It’s pouring here and I feel like I need to start the day with a smile. So yesterday, I was going to UMass to speak to a class on Media and Public Policy. For a change, I was dressed like a grown up, in an actual skirt and hose and dress shoes. As I drove down Rt 9 I saw this big old flush of mushrooms off in the woods. I found a place to pull over and tramped through the brush over to the tree. It was a decent sized flush and I was congratulating myself on my find when I realized I had wandered into a bramble patch and I was good and stuck. Those prickers were clinging to my skirt and my stockings and when I bent over to untangle myself, they even got in my hair. I could just see the headlines. “Preparedness expert starves to death in the woods”. I finally escaped but I will leave it to your imagination to think what my hose looked like. After all that, the mushrooms were well past prime.
A friend dropped by a big box of patterns for the sewing center. I went through them all with her and found one for shorts, skirts and summer tee shirts in Phoebe’s size. I can’t wait to go through my fabric and get busy making her summer clothes. I think I am going to stiffen the patterns with some clear contact paper. If you only plan to use a pattern once, the flimsy tissues paper is not a problem but these are patterns that we hope will get a lot of use and they need to hold up.
I did a quick look over in the root cellar yesterday. The vegetables are doing quite well. I have lost a good deal of the fingerling potatoes to blight. Thank goodness we ate a ton of them right away. The Yukon Gold don’t seem to be affected at all, nor do the red potatoes. The carrots are still gorgeous. I am sorry to say that the sauerkraut I started did not do well. It is covered with a mold and smells nasty. Some bad bacteria got in there so the kraut is headed out to the compost pile.
We got new tires put on the car this week. Next week, we are taking it to the shop for a complete once over. We have over 100,000 mile on the van but it still runs well and is completely reliable (not to mention paid for). We want the hoses and belts replaced and the engine tuned up. In my experience a cared for vehicle will last a good long time. I would love to think that I will never buy another car. We have given some thought to getting a new truck with a king cab and cutting down to just the one vehicle.
I am struggling with a decision today. By now you may have figured out that I am a bit frugal. I rarely spend money on new when I can get used and I seldom succumb to the lure of the catalog.Well I got one of those incredible expensive kid’s catalogs with $100.00 wooden trucks and lovely organic cotton clothing and what did I find but a set of woolen pajamas. They were way out of my usual price range but they are beautiful and can be worn under clothes for outdoor play or under a jumper on those bitter january days. If I could find the soft wool fabric I could maybe make them but these darn PJ’s seem to be calling my name. $86.00 is crazy for what they are but Phoebe is tiny and we usually get more than our money’s worth out of the few clothes we do buy. I suppose the urge to buy will pass but I can not believe how much I want them. Some marketer really knew her stuff.
November 20, 2009 at 7:50 am
I’m going to randomly chuckle all day over the visualization of you stuck in a bramble patch! When the kids were younger, I wonre heels for work, but they all ended up having “banana peel” heels cause I kept going into the woods with them on. Eventually, I learned to cultivate the “artsy look” with longer skirts, boots and NO HOSE! lol
The jammies actually sound like a good investment. After she’s outgrown them, you can pass them on or take them apart and make a pattern for a size larger.
November 20, 2009 at 8:59 am
$86 for warm woolly PJs is still cheaper than doctor/Rx bills and days lost to a miserable cold. I just sprang for flannel sheets from Lands’ End, a similarly “unjustifiable” splurge, but I know that we’ll still have these soft, toasty flannels many winters from now and I enjoy turning down the thermostat at bedtime. Sometimes you DO get what you pay for!
November 20, 2009 at 9:50 am
Plus, you do know who is coming to your aid if you do need rescued, right? I can hear the radio call now: “39 year old female stuck in a bramble patch clutching 10 lbs of mushrooms, please respond.” Cute!
You know my vote on the jammies is “don’t do it…must resist!”
November 20, 2009 at 12:22 pm
My favorite professors in college were the ones that were “real”. I’m sure they saw you as one who “walks the talk”. (we’re laughing WITH you, not AT you!)
By the way, my bachelor’s degree is in consumer science (you know – the Ralph Nader type thing). I remember one of my professors saying that a good purchase/buy is not always the cheapest thing at the store. You must weigh the value and quality of an item as well and how it will perform. Sounds like woolen jammies would be like purchasing a quality winter coat – just for legs though.
November 20, 2009 at 2:23 pm
39 years old in my dreams!
November 20, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Having used a bunch of patterns back in the day, I’d reccommend just pinning the pattern pieces to cardstock or old manilla envelopes. Some patterns call for ironing fabric pieces while still attached to the pattern pieces, in which case you’d end up with a melty plastic mess if you use contact paper.
November 20, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Hi Amanda,
My friend, Barbara just suggested cutting patterns out of scrap fabric. Like the manilla envelopes and card stock, reusing rather than buying something new. Much better thinking. Thank you.
November 20, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Like others here have suggested, sometimes laying out the money for a good item is the best deal you can make. Only you can decide but life need some of these “expenses” sometimes to balance out the daily frugality.
You have my permission …
peace to All,
Shamba
November 20, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Ihave some fine Scottish wool for a skirt I’ll never make. It will be enough for Phoeb. It is deep purple and will look great on her!
November 20, 2009 at 10:36 pm
I really do have the world’s best friends.