Ladies Time Out 2010 -- with pictures :)

Note: A Special Thanks to my sister Hannah for taking many of these pictures.

Ladies Time Out 2010 “Gonna Take A Sentimental Journey” was a success! I am still completely amazed at how smoothly and quickly the details came together... the result was eye candy. :-)

On the evening of the 19th, everyone involved with LTO and some other volunteers from our church arrived at the school where the event was being held and helped to get things ready for the next day. As you can see, the gym was full and beautiful.

The tables...

The hamburgers and fries you see are were a bit of ingeniousness on Carol Steppan's part. The hamburgers are made of vanilla wafers (bun), red (ketchup) and yellow (mustard) icing, green tinted coconut (lettuce) and a peppermint patty (hamburger). The fries are hickory sticks. The container they are sitting in was first printed out on paper, then cut out by scissors and hand and glued together. We made around 160 of those on the LTO work day, earlier on in the month.

The bouquet was also something we put a lot of work into. The flowers are made of tissue paper, floral wire and lots of elbow grease. I think around 200 of those were made. The 'ice-cream' in the cup is white and tinted pink sugar.

Besides the tables, there were several displays. One held soda (mostly coke-a-cola) memorabilia.. another was all 1950's jewelry... still another displayed a 1950's Betty Crocker cookbook, records, Eaton's catalogue, records, etc, etc. A woman on our committee is an artist and she made a 1950's car out of cardboard... It was fascinating to look at it all. :-)

And there was a dance... They were excellent.

Between everyone involved, lots of clothing was found and/or donated, so the committee decided that the main part of the evening would revolve around a fashion show.

As it turned out, that was the funnest part of the evening for me. Hehe... :-D There were some gorgeous outfits.. those that weren't gorgeous were interesting. ;-) It happened that I had the privilege of wearing two of the most gorgeous. And I had wondered if I would have any at all. It's amazing how God works things out when we're not even looking for it. :-)

Since soda was such big part of the 50's era, we had a soda bar, complete with glasses, ice-cream, soda (4 flavors!) and soda jerks. :-) That was another piece of brilliance on the part of the other ladies in the committee. With the soda jerks, were the servers. Three of my sisters, Ellie, Lydia and Martha were among them and in total, there were around 14 young girls who volunteered. They were kept busy serving, of course, and washing dishes, cutting up the dessert and putting on plates. Many of the servers also doubled as models.

Ladies Time Out had never sold out completely before on any of the other years. But this time, they sold over their allotted 150 tickets. The gym was full... but not overflowing, as they worried it would be. The ladies that attended made a very colorful, appreciative audience. Many of the ladies took up the invitation to arrive in their 50's threads and the variety of costumes was a feast for the eyes! I loved taking pictures of them...

After the music had been sung, the speaker spoke out, the dessert consumed and the clock had struck past ten, the ladies made their way out the door and left the rest of us a mess to clean up. But thank goodness for those guys. They came in with only the promise of dessert and with their muscles and willing hearts, and the mess was cleaned twice as fast as it would have had they not arrived. :-) After everything was back to ship – shape order, they devoured the leftovers and departed satisfied.

Believe me, I slept in the next morning! But it was so worth all of the effort. The fun and fellowship and experience gained... it was a blessing. I am looking forward to next year. :-)

April 27th Update with pictures

So the past few days have been very busy. I feel like I've been going non-stop since last Wednesday, when we went up to Swan River, MB for our braces appointment. I have this sneaking suspicion that it's not going to be slowing down anytime in the near future. :-)

I had a minor cardiac arrest on the 22nd. I had spent the entire morning, practicing, working on the program books, making sure all my notes were in place. I loaded things up going out the door and we were on our way. Just as we got to the long term care centre, I realized that the books were not beside me. A frantic search ensued which only showed us that the books were still at home... obediently sitting in their bag.

Of course, I then had to figure out what we could play without books. As it turns out, you can't think well when you're stressed out, so I had to get my heart working normal speed again. Lol! Between all of us that were playing, we managed to play enough songs from memory for 45 minutes worth of music. I was so happy. I didn't think we knew that much music. :-) :-)

So in spite of the panic, I am glad it happened. It means that we aren't stuck to our books and we can actually sound ok without them. Thank goodness though, it wasn't a real concert or show!

