In Which I Play With Fire

This morning I dropped Connor off at school and then spent well over an hour listening to Katzenjammer while I singed all the edges of the fabric leaves on the bustled overskirt I'm making.    So readers take note: if you inhale synthetic fabric fumes for an hour while listening to weird Norwegian bands and then take a nap immediately afterwards, you will have really, really strange dreams.  Next time I think I'm burning polyester I'll do it outside, or at the very least do it while listening to music that doesn't involve a contrabass balalaika with a Cheshire Cat face painted on it.

Anyway, I actually went out and shopped for shoes today, as I discovered that my nicest pair of good dress shoes now has holes worn completely through the soles.  I'm not a huge fan of shoe shopping (or for that matter, shopping for myself in general) and I generally wear a pair until they literally fall apart, so it was way past time.  This is one of those errands that it is best not to take Connor on as he finds shoe shopping incredibly boring and usually degenerates into shrieking by the time I've tried on the second pair.  So it's nice to have him in school!

Luckily a lot of the stores were having one-day sales for whatever reason, so I picked up a nice pair at a price that won't sink my budget.  They're a nice little pair of sturdy ankle platform boots, and I should be able to wear them not only with my church dresses but also with my outfit in October, so they serve a dual purpose.  So I'm glad that's over with.  Hopefully I won't have to go shopping for another pair of shoes for a while.

Connor had a good day at school and seems to be settling in well.  Today was his first full day, and I think he came home pretty tired.  He actually went down and took a bit of a nap once he got home.  We're going to keep it kind of low-key this weekend, and then he'll be ready for another jam-packed week on Monday!

~Jess

In Which Connor Is A Dashing Rogue

Today Connor and I went thrift store shopping, which was both a bad and a good thing.

It was a bad thing because I didn't take into account that all of the thrift stores were having huge labor day sales.  This meant that the lines for the checkout were fifteen people deep, you had to take a number to use the fitting room, and getting the little guy's wheelchair through the already narrow aisles was a nightmare.

On the up side, I found him a top hat.  And Connor in a top hat has to be one of the best things I have ever seen.  Not only is he thrilled about his new stylish headgear (really-- who would have imagined Connor would like a hat?) but for some reason whenever I put it on him he immediately puts his hands together and starts twiddling his thumbs in what we call his "plotting world domination" posture.  He looks like a ridiculously adorable Victorian villain. 

It's a little big for him and has a tendency to slide down over one eye in an adorable manner, but that's an easy fix with a quick application around the inside of the brim of that foam tape you can find at craft stores.  I'll also be giving it a nicer trim to make it a bit nicer, since at the moment it's obviously a Very Cheap Hat. 

After that, all I will need is to find him a miniature waxed mustache and he nations will have no choice but to give way before his unstoppable power of cuteness.  We got the hat for Halloween and Steamcon, but if Connor wants to wear it on other occasions I will have zero objections to that.  Heck, I kind of want to get a matching one.  Then we could really go out on the town in style.

For that matter, the world at large would probably be much improved if there were more top hats worn by the general population. 

Top hats for everyone!

~Jess

In Which Connor Is A Dapper Dan

Today Connor and I hit the antique mall and the thrift stores to find Halloween and Steamcon costume pieces.  Connor's been a yeti for two years in a row, and not only would the costume be a bit snug on him but it's pretty warm, which means it's not exactly the best idea in the world for him.  Since he and I are going to Steamcon together this year (Jer will sadly be unable to attend due to military obligations, but don't worry-- I'll get him into costume one of these days) I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. 

So Connor will be going as a Victorian Gentleman, which he approved after I showed him a bunch of pictures of gentleman in Victorian garb.  He actually requested a top hat!  I have no idea where the heck I'm going to get a top hat that would remotely fit him that's in my (extremely cheap) budget.  Perhaps I'll have to try my hand at making one. 

I'll be making him an ascot anyway, so I might as well add that to my list.  I think he'll be quite the dapper gentleman.

Connor has been doing extremely well in recent days; his last seizure was two weeks ago.  I have hope that maybe as he continues to get older his seizures will continue to become fewer and farther between than what we've seen in past years.  I don't expect him to outgrow his seizures, but I think it would be amazing if they became the exception rather than the rule!

~Jess

In Which We Visit Some Animals

We had a busy day today!

This morning Connor and I hit a couple of thrift stores looking for supplies.  I needed a fake fern and some leaves for this year's Steamcon (the local steampunk convention) costume, and if there's one thing that thrift stores carry a ton of, it's fake flowers.  Since my studio is mostly set up now, I know where everything is and apparently that compels me to make stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff.  My costume's headdress is mostly completed now and I've started work on a wire nest that will hold a bird and a couple of clockwork eggs.  We'll see how it turns out.

