Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

I’ve decided on the particulars of the dress and which fabric to use. I’ve even gotten the fabric washed and ready to cut. I still need to tea-dye some eyelet trim today, and then I guess I’ll get started on the actual sewing tomorrow. It’s a gray and gloomy day, and I just don’t feel like doing much of anything today. For me deciding what to make and how to make it is always the hardest part. I imagine by tomorrow afternoon, I will be puttering around in the yard wearing a new sundress.

Though dinner is already made, so it is possible my mood on sewing something today may change. Wouldn’t bet on it though. I am feeling the urge to nap with the cats. That usually bodes poorly for getting anything done for the rest of the day.

Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

As jalapeños are yanked from produce departments and restaurant menus nationwide, I continue to be agitated by the FDA and this Salmonella Saintpaul situation. There are a lot of things about this whole mess causing my agitation.

OK, I went on and on about food. What follows is over 2,000 words on the subject that I will not be proofreading, and I have to go live life for a while and get away from the computer. I encourage everyone to read it, but be aware, it’s very, very long.

Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

I was feeling silly for having bought the sundress pattern, because as soon as I looked at the pattern pieces, I knew I didn’t really need a pattern. But then I booted the cats out of the bedroom and got out my cotton fabrics and started exploring, and now I am glad I went ahead and bought it. Instead of spending two hours drafting a pattern, I spent two hours deciding what fabrics to use! That’s worth two bucks, right there.

The dress itself only takes two yards of material, and having been a quilter at one time (and just loving cotton fabrics in general), I have many, many, many pieces that are two to three yards in length. As I was looking through all my favorite cotton fabrics though, I found some great matches in smaller pieces, so I could make the bodice in one and the skirt in another. Yes, having lots of fabrics that coordinate is also a benefit of my quilting phase. There are so many cute options, I don’t know which one to make first! How to choose?!

I have to decide by tomorrow, because I am so going to make myself a new sundress. I can’t wait! I may not wait! I may get started right after dinner!

Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

There it is, my big splurge at the craft store: one skein of yarn and two patterns.

The yarn was the hardest to resist, because there were so many awesome color combinations in the self-striping yarn, I wanted one of each. I had a bunch in my hands for a while too, but I somehow managed to force myself to put back all but the one in my all-time favorite colors. It’s not like I need yarn. I have yarn. I probably have enough yarn to keep knitting for several years after a nuclear holocaust. But you know, I always want yarn.

The patterns were easier to resist. I had a list of some from the Simplicity web site I wanted to check out, but I spent a good long time looking through the pattern book too, since they don’t have all their patterns on their web site. My gods, there are a lot of awful and ugly patterns out there. Truly hideous stuff. It was easy not to want them. The main reason I was able to resist buying too many patterns was that I know I do not need patterns. I am fully capable of making my own. I have a dressmakers form, and I know how to use it, and I couldn’t possibly come up with anything as ugly as the stuff they were selling to unwitting sewers who don’t know how to draft patterns themselves.

I couldn’t resist the 1950’s retro pattern for one huge reason: I have that pattern, as it was released in 1950-something, but it’s in my mom’s size, and she was such a tiny little thing, it would never fit me. Now I have it every size all the way from size 6 to size 12. I have loved that pattern since I was a little girl. Yeah! The other pattern is for a bunch of little sundresses/tunics. I didn’t really need it, because it’s a really basic pattern, but it was too cute to pass up. I’ll be able to mutate it a bunch of different ways too, so it’ll be handy.

I’m going to have to go on another exploratory mission in the closet to try to find my zipper foot. If I can’t find it, I guess I’ll be back at the craft store later this week to use my 40% of coupon to get a new one. I hate to do that, because I know I have at least two zipper feet somewhere, but if they are in the box room, they are as lost to me as if they were on the moon. I am nowhere near the boxes with my sewing stuff in them. It was completely stupid to have those boxes at the back with everything in front of them, but who knew it would be years before we got started dealing with those damn boxes. We were supposed to have a garage built by now, but things just don’t always go as planned. I know exactly where those boxes are too, but I can’t get to them yet. Maybe one day I’ll go crazy and go diving for them, making a mess of the rest of the room while I am at it. Its not like it isn’t a huge mess anyway.

