totchipanda

A few more hours from time of posting, staycation commence!

And thank fucking CHRIST I got paid today. I had options if my budget ran out completely, but I made it. I am getting the biggest plate of chinese food for lunch today -- aka my normal sized meal, but I didn't have to cook it and did absolutely nothing but decide which of the delicious offerings I wanted to put into my belly.

( money talk )

Library book is available so I will happily read it and finish this series I started. I might even sit outside with a tasty drink to do so!

Bought new bras while I was out at lunch. No idea if they'll fit (it was Winners) but I got three for the price of one at the other place I was investigating. We shall see!

Debating if I want to go out straight from work to get cat food + groceries, or wait at home a little bit. I'm leaning towards just going; going out later, I'll just sit at home in short-term waiting mode and getting nothing done but feeling anxious. Yeah, I've talked myself into it lol.

The video I was watching on Friday was Stephanie Canada's newest box opening, where some of the patterns from the late 50s declared "BISHOP METHOD of clothing construction" on the envelopes. Bishop method? What the heck is that?

So I googled and it was a book that was first published in 1959 and again in 1966. I found the full version on archive.org. Browsing through it on my phone (not an ideal way to do so) it appears to be just the now-modern way things are constructed.

The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction, first presented in 1959, received widespread acceptance by homemakers, teachers, and students throughout the United States as well as certain areas of Canada, Europe, Free China, and Australia.

This revision reflects additions necessitated by fashion changes as well as certain modern techniques. The Bishop method is founded on a few revolutionary principles and techniques which are essential in the construction of the most elementary garment. It contemplates the maximum use of the sewing machine and the minimum amount of hand work. Sewing is made easier and the joy of accomplishment substituted for the old-fashioned, laborious, and time-consuming pinning and basting method.

The Bishop method embraces the following fundamental principles:

Grain perfection
Accuracy in preparing, cutting, and marking fabric
Cutting to fit
Perfection in stitching
Perfection in pressing

Ooookay then. And yet we still make toiles...

Therapy was ok I guess. I know I'm stuck in a rut bc I've barely touched my dishes in 2 weeks and I am running out of things, like plastics and small plates and coffee mugs. What might be bothering me, you ask? (gestures to say "all of this") You got me. I'm fairly confident it's not one specific thing but a pile up of everything. Politics, knowing a lot of people don't vote past the ends of their noses, the continuing horrors, some money pressure (which is never about the actual money but still impacts me)... it's a lot. I go home and I sit down and I don't get back up except to scrounge a dinner and go to bed.

My therapist said some of her clients think that she'll tell them what to do. No, she said, YOU'LL tell yourself what to do, and that is so true. I know I just need to start and the rest will fall into place, and I guess I just needed to hear her say that back to me.

So, I got one pan of dishes washed, a hodge-podge of items. Scooped the cat box. Dinner was cheese and tomato tostadas, and while they baked I got out some fabric. A pale blue and white stripe that doesn't have a whole lot left so can't really be anything but a shirt of some sort, and a red plaid. I thought it was poly, but as I handled it I said (out loud) "this feels like wool." So I cut a small piece and burned it -- ignited and burned for a brief moment and extinguished. SMELLED LIKE DEATH. Oh god, that's poly! But then I tried crushing the burned bit and it crumbled into dark ash. Hmmm... no, poly would have kept burning and have no ash, this really didn't burn at all. So I tried again and same results. Y'all, I haven't burned wool in so long that I forgot how bad burning hair smells. It's wool!

I got it from a destash, so measured it and there is only 84cm of 56"-60" wide (the length is scientific, the width is not). Definitely has the feel of someone who bought only a small amount while travelling and never decided what to do with it until it no longer held any meaning for them. Not to worry my unknown friend, I will transform this into a piece worthy of the sheep whose wool became plaid.

Or not. I'm not the boss of you.

So, what can I do with a small amount of plaid?

ANYWAY by then the hockey game was on. I put one needle of thread into the cross stitch piece (with my handy dollar store glasses), knitted two rows on my newest socks, then played a video game until the battery was running very low. By then it was intermission so I took myself to bed, where I discovered that I could play phone games while the audio ran in the background. Another intermission bc the game ran into overtime and I just wanted to sleep but I can't, the game is on... (memories of 2006 when one game went into THREE overtimes before finally ending at 1-something in the morning) but then my boy Leon scored and I spent about 5 mins being very excited before crashing out.

