How to Declutter - Film a Movie

We've been picking away at decluttering the house and we have made headway, but it seems that the key to doing it was film.  Mr. Lina filmed a short fake trailer on Saturday.  It's amazing the effort that goes into 90 seconds of film.  Somehow it managed to involve every room in the house except my sewing room.  Either it was in frame, space used by lighting/camera, or it was space to serve food and chill.  So pretty much every room needed some level of decluttering, admittedly some more than others.  My sewing room being the one exception.  Things were hidden in that room.

Here's a behind the scene shot of one of the death scenes in my kitchen.

Notice the vast quantities of fake blood on that actress (her shirt has white and coral stripes under that blood).  As much as I knew this was going to be a horror trailer, and in the 80's slasher style, I didn't QUITE do the math on how much fake blood would be involved.  Nor how far the splatter would go.  The upstairs bathroom (shower death scene being a requirement in most slasher films as an excuse to show a little more skin) looked like Dexter visited and forgot his plastic sheeting.  The bathroom and kitchen are cleaner than I think they have ever been because I kept finding splatters of fake blood everywhere.  For example, I don't think I've ever taken a tooth brush to the grout on the floor in my upstairs bathroom.  Washed the floor, sure, but scrubbing on my knees with a tooth brush?  Not really my typical cleaning style.  There was fake blood on the inside of my oven door, under the burners, on the back splash, the little indents under the counters...  It was just... everywhere.  There are a couple of spots I think we're going to need to paint because the red isn't coming out of the porous material.

No sewing was needed for this film set, but I did craft services again. Breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner for a much smaller group than some of the other film sets (a benefit of a 90 second shoot and a minimal crew).  It was enough to keep me on my toes.  Everything went so smoothly they finished up the shoot a few hours early.  Unheard of I tell you.  I think the only thing that went wrong was my spider plant falling.  This happened before the picture above, we were moving the other actors around and getting the lighting right when the spider plant got hooked on someones pants or something and fell, missing her head by maybe 2".
She's got reflexes like a cat that one.  I kept trying to see the plus side of things and for this one, it's that A) the actress moved and was fine, and B) that spider plant was pretty pot bound, it seems a new pot was in order anyhow.  We should have decluttered that corner too, but it wasn't going to be in frame.  Lesson learned.

Past that, it's okay.  I seem to be in a quiet sad spot at the moment.  Not teary or anything, but I lack focus and interest in work.  It's harder to get out the door in the morning, when I get there I don't know where to start, I don't want to call in for my client team meetings.  Not quite sure what to do about it or what to make of it.  I'm on week 2 of some PMS symptoms, I'm thinking that's probably a factor but not the only one.  It seems to be more work focused than home focused (I was a-okay fine on the film set, even with cleaning up the blood), maybe this 5 day a week client facing is just too much.

And amusing to me, my youngest brother Clone and his wife have decided that the name they picked for their son doesn't fit.  So they changed it.  I'm not quite sure why I find it funny, but I do.  Parents pick names so early and who says that it's going to fit the face and personality that you see when the baby is born?  I am pleased they made the change now if they weren't happy, it can't be easy to admit the name you picked just didn't work.  You know my parents only had a girls name for me (my paternal grandmothers name, most of Dad's family died in a car accident 4 years earlier) and only a boys name for Scot, and no name for Clone when we were born.  My mom was convinced I was going to be a boy (to the point she argued with the doctor when he said "it's a girl!") so it's kind of funny they didn't have a boys name for me but there you go.

Horrors of Horrors

Horrors of the movie/convention sort.  Mr. Lina and I spent the weekend at Shock Stock in London, ON.  They aired Tasha on Friday night, too early for me to make it after work.  The guys got a table at the convention - an opportunity to sell DVD's of The Post Lifers and show off some of the prosthetics used in the various films.  That kind of tied us to the convention hall side of things both Saturday and Sunday.

Not bad for being terribly hung over, scarf was purchased at our last house concert.

By "us" I mean Mr. Lina.  I figured there were 3-4 of them there that actually worked on the movies, they didn't really need me at the table so I drifted in and out.  I was mostly there for the socializing in the evening.  It was pretty cool.  I got to know a little more of the film making community that Mr. Lina is connected with.  Quite often I'm introduced to people but don't get to know them, I really enjoyed being able to spend a little more time with those people.

TPL Booth  - That is the mask Mr. Lina wears to play Humphrey.

The hotel that the convention used is all suites.  When Mr. Lina sent me the reservation receipt, I looked up the amenities.  French doors to the bedroom, wet bar with fridge and microwave, desk, sofa, comfy chairs in the living room area... perfect for having people over for pre/post-drinks.  As it turned out, we were on the same floor as the VIP party room, and sure enough, we had 5-12 people in our room pretty frequently.

Mr. Lina met "Scotty" (Hal Delrich) from the Evil Dead movie

One of the people I had met before but didn't know asked me what my role was in Mr. Lina's film making.  I looked around at the people hanging out, the snacks on the desk, the comfort of people and thought... this.  My role is setting things up so Mr. Lina can do what he needs to, figuring out things that he's going to miss, anticipating what will make others happy and comfortable and easier to work with.  It's not like a few pretzels, hummus, and sweets are all that important, but the next day someone mentioned how it helped soak up a bit of alcohol and I felt oddly vindicated.

The horror community seems to appeal to a particular subset of society, people who seem to take pleasure in proving they don't fit into mainstream society.  So me with my basic make-up, un-pierced body and tattoo-less skin, actually stands out as the odd person in the room.  During one of the socializing sessions in our hotel room, we were talking about a line from The Post Lifers.  The character Katie is a former porn star and spends the whole movie talking about sex.  At one point she gets upset saying don't pigeon hole her, she's read books - but then ruins it all buy saying that pigeon holing is awesome... look it up.  I had not heard of it, the writer thought he was making it up, but it is in urban dictionaries and I did explain it to someone I met on the weekend (ah... ranch dressing as lubricant so it ends up looking like pigeon droppings).  She found it rather amusing to hear such naughty words (I was a bit more direct in person) coming out of my mouth.  Funny how the people who seem to want to prove they don't fit sometimes put the same stereotypes they are fighting on others.

All that socializing came at a sleep debt cost that has made this week... challenging.  I'm feeling like I'm in a bit of a fog.  I am happy to help others out, face to face I'm fine, but finding the interest in my own work is challenging.  It's a very good thing that Easter is approaching and it's a short week.

Home Sweet Home

Ah what a trip...  5 days or so in York, UK, one night at the Manchester airport, another 5 days in Landshut, Germany.  I think it was about the right length.  I was sad to leave friends but my lungs had enough of their cats.  I had a great time in Germany but by the last night I was happy to know I'd be in my own bed soon.  I was not happy to have the vacation end exactly, but I was happy to be going home.  

The film festival was fantastic.  Again, I can't get over the quality of the films being aired.  I means so much to go to a film festival and enjoy watching almost every single movie.  Think of the last 20 movies you watched, did you actually like them all?  I saw 66 movies between Wednesday and Sunday if I got my count right.  I can think of only a couple that I didn't like, but even then I could find something good about it - maybe the cinematography or the originality of the idea. 

Full theatre for the first screening - Shock Block 6, Body Horror.  Just realized that's my head at the front.

