when was the last time you made a record book

maura @ 10:04 pm

Yesterday I cleaned the whole house and this morning I mopped all the floors, because it really, really needed it. But now the holiday weekend is 2/3 gone and I still haven’t made myself a new iphone cozy! Tomorrow we’re picnicking w/friends from Gus’s school so it probably won’t happen then, either.

Before we went on vacation I went on a sewing jag, and among other things (of a mostly utilitarian nature, like taking in some pants and a shirt and making a few new vegetable bags for grocery shopping), I made myself an iphone cozy prototype. Like much of my sewing, I didn’t plan it out as well as I could, so while I didn’t mean to make a prototype, that’s what it (somewhat frustratingly) became.

This anti-prototype thing must be genetic, because at one point recently Gus was making something and it wasn’t working out, so Jonathan cheerfully explained the concept of a prototype, to which Gus replied (rather forcefully): “I DON’T MAKE PROTOTYPES!!!”

Anyway, so I had pictured a form-fitting cozy (the old red felt one I made was getting sort of loose, and I don’t want the iphone to slip out) in a jaunty fabric, lined with a different jaunty fabric, with a thicker piece of fabric in the middle to provide some cushioning.

Everything went well enough initially. Jaunty fabric x 2, check. (And if you knew me in college you might recognize the outer fabric.) Form-fitting, check. Then it was just time to finish the edges.

And there’s where it all broke down. I like to finish edges with folded over ribbon, but actually I’ve only ever done that on the insides of bags that I’ve made. I started working on the folded over ribbon thing on the cozy, but the ribbon was too slippery and the corners were too difficult and suddenly it was 11pm on the night before the night before we left for vacation, ack!

So I cursed a lot, then decided that this is a prototype. I grabbed some (jauntily) contrasting thread and stitched up the raggedy edges on the sides, and dubbed it frankencozy. And I have spent a lot of time since then thinking about where I went wrong and how to avoid it the next time. Because there will be a next time, oh yes, there will. You won’t get the best of me, cozy!

i still can’t believe we nearly rolled down the steps

maura @ 9:18 pm

Yesterday I saw a manhole cover with the word TELEPORT on it. And I thought, “really?”

Now I can’t remember where it was, so maybe it was for real after all.

three-quarters of george washington’s head

maura @ 10:19 pm

Hi there, intertubes! How’re you? We’re fine here, just back from our nearly-end-of-summer beach week. Yes, things are fairly chaotic in a house containing 3 six yr olds, 1 two yr old and 1 six mo old, thanks for asking! Despite the noise level, good times were had by all. While there were some disappointments (crab cakes that were more cake than crab, no clothesline at the rental house), they were more than offset by the good stuff (amazing weather, steamed clams, toasted waffles w/vanilla ice cream). And I managed to read 2 books. And I won at Carcassonne: fear my massive misshapen city, w00t!

Thankfully we have tomorrow to recover + to do all the laundry. Monday morning it’s off to camp for Gus again, poor kid. Though he did make a new friend this year who will also be doomed to camp for the last week of the summer. Plus they are swimming every day next week, so I don’t feel that bad for him.

And it’s back to work for me, where summer is over: the fall semester starts this week, eek!

we found the house that the animals had built

maura @ 10:21 pm

You may be wondering how the kittens (now 5 mos old!) are doing. And I’m happy to report that they’re swell! They’ve quite settled in, and so have we. Jonathan said that he’d always thought that cats came in 2 varieties: normal and psycho. But it turns out that within the “normal” category cats actually have their own distinct personalities.

Gummy is still the little one — we are thinking that he was the runt. He’s got really big paws for how skinny he is and cuts a tiger-like figure when he strolls into the room. He’s definitely the smart one and the more accomplished hunter: he will sit still and watch while Caramel is freaking out over a toy, then bust out a crazy ninja move to steal the toy away. He also is always the dominant one when they wrestle. Gummy likes the loving but isn’t a pest about it — he’s happy to solicit cuddles and purrs mightily, but when you need to stop petting him and go do something else, he’s cool with it, catch you later, no big deal. He likes to sleep on the floor by the foot of our bed, which seems to me like something a dog would do.

