Dawn, Vicki & I were talking last night & since I need to get used to entertaining myself on Wednesday-Friday from now on, I mentioned it to them. Dawn said that one of us could bring a working sewing machine over, so she could finish her stuff for Las Vegas. I told her I’d bring mine, just give me a day. We’re all getting together Thursday morning, and I’m determined to finish my sewing. I think I’ll go to the store today & get the stuff I need to finish Troy’s doublet so I can do that by hand this week, too. So, by next weekend, I should have pictures up of my new stuff!! Yay!!

I’m sure that some of you have heard of Warren Jeffs & the trial that was just held in St. George, Utah. (if you haven’t here’s an article about it) I feel so much pain for that young lady & have so much pride in her for standing up and pressing charges. She defied her own family and hasn’t spoken to her mother in years, not since she left the FLDS church in 2004. Its a hard road for women who are raised in polygamist communities to escape. Getting out is just the beginning, I’m sure it takes years of therapy just to get over what they’re taught to believe over the course of a lifetime – I almost think there should be specific rehabs designed for them. I wish her all the best in her future & hope she will find true love with a man of her own choosing, she’s a very brave young lady & deserves happiness.

I know there are people who claim that you can’t tell what a polygamist family looks like by looking at them, and in some cases that’s true (I’m pretty sure we had one with a craft booth next to ours at faire). I know that there’s a well-known clan in northern Utah, who are very wealthy & they look like everyone else. Here in Southern Utah, on the other hand, they’re very obvious, they wear very distinctive clothing and hairstyles, or at least, the women do. The men are harder to spot, unless you know what you’re looking for. I always feel so bad for their daughters, they lose their childhoods so early, most of them at a time before they’re even interested in boys their own age. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to watch a 13 or 14 year old girl daughter getting married & knowing that all she has to look forward to, for the rest of her life, is sharing her husband with other wives & bearing and raising children. Yes, polygamy is illegal in Utah. It’s very rarely prosecuted, however. As in most crimes, someone has to press charges or file a complaint before due process is served, and there are not many people in this state that are willing to meddle in someone else’s marriage. Oh, they’ll make an anonymous phone call and accuse you of child abuse if your child dresses or acts differently, but they won’t interfere in your marriage.

The rest of us, we just look at them and thank our luck stars that we were not born into a family or a religion that condones plural marriage and don’t get involved. I know its wrong, but who are we really going to tell? Everyone knows that they’re out there. We all know where they live, even in this community, and if we know, the police know. Even they turn a blind eye to it. They even have a regional nickname for them that everyone seems to know.

I really don’t have anything against people who choose to live their lives this way. My problem is with the tradition of taking child brides, and taking away a young girl’s freedom of choice. If she isn’t choosing that lifestyle, then its wrong. If she’s an adult and wants that life, fine, its not my business. A 13 or 14 year old girl (even at 15 or 16, in some cases) isn’t even mature enough to date, let alone be a plural wife, and making that decision for her is flat-out wrong. When a religion has so much control in your life that you offer up your child as a bride, its time to rethink your core values, quite frankly.

I was browsing around on Craftster yesterday afternoon and saw a craftalong post about holiday quilting & I thought it looked interesting, so I clicked on it. I’ve always wanted to make a quilt, but after many attempts & a bunch of unfinished starts I’ve never finished more than a baby quilt. (I made one, it took me 2 years, but Garrett still has it) Someone made several posts referring to the “rag quilt” that she was working on & it intrigued me, since the only ones I’d seen were made from polar fleece & I didn’t care much for them, so I did a search on them. Oh. My. God. So cute & easy to make, too! I really want to make one of these for our bed, so we can turn the heater down at night. I think I’ll make one for a wedding gift for my daughter, too, in her wedding colors. I really haven’t been this excited about that type of project in awhile, I actually believe that I could finish these, because the quilting is all done as you make it & the seams are all on the outside. I just need to figure out how much fabric I need to buy to make them & I’ll be ready to start picking it out!

I need to do a little sewing today that actually has to be done & can’t be put off until I “feel like it.” My daughter’s Homecoming dress is too big around the ribcage area & has to be taken in. It’ll take me about 5 minutes at the most, then she can try it on again and we’ll check the fit & make any other adjustments that are needed. I’ll IM her when I’m ready to do it (I swear sometimes this family needs intranet software!) and she can go in there with me & wait, that might speed things up a bit, truthfully. I really do intend to try to get the stuff I need for the faire next month going here pretty soon, I’m thinking the cool weather will help with that a lot. Its rainy & cold today, it’s a good day for sewing. I think I’ll look up some pattern for dishcloths, too, so I can decide on which one I’m making my partner in the Fall Into Autumn swap.