Mr. Lina's film was eligible for two awards - a jury prize and a fan award.  The "Lieblingsschocker" was done by polling the audience for each block of films (there were 7 Shock Blocks) and then on Saturday night they aired all 7 of the best of the block and that audience picked their favourite.  Incredibly, Tasha won their block of "Body Horror".  Going into the finals, it was up against (links are to trailers):

• The Man Who Could Not Dream (Australia)- narrated by Geoffrey Rush and closing song by Radiohead
• Fool's Day (U.S.)- made by Cody Blue Snider (the son of Dee Snider from Twisted Sister) with a cast drawn from Law & Order guest spots and Broadway productions, won the audience award.
• Death of a Shadow (Belgium)- nominated for an Oscar, won the jury prize.
• Killer Kart (U.S.) - 4 best horror/comedy/short awards
• Sequence (U.S.) - Winner/nominated for 9 awards at various festivals, I couldn't find a trailer.
• Good Night (Slovakia)

Honestly, airing with these films is absolutely amazing.  Here we are making films in our own basements and living rooms, using friends for free/cheap labour and competing with Oscar contenders and narrated by Oscar winners.  It's a little surreal.

Mr. Lina (centre) doing Q&A after the Leiblingsschoker screening.

Speaking of surreal...  We went again because it was a good festival that lead to some lasting connections for us and gave us a fun place to go for vacation.  Half of success seems to be who you know and building relationships with other film makers and festival organizers is a good thing.  Still... it's a bit strange on the first day to have a photographer from a magazine recognize us.  Outside of having our picture taken last year, we didn't talk to her.  We also found out from German film makers that we're sometimes listed as an example of how successful the festival has become - people come all the way from Canada!  I think we may have even ended up on local television.  We had to "redo" our greetings to the festival organizer because there weren't cameras playing the first time.  It was rather surreal.

Silliness after too many Shock Blocks!

Anyhoo... I have come home with a horrible cough and head congestion and naturally a bit of jet lag from the 7 hour time difference.  I went to bed a bit past 8pm last night (I tried to wait for the sun to at least set) and pretty much slept through until I heard Mr. Lina in the shower at 7:20 am.  Apparently I was tired.  I was also very happy to be in my own bed.  For some reason, the hotel we stay in pushes two single beds together and provides two single duvets to sleep under.  It's a lovely hotel, we even got a free upgrade because our reservation was missed, but I find the bed & bedding situation a bit strange.  We don't get to cuddle (and we usually fall asleep spooning) without either feeling too hot (if our duvets overlap), too cold (if there is a gap between the duvets) or like I'm falling between the beds.  It's very... strange.

I'll have more updates to come, I have a skirt to blog about!

I sewed!

Sadly I'm not done yet so I don't have pictures to show you, but progress has been made.  It's been ages since I last sewed and I'd like to commemorate the event with a sewing room saga.

When my parents were in Florida, I had two pieces of corduroy shipped to them from Fabric Mart.  Sadly, I forgot to save the pictures from the web site and I haven't taken my own.  Mind you, black fabric doesn't photograph well anyhow.  So... piece #1 was black Ralph Lauren stretch pin wale corduroy and #2 is a dusky plum (hedging towards brown) very wide wale corduroy.  The reason pictures are moot is that they would not convey how soft both fabrics are.  I swear the dusky plum is like velvet in it's softness.  Both pieces are far better than the fabric I used for my grey skirt, the skirt that has me wanting another corduroy skirt.

I washed the fabric late last week.  I left it to finish the last drying over the railing in the upstairs hallway so it would be in my way, taunting me.  Sunday I had the whole day free.  I woke up and told myself I'm going to sew today.  And did I?  No, stupid Facebook games...

But the England/Germany trip is fast approaching (like two more sleeps approaching).  I thought of how much I want another somewhat casual skirt to wear.  So I did it.  I moved crap from my sewing room to the guest room, I chucked more stuff to clear off the cutting table.  And I was decisive and I cut.

A pencil skirt is pretty basic.  I have made a few skirts and didn't see an issue.  But then I started looking, I've mostly made A-line skirts, or patterns for stretchy fabrics (my mom loved Stretch n Sew patterns), or for a size 10 that would need grading even from the grading I did when I made it before, I couldn't actually find a pattern that was... perfect.  I have a UFO for the pencil skirt for Butterick 5147 but something went wrong at the zipper.  It's horribly warped and yes, I probably need to put some interfacing to stabilize it, but I think part of the problem is that my hip is not the right distance from my waist making it bunch up too high.  It was not the pencil skirt of my dreams.

Somehow, I thought it would be easier to work from a combination of a) measurements, b) the Lekala back skirt piece (no idea where the front piece is) and c) the front DRESS piece for Lekala 5432 just guessing where to put the waist based on the curve of the hip.  I've made Lekala 5432 many times, first as linked above for a wedding with satin and swiss dot, then again in a knit, then again looser in a light rayon.  Lekala has no seam allowances, but I also needed to add width.  The pencil skirt was 3" smaller than my measurements (with no ease),  I know that the dress I wore to the wedding that is the same size as the pieces is too snug at the moment and I used every bit of seam allowance, so it needed a little width too.  Added to this, I had the back pattern piece but no instructions (although it's no real loss, Lekala directions are well, worse than Burda), so I opened up another pattern to borrow the directions.  And yet, I chose to frankenpattern it up because the shape is right.  Mr. Lina loves that dress because he thinks it makes my ass look good.  I trust his judgement on something I can't see well myself.  I added the requisite inches (roughly) and cut away.

At that point, I became my usual terrified self.  What if it's too small?  I knew I wanted either lining or underlining, I've found tights get caught on my grey cord skirt. So I used the already cut corduroy as my pattern and cut out some Bemberg lining.  I sewed it up with the laziest (crappiest) French seams EVER, and pulled it on with lots of room.  Lots.

For my grey skirt, I finished the seams by zigzagging and while it works and it's fine now, there was a phase of finding loose threads everywhere until it essentially shredded back to the stitches.  While I was trying to find pattern pieces, I came across my shoe box of satin bias tape and I thought that would be lovely on the inside.  So now it's sort of a Hong Kong finish with ivory satin bias tape.  But in my slapdash mood, I just folded the tape over and sewed it up rather than two passes to sew it on like proper bias tape.  The plum stitching looks pretty on the ivory satin bias tape.

As I was about to figure out the zipper situation, Mr. Lina came up to bed.  A sure sign it's time to stop sewing.  I really didn't want to sleep with thoughts of how it could be big like the lining or too small.  In attaching the bias tape, I was also having second thoughts because the seam allowances were going to HAVE to be wider than the bias tape (and thus wider than my crappy French seams).  And the corduroy is a lot thicker than lining, there will be turn of cloth kind of issues, I used the cut cord pieces for my lining patters so the lining is naturally a little bigger... maybe it wouldn't fit...

So I set the longest stitches and sewed up the sides.  The zipper isn't done so I can't speak to the true fit, but it's going to be just fine.  It's not crazy potato sack big, it went over my hips and it's not obvious where my thighs end so I won't be crying as I give it away or wait for 10lbs to magically disappear...  it's going to fit.  I can't speak to the fit at the waist, I haven't sewn the front darts nor the zipper, but if there is a little extra room there I might add a little elastic to pull it in rather than using darts to remove it.  A little pretzel and schnitzel room so to speak.

I am going to wear it in Germany after all.

