WOOO!HOOO!WEEE!!!

Piko de Gallo won a prize in her school's costume parade lastnight!
Score one for home made costumes.
I am recovering from 4 hours at the face painting table.
That is all.

The Good, The Bad, and the Uuuuglaay.

What a week!

The Good:
More than half of the auctions I had up on E-bay sold successfully, and everyone but one person paid. Yay! Sarge was happy because with some of the money I made I bought him a climbing rope for his home gym. I guess he's going to relive those High school Gym class moments in our garage.

Halloween pinatas are coming along well, finally.

The Pumpkin just needs a nose (Piko made me that great summer teeth-some'r here, and some'r there-mouth), and the spider sack needs some dressing. But it looks like they are ready to stuff and hang. For once I'm ahead of schedule with a pinata. Usually the night before I'm gluing and desperately drying with my hairdryer.

An interesting project I was handed by Piko's school was completed in record time. Make two puppets to help raise awareness of the importance of attendance, was my brief. Huh. Well I found this pattern, which was awesome, and came up with these two.

How they will help raise awareness about attendance is beyond me, I guess they'll be using them in their morning announcements.

The Bad:
UGH, we were sick this week.

Piko registered a fever on Sunday, and slept for 14 hours, so she had to stay home from school. Lucky for her it was a short week with Thursday and Friday off due to teacher grading, and a conference. Her temperature got up to 103 on Tuesday night, fevers freaking freak me out. My sinuses have been acting up this week too, lucky me. So I took Mrs. S's advice and tried out the Musenex, and I'm never going back. That stuff dried me out. Thanks Mrs. S, I'm sorry I laughed at you and your upcoming trip. I'll never laugh at you again!!
Poor Piko, she was finally let out of the house on Saturday for her second to last soccer game of the season. She was so happy that she ran around the field like a maniac, and then coughed up a lung.
Luckily for both of us she is well enough to go to school on Monday.

Sarge managed to piss off one of our neighbors by not paying attention to what Dog deGallo was doing while outside. I guess she went over to their house while Sarge was mowing the lawn and bothered their dog. The guy was seriously pissed off, and I don't blame him, Dog is a big dog, their dog is very little. Nothing happened to the dog, but I bet it freaked the guy out. I feel bad because even though Sarge told him sorry at the time, I still think that he should go over and apologize now that the neighbor has probably calmed down. But Sarge being the jerk that he is won't do it. And what am I supposed to do, go over and say. "Hey, sorry that my husband is such an a$$hole."?

The Uuuglaay:
My first apple pie of the season.

Not only did I put to much cinnamon, the "pour" cap was open, not the "sprinkle",but the crust was too wet, AND I over baked it. GAH!! Lucky for me, Sarge does not have a very delicate palate.

My sewing room is a total and complete disaster!! It has still not recovered from a last minute birthday present project.

I guess that's what I'll be doing with the rest of my day.

Darn Kids These Days!!

I guess it's time to knit me a granny shawl, gather 15 more cats, and retire to my rocker on the porch.

Twice today I uttered the statement "Damn kids these days..."

First time I was eating breakfast with Piko and looking over their picture day forms. Yay picture day! What's this??? For $10.00 extra you can order photo retouching? For elementary school students??! Well, heck, no more fears of the night before breakout, or bad hair day! I remember the year that my dad got me ready for school on picture day and sent me to school with a ratty old t-shirt and slicked down hair. I ended up in a "boy" slot on the group picture page. And then there was my 11th grade photo where I looked like I had this hair.
AND NOT ON PURPOSE!!!
Oh you know, any excuse to post this video is a good one!

Second time would be this afternoon when I was informed that a parent, independently from the program, is going ahead and arranging for trophy for the soccer teams. I have several problems with this. First, a participation medal is already included in each child's registration fee. Second, what the heck? I have parents on my team that can't afford to buy their kids black shorts to play in (we bought extras and handed them out with the team jerseys). I'm sure as heck that they won't be able to afford a second trophy, and then their kid will feel left out. Third, and probably my biggest problem. Trophy's? Aren't trophy's for winners? Since we do not play competitively, there technically are no winners. I might support a "Most Improved Player" type award that is chosen by the coach, but other than that, not so much. Also, I find it kind of ironic that the parent on my team who seems most interested in the trophy has the most underachieving child. This kid could not kick his way out of a paper bag, nor does he put forth any effort. He's more interested in running around the field flailing his arms and staying as far away from the ball as he possibly can. It has come to this, we are rewarding and promoting mediocrity, and lack of effort in our children. Here's a trophy for...well, for nothing.

Maybe I should be saying "Parents these days..."

This Week's WIP.

It's been a Hallo-weenie week at the de Gallo household.

I've managed to finish most of Piko's costume early this year! Let me tell you, gluing 300 feathers is much easier than sewing 200 sequins.

Here is her "Swan Princess" mask.

