Eventful few days

Thursday and Friday were teacher conferences so Puck and Maddie and I scheduled college visits at Eau Claire and River Falls. We got an early start on Thursday... Eau Claire is about 3 hours from us, but we wanted to leave time to find the parking place and get oriented. I drove the first leg... we stopped for lunch and to pee and then went on... we lost a little time and Puck decided to take an exit that I disagreed with. It turned out that we probably would have been better off taking the next exit, but eventually we found the college and were only a few minutes late.... I do not like to be late so I was a bit out of sorts.

The presentation was good and our tour guide was terrific. She was from Sparta where my sister and her husband both teach. I asked and she knew them and our nephew who was going to school there. She took us everywhere. The campus is quite lovely although it has some massive hills. Lots of talk about their value in keeping off the Freshman 15. I almost died going up one to get to the dorm our nephew was staying in. We had made arrangements to meet him, but had to send Puck back to the car to get the cell phone. We went up to his room, but no one was there... lost Puck for a while and finally found him. He had decided to drive up. Finally called Ryan and got no answer.. went back up to his room and saw a group of boys coming down the hall. One of them turned out to be Ryan's roommate. He showed us the typical boys dorm room... underwear and duct tape and the TV left on :). I was sorry to have missed Ryan, but we had to move on. Later we found out that he thought we were coming up on Friday... Oh well.

Earlier we had gone to theater department and spoke with some of the staff who were very kind and showed us the facility. Nice department and they put on a huge number of plays each year. Big problem is that they have new and old theaters which are separated by the river so quite a distance apart.

We then drove to Lake Elmo Minnesota where my sister and her family live. They graciously put us up for the night... they are farmers and were combining so we didn't see much of them. They gave us some pumpkins though and since we had to get up early for the River Falls visit we went to bed.

Had to be at River Falls by 8:00 so got up early and set off. Both Puck and I graduated from UWRF so it was fun to be back. Went to the presentation by the Admissions guy. Great presentation. Our tour guide was terrific too. She took us through most of the buildings. The other guides we have been with have mostly just pointed to buildings and explained their functions. RF has grown a great deal since I was last there in 1988 with a brand new student center going in and new science facilities too.

We stopped in the theater and Puck took Maddie back stage... I guess we still feel like we own it. I was in the first production ever put on in that theater and Puck ran lights for it. I saw one of my old professors and we had a nice moment. It was Theater alumni day and we had comp tickets to see "She stoops to Conquer" later that evening and attend a reception for alums.

We went back to Sarah's to take naps since we were planning to leave for home right after the play. Home is 4 hours from River Falls.

The reception was great and we saw a few old classmates. Puck and I went to school in the early 70's, I dropped out and returned to graduate in 1988 so we had worked with a great variety of faculty. When I presented Maddie to the teachers who had taught me we all had a very nostalgic and slightly terrifying moment. The staff was great to Maddie and very encouraging. Meg took her down to the greenroom to meet other students who were also very enthusiastic about a prospective student. It was fun.

The show was fabulous. The set was incredible and the costumes were fabulous. The acting was on par with any I have ever seen. I was so impressed. I wish we could have stayed for the midnight showing of Rocky Horror that the Masquers were putting on that night as a fund raiser...This must be the year for Rocky Horror. Maddie was scheduled to re-take the ACT though the next day and we needed to get back. Frankly both she and I wanted to stay, but Puck was insistent. She got a decent score initially, but a couple more points could get her much better scholarships.

We cut out quickly and headed for home. I only lasted a little over an hour of driving and had to switch over to Puck... we ended up getting home at about 3:00 am... Maddie slept all the way home in the car and she and I headed straight to bed.

Got up at 6:30 and headed off to the ACT. Maddie had forgotten to bring home her calculator and thank goodness I had a key to the EPAC and could sneak her in through the theater. Had never been to that location and the road that the directions gave us was closed to through traffic. I took a chance and took it anyhow and sure enough the actual road that was closed cut off right and we went left... that worked out good.

I dropped Maddie off and went off to kill some time. I bought Halloween candy and some other stuff and then went to Goodwill. I managed to kill a couple hours there and then went to the test site and sat in the parking lot reading my book for another hour. People came out of the building and quite a few cars left, but no Maddie... I went in and saw some kids I knew... they told me that kids were taking the written part of the test... that puzzled me since Maddie had not signed up for that part of the test, but they said she had taken it. I talked to them for a while and finally that group came out. the girls I had been talking to raced out of the school with their friends to get lunch. I waited for the line coming out and then checked the room... no sign of Maddie. I was starting to feel uneasy, but the parking lot still was over a third filled.

