sewwhat?

Helllloooooo out there!

2011-11-17T04:28:00.000-08:00

Oh that darn Facebook! Stole my time and communicating time away from blogging! I refuse to tweet, can't say it all in 140 characters. But blogging must start again.

Since this blog is about sewing, I am sewing. After sewing orphans and bums and billionaire's servants costumes for Annie last summer, I took some time off from costuming. I did rerun my nun's costumes with new veils for a very successful run of Nunsense. Now I'm making quilts. I made my first Queen size quilt, a Halloween lightning pattern quilt. It was such a success, Ii followed that with a Thanksgiving one. Then Christmas, plus I'm making some more of those cute pillowcases like I made last year. I have more quilts cut, need to sew them. But, I will be costuming Christmas Carol again. Hopefully, our costume collection will fullfil most of our needs for that. Then Christmas, and all that entails.

Glad to be back, if anyone has waited this long to read this. Hi, hope to see you again soon.

Hi Fellow Bloggers

2011-05-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've posted. Life has been crazy. I finished costuming Doubt, then went into a costume project where I made 24+ vests for a ladies' barbershop chorus for their event in April. Finished in time to rest for a week or so, but I still need to make a couple more and two costumes for other things.

One of the big events in my life is coming up on June 5. The play I costumed last summer, "The Producers" got 13 nominations from our local Arts For Life Best Performance Awards for 2010. I was nominated for best Costumer. I'm up against 2 Beauty and the Beast productions, The Drowsy Chaperone, and one other. There is a reader's poll going on, and in that poll, I am ahead. Wonder if it really will be happening, that I would actually be named best costumer for 2010? I know this show was the biggest thing I'll probably ever do in my life, so if I do win, it will be a lifetime achievement award for me. I'm trying to lose 20 pounds by then so a fancy frock will look a little better on this body.

In our city, during April, we suffered many storms. I am scheduled to work on costuming Annie this summer. Our production team had a lot of plans made, and it is a good thing, because during the worst storm in our area, our esteemed director's house went to Oz in a tornado, and he has all of those issues with replacing it to deal with. I just hope he can still direct the show, because he is a very good person to work with. Things aren't going so well for him right now.

I'm finishing up on some small costuming projects, plus trying to get finished with the grading for the last of the semester. Then I head out for Florida next Sunday, first and last trip in a while!

So, I hope to get back to blogging soon. Hope everyone is OK.

Doubt, the second time around

2011-02-16T17:09:00.000-08:00

This is the second time I've costumed "Doubt: A Parable". This one is at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, Feb. 18-26, 2011.
Sister James--can you believe I costumed this young lady in 2007 in "The Music Man", now she is all grown up and is in college!
Mrs. Muller and Donald Muller. Mrs. Muller turned into a sophisticated "Jackie O" look alike when she put on this costume! Quite a change from her carefree casual college look! Donald gets to look good, but doesn't get to say anything!

Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley is quite a dramatic story set in the early 60's. Sister Aloysius, a crusty old nun with old fashioned ways and ideas, is afraid that the only black child in her school is being groomed by the parish priest for future "relationships". Her naive, inexperienced fellow educator, Sister James, has quite a difficult time with the possibilities that might be revealed. The show was done as a movie in 2008, with Meryl Streep playing Sr. Aloysius, Amy Adams as Sister James, and Philip Seymour Hoffman playing Fr. Flynn.

So far, I think this is the third time in 2 years that this show has been done here in St. Louis. I originally costumed Clayton Community Theatre's production of it in 2009. When I found out my college was doing it, I offered my costumes to them, and they were very happy to get them!

I know I've written about these costumes in the past, and the challenge was making the bonnets that this order of sisters wore at that time. They were not soft veils, but bonnets, somewhat like sun bonnets, but stiff. I remember trying to figure out how to make them, and the first attempt took days to do. Once I did one, the second one and third one took 20 minutes each! Thank heaven I saved them, because now they are being used again!

The director of this show added several characters to the play, mainly, the character of Donald Muller. He also added several other boys as altar boys, and they make a nice addition to the Mass scenes. Marie McCool, the theatre manager, who is really in charge of every technical element in the shows at this theatre, including costumes, made the server's surplices, with some beautiful lace decorating them. She also helped with Mrs. Muller's suit blouse, while I made the jacket and skirt.

The show starts this weekend, I can hardly wait to see the finished product. They did a fabulous set, with some beautiful stained glass set pieces, which turned out very nice. Hope I get access to some good pictures to share with you later!

First of "Reckless" pics

2011-02-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

This part of the show Reckless was the most fun to create, one member of this scene is backstage at the time. It's fun to costume with absolute utter abandon, and wih a creative director saying, "Genius, go for it!"

Two of the reviewers commented thusly on this:
From Steve Callahan, KDHX "Costumes by Jean Heckmann are a delight, especially the glitzy, cheesy suit of the game show host and the mad gear worn by the contestants!"

From the Ladue News: "Jean Heckmann's costumes were most notewowrthy in the garish and gaudy game showe scene, with host Mark Abels alone worth the price of admission for his tawdry tie and painfully mismatched wardrobe."

I've gotten liminted response from reviewers for some of the bigger shows I've costumed, some commenting only on shoes, and in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dream coat, no mention of the coat that took days to create! But that reviewer did like the Elvis Pharoah's blue suede shoes! For Oklahome, the only mention of the costumes was that the pig farmer's boots were too clean. Now, I try to pay closer attention to footwear these days, since the wrong footwear seems to draw attention away from everything else.

I'm pleased with the results of this show, I thought it turned out well as far as costuming. We made lots of trips to the local thrift store, and the outlet store for certain items, but things such as a purple and red lame suit coat can only be built, this one was fun to make and certainly made the proper impression for the character.

Hooray for this one!

BTW.....

2011-02-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

By the way.....

It's the season for award shows. We just saw the Golden Globes, and will see the Oscars in a couple of weeks. There were the SAG awards, or something like that on TV last weekend.

Well, in St. Louis community theatre world, it is the Arts for Life Awards. These awards are given to the best musical show in St. Louis done by a non-profit, non-professional community theatre group for the year. There are classifications for adult shows and for youth shows. They give the usual awards, best actor/actress, best supporting actor/actress, best cameo actor/actress, best comedic actor/actress, best actor/actress in a non-singing role. Then there is the best show award, and the production awards for best director, set design, musical directions, sound, lights,choreography and costumes.

If you have a goal in life to work for, it always is sweet if you actually make that goal. One of my goals in life was to be nominated by Arts for Life for the best costume design for one of the shows I costumed . For 2010, I did receive the nomination for best costume design for "The Producers". Actually, this show nabbed 13 nominations, which is the second best of all the shows who received nominations. Many have commented on how well our show was done, the elements that were great, so we have high hopes to take home some "hardware" on June 5, which is the date of the awards banquet. But there is high competition, so nothing is for certain!

The week before, our Hawthorne Players theatre group had their own awards banquet. These same categories are judged by the members, choosing the best of all of the shows that the group does during the year. Each production category is given an award, BUT THERE IS NO CATEGORY FOR COSTUMING. I'm not sure why not, but it has been a puzzlement to me why not. Costumers really do spend a lot of time working on shows, so why aren't they considered important enough to be recognized?

Again, many of the players and production team from "The Producers" won for being the best of the three within our own group. The director always gets a discretionary award to give to someone who was on the team who didn't receive an award, or who especially contributed to the show. Well, the Producers director gave that award to me!

So, I'm getting my "strokes" lately for my costuming work, and it feels mighty fine. I'm planning my gown for the red carpet walk for June 5, and will have my acceptance speech ready, just in case. I'll savor these moments, they really are kind of cool!

Snowmagedon

2011-02-01T16:13:00.001-08:00

Here Birdie, Birdie!
The snowbirds make their appearance!
I wasn't sure what this was, but he was eating thistle seeds, of course, he is a gold finch in his winter colors! Beautiful!

The weatherman/women have been yapping about it for days, the biggest snowstorm of the the season was headed our way. Store shelves were emptied of bread, milk, and meat, kids were praying for snow days, and radar images scared us all.

The local NBC station yapped on all day long about the storm, yes, it is coming, yes, it will be here soon, yes, see the poor reporter standing out in the cold for 8 hours straight, waiting, waiting.....

The kids got their snow day, the reporters finally had something to measure, but the snow really didn't make its impact on our area. Now, 50 miles west of St. Louis, they closed down the entire interstate 70 all across Missouri. I got my snow day, and spent it absolutely doing nothing of importance!

But, one of my FB friends is making a habit of photographing birds in his backyard, and he is really good at it. It inspired me to photograph birds also, but there were none around for me to photograph. So I got some bird feeders, and put them out today.

Within 10 minutes, the first snowbird (slate colored junco)found the offering, and before long, he had communicated to his fellow snowbirds the bounty he found. I had lots of subjects to photograph.

I also bought a finch feeder. I know I've seen house finches in the neighborhood (the ones with the rosy heads). At times, I've seen goldfinches, but not often. I looked out and there on the finch feeder was a goldfinch. At first, I couldn't figure out what kind of bird it was, but the black and white wings were a tip off--it was a gold finch in its drab brown winter coat! Later the house finch showed up, but wouldn't cooperate to get into my viewfinder before he flew off.

So, I'm happy with the day's work. I got my pictures downloaded, which sounds easy, but I had used equipment in the past that is no longer in use to download, so I had to reinvent that whole process. I'm definitely interested in continuing this process, and hope to see many more feathered friends enjoying the bird feeders.

More Saga of Priests and Nuns

2011-02-01T15:59:00.000-08:00

In November, my church put on a play based on the life of our patron saint, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne. It was a great play, and I helped with making the costumes for the priests and nuns, plus I borrowed from my theatre group many costumes for the cast who were playing other parts.

I had several priests and nuns costumes that I had made in 2009 for the play Doubt. My college, Florissant Valley Community College is putting on Doubt this month. I offered my costumes to them to use, thinking the play in November would not interfere with a play in February.

WRONG!

The church play got noticed by EWTN, which is the Catholic cable network that broadcasts many different Catholic programs. EWTN thought filming this show would be a great addition to their programming, so they arranged to film the play. However, they didn't get it organized while the play was being run, so they planned to do it in early December. That day came and went and no film crew. Then it was supposed to be Dec. 19, but still no film crew. The director finally came to the conclusion in January that this was not going to happen, so I took my costumes for the college to begin to use them, since their play was cast and in rehearsal. They were getting nervous that maybe they WOULDN'T have costumes, beccause I had to keep stalling in bringing them in.

I took the costumes on a Wedneday, and on a Thursday, the director got the news that the EWTN people would come on Sunday, Jan. 30 to film the show. So, the costumes had to be brought back to the church, reorganized for the day of filming.

I was glad I wasn't part of the cast, because their filming took from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. It was exhausting for them all. I came back to get my costumes after the filming that night.

So, now the costumes are at the cleaners, hopefully to be delivered back to Flo Valley on Thursday (however, the snowstorm "of the century" is going on right now, so I'm not sure if I can keep that deadline. But, at least, Flo Valley will get their priests and nuns costumes soon, and the St. Rose Philippine Duchesne film is on its way to be edited and shown on TV.

It was a crazy situation, and I was in the middle of it, but I think it will work out, at least I hope so.

Well, Hello again!

2011-02-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas gifts at my house was centered around these!

I filled each of these pillowcases with Christmas gifts for the grandkids, baby great-granddaughter is too little for a regular pillow, she got a cute little duckie fleece pillow!
My daughter-in-law calls our gift giving frenzy "shock and awe", that's what it ended up being, the kids helped me put out the adults' gift and the adults put out the kids gifts, and it was truly shock and awe, with the whole tree loaded up with pillows!

Here it is, Feb. 1, 2011, and this is my first post of the new year. I've taken a lot of time off from blogging, mainly because I've been busy with lots of things. Let me count them off.

Right after I finished costuming those many events in October and November, (Halloween for family, helping with costuming "The Children's Hour" and "The Heart of Oak" play for my church), it was holiday time. Luckily, my daughter, Monkey Girl offered to host Thanksgiving so that took the pressure off to get the dining room table cleaned off of costume and fabric items! Then it was the end of the semester, with lots of essay reading, grading, an icky snow day on our last class day, and finally on Dec. 19, the semester was done. How many days did that leave to get ready for Christmas? Not very many.

A colleague of mine bought a new sewing machine, and she had to sign up for a class to learn the basics of using the machine in order to get a discount off the machine. She learned how to make the cutest pillow case. Now, how hard can a pillowcase be? Well, this one has french seams, a seperate border and rick-rack trim if you want to add that. To me, when she showed it to me, it didn't look like a beginner's project. But her pillowcases turned out so cute, I wanted to make them. I took advantage of the pre-Christmas sales on Christmas fabric, and started out making them for the grandkids to put their Christmas gifts in. Then I got an idea. I was going to give my kids either gift cards or money, how boring is that? So I made each one of them monogrammed pillowcases with a little pocket in each one to hold the cash. They were sort of non-thrilled with their Christmas gifts until someone discovered the pocket and what was in it. Then they got a little more interested!

Before Christmas, I had committed to work on costumes for a play that my friend Dr. J was directing, slated to start on Jan. 28. Prior to Christmas, we got going on collecting materials, designing costumes and adding ideas, but I had to put it all up for Christmas, since it was stacked on my dining room table. Then getting back into the groove after Christmas was a challenge for me. But, for the past 3-1/2 weeks, I've been pecking away at my costume building.

Here's what it involved: pink nighgown, Pooty-Bear PJs with bear fleece, Rudolf the red nosed reindeer and Santa Suit, complete with beard, boots and fur all around, Venus outfit--the most beautiful dress I've ever made. Made from white fabric with silver sequin fabric trim down the front and on the 1 yard long arm drapes, trimmed with malibou looking knitted strips (Dr.J's specialty!) Venus also wore a long white curly wig and a Venus planet on her head. Mother earth wore a brown, green, blue, stone encrusted dress with an earthly planet on her head, over a little old lady wig, and the "sun", he wore yellow beach bum clothes with the cutest Sun on his head. His wig was crazy, black and red flame tendrils, so fitting for the hot sun! These characters were part of a "Let's Make a Deal" type game show, hosted by Tim Tinko, wearing a purple and red lame jacket, yellow shirt, cue ball tie, purple plaid pants, and bright purple belt, yellow socks and red Converse shoes--bright enough, don't you think? Other characters were the Queen of Hearts, The White Rabbit and Alice in Wonderland, who were denied the opportunity to play the game show. "Cupid" was the helper in this show, she wore a cute pink crushed velvet leotard, darling netting tutu skirt, pink tights and leg warmers, and wings trimmed with hot pink maribou. She was a scene stealer every time she came on stage!

Dr. J and I had a "discussion" about the planets for this scene. I envisioned them as flat circles worn on headbands over their crazy wigs. Dr. J wanted them to be balls. Since I had the flat circles made, glue, painted and ready to go, I was a somewhat disgruntled costumer upon getting this news. So, in a snow storm, I went to the craft store, charged $65 for materials, and Dr. J had her round ball planets. I must say, they did turn out very cute, but they were very time consuming to make, and they were finished about 2 days before the play started!

Monkey Girl came to my rescue with her fabulous Criket machine. One of the characters wears a University of Alaska sweatshirt. Now, cutting out all of those letters would have tried my patience for sure, but the Criket machine made short work of the job, and it turned out very well. Thank you darling daughter, you always come to my rescus in these crazy costuming gigs.

I think that was all I built, but I had to find men's pjs, two doctor's lab coats, various shoes and dresses (had tons of help from Dr. J, who discovered the glory of shopping at the local thrift store! She found most of the purchased stuff.) The show is called "Reckless", it has only 9 actors and actresses, but each person plays many many roles. It opened last weekend, and we had great audiences, one more weekend and that one is put to bed. Dr. J will be so sorry to have it be finished, she put her heart and soul into this and it was truly fabulous!

Pictures of Reckless will follow some time soon, we had a professional photographer take these, and he promised me a CD of his pictures, but I don't have it yet. Will post when I get them. In the mean time, you can see some of it on www.placeseveryone.org the website for Clayton Community Theatre.

In the meantime--the priests and nuns show tried my patience big time! More on that in the next post!

One more costume

2010-11-20T07:09:00.000-08:00

I made 7 of these in one afternoon, QUITE UNDER PRESSURE TO FINSIH THEM!

Here's one more costume that I made, 8 of these for the school girls in "The Children's Hour" for Clayton Community Theatre. I also made some logo patches, and the current costumer made burgundy vests, she sewed the logo patches on to the vests. They looked very much like school uniforms.

Update on "The New Rug"

2010-11-20T04:26:00.000-08:00

I posted on Oct. 17 that I got a new rug, a new front lawn. I want to update that the rug is growing, is green and beautiful and lush, after many many gallons of water poured on it. It has been mowed once, and hopefully will make it through the winter. And here's hoping that it will look good next summer.

Where have you been?

2010-11-20T03:27:00.001-08:00

Sorry, I've been busy!
Vintage patterns for 40s play, "The Children's Hour" opening Nov. 12.
Alice in Wonderland characters, two MadHatters and the Queen of Hearts
Ariel, the mermaid, complete with outrageous red hair!
Wolverine The dog chewed his belt apart, I had to make a new one for Halloween!

Where have I been? Here at my house, working on various costumes for the last month.

Several years ago, my local theatre group did the play "Oklahoma". In that show, Ado Annie sings a song, "I'm just a girl who can't say no". I'm so surprised that this has become a mantra of my life, especially when given the opportunity to make costumes. So, I had failed to say "no" to many opportunities to make "just one or two" costumes, but all of a sudden, the jobs piled up one on top of each other.

First a bride-to-be had asked me IN AUGUST to sew a jacket for her to wear over her wedding dress. She showed me a prototype jacket she saw on the internet, which would have cost her $275 to purchase from this vendor. No way, Jose! We worked together back in August to make a muslin to fit it on her, and she told me she was going to find the fabric for it and get it to me.

September passed, and I thought the jacket idea was dead, because I got no fabric from her. But, lo and behold, 1 week prior to her wedding, which was Oct. 16, she pops up with the fabric. Yikes, by this time, I had not said no to 3 other costuming jobs, all due within the next two weeks! One was to make Halloween costumes for my family, next was to sew for a church show for my parish, and the other was to make 2 dresses for my good friend Dr. J for a show she was to be in. Both of these shows opened Nov. 11, so they closely followed Halloween in their deadlines.

Youngest daughter decided to throw an adult/kid Halloween party, and invited all to dress up. I have made my grandchildren costumes many years in the past of their young lives, so this year we decided on Wolverine (superpower guy with claws) for the boy, and Ariel for the girl. The daughter wanted to be a Ghostbuster, and I decided to be the Queen of Hearts. There were various deadlines for each of these, but I got them all done. It was noon on the day of the party, but they were all done.

Then the darling oldest daughter, MonkeyGirl, a self-proclaimed world class procrastinator, came to my house with hubby in tow at 1 p.m. that day, wanting to browse my costume collection for something to wear that night. We rustled through things, threw together two simple costume pieces, they modified our selections at home, and when they showed up at the party, they were magnificiently dressed as twin Mad Hatters. Mr. MonkeyGirl was a stunning rendition of Johnny Depp's character from Alice in Wonderland. I couldn't take my eyes off of them, they were so cute!

The church show had been in the works for almost a year. It was called "Heart of Oak", which was the translation for the French word Duchesne, This was a biographical portrayal of the life of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, who is our church's patron, namesake, and once, long ago, a person who actually walked the soil of our city of Florissant, MO. It was originally scheduled to be put on stage in June 2010, as a part of our parish's 5th anniversary celebration. It would have closely followed the yearly parish variety show, which is done in late April. Since the producers, directors and writers of the variety show were too busy to work on two shows that overlapped, the Heart of Oak project got put on hold. They rescheculed it for the anniversary of Rose Philippine's feast day, which is November 18.

I was very glad to have the show rescheduled, because I wanted to work on it. But, had it been in June, I wouldn't have been able to work on it, because I was knee deep in working on "The Producers", and believe me, I couldn't fit in one more thing during that time! So, we had a production meeting for the rescheduled show in early October to discuss costuming the Heart of Oak show, and I came away from it with the commitment to making the nuns and priests costumes.

I had 2 nuns costumes from my costuming job last year, and 2 priests cassocks. My commitment at this time was to provide 5 nuns costumes and 3 priests cassocks. Sounded very doable. Funny thing though, the play wasn't completely written or staged at the time of our meeting, and somehow that number grew and grew! By 2 weeks prior to the show, it had grown to 9 nuns and 5 priests! Now, I was in serious trouble!

This costuming gig was shared by several seamstresses, and several ladies on the team came to my rescue. One lady came over to my house the week before the show and we knocked out 3 nun's costumes in a night. Then she came back several more times, and took stuff home, like sewing 20 buttons on the priest cassock, something I absolutely hate to do! We agreed to bring the costumes up to the church hall the Sunday before the show.

One by one, the 9 nuns came back to try on their outfits, and we adjusted hems and sewed snaps on their belts. After all the costumes had been doled out, a young lady came back and said, "Where is my costume?" She was playing young Rose Philippine Duchesne as a professed sister! There were no more costumes left for her! My worst nightmare was coming true, MORE NUNS COSTUMES NEEDED! Then a couple more came back, and we had to dig into the cheap costume shop black dresses! I'm not exactly sure how many we actually ended up costuming, because they shared and improvised, but I think there were at least 13 nuns in this show. At least the priests ended up with only needing 4 costumes, so we managed to put that together with making one cassock for the bishop, and improvising and sharing for the rest.

