Saturday, August 27, 2022

Taking It Easy


Here's Lisi in her finished dress. I sewed the velcro on to secure the back and thank you to whoever recommended that to me. I apologize for not remembering. It was so easy. I would have had to fuss for hours with buttonholes. And as you can see, I sewed one of the mermaid buttons on as an ornament. It looks like it was made for the dress, doesn't it? 
I think I need to give Lisi's hair some attention. Poor thing. 

I woke up feeling like my little cold was still having its way with me. Nothing terrible, just feeling slow and stuffy. I slept pretty late although Mr. Moon got up at five a.m. His fishing buddy down at the coast needed some carpentry help and so Glen went to help him. He's a good guy. 

Since the man would be gone today I decided to take it easy. I mean, I can take it easy if he's here but I feel less guilty if no one is observing my slothfulness. Never once has he ever criticized me for having an unproductive day but I was born with built-in shame and guilt and then those two feelings were nurtured carefully in my childhood. I have plenty to spare should you ever need any, by the way.

The only thing I did that was in the least physical was to repot my jade plant that the chickens had knocked over on the front porch. The pot broke as did the pot holding a begonia so I cleaned all of that up. I had to play pot musical chairs to get my jade re-homed and didn't have another for the begonia which was really leggy anyway. I broke off a bunch of stems and put them in water to root if they can muster the determination and strength to do so. Remember the little begonia I bought for my birthday? Well, even though I put it up where I thought the chickens wouldn't get it, they've nipped it pretty close to the bone. I suppose it's a tasty delight to them. Since they are in the coop for now, the poor plant will have a chance to make some more leaves. They just do love begonias. Some plants they don't bother with at all but begonias are definitely a favored salad green. 

After I got all of that dealt with and the porch swept, I mostly just puttered around. I finished the doll dress and began work on another one. Now let me tell you something- I have no ability to see things spatially. I'm not sure that's exactly what I'm trying to say. It's very hard for me to figure out how things work. I've always been this way but it's getting worse. For example- when I am replacing the hardware on a pair of overalls, I have to really, really study the situation to get the new buckle on correctly so that the strap can be lengthened or shortened. I don't care how many times I do that job, it's like brand new, every time. You'd think I was trying to figure out how to repair a jet engine instead of a dang overall strap. So, sewing without a pattern is rather difficult for me. I found some red-checked material that I'd made Maggie a few dresses with when she was a toddler and figured it was enough to make Lisi a dress. I had an idea in mind involving a lining for the dress and made a simple pattern- so far, so good, right? And then I sewed the lining to the outside fabric in completely the wrong way and I can either rip it all out or just throw it away and try again with some more material because I do not have enough of the checked material to make another dress. And I thought I had this all figured out. I have been sewing since I was in about the seventh grade! 
Well, hell. 

Thank goodness I don't have that problem when it comes to cooking. I was born to cook, no doubt, and although I am certainly not the best cook in the world, I pretty much know what I'm doing in the kitchen. Recipe or no recipe, I can figure most things out intuitively. As I've so often said, just watching the woman we called Granny Mathews in her kitchen informed me of how I wanted to cook which was from real ingredients, mostly weighed and measured by hand and eye. I am grateful to her to this day. 

Tonight's supper is a very, very easy one. A cheat, as I call it. I've got a spaghetti sauce simmering on the slow burner with onions and peppers and garlic and a little bit of ground venison and a jar of Rao's herb tomato sauce. That's the cheat. I am not too proud to use a jarred tomato sauce. I am not Italian and thus do not have a guardian ghost grandmother threatening me with her wooden spoon as I open and pour the sauce into the pan. 
I will, however, grate my own parmesan and of course I have a loaf of bread rising. 

The man has just pulled into the yard. It is drizzling a little bit which sounds and smells delightful. We still have five chickens. I am sure we still have a fox or foxes. I have been lazy today and that is okay. 

Vergil sent me the number to call to reach the Florida Department of Transportation permitting office for over-dimensioned and overweight vehicles. I will try to call them on Monday. I say "try" because making phone calls like that is anxiety-producing for me but dammit, I want to know what in hell that was in the video. Mr. Moon has theorized that it is going to be part of some underground system for one of those huge convenience store things that sell everything from jerky made with every type of meat animal (gator jerky, anyone?) in the world to fresh baked goods. They are clearing huge swaths of land near here by the interstate exit and entrance and that could possibly be the answer. 
Who knows? 
Not me. 

Love...Ms. Moon

24 comments:

  1. That little girl looks like she is wearing a chemise. How sweet.
    Just in case the lack of sleeve bothers you yet, here is a cheat sleeve. Cut a piece fabric that goes from the waist of the dress, up over the shoulder and down to the other waist. Nip it with your scissors, then fold and cut straight down. Cut across the bottom about 2" longer than you want the sleeve. Put that sleeve on the fabric and cut a second one.
    Right sides together, sew one sleeve from one waist seam to the other on the dress..
    Now sew a hem in the end not sewn to the dress, about half an inch deep, and the raw edge pointing toward the first seam.
    Now put the raw edges together, right sides together. Match the underarm seams and the waist seams. Pin as much as you like. Sew a seam from the "hem" on the sleeve past the underarm, past the waist, to the bottom of the dress. Bingo, one sleeve set in and hemmed.
    Do the same for the other sleeve.
    Draw a picture and keep it.