Yesterday morning, a woman called from the Mackenzie Training Centre in Preeceville to ask if we would play for the monthly b-day party they put on. We decided that we could, even though we hadn't practiced the past couple of days. Lydia and Zeke decided that they weren't going to come because it would wreck their day's activities. So we kind of survived without them and had a wonderful time. I love the spirit there.

It's a place for people who are mentally retarded. We've done one other show at a place similar to it but they were so dull. It was hard to be around them because everyone seemed so severe and sad. But this place was different. It was like a huge party. :-) They did the hand motions with the kids, danced on the fast tunes, sang and laughed with us. I made a blooper on one of the entros and had to replay it but the atmosphere was so easy that I didn't feel embarrassed at all. :-) They simply appreciated the music. It was so nice. :-)

Other than music, I've been writing a lot. Reviews of books, movies and music. So that's been keeping me very busy. Right now, I'm trying to read “the Forgotten Garden”. It's very nice so far. I love mysteries and I love Britain, so this fits the bill for me.

Does anyone like “The Princess Diaries”? They were pretty clean, I thought and I love Julie Andrews, period. :-) I love it when she sings.

We had another calf on Saturday. Lydia's Caresse had a huge heifer and they had to pull it. Thankfully, mama and baby seem fine. The heifer is named Lotte. Lydia's now milking in the mornings as well as Ellie and Martha. Peter and Gabi W. happened to be over at the time that Lotte was being born and Peter really wanted to get his hands dirty. :-) They had never seen a calf being born before... and it only takes having friends like the Holters to give you completely new (and perhaps a little bizarre) experiences. Hehe. ;-)

This morning, the director of the camp Hannah, Lydia and I are going to be teaching at called... he needs people to help him clean up the camp before it starts. Some kids he had set up for the job canceled. Anyways, it looks like we'll now be gone for the entire month of June as well as July and most of August. When he called, I told him that we would have to talk about it... kind of thinking that it wouldn't be something my sisters would want to do or my parents would want us to do (because that means we'll be gone for three months this year). But everyone was really gung-ho about it and I'm still catching my breath! Lol. It's going to be quite a summer!!

So if you think of us, please pray that we'll be a blessing to those we come in contact with. I sometimes feel very weak... not just physically. :-) But with God nothing is impossible.

Ladies Time Out is on the 30th and things are coming together. Please, please pray for that, too. I want it to be an evening that is so fun and full of goodness that everyone will come away with sweet memories.

My Grandparents should be arriving sometime this week, too. I am looking forward to seeing them so much! I just can't wait. :-) :-) :-)

Well, I'm going to be heading over to the neighbors after dinner so I should be posting this today. I hope you all have a wonderful week. God bless!

Ladies Time Out 2010

Ya'll have seen mention of Ladies Time Out and I wanted to share some information with you, in case anyone in the area wants to attend. :-)

All you Dolls and Chics are invited to

get in your chevy and cruise on over

to

Endeavour School Community Complex

April 30, 2010

7:30 pm

when

Endeavour Ladies Time Out is

“Gonna Take A Sentimental Journey”.

There will be “moments to remember” when we

sing-a-long to the oldies and see how

“the times they are changin'” in fashion.

“Music! Music! Music!” by Jessica Young from Weekes, SK

Caroline Vanee from Saskatoon will be sharing inspirational thoughts about

the real “Book of Love”.

So invite all of your friends and leave “Johnny B. Goode” at home!

Feel free to dress in “a white sports coat and a pink carnation” or any

other 1950 “threads”!

Tickets are available until April 26th at

Sears/Xcessories by Kerry, Preeceville

Endeavour Store

Carol Steppan 547-4268

$8.00

I'm really looking forward to this event... the ladies really put a lot of time and effort to pull this thing off and I think it's going to be spectacular. :-)

For those of you who are prayer warriors, please pray that we will be protected and surrounded by God.. and that everyone who comes will be blessed and spiritually challenged.

I'll for sure post pictures when I get them. :-)

Dress-up and Old Hats

What is it about girls and dress-up? Little girls carrying purses as big as they are, sporting long dresses that fall off at both shoulders and whose hems are tripped over each step, even though the young wearer uses her free hand to hold up one side.

