CONFESSIONS!

Well, I declare! I have some things to get off my chest.

1. I'm obsessed. With THIS BLOG. I don't even remember how I found it, but I LOVE IT. Sidney is super cute...reminds me of my newly wed days. Ya know, all 4 months of it before I got pregnant. Le sigh. Anyway.

2. People tell me all the time how talented I am. Because I do lots of things that are pretty flashy and cool. And I won't deny that I have some awesome talents. While I agree that I pretty much rock at singing and sewing, I think my only other major talent is this: I can pretty much figure anything out enough to do it well enough to pass. Like graphic design and web design and music editing and writing and hair and makeup and wigs dumb little crafty things and stuff. I think it's 'cause I'm cheap and don't like to pay people to do things. Although I would pay someone to clean my house in a hearbeat if I could.

3. There are a lot of things I'm untalented or just stink at. Here's the top 5.
#1 - Art. I can't draw. Or Paint. Or anything artistic that comes from my hand.
#2 - Color. DramaDad always makes fun of how I don't know what colors are what and how they should go together. He is pretty much the king of that, so I always defer to him in matters of color.
#3 - Saying the right thing. It is a talent. Trust me. Because I say stupid stuff all the time, especially when I'm nervous. And I try. I try SOO hard and that makes it worse.
#4 - Cooking and cleaning. There are a few things I make that are purdy tasty,  but for the most part, my food is just ok. Edible. Again, DramaDad excels here. I wish he'd cook more. But he doesn't read my blog, or his own for that matter, so I guess that little ploy won't work. And I wish to keep things clean and tidy, but then I feel like I don't have time for anything else. It's a vicious cycle because I'm just not good at keeping up with things nor am I good at developing good habits in my kids. It's my #1 nemesis in life. Well, that and earwax.
#5 - Focus. I'm always scattered a million places at once.

4. I was just thinking about how much DramaDad and I have changed since we met/got married. I guess that's what happens when you get married so young and start a family so fast. Seriously, we have changed A LOT.

5. Because I can't end on 4, I confess that I'm blogging and chatting on facebook to avoid housework. But I have a friend coming over, so I should get to it.

It's TUESDAY...that means..GLEE...and...WHAT'S ON MY PHONE!

CONFESSION! There are no new pictures on my phone. But, a lot I didn't share last week.

This is a linky to JESSICA!!!

First up, this is from Fresh & Easy. But, I had forgotten my phone. So, I used my backup. My real camera. I know, weird.

BuddyBoy and some special cheese...HA!

Ok, now to my real phone pics!

Ya'all know I'm a princess, right? It's my weekend job. I made all new, super fancy costumes last year and here's one of 'em that happened to be on my phone!

Some of these are old - this is my CINDERELLA dress over a year ago when I just finished it. Pretty, huh!

This is what I looks like in it!

The first Sunday of every month, DramaDad's side of the family gets together for family dinner.

This is PrincessPrettyP, BuddyBoy and Lollies and their cousins at family dinner last summer.

Oookeey. Sometimes I get asked to do these really random things. I was asked to do this cruise ship like show for a friend and got my first taste of sangin' country music. I did Dolly Pardon's classic 9-5. And then they made me wear this awful wig.  And then I screwed up the finale number because I'd never done it before with a micpac on and I had to lean back and it hurt and I really messed up the 'ography. Yeah. DivaFAIL.

Can you tell how much I love the wig? The top was super cute, though.

So, went to the midnight showing of New Moon last year and were stuck outside in the FREEZING COLD (it does get cold here) for like HOURS. Ok, maybe 45 minutes. I was stuck with my groovy pal Valinda (who is really annoying to watch the Twilight movies with 'cause she's always like "that's not in the book. Ugh. Shut up you stupid girls swooning over Robert Pattinson, I'm trying to watch this terrific (gag) piece of cinema") but I LOVE LOVE LOVE her.  As much as I loved the shirt on the guy in front of us. 

I so get you, dude!

My kids love to steal my phone and take random pictures and videos. LOTS of videos, very annoying actually. Most of their pic's are random photos of feet or the tv or something. But PrincessPrettyP was very proud of her "miniature adult dress" as she calls it, so she had to take a photo of her FABULOUSNESS!

PrincessPrettyP is our little fashionista!

JESSICA! This one's for YOU! My husband spent 4 weeks in Hawaii last month and on this night, he was sending me photos of the BEAUTIFUL BEACHES he was stuck with. I wanted to freakin' STRANGLE him. But he was in Hawaii, so that was pretty much impossible. However, he was on a cruise ship where they charge ridiculous amounts for any drinks except for water, iced tea and milk. Needless to say, he was pretty Dr Pepper deprived. So, I happened to be at a restaurant with my FABULOUS sister with a FULL glass of yummy, delicious DR PEPPER. Touché, my love.

Mmmm.....Dr Pepper. Mine and not yours. 

So, about a week before he was going to come home, we were feeling pretty sorry for ourselves. We were stuck at home while DramaDad was "working" in Hawaii (and by working, we mean cruising for 4 weeks straight, performing 2 whole nights a week.) and their cousins/grandma/aunts and uncle were heading to Disneyland. So, we got a picnic lunch and went to the park. Where it started to rain. Yeah. On the way home, there was the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen, so I tried to get a photo. With my awful camera phone.

