A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

So I've been helping (ish) clean out an apartment of a relative - snagged the still-in-plastic full mattress for me, so we don't have to fit two adults into a twin bed any more when Tom's staying here (this is how you know he REALLY LIKES ME), and snagged the almost-brand-new couch for his apartment to replace the truly awful futon, along with a couple of other furniture pieces.

But that's not important. What's important is this truly, impressively awful butterfly floor lamp that was in the bedroom. It's so completely horrible - it can be seen here, as I actually managed to find it online because I was curious about how much it cost, because it looked hideous AND expensive.

Yes indeed. I cannot imagine paying that much for something that ugly.

Tom wanted to take it with him, back to the apartment (!!!), but thankfully it wasn't easy to take apart, and wouldn't fit in the van in one piece.

...So if anybody wants an expensive butterfly floor lamp that will eat your hair if you get too close (ask us how we know), for the cost of picking it up from South Jersey before Sunday night, hit me up, LOL.

Had a lovely day down the shore at Ocean Grove with mom today (and got no painting done, but hey)! Lovely unseasonable 70-degree February day. We drove up for lunch, walked around looking at all the pretty Victorian houses and hotels, and then walked up to Asbury Park, and sat on the boardwalk for an hour and a half, people watching. Things of note: group of short guys attempting to put up a volleyball net on the beach for at least a half-hour, an amusing pair of banjo-and-bass buskers that played three songs in an hour and a half but still made at least $20, a pair of asshole Napoleon-complex small dogs whose owners insisted on standing in the middle of the boards for 20 minutes while their dogs snapped and barked frenziedly at every single other dog that came past (I was hoping the Great Dane from the other end would come down and eat them, but no such luck. IT'S NOT CUTE WHEN YOUR DOG'S AN ASSHOLE, FYI), and a sperm kite. As you do.

I watched the five-hour entirety of Cranford this afternoon while flat-felling two seams on Windflowers, and then basting some stays gussets. And I was going to do at least a little more tonight, but then I somehow got into watching octopus videos on youtube, and next thing you know it's 11pm and I'm posting videos about the potential for rats in your toilet on FB and tagging Robin in them because I'm convinced we once had a conversation about rats in toilets, and she didn't believe me that it wasn't just an urban legend. (She remains unconvinced that this conversation actually happened.)

So...I should probably give up and go to bed, is what I'm saying!

Finished cleaning up my patterns (apart from stray pieces that are probably hidden under heaps of fabric and the like. I didn't say I was deep cleaning the sewing room...), which I consider a good day's work in and of itself. So when I also managed to get the buckram pieces for the bonnets cut out and wired, I felt supremely productive!

And I posted this on FB as well, but I found it so amusing I want to note it here, so I can remember it in future..."IMPROBABLE 18THC SEDUCTION ATTEMPT: going up to your hot employer and telling him your dress fastens up the back, so you need help taking it off. (I'm enjoying Poldark, but that made me laugh, a lot.)" I also want to mail the cast a big box of hairpins, but that's not as hilarious as a back-fastening dress being a plot point. Also...she somehow managed to put said back-fastening dress on by herself, which makes it even more ridiculous, even if we're pretending for a moment that back-laced dresses are acceptable. OH, TV.

So I've been off how many days in the past week or so, but I choose today to Christmas shop. The day it ends up snowing an inch so far. Hasn't stopped yet. Good planning, me. Could have been home having a cup of tea and toast, but no, you had to be out driving around in the 24-degree-weather, and realize it's snowing when you get out of your car at the far, far-away end of the mall parking lot.

Also, a memo to the various municipalities in South Jersey: If you hear snow in the forecast, and wake up in the morning to see a snow sky, it might be a good idea to SALT THE DAMN ROADS. Just a thought. An idea. A helpful hint.

I'd never driven in snow before...crash course in driving in the snow, much? (Not literally.) Fun and awesomeness!

