Panda Academy: Where Teacher is Spelled M-O-M-M-Y

• Jun. 12, 2008 - The Yard Clean-Up is Done!

We have our lives back! After 2 weeks of planning, buying over $400 worth of garage organizers, wood and paint for new garden boxes, border bricks, mulch, and flowers, and working 6-8 hours a day in sweltering 100+ degree temps with high humidity, we are DONE! There are still a few minor "leaf debris" areas that there just isn't the time nor energy for but you'll see from the pictures below, we did our best. If we still get fined, we'll be fighting it tooth and nail. Lastly, thanks to all on Homeschool Reviews for their support during this trying time. It was appreciated more than you know. You all allowed me to vent and wail every day, and offered up encouragement. Thank You! Now, onto a ton of pictures! ~Heidi The driveway Before (the Can't Mind Their Own Business Neighbors own that white fence on the left) The driveway will resort back to this state every time it rains or the wind blows. It's what happens when you have 6 trees on a tiny property. When you have a busy life, you also choose to sweep it just once a week or so, not every single day like the neighbors do. The driveway After The garage Before  (I knew the garage needed a dejunking. It was on our To Do list before this happened.) The garage After Backyard Before (doesn't show all of our "violations") The backyard After (multiple pics) Garden beds to the right of our yard and the cherry tree Before The same area After Part of the gazebo and the middle of the backyard Before (Those aren't just leaves, it's soil and leaves, all lovingly placed there on purpose in order to create a deep enough layer for current plants and future ground covers. The strawberries love it!) Same area After (note the two new bright blue compost and potato boxes) Gazebo After Behind the garage and gazebo After (sorry, dh didn't take any before) Front of house Before (note our real problem - the porch needs a paint job and the Astroturf removed) The front After (don't know why there's not one of the same shot because I know I took one! Instead, we have pics of those 2 problem areas to each side of the porch where nothing grows well. As for the porch, image all the recycling totes removed, the porch and sidewalk thoroughly swept. All that gravel you see under the porch is what we removed from the side and front yard our first year in this house - a good 3,000 pounds of it. Want some?) And lastly, 2 very boring pictures. The side of the house and side yard Before and the same strip After. I'll admit it, I was always lazy about this area because it's a pain to clean. This is the side yard we might get in trouble for since all the leaves and twigs couldn't be removed. We've been planning to dig it all up and turn it into a food bed (aside from what's already there) next year. Same area After (note the remaining leaf debris) And that's it! Oh, there are a few more pics we took to cover our bums and some I wish were taken but weren't. I wish there was one of the entire mulch area. I'll try to get one before we leave on vacation. Thanks for viewing.

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• Jun. 6, 2008 - preparing this year's garden

Just some pics of us building the new gazebo bed (the redesigned right side,) shopping for plants, and finally, K releasing 2 of his butterflies from their butterfly habitat. (We're still taking care of 3 of them as one has a shredded wing.) ~Heidi The gazebo bed - leaves, peat moss, perlite, manure, compost, vermiculite, and earthworms - heaven to plants Plant shopping at Lowe's - one of many many trips. Plant shopping a local nursery, but not the one we discovered that's closer and even better. "I thought you weren't going to buy anything from the Ag. Fair this year, honey..." Releasing butterflies that were carefully watched and cared for during their caterpillar and chrysalis stages. One quickly flew away, the other decided to stick around the clematis for a while.

