A Day in my Life... (or possibly the most boring post ever)

I kept thinking I wanted to write about a normal day in my life.  I kept putting off this project because every day seemed like it was going to be unusual in some way, and I was determined to use a typical day.  Turns out my typical day is decidedly not normal, so here goes!

6:40 - Woke up half an hour later than usual. I must have been tired and I didn't have any early morning commitments so it didn't hurt anything.

6:40-7:50 - It's surprising that my early morning routine takes so long.  I read my scriptures, ate breakfast with the kids, got an idea what their plans are for the day, checked my email and Facebook, then read the newspaper.  That’s kind of a lot.   I guess it’s not so surprising it takes so long.

7:50-8:50 - I don't think it should take me his much time to get ready in the morning, but apparently it does. Besides showering and getting dressed I did my one cleaning chore that I do every day without fail, I towel-dried the shower. It's time consuming, but it’s better than cleaning soap scum and mildew off the tile later. I also had to deal with the cat who was scratching the furniture and chewing on the corner of the tile counter top.

8:50-9:15 - Time to do all those other little chores that take more time than I think they should, like pick up dirty clothes, feed the pets, and run the dishwasher. Also time to load up the car for the day: shirts for dance festival practice tonight and serger and sewing supplies for sewing the dance festival costumes.  This dance festival is a church activity that is taking a huge amount of my time.  In June we’ll have about 600 teenagers dancing in a performance, and although I’m not in charge of any of the preparation I get to do a lot of little things relating to it.

9:15-12:30 - Sewing party for the costumes.  We had about 15 people at the church working on about 75 of the costumes and we didn’t finish.  I brought a few skirts home to finish and I’m sure I’ll be bringing home a lot more in the coming weeks.

12:30-1:00 – I came home for lunch, saw the kids (they got out of school early today), got the mail, checked with my email, and played with the cat.  Hey, I fit quite a bit into that half hour!

1:00-1:30 – I decided to start on this blog post so I wouldn’t have to do it all tonight.  I started it in Google Docs, then the internet decided to be stupid.  That happens a lot here so at least that part of my day was normal.  I did some of it on my phone and saved the rest for later.  It would be interesting to figure out how much time I waste every day waiting for the internet to work.

1:30-4:30 – Work.  I’m glad I can work pretty much as much or as little as I want, whenever I want, but I still don’t like doing it.  I like getting paid though, so I’ll keep it up.

4:30-5:15 – I put the dishes away while chicken was defrosting in the microwave, then I fried some chicken strips for buffalo chicken salad.  My dear husband was kind enough to make the rest of the salad.  I really hate cutting up lettuce and tomatoes. 

5:15-5:45 – Family dinner J

5:45-6:00 – More emails to deal with.

6:00-9:00 – I drove an hour each way to attend one of the dance festival rehearsals and collect some costume order forms and money.  It was a nice drive in the foothills and it’s always good to see the kids having a great time. 

9:00-10:00 – Phone calls, emails, and visits, mostly involving the dance festival.  I thought I’d have more time to finish this post but life took up too much of my time today. 

10:00-whenever this is posted – Finishing up this post.  I wish I had some time to make this more interesting, or at least proofread what I’ve written, but truth is I’m tired and tomorrow looks different from today but equally as busy. 

15 minutes after that – Getting ready for bed and hopefully falling asleep! 

If I weren't so tired, I'd make a list of things I didn't get done today.  It would include exercising, mopping the kitchen floor and doing the laundry, and it would be so long that my internet definitely wouldn't stay connected long enough for me to upload it.  It's ok though, I had a good day. 

March Skirt

Oh yeah, I did it!  Of course it kind of looks like a tablecloth on me, which is one of the reasons I photographed it on the dress form.  I broke one of my sewing rules with this skirt, which is don't try to make clothes out of quilt fabric.  Actually it works fine for kids' clothes, but adult clothes are supposed to have a more fluid drape and quilt fabrics are usually made of short fibers which don't drape as well.  This is a better quality quilt fabric so it could be worse, but the skirt has too much flare for this fabric, making it stick out like a bell when I wear it.  Oh well, it looks cute on the dress form so I may just leave it there.  And even if I never wear it, there were some benefits to making this skirt:

1.  I've stuck with my goal for 3 months. Only 9 to go!

2.  I came up with a pattern that fits reasonably well.  I need to tweak the back a little and maybe take out some of the flare, but overall it's pretty good.

3.  I learned a lot about making a really narrow bias trim.  See the strips along the pocket edge and at the bottom of the yoke?  It's some charcoal gray taffeta left over from a skirt I made for Ashley.  It doesn't look that great on the pockets but I didn't have time to redo it.  The yoke looks much better.  When it's only 1/8" wide any uneven stitches really show up.  I got in some good practice and now I'm practically a pro!

For the sake of record-keeping, I used about $10 worth of fabric and everything else was already on hand.  Technically the fabric was already on hand too, since I bought it for another purpose, but since I only bought it last week and I remember how much is was, I might as well count it as a cost.