Movies and Movies and Migraines

I had a migraine on Thursday.  It's been a while since I've had one start at work and felt trapped.  I get auras before my migraines.  In theory, this early warning that life is going to suck should be helpful.  I can start taking medications before my head is about to explode.  The down side, I can't see.  The aura blocks part of my vision (like when a camera flash creates spots) so I have to wait for it to pass before driving home and the prescription meds make me stupid so I don't drive while taking them.  I got home at 6:20 on Thursday (the aura started at 4:30) and by 6:30 I was asleep in bed.  I woke up when Mr. Lina came home and when he came to bed at 11 (enough to wash my face and pee) and slept until the alarm went off.  For me, sleep really is the best remedy.  I have no idea how people manage with chronic migraines.

My migraines are usually tied to stress.  I can't find a single common food, weather pattern, hormone that ties to my migraines.  I used to get them far more frequently with my last job, where I'd say most of my stress came from boredom and feeling penned in than stress in the typical fashion.  I spent two years knowing I needed to leave that job but not sure where to go.  I'd say this job has more typical stress to it, and yet I have fewer migraines.  Sometimes my migraines seem to be my body saying "enough already", like the week of migraines that was my honeymoon.  I held it together leading up to the wedding, but I fell apart when it was done.

I suppose this warrants some thought on my part because I feel very migraine-like today.  I started getting a headache as I drove to work, I took Advil for it.  The pain is not bad, but my eyelids feel heavy, I feel stupid for lack of a better word - switching words, more typos, forgetful.  Something for me to keep track of I think, just in case this is the start of a pattern.

More fun stuff...  movies.

Tasha and Friends is entered into a contest.  I gather that Hellion is looking for a short film that is going to be on a screen in their movie.  To drum up entries, they are running a contest with each week announcing an audience favourite.  T&F is part of week one.  Right now, it has 10% of the votes (top movie has 26%), you don't have to watch any of them, but if you have a minute, I'd appreciate your vote.

T&F is also airing at the Landshuter Kurzfilmfestival and we booked our flight to go.  We went last year and had a great time meeting other film makers including Richard Stanley.  Last year we didn't have a lot of vacation time to put towards the trip.  This year, I have an extra week of vacation and we know what we're getting into.  The plan is to visit friends living in York, UK first.  We'll fly to Manchester (which after reading two Peter Hook books I think of as Madchester) overnight on March 20th, take the train to York and stay from Friday to Tuesday.  I'm hoping we can do a little day trip to Scotland given that York is pretty far north.  Then on the Wednesday we'll fly to Munich for the film festival and come home on the Monday.  A little less whirlwind than last year.  We saw Munich last year and know Landshut well, so we're going to explore other parts of Bavaria, it's not far from Austria and the Dachau Concentration Camp.  But we will likely play those plans by ear.

Booking the tickets makes it seem so much more... real.

Silly & Random

My thoughts are a bit muddled as I puzzle something out at work today.  I think it's time for a list while the other stuff filters through.  This is going to be a truly random list but it's a start...

• Tasha & Friends had it's premiere last weekend at Buffalo Dreams Film Festival
• I couldn't go, I had already committed to helping my mom at a craft show, pout.
• It won Best Short Comedy and Mr. Lina got to meet his idol in independent film, Lloyd Kaufman
• Toronto folks can see Tasha at Blood in the Snow, I'll be at the 2pm showing on December 1st at the Carleton Theatre, the Saturday show sold so fast they booked a second slot for the short films
• Which is a good thing since I'm going to see Great Big Sea on the Saturday night
• Last weekend we went to see The Drive By Truckers at the Phoenix in Toronto
• The day of the show I woke up WAY too early, didn't nap and by 1am my feet were killing me from standing through the show
• You'd think I'd learn that the Phoenix requires comfy shoes even if I look silly
• On the drive home, I fell asleep
• Not remarkable in and of itself, but I started singing to Mr. Lina
• At least, that's what he told me, I don't remember, I was asleep
• I altered the words from "You are my Sunshine" to "You are My Snuggle-Mr. Lina"
• Which does flow better with his first name
• Good to know I'm cute even when I'm sleeping
• Thus bringing the silly part of the blog title
• I have had a bit of a rough week - migraine, a sad day (but just one day) and perhaps a little too much time to myself
• Work has been busy and occasionally contributed to the overwhelmed feeling (notably on my sad day), highlighted by leaving work at 8pm on Friday night
• I needed people to leave so I could get my own work done and Mr. Lina was already in Buffalo so no rush to get home really
• I am gradually working on the house, but it's a pretty slow pace
• I don't have the love of organisation that others do, packing and tossing stuff doesn't come easy for me
• I did tons of laundry this weekend and a lot of clean clothes are not going back in the drawers 
• I don't want to pack anything that doesn't fit and has no sentimental reason to keep
• I had the weekend to myself, looked forward to sewing, but a migraine put the kibosh on that, I stuck to doing laundry.
• Migraines suck, but it's been a long time since my last one so I'm really thankful for that
• Monday I was still kind of struggling with noises, particularly loud voices
• Sounds odd to cover noise with noise, but soft jazz in my headphones was soothing compared to talking, it's reminded me how much I like jazz from the 50's-60's.
• Yesterday was Remembrance Day
• I heard a poem by Dorothy Jamieson on the radio and after the poem, she said a few words to the audience that stuck with me:  Freedom isn't Free
• True in more ways than her military reference
• Next Thursday we're hosting Bill Bourne, winner of both Blues and Folk Juno awards
• That's going to be super cool.
• I get to make dinner for him.  How cool is that?
• I've already got 21 people confirmed for the show, that leaves about 10 seats and some time to go before the show (let me know if you'd like one of those 10 seats)
• The founder of the organisation for our house concerts, Mitch Podolack, was recognised for his contributions to folk music in Canada at the Canadian Folk Music Awards in Calgary, the CBC has this article on him
• We spent a lot of time with Mitch this year at the Folk Music Ontario conference, I am truly lucky to have had the chance to get to know him.
• To end this on a sewing note, I have a strange itch to make pants. 
• I even bought both Sewaholic pants patterns when she had her Thanksgiving sale
• But it's kind of scary.

Here's a little music so it's not without something pretty.  I like the words to this song.  As much as I'm dragging my heels, I am looking forward to building a brand new house full of love.  :)

The Post-Lifers - Now on YouTube

After more than 20 festivals in 4 countries with 7 wins for Best (Short) Film, The Post Lifers is now available to the world.  I have blabbed on and on about this little movie, and for a short time, you can see it too (without enduring an entire horror/independent film festival). 

This isn't going to be for everyone.  It has some amazing special effects so there is naturally an element of fake blood and gore.  One of the zombies is a former porn star so there is discussion of sex (although no actual sex nor nudity).  It is not scary, this is a comedy, but it's still in the horror genre. 

And without further ado...

The Post-Lifers

Oops

Once again, I've had a lapse in blogging.  It's not been intentional, I think I've been too tired to write.  When I do write, I seem to be too close to the events going on and it becomes like reading my day planner.  Not really the look I'm going for, you know?  So a few highlights...

