Start From the Bottom

Enjoying some debate posts from the iVillages past

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:08:12 GMT

The following was written 12/14/99, on iVillage's Current Debates board, by Vaniam. I recently had reason to search it out and reread it and felt it bore repeating after 10 years.

Titled "Deconstructing the Militant SAHM" the entire post can be found here. But the quote I sought was this:

All SAHMs are not militant. Far from it. I've never met a militant SAHM in real life, (not that I know of anyway). But I've *met* at few on the internet. SAH vs WOH debates reach a fever pitch on this board from time to time. These debates cause war zones on internet Playgroups - which is weird if a group has been together through the Expecting part and then they create havoc if a mom returns to work.

I'm not talking about SAHMs who say things like,

"I stay at home because it's best for my family"

"I believe young children should be with a parent, in my opinion".

Nope. I'm talking about the woman who says things like:

"What did you have kids for? Why didn't you just get a dog?"

"Why are you letting daycare raise your kids?"

"Why did you have kids if you don't want to care for them".

These women fight any progress made in the workplace to make employers more family friendly. They fight maturnity and parental leave legislation. They think workplace daycares are horrors. They don't want mothers working. Period.

They say that they "care about children" and that's why they feel so strongly. But they turn on a dime if the mother is a single mother. Those mothers are allowed to work. They obviously care less about children of single parents because the potential tax increase to pay benefits for SAH single parents is enough to get them to compromise their all-caring, all-knowing philosophy on child rearing.

All too often, when challenged by a militant SAHM, the working mother will list all the reasons - financial, health benefits etc. If the plight is pathetic enough, the militant SAHM will forgive them the "need" to work. Without full disclosure or justification for working, the militant SAHM assumes and boldly announces that the working mother is materialistic and has a greater need for consumer goods than a sense of responsibility for their children.

If the brave WOH mom says that she likes to work. Then she becomes "selfish". The militant SAHM says that pursuing her own selfish needs at the expense of the child's well being is a detriment to society. And we wonder, she says, why there are school shootings, juvenile crime and why our schools are crumbling.

Now - we know that each family decision is different. We all have different variables. We all have different compentencies. We have different family goals. We like to live different ways. We want different things.

I work for money, myself. Nothing more, nothing less. I would be a SAHM in a heartbeat if I could. And I could. But I have no interest in fashioning my daughter's Xmas dress from dryer lint. I don't wish to buy birthday presents from the dollar store. I wish for my child to have access to swimming lessons, enrichment activities and such. I like to buy what I want in the grocery store. And I want cable. And I want 2 cars. And I want to make the odd spontaneous purchase. And I want to decide at the last minute that we're going out for dinner. And I don't wish to rent. I want to own.

Most SAHMs who have the income or financial security to live a reasonably comfortable existance are not militant. They generally feel lucky and priviledged to be able to live well on one income and be at home. They have likely planned well.

I have found that the greater degree of militancy comes from those who have made huge sacrifices. They use one car. They don't shop. They down-grade everything they own. Get rid of cable. No spontaneous purchases. No pay to play activities for the children. That's fine if that's what you want, but I couldn't live that way and they think everyone should.

I would feel like a terrible parent if I gave up everything to stay home. First of all, I'd be miserable because I would feel deprived. I'd be jealous of those who had more than me. I would feel resentful that I couldn't prepare the meals that I really wanted to. I would feel guilty that my kid couldn't participate in activities because we didn't have the money for the program. And if momma is miserable, no-one is going to be having any fun.

I think three factors contribute to militant SAHMism. One if misery - they create a life with so much sacrifice that they want everyone else to be miserable too.

The second factor is control. They cannot entertain for even a nano-second that anyone else could possibly have a positive influence on their child. No one else can teach. No one else can nurture. No one else can be important to the child.

The third factor is an unusually high need for validation. Non-militant SAHMs are comfortable doing what they do without needing society or the entire internet to pat them on the back and validate them. Militant SAHMs want people to think they are the unselfish heros of the world.

So what do you think? Who are these women to log on to the internet and rake everyone else over the coals while looking for kudos for their "sacrifice". Who are these women to put everyone on the defensive and cause people to justify their choices? What do you think motivates them? And why?

Now, I just *know* that a militant SAHM will attempt to turn this thread into a debate. Let her. It will only help us to deconstruct the personality traits that cause this militancy.

Thanks, Van! Looking back, this might actually be on par with the Buckley Manifesto, even if it wasn't seen as such at the time.

I interrupt the quilt posts for a response to a blog I read today

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:53:45 GMT

Drinking Will Solve Everything

It's kinda cute, but it's the end of her blog entry that I want to address.

"....Raising little kids, especially if you are crazy enough to stay home (like I was), will eventually drive you stark raving mad. Friggin’ nuts. And the skills you will use to stay sane when they are teens and moving on with their lives are different than the skills you need to survive while raising little ones. Perhaps treasuring your past years with them is a skill the Empty Nester uses to cope. But while you are in the middle of it, you know as well as the sun will shine tomorrow, that this madness will never ever end. They will never go to bed easily, they will never let go of your leg when you want to go somewhere, they will never stop having tantrums at the most embarrassing times, and they will never learn to wipe their own butts.

"However, now, mine have. They walk and talk and drive and go to bed all on their own. And they let go of my leg when I leave, and usually they don’t even know I am leaving or coming or whether I am alive at all. In fact, they are just not here. They are gone. And to survive this, I drink since I haven’t yet figured out more proper skills or taken up needlepoint, bridge, or bingo. And frankly it is not that great having the bathroom to oneself, or picking the radio station, or having un-pooped on clothes. And having all the time in the world to get your hair done, or to have a lovely lunch with friends, or to become self-actualized is over-rated. Simply stated, when your kids leave, it is just very sad and frankly a little lonely."

and my reply? Meh, you're fucking crazy.

