Does what we think is cool change a lot as we age? I know that I thought a lot of things were cool when I was a teenager that I don’t care for now, but is that because I’m older, or because they aren’t trendy or in style anymore? My daughter thinks that any vehicle with a car spoiler is super-cool right now & automatically believes it must be a better car, will that change as she gets older? If it does will it be because she gets more practical or because spoilers aren’t in style anymore?

I was just wondering, because, when I was cleaning up under my desk, I pulled my sewing box out of where it had been sitting since we moved in here & found some patterns that I’ve used for faire garb in the past, and I don’t think it looks so cool anymore. I couldn’t figure out if it’s because my own, personal faire style has changed or if it’s just because I’m older now than I was when I made it the last time. I see old knitting pattern books and the sweaters in them, while I can see that they are cute, are very dated and not something that I’d ever wear again and I’m not even that fashion conscience, so I have no idea why my opinions on things like that change. I’d like to think I’m not influenced by the media or even other people, but I know that’s not entirely true.

I made my first hat the other day, it’s in my Flickr box over in the sidebar. I’m not sure I like the way the pattern had me do the top part or if it’s going to be very comfy to wear, but I made it & I think I did a pretty good job on it. Yes, I dropped a few stitches & didn’t discover them until it was too late to fix them & a few other, funky things happened, but all in all, it looks pretty cute. I think if I do it again (and I will, we have 2 more babies due in our group in 2008) I’ll leave the top boxy, because I think it looks cute & use a softer yarn.

I’m building up my confidence, little by little. There are a lot of things I want to learn, and I hope that before 2008 is over, I’ll have tried at least a few. I want to learn to knit on my circular needles, do cables and eventually make socks and such, so I try something new each time I make something and maybe I’ll stop being afraid to try at some point.

Why does it seem the people you know the least are the easiest to shop for? I usually know what a person’s hobbies are and maybe what they collect or like and can go from there, like our niece, Kelsey. She’s a golfer, so getting her some nice Adidas golf apparel would be 100% appreciated. I have the hardest time shopping for my own kids and husband, though. Is it because I know what they have or because making them happy matters more to me? I felt like I let Erin down this year, since most of what I got him was practical, but when he keeps telling me that he & his friends are taking off on the road I feel like I need to get him things he can take with him. I think I explained that to him, but I still felt bad.

I think we did ok with our daughter this year, there were things she asked for that we couldn’t afford & we made sure we let her know that pretty early on & things she wanted that weren’t available anymore by the time we had money to shop. I think for next year, I’m going to have to just budget a certain amount every month & either shop then or put it into savings so that we aren’t stressing out in November, you know? I’d like to be able to shop once a month, that way there’s a good variety of goodies from all seasons for everyone, you know?

I live in an area where almost every neighborhood either has a mailbox attached to the wall next to their front door or they have those big locking metal ones that have a compartment for each house in the area. You know what I really miss? The mailboxes on a post that everyone used to have, especially in rural areas, with the little red flag that you could raise when you had outgoing mail in the box. The postal carrier would put it back down after the mail had been delivered so that you knew it was there.

Why do I miss them? People used to decorate them for the holidays and it was really cool to see what different people came up with for their mailbox. Some people would get really creative, even to the point of using battery powered lights on them, it was really neat to see. I’m sure there are still those types of boxes elsewhere in the country, but they’re pretty much gone here now. I understand why and all, and I’m sure that the vandalism has gone down, but I still miss the old days in some ways.

My dad just recently built a second bathroom in his house, for he & my mom to use, since my grandmother lives with them & takes forever in there. It’s a really nice bathroom, he put in a pedestal sink with nice Delta faucets, a glass shower enclosure & the toilet. The floor is a really pretty vinyl and quite frankly, it’s the prettier bathroom now. It’s really small, he stole the space from his garage, after all, but it’s really nice.

My dad really amazes me, he does such great work anytime he’s remodeling his house. He’s a true craftsman, and he never had any formal training to do any of it. He just taught himself. I’m a lot like him in that way, if I want to learn to do something, I find a way to teach myself how. My mom does a lot of things that way, too. I don’t feel that I’m as good at anything as they are, but I’m good at learning on my own. Hey, that’s a start, right?

I’ve done quite a lot of reflecting since we came back from the Las Vegas renaissance faire back in October, especially about the reasons I like our little, hometown faire more. I think a lot of it is the general feelings. Yes, faires should be fun, but they should, at the very least, be a place where people can learn something about that era in time.

It’s not a big Halloween party or a masquerade ball. Honestly, that’s what the LV faire felt more like than a renne faire. There were girls in all of those tiny, “naughty” versions of standard costumes, that barely covered their bums, and women in fishnet with nothing underneath, and not just shirts, either. Yes, corsets were around in the renaissance era, but not like the ones I saw at that faire. Trust me. Latex wasn’t invented then.

Then there were the food vendors, who didn’t even make an attempt in costume, let alone persona. It was like the county fair, not the renaissance faire. There were so many people, and most of those not in costume (or garb as we refer to it) were extremely rude and some that were in garb were just as rude. Maybe it’s just that we’re a smaller faire, and the board of directors is closer to where the visitors are and we pay attention to the little details, I don’t know. I’m sure that not being a corporate entity helps our attitude, too, we’re not in it for the money, we’re in it because we love what we do. That makes a huge difference in anything that a person does.