Mr. Lina filmed another Post-Lifer film, "Oh Come All Ye Zombies".  This is going direct to YouTube, hopefully prior to this Christmas.  I did a few things:

• Shirt for a female zombie
• Appliqued humping reindeer onto a sweater for Humphrey (Mr. Lina)
• Yarmulke for Humphrey
• Food for cast & crew for the Sat/Sun

From a sewing perspective, all went well.  The shirt fit, Mr.Lina decided to use my (IMO) crappy first yarmulke not the second larger yarmulke (the down side of not being there for the first day of filming), but he seemed happy.  Food was well received, but there were a few glitches from my perspective.  The first being how exhausted it made me to do it.  The problem with craft services is that you're up prior to the first people going into make up (so they can eat breakfast) and I didn't stop moving until the evening.  I was being pushed to have a nap by one of the producers/actors and when I didn't listen to him because dinner had to get in the slow cooker if they wanted to eat before 9pm, he sicced the director on me.  I did have a nap once dinner was in the slow cooker.  Thank heaven I did.  Filming wrapped up at 10pm, it was 2am by the time I was home in my own bed.  Going to work the next day was painful.

The problem with being so busy is that I didn't get pictures of the actress nor Humphrey.  I did ask someone (with a much better camera) to take pictures for me, but it hasn't been shared around yet.  So I'll blog more about that when those arrive.

So I WAS sewing, but since the film shoot, I've just been exhausted. 

From more personal perspective...

I'm doing okay.  No sadness, no tears, no wonky emotions, no lamenting about lost opportunities.  I am slowly adjusting to the need to move, the more I say it I suppose the easier it gets, but there are still people I hedge around discussing moving with.  I just don't feel quite that comfortable yet.  We are looking online at houses for sale and saying a few "what if's".  Mr. Lina has priced out a storage unit and we'll be setting that up in the next week so we have a place (other than the fairly full garage) to move things that we don't need in the house. 

I've also been emailing a coworker who adopted his daughter through a foster to adopt program in another province.  It's been really good to hear about his experience and how quickly it went for him once they got the ball rolling.  He's also been encouraging not to rush.  He saw couples that went through infertility treatment prior to adoption who were clearly still struggling with closing that door.  It's good advice from someone who has been there. 

For those of you who like cooking with a slow cooker and like pork, I highly recommend this recipe.  I roughly followed the recipe, probably less salt and more cayenne, ground cumin instead of seeds... but I didn't significantly change anything except the orange juice.  We don't drink a lot of juice so I don't buy a lot of juice.  I do buy tetra packs of "fun" juices for punches when it's on sale so oddly enough I had mango juice but not orange.  Feedback from the 20 odd people I fed was very positive.  People were going back for thirds.

Trailer Time

I've mentioned many times before that Mr. Lina makes movies in his spare time. I've had some involvement, occasionally sewing backdrops or props, more frequently feeding cast & crew or production meetings. Well, I have something to share.

The latest film is called Tasha and Friends and is finally done. It's taken a long time to come to this, filming started 11 months ago and Mr. Lina is starting to submit to festivals this week. They have created a T&F facebook page and to celebrate having 100 likes, they have launched the trailer for the film.

The girl who did the voice for Jingles (the pink puppet), wasn't available and given how long they spent getting the film ready, they didn't want to wait to reshedule the voice work for the trailer. So guess who was the only female in the house on the day they DID want to do the voice work?

Yep, that's me as Jingles.

Also, in the trailer you get about 1 second shot of a black pair of panties I made in a rather un-panty like way.

And a brief warning of what to expect, there are very quick cuts to lots of fake blood and latex gore, there is one line of dialogue with swearing. I wouldn't watch this with children around but it's not so bad to be offensive.

Alma V2

That's V2 as in version, not view.

A few weeks ago, I met up with K-Line and she kindly pinned out all the extra fabric on my first Alma.  While I think that shirt could end up being a wearable muslin of sorts (think camping), I didn't want to take her pins out and futz around too much and lose all the changes that needed to be made to the flat pattern.

I broke out my Ikea paper and traced new front and back pieces by looking at the pinned pieces and the original pattern.  I then cut out a new front and sewed up the darts.  It looked better just holding it up to my body, but I haven't had the time to get back to it.

Last night, I cut out a new back, sewed the front and back and then got playing with the darts.  I think the bust darts are okay, but some interesting things are going on with the lower darts. 

Let's look at the line drawing, View B is clearest because the belt isn't in the way.  The lower darts end before the hem, opening more fabric for your hips.  I had to take a lot of fabric in under my bust, my darts don't want to open back up.  They keep folding as if the stitching continued from the widest part.  So I'm going to sew them down to the hem.  I still have ease at my hips so I don't really need the extra ease space.

I took a whack of pictures last night and it was helpful to see what was going on.  It is so hard to see in a mirror since you have to twist to see things.  Or I pull the fabric straight so it looks okay, but really it's not when I stand for a picture.  I am not quite finished tweaking yet (and the camera is not with me) so I'm not sharing in progress shots today.  Writing this out is helping me take a step back and look at where I could adjust again.  Thinking time is sewing time.

Yesterday I was reading Lazy Stitchings blog, she posted her finished Mathilde blouse, a pattern by Tilly and the Buttons.  I've seen a couple of versions of the blouse, but I wasn't sure how it would suit my frame.  Would it fall from my bust line and look like a tent?  I'm all for hiding my tummy but not sacrificing my waist.  It was lovely to see a version that would more closely mimic my frame.  And while I was commenting, it clicked that it's similar to a top I want to replace in my closet.

Okay, so the Mathilde has buttons in the back and the sleeves are looser, but it's not those details I'm looking to replace, it's the place in my wardrobe.  Made in a cotton, it could be my go-to "it's too hot out to have anything touching my skin but I want my arms covered" top.  I like how Lazy Stitching thinned the sleeves a little, I'd copy that.  In a sheer fabric, it could replace this top:

It was like an epiphany in the middle of writing a comment.  So I bought the pattern, it's printed out at home, but Alma needs to be finished first.

Don't forget I have a Pattern Pyramid giveaway running.  There are some lovely dresses, the halter jumpsuit, a multi-cup Vogue blouse, Kwik Sew bra, Burda blouse...  it's a pretty good assortment to pick from.

And in non-sewing news...

Mr. Lina's film, The Post-Lifers, has won another "best short" award.  Saturday night we went to a horror festival in Hamilton, ON, not too far away.  The organizer went to the Blood in the Snow festival in Toronto in January (The Post Lifers also won best short) and thought maybe he could do the same in his community, focusing on short films.  Being the first year of the festival, it was small but successful.  All of the films were quite good, not all were to my taste, but well done for what they were.  Awards were decided on by the audience by paper ballots.  And what a great audience.  The theatre held 67 people according to the fire code and it was sold out.  All were real horror fans and clearly enjoyed the line up of films.  I hope he can run it again next year and expand the offerings. 

The next cool thing going on for Mr. Lina is the cast of TPL is being interviewed on Charred Remains, a horror blog run by Char Hardin.  Char named TPL her top independent short film for 2012.  It will be aired live on Saturday June 8th at 7pm EST, they will be taking phone calls and questions by chat.  After the broadcast it will be available as a podcast.  After that, I think the film is going to air in Calgary in August and a touring show in BC - 10 cities in 10 days. 

