I’ve been saying this a lot lately

I don’t have a problem with the idea of smaller government. In fact, I’m a proponent of each department having benchmarks and if they’re not hitting them – the department goes away. That’s how it works in business and it’s not a bad idea for government. Now, the benchmarks don’t have to be monetary but they should be something achievable.

My main problem with the Republican party has two parts: 1) Religion. Having run so far to the right, even if I WANTED to vote Republican I can’t because there’ s no guarantee that the extra-loud wingnuts will exert their influence more than already happens. Which leads me to my 2). Even if the liberal wingnuts exert influence, they consider me to be more than my parts. The religion in part 1 seems to mean that lawmakers feel they should legislate those beliefs, which include me not getting to make decisions about how I want to live my life. Their religion says I don’t have control of my body and that the government gets to make those decisions for me.

I’ve never been able to get a Republican to explain how that makes the government smaller and less intrusive, though I think that’s because my vagina has significantly less money than the multi-billion dollar companies that benefit from the so-called ‘small government’ policies the Republican parties embrace.

To be fair, I’ve never met a Republican that believes the entire platform whole-heartedly. But until someone tears up the planks and starts over, there’s no way that I see THEM as the best of any choices. In fact, it’s because the party is SO disingenuous that I’m frustrated. If you really believe that abortion is murder, then you have to prosecute the woman who had the abortion. She should be going to prison for life. If you’re not willing to talk about that – and nobody is, though they’re happy to put the doctor in jail – then shut the fuck up. The doctor can’t perform a procedure that the woman doesn’t show up for. If you’re not willing to talk about how the ramifications of your beliefs are going to play out, I don’t believe you actually endorse them. You’re picking a knee-jerk emotional topic to harp on because you can’t win on the logic front. That makes me sad for our process.

Taxes are a part of our society. It’s how we pave roads and pay for police and fire safety. It’s how we take care of our elderly and people who can’t take care of themselves. Are there people who game the system? Hell yes. In fact, we ELECTED a bunch of them. The same people who are bitching about government healthcare entitlements are currently beneficiaries of some of the best health care in the country – you’ll be shocked to know that it’s provided by the government.

So yeah, there are people who take advantage of food stamps and Medicaid but each of those individuals is still making a shit-ton less money than the people we’ve elected to Congress.

I don’t mind smaller government, but I want a government that sees me as an actual person who is contributing to our tax base rather than a uterus. Oddly, I think I’m more important than that.

Reasons I love the internet, part 6,423

I was watching Water for Elephants on cable last week. I kind of love Reese Witherspoon’s makeup in the whole film so I thought I’d google for that and see if I could find tips, pointers or product recs.

Y’all, the internet is amazing – especially if (like me) you are makeup challenged. Not only did I find some fantastic suggestions for how to get similar (though not identical ) makeup looks, I found a great one that uses a product I’ve already got for a wicked easy, super-polished daytime look. I’ve got some cream shadows from Benefit and basically just put some Skinny Jeans on my lids and barely in the crease. Add mascara and done. So easy and looks fantastic.

I’ve also got a better idea now how to replicate the look from the dancehall and I’m stoked about trying it soon.

I successfully got all the new work laptops up to date and with all the software we need. I added drivers we didn’t previously use so I think we’ll increase productivity as well. Last but not least I also got a couple of pieces of long-ago purchased but as-yet unused equipment up and running so that yay- new and improved diagnostic tools!

I rocked Friday like a boss and didn’t do much with my weekend. I’m about to finish making some pants and maybe a couple of work shirts before I start the slightly-more-work but significantly-more-reward projects. I also found a cute purse picture at Target.com and I feel like I can probably make said purse out of an old pair of khaki pants. It’ll be my first upcycle project.

I’ve got some work to do for the end of the semester and we’re getting closer to our Lubbock trip. I’m a nerd because I’m actually kind of excited to go to Lubbock (which people keep telling me is the asshole of Texas). As I’ve never been to Texas, but moved here from the asshole of Michigan, I feel like it has to be at least okay. Also, they’ve got a college and two great Thai restaurants. How bad can it be?

Grimm is wrapping up its season and I have to say, it’s become my go-to Friday show. The Vampire Diaries is still managing to be incredibly awesome and I’ve got mad love for the new Shonda Rhimes series – Scandal. Other things which are sweet – I found a couple of super-cute bags for a steal.