The Sacred Heart nuns, of which Rose Philippine Duchesne was a part of, had a unique white ruffle around their face as part of their veils. I made two prototypes, each of which took about an hour to pleat. They didn't exactly look right. So, some very creative person suggested the ruffle that is found in cake dec stores, attached to the cardboard bases that are used under tiers of a wedding cake. They are pleated ribbon, exactly like what we needed. They came off the cardboard very easily, and were perfect in the way they looked. So that dilema was solved easily, I made the 9 veils in a very short time, and they looked fabulous on stage.

We got that job done on Nov. 9, and the show started Nov. 11--whew! It was a challenge, but it turned out OK.

IN THE MEANTIME, my friend Dr. J needed 2 dresses for her play, which opened Nov. 12. I finished her two dresses, from vintage patterns ( see picture above, play set in the 40s) for her before Halloween. Her original deadline was Nov. 1 to accomodate the director's decision to have a costume parade that night. I met the deadline. Dr.J tried on the two dresses, one fit perfectly, but the other one was tight. I had enlarged it from its original pattern configuration, but not quite enough. She felt strangled in it, but thought it would work. In the meantime, the theatre group had contacted two different costumers to do the rest of the show, and one by one, they dropped out. The costume parade didn't happen on Nov. 1, because they had no costumes! (Dr. J had hers, but nobody else did.) They found another person to costume the show, but then she had only one week to pull things together. They borrowed heavily from the Hawthorne Players costume stash, and worked it out. But, they needed school uniforms for 8 girls in this show. I felt so sorry for them, I said I'd put together some uniform skirts for them, and I got them squeezed in the weekend prior to the show. In the meantime, Dr. J told me she just couldn't wear the one tight dress, so we needed to start over on that.

On Nov.9, I finsihed Dr.J's third dress, I delivered it and the 8 skirts to her at 5 p.m., and then all my costuming was finished. All that was left to be done was to attend the shows and enjoy the look of my work. And say, Thank God it's over! And make a vow to say "no" the next time I'm asked to make things with deadlines all during the same week! I'm sure I'll forget that promise, but I need to be more careful about it in the future.

The New Rug

2010-10-17T10:24:00.001-07:00

Here's my new rug, and a story to go with it.

What do you do when you feed and water your front lawn for years, and it ends up looking like this? Well, you hire the Bobcat to take it away and start over!

Bobcat had just begun to work digging up the old weedy, dead grass that comprised my front lawn. Every year it looks worse and worse, feeding and watering just did nothing this summer. Of course, it was extremely hot and dry this summer, so many lawns began to look very sick by August. I hired someone to rake it, aerate it and over seed it. He just looked at it and shook his head.

This gentleman had worked on my neighbor's lawn earlier in the summer, and had replaced a bad patch of lawn, and that looks quite nice now. So, I got an estimate for doing my entire front lawn like that, and the price was right. He began the next day digging up the old weeds, dead grass and invasive grasses, to start the project.
After digging all day, and hand shoveling many parts, they had the entire yard cleared out. Then they started to lay the new sod.
They had worked til 8 p.m. the night before and got this much done. What an improvement!
One more day, and it looked like this! Hooray, finally my lawn isn't the shabbiest on the block. In fact, it might just be one of the best looking lawns right now. Lots of watering is needed to get it going, but I'm committed to having a big water bill to protect my investment. Here's hoping for a much better lawn year next year and for years to come!

Hello Blog Readers

2010-10-17T06:02:00.001-07:00

September Birthday Presents, from me to me!
Beautiful and big, Janome Horizon works like a dream!
This is the previous model, I kept it because I have a specific purpose in mind for it!
Since the Janome Horizon does everything but cook, I had to get this to supplement that part of the daily activities!
I like red, and many of my birthday presents are red, to match my covertible!

If there are any blog readers left reading this, I am still alive. Don't know why the blog writing stopped during September, but it did.

September is always my favorite month. It's the month of my birthday, and I have many friends who share this birthday month with me. It is also an anniversary month for 2 of my children, and my BFF. This one was a month of birthday surprises, some from my family, and some were treats from me to me. It was also a month in which I really wasn't feeling that well. But things are OK now.

At the end of August, I was invited to attend a working sesson at my store where I had bought many of my wonderful sewing machines. This session was a glorified sales pitch, where we were invited to make a beautiful appliqued pillow, using the newest machine on the block, a beautiful, gleaming red and white Janome Horizon. This newest model is an upgraded model from my favorite sewing machine, the Janome 6600. Both of these machines cater to the quilter, as they have a very wide opening from needle to mechanics, letting the quilter stuff huge pieces of fabric in that opening to do the machine quilting. Most machines have about a 6" opening, but the 6600 has a 9" opening, and the Horizon has an 11" opening. Of course, this makes the machine very big. So I fell for it, and bought the Horizon, which came with its own table and accessories! Birthday gift #1.

My son, wife and 3 grandkids came to visit over Labor Day. I was the designated hostess for them and a family get together for my birthday. I dusted off the old Weber gas grill as I was readying myself for the weekend's festivities, and found that it would not light. So I went to the store to get a different gas bottle, and tried again, still no go!

I do love to grill, and must admit to passing by the new grill aisle at my local store, caressing the stainless steel, opening and closing the lids, and wishing that I could replace my old grill, which is 12 years old this year. I've replaced parts, and have gotten the old one going many times in the past, but realized that I'd have to replace the whole thing sooner or later. It looked like that time had come!

I thought maybe the new grill would fit in my RAV4 so I could bring it home myself. The guys at the store scoffed at that idea, telling me I needed a pick-up truck to transport it. The only pick-up truck in my family was out on a Labor Day outing, so that wasn't going to work. So the guys at the store said they would deliver it, ON TUESDAY! That would not help my dinner to cook that evening, so they arranged, rearraged with the guys at the store who were available, and managed to find someone who could deliver it for me that day for $20! It was a deal I couldn't pass up! So, we grilled that night, and it was fabulous. Birthday present #2.

The party was fun, but exhausting. On my birthday, I came down with a terrible upper respiratory infection that laid me low for weeks. The only thing I wanted to do was sleep or sit. I did drag myself to work, but came home right after my classes to sleep. I managed to fall into the chair while out of bed, and use my computer to keep in touch with my buds. Well, the virus transferred to the computer, because it got a nasty virus too! Guess I wasn't up to date on my virus protection--which the computer was trying to tell me, but I was sure it was wrong! So it went belly up, I couldn't get anything to run. So I bit the bullet and bought a new laptop computer. Nothing fancy, just another Dell Inspiron, which I've had 3 of so far. So I guess this was Birthday present #3.

Got a visit from my sis and her husband at the end of the month, which was enjoyable, but they only stayed with me 1-1/2 days out of their 5 days that they were here. They came for the husband's neice's wedding reception (the neice got married in Jamaica over Labor Day). That was fun!

So the month was full of family visits, new purchases, and some nasty viruses. Somehow, I'm glad it's over! Sounds like an expensive month so far, right? Yes, it was. October is a fun month full of tax bills, insurance bills, so that is what I face now.

All I can say is, Happy Birthday Jean, you had a great 67th birthday, didn't you!

Some more Producers pictures

2010-08-16T04:17:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pictures from "The Producers". These were taken by my daughter, see more at www.chirpingmonkeys.blogspot.com The Production Team, Roger DeBris (Alan Agualar), choreographer (Tim Grummich), Carmen Ghia (Ryan Cooper) Costumer (Jim Merlo), set designer (Barry Luedloff.)
Franz Liebkind and his Birds (Robert Doyle) These birds scared my friend who is afraid of birds when I showed her the cage backstage, they were very real, and could actually salute to the furor on cue!
Max (Kent Coffel) and one of his favorite backers, HOLD ME TOUCH ME (Rosemary Wall)
Beautiful Girls wearing nothing but Pearls with Leo (Dominic Windsor)
Roger DeBris (Alan Agualar) wearing his Chrysler Building dress

What's the buzz? Tell me what's happenin'!

2010-08-16T03:20:00.000-07:00

More comments about "The Producers", presented by the Hawthorne Players, July 30-Aug. 8,2010.

The big production that I spent the majority of my summer hours working on is over. I still have some costumes to clean and put away, but the majority of it is stored in our costume warehouse.

The latest buzz was the third of a series of wonderful reviews by local theatre critics. We have a local arts radio station that reviews all manner of theatre events, from the highly polished shows that come to the Fox Theatre, to local community theatre events. They reviewed our show in several different versions through their radio and internet programming.

The first review was sent to us through FaceBook, so I can't exactly find where or when it was posted. The various aspects of our production were highlighted, including costumes, regarded by this reviewer as OFTEN GLITZY. If only he knew how many yards of sequins I used to create that glitz! I should count that up some day!

One aspect that was really brought out was the set design. This was truly a professional level design, with the movement off and on the stage planned to the last nano-second! There were lots of flying set pieces and movement in and out of large wagons. One wagon was a huge file case, and it had doors through which came 6 dancing girls! That one was always interesting as it had to go in quickly, disappear for a dance number and then reappear! Genius!

When I first saw the sets that our designer Ken had created, I panicked--would those costumes I made show as professional of a level as the sets? After all, my first 8 shows that I costumed were for elementary school kids, and at times I felt like these costumes hadn't progressed much beyond that level. I was in a great deal of self-doubt until the entire thing was put together on stage during tech week. The costumes did show up OK, and I got plenty of compliments on them, but the sets were still the outstanding feature of this show. However, the sheer number of costumes was something that impressed many people, there were hundreds of them, all with multiple pieces to bring them together for complete ensembles. That was the biggest challenge for me!

The second review came in during the week off between shows, and it was glowing. You can see this by going to www.kdhx.com and checking current reviews, Hawthorne Players "The Producers". More compliments for the entire show. One recurring theme from local professional critics as well as "man on the street" kibitzers has been "Could a community theatre group actually do justice to this show?" It requires a great deal of technical support, which translates into dollars put into it. The reviewer said, "Yes, Yes, Yes!" as an answer to that question. This was a gamble for our theatre group, because they knew they would have to put big money into producing this show, and if there wasn't sufficient ticket sales, it could be a disaster. We had modest ticket sales the first weekend, and it got better and better as the shows progressed, to close to a sell out on the last Sunday show. (In a theatre that holds almost 600). But, I don't know if we broke even, even with that number of tickets sold.

The third excellent review came on Aug. 10, when "Two On The Aisle" was aired. This is a local internet based video show, done twice a month, in which 8-10 of the best local shows are critiqued and videos of portions of the shows are shown. These reviewers were extremely complementary, mentioning the costumes more than once.

The actors, Kent Coffel, who played Max, Dominic Windsor who played Leo, were always characterized as appropriately playing their parts to give the characters some real depth. This is a show in which stereotypes are played to the hilt, and our leads really did that with a great deal of personal interpretation, which made it just hilarious. Ryan Cooper is always outstanding, and his Carmen Ghia interpretation made every one howl with laughter, even down to the flick of his little finger! You had to see it to get the full impact of that comment, words just wouldn't do it justice! Alan Aguilar, who played Roger DeBris, was over the top, especially when he first appeared in his "Chrysler Building" dress. I was given credit for creating this, but I only created the canvas, my assistant costumer, Emily Stroble, created the details, and it is truly a work of art! Great job, Emily!

Set design, costume design, lighting design were always mentioned. Our poor sound designer got left out of the critiques. I guess you take sound for granted, unless you can't hear. That wasn't the case for this show, except when some cantankerous wireless mics decided to wield their quirky heads and not work properly.

Another consistent aspect of the positive reviews was for the orchestra. It was just great! The local junior high band teacher led this group, and there were many music educators and well-known local artists in that orchestra. It was just a pleasure to listen to them, lots of interaction between the orchestra leader and singers! He kept it moving along quickly, and provided hilarious musical interludes between scenes. Very good work!

If we can withstand the financial aspects of this, we do have the satisfaction of knowing that we produced an excellent, entertaining show, destined in the opinion of many of being award winning. I guess that made it all worth while, giving up that big piece of time and money to produce it. After all, as Max repeats over and over again in the show, "We Can DO IT!" That was a mantra I had to play over and over in my head to get to the finish line, and we did prove to all, WE DID IT!

German Icons on display

2010-08-02T03:45:00.001-07:00

What better way to display those crazy German icons than to attach them to a beautiful girl? Here are how the headdresses looked on our showgirls.

Cutie J displays the German sausage, or "wurst" if you are truly speaking in German terms. I gave her the job of creating the sausage links, she had a ball doing that during one rehearsal. Making the head sausage was not quite so much fun!
Cutie S got to wear the pretzel icon. Our talented set designer made the pretzels for me using spray insulation foam to form the shape, then he carved them into good pretzel shapes and faux painted them. Yum, Yum!
Cutie R is the Valkarie. Perfect type casting, because she is heading off to college in a few weeks, majoring in music. She has a gorgeous voice, fitting for a Wagnerian character! We added the swastika Thursday, she needed some more "stuff" hanging off her cute body!

Cutie G gets the "piece de resistance", the beerstein! What could describe Germany more clearly than a big stein of beer,frothing over with foam? This one was fun to make, and was the first design that worked out well in the implementation. Whew! It proved to be top heavy, which made taking a bow at the end of the show somehwat of a challenge to keep it balanced on her head. Especially since she has a quick change right before the curtain call, and we had about 1 minute to secure it to her head.

These showgirls got big applause every time they walked on stage, and they were fun to create. I had wonderful "raw materials" to dress up, and they certainly were good sports about donning the entire costume.

Our set desiger also designed and built the hip tables for the pretzel and beer steins. He also carved and painted the beer steins. What a master of stage decorations and costuming he is! A master with styrofoam and his trusty carving knife! Thanks, K!

Germanic Icons

2010-08-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Beer and pretzels, brats and Wagner--all are icons that might pop into your head when you think of Germany. I know if I went there, I'd definitely want some beer, although I hear they serve it warm. And sausages and various types of "wursts" would also be lingering on my taste buds.

Mel Brooks, ever the non-subtle writer, takes this to the hilt in his show "The Producers"

Here are some of the images of Germany, shown as headgear worn by show girls as they enter to the singing of "Springtime for Hitler" during the show within the show.

German Opera certainly is focused on Wagner, with his Valkarie woman singing her ridiculously high note! Here is our Valkarie headgear, certainly the easiest one to create, as I found the basic hat at Party City in the clearance bin. Thanks to my friend NC who decorated it to bring it to showgirl status.
This one was the most fun to create! Used a 1 gallon pitcher for the basic shape, covered with silver and gold poster board. Found the hair at www.costumemaniacs.com. The concept came from a picture of another version of this show, with the curly hair pouring out of the stein to give the illusion of foam, falling down on the girl's head. This got a lot of attention as she walks out, actually applause on opening night! Quite a bit to balance on a head!
Pretzels, we love to eat them! How about balancing them on your head? Made from spray insulating foam sprayed out on paper, then cut and shaped and painted to look like a pretzel. This cute wig is actually very small (costume wigs are not notably consistent in their sizing, they can run very small) so we had to buy another blonde wig which she puts on first, and then this wig is fitted over it. Our girls who are wearing these have a lot of their own hear that needs to be covered, so this is the way we solved that problem

This is the one that made me cry! I had a wonderful huge sausage all ready to go on the hair piece, and it worked when I first built it. Then in taking it apart to glue the elements together, it would not balance when I refit it. This was Tuesday afternoon, and when it fell to the floor from being off balance for the 4th time, I broke down in tears. Just left it on the floor in disgust! Then on my way home, trying to figure out what on earth I could put on this girl that looked like a sausage, I got a brainstorm, MAKE A LEANER WIENER! So from a 3 foot sausage, I scaled it down to an 18" sausage. Still got the point across but much more manageable in size!

The basic form for keepinng these icons on the heads was this:

I made a helmet of buckram shaped over a styrofoam wig head. Then I used one or two desktop spindles (like you put your notes or reciepts on) through the helmet. I glued or sewed the spindle bases to the helmet. Then I fitted the wig over the helmet mit spindles. Then I attached the icon to the spindles. I had to secure the beer stein by using some fish line as guy wires from front to back, side to side, threaded through holes in the stein and then down and through the helmet. Curly hair was also fastened with fish line. A little dab of Gorilla Glue helped the whole thing really stick together. The beer stein is the most secure as a unit, but is very top heavy, so we do a lot of pinning to keep it secure in one spot on her head.

Next post, showing the finished product on the girls.

Addendum to "Last Hurrah"

2010-08-01T05:59:00.000-07:00

That handsome creation of a coat for the Storm Trooper Tenor? Looked great, fit well. BUT, the coat was never used, and here's why. In the light of regular indoor lighting, the coat appears to be black, but it is really very dark navy blue.

THAT WILL NEVER DO FOR A WELL DRESSED STORM TROOPER! So, the coat is back on the bone pile of rejected costume pieces!

The Last Hurrah!

2010-07-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

Don't turn me in as an unpatriotic American! This is not my new political preference, for sure. It is the last costume completed on the afternoon of opening night before "The Producers" go on stage for the first public performance!

The play within the play of "The Producers" is the supposedly worst play ever written, called "Springtime For Hitler". The producers realize they can make more money by putting a flop on stage than a hit, and try this carefully crafted scheme by finding the worst script, worst director, and worst cast for their venture. Things take a different turn when "Springtime For Hitler" turns out to be a critically acclaimed show!

The beautiful song "Springtime for Hitler" is sung by the German officer. It is quite a pretty song, if only the subject of the song wasn't such a despicable person! This jacket is what the German Officer tenor will be wearing, with his sparkly swastika armband. His beautiful $75 hat is the crowninng glory of this costume! (See June 22, 2010 post "Achtung!" to see the hat.) And he truly sings beautifully.

I knew that this costume job was going to be a challenge. About 3 days ago, the challenge was almost ready to break me! I definitely shed blood (how many pin pricks did I endure, with some evidence on several of the costumes), sweat (even though I am using new deodorant, I gave it quite a challenge because the day started about 5 in the morning, and often ended after 10 p.m. and I didn't smell that great!), and tears ( I shed many on Tuesday when the 4th attempt to do headdresses failed and fell on the floor!)

My frieds called me crazy, my daughter says "don't call me to do this again", my neighbors have had to look at a very shabby looking yard because I've done very little outside work this summer. One professional costumer said to me, "I'd never agree to costume that show!" I guess I now know why. But I do enjoy challenges, and this one was certainly a challenge. On Monday, I felt like it all looked like crap, but as the mood got better, the objectivity returned, and now I'm pretty pleased with the results.

My perennial bio for programs is "I like to dress talented people who enjoy looking good"/ And that is why I do this.

When I get some professional shots of the various scenes, I'll share them. But right now, it's raining cats and dogs, the sky is dark and I'm very tired, so the only thing to do in a case like this is to TAKE A NAP!

See www.hawtorneplayers.com for ticket information or call 314-921-5678 for tickets.

Girls In Pearls.

2010-07-23T05:09:00.000-07:00

Leo Bloom, mild-mannered accountant, dreams the dream of getting out of his hum-drum world and doing something exciting in life. His friend, Max Bialystock, tries to convince him that the life of a Broadway producer is what Leo should try, lettig Leo break the chains of a boring life. Leo, timid and carrying a piece of his blue blankie from his youth as his security blanket, sits at his accounting desk and dreams of being a producer, and what he would experience.

Poppinng out of the background of the office furniture, 7 beautiful ladies dressed in pearls come to dance for Leo, so in his dreams, he IS A PRODUCER, and he sings, "I Want To Be A Producer" as they dance.

Here's how those costumes evolved.

Concept without much embellishment, modeled by darling CB! Lots of promise here, for both the costume and the actress!
Back view of bustle with roses
Close up of the pearls after they were applied to the top.
The finished look
This box was full of pearls. Originally, I had intended to put 20 strands on each garment. For various reasons, that didn't happen, these are the leftovers--I see a lot of pearl necklaces in my future of jewelry making.

Beading these garments takes anywhere from 6-10 hours to complete. There are 7 of them. I've spend days at the kitchen table, working with other little beaders, to complete them. I think the beads are sewn on securely, because my worst nightmare is that one of the strands breaks off and scatters pearls all over the place. NO, NO NIGHTMARE PLEASE, GOD OF COSTUMES, PLEASE BE WITH US ON THIS ONE!

They are almost complete, need to gather the remaining garments from other seamstresses today, and hopefully they'll look gorgeous on stage.

This is the WURST!

2010-07-23T04:56:00.001-07:00

Iconic, stereotypical, expected...these are some words that come to mind when thinking about what was going through Mel Brooks wild and crazy mind when he wrote "The Producers". Basing his premise on a crazy notion of putting on a show featuring one of the most despicable men who ever lived (Adolf Hitler), Mel tries to show us a crazy stereotypical view of a world that we might not envision. The fun side of a dark side, that is how I would characterize this show.

Some of the iconic images are shown as showgirls parade in, Las Vegas style, to show parts of Germany, as they sing the theme song, "Springtime for Hitler". A beautiful song, about something we don't often think of as beautiful.

