Going Gaga

Dang! You know, I don't know if I like her music, and I don't care if someone loves her music or hates her music, or thinks she's crazy, or what.... but one has to admit that Lady Gaga has spunk and guts. I'm betting, if you met her, that she's an incredibly intelligent woman who knows how to "work the system" and has a flawless marketing campaign. I hadn't really paid much attention until recently when I read an article about her beginnings and then just today when I saw this MSNBC SlideShow "Fashion gone Gaga". Regardless of how you feel about her or her music, you really just have to respect how well she knows the system and the effort she puts in for a full production at every moment. Wow! Hope she doesn't burn out. I probably would.

Random Thoughts

Someday I'll get a post up about my experiences with the Exuberant Animal East Coast Jam... someday when I can get it all to come out of my head as something other than the deranged babbleing of a hyperactive pre-teen... ("OMG, OMG, OMG!!! It was like_! and then he was like_!.... and then, like, it was like the coolest thing EVER!)

File under the category of "kids say the darnedest things"...
I was at the pool this weekend with my sister's family and my 5 (almost 6) year old niece commented: "You belly button's a triangle!" Me: "Oh, I guess so." Her: "Why is that?" Me: "... uh 'cause that's the way it is, I dunno..."

Try on the fly explaining to a 5-6 year old that your bellybutton's a triangle because your skins a little lose still after losing weight and gravity's acting on it, while trying not to exacerbate the media body image hoopla about we all must be a super model, or should be, or can be...

I was also driving on the way to hang with my sister when I FINALLY paid attention to the Lyrics of "Vogue" by Madonna and it stuck me that they have an amazing message. Take a look and ponder for a sec. : )

All you need is your own imagination
So use it that's what it's for
Go inside, for your finest inspiration
Your dreams will open the door
It makes no difference if you're black or white
If you're a boy or a girl
If the music's pumping, it will give you new life
You're a superstar, yes, that's what you are, you know it
.....
Beauty's where you find it
Not just where you bump and grind it
Soul is in the musical
That's where I feel so beautiful
Magical, life's a ball
So get up on the dance floor

Random Pet-Peeve

So.... you know how you go to a store & check out at the register and they all have these little card swipe screen boxes now? Right. It really irritates me when the screen says "Amount OK?" with options of 'yes' or 'no'. I hate that. I always want to hit "NO". No, the amount is not OK, I think all your stuff is overpriced. Do NOT ask me if it's "OK"... The machines that say "Is the total correct?" are much better. That's not an opinion question & I can honestly give a yes or no answer.

That's my random for the day.

No, wait... I lied. Another random thing... I did an experiment in advertising this weekend. Two years ago I made Lychee Punch for our Halloween Party and nobody touched it:

This year I made "Lychee Sangria". It actually tasted worse (the Pinot Grigio I got ended up being way too dry), but people drank more of it. I am convinced that it's because I called it Sangria, which seems to be trendy right now. Ah well. *sigh *

Causal Fridays and Barefoot v. Minimal Shoes

Ok, so I just had a total geek-out on my way up the elevator this morning... Today is Friday - for many, Casual Friday. How easy it is to switch letters and change the meanings of words.... Then I thought: "If you just shift the U, Casual turns into Causal. What would 'Causal Friday' be like?" I hope J doesn't read this otherwise he might be ashamed to know me. ; )

Also, I gave some thought this morning to barefooting some more... I mean, I'm sure you all know that I run pseudo-barefoot in my Vibram FiveFingers, but I've eschewed shoes for as long as I can remember. Indoors? barefoot. Running around outside playing as a kid? barefoot as much as I could get away with. Heck, I've always preferred to buy shoes such that I can at least slightly feel the cracks in the sidewalk when I'm walking. It feels weird to me otherwise. So since I've started running around in the FiveFingers more & more, I've been feeling it in my joints when I go back to 'regular' shoes. I feel the shift in my joints and alignment. Or rather, I'm aware of them... Odd. as a result I am now trying to buy my shoes with as flat and thin a sole as possible and as flexible or roomy as possible (It totally goes against all financial sense to pay for as little as possible...) The thing that is intriguing me right now is that even in minimalist shoes, I do not ambulate in the same manner. Barefoot or in my VFFs, I walk lightly and lead with my toes, touching down the forefoot or midfoot first and then compress into my heel. With my minimalist flats, I still find myself landing on my heel and it feels very awkward to try and walk in a different manner in them. I need to ponder if it's because my brain has been "programmed" for so long to walk in a particular manner with shoes on (then one would think it'd translate to the VFFs also) or is it more that the construction of the shoes does not lend itself well to having a natural gait while keeping the shoes on my feet? I need to go contemplate.

Another random thought for the day: I passed a car on the highway yesterday that had 3 wheels - one in front, two in back. Sorry, I did not have my camera for once. It looked brand new. It had a curved windshield, sides, looked like a 2 seater, was TINY, had a normal steering wheel, and a roll bar. It appeared to be a convertible with the top down. Anyone know what that was? I tried to check out the make & model while driving by, but the words were all long, in tiny print, and a script-ish font. What kind of marketing sense does that make????