Caramel is bigger, softer + prettier in a traditional cat way. His belly is super soft and he likes to be held like a baby for belly rubs. He’s kind of a dumbass, but it’s always good for a laugh when he loses it for a toy while Gummy watches + waits. Caramel is a super cuddle monster — he is all over you when he wants snuggles and meows insistently about it. He also does that thing with his paws where he kneads your leg or arm or whatever, which means we really need to keep his nails trimmed. It’s kind of annoying at times: he’s fond of walking all over our heads at 5am looking for love. But he’s a good lap-warmer, as I’ve found out these past two chilly evenings. And he’ll grow out of the early morning wakeups, right?

It’s hilarious how much cats are like kids. They are always following me around the house, wanting to be involved in whatever I’m doing. We got a fantastic new laundry rack at Ikea and I can’t really hang anything on the bottom rungs because it’s like a kitty jungle gym to them. They are even losing their baby teeth! I have found 6 so far, 4 canines + 2 molars, mostly in a spot where they like to wrestle. And of course you have to clean up their poop (though thankfully they are pooping less often than when we first brought them home).

I will admit that it’s a little hairy in our house right now. Gus is growing his hair long, “until I can put it in my mouth.” I’m not sure why that’s a compelling reason, but he does look very cute w/his skater boy hair. Which is good, because the maintenance is kind of a drag. Washing + conditioning w/every bath! Of course my hair is still long too, and the cats shed a bit… Thankfully Jonathan’s hair is pretty short right now or we’d be overrun! Or we could collect it to fill a mattress or something. (Yes, we are reading Little House on the Prairie at bedtime, can you tell?)

to the center of the city where all roads meet

maura @ 10:29 pm

When do you write? Yes, I’m asking you.

(And if you = Anne then you have three where I only have one so surely if you can find time to write then I should be able to, too!)

No, really, when do you write? I would like to write more. Not even necessarily blag or scholarship or journal but anything, just anything. That new Lynda Barry book has plenty of prompts, just in case I get stuck.

Right now my weekdays are like this: get up, get ready for work, eat breakfast (and make sure Gus does, too), leave for work around the same time that Jonathan takes Gus to camp, work, come home, eat dinner, hang out with Gus a bit, either do the dishes or get Gus ready for bed (we switch off), make my lunch, download my email…and then it’s 9pm, if not later.

I’m pretty tired by then, and it’s hard to write. If I have a deadline I can do it (tea at dinner helps). But even my journal lately, when I write in the evenings, has been all “blah blah blah, I’m so tired, there’s never any time, blah blah blah.”

People say to get up early and write. It sounds torturous to get up any earlier than 6:45, but maybe I will give it a try. Of course I’d have to go to bed earlier too. Maybe I should be writing at lunchtime. Seems like it could be kind of pleasant to go sit on the plaza and write for a bit.

we all go digital

maura @ 10:15 am

Yesterday the Annefesto challenge was issued, and I’m going for it!

“Here’s the Annefesto! challenge: go to the free section of craigslist. It should be your town or the closest one available. Now, take the first 5 items listed and create something!”

Let’s head over to the Brooklyn Craigslist and see what we can find:

1. Tortoishell Kitten

2. Free Full Size Bed (Mattress, Box Spring & Frame)

3. hamster for free only to a good home (clicking in to the listing reveals that there are actually SEVEN hamsters, and if you take them all you get their gear, too.)

4. ENTERTAINMENT UNIT SOLID OAK

5. [ 2 ] 17″ tv’s for moniter to play video games

Okay, I know that this isn’t part of the challenge, but here’s the last listing verbatim:

“good condition i have agood antena also
i dont need them and on jan 1st we all go digital”

It’s Craigslist poetry!

Anyway, I read these all out loud and Jonathan immediately yelled, “luxury info spa for predator + prey!” Which is kind of what I was thinking, too:

Furnish your cat’s rec room in style! ALL the kittehs will want to be friends with yr cat, aww yeah. Your kitteh can lounge on the plush, full-sized bed while watching not one but two (!) TVs stylishly housed on this solid oak entertainment center. Throw in a cage full of seven sweet, tasty hamsters (plus toys — play with your food!) and your cat will love you 4evah!!!