If you want to share the bathroom while you potty, get a fucking cat--you'll never pee alone again. Having one's child grow up and leave isn't sad; it's awesome. Hell it's the entire POINT of all the pooped-on clothing! And if you've done it right, they don't go away forever; they just figure out how to get their own pooped on clothing and they're going to need babysitters occasionally.

I get the part about missing the very things I railed about in the day, but the fact is, if I weren't missing those days, I'd be missing THESE. The ones where my kid's a grown up that I really like, about to marry a girl I really like. Where I'm actually contemplating a pointless and totally unnecessary change of domicile, so that I can drive even FARTHER to work, but live in the same neighborhood that boy and his girl are moving to. Because they have ASKED me to consider moving there.

I would never want to be missing THESE days. This is where life is the richest. Why on earth would I trade that for more poop??

The Quilttop is complete!

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:17:50 GMT

I was planning on using the leftover yellow fabric from the applique as the binding, but now I think black is a better choice. This portion of the quilt top, the black 1" border and the multicolor 2.5" border with colored corners, was sewn on the 1909 Singer 66.

For those playing along at home on the vintage machine bingo, the decal set here is called Brown Lotus. This machine is one of my favorites (as I mentioned in the meme post), because I cleaned and restored it and its original cabinet myself.

Okay, okay, time to show some progress

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:58:15 GMT

I've been working on the quilt top, I promise! I just haven't posted any of my progress on it. Got all the sashing done (and in less than 5 hours, too, which is much more quickly than I thought it would go). Ultimately, I chose to make the sashing a bit narrower than the original sample, because I only had 46 inches of the black fabric once I'd squared it up. So I cut 1.5" strips the length of the fabric (rather than the width--this was to make the black tie in more closely with the yellow, which was 56" wide (the black was only 42" wide). Also 1.5" strips of the yellow and sewed two of each color, alternating (black, yellow, black, yellow) down the lengths.

Then I cut across 1" wide strips. My sewing space looked like I'd deconstructed a bunch of huge bumblebees! I then sewed 6 of those strips so that I had a long alternating piece and then sewed another 1.5" black strip on either side of it. The resulting sashing is about .5 inch narrower than my example, but it's not an appreciable difference, imo.

Then I had to tackle block placement so I would know how to sew it all together. I didn't want any duplication of a block in any row or column and I was intending a random placement of the blocks. As it happened the best color distribution worked out with the blocks going in a diagonal, so although there is some pattern to the placement, I don't think it's screaming or anything. Okay, maybe it is, but I'm good with it anyway :) And here it is; I apologize for the cocky-wampus view on the picture, but it was the only way to get the whole thing in the frame.

This weekend's agenda includes attaching the borders and then making the quilt sandwich. Once that's done, I plan to spend the rest of the weekend practicing free-motion quilting on my Singer 66 treadle. We'll see how that goes before I commit to FMQ for this project, but that's my intention right now. I want to spend the last weekend in October binding the quilt. We'll see how that goes ;)

Playtime in the Sewing Room!

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:06:48 GMT

Now that the applique process is done, there's time for playing in the sewing room. The first thing I wanted to do today was experiment with the strip piecing of the sashing--I wanted to see if the results from making a dotted yellow line in the 'roadway' sashing would be worth all the extra work, so I dug through my scrap pile and found some cheap remnants (since I didn't want to experiment with the expensive quilt-store fabric). The alternative is to do a simple 3 strip piecing of black/yellow/black for a solid yellow line, but my instinct is to go with the dotted line.

Anyway, I set up the handcrank machine, which always does a great job with piecing and came up with this:

I love it! Definitely going to go with the dotted yellow line (once I do all the math to ensure I have enough of the black fabric). when I'm ready to start that project, I'll be using this machine:

With that settled, I dug out my Kenmore machine to begin the blanket stitching on the applique. and then realized I don't have matching thread for all the different colors on the applique, so off to JoAnn's for thread.

What?? You didn't actually think I'd go to JoAnn's and only return with the things I intended to buy, did you? I saw this and immediately realized I would NOT have to strip piece the border if I didn't want to. And I bought enough to use this fabric as the backing, although that ship hasn't sailed for sure either--I still really like the background fabric on the applique. But if I don't use this fabric on this quilt, I'm sure to use it on some quilte because it's adorable and I love it.

Anyway, once I got back home, I stuck the new fabric in the wash and settled down to start working on the details and outlining of the applique blocks.

These are great fun to do, but slower and more painstaking than piecing, especially while I got used to the rhythm of the blanket stitch. But I like the effect and it's a relaxing process--I just stick a movie in the DVD player and settle in.

And here's the Kenmore (and let me just say, I LOOOOVE that machine, considering it's only 2 years old :)

Dump Trucks and Train Engines!

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:03:47 GMT

Yay! The applique work is done (aside from edging and top stitching). The Singer 27 worked for all of it.

Dump Trucks! I'm really pleased with how these came out.

Train Engines! Ok, I admit, I have some mixed feelings on these (and I think I burned my fingers into several layers of doneness trying (unsuccessfully in too many cases) to get the fusible interfacing tucked underneath. But I'm hoping the top stitching will do a good bit to cover that up and if not? Well, he's 2, he'll never know it wasn't intentional ;)

This afternoon, I'm going to practice with a couple different ways to get the sashing the way I want it.

