No phone, no pool, no pets

To quote the song "King of the road"

I have no phone... and for those of you who have dail up you know... no phone means no computer...

And so I am absolutely ACHING to tell you about singing at the local mansion and finishing my dress... I can't. I'm at the Library now without my camera or anything...

And so I'll tell you all about it as soon as I can! And I'll post so many pictures you won't know what to do with them!!

(We also had the first snow of the season...)

But until then, I must bid you adue!
Goodbye!

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Meggie walks in humming a familiar tune and sets a pointsetia on the table. The picture behind the little side table is of a Victorian snow scene and it's frame is decorated with sprigs of holly and pine boughs.

Well as of yesterday the Christmas season officially began. Okay so for some folks it began friday, and for others it hasn't yet. But for me it has!

My Christmas dress is nearly done! or as done as it will be before Friday, which is when I shall need it. I'm singing at the Local Victorian mansion for their staff Christmas party. I'm sure it will be a grand time! But here's a preview of my dress. I've got an old Lace curtain (or something...) that I'm going to Dye black and make a shawl like drapey thing to go on top. And unfortunately I wasn't able to do ANY of the embroidery. But maybe by next Christmas. :D

Ehem you'll have to excuse the poor piano..

it's been Mustard Yellow as long as I can remember...

I've been meaning to repaint it forever.

Here you can see the mile long flounce along the bottom

Also you may notice the changes in my profile. Not only am I getting ready to decorate the house, but I've redecorated my blog

So I wish all of you a happy start to the Christmas Season! And I'll get back to you soon with the completed dress! (Super Sqee)

Cranberry Sauce!

I hope you all have a Marvelous Day!

I'm thankful for each and every one of you who Reads and comments on my Blog.

Here's a few more thing in my life I'm thankful for and couldn't possibly live without.

Good Books to escape into

The most beautiful mountains in the world!


The best friends a girl could ask for!


A wonderful Loving, albeit Crazy, Family

And a little brown church where I spend the best hours of the
week with some of the best Christian people in the world!

Well! I've started on my Christmas dress!! I'm doing the past patterns 112. An Edwardian

reception gown. I'm so excited! I'm doing a marooney red, with a black lace overlay on the top and black embroidery on the skirt. I'm so excited! I nearly have the underdress put together. :D And I'll surley be ready for embroidery by tomorrow.

I'll update as I go along!

Thirty, Flirty, and Fabulous!

No silly! It's my Thirtieth POST!!! YAY!!!!





I'm going to take this chance to introduce a few things to you!





First off My new skirt. Long long ago.. it was a bed skirt. Then it got turned into a Farbatrocious Civil war Costume. (This in particular was a "Cape") But cut me some slack, at least it was cotton, but hey, I was in the 7th grade... so yeah!

Anyhoo, I took out the elastic I had aound the top, put a few pleats in the front to bring the waistband down to size, and sewed it up the side. And get this! I did it all on the machine!! Yes be proud.. it's only every once in a while!





Secondly I wanted to say, I'd like to get an Etsy. Is it worth it? Do you sell anything? If I made some hats like in the previous posts, would you buy them? (Maybe $12?) Give me some insight into them!





anyways, I gotta go!


Much love!


Meggie

Smiles and Sunshine

You know I am fast becoming attached to the beautiful sweet boys. I kept them again today.

#1 I want to thank everyone for the advise they gave. Elinor, I was thinking that maye that is my puropose, to show them the Love of God they wouldn't have gotten elsewhere..

...We're still getting used to the flash..

But anyways, Things were a whoooole lot better today. It was nice and sunny, so we stayed outside most of the day. We walked and we played with the dog, and we played Ring around the Rosie in the tall grass of the fields.

Towards one or two o'clock Little Cody was starting to get cranky, and we were all tired. So we came back to the house, and Cody went to sleep a lot easier than the other day.

It was so sweet he snuggled up to me as he woke up!

After they went home the family and I went to a Thanksgiving/ Christmas party at a friend/ neighbors house Her son joined the Army so they were giving him basically a whole smagagee party.But anyways, I just wanted to give an update, Keep praying and I'll keep on as I have been!

Much Love!!

Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Okay so I've mentioned before about keeping one of our men's kids... well I think I'll tell the whole story. About a month ago a fellow who had worked for dad when I was probably... oh gosh I must have been little because he helped build this house and we moved in here when I was two... Aaanyhoo, he came by and simply said "I'm starving to death, I need work." His wife had left him, he had three little boys, no electricity, no running water, and he was about to run out of unemployment. So when the opportunity arose, we put him to work. We offered him one of our cabins, but he was too proud to accept charity... until it got cold.

Correy on the left and Cody on the right... It took me forever to get Correy to stop running the batteries down on that flashlight!

But anyways down to the point, only one of his boys is in school, and only Kindergarden at that. The middle boy is the one we kept last week that was sick. Today, he ran out of places he could take the little ones during the day. He couldn't pay the people who usually kept them and the grandparents were wore out. So we kept them.. or mostly I did. Needless to say I"M wore out.

They were very good about looking at the camera and smiling, but the flash kept making them blink!

They're sweet boys, don't get me wrong, but they are boys... and they grew up without Church, and with a worthless lazy mother... So they're rowdy, but I've never known a boy who wasn't :D And the middle one is very defiant. But I also think he has hearing problems... but seeing as I know nothing of children... it could just be me. They did fine until about 1:00 when they got tired and started fighting. The little one, who's still in daipers, finally fell asleep, and I thought maybe I'll get to rest when the bigger one does... He didn't sleep. So to keep him from waking the little one, we went on a walk in the rain, he with a hood, me with a little umbrella.

Cody and Correy about to leave.

The little one slept until about 2:30- 3:00, and things got a little rowdy again. I taught them how to play "Ring- around- the-rosie" Which it was sadly clear they had never played before.

So it was fun, exhausting, and a total learning experience... I think we may have to keep them again soon. (I'm kinda hoping not tomorrow... but I don't think I'm right.)

But I want to ask the Christian mothers and sisters out there for a little advise! How do I deal with two almost completely unchecked little ones without getting completely exhausted?

Little Cody decided to try on "Mr.Clive's" Hat (My dad's)

Hats off! Part Two

Yup another "Hat-in-a-day" Project...

This one is a beret, as promised, and it turned out soooo well! It was made with this pattern, though a little revised. I didn't repeat as much as it asked. So instead of 21 or more rounds I had 19, but that was only because I was using a larger crochet hook and a loose tension. Anyway! Lemme know what you think!!

Hats off!

okay so I know.. I didn't upload all the pictures from tea...

I will! I promise!!

Anyhoo, this is what happens when you go from a gazillion projects... to none.. You get really bored... So yesterday I got tired of just sitting here roaming the computer until my eyes crossed.. So I dipped into my ample yarn stash and found this pattern here, and made this hat from it.

Sorry the pics are a bit blurry, but you can still get the picture. :D

I wore it to church today with the underdress from Biltmore, and a little shrug sweater. I got quite a few compliments on it and it's very comfy! And a really easy pattern. I highly recomned it!

I'm going to make an Ivory Beret next... though I have yet to find a pattern, I'll use the same site above to get it.

Tea for Two, and Two for Tea

Well I'm late, but this flu is taking longer than it should. Apparently it takes TWO WEEKS to get over! So I thought I was better and it settled into my chest... oh well...





Anyways! I thought I would post this just in time for Emily's "Thursday Tea Time" over at A Beautiful Life.





Anyways, we walked in nearly 30 minutes late, but that was okay, they weren't busy. at least to my untrained eyes!





It was a HUGE room with a vaulted ceiling, it was called the "Library" dining room, but it only had on tall shelf of books. And though that would probably fill my whole library, it didn't make this look much like one.





They made us wait about fifteen minutes so we could have choice of tables. We chose one next to the window with an absolutely excellent view.

Our waitress, Natalie, was adorable. and though we didn't get a picture of her, she will remain in my memory. :D When they seated us they brought a cherry wood box. Inside were Bottles? Vials? of a raw version of each tea on their menu. You smelled them to choose them.

Close up on what was in the box.

(btw the chocolate truffle smelled AWESOME!

but not for just then)

A little while later they brought it out. Lady weaver had chosen a pinkish tea called "Wild blossom and berry" And I chose a spicy orange tea called "California fields"





When they brought out the food the waitress explained everything on out plates flawlessly... and it was a lot to remember. and she told us she was going to explain it first because people tended to completely forget all she said when she set the "Tier of deserts" in front of them.

