Carnivores

If we are going to live in such a buggy part of the world, at least the predators here are adorable.

(Make no mistakes, there are some EPIC insects here. Without the frogs et al. we'd be screwed.

Seizures

Late late late posting tonight because a certain husband has been playing Age of Empires for approximately five hours. Not the awesome Memorial day activities I had planned. Of course, my awesome plans didn't include waking up at 5am when the monkey had a big seizure.

I was really hoping his brain had forgotten how to have those.

It wasn't terrible, just terribly disappointing. The on-call Neurologist upped his meds. Now we restart the clock, counting down to when he has been seizure free for two years and we can see if he is fixed. This does mean that lots of the small privacys and freedoms he has gained are gone again; no more swimming, or sitting in the bath alone for a moment or playing in the backyard without me.

He is doing well now; he slept in late and seem completely unaffected by his early morning workout. I am a mess. I was together enough this morning to throw my knitting in my backpack though, in case I ended up back at the hospital for three days like last time.

Shorts!

While I have been getting a lot accomplished, this last week or so has been rather difficult so you haven't seen any of it. So, in synopsis (of the crafty parts):

McCall's #M5393
97% Cotton, 3% Spandex
Fabulous pattern, but the body measurement/size chart on the back of the package are a dirty lie. According to the chart I should have been making a size 12 or 16 off of hip and waist measurements, respectively (I am shaped like a cardboard tube). Instead I made a size 4 and was delighted at the fit. A much better estimate of the size you want comes from the finished garment measurement chart. Size 4 called for 6 inches of ease at the hips, and really, who wants that?

McCall's #M5393 again, this time in shorts

100% Cotton duck, plus some cute fabric savaged from a bandanna for the inside of pockets, flaps and waistband.

Boxer shorts, pattern drafted directly onto the fabric with a piece of chalk. Something this simple I don't use a pattern for, just a tape measure. Piece of cake. Used some fabric I've had in my stash for 12 YEARS (seriously, I remember buying it.) Cotton? Polly? Some sort of blend? Who knows! I've used it for some small projects, but still had an embarrassing amount left over, especially since the color/print seems a little...intense for me now. So I made a pair of boxers for kicking around the house in.

Crazy

I am going to need a nap today.

The night before last was long and sleepless, thanks to my boys. When Monkey wasn't having dreams that required my frequent reassurance and tucking in, Lawyerboy was snoring. Most of the time I'll rub his back until he stops (seriously, he is the only person in the world who snores while sleeping on his stomach) but that usually wakes him up and he was getting to work at 6am the next day, even earlier than usual. By the end of yesterday I was tired enough to be having muscle spasms in my eye (normal for me) and in my butt (not normal). Laying there somehow this shaky, twitchy feeling made me feel hugely anxious, like I was going to have an anxiety attack (yes, sometimes I suffer anxiety that I might have an anxiety attack-awesome! Self-perpetuating worry!) So I did some 1am yoga and then wasted an hour or so reading about how to play the didgeridoo.

You would be amazed to know how often I recall my nights during the light of day and think, man, I really am crazy.

Yo-yos

Making a fabric yo-yo takes more finesse than I expected.

At least, that is what I'm going to tell myself as my first one turned out less tightly gathered in the middle and more of a gaping but very evenly puckered, well, hole. Really, it can not be gathered any tighter without a pair of vice grip pliers and stronger thread than I used. And that still wouldn't make it turn out.

While cleaning out the craft room tonight I started thinking how cool it might be to make a few yo-yos out of the leftover fabric I've used for various projects, and in a million years or so I could have enough to stitch together in a really cool wall hanging (There is almost no chance of ever covering my king-sized bed in tiny fabric circles. Maybe if both my legs were broken.)

My last week has been lots of gardening, running in sprinklers and sewing. I've finished a pair of black capris and blue shorts but still need to photograph them (I'm not much of a model and Lawyerboy isn't much of a photographer). Tonight I cut out the fabric for a blouse from a pattern I bought probably 10 years ago (hurray for stashes!). Hopefully it will turn out as cute and useful as the capris and shorts, which I've been switching between nearly every day.

I harvested my first vegetable today, one cute and delicious radish. There are easily twenty tomatoes on my vines but they are taking there sweet time ripening and I had to buy another crappy store tomato for our salad tonight. Luckily the radish was there to offer some actual flavor. In another week I should have a couple crookneck squash, yum.