Living on the Gulf of Mexico equals occasional hurricanes. This is a fact of life here the same as earthquakes in California and tornados in Oklahoma. We count backwards by tropical storms  survived, who we hunkered down beside  and the number of days without air conditioning (Alicia in… was it ‘83? In our first home, no kids yet,  lost one side of the roof, fought the insurace company for 3 months,  7 days exactly without electricity).

Newcomers tend to panic at the earliest mention of the tiniest storm, running about willy-nilly clogging the grocery store and Home Depot aisles while locals head to the garage to pull out the 20 year old sheets of plywood to cover the windows one more time, check the flashlight batteries they bought in May and fill the tubs with water the night before  just in case. In 47 years, I don’t remember ever evacuating– but then we’ve never lived on the coastline proper. Our current home is located on a bluff with little-to-no chance for flooding and high winds and tornadoes can’t be outrun. We plan to stay. Still, Gustav bothers me more than other storms.

Call it Post-Katrina-Rita Stress Disorder.

Current models show Gustav headed for New Orleans which should make those of us here in East Texas feel better but doesn’t. NOLA can’t take another hit.

Which brings up an important point that always seems to surface among praying people… how exactly are you suppose to pray about a hurricane? Do you pray it goes elsewhere? So, if not us, then who exactly should be hit?

Generally, we just pray for mercy.

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Tags: hurricane gustav

After whining yesterday about the lack of financing for fixers and the unwillingness of major lenders to fund cash-out mortgages and re-fi’s, Seth over at Flip They House posted about his recent experience with a local lender who offered him a 100K line of credit on generous terms.

Well… I Swanny!

Feeling a little sheepish for not having thought of this myownself… Thanks Seth.

There’s a lovely little dump with Brz written all over it that thanks you too.

On another, totally unrelated note…

…JoJo has bumps. DD3 just pointed out nickel-sized whelps under the fur from paws to neck covering his entire furry self. My latent powers of doggie ESP refuse to cooperate so no idea where or why these bumps are upon him. The usual suspect would be fireants as Somedog tends to dig up fire ant beds for fun when his landscape trimming chores are complete. The only thing certain is that DoDo does not want them touched.

UPDATE: All America rejoices to hear JoJo’s Bumps have Dis-Banded. One Benedryl plus one wet Boxer in my clawfoot tub, plus baking soda and vinegar equals One Backflip (DoDo’s, not DD’s), one sad sorry soaked bathroom, 2 sad sorry soaked dear children and the mysterious dissappearance of bumpage.

Details at eleven.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tags: local lenders, real estate investment, REI

One reason for switching  blog focus from real estate to navel gazing is the molasses slow pace of our REI interests these days. Having a pretty good chunk of operating capital tied up in one place (that would be the Magnolia House) coupled with the cratering of the mortgage industry left us in limbo-land without a paper umbrella. Our old strategy of buy with cash, fix with more cash, reappraise, then pull out more-cash-than-put-in isn’t going to work any more.

 Clearly a new strategy for growth is in order.

After many, many weeks our mortgage broker donned his superhero costume and strongarmed gently persuaded Wells Fargo to pleazie squeezie stop stalling/nitpicking us to death and close already. So, with latest property nicely leveraged and cash in bank, we begin our journey once again, looking for whatever works in today’s reality.

Yesterday, our long-suffering real estate agent took us through 6 houses in the local snooty school district looking for a 3/2/2 brick to add to our portfolio on the 10/90 plan (10% down, 90% leveraged with at least $300/month positive cashflow after PITI.) Super Chuck (the mortgage guy) believes that, with our good credit and portfolio of nicely performing rentals, he’ll be able to acquire a non-owner occupied investment mortgage for us in the 7% range.

We decided to make 2 offers… but passed on an absolute steal in a great neighborhood because of the amount of cash needed to bring it up to our standards (10% down plus 20K in repairs equals too much cash out of pocket that we can’t get back… at the moment we’re looking only at homes in close to move-in condition.)

Heavy sigh…. watching those rehab deals go to someone else is giving the mister a twitch.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tags: real estate investment, REI

Funny how those little decisions way-back-when turn into giant mountains of significance.

Today is a Big Day in the Brz household.

• DD1 enters a public high school classroom for the very first time.
• DD2 begins her senior year of college.
• DD3 starts her first year post-high school at our local community college honors department.
• DS begins high school work.
• Mrs. Brz is Nervous and considering a post-homeschool breakdown of massive proportions.

Back in August 1990, with much fear and trembling and a barely-healing c-section scar, DD1 and I cracked the kindergarten curriculum covers together during naptime for DD’s 2 and 3. We spun the Play and Talk Phonics records on a turntable the mister dug up at a public school surplus store. DD counted Teddy Grahams and drew lines in red crayon connecting numbers to pictures. She practiced drawing her letters in an aluminum pan filled with rice.

