Rising

This arrived in my email yesterday.....timely and very appropriate. 




Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds      
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise

Hem Jeans Like the Pros!

Get someone to mark the hem for you, or you can match the length of a pair of jeans that are already the right length for you. Once you've got your jeans turned up to the proper length, measure the portion that needs to  be hemmed, from the fold to the bottom of the existing hem.  This pair is six inches too long.

Make a fold and measure from the fold to the upper edge of the existing hem, exactly HALF the depth of the total amount of shortening needed.  For this pair, that means three inches.

Do the same thing at the other side seam. For flared and some bootcut jeans, you may also need to measure and mark/pin at the center front and back in addition to the side seams.

Begin at the side seam with the most rows of topstitiching.  Make sure you have the stitiching lined up (in this photo, I have lowered the presser foot on the existing hem only to hold it in place), and sew as close as possible to the upper edge of the existing hem without catching it in your stitch line.

Trim off the excess with pinking shears, by serging off, or cutting with regular scissors and applying seam binding.

In this photo you can just barely see the line of stitching that effectively moves the original hem up the leg of the jeans.

Turn the original hem down, and topstitich with either matching or invisible thread. Start on the side seam with the most rows of topstitching.

Booyah.  

Many thanks to a client with rather short legs who unknowingly allowed me to use her jeans for this post. :)

Happy new year!

This is what it looks like where we are this morning.

Glad I Was Prepared...

A while back (I'd link to the particular post but I am posting from the app on my phone and I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet) I posted about whether or not I should take off the diamond ring I've worn on my left hand for years as a sort of visual 'leave me alone' message.

I did remove it and put it away. And at Christmas this year I received the promise ring in the photo. Yes, it is a diamond. It is beautiful.

At some point I promise to post the whole story, but suffice it to say for now that Mr. Awesome and I dated in high school, lost touch with each other, proceeded to live very tumultuous and oddly parallel lives for the next 31 years, and at the end of October he found me online and we are now writing OUR history.

Merry Christmas, everyone, and here's to a New Year full of awesomeness for all.

Part of the Reason I Haven't Posted in a While

And if you look over there on the right sidebar, you'll notice there are more of us than there used to be.

Life is good. I am loved, as are my children. I have someone to love and share my life with.

Merry Christmas!

Squeezable, yes?

My oldest, his wife and their son came to dinner yesterday evening. Look at this chubby face! Isn't he the cutest thing?

Another field trip

This evening we went up to St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church in Uniontown, PA to hear a concert by the choir of the Bl. Paul Gojdich Seminary in Presov, Slovakia. As soon as I figure out how to get a (not very good) audio snippet uploaded, I'll post it. It was a lovely evening, and I didn't even mind driving home in the rain (although we did have to blowdry a chicken once we got back).
And who knew there was a wind farm just east of Cheat Lake? I need to get out more, evidently.