Oh the places you’ll go and the people you’ll meet. February 15, 2014

 

 

 

 

February is a big month in our house – 3 birthdays.  And now that the first-born is out of the house, things are a bit different.  No sleep overs or parties for him.  But we did meet up half way to get dinner together.

 

Our trip wasn’t an easy one though – three broken tire chains and a usual 70 mph limit brought down to 30, chains or not.  I’m still trying to feel my finger tips from changing them so many times!  Turning a usual three-hour round trip into almost a six long hours.

 

 

The snow was beautiful though and it was nice to get out and about and do something new.  And while purchasing *another* set of chains, the guy selling the next to last set to me asked me about my address – which frankly took me back a bit since we were 100 miles from where we live.  He asked again and then asked if we knew “Maria” in the off-white house.  I looked at him with surprise and he said “That’s my aunt!”

 

Our next door neighbor, in this super dinky town that we just moved to, is the aunt of the kid who was selling us our tire chains 100+ miles from home – because ours happen to break.

 

This isn’t my first experience with this however.  While living in “that house” the man at the jewelry store selling my oh-so-attractive utility hoops recognized our phone number.  It ended up, we were both from the same smallish town on the west coast and had both moved to the same ridiculously small town on the east coast AND we both worked in the same store.

 

Why is this important?

 

It’s not really I suppose, but it’s just fun to get out, get to know the people we interact with and see the connections we may have!

 

So glad we went out today – even though we probably shouldn’t have.

 

Happy Birthday to my dentist man, first and third-born!

Funny thing happened…. February 13, 2014

…..on the way to the dentist.

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I finally did it.  I finally had to go in and be seen by my dentist man.  It’s bad enough to have to be seen by a regular dentist, but to be seen by the guy who already knows that you skipped brushing two days ago…. after that soda and maybe even a glass of enamel eating wine – is just too much.  Uhg.

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To be honest though, I am truly the worst patient ever.  Not only do I *really* REALLY dislike going in, but I’m complicated too.  I freak out over the shots (I’ve been known to not open my mouth, or jump out of the chair).  I’ve got the wrong number of teeth.  I *always* have cavities no matter how well I brush (and yes I do actually floss!).  My mouth is the size of 6 year old’s and to top it off, my mouth will get stuck open if it’s left open too long.  (Stop snickering at the imagery thank you…..)  And I’ve been told I bite.  *heeheehee*

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Dentists dread hearing I’m coming in that day.

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I’ve seen him in his element through pictures on the ship.  I love those pictures – I may hang those pictures.  But that was different, those were guys stuck on a ship.  Where were they going to go if they didn’t want to come in – swim for it?

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But that was the amazing thing.  For the first time I got to see him do his job.  Like, actually do it, not just talk about it with his “dental geeks” or look in my mouth and go “Yup, that’s pretty gross!”  I got to see him in his lab coat, with his instruments, with his assistants – fixing people.  Fixing me!

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And that’s when it hit me…..

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……my dentist man is really, really good at what he does!  And to see him do what he does, first hand and to be able to honestly say he’s pretty amazing at it – was a great day.

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If he were a janitor, plumber, paper pusher, electrician, painter, or whatever he had ended up otherwise – if he did it as well as he did this, I’d be just as excited to see him do his work.

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Seeing your spouse do what they love and do it well, no matter the job, is something not to be taken for granted.

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I felt very proud to claim him as mine.

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Not so sure he’d say the same about me as patient though?

Von Trapp moment finally February 2, 2014

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My “media fast” is officially over, but the results are still with me.  The need for constantly checking FB, news sites or sitting and listening to news all day, at least for now, isn’t something I feel I need to constantly keep doing.  It does feel freeing, but I also feel a bit in the dark.  I will confess however that I’ve been watching A LOT of documentaries…… not sure if that’s any better?  I do now know that chimpanzee’s will not repeat the behavior of another chimpanzee just because it see’s it do it, unlike humans which fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the circumstances, will.

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Hmmmm…. guess I can’t call the boys monkey’s any more?

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But beyond my docu-thon, I finally finished my “Von Trapp Dress”.  I must say, this was one of the easiest Vogue patterns I’ve ever worked on.  They tend to get a bit wild with their patterns – good for a challenge, not so good for something relaxing.  This was very relaxing!  Also something I would hope that the Refashionista or the Renegade Seamstress would enjoy, although it’s not exactly the same – it is up-cycling.  Either way gosh darn it, I’m rather proud of it!

I’ll probably never wear it, but man it’ll look good on my wall… good thing they were curtains!

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A few of the details ~

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I hand-picked the zipper to make sure everything lined up just right.

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Due to not having enough fabric, I disguised the pattern inconsistency by adding a detail down the middle to distract the eye slightly.

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The “buttons” at the shoulders and on the back of the cummerbund are actually beads I had found for my last project.

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And I’m proud to say, I used the lining of the curtain as the lining of the whole dress, eliminating the need to make a hem… hehehe!

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I plan on sharing some of what I learned on this project, but for now I think I’ll just catch up on some ironing.  And maybe another documentary.