sewing and voting

Early voting started here yesterday. Marc went and voted, I voted today. 

We are both sick of the non-stop political ads on network TV, particularly the ones for Ted Cruz here in Texas who is weirdly obsessed with transitioning and is claiming in his ads that his opponent is in favor of schools transitioning little Johnny into little Joanne during lunch without parental consent. First of all, no one is performing transition surgery on children and certainly not school administrations that require a signed parental consent form to give your kid an aspirin or put on a bandaid and that are already underfunded. And second, transition is a long process involving chemical, social, and psychological steps before final surgery. That republicans are promoting that schools are whisking your kids away and performing surgery on them without parental consent is patently absurd and yet, here we are.

Two weeks left until Election Day and the mainstream media still refuses to accurately report on Trump’s worsening dementia or his plans to turn this country into an authoritarian state; his desire to round up and punish everyone who he feels is against him using the armed forces against American citizens, his so called ‘enemy within’ straight out of Hitler’s playbook; his intention to revoke the legal status of immigrants and ‘remove’ millions of legal and illegal residents which he admits will be bloody. And then there is the plan to implement the heinous policies of Project 2025. I don’t give much credence to polls because I think they are heavily influenced by who pays for them, who conducts them, and who they call but, Jesus fucking Christ, it is still unsettling that they continue to show this as a close race.

I didn’t intend this to be a political post so moving on…

Last Saturday Jade arrived around 5:30 for help making her vintage clown Halloween costume. She had the pattern and everything else necessary for us to make it. So Saturday night we laid out the pattern and got all the pieces except for the ruffle and hat cut. Sunday was a long day of pinning and sewing and altering and by 7 pm we were both tired but we had the basic costume made and the fabric for the ruffle cut out and hemmed. 

Monday morning I gathered the ruffle while Jade cut out and sewed the hat and then we sewed on the pom poms and were done.

As long as I have my sewing machine out I decided to remake the blue patterned skirt I made two years ago to wear to my great niece’s wedding. I’ve never been very happy with it because it’s too full, the material being a little over 4” wider than what I had used with my other skirts. So I’ve almost got it taken apart enough to cut out 4 1/2 inches which may not seem like all that much but I’m hoping I’ll be happier with it. 

I might even make the new skirt out of the fabric I bought over a year ago. Similar batik pattern, different colors.

Cat on the sunning platform in the old turtle pond. She thinks she’ll have a better chance at getting a leopard frog from there I guess.

a day with Robin and other miscellaneous stuff

Waiting for the next front to come in which it did on Friday and it rained. Saturday was cold and windy and wet, Sunday was a gorgeous day, perfect for working outside but I had plans with my grandgirl Robin, so OK, Monday, I'll get back out there Monday, except it rained off and on all day. Damn, can't work on the vines, can't play with my new toy.

Robin wants to sew an oversize hooded jacket with bunny ears, so we drove to Shopping Mecca to shudder the other Evil Empire but their good lord saved us as they are closed on Sundays which I had forgotten. On to the nearest Joanne's for a pattern and fabric only they didn't have the only pattern that looked suitable enough so we segued to crocheting. She also wanted to crochet a hat so we looked at ALL the yarn until she selected some and a crochet hook and then we spent the next hour or so looking at all the paint and brushes and markers and sketch books and cake decorating stuff and cookie cutters and fake flowers and scrapbooking and stamps and christmas ornaments and every other other craft thing before finally looking at all the fabric until we decided we had seen it all. I had no plans to buy any fabric but how does one resist? I found a nice bolt of cotton that I really liked, thought it would make a good summer skirt and really I need another one because (here's the justification) I've about worn out the two I wear all the time (only sort of true).

Years ago when Robin was still a kid and was coming for her summer visits I taught her how to crochet but we never really got any farther than a basic chain stitch but she picked it up quickly. She also took to sewing faster and better than her two older sisters. Anyway, once home she found a video tutorial for crocheting a hat/cap and started on it. The yarn she picked out is blanket yarn, big and soft and fluffy and a pain in the ass to crochet even if you know what you're doing.

But she persevered and got a good start on the hat band and as it was getting dark she gathered up her stuff and headed home. 

About midnight I got this picture.

She watched the video again and soldiered on through without any guidance from me. That's her mom, my daughter Sarah, in the picture as the hat turned out too small for Robin. Plenty of yarn left, she's going to try again.

