I suppose I really am 42.

(the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything!)

And I suppose it's reasonable that my eyes, my 20/20 vision of always, my perfect eyesight of yore... would start to fail.  (Sigh.)  I finally dragged my sorry self to the eye doctor for the first eye exam I'd had since I was in 6th grade and they did 'em in school after I couldn't read some small print in a catalogue and had to have someone else read it for me.  Yeah.  Really.

(Sigh.)

It turns out I need reading glasses, though I'm hearing those more experienced than I in the eyeglass-wearing population call them "magnifiers" more than glasses.  The prescription is for +1.5, which I gather isn't all that much.

So once my eyes undilated and I could see again, I dragged my even sorrier self to CVS and bought - count 'em - two pairs of reading glasses, since they were 2/$10 and it made sense to me.  I picked two different styles, since I couldn't decide.  One a thin metal frame in a hematite color, with rectangular lenses (Eric thinks these look better) and the other oval lenses in plastic frames in a classic mottled brown color my mother always called "root beer."  (Most of my friends prefer these.)

And to console myself, I also bought some 75% off Halloween decorations.  Because if you saw my recent Halloween post, you know I need more Halloween decorations.  But then, you can never have too many Halloween decorations.

That was Saturday.

On Sunday, I decided to embrace my reading-glass-wearing self, and realized I'd need to bring them to work with me.  That meant transporting them, and that meant risking damage.  I needed cases!

So I made 'em.

And I matched them up with the two pairs of glasses.

And then, me being me, I made another one for the shop!

I did them narrower so that your narrower style glasses, especially like reading glasses, won't slip out.  There will be more forthcoming, but the one above is made from cotton paw print fabric, cream and black linen solid fabric for the contrast band, cuff, and lining, and a fleece layer between the outer and lining to promote the safety of your glasses.

A New Assistant

Making candles today, a new scent and a new technique.  They're going to be awesome!

And Catimus wanted to help too.

Night of the Living Dead

Yes, I know this one actually came before Dawn of the Dead, but I started in the wrong order, what can I tell you?  Point is...

Zombie Kitty!

Now Classic Zombie has a pet!  Is he cute, or what?  I love the eyeball "tag" on his collar.

I think I need to start naming these guys something besides Classic Zombie and Zombie Kitty.  Any ideas?

Wild Things!

My nephew's 1st birthday is on December 22, and his party is this Sunday, December 19.  The theme my sister and brother-in-law chose is Where the Wild Things Are.  Great book, great theme.  Only there's not a whole lot out there for Wild Thing parties.  You'd think there would be, but there really isn't.

So my sister finally found some Wild Things balloons and vinyl wall decals, plus a room border.  I think the vinyl is meant more for actual kids' room decorations than party decorations but they'll definitely work.  There was a matching popup cake topper too, and she got it, but no plates, cups, or napkins, so she had to do those and streamers in coordinating colors.

It's all very exciting!

But there still remained the issue of a birthday hat... and I saw, fortuitously, this tutorial.  I changed it up to make it suitable,

and here's my version, with an 18" circumference, plus about an inch of elastic.  We tried it on him, and it fits perfectly.  My nephew is big, though, so if you do one, you might need it to be smaller.

And last night, my sister and I made the cake!

Of course, a birthday isn't a birthday without gifts!  I got him this book & finger puppet set.

I love it 'cause it teaches color theory!  There are so many baby books out there that teach letters, numbers, vehicles, animals... this is the first and only I've seen that teaches art.

Speaking of books, remember this one?

I used it to make my nephew an additional gift.  From two of my mother's pairs of pants (brown flat fabric and a pair of corduroys), one of my skirts (tan linen), an old green sweater, plus the thread and two of the buttons that Avery got me for my birthday, I made these parts.

And from these parts, I made this guy!

And a close up of his adorable, surprised-looking face.

This was much more complicated than the mooshy belly creatures I made him for Chanukah.  It took longer too.  But it was so much fun!  Now I just hope he loves it as much, even without the ultra cuddle fabric.  We'll see on Sunday!

Oh, and last night after we made the cake and my sister was looking at the decorations, she suddenly asked me, "Did you make the crown to look like the one from the book?"  Um.... yeah!  Would you believe she hadn't put it together that that's what I was doing until she saw it together?  She thought I was just doing it because I found the tutorial and wanted to make my nephew the star of the party.  Ha!  But according to her, it looks exactly right.

Awesome.

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Not Soap

It's been a few days, and we've got a lot of photos to take and work to do on the site, so I thought I'd throw in something a little more personal.  This is a video of our "puppy," Megaera.  She goes by Meg, and is actually 11 years old, but she doesn't realize it at all.

As a half Shetland Sheepdog, half Eskimo, she definitely favors the winter, and absolutely adores the snow.  It's hard to get her inside once she's out!  Of course, only one of us has a luxurious fur coat, so Eric and I prefer to come in quite a bit earlier than she does.

We also have three cats, but we don't let them outside.  Meet (in order) Hunter, Neptune, and Catimus, the youngest of the bunch at about two & a half.  She's also the only female cat: