Fabric and a meme on a wet day
The girls were, thankfully, better behaved overall today, although Two still had some moments, and MiniPlu continues to knock into things by accident and then wail as if someone had hacked off a limb. :P
Two asked me tonight when it was supposed to stop raining. "Wednesday," I told her. Sad, but true - it might stop periodically here and there, but between a stalled front and the remnants of T.S. Lee, we're supposed to get a Whole Lot of rain over the next few days. Alas, this meant that the final day of pool season 2011 had to be cancelled.
To kill time on a wet morning, I took the girls to the fabric store to see about getting costume materials/inspiration (I'm against store-bought packaged costumes if they can be at all avoided). Two wanted to be either C3PO or R2D2, but, irritatingly, none of the pattern books had any Star Wars costumes at all. No old-style Jedi, Darth Vader, Storm Troopers - nada. In the end, Two decided her black long-sleeve T and black trousers would serve as Luke's Jedi uniform, so she's completely set, except for a lightsaber. She pestered me for the rest of the day, asking when we were going to buy said lightsaber, until I had to remind her that pestering would only mean she had to wait longer. :P
MiniPlu had one goal for her Halloween costume: to be allowed to wear makeup out of the house. :-P Between that and her interest in 1950/60s stars, she picked Marilyn Monroe. I couldn't find a good dress in the costume section, but in the regular girls' pattern section I found a perfect copy (obviously, not quite so low cut, but the same style). MiniPlu picked the white fabric she liked best, and I also bought each girl a length of adorable fleece (penguin print for Two, cat print for MiniPlu) as their new "blankies" for travel or general curling-up-on-the-sofa, because they've really outgrown the flannel print blankies my mom made for their homecomings. Kind of a bittersweet moment, but I do understand. Two's also been dying to learn to sew, so she picked out a Cars flannel print, and I helped her sew it into a pillowcase for her bed this afternoon.
On the way home from the fabric store, we also poked our noses into the consignment store, where we hadn't been for some time. Two got a pair of currently-too-big jeans but are the next size up from the jeans she currently has and loves, so I figured it was worth the low price in the event she could wear them later this winter. I also bought her a boy's button-down shirt and new snow-overalls. MiniPlu got a cute sweater-and-skirt set.
Given how much trouble I've had finding time to sew quilted placemats as a thank-you to my cousin, we'll see how well I manage to squeeze in time to sew MiniPlu's costume as well. Also, I'm finding myself lured back into knitting as fall looms, but that means giving up most of my reading (except at the bus stop), and that's kind of depressing. Why do I have to have so many interests??
Meme, gacked from a few people on my flist, but most recently from
hamsterwoman.
If not in my current town, I would live in... Washington, DC suburbs (but near a Metro stop)? Lake Tahoe, CA? London? Salzburg? Hmmm. I like where I'm living right now, in that it's relatively convenient, but it's also rather dull - not that much going on, not that much to distinguish itself, not that interesting.
My dream holiday would be to... Australia/NZ would be one. Another would be to work my way down from Ireland and/or England, through the Netherlands, and then via train to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and into Italy.
My current obsessions are... keeping up with my flist. I know sometimes that my time would be better spent on other activities, but since I have almost no RL social life, keeping in touch with my flist is important to me. Yes, I'm pathetic.
I channel my childhood self when I... read aloud to the girls, especially if they're my own childhood favorites. I love helping them fall in love with the books I loved, too.
The fictional character I most relate to is... Nobody's immediately coming to mind, to be honest.
If I had to be outdoors all day I would... hope for it to be one of those rare-but-perfect spring or fall days, where it's sunny, mildly breezy, and warm enough that you WANT to be outdoors all day without sweating to death. I'd probably enjoy rafting down a not-too-scary river, or hanging out at a zoo or green park, or even catching up on yardwork at home, making my garden pretty.
My favorite quality in a man is... trustworthiness - but humor, common sense and supportiveness are really important, too.
My favorite quality in a woman is... the same? Why would I judge a woman differently?
I'm terrified of... upset stomachs, airplane turbulence, and doing a terrible job raising my daughters.
My dream car is a... 1940s or earlier vintage car, a Mazda Miata, a hybrid Subaru (which doesn't yet exist).
My cocktail of choice is... a mimosa. I'm boring - sorry. I just don't drink much alcohol.
My celebrity crush is... Ewan McGregor and Colin Firth are probably cheating because, well, DUH. I'm not really prone to celebrity crushes, though. I had a bit of one for awhile, ages ago, on Jenna Elfman and Kira from DS9, but that's about all.
My friends and I like to... play games. And talk.
If I could go back in time for one decade it would be... maybe the 1980s. Not that I want to relive my adolescence again, because, HECK NO, but if I could just go back - as my current age - to visit with people who have since died ... yes, please. (Also, it would be nice to go back to a time when airline passengers weren't treated as irritating inconveniences. :P)
As a teenager I was totally into... Elfquest, Polynesian dancing, getting good grades.
I tend to splurge on... other people. It's way easier for me to make other people happy than to buy things for myself, although I've gotten a little better about that over the years. But I suppose I kind of splurge a little on travel, which is, in general, way more important to me than having more Stuff.
One final note before I go. I got to sleep in this morning - a rarity! Aside from a couple of brief interruptions, I didn't wake up until 8:15 and didn't get up until 8:30am. OMG, when did THAT last happen? However, memo to my family: as much as I appreciate getting to sleep in, it's not much of a boon if, when I get up, the dog has been let out but not back in, not fed, not medicated (and her medicine has to be on a 12-hour-ish cycle), the dishwasher hasn't been touched, etc etc, and I still have to deal with all that. Will did have to haul himself out of bed at 6-something to stop Two from trying to make pancakes on her own so I set down new ground rules. She has to prepare something under adult supervision, successfully, twice, before she can have leave to prepare it as a "surprise", by herself.
Here's hoping that permeates her determined brain.
Two asked me tonight when it was supposed to stop raining. "Wednesday," I told her. Sad, but true - it might stop periodically here and there, but between a stalled front and the remnants of T.S. Lee, we're supposed to get a Whole Lot of rain over the next few days. Alas, this meant that the final day of pool season 2011 had to be cancelled.
To kill time on a wet morning, I took the girls to the fabric store to see about getting costume materials/inspiration (I'm against store-bought packaged costumes if they can be at all avoided). Two wanted to be either C3PO or R2D2, but, irritatingly, none of the pattern books had any Star Wars costumes at all. No old-style Jedi, Darth Vader, Storm Troopers - nada. In the end, Two decided her black long-sleeve T and black trousers would serve as Luke's Jedi uniform, so she's completely set, except for a lightsaber. She pestered me for the rest of the day, asking when we were going to buy said lightsaber, until I had to remind her that pestering would only mean she had to wait longer. :P
MiniPlu had one goal for her Halloween costume: to be allowed to wear makeup out of the house. :-P Between that and her interest in 1950/60s stars, she picked Marilyn Monroe. I couldn't find a good dress in the costume section, but in the regular girls' pattern section I found a perfect copy (obviously, not quite so low cut, but the same style). MiniPlu picked the white fabric she liked best, and I also bought each girl a length of adorable fleece (penguin print for Two, cat print for MiniPlu) as their new "blankies" for travel or general curling-up-on-the-sofa, because they've really outgrown the flannel print blankies my mom made for their homecomings. Kind of a bittersweet moment, but I do understand. Two's also been dying to learn to sew, so she picked out a Cars flannel print, and I helped her sew it into a pillowcase for her bed this afternoon.
