Me making stuff

Lately, I've been neglected this blog as I bury a fair amount of time into making clown costumes. I don't know why.  Somehow I really LOVE making clown costumes. For me, there's something so satisfying about the process of making – well, the process of making just about anything. The clown costumes are such a good excuse to be a little more cheery and bright and silly than I feel like I get to be in everyday life. I've exceeded the number of clown costumes my children could ever reasonably use, so they are for sale here. The costumes are getting more gorgeous and well-made with each rendition. For some reason, their extravagance alone motivates me to continue making them.

When I first started making clown costumes, I mentioned that my goal is to teach myself how to sew well enough to sew clothes for me. Five years ago, I was disassembling pants and then copying the pattern and re-sewing new ones. It was a struggle. With the clown costumes, I had to re-work the store-bought pattern to get the size and proportions and silhouette that I wanted. I'm feeling a lot more confident after all the clown-costume-making than I was after the pant-making. Now I'm starting to think about designing a shirt. A shirt for me.  I've reached the point where I feel confident enough with my pattern-making and sewing skills to try. Although, it's a pretty simple design. I've also been collecting old sheets to cut up and use on my trial run(s).

The other thing I would really like to design is a Christmas Tree Skirt. I don't know why we don't have one! No: I DO know why. Every year, I wrap a table cloth woven by Fritz's grandmother around the bottom of the tree. I tell myself that it's sentimental and therefore ideal. And it sort of is ideal. Ideal-ish. Except, it's a off-white table cloth (with brownish flecks), and I would like a red tree skirt. And it fits well enough, but not great. Also it's a table cloth! I never use table clothes on tables (at least, not with kids), so it's nice to have an excuse to use it. See? Ideal-ish.

Anyway. I haven't really dreamed up the perfect tree skirt yet. I'm never moved enough by the tree skirts that I see in the stores to buy one. But maybe if I start putting some brain power into thinking about tree skirts NOW, I'll come up with something to make before Christmas...

Except: while I'm buying making stuff, so are the kids. The messes and disorganization are beginning to pile up, so I might need to set aside my own projects for a bit.

What Counts

I really like(d) Volkswagens, so I'm feeling betrayed by the recent revelation that their diesels have been cheating emission standards for the last 6 years in the US.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, my whole family is something of VW affectionados. My brother, who normally rides a bike, but drives a Golf TDI the rest of the time, called me to rant about how he thought he was making an environmentally responsible car choice, but now is embarrassed to be driving a VW.

I took this photo Wednesday morning at the zoo in Denver. Apparently, not everyone feels the same. Or not everyone has heard the news. Or maybe some people feel along the lines of It's The Thought That Counts:

Anyway. I think this changes my mind about ever wanting a CrossBlue. But, you know, there is something I find remarkable about this whole debacle (beyond the fact that it happened in the first place): the fact that Volkswagen has been relatively forthcoming. I mean, how many times does a company actually admit guilt and say that they are sorry? Recently, the Huffington Post has been running exposés on companies who have done some pretty crappy things to consumers with their toxic chemicals. (Interesting series, if, like me, you often feel that regular news articles are a little shallow.) There was Dupont's Teflon which resulted in cancer and birth defects and deaths and extensive pollution. Johnson and Johnson's Risperdal causing children to grow breasts. And the difference here is that neither of these companies have remotely stepped forward the way that Volkswagen has. It's been a much larger, longer game of obscuring the facts and running the clock with these other guys.

For what it's worth.

Not so Prime

We use Amazon Prime. We started using it when Trixie was a baby.  Spending lots of time in the car running errands with three kids was horrible. It was just so much easier to buy on Amazon. We signed up for Prime, because our frequency of ordering made the free two-day shipping was worth it to us. I confess, we've become a little addicted. It's so easy to get just exactly what we want, and not more and not less. (Unless you count the excessive number of cardboard boxes around the house.)

For two-ish years, Amazon Prime deliveries were done by UPS. But in the last two months, it appears that UPS has been booted and replaced by USPS. At least, that seems to be the case here in Denver. I'm hard pressed to find anything in the news about this switch – or at least anything that correlates date-wise with my experience. Even if I wasn't an Amazon Prime user, I would notice just the based on the sudden absence of UPS trucks driving around my block. I suspect I'm not the only Amazon Prime user in my neighborhood.

Now...I'm happy to see that USPS has more business. I don't have anything against our national postal service. Except they're not as reliable as UPS. My two day packages are not arriving in two days. That's irritating, especially since Amazon Prime has raised their rates since I became a member.

Maybe it's splitting hairs to complain – but it seems to strange – am I really the only one who has noticed this? Doesn't UPS losing a huge contract / USPS gaining a huge contract (presumably) seem like it would be worthy of mention in the news??

Also, I want two day shipping to be real, not theoretical.