Appalchian Culture

This is a really cool site for anyone who is at all interested in the culture of the Appalachian Mountains. http://www.aca-dla.org/ There is a huge section of downloadable music with recordings as early as the 1920's and 30's up until now. I am always thrilled when I find some song that I've heard in Newfoundland that is the same as one from the mountain culture. The two places share the same basic genetic make up; both areas were setteled largely by people from the British Isles; and then both areas were so isolated for most of their history that a lot of the folk ways have a similarity that you don't see in other areas. One of the people who recognized that was Professor MacEdward Leach; he collected folk songs from both areas in the 50's. There is a site put up by the Memorial University of Newfoundland with excerpts from those songs.http://www.mun.ca/folklore/leach/ The differences and the sameness of both cultures is very fascinating to me. I have been back to Newfoundland as an adult a few times, but I haven't been back to the South since I was about 14 or so. Chris wants to go; he loves the South; and he suggested we could go on a fishing trip through all the states the Haydens settles in. We'd start in Virginia, go to North Carolina, then Tennesee, Mississippi, and end in Arkansas. It would be really cool, that's for sure.

Pictures

Ok, here are pictures of the skirt I just listed, and Ms. Josette with the stash swap goodies. I think the flowered fabric will be her easter dress, and the cute little Scottie dog print is going to be a beach romper.

Today I am working on turning a t-shirt into a sleeveless wrap top and making a skirt to match it out of a black and white cotton print.

Geneaology

I have been doing some research on my dad's family, and am just having a great time with it. I didn't know much about it, and while the line of dad's grandmother on the Hayden side was pretty easy to trace, the actual Haydens are giving me a bit more trouble. I'm still not totally sure about the research on that side; the only clues I had to go on was that dad's grandfather stated in the US census of 1880 that he was born in Mississippi, and that his dad was born in Alabama and his mom in Tennessee. As it turns out, I think the info was the other way around, or else the censor taker entered it wrong. It took me a long time to actually figure it out; I have been working on this off and on for the last 3 or 4 years. It would have been easy to mix up because one of the counties mentioned is in Alabama and is very near the border of the two states.Anyway, I only had some rough dates, the places mentioned and an alternate spelling of the last name. When the census was taken Jesse Mack, (that was my dads grandpa's name) spelled his last name Haden. There was no Y in the name.I took that info over to the LDS genealogy site (the Mormons may be crazy, but when it comes to ancestors you gotta love 'em) and spent hours pouring through Hayden, Haden, Haddon, even Heiden and it finally paid off. I could only find one Haden in Tennessee with the right dates. Luckily it was another census record, and he gave his parents as being born in North Carolina. I had to do another search, although this was a shorter one because someone else had already done some of the work for me. It became apparent pretty quickly that there had been at least 2 Hayden/Haden families that settled America really early; one came through Massachusetts, and one through Virginia. I suspected we were through Virginia, and I was right. I'm stuck now though; I'm back to Norfolk, England in 1645 and someone else is saying that one of the Massachusetts Haydens is the father of my Haden; and while that would fit the info I have already as far as the dates go, the next generation does not fit at all; there's no mention that my many times great-grandfather was a son of that Hayden. My research makes me think we are descendants of the Norfolk England Haydens and we didn't come to America til the late 1600's or early 1700's. The Mass. Haydens were here in the early 1600's, at least the earliest date I've seen for them is 1630. I have to mention how much easier all this is to keep track of now that I have a family tree program. I'm making a hard copy too, though, because if something ever happens and I loose all my info I would be really upset.
I also got my stash package from the stash swap. I haven't taken any pics because my camera was dead again. I'm going to do that later today and post the pics to my group. One of the fat 1/4's is vintage and will make a perfect Easter dress for Josette; the other has little Scottie dogs and is soooo cute. I'm going to make her a little summer outfit out of that; maybe a beach romper. There's some really pretty eyelet that I am going to use on the Easter dress, and some tiny white buttons.
Chris auditioned for a band that he really wanted to be in, and they called him to be in it! He's pretty excited because they play Allmann Bros like music, and that's what he loves.

Thrift Store Trip

Sio and I went to the thrift store today. I haven't been for awhile, and it was a nice profitable trip. I got some fabric and the most I ended up paying was $1.50 for almost 4 yds of a yellow floral print. I got about 2 1/2 yds of a white on white print for $1.50, and almost 2 yds of a heavy cotton I'm going to use for placemats. I also got a yard of a red/cream cotton quilt print to add to my quilting stash. I might not have bought the yellow but Sio liked it. I also got a pretty green and peach 30's looking print that I might use for Josette.

I picked up 2 shirts that I am going to combine to try and make a dress. The body of the dress will be the grey shirt and I'm going to add length with the navy with grey paisleys. I'm going to cut the sleeves short and scoop the neck, and trim both in the paisley print. I'll add elastic at the waist to bring it in a bit. If it turns out the way I see it, it will be really cute.

Sio and I picked up 5 funny and/or cool t-shirts that will be turned into something else except for the one she is holding, that one she's going to keep and wear. I will probably make at least one bag, and then I don't know what else.

I also got another shirt with a sun and moon, a pair of jeans which are going to be turned into a ruffled tiered patchwork skirt, and a fake suede embroidered belt which I'm going to turn into at least one headband.

And lastly, I got a bunch of thread on wooden spools, and a book published in 1971 called The Gentle Needlearts.

Josette's Valentine Outfit

This little outfit has been finished for quite awhile. I started the apron right after Christmas; it was made long before the dress and bonnet. I really like the little dress; it's a very simple basic pattern first published in 1921.The apron is from 1921 too, but the bonnet is a bit earlier; it's from 1911. I made the little doodads to trim it with fabric left from the dress. The dress was made from a thrift store blouse because I wanted a small 100% cotton gingham check and I couldn't find one at Hancock or JoAnn. I think it turned out very nice. I'm waiting for my stash swap package to get here before I start anything else for her.

Lots of Yo Yos

Why? I don't know. I just picked the yo yo makers up a couple of evenings ago, and well, now I seem to be addicted.I know I will loose interest long before I have enough for a quilt, especially since I am making 3 sizes. I may end up putting them in a destash listing on Etsy.

Keeping Busy Because What I Really Want to Do Is GO FISHING!!!!!

Oh, I want to go fishing! There are all these fishing shows on TV on Sunday mornings and these guys are catching big bass and I just wish I was with one of them. I saw one show where this guy was ice fishing and catching gigantic bluegill, and I'm ready to grab an ax and cut a hole in the ice on the pond by Chris and Richards. It's got to be thick enough, it's been sooo cold this winter. The tackle box is already cleaned out, so I can't do that.

I told Sio yesterday that if she wins the lottery all I want is a little cabin by a river with a few chickens and a bunch of fishing stuff. I only need 2 rooms, a bedroom and a combo living room/kitchen. A woodburning stove to keep the place warm and to cook on, a fridge, a generator in case the electricity goes out and I'm all set. I'll bring the treadle and one tote of sewing stuff. Oh and bathroom, I need the convenience of modern plumbing. John and I could be perfectly happy there; maybe eventually we'd add on one more room for Chris. He would definitly want to visit a lot, even if he didn't live there. We could fish all day everyday, right off the front porch. I could have a little garden and it would be heaven.

I have been busy creating lately, and listing in my Etsy store. I think I've made a couple of really cute things. I recycled a couple of hooded sweatshirts; one I put the Ninja Turtles on, the other is light green and I put a Celtic applique on it. I orginally was going to cut off the bottom and make a hoodie dress, but then I came across the Celtic applique and that was that. I also made a cute clutch embellished with wool felt, a yo yo, and a vintage button. I crocheted some wash cloths, and 4 sets of coaster, plus the scarf from the recycled sweater and a pair of fingerless gloves. Anyway, with all the making and listing, it started paying off. I had 2 sales; one Friday night and one yesterday morning. If I make the commitment to list EVERY day I generally do sell stuff! And right now I want to give everything I make to Sio so she can keep going to school. Even if John makes the payments for her, she still needs stuff like clay and whatnot, not to mention gas money for her car and so she can eat while she is at school. Anyway, if I'm going to make stuff I might as well do it for a purpose. I've had over a month of playing with Josette, so I'm taking a break til my stuff from the stash swap gets here. She's all dressed for Valentines Day now, anyway. I am going to take pics of her later to post on my sewing group and I'll post them here too.

I've been listening to Yonder Mountain String Band a lot so here's a clip from YouTube of them doing Sharecroppers Son:

And Now To Work

Carla and I were at mom's Dr's office during the inauguration address, but we watched it anyway; the receptionist had it up on her computer so we stood and watched it with her. It was a pretty amazing moment; she was struggling to hold back the tears. Lines of the speech were accompanied by "yes!" and hand clapping from the 3 of us. Mom was distracting like she tends to be, but even with that it was still emotional. John taped it for me so I could watch it when I got home.

What was even more amazing was to watch President Obama yesterday. He really did hit the ground running, and while obviously he can't solve all the problems his first day in office; I think he showed that he really meant what he said about getting to work. And that's what's really important; the fact that he understands and will work on the problems that we all face. I liked the cap on some of the White House salaries, and I liked the no lobbying provision on ex-staffers. But so far the high point is the closing of Guantanamo; and the end of torture. We are at the beginning of a new era where we show the rest of the world that we as a nation are not what was seen in the last 8 years. We have a collective memory now of what it means to give up too much of our identity, the essence of who we are, the relinquishing of the underpinnings of our society, into the hands of men who are governed by greed and self interest rather than the good of the country who they takes oaths to serve, and our Constitution which they took oaths to protect. We've seen first hand what happens by giving up the freedoms in our Constitution. The lessons of the last 8 years are death and destruction. It's something we need to keep in our collective memory and never let it happen again. I think that even though we have so many issues facing us, the end of the torture of other human beings is the most important. I'll admit that I would like to see those responsible for the subverting of the laws of this country and international law brought to justice. I think it's important for those images to make their way into our collective memory. I don't know if they will or not. Keith Olbermann had a great Special Commentary on it the other night:



In the meantime, it was a great picture yesterday to show a President acting openly and with confidence. His words yesterday on restoring transparency to government and on the rules imposed concerning lobbying on his own staff are like a breath of fresh air. It truly is a new day!

Big Chill

We are having some really cold weather here right now. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 35 below with the wind chill. It's the first day of the semester for Sio although they might cancel.It's way too cold to spend much time in the basement sewing so I worked on things the last couple of days that I could do upstairs. I made 3 little crazy heart sachets and am almost finished with a scarf made from a recycled sweater I got last time I went to the thrift store. I haven't spent anytime sewing the rest of the quilt together, it's just way too cold. When I finish the scarf I have an idea for a cuff that I can make by hand too, although I'll probably do that Friday; tomorrow I am going to moms and I am taking Josette and fabric to make her a school dress. I listed 2 of the heart sachets on Etsy and I'll list the 3rd one before I go to bed.

Moon and Stars Quilt

I made 3 blocks up in this pattern and I have to say I love the pattern! The original quilt blocks date some where between 1900 and 1920 I'd say and was made from a blue and white checked shirting fabric. I have a picture of them I saved from somewhere; they had never been made into a quilt. I decided to make them in blues, greens and purples, although they would look equally good made from small calico prints in lighter or brighter colors, or in homespuns. I think I'm going to take strips of fabric varying from 3/4" to 1 3/4", and sew them together to make sashing 3 inches wide. I know I have a couple of yards of blue on blue star print; not the one in the photo, but a different one, and that should be plenty for borders. I'll probably back it with a flannel sheet from the resale shop. I'll quilt it in a simple 1 inch diamond grid. I have batting here, but I might use an old thin blanket for the batting instead. I'm figuring on making this a throw, and I might sell it in my Etsy store, or I might give it away. I know a couple of people that would really like it. I see myself using this pattern for other things, too. I think it would be really great in a rug, as a wallhanging, or pillows.

My sister in law, Linda, has just opened an Etsy store that she calls Mi Casa Bella. She makes some really nice pillows; I've added her to my links section.

Sio and I are going to Evanston either tomorrow night or Tuesday. I'm leaning towards tomorrow; it's supposed to be really cold on Tuesday, plus Sio does not like to get up early. I'm looking forward to it; we always have interesting discussions with Jimmy and I get to go to Vogue. I will confess that I really haven't been paying that much attention to current events lately. I know that's wrong, but there it is. I need to step back every once in awhile and just take a breath; it helps me renew my perspective.

I joined a stash swap for my Bleuette. There'a a list of items to send in by the end of January, and then I'll get back some other peoples things. Then there's a contest to make something for Bleuette by the end of Feb, or maybe March, using at least 3 of the items received in the swap. I think this could be a lot of fun.


I found this excellent video of Dervish doing An t-Ull in a pub. I love Cathy Jordan! She plays the bodhran, too, although not in this video.

Stargate Marathon

I have been watching all the Stargates I can get my hands on, and now I've started watching the Stargate Atlantis episode as well. I cannot believe I have gotten so thoroughly hooked on these 2 shows, but there it is. John is checking to see if we can get AT&T's U-verse package in this area, if we can we're going to switch from Comcast to U-Verse, and we'll have the Sci-Fi channel with the package and I can watch episodes on there. Plus there is supposed to be a new Stargate show starting this year called Stargate Universe. The series finale of Stargate Atlantis is on Friday and I'm going to see if we can go to Richard and Chris' and watch it.

I've been sewing while I watch tv, though, and Josette got a nice New Years Day dress. It was made from ivory dupioni and a contrast cotton for the sash, cording and buttons. I made the dress by hand, and I think it came out very well. It was a Londonberries pattern I had bought before I got my doll.

Merry Christmas!

I haven't blogged in such a long time! There wasn't a whole lot of news before Christmas, and then we were busy with Christmas but now it's time to write a bit down.

We got a fabulous tree this Christmas; Sio picked it out and she did such a nice job. It is very fat and full. If it wasn't up against the wall I don't think I'd have enough ornaments to decorate it! I'll post a pic later on, I took a couple but they aren't that good.

John and I got each other our new bed for Christmas and it makes all the difference in the world. It's only 6 inches wider than the old one but it feels like so much more! He also bought a dual control electric blanket so we can each be as warm (or not) as we please. I have to make a new quilt now because the old ones are not quite wide enough.

Melissa has been here for the last week, she is leaving tomorrow morning. It's always nice having her here. We have gone bowling 3 times since she came; John went yesterday too. She is thinking about getting on a league when she gets home. John and I are talking about bowling more too, it's a lot of fun. We are having pizza later this evening and then tomorrow she goes back home again.

We had Christmas Eve at Rich and Chris' which was nice like it is every year although I have to say mom was being a bit more complaining than usual and Carla didn't really get to enjoy herself at all. I said next year we should all go to moms to open gifts for an hour or two and then leave mom at home and go and do something fun together. Even if it's just going back to Rich and Chris' and playing cards or going to a movie or whatever. The long evening is just getting to be too much for mom now. Everyone would enjoy it more that way. Anyway, I made Chris another fishing collage, and this one was a lot bigger than last years because the fishing was so much better. He really liked it a lot. Actually I said John, Chris and I should go south next Christmas and fish. That would be cool! Christmas Day dinner was over here and that was better. It's shorter and less tiring for everyone.