Did I mention it rained all day yesterday? About 4 PM I started texting Abby that I wouldn't be coming to yoga last night and before I finished I got a text from her: Skipping...too gross out. We were of like minds. So since I wasn't going to yoga we started watching a new series, The Peripheral on Amazon Prime, based on The Peripheral (The Jackpot Trilogy) by sci-fi author William Gibson. Set in a technology altered future Flynne, a young woman trying to hold her broken family together, discovers a secret connection to an alternate reality as well as a dark future of her own (paraphrased from a search description). We've only seen the first episode which had some pretty hairy parts so if dystopian brutality puts you off you might want to skip it. It's intriguing though, centers around virtual/alternate reality and time travel in a way.

The only other thing we did was meet with the guy who handles our investments because I had to take a mandatory draw from my IRA as the government only lets you put off paying taxes on that for so long so we're opening a new account with that and reinvesting it.

10 AM and still only 49˚ out there. Overcast but should start clearing soon. Burn ban has been lifted so that's on the schedule for this week.

I've mentioned that Cat wants to be part of the puppy pile but when she plonks herself down so she's touching both Minnie and myself, Minnie is having no part of it. Up her head goes and she moves to the other end of the couch. The other night sitting on the couch with Minnie laying under the blanket on my left and Cat in my lap, Cat moved stealthily leaving her back half on my lap and slowly gently laying her head on Minnie's blanket covered body reaching across it with her front leg. Minnie never noticed and there we all stayed until it was time for bed.

you'd think I'd never done this before

I started on my skirt Saturday afternoon cutting out the front, back, waistband, and pockets; stitched the front and back together, ran the gathering threads and started to gather one side when I put it down for the night. Sometime that night I woke up and remembered I hadn't sewn in the pockets which has to be done when doing the side seams so Sunday I had to tear out the gathering threads and rip the side seams down to where the pockets would go. Damn, you'd think I'd never done this before.

I probably could have finished it on Sunday if I hadn't had to start out undoing nearly everything I did on Saturday. Then it took me three tries to figure out how to put the pockets in, again, you'd think I'd never done this before. Pinned one side, stitched it, then checked my work. Wrong. Pinned it a second time differently and checked it. Wrong. Finally got out one of my skirts I made last year and examined the pockets from the wrong side and finally figured it out.

I was down to finishing the waistband, inserting the elastic, and doing the hem. This is where I quit on Sunday as my back was complaining.

You'd think I would have had plenty of time to finish on Monday but it took forever to get the waistband and elastic done. I couldn't find my note for how long to cut the elastic so once more I consulted a finished skirt and got a good enough measurement, three tries to get the elastic in, too much trouble to explain why the first time was wrong, second time the safety pin pulling the elastic through the casing opened halfway through. Third time I taped the safety pin shut and got it in right. I got the length for the skirt measured and the excess cut off so end of day Monday all I had left to do was the hem and it was off to yoga class which Abby called late in the day that something came up and would I...yes, I'll lead the class.

So now...ta da! Once it's washed another half dozen times or so the gathers will fall more softly but it'll do for the wedding.

Here's the recipe for the Coconut Cashew Chicken (from emeals.com) I wrote about a couple of posts ago. Since there's just two of us, I cut all the quantities in half (my amounts in parenthesis):

2 lb (1) boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed or use chicken breasts
2 1/2 tsp (1 1/4) curry powder
1/2 tsp (1/4) salt
1/2 tsp (1/4) pepper
1 (1/2) onion, chopped
2 T (1 I think, I might have used two) olive oil
1 T (1 1/2 tsp) minced ginger
3 (2) cloves garlic, minced
1 - 13.5 oz (7 oz) can coconut milk
1/2 c (1/4+) roasted salted cashews

Sprinkle chicken with curry powder, salt, pepper. Cook chicken and onion in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 4 minutes or until lightly browned.

Add ginger and garlic to pan,cook 2 – 3 minutes or until fragrant. Add coconut milk and cook 7 minutes or until mixture has thickened and chicken is done. Top with nuts.

