Red skirt

I did some sewing again last week. This jazzy little piece is part of my never-ending quest to come up with a skirt pattern or method that will really, truly, actually, reliably fit me properly. I do like this skirt, but I'm not sure it's the Ultimate Pattern I wanted.

I got the materials at Joann's. The red lace came from their special occasion line and the beige underlining was a lightweight crinkle poly blend of some kind. The color was "Camel." I also got the zipper there.

I cut the front essentially like a rectangle with the sides tapered in for the waist. The back pieces were like the front, except with extra seam allowance in the middle back to put in the zipper. I inserted the zipper into just the underlining and hand-tacked the lace down around it, but I'm not quite satisfied, so I may rip that part out and redo it. I hemstitched the lining. The side seams of the lace layer are French seams, which I'd been itching to try out and really like. Then I finished the waist with a narrow strip of the beige, and that was that.

This skirt was an inspiration from a magazine. The model was wearing a lace skirt with a great big chunky sweater like the one I got in Scotland, and I thought, "That looks warm for church! I could do that!" I plan to wear it with tights and boots. It's also pretty awesome with a denim jacket instead of the sweater.

To shop or not to shop?

I think - I think - that I may have arranged not to have forgotten anything this trip, so that we don't absolutely have to go to Target on Black Friday. This has not historically been the case. There was that one year when I was expecting, we left the suitcase in Richmond, our pet mouse died on the way up and we had to bury it in the yard, and someone backed into our car. We had to go out and buy clothes that Friday. I think we avoided that this time.

Just as well, since the stores are advertising hysterically. I like shopping, but I'm just ornery enough to want it to be my idea.

So, loyal readers: what are your plans? Are the sales worth it to you? Have you already got ideas for Christmas presents, or do you shop for inspiration?

I'm thankful

Jonathan and Meg and I came up to spend the holiday with his family. Thanksgiving came off really well here - everyone was thankful, the food was amazing, Meg put together puzzles all day long, and I made the pies. We actually had sweet potatoes three ways (!?). There was a pan of mashed sweet potatoes, half with marshmallow topping, half with Ree Drummond's crumble topping, and then we used this recipe from Guy Fieri for sweet potatoes and apples with a whiskey-pecan sauce. It gave it this great woody kick. Definitely a keeper.

It's always interesting to see how other families do Thanksgiving. I knew that his family put sausage in their stuffing and liked their green beans crisp, but come to find out I take them aback by putting that little letter "s" on the end of "pie," as in, "I'll bring the pies." I thought two or three pies was standard. They're pretty much happy as long as there's pumpkin. Who knew? I did make a pumpkin pie, which turned out very nice indeed, but my usual mad apple-pie skills kind of deserted me today. It came out slightly burned on top and really liquid underneath, with a soggy crust. Oh well. The cinnamon apples in the middle were good.

However. We did have some slight excitement with the nutmeg. Jonathan's mom had a brand-new jar of it, so it was still very bright and fragrant, and I successfully peeled the top off. I thought the danger was passed and was about to grab a measuring spoon when it made a break for it. WHOOSH! FREEDOM! The jar leaped out of my hand and sprayed nutmeg grounds all over everything, counter to ballet flats. (She only thought she'd bought a six-year supply.) Nutmeg was my signature scent for the day.

We're still house-hunting

The five stages of house-hunting in Loudoun County:

1. Denial. It can't cost that much.

2. Suspicion. If it's in our price range, what's wrong with it?

3. Adoration. It has brand-new appliances and cabinets? I'll take it!

4. Bargaining. So what if it was literally built on the property line and has no basement or yard? We can, um, have parties in the common area. Yeah.

5. Resignation. We'll keep looking.

Pesky spoons

This is how Meg uses a spoon.

She eyes her fried rice and decides a pea would be acceptable. She picks one up with her fingers, sets it on the spoon on her tray, and then picks up the spoon and eats the pea.

Time for another pea. Since the spoon is in her hand, she uses it to scoop out another pea. But wait! Some grains of rice got onto the spoon too! She picks off the grains of rice, pokes the pea a couple times, and then eats it.

She puts the spoon down and starts eating peas with her fingers. I blow her a kiss. She grins and blows a kiss back. "Can we watch Monsters Inc?"

First time resurrected since graduation

I knew, theoretically, that this day might come.

You get a sewing maching - you start to use it - you start thinking, I could make that. You buy fabric.

And then you start drawing triangles and doing trigonometry before you cut.

Yes... I made Jonathan go find my scientific calculator so I could do square roots, and everything. a squared plus b squared equals c squared. And thus it goes. Using that equation was deep in my memory and so even though I kind of forgot, I really remembered. I know because when I checked my work, it came out true. That's good. My math teachers should be so proud!

It grabbed me

Yesterday I was sorting books and came across one I used to read often. I kind of accidentally cracked it open. I read it while I put on a movie, made soup, fed Meg, and ate the soup myself. In fact I read it pretty much all the way through to the last page, which led me to believe maybe I shouldn't get rid of that one.

Paper be gone

Closely related, no doubt, to my "I MUST GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS" urge has been my "THERE IS TOO MUCH PAPER IN HERE" urge. Also I think I'm reacting to an apartment I visited the other day, which had - I kid you not - piles of political mailings from the nineties. The horror. For so many reasons. In response, I went home and did a massive filing-and-tossing push.

So everything got filed, but that wasn't enough! There was still excessive paper! We culled our bookshelves and chose some to sell, so they'll be out of our way soon. Books just multiply around here... not sure how that happens. I came to the conclusion that I prefer giving shelf space to Percy Jackson to volumes of mid-century plays. Sorry, lit degree.

The last culprit to die was my magazine hoard. I actually don't have that many back issues, because I don't subscribe to that many and I cleaned them all out a year ago, but they were starting to pile up. So I've been going through them and cutting out the recipes and inspiration pieces I want to keep, and then putting my recipe binders into order. In the process, I discovered one of my recipe binders had never been organized either, so I punched holes in everything and found them a good home.

It feels good to get organized.

Line up those ducks

I went to the washer-dryer closet to do some laundry, only to find Meg peacefully lining up her rubber ducks in front of the door. So I asked her if she'd mind opening it for me. She considered this.

"No. Can't."

How do you argue with a girl getting her ducks in order? I laughed.

When we were very young

Meg is working through the concept of people having various names for various relationships and at the same time figuring out time and how things can happen when she's older. I love watching this. Sometimes things get a little conflated.

"You get to call him Love but I get to call him Daddy. I don't get to call him Jonathan because I'm not four yet; I'm only two. When I'm four I can call him Jonathan."