Craftiness Is Not Confined to My Workroom

Well, it's been a week.  

My son's preschool teacher used to say things like that when I'd pick him up at the end of a class.  She didn't like saying "he had a bad day" or anything negative in front of him, so she would say, "Well, he's had a day."  That way, I'd know right off the bat that something had happened, but would wait until the right moment presented itself before asking her about it.  This sounds like it could be annoying, and I imagine I thought it was at the time.  But when you think about it, it makes sense - I was alerted to the fact that something not so great had happened, while we were preserving whatever peace of mind he'd attained in the aftermath.  Since he was a bit high-strung, this was a particularly effective way of coding the message for Mom.  

Fast Forward to the present: here I was, working my caboose off to get the Relay For Life pouches ready to take with me to the Relay.  After struggling at the computer (see this post), I managed to get about half of them done for donors - especially those I'd be meeting up with at the Relay - when I finally called it a night and decided to get the rest done after the Relay.  I figured it would be a good thing to work on while I was recovering.  

HA.

First things first.  I did manage to correct the stitching on the reduced cupcake image, and, as promised, here is the net result:

MMMMM....doesn't that frosting look much better?
I like learning new stuff.

Then dawned the day of the Relay.  I made it there in time to register and find my team before the opening ceremonies & Survivor Lap started, which was good.  I hadn't had time to make up a pop-up display for the pouches, which would have made it a lot easier to see.  Most of my team didn't know that I was bringing them to take more orders, so when I wasn't at the table, they weren't sure if they should be selling the ones I had brought or if they were just for show.  As a result, I didn't sell as many that day as I was hoping to.  Bummer.

The Relay started off well, though:

About half of the team goofing around for a photo op!
I'm the one in the back in the black pants and black shoes.
Too bad you can't see my purple hair.  It was awesome.

I'd arranged with my sons (and one of the girlfriends) to meet me at the track with lunch, and to stay to cheer on the team.  My oldest and his girlfriend had decided to go to the local swap meet first, then he would text & ask what I wanted for lunch, pick up his younger brother, and head my way.  Lunch time came and went, and around 1:00 or so, I texted him and his brother, asking what happened - did someone sleep in a little too long?  Find something terribly interesting at the swap meet and lose track of time?  Forget about mom's lunch?  

How about "None of the above" ?

I finally get a call back from the older son around 1:15 - and he's calling from the emergency room, where he was taken by ambulance after being hit on his motorcycle.  He hadn't wanted to call me, knowing I was pretty determined to get my miles in at the Relay, but he knew I would be worried about him not showing up (and he felt bad that I didn't get lunch) so he called anyway.  He didn't want me to leave the Relay and head to the ER (yeah RIGHT - like any mom would sit back and say "OK, I won't head straight down there, like, YESTERDAY!"), but I knew even if he was perfectly fine, he wouldn't know how to check out properly and I knew he didn't have the $75 co-pay with him at the time.  Besides, I can never take it for granted that he's "just fine," in spite of his insistence.  I could tell he was upset & spooked, and if all I needed to be was moral support, it was still worth the trip.  So I finished up the lap I was working on, took my bead, and told one of my teammates where I was heading.  

Oh, yeah.  The beads:

The commemorative bead stopper, made by one of the volunteers.

Some of the volunteers donated a huge box of pony beads
and plastic lanyard cord - that way, as you made your way around the track,
you could simply pick up a bead and string it while you were walking.
This helps you figure out how many laps/miles you've walked.
Simple, but genius.  Trust me, when you're exhausted after walking the track
and napping here and there for 24 hours, picking up those beads is the ONLY
way to keep track of what you're doing.
Here's a partial view of my 10 miles.

