A lovely wedding

Friday evening, hubby and I went to the rehearsal dinner for a wedding that we are providing photo work for. It was a nice and casual affair, with lots of hugs and laughter.

Saturday was the big event. The wedding was held at a local state park in an old stone pavillion that was built by FDR during the famous Great Works Program that occurred to help lift the country out of the Great Depression. It was absolutely lovely and didn't require fancy decorations to be gorgeous. A few ferns and some tulle curtain panels in the "windows" were enough to render the event stunning.

A local "string band" came and played the music for the wedding and reception. They even came in suspenders and looked a little old fashioned, so that worked well in the location. They did a magnificent job and played old standards and love songs.

I can't wait to see how the photos turn out! The bride was gorgeous and the groom was handsome and they were both so obviously smitten with each other. It couldn't have been a nicer wedding.

I just don't understand

why it is nearly impossible to find reasonable clothing for adults?

Last night, I decided that I needed to find a dress to wear to an outdoor Spring wedding that is this weekend.  I just needed a nice, spring-timey short sleeved dress, preferably in a knit.

You would have thought that I wanted to purchase a custom made torture device for all of the luck I have had in the stores.  And it isn't like I haven't really looked around.  I went to Kohl's, to JCPenney, to Dress Barn, to Lane Bryant, to Liz Claiborne.  Apparently, when one has an, ahem, middle aged, motherly figure, one should never be invited out in public.  There was not a single dress in plus sizes at two of these stores.  Several were grossly inappropriate to wear anywhere!  I am sorry, but if you make a dress that is suitable only to a young, pre-pubescent girl to wear, then making it bigger surely doesn't make it flattering to a big chick!

And don't even get me started on modesty.

It is as if there is a black hole between slut wear and nursing home ensembles in my size.  For goodness sake, I am a Mommy and I don't want to look like a street walker!  Sheesh.  Besides, who wants a matronly street walker?  Yuck!

I did find one dress that fit well, but it was, well, poop brown and very unflattering.  One store had two skirts, but they were over $40 apiece, in an outlet store!  By the time I added a blouse, and possibly a camisole, the outfit would have been well over $100.

But, I could find numerous work out outfits and capri sets with cheesy pseudo-resort embroidery around the hems.  Really bizarre stuff.  Shapeless and ugly.  Not even in pretty colors.

Clearly, with my figure, I can't pull off the twiggy, looks like a young boy, look any longer.  But, what would be wrong with having a few flattering, feminine styles around, just for giggles?

I guess I am back to mail order for most of my clothes.  I hate it when I can't find anything reasonable that I can try on.  Oh well.

Swine Flu update

Apparently, a child that attends a Christian School in Henry County has been diagnosed with swine flu. The school is shut down.

Okay, it's really sick of me to ask this, but I really wonder if that kid has recently travelled to Kentucky (since he couldn't have gotten it here)!!!

If that sounds a tad obscure, read the previous post.

Just a little common sense, please

Just when I have made it through a couple of days without feeling like the media is trying desperately to push me right over the ol' ledge with their illogic and insanity, I find myself listening to a member of the CDC (Centers of Disease Control) give their magical pronouncement over the state of the swine flu "pandemic."

This genius calmly informed Georgians that since the gentleman in Newnan who had a confirmed case of swine flu was actually a permanent resident of Kentucky, that this particular incident of swine flu would be reported as occurring in Kentucky.

Okay. But, if the guys is down here spreading the virus all over central Georgia, wouldn't it make sense to be honest with those of us who may have come in contact with it????

I can hear it now, "Oh no, you can't be sick, that gentleman who coughed all over you is from Kentucky, so you can only be sick if you happen to be in Kentucky!" Am I the only one who finds that just a little nonsensical?

Better yet, there was a doctor interviewed who was quite angry with the CDC because when it looked like swine flu was on the rise, they quit running the lab tests that "confirm" the cases. According to the doctor, this is just for political expediency, so that the numbers stay artificially low. This doctor claimed to have 4 cases in his hospital which were clearly swine flu, but since the CDC refuses to "confirm" the cases, they won't show up in the totals.

Does this really make you think that these governmental agencies, for all of the good that they can and often do, are really looking out for you, the individual? I am not impressed. Just give me the truth.

Believe it or not, I can read and write and decide for myself.

4 weeks and counting

Not that teachers ever count down---hehehe.

Emotions are running high these days as everyone is dying for this academic year to end and summer to begin!

Most of my classes are working on improving writing skills in advance of the SAT. Hopefully, we can maximize some scores. Unfortunately, when under pressure, my students revert to every foolish mistake they learned through texting, etc. Sigh.