New Quilt in Process

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:43:15 GMT

Got started (sewing) on my newest quilt this weekend. This quilt will be appliques of cars and trucks, with sashing pieced like roadway between the blocks. Applique is NOT my favorite quilt form, so I'm doing a hard push to get that part done as quickly as possible, since this quilt is intended as a Christmas gift. And anyone who knows me, knows how I embrace procrastination, so there's really no time to lose! ;)

This weekend I did 3 blocks each of fire trucks and cars, on a neutral background of tan.

The fire trucks are the only vehicles which will have uniform color scheme, other than the wheels on all of the vehicles which are going to be blue (because I am cutting it VERY close on my black fabric for the sashing). The other vehicles (cars, dump trucks and a train engine) will be mix and match.

Here's a close up of the fire engine, so you can see the background fabric. One of the ladies at the fabric store picked the background out and I loved it immediately. I was fortunate that when I described the project, they understood immediately (and agreed with me) that the blocks needed a neutral to fade into the background. And I like this as it has some interest, but doesn't try to overwhelm the colors of the applique.

And the three cars. I will be using a blanket stitch for the outlines of all the appliques. That will be done prior to piecing the quilt top together. I'm also planning top stitching on all of the vehicles to put some details (like windows and doors), without having to applique/piece every detail in. I haven't decided if that part will be done before constructing the quilt top, or as part of the final quilting.

All the sewing on this quilt so far has been done on my 1908 Singer 27 (Sphinx decals). I *do* so love sewing on this machine head. the blanket stitching will be done on my modern-era Kenmore, but I anticipate all of the straight-stitching to be done on my antique and vintage machines.

A Sewing Machine Meme

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:00:20 GMT

SewMamaSew.com recently requested links to blog entries with the following meme about our favorite(s) sewing machines, so here are mine:

What brand and model do you have? A 1908 Singer 27-3 with Sphinx decals (pretty badly worn) in a treadle cabinet; a 1909 Singer 66-1 with Brown Lotus decals (better condition than the Singer 27, but not perfect by any means) in a parlor cabinet; a modern Kenmore 16231 portable--I usually set this up on the Singer 27 cabinet with a cutting board over the hole, so I can have the cabinet flip top open for more work space.

That's the Singer 27; the wear of the decals is pretty obvious.

And this is the Singer 66, after a good cleaning. The decals were gorgeous once I got 80 some odd years of grunge off the machine head (caution for anyone trying this at home--be GENTLE--decals on sewing machines made before the 1940s are very easily damaged)

This is a picture of my sewing room; the machine on the metal shelving unit is the Kenmore 16231.

How long have you had it? I've had the Singer 27 the longest, at 5 years, the Singer 66 at 4 years and the Kenmore at 2 years.

How much does that machine cost (approximately)? The Singer 27 cost about $20 for the machine head, but it had been "Franken-fitted" with parts from a Singer 127 to try to make the machine head work off a motor instead of a treadle. This can actually be done, but not the way the original "designer" was attempting. So I had to buy appropriate parts. In the meantime, I'd been given an orphaned set of treadle irons, so I bought cabinet parts off Ebay to create the treadle cabinet for the machine head. In all, I probably paid about $75 for everything and have a wonderful machine to sew on.

The Singer 66-1 cost $100 from Ebay. The head was filthy and the cabinet desperately needed refinishing.

Here are a couple of before/after shots of the back side of the Lotus' machine's pillar. I actually used an automotive degreaser (some house brand from Wal-Mart, in a purple jug), cut with 4 parts of water (to 1 part of cleaner) and 0000 steel wool (used VERY VERY VERY gently). Any kind of chrome or silver polish works on the shiny bits. Rust can be cleaned off (and obviously should be), and then the pieces shined and oiled lightly. For light rust, just a bit of fine sand paper should do it. For really bad rust, I like to use EvapoRust.

And a before/after of the cabinet refinishing. this side was in the worst condition--I probably wouldn't have had to strip the entire cabinet, but for this side.

I probably spent another $30 in cleaning and wood stripping/refinishing supplies. The machine head took a day's hard work and the cabinet took 2 full weekend days with lots of elbow grease for both pieces, but again, paid off with a beautiful cabinet and pretty machine head that sews as beautifully as the day it came from the Singer factory.

The Kenmore 16231 cost $249 from Sears. I could have gotten it for less, but I didn't want to wait--I was having knee surgery and wanted to get the machine before the surgery (so I wasn't trying to tote the thing out to my car while on crutches or a walker :)

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)? Mostly quilting and home decorating, but I do love to make clothing--I simply haven't had the time to get into any clothing projects recently. Below are a couple thumbnail pics of a few of babyquilts I've finished.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get? I *try* to sew at least once a week, usually on Sundays, when I can schedule a marathon session in the sewing room with confidence that I'm not likely to be interrupted. I'd like to sew more, but my full time job gets in the way and they won't let me set up any of my sewing machines there! LOL

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name? I love *all* my machines, but these three are my sure favorites. Some of my machines have names, but not these three :)

What features does your machine have that work well for you? I love the rhythm of treadling, also the stitch by stitch control of it--it's much easier to control speed on a treadle than on an electric machine, which is very helpful in piecing quilts. Most of my quilts are pieced on the treadles or a hand crank machine that I have. I like my Kenmore for straightline quilting--I've not tried my hand at free-motion yet, so I can't say if any of my machines does that well. I love the needle up/down feature on the Kenmore. And with the treadles and handcranks, because speed is so easily controlled, it's as if they have needle up/down :)

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine? Well, the nature of the Singer 27 is that it has the old style vibrating shuttle with the long bobbins, so they don't hold nearly as much thread as the more modern round bobbins. But I get around that by winding half a dozen or so at a time. Since I piece quilts with only a couple basic colors of thread, it doesn't matter if I use up all the bobbin thread or not on any given project.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it! LOL, I think I've already told all their stories :) I enjoyed putting my Singer 27 back into working order from its sad, grungy state, and I enjoyed cleaning up the Singer 66 and refinishing the cabinet. I'm not really eager to take on either such project any time soon, mind you, but I enjoyed doing it and bringing very old machines back into useful life. And I love my little Kenmore because it's very portable, especially compared to the weight of my vintage machines!

