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1893 maternity corset

(no subject)

I've found myself a bit of sewing mojo, and so this weekend I'm planning to attempt a Victorian maternity corset. I still have all my research from the first time I contemplated such a project, back when I was pregnant with Kate. I started the research way too late in my pregnancy last time, though, and wasn't able to get the project going before I ended up in the hospital. This time, I think I have enough time to get it done.

I'm still basing everything off the 1893 maternity corset in De Gracieuse but I'm going to be using my already sized, already know it works for me 1872 pattern, so I can skip trying to fit something on my ever expanding torso. I'm going to try and dig the pieces of it out tonight so I can get up early over the weekend and get things cut out and assembled.

I'm quite excited about this project. No fitting, just cut->sew->wear. I may be optimistic, but I feel I can get a good chunk of it done this weekend.

(no subject)

Well, things didn't quite go according to plan, but they still all worked out.

On my way home from work on Wednesday, my rotten tire finally gave out and went flat. Luckily, I was still in the parking lot at work when it happened, so I was able to pull into a vacant spot. I called M, who called Chance, who watched the baby while M came and got me. It was too late in the day to get the tire replaced, so he dropped me off at home, and then he and Chance went back downtown to get the old tire off the car.

I took Thursday off instead of taking a half-day, since M had said that we could get the tire done in the morning before his interview, but alas, that did not end up happening. So, instead I was just up at dawn, hoping to get chores done, which was also thwarted by the baby getting up super early. I fed her breakfast and we had a bit of playtime, and by 9:30 she was ready for her nap, so she went back down, and I finally had my own breakfast. It was actually really nice, since the house was quiet and I could just sit and really enjoy eating without interruption.

Baby slept until about 12:30, and M got up not long after. We had a bit of lunch, then M started getting ready for his interview. I had planned to take the baby out to the library during that time, but she started acting really sleepy, so instead I attempted to get her to nap. While she didn't actually end up sleeping, I was able to keep her quiet and contained while M was having his interview.

Interview ended up being another panel, which was unexpected. His friend had told him to just expect one guy, since that's what he had experienced when he interviewed for the team, but instead it was three people. M didn't quite seem as confident coming out of this interview as he did coming out of the others, but it's overwith now, and all we can do now is wait to hear if he's in or not.

M called Chance immediately after the interview was over, and as soon as he arrived they went off to complete the tire replacement. I think it helped him to have something to focus on after the interview rather than fretting about it.

Leftover lunch pasta for dinner plus a little side salad to stretch it. M retreated to play video games, and I got the baby down for the night a bit early since she hadn't napped since her morning snooze. Shower, ice cream, Star Trek, then to bed.

Baby has entered a new toddler phase and has become and absolute nudist. If she disappears around a corner for more than 30 seconds, you can bet that she's going to be nude. Put her down for a nap? Nude. A time out? Nude. She woke up at 4:30 this morning and was babbling and laughing, and when I checked the baby monitor? Yup. Nude. I wouldn't care at all if she'd just keep her diaper on, but nope, it's a full strip. Hopefully this passes soon!

(no subject)

Got home for my lunch break yesterday, and M told me that Kate had been completely wild, getting into everything and being chaotic. I thought, well, he was just suffering a short temper, because when I got there we had a cuddle, then she ran to get the kitchen sponge and went over to wash the windows before going down easily for a nap. XP

WELL. When I got home after work I got to see her in full force. She was into everything, and has just discovered how to open the fridge door all by herself, so every five seconds I had to run into the kitchen to stop her pulling all her favorite foods off the shelves. She was also constantly hungry - I fed her two oranges, two bunches of grapes, a batch of raisins, two Babybel cheeses, about seven strawberries, a yogurt, part of a bagel, and some hummus, and she was still giving me the sign for "food".

I was already exhausted and running on fumes, so for my own sanity I put her to be a half-hour early. She protested, but was asleep within 20 minutes, so she must have been tired.

I took a half hour on the couch, ate an ice cream sandwich, ordered a fridge lock, skipped making dinner and crawled into bed around 9, hoping to catch up on whatever sleep I've been missing. M had already been in bed since I'd gotten home, and when I got into bed, he ended up waking up. He decided to stay up, so I had the bed to myself for the night.