I don't think it's enough

$3825.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

So I totally don't think it'd be worth that to sell my dead body to science.... I mean, it wouldn't even cover funeral costs, I bet, and well I guess you'd save money on burial... but daggnabbit, I want to be buried in a grave easily forgotten so I can potentially be rediscovered by archaeologists in a couple of thousand years. So please don't sell me.

Figuring Stuff Out

I've been figuring some stuff out and it's feeling really good. I had a "mental" week last week... I got some info early in the week that shed a lot of light on a problem that I've had for going on 2 years now, and it led to a lot of emotional ups & downs while I processed & figured stuff out. In the end, I'm feeling soooo much better, but it led me to figure some other things out as well. For instance, my shoulders started knotting up about 2 weeks ago. I know it was stress related. No matter what, I could not get them to relax out. Then I went mental, and that exacerbated it. Finally, I gave up & went for my first real massage yesterday - it's worth the money to me to get it worked out & relaxed now before I have a 7 hour drive and a maybe stressful/maybe not weekend. Anyway, that worked out he kinks & loosened up my neck and it was wonderful, but today I am noticing that my shoulders are so used to being knotted up that they are trying to revert to that. I'm having to fight my own body today and it's very weird. I keep noticing my shoulders wanting to hunch up near my ears and etc.... Secondly, I discovered, or made the connection rather, that my worst "Mental" days the past month have been days where I am excruciatingly tired. I KNOW I don't handle lack of sleep well... If I stay up too late I get psycho & depressed. Cast parties in Highschool, while theoretically fun, were when I usually scared myself the most by getting into unreasonable paranoias and depression. Needless to say that when I put 2 and 2 together, it made a whole BUNCH of sense that my "depressed" feeling days were when I had gone too long without good sleep. The result of this realization is that I've set myself a goal of trying to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep a night. It's a mid-year resolution? Well, anyway, out of the past 3 days, I've succeeded twice in 3 nights. Not too bad to start.... AND I've been feeling GREAT!!! (even though the weather's sucked & been rainy & I think I'm starting to get mouldy...) If all I need to do to be happier & healthier is to eat better and sleep enough, well DAMN!

Ah, lastly, Joy-of-joys! I can finally have that Peanut Butter Milkshake!!!!!!!!!! I made & have maintained my goal weight for at least a week! Woot! I will officially stop dieting now. I will still track what I eat to manage and maintain what I've done. I will be doing more Rock Climbing soon and keeping up with my running hopefully, so if you see me getting any skinnier from this point (doubtful), it'll only be due to toning. Well, Cheers, everyone!

*Shhhh...* Don't tell....

Funny story: As you may or may not know by now, I'm a bit paranoid that people will think I'm up to something. Dunno why. I get freaked out if a cop car passes me going the other way with lights flashing because OBVIOUSLY he is going to make a U-turn and come after me even if I'm driving like a granny.

So today I brought in a Sugar Free French Vanilla Coffee-Mate and some Bigelow White Chocolate Kisses Tea. The coffee mate actually makes the tea taste respectable & pleasant. I realized that I had nothing for portion control - no measuring spoon. So I figured an old Coca-Cola cap looks about 1/2 Tbsp.... I'll use that. So now I have a bottle cap that's crusted in fine white powder, a desk that's semi-covered in fine white powder (the stuff gets EVERYWHERE!!!) and it looks like I've been cutting a line at work. Great. : \

Thanks, Mom

I'm becoming strongly convinced that my mum & dad raised me too well. At least, I figure most of my critical skills that I cherish have come from them. I think about myself a lot... I like to call it introspection. I figure out what's bothering me, why it's bothering me, where it comes from, and then figure out a way to either fix it or work around it. I've learned over the years that this is a skill that is not common. The other thing I've gotten from my upbringing (I presume) is, to borrow Obama's phrase "Yes I can!" This is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's let me be able to do most anything that I set my mind to, because I don't really believe "I can't"... Any instance of "I can't" that crops up in my life, I recognize as "I don't want to take the steps necessary to do it". Right now I can't do the uneven parallel bars, but I have no doubt that if I worked on it, took classes, and trained, that I could. "I can't understand economics and finance" is really: "the stuff irritates me and I just don't want to bother with learning about it." Really, I can't honestly think of something that I believe I couldn't do (with the exception of that just stated - is that a paradox?). As such, since I believe everything I can do is a learned skill, I have two big issues: A) stupid people irritate me to no end and B) I lack empathy when people have certain shortcomings.
Regarding A), I'm not talking about stupid as in low IQ. People who aren't smart don't bother me at all. It's people who say "I can't...." and therefore remain stupid that irritate me. I ran into that a LOT when I was teaching and I still run into it when dealing with dancing. There's not a lot of "Learning" that can't be achieved by just working on it.
Regarding B), I have a hard time when people are consistently late or insensitive or always "having issues" or etc, because, at least to me, time management, dealing with other people, and coping skills are all LEARNED skills. I have a really hard time feeling for people in certain situations because they really do have the power to "fix" their situation and just choose not to because they say they "can't".

