See, That Other Door Did Open Up!

The last few weeks have been....less than stellar. 

I've been creating. Not every day, but most days. But there hasn't been much joy involved.

I haven't felt like posting; well, not exactly, it's more like I haven't wanted to take the time to post. But things are turning around for me. I was offered a new job! I interviewed at Norcostco two weeks ago (August 2nd, to be exact), and had hoped to hear back the next week. But nothing. 

UPDATE: After my interview, I had lunch with Dear director friend - we were supposed to go to a movie (but it wasn't a date! No! Couldn't have that now, could we?), but the interview went long, so when I got to his place, we decided to stay in, have lunch - and then we had sex. So much for monogamy!  He didn't feel all that remorseful, either. I was feeling so positive about the interview, he couldn't resist that energy. Or my body.
The following week, we did get to a movie, while my oldest was out with friends in Minneapolis. And he would have loved more than a movie date, but I had to pick up R. So we made plans to see each other the next week.
Thursdays have always been a particularly good day for us to meet, and evenings were now an option as well. And we had a lovely Thursday evening romp at his place; I wasn't there ten minutes before he was removing my clothes! The man can't resist me. But later, I told him how worried I was, about finding a job. Other than my time with him, I felt like I was nothing.

Which led to the sadness, tiredness, lack of positivity I've been feeling. I was so right for this job! Really! Not to mention I needed a job, and was starting to look farther afield - some bakeries are hiring for early-morning shifts (really early-morning, like 4 a.m. early) which would be doable for me, but not ideal. Especially with getting kids to school. And more especially with evening rehearsals.

But luck (i.e., hard work and a good attitude) was with me, and I will be the new sales floor associate for Norcostco's Minneapolis location, dealing with costume rentals, make-up, wigs, and accessories. Life is good.

Speaking of costumes, here are some of the items I built for Cymbeline earlier this summer.

Zoe in the awesome bodice I built

The Evil Queen with her headcovering

And this is the back of my head, in a cool braid/bun creation I did a couple of weeks ago.

this is actually my hair

UPDATE #2: We were both at a wedding reception/party the following Monday, and even though he was still dating Horse Teeth girl, he didn't bring her to the reception. It's too hard for him to put on his Handsome Act when he has a date. He wouldn't have been able to sit with me and introduce me to some friends, if she had been there. This was why I thought we had a relationship, not just sex. He wanted to be with me. But he didn't want her to find out. It got complicated.

There Are No Famous Quotes In Cymbeline

"Cymbeline" - one of Shakespeare's lesser known plays. Actually, "Pericles" may be the only play lesser known than "Cymbeline".

Set in ancient Britain, when they were under Roman rule, the story revolves around King Cymbeline, his daughter Imogen, his second wife (the Evil Stepmother Queen!), her son Cloten, Imogen's lover Posthumous, some lost children of Cymbeline, a roguish Italian named Iachimo, a banished lord......your usual five-act Shakespeare bonanza of plot devices, disparate storylines, love, revenge, jealousy, battles, disguises, and a happy ending.

The design theme for the show was a fairytale, "Princess Bride" look - with a little Ancient Rome thrown in for good measure (there's a Roman General who shows up halfway through, and I decided to go with the classical Roman soldier tunic, tab belt and helmet for him, just to make things easy to follow).

I had most of the base costumes in my stock, and was able to pull several that I built years ago for "The Merchant of Venice"; but I created several hats, a really lovely, simple bodice for one of the women.

meet Headless Cloten II

Oh, and I had to dress a dummy. "Which one?" became the standard joke in the costume shop, not that we think actors are - not so bright. But when you have to teach a 50-year-old how to put on a shirt....(Most actors will admit to reverting to toddlerdom when it comes to putting on costumes; they forget how to tie their shoes, how to button their shirts, they pu a dress on backwards, etc.) 


Back to the dummy: Cloten, son of the Evil Queen, puts on Posthumous' outfit to fool Imogen, but instead runs into some rustic mountain folk (Cymbeline's kidnapped children, btw), and one of them beheads him. Yeah. And then Imogen finds the headless body, in Posthumous' clothes, and thinks her lover is dead. Tragic. Which meant I had to build a second tunic for the dummy. It's been bloodied and dirtied as well, by the t.d., and I hope to get a picture of the final "look" this weekend.