She also said that earlier at the table next to us she had set it down in front of some little boys and they lit up like she was an angel.





Our foods included the signature Cucumber sandwiches, among other finger sandwiches.





Our "Tier of desserts" included white chocolate chip pumpkin scones, apple butter muffins, "Christmas" cookies, pineapple upside down cake, bon bons,and pecan tartlets.





We enjoyed it immensely!!





(I'll update this tomorrow when I'm more awake... so check back!!)

A Little Bit of Life

Well I need to appologize for the delay on the tea pictures. it seems life has taken this moment to grab hold and tie my hands.

I guess I'll start at the begining. On the trip Weaver and I got to talking about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) So with a week left to prepare I decided to join in. If I do say so myself I've got a good plot, characters.. ect. even with so little time to prepare.

Little did I know things wold be foiled.

Also, while I was Gone, someone from the local Victorian Mansion asked my mom if I would sing at their annual Christmas banquet. I'm excited, I get to make a period dress, eat with them, not to mention sing. :D I'm excited. :D

And so to get down the facts, Thursday we kept the sick boy of one of our workers. Unfortunately, despite our greatest efforts all three of us got sick. Yup the whole shebang... and nearly two days later I'm still stuck on the couch... in no kind of a writing mood.

And so I'm behind on Nano, and all I want to do is try to find a pattern for my christmas dress. Which I'd like to make two, an authentic one for the banquet and a modern one for all my family parties.

anyways, I'm nearly better and we'll see what happens with Nano and other things. :D

A Lady of the Hillside Manor

Ah! The day you've all been waiting for!

Biltmore!

We arose Sunday Morning to a delightful cover of fog, though it didn't reach the ground. We packed our things and had breakfast at the inn. These were our last moments there. Nearly as soon as we had eaten we said goodbye to the squire and to our new friends and headed off down the road.

As we drove we watched the sun slowly burn off the fog. It was going to be a beautiful day! When we turned into the Biltmore exit I put in my "Anne" Soundtrack. For background. It was perfect.

We stopped at the visitor's center to get our tickets and saw that they had menus and prices for every one of their restaurants. This was when we discovered TEA! We thought about it and realized that since we had spent all day Saturday with Aunt Sally, and she had payed for our meals, we saved enough to have Afternoon Tea at The inn on Biltmore!!!

And so with the Anne of Green Gables Music Playing steadily in our ear we passed through the second gate And drove toward the parking lot. We were then loaded onto a bus that took us right to the front door.

Parking lot C2

on the bus

We immediately toured the house, taking the audio tour. The new rooms were amazing! They included the fourth floor, maids rooms and observatory, and the room Cornelia, the daughter, was born in. That room was my absolute favorite! It was decorated entirely in Maroon and off white. And against the far wall, there were a few steps down to a bench that looked out a window over the front lawn and Esplanade. They were covered in beautiful scalloped Curtains. I couldn't help but be stunned!

After our tour we went into the stable gift shop. As promised I got mom the newest Biltmore cookbook, (Which I'm enjoying just as much!) A Picture guide to Biltmore, some postcards, and a Mini book on table etiquette.

Trying on hats, I loved this one! but it was way too expensive!

While in the stables we mad reservations for tea, for 2:45. Lady Weaver bought a print of the most accurate sketch of Biltmore and it just so happened that the guy who'd drawn it was signing copies out in the entry. He was 14 in 1993 when he started it. He was a very nice guy and his name seems to have slipped my mind. I'm sure Lady Weaver could tell you. :D

From there we walked out of the stable, across the house and down into the gardens. We had a mini photo shoot of our dresses. :D (Enjoy!)

No sooner had we walked into the greenhouse and ask the time did we turn and run. It was 3:00. Weaver nearly had a heart attack! She was so stressed because we didn't read the clock on the stable right! (It could've been dead and we just didn't know it... I had just figured if nothing else, they'd keep that running)

We were late and we did have to wait 15 minutes for a table, but that was only so we could have a choice of tables. We chose...

Well I think I'll wait 'till next time to tell you about tea, that way I can go into detail.

The last roses of Summer