Side dish:

2 - 8.5 oz pouches microwavable jasmine rice (I used 1/2 c basmati rice and cooked it on the stove)
1 – 6 oz (3 oz) pkg baby spinach
2 T (1) lime juice
1/2 tsp (1/4) salt
6 T (3) chopped fresh cilantro

Cook rice according to package directions. Stir in spinach, lime juice, and salt tossing to wilt spinach. Sprinkle with cilantro. (Not everyone likes cilantro so eliminate that if you want)

still no dress but a new book

Yesterday I made one last attempt at finding a dress for the wedding next Friday at the shopping mecca in Rosenberg with no success so knowing this was the probable outcome, I brought my light green tunic top with me and went to the other Evil Empire (Hobby Lobby) to see if I could find some fabric to make a simple gathered skirt to wear with it and I did.

The other thing I was looking for was some plain black flats and I found some at Famous Footwear, Naturalizers, which I love, but they only had sizes 7 and 8 and I need a 7 1/2. I'll order them online but they won't come in time for the wedding but I remembered a pair of blue suede sandals I bought at a resale shop and haven't worn since I quit working at the antique store that will do just fine.

Also yesterday I received my copy of a new book on Pate de Verre, the glass casting technique that I employ and am represented in in the contemporary artist section. Only 20 artists were selected internationally, only 7 of which are from the US (with two of those listing other countries as well) and I am one of them. I'm thrilled and honored to be in such a gorgeous book when there are so many artists here in the US that they could have included. I know one of the authors personally, we got to know each other back when I was more productive and had more galleries that did Glass Collector's Weekend and SOFA, but had no idea that the other author who lives in the UK knew of me. As I've mentioned before, I'm not very prolific, making only a few pieces a year and some years none at all and I'm only represented by one medium tier gallery and not really looking for others.

Between the etched glass and the pate de verre, this is the 10^th book we have work published in.

Now I have to vacuum the floor so I can lay out my fabric and start cutting the pieces for the skirt.

 

a look around

First, thank you everyone for all the wonderful compliments. It feels strange to be done. I've been working on that piece for months. Life has revolved around that piece for months. Almost four to be exact. I'm happy with it, happier than I thought I'd be. The only thing I would change is to make the box color a little lighter and less green. The little corals inside are loose, not glued in, in case the buyer wants to take them out.

So now looking around at what else is going on...

The red shouldered hawks have been very active around here the past several days. Marc was sitting out the other day when one landed in the flower bed about 10' away and then flew off. I saw two flying around from one tree to another in the yard the next day and later Marc looked out the window and one was on the bird bath. I love seeing them. I looked up Monday to see one perched on the T bar of the old clothesline and got this picture through the glass in the back door and on high magnification and then later saw it swooping low over the empty lot next to me. I haven't seen or heard any of the smaller Mississippi kites that summer over here lately so I suppose they've left for the season.

Besides the kites leaving and the cooler temperatures though by no means 'cool', still hot and humid, just not as hot, other signs of the turning of the season are showing up like snow-on-the-prairie in the pastures and the pampas grass starting to send out its plumes, the oxblood lilies popping up, and the porterweed blooming.

The Chinese fringe flower trees/shrubs are blooming again though not as profusely as in the spring and a paler pink. Still getting some zinnias but they are ragged. The phlox is still blooming and while the pink butterfly ginger is done, the yellow butterfly ginger is putting out its bloom cones, very late as it usually blooms mid-summer.

The squirrels are still stripping the bark off the branches of my ginkgo trees. They have stripped so many, the ground is just littered with 1/2” x 2” strips, that I fear all those branches will die or are dying. Food is scarce I guess. This is the third year in a row my pecans trees are bare of nuts. Neighbors' trees aren't faring much better.

We had a very large dead branch fall off the oak on the side of the house and onto our internet cable dragging it down to the ground. Fortunately it didn't disconnect from either the house or the pole. I got the ladder and pulled it up as high as I could (that fucker is heavy) and wrapped it around the thing on the house so at least we can get out of the driveway.

Granddaughter Autumn is here for a few days. Her mom dropped her off Monday afternoon. She brought a pile of little crop tops that needed tiny straps sewn back on and some pants that needed the elastic waistband re-sewn, another pair that needs the zipper replaced so we worked on that yesterday.

 

rain, repairs, and resist

Hurricane Hanna made landfall Saturday afternoon/evening just south of Corpus Christi at Padre Island. It's far enough down the coast that all we got is rain which we got off and on all day Saturday, 2 1/2” total. Some bouts of hard rain but mostly not as the bands swept through with pauses in between in which I got out there with a shovel or hoe trying to direct the accumulating water away from the part of the house on slab. Of course, the lowest part of the property is right around the slab.

