Sewing is Hardware

I have recently busted out the sewing machine and serger to get working on a few projects and it got me thinking...

Despite the lack of space, I have managed to get started on two new diaper bags for friends who have a new baby and a baby on the way (that's you Daryl and Jenny!). I also have some fabric I bought 6 months ago to make a slip cover for our sad looking brown chair in the living room. We'll see if my domestic streak lasts long enough to get that project finished too.

While I was serging all the edges on the diaper bags last night (love that serger!) I started to think about how similar sewing is to home improvement projects.

Just like you COULD build a house with a screwdriver, hammer, planer and saw, no one would recommend it. Not only do power tools speed up the job, they add accuracy to the work so you can accomplish square corners and smooth surfaces which would be impossible without them. And it's so much more fun and satisfying to use the right tools for the right job.

This weekend our back yard neighbors decided to make some screens for their windows. It was really satisfying to be able to reach into my store of tools and give them a hack-saw and spline tool which they would need to finish the project. The best part was the "wow, you are really handy" comments which came along with it.

Similarly, using my serger gives me the same pleasure of having the right tools to do the job. Before the serger I was sewing for profit for friends in North Carolina and I cringe at the state of the pieces I made at that time. I even made a coat for myself, but it was a chenille fabric which unravelled easily. After only one winter season it was fraying everywhere! Now that I serge all the edges (boring, yes, but a necessary step for quality) I know that the items I make will last.

Having the right tools for the job really make it easier to get to better quality without requiring much higher time to achieve it. Some words of wisdom for work too....

Club Scouts

We took J to a"Club Scouts" information meeting last night.

The "den" and "pack" seem like a really nice group of people and J is VERY excited about joining.

Ryan and I had talked about J and P joining scouting, but my theory was to wait until they showed some interest or until they were older. I had heard that some kids joined Cub Scouts too early, get bored or burned out and then miss the real fun when it's time for Boy Scouts.

We went last night because J was SOOO excited by the flier they sent home from school about joining. I think his summer at an outdoor camp has given him some notion that spending time in the outdoors isn't that bad (even if it means time away from the wii).

Last night we stayed in the hall with the troop leaders and found out about the activities while they took the kids (even P) to the park across the street and made marshmallow shooters. Of course they came back total Scout converts. Even P is going on and on about going back to the next meeting even though he's too young.

So we are signed up and now all we have to do is get the uniform and get J and P to stop calling it "Club Scouts". Oh, and expect an email asking for you to buy popcorn.

A few notes on the financial crisis

I am quite worried about what's going on on Wall Street, but it's reports like this that make me feel like something has to go right...

"So be it"

I don't usually get exercised about political things, but now I am. So here goes.

This morning I was listening to NPR and there was a story about Palin and one of her supporters who (what glee!) got to ask her a question yesterday in Michigan.

The question went something like this...
"People have accused you of not having enough foreign policy experience, what skills do you bring that rebut that claim?"

Palin's long winded answer can be summed up as (a paraphrase)
"I am a Washington Outsider, so they feel they can criticize me. But I am prepared, I'll be ready. If you want specifics, you can ask me and even play stump the candidate if you want."

NPR then went back to the lady who asked her the question, Kimberly, and looked for a response to the candidate's response.
"She knows that she is lacking in that area, so be it." Kimberly said.

"So be it" !!!!!

Wow.

I am floored by the complete lack of consistency. It's ok to be inexperienced because she's breaking new ground here, she's a woman, a mother and how awesome would it be to break that glass ceiling! So what if she has no applicable experience? She's pretty and she's good at saying folksy things which make people feel secure.

Watching the financial markets this week and the train wreck that may become our economy, I wonder how people can't make the connection that we already hired someone who looked like a good-ole-buddy. He is also an educational underachiever who made good. And look where we are now?

I am so giving money to Obama today.

Here's the story if you want to listen to it for yourself.

Hurricane Ike Weekend

This weekend was upside down in many ways.

We were expecting the arrival of at least the outer bands of Hurricane Ike to give us some rain and wind. We were also expecting my little brother, Colin, and his fiancee Chelsea to come so they would avoid the storm in Houston.

Neither arrived.

Colin and Chelsea decided to ride it out at my parents house and were fine. They still have no electricity and last I heard no water, but they have "lots of smoked sausage", and are doing fine.

Here in Austin we didn't even get a single drop of rain. A little bit of wind and lots of clouds, but no rain!

To prepare ourselves for a weekend of being trapped in the house we went to the store and stocked up on food and videos. Ryan and I are working our way through Mad Men Season 1 and the kids are obsessed with Pokemon.

So instead of being trapped in the house, we ended up spending the weekend outside... running errands, went to the pool one last time before it closed, went through the boys clothes to take out all the too-small-for-P and pass down the J clothes.

Sunday morning the boys woke up extra early (as they always do on the weekend, but not the weekday!) and I dragged into the living room to fire up Pokemon. They were watching some terrible episode about a bike (bicycle) gang on a 10 mile bridge which was terrorizing Ash and the gang while they were trying to get medicine to the Pokemon Center in Sunnyville, etc. I decided this was a great time to get some shut eye.

The next thing I knew I heard tears, real tears. Not the fake "I didn't get what I wanted tears" but truly upset tears. I looked over at J and they were streaming down his face and he was sniffling like he was watching "The English Patient".

What was causing all this boo-hooing?

Apparently Ash and the Gang had found a group of Picachu in the forest and Ash's Picachu decided to leave his human buddy to stay with his Pokemon bretheren. There was this big emotional scene where Ash and Pica say goodbye and J is bawling. Of course, Pica decides to stay with Ash (else you wouldn't be able to watch Pokemon in whatever order it's on. Kind of like mixing and matching the Darren's on Bewitched.) and everyone is soooo happy. Especially J.

Hope you had a safe Hurricane Ike weekend too.