Yesterday I sat down with my budget spreadsheet and my tracking app and I went through every single item in both to verify everything had been accounted for. This is a three-pay month and the last one was accounting for bills. There's never a "free" cheque, it just changes the way I distribute the next one(s). With the insolvency, this is kind of a soft reset for my budget. This next one won't have some of the big ticket items like my car insurance, but I need to account for XYZ recurring expenses because the first June cheque won't be until AFTER mostly everything is due again.

Weekend time at last. I need to get through one more week of too-low-to-be-useful bank balance (rather: I have payments coming out on *Thursday* when I get paid on *Friday* and I'd really prefer not to be hit with NSF fees) so I ought to do some actual meal planning. I have... very little but I can still make a few banging meals! Ideas: mushroom pasta in red sauce with cheese. Veggie chili (just need to make beans, which I never remember until I am already at work) and cornbread (all GF). Granola. Many rice noodles and rice, and I at least got sesame oil in my last grocery run so I can make some asian flavoured things. I have rice crackers and nuts for snacks. There's still a couple things of bacon in the freezer, plus a couple chicken portions. There won't be a lot of *variety* but I shouldn't waste away.

Finally admitted that the shorts pattern is not a good candidate as a test version without making the full thing, because it has pockets and those pockets are designed to be structural. On the other hand, it's a pair of shorts. If they don't fit, it's hardly a waste of something truly irreplaceable.

I pulled out the trusty ol' 90s poly cotton to make a single leg toile (for top-down center-out fitting) when I realized this, and decided that I needed to think about it a bit more before committing. In getting the fabric, I also yanked out the 2.6 meters of blue and orange plaid that I've had for like 20 years that is perfect hockey team colours, and collected up the bits of black poplin I had in different places.

The plaid I'd always wanted to do a sort of shirt-dress type project, inspired by a historical costumer who made a full 1860s gown from a tablecloth with about 1 square foot of scrap of left over. But I always hesitated bc I didn't see how I could attempt that without really skimping on the skirt section, and also it's not my usual era. So I think I'll do something modern with it, which I will certainly wear a lot more over the years than a historical piece. I found a saved pattern image on my work computer from 1961 which looks a lot like the scout dress with 3/4 sleeves and a rectangular skirt. So that's where I'm headed, once I adjust the pattern again. (Brown version has yet to be worn but initial try on revealed some concerns.)

The poplin I had decided would be a Mariner set. I have yet to settle on the full design, but one of my favourite images from a Japanese Gothic Lolita company had a sailor top and pleated skirt, and it was just so stinkin' cute that I've had it saved for upwards of 20 years. I made one version from a couple Gosu-Rori books but they no longer fit so I eventually sold them. I'm still hesitant to make something so identifiable as a sailor outfit, but... they're so CUTE!!! I gotta commit. (this is what I meant yesterday about the hour-long routine to achieve a look. I partly got out of loli fashion bc it always felt like I had to put so much effort in, particularly to keep up with the local group at the time, that I couldn't be arsed to try.)

I was entirely side tracked by the Met Gala yesterday. The theme was Superfine: Black Tailoring Style and the suits were ON FIRE YO. So many people understood the assignment and crushed it (particular favourites were Janelle Monae, Zendaya, Teyana Taylor, Jeremy O. Harris, Lupita, and SO SO SO SO MANY MORE whose names I don't know!) My phone is currently FILLED with incredible fashion. I am LIVING for it.

But I did get another pattern taped together, and pulled out the remainder of the green striped fabric that I made the second Seatoun skirt out of. I have 39" (98cm) of 60" fabric left, with one edge cut out. Laying the Loretta shorts on top, I can get the shorts out of it if I cut the pocket bag from one piece of scrap (that would not be pattern matched to the shorts) or from a different fabric. I would be able to make a good go at matching the stripes on the back and pocket areas. I was not about to attempt this as Calcifer was supervising and I didn't need her help, so I went on to tape together the Ginger pants pattern.

I am also not sure if I cut out the waistband for the skirt yet. It's a key feature of the original ad, so I will not cut out until I'm sure I have that accounted for. I also kind of don't want to spend time matching stripes, and had considered using the fabric for a sewing machine cover, so a brief interlude is A-OK at this time.