Fancy-schmancy king's robe

I had to do some repairs to Cymbeline's over-robe, and add additional trim to cover the repairs. He looks very regal.

My Independence Day

Gonna try this again.

No kids tonight. R. & C. are at CONvergence, and I haven't heard a thing from them. Too busy being all sci-fi geeky and shit, I bet. And J. is going to her grandma's for the night.

So this will be my first Friday on my own, no need to check on or check in with anybody. My plans are simple: drinks with a couple of friends, (one of whom is going to see "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" with a couple of my comps), then dinner with a close girl friend, and possibly ending with a viewing of  "Mostly Martha" hosted by the St. Paul Public Library, at the Central location. They're offering "Foodie Flicks" on Fridays in July; I'm hoping to make it to most of them.

Creations this week:
Tuesday: I wrote a kickass cover letter for my resume, then sent it off to CTC. I also had a swim date with a dear friend; the pool was heavenly, especially during this heat wave. We created a fun, cooling interlude in our busy lives, and made a few plans for later this month. From there, on to the Caves for my Cigarette girl gig. Turns out, it was an international business group of some kind (don't know what business), and I was quite a hit with the Europeans! 

Betty the Cigar Girl

"Cigars, poker chips, mints, chocolates?"

Sadly, the chocolates I had to give out were American milk chocolate, which isn't so popular in other countries, but they appreciated the novelty of the "cigars" and "poker chips". Some of the men were disappointed I didn't have real cigars - they wouldn't have been able to smoke them inside anyways!

Wednesday: Happy Independence Day! I helped R. with her final costume for CONvergence - a silver metallic knit catsuit. She did an amazing job! No pattern, very little experience - and it turned out really good. I taught her how to use the serger, helped her with a few patterning and fit issues, and put the zipper in for her; but the majority of it was all her doing! Then R. and C. modeled their various outfits, and I took pictures. R. posted them on her tumblr site; I'll have to wait until they come back with the camera to post any photos.

Thursday: First, R. needed a zipper put in her hobo bag; she didn't want it wide open, with her money and phone easily accessible. I had to reconfigure the top a little bit, to get the zipper to work; and the straps had to be removed then reattached. but it worked for her! Later that evening, I ended up helping one of the other costumers at Shakespeare & Company with some finishing on vests. I suggested using snaps for closures instead of making buttonholes, especially since a couple of the vests were a little too snug to get really good buttonholes; then just sewed the buttons on top of the snaps, for effect. Easy-peesy, and super-fast finishing.

On tap for this weekend: getting my Cymbeline costumes ready; I've got some shirts to build, a couple of matching tunics to put together, and headwear to figure out. And shoes; all the actors need shoes. I'll think about that tomorrow.

Finding the New Normal

Alright, let's just get this over with - it's hot in Minnesota; Africa hot; record-breaking, outside-baking HOT.

And my weekend didn't go as planned - AT ALL. I had parties to go to, friends to see, plans made; all to keep me occupied, and let the kids go with their dad to a pool party on Saturday night. I was invited to that party, too; it was the opening-night party for Shakespeare & Company, and opening night of the first show "The Merry Wives of Windsor". I had originally planned to skip both, but the hubs didn't want to have to deal with questions about where I was, why I wasn't there. So, to keep the peace, and to keep the kids happy, I went. It was fine, the people who know about our split are being discreet, allowing us our space. But I had made plans with friends to watch a movie, and had to back out at the last minute. I felt torn, and not quite right being at the company party.

Friday night was a slightly different matter. I was going to attend a friend's 50th birthday party, and was looking forward to my first night out, without having to check in with anybody. Then, Friday afternoon, J. got her first period. (She would not be happy with me if she knew I was posting this!) It was....traumatic, to say the least. J. was crying, R. was trying to comfort her, and big brother C. kept out of the way - far away. She finally calmed down, I took off to get ready for the party - then R. called, "J. wants to spend the night with you. She misses you." So, I took off my party clothes, picked her up, and brought her over to my dad's for the night. 