After the thrift stores Connor went down for a brief nap and then we hopped in the car to meet a couple of friends at Northwest Trek!  Northwest Trek is a wildlife conservation center focused on native species of animals, and it contains a huge free-range area for animals like bison, elk and caribou.  It reminds me a lot of the Arbuckle Wilderness theme park I used to go to with my family as a kid, only minus the ostriches trying to eat the inspection sticker off the car.  Ostriches will eat anything.

It was a beautiful day and the temperature was just about perfect for Connor, so we didn't have to take any breaks.  He could have cared less about most of the animals (except for a sleeping raccoon curled up in its den near the glass, which he seemed to appreciate) but he loved the wind on his face in the tram and was pretty good natured as long as we kept walking.  I'm glad he enjoyed himself; we'll have to go again sometime soon!

This evening our new potential respite care worker is here for orientation as well.  I'm hoping that she'll be a better fit for our family; so far, so good!

~Jess

In Which I Need To Turn Off My Brain

So today was a super lazy day for us around here, as we recouped from our Steamcon expedition of yesterday and Connor continued to feel under the weather.  He seems to be in the middle of a seizure cycle right now; he had five seizures today and was kind of droopy.  By the time bedtime rolled around he was having real trouble staying awake, and when we put him down he crashed immediately.  Hopefully that means that his body will get the sleep it needs to recover, and he'll have a better day tomorrow.

I spent a good portion of today thinking up all kinds of crazy costumes that I'd like to do just because.  This is an ominous sign, people.  I have nowhere to wear random crazy Victorian costumes to, and it's not like I don't have other things I should be doing.  Somehow this isn't convincing my brain, though, which continues to throw out ideas at a rather alarming rate.  Next year's Steamcon theme is "Victorian Monsters," and I keep finding myself doodling harpies and unicorns and sprites all over margins of other stuff I'm working on.

Because if there's one thing I need, it's another hobby. 

~Jess

In Which We Go To Steamcon

Today was Steamcon Day!

Okay, so Steamcon is technically a three day convention, but Jer and I only had the energy and/or babysitting for one day.  So we chose today, as it not only had the greatest concentration of interesting events but was also the day we could get respite care.  Joanna came to the house at ten this morning to watch Connor, and after a little costume preparation (on my part-- Jer is naturally awesome without a costume) off my darling husband and I went!

Steamcon, for those of you who have not followed my obsessing over my costume for the last four months or so, is a steampunk convention.  This year's theme was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and since I have a Jules Verne-inspired roller derby name I decided that for my first ever convention I just had to make a steampunk roller derby costume to attend in style. 

I'm pretty proud of how the costume turned out, though of course I ended up doing that frantic oh-my-gosh-this-thing-is-tomorrow-and-my-costume-is-only-half-finished song and dance, which I am told is tradition for conventions like these.  I made my bustle, bloomers and spats from scratch, and modified my pads, helmet, gloves, shirt, vest, goggles, hair tentacles (what the heck else would you call them?) and skates.  I bought the corset and the tights.  The ensemble was surprisingly comfortable, though I wouldn't want to actually play roller derby in it or anything.  Also it took a long time to get into; I had to divide my hair up into eight braids and I am terrible at braiding hair, so that part was not particularly fun.  Luckily I had a helmet on over it so you couldn't see how badly parted the mess on top of my head was. 

We were a little worried there weren't going to be a whole lot of people at this thing, but that turned out to really, really not be a problem-- I'm not sure what the actual numbers were but I would guess we saw well over 600 people during the course of the day.  Jeremy was actually in the minority; at least 400 of those were wearing some form of costume, which made for perhaps the best people watching ever.  I've never seen such a concentration of creative people in one space before, and it was a delight to see how everyone had interpreted the theme.  Some of the notable standouts included a giant fish in a suit (he had an upper crust British accent, wore diving flippers and carried a cane), a woman with mechanized crutches, a stilt walker, a man with a working mechanical arm and a gal sporting a neon green Mohawk and wearing a glorious lime green, cherry red and grey ensemble.

Oh and also there were octopi everywhere; in people's hair, draped over shoulders, worked into jewelry-- there was even a giant octopus balloon sculpture in the lobby, complete with angry eyebrows.  It was awesome.  You can see just a few of the amazing costumes over here.

So with all of these crazy costumes, somehow I wasn't quite expecting the reception mine received.  Basically I was mobbed by photographers.  I couldn't walk more than fifteen feet in any direction without someone stopping me and asking if they could take my picture.  I'm not entirely sure how many photos I posed for by the end of the day, but it was probably a pretty substantial number.  

