Killer Shoes from the Clothing Bank

I have enough money to get by, if I'm really careful.  Rice and pinto beans, yum!!
The lack of any cushion worries me a bit, but I've realized from the lives of others around me, that with any reliable income I am well off.  
The ones I feel sorriest for are the fathers with young families, who can't find a job despite trying. That's gotta hurt. 
Anyway.  Some have told me to go to the food bank, but I don't feel right about it.  Others need that more than I do. 

 
The clothing bank is another story!  In America, grown-up women's cast-off fashions are so abundant that there's plenty for all and no end in sight.
In that marvelous place (run by the Catholic church) they hang up all the donations, and a couple times a week let everybody in to "shop" for free.

I've found all kinds of cool stuff there!
What a boost it is to get new-to-me and different stuff to wear, quite regularly!
In a way, it's even MORE fun even than the thrift shop, because you can pick up anything that looks interesting, bring it home and if you don't end up liking it, just donate it again.
As Karen's pointed out, this expands our options because we sometimes pick up things we are not sure are really the type of thing we'd wear, then they turn out to be.

I stay pretty true to form.
It must have flowers all over it.  

Karen says of this one, "It looks like you want to be a nurse."
I haven't worn it, it'll probably get donated again! 

These, I love.  LOVE, I tell you!!

There's no longer any law that says I have to wear flats.
I'm 5'10" in these!

For walking around inside buildings, a slight heel is actually more comfortable, but I had not hitherto found a heel that suited me.  Most heels seem so unstable. 
And then I find THESE and they were FREE
*happy sigh* 

Playground! Not just for kids...

Let's post something.  Anything!

I can do this.

The "journey to recovery" has been very interesting so far.  I get out of my pressure cooker, and get out of my head, stop the drama and I can start to grow, expand, become.  What am I becoming?  Not sure yet.  I guess that's the fun part! 

It's helpful to try to remember what I liked as a child, what my hopes and dreams were.

I used to dream of being in the circus.  When my mother took wide-eyed little me to see Circus Vargas, I saw those ladies in spangly outfits swinging from rings and felt the heart-stirring of recognition. 
That was my favorite fantasy from then on, as I played on my rope swing.
The first thing my daddy did, at every place we moved, was hitch up another rope swing for me. 

When I was married and lived out in the woods, one of the loggers who came out was kind enough to climb two big trees and string up the highest swing I'd ever had, using steel cable from the back of his pickup.  He put on an old manila rope that was nice and thick and easy to hang on to, and said, "Now don't trust this for very long!  Be sure to get a different one.  I was going to toss it because I don't trust it any more."

So I swung on it happily for like three winters until it broke at the high point and dumped me flat on my back.  I remember lying on the ground stunned while the kids watched me.  "Mommy, there's blood coming out your ear..." 

My earring had scratched the side of my face  :-)  

When I moved to the apartment last year, I had to find ways to get exercise in the city.  It is kinda cool to live a few blocks, or a couple miles, away from nearly everywhere I need to go.  Money being what it is, I have a perfect excuse to walk. I've gotten better at walking. 

Then I discovered the nearby elementary school had those nice kind of rings with a thick coating. 
Why not walk over there every day it's not raining and try to get my grip back again? 

At first I could hang on for only a few seconds before my wimpy hands hurt, and if I ignored it my palms would bleed.

They've started to get better  :-) 

I guess we go through phases. First we play on the playground. Then we're too old for kid stuff any more. Then we grow up and might like to play, but can't anyway, and are ashamed to be seen trying and failing. Then we get really old and don't give a fig who's watching, and try patiently until we can again. 

Karen's Play-Doh Lotus

 

And a coloring page... this is what we call "Inskyfied" 

Dave fiction: "The Aliens"

My twelve-year-old's latest adventure! 

 

The Aliens

At 3:00 am, Dave woke up at the sound of zzzzzzzzt zzzzzzzzzt zzzzzzzt. As he walked out of the bed room, he saw that his roof was being sliced open by a laser then suddenly crashed on to the floor.

Then bright lights shined on to the floor.

Okay that's it! He ran up the stairs and got his shotgun. When he got back down the stairs there were two aliens in red and white space suits.

Dave aimed and shot. Boom-bang it didn't even make a dent!

Then the aliens turned and looked at Dave then aimed at him and...

part 1

Dave woke up to find himself in a small white room. He was lying on a flat bed like thing.

When he got up a man-like person walked up and said, "We've been watching you."