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why? I'd recommend any of these machines to anyone. They're fun to sew on and it's nice to think of the history of the century old machines and wonder about the households where they lived before mine.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine? It should sing to you when you use it. Which sounds very silly and emotional, but I've found it to be true. I mentioned the "11 essential machines" earlier, but all of them are either Singers or Kenmores. I love them. I've had other brands of vintage machines (a couple Whites and Davis), but they simply didn't touch me the way the Singers and Kenmores do. (Which is silly, because Kenmores, over the years, have been made by a number of different companies, but emotional responses don't have to make sense, thank goodness!)

And I have friends online with vintage machines--one woman won't collect anything but White. Another one is a very vocal advocate for the old Domestics. Another one has a sewing room filled with Willcox & Gibbs chainstitch treadles. Choosing your sewing machine is a very personal decision, imo, and I think anyone looking for a new machine should try lots of different brands, taking into consideration the features she will need/use most. And then pick the machine that sings to her--even if everyone she knows likes another kind better.

Do you have a dream machine? I think I already have my dream machines :)

I want that job!!!

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:13:00 GMT

Oh, you know which one I mean: the one where I get to think of new and interesting ways to totally freak out an entire city, using Air Force One. I mean c'mon, a low altitude fly-over thru/next to Manhattan??? Genius, I tell you! Genius! All in the name of updating the photo files of AF1. Hey, everyone needs a portfolio, right? It's good for publicity. Everybody in Hollywood does it.

Think of the possibilities. Now that we've recreated the horror of 9/11, we can create an entire genre of history-related AF1 fly-overs. Like, next we can zoom Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Or if the budget in these tight economic times doesn't cover international terror, maybe we can just recreate the bombing of Pearl Harbor. There's gotta be some Navy ship ready for scuttling. Or, you know....not. Probably shouldn't spoil the surprise or we won't get realistic shots.

And let's not limit ourselves to the history of air travel. This is pure Hollywood, so think outside the box. We can TOTALLY have AF1 kick General Lee's ass at Gettysburg. Re-enactors live for shit like this! Or the Battle of Baltimore Harbor. The national anthem could only be improved by the addition of a strafing run on the British by AF1. Cornwallis, anyone? Yorktown could use the economic boost, is all I'm sayin'.

We don't even have to limit ourselves to real events. How about if AF1 does an entire portfolio of famous airplane scenes from movies? Tell me it would NOT be awesome to see Cary Grant running like hell from Air Force One? The possibilities here are limitless.

Go vote.

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:17:36 GMT

Doesn't matter who for (okay, yes, it does, but that's not the point here). Vote. Dammit.

Tough 12 months to be a Woman in Congress

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:47:22 GMT

They're dropping like flies this year!

First it was Congresswoman JoAnn Davis of Virginia of breast cancer in October of 2007. Then Congresswoman Julia Carson of Indiana died of lung cancer in December.

And yesterday, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio died of an aneurysm. None of them was especially old; Congresswoman Carson was the oldest at 69. Congresswoman Davis was the youngest at 57.

None of them touched my life in any real way, other than the opportunity to produce stationery for them in the past 3 years. All of them ranked in my "favorites"--a status accorded to anyone who doesn't drive me batshit crazy with 18 gazillion revisions of their letterhead style just to move 3 lines 5 decims to the right.

And yet, it's still sad to change their envelopes by removing their own signature and replacing it with that of the Clerk of the House (Lorraine C. Miller, still living).

I&M Canal Boat tour

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:38:44 GMT

Larry the Mule and his handler, hooking up for work. (well, not 'hooking up' as in the euphemism)

A view down the canal facing towards the bow of the boat

A view back down the canal, facing the stern.

The Volunteer, docked. Taken from the original locks.

Unfortunately, only one of the Starved Rock pictures came out.

Family Picnic

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:30:11 GMT

Went to the family picnic on Saturday and here are the pictures.

Kathy, Mary and Anissa

Jeannie, Rick, Karl and Ellie

Tony and Al

Mom and Ann

Diana, Lou, Beth and Tracey

Debbie, Sammy, Kirsten, one of Bill and Sue's boys, Bill and Sue (and Mandy in the background)

Stacy and Mike

Wayne (bartending) and Jim

Lucy, Mandy, Kathe and Dad

Songs I hate, Part II

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:39:28 GMT

Yeah, I know. Another country song. Hey they don't ALL suck (oh hush, they don't). This one? this one sucks like a Dyson. Only less productively.

This is one of those bedamned "Ain't It Great When Young Folks Die ~~Needlessly~~ For Freedom?" patriotic drivel songs that have been the bane of country music since 9/11. (Thank you, Alan Jackson, you ass). The perpetator of retch this time out, tho, is Trace Adkins--well, anyway, Trace sang it. Maybe he didn't write it. 'Course, if he didn't then there are two people in urgent need of a special corner in hell for this one.

