Monday, July 26, 2010

Another alterations morning. This time, though, I have my repaired Serger, Sewing Machine, and my new Blind Hemmer all at the same time. 390 pairs of pants later, I can finally hem them the way they're supposed to be hemmed!

My Mom is in town. I invited her in to see my new Costume Shop, and she agreed to stay for a few days to help me with fittings and embellishing the ballgowns. I've got another fantastic parent whose daughter is doing her first play, and wants Mama nearby, but not in the room. So I leave alterations and mending in a basket for her, and find the finished items in my office. I love having a crew!

I've been shopping on Ebay quite a bit recently, but my underwear collection is wearing out, and ebay is a great place to get nice new underwear for around $1 an item, plus shipping. The combined total is usually still less than I would pay for a similar item at a thrift store. (Though, I'll maybe buy a nice bra second hand, I won't buy panties - eeeew. Even my thrifting has limits).

I have the next three days off from waitressing, but I'll be in my costume shop for most of them!

I love my job!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Alan and I are proud to welcome our first child into our as-yet un-mutual home!!

Her name is Gem. She lives in the Philippines, and we've agreed to fund her education for the next few years so she can finish school (See Compassion sidebar below and to the right). Alan helped me go through the pages of older girls and find the perfect child for us...and her birthday is the day before mine!

My last child from India graduated from her double major this week, and we got to choose a new child!

I love these days!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A peaceful morning at home. I'm trying to get the easy alterations started - since I have to drop off at closing time tomorrow night. Khakis take almost no time at all, so I'm doing them first.

I spent a crazy number of hours this weekend costuming the biggest bulk of the SE Summer Camps. Alice in Wonderland, Grease, and Annie all have performances this Friday. I still haven't started on Midsummer Night's Dream, but we have lots of Fairy costumes, and in a pinch, I know the costumer at Greenstage - the Shakespear in the Park people!

I had three days off from my waitressing job, and intended to take them. Except for one small round of meetings yesterday to check in with the camps and walk them through their costume stock. When one director absolutely needed a pack of cards instead of just Hearts t-shirts that were already made, my quick meeting turned into 5 hours of errands as I scrambled to come up with Clubs, Spades and Diamonds out of thin air. (A bin of white tees, some iron on printer paper, and Google Images came to the rescue) As long as I was there, I also did show laundry for Peter Pan, made and labelled a bin of mending for a volunteer mother who sits through the Cinderella rehearsals, and cleaned up my office.

I haven't done much to costume Cinderella so far, but I have bought ballgowns like crazy. The chorus girls had a fitting last week to see who fits which costume before I start modifying 80's satin prom dresses into Storybook Ballgowns. We have tons of bright peasant costumes that I'm going to dye, and thanks to Storybook Theater, we have a zillion King and Queen options. This will be a bright and colorful show, once I'm done with summer camps and can concentrate on it.

Alan and I are having a day off today. I had an audition for Camelot last night. He's auditioning a few people tonight for Dracula who can't make it to the auditions next week, and then we're off to see two of our friends in a Winery Farce.