Sweat Shop

Last year we took a trip to the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. A few key observations:

• The building was built in the late 1800's, around the time our building was built
• At the time we were having our ceiling re-plastered, and we could see the wood lath strips of the ceiling. This construction was identical to the ceiling in the museum.
• People lived in crowded conditions, much more severe than our situation, of course, but I couldn't help but see the similarities. The most striking was how each tiny room became a room with multi-leveled functions. For instance, the living room was also the work room (sewing room), and it also became a bedroom. Similarly, the kitchen was a storage room, and the laundry was done side by side with the cooking. Large families lived in apartments that were about 300 square feet.

We remembered our museum visit yesterday, when at one point, we had the sewing machine in my daughter's bedroom. I worked at the machine, altering a dress for her Halloween costume. My husband folded laundry on her bed, and she worked on her own dress for her doll.

It was wonderful to teach her a little bit about sewing, and the costume turned out beautifully. It's a white winter princess dress converted to a scary witch dress with snakes and no snowflakes. We'll do some face painting to complete the look.

We will soon be moving into the Halloween celebration blast, which will start the weekend before Halloween. There will be events at all the neighborhood attractions -- the park, the botanic gardens, and there will be parties. It will end on Halloween with a fantastic huge parade that will follow some trick-or-treating.