I had a conversation with the little old lady that works in the sewing department. I really wish I hadn’t. It started out pleasantly enough. I commented that I didn’t like most of the patterns out right now. She commented that young girls today dressed too skimpy, and all the clothes in the stores were made out of such sheer materials that she had to sew all her own clothes to be modest. I agreed there wasn’t much clothing out in the stores that was especially modest, and then she laid this on me:

“And then the young girls wonder why they get raped.”

My stomach turned as soon as she said that, and as far as I was concerned the conversation and any future conversations I might have had with her were officially over. “Did you see how she was dressed? She was asking for it!” are fighting words to me. Pisses me right off, because it gives a total pass to the asshole men who rape women, as though the poor ape-like men can’t control themselves at the sight of a woman who isn’t covered head-to-toe in fabric. I just gathered my things and walked off without saying anything. How I managed to not snap back with something to her comment was a miracle, because my hands were shaking, and I was immediately pissed right the hell off. She doesn’t get a pass because she was old either. That was crappy thinking back in her younger years, and it’s crappy thinking now, and I think a whole lot less of anyone who holds the belief that how a woman is dressed has anything to do with whether or not she gets raped. In fact, I tend to think of people who hold that view as subhuman and generally want them nowhere near me.

Well, just one more reason to hate going to that Hobby Lobby. If it wasn’t the only craft store for quite a distance, I wouldn’t keep going there, but it is. I’m sort of stuck with it, especially now that gas prices are so high. I can’t be spending a couple of dollars in gas to go buy something that costs a couple of dollars every time I need or want something crafty, and ordering online only works if I am getting a bunch of stuff. So shopping there makes me ill, but my options are currently limited. Blech.

I think I’ll go sit on the couch and watch craft shows while looking over my new patterns. I might make myself one of those sundresses tomorrow!

Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

While everyone else is busy running away from Hurricane Dolly, we are waiting to hear if Lin and the guys will be heading to Brownsville this morning. I hope they don’t have to go, but it’s good money, and it’s one of the natures of the job. Welcome to our world.

As soon as the craft store is open, I’m heading out for some shopping therapy. I’m planning to spend ten whole dollars on myself, and I hope it perks me up. I’m still in a strange mood today.

Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

I had a weird day. The day itself wasn’t weird, but I was in a weird mood all day. I felt disconnected from everything, and uninterested too. I don’t know. Just a weird day and a weird mood.

That’s it. That’s all I have to say about the day.

Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson’s breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction.”

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Communications Commission “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity.

It’s taken four years, but the Halftime Titty Crisis is over, and the ruling was actually sensible. It almost makes me want to put up a Titty Tuesday post tomorrow in celebration. Almost.

Government inspectors finally have a big clue in the nationwide salmonella outbreak: They found the same bacteria on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled by a small Texas produce shipper.

But Monday’s discovery doesn’t solve the mystery: Authorities don’t know where the pepper became tainted - on the farm, or in the plant in McAllen, Texas, or at some stop in between.

Oh wow! They found one whole pepper that has the same strain of Salmonella! Yes, of course, that explains the whole Saintpaul outbreak! I am not impressed, nor am I convinced. Oh, and they’d also like us to know, even though they never found even a single tomato infected with Saintpaul, they weren’t wrong to implicate tomatoes. Also, tomatoes are now as perfectly safe as ever to eat, which means barely safe at all.

Furthermore, why are so many newspapers and TV stations incapable of spelling jalapeño correctly? I’m convinced it’s because doing so would require them to use a different keystroke to create the correct letter, but it’s possible they don’t even realize it should be spelled with an “ñ” rather than an “n”. They are different letters with very different sounds. It annoys me^†.

Just what the world needs: product placement on the TV news, brought to you by Fox affiliate KVVU in Las Vegas and McDonalds.

In recent weeks, anchors on the Fox affiliate in Las Vegas, KVVU, sit with cups of McDonald’s iced coffee on their desks during the news-and-lifestyle portion of their morning show. The anchors rarely touch the cups.

WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut and WGCL in Atlanta, Georgia are also enjoying the monetary benefit of product placements on their morning shows. There are rules, of course, self-created and self-managed rules. They only have product placements on their morning shows. They’d never do so during hard news! Oh please. Give it time. I predict at some future date, newscasters will be surrounded by products they’d never in a hundred years use themselves to the point of it being ridiculous. If you haven’t seen the movie Idiocracy, you should, and that’s all I will say about that.

