Mermaid Tail

I have a friend in California who (finally) updated her blog...it's been 6 months since the last time, right after they visited Ohio and I got to see her. She just posted a ton of pictures and I noticed her 5 year-old-twins had a mermaid-themed birthday party, so this blog is for her.

A few months ago, sometime in the summer, BonnieBlue was into The Little Mermaid. So I made her a mermaid tail. I found a video tutorial on youtube by Sasha (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtwnOQg_KH8). (The young lady is very concerned that others will post tutorials using "her" instructions. As an aside, I'm quite amused about this whole "ownership" issue on the 'net. Being in academia, I'm all about giving credit where credit is due, but some of these folks are kinda' creepy in their intensity about "their stuff." I think it's fine to just link back to the original post and give credit, but if you want to do your own thing and post your own thing after that, WTH, I think that's all you need to do. And I don't mean to be disrespectful when I don't link back to the original; sometimes I just can't remember where I saw it and then can't find it again. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.)

It's been well over 4 months since I've seen Sasha's video, and I'm not doing a video one or step-by-step photo one, so I'm going to go ahead and give a synopsis of how I made the mermaid tail. But if you're going to make one, do go look at Sasha's video; she's very thorough as I remember.

First, lay a big ole' piece of butcher block paper or something similar on the floor. Have your child lay on it, face up. Make sure there is enough room at the bottom (her feet) so that you can draw in the fluke (tail). Trace around the lower half of her body, allowing a generous seam allowance. I did about an inch. Draw in the fluke adding it where her feet were, but going further down...BonnieBlue loved having a longer tail to 'flap about.'

Cut it out. Get swimsuit fabric and a thread that matches. The same kind of fabric is also used for dance and gymnast outfits, if that helps you to find it. Very stretchy stuff. How much will depend on how big your kid is. I think I used a yard and had a bunch left over. 

Fold the fabric in half. Pin the butcher block pattern to the fabric and cut out around the pattern (or if you're more patient than me, trace around the pattern, then cut on the lines you traced) so that you have the 2 sides of the tail.  Leave about 4-6 inches of fabric above the waist...you want that extra fabric to turn down later. I had plans to do some nice finishing work on the waist, but I ended up just folding it down; that worked quite well.

Turn right sides in, pin around the edges about just less than the seam allowance you left (I pinned an inch in from the edge all the way around). Sew halfway between the edge and the pin. Backstitch frequently. I'm going to make another one next summer and will double sew (I don't know the technical term) because the stitching ripped after a few uses. (Perhaps my sewing friend, Mama Pea, knows of a solution...is there a 'stretchy' thread?)

Don't sew the waist closed. Turn the tail right side out. And this is what you get...

I had the grand intention of putting something in the tail so that it would be stiff, but by the time I got around to it, she didn't want me to. One time, she asked me to put her in the bathtub with her tail on, which I did because it's swimsuit fabric! Cool, huh?! She loves that tail. I bought a yellowish-greenish fabric when I bought this and will make her a new one next summer. I need to buy a bikini top or halter top or something, too.

Advent muffin tin

BonnieBlue is having a hard time understanding that today is not Christmas, and by today I mean everyday. So I made her this:

Once again, I can't remember what site I saw this on, but when I googled it, there were 20 or so sites that were featuring them, so I don't feel too badly about posting mine at all. I had to buy a 2.5 inch punch, which I've wanted for awhile, so it was a double goody.

It took me BonnieBlue's naptime yesterday to complete it. I used a 12 muffin mini-tin and scrapbook stuff to make the disks. A little dab of hot glue to make 'em stick and there ya' go. Oh, and I put one rolo or chocolate kiss in each muffin. This tin already had a hole drilled in it (which, now that I think of it, why?) so I slipped a nice wide ribbon through, and it's hanging on the back of one of dining room chairs.

Next year I'll try to start on Dec. 1, but I'll need to buy a 24 mini-tin.

A sweet Christmas present!

This is a cute gift basket I put together for our departmen support staff and coordinator at work.

The idea came to me when I went to the honey lab sale at the university I work at and saw the cute little beehive-shaped honey pot with honey dipper that has a cute little wooden be on the end. CUTE! I added a container of honey, a honey recipe booklet, a tube of beeswax lip balm, a citrus-honey candle, some honey lemon drops, and a bee-stamped notepad. The card has this quotation:

Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge.
We are perpetually on the way thither, being by

nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind.

----Friedrich Nietzsche

It's official...

...I'm too busy to breathe.

Don't expect anything new from me til January.

If I don't get tenure this year, I'm not sure I'll be upset. 2 years off with BonnieBlue sounds like heaven right now.

This stress makes me want to start drinking again.

Is it wrong for me to think about scheduling a colonoscopy just to be able to enjoy the best drugs on the planet? Yeah, the prep is awful, but oh that valium drip.

I may have to hire someone to decorate my house for Christmas. But first they'd have to clean it.

Oh. My insomnia is back.

It's My Way

Life is overwhelming right now. I guess in particular, work is overwhelming right now. When I am overwhelmed, I tend to practice some serious avoidance. It's my way.

