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Inspired by the refashion spirit at the Bazaar Bizarre, yesterday, I repurposed an ill-fitting pair of pants and a worn pair into a new skirt. Working around the back crotch area that wanted to swing in as opposed to across, I added a kick pleat.

Next up on the sewing machine will probably be a boa’d slip or skirt with boa’d under pinnings for my niece – inspired by the feather trimmed slip a 5 year old was wearing under her cotton sun dress at the bagel store. There is no reason a girl can’t be both wild and chaste. Besides, God would not have made boas if he didn’t intend for us to wear them. Perhaps some plain, warm wool ponchos out of recycled sweaters… And, although I appreciate they are about as done as swallows were months ago, I think Sylvie needs an owl appliqued on her yet to be sewn red corduroy winter dress. Thinking maybe the village frock pattern from Sugar City for the dress. What’s with all the winter sewing? The weather just turned. Our entire day was foggy and cold.

The girls definitely need interesting stockings.

The girls went shopping at Bazaar Bizarre – a crafty faire – in San Francisco, yesterday. In general, the crafty things were nice, but not exciting enough to coax cash from my pockets (except the tasty looking and tasting cupcakes). There was one non-baked star which came mighty close to freeing me of $175 – Rebe. Their selection of clothing, some made from refashioned and recycled textiles, were exciting, but the bags and wallets were most tempting.

I’m quite fond of this:

and this:

and almost bought this:

Since some of the materials in each bag were recycled, every bag is unique, and all of them are quite richly layered. I’m most excited that the bags were not just aesthetically pleasing, but well constructed and highly practical. The bag I’ve pictured above can come with a laptop insert, but is usually lined in oilcloth. The smaller bags were the most well thought through in the entire bazaar – with thoughtfully constructed pockets and magnetic closures. (The larger bags were zippered.)

It has been a while since I last posted. In the meantime, Big Tow came to school to show off his tow truck. After hoisting one of the trikes in the air, he towed the kids.

All the teachers have a crush on Big Tow.

We returned on Wednesday from a family vacation to Monterey. Lots of jogging, digging in the sand, running from waves, searching through tide pools, visiting the aquarium and sitting in the hot tub. Thank god for hot tubs.

Someone seems to have replaced my happy-go-lucky 4 year-old with a teenager. Somehow I thought I had more time before the constant complaining began. He yielded the occasional profound statement among the whines –
“There is nothing that way but darkness.” (Hesitant to walk the hike/bike trail back to our hotel)
“When you can’t see; you can’t hear.” (Ignoring the barking sea otters the rest of us could hear in the distance.)
But mostly just a bunch of “I want to go home” “I’m too cold” “I am not having fun”s

His castle:

Wouldn’t it be fun to have a schooner?

The Aquarium – 3 visits in as many days.

Thanks, Mom.

Whew! After an 8 hour day of elving, I’m officially all Christmas’d out. With the exception of an octopus that could use a pair of peepers and a shortage of proper shipping boxes, I’m ready to send out stocking stuffers to the swappers. Although there’s only one kid on the list old enough to surf the web, for the moms, I won’t be posting completed pictures until December.

On to Thanksgiving preparations…

Hard at work on stocking stuffers…

Everytime you reload, a new recipe appears.

Our drive to the Taj Mahal. (First 100km, anyway.)

I dreamt last night that my brother, Obama and I were moving back into the house my brother and I shared through college. The house was just as I left it – same colors, but clean and empty. In the dream, the boys were off playing while my dad and I went shopping for groceries for the house. Just as though he were sending me off to college, dad bought the groceries that I picked out – bread, peanut butter, eggs and cheese. When we returned, my dad had left the dream and my brother, Obama and I were sitting around drinking beer. Obama seemed like a really nice guy.