Closure

Dear all,

It's been a wonderful strange ride being a blogger. I loved it, hated it and all the feelings in between. Unfortunately, I'm shutting my blog down. I've been getting nothing but really irritating anonymous comments lately, and while I typically encourage people to voice their opinions, I'm way too busy and not invested enough in the blog to want to open up my e-mail and get what I think are ridiculous comments from people who don't know me.

I appreciate all of my readers, my friends that I have made through the blog, and especially my family who have been incredibly supportive.

I just can't do it anymore. I find my life much more fulfilling when I just get up and walk away from the computer.

I might blog somewhere else in the future- if you want to know where, just e-mail me.

Patchwork

Since I've started sewing, I've accumulated a huge collection of fabrics - some from China, some from Switzerland, some from the US. One of the greatest struggles in sewing is falling in love with a fabric and mourning for it the minute you cut it. Especially if you end up using the beloved fabric on something which ends up failing (hello, Amy Butler Cute Booties - HATE).

I still save all the scraps from every piece of fabric I've ever used, not because I had anything in mind to do with them (what can you do with a 3 x 3 square anyway?) but because I couldn't bear to throw them away. I finally came up with an idea when I made a cherry tote for - well, I don't know who it's for. Anybody want it?




Anyway, I cut out a 3" x 3" square out of every piece of fabric I've ever purchased and quilted it all together to make a patchwork purse. Here it is:


I think it came out pretty well considering I was less than precise with my measurements and cutting (no wonder quilting is such a difficult process). I just love it. I can look at every single patch and remember what I made with it. I even cut a few patches from fabrics I have yet to use, because I finally had something special enough that I felt I could make that first sacrificial cut. It looks a bit more like a tote than a purse, but that works all right for me. I don't usually wear purses because I always carry a lot of junk with me, so I wanted something that was a combination purse/diaper bag.


So, inside the bag, I sewed a bottle holder (just for the Sigg bottle - staple of any Swiss parent). It's really roomy, so I have room for snacks and diapers and wipes and chips.



The big thing in a sewing blog, I'm finding, is to make a tutorial (with photos) for those interested in making the same thing. If anyone wants to know how to make this Fabric Scrap Purse, let me know and I'll make a tutorial so you can learn to make it yourself. It was actually an extremely easy purse to make, just TIME CONSUMING.

Fight Club

So, Julian has this friend at Krippe that he constantly fights with. Every time I pick him up, he's got bite marks and scratches all over him. Then I hear he's hitting the boy back for all the abuse. I'm not sure how to handle this. On the one hand, I want him to stand up for himself. On the other hand, I don't want to encourage him to hit people to solve his problems. Like today, I heard they got into a fight (it wasn't clear what sort of fight, fisticuffs, or just yelling). I asked Julian to tell me what happened, and he reenacted the fight, but I think maybe he was exagerrating a bit. (The reenaction, btw, was hilarious). He doesn't fight with any other kids and he has several friends that he plays very nicely with. I'm not sure if it's just this particular relationship that is troublesome or if this is just normal toddler boy stuff.

PC says fight back, I say take the high road and walk away. Just one of many parental dilemmas we'll stumble upon in our lifetime.

Swine Flu

So I have to go to the US in mid-May for work. I've been looking forward to this trip for a really long time - plotting places to go, restaurants to eat at, products to buy...

I opened MSNBC today and saw this:



I have a bad feeling about this...

The Bird - Redux

I've been telling PC for a while now that, even though I've become resigned to accepting my existence and finally enjoying all the happy moments we have here in Switzerland, I still have a lot of pent-up rage inside me. Rage that has for a long time boiled under the surface, bubbling closer and closer to the edge with each thing I see that bothers me, that angers me here. It's never anything serious - the rude lady at the cash register, a man pushing his way onto the bus before I got off, people generally being inconsiderate and pig-headed. You know, a typical day in Switzerland. But anyway, I always told PC that one of these days, I was going to let loose all of that bile on some poor unsuspecting Swiss person.

Today was that day. In a way, I was a bit of a ticking (insert my name) bomb walking around. I picked up Julian from daycare and I carried him down a set of stairs. There were these teenagers sitting on the step, crowding it and not allowing me to pass. Finally, they moved out of the way and I walked past. They said "Gruetzi" and I said "Gruetzi" back, and I heard one of them say "Konnichiwa" under their breath.

I stopped, put Julian on the ground, and faced the teenager who said it. He was your typical Swiss teen - ugly, tight skinny black jeans, leather jacket with yellow t-shirt, stupid hat, and asymmetrical haircut. I said "You're so funny, you fat sack of shit!"

