Tori's pants

And now for a little sewing! (thanks, Fran, for fixing my machine for me!)

I have a friend named Tori who had a favorite pair of jeans. We all know about those. They're impossible to find, and once you do find them you hang on to them with a death grip until they're just a sorry wad of threads that may or may not have once been jeans. It's important to get every last second out of them.

Her jeans were worn through in the seat. This is a problem for any self respecting southern lady who does not want to flash her delicates to the world, right?

So, she asked her neighbor to fix them for her. Bought some cute fabric that could show through the holes. And handed them over.

The neighbor...

Well...

The neighbor did this:

Now... Let's examine this, shall we?

Not only did she use hot pink thread to sew them down... The patches are on the outside of the pants. What does this say to you?
"Hello, I would like to introduce you to my butt!"
"Check out my boo-tay."
"Is your butt swank? 'cause mine is."
"For a good time, grab here."

Now, Tori didn't know quite what to say. She took them home and tried them on. Showed her hubby. He would never be seen in public with her and these jeans. But they were THE JEANS. The FAVORITE jeans. So, she snagged me at knit night one week and told me the whole sad story. She didn't want to go back as a dissatisfied customer. She didn't know what to do. I didn't believe how bad they were until I saw them, and then, once I did, there was no going back. These had to be saved.

Those patches were on there GOOD, too. Three step zigzag all around them. Thin, fraying material near where the holes were. I took my time and removed them over the course of a couple of days. No rushing on this job. A sharp stitch ripper, good light, and a little tv company.

You'll be glad to know that the jeans are saved.

A little fabric peeks through the hole - like grownups wear.

First day of school

First day of school. For Niall, the first day of school EVER.

First day of Kindergarten, a little excited, a little scared


First day of 3rd grade, excited and familar


Woo! Let's go to school!


In the car on the way. See Niall's face? Doesn't he look excited?


Walking in. My big boys.


Niall and one of his teachers hang his bag in his cubby.
I think my hands were shaking by this point, because my pics are blurry.


He clung to John a bit.


And then he gave me this look, right when he realized that we
really were going to leave him there, and he ran over for one last hug.

I don't have any more pics because I was BEING CHEERFUL and HOLDING IT TOGETHER and trying to get out of there before I started crying. Growing up is hard! He should be finishing his lunch right now and getting ready to lie down on his little mat. I hope he's having fun.

Pictures are being added

I'm currently editing and uploading pictures to our flickr from our trip to Indiana and from open house at school today.

Uploading is ongoing. It takes for-ev-er (make that as whiney as you can) to get them up there.
Here is the set for our trip to Indiana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45427621@N00/sets/72157624768781976/

and here is the set for the school happenings. The school set will be ongoing through the whole year. I'm trying to be more organized. We'll see how long that lasts.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45427621@N00/sets/72157624770375680/

Both albums are set to public, so you shouldn't have any issues viewing them. Enjoy!

How do you knit a fridge?

It's very simple, really.
First, you knit for a few weeks and make 3 pairs of shorties for a local lady.

Then, you stalk Craigslist and find someone selling a fridge for $100.

Plates

So, we got these pretty nice plates when we got married almost 10(!) years ago, and they are really starting to show some wear. A chip here, a crack there, some broken bowls that had to be thrown out...
It's not bad yet, but I need to start thinking of what to do about the state of the plates...

And then today we went to the Guardian Angel thrift store, and I saw 3 plates in a pattern that looked really familiar.

not my picture, but it is my plate

This plate is the pattern Indian Summer. Mom says that our plates were Old Spice, but I'm not so sure about that. This one looks way familiar. If mom didn't have it, either Aunt Jan, Aunt Mac, or Aunt Wanda did. There were only 3 plates, and they were the small size that I use for the boys, so I got them.
And then I got to thinking... 79cents a plate is pretty awesome. And old plates are pretty awesome. And Corelle does not die. I should keep my eyes open and accumulate old Corelle in random patterns and call it shabby chic. It works for me. And I bet a lot of the people who would eat on my plates would have memories attached to certain old Corelle patterns. I think this is a fabulous idea. So that's my plan. I'll let you know when I find more good ones.