Sew...We'll See How It Goes

Today, my plan is to buy a sewing machine. My mom is a talented seamstress who made 90% of our wardrobe when we were kids (and truth be told, well into our teenage years), and my grandma was a high school home ec teacher. My sewing resume includes a pin cushion from 7th grade and numerous other projects throughout the years that I got really excited about for about 10 seconds before they ended up in my mom's "please help Anne finish (or start)" pile. But, I am really motivated by the idea of doing fun and economical things like making my own window treatments. Or maybe a toaster cover, or a Christmas wall hanging.

I do tend to have this little problem with getting bored by hobbies very quickly, but the good thing about sewing is that there is a significant start-up cost, and so the guilt should carry me through at least a few projects.

First Full Day With The Brother-In-Law

My brother-in-law has spent the last two hours mowing, weeding, raking and generally pampering our long-ignored excuse for a lawn. All this, without even being asked.

I think I'm in love.

Vacationing, Take Two

Just for the record, there were lots of really fun things about my last two...trips. That tiny baby mouse was darn cute when I released it into the wild (far, far away from the camp) and it got caught on a little leaf and just hung there for a second before it was able to scamper off through the grass. That, and watching Dave snorkel in the lake, through the weeds and everything. Most people snorkel in the Bahamas, Dave snorkels in northwoods lakes. And my mom and I found the best homemade chocolate chip cookies ever at a little Amish gas station (this is inherently odd, yes) in West Virginia.

Today my brother-in-law moves in with us. He's going to be taking a literature class at the community college this fall and he loves Entourage, so I think we're going to get along just fine.

Summer Vacations

So I've been out of town 22 of the last 25 days, on what could only very loosely be called two "vacations." Here is a brief synopsis:

First vacation: I DROVE to Baltimore with my mom to help my brother and sister-in-law pack and clean in preparation for their three year stint in England. At one point, while Magic Erasing the scuffs from the inside of their coat closet, I wondered where my life had taken such a sad turn. Here I was, in the same ratty t-shirt for the third day in a row, spending my hard-earned summer vacation helping M and D jet off to the Yorkshire Dales to start a glamorous new British life. After it was over, I got back into my mom's mini-van and drove back to Minneapolis, in the same ratty t-shirt. I was carsick for pretty much the whole 24 hours home.

Second vacation: We spent a week at our cabin (they call them "camps" up there) in the U.P., where I was instrumental in ridding the place of no fewer than FOUR mice. Please refer to a previous blog entry to get my opinion on mice. 'Nuff said.