PERFECT PEACE

What I'm Reading

What fanatical extremes will a mother go through in order to have the perfect daughter she has always wanted?

 May 1940. Gustavus Peace and his six sons wait anxiously in the sitting room as his wife Emma Jean Peace labors with the birth of their seventh child. Gus hadn’t wanted any more children and neither had Emma Jean. Gus wouldn’t have touched her but Emma Jean said she was going through “the change” and that she couldn’t have any more children. Amid Gus’ anger regarding the pregnancy, Emma Jean saw it as a sign that after six boys, this child had to be the girl that she had always dreamed of having. Thoughts of her new baby girl and the bond they would share relieved the labor pains as Miss Henrietta, the midwife gave birthing instructions.


With the last push, Miss Henrietta announced to Emma Jean that she had a perfect baby BOY. Emma Jean is silent. She hesitantly accepts the tiny bundle in the pink towel as if she is being given a bag of garbage. She wants to cry but that would do no good. Emma Jean stares into nothing. Becoming concerned Miss Henrietta calls Emma Jean’s name to snap her out of her trance.

Finally, Emma Jean begins to laugh and coo over the baby saying, “I’ll name you Perfect because that’s what you are, my perfect baby girl.”

Looking stunned Miss Henrietta tells Emma Jean that she can’t pass of a boy as a girl and that what she wants to do is wrong. She asks her to think about the future of the child. She tells her that eventually the truth will be found out.

Emma Jean will hear none of it  abruptly silencing Henrietta saying that if she tells her family or anyone else that the baby is not a girl she will reveal the deep dark secret that Miss Henrietta thinks no one knows about her.

With the lie in place, so begins the life of a baby “girl” named Perfect Peace.
THAT'S IT***

RED TAILS

In honor of the Tuskegee Airmen film which premieres today, I am rerunning my post on my visit to the museum display I visited in May of 2009 at the Museum of Flight here in Birmingham, Alabama.

Listening to TJMS this morning I discovered that many of the wives of these men also had the skills to fly planes but because of the era they were not allowed to do so.

Museum of Flight-Tuskegee Airmen

 I have always been fascinated by the story of the Tuskegee Airmen. These daring young men were the first African American military pilots during World War II from 1941-1946.
Click on the photos to enlarge

The Tuskegee 99th Fighter Squadron began in June of 1941.Basic training took place at Moton Field. Each unit had an entire service arm along with a ground crew. After training the squadron was moved to the Tuskegee Army Air Field . There they were taught conversion training onto operational types. Captain Benjamin O. Davis was given command of the airmen. Captain Davis was an African American graduate of West Point.

****That's it******

Guilty Pleasures

One of the few things that can be bought for a dollar at the convenience store are Arizona and Peace Tea.  The mango is tasty and I have yet to try the watermelon flavor. Driving along and sipping my iced tea is a pleasure.

Cheetos seem to be nothing but cheesy air. This is another item that can be bought at the convenience store for the price written on the bag.  Cheetos will try to help the errant snacker with the nutritional content on the back. Eating 21 Cheetos equals 160 calories. I content myself with eating the whole bag.

Someone sold a Cheeto on E-Bay for $35 because they said it looked like Jesus. It was called Cheesus 

I buy Butter Crunch Blue Bell by the pint. If I buy anything larger I will eat it all in record time. Butter Crunch has vanilla ice cream with pieces of toffee candy mixed in. Think of crumbling a Butterfinger into ice cream, stirring it up and wolfing it down.    Butter Crunch Day is January 20th. On that day you are to eat anything that has buttercrunch.  

At Scott's Scoop  an ice cream blog, he has the recipe for homemade Butter Crunch ice cream. Scott even made his own toffee candy a day or two before to mix into his Butter Crunch. He has other ice cream recipes also and they all sound delicious.

When it comes to mindless, meaningless online games, I enjoy Fishdom. If you've ever played Bejeweled it is similar except there are object you'd find in the sea. The items can be matched several ways. A time limit is set for the player to clear the board. After that you are awarded points that can be used to "shop" for fish and other items to place in your online aquarium.

In this frame you can see I've gotten to level 12. For  some reason I enjoy hearing the squishy sound when moving  the tiles about and the ringing sound when a match is made.

After winning my money, I can buy items from Fish, Beauty, or Comfort.  All items are at different prices and it depends on how much money you have as to what you can buy.  You can even trade some things for others if you so desire.

THAT'S IT***

Crockpot on Crack

It started out with several loud popping sounds. The sound was similar to the sound of a rock hitting a window and breaking it. Surely, no one was trying to break in especially while I'm home.

What do you do when you've placed Andouille sausage,ground beef, onions, beans and other ingredients inside your trusty crockpot and

IT CRACKS!





There was an even crack all the way around the ceramic pot

 The crack was a clean cut one so I removed the contents and finished cooking my chili. Had I been cooking this to share I might have thrown it out. Since I was the only consumer I was willing to take my chances.

The results were delicious and not one shard of broken pottery in the whole dish.







The ingredients were not frozen and I didn't start the heat out on high.  I guess it was just time for the craock pot to die.  I'm glad I was home when this crock pot decided to crack. I'm unsure as to whether it could have started a fire or not
THAT'S IT***

Sewing a Skirt

Since I haven't done any "people" sewing in a very long time (think years), I thought I'd try my hand at it. Taking a cue from other sewing blogs I've visited, I also attempted to make a muslin pattern.  I fashioned it after a paper pattern I've had a number of years that I knew was too small.



Muslin pattern for skirt

I wanted pockets so I made them freehand. I have never been able to  measure patterns correctly. (I must have been absent on the day of that class) After basting the muslin together and trying it on, it seemed too small. As you can see I added another piece to the side seams. Turns out, I didn't need it and the skirt was waaaay toooo big.

This fabric is a polyester, orange and purple tweed




 

Here is the finished skirt laying flat...

and hanging.

This project didn't go as well as I would have liked. As you can see I ended up putting a folded seam down the front.  I'd had this fabric for at least 18 months. I was attracted to it by its tweedy look. The fabric ravels something terrible. I didn't bother to line it since this is an attempt at something I haven't done in a long while. For me sewing is not like riding a bicycle. I need to relearn this.

THAT'S IT***