I was mostly domestic today – laundry and dishes – before work so I’m kinda hyped about finishing my current sewing project. In all likelihood I’ll do so while re-watching last night’s Game of Thrones, thus cementing my epic nerdery. At least I’m not making something for cosplay. Yet.

Last but not least, the new Internet Explorer 9 had has generated zero interest in me for Internet Explorer 9. It did, however, prompt me to buy the Alex Clare album which is about six shades of excellent. I have even already dropboxed it to friends.

The Gotye album is great, if a bit schizophrenic, and I Feel Better is my new phone ringtone. As yet I am still not sick of Someone I Used to Know. I’m also reading the 7-12 Dresden books.

Reacher

I just got around to the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child. By the time I got to the second book, I remembered that the main criticism I’d heard about the books is that Reacher is a Gary Stu and DUDE. So. Right.

That said, I was willing to suspend disbelief thanks to a blend of interesting characters in each book, solid action and Reacher being likeable despite his incredible amazingness. Probably because the author generally makes Reacher wrong before he makes him right.

Definitely a library read for me – I don’t know that I’d read them more than once – but a fun couple hours brain vacation. I powered through the first six books in most of a day. Comparatively, I thoroughly enjoy the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher and have read them multiple times. The fact that Harry is relatively fucked up, aware of his fuck-up-ed-ness and copes with it in various scenarios makes him far more relateable than Reacher.

Today I made a Thing

On Pinterest I saw a great diy shelving idea where you use laundry baskets instead of shelves. After a little shopping today, I made my own version using a table we already have and scrap wood from our deck project. Basically the project will only cost the laundry baskets and paint.

There’s enough room under each basket for an additional basket. Now I get to remodel the REST of the room…

You can dance if you want to

I watched the new Footloose movie this weekend and I’ve got to say it was far superior than the original.

The original has a soft spot in my heart because, when it came out on video, it was a movie I identified with. My parents had moved us to the suburbs the summer before 6th grade and we also started attending a Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church. It was a strict church and there was no secular music, no movies, no dancing. I’m not sure why video was okay, or if my parents just realized that it was inevitable, but I didn’t get to go to a proper movie in a theater (that didn’t have to do with god – there was some Prodigal Son movie that I got to skip school for) unless I was staying over with a friend and my parents didn’t know or I got my driver’s license. The stuff against the rules didn’t have to actually be the law, it was the law of the house where I lived and that was just as good.

When my mom found a cassette tape of Def Leppard’s Hysteria in my room, you would have thought it was wrapped in pentagrams and soaked in baby’s blood. My parents were nothing if not committed to what the church was doing. I fought for WEEKS to be allowed to go to the 7th grade Halloween Dance – it was the first dance of the school year. I was allowed to go, albeit not in costume, and while it was fun it was SO not worth the month of parental arguing that I’d done to get there.

So seeing a movie – even though my friends thought it was so improbable to be in a place where dancing WASN’T ALLOWED – that reflected part of my crazy life experience and captured my frustration was kind of awesome. Especially since it was part of my life that almost no one else COULD empathize with. In my public school, I didn’t know anyone who went to church regularly and it was pretty much the only social outlet I was allowed. It was outside of the town where I lived so there was zero overlap between school and church. There weren’t a huge number of kids who were in the youth group at my church and, I suspect, almost none who were experiencing MY frustration with the rules. Now let’s be clear, the kids in neither Footloose film are advocating for dancing in the name of the Lord. And Spouse will tell you that a hangnail was better than the first film, so yes it was admittedly not great. For me, it was the novel characterization of something similar to my own experience that I remember resonating strongly with for the first time.

The new film is a pretty loose remake – modernized a bit and some of the over-the-top asshole characters have been changed or improved. There are some funny music callbacks and overall I think they did a better job with the story and setting. Everyone was a bit more believable than in the original and folks even have a southern twang.

All of this is a long way of saying I really enjoyed the new film and would watch it again before the original.

When I say I’m a NERD

No. Seriously. Let me tell you a story about my morning.

I logged into Pinterest and saw a super cute printable recipe card. I had trouble opening the page in Chrome (it opened in an IE tab. whatev.) which led me to googling. I found a bunch that were printable but not so many that you could actually TYPE your own recipes into BEFORE printing. Which led me to a tutorial on creating a recipe template in Word.
Which led me to making this.  recipecards

On the cards I made, you’ll find a chili recipe of Spouse’s from college (it’s really good and you can do TONS of tinkering) and the recipe for General’s Chicken that I love from The Chew on ABC. If you want a copy of the template, comment here and I’ll make a separate post for it.

