Get the Kleenex Out ( A Soldiers Homecoming)

and not because you will be crying but because you will be laughing your _____ off and may cry from laughter! You might even want to go put on a pair of Depends before I tell you how it went!

Note: This was written in 2003 just after Sir Braveheart returned from 10 months in Afghanistan. Sorry for all the exclamations and weird writing, but it originally was an e-mail out to friends and fellow armymoms.

To start....Sat was a long day of waiting. His plane did not get in until 4:45 and I was pacing all day. Cleaning, shopping (more food) and fixing things up...balloons and posters and yellow roses.

In the afternoon hubby came home from his weekly yoga-meditation class. He was gone way too long and I was starting to get anxious. He finally showed up around 1:45...I still had plenty I wanted him to help me do. Well, while we were busy fixing something, our dear girl Tashi (who is sadly no longer with us) the Shitzu that is the newest love of our life, ate her poop. We lost track of her for a few minutes outside and when I found her I discovered she had relieved herself and was now involved in her famous poop eating. I cleaned her mouth out and brushed her teeth (yes I am serious) it was gross....

Time was getting closer and closer...all day long I would say, "only 6 more hours...5 more hours....3 more hours...Around 3 O'clock I figured I had better change and get ready. I did not even know what to wear to go get him and decided on a sun dress...a nice sun dress...I put on a beautiful quartz crystal necklace that Miss Molldoll and Sir Braveheart had given to me for my 40th b-day. It opens up and is a locket and holds their pictures. I felt ready to see my beloved child.

Around 3:30 I checked the internet to see if Sir Braveheart's plane was on time. It was scheduled to be arriving earlier than expected. I started to get anxious again and told hubby we needed to leave. He thinks I am a bit of an alarmist and told me to relax.

Now, we took Miss Tashi everywhere with us and it was never a question that we would take her with us this day,except our dear girl became a woman that Thursday and was in heat....not much, a little drip here and there, so no problem....right? We debated on whether or not to take her, and in the back of my mind was something my sister, who is an honest to God psychic, told me a few days prior. "Don't take TASHI"!!! She thought it would take away from Sir Braveheart's homecoming. The next time I will listen to her when she gets a "feeling" about something.

So off we head to the airport. I had dreamed of this day for so, so long and wondered if reality would match my expectation. As I headed out the door I asked hubby if he thought I should bring the regular (non-digital)camera, to which he replied, "Why? We have the digital". We got into the car and I remembered that I had put some cold medicine (for Sir Braveheart) into the other camera (film) bag. I ran into the house and grabbed the other non-digital camera....(thank you GOD) and off we went. The airport is only a half hour drive from our house and I felt so excited as we drove out of the driveway.

Around 15 minutes later I asked hubby if he brought his cell phone and he said "No, why would we need it"? I say,"What if we can't get to the airport? 

We will have no way to call Sir Braveheart". He turned to me and gave me the look from hell as if to say...Would you get over yourself...what could possible happen? we are just a few minutes away. OK I say to myself...stop worrying.

Around a minute later...with Tashi on my lap and before I knew what was happening, I realize she was heaving and a second later threw up alllllllllllll over me. Now this is not just throw up, IT IS POOP THROW UP. Let's just be direct...IT WAS SHIT!!!!!!!!!!! I mean the nastiest smelliest POOP throw up you could imagine. ALL OVER ME....through the dress and into the tummy tucking underwear I am wearing. It goes ALL over the digital camera and ruins it. We are 10 minutes from the airport and Sir Braveheart's flight is arriving in 25 minutes. I am in complete and utter shock! I can not go into the airport like this. I mean, excuse me, but there is this HUGE POOP puke all over me. I am beyond myself and half scream, half cry for hubby to DO SOMETHING!! Well the smell is so bad that he is gagging!!!!!!!!!! and can barely drive the car. We are near a strip mall and I scream for him to TURN IN. Although there is nothing there except a CVS and I don't hold much hope for a new outfit.I am just soaked with this POOP/puke. It is now running down my leg and into the seat....and Tashi is in the back seat heaving and throwing up more....two more times to be exact. At the CVS I jump out of the car...the POOP/puke is just sticking to my dress in a BIG blob, at least the parts that have not soaked through and are running down my leg!!!!. I am honest to God ready to strip naked in the parking lot...hubby runs into CVS to see if there is ANYTHING I could wear. Time is clicking away....I am just standing there and these total strangers are walking toward me to their car. I look at them and say I am on my way to the airport to pick up my son who has been in Afghanistan and my dog .....blah blah....they look at me with the most heartfelt looks in there eyes and I say to them..."You don't have any extra clothes in your car do you?"...they say, "well I think we do....they are our sons and we were planning on bringing them to Goodwill". So there I am rummaging through these bags full of teenage boy's clothes to find something to wear... They are doing their best to help but I know the smell is getting to them also. I wish I could thank these people....I did not get their name.I'm sure they will never forget this day!!!!!!!!! they pull out a red and blue polo shirt...totally wrinkled and I say great...next come the homey jeans and I figure somehow I will get to the airport. They watch the dog....hubby is still inside trying to find me clothes. I run behind a brick wall (yes I am a bit out in the open) get naked and put these clothes on....as I am coming out Scott is coming out of CVS "empty handed". My last hope at arriving in a decent manner is lost. We jump in the car...but not before Scott finds an old pair of jeans (TOOOOOOO TIGHT) in the trunk and brings them to me. So while we are driving I take off the homey jeans......... now mind you my legs are still smelly and wet and I try to squeeze into the other jeans. This was not pretty..but I did it.

