Hannah's Blog

I’m having a black day again. It probably has something to do with the winter darkness. There are other reasons, too, I’m sure.

Sorry about the bad picture quality down below, by the way- they were fine when I uploaded them. *shrugs*
I’ve done very little today. In fact, I’ve spent most of my time watching Avatar. This is a light week school-wise and the little schoolwork I did have involved a website that’s down, which was really irritating. I can’t get up in the morning these days, I’ve been dozing as late as eight thirty- which is ridiculous! Just six months ago I was getting up at 5:30 every morning without a problem! I hate getting up this late, but I have no energy to do otherwise. I really need to get excersize, but I’m not comfortable walking alone in my neighborhood.

Now that I stop to think, I actually did do something worth while today. I cut out another pattern, a basic foundation garment, just in muslin. It’s a little big, but I think I can alter it to fit. The only mildly annoying thing about liking clothes from completely varying decades is that I have to make new undergarments for each time period. At least I get better each time!

Simplicity is having a pattern sale at Joanns, five patterns for five dollars. I brought home two Civil War patterns, two petticoat patterns, and a random costume type pattern. Take advantage of the sale folks, they don’t come often and patterns are ridiculously expensive. Now I just need fabric.

for the comments on my dress. I love wearing clothes like that, and it’s nice to hear something other than ‘that’s weird.’ 

Not much to report today. I’ve been in a somewhat black mood these past two days, but right now I feel fine. I can’t remember if I’d mentioned here that I was going to be taking a Botany class at the local community college…well, it was supposed to start Tuesday, but as it turns out we’re a little low on the monetary end of things and I’m not going to be taking the class after all. I’m not terribly distressed. It’ll give me more time for other things (possibly getting a job. I can’t divine how I feel about that.)

I finished Rebel Without a Cause by the way, and it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen! Definitely a new favorite.

When I joined the Tapestry of Grace coop in the Fall (a homeschool group that cooperates to study history, literature, geography, Church history, the arts and everything in between) one of the requirements was that I write and perform two presentations for the year. Today I did my first. I’d planned on doing ‘One Hundred Years of Women’s Rights’, but that fell through, and then I wanted to do ‘Women in the 1950s.’ But that didn’t work either. I thought about a comparison between the lives of Jewish, Russian and American women, but that was too complicated. So sort of by accident, I decided on ‘Teenage Culture in the Nineteen-Fifties’, or more poetically, ‘Teenagers and the Rock and Roll Revolution.’
I talked about the generation gap between adults who had experienced the Depression and the war, and their children, who didn’t understand why their parents were content to live and work in sedate little middle-class suburbs. I never thought I’d willingly do a presentation on Elvis Presley, but he was in there, too. For research I looked up a clip of him performing. Never again. *shudders*
I also researched James Dean, however, and I’ve been watching his movie Rebel Without a Cause online. I think it’s very good. I haven’t finished so my opinion may change, but thus far I think it’s very truthful.

Anyway, the visual aid for my presentation was the dress I’d made last weekend. So here are pictures.

I made another dress this weekend, this time from a vintage 50s pattern. The fabric is a pink calico, from the dollar bin at Walmart. And I am so thrilled with it! I tweaked the side seams and added a dart today, and it fits like a charm. The first dress I’ve made that really does! The neck is scooped with a low back (going to have to figure out something to do about that) and the bust is gathered, then darted to the waist. It buttons up the front. The skirt is to mid-calf, with release pleats at the waist, and is very full, though not quite circle. And it is absolutely perfect for swing dancing. I’m wearing it to the next one.

For history I am studying Israel this week. The formation of the secular state after the Holocaust, particularly. And I’ve discovered, especially since reading The Chosen (now a favorite book) that I have an emotional interest in the Jews.

In other news, I burned my hand on the iron last night. All such minor accidents are welcome to the fledgeling herbalist, as it gives an opportunity to test one’s own homemade medicines. My hand is right as rain this morning. Wanna buy some salve?

Krissy and Sonja and I managed to have the three-day get together we’ve been planning for a while. I hadn’t seen Son for six months and I’d only seen Krissy once in that intervening time, so it was exciting. It was also a really nice way to bring in the New Year (though I think I didn’t remember that it was New Years until we went to bed).
Our original plan was to read straight through Deathly Hallows, so we made a tent for warmth and read until one on Sunday night. It was nice. We realized we wouldn’t get all the way through, so we skipped about four chapters that weren’t as good for read-aloud. The next day we managed another hundred pages or so, so we left off on page 230. Not bad, if you ask me.
Going back a bit, we also dressed up (one can never be too old for that, after all) as various characters. Monday evening I did a presentation at my church about my trip to Europe, which involved Krissy and Sonja traipsing around in my Dirndls and looking (at least in the case of the former) extremely Hobbit-like. That night we went home and had a Yule Ball- in other words, made muffins, ate them, got all dressed up, and swing danced. Then read a little more DH and went to bed.

All in all, a nice weekend. I started school today, reading dozens of pages about the Cold War. It’s very interesting, but after about forty pages I found it hard to take in much more.

I start a class at SMCC in a few days, a Botany course- the idea being that I need Botany to go where I’m trying to go- and I’m nervous. I quit school. I hated school. I don’t want to go back any sooner than I have to. Hopefully community college is better than high school, though I’m skeptical.

I had a fit of productiveness last night and cut out a vintage 50s dress pattern I got a while back. Dollar bin fabric, but I’m hoping it’ll come out well enough to actually be worn. Judging by the mistakes I’ve already made that isn’t too likely, but I can dream.