I have to say that this project would have been much more enjoyable if my sewing room weren't such a disaster area.  I think I should resolve to clean and organize it really well next month and post pictures, but I'm not quite ready to make that commitment.

It's Almost April...

Yes, it's the day before the end of another month.  Besides all the personal things I need to do before March ends, I still have one very public (meaning public to my 4 followers) goal to accomplish by tomorrow.  That's right, I still need to sew a skirt.  I actually did start a skirt a few weeks ago but it requires a LOT of hand sewing that I planned to do while watching tv with my family in the evenings.  Then I got the flu.  Then we went on vacation.  Then I bought some new books (oops, reading shouldn't be an excuse to not sew!).  Anyway, the skirt looks about the same today as it did three weeks ago and even if I worked around the clock there are not enough hours left in the month for me to finish it.  So am I going to give up, use all my excuses, and fail in my skirt-a-month goal in only the 3rd month of the year?  Umm, I'm not sure yet, but hopefully not.  I have a plan B.  Last week I bought some fabric that might make a cute little dress or something for a soon-to-be-born niece.  Actually there's enough to make at least 4 baby dresses, or maybe 2 baby dresses and an adult skirt.  Not even a baby wants more than one dress out of the same fabric so I'm betting she won't mind if I use some of the extra.  Not that I have a pattern yet and the clock is ticking, but I'm hoping I can come up with something by today, then cut it out, fit it, and start some of the sewing before I go to bed tonight.  It's a good thing I have a stash of interfacing, thread and zippers - I shouldn't have to make a run to the fabric store today or tomorrow.  I'll let you know tomorrow how this turns out.  In the meantime, wish me luck!!

The Monster That Ate My Dream

I’ve told this story to my children several times, but it was only a story about what led me to change my college major.  It was only recently I realized there is an important moral to the story.  This is for my children and anyone else who has a dream:

In the summer of 1986, between my freshman and sophomore years at BYU, I decided to be a Costume Design major.  I read books on the topic and I’ve always been fascinated by costumes in movies.  The curriculum looked full of interesting classes in sewing, design and history of costume.  Most of the required classes overlapped with the other Clothing and Textiles majors and I’d already been taking and enjoying those classes.  My first class specific to costume design was a 1 credit class, predictably called “Intro to Costume Design”.  It was offered during the second block (or second half) of winter semester.  Finally, I would be taking a real costume design class! 

I remember that first day of class.  It was my first class in the Harris Fine Arts Center, in an obscure room that wasn’t very easy to find.  I walked into the room.  At first glance the room looked small, but I think that’s because the ceiling was high and the room was pretty full.  There were less than 10 students in the class.  There weren’t any desks or chairs, but there were a few stools at work tables along two walls.  We all found a stool and listened to the instructor introduce the class.  First, she said there was no textbook.  Yay!  Second, she told us we would be asked to help with costume changes for the BYU productions.  “Asked to help” really meant “your grade depends on this”.  This was a little problematic for me as I imagined the 20+ minute walk home alone late at night across a dark and deserted campus in sub-freezing temperatures.  It wasn’t a deal breaker though. 

Her next proclamation, however, changed my life.  She pointed to one corner of the room.  There was a huge structure made out of chicken wire with a face near the top of the 15 foot tall behemoth.  The bottom couple feet were covered with long strands of purple yarn attached to the wire.  It looked like a giant Barney zombie.  No, an UNFINISHED giant Barney zombie.  Our assignment, if we chose to accept it, was to spend most of every class time attaching yarn to this monster so it could be used in a play.  You know how during the Rose Parade the announcers always speak with high admiration of all the volunteers who happily and painstakingly apply poppy seeds, one by one, to make eyelashes on a character on one of the floats?  I’d shoot myself before I’d volunteer for that, and that’s the same way I felt about spending hours and hours tying yarn to chicken wire. 

I sat through the class, then walked straight to the Smith Family Living Center where I dropped the class and changed my major to Fashion Merchandising.  The next week someone from the theater department called to ask if I would help with costume changes that weekend.  When I told her I dropped the class she laughed and said I was the fourth person she called and the first three had dropped the class also.  I guess I wasn’t the only one intimidated by the monster.

That one stupid monster changed my major, the people I would meet in college, and who knows what else in the course of my life.  Maybe I owe that monster a great big thank you because I have a wonderful life and I wouldn’t change a thing.  But as my children get ready to leave for college and follow their dreams, I can’t help but wonder what monsters will stand in their way.  Will it be a difficult professor or the challenge of learning something new?  Will they face their monsters and defeat them, or will they turn and walk away?  I wish I’d tried costume design and decided I didn’t like it, but instead I let a monster eat my dream.

February Skirt

I did NOT wait until the last day of the month to make this month's skirt!  Actually, my plan was to make a red dress in the spirit of Valentines Day.  The pattern was easy but the fitting turned out to be more than I could finish this month.  I really needed to do a skirt anyway because #1 that's my rule and #2 I needed to try out a pattern for next month's skirt (which is going to take a long time and will hopefully be done next month!).  Here's what I came up with:

Ok, just like last month I took the picture before my skirt is technically done.  The waistband is only basted on, resulting in a little extra ridge right below my waist that I really don't need!  For the record, I did finish the hem in the January skirt before midnight on January 31, and I wore it in public this month.  