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• Jun. 6, 2008 - Panda Scouts

Here are some pics. of our Panda Scout troupe (ie. K and myself) preparing for our mother-son camping trip that's coming up soon. If you look a couple of entries down, you'll see a close-up of the T-shirt design. Since we're the Panda Academy, it only made sense that we be the Panda Scouts. I'll explain the pics as I post them. ~Heidi Panda Scout K. poses for a picture in his official scout T-shirt. Here we are earning our Camp Stove Cooking badge. Also known as "testing out the new propane stove, non-stick mess kit, and homemade pancake mix so we don't have a repeat of our one camping trip with Daddy where God would not let our family have the ability to make a fire of ANY sort, including one on our tossed-in-frustration duel-fuel stove." How's that for a run-on sentence fellow homeschoolers? The Panda Scouts see if mom & son can set up their new, smaller, tent. (It also had to be seam sealed.) Step one - remove all the twigs from your site. Step 2 - lay out your tent Step 3 - hammer in those stakes, baby! Step 4 - put together and insert fiberglass (?) support rods Step 5 - wake your husband up from a nap so he can help you with those bleeping rods that you swore were going to break because they were too long for the bleeping tent when you bleeping tried to get them in the bleeping grommet holes near the tent stakes. Step 5b - reassure husband that you and son really can set up this tent all by yourselves. Step 6 - success at last...if you don't count two minor inside tears. (I knew those bleeping poles were too long for the tent!) Step 7 - get a lesson in how wind loves to blow away lightweight rain covers. It's called...something to do with aerofoiles and wings and lifts and such... Step 8 - Success at last! The Panda Scouts have earned their Tent Setting Up badge.

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• Jun. 5, 2008 - More Pics of the Asphalt Victory Garden

To save time, I'm just putting up the pics, big as they are. Sorry if it's too much. I've got tons to do tonight and wanted to share our garden progress plus show you all the "leaves and debris" we're in trouble with the health dept. for so you can see for yourself. Thanks for reading. ~Heidi A long shot of 3 garden beds. Front to back we have: Salsa Bed - planted with garlic, white onions, tomatoes, 3 surviving purple asparagus, and cilantro Bean and Pea Bed - planted with purple, red, and blue beans and peas, cucumbers, dill (not doing so well,) and I think some cabbage (if it's not a companion plant, then no) Melon Turned Tomato Bed - 8 rows of melon seeds and plants and only 1 plant is living. It got replanted with 6 tomatoes and some white cabbage In this year's Asphalt Garden Sign Bed we have an eggplant, a tomato plant, and some strawberries. This is in front of the flowering cherry tree and an area we'll be bricking around and mulching to make it an "official bed" so we won't get in trouble for it. (You can see my eyes rolling, right?) Beside the Asphalt Garden Sign, we have a small bed. One day, it will hold a climbing rose. For now, it's a spot for green squash and strawberries. The squash was only supposed to be there for a short while but it'll stay for now. Our Pile-O-Dirt Potatoes! So proud of these guys. An old potato, cut up, and tossed into a pile of dirt has become our best growing potato bed this year. Go Mother Nature! This will soon be surrounded by a new garden box since the unknowing only see "dirt, leaves, and weeds" rather than a mound of food for the winter. Our main Potato Bed - planted with red potatoes, blue potatoes, red cabbage, white cabbage, and 2 fairy tale eggplants. Behind it is one of the Blueberry Beds which also contain strawberries. Our Wheel Barrel Bed planted with...I have no clue but they were pretty! We also stuck in some Brussels Sprouts because we didn't have space elsewhere for the whole flat. Oh, on the ground, which you can't really see since it's behind the wheel barrel, are 2 rhubarb plants and some daffodils. This Strawberry Bed, now sports 2 tomato plants, red and white onions, garlic, and red leaf lettuce. Tucked away in the corner between it and the gazebo is an onion and some strawberries. I love using up little spaces for food plants! Strawberry Bed on the side of the gazebo. This one too, we're worrying about because of the leaves. Strawberries decayed leaves, btw. Clematis and Climbing Rose bed. I must post a more recent picture of this. The miniature rose bush is in full bloom and so pretty! Go Nor'East Miniature Roses! I save the Gazebo Bed for last. Here we have tomatoes, basil, red and white onions, and some parsley in the back. The lower tear holds romaine lettuce and the edible flowers (assuming they come up) of Johnny Jump-Ups and Bachelor Buttons. Note the lettuce plants tucked into the large cinder block holes between tiers. I thought it was such a cool idea. Next we have more tomatoes and tucked in herbs and onions in the back. Sage, rosemary, and basil are in the lower tier. On the floor are flats of ground covers that were "seeded" in the front yard. There are now more flats of ground covers waiting to be planted and lettuces to give to my hsing friend, Kel P./3littlemonkeys. This is the newly reconstructed right half of the gazebo. The back was built the same as the left - 2 cinder blocks high and one cinder block wide. This allowed tomatoes and peppers to be planted at their proper depths and to be supported by poles and fencing. The lower tier just happened to work out the way it did. Cinder blocks are big and heavy, so you do the best you can. This design allows for easy access to the back row. In the back, we have more tomatoes, onions, and herbs. Below them and to the middle of the picture, we have lots of herbs (oregano, bee balm, thyme, and whatever else caught our fancy.) The two lower beds towards the bottom of the picture contain lettuce, spinach, Brussels Sprouts, and chives. This the last section of the right side of the gazebo. It's K's section. In the back tier are his 9 pepper plants...maybe he's up to 12 now. He has a row of Bright Light's Swiss Chard in the back section of the lower tier. Behind them, another row of peppers. In front is the lettuce and spinach bed with the chives and Brussels Sprouts in the left lower bed. One last thing, promise. I counted the other day. We have a grand total of 32 tomato plants. Yes, 32 plants for 3 people, one of whom won't touch 'em, and another who is mildly allergic. If just half survive to produce, we'll have more than last year. The plan is to can up as much as possible, not just tomatoes, pickles, and salsa but ratatioulle and stew as well. Thanks for reading. ~Heidi

