Taking shape

I still have to do the zipper.

I’m afraid to even start.

Hoping it will meet the “princess” as well as the “pink and purple” requirements

I think it’s going to be much better than last year’s, only now it may have to be hidden under a winter coat.

Bah humbug to that.

Guilt and goodbyes

I read on someone’s blog the other day (sorry, I can’t remember whose blog to give credit, this week has been a blur) about how they received their very first sweater that was handmade just for them. And it brought back memories of the many sweaters, mittens, hats, afghans and dollclothes that were made for me back in the day. Back before handmade was the latest trend.

The lady responsible for all that fantastic knitting and sewing is going into hospice care. I think of her as a Grandma, and have always called her that, although we aren’t actually related. When my maternal grandmother died when I was in high school, Grandma B. was the only Grandma that I had left. I’m sorry to say that in later years, I didn’t make the effort to go and see her very much, and since I’ve been married, the Army has seen to it that I haven’t lived nearby in more than a decade.

Over the past few days I have been trying to decide what to do. Of course, I would like to go home. It’s just the millions of little things that are my life here get in the way. Oh and that money thing. And I feel more than a little guilty for even pausing, because in the big scheme of things isn’t it more important to say goodbye?

I feel like I owe her at least that, for all the graduations, Grandparents’ Days and recitals that she went to for me. I just hope I can make it happen before I run out of time.

wait a minute,

wasn’t there supposed to be FALL inbetween summer and winter? The snow looks beautiful on the mountains and all, but wow, that was an about face.

We didn’t actually get snow on the ground today in my neighborhood, it just was rainy and sleety and cold. It’s supposed to be nice again by next week. I’m just not sure my plants can handle the seasonal schizophrenia. It doesn’t really bother me, I’m still enamored with the novelty of seasons after living so long in the land of eternal summer. Feel free to remind me of this next February when I’m sick to death of winter. It was deliciously ironic that today was the last day of summer.

In honor of the first day of fall tomorrow, snow or not, I thought I would take you with me on a trip. To the pumpkin patch…

We went last Friday, when it actually was still summer. In fact, she complained about how the shirt was too hot. She roamed through the entire patch several times, but came back repeatedly to that particular pumpkin. She even attempted to roll several of them, because we’ve been reading Pumpkin Moonshine a lot lately (the little girl in the book rolls a pumpkin down the hill and it runs away. One of our favorites).

And how about an additional detour down memory lane?

Gah! Look at all the chub! I can hardly stand it. Sniff, sniff.

Here’s to a fantastic fall! You can be sure to find me appreciating any beautiful weather from here on out.

Random music updates

1) I got an A on my first test last week, although I missed a few points on the transcription (where you listen and then write down the notes that are being played.) I can do this really easily, if you give me a piano that I can play on to match it to. Calling up notes out of my head? Not so much. To be fair, the teacher gave us the starting note. I feel sorry for the drummers in my class.

2) My piano teacher is great, even though the final verdict is that I must relearn my scales. Started work on some new Debussy, The Sunken Cathedral. I’ve played around with the piece before years ago, but never formally learned it (does that make sense?). It is fantastically beautiful.

3) I had to sight sing in front of class today (everyone did). Good times. Like I said, I feel sorry for the drummers.

4) I decided to play for one of the children’s choirs at my church (we go to a huge church, it has at least 5 different choirs for kids alone). Last night was the first rehearsal, and while they advertised that “all abilities welcome!” in their recruiting, I was very glad that I had done choral accompaniment before. It was much more intense than I expected for a children’s choir (the director asked me to play through some of their songs, nevermind that I was sightreading and this was definitely not “Jesus Loves Me”). I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed because of all the new music thrown at me, but it will get better, I’m sure.

And that’s about it. I’m beat. Is it Friday yet?

Evidently I’m immune

I finally read Twilight. After hearing many an adult woman gush like she was 13 again about Edward, I was starting to feel culturally behind the times.

Meh.

It was a decent story, but oh so teenage angst ridden…which is fitting, since it is a young adult book. I love me some science fiction/fantasy, so it wasn’t the whole vampire thing that turned me off. I loved The Time Traveler’s Wife, which also has a science-fiction-esque plot element, but TTTW is totally in another class, in my opinion. I did enjoy the romance and the tension (hey, I AM a woman after all), but Twilight seemed more akin to your average romantic movie plotline… not a feverish obsession. Weird. I don’t think I’ll read the rest of them, I already know the general gist of the plot from all the chatter I’ve come across.

Maybe if I had read it first during the summer, I would’ve enjoyed it more, but I think it just paled in comparison to the good books I’ve read lately. Or it could be that I’m cold and heartless. Maybe I need to reconnect with my inner teen? If only I could handle the angst.