A part of me thinks I'm just going on and on and on forever about all these patterns, but I just need to accept that I'm in my Gertie era. She has a big catalogue for me to peruse, and I have a lot of fabric to use up. I'm trying to find a balance of personal style and comfort and all that. I like the frou-frou nature of being a little dressed up while not going so OTT that there's a whole hour-long routine in getting there. Choices choices.

It took me all day yesterday to write that I forgot some stuff (naturally). M told me that J has moved far far south to do a 6-month position, while still paying his share of their expenses. She has a feeling that they will not be renewing their lease at the end of October, so she's already looking at some other places nearby where she can be a true solo resident. This is not going to be something that's going to be decided for at least a couple of months, and I told her that if it's something she wants to consider, my lease is up at the end of August so we could potentially share again. But to also consider that the cats are coming with me, and she is horridly allergic. Future us problems!

I've been having more water issues from the suites above me and I suspect the landlords won't do much about it since they've told me they are going to tear the building down eventually. Nothing to be super concerned about yet, but I have a feeling that my time there is limited. So I'm low-key thinking about where to go next. The next place MUST have laundry in-suite, no more of this sharing and particularly not "leaving the building in the middle of winter bc the laundry isn't even in the same building".

I have made no progress on my plan to potentially move on.

Yesterday I was feeling much better, and it was the Monday I should have had. Alas! I organized some patterns and started putting a few things away in better places. Dinner was oven fries and I did a pan of dishes and scooped the cat box. I wish I'd had those extra two days to pursue my own things. On the plus side, it was nice being able to stay home and not have to communicate with my boss about whether or not I was going to be in that day. Ha!

I actually started writing this around 9 am and wrote one single word before I got HELLA distracted doing actual work (wth, expecting me to work at work). I felt very accomplished today and I think I remembered everything I was supposed to do. When I got off the train, I got straight in the car and went to get groceries, which I definitely could not have done any earlier this week, energy wise. There's still some things i need to get, but it can wait. I got enough to fill out my pantry and fridge for at least a few days. I've borrowed against this paycheque to do all of these things, so I can't go hog-wild. But I can supplement, and that will be ok.

Wanting to get sewing again, but first I want to finish cleaning the sewing machine I have on the table. Something else I couldn't have managed this week! I hardly know where to begin. Do I tape the pants pattern and then test it? (yes.) Do I make some more tops? (Yes.) Do I make some more skirts? (Sure!) So many options!

Saturday I have an eye exam, which I fully plan to tell them about how I need close up reading lenses. I'll be in the mall so I think I'll pop into bath and bodyworks for lotions/soaps, perhaps the bookstore, and then hit up a newly opened fabric store. There's a local shop that has cutting mats for a not-ridiculous price, and I like to support local, so I might try to find them too!

Trip was lovely! I realized halfway into the first drive that I'd forgotton to bring my brain medications with me. GAH. But I know I can go almost a week without the one before I really start feeling it, and 48 hours without the other before I get the brain zappies. So Saturday was good, but yesterday was getting difficult. We ended up coming home earlier than expected so the first thing I did was take those drugs.

New hotel and parking situation this year, which ended up being great! We were only a few blocks from the venue so we walked there and back. The parking was somewhat confusing and I broke another pay station, but it ended up being so inexpensive bc we just walked everywhere! Had a REALLY yummy pizza on Saturday night with a good GF crust. Sunday we were going to do some touristy things, but the weather, which had been so lovely on Saturday, dropped to single digits and had a bitey wind and neither of us were prepared for that so we just headed home.

I spent the rest of the day lying around in bed, enjoying my refreshed brain and some TV and the cats. This morning though, I discovered that there had been a pretty significant leak from somewhere above me and I had water in places it really should not have been and it was definitely not there on Friday when I left. I basically did not go in the kitchen at all yesterday but I think this happened overnight anyway. Ugh. Whatever is going on, some simple patch and paint is not going to fix it and the buildng is old enough that it will certainly require asbestos abatement. I don't know if they'll spend the time or effort to do it when they told me they intend to tear the building down.