"You can speak English!" said Dave.

"Yes, we took you for a mission."

"What mission?"

"My enemies have almost killed all of us-- you are the only one you can save us!"

"How?" said Dave

"Their radars can't pick you up. I want you to go in their ship and put a chip in a computer and then get out as fast as you can. Can you do that?"

"I will try," said Dave.

part 2

Dave was in a space suit and had a black laser gun. His code name was Stringer.

The alien putting Dave in the suit said, "You will go in a 45x rocket pod, which is invisible to radar. The pod will take you a half a mile from their ship. From there you need to get in somehow."

Dave rocketed out of the ship an hour later in the pod. It landed three hours later. Dave got out and walked around then walked north for a hour.

There was a 50 yard high, 200 yard long, 50 yard wide space battleship. Dave saw a door the size of a car open up and a rover came out. Dave quickly ran over and snuck in as the door shut. Four aliens saw him and started shooting at him.

He quickly rolled over to a wall and shot back and killed one, then ran over to a shelf then shot out the side ziit, ziit, ziit, ziit and got them. Then a loud sound came out of what ever and an army came up behind Dave. Then he ran down a stairway and found the computer room. He looked for the red one and then put the chip in then ran for a big red button. He thought was the big door button. He pushed it then the door opened and he ran out for his pod. Then they stared shooting but he ran away.

Dave got in the pod and rocketed away then boooooooommm their ship exploded!!!!!

The End

Lattice Quilt Idea from Home Depot

A display for privacy lattice.  Look at the cool way they arranged the color samples!  
"That should be a quilt pattern" 

It probably is, I just don't know what it's called. 

I tricked Electric Quilt into cooperating with this by making the diagonal "block" two inches square and the plain fabric "sashing" four inches wide  :-) 

It should be pretty easy to make...

Crochet Rag Rug

I used fabric strips and a size Q crochet hook, for the "braided rug" look. 

It goes together super fast. It's also hard work! Wrestling a hook that large requires the arm and shoulder to work, not just the fingers. So I only worked on it a little at a time. It was still done really fast. 

The pattern is single crochet all around with two sc in each of the six points. 

The Round Knit Dishcloth Explained for Non-Knitters Like Me

An expert knitter was making one of these and I expressed admiration, and she wrote down the pattern from memory for me. 

I tried.  I would make one section come out right, and end up with the number of stitches I was supposed to have, about 1/5th of the time.  No fun. 

The internet gave me a bunch of similar patterns, with varying sets of instructions, several of which... I tried. 

I'm obviously the lamest knitter on the planet, that or I just can't count. 

I finally figured out what I needed was a list of how many stitches I'm supposed to HAVE at a given moment (not how many I'm supposed to remove) on every single row. 

I wrote it out for myself in knitting-kindergartener language and crossed off each row with a pencil as I completed it, and voila!  Success! 

Here's my easy no-fail version for any other baby knitters out there  :-) 

* * *

The Cotton Knit Dishcloth (Written out with numbers)

From a pattern by Marion Torgerson, that I rewrote to make it easier to keep track

worsted weight cotton yarn, size 7 US needles

Cast on 15 stitches

row 1: knit across. (ends with 15 sts on needle)

row 2: k3, yo, k11, leaving 1 st, turn.

row 3: knit across. (ends with 16 sts on needle)

row 4: k3, yo, k11, leaving 2 sts, turn.

row 5: knit across. (ends with 17 sts on needle)

row 6: k3, yo, k11, leaving 3 sts, turn.

row 7: knit across. (ends with 18 sts on needle)

row 8: bind off 3 sts, k2, yo, k8, leaving 4 sts, turn.

row 9: knit across. (ends with 16 sts on needle)

row 10: k3, yo, k8, leaving 5 sts, turn.

row 11: knit across. (ends with 17 sts on needle)

row 12: k3, yo, k8, leaving 6 sts, turn.

row 13: knit across. (ends with 18 sts on needle)

row 14: bind off 3 sts, k2, yo, k5, leaving 7 sts, turn.

row 15: knit across. (ends with 16 sts on needle)

row 16: k3, yo, k5, leaving 8 sts, turn.

row 17: knit across. (ends with 17 sts on needle)

row 18: k3, yo, k5, leaving 9 sts, turn.

row 19: knit across. (ends with 18 sts on needle)

row 20: bind off 3 sts, k across row (ends with 15 sts on needle)

Repeat these 20 rows seven times, draw up the center and sew together.