And They're Off

I said I'd post one more time before leaving and this is it.

Pies, sweet potatoes, and muffins are made. Alex says the muffins are good, which is saying something for him since they are loaded with carrots, apples, and raisin bran cereal. I won't be having any since they are a carb nightmare, but I'm sure they'll be a hit for breakfast either Turkey Day or the morning after, or both. My sister is making and bringing quiche - more my speed. Since I did actually bake and prepare stuff from scratch, I will own up to buying the pumpkin pies. I mean, it's not like it's that different than buying a can of pumpkin pie mix and pouring it into premade crusts, right?

The car is mostly packed, and I'm off to bed. I'm hoping to leave no later than 6 AM, especially since we're due to hit bad weather most of the way. But at least the rest of the forecast is good.

Happy Thanksgiving one and all, or, Happy November 24th. Take your pick. :-)

I'll "see" you next week. Oh, and no "Turkey Pants" for me this year. Yay!! (If you're not sure what I"m referencing, do a search on my blog and you'll see. I'm out of time to create the link.)

This and That

Just a bunch of random stuff. Here we go.

The shoes/boots arrived today.

Both boots fit great, are cute, and very comfortable. The shoe/booties (shoeties?) at the top are so-so, which means they are going back, even though they are cute too. Life is too short for uncomfortable shoes. I'm taking the brown boots at the bottom with me. I'll decide on the others when I get back. Those "suede" boots aren't really good for stomping around fields anyway. I really shouldn't keep both, but …

I'm taking my new coat but it's probably not going to be cold enough for it. But Murphy's Law means if I leave it, I'll freeze my butt off. I'll look good sweating. ;-)

I washed/dried all my new jeans, plus my old ones. I have no idea how this can possibly be true but all of the new jeans have the same exact inseam measurement (I measured twice), even though some are definitely longer on my legs than others. I even wore each pair for about 1/2 hour each to loosen them up. Then I threw my hands up in disgust and decided NOT to hem any of them. I'll wash them again and decide. The longest pair is just barely off the ground with the boots so it's not too bad, and those are the "nice" ones which I'll only wear inside on Turkey Day anyway. And if I drag the bottoms ragged on the others, I can always hem them later. Good thinking, 99. Thanks Max.

The heat wand is heating up and I'm going to bling the back pockets of one pair of the new jeans. They're rather plain now because the topstitching is navy blue. WTF. But I'm not putting on sparklies, just some metallic nailheads. They need something.

I should be baking pies and muffins and making my sweet potato casserole (no marshmallows) but (1) I'm putting that off until tomorrow night and (2) don't tell anyone, but I bought pre-made pumpkin pies at the grocery store tonight. So now all I have to make is two pecan pies and the muffins. And figure out how to get the label off the covers of the pumpkin pies. lol

I am mostly packed, though, so at least that's something I won't have to do from scratch tomorrow night. But we'll still need to load up the car.

I have training tomorrow at the other office. I'd better refresh myself with how to get there. But I get to arrive one hour later than my usual, so I'll probably hit Mapquest in the morning. Note to self: Leave time to get gas.

I finished reading Water for Elephants at lunch today. It was a good story but also a little disappointing at the climax when all hell broke loose much too quickly. But I still don't know the significance of "water for elephants." Elephant, yes. Water, no. Anyone? What did I miss? I didn't see the movie either.

I started reading Velocity, e-booked from the library. It's so nice to finish one book and have the other right there in the same contraption ready to go.

I'm looking forward to a big family visit without STBex. It will be SO NICE to get a word in edgewise with my own family. Ahem. He can talk to the dogs and his rental car. Ooo, so mean tonight. ;-) It will probably be weird for my sons, though, as this will be their first Thanksgiving without him around. We'll keep them busy with the tractors, chainsaws, firepit, and beer. (Not all at once.)

I'll post one more time before I go, but probably not while I'm gone. Hmmm. Can I blog from the Fire? While driving? JUST KIDDING! 

Off to decorate some pockets.

