Monthly Archives: May 2016

sewing in spring

I’ve been a huge slacker about sewing lately.  As Sarah would put it, I seem to have lost my sewing mo-jo, or at least my will to finish and photograph my creations.

I did make a First Day Dress for L.  It’s a twirl dress, so I encouraged L to do some twirling:

 

She seems to like it.  L is my most unreserved critic.  H always says he likes my creations, but he doesn’t notice the details.  L actually notices all the little things.  It’s nice.

I also made a couple of tote bags for L’s preschool teachers.  The free tutorial is here.  I appliqued little thank you notes on the inside of the totes.  The totes are fully lined and include a lined pocket on the front.

 

men taking over

A mildly disturbing article about demographic shifts in Europe.  The ratio of men to women is increasing at a rather high rate in some countries, it seems.  The quote that troubled me:

In 2003, Sweden’s SCB projected that a male surplus wouldn’t happen until 2050. Three years later it moved up the date by 10 years. It barely had time to recalibrate its projections before the moment arrived last year when men outnumbered women.

It is always troubling when something is happening, whether it’s global warming or a change in population or Ebola or something in the economy, and you realize that the government and its scientists are completely clueless on the subject.

Friday afternoon beer

I’m curious how much, if any, my friends will drink before getting behind the wheel.  You always hear “Don’t drink and drive,” but I’ve also grown up with the general idea that one can have one drink without exceeding the legal limit, 0.08.  I myself had a single drink and drove afterwards many times in my younger years.  These days, however, I have become more cautious, and I really dislike driving after drinking at all.  I am a 130-pound person who has one drink per week (Saturday night margarita, as a general rule), so I’m not entirely sure I am below the legal limit after even a single drink.  These days, I hit the road for a 30 to 40-minute highway commute.

But the thing is, work culture in this country features the Friday afternoon beer.  At my company, beer is often provided at certain types of Friday afternoon meetings.  Commonly, people meet after work to celebrate this or that work achievement at the local bar.  Am I the only person who doesn’t like hopping in the car after having a drink?

(My new group prefers to drink whiskey, but that’s a whole other set of complaints.  Who likes that stuff?)

Update: According to this chart, I can have to 3 drinks before becoming legally impaired.  That certainly suggests that having 1 drink is safe.  I would feel better if I could conduct a few tests (as in BAC tests, not driving tests).

spending money

From Sarah’s blog, if I had:

$100 – This is not a huge amount of money.  A kiddy pool for the back yard springs to mind.  New fabric is always fun.  I am planning to make gifts for L’s preschool teachers.  Maybe I’d buy some fun fabric for that project and as much extra as I could afford.

$1000 – No we’re talking.  $1000 to spend, and it must be on something fun?  Perhaps a shopping spree at Anthropologie.  Or, a nice ottoman and lamp for our living room.  Or a couple of easy chairs for the living room.  I think home decorating would win the day.

$10,000 – I would find it hard to blow $10,000 rather than put it in the kids’ college fund, but if you twisted my arm, Bora Bora does spring to mind.  I’m guessing H and I could have a nice week-long vacation in Bora Bora for 10K.  Or perhaps a trip to Europe for just the two of us.  Though who would take care of the kids, I don’t know.

$100,000 – OK, this is a heck of a lot of money.  I don’t even know what I’d want for that amount.  I’m kind of stumped.  First class travel for life for the entire family?  (Just coming off a plane trip.)

Updated – After reading Sarah’s post, I concur that an extended vacation might be a very nice option with this.  Or perhaps, also as she suggests, I would decorate our entire house in an upscale fashion with the help of a decorator.  Really, 100K is too much to blow, and not enough for a house.  I am not into cars or planes or boats.  If I had 100K, it would give me great joy to set it aside for college costs or retirement or pay down the mortgage.

$1,000,000 – New house.   Obviously.  I’d combine it with a few hundred thousand of our own resources (after selling our current house) and buy a nice house in a great school district.  Probably Mercer Island (where Obama grew up.)