Here's one of the iconic images you might have about Germany--WURST! When I think of German food, of course, I think of sausages. Put that with beer, pretzels, and you have Mel Brooks crazy theme that lets us know about his chosen topic.

Funny thing, the showgirls wear these on their heads as they come in!

These were totally fun to make, just like stuffing real sausages! Made me want to get out the buns and mustard!
German engineering needed here to make this work, but I think I have something going here, with a little more work!

It will be a fun show, the cast was on stage for the first time last night, and things looked good so far. Sets are great, costumes are still needing some help, but maybe we'll make it. Only a week until opening night!

Onward!

2010-07-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

We've been working at our projects, seeming to make slow progress toward finishing the costumes for "The Producers". I've had helpers during the last 3 days, and although certain projects aren't fully completed, we are a lot closer to being done than we were at the beginning of the week.

Monday--SB and her darling talented daughter C, came and worked. S and I have costumed together in the past year, and we do well together on the costume team. She helped me design the Prisoners of Love skirts, and took them all home to finish them. C did a cutting job beautifully, of course, and she was our model for the previous post photo of the prototype costumes.

Tuesday--not much done today on costumes, except to purchase some potential garments for the Streetwalkers. Try ons at practice, which was successful. Had to go to work twice, which was non-productive, both with costuming as well as getting any work done.

Wednesday--Seemed like the wheels were spinning in mud today, but ES came up and we worked on a officer uniform that is for a dazzling gay guy, it will be bedazzeld with sequins and other jewels, befitting of his character. Finished the pants, but not the shirt, and other than that, not much else got done. Wearing out!

Thursday--spent 5 hours in the morning cutting various sets of costumes. This is the task I hate the most, I could sew all night and day, but cutting requires thinking and it is difficult for me to make myself do it! Got one Prisoner of Love bodysuit done, plus a muslin for Roger DeBris' Chrysler building dress to try on at practice. Fitting went well, now I have a plan for tomorrow.

Friday--had a whole studio of artists working together today. Got up early to finish a body suit for the pearl sewer, finished hemming the bottoms of that set of costumes. Made Roger DeBris basic dress, which will be changed into something spectacular by another artist. Daughter SH came and started sewing pearls on the I Want To Be A Producer costumes, and she was doing a great job of getting them straight and sewed on very securely. I was impressed. ES showed her ability to draft a design and then make a pattern for her decoration of the Chrysler building dress, Very excellent work. And GW came, measured, cut, serged my Little Old Lady skirts, so we can put in the waistbands. Plus, she and I worked on completing a prototype of the main showgirls gold lycra bodysuits. I was very glad she was there, because it needed a great deal of altering to make it fit correctly. She was willing to strip down a half-dozen times to get it to fit correctly. It is almost OK, if I get a chance, I'll make another one for her. I think I have enough fabric.

MHS, my other darling daughter, brought her finished project to my house, 8 pearl chokers and darling cameos that she created for two numbers.

My friend Dr. J and I went to see our model CB in a production called "Lepers", a staged reading production. CB is only 13 but is already showing great promise as a strong character actress. SB, CB's very proud mama, costumed the show, AND finished my Prisoner's of Love skirts that she took home Monday, which I picked up last night after the show. Happy day, one part of one production number finished!

The theatre is a small space in a mall that has only one retail store left in it, but the arts community has convinced the owners to rent out the empty stores for studios for dance, acting, and various visual art forms. It also has one restaurant, which we ate at, and found the food to be very good! If all the places in this mall were open at once, it would be a very interesting space to visit. But I've been there several times, and you could only salivate over what was locked up in the closed storefronts. I would like to go back when some of the studios were open. If only I could figure out when that was.

Today, my friend SE is coming up from my Smalltown in Mid-Missouri, and she will be bringing some completed things that she has been working on at home, and we will work today on various projects, myself on bodysuits and show girl costumes, she on a uniform or two. Plus some finishing jobs that need to be done.

So, I guess projects are being worked toward completion, I still wish all my bodysuits were finished, wonder how many I can finish in two days? I want to be done with them by Monday. 7 Prisoners of Love, 5 I Want to Be a Producer tops, and 4 gold lycra body suits. I ought to be pretty good at making them after all that practice!

The Day the Music Died

2010-07-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

I am listening to the last 15 minutes of music that is broadcast on my favorite radio station, 99.1 KFUO-FM, St. Louis. This station has been a part of my life for the past 65 years. My parents always listened to this station, and it fostered my love for classical music.

I remember my father never missed the opera on Saturday afteroon, which has been broadcast on this station. As my father aged and in his last years, listening to the radio and this station ONLY was one of his greatest pleasures.

When I was a teenager, and others were listening to Elvis and the Everly Brothers, I was listening to Ravel, Debussy and Gershwin. I remember to this day a memorable day in which not "Rock Around the Clock" was playing in my head, but Gershwin's "Concerto in F". How wierd is that for a teenager?

All through my adult life, classical music has been my favorite, always been on the car radio dial. My grandson asked me once, "Grandma, what song is this?" He hadn't ever heard that kind of music before!

They choose Beethoven's 9th Symphony as their last recording to broadcast. They are singing the choral part right now, so it won't be long until they pull the plug.

The station was owned and operated by the Lutheren Church, Missouri Synod. As costs increased and budgets grew tighter, the church decided it had to sell the station, hoping some entity would keep the classical music format. But no, someone bought it and it will be Christian music as of tomorrow morning.

Beethoven just finished and there is nothing but dead air now. For me it is the day the music died, and I lost a piece of my past with it. I am sobbing right now at the loss.

We are all poorer when the arts cannot be supported and nurtured as this station did for the last 65 years. With all the art lovers in this town, why couldn't someoe save this for us? Christian music has its place, but there are plenty of Christian music stations in the area, but now no classical music stations, unless you have a satellite radio.

Now, static, it is gone forever. I am extremely sad.

Guess I'll be calling XM Sirius tomorrow. 99.1 will no longer be on my radio dial. Someone told me that the NPR station, which gave up classical music decades ago, may recosider and dedicate a portion of their daily programming to classical music, that will be something for us to look forward to.

The grind goes on

2010-07-06T19:44:00.001-07:00

These are the prototypes of the costumes I've designed for "The Producers". Each of these will be part of the big chorus numbers in the show.

Little Old Lady Land--14 costumes for this number. They dance in using walkers, and by the end of the number they are kicking up their heels big time!
German military outfit for women--men will be dressed similarly, but will wear black pants. This is the big number, "Springtime for Hitler"
I want to be a Producer--girls in pearls--7 of them the bodices will be covered with pearls.
Prisoners of Love--8 of them are dressed like this, the men are in prisoners costumes.

I haven't posted in a while because most every waking moment has been spent in the sewing room producing! I hope I don't run out of time, right now, it looks scary to think if I will possibly get finished in time!

Wish Me luck.

Tie One On!

2010-06-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

In Springtime for Hitler (The Producers, Hawthorne Players, July 30--Aug. 8, 2010), the chorus all needs to dress in German military uniforms. I found the shirts last week, found the insignia for the hats and shirt pockets, and made some other insignia. I designed the skirts for the girls and the men are wearing black pants. The director is making the arm bands. I bought leatherette for "Sam Brown" belts, and then needed to get the ties. The number of cast members on stage at this time is about 25. At least 15 of them will be in uniforms, and all the uniforms need black ties.

This has led to quite a search. Google is my friend, but in this case, I didn't come up with any ties that weren't crazy expensive. My search at stores has yielded nothing, until today. My favorite store, JC Penney outlet store, had all the black ties I could want. Exept that they were $10 each! Now, for 17 cast members, this is quite budget buster! The shirts didn't even cost that much!

So, Plan B was to try to make ties. How hard could they be?

I remember doing it years ago, and it seemed to be a very complicated process, and the result wasn't that great. But I did purchase raw materials for ties, and so I decided to go ahead and try my luck.

Here is the pattern. I absolutely love Kwik Sew patterns, especially for men's wear, they are practically the only pattern company that carries men's wear patterns. Every Kwik Sew pattern I've bought has been excellent. The only problem is that they are expensive.

The cut out tie, including the interfacing--very important!

My first attempt was not that great, I tried to do without the interfacing, but it was twisted and couldn't be pressed to lie straight. So I tried once more and followed the directions for installing the interfacing and that made all the difference, I was amazed at how good it looked, and how easy it was! Absolutely no hand sewing, HOORAY!
Finished project, looks good!
Here it is with the shirt and hat and some of the insignia.

So, I did save the group some money, it always comes down to time or money. In this case, it is probably worth the time because it would have cost an awful lot of money to get ties for everyone.

Now, I have one more trick in my bag of tricks!

Achtung!

2010-06-22T05:30:00.001-07:00

The big number in "The Producers" is Springtime For Hitler, requiring many military looking outfits. My desire for the show was to have everyone looking sharp wearing one of these caps, but at $75 each, that wasn't going to happen. So the next best thing was to make them.
Here are 12 of the 14 military hats I made, I even found the insignia online that matches the expensive hat.
Our original concept was to make paper insignia, and it didn't look too bad, but it would be LABOR INTENSIVE! This was cut on MonkeyGirl's Cricut machine, slightly modified from an American Eagle to a German one.
I about smashed the paper insignia trying to pin it on to the hat, really another way would have been better!

In "Springtime for Hitler", the big production number, a German tenor comes out and sings the song. Then the showgirls, chorus and finally Hitler enter. Hitler looks authentic, but his persona is quite different from the original furror! (Don't believe I've ever spelled that word before, is that how you spell it?)

The chorus is all dressed up in military garb, the girls in somewhat abbreviated version of a uniform! I'll show you pictures of that once I have a full working concept costume!

More to come!

Look at Costume Maniacs for insignia if you are trying to do something like this. www.costumemaniacs.com

Little Old Lady Land

2010-06-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

Kiss me, bite me! No, I'm not really that bold, just a line from the show!
The Little Old Lady hat
Concept design for the costume

One of the biggest chorus numbers in this show is Little Old Lady Land. Almost every female in the show is part of this number. That makes a LOT OF LITTLE OLD LADIES!

The concept is that they come in using their walkers, but kick up their heels later in the number to show there's still some life in those old bodies somewhere! Of course, since this show focuses on stereotypes, and many little old ladies dress in a similar manner, each of these will be dressed exactly the same. That's a LOT OF LITTLE OLD LADIES costume pieces, each will wear a skirt, blouse, jacket, hat, gloves, brooch--which will be built by our costume team.

One wonderful person who is a college trained theatre production member (and a fine actress herself!) volunteered to make the skirts, which I am extremely grateful to her for volunteering to do. She is squeezing this project in between work, teaching classes at night and an out-of town trip, plus she will be our stage manager. I could just kiss her! But not bite her! Save that kind of talk for Max Bialystock!

Progress...slow, but still progress

2010-06-14T20:58:00.001-07:00

With all the admonitions of experienced directors, costumers, and friends, saying things like "Are you Crazy, that is a huge show!" the daunting task of getting the costumes ready for "The Producers" has begun. Why am I not panicking?

I'm not sure. I do have a lot of raw materials, which in itself is a very time consuming part of the job. I think I have most of the materials I need to make costumes, and the patterns and designs in mind, but still have some purchased and rental garments I need to arrange for.

I designed my Little Old Ladies costumes to have a plain skirt, a boucle jacket, a jacquard design blouse, hat and gloves. Since there are 15 LOL's dancing with walkers, we had a pretty big fabric purchase to make them all--in this show, they are all dressed alike. I didn't know where I would find enough fabric to make all the outfits, but I did find some boucle that matched perfectly with some other fabrics I found that was so cheap, under $2 a yard. When you need lots of fabric, often you have to pay a premium price for it, but this was on the VALUE FABRIC table at various Hancock stores. Hooray for Hancock!

I did 5 skirts so far, really 6 because my prototype was made Sunday, and after I tried it on one of the dancers, it seemed too skimpy. So I enlarged it. It is an 8 gore skirt with 6 godets at the bottom to make it fuller for dancing. I think it will work out well.

The fabric for the skirts is from my special bag of tricks. When I need lots of cheap fabric, I look for sheets. I am famous for sheet skirts. They work so well for period shows, just sew a casing and a hem, and you have a great colorful skirt in about 15 minutes. These took about 30 minutes to do, but still very simple. I think they will work out well.

I had a few ounces of creativity left after the 5 skirts were made, and back spasms hadn't set in yet, so I made a prototype hat for the LOL's, I think it will work OK. It's a little circle of velveteen with a huge ugly flower attached. Should be very funny.

So 5 skirts and a hat for a night, if I can keep this up, I'll be OK. It is just keeping on track and making myself meet my short term goals that I need to focus on. I hope to get my 15 sheet skirts done by this Friday.

Wish me luck!

Rearranging the furniture

2010-06-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

The annual parish garage sale is just around the corner. I'm not interested in buying stuff from it, but I sure am happy to donate stuff to it! I filled my entire RAV4 today up to the ceiling and took it over there for the sale.

One of the things I deposited with them was a very nice toddler bed. Seeing as our toddlers are now school age, I figured it was time to say goodbye to the little bed. Miss M thinks of it as "her bed" and begrudgingly lets her cousins from Iowa sleep in it when they come in twice a year. But she likes to jump on the bed, and I knew that someday soon, she would go crashing through the slats, they were not made for jumping on! Especially not by a 5 year old!

Several months ago, I scoped out new daybeds at my favorite bed store, The BedRoom Store. I've bought quite a few beds from them in the past 25 years. My son's first waterbed came from there (when he was a teenager, and he's now past 40!) Next came a beaufiful waterbed for the Mr. and I, the frame is still in use as a mattress holder in someone's basement. In 2005, I bought a really pretty daybed for myself when Hubby and I had to move into an apartment while he was being treated at the University Hospital.

When I bought that daybed, there was the prettiest daybed bedding set on the bed. The colors were perfect, a crimson red and a deep forest green, plaid on one side, and floral on the other side. I loved it. I inquired how much for the bedding set, and the answer was $500! That was a little out of my price range. So I went online and found the same thing for much less, I bought it, with pillow shams, throw pillows, valances, the works.

When we moved to this house, the daybed became the main bed in the guest room, and also Little Mr. M's bed. It shared the room with Miss M's princess bed. It is very comfortable, and nice to look at.

So my current plan began to develop. I would buy two new day beds, move the one that I already own downstairs to the bedroom down there, and get more bedding to match what I have for the second day bed for Miss M.

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

I had purchased that bedding 5 years ago, and in the meantime, nobody else must have liked it as much as I did, so they stopped making it. My plan to get a second set did not materialize. Nothing showed up online, from any of the sources I could locate.

Today, after delivering the toddler bed to the garage sale, I decided to move ahead with the plan for buying two daybeds, and I would figure out something about the bedding later. As I strolled around the store, I spied that old original daybed set that I had fallen in love with 5 years ago! Still here! A little shopworn, so who would want it? ME!

I begged the manager to sell it to me, and he reluctantly agreed to sell it to me for-----ta-da!---$50. That's right, not $500 but $50!

Small things make me happy and this really made my day! Now I can go ahead and rearrange the furniture, put my two daybeds in the same room and have the bedding match. The plaid can be for the boy and the flowers for the girl. No, it is not pink and purple, Miss M, but I hope you will like your new bed all the same. I'll find some princess sheets to put on the mattress to make you happy, and grandma will love the new arrangement of furniture. And my school age grandkids will have taken another step toward becoming all grown up!

The Procuders---first steps Part I

2010-06-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

Last summer I was asked to costume "The Producers". In a weak moment, I said yes. (I'm just a girl who can't say "no"!) So, I've had a whole year to think of it, and now it is showtime for me!

So I've started gathering fabrics. Some of them I found in March, but with the end of school and my Galapagos vacation, I haven't done anything more until this week.

Here is the result of a frenzy of activity with coupons, sale flyers and many miles from one end of town to another to find the stuff I needed. Luckily, my favorite stores came through for me and I found a lot of great fabric for a very reasonable price!

I'm showing you the raw materials, and the potential costumes, then when they are all finished, you can see from whence they came..
Here are all the costume fabrics I have so far, set out for the director with patterns and pictures of what I want to create. He came over last night and liked what he saw, and we worked out some of the final details.

Ulla is the main female character in the show. She is a very classy and well built blonde, who wears white in the first scene, then she paints the whole room white! Later, she shows up in blue. She dances and looks fabulous at all times.
The first big show number is "I Want To Be A Producer" and 8 beautiful girls come out in Las Vegas style costumes covered in pearls. I ordered $200 worth of pearl strands last week, they haven't come yet. This coral will stand out on the stage, and I think it will look great on the girls. Each outfit will be embellished with yards and yards of pearls.

So the work begins. I have a plan for making kits, cutting out the fabrics and hopefully finding some helpers to sew them. Nothing of the costumes that we need a lot of are difficult to make, except for Roger DeBris's Chrysler building dress, and making the headgear for the showgirls.

I will have to dress the men in suits, and I need uniforms for the Nazi dancers, Hitler, and the Storm Troopers. I'm going to buy or rent that stuff.

So, that's the plan, here we go!

The Producers...first step Part II

2010-06-02T17:14:00.001-07:00

Little Old Lady Land 15 little old ladies with walkers
Prisoners of Love lady dancers
Roger DeBris dressed as the "Chrysler Building"
Franz and his cohorts in leiderhosen
The showgirls in "Springtime for Hitler"

4th Anniversary

2010-06-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

Today is the 4th anniversary of my dear husband Ed's death. Death came stealing into the night on June 2, 2006, and took him quietly after a few days in the hospital under Hospice care. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in July, 2004. My two daughters and I were by his side.

Today was a day of remembering, a few tears, a beautiful bouquet of roses on his grave marker, singing sad songs. getting ready for our dear friend Jim's funeral next week. Other than that, it was unremarkable, except that a very loud thunderstorm woke me about 2:30 a.m. and that started the day off rather early.

We remember you, Ed, and all the love and care you showed every member of our family. You were a good friend to many, many people. I still remember a line 5 hours long at your wake, I didn't know we had that many friends!

You are deeply missed. No one can take your place. Al the cat tries by sleeping at my side every night, but even that isn't the same. Love you!

The Gates of Heaven Opened...

2010-05-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

Just about the time I finished posting my blog entitled, "Jim", the gates of Heaven opened and let him come in.

Well, done, good and faithful servant, you have led a good life, full of challenges and sorrows. You faced them all, plus your final nemesis, cancer, with grace and dignity, and a big dose of good humor. And you passed from this life to your eternal life in peace.

We will miss you, dear Jim. We know you are in heaven with your buddies Ed and Jim, and many other fine people who we've had to say good-bye to lately.

There's a fluffy white cloud outside over my house, could it be "Cloud 9", where our dear loved ones are now floating? I like to think so!

Jim

2010-05-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

Jim could always put a smile on my face. He is the husband of one of my dearest friends . Jim always has been a smooth guy, he could make anyone feel at home when they visited him. I remember calling my friend M and Jim would answer. No matter what the day brought to Jim, he would say to me, "Hey you look great today!" I fell for it every time, even though he couldn't see me, he knew how to make my day! One time he said, "You look great in that red dress!" I was wearing a red dress--how did he know? Just the luck of a smooth guy!

Jim and M are hospitality king and queen. They love to entertain. They like it no better than to have a house full of guests. Often they provided bed and breakfast for many of their friends. I got to know them best when they had a small waterfront home at a lake development in Mid-Mo. This was the gathering place for lots of friends and relatives. We ate, we drank, we girls "cackled", the guys sat and chewed the fat, the kids fished, we swam, we rode the pontoon boat, we stayed up late, we drank coffee on the porch, we enjoyed the beautiful sunsets on the lake. Those memories will live on forever in our minds.

We were sad when they decided that Mid-Mo wasn't working for them. You see, Jim had contracted polio as a young boy, and although he was affected his whole life by it, as he aged, he was less able to get around. He used his "green machine" lawnmower as a conveyance for years at the lake, then that got harder and harder. Finally they made the decision to move to a different lake development, one closer to home and family, and all on one floor!

My Mr and I loved the lake so much that we bought a home there. Then we moved a little further away to a home on its own lake, and loved the country life. But as my Mr. got sick, country living and being far from doctors wasn't working for us either, so we moved back to the city.

Jim found out in January that he had cancer. It was an insidious, rare, fairly unheard of cancer, and to treat it would be an assault on his body that his doctors didn't think he could survive. So Jim, in his usual cheerful way, accepted his fate and went on with life. But life kept throwing him curves, taking away the remaining strength he had left, and laying him low with more and more physical challenges.

I got the call last night. Jim was in his last days. He became unresponsive and seemed to be in some sort of prolonged sleep, unable to be roused. Luckily, one of his sons from out of town was there, and his two daughters also. Many friends and relatives have come to visit. Another of M and Jim's friends, who used to be my next door neighbor went with me to be with the family on the watch by Jim's bedside.

We know not the hour or the day when death comes to our door. It seems like Jim will be meeting his God very soon. Again, how it makes us realize the importance of each day in our lives.

So, make a resolution, if you have a sick friend or relative, don't wait til tomorrow to call or visit...we are not promised tomorrow. Again I say, CARPE DIEM....pass the ice cream!

Get the Jewelry Tools Out Again!