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• Jun. 5, 2008 - Nosy Neighbors, the Health Dept. and This Year's Asphalt Victory Garden

Evening all, As some on HSR know, our neighbor's called the health dept. on us because *they* (NOT US) were having a problem with "rodents." Any normal, relatively intelligent person, would think they came from either the "old cat lady house" that just got gutted and remodeled (mil talked to the contractors and heard all about just how bad the inside was) or the over-grown wooded area behind the houses on our block owned by a company that NEVER takes care of it. Instead Lawn Nazi Neighbor (i.e. house with 2 full grown adult men and 1 woman who are outside for 6-8 hours a day sweeping up every single leaf and blade of grass that dares fall on their property) convinced the health dept. that our leaves and "debris" are the source of THEIR rodent problem. I emphasis THEIR because we have never, in 11 1/2 years, had so much as a mouse in our house. We had a hamster once but he was a pet, bought at a pet store. We have by June 16, to clean up all the "debris" in between our garden boxes, around the house, and in our garage. If we don't pass, we get slapped with a fine. Dh was NOT given any opportunity to explain that the leaves were 1, sitting on top of soil and 2. acting as both a growing medium and mulch for strawberries and other plants we're using as ground cover between the beds. Nor was he allowed to explain a dozen other things such as the compost pile, the old gazebo pieces (which we're also under orders to toss) were going to be used to fence in the side yard, etc. Nope, it all has to be cleared away or else. I'm not saying improvements don't have to be made. I can understand some of it. Thing is, we WERE doing them and had plans to do more when we had the time and money. Dh works 2 full-time jobs and I homeschool, take care of the house, the garden, and all the chores. We're also planning for a camping trip/visit to a homeschool friend in 2 weeks. We can't be outside and home 24/7 like the bleeping neighbors! Plus, come on, why can't other people have lawns and "lawns in progress" yet we're required to sweep out between the garden beds? Another "get real!" we have 5, yes 5, trees on our tiny little 100 x 50 ft. property. Every time it rains, we get tree debris. And I'm going outside and ruing my new beautiful Toro by sucking up wet leaves or sweeping them up every single day. Sorry, I have better things to do with my time like gee, I don't know, educate my kid perhaps? We racked our brains and came up with a plan. Since "garden boxes" are okay, guess where the leaves, compost pile, compost potatoes, and pile-o-dirt potatoes are going to go? Into garden boxes. Or rather, we're building boxes that will be conveniently placed over them. They'll be filled in with shredded leaves, soil, and planted with ground covers that I was going to plant in the front yard. The 10 year old strawberry bed will be bricked in (did that today) as will around the base of the flowering cherry tree. We get to keep our leaves (leaves = gold in our garden) and also thumb our noses at the neighbors who think they've won. The garage - that just cost us $200 at Lowe's for a tool rack, free-standing shelf (one can't nail anything into the rotting walls,) totes of various sizes, etc. $100 more was spent on wood and paint for the new garden boxes. Another $100+ will be spent tomorrow for homemade soil ingredients, and brightly colored mulch. (We're afraid the health inspector might consider mulch "debris" but since every single property has it, we're making it real obvious that there's mulch and not "leaves" in and around some beds.) Luckily, dh's coworkers at the movie theatre (his 2nd job) and another friend of ours, are rallying to our cry for help and promise of homemade lasagna and baked goods. Not sure exactly when they're coming, but come they will. And now onto BEFORE pictures with explanations as to what you're seeing in this year's Asphalt Victory Garden. (Any WWII housewife would be proud about how much produce we're growing in such a tiny space.) First, some big pics of the Native American Three Sisters Bed. Oh so grossly planted with fish heads and parts to act as fertilizer for the corn, beans, peas, pumpkins, and other squash plants.