And the last thing is, I got my Bleuette! Her name is Josette Clarice, and the pictures are of her modeling her 1905 American Smock, 1909 Sunday Apron and 1916 Spring Coat. I also made her a hat and muff and crocheted gaiters. The little white embroidered collar is detachable from the dress; I believe the pattern is from 1906 or 1907 although I don't remember for sure. She is also wearing an embroidered combination. The Empire dress and red smock I made her before were too small. I thought they might be. I am working on another embroidered apron and a red and white checked dress.

Catch Up

I haven't posted in awhile because I left the camera at Rich and Chris' at Thanksgiving and haven't gotten it back. I have been working on Bleuettes wardrobe and I hope the things I'm making fit. She is here and is in a box on Johns desk and it's so hard not to open it and check to see if the clothes fit! Melissa thinks I should be able to, but since she may be my only gift I want to keep her til Christmas Eve. Her little shoes came yesterday and I gave them to John to put with her. Melissa is knitting her some teeny socks. I have a pattern from 1915 that I really want to try, and some pretty green silk salvaged from a resale blouse that I think I'm going to make it out of. I don't work with silk very often, and even though I got the blouse cheap I'm kind of intimidated by it. I'm wondering if I shouldn't buy a 1/4 yd of silk dupioni because it has more body. I might and use the green silk for a dress that drapes more.

I am going to Mr. Skeens going away lunch today. I haven't posted about how Hancock pretty much forced him to quit because he didn't want to go to North Riverside. They've been putting the squeeze on him for the last couple of months so he's had to work 80 hour weeks because they cut payroll hours so drastically. They wanted him to go to North Riverside where they would cut hours and payroll more. They closed the Joliet store and the manager over there is coming to Lombard. Anyway, I think he's kind of happy he won't have to put up with the bullshit anymore. He's a pretty intelligent guy and I think he's finally taken off the blinders and read the writing on the wall. There's been no doubt in my mind for a long time that Hancock wouldn't survive this economic crisis and I believed that over a year ago before most people would even admit that the crisis was looming just over the horizon. It sucks that a lot of the people I know in the district are going to get screwed as Hancock flops around like a fish out of water taking it's last gasps of air before it dies. I wish I could do something, but I've been saying this is going to happen for a long time and it wasn't that hard to figure it out. On a more personal level, my big concern is thread, I need to get a lot of thread to augment all the thread I have already. I have plenty of other notions, and I can get fabric and trims from my thrift shop finds. But I'd like to stock up on thread, especially since this is going to hit Hobby Lobby and JoAnn too. I suspect it already is cutting into JoAnn big time; Hobby Lobby I don't know as much about. Anyway, without an American textile industry in the immediate future thread is going to get a lot more expensive so I want to get a bunch now. Cotton covered polyester or 100% polyester because it lasts the longest. I prefer cotton but it starts to get brittle faster.

Siobhan and I have been rewatching Stargates lately. We have all of the episodes up through season 5 I think, but for some reason Disc 1 Season 2 won't play. I haven't watched them in awhile so I don't remember which shows I'm missing and how much it has to do with the continuing mythology of the show.

On another subject, Lunasa is my current favorite Celtic band. Here they are live at the Cork Folk Festival on Aug 31 2007:

Nous Habillons Bleuette

I started sewing for my Bleuette and I don't even have her yet! It's been quite awhile since I've done a lot of really fine hand sewing so I really need practice! There is a website where there are tons of the original patterns that were printed in La Semaine De Suzette called The Bleu Door
I made the American smock from 1905, drawers from 1907, and the Empire dress from 1908. The Empire dress didn't turn out as nice as it could have. It has turn down lapels on the bodice so the lining shows, and the pink kona cotton I used for that and the cuffs was a little too heavy. I lined the bodice on the American smock with a really thin batiste and it worked much better, The drawers are made from a vintage tea towel that had some stains on it. The legs are supposed to be gathered and have bows but I won't do that til I get my Bleuette because I don't know how big around her legs are. The edges are supposed to be embroidered, but I just cut them a bit shorter and edged them with vintage lace. I am going to make the embroidered apron from 1909 next, and then there is a cape from 1910 I'm going to make. I'd like her to have a nice little wardrobe waiting when she gets here!
I also finished the dress for the 18 inch compo type doll. I have my Daisy Kingdom doll modeling it and it's a tiny bit too small for her; it doesn't snap around her neck. I decided when I started looking at fabric to make a Christmas dress, so I guess she and Christopher Robin are going to a Christmas party. It did turn out pretty cute.
Melissa will be here in just a couple of hours! Yay!

My kids were big A.A. Milne fans when they were little, and not just of the Winnie-the Pooh stories either. We read all the poetry over and over again, and they could recite most of "When We Were Very Young" and "Now We Are Six". I remember sitting in the stairs at my mom's with Chris while he proudly proclaimed:
"Halfway up the stairs is a stair where I sit
There isn't any other stair quite like it.
It isn't at the bottom and it isn't at the top
So this is the stair where I alwys stop."

I loved the illustrations from the books,I still do. Running through the poems and making an appearance now and then was Christopher Robins little friend Anne. I was looking through my doll patterns this morning and came across this one I had ordered awhile back and it just really reminded me of the illustrations from the book so I decided to dress Anne for an afternoon with Christopher Robin. The outfit will look nice modelled by my Daisy Kingdom doll since I don't have one from the appropriate era.

Every little girl needs proper underwear so I started with something called an envelope chemise. It is part underwear and part chemise. The back of the chemise has a crotch that comes up between the legs and buttons to the front skirt part of the chemise. I made machine scallops around all the edges because I didn't want to make a lot of small hems. I also wanted this to be a play garment so I wanted it to be pretty without all the lacy frills finishing the edge. My machine makes nice scallops so I went with that to finish the edges. Not totally authentic, Annes chemise would probably have had scallops hand embroidered by her mother, but it still looks very nice and old fashioned. I may embroider some little white flowers on the front too.

I haven't decided what fabric I'm going to use for the dress yet. I'm leaning towards a little cream cotton with tiny yellow flowers on it; but I have a blue cotton with kitties printed on it that I like too.

I asked the kids to get me a Bleuette for Christmas. I've wanted one for years and I found a lady who does nice reasonably priced reproductions and has a lay away.I am going to pick out the one I want while Melissa is in for Thanksgiving. She'll be here on Tuesday and I'm excited! It's always nice to have all my chickees together!

Another Doll Dress

I had this dress set for Chatty Cathy over on E-bay and it didn't sell so I listed it in my Etsy store. I think it's really cute. Doll clothes don't sell really well in Etsy so I might end up keeping this one. I need to find a better outlet for selling doll clothes. I was talking to a lady in Hancock when I stopped to buy thread the other day and she said she's been doing well at craft shows this year. She said she makes dog coats. I didn't do any this year because they weren't that good last year. I'm going to just keep making the clothes and then maybe do a show in the spring. I was going through my doll patterns and I have quite a few for Bleuette, I just don't have a Bleuette to make them for. I've noticed the Bleuette clothes sell pretty well and I've been talking about getting one for years. There is a lady who has an online store and she has some nice Bleuettes for $165. She makes both sizes, the 10 5/8" and 11 1/2" I'm going to see if she will do a lay-away. I'd like to have the 10 5/8" because that's the size the antique doll was. There is so much hand sewing with Bleuette because her clothes are so tiny.

Melissa will be in for Thanksgiving! Yay!