2010-05-23T05:58:00.000-07:00

While spending time with my friend B yesterday, we were invited by a good friend of hers to a jewelry showing. Her friend makes wonderfully creative jewelry, and had made much more than her own jewelry box could hold, so she decided to sell some of it and share the profits with a charitable organization.

I thought the whole idea was wonderful! Yes, I have a half of a closet full of beads and jewelry potential, but I was willing to look at someone else's creations and contribute to her cause.

I found two pieces of hers that I really liked (well, I really liked it all, but couldn't have it all!) I found two pieces that I purchased! One was a pretty pearl and amethyst creation, and the other was a very special piece that I chose to go with a new dress that I bought for an event tonight.

The new piece has a big crystal pendant with Swarovski crystals adorning it. It is so beautiful, and will go with the dress so well. But it is a copper color in findings, and these are really not easy to match. I needed earrings to go with it, and didn't have anything like it.

So I got my own jewelry tools out. Had a hard time finding some of them, since I haven't done jewelry making in quite some time. I had to take a trip to Michaels to get the right size and color of crystals to match the necklace. I dug deep into the stash of jewelry stuff and found the copper findings I knew I had somewhere. And I think I came up with something that goes well with the necklace.

What do you think?

A very special day

2010-05-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

How often do we let a day go by and not think about it, maybe even wish it away? I know I do that all too often. But what if our days were numbered?

What if we were facing a terribly serious illness with very clouded positive outcomes? Would we value our days as more precious if that were the case?

I spent a good part of Saturday with my friend who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year, right about this time. She had those vague symptoms that they say indicate that ovarian cancer might be the cause. She had it all checked out over and over again, but no positive diagnosis, until the nasty tumor grew huge in the space of a few weeks. By that time, it was deemed to be in the later stages, the stages in which it is much more difficult to cure.

She had surgery, which was extensive. She endured a nasty infection. Then she started chemo. For months she endured the ravages of the chemo, and then the bad news came that it wasn't working. So, on to plan B, a different type of chemo was tried.

I saw her for the first time last summer after the surgery and the infection, there was my friend, but she had changed. The poor girl was so skinny! But her smile and determination still was there. Yesterday, we got together for a shopping trip and lunch, and she looked fabulous. She seemed to have her old energy back and we talked and talked. It was such a wonderful day!

On my way home, I felt like I had just spent time in a very holy place, because I felt so honored that, on one of her good days, she chose to spend it with me! That was a gift to me, because my friend is so important to me. We have been colleages at the college for 5 years, I have always loved working with her. I feel priviliged to be able to spend time with her, whether we were sharing time in the office, or having lunch somewhere off campus.

To my dear friend B, my prayers are with you as you continue your journey toward beating this insidious disease that you have been given to endure. We all ask why.... why does it strike the young, the good, the ones who have had other challenges in life? I guess we don't get that answer while we are on earth, it's on my list to ask God when and if I get to heaven!

And as for me, I won't take my days for granted. We are not promised tomorrow...something we all need to remember. So--CARPE DIEM! Pass me the ice cream!

A day of rest

2010-05-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

It's 6:25 p.m. and I'm still sporting part of my night clothes from last night. This is the first day in a very long time that I haven't had one thing pressing to do. So, when one doesn't have pressing things to do, what do you do?

Sleep

Eat

Play Bejeweled Blitz

Read email

Call friends

Sleep some more

Eat some more

Blog

Think about taking a shower

Take another nap

Sounds a lot like the cat's usual day, except for the computer and telephone part.

Any, I feel very rested. Wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight?

We get by with a little help from our friends!

2010-05-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

My dear friend, Dr. J, has had her share of homeowner's blues. She bought her new house in 2007, and the house has not let her alone since then. When you buy a new house, there are things that need fixing, and Dr. J's house was no exception. She called and called and called the builder about things that needed fixing, and there were always promises, promises, promises that someone would come to fix it. Calls were ignored and ignored, and finally, the company got up enough courage to tell her, "we're out of business, good bye and good luck!"

Dr. J is a fine lady, with beautifully manicured fingernails, who is a patron, educator and lover of the arts, especially theatre. She taught theatre for many years, and was a distinguished professor at a midwest state university. She knows so much, and I've worked with her on several shows that she directed, I learn something new every time I am with her. She shocked the heck out of me when she told me that she was caulking, painting, spackling and doing homeowner stuff to try to fix the problems that she was experiencing with her house.

One issue was a leaky shower. She called a plumber--one could call him the dumber plumber, because in fixing her shower, he burned a hole in her bathroom floor with his work light! Then he some how twisted the story around to blame the burn on her! Then, when she invited some other worker to her house to try to fix the burn, she fell faint onto the floor, and had to be taken to the hospital. Her dear friend, N, who is an expert faux painter, painted the burn mark and made it almost as good as new. So that story is almost done, after Dr. J spent more time with spackle, paint and caulk.

Dr. J still had another big issue that needed dealing with, one that the bankrupt bulder never would address--there was a crack in her foundation wall. So, she started looking for someone to repair that. She got one guy to come out, he insisted on getting a down payment, then didn't show up to fix the crack when he said he was coming. Dr. J thought she was taken to the cleaners on that one, and stopped payment on his check. He called her later, mad as could be, and said he'd be out today to fix the crack!

Dr. J was panicked by the thought of a crazed crack man coming to her house, with her being home alone with him. So she called a cadre of her girl friends to join together to have a hen party while the crack man was working. He wouldn't dare go off on a whole bunch of ladies, we'd claw his eyes out!

We had a nice gathering, lots of good chatting, and the crack man said not a word, but went right to work. I had to leave before the work was inspected, I hope it was OK, and my friend survived yet another potential home improvement disaster.

Better luck in the future, Dr. J, but you can invite us over any time for some girl talk!

Car talk

2010-05-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

For a little old lady, I have had a lot of cars in the past 10 years. I can count 7 that I've purchased in the last decade. That's a lot of cars. There's a story that goes with each one of them.

Like the trip I took to Yellowstone in 2003, and came home with the ultimate souviner, a brand new Ford Expedition. This was a purchase that was made necessary because we were stuck in Jackson Hole with a vehicle that needed a new transmission, which would have taken 3 weeks to send away, repair and replace. That would have been an expensive hotel bill for 3 weeks in Jackson Hole! Or we could have flown out for $3600. I figured that I'd rather spend my money on something besides hotels or airplane tickets, so I bought a car! What a memory!

Then there was the hybrid Prius that I bought by fax. Saw it in St. Louis, drove it and couldn't get a salesperson at that dealership to even try to sell it to me. So I found another dealership in another city who was all too willing to deal, I told him where to find the car I wanted and we closed the deal by fax machine. Never left my house to purchase it! So simple!

There were a bunch more Toyotas in my future. Lured by the wonderful gas mileage of the Prius, the spousal unit wanted something economical to drive instead of his monster truck. So we got another Toyota--by this time the hybrids were getting hard to get, so we bought a little cheap Corolla. Later that year, another family member was in need of transportation, so we bought another cheap Corolla. We were now a 5 car family. The insurance company loved us.

Tragedy befell the family in the summer of '04 when the hubs was diagnosed with brain cancer, thus ending his driving days. So the excess inventory of the driveway was ferried up to the Toyota dealer, who took three of them off our hands, and gave us one nice Highlander in return. We even got money back on that deal! The Highlander was comfortable and roomy, and in 6 months I put 20000 miles on it driving the Mr. to doctors for his treatments. I made a deal with the family member driving the one cheap Corolla, trade with me, you drive the Highlander 3 miles a day to work, I'll drive the Corolla (gas mileage over 36 MPG)200 miles per week to the doctors. It became the ambulance that took hubs to many a doctor and hospital visit.

When I lost my sweetie (4 years ago on June 2), I needed a change. Daughter #2 and I had long admired Solaras, and I envisioned myself in a beautiful red convertible, so I bought my beautiful red Solara convertible that summer. Fun car, and quite a head turner--that is until people see the old lady driving it! Still looks good today, and it is a great little car.

The year I got my Medicare card, the old monster truck ('97 Dodge Ram) of the hubs was still hogging up way too much space in the garage, and had cost me a pretty penny over the past year to fix little things. So, I figured it was time to say good bye to it. But I liked the fact that it hauled a lot of stuff, so I started to look for an updated vehicle to haul things. I had bought a bike that year for my 65th birthday, the vehicle needed to be able to haul that for sure. Again, made a trip to the Toyota dealer, they found me a cute little RAV4 to trade. I still remember the used car appraiser, looking over the truck, saying, "A little touch up paint, it'll look good as new!" They gave me a pittance on a trade, but I didn't care, they took it off my hands, and I was glad.

So that is the story of all 7 of the cars I've bought in the past decade.

One more car story. You know when you trade in vehicles, especially very old ones, they are usually carted off to some junkyard somewhere, never to be seen again. Well, several months after I traded the monster truck, I was driving down "used car row" near my house, and I saw a very familiar outline of a monster truck on the lot of a used car dealer. The hubs truck was unique because it had pin striping on it and a camper top on the back. I was sure that I saw "Grandpa's truck" on that used car lot. I threw on the brakes, circled around the block and there it was! That touch up paint had really made it look "good as new"! And the asking price was about $6000 more than I had gotten for it! I'm sure no one fell for that price, but it was gone in about a week, so somebody got a nice looking truck, and hopefully would take good care of it!

Now, I must say, I'm hankering to go to the car dealer again. This time I'm looking for a hybrid SUV. Still trying to decide what to get, but I'm seriously looking. The car bug is biting once again.

One more "car talk" story. I had one salesman who helped me with the purchase of many of my vehicles. He worked at two different dealerships, and now he sells VWs. Daughter #1 bought her new VW CC from him 2 months ago. I have loyalty, just treat me well, Mr. Car Salesman.

Stike up the Hallelujah Chorus!

2010-05-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

I've been singing it since noon today! That was when I officially put the finishing touches on Spring 2010 semester at my college! Last paper graded, last grade posted, put away the books and papers and it is finished!

It was a good semester in all. Nice students, highly motivated, lots of progress made, but a lot of work. This semester I went over my allotted 9 hours of teaching duties that adjunct faculty were supposed to teach and I taught 12 hours. Plus, throw in the responsibilities of a Program Coordinator, it was very busy! I don't remember any day when I was in the office or classroom when I was bored! Too much to do to be bored.

I started to figure out how many papers I actually graded this semester. It was way over 1000, that was just for one type of assignment for one class. Then there were the essays, from my class, from other teachers' classes, special projects that the students worked on, on and on and on!

When I took those two weeks off to travel to the Galapagos Islands, it was double work to get ready for others to take over the classes, then double duty to grade all the work they did while I was gone. Throw that in on top of the end of the semester tests and papers, and there were times when I felt like I'd never see the light of day.

During two nights last week, I woke up at about 1 a.m. from nightmares. In one nightmare, someone was hitting my face with a hammer. Another nightmare found me being strangled by some type of wires. I tried to analyze the dreams and figured it was the JOB that was the perpetrator of those assaults on my vital processes! Didn't take much to figure that out!

So, it is over for now. I am grateful that I am still alive and have survived the entire process. A couple of weeks ago, I wasn't so sure I was going to be a survivor.

The word "retirement" has flitted through my mind more than once during the past few weeks. I hope the career can last a little longer, because I really do enjoy my work! Just need a break, that's all!

On to "The Producers"! Sewing machines, here we go!

Beautiful Boat!

2010-04-26T02:19:00.001-07:00

Galapagos Explorer II Our cruise ship--she has a certain Italian flair, don't you think? Built in Italy in 1990.

The Galapagos Explorer is the biggest and most beautiful boat that cruises the Galapagos Islands. It holds 100 passengers and has a staff of about 50 on board. It was a very comfortable ship to travel on. It was big enough to not be tossed too drastically by the waves, although we felt the roll of the ship often. They were very conscious of making each passenger comfortable. Most of the traveling from one place to another took place during times when passengers could rest in their staterooms to fend off seasickness.

It has many public meeting areas, the lovely dining room, indoor and outdoor bar, lounge where we held meetings every day, two shops, outdoor sun deck, plus various outdoor deck spaces. It had WI FI internet ($15 per hour!) Very convenient to read your junk mail in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!

There are 80 boats licensed to travel through the Galapagos Islands. Each has access to certain islands at certain times, and under penalty of jail time, the boats adhere to this schedule! This schedule is planned so that very seldom is more than one of the ships at any given place at the same time. We did cross several other groups one day, when three of the big ships were at the same place, but we had our times to walk the trails, and it wasn't a problem.

We were very happy with the comfort of the ship and the friendliness of the staff. They are there to help the passengers and make the trip fun.

One thing that was interesting about Galapagos. There are no large public docks big enough to accomodate more than a small boat or water taxi. So all of the embarking and disembarking from the Galapagos Explorer II took place via zodiacs (pangas in Ecuador). These are rubber rafts that held 12-15 people powered by outboard motors. Getting on and off of them was a twice daily drill, thank heaven for some very strong deck hands to help us old folks with the task! They had to take our luggage on and off of the boat the same way. Thank heaven nothing went in the drink! The Galapagos Explorer, being one of the largest boats at the Galapagos, always parked at least 1/2 mile off shore, so our trips in and out of the islands took some time. They used 6 zodiacs during every embark/disembark maneuver. It was interesting to see how all that worked.

No high heels used here! Definitely wear your walking shoes!

Marine Mammals

2010-04-25T12:06:00.001-07:00

Mammals are not very evident on Galapagos. Those that were introduced in centuries past have proven to be very harmful to the unique wildlife on the islands. As a result, feral pigs, dogs, cats, rats and goats have been eradicated over the past decades, with the hope that these will not impact the wildlife's future. Sea mammals are the only naturally occuring mammals, mostly sea lions. These playful creatures can always be counted on to entertain, and they are really fun to watch
These are fur sea lions, not as plentiful as regular sea lions. We only saw these on one island, James (Santiago) Island.
Sea lion pup waiting for mom to come back for a feeding.
This was our second "wet landing" site, on Gardner Bay on Espanola Island. We walked the entire length of the beach, then snorkeled. Some did deep water snorkeling, out near the boat.
Beautiful beach, we snorkeled here after walking the length of the beach.

One sad note about sea lions: the sea lion moms do not cross adopt, so if a pup's mom doesn't return, he dies. One sea lion mom came in from the sea, barked twice, and her pup came runnig up and started nursing before she was even out of the surf! Hungry little guy!

Beautiful white sand beach, our ship was in the background. Some people chose to deepwater snorkel near the rocks. I stayed near the shore, but the white sand got churned up by the waves, so you couldn't see much. But it is very beautiful here!

Turtles

2010-04-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

The Galapagos turtles are very endangered. Many of them are now living in protected surroundings, like the Charles Darwin Research Station where these turtles are living now. Eggs from Galapagos turtles are hatched here, and the young are cared for until they are about 2 years old. Then they are released back in the wild on the islands where the eggs were taken from.

One very large and very old turtle is the sole survivor of his species from one of the islands. They have named him "Lonesome George", and have placed him in a pen with two much younger but similar in species female turtles, hoping to keep the species from going extinct. While we were there, George approached one of the females and bit her on the backside! Nice touch, George, no wonder you are lonesome! You don't know how to treat a lady!
These female turtles were once pets of people living on the islands. When the entire archepeligo became a national park in 1979, these were taken into custody with the promise to care for them for the rest of their lives. This is a big commitment, because they can live to be 100+ years old! We saw some bickering among the females, one bit the other's neck skin, practically pulling the skin off! Now, ladies, let's behave ourselves!
Males are bigger. This turtle was on a feeding platform in the male turtle's pen.

We saw some more turtles on our last day on Santa Cruz, they were in a protected but more open habitat, fending for themselves for food, instead of being fed.

There were many sea turtles also at the Galapagos, but something happened to my memory card when I was taking their pictures, and I lost my sea turtle pics. Darn! I'm glad I had downloaded the other previous pictures from that card each day when I was finished taking pictures, or I would have lost about half of my pictures.

I used a Canon Digital Rebel, with a 75-300mm imaged stabilized telephoto lens, plus a Canon Power-Shot A470 with a zoom lens. For anyone who wants to use a telephoto lens, I really recommend image stabilization, even though they cost twice as much. Almost all of my shots with the telephoto are sharp and clear, even if cropped. I am very pleased with the results of my photography, even though I use no special photography tricks and use the auto feature of my camera. My Rebel is one of the original digital Rebels, not that many megapixels, but I'm still very pleased with the results. Not bad for an ametuer. I also used a Flip video camera, I have yet to preview those pictures.

One if by land, two if by sea!

2010-04-25T11:26:00.001-07:00

Lizards, lizards, lizards! We saw so many lizards. Here are three of the lizards that inhabit the Galapagos Islands
Land iguana--found on Santa Cruz island, Dragon Hill. We saw about a dozen land iguanas in this area. They are not nearly as ubiquitous as the marine iguanas are, and they are somewhat more secretive and skittish than the marine variety. The males have large spikes and the females have shorter spikes, that is the determining factor on the sexes. Land iguans graze on leaves and vegetation, their snouts are more pointed than the marine iguanas. One male was eating by the trail, and another was lurking in the bushes about 10 feet away. We guessed it was a female, jealous of all the attention he was getting, she charged out of the bushes at us, and scared us all off! Very interesting behavior!
Notice the color difference in this marine iguana from the ones on Fernandina Island, this one was on Espanola (Hood) Island. These are much more colorful, with red, green, blue, tan coming through the black and grey. The females were distingushed by the fact that most of them were covered with dust or sand, from digging their nests. There was one nesting ground where 40 females were all digging, it was amazing to watch!
This is a lava lizard, seen on all islands, but each island seemed to have a different coloration. All females have red throats.

Reptiles rule at Galapagos!

Birds, birds, birds!

2010-04-25T11:05:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the birds that we saw. Most of these pictures were taken on Espanola (Hood) Island, which is the most easterly and oldest island in the Galapagos. The trail was a rock strewn trail, very difficult to navigate. I swallowed my pride and took a walking stick (AKA cane!) It saved my life more than once! I'll never hike without one again! Some of these birds are unique to Galapagos, others are similar to ones seen around the world.
Galapagos Hawk, this one is banded. Similar in size to red-tail hawks in the U.S.
Gulls on the wing are sometimes difficult to identify, but this one stood still for me, it is a swallow tail gull, and it is easy to identify on the wing.
The story as we heard it was that the albatross had not yet landed on Espanola Island to start the nesting season. Just as those words came out of the guide's mouth, here comes Mr. Waved Albatross, flying down about 10 feet from our group on the trail. Following him were many more. The males choose a nest site, and later the females come to actually nest and lay eggs. We saw dozens of albatross that day.
The bird most mentioned when talking about Galapagos birds is the blue footed boobie. We saw a pair on the trail actually engaged in the mating dance. Quite interesting, and unfazed by our admiring glances, and many pictures that were being taken. The male does a dance, lifting his beautiful blue feet and showing them to the female to get her interested in mating!
Galapagos dove, somewhat like our mourning dove in size and color.

In addition, we saw Nasca (masked) boobies, oystercatchers, turnstones, mockingbirds, Darwin cactus finches on this island. I'm sure I'm not remembering others that we saw, there was so much to see on this island.

If you go to Galapagos, do not miss visiting Espanola--it is the one to see if you can't do anything else.

Ubiquitous and beautiful!

2010-04-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

They're called "Sally Lightfoot crabs". And they are ubiquitous, and I think they are very beautiful in a creepy sort of way. Their colors are just fantastic. And I love the name, since I have a daughter named Sally. Guess what she got as a souviner? You guessed it, "crab" artifacts.
A beauty on the beach!
This one has a prime viewing spot.
Watching them scrabble over the rocks and jump from one rock to another, you can see why they have the name Sally Lightfoot, a famous dancer. They fairly dance from one place to another. Often we saw them crawling across the backs of marine iguanas, the iguanas don't move much, and the crabs are always on the move.

One thing I never resolved in my mind is how something this colorful survives, because its coloration is definitely not a protective element! They just seem to be screaming "eat me!" when the beautiful red crab scrabbles over black rocks. But I guess enough of them survive, even with being a tasty food source. Of course, we never ate them, no fishing on Galapagos for humans!

Most of the animals in Galapagos are totally unfazed by humans being around them. They are completely protected from any harm or intervention. All islands are marked with trails, and you must be accompanied by a trained Galapagos Park Service guide to even set foot on the islands. And the amount of "people traffic" per day on each island is very closely controlled.

We had some excellent guides on our tour, some very highly educated people, who were natives of Galapagos or Guayaquil Ecuador. They certainly knew their facts, and shared them with us as we walked the trails on each island.

U-B-I-Q-U-I-T-O-U-S!

2010-04-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

Fernandina Island
Now, isn't this a face only a mother could love?
I've tried counting them, but can't quite get past the tails that are tangled together. This was just one rock covered with marine iguanas, this is on Fernandina Island, the newest island of the Galapagos. I think I heard the number 300,000 marine iguanas on the islands, I can believe that! On this island we found very rugged terrain, sharp volcanic rock covered with algae, which makes for very treacherous footing! I fell on my first step onto this island. Others in the group hit the lava more than once, just like I did. But it was totally worth the trip, because we saw sooooo many things here.

We saw, marine iguanas, Sally Lightfoot crabs, flightless cormorants, Galapagos hawk, yellow warbler, sea lion pups playing, sea turtles, frigate birds, so many other things I can't even remember. Awesome!