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• May. 9, 2008 - homeschool camping T-shirts

Here's a pic of the design we created for t-shirts for our camping trip. Imagine it on a stone green T-shirt/background.

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• Mar. 26, 2008 - Gazebo ReDesign

Where did all those 46 concrete blocks that I talked about earlier go? Into the right half of the gazebo pictured below. The space was really awkward to work in and all praises should go to K. for figuring out the block placement of the lower beds. Our goal, aside from creating the higher back beds, was to make sure there was enough steady footing that would allow us to plant, weed, and harvest without damaging any plants. It was great discovering so many fish-bait rescued earthworms still alive and thriving. The bed against the back wall was increased to a 2 block height which will allow the tomatoes to have a deeper root system and to be better supported by trellises (to built later.) The lower section in front of it will be for herbs. The front back wall bed (near the door which you can't see in the pic) will hold K.'s 8 or so pepper plants. The lower beds in front of that will be for his experiments. Here's a before picture of the whole gazebo area so you compare the differences. It was just a simple 4 square bed. ~Heidi

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• Mar. 23, 2008 - Math thru Science

Math - choices include Teaching Textbooks 5 (K.'s LOVING this!), division and multiplication songs CDs, Evan-Moor's Math Centers and Math Practic workbooks, and a Flip & Learn handy math helper chart bought at Lakeshore Learning. K. doing a Teaching Textbook's math lesson. Baby Puppy has taken to joining in the lessons with Daddy Puppy. Mommy gush moment - there is nothing more hysterical than seeing your son walk around with 2 stuffed animals on his head all day be it watching TV, playing a video game or doing his lessons. Just a few of the many choices he has for music. I was rushing and didn't feel like going around and trying to find all the classical music CDs nor his recorder. Mystery Folders - cool folders that I picked up at Target for the Mystery Lessons - fun lessons that I'll make up myself such as: Science - draw or describe the evolutionary path of stuffed animals. (No idea why I included Without a Trace : season 2 in there. Perhaps because I found it for only $20?)  Science - just a few of the things availlable to learn from this year. New items include a butterfly garden, an old 6th grade ps textbook that I really like as a spine, and Evan-Moor's Science Centers and Read & Understand Science. And that's it for now! If you've read all the new entries, you're a saint! ~Heidi

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• Mar. 23, 2008 - History and Language Arts