My dad was a pretty conservative guy; although if you asked him he would say he was a Democrat. He identified with the Southern blue collar dems; he was from Arkansas. The big reason for that was not his political outlook, it was that he was a huge union guy. He believed in the union he was a member of; he went to union meetings and was pretty quick to defend unions in discussions. After he left the Air Force, he was a typical blue collar union worker, just like so many others at the time. In the days before Reagan and the beginning of the dismantling of the industrial base of this country, a lot of people belonged to unions and they were a force for labor. I would have to say that he would be appalled at the discussions we are having about bailing out the auto companies. After all we are talking about millions of jobs here! Why is it OK to fork 350 billion dollars of the recent bail out over to the banks and watch them buy each other up and continue to give incentives and golden parachutes to CEO's, and do nothing to help the American auto workers and their families? Why is there even a question about keeping an industry that is essential to keeping the economy (what's left of it anyway)on it's feet? If the auto industry in this country goes down we will be feeling the effects for years. I'm not saying that we just fork money over to them with no oversight, although as it turns out, that seems to be exactly what we've done for Wall Street in spite of reassurances that it wouldn't happen that way. No, I think we really can look at the money as a sort of loan to help them out. To let them fail will just make the current economic situation so much worse. People don't always think about how things are interconnected, but to possibly loose as many as one in ten jobs is not something that I feel we can let happen. And I don't know if this can wait til January; I think this is something that needs to be addressed now.

Go Keith

While Rachel Maddow may have taken over as my favorite political pundit, Keith Olbermann's comment on California's Prop 8 last night was excellent. He's my hero for today.



A discussion that came up last night between Sio, Irene and I was if a religious group like the LDS can spend the money to influence the votes of people (which is what happened in this case), then they should have thier tax exempt status taken away. I think it's pretty cut and dried; this is a case where it really should be examined. If a religious organization is willing to step over the boundaries into politics, well they have every right to do that, but the consequences should be swift from the federal govenment, and those consequences should be revoking the tax exempt status they have had so far.

I watched parts of yesterdays press conference after I got home; I didn't catch it all because I went out with Sio for a lot of the day. Anyway, John and I were watching parts of it on the Huffington Post. I haven't watched a Bush press conference in a long time; actually whenever Bush comes on tv I generally turn him off because I'm either totally pissed about what he's saying or because I couldn't believe how stupid he can be. Anyway, I said to John "This is a good press conference." and John said he thought Obama would have a lot of them and so do I. I said it will be good to have some transparency in government again. It will be good to have some one in government who has every bodies welfare at heart. Over on the new website www.change.gov you can give your vision of what you think America can look like, and you can also apply for a job! It's remarkable! Rachel Maddow also has a "honey do" list for the new President elect over on the MSNBC website that she's asked people to add to. The top issue is the economy, of course, and Obama addressed that yesterday saying it will be his top priority as it should be. I think energy Independence/climate change should be second on the list and one of the things I'm going to put in my vision of what America can be is a country connected by light rail systems so we can use our cars a lot less. Trains can be run on electricity which can be gotten from solar or wind power and wouldn't use oil. And if we were riding those trains instead of driving we wouldn't be either. I actually am a big proponent of putting mass transit systems in place and then rationing fuel and taxing personal carbon emissions. It's a huge project and to put it in place will create jobs, too, although a lot of old railroad tracks still exist even though they aren't being used now.

Cute Doll Dress

OK, just because we have just gone through the greatest election of my life as a voter (Kennedy doesn't count because I was only a wee little thing) doesn't mean that I haven't been sewing and this is one of the things I've made and is now listed on E-bay. I really think this is one of the cutest doll dresses I've ever made, but there are no bids on it yet; no-one is even watching it!

I actually am waiting with bated breath to see what comes out of the startegy meetings that some of the Republican leaders (such as they are) are having. I realize that in some ways it doesn't matter, especially as the balance of power will remain pretty firmly center leaning left for awhile, however it does matter because if the right can be brought more to the center it will just be easier to start the sweeping changes that have to be made. I'm kind of taking the day off from politics today though. At least til 7 when Olbermann come on MSNBC.