44? When the hell did THAT happen?

A small birthday grumble and on to better things. Yesterday I received a call from my aunt. "Happy 45th birthday!" she says. "Thanks, Betty," I say. "My birthday's tomorrow and I'll be 44." She’s only my godmother.

Last night I get home from work and there's a message on my machine from my stepdad. Since my mom died he doesn't send cards. "Hey, it’s me. Call me on Thursday so I can remember to say happy birthday."

What the hell, people? Since they're both elderly, they're surrounded on every wall by clocks and calendars. A side question here: when you start running low on time do you automatically become fixated by it? My aunt has at least 10 clocks in her tiny apartment, and a calendar in every room, except the kitchen, which has 2. My stepdad's almost as bad. I don't get it.

As for the better thing, first of all, this was what I found when I got home from work tonight: my roommate and oldest friend went to the local fabric store and got me every fiddly notion that I either don't have, don't have enough of (seam rippers) or hadn't thought to buy yet. She also considerately included a $20 gift certificate, which I'm going to hold onto for a while.

The other better thing: when I discovered Project Runway was a rerun last night, I started working on BWOF 1/08 #122, the potentially great/scary poet's blouse. It's heading more toward the great than the scary. I really like the combination of the two fabrics - the orange color is toned down by the depth of the brown, and so long as I don’t use any of the border, I think it will all work. The border on the orange fabric is a somewhat virulent green that makes my teeth hurt even to think about.

Other than ironing and basting the pleats in the front in the wrong direction (easily remedied, at least), I got the front, back, side seams and the sleeve seams done last night. I pinned the yoke to the front and put the shirt on Evelyn to try it out. I just stuck pins in her along the back/yoke seam to get an idea of how it was going to look and I’m really pleased.

I read the reviews on PR and took the pattern in to a 36 (I'd cut a 38), but I don't think I'm going to have as much trouble with the shirt being too low because I'm a little fuller in the shoulders than it looks like the other two women are. Of course, I could be wrong and the girls could be out there, front and center, but isn’t that why they make tank tops? It'll work.