So, thanks Mom & Dad... I'm really glad that "I can"... I don't know how you got it into me, but I'm glad you did. Now I just have to figure out how "I can" have more empathy... or maybe I should just say "f- it" and let everyone else drown in their own "I can't"-ness. hmmm....

Another Beginning

So I got back from New Years' with this grand scheme of blogging my little heart out and talking about all sorts of cool random stuff. as that continued to happen, the cool stuff kept piling up & then I'd put off writing until I could sit down and do that justice. That has not happened either and at this point it's time to just sit down, say "F- it!", sweep all that stuff under the carpet and pretend there isn't an unsightly lump in the middle. Let's try this again. Today's topic is "My favorite downfalls."


So here it is, in no particular order, My Favorite Downfalls:

• Peanut butter - yes, this whole recall has been a nightmare from hell for me.
• Cheese - I've been finding myself craving all sorts of cheese products, particularly cheese & tomato, aka ravioli, pasta dishes, pizza, etc...
• Good bread (well, really, any bread) - it makes me fart & I should avoid it, but I just can't say no. The best: I had some 'Popovers' the other night (a-MAZ-ing... aka Yorkshire pudding)
• Garlic - no description necessary
• Pad Thai - the cheesy food that cheesy Americans always order at Thai places... It's my comfort food. What can I say?

More to come later, I'm sure. By my downfall of this exact moment would be Doritos.. classic, nacho cheese Doritos (classified as a cheese downfall). This being said, I've still been doing reasonably well... I'm waffling right around 135. Not steady enough to feel like I'm allowed to indulge in my PB Milkshake that I promised myself, but I'm almost there. I'm down from the line between a size 16/18 to teetering on the line of 6 to 4... This makes me happy. Please keep in mind that I'm not intending to brag. Peek into my brain: I mention this stuff because I can't comprehend it. I feel like I need to get some sort of grip on reality. I remember looking at size 6/4 jeans and thinking "what kind of stick insects can fit INTO those???" Then I'd pick up my pants and they'd look normal. Now I pick up my size 6 or 4 and they look the same size as the 16s that I used to have. I guess I don't quite look the same in the mirror, but I look the same as I THOUGHT I looked. Also, I sit down on the toilet and I SWEAR my thighs squish the same distance over the sides of the seat. I know there must be a difference, but I can't get it into my head and I'm honestly quite worried that if I don't keep trying to convince myself of what size I really am, I could maybe turn into one of those skinny girls who're always saying "I'm fat" and trying to do something unhealthy. I've also found that I'm very self-conscious about going to the bathroom right after dinner. I'm worried that people will think I'm bulimic. Really, all people should be worried about is that I'm psychotic and have a massive disconnect between my head and reality! : )

American Auto Industry v. American Porn

This week the American Porn industry asked congress for a bailout. I'm just about fed up. I was against the bailout of the auto industry because it's their own fault that they designed cars that they THOUGHT americans wanted and didn't design cars that americans actually wanted. I feel the same way about the porn industry. Until they start producing stuff like this again, I will NOT support a bailout for them either. (Note: safe for all ages, one of my favorites, works well if you have ragtime playing in the background... ; ) )

uh....

So I just found out that my happy little morning clerk at the 7-11 also works the registers at Target in the afternoons or evenings. I find this out as I'm in the check-out line... HIS check-out line... with two new packs of underwear. Not only does the man have my morning drink-habits memorized, but now he also has an intimate knowledge of my underwear. Hmmm....

Can I get a USB port installed in my head?

Right, so i just had a totally random day full of those moments when you just WISH you had a little spycam attached to your glasses so that you could take a split second photo of that thing you're seeing that will be gone before you can blink.... This is the reason that I carry my point & shoot camera with me at ALL times... so I can whip it out and take pictures of those totally random or fascinating or "you wouldn't believe me if I told" you moments... Like this picture.... it was taken on the Washington Beltway.... yes, that's right, I-495.

or this one of my window buddy the other day:

Yesterday was full of those. Unfortunately, the instances yesterday were so fleeting that it was impossible to get a picture even if I whipped the camera out because they were already gone. I generally have a photographic memory and wish there were some way to download all the little snippits of images in my head. So I was walking past a Starbucks and this man and woman were seated at a table in the front window. They were having an animated conversation and the woman just makes this face (the type of face that would be a good black mail photo), gesticulates wildly and laughs. A) can't whip a camera out because the people would freak out B) can't whip a camera out because it's already passed. Later, I was driving home and a burgundy 1960s VW Beetle is driving behind me. I'm enjoying watching it in my rear view mirror. It makes the same few turns that I do. I come to a relatively isolated intersection that has little traffic and there's a white 1960s VW beetle sitting at the stop sign. I don't have a stop, turn the corner and watch in my rear view as the Burgundy Beetle turns past the White Beetle and form a perfect picture. Too dangerous to whip my camera out. I find myself wondering if they smiled and waved at each other in camaraderie as they passed.

kiss my copyright, b!$@#...

