total cost of endorphins?

This week: got another job rejection, and Mike's dad was diagnosed with cancer.

Well. We will just make our own good things happen, then. I drew a few outlines of Zenny's costume - silky underdress, poofy tulle skirt, fancy waistcoat, vampire cape - and she colored them in until she found a color scheme she liked. We went to the big fabric store and pawed through the stacks of giant rolls, pulling them out like jenga blocks and piling them up against Leif while he stood scrolling on tiktok. We found a glittery black tulle that got sparkles everywhere, and a tired employee followed us around with a feather duster. Total fabric costs for outfitting a very short vampire: $58.86. 

My sewing machine is 15 years old and roaches keep trying to use it as a party house. It doesn't work half the time, and works very badly the other half. Also my cat, Billy, broke my tabletop ironing board by sleeping on it until it collapsed. So when my illustrator's royalty check arrived in the mail, I immediately spent part of it on a new sewing machine and ironing board. If you're going to do a thing, you should have the right tools. Especially if you're teaching a beginner. Total cost for a decent machine with a roach-resistant case and an ironing board sturdy enough to hold a large cat: $260.14. 

We have not even started making the costume yet. 

 

I knew. I said I knew, and I knew. But we are following through, and it will be memorable, one way or another.

 

Dept of good things:

Droopy the Mysteriously Balding Cat has grown back most of the fur on his butt over the past month. (I switched him back to his regular food and started dosing him with vitamin treats and a daily hit of catnip. Take your $70/case hypoallergenic food and stuff it, vet, my boy has anxiety.)

His little drumsticks don’t look like raw chicken anymore

For comparison, here he is a month ago, on the first day of catnip:

Also the wooden fence across the back yard is finished, so we don't have to see the neighbor's chicken coops and grow lights anymore. And, more importantly, they can't see us. I am someone who runs outside in my underpants to get laundry out of the dryer, so NO MORE FREE SHOWS, neighbors.

This weekend: cats vs. pattern cutting.