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.