Pamela's Patterns Magic Pencil Skirt

I need a vacation. ;-) I've been very busy this weekend but in a selfish good way.

I cut and sewed the brown ponte knit skirt tonight, using Pamela's Patterns Magic Pencil Skirt.

The magic is that there's just one pattern piece, no zipper, no waistband, and you end up with a flattering and comfortable skirt. It's pegged just the right amount and while it has an elastic waist, you can't tell by looking when you're wearing it.

$10 is maybe a lot to pay for one pattern piece, but the bottom line is that it works. I can see making many of these, which brings the pattern cost per skirt a lot lower, plus it uses less than a yard of 54-60" fabric so it's economic that way. I plan to make the higher waist version too. For this one, the lower waist view, I cut the Medium per my measurements. The only adjustment I made was adding 3/4" to the length. You can definitely make this skirt start to finish in an hour, especially if you don't have to change thread in all 3 machines like I did. I'm going to write up a proper review on PR (probably after returning from my trip) because this is a sleeper pattern and it needs some enabling. ;-)

Before starting the skirt, I (re)made my Jalie top from last year smaller. And by smaller, I mean I took out 8" of width, 4" at each sideseam, tapering up through the armhole and down most of the sleeve. I took a good 2-3" out of the bicep area, tapering to nothing by the wrist. I also removed 5" of length. I can't believe the old stomach and boobs took up all that space — wow! Well, I can, but seeing it that way was eye-opening. This is the before shot from the earlier post:

And this is the remake:

Lastly, I finally cleared off my pile of costume jewelry off the top of my dresser and hid it all in the top drawer, except for my little dish of earrings still on top. I still have the big pile of too-big clothes (which keeps getting bigger) and I'll deal with that when I get back too. And I should probably dust my dresser now.

That's my Fire in its new brown leather case in the bottom right of the pic. I also stuck on a screen protector, so it's officially good to go for tossing into my purse. Teri - you asked about battery time with the wi-fi. I don't have a good answer because so far I've never been too far from a charging source so I've not let it get low. I'll try to pay attention on our drive, when we'll be mobile hot-spotting it with Alex's phone.

Another good use for the Fire? Killing time in the Walmart customer service line while waiting to return the purchases I didn't show you.

Sewing and Shopping Pics (Lots of pics!)

I'm making up for the dearth of photos in my last few posts, so grab a cuppa and sit back. ;-)

Here's my finished Ottobre morphed drape top, with morphed elastic-cuff sleeves from last winter. I added an interfaced waist tie for some waist definition in that sea of print. Also, the new jeans.

I'm wearing 3-1/2 heels and they are STILL way too long, so hemming is definitely needed. But other than that, I love them. I still can't believe I picked them up on a whim without trying on, and that they cost only $19.99.

Can you believe how perfectly this necklace matches? I bought it long before I bought the fabric. I won't wear it when the top is styled casually, but to the office with my black skirt, it will be perfect.

My new coat. I look like I'm in the boxing ring. Modeling and ending up with usable photos is harder than it looks. Erica B makes it look so easy, but I know better.

Yes, I'm still in Florida where it's 85 degrees today. If not for the A/C, I would be sweating buckets.

Can you imagine how soft this coat is? The faux suede on the outside is just as soft as the "fur" inside.

It looks to be a well-made coat with some nice subtle details, such as these bound buttonholes.

One of its best features, though, is this. (In case you can't read my overexposed photo, that tag says "WASHABLE".)

Jeans #2 with a zip-up turquoise cardi and cheap tee.

Turquoise cardi #2. I'm undecided whether to keep either or both. Do those ruffles overwhelm? The sweater is very soft and was only about $16 so I may keep it based on price alone. The turquoise zip one above can double as a "Florida coat" since it's heavier, and it has pockets (love!). It was only $20 so still not a big expense to worry about.

Jeans #3. These have some pre-fab fading, but it's not too obnoxious. The tee is a $5 clearance item. How could I not buy a $5 brown tee? It will be good for layering or even just sleeping in.

