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Survival of the fittest March 21, 2008

Posted by spacemom in : Food and Drink, Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 3 comments

Well, I survived yesterday. I will post photos later, but I got Luna in her new princess gown I made her!

As expected, I was jostled and crazed and at the end wondering why on EARTH did I take 3 girls to this? They all had fun, but MAN!

Soleil did a cake walk and won a cake. Yippie. We now have a 7inch cake which is taunting me. When my thyroid meds went nuts earlier this year, I kinda of sort of gained 10 lbs. I have been having trouble losing it. I need to lose it. So I am working on it. Trying to keep my workouts in. Trying to sort out time for everything.

I’ve done it before, lost weight that is. And it’s not as if I am saying "la la! Poor body image I’m so fat!" I really can’t wear clothes I fit in earlier last year! So, I figure in 7-8 weeks I should be able to remove these 10 lbs. No high calorie evening snacks. 1 serving of the main meal and extra veggies at dinner. Simple low calorie snacks… Put away the Girl Scout cookies…

Will I do it? Time will tell….
 

I think I am back… March 17, 2008

Posted by spacemom in : Current Affairs, She Blinded me with Science, Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 1 comment so far

Man, it’s been a long two/three weeks. I have been fighting fires at work and in my personal life. It’s been crazy. My experience last week is just a sampler!

I’m on call this week, and it does seem like we are looking at another crazy week. There’s a celestial object that is in X-ray outburst and may be observed this week with our telescope. We’re waiting to see if the scientists are going to trigger their TOO (target-of-opportunity) and if they do, the week is shot to hell. Oh well.

I got time this weekend to finish Luna’s dress. I want her to wear it for Purim. It’s a princess dress for a costume, but it should hold up better than most costumes. It came out really well. I hope to post some pictures of it after Purim. Now Soleil wants HERS done (I started making two of them) and I had to run out tonight to get the fabric for the skirt. I under estimated the amount of fabric I would need because the pattern specifies the fabric for the dress AND a cape. Screw the cape. As Edna says in "The Incredibles", NO CAPES!

Still trying to find a sitter for April 5th. The Sabres are in town and the next day is my birthday, so I would love to go to the game. The trick is getting a sitter! :)

We bought a play set for the kids this weekend. It will be installed in May. This will bring on another post about how horrible I am as a parent… :)

Okay, gotta run, but I think I am back in the blogging spirit!

 

Today is only slightly better March 13, 2008

Posted by spacemom in : Current Affairs, Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 2 comments

(I typed all of this in for a private web group, but I figure I could edit names and put it here too!)

 
Jay arrived home Friday morning! YEA! We had lunch and got the girls
early. Then we went to temple for Tot Shabbot. The girls really wanted
to go. Saturday, we had a Girl Scout Shabot at an orthodox temple. Then
Skating. Then on Sunday (with the time change) we had Girl Scout Sunday
(Soleil really wanted to go!) then an ice skating fund raiser, then our
Girl Scout meeting plus her winter ceremony.
Oy!

Monday- I was planning on a nice quiet day. We did gymnastics, then
lunch, we went to Backyard Adventures to look for a playset. At 3, I
got a call from my Friend Kobyashi. 

Crazy H was in the ER getting an IV and
chest x-ray from this flu. Could we take their kids? Of course I said
yes. Then I realized that I had swimming at 5. I couldn’t take 4 girls
in my car unless I put Soleil  in the front.

So I went to our neighbor
and she was able to babysit! She came over for the hour while we went
swimming. Her mom came over for the beginning to make sure Erik’s kids
were okay with a totally new person.
We had a meltdown at swimming because Luna had the wrong panties. Sigh. I had her go commando instead of forcing panties on.("NO! I WANT THE ARIEL PANTIES" "honey, those are dirty and stinky and at home" "GO HOME AND GET THEM!")
Then I get home before 6 and find K and Crazy H at our house, they paid the babysitter and I made the kids mac&cheese because their kids needed to eat
before going home.
Then Jay picked up our babysitter (yes, we were going out that night our first night out since DECEMBER!) and she came while everyone was there.
Sigh.
The Crazy H family left, then we left. We had a nice dinner and got home.

