my special blue

Clyde and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday. Clyde was in town for a Teachers conference and I was able to work from home (see next post). It was also an early release day for the 3 little wardlings and the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts.  With all the happenings, our anniversary took back burner. We had previously agreed that we weren't going to exchange gifts this year. We were happy with that decision. We have Hockey tickets for tonight and that was to be our celebration for our anniversary.  Clyde came home from his conference and summoned me upstairs. I was busily sewing or decoration cookies, I can't remember now. I ran upstairs and he gave me this:

 I was shocked and totally surprised! I have secretly longed for something from Tiffany's! As a matter of fact, we are hoping to actually fix our bedroom up and I want it to be Tiffany box blue, and have for many years. Clyde was so happy with himself! I was overwhelmed by Clyde's love.

 As speechless as I was, I was even more speechless when he pulled out the 2nd blue bag and box!

Oh sweetheart, how I love you and not just because of the blue boxes filled with pure beauty, but because of who you are and who you have become and who we are together. I love you Clyde! Thank you, thank you!!Happy anniversary!!

spoke too soon

We did ship Hairspray, I promise...except for 4 capes and 4 scarves and 3 male costumes that were neglected. (Their sheets were placed in a file and just forgotten about.) Yesterday was spent making 4 of these bad boys, along with dozens of cookies for the scouts blue and gold banquet. I made the capes and scarves, while B, a lady who also works at the costume shop, cut out the letters and adhered them to the capes. Sis. D did make one change to the capes, that made them just right. I love working @ the costume shop! The phrase, "Ultra Clutch" is also on the back. I finished up the scarves and added the snaps today...all 24 of them. I hate sewing on the little things like snaps, buttons, or anything little. They finish the project but they are just tedious work. Tedious work that requires exactness, or they don't line up right and must be redone.

it's been shipped

Hairspray was shipped to a high school Kentucky today. It is over. Hallelujah! Now onto Big River, a story/ musical with Huckleberry Finn, Jim, and Tom Sawyer.

big goof

Today was a temple day for Erin, Libby, and me. I loved going to the temple and seeing our girls do Temple work. Erin wanted to ride in someone else's car, so Libby and 2 other girls and I rocked the beetle. The girls were playing the dots game. It was really funny to hear them laughing and cutting up in the car.

Meanwhile @ the Brown house, Clyde was busting it! He and Josh cut down some of the twigs, small trees, and thorny areas in our jungle. We seriously need to get a mulcher for the day to grind up the poor tree souls that are lying on the ground. We just need to put them out of their misery. Clyde was super dad in making their day happy while being very productive! He had super helpers help him wash and vacuum out cars too. You are awesome honey!!

We are in the final hours of prep work for Hairspray. It has to be shipped out Monday. As it turns out, there are 2 gals in the production that have bustier busts and need to have something custom made...by me. My job on Friday was to buy fabric and get to sewing. I bought fabric and I began sewing. When I took it into the shop, Sis. D wasn't thrilled. I had purchased the wrong fabric and sewed the wrong dress.  (It was more of a difference of vision than anything else.) I appreciated her honesty and yet she was kind too. I just felt horrible that I had let her down. Giving me another chance, I have been busily sewing away. I have to give shout outs to plus sized clothing designers and the people who sew them. The clothes are tricky to make. Dressforms aren't as abundant in bigger sizes and to get busts, waists and hips right is a hard job to accomplish. I am unaccustomed to making dresses any bigger than the size of my children. The gal who plays Tracey has a 53" bust, 47" waist, and a 58" hip.  I had to make a pattern from a pattern to fit her. Even then it had to be altered. Talk about mental insanity and needing to be completely focused.  I am nearly finished and need to get going on the 2nd dress. The second dress is 9" smaller in the bust etc. I just felt really bad that I had goofed. Everyone goofs, but I should've known better. It can be overwhelming to be buying things, with other's money and then to goof. Not such a good feeling.

hairspray costumes

The past few days has been very busy @ the costume shop. We have been pulling costumes, measuring them for Hairspray. We did order 6 wigs, but the other 34 were styled be me. The shop didn't have all the costumes, if you can believe it, that we needed,in the sizes that we need them, so sister D and I went to goodwill this morning and found all but maybe 2. I really appreciate that Sis. D let's me bring work home to finish. Tonight I have 5 costumes to alter. Let the sewing machine roll!