I applied for a grant a few months ago with absolutely no expectation of getting it, and in fact, did not want to get it. Of course, I got it.

Now, the budget needs to be revised, and I was informed today by my budget office that the sponsoring agent needs it on Monday the 29th "at the latest." Who has this expectation during Thanksgiving week? Someone dropped the ball on this one, but I am the one who must scramble to finish, all the while I am out of state.

On another note, I am tired of/annoyed with Google Blogger and the one-picture-upload ideosyncrosy, so I have been avoiding my blog as well.

On still another note, BonnieBlue has pertussis. In a weird way, I'm finally glad to know that this 7-week cold has been for a reason, but annoyed that the doctor poo-poo'd the idea of pertussis when we took her in 2 weeks ago. "Just a cold." Helluva cold that lasts 7 weeks. Today she coughed so hard she threw up. Poor baby. I would gladly take on an illness if it meant my child would not suffer it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, but especially my one-and-only reader.

Thanksgiving PC: give it a rest

I know people who delight in telling people the myths of Thanksgiving, e.g., those folks weren't Pilgrims, they didn't eat Turkey and cranberries at the first Thanksgiving, etc. etc. These people also lament the celebration of a holiday that (to them) marks the onset of the genocide at worst, displacement at best of an entire native population of people. These people are also pro-illegal immigration, but I haven't gotten the nerve to point out the hypocrisy. Maybe soon.

Anyway, here's my first argument: Not Pilgrims because they weren't called that until more than 150 years later? Ummm, that's splitting hairs, don't ya' think? The Native Americans didn't call themselves Native Americans either then (many still don't). Second argument about turkey and cranberries not at that celebration, but we eat it now. There weren't Easter baskets at the first Easter or a Santa Claus at the birth of Christ, but those are our traditions now. And if you want to get a bit more macabre, we Christians don't crucify a Jew for our Easter celebration either. Give it a rest about the Turkey and cranberries.

Here's the crux of my point though: There is no excuse for what the early and later European immigrants and their descendents, as well as our nation's leaders, did to the Native population. None. I'm not an apologist. But those early immigrants, who I will still call the Pilgrims, didn't come here to kill the natives. They came here to start a new life in a land in which they thought there might be opportunities to thrive as families and communities. Hey, does that sound a little like Mexican immigrants? If you think the Mexicans should be allowed to come on over without restrictions, what's your beef with the early European immigrants having done it?

But more important, the first Thanksgiving seems to me to be a celebration of life, of survival, and even cooperation between two disparate groups of people. Why in tarnation would we not want to continue that tradition of celebration?! For heaven's sake, it's THANKSGIVING! When I sit down with my family and eat Turkey and cranberry sauce, I am not condoning the genocide of the native population; I am following the example of a humble band of immigrants who survived an incredibly harsh winter and wanted to GIVE THANKS to their Father in heaven with a celebration feast. It's really just that simple.

Jury duty

The trial is over and I can talk about it now.

Our system is a great one. It works to protect the rights of the accused/arrested. Unfortunately, the system is an overloaded one.

The case I was on was an OVI. There were no toxicology reports, but the guy crashed his car into a tree on a residential road at night. He had 2 baggies of white powder, one cocaine, one crushed Adderall. In addition, there were 30-60 pills spilled all over the front floorboard and seat of his car. In addition, he admitted to taking methodone that morning, 3 beers at midday, and cocaine three days before. The two arresting officers testified that he was impaired. Finally, we saw a dash-cam video that showed him clearly failing the 2 field sobriety tests. To any reasonable person, he was impaired. Defense claimed back injury prevented ability to perform the tests. On the video, you can hear the guy say, when the officer's asked before administering the tests if he had an health issues, "I have sciatica, but it's not bothering me now." He also entered and exited the cruiser in such a manner as to convince everyone familiar with anhyone who has back pain that he was NOT affected by back pain at that time.

One guy on the jury would not convict. I respect his right to vote as his conscience dictated but he indicated over and over that he would not convict the guy because the prosecution did not do their job. He insisted that they screwed up because there was no tox report. I pointed out every time he brought that up that we did not know that there was not a report, that perhaps there was and for some reason it was not admissable or it was surpressed. He couldn't buy it. 8 hours of deliberation. Hung jury.

Afterwards we found out the there were tox reports and that the guy scored 8 times higher than the 'high level' for cocaine. That evidence was surpressed because you can't submit tox reports for evidence without a lab tech to testify and the prosecution couldn't get the lab tech into court that day.

Despite all that, if I were ever charged with anything, I'd want people like those in that jury room deciding my fate. Despite the low stakes, everyone took it seriously, listened to each other, and except for the one guy, to consider each other's views.

By the way, the one guy who wouldn't convict? Corporate lawyer. Seemed to think he knew how to do the prosecutor's job better than the prosecutor.

Hope the coke guy, who by the way didn't have any priors, learned his lesson and doesn't ever again get behind the wheel of a car while jacked. We can only hope.