Dressing Up

Monday started out with lunch for me and my art group girls.  We all got dressed up, put on our best manners, and brought along an Easter Basket for an exchange. Kimi who was hosting, even brought place mats and favors to dress up the table.

Here we all are ... 

One of the baskets included this bunny hat, so a couple of us ...

took the opportunity for a bit more playing at dressing up.

Here's the basket Trina got in the exchange.

Kim got the cute truck that Trina made.

Jann ended up with my basket.

 and I ended up with hers.  What fun.

Britt posted this reenactment of a picture taken when Davin first passed her up in height, more than twenty years ago.  I think they did a fine job of dressing up in similar outfits, don't you?

On Tuesday I spent quite a bit of time working on my email list, sending out flea market info, and dressing up the yard with this fine new flea.o.logy sign.

Dad and I did not dress up as farmers, when we went out to the farm where fleaology is going to be!!

This is also when I got my first news that Emily had gone to the hospital with severe pain. She was released and sent home with pain meds that a pregnant woman could take.  She went home overnight but had to go back the next morning. We later agreed that I would fly down to help out if she had to have major surgery to remove the growth they'd see on the scan. She said if they just needed to do something laparoscopically, she'd be OK without me.

That night Dad had the bright idea of having the wives of  the Elder's quorum presidency plan the Elder's Quorum activity.  So I  went with him to his presidency meeting, where the wives did indeed plan an international dinner.  We are hoping to include having the hostess of each table wear the traditional folk costume of the country she is hostessing for.  We, of course, are doing Finland, so I hope it will motivate me to put together the costume elements I brought home from Finland to make a national costume.

When I was walking with my friend Carolyn at Walmart, I found out I am not the only one who likes to dress up.

At work I dressed up an area of my biggest booth with nautical stuff I've been gathering and making since I got a cute sand pail at an antique mall in Florida.  I included sea shells, a fishing float, a wreath made of shells, and sand pails I painted and decoupaged with old beach post card art.

Somebody else wants to dress up in beautiful Navajo jewelry.  She saw this necklace last December, and even though it was a thousand dollars, she saved up the money and came to the mall to buy it.  Unfortunately the dealer had upped the price by two hundred after a friend told her it was much more valuable than a thousand.  I called the dealer and asked her to respect the original price, which she would not.

The family left the store to deliberate, and when they came back I decided to use the OKed discount of ten percent, which brought the price down to 1080,  I was so impressed with this young woman, and was so happy when he parents agreed to let her buy it anyway. Sometimes I sort of want to slap other dealers, then I have to remember that sometimes I let Satan tempt me to be greedy too, so I should always reserve judgement.

That night we dressed as pioneers and went to another hoedown.

go Scott go...

My friend LaVern.

The lady on the right is Sister Child from Springville.

Elder Parker, who is in charge of the mission, is shown here calling the hoedown.

Ron Crump, who had knee surgery a couple of weeks before I broke my arm, is also sidelined at the moment.

I didn't work on Thursday, but went into the mall to gather up things for fleaology the end of the month, so I could take pictures and post them.  This couple from Kansas was shopping and she bought this cute Art Deco style purse.  They are preparing to go on a cruise from London to the New York on the Queen Mary II which is entirely decorated in Art Deco (as was the ship the Moes and we took for our Panama Canal Cruise).  Everyone on their tour will dress in Art Deco style for the entire cruise.  Oh my .... that sounds so entirely fun to me.  Because ... well you know.

Dad dressed up as a moving man to help Ashley move Ian out of his apartment, back to their house for the time being. 

Dad liked the old apartment he was living in ....

As well as his radical couch.

Robin dressed up to graduate from BYU-I with a Family History  degree this week.  I think she is naming her company Robin's Roots ... 

Of course Charlie likes dressing as much as her Mimi does.

Sam called to say that Emily, who had been dressing up, errrr, or maybe I should say dressing down into a hospital gown, since she was admitted to the hospital to control her pain, and to have exploratory surgery to see what was wrong.  She had laparoscopic surgery on Friday morning, where they found that the scan analysis had been wrong, it was neither an Ovarian Cyst, nor a blood clot, but a growth on her Fallopian tube the size of an orange. They were able to remove it, and its at the lab now.  Since she didn't need major surgery she didn't think it was necessary for me to fly down, which was good, because trying to trade work days had been a bit of a nightmare.

We were so thrilled that our prayers were answered with the relatively simple surgery, and that she was able to go home that day.  Unfortunately she later developed a blood clot in her leg.  Her Dad urged her to have it checked out, and even though she has to have twice daily shots, the treatment is near perfect for dissolving the clots.

On Friday I put together a few vignettes of items I was gathering for fleaology to be used in advertising on line.  

Dad flew out late that night to attend his Uncle Leeman's memorial service with his aunt Karen in New Jersey.

I kept busy by working on Saturday.  Here another dealer, Craig showed us the nice Brooke Trout he had just caught and was taking home to dress for his breakfast.

On Sunday I left for church early and really enjoyed the spirit there.  I invited several people whom we had decided on for hosting international tables, and they were all thrilled to participate.  Our ward is so multi-cultural, I am so excited to celebrate our love and diversity.  We have several people from Asian countries, Africa, Europe, South America, Mexico, and Canada in our ward.

After church, when Lillian had come up to have dinner and keep me company (Have I mentioned how nice it is to have a friend renting the basement?) Denise Jamsa (from our second mission) messaged to ask if she could bring her son and his girlfriend to see the house .... since we're in the process of remodeling in both the library and the small guest room, and since I've been operating at half speed since breaking my arm, it took about an hour to dress up the house a bit.  Thank heavens for Lillian.

It turned out that Lillian and Denise were in the same scouting class several years ago.  It was fun to sit down with Lillian when they had left and have our rice bowls.

and now for Dad.  He and Karen flew out early Saturday morning.

Here is the hotel where they stayed, it looks so Finnish that its uncanny.

It is actually built upon a rock just like they do in Finland.

and speaking of Finnish, this young woman who lives in Leeman's ward, Christine Ogden, was wearing a Marimekko mask.  When Dad asked her about it, she admitted to being the granddaughter of the first Finnish Mission President, Henry Matis, thus her name is Christine Matis Ogden. In fact she is the daughter of Jim Matis who with his wife, were serving in the temple in Finland during our first mission.  Dad is pointing to his tie because it is also a Marimekko fabric. 

Clockwise 1) Aunt Karen & Bruce's wife Karen 2) Christian & James (Patrick's sons), 3) Dana Maiben and her partner (Aunt Shirley's daughter - Shirley is Grandpa Milt's sister - 20 years younger than Milt) 4) Samantha playing the organ (Eric's daughter) 5) Bruce & Karen with Michael (Marc's son)

Pictures at the cemetery, he was buried two weeks ago. Top row 1) Marc's headstone 2) Diana (Eric's wife), Hope, Luisa (Patrick's wife) Tess, Daniel, Christian (both Patrick's) & Spencer (Hope's husband)

2nd row Daniel, Christian, Spencer, Jame & Emily (Jame's wife)

3rd row Eric, Michael & Diana. Nolan (grandson of Marianne's sister) Aunt Karen & Ann (Patrick's youngest). Eric & Michael.

There will be a quiz at the end of the blog to see how many of these Perkins you remember...

Then back at Leeman and Marianne's house.

Pictures taken back at Leeman and Marianne's house afterwards.

and Fun pictures of Uncle Leeman.

So that was our week of dressing up.  Dad loved his time in New Jersey with his cousins and his aunts. We are so grateful for all of your prayers of healing, that Emily has felt as she heals.