Where in the World......?

2010-04-25T10:07:00.001-07:00

....has Sew What? been? I've been very far away!
At the Blow Hole rock formation on Espanola Island, Galapagos, Ecuador April 5-15, 2010.

I've crossed the equator at least 6 times since I last reported. Yes, I've been in South America, Ecuador to be exact, and from Quito, Ecuador, my brother and I went to the Galapagos Islands.

This was a trip that was many months in the planning. We first decided to go on the trip in April, 2009, paid our money to secure the room on the cruise ship in May, and have been slowly getting ready for our big adventure.

Since this was a first big international trip for both of us (not counting a trip to British Columbia about 11 years ago, and crossing the border to go to Tijuana once), we were both a little apprehensive. My misgivings were these: Would we get along in a Spanish speaking country without much usuable Spanish? Would the airplane actually get us to our destination without too much trouble? What about customs? What about passports? What about money? And would I be able to actually tour the islands because I'm old and somewhat out of shape?

So starting with the first question: Spanish--in Ecuador, there are many English speaking people. Since most of our interactions with local folks invovled the exchange of money, and they use American dollars in Ecuador, we somehow spoke the common language of American Dollars, so all retail transactions were rather easily accomplished. Lots of smiles, pointing, cuando???, holding up fingers to indicate how many dollars, and showing $20 bills got me what I wanted! Quito is a shopper's paradise, on one street, there was the entire street full of fabric vendors, cashmere, alpaca, bolts stacked to the ceilings, $3-$5 per yard! And I wasn't able to shop because we were on a tour with a time deadline! I swear I'm going back some day with two empty suitcases, and going to reap a bonanza of treasures to take home. I did OK as it was with the shawls, shirts, blouses, purses, leather goods, and carvings we found at an open-air market. I did so well, I had to buy a big bag--duffel bag size--to carry my treasures home. That extra 2" expansion on the new suitcase wasn't going to cut it! Anyway, the new suitcase left room for more treasures, once we got to the Galapagos. And I have nice cool souvenir from Ecuador.

Second question--about the airplane (I really hate flying): There was a potential disaster on the horizon when in Miami, they declared our airplane as unable to fly to Medellin, Colombia, as the reverse thrusters didn't work, and we would fly off the end of the runway if we tried landing in that plane. Glad they found out about that before we took off. But lucky for us, another plane was just sitting around ready to take its place, and we were only delayed by an hour, which they made up by fast flying. When we got to Medallin, we had to pick up our suitcases, go through customs, pick up our boarding pass, go through customs again and get on our airplane. Now, when we had gotten off the first plane, the second plane was parked right next to it, but it was a long journey of running up and down stairs to get on the next flight. Some very friendly Colombians at the airport kindly helped us, carried our suitcases up the steps for us, and helped us to negotiate all of this. So that part of the worry turned out OK.

Customs was not fun, but not terrible either. The longest wait and most frustrating customs experience was in Atlanta when we got back to the U.S. at 5 a.m and 300 people were waiting to go through customs. Then we had to get our suitcases, take them 50 feet to another place to check them in, and finally we were on our way home for the last leg of the journey. Oh, and to leave Ecuador, you have to pay $28.27, exact change desired--an airport tax, just to make sure you went home with very little cash left! Crazy!

Passports were not a problem, we have lots of stamps now. Money, no problem, except that I left quite a bit of it in Ecuador!

The physical aspects of the trip were challenging. We walked at least 2-3 hours every day, some days on some very rugged terrain. But it was definitely worth it, because we saw some of the most amazing sights you can imagine. I will post some of the most spectacular of my pictures in subsequent posts. The trade off was that we got to swim/snorkel at least once a day, and one day we got two opportunities to snorkel. We saw so much wildlife, it is hard to explain how much there was to see. The word UBIQUITOUS is the best adjective I can give for the amount of iguanas, crabs, birds, fish, penquins, sea lions, turtles. There is so much to see in Galapagos. It truly was a trip of a lifetime, and I'm glad I got to go on this adventure while I was still physically able to do it.

And, I'd go back in a minute!

The Big 70

2010-03-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

70 years ago today, a wonderful guy was born. The doting family got their boy child to carry on the family name. He was cute, photogenic, and had lots of adoring relatives to fawn over him. He was smart (his mother said so many times!), quiet, and a good boy. He liked airplanes, cowboy stuff, and there was even one picture of him on the back of a horse!

He grew up and his intelligence took him through engineering school, and led to a wonderful scholarship for a Masters Degree at Northwestern University. His professor advisor now has a building named after him on the University campus! His study led him to work in the military/industrial business, designing radar for miitary planes. The childhood love of airplanes came back to become his life's work.

The cowboy connection returned into his life in the late 80's and early 90's when he got several chances to work offsite in Texas. He fell in love with the place! He came back from his long stint driving a Jeep 4 x 4, with several cowboy hats and pairs of cowboy boots in the back, and enough Tex-Mex decor to fill a couple of houses! Imagine my surprise when my very frugal partner called one night and asked if he could buy a $250 pair of cowboy boots! I almost fainted when I heard that! And he had a serious desire to move to Texas permanently if it were possible, to the point of dragging me around to look at houses during one of my visits there. But, I think his love of horses was limited to attending a rodeo or two and watching someone else ride! He got to assist his daughter-in-law in the process of turning a stallion into a gentler sort on one visit, and that about did it for him to squelch any love of horses! Let someone else deal with them!

The children remember things such as his advice "Measure twice, cut once." It took him a whole year to cut the studs for a basement remodel. When they were all in place, we said, "Good, now you can put up drywall." Hold on, not so fast! Every stud was cut to perfection and was solidly in place without one nail holding them! He had to take the entire thing down to nail down the baseplate, THEN nail up the studs before more progress could be made! Meticulous.

Another love of his was building garden walls. The first project lasted for 3 years from beginning to end. Big learning curve, plus the trips to Texas came in between and the infamous Flood of '93 made building outdoors a challenge that year! When we moved to the country, he ordered 1000 wall blocks to landscape a big house without one stick of outdoor hardscape, unless you want to count the 12 patio stones that were outside our two basement patio doors.. It took him several years to complete the wall building there, but everything was very nicely done and looked great. He wanted to build walls at this house, but we ordered the blocks when he was ill, he could barely pick them up. I had to have professional help to finish those walls, but they still remind me of him. I even did some wall building myself one year, after watching the master at work through all those projects!

The city boy was really a country boy at heart. He loved our country home, composed of 160 acres of land practically filled completely with trees, that place was his dream come true. He lived there and revelled in the woods. He wished to die there, if only wishes could come true!

We are not celebrating the birthday today in the usual way--beef stroganoff, noodles and German Chocolate cake. Those were the items on the menu on March 27 for many years. It has been almost 4 years now that we've been without our dear man. The Good Lord took him June 2, 2006, after a 22 month battle with brain cancer. He fought the good fight, and was positive till almost his last day on earth that the next day he would wake up and be all better. He finally accepted his fate one night, and said to me, "Well, I guess I'm screwed." He died 3 days later, quietly and with dignity. We were all with him till his last minute on earth.

So, here's to you Edwin, we'll remember you always. Your oldest grandson looks like you when you were 4, we have both of your pictures next to each other--there is an amazing resemblence. Grandson #2 told people for a long time, "See, I have a good airplane, my grandpa likes this airplane!" It's too bad that the younger grandkids don't remember this grandpa, because they were so little when he was taken away. Little Boy M said the other day, "I miss my grandpa. But I don't remember him that much!" It's amazing he does remember his grandpa, because he was just two when Grandpa passed away. His little sister was only 9 months old, and professes to remember her grandpa. Probably from the stories her mother and brother and aunts and grandma have told her. Your son and youngest grandchild bear your first name, and will carry on the family name to future generations. There must have been a reason God gave our son his three sons! To carry on the family name proudly.

Anyway we all have good memories of our dear husband, father, brother-in-law, cousin, grandpa, we say hi everytime we pass the cemetary near our house, and on March 27, we remember that a really great guy celebrated his birthday on this day.

And our little friend in the country shares his birthday, so Happy Birthday to you, Lady L! You are growing up too fast.

my bags are packed, I'm ready to go.....

2010-03-27T17:19:00.001-07:00

Yes, in about 9 days, I'll be leaving on a jet plane, bound for the middle of the Pacific ocean.

Wow, why would anyone want to go that far and pay that much money? Well, Charles Darwin found the destination quite charming, and his books on the subject have been classics for over 100 years.

I'm talking about the Galapagos Islands, 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador. (I think my brother computed that to be about 600 miles from Ecuador.) That's really in the middle of nowhere! No cell phone towers here, I'm sure!

My brother is a big fan of Jeopardy, as I am also. He retired a couple of years ago, and that makes watching it on a very regular basis quite possible for him. I'm usually free to catch it, if the afternoon sleepytime doesn't take precedence. Last year, Alex Trebek and his Clue Crew went to the Galapagos to film some clues for their show. They had a contest to invite a viewer to go with them. My bro entered but did not win the trip, but it didn't stop his desire to go there. He found out our favorite cruise line was sponsoring a trip or twseveral trips to the Galapagos, and he offered the invitation to his two sisters to go with him. I thought about it for a while and decided it might be something on my "bucket list", so I agreed to go with him.

The downsides to this trip are: it's during the school semester, so I'll be missing 2 full weeks of school; it cost and arm and a leg, and a couple of other body partts added in; and it is darn far away!

Most people who I share the information that I'm going are so enthusiastic. I'm just apprehensive--going so far away, what will it be like? Will I be able to climb all those volcanoes and run away from the blue footed boobies? How will my veiny legs look when I'm snorkeling? Norovirus? Tsunamis? Earthquakes? Will any of those things scourge us? And how about a long airplane flight?

I'm not a veteran of international travel. I'm already experiencing culture shock and I haven't even set foot on the plane! I guess I need to do this to experience what my students have already experienced. They got out of their comfort zone of their home culture and came to the U.S. for something else. This trip is a trip of a lifetime, and I hope it turns out good.

Wish me luck with the Darwinian wildlife, the cruise ship, the airplane ride, and the shock of showing my winter pale but heavily veined legs in public! I'm not sure which aspect has me more apprehensive.

In the past, when I've been scared or unsure, the event usually turned out great. I sure hope it works out this way also.

Note to thieves: I have a very moody and unpredictable cat guarding my property. Plus, he has a daily Cat Checker, who will be on call at the littlest problem. Leave my house alone.

Hello, Stranger!

2010-03-22T18:25:00.001-07:00

Hello, Blog. Long time no see! What have I been doing? Well, the list is long.

March 9 was the last post. Since that time I've:

Gone to three funerals--some folks were ready to go, others fought it until the end.

Visited a very much alive friend, who is very sick with cancer. But he is not feeling pain, just uncomfortable, and trying to make peace with what lies ahead. It was a great visit. He was such a help to us when my hubby was sick with cancer, he drove Ed to all of his radiation treatments. Every day for 6 weeks straight. It helped us, because then I could continue to work.

Each of the funerals I've gone to in the past month have reconnected me with old friends who lost loved ones. It's bad for their loss, but good for reconnecting with people you haven't seen in a long time.

Had more meetings with the production staff of "The Producers", our summer show that we are already working on. Wow, is this going to be a big job!

Had a date with my favorite guy--too bad it's a guy about to celebrate his 6th birthday, he'll be 6 on Wednesday! He was charming, witty, delightful as we purused the Lego aisle at Toys 'R Us, looking for just the right birthday gift. Then we went to lunch, then home for some good old Lego building. What a cutie he is!

Spring Break found us not enjoying spring one bit, as it was cold and rainy many of the days. One day it was pretty, but that was followed by a rainy, snowy, cold windy day.

Made TWO matching meals for my family on Sunday. One was for the ones who had a taste for great-grandma Lawler's Irish boiled dinner--corned beef and cabbage. The other was for the non-Irish traditionalists, pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes and gravy. Nice to have my kitchen table surrounded by family, and it wasn't even Christmas or Thanksgiving!

Found a new fabric store over in Illinois. There's something over there besides strip clubs, crooked politicians and.....NV! Great store in Wood River, IL. I'll be back!

Maybe, maybe, I have a potential paying sewing gig. A new Irish store opened in our fair city, and the owner is looking for someone who can sew custom garments. I've gotten 3 patterns for kilts, jackets and I'm reading through the booklet on how to make kilts. It's an undertaking, that's for sure, but the end result is better than making a costume to last two weekends for a show then get stuffed into a high priced closet. A kilt is a serious garment, destined to last a lifetime--providing you don't consume too many Irish potatoes and make your tummy grow! Serious money goes into them, also, and serious money comes back to the seamstress!

Saw "Crazy Heart" at the movies--Jeff Bridges was very, very good, and it was a very good story. The chair was uncomfortable, we were in the 3rd row, and my neck was sore. But the movie passed so quickly I didn't even squirm. Go see it, it is good! Also saw "Noises Off" by Clayton Community Theatre. I don't know how anyone survives all the physical humor of that show. It was very entertaining.

So, that is what has been keeping me busy lately. That, and I discovered Facebook games, the time waster of all time-wasters. Naughty. One member of my family actually tried to give it up, it was her addiction, and she was going into a 12 step program to quit. She has fallen off the wagon, sorry to say. But now we can be in competition once again to see who gets the most points in Bejeweled Blitz!

Hope to keep this blog updated with more Producers news.

A Pile of Kleenex, and menthol breath

2010-03-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

That is my plight right now--I've emptied at least 3 Kleenex boxes in the past 3 days, and have had to search for the Halls. I've been lucky to evade the swine flu, the seasonal allergies, the winter cold, and now it is March. This is my traditional month to succumb to whatever virus is still left standing after all those others have passed away.

Right now, I'm only slightly miserable, with a drippy nose and sneezes a-plenty. I hope it doesn't get much more troublesome.

So wish my antibodies luck, fight off this virus, and leave me to enjoy my spring break next week with a healthy body!

The Cake Lady

2010-02-20T17:03:00.002-08:00

Just a little old cake for a party we had on our block, thrown together by Miss Chaquita, the Cake Lady.

I met her on one of the days when I was signing the papers for my new house in early 2006. She was delivering a cake to the real estate office in our new subdivision. I learned then that she would be my "across the street" neighbor, and she would move in to her house shortly after we moved into ours. She was very friendly, and had made such good friends with the realtor that she had baked her a cake!

I snuck a look in her new kitchen one day when the workers were finishing up before she moved in--the stove and ovens were a definite upgrade beyond what was in my "spec home" kitchen. Double ovens, and a nice gas cooktop. You could tell there was a serious cook who was going to move into this house!

It didn't take long for her and her hubby to make friends with the neighbors. Many a hen fest began out on the driveways. The roosters met in the garages, and we planned block parties and get-togethers. More and more neighbors were moving into the new subdivision, and each one was welcomed, usually by Chaquita, and she usually had a delicious cake in her hand as a welcome gift.

She and her hubby were especially helpful to me, because my husband only lived 3 months in our new home before he passed away. And at his funeral dinner, she offered us one of her delicious pound cakes covered with the fudge frosting. My whole family was initiated to what treats were made on a regular basis in that gourmet kitchen, and they all knew her as the "cake lady".

The Halloween cake was created for one of our Halloween block parties, where we all gathered on someone's driveway, a firepit with a blazing fire in it to warm us all, usually planned by Chaquita and Anne, the two professional cooks on the block. We had a great time, chatting, eating, drinking Chaquita's slushies! Who cared if no kids came to get Halloween candy? The grown-ups were having their own kind of fun.

She helped me make my groom's cake for my daughter's wedding, since it had a challenging kind of icing on it. The cake turned out great, even if I did bake it!

We all got the shock of our lives this week. Our dear friend Chaquita, the cake lady, passed away suddenly on Monday. She had been feeling ill with the stomach flu, and in the middle of the night, she got up, but had a deadly brain aneurism and was found on the bathroom floor by her husband. Sadly, the paramedics tried to save her, but to no avail. We had to say goodbye to our dear friend, her sad funeral was held today, with hundreds there to give testamony to her life.

When you know someone whose life is in the hospitality field, you know that this person thinks of others. Her creations in flour, sugar and eggs went beyond a mere baked item, they were her expression of love to all who tasted what she made. She always wanted to make sure everyone was satisfied, that their hungers were filled. It could have been a hunger for food, or for friendship, she tried to reach out and fill the need. We all gave testamony to the fact that our lives were touched deeply by her life, and our lives will have a huge hole in them because she is gone.

We will miss you, Chaquite, aka "cake lady". The memories we have of your tasty concoctions only enhance our memories of your friendship and love. Enjoy it up there on Cloud 9, and give those angels some delicious devils food cake! Sinfully delicious!

The Cuz Fest

2010-02-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and quickly melting the vestiges of snow from the ground. The Groom was nervous, the bridesmaids were glamourous, and the bride absolutely beautiful! The little two year olds, ring bearer and flower girl, were flawless in their entry! It was truly a beautiful wedding.
Beautiful rose and program handed to each of us as we entered.

I had not met the bride and groom before the wedding. The groom is one of my cousins sons. This wedding was an occasion for cousins of all generations to reconnect! Better a joyous occasion such as a beautiful wedding than when we are ready to put one of us in the ground!

Here are almost all of the cousins of this generation (Father of the groom's generation) who were in attendance, as we gather to celebrate, salute and chat! Don't we look well preserved for being of grandparent/great-grandparent age!

This is three generations of cousins, my cousin (fourth sibling of the father of the groom) is the grandma, her daughter and the handsome gentleman on the left are cousins, and the baby is yet a cousin--once removed, or is it second cousin? I never could figure that one out!

We were wined and dined at a wonderful wedding reception venue call Windows on Washington, in the near downtown area, which is a big warehouse now loft space that has 8 floors of party rooms. We got the top room, and the view was spectacular. It was awash with candle light, beautiful chandeliers (we think the one was a Dale Chahuly creation--pricey indeed!) The lobby has a huge pool with rain falling from the ceiling on some Dale Chahuly-like lily pad/flower glass creations. When you came in the door, an attendant poured you a glass of bubbly to get your evening started!

Then the delicious sit-down dinner, with ever attentive wait-staff (where is that glass I thought was here a minute ago? Oh, he scooped it up and took it away!) Lots of drinks, a big dance floor, and plenty of space to use for visiting. They had a live band, which was very good. Here's the skinny on that--live band plus concrete loft room equals hearing loss and vocal chord strain if you want to hold a conversation instead of dance. So we cousins, who aren't really the dancing fools we once were, did suffer from throat irritation by the end of the evening trying to recall old times!

But, it was a delightful night. We wish the best to the new bride and groom, we thank their wonderful parents for throwing such a nice party, and the best part was to see my cousins that I haven't seen in quite a while, AND we were not at a funeral!

Friday Update

2010-02-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

No snow.

But it is on our doorstep.

Colon fine!

Good day!

In the Eye of the Storm

2010-02-04T18:13:00.000-08:00

The weatherman has predicted this for days. Dire predictions have followed more dire predictions, followed by softening of the dire predictioins, followed by increasing the dire predictions.

We're going to have a snow event in our state.

First it was supposed to start at noon today, then late afternoon.

It finally started about 6 p.m.

Now, what is coming down appears to be some sort of freezing rain, sleet, or frizzle. It is covering the street with a wet coating, but I'm not brave enough to go out and test it out.

My deck freezes quickly, so it is covered with ice.

We are supposed to get snow by morning, with an accumulation of 3-5" by then. I'm hoping not, because I am scheduled for an unpleasant medical test tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn, and really want to get it over with!

I'll let you know the outcome of both events.

Hippity Hop, Easter's On Its Way

2010-02-03T20:27:00.001-08:00

I've shopped for Bunny items, filled the baskets,g sampled the candies and now I guess we are ready for Easter Sunday. Since I'm leaving the next day for South America, Easter is one of those things that I'm putting sort of on the back burner for this year.

One thing I have to do today is spend my usual 3 hours in church for Holy Saturday Mass tonight, This has been a tradition for me for practically 30 years. I have been a part of a choir that did Holy Saturday Mass services practically every year since the early 80's. It is one of the most dramatic and interesting, even though very long, Catholic Mass Liturgies in the entire year. It is the highest feast of the Church year, a time when all things are renewed to celebrate and commemorate Jesus' rising from the death to a new life.

The night starts out in darkness, and a fire is built in the church which starts the ceremony of lhe church year. Sometimes I worry about being stuck in the far corner of the church far away from the door when they start the fire, hoping it doesn't somehow flare up and set the place on fire. I guess that is one benefit of having a church with an asbestos ceiiing, it can withstand flames!

Then we read and sing in response to the stories that lead up to Christ's coming, His ministry and finally death on the cross. Then we throw the swithch to sing, "Glory to God In the Highest", once again coming out of the darkness of the Lenten season to the joy of the Easter season.

Then a long but meaningful process begins of admitting new members into the church. Even though people can be baptized at any time of the year, many chose be baptitized on Holy Saturday, especially the adults. They prepare for many months prior to the day of their baptisms. We have the blessing of the new water before the baptisms.

