So we never made it to the county fair this week. Between battling allergies and getting a new-to-me car, there was just no time!

The car thing too about 5 times as long as it should. Somehow, every one of us who looked at the car never noticed the HUGE FREAKIN' WIRE sticking out of the rear passenger tire! Once we noticed it, for some strange reason it took four hours to get a new tire and have it changed out. But, I've got a new-to-me small SUV.

I know, awful woman! Don't I care about the environment? Gas prices? Politics? In short: yes, yes, and no. But there are some hard facts that have got to be faced. One of the main ones is this: I am negatively mending from that stupid epidural fiasco round about two years ago. My back is still not quite right from it and neither is my left leg. So, to decrease strain on those parts, a higher-profile vehicle is a must. Also, My old car (as grand as she's been) was getting unreliable. It is nothing but luck that I didn't have Elizabeth with me the day the alternator died in a flash flood and had to wait four hours for AAA to show up. And the weird fan-noise was distressing.

And incidentally, the cure for gas prices is driving less. And the cure for politics is to realize that no matter what, in this country the citizenry is in control and *can* rise up in protest of the powers that be. We are all just too fat and lazy to do more than update facebook statuses about how our own personal opinion is right and the 'other side' is a bunch of Godless baby-eaters who dance naked in the moonlight pooping on the Constitution.*

BUT! New-to-me car! Yay! It is a Grand Vitara in really dark blue that I've decided to name Kitara. Gonna get one of these for the back window. The Boy Scout approves it as both amusing and appropriate.

In other news, I did go collect my two entries from the fair this year. Ahem:

That's right! Two blue ribbons! I only wish I knew what my competition was. I am frankly FLOORED by both. And I'm telling you this right now - that Sweet Tartan is getting retired to the back of the closet. This summer, it has been worn to a wedding, a fund raiser, church a million times, and has now won a blue ribbon at the fair. It is done! That's a good life! And the diaper? It's a stunner too. Imagine a diaper winning! What a hoot! It's going back in the drawer after it's washed and will be used and used. It's my favorite and I've missed it this week.

I'll end this post with 'comb' as Elizabeth calls it. This outside rug will never be dirty again now that we have discovered the joys of foam between our toes.



*And lets be reasonable here. Given the protection of the original document, the likelihood of the Constitution being crapped on is quite low. I think the docents and security guards would eject any random poopers before their task was complete. Not to mention as the windows are blacked out, the moonlight part is unlikely as well. Same with the no-food-and-drink policy.

Elizabeth has had a hard week. I'm sure it is mostly my fault as my patience level has been about as high as freshly mowed courthouse grass, but I've managed to get myself back on track I think. I can just only stand so much of her whining and screaming at being told no before I want to get the Gypsies on speed dial. Instead, I break out the Peanut Butter Cheerios. They are magical things that buy silence for a few minutes. Here's the recipe:

1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup butter or margarine
6 cups Cheerios

Melt the butter and peanut butter. Pour over Cheerios. Mix well. Spread them on a flat surface to cool. Store in an airtight container.

They are excellent tea party food, too.

We use butter in ours because Elizabeth is on limited amounts of milk and needs a little extra milk-fat. And yeah, I've heard there are PB Cheerios in the stores now. I think these are better, though. And a lot more controllable - you pick what goes in! I've need wanting to try it with a brand of organic, gluten free o cereal that I've had before. The o's are a little sweet because they have pomegranate juice in the mix. I think they would be really great!

ANYWAY!

Busy week around here. Elizabeth turned two (TWO! GAK!) and is really enjoying her new toys. She got new play dishes (inculding a tea set), a dolly stroller, two new dolls and dolly care set, and more books than you can shake a stick at. She loves every bit of it! Annie isn't very popular, but I can't say I'm surprised. Blue Bear is her Best Friend and that isn't going to change anytime soon.

Mommy forgets party dress? Wear one of great-granna's!

Speaking of Blue Bear, he may end up being my next sewing project. I think I may have to frankenbear the Not Blue Bear to patch up Blue Bear. She will not accept any substitutions and she is terrified of bandaids. As in kicking, wailing, screaming, freaking-out-about-seeing-the-box scared of bandaids.

