I Am a Material Girl.....

Of course, the "material" I'm talking about is the fabric kind! I've been working with glorious silk charmeuse fabric for my mother's wedding dress; it's a great pale, pale, yellow color (her favorite); and as delicate as tissue paper! At first I was wary of even cutting into it, but after working with it for a while, I realized that since it's 100% silk, it is much sturdier than it looks and it behaves quite well; clinging to the other layer when sewing, unlike cheap synthetics that are a nightmare to hold together! I've been staying up quite late sewing (or early, rather), and the other night watched another of my favorite classics; "How to Marry a Millionaire". It's very much in the same vein as "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"; with good comedy, and the straight woman Lauren Bacall to act as a foil for Marilyn Monroe's signature ditzy blond character. My favorite line is when the girls were discussing how to "catch" a rich man; one asks "Do you marry him?" and Lauren's character answers, "Honey, if you don't marry him; you haven't caught him, he's caught you!". 

Whew! I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately (because I have). I feel like I'm always talking about how busy I am; and really; busy doesn't begin to cover it!

Ooh! Ooh! I'm really excited because yesterday I got a lovely message from a woman who has a shop Flossie Fern's Vulgar Medicinals  where she makes lovely things with adorable names; she's a trained herbalist and makes all manner of balms and salves, and something called "Tea and Strumpets" dry shampoo! Her whole shop makes me happy!

So, after justifying the expense six ways to Sunday; I purchased these lovely items from her; for myself I got a tin of this sweet Knee Rouge  which is a really great multi-purpose rosy cream balm (but I must use it to rouge my knees; because I can't resist); and a product that James actually needs *don't click the link, my dear husby; it's a surprise*. The rest of you can feel free to click away and see what I got for a Gift for James. 

I love being able to buy little lovely trinkets like these; I find more joy in the little inexpensive items than I ever do in the big things. I remember when our refrigerator was on it's last legs last summer; I would have kept on dealing with the issues it had, but James was determined to get a new refrigerator at last and took me appliance shopping. It was horrible! I was very glad and felt lucky to get a new appliance, but the whole process was stressful and I would have preferred buying something like these little things; instead of breaking out in a cold sweat over the expense of a big ticket item! The saleslady even remarked that I didn't seem excited about getting a new refrigerator, and James and I were switching up the usual roles of husband and wife; he excited about shopping, and me wanting to run away and never come back! I guess I'm not really a material girl, and I certainly didn't go about trying to marry a millionaire!

The wedding dress is coming together; and I'm trying to ease my workload by not being as much of a perfectionist and delisting some of the items that are running low, instead of working through the night to restock my store. I have a Farmer's Market to prepare for, and that has to take priority right now. It does sting to feel like I "should" be doing more things and recognizing that I simply can't. I've heard the saying so many times, "you can only do what you can do", which seems so cliche, but is really meaningful. I always feel the need to push myself further and further, and I know I need to back off some so that I can still enjoy family time and perhaps eventually, sleep! I keep telling myself this refrain, "Just make it to May"; since all my most pressing issues will be done or under control by then, just so long as April doesn't speed by even more quickly, I should make it!


Have a great Wednesday everyone!

An Apple Pie a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

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We've slowly been recovering, and my poor boys are almost all better! Some of them have lingering coughs, and two of them never got sick at all; and I'm hoping our luck will hold. I'm trying to think of all the last-minute things I need to do before our vacation, and one of them is to use up the half-bushel of apples I bought optimistically a few weeks ago. Although I'm storing them in the garage, I don't want them to go bad while we're gone, so I've decided to go on an apple pie baking blitz. I figure that if I make an apple pie every day, or two every other day, I should use up all the apples before we leave. Yesterday, I baked pie #1; it seems like forever since I've made a home-baked dessert and it made the house smell awesome! My boys were all thrilled, they love apple pie, and I felt like I had accomplished a lot that day, even though I didn't.