Tuesday-
Jury Duty in Cambridge. I had to leave the house at 7 am to get there
in time. No internet. Got let go at 2, went to the Backyard Adventures
to setup another congfiguration. Sigh. Took a nap, had a girl scout
adult meeting at night. Got sucked in to do the Volunteer Awards Ceremony in May.

Wednesday-
Discovered a 1/4 inch bulge on the sidewall of my tire. Called the tire
place in town, gave them the size and the guy there  got 2
tires for me so they could replace it in the afternoon. Had teacher/parent meeting with Soleil’s teacher. Dropped
off Jay so he could go back to work (telescope proposals are due next Thursday). Got tire replaced, bulge was now
1 inch! The steel belt had broken and was starting to break through the
wall! EEEK! (damn pot holes)

Then had a playdate for Soleil and talked with the mom whom I had met before and always found talking to her ackward. Then she explained she had been in an accident as a teen
and had a brain injury, so she was sorry that she kept repeating
herself. The conversation kept jumping from 1 topic to another then
back to the first because she kept forgetting that we moved off of it.
It was really odd.

Thursday-Today.I am working late tonight. Jay’s home. After Soleil’s
temple school, he’s getting Luna, picking up his parents from the
airport and we’re all meeting at Friendly’s in town

Tomorrow- Girl Scout meeting at my house! Then movie night for the girls at my house! 10 5 & 6 year old girls at my house from 3:30-7! Yea me!
Oh, and we were asked by Temple to take our turn for the coffee hour
(oneg) after services tomorrow night. Jay and his dad are going.

And I need to finish sewing a dress for Luna for Purim. Sigh…

For work?

Figured out the Spacecracft anomaly. Looking at ways to detect when this electronic board resets by checking the voltage which depends on the observation. Got a BIG assignment today from Mission Planning. Need Tequila. If you see Jose? send him my way! 

MMM.MMM.mmm.mmm. October 17, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 4 comments

I came home today from a particularly tough afternoon to find a box on the doorstep. Jay asked me what I bought. I won an EBay auction yesterday, but there was no way it would have shipped yet.

The box said "Perishable" and then I noticed it was from L.A.Burdick. They have the most MARVELOUS chocolate. They make these great little mice and penguins. They have a store in Harvard Square and their hot chocolate is to die for!

I have the most wonderful little box of chocolate to share with Jay. Thanks Johnny! I appreciate it! You’re the bomb!

And by allowing me to work on the project, I have now gotten the confidence to make THIS for myself. (the dress, I have purchased this lovely brown patterned linen for it) 

 

Project Chilly Willy- Completed! October 8, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 9 comments

I Boxed it up tonight after I sewed the buttons. Oh yeah- J? There’s something for you in the box too!

 

 

 

 

 

School Daze September 19, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Spacemom, Parenting 101, Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , add a comment

Tomorrow is our first "Back to School" night for public schools. This is the first of MANY.

We will meet our over caffeinated principal, Mrs. Brown (I kid you NOT, this woman is way way too perky. Makes me want to give her some Quaalude) and then talk with Soleil’s teacher. Last night, Soleil recited two stories from school. The first involved shapes. We drew out the shapes and talked about them. We discussed the Trapezoid and how you can make one, and the rectangle and the square. We discussed how a square is a rectangle and a rectangle is a trapezoid. Then Jay pointed out that she’ll have to get pretty far into geometry before she can stump him on that. (true…so true). We drew hexagons, pentagons, octagons and then decided that  a rectangle should be a quadragon. Luna got bored with this, but Soleil was fascinated.

Monday night, my back gave a loud relaxing crack in the middle of the night. Last night helped too, so I can now move. This is a bonus.I tried to sew the Chilly Willy jammie top, but only got far enough to do some work on the neck line and pin the pieces together. My back was hurting too much to continue. Sigh. Plus, I think I need to do one more piece of cutting. You see, I am matching the jammie top to the one that the blogger sent me. This is different from my pattern. The neck line is the big difference. So I might need to have a special collar in the back for this.Sigh… I need to look carefully at her shirt tonight before I go too far.

 Luna has adjusted well to the changes in our lives. She loves walking to the bus stop every morning with Soleil and I. She likes to wave goodbye and ask when she can ride the bus. Then she goes on to discuss how she want to go to Kindergarten. She also loves having Jay and I both drop her off at daycare.

