Pirate Coat!!!

So....I'm sure you've probably forgotten because it's been so long, but it's okay because I remember that once upon a few ages ago I mentioned the construction of a 'pirate' coat...ringing any bells?

Well, I finally got pictures taken!!!

First, a little bit of an explanation or description of my project.

So, my mom already had the pattern from a previous costume project (although she had never made the coat), and I searched through the fabric stash to find pieces big enough to make a coat out of.

Since this project was just for fun, I didn't really want to spend anything extra on it, so using stuff I already had was a joy.

Well, there were a few new experiences; 1) I've never made 'godets' before. Thankfully my Mom was around to walk me through it, or I'm afraid this coat would have been an epic disaster because I was completely dumbfounded by them - they turned out good, though!!!

2) The cuffs on the sleeves - while I LOVE them, they were a bit different...

3) I used a soft corduroy for the main body of the coat, which kinda stuck up the needle on the machine a bit, but we got through it!

Those are just the most troublesome parts. On the whole, this project was WAY FUN and I LOVE my pirate coat!!! 

The front - note the awesome cuffs!!!

Here you can see the back and how the 'godets' work. It flares out nicely!!!

Every time I mention to people that I made a pirate coat, they immediately ask me "What are you going to do with a pirate coat?"

The answer? I have no clue. I just wanted it! And for me, there doesn't really have to be a better reason than that to have a good time with a sewing machine. I'm sure it will come in handy some day... you never know when a good pirate coat may be required!!!

"Norrington: No additional shot nor powder, a compass that doesn't point north,
[looks at Jack's sword]
Norrington: And I half expected it to be made of wood. You are without doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of.
Jack Sparrow: But you have heard of me." ~Pirates of the Caribbean; Curse of the Black Pearl

" Jack Sparrow: Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid." ~Pirates of the Caribbean; Curse of the Black Pearl

Dark Pudding

Guess what I made for desert tonight?

Dark chocolate pudding....yup, you guessed it - with SPRINKLES!!!

Was it a hit??? Well...

It actually didn't taste that amazing, in my opinion. Sure, everyone pretended to like it, but the reality is, when you use dark chocolate cocoa powder, you need to up the sugar-amount if you really want something divine. 

Just a helpful hint from me to you.

But next time, my friend, it will be a delicious delicacy to delight...

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Conclusion of the Classics

Congratulate me, my dear friends, I have completed my Classics course of study!!!

Now, I did not end up reading the 30 or so books that were on my original plan, since it soon became apparent that it would be nearly impossible for me to read that many books and still maintain sanity whilst attempting to do all the other things I find important, so I cut and slashed the list until I ended up with this final count:

1. Homer - The Iliad and The Odyssey
2. Aeschylus - The Oresteia
3. Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
4. Euripides - The Bacchae, Hippolytus
5. Aristophanes - Comedies; Peace, Birds
6. Virgil - The Aeneid
7. Augustine - The Confessions
8. Beowolf
9. Dante - The Divine Comedy
10. Charles Dickens - Great Expectations
11. Geroge Eliot - Middlemarch
12. Mark Twain - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 

So there you have it! I finished "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" just on Monday. And yesterday I finished reading the book "Invitation to the Classics", which has been my guide-book throughout this course. While I didn't read all of the books, I did read about all the books, as well as the essays on different styles of literature. So I'm feeling really good about my accomplishments. :)

So what now? Well, I'm still going to be reading! Not the 'Classics' anymore, but moving on to what I've always viewed as the 'Classics of my family', books that my older siblings had read, loved, and wished me to read. I started "The Silmarillion" in February, and it's been sitting on my desk, waiting for me to finish with other things so I can continue my spellbound perusal of its admirable contents. So excited to continue!

So, I guess you'll have to wait and see what else I read and such! I'm so close to completing my school work, and I'm planning all sorts of fun things for my graduation party...most importantly at the moment - scrapbooks!!! I've never made any before, so I'm very excited :) :) :)


"People, in general," he said, "only ask advice not to follow it; or if they do follow it, it is for the sake of having someone to blame for having given it."  ~The Three Musketeers  (Alexandre Dumas)

"This notion of an immolated gnat delights me!" ~The Birds (Aristophanes)

"They were now swarming down over the rocks, like an army of Gollums with uncanny agility." ~Waterfall: A Novel (River of Time Series) (Lisa T. Bergren)

The Case of the Missing Cat

So, I had this adventure yesterday.

It was just a normal Thursday morning, I was chillin' with my sister before she went to work, and she was just getting ready to leave when I realized that I had not seen my cat, Bootsy, all morning. Which is highly unusual, since she usually parades about the house, investigating everything to see that it has not altered in the least bit during the night.

Nothing to be too alarmed about, she's probably just hiding out or sleeping somewhere. At 9:30 in the morning....right. She shouldn't be sleeping yet. So I went through the entire house at least twice, looking for the precious kitty, and could NOT find her anywhere!!!

By now I had realized that she must have gotten outside somehow, but I wasn't ready to admit to that possibility yet. So I waited for my mom to come home from daily Mass to see what she might know. Well, Mom returned, and she didn't know where Bootsy could be - in fact, she hadn't seen her since a couple of friends had been over the evening before. Neither of us had fed her because we thought the other had taken care of the cat, and she hadn't 'reminded' either of us, so it went unnoticed until the morning.

Next Mom called Dad at work, to see if he knew anything about it, and he suggested the fact that the door had been accidentally left open for a few minutes the night before. Now it was quite obvious that Bootsy was outside, and also, that she had been out all night!!! The poor kitty....

After this Mom and I went outside, and almost immediately we both heard this quiet little 'meow', and found the unhappy cat hiding underneath the front porch. She came out right away, visibly shaken from her nighttime ordeal, but otherwise unharmed. I picked her up and cuddled her, we took her inside, and fed her (she was fiercely hungry by now), and she took the rest of the day to rest and recover her ruffled nerves.

So that was my adventure!


"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom." ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

"People are just as happy as they make their minds up to be." ~Abraham Lincoln