Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Let's see....

I came home from IN on Father's Day to an empty house. My husband and daughter went up to the WI Dells, Mt. Olympus to be exact. They had fun but said it was kind of disappointing. I gave my husband his Father's Day card and some polar fleece fabric. I know it sounds like a strange gift but he likes to ride his horse in the pullovers I make for him.

The week of June 18th was somewhat busy. My husband took the week off and painted our bedroom. It looks good. We went with a light sage green. Wednesday we went up to Noah's Ark in the Dells. She was finally tall enough to ride all the rides. This was her first trip. She had a great time. Her favorite is the Black Anaconda. She was just tall enough, you have to be 48" tall to ride it.

Friday we took our daughter to her friend house and then took the boys (our horses) over to Governor Dodge State Park. It's a really nice place to go riding. We rode the same loop as last time. The boys really enjoyed getting out and going some place different. After we rode, we put my sidesaddle on Mark and I put on my riding habit and took some pictures. We got a couple of really nice pictures.

Saturday we went down to Wauconda, IL for the battlefield inspection & drill. Peter wore his uniform and I dressed as a male civilian. This was the first drill Mark (my horse) has been to in several years. We weren't sure what to expect. The first cap my husband fired off Mark just shook a little. A little later we were standing there when the dismounted guys fired a volley. Mark did a quick quarter spin to the right. Other than that he just paced. This was a HUGE improvement over two years ago.

Our daughter started summer school on Monday and I started going back to the gym after two weeks off. She's really enjoying her reading class.

Tuesday I started working with a friend's horse. She's a 12 year old Morgan mare named "Mystery". That's not her registered name. I can't remember that right now. She hasn't been ridden in 8 years. She was a little strong leading but otherwise the rest of the evening went pretty well.

Rode Mark on Wednesday Morning, what a brat. He just didn't want to listen. Went home and did some sewing and cleaning. My mother in law was coming on Friday (or so I thought!) Went back to the barn that evening and rode Mark again. He did okay in the outdoor arena (he even let me open the gate and close it again from the saddle). Then we went out into the pasture! He did okay at first then....a GIANT spooking incident. I still don't know what he spooked from but he almost dumped me.

Thursday, I took my daughter to school then went to the gym to work out. I ended up jumping into the class instead. Boy was that a workout. Picked up my daughter and went home to sew. Went out to Deb's in the evening to work with Mystery. We caught Mystery and I led her up to the outdoor arena. She led great. Deb had set up a few obstacles in the outdoor. I walked her over the blue carpet, no problem. I took her over to the cones with the gray tarp between them a little bit of a problem. We'll work on this. We did find out she knows how to jump. We finally put my western saddle on her. She did great. I got on her and Deb led me around. No problems. However, later we did find out that she doesn't like the clippers, measuring stick and watermelon. Overall, she did really well.

When I got home my mother in law was there. So much for getting cleaning done before she arrived.

Friday we took the horses down to Barrington Hills, IL for a Civil War living history event. We stayed up until about 1 am. I slept in the horse trailer. I didn't get to sleep until about 2:40 when I curled up into our blue comforter. Saturday was the actual event. We had the 104th IL and Taylor's battery there with the 8th. Mark did really well again with the gun fire.

We got back to the barn about 8:30 or so. Put the boys in there stalls and met up with Peter's mom and sister who had taken our daughter to see the Rhythm and Booms fireworks. Okay, they didn't take her into Madison to watch them. They found a high spot just outside of Oregon to watch them. What we could see was really cool!

Ballgown Bodice & Pool

This morning started at 11 am with me making piping and the tucker for the ballgown bodice. Followed by the sleeve puff. As of 6 pm the bodice has piped armholes, boning, tucker is attached and unattached sleeves. Kay did the narrow rolled hem on the sleeve trim and the bodice trim on her machine. It worked really well. Can't wait til tomorrow. Ballgown workshop here at Kay's. I still need to trim the sleeve jockeys, attach sleeves, attach trim to the bodice itself and add the double piping to the bottom edge.

Kay and I spent some time talking about starting your own business.

Dinner was great! Smoked pork chops, broccoli, homemade potato salad and German beer.

Went over to a place called Chevy's. Played several rounds of pool with Major & one round with Kay. I think I lost every game. Oh well, I had a great time.

More on the ballgown tomorrow. It's time for bed. Later.

Indiana Here I am

Well, I made it to Indiana. Fort Wayne to be exact. I had planned on being here by 4 p.m. yesterday. That didn't happen. I got here about 7 pm, their time. I left home around 6 a.m, I got about 4 miles down the road when my husband called to ask me if I was suppose to take a bunch of clothes with that were STILL on the bedroom door. OOPS. Had to go back and get them. I had to make a stop in Hampshire, Illinois to get my friend's house key. I got behind another IDOT truck painting stripes. Talk about slow. This was followed by what was suppose to be a quick stop at my mom's house in Mundelein. NOT! I was there for a little while collecting things I needed to take home with me and stuff I needed to drop off. It only took about 35 minutes to get to my husband's mom's house to drop off my daughter. I was there longer than expected too. That's what happens when I get talking. Then there was my BIG goof. (brain was not engaged when looking at the map). I took the longest (time wise) way through Chicago. I should have just taken US 41 the whole way from Highland Park. I will NEVER make that mistake again. The next slowest part is driving through the Hobart & Merrillville areas on Route 30. LOTS of stop lights. Once I got through there it was pretty smooth driving.

Had a great dinner. Kay made chicken w/ rice and asparagus. Talked a little about stuff in general. I didn't go to sleep until about 2 am, I sat up looking at original 1860's ladies magazines. COOL.

Today, we walked up to the post office and talked about things that are going to be torn down and built along the way. Stopped at Starbucks for a muffin and a scone and stopped at the gas station for milk. Came back to the house and started talking about ballgowns. I picked a bodice from 1862 La Mode Illustree. It is going to be made from a teal & white check silk. It won't fit me but it will look really cool when it's done. I got the bodice lining cut out then I took a nap. Kay woke me up about an hour later. We had some lunch then I started cutting out the skirt for the ballgown. I learned how to cut out a gored skirt with no pattern. Cool. I'm going to try this for a riding habit skirt later (but with more of a train). Next, I cut the bodice out of the silk. Started pinning the bodice and lining together. As of 6:30 pm this is as far as I've gotten. Tomorrow morning I will start putting the bodice together (after breakfast).

We (Kay, Major & myself) walked up to the King Gyros for dinner. Really good gyros by the way. We stayed for 2 1/2 hours to watch them pull a Ford F-150 out of what used to be a Mexican restaurant across the street and then tear down most of the building. We then walked home and now hear I am updating my blog. I will post more on the ballgown adventure tomorrow.

Thursday & Friday

Let's see. Thursday morning was pretty much uneventful. Just ran a couple of errands, you know the usual kind, dry cleaner in Stoughton and then to Madison to have my sewing machine fixed. Came home and did some hand sewing on Civil War costumes. Thursday was also the last day of school for my daughter. They were dismissed at 12:30. Picked her up and finished two girl's civil war dresses and a woman's riding habit (acutually just the chemisette needed to be finished)- finally. The sage green plaid which fits my daughter and a rust print with navy trim which should fit about a 4 year old. Did some more hand sewing last night, in the basement. The night started with a tornado watch, then thunderstorms and a tornado warning for the county just to the south of us.

This morning I finally got to the gym. Weights and 15 minutes of cardio. Spent part of the afternoon photographing the girl's green dress, my daughter's lightly used wrapper and the riding habit. The pictures of the riding habit aren't great but the will work until I can take better pictures. I got the pictures uploaded (after an hour), took my daughter to one of her friends, then decided to do the blog.

Times up!!!

Now back to the sewing machine!

Catching up

Okay, so it's been a couple of days since I posted. Here's what's been going on. Friday I chaperoned my daughter's field trip to Oregon, WI. They visited the Police Dept, library, Pizza Pit and the Fire Dept. Afterwards, all of us (4 first grade classes, teachers and chaperones) went over to the park for lunch. All of the kids seemed to enjoy the trip. I went home from the park and worked on a couple of sewing projects. Despite the weather, my husband spent the weekend in Iowa with one of our horses at a Civil War reenactment. Sunday morning they called the event because of rain. It had been raining (heavy) there since 8 pm or so on Saturday nice and hadn't let up. As of this morning, I still had gear laying on the floor of the garage drying out.

Monday was my last class of the eight week fitness class I had been taking at the gym. Unfortunately, I haven't been to the gym since. I will definitely be going sometime tomorrow. It was a great class with great people. I learned a lot about myself. The biggest thing was that I can do it and don't give up. I may not have lost any weight but I can definitely see the difference.

I ran by the barn after my class to check and see if they were going to get the chance to fix Mark's stall. He's taken to grabing hold of the back wall (when he's mad) and pulling. When I got there, what do I find? A horse in my horse's stall, mind you not my horse!!! If I had been asked I might not have minded, but it's kind of irritating to be paying for a stall and having someone who's doesn't using it. Okay, I feel better. Sorry about that. Any ways, Mark's stall is fixed.

After that, I went up to my daughter's school for their end of school Beach Party. It was fun. I left after lunch.

Now, since Monday afternoon I've spent most of the time sewing. Hopefully, I will have everything I'm working on done by Monday afternoon. That's when I have to pack it up to go to my friend, Kay's in Indiana. I usually work well under pressure. Monday, finished a bodice and got most of a girl's dress done (needs buttons / buttonholes). Yesterday, finished another bodices (next step cartridge pleating the skirts). Today I finished a little girl's dress (except for some hand sewing and buttons).

I think that's all for now.

Later.

Horses take a fieldtrip

Well, we finally got the horses to my daughter's school today. We had been trying to get this scheduled since December. The only thing that kept us from doing it then was fog.

My husband and I went up to the barn and cleaned the horses up. We arrived at school a little early and had to wait for recess to be over before getting them out of the trailer. We put our daughter's pony saddle on my gelding Mark (and later moved it over to B-hawk). Once the class arrived, we had our daughter tell her what she could about the boys. What she couldn't answer my husband and I did. She also got to show them how she gets them to walk and trot (no cantering yet!) and how to steer (even though she was on a lead line the whole time). Between the three of us we answered a lot of questions from 22 first graders and their teacher. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

On another note, I'm almost done with the back of my first sweater. But I'm still working on the undersleeves and chemisette for my sage riding habit. They should be finished by the end of the weekend, as well as the corsets.

That's all for now.

Starting something new

Okay, this whole blogging thing is something new for me. I hope the people who may read this will forgive me if I seems like I don't know what I'm doing. Frankly, right now I don't know what I'm doing. For now this is probably going to be more like a diary. We'll have to wait and see where it goes from there.

Over the weekend I gave two riding lessons to my daughter's friend. She was horse crazy before... well I'm sure you can imagine. I heard her tell her mom that she want's to give up dance so she can ride horses.

Today was the annual Memorial Day horse show at the barn where we board our horses. We (my daughter and myself) showed my husband's horse in the leadline class. She placed 6th out of 9, she came out a little disappointed. She had hoped to repeat last falls 1st place.

That's all for today. Too tired for any thing else.