Makeover

I've been saving this post until I "finished" all the sewing projects I have in mind. But then life acted just like life, and the sewing went on the back burner. So I'll just show you the dress makeovers I did, and save the rest for ...when it's done.

First off, I found this awful swim-cover-up dress-thing at the local thrift store. (And, in true makeover fashion, I was not at my best when I threw it on and had my "before" picture taken.)

Ahhh. Lovely.
(BTW, if you are wondering about the progress of my
broken arm, you can see it here. It is hanging about as
straight as it gets. We are still working on it.)

So, for this beautiful thing, I cut off the top of the dress, and tightened up the elastic in the waist. Voila! A new maxi skirt. And a whole new outfit for eight bucks (that includes the cost of the shirt).

Yes, I also made the cowled shirt.

For this next one, I got the dress for free from my sweet and ambitious neighbor who went on a very successful weight loss journey. (Do real people say things like "weight loss journey?" I thought that was only magazines.) I always loved the fabric and colors of this dress when she wore it, so when she was giving away her big clothes, I snatched it up.

I didn't want the pockets because I don't use them in a skirt and I didn't want a chance of them gaping open. So I cut the skirt shorter (from the top), cut it into eight equal panels, and threw it together. A waistband cut from the bodice, a side-zipper, hem up the skirt three more inches... This is what we have now:

Yup. Made the red shirt too.

So, there you have it. A couple of dress makeovers. When I ever get back to the other projects, I'll post them too. :-)

Another Graduation!

On April 29, just last month, we had one graduate.

And just last Friday (May 26) we had another: Ryan graduated from Uintah High School. Yaaayyy!

Now, Ryan is smart enough to just cruise through school with very little effort. Unfortunately this means school can be boring and might not seem worthwhile to him... As was evidenced by the horribly huge number of F's and D's on his ninth and tenth grade report cards. It was enough to make a mom wonder if there was even a possibility of her son graduating high school.

But in eleventh and twelfth grades Ryan made up for all of his previous poor grades (re-taking several classes, and even testing out of one), and passed with flying colors—no scores below a C. He even joined Hi-Lites (Uintah's madrigals group) this year. And he finished school with a GPA of 3.389 for this year.

the obligatory "getting ready" photo

The Uintah High School graduating class of 2017.

Brant Johnson, a friend of ours (and the student-body president),
giving the welcome speech.
And there's Ryan, in the second row. :-)

It was a windy day at the stadium.

And here he is, being amazing.

I am really proud of the hard work and determination Ryan showed to get to graduation.

Congratulations, Ryan! You did it!!!

Suave and Debonair

Ryan is graduating from Uintah High School in a couple of days. (Yaaaaayyy!)
Because he is awesome! (Yaaaaayyy!)

I hope Ryan is actually more excited than this—he should be,
because he worked hard to get here!

We went to Remember the Maine (a local park) and took pictures of him, of course. He opted to wear his choir tuxedo for the photo-shoot.

 Very suave.

Bruce went with us, to help take some pictures,
to photo-bomb some of them, and to pose in some of them.

OK. Here are the real-deal, good pics:

Very debonair.

Graduation is in two days—Friday, May 26. Yaaaaayyy, Ryan!!

Graduation!

Lindsey graduated from Snow College this past Saturday! Yaaaaayyy for her!!

So here are some photos:

Unfortunately Bruce and I were in the nosebleed seats, literally as far away from the podium as we could get. And we didn't have a tripod, or anything to steady the camera.
But there's our grad, walking toward a diploma and a handshake.

Lindsey, the college graduate, with her proud parents.

Lindsey, the college grad, with her brother Jason
(who, we anticipate, will also graduate
from Snow College in a couple of years).

Lindsey worked hard for three years at Snow College. She got good grades, she made friends, and she learned to live on her own. I am very proud of my beautiful,  warm-hearted, hard-working, and bright daughter!

Second Chance

All right. I have had a few people say they'd be interested in entering my (sort of) annual Poetry Contest. So, even though it's not my birthday any more (which was pretty fabulous, by the way), it is still National Poetry Month. So here is your second chance to enter Loralee's Fancy Poetry Contest. Yaaaaayyy!!

This year's challenge, as you may recall from my April 1 post, is to write your very own nursery rhyme. You are probably familiar with nursery rhymes, but here are a couple of examples:

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.




I'm sure you recognize that rhyme about the very scary spider as a nursery rhyme. But how about this one?

Eeny-meeny-miney-moe
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go.
Eeny-meeny-miney-moe.

(Or this variation:
...If he hollers make him pay
Fifty dollars every day.)

Yes. While you may have thought that "Eeny-Meeny..." was just a rhyme to choose who was IT when you played tag, it is actually a nursery rhyme! Because it meets these criteria:

1. it rhymes
2. it tells a very short story

(You can learn more about that here: How to write a nursery rhyme)

So, your second-chance, 2017 Poetry Challenge is to
write a clever nursery rhyme.

Here's what you need to know:

* Your poem must have a clear, simple story to tell
(like a girl sat down to eat and was scared off by a spider).
* It must be between four and eight lines long.
* It must rhyme and be in good meter
* I won't ask for poems about cute little animals, but it should be something a child would understand. ;-)
* POST YOUR WONDERFUL RHYME AS A COMMENT ON THIS VERY BLOG POST. (Just click on "Comments" and type your way to poetic perfection. Make sure your name shows up with it.)
* You may enter (and are encouraged to enter) as many poems as you want.
* All entries are due on Sunday, April 30, by 7:30 p.m.
* Winners will be announced on May 1 (or May 2, depending on how crazy my weekend is).

The contest will have two divisions:

The Children's Division is for anyone up to twelve years old. The winner of the Children's Division will receive a lovely certificate and a large-size candy of their choice.

The Everyone Else Division is for everyone older than twelve years old. The winner of the Everyone Else Division will receive a lovely certificate and a delicious home-made dessert, prepared by my own lily hands.

So here's your big chance at literary fame and fabulous prizes!!! Ready... Set... Go!