I waited in the lot and read for another half hour and another group came out... still no Maddie... now I am feeling really worried.... I went into the school and asked the kids who were standing around if they knew whether all the testing was done. They were pretty oblivious. I walked both hallways and all the rooms were dark.... I walked deep into the school and saw no one. By this time I am panicked... I had our cell phone, but our home phone is not working and I knew that Puck was at the theater... I went back out to the lot thinking maybe she had gone out a wrong door. I drove around the school, but there was no sign of her... by now I am totally freaked and in tears... There is no one in the parking lot now and the doors are locked. I finally decide to call 911, but I head to the school entrance one more time... as I am walking up to the doors I see a blonde woman with some papers hurrying by... I run up to the door and pound on it... thank goodness she heard me. I am sure I looked quite a mess by then. I choked out my situation and she very kindly asked if I was Lori? Waves of relief flooded over me, but the tears would not stop. She told me that Maddie had been picked up about 9:30 because she did not have her picture ID. I thanked the woman and drove home.

I was so frightened that it did not leave me all the rest of the day. I went to the theater just to let them know I knew she was safe and then came home and went to bed. It was awful.

I guess I need to bite the bullet and get a second cell phone. I also think this ACT was doomed

Today was the first dress rehearsal and it went pretty well. The kids did only a little bit of complaining and the directors had no criticisms of the costumes. I think they are a little afraid of me. I had a few things I still needed to fix or find, but costuming is pretty well set.

Props on the other hand grrrrrrr.... the director asked me if I had a princess phone they could use in Elwood's house... excuse me??? I don't think so since they hadn't been invented yet... She doesn't know me very well... then she asked for one of those elaborate hook phones. that would be a little much too, but at least they were around. I will not loan them anything that is not period appropriate. Rehearsal took an extra hour and I am tired. Still have no washing machine and missed my oportunity to do laundry

not a great few days, but maybe we are closer to making a choice on a college

Big doings in our small town

This weekend our town had a book festival. I should have been more involved, but I still have not shaken this stupid cold.

We had several well-known authors come into town, but the keynote speaker was correspondent Helen Thomas. Over 800 people showed up to see her... the theater was filled, overflow into the cafeteria of the High school and on into other parts of the building. I guess she was wonderful... my co-director Rob was able to spend 45 minutes speaking with her on Friday ... we are all a little in awe of him today. the other Authors were Michael Perry, David Maranis, and Kevin Henkes.

Rob and Kevin (our librarian) have been working on a middle school book project for the past year. Students have interviewed local people and are telling their stories. I got roped in because of flattery "oh Lori you have a good eye, tell me what you think of this?" I am always ready with an opinion, but I do have a pretty good eye LOL

I ended up formatting the stories and selecting fonts and pictures to illustrate them. The two gentlemen gave their presentation at the Sterling North home. It is Sterling's 150’Th birthday and since he is our local celebrity, well except golfer Steve Stricker, we are celebrating his birthday in a big way.

I unfortunately was sort of stuck helping distribute garbage bags for most of the morning. Our big middle school fundraiser is the sale of garbage bags and there is one day that we distribute them. A new teacher was in charge this year and she failed to note that the big book festival was the same day. Sheesh, she had enough to do. I have helped for 7 years now and really didn't feel I could let her down, especially since so many of the other people who usually help were involved in the book fair.

It rained all morning but the garbage bag people just kept coming so I never had a chance to get away. I felt bad. I had hoped to see Kevin Henkes, but by the time we were done with bags I was frozen to the core and just wanted some hot chocolate and a nap. Sunday Maddie and went to the film festival (day two of the book festival) She had been dragged to the film selection meeting. They tried to find films based on books. We went over for Rebecca and it was wonderful to finally see it on the big screen (well really the moderate screen, but larger than TV anyhow)

We had to sit through the last 45 minutes of "The Great Gatsby" bore bore bore, but it was worth the wait.

Friday I got an e-mail telling me that the festival was going to need both dressing rooms.... I was mighty pissed since all my costumes were in the girls dressing room and no one had mentioned any need of two rooms. The wardrobes are not secure and half the costumes are mine including some rather valuable furs and hats. I sent a rather hot e-mail off and several people offered to store things, but that would not help... I had things placed around the room where I needed them and how I needed them and separated into theirs and mine.