I've been pondering lately my complete disinterest and lack of motivation in making art. No drawing, no watercoloring, no model making or glass casting. It's not like I don't have plenty of time and opportunity though I have been blaming it on the remodel of the bathroom, then the remodel in the shop, then the house hunting and preparation for it to be delivered but the truth is, I just don't have the interest these days. As if finishing the heron box last December was the cap on my career. Apparently. My colored pencils and watercolors stay spread out on the small work table as I studiously ignore it all. I tried to do some sketches at one point for a new piece that's been floating around in my mind but after three days of zero progress I gave it up since I do have some pieces I can offer the gallery for their anniversary show in September. If this keeps up I'm going to have to change the description of my blog.

Although, the more I look at the picture of the begonias on my Friday post the more I think I might draw them. I even went so far as to print out a couple of images and even opened my sketchbook to a clean page but that's as far as I got. Maybe tomorrow. I'm trying to finish the book I'm currently reading but it's gotten tedious here towards the end and not holding my attention. But then nothing seems to be holding my attention.

And so yesterday it was tomorrow and I did not draw but I did go to the grocery store and I did finally mend my skirt. You might remember last spring when I made three skirts. I wear two of them all the time around the house and on my walks, when one goes in the laundry I wear the other. As it happened, a couple of weeks ago I looked down to see that I had caught my skirt on something and there was a big tear, two sides of a square, each leg 2 1/2”. My first attempt was a total failure. I lined everything up and put cellophane tape over the tear on the inside and then zigzagged over it on the outside thinking all the little holes would perforate the tape and I could just pull it off when done. Wrong. So seam ripper and scissors in hand I ripped out all that zigzagging making the frayed edges even worse but I remembered I had some lightweight interfacing, the kind that you can iron on, so I got some of that out, cut it into an 'L' shape and pressed it on over the tears on the inside and then stitched around it and then zigzagged in the middle and I think it did a fine job.

Another rainbow formed as we were coming back from yoga last night (is it night if it's still light outside even though it's after 6 PM?). It started at one end, then started at the other end until it arced across the sky. Short lived and not very strong, nevertheless a picture was got through the windshield.

My sister and my daughter think all I do here is rant, rant about things I can't change and I'm working myself into a heart attack but they are wrong. Things don't change if no one speaks out, if no one observes, if no one shares what they see and learn, if no one resists, if no one confronts, if no one puts their body on the line, if no one informs why it is essential to vote, if we turn a blind eye to the subordination of the constitution and the rule of law and allow a would be dictator supported by a compromised Senate to rise. I resist. I resist by refusing to stuff the anger. I resist by shining a light, however small, on the evil that is this administration. I resist by communicating with the people and our political representatives. I resist because there is no guarantee at this point that we will have a fair election with all the voter suppression perpetrated by Republicans or even have an election. When the Justice Department is compromised and the head Attorney General of the United Sates has become the fixer for a corrupt president supported by his corrupt political party with his own militarized secret police force which is right now being sent into the cities and states governed by the opposing political party to suppress the demonstrations and 1A protests against police brutality and inherent racism in our judicial systems, there are no guarantees, there are no guarantees this same brutal force will not be deployed to prevent people from voting.

This blog was never meant to be about fluff though I have published plenty of fluff. It was and is a chronicle of my life through memories and current activities and what catches my attention, and, to a lesser degree, a history of the time in which I live and my place in it. It's the good, the bad, and the ugly; mine and the world's. And while I don't consider these essays rants I will continue to write them as long as events demand.

it's been a busy week

Monday was my last day with the monitor for which I am eternally grateful because even the sensitive skin patches caused redness though no welts or raw spots. So now my records have been sent to the electrophysiologist and the referral made and I'll call next week to get an appointment. But then I thought about acupuncture and did a quick internet search to see if this was something that might be beneficial and several articles I skimmed through seemed to indicate it was so I think I'm going to investigate this further, find an acupuncturist relatively near and give it a try before I succumb to ablation. It surely can't hurt.

