this morning i went downtown to matt’s office and he did things to my bank account to make it work better, and transferred some money out of my ira. i’m pretty glad that lisa found him, because i really can’t imagine having a better brother in law. he’s a good dude, and i appreciate that.
today i leave to spend a few days in manhattan — first with diana, then with val and drew. and, of course, i am bringing my laptop so i can work the whole time, because i am on deadline for three manuscripts. but i am the expert at editing while watching criminal minds.
(i’m also bringing my knitting! even though i am not quite finished with either of the two surprise gift projects i’m working on, i’m bringing my sweater — i don’t want to be wrestling with six different balls of yarn and yarn needles and buttons and whatever. i just want to knit a lot of stockinette.)
i am also bringing a lot of food with me to diana’s — shepherd’s pie and pasta fagioli and challah bread. we’re going to eat like queens.
ahh, firefly. christina and i watched star trek (the reboot) this morning, and then i put on firefly.
while we were watching star trek, i started making a body block. according to the costume design book i am reading, that is the first step to designing for someone’s body. okay! i was going to do a very small one for a stuffed animal, so that i could make small outfits, but christina volunteered to be my model (i think she is hoping for cute clothes made to her measurements; boy, is she going to be totally disappointed!!!!).
anyway, what you see in this picture is the body block for christina’s upper body. it took about four, four and a half hours to do it (including the time i spent measuring and doing all the required math and meticulously taping together pieces of graph paper).
here is what i have realized: i need a freaking ruler. my measuring tape is awesome, but i can’t draw straight lines with it. oops! i did okay with a piece of cardboard, but it was annoying.
anyway, whatever. LOOK! I MADE BUST DARTS ON PAPER!!!
(i forgot to take a picture yesterday.)
please note my fat, blunt, peasant fingers. they are good for editing and kneading bread and other things, but i will never be a hand model.
here is my recipe for mushroom (or artichoke!) stuffing; this recipe filled my two packages of stuffing mushrooms with enough left over for at least one more package. (i froze the leftover, along with the mushroom stems; i’ll stuff some more mushrooms next week or the week after, and use the stems the next time i make veg broth. no waste!)
1-1/2 c bread crumbs
2/3 – 3/4 c grated romano cheese (to taste)
2 cloves garlic, grated
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp oregano
1/8 tsp black pepper
mix together in a bowl with a fork. then stream in olive oil as you’re mixing, until the mixture resembles wet sand. the amount of oil needed is going to vary depending on the moisture of the air around you. sometimes it’s 1/3 c olive oil. sometimes it’s 1/2! sometimes it’s 2/3 or 3/4! don’t stress out. if you feel like it ends up too wet with oil, add some more bread crumbs.