I'm not as thrilled with the rear view of these jeans, but I've decided it's because the pockets are spaced too far apart. RTW manufacturers need to key in to the fact that we booty-endowed enjoy a better illusion when the pockets are closer toward the center back seam. I'm going to investigate the possibility of moving these pockets, but I need to check if I have matching thread first.

This is a Jalie waterfall top from last year, one of the tops I made for the trip to Tyler's boot camp graduation. It's now way too big and too long. I'm going to cut off the hem and then take in the sideseams. I like the print and colors and it's practically new so I will spend some time on the remake. Most of my too-big clothes aren't worth a remake.

And with that, I think I'm actually set for my trip, after the jeans are washed and hemmed. So, my next project (after making the Jalie top smaller) will be something office-related. I've got a knit skirt pattern from Pamela's Pattern and some dark brown ponte that I'd like to match up.

* * * * *

Finally, a little comment about some of your comments re my marriage situation. First, if I didn't expect you comment, I wouldn't share so don't think you can't express an opinion. Just know that I haven't shared all the details leading up to my decision to divorce, and it wasn't an easy decision. And, keep in mind that if you comment, I might comment back ;-) and it's likely I won't take your advice — I'm stubborn that way. I'm not interested in counseling because I don't really care for who he has become. No amount of counseling will change his basic personality (nor mine). It's cliché to say we've grown apart, but that's pretty much what it is. I see things a lot differently at 49 than I did at 21. If we had met today, I wouldn't like him very much. There's no sense staying with someone you just don't like. Life is much too short. Yes, we had some good times in the beginning and if nothing else, I will be eternally thankful for the gift that are my two sons from this marriage. But that chapter of my life (young wife, young mother) is over and I know it's time for us both to move on. In fact, it's way past time. We're mostly still quite civil, which is why we can still live together until we finally go our separate ways. In this economy, I know that's actually a blessing. And before you ask, my sons are OK with it and they like the happier me. STBex's "relationship" with them now that they are adults is a major part of what led to this decision. Read between the lines. As I said, I didn't come to this decision easily.

Two Thoughts

1. I think we have better fabric choices than what's available in mid-priced RTW, judging by my shopping trip yesterday. The only thing I can't make is knitted sweaters and that's only because I can't knit.

2. Every day is a good day when you see the weinermobile driving next to you.

I'll be back later with pics. I've completed one top and am now deciding what's next.

More Later, But …

… I just had to say I FOUND JEANS.

OK, twist my arm and I'll expand a little.

Today I did exactly what I had told myself (and you too, I think) I was not going to do. I shopped. And shopped.

But I had a good excuse. Honest! Alex really needed a coat. I did too, but I at least had a Plan B (my old, old 1980s coat which is now back in style LOL). So, off to Burlington Coat Factory we went. He tried on about 40 coats and finally settled on one that I'll need to hem the sleeves shorter for. I can deal with that — it's just going to be a simple turn and stitch on the free arm, no biggie. I tried on about 10 and settled on a faux suede (outside) and faux fur (inside) 3/4 length brown coat. I love it! It's so soft. I'll probably only get to wear it about 2 times a year here in Florida, but I think it will age well. At least as good as my 1980s coat which still hangs in the front hall closet.

While Alex was shopping and trying on, I wandered around and picked up a couple of sweaters and a pair of jeans. Looking at them, I was guessing they would technically fit. I didn't try them on in the store but once I got home, I was in LOVE. And they were only $19.99! Can you believe it? They are much, much too long, though, so I'm going to send them through the wash and then hem them after these arrive on Monday:

Yep, more Zappos love. I won't keep all 3 pairs but I'm hoping at least one pair is a keeper. Maybe two, because the pair at the top was only $36 on sale.

And if THAT wasn't enough, I just got back from grocery shopping at Walmart and I tried on jeans there too. I came home with 3 maybes. And a few tops too. Oops. They are my backup in case my sewing tonight and tomorrow isn't as prolific as I'm hoping.