It was SOOO way cooler than this.

Well folks...that's all she took. Seriously, those are all the somewhat interesting photos on my phone. So I'll have to actually take some this week. 

My Hubby ROCKS!

Opened and Etsy store for my hubby today. See!  Matches his blog...which is technically mine, too because I'm the blog author. Yup, keeping my typing fingers in shape.

Anyway, at first he was reluctant, but then he decided it would be ok to have an Etsy shop for his goods.

Well, within 15 minutes of posting his first item, it was featured in a treasury - see here! 

Within an hour, I had a convo (message) asking about shipping. Answered the question and BOOM! Our first sale. Seriously?

Then, just after it sold, ANOTHER convo asking about it. I promised we'd find another one (or 7) and list it for her.

HOW AMAZING!!! I'm so happy for him. It's validating that other people like his stuff and are willing to pay for it and have it shipped to Oklahoma. Yeay!!!!

I will miss it. It was lovely in our entry way!

The DivaMommy is the DealQueen!

So, I must CONFESS! In the last few months, I've developed an unhealthy obsession with Savers. For those of you who don't know, it's a thrift store set up very much like a department store. The clothes are well seperated - by size, then color and in wonderful categories like long sleeve knit, short sleeve knit, sleeveless, sweaters....etc. Very easy to navigate. And, they are HUGE! Lots of great stuff.

Today all CLOTHES and ACCESSORIES and SHOES were 50% off. DramaDad and I are costuming a show for a high school in SoCal, so we took advantage of the sale to knock out a big chunk of what we needed. We are really good at finding great stuff at Savers. And, were picky.

But, I took advantage of the sale to pick up some much needed schtuff - like jeans for my precious 4 year old buddyboy who's too tall for his 4t jeans. Had to shop in the boys section, not the toddlers. That SUCKED! But got some cute, cute, CUTE jeans for $3-$4 a pop. Some for Lollies and PrincessPrettyP, too. And some cute sweaters and shirts for Lollies, everyone got shoes (BuddyBoy & PrincessPrettyP's were only $1.50!) and both were practically new. The girls (I call Mowgli and PrincessPrettyP the girls, just so you know) both got 2 church dresses, Lollies one and BuddyBoy got church pants and a shirt.

DramaDad added to his never ending supply of Jeans. Yeah, he probably has 10 times as many as I do. At least 5 times, I don't have many pairs, mostly because I hate trying them on!

It's getting chilly, so both girls picked up coats and I grabbed some long sleeve shirts and sweaters. I love sweaters!

But, the bargain/treasure of the day goes to....drum roll please....

PINK BOOTS!!!!!

Shown here, on DramaDad's AMAZING DISTRESSED CHEST OF DRAWERS , I have been in search of boots for some time to go with one of my character costumes....maybe a certain fashionista doll type....anyway, I bought some white ones and was going to paint them or cover them, but that's hard, boring work, so I never got around to it. I got some pink shoes instead and the costume was fine. But these....THESE are practically brand new, just my size and only FIVE DOLLARS!!!!! It does mean I'll have to re-tool the costume a bit, but it will be worth it for my beautiful pink boots. 

Anyway, we're all on a limited budget (and who isn't nowadays) and although I can't be bothered to add up how much we actually spent on our clothes and accessories, I know I got some great deals. And don't get me wrong - I'm picky! I won't take anything that looks worn or is stained or torn. Pretty much everything I get is either brand new or slightly used. I love to find brand name stuff, too. And I find it all the time. And, it's important to edit yourself - don't just buy something because it's cheap. If you won't use or wear it, it's still a waste of money. Oh, and be patient. We spent 8 hours in 3 different Savers (only a small portion of the time was spent shopping for our family. Most of it was for the show) so it does take diligence to find what you really good stuff - especially on sale days. Finally, it works best if you don't have something specific in mind. That can make it hard. But, you just never know what you'll find. 

But this is the first winter season in a while where I feel prepared with lots of great options for the kids to wear to stay warm and be cute...and I'll be rockin' the sweaters! 

I will DEFINITELY take some photos of the kids in their new outfits and show off!!! They'll have fun doing a fashion show.

What's on the DivaMommy's phone?

This is inspired of my friend Jessica, over at the Lowe Family News. I "met" Jessica when she used to buy princess dresses from me, and we've just stayed in touch ever since. She is now quite the blogger chick, all popular and stuff. So, Hey Jessica! I've got a new blog and I'm stickin' to it. :)

So, what's on my phone? Well, first I just disclaim that my phone takes AWFUL pictures, so it doesn't get used very often. So this could be a fun walk down memory lane...

Ok, what do we have first...

Ok, this is me at the eye dr's, trying on glasses. DramaDad wasn't there, so I had to send him photos. These are the ones I went with...

These are the one's I didn't. Good choice!

What else....hmmm.....

DramaDad in L.A. trying on a Leather Biker Jacket for our a production. Cute!