valentine's day @ the brown house

Welp...today was our appointment to take Toto and Opa to get 'tutored.'  The puppies were excited to get into the van, but their excitement faded about 10 minutes later. I think they could tell that the jig was up and something big was going to happen. I felt a smidge bad for them to the clinic, until both Toto and Opa were barking their stinkin heads off in the office. Opa,  and I'm just going to say it...was such an A-hole! I was ready for the little fart-knocker to have his balls removed by the time the tech came to grab him. The boys, or eunuchs as I call them, are resting comfortably...enjoying some pain relieving, anti-inflammatory drugs and some raw hide chew toys. I figured that if their mouths were busy chewing on something, they'd forget to lick their empty scrotums. :) Happy Valentine's Day!

report cards and grades

This morning went by very quickly. We had to leave early to get to their school by 7:15.  Josh earned A/B Honor Roll again and thus a breakfast ceremony was to @ commence at 7:15.  (It didn't actually start until 7:30. rrr) The man with Penny is Mr. Franklin. He is a volunteer that helps children out of their cars in the car rider line.  Penny wanted to wear her Viking Halloween hat because it kept her ears warm. She got loads of compliments which brightened up her entire day!

 Here is our Josh enjoying his Honor Roll breakfast. We are very proud of our babies. Libby made the A/B Honor Roll. She was upset that she lacked all A's by 2 poits or something. Erin did excellently! She has improved in many subjects. We are very proud of her hard work!  Jacob had excellent grades too, being above average in all areas. He read 45 books this last nine weeks making Rudy's Reading Club. Penny continues in her speech and making progress on her IEP.

new gig

Monday was such a fun day! I met up with my friend, Ashley, at the ole Hobby Lobby for some hairbow making supplies. When we were finished, my Dad called and we were able to spend the afternoon together, looking in Lowe's Hardware and eating lunch @ Cracker Barrel (my fav-o resturant). I loved spending time with my Dad. We don't get to see each other often and when we do, I love every minute of it! On the way home, I got a call from Sis. Dunlap asking me if I was busy these days. As it happens she needed help in her costume shop and I was more than happy to help out. She has 3 plays going on at one time and let me tell you, that is alot of costumes!  Tuesday began my first day there. We were working on the play, "The Scarlet of Pimpernel." It is a period piece dealing with French ball gowns and so many uniforms! My job was to add some detail along with any missing notions (buttons mainly) and altering the costume to fit the actor. My first job was to handsew 3 white bows down the front of a purple velvet ball gown and some lace onto the sleeve to dress it up. The dress below is a garden dress for the play; I took it in, hemmed the slip with the hemmer machine (awesome machinery btw) and added the lace down the front. It still needed a bit of sumpthin' sumpthin, so I made the pink flowered and feathered corsage.

Yesterday was a busy busy day @ the shop. I altered dressy uniform coats, pants, added buttons to make colonel's coat dressier, made the ruffles worn by men in the front of their shirts (jabots...it's french so it is pronounces ja-beaux), and ruffly sleeve inserts. (6 sets) Most of the work was done by hand and my finger tips are a bit tender. Last night we finished that show.  On to the next...

Today began the production of Hairspray. My job was to look through all the wigs and find the 40 that were needed for the production. I found a bouffant for Tracy's character along with a few blond wigs for other characters. I even made a 60's updo for another character. It does need some bling or headband or something to complete it. I left the shop a bit early and went to a local wig shop, to compare prices of what we could order in a wig catalog from a company out of New York that provides all the wigs and beards for the pageant our church puts on, vs locally. The catalog wins by lots!