I think I've been pushing myself too much lately, I've been unusually tired, and the joy I used to have creating and selling my soaps has seemed to be replaced by feeling that I've fallen short, not just at that, but that I've let it take over my life a little too much. I have a tendency to be a perfectionist, and although I told myself when I started that I would be happy if I only made one sale, soon I found myself glued to the activity feed! I think I'm going to concentrate on the joy of it again, and if it's true that a "watch pot never boils"; well, maybe it's true that a "watch etsy-shop never sells"! And I am looking forward to my first Farmer's Market, I love Farmer's Market's and it will be so scary and exciting to have my own (shared) booth! I'm already planning my display and decor, with my snazzy new apron that Rita, a fellow etsian at Lazy Mondays made me. I've made "Idaho Dirt" soap, "Clean Air" soap, and have a lot more planned that I hope people in an open-air market will like!

For now, I need to concentrate on my sewing, which is my one true love; and getting ready for our vacation, that is so close now I can taste it. I almost can't believe we're actually getting to go to Disneyland, I think I've avoided thinking too much about it, because it seems almost too good to be true!

Since it's a Friday night, I can stay up as late as I want, watching old movies and sewing old patterns, my favorite! I may work it some new soap "flavors" I have planned. I have more consignment goodies, can you believe it? I also have to buy Andrew new dress shoes for his school performance; which will be the day we leave for San Diego! He's been preparing all year for this, and is really nervous, I'm hoping to have everything packed in the car and meet him at school with the whole family, including Daddy; so that right after the performance, we can leave for San Diego! So much going on this coming week, it's scary and exciting! I will post pictures of my now-mythical vintage attire once it's done, I swear!

Have a great weekend, everybody! 

Keep on the Sunny Side of Life

With all the things happening in the world lately, today I was thinking about attitude, expectations and how they've changed in the last, oh; 75 years or so. I mentioned in my profile that I have a lovely next door neighbor, who turned 90 in January. For her privacy's sake, I'll call her Rose. In the nearly seven years we've lived in this house, she has been an inspiration to me. She has occasionally told me stories about her life, and her upbringing, and one of the anecdotes was really eye-opening and inspirational, and I felt I must share some of her wisdom. Rose was born in 1921 in a small town in Idaho. I remember ruefully telling her one day when I was pregnant with Elvis, that I regretted the necessity of having five children in such a small house. She chuckled and said, "There were five children in my family, and we lived in a three room house, not a three bedroom house". Later, I found out that since she was the oldest child, she had the privilege of having a small cot to herself, while her four brothers and sisters all slept in one large bed. She went on to tell me of the story of the day she turned 13; I will attempt to retell it in the spirit with which she shared it with me.:

It was January of 1934; Rose and her brothers and sisters lived in the top floor (probably little more than an attic) of a very small house, which had only a living area and her parent's room downstairs. She didn't share with me the details of the plumbing, but based on the location, a rural state, I'm guessing there was none. It was her thirteenth birthday; and also one of the coldest days in January that anyone could remember. Rose had just received a gift from her aunt; her very first store-bought underwear; at that time, it was common for mothers to make underwear for their children from empty flour sacks; I remember my own Granny telling my mother that when she was a child, all her underwear said "Pillsbury's Best" on them! Rose was so excited by her gift, and at the dinner table, she couldn't wait to show off her gift to her father. She ran upstairs to retrieve the precious gift, and when she got upstairs had the horrifying sight of a burning chimney! She ran downstairs, calling; "Papa, Papa, the chimney is on fire!". As she told me this part of the story, she got a very far-away look in her eyes, as if she could still hear the sounds from that long-ago day, and her father's words, as if he had just spoken. Her father, thinking she was joking, said "Hush, Rose"; but then her mother saw the smoke and, alarmed; called to her father as well. Her father's words were still so fresh to her, I know she was repeating this from memory; he said, "Nell, get the children out!", as he tried in vain to put out the fire. The fire department was called, of course; but because it was such a cold day and the roads were covered in ice (and most likely dirt roads); the fire truck was unable to get to their house. The whole family stood on the side of the road and watched as their house burned to the ground; with Rose's precious gift inside.

