Is this thing on?

I'm still here. I still haven't sewn a thing. Unless you count repair work on Mr. T-Rex. While this little video was all over the internet recently, the actual costume was balled up in my sewing "nook" (not quite a room yet) needing an armpit and shoulder re-sewn. It seems those little T-Rex arms truly are not meant for Ninja-ing. But they're good for at least one more stint now.

For long-time readers, the human behind the T-Rex Ninja is the same young man (Tyler's friend Reko) for whom I made the Renaissance Faire costume a few years ago. If you watch American Ninja Warrior, he's also the fire-breathing, mohawked, caped Ninja seen here:

In quasi-sewing news, I'm nearing the end of the moving-in/unpacking phase (OMG finally!) and this is now on its way to me. Sewing will commence soon-ish. And regular blogging at some point after that. I'm really Jonesin' and I really, REALLY need new clothes!!

I'm loving my new place, and the pain and sheer crappiness of yet another move this past July is finally starting to fade in the rear view. But it was totally worth it. The new house is so bright and cheerful and my whole mood has been brighter and more cheerful to match. I totally get how a doomy/gloomy environment can wreak havoc with one's mental health.

Anyway, I just wanted to stop and say hey. Hey!

New House New Dog

We made it! Still lots to unpack but we're here and I couldn't be happier. The new house is 100+ years old but brand new on the inside and very bright and cheerful. I've already met 3 neighbors and really like the feel of our new block. My commute to work is about 6 minutes so no complaints there either.

In other news, we're now a 3-dog family again. Alex convinced me to adopt a stray Chiweenie one of his friends took in. Charlie is his name and he's quite the cutie.

Missing In Action

I'm still alive but haven't sewn anything but wadders in months and thus the blog has languished. And now my sewing machines, fabric, and entire sewing room are boxed up because I'm moving house next Saturday.

I wish I didn't have to move but my current house is disgusting and my landlord is a pig. And that's being generous. Being in such a depressing environment has definitely zapped the sewjo.

But the home situation will soon be looking up. I've spent a lot of time searching for a nicer place in the same general area close to downtown Tampa and I finally found one a few weeks ago. It's a lot smaller and I won't have a dedicated sewing room right away but until Alex moves out on his own, I'll take over one of the formal rooms and we'll make it work. (It's not like we're hosting formal dinners these days.)

I'm also looking forward to lower rent for a nicer place and a cute back yard for the pups. By now I'm used to walking them at 6 am before work but it will be nice not to have to on rainy mornings.

The rest of my life is good. The job is still going well. I really enjoy my workgroup. My best friend moved back to the area a few months ago and I love having her nearby again. I can't wait to have her over to my new place.

And I can't wait to be sewing again because you know just as soon as you pack up the stash, the urge to serge (hah!) comes roaring back.

See you at some point on the flip side, and sooner on Instagram.

(Posted by phone so please ignore any formatting issues.)

Back

No, not me. I'm still an absent blogger.

But I did want to mention that the missing tutorials, etc. are back. I think I've fixed everything but if you find a missing image, link, whatever, please do let me know so I can fix it.

I really haven't been sewing much. OK, at all. Although I did start a project this past Sunday. We'll see how that goes. I also may have signed up for Netflix and binge-watched Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards. I'm hoping now that the seasons have changed my sewjo will come back around.

In the meantime, the biggest “news” is that while on my way back from my visit to see the Marine in SC two weekends ago, I hit a really big something on the Interstate (I'm thinking piece of semi truck tire but it was dark and rainy so who really knows) and wrecked my car. The wreck wasn't too bad, as far as direct front-end collisions go. No one was hurt at all, and I was still close enough to Tyler that I got two more days' visit out of it while my car made its way to the body shop and adjuster. But it had to stay in SC for repairs and I had to get back to Florida to work.

My car is fixed (yay! I miss it very much and while it's good I have a rental, said rental is craptastic) so I'm heading back to SC after work tomorrow for a post-midnight arrival. Tyler and I will meet up again for a Thursday-Friday visit and then I'll head home sometime Friday afternoon. I kind of want to drive back in daylight this time, just in case. There's a Blue Angels airshow at his base this weekend, which would be fun to see, but it means there are no hotel rooms to be had so staying through the weekend isn't an option. Plus, we may be kind of sick of each other by this point. Hahaha. Just kidding. I love you Tyler.

Up until the wreck, the visit to SC was fun. We went to Charleston, stayed in a fancy hotel, ate lots, drank more, and shopped a little. I did my first Uber trips around Charleston.

We visited boot camp at Parris Island which is just 10 minutes away from Tyler's base. That was fun for both of us. If you're a long-time reader, you may remember that I was sick as a dog when Tyler graduated boot camp 4+ years ago so my memory of that first visit was very fuzzy. And now that he's a sergeant, most of the Drill Instructors don't even outrank him so he strutted around this time like ... well.  a sergeant. Hah. Perspective is everything.

We even got to see the Marine Corps Band and Silent Drill Platoon back in Beaufort (Tyler's base). We still don't know why they were there, but they were and we had seats. OoRah!

Updates

Checking in with some updates on me and the blog ...

I 'm good , but I have not been sewing. Obviously. Well, not anything worthy of keeping or blogging about. I've had a slew of wadders and the sewjo took a hike. 

I've also been doing some social things with friends the last few weekends, which also cuts into the sewing time. Good for me. Bad for the blog.

And, finally, I've been working on restoring the missing photos around the blog. I've still got a long way to go, but the Coverstitch Stuff is back. The Fly Zipper tute is next also done. I've decided NOT to keep up a separate website/domain and to put everything on the blog so it doesn't take a hike again. It's very slow going but eventually it will all be here. The hardest part was rounding up all the photos from my prior computer and getting them onto a thumb drive to grab from the laptop. That part has been done. Gah ... I really miss my old computer. It still runs Win2K hahahaha!

So that's about it.

In the meantime, I have a new phone finally (LOVING it!) and I'm on Instagram. Find me @stitchesandseamsdeb.