The Cheese Factor

We sat through both of the Drama Queen’s recitals on Saturday night and marveled at the high degree of tackiness present in the costumes. (Stinkerbelle commented on the cheese factor in many of them) I suspect that there are many parents of young dancers out there who can relate to this. They charge you a ridiculous amount of money for “recital fees” and when the costume finally arrives it’s hideous and shoddily constructed. Cheap fabrics, unfinished edges, and garish colors just make me want to cringe. This is one of the 2 costumes she wore this year. Believe it or not, this one is a huge improvement over the other. I’m way too embarrassed to share it the metallic turquoise monstrosity with the short, pouffy skirt.

DQ danced well and, more importantly, she felt like a star for the night.

While we waited for the recital to begin I managed to finish the first Trekking sock. I’m still not sure that I’m in love with the pattern that I chose for the foot but I like the sock over all. It fits well and looks reasonably good. The rest of the weekend was so busy that I didn’t get to cast on for the second sock until this morning during the commute from hell. Here is the short version of my 2 and a half hour commute.

• Went to leave for work and noted that both sets of keys to by car were missing. They were both with DH on the way to the airport to drop my M-I-L off. Damn!
• Walked to bus stop and as I stepped on the bus I realized that my Smartcard and work ID were in the other purse at home. Damn again!
• Rode to Pentagon on stuffy, crowded, bus. Ride that normally takes about 35 minutes took well over an hour. Triple damn!
• Waited about 45 minutes on steamy, crowded platform for a train with room to squeeze on. Three trains go by with no room to pick up passengers. Finally got on and had to listen to loudmouth out-of-towner yell about how crowded the train is. Shut up!
• Changed trains and waited again for a train. Ugh!

All of this was caused by the torrential rains that have been falling for the past few days. It has washed out streets near my home and flooded underground Metro stations. Sadly there is no end in sight. They are currently forecasting rain for the rest of the week. Huge amounts of it. Ther is also this lovely little warning:

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
1109 AM EDT MON JUN 26 2006

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
MONTGOMERY COUNTY IN CENTRAL MARYLAND
PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY IN CENTRAL MARYLAND
ARLINGTON COUNTY IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA
CITY OF ALEXANDRIA IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA
CITY OF FAIRFAX IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA
CITY OF FALLS CHURCH IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA
FAIRFAX COUNTY IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA

• UNTIL 500 PM EDT
Perhaps this is a good time to mention that DQ and Stinkerbelle are at resident camp this week, sleeping in platform tents in the great outdoors. How many loads of laundry will it take to get the mud out of their stuff?


In the interest of ending on a positive note I’ll offer this pile of lovely blue tile as teaser. It’s part of the planned renovation of Stink’s room which got underway yesterday and is proceeding on schedule. Trip number two to H*me D*p*t is tonight unless the car is washed away by the deluge before then.