Well in the end, hubby had to stay in the car with the dog. So it was just me and my yellow rose to greet Sir Braveheart after 10 long months away at war. I asked a stranger if he would take our picture (thank God I went back and got the other camera). I think the whole airport knew of my episode. There was another family there waiting for a Marine coming from Iraq. They were all there with flags and banners...there I was alone with my smelly, strangers clothes on. It was not the homecoming I had imagined. But when I saw him come around the corner smiling and (looking a bit confused at my outfit) a thousand worries were lifted from my soul. He hugged me and looked me in the eyes and said, "I told you I would come home". I could not stop hugging him. His body is like steel!!!!and he looks GREAT...strong and handsome and smiling.


 


This is ALL I really wanted....him safely home, and that he is.

I fixed the barn (his old bedroom) all up nice for him and yet this morning when I went to let the cat out of Miss MollDoll's room...he was asleep in her bed. Guess he did not want to be too far from us either.  
 

With Honor and Pride

 The veteran closest to my heart has been home and out of the military for almost 6 years. There are days it still feels so close , and other days it feels like another lifetime. As long as I live I will never look at the flag the same way, hear the national anthem without a tear in my eye or say the words "land of the free, home of the brave" without choking up. The experience of being the mother of a soldier in war forever changed me.

Today I honor and give my thanks for all the sacrifice of so many families and the brave men and women who have worn the uniform for our country.

Tomorrow I will share with you the homecoming from Afghanistan of Sir Braveheart. You really won't want to miss this story! It will surely bring a tear to your eye.

Kitschy is, as Kitschy Goes

I have been busy this week making a kitschy dress for Memorial Day. To say it is over the top is a bit of an understatement. Red, White and Blue! Holy flag waving!  I found 2 yards of this novelty fabric on Ebay for $3.50. Not a bad deal, but most dresses need more than 2 yards, especially vintage patterns with circle skirts. I checked out my stash and there was this perfect red cloth and a small piece of this blue with very small checks. They were perfect. I found a vintage red metal zipper in my stash and all the buttons. I couldn't lose when it only was costing a few dollars, even if it is ugly as hell.

I am revisiting this pattern. It was the FIRST dress I ever sewed and quite cute. 

This time I made the bolero as well. As I said, holy red, white and blue.

Memorial Day always was one of my favorite holidays due to the wonderful small town parade that it held every year in the town I grew up. It is then followed by a 5 mile road race which most of my family have run in on numerous occasions. My 56 year old brother is planning on running it this year 'barefoot' and hubby's uncle who came home this week from spending the last year walking across America is also planning on running it. Here are links to other years. Memorial Day became even more special to me when Sir Braveheart joined the military and was deployed twice. I stand tall when he walks in the parade usually with tears streaming down my face. This year Sir Braveheart will not be marching in the parade, but Miss Molldoll is coming home for the weekend and that puts a big smile on my face.

Anyway, get a load of this dress. Is it too much? Will I stand out like Martha Stewart in prison? 

 
 

 Have a safe and happy weekend. Look up images of the Earth from space on Monday and I think you will see this dress somewhere in North America.  

Spring Fever

Well it is a good thing I started with a muslin because I screwed up right off the bat. It amuses me to no end, as I was 'trying' to be so careful and diligent. What did I do? Totally missed a piece of the pattern when I cut it out. Woops!!! Where is piece #21? And of course it was the BIGGEST piece in the whole pattern. I did not have enough of my, 4 yards for $1.00, fabric left.

I guess the sewing angels were with me though because of all the pieces this one will be hidden. It also requires a long strip of fusible interfacing vertically down the side, so I just filled in the missing fabric with interfacing. We'll see if it works out. Ugh!

 

 

So far, so good.