These are the newest books for history and don't include the 4 shelves full we bought last year nor the books I've yet to buy. K. will end up one of three ways - hating history, well-versed in it, homeschooling till he's 30. LOL! Two close-ups of the books because I'm too lazy to type in the titles. It is nearly 5 a.m. and I've a long Easter Day ahead of me as it is. If you really want the titles, ask nicely and I'll be more than happy to post them. Language Arts - in the back is a game called Grammar Quest that we picked up last year at Lakeshore Learning. It's not bad. The rest are all new materials. We have from back left to front right: Growing With Grammar 3, Evan-Moor (the rest are also E-M) Spell & Write grade 3 (ds is behind in spelling,) Writing Centers, Read & Understand Non-Fiction, Writing Fabulous Sentences & Paragraphs, How to Write a Story, and Vocabulary Centers (centers might be the opposite, can't tell from the pic and I'm too lazy to go check which color belongs to which book. lol!) Next entry is the last of the homeschool curriculum, promise. Thanks if you've gotten this far! ~Heidi

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• Mar. 23, 2008 - Gifted Ed and Geography

Gifted Education/Critical Thinking - Evan-Moore's Thinking Skills and Thinking Activities. In the middle is Fun With Logic which didn't look as cool up close as it did in the samples I saw online. In the back is one of the Thinking Skills activities all nicely put into a folder, a list of other things one can do in the subject such as games that obviously wouldn't fit into the bin, and a Mystery Folder which will one day actually contain fun lessons that I'll make up for him. Geography - so much old and new that you can't fit it into just one picture. In the back we have: 2 folders containing Evan-Moor Geography Centers, one of 3 geography bins (there's still more on the bookshelf mind you.) Left-hand row back to front: Evan-Moor's Geography Centers workbook, Evan-Moor's Geography Units on Antartica, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Middle row: a cool not-sure-what-company World Geography wrkbk I picked up years ago, Spectrum Geography - World, grade 6, a cool "search and learn" book with interesting facts about the countries of the world, and Animaniacs Vol. 1 because it contains the fun and educational song listing all the countries of the world. (Dh works with a woman who learned her countries this way. ) Right row: Rand McNally's Children's Atlas of the World and DK's How People Live. I'll give the highlights here since there's a ton of books here. K. has a fascination with China and Japan since that's were video games come from. He also loves Australia. I have this weird fascination with Canada because of the TV show Due South, the fact that I really want to show K. more of the country than Niagra Falls. So we have all sorts of books on these countries. In front is a set of lightunits I special ordered from the sweetest grandmothery lady from the CLE booth last year. In back is a really cool book on China that I purchased from Rainbow Rescource. (I noticed today that it's in the Winter Promise catalog.) The book is far more than I expected it to be! Here we have some United States geography materials You can barely see upfront on the right a book I bought on Puerto Rico (from Rainbow Rescource) since dh's parents are from there. Behind it is a charming book called Miffy Loves New York City. (We live an hour's train ride from there.) And that concludes this entry. We'll start with History on the next one. ~Heidi

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• Mar. 23, 2008 - The new curriculum pics are finally downloaded!

Finally, dh dowloaded the pics off the cellphone and then got them off the site and into our computer. And finally, I had time to actually edit them and put them into my blog! How others manage a weekly, let alone daily, blog astounds me! In alphabetical order we have: Anatomy posters that I picked up at the teacher supply store for only 99 cents each. Whoohooo! Don't care if K. doesn't need them yet, they were cheap! Art - new books for 5th grade include Evan-Moor's Art for All Seasons and Seasonal Activities. Lives of the Artists...and What the Neighbor's Thought, Linnea in Monet's Garden, and a cool book on Renoir. We'll be getting Evan-Moor's Folk Art Projects - Around the World soon. Mind you, I have a whole shelf full of art and art history books but in our house, you can't have enough books. LOL! Classic Literature/Poetry/Science Fiction - this is just the first load and doesn't include what's already on our shelves. From Top Left to Bottom Right we have: Lives of the Writers, a collection of poets, poems by Robert Frost, Evan-Moor's Read & Understand Poetry, Explorers (an '80's sci-fi movie I thought K. would enjoy,) The Rolling Stones and Farmer in the Sky  (I think) by Heinlien, and Asimov's Foundation. Foreign Language - just a few of the many choices K. will get get so he can dabble in foreign languages as he pleases. We were doing Minimus Latin only but he got bored with it. Since he's always had a fascination for all things Chinese and Japanese, I've thrown those in along with some French materials we picked up in 1rst grade during his "I want to learn French" stage. Mind you, he can't speak more than a handful of words in any language but English but the materials are available should he get the itch to learn more. Fun- every year both the teacher and student get something fun. K got two Franny K. Stein activity books while I was finally allowed to buy The Official Companion, vol. 1 book to the best sci-fi show ever made - Firefly. Okay, actually there were two best sci-fi shows ever made. Farscape is the other one. I'll stop this entry for now and move onto the subjects that start with "g" in the next. ~Heidi

