Peace Apron to cheer sad souls

(and to make happy souls happier!)

Hang on to your britches because there are lots of gratuitous shots of BBQ Sue in the newest peace apron... I'm just in love with this one! I brought home the blue one I made for myself (there are two more blue ones almost finished) so that it wouldn't get sold this time. I will model it, as promised, later this week. (I must dig up my stilettos first, don't you know!)

I have made an important decision: 15% of the profits for each Peace apron sold will be donated to MoveOn.Org which has done amazing work towards getting peace on the political agenda.

I can't afford to donate them money because my financial future is an enormous question mark, but if I simply take a percentage from this apron sold, then I can donate at the same time that I earn. I will be making Peace pot holders as well and those will also benefit MoveOn.org.

I have been working hard to get BBQ Sue to eat more pretend food. They starved her to death at the mannequin farm. Poor fake girl! When she sees me busting out of my own Peace apron she's going to realize how much she wishes she was chugging beer like me. (Mostly to soothe the shock I imagine.)

Oh crap, that was meanness I just threw at myself. No more mean self talk!

Yes, the thing is, my generous form has many advantages. As soon as I think of a few, I will report on my findings.

Rick Rack Rocks! These aprons have been more fun to make than the flower pin ones. Plus, I have to tell you that the amount of work I put into the flower pin one for the same price makes me work for less than minimum wage and doesn't have such great bust coverage. Why is that important? Well, even non-busty ladies like myself can have bust covering needs. When I am cooking, or canning, I tend to make a huge Mother-Loving-Mess!!!!!

You almost thought I was going to say something else, huh? As much as I do relish swearing, there are some swear words and expressions that I just can't say. Bet you're wondering which ones they are. I'm going to whisper them to you, OK?



(OK, that last one isn't really a swear word, but it sounds so dirty every time someone says it my skin cringes.) I realize that I have now destroyed every one's image of me as a refined delicate lady. Because up until this moment I have really only been showing you my gentle side. The shock must be terrible. I think you should go lie down for a spell and come back after sniffing some smelling salts...

Here is my mums with her new purse made by Future Girl. She really wanted to buy one of the more practical colors like the teal or brown, but in the end, this happy little blue bird who appears to be out of her cage reminded my mom of the freedom she hopes to enjoy after her left hip is completely replaced next week, allowing her to be able to walk without simultaneously wanting to die a little.* She loves this bag!!

By the way, I just want to say here that we are harboring a very potent anger at Kaiser for the way they have treated my mom. The doctors here have all thought it inhumane to leave someone in such dire need of surgery, as my mother is, to wait for almost a year to get it. She has exactly ZERO cartilage left between her acetabulum and her leg bone, so every time she takes a step the bones crunch together. The doctors here thought it inhumane for Kaiser to not operate on her just because she weighs more than is ideal for getting surgery. The doctors here consider her weight pretty trivial since it isn't accompanied by other dire conditions.

I'm not sorry that Kaiser basically forced my mom to leave California. A state that, once my COBRA insurance ran it's course, would refuse-across the board-to insure my health because of my hip breaking incident. I'm not sorry because I'm happy that my mom is closer to us now. We've missed her. But I think Kaiser has been cruel to my mother it makes me angry that they sat back and refused to treat her while her situation became more and more desperate.

I do know people who've had a good experience with them, but after seeing my mom get treated this way I can't help but hope they collapse as an institution.

Oregon has been a much better place to be for health care. Oregon has health insurance options for people like my mom and I who are uninsurable in California. (My mom would have been in the same boat as I was because she was about to start COBRA with Kaiser) Oregon health care is less mired in crippling bureaucracy. Doctors here (that don't belong to Kaiser) aren't so over booked that you can't get in to see them for months.

And now, for something totally unrelated to anything else... I just want to say that I am itching to rip up my living room carpet. There's hard wood underneath it. I loathe wall to wall carpeting. It traps the most awful grime. This week Chick let loose some really wet vomit and it will never come out. So I want to finally get rid of the blasted thing. This is essentially what motivated us to rip out the bedroom carpet, only that time it was diarrhea that prompted the quick gnarly rip out job. I've mentioned it before, and I'll say it again: I'm no Howard Hughes, but the thought of what's in my carpet, even after cleaning, really makes me edgy.

Oh, speaking of Howard Hughes type issues, we've been watching season four of Monk and I just want to say I love the Monk character! I love that a main character with OCD has been written and is successful. I'm not really OCD, I have only shadings, but still, I completely relate.

I was just about to reveal something that makes me relate to the Monk character, but, you know what? I think I've put enough of my crazy on this blog for a week. I think we can just enjoy today without taking a little dark plunge into my non-lobotomized brain.

Philip is out there hauling dirt to the garden beds. So, should I garden, or rip carpet up? Yikes, I just can't decide. Both of them will hurt my back, but the carpet will also bring on an allergic reaction (it always does). But if I rip the carpet out, the next time one of the animals throws up, or my kid leaves a trail of blood** I can just wipe it up. On the other hand, it's cool outside but not raining so I could get gardening done without over heating.

I guess I better go get some more coffee and read a few of your blogs while I decide. I hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday!

P.S. The Peace aprons should be on the website within a couple of hours, in case you're interested. They are $40.00 each and don't forget that 15% of the profit of each one sold will go towards achieving Peace. Who doesn't want Peace?***





*Not my mother's words, by the way. She never says such melodramatic things, that's really my territory. Suffice it to say that she has been in agony.

**Frequent trails of blood left by Max from bloody noses. Unfortunately, his new tactic is to let it drip on the floor instead of seeking out tissues. I want to be super mad by this, but then I have to recall that when I was sixteen and getting up to three of them a day, like he does, I got really tired of them and would let them drip into the sink. You can't expect a six year old to think of leaning over a sink. Are you all thoroughly disgusted now? Go get the salts!!

***This is a trick question because no one is going to admit to not wanting Peace.