Yep - I readily admit it - I sign up for these things and let them languish ... ah well.

Actually, faire-wise I do have posting to do of merit - we actually made it to Scarby over the Memorial Day weekend.  We being my MentalPause sister Jen (aka Phyllis) and me.  Our other sister (the twisted one) stayed behind in Kansas City with a 90-year-old mother who decided overnight she can't live by and take care of herself any longer.  Even though we're not really sisters - we all three know Mammy Norma is where our sister Needa (aka Vicki) gets her theatrical/dramatic bent.  In retrospect I told Needa she should have done what she did when we did our weekend get-away to the Norman faire in early April - not tell Mammy Norma she was going out of town.

I'm personally convinced that Norma has, among other things, OCD - but because at 90 she's so physically infirmed, her repetitious obsessive behavior (like hand-washing or cleaning) take place only in her head - and if it's anything she can worry about - she will ... to excess.  Be it the weather, food, her eyesight, her TV, her cable ... you name it - she can and will obsess and complain about it.  The sad part is - Needa always gives in - so she sat this trip out and was greatly missed.

Jen and I stayed at the Rogers Hotel in Downtown Waxahachie.  It's a restored 19th century hotel and it was a lot of fun.  Old-fashioned cage-type elevator with a hand-written sign not to push the "R" (roof) button or it would get stuck.  It smelled like the 130+-year-old house my grandparents lived in when I was a child.  We had a "suite" which had two king-sized beds and a sofa.  The beds were comfy and the bathroom was spacious and clean.  It could have had a little more decorating for my tastes - but since Jen likes things plain, VERY clean and unclutter - it suited her fine.

What didn't suit her was the fact that apparently my C-PAP machine doesn't cure my snoring.  It does help with the sleep apnea, so for me the residual snoring isn't an issue - but for my dear OCD Jen - it was a HUGE issue.  She apparently didn't sleep much Friday night - and rather than waking me - she just occasionally kicked the bed so I'd move.  I could have told her that wouldn't stop me from snoring.  She also thought I looked ridiculous with the mask on but I'm so not concerned about that - so bagging on me about that didn't really pan out.  I heard about it many times throughout the weekend, however.  I love my obsessive little sis, and while I am sorry about the snoring - there's really not much I could/can do about it.

It was a weekend of mixed delights - at least weather-wise.  It was misty with intermittent rain the entire trip from KC to Dallas on Friday.  It didn't really rain, rain until we hit Dallas - and then it rained!  It took well over an hour to get through the city - until that we'd made fantastic time.  It rained all Friday night and all Saturday night - and both days until early afternoon.  Then it cleared off and the sun shined brightly - all over the slop that was the fairegrounds.  They seem to have a high clay content in their soil down thereabouts that when mixed with water and hundreds of people tromping over the same place - creates a mud that is both slippery and the one can easily lose footwear in.  I carried a large golf umbrella which doubled as a cane - and I was glad for the support as I minced my way between the slop and the puddled.

My first stop was Dragon Wings for a new stretchy feather headband to replace the one that met its untimely death on St. Pat's day when I stupidly laid it out on my bed while I showered and my three dachsies tore it to shreads.  Yep - my bad.  I was thinking of convenience of costuming, not sensibility of leaving feathers out with three dogs!  Anyway - the new festoon has a lot of burgundy, some teal, and lots of natural pheasant feathers - which match my "natural" haircolor!

OK - wait.  My first stop was at the bakery where I got several of their awesome savory croissants with spinach, feta, sun-dried tomatos ... yummy!!!!  KCRF should collect their trash!

I spent a better part of Saturday meeting sisters from the IWG with whom I'd "spoken" on the message boards for some time, but never met in person.  It was great fun to finally put faces (and personalities) with names.  Buxom Wench from NY, Selena, Emerald - oh my gosh - I know I'll forget so many.  Phyl spent most of the day with her high school friend Lisa and her family.  It worked out pretty well - course I think I got the better deal.  I won't go into why - let's just assume it's a fact.

In my infinite wisdom (or lack thereof) I only brought one pair of footwear - and by the end of Saturday, they were muddy to say the least.  We made a trip to Walmart and I bought some inexpensive flip-flops which have turned out to be one of my favorite hoofie covers.  I can't really remember what Phyl bought - oh yeah, earplugs to she wouldn't hear me snore as much.  (They didn't work.)