One year, almost 20 years ago, I was working with the group who prepared the logistics for this special evening. Since fire, light and water were such strong symbols in this liturgy, our fire and water symbols were weak. So the team designed a beautiful holder for a nice firepit (sorry Chinese restaurant, we stole one of you woks for our firepot), and we built an actual garden type pond in the sanctuary. I was on the pond committee, having jusrt finished a pond in my own backyard. We used a concrete mixing box as our pond liner, My hubby built a wooden support for a nice flat waterfall rock, and we finished it off with stones around the edge, and lots of plants and flowers. At the prescribed time in the liturgy, someone turned the switch and the water flowed over the waterfall, making a nice trickling sound as emphasis on the symbol.

So many people commented on this, they loved it Some just thought it was a nice decoration, and didn't put the symbol idea in their minds. I moved away after a few years, and actually got to build one of these at my new parish, which they used for exactly one year. When Ed was sick, I was off the choir/church committees for a year. Imagine my delight when I returned to the parish I am now in, and they had literally resurrected the old pond from the early 90's and rebuilt it in the new church sanctuary. I saw it and instantly got teared up! It was a symbol from the past that was so meaningful to me. And now, I guess we're going to be using it for the future!

So that is another reason to want to go to church tonight. Plus, I'm part of the singing and solo group that will be providing the music.

So Happy Easter to you all. Celebrate in what ever way you want, but remember to look past the bunnies and Easter Egg Hunts, and remember, Jesus died to save us all, and His Death and Resurrection are the keys to our salvation in the next life.

The bathtub swimteam

2010-02-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

Wednesdays are grandkids day at my house. I pick them up from school, feed them, entertain them for a couple of hours until Mom comes home from her work. We have a whole room full of toys, such as Lego sets, dollhouse, 15 Barbies, Hot Wheels, the room can hardly hold more entertainment. But the big draw at Grandma's house is HER GIANT BATHTUB!

When the late Mr. and I bought this house, it was a "inventory home" (spec house in my vernacular.) We needed a house, needed it soon, wanted something new, and this would do. One of the assets that was pitched to us as we looked it over was the garden tub and separate shower. This was nice, and it is an asset, but not really something I had to have in my bathroom. I had a huge Jaccuzi tub in my former house, and barely used it once a year. It was fun the first couple of times, but it took 20 minutes to fill, and by that time, I was out of the mood. Same with this garden tub.

I must admit, on tired achy days, when I was weary from working outside, or when I was actually moving (I moved into this house before I moved out of the other one), the tub saved my body from complete anguish. I use it occasionally for that purpose. But the real demand for the garden tub is for the grandkids, when they want to take a bath at Grandma's house.

They are still young enough to be bathed together, even though we have a boy and a girl. They want to swim with the plastic fishies I have in the closet, they want bubbles, and if given the chance, they would splash every drop of water out of the tub on to the walls and floor. Grandma says no to that, as the area around the tub isn't exactly kid-proofed! Need to invest in some ceramic tile to reach up to the ceiling to spash-guard the area!

They have the best time in the big bath tub. We have to go through the bathing the dirty parts first, then the play continues. The squealing and splashing got to the adults tonight, so we moved a few feet away but could still watch them. I saw little girl M try to take some swimming strokes in the tub, no sweetie, this isn't Aunt MonkeyGirls swimming pool, this is a bathtub! But they had a grand old time.

So, every time they come to Grandma's, they ask for a bath. Luckily I have a stash of clean undies and PJs, so it helps mom get them ready for bed by the time they go home. And it is fun to see them have such a good time, even if the mop is needed after the swim team is finished with its evening session.

Takin' a break!

2010-02-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

Now that I've done my costume job in January, I'm taking a break from costuming for a while. No more until summer, but that is a big one!

I can clean up the sewing room, and it might stay somewhat clean for a few months.

I can get my quilt fat quarters out and start working on 72 Ohio stars for my new quilt for my bed.

I can grade papers at night!

I can play with my grandkids and not have to pawn them off on Aunt MonkeyGirl.

I love to costume for shows, but sometimes you need to take a break. I'll be researching and scouting for bargains for my summer gig, which is "The Producers", which will be a huge show. In the meantime, I'll rest up the sewing machines and my brain, because I'll probably need it this summer.

The taxman cometh....

2010-01-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

You probably know by reading my blog titles that I like to parody famous songs, phrases, or other author's words...somehow that gives some credibility to my writing that I don't have by making things up on my own.

A couple of weeks ago, it was the milkman who cometh, now it is the taxman. Isn't the real title " The Iceman cometh"? I'll have to research that.

Anyway, we all know that the taxman cometh, or we can keep him from cometh-ing in person by being dutiful and preparing our tax returns on time, submitting them, sometimes laying out great deals of cash to the taxman, or waiting patiently for him to return some of the excess money we've lent him over the past year. If the taxman cometh to your house, "yo in a heap of trouble, boy!"

So, I'm ready for the drill. It took me 3 hours to get it all together this morning, but the receipts, 1099s, w-2s and other stuff are all arranged, numbers written neatly for the accountant to review, and ready for Monday afternoon's appointment to get my tax return prepared.

I think being ready on Feb. 1 is a record for me, the earliest that I have been ready for this event. I just hope I have good news, find out that I am owed, rather than I owe ( "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go...." Another parody!), and get the whole messy affair over and done with. I'm not one who will get huge bunches of money back, but if I don't have to pay a bunch, I'll be rejoicing!

Here's hoping!

Waiting..... waiting.... waiting.....

2010-01-29T15:20:00.000-08:00

Waiting for what? For a big snowstorm to finally get to our fair city and make it all pretty and white again.

It has blasted areas south of us, but so far, not a flake has been seen in our town.

Should we be glad or sad? Until I'm home for the weekend, I'm glad. If it were a Monday morning, I'd be sad!

Maybe our waiting will pay off. Until something actually happens, life is on hold!

Hope Springs Eternal

2010-01-27T18:30:00.000-08:00

It has been icky, dreary, cold, windy, downright blustery and sometimes spitting snow at us for the past week. If you see the sun, better run outside quick, because you won't be seeing it for long.

So, the only thing for me that can make this kind of icky weather bearable is if it gets downright serious about snowfall, and GIVES US A SNOWDAY! Hope springs eternal, everytime I see it start to snow!

The last round of snow causing schools to close happened during the first week of January, when I wasn't in school yet for the spring semester. So, while it was a snow day for some, it was just an ordinary "ignore it and it might go away" snowy day for me.

Today, a snowstorm snuck up on us. It was dreary as usual. Clouds loomed low in the sky. I remember thinking for a fleeting moment, "those look like snow clouds, but the weatherman said it would not come here." So I went home and took a little nap. I was awakened at 3 with the weatherman on TV quickly backpeddling from his former erroneous forecast to tell us all it was snowing, and when I looked outside, he wasn't kidding! It was coming down heavy and fast, very thick big snowflakes!

Today was my day to pick up the grandkids from school and babysit until mom got off work. With the snow coming down as heavy as it was coming then, I immediately pushed the panic button, envisioned snow shoeing over hill and dale to get them at 4:30, so I sprung into action to arrange to pick them up early. I looked out, and the darn snow had stopped. I got in my car anyway, and by then, the snow was heavy again. Then I drove down the street, and it had turned to rain.

So, hope had sprung eternal for a big snow storm, and a SNOW DAY tomorrow. But the fickle weather is not going to cooperate. The moon was trying to beam through the clouds as we loaded up the grandkids for home, and the snow that did fall is all but gone.

Maybe next time--I hope to get a real snow day some time this winter!

In Appreciation.....

2010-01-24T09:56:00.001-08:00

New hardware to be enshrined in my home, as of Jan. 23, 2010. Enshrined among the scraps of fabric, unused costume pieces, sewing patterns, etc., etc., etc!

My name on "Special Award" trophies given for Stepping Out and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!

Last night, the Hawthorne Players hosted their annual awards banquet. Members of the group get to vote on those people who have done outstanding work through the past season. It is sort of like our own Oscar party. Awards are given to the best actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, cameo role. Directors and best show of the season are given awards, as well as the technical aspects of lighting design, set design, sound design. I think the list is complete..oh, oh, did I miss something? Like costume design? Let me check the list, no it isn't one of the categories.

I have costumed every show that this theatre group did (regular season shows, not their "best of Hawthorne" show, which is self-costumed by the participants) since they did "A Christmas Carol" in Dec. 2007. I guess they like my work because they keep asking me to do more. Either that, or they know I'm a sucker and will do it when no one else wants to do it! I've had a lot of fun doing this. You know from this blog that sometimes it gets tedious, sometimes I'm not liking it, sometimes it is hectic, sometimes I wish I would have never said yes to doing it. But, for the most part, I really enjoy costuming, and I take the good with the bad.

An actor or actress gets their kicks from "the smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the crowd". You are performing and entertaining, and that is your reward. If you are lucky enough to turn pro, you get some bucks in addition to the other rewards. We're community theatre, so that isn't the pay-off.

As a costumer, you don't quite get that kind of buzz from what you have done. If you make the director happy, or even just yourself happy with what you have created, then there is your reward. But it is nice to be honored for your work, appreciated for what you have done, when you've poured your heart and soul, and many hundreds of hours into your work. You make the actors and actresses look good, and they are for the most part appreciative, you help them portray their part in the show. And most actresses and actors love to dress up and look good, or silly, or poor and ragged, whatever the part demands. The clothing can motivate--I've seen that more than once! Someone who just wasn't getting it changed the moment he or she put on the costume. That's why I continue to do it.

Last night, two of the three directors who I worked with this past year, decided to honor me and my work with them and their shows by giving me the "special award" for their show. Not one but two! The third one, tongue in cheek said, as he praised my work, "No Jean, you aren't getting the award!" Everybody roared! He gave his award to a very deserving new member, who came in and shared his extraordinary talents to create exquisite set pieces for that show. We all know his value to our group!

I am so appreciative of recieving these awards from two directors who I love working with and whose work I respect greatly. The first director said, "Jean and I have bonded by sharing the sadness of losing our spouses in the same month". That is so true. And we bonded one day in early 2007, when I was costuming a show she was in, we bonded by sharing our stories of our losses in the back of Hancock Fabrics! A fitting place for beginning a wonderful friendship that I cherish deeply.

The second director, who herself was given awards for being the best director of the year, as well as her show being chosen best show (Joseph....Amazing Dreamcoat--it truly was amazing!) She deserved much praise because the original director for this show had to drop out just 10 days before auditions because of a family loss, and Renee stepped in and took over without a hiccup! The production staff for the most part agreed to stay on, and I was a part of that group. She was so supportive, giving of her very miniscule free time to come over to my house to help with the costumes. We tie-dyed together, she "be-jeweled" the Egyptian collars with hot-glue gun in hand, helped me hand sew 50+ snaps on the breakaway coat of many colors. I appreciated her help so much, plus I got to know her better, and we shared some "visions" for the play as we worked on costume pieces.

So, thank you, Hawthorne Players. I appreciate that fact that my work is appreciated. I hope to spend many more years as a costumer for your theatre group. The trophys are just a little added extra bonus for me besides the fun and satisfaction I get from making/providing costumes for your group's plays!

Yet another opening, another show!

2010-01-22T07:26:00.001-08:00

Scenes from Midsummer Night's Dream, by Clayton Community Theatre
Titania and the fairies
Titania played by Talichia Noah, who was also in Clayton Community Theatre's production of "Doubt" as Mrs. Muller--outstanding actress!
The Mechanicals planning their play for the Duke and his bride

Tonight is opening night for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare, presented by Clayton Community Theatre at Washington University South Campus Theatre, 6501 Clayton Rd.

Show times: Jan 22, 23, 29 and 30 at 8 p.m., Jan. 24 and 31 at 2:00 p.m.

It is going to be a very entertaining show! Hope you can come!

We struggled to get good pictures in this low light theatre, these are some of mine, but MonkeyGirl and a professional photographer took over 1000 shots, hope we can get a few decent ones out of those! I'll post them later.

My jobs for the last day were thus:
Find a new pair of pants for Lysander, he ripped the knee out of the ones I gave him when he tripped going off stage (it was a staged trip, hope he doesn't rip any more pants during the run!)
Laundrying Lysander's rumpled pink shirt
Making a new sign for Wall

And return a bunch of borrowed and purchased stuff that isn't going to be used.

It will be a busy day, and I will earn my sleep in tomorrow morning, because today will be non-stop until late tongiht!

Work trumps Leisure!

2010-01-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

Darn, I hate when this happens!

Work has trumped my leisure time activity of gathering and building costumes for the play that starts in 6 days.

I must say that I haven't been completely idle when it comes to the costuming gig, it is just that no significant progress has been made since Monday.

Monday--got up early to make the lion head. Left work on time, came home to finish it, and took my previous week's worth of gathered and built stuff to rehearsal to try on the actors and get direction from the director. THIS DAY WAS PRODUCTIVE!

Tuesday--Work was very busy. Met with teachers, interviewed 8 potential students. Spent a good 6 hours at work. That night, I brought a cut-away coat to play practice for very tall man to try on--it was too short. Wanted to try on a muslin for an actress, she was home sick. NOT MUCH PROGRESS THIS DAY, EXCEPT TO GO TO PLAN B OR PLAN C for the coat.

Wednesday--family funeral WAYYYY down south in a community about 35 miles from my house. Contacted my favorite costume rental shop to find a longer cut-away coat. I didn't hear if they had one, a problem because I was very close to their warehouse when I was attending the funeral. On my way home, at least I went to another thrift store to look for more stuff, and found a few things, nothing earth-shaking. Did not go to rehearsal that night because I didn't know if the actress was going to be there. Ended up snoozing the evening away because I had a massive headache! SOME PROGRESS FINDING POSSIBLE PLAN B OR PLAN C GARMENTS FOR OTHER CHARACTERS.

Thursday--work begins to really trump costuming! Had to deal with lots of stuff, orienting teachers, changing class sections, waiting for decisions to see if some classes would be cancelled. Then had to go to a meeting of colleagues at the WAYYY down south campus. Heard from the costume shop, yes they did have a cut-away that could work. Good thing, because that shop is on the same road as the college where my meeting was. Came home at 4:45--went to choir practice at 7, then play practice at 8:30. They were doing something odd, saying all the lines in the dark theatre. My tall man wasn't there, and the director didn't want me to rent a coat--great! All that travel for nothing. Tried on the bodice for the actress, and know what to do with that, must make more adjustments on that. A COUPLE OF STEPS BACKWARD, AND MAYBE ONE INCH FORWARD!

Friday--NOT ONE COSTUME ISSUE SOLVED TODAY! I had arranged to have a tall wooden fence built in my daughter's back yard to keep the dogs in and the riff-raff out. That started at 8, then to work to plug away for 7 hours on writing syllabi, preparing schedules, copying handouts for my two classes that start Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. Left work at 3:15 to see the completed fence, which is lovely, and to pay my bill to them. Came home and waited for friends to meet me for dinner and a free show. NO PROGRESS TODAY.

SO, TIME IS PASSING, AND THE COSTUMES ARE STILL NOT FINISHED! I hope that this weekend will be productive and I get done what I need to get done.

My biggest issue right now, getting myself out of the computer chair and down to the sewing room! Wish me luck! COME ON GIRL, YOU NEED TO GET IT IN GEAR!

The Lion Roars Tonight!

2010-01-11T13:35:00.001-08:00

Gr-r-r-r-r!

Part of the Play within the play in Midsummer Night's Dream transforms one of the characters into a lion. No words spoken here, just growling!

I worked for about 3 hours putting all this hair on the mane! Turned out pretty spectacular, if I may say so myself!

The Milkman Cometh

2010-01-10T06:05:00.001-08:00

The Iceman came first, now......

Thisby is one of the mechanicals in Midsummer Night's Dream. The mechanicals are people who are planning to put on a play for Hippolyta and Thesius's wedding celebration. The personna of Thisby is lily-white, pure of heart, so hence......

THE MILKMAN!

Now this is a costume that would be hard to find at a thrift store! Quality Dairy, one of two big dairies that used to deliver in St. Louis, has been gone for over 30 years! I used Quality Dairy to deliver my milk, and it was quite convenient when I had little kids and no car! I was devastated when it went out of business! I found an artifact on eBay with the Quality Dairy logo, and tried to recreate it as closely as I could with my embroidery machine.

So here is Thisby's lily-white costume that I just built. I made the hat using a circa early 1900's Simplicity pattern, 2581, which has a man's and woman's duster coat and hat, made for riding in an open car. It was a challenge to get the crown to sit correctly, took a couple of rip outs and resews to get it right. I sure hope it fits! I think it looks pretty good. The coat was a jacket pattern that I had and the pants are a boxer pattern made long.

Thisby makes a change during the show as a mechanical during the play within the play. In that segment, he portrays the part of a woman, so he will have a costume change, one that might prove to be very hilarious! That personna will be Dorothy of Oz fame--my partner is making that dress. Can't wait to see it!

I've been doing quite a bit of shopping of sales and thrift stores to find the other costume elements. I have a lot in the collection right now, I need to share what I've pulled together with the director and actors on Monday. Then I'll know where to go from here.

P.S., I found my royal blue jacket for Oberon yesterday in an obscure little store in a semi-closed-down mall. But this is a brand new store full of promise and full of merchandise, and the prices are right! I have to check with the director on whether he still wants to go this direction, then pick it up Tuesday.

Time flies when you are having....snow?????

2010-01-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

I don't know where the first full week of January went. In one way, I'm glad it went fast, because January has always been my least favorite month of the year. Why? Need you ask? It is cold, nasty, windy, snowy, dreary, and as a teacher, the end of the school year is a lo-o-o-o-ng way off. My dear mother got sick and died this month, my dear father-in-law got sick and died in early February, my father died in March, so these months hold sad memories for me. Besides that, the Christmas bills make the budget tight, and my school doesn't pay the first paycheck of the spring semester till mid--February. I could go on and on, you get the gist of why I hate this month.

But I digress. The time this week went fast, and I'm not sure what exactly I accomplished. I was hoping to have most of the costumes for Midsummer Night's Dream collected or constructed, but that is not the case. I did get the Christmas stuff put away, at least the inside stuff. The outside stuff is frozen solidly to the ground, so that will have to wait for the January thaw. I rescued the "Holy Family" and brought it inside to the dining room where it waits to be put away in the garage.

Yesterday was spent coccooning because of frigid snowy, blizzardy conditions outside. It was a snowday! That's what you do on a snowday! I did manage to snowblow the driveway, walk and porch. Today, you can hardly tell I touched the walk and porch, because the wind blew all the snow off the roof on to the walk and porch. Oh well, let it be white. It continues to blow snow outside, interspersed with snow flurries and snow squalls to add to the whiteness. I think today is another day to coccoon.

But I must get to sewing something today. I have a lot of projects to complete, and need to get started on them. Here's what is on the sewing table: Milkman's outfit, pants, jacket and hat; Queen of the Amazon's sheath dress; lion's head; donkey's head; fitting muslin for a different top for Titania, Queen of the fairies; bus driver's hat. If I can get that done, we are much closer to being done. I have a lot of stuff lined up for my actors and actresses, much untried at this time, but at least we're closer than we were last Friday.

Wish me luck, and hopefully I will sew January, 2010 into oblivion!

P.S. while working on this stuff this week, I got two requests for 2 more outfits for other theatre people--that will have to wait til this show is over! Just one outfit for each request, but it will still have to wait.

The gods of costuming smile down on us!

2010-01-06T03:54:00.000-08:00

Costuming a show set in a certain period can be a challenge. Far distant periods are easy, you know you need to build most everything. And lately the pattern companies have responded to the fact that there are many re-enactors, Renaissance fairs, and adults who like to go to costume events. So, they have produced a LOT of really great patterns, including many with exquisite details, such as Civil War costumes.

The director of Midsummer Night's Dream has decided to set the show in the '50's-60's. "That's the 1950's, not 1750's! (to quote the artistic director Sam Hack when he spoke of this upcoming production). This time period suggests so many iconic images from TV and Hollywood, and we are going to try to recreate that look!

So, finding stuff that fits that period, that has the right cut, fabric selection, "reads" as true to the period is the challenge. I used my husband's high school year book to help me in this study. He graduated in the late '50's from an all-male school where everyone was cool!

The men wore: khaki pants (I remember most had a little fake back belt on them); narrow ties, narrow lapels; pleated fronts; cuffs, and BIG HAIR! Product was king back then, not the nice moussy stuff they use now, but BRILLCREAM (" A little dab will do-ya!") A greasy messy goo, that could be restyled during the day, and "Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb" was a song of the day, because you always needed your comb in your back pocket to restyle if the wind blew your pompador out of shape! Combs and mirrors, a must for guys in the '50's. I hope the props lady knows that she needs to provide a bunch of combs for these guys!

The women wore: poodle skirts! No, not everyone wore one of those! White blouses, a small scarf tied at the neck (when dating, this came in handy to cover the neck hickeys!); twin set sweaters; saddle oxfords; fake collars on sweaters (here's where my high school yearbook comes in handy, because that is what we were commanded to wear for our senior pictures); June Cleaver dresses; pearls!

We can fake the women's wear, because much ready-made stuff can be found that looks like the 50's, or it can be easily built. The men pose a different problem.

During my first thrift store forage for costume pieces, I found a perfect fitting jacket for one of my leading men, good color, found matching pants, it fit him well. It featured narrow lapels, 2 buttons, things that were found in that period of jackets. But there was something not quite right about it, and Scott, the director, figured it out--it had shoulder pads that were too massive. The cool guys of the 50's were more natural in the shoulder area.

