Monday East to Tuesday Eastern

 The Rustic Mansion view from the back deck

We left the Rustic Mansion Monday morning and took the scenic route, ie, a wrong turn out of the backwoods which ended up taking an hour to get off very rural dirt roads until we finally got to the highway. We drove all day and got in to our accommodations around 11pm. For the next week we're staying in what is basically a small apartment, right near Colonial Williamsburg, only because last year Mom and Dad got sucked into a sales scheme and bought points for a timeshare hotel thing.

 Dinner break on Monday, still four hours from Williamsburg and way too much energy.

Tuesday we slept in, mourned the horrible internet service, bought groceries, grilled steak, and watched "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."

Wednesday we went sight-seeing, but that's a post for tomorrow!

Travel, the first weekend

Our first day we drove through various states and ended up in Tennessee. Driving always puts me in a lethargic state and during the twelve hours I only read one novel and watched three episodes of Once Upon A Time Season 3; which was very unmotivated of me when I have a huge book on investing to read and a quilt to finish. Though after my car gets through at the shop this week I may not be investing any time soon.

TN Church- makes me miss living in the country.

As guests we got to stay in the pastor's parents-in-laws' currently vacant but very, very large and fancy house. The boys were thrilled with the heated towel rack and the motorized recliner and the fridge that tells you how many ounces of water it just put into your cup. And that was all before the sun came up and we saw the lake and the pool in the back yard. I got to stay in the Nautical-themed bedroom with a huge four-poster bed that had ten pillows, which took up way more room than I did.

I call it, "Nautical Room With Pillows"

Sunday we had church, lunch, more church, a nap, dinner, and dancing. There were a lot of tired toddlers by the end of that day!

Guys, this is the lookout from the guest house deck. This is the pool..

 ...and there's the lake. Not a bad view!

Tailcoats

So one of my projects for the next month is a Rev War redcoat of the 71st Regt. of Foot. The forty Regimental buttons(which are entirely decorative, not functional) and wool trim seriously cost more than $60. I ordered lovely madder red and white wool from Wm. Booth, Draper, which was the lowest price I could find for appropriate fabric where I didn't have to buy wholesale. And they shipped it very promptly, too. This coat has lots of trim, like on Caleb's coatee, and I want to do it better this time. The wool trim tends to fray badly, so this time I'm sealing the edges with bonding glue.

Caleb's coatee collar after a long over-due mending.

I replaced the collar facing on Caleb's coatee, which had sweat stains already, with a navy blue linen. I was told when I made the coatee that the collar facing should be the same wool broadcloth, but it's so thick that it makes the collar very bulky and doesn't look sharp. Plus the linen will be more comfortable. Don't tell me if this is historically allowable or not, because I already changed it.

I also tacked down the trim again (the wool lace seems to jump around easily) and re-plugged the buttons. I was told to plug the buttons underneath using a strip of the wool coating, so that no other color would show through on top, but the wool pulls apart and then the button falls out, and it's a pain to replace. I saw another coat where a sturdy string was used, and I think that's a better way to go.

The outside of the redcoat cuffs. I started out with the cuffs, since I figured I need to practice in the least visible place. Since I'm just going off online images, there's not a lot of detail available to me on exact measurements of the trim and such.

The inside of the redcoat cuffs, with the button shanks showing and a string through the holes. I hope to get the sleeves all done before departure this weekend.

Clothing Shed Woes

My work situation continues to be unsure. I'll likely be offered another job in the company, but the location is up in the air. With no assurance of transfer or promotion, an hour round trip doesn't seem worth it, and I might need to start looking for another job, fast. But there are so many unknowns at this point, I just don't know what will happen. I don't want to go find another job, but I don't want to drive so far for part-time work.

Free entrance day at Lauritzen Gardens

The other day at work I was wrestling the cash register into a form of submission(It's a touch screen. Gets me every time) for some interesting customers. The customers at the counter were black, and my manager is black. No big deal. Then my customer, totally ignoring me, starts talking to my manager about how beautiful my manager is and how she just loves to see black women dressed so well. I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking how she feels when she sees well-dressed white women. It was funny, but it did make me feel very pasty and pallid(thesaurus.com: too much fun).