It's beautiful, really. And I'm not the only one who has thought so. I remember reading Grandma's Attic and Little Women, wishing I had the same selection of shawls, lovely gowns and fans... even the corsets sounded like great fun. And we haven't gotten to the hoops. Who of Arleta Richardson's readers doesn't remember Sarah Jane and Mabel's adventures with the old hoops they found in one of their attics? I vividly remember my Mom reading that story out loud to us for the first time because she laughed so hard while reading it that she had tears running down her face. :-)

But it isn't only the authors who have immortalized little girls dressing up, many artists have captured the innocent fun and glory of the brief time we have as children. And for most of us, some of that time is parading around in Mom's or Grandma's old clothes. Scattering shoes as we go and getting our trains stuck as we go around a corner.

[Note to newer mothers: never let dress-up girls around anything that's glass. The girls are innocent but the clothes have a mean sense of humor.]

Norman Rockwell and Paula Vaughn are two artists I especially think of when the words “dress-up” come to mind. Both artists' work is excellent but in different ways: Norman Rockwell caught the innocence and the humor of it; Paula Vaughn caught the dreaminess, sweetness and beauty. Both understood how vital dress-up is for little girls... and boys, in some cases. :-)

Now me, well, I'm still not quite an adult. I haven't got that solemn, mature aura that exudes from those fortunate beings. No... not really, I'm afraid. I'm quite in love with dressing up and I've just had a wee bit of a taste of how in love I am.

You've heard me mention “Ladies Time Out”, an outreach of our church for ladies in the neighborhood. This year, it's about the 50's and people from our church are all trying to scrounge for everything they have from that era. (My Grandma is bringing her wedding dress!) I was talking to our neighbor about it and she said that her grandmother saved everything she ever wore. Instantly, I was all ears.

1: How does anybody do that? [When I'm finished wearing something, it's because it's falling apart at the seams.]

2: Could I please borrow anything she might have had from the 50's?

Our neighbor said, of course and just recently, she sent over a bagful of lovely hats. I am in heaven. :-D And so are my little sisters and one of my brothers (Hannah, Ellie, Lydia and Martha are excluded from that number, being inducted into the grown-up sphere long ago) (Jesse and Zeke... well, what can I say?). This morning, I decided that Ruth, Uriah and I were going to have a photo shoot with these hats just in case there is someone else out there who likes them as much as we do. I have two I especially like... a cream one (my favorite) and a black velvet one.

Most of these hats, to my surprise, were made to be worn resting on top of a bun or twist. I find that charming... I hadn't thought of hats being made that way since the early 1900's. I love wearing these hats. The way they shape to the head, with the netting daintily falling over over the eyes and gently brushing the bridge of my nose makes me feel very feminine. The hats of this time are also very demure. I've never cared for hats that have huge brims... for all of their usefulness in keeping the sun off, they simply scream, “Look at me!” But the 50's hats, if worn with the proper apparel, allows the wearer to feel attractive but not as if she were the attraction.

We took some of our pictures downstairs, then Ri and Ruth went outside to play, so I decided to go upstairs and use a mirror to help me take some self photographs. Lydia has a junk fan in her room that lets the air be circulated. It's so wimpy that it isn't a problem... usually. I've always gone around it before but this time, with my arms full of hats and camera, I got tangled up in it. I stopped the fan and me. It shredded the deluxe President's Choice white plastic bag I had the hats in and somehow almost broke my big toe. I'm still not sure what happened, other than my toe still hurts and by the time I finally managed to make it upstairs (I hate those stairs!) I was crying/laughing because 1: it hurt so bad and 2: it was so ridiculous. Pure Naomi. You do not want to be me. Lol!

[Note to self: when arms are full and in vicinity of fan, refrain from going about stocking-footed on cement floor.]

But I recovered sufficiently to pose and take pictures of myself. The fact that none of them are phenomenal shots can be blamed on my suffering member. Aren't the hats darling though? :-)

Does anyone have a favorite era of hats? Do you get to wear hats on a regular basis? Can you order hats new from somewhere or do they all come from our grandmother's attics? Does anyone else out there over the age of 20 like to play dress-up? :-) :-)

Now, I must digress. If it wasn't for the fact that I have so many young siblings who love to dress-up, it wouldn't be half so much fun for me to act immature. :-) But I'm so glad I have I have a chance to have fun like this. Not many people have been given the gift I have been given: 10 brothers and sisters who love me in spite of me. :-)