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| In Costume |
According to my daughter, a Japanese maid "cosplay" (i.e. costume play) costume, if purchased, could easily cost upwards of $20, although its dress would likely have a full, gathered skirt and puff sleeves. Daughter's version is a more casual take on the costume and much less expensive!
Her dress cost $5.99 and she actually bought it to wear as a regular dress, as she had bought a similar dress (but in a patterned fabric) earlier and loved the style. The idea of wearing it as a Japanese maid costume occurred to her only afterwards.
But she needed a frilly apron to go with it (the apron I had made for her 4 years ago, for another costume, wasn't quite what she wanted, and that apron was a bit too small for her now). I sewed the apron from leftover fabric in my stash, so the apron didn't cost anything other than time and the electricity to run the sewing machine and for ironing.
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| Apron Front |
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| Apron Back |
Her cat ears are what she already had as she bought them several years ago during a visit to Disneyland (they are the ears of Marie, the little white kitten in Aristocats). I don't remember how much she paid for them, I think about $6.00? She was in high school at the time and she went as a guest of her friend, whose father worked at Disneyland. But they weren't bought specifically for today's costume.
Even the wig was something she had bought for $6.00, earlier in the year - she bought it for cosplay, but without a specific costume in mind. As she mentioned on our drive to downtown, this morning, she now has a Halloween costume, as well (she'll just wear leggings and a long sleeved turtleneck with the dress, for warmth).
Once again, she went downtown with me, in the morning, and she went on her way to the hotel to stand in line for the shuttle and I took my regular shuttle to my office. She made two bagel sandwiches to take with her, just as she did, yesterday, for her breakfast and lunch, along with a refillable bottle of water. It was already in the mid 80sF when we left the house, this morning, and the forecast called for 100+F temperatures later in the day. The organizers of AX had sent a text alerting everyone to take the weather into consideration when it comes to costumes and to stay hydrated. Daughter said the convention center was air conditioned, but one has to be outside, at times, as well, especially if one wants to go to one of the food trucks to buy food (there is a cafeteria inside the convention center, as well, though).
I had a good day at the office. I worked on my projects and updated my supervisor as to the status of my projects. Then, I requested a day of vacation on Monday, since that's when my daughter leaves and I need to take her to the airport in the afternoon. I took a ham sandwich, a container of yogurt, some granola-type cereal, and grapes for my breakfast, lunch, snacks. When I came home, I had a cup of tea, followed by a piece of the chicken drumsticks my daughter had cooked on Wednesday. Then, I gave into temptation and had a piece of red velvet cake that I had frozen!
I received the authorization for the endoscopy and colonoscopy in the mail, today. I will be calling the doctor's office, on Monday, to schedule it.
Friend M came over to do the garden - I asked him to mow the back garden. I have the sprinklers on, right now, to water the garden. The heat withered almost all of my four-o-clock (mirabilis) plants!
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| Wilted Four-O-Clocks |
I think it is time to pull them out, don't you:
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| Practically Dead! |
I also did a load of laundry (the sheets I use as dust covers for the family room sofas and the towels I use on the sofa arms). Tomorrow, I will switch out the covers and wash the ones I have on the sofas, now.
And I called friend R to check on her, as I know she doesn't like the heat. She said their electricity went off three times, this evening! Fortunately, it is back again and she is able to have her fan on (she has an air conditioner, but she puts it on only if she really needs to because of the expense). She said she will probably spend the day at the mall tomorrow, because it is air conditioned. The city has about 150 cooling centers (libraries, recreation centers, senior citizen centers, etc.) open during heat waves, for people to stay in, as well. The nearest cooling center for me would be the local library; I'll keep that in mind when I am home, during the summer.
It is 9:00 p.m., now. I am waiting for daughter to call to let me know when she's leaving the convention center; she will take the shuttle to the hotel and wait inside the lobby until I get there.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Air conditioning in the office and at the convention center!
- Electricity to run the fans and operate the lights and appliances
- Water for the garden
- Friend M tending to the garden for me
- Daughter having fun at Anime Expo
How was your Friday? What have you planned for tomorrow? Are you having a heatwave, too?
I'm not enjoying the heat at all but at least there is a bit of a breeze for now. I suppose I shouldn't complain as this sort of heat isn't a regular occurence in the UK! My garden is suffering and I think I will lose a few plants. We don't have a hosepipe ban yet but it is expected.
ReplyDeleteI hope your heat wave abates, soon! I'm sure it is uncomfortable for you. Sorry to hear about the garden suffering from the heat. I hope they don't impose a hosepipe ban! We've had restricted sprinkler use during our 4 year drought (which ended last year), but we could water with a hose.
DeleteA different costume every day!? Now that's commitment.
ReplyDeleteI'd leave the 4-0'clocks in a bit longer. Some things that I was sure hadn't survived our recent heat wave have come back with some good watering. You never know.
