Sewing, Cupcakes, Politics…Don’t Get Me Started

This weekend has been full. First off, I’ve been VERY anxious about posting about my first attempt at making a skirt since 7th grade sewing class. Thanks to my stepmom’s help making some adjustments to remove the hem and still get the right length, I think it turned out really well! I wore it for the first time last Thursday.

You can’t see the beautiful designs, so here is a closeup. (I purchased the fabric like this!!) The edge is scalloped thus the need to remove the hem, and the fabric has butterflies sewn onto it. We also used 3 pieces of fabric (two back and one front) instead of four to eliminate the seam down the middle front. Zippers are really difficult for me and I can’t make them lay right unfortunately.

I was shocked to discover that the Simplicity pattern (9825) was twice the size of my off-the-rack size. This was VERY disheartening, but something to be aware of. Normally, I wear a size 5 or 6. The size 12 fit perfectly. I only knew this because of the measurements on the back…I thought I’d better take a look and compare before I go through the hassle of sewing something that may not fit. I am now making a size 12 dress.

I took Jack to Walking With Dinosaurs Saturday night…Troy wasn’t here this weekend, so he didn’t get to come with us. I bought the cheapest seats possible (third level) and used $10 off coupons for each seat, so this was the only way that we went. It was really neat! It is based off a BBC special and is real life sized robotic dinosaurs staged in an arena. Imagine Disney on Ice without the ice and the skaters, but with dinosaurs and a paleontologist instead. It really was something to see these dinosaurs next to a man. They always show you this in books, but it is entirely different in real life, even from the cheap seats!

One weekend ago, I left for work while the boys decorating werewolf cupcakes. Here are some pictures. They did a great job.

Troy found the recipe in his National Geographic Kids magazine. I just searched the website but couldn’t find the recipe online. The only thing helpful to know would be that you use a fork to make the frosting look like hair (using a sort of touch and pull method). The boys had a lot of fun. I got a book on gingerbread houses from the library so I think we’ll try to do something with that for halloween as well this coming weekend. Jack and I also have another Cub Scout cake auction cake to design, and we may try a gingerbread log cabin in honor of camp. We’ll see. I’ve never worked with gingerbread before.

Friday was a very busy day. I had lunch with Stephanie, and thankfully, she listened to me complain most of the time. It was so nice to see her again! She used to be my assistant at work, but her internship paid her far more than I could, so when they asked her to stay on, she left me. 😦

Friday night, Aaron’s friends from college came over to our new house. It was the first time in a VERY long time we’d had them over. It was fun to see them all again. One couple brought Guitar Hero and that was fun! Aaron got a bit carried away, so I retired earlier rather than later.

This weekend in the Des Moines Register, they had an interesting article about something I’ve been wondering about for about five weeks – WHERE the hell Sarah Palin got her Minnesota accent!! I can’t find the article online, but evidentally, many Minnesotan’s left MN during the Great Depression and went to Wasilla, Alaska for opportunity. (Wasilla is considered the “bread basket” of Alaska.) So, the Minnesota accent is still strong there even though I never heard it like she speaks it while I lived in Alaska. It feels good to have that mystery solved though.

Now that we are on Sarah Palin, I have to sort of eat my words. In a previous post, I said I thought she was smart enough to pull this off…that it appeared as if she was truly quite capable of learning what she needed to know. However, after the Katie Couric interviews, I must say that if you cannot answer simple questions like what newspapers you read and what your running mate’s record is, then you are not capable enough to be a dead heartbeat away from the Presidency. At this point, I think that she has the potential to make George Bush look not so dumb. (I can’t believe that is actually possible.) Do I think she doesn’t know what newspaper she reads in the morning? No, I don’t think she reads newspapers because she is too busy getting her kids off to school and whatnot. I don’t blame her for that because that is what most moms want to do. But, I do not want a president who doesn’t read several newspapers every day and who only depends on aids telling him/her what to read from the newspapers each day.

With that said, when she is prepped and speaks from the stump, she really speaks well, appears confident and extremely knowledgeable. However, if you are not polished enough to do the political thing of answering a question by not answering a question OR by not revealing that you have no idea, then you shouldn’t be president or vice president. You shouldn’t be Speaker of the House or Majority or Minority Leader of the Senate either.

Speaking of Speaker of the House, I am getting VERY annoyed with Nancy Pelosi’s partisan remarks when they are unwarranted and non-value added as my friend Jakki would say.

Speaking of Alaska, I just finished Arctic Village by Robert Marshall. It is a book I have wanted to read since junior year of college. It is about Robert’s time in the TINY village of Wiseman, Alaska during the early 1930’s. This village is in the middle of BFE even today, much more so when there were no roads heading that way. It is an ethnographic study of the village made up of whites who came searching for gold and the native Alaskans who live there. It is more than an ethnography and really gets at the heart of what living in this area was like. I found it incredibly interesting, but it may be mostly because I am familiar with Alaska, the area and the goldmining experience there.

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