Thursday afternoon things

(Another real-time post. Hopefully these will stop happening soon if my dad gets home soon. I don't like to spend time online when my parents are around - I feel like I should be spending my time with them other than quickly checking e-mail or similar).

* And yeah, they are now saying "a day or two more" so I am holding out hope maybe tomorrow afternoon he'll get home. I know he had complained he hadn't been feeling well and his legs had hurt before he went in; maybe he WAS harboring some kind of infection (which is what they treated hom for). He's been moved from "progressive care" to "regular care;" I assume "progressive care" is a more-intensive ward because when he went in last fall with pneumonia it was ICU first, then progressive care, then regular care, then the rehab center.

He and my mom have already concluded based on his prior rehab-center experience that he received less-attentive care from the staff than what my mom can give at home, so they're gonna refuse if it's suggested. (But, if a home-nurse to come in and change dressings and check up on things is prescribed, they'll take that).

With a little luck, he'll be home before I have to leave (Tuesday afternoon) so I'll get to see him at home. If not, I'll probably go over with my mom for part of a day provided multiple visitors are permitted at once. (She did say the room he was in now was *very* small).

* Anyway. As I said on Twitter: it's no one's fault, but it still sucks. Worse for him than for my mom or me, and worse for my mom than for me, but still, it sucks a little for me.I do notice a couple things about being alone in an unfamiliar-to-me house: I don't like it as dim as when other people are here, or as I like it in my own home, so I've put a few more lights on. And I have the tv on for background noise.

* Other things I've been thinking of:

- I noticed in the mail I put out for my mom a renewal sent to one of the magazines (I think it was the junior version of Ranger Rick?) my parents subscribe to for my niece. And that's nice. When I was a kid I remember really liking having magazine subscriptions - I got Ranger Rick (probably my favorite of them) and National Geographic World and for a while, Cricket, and when I got a bit older, Games. For one thing, it was nice just getting mail once a month, for another, it was nice to have something new to read on a regular basis.

I still like magazines. I get a few quilting ones and Interweave Knits and Grit and Victoria and Tea Time and Cook's Country and Mary Jane's Farm. I will be sad when (as I expect will eventually happen) they go all-digital or go away altogether.

- Also based on a tweet from Charles (a "mutual" of mine on Twitter and a regular blog commenter) - local radio. I miss old-skool local radio, with local hosts, that catered to local interests. Even though we lived in a wealthier "bedroom community" when I was a kid, we were surrounded by more-rural areas and I remember hearing farm reports and also "swap shops" on the radio and there was just something....nice....about it. It gave a sense of community. Also local weather people who knew the area and knew what they were talking about. (I remember rolling my eyes some years back when someone on the Weather Channel pronounced "Ashtabula" "Ash-TAB-you-la" (it's "Ashta-byoola"). People who either grew up in the area or who had lived there long enough to know it. (And also: all of that local stuff meant jobs for "local kids" who maybe did a "communications degree," now it seems like there are fewer jobs that people kind of fight over. I guess there are still somewhat-local tv news crews, though in my parents' town it seems like ALL the network affiliates are owned by the same group and the same "talent" (FSVO "talent," and yes, the Sunday evening or federal-holiday crew are still very much the "developmental league") appears on all of them.

- Yes, I'm getting old. A lot of things were worse 30-40 years ago but a few things were maybe better. I think local radio was better. Shopping was maybe better.

* I have the second dragon (the crocheted one this time) mostly done, might finish it tonight - I still have to do the second back leg and the tail and then the various accoutrements (horns, wings, "spikes"). I'm making it from a skein of turquoise Red Heart I overbought when I made the stuffed Perry the Platypus all those years ago and a bit of leftover cream colored yarn. (The spikes are supposed to be of a third color but I'm not quite sure which of the leftover bits to use yet; I will have to audition different colors and if there's not one I like, I'll just use more of the cream).

* The dress is done except for a hem, and attaching buttons (decorative ones to hold down the pocket flaps, and a functional one to hold the keyhole neckline closed) and maybe a little work tacking down the facing around the neck. I'm hoping that *possibly* my mom will get home early enough this evening to help me with the hem - I am going to use hem tape and just turn up a very small hem, as the dress is short enough as it is. (It will probably wind up mid knee-cap length, which is short enough for me). I'm pretty happy with it especially considering I wasn't totally in love with the fabric at first; I wondered if the pattern was too busy and too large for the dress, but the colors are subdued enough that it works.

The sleeves are different from the sleeves I've made before - bell sleeves, and there's a heavy facing instead of a hem on the sleeve to keep it open and keep it hanging the right way. It's an interesting design feature.

Really, the whole dress has been surprising. I'm going to keep the pattern pieces I traced off (I should write my alterations on them - the need to make a *slightly* wider seam allowance around the bust area and on the top of the sleeves) because it came out well enough and wasn't a pain to sew, and I could see doing a second one of these, maybe in a plain color, maybe a heavier firmer knit or heavier woven (wool blend, perhaps) for winter, to be worn over tights.

For a "free" dress (the pattern was free, just a little work to print out and trace off, and the fabric was effectively free in that it was a piece that either my mom or I bought maybe 20 years ago and never used) it certainly turned out well. The only expense was a spool of thread (maybe $3) and some buttons (maybe another $5). The white fabric for the collar and pockets was a piece my mom had leftover from something else, and the interfacing was also scraps she had on hand.

I don't count my time in the cost because I enjoy this kind of thing, so it's less "I would make $x if I were doing work instead" and more "this is a fun way to spend free time." But it even took less time than I thought it might - maybe about 6-8 hours of sewing, and maybe another hour or two of tracing/fitting/cutting out. (Really, cutting out is the worst part of garment sewing, and I suspect other people who sew would agree with me on that. The sewing part is the fun part. Well, the most-fun part is picking out the pattern and fabric, but the sewing is still pretty fun.)