Set the alarm for 5AM intending to do some chores before work. I had big plans - wash the remaining dishes, chop the ingredients for tonight's dinner, iron clothes for this week and next, and make breakfast. Well, only about half of that happened, since I vastly underestimated how long the dishes would take. Still, I got in a decent breakfast for once, and the kitchen is now free of Dish Mountain.

I don't think I'll manage another 5AM day tomorrow, but I'm aiming to have one more before the end of the week so I can get some other much needed chores completed, namely scrubbing the bathroom. Still need to iron all my clothes at some point, but AUGH, where is time?!

M's interview is tomorrow afternoon. Since it's well after Kate's nap time, I'm going to have to take her out of the house so M can have the interview undisturbed. Even though we're having a relatively cool week, it's still in the mid-90s by that time of day, so we'll probably head over to the library for air-conditioned shenanigans instead of our usual haunt of the park.

(no subject)

Massive, stupid things at work yesterday. I was left off of an email chain (because why would you need to include the person who wrangles your paperwork on an email chain about paperwork, right?), and so didn't know that shift supervision was supposed to be turning in two copies of their logs. When I had called the audit team about supervision turning in two copies when they started showing up, the person I talked to said they only needed one, so I threw out what I thought was the extra. WELL. No, they needed both, and the audit team was supposed to get all our paperwork yesterday morning to begin going over it (it's a standing monthly thing), but instead I had to reprint the copies (about 56 logs in total!), run around to get a half-dozen signatures from different people, organize it all into its books, and run it over to the audit team. It was well after lunch by the time all that was done, and I was exhausted. So, yeah, the day was stupid.

When I got home, M told me that the baby had been sleeping a ton all day long. She slept in until nearly 11, then she napped from 1:30-3:00! We were sure she'd be up late into the night, but no, at about 6:30 she started giving me the sign for "sleep". I made sure she ate dinner, gave her some milk, then around 7:00 she grabbed her pacifier and blanket and very adamantly shoved her head into my lap, so I bundled her up and put her to bed. I checked her temp to make sure she wasn't coming down with something, and she was fine, and she wasn't in bad spirits at all, so I guess it's a growth spurt or maybe just a sleepy day? Who knows.

Tacos for dinner, and watched the season finale of The Gilded Age. If they continue to sort of loosely follow the Vanderbilt family history for the Russell storyline, it means that we could see them divorce next season. They have been sort of setting it up with Mrs. Russell welcoming divorced women back into society and trying to remove some of the stigma around them, so I could see them going forward with it.

Half my FB feed has been people at Pennsic, and the other half has been people at the Las Vegas Star Trek convention, and it seems like everyone I know was at either one or the other. My feed hasn't had this much event activity on it in a long time! And with stuff still trickling in from Costume College last weekend, my feed is just stuffed full of costume stuff. Can't deny that I'm feeling quite a bit of FOMO. Even had dreams last night about trying to get ready for a Victorian tea event, and running around my imaginary costume closet (which in the dream was also half Mardi Gras shop?) trying to find a gown for my sister. ~sigh~ Of course, all the gorgeous ballroom scenes in The Gilded Age finale episode didn't help! Very bummed that I won't be able to make it to an event until next Spring.

(no subject)

Weekend was busy, busy. I did not, in fact, accomplish my goal of packing up the sewing corner, but eh. It's fine.

Saturday is a bit of a blur. I wanted pancakes, so I made a big pancake brunch with eggs and bacon. I had a dizzy spell sometime in the afternoon, so I went to lie down, and M told me not to worry about making dinner, we would all just fend for ourselves. Fine by me!

Sunday was mostly a chore day. I spent far too long working on dishes, and kept on doing that right until it was time to make dinner. At that point, it was time for M to pick up our bulk grocery order, so instead of me cooking, he picked up the groceries and brought them home, then while I was parceling things out and putting them away, he went to Portillos and bought us dinner. We ate, baby went to bed, then we sat on the couch and chatted a bit before I headed to bed.

Tried to get myself up a little earlier today, so I set the alarm 15 minutes early, knowing I'd snooze it a couple of times. Tiger thwarted that, though, because as soon as he heard my alarm go off, he began absolutely howling in the hallway, so I had to get up to get him to quiet down. It did give me enough time to get a few things done, though, namely butchering an 8lb pork loin, which had been sitting in the freezer being all awkward and huge, into more manageable 2lb roasts, getting the baby's breakfast plate together, and ironing a clean dress for work. It wasn't everything that I'd hoped to do, but it was more than usual, so it's a win overall.

