In fitting this dress, I decided to split the dress into a top and skirt to produce an outfit Anya can put on herself. As a dress, it was a little tricky to get into. I considered putting a zipper in the back, but she wouldn’t be able to dress herself.
Since the skirt is basically a circle skirt, I added a wide waistband with 2″ elastic. Done.
I’ve extended the lining (attached a strip of cream Bemberg lining material to the navy fabric which stops at the top of the white fabric).
No one has volunteered to make a healthy snack for the Valentine’s Day party at Anya’s preschool. We’ve come up with something cute for all of the other parties … thought we’d make a thing of it. Now we’re trying to decide what to make.
My mom found these cute gelatin desserts, but that’s still a dessert.
I would love to make this caprese salad, but anything with a balsamic drizzle is going to be messy. I found a coconut cream fruit tart that is both too dessert-y and too messy. I think I’ll make both of these for home!
Heart pita chips with roasted red pepper hummus (to get some red) or heart shaped whole wheat soft pretzels (the recipe provided isn’t whole wheat, but King Arthur Flour has a good recipe using their white whole wheat but I’ve also seen a good recipe for ‘normal’ whole wheat pretzels too) are good options.
My favorite option right now is cut-out sandwiches with sunflower butter and raspberry compote to make something that looks like these peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It’s potentially messy, though … so not great for the teachers. I think the soft pretzels are going to be the easiest to serve & eat. Pita chips and hummus have the advantage of including some vegetables.
Trump’s recent statement that 75% of federal regulations would be eliminated under his presidency is outright terrifying. On all levels, there are heaps of crazy regulations. Just yesterday, I learnt that it is illegal in Ohio to leave a running vehicle unattended. I cannot recall a particular instance where I left my vehicle running whilst I ran inside to grab a forgotten item, over to the mailbox to drop off an envelope, or some similarly quick jaunt away from my running vehicle … but I’m sure I *did*.
The thing is, as silly as any specific regulation may seem, there IS logic behind it. The rational may be outdated and thus no longer applicable, but laws were not enacted for the sake of using up legislative time. I doubt regulations were enacted as a farce. It would be an interesting academic study to enumerate all regulations for a particular branch and research the history and rational for each of them. Some are obvious — fleet fuel economy standards are to reduce oil usage. Emission standards are meant to reduce pollution. Then there are regulations such as 15 U.S.C. §§330a — “No person may engage, or attempt to engage, in any weather modification activity in the United States unless he submits to the Secretary [of Commerce] such reports with respect thereto, in such form and containing such information, as the Secretary may by rule prescribe. The Secretary may require that such reports be submitted to him before, during, and after any such activity or attempt.” Sounds a little bit silly at first, but if nothing else tracking weather modification attempts and their wider impact has value.
There are regulations on the banking industry, oversight of derivative markets, rules governing stock trading. Publicly traded companies are required to file accurate financial information with the SEC. It is not legal to dump toxic chemicals into the environment. The FDA has guidelines that are meant to ensure the safety of foods and labeling laws so you have a basic idea of what you are consuming. There are fleet average fuel efficiency requirements. There are laws against manipulating energy markets. There are regulations that protect intellectual property.
I understand the argument that the free market would drive some of these same ends. If fuel economy is a concern to people, then more fuel efficient cars will be in demand. But that depends on honest, accurate reporting from corporations, and individuals being able to get the information they need to make an appropriate decision. I, personally, do not want to research the reputation of ten different companies before purchasing a bag of flour. I enjoy the fact that a bag that contains something other than ground up wheat lists the ‘extras’ – at the point of purchase, I can read the bag and decide if it is something I want to purchase. I also know that there are random inspections and any company lying about their ingredients is likely to incur a significant fine.
