It Is Finished

The BA and her Dad prepare for the Grad Ball. A story for later!

I Think She Likes It

Remember the flashy Alexander McQueen ball dress that the BA decided she liked? Well my friend Blondie and I came up with our own version!

This was the first draft. I was pretty happy with it considering the pattern we adapted looked like this:

but I didn't like the boxy front pleats so I fiddled. This is the finished result. Not perfect but hey!

I decided against lining the skirt as I figure she will wear it once. Who knows though, it may get a run in a school musical someday. Stranger things have happened! For the big night (tomorrow..eek!) I will make sure she has a long slip.

I am looking forward to seeing the finished effect tomorrow with hair and make-up (and obligatory fake tan). This Grad Ball will be the final, official school function of her young life and I am so grateful that her grandparents, both parents and step parents will be there to share it with her.

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.

The Formal Looms

So this weekend is The Formal.
Tonight we were combing the mall for a suitable pair of earrings to compliment the dress purchased way back in March. The spray tan is booked for tomorrow as as I write she is closeted in the bathroom exfoliating her legs in preparation.
*sigh*
I remember getting ready in the boarding house and eating macaroni cheese with the boarders because my date had gone back to the US two months beforehand and I had been charged with decorating the hall. Tan? Hairdresser? Make-up artist? Pffffffffft.
Did it all myself.

Funny, come to think of it, I look pretty much the same at my wedding! Talk about lack of imagination :-D

But the lead up has not been without drama (of course, this is the Flaming Sword after all). About 6 weeks ago the BA called into my school on the afternoon of our Formal. Now let me explain that that BA attended my current school for 5 years before transferring to Alma Mater and then St Saviours. She has many good friends still at the school, and seeing them all in their Formal gear was a little bittersweet for her. After all, she could have been with them.

And then she saw one of her friends looking stunning in a gown which was a cross between this

and this.

The top was like the first one, with the ruched midriff, the skirt was more full, like the second picture. And it was green.

Now, I've got to admit, it looked stunning on the girl in question. She wore it with long gloves which really added to the elegant effect. But the BA was infatuated.

"Muuuuuuuuum. I don't think I like my dress..." she squealed as we drove home that night.
"Get over it," was my rather unsympathetic response. Remember after all that I was the one who traipsed around 40000 shops with her, rejecting dress after dress.
"But, hers is so pretttttttttty!!!!! I think I would like a full dress after all."

At this point may I direct you to this post where I had planned to have full dress made for her? And recall her concern that she mght not like it once it was made? Is it any wonder I had zero tolerance for this sudden turn around?

A few days later she texted me from a meeting with her friend in town.
"Muuuuuuum. J will lend me her dress if I want it. Can I try it on please?"
My response was curt:
"You already have a dress. Quite an expensive one if I recall..."

The nagging continued for several days. 'But why can't I just try it on?', 'O's mum bought HER a different dress; in fact she bought her THREE dresses!!!!'....

More fool her, I thought!

For goodness sake, why on Earth would you buy your 17 year old three different dresses to choose from for her Formal? And we are talking $400.00+ dresses! What message is this sending her?

What bothers me about people with this mentality is that they are often hard workers with their own businesses who have come from modest families and, through hard work, made good. Their progeny, on the other hand, have never worked for anything in their lives and grow up believing that their parents' efforts somehow entitle them to an easy ride in life. And to be fair, it is not surprising that they believe this. Three dresses?? I ask you!!!!

After a week of whining about this other dress I suggested she had three options:
1) wear the dress
2) wear the friend's dress and pay her dad and I back for the unused dress
3) (and this was inspired) wear the friend's dress but do not expect another dress for the end of year Graduation Ball and instead, utilise one of my two wedding dresses. The other formal dress would be available for wearing to another occasion in the future.

She jumped at this suggestion and quickly borrowed the friend's dress to try on. Now, I gotta tell you, on her it looked nothing. Seriously! The colour was wrong, she only just squeezed into it leaving her with an effectively bandaged chest and, being slightly beefier than her friend, the full skirt just looked limp. Regardless she took photos and emailed them to all her friends. Their response was typical 17 year old platitudes. Not one of them would tell her if she's not looking her best, for fear she may say the same to them one day!

I said nothing. I let the dress trying on and picture taking run its course and then I took her shopping for earrings. Suffice to say that the dress has been returned to the friend and she is happily looking forward to wearing the original dress on Saturday.

Pictures to follow!

Formal Dress Update

OK. Despite having ordered the pattern and her loving the fabric (we went and saw it in the shop), we bought a dress yesterday!

This is how it happened.

After soaking our senses at the Eastern Silk shop the BA expressed concern that we might spend a lot of money on the fabric and dressmaker, only to find that she didn't like the dress. She had a point. Mind you, just being in that shop with all the amazing embroidered dupion, georgette and crepe-de-chine made my creative juices boil. I am still thinking of doing a shorter version of the same dress for her 17th birthday....

