Friday, March 5, 2021

7 Quick Takes about a Seasonal Alert, Learning New Things About People We Know, and Sewing My First Pajama Pants

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

1


I have an important announcement to make: SPRING IS COMING!!!

Birds were singing, too. It was unreal.

True, there was snow all over the ground and my kids were legit wearing snowpants, but I heard birdsong and saw green buds on a tree. I'm pretty sure this is actually happening. 

2


Usually we watch church at home over the Internet, but our family went to church in person this week. Of course it's been so long everyone had grown out of their church clothes, so there were quite a few highwater pants in our pew and someone was wearing Crocs (but it's a black pair so they're basically dress Crocs.) 

What prompted our in-person visit was that I was was giving a talk in church. One of the other speakers was a guy my daughter's age. 

They both work at the same grocery store, so she sees him 5 or 6 times a week... but only with a mask on, from the bridge of the nose up. Seeing him take it off to give his talk was like watching a YouTube face reveal. 

Only at this crazy time in history can you see someone practically every day for 4 months and not know that they have facial hair.

3


"I think we're finally succeeding as parents," I told Phillip one day. 

The 9-year-old has been devouring this new book series and wanted the most recent book, but when she looked it up at the library they didn't have it yet. It was too new. Thinking out loud, I heard her say to herself "Maybe I should do some chores to buy it..."

I mean, she totally didn't do any, but at least she considered it for a moment. Progress!

4


I just finished making some pajama pants for Phillip. He's really tall and thin, so storebought PJ pants fit him like capris. (If it tells you anything, the one I made fit perfectly and they were a size medium with 6" added on to the length.)

Now, I've done a fair amount of sewing  I've made almost all the curtains in our house including Roman shades, hemmed up a thousand pairs of pants, fixed up some rips and tears, and once, really stretched myself to make some lined Christmas stockings  but I've never made anything from a pattern before. 

It was more challenging than I expected and I had to keep asking my 14-year-old for help because she's taken a sewing class and made stuff with her grandmas. 

I think I feel about sewing like I do about cooking: I do it because it keeps everyone alive (or clothed,) but I don't know I'd ever say that I enjoy it.

5


On one particularly cold and windy night, an exterior door blew open. I try to keep it locked because the latch doesn't work well, but I guess someone left in unlocked this time.

I woke up in the morning annoyed and cold, determined to do something because we also have issues with some interior doors that don't latch tightly, either. 

After Googling the problem, I decided to first try tightening all the hinge screws to see if that helped. I went to the bedroom door first because it's the worst offender, and realized that it's probably so bad because it's got one of those over-the-door shoe organizers on it. 

The weight of Phillip's heavy dress shoes and steel-toed work shoes is equivalent to having our 4-year-old hanging up there 24/7, so I decided I needed to make space for them in the closet instead.

But when I went to the closet, I noticed a lot of things that don't really belong in there, so before I knew it most of the contents were strewn around the bedroom in various piles to keep, donate, move, and toss.

I asked Phillip about the clothes I never see him wear, and he still liked a few of them but never wore them because they had a stain. It wasn't until I was hunched over the washing machine scrubbing shirts with a pre-treater that I remembered I was there because a door blew open overnight.

I still haven't gotten around to tightening those hinges, by the way, but the closet looks great.
 

6


Two things didn't make sense to me this week. 

One, we've been receiving some documents from our insurance company and the first page is completely blank except for the company's letterhead and the words "PLEASE SEE THE ENCLOSED."

Two, this butter wrapper doesn't exactly help me measure, but good job trying.


However, this? This makes perfect sense and I think all retailers should think about replacing their "ring for service" bells with squeaky toys. 


Although I will say, it feels kind of weird to see an employee at Dollar Tree come running at the squeak of a dog toy.

7


My 1st grader celebrated his 100th day of the school year. I don't remember this being a thing when I was a kid, but they make a big deal out of 100s Day now. Pre-COVID, kids would go to school that day dressed up like 100-year-olds.

This is how they do that virtually, I guess:

Take a selfie on the school iPad, then click and drag the "old people accessories."

And yes, he put on a bald head under an old lady wig under an old man wig, a beard, glasses, hair bow, and  a pearl necklace.

If he's going to get old, this kid figures he might as well do it thoroughly.

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2 comments:

PurpleSlob said...

Yay Spring!!
You made Roman Shades?? wihtout a pattern?? You are good!! I've made plain curtains, but that's it for window coverings.
Have you gotten able to tighten those hinges yet? It did help one of our doors, that the hinges would practically not there at all.
Cutest little 100 yr old man I've ever seen!! Hairyest too!!

Jenny Evans (sister, not author) said...

I never really got into sewing because I hate patterns, they were always confusing to me. But I have made curtains and wall art and things that just take a little measuring and common sense.