Out With the Old and in With the New(ish)

New-ish? Sure. I'm not any different no matter what the calendar says. Anyway, getting on the bandwagon of "year in review" blog post...here's a whirlwind view of the past year--skipping the down-days, the blah days...the days when I walked in circles (much like today) because I couldn't settle into anything very well. (I guess I'm doing the cooking, so that is helpful! ;] )

January:

Apparently this was the month I completed my own pair of kilt hose--4th pair ever. I mastered the cables!

Glancing through my photos, I suddenly recall that I got high off sugar during Little Christmas....I really felt kinda lousy. 

February: 

I discovered one of my two hives had starved to death... :'(

On our way home from one friend's wedding, we stopped in to see another friend for a couple of hours. Panera Bread has pretty decent coffee. (Someone tell Katherine to quit hiding back there...)

March:

Met up with friends on their way home from a gig... (I felt compelled to pull brother Dan into the shot. :D )

My sister Savannah got "officially" engaged to Scott. (They already knew they were getting married but he hadn't come up Nort' with the ring yet.)

I dove head-first into the world of pattern drafting/reworking and made a couple of bridesmaid dresses....

April:

I finished making bridesmaid dresses...

I mastered the art of pin-curling 3+ feet of hair. (Hmm. I ought to do this again soon. It's been several months....)

They were lightly brushed out here.

I COOKED for two days before Savannah's wedding. (I also got new bees on one of those two days.)

I looked bored during rehearsal....

I enjoyed sitting between Grace and Abigail during supper. (Speaking which...it took forever to get food on the table that night.)

We went home (we meaning us, the K girls, the R bro's, Aunt Terry, and the S's) and did some more cooking that night. Andy kept us tearing along with a good rhythm, Savannah went to bed first and I last--at 2 am. I proceeded to sleep but for roughly 2 hours total. I wouldn't recommend that because you have trouble remembering the Big Day.

Taking down the Medusa Hair...

I abandoned this job to the more artistically inclined...

I neglected to watch my double chin on the way down the aisle...I look totally smashing, right? ;)

Savannah's dress was nearly too wide for the aisle....

I got to "hang" with these lovely lassies as we all tried to look more gorgeously awake than we might have really been...

AH...I get to rest me toes! (High heels, y'all, with a pretty serious pitch.)

Das Bridal Party.

And these here fellers, the Two and Only: Dan and Andy--Brothers of Musical Delight! (SO glad they were able to come!!)

May:
Honestly...was spent I think majorly prepping for a reenactment!
The majority of the reenactment shots are courtesy Abigail. I'm already planning for this years event!

"Hair Practice" with my new (old-fashioned) hairpins...

The same week as the reenactment, I got several bee-stings. Two or three on my right hand and one on my forehead. I didn't even look like myself, did I? (The swelling was mostly gone by the time we shipped out.)

I think I forgot to send this shot to brother Werdna...but the duct-tape job...

I don't think Miss K was tickling me...but *something* was funny!!

The "Crew". Love this group of folks!

A THRILL

Also a thrill--A STEAM TRAIN RIDE!!!!!!

I could seriously overload you with shots...but I'll leave May at that. ;)

June:

This really isn't a very good picture of Grandpa, but I think it's the last one we took before he entered the hospital for the last time. That is why I include it.

June saw us (only KT and I this time) off on another reenacting adventure!

Some new friends loaned us their spare A-frame--so we got to camp "authentic" (maybe boringly so compared to our neighbors--whose tent you are looking at--but still *in* the event!)

This gentlemen put on quite a show... :D

Enjoying some music. Mrs. Jill is a voice teacher--and her voice is proof. :)

This here young'un didn't feel overly well, but I think she enjoyed herself nevertheless.

July:
We had a number of friends over to celebrate Independence Day...

Meanwhile, Grandpa had been taken to the Dr. on the 3rd (we thought for dehydration again)...but after nearly a month in the hospital, he passed on the 24th. I cannot remember off the top of my head, which day the funeral was.

Danny. The cousin who is more like a big brother. It was a blessing that he was here for those last weeks of Grandpa's life.

Savannah was able to come for the last week before Grandpa passed. Odd it is, how it was almost like she'd never been gone. I guess family is like that...

​August:
SEWING. Prep for a ball given by friends that month and also for Remembering WWII the following month.

I made Andrew's Confederate uniform (and I think I may have had just a leetle too much fun with his sword!)

The TALLEST and the shortest (also the widest with that dress on!) Don't know *why* Luke was making a funny face...

2 A.M. and the guys were having way too much fun with their "crazy socks" (which technically are all Andrew's...)

A stack of 1940's doll dresses.

Shoes for my new WWII impression.

A go at the "Poodle" (or what I call the "Betty Grable"). My one and only success with it.

September:
The Focus was undoubtedly Remembering WWII (prep and attendance). 

My Volunteer Nurses Aide Impression. Self drafted and sewn--down to the patches.

One of two backseat passengers....

The other backseat passenger. A cut up too. We had to tell him to tone it down because I was laughing so hard I couldn't see! (Drivers really *should* looking where they are going, right? ;) )

Due to this nuts' driving faster than she really likes to, we arrived *before* dark (which was the goal) and got our sleeping tents and our vendor tent set up without having to resort to flashlights and headlight beams.

My heart-rate skyrocketed when this beauty roared overhead!

Bob and Johnny, brothers, sailors, best-friends. WWII vets of the "USS Hornet".

Naturally, I had to show my best beau off. Here he's talking with some good friends of ours. :)

When we got home, I jumped into Civil War tent making. I planned to attend the national Perryville Event for my birthday...

October:
More sewing--pinner apron for me, dresses for Katherine. More working on the tent...

Pinner apron. I also made a sunbonnet for myself, but it ended up being too small. I got the *idea* correct, but not the size.

Trying to learn to be more thorough and "professional" in my sewing--thus, lining in the dresses. (The seam-technique I picked up from looking at photos of extant garments.)

Setting up for the first time to let it continue to dry/air out from the "authentic" waterproofing receipt. (I spelled that according to old-time Southern spelling.)

Without the fly...

With the fly...

We packed it away overnight one evening because it was supposed to rain...well, just in case you didn't know, mineral spirits treated canvas, if not fully dry, has the potential of spontaneous combustion if folded...

RUINED.

I can only say that it is a good thing that I had already decided, due to the way both Katherine and I were feeling, that the trip to Perryville was going to be scrubbed. So...we moved onto the next project. Getting the carpets out of my bedroom and painting it:

Antique carpet--nasty dirty......

New walls. Supposed to be ivory, but it often looks green or pink depending on the lighting.

New floor. I LOVE it. :)

And...I hit 25. Not a reenactment as planned, but sleepy and with a wonderful cake that Katherine had baked!

November: 
I guess it was fairly eventful...

Let me introduce you to my new "closet". It doesn't look like that so much any more as the shelves are buried with hats, shoe/boot boxes, and the odd item such as my own personal iron...

November 7th, I broke my left wrist--one month shy of five years to the day that I broke my right wrist. Oh yeah. I have talent.

Guess who was here for Thanksgiving! (And we put up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving for the first time in my life...)

There! Lest Scott think I was forgetting him...here's a fine picture of the lovely couple. (And I can't help it, but I thought of the line out of "The Quiet Man"... "Here's a stick to beat the lovely lady with!" :D )

It just so happened that Abigail was able to meet up with us and therefore see Savannah... :)

Ah! Advertising the free wi-fi! Aren't we just dolls? ;)

Family Shot. I just love how our foot position talks of our personalities in the one. Model-like from Savannah, Classy for Katherine, and Nonchalant-ankle-cross from me...

December: 
The month of Christmas. 

I lost the cast...

Daddy got his Christmas present early--a new couch and matching chair and ottoman. Below are two of the moving crew (Mom made some remark about needing some [local] son-in-laws because that furniture was heavy!)

Sunday (Christmas) morning before we left for church.

The stick was a gift to Daddy from a WWII/Korean War Navy vet we go to church with.

We do not generally "do Christmas" if it lands on Sunday, but for Grandma's sake this year, we joined her in the evening for some festivities.

I was (am) delighted with the yellow jacket Grandma gave me!! I'm glad it was too big for Savannah :D (For whom she bought it, originally.)

Grandma did have a nice time I think, even though she (naturally) was a little sad as this was the first Christmas without Grandpa.

Katherine's spin on the Italian Christmas cake is WAY better than the Panatones we used to get from the Commissary...

You'd really have to have been there to get the full impact of this photo...but welcome to the hilarity. We have such a blast taking our time and just spending family time as we open our gifts. :D

You'll never guess who *that* is...

Katherine is just classy. Plain out classy.

We have no photos from our day-before New Years Day excursion further north--but that was an enjoyable time spent with friends and even new experiences! I went ice-skating for the first time in my life and had an absolute blast despite some falls! 

It's 2017 now and as I upped one of my meds two days ago, I'm struggling with a little of that "extra detox" brain fog and fatigue. Still, I hope you enjoyed this peek into the past year... :) Now...I have a job to do. See y'all!

     Racheal