I am in laundry overload right now.
I spent my lunch hour scrubbing, by hand, at the travesty of justice that was my son's white renaissance shirt. I let it soak in bleach water (with Clorox 2, Tide with Bleach, and a healthy dose of Spray and Wash) all morning while I was at work. I drained the water when I arrived home for lunch, squeezed water out of the shirt, and filled the sink again with warm water, clorox 2 and tide. I took my scrub brush to the sleeves, and other soiled areas. When I had spent all the time I could possibly spare scrubbing at the ground in dirt and muddy water stains, I drained the sink, and filled it with cold water, clorox 2, and tide again. I let it soak all afternoon, too.
Meanwhile, in the tub, his tabard and black pants were soaking. Too much mud, coupled by the fact that I had somehow zoned out on the fact that he had put them into a plastic grocery bag when he had changed Sunday night, meant that they also needed serious soaking. I emptied and filled the tub three times over lunch as well. I also let them soak all afternoon.
When I got home tonight, I surprised my son with chinese food from Hy-Vee. I was not up to making and cleaning up dinner. It also means I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. After dinner, my energy level bottomed out, and I sank into the couch, and promptly fell asleep for about an hour.
When I awoke, I realized that I really had to go to the fabric store and search for fabric for cloaks for the two of us. It is getting colder out, and we need to stay healthy. I did not find anything that I liked at Hobby Lobby, Joann Fabrics, or Wal-mart. I did find some black flannel for my son's cloak. I think I have enough of the fabric I used for his tabard to line it. He should stay nice and toasty warm with it. I would use flannel for mine, too, but I need something more rich looking. I could not find any wool, which would be expensive, but would be very durable and warm. I want to find the wool at Joann Fabrics, because I have a 40% off coupon.
After I returned home, I started the real laundry. I added the pieces I had washed by hand, and the flannel. I was surprised that my son's white shirt is actually somewhat white again, even if it is still a bit dingy.
Gee... I wonder why...:
Having a ton of fun!
BTW, in this photo, my son's sleeves are relatively clean. Shortly after this, he was playing in the mud, and dragging his sleeves through the muddy water. He spent all day soaking wet, then complained when I made him take a bath when we got home. "But I just got dry!!!!!" A comment by one of our fellow cast members: "He is all boy." In addition, I never heard even one of the cast children complain about the weather. They had a blast! How often do parents let their children play in the rain??? And to top it off, he is still healthy as can be.
So, despite the neverending chores that come with the Mom-territory, and trying to basically have two jobs with no days off whatsoever, we are really enjoying ourselves. The only drawback to this hectic schedule is that I rarely get to see the rest of my family. I miss them terribly, and am longing to go home for a weekend. I will get that chance at the end of the month, when my cousin gets married, so I am holding out until then.
I also don't get to talk to my good friends as much as I would like...
5 comments:
why did you write this?
Because it's my blog and I can.
Is there any reason why I shouldn't?
That was a weird anonymous comment....
I think your hard work paid off--your costumes looked great! Do the Faire folks give you specs that you have to follow, or do you just create it all on your own? I saw a knight or two and guess I was wondering if they are told to have the same shield design, or whatever, so that if there are more than one knight that they all "match," or something.
(And at least it sounds like you're busy enough that you're not sitting around wondering where the hell that iMac is--I'll get it there, I promise!)
:)
G.--
Thanks, nerd! (LOL!) The guards have the same uniform, but they supply their own tights. The rest of the court pretty much is mostly focused on the ladies not all wearing the same color. My son ended up in maroon because I messed up the red fabric I had purchased to make his tabard. He is just a squire to the guards, so it didn't matter as much. Obviously, the court is the most formally dressed, the pirates and fairies dress how they like, and the merchants are dressed as merchant class. Our festival staff who run the games are dressed as peasents (generic costumes, in some really uncomfortably warm looking fabric). We have three Queens - our Queen Catherine, the Forking Queen, and our Faire Queen. Visitors in garb can call themselves whatever they wish, except royals unless they are visiting royalty from other faires (they would follow protocal, and request permission to attend as their characters. We would incorporate them into our schedule, to make things more realistic). Someone can't just come in and call themselves a queen or king unless it has been approved ahead of time or it would make for too much confusion (our Queen is a widow, but is Queen in her own right, much as Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were).
It's complicated, but it all works out as long as we aren't suddenly confronted with changes that were not approved.
Whoops, forgot - the real knights have their own separate shield designs based on the family coat of arms of the characters they are portraying. Somewhere on the feasting hall is the crest of the family my son and I are portraying, the Woodvilles (my "late husband" was related to Elizabeth of York - Elizabeth Woodville, who married Henry VII, and was mother to Henry VIII). If my son had a shield, it would have that crest plus a minor modification to more specifically show which branch of the family we belonged to.
Things are going to get more complicated shortly, as I will be playing a real historical character in October, at an event at St. Cloud State University. Much reading and research required...
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