All For You

Wow...it has been a while since I blogged...still haven't summed up my awesome camp reunion and I wish I had more/better news on my friend Patrick (he is still in a coma but he is ALIVE and he still needs your prayers).

I've been busy.

Very busy.

But I have still made time to make good food choices and work out. But now the bulk of my "busy" is done and I am realizing that I have time on my hands and that is not good either. Because time on my hands gets me into trouble...

What has kept me from my computer and blogging?

Kids...

and not just my kids...

I've blogged before about my non-job that is costuming the shows at my The Cutest Boy in the World's school. I say it is a non-job because I don't get paid $$$ for it but, as I shared before, my amazing salary is hugs and kisses and a lot of love from 14 year old kids that I grow to love like they are my own. And then they leave the school but they always remain in my heart.

In fact one of them, who is now a senior in high school, came backstage (per my request to his younger brother that was in the show we were doing)and I think I hugged him 50 times and we both laughed as we reminsced about how he still holds the (boys) record for most costume changes in a show and how he stripped down to his boxers and a t-shirt while I dressed him. And how doing that show gave him confidence and how he has turned into an awesome (and handsome) young man who is now student body president at his school. Like I said, I had to hug him 50 times and told him that I could't be proudeer of him if he was my own.

So, like I said...it is a great non-job.

And not only do I get to have the love from these kids but I get to work with 2 of my favorite men in the world---GOTT and TTG. How do you not love working with some of your best friends? And then there is Musical Muse...we get to laugh at the men...it is so fun. A salary would be nice but I'll do it free because I love it so (ssshhh...don't tell anyone...)

Working with them and the kids is really not work...it is joy...I get a lot more out of it then the kids will ever know...they just know I am taking care of them but they are really taking care of me with their talents and love...

So we did Seussical...and the kids were, in a word, AMAZING...

I cried with pride watching them.

And the costumes...oh, they were fun! If you haven't seen the show, you need to know that it is based on the Dr. Seuss books and that you have "Whos" and "jungle" creatures but the costumes are not literal...they were real people clothes but it should give you an IDEA of the character.

So Horton the elephant I dressed in baggy grey clothing...with a bow tie...

And Mayzie La Bird (who is the showy bird) wore my old Victor Costa cocktail dress with ruching and a dropped waist, a showgirl headress, long satin gloves and a tail made from boas and a huge glittery bow...I loved that costume the most...

Gertrude (the awkward bird) wore a blue dress that was almost a tutu and she had a tail that literally ran the length of the stage...again, made of boas (if you have boas to donate, I will use them)

The Sour Kangaroo (who is the boss of the jungle)usually wears African dress but I reimagined her as a 50's housewife complete with pearls, a shirt dress, and an apron (her pouch!). She looked good...

I won't bore you with the rest but I will tell you that when I looked on the stage and saw my darlings singing and dancing that my heart, as the Grinch's did, grew 3 sizes...

I love those kids...

They decided to call me "Mama D" last night...I cried...

because when you have 20 girls surround you in a dressing room for a group hug, you feel pretty damn good...

We did 2 shows yesterday so I stared my day with a body pump class and an hour (special) halloween spin class. My quads are still screaming...

Football is now over and my son has moved on to wrestling. I will miss football and watching my son hit people...oh wait, he will still be doing that just without padding while wearing a leotard...wrestling is ROUGH...and it looks stupid....

But football ended well. The boys went undefeated for the year. Never lost a game. Only gave up like maybe 4 touchdowns. They were pretty amazing on the field.
Coach Dimples and the other coaches did an incredible job...

So now Coach Dimples and I are embarking on a new adventure together. He is going to be my trainer. I don't know who is more scared of it...him or me...

He promises to talk "woman" and not "coach" to me and I have promised not to cry (unless he makes me do the thing he calls the "persuit drill").

I have warned him not to throw things at me and expect me to catch them so excersises with balls are not allowed.

I also told him if he told me to run laps that I was going to run up to him, hug him goodbye and get in my car.

But I do need to shake things up for myself because I'm not losing much these days and I am working too hard not to and I don't want to get frustrated.

So maybe him yelling at me to do things will help...and the dimples don't hurt either...

I asked him Friday if he wanted "out" and he said no...poor man is clueless...he will learn...after our first training session I have a feeling he will be the one who is crying...

I cried the other day (I'm crying a lot these days but it is all good) because I got to wear another size "L" t-shirt. GOTT ordered Seussical shirts for the teachers and as I passed them out to the teachers, Precious and Adorable History Teacher had requested a "L". So I hand his skinny butt the shirt but then he says "can I have an XL please"? Bacchus and I ask him why his skinny butt needs an XL and he says he wants it for the length. And then he dazzles me with a precious and adorable smile and says since I am his friend can I make it happen?...

So I go back to GOTT who does not have a spare XL...

And I ask GOTT what he ordered me...and he sheepisly tells me an "XL" since it was ordered before my whole "I can wear a size L t-shirt" thing after Bacchus gave me a shirt.

So I tell GOTT "hand me the XL" and I march over to Precious and Adorable and hand it to him and inform him that he will now wear my shirt...he was happy...so was I...

And on Friday, when Precious was not wearing his shirt (as he should have), I asked him where his shirt was and he said "I forgot it"

I said:

"NO, PRECIOUS, IT IS RIGHT HERE ON MY BODY AND I AM ROCKING IT...you have MY shirt"...

THAT felt great...and next show I will be a "M" so he will have to order his shirt in the right size...because I am not switching with him if he has an L or XL...there are limits to what I will do for him...even if he is precious and adorable...

Smaller shirts are a big victory...

because last spring it was a 2XL and it was tight...and that was after losing 25 pounds...