Christian service and nursing homes

One of the more popular acts of Christian service among groups which include children is to go to the local nursing home and visit, plant flowers, adopt a grandparent, sing songs, etc.  It is a wonderful way to teach children about service while providing a service in the same community that the child is from.

In some ways, this is far superior to participating in foreign missions.  Foreign missions are important, but with local service, the child can learn about needs in his or her community and will hopefully provide service throughout his or her life, instead of "writing a check and letting someone else take care of it."

Unfortunately, we have seen this attitude far too often in our local churches.  Many go wild over foreign missions, but when local children need help, shelter, or a place to have a school, the responses range from, "children are noisy" to "children are destructive" to (my personal favorite), "the children from the [insert foreign mission here] are so lovely and nice, we give them money and then they go home."  Geesh.  In my mind, this all sounds like the following statement.  I'd love to help do God's work here on Earth, but those darn kids get on my last nerve!  I like them better starving in a foreign land.

So, with all this in mind, DS11's gifted class heads off to the nursing home.  He comes back with incredible tales of the gentleman that he and a buddy made friends with.  Apparently, this man is a major character.  My child learned loads about "gambling effectively."  Who wants to gamble and not be effective!  This dude told my kid that the best game in the world is blackjack, with poker right behind.  He even gave them a lesson :-)  

He has never worked in his life, but gambles to make money.  He doesn't pay taxes, but drives a Thunderbird--and as long as you've got a Thunderbird, what else do you need?  He has been married 3 times (technically, because if you don't say 'I Do' and substitute something else or keep your voice low, you're not really married and you won't have to pay for a divorce later).  One of his wives shot him (I wonder why).

Anyway, this has prompted conversations about being kind to people even if they are a little odd or different in their beliefs.   We've explained why we don't want DS11 to live like that (we don't want you to get shot, divorced, or go to jail for tax evasion) and he seems to understand it.  But, he will probably always be pretty darn good at blackjack.

Okay, I will admit that this particular act of service didn't go quite as I had imagined.  But, I am glad that at least the kids are intrigued enough by some of the interesting tales that they have heard that they want to go back and visit more often.  Some of them have already gone back to plant rosebushes outside the sunroom for everyone to enjoy.

In a world where everything is money oriented, talk is cheap and the laughs hubby and I had after the boys went to bed are priceless!

Car Repairs, not always frugal, but necessary.

Ugh! Thursday, hubby's truck died on I-75 in Atlanta. Not a good place to be stranded. Apparently, his fuel pump died a horrible death.

While there is never a good time to have mandatory car repairs, this truck has in excess of 300,000 miles on it and has been a trooper. So, it's hard to get too upset when we have to do some work on it to keep it on the road. But, as hubby had to go to work on Friday, we borrowed my Mom's car as she wouldn't be needing it for a day, so it all worked out.

My brother is home from school this weekend (he is studying to be a mechanic) and spent the better part of the day with hubby (in the hot sun) trying to maneuver under the truck on our gravel driveway. Poor kid. But, the job is done (okay, the gas gauge is toast now, but the truck runs like a charm) and hubby says that he couldn't have done it without the skilled help.

I realize that I am blessed that hubby will tackle many car repair jobs. Perhaps it isn't so good that the kids have learned a very few choice words from the frustration of trying to do the job in our driveway, without specialized tools and a service bay to work from. But, car repairs are seldom inexpensive, even when done at home.

We came out okay this time because we didn't have to pay labor charges to get a huge job done and hubby didn't lose any time at work because of the repairs (we try to avoid that, even though his employer is wonderful).

Even after we make a generous cash gift to my brother, the semi-starving college student, we will have come out way ahead. That part is good. Especially since my transmission is starting to sound a little funky....

I guess that is the price we pay for having older, used vehicles exclusively. We do save quite a bit of money on car payments and interest. We also keep our vehicles on the road for as long as we can reasonably do so. When we can't get car parts locally, or ordered in a timely fashion, we begin to consider trading up.

Now, we are facing a double-whammy as both of our vehicles are reaching the end of their useful life at the same time. Wow! My car has 360,000 on it and has been an absolutely fabulous vehicle. But, we have to consider whether to try and replace the tranny or just start again with a new(er) car. Mine is a 1996 (I think) Maxima. I'd love another one with fewer miles, if I could find one.

But, I guess we'll figure it all out as time passes. I am praying now that God will help us to make wise decisions concerning the vehicular situation at our house. I am sure He will provide excellent guidance, as He has at all times.