Sooo glad I have a couple more days off and I'm looking forward to just doing my own thing, at my own pace :3

Election today. Whoever wins will be the Prime Minister of Canada and will set the stage for further relations with global powers. I am SICK with anxiety.

As predicted, Monday and Tuesday was just a preview. Today the uterus has gone full blown HAHAHA SUCKER!!!! and I am in the bathroom every 45 minutes or so. So far. It is still early and yes, I hate it. The good news is that usually spends the first two days like this, the third day is not QUITE as bad, and day 4 (Saturday) should be manageable while we are wandering the con. I do have plans to be out and about tomorrow, erranding, but it always feels different when I can spend most of the day at home.

I was Very Tired yesterday, but I did a pan of dishes (with intent to have the counter clear before I leave), made myself dinner, and then sat down with the silk skirt to keep pulling the velveteen bands off, just to have something to do. And then it was a socially acceptable time for bed, so away I went, where I was up every 90 minutes, roughly, to evacuate the disc. I feel pretty ok today, tired as usual but not excessively so.

So tomorrow, I plan to get the oil in my car changed. The place I've decided on does walk-in only (drive-in only? Hehe) and I will bring anything I need to sit and wait. I can hit the fabric store for that 1 yard of elastic I need for the slip. I need to do laundry, and I'd like to do a few loads. I have sheets to do so I can change my bedding to have it done already when I return, and I need to do the pile of "heavy" wash that's been waiting forever. NGL, I am very tempted to soak that load in the tub first so I can wash it with the regular load and it doesn't feel like the "heavy" soiling is going to be washed through ALL of my laundry. Cat things need to be done, namely the litter box, and I will collect up any and all garbage to be tossed right before I leave.

I will pay my end-of-month bills so I know what's left. I would like to write out my budget for the weekend, bc while I have saved a good chunk specfically for this trip, I can't go wild. Some of it needs to go back to my regular budget. Some will be applied to things FOR the trip, like gas. I want to write out the likely food expenses and "extras" (M found a place where we can cuddle with mini cows for like half an hour and hot dang that would be so great). In theory, it'll be better than last year, but not likely by a whole bunch. Deep breaths, because at the very least no one will let me go hungry. And this is why I want to write it all out, so I KNOW. Yes, I've been a little head-in-the-sand about the budget bc being an adult is poopy that way but at least it's been in the back of my mind so I didn't leave myself in a situation like last year where I had gas money and that was it.

After we get back I have three more days :D Monday will likely be just rotting after peopling all weekend, but on Tuesday and Wednesday I can do whatever I want! I will attempt One Major Task per day and then the rest is for meeeeee hehehehe.

Long weekends are never long enough ;___;

Friday: Some lumping, finally took myself out of the house to get cat food, thread for the Rita blouse, and visit with my friends. There were both more and less people there than I thought, and it was really fun!

Saturday: all for MEEEEEEEEEEE!! I sewed the entire Rita blouse, hemming and all. I also hemmed the honor roll top (since the only blue thread I'd had loaded was for that blouse) and cut the raw edges down with pinking shears, which was SO ANNOYING. Stupid wiggly rayon and inexpensive shears that are almost 20 years old. I spent 2.5 hours trapped under Calcifer, and Sophie was not the favourite as she chewed off the thread at the back of the machine and ate the entire length that had been threaded through the tension and take up and needle. I am monitoring her for signs of illness. She's eaten thread like this before so I'm not *super* concerned but K lost a kitten (literal kitten) to a thread incident* at the end of last year so I'm feeling wary.

Decided to oil the machine as it was sounding clunky. I need to get some grease for the gears, it's been a little over 5 years since that was done.

Sewed one seam of the pink silk slip and ran out of bobbin thread just as I finished the french seam. #win

*( CW: pet death )

Sunday: sewed most of the rest of the slip. I found some pre-gathered lace in my stash that was suitable enough so I pulled the header off and attached it. Cut away the silk below it. Sewed the other seam and tried it on as best as I could without any elastic to attach. It's a bit snug when I sit but not excessively so. I will consider sizing up with any form-fitting lower-half pieces in the future.