On the way home from the fabric store, we also poked our noses into the consignment store, where we hadn't been for some time. Two got a pair of currently-too-big jeans but are the next size up from the jeans she currently has and loves, so I figured it was worth the low price in the event she could wear them later this winter. I also bought her a boy's button-down shirt and new snow-overalls. MiniPlu got a cute sweater-and-skirt set.
Given how much trouble I've had finding time to sew quilted placemats as a thank-you to my cousin, we'll see how well I manage to squeeze in time to sew MiniPlu's costume as well. Also, I'm finding myself lured back into knitting as fall looms, but that means giving up most of my reading (except at the bus stop), and that's kind of depressing. Why do I have to have so many interests??
Meme, gacked from a few people on my flist, but most recently from
hamsterwoman.
If not in my current town, I would live in... Washington, DC suburbs (but near a Metro stop)? Lake Tahoe, CA? London? Salzburg? Hmmm. I like where I'm living right now, in that it's relatively convenient, but it's also rather dull - not that much going on, not that much to distinguish itself, not that interesting.
My dream holiday would be to... Australia/NZ would be one. Another would be to work my way down from Ireland and/or England, through the Netherlands, and then via train to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and into Italy.
My current obsessions are... keeping up with my flist. I know sometimes that my time would be better spent on other activities, but since I have almost no RL social life, keeping in touch with my flist is important to me. Yes, I'm pathetic.
I channel my childhood self when I... read aloud to the girls, especially if they're my own childhood favorites. I love helping them fall in love with the books I loved, too.
The fictional character I most relate to is... Nobody's immediately coming to mind, to be honest.
If I had to be outdoors all day I would... hope for it to be one of those rare-but-perfect spring or fall days, where it's sunny, mildly breezy, and warm enough that you WANT to be outdoors all day without sweating to death. I'd probably enjoy rafting down a not-too-scary river, or hanging out at a zoo or green park, or even catching up on yardwork at home, making my garden pretty.
My favorite quality in a man is... trustworthiness - but humor, common sense and supportiveness are really important, too.
My favorite quality in a woman is... the same? Why would I judge a woman differently?
I'm terrified of... upset stomachs, airplane turbulence, and doing a terrible job raising my daughters.
My dream car is a... 1940s or earlier vintage car, a Mazda Miata, a hybrid Subaru (which doesn't yet exist).
My cocktail of choice is... a mimosa. I'm boring - sorry. I just don't drink much alcohol.
My celebrity crush is... Ewan McGregor and Colin Firth are probably cheating because, well, DUH. I'm not really prone to celebrity crushes, though. I had a bit of one for awhile, ages ago, on Jenna Elfman and Kira from DS9, but that's about all.
My friends and I like to... play games. And talk.
If I could go back in time for one decade it would be... maybe the 1980s. Not that I want to relive my adolescence again, because, HECK NO, but if I could just go back - as my current age - to visit with people who have since died ... yes, please. (Also, it would be nice to go back to a time when airline passengers weren't treated as irritating inconveniences. :P)
As a teenager I was totally into... Elfquest, Polynesian dancing, getting good grades.
I tend to splurge on... other people. It's way easier for me to make other people happy than to buy things for myself, although I've gotten a little better about that over the years. But I suppose I kind of splurge a little on travel, which is, in general, way more important to me than having more Stuff.
One final note before I go. I got to sleep in this morning - a rarity! Aside from a couple of brief interruptions, I didn't wake up until 8:15 and didn't get up until 8:30am. OMG, when did THAT last happen? However, memo to my family: as much as I appreciate getting to sleep in, it's not much of a boon if, when I get up, the dog has been let out but not back in, not fed, not medicated (and her medicine has to be on a 12-hour-ish cycle), the dishwasher hasn't been touched, etc etc, and I still have to deal with all that. Will did have to haul himself out of bed at 6-something to stop Two from trying to make pancakes on her own so I set down new ground rules. She has to prepare something under adult supervision, successfully, twice, before she can have leave to prepare it as a "surprise", by herself.
Here's hoping that permeates her determined brain.