Easter Dresses

Found 4 matching skirts at the thrift store. SCORE!

4 beautiful ladies to sew for!
Hope they fit and hope they are liked.

Made my own patterns which is always risky when the recipients are 2200 miles away from my sewing machine.

Sizes left to right: 18mo. 2T. 6. 8.

Culture Shock 11

RAIN

In California, when it rains, it is cold. Looking out the window to determine your attire for the day never fails.

Sunny: no jacket.
Windy: jacket. scarf.
Cloudy: cold. jacket.
Rainy: cold. jacket. umbrella.
Sunny: no jacket!

In Mississippi, I have been known to bundle the kids up only to find it a balmy 75° outside. Uck and ick. Just because it's cloudy, doesn't mean it's jacket weather or even worthy of a turtle neck.

Culture Shock 10

FIRE!

Burn piles.

The smell of smoke in the air.

A few smoke columns on the horizon.

Any time & any where.

California has many regulations regarding fire. Mississippi has a few... I think... maybe.

After 9 months here, I finally don't start praying for the family that might be effected by the black smoke I see up yonder!

Culture Shock 9

TRAFFIC.

It takes over an hour to travel 20 miles.

There are no alternative routs.

If there is an accident,  everyone walks in to work an hour late.

Most everyone will be brought to cursing and/or praying.

People think it's worse in Los Angeles until they drive in the Bay Area.

{Press like and share if you agree!} jk.

Below is a picture of traffic in Mississippi.
Culture shock? Oh yes. But I am so much more relaxed! (Until a slow vehicle gets in front of me and I can't get around. It's so easy to revert to above behavior of cussing and shouting. Oops.)

Culture Shock 8

In California,  there are some restaurants attached to gas stations. There are Arby's and Subways that connect to the little convenient snack stuff of some pump stations.

I do not recall those food chains claiming to be the best in town though. I have yet to get food from one of these places. They are all different and the locals claim that some of the best bbq in town is at the gas station down the street.

This weirds me out. It just doesn't seem like the cleanest of options for dinner. No offense. I'll pass for now, thanks!

Valentine Shirt

Probably the last shirt that I make that I will actually get over my sons head!

I had the sewing-bug in February and pulled this together quickly.

This was a camouflage shirt that was getting too small. I added some length, still able to use the hem of the orange shirt.

He likes it but the first thing he did was ask Daddy if it looked store-bought because that's the look he was going for!

Culture Shock 7

Bugs. Bugs. More bugs.
Not much more to say than that.

My 8 year old catches june bugs, ants, wasps,  cockroaches, stink bugs, lady bugs, catidids, caterpillars, moths, butterflies, did I mention wasps?

Due to the decreased amount of pesticide usage, bugs are allowed to breed and they spread. Everywhere.
Yuck!

Thanks, California,  for getting rid of the bug population. I don't agree with that, but I sure miss NOT having bugs in my drink and the sound of NOT having june bugs buzz around my head.

(Photo courtesy of an 8 yrs old's bug collection.)

Culture Shock 6

"You know. Down by the old washateria."

People don't give directions when you enter a smallish town. They've never been the new person and forget that you don't even know what a "washateria" is!

I've gotten directions as clear as, "two turns past where the bowling alley used to be." Thanks. Very helpful. I'll try to google that.

GPS. That might work.  If you have an address and not just a family name.  It MIGHT work if google has recently been down these old country back roads. It JUST might work if you get decent reception out here. These three things fail daily.