Another ‘free market’ example is the reduction of polystyrene packaging. Thirty years ago, any fast food purchase included a Styrofoam container (or three). In the 80’s, polystyrene materials were manufactured using chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). When this became fairly widespread knowledge, manufacturing processes were changed to use HCFC-22 (better but still ozone layer impacting). Another public movement against the material came about because it does not biodegrade — and its ubiquitous use in packaging meant litter was everywhere. And would stay there until it blew away to be somewhere else. Some localities banned the material for restaurants, but it was never a widespread thing. But polystyrene packaging is nowhere as prevalent today as it was thirty years ago. This is a result of consumer pressure.
My point is that I am fully aware that consumers can drive business decisions. Other regulations are not easily replicated by purchaser decisions. And consumer decisions require accurate information. Get rid of SEC filings — something I’m sure would save time and money for corporations (and the SEC) — and there’s no standard set of information upon which I can make investment decisions. No longer require estimated fuel economy using a standardized method (even if the method itself could be improved), and how do you compare vehicles beyond general physics which tells me a giant H2 is going to be more fuel efficient than a little Fiat 500. Eliminate environmental regulations, how do I know a company’s impact on their local environment?
Declaring that businesses should stay in this country because we’re going to severely cut corporate taxes and eliminate 75% of regulations is just a stupid statement. Sure, this guy throws out stupid statements as beginning negotiating positions … but how does a self-proclaimed awesome negotiator not know to start low on some things and high on others. Companies want 100% of regulations eliminated … so our government has just started the negotiation at 75%. They either stand or go up from there.
I’m not sure what it says about me that I know a lot about evading authorities. There was a show a few years ago where people were challenged to hide a suitcase and a law enforcement professional has to find it … if it stayed hidden, the person won. If the case was found then the law enforcement person won. The show was quite disappointing – both in process and execution.
There’s a new show, Hunted, which is what I thought the show a few years ago was going to be. In this one, pairs of people have to evade law enforcement professionals for 28 days. But these people are absolutely horrible at evading trackers. I assume the show has basic rules — it is NEVER a good idea to record yourself committing a felony. If that weren’t a restriction, I’d jack a car, head up to Mall of Georgia or down to Buckhead, jack another car from a carpark. But, yeah, that’s not something you want on national television.
You have a 48-hour window to leave – you don’t know when in that window you’ll start … but you have a little time, PACK! Have a go-bag ready by the door. Bonus to the people who packed some wigs, but that’s obvious – I’d go hair dye. I’d start off with a blond & pack a dark color. Dye that people use every day so it doesn’t stand out in anyone’s recollection (a dude with a bad Halloween wig, I remember him. Some fake blond chick? Yeah, eighty seven of them the past hour. Why do you ask?). Glasses, clothing no one would ever dream of you wearing. Beef jerky, blanket, matches, knife, fishing hook and line, a pot, and a tent. I’ve got a foraging guide that I’d bring too.
Once you are packed, start getting rid of your evidence and plant false evidence. My servers would give them a lot of contacts that they wouldn’t get anywhere else … but I’m not going to contact anyone so I’d take that risk over actually wiping my data. Let them track down false leads. If you write something, take the entire pad of paper. Don’t print anything (printers have memory). I’ve got a lot of books related to permaculture, homesteading, and foraging … those would get hidden at someone else’s house. I might even pick up a few travel guides for a large city in the hunt area – yank a few pages to take with you. Good for starting fires 🙂
Once you get told to leave, head into downtown. Phone gets given away to form a false trail. You’ve got an ATM card where you can pull 100$ a day (but that access immediately throws a flag for the hunters) and a total of 500$. Either find a small church and offer it as a donation if the pastor gives you the first hundred bucks or chance some random person on the street with the same deal. You don’t have 500$ that way, but they don’t have video of your car (or you, for that matter) and will continue to get false alerts as the card is used the next few days. Get a couple of cheap bus passes to a not-too-far-away city – if you can avoid doing so, don’t buy it yourself. Offer to pay for the cheap ticket of someone if they pick up a ticket for you and your partner. Then get off the bus before it hits its destination. Take off into the mountains and start hiking. Twenty eight days living in the woods – keep moving, don’t stay on main trails, and avoid people.