I’d rant about this, I really would, but I have such a low opinion of anything calling itself TV news, I barely find this news rant inducing. TV news^†† sold out to some demon years ago. I hope whatever they get out of it is worth their souls. Truly, journalism is on life-support, and the plug is about to be pulled. So imagine with me; a world where a story like this would be so outrageous everyone would be ranting about it, and then let’s go create that world.

Also, if you haven’t heard what Michael Savage had to say on his radio program about autism, it’s worth reading about. Yet again, I find my outrage meter is already pegged and can’t think of anything else to say about this other than Mr. Savage is an ass. A lot of us already know that. Everyone else needs to wake up.

Heard on the radio or by other word of mouth:

There appears to be a major storm moving toward Texas that could turn into a hurricane. Part of me is thinking “Please no devastation!” Another part of me is thinking “Does this mean Texas will get some rain? Please?” Both of these scenarios could be met if it stays a tropical storm and doesn’t get too feisty. We sure could use some water blown our way.

And in closing, I’d like to announce Austin City Hall has been declared a certified wildlife habitat. I laughed every time I heard that today. I’m sure there’s a joke in that statement waiting to be said, and I know it involves monkeys in business suits^†††. I’m too tired to be witty today, so write your own joke. It shouldn’t be too difficult.

It is so past time for bed. I have a million things to do tomorrow.

1. † I am feeling the need to point out the correct pronunciation of “pecan” is puh-con. I will resist the urge to rant at this moment. [↩]
2. †† Not that I think other news forms haven’t sold out to some demon years ago. I do. They did. News and journalism in this country sucks, no matter the format. [↩]
3. ††† While I don’t especially think much of some of our local politicians, Austin City Hall is a wonderful building with beautiful grounds. They at least did a good thing in building it, even though it was sort of like spending money on themselves. Exactly how often do I get down to City Hall to enjoy it? Never, which is actually a good thing. The less bureaucracy in my life, the better. [↩]

Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

Such silence from me on a Monday? How unusual! I tend to have something to gripe about on Mondays.

Well, I stayed up all night grubbing around in the coding for my web site. I fixed some problems and made some changes. I added some navigation features to make it easier to get around my web site, cleared out some cruft hiding in dark corners, and made a few stylistic and design changes (all very minor). The biggest change is the uploading of the new edited banner image and putting up some new profile photos. A new tagline also came to me at some pre-dawn hour. If you don’t normally read my site at my site, you might want to go see what I added to my banner. I think it’s a cute addition. I still need to do something about the links page, but I don’t know what to do with it yet, so it’s not a crisis.

End result? I was utterly fatigued when the sun came up, but I was also utterly thrilled with how my web site was working and looking. I am declaring the night a success and not a waste of time.

Since I was awake all night refreshing my failing memory on the intricacies of PHP, I slept most of the day and ran around like a chicken with its head cut off the rest of the day trying to catch up with life. I haven’t succeeded in catching up yet. Life moves along quite quickly whether or not someone decided to stay up all night fiddling with PHP. Now all I want to do is get dinner done and watch some TV with Lin. That Dateline show about tower climbers is on tonight, and we are really looking forward to see it!

Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

The fingerless mitts were finished by the time I started the laundry, so I got them washed tonight. I am very, very pleased with the way they turned out!

I’m also pleased with the texture of the yarn^† after washing. It softened up a lot, and for a rather cheap acrylic yarn, it’s really not so bad. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s enough in one skein to make two pairs of mitts. Tomorrow I’ll weight everything to be sure, but eyeballing what’s left of the skein, it looks a little too light. Darn.

Still … I am very, very pleased with the way they turned out, and it was a fun weekend knitting project.

1. † I Love This Yarn! from Hobby Lobby. Really, that’s what the yarn is called. [↩]

Originally published at Just Orb. You can comment here or there.

Another page I want to delete made into a post. This time it’s a Paintshop Pro 7 tutorial for a sketch-like technique for photographs. It was apparently written before I got my iMac. I haven’t used Paintshop Pro in years. Others do though, so I’ll leave it online.