And in fertility news...  Today is Day 14.  In a 28 day cycle, this would be when ovulation occurs and hormones change from having high estrogen levels to rising progesterone levels.  For a Frozen Embryo Transfer, we're looking for the endometrium to be thick (it was 10.3mm this morning) and my blood work to check out.  I don't need to ovulate because we've already got the embryos on ice.  And I just got the call that we're a GO!!!!   Sunday morning (June 9th - deadline day for the Pattern Pyramid) we'll be transfering my embryos that are presently in a Manitoban winter.  This post is long enough, I'll let you know of next steps tomorrow.

Woo hoo!

Germany Recap



How freaking cute is that?

Germany was wonderful.  Landshut (which is pronounced more like Lon-suit) is adorable.  I have no other word that fits.  If Landshut was fabric, it would be pale pink with purple polka dots in linen - durable fabric that would age well as it softens from washing and wear.  In medieval times, Landshut and Munich (side vent, why do we translate places?  Is Munchin too hard to say?) vied for power and size.  Landshut was home to the Wittelsbach dynasty, ruler for Lower Bavaria.  With skills to make armour, materials to make brick, this area was prosperous for 300 years.  In 1475, the last of the Landshut ruling family had a wedding between their son and the daughter of the king of Poland.  This couple had 5 children, two who were boys, but the boys did not live.  When the husband died in 1503 power transferred to Munich which is why Munich is a much larger city now.  The end result is this city of about 60,000 that is like linen.  You can see it was stunning, it IS still stunning but has worn into it's history.  Every 4 years, that wedding becomes a 4 week celebration where they reenact the wedding with locals playing the bride and groom and gentry that attended.  The downtown is largely kept as it was (and perfectly maintained as the wedding approaches) so that tradition can continue without McDonald's logos cluttering up your pictures.

Construction is to prep for "the wedding" this June and Trausnitz Castle above the city

Town hall, home base for the film festival.

I like Toronto.  I've never lived IN Toronto, but I love visiting and I like living near by.  I like the energy, I like the neighbourhoods.  We don't go in as often as we used to but there is always something going on I'd like to see.  Going to Germany reminded me how young North America is and in particular how young Toronto is.  Even being so young, we don't take care of our history.  It's hard to find a large stretch of Toronto streets where it looks like it did even 100 years ago never mind 500.  It's hard for me to wrap my head around and left me thoughtful about home while I was there.

I was fairly sure Mr. Lina's movie about zombies was going to be well received when we came across this near the Landshut train station.

 

 

And the screening did go very well.  Applause was at the start of the credits (something that didn't happen a lot at this festival, people usually waited until the end of the credits or for some of the Shock Block didn't clap at all) and there were quite a few questions during the Q&A after the film aired.  The "black comedies" were the last block of films to air for the whole festival, 10:30 on the Saturday night.  A wrap party for the festival started at 11pm but it was well past 1am by the time we got there.  Our glasses had not even cleared from the change in temperature and people were approaching Mr. Lina to talk about his film.  We had met some film makers from Germany and France earlier during a tour of Landshut (organized by the film fest) and they saved some seats for us.  It took a while to get to their table because we were stopped so many times.  Even at 3am, there were still people approaching Mr. Lina.  And on the plus side, it seems some of these conversations are continuing now that we've been back.  He's Facebook friends with one of the judges from the festival and emailing some of the film makers.  So from a networking perspective, it was worth the trip to Germany.

 

I'd show pictures of what I wore but almost all the pictures of me look like this:

Munich - Isar River

I would push my hood back for pictures but it was quite blustery and cold.  I'd need to make a winter coat to have any self made clothing to show.  On the plus side, outside of one day with light rain, it was cold but fairly sunny.  Nice enough to enjoy walking, cold enough to want to stop for a strudel and mulled wine.  This day it was snowing off and on, pretty big flakes that would swirl around.  Oh so pretty. 

I think the vacations were very good for me.  Mexico for vegging out and Germany was a thinking and doing vacation.  I've mentioned that work has been crazy lately and with my manager leaving it's not letting up.  We're a specialized group, it takes time to find the right people and even when they are hired, it takes time for them to learn to the depth that is needed to really be a full team member.  This can lead to me feeling completely overwhelmed and shutting down essentially, sort of what I did prior to Mexico.  But this time, I'm happy.  I get to 5pm and wonder where the day went.  Like I was having a good time and I'll just finish one more thing... and it's suddenly 6:15.  Oops.  I haven't felt good like that, finding flow, in a while. 

I have not been sewing, my sewing room is a mess.  I literally went to get something this morning and I couldn't walk in the room because some pile of stuff fell over into my "path".  Tidying is not my forte.  While I've felt... let's say not-myself, I can't be bothered to either decide to pitch something or find a proper home for it.  I found bank statements from 2012 on the china cabinet, wedding invitations from 2011, 3 year old birthday cards...  just clutter.  I filled a whole recycle bin from the main floor.  I've done lots of laundry, enjoyed making dessert for my family Easter dinner, we went for a hike,  I helped Mr. Lina start another batch of beer... I've been puttering.  It's a good-busy feeling I'm hoping to carry upstairs.  Monday is our last house concert (Terry Penney from Newfoundland) until September so I can store a few boxes in the guest room again soon.

Also, I've made the call to the clinic to get the ball rolling again.  I'm ready for this last FET cycle.  Right now it's the paper work stage, I have to swing by and get all the consent forms (again). 

So next post I have to get the camera out and show off my fabric purchases.  I found a fabric store in Landshut so I have 2m of souvenir fabric.  Hopefully that will be another push to get the sewing room ready to sew in.  Mr. Lina has more filming sewing (a video for a friend of a fried) that may have to come before sewing for myself.  Whatever gets me back in there is a good thing!

I wanna be in pictures

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted.  Aft Agley has given me a Liebster Award and I have that post almost ready but not quite.  And it's the not quite that has held me back from posting.  It's been a very busy week chez Lina.  Fortunately I did get a chance to tell you all to enter in the contest at Falling Through Your Clothes because it was that entry that won the fabric.  Super cool!  Thanks, FunnyGrrl.

So what has gone on?

• Two dinners with my SIL and my niece.
• Sadly they are heading back to NWT today, hopefully it goes well as Toronto has snow this morning and freezing rain coming as the day warms to +4C
• My parents have headed south to Florida
• Which means I can do a little cheap-shipping online shopping this week (yay!)
• Last day of principle photography for Mr Lina's next movie was Saturday
• I did sew 24m of fabric into 3 backdrops - more on that below
• Corin Raymond released Paper Nickles - his Canadian Tire funded album, we went to the Wednesday release party
• A bowling tournament yesterday. 
• I did not bowl well but it was nice to bowl on wood.  The lanes I usually bowl at are synthetic, it's just not the same.

Busy, busy, busy.

So those backdrops.   They took way longer than I thought a few straight seams were going to take.  In short, these needed to be 9' high and light blue would be 15' wide and two in black about 7' wide each.  Mr. Lina wasn't sure how they were going to hang so flexibility was key.  I still wasn't healthy when we bought the fabric so some math was not quite right.

9' = 2.7m so we did buy 3m per panel leaving 30cm for a hem etc, 4 panels = 12m
45" x 4 panels = 180" = 15'

Anyone see the math problem there?  4 panels need to be sewn together.  Sewn together means there will be seam allowances.  And the blue fabric wasn't 45", it was 44".  By the time I sewed those 4 panels together and remeasured I was short by 8".

I am the win.

