Very Good Gaza Blog!

I found this blog through Free Gaza. It is written by someone who sailed with them last year I believe, and stayed on to be a witness on the ground. I encourage everyone to take a look.

http://ingaza.wordpress.com/

So We Are Now Ruled By A Cat

Oh, what a week. It has been crazy! I am driving school buses again. I had missed it -- promise I am not completely crazy! I haven't had a set route, so Feather has been at home with Bryan. He was ready for Friday to get here! We are now out for Thanksgiving... A whole week! When I go back, I think that I will get to drive the same route that I had the last part of the week. Then Feather will get to go.

Last year I had a regular bus with 60 elementary kids, and about 40 high school (not at the same time!). For now, I am driving a special needs route. I really like it, and the kids are great, so I hope that I get to stay on this one.

During all of this, the cat that found its way to our backyard is still here. She has taken over everything now and rules the household from her perch by the sliding glass door. It started raining Friday night, and Bryan went out in the middle of the night to fix her house so the rain could not get in. He has also been heating up gel packs and taking them out to her so she can stay warm at night. I hope that we can find a home for her soon. I haven't seen the other cat, but Bryan said that it has stopped by to eat a few times during the day. What makes me so angry about this is that both of these cats are so friendly, that they had to have been some one's cats at some point. Why do people think that they can just dump animals when they get tired of them?!?!

I will stop there and not go off on a rant. I have been putting in close to 12 hour days between training, learning routes, and driving (oh if only I got paid for all of that! lol), so I have not paid attention to what is going on in the world. Maybe that is a blessing :).

I did happen upon Last Call with Carson Daly last night, and Lisa Hannigan and crew were on. She sang Lille, and as always was awesome. Why do we not hear her on the radio here or she her videos on VH1 and MTV? (When they play them that is.)

So I close,

In case I don't get to post anything for a while, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

And The Lion Goes....ROAR!!!!

Okay, this is coming just a little late, but I have been just a little busy. If you will recall -- loyal readers... In my last post, I talked about how I was making costumes for Feather. The wolf suit is still in the works (have to locate something for the tail - will be on the look out for discarded stuffed animals that are black / gray), but the Lion costume was finished, ripped apart and refitted at last minute and in a panic. It is amazing how fast I am able to work under pressure. You just need to be sure to cover your ears while I am at it! lol. In the end, Feather used a head band and tail that she had to go as a cat from house to house. The lion feet are just so big, that we were worried that she would trip.

She happily made the rounds, hissing at everyone, then came home and changed into her modified lion costume to hand out candy. She loves the costume, which is a nice reward for my labors. The only drawback is that she wants to wear the hood and tail EVERYWHERE now. lol

I hope to get started on the wolf suit soon so she can enjoy it during our brief Texas winter. The restriction that I am putting on myself for this is to only reuse materials to make it. I did the same for the lion costume. I have my eye on an old gray sweatsuit moldering away in the attic...

The Lion Costume:

Materials

Two old goldish polyester curtains - I am learning the importance of weave and fabric quality! I had a race to get this stuff hemmed before it completely unraveled on me!

The fur and stuffing from two old stuffed bears - These were just forgotten in the attic, and had seen much better days.

Leather from an old pair of boots - I wear two different sizes in shoes, so I have to buy two pair of everything. These were from the cast offs, that I didn't want to throw away.

One old pair of socks - Attached the feet to the socks. I need to work on feet. She has to have help getting them on, and for a play costume that does not make a whole lot of sense to me.

Hot glue and glue gun - I used this to attach the leather to the bottom of the feet, paw pads, claws, and fur to the feet. Really came in handy although not sure how it will do when washed.

Elastic to make a waistband to attach the tail

Needle, Thread, Scissors and hands!

I would advise that you really try to fit this as you work. I kind of eye-balled it and ended up taking the hood and tail off of the tunic and letting her wear it with her clothes because the tunic did not really fit well. She added it to her dress-up box to play with, but I was disappointed that it did not work how I saw it in my mind.

Now for pictures...