So it was onward to the next dress shop. Here she tried on this.

I thought it was lovely. They didn't have her size but she wouldn't even let me get as far as asking about it. It was 'too much the same as what everyone else will be wearing'. Oh the cross of having to be 'different'. I am afraid it's in her genes.

At the next two shops (quite uninspiring, some of the ugliest combinations of fabric and lace I have ever seen!) she didn't even try anything on and we ended up in a heated discussion over the relative merits of going with what suits you vs trying to be individual. She was starting to come down heavily in favour of a fitted fishtailed dress similar to the first one she'd tried on. I'm not even going to go into my thoughts on the matter.

We decided to go for lunch and rest our brains. Calling into a nearby bistro in a fashionable area of the eastern suburbs, we passed another shop with dresses in the window. It wasn't a shop I'd heard of before and it was off the main road so it was a complete coincidence. Had we not eaten at the bistro we would never have seen it. Of course you know where this is going don't you?

We came home with a dress. It was in the mid price range, is more of a fitted sheath (although soft enough to please me) and fits her like a glove. It's black, which the assistant reliably informs us is not the general trend. Many girls are buying gowns in shades like the one above: coffee, champagne, apricot. Anyway, it's done. For better or worse! :-)

As for photos.....not sure if we're going to let you see it just yet......after all , there is hair and makeup to consider :-D

But what do I know? She'll probably post it on facebook today!

She Moves In Mysterious Ways

It has been another hard day in the dress shops. The BA teeters from one extreme to the other.
"I want red. I want feminine. I want structure. I want chiffon." And through it all the phone is snapping pictures.....snap, snap snap.
Mummy is there, purse at the ready and today I almost thought we had it!

It was a bright red Marilyn Monroe style halter top with a pretty ordinary skirt but the shop could make it up for her with a georgette overlay on the skirt......

Putting aside the five other dresses she'd tried on, we went home to Himself for a designers opinion.

Big mistake.

Himself's trouble is that, like most men, he favours a dress which demonstrates all the wearer's assets.
"What's that?" he exclaimed. " It looks like she's hiding."

Realising we could not rely on him for an objective opinion we went back to the photos. They all looked sadder and less inspiring on the computer screen. In fact, I was leaning back towards this one...
So I went on a pattern search. And found this.

Now I know that Vogue patterns are not well known for their accuracy of line drawing but I did also find a picture of the dress made up which inspired me.....

So then I was on a search for fabric....how about this embroidered silk dupion????

I am thinking: the halter top in a soft silk chiffon or georgette, perhaps in red to pick up the flowers in the skirt or just black. What do you think?

The BA is keen. Now to find a seamstress.

WHAT? You thought I was going to make it????????? hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

52 Weeks of Me: Outside (and other stuff)

Having finally got my camera back, I find myself completely out of the habit of taking photos. Nevertheless, with this week's '52 Weeks of Me' prompt in mind, I sat in the carpark of a local park and snapped myself 'Outside'.
I had just dropped the BA off at a party and the temp was in the high 20s. She insisted I walk down to the picnic spot with her and, as I had no sun hat, I reached into the back seat to utilise the only thing I had to hand, her school hat. Once she was delivered to her party I came back up to the carpark and sat on the gutter savouring the cool breeze before getting back into my stiflingly hot car (note to self: get air conditioning fixed). It was a delightful few minutes 'Outside'.

It was a long weekend here in Adelaide, celebrating nothing more edifying than a horse race.
Himself was disgusted.
"This has got to be the lamest public holiday in Australia!" he ranted.
"Come now," I suggested,"what about the Queen's birthday? Surely you can't approve of that holiday?"
"At least that's historic," he countered, surprising me once more with his fundamentally conservative nature. For a man who has worked at the forefront of the arts, wears his hair (what's left of it) long and is proud of the T shirts he designed in the 70s which read 'If It's Too Loud You're Too Old", he  exhibits some incredibly 'unhippy' -like values.
"At least she's our Head of State," he continued, "this is just a horse race!"
"What about the Melbourne Cup?" I cast out and reeled.
"At least the whole country is interested in that!" he exclaimed,"unlike this one, where 98% of the local population don't even know what we're celebrating!!!!!"
He does have a point. But who am I to argue with a long weekend? Lord knows with the incredibly 'full on' start to the school year, we could all do with a break.

The Baby Angel had a full calendar of events lined up for her weekend. She was little disappointed that tickets for the Womadelaide Festival were beyond her means. She was particularly disappointed when not only did her boyfriend attend all three days without her, but Boy Z was in the crowd with his father (at the tender age of 4!). She did not want for  entertainment however.