I've lost about 6 more lbs in the last couple of weeks and it's really amazing to me how much of a difference that makes. Six pounds 75 lbs ago wouldn't have even been noticeable. Now it is. I'm starting to go through my second round of clothes getting too big. Yes, it's a nice problem to have but it's hard to keep up. lol

I'll update tomorrow with some photos of my loot. And hopefully at least one made-by-me top.

Can It Be?

Yes! Sewing for MEMEMEMEMEEEEEEEE has begun! I've cut out a long-sleeved draped neck top from the pattern morph of my TNT Ottobre tee from the print I showed you the other day.The Fire makes a good pattern weight. ;-)

I'll sew this up tomorrow night for FSNI and maybe I'll get something else done too. I'm full of ME mojo!






But I'm actually not too worried about quantity right now. It will be a very casual Thanksgiving and if I have to wear the same 2 pairs of jeans the entire time, I'll survive.

The hard part for sewing output will be keeping myself off my new Kindle Fire. I just adore this little gizmo. Between it and my phone, they do everything computer-wise I want to do while I'm away from my desktop — which, let's face it, is mostly just playing. ;-)

I'm not going to do a full review of the Fire because there are lots of them around. This one (Yes, it's that good) covers all the main points and I think it's very accurate. But I'll share my thoughts over the next few days/weeks as they come to me and I'll try to answer questions left in the comments.

I connected to my county library last night and downloaded 4 books, for FREE. Love the library. Love NOT GOING to the library to get books. It was so easy, as Amazon and my library talk to each other and all I have to do is check out the books and then go to my Amazon account and send them to my Fire. The whole process took about 5 minutes, after I had decided on the books I wanted.

But have I even cracked any of them yet? Nope. I'm currently reading Water for Elephants, downloaded for free from Amazon's Lending Library (well, "free" if you sub to Amazon Prime, which I did because it's well worth it). I see a little label on it with 32%, so it looks like I'm just about one-third done with it already.

This is my actual Fire, complete with smudgy fingerprints. These are all Droid X cellphone pics, BTW. Not bad. I emailed them to my desktop from my phone. Hah. I'm such a dork.

If I have any complaint at all, it's that my cover/case has still not shipped. Apparently, the green is on backorder. So I ordered a brown one tonight. I can live without green but I WANT a cover for this thing before my trip.

As you can see, it's set up like a bookshelf. You scroll through side to side and up/down and the media flips like on a carousel. It's a pretty intuitive interface, although there is a good manual pre-loaded too. I'm a geek. I like to read manuals and always do that when I get a new anything.

I don't know if I'd buy one as a gift for the technology-challenged for just reading. A lesser Kindle should be fine for that and lots cheaper. I can't compare e-ink to the Fire's display because I've never seen or used e-ink. I'm so used to reading on a screen that that aspect doesn't bother me a bit.

I love being able to eat my lunch at work and read at the same time without needing to prop up a book or rearrange when I need to turn pages. I look like quite the dweeb reading on my Fire with earbuds to my phone in my ears. Very convenient that my office PC has 2 front USB ports so I'm always charging.

I love that the screen is big enough to not feel puny to my old eyes, like my phone. Video is gorgeous on it, and streaming is very smooth. Almost better than cable. The color/resolution is beautiful. Better than my phone, I think, a Droid X, and equal to Alex's Droid Razr.

I've downloaded some magazines onto it, but I haven't really explored what's available yet. It definitely would be great if Threads would go the e-book route. How do we start a write-in campaign. I've looked at Lucky, Self, and Glamour because those were free. Lucky isn't very interactive but it's just as good as reading the paper version to me, without the hassle of deciding what to do with old issues. The other two have interactive extras, which is both cool and annoying because I feel like I'm losing my place. But that's just the newness talking. I'll figure out my own process. I also wonder if it's my imagination but the advertisement pages seem to need an extra swipe to turn the page, like they are programmed to be looked at longer. It wouldn't surprise me if this is true, but I honestly like ads in magazines so it doesn't bug me.

