Zuzu: Jane, did you know Han Solo is Indiana Jones!? Jane: Oh yeah, yeah. It's the same guy. Zuzu: Only when he's Indiana Jones he's not as cheeky as when he's Han Solo. But he's really good at being cheeky when he's Han Solo. Jane: I think I'd be good at that too. I can be really cheeky. Zuzu: Yeah, you're good at being cheeky too.
Today was the birthday of a little neighbor friend, so I made her a little shoulder bag during Ellen's nap. I thought she would like something frilly and girly, and she did.
Most of the time when I get to sew now, it's a bit of a mad dash. Today was no exception. I put Ellen down, stuck Adam in front of Star Wars, raced downstairs, cut it out as fast as I could, rushed through each step, trimmed the last threads, held it up, and thought, "Oh. I wish I'd centered the print." Ha. I kind of miss the days when sewing was a slow and contemplative activity.
OK, truthfully, I was no stranger to mad-dash sewing even in pre-kids life. I'm still grateful to my mom for taking over and putting the zipper into my prom dress for me back in 1990 so I could have time to jump in the shower before my date arrived. (Thanks, mom!) Then there was the time I was doing the soprano solo in a performance of Handel's Messiah and decided the day of the concert that I needed something lovely to wear and that I could probably somehow squeeze a fancy gown out of that piece of red velveteen my grandma gave me. Several hours later, dressed in red velveteen and costume jewelry, I was lucky to hit enough red lights on the way to the show to get some make up on. I was also lucky that no one freaked out when I didn't show up until moments before curtain time. If I hadn't resorted to gluing up the hem of my lovely new dress, I wouldn't have made it even by then. (I did stitch up the hem properly before the next time I wore it.)
By the way, the little triangle sticking out from under the ruffle on the front of the purse is the button loop. It's a little fussy to open it with the ruffle in the way, so I'd probably do a snap instead next time. I used this pattern. I added the ruffle, plus a bit of topstitching, since I couldn't be bothered to hand stitch the opening closed. I avoid hand stitching at all costs.
The following is to provide the necessary background for anyone who didn't "get" my post title:
This little guy was discovered last Monday crawling across our neighbor's front yard. Let me tell you, nothing this exciting has ever happened in our cul-de-sac before. From the urgency of the knock of Jane's neighbor friend on our front door to alert us to the turtle's arrival, I was sure I'd be opening the door to news of a dire emergency.
He turned out to be an escapee from a pond at a house the next street over. Fortunately he came out unscathed from both his trek across the road and from the attentions of a bunch of enthralled kids.
However, when he told me next, "And there are crocodiles in there, mama. Really. There really are," he had his tell-tale grin and a glint in his eye. He likes to try to trick me.
As you may know, I hate to see things go to waste. You know how sometimes the little tab gets ripped off an otherwise perfectly good diaper? I hate that. But when it happened today, a thought popped into my head:
I mended a disposable diaper. Laugh if you must. But let's do some calculations. I saved $ .25 (the cost of the diaper) in 30 seconds of my time. If I could save $ .25 for every 30-second increment of a 12-hour day, that would add up to $360. And over the course of one year?: $131,400. Who's laughing now?
You, still, hopefully.
This is the way I like my math. Simple, ridiculous, and on a calculator.
