Busy Weekend...TGIM!

Things got done this weekend!

* Finished the blocks (20) & laid out my scrappy trips quilt...I have the strips sewn together and only need to sew those together, and then my top will be done.

* Finished DD's crocheted fingerless mitts.  Happy!

I thought, "I totally want a pair for myself."  Then I realized that I am already making a pair for myself, a WIP I've put on the back burner.  Oops!

* Finished the "curtain playclothes" costumes for the Sound of Music.

They wanted me to adapt an apron pattern to make them into dresses.  I told them several times that it wasn't going to fit well or look good, but finally I just gave up trying to convince them & decided to deal with it. They look cute laid out on my floor, but I have my doubts about how they'll fit.  Oh well, I tried!

I'm happier with these "real" jumpers for the younger 3 girls. 

* Made progress on my afghan:

I got a lot done at DD's gymnastics meet on Saturday.  It seemed eternal.  Mainly because this was my view the whole time:

A vent, if you will:  (New here? My rants are entertaining, I've been told...)

#1.  I resent getting up at 5 am and dragging our family out to a town an hour away, having to pay to get in, only to see the backs of people's heads the whole time.  RESENT IT!  This gym was laid out so poorly.  I'm no engineer, but even I could figure out within about 30 seconds of getting there, how they could have done it infinitely better.  This was beyond frustrating.  We had to scurry around the crammed-full gym to get glimpses of Abby doing her routines.  I was in a pretty bad mood by the time this thing was over.  But it wasn't over yet...

#2.  The Awards.  *or* "What is Wrong With America," as I like to call it.  There were 17 girls in Abby's age group.  I kid you not, they gave out MEDALS for 17th place on up.  Every single girl got a medal for every single event, whether she came in first, or dead last.  Had I myself gone out there and did the best handstand I could, followed by a really awesome cartwheel, and jumped on a springboard a few times, I literally would have gotten a medal for it. 

Number ONE: This is not real life.  By giving out medals for every participant, it reinforces the (false) idea that life is going to reward you just for showing up.  It doesn't.  And IMO, it fosters that whole dreadful "entitlement" attitude that seems to be everywhere.  And just to clarify, my daughter would not have gotten any medals if they did it the way I think they should have done it - up to 5th place.  Just my opinion.  She came in 7th in all but one event.  I am more than OK with that.  I am extremely proud of her, and from what I could see, she really did great out there.  I'm concerned that SHE is not going to learn how to "lose" gracefully, because of the extreme coddling that goes on in this sport.  I'm concerned that she is not going to be motivated to push herself to do better.  Why work harder when you're going to get a medal (and trophy) no matter what?  I'm told that after this level she's in (3), it gets tougher, and they don't hand out awards like candy...but I don't see what the point of all this nonsense is in the first place. 

Number TWO: I am not at all convinced that giving out medals to everyone, did ANYTHING for these girls' self-esteem.  I actually felt really bad for those poor girls in last place, who had to be called up first every time and stand there like, "yep. I'm in last."  They did not look happy or proud to be standing up there.  It's like getting the medals only called attention to the fact that they were in last place.  Not cool.  Why can the people in charge not see this? 

Rant over.  But now I'm all riled up! 

Oven Mitts, Revisited: My Sad, Sad Story

Wait till you hear THIS one!

This past March, just a few months ago, I got an email from someone regarding some oven mitts I'd made back in November.  Here they are:

The email said this:
Hi- I'm doing wardrobe for a commercial in LA shooting Monday for Zaxby's (it's a big chicken restaurant chain- sort of like Denny's maybe?).  The ad agency referenced your exact oven mitts from your blog.  Any way I can rent those or buy them from you?  I can paypal you money right away and give you a fedex number or however you prefer to do it.  They just have to be in the mail by Friday at the latest.  Please call me and we can talk, I'll be up by 10am EST.  thanks!!

At first I assumed this was some kind of scam.  (Why a criminal mastermind would want to steal someone's oven mitts, I don't know.)  But I checked out the lady's website, phone number, email, etc...and it seemed pretty legit.  Just not believable.  My specific oven mitts?...for a commercial...this had to be wrong.  YET I found myself calling the number at the bottom of the email.  Sure enough, the woman on the other end of the phone was the real deal, and I think she was just as surprised to hear from me as I had been to hear from her!  She kept saying, "They are not going to believe it when I walk in there with the actual oven mitts they wanted." 

Flattering, you say?  Read on.

She told me the Chris Kattan would be wearing them in a Zaxby's commercial.   I felt like such a rock star.  My oven mitts found their way from my dinky little western PA sewing "space" - not even a whole room, mind you - to glamorous L.A., where a famous person (OK Chris Kattan...but I'll take it!) was going to wear my Oven Mitts of Glory.