And when I measured out the black fabric (I thought starting with the smaller backdrops was wise) I added maybe 3 inches (7cm) for hem forgetting I'd need to also turn fabric at the top and that I wanted the bottom hem big enough to add weight or possibly slide through a dowel and that I did buy enough fabric for a 15cm hem.  So I really had to keep as much as I could at the top.

I thought it was rather unlikely they would have a true curtain rod to slide these curtains onto so I had to think about the top.  Ties seemed time consuming, velcro an option but not one I was really keen on.  Sewing velcro is not fun and at 9', that's a lot of weight for velcro to hold.  I decided some looped tabs at the top would be good.  If they could slide something through it, great.  If not, the tab would be easier to clamp or we could tie it to something or later on I could add velcro and make it fold down.  In the end, they had a bunch of these riser things that could make an upside down L, the tabs went through the short part of the L at the top and they clamped it to the long side of the L to hold it taught. 

To get these tabs to aim up, bias tape seemed the best option for attaching it to the backdrop (added benefit of keeping a lot of the fabric for the black backdrops that I cut short).  I had a package of black bias tape but it wasn't going to be enough for both backdrops.  I didn't have anything light coloured for the blue.  So what seemed like oh, a handful of 9'/15' straight seams turned into making well over 20' of bias tape.  That's a whole lot of ironing.  I did not count the bias tape nor tabs into my fabric purchase either.  There was enough for the black fabric because I only needed it for two panels and cut the hems short, but the blue backdrop, well...

My poor math skills also required a pieced side panel for the blue backdrops.  Being a few inches shy of 15' was okay, 8" was too much.  With the little fabric I had left (keep in mind I did leave a good hem allowance on these having "learned" from the black panels) I had 18" of fabric left that cut in 3 could be a 6" panel but after seam allowances only added 5" (so it's still only 14' and 9").  It was close enough.  I didn't like the look of the pieced panel.  Being pale blue and cheap broadcloth, seams showed.  Wrinkles showed.  Everything showed.  Fortunately, as much as the room was 15' wide, they needed less than 14' to show and the sides were wrapped around the pole so the pieced part was not on screen and it all worked out well.  Once they added the television show logo to the fabric (paper letters attached with scotch tape), it looked like a (very) low budget children's television show. 

Groopa maintenance between takes.  I swear I ironed every seam.

I thought I'd be able to do all of this last Saturday, maybe we would even go to a late matinee.  By 5pm Saturday, one of the black backdrops was done but I still had to make the bias tape etc for the other and the blue fabric had not been touched.  Clearly, I underestimated the time involved.  Sunday afternoon I was finally done.  It was 4pm and I was still in my housecoat not even showered for the day.  It's a damn good thing someone had to cancel the 3pm lighting tests because I was not done in time for that.

All is well that ends well.  I have a 14" by 16" piece of blue fabric and about 6" of black fabric left, essentially nothing.  When I saw them raising the curtains to 9' and put the lettering up, I felt really proud that it was my contribution to the film.

On filming day I did craft services duty (aka food) and I got to be an extra.  As an extra, I was the puppeteer for Jingles, the girly puppet with bells all over.  All I had to do was walk off stage and guide my brother Scot wearing the Groopa suit and look unhappy.  I don't think much of me shows on camera (I was an extra after all), but I was wearing a Renfrew for it.  It was a strategic choice on my part to wear something self made.

More good news

The Post Lifers won best short film at the Blood in the Snow film festival.  All of the films I saw had film makers, directors, actors in the audience, there was a LOT of networking going on.  Facebook was just a flurry of likes and comments last night, Mr. Lina was very happy when I got home from bowling on Tuesday.  That's 4 wins for best short, nominations for best short, best editing and best acting.  I think they are going to need a bigger DVD package when it's time to try to sell it. 

A special thank you to Amy at Sew Well.  She held a contest for 10 subscriptions to Zinio, an online magazine provider and I was lucky enough to win one.  If Threads had been an option, it would have been a perfect choice but alas, it is not.  Instead I selected Canadian Geographic.  My first issue arrived yesterday and I'm happy with my choice.

When I was in first year of university, I really didn't have a clue of what I wanted to take.  I was accepted as "Major Undecided".  At least it was honest rather than having something that wasn't going to stick.  When I finally did decide geography was for me, I got a lot of support from my family.  My grandfather bought me a subscription to Canadian Geographic.  I loved it, it was like having some kind of geography cred and sometimes I could talk about issues in class all pro-active keener like.  The last time I saw my Papa was at my convocation from university.  It's a fine memory to hold onto. 

I didn't have the money to continue the subscription after he passed away.  I've asked for it for Christmas now and again but no one has taken me up on the suggestion.  So at long last, I have my magazine and happy memories back.  Now to learn about polar bears and beavers...

A cap full of feathers

It's been quite the weekend Chez Lina's.

Friday night, we hosted Tim Williams.  Oh my, if you ever get the chance and are remotely interested in blues, music history, Hawaiian guitar, make the effort to see him.  It was a really fascinating night of music and stories. 

Saturday, we were off to Local Focus 5, a Kitchener-Waterloo film festival.  The Post Lifers was aired yesterday with other short films.  We went, some friends of mine came as well as the guys involved in the film.  It was nice to go for a beverage after the show.  Just a few minutes ago they were awarded best short film.  That's three festivals now that they have won best short film. 

Today Mr. Lina is at the awards ceremony and what am I doing?  Work.  I have a lot due tomorrow which is why I haven't been posting much this week.  Way too much.  A presentation in the morning and a huge map project due by Tuesday.  Not fun.  Well, the presentation will be fun, but getting it ready is not so much fun.

So, I'll be sitting here with my computer, listening to the Grey Cup game on the radio.  Oh wait, that isn't going to make much sense to the majority of people if my stats page is correct.  Canada has their own football league, CFL and the Grey Cup is the final game of the season.  Toronto is playing Calgary and hosting this year, the 100th anniversary of the Grey Cup.  Hosting is decided before the season starts so there isn't always a "hometown" team playing but it lets the city really plan ahead for the game.  I don't really follow football much, although I have to say the games are hella fun to go to and people who are fans are pretty rabid fans.  But given that Toronto is in the game, well, I gotta say
AAAARRRRRGGGGGOOOOSSS!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go

Our trip to Orlando was great.  I'm not sure when I've walked so much but my ankle was healed enough to be up to the challenge.  I think it helped that there aren't a ton of stairs, just walking at my own pace.   Mr. Lina went a little picture crazy so I'll have a better post soon but I wanted to mention a few things from the trip.

• Although we never experienced hurricane Sandy directly, she did impact our trip in very minor ways.
• Like turbulence on the way there.  I was feeling pretty nauseated by the time we landed but there was a little girl in the seat in front of me giggling every time we dipped.  I couldn't wimp out if she was still giggling.
• The weather was much cooler than I expected.  Forecasts when I was packing said it would be between 20-32C, I think the warmest day was 25C if you were in a sunny spot blocking the wind. 
• I didn't need to pack my bathing suit.  Long sleeve shirts would have been a better use of luggage space. 
• I could have put the long bell sleeves on my costume, it was 8C when we were trick or treating at the Magic Kingdom.
• Going home, our original flight had a stop at Laguardia airport in New York.  You can imagine how that worked out. 
• Somehow, we ended up with a way better flight.  Direct to Toronto, taking off at 2:15 so we could sleep in a little later and only got home a half hour later than our original flight, in time to hand out treats!
• There was a pretty good audience for The Post Lifers screening and they were people who got it, laughed in the righ spot, asked a ton of questions during the Q&A after the screening. 
• This is not a family movie (one of the zombies is a former porn star and while there is no sex in the movie, she sure does talk about it graphically) someone actually asked what the writers mom thought of it. 
• For the record, she has seen it and she is proud but the writer doesn't like watching the movie with her in the room.
• They won best short film.