Lisa the library aid took it upon herself to move the things but until I actually got over there after school and checked it out I envisioned disaster. Everything was fine though. I took a few things home and simmered a little.

Today we got more bad news about the play... The middle school counselor came to me asking to use the epac (theater) on Nov 1 for a lyceum. I knew Puck would be pissed, but our contract says that our sets must remain mobile so I had little choice but to tell her that it would be ok and that I would break it to Puck. Just like I thought he was and is mad and hell, but there is nothing to be done. I think we have come up with some solutions, but boy that knee-jerk reaction can be mighty powerful.

I stopped back to the theater after school to put everything back, but it had already been done. I found Paul (the guy I sent the pissy e-mail too) and thanked him. I also apologized for my pissiness. He told me he didn't take it personally sot that was good

it is pretty chilly, but we are off to a choir concert tonight.

My Hat it has no Corners

This is the spider hat I wear to shows and wore to school for Hat Day. It also is me sitting at my desk at school. It does not show the huge messy desk off to the right though

Grrrrrrrrrr and Brrrrrrrrrrr

So last night as I am fitting a lovely black dress on an actress I say "this will look great for the caterer"
she responds "but I am not playing the caterer anymore"
"What????"
"They asked me to understudy Patty because her grades are low, and made me one of the ladies having tea, I think Maggie is playing the caterer now"
"When did they tell you this???"
"Oh last week"
"grrrrrrrrr"

Out of the dressing room I stalked. My feet were already hurting and my cold has not abated over the week. A tired and cranky costumer sat down next to the assistant director (the director had to take her child to the doctor) and said
"I understand there have been some actor changes"
"Oh! I suppose you need to know that"
"It would have been nice and when were you planning on telling me??!!!!"
"sorry"
"So who is playing what?"
"oh I am not really sure, I don't know if Stacy has decided yet"
"Could you send me an e-mail tomorrow so I can get things straight?"
"Well, I will see what Stacy says"

I was so angry... I thought I was down to shoes and jewelry and now they are changing actors on me? The understudy girl needs to have a dress in the wings and she is not a small girl. She also needs a society lady dress and really does not look too good in dresses! double Grrrrr

I am totally frustrated at the lack of consideration. Many of the characters are relatively silent on stage so their costumes really must tell their stories. I pride myself in my research, experience and careful design of the costumes I put people in on the stage. I do not just slap the best fitting dress and hat on the actor, but have tried to make the ladies look like a bouquet of flowers. I put the Grande Dame in black with an outrageous hat and luxurious furs.... The judge wears a lovely great coat and Elwood a slightly out of date gray suit... I choose clothing that will evoke the time period and help identify the characters immediately for the audience.

And that is my grrrr story.... I did get my costume cop hat in the mail today along with badges (yes we need some stinking badges) and a billy club... The billy club is plastic and when I squeezed it danged if it didn't make a little squeek... I can tell you I thought about the maturity level of my actors and found my needle nosed plyers and did a squeekectamy immediately.

This is homecoming weekend so there was alittle mini parade that the elementary school put on.. only trouble was that it was only barely above freezing with a gusty breeze blowing by. Dang it was cold. The middle school band played too and some of them were actually playing through their windbreakers.

At the end of the day there was a powderpuff football game with the 8th and 7th grades compteting to play the teachers. I provided a dress for the ringer (our computer guy) but did not play. They had a good time and the teachers mopped up the floor with the 8th graders even though they were outnumbered 3 to 1

Came home and watched Maddie's last parade... She marched past straight as a ramrod like usual, eyes front and not a glimmer of recognition. I was so proud of her. She could join any military band :)

now if the pizza would just come I would be happy again :) I really need to go shopping over the weekend!

Ratless

Well we have come to the end of our rat pets. Maddie's last little Rattie Girl passed away sometime yesterday. Frankly it was a blessing. First of all I have been calling the critter Rattie girl for so long I don't even remember her name. Oh Maddie now tells me her name was Calista She and her sister were adoptees from the animal shelter and unfortunately must not have had much human handling as babies. Neither of them were ever truly friendly and Maddie was the only one who could get near them without getting bit and even she was a litte wary.

We always have been of the opinion though that when you adopt a pet you must live with them through the good and the bad the best you can. Anyhow... The first rattie sister Tocana passed away last year and soon after Calista began to develop a tumor. We have been through this with our other rats and since she was a little over three years old it seemed unreasonable to have it removed. The tumor has continued to grow, but the rat has seemed relatively unaffected. When it got quite large she just gimped around. She never seemed terribly uncomfortable so we continued to just let her live her life.