I guess the novelty of the skates made the costume unique enough that it stood out, because it seemed to meet pretty universal approval.  At one point I actually had a random woman run up to me as I was headed into the bathroom, yell "You are a badass!!" and give me a high-five.  

I would kind of like for that to happen more often, actually-- like maybe in the grocery store or after I fill Connor's prescriptions at the pharmacy or something.  I think we could all definitely use more random high-fives and acknowledgement of badassery in our lives.  Someone should start a service or something.

Meanwhile back at home,Connor had a couple of seizures and was apparently pretty morose today.  Maybe this was because he didn't get to see the giant fish in a suit-- I know I would have been disappointed too.  All kidding aside, I hope he has a much better day tomorrow and stays seizure free.

So in addition to the people watching, we spent some time wandering around with a group of friends, checked out the vendors' booths (where I had an amazing freehand silhouette portrait done and conceived plans to deck the rest of the family out in costume at a later date and have theirs done too) and sat in on a panel or two.  And then I changed out of my costume, we took off and spent the remainder of the evening at a bookstore and a coffee shop.

Overall it was just a whole bunch of fun!

~Jess

In Which There Is More Sewing And Derby Watching

Today was a day very like yesterday, involving a whole lot of watching derby and sewing.  The only difference was that Connor slept in until past ten in the morning; probably making up for yesterday's past-dawn bedtime.  He had a fantastic day once he decided to get up, and he didn't have a single seizure!  I'd say he's officially over his illness and ready to go back to school tomorrow. 

My bustle skirt is completely finished now except for the fastening, which I haven't exactly figured out yet.  It needs to be really flat to be comfortable because it's going underneath a waist cincher and a vest, so I'll play around with a few different things.  I'm leaning towards velcro, which would be a quick fix but would probably work since no one is going to see it; I'm just not sure if it will be strong enough.  So we'll just have to see what I come up with!

I expect to finish up the skirt tomorrow while Connor is in school.  Then I'll head out to go fabric shopping for bloomer material, which should be fun!  I'm thinking I'll probably stick with an undyed or white cotton muslin, but maybe I'll get crazy and go for a daring pinstripe or something. 

I do like to live on the edge.

~Jess

In Which Connor Is A Jack-In-The-Box And I Build A Bustle

So today Connor and I both felt much better; I think by the time Monday rolls around he'll be able to go back to school!  He didn't have a single seizure today, which is a pretty good sign that he's on the mend.  I actually felt fully recovered while Connor was still a little under the weather, and I think sleep was probably part of that.  Jer stayed up with Connor last night, and the little guy ended up sleeping for a grand total about forty-five minutes, sometime between six and seven in the morning.  Jer was not super excited about this.

So he slept in while Connor and I got some breakfast and then ran over to the fabric store, where I picked up some of the final things I needed to finish off my bustle skirt for my steampunk roller derby costume.  I'm pleased with how it's turning out considering that this is the first bustle skirt I've ever sewn in my entire life, and I can't wait to see what everything will look like put together.  Then we came home, where I alternated between working on the skirt while watching derby (it's a three day tournament, so guess what I'm doing tomorrow?) and trying to interest Connor in doing anything at all.

Connor didn't quite seem to know what he wanted to do.  Any time he was sitting up-- in my lap, in his wheelchair, on our couch, etc. he was The Sleepiest Boy The World Has Ever Known.  We're talking actually trying to fall asleep while sitting up-- the whole head-nodding, eyes drooping bit.  This also applied any time I tried to get him to play with his toys or to interact with anything in any way. 

But any time I put him down on any horizontal surface, suddenly he became Super Awake Hyper Boy.  He could be, to all appearances, completely asleep on my lap, and the second I eased him down onto the couch his eyes would instantly pop open and he demanded attention.  At one point I put him down for his usual hour and a half of quiet time, and he yelled at the top of his lungs through the whole thing.  Obviously having him sleep on my lap for eight hours was not going to be a good idea (not only because I wanted him to sleep tonight, but also because I was using a wide variety of sharp sewing-related things) so the whole day we played this sort of Sleep Jack-In-The-Box game.  He never quite managed to nod off completely while sitting up, but he still managed to completely avoid doing anything today, so in his mind his goal was probably accomplished.  Oh well.

Thankfully we shouldn't have a repeat of this tomorrow because he's actually asleep tonight.  I'm hoping to finish up my bustle skirt tomorrow and maybe even whip out a pair of bloomers if I have time, and of course watch a whole lot more derby.  We'll see how things go!