The Freaky Award - 2012 Best Short Film

Friday Ramblings

Time to sit down with some caffeine of some sort and put a few thoughts together...

• Went to get that warm beverage and got swarmed with people.  Apparently my day is full of work now.
• Running is going okay.  Mr. Lina has a faster gait than me which leaves me either pushing too hard or him wondering where I went.
• We're going to get new shoes for me tonight because I don't think mine are doing me any favours.  They never really felt right for my feet.
• Mr. Lina is doing quite well with the weight loss competition.  The people who are starving themselves are not losing weight anymore (surprise, surprise) and he is losing about 2-3lbs a week.  He's not in the lead but he's feeling good about it and that's important to me.
• We had a guest with us this week.  A friend of the musician we'll be hosting next week was taking an art class in the area.  She was awesome and a good guest.
• I spent a little time in my sewing room on Wednesday tidying it up.  I need a little more elbow room for it to be a productive space again.
• I was showing our guest some fabric and the Sewaholic Alma and Cambie patterns, I think the two pieces of fabric I bought in Montreal will work for each pattern.
• A-line Cambie in big black polka dots with a cream background?  The fabric is too heavy for all the gathering of the full skirt but I think it will be great in the A-line version.
• With a black shirt underneath and black tights it would wear in winter well.
• This weekend is about filming.  Tonight is set up and prep for filming tomorrow.
• I'm in charge of "craft services" aka food for about 10 people.
• I keep hearing it like "Kraft services" like all the food should be Cheeze Whiz, bbq sauce and Miracle Whip.
• Hmm, I can't eat any of those products as they all contain mustard.  We'll have to stick to Jello, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft peanut butter.  ;)
• I'm going to take my crochet with me this time so I can be quiet and productive.
• Dinner (roast chicken) is going into a slow cooker so it can cook quietly too.
• Hopefully they get it all done on Saturday.  After having a guest from Monday evening until this morning and sleeping over for filming tonight, I want to be home alone for a while on Sunday.  I need some snuggle time with Mr. Lina.
• I hate 9am meetings.
• I generally get to work somewhere between 8:50 and 9:20.  My employer is not too fussed as long as I arrive before 9:30 and get my work done.
• Somehow, knowing I need to be there for 9 makes it that much harder to get there for 9.
• Looks like I'm going to be doing some training in late October.  3 hours with a client that is not one of my regulars.  I'm looking forward to it.
• I think I'd rather talk about what I do than do it.

Okay, speaking of work, time to actually do it.  Have a great weekend, folks.  What are you up to?

Montreal is awesome.

Yeah, I already knew that.

The screening went well, people laughed at the right time and the applause at the end was genuine and more enthusiastic than other films.  Mr. Lina felt pretty good about that.  He also had a chance to meet Tom Savini and get his copy of Day of the Dead signed.  Last year they entered a costume contest with two of the zombies from the movie (one being Mr Lina) and Tom awarded them first prize.  Mr. Lina was pretty pleased to be able to give him a copy of the final movie.  It seemed like Tom remembered them (well, Humphrey costume, not Mr. Lina specifically).

Mr. Lina & Tom Savini

I did manage to sneak away for a bit on Saturday afternoon to find some fabric stores.  Sadly my sense of direction is not so good.  I found St Hubert and Jean Talon, but went the wrong way on St Hubert.  I did find a fabric store that was all kinds of crazy polyester, but they had some great bra strap elastic in colours other than black and white.  By the time I figured I had walked too far and turned around, it was getting late and I was tired.  In the end I did visit a handful of stores, but it was a little overwhelming at times.  Stacks and stacks of fabric, most without prices on them or notes on the content.  I bought two pieces, a remnant, elastics and buttons.  I'll post about them when I get pictures.  On the bright side, this leaves some birthday money to purchase Gertie's book.

I wore a lot of me-made clothing.  Sencha going there, Sorbetto on Saturday, a cloned tank top to the bar on Saturday night.  Mr. Lina took lots of pictures of me, but not many that show the me-made aspects of my wardrobe.

Honest, Sorbetto is under there.  At the steps of Notre Dame Cathedral, resting my feet.

I really should revisit Sencha.  I made two of them.  I like them, but after the "wow I did that" has worn off, I don't love them.  The neckline is too high.  I don't know if I followed the button placement for either all that well but I needed to add clear snaps in between the buttons to keep it closed.  I dunno, it's a good blouse, but I don't think I got either right. 

Senchs #2 with Annabelle Chvostek last Thanksgiving.

I wore the second one on Friday and I was so happy to take it off, it kept pulling forward and I found myself constantly trying to make it sit in the right place.  I'd like to revisit it at some point to see if I could make it right, I feel like it should suit my figure better.

One top I have been wearing a lot is the top from Butterick 5147. 

It's a lifestyle wardrobe and I bought this prior to blogging.  I've made the top up twice, had intentions to make a dress or the skirt and just never quite did it.  The first version I really made too big.  I think this was prior to the enlightenment of FBA.  It does fit my bust well, it's more that the shoulders are a little wide and it feels like there could be a fold at the neck.  On the bright side I got the waist darts right so there is great waist/bust definition going on.  I usually wear a heavy necklace to hold the neckline down and stop me from playing with the extra fabric.  The second time, I made it smaller, took that fold out of the neckline.  The fabric I chose had a little stretch so that was the second reason for making it smaller.  Too bad I didn't think about making the lining stretch too.  It has always been a little snug but okay, but I am rather certain I'd feel like a sausage in it at the moment.  As much as it is a tank top, it's lined and the fabrics I chose are polyester suiting (which are nicer than that sounds).  I find them too warm for summer, but in winter I put a cardigan or jacket over top and it's perfect.

The change in season has me looking at my wardrobe again.  With fall arriving, I feel bored of my summer clothing.  I don't want to wear socks, but it will be refreshing to pull out a few things I haven't worn in a while.  And it seems some are not as worthy of favourite status and B5147 is showing me that it really should have a prominent spot in my work wardrobe.

Fall - A New Year

I know New Years Eve is typically the time for resolutions.  It is the mark of a new year and all.  But I feel like September is actually more of a fresh start in a lot of ways than January.

In January, we've just come off some time off for Christmas and New Years.  It's generally pretty crazy through December with parties to go to, shopping to do, people to see.  For a lot of companies, it's year end that comes with a push to get last sales in (particularly if you're behind at the end of Q3).  It doesn't really feel to me like it's the start of something new, it's more the end of craziness.  Winter sports  continue on through to spring, the weather isn't changing all that much.  Maybe more snow, but December is pretty cold here.

As fall arrives, it's a real shift.  I don't have kids, but the start of school impacts my commute and changes traffic patterns.  At work, fewer people are on vacation so you aren't perpetually waiting for someone to return to make a decision.  It is the end of summer hours for a lot of companies so Fridays go back to a full day of normal.  Winter sports start up, new routines exist.  As the weather shifts to cooler nights, you can just feel the change happening all around you.