I found the clip art sort of randomly and it grew on me. I got some free fonts from 1001fonts.com.

I spent my morning making tables, columns and downloading fonts. If that’s not nerdery, I’m not sure what is.

There is a strong likelihood of a trip to the store in my future, so that I can print these on cardstock (they should be 4×6) and replace my current ‘customizable’ 3 ring recipe book that 1) I have never loved 2) is handwritten in varying states of care and legibility and 3) is chock full of recipes written on scraps and stuffed inside.

Food vs Snacks

I’ve been working 12 hour Fridays since January. I do not love the 12 hour shifts, but they have brought something very important to my attention.

At work, I don’t have time to eat a proper lunch. This is a huge change from my job of the last two years, where we had structured breaks and I was doing enough (literal) heavy lifting that I had to  schedule caloric intake.

I think that this week I’ve finally found a way around it.

Step 1: Hummus. I really, really love hummus. So I’ve been bringing snacks that work with hummus – pita chips, cut vegetables and (occasionally) boneless buffalo wings from the grocery store (surprisingly tasty with hummus!). It turns out that a hummus break can pack great calories into a few bites and has enough flavor to make it feel worth my while. I buy a bag of baby carrots (ready to eat) at the beginning of the week, a chunk of celery to chop, and three green/red/yellow peppers. For 20 minutes of chopping and bagging, I don’t have to do it again for the rest of the week.

Step 2: Green Monster. I’m making this shake for breakfast. What I like about this – minimal prep on my part. I cut and freeze the bananas. I buy the triple-washed baby spinach buckets. I dig that it’s got protein and some serious nutrients, not to mention PEANUT BUTTER. I’m hoping this is going to give me enough jump to get through the first part of my day.

Those that know me know I DO NOT drink coffee. I’m also not big on breakfast unless it is accompanied by sleeping in. I’ve used about every liquid nutrition option  out there (Slim Fast, tofu smoothies, etc). The canned slim fast is effective and fast but not especially cost efficient. Tofu smoothies typically require a bit more prep.  I’m digging the ‘chop the banana and put it in the freezer’ plan.

Spouse has been using spinach in his shakes for years but I’ve always been skeptical. This is the first recipe that made me think I’m going to like it.

So that’s the plan I’m using to see if getting through the work week can be made a little easier.

Amy Butler’s Weekender Bag

Ohhhh people. This may be trouble. This may be the project that eats my life. Here I will link you to a google search which yields a bajillion cute versions: bag  I’m making a trip to the metro Denver area on Thursday so I can pick up some fabric.

In related news, pressing multiple yards of fabric is a pain in the balls. Now that I’ve done it, I’m pinning patterns tonight to make pants for work.

Why news matters

My friend was assaulted.

She was in a bar with some people – including her husband – and as she was trying to leave, a drunk dude  leaned in, put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek. Appalled, she pulled away but he did it again. At this point, a friend noticed what was happening and dragged the drunk dude away.

This was several weeks ago and we were talking about it tonight. What she said that struck me is, “I keep thinking – I’ve got all this training and should know how to back the guy off.” My response: “Because it never occurred to you that something like that would happen or that you would actually NEED to defend yourself.”

Here’s the problem with the current debate about contraception and abortion and unnecessary/unwarranted medical procedures: they continue to give people the impression that women’s bodies are fair game.

Rather than teach boys and men that they shouldn’t assault women, we teach women that they shouldn’t dress “slutty” or drink too much. Note that guys don’t get that same warning. That legislators – largely men – think they should have control over any PART of women’s bodies implies that women are JUST PARTS. Not actual PEOPLE who are entitled to respect and personal space – parts that are subject to whatever men want to do to them and we should just shut up and take it.

I makes me FURIOUS that THAT has become the default female response- guilt over ‘why didn’t I do more to prevent this’ than anger that society has made it okay to make us less than “people.” The fact that news agencies are not talking about this should infuriate EVERYONE who knows a woman.

I’ve got a working theory

That Monday nights are my night for Tossing, Turning and Fucked Up Dreams. Terrible for sleep, but clearly my brain is working some shit out.

Unrelated, I got half a dozen compliments on my Sugar Skull shirt at work – from patients. Sweet.

