:: End of October...bleh ::

Usually, October is my favorite month. The leaves change colors, the weather gets cooler, Andrew and my anniversary is at the end of the month...but beginning last year, it's all changed. Now that I have my own program, October has got to be one of the busiest months EVER. So freakin' busy that I didn't get a chance to buy my boyfriend an anniversary present (the same excuse he used for not buying me one either...boooo). One of the concerts that I have to deal with in October is our annual Halloween concert for our little darlings. It's a combined chorus, band and orchestra concert, and every year the directors decide what our theme is going to be. Last year it was Star Wars. The chorus director and band director took the only decent women characters, so basically if I wanted to be a girl character I had to be the girl Jedi with the weird tentacles growing out of her forehead. Or Chewy or Yoda. Anyways, the short version of the story is, I stressed out about the costume for weeks and then at the last minute put together a ghetto generic Jedi costume (which looked pretty good). All was well.

In May, we all got together to talk about our 07-08 calendar, and we decided to be characters from Wizard of Oz. I was to be Dorothy. No problem, right? Just go to the costume shop and get one of those Dorothy costumes they have hanging all over the place, right? NOPE. I went to a Halloween Express and tried on the "Adult Standard Size - One size fits all" bullshit and guess what. My arms were too big for it, so it looked like I was doing the "praise the lord" dance in the dressing room. I was quite depressed after that. What was even more depressing was when I tried on the only "Plus Size" Dorothy costume they had in the shop and the exact same thing happened! It took me awhile to realize that a "standard size" one got mixed up into the "plus size" bag. Either way, I was depressed. I was left with one option - make the dress.

Ask me if I know how to sew. Ask me if I know how to use a sewing machine. The answer to both questions is no. Funny enough, I do own a sewing machine. For whatever reason, Andrew decided to get me one as a gift a few years back (no idea what gave him the impression that I had intentions of sewing anything). Well, thank goodness he did. I bought the fabric. I bought the pattern. It was time. At 9pm on Wednesday, I took out the sewing machine. I stared at it for awhile. I took out the pattern. I stared at it. Honestly, who gets that stuff? The waist part of the dress, according to the pattern, looked like it might fit over my left calf, maybe. The skirt would've made me look like a stripper. Maybe I bought a kid's size one, I don't know. Either way, I chucked the damn pattern and went with my own plan. So I cut the fabric....and stared at the sewing machine some more. And then I took out the manual and read it. Around midnight, I thought I had finished the costume, so I tried it on. I looked like a hooker. The fabric was very thin, and I could see everything from my ta-ta's to my belly button. I had to go back and double up on the fabric. ARGH. At 2am, I was finished with the costume, and it didn't look so bad. Sure, one side of the skirt was slightly longer than the other so I had to keep pulling on it during the performance, and I used a whole lot of fabric tape to keep some parts together, but overall, it was okay.

I took it to school the next day for the concert. Right before the concert, I changed into my costume and went to the orchestra room to help kids tune. They took one look at me, and one of the girls said, "Are you Little Debbie?" ......yeah...

The performance went very well, and my costume didn't fall apart! I kept thinking that something was going to happen and I was going to be naked in front of all my kids and their parents, but that didn't happen. I was VERY happy about that. I'm sure you're wondering if I have pictures. Well, I don't. Some of my kids parents do. I've asked for copies, so when I get them, I'll show you.