Here's the rundown of this month's skirt:  I've had this red knit fabric since before we moved into this house in 1997.  I bought 5 yards of it for something like $2 a yard.  I used less than a yard of it on this skirt, leaving plenty left over to try out the dress pattern I mentioned above.  I've been looking for a good, basic a-line skirt pattern.  On Monday I bought Stitch magazine at Barnes and Noble ($14.99) and one of the projects was a pull-on knit a-line skirt.  It took me more time to download the pattern than it did to make the skirt.  (I downloaded adobe reader 10, found out some pdf files are not compatible with google chrome, finally printed the pattern, read the printing instructions, printed the pattern again...)  The pattern was super easy.  The same pattern piece is used for the front and back.  There's no elastic in the waistband because the knit fabric keeps the skirt up, but I think next time I might add elastic.  I had to lengthen it a couple inches to make it knee-length, but otherwise I didn't alter it.  I made the size large because I didn't want it clinging on my stomach.  I'll definitely use this pattern again.

I bought some dark gray tights on Monday that look good with the skirt, but now I need a gray sweater to match.  The t-shirt I'm wearing in the picture certainly doesn't work with it!  In fact, after looking at the picture I'm thinking I'll give the t-shirt away.  I guess this means I should go shopping tomorrow!

January Skirt

This year I set a goal to make myself one skirt every month. To make things even more complicated, I thought each skirt should somehow represent the month in which it was made. This morning I woke up and realized it's the 31st and I was about to blow my goal in the first month. In my defense, it's been a really busy month and I already sewed a dress for Ashley so I think I could have justified starting in February, but I set the goal and I decided to stick with it.

My theme for January would be thriftiness, since I always try to save money in January to make up for all the holiday spending. Funny how it's easier for me to go on a money diet than on a food diet. This skirt used to be a dress that never fit that well to begin with. I cut off the top, hiked it up a few inches, put on a waistband, and look what I have! Ok, it wasn't quite that easy since I added darts and curves and had to figure out how to get a waistband out of the smallest part of the dress, but it wasn't that hard either. If you don't count the cost of the dress, which was a sunk cost several years ago, the skirt cost me nothing. I reused the zipper from the dress, used up a couple almost-empty spools of thread, and already had interfacing and a hook and eye.

I still have a few finishing details left (ok, I'll admit it, the hem is taped up) but I swear I'll finish by tonight. As a side note, I learned a few things about taking pictures of myself. First, you can't take a picture in a mirror using a flash. Duh. Second, I now know how to use the timer on my camera. Third, this would have been much easier with a tripod.

Crash and Burn

I took a blogging break so I could focus on the holidays.  Now two months later the pies are made and eaten, the leftover Christmas ham is gone.  The only things that still linger are a few extra pounds and our artificial tree which is disassembled but lying in pieces on the living room floor.  I have high hopes that it will be in the garage by tomorrow.

My to-do list has been topped all week by "update blog" but more pressing matters keep coming up.  My very-part-time job is only demanding in January, when I have to wrap up the year-end accounting, file all the quarterly and annual payroll tax returns, and mail the W-2's (to employees who inevitably want them the first week of January but fail to update their addresses until the end of February).  I'm now behind in my paid job because of my new volunteer "job" as Stake Young Women's president at church.  In the last week I've probably spent over 30 hours taking care of church business.  I think that will calm down as I get acclimated but there are some big events coming up such as Youth Conference next month and a Tri-stake dance festival in June.  Not to mention visiting all ten of the wards in our stake, one of which is about an hour and a half drive from my house.

With all that to do, I was forced to slow down this past week because something happened to my back.  I'm not sure what it was, I didn't move weird or strain it, I was just walking around the house on Monday talking on the  phone and it started to hurt.  On Tuesday I could hardly walk and I spent most of the day in bed.  I survived Wednesday and Thursday with lots of heat and tylenol, and by today I'm pretty much back to normal.  I'm too young to have my body parts wearing out on me!

So here it is, the middle of January, and this is what I have to do:
1.  Buy groceries!  I couldn't lift anything last week or walk long enough to shop.  Now we're out of everything.  (Yes I know Mormons are supposed to have food storage for times like this and we do, but it's pretty impossible to make homemade pancake mix or bread when you can't move.  I guess I should add some convenience foods to our food storage.)
2.  Catch up on work.  Those W-2's won't mail themselves.
3.  Sew a dress for Ashley.  Her winter formal is the 29th.
4.  Sew a skirt for myself.  Now that I'm spending all this time in church meetings I need more skirts and dresses.  My goal for 2011 is to sew one a month.  More on that later!
5.  Email about a dozen people about various items of church business (planning lessons, setting dates for meetings, coordinating schedules, etc.)

With all these pressing things to do, what am I doing?  Yep, updating my blog.  After a week of running hard and fast (when I wasn't stuck in bed) I need a day off.  Or at least a couple hours.  The list can wait until tomorrow.