Work in Progress Wednesday

Wow, we're busy right now -- dance, co-op, Scouts, piano and choir all have major stuff going on. I need to get the oil changed in the car, and also get a haircut, but I just don't have time. Also, I really, really need to get to the store for food, notably cat food, but when can I get there? Too much else to do!

So, of course, the only sensible thing to do is to decide to sew a new wardrobe. Well, actually, all I've done so far is work on this pair of pants that's been cut out and plopped on a chair for the past month:


Ottobre Woman 2/2006 #11, Fitted Basic Pants. I've made these before, although I'd failed to alter the pattern to reflect the fact that I needed to take in the center back 1.5cm. Also, I'd failed to notice before that the back waistband is actually in 2 pieces with a seam up the center (which, by the way, makes it easier to correct the fitting mistake). All I've got to do now is make the buttonhole, sew on the button, and hem them. Then they're done. Which should happen later today.

BUT, while going to the store to get a button, all the wool is on sale, and we could make our own COATS! And those rayon knits are on sale! And the decorator fabrics -- we still need valances, you know. And you should see the cotton knit I found for $2.50/yd ... and I have a coupon for 10% off my entire purchase.

So, finally sew up one piece of fabric this week (the pants), buy about 6 more.

Also poised to be finished today, the toe of sock #2 of the Nine-to-Five socks:


That will be done during drama class, which for some reason is the most tedious waiting period of the week.

And, of course, there's the ongoing Leaf Crisis. The backyard is pretty much done -- the maples and the oaks have shed most of their leaves (the maples are taller than our 2 story house, and the oaks dwarf the maples). We spent Monday afternoon getting the leaves up so I could mow on Tuesday ... but by Tuesday morning so many more had fallen that I had to bag the clippings.

Anyway, now we still have the front to deal with, with the dreaded Sweet Gum trees, my least favorite tree in the world. I loathe Sweet Gums, and think they are proof that we live in a fallen world -- those stupid seed pods are obvious evidence of our expulsion from the Garden. "Thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow, and also I'm going to give Sweet Gums really annoying spiny seed pods that are almost impossible to get up out of the yard. Yea, thou shalt wail and gnash thy teeth when the seeds of the Sweet Gum fall, for thou shalt know it will be weeks before thou canst again walk through the front yard without nearly twisting thy ankle."

Last year the leaves just turned "dead colored" and fell off (along with a bazillion seed pods, which, by the way, the trees try to injure me with -- they bonk me on the head when I walk through the yard, and I slipped on a huge pile of them over at the Fransiscan Sisters of Mary convent -- yes, right in the middle of the convent the damn things tried to break my leg!). BUT, this year the foliage is gorgeous:





I may cease my continuous prayers that these trees be struck by lightening and obliterated. Well, maybe not. But it's okay if they aren't obliterated this week.