I never thought that this is where I'd settle down.
I thought I'd die an old man back in my hometown.
They gave me this plot of land,
Me and some other men, for a job well done.

Yes, that's right. Men. Women don't go to Arlington. Women aren't soldiers. Or brave. Or buried at Arlington. (except they are, but let's not ruin a beautiful patriotic moment with that, shall we?)

There's a big White House sits on a hill just up the road.
The man inside, he cried the day they brought me home.

Thus establishing the guy's body was brought home the day the Democrats took control of the House and Senate. Cuz I'm thinking the President doesn't cry every day they bury someone else in Arlington.

Well, I suppose the author might not have meant the President. Maybe there's a really sensitive janitor. (or other job title--doesn't have to be janitor)

They folded up a flag and told my Mom and Dad:
"We're proud of your son."

And then they went home to call their kids at Harvard and see if they're planning to stop by for spring break.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

Yes, that's right, folks: The Chosen Ones. The LUCKY ones who GET to be buried in Arlington. Not like those unlucky schmucks still alive, still fighting, still missing their families. Not THOSE losers...

I remember Daddy brought me here when I was eight.
We searched all day to find out where my grand-dad lay.
And when we finally found that cross,
He said: "Son, this is what it cost to keep us free."

We had to kill Grandad. (stick with me, we're getting there....

Now here I am, a thousand stones away from him.
He recognized me on the first day I came in.
And it gave me a chill when he clicked his heels,
And saluted me.

See, Grandad was a Nazi. Didn't know they buried Nazis in Arlington, tho. (Cuz OUR Army doesn't do the whole heel click/salute thing. Never did.)

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

Yes, so you said.

And everytime I hear twenty-one guns,
I know they brought another hero home to us.

Just a note, in the song that's "...I know they brought another heeeeeeeeeee-roe home to us." I thought maybe the Greek place did deliveries, but I'm not sure The Chosen Ones get to eat.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
We're thankful for those thankful for the things we've done.
We can rest in peace;
'Cause we are the chosen ones:
We made it to Arlington.

Yeah, dust to dust,
Don't cry for us:
We made it to Arlington.

Yeah, don't cry. Arlington's like making it to retirement, only better because your 401(k) plan wasn't pilfered by management. And they don't bury ex-Enron employees at Arlington. Well, they don't unless, left without their retirement, they re-enlisted and got shipped off to Iraq....

Yeah. HAAAAAAAAATE this song.

Songs I hate, Part I

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:30:40 GMT

I can see this as an ongoing feature/rant/whinefest. But tonight at work, "The Fool", as sung by Le Ann Womack came on and as it's one of my most hated songs ever, I thought I'd start with it.

Lyrics are here: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leeannwomack/thefool.html

But basically, the whiny ass heroine (WAH) of the song comes upon the former love (FL) of the WAH's current love. Get it? FL used to be with Dumbass Man (DM) first, then dumped him, and WAH got together with DM. Except, apparently, DM is still in love with FL. (Which means WAH is also Stupid Woman (SW), but that's too many acronyms)

So, first she introduces herself to FL:

You don't know me but I know who you are
Mind if I sit down
Do I look familiar if I don't well I should
I'm sure you've seen me around
I know you've probably heard my name
Though we've not been introduced

Christ on a crutch, woman, GET TO THE POINT ALREADY! I also don't know you, but I'm pretty sure I hate you. I get it; we're strangers. And btw, why the fuck should I have noticed you enough to make you familiar in the first place? Ego much?

I'm the fool in love with the fool
Who's still in love with you

Oh, fuck, that's YOU? This will not end well, will it?

If you've got a minute I'll buy you a drink
I've got something to say
It might sound crazy but last night in his sleep
I heard him call out your name
This ain't the first time he's done it before

Peachy. Look, it's not like he doesn't know we broke up, right? And, you're still hanging with him because...why again?

And it's hard to face the truth
I'm the fool in love with the fool
Who's still in love with you

Oh, right. You're as big an idiot as he is. Let's clear something up right now, cookie. I dumped his ass. And then I left him. I don't want him back. I'm not chasing him or dropping by for a quickie and then dumping him all over again. We broke up and I got on with the rest of my life. So what's your beef? That I didn't disappear off the planet, too? Well, sorry about that, but I saw no reason to FUCKING LEAVE TOWN, just because your loser boyfriend is an obsessive freak.

I know love is a fragile thing
And I'm trying hard to make it last
But it ain't easy holding on to my dream
When he's holding on to the past

Here's some helpful advice for next time. Don't get involved with a guy who's in love with someone else. Because for all your whining about how I'm the big meanie here, I actually DUMPED him when my feelings weren't the same as his. He, on the other hand, is clearly happy to stick it to you, while he's still 'crying at night' over me. Which...great for him, but kinda sucks for you. I have to wonder why you're putting yourself through this. And his wretchedly selfish behavior towards you only confirms my decision to dump his useless, selfish user ass, because what kind of man strings along a woman he KNOWS loves him when he doesn't love her?

Just one more thing before I go
I'm not here to put you down
You don't love him and that's a fact
Girl I've seen you around
But you hold his heart in the palm of your hand
And it's breaking mine in two
'Cause I'm the fool in love with the fool
Who's still in love with you

WTF? *I'm* the bad guy here? How the fuck does THAT work??? I don't love him. He loved me. That's not a relationship that can work. *I* at least had the integrity to END THE RELATIONSHIP. HE??? Is DICKING YOU AROUND. Get it? He's a schmuck! He's selfish and, apparently an idiot, because it's possible you're a nice woman despite your lack of spine. Go! Be free! Dump his loser ass! ESPECIALLY because you love him. He so doesn't deserve you.