I’m going to break form on this blog & talk about something that isn’t terribly crafty. Last night, Troy & I went to see the Goo Goo Dolls in concert. We took Dawn with us. Our daughter & her fiance had bought their own tickets and were in the seats right behind us. The band seemed a little unsure of what the reaction to them would be when they came out. Its small-town Utah, after all & very likely not what they’re used to. It only took them 2-3 songs to catch the energy of the crowd & really get into it. It was a sold-out show and one of the biggest we’ve we’ve ever had here and you could feel the excitement in the air. There were just as many people from our generation & older as there were the college crowd, I think, and it was great seeing parents there with their kids. There were a mom & daughter a couple of rows down from us that were having the greatest time together – they were screaming, dancing and singing together. I think we enjoyed watching them almost as much as we did the show. Needless to say, that was one of the best anniversary gifts we’ve ever given each other!

I recently sent away for some free samples of a nutritional supplement that is supposed to offer pain relief. I originally sent for it for my chronic back pain, which sometimes stops me from doing anything crafty because I can barely move. I noticed on the packaging that came with the samples that its also good for PMS relief, and since I’m having a rough time with that today, I took some about an hour ago. The pounding headache I had has started to release its hold on me and my back doesn’t hurt as much, so we’ll see what it does in the next hour or so. I plan to take another dose in the morning and finish out the samples as directed to see what kind of long-term help it can offer me. If it works well, I’ll be buying some, it has to be better for me that the other stuff I’m taking.

Earlier in the week, when I was talking about my kitchen table and how I wanted to stay with a smaller size (like we currently have), I mentioned that the real estate in my kitchen was limited. I assumed that most people would understand that what I meant was my kitchen was very small, and that I was talking about, say, Broward county real estate or something like that. I was apparently mistaken, as I used the phrase with friends later on in the week and they had no idea what I was talking about. They sat there and stared at me with a look that said they just knew I’d lost my mind. I’m not really sure they got the reference even after I explained it, but I did my best and hopefully it hit them later, you know?

I really wish I knew why I don’t even seem to care if I get my sewing for the Vegas faire done or not. I haven’t cut anything out, made my pattern or anything. Dawn is further along than I am & she’s the queen of procrastination! Its not like its even very hard to do, I’m just completely lacking motivation to do it. Anyway, when we go, we plan to drive down wearing normal clothes and since Charley & Vicki are getting a hotel & spending the night, we’ll just change clothes there. I need to get a garment bag for my stuff so it doesn’t get wrinkled. (did you know that the people that make Swiss Army knives also make luggage? I didn’t!) I don’t want to just shove it all in a grocery bag to take it down, most of it would be fine, but that over skirt would be a mess.

At least I know its not just this stuff I’m putting off doing, though, because I haven’t done anything all week. Not even my dishes, really. I’ve done a few every day, but I’ve never really finished them. Right now, all I really feel like doing is going back to bed. I hope I’m not getting sick again.

I’ve started dinner in the crock pot (beef stew), had my breakfast & checked my email, now I’m just sitting around, waiting for mom to get here. I’ve been surfing the net today, looking at stuff for my kitchen, thinking I’d like some new things in there. I could never afford stuff like Bush furniture, but I would love to have a new kitchen table. The one we currently have dates from the late 1970s or early 1980s and was given to me by my best friend when she was moving out of a house. The table had belonged to her ex-boyfriend & would have just been donated to the thrift shop. I like it, because its small, and the real estate in my kitchen is very limited. I would like one about the same size, but not so tacky looking, after all, in a couple of years, the only people living here will be me & Troy. Maybe mom & I will have a chance to do a little browsing while we’re out today, she has really good taste and is an excellent decorator, unlike me.

After the past few days I’ve had, I’m wishing I could get away from it all, the crafts, the people, my life. Let me tell you, I was looking at a picture of a beautiful vacation home Orlando has to offer and I could smell the ocean and taste the Mai Tai in my hand. After finding out that Troy’s work schedule had been turned around after 11 years on the previous one, trying to figure out how we’re going to work out all of our plans around that, I was ready to run away. I managed to fix one thing & now I have to change it again, because of a wedding that had to get changed, too. I’m thinking we’re going to forget that and just move on to the next one, really.

So, my life’s schedule is in an uproar, a family friend has died and our youngest son has become a transient. I would say that was enough of a weekend to last me a lifetime, quite frankly. I’m worn out from my days off and want some more. Now. Needless to say, I didn’t get the skirt cut out or any pictures taken, I’m still trying to get the kitchen cleaned up after my daughter’s baking experiment while Troy & I were gone on Saturday.