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When I knew that I wasn't going to be the French teacher at Denton High School any more, I scanned in all the photos I could find in my classroom. Good times!

I have many mixed feelings looking at this photo. I'm really glad I got rid of that jacket for starters. For some reason, many members of this group have found me on Facebook. I have this labeled as the 1998-9 French Club at Denton High School. Some noticeable absences--my two children who should have been in the photo, one as a senior and one as a freshman. I was probably pretty ticked about that at the time. They probably didn't hear the announcement in whatever classroom they were in. Getting club photos done for the  yearbook was a zoo parade that I would never want to go back to. In fact, I don't see any of my 4APs at all. And that was the rowdiest and most memorable bunch I ever taught. But there are enough here to see why I loved teaching during those years. It got pretty grim at the end of my teaching career (mostly because of me), but 1998-9 was a glorious year when I had many talented students.

It's really nice that these young adults who are getting married, starting families and starting careers have let me be their friend. I love being able to keep in contact with them. I think this is probably one of the greatest perks of being a teacher.

Sprinkles and Pins

We have already established that this is land o' sprinkles, I think. They must sell more ice cream sprinkles here per capita than anywhere else in the world. So natch, I had to take a picture of this ice cream store.                                                              

Now the other photo is my brilliant idea for fitting a pattern. You can't even afford muslin these days and since I'm twenty pounds heavier since the last time I did a lot of sewing for myself, I decided I'd better make a "muslin" of a blouse pattern I'm making.

So in lieu of muslin, I used one of my son-in-law's shirts. Sounds awful until you know that it had a rip in it and was unusable. My daughter had left it here last summer and I've not been able to throw it away. Such gorgeous fabric. But it worked great as a substitute for muslin since I was cutting out a shirt. My pattern was smaller than his shirt, so the pieces almost fit perfectly. (The pocket on one of the back pieces is kinda weird.)

The funny part comes after I baste the thing together in just a few minutes. (Wow, sewing goes fast if you can just baste everything and you don't have to finish seams or tie off darts! ) In order for Michael to have an easier time pinning me in the blouse, I stitch in a dark color the seam lines for the zipper on the back of the blouse. All he has to do is pin the lines together and I can test the fit. It was really cute. He asked me why I didn't just sew the back seam. I explained that I would have no way of getting into the blouse then.

So the pinning begins. The first thing that happened is that he stuck himself with a pin. I expected that. But then he struggled to pin me in and I kept trying to help him. So I wiggled and he told me to stop. And I tried to help him again. I wiggled and he told me to stop. This happened about three times. It brought back such vivid memories of me pinning patterns on my girls. I was much more impatient than the girls ever were. No wonder the girls had trouble standing still while I pinned a hem. It is BORING.

Come to find out, most of his problems were because I had cut the thing too small. When he got to the bottom pin around my hips, he just said "No way!" and he was right. I will be adjusting the pattern.

But he sure had a struggle with me. I was the worst mannequin ever. Girls, I apologize if I ever fussed at you for wiggling.

I am a writer too

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I got a letter a day ago from folks asking for my social. And I gladly send it to them. You know you're going to be published when you get the IRS form. Pretty exciting.

I've rethought a few projects and I'm thinking of a book that I think the grandkids might like reading. Michael and I discussed it last night and he thought it might fly. It goes with my original plan to write about time travel but simplifies it quite a lot. And it has twin heroes. I've done a lot of writing about twins--wonder why? (For those not in the know, I have only two sibs and they are identical twins.) I have not given up on my Louisiana novel though. Those characters are starting to live in my brain.

The pattern? I just had to share. This has got to be the penultimate 80s pattern. It's got almost everything--knit fabric, ruffles, bias, the big hair and Brooke Shields. The only thing it hasn't got is the big shoulder pads but I don't think they'd work with this outfit. This makes it penultimate rather than ultimate. What a hoot! So many patterns I've got are bland and I just shove them in a box not knowing what to do with them. But the wowza patterns like this I have to put out there in the marketplace.