After being in the ER with my son for several hours, meeting with the doctor who had overseen his care, making sure he hadn't had internal injuries, picking up his crutches and then his medications and getting him discharged, I needed to get him home and DOWN.  As in, "you're not moving unless you need to go to the restroom" DOWN.  Got some food in him, gave him his pain meds, made sure the girlfriend was settled down - the poor thing was beside herself - she was really rattled because he had held the bike up as he was getting hit, so that she could jump off the back and not get hurt - it was all he could think about at the time.  We've nicknamed her the Backseat Flying Ninja, because usually she has a hard time getting on and off the bike - but this time she was fueled with adrenaline and made it off in one giant leap!  Trying to hold the bike up while being rammed by the truck in front of him (that guy threw his truck into reverse & backed into my son without looking) was what had caused his injuries - pulled ligaments & torn muscles in his groin area & thigh, a pretty good bruise in his abdomen from the motorcycle handlebars slamming into his stomach.  Thankfully, nothing worse.

I left him for awhile at home with his brother; the girlfriend, her parents, and I went to U-Haul to rent a trailer and then up to the accident site to get his motorcycle to bring home.  Eventually, after giving him his second dose of pain meds, I decided to head back to the track to walk off some of the stress.  I got about 5 more miles in to make it an even 10, and finally left around 10:30 or 11:00 pm.  Most of the rest of my team spent the night there and took turns walking the track while others were sleeping/napping, but I couldn't make it that long, especially with my son at home needing attention.  Still, it was a very worthwhile endeavor and I'm planning to walk again next year.  
I had plenty to keep me busy this week while trying to keep that son down and quiet.  He's like me - I swear we're half jackrabbit the way we're always jumping up to do something.  His girlfriend came over every day and stayed most of the day to keep him occupied and make sure he was eating, because I needed to get three bridesmaid dresses done for a client.  Keeping him occupied was a full-time job, especially when he started feeling better - he was so bored!  So they decided to go to the store to find something for him to do while sitting down - we went to about three stores and none of them had the toy he was thinking about getting (thankfully - it was an RC helicopter and I'm sure he would have been dive-bombing the Sewing Assistant).  Well, he had a plethora of PVC pipe and other assorted oddments from a project he'd worked on earlier, so they decided to make some marshmallow air cannons. 

The 99 cent store rocks for stale marshmallows - apparently, the best kind to shoot.

Decorated by the girlfriend - they nicknamed it the Phat Blaster, and that is
a cartoon rendition there of the Sewing Assistant.  

Stuffing a stale marshmallow into the barrel of the cannon, which was
lovingly decorated with kitty footprints.

Little Phat will be face to face with a version of himself as the cannon is being shot!
Unfortunately, they never really got a chance to test it out against the Sewing Assistant.
The girlfriend's brother & dad showed up to bring something over and help my son by rolling
the motorcycle up into the garage from where we'd left it on the curb.  Her brother then swiped her
cannon and stuffed too many marshmallows down into the barrel - so now it won't shoot.  Rats.  

So as you can see, not all the craftiness that goes on around here happens in my workroom.  

I got the three dresses done in time for the client to pick up to do the fittings, but needed to do a little more work on one that was a bit on the tricky side lining-wise.  So she left that one with me and came back to pick it up later on Friday night.  While she was there, I related to her that my niece had narrowly missed being at that theater in Aurora, CO with her boyfriend and his two sons - I never thought I'd be grateful to find out that someone was too broke to go to the movies, but this was certainly the case here.  It still freaked me out all day, though, just reading the reports and imagining what nearly happened to someone I love.  The client took a phone call while I was finishing up the bodice lining, and then told me after she hung up that she'd just found out that the bridegroom's sister had a very good friend (her sorority Big Sister) who WAS at the theater - and had been one of the victims that was shot.  What a sobering way to send your client off with dresses intended for a happy occasion.  I'll be seeing them again soon - which is good, because I forgot to photograph them in progress.  She was going to do the fittings but I will be finishing them off once she brings them back - hopefully, nothing else will happen and I'll be able to photograph them this time. 

Like I said - it's been a week.  Maybe the Sewing Assistant has the right idea for once (sure beats the migraine I got after everything was said and done):