My current sewing project plans: another scrub shirt (or two) and two pairs of scrub pants. This will be new material and a new pattern (pants) as well as adapting the shirt pattern. That should be followed by two pairs of slacks (thanks Vogue!) and a knit shirt (and possibly a summer dress). Provided I get through all these things without wanting to kill myself, I just got a pattern for a weekender bag that I’m pretty stoked about but will be more complicated. This is all by way of working up to my silk shantung Victorian steampunk costume, which I’d like to have done by the beginning of August. I figure at least a month for that project, so that means I’ve got April through July to crank through the rest of my project list. Do-able, I think.

In scrub pattern adaptation, I’ve noticed that I prefer double pockets low on my shirts and rarely use the ‘traditional’ pants pockets. I’m planning on moving the side pants pockets up and potentially dropping the traditional pockets altogether. I’m also sorely tempted to add an additional low pocket on the back of my shirt as a place to chuck my phone, though I suspect raising the pants side-pockets will solve that problem for me.

I apologize to all of you who don’t give a shit about sewing things but I AM pretty excited about the Vogue pants, as I’ve got some bitchin’ houndstooth and charcoal lightweight tweed. I may become one of those people who stops wearing jeans.

Nah. But there’s potential that I’ll make my own. Incidentally, if you’re interested in the sewing stuff that I’m interested in, I’ve been using my pinterest account as a sort of inspiration board for things that I’ll be searching out patterns or patterns I already have.

We watched The Descendants and it was pretty much as good as everyone said it was. It was, I think, a pretty realistic depiction of teenagers today. It didn’t shirk the difficulties of relationships and it did a pretty great job of characterizing all the shitty things about a familial death without being too maudlin or twee. In short, worth a watch.

Our companion rental, The Immortals, was on the other hand a HOT MESS. It started strong and then fell apart somewhere around the last third and for a movie that was goddamn loud, there was A LOT OF FUCKING MUMBLING. Movie-watching pet peeve. Not worth what you’d pay to rent it. Wait for cable.

Incidentally, every single movie with big battles since Gladiator has tried to recapture the intensity and awesome of the Maximus pep talk but has failed gloriously. I think it’s in part because they are clearly trying to recapture that moment at the Very Important Moment, whereas in Gladiator he does it a couple of times with different audiences at non-lynchpin moments and it’s believable precisely because he’s not trying so hard and because the entire success doesn’t hinge on it.

Clearly I’ve spent more time thinking about this than anyone should bother doing. Related, the pep talk scene in Immortal is egregiously bad despite the presence of Stephen Dorff.

There is currently a plan afoot to make a movie trip to see The Hunger Games this weekend. I do not care that I am a studio mark. No, I do not have a costume.

In TV news, I’ve been sucked into Smash entirely against my will. I have no explanation.

The Walking Dead had a whipass finale and Justified has been six kinds of awesome.

I’ve updated Goodreads (and by proxy, Facebook) with my 2012 reads and reviews. Most recently, Still Missing and Penumbra both got 5 stars from me. Vastly different but interesting and evocative reads, both.

In music news, I have been OBSESSED with the Gotye and Kimbra song “Someone I Used to Know.” I CAN’T GET SICK OF IT.

Sugar Skull Scrub Shirt

It’s done. I will not lie to you, there are some UGLY seams inside this mother. On the other hand, they’re inside so you would NEVER KNOW if I didn’t tell you. Considering it’s my first entire garment project since high school, I feel pretty fucking good about it. Now as long as the washing and dryer don’t kill it, I’ll be aces.

It did confirm something I already knew: I’m not much of a print girl. I love the fabric. Love it. I would definitely use it again as accent but I probably wouldn’t make it a whole shirt. Considering I’m almost always in solid colors, however, it might make a nice change of pace. Also, I made the motherfucker MYSELF.

I’m really happy with the length of the shirt as well as the size and location of the pockets. The original pattern called for a pocket on the left breast but I NEVER use mine so I just skipped it. In the next iteration, I may consider adding a pocket seam to create a pen holder though. I also dig that, even though it’s a unisex pattern, the neckline isn’t too low. There’s also a strong likelihood that with the next shirt I’ll skip interfacing and simply double layer the back collar. Less futzing but same overall effect, I suspect.

In short: a worthwhile project. If you’re not a procrastinator like me, you could easily finish this  in a day if you’ve been sewing a while or a couple of days if (like me) you’re re-familiarizing yourself with all the lingo and tools.