So back to the drawing boards. Something compelled me to check my favorite (or equally favorite) thrift store in my neighborhood. There, hanging on the end of the rack, like it was put there by some higher authority, hung the perfect jacket. It's sleasy looking "lounge lizard" fabric drew me to it immediately. The cut was perfect, narrow lapels, ONE BUTTON (even better than 2 button!) It looked like it would fit.

Men's clothing is often not marked with size. If you do find a size label, it is usually buried in the inside pocket, many times washed out so badly you can't read it. So, while I was fishing around looking for the size tag, I spotted something. It was a label stating that this jacket was hand tailored for Mr. Morris on May 11, 1959! No wonder it looked period! It was made in that period! The gods of costuming certainly smiled on me yesterday! Next issue was, would it fit him? As I worked my way down the rack, I found another one, made for this same gentleman, same date, a little different cut. Not quite as perfect as the first one, but for $3.99, I took it also!

Took it to the theatre last night, and the gods continued to smile, because it fit my leading man perfectly, read like a 1950's TV show, and made the director smile (something that is becoming increasingly difficult for him to muster up lately as panic sets in!) I knelt and did a little "thank you" prayer for this one victory! I know now that my God is on my side for this costume venture--He had to guide me to that place and that time to find this perfect jacket. Not just generic gods or fates were invovled in this one, but the one true God, who is looking down and smiling on all of us! He's not just there for the big stuff, but He helps with the little stuff also!

Thank you, God!

On to the next costuming challenge, finding a royal blue, sleazy jacket or suit for the King of the Fairies, can I get that lucky to find something like that in ready made? We'll see, updates tomorrow!

Latest Costume Adventure

2010-01-03T04:46:00.000-08:00

My costume adventures usually start with some study. I did a little LIGHT reading to begin this adventure! Light reading, my eye! I strained my hand just picking up this book, which belonged to my father.

I am not a Shakespeare scholar, never have been. I've read two or three of his plays as a duty in high school and college, and vaguely know where "Out, out, damned spot" comes from. My Father quoted Shakespeare often, and I know some of his favorite sayings came from various plays.

What Fools These Mortals Be! Now I know who uttered that phrase!

I read every word of "Midsummer Night's Dream" and I must say, I enjoyed doing it. The words are beautiful, and even though he modifies verbs by putting his negative adverb "not" after the verb, I still like it. After all, don't we put "not" at the end of phrases now-a-days? Like, I enjoy cold weather--NOT!

And now I know, Puck says the wise words about the foolish mortals!

So reading the play only helps me to understand the plot line, understand a little about the characters and their relationships, but does not help me to paint a picture in my mind of how they should be dressed. For this, I have to rely on the vision that the director, Scott, has in his mind. He wants iconic images, readily recognized, from the 1950's, '60's to say something about the characters. He wants color, style of clothing, and images from the past to help us understand the characters. Can you remember the Honeymooners? (To the moon, Alice!) You might see Ralph Kramden in this show. What about Father Knows Best? The kids will show up here! Remember when the Supremes and Diana Ross reigned supreme? You'll be reminded in this show. And that extra smooth lady, Diana Riggs from "The Avengers" will make an appearance also! And my high school yearbook may inspire some of the girls' costumes! I swear one of Scott's internet images shows exactly how we looked in our yearbook pics, way back when!

So this will be an adventure to say the least. It will be an adventure in thrift store shopping, closet cleaning, and maybe a bit of sewing. Luckily, I have an experienced costumer who will aid me in collecting, and we ought to have a great time shopping together! I'm up for a challenge, and this just has a few weeks to be pulled together.

Wish me luck!

Cheeky Personal Trainer--Just what I needed!

2010-01-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

I, like many others in the U.S., have a fascination with the stories shown in full living blubber on "The Biggest Loser". I'm amazed at what these people have to go through mentally, physically and emotionally to overcome their weight problems. And judging from the amount of flesh shown in the first month by these folks, their weight problems are gigantic! But, the transformations are amazing!

Now, if I were standing in front of American in my pink sports bra and jogging tights, I'l have more than enough to show, but never quite as much as these folks walk around with. So, to say I could use a personal trainer is not understatement. I need someone to goad me on to bigger and better things, or should I say smaller and better things! Smaller belly, smaller butt, smaller arms, etc. You catch my drift. Enter Bob and Jillian--could I have someone like them in my life?

Now, I have no real excuse for not getting into shape on my own. I have a perfectly good treadmill downstairs, paired with an equally nice elliptical machine. Both are instruments of torture in my estimation, especially my elliptical. I can't stand to be on that more than 11 minutes at a time, it is such a painful experience! Lately, they've made good clothes hangers, dust collectors and are definitely in the way when the exercise room becomes the costume shop. I have the TV set up in front of them, a pleasant room to work out in, and there is no excuse for their neglect. The bathroom scale reads the same as the one at the doctor's office, so why not get going?

Why not? It is all SOOOOOO PAINFUL!

Lately I've tried a different workout, it is called KettleBells. These are weights, shaped roughly like a tea kettle, with a rounded handle attached to a ball of weight. I got several weights, and 10 workout videos to use with them. So far, I've made it through 1-1/2 of the introductory workout with the Kettlebells. I think it was doing some good, but I found that I needed the extra time in the weeks before Christmas, so I haven't done Kettlebells since Dec. 11.

My children must have seen that mom needed an extra boost in her fitness regime, because I was gifted with a Wii Fit for Christmas. They wanted to set it up for me on Christmas day, and when it asked me to step on board in front of the entire family, I rebelled! I'll do this in the privacy of my own living room, thank you, not in front of the entire family! I'd make a terrible contestant on "The Biggest Loser"--I won't even fess up in front of my family!

So, today, I got time to set it up. Bad news--I'm obese, have a high BMI, need to lose 50+ pounds to be my ideal weight (which I haven't been since my youngest child was born!). And I'm inflexible, have bad posture, can't balance to save my life, and who know what other bits of bad news I could get. So what else is new? I chose a svelt young man as my personal trainer, he was gentle but straightforward about my lack of ability on the balance board. And now, I get the idea that he might sass me if I miss a day!

Just what I needed, a cheeky personal trainer. I'll have to let you know if he shames me into becoming fit.

Can't we just take a skinny pill and make all transgressions of the past melt away?

209 in 2009

2009-12-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

This is my last post of 2009. It is my 209th post of the year.

To all my readers, may you have a blessed and happy New Year. May all your dreams come true, or at least may your move toward making those dreams come true.

To those who are sad and lonely, look to your friends to be there for you. Reach out to others, doing for your fellow man can bring a light into your lonely world.

For all, be happy, healthy and may this year be a good one for you all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Carol--Part 1

2009-12-31T16:43:00.001-08:00

The Hawthorne Players of Florissant, MO. presented Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" on Dec. 20-22, 2009. This was the second time this show was presented by this group, the first presentation was in 2007.

The story was adapted and directed by Nancy Crouse. She also designed the set. I designed the costumes, and constructed many of them. We saved the costumes from 2007 and were successful in recruiting most of the original cast to play the parts. This year, I had to remake about 20% of the costumes. Those little kids grew a lot in 2 years! Plus, we had some new actors and actresses involved in this show.

Paul James played Scrooge, growing facial hair and shaving his head and beard to make him look very authentic as Scrooge. Marley was a new actor, he also played the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come--Paul Luft was the actor. We also got a new Tiny Tim, as our last Tim got too big to be tiny! Thomas Yonke played this role, and sang like an angel!

Judy Yordon played the Grandmother, and Ken Clark played Old Joe. Both added their many years of stage presentations to do an excellent job in their part. Ken made himself up as Old Joe, he was unrecognizable by those who knew him best! Great job, Ken! Judy's many years as a theatre professor, specializing in oral interprettion, made her vital role of setting the scene clear to the audience.

I was also in the cast, making costuming and playing parts a double-juggle job. I guess it all worked out OK.

PROLOGUE

Judy as Grandmother, reads to her grandchildren on Christmas Eve. She chose the story "A Christmas Carol" to read to them, because they wanted stories that had romance, ghosts, adventure--this story has all of those elements.

The carolers mark the beginning and a running theme through out the entire show by singing "Carol of the Bell"--as the bell tolls to mark the passage of the hours.

Female and children carolers walk across stage to begin the show.

All pictures taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Part 2

2009-12-31T16:35:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMAS PAST

Scrooge sees his old mentor, Fezziwig, who is a bouyant and generous man, hosting his friends and neighbors on Christmas Day. "No work, boys, bring on the food, the drink, the decorations!" Fezziwig and Mrs. Fezziwig welcome their poor neighbors in for a feast and festive party.

Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig demonstrate the dance, welcoming all to join them.
The neighbors, young and old, join in the dancing and festivities.
Men drink freely, and cheerfully toast the Fezziwigs for their generosity.
Even the kids get into the act of the singing and the dancing!
Maids and cooks join in also--that's me on the right.

All photos taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Part 3

2009-12-31T16:24:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Scrooge's nephew, Fred, has invited his uncle to dine with them on Christmas Day. Scrooge dismisses Fred with a series of Humbugs! and Good Day, Sir! Fred regales his party guests with stories and games surrounding the circumstances of that dinner invitation, Scrooge's gruff demeanor, and finally a toast to Scrooge, "whatever he may be!"

Fred's party guests
Fred's party guests--I am on the far left
The elegant setting of Fred's home

The women dance and sing while the men keep time. Even this old lady could kick up her heels on this dance!

All photos taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Ghosts

2009-12-31T16:16:00.001-08:00

The ghosts mark the hours through the night, as Scrooge sees his past, the present and things to come.

Ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge's late partner. He is weighed down with the chains of money and distain of his fellow man (60 pounds of chains!)
The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge through his boyhood and young adult days, showing the pain and hurt caused by his uncaring ways for others.
The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge how things will be this Christmas Day
The final ghostly spectre shows Scrooge how he will be viewed in death--motivating Scrooge to change his path of life to become a generous helpful person.

All photos taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Part 4

2009-12-31T16:07:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

The Cratchit family, poor but loving, celebrate their Christmas with a tiny goose, and lots of love.

The Cratchit Family singing together
A happy family dances to celebrate Christmas
Tiny Tim sings "Silent Night" for his family

CHRISTMAS YET TO COME

In Scrooge's vision with Christmas Yet to Come, he is shown how he will be viewed upon his death. Nothing but his valuables are of any use to those around him.
Upon Scrooge's alledged death, his servants try to sell anything of value of his to Old Joe the pawnbroker.

All photos taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Part 5

2009-12-31T15:58:00.000-08:00

FINALE

Scrooge is finally convinced by his night visitors to change his life, be kind to his fellow mankind, and smile! He celebrates by breaking into a glorious chorus of "Gloria, In Excelsis Deo!" joined by the carolers. He and Tiny Tim wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, with Tiny Tim's blessing, "God Bless Us, Everyone!"

Scrooge and Tiny Tim greet the audience at the curtain call
Look at that smile--a man has been transformed!
Carolers as they introduce Act II

All photos take by Gerry Love, copyright 2009.

Off to the airport!

2009-12-30T16:35:00.000-08:00

Over the river and through the woods, to the St. Louis Airport they go!

The SUV knows the way over bright and glistening snow.

Over the river and through the woods, the guests have all gone home!

I love you all, but really now, our holiday is almost gone!

Movie Review--Invictus

2009-12-30T16:24:00.000-08:00

I must say, going to the movies is not something I usually do. Something has to really motivate me to want to go and sit in a cold dark theatre to see a movie. I hate going so much, I usually wait til the movie makes it to DVD, and if I'm still interested in it, I get the DVD. Sometimes, I actually watch them after I buy them! You should see my collection of never-been-opened DVDs on my rack.

Today my siblings and I decided to go to a movie. There is a pretty good selection of ones that I would consider paying to see, but we chose the movie "Invictus".

This movie is the story of Nelson Mandella as he took over the presidency of South Africa in the early 1990s, and how he managed to inspire the country to bond together as a homogeneous group, rather than two ethnic cultures who still remained apart. His wisdom was something that guided him to do this, taking steps to see that reverse discrimination didn't take hold, once he was elected as president.

Morgan Freeman made a wonderful Nelson Mandella, and Matt Damon made a great white leader of the rugby team. I had never seen a rugby game before in my life, and it doesn't look like something I'd like to engage in, but it seemed to bring the country of South Africa together after centuries of apharteid. Mandella saw to it that this occurred.

The story is taken from a book, so I'm sure there is some truth to the story. It was predictable and somewhat slow, but interesting, and Freeman/Mandella made it very believable. The final rugby game went on just a mite bit long, with the outcome predictable, but that was OK.

Clint Eastwood directed this movie, and perhaps he was setting the example for our country as our black president struggles to unite our people. That thought struck me as I watched, because Mandella was an outstanding and wise leader. And a silly game of rugby seemed to unite the people of South Africa in a common cause, as they struggled to become #1 in the World Cup Rugby world in 1995.

Very interesting piece of history. I did sort of nap at the beginning until it got interesting and I slept off lunch. But, all in all, it was enjoyable.

Ta-Da! I made it!

2009-12-30T06:13:00.000-08:00

I made my goal today with this post. I've made 200 posts in 2009. Maybe I could bore you all and make 209 in 2009!

I'm a goal oriented person. I look to a goal, figure out what it will take to get to that goal, and work toward it. It has been a trait that has taken me through some rough times. It got me through school and to my degree and to my chosen profession of being a teacher. I must say, some Divine Intervention also got me there! So, I'm not taking all the credit! I've definitely felt the Hand of God in many circumstances that led me forward!

I've known people who aren't goal oriented, and they drive me crazy. How can you just go on in life with no goals in mind or to work toward? I don't know how they think, but it certainly isn't my style!

In this goal orientation, I have an uncanny internal clock that tells me just exactly, almost to the minute (well maybe to the day) how long it will take and how much effort must be expended to get to the goal. Often, because I do sometimes procrastinate, it's last minute right up to the deadline before the goal is reached. That's because I sometimes piddle around getting started on the work. Oh well, nobody's perfect! I've certainly tested my internal time-line clock more than once when doing costuming for my shows!

Anyway, blogging has been a lot of fun for me. I don't know who reads this stuff, but it is a good outlet for me. I can share the joys and woes of the world with anyone who cares to read it.

Thanks, Blogger! And thanks, readers, hope you had some time to enjoy my posts!

Whoosh, it's gone!

2009-12-29T15:17:00.000-08:00

Put the cardboard collection outside today--on advice of my children who also live in this fair city, the recycling truck will take it away, and someday bring me a dumpster for it all. And the city will pay for it. Whoosh, it was gone when I came back home!

Went to do errands, including returning some unwanted, duplicate or ill-fitting gifts. The time it took was just two hours, but the money? I don't think I came out ahead, especially at the Mart of K's, where they still had their very attractive wool coats on sale, a long black wool coat for $55, I had to have one! Whoosh, the money that I saved by returning stuff was gone!

Came home and snuggled down for a short afternoon nap, which elongated into a long afternoon nap. Whoosh, the daylight was gone!

Now, I wish something would come through here and whoosh all the leftovers from Christmas out of here, the dirty sheets, dried up left-overs, crumbs, Lego pieces, and put away the dishes we used all weekend.

I guess I'd better get started, I think I'm the whoosh that will have to be doing all of that!

A Christmas Story hits home

2009-12-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

Gift giving in our family has become sort of complicated. We had 15 people in the house on Friday, all eager to accept and give gifts. But the rules of who to give to, what kind of gift to give, and who to just skip has gotten cloudy over the past few years.

Of course, most people want to give something to the little kids. They like everything, except that my most wonderful gift that I had chosen for Little Miss M was completely rejected by her. It was a darling gift set of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (Dwarfs????) with DVD of the movie. She took one look at it and said, "I don't want this". Her mother was aghast! So was I. But we had folks who cheerily adopted the dwarves, and we gave her the movie.

Then there are in-laws, uncles and aunts of various generations, big teenage kids who are problematic as far as who to include. We have people in our family who are in very different circumstances in regards to finances, so what works for one doesn't necessarily work for all.

So last year, MonkeyGirl devised an excellent plan. The siblings would give to each other. SewWhat, who is sibling to 3 and mother to 5 would give to all. That seemed to work out fine.

For my siblings, we just give to each other. It isn't an extensive gift list to fulfill, and it works out well. My brother is single, so I make sure he has a bounty of things he wants, and my sister does the same.

My children decided to do something different this year, and it turned out to be a big hit. They played "Rob Your Neighbor" for their gifts. Even though there was only 5 of them, it worked out OK. And there was robbing! But the theme of the day was "A Christmas Story" Two of the gifts were "leg lamp" ornaments, one accompanied by PJ's that had pithy sayings from the movie, such as "you'll shoot your eye out", "it's a major award" "fa-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra!"

My children love that movie! More than one spent Christmas Eve watching as much of the 24 hour marathon viewing of it as they could. And I have a new appreciation of it myself after sharing it with my students a few weeks ago.

So the "Rob Your Neighbor" thing may be the way to go next year. I'm not sure how they/we will be able to come up with any more interesting gifts than these kids came up with this year. A surger protector shaped like a human? Alien ice cube tray? Pac-Man hot mitt? How do they find these things? And the leg lamp ornaments and PJ's. I'm not sure how this can be topped.

But we have all year to figure it out--watch out, Christmas, 2010!

Getting close to the finish line

2009-12-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

The end is near!

Dire predictions of the end of the world?

No, just looking to changing the year on the checks I write for 2010.

Somehow, this change in numbering isn't nearly as momentous as it was to change from 1999 to 2000. We had to say a whole new number to start our year. I hear some people say Two thousand and ..... One guy who was a business owner here in St. Louis and did his own commericals always called it 20-0-6 (or whatever model it was, he was a car salesman).

So what will you say? Two Thousand and 10? or Twenty-Ten?

Only time will tell what will win out for the next decade.

Until then, date your next 10 checks with the year 2010 right now, lest you forget until you get used to the new year. Maybe you never write checks--forget that then, just have a good new year!

Do something, anything, you lazy person!

2009-12-28T16:25:00.000-08:00

After the craziness of the past few weeks, or should I say months, I barely crawled to the finish line of sending off my houseguests on Sunday standing up straight. In fact, I was laid low by a stomach bug that bit me in the night, and wanted to deliberately stay away from my guests so as not to impart them with an unwelcome virus. So I said good-bye, crawled into bed and there I lay until early Monday morning.

My get-up-and-go genes kicked in about 4 a.m. this morning. I had the urge to get up and do something, anything, and chastized myself for being such a lazy slug yesterday. But I deserved some rest, so eventually I forgave myself. I was up, showered and dressed, and had to wait for the 4:30 a.m. news to start!

What to do when you have no plans? Nap? No, I did enough of that yesterday. Read a book? Good idea, but maybe not today. Go to lunch and then shop, OF COURSE!

I owed MonkeyGirl a birthday lunch and a gift--she was laid low by a different winter bug and was sick on her birthday, Dec. 26th. So we arranged to meet for lunch, then she went off to visit a friend and I went shopping. Found 4 pairs of black shoes, a pink dollhouse, and some more toys for little grandson who will turn 2 in three weeks. What else could that child want than all the loot he got for Christmas, but we mustn't forget those January birthdays, even though January birthday boys probably have lots of toys to tide them over for the upcoming year.

I also managed to get a building permit for a fence we will be building at the M & M's house. Instead of it taking hours of bureaucratice manuevering, I got the permit in 15 minutes. This is unheard of in this fair city, but I think the guy wanted to go to lunch, wanted my $15, and saw no reason to mess around with me. Hooray!

I also got to IM chat with my BFF for the first time in about 2 weeks. We managed to both have a hour to spare early this morning for some good old chatting. Also got my laundry done during our chat time.

So, for a day that looked like it was going to be very unproductive, it turned out to be decent in accomplishments. Now, what to do tomorrow? Return stuff, that ought to be lots of fun. And maybe finish my housecleaning, which was interrupted by Christmas--never did get that 3rd bathroom completely cleaned!

The party is definitely over!

2009-12-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

Dec. 27--and all the guests are gone. The gifts are strewn all over the house, but the 2000 pieces of Lego that entered this house are somewhat sorted and hopefully have gone home with the rightful owners.

There are boring leftovers in the fridge, many bottles and cans to be recycled, and the trash dumpster is overflowing!

The memories are good though. Memories of cousins who don't get to see each other very often playing and having a great time together. Memories of little almost 2 year old grandson who gleefully exclaimed "Grandma's house!" as they pulled into the driveway! He came to find me over and over again during the visit, a somewhat sharp difference from the last time, when he was still clinging to Mommy. He was so good, and barely had any meltdowns. He even spent about 16 hours up and around on Christmas day and stayed cheerful until he fell asleep in his mothers arms about 10:30.

My own daughters were suffering from winter colds, and someone gave me a touch of the stomach bug, which wielded its ugly head during the night last night. So, I just hope no one catches any of that that, especially those far away from hom.

So today was nap day. They all had left by noon, dodging a short-lived but serious winter snow event. I hope the ones who drove to Iowa didn't get into a lot of snow, it was supposed to be east of us, not north of us.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. I spent many hours napping today, who knows what this night will be like, but I do have my good memories and a couple of good books to keep me company should the gods of sleep not come my way tonight.