~Jess

In Which We Take It Easy And I Smell Like A (Non-Magic) Pickle

Today we mostly stuck to the house, though we did take a lovely walk around the neighborhood.  I'm feeling a little under the weather, though I think I'll be pretty much over whatever this bug is by tomorrow.  Mostly I just feel a little washed out.  It may be that I'm still catching up on sleep and feeling the effects from not having enough for so long.  Jeremy let me sleep in today, which was fantastic. 

Connor only had one seizure today, which means that hopefully his medication is starting to kick in.  I put a swimsuit on and we played in the tub for a while, which he enjoyed.  I haven't taken him down to the pool much this summer, and I really need to take him at least a few times before he's back in school!  He doesn't start up until September, but that's not too far away.  He'll be doing preschool again with the same teacher, which we're pretty excited about.  His classroom last year was awesome, and I'm sure it will be just as great this year.

Other activities today included a trip to the used bookstore across town to look for more graphic novels, and a little bit of cleaning.  Also I dyed a shirt with tea to make it look aged for my steampunk costume.  I used vinegar to set the dye and now I smell like a giant pickle.  Oh well; hopefully the shirt will look pretty good.  I'm washing it right now, so we'll see what it looks like when it comes out of the laundry.  Then I'll start replacing the plastic buttons on it with some neat pearl buttons I found at a local antique gallery. 

Sewing projects are fun!

~Jess

In Which I Don't Sew After Midnight

Today I took Connor to occupational therapy, where he quite happily refused to touch anything, and then we stopped by a fabric store on the way home.  Now that the lovely fabric store around the corner from my house is gone, the nearest is in Tacoma, so it makes sense to get my shopping done there while I'm in town rather than making a separate drive.  I picked up three yards of lovely teal satin so I could get started on the bustle for my steampunk roller derby costume.  Even thought the bustle is only going to be knee length at its longest point, I'll use nearly every inch of that entire three yards.  Bustles use a lot of fabric.

Also this is the only piece of clothing I am ever going to make that will actually make my butt look bigger.  It's not like I need a whole lot of help in that department, given the amount of chocolate I consume on a daily basis.  Oh well.

Then I stopped by a coffee shop so I could stay awake the rest of the day.  I'm not addicted to caffeine yet, but if Connor keeps up his current sleeping habits I could easily get that way, dang it.  He's still awake right now, of course, and judging by the amount of sound coming from his room he's likely to stay that way for a while.  Oh well.

I have the pieces all cut out for the bustle now, but I'll wait to start sewing it until tomorrow.  I work on a lot of my projects late at night, but I've found that any time I pick up a needle after about ten in the evening I'm just going to end up stabbing myself with it.  Also my stitches end up really wonky after about two in the morning.  Projects that involve painting or glue are a lot more forgiving, so I'll stick with those late at night.  Despite not sewing, I've been getting quite a lot of work done of my costume lately.  You'd be amazed what you can do with a seven hour or so block of free time.

So at any rate, things are moving right along!

In Which I Have A Me Day

Today Joanna came over and while Connor watched How To Train Your Dragon, she gave me a much needed massage.  I pulled my lower back a week or so ago and then skated a couple of derby scrimmages in a row shortly afterwards, which probably didn't help any except that it distracted me from noticing how my back hurt because so many other things hurt too. 

Anyway, after I got my much needed extremely-painful-at-the-time-but-feels-great-later medical massage, Jo watched Connor for a few hours and I got to go play!  I spent some time in various thrift and craft stores finding things that I could potentially convert into costume pieces for my steampunk roller derby outfit, because I'm just that excited about making this thing that I want to get started right away.  Then I came home and spent a while at the dining room table with a pair of old knee pads, some metallic copper paint, patina acid wash, a square of leather, a brass grate cover and a pair of plastic tentacles.  I'm having some serious fun!

I'm sad to say that Connor didn't have quite as much fun as me today, despite getting some time to play with Joanna.  He had a pair of seizures today and ended up spending a good portion of his time with her sleeping off the effects.  Looks like probably what we're seeing is a medication failure again, as his temperature was normal and he seemed otherwise fine.  I'll be giving the hospital a call, though Connor's neurologist is on vacation for the week so it may take a little while before we get things adjusted. 

I know-- shocking, right?  Neurologists aren't supposed to go on vacation.  They're supposed to sleep on an exam table by the phone waiting for parents like me to call them. 

Anyway, so hopefully Connor will be doing a bit better by this weekend.  Jer and I have a long day trip planned while Joanna watches the little guy; we're headed out to Vashon Island.  We haven't been to the island before, and we figured it might be fun to check out the art galleries and shops in Vashon, hike a bit of the shoreline and just take in the sights.  I'm looking forward to spending some one-on-one time with Jer!

And also looking for more parts for my costume.  Vashon has thrift stores, right? 

~Jess