What would you do with a windfall?

Wow! I forgot that I had this scheduled for posting. I think that I pretty much agree with the first few points. My job situation has changed (for the better), so I do feel like I'm in a position to make a difference in 2012. I'll try to have another post laster today. Happy New Year, everyone! ~ January 1, 2012

Windfall:

n.

1. A sudden, unexpected piece of good fortune or personal gain.
2. Something, such as a ripened fruit, that has been blown down by the wind.

What would you do if you had a windfall? I would:

1. Donate 1 to 5% to selected charities.
2. Save 60 percent (invest 30% and save the other 30%).
3. Sell all my worldly goods and travel for a year, with the goal of hitting all continents. I would live frugally in these different locations.
4. Eventually move out of the suburbs, into a city, and arrange to have a job where I feel I'm making a difference.

I suppose that I don't have to wait until I win the lottery or some mythological uncle passes away, and I could get started now....

written 11/22/2009

Like the Costume fairy, but only taller

The scary thing is that I used to be like the lady with the headband.

LIke the Costume Fairy, but only taller

I'm still here

I've been off crutches for about one month. Thank goodness--I was going stir crazy. I'm still in recovery mode, but I do want to offer my sincere apology for being away for so long. I can't say it any better than this guy. Gosh, just listening to this makes me want to get a boy band CD and watch the movie Titanic a couple of times.

Your personalized apology

I've been trying to dig out from the clutter that accumulated during my ten weeks on crutches, as well as re-start my fitness routine. I have done some minimal sewing--I made some scrunchies to keep my hair out of my face while I work out. Scrunchies are very 1980's, but they do not get lost in my gymbag, the way elastics do. I used these instructions.

While I was on crutches, I attended a meeting of fellow sewists at the abode of a Sewing Diva who happens to live in a work-live loft. Wow! it was gorgeous and I came home and looked at my small apartment and realized I could re-organize it would be more of a sewing atelier than lots of piles of stuff related to various hobbies. So that is one of my objectives for 2012 go through stuff and get de-accesssion things are more of an obligation than a pleasure. I hope to post again before the year is over, but I wanted to drop a line before the holidays!

It's probably time to check my supplies

I wasn't here in 1906, but I did experience the Loma Prieta. I was fine. I hope that tonight that everyone else is too.

Edited to Add

California Nevada Quake Map from the USGS

Sewing story in the news!

I came across this story

Contractor Builds Wedding Dress for his Daughter


When Danielle Lucien and her sisters were little girls dreaming of their weddings, their father, Erin, proposed an idea.

"When you get married," he told his three daughters, "I'd like a shot at making your dress."

Erin Lucien, 56, of Redwood City, is neither dressmaker nor tailor. As the longtime owner of Lucien Home Remodeling, he is accustomed to working with wood and nails, not silk and thread.

Too much TV and not enough social interaction

I have four more weeks on crutches. And I have to do a better job of keeping my weight off my foot. I'm not happy about this. I do want to thank everyone Kyle, Shams, Sherril, Shelley,0 for sending me good thoughts. I know my blog has been very light on the sewing. I'm really missing my gym classes and my dance classes. I've been watching too much TV, mostly vampires, zombies, and NJ bootleggers. What have I learned?

[I re-read my blog entry and I usually am not THIS race conscious. I do not see the world in terms of black and white. But these observations see, so well, obvious, and I think that it's kind of funny, too).

Please proceed with reading at your own risk--at this point I don't care about spoilers.

1) I would rather be a vampire (a True Blood Vampire, not a Twilight one) than a zombie. If you are turned into a vampire, I believe that any chronic illness is cured instantaneously--so my foot would be cured*. I would live forever (or until staked or until I saw sunrise), I'd have lots of time to take dance classes (most musicians and dancers perform at night, so this wouldn't be a problem) and I'd have lots of time to sew down my fabric stash. Of course, I could have a vampire spit on it and it would cure itself, buy then I would be beholden to some tall sexy vampire--I don't think that i could deal with that problem. Black chicks and vampires don't seem to mix well on this show. My arms are starting to look like Tara's though-five weeks on crutches will do that--I have four more weeks of upper body training! I'll have great guns after this!

2) While I'm glad that the Centers for Disease Control suggest planning for the Zombie Apocalypse (yeah didn't know about this until a few weeks ago) , after watching the Walking Dead, I think that I would do okay, even if I'm on crutches. I don't have a gun, but my crutches would could be handy with crushing the skull. I just have to make certain that i don't surrounded by a bunch of zombies, but with the walking boot on, I've got the appropriate lurching walk. I could masquerade as a zombie after donning the appropriate body spray (eau de corpse). After watching the end of the first season, I do wish that the CDC would install solar panels on the roof, so that they don't have to worry about shutting down prematurely. Again, the final episode for the first season doesn't end well for the black chick, either (of course, if you saw the premiere episode of the first season, well, it doesn't end well for the black chick there, either). I'm also trying to determine if my librarian skills will be helpful when there is no electricity. I'm optimistic, though.