 

I have been very busy lately trying to make up for a year of getting behind. 

The photo below is of an azalea in bloom on our property. It is humongous!!!

I have started a vegetable garden. 

I dug this all up myself. I still have lots more digging, but it is a start. 

I have planted lots of goodies in here.

 Peas

 Lilacs. I just love spring.

 This is one of the entrances to our house. We never use it and it was a hot mess of weeds. It looked ugly. I dug it all up and am starting to put perennials in. I love an old fashion garden (who knew) and have foxglove, delphinium and lupine in so far.

 The start of an herb garden.

 Which is on the right side of the door to our garage.

 Hubby loves sweets. Pies, cookies, cakes...you name it. I am going to try and make a different pie for him each week. I used a cookbook from 1951 to make this 'Coconut Custard' pie.

It was a mighty tasty snack last night.

I have also done lots and lots of spring cleaning too. Do you spring clean? Well the day is slipping by. I am off to accomplish more. Enjoy the weekend.

Birds of a Feather, Blog Together?

I was in the middle of writing this post when I got distracted and started reading blogs and came across (well not exactly came across, as I read it every day, Male Pattern Boldness. Was he just saying something about synchronicity the other day? Weird. Here's the post I started:
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I really adore the idea of sewing. What a shame it is that so many people have no idea how to do it, and I'm not just talking about women and gay men. At the very least everybody should be taught how to hem and sew a button on. Don't you think? A button? Is is really that hard?

I know that both hubby and Sir Braveheart could do both. How about those in your family. Can they sew simple things or do they rely on you? Sir Braveheart would probably be better at sewing skin rather than fabric, but hey knowing how to stitch is knowing how to stitch.
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So in response to Peter's hammer and nail analogy. True! Building a house (and I know from hubby's experience what that takes) and building a bookcase are a horse of a different color. I am still at the bookcase stage while Peter most certainly is at the two-car garage with electricity and plumbing stage. Just like anything else, unless you are a savant of some kind, learning to sew takes patience, practice and learning new skills. 

The answer to whether or not it is easy would depend on my mood or my proficiency at the time with whatever garment I might be working on.

Easy? Relatively. It's not rocket science. 

Easy? Hell no. I screw up all the time.

It is raining out today and I thought I would start sewing my polka dot dress, but then as I was reading the directions and looking at all of the sizes, I decided to make a muslin. I don't want to screw up with $40 worth of fabric.So now I have fabric which cost me $1.00 for 4 yards in the wash and then dryer. Maybe I will get to cutting it out later today.

It Served It's Purpose

And got me back to my sewing machine. I am not in love with this dress, but it is comfortable. Most/All of the dresses I have sewn thus far have a waistband. Not just any waistband, but a 1940's or 1950's waistband. When I begin sewing the garment, I always think in my head that I will look like the drawing on the front of the pattern. which always (at least it seems to me) have an exaggerated "SMALL" waist. 

I made this dress specifically because it does not have a waist. Too many sweatpants and yoga pants worn over the winter have given me a false sense of my shape. In other words, as I popped another cookie in my mouth, there was not a thought about clothes fitting. My yoga/sweat pants grew as I grew. Okay enough complaining and back to sewing. For the time being, I am going to keep on with the no-waist projects. Next on the list is this wrap dress with polka dot fabric. View B.

 

I have seen some really cute dresses made with this pattern. I hope they don't get my hopes up about what mine will look like.

Not Even Close to an Expert

Recently someone told me it takes 10,000 hours of doing something to become an 'expert'. Oh, so that's my problem! I've only sewed for maybe 400 hrs. How do you get through all of the mistakes to become an expert? It is frustrating. .

It was probably not the best idea to start sewing again using a pattern from the 1940's. The directions and pictures leave a lot to be desired.  For instance, look at these shoulder pads. What? I have no clue as to what the heck they are telling me to do. Mine came out looking like gondolas ready for a cruise in Venice. I did something COMPLETELY wrong! Scary thing is, I have no idea what.

 

 

Crinoline! Did not have any of that laying around in my stash...for a very brief moment I thought of cutting up one of my vintage crinolines to make it work, but instead I decided on interfacing. Cotton batting! none of that hanging around either. I stuffed it with fabric scraps. The feel seems okay. The shape. What?!!!

An then to depress me even further, the belt. The belt. The belt. It never crossed my mind that it would not fit around my waist. Thank you thick waist! Now I have to make another one.

The way I feel about it I can't wait to finish this project so I can just put it aside and try another one and get frustrated some more. Maybe I should keep track of my hours and make my sewing a challenge to become an expert.

Are you self taught like I am? How many hours a week do you sew? When will it ever became sort of easy?

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there.