With my birthday being September 2nd, it's also a time I find myself a bit reflective I suppose.  It's another year gone by and I find myself thinking of what's happened in that year and what I thought might happen in that year.  That second half?  I really should not follow that line of thought, better to look forward. 

I've caught myself crying driving to work a few times in the past two weeks.  It feels out of the blue, like I don't know why I am crying, some song lyric just turns into tears.  And there is misplaced anger.  For example, there is construction on the highway entrance I generally use on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and last week it was closed leaving people to find another route.  I was ready to extend a middle finger to someone turning around who was ignoring my right of way.  I mean, it was stupid, but that stuff usually makes me shake my head, not yelling at them from my car and feeling such... hostility.  I spend too much time driving to be upset by bad drivers.  I suspect something is rattling around in my head and heart and coming out in weird places.

In our house, bowling starts tonight.  I am looking forward to it.  It will be nice to see people, bowling is a very social activity.  I am not very good (really and truly) so I am certainly not there to only throw strikes.  Hopefully my friend from aquatics can join our league, last I heard she was still firming up her kids schedule but it was looking promising.  Mr. Lina is getting a last round of golf in tonight, curling starts up for him soon.

This fall will be primarily about Mr. Lina and his movies. 

• Las Vegas - Polly Grind Festival - Canadian Thanksgiving - Oct 5-7 - might go depending on flights and the timing of it airing
• Atlanta Horror Film Festival - Sept 28-30, I don't think we're going.
• Montreal - Saturday afternoon, we're all set and ready!
• Boston - Killer Film Fest - November 1-3 - quite likely we'll go
• New Orleans Film Festival - airing Saturday October 13 - we won't go
• Other Venice Film Festival - Oct 11-14 - won't go
• Brantford Film Festival - Nov 1-3 - same dates as Boston
• September 22nd - day of filming for the next movie, I'm going to be helping out with food etc.

We were pretty excited to go to New Orleans, but they are airing it on the Saturday and it conflicts with the OCFF conference we've already paid for.  We found that out at about the same time as they got the acceptance to Boston so now we're switching gears to go there.  Neither of us have been to Boston so it's a good reason to visit a new place.  Google says it's a 9 hour and 20 min drive so we'll probably just tack on a day at either end and drive down.  Hmm, driving means no weight restrictions... 

House concerts are also starting up.  We'll be hosting David Ross Macdonald (drummer for The Waifs) again on September 26th.  We hosted David in May 2011.  He played oh, two days after arriving from Australia and he was a trooper through jet lag.  He is such a lovely person so it will be nice to have him stay the night again.  Well, and perform.  I suppose the first time we hosted him, it was the music I was keen to share because it is what I knew.  Now, I can't wait to hear him live again, see who comes for the repeat viewing, but it's going to be like seeing a good friend for the night. 

Again, I have not been sewing.  Part of what is holding me back is clutter.  With the birthday party and a friend of David's will be staying with us next week, my house is cleaner than it's been in a long while - at the expense of my sewing room.  Things have just been put there as a place to put it.  I really should find the push to clean it out (again).  The blanket for my niece needs the last two rows of shell stitch put on but it's going to be "thinking crocheting" to get that started, not the mindless repetition that is good while watching television.  It is another "should" at the moment.  In the summer, I'm not overly keen on being in my sewing room because it's just too hot.  It's not fun.  I want to see the return of fall as a return to the sewing room.  I'm not sure when I'll get to it with the trip to Montreal looming and a guest all next week, but the pull is returning.  The need for clothing will be an added push.

Yesterday was our first step up on the Couch to 5k program.  It wasn't so bad.  My legs don't hurt.  I wasn't having problems breathing.  Week two changes from 60 seconds of running/90 seconds of walking 6 times to 90 seconds of running/two minutes of walking 4 times.  We ended up covering about the same distance in about the same time.  I think the repetitions were harder than just pushing on the extra 30 seconds.  And on the big plus side in my books, one night last week after running, Mr. Lina said to me that he was feeling really relaxed.  I am not so worried about the specific weight lost as I am about his blood pressure coming down.  Hearing him say he's feeling more relaxed already has to be good for his blood pressure.

Speaking of weight, I mentioned he has a contest going on at work.  Week one is over and the leader at the moment lost 9lbs in a week.  Mr. Lina is not the leader because he's in this for the long haul.  Apparently one of his coworkers flat out didn't eat lunch yesterday and the guy in second ate carrots.  Men are crazy.  Meanwhile Mr. Lina went to work with a sandwich, nectarine, and Greek yogurt.  The sandwich wasn't as light as it could be, but it was better than the restaurant food he was generally eating for lunch.  Success by one metric does not always mean real success in the big picture.

I'll leave you with a little bit of David Ross Macdonald.  15 days until I hear it live in my basement...

Does it get better than Fridays?

Really and truly.  I love Fridays.  All the potential of the weekend ahead, people are pretty chilled out at work, sometimes traffic is lighter.  It is all good.

In other good news, The Post Lifers was a finalist for best horror/comedy at Dragon*con in Atlanta on the weekend.  We didn't go, but it's another feather in their cap and Mr. Lina is quite happy. 

I also had the BEST passport experience ever.  My passport expired last November, so if I want to go to New Orleans in October, I needed to renew it.  There is an office close to one of my clients office, like a block up the street.  When I got my passport 6 years ago, I walked up with my paperwork and pictures, got a number and the security staff thought it might be 2 hours before my number was called, maybe 3.  All in all, last time, it actually was well over 3 hours and I went back to work in between getting my number and being served.  I expected the same this year.  Not so.  Two people ahead of me to get the paperworked pre-checked, got my number and there were 9 people ahead of me.  Seriously I was in and out in half an hour.  A very high five for the passport office.

Day two of the couch to 5k program went pretty well yesterday.  I will be happy when my thighs are used to this because they are rather unhappy at the moment.  Mr. Lina does run faster than me but I just let him go ahead and catch up on the walk cycles.  It does feel good to do it together.

One week to seeing my fertility doctor.  Those weeks went pretty fast, didn't they? 

Montreal planning

So last post I mentioned we'll be going to Montreal for a film fest.  I got my dates confused, Brantford film festival is in November, Montreal is September 14-16.  We see my doctor on the 14th in the afternoon so I think we'll be leaving after that appointment.  Montreal is close in Canadian terms, but it is still a good 6+ hour drive depending on traffic, washroom stops and dinner. 

Montreal - 2009, vacation with Mr. Lina

Mr. Lina booked the hotel today so it feels all official and close and exciting.  And Google says it's only 17 minutes using the subway to get from our hotel to fabric stores on St Hubert.  After 6 hours of driving, what's 17 minutes?  I think I can do that on my own and be back before whatever movie(s) Mr. Lina has gone to see is over.  An entire weekend of horror movies is going to be a little much for me and I'm not enough of a celebrity person to line up for autographs for the US cast of Being Human, James Marsders from Buffy/Angel, etc.  I don't mind being scared, but I spook easily and prefer to watch them at home so I can hide.  Or pace.  Or hold a pillow. 

And in other Mr. Lina news, it seems he has been spared in lay offs.  They finally made the cuts they are going to make in his area of the company and he gets to stay.  His team has gone from 19 people to 11.  It is a relief to just know one way or the other what's going on.  Now to see how they reorganize the comany when it's pretty much been cut in half.