So, after getting a Paypal payment for postage AND an "oven mitt rental fee" (nice!), I stuck those things in a USPS overnight envelope, marched them down to the post office, and sent them on their way.

Have you already spotted the mistake?

Yeah.  I'm not particularly "anti-government," but I will tell you that I will NEVER AGAIN trust any government entity to deliver any more of my packages on time.  Long story short (and I will even spare you the details of my battle-royal with the supervisor at the post office), the mitts didn't get there on time.  They'd sent my package to the wrong zip code.  I just wanted to cry.  The fame, the glory, the chance to have a great story to tell....all gone!

And then a few weeks later, my sister called to tell me that she'd seen the commercial, and maybe I should be glad they didn't get there on time.

For your viewing pleasure:

D'OH!!!!

ghosts, goblins, and....pimps???

I know I'm going to sound like the Church Lady here. I don't care. 

I was at my kids' Halloween parade at school this morning.  

Watching the kids all walk around the gym in their costumes, I have to say, it was about 1,000,000% better this year, now that they've instituted the "no masks" rule.  It is always just kind of shocking to me, to see what parents let their little kids get dressed up as.  Now, I'm one of those people who gets scared just walking through the video store (remember those?) and seeing the horror movie DVD covers.  So maybe I'm biased, but I think there are a lot of really disturbing costumes out there.  And the masks are really scary and gross!  So it was really nice to not have to see those this year.  

But.

I saw this one kid walk into the gym, all dressed up and dapper-looking in a pinstripe suit and fedora, and my first thought was, he looks like Cosmo Kramer, the Assman! Ha ha.  And then I saw another kid in the exact same costume, same suit & hat and all.  I thought, it must be some character or something....if they're mass producing this costume...I wonder who it is?  So I ask the mom sitting next to me.  What's with the pinstripe suit costumes?  She looked at me like I had three heads.  Then she told me, "they're pimps."

Umm...these kids are like, 8.  Are they specifically asking to be pimps for Halloween?  Or is this their parents' idea?  Either way, pretty sad.  Like, think about this:  2nd graders are dressing up for Halloween as someone who finds men to have sex with prostitutes, basically.  And the schools have their panties all in a wad about bullying?  I mean, yeah, bullying is bad. It is.  But um...we have children dressing up as pimps and...to quote The Lion King...and everybody's OK with that?  Are you kidding me?

Like I said, Church Lady.  Sorry.  I'm really not trying to judge.  I'm just trying to be a voice of reason.  Has our culture wandered so far away from basic right & wrong, that things like this are now OK, and I'm the weirdo for thinking it's not?

well isn't that special?

*Edited to add*
Uh, I don't feel stupid or anything.  It was a gangster costume!  Thank you Toni for enlightening me!!!  Apparently, on my blog as well as in "real" life, I continue to put my foot in my mouth. 
Heh heh. 

Trends to rant about

It's Monday morning!  Let's start the week off right, with a rant!  I'm just gonna put it out there - and a big, blanket "no offense" apology for what I'm about to say:

1. What. Is. With. All. The. MUSTACHES? It's weird. I don't like seeing them everywhere. You know, those Pringles-guy-looking ones.  I have a feeling it is somehow linked to the equally strange "Steampunk" thing...don't even get me started on that. 

A quick search on Etsy resulted in this:

I'm uncomfortable.

2. Surely I can't be the only one who's tired of seeing the "Keep Calm and (fill in the blank) On" thing...everywhere? Maybe it's just me.  It's a pretty graphic; it just doesn't speak to me, that's all.  Keep Calm and Tennis On.  That's one I saw yesterday.  "Tennis" isn't even a verb!  Knit On.  Sew On.  Blog On.   Huh?  Even the ones that are verbs...just...just stop already.  Enough!!!

Now here's one I do like...

Spoofs are funny.

3. I love fabric flowers as much as the next person, I really do.  But if I see one more "fabric flower tutorial," I think my eyeballs might fall out. 

4. I realize that it's supposedly over, but...why is/was/is/was bacon such a fad?  Why?  I read something somewhere where the author made a comment like, "don't pretend to like bacon just because you want to sound cool" and I thought it was a joke.  Then I realized that bacon is somehow..."in."  It's bacon.  I realize I'm showing myself to be completely un-hip and out of it...but I really don't get it.  Bacon???

It's bacon.  Get over it.

 OK, so I guess that's it for now.  I feel much better having gotten all that off my chest.  Have I missed anything?