Mother’s Day Victorian Fashion Show and Tea

Last Saturday, Shirley and I put on a Victorian Fashion Show for our seniors in the nursing home that we work in.  It went very well and I do think our ladies loved it!  Here are some photos from the event.I am doing a co-workers hair up.  I didn’t have permission to use her face so I blocked it out.  But I will tell you she REALLY suits the 1860s styles!Coco Worker is wearing one of Shirley’s dresses.  You’ve seen it before here and here.

Our teen volunteer wore my dress based on an 1895 fashion plate.  I hate it when someone else looks better in your dress than you do!Here is Shirley’s new dress!  Isn’t it divine!

Another co-worker wore a dress made by Shirley and worn on Dominion day.

This is my new dress.

This front view was taken at an earlier date and did not include the lace collar that I made and added on.

Wanda B does pet rehab!

The nursing home I work in has pets.  Over the Easter holidays, one of our birds got sick and needed antibiotics twice a day for two weeks.  I do much of the bird care (as I’m one of the few that is not actually freaked out by them flapping around) so it fell to me to administer this medication.  Giving the meds is a hellish procedure for both the bird and I.  I had to catch her first in a little towel.  She is basically wild so that is the challenge.  Then I had to flip her on her back squirt the meds into her little beak and get her back into her cage.  Sometimes, she’d escape and I’d have to chase her around for a while.  I decided to bring the birds home for a week rather than have to go to work twice a day on my days off.  Then 6 days later, the cat needed surgery and he needed to be monitored for two weeks by one person.  He needed to be monitored because some of his meds are adjusted based on how he is eating and using his litter box.  With three shifts in the home there wouldn’t be one person watching out for him and mistakes could happen.  So off to Wanda’s rehab unit!  He is doing pretty good now.  And making himself at home! Here is my mad plan….Try and get some sewing done and get some photos of “cat vs sewing”!  I’m the only historical sewist that I know of that doesn’t have a cat that lays down on available fabric!

Bird sitting

One of the birds at work is ill and needs  antibiotics twice a day.  The process involves throwing a face cloth over her, picking her up, flipping her on her back and injecting the medicine in her mouth.  For a sick girl, she is very good at letting me know she is not amused.  It is an ordeal for both of us.  And there are not many co-workers willing/able to do this.  To avoid having to go into work on my days off, I have brought them home with me.  I don’t think I will be getting pet birds any time soon.  The noise is driving me crazy…whine, whine, whine.Obviously, the whining is coming from my dog.

Wanda B A Greaser?

I needed a 1950s outfit for a 1950s themed event at work.  I made myself a poodle skirt and a toole petticoat to go under it.  This era is not my passion so I did not invest a lot of time or effort in it.  I didn’t even iron out the folds that come from fabric being on a bolt. And I didn’t hem it.  I just used the salvage.   It works, it fits, I’ll be able to use it again.  Meh.  Not excited.The shirt is not quite right but I had it already and I wasn’t in the mood to shop for or make another white shirt.  The little poodle is cute.

One more week…

In one more week I will be getting ready to travel to Mexico.  The only hard part about this will be missing my doggy….Well, and my kids too…..

Anyone ruining my Friday…

Anyone ruining my Friday can just….…bite a skunks butt!  (This is Gingy, playing with her toy skunk)

Did anyone else give their pets a present?

My hubby thinks I’m a bit of fool in that regard but the kids think it is right and they help her open them.

And the world keeps turning.

In spite of my depression over the madness in the world, it kept turning and I had to keep going.  Mr Rogers (the main character in a kid’s TV show here in North America) asked his mom what to do when you hear horrible news.  She told him to look for the helpers.  It helps you remember that not everyone is evil and not everything is bad.  I think that is good advice.  I don’t know what hands on actions are being done for all the survivors, but I’m sure it is there.  We can be helpers too, with our prayers and thoughts.  And if we become helpers right in our own circle of influence, we lighten up the whole world. Perhaps my New Years resolution will be to do one good deed a day.

Anyway, the world kept turning and I had to go out yesterday and finish my Christmas shopping.  If you are looking for the helpers of the world, shopping at Wal-Mart before Christmas is not the place to go.  Just masses of people, in a hurry, stuck in a crowd!  I had to pick up  a few stocking stuffers there and a new camera card…

because someone who shall remain nameless…

got a hold of my card and played with it.

I didn’t try it, but I feel confident it wouldn’t have worked any more.  Now my shopping is done and I just have to wrap the stuff, which in between loads of laundry is my goal for the day.  A little Christmas music or a good movie and a supply of motivation should do the trick.

Look for the helpers and be one of them.

I don’t have a cat.

I envy all those costume bloggers who talk about how their cat helps them sew.  I don’t have a cat who helps me sew.  I don’t even have a dog who helps me sew.  But, knitting…that is a different story!

Oh what fun!

Perfectly good toy sitting next to her but she has to play with my wool!

So thankful it is Friday!

I can get quite Grinchy as I put up a dozen trees and all the other Christmas crap…I mean…decor that is to be had in a nursing home.  I know that I’m making a nice Christmas for folks who can’t do it for themselves and who may not have another Christmas.  At the same time it feels like WAY TO MUCH STUFF FOR WAY TO LONG for a generation that cut down their own tree on Christmas Eve, decorated it, had a nice dinner, exchanged a few home made gifts and put it all away on the 26th.   I sometimes wonder who I’m doing it for.  Certainly not for me.  Yes, for God.  Yes, for my family and the seniors I work with but a lot of the time I feel like I am doing it for the department stores.

AND STANDING THERE WITH THE 15TH STRAND OF LIGHTS THAT ARE NOT WORKING MAKES ME GRINCH GREEN!

I will just get through this Friday and some of the prep will slow down and I can start a whirlwind of hopefully fun Christmas events.  To help me get through the day I will look at a nicely calming fur soul.

A Limier Briquet Hound painted in 1856.