But either way, stop acting like I'm the one with the control here. I'm outie.

*******

Sigh.....I hate that song....

Jzy Hates Suede

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:07:57 GMT

Not the fabric. Jzy hates Suede the 'speaks of himself in the third person' disaster of a fashion designer contestant on Project Runway. Jzy thinks that Suede needs to die a very slow, torturous death surrounded by people with cattle prods that zap him every time he starts a sentence with, "Suede thinks...."

Jzy wants Suede dead, but only after he's suffered as much as Jzy has. Maybe Jzy will sicc Cheroin on him.

This is Jo's fault

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:29:18 GMT

I'm supposed to do something with this. Bold, underline, strike out. Hang on, lemme open a new window and read her post again....

Okay, I'm back...I had to go to some website (I'll post it in a second), plug the year I graduated high school into the search function and then post the 100 most popular songs from that year. Then, "Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline your favorites. Do nothing to the ones you don't remember/care about." Oh, and the website is here.

(I'd probably remember more of these if I could hear them.)

~~1. My Sharona, The Knack~~
2. Bad Girls, Donna Summer
3. Le Freak, Chic
~~4. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy, Rod Stewart~~ (I should be able to do more than strike thru this one)
~~5. Reunited, Peaches and Herb~~
6. I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor
~~7. Hot Stuff, Donna Summer~~
8. Y.M.C.A., Village People
9. Ring My Bell, Anita Ward
~~10. Sad Eyes, Robert John~~
11. Too Much Heaven, Bee Gees
~~12. MacArthur Park, Donna Summer~~ (HAAAAAAAAAAAATE)
~~13. When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman, Dr. Hook~~
14. Makin' It, David Naughton
15. Fire, Pointer Sisters
16. Tragedy, Bee Gees
17. A Little More Love, Olivia Newton-John
18. Heart Of Glass, Blondie
~~19. What A Fool Believes, Doobie Brothers~~
20. Good Times, Chic
~~21. You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond~~ Neil Diamond--retch!
22. Knock On Wood, Amii Stewart
23. Stumblin' In, Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman
~~24. Lead Me On, Maxine Nightingale~~
25. Shake Your Body, Jacksons
26. Don't Cry Out Loud, Melissa Manchester
~~27. The Logical Song, Supertramp~~
~~28. My Life, Billy Joel~~
29. Just When I Needed You Most, Randy Vanwarmer
30. You Can't Change That, Raydio
~~31. Shake Your Groove Thing, Peaches and Herb~~
32. I'll Never Love This Way Again, Dionne Warwick
33. Love You Inside Out, Bee Gees
~~34. I Want You To Want Me, Cheap Trick~~
35. The Main Event (Fight), Barbra Streisand
36. Mama Can't Buy You Love, Elton John
~~37. I Was Made For Dancin', Leif Garrett~~
38. After The Love Has Gone, Earth, Wind and Fire
39. Heaven Knows, Donna Summer and Brooklyn Dreams
40. The Gambler, Kenny Rogers
41. Lotta Love, Nicolette Larson
~~42. Lady, Little River Band~~
43. Heaven Must Have Sent You, Bonnie Pointer
44. Hold The Line, Toto
45. He's The Greatest Dancer, Sister Sledge
~~46. Sharing The Night Together, Dr. Hook~~
~~47. She Believes In Me, Kenny Rogers~~
48. In The Navy, Village People
49. Music Box Dancer, Frank Mills
50. The Devil Went Down To Georgia, Charlie Daniels Band
51. Gold, John Stewart
52. Goodnight Tonight, Wings
53. We Are Family, Sister Sledge (half the reason to see The Birdcage!)
54. Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy, Bad Company
55. Every 1's A Winner, Hot Chocolate
~~56. Take Me Home, Cher~~
57. Boogie Wonderland, Earth, Wind and Fire
58. (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away, Andy Gibb
59. What You Won't Do For Love, Bobby Caldwell
60. New York Groove, Ace Frehley
61. Sultans Of Swing, Dire Straits
62. I Want Your Love, Chic
63. Chuck E's In Love, Rickie Lee Jones
64. I Love The Night Life, Alicia Bridges
~~65. Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now, McFadden and Whitehead~~
66. Lonesome Loser, Little River Band
67. Renegade, Styx
68. Love Is The Answer, England Dan and John Ford Coley
69. Got To Be Real, Cheryl Lynn
70. Born To Be Alive, Patrick Hernandez
71. Shine A Little Love, Electric Light Orchestra
72. I Just Fall In Love Again, Anne Murray
73. Shake It, Ian Matthews
74. I Was Made For Lovin' You, Kiss
75. I Just Wanna Stop, Gino Vannelli
76. Disco Nights, G.Q.
~~77. Ooh Baby Baby, Linda Ronstadt~~
78. September, Earth, Wind and Fire
79. Time Passages, Al Stewart
80. Rise, Herb Alpert
81. Don't Bring Me Down, Electric Light Orchestra
82. Promises, Eric Clapton
83. Get Used To It, Roger Voudouris
84. How Much I Feel, Ambrosia
85. Suspicions, Eddie Rabbitt
~~86. You Take My Breath Away, Rex Smith~~
87. How You Gonna See Me Now, Alice Cooper
88. Double Vision, Foreigner
89. Every Time I Think Of You, Babys
90. I Got My Mind Made Up, Instant Funk
91. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Michael Jackson
92. Bad Case Of Lovin' You, Robert Palmer
~~93. Somewhere In The Night, Barry Manilow~~
94. We've Got Tonite, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
95. Dance The Night Away, Van Halen
96. Dancing Shoes, Nigel Olsson
97. The Boss, Diana Ross
98. Sail On, Commodores
99. I Do Love You, G.Q.
100. Strange Way, Firefall

The Calculus of Painting

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:01:44 GMT

Or, How Do you Go an Entire Month Preparing a Room for Painting and Never Paint?

