dress update

Well, it doesn't look as nice as I had hoped, but it's now wearable/presentable. My niece's birthday isn't until April, but I'm debating whether to give her the present while we're in Alabama to assist my Mom or give things to my sister to put up until their actual birthdays.

Before: the dress with someone else's initials (which is why I got it for $6)

After: the entire dress with its new pocket

Anda  close up of the pocket. I like the stitched flowers (courtesy of my new machine) by I fear my hand sewing it on was not my best work. I was scared I'd mess up both the pocket and the dress if I tried to machine sew it.

Hope she likes it!

a medicine rant

My Granny Rea hated medicine. As in, it better work on the third dose or it wasn't worth a thing. And it would get flushed. Two weeks of antibiotics? Nuh-huh, no way.

And my mother is her daughter. She doesn't flush her meds, thankfully. She just "adjusts" them, as in the dosage or whether or not to take them at all. But she doesn't dispose of them, so it's not as bad.

My aunt, her other daughter, is similar. My cousin and I laugh when we share stories about our Moms and say "See what we have to look forward to" because we know it could very well one day be us.

Or not. I like to think I take after my dad, who worked in a pharmacy before becoming a preacher, in this regard.

Medicines, like herbs and spices, have multiple purposes. For example, we use cinnamon in pies, cookies, and some drinks. To the Chinese, it is for medicinal purposes only. When my Chinese students tasted a good ol' homemade apple pie, they would wrinkle their noses and say, "This tatses like medicine." Recently I saw an article that was listing all the ailments cinnamon was good for. Does this mean we stop cooking with it because it has medicinal value? Of course not!

And yet, how many times do people read an insert or pamphlet, discover that their medicine is often used for something else, so therefore quit taking it? The are many anti-depressants on the market that work by easing the sensitivity of the nerve endings (what old women used to call their "nerve pills"). Due to so many anti-inflammatory drugs (used to treat arthritis) causing heart damage, more doctors are turning to nerve pills or anti-depressants to alleviate stress on the nervous system. I'm continuously amazed at the number of people who go to a doctor with nerve pain and then complain because they read up on their meds and find the words "anti-depressant".  They ignore all the many other illnesses this medicine can be used for and think the doctor is not listening to them, when in fact he's given them the very thing they wanted: something to ease their pain. It just absolutely flabbergasts me. Why pay someone who is trained in a field to help you with something you don't understand, and then totally ignore their advice and remedy?

They probably do it for the same reason I know I shouldn't have a soft drink, but occasionally buy that Dr. Pepper anyway.

tiny but significant

In the grand scheme of healthy eating, I bought a few sweet potatoes.
In the reality of life, one of them didn't get eaten in time. As in, it sprouted. So I left it alone. And then while cleaning up the kitchen one day, I decided to set it down in a jar of water to see if it would take root. Supposedly it's supposed to. So after a few weeks of this, nothing.  I was about to toss it and clear off some of my kitchen space when I saw it.

 From a distance, just the same old ugly sprout with no new growth in several weeks.

But up close, two budding leaves! :)

Now, I have no idea what I'm going to do with this thing. My tiny garden plot is not big enough for a potato plant, and anything I plant in the big containers will become a digging toy for Buster. Suggestions anyone?

spring

I never watch the calendar to find out when spring is coming. I watch the plants. :) To me, spring has been sending messages that it was on its way ever since the daffodils began their long stretch and the camellia sent out its buds. Granted, they always come to visit in the winter, but it's like a daring and defying cry against the coldness of winter that spring is coming.

But when the bradford pear bursts forth in bloom, I know that winter's days are almost over. Flowers of all sort will begin to wake-up, pollen will erupt like a volcano and time for planting the garden is upon is.

And that is amazing and wonderful. :)

free but unusual advertising

Last month (yes, I'm finally downloading pics off my camera) we ate at IHOP, but due to the crowd had to park in the back. (You know, their two handicap spots are almost always taken!)  As we got out of the van, this is what we saw:

 I was expecting this to be typical graffitti with a girl's phone number or curse words, but no.

Can you read it? Acts 2:38, in both Spanish and English, along with the words: Church Phone: 919.834.8892.  I was more than a bit shocked. Granted, it's empty space, not being used, but it seems a bit strange to advertise your church via graffitti. I'm now over the shock of seeing it, but I still can't seem to wrap my head around the idea, nor would it make me want to ever visit that church. What type of person/church vandalizes someone else's property in the name of the Gospel? I'm still shaking my head in befuddlement on this one.
 

a new place

One area where my husband is adventurous is in his willingness to try new restaurants. This always cracks me up somewhat because he is very traditional and averse to change in so many areas. But anytime we travel, he wants to know what unique (non-chain) restaurants are in the area.

So when we traveled to my sister's church to hear my niece sing a few weekends ago, sure enough, the list of places he gave me to make our supper choice had little check marks beside the non-chain ones. :) Here's the one we wound up at:

I think this is the first time I've ever seen the tail end of a pig on a store sign before. I'm not an eastern NC barbeque girl, so of course I ordered the fried chicken. And I was surprised. Unlike most fried chicken in barbeque places around here, it was not salty, nor was the meat dry, and it actually tasted home-made. Normally, at least to me, fried chicken in non-chain restaurants taste like it came from the deep-fryer, but this actually tasted like it came out of a skillet, and had the home-made style crust as well. It was a nice and pleasant surprise. They also sported the Carolina 13 layer cake, but we were so full after eating our meal that we didn't attempt dessert.

I imagine if we ever head to Washington, NC again, we'll have to try one of the other places, but this is one I wouldn't mind visiting again.

the pretty pink door

Several years ago my sister bought a dress for my niece at a consignment sale. She said it was great quality, but was a brand she wasn't familiar with. So she did what anyone of today's age does: she googled it.

Chez Ami is a brand by Patsy Aiken, who sales online/by catalogue, and has a warehouse/outlet in Raleigh. The outlet is open twice a year only. I've only been there twice. The first time I was very surprised to discover that it literally is in a warehouse-style building. But what totally cracked me up was the pink door. Every other door in the building (they're just one of many businessess there) have the traditional steel gray door or dark green, but the pink...yes, it totally fits the company.  The other thing I think is totally cool is that this is the place where they actually make the outfits. One Mom years ago got very tired of all the poor quality children's clothes on the market, so she started sewing. It's much bigger than a one person company now, but it's nice to know that there are people who found a niche and built a job/company.

We went this past Saturday (their current sale opening runs through the 28th of this month), and Bobby went with me. The last time I went I bought material (they sale the yardage remnants of what they won't be using in the next season, and it's high quality stuff!) and some tights, but this time I actually found a few things on the clearance/reject rack.

One of the things they do is embroidery work. Orders that mess up (the needle breaks mid-initial, customer sends it back because they spelled the kids name wrong or used the wrong color thread, or it's the wrong size, etc) are marked at $6 and $9. I found a summer dress in my niece's size for $6. It does have someone's initials on it, but I think I can easily cover that with some flowers out of complimentary material. My first flower attempt failed miserably, but I'm hoping to finish up a quilting project today, and then I can work on a label to cover it either this afternoon or tomorrow. If I can salvage a $65 dress for $6 and an hour of my time, I will be one happy aunt.