But maybe that’s against the rules — go homeless in a major metro. It’d be a different metro than the travel guide in my house … but one with a large enough homeless population that you’re not THE ONLY homeless guy there. Either way you are hard to find — two random people in the Appalachian mountains or two among the hundreds of homeless in downtown Atlanta.
A friend of mine started a thread on Facebook about why the media doesn’t call out Trump’s lies, using the example of his claim that the Lincoln Memorial is never/rarely used for inauguration events. And how his representatives can call these lies “alternative facts” with any seriousness. Trump lies so often and about so many ridiculous things (DC is sold out of dresses, really??). The thing is, media outlets do call him out(https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/donald-trump-says…/… or http://time.com/4640346/donald-trump-lincoln-memorial/ for the Lincoln Memorial example).
Why don’t these become big stories? Why is the constant flood of lies not a big story?
Trump supporters that I know tell me it’s hyperbole (what *is* the difference between hyperbole and lying?) and negotiating positions (I remember being a sixteen year old kid asking for a tattoo as a negotiating position when I wanted Manic Panic hair coloring … not sure what it says that our new President’s negotiating tactics and teenage kids differ only in scale) and I shouldn’t take everything he says so seriously.
I’m still not sure how to take that argument. I use rhetorical hyperbole too. I haven’t literally told Anya a million times to clean up her toys – that would be 650 times a day each day of her life. I try to be careful to say “It *SEEMS* like I’ve told you a million times to get the books on the bookshelf”. But it doesn’t seem harmful when I say “dude, I’ve told you a million times. Seriously, pick up the books!”.
I am willing to believe that people don’t mind being lied to by Trump … what I cannot figure out, then, is why they considered Clinton to be offensively dishonest. It’s a different type of lying — using technicalities. When I would do it, my mother called it lying by omission — you make a statement that is technically true because of some technically valid meaning of a word and/or some incorrect assumption the other party makes about your statement. Consider Bill Clinton’s “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is” statement — there is a difference between present and past tenses. If you ask me if I’m driving a Jetta, I can accurately say no because *right this second* I am sitting on the sofa typing … you assume I sold my Jetta, which from the perspective of a legal proceeding really is the interrogating attorney’s fault, but when you’re fifteen … you don’t get far telling your mom it’s her fault for not being specific enough or making erroneous assumptions 🙂
And maybe this is why I get so offended by Trump’s lies but don’t mind Clinton’s — I enjoy studying law and the challenge language adds to legal proceedings. To me, someone answering a present tense question ignoring past facts is clever (and highlights a flaw in the line of questioning). Essentially I don’t feel like I was lied to, I feel like someone outmaneuvered me. On the other hand, someone making an outright stupid provably untrue statement insults me.
I could see someone making an inverse conclusion, though. That uppity lawyer thinks he’s smarter than me, the LIAR! But is any amount of hyperbolic lying acceptable just because it’s a rhetorical technique most use occasionally. Do people condone it because they do it? Or the liar is seen as a ‘real’ person because he engages in the same rhetorical techniques they use?
I started making Anya’s Easter dress using the Kinley Cascading Flounce Dress pattern from Simple Life Sewing Company. I’m using a bright-ish blue main fabric with white Fairy Frost (glittery silver on white) as the underskirt. I have a navy blue Bemberg lining on the bodice – it’s a little dark, but it was something I already owned 🙂
I’ve got the pieces cut and am ready to start assembling the dress tomorrow.
It’s been a little over a year since I bought my serger. I vacillated between a really expensive Juki with all sorts of features and not buying a serger … 800$, the cheapest price I found for the Juki — and that was from someone on eBay so may not have included a valid warranty, is a LOT of money. Especially for something you don’t know that you are going to use. And, honestly, I don’t know enough about sergers to say if the whole list of features is useful ‘stuff’ or just for such niche uses that I’d never encounter a use for them.
As I researched sergers, I came across an old list of serger recommendations for different user types. The Juki that I’d been considering was on there, but I was drawn to #5 on their list: American Home’s AH100. I didn’t find a lot of reviews for the product. I still wasn’t sure I’d use a serger at all. But I found one on Overstock for under 200$. That was a good enough deal to try it out.