On to my creations: Friday evening, I made another, slightly different raspberry crisp (no almonds!); Saturday, what did I do Saturday? Costume stuff, and got my gear together for a gig on Tuesday night. Sunday, I worked on C.'s CONvergence costume, sewing white fabric tabs onto a black jacket, for an anime character that he wants to be.

And today? I wrote a new resume, helped my stepmom with a rescue adventure, and turned a cardboard box lid into a cute cigarette girl box for tomorrow's gig. Pictures to follow, I promise!

The rescue adventure was not particularly eventful; my dad had a dentist appointment this morning, getting a tooth pulled; but the tooth was in bad shape, and one of the roots didn't come out. So, with a mouth full of novacaine, my dad drove himself to an oral surgeon in St. Paul for the root extraction. By the time my stepmom found out, he was already there; this is where I come into the picture. She needed me to drive her to the office building, so she could drive him home. And of course, it's right in the middle of the University Ave. light rail construction. We found the building, had to make a u-turn to get to the parking lot, then entered at the south end of the building, when we wanted to be at the north end. A quick walk through the atrium, and we found him. All is well. 

But still really hot.

The Halfway Mark

Halfway through the year; halfway through my year. It's my half-birthday today, and I'm going to celebrate.

Everybody thinks December 31 is a great day for a birthday. Everybody celebrates, right? Yeah, at new year's eve parties. And my birthday gets lost in all the year-end hoopla. Also, my husband hates new year's eve; he was never able to separate that holiday from my day, so he never wanted to plan anything, he didn't want to do anything. He's a bit of party-pooper anyway, or I should say he's introverted, doesn't socialize much. I, on the other hand, love a good party, whether I'm the host or a guest. This was one of the ongoing differences we had over the years - I was invited to a lot of parties, I wanted to go to the parties, he wasn't comfortable with people he didn't know, so I went alone to some of them - and skipped a lot of them over the years, just to avoid an argument.

I'm also going to reboot here on my yearlong project; I've been creating and working on projects with my kids and around the yard, and cooking quite a bit lately, but I haven't documented most of these things. I'm just going to make a list of what I can remember, and start anew on Sunday, July 1.

1) I did build a new compost bin; but I still have to move most of the old pile to the new location.

"found" pallets 

the set-up

ready to make gardener's black gold

2) My older daughter R. made a hobo bag for herself; I helped with the sewing part. She did a good job on her own little creation. She's also trimming a dress for CONvergence next week. I'm helping her and my son C. get costumes together for the four-day event.

3) I made raspberry-almond crisp earlier this week; my raspberry crop is thriving this year! Lots of rain last month, and lots of heat this month - that's the key, I guess. I even took pictures as I mixed the ingredients; I'll post them later.

ready for the oven

4) I gathered supplies for a couple of projects that I haven't gotten to yet - an arbor made of branches; and wine bottles. Lots of wine bottles. I'm hoping to turn the bottles into hanging planters or candle holders, for the Etsy shop. Don't copy!

5) I'm sewing trim on a coat for C., for one of his CONvergence costumes.

6) I froze leftover coffee in ice cube trays (one of those "what to do with leftover coffee" suggestions that I do periodically), mixed the cubes and some coconut milk in the blender, and made my own icy coffee drink.

7) Some recent food creations: potato pancakes (using Simply Potato hash brown shreds! So simple!); garlicky shrimp and bacon pasta salad; homemade pizzas (yeah, a repeat, but different crusts/ingredients); banana oatmeal muffins with coconut milk; white gravy and mashed potatoes. There are more, I'll have to ask the kids what meals they remember.

8) I have to redo my resume. There's a job opening at Children's Theatre Company that I'm quite qualified for, which would make my life a whole lot easier, at least for the next few years - if I get it.

UPDATE: I just got a confirmation email, they have my resume and will start scheduling interviews by the end of the month. Fingers crossed!