We are finding that we have entered the "transitional years". We have 2 of them. Luna will be at daycare for 2 more years. Soleil is in school. We have two places, about 10 miles and 30 minutes of driving, apart. Once Luna is in Kindergarten, we’re going to have to redo the whole plan. How to have one of us at home in the afternoons to get the girls. How to be able to be there while getting work done. How to travel between work and home with just one car? (why double pollute?) Sigh….

 

A moment of silence September 13, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Kids, She Blinded me with Science, Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 4 comments

Not to memorialize anything. Just that right now, I have a moment of silence. The commanding for our test is approved. If Selene launches on schedule, we will be fine over the weekend.

So I breathe…

I finished the chilly Willy Jammie pants the other night. The waist is 1 inch too high. Depending on my paranoia and perfection, I might rip it out and redo the waist. Or I won’t. Length is perfect. As part of my lessons learned from prototyping the pants for myself, I made a little Chilly Willy tag for the back of the pants. I can’t figure out the front or back of my jammies for lack of a tag. And the way you put them on makes a difference.

I am ready to start on the top. I need to start that tonight. I hope to sew the sides to the back. That’s not asking too much is it? (Asks the woman whose daughter went to bed after 10:30!!!!)

 

Recreational math:

Last night, Jay was at Temple for services, so I put the girls to bed. Luna was first. I asked Soleil to have her snack, brush teeth and read a book or something until I was done with Luna.

When I walked in, I found her hard at work:

2+2=4

4+4=8

3+3=6

10+10=20

12+12=24

1+1=2

8+8=16

 

What’s this? I ask…

"Oh, I’m just doing some math" she replies

"Who taught you these?" I ask, rather surprised

"My brain taught me"

 

Free to good home: perfection August 28, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 5 comments

I prepared the fabric for the CW (chilly Willy) pajamas. I measured the fabric and realized that I had to create my own layout of the patterns. (For those who don’t sew, every pattern comes with a layout of how to place the peices on the right sized peice of fabric to cut items out efficently.) I was cutting the front of the top out when I realized I had made a mistake. I quickly adjusted and made up for it with no damage or extra fabric used.

However, I discovered that I am nervous about this whole project. While laying out and cutting out the fabric, I thought long and hard about this.

I am afraid of screwing this up.

I am afraid these won’t fit the person intended.

I am afraid the larger Chilly Willys will land on her nipples and just look silly

I am afriad that this just won’t work out right.

I really need to ditch the perfection. I am a person who wants things perfect. Correction, I need what I do to be perfect.
And when it doesn’t come out that way, I feel like I failed.

If anyone wants to take my perfection, please, take it. Because I need to learn to let it go. Just let it go…..

 

Top Secret: Project Chilly Willy August 23, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , add a comment

A while ago, a blogger asked for some help in finding Chilly Willy pajamas for his wife.

I left an ebay search up and found Chilly Willy fabric instead. So being the crazy nice person that I am, I offered to sew the pajamas for her! I have now completed half of the pattern and last night measured the other half. Exhaustion kicked in before I could finish and Jay sent me to bed. Tonight, I will finish the pattern and start to lay it out on the cloth.

I am actually quite excited by this. This project has buttons. And I modified the original pattern to match the jammies that this blogger sent me. I am worried that I will get the hems wrong or the waist too tight or too loose since I can’t actually try them on her (we are different sizes), but I know that pajamas are pretty forgiving.

My next trip is August 29. I hope to have the pants finished by then and the top most of the way done. Wish me luck!

Losing weight without speed May 17, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Kids, Go Team Go Team Go Team, Ghost in the (sewing)Machine , 4 comments

(The title is from a Jimmy Buffett song)

This morning, at the crack o’dawn, our door opened. Soleil popped in and said "Mommy! I am going to watch the sunrise" I mumbled something and sent her on her merry way.

Between 5 am and 7 am Soleil:

Jay rolled over and asked me at some point if I slipped her some speed last night. I replied that HE put her to bed, I was the one who had Luna.

Last night, the Buffalo Sabres regained face and beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2. At least we won’t be swept. Now, if we can win one more game and make it s 6 game series, there will be some pride restored to Buffalo.

The pajama project started in earnest last night when I created a pattern based on my jammies. I first forgot to take the waist to crotch measurement into consideration and the first pattern had the crotch at my knees. After some good natured ribbing and passes from Jay, I fixed that.
The fabric is cut and I can start sewing tonight!