I baked a pan of granola yesterday, and while it seems to be good (both Jeremy and Luke really enjoy it), it's really messy. The recipe called for two cups of mini chocolate chips. I think next time I'm going to add half that, instead. It's just too melty to hold while you eat it.
Now, I have to make one more pan of granola bars, some loose granola, and some brownies.
On to baking!

Another pattern!

So, awhile ago my grandma and I were talking, and she mentioned she wanted to find a nice pattern for a shirtwaist dress.
I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday to pick up some ribbon, and I saw McCall's patterns on sale, so I was flipping through the book, and came across this pattern. I bought one for me and one for my grandma. I'm sure neither of us are interested in the sleeveless dress, but the other one looks very nice. There's a website for pattern reviews, and supposedly this pattern is very nice and very easy to make. So, now my grandma and I are planning on making our dresses together sometime. I'm not sure when, but we'll get to it!

Well, I decided I won't be able to have my doublet bodice outfit done for Stronghold, but that's okay: I'll wear my upper class garb. I don't get to wear that set of garb very often anyway, so I don't mind!
I put it all on today (I find the best way to make sure I'm packing everything or that I don't need to mend anything is to put the entire outfit on), and everything appears to be in order. There's a spot of trim that I need to tack down for now (I'm going to replace it later), but that's about it.
I was wearing my sneakers when I put the garb on, and it's not really what I recommend with upper class garb...

It's supposed to be cold at Stronghold this weekend (Saturday has a high of 58 with a low of 35, and "patchy frost". I'm going to freeze), so tomorrow I'm going to get my cold weather clothes from the top shelf of my closet and put away some of my summer things. I think I'll be packing many layers of pajamas for Saturday night...

I'll probably also do some baking tomorrow or Thursday. I need to make some granola and some sort of sweet.


And in other news, the dogs were greatly displeased today. They all got baths, which they hate. Odo was starting to have signs of fleas, and she's very, very allergic to fleas, so Jeremy and Luke gave all the dogs flea baths, we washed all the dog beds, and used a flea repelling dust on the carpet and dog beds. We should be flea free, now.

Almost finished....

I'm almost finished with my kirtle*! The only thing left to do is fix a pleat that fell a little, and then hem it! I'm not completely satisfied with it. I see ways that it could be improved, but now I know for next time.
I'm still hoping to have my doublet bodice done before Stronghold. The skirt that goes with the doublet bodice will be no problem. It just needs hemmed. Oh, and I need to sew a large hook and eye onto it, but that won't take more than a few minutes.

So, I'll try get started on my doublet bodice today. I'll have to start working on buttons. I don't know how many I'll need.



*A kirtle is like a bodice and skirt attached, so it's a dress instead of two separate pieces. The bodice of the kirtle can still have a pointed front, but is simpler to make it straight across.

An end of the week update (what a wonderous title).

Well, I finished "Jane Eyre" when I wanted too. It was very good. I really enjoyed it! After that I decided to read "Sarah's Key", which I'm already finished with. I'm not sure what I'll read next. I need to get back to reading my Harvard Classics books (eventually I'd like to have read them all, cover to cover). I'm also wanting to read "Much Ado About Nothing", and I have the SparkNotes "No Fear Shakespeare" version. It's neat because it has the entire original play, along with a modern day translation, so if there's anything you don't quite understand you can check and see what it is. I don't use the modern translation much, but I'm glad to have it if I need it.

I probably won't do too much reading today (other than schoolwork), because I should draft my doublet bodice pattern today. I've been debating between two patterns, and finally decided which to go with. I'm still hoping to have it done for Stronghold, but I still don't have a sewing machine. I may ask my cousin if I can borrow hers again for a few days. Otherwise I'll be brushing up on my hand sewing skills!

And in other news, I seem to have caught a cold. It's annoying since I just had one last month. I've had a terrible runny, sneezy, stuffy nose, and I woke up with a headache this morning, which was very unpleasant. Due to the headache, I stayed in bed longer than usual, and realized that's the latest I've slept on a Friday in months. And tomorrow I can sleep later than usual, too. That's the one plus to no Bristol: I don't have to wake up at 6:45 on weekends!

Reading

I'm so close to done with "Jane Eyre"! I should be able to finish it by Monday.
I'm really, really enjoying it!
I'm not sure what classic I'll pick to read after this one. Perhaps another Jane Austen book? Or maybe some Shakespeare? I've been meaning to read "Much Ado About Nothing".
I'm not at all sure what to read next!
I know that I want to read a book Stefanie loaned me. It's called "Sarah's Key" and Stefanie highly recommends it. I think I'll be able to read it while I'm reading another classic, but I may just read it and finish it before I start on another. It will give me some time to think about what I want to start next.

There's too many books I want to read!

"There are no 'if's' in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety - let us pray that we may always know it!"- Corrie ten Boom

Ow!

Grr! Russel is ridiculous! Jeremy and I went outside to give the chickens water, and while Jeremy was closing the gate I saw Russel puff up his neck feathers (a sure sign that he's angry), so I called out to Jeremy that Russel was about to attack. Jeremy turned around right as Russel jumped at him. He didn't have a chance to block him and Russel grabbed onto his leg. At the same time I hit my fingernail on something (I'm not sure what) and on one side bent it almost halfway up. It hurt so much! So, both Jeremy and I came into the house and bleeding and saying saying lots of ows.

And now we're calling Russel a stupid-head.
You'd think he'd notice we've never been a threat to him, and we feed and water him every day!
Bird brain.

September?

It's really September? Already? I can't believe it. What happened to this summer? I don't think I've ever had a faster summer!
This weekend is the last weekend of Bristol, so it's the three day weekend. There's BAPA graduation on Saturday night. Luke went through BAPA this year, so he'll be doing a graduation skit with the other new Ducklings.
Sunday night the Suitcase Shakespeare Company will be performing (I can't recall what they'll be performing), and Monday night is the cast party. We're not planning on going to the cast party: Instead we'll get as much out of our tent as possible (we take the tent down the following weekend), and then we'll probably go out to dinner.

Now, our next faire will be Stronghold, on October 2nd and 3rd. I hope to finally have my new garb done by then (yeah, the garb that was supposed to be done for Bristol). As of yet, I do not have a working sewing machine. I'll probably go over to my aunt's house to use her sewing machine, and towards the end of this month the Schmitts will be giving me a sewing machine. It's an older, used sewing machine, but they took it in to a sewing machine shop to have it serviced and cleaned, so it should work!

Jane Eyre

So, I started Jane Eyre quite a while ago, and I think it's time to finish! I'm less than 100 pages away from being done (my copy is 476 pages), so my goal is to finish it before I start school (September 13th). I really only have a few days to finish it, since I probably won't be doing much reading over the 3-day weekend (closing weekend of Bristol!). So, I have today and tomorrow, and Tuesday-Thursday of next week to finish. I'm sure that's plenty of time.