In a few days we're leaving on our Grand Tour work-vacation, which is to span sixteen days with stops in four different states. Traveling always makes for interesting blogging, so I hope to update frequently!

Starting out at the Clothing Shed

Last week I worked my final day at O2FS, which I think relived most of my acquaintances. Then this week I started training at the Clothing Shed. It was great. The atmosphere is great; the managers are great(Really great); it was a fifteen minute drive from home and compared to O2FS it was amazingly stress-free. It was a wonderful day until the manager took me aside and told me she had found out(on my first day there) that the company would be closing our location within two months.

My career path seems fraught with doom.

I've only worked two days with the company, but long-term it seems a like good environment with promotion opportunities. I believe the employees at our location will be offered same-level positions at other local stores, the closest one to me being still a thirty minute drive away, but if I get offered a place at that one store near enough to be considered, I'll probably take it. Alas for the fifteen-minute commute. I loved thee well, short was the time we knew eachother.

I'm doing the new trim on my gown(Pleats again. Not terribly creative) and I've mended it for wear. Less than three weeks until departure so I need to get my colonial wardrobe looking sharp. You know, people who only wear fancy historical dress are really missing out. There's a lot to be said for a plain, simple work dress. My ancestors were never wealthy, anyway. If I take my real life position and transplant it back to the 18th century, I come out as a Scots-immigrant Presbyterian pastor's daughter, and dancing teacher, and a needlewoman. I think it makes for a very possible and believable middle-class persona.

Sewing for Pay is Happening

Besides changing retail jobs, I've started training for my new sewing job. People don't really understand when I say my new sewing job is making character hoodies. Check out the website, that's all I can say. With this job I'm officially a contractor, which sounds neat. When I hear "contractor" I always think of those hired guns who go to dangerous places. But no, I'm a sewing contractor: Dangerous with a needle, ferocious with the fleece.

Sewing a hoodie is happening TODAY.

I'm also sewing some new colonial clothing. This May my family is planning to visit Williamsburg, VA. Since we are going to the American Colonial mecca, the 18th-Century heaven-on-earth, I feel my early American wardrobe needs freshening. I'm still using my grey linen gown, which is one of my earlier pieces and not made entirely correctly. It's worth keeping through; I've stuck by my goal to have no more than two middle-class outfits for any era. I've got a new petticoat and matching trim in the works, in a pale icy blue cotton/linen that just speaks Scotland to me.

 New Blue Petticoat.

And that's what's happening!

Yes, I'm Amish and I Work at the Mall

So I've been working at O2FS for more than four months now. I stand out like a moose in a china shop, in a very non-destructive way, and it makes me laugh just to see people's reactions to my working there. It usually prompts two reactions when I tell my acquaintances I work at O2FS:

One: "Oh. I've never heard of that store. I only shop Goodwill sales."

Two: "What?? You work THERE? I just can't see you... working THERE."

Even the customers notice how different I am. I've been called Amish once while at work, and another time a customer asked if I was Mennonite. It is a very different atmosphere than what you would expect to see me in. There's loud music and bright lights; there can be a lot of profanity among employees; and there I am, a skirt wearing introvert. But then, I don't fit in anywhere!

Is this what people think when they see me working at the mall?
 Do I look like this? I sure hope not. (My personal opinion: I think Amish romances are hilariously stupid)

However, change is in the wind(and it has been really windy lately). Back in November I applied at several different places, and O2FS was the first place to take me. Literally, I walked in, filled out the application and tax form, and was told to come back in a few days for training. But, as I think I've mentioned, I also applied at the Clothing Shed. Then in February I got a call back to come in for an interview. I did; then we went to TX and etc, and it wasn't until last week that I got a call back for a second interview. Long story short, Dad's fervent prayers were answered and for the third time this year, I'll be getting a new job. and I confess that I won't miss being Amish at all.