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• Mar. 23, 2008 - French Fries

Found this picture while I was editing the ones to go into the blog. It expresses so well what my son thinks of his favorite food. ~Heidi

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• Mar. 23, 2008 - A few more gardening pictures

K. stopping to smell the flowers at Home Depot. The third load of cinder blocks that were bought for the redesign of the gazebo garden bed. (Pics of that coming as soon as husband downloads them.) First day of gardening 2008. K's raking shredded leaves over a blueberry bush whose roots had become exposed, yet again, due to wind and rain. Daddy Puppy and Baby Puppy get into the gardening mood as well by reading an informative magazine. Thanks for viewing! ~Heidi/CoffeeHeidi

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• Mar. 22, 2008 - Reorganization pictures

First, I'll test one..okay four...out as I've never used the editing features of photobucket yet. Then, I'll have to break to help K. make his Easter basket. Finally, he's going to use one of the Evan-Moor art books he just had to have! In the mean time, look at my pretty new template we decided to put up in honor of our snow crocuses. This is the "cube organizer thingy" on top of the "green drawer thingy." It holds from top left to right bottom the following subject/subject groups: Classic Literature/Poetry/Science Fiction History Math Reading Writing Grammar, Spelling, and Vocabulary Science Geography (one of 3 bins) Gifted Education/Criticial Thinking Skills Here's a blurry close-up of it. There are educational games on top. In other cube organizer thingy, to the left of the main one and pictured below hopefully, we have: Art Foreign Languages Music empty cube empty cube where the outlet and Wii remote charger lies Health, Home Economics, Penmanship, and Cursive More Geography Even More Geography Writing Paper and Blank Books Here we have a close-up of the bin labels. They were purchased at Lakeshore Learning Company, a local teacher supply store. And again, the picture is coming out un-cropped and un-reduced sized. Excuse me while I fix it. There. I think the problem is that the code/direct link is coming up from the original picture. And lastly, the sign K. wrote to celebrate the reorganization: ~Heidi/CoffeeHeidi

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• Mar. 22, 2008 - the conrete block laying is done!

Thanks to my poor aching back fixed by Advil liquid gels and my "loves to dig" 10 yr. old son with a great mind for finding solutions to awkward spacing problems, the tomato, herb, pepper, lettuce, and K.'s experimental beds have been built! It was just half the gazebo too! lol! We dug up soil down to the asphalt, laid in new layers of concrete cinder blocks (48 in total,) shredded leaves, shook them onto the bare asphalt, replaced the soil, cheered at finding our "rescued from becoming fish bait" Wal-Mart earthworms still alive, and killed the two tiny grubs we found. We also refilled most of our bird feeders, admired the snow crocuses that had popped up, looked at our lovely garlic that grew (anything that grows in our garden is to be celebrated!,) and talked about all the work and fun that's to come. We want to paint cool pictures of fruit, vegetables, and flowers on the garden boxes once planting is done. Our red and blue/purple potatoes arrived today so it was off to Lowes to buy wood and hardware along with a few other supplies. We'll be painting the wood come Monday. Overall, a very productive first week in the garden as well as a great way to start 5th grade. I took pictures but you know how long those take to get posted - forever lol! ~CoffeeHeidi

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• Mar. 4, 2008 - Oh those wonderful sci-fi geek children!

