Spring? Really?

(Note:  This was the March 20 post, but I guess I really need a new browser or something because it keep burping.)

They say that today is the first day of spring, but you can't tell looking out my window.  How ironic, I keep thinking, that winter should arrive just in time for spring.  I must say that formals and rain are a bad combination.  So you find yourself trying to decide whether to wear your street clothes to the hall and then change in the ladies' room there or change before you get to the hall and try to keep your skirts out of the water and the muck even though they are floor length, so you are ready to go when you get inside.

Of course, as with any problem, there are layers here.  If you show up at the hall and are not dressed yet, it can be hard to break away to get dressed unless you are very determined because people want to talk to you and you want to talk to them and you don't want to interrupt them, but you really, really must get changed!  On the other hand, if you change before you arrive at the hall (and by that I often mean in the bathroom of the restaurant where you grabbed lunch or dinner before the OV, which can vary in quality anywhere from a nice steakhouse to Taco Bell), then you run the risk of doing serious harm to your dress and since the dress has to last you for months, this is a problem.

With most formals, they will only take so much dry cleaning before they sort of give up the ghost.  Now there is a trick you can use, but you have to be careful to test the fabric in a VERY inconspicuous location before you do it.  What you can do, AFTER you test the fabric to make sure it won't discolor, is spray Scotch Guard on the bottom foot or so of your dress all the way around.  That way, if you do go through a puddle or something, the water and dirt won't stick and ruin your hemline.  Or, if your dress is a bit too long, you can always take it up half an inch about halfway through the time that you have to wear it.  But it is always better to keep it clean in the first place.

Well that was hard last weekend, because it just kept raining off and on everywhere.  I even went down to Santa Cruz to a friend's office on Saturday to do my taxes and it rained down there. He is an awesome friend who has the really cool tax software and he lets me use his machine and I get my taxes done in about an hour and a half or so.  I was happy that I was going to get some money back until my escort was kind enough to point out that it was my money in the first place and that I was just getting my own money back, but after telling him that he was a party-pooper, I decided to go with the "found" money theory, like a bonus you pay yourself because I would rather have more money taken out and get some back, than to have to pay even more money at the end.  But to have taxes and rain did seem a little depressing.  Each year I always try to take my friend out for lunch after I do my taxes, to thank him for letting me use his machine, and each year he somehow manages to get the check before me.  I think sometimes he catches the waitress on the way to the table so I never get the chance to pay.

Anyway, after doing taxes, on Sunday was another OV and yet more rain.  But the cool part about Sunday was that we were at the hall in Richmond and I got to check it out as a possible place to hold a Northern Event to benefit our Eastern Star Home and it looks great!  The hall holds 220 people for dinner and there is a nice stage for entertainment and a big lobby where we can have tables set up.  We are excited about trying to have this event next year because we always have our Summer Festival (by other names over the years, but same basic event) down in Yorba Linda, which is a long way to go, and it will be fun to be able to have our Northern members able to participate in a benefit event for our Home and our Outreach program.  So we killed two birds by getting to see and visit with our members in the area and also check out the hall for next February.

Next weekend, I will be in Los Angeles and San Diego.