Every day or so I would ask the condition of Rattie Girl and Maddie would say "oh she is getting around fine" last night I asked "How is Rattie Girl?" Maddie went to the cage and tapped on it. A concerned look came across her face and she tapped again. Sure enough Calista was dead. She had been alive that morning so it was fairly quick. I am glad we did not have to pack her off to the vet to have her put down. I really don't think she would have liked that at all.

Now the only pets we have are the two cats. It feels a little weird to be so petless, but I guess it is good for now.

I was home sick from school yesterday with a cold... I must have caught it over the internet from Spidey... we seem to share so much :) I did manage to get a few things done for the play though ... I finished the dress for the Grande Dame, Sewed a fur collar on the coat for Elwoods Sister Veta. I also sewed some feathers on the Dame's hat. I pinned a skirt in for the skinny girl and recieved two dresses in the mail that will work for my nurse and caterer. That puts me in pretty good stead for most of the costumes. Now all I have to find are huge hats for my fat-headed boys... sheesh.. I have four boys who wear hat sizes of 7 5/8ths Yikes!!! I have a bid in on a police hat and one fedora, but it is going to cost!

I sent an e-mail to the director suggesting alternative blocking for her opening scene. I hope she listens to me and changes it, but at least she has a little time to give it some thought. It is homecoming week this week so lots of stuff going on. Tomorrow is wacky hat day and I need to dig out my spider hat :) Or maybe my spider pin hat... now I don't know which one to wear.

Squash for Breakfast

I have to take my meds with food and nothing looked too appealing in the refrigerator except the lovely butternut squash that was left over from another meal. I love squash, but my family is not a huge fan. It is quite nippy out this morning and we are trying not to turn the heat on any earlier than we have to so a nice hot bowl of squash with coffee is pretty comforting.

Again the week flew by. We are still loving our couch and it has again become part of the family of furniture. On a recent trip to goodwill I found a VHS copy of Purple Rain... I don't believe I have seen that since I was back in River Falls. I am looking forward to seeing it again.

Whitewater is putting on a midnight performance of Rocky Horror on Friday the 13th ... I would like to go see a live stage production of it, but Maddie wants to dress up and the only character I could dress up as would be Meatloaf and I am not going there. They have a special section of the audience saved for the dressed up fans. I want to sit with her.. it is a dilemma.

I bought a new stove from a co-worker and Puck and I are going to try and bring it home today. My current oven tends to burn cookies... I have to put the cookie sheets on the top rack and watch them carefully and my big front burner died quite a while ago so this will be a good thing I hope. I think it might be a little smaller than my current oven, but that is ok.

Finally got the last actor measured on thursday and pulled several shirts and pants for the rest of the cast. I fitted my cabbie too... She has the most glorious head of curly auburn going to bright red hair. She wanted to play the cabbie as a guy, but we want her to be a female who is working a somewhat unusual job. I would say not too surprising since this is 1944, but in one of her lines we find out she has been driving for 15 years and her brother for 10. I have a lovely vintage Hawaiian shirt that I used to wear in college. It has a black base with pineapples and flowers all over it. I am putting her in that and khaki pants. I found her a long tawny leather jacket to complete the outfit and a blue corduroy snap front cap. Shoes are still a problem, but she says she has a pair of hiking boots that might work. I wanted to put her in some kind of work boot, but those are in rather limited supply.

I hemmed up a dress for one of my shorter society ladies and only have one more to shorten. Both these girls are just about 5 feet and a little on the robust side. I want them to look pretty and to feel good on stage. I hauled in two large plastic bins of hats from home and then finally found the hats the HS owns. Unfortunately they did not have a great selection except one really wonderful hat for my Grande dame. I would like to embellish it even more, but that is not a huge priority.

They are having a full run through on Sunday so I should be able to fit hats to dresses and find character shoes for all the girls. It is coming together, but I need to either make or find some snoods for some of the girls. We still have a few actors with academic problems, but hopefully they will make the grade so to speak.

Maddie has now been accepted to three of the four schools she applied to and seems to be feeling a little more excited about making a selection. I guess the acceptance letters make it a little more real.

Finally found my camera

here is my paternal grandmother's sofa (which we always called the davenport) reupholstered with my inheritance from my maternal grandmother. It is solid as a rock and still comfy to sleep on :)