Did I mention I was terrified?

• Afraid of failing. And that failing would have life-long consequences for the kids.
• Afraid everyone else was right about keeping the kids home for school and the mister and I were wrong.
• Afraid of getting arrested. Or having the kids taken away. Or truant officers pounding on the door.
• Afraid our children would suffer for my lack of self-discipline, lack of basic grammar skills, lack of ____________ (insert fear of the day here.)

Eighteen years flew by before I could blink.

DD1 went to a nearby university on scholarship, worked 3 jobs and graduated with every honor possible and a double major in Political Science and English. At the honor’s banquet, they called her name so many times, the mister developed whiplash. Today, she enters a public school classroom for the first time, not as a student, but as an 11th grade English teacher at one of the most notorious high schools around. Now *that’s* ironic.

DD2 spent her early school years overcoming multiple learning difficulties. Born premature, this little fireball has always been a bit undersized, but at age 10 and 70 lbs, she took down a bully twice her size. During our homeschool years, we learned big words like ‘visual spatial’ and ‘global conceptual’, dosed her with noxious concoctions of herbal remedies and tried out one curriculum after another until the Brz bank account fairly screamed in agony. Today, DD2 is  conquering her finance and accounting classes as a senior at the university with bulldog tenacity and a solid 3.5 GPA. She works at and is a member of the honors department and makes us proud every day with both her grit and her loving nature. Pretty good for daddy’s mouse.

DD3 graduated from our homeschool world in May. Her high school years flew by  while we endured the trauma of losing our home in a Memorial Day weekend storm, moving her grandmother (twice), caring for the mister’s dear father during his final illness with lung and bone cancer, all while rebuilding  (and eventually moving back to) the family homestead. During that time, DD3 plugged away faithfully at her studies, balancing her books on a couple of TV trays pushed together in her room. She was my right hand and mom is *not* ready for this one to go off to big, bad college. Today marks her first time stepping foot in a public classroom of any sort and there’s no doubt she’ll do just as brilliantly as her older siblings.

So– one more little Brz, 4 more years of homeschool life. DS and I are looking over his books, planning his schedule and getting a feel for his choice of extra-curricular activities… 4-H, Riflery, Business.

Not really sure why we bother– can’t seem to see past these leaking eyes.

Maybe we should just start fresh tomorrow.

So this is what a homeschool graduation ceremony looks like– mom delivers the diploma, dad gives noogies, 40 guests in the livingroom waiting for mom to cry.

The Brz Hams.. DS, DD3, DD2, DD1.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tags: , high school, home school, Homeschool

Apparently,  in 1920, housewives were suffering from widespread hysteria and neurosis as evidenced by this factual and historically accurate document:

The Nervous Housewife

Besides being an authority on the inner workings of Housewives Everywhere, Mr. Myerson was also somewhat of a wit as evidenced by this introductory paragraph:

How old is the problem of the Nervous Housewife ?

Did the semi-mythical Cave Man (who is perhaps only a pseudo-scientific creation) on his return from a prehistoric hunt find his leafy spouse all in tears over her staglocythic house-cleaning, or the conduct of the youngest cave child? Did she complain of her back, did she have a headache every time they disagreed, did she fuss and fret until he lost his patience and dashed madly out to the Cave Man’s Refuge?

As I’m feeling the need for a bit of fussing and fretting, I think we should declare this Nervous Housewives Week. We can start with a bit of Hysteria followed by General Tics and Tremors and finish  up next Sunday with Muttering Under the Breath and Twitching. But rather than dashing madly away, husbands can provide Kroger bouquets followed by Sympathetic Clucking and Much Patting of the Hands with Damp-cloth Forehead Dabbing.

**”Why must I suffer so?” Uttered by the eternally over-acting Anita Ekberg in the movie version of War and Peace back in 1956.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The next sewing project:

A muslin of Vogue jacket pattern 8428 made of actual muslin.

DD2 needs a nice jacket for interviews. This jacket pattern fits beautifully except:

For this: about 2 inches taken in right up center back. The final jacket will be made of a black wool gabardine and lined with a black rayon Bemberg lining which I know is wonderful  because all the other sew-blog ladies say so although I’ve never actually seen a Bemberg myself.

And yes, that’s a pin center front and yes,  DD did squeal like a little girl and threaten to lock herself in the bathroom.

We spent the day driving across town to a cool little quilt shop where I found extra feet for my White Rotary sewing machine.  Of course all these feet are absolutely necessary as everyone knows you can’t properly sew without a rolled hem foot and an invisible zipper foot and an overcasting foot and an accurate 1/4″ topstitching foot, all of which I didn’t possess until this afternoon.