So, there's my little recap. Like I said earlier, I'm taking a mulligan for June. But I need to get back on track, with my blog and with my life. Time to move forward, and keep the little grey cells involved and active. Time to celebrate a half-year, and prepare for the next stage in my life.

Happy Saturday!

I'm kind of a big deal

There's been more destruction than creation going on lately - in the garden and in my personal life. More on that later.

Here are my two latest shows; my costumes are mentioned in both reviews. This doesn't happen often, and to happen twice in two weeks - yeah, I'm gonna toot my own horn.

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/158160835.html

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/154491505.html

Feed the soul and the body

At 11:15 p.m. last night, I created an Angus & Spinach burger served on multigrain bread. Then I created a Windsor & diet cola.

After a long day of show laundry, show alterations, show repairs, and a dress rehearsal - they were fantastic. The end.

Coming Clean

I actually cooked dinner several times in the last week and a half. Well, mostly the week of 5/14-5/18. Then I went into a very long tech rehearsal process for a silly French farce. (scroll down to "Opening May 25th!" That's the show I worked on).

I made a pork stir fry (J. told me afterward she prefers Schwan's stir fry, wah wah). Just some pork loin strips, cut up vegetables, and a mixture of soy sauce, olive oil, white wine vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, curry powder, maybe some other spices (I left out red pepper flakes, the kids don't like their food too spicy).

Another night I made barbeque meatballs; while I started with a commercial barbeque sauce, I jazzed it up with some yellow mustard, spices, a little hot sauce - just enough to take away the oversweet processed taste.  I should just make my own barbeque sauce - and tomato sauce for that matter. Then I could make all sorts of flavor variations. I'll have to try some experimenting this summer.

J.'s birthday party was last Saturday, and she wanted a heart shaped cake. Friday night's creation - a chocolate cake, cut into a heart shape, and whipped pink frosting. Then J. decorated it with M&Ms. I had a tour, then a 10-hour tech rehearsal/costume parade, so I missed her party - and forgot to take pictures beforehand, and nobody (cough*her dad*cough) bothered to take pictures at the party. Ah, well.

There have been a few more costume creations in the past week, as well, for the French farce, An Absolute Turkey (this is the English translation of the title Le Dindon). Matching red lace corset tops kept me busy for a couple of days - including tear-away black satin bows that the two leading ladies pull off of each other's tops.

And then - the rains came. Massive amounts of rain in the last few days here in Minnesota. Mother Nature saved all the snow that didn't fall this past winter, and dumped it in water form all over us. I no longer live by a lake, I live in a lake! Flooded basement! Especially my costume storage area! Lots of wet vac action! Hauling out soggy cardboar! (only a couple of things got ruined, most of my costume stock is in plastic tubs, for this very reason.) And one almost-ruined picture of my son, C. - the cardboard backing in the frame got wet (yes, it was in a cardboard box with other pictures that we still haven't put on the walls!), but I got the photo out and dried off.

So, not so many creations lately, just a lot of clean-up. I'm glad I did the massive organizing in March, the flood damage could have been much worse.

And now, another show starts tech rehearsals! Today!

The Anti-Hoarders brigade

I've gone back through my last few posts, mostly to refresh my mind as to what all I've written about. And discovered I hadn't mentioned one of my major feats - I organized and sorted through the majority of my costume stock!

During the last couple days of spring break, back in mid-March, the weather was warm, sunny, and no chance of rain - just what I needed to haul all the clothes and shoes outside. I laid out a tarp, hauled out piles of clothes that needed to go on hangers or into bins, and got to work.

This was a major deal for me, because part of my goal for this year was to organize my work space, and get my costume stock in order. It was a two-day process; and the kids helped a little bit, putting items onto hangers for me. I got like items sorted into bins (pants, shirts, sweaters, etc.), dresses and suits onto hangers and then on hanging racks, and....got shoes paired up and sorted into a total of SIX (!) bins. Yowza! (I still have a bin of unmated shoes waiting to be paired up - I'll get to them eventually).