The day

I’m sure that the few people who stumble upon my blog randomly wonder what on earth I am about. I think when I started this old thing, I felt more defined by being a military spouse… but so often my life is just like anyone else’s. Today, however, is one of those days that I feel the difference acutely. Today I can’t bring myself to write about the ordinary stuff… what I’m making, or make cute comments about school or my kid… that day 8 years ago had such a long reaching impact not only on my family, but on the families of so many others.

The innocent people who lost their lives that day. The people that gave their lives heroically to try to save them. And of course then the resulting war. The deployments and loss of dear friends in the war on terror. Every year I struggle with what to write, if to write anything at all. But today is not about me at all, today is about remembering.

Can we talk Barbie?

The dutchkid really wants a Barbie doll for Christmas.  We were walking around your average big box store the other day, and happened down the toy aisle (which I normally avoid like the plague) when she spotted the high heeled temptress.

And I’m torn. Part of me wants to take into consideration all those things a “good parent” thinks of… will it negatively impact her own body image? There are definitely studies out there that say Barbie does have a negative impact. Plus I worry about how young kids are sexualized these days. I mean, all you have to do is look at a rack of young girls’ clothes at any store to wonder about that.

On the other hand, I have many happy memories of playing with my own Barbies. And I didn’t end up with an eating disorder, and I’m pretty sure I’m in the safe “mom zone” of fashion. Then again, I was a beanpole of a kid, I may have ended up wishing for Barbie’s boobs, but I was already skinny (at least back then). What if the dutchkid isn’t so lucky? I can hardly think of any woman I know who doesn’t struggle in some way with her body image, myself included.

There are Barbie alternatives, like the Only Hearts Club dolls. However, I have a feeling that they won’t be as alluring as Barbie is, mostly because Barbie looks like an adult, a glamorous princess, whereas the lonely hearts dolls look like little girls playing dress up.

Opinions? Would you (or do you) ban Barbie and enforce the alternatives? or am I overthinking it?

The getaway that almost wasn’t

Did you have a good Labor Day weekend? I hope so!

We just got back into town from a nice little getaway. Through the kindness of a stranger, we were able to stay for nearly free in a beautiful lodge in the San Luis valley (about 3 hours from here, in another very pretty part of Colorado). It was a contact through dh’s work, and I couldn’t believe it because the lodge was offered to everyone in dh’s small “shop” (as they call it) and almost everyone agreed to be there. I don’t think we’ve ever been in a situation like this where the guys who worked together got along so well, AND the the wives and families too. You know how it is, someone’s wife usually can’t stand someone else’s, or someone else’s kids, etc. etc. It’s actually kind of nice that everyone gets along, if rather freaky.

At the last minute, while we were loading up the car to go, we realized that one of our dogs’ bordetella vaccine would expire over the weekend… and of course the kennel wouldn’t take him without it. No dogs allowed at the lodge. And our vet office was closed for the holiday. I am normally very on top of that stuff, but dh made the arrangements and I just assumed that he double checked their shots as well. Ahem. In all the furor of phonecalls and blame, I forgot to take the big camera, even though the bordetella nonsense all worked out in the end. Dh had the point and shoot, but sadly I just can’t take a decent picture without my big camera anymore, my photo mojo goes on hiatus, so you’ll have to use your imagination. Envision big beautiful mountains in the distance, pretty little lakes and hiking among lots of aspens. We hope to return down that way once the colors change, which will be spectacular. I promise I’ll bring the camera next time

(and the dogs are going to the vet this week so we can just avoid all that drama, and for the record, so not my fault).

Did you know

that the recommended method for learning intervals by ear (hearing and identifying the distance between two given notes) is to choose a familiar song that has said interval? For example, the ominous Jaws theme? A minor second. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? A perfect fifth. Honestly, I was expecting to learn a well-guarded secret to this in college-level theory. My choir director taught me that method in high school for sight-singing, I guess I should have paid more attention back then. Go Mr. Rozema.

The week is half gone already, it’s mostly been a blur of dental work, class and rejoicing that fall is here. The pattern pieces for the dutchkid’s Halloween costume are laid out all over my kitchen table because dangit, I’m starting early this year. Which reminds me that I wanted to put my last project up here, I finished it just before school started.

I saw this cute music tote project journal on The Purl Bee awhile back and it had my name all over it. It turned out fairly well, although it was quite a pain to sew together. Not the fault of the tutorial, really, just that I think I needed a walking foot, which I don’t have. The sides and bottom are reinforced with peltex fusible stabilizer, and it is thick heavy stuff. My very basic machine did not want to feed it through. The benefit of the peltex is that your music doesn’t get crushed, which is very helpful. And it has some handy pockets

So it’s nice now that it’s done, but it earned a few choice words from me while being made. Let’s hope the Halloween costume goes together a bit better, only it involves a zipper (cue the Jaws theme – minor second! minor second!). What was I thinking?