Thursday, March 31, 2011

Hackety-Hack

Trying not to cough up a lung here. Ick. Also trying to recuperate after I sucked it up enough to look after the Grandbeasties yesterday. T-Man kindly came home early from work to help. We had their car seats so we could take them to see their mom in hospital. She’s not actually sick, but is undergoing a series of tests and is currently attached to a bunch of monitors. And bored out of her gourd! They are trying to pinpoint the source of her epilepsy so maybe they can go in and do something about it. She has been having seizures since she was a little girl and the meds she’s currently taking are not very effective anymore. This is her only other option. We are all very hopeful and nervous at the same time. It’s a Big Deal. I hate those things. Especially when they happen to people I love.

Meanwhile the kids are being passed around between grandparents and daddy while he tries to keep his comic book shop open and cope with housework all at the same time. Good thing he can juggle! Keeping several balls in the air was good practice for real life, doncha think? And the Beasties have been pretty well-behaved, all things considered. Only a few fights and a meltdown or two. Pretty par for the course as far as 4- and 6-year-old siblings are concerned. It’s also handy that Super-Princess is out of school for spring break this week. Adding extra dropping-off and picking-up duties to the list would be near impossible since their other grandmother lives near us in Vancouver and they live a half-hour away in Port Coquitlam. There’s at least one more day we’ll need to take them (Saturday) before the docs will release their mom, perhaps early next week. Hope I can survive.

Today I’m lying very low. I didn’t end up with any other symptoms except a sore throat and coughing so much that my ribs hurt. Unluckily the Beasties and their parents already have something similar so I won’t be accused of passing on the plague. As I’m wiping snotty noses though I’m hoping they won’t infect me with a different bug! The one I have is quite nasty enough. Oh and I remembered that I did have something similar but milder for a short while in January. So I had no cause to boast about how well I’ve been anyhow. Life has a way of smiting down the smug, no?

On the crafty front, I’ve gotten another repeat or two of the lace pattern done on the Abotanicity Tunic. Not a lot. And I’ve been messing about with my pattern fitting. Haven’t actually cut anything out yet but I’m going with the current urge to trace, chop and tape tissue paper. I found a tape that doesn’t shrink or wrinkle up under the iron: green painter’s tape. It’s a bit heavy and ugly but it holds the pieces together so it’s fine. Better than pins that tear the tissue and fall out. Yes, I’m being overly fussy about adjusting my patterns but the whole point of sewing my own clothes is so that they will actually fit my body! Not somebody else’s idea of a “standard” body. Who actually has one of those anyway?

I’m also debating whether I need to make a muslin for any of my planned garments. I think I would have to be confronted with the combination of complex pattern and expensive fabric to bother. The fabrics I have are either fairly cheap or have been in my stash for so long they don’t count anymore or both. Some are even inherited from others’ stashes. I would like what I make to be wearable but it wouldn’t be too heartbreaking if they don’t come out the way I had hoped. I’m not counting my time as important in this equation because it really doesn’t matter how long it takes to achieve acceptable results. Within reason of course.

Sorry no photos to enliven your day. I’m not getting up to do more than pour myself another big cup of tea. I need to feel up to going with Milady Daughter and baby Rosebud to the clinic tomorrow to see the shoe guy. Hopefully he can do something for her blisters since nothing else seems to be working very well. Otherwise they might have to go back to casting her leg for awhile until she’s a little older. Not sure which is more awkward but those are the only two choices. Fun times!

3 comments:

Heather said...

Wow, your family has seen a lot of our fair medical system lately, haven't they? Hope everyone feels better soon.

Anonymous said...

Hackety-hacking is no fun and with grandbabies to care for too. Hope you all are better soon and hospital tests come through for their mum.

Sharon in Surrey said...

Have you tried ironing your tissue patterns onto iron-on interfacing?? I did that with all my favs & then did the adjustments & ironed them on too. I used a fairly light weight product that I could get by the yard. You can even write notes on it!! I have tons of sympathy for your hacking - with kids. We're getting too OLD for this kind of thing!