Susan asked if there's a spreadsheet app. There is, an actual spreadsheet, but I haven't used it yet. I don't see me loading up either my phone or my Fire with a pattern or fabric catalog. Too much work to do that. ;-) But maybe I can export my pattern catalog from ListPro (Palm days) to something to work on one of them. But I'm not in a rush to do that yet. There are also other cataloging apps that I haven't explored yet.

Speaking of Palm, I *love* that there's a Graffiti app for my phone so I can "write" with my finger in Palm-ese. I'm much faster with that than texting on a tiny keyboard. I can type 90+ wpm on the real keyboard and about 8 on the phone. Hah. I hope Kindle gets that app too, although its keyboard is big enough that I don't feel clumsy on it.

And with that, I'm going to go watch the end of the football game and browse through an e-magazine, but I couldn't let this comment from Bev pass:

"Are you sure you're getting a divorce? Any time there are issues, you guys are there for each other."

Yes, I am definitely getting a divorce. And, no, we are not there for each other. Only one of us is there for anyone and she's tired of living on this one-way street. ;-)

Another Drive-By

I was able to squeeze about an hour of sewing in last night and the cammie purses are done. I didn't have as much time as I had planned because STBex had a slight traffic mishap on his way home last night. His truck is totalled. Completely not his fault and the other driver was cited for failing to yield to oncoming traffic (she tried to turn across 4 lanes of rush-hour traffic causing STBex to T-bone her vehicle). She had her 3 small children in her minivan, and thankfully no one was injured. But WHAT was she thinking?

Meeting him at the site, standing around waiting for the police to finish the reports and then for the tow truck to remove the demolished truck and van ate into my free time last night. So that's 2 of our vehicles wrecked in 2 months. I sure hope mine isn't next. 

Hopefully, tonight I can start something for ME because I really, really do not want to go shopping this weekend.

I'm on FIRE

This is just a drive-by post because I've spent my WHOLE EVENING playing with my new toy, which arrived today — one day earlier than expected, thank you Amazon!!

It's everything I expected and more. I love it! It is SO WORTH the $199 price tag (plus $79/year for Amazon Prime to get full benefits), esp. compared to a iPad. It's not an iPad, but I'm not really convinced I want a full tablet. I mean I have a computer (or three) and any real computing I'd do on real keyboard. But for fun, entertainment/reading, this thing is going to rock. It was super easy to set up, found my home wi-fi immediately, and there's a good manual on-board if you want it or your fingertips to play around if you don't.

On Saturday, I finally entered the smartphone game for my own phone when I bought Alex a new Razr and took his Droid X. I had thought I was going to get the new phone for once, but the differences between the Razr and the Droid X were just not enough to sway me, plus knowing my Fire was on its way, so I caved and let him take the Razr. Yes, 4G is noticeably faster than 3G, but I'm not going to be streaming anything on the phone and, frankly, the screen is just too dang small for these no-more-birthdays eyes. The Fire streams beautifully from the Cloud with no blips at all. The screen and overall size are perfect. Phone for calls, texts, mobile pics, and quickie apps on the go. Fire for real reading and the fun stuff during lunch or while watching TV.

Ask questions in the comments if you're thinking of getting one and there's something you're curious about and I'll answer them in the next day or so. But if you're mostly over the fence, just do it. You'll love it. :-)

Homestretch

My purse is done and the customer's is nearly so. I just need to press it, do the final topstitching, and attach the straps. I've decided I either need to discontinue this purse or double the price. ;-) While I love my pattern and the final product, it's just too fiddly construction-wise to be enjoyable as a sewing-for-others project. Plus, I don't have real instructions written down so I have to reacquaint myself with the order of things each time I make it, which inevitably involves frog-stitching more than one time. That's why I made my purse first, so the screw-ups would be on it. The second purse has gone a lot faster.

Once the purse is done, I also have to make one OOO RAH wallet for this same customer. That won't take but an evening or two, which I am DETERMINED to knock out tomorrow night and Tuesday, so that I can sew for ME, ME, ME with every spare moment between then and my trip. I need long-sleeved tops and I want to make one cascade sweater from an Ottobre tee morph, plus the jeans. I may put the jeans last in the queue because I can survive on what I have. We're not going to be doing anything fancy, and I need warmer tops more.

