Yeesh, or Holy Smoking Tomatoes, Batman!

Honestly. I don’t know what else to say about the past week. My kids high school, Brighton High School, is putting on Legally Blonde, The Musical in January. The first high school in the country to do it, which is pretty darn cool! It’s going to be an awesome show. So how does this affect me, you might ask?  Oh, let me tell you.

They couldn’t find anyone to head up costumes. I was feeling a little guilty about not volunteering, after all, I do have some experience in this area, but I was dealing with my guilt. Really, I was fine.  After all, I’m trying to start a new business (which came to a temporary screeching halt just over a week ago) and have about a billion projects going on, plus a family to take care of.

Then, my friend Lisa, whom I have mentioned before, told the directors that I was really the person they needed. I was still living in blissful ignorance when she called one morning and right after my hello said, “don’t kill me, just listen, don’t kill me!” That is never a good start to a phone call. For the record, I didn’t kill her, although the thought did cross my mind a time or two. : )

The long and the short of it, they were desperate, I caved. So I am now the costume crew head for the BHS production of Legally Blonde. Nothing like coming on board as staff for a show after it’s already been in production for over a month. Yes, there was – and is -  a lot of work to do. Fortunately, Lisa is helping a lot, thank goodness. I couldn’t do it without her.

Anyone who has ever costumed a full length musical production with a large cast (70 this time) and multiple costume changes for almost every character (except one!), will understand what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, there’s really no way to explain it, except to say that normally when costuming a show you start months before auditions. Imagine an enormous presentation/project at work in six months that could result in a million dollar deal, or writing a thesis and you’re starting to get there. There is a ton of scene/character breakdowns and organizing that has to be done before you can even give anyone else stuff to do or actually start on the costumes themselves, so yeah, there was and is a lot to do. I now have yet another reason to wake up at 3:30 or 4:00 AM with lists of various things running through my mind.

When I say I have done nothing but costumes for the past week, I am not kidding. I slept a little, ate occasionally, but mostly, just sat here working, for about ten hours a day. My behind is permanently numb and my legs work only slightly now. My family (who look vaguely familiar at this point) can attest to that.

Thank goodness, the breaking down and organizing part is done enough so now I can hand out stuff to other parents who volunteered to help (although that is a shockingly small number – have you ever noticed that it’s always the same people who end up doing everything?) and start on actual costumes. This is a good thing, because I have to give some time to the rest of my life AND getting my website up! Oh, yeah, the work and make money stuff. Kind of need to do that.

I am not going to make getting it up by Thanksgiving, which was my goal and really sucks. However, it was my choice to take on the costumes, inconvenient though it is. Due to time constraints it’s been a while since I’ve been involved in theatre at all and even longer since I’ve costumed a show. This has made me remember how much I enjoy it. I love working with teens, I really do. The production team is a great, dedicated group who are fun to work with and I’m meeting some other parents whom I enjoy as well, so, it’s a good thing, even if it is incredibly time consuming.

My friend Richard (Richard Lim, of Richard Lim Photography, Howell, MI) has offered to do my first round of photos for me, which is REALLY exciting and super generous of him! Obviously, the photos will probably turn out just a little better (ha – just a hint of sarcasm) than those taken in my TV room with my cheapish camera! This is good in that it also is forcing me to turn attention back to the other things in my life that need to be done (Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK for goodness sake – how did that happen?!). I can no longer push the rest of my life aside for the costumes.

I do tend to get a little obsessive about things sometimes, I’ll admit. When I start a project, I don’t want anything else to intrude until it’s done and done the way I want it done. Which means, having someone else whose schedule I’m working with is forcing me to step back from the costumes and work on my business; I needed the push.

Of course, little things like feeding my family, paying bills and all the other bazillion details that go into running a home need some attention as well. Plus – Thanksgiving! Holy crap! I have to go grocery shopping!

All right, gotta go, got stuff to do!