Then decided that since I'd oiled the 301A, it was time to work on my great-grandma's machine! It's just been sitting on top of the table awaiting my attention for the last several months. What do I clean it with? OH NOES INDECISION. Internet says sewing machine oil, so I started there. She was FILTHY, greasy and sticky and full of dust. I was told she didn't run, but everything moved well when I turned the handwheel, so perhaps it was just the gross and disgusting sticky rubber treadle belt that I cut off and threw away not long after getting it. Opened up whatever I could open up and started cleaning it out. There was so much lint in the feed dogs lol. I'm holding off on oiling the mechanics much until I can get it cleaner. I put on some cleaning videos on YouTube while I worked and I'm starting to suspect that the machine had been in storage for a long time. I can SEE the decals on the back, but they are definitely coated in a thick layer of grease and oil and I would put some money on cigarette smoke (at least one house it was in was a smoking house), but long enough ago that there was no smell left as I cleaned. GoJo is another recommended cleaner particularly for a greasy machine that I'll look into.

Then I stopped to make a coleslaw before heading to my aunt's for dinner. I thought I'd check out my polling place for advance voting and oh, there's no line! Excellent! I'll do that first! JK, the line was inside. You may hear people complaining about how old fashioned federal voting is up here, and yes it took some time to get through the line (I was there just under an hour). You get checked off the list, your ballot is torn off a pad and then fold it and hand it to you to go mark. Then you bring it back, still folded, they tear off the edge and hand it back to you to put in the box. Done. I was watching the other station's attendant tear the strips in half and put them in a bag. My attendant was writing everything down by hand and I assume she had her reasons, she seemed like she had been doing this for a long time. I was done before she was finished, bc I made my mind up a long time ago, pretty much as soon as it was certain that an election would be called.

Dinner was yummy, and I was home just after 7, where I lumped around until bedtime.

Today should be a holiday too imo. There are not a lot of people here and not much happening and all of us were like "whyyyy it was so hard to get up". I forgot to check the train schedule and it was not running on its normal monday schedule, so I bet lots of people have today off! Rude.

I looked at elastic online for the slip, and it's just silly for shipping even with Canada. I can spend the same amount of time waiting to have a chance to go to the store again and spend far less. FINE I guess I'll wait.

In the meantime, I have now finished most of the things I intended to start, so onto the next project! K suggested pants, and she is so right. I was waffling on the pattern now for the grey wool. If I do Meriam, I have to make another pattern and at least one leg of a mock-up. For Charm patterns, I don't think I'd like the Lucille trousers that much (I'm wary of wide-legged pants but if they taper it might be OK), and the other trousers they have are for stretch wovens, which I don't have a lot of.

Very early this morning (bc I was awake at 5 am), I was thinking about the under-bed boxes I had for storage when I lived in the last apartment 5+ years ago and how I don't used them now. One of them is holding sheets and things that I haven't touched in at least that amount of time and is currently full of cat hair. The other is holding a bolt of fabric, black with a pinstripe running selvedge to selvedge, that IIRC is a knit. Is it a stretch knit, I don't know, I haven't touched it in nearly a year. But there is a lot of it. So I will pull that out when I get home and check.

OK that's enough rambling for now. Vacacciones starts on Wednesday at 430 PM and I am so excited. I need a break.

Started on the bedroom as soon as I got home. It looked better just having picked up some of the things that had fallen over onto the floor but I carried on! First part: vacuumed and emptied. (It is a very tiny canister so there was lots of emptying). Second part, same as the first. Then it was time to move furniture, which of course sent the cats into a tizzy. Third, fourth and fifth parts done. Now for the fun part, getting the new-to-me TV stand in and figuring out the other things.

Cats were still in a tizzy so I left them for a moment and went to sit on the couch. Then at 6, I got the email that my amazon package had been delivered to the pick up location so I headed out to get a couple things at walmart (best options for what I was looking for) and also treat myself to dinner since I was HONGREH and also it was overall not a great day.

Well, Walmart didn't have thread in a colour that matched the fabric except for "almost close enough but not quite" so I walked out of there with Mini Eggs and pads haha. Decided to skip the pet store, got my dinner and took my time eating it (it was also very fresh, very hot) and then hooray Amazon time! Just kidding, the location closed 15 minutes ago. Oh well. Tonight I will go get it and also the pet store and maybe consider somewhere for thread. I have lots of options for other things to sew but I want to sew THAT one thing you know?

Anyway tonight I may be less ambitious with the vacuuming and will settle for dishes or something instead.