For now, it's off to bed. Tomorrow, the "real" worker is back and Friday I moved to another desk. I'm feeling kind of sad and nervous. I'll be glad when tomorrow is over and I'm into my new routine at the office. I'm sure things will be fine, but the unknown is … well, unknown.

Just a few more days until my Fire gets here. In the meantime, I've moved to a smart phone and wasted an entire Saturday afternoon playing with that. Oops. ;-)

Happy Veteran's Day and Happy Birthday All In One

Tyler and Kelli are attending the Marine Corps Birthday Ball as I type. Kelli was thoughtful and sent me this iPhone pic a few minutes ago and I thought it would be an appropriate photo commemorating both days.

I'm so proud of you, Tyler. Thank you to you and to all service members past and present!

More Nothing

I got back from the dentist almost 2 hours ago and I'm still waiting to be able to feel my lips. Really puts a crimp in dinner. Above is what I wore to work today. Outfit from Walmart, you've seen it before. One day, I will buy better clothes but right now they are mostly disposable so Walmart it is. These shoes passed the comfort test today too, but one has an annoying squeak. As long as it's not completely quiet, you don't hear it. But if it is, you hear me coming from a distance. Oh well, they look cute.

This pic is for Belinda. Remember this top? (Please ignore the numb-mouth crooked smile. It's hard to smile when you can't feel your face.)

And finally, the other fabrics calling my name that were just pre-washed so they're waiting for me. Top to bottom: dark brown ponte knit, taupe pinstripe blouse fabric, black skirt fabric I bought before I saw the Walmart skirt above so it might be a muslin since it was cheap, swirly sweater knit that's on my short list, olive green (it really is green) double-knit, poly silky jacquard print for a blouse, tan moleskin also on the short list.

Now I have to work on the cammie purses so I can actually sew those fabrics above into something to wear.

Pussycat Blouse Again

I'm really only loading these photos so I can have them for the PR review I'm about to write, but I did finally wear this outfit today. I'm also happy to report that the shoes passed their test with flying colors. Comfortable all day long.

LOVE this fabric, which arrived from eBay yesterday. It's going to be made into something very soon. Maybe even before I make jeans.

That's it for tonight. I blew off grocery shopping over the weekend and so had to sacrifice a weekday night (tonight) instead. After dinner out and then groceries, there's not any time left for the sewing room. I'm on the homestretch with the purses so I should be able to gear up for garment sewing soon. My garment-sewing mojo is in full swing, of course, because I'm working on purses. I hope it doesn't go missing once I'm ready for it.

R.I.P. Patty Cook

I've made good progress on the cammie purses but they still aren't done. I *will* finish them this week, or bust!

Life threw a curve ball today and it will be a little more topsy-turvy than usual around here as we found out this morning that my sister-in-law died suddenly in her sleep last night. She was 54 — maybe 55? —  and COD is still unknown right now. We weren't close at all, but since this is my STBex's brother's wife, STBex will be flying up to Virginia soon for an extended stay to support his brother, and I'll be on my own here. It will be good practice, right? (Was that too unsensitive?) Her daughter (my niece and her only child) is flying home from Germany, where she and her Army husband are stationed. My heart goes out to my niece because the last words she had with her mom were a big argument, which in hindsight was probably really about nothing. Take this as a cue to tell your loved ones they are special and don't let bad feelings ferment.

Next Week's Sewing

Since I've made NO progress on the cammie purses since last weekend due to severe lack of energy in the evenings (busy week), this weekend's sewing time will be devoted to finishing those. But NEXT week, I'm sewing jeans for me.

I really wanted to buy some jeans for my Thanksgiving trip, but I've tried on about 20 pairs now in the last week and none are it. I'm losing hope. And time. Most of the RTWs fit everywhere except at the back waist, where they gape. I don't have a small waist in relation to my butt/hips, so who on earth DO these jeans fit?