Only big plan for this week is M's final round interview on Thursday, so I'll be taking a half day.

(no subject)

Lots of back and forth driving yesterday. Came home to watch the baby over lunch while M had a meeting. She was super cooperative, just wanted a bit of snack and then was right to bed for her nap, didn't fuss or fight at all. That actually meant that I got back out a bit early and was able to get fuel and still make it back to work on time. Nice!

Stopped by World Market on the way home to pick up the hamper I'd ordered. Got all the way home before I realized that they hadn't included the liner it was supposed to have, so once M finished his work and we had dinner, I headed back out and picked it up.

Once I was home, M went straight to bed, so it was just us girls and cats for the rest of the night. Kate went down fairly easily at her bedtime, and I melted into the couch for a while before finally turning in myself. Just a quiet evening at home.

Big cleaning plans for the weekend. I'm planning to pack away most of my sewing corner and put it in storage, since it's become very clear that I just don't have the time to touch any projects right now. I'll keep my sewing desk and machine at the house, and a few small essentials like hand-sewing needles and such, but all the trim, fabric, and other things that I like to have on hand but don't use often will go into boxes, and the bookcase with my sewing books will go into the bedroom. That'll clear up a corner of the living room for Kate's stuff, and hopefully keep things a bit more contained.

Cassock plans are dead, blah. Someday, I will sew A Thing again, but it doesn't look like that day will be happening anytime this year.

I may or may not iron clothes this weekend. I really need to, but we hates it, precious.

(no subject)

Tried a new baked ziti recipe last night, and it was a vast improvement over the one had I had used before, so it will go into the recipe book. It took forever to make, though, and made a lot of dishes, so it's not going to be a frequent one. I also heavily modified it, since there was no mention at all of seasoning the ground beef, I didn't have enough mozzarella so I mixed in cheddar and parmesan, and I didn't have whole canned tomatoes, only crushed. I imagine the recipe would have probably been somewhat bland if made as-is.

Making the ziti took up most of the night, and it was finishing up just as it was time to put Kate to bed. I got her down easily enough, and M finished work right after, so we got to sit on the couch together and enjoy dinner and chat, and it was a pretty pleasant evening overall.

I must be entering the nesting phase of this pregnancy, because all I wanted to do when I got home was clean things. I did a bit of work in our bedroom, namely excavating Kate's old basinet from under the clothes pile that had accumulated on top of it, and putting some old clothes into boxes since we won't be wearing them again anytime soon. I also ordered a pretty new hamper for our bed linens, since we have quite a pile of bedsheets accumulated that need to be laundry stripped, and are just kind of hanging out in a laundry bag in the corner right now looking pathetic. At least the hamper will look intentional!

(no subject)

M finally heard back from Possible New Job to set up the final interview, hooray! It's next Thursday in the afternoon, so fingers crossed! He also had a call with a recruiter from a NY bank that has a position that's basically what he's doing now, just for more pay, so he's going to send over his resume.

We also heard back from ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) about Kate's possible speech therapy. We have an initial assessment set up for the 19th, where they'll come for a visit and see how she uses language in her own environment, and whether she's far enough behind that she qualifies for therapy. Even if she doesn't, at least we'll get some resources on how to develop her language skills a bit better.

Quiet evening at home. Leftover chicken tikka for dinner, and the baby plopped herself right down over my bowl and began slurping down my rice. It's probably one of her favorite dishes, judging from how she inhales it every time. She has added "mmm, good!" to her vocabulary, which she's used at dinner nearly every night this week.

M went to bed super early, even before the baby was down, so once she was asleep I had a quiet house to myself. I was dead tired, but I was determined to enjoy my alone time for a while, and stayed up watching some TV and eating sweets.

Trying a new baked ziti recipe tonight. Besides cooking the meat and onions, it's basically a throw-things-in-a-dish recipe, so we'll see how it goes.

(no subject)

M called while I was at work to let me know he had a meeting at 2:30 and could I push my lunch back so I could be there to watch the baby? Since I had planned to leave work early because of the OB appointment anyway, I just left an hour earlier than planned, and it all worked out.

Since it was just a "yup, you're still pregnant" sort of checkup and not anything monumental, M stayed at home with Kate so we didn't have to stress her out and he could continue to work. Appointment was quick even though the waiting room was packed, and I was out by 4:30 from a 3:45 appointment time, so not bad! The receptionist was able to give me the pre-approval from insurance for the C-section so we know how much it's going to cost for the delivery now, which is nice to know. We're holding off on paying it just yet (we just have to pay before the birth, so we have until December) since our insurance situation may change by then if M gets a new job.

