Sports Mode On My new PAS!

Took my new camera out for a test drive at the Baby Angel's recent netball game. Hadn't realised there was a 'sport mode' that takes multiple fast shots! It's very funny because as you scroll through the pix in the camera display, it looks like an old flickery movie as frame follows frame.

Oh, and did anyone notice that the BA looks like she needs a bath??
That would be her spray tan.
All the girls had them! One of the netball mothers commented that, 'you could tell which ones were the year 12s because they were the ones with the orange legs!'  The BA's wasn't that bad, it just didn't look right on her, fair as she is.

Also, I was slightly bemused about the economics of the situation:
Me: BA, do they do half tans? Like top half and bottom half?
BA: Yes, of course...
Me: And are they cheaper?
BA: (rolls eyes) du-uh....
Me: Then why didn't you just get a top half done, seeing as how you will be wearing a LONG DRESS!??

Of course the simple answer to this was that they would be wearing short dresses at the After Party.
*sigh*

On a completely different note: it occurred to me tonight, that in the time it takes me to rearrange the dishwasher so that everything fits inside and exposes a significant amount of its surface to the spray jets, I could have washed the dishes. But it's a point of pride isn't it. Like doing one of those 3D puzzles; you know, the ones that come apart and then you can't get them back together again?

Have a good week all! I'm off to hospital on Wednesday for shoulder surgery. Oh joy.

Oh and I suppose you want to see a photo of the Formal dress?

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!

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!!