I decided that if I had to rip out a waistband and topstitching down the center back and then re-do it to take in RTW jeans, I might as well make my own from the start and be reasonably assured they will fit when I'm done. It's also hard to find jeans without the un-strategic (in my case) fading and whiskers and I've got solid blue denim waiting in the stash closet.

I'm using the pattern I traced off from RTW and tweaked 7 years ago to make these:

I'm going to go with the bootcut leg like the burgundy pair, which was a change I made to the original "pattern" after making the green jeans. Those green jeans, if you remember, are the jeans I tried on at the start of my weight loss journey, which I couldn't even zip up. Now they are getting too big. Yay! Both of these jeans are straight out of the dryer so they haven't seen a full day of stretching yet. I can really only get one day of wear from either (but I'll probably still take them both on the trip).

I already dug through my pattern drawer to see if I could find the pattern and was relieved to know that I kept it. There's lots of notes on the pieces and in my reviews so I think I'm ready to just cut and sew. But for now, it's back to the purses and just dreaming of new jeans.

On a little bit of a sad note, I called to make a dentist appointment and found out that my wonderful dentist (and the person who really inspired me to change my eating habits) moved out of the area. Selfishly, I'm sad because I really wanted him to see how far I've come. Hopefully his former partners will be as good as he is. If not, I may be driving to Ocala (an hour north) for my next dental needs. 

Parting Shot: Tyler's new medals. On the left, National Defense. On the right, War on Terrorism Service. They will make nice additions to his dress blues, which he'll be donning next Friday night for the Marine Corps Ball.Right now, he's on a plane flying back to Cherry Point NC from Yuma AZ. After 6+ weeks away from "home," he's ready to be back in his own barracks.

A Present for ME

This will be released on November 15. And on a complete whim last night I pre-ordered one and it will be here November 17. Along with a green leather case. And just in time for my trip north.

Will an iPad be far behind? ;-)

Tuesday Tidbits

This is what I wore today. Obviously, I'm a cardigan fool and will soon end up with one in every color. The printed top is the mesh knit shell I picked up at Bealls. The pin is my mom's, circa 1975.

This shows both the HP Pussycat Blouse on me, as well as what I have to put up with during my tripod self-photo shoots. Do you think he wants ALL the attention? (Answer: Yes!)

My bow, if you could see it better, looks perfect only because it's not actually tied. I used a hair elastic to cinch the ties together in a faux-bow. Hah! FoBo, cute. You have to get REALLY close to me to see the hair elastic, so I'm going with it. Far easier than wrestling with tying a stupid bow a million times to get the ends even.

Rear view. Note to self: Don't stand like this in real life cuz you're pulling the skirt up. Waist, it's nice to see you again. ;-)

These are my latest new shoes. I suck at shoe-in-the-mirror shots. I need more light in the bedroom.

Here's the Zappos pic, so you can actually see the shoes.

I really, REALLY wanted these first. Until I remembered I don't actually wear silver. Of course, last week I didn't wear black either. ;-)

I need to be sewing the cammie purses, but instead tonight I'm going to be re-sewing a couple of pleats on some skirts so I can wear one tomorrow. They haven't ripped, but I can tell I need to secure the stress area better before the stitches do work loose. Tomorrow when I get home from the office, I'll work on the purses for a couple of hours.I want to have them done by the end of the weekend so I can cross that project off my list and shop for a coat.

In work related news, I was invited to a sit-down meeting this afternoon with my boss and my boss' boss, where they proceeded to tell me that the person I'm filling in for will be returning from her maternity leave in 2 weeks (which is about 6 weeks earlier than expected), because she's out of paid time off and needs her paychecks. Don't panic. Without missing a beat, they also told me that they will definitely be keeping me on in my current status until at least mid-January while working hard to get me in the budget for a permanent position because THEY LOVE ME. Yay, they like me — they really, really like me. ;-) (The feeling is mutual.) So while I have a bit of time before I know anything for sure, all signs are pointing in the right direction and I'm thrilled! 2012 is looking to be a goodie, even if I don't recognize THAT birthday.