Hmmm... with all the years that I've been involved with IP (Intellectual Property) I've never really had much use for it, other than the fact that the people who need it pay me. Having worked in IP, it has made me a little more sensitive to different IP issue and I'm now doing a lot of heavy-duty research to try and not step on other people's IP toes when I start up my side-venture next year. Never, NEVER would I have thought that I would be involved with anything IP related personally. It's interesting. So a number of years ago I took this picture of Binghamton from the top of a building where my friends' wedding reception was:

Another friend in B-ton was doing the B-ton wikipedia site and asked if he could use it and I said "yes, just cite me"

The other day I found out the following...
Pay attention to the top banner... it changes.
http://www.broadwaybinghamton.com/

Then today I was sent this...
http://www.nysegsolutions.com/AboutUs/
Notice where the large picture is on the left.... I think it's a stock photo of a light bulb now, but that was a cropped version of my picture this morning.

I'm going to talk to the Broadway people... I don't mind people using my pic - in fact I think it's kinda cool that people like it and are using it and passing it around. I DO mind that I'm not getting mentioned - if they just put a note that I took the picture, I'll be happy. The thing I mind even more is that the NYSEG site used it. I've written to them already, which is why the picture is no longer there.... (I feel kinda like it's a "dance, monkey, dance!" situation. hehe... things happened FAST since it may have potentially been a legal issue for them). So i wrote to them just asking where they got the photo and said I'd be willing to discuss it if they'd like to use it still... but really, It'll be interesting to see where it came from. I really, really hope that it's just a small-town, not so worried about the legal stuff kind of thing. I hope it's NOT that they bought the image from someone. That would make me mad.

Remember kids: Intellectual property is an important thing and ALWAYS make sure to get permission before using someone else's toy unless it's a stock photo bought from a reputable source... ; )

Raunchy

J just got home last night from a week long business trip. After saying hi, he says, "I have to bring something in the house and there's a story behind it." My thoughts: "uh-oh." So in he comes carrying a big box. He says, "So I was talking to the guy I was getting the box from and I said 'I'm going to put my wife's holiday present in here and then write: Laura's present, do not open. So then she won't look in it.' And the guy said 'If you do that, she's SURE to look in it! You should write: Old Newspapers or something.' and I said that wouldn't work because you would probably throw them out, so I'm wondering what I should write on the box so you won't open it." Really a strange conversation, but here's the result:

The artistry of the lettering leads me to believe that J missed his calling as a graphic designer. I just gotta love that man o' mine. : )

Is it just me?

Is it just me or is it colder out? Sounds like a stupid question since the winter weather just started showing up, I know. See, here's the thing. I know winter has come sooner than last year, but I've also lost 50 lbs of insulation. I'm guessing it's a combination of being colder earlier and my lack of insulation, but I am COLD lately. Last year I probably wore socks only whenever there was enough snow to risk getting it into my shoes (i.e. a handful of times). This year I've not only started to wear socks already, but have upgraded to knee socks. This has two benefits... 1)I am warmer from the knee-down and 2) my Eczema is not attacking me as ferrociously as in previous years. For anyone interested, I have been getting Eczema on the back of my calves and sometimes up my legs, but only in the winter. As soon as the temperature changes and the humidity drops, it kicks in. This year... not so much. Is it that I'm eating better and perhaps subjecting myself to fewer allergens and thereby not exacerbating things? Is it purely that the additions of knee socks is, as my friend suggested earlier, keeping more moisture on my skin and thereby not letting it dry out as much? I don't know if I'll ever really get the answer to either the cold question or the Eczema vs. knee socks one. Oh well, off to run & see f I succeed in not puking up the potato and vegetable soups I ate for lunch. Goodie!

Believe it or not....

Just a quickie thought... I love podcasts and I LOVE Old Time Radio... My latest podcast trend has been the Lux Radio Theater. They took current Hollywood movies, abridged them so that the story would fit within an hour and have room for commercials. I think it was a double advertising ploy - to get people interested in the movie and to get in advertising for Lux Soap. I have to admit, it seems effective. Several times I've wanted to go rent the movie and I'm totally down with seeing if Lux Flakes and Lux Toilet soap is still available. They've convinced me that it's a good product?

The most interesting thing though is that you hear voices of famous people talking to you and, I guess because you don't see the B&W or grainy picture, it doesn't register that this was a long time ago. It doesn't register that most of these people have passed away until I think about it later. I've gotten to hear Cecil B. DeMille announce the shows and talk to ME and tell me about his new productions. Just this episode I got to hear the real Mr. Ripley speaking (from Ripley's Believe It or Not)... and I never thought about the fact that there probably WAS a Mr. Ripley. I got to hear about and then discover a famous 1920s tiger tamer by the name of Mabel Stark. Really, we were all shocked by the incident a few years back with Sigfried and Roy... but I guess we're all too sheltered. Mabel was attacked, mauled & sent to the hospital 16 times by 1936. (her career lasted through the 50s). Very interesting.