The fun part of both days was Iris & Rose's trainwreck show - they graciously opened their stage to 2/3rds of MentalPause and we did a few quick jokes and a song both Saturday and Sunday.  We also participated in Roll Your Leg over and contributed some new jokes and snarky remarks that seemingly went over well.  A couple of guys played right into some of our jokes - yeah, it was too easy, but what the heck?!  Never let it be said a couple of bitter, middle-aged women couldn't deflate the egos of an entire batallion of men!  The best part for me was that on Sunday, I was escorted by a gaggle of wenches and rogues to the show - and it was great to have them cheering us on to lower levels of depravity and debauchery!

Phyl got hooked on peach bellinis - a lovely frozen adult beverage.  I managed to suck down several of them myself, along with some hard cider at the new White Horse Pub with some of my favorite rogues from the IBRSC. 

I don't think I saw as many shows as I'd originally intended - the idea of sitting in the rain on a wet bench just didn't appeal to me.  But I did get to see the Corsairs and my friend Scott.  Of course I know the gay guy from the group - I'm the fat goya version of Grace Adler!  I also bought a vew of Schatzie's lip favors - one for Vicki and one for myself.  And Phyl bought me a camo one with a soldier on it to represent my son Cameron.  Camo for Cam - oh!

Well, since I'm writing this at work and it's now half-past five, I think I'll continue on another installment.  Later gators!

Well it's been a while since I wrote anything here.  I decided to keep this blog light and more faire-related.  The dark rants, bitching and moaning and other diatribes I'm leaving for LJ.  I'm estherhormone there as well - so if you're into the bitchier side of life - check it out!

As for things faire.  I guess KCRF is progressing fine - it generally does - all without the help of me and my two MentalPause sisters.  We're planning to head out to the site in June this year to blow out the cobwebs and other debris from our stage.  We're planning to get a lot of the work done early so we don't end up at the site 12 weekends straight.  Since we're reprising our show from last year and don't have to write a complete script from scratch, we should have more time (and sanity) prior to faire to get other things done.

At the reunion and recruitment meeting in March, Stamberger (the KCRF entertainment director) told us that the Mr. Romance Renaissance contest is going to be on our stage this year.  I think he was a little worried about how we and the Limey Birds would take that news.  We just suggested some schedule changing and moving the Ladies of the Salty Kiss to another stage so we and the "Birds" can still get our shows in.  It'll require us to schedule our first show at 10:30 a.m. - only a half hour after front gate, but we think it's doable.  We're just going to have to get our middle-aged butts up to the front gate early and do some serious hawking to get people all the way to the wharf that early.

Actually - we're thinking of recruiting a professional hawker for our show in the form of Lord William Slaymore - the former executioner.  He has been part of the living history cast in the past, but something changed this year and he was required to audition or something and didn't.  I think it's fishy - but I won't go into all of my conspiracy theories about KCRF - it's not worth the brain cells.  Suffice it to say we've know Big Willy for many years and he's always welcome to our cabana - so we're thinking of asking him to hawk our show in the lanes in exchange for passes and access to our backstage (including food, drink and shade).  He'd be great at bringing in our audience - middle-aged women.  And we can include him in the act from time to time as well.

Since the bodice I had made last year never fit me right, I'm planning some new garb for myself.  I'm going to use my old tried and true bodice pattern with a few tweaks.  For one, I'm going to make a corset instead of a bodice.  I'm going to do a prototype to wear at Scarborough Faire memorial weekend and it really won't cost me much at all!  To keep the purple in my costume I'm going to use the same fabric I used about five years ago for my court costume.  I can't remember if I have leftover fabric, but if I don't, the big-ass court skirt will get deconstructed and recycled.  If I decide later to put straps on the corset to make it into a bodice, I'll just use grommets and tie them on - and I've already got Elizabethan sleeves I can tie on as well.  I haven't decided if I'm going to make the corset reversable or if I'll make another bodice/corset from some other recycled fabric.  I need to head to graandgarb.com to get my boning and some copper grommets!!!

I need to have enough money at Scarby for two purchases - I need a new feathered headband from Dragon Wings - my three dachsies made quick work of killing my new one from last year while I was in the shower and stupidly left it on my bed before a promo!  The other thing I need is a chemise from Ophelia's in either a rust or a gold ... for my new, new costume that's yet to come!

Well - life here at work is getting weird and busy - so instead of multi-taking, I'm signing off for now!