For the Love of Aprons

A few months ago at an antique mall, I saw an apron with a dish towel sewn on the front. I thought it was a clever idea, but I didn't like the colors of the one I saw. When I went back to the antique mall the other day, the apron was gone, and I have never seen another one. Today I decided to do a google image search to see if I could find one I liked. I stumbled across this one and in the description it said that the towel is held on with a button. Hmmmm, I can sew on a button, and I can sew button holes. Hmmm, this could get interesting....lol

 

Here are the shoes that I bought for my troubled feet. These shoes are the most scrumptious things I have ever put on my feet! They are made by Soft Walk. These shoes have egg crate soles that are more comfortable than houseshoes for me. They normally run $100, but I purchased them on sale for $29! I ordered some walking shoes by the same maker from FootSmart, so I hope to be up and walking again soon. 

The Good Ol' Days

Here is a snapshot of my aunt, my grandmother, my mother, and me. I'm the one who looks like I'm ashamed to have my picture made, but actually, the sun was in my eyes, and my grandfather always took a long time to take a picture. :) If a group of ladies were dressed in this manner today (aside from the styles being very dated), one might say they were to attend a formal event. In those days (1960's), this is how we dressed to go shopping.

I loved to spend all day shopping with these women. We would go to the department store to shop and then have lunch in the store restaurant. The restaurant had real table cloths and linen napkins and china. It was always such a calming and happy sound to hear the tinkling of china and chatter of ladies. There was often an informal fashion show going on during lunch where models roamed from table to table wearing the latest dress, telling us where to find it and how much it cost. At one such restaurant, there was a circular stage where the models sometimes walked. One fine Saturday at lunch, we were fortunate enough to sit right next to the stage. I was so delighted that I did not resist the urge to climb up on the stage with the models, much to the embarrassment of my mother. :)

There aren't many places like that anymore, and women no longer dress in a beautiful way. We all don blue jeans and t-shirts, and our behavior tends to be equally common. We dine in fast food restaurants or in traffic and eat and drink out of styrofoam and plastic containers. Society is no longer civil or genteel. We no longer shop with friends or family, and we no longer know our neighbors. We lack beauty in our everyday lives.

I am blessed to have a daughter who loves to dress up to shopping or go have tea at our local English tea room (where they have the tablecloths & china!). But, what else can we do? Perhaps today would be a good day to bring a small bouquet of flowers to someone who needs cheering? Or, set a nice table for your family? Or, maybe take that step to dress a little more beautifully and act more gently?

What ideas do you have?

Does Shopping for Clothes Leave You a Little Depressed?

Shopping for clothes leaves my teenaged daughter very depressed because while a lot of clothes may be "cute", most of them are inappropriate and immodest. I don't want the world to know quite that much about my daughter, and, while I hate the idea of enforcing very rigid rules of dress, I find that guidelines are very necessary. The real problem for us seems to be finding items that fall within those guidelines and do not look frumpy or matronly. If we do find items that fit the descriptions of modest and cute, it doesn't fit the body or the budget. Oy!

Will we give in to today's slut-wear just because it is difficult to find clothes deemed acceptable by modest standards? Heaven forbid! If women desiring to be virtuous stoop to that level, to what level will the world (or young girls watching our example) stoop? Someone has to stand in the gap. Someone has to be the keeper of the gate. Will it be you?