Mrs. Lovett Contruction

This post is mainly for a girl named Sarah who asked about my costume and how it was made and I can't actually tell her because facebook is being a baby and not letting me send messages due to some other bug or glitch. I'm sure it'll work tomorrow. *grump * So, if you have an intense wondering about my costuming methods or my insanity level (if you think I'm insane by reading this, do not even ASK about my ghost costume last year....), read on... if you don't care, read something else. Enjoy! : )

I used the following patterns:

Simplicity 9769 - for bloomers & corset

Butterick B3418 - most basic skirt pattern for skirt

I bought the following:

• Lace mitts from Hot Topic ~$6
• Purple and Pink vertically striped knee socks from Target - ~$6
• Black sheer 3/4 length sleeve shirt - Ross Dress-4-Less ~$10
• 10 yds. grey herringbone with burgundy and copper pinstripes (suspect it's a wool poly blend) ~$0.95 /yd
• Black duck cloth for inner layer of corset - used 40% off coupon
• Black cotton poly stretch cloth for lining and outer cover of corset - on sale
• Black Double Fold Bias Tape - 1/4" and 1/2" widths - on sale
• Charcoal Single Fold Bias - on sale
• Burgundy Double Fold Bias Tape - on sale
• Black/gold lace - I thought I had a coupon, but I didn't... ouch... ~2yd = $17 (ouch!)
• Black velvet & cording ribbon to be used as ready-made drawstring ~$4
• 1 wooden rolling pin - ~$6 (I guess I'll stop using old wine bottles to roll out my baking shells now)
• Red with metallic green stripe homespun on clearance from last holiday season I think ~$2 /yd
• 2 spools black lace ~$3 each

Starting with the simplicity pattern, I made the bloomers from the red/green homespun and black lace around the bottoms just for fun because I saw black/red striped bloomers in a publicity photo - I couldn't find black/red striped fabric for a reasonable price. I diverged from the pattern by sewing the crotch together because I want them mostly because I'm a klutz and can see a scenario in which my skirt ends up over my head accidentally. Let's not show off the goods....

Next I got to work on the skirt. The grey herringbone is not perfect for the movie skirt, but close-ish and as close as I could get for cheap. Also, I figured that if I make it understated, I could wear it to work, cause I love floor-length skirts & the fabric is very business-y. Now, because of this, I was very anal and matched each panel so that the pinstripes met in a chevron pattern at the seams, so it took a while. I put together the most basic skirt - with train because I am just like that and can't pass up a train because it means more fabric hanging off of me... (the problem of people constantly stepping on me be damned!). Then I did a fake hem to figure out where I wanted it to hang to. Next I randomly decided that 9.5" long would make a good ruffle. So I measured the circumference around where the ruffle would be tacked (based on the prelim. hem) and guessed that double would be a good length. I cut and sewed lengths of ruffle pieces together (because I had to cut across the fabric so as to get the stripes going the same direction as the rest of the skirt, generally up and down). Once again being anal, I matched the places where I seamed the ruffle bits together. I finished the top of the ruffle with a rolled hem and the bottom with burgundy Double Fold Bias tape... because home-girl don't hem! (and it seemed to be that way in the movie stills). Ok, so the base of the skirt was done.

Next, I cut out duplicates of the four back panels of the skirt to make a base for the detachable back/butt ruffles. After sewing the 4 panels together, I traced the top part and made a 6.5" long piece that was the same shape. I measured the bottom of this, doubled the length, and attached a ruffle to the bottom of that piece. Then I tacked the top of that piece to the four-panel base. Next, I measured across the four-panel piece at a location that would have a 1/2 to 3/4 inch overlap with the ruffle. (note: I measured & marked every couple of inches so that I could preserve the slight curve of the top of the skirt) I doubled it and made another 9.5" ruffle to go there. I love chalk. I marked everything with chalk. So, onward, down the panel until I had an entire panel of ruffles. When done, I tacked all the ruffles down at the outer edges, and finished the edges with burgundy bias again. Then I gathered the top to match the width of the 4 gathered panels on the skirt & attached a matching waist band piece... Finally.... I safety pinned the entire false panel onto the skirt, turning the edges under. (Note: this method came in handy because a gap between the pins served as a perfect arm-loop so I could keep the train out of the way while waltzing the other night - no, I didn't not plan that feature in advance.)