You know you've done your job in passing down your geekiness and love of sci-fi to your child when he decides to turn his Egypt history pocket cover page into this: For those not in "the know" he's added Goa'uld, from Stargate, features to one of the characters. I'm such a proud mommy tonight! ~Heidi

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• Mar. 3, 2008 - A couple of new photos

Thought I'd share these in between loads of laundry. I promise to update my blog soon. This is the evil Math Monster. K. drew it rather than work on his math assignment. He was in a grumpy "I hate math" mood and thought he'd get in trouble for it. Instead, I tried a bit of reverse psychology and praised it. Afterall, it's a great drawing! It now hangs proudly in the living room where we do most of our schooling. How does my child learn best? With Daddy Puppy on his head of course! The dear stuffed animal goes with him everywhere. The understanding is that while Daddy Puppy can help with school work but isn't allowed to help him cheat on tests. ~Heidi

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• Feb. 29, 2008 - In Memory of My Dad

This is my dad with my step-mom, Carol. He passed away in July 2007 from a very nasty and virulent form of brain cancer - Stage 4 Gilioblastoma Maliformae. He wasn't a perfect parent, as none of us are, but he chose to be my dad and that makes all the difference in the world. You see my mom had been married to a very mean person, to put it mildly, and with him had my older sister and I. Luckily, she left him when I was but 3 months old and my sister, 2. A few years later, she met my dad. They got married and dad adopted us. (The biologic didn't even show to court.) He raised us as his, not step-children, but his own, equal to that of the daughter he had with my mom. (Though we all know the youngest child is spoiled. lol!) There is more to dad, his life, his work, his faith, him always defying mom and encouraging me to walk to my own drummer...But to me, I shall always remember him as the man who chose to be my dad. ~Heidi

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• Nov. 6, 2007 - The best smell in the world

• Oct. 17, 2007 - Welcome to the 1940's

I finally completed my WWII utility suit and 1939 everyday dress. What follows are preliminary pictures as they're from the cell phone (i.e. not very clear and I look like a grumpy goose in the suit) and I'm not wearing proper makeup for the time. But, here they are along with the patterns used. Sorry about looking all weird and grumpy. I wasn't really, just in a hurry to get the picture taken before the light faded. You can't see the blouse very well. It's the same one from the pattern. My husband says this outfit is scary. He always feels he'd jumped back to the 1940's when I put it on. LOL! You can't see the hat very well, nor the 2 feathers stuck to the back. It was made using a Vintage Vogue pattern - which looked great on the model but not when made and not on me. I'd chosen it because I saw a similar one on the grandmother in the PBS series "1940's House." I took the hat, removed the front pleat, and then folded the brim and a good portion of the rest of the hat up inside. The result was 100% better. The Folkwear Pattern I used. I eliminated the back zipper as well as the pocket flounces. The dress is green swirls in a diamond shape with little leaves inside. I found silver buttons with near identical swirls. (Totally cool but I wish I hadn't used 8 of them ) The head scarf is simply a large square of black and white polka dot fabric with the edges encased in a tight blanket-type stitch. It's not the most flattering of dress for a large-hipped person like me, but it suits the time period well and can only serve to enhance our history lessons....sorry, make that "embarrass me to death, mommy!" Why does it keep looking I'm lopsided? LOL! Just a side note: I CAN NOT get my hair to curl into any semblance of a 1949's style. I did my research, bought curlers, styling gel that was also a volumizer, and a curling iron. I did everything I was supposed to do. Yet still my below-waist length fine and bone straight hair that hasn't been curled in over 10 years hair refuses to obey. (It will braid beautifully though.) I ended up simply parting my hair down the middle, leaving it a bit "soft" and putting the length into a twisted bun at the nape of my neck. I apologize to all 1940's aficionados, but I refuse to cut my shorter just to make it work for this one time period. Thanks for reading, ~CoffeeHeidi

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