What's good for the Gander

Here a while back i saw a commercial on TV that made me giggle. The basic set-up was designed around something like "The Antiques Roadshow". In the commercial, a woman had taken her item to the appraiser and he gave his appraisal. She brought him a mannequin hand with a little yellow bird in it and he told her that her bird in the hand should be worth two in the bush. This one made me giggle pretty good. I like it almost as much as i like the one where the retired drill sergeant is a therapist. That one is just funny to me. !!Cry Baby!!

This commercial reminded me of a writing class i had in school where we had to write a number of aphorisms. You know, singular truths, like Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder and so on. This is the class where i penned my now infamous aphorism; Always a bridegroom, but never a bride. I admit it's not very original, but it's cute all the same.

I remember this exercise as it was quite difficult for me. I met my deadline, but i wasn't very proud of what i accomplished.

Anyway, it snowed like mad here last week. I mean about a foot or more and the wind was

blowing like hell and the kids were home for a day or two. So, i was off my groove. I was Marshalling TV channels when this bird in the hand commercial came on and instantly i was struck with an idea. Why couldn't i make a bird in the hand??

I started running all of the old adages i knew through my head. I didn't want to re-do the bird in the hand, a penny saved is a penny earned lacked something creatively and what's good for the goose is good for the gander just didn't sing to me. Then it came to me, my adage.

I've had this old clock for some time and i've wanted to do something for my sewing room with it. Though, i no longer actually have a sewing room. What i do have is a kitchen table that suits me just fine for now. So, i presented my adage in a clock. Which now only seems fitting. Now for your enjoyment and mine, of course, here's my adage clock for my sewing room when i get one again.

I'm not going to tell you the adage that was the inspiration for this, but what i will say is that every time i look at it i giggle and swell with a sense of pride. I'm such a Wacko!!!

My wife has a clock and watch fetish, so naturally, she loves it. I was sort of inspired by the museum watches put out by Movado. I got Donner one shortly after she first saw one and i took the hint it was something she had to have.

I hope you can guess the adage, but if you can't i'll post it in the comments in a few days.

While i'm at it, i should tell you that my next project is a pair of house shoes. My feets get cold here and well i wouldn't be me if the design for them wasn't ridiculous. Think Stingray meets Patent Leather.

Until the next time i write, may peace be with you, Dave

All the news that's new and improved

Okay, so our new apartment here in Amarillo is about 85% put away. It's the remainder that is going to take some time to get situated. I got the books put up this weekend and now i have to sort out hers from mine and get them all "put right" in the shelves. While doing this, i have been screaming at myself over our french doors and the two other windows off of our living room. In Garland we had three windows in the whole place, not counting the sliding glass door to the balcony. I have recycled the one in our living room there to go in the dining room and it's okay, until i find something i like better. Though that does leave the three windows downstairs and our bedroom upstairs to make drapes for.

I absolutely refuse to pay retail for fabric unless it's for something i can't do anything else about. To cover the French doors, i figured i needed about 9 yards in drapery material and the same in blackout panel. Well when you figure the cost of what i like, which was right at 29.00 a yard and then i'd need another 6 yards for the other two windows, the price was completely out of reason. I mean it isn't like i can run over to the apparel district here and go to the warehouses or anything. I have one lonely JoAnn's and that's it.

So, i'm cruising through JoAnn's and i see a fabric i really like and i'm thinking if i can get 10 yards of it i can make it work. See, i wanted the extra fabric so the drapes at the French Doors would puddle. I just thought it would look cool and help to keep the air out. However, at nearly thirty dollars a yard, no way. So i'm eyeing this fabric and i see a red tag that says 6 dollars a yard. I'm thinking woo hoo, just please have 10 yards on the cob. So off to the cut table. 6 5/8th yds. I wanted to scream like Charlie Brown!!! So, back i went to see if there were any other red tags and as fate would have it, why yes there was. It measured out at 5 1/8th yds. Boy, i just couldn't catch a break. Everything else be it regular price or on sale i just didn't groove on. So, i'm wandering the store and something clicked. I went back and bought both cobs of material and enough gimp to go crazy with.

After that, all that was left were the blackout panels. Between the rods and the material and some other stuff, i had pretty much exhausted my drapery budget. Even with the red tag fabric. Okay, for some guys it's Home Depot, for me it's a fabric store.

I was sitting here thinking i could just go ahead and make up the drapes and do the black out panels later, when it occurred to me i should check my fabric stash. My fabric stash is in six Rubbermaid tubs. When stacked, they are nearly eight feet tall. I checked them all and to no avail. I just didn't have enough. Then Zeke came in dragging a bundle of bolts of fabric i had cling wrapped together. In that was the prize!!! A bolt of pale blue/teal denim with nearly 20yds on the bolt. Woo Hoo!!! I started doing my happy dance. It's not traditionally what i'd use, but my silk is Sage green with spots of a pale blue in it. The denim will work fine for protecting my silk from the sun.

I'll post a pic as soon as i get them done. Now, don't get your hopes up, it's what i like which means it's going to be either weird or really weird.

Oh, and just for the Tally Sheet, when i got to the register i discovered the fabric and gimp i picked out were both on sale an additional 50%. I'm happy, but at that price everything in the house would have puddled.

Until next time, Peace be with you, Dave