Next... I made the corset generally according to plan. I still have an S-load of bulk 1/4" poly boning from making Fully-boned 18th century stays last year and I still also have Heating Duct Zip Ties from Home Depot which I tend to cut down and use as front and back stays (found that on a costuming site last year as a good alternative to actual whale bone). The pattern said to A) make the corset out of one layer of fabric, B) use steel boning, and C) use a front closure. I disregarded all of that and decided to make an inner boned layer from Duck Cloth (cotton stretches too much, so does Twill and I'm not about to go ordering corset Coutil (<-ha! spell check just suggested coital instead!) online). Next I made a lining layer and a covering layer out of whatever black cloth was cheap (cotton poly stretch, it tuns out). The outer layer I decorated by covering the seams and boned areas with Charcoal single fold bias tape. When the three layers were made up, I stitched them together and finished the bottom with black Double Fold (1/4"), tried it on, and cut the top down by 2" so it came to under bust for me. Then I finished the top the same way. I wish I had grommetted it AFTER making the alteration because I wasn't quite precise, but live & learn. I stole the laces out of another black corset I own and was done with it. Note: it's you want to use size 00 grommets (far superior to the crap eyelets you can get at a fabric store), you will HAVE to get them online unless you live close to a miracle store.... I tried every fabric store, hardware store, marine store, etc that I could think of. I love this site for supplies. Corsetmaking.com They are FAST and nice to deal with... Also, get a hole punch for eyelets that looks like a pair of pliers (usually sold as an eyelet setting kit at Walmart or fabric stores), throw out the eyelets that come with then, and then buy a hammer-based grommet setter... throw out the hole punch that comes with it (trust me, I've done a goodly bit of grommets, punch the fabric with a tool and then set them with the hammer die. Soooo much easier!)

So, lastly, the shirt... I took a ready made sheer black shirt from Ross, cut the neckline down into the appropriate shape, bound the edge with 1/2" Black bias tape, gathered the 2 yds of lace, sewed the lace and the velvet chord ribbon on top of the bias (being careful to only catch the chord edging and not the velvet in the seam so that the velvet ribbon could be pulled through and act as a drawstring...) and voila!

In the end, the hair was pretty easy. If I'm not careful, it's a semi-fro anyway, so I used one of those zig-zag headbands to pull it back to the right place, teased it up a good bit, spritzed it with water so that I got a bit of curl into it, teased some more, arranged, fluffed, sprayed mercilessly with Aquanet - the god of hairdos that ain't going anywhere - sprayed with some black hairspray to darken my tresses, and then more Aquanet. More puffing and arranging and I have a Mrs. Lovett Fro that is all mine. no wigs here.

Lastly, if you costume from time to time, let me recommend Graftobian creme makeup.... it comes in various colors, I have a pot of white. it goes on and comes off like normal foundation. It wears and feels like a good foundation. I hate that Grease-paint crap you can get at K-mart or Walmart. Graftobian is $$$ but well worth it. The thing I really like is that it goes on and stays on and can go on thin for a pale complexion or can go on thick if you really need to be WHITE. Good stuff.

So that's the process.

As usual, there is some part of every sewing project that I just don't finish. Usually it's the hem because I hate hemming and I'd rather use duct tape. This year, I've started making things in such a way that I don't have to hem at all. Yay! So on this project it is the skirt... I have not sewn a button and made a button hole to close the skirt. Nor am I likely to ever since I've been wearing it around for a month without a button. My dirty little secret... m-kay....? : )

Finally I leave you with this, which amused me greatly:


Wonderful ad from the end of the Lux Radio Theater Production of The Canterville Ghost (1945):
Male Narrator: "Patty didn't forget what she had in mind, but how could she tell Kaye what she was REALLY thinking?"
Patty: "Kaye's cute enough to get any man she wants. If only she were as sweet and fresh as she looks... but you just can't tell even your best friend that she's careless about daintiness. If I could only give her a hint about Lux-ing underthings after every wearing... Lux-ing her dresses and blouses often... If I could tell her how fresh & sweet it leaves 'em. And then she wouldn't risk offending! She'd have all the fun she deserves."

Hahaha! Does anyone know if they still sell Lux? I have to see if I can improve the daintiness of this blouse which still smelled in the pits after getting it back from the dry cleaners... I'm suspecting they don't clean half this stuff.

Random thoughts....

I've been filled with musics this week, but lacking time to write them down, so half are gone andhalf are no longer relevent and the few that are left, well.... here goes....



I know politics get me riled up a bit and that's normal, especially with the upcoming election and the current state of affairs in the nation. So I think I posted this run-down of the subprime lending crisis already... but oh well. See, here's the thing... everytime someone talks about the housing crisis and all the foreclosures - yeah, it sucks. BUT whenever someone talks about bailing out the people being foreclosed, I just nearly have a conniption! Yes, I realize that there are people being affected who lost their job and can't pay... or maybe they're elderly and their health care bills are going through the roof and they can't pay (don't EVEN get me started on health care!) Shit happens. I understand this. but I also understand that we've been living in a culture for the past 15 to 20 years that thrives upon living above our means. Everyone wants the best and gets the best unless they can't get credit for it.... Then I've been listening to the Presidential debates on my iPod at work and it was everything I could do to keep from screaming and throwing things during that second town-hall style debate. McCain was talking about his plan to save the eceonomy and homeowners - foreclosure bailouts! McCain's plan, as presented in that debate was for the Gov to buy up all the foreclosure mortgages and renegotiate the mortgage based on the value of the house right now. BULLSHIT! YOU ARE NOT USING MY MONEY FOR THAT!!!!!! When we bought our house about a year and a half ago, the bank told us "we approve you for $522K." I just about fell out of my chair laughing at them. There was and still is NO way anyone should be approving us for that kind of loan. J & I took our current rent, figured out what we could afford to pay per month above that and still live extremely comfortablely... then figured out how much we had to put down and said "we can buy something for $_x_ or less." Then.... guess what... we looked for something in that range..... and we bought something in that range.... it also, coincidentally, was in a range that we could still pay if one of us lost our jobs. We'd be eating Ramen, but we could still pay. If we both lost our jobs.... well, I could always get a temp position and then we'd have to make soup out of shoe leather, but we'd make it work. That's what our grandparents did. Coincidentally, when they talk about how the housing prices have dropped, We've already "lost" our downpayment if we had to sell right now. So I really, really, REALLY don't want to hear about people who bought the barbie dream house getting to renegotiate and only pay what the house is worth right now because they were dumb-asses and believed the bank when they were approved for the max amount. I know you people are out there!!! I mean, if I had known this all was going to happen.... I'd have bought a 1920s bungalow in Clarendon with the $522 and then get off paying a lot less....