Talent oozes out and spills on us!

2009-12-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

Today, when I went out to get my morning paper (even though it was noon), I saw a piece of paper blowing across the yard. I picked it up and was about to toss it in the trash can, when I glanced at the writing--

You are cordially invited to the Dickson's Family home for Christmas Cheer, food drinks, and a special holiday performance by the Dickson String Quartet.
When? Tonight at 7 p.m.

I was sure glad I picked up that piece of paper, because in the Dickson house, (our new neighbors), filled with a family of 12, the children all have talent oozing out of their pores, and it spilled out on us tonight!

This family moved into the house in November. The house is huge, it has 6 bedrooms, at least 3 baths, and several very large family rooms. I guess each of the 10 kids don't have their own rooms, but there are several sets of twins, so I guess they can share space. Mystery surrounded their move, because following the regular moving van came a piano moving truck, and even though I didn't see what they moved in, I knew it must be a very special instrument to get that kind of treatment. It is a huge concert grand piano, which takes up almost the entire width of the room.

Word filtered through the neighborhood, and one day was confirmed by Mrs. Dickson, that their kids are all musicians, and there are 4 of them who are attending UMSL on music scholarships, this is the Dickson String Quartet. Tonight they performed a short Christmas concert for the neighbors right in their own living room.

And, it was awesome! They are such accomplished musicians. They are in training with the Ariana String Quartet, that is why they moved to St. Louis from Washington state. They did a medley of Nutcracker music and then a Christmas Carol medley, and ended with a rendition of the very famous "Our Father" which was transcribed just for them. I loved every minute of it. Most of the neighbors attended, and even the little kids enjoyed it. They did an impromptu Christmas Carol sing-along, improvizing their parts as they played. Whoa--that is talent when you can make it up on the spot!

My dream when I heard that they all played strings was to one day hear them play. This was so special of their family to share their childrens' talents with the neighbors. Hopefully, this will become a tradition for them for as long as they stay in St. Louis, which we hope will be for a long time to come.

Merry Christmas, Dicksons! And thanks for a very special evening of fellowship and music!

Hooray!

2009-12-22T12:13:00.000-08:00

Hooray for two day shipping! My Christmas shopping will be helped immensely by this service!

Hooray for awesome neighbors! My newest neighbors have 10 kids, and they all play instruments. They are giving a holiday concert tonight for the neighbors, won't that be fun?

Hooray for sweet little boys who live next door and who are just old enough to inherit my own grandkids outgrown toys and equipment. The "Thomas the Tank Engine" set has found a new home and hopefully an excited recipient.

Hooray for gift bags! Makes wrapping a whole lot simpler than all that paper, ribbon and tape. And they are recyclable also. All gifts are now wrapped.

Hooray for all the nice Christmas letters and cards I've gotten. I'm so apologetic that you may not get a card from me this year, at least not before Christmas. But I appreciate everything you have done to remember me.

Hooray for friends and family! You all make the season have meaning and purpose. Love you all!

One for you, Two for me!

2009-12-22T02:17:00.000-08:00

I did 90% of my Christmas shopping yesterday. Usually, I'm well finished by Dec. 21, but not this year. I did it all in one day. I even got to online shopping, with the promise that it would be here by Dec. 23.

The problem with this shopping spree was that I found one gift for another and two for me. This confounds the Christmas shopping budget, to be sure!

So far, I have a DVD or two, a new outfit, a Christmas CD, warm socks, some Christmas snacks (chocolate, of course!). I quickly got myself out of the electronics department after eying a new flat screen TV (I don't even know where I would put it!), new camera (don't even use the old one!), computer (I hope to keep this one going for a while longer). I didn't even stop at the jewelry department--that would be very bad for the budget. I even found some necessaries, like Cheerios and printer paper.

Today, it is off to stores early this morning to get another gift for my brother, and perhaps order my Honeybaked ham for Christmas dinner. Then I hope to get going on trimming the tree and making this house ready for Christmas Celebrations!

Happy Dec. 22 to you all!

Yes, Virginia, there MAY BE a Santa Claus

2009-12-22T02:01:00.001-08:00

My dream day was yesterday. When I am in the midst of spending almost every waking hour working on costuming a play, my dream day is the day when I no longer have ANY RESPONSIBILITIES in regards to costumes. That day was yesterday, when I returned the last of the rental costumes to their rightful owner, and was finally free of my duties.

So--on to shopping. My dear friend from Mid-Mo had a doctor's appointment in STL, and that is always a good excuse for us to get together. Her appointment was late afternoon, so we met for dinner.

She was supposed to be finished about 4 p.m, and we were going to meet. I spent time lolling around Sam's Club to be near our meeting place, Applebees. She didn't call and she didn't call. Since her appointment was to consult about something potentially very serious, I got more and more concerned. Finally about 20 to 5, I called her. She said she would be finished in a short while and would meet me at Applebees.

Well, I figured it would be some time later, so I decided to go to Target to pick up a few things while I waited. Target is about 3 miles from Applebees. This was taking place at 4:45 on one of the busiest retail/going home roads in our city, Manchester Road. That word can conjure up nightmares for those who use it on a daily basis, and going quickly to Target WAS NOT A HAPPENING THING! In about 20 minutes, I was about 1/3 of the way to my destination. As it turned out, I wimped out before I got there, saw a mall that had a few potential stores where I could find what I want, and went in.

Meantime, my friend had gotten quickly out of the doctor's office, and was at Applebees, waiting for me. By the time we finally got together, she had waited a L-O-O-O-N-G time. But our meeting was great.

Then it was off to shopping for more things. The quest lasted until 9:30, way down in South County, very far from home. But, for the most part, things went well. So far, I have something for everyone except Monkeygirl. And her birthday is Dec. 26, so I need to do double duty on gifts for her. But today is another day--I'll pick her brain for ideas, and hopefully will finish the shopping today.

And, Virginia, Santa Claus may indeed show up at this house!

Now to chase the dust bunnies away, and find the tree to put up!

P.S., my friend is fine, no serious problems--that is probably the best news of the day!

One more for today

2009-12-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

Today is our last day of "A Christmas Carol". To say I'm sad about that comes with mixed feelings. I'm sad to leave fun and friendship of my theatre buddies. I'm sad to not have a purpose in every day, to finish costumes for the show. But I'm happy to have some time to myself again. And I'm happy to NOT have costumes in every room of my house!

It was a good show, the best we could make of it. Our audiences were appreciative, and we had fun and some laughs backstage. That's what makes community theatre fun and why people will put in so much time and energy without much compensation! Or any compensation!

Hope all of you have a Merry Christmas, and as Tiny Tim says, "God bless us, everyone!"

Hope to have some pictures later this week.

The claws of deflation

2009-12-20T06:18:00.000-08:00

No, I don't need to consult my spell checker about that title. It is describing cause and effect.

I've been using my stability ball for light exercise and as a computer chair for the past two months, ever since my physical therapy sessions, where I was taught some exercises to use with the ball. It works so well as a computer chair, because it is softer on my "sore spot" and adds light core exercise as I sit and type.

Enter the cause, or claws, as was stated in the title.

I have a cat who can be described as psycho, bipolar, Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde--you get the picture. A sweet loving kitty craving affection turns to a vindictive beast, turning into an ankle attacker at a moment's notice. Touch his belly, you are in for blood-letting. He has no problem using his weapons (claws and jaws) at the least provocation. Maybe this is cause for big concern, but his loving affection when we nap together outweighs his bad habits.

He loves to check out my meals. He will get to lick the bowl when I am finished with cereal, pudding, Taco Bell, ice cream, turkey, fish and other tasty cat treats. He is constantly by my side as I'm finishing up with cereal in the morning. His choice, milk is fine, soy is not for him!

Well, I was sitting on the stability ball last night, checking my email, and he did one of his climbs up to my arm for affection. On his way down, he forgot to retract the claws, and sunk them into the stability ball. Whoosh! I was on the ground in minutes, hissing sounds accompanying my slow fall from grace.

To say I was p*ssed off was an understatement. I chased that cat for 30 minutes, shooing him off the bed all night (until I fell fast asleep and didn't notice his return). So now, I need to add 65" stability ball to my Christmas shopping list. May just see about getting those claws removed, or at least cut down!

D*mn cat!

Need to catch up!

2009-12-20T05:54:00.001-08:00

On Sleep! Too many 5 hour nights and no afternoon naps!

On Housecleaning! Costumes will be out of my life and my house in 3 hours!

On Blogging! Even with my pledge to do 200 in 2009, I'm really behind on my pledge!

On Christmas shopping! Can we put off Christmas for another week? Maybe then I'd be ready!

On the Christmas letter and cards! Maybe not this year.

On Recycling! The aluminum can bin is overflowing and the newspapers are ready to eat my leg every time I walk by the pile.

I could go on and on, but you catch my drift!

187 and counting

2009-12-16T06:03:00.001-08:00

One faithful blogger counts her blogs for the year, and I just looked at my count. While I don't blog every day, 187 isn't a bad number for the year, it works out to about 1 every other day.

So, now, my goal is to do 200 for 2009. I hope they all can be interesting and worthwhile, not just "tweets" posted as blogs. This one might count for a tweet, because it is going to be short.

As our tech week goes on, my energy level is ebbing. I'm looking for the adrenalin to kick in and start the energy flowing again. I think my fellow actors and actresses are feeling the same, our rehearsal seemed to lack energy last night. We'll kick it up a notch by Thursday, I'm sure!

Tonight is hair and make-up night, with a photographer on board to catch the action. The set is really taking shape, looks fabulous and I think by this afternoon, I'll have the costumes tweaked and in good shape. I can only hope!

Come on adrenalin, kick in, but only during waking hours, not all night long! I need my beauty sleep!

Tired Tuesday

2009-12-15T20:29:00.000-08:00

It's Tuesday of tech week, and I'M TIRED! How can I make it through to next Sunday and live to tell the tale?

Today, it was non-stop at work from 7:30 a.m. to 2. I had 2 exams to give, grade, and pass back to students. I only got one set partially done, the rest awaits me on my desk tomorrow.

Then, at 2, the director of "A Christmas Carol" and I had a little chat about things she wanted to be changed for costumes. We had to take a detour to the warehouse of costumes, and then it was home to sew garments. I got three things done, one was a simple alteration, the other was a modification of one piece and a completely new garment for Marley. It was quite an improvement over what he looked like yesterday, so it was worth it. But there is another costume that I need to build tomorrow, one of my "sheet skirts"--buy a cheap used sheet for $1 or $2 and you can get two nice gathered skirts from it. I've relied on this technique for several of my costumes so far, and it will work for this one also.

So, I don't get to bed until 11, and get up at 5:30. I'll be ready for a nice long nap along about next Monday.

But wait, I still haven't done any Christmas shopping. I may have to put off that nap for another week after the Christmas festivities have ended.

Nite-ty-night, see you later, alligator!

Countdown to....

2009-12-14T05:43:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Carol!

So we moved in yesterday. It was somewhat chaotic, because we moved in on the tails of a 125 piece Northwinds band picking up their show and leaving in a huge truck! There were so many musicians on stage, I have never seen that stage so full. They had the Northwinds Band plus the University of Missouri Symphonic Band playing together! Wow, I'm so sorry I was in the midst of my move-in so I couldn't hear it.

So the black tied musicians moved out of the way, and the costumes and stage pieces moved in. We worked until after 10--the lights were still on a people still working when I left.

Friday and Saturday were crazy for me! I had about 7-8 garments to make--nothing very complicated, some simple elastic waist skirts, simple knickers, some simple accessories. I remade one actress's complete outfits, the ones we had chosen for her needed extensive ripping and resewing, I wasn't up for that! I hate to rip! It took me less time to start from scratch! Besides, she had gone from little to teeny-tiny over the past two years, and the stuff she wore before was way too big. She is one of my actresses that I love to sew for, because she could make a plastic garbage bag look good on her, although we like to show off her figure a little better. I made her a darling outfit for Mrs. Cratchit, and found a perfect blouse at the thrift store that works so well with it. She tried it on last night, it was soooooo cute. I don't know if it makes her look poor, but it sure is cute!

Then I had to organize and bag up everything. I put together all the costume pieces, hats, scarves, gloves, socks (for the knickered ones), coats, and actual suits and dresses. It is so much easier to do this in the privacy of my home than to wait til we get to the theatre with 100 interuptions to try to keep my wits together to do it. Then I had to move it! It took three loads of my little SUV to get it all up there.

Once we got to the theatre, I had several ladies ready to iron and steam everything to make it look fresh and nice. I got them going, then had to leave for my granddaughter's Christmas program at preschool. When I came back there was very little to finish up, they had done a nice job.

So now we wait for tonight for the actual rehearsal. I'm not sure if she will want costumes tonight or not, but I hope that all goes smoothly. I'm sure there will be grumbling on some parts, the first comment I got last night was "My hat's too big" from a veteran who wore that hat last year and we fixed it, so quityourb**ching! That wasn't what I wanted to hear.

Anyone involved in theatre knows that tech week can be hell week or go smoothly. Usually it is an up and down week. Crisis, followed by crisis solved, only to have another crisis arise! When things go well, you can add the finishing touches to your performance. When they go poorly, you are just glad to get something on stage by opening night. Who knows what lies ahead for us this week, we just hope to put on a good show for our audiences....AND, BREAK A LEG, CHRISTMAS CAROLERS!

Advent

2009-12-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

This time of the year is the time of preparation for Christmas. If you can step aside from the commercial aspects of this holiday (aka, the decorations, the gift-buying, the parties, the food!) you can feel Mother Nature as she prepares us for our long winter darkness, which culminates on the first day of Winter.

Mother Nature and our Christian biblical tradition remind us that the time of waiting and preparation is one in which we are in darkness seeking the light. We call this season in the church year Advent. My most favorite church music deals with this theme in song and text. "As The Watchman waits for the dawn, so do I long for you, My God" (based on Psalm 130:6-7) Many a December dawn has reminded me of this song, dawn breaking under ripples of snow clouds overhead, with each ripple catching a glint of sunrise turning each cloud into beautiful shades of pink, mauve, blue and purple.

The natural darkness helps us to feel the longing during the waiting period that ancient ancestors experienced while waiting for the promised Mesiah. They waited and waited, for years, decades, centuries. How could they wait with hope for that long? Their strong faith kept them on course to wait for the coming of one that was promised to them so long ago.

And James admonishes his followers (James 5: 7-11) "Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the ....rains. You too must be patient."

And on Christmas day, the "Light" was born. Winter solstice brought ancients hope for the future, they knew that soon the days would no longer be darker and darker, but light would soon come their way. So, too, with the celebration of the Birth of Christ, He, is the Light that we seek who has finally come to walk in our midst.

Like children waiting in tingling anticipation for Santa to come, we wait for our Savior's birth. We can all remember that long wait for Christmas to come, our patience tested as the days go by so slowly. Let's think about why we really celebrate this holiday, and focus on anticipation for the birth of our Savior.

So, if there is a message here, it is Keep Christ in Christmas--no X-mas celebrations, only CHRISTmas celebrations! And, patience, people, the Lord will soon come!

See This D*mn House Dec. 11 post for the inspiration to this piece!

An ICONIC Christmas Story

2009-12-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

Does this image strike up memories in your mind? It certainly does for me!

What started it all going in my mind was the lesson in my English pronunciation class that I gave on Tuesday. It was comparing and learning the difference between pronouncing L and R. Now, with some languages, mostly Asian languages, this distinction is not made, because the L sound is not in their pronunciation lexicon. So, of course, the iconic FA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA from "A Christmas Story" came to mind. I started laughing out loud and then tried to explain to my students what was tickling me. It's hard to tell just that part, so I started talking about all the parts of that movie.

So, try to explain the leg lamp to a foreign student--or, how about Ralphie's pink bunny suit? Or the Red Rider 200 shot bb gun (will you shoot your eye out or not?), or the triple dog dare to try to lick a metal flag pole in winter? Or Father's salty vocabulary that gets Ralphie in great trouble when he tries it out? And my motivator for showing it, Christmas dinner in the Chinese restaurant because the neighbor's dogs stole the Christmas turkey off the kitchen table. Thus, the rendition of Deck the Harrs, with boughs of horry, fa-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra!

This movie has so many ICONIC images that we all can't help but chuckle at, just remembering them. I know some cable tv stations do a 24 hour marathon of "A Christmas Story", but I wanted my students to get the real dose of the movie, so I showed it to them today. They howled at most of the sight gags, and the jokes. I know there were some things that they didn't get, but most of it was clear to them.

Rent it, buy it, but watch it, it will really put you in the holiday spirit! I got my Christmas chuckles today, and I know you will too!

Tornado Alley

2009-12-07T04:32:00.000-08:00

Please don't report me to the "hoarder" police! I don't need an intervention from Oprah! And there have been no actual tornados reported in our area for quite some time. This is the result of a COSTUME TORNADO that swept through this house this weekend.
Bedroom wrecked by the tornado. There were 5 hanging racks in this room until one of the cheapies I just bought collapsed under the pressure of a full load. Now that load is on the bed or the floor.
Every flat surface in this room was covered with costumes yesterday, until I bundled up about 15 bundles to take to practice yesterday to try on my ladies. Luckily, most fit and there isn't a lot to redo.
The men's stuff, yet to be sorted completely. Lots needs to be done here before next weekend!

My theatre group has had the luxury of having a very fine lady store the costumes for the group in her basement for years. Why she ever agreed to this, I'll never know, but she had an unfinished basement, and nothing else???? to be stored there, so it worked out OK. About a year ago, she informed them that she would be selling her home within the year, and the theatre group had to make other arrangements for the costumes.

In the meantime, I've been storing things that the group has used for the past 2+ seasons. Since I was the costumer of record for all of these shows, when they were finished, I took them out of the theatre, and had no where to go with them, so I made a niche in my garage to store them.

The theatre group responded to my friend's plea to get a space for the costumes in her house. They agreed and they moved the stuff from her home to a storage locker nearby. They were going to get the stuff from me, but alas, what she had filled the entire locker, and I was just out of luck!

As we started to costume "A Christmas Carol", she bequeathed on me the entire collection we used for Christmas Carol 2007, plus some choice odds and ends that could be used for the show.

So here it is!

First, it was all stored in the bedroom so we could eat Thanksgiving dinner using the dining room table. Then one of my racks collapsed under the weight, and the stuff ended up on the floor or the bed. Then I had to sort the stuff, pull together elements that were in this box or that tub, and put them in bundles for each actress and actor. Yesterday, the actresses tried on their stuff, and that is still in the back of my car! Tonight, I'll do some trying on for the men.

It is a mess. The group has promised me a second rental storage area with hanging racks built and ready to recieve this stuff on Dec. 19. It will be such a relief to get my garage space and bedroom space back.

Right now, my car is outside! This has got to stop! And someday soon, hopefully I'll get my house back!

Party like you're.....

2009-12-03T15:16:00.000-08:00

16? Crazy? Young again? I don't know how to end this statement.

Today, I partied. The first round was just a food fest in the department's conference room, where the food was plentiful, delicious and the chatter was light. Then it was on to party #2, one that I promised to my international students about a month ago in a fit of insanity.

Last night, it was time to put the party #2 together. What do young adults want at a party? Food and drink. I ignored their suggested beverage, quite adult and quite illegal for this group (hint: imported from Mexico with a very happy worm in each bottle!) I went to the grocery store and piled my basket high with stuff that is bad for you, with a little bit of healthy food to balance it off.

Then, I had to decide what we would do as entertainment for the party. I decided on playing a couple of paper/pencil games, one is Memory. This one serves well as an all purpose winner, because you can adapt it to baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties, etc. You place 20-25 items on a tray, give the participants 1 minute to look at the tray, then they try to remember what was on the tray. I had to make a trip to Target to find some of the items. This group is a English as a Second Language group, who aren't fully up to speed on English words, especially since this is the first Christmas they've spent here. So I tried to find simple stuff, clearly representational of American Christmas icons.

I got up at 5:30 to fix the food for the first party. Then I needed to pack for the second party.

The day was crazy with other business interfering with the party atmosphere! Like teaching, and evaluating my teachers. And students needing to make up exams they missed. But we got it all in.

The first party passed all too fast, then it was off to partyland #2 for my students. Did I need to plan activities for them? NO! Within 2 minutes, they had the Cd player going, and all were dancing! They dragged the shy Korean boy in, took off his backpack and he was dancing within 5 minutes. Then they got the Vietnamese girl to dance, but I secretly think she was a very willing partner with the best dancer in the class. Then they got ME TO DANCE! Why, I think I found my niche! I can't get the dance right in A Christmas Carol, but give me punta music, and I'm a queen!

I got the students to break out of the dance mode long enough to eat the food I brought, then we played our memory game. That was hilarious, hectic, chaotic and so much fun! Then the adults who worked with them, and who were in attendance, read them "The Night Before Christmas".

All in all, it was a great day. I'm totally exhausted, but now I know I can dance, my students were all so appreciative, and so were my colleagues, and it was a lot of fun. I think this might have been the most fun I've had since New Years Eve 2005, celebrated in the nursing home with my honey! That is a story for another day, but the memories of today will live on and warm my heart.

P.S. Tomorrow will be spent cleaning the kitchen that looks like a tornado hit it, but it is witness to time well-spent preparing to be a hostess to some very lovely people, my students and colleagues!