Looking for modesty amid the sleaze all around us

Monday, August 01, 2005By Ruth Ann Dailey
Summertime and the livin' is sleazy... I'm not referring, however, to the Northwestern University lacrosse players' footwear choices at the White House. Their flip-flops were unfortunate, and the flip-flop flap was lots of fun, but "sleazy" is something worse.
Sleazy is Britney Spears wearing a tiny crop-top with a tie-dyed skirt slung beneath her naked pregnant belly.
Sleazy is a Paris Hilton gal-pal gunning a motorcycle at a promotional event and revealing to paparazzi, as the bike shoots out from under her and she falls to the pavement, that she wears no underwear.
Sleazy is our non-famous daughters going to school dressed like street-walkers. (Actually, the hookers who troll for work in my neighborhood dress more modestly than today's typical teen.)
Our culture's ubiquitous sleaze -- about two decades' worth and not related just to women's clothing choices -- is what has brought us to the point that the fine young women who made it into elite Northwestern University don't know when and where shower slip-ons are inappropriate.
Some days I think that if I have to look at another bare female abdomen anywhere besides the swimming pool I will scream. I'd like to think I feel that way for reasons other than the fact that, after bearing three children, my belly is no longer fit for such fashions. When it was, my mother wouldn't let me dress like that -- not even while swimming. Now that I'm the mom, I want to shake these aspiring Britneys and say, "Have a little self-respect!"
At the recent White House event to recognize the Northwestern girls' achievements, the issue wasn't self-respect but respect for others -- "others" being not just the president of the United States, but the rest of us for whom the White House is a secular shrine. If you don't expend extra effort dressing to go there, is there any place worthy of your effort? Church?
When I raised the topic on talk radio last week, a caller informed me that in Italy, signs at church entrances still request, among other nods to the dignified proceedings within, that people not enter wearing open-toed shoes.
A 9th-grade classmate named Inga asked why I never wore jeans to school. (Short answer: I wasn't allowed.) She wore jeans even to church on Sunday and felt very strongly that God didn't care how she dressed so long as she was there. I agreed but argued that we might want to show Him our respect by how we presented ourselves.
These days, though I think we were both right, I lean more toward Inga's way of thinking. God accepts us as we are and mercifully doesn't leave us like that. But the god Inga and I were discussing is one who sees inside our hearts. Humans have to look for other clues.
You might argue that while the clothes don't make the woman, they do reveal what she's thinking: An awards ceremony at the White House, a worship service, yawn.
But maybe our clothes do make us. Maybe our pervasive casualness toward much that used to be considered special and important has, in fact, been shaped by the casualness with which we present our private selves.
It used to be that middle- and upper-class youth would adopt the clothing and mannerisms of the uneducated, angry and dissolute in order to shock their elders. They were rebels without a cause, but with the clothes.
The posturing of yesteryear's James Dean wannabes now seems naive. These days, every man's a gangsta, and every girl's a porn star. And it's no longer a pose. Too many kids have become what they were pretending to be. A good mother used to say, "If you're not selling it, don't advertise." But any sociologist or teen counselor can tell you that kids aren't selling it, they're giving it away for free.
It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that the loss of the very idea of propriety has occurred along with the rise of the Internet. Chat-room anonymity invites us to reveal our most private and ugliest thoughts -- to get naked with strangers. There are also millions of literally naked strangers: The mind-blowing omnipresence of hard-core pornography online almost makes our scantily clad teenagers seem modest.
We've been letting it all hang out for so long that there's nothing left to air.
And if everything's allowed, then nothing's shocking. What's surprising about those lacrosse players' flip-flops is that anybody noticed. I must point out, however, in the young women's defence, that they were all wearing modest skirts. So hope springs eternal, even in a sleazy summer.
(Ruth Ann Dailey is a Post-Gazette staff writer and can be reached at rdailey@post-gazette.com.)

Modesty at all Times

 


This is a photo I took of three little girls at the beach at sunset. What impressed me was that they were wearing modest dresses and that they seemed very happy. It was such a delight to see them playing at the beach.

Schoolgirls 'modesty' skirt ban

A school is banning skirts so that female pupils can "maintain modesty" in certain lessons.
Broadstone Middle School in Poole, Dorset, said the decision had been made by the school's governors so that boys and girls can join in the same lessons.

Some parents are unhappy at the ban and think that it has been imposed because of some girls wearing short skirts.

Poole Borough Council said that the school was within its rights to impose the trousers-only rule.

Head teacher Marilyn Warden said skirts were not appropriate during lessons such as music and drama.

"In order to give girls the same opportunities as boys for a safe, active and healthy lifestyle, while maintaining their modesty, it has been considered by our school governors that trousers for all pupils is a practical and appropriate dress requirement."

The school will impose the ban from January next year and rule that all pupils wear full length trousers at the 673-pupil school.