Also, I had to be up in the morning today to watch another tour at the historical society (worst damn group of kids I've seen in a while; no one paid any attention and they kept wandering off and touching displays... "NO DON'T PLAY WITH THE CIVIL WAR SWORDS!!" From Vineland; the bunch from Camden High School were waaaay better behaved!), but I woke up an hour before my alarm. Because, I shit you not, I was dreaming something, don't remember what, and then Chuck Berry popped up out of nowhere and started yelling at me to wake up because I was missing his show. So...I woke up.

Thanks, Chuck Berry, you're an asshole even in my dreams.

I bought some crap at Wal-Mart to make Christmas cards with, for my family since they're all getting gift cards, and I picked up some ribbon while I was there. By "picked up some ribbon," I mean I spotted some ribbon I've got a little bit of left, and was thinking of trimming my 1840s nonexistent as of yet bonnet with, so I grabbed the whole spool off the rack (and a couple others of the same weave but different widths!) and marched up to the counter, demanding the whole thing. (The little Filipino lady working at the counter was the most adorable thing ever; she told me all about how she buys fabric and takes it to the Philippines to get clothes made cause it's cheaper there!) The older lady ahead of me noticed the miles and miles of ribbon I was buying, and asked if I was a teacher. Nope, this is just my hobby. She told me she was a seamstress herself, but she's giving it up, and has all this stuff she wants to give away. Not sell, give away. Craft supplies, a thread rack, fabric...was I interested?

O MY YES I WAS INTERESTED!

We exchanged contact information, and turns out she's just the next town over from me. I shall let you know how this works out!

As regards work: OHMYGOD that was boring! We didn't have any Big Deals at our store, we just opened early, so we had the amount of customers to match. Busy, but not insanely so. And for just "busy," we were definitely over-staffed for most of the day. I haven't been that bored since college classes I didn't want to take! ;)

Also, I apparently need to watch a little more closely to how many hours I'm accumulating when I cover peoples' shifts...as part-time, I'm not allowed to go over 40 hours/week. And this week I'll have gotten up to 39. Whoops.

This means they'll definitely give me the days off when I want them for playing dress-up, right? 'Cause I'm such a good worker? ULTERIOR MOTIVES.

Then I was going to sew, but didn't because O LOOK, it's a Rolling Stones Thanksgiving day after Thanksgiving?? on VH1 Classic! Yeah, gonna watch that instead.

( Why I shouldn't watch these things with my mother... )

And one more thing...commercials work, because stupid Guitar Center had a stupid commercial on about how they've got a Fender acoustic (basic cheap model anyway, but still) for a hundred bucks. Plus shipping. I just got paid, and I worked a lot of hours in the past pay period, so it's a pretty good check. HALP HALP DON'T LET ME DO IT! By which I mean...if I do it, don't yell at me too much, 'kay? I mean...I've spent more on fabric.

And effing COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS. I will never get over that. Overpriced much??

I should be bearing pictures of Shoes and Nearly-Finished Bridesmaid Dresses, but I took the pictures with my cell phone camera, and for some reason, the family desktop at home doesn't think my cell phone exists (and I don't bring my laptop home just for the weekends). At least, it completely disregarded when I put the cable in. WHATever.

But, yes, I'm home for the weekend (AGAIN, but it's for a valid reason), so I put the zipper in the bridesmaid dress (correctly, finally; third time's the charm!), sewed on the straps in the correct place, and hemmed it. Now I just have to make the silly little belt -- and will probably make it and decide I don't want it anyway, but I can't tell that until I actually make it! The skirt's about an inch shorter than I was originally planning on, but that's what happens when you f*** up the first version of the dress you make, and have to make do with the leftover fabric!

Had an orthodontist appointment yesterday, and, good news; I will possibly be getting these beasties off as soon as May 20th. My teeth have been very cooperative in moving. (This probably means that they'll be just as happy to move right back, but shhh. Don't spoil my fun.) My overbite is pretty much fixed, which means my lower lip protrudes a lot more than it used to. I'm still not used to that and I spend lots of time making weird pouty faces in the mirror and mouthing the lyrics to Stones songs, because I'm kind of unsettled by my change in profile..."HOW MUCH BIGGER ARE THESE LIPS GONNA GET?!"