3) Off to the Roaring Twenties in Atlantic City. Boardwalk Empire. No one with a limp or physical disability in this series, but there is a small but strong role for a black chick: in season one she's maid (of course)--she does interesting stuff (off-screen) but she does end up surviving through the second-to-last episode with a bankroll of money. And then promptly disappears. She may have turned up in the second season premiere at Chalky White's, but we can never be sure it was her because(you saw this coming, right) she dies (not as a victim, though). From a sewing point of view, I love the costumes. From a personal point of view, I recall one of my Great Aunties talking about living and working in AC. I *think* I recall her mentioning Enoch Johnson, so yes, I am wondering where my Aunt Agnes was during the episodes of Boardwalk Empire. Yes, of course. She was the maid who ran off to live with her sister in East Orange. She did not die in a shoot-out.

4) During the run up to the Emmies, I did re-watch Game of Thrones. There were very few clothed women of color. I would see interesting dancing at the Dothraki festivals (the horse people) and of course, there would be one or two naked/topless black or racially-mixed women (no speaking parts, so I can't provide their names). I don't think that any of them were killed though. I would have been offended but each episode had it's requisite unnecessary female nudity (it's HBO, not Disney!), and it became comical. I'm not the first to observe this--the producers created a female character, Ros, who is a prostitute who manages to have sex with main characters from 3 of the 4 major families in the series (she's kind of like a Prostitutina ex machina or like Forrest Gump--I haven't decided which). Why do they call prostitutes Rose or some variation? Obligatory sewing observation: The costumes were wonderful.

Kudos to Peter Dinklage for winning the Emmy for his role as Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion wasn't on crutches and he's not disabled, but his character Tyrion, does show viewers not to underestimate him (is someone casting for the Lois McMaster Bujold's Mile Vorkosigan series? I think that we have someone who can play Miles without any of the CGI/Avatar stuff! )

5) Project Runway--gracious. What happened to this series? I used to like watching this show. It's like watching Real Housewives of the Fashion Institute of Technology or a horrible train wreck and I'm in the last car, so I'm committed to finishing the ride and all I wanna do is is just want to jump off. Please see Tom and Lorenzo for commentary (I haven't commented there for a long time, but I tend to agree with their observations about this show).

6) BET's Born to Dance. Okay--I saw the audition episodes for this show in the summer when I had insomnia. I found this gem of a show when I explored my On Demand menu. I missed the interim episodes, but the last 3-4 are still available. It's like Americas Next Top Model, except that it's dancers! Lauriann Gibson, choreographer to Lady Gaga (and former Fly Girl from In Living Color) is in the Tyra Banks (or Debbie Allen role from FAME!) . The dancers have to learn routines, they get along, and it's just fun. I can't dance along, though. cause i'm on crutches. sniff! sniff!

If you have suggestions on what I should watch, please let me know. Out of the new season, I'm enjoying Prime Suspect, Terra Nova is enjoyable (it's funny--the security-soldier lady has more eye liner on than any of the civilians), Pan Am looks like of interesting, I catch Dancing with the Stars on Demand. I haven't been able to watch the American Horror Story--I'm waiting for a few episodes, so I can watch them in a mini marathon during the daylight hours. I'm going stir crazy--please any suggestions?

Pattern shopping at Joann's

Yesterday I decided to go to Joann's to buy some sewing patterns (Simplicity patterns were on sale for 99 cents each--next weekend BMV is on sale) and jewelry glue. I forgot it was Halloween sewing time and the store was crowded--the fabric cutting line was crazy long. I also forgot my pattern list, so I sat at the pattern table to look though the catalogs. I'm still on crutches with a walking boot, so with a shopping cart, I'm a more than bit unwieldy, so I decided to put the crutches across the top of the pattern filing cabinets, so they would be out of the way. After I re-created my list, I started pulling the envelopes from the drawers. I was so intent on finding the patterns, balancing on one foot, that I didn't notice this woman asking me, "are you twenty-two? are you twenty-two?", until she was practically yelling in my face. I looked at her and loudly, but kindly answered, 'Not for a long time," and everyone in the cutting line started laughing. The fabric cutters skipped to the next number.

I see my doctor tomorrow afternoon and I find out how well my foot has been healing. It's been close to 5 weeks and I'm ready to retire the crutches. Wish me luck!