Tomorrow I promise I'll share the story of Michael helping me fit a pattern last night. I hope I can make you laugh because it was truly funny.

Branching Out

I noticed that my little Peach had opened up another Puking Pastilles shop. (The photo is from Christmas visit to the Reading Market in Philly--Maybe there's a puking pastille in there somewhere). I guess great minds think alike. I opened an Ecrater store yesterday. There's not much in it and I have no idea how you get people to visit it, but the price is right (free!). I'll give it a try. If you want to see my really pitiful efforts at creating a banner, you can visit it at Coconut Pie.

In other news, I am making progress on my middle grade novel. My little hero is a real trooper. I've decided to make one of the characters in the book a seamstress. It was a pretty common profession for a single woman in the 50s. They didn't have a lot of options. That way all this time I'm spending with patterns these days isn't wasted.

I mailed off "the dress" to my girl in Czech today. This is the pattern I had made for her when she was a little girl. It had triangle pockets and rickrack trim. Adorable. I made tons of dresses for girls but this one was my favorite. I think it came out well, but no photos today as it might be used as a birthday present. I'll post a photo when I get the go-ahead from the Czech Republic.

Photo copyright: Michael Denney

I Heart My Cell Phone

Okay, what does this gorgeous polar bear have to do with my cell phone? Not much. I just liked the photo. And it's cold here. And as our 39th anniversary approaches, it's nice to remember that 35th anniversary trip to France we took. For our 40th, I've already asked the kids to find a way for us to all be together at one time. At any time during the year. In any place. Life is tough when your family lives spread out across two continents.

My cell phone? Oh yeah. Back to the cell phone. I needed to get new heels for my leather dress boots. Michael had the Garmin (GPS) that day. So I used Google maps to find the shoe repair shop. First problem? The address was listed as in Kingston on Lackawanna Ave. Now there is no Lackawanna Ave in Kingston, but there is a Lackawanna Lane. But Google maps brought up a Lackawanna Ave in Swoyersville. So I decided to go with the address in Swoyersville because somewhere on the web I found an address for this little shop that mentioned the corner of Dennison and Lackawanna. This matched up with Swoyersville. This has happened to me several times since I've been here. The name of the town doesn't match up with the address. I always, always ask for a zip code when asking for directions as this helps my GPS narrow down my choices.

I follow all the directions and get to the corner of Dennison and Lackawanna in Swoyersville and there's nothing. On three corners some family homes and on the fourth corner a park. So I turn around and head back to Kingston. But I thought, why not call the guy? I had already talked to him about when he was open. So here comes the cell phone part of the story! I pulled into a Turkey Hill  (our local version of gas station--also known for their ice cream). I called him and he said he was at the corner of Dennison and Lackawanna. I asked for a little bit more info! (I had already been there!) He said it was on the left right after the railroad tracks. I was skeptical but decided to try it again. I really needed new heels for my boots and this was the only shoe repair shop I could find within twenty-five miles. I retrace my steps and go down Dennison Street, cross the railroad tracks and look to my left. Far off the road is a tiny building. I had asked if there was a sign. He said, "Uh, yeah." This sign is just tacked to a pole and has peeling paint. You can hardly read it. And what about that other intersection I had visited, you ask? That was Dennison and North Lackawanna, a block down the road. How silly of me! Again, I love my cell phone. Thanks to my cell phone, I found it.

I can't believe how confusing it is here. And keep in mind that this shoe shop was only 7.4 miles from my house and I passed through Trucksville, Luzerne, Pringle, Kingston and Forty Fort to get there. That's nine towns if you include mine and his.

Photo copyright: Susan  Denney. Taken at Musee d'Orsay, Paris. "L'ours blanc" by Pompon.

Surviving the Sixties

You don't really survive the sixties. Because they never, never, never go away. A much younger friend on Facebook posted the first line of "The Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel and in minutes all these young'uns had posted line after line of that amazing song. Our music, our dreams ( like Earth Day and World Peace), and our fashion live on.

