Timber, meet snow!

You've met Timber, right? The most perfect dog in the world?

Well, this is Timber. I've always fancied him to be a snow dog, pulling a sled across the tundra (most likely chasing some form of snow cat), but to my knowledge, puppers has never seen, much less ran across, the snow.

Last weekend Chris and I traveled to South Lake Tahoe and Timber finally realized his true calling.

Meet Timber, SNOW DOG!

Upon first contact of his paws to the powdery snow, Timbertoes rejoiced as all happy dogs smile: open mouthed.

The powder was a touch difficult for us to manage, since Timber would sink up to his torso with each step. *We broke into a golf course for this picture, by way a broken fence someone had crashed through days before.

Timber's walking-through-snow face is even more amusing than his I-don't-do-reverse face.

Don't we look like we belong?

I need to take Timber back up to the snow this year or the next. He has never been so happy! Unless there was pork involved.

Lamb tails!

The annual terrifying event known as "lamb tails" occurred on February 15th. Dad kind of sprung it on us last minute (February 13th around 7:30pm, to be specific) but Michelle, Chris, and I were still able sever woolly appendages. All in all, it went pretty well. There weren't any hospital-worthy injuries, Chris developed a new technique for catching and passing horned lambs, Michelle was the champion of the bench (I tried holding lambs on the bench one time this year--then I fell off the bench because my legs couldn't reach the ground), and I didn't get killed. All around success!

Dad displaying his sorting skills.

Perfect little lambs in a pen!

Would someone PLEASE tell our father to stop buying and breeding horned rams?! They are a hazard! Though I must concede, the horns are a good defense against predators.

Chris taking a lovely lady to get her hooves and tail done.
(Gotta get my tail done! Gotta get my hooves done! Gotta look good tonight! Cuz I'm going to the barn tonight!)

The end of the day, that time when you finally have the excuse to cuddle two lambs at once! How do you think they feel about it? They look conflicted...

The damage done: 78 tails.

The twins pose proudly, knowing their good deed shall not be undone!

ah, winter

One of the joyful parts of winter, if you ask me, is the surfeit of wonderful lovely citrus. I wish we still had all these oranges (I took this picture last week), but I ate them all in a streak of vitamin-C seeking joy. Over the course of a few days, natch.
If the winter continues by way of this rain, I'll start working on some form of dress this weekend. I purchased a mess of fabric last week at Stonemountain and Daughter in Berkeley last week and I'm anxious to try Simplicity 2588 again, though in my size this time. Which really only leaves one question: does anyone know how to pre-treat stretch wool?

Birthday Party Recap, Fashion Glimpse

The colors of the evening: red, pink, and purple.

Even Chris and Bryce played along
What shoes did you think I would wear?
I say that Vanesa won "Best Outfit" for the night. Sadly, this picture doesn't do her adorable purple dress justice and you can't even see her festive tights, but still...

Birthday Party Recap!

Ah, Valentine's Day Birthday! Michelle has been raising ten kinds of a ruckus, demanding that I put a picture of the cake on the internet, so here it is. Mmm, cake.

It was your basic yellow cake with four berry jam in the center and vibrantly colored frosting. It is powerful cake, there is still a small bit in the kitchen. But not for long!

Here is Claire in front of the craft carnage. She opted to wear the apron (last remaining evidence of the mac 'n cheese we tore through earlier) for most of the night, in spite of wearing our theme colors with her chosen outfit.
Here are three of our mailboxes, hanging out together on the table. You can't tell, but they are heavy with valentine loot. You probably can tell that glitter still rules supreme in our house; I get concerned when I think about how much Timber has consumed in the past few days.

A sampling of the valentines. Most excellent!

waste not, want not...or something like that

I find myself really torn between opposing ideologies lately. Part of me desperately wants to buy new clothes now now now! while the other part of me spends far too much time considering the impact new shoes have on the world, the misuse of resources (my personal resources and in the broader sense too) and the waste generated by a constant stream of new clothes, and my general contempt for disposable culture. These feelings are causing me to re-evaluate many decisions I used to take for granted. Namely, it has added a massive amount of guilt to any and every shopping trip.
I've been the same size (more or less) sense high school. With that in mind, I haven't physically outgrown anything for quite some time, but rather have changed my fashion and had to acquire new clothes to accommodate my new style. Fine and dandy, I don't really want to be trotting around in those overalls and flannels any more than you want to see me in them. But aside from that, I've given away more clothes and shoes to the Salvation Army that I HAD to own a year or two earlier and thrown away clothes and tennis shoes that were spent after less than a year of wear. Looking at that waste, I've concluded that I am a rather foolish and impulsive shopper.
If you think about it, how is it that so many clothes are produced each season, each DAY for people to consume? How can we possibly use that much? Stores can't sell all of those clothes generated in wasteful quantities, but that doesn't mean the clothes are going to areas or people of need. Instead, they just generate more and more waste.
With that in mind, I need to make some changes: I need to be smarter with the clothes I already have by taking better care of said clothes, make repairs when possible, make wiser new purchases, and remind myself that we didn't always need so much. Part of this is poverty-induced, I'll give you that--another part of it is wanting to wear things that I can't always find in stores (vintage patterns, eee!). But the other part of me thinks I could better direct that money spent on new (disposable) clothes; like towards travel, owning another dog, good times at the bar with friends, my retirement, bike repairs, transit passes, really awesome food, pictures from my wedding, thrift store clothes that I will magically transform into something awesome, and a general sense of well-being. Oh, and tea. mmm, tea.
Don't worry, I will still shop, just in a less frenzied and ill-advised fashion. I hope.

Reasons I Don't Like Pattern Sewing

After talking with Michelle last week, she convinced me that I should just make something for myself since I had not (successfully) done that for...oh, about a year or more. I took this mission to heart and bought a new pattern and some fabric to make myself something amazingly cute to wear to work--something that looked fabulous and I could say, "This? Oh, I just whipped it up this weekend."
As I indicated in the last post, I was putting on my best "Meticulous Sewer" face and trying to obey 2588's commands. I measured myself and used those numbers to determine what size to use (actually, two sizes--one for the bust and another for the waist and hips--I really wanted this dress to be perfect, which meant it had to fit over the Montana known as my hips), I transferred all of those annoying notches and markings, I read the instructions three+ times, and what do I end up with?

A dress that fits Michelle practically perfectly*. Timber is so upset, he can't even look at her.

Also, take note of the pewter United Nude shoes in front of Michelle. If she weren't wearing the brown belt, those shoes could be rocking with the dress.
*The dress still needs to be hemmed; I like this length a lot, so I'm going to keep it as long as possible. I refuse to put a lining in it. Because I'm lazy.