Grab a chair and a couple of root beers...

Well, so much for getting to bed early last night.

The Impertinent Daughter informed me at 8 p.m. last night that the Death Eaters administrators at her school decided that students were no longer allowed to be in possession of... rubber bands. Yes, that's right, folks, the kids are no longer allowed to have those extremely dangerous implements, rubber bands in their pockets, on their binders, in their hair, etc. Because they can use these extremely hazardous items to... launch paper.

*closes eyes, sighs, muttering "Ay-yi-yi" under her breath*

Give me strength, I swear. I'm wondering how many girls who wear ponytails on a regular basis are freaking out this morning because they can't put their hair up?

The reason this impacts us is because of the boxes I chose for my kids' bentos. They are temporary, but for now, they are the right size and depth. Only problem is, they have a tendency to pop open when a kid does something like swing them around, bump them into other kids, or walls, or tables, etc., with the end result of food everywhere. So... I just salvaged the big rubber bands that came with our newspaper and wrapped them around each end of the box... and problem solved.

Until now.

I offered to take some extra wide elastic and sew the ends together for her to replace the rubber bands.

No, that won't work, they still count as "rubber bands."

I said, "Okay, how about I get some fabric and make tubes to cover the elastic, you know, whip the ends together and you can use those? If they fuss, you can say they're headbands and pop one on to prove it!"

"Mom... we can't have headbands, either."

Because... they can be used to... launch paper.

My goodness, I had no idea paper was so... DANGEROUS!!

I brainstormed for a bit, then said, "Okay, fine, I've got some fabric, I'll make a bag."

The Husbandly One said, "That will take too much effort, and you don't have enough time. Besides, your sewing machine is broken, right?"

Well, the bobbin case is... acting up. Driving me nuts, actually. I need to replace it, but you know, at that time of night, it wasn't going to happen. Well, I went to work on my sewing machine, fixed the problem with the thread tension, got the bobbin case to stay put, and dug out the fabric, a roll of parchment, and my sewing box, and got to work.

Yes, I had to make a pattern. And I was up until nearly 2 a.m. working on it, because the bobbin case kept popping out every time the bobbin got too light (too little thread on it), because the handles I was making for the bag didn't turn out right, and I had to figure out how to re-do them, because one of the cats dumped out the entire contents of my sewing box on the floor (I'm still not sure I retrieved it all) and because I had to hand-sew one side of the bag.

But I did it. And I'll have a photo of it later on this afternoon. I would have taken a photo this morning, but the Husbandly One did not inform me he was having to leave early until ten minutes before he was going to leave, and that left me with no time for picture taking at all.

I will say it is not beautiful, or the most attractive bag I've ever made... but it's functional, and when the Impertinent Daughter saw it this morning, rather than being horrified by it, as I was fearing, she was delighted and immediately started drawing on it. She's very proud of it and happy with it, and I am relieved and wish I could very much go back to bed for a few hours BUT...

Miss Priss has a UIL Choir performance this afternoon AND a soccer game immediately after, and it's an away game. And I still have errands to run.

Caffeine... I must ingest mass quantities of caffeine today.

Oh, and I have a battle wound from sewing last night. I sewed my finger. Ouchies!! Next time, I shall be sure to keep my fingers far, far away from the needle!!

*goes in search of caffeine*

Well, to clarify yesterday's somewhat incoherent post, one of my stories was nominated on bestmatesawards, and I'm just so thrilled and happy that someone thought enough of the story to nominate it! WOOT!! *is thrilled down to her little toes*

That's definitely enough to add a bit of a twinkle to my eye!

Hee!!

You know, last night, I baked cookies (again), this time the big chewy ginger cookies, and I was wearing shorts and a short sleeved tee. And barefoot. Oh, and an apron. Because it was 75.

This morning, it was 67 when I took the kids to school, and the Impossible Son grumbled a bit about the long sleeved shirt I insisted he wear, and protested my stuffing his jacket into his backpack. "Believe me, you'll need it!"

When I went to pick him up at 3 p.m., it was 33, with a windchill of 28. HUGE change. And right now at 9:45, it's 31 with a windchill of 20. Yay. Fortunately, I finally found my thermals, and those, plus my wool socks, mean that Auntie is finally, finally warm! The Impossible Son has apparently inherited my mother's internal furnace and is running around the house in shorts and a light tee while BAREFOOT. He had his sleeves rolled up when I picked him up, saying, "I'm fine, it doesn't bother me!" and refusing to wear his Domo-kun hat. So I wore it.

Winter in Texas. I wish it would make up its mind, you know? If it's going to stay cold, then... STAY COLD!! Or if its going to be warm, then... FINE! BE WARM!! The upping and downing, not so much, please. It is to being harsh on Auntie's constitution, yes.

I sprinkled sunflowers seeds on the back porch for the cardinals that have arrived to look for real estate possibilities in the neighborhood. They were complaining; "I thought you said it was going to be warm here, this is the South isn't it, George??" "Now, now, Tizzy, dear, calm down, this is just for a few days, it will warm up in no time, just you wait...Oh, look, see? There now, that nice human has put out some food! Let's go nibble some, that will put you in a better mood, go on..."

They were a little nervous every time I came to the window with the camera, or I would have gotten some shots. Possibly Calcifer, with his face pressed to the window, actively drooling, wasn't helping with the credibility department all that much.

And... I bought a new mini-muffin pan today. I plan to bake mini corn muffins to put in the kids' bentos for school. You know, they got teased for their bentos at first, but now, their friends are envious of their lunches, and sometimes even sit there peering over their shoulders, hoping for a bite or two. I don't put huge amounts in their boxes, but I do put variety, because my kids tend to graze, and they don't come home nearly as hungry as they used to, which is wonderful. They've gone from, "There wasn't enough in my lunch," to "I couldn't eat it all, so I had some later for snack-time." And like I said, I'm not putting huge amounts of food in their lunches. Just... variety. Which works. Thank you, Japanese moms!!

*is still dancing happily because of the nomination*

I better do a bed-check to make sure everyone is tucked in! Stay warm, those of you who are freezing along with me, and to those of you on my f-list who are experiencing summer, stay cool!!