desk job in a real office at Creation Ministries International. Then I came home, waited for the supper fairy (who didn't show -- I forgot to wear my ruby slippers, I guess), then worked three hours at my home desk in my remote office at American Vision. I have more work to do for CMI, but it probably won't be until next week. Meanwhile, the Inspector (pictured) did a walk-through of the bathroom, and has said that I must do housework due to the cat hair she found on the toilet seat.

Making Money

I made money today getting everything pictured at CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid. Don't ask me how much. It's late, and the computations are beyond me. You'll just have to take my word for it.I'm also making money this week by doing some Quickbooks work for a local ministry. I'm not sure if it will be a day or two or a week or two until I can nail down exactly what they want from me. But Ill take it either way!

It Is As Feared

Eerie Green GlowMartians

Sew-Sew Progress

We made some progress on the sewing room on Saturday. We pulled up the carpet (hooray!), James put down some gray goop to level uneven places in the subfloor, I hung the curtains, and I made and hung the valences.

Here's the gray goop. The flooring I ordered should come this week.

First, I hung the old valences to see if I wanted to make mine this size. James thought I should just leave the old ones up, but this is not the theme I have in mind.

Next, I got out the valence fabric (It still makes me happy.) and computed how I should cut it.

Then, I cut off the selvages.

Recently, I've become fascinated by quilts (and other items) made from fabric selvages. I was always taught to cut selvages off and throw them away, since they are woven more tightly and may cause the fabric itself to pucker after washing and drying. Now they seem to be highly desirable, and I love the graphic patterns that are created with them. I can't wait to pull out my fabric stash and see how many selvages I can find and then figure out what I can create with them. (I'm sure it won't be a full-sized quilt.) Here's a link to a selvage blog where you can see what I mean.

Now I'm sewing the valences.

If you know me at all, you'll know that there's usually a glass of iced tea close by. Here it is.

Toward the end of the sewing, I had to put more thread on the bobbin. Since I was nearly finished, I wanted to wind only as much thread as needed. I got pretty darn close!

Here's the finished valance on the single and on the double windows.

It is definitely lime green in the sewing room. It's even more apparent in the mornings when the sun shines on the front of the house where the double windows are. Open the door at your own peril. It could be that Martians have landed in there.

Three Pictures are Worth a Thousand Words

OCD: It's Genetic

Those of you who share the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with us will immediately recognize it in the photo. If you don't, I'll clue you in: It's no accident that Emily served her kids the orange yogurt with the orange spoon and the pink yogurt with the pink spoon.

Of Course He's the Brightest Ever

Early on in my blogging "career," I posted a video of Caleb naming the letters of the alphabet. Now, at 3-1/2 he knows just about all the sounds that the letters make. He'll say the letter and the sound, but in order to get him to perform, I'm prompting him with the letter. For U, he says, "Up," and then proceeds to fall down. Too funny!

Gaming: Caleb's Rules of Order

Caleb and I played Chutes and Ladders today. I thought that perhaps I remembered the rules from many years ago playing the same game with my children. It soon became evident that I was sadly mistaken. Here are the new rules (or the old rules as interpreted by a three-year-old):

1. Choose a red, blue, yellow or green game piece. The fact that two are boys and two are girls is immaterial.
2. Spin the spinner (the only step I could master).
3. Move about that number of spaces in any direction you choose -- forward, backward, horizontal, vertical -- all are acceptable.
4. If you land on a ladder, go up it. And the next ladder too, if you want.
5. If you land on a chute, go down it. Repeat as desired.
6. Keep taking turns and searching for where you last landed, because Alexa has rearranged the game pieces in the interim.
7. Keep repeating steps 2-6 until Caleb moves to the space numbered 100 and announces, "Caleb wins!" at which time Alexa claps and squeals loudly.

Put the game away and move on to a new adventure.

Fiddling, Filler, Fluff, Frivolity, and Futile

Please accept my apology for leaving you hanging in suspense too long regarding a label word, beginning with F, for any random posts that do not fit my other categories. Although I appreciate everyone’s input, in the interest of vocabulary expansion (mine included), I’m going to go with this new word I found:

FARRAGO - a confused mixture: hodgepodge

Quite descriptive, don’t you think?

I’m also adding another category for anything written about my house, like painting the sewing room and my collection of cats. This new category will be called FIRESIDE.

Now I must go clean the fireside of all the farrago.

Room Zoom

Don't you just love a freshly-painted room? I sure do. Here's the soon-to-be sewing room in all its green glory.

I've rearranged the furniture (on paper) at least a dozen times once I discovered that I had shorted the two six-foot tables to five feet in my "to scale" drawing. Why didn't someone who's good at geometry point this out to me sooner?

I would really like to rip out the carpet in this room, but there's the small matter of needing to cover the plywood subfloor with something. So, the flooring decision is still under discussion. At least I'm still discussing it, although I'm uncertain if anyone is listening.

Super Bowl Commercials

There is often as much hype around the Super Bowl commercials as there is around the game itself. There was one commercial last night that was a movie trailer for Monsters vs. Aliens. I'm not much of a movie buff, so I'm not sure if this is a new movie or if it's about to be released on DVD. In any event, I wish I'd known about it sooner. As I continue working on my in-laws' house, it occurs to me that I could have auditioned for a movie role. The only problem is that I don't know whether to go for the monster or the alien part. (Scroll down)