OK, enough ranting... I'm moving to New Zealand as soon as they pass a bill equivalent to rewarding dumb-asses.



On a lighter note, I was surprised to learn that I need to learn how to take a bath. I got some free time Monday night & decided to try out the new tub. LOVE IT! It gives me about 9-10 extra inches deep of water compared to my old tub. My plan: read the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, make hot chocolate with Bailey's, light a pumpkin candle, dim the lights, fill the tub, relax. The plan was good. My thoughts: the tub will take longer to fill & it always cools off as it fills, so I need to run the water warmer than usual & I'll shut the bathroom door so that the heat stays in. The thoughts were not as good as the plan. : ( Who would have thought that I'd have to re-learn how to take a bath?? Apparently it's like getting used to a new stove or oven. The reality: The tub did take longer to fill, but there was also more buffer above the warm water down below so it retained its heat rather well. When the water reached a suitable level, I turned it off & relaxed into reading, took a sip of hot chocolate and learned that the side of the tub is not level, but slightly inward slanted. I learned this as my mug started to tumble into the tub and I lost about 25% of the drink in the water... Chocolate bath - cool or ew? so then I decided the soap shelf was a better mug-placement. No more mishaps, but after a while, I noticed that sweat was rolling down my face and my heart was racing pretty good. Not cool. I tried to stick it out until the water cooled down a bit. Maybe 15 mins? Maybe it did cool down, but neither the air nor the water was cool enough to offer relief and by this point my eyes were starting to sting from the sweat and my book was getting damp because of the water that splashed up as I tried to wipe the sweat away. Finally, I gave up, let the water out and then laid in the bottom of the tub cooling off in the steamy room. I was probably there for a good 1/2 hour and thought that J would probably think I had had a tragic accident if he walked in on me because both feet were up against the wall at odd angles and my neck was in a totally kinked position. It shouldn't have been comfortable.... ah well.

Wel, that's about it. I guess I need to re-learn how to take a bath, I just picked up more paint samples and think I figured out which one I lost 3 weeks ago... and it's Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween all!

I feel like Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde...

Oh no... not again.... I can feel the unholy urges and obsessions taking over. Stop! Stop me before it's... too... late..... *Collapses on the floor *

PA240003
Originally uploaded by binkle52

So I made my victorian skirt for the base of the Mrs. Lovett costume and have been wearing it around periodically for the past month or so. (see to the right... you can't tell, but it's a grey herringbone with cranberry and copper pinstripes and then I added cranberry/burgundy bias around the hem so I didn't have to actually hem it. I hate hemming.) To work, to picnics, to restaurants, shopping, maybe out to a haunted forest tonight.... I LOVE being swathed in fabric. So now I've picked out two other patterns that I want to make - both victorian in nature. Forget that I have 3 other projects en queue, forget that I have 6+ projects sitting in my closet to make. * hangs head in shame at self * I want these for multi-purpose wear. Steam punk? Check. Costume? Check. Office? Check. Alrighty, here we go... Wheee! The first one I want to order is this skirt. I'd like to do a modern bohemian take on it kinda like in the photograph. I'm also going to make a version of this jacket, but NOT the chintz & lace thingie that girl in the photo made. ugh, not me... wouldn't cross over into work well either. I'm thinking something more along the lines of the one in the left-hand photo on this page. So there's that and then I found someone on craigslist selling 100 yds of red dress satin for $250. Do the math. That's $2.50 per yard. For Satin. Satin's normally at least $10/yd. SO I'm tempted to drop a couple of hundred for 100 yds of red satin that I don't know what I'd do with it. One thought was making an entire wardrobe out of red satin & wearing only red satin every day for a year, but that's just freakin' insane and it'd probably drive me nuts & make me think I was the devil or something. So, I think I'll let that one slide. I'm totally buying the patterns though. I'm gonna do it and you can't stop me!!!! Hahahahaha!!!!! *maniacal laugh as she stands at the edge of a really tall metaphorical building about to jump to her doom (i.e. into another project)*

In other news, I am angry at work because it has been doing everything in it's power to sabotage me and my new work ethic.... The servers are down, I can't do anything and etc.
Also, I'm heading out to a haunted forest with J & my sister tonight & I'm going to see Thoroughly Modern Millie tomorrow night and that should be fantastic. What to wear???? : ) Ah, and 'Tis the season for Starbucks Chai Lattes... I'm limiting myself to one Tall Skim every two weeks. I can't handle the extra cals every day. Ah! and I got one of the most glorious Sunrises ever today. I love having an east-facing office with a window. LOVE IT!!! & Now I'm found wondering why it seems like glorious sunrises happen more frequently than glorious sunsets. If there's anyone out there that understands what's going on in the upper atmosphere and wants to explain it to me, please go right ahead.