All the stuff is off the walls (that is coming off--the rest will be taped). All the spackeling is done--still needs sanding. Furniture has all been moved away from the walls, such that I can get behind it with roller, paint brush, paint can, and ladder.

And yet.

This is the last weekend. The new floors will be installed on Monday.

So ... f(x) < Painting.

There's always a silver lining....

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:45:59 GMT

today's silver lining is: At least the heavy-ass item I dropped on my foot wasn't a sewing machine. Granted dropping a gallon can of paint on my foot wasn't high on my list of things I needed to do today, BUYING paint was farther down that list than moving the sewing machine was, so now that I'm sitting on the couch for the rest of the afternoon with an ice pack on my foot, I got more done, and the paint is a good 30 lbs lighter than if it had been the sewing machine

See? Silver lining.

I'm going to have a really awesome bruise.

Life without Furniture

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:50:30 GMT

I'm a lot further along the packing away/moving stuff out process of getting the living and dining rooms ready for the laminate floor installation than I thought I would be by this time.

The living room is mostly done, excepting what I plan to do the night before the flooring guys come. John and I haven't had a chance to synchronize our schedules so we can move the aquarium out of the room, but he's going to try to stop by today and we'll move the tank and base into the spare room.

In the living room, everything is out except the buffet (which is staying) and the china cabinet (which is not). I listed the cabinet on Freecycle and just got crickets chirping as a response, so my solutions there are to call AMVETS on Monday for a pickup and if THEY won't take the fucker, then I'm going to have John help me abandon the beast on the patio of the condo next door (the bank foreclosed on the unit two weeks ago and the unit has been vacant since March anyway). It's not hideous; I can't understand why it's still here. I'd keep it myself if it weren't so damned big for my tiny dining room.

So the point of this particular whine fest? Both rooms look really good with hardly anything in them. I'm seriously rethinking my plans for after the floors are done. And I'm not specifically wedded to the idea of resetting the fish back up. Or of keeping the dining room table, even in the alcove in the living room.

I wonder how much stuff I can cram onto that patio next door.....

:::whine:::: I'm HUNGRY!!!

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:19:56 GMT

I want chili for dinner. Or beef soup. Either way, I want something from the crockpot. mmmmmmm.

It's only going to be about a gazillionº (okay 86º) today. But still. I want chili. Or soup. And I kinda want it now. Damn.

Bob (the fish) update.

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:28:21 GMT

Bob has settled into his much smaller digs and seems to be fairly happy there. Nearly as I can tell as long as he has stone he can pick up and spit at the aquarium walls at will, he's a happy fish. He also seems to be a bit more social in the kitchen than he was in the living room. When I go in to putter around, he comes out of his hiding log to watch.

Cyduck, in the meantime, is plotting how to raise the lid in order to make Bob into a tasty snack. Or, you know, hiding in plastic grocery sacks, because I TOTALLY can't see him then!

Got to join thousands of my fellow procrastinators at the motor vehicle administration on Monday--last day of June, time to renew the tags on the car! (Cuz I wouldn't want to use that 2 months lead time they give me to plan ahead or anything).

But I was actually looking forward to spending a significant amount of time at MVA this year. The last 3 days of the previous week, my boss was out of the office. When he goes on vacation, I think he notifies Congress so that everyone can send in every piece of stationery they've ever ordered for renewal while he's gone. We (meaning I, alone) were hammered last week, so I was seriously thinking about taking Monday off, and planned on the MVA contributing to my evil plan. Not that my boss wouldn't have let me off anyway, but I like to have an excuse, just the same.

So I got to MVA about 10 minutes before it opened and there was already a line around the building. Yay! And that's just the people ponying up for the information desk dispersal (In Maryland, thou SHALT always announce one's MVA business at the information desk--it's where they give you your little "You're Number Zillionth!" paper tags). Line moved a lot faster than I remember, but no matter--I have to have my insurance paperwork checked, so that's 2 lines I'll have to wait through. Yay!

I get my F-tag (insurance paperwork exam). F-8. I head to the chairs, but NO! My number is blinking over someone's desk already! Wow. What are the odds of THAT? There were like, hundreds of people ahead of me! (okay, maybe 100. Or, you know, 75. But LOTS!!) Okay, that's kinda cool. In a vaguely yay!annoying! way. She checks through my insurance paperwork and sends me to the end of the information line to get my D-tag (tag renewal). D-22. NOW I will go and wai.....Damn! My freakin' number is BLINKING! Already! So I renew my tags. It took 25 minutes, start to finish.

Well, thanks for NUTHIN', MVA! I had to go to work! Bastards.

Remind me, Why do I have a fish again?

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:43:59 GMT

Yeah, okay, he's cute and all, and cheap entertainment for Cyduck (my avatar), but shouldn't an critter that basic be easier to maintain. And move?

Flooring day is July 28, so I have 4 weeks to get the bulk of my stuff out of both rooms. I'd planned to do the fish later in the month, but noticed that I was getting another algae battle forming, so I decided rather than fight algae all month and THEN tearing the tank down, I'd do it now. Yeah.

