Garden of Thought

Can't believe I haven't posted since the wedding in March - where has spring/summer gone? Still working at the soap-makers/perfumers and loving it, still slowly looking for a new property with some near misses but no new house yet, still dancing, etc. I've been learning to dance with props (swords, fans, veils, wings, etc) and have really taken to the fan veils. I had my first ever restaurant performance with them, woo! Very nerve-wracking but it went fairly well at least, I only had one hair doodad go flying off halfway through. Fans require lots of spinning.

My daughter and new son-in-law have moved into the lower half of my house and we get along famously, which has been good all around. Once away from his rather controlling 'manly man' father he was able to re-evaluate who he really is and found his passion in making ugly things look beautiful - SO we now have them both learning to sew and he just started into getting his cosmetology degree. :-D He was so afraid he'd be the only guy in the class but there's another dude and he's even also military so they are really enjoying themselves and the other guy is showing him how to do amazing braids. We get to be guinea-pigs!

As a bonus, both of my kids found weekend work at a local tea house where she is in the kitchen and he is dressed up complete with watch-chain, silk tie and pocket-square to serve ladies high tea. It's fahhhbulous!

I'm packing my car with decorations and getting ready to drive down for rehearsal today (it's an hour and a half away) and now I'm seeing snow. Really, weather? You have to blinkin' snow? Ran to check weather predictions, looks like all will be clear by tonight thank God.

We have two hours today to rehearse and decorate, then tomorrow morning it's show time!

So far we've had one bridesmaid drop out, one set of grandparents snowed in and one set of parents (his) with pnuemonia, plus the summary the officiant gave of what she was going to talk about didn't pass the bride's inspection and they are scrambling for a different talk. Turns out his family didn't really invite anyone at all so it's all been informally through efforts by the snowed-in grandma and I have no idea at all how many of his relatives will be there. 0_0

My dancers are asking me "Covered bellies? Or are uncovered bellies okay?" and I have no idea. I'm just telling them to wear whatever they like at this point.

*Vizzini voice*: "Wait til I get going! Now where was I...?"

My coral and purple costume worked! The hair-fall I braided did too and stayed in place. I really do need lighter colored dance shoes, though - looking for something else that works now. I was kind of freaked out about doing this one because it was a difficult piece but yay, I survived and I kind of like how this pic came out. It helped that I was at the tail end of the show and there wasn't a lot of audience left. Now I get to do it again at a Lavender Festival later this month, yoiks.

Carpet! What a nice morning, hot tea in a cup and the rhythmic banging and shuffling of workmen downstairs finishing up with the new carpet there. I'm delighted to have that done, though it does mean lots of crawling around on the floor for me later as I have to reattach all the baseboards once they're finished and then get all the furniture back in place. It really makes me realize how bad the old carpet was, that's for sure! Aaaaaah.

Church! My goodbye party at my "old" church went well (so weird to think of it as the "old" church now), only half as many people as said they would come actually showed up so we had WAY too much food but otherwise a good time had by all. Lots of dancing and dress-up and eating too much. Thankfully you can freeze both hummus and curry perfectly well, no need to make dinners for a while. I'm really enjoying being able to use my Sundays to visit other churches, it's been a lot of fun and there's so many great people out there in the world.

Costumes! I finished working on a set of hair falls to go with my purple and coral costume and just in time as my first performance for this piece is tomorrow. I'm in with a troupe that dances at rest-homes, it'll be a good dry-run for an actual dance show coming up in April that I'm signed up for. I got a gorgeous skirt to go with it that has yellow chiffon panels over a tropical orange underlayer so the result is coral but it flares out if I spin. Goes well with the coral-and-purple hydrangea hip-scarf. Yay. Just have to go find coral nail-polish for my toes this afternoon.

Crocuses! Looking forward to spring already, they have arrived along with the snowdrops, so pretty.

Sure been a busy year thus far and here we are only getting going! House repairs are continuing as I have new carpet coming in this week (the last bit of the damage from last years flooding) - it's meant a lot of furniture moving on my part but it will be SO nice to have it done as it will essentially complete that level of the house. I've started looking at real estate listings in the area we are targeting to move to just to get a feel for what is out there.