But now I do and life is good.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Tags: couture sewing, jacket, Sewing, tailoring, vogue patterns

Housedress #2 is a  flop. Two afternoons were devoted to cutting out and fitting the lining which is a sneaky way to get around muslin-making. For any non-sewers who might be following along, a muslin is a fitting tool and generally not made of muslin although, to add to the confusion, in this case it is. Front, back and sleeve pieces are cut and basted together, then tried on for fitting adjustments. I generally do lots of measuring of the pattern with repeated OCD comparisons to the victim’s measurements, then pin-fit the pattern directly to the warm body in question (a delicate operation that has sent many a little Brz running away in terror.) This way, I can (generally) go ahead and make the lining first and, if it works, I’m one step ahead on the road to Fashion Fullfillment.

Unfortunately, this lining does not work. The pattern is poorly drafted– shoulder  and side seams do not match up, but worse, the sleeves are hideous monstrocities that give a black eye to vintage patterns everywhere. The instructions call for three darts of doom on the sleeve cap (did I mention they aren’t properly drafted?). After sewing, resewing and re-resewing said darts, an exasperated seamstress ripped all darts out and gathered the top between the notches. Now, these puppies look like the crack-addicted love child of a Valley Girl’s prom dress and  an ’80’s cupcake wedding gown.

Someone clearly did not do their job and once my time machine is completed, I’m headed right back and give that pattern drafter a good smack. Since I do love the slash and gathers and collar, a Franken-pattern may be called forth… something with sleeves like Housedress 1 and body of Housedress 2.

Sleeve-zilla on Gloria (hiding her head in shame…)

These sleeves from Housedress 1 may be the answer–they’re extensions of the upper bodice and cut in one piece with the front and back. I added 4 inches in length to flatter 47 year old arms.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Tags: 40's housedress, housedress, vintage patterns, vintage sewing

Recent Vintage Sewing Activities…

A couple of weeks back, I found a stash of these at Mom’s Patterns…in my size no less:

Look at those pockets! And that collar! And all 10 of those lovely darts!

Back when the dd’s and I were both much smaller, I use to make cotton housedresses for everyday wear– much cooler and more comfortable in our Deep South, Gulf Coast region. A lightweight, cotton batiste lining adds body to the dress and eliminates the need for a slip (nasty, nasty things.) But back then, the seamstress was stuck with whatever Simplicity/McCalls/Butterick might offer that year and, believe me, the ’80’s were terribly unkind to dresses in general and housedresses in particular.

Finding *4* lovely 40’s patterns seemed serendipitous and I thanked the good Lord for the internet (and Google and PayPal) whilest lightening the bank account with much rejoicing.

Several sewing sessions later, this was the result:

Totally unstaged pix of the Mrs in her lovely, lace-pocketed housedress.

Yes, that is indeed me and my bare piggies ironing the lining fabric for Housedress #2. The older I get, the more these pictures look like dear Grandma Ida (love that woman) although she would never have ironed barefoot.

Following the directions was a  piece of cake (just didn’t do it.) Three inches added to the sleeves and, of course, the lining inserted with this method, were the only changes. The dress fit perfectly without any alterations as there’s plenty of ease built-in just about everywhere.

Surely you’re done??

Next up: This lovely little beauty, complete with bosom slash-and-gathers, darted set-in sleeves and back tie. And just look at those pockets~!

The main body,  front and back will be the blue check on the right, contrasting collar and pockets from the smaller check on the left. The fabric was a steal at Hancock’s Fabric– lovely, lightweight Italian shirting, 100% cotton for $2/yard.

Let me tell you, this is one woman that loves wearing a dress around the house. There’s nothing so comfortable in 100 degree/ 100% humidity than an all-cotton shift. And those ladies in the 40’s had the housedress down to a fine art– lovely darts to shape the material just so around the waist, lots of extra room through the shoulders for bending and actual working activities, big pockets for lots of stuff-stashing and plenty of swish in the skirt. After years of faded jeans and short-sleeved camp shirts, I’m feeling positively lady-like.

Someone smart once told me, “If you want to change how you feel about yourself, change your wardrobe.”

So I did.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tags: 40's housedress, housedress, vintage patterns, vintage sewing

The magic number has been reached.  New themes are downloaded, uploaded, etc. Many things continue to appear and dissapear at random whilest I play with various froo-froo colors and pix. If you arrived looking for something in-particular, fear not! It’s probably around here somewhere as nothing’s been deleted just yet. The background check manual will be available for a while longer until it’s moth-balled once and for good.

In the meantime, here’s a little Ebay Eye Candy… bought for 99 cents, sold for $120 by yours truly back in the day:

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