The four-o-clocks will come back, either in the fall or, next year. The more established plants have tubers that they grow from, year after year. The ones growing in my garden are, actually, considered weeds! But I let them grow because, well, I like their flowers and they just grow without any care.
DeleteI'm enjoying reading about your daughter's Anime costumes and seeing the photos. It is always fun when you can improvise and create what you want without going out to buy expensive ready made costumes, and she looks great.
ReplyDeleteYour poor Four o'clocks! The heat plays havoc with plants and people. I think your neighbour is very sensible to take off to the air-conditioned mall rather than stay huddled at home using her own expensive air conditioning. We had a blistering heatwave this last week and it was 100°F for a few days. Then we had a couple of storms come through with lots of lovely rain and the temperature dropped right down. Yesterday it was windy, too, and I was able to work in the yard without fear of getting overheated or bitten to death by black flies!
I've just highlighted and copied the above because recently I lost what I was typing to you and was just too tired to compose it again. I'm going to have to remember to do this more and save when e-mailing, too.
Thank you, Bushlady, both for your kind comments on daughter's costumes and for continuing to try posting even when comments are not going through. I've had that happen to me on a couple of blogs I tried commenting on, and, since I forget to highlight and copy before posting, I am never able to recreate the original comment! Subsequent comments never sound right, to me!
DeleteThe four-o-clocks will come back, next year, as they grow from tubers, and, as I just stated in my response to Live and Learn's comment, above, they grow like weeds in my garden. But, my poor grapevine is scorched, too, and I am hoping it will survive the heatwave. I'll take a picture of it either in the evening or tomorrow morning. It is way too hot, right now, to go outside!
Glad it has cooled off a bit for you and there's a nice wind. Yes, sitting in a cool, air conditioned place is the wise thing to do. It is supposed to cool down to the 90s, next week, so we are looking forward to that! :)
It's actually not so hot in Central Florida right now, especially compared to you guys. Our high will be 88F today although it will feel hotter, of course, and our humidity is something like 90% right now. I like your plan of going to the library to take advantage of the AC, if you get too hot. Is your library opened late?
ReplyDeleteYou and your daughter make a good team when it comes to putting costumes together! I really like the apron that you sewed. So talented as this seems like a major project to me but you make it sound like it was no big deal for you, LOL. I hope your Daughter has a lot of fun!
We went to our Friends of the Library book sale this morning. This afternoon YS and Greg are playing Warhammer while I'm just puttering on the laptop. I think I'll be watching some episodes of "Endeavour" on PBS in a bit. I wanted to go hiking but Greg declared that it was too hot. I did walk back to the book sale after we got home because it's just down the street and I wanted to buy more used DVDs for my Daughter. Then later on tonight I'll use my recumbent bike.
I hope the heat relents before more of your plants succumb to it! Stay cool and hydrated! Remember to bring water with you when you travel by car, in case your car breaks down or something and you have to wait for a tow truck in this heat.
Nathalie, I think the humidity makes it feel even worse. Ours is a dry heat, so it just bakes you. It feels like the hot air from an oven, that's all. :D
DeleteThe library is generally open till 8:00 p.m. most days. During a heat wave, however, some places are open till later in the evening, but I don't know if the local library will be one of them. It can still be pretty hot at 8:00 p.m.
Well, the apron wasn't too hard to make. It just took a little time to make the ruffles, but that is all. I do like how it turned out, though.
I hope you found some good deals at the library book sale. I used to go to them, quite often, but now, I am trying not to buy any more books! Also, I heard on the news that some of our libraries here have bedbug infestations (!) so now, I am leery about borrowing books, too!
Thank you for the reminder to take water with me! I forgot to do so, this morning, and I was very tempted to buy some cold soda on my way home, but I didn't! I hope you keep cool when it is hot! Better to ride your recumbent bike in your air conditioned house than go walking outside, I think!
Your daughter looks adorable, even if we can't see her face!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes it is hot and insanely humid here!
Thank you, Anne. She doesn't want to show her face! Hope you are able to keep cool! The humidity is what is hard to deal with, I think. I'm no longer used to humidity.
DeleteWhat a great costume. I am loving that apron that you made, and that wig is so cute and adorable. Do any of her costumes require your daughter to make up her face at all? In this heat, the ears and the wig will be terribly hot to wear all day. Good thing the building is air-conditioned.
ReplyDeleteYour poor flowers. Did you get any blooms from them at all before they bit the dust? Would a long drink of water not revive them?
Thank you, Susan. I am almost tempted to make a ruffled apron for myself! I don't think any of her costumes require special make up. Today's costume required a big red dot on her forehead to represent a jewel, so she put a dot with lipstick.
DeleteYes, the four-o-clocks did have some flowers before they got scorched. They'll come back, again, next year. Our summer is just not good for plants! Too hot!