Yes I do blog and it's Tuesday

Let's see...  Meri noticed that I hadn't blogged for a while.  I guess since last Wednesday!  

So... what's been going on...  

Last Friday, a former co-worker of mine and now former co-worker of Robb's, retired.  She'd been with the company since the 90s and was always great to work with.  She was Robb's right hand man.  Now she'll be living on a lake closer to her kids and grandkids and quilting the days away. 

I'm so jealous!  No light at the end of the tunnel for me yet.  

Her retirement party was Thursday after work so she could hit the road promptly at 5 on Friday for freedom.  The party was a lot of fun visiting with former co-workers that I haven't seen since Robb's company Christmas party.  The newer/younger employees did a "grazing table" which one of our friends kindly replied with, "it's what we call a buffet dear..." lol, but really it's not.  Well kind of.

The food was either in little crocks or right on the butcher block paper spread out on the table.

So really it's a buffet for people who don't want to do more dishes than they have to.

Clever...  and yummy.  A larger charcuterie board, if you will.

On Friday night, I cornered Jen and she and I shopped through my sweater knit stash for something suitable to make her Christmas present that I'd promised.  She has a comfy sweater that had been splotched with bleach and wanted something similar but without the bleach.  We found some  gray and white loose knit (in the right in the pic) that I'd picked up in Los Angeles last February.  And the gray on the left was perfect for the accents in the sweater.

I was/am hesitant to cut into it until I had a good sample made first.  So I cut into the many many yards of this blue knit that has aged in my stash for probably 10 years.  

Apparently like a fine wine, because it looks so cute on Jen!  

Seriously it does.  It does NOT have hanger appeal tho.

and I should probably finish up the hems...

It'll be a wearable muslin.

The only addition that she wanted done to her sweater was to make it longer so she could wear it like a dress if she wanted.  This might be TOO long, but it looked so comfy I might make another just for me.  The pattern that I'd forged off her original sweater is now packaged up with the label "Jen's sweater".  It WILL be reused.

In the meanwhile, I've taken the sleeves off of the striped shirt that I made for Meri and added some flowiness to the sides for more comfort.  The sleeves are now black.  BUT when I took the striped knit in to Joanns to find a match, it suddenly looked navy blue in the light if I held it up to black.  Then if I held it up to the navy blue knits, it looked black.  

Kind of a gold vs blue dress scenario...

So she's getting the black sleeves that she requested.  One sleeve is on so far and as soon as I get that on and the sides seamed up again, I'll take it back to her to try on again.

The first blouse fit her well except for being a smidgen short in front.  She wears a tank top under it and it looks adorable.  She's wore it to a party last weekend.  I'll have to make more of those and figure out how to make it longer...

So... we finally got a couple inches of snow on Sunday night.  It had been promised Saturday night and we know exactly where the snow line was on Saturday.  It was a block north of our church.  Casey's had no snow, our church sidewalks had 2.5 inches.  My sidewalks are not clear yet, mainly because so many people dog walk on our street that they packed it down before we got to them with a shovel...  So I spread salt on it this morning and hopefully we'll see pavement before nightfall.

The Christmas tree parts sat in our entry way all weekend and we finally had a chance to get them tucked away in the garage yesterday morning.  

I'm not sure which is more "normal" for us...  Living with 5 large chunks of artificial Christmas tree in our entry way/dining room or having them packed away.

Probably the first one.

Someone mentioned that they didn't think artificial trees shed so much.  Ours is just shy of 20 years old and within a few more years of this shedding, we'll be hanging ornaments on naked wires and calling it good.  

AND finally, an advertisement for a friend.  A friend from my sewing guild's husband (is that right grammar?) wrote a book/ebook since retiring.  Go purchase it on Amazon!  He'd be a great blogger...

I'll mention that to him this weekend at our meeting.  He'll be reading an excerpt from it and autographing my book for me.

Ok - enough for today.  I hope to get a lot done today. Probably won't, but thus is my hope.

Speeches from the Edge

We had a fun conversation on our way down to Bible study last night.  Maddy was giving Meri some advice on babysitting.  

Her ultimate advice was to memorize lectures Danny Tanner gives his daughters on the old tv show Full House and repeat them verbatim to the babysitting kids.  

Oh course, you need to substitute their names in instead of DJ, Stephanie and Michelle...  

Her summer babysitting kids adore that show and don't even notice when Maddy uses the exact same speeches on them when they mess up...  She uses them on the kids at the daycare where she works too!  

The speeches are universal and I probably should memorize them too.  

Anything has to better than "Because I said so!  If you can't do that, then go to bed!"

I remember my babysitting days and I'm not really sure if these speeches would have worked on the little brat I babysat down the road...  I mean...  What speech is appropriate for a buck nekkid little girl who chases you around the house swatting you with a fly swatter.

I just don't think Danny had that situation on the show.

Sunscreen Would Be It.

I have an idea on how to use this commencement speech for the current graduates...  My daughter does not agree...  So I'm still thinking...  More on this idea later on a later date.

I used to LOVE this when it was on the radio!!!  Parts of the video make me nostalgic and a little weepy... 

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '99 . . .

Wear Sunscreen...

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience . . . I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked . . . You're not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss

Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind . . . the race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life . . . the most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary . . . what ever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either - your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can . . . don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own . . .

Dance . . . even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time it's 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it"s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen . . .
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