And buying clothes in the "regular" not "plus" department the other day was also pretty awesome...so last night I wore "regular" (ok, they were XL's, but not plus sized) leggings and a dress that was basically a tutu and I danced a lot backstage while the kids sang...when I wasn't crying with pride.

And maybe by next spring I can jump back into that Victor Costa dress that I put on my beautiful showgirl bird and I will sing "Amazing Anice" (the showgirl bird sings a song called "Amazing Mayzie") to GOTT, TTG and Musical Muse but I think I will skip wearing the boa and bow tail...

or maybe I will keep the tail just so I have something to shake because Coach Dimples is charged with making things not so jiggly on me...so if he does his job like I think he can I can shake a tail feather and the only thing shaking will be that big bow...

And GOTT and TTG and Musical Muse will be distracted by the bow and not my bad singing...

Inspiration Song:
"All for You" from the Seussical soundtrack...silly little song...I re-wrote the words for GOTT for his birthday because it is all about what a girl goes through to help her friend...

bye darlings!

SOS

Warning: I have written this blog under the influence of 2 Molinaas Margaritas and a bit of sleep deprivation and just plain being tired...SOS...

it was that kind of day...in fact, I almost named this blog after a song that I sang (twice) while in the car---a song from the amazing musical "Spring Awakening" called..."Totally F$##%#%"...but I decided that naming my blog after a song title that contained the "f-bomb" was not appropriate...

So SOS it is...

Because it was that kind of day...

When I left my house to go to the gym, Isner and Mahut were still playing their epic battle at Wimbledon...I can't believe that the fight will go on...those poor men...

I did my workout and just as I got off, I looked up at the tv screens in the health club and saw Landon Donovan score that epic goal for the USA in the World Cup. That was a good thing. Almost, but not quite, the high point of my day...

So I workout and then head up to the middle school to help GOTT (God Of The Theater) and TTG (Tech Theater God) get ready for our show (Seussical) tonight with the drama camp kids. I love GOTT and TTG and those kids...

I needed a few more costumes (this is normal....me shopping at the last minute) so I headed to Goodwill. People, there is good stuff to be found there. I saw a Juicy Couture terry cloth dress there...it can be yours for $11.

SOS

Seussical On Stage

Short On Sanity

Save Our Show

Well, I didn't REALLY need to save the show but at 4:45 (curtain was at 7:00) we discovered we were one "cat in the hat" hat short so I ran to Party City (the one close to me) to buy one. No luck there. By then it was 5:00 and I had to go to the Party City at Highway 6 and Westheimer...in the 5:00 traffic...to get the hat.

When I got back to the theater I told GOTT that when the Gertrude character sings the song "ALL FOR YOU" he needed to think of me...because for him I drove in bad traffic to buy a $7 hat...he told me he would have let it go...but no...I did it all "for you" I told him...he loves me...

The kids were amazing and I enjoyed watching them...2 weeks is not a lot of time to stage a full-on musical but GOTT and TTG did it...they are AMAZING (more than Mayzie if you have seen the show...)and the kids...INCREDIBLE...that was the high point of my day...

So back to SOS...that hit the iPod at the 47 minute mark in my workout...just as I was dying...and dying to watch the end of the World Cup match...and it took me back...right back to Kingsville and the roller skating place.

Does anyone from Kingsville remember the old skating rink in the quonset hut building? They always played "SOS" by ABBA as I skated around...in my shiny pink sating short shorts...or my terry cloth ones with the matching terry cloth top...

SOS

Shorts On Skates

Kingsville was an interesting place to grow up...I've called it the "armpit of Texas" for quite some time now but really, I am happy I am from Kingsville and I think I was pretty lucky to grow up there.

I have a lot of old friends from Kingsville...and I am happy to still call them friends...even if we just talk on Facebook most of the time. And I got to experience things like climbing mesquite trees, smelling Celanese, eating the best ice cream ever at the Big Scoop, and dining at King's Inn. There is more to Kingsville than the King Ranch, the Saddle Shop, and wind. Texa A&I (I know they call it Texas A&M Kingsville now, but to me it will always be A&I) is there and I got to watch the A&I Fighting Javalinas win a national championship (not once but twice and no, they weren't in the "big" conference but it was a national championship just the same). I got to see my uncle turn the Big Scoop into the Pizza Parlor (best pizza in the world, people...). I bought music at Durhams. I drank the best milkshakes in the world at Harrel drugs. And yes, I ate the best seafood ever at King's Inn.

But it is the people of Kingsville that have my heart. My parents had some amazingly great friends that lived (and many still live) in Kingsville. I have an extra family with those people. And I have friends that I went to school with that I am blessed to still call "friend". Yesterday one girl who I grew up with (SP that is YOU!) wrote me the most amazing email note...she did me some real good since I wasn't able to "move that bar" (see the last 2 blogs). I went to a funeral a few months ago (Vaya con Dios RF) and as I hugged and kissed my parents dear friends I was reminded how lucky I was to hear their voices say my name and feel their arms around me...even when MY parents are gone. These are the people that drove me to school, that cooked burgers and hot dogs on Sundays on our grill, that saved me from the deep end when I couldn't swim. These are WONDERFUL people...they hear my SOS...and take care of me because I don't have parents anymore...

SOS

They save me...they love me...they take care of me even though I am an adult...

You never know who will hear your SOS...

Sometimes it is an old friend...

Sometimes YOU hear the SOS...because you do it "All for you" (GOTT and TTG)...

But it is always because of love...the love you gave me, nothing else can save me SOS...

I warned you that I wrote this under the influence of tequila...

SOS...send one out or receive one and save someone...

"SOS" by ABBA...or the movie cast...take your pick...this time I like ABBA better...

bye darlings