Craft Masters!

With Hannah getting ready to go back to school on Monday, no one has really felt like tackling any of the large, looming projects, so we’ve been whiling away the time with various small craft projects. I crocheted this peek-a-boo sweater (that I can’t actually wear due to the sudden onset of Fall):



While I colored some xmas door-hangers, John put together a paper model that he had bought a while back of the Blue Tower of Bad Wimpfen:



I used my mighty craft skillz, Hannah’s stash of paper, and a template from a book to create this b-day card for John:



And all 3 of us got busy with the tie-dye. Lovely MIL had sent this kit, which we had promptly used, but we had some dye left, so we stashed it under the bed for later use. I came across it recently, but we had used up the packet of soda ash (to help the dye stick to the fabric better). Using my powerful google-fu, I figured out what exactly soda ash is (sodium carbonate aka salt of soda aka Na2CO3) and what it is used for (various types of cleaning, including laundry). I scoured the laundry aisle at the grocery store, and BINGO! Washing soda. Unfortunately, I had overlooked the fine print on the kit’s instructions, which said to use up the dye within 2 days of reconstituting it with water. (And also that it only works on natural fibers.) So our cotton tees that looked like beautiful rainbows after dying ended up pink and blue pastel after washing (and my puffy cloud socks turned out to be synthetic and dingy-looking):



Other than all the crafting, we’ve just been lounging about.

Griping in an Autumn Wonderland

Despite the semester looming ahead of me, I can’t seem to get in gear. Hannah starts school on Monday, and I think in the back of my mind I have given myself permission to be useless until then. Stupid brain. I really need to get cracking on a paper that is due October 1, plus I need to create a course from scratch on presenting in English before the first class on October 16, and it would be nice if I looked back over a few things I will be working on for my master’s thesis, which I will be starting this semester. Rereading all that, I am starting to feel a little light-headed.

John’s back threatened to go on strike after we got back from vacation, but John took that initial twinge very seriously and immediately hit the ibuprofen and hot water bottle. I know it can’t have been as bad as the last couple of times, because he continued to fart and proposition me (not at the same time) at the normal rate.

But right now I am considering doing him an injury that might put him in traction. We had a few days of nice, tail-end-of-summer weather after we got back from Scotland, but it has gone downhill from there, and now we are firmly in early fall, complete with cold and rain. John has this thing about “fresh air”, while I have this thing about “not freezing”, and I feel that the juncture of these two things is going to lead to blows. He walks around the house opening windows; I add another layer of clothes and go around behind him closing them. I am hoping we will get some firewood soon, and then we can fire up the old wood oven.

Tomorrow I will be lugging 30 pounds (roughly) of books back to the library, so I guess I better get rested up. Maybe something exciting will happen on the bus that I can report back on here. If not, look forward to another message from dullsville.