Grandgirl Jade came out Tuesday afternoon with her mother's sewing machine (because she wanted to learn how to use that one) and a box full of sewing projects. I hemmed two pair of velvet pants, the first of which I just did a double turned hem and stitched it down and of course it rolled because that's what velvet does I hate to sew on velvet so for the second pair I got some hem tape and the results were better (I offered to redo the first pair if she wanted to rip out the stitching but she decided it was fine), altered a dress twice because it was still too big the first time, cut and hemmed several pair of thrift store blue jeans that Jade had bought to turn into knee length shorts for her upcoming study abroad program in Costa Rica, finished altering a pair of jeans in the waist. She's leaving Saturday for 2 1/2 months, living with a local family.

Anyway, I've been sewing for two and a half days. After the first day we had both sewing machines set up while Jade worked on remaking a pair of jeans that were too big in the waist and too baggy for her young adult sensibility. I declined to completely remake that pair preferring to go to a resale shop to replace them but she persevered, had seen videos on how to do it and she did a good job and I was proud of her. 

She had intended on spending only one night but it took us longer to get enough of the work done and so she didn't leave til yesterday evening.

So this week has been all about sewing and kittens. 

The kittens go home on Tuesday. The dog has accepted their presence and while she doesn't actually play with them she doesn't shy away when they get too close though at first she couldn't decide if her job was to play with them, protect them, or intervene when they got too rambunctious. The cat however has not only not accepted them, she's getting more aggressive, not satisfied with just hissing anymore, she's beginning to growl and swat at them.

Yesterday a crew showed up to clear all the poison ivy, virginia creeper, briar vine, wild grape, dewberry, and trash trees (hackberry and pecan) from around the cedar tree next to the gate to the shop yard and the fence for a ways on either side which had become totally overgrown after the flood and completely beyond me to deal with. The first guy I had out to give me an estimate quoted me $1000 which I thought was excessive so my neighbor gave me the name of another guy to call and he quoted me $450 for the same work. Needless to say I went with #2.

After, of course because...me, but take my word for it, it was completely overgrown, couldn't see the cars, couldn't even see the fence, and stuff was grown up from the ground into the tree and all around it so you couldn't even get to the tree.

Today the plan is to get the hanger glued to the back of an old piece for a friend 

and get the mulch spread out under the azaleas but since it's already mid-day and 86˚ the mulch will have to wait til tomorrow morning since I have to give the tomatoes some attention when it cools off some this evening.

from the How Hard Can It Be? Dep't

Short answer: a lot harder than it should have been but TA-DA!!!

three finished skirts

True, I haven't sewn for myself since the kids were babies but there were those few years when the grandgirls wanted to learn how to sew but at least we were using patterns!

Last Sunday I had cut the fabric for the first skirt, two lengths, one for the front, one for the back, and the waistband so Monday I selected a thread color from my accumulation, wound the bobbin and sewed up the side seams only for some reason, the thread kept slipping off the hookey-do that goes up and down while the machine is running. Grrr. So frustrating having to stop periodically too damn often to untangle the mess in the bobbin and I rethreaded that machine about a million times but I finally got the skirt gathered, the waistband on, the elastic in, 

put it aside, and got skirt #2 cut and the side seams done thinking I would have to take my machine back to the repair place on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning I decided I wanted pockets in my skirts so I examined the side pockets on a skirt I have, made a pattern, cut the fabric, tore out part of the side seams, and wondered if the thread could possibly be the problem and changed the thread which miraculously solved the problem of it slipping off the hookey-do and it's been running fine ever since. Yay! I threw the problematic spool away and then began the days of if it could go wrong, it did. It took me three hours to finally figure out the pockets and to get them sewn in involving ripping out the stitching from prematurely sewing the two halves together. Next I readied the waistband and ran the gathering stitches on the two halves of the skirt and ran out of bobbin thread halfway through one side. I quit for the day.

Wednesday I finally got the gathering stitches in and started to gather the front and for some reason there was a knot that the gathers just would not go past. FINE. I'll just pull from the other side. That worked so on to the back, gathers hit a knot grumble grumble, pull from the other side and...hit a knot. Oh fer cryin' out loud! And I quit for the day.

I didn't sew on Thursday because other plans had been made but Friday I finally got the skirt #2 finished after the third try at getting the elastic in because stupidity and repeating the stupidity, and then started on skirt #3 

which I finished today with only two instances of torn out stitches.

Skirt #1 has no pockets which I'm going to regret but am I going to take it apart and add them? Hell, no. I'm going to add patch pockets. Tomorrow.

no doubt about it

I'm over this poison ivy. It can go away now.