I don’t sew enough to say I use the serger weekly, but I’ve gotten a good bit of use from the serger. Starting with Easter dresses last year – probably not the best project to learn on. When you get the machine, there’s a little bit of thread pulled through it. There is a sample and the tension settings used for the sample.
The machine isn’t too difficult to thread – I wouldn’t have paid 500$ to get an automatically threading machine! I’d read a technique where you clip the already-threaded threads off at the cone. You put the new cones on & tie each one to the old threads that are run through the machine. You set the tensions to the loosest setting and manually advance the machine to pull the new threads through. When the knots get to the needles, you need to clip the knot & thread the needle. I’d also read,, though, that threads can snap in the machine … so you should know how to thread your machine. I’ve fully re-threaded the AH100 three times — it takes a few minutes, but it gets done. I usually do the cut/tie/pull/cut through method of re-threading the machine, and that only takes a few seconds. The thread path is color coded, though, so it isn’t a problem if you have to re-thread the machine from nothing.
The base of the machine, on the left hand side, has a door that swings out so you can fit sleeves/trouser legs onto the machine. I’ve used that to assemble Anya’s circle skirts.
I’ve used the normal 4-thread stitch – quite a few different materials, and it certainly improves the look of the finished seam if you test the tension on some spare scraps. I’ve also changed over to the other plate and done a 3-thread rolled hem. I need to figure out how to use the flat-lock stitch to repair one of Anya’s pajamas. I haven’t encountered any situation where a more expensive serger would have been able to do something, and I am quite happy with my purchase.
The manual is sufficient – haven’t come across anything I had to Google yet. That’s the one down side to this machine – I see forums all over the place with Babylock, Janome, and Juki users talking about how to do XYZ on their machine. Supposedly the AH100 is the same thing as a Babylock Lauren (BL450A). The manuals seem to line up, so I believe this to be true. Anyway, it is possible I’d be able to find some Lauren users to help out … but I don’t see a lot of AH100 users discussing the intricacies of their machines online.
Since I started sewing, I have seen “fabric panels” which are basically a large picture printed on fabric. Never ‘got’ it … for what purpose does one get a picture on a piece of fabric? After Christmas, I was shopping clearance sales and found a quilt kit that used the fabric panel. Oooooh! That is how you use a fabric panel.
I’ve now got two new blanket projects for Anya (tied quilts) — one with construction trucks that I know she is going to love with a minky yellow fabric for the back. And gravel print fabric for the binding
The second is a Northcott print with woodland animals looking up at a star. I’ve got a minky ice blue backing for this one.
I made Anya’s sleeping bag with two layers of Quilter’s Dream Puff batting – that’s almost too warm (but good for sleeping outdoors). I’m thinking a single layer of the Dream Puff batting should give us a couple of cozy blankets.
I purchased a pattern for Anya’s Easter dress almost a year ago. I wanted the bodice and outer skirt to be blue with a sparkly white fabric as the inner skirt. I am going to make a booster cushion for Anya, and I needed to add about ten dollars to my order to get free shipping. Fabric keeps 🙂
We have a bright-ish dark blue for the main fabric, and one of the Michael Miller Fairy Frost glittery fabrics for the inner circle skirt (which will also be used for the sash and bow).
So Trump businesses are going to donate the profits from foreign governments directly to the Treasury to avoid the appearance of impropriety. And they release this information to the public – the receipts, the cost analysis to determine profit, and a copy of the transfer so donations can be verified? But let’s assume that becomes part of their public accounting processes – that the Trump Organization now has a web page with this accounting, along with an image of the cancelled donation cheque. How does this avoid the appearance (and the fact) of corruption??
Buying influence is not limited to foreign governments, and to imply otherwise is insulting. Boeing wants a lucrative contract, so they book all of their corporate conferences at Trump properties. Hell, Syria wants the US to leave them alone so the second cousin of every high-ranking official rent out a floor and a ballroom for the year.