My friend Siobhan went skydiving a couple of days ago. She’s in a wheelchair because she has ALS. She was diagnosed last year, when her youngest child was just five weeks old.  Siobhan’s determined to make the most of the rest of her life, and I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes next. She’s amazing.
Meanwhile, my most major recent accomplishment is I cleaned up my Yahoo inbox. I was motivated by GC’s inbox, which never has more than about ten messages in it. Mine had 14,565 messages.
You should never undertake a task like this in a single session; you’ll go insane. It took me a few weeks of an hour here, an hour there. Eventually I was rewarded with a message that said “There are no messages in your Inbox folder.” (Which I must admit felt a bit anticlimactic. I think I was expecting something more dramatic, like an animated parade and a marching band.) Next up – my gmail inbox, which is home to another 8,527 messages.
Speaking of accomplishments, remember when my doctor said I had crazy high triglyceride and cholesterol levels? But since I didn’t have any other risk factors for heart disease, she wanted me to tackle it with diet and exercise rather than meds.
I’m happy to report my triglycerides went from very high to normal (5 point something to 1 point something) and my cholesterol went from very high to merely high (8.2 to 6.1). My doctor said it was very impressive.
What else? I’m teaching myself how to sew.  I’ve rejected sewing all my life, as an act of political protest. When I was a kid we moved to the country and I joined the 4H Club, believing I’d get to raise a calf, but they said no, boys raise calves and girls sew dresses. And then I was forced to sew a dress even though I didn’t even wear dresses. My mother ended up sewing the dress, which I wore to school once because she insisted. The other kids pointed out that my dress was see-through and I was mortified and never wore it again.
But now, 40 years later, I’m over it. I want to learn how to sew.
I made some cushions and I’m making a pair of pajama pants from an actual pattern. They’re almost finished – I just need to hem them. It’s a “Learn to Sew” pattern, but it’s not as easy as you might think. There are some confusing bits. Starting with the first line on the back of the pattern envelope: “Not suitable as sleepwear.” But it’s pajamas. (Turns out the pattern manufacturer puts that on all pajama patterns, to avoid being sued if you make your pajamas out of flammable material and then set yourself on fire while sleeping.)
That’s about it for my recent accomplishments. How about you? What have you been up to?
Hey Zoom: For the gmail inbox, invite yourself to Mailstrom. You won’t believe how quickly you’ll clean up your inbox with it. (PS: for the record, I am not shilling for ’em; just tried it yesterday and was very impressed).
OMG! I just tried it and it’s amazing. Thanks Bob! (Any luck finding your bike and the rat bastard who stole it?)
It’s nice that you’re taking up sewing, but I think you should give calf raising another try.
I’d be happy to show up for the barbecue.
4D, you’re absolutely right. Now that we’re in the 21st century, there’s no reason I can’t sew AND raise cattle. (I hear calves are cheap right now too, because of the drought.)
Zoom – I know what you mean about sewing. When I changed schools in grade 7 I wanted to take wood working so I could make a spice rack for my mother. I was told only boys could do this. We had to make a dress out of a McCall’s pattern and then we had to model it. I cried for days, but being a good catholic girl, I did what the nun’s told me – never again!!!!
I was mortified, probably as were all the other girls, but at that age you are only thinking of your own embarassment. Thank god the boys did not get to see the show. I would have had to quit school!!
Linda Anne, Fourth Dwarf and I think you should take up woodworking now. You’re just in time for the Continuing Education courses that start in September!
yay! on the change in blood count.
yeah, I joined 4-H with the same expectation and results. eventually there was a local history course at least. not that that equals cows.
I just bought another book on understanding fabrics and how to sew. if osmosis from book shelves would work, I’d be an extraordinary seamstress.
Oh Pearl, I totally relate on the book osmosis thing. I’d be such an incredible visual artist if only it were true.
my yahoo? 17,496 emails. There are some 9 years old. it’s redunckulous. good on ya for tackling it.
Pearl, Bob LeDrew and I think you should try Mailstrom. You’ll organize your entire inbox with just a few clicks!
I loved to sew and loved 4H. I made almost all of my own clothes until our first daughter was born. I was a 4H leader and our girls take out my 4H books every now and then to make fun of my OCD levels of tidiness and good penmanship. I also taught half of the home economics class while our teacher taught the other half.
But I wanted to do other stuff too and wasn’t allowed. It still ticks me off that girls were finally admitted to shop courses at my high school one year too late for me. And that my brothers did farms chores while I was parked under a tree with bushels of vegetables to prepare and two or three younger siblings to entertain. Anyway, I have now discovered set construction at the local theatre and some of my happiest hours are spent there covered in sawdust and paint.
Have you ever asked your brothers if it pissed them off that you got to sit under a tree while they had to do farm chores? I bet it did. Everybody should get to try everything – that should be one of the guiding principles of childhood.
They would have been deeply humiliated by a ‘girl’ chore.
Funny. I knew a girl who had to do the dishes every night for free, but on those rare occasions she wasn’t home, her mother would PAY her brother to do them. (His standard chore, if I remember correctly, was to take out the garbage once a week.)
Do you think this kind of sexism still goes on in families?
Congrats on the sewing! As you know, I’ve been sewing for 40 years and yet, I still consider myself a feminist. Speaking of which, I’d better get back to that shirt I am making for the cuff links Dad gave me. I don’t even know if you can buy a shirt for women that has real French cuffs.
Thanks Julia. Yesterday I sewed a seam that looked lovely on the front but was a rat’s nest on the back of the material.
Tension problem from the top feed Zoom!
Aha! I didn’t know what the problem was, but I solved it by spending an hour removing the rat’s nest and then rethreading the machine.
If the rat’s nest is on the bottom the problem is the top feed; rat’s nest on top is a problem with the bobbin feed.
Thanks Grace, that’s a very useful bit of information. (Is there any way to tell that you’re developing a rat’s nest on the bottom without peeking?)
In this era of Facebook, Twitter, Solitaire, etc. there may be more and more people are spending 80-100 hours a week “working”
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