First I had to set up the efficiency apartment (aka the 10 gallon tank). I put it in the kitchen counter. Then I siphoned off 10 gallons of tank water (not from the bottom) and about 2 lbs of rocks. Then I got the filter running and set the heating element in to adjust to the water temp.

Then I started emptying the 40 gallon tank of both water and all the decorations (fewer places for Bob to hide from me when it came time for the transfer. Siphon, lug the bucket (i has a bukkit), water the neighbors' plants, siphon some more. 40 gallons is a lot of water when you're hauling it about 3.5 gallons at a time.

Finally fished Bob out of the big tank and dragged him off to the kitchen. Doh! I filled the tank already so now I have to net him out AGAIN--which he HAAAAAAATES. Sorry, Bob!! I brought your log to hide in! Got him set up in the kitchen and his tank light on a timer so I had time to concentrate on the rest of the tank.

Siphon. Lug. Dump. Repeat. While the water siphoned, I gathered up all my junk "What if the Water Heater Dies Again?!?" towels and laid them out on the patio. When the water was lowered to 2 inches, I began scooping out the aquarium rocks, dumping them onto the towels and spreading them into a single layer to dry. there's a lot of rocks! Didn't I put some into the efficiency apartment?

Now comes the tricky part of siphoning, when the hose has to be held to keep it underwater. 2 more buckets til I can't siphon any more. Take the rest of my junk towels and drop them into the 1/2 inch of remaining water. Drop, wring, drop, wring. Wipe, wipe, wipe. Then dry off the tank with paper towels. It's FINALLY empty and dry.

Then I just had to wait for the rocks to dry so I could run the towels in hot. Either the whole house now smells like fish water, or I'm just smelling it everywhere, but it can't be entirely my imagination because the cats are just LOVIN' the smell of my hands.

I'll call The Boy tonight and ask him to help me drag the tank into the spare room. I can leave the tank stand for the flooring guys to move around, but they wouldn't move an aquarium, empty or full (can't blame them--I don't even know HOW you would move that bitch full up).

I also did a bit of dumpster fill up from the storage room (WHYYYY do I save some of this shit???) and emptied the microwave cart in the dining room and the buffet. I need to move the TV into the spare room, too. So I got quite a bit done, but I'm tired and I still have a load of towels to wash.

My mood? Kitty says I'm numb, which..I dunno, but I guess it's hard to tell if a cat feels numb.

The Story of a Dining Table and Some Chairs

Thu, 22 May 2008 07:32:19 GMT

I have my grandmother's dining room set. Well...I used to. Now I just have the table. There used to be 4 chairs that went with it, but we had a maniacal chewing dog who gnawed on the legs something fierce years ago, so the chairs went to chair heaven and I'd been using the chairs that came with a dinette set I bought at Montgomery Wards.

Here's a picture of the table with one of the dinette chairs:

When the roomie moved out, he took the dinette table and 2 of the chairs and I promised him the last two when I found some new chairs for the dining room table. I've also been struggling with the entire issue of keeping the dining room table, because as much as I love the table, it's kind of a pain in the ass.

For one, it's really just too big for my dining room (which is only slightly larger than my master bath which competes with postage stamps for square footage)

And for another, it's designed with an X-type brace about 2 inches from the bottom of the table legs, so you can't push chairs in all the way. And again, the size of my dining room table makes that problematic, at best. Even though there's a wood brace-like frame attached to the bottom of the table top and into which the 4 table legs are screwed, there's also that cross brace, but the legs slant outward so I worry that removing the brace will weaken the top.

Finally, it's a gorgeous, beautiful solid walnut table...and I can never display the beautiful table top because the cats are not declawed and will scratch it.

But it's Gramma's table. So I'm planning to move it into a sort of dead place in the living room--where the sewing annex resides currently--where the end of the living room is kind of bisected by the traffic flow from the front hallway to the bedroom hallway. And I'm going to get a glass table top so I can show the beautiful wood and not worry about the psychotic cats. And I'll just have to live with the damned cross brace at the bottom.

Chapter 2 In Which Our Heroine Finds Chairs.

At Target. Online. Free shipping and 15% off. These chairs. So I ordered 4 of them and 2 arrived yesterday. I put one of them together and I LOOOOOVE it!!! It's gorgeous and comfy and looks nice.

Before I left for work last night, I pushed the chair as far under the table as it will fit with the fucking cross brace at the bottom--so about half the depth of the seat. This morning I was sitting on the couch, surfing the net and admiring my beautiful new chair pushed under my beloved Gramma's table. The table with a wooden border/brace underneath the table top. The border/brace that is about 2 inches from the seat of the chair. Two inches.

Yeah.

I'm gonna need skinnier thighs.

Another boring Monday (wannabe)

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:05:32 GMT

Back to work today. That sucks. My boss is out til the 7th, which kinda sucks worse because we might have quite a bit of work waiting for us tonight. ("Us" meaning me). Oh well.

Got the last of my laundry done. Didn't read Jo's post about not doing laundry on Jan 1 til today--guess I'm screwed :) But at least the laundry is done now.

I had to buy cat food today. So I did. I also toodled over to the Target and spent the requisite "over $100 per visit". Finally got a coffeemaker with a thermal carafe, rather than a glass pot with a heating element. Guess we'll see if it's any damn good.

The weather is VERY cold, but makes up for it by being very windy. Yuck.

I should go to bed. You know...incase there's some reason to be awake tonight at work....

Doh! All this time, I thought Busy Blue cat was staring at a chair! He's on the freakin' internet! I think my mood shall be busy today in celebration.