He opened his eyes, totally stunned. Then I flipped him off. Not just your polite, pointer and ring finger slightly folded, scratching my nose kind of flip-off. It was your good old fashioned, full-fisted, balls to the wall, middle finger, Go to Hell flip-off. Then I turned around and walked away.

I think in the spectrum of possible reactions, that was probably the last reaction he expected. Perhaps his ignorance made him think I was some meek submissive Far Eastern woman and would not say anything. Boy was he wrong - not only am I not Japanese, I am a loud-mouthed vulgar, put a boot up your ass American.

I have to say, though, it felt SO GOOD. I've been wanting to just go off on someone for a while. I get so sick of that attitude - I'm so cool, I'm Swiss, I think it's funny to make fun of foreigners.

Note to Swiss people - THAT IS NOT FUNNY. Dave Chappelle is funny. Jon Stewart is funny. You are NOT FUNNY. The only thing funny about you is your clothing choice.

OK, I'm done. One thing for sure though - that guy will never say Konnichiwa again.

EDITED: PC noted that, after I relayed the story to him, this Swiss person most likely never meant to be racist. "Honey, Spanish people make a slant eye face on a newspaper and they don't think that's racist. I don't think this kid saying a greeting in Japanese thought it was being racist."

And I had to point out that, first, I don't give a shit what he intended. It's about how a person feels based on your actions. If you objectify someone by pointing out that, hey, they're not white! Can you really argue that it's not racist simply because you didn't mean for it to be? I say no. I know my little kerfuffle today is not quite as extreme, but if a person says the N word, no matter how much they say they didn't mean for it to be racist, that they have lots of black friends, etc, if the person who hears it is offended, that makes it offensive.

But I'm biased, of course. What do all of you think?

I've Turned into the Woman from Garden State

A while back when I first started sewing, we bought these curtains from IKEA that were way too long. Peep the arrow below.




Turns out they were actually about a meter too long. Either most of the homes in Europe are taller than ours, or we weren't paying attention when we picked out the sizes - either way, I had to cut off the lower portion in order to get them the size we wanted. Afterwards, I had all this extra curtain fabric I thought I'd save for a project when I needed some sort of linen.

Up until now, I didn't really have anything I could sew from the curtain fabric. I've been sewing cute little girl things for my goddaughter - skirts, dresses, pajamas. Plus, all of the patterns I had were for up to 12 months. The other day I got an Oliver + S pattern in the mail. Finally, something I could make for Julian.

Behold! Curtain pants!!



Can this be too far away?

Rehash

I've been watching a lot of tv since Cablecom Schweiz updated their English tv offerings by adding BBC3/4 and ITV3/4. I was particularly intrigued when I saw there was a Law & Order: UK. I love all the Law and Orders, except for the Trial by Jury one because I never saw an episode, but anyway, I was very excited. UK Law & Order - I could just imagine it. "What, did someone eat my bubble and squeak while I was off having a chin wag with a mate?" (Sorry Zoe, couldn't resist). Anyway, bad attempt at English slang aside, I was so so disappointed when I turned on the first episode. It was about a Turkish social club that had caught on fire, trapping the people inside and killing them. Hmm, I thought. This seems so familiar. It's like that episode of Law & Order from the second season, where that social club for Latinos caught on fire. And wait, there's an immigration officer who is friends with the prosecutor. Just like the American version. And the way the club was set on fire - just like the American version. Wait, it's the SAME EPISODE. Including all the plot twists, the outcome, and even some of the same dialogue.

Holy crap, can it be? Do they really need to cut and paste the American version? I was really disappointed because it's not some hack show. They've got pretty good actors - Hello, Jamie Bamber from Battlestar Galactica? And that girl from Dr. Who?

Hello, Jamie Bamber...

Frankly I don't get it. The reason why I love Law & Order is because of all the little intrigues that are characteristic of the American legal system - cases, Fourth Amendment protection, specific rules of evidence, the death penalty, perils of jury trials. I know that the two systems are similar, but there must be intricacies of the British legal system that would be fantastic to explore in the episodes. Are there some rules of evidence that might let really incriminating evidence fall out? What are those rules and how do they work in a hypothetical case?

Remember when The Office was being redone for the US? I remember that they basically cut and pasted the first episode of the British Office and it was a total disaster. Once they rewrote everything and tailored it to the culture of the American office, it was a lot funnier (at least to Americans) and made a lot more sense. I would have to say that I think the same must be true for Law & Order:UK. It works in some sense for me because I'm American and I've seen those episodes before - but in order for it to be a good show, it needs its own material.

I'm still hoping, but after seeing another episode (exactly the same as when Dr. Olivet went to that gynecologist who was accused of rape), I'm losing faith a bit. What did they think - that people who watch this show have never seen Law & Order?

Too bad Lenny Briscoe can't come in and rescue it.