Lastly. I love this. You should go check out the videos if you haven't already. Really cool Physics Videos. I like #10, #5, and #4.

Flying

Though J & I had talked about it for the better part of the last nine years, I've sworn there was NO way that I was ever going to jump out of a plane. No way, no how! I have no problem with the idea of riding around on a parachute, paragliding/parasailing/hang gliding (not a chute, but...). I don't like the fact that the chute is not open when you exit the plane. I don't like the fact that you have the possibility of falling somewhere around 13,000 feet and hitting the ground and going **splat!** if it doesn't open. and I do NOT like free-fall as experienced on amusement rides like this one. Hate, hate, hate.

Now, I got this brilliant idea to send J to his death (aka skydiving) for his 30th birthday since he really wanted to do it forever. AND, even better, I'd con his friends into going too so that I could stay on the ground waiting for the inevitable splat (J really likes crazy activities to be a shared group experience). Well, for one reason or another this plan failed - horribly. Due to money, relocation or absolute refusal to throw themselves out of a plane (because they're smart like that) only one other person decided to go. Hmmm... J likes groups. One is good, but more would be better. So, after deciding which location to send him jumping at, I chose Orange Skydive.... and the tandem jump page said that the free fall was 50 seconds... Then I started to think that I could maybe put up with 50 seconds of sheer terror to make J's b-day fun. But... What if I wet myself? Well they had THE ANSWER to that on their FAQ's. The other part of the FAQ's that intrigued me was this: Are you so smart you have an answer for everything? That instilled me with confidence, so I decided to go too.

I don't know if I had spent so long worrying about it that I was past worry, or if I was so far beyond fear that I couldn't comprehend it anymore or if I was comfortable with my own impending doom, but I wasn't nervous once we got there. I spent the plane ride up thinking about how just a week ago I was on a plane that I was not intending to jump out of and getting a little nervous, but here I was on a plane, totally intending to jump out of it and I was OK. Then the guys in the plane were trying to get me to smile, but I really wasn't up for it and told them that I had never had an intention to jump out of a perfectly good plane, to which the one instructor replied "I've worked on planes and I can tell you there's no such thing as a perfectly good plane. There are planes that fly and stay in the air, but that's about it." Thanks. That makes me feel better. My instructor, Tim, & I were the last ones out of the plane. It was cool to watch the other people go. It didn't look like they were jumping or falling out - more like being sucked out. I remember being at the door, knowing it was my turn and it didn't seem real at all. It didn't register. There were no thoughts of "here we go!" or "Oh, shit!".... just blank thoughts and "OK..." Then we were out and my thoughts were "OK..." and "well, huh!" and "I wonder why I don't feel like screaming" and "this is nifty" and something along the lines of "this is a really interesting perspective on everything" Sometimes it was hard to breath like when you face into a stiff wind. I remember feeling safe in the harness because I was strapped to something, anything, even if that thing was another person named Tim who was still plummeting at the same rate as me with no further support. At some point the chute opened and it was weird because I didn't feel a sense of relief - mainly since I hadn't had any thought of "it might not open" It was super cool hanging out up there and looking around at everything. We couldn't quite see home, but Tim said on good days you could see all the way up there. I mistook cows for deer (perspective is really thrown off from that high - that's my excuse & I'm sticking to it!). I also really enjoyed when Tim sent the chute into tight turns & spirals - it felt more like flying then. Eventually all three of us made it down safely.

Yay! I'm definitely glad I did it. It was cool. I don't know if I'd do it again unless it was cheap or free. If it was not an expensive hobby, I'd maybe consider taking it up because it was as close to real flying as I think I'll ever get unless I can find a wizard to give me wings (no, folks, Redbull doesn't actually work). I don't know. I wasn't all adrenaline rushy. Maybe I got myself into too much of a zen-like state. The thing is, I was talking with Dave last weekend about what I'd want to go back and witness in history and my answer was "the beginning" whatever that was. I'd really like to know whether there was one. Being a scientist (kinda) - I have to believe in mass/energy conservation and it makes sense that it just always was. But I can't get beyond my human experience. I can't comprehend the idea of "no beginning, always was" because everything that I've ever experienced had a beginning. So maybe that was the thing: the whole experience was so far beyond my comprehension that I just sat back and watched it because I didn't know what else to do. Regardless, it was pretty dang cool and I'd recommend it.