In the process, I discovered I have three yellow polo shirts (what?), three pair of tall men's suede boots (I thought I only had two pair!), and a lot of brown loafers. It's been easier to find things lately, which is good, but I also realized - I need a bigger boat...I mean, storage area. I think my costume stock has reached critical mass.

I did throw away a few things as I progressed, and there was still a small pile of clothes and fabric outside when it finally did rain. I had to ditch a few things after that, and wash several coats; there were also several pair of socks that really soaked up the rain - that was fun, wringing them out. Or messy and stinky. Not so fun.

At least I don't feel like an episode of "Hoarders" waiting to happen.

Let's see, where was I?

Okay, I made that new apron.  And I've been wearing it almost every day since.

I'm back at St. Kate's, post-spring break; I'm designing for the spring touring show, "On Air! A Return to Radio"; they're using two old radio scripts, and the students are developing "actor personas" who will be performing these scripts in a radio studio set.  I've done this before, with a David Mamet script. It's fun to work with 1930s and 1940s clothing and hairstyles.

Since this is a touring show, we need garment bags for transporting the costumes - so that's our big spring project in the sewing room.  I made a pattern for the garment bags that the students will be building over the next few weeks.

I'm also designing the set, and costumes, and set dressing/props for "I Hate Hamlet". It's been occupying so much of my brain space lately. We start rehearsals tomorrow, and I can't wait! The cast is also getting quite excited. So there will be several creations involved with this show.

I've also been working on some recipes - I made spiced pumpkin cupcakes with a crumb topping; turkey chili; and flatbread pizzas.

And - finally! - the garden. Oh, the weather has been glorious the last couple of weeks. The ice was out on Bald Eagle Lake on March 17th, the ground has been pretty much frost-free all along (I don't think it ever really froze this winter!), and plants are sprouting. The magnolias and azaleas have already been blooming!

I started digging out an old stump and some other roots, and created a hole in the ground. A few days later, my stepmom gave me a large rhubarb plant (that was actually several plants) and I now have a rhubarb patch! Can't wait!! She also gave me some chives plants, and I put them in my vegetable bed.

I've also had to re-visit "American Family" a couple of times; I've had to make some costume adjustments. One of the actresses was having some issues with the temperature in the theater, so I added a t-shirt layer under her tunic top. One of the actors also wanted a shirt change (there was a slight fit issue that came up after opening night...) But it is going well, overall.

And now, back to I Hate Hamlet, and prepping for a publicity photo. That's tomorrow's creation.

What else?

Time to catch up - again!

For the first week of March, I was still working a lot at the St. Kate's costume shop. I got to create several little decorative elements for Pirates of Penzance.

 1) For the character Ruth (the maid of all work on the pirate ship), I added a lovely white eyelet peter pan-style collar and French cuffs to her first bodice. The pattern called for pregathered lace on the edge of the collar and cuffs, but since her accent color was red, I made red ruffles instead. Her second bodice had the same red ruffle around the neckline. Unfortunately, the actress who wore the outfit sweated so profusely, that the red dye in her hair snood leached onto the white collar and turned it pink! Hopefully, this will come out when it's dry-cleaned, because it's a really beautiful 1860's-era bodice, based on this pattern.

2) I made a pale green jacked and skirt for one of the chorus members, but the skirt pattern was too short for her. This turned out to be a happy mistake, because the designer wanted a pleated flounce around the bottom of the skirt; so I spent a morning pleating the fabric to make a 4 1/2" flounce to add to the bottom of her skirt. The fabric had a regular stripe in it, so the pleats were easy to mark out. I also made a narrower pleated piece to add to the sleeve wrists, for a little extra design interest.

3) The girls wear nightgowns and mobcaps in the second act, and while we had a bunch of white cotton gowns and caps, they were pretty plain. So we added ribbon trim: the student workers mostly made bows to attach to the mobcaps and the front of the nightgowns, but I got a little more creative. For one girl (the one nicknamed "Moaning Myrtle" by the running crew!), I made yellow ribbon rosettes with little blue bows in the center to put on both sides of her mobcap, and a bigger blue ribbon bow with a yellow ribbon accent for the front neckline of her gown. I used peach ribbon and green floral trim on another gown/mobcap combo. The girls looked very sweet (and just a little silly!).

