Shimmery fabric, a need for

I know, it's been ages and you all thought that I had fallen off the face of the earth.  But not so.  I have been busy with my sewing machine, Christmas, guests, guest's dog, planning new sewing projects, taking advantage of fabric sales, and dreaming about the mending that awaits me as soon as my guests vacate my sewing room.

I have 3 or 4 projects in the works, and I need a small favor from all you fabricaholics out there.  I am looking for a piece approx. 7"x 14" or about a fat eighth of shimmery gold or silver fabric.  I need to make a 6.5" star and I am just not finding what I want at the fabric store. 

Email pictures of fabric to me with the link in the right sidebar.  If I like what you show me I will compensate you with in-kind fabric, money, or some other prize (I even FEDEX fresh pumpernickel if you want).

Who's Driving You?

First, lets think of family vacations you took as a child, all crammed in your parents car.  U want you to remember who had the power to make decisions and influence your vacation.  Who had the most influence?  Who had the least?  Now imagine your favorite spacious 5-seater.  It may be the 1979 Chrysler New-Yorker your friend once had, or that '69 Charger parked out behind the house.  Maybe it's your friend's Town & Country Station Wagon or a late model Continental, no matter, just pick one and picture it in your mind very clearly.  Now imagine that there are 5 people in the car, and that all 5 of them are you.  These are the 5 aspects of yourself that influence decisions that you make: Social, Emotional, Intellectual, Physical, and Spiritual.

Each of these 5 aspects occupies a position in your car.  Let's talk about the 5 positions in the car and the power to choose that each one has.  

• Driver.  This is the ultimate decision maker.  This person is in control of where you go or don't go.  From this position all turns, stops, reversals, and chinese fire drills are controlled.  
• Navigator.  This position exerts the most influence over the Driver, and Driver is probably inclined to take Navigator's opinion over any other.  This person can see everything the driver can see.  This person can read the map, street signs, check for clear lanes, etc.  They also have influence over those in the back.  
• Left Rear (behind Driver).  This position holds little influence, but does have a direct angle to Navigator, and the power to kick Driver's seat.   This position can also give  Driver key information about Driver's blind spot.
• Right Rear (behind Navigator).  Again, a position of limited influence, but with angles to the Driver, and within reach of Navigator.  This position can also give Driver key information about Navigator's blind spot. Both outer rear positions also have a good view of what you are passing, but limited amounts of information on what is upcoming.
• Center Rear.  The most cramped and uncomfortable position.  This one can see much of what Driver and Navigator see, and is within easy reach of both Driver and Navigator. 
  

Obviously, Driver has the most power and Navigator the next most.  I think Center rear has some power, but because it has the least exclusive information it has the least power.  The other 2 positions each have about the same.

The 5 aspects each have a different perspective based on what they can feel.  

• Physical feels hungry, tired, awake, pain, etc.
• Social feels peer pressure, rejection, envy, the need to impress, and nervous.
• Emotional feels sadness, worry, happy, joy, laughter, excitement, etc.
• Intellectual feels the influence of information (be it fact or fiction).  Intellectual is the part of you that reasons and is really void of "feeling."
• Spiritual feels the influence of the Holy Ghost.  All things that are learned through the Spirit are under Spiritual's jurisdiction. 

Emotional and Social are closely related and tend to sit near each other and hold similar positions of influence. Spiritual can have understanding and feelings that each of the others can, but it also has the ability to feel the Spirit.

I think that there are times when each aspect should be at the helm, or finds itself at the helm.  This isn't neccisarily bad, but just the way it is sometimes.   I do think that most of the time we can control where our aspects sit in the car and how they influence the choices we make.

Who is driving your car?  Where is everyone else sitting?  Do you want to change the seating arraingement?

New Character Photos.

Actually, just new photos.  I thought you deserved to look at a picture of me that is a little more current.  The old one was taken in Summer 2003 at Cape Hatteras, NC.  The one of B.A.R. was from this summer.  These new ones were taken at Thanksgiving this year. 

Calculating

Sorry, I haven't felt like I have had much to blog about recently, but when I did finally think of something, I had to round up all the items to take photos.

This post deserves a little introduction. I am, as an adult, coming to truly appreciate who my father was. If you don't know, he died when I was thirteen. I find myself figuring things out, finding reasons why he did things, finding answers to questions that I can no longer ask. I enjoy the "Ah-HA" moments when they do come. It's like sharing a moment with him even though he isn't here with me.

I had one of these moments the other day. I don't remember what I was doing, but I suddenly realized why my dad gave me this:

for my fourth birthday. Incidentally, it still has the original batteries. I realized that he gave me a calculator so that I would stop stealing his:
and running the batteries down. I loved to punch the buttons and watch the numbers change. I couldn't get enough. Even now I love to just play. That may be the reason that I still have this:
and this:
and that B.A.R. kept this:
We both want an HP 48G, but they are really expensive. In my search to find a good photo of one, I learned that the newest model is a HP 50. Now I want that instead. I wish I had all different calculators that my dad had over the years, but I don't and it makes me sad. I know now that he was a calculating man (pun totally intended). Mostly he was calculating how to keep his batteries from being used up by someone who didn't even know how to multiply!

Contest Winners Announced.

First, for all the entries:

Alice--  People often misunderstand my name as this and I don't like that.
Victoria-- My friend's daughter
Betty--  
Mary-- Have a friend named that, and fairly common

Sally-- My grandmother's nickname, and from Peanuts (against the rules)
Lois-- I have 2 friends named that!

Lola--  Isn't that a song by the Kinks?
Jane-- Doesn't she come with Dick?
Paige-- Friend
Nancy-- Person in my ward
Opal--  Car
Daisy--  Flower
Veronica
Margaret-- Went to high school with someone named that
Blondie-- Not classic enough
Pepper--  Went to high school with someone named that

Dilbert--  Not classic enough
Clark-- Dated a guy named that
Milo--  Isn't that a cat from a Disney movie?
Frank-- Person in my ward
Ernest-- Person in my ward, and my friend's husband
Wiley
Oliver Wendell Jones-- Maybe without the Wendell Jones part.
Arlo (2 entries)
Abner
Jasper
Gunther-- trendy

Dennis-- Father in Law
Henry-- Person in the ward
Jake-- Nephew
Sam--  Too common 
Walt
Heathcliff--  Possibly too obscure
Garfield-- Presidential, like Tiger's name
Ziggy-- Marley?

Odie-- 

And the winners are:  Margaret and Abner.  I like Frank, Oliver, and Ziggy too. 

So Birrd and Osborn6 send me a prize requests.  I will even FEDEX you fresh bread if you want.

How to eat birthday cake.

He did a much better job eating it than Tiger did with his first birthday cake. He did try and put his finger in the candle flame. He didn't care that we blew the flame out repeatedly (but throws a fit every time the candle is blown out in the Blue's Clues video). He took his birthday seriously: he learned to scoot the very next day.

Congress

I thought that this would be another good nickname for Blanket. If you give him anything in good working order, he can break it. If you give him a mess, he can make it far worse. When you turn your back he makes a great big mess out of something that isn't any of his business. He is always putting his hands in things that don't belong to him. And finally, if you ask him to fix something you can be assured that he will break it, not fix it.