Stale

Is there anything worse than a stale blog? Possibly one of those Web sites that displays "under construction-coming soon" and has done so since approximately the formation of the Internet. Or pop-up ads.

So, why the long hiatus? Good question, and I have the answer ready: Kindergarten Parent Syndrome, or, with my seemingly unrestrainable desire to use acronyms everywhere, KPS.

This is the term I've designated for the newbie parent who, wanting to support their child's education, ends up overvolunteering for the million activities that the parent-teacher association has going on. The list of activities is nearly endless.

And, I'm such a sucker for those things. So far I've:

• Co-chaired the book fair, which began in early October and which I just finally wrapped up yesterday.


• Staffed the monthly "bank and store", which means running over to school in the middle of the day to help Kindergartners bank and add interst to the little plastic coins they earn for good work or, as in Riley's case, blow it all on the little toys they can buy at the school "store."


• Created presentation boards and fliers for the spring auction, where I designed a replica of a poker table, complete with green felt and real chips, cards, and dice glued on (see mock-up picture), and which took me and Jeff three weeks to actually make (note to self, try not to design things that are nearly impossible to create in reality).

• Volunteered to provide either supplies or staffing for various holiday parties held at the school during the day, including the Halloween party where Jeff and I showed up to help and found so many other parent volunteers that we ended up trailing around after Riley the whole time (actually, that one was really fun).

Combined with the number of times we've needed to be at school for various ceremonies and events, such as PTA and other parent informational meetings, the trimester awards ceremony (Riley won both awards they were handing out--yay Riley!), and the Daisy Scout induction ceremony, we are beginning to spend more time at school than at work or home. Worse yet, my blog is getting dusty.

And you'll recall that she only just started school in September.

So, what's the antidote? I've thought long and hard about this, and I've arrived at a solution that I like to call "no." As in, "We really need someone to create and mail the invitations for the fundraiser. Can you help out?" "No." Or, "We're looking for parent volunteers to prepare 75 paper mache globes for 'We Are the World' day. Are you free to help?" "No."

Of course, this doesn't mean I'll drop out entirely. Bank and Store is still on the list as it brings me in touch with Riley and her classmates and is a lot of fun. Riley's class has a "mystery reader," usually a parent or grandparent, who surprises the kids with a special story time, and that seems a very worthy volunteer activity. I'm planning to chair the Book Fair again next year because I place high value on reading (and because now I know how to run the event). I may volunteer for one of the ski days since it will get me up on the mountain skiing.

It's another example of "so many_____, so little time" that seems to plague me and aggravate my KPS, but with careful triage and judicious use of "no," I hope to make a full recovery.

(P.S. There is no "We Are the World Day." I made that one up :-))

Open-ended indeed

Riley received her first homework assignment yesterday. Kindergartners are to spend about 5-10 minutes a night on their homework, plus an additional 20 minutes of reading (or being read to, or both). Riley's teacher said she was starting off with some really open-ended assignments, which gives her an idea of how our children think and the various approaches they apply to a problem.

The first assignment: "Write down all of the numbers you know," with the rest of the paper blank (no lines).

Riley appears to think rather artistically (or haphazardly) about numbers. Her favorite number is 100, so there were a bunch of strings of 1's and 0's, then just random numbers between 1-100. The numbers started off quite large and then got smaller and smaller, then larger again, and then she started kind of fitting them together like a mosaic. The result looked kind of like those sand art bottles you make at the fair, where you pour different colors of sand in layers into an oddly-shaped bottle.

When I dropped her at her classroom today, I saw another student (or her parents) had drawn wide, neat lines on her paper and she had filled in consecutive numbers, starting with 1, in a relatively consistent size from top to bottom within the lines.

Both beautiful examples of hard work, both totally unique. I think Riley's teacher may be on to something here.

YOH update

It is so much easier to report on YOH status when I've actually been making some progress!Along with some friends in my baby group, I've been following some beginner running plans the last few weeks (I'm up to week 3), with good results so far. I like that the plan kind of sneaks you into running a little bit at time and that the 5-days-per week schedule means there is always a rest day coming up soon.

