4th of July 2005

We had a few people over on the fourth of July for grilled meat and illegal fireworks. Friends of ours picked up the fireworks in Ventura County, where they're not illegal, and brought them back to us. They were the lamest, mildest fireworks ever (nothing like the M-80s my brothers used to get in Mexico) but we're so old and cowardly that we had the garden hose AND a bucket of water all ready to go whenever someone lit a fuse. We repeated the joke "'Light fuse and stand there' -- wait, no -- that's not right -- 'light fuse and run!'" over and over again, and it never got old.

Mary helped make the cupcakes but took a few breaks in between to destroy a few handfulls of paper cocktail umbrellas.

This was Baby J.'s first party. He was an angel, for the most part. I love this picture ...

I found some red sugar and some blue food coloring in the pantry and did my best to decorate the cupcakes in an appropriately patriotic way, given my non-existent cake decorating skills. Upon reflection I decided that "U.S.A. A-OK" was a little jingoistic, so I tried to soften the message with the peace symbol (Peace is Patriotic!). Bill pointed out later that I'd actually drawn the logo for Mercedes-Benz, which isn't the same thing at all.

I made this as my first submission to "A Month of Softies." While my construction techniques are truly awful, I really like the way it turned out. The theme was "June Bug," so I thought that a nice vintage Lilly Pulitzer shift would be just the thing.

I really like the doll's goofy yet benign expression. The green wool felt came from an old Martha by Mail kit for Christmas stockings that I bought back in the mid-'90s. The fabric for the dress comes from an old Lilly skirt. The flower trim came from Michael Levine's downtown. The green glass vintage button eyes came from a great button store in the Fashion District in New York, where I was last week. The jewelry is made from these lovely old Japanese beads I got on eBay a few years ago, during my beading phase -- they're milky white glass with a faint tinge of pink. I hand-knotted the necklace and managed to remember enough about wire-wrapping to make the earrings ...

[Baby J. wakes up from his nap and demands attention. He wants more food. I hold him and feed him while he farts gently. He seems sleepy, so I put him back in the bassinet. I hear squirmy noises from the bassinet but I choose to ignore them for now.]

I worked on the doll's face while watching "A Bug's Life" with my seven-year-old. I worked on the rest of it while watching "Dead Alive," after the children were in bed. I haven't seen it for years and had completely forgotten about the zombie baby. Eek.