We had a good time at the gathering Saturday night sitting around Edith's farm table eating tacos, sipping blackberry flavored whisky with two or three conversations going on the whole time. Five houses, two singles, three couples.

It's barely February and it is definitely spring out there. The birds are convinced, the cedar tree is blooming, 

the spirea is putting on buds, one of the azaleas is blooming, the ground orchids are starting to send up their blooms, 

the woodlands painted petal have opened their first blooms and the rest are sending up bloom stalks right before my eyes 

and the yard is solid with 10 petal anemone blooms 

a fairly typical section of yard

and henbit too. I need to get out there and prune back the roses and fertilize them because they'll be putting on new growth any day now.

Since our last dip in the low 30s every day has been a bit warmer and this week the highs are going to be in the 70s with another dip into the 30s Thursday night. Warm it may be but it's also been overcast, foggy, drizzly, rainy, WET. We got 1 1/4” rain Saturday night added to the 1 1/4” we got earlier last week. This week, warm days aside, is predicted to be the same. Sigh. It is so wet out there. I spent an hour or so out in the big backyard Sunday digging up sow thistle which thanks to the flood have once again colonized the yard. Made a dent but didn't get all of them. I got tired of having to scrape the wet sticky clayey mud off the shovel and trowel after every plunge into the ground. When I went in my shoes and the bottom 6” of my pants were soaked and I had mud all over my shirt.

I'm putting aside the glass work for a few days. I finally got my sewing machine repaired and the lady told me to be sure and use it because there was only a 30 day guarantee so I'm going to make a couple of long skirts. I bought some lightweight cotton plaid fabric years ago at a garage sale and never used it and since the two skirts I have are at least 30 years old and fragile with all kinds of holes and tears in them I figured it was time. 

No pattern, I'm just going to wing it. How hard can it be to make a gathered skirt with an elastic waistband? I'll let you know.

the one and only granny camp this year

The boy is 21, working full time, and living his adult life; the twins, 20, are in college in different cities, both took classes during the summer, and are now starting their second year of college.

So, a week ago today I arrived home from the class in Austin about 8 PM and found I had a message from my youngest grandgirl asking if she could come for her visit the next day and could she bring a friend and so of course, yes, the last possible week before school starts. Robin, now 17 and starting her senior year in high school, spent the earlier part of the summer traveling with a group of Jewish teens to Poland and Israel and then had to wait til the bathroom/house was finished.

Her friend Bethany wanted to learn how to sew so off we went on Sunday to get a pattern and fabric and since the Walmart had a limited selection yes, I know, I shopped at the heinous Walmart but the alternative was an hour's driving time to go into Rosenberg and back and shop at the heinous Hobby Lobby and we were short on time she settled on shorts and spent the rest of the day laying out the pattern and cutting the fabric while Robin worked on pinning a new hem on a cut off t-shirt.

The girls wanted to make a pie and since peaches are now gone they settled on apple. I've never made an apple pie in my life. I peeled and cored the apples and Robin sliced them up while Bethany finished cutting out the fabric for the second pair of shorts and then the two girls did the rest.

Bethany is a jigsaw puzzle fan and so they spent the rest of the day engrossed in a 1,000 piece puzzle.

Tuesday, since my sewing machine has gone from balky to not working at all, we went over to my sister's house and used her machine. I walked Bethany through the first pair of shorts reading the instructions and explaining things and demonstrating and doing a few of the tricky parts while she did most the sewing on the first pair of shorts and Robin read and visited with her great aunt.

The girls finished the first puzzle sometime Tuesday night and then started a second 1,000 piece puzzle Wednesday morning. 

Then we did the shops around the square 

and after lunch Robin got her first driving lesson, driving back and forth behind the Walmart and then around the circumference of the entire parking lot over and over and then I took over til we got to the long county road where we switched again and she drove us back to the house.

I tried to teach her how to drive last year but she wasn't interested.

Thursday it was back to my sister's house to stitch up the second pair of shorts which Bethany did by herself. I sat in the room with her to answer questions but she didn't need much help. 

Robin drove us there and back both times (we came home for lunch) on real roads with real traffic (such as it is in this little town) and stop signs and stop lights, creeping along Robin, try going a little faster but she did real well.

They worked on the second puzzle until my daughter came early evening to pick them up and then it was dumped back in the box.