Motivated

I'm sitting here feeling all proud of myself. I went to bed last night, or should I say morning since it was 3am...and got up Tuesday morning at 7am. Lyle had not roused her lazy butt out of bed to go to school so I woke her up. She was pretty impressive, she got ready in like 10 minutes and was out the door! Anyway, I decided to stay up instead of go back to bed. (I get home from work about 1am) I got so much done!

Monday night I'd started to practice skirt making. I have a pretty blue-green, perhaps one might call it aqua-colored fabric and decided to make a pleated skirt. Now, mind you, I've never made a skirt in my life, let alone pleats but I thought now was as good a time as any to learn! And as surprising as it is, it doesn't seem to be turning out so badly! The only bad thing about it is that the body wearing it belongs to me! I'm not the thinnest or most fit person on the planet. Okay, brass tacks time here, I'm pretty much a blob.

A while back I bought a rebounder and started using it! Every day , mind you! But the strangest thing happened. Every time I exercised, I ended up having a hard time breathing and my chest hurt for a week afterward! I went to my doctor and what he told me really made me feel like I was poster child for the 'biggest-losers-on-the-planet!" I have.......get this and I'm not making it up....exercise induced asthma!!! I kid you not! It exists! I have an inhaler I don't use because I am so tired of 'disorder of the month club', little pissy ailments that I end up getting. If my lungs aren't popping or falling out of my body, no medicine. Forget it!

Omg..total tangent time (TTT) okay, so where was I?. My skirt. I'm shocked at how not so sucky it is for a first try! I was going to show a pic of my maiden voyage but just as quickly decided against it. Why look at my unworthy scraps when there are many women Civil War Reenactors blogging here that can show you incredible masterpieces! I was roaming the blogs and saw an incredible laundress blog called 'The Laundress is In' You want to see a talented person? Check it out. I'm not kidding!


Oh god TTT again... Anyway No, my attempt is not a work of art but neither is it something to be embarrassed about considering I'm winging it! No pattern! I guess its just dabbling. I am, however, serious about making men's drawers and shirts to hang or crumple around Suds Row. I'm going to my Mom's house over the weekend and she's going to show me how to do it. I'm also putting together pin cushions. Why? I have no idea why. I guess its just that they're just so darn pretty.

What I really like doing is making washboards! In fact, I think it was my first blog, I'd mentioned that the little kiddie-poohs liked washboards. So, I'm making washboards that will attach (probably) by rope to a large tub so the future company laundresses and laundrymen can scrub to their heart's content. I think I'm going to ask the parents if my personal photographer (my husband) can take pix to use on my blog. The kids are just so darn cute when they're obsessed for 10 minutes then go away.

Its kinda neat that winter is upon us. Last year I vowed I'd spend the time putting together my impression, experimenting in cooking, mastering the laundress profession and spending time at the library researching. I didn't do any of those things, but this year I'm so motivated for some reason.

Oh wow it's 2am. I'm going to motivate myself right into dreamland.

Goodnight!

Mrs. Peters

Reenactment: ZOAR, Ohio

It's funny, Zoar was kinda like Hale Farm except not sucky. We were all psyched up to go and expected a chorus of angels, to be pitching our tent on a cloud, all the gods and goddesses would be in uniform... It kinda didn't happen that way. Don't get me wrong it was great. We had a really good time, lol, too good on Saturday night I must admit with a shamed blush.

See, what it is , is that Zoar was the second reenactment we'd ever participated in. We were mustered in at Hale Farm ( We were spectators) in August of '09, did a small reenactment in Hartville, now its called 'Black Horse' in Ravenna, Ohio. So the second re-enactement we did was Zoar. Zoar is a big deal in Ohio, its the biggest event in the state. I took Friday off from work so so we could go in early. We ended up getting there around 7pm I believe, and no one was there to direct us to where we were supposed to set up, It wasn't too long before we were shown where though. I was set up near the water source but away from our unit. I don't like being away from my unit. I am a company laundress! I am in the military! I am the first woman recognized by the US Army, I am the first woman with official status in the camp! I am not a civilian! I am a rock! I am an island! And, I'd be lonely so far away! I like my unit! They are all a great group of people and I am probably the biggest whiner you'll ever meet, so they gave me a really great spot on the edge of camp. lol, honestly I think they all humor me so they'll not have to listen to me any more than they have to! So anyway, we ended up putting up the tent in the dark. Yes, they all made sure my tent was up and my stuff unloaded. IMHO, they treat me like gold and for that I am very grateful.

I cooked for Lyle and myself at Zoar. Ok, well I guess I must admit this up front. Lyle/Lily tends to sneak off to the Flying Turtle to indulge in a few bottles of rootbeer and other goodies while I'm not looking. So, I'm guessing they're feeding her/him more than I am...No worries, Lyle/Lily has a good appetite while reenacting. It was tough for her. In this event, there wasn't enough guns to go around. Lyle uses a loaner when she goes to battle. Because of this she was not included in a couple of cool military things that weekend and ended up with a bad case of hurt feelings. Being the trouper she is, she got over it fast. She's a great kid. Like I said in previous posts, I miss having her around Suds Row.

I thought I was going to be able to try out some of the things I've been neglecting this time, but as usual, I didn't. I have a laundry list of things I need to learn and practice like: starching, ironing, Oh, one thing I did finally get the hang of was tending the fire. As a matter of fact everyone said I was practically glued to the fire! Ha! At least it didn't go out! Lyle got into it too!

We borrowed Doreen's fire blowey thingie. Roy said he was going to make one for us as well. Roy is a camping guru I kid you not. He made my stakes for my tent, is going to make the fire thing. He also made a stove for Doreen to cook over! Pretty cool huh? One cool guy that Roy!

I got to use my yoke again! Boy did I haul water. I'm telling you, I felt like thats all I did the whole time! You'd think with all the non stop activity at a Civil War Reenactment, one might shed a few pounds, at least water-weight! But NOOO! As you can see in the picture, I've shed nothing but dignity.

You can't see him but my husband is the one taking the picture and the whole time he is reciting that Dane Cook thing about how the victorian people didn't smile on purpose. I'm trying not to smile and he's in front of me yelling, don't smile, look she smiled! She looks like she's happy to be alive! She ruined the picture!

See that brown and white apron? =======>>

That is made from one of those incredibly cheap (at a thrift store) button up, sleeveless 100% cotton summer dresses! All you have to do is cut off the buttons and then cut off the bodice leaving a bit of fabric for a waistband. Cut the skirt part to the fullness you desire. Then fashion the ties from the left over material and sew them into the waistband. Some dresses actually have ties on them so all the work is pretty much done! Lazy, cheap and easy! See? I actually took one of my irons out of the fire!

Okay, so Saturday night. I love the campfires. I love sitting around the campfires talking. I especially love it when someone has an instrument and plays and when sometimes there is singing! At Zoar there was good conversation, good Jagermeister and a few other yummy things. Life is good at reenactments, very good indeed.