And her wings. I might have to do these over, because I think that they might be a bit too big. I'm thinking that I might go with little wingettes, or wing-nubbins instead. Plus I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind about how she is going to actually wear them. I've started on one of two pinatas I'm making for the neighborhood kids to kick off the night. I'm inviting them all down to our circle and giving them a whack. It's no life size rainbow zebra, but I think I'm going with a Jack O' Lantern, and maybe if I can pull it off a enormous spider egg sack, a la Martha(of course I can's find a link).
Inspired by MissMeander's Gold Horns Tutorial I'm making my own set of horns. Although I did not use the same kind of clay that she does. I used Crayola Model Magic for mine.
The only problem I had was that the Model Magic does not twist like a heavier material would, so it took alot of work, and many tries to get the twist in there nicely. Also, it is hard to get any kind of curved shape, or bend into the horns with this material, it sort of just droops, sags, and sticks to itself too much. So I would not recommend this material, other than for it's light weight properties, and lack of need for baking.

Aaaanyway.....
And in non-Halloween crafting projects, I'm finally starting on a quilt for my own bed. Modeled much after The Librarian's quilt, because I was jealous of how well that one turned out.

My new BFF

I'm in love.

I found this old Montgomery Ward sewing machine at the thrift store about a month ago. I bought it for less than $20.00, and figured what the heck, at that price it'll be a good backup machine. I figure for $20, plus about $60 for servicing and a new bobbin casing (which was the only thing missing) I can save some money, and put off buying the Janome I really wanted to get. And I even saved money still over the crap a$$ Brother I'm currently sewing on.

Well, I took it to my machine guy for a good cleaning and servicing, now it sews like buh-ddah! (Ha, I originally typed "buddah" but you would be all "I dodn't know that Sidharta Gautama was a sewer"). Originally when I first got it, it was loud, and kind of jerky, sort of clack-a-clack-a-clack-a-clakc-a, it would miss stitches and the thread would break no matter what the tension was set at. I was actually kind of worried/upset about my lack of good find. But Sarge convinced me to take it to the repair place. Now it hums right along very nicely. Mike, my machine guy says that it should hold up very nicely against those tough new Air Force BDUs, and outlast any of the newer machines I could possible buy.

Still not a fan of a front loading bobbin, I do wish it was a drop in.

She's Down With OCD...

So on my sewing machine, I have this little strap made of fleece that I use to put my pins in as I am sewing. My pin catcher as it were, I was dropping too many on the floor. I still am, but less so.

Anyhoo, this is what it looks like as I am sewing.

This is what it looks like after Piko comes in to visit me when I am sewing.
She stands to the side of me and pushes all of the pins down into the holder while we are talking. I have explained to her that I like them up because it makes them easier for me to pull them out when I need one.

Later I found that all of my pins in my pincushion were pushed in too.

Tuesday Two Days Later

I have desginated every Tuesday as my "Lock myself in the sewing room and get projects done" day. I seriously need to get working on Christmas presents, and I'm still thinking on a Robot Quilt for Mrs. Snarkolepsy. But this week was all about Piko. We have been butting heads alot lately, mostly about manners, and school work. I think that many of the problems are hangups on my end, but still, I want my dear girl to do well.

Anyhoo, the first thing out this week was matching Smocketts for her and her kitty "Kiki". Heck if I'm going to Build A Bear and spending $15 on a dress for a doll.

Here is Piko's action shot.

From the back.

And Kiki's action shot.

Then wouldn't you know it, the very next day a box arrives for her from Aunty Red, and Aunty Taki with two new outfits from Build-A-Bear. My home made frock has been tossed aside. Boo-hoo.

Next up, I though that Kiki deserved her own little quilt, and a small quilt is quick and easy. I also happened to have some very cute Amy Butler pre-cut squares that would go very nicely.

As if Piko does not have enough things on her bed as it is.

Man! I seriously need a better camera. Or I suppose, better camera skills.

Next Tuesday, I'm starting on Christmas.

JLo ripping off the Drag Queens again!

Of course, any excuse to see "Agent Smith" in drag is a good one.

Not Bad is Not Great Either

So, the hair...
It's not EXACTLY what I wanted, but it's pretty darn great not to have to wear a pony tail every day either. I think that I have to try and mess around with it a little to find the best way to style it.
I have received positive comments, but you know how people like to be nice. One person commented that I look young and fun. How nice is that? Unfortunately I told her, I'm actually old and boring. However, I think that shorter hair makes me look older, not old, just maybe more mature, or more "sophisticated" as Sarge likes to put it.

Here's the problem with being an Anti-socialist, there's no one around to take a picture of you when you need it. And the ones I take of myself always end up making me look crazy eyed. Someday I'll get a picture of the hair up.

And on an interesting note, it seems that Piko would like to have short hair now too. This is the girl who cries at even the suggestion that we shorten it. I have always wanted her to cut it short to see if she will like it. She knows that it will grow back, but she has always been determined to keep it long. Well, we'll see what happens there.

Edited to add: Well, not five minutes after I posted this, I was braiding Piko's hair for school. Sarge is working this weekend, so I asked her if she wanted me to make an appointment to have her hair cut. "No, I don't want to cut my hair!" Naturally.