On Hotdogs

Yummy nitrates.  Perhaps I can say that kind of flippantly because I don't really know what nitrates are; I've just heard that they're in hotdogs and they're bad for you.  Because of this fact, I have yet to buy a package of hotdogs as a wife in charge of grocery shopping. 

A couple of weeks ago, I somberly nodded in agreement when my dad-in-law declared, "Junk food is like rap music and pornography.  It robs a man of his ability to enjoy the real thing." 

And yet, when my mom and I walked into Stewarts a couple of weeks ago, I was nearly awash with emotion.  I'd forgotten how much I love Stewarts in the several months John and I had been away from it in the South.  Mom and I used to have a happy, occasional tradition of stopping at a Stewarts for hotdogs and milkshakes.  I revelled once again in the small-town, common-man, local-business feel and decided to get a hotdog, piling it with sauerkraut and the red relish I've never seen anywhere else.  It was delightful. 

Truth be told, when Saturday came, we all had hotdogs again.  After a day of garage-saling, gardening, and just generally being outdoors, an easy dinner seemed best.  Mom boiled up some pasta for pesto and Dad fired up the grill.  My parents buy Hebrew National hotdogs, which are delicious, and our supper was simple and perfect.

Then Mom started saying what I was already thinking.  "Grandpa Smith loved hotdogs.  He called them tube-steak.  And look how long he lived."  My grandpa was a remarkable man.  When he was diagnosed with Type I diabetes as an adult, people said that he wouldn't live past 50.  He lived to 86, and spent every day of his life outdoors.  And he ate stuff like hotdogs and candy bars a lot. 

I credit his health to all his exercise and God's blessing.  Lives like his help me to keep things in perspective.  And, undoubtedly in preparation for Memorial Day, my in-laws have a stash of Hebrew Nationals in their refrigerator door at this very minute! 

A Blessing Indeed

My father-in-law is full of wisdom. Years ago when John had gone through a break-up, his dad told him something like, "You can say all you want about getting over it, but you never really will until there's someone else."  John recalled this thought when we were discussing when to try to conceive again after losing our first loved, little one in December at 10 weeks. 

I think it's a true statement in either case.  I've experienced what it is to come to a point where I trust my Father for His timing, even though I don't understand, but until He blesses again, our human arms are still empty. 

We're so, so thankful that He has blessed us again.  I still miss my first baby--I still ache for others who have lost or never conceived--but we have a renewed hope before us.  Surely, our heavenly Father is very kind to us. 

"I went out full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?" Ruth 1:21

"The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, 'A son has been born to Naomi!' So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David." Ruth 4:17

Planning Our Wedding - The Dress - parte duo

I left off at our first visit to Something Bleu, where we were dazzled by an ivory Regency gown with a champagne sash . . . We selected a few dresses to try on, but the lady who helped us handed me the Regency gown first, probably because she knew it would be my favorite and nothing else would compare.  She helped me slide it over my head, then straightened the little train and I swept across the carpet back into the main room where Mom waited beside the mirror. 

Those sales-ladies are cunning.  Once you step in front of the mirror, they stick a veil on your head, and suddenly you are no longer a shopper, but a bride.  Tears spring to your eyes.  They shower you with sparkling adjective phrases and let you linger long over your reflection.  I knew that the tears didn't necessarily mean we had found "the dress," because they did the same thing at Lily, minus a few of the sparkling adjectives!  But this dress was, undoubtedly, the most beautiful I had seen so far, and the most like the dress I had dreamed of.  It was just way, way too expensive.

The owner of the shop offered to come down on the price as long as we bought that dress off the floor, so we put it away in our minds.  It was still too much, though.  We had another potential iron in the fire to pursue.

I had actually begun my dress-search online. I'd heard that our pastor's daughter bought her gorgeous wedding gown from a Mormon company. While I'm definitely anti-Mormon in doctrine, I was encouraged to hear that some people are still making and selling modest wedding dresses! My search led me to Eternity Gowns, where I did find a very pretty Regency-style dress layered in Alcenon lace. I love lace. The only problem was we didn't know the price and the nearest store that carried Eternity was in Boston. We started making some phone calls.

The shop in Boston told us that they did not have this gown on the floor, but they could order it if I put a $100 deposit on it.  The dress itself was at the upper end of my price range.  Tough decisions!  Meanwhile, I found a very pretty Regency-style formal gown in chiffon from the same company which looked like a great candidate for a bridesmaid's dress.  It might be worth the risk and the trip if we found all our dresses on the same day.  But after further inquiry, we learned that the bridesmaid's dress was over $200, and I felt that I couldn't ask my friends to pay more than $125 apiece. 

After a week or two of meditation on all these factors, the owner of Something Bleu called us back.  She was willing to come down yet another $200.  I was excited!  We learned that it's good to wait it out!  Perhaps this was a sign.  When Mom offered to contribute to the dress herself, it was an easy decision.  We'd stay local and purchase that beautiful Regency gown.  Interestingly, the ladies at Something Bleu were not quite as nice to us after we'd actually handed them a check.

In conclusion . . . I was happy with my beautiful wedding gown, but if I had it to do over, I might have gone the Boston-route.  "Signs" aren't always from God.  Dad's first opinion of the dress, after we'd purchased it, was that it showed a lot of skin.  I'd advise a bride with a Christian Dad to have him check a dress out before purchasing it!  I spent some of the next several months worrying that I'd bought an immodest wedding gown, and on the morning of the wedding, we threw some lace into the bodice with stick-on velcro to cover just a little bit more.  Money-wise, I could have put my Mom's contribution toward the expensive bridesmaid dresses in Boston and saved ourselves some stress in that area, too, but that's a story for another day.  :-)

Planning Our Wedding - The Dress

Dress shopping was certainly one of the most fun parts of wedding-planning. :-) It did have it's frustrations, though, and Mom and I learned a lot! I was probably a more difficult bride than most because I already knew that my dream dress would be in the Regency style, with an empire waist like the dresses in Pride and Prejudice. We were also determined to find a dress that was modest.

One thing we learned was that Saturdays are the busiest days for bridal boutiques. Mom and I ended up doing the bulk of our shopping on Veteran's Day, which was a great choice! Another thing we learned was that you have to make an appointment at nearly every bridal shop. Thankfully, some places we stopped in told us to come back in an hour or two, so we were still able to make the most of our day, even though we were a little ignorant of how the appointment thing worked.

The first place we visited was David's Bridal. Our Pastor's wife had lent us a book called Bridal Bargains which was a great source of information for all areas of wedding planning. It contains reviews and ratings of various dress designers. David's didn't get a very high score, which surprised me initially because they seem so popular! But we soon learned why.

Walking into David's, our first sight was a giant room filled with dresses of all kinds! Girls in makeshift updos nervously bustled about various racks or stood on blocks in front of rows of mirrors. The lady who helped us seemed a little ornery at my specific request for "modest," but she handed my sister and me each a scratchy-looking corset (with an $80 price tag) and wandered off in pursuit of dresses with "a little more coverage" within the price range I had told her.

We definitely did not find "the dress" there. As I understand, when you buy a dress from David's, you always buy one off the floor (i.e. tried on by other people). Other boutiques will sell dresses off the floor but also offer you the option of ordering one from the designer. One of the dresses I tried on was already losing its beading - a bit concerning. I despised the corset, too, and half the dresses the lady brought me were strapless, despite my request. They said that they could add little snap-on caps. But I remember looking at myself in the mirror and feeling naked.

The next place we visited was Danielle's Bridal in Wilton. Danielle's is a smaller shop which I had often eyed with keen interest as we drove by. The lady inside was polite and waved her hand toward the racks of plastic-wrapped dresses, after inquiring about our wedding date. (They actually all did that, to make sure that we weren't just shopping for fun, I suppose.) Danielle's carried a number of popular designers, like Alfred Angelo. Most of them had gotten mediocre ratings in Bridal Bargains for quality, and most of them were still very pricey. "The dress" was not there.

Stop #3 was Lily of Saratoga, where we received a gracious welcome. The shop itself was beautiful, with dresses hanging freely about sweeping drapes and oak floors. At Lily, we learned not to avoid the finer boutiques because of our budget concerns. Yes, we saw some of the priciest dresses so far there, but the lady who helped us was very gracious and willing to work within our budget. She showed us an elegant silk sheath well within our range and pulled out two gorgeous ballgowns which were extremely reduced because they were the previous year's designs. For fun, she let me try on some of the very expensive dresses, too! Interestingly, all of these dresses (except the silk sheath, which was really 100% silk), had enough structure to them to lend a corset completely unnecessary. The modesty issue would have been anwered with a little jacket, and she had a couple for me to try. But none of them were "the dress," perhaps to my mother's chagrin. :-)

Our last stop was at Something Bleu, previously called Immortal Beloved, and also right in town in Saratoga. Oh, that shop was gorgeous, as well, and the lady who helped us led us about racks of gowns from France, from Spain, from England, and made in America. Exquisite lace detailing was accentuated by the soft light and the white carpets. They had a 50% off rack, as well, but some of those dresses were so expensive to start with that 50% off was still way out of our price range! The most exciting thing about Something Bleu, however, was that some of the dresses had sleeves. Mom's eyes alighted upon an ivory Regency gown with a champagne-colored velvet ribbon at the empire waist.  It looked lacy, but the outer layer was actually tulle which was embroidered and delicately beaded.  Exciting . . .

To be continued . . .

I Don't Always Finish Projects On Time

This is Gonzo.  He's my version of Gonzo, anyway.  :-)  My brother and sister and I all love the Muppets, and Gonzo is Heidi's favorite.  Mom has a puppet pattern, so, years ago, I started making this little guy as a Christmas present for Heidi.  Many hours later, post-Christmas, I finally got his body done . . . then pants . . . then found little baby sneakers for him at a garage sale . . .

But he sat in her closet, shirt-less, for the last couple of years. 

He's finally clothed!  I knit up a little sweater-vest this winter with some leftover yarn.  I found a basic pattern for an American Girl doll sweater online (but I don't remember where) and just added some length.  It has a 3/4 opening in the back with a snap-closure, and I'm so glad it fits!  Gonzo is finally complete!  :-)