excused absence

Dear Blogger,

Please excuse Denise from her lengthy blogging-world absence. She has been very busy with

and hasn't slept much, due to a lot of late-night

and had to finish the

at the last minute,

all while missing her

very much.

She has had to take a fair bit of

to keep headaches, aches and pains at bay.

She'll resume her (somewhat) regular posting once she finishes the

and gets

and

organized again.

Sincerely,

If the shoe fits, buy it in every color

12 on the 12th (on the 15th)

1. Daily morning dose of vitamins--breakfast of champions
2. Church satellite broadcast/leadership training meeting
3. Snack stash in high school's costume room always includes circus peanuts
4. Rolling z-racks in costume room
5. Double-checking leading lady's costume chart
6. Old Faithful
7. Sewing standbys
8. No explanation needed
9. Yards and yards and yards of fabric
10. Another drink, please
11. How many peasant blouses do we need?
12. BBC's Lark Rise to Candleford, Season 2 (thanks, Michelle, for introducing me to this one!)

And thanks to Charlotte for making my grid!

clogging blogging

Now that Mark has computer up and running again knock on wood) I can finally begin to attempt blog catch-up, starting with Sarah's national clogging competition at the end of May.

My good friend Linda drove to Utah with Sarah and I. We were making good time, and I had just remarked on it to Linda when she said, "Well, I hate to tell you this, but I think we've got a problem." Not good words to hear on a road trip.

The temperature gauge on her oh-so-reliable Subaru looked like this (aren't you impressed I thought to take a photo?):

After a stop at a Grease Monkey in Rifle, Colorado, where the car's fluids were replenished, we were on our way to Grand Junction, where we would have the car looked at by a Subaru dealer. (It turned out that nothing was wrong at all--perhaps just a loose radiator cap.) We laughed at this Grease Monkey sign, which of course would not have been so funny if the car had not been so easily fixed.

Charlotte got to spend the weekend with us, too, which proved an added bonus. We went shopping for wedding necessities on Friday night and then went to Pleasant Grove to stay with Linda's hospitable relatives.

The morning of Saturday's competition dawned cloudy, COLD, and rainy. Did Utah not get the memo that it was ALMOST JUNE? Linda, having packed for warmer weather, had to make a quick run to Kohl's for pants and socks before we left for Lagoon--the site of Clogging Nationals. We were all a bit skeptical upon arriving and parking at the amusement park, as evidenced by Charlotte's "I'm dreading being cold all day" expression.

I didn't take many photos of the actual dancing because I would rather watch the dance live than through the lens of my camera, if that makes sense. I'm really grateful that I have no cause in life that requires me to wear silver lame pants. I did enjoy watching the team perform in the tops I was hired to sew for them.

Sarah's team did really well, earning a Best Overall Team (in the intermediate division) for one of their dances, and the Best Overall Studio for their entire division! We celebrated that night by having dinner at the famed In-and-Out Burger.

Sarah looks a little too grown-up in her stage makeup, don't you think?

It was a short but fun trip. Now we get a break from clogging classes until August--that is, unless Sarah hears a toe-tapping tune on the radio and starts one of her routines in the kitchen, or down the aisles of Costco, or in the driveway. . . .

. . . and this is what I hate about costuming

Our show closed last Saturday night--thank heaven! My friends often ask me, "How do you do it, Denise?" This is how: I let absolutely everything else in my life take a back seat--family (which encompasses laundry, meal prep, house cleaning, phone conversations with out-of-state loved ones, blog reading, etc.), church assignments (more difficult to do so this year--thank goodness I have supportive counselors and a fabulous Compassionate Service Leader), friends (sorry about never texting you back, Paula, when you were in town. . .), and of course sleep and healthy eating (and I wonder why I'm just getting over one of the worst sinus infections I've had in a while).

This morning, deciding that my sanity hinged upon "getting my house in order," I took yet another day off work and decided to try to make order out of chaos. Sadly, the following photos were not staged in any way. This is just the way my house looked this morning, after several weeks of neglect.

My bedside table/dresser. Note unmade bed in the mirror:

Both my kitchen and dining room tables were covered with weeks of miscellany. Of course, we never ate dinner at the table, so where's the problem? Note Emily's "cartoon" sunglasses I've had to resort to wearing, as mine broke and I have not had time to get them fixed or replaced. Also note the last of the Christmas decorations that have yet to be stored away:

Note bags from HomeGoods containing a design project for a patiently-waiting client, as well as miscellaneous coupons (likely expired by now) clipped who knows when:Another pile, in a different location, for a different patiently-waiting client:
The laundry center--not a pretty sight.
The ironing pile (which does not include all of the hanging items pictured in the back of the previous top photo). Most mornings the kids feel lucky if they can simply pull a rumpled something out of the pile to wear that day; hey--at least there's a possibility it may be clean.
No wonder I can't iron:
My sewing area. When things get so crazy I don't take time to clean up one project before moving onto the next, hence the pile of scraps and unused fabrics strewn about the floor:

It's gross, but I had to document the un-vacuumed floor. It's WAY worse in the sewing area. Yes, Jessie--those are the ever-present remnants of Moosey's favorite rope chew toy. Don't ask where the spare change came from!

My work desk, where everything from school, church, mail, etc. gets unceremoniously deposited. Yes, that is a wrapped Christmas box containing a church object lesson used last December:Part of my kitchen counter, representing the remnants of my last-minute pretzel-making-gift project (for closing night thank-you's) and my varied assortment of vitamins and cough remedies:

And, though (thankfully) not in my house, there's all of the waiting, dirty costumes at the high school to be dealt with--LATER.A self-portrait of exhaustion at the end of the show's run. What would I do without my dear friend and co-conspirator, Teri?
And whatever would I do without my ever-supportive and non-complaining husband Mark? This photo was taken after Thursday night's show, hence John in costume and makeup.

*sigh* Let Real Life commence.

10 things I love about costuming

1. The entire creative process, from conception to realization.

2. Shopping for fabric and patterns--the joy of textiles in general.

3. Spending time and (sometimes) being goofy with some of the most wonderful friends I've ever had the privilege of knowing. Feeling like a contributing member of my community.

4. Spending time with my kids and seeing them perform.

5. Finding the PERFECT accessories for the leading lady's ball gown.

6. Having the ability to see to it that my daughter has one of the cutest dresses in the chorus.

7. The secret pleasure of seeing some of my mother's and my old clothes and hats on stage (the coral dress with black buttons is one my mother made for herself about 50 years ago. The white hat is one my sister made for my mom about 15-20 years ago. The black and fuchsia dress on the left edge of the photo below was one of mine from the '80's).

8. The satisfaction of witnessing The Twirl Factor in action.

9. Making every performer feel like they look terrific--whether it's the leading lady or someone who stands in the back in the chorus.

10. Getting to know my kids' friends and classmates.

(I made this list so I will have something to remind myself of over the next six weeks. )