Etta James had a birthday on Tuesday and I’ve been listening to her album At Last a lot lately–especially this track, “A Sunday Kind of Love.”
It makes even laundry days a little more soulful.
Etta James had a birthday on Tuesday and I’ve been listening to her album At Last a lot lately–especially this track, “A Sunday Kind of Love.”
It makes even laundry days a little more soulful.
Despite being a native Utahan, I’ve never been to Sundance (I’ve never been downhill skiing, either). But a friend had an extra ticket this year, so last night I got to see The Ledge. It was a thriller/love story/exploration of faith and it was really good–but I liked the Q&A with the writer/director Matthew Chapman most of all.
You can get a taste of him in the video linked to above, but he was just so smart and insightful and logical, talking about how the world needs “mercy more than condemnation.” Sigh–rational humanists do it for me every time.
Also, if you want to stick out at Sundance, just wear a color. Especially and orange coat.
Here is the dress I’d been working on since December, using fabric I’d had since August. I used a pattern I’d made twice before, so I thought I knew what to expect, but I’m not 100% pleased with this, for undefined reasons.
Maybe because the fabric is some of the last fancy fabric I’ll be working with for a long time (hello, mortgage) and I expected more from it? Maybe because the print isn’t large enough to handle the big blank canvas of the dress? Or is it because the print is too busy for the plain silhouette?
On the hanger. It needs pockets, or a belt, or something…
On me. Still missing something. (Yes, we like to gather round the space heater here at Chez Kitty.)
I just don’t know. I think I might take up the hem a few more inches and get some bright contrasting tights. Bright tights help everything.
I woke up feeling cynical, so here is a picture of Toby.
He was “helping” me sew last weekend and just climbed on top of the machine while I was pressing a seam. He usually sits on the machine when it’s covered, which gives him a little more room–note the paw held up to tell me, “Mama, this is too small. Fix it.”
(Don’t worry, he couldn’t have made the machine go, so he wasn’t about to hurt himself.)
1. Sorry, I put up a broken link to my Twitter stream yesterday (I just assumed it would re-direct to the non-signed-in page but I guess Twitter doesn’t do that). If you want to read 140-character inanities, here’s the right link.
2. Speaking of Twitter, Laura Ingalls Wilder is on it, too.
3. And in space news, Voyager 1, launched in 1977 with the golden record of Earth sounds picked by Carl Sagan, has reached the very edge of our solar system and is almost in interstellar space–the first time anything from Earth will do so. (Thanks to my friend Jason for pointing this out.)
If you follow my Twitter stream you will know that there was more lender drama yesterday, which made me nearly inarticulate with fury (all-caps shouting of “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD” was about all I could manage). But I went to see the house last night and if I can ever get in, I will like living there.
Did I mention I have a basement? That comes already insulated?
And that I think I picked the best beige carpeting option from the six other beiges offered?
And that I have a place for a washer and a dryer? I think I will weep with joy when I do a load of laundry in my own house for the first time.
Until then, I just hope I don’t weep.
I didn’t want to turn the blog into “househousehousehouse,” but you know what? I’m buying a house! It’s exciting! So I’m going to blog about it.
As of Monday, I had countertops:
And carpet pads:
And someone’s jacket and hat:
As of today, I know I have carpet, and I think I’ll have appliances. I alternate between excitement and dread–of the move, of last-minute impediments or expenses, of bouncing around in the big fancy new house like a rat in a can. It’s mostly excitement, though.
(Pictures are from my parents, who have been up there more than I have. But I’ve been securing financing, and renewing my drivers license, and, you know, working so I can stay employed to make the mortgage payments.)
Guess what? I’m still not done with the corduroy dress I’ve been working on since December. I only had to blind-hem it last night but the thought of finishing and then taking a picture at ten o’clock didn’t appeal to me.
But after the dress is wrapped up, I don’t know what to make next–I don’t think that’s happened to me in a year or two. I’m sure it’s because it looks like I’ll be moving in TWO WEEKS (holy sh*t) and all my creative energies are getting channeled into decor, and picking curtain fabrics, and deciding between Kenmore and Whirlpool for a washer and dryer. (Any opinions?)
So I’m sorry, I know the project roundups have been a little lackluster. Just wait until my entire living space becomes a project.
If you have the day off, enjoy the thaw while it lasts–because I think more snow is on the way this week. Here’s a poem about surviving winter:
Lines for Winter
by Mark Strand
Tell yourself
as it gets cold and gray falls from the air
that you will go on
walking, hearing
the same tune no matter where
you find yourself—
inside the dome of dark
or under the cracking white
of the moon’s gaze in the valley of snow.
Tonight as it gets cold
tell yourself
what you know which is nothing
but the tune your bones play
as you keep going. And you will be able
for once to lie down under the small fire
of winter stars.
And if it happens that you cannot
go on or turn back
and you find yourself
where you will be at the end,
tell yourself
in that final flowing of cold through your limbs
that you love what you are.
1. Look, I have kitchen cupboards!
They’ve made so much progress! I don’t have a lender yet! Aaaaaaaaaaah!
2. I realized that my driver’s license expired on my birthday (the 3rd). Today’s the 14th. Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!
3. And finally, a new site that I love entitled “Things Real People Don’t Say About Advertising.” Here’s a sample of what people don’t say: