Saga of the Mother of The Bride Dress........

So I ordered a dress from the States for the wedding.  It came this week and looks lovely.......well that was until I put it on.......  It was a perfect fit on the chest but was way too tight on the stomach area, which is where I carry my weight.  So I have to send it back and if I reorder it in a larger size, it is going to be too big on the top, so I am not convinced it would work.

So last night we went to a Bridal store to check out their Mother of The Bride dresses.  First of all the majority of the dresses were in a sample size 10.  Yes I would love to be a size ten but I'm not even close to being that, so of cause I couldn't try any of those on.  There was one bigger sized dress I tried on but it was in a shiny satin fabric that reminded me of a table cloth.

Anyhow I fell in love with this one dress, couldn't try it on, but held it up to me and I loved it.  However, and there is always a however.  If I ordered it regularly it wouldn't come until middle of October and that is cutting it fine, so it would have to be a rush order and that costs an extra $50, add that to the price of the dress and taxes that would bring the dress up to $500!!!!!  Then when she took my measurements  I of course don't fit one size in particular and so she is upgrading me to a plus size so another $60 tacked on there.

However with her ordering me the bigger size, the bust would have to be taken in by at least 6 inches and the hips were going to be 9 inches too big.  The smaller size fit alright on the bust and hips, but were two inches too small on my waist.  So then you can tack on another $100 - $200 for alterations.  I have paid $145 for the fascinator, still have to get shoes and a handbag, all in all I would be spending $1,000 on a bloody outfit that I will wear only a couple of times.

I told dd this and she knows of a store in downtown Toronto where they carry a lot of fancy dresses, so we are going to check that out.  So now my project for the next couple of weeks in between the jam making is to try and find a dress.  Will say the woman who served me in the store also said there were cheaper places to buy a dress from.  I think they tack on an extra 50% when it's for the mother of the bride!!!

Wish me luck.......

What's on your to do list today?

I have a bit to do today that includes:

• Online Banking
• Sorting out my inbox again!!
• Making three batches of Raspberry Jam
• Big garbage today, so that to haul down to the bottom of the driveway
• Cleaning house
• Making a lasagna for supper
• Picking more blackcurrants, up to 2 lbs 4oz picked and topped and tailed, only another 2lb's to go.

I think that is enough for one day, don't you?  What are you up to?

Where are the blueberries?

I got this in an email and found it quite interesting:

We all know that real blueberries are full of antioxidents but look at what several BIG food companies are doing to make for huge profits.  Quite the video.

Isn’t this something? Nothing but disregard and greed!   Who would have thought Kelloggs or Betty Crocker products deceiving? Watch for yourself , they are killing us little by little. Here is the link and please watch it and send it to your friends.    http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=7EC06D27B1A945BE85E7DA8483025962

 

Seems like I have full blown allergies now, as I am ready to pull off my nose and my eyes are watering, so I am persevering with the Benadryll.  I don't have to drive today, so I can dope myself up with it.  I swear this living in the country will be the death of me!!!

 

Got some helpers coming over today to pick raspberries, so we should get a lot picked.  I also want to get more jam made, so that should keep me out of mischief.  I picked up another 6 dozen jam jars, so that makes 10 dozen, which should in theory be enough..............

Nasty, nasty, nasty

also, itchy, itchy, itchy.  I am having bad reactions to insect bites this year.  This one is on the top of my under arm and is driving me crazy.

I even went into town to get some oral medication to take, as the Benedryl stick just wasn't doing the job at all.  So I took two Benedryl pills just after 11 am, and then rang Jane but I ended up having to cut the conversation short as I could hardly keep my eyes open.  I ended up going to bed for an hour, but still felt groggy after I got up.  So I guess I won't be taking many of those pills.

I checked my site meter for the first time in a while and it seems I am averaging around 324 people visiting my blog.  To all of you a big, big thank you for popping by to read my blog.  Please feel free to leave a comment, as I love to read them. ( I have installed a site meter it's at the bottom of the page and was free, so anyone can install one here is a link: http://www.sitemeter.com/)

Picked another pile of raspberries also on Monday morning, so will make jam on Wednesday.  I think I will have more than enough rasps to make all my jam.  It is stinking hot around here, so hibernating indoors with the a/c on.  I have no idea how we managed the first year here without a/c, even Molly is just going out to do her business and is right back in again because of the heat.

Off to work today, have a terrific Tuesday everyone!!

25 down, only 75 more to go......

Sunday afternoon I made three batches of jam and managed to can 25 half pint jars.

I have to say I am lucky as I was short around one cup of crushed raspberries, so I just popped outside and picked more rasps, crushed them and made jam, so they were very fresh.

One thing I do is pop a knob of butter in the jam as it cuts down on the foam.

After supper I picked some blackcurrants and then spent a delightful 45 minutes topping and tailing all 12 ounces of them!!!

Due to the fact this is not a job I enjoy I will do a little bit every night until I have enough to make my jam.

Round one to me......only just though

So my dear friend Wiley Coyote had to be chased away a couple of times on Saturday from the raspberry patch.  Dh went after it one time, then I caught him/her back in there later on, so I put my wellies on and picked up the sweeping brush and headed down the field to chase him/her away.  He/her knew I meant business, and I wasn't happy.  Even if there had been a few of them I would have chased them all away.  I was so ticked off.  Any other year I wouldn't mind sharing my raspberries with the wildlife, but I need every one last raspberry as I need to make at least 100 1/2 pint jars of jam for wedding favors.

So after supper when it was a little cooler, still in the 80's though, I went and picked raspberries for around 90 minutes.  Below is what I got picked.

There is enough there for nearly two batches of jam.  I will be outside first thing on Sunday morning to pick more and hopefully on Sunday afternoon I will make a start on making the jam. 

I need to make around 13 batches of raspberry jam and 2 or 3 batches of blackcurrant jam.  So I guess I am going to be busy for the next few weeks................

Looks like someone else likes the raspberries as well.......

The raspberries are starting to ripen and I need to start picking.  However look who I caught eating raspberries this morning:

Yes I can see you......

Yes I am coming to get you:

Yes, you had better run away, as I am not happy:

The silly thing stood  in the middle of the field barking and howling at me for a while.  Meanwhile I could hear Molly in the house howling as well, so thought I had better go in as dh was still sleeping.

The coyote then came back through the raspberry bushes, but didn't stop before it went into the field down to the creek.  So now I must get those raspberries picked before it eats them all.