But I have managed to get some sewing in. I've remade a couple of her diapers into something i like a lot better. I've also gotten some of Elizabeth's fall things cut out. I've also unpacked a couple of the pairs of B3Ps that I made last winter and let the hems down on them. They should still fit this fall. She's gotten taller, not broader! And I did this:

Our new home boasts a County Fair every year. This year, it's happening the third week of this month. They have lots of events and exhibitions it seems. There's even a division for sewing stuff!

I've decided that I'll enter.

Now comes the big decision-making. What do I put in? Most everything will be in the Children's Clothing class. Dress-Up and Casual will probably be the two things I enter. But the real question is this: WHAT do I enter?

I think that my much-loved and over-used Sweet Tartan needs to go. It's very pretty and *really* well put together. And will probably qualify as Dress-Up. Perhaps one of the peasant-top-and-skirt sets would work for casual.

And get this: there's a class for Recycled Clothing! Only it is in adult sizes. Boo! I've got so much stuff I've recycled in to stuff for Elizabeth!

But there is also a Quilt division with a Baby Quilt class. Well, I have one of those. But it isn't eligible sicne I made it last year.

And I have diapers. I have one in particular that I might enter in the Any Other Infant Item class. I'll at least take it along and see what they say! It's red outside with a cow-print inside. One of the first I made and one of the best, too.




I can't believe that I'm considering this. I doubt that I'd win anything, but it seems like an appealing thing to do - and a good chance to see what other folks have made and are proud of this year. I may even meet some other local sewing types!

So, how about this frigid weather we are having in the southeast US? I'm about to break out the snowshoes to get to the grocery store!

NOT.

So, we live on the top floor of an apartment building. It's nice to not have anyone stomping around in hooker boots over our head and vacuuming four times a week! However, the very hot roof right above us isn't helping the 107 to 115 degree Fahrenheit temps. For about a week during the worst part of it, the air unit couldn't keep up and we roasted indoors at 80 every evening.

But, the temps have mellowed to a not-nearly-as-miserable 99 to 102 and the a/c can keep up better. Also, a fan helps.

But a friend of mine and a very smart woman mentioned hanging her little one's diapers out on the line to dry. (Yeah, I use cloth on Elizabeth. No, I'm not going to get spastic and flip out if you don't.) I thought about it and decided to give it a try.

Well, let me tell you a little about my experience. And my hatred of all things math.

First, there was getting permission to put up a line. See, we have a balcony, and we aren't supposed to hang things over them. so I went to the office and asked about a line. They said it'd be fine, but just to be mindful of it so that nothing fell over the edge or dripped on anyone. That was easy! I don't want my diapers disappearing so I just put the line in the deck-area instead of at the perimeter. Tricky to get enough line and still get the door open, but it works since I'm the only diaper-washer around here.

So every diaper got washed as usual (first goof-up) and I hung everything out willy-nilly (second goof-up!) and waited. It took about the same amount of time as in the dryer for most all of it, but longer for my natural fibers - except the bamboo, but they aren't that tightly woven. And the natural fibers got all stiff and felt weird. But everything else was great! And smelled nice, too.

Some discussion with the Boy Scout and I now have a system for this. I'll get to why I'm taking this seriously in a minute. But first, I should have rinsed the diapers again. Just throwing in an extra 15 minute rinse helped so much with the stiff-and-weird problem! Rinse out everything that could dry stiff and things feel much better. Our water has stuff in it tho, so getting completely rid of the stiffness just isn't going to happen. Ten minutes in a cool dryer with two wool dryer balls fixes it tho (if I am so inclined. Which I am frequently not.) And hanging the natural stuff (cotton and hemp) in direct sunlight spots makes everything dry at about the same rate. We have a big shady tree, so not everything gets equal amounts of sun.

Why am I taking this so seriously? Well, I did some math. And I hate math more than I hate cooking. I can do it, but oh, how I hate it! Numbers never behave properly at math - they are forever switching, flipping around decimals, and goofing off in general. Math stinks, the end. But I did do some math - in order for everything to get dry, it takes one 99 minute cycle in our dryer set to regular heat (the highest it goes.) I usually wash diapers 3 times a week. That works out to 1188 minutes a month (or 19 hours and 48 minutes.)

NINETEEN HOURS. and FORTY-EIGHT MINUTES. Of hot, miserable air belching in to our top-floor apartment in weather that isn't fit for man or beast to be out in because breathing super-heated air makes things die.


So now, so long as things are hot and miserable, our diapers can go outside to dry.