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    1. Oh my god, Joanne! It would take me hours and who knows how many pieces of material to do that! I would have to read, figure, read, try, read, try again, etc. This is exactly the sort of thing my brain does not understand! But...I may try it!

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    2. It's just 2 squares (or rectangles).

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  2. Now I need to know about the mysterious trucks too. Sounds like maybe the plumbing pipes for a new development. Have to move at night to be less disruptive to traffic. Being so huge.

    I think making doll clothes is a good day's work.

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    1. I think that perhaps it has been figured out. We shall see.
      Trying to make doll clothes. "Trying" being the key word.

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  3. Hi Mary, its Pixie. I read another very good book you might like, it's about intergenerational trauma but no sexual abuse.
    "The Many Daughters Of Afong Moy".

    It's nice to be able to read your blog again. We had terrible wifi connections in Parksville. We'll be home in an hour. Hurray, my own bed😊

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    1. Thanks! I'll check it out! Glad you're home where your bed awaits!

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  4. I envy people who learned to cook from natural cooks. I need a recipe. Eventually I can wing it but I could never create something from scratch (unless it was really basic).It doesn't sound as if your day was in any way slothful.
    Lisi looks like she was modelled on a real child. She is so life like. Dorothy is still my favourite.

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    1. Granny Matthews didn't really teach me to cook. I just watched her as she did it. And I think of us are born understanding flavors. I'm glad I am one of those.
      Lisi does look so real doesn't she? And Dorothy is my favorite too.

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  5. That tanker in the video looks like the type to be transporting liquids, so I don't think it would have anything to do with Dollar General type stores. And with no markings whatsoever, I suspect something governmental, so you may not get an answer. Perhaps it was rocket fuel or some type of newly developed secret chemical.
    Lisi's dress looks perfect with the mermaid button and her hair looks a little windblown as if she has been out tending your chickens. Her face reminds me of Levon.
    I use a jarred tomato sauce also, and add it to simmering fresh ingredients just as you have done.

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    1. Yes. I think it may be transporting cryogenic liquid oxygen for a medical facility. Maybe. The lack of markings is weird though.
      Lisi does indeed look windblown. I need to do something about that.
      I am not ashamed to use jarred sauce. At all.

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  6. The dress you've made is a happy addition and the mermaid button is pure genius. Thank you as always for adding a sparkle to my mornings.

    (That glimpse of the huge pipe being driven past your home in darkness makes me wonder if it's part of the new construction near Lloyd and the need for sewage pipes to accommodate it. I found this article:
    https://ecbpublishing.com/county-readies-to-market-large-property-near-lloyd/

    ~karen

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    1. No. I don't think that it's part of a sewage system. That article in the Monticello News was a year old. At this point, they still haven't told us what they're about to do over there.

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  7. Lisi's new dress is charming. The mermaid button is especially nice. She loves it, you can tell.

    Wouldn't it be weird for that huge tanker to be driven through Lloyd for a project adjacent to the Interstate? Wouldn't they just drive it on the Interstate? I dunno.

    I'm usually pretty good with spatial things, but I'm not sure about overall straps!

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    1. Yes. I think Lisi is indeed very proud of her new button. I hope Maggie likes it too!
      Yeah. I don't know why they wouldn't drive it on the interstate. A friend of Glen's has a picture of another tank like that that got stuck going around the dang courthouse in the center of Monticello!
      You could do overall straps. If I can, anyone can.

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  8. I always wing it when sewing because I just can't cut/sew straight. Even when I was taking patchwork lessons I could NEVER get the darn thing to work out. Cooking not so bad but sewing .....! Yikes!

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    1. I could never make a real quilt. I don't have the patience to cut everything accurately. I'm okay with a pattern though.

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  9. i can only mend. i get how to use a sewing machine and how to follow and match up a pattern, but to make it drape right. NOPE. that thing on the truck reminds me of the bases they use for the giant wind turbines on the lake here. xxalainaxx

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    1. No. I don't think it's a wind turbine base. I think it's a tank.
      I love my sewing machine but I'm not as skilled with it as I used to be.

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  10. Glad the velcro worked. Life's too short to figure out buttonholes...even if one has a sewing machine that keeps telling you how easy it is. Not.

    Given all the external pipe work at the back of that tank (seen near the end of the video) with things that look like they need to be accessible after installation, I surmise that this tank might actually be set up above ground. Different types of industry have this kind of set up. See below--this is from a photo website. Mary

    Maybe be something like this? Looks long enough.
    https://www.alamy.com/huge-horizontal-liquid-oxygen-tank-for-the-needs-of-medical-institutions-and-hospitals-and-cylindrical-oxygen-gas-holder-as-example-of-chemical-equipm-image352547909.html?imageid=30FA03B2-705F-4351-92A8-868FDCA1DE6E&p=190467&pn=4&searchId=38740022e820646067afba51bbeaf6ce&searchtype=0

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    1. The buttonhole maker attachment to my almost-seventy-year old Singer does really work pretty well but it's easy to screw it up, too. The velcro was done in minutes!
      And I think you may have nailed the mystery tank! The apparatus on the back of the one that drove by here isn't exactly like that in the picture but it's close. Thank you!

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  11. Lisi is a beautiful doll, and the mermaid dress is perfect. I find it ironic that you think of yourself as lazy when you do such amazing things with your hands, creating and re-creating.

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    1. I think that unless there is an element of suffering involved, I don't consider an activity an actual accomplishment. I'm crazy. I admit it.

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  12. What a sweet face that doll has! Do you know what company made her?

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.