Not A Sewing Day

Today the boys and I went to the park. We looked at squirrels as I pushed them in the double stroller at a high rate of speed (in order to aerobically support my sugar boycott). Thirty minutes of me: "Look! A squirrel!" and then Karsten's reply while looking in the wrong direction: "Where? I no see it! There's no squirrel! Slow down, Mommy!" Henry just sat and sucked on his bottle or, alternately, the tags on the back of the stroller seat. Sometimes both.

No sewing today, or much of anything remotely productive in nature. I think I did two loads of laundry, which is considered a holiday in these parts. Four loads a day is the norm. Heaven forfend if I should skip a day. The dirty stuff piles up faster than pancakes on a plate at the IHOP. Did the usual cleaning of the kitchen and general lived-in areas, but nothing really taxing. I did keep the caffeine IV flowing today with a cup of coffee, a couple of diet Cokes, and way too many cups of hot tea. I allowed myself half a teaspoon of sugar in the tea, which is probably why I had about four cups today. I'm sure there's absolutely no connection there.

I did look at the fabric for my shirt a couple of times; well, glanced at it in passing, really. Kind of longingly, but mostly just in resignation. Today just wasn't a sewing day. The pattern is pinned to it and it's ready to be cut. Meh. Shrug of shoulders. Tomorrow will be better suited for it, perhaps.

Something New

I chose my new project. It's based on Simplicity pattern 4112 in their Built By You line, but I think I am going to give it the sleeves from the latest Burda download (bottom pic).

I'm making the shirt on the right. It's a button front with a sash. Wrap shirts are also lovely, speaking of sashes. I need to make more of those. Isn't this shirt the cutest, though? It looks really swell on the model, anyway.

The fabric is perfection. Just some shirting from Joann's, but the print is all me.

It's not a fall shirt at all, but seasons be damned. I dig it.

Grumpy McGrumpster

Still doing OK on the sugar fast. My mood is absolutely crap, but that's how it goes. A couple more days and I'll feel so much better. I'm trying to stay focused, anyway. It isn't fun, though. It hasn't stopped me from baking at all. I just don't get to eat the cheesecake/scones/whatever when it's done. My hips will thank me in a month, I suppose.

For all of you who are wondering what I look like (because I'm sure you're losing sleep over it), here's my Myspace pic. Sorry for the total lameness of it. Photographing onesself isn't an easy task, which is why I have no pics of myself in my sewn clothing on here. Maybe I'll have to get Dee to do it for me. Anyway, if you look closely, you can see my sewing machine in the background. I think this pic is from June, which is why the new Singer isn't featured yet.

The boys were really awful today, and so that's another reason for my mood being so blah. I need to do some happy happy fun things today. The question is, what in the world does that entail? Right now I feel like lying on my bed and not moving for about two years...maybe do a little Rip Van Winkle thing and just let time slide away while I'm unawares. Actually I need a serious Colin Firth fix and lots of hot tea, all while under my quilt. After the kids are in bed. And no husband to pester me. Sigh.

Wants and Needs

The diet is going pretty well. Somehow I was able to resist my MIL's pie on Sunday, which kind of ticked her off. She's like me: she shows love by feeding the masses. Reject her food, you're rejecting her. Luckily she was pretty understanding that time. I made the appropriate comments: "Ooh, pretty! Smells great!" and that satisfied her somewhat. The rest of the pie is lying in wait in my fridge for me to be in the throes of PMS or some kind of weak and altered emotional state. It knows that I will come for it eventually. Please let the husband eat it when he comes home.

My cart on amazon.com has been changing like the tides. I can't seem to commit and just press the button to actually *purchase* all the stuff in there. Not that there's a lot. Right now there's three items: 2 cds and a comprehensive book on patternmaking. Yesterday there were five things. Not a big deal, you say.

Wrong.

I have a hard time buying stuff online that I don't actually need. When I am out at a shop, I have no problem rationalizing ridiculous purchases with the best of them. Yes, I really would love some groovy new tunes. Yes, I would really like to learn everything about patternmaking so that I can be tailoring myself in awesome style. I just can't commit yet, amazon. I'm sorry.

Smock is done and done, button and all. I chose the big black button, for all two of you people out there who read this. I'll post pics later. Now I need to start something new, and for the first time in a long time, I don't know what that something is. Hmmmmm. If I went by "want," I'd be looking at that cute dress pattern for a wool mini jumper. If I were to go by "need" it would be kids' PJs. Decisions.

Bread and Soup Day

Twice this week I have made huge batches of potato soup and homemade bread because, quite simply, the weather calls for it. And when the weather calls for it, my stomach follows suit. I'm eating some as I type. Gosh, so tasty. The recipe is here, but I tweaked it a bit by adding some carrot and lots of celery.

The smock will be finished up today, just in time for a night on the town. I haven't decided which button to feature on the front yet. The aunt in law passed her buttons along to me. Here's the contenders:

The big black one on the far left is looking most promising right now.

Dieting Is Evil

I am calling it quits. My love affair with sugar and all things sugary and things that even rhyme with sugar (booger? Is that all?) is over. Yesterday I kissed sugar goodbye with a sweet, sweet cookie sundae thingie from Perkins. Today I swear I got the shakes from Phase I of sugar deprivation. The only thing that ever works with me, weight-loss wise, is cutting out sugar. Well, that and running three miles a day. One step at a time, though.

So goodbye, sugar. Let me say this again, just to let it percolate through my brain: goodbye, sugar. So long, fun size Milky Way bars at 2 am. Adios multicolored jordan almonds by the pound from the chocolate shop. Sayanara peanut butter and honey sandwiches (I can't bear this!). Hopefully in a few weeks I'll actually fit into my clothes again.

Dieting is such a bitch. Gah.

I'm sure someone will find me in a fugue state on the floor covered in Sugar in the Raw in a matter of hours. If you don't hear from me soon, send help.

Thank goodness it isn't Peep season, is all I have to say. Peep season just automatically nullifies any in-progress dieting, I think. This is my law.

(Dis)Comfort Food

Took the little boys with me to the Goodwill and totally pillaged the place of all of their frightening cookbooks. I have collected these things since I was a kid, and I still can't quite explain my morbid fascination with them. Maybe it's the garish colors, or the impossible food combinations; anyway, I found quite a few good ones today. Maybe one day I will actually get up the nerve to make some of these dishes, like my fun friends at Swapatorium.

The goods:

All of those up there are hardbacks. Then I got these fun pamphlet-type cookbooks, also from BHG. They have some really cool illustrations in them that didn't quite turn out when I tried to photograph them. Someday I'll get a scanner and do them justice.

Nothing says "delicious" like cantaloupe wrapped in raw bacon.

Also picked up some really cute vintage "Amish" cookbooks. The cover graphics are really bright.

It's a rainy day, and I feel like drinking hot tea and doing nothing. Sounds like a plan. But first...

Sliced tomatoes in a brandy snifter. Classy.