Playing with the Cards that are Dealt You

Living life to the fullest with whatever the day brings

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Booooo to dying batteries!

I don't have a lot of pictures of myself to post because my camera batteries are dying and I lost some of my pictures. Boooooo....

I was able to get one today though. It is beautiful and mild outside. I am enjoying the break in the cold.


I got lots of photos from Mary's Party. Unfortunately I lost the one of her and I together. The theme was Motown and we had loads of fun.


Even the teenagers were getting into the fun.


This is Mary's hubby, Moses.


Some attractive couples there...


and the younger dancers


Here's to fresh batteries and a new week!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Before and After.

Although I wish I could always have someone pamper me by coloring my hair, I don't have the bread to shell out every 4-6 weeks to have it done for me. So, I do it myself most of the time. I am a bit like Mrs. Slocombe. It is a little bit different color each time (I mix up my own concoction of colors) and I sort of go with whatever color I feel like at the time.


My hubby thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of me whilst coloring my hair...


This was my first attempt at using foils to highlight my hair. It was not as good as when Christen does it, but it it loads better that gray roots. I thought I did pretty good for my first attempt.

Here are the results


I thought it turned out rather well.

So today I went to church and ran into a friend I haven't seen for a couple of months. I wished I had my camera with me, because her outfit was to die for. I admired some of her jewelry and she whipped off the ring and bracelet and insisted I have it!

Mary gave me the iridescent ring and brown and beige stretch bracelet. "It's just material stuff my dear" she says. We went to lunch then and had a really lovely afternoon.


I would not have given this dress set a second look new, but at $3 in the thrift shop it was a different story. I don't have much green and thought I'd give it a go. I turned in into a jumper and added a belt to make it less frumpy.


My friend invited me to a party next week so I'm hoping to show you some pictures of her great style.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

A blast from the Past.

I missed Frock on Friday...
A. Everything I wanted to wear needed mending
B. I was lazy
C. No proper underthings for the frocks that didn't need mended

So I thought I would share a few pictures of myself
from the 70's.

Yes...that is a sword I'm balancing on my head. This was at "Kapona" in Harrisburg. Kapona is a river front festival with boat races, games, arts, fireworks and just a giant street fair. The word Kapona is a Susquehannock Indian word meaning "Sparkling Water". The name of our river is, of course, the Susquehanna River. The sword dance was my signature dance.

The most common dance that most people wanted to see was called a "Cabaret" dance. This is what you've seen on Television or in restaurants. That's a black wig I'm wearing. I'm pretty sure I still have it.


And without the wig

Look how skinny I am girls!

I was rockin' the turban way before it became cool.


I made all these costumes


and finally, what would a blast from the past be without some big curly hair!


Dig it!



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...Off to work I go.

Don't have much to say today...these pictures were taken Monday morning. I thought I would try taking the pictures in the morning before I looked to beat.

Faux snakeskin pattern jacket $5.50 and Red shoes $6 retail clearance Fashion Bug
gray skirt $4 Goodwill
Red sweater $3, Red belt $1.99, Red fishnets $1 Gabriele Brothers
Purple beaded necklace gifted

Awake or not, it's time to face the day.

Whoopie!

Friday, November 11, 2011

TGIF!

It has been a long busy week. I am ready for Pizza and a cider and a movie. I snapped a few quick photos before getting in my cozy velour lounge suit.

I found this cute little slip on dress for $2.50 at the Community Aid. I was just drawn to the aqua green color. It is actually a Summer frock, but with Menopause I go from freezing cold to tearing clothes off in an instant, probably a dozen times a day.

I think I am going to have to use the dreaded "D" word soon. I'm getting a bit chunky lately.

aqua frock $2.50
purple sweater $6
purple peep toe, suede and faux snake shoes $6
purple flowered headband $1.99

I love you sweeties, but I am going to go and veg now!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Dancing at the Green Door

The Green Door is a local dance club where you can spend $3, have a dance lesson and then practice what you just learned. Number 3 son was bored and wanted to socialize, so we headed to the Green Door that is full of college age sweeties waiting for someone to ask them to dance.

Number 3 son with one of his favorite thrifting finds, a ruffled tuxedo shirt.

I almost passed up this dress until I read Helga's post when she re-worked that great little blue dress and looked fantastic in it. I tried on this dress at Goodwill and it was a little small. I thought about it for two days and couldn't stand it anymore. I went back and bought it for $5. All I need to do was to take two darts out, in the back of the dress, and it was perfect! Thanks Helga!

,
This is the perfect dress to wear when playing my ukulele


Some pictures of the dancers




We left before Son 3 did because we worked cleaning up after the freak snow storm all day and we were both worn out.


 

Friday, November 4, 2011

Technically a Frock...

Fridays are pretty quiet at my work so it is usually only me a couple of other people. It's been a long week and I decided to go casual today. My casual consisted of a great little dress I found at the Community Aid. It really is a Summer dress, but I couldn't wait that long to wear it.


I put some leggings under it since it is still a bit chilly for this time of year.

Pink sweater $3
Summer dress $2
Leggings $6
Ballerina slippers $1
60's Jewelry gifted from Peanut of the Time Bomb

The pattern reminds me of some bed sheets I had as a kid. I can't seem to upload a picture of the print. Blogger must be acting up a bit. Community Aid is having customer appreciation day tomorrow. If we get there before 9 AM, we get a $15 gift certificate plus everything is 50% off. Can't beat that!



Thursday, November 3, 2011

Sharing a bit about me...

Every Monday evening I am the group leader for a bunch of ladies in a recovery group called "Celebrate Recovery". They are recovering from all sorts of things, substance abuse, physical abuse, eating disorders, depression to mention a few. They are wonderful ladies, they just need a new way of thinking about how to handle life's difficulties. Sometimes they are going into the work force for the first time in years and worry about clothing. They always tell me how nice I dress and when I tell them how little I pay for my clothing, they get excited that they can dress nicely on a tiny budget. This is one of my work outfits for about $15.

My jacket collar was a bit askew.

Jacket and matching shell $2.50
skirt $2.00
necklace from a $5.00 grab bag of jewelry from the Time Bomb
Monet bracelet $1.00
Jade earrings gifted
brooch inherited
kitten pumps $6.00



The skirt has tiny pink and green flowers pattern. It is a Fashion Bug skirt and I used to work there, I know that this skirt probably sold for about $24 new.

If the ladies have a very tight budget, I send them to our church clothes closet where they can "shop" for free. I tell them there is no reason not to look nice even if you have only the tiniest clothing budget. I have seen how something as simple as an attractive outfit, a hairdo and some makeup changes a woman's outlook totally! I believe women are much happier and healthier when we dress for ourselves and feel good about how we look.