I have never had an easy time sleeping the whole night through, but as I age it gets harder and harder. I have more parts of my body that ache or go numb if I stay in one place for too long. I was born with club foot, and as a result of that, my right leg is about a half of an inch shorter than the left leg. When I was a child, no one thought to give me a lift for my shoe to even out my legs, so I have Osteoarthritis from everything being off kilter my whole life. When I lie down on my standard mattress (you know the ones, you probably have one, they have metal springs in them & have very little give & don’t conform to your body) my back with start to hurt fairly fast, so I’ll roll on my left side for as long as I can’t take it or until my hips falls asleep, then I’ll switch to the other side, and then back on my back. All. Night. Long. Some nights I’m so tired and miserable I lie there and cry, because I just want to sleep and feel rested.

Sometimes, I get up in the morning more tired than I was when I went to bed.

I have a gorgeous, antique, four-poster bed, it’s made out of cherry wood & maple. I inherited it from my grandmother when she moved into my mom & dad’s house & didn’t have room for it anymore. I had wanted it my whole life, it reminded me of my grandfather, who died when I was five, because it was the last place I ever saw him. Little did I know that the mattress that’s on it now was probably old back then.. and I’m 41 now. I’ve never seen another mattress in this day & age that looks anything like it, so I know it’s pretty darned old.

You know what I really need, and want? A memory foam mattress from Bed in a Box. They have the best price on a queen-size memory foam mattress that I’ve even seen (they start at $459), with a 120 day in home trial, which means that any time in that 120 days, if you decide that you don’t like it, you can send it back to them. They offer a 10 year full warranty (and a 20 year pro-rated one), free shipping within the contiguous United States, a terry cloth waterproof cover, a fire resistant inner cover and an optional goose down mattress cover. I’d definitely spend that amount to get some good nights of sleep again.

Anyway, my daughter, helped me make a video about my nights & mornings, because all she really wants is for me & Troy to enjoy sleeping again, and not have to get up in the mornings before we’re ready because it hurts too much to stay in bed anymore. It’s not a professional video, and it’s not very long, but it does get the point across and it was fun to make together.

I hope you enjoyed our little movie!!

When I first decided to have a craft booth at our local Renaissance Faire, I chose two of my friends, Dawn & Sarah, to go in with me, because there’s no way I could get enough diversity in my own crafting to stock one. We went through our first season & in the course of planning, added another friend, Vicki, to the mix. For our second season (this year) Sarah bowed out, she was helping another vendor with her booth & wasn’t going to have time.

I’m betting that she won’t have time next year, too. She & her husband, Mark are expecting a baby in March, and I know she’s going to be too busy to do a lot of crafting, since she works two jobs as it is. I’m thinking about getting together with our group of friends & starting a fund to buy them an Amby Baby bed. Those things are so cool & so great for babies, I’d love for them to have one. I miss her in the booth and I appreciate that she was there with us when we started out, but I understand that sometimes you have to move on.

Several years ago, I made matching stockings for Troy & I. I really love them, mostly because they’re so unique & nicely made. They really seem to fit us, especially since they have a fleur de lis on each of them & when I made them, we were both heavily into Elizabethan fencing (with swords, you know, like the Three Musketeers). Here they are:

I had planned to make some for the kids, but never seemed to get around to it. Last year, right after Christmas, I let them both keep their old ones & I bought fabrics that I felt matched their personalities & made plans to make them each a nice, new stocking. Gradually the bag of fabric got covered with other things & I forgot about it. Then I started decorating for Christmas & only found the stockings I made for Troy & I & I remembered. I made a pattern by drawing around those & adding a seam allowance, cut the fabric out & then procrastinated some more. I finally sewed them this morning.

For Erin I used red on the outside, since it’s been his favorite color since he was very small. I used a red & green plaid on the inside, since he’s very into punk music and Renaissance faires at at the same time:

and hanging up:

And for my daughter, I used a rainbow print on the outside, since she loves rainbows. Her best friend is gay & she is bisexual, and the rainbow represents that part of who she is. I used bright green on the inside, since it’s her favorite color.

And hers hanging up:

I like them both so much that now I want a new one, too!!

Do you have craft heroes? People who’s abilities make you salivate? Or maybe just crafters you want to emulate? I know I do. My first craft hero ever was my mom. She can do so many different things, but she thinks she isn’t good at any of them. It’s just crazy. She used to make all of these awesome little dolls and stuffed animals, when she had more time, before she became my grandmother’s caretaker (at least grandma isn’t going through mesothelioma treatment, like my grandpa did when I was little). She also used to collect animal skulls that she found while she & my dad were out hiking and she cleaned them up and painted Native American designs on them. I used to have a beautiful cow skull that she made me. She can’t knit or crochet, which means that I get to make that sort of thing for her, but I really think she could do it if I sat down with her & showed her.

My friends who make jewelry are my heroes, too, because I can’t do it. I never make anything that looks as cool as the stuff they make. I just don’t have the creativity to come up with designs on my own like that.

Who are your heroes? Why?