Influenza Interruptus

More than 15 people throughout my family, including me, have contracted a nasty flu bug just in time for the holidays! I will be back to regular blogging as soon as I can. In the meantime, STAY HEALTHY!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all the best this joyous holiday! I'll be back some time next week. Hope Santa was good to you! :)

Christmas Finery

Early last week I got a bug in my craw that I needed to sew a skirt to wear on Christmas day. I don't know why I impose seemingly impossible deadlines on myself when it comes to crafting. John gets leery of the ambition in my eye as I explain my newest and greatest crafting feat. Again, I was inspired by Disney over at Ruffles and Stuff. I wish she would blog all day everyday; she's got the best ideas. This is my take on her Murphy ruffled layer skirt. This is the tutorial I followed. In addition to crafting my own Christmas outfit, I thought I could also certainly up-cycle a skirt and then it wouldn't cost me a red cent. (John liked this part)

Here is the skirt I started with. I got it for Christmas many years ago. It's an ankle length, a-line, red and black wool plaid skirt.....that was about 2 sizes too big for me. While I liked it, it was no longer flattering and destined for the Goodwill pile, from whence I rescued it. How is it that Sadie always finds herself in my pictures? She's so cute.

This was not an easy project. Number one, despite the length of the skirt, I didn't really have as much fabric as I needed. Ruffles need LOTS of fabric, yo! Number two, my normal tight tension-long stitch ruffling technique did not work at all for me. I don't know if it was the material or the crappy thread I was using but I had to gather every layer by hand, multiple times. And thirdly, said crappy thread was CRAP! I am not sure what was going on there. My bobbin thread broke every single time I started sewing. It was a big test on my patience. There were times when it was touch and go and I wasn't sure I'd finish. But.....


Ta-daaaaa!!! Unfortunately, the ruffles don't photograph very well. I'll try to take a better picture on Christmas when everyone is marveling at my handiwork. I have another full body shot but the sweater makes me look lumpy and my hair is crazy. I have since decided to just wear a thin shirt on top instead of this bulky nonsense. Black leggings, check. Handmade super cute ruffly skirt, check. Awesome Christmas day outfit...CHECK CHECK CHECK!

Anyway, I'm pleased as punch with the results. Well, I'm pleased as punch now. When I first finished it, I was a little disappointed. I thought it would flare out a lot more. The straightness made me think totally 80's. But, after a few outside opinions and trying it on a week later, NOW I'm pleased as punch. Even though I have to put it on over my head. Oops. It's way comfortable though. Success!

The Best Laid Plans

This past summer, I had a fantastic idea. I was going to knit everyone on my gift list a pair of socks. And I was going to start well in advance. Brilliant. Never mind the fact that I had never knit any socks before and knowing full well that they can be quite tricky, especially turning the heel. Also knowing that I have a lot of trouble knitting in the round. No matter. Piece of cake. I found some great variegated yarn and a relatively easy to follow pattern and then I got busy. I worked night after night, cursing my double pointed needles that I thought might help me knit in the round. I was wrong. Dropping stitches, losing count, pulling out my hair. How did I do?


Yep, that's my first....and last sock. I didn't even get one inch of the cuff finished. It was so hard! I needed a knitting coach. I needed more gumption. Despite my June start date, I needed more time. So, maybe I ought to revisit this endeavor in January. That means I have just over a week to steel my reserve and bolster my knitting spirits. We shall see........

Early Christmas Chez G

I can't believe I forgot to tell you about this. There has been so much going on since we got back from our Texas Thanksgiving trip that I plum forgot! This one is a doozy. I have wanted a treadmill of my own, honest injun, all my life. Even before I was really a runner, I knew that having a treadmill mere steps away from being lazy on the couch would make a huge difference in my fitness life. Well, guess what......?



Santa (AKA: my parents) came early! I love this thing so much. I know that it's totally going to revolutionize my winter workouts. John and I could not stop smiling on our first runs on this baby. He's on it right now as I type this. My turn is next. This also means no more sharing a 2 lane track at the rec center with old people walking side by side in dress shoes. Huzzah!

I'm in love

Isn't this the cutest headband you've ever seen? Sorry for the weird angle. John said I looked like a present. How appropriate! Guess what. I MADE IT! I followed this tutorial at Ruffles & Stuff. I skipped the gluing and just stitched all the pieces by hand. This was okay except it's pretty difficult to sew through 6 layers of vinyl but, I didn't have the heavy duty glue she recommended. I bought the vinyl at JoAnn's for, get this. 83 cents!! And I bet I could easily get 8 more headbands out of that one cut of fabric. I had the elastic at home already. 10 cents for a headband. Who could beat that?!

Ape House

Ape House is the latest offering from Sara Gruen. If you're unfamiliar with her name, you might be familiar with the title, Water for Elephants, which she also wrote, was wildly popular, and is being made into a movie. Ape House, obviously, also deals with animals. It is the story of bonobo apes in a facility on a university campus in Kansas. Isabel Duncan is the scientist charged with teaching her family of bonobos to communicate through sign language and getting them to understand spoken language. John Thigpen, a journalist, is sent to do a story on the apes' amazing accomplishments.

After John goes home, a bomb goes off in the ape facility. The apes are kidnapped (ape-napped?) and Isabel is left clinging to life. John returns to continue following the story, helping to figure out who is behind these horrible events and who is forcing the apes to take part in a reality TV show, Ape House.

I enjoyed this one. It was an interesting story and Gruen did a great job with the ape parts of it and humanizing their characteristics. It was brief, just about 300 pages, and a very fast read. But, it kept my attention. I did remember liking Water for Elephants better but this one is worth reading too.

Here's the good news. This was, in my rough calculations, my 48th read. YEA! But, I still have close to 900 pages left in my current book and then one more to read after that to hit 50 in just about 2 1/2 weeks. I hope I didn't miscount.