Naked House

Since the removal of the real live Christmas tree (and the fourth or fifth dumping of the water from the stand on the carpet) and the fake Jenny Craig skinny tree with blue ornaments, the regular furniture and accessories have not made their reappearance in the house yet.  It looks quite naked in the living room and the family room. The garage is uncomfortably stuffed at the moment.  We need to bring in two coffee tables, three lamps, one chair, two silk Ficus trees and whatever used to be on the entry table and the piano. 

I think I’m liking the barrenness of it all.  Less to dust.  Not that I ever dust anymore.  I have children who do, despite the  infrequency that it gets accomplished.  Embarrassingly enough, the dining room chairs did not get their seats wiped for months… and in the dusty AZ desert, that is NOT good.  A guest in black pants, who shall remain nameless, came over, sat down, scooted back and unknowingly dusted one of the seats for me.  Yikes!  When said guest was not looking, I caught Larisa’s eye (the living room duster….) and pointed to the dust on our guest’s backside.  Good grief!

We had house guests visit for five days, so the loft/sewing room/school room had to be cleaned out.  I dusted the sewing machine and folded it back into its table.  I even dusted the elliptical machine.  It does get regular use, but the metal bars are a magnet to dust balls.  One of my helpful children loaded all the fabric from its obvious hiding place under the cutting table into a black garbage bag and to the garage. And even the loft/sewing room/school room looks bare naked at the moment.  It makes me feel lighter…. or slimmer…. or something.

All this nakedness needs to rub off in our master bedroom.  I desperately need to clean out the file cabinet drawers and file all the files on my desk.  It is a seriously organized conglomeration of files that simply need a home of their own instead of a pile… many piles… neat piles, but piles nonetheless. 

Anyway, I’m staying downstairs because it’s all naked and clean feeling down here.

Overcoming BFZ Obstacles

A few months back as I was wrapping up our past homeschooling year, I was impatiently biding my time until I could officially break out the sewing machine and join the Bags for Zaza team.   It was an agonizing two week period, but I started gathering fabric and trim while dreaming of bag designs.  Finally the monumental day arrived and with Jennie’s 54 point-photo-illustrated-homemade sewing instructions I was off and running.

Glitch #1.  My new-to-me in 1986 Singer sewing machine started having the hiccups.  Bad.  I would sew along happily for 2 or 3  inches then she would spat, sputter and wad up the thread near the bobbin casing.  Highly frustrating.  Really more highly frustrating was that I just had her serviced….. out in the garage she went without passing go or collecting $200.  Lucky for me, my parents were on vacation, so I went and kidnapped my mother’s 80 lb. 1940-something Singer.  That beauty could sew through sheet metal.  All was well and I produced my initial BFZ bags.  View Roses for Mama here: http://bagsforzaza.blogspot.com/2008/06/for-sale-roses-for-mama.html

Glitch #2.  Mom got home from vacation and wanted her machine back so she could make curtains for her family room.  I returned the machine with sorrow and whining.  Hard to believe from me, I know.  Then I realized that my sister-in-law, Julie, who lives across the street has two sewing machines in her garage that she was not using.  So I went over and the first choice machine came complete with a desk, and fold out top shelves making a handy work surface.  Perfect!

Glitch #3.  There was not room in the loft/sewing space for this expandable desk/machine.  I returned to my house and started moving furniture and school supplies trying to clear space like the father did on A Christmas Story when his official leg-lamp prize arrived.  A blank wall was produced and I was eager to get the new baby upstairs.

Glitch #4.  Julie and I, along with our six children, cannot move the machine in the desk.  I had to wait for my brother and my husband to get home from work.  They eventually arrived and moved the desk/machine up to the now readied loft.  Sweet!

Glitch #5.  By that time I was chomping at the bit waiting to run some donated fabric through the new sewing machine… but it was dark.  There is only pathetic lighting in the loft.  So I tracked down my husband and kindly ask him to please locate a lamp for me.  He did.  Fabulous.

Glitch #6.  Rick got a clip-on lamp, albeit very bright with one of those new (lame) swirly lightbulbs that save money, but what was I supposed to clip it to in the loft?  My choices were: the blinds, the ceiling fan, my ear, the elliptical machine or the reading chair.  Once again I sequestered my dear mate and he rigged up the clip-on lamp to the elliptical machine and I was off and sewing.  Woo HOooooo.

Glitch #7.  My children love me.  They like to come and be right by me.  They really like to ask 27 questions about what I am doing… even when it’s really obvious …. like sewing.  They also like to climb on things.  Anything.  Furniture, chairs, elliptical machines…. yes, you guessed it.  Every time they climbed on, the clip-on lamp fell to the floor.   On fall #27 the on/off switch broke off.  The lamp is in the off position with no knob to turn it to the on position. 

Glitch #8.  I called for the crazy glue, but the glue itself had securely fastened the lid to the tube.  I called for more crazy glue.  Wonder Cement was brought forth and I glued the switch back on with a wing and a prayer.  As I was holding the newly glued lamp I read the instructions on the Wonder Cement…. 48 hours curing time.  Great. 

Glitch #9.  I line up my children and asked them to find me another lamp.  A blue flimsy lamp was produced.  I plug it in but the light is just as pathetic as the overhead loft light…. then the top fell off the flimsy blue lamp.  Since I had the Wonder Cement, I fixed lamp #2 and laid it next to lamp #1 in the curing area.

Glitch #10. Thankfully the children were still in attendance in the loft, so I asked for another lamp.  That time Larisa brought me a silver desk lamp that shone brighter than those hunting lamps that hunters shine at deer to make them freeze in their last tracks.  Amazingly bright… but where to put it?  We decided on the elliptical once again… but this was a clipless lamp.  It did sit quite nicely on the control panel, but I didn’t want to get hit in the head each time the kids got on the machine.  So we found a furry blue piece of fabric in one of the numerous piles of donated fabric on the floor and tied the lamp to the new ‘lamp stand.’  And I’m off and sewing again……

www.bagsforzaza.blogspot.com   Go see why I put myself through this.  :o)