And, funny story...well, funny-ish. Kind of awful, but also funny. In my family, anyway. My Pop-pop's memorial service was today (yes, sad, I do miss him, but he was 94 and had a damn good run!), in his church, which is about half an hour away, and afterward, the family was cleaning up and packing up the food (they had a potluck after the service) and cleaning up the picture display and taking all the flowers. My mom, sister and I took my grandmom back to her house in our car, and my aunt was the last one to leave the church before they locked it up. We were at my grandmom's house, when my aunt came in with my cousins, bringing all the rest of the stuff...and said, "We were so worried about remembering to get the flowers...guess what we left there. Father." We'd left the box of ashes (he was cremated) in the sanctuary.

Um...oops? And nobody will be there to open the church for one of us until tomorrow afternoon. My grandmother, aunt, mom, and I just sort of looked at each other and started laughing. I mean, how ludicrous is that?

So, my cat seems to have found a new tasty treat.

Ants.

Now, we've had cats that eat weird things (I still think the weirdest one was the cat we had until I was about six or seven...he regarded frozen peas as a particular delicacy), but this just made me laugh really, really hard.

Back story: Almost every summer, our bathroom on the first floor gets visited by a big old parade of ants. (We never get them in the kitchen, or any place with, you know, food, but whatever, ants.) Annoying, yes, but ants are not particularly high on my ick factor list, so it wasn't a big deal tonight when I went in and found aforementioned big old parade of little ants journeying across the floor. I just figured I'd take care of them later. While I was still sitting there, Willow-cat poked his head in the bathroom, because he's nosy like that, and likes to watch me at awkward times.

Anyway, since he seemed to think I wanted company, I decided to point out the trail of ants to him for some reason...I guess I thought they might hold his interest for ten seconds or something. His attention span for amusing objects is pretty short, so I figured ten seconds might even be a generous estimate (though he did sit and watch - no, really, watch, his eyes were open and on the screen the whole time, for about an hour - nearly all of The Adventures of Milo and Otis with me one day...I think he must have liked watching the cat!)

Well, I was wrong - they held his attention for about twenty minutes, during which time he ate most of them as well! (And as far as I know, ants aren't toxic...I had a friend in first grade who ate ants, and nothing ever happened to her!) I was practically on the floor laughing, and I did manage to run off and grab the camera without disturbing the ant-eater...

 
"look, mommy, I spy an ant!"       "i'm 'a'eats it, 'kay?"

  
"did i miss any?"                           "ok nao i done time to wash my face"

Eleven eyelets left to sew on the stays, and the lining will need to be sewn on after that, but that's all. (I mean, I'm not trying to say they'll be done soon...but the end is in sight. If I could manage to pry myself away from LJ, that might help.)

Thing 4 from yesterday, in which I said I may have decided which fabric to use for Bastille Day? This was a lie. I am back to indecisiveness. I did make some small progress; I'm not going to make anything I have to buy fabric for. (Dress-wise. I will spend fairly freely on head-wear if need be.) ( Blah blah blah )

And as for school, I just have one question. WHY do all the giggly, vapid girls have to take classes together, be in my classes, and sit either to my immediate right or directly behind me (depending on which class it is; the ones today were on the right)? Today before class started, they were giggling (because, inexplicably, every topic is invariably hilarious) about how bad all the history professers were. (Um? I think most of them are pretty damn great.) Then one started going on and on about how confused she was by the prompt for our two page paper due in a week. Look, it's a compare and contrast paper, dungbrains; he spells it out right there on the syllabus.

Okay, I have another question. Why can't people read? It's like the idiot who asked if the page numbers after the book titles meant the page numbers for the readings. (Funnily enough, I never saw him again...)

But look, this makes it all better:


more animals

I totally saw John Lennon first. But I'm a weird kid. :)