 

Tomorrow's work will be about the same. I have done some research on 60's hair and have plans to hopefully bring the wigs to life and full of sixties height and style. Let's hope this works out well!

jenny lind

I have been looking for a Jenny Lind bed for some time now. My Grandma Cecil has a bed similar to this one, except it is a full sized. I remember it was loaned to my sister and I when we lived in a blue house, when I was small (5 or 6). I love that bed! When we bought our house 3 years ago, I began looking for a bed similar to MeeMaws. I found one about 2 weeks ago on Craigslist and the price was right. I arranged with a friend to tag along with me {for protection of course} to meet up with the guy selling it. I was so excited!! (I know the pictures are dark and somewhat fuzzy, but it was a rainy day, the bed was in my garage, and these were taken with ye olde cell phone. blah blah blah) I got to sanding and painting. I totally misguesstimated how many cans of spray paint this sucker would take for the perfect paint job. I bought the 3 cans that Lowes had and really a fourth would make it perfect. I have to wait until they restock though.

 This was the bed when I set it up for the first time in my girl's bedroom and promptly began cleaning the room. (see post below for further cleaning details...they are juicy.) Yes, they have a light blue room...mainly because they couldn't agree on colors for their room and there was an awesome room in a pottery barn catalog that I tried to re-create. (Their room still needs work...like the painting of the bunk beds and dresser, and of course better curtains...etc.) However, all 3 are sick of the blue and yet again they can't agree on colors. I am thinking a light pink.

 After 8 hours of cleaning (again see the post below), furniture moving, loads upon loads of laundry and some bruises on my left knee cap; their room is spic and spam. Now it is time to become militant about the cleanliness. NO MERCY!!

i've said my peace, and counted to 10

Clyde and I have had an ongoing battle with our children over the cleanliness of their bedrooms. I have mentioned this several times in the past. Their rooms have become such a hot, touchy subject that it is causing me stress and anxiety.  About 2 weeks ago, I broke down and cleaned the boys' room. I began the cleaning process when they were at school and then had them help in the continuing of cleaning upon our arrival home from school. It took close to 5 hours to actually clean their bedroom. In my opinion 5 hours is too long. I realized that they need better organization and less stuff. We got a dresser from a friend of ours and this has helped tremendously in the efforts to stay organized. I put a shelf on their wall to display their star wars babies and ships. I also put away all their other toys. (They just don't play with them often enough to have them in their room.) In the past two weeks, their room is maintainable. If anything is on the floor and after a screaming mom (me) yelling to put their things away, the clean room is back to it's pristine self within 5 minutes. Nice.

Then there was the girls' room.  Clyde and I have been after them since school let out for the summer, 2010, to actually clean their room. In December, when they had their physicals and were out of school for the day, I 'assisted' them in the cleaning and it was mama clean. They are after all 14 and 12. They are old enough to pick-up after themselves. We have taken away any and all extra activities...like YW's basketball, field trips, clothes, Christmas gifts, etc...and it wasn't enough to get them to clean their room. I had a total breakdown this week when I realized that their room wasn't ever going to be clean, unless I did something about it. Our 3 girls are in one room and the room isn't big. Like the boys, they needed better organization and less crapity crap in their room to make it work. Their room being the pig sty they loved to root in, was actually putting a damper in my relationship with them. Every time I saw them goofing off, or any free time they had, I would immediately jump on them to clean their room. Their room was also causing more arguments between E and L then I care to mention. 

So, Thursday, I said my peace and counted to 10. I bucked up and cleaned their room. I started at 9am and wasn't finished until 5pm. Eight full hours cleaning. I was angry the.entire.time. I threw away so much trash. I moved bunk beds and vacuumed. I assembled a new bed, which will be another post, organized their closets and drawers. I bagged up summer clothes and unwanted clothing. I moved dressers and vacuumed. I boxed up P's unplayed with toys. Did I mention that I was angry all day long?! Anger was a big motivator for me.

When their room was finished, I felt accomplished, proud of my work and like a total loser for cleaning up after them. Then I got angry again and then the girls came home from school. I was a very uncool mom. I had just spent 8 hours in their room and my work wasn't done. I had the trickling from their room in the hall way to clean up and about 5 loads of laundry to wash. E liked the room, where as L gave me cheek. Within an hour of them being home, L had pulled out clothes and put them on the floor. I  Fa-reaked out. She put them away with haste. 

Today, Clyde took the girls to the blue superstore to purchase additional storage solutions for their room. I am hoping that with the blockade of their filthy room out of the way, our relationship can progress positively. 

(And for the record they still can't participate in extras until they can prove that they can keep their room clean.)