A council spokeswoman said the rule could be relaxed in a heat wave and "appropriate" clothing could be worn then.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/4116726.stm

Published: 2005/06/21 16:24:25 GMT

 


Last night at church we had a farewell party for our pastor and his family as they are moving away. It was a time of very warm fellowship as the air conditioner in the fellowship hall was not working properly, leaving the room a tropical 90 degrees. As I was in the room, glowing in my Sunday attire, I kept reminding myself that this was good Uganda training or that women did this sort of thing all the time before air conditioning, but still I continued to melt and wilt. For most of us, our lives are ones of ease and comfort, but is that really a blessing? I find that when we are too comfortable, it is difficult to identify with those who are not. We must be continually on guard, lest we forget the plight of others.

Dress Standards for Teen Girls

 


Dress Standards for Teen Girls
By Mrs. Stanley Sherman
Jun 24, 2003, 23:51

Girls, do you dress in a special way for worship? Could anyone tell that you have your mind on holy things by the way you are dressed? In church, is your appearance the same as on the other days of the week, or do you look like you are doing something special? Is your body properly covered, or are you drawing attention to yourself in a negative way? Did you know that it is rude to dress in immodest clothing when attending church? Immodesty means that you are not covering your flesh, or that you are wearing your clothes in such a way as to draw attention to your figure.
Immodesty is a mindset. Girls would rather be in style and in step with the world than look "different" or "out of style." They have been so influenced by the popular clothing that they will suffer freezing weather in winter, then sunburn and insect bites in summer in order to follow the fashion. Style has become a religion to them. They follow it as though it were a jealous god who will throw them out of his kingdom if they dare wear anything modest and beautiful. "How is your daughter these days?" I asked an acquaintance. "Well, she's doing all right, I suppose," replied her mother. "But her clothes aren't worth mentioning." The daughter had gotten so caught up in fitting in with the fads in fashion that she was wearing "very little."...

Please follow the link below the blog title for a helpful article on setting a dress standard for teen girls.

The Immodesties of an Immodest-tease

 


Most pop stars today believe that sex sells. Well, that's true, but what it sells is you. Jessica Simpson has sold out to the world a little bit at a time. This morning at a checkout line, I was visually assaulted by two separate magazine covers featuring Jessica Simpson scantily clad. Jessica has become immodest not only in her appearance, but in her actions as well. Her own website even goes so far as to call one of her songs, Sweetest Sin, unabashedly carnal. She also thinks it's funny when she moons truckers as they drive by her bus. Society seems to love this, because they feel better about themselves knowing that she is just like them, in spite of her claims of faith in God. Satan would love to have the lines blurred between the wheat and the tares. We need to examine our hearts and search out the Scriptures to make sure we are living the life of a set apart royal priesthood. God calls us to walk worthy of our calling. Let's strive to do that and encourage one another to do so.

Modesty to Teens

Kindred Motes - Teen Columnist 


What does modesty mean to teens?

At the first Miss America pageant in the 1920s, New Jersey police told contestants that if they didn't change into more "modest" clothing, they would arrest them for indecent exposure. What were they wearing? One-piece bathing suits that came down to the thigh. At that time, it was customary for people to dress modestly. This isn't so today with ever-increasing dress codes at schools, and teens showing more and more skin.

If I meet someone for the first time and he or she is wearing something indecent, my first impression of that person is lower than it would've been otherwise. I'm not saying that to degrade people, but skimpy clothing trends have gotten out of hand. This wave of indecency affects teens. Teens who see a favorite actor, sports star or singing sensation wearing vulgar clothes want to dress that way, too.

Girls aren't the only ones dressing immodestly. Boys sometimes wear clothes that are too long, too baggy and too low on the hips. Many guys refuse to wear pants that don't cover their shoes.

It's not that I disrespect teens who wear these kind of clothes; I just don't think it's right to overexpose yourself. When fashion models and celebrities endorse skimpy clothing, teens who dress modestly start thinking they need to show more skin, too.
Kindred Motes is a Brewer High School freshman.