Aargh! My sewing machine went haywire! At least I got the karate pants hemmed.
It'll be cheaper for me to buy a bargain machine after Thanksgiving or Christmas than to fork out for a repair. I got the old one from Amazon.com and it was one of those amazing internet specials. Wal-Mart also sells that model. The sewing shops in my area refuse to service these machines because the big retailers have undersold them with these cheaply made exclusive models. Well, I can't blame the shops.

Just taking a break for our Thanksgiving. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

And now I am going to spend the next 2 hours sewing. I'll be hemming my husband's karate pants and finishing up some green drapery panels that feature Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and the whole gang in a beautiful pastoral setting. They're really just some cotton print material that my best buddy got at Wal-Mart and she asked me to make into drapes. I've got the sides and bottom hems done, but now it is time for the difficult balloon ruffles and rod casing stuff at the top. I'm winging it without a pattern since my friend says she's not fussy about how they're going to turn out as they're just for a kid's room. She's painted the daughter's room in a light lime color and the furniture is lavender and yellow with pink butterfly drawer handles. It is sooo cute. Since I don't have a daughter, I have to vicariously enjoy all of the little frilly furniture and clothes through my friend.

The daughter is crazy about Eyore and sleeps with two Eyore's. One is bigger, so they call that Mommy Eyore and she has to stay at home because she likes to nap alot. She makes a very good pillow. Then there is baby Eyore and he goes everywhere.

I was busy slicing and broiling a big pack of chicken and some tomatoes in MY NEW OVEN--HALLELUJAH, plus putting some pinto beans on the stove to soak for a while and de-seeding and chopping up some serrano peppers for later to go into the refried mixture. I've been making my own fat-free "refried" beans from scratch and then freezing them. I'm going to cook the beans with a bay leaf and later add in more things like sauteed onions. You know, everyone says soaking beans overnight isn't necessary, but I really believe that you will save time and energy (of the fuel variety) by soaking. Just don't soak so long that the beans sprout. I also believe that these "refried" beans would taste even better if I were to mix them with the real lard that the recipe calls for, but alas, I just CANNOT buy lard. I'm sure I eat a lot of lard at local restaurants but I seriously could not buy lard at a market because I would probably have an anxiety attack thinking about what the brick of lard would do to my arteries. Actually, I would have to make a special trip to a market that sells lard. Then I would have to buy a five or 10 pound brick of it because I don't believe it comes any smaller than that. Everything about lard is large and seems to be getting bigger all the time. Oink!

Sorry I didn't have anything to say at the moment about autism. Well, other than Wyatt peed in the potty all by himself again yesterday! He chose to wear underwear yesterday. Then when he needed to go potty, he stripped off in the hallway and ran into the bathroom and did his business. Woo-hoo! That is two Sundays in a row. So now his teacher wants to try having him in undies and plastic pants. But I am worried that plastic pants will be too much like a diaper and then Wyatt will just go potty in his pants and then the school will send home bags and bags filled with dirty underwear for me to launder.

I like the new photo where Marcel is looking directly at the camera. But, hey, turn some lights on in your house. All your indoor pics look like you're living in a dark aquarium and you've just swum up to 3-foot-thick glass.