Sew close!

I’ll stop the sewing puns any time now, I swear.

After my initial cutting and pinning push, I will not lie, I was intimidated by my sewing machine. I took the sewing machine manual and literally read the entire thing twice. Then I reread my sewing books. Tonight I decided “Fuck it” and bit the bullet.

I did some practice stitches on my scrap fabric to get a feel for how fast/slow the pedal was. Let me say to you – again – that I love living in the future. This machine made loading a bobbin (which seems like it was unnecessary for the project but I used anyhow, since I’m making work clothes) wicked fast and there’s an automatic needle threader, y’all. What did we even DO before an automatic needle threader?!? I’m officially classifying the sewing machine as a geek toy. Now it just needs a name.

This project is a really easy pattern and I’m pretty happy with how it’s coming together. After a false start or two with a pocket, I got into the swing of it and just plowed through most of the project. I tripped over a couple of my own errors but found ways to fix or work with them (yay easy pattern!) and after the time-intensive neckline, all I’ve got left is the body seam and hemming the sleeves.

The best part of the sewing machine is multiple stitches. So instead of just reinforcing the bottom of the pocket, I reinforced the whole thing. Since I’m constantly putting heavy things or too many things in my pockets, it seemed like a logical option. I did the same with the neckline and shoulders since they’re the places where I’m most likely to put stress.

I love how deep the pockets are and I’m pretty stoked to see how the whole shirt turns out. Tomorrow I’ll finish the sewing, Scotch-gard it and then wash and dry.

All in all, this was a pretty great reintroduction to sewing. First, it was complex enough to let me work with my machine. Second, it’s going to be enough of a complete ‘thing’ that it feels like I’ve actually MADE something. Third, it’s a thing I’ll be able to use right away.

I’ve got a few more patterns in line – a blouse and slacks – after I make some more scrubs and hopefully before  July I’ll be ready to tackle the Victorian costume.

As an added bonus, when I see cute clothes now I’m not tempted to buy them, I’m tempted to figure out how to make them. w00t! Money saver!

Project: Scrubs

Tonight after work I pinned out the pattern for the top. I’ve got two sets of patterns and I’m going to use one for the shirt and the other one for the pants. I also decided, while pinning the Sugar Skull fabric, that I’m going to make the other shirts two-tone.

I ended up with an odd sized piece of fabric (rather than the full size I was looking for) because I got the navy fabric at the end of the bolt. It’s pretty sweet because Joann Fabric gave me the remainder (just under a yard) for free. If I cut fronts and backs for each out of different fabric, it will allow me to make at least a total of three shirts and two pairs of pants for under $100, out of a better quality material than I’d get for the same price at a store. To give you an idea: each of the Grey’s Anatomy scrub shirts are at least $25 at the best price you can find online – not including shipping. Not only that, I get to add pockets where I want and can cut them to suit my needs. My plan also includes scotchguarding all the scrubs before I wash and wear them.

I haven’t pinned a pattern since junior high school, if I had to guess, and I’d forgotten how labor intensive it is. Luckily, the sewing books all include information on how to pin and where to pin. I’ve already made my work a little easier because I rarely use a breast pocket in my shirts so I just eliminated it. I really love the colors in the fabric and I’m stoked to see how the pieces turn out.

The Sugar Skull fabric is 100% cotton and – contrary to all recommendations – I didn’t wash it before pinning. This was mostly because the pattern I’m using is just large enough above my recommendations that even if it shrinks a full inch, it’ll still fit perfectly fine. We’ll see how that shakes out in the wash.

With any luck, I’ll be sewing it together on Thursday!

Pictures for Meghan

Here’s my equipment. heh heh

This is the fabric I chose for my scrubs. The sugar skull fabric is a basic cotton and the other fabrics are kind of a sateen (cotton/poly blend), mostly because they feel more like the Gray’s scrubs that I’m currently wearing and like a lot.

I’ve got enough of the purple for tops and bottoms, bottoms for the blue and a top from the sugar skulls.

Lunch

I made these Crispy Chicken Tacos for lunch today and they were pretty fantastic. While I was at the store, I’d forgotten to buy sour cream. Since I happened to have heavy cream on hand, I kind of made my own with a splash of heavy cream and juice of half a lime. It worked out perfectly. I also used fat free mayo, in case you care.

Tonight’s menu includes Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas so unfortunately I have to clean the kitchen again.