I got to dance again for a friend's church for New Years services which was grand fun, and now I'm signed up to dance at an event in April as well. I was once told that if you can just start dancing onstage it won't seem so fearsome and I think I'm getting there. It's still kind of nerve-wracking but at least I'm not legitimately terrified anymore.

I've just finished up my official time at my church, all I have left is handing off the library things to a lady taking it on (so weird to give up my rubber stamp with the church library info on it), singing up front one more time and throwing my peacock-themed 'farewell' party in a couple of weeks. I'm pulling out all the stops for the party, it's a ton of work but I'm loving it, wish I could invite my online ladies to come if y'all were just closer.

Also survived my first performance using dance wings without setting them on fire with the altar candles or knocking any of the poinsettias flying! A friend took a pic, it's blurry but gives a general idea at least.



I had my wings hidden behind me for the first half of the song (looks like a cape when down) so it was fun having everyone's eyes bug out when I opened them up. X-D They are very dramatic!

I was a penguin for our Trunk-or-Treat event last night, right down to faux flippers over my shoes. Cozy to wear out in the parking lot, will have to use that one again someday. Wish my dance costuming could just come out of a bag all ready to go like that one did.

I've been hunting diligently for my 40s-themed dance bits for my performance coming up just before Thanksgiving - I'm using a jazzy version of Peggy Lee's "Winter Weather".
Found an ivory-colored rabbit fur 'headband' hat from a vintage shop for my hair, a big pearl necklace among the cheap "bling" jewelry on clearance, a burgundy velvet choker at a teen shop and stretchy faux pearl bracelets. Gave up on finding fingerless burgundy satin gloves and had to order those online, hope they come soon. Putting it with a burgundy crop top layered with a cream lace over-piece, ivory fluffy full skirt and burgundy hip wrap.

Had to buy lipstick and lip liner too - 40s makeup is not my usual style, heh. This is getting expensive, but I'm enjoying it too! Hee! Now if I can just get the dancing part to come out right. If I just flail around, at least I'll look good doing it.

One of those miraculous amazing old gentle men from my church came and helped me install the boards for my front steps because I was concerned I'd get them crooked and someone would trip. They look fabulous! And golly he was fast - I'm still carefully tap-tap-tapping away at the nails to tack down one end of the boards and there he is with over half of his side done already. I am SO grateful!

Also, "I did the thing!" and pat myself on the back, which was performing a solo dance up in Ilwaco and it went beautifully. My daughter filmed it on her phone - not perfect, of course, but I'm surprisingly pleased with it. She got me to put it onto facebook (I rarely use fb) so she could share it. The Lavender Festival folks even transformed a tool shed into an amazing dressing room for the dancers and all the quaint outbuildings were decorated with beads, drapes, persian rugs, etc.

Golly Moses it's hot today - 102+ at the moment and supposed to hit 106, unusually toasty for here. I've been working on replacing rotten boards on my back deck but it's too hot to be outside so I ended up learning to make quick no-corn-syrup marshmallows. These things Happen when I end up in my kitchen unscheduled.

Did a recipe mash-up and made it with 3 pkts plain gelatin softened in 1/2 c. cold water. Added a generous dollop of vanilla, a dash of salt and about half a cup of honey then 3/4 c. boiling water. Dissolved, cooled and whipped with beaters for 15 minutes - ta-dah!

Ate too many marshmallows. I regret nothing. Wish I had graham crackers.

Tonight our dancers are going to the local high school to teach the football teams some Greek dance steps, we go each year and the coaches swear it helps the teamwork and footwork. O-PAH! They sent us a message promising they'd have the A/C cranked up.

One problem with my upcoming dance class at the church is we have no mirrors in our hall, and anyone who has learned any kind of dance will understand the value of mirrors!  I'd been hunting around and found those full-length type mirrors you hang on a closet door were my best bet, but even those often ran $20 and up each - some were over $40.  BUT - God is good.  Went to K-mart today (of all places...I never go to K-mart...) and found they not only had those $20 mirrors, they were on sale - and then there was an additional discount this weekend on top of it.

I got SIXTEEN mirrors - blitzed their supply - for only $5.99 each!  *balloons and confetti*  I have moveable dividers I can hang four mirrors each on so I am SET!  ^_^  I am so relieved!