See? There was plenty of creating going on in my life. I'm trying to document all of them, though I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two items. But today, the sun is shining, the weather is unbelievably fabulous (76 degrees on March 16th! In Minnesota! Whaaat??), and I'm going to make a few final tweaks to costumes for American Family, walk around downtown St. Paul, and maybe get an ice cream cone. *smile*. Hope you have a similar Friday!

It's been a long, lonely time

I didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted on here.

I've certainly been creating, though. Mostly theater-related: a plaid wool skirt that the actress wants to keep (!), a scary sea-type monster Halloween costume (both of these were for The Nerd). Then, we struck the set for The Mousetrap; this is what the blank stage looks like in the Theater Garage:

 





I don't know what I did - the picture is either really small or blurry, and I've somehow set the alignment to center rather than left. This sucks. I couldn't remember my password; yes, it's been that long since I've been to my blog; and now, this. Well, world, guess what! I've been so busy creating theater magic, I haven't had time to deal with my blog. So there! I've actually accomplished what I set out to do in the first place - gotten off my keister and done things! Lots of things! Costumes and food and friendships and relationships. I'm done for the night.

I'll tell you about my next projects, as soon as I figure out what I did here. 

All Theater, All The Time

This is getting redonculus.

I don't even know if I spelled that correctly. And I don't care.

I've been creating so much "theater" in the past week, I've forgotten about - pretty much everything else in my life. But "The Mousetrap" is open, we've had audiences (not huge, not sell-outs, but butts in the seat!), and my life continues.

We almost didn't get there, though. Wednesday night of tech week, the second dress rehearsal, one of the actors had an "episode". I don't want to say he was drunk or stoned,  because I don't have definitive proof, but something wasn't...right. In fact, several people thought he was having a stroke, at first. He was slurring his words, he was incoherent, he was missing his cue lines.....I wasn't there to witness the first act of the play; I was picking up some artwork for set dressing. When I got back to the theater, it was too quiet, the other tech people were just standing around, and the director wasn't to be found. He ws backstage, trying to figure out what was going wrong with his best friend. Yes, it was the director's best friend, and somebody I've known for over 20 years, who had a complete physical/chemical melt-down two days before opening. We had to pull him from rehearsal, because he was physically unable to go on. The night ended with the rest of the cast waiting in the green room, while the director and the tech director held down this actor until his brother arrived to pick him up. It was ugly. This is an actor with a long history of alcohol addiction, who's been in recovery; turns out he's had a couple of relapses lately. There are other issues in his life right now, I won't go into them; but he needs help. I can only hope he gets it.

Fortunately, a couple of cast members knew another actor who played the same role just a few years ago; he was available, and willing to step in at the last minute. One rehearsal with the rest of the cast, and he went on opening night! This man is my hero.

Situation #2: on Friday afternoon, about 4 hours before opening, my husband, who's in the play, fell through a riser in the audience, and sprained his ankle. Badly. Like, we thought a broken ankle or blown knee injury. But he went on; fortunately, his character is using a walking stick, so he had a support ready to go, and he got through the show. He did go to urgent care today, for x-rays, after his ankle gave out on him again and swelled up again. Nothing broken, but all of the ligaments are torn. This will be a long recovery for him.

So my creations have been small, theater-related, and dictated by others. Set dressing for an English manor, snow-covered shrubbery, a newly-painted fake fireplace, a cartridge-pleated skirt, and a hero shirt (or a pirate shirt, or puffy shirt, or Renaissance shirt, whatever you prefer to call it!) are some of the projects I've worked on in the past week. I also created a couple of food items, including a mock shepherd's pie, with turkey, and a pancake breakfast on Sunday morning. My kids deserved a treat!

Sorry, there will be photos in the future. But I'm so fricken' tired right now, I don't have time to upload them.

And today's creation? A new measurement sheet form,for a new zip drive, for a new theater project I started tonight. I was getting upset with myself, for not creating anything today; when I remembered this simple technical creation from this afternoon. I'm golden.