Sad story? Yes, but when the story was retold to me, it seemed almost bittersweet to her. Did Rose and her brothers and sisters need therapy to deal with the awful trauma of losing their home? I'm almost positive not. All those decades ago, there was a sense of community support, and also an expectation of people being able to handle things themselves. The thing that most sticks out to me, was that Rose wasn't telling me an awful horror story, it was just another pearl to the story of her life. What she has told me, many times; is how lucky  her family was during the Great Depression, because her father, unlike others, had a steady job; and as she said, "We never went hungry". Although she ruefully remembers the breakfast "schedule", of oatmeal, cornmeal mush, and pancakes; over and over; and that they did not get much fresh fruit, and no sugar. It doesn't seem to have harmed her, however. 

Whenever I speak to her, I'm struck by how much expectations have changed since then, and I wonder; are we better off now? When not being able to buy the type of food you prefer is a hardship, and the fact that you are able to avoid being hungry means nothing? When children expect, not just their own bed, but their own room and often their own TV, Wii, and cell phone? I hope to instill in my children a sense of gratitude for the fact that we have a warm and cozy home, a daddy who comes home safe every night, and almost any food we could desire. And I hope that, should I reach the age of 90, like Rose; I will have her determination and pluck; which led her to recover from a stroke that would have felled a lesser woman, and the sense of fun which prompted her, at the age of 88; to run down the street; simply because someone told her she couldn't!


A little word about my picture; "It Happened One Night" is one of my favorite movies of all time; funny, romantic, and surprisingly current. It also came out the year of my story; 1934; and always makes me think of the era in which my Granny, and Rose grew up.


I know this post is a bit of a departure for me; I hope I haven't bored you to death!

Happy Wednesday!

Dishes at Dawn?

I've posted before about the joys of late-night sewing; but this morning started out very differently. First of all, last night I fell asleep at 9:30! A far cry from my usual night-owlishness; I think all my late night shenanigans are catching up with me. After feeding Elvis at 5 am; I decided to get up and get some things done. I had already had nearly 8 hours of sleep; which never happens, and I also had a mountain of laundry that I had intended to fold. I was dreading another morning doing the digging-through-the-clean-laundry-looking-for pants-shirts-socks-no-not-that-shirt-where's-my-Perry-the-Platypus-shirt-those-aren't-my-underwear "thing" that I do whenever I get behind; so I put on another classic movie (thank you Mr. Netflix) and started folding. It would've been a perfect morning, except I didn't have any coffee, since I'm terrible at making coffee, James was asleep, and I was afraid to run the coffee grinder for fear of waking up some boys. I held out until 6:30; then woke up James, who made coffee, using his patented "coffee-grinder in between two couch cushions" method of noise-free coffee grinding.

I was thinking this morning about whether I need to switch from late-nights to early mornings, I just might be able to get lots of things accomplished, while still being able to spend the evening with James, and maybe, just maybe, getting more sleep, too! Or maybe it is impossible to "do it all"; I'm sure I'll keep trying!

On a completely unrelated note, I've been looking for a movie that I remember seeing when I was a teenager, it starred Van Heflin, who was famous for doing a coin trick while onscreen; it was his way of making sure the camera was on him and not his co-stars. I remember it was a Film Noir kind of movie, involving a lot of gangsters and a lot of drama; but it was also a very sweet love story. I remember one of the last lines in the movie was Van Heflin saying to the female lead "You're my good luck charm" or something similar. Either I have imagined a very plausible movie plot, or it's a rare movie, since I haven't been able to find it! I've googled, wikapedia'd, gone to the TCM website, read biographies of Van Heflin...what in the world? Any of you movie buffs out there that can help me; please do!