And check out this pattern that sold in just minutes. It's for spats! You make the spats which zip up the back and they hook under your shoe with an elastic strap. Suddenly you can have boots to match any outfit. Styles like that leave an indelible mark. In truth, what most people think of as sixties fashion is late sixties early seventies fashion. What a great time to be skinny and have a gorgeous wardrobe!

That being said, to me no clothes were more flattering and beautiful  than those from the 50s. We just watched "Bell, Book and Candle" with Kim Novak. I could hardly listen to the dialogue for being distracted by the gorgeous clothes she wore. It's a umpteen-star movie just for the fashion.

To say that I find modern clothing boring and unimaginative is a huge understatement. No wonder I sell patterns almost every day from eras that were more romantic, more funky, more groovy or more elegant. There is a really good thing about modern clothing though. You can wear almost any style and pull it off. This was not true in the sixties when middle-aged ladies had a huge dilemma. Almost all clothing was for the very young and svelte. So they could either look stylish (and silly) or look nice (and  frumpy.) Tough choices we don't have to make today. Because today's clothing is so bland, you can adapt almost any style element from another era and still look interesting and attractive.

You boys bored yet? Sorry. But sometimes I just have to talk about clothes. (And shoes.)

And now for something completely different

So how many days in your life (not counting when you are a little kid and you might have fifty unique experiences in a day) do you do two things that are completely different from anything you've done before?

Thursday we did two. We went to see that light show in Plymouth, PA. I'm not posting my lousy pictures because the video is much better. You can see it by clicking on the link in my last post. Wow! It was totally and completely mind blowing. I swear I could still see some of the light patterns passing before my eyes as I went to sleep. The nativity plus rock music was a very interesting combo. Some of the tunes were almost quiet but some were downright raucous. Some were classics like Beethoven's Ninth jazzed up. It was real and it was fun. We just drove up and parked in the Family Dollar store lot and there was a sign on the fence that said 99.1. You tuned in and then watched the lights sync with the music. Michael figured it was a radio band with a very limited area. We lost it just a few blocks from the house.

Then we came home and I decided to finally try the Pop Rocks my daughter had given me for Christmas. I had never had them before. My mom loves them but I'd never ventured into the exploding candy territory. They were really fun and good. Michael tried them too for the first time. We wondered why we hadn't tried them when they were new. The package tells all. Thirty years ago we were busy with three wee ones. Just didn't have the time, I guess.

So two unique experiences in one day. And yesterday we saw Avatar for the first time. I may explode from excitement.

It ain't over til it's over

One of the great things about living here in the Wyoming Valley is that Christmas lasts a long time. Folks here love to decorate their houses with lights and put them up even before Thanksgiving. (They just take down the Halloween ones and replace them with Christmas.) And many of the lights are still up. Our neighbor's are all blue. They're new this year. The first time they lit them up, I felt like I was having a UFO experience.

Yesterday was Epiphany which is the day that many Orthodox Christians have their Christmas. And there are tons of Orthodox Churches of every type around here. So they're still celebrating. And check this video of the wildest Nativity scene in America. My cousin found it online. It's in Plymouth where my dad was born and is evidently still running today. I just found out about it yesterday and couldn't go since I had a rehearsal. I'm not sure whether Michael and I will go tonight. I'm afraid I might have a seizure from sensory overload.

So no worries that my tree is still up. Or that the wreath is still on the door. One of my  lovely daughters told me the other day that Christmas was magic at our house when she was growing up. That was the most inspiring compliment I've received in a long time. I cannot take all the credit. Some of the magic came from Michael and his family traditions. Michael's best man contributed the recipe for anise biscotti. It's a family recipe and he asked us never to give it out. But we didn't make them every year. A recipe that takes more than ten cups of flour is a hassle. But these cookies in the photo look very much like them. This is a picture of an Italian bakery in the Reading Station Market in downtown Philly.

