For two weeks now, Houston’s been hotter than … well, a mild fever. Which is hot, as air goes. And despite the lack of rain, it’s still a wet, heavy heat. At least the drought is keeping the mosquitoes at bay. Biking to work has become a somewhat icky endeavor; I’ve learned to bring an extra shirt to change into when I get there.

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I saw a car today with three bumper stickers: a Mac apple, a Houston Astros sticker, and a sticker that looked like those oval country/vacation spot stickers with initials in them but actually stood for “Jesus Freak.” I don’t know why the combination struck me as odd, but I kind of want to meet this person.

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Since I got my sewing machine, I had a vague idea for months that I would MAKE people gifts for Christmas this year instead of refueling the flagging economic machine like a good little consumer. The problem with this idea is that three of the five most important people in my life are men, and another is a dog, so the intersection of things they would appreciate and things I can make by hand in my nascent craftiness is tiny.

But then in December I hit on the idea of slippers. For my dad, at least, I imagine slippers rank lower than a sandblasting attachment for his air compressor on the list of gifts he’d enjoy, but higher than a scarf or a man-purse—good enough for me!

My mom needed new slippers anyway, so I knew she’d appreciate them. I know John’s not a slipper guy, so I gave him some fancy tea, an infuser, and a teakettle instead. Plus I mended a badly-torn pair of his pajama pants, and that totally counts as a homemade gift. Sam was also exempt—the hours I would spend sewing him tiny booties by hand would far outweigh the few minutes of amusement we’d get watching him chew them off his feet.

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Whoops, missed another one there. How many days have I skipped this year? Five-ish? For shame. After the first, though, it’s not so bad. At least I failed fast, right?

John and I went to the Ren Fest today. The weather wasn’t ideal, a bit cold and rainy, but it’s the last weekend, and I wasn’t going to wait another year to dress up.

I did manage to finish my skirt after all, and in only two days. AND it totally looked like a skirt, even a skirt sewn by a real sewer-person (if you didn’t look too closely), so I’m quite pleased with myself. Pictures in a few days when John uploads them from his camera.

Nutcracker Market this weekend, but alas, this is my week to drive up to College Station, so I’ll have to skip it this year. It’s okay, though—I’m sure I’ve experienced enough rhinestone-studded camo Jesus-wear over the last three years to last me until 2009. I wouldn’t mind sampling a few more of those cherry-everythings, though.

In related news, we’re going to try to make it out to the Texas Renaissance Festival for its last weekend two weeks from now. I’ve hatched the ambitious plan of making myself a skirt to go with the fabtastic green corset I bought in San Francisco this summer. My outfit won’t be anything near authentically Renaissance-y, but what better chance to wear a corset in public?

I’ve bought the skirt fabric, but most of the construction will have to wait until after next Friday, when my final memo is due. MEMO MEMO MEMO. Pretty much all of my motivatable spare time between now and then will be spent memo-ing. MEMO.