Retro-PEACHES AND CREAM BARBIE! If only I could have justified spending $45 on a Barbie for myself....because there's no way it would have stayed in that box. 

Ahh....Lollies....asleep....

PrincessPrettyP in costume (and character) for her musical theatre class recital - ANNIE!

Mowgli also ready to get her HARD KNOCK LIFE on!

DramaDad filming a scene if a friends movie. He played an abusive, drunken father to our friends 8 year old son. Good times!

The kids, waiting at the airport to pick up Daddy after a trip.

Flynn Rider from Disney's Rapunzel....he looks like DramaDad. No, He really does.

And finally, me backstage at the Ovation in Green Valley Ranch - in full Rockstar mode for the concert of 

GODSPELL! 

What?  You want to see a video? Well, it's not from my cell phone, but ok. I mean, I am the DivaMommy afterall. But you'll have to wait because I've edited it 3 times now and it keeps freezing on the same frame. I'll figure it out...someday.

Doin' it for ME!

2 months ago, Damn Yankees closed. It was the last in a long line of productions that I worked on. (See previous post!)

For the last 2 months, I have been taking on MY OWN PROJECTS solely. I have never been so happy in my life.

I don't say that to sound greedy or selfish, but I was just in a situation where I didn't realize how unhappy I was. You know how Oprah always talks about "The Authentic Self" or whatever that is, I never really knew I was missing my authentic self. I guess I just thought I was fine.

What I didn't realize was that I was giving myself away. I was being taken advantage of, but I was allowing it at the same time. And although money was an issue, it wasn't the only issue. I'm not suddenly rich now that I'm doing my own projects, but I am working towards it. But, pardon the bad cliche, my soul is full. It just really is. It's like I'm actually valuing myself for the first time in my life. People would always compliment me on my work, and I would never allow myself to believe them. NOT cool.

And those I was doing work for, I let go a bit. I still care, but I don't let it define me. I made some poor decisions this year, and some really unfortunate things were done to me. But, in a way (except for the downright mean words that were spoken of me behind my back) I am grateful. Because it FORCED me to make a change, to only do things if they are what I WANT to do and if there will be some benefit to me. Not saying I can't be charitable or kind, but only if I FEEL good about it.

I'm working on forgiving some things that have happened, and I recognize my own imperfection. I also recognize that others are imperfect and much of the time did not intend harm I do tend to hold on to things, but I also have to give them a chance to work their way out.

Now, if they want me, I come at a price that's worth it to me. Take me or leave me. And it feels good. I feel strong for the first time in my life. I get up every day eager to go to "work" - whether it's creating a blog for my husband's new business or working on a new costume for myself or working on music for an upcoming performance or marketing my businesses. I'm even doing a better job at keeping my house cleaner (still a lot of hurdles to overcome there) but I'm making progress. I wear makeup and do my hair (which I have changed to BLONDE and I LOVE IT!!!) and I actually have a positive outlook on life.

Earlier this year, I thought I there was seriously something wrong with me - maybe bi-polar or pmds or hormone issues - I even took one online quiz that said I had boderline personality disorder. Turns out, it was just stress and allowing other peoples issues to affect me far too much. It's funny, because I'm having some of the same symptoms physically as I go through my month, but the depression, anxiety and uncontrollable mood swings have all but disappeared. I don't feel like a freak anymore, wondering what's wrong with me!

So, if you made it through all of those confessions....you should be rewarded! With halloween photos!!
I love to make halloween costumes for my kids and my niece and nephew. Woody was a joint effort with me and my sister.

Buddy Boy as Leo from Little Einsteins, PrincessPrettyP as a Masquerade Dancer, Lollies as a Pirate and Mowgli as a Vampire Soceress. Yes, my girls are creative in costume and character.

Lollies, Mowglie, Cousin Ariel, Cousin Woody, BuddyBoy and PrincessPrettyP 

I even had time to whip up this little beauty!

From Katie Perry's California Girlz video. I had only 3 days to do it, but it turned out pretty cool. Oh, not for me, for a client in NY.

Ok, enough for today. :) To quote Mondo (Project Runway) I feel better. I feel free!

TOOO Busy!

This last 9 months I have been TOO busy!  Case in point - a list of things I have done:

1. Facilitated the rental of 5 shows (including building new costumes, shopping, and CLEANING - the worst part)
2. Built & ran 3 full shows, 1 partial and 1solo show
3. Rehearsed & performed in 1 murder mystery, 1 full scale musical
4. Worked almost every weekend as a princess
5. Added 3 new princess characters to my repertoire
6. 3 trips to LA for fabric/costume shopping - none of which included DISNEYLAND!

All this while taking care of 4 crazy kids and juggling my husbands equally busy schedule. Oh, and we moved in there.

So, here is a list of things I am looking forward to:

1. Time and energy to keep my house in better order, laundry done, dinners made...etc.
2. Time to watch a few TV shows a week
3. Time to read a book and not feel guilty.
4. Sleep in general.
5. Time to make fun clothes/costumes for my kids.
6. Wearing makeup and thinking about what I'm wearing.
7. My new amazing, wonderful, exciting, incredible and promising business. It's going to ROCK!

Ok. That is all.