On Friday afternoon we commenced the hunt for the Formal Dress, had her hair cut and shared a pizza dinner before dropping her off for a sleepover at a friend's house. The following morning I picked her up ready to continue the Formal Dress Quest. At around 5pm we found the one I described here: this is my 'artist's impression'. The underskirt is actually the same colour as the overskirt ...

That night the two of us watched Eddie Izzard together as she practised face painting for her Research project. Life has surely calmed down since last year.

So what was Himself doing as I had quality time with my BA? Well, the only up side of my ruined shoulder is that Himself has become a little more proactive around the garden. On Saturday, in perfect Adelaide weather (27C) he worked his b*** off in the front garden. These are his pruning and lawn mowing efforts.
 Amidst this sterling work we had a brief and heated conversation regarding the watering system. I have recently turned it off as a) it is autumn and b) we had a $960.00 water bill!!!!  Himself suggested, perhaps fairly, that I should have let him know as the grass is now a little 'crunchy'.

 Meanwhile, the downside of my ruined shoulder is my slackness on the house keeping front. This photo was taken in the family room at mid-afternoon. I am torn between shame and awe at the amazing work spiders do.

If only I could channel their efforts usefully!

Its Been A Long Time Between Posts

Where to start?

Let's start with the fun thing which is the search for  Formal dress. Now many of you will remember the drama last year as the BA approached her first ever Formal. There was demand for a dress, questions of alcohol consumption and sundry other dilemmas.

And here we are again! This time though it is her final year Formal and Mummy is prepared to go all the way. Well, within reason. Take for example the stunning dress on the right here. Now the Baby Angel looked A-mazing in this! She is decidedly more svelte than the lovely lady in this picture and we had visions of red accessories etc. It was DIVINE!!! The material was brocade and the centres of the flowers were textured. *shakes head*...... unbeLIEVable....

But then we saw the price tag. Not sure why I hadn't looked beforehand. Perhaps I was in some la-la-land which had me believing that if it was the right dress I would just find the money....
Yes, well, not THIS much money. Suffice to say that you could have sponsored 10 orphans for a year on the cost of THIS dress.

But oh my how we both wanted it.....

Onward and upward however. Today we went shopping again and came across this (see left). It is a Pippa Middleton inspired dress in satin with a chiffon overlay. The one the BA tried on was in a midnight blue and fit a whole lot better than this one does. She was very taken with it. I had my doubts. It seemed kind of uninspiring to me. We looked at a fabric swatch in a ruby red and agreed that would be a better choice, but in the end we came away empty handed and waiting to see what else we could find.

The next one that really grabbed her attention was a kind of flesh coloured number, very simple lines with black appliqued flowers. This one was top of the allowable price range so I am telling her that for this price she must really LOVE it!! It is fuller than Pip's with a satin underskirt and chiffon overlay, split up the middle so the satin is visible as you walk ( a little like a fairy tale dress ....ok...nothing like a fairytale dress actually). The neckline is square with decent width straps (appliqued flowers down the straps) and the whole thing is finished off with a black satin sash. It is kind of forties and classic, elegant but different; reminiscent of this whilst being entirely unlike it.








So, that is the fun part.

The 'not so fun' thing is my ongoing shoulder issue. This website describes it perfectly. Having suffered from bursitis in the past, I have avoided any gym work which involves weights and shoulders until just before Christmas when I was feeling energetic.  Gingerly, I used my little 1kg hand weights to do a few bicep curls and shoulder presses whilst running on the treadmill. Well, I knew when I got home that I had overdone it; I was sore and achy and not in a good way! The real damage occurred when, a few days later, I came rushing in to check something on the computer.

Sitting down hurriedly, I didn't notice that the cushion was hanging partially off my wheeled office seat. I sat on the cushion; commenced a downward path; stuck out my right arm behind to grab the chair and 'save' myself and felt the chair roll away at high speed on the hardwood floor with my arm still attached whilst my backside continued its rapid descent floor-ward. Result: my shoulder joint was pulled in two different directions at 90 degrees and I sustained a full thickness tear to the supraspinatus tendon.

I wasn't to discover this until last week however.

I had thought a couple of cortisone injections to the joint would solve the proble, as it has for my bursitis and tendonitis in the past. Wrong. This one is going to need surgery.

I hate surgery.

I also have no health insurance.

In Australia that means I have to go onto a waiting list and as I have not even begun that process yet (all my previous treatment has been through a physio) who knows when my number will come up.
Meanwhile I am sleeping badly (see the website for reason) and severely restricted in movement. Most things at waist height are ok but even creaming some butter and sugar at the kitchen bench the other day proved difficult. I ended up holding the bowl off the bench, down at waist height.

On the plus side my family have been helpful but I suspect this will wear off. Sympathy has an expiry date I have found.

But I don't want to be sorry for myself. At least I have a working left arm and I can still run at the gym. And type!

Adios for now amigos!!