Finishing The Unfinished

The last time I pressed 'publish' it was by accident and an abbreviated version of what I had intended to write was displayed to the world. As it turned out it was kind of appropriate. It has taken me weeks to get back to this post. But back I am and I will endeavour to finish what I started.
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Do you know how much I hate pressing the blogger button lately? Guilt. What a crap emotion, and how easily manipulated.

So let me see...last time I spoke to you I was laughing freely through the first, and easy, Formal choice. All this went out the window at the second formal invitation!

The Baby Angel was over the moon with excitement when an old family friend, bereft of female company, asked her to accompany him to his formal. He attends a lovely school, where I once taught, and their formal is something of the 'prestige event', so you can imagine how smug the BA was at her invitation. I was delighted for her of course (no one ever asked ME to that formal) but the unasked question hung in the air: will she wear the same dress??????

The mother of the BA's date (actually my Quilting Doyenne) was delighted when she saw the St Saviour's formal shots and the lovely black dress on my Baby Angel. "Excellent!" she exclaimed, "Youngest Son could do with a bit of street cred and having the gorgeous BA on his arm will really earn him some kudos!" She was a big fan of the black dress, commenting on its tastefulness and, relative, modesty. Imagine my concern then when the BA started making noises about finding another dress!

"But Muuuuuuuuuum! It's been on facebook! Everyone has SEEN that dress!!!!" she exclaimed as if it were perfectly obvious that she couldn't possible be seen in public in that 'old rag' again. I did not hesitate to point out that it was her own fault that it had been all over facebook....
 Nevertheless, despite my assurances that the dress was lovely, unusual and the crowd atthis formal would not have seen it, she became more and more determined to find something different. She started by trying on all her friend's dresses. Now if you have seen the selection she had to choose from, you will know that she was never going to find anything to rival her own dress from that lot. And anyway, there was the whole issue of size discrepancy!

Closer to the date, she started emailing me photos from her phone as she tried on dresses in shops after school. I had made it pretty clear that if she was to find another dress, the budget would need to be at least half that of the previous dress. Now, before you condemn me for my weakness, listen to my reasoning: I figured that for less than $200 we would never find a dress that looked anywhere near as good as the original, therefore we would have no call to purchase it! For a while my plan worked. And then someone told her about renting.

There are very few formal hire services for women's clothing in our city. On inquiry it seems that this is due to the exorbitant cost of dry cleaning but regardless, there is one, small, place that all the girls rave about. Under sufferance I accompanied her to see what they had to offer.

Now this little boutique is run by a sweet, very thin girl, who obviously has too much money and time on her hands. She looked at her wardrobe one day to see tens of extremely expensive dresses which she had only worn once, and saw a business opportunity! For around $60.00 you can borrow one of her ex dresses for the night, returning it in the morning with no dry cleaning charge! The BA was hooked. Unfortunately she only had 3 formal gowns to choose from.The first was a Grecian number which was lovely, but in a pale blushing beige which left the BA looking like a hepatitis patient. The next dress was a mere scrap of fabric, slashed at sides and back and dancing seductively with the limits of decency. This of course was the dress the BA fell in love with!

I mean...I ASK you!!!!!!

I was pretty straightforward about the fact that I would not be hiring it for her and that I would not be facilitating her in the hiring process. Unfortunately I had overlooked the influence, and generosity of HIMSELF!!! I can be excused, I think, as he has never shown the least interest in girl's clothes. Until now.
"Oh, that's not SO bad," he exclaimed and promptly lent her the money. We had words later.....So the morning of the formal saw me phoning the date's mother and making excuses for the coming undressed state of my daughter. She was understandably perturbed and did wonder if in fact the BA would be 'sent home' from the formal,  for being dressed inappropriately!

We laughed about the fact that as we spoke on the phone, the BA was playing netball! "Oh my," my friend caustioned,"make sure hse doesn't end up on crutches!" I laughed and went to catch the end of the BA's netball game, only to discover that she had fallen and grazed her newly tanned leg  from mid shin to knee! How I laughed.
Like good mummy however, I wen to the pharmacy and purchased some opsite and some healing cream which she applied through the afternoon. Fortunately the graze was on the one leg which was covered, in some way, by some form of what passed for material!
 So later that night I double taped her into her dress and she greeted her date.Who was suitably impressed.

Terrifying.
By all accounts they had a great night, but my heart sank as she informed me the following Monday that she had been invited to yet ANOTHER formal and that we would need to start looking for another DRESS!!!

Formal: The Painless One

Forgive the lateness of this post and my echoing absence from the blogosphere. I have been totally absorbed with recovering from my op and getting my shoulder back. I can happily report I am now typing two handed, although it tires me, but I still need at least 10 hours sleep a night. As you can imagine, this cuts into blogging time.
ANYway, the reason this post is entitled 'The Painless One' is because there is another Formal looming (tomorrow) and we are at 'car door slamming' stage.

 Who could believe that this sweet, bonny child:

 happily sitting as the hairdresser makes her even more beautiful:

 and the make-up artist does her 'thing':

 so that she begins the night looking like this:

 is ACTUALLY an enfant terrible with an unquenchable thirst for shoes and clothes which contain less fabric than a tea towel and cost more than the annual GDP of a small African nation!????????

She did look lovely however:

 with her attentive beau (who has recently gone off travelling to Asia but that's another post!).

 It was lovely to see that they've re-introduced the quaint 'corsage' custom,

  after which we were off to the 'before' party. Yes, they have 'before' parties.

There were the obligatory poses with friends, during which I was given to wonder whether some lessons in 'choosing fashion which flatters' should be re-introduced to the curriculum.

I know, I know I sound awful but really...such pretty girls with some very unwise choices!!!

I was particularly surprised by the 'low key' nature of some frocks.

Consider the blue flapper number on the left, the greenish one next to it which reminds me of 'resort' wear, the underwhelming short silver number at the centre with Minnie Mouse shoes and the heavily patterned blue dress fifth from the right which, although I know it was her mother's and therefore sentimental, also resembled something you'd wear to the beach. And do not even start me on the sweet girl in the sofa dress (third from left).

So there you have it. I am not the nice person I pretend to be. I would secretly like to take them ALL shopping and get them lovely, appropriate dresses which do justice to their inner and outer beauty.

But aside from all that, the girls had planned ahead for the 'after party' and subsequent sleep over:

 and departed in a state of high excitement on their 'ride'.

 And that was the first Formal.

The impending event (this Saturday) has been overshadowed by the BA's all consuming need to wear something different! After all, the photos of this dress have been all over facebook!

Will the Flaming Sword survive this most recent challenge? Stay tuned to see how it plays out.