Strange and Unforgettable Week

This has been one of the strangest weeks on record, I think.  One I will never forget.  First of all, last Monday my youngest daughter started high school. (insert Twilight Zone music here....doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo...) I cannot believe she is a freshman this year and my oldest is a senior!  Time has absolutely flown.  Then, if that wasn't traumatic enough, the next day we had an earthquake.  On the east coast.  Until that day I was under the mistaken impression that earthquakes did not happen on the east coast.  I have since learned that they are not entirely unheard of, and have happened before in the past.  But I think it is very strange to have lived my entire life until five years ago on the west coast, only to experience my first "big" earthquake on the east coast.  Very strange and a little scary to feel my 86-year-old house shaking and to see my chandelier swinging back and forth.

The next day I heard that there was a hurricane in the Atlantic that could make landfall.  I didn't give it another thought...

So, Thursday was open house at the high school.  Afterward we realized we were locked out of the car.  Since we live fairly close to the school, we walked home to get another set of keys.  The whole family.  In the dark.  Partially across a field.  I was wearing a skirt and little heels.  It was weird, and felt like some kind of dream or something.  (Twilight Zone music again here...)  And now the talk everywhere was about Hurricane Irene headed our way.

On Friday I got up at 3:30a.m. to take my husband to the airport.  He took a short trip to the west coast for his grandmother's memorial.  Then I went home...to prepare for a hurricane.

I did everything I could think of to prepare, and the girls helped after school.  The next day we waited.  And the hurricane came.  Irene wasn't as strong as she could have been, but still...having never experienced a hurricane before, it was a little terrifying.  Amazingly, our power never went out.  We had a few big branches/limbs come down in the yard, a leak coming through the ceiling, and about an inch of water throughout most of the basement.

Sunday was spent removing ten buckets of yucky hurricane water from the basement.  My muscles are still sore.  Then Monday I picked up my husband from the airport.  It was a bright sunny day, and you would never have guessed that we had just been through a hurricane. 

Like I said, very weird week. 

Preparation Day Has a Whole New Meaning!

At our house, Friday is Preparation Day, as it is in many Messianic and Jewish homes.  We prepare for the Sabbath by cleaning the house and preparing food for the next day so we can have a peaceful day of rest.  Today Preparation Day had a whole new meaning.  We are awaiting and preparing for Hurricane Irene.  Irene is supposed to hit our area sometime tomorrow and stick around until Sunday.  We spent the day preparing for her arrival.  My husband is away, across the country for his grandmother's memorial, so it's just the girls and me.  Having never prepared for a hurricane, I hope we are ready.  We have food and water, flashlights, an ice chest and a radio.  We moved all of the outside furniture, flower pots, etc. into the garage so they don't turn into flying projectiles in the wind.  We are packing a backpack for each of us just in case we might have to leave quickly, and we'll be filling the bathtub with water. 

I am really hoping that none of this will be necessary, and Irene will change course or something.  I'm sure this is wishful thinking, but we will see.  In the meantime, we are as prepared as we're going to be, so we wait...

 

Garden Goodness

I am happy to report that our little backyard garden has been doing very well this year!  Relocating it to a sunnier spot was a great idea, and Haley has done a great job keeping it weeded and cared for (worth every penny!)  We've had tomatoes and peppers galore (mmmm, lots of salsa), green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and there's some acorn squash growing and two baby watermelons getting bigger and bigger.

We did plant some things that were not so successful.  The spinach and green onions never came up at all.  The pea plants either died or something ate them.   The corn did fine, but was also eaten (by squirrels?).  The broccoli...well, the plants did fine, and look great, but they just have leaves with no broccoli.  And we had no luck with potatoes, either.  But we are learning, and enjoying the things that actually are growing.  Next year should be even better!

My New Old Machine

Yesterday I found one of the best thrift shop finds ever!  I was driving by a local thrift store and decided to make a quick stop.  Just after we walked in, my daughter Rebecca said, "Mom, look! They have old sewing machines!"  Later, I returned to the store, husband in tow, and he bought me the gorgeous machine pictured above and lugged it out to the van and then into the house for me.  (Thanks, honey!)  I love it.  It was made in 1952, so it's electric, and it seems to be in great working condition.  It's in a cute cabinet that folds up to look like a little table. I figured out how to thread it, and it sews oh, so quietly.  Now I am looking for an instruction manual for this model so I can learn how to make adjustments and oil and care for it properly.  Someday I still would like to get an old treadle machine, but in the meantime I am so happy with my beautiful old machine! 

42 Years - The Moon Landing and Me

Today is the 42nd anniversary of the first landing on the moon by Apollo 11.  I know this fact well, because yesterday was my 42nd birthday.  I was born on July 19, 1969, the day Apollo 11 went into orbit around the moon.  The next day it landed, and Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon.  My mom watched it happening from a hospital television back on planet Earth in Seattle, Washington.

Here are some other things that were going on at the time:  Richard Nixon was president of the United States, gas was $0.35 a gallon, a U.S. first class stamp was $0.06, and minimum wage was $1.60 per hour.  Silly String, Barrel of Monkeys, the Nerf Ball, and Weebles were all new toys that were introduced that year.  John Wayne received the Academy Award for best actor in True Grit.  Some top songs of that year were Crimson and Clover, Sugar Sugar, and I Heard it Through the Grapevine. The video cassette was invented. 

Wow, 42 years ago seems like ancient history!   Here's a video of the first moon landing.  A little bit of what my mom would have watched on the hospital TV.

Fast forward to yesterday, and here is a photo of a beautiful necklace and earrings my husband gave me for my birthday.  He bought them in a little shop called "Vintage Lady" in Harpers Ferry, WV, when we were there a couple of weeks ago.  I love them!

What I Made for Ellie: The Handmade Gift Exchange

The Handmade Gift Exchange at Craftaholics Anonymous looked like so much fun, that I decided to sign up to participate.  This is what I sent to my partner, Ellie.  Ellie loves to sew, and she also has an adorable little daughter, so I made her a set of beanbag pattern weights that can double as toys to keep little hands busy while mommy sews.  I love pattern weights.  You can cut out your pattern without spending time pinning it down to the fabric, and they look cute, too. Here they are all stacked up:

And here they are in action:

I really need to make some of these for myself!  I was also going to make her some cute pincushions, but those were an epic failure, so I did what I know best and made her a little tote just the right size to hold the pattern weights.  I hope she likes her handmade gifts! 

Denim Skirt Re-Do for the Summer of No Pants

About a week ago I finally finished my last project for the Summer of No Pants, even though the challenge was to make four new things to wear before the summer actually started.  A camping trip and miscellaneous other things got in the way of finishing the sewing part of the challenge on time, but I have been successful doing the wearing part of it.  Since we returned from our camping trip, I've worn a skirt or a dress every day!

So, for this last project I decided to give a denim skirt a makeover. I bought this skirt for 85 cents at a thrift shop. I bought it with the intent to use the fabric for making tote bags, but I wanted a new denim skirt and I thought it had possibility. Here's the result:

Before, it was way too big, and WAY too long.  This thing reached my ankles, and I am 5'9"! 

Now it falls just above the knee.  I love the unfinished edges, the pockets, and the flower detail.



I also modified my t-shirt dress a little bit.  The neckline was choking me, and just didn't look right, so I made it into a scoop neck and added matching trim to the neckline and sleeves.  I made my own bias tape for the first time.  Making bias tape was so easy, I'm not sure why I haven't done it before! 

I think it's even cuter now!