What do you want to be when you grow up?

Shourai no yume wa nani?

As a late Christmas present, I took the Pumpkin Princess clothes shopping. The four of us went to the mall. The Pumpkin Daddy and Prince went to the arcade to play some game involving ghost spirits and collector cards, and the Pumpkin Princess made a beeline to a little shop on the third floor that was full of trendy tween items.

When we got there, she pointed to a torso dressed in a red plaid flannel shirt (bit my tongue and did NOT say that she already had a plaid flannel shirt), acrylic long sleeved striped knit (static electricity nightmare), and denim shorts (at least it came with a cute belt). I tried my best not to cringe as I shelled out twice the amount I would have paid in Uniqlo for similar items. Welcome to the world of tween girl motherhood, I guess.

For the past week, she has worn this outfit or at least parts of it (the shirt and/ or knit with her Uniqlo jeans from last year, the shorts with her Minnie Mouse sweatshirt, etc). At least she's wearing and enjoying the stuff she chose.

I remember my mom couldn't (or was that wouldn't?) spend the money to dress me the way I felt I should be dressed when I was a child. This may or may not have led to a strange phase of overspending  on fashion that lasted about a decade (from when I was about 20 to when I was 30). It wasn't a bad thing, and I never bought what I couldn't afford. I look back at the things I bought back then (or sometimes I find them during a closet purge) and shake my head in disbelief. I hope the Pumpkin Princess will have a more balanced fashion experience.

Especially since she wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up. No comment.

Hope to continue our relationship this year

Kotoshi mo yorosihku onegaizhimasu

Technically, the Pumpkin Clan isn't allowed to wish anyone a happy new year because we're in mourning. The Pumpkin Daddy's grandmother passed away last spring at age 94. She was pretty much bedridden for the last couple of years, so it was all expected and now she's with her handsome husband whom I have never met but looks a lot like the Pumpkin Daddy in old pictures. 

We haven't done any traveling. The Pumpkin Daddy's family is in the next town and my family is three blocks away. I had delusions of cooking something for New Year's, but the only thing I made so far is ozoni (New Year's soup). 

As for my holiday resolutions, I cleaned the kitchen exhaust fan and filter. That made my arms sore for the next three days, which is why I didn't exercise every day. In retrospect, I should have done just squats or stretches or something. I binged on chips and alcohol NYE, but not the night before or the night before that, so that one averages out. I altered the Pumpkin Prince's comforter cover, but I haven't shown it to him yet. I ripped out part of the lining of the Zara blazer. I'll see what happens tonight. I've read something work-related every day except yesterday. I haven't read anything yet today, but I still have several more hours. 

I wanted to post pictures of the alterations, but I think I left my camera USB cable at work, so those will have to wait until later.

I don't make New Year Resolutions, because they are the same every year and I can never keep them. In case you are wondering, they are 1) drink less alcohol on weekdays 2) eat less potato chips when I do drink 3) exercise more 4) work harder at my day job 5) work harder at being a good parent.

I do make year end/ beginning holiday resolutions every year. This year's are:

1. limit the late night alcohol and chip sessions to no more than every other day
2. engage in at least some kind of physical activity every day, even if it is, say, something like 25 pushups and 25 squats and planks
3. alter the Pumpkin Prince's comforter cover (it was a child's size, and I want to widen it so that it's a twin size)
4. alter my navy blue Zara blazer
5. take the Pumpkin Prince and Princess ice skating
6. take the Pumpkin Princess clothes shopping
7. do some year end/ beginning housecleaning
8. read some work-related material every day

(hmm…sounds a lot like my nonexistent New Year Resolutions!)

So today was the first of 9 consecutive days off this year. I did lapse into alcohol and Doritos, but I did do the pushups and squats, cleaned the kitchen duct fan, and read about work stuff while the Pumpkin Princess did her winter holiday homework. I'm off to a good start!

A long holiday

Chouki kyuuka

The calendar gives us a 9-day long year end/ new year holiday this year, so I'm hoping to efficiently use the time to get stuff done AND relax/ have fun with the Pumpkin Clan (what a concept!).

Right now, I'm slacking off to make this half-assed blog entry, the Pumpkin Prince is playing with one of his Christmas gifts (a radio-controlled toy tank), the Pumpkin Princess is doing her winter vacation homework essay, and the Pumpkin Daddy is fixing his hair.

Stingy!

Kechi!

For the past 4 years or so, I've bought tomatoes called "rosso rosso." They are a cooking tomato shaped like pumpkins. They suit the Pumpkin Palace garden because they are hardy, taste good both cooked and fresh, and look interesting.

This year, I went online to pre-order them and found that they were only sold in sets of 6 plants, 4 of which were a variety I wasn't really interested in. I kind of hemmed and hawed and thought about getting ordinary tomato plants from the local home improvement center. One day I found a dried up, shriveled rosso rosso tomato on the ground. There were seeds in it, so I tried burying it in an empty pot of potting soil.

A few weeks later, this is what I have.

The plants were about 400 yen each last year. Think I should start a business?

Get well soon!

Hayaku yoku natte ne.

So apparently Paul McCartney got viral gastroenteritis or something and cancelled his Japan tour. He's been hospitalized, and I'm thinking he's probably in either one of the big-name private university hospitals in Tokyo, or St. Luke's Hospital.

And while all these hospitals are very professional, I'm amusing myself (in a 5th grade boy bathroom humor kind of way) at the thought of the Beatle's, um, gastroenteritis, um, symptoms showing up on Yahoo Auctions or eBay.

Ew.

Taking pants in at the waist

Zubon no uesuto wo tsumeru

I really really wanted a pair of bright red pants. After some searching online, I found them at Banana Republic. And then they went on sale. So I ordered 2 pairs of them online in different sizes, tried them on, picked one pair, returned the other when I got near a store during a work event. 

(...and let the pair I kept sit in my closet for several weeks. Story of my life…)

They are Banana Republic Hampton Ankle pants. I got them at 50% off. This means they cost about 2 to 3 times as much as I usually spend on pants. They fit nicely at the hip and thighs but were about 3 cm too big at the waist. 

They've got waist darts above the pocket, so I decided to take in 5 mm each at the darts on either side, and 2 cm at the back center seam.

5 mm at the waist darts means 2.5 mm inside the original seam.

For the back center seam, I marked 1 cm inside the original seam at the top. Then I sketched a natural-looking curve that joined the original seam.

The waistband was taken in 3 cm. I folded it at the center, and measured, marked, and stitched 1.5 cm from the fold. Then I cut on the fold.

I ripped and cut the interfacing from the seam allowance. This let the waistband lie flatter. Then I pressed the new seam open, and stitched the whole thing back together at the waist.

For the first time, I remembered to sew the tag back on.

The result was pretty good. An experienced sewer (or a generally nitpicky person) would notice that the stitching around the waistband is crooked and the re-stitched belt loop isn't perfectly straight, but otherwise, they look OK. Much better than they did when they were 3 cm too baggy.

One thing I learned…you get what you pay for. These high(er) quality pants had interfacing at the darts and waistband, and lining material around the waist band seam (logo jacquard, no less). The Uniqulo chinos I altered a couple months ago didn't. This is probably the most expensive item I have ever altered.  I have altered items that were costly when I bought them, but they were bachelorette items I did work on to see if I could get them to fit a post pregnancy (x2) body. These pants were bought new, and altered after a single washing. I am getting better and faster at this. I'm making the clothes fit me, and not the other way around, and it feels good.

Remember, it's not your fault the clothes don't fit you in the fitting room.