Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Be Our Guest

So my darlings I realize I haven't blogged since NOVEMBER...

I need to get back to writing and blogging...and now that I have so much behind me I think I sorta kinda maybe probably have some time to do so...

So since NOVEMBER:

I sold my house

I had the holidays with my kids

I helped GOTT surprise my sweet GOTTESS with an awesome Xmas present---because when a man goes out and picks out the perfect luxury car for your "sister wife" you pretty much better be included and get to make a giant bow to put on it and video her being surprised...I loved doing that so much!

I did costumes for 60+ kids for a high school musical that was worthy of anything TUTS does...(the musical, NOT my costumes)

I found a new house to live in (I close next week)

I fell in love----with 60+ amazing kids that I couldn't be prouder of

and I am packing to move into a house 1/2 the size of the one I live in now...

whew...

I think that is pretty much it...

changes are happening and they are all good...

and for the new few blogs I can pretty much guarantee that the song titles will all be songs from "Beauty and the Beast" because they pretty much fit my life right now...

The kids performed the show last weekend and now I have the worst show depression I have ever had...seriously it's a good thing I am moving because otherwise I would be in bed so sad or up at the school making a nuisance of myself...

Those kids changed me...and just what those changes are I will address in another blog (conveniently there is a song called "A change in me"...lol)

In so many ways...

Last spring when GOTT asked me if I would costume the two shows he was doing at the high school I said "yes" without thinking because that is what happens when GOTT asks me to do things...I automatically spit out the word "yes" and then figure it out later...

That's what happened the first time he asked me to costume a show...he asked if I knew how to do it and I LIED and said yes and figured it out later...

Since we have now done 26 shows together I think I can safely say I have learned how and he likes my work...

But then we plunged headlong into "Seussical" and at the back of my mind I kept thinking "how the hell am I going to do the darn Be Our Guest number..."

And he kept adding kids to the chorus...

Suessical ended and then I did "Arsenic and Old Lace" for him...but that was like 13 kids and was easy...

But many nights...when I couldn't sleep...I was haunted by dreams...

OF CUTLERY

AND PLATES

all singing and dancing

and then he tells me we have like 60 kids

Um....

what the hell?

I would google...I would watch youtube

and many nights I broke out into a sweat about how to make 15 kids look like napkins (thank goodness there were actually only 9)

and then God and GOTT gave me a gift...

I shall dub her "My Other Daughter"...MOD for short...

GOTT tells me that if I can convince the sweet girl MOD to help me I might just have found an angel

Boy was he right

But then again GOTT is usually right...

except about A&M...

there he is wrong (yes darling it is an EXCELLENT school ...end of story)

So MOD comes and meets me one day and I KNEW with all of my heart that the sweet child before me not only would be an enormous help but that I was going to love her

and she was

and I do

she had been helping with the student musicals for 4 years...and she knew all the stuff I didn't...

so I learned a heck of a lot from an 18 year old senior in high school...

we started formulating a plan...some of the stuff we could do...some we couldn't...but for the most part we made it work...

we got 60 "peasants" costumed straight out of the school's costume closet...I spent about $8 getting 2 boys pants because I didn't have their size...

But Be Our Guest was still nagging at me...until one day she suggested we go look in the other closet for inspiration...

and

voila...

we had it!

I won't bore you with details but trust me when you are told you have 9 "napkins", 10 "plates", 9 "napkin rings", 7 "knives", 6 "spoons" and 6 "forks"...well, you panic a little...

we added a "stove" and "salt and pepper" shakers and a rug...

and we styled it all "Busby Berkley" and somehow...strangely...magically...

IT WORKED

I won't even get into what making "wolves" and "gargoyles" was like...I'm saving that for another blog...

I had a ton of help in the form of angels that are otherwise known as mothers of the cast...

But really it was me and MOD figuring it out and getting it done...

And on Saturday night...at the last show...I bawled my eyes out because the kids looked so amazing and IT ALL LOOKED GREAT

I have so many tales to tell of the show...of how my "Sweet Caroline" kept me calm and would kiss my cheek and tell me it was all amazing so that I wouldn't panic...how my "Morgan La Fab" blew me away with her choreography and she is just 18 years old...how my "Katherine the Great" made me cry each night with her singing....how "My Belle Morgan" (yes, there were 2 Morgans) made me so proud I almost burst each night...

but this blog is dedicated to MOD...because she did so much more than fit costumes, organize dressing rooms, and Febreezed the heck out of stinky morph suits...

I LEARNED from her...

not just the show stuff...but watching her with her classmates and the grace she used...her ingenuity on coming up with great ideas...her ability to run it all when I was sick...

(yes, I got the flu in the middle of it all...)

And every responsibility I handed to her was handled with perfection...

even "costume jail" and some incredibly scary quick costume changes...

I learned from a beautiful young lady that I could do my job and make everyone happy...

Because my goal when I do these shows is not to make myself look good...

it's to make the kids look good

that's what GOTT and I do...we try and bring out the best in our kids...

I don't know how I will do this all without her next year but I am giving serious consideration to offering to pay for her to come back here and help me with the show...

I'm not kidding...she's that valuable to me....

But more importantly I have a sweet little extra daughter to love and be proud of as she spreads her wings and moves beyond high school to her future...

and because of her my future with doing high school shows is now so much easier...

I love you sweet MOD...

What's the point of all of this besides honoring a very special young lady?

We never know just WHO our teacher will be...

in my case she was a very special young lady...

OPEN YOUR EYES and see what the youth before us can offer...don't discount what they can teach...

I have learned a lot from my kids but it was also quite sweet and special to learn from some kids who I had not raised...

And I am a very proud mama indeed...

Inspiration song: "Be Our Guest" from "Beauty and the Beast"...if you were fortunate enough to see our show you know it was amazing...and this is dedicated to my sweet MOD who made it work for me so others could be our guest...

Bye Darlings...look to our youth...they will inspire, they will challenge, they will lead, they will teach...and you will find much to love there...