My best day in weeks if not months (and not OT!)

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Not boring AT ALL! It sounded wonderful, and I am happy that I know the desk and can picture you, the new shiny black pooter, and the Demon Fairy, in your spaces. :)

The class sounds ideal. Making new sewing friends is fun.

I'm with you all the way! We were just as well fed by you on our 5-day marathon! :D

Himself will get a list later... I have made my second tagine, and am almost set for the weekend. Bit of clearing and sorting, a bathroom to sanitize, and beds to make...

Keep us posted on the sewing class.

(When the GMNT was a cherub, I first went back to uni and completed my MA, then did a sewing course for a couple of years: Mum's Sanity Classes! I needed one day a week of brain exercise. It helped all week with the boring routines and toddler chatter.)

Congratulations on finding a sewing group which is compatible! And though it does not seem so now, your DD will be all grown up and out the door before you know it. Do try to find a way to enjoy her childhood. :-}

Oh, I have to post pics soon, it's all different now, the thread on the quilt ng made me burst into action and now I've got a really tiny sewing/computing/ironing/stash place. My side of the attic is really nice, or on the best way to be so, while DH still carefully nurses a clutter of computer parts, business documents and debris of all kind. Well, he'll get there, some day, under my careful and gentle guidance.

Ah yes, I read about you finding quilting friends. That must be really nice. I googled for Phoenix center but got all kinds of results, all non-conclusive. I just like to see places mentioned on the net so that I can imagine friends there. Got no time for quiltingnow, I have to do some 'real' sewing for a change, need some UFOs done, you know, or rather, get some projects of my mind or out of the system or whatever. I wish I had such a nice flow in my clothes sewing like you have, but I guess I will get into some sort of flow when attending classes regularly. I'm booked on the next one in January already. ;-)

As it turned out, I can't make the jacket for DSIL as long as I planned. Good thing I thought of placing the cut out pattern pieces on the fabrics in time. The blue wool I had intended for my jacket won't be enough, no matter what I do, so I'll have to use grey stuff of which I got plenty. The green for DSIL is just enough to make the jacket the length the pattern shows. OK, it'll do for her, I guess. And I had to buy new fabric for the collar linings, nothing snuggly and nice in my stash. I got a very fine corduroy for both jackets, for hers a rather washed out rusty shade, like very, very dark carrots, for me a dusty pink. Got a little more of that to make a skirt or dress for DD; just her colour.

Still, I'm totally in love with the blue wool and will make a very simple tunic out of it, with blanket- or buttonhole stitch around the edges. I decided that I won't hurry myself and work only on Wednesdays on my projects. No use in cutting something wrong because of the hassle here at home. I'm trying to get a stable routine into my weeks, and will build it around something I do for me instead of something I do for somebody else. I know nobody here will call me egoistic for that.

Still glad you liked it; cooking for others isn't easy, especially with special diets of all kinds to keep in mind.

Ah yes, making the den presentable; I know. We had to help our mum with household chores and I had to clean the bathrooms (the porcelain, not the floor) twice a week while DB did the vacuuming. It seemed to take hours then, but these days I just whisk around and it's done. A friend once told me that those chores he hated most he did with most elan - to get rid of them all the sooner. A good advice I took to heart. Still, there are things I have to kick myself really hard in the butt to get started. Mind you, getting visitors, welcome ones especially, is a great incentive. ;-)

About the tagine - is that a recipe that can be shared? I love bulgur and am longing to find a way to introduce DH to it, but the nice chicken dish I made when you were here, with dried apricots and raisins in it, is not the right thing. He likes it exotic sometimes but not sweet'n'sour. Mind you, rounding off a savoury dish with dried fruit is a very old technique, used in prehistoric times already, as I've been told. But he won't hear of it. If you can be bothered to share, please let me have all versions, with rice and with bulgur, and with chicken and lamb, and, me being a good wannabe-environmentalist, the veggie one, too.

I tell you! I mean, sewing class is not rocket science or brain surgery (hehehe), but you can utter an idea without a squealed 'No, don't want to!' as a direct reply. ;-)

Oh, I have to tell another one: Today is REformation day in Germany, and since we're protestants on paper and I want to introduce DD to at least some kind of religion I thought we might go to our local church. Been there first time, and it's all different from the Lütgendortmund church. Apparently the parson is heavily influenced by Theizé, as I found out later through a conversation with my mom. I hardly recognized the liturgy in some parts, and the songs were - unknown, but I won't grumble since I used to go only at christmas. However, there was a baptism during the service so I reconed on plenty entertainment to keep the Destructo Fairy tolerably quiet.

To cut it short - we got thrown out. She lasted only halfway through, after the baptism her patience expired and she went wandering, rather quietly though. So I turned my attention to the service with an occasional eye on her whereabouts (she popped by once in while, to check if I was still there, I guess). When the sermon started, however, she went off again, quietly again, and the parson asked me to take her away because he 'couldn't concentrate on his sermon' while she was playing with some decorative stones and glass glitter thingies placed on the steps of the pulpit. We left, a bit disappointed since she wasn't loud at all and he had let off a whole lot of b... about children being wanted in the congregation, but hey, every congregation has their own rules.

Another woman left with me, too. She said she worked in neigbouring place with mentally handicapped people and those who attended service were very often frowned at for some of their antics. She accused the parson to be prone to image cultivation in the worst sense and that it was no wonder his church was near empty most Sundays. Anyway, by the time I had wrestled DD into her mud attire and was ready to leave, he had finished his sermon on Luther and rushed out to invite me back in, but I politely declined, saying we'd try again in a year (quietly thinking 'But maybe not here'). Well, I'm really of topic now. I just had to share my attempt of getting DDF rooted in the community by taking her to church. Anyway, for me it was just another proof that I'm right go to church rather scarcely and do all devotion to higher forces in any place but that one. Mind you, Christmas service in my home parish has always been rather nice, but then, there very little you can do wrong with that one. ;-)

U. - getting gabby this fine Sunday evening; must be the end of summer time.

I do enjoy, but since the accident my nerves are a tad thin, I have to admit. Still, she can be so cute, following me about the house, trying to help me. And I know time flies. Wasn't it just yesterday we took her home with us from the hospital? ;-) However, I'd hate to see her temper spoilt by over-indulgence and we're sometimes a bit helpless when it comes to dealing with her stubborn little mind. I guess I'm complaining so much because I'm scared shitless that I might fail in bringing her up to be a decent member of society. Plus I want her to be happy. Am I thinking too much or not enough? I don't know. I only know that they learn the better the younger they are. And they learn best by parental example which is the hardest part.

U. - gotta go, it's her bedtime now, one hour later than usual because of the end of summertime. She's dead tired since about 3 p.m.