Lots to catch up on - Super long post, my friends... And Lots of pics!

Hello all followers of "Daddy's Maiden"! Thank you all for being patient for me to write a new blog post. It's been quite a while!

Life here in the Lemay household has been busy.
Our new kitty, (who has been here for about 3 months now)Has received a lovely new name! Instead of Tinkerbell, we named her Trinity! (For her lovely 3 colors!)  She is sooo pretty! She's like THE BEST cat ever! She likes to sleep on my bed at night, and before bed, (most every night) she will go bonkers! She just runs crazy across the back of our couch, & from room to room. Sometimes she even chases the girls or me! lol! (She likes to "hug" by wrapping her paws around your leg as you walk by! lol!)
She also loves to be held! When I pick her up, (oranyone else) she'll wrap her paws around whoever's neck & purrs! So sweet! Here is a picture of her under our Christmas tree:

And w/ me!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving! We invited 2 families from church over, & we stayed up until midnight chatting and laughing around a bonfire in our side pasture. it was lots of fun! It was also my first year to do the turkey! (by myself! lol!) We did it in a countertop roaster. (a nice BIG one!) It turned out great! Tender, juicy, & flavorful! All we did to season it was rub shortening, Thyme, & a little bit of sage on the bird. We roasted it at 350* for about 6 or so hours. It was a 22 pound turkey! I wish I took a pic of it! lol! ;)

We did not go to the Dickens on the Strand... it was pretty cold that day, and Aaron wasn't feeling all that well to go. My costume also wasn't finished. But I worked on it the rest of the week.

I was told my Christmas present early the week before. My dad was going to take me to the Houston Ballet performance of  The Nutcracker! It was ASTOUNDING! I have never been to a live performance of a ballet in my life, and the Houston Ballet sure made my first experience memorable, & making me want to go back time & time again! I wore my Victorian outfit to the ballet that night. I was working on the jacket until a few hours before I had to get ready to go. Talk about cutting it close! ;-)

I did find a hat to make my creation! (sadly I didn't think of taking any before pictures...) but it was an ugly yellow straw hat from the dollar store. We shaped the crown so it wasn't so "farmer" like & then Aaron spray painted it black. After that dried, my mom helped me to decorate it w/ left over lace from my Victorian jacket, & some cranberry red ribbon. I bought some little red flowers (fake) from Wal*Mart, & we had some fake ivy laying around, & we added that to the front of the hat. We also turned up the back & the left side of the hat brim to make it more stylish, & period correct.
It looks really pretty!

The jacket was the hardest to make... I have never sewn a jacket of any sort before, so this was a challenge. And anyone who has made it from the Butterick pattern 4954 knows what I'm talking about w/ the pleats. I ended up altering the pleats some since I couldn't understand the vague directions given...(I also shortened it a little too late in the sewing process, so that didn't help any!) I just did it how it worked, & seemed logical.
But all in all it turned out well for my first jacket!

The skirt I altered some. Instead of making it gathered all around, I made it a gored skirt. (pleated in just the back.) I like the look of it better for the fabric I used. The hem is just a short 1/2" hem since when I wore my boots (purchased on amazon) the skirt didn't really need to be shortened.
Here are some pics:

If you go a few posts back, you can see what my boots look like! :-)

Earlier this week we had our grandparents out for an early Christmas together. I enjoyed having them come down to visit! (Especially since they came down in June for my graduation!) Trinity tolerated their little pooch, Muffy. (She likes to bark & chase cats so Trinity spent most of the time on my bed, or in the kitchen area where the dog couldn't see her for the most part. ) Trinity is glad that Muffy is gone so she can have full reign of the house again and go bonkers at night! lol! 


For Christmas this year, we plan to have a nice quiet time at home as a family. (Unless we're invited to someone's house or have someone over. We'll see! As far as I know it's just us at home, which I'm fine w/! I enjoy that!)


We'll, that's about it! Hope I didn't bore you all! 
Have a very blessed & merry Christmas!
In HIS ever loving & caring arms,
Megan