Princess Petunia Attacks The Gown

I totally intend to finish them — someday.   However, once in a great while, I just hit a brick wall and say “no more!”.    That happened to me today.  By way of background, my family and I will be attending a charity event in memory of my cousin Karyn next week.  (check out this wonderful article about Karyn in the Billerica Green Newspaper). The theme of the event is “Prom Night”.  When I found out that all attendees were encouraged to wear real prom attire, I got really excited.  My brain was racing with great ideas — maybe an early Madonna-inspired dress with lots of tulle and long lace gloves; or perhaps something in the vein of “Pretty in Pink”.  I finally decided that I was going to make matching purple taffeta dresses for my daughter and me, and matching bow ties for my husband and son.  Who can deny the kitsch appeal?  C’mon, it would be the ultimate in prom cheese!

Spreading Out The Fabric

Well, here we are – less than a week before the event, and I realized I have committed myself to make 2 gowns and 2 bow ties in 4 days.  Not to mention, I am trying to get my act together for a craft fair for which I am totally unprepared, unpacking from an impromptu trip to NYC, and dealing with 2 very cranky, over-tired kids.  But, I was determined to give it my best shot.  I managed to get the bodice out and stitched together.  (My daughter took a photo of me laying out a burgundy dress to use as a pattern for the bodice of my purple gown).

Measuring the Gown

No sooner did I start sewing the bodice, the kids took the rest of the fabric and decided to make a tent out of it.  During the tent venture, my son managed to close the top to the storage ottoman on my daughter arm.  While dealing with arm-in-the-ottoman incident the cats decided to get into a fight in the middle of my fabric.  For the icing on the cake, my gathering thread broke on the skirt, and I was faced with starting the gathering process again.  Then, the light came on.  “Do I really need to do this?  Am I really this crazy?”  And, the answer was, no, I didn’t need to do this!  We will have just as much fun wearing something out of our closets.  So, I balled up the fabric, half-finished dress and all, put away the sewing machine, and called it a day.  It was cheap taffeta anyway, and I can always use it for a kid’s project.

It made me think a bit about how much of our day to day stress is really necessary and how much is self-induced.  Sometimes it feels really good to just say “no”.  And guess what I’ll be wearing to the event?  Yep, the same burgundy dress in the photo that I was using for a pattern.  Go figure!

Princess Petunia Sleeps on My Half-Finished Gown

The Lonely Socks Club

When we moved to Rhode Island almost 2 years ago, I started a missing sock box.  Each time I did laundry, and failed to make a match, I would stash the single sock in a box.  Every so often I would sit down and sort through the socks to see if any of the singles matched up.   (Kind of like my own sock dating service.)  Anyway, I went to match up some socks earlier this week and realized that my missing sock collection had grown to astronomical proportions.  Even after matching up 7 pairs, I was still left with 50 single socks!  What the &%@$??? Where ever did they come from?  Have the neighborhood socks heard about my service and immigrated to my house in the stealth of night?  I swear i don’t even recognize some of them.

The Sock Pile

I’ve checked under the beds and behind the dressers, but haven’t found enough evidence to justify 50 missing socks!  Anyway, I will keep my collection until I give up hope of finding their mates.  In the meantime, let me know if you have any creative uses for single socks. I’m open to suggestions!

UPDATE – Some of my lucky socks have been claimed by overnight guests who can now reunite them with their mates.  A few others have turned up inside pillow cases and the corners of fitted sheets.  Alas, the vast majority remain in “The Pile”.