Came home, made dinner while the baby played on her own, and the evening went fairly smoothly until bedtime. Part of the routine is that I remake our bed, since M squirms so much that he tends to completely discombobulate things, and I don't want to crawl into bed in the dark with the sheets and blankets all cattywampus. Well, when I pulled the sheet taut to get it back into place, I discovered a pee spot, which some cat had left in the middle of the bed. -_-

Commence an hour of washing, scrubbing, soaking, and repeating to get everything out of the mattress. Thankfully, I had clean sheets on hand, so the soiled ones went away to soak and we didn't have to face sleeping on a bare mattress. Also thankfully, the comforter had been spared, so I didn't have to worry about treating that for any mess.

By the time we were satisfied that we'd done our best and it was as clean as we could get it, it was after 9pm, and way past Kate's bedtime. At least that meant that she went to sleep almost immediately. Once she was down, I finally had a chance to eat dinner, then it was cat boxes and a few other chores before M and I moved the baby to her crib and we attempted to go to bed ourselves.

Of course, the baby decided to have one of Those Nights where she was up all the time, first at 2, then at 3, and finally at 4:30. So yeah, not feeling 100% today after all of last night's nonsense.

Leftovers for dinner tonight, thankfully, because I don't think I'd have enough brain to cook anything tonight.

(no subject)

Friday was not a good day. It was one minor thing after another - nearly getting hit two different times as I crossed the street at work, fighting all afternoon with insurance over a claim, the baby being an absolute menace, stepping barefoot on a cockroach, the baby throwing yogurt all over me, vegetables for dinner ended up being moldy, the baby screaming her head off in protest of going to bed, just on and on and on, and I ended up having a complete emotional breakdown after the baby was finally asleep. Cried on the couch for a good 30 minutes, then once I was finally able to calm down, went to the store for some fresh vegetables.

Dinner ended up being made super, super late, around midnight, and I sat on the couch for a while after that to try and relax, so I wasn't in bed until 1:30.

Saturday was a much better day. I did wake up with an emotion hangover and undereye bags like you wouldn't believe, but it all cleared up eventually. The baby slept late, which meant that I got to sleep in a bit, too, and my late night didn't end up hurting me.

Baby was in good spirits all day, and was perfectly content to play independently, so I took the opportunity to do as little as possible and just enjoy a quiet day. She put herself down for a nap around noon-ish, and was asleep for three hours! So nice! I made myself a salad, and ate some fruit and yogurt...and a cheese sandwich, a whole pint of ice cream, and chocolates, and yeah, I feel like I ate my way through half the kitchen. I haven't had any sort of appetite spike or anything during this pregnancy, but this weekend I just hoovered up any food I could find. Yeesh.

Sunday wasn't as chill, mainly because the baby was being very baby. I made a big lunch of roast ham, bacon green beans, and roasted sweet potatoes. I had intended to make mac 'n cheese, but discovered that the milk and the cream were both curdled. -_- I swear, our fridge must be losing its cool, because it feels like things are spoiling much faster these days.

Crazy eating continued and I had three helpings of everything once it was done cooking. Yeesh. Still didn't feel quite full, so I guess baby #2 was hungry this weekend. Between the three of us, we completely polished off a 4-lb ham, which meant there was none left to make chowder for our next dinner, which had been the plan, but which is fine because the carrots ended up being rotten, too! Stupid fridge.

The baby refused to nap all day long, and was cranky and clingy and getting into a lot of mischief. By the end of the day I was completely exhausted from chasing her around the house, and no real chores had been done. Thankfully, this did mean that she went down for the night fairly easily. I had time enough to take a shower and relax on the couch for a while before slithering into bed at around midnight.

Woke up briefly to some big thunder at around 2. We had a very strong storm that lasted a good while, and in the morning the temp was actually 70 degrees! Absolutely unheard of for August, but so, so welcome.

Somehow managed to sleep through my alarm this morning, but woke up with juuuuust enough time to get dressed, throw together a rather pathetic breakfast plate for the baby, and get myself out the door.

OB checkup this afternoon, so leaving work a bit early. Nosy Lt is off on Mondays, so there's no one to gripe about it, neener neener.