The cat was my constant companion whether I wanted him or not...one look at that tulle and he would NOT leave me alone! The thread going through the machine was another fascination. I did end up shutting him up in another room occasionally and he would meow and meow until I let him out.
The skirt was three separate layers of tulle with the top layer covered in glitter and a base layer of the purple fabric. The glitter was a fun little side benefit of sewing this dress. Glitter everywhere! Notice my machine...a 1950's vintage Bernina...all metal parts...sews like a champ. Kevin gave me this our first Christmas together in 1982 and it was 30 years old back then! I love this machine.
Here is the completed dress from the back...lace up back with a tie around sash.
Throw it on a cute teenager and you have the finished product! She was especially excited for prom since she is going with a new crush and they are totally gaga over each other.
Later, Kevin and I went out to see his mom and give her a present. Kevin got her a printer for her computer since hers broke. So we ate chinese food and messed around on the computer with her. It was a very nice way to spend the evening.
Potted some flowers too. They are on the "back porch" such as it is. I've been after Kevin to build me an outdoor living space...with screen walls so that the flying stinging horrible devil insects can't get to me. I want to be able to have my coffee out there on a summer morning. is that too much to ask? But for now, I have to settle for a couple of potted planters.
Ok, here's something I tried this past week, dog grooming. The poor thing looks like I went after her with an egg beater. I had purchased a new set of clippers hoping to be able to duplicate what the groomers do so easily. Well, needless to say, Mocha looks like a rag-a-muffin homeless dog. I mean, she's still cute...you can't cut the cute off of her no matter what. But I did return the clippers. My problem is that I don't want to pay for professional grade clippers ($200.00 on up). So I know I'm never going to achieve what they can in the shop. Oh, and Mocha has a bit of grass on her lip...just goes to show you what a bad hair cut will do to self esteem...she doesn't even care that she has grass on her face. She figures she can't get any worse looking so why bother?
The other thing that's been keeping us busy is trying to book reservations for our Russia trip and the stop over in Greece...yes I said Greece! Check out this web site. http://www.agistrihotels.com/index.html It's where we are staying while in Greece. We will be on an out-of-the-way little island near enough to Athens to get to the airport/island easily but not near enough to be caught up in the rioting of a collapsing society! So it's perfect! We are very excited. Now we have to find a hotel in St Petersburg that is at once affordable and fairly nice.
Well, that's it for now.
I went to visit my grandmother and aunt yesterday on the North shore. It was great to see them again...Mama is 96 and looking good! She won't promise a 100th birthday so we can all throw her a party...even though I pressured her. She seems in good health and I enjoyed visiting with her and catching up. Lisa gave me all the links to the family blogs so I hope to keep up a little better with everyone going forward.
We got up this morning and decided to jump right in to some activities. Kevin got all geared up for fly fishing (Kevin is covered from head to toe...sun protection and wind breaker because of the heavy wind this morning). I dropped him off in a neighborhood that has beach access between two houses...this little trail that you would never find if you didn't know right where it was.
Here's the finished painting and I think the water part turned out the best. I'm not too sure about the fall-colored tree in the foreground but that's what the teacher wanted us to do. And rather than pull my usual "do my own thing anyway" attitude, I went with the flow. See, I'm getting better as I get older.
Our other HUGE project is nearly complete! Our fireplace turned out so great...I love it! Here it is in dark and regular light. It's so fun to sit near it and listen to the fire. The mantle is an antique piece of ironwood out of some old building back east. There is a company here in Boise that salvages the antique wood and sells it for new or remodel construction. We were lucky to find just the right shape, size, and color for our fireplace.
So that's kind of what we've been up to...lots of fun stuff!
Christmas was really nice. We celebrated a little early since Polina was heading home to Russia and wouldn't be here on the 25th. Above is a picture of the table for dinner...I wanted to record it since I thought it turned out so well. We did the traditional dinner with turkey and gravy, all the favoites. But for some dumb reason, the turkey would not get done. It was frustrating. But we had plenty of other food.
We opened all our presents the night of the 19th and it was really fun. But what was surprising is the unintended consequence of doing Christmas a week early...we didn't have the rush right up to Christmas eve like the rest of the city. We avoided the mall, we had time to just relax...it was really nice! And after Christmas, the let down I usually feel just wasn't there. I was fine with the whole thing just mellowing into the end of the year. I think we should do it this way every year!
This is Pashka...he's very interested in Kevin's pen and is sitting there staring at it. He wants to know everything that you are doing and tries to "help" whenever he can.
Max in the tree...a favorite play area for both of them. I ended up taking all the moss that I had in there and storing it. They liked it a little too much. They chase each other around the base of that tree for 10 minutes at a time.
Their favorite place to hang out and sleep seems to be in front of the fireplace now. They get all drowsy and limp like they are drugged. Pashka especially likes it there. We are having a lot of fun with them.