As an added bonus, I got to buy a nifty new watch to track intervals!

Fine dining, elementary style

At Riley's elementary school, every month we get the next month's lunch menu and can choose between one of two offerings each day. These always crack me up. Here's a sample:

• Cod with lemon dill sauce, carrots, and baby red potatoes
• Herb roasted turkey with sage gravy, buttered corn, and whole wheat stuffing
• Lemon baked chicken with roasted summer squash and rice pilaf

Of course, when you ask Riley what she had for lunch, she'll say, "Something with cheese on it."

Ruffly camo

Project: Calf-length cargo skirt
Pattern: Simplicity 3796 (top-right view)
Fabric: Cotton camo

During our last DOS, I made excellent progress on my camo skirt and now have it almost done.

The good: It turned out looking better than I expected. I liked working with the fabric which is more like a soft cotton than a heavy denim. I was able to complete it in a decent amount of time. Also, I decided against a hem and instead will rough up the bottom to give it that cool camo cargo look. On the advice of Chelsea and, strangely enough Jeff, I'll run stitching around the bottom to prevent the rough edges from sneaking up the skirt over time.

The bad: All of those danged curved pockets! The more I did curves, the better I got, but that means the early curves are pretty rough. However, I do value the experience making two types of pockets.

The ugly: I think this must be a design weirdness. There is a thin tie-ribbon that runs around the waist band that you gather up and tie into a cute bow at the front. It was painstakingly created by taking premade 3/4-inch twill tape and cutting it into several sections, then carefully tucking the short ends under on each end and stitching along each long side to create long belt-loops around the waistband. Then another thinner twill tape was run through each of the belt loops (I ended up using masking tape and barbeque skewers for this) and finally tied at the front.

All well and good in the pattern picture.

But, in reality, when I gathered the ribbon at least enough to keep the skirt from falling off, it made this weird pouffy ruffle with the rest of the waistband, above where the tape sits. Not, I think, appropriate for a camo cargo skirt. The obvious answer (thoughfully provided by Chelsea while I was still pondering the incongruity of it all) is to move the ribbon up higher on the waistband. I'm not super enthused about revisiting the fiddly little thing, but I guess I have my next DOS project all set.

Wearability: Medium-low. I probably won't wear it to work, but I can see myself in it on a Saturday. If I fix the ruffle issue. Or wear long shirts.

Zoom zoom zen

Currently lacking better space, I have my "sewing room" set up in the dining room. Some days when Riley is at school and I'm at home in the morning, I'll sit and sew while Reed runs his cars along the window sill. With the great light coming in from the window filtered by the beautiful Magnolia, it's an hour or so of pure peace.

"Second verse, same as the first..."

Project: Black 1/2-circle skirt
Pattern: Simplicity 3834
Fabric: Medium-weight black linen with embroidery

Voila! I finished skirt number two from my starter pattern, and I have to say I think it turned out well. A few glitches here and there, but nothing major. Not like, say, the following project, still in progress, where I'm making a camo-print cargo skirt with what seems like a thousand curvy pockets. But that's another story.

The good: The second time around was faster and turned out better overall. The zipper went in without a hitch, and the lace edging turned out really well. I like the fabric very much. My mom was admiring it as well, so perhaps a future project for her in the offing.

The bad: The zipper fit so snugly against the top of the skirt that there wasn't much room for the hook and eye. I was thinking about leaving it off, but Chelsea suggested squeezing it in there. A good idea, since one doesn't want to find out one's zipper is coming down by having one's skirt suddenly fall off.

The ugly: Well, if you look very closely at the hemline, the stitching kind of waves up and down rather wildly rather than sitting in a nice, neat line 1/4" away from the lace edging like it is supposed to. I'll keep practicing this one.

Wearability: Just great! Fits well and feels really solid. The newness of the lace edging makes the bottom stand out a bit like a poodle skirt, but it will calm on washing, I expect.

(PS. The post title is from a Violent Femmes song, one of my all-time favorite bands. Well, their early stuff anyway.)