So if you need a little Christmas, come on down. We're not done here yet. And we're still doing Christmas music at church on Sunday because my soprano finally came back after being out of town for the past three Sundays. If you're Grinchy or Scroogy, I'd avoid Wilkes-Barre for at least a couple more weeks.

Last Day for Pattern Sale

Just a note for those of you who found my blog through my Etsy shop. This is the last day of my holiday sale. Lots of things go up in price tomorrow! Happy shopping!

The pattern that was only listed for an hour

So I bought all these patterns. For a hundred bucks! Up to now, I've just been selling patterns I already owned or that I was given. But I broke down and bought a stash. And I'm not sure it was a good investment. But I did post one pattern today from that stash and it was in terrible shape. The envelope was unbelievably tatty and had a water stain on it. But here is why it sold in less than an hour:

Is that too darn cute or what? It's from the late 50s or early 60s. It's really hard to sell patterns instead of hoarding them. I can think of a couple of little girls who would have really looked cute in this. But luckily, their mommies both sew for them.

So I've made back 7.00 from my investment. Only 93 dollars to go before I start showing a profit. Ah, me!

Thoughts on the New Year--Knocking on Wood

Photo credit: Michael Denney. All rights reserved.

 

Facing a new year used to be filled with anticipation, joy and a renewed sense of commitment. Alas, I'm afraid that I approach 2010 with a bit of trepidation. Maybe it's because I feel a bit like this fellow washing windows in New York City. If I were sure there were as many migraines to get through this coming year as there were last, I could be a little daunted. I could be facing a lot of mornings that start with headache meds. And maybe some of you look into the future and see an endless string of mind numbing repetitive tasks. (I did name this blog after doing the dishes, didn't I?) But we must move forward with hope.

 

But in spite of the challenges, 2009 was very good to me. In fact, I'm feeling a little superstitious. My folks, children and grandchildren are all in good health, I adore Michael who loves me and who has a good job--a wow combination, and I am back on my feet after a bad bout with sciatica. We live in a gorgeous place with wonderful, amazing places to visit all around us. I've spent a lot of time with family this year even though they all live far away. In fact, I feel like tap dancing on wood. If you're not familiar with the old superstition "knock on wood," check out this article on Wikipedia. So many things have been going great that I hesitate to speak these things out loud. 

That being said, I need to at least pay lip service to the hopes for a better year than last. And I think the best way to accomplish this would be for me to accomplish more personally. So here's the list and I hope you'll hold my feet to the fire if you notice that I'm not making enough progress this year. Note that these are not true goals. A goal has to be written down, specific and attainable. If you haven't read a book by David Bach, I recommend him on goal setting. I will be setting down the actual goals sometime today. But these are the general areas which need improvement.

1. For once, for certain and forever, I need to be a writer and start publishing. There's no reason outside of my own motivation why I can't do this.

2. I need to get in shape. Totally. First thing will be to lose ten pounds. I am sick and tired of choosing my clothing based on what fits any particular day. Dang!

3. I need more income. (See number one.) But the pattern shop has also brought in some dough and I love running it. 

4. Genealogy. I really need to get organized in that area. My cousin has done loads and loads of research, but I need to do my part since I live here where so much of my family history happened.

5. Get my house in order. Literally. We still haven't really moved in. Pictures aren't hung yet, and I have projects that need completing. I've had the machine that will turn our videotapes into digital files for quite a while but haven't even downloaded the software onto my computer.

6. Practice. The piano, the organ, the violin, writing, sewing, speaking French, garbling Spanish, working New York Times crosswords in pen. I have a lot of skills which have gotten rusty. 

7. Read my scriptures more diligently. Sorry I can't funny this one up. I'm serious about this. 

There's more which I won't bore you with. 

I wish you all a Happy New 2010. I wish for you some of the things you want and a lot more of the serendipitous stuff that really makes life worth living.