Katastrophe Kate

What an absolutely beautiful spring-like day we had today!  Sunshine, temps around 70.  It's tricking our plants into thinking it's time to grow.


KATASTROPHE KATE.  I didn't tell you about Kara's school musical that she's been working on since January!  It was a really cute story that her talented music teacher wrote.  He has written about 30 musicals, actually, and his shows have been performed all over the country and even in a couple of OTHER countries.  Super fun songs, clever puns and jokes--it was very entertaining.

This one was called "Katastrophe Kate," taking place in the Wild West of Texas back when there were saloons and sherrifs and outlaws.

Make-up before the show!

Synopsis from the director:

Takin' A Train to Texas

Hold on to your tumbleweeds 'cause here comes the legendary Katastrophe Kate, the most dangerous woman in the West! Whaddaya mean, you never heard of her!!? Didn't ya know that Texas has a panhandle on accounta she was such a great cook?!

This 90-minute Tex-Mex musical tall tale begins when Katherine, a mild-mannered, Eastern born and bred protegee of world-famous chef, Madame Julia Enfant, must transform herself into Katastrophe Kate in order to conquer the Wild West with her chili recipe. In a steamy cook-off at Miss Lillian's Saloon, Kate also has a little romance simmerin' on the back burner with her arch rival, Jose Habenero, who claims to have the hottest chili in the Southwest.

Finding Waltzin' Matilda: lower left!

Into the musical melting pot, throw some dancin' girls called the Fosse Posse, add a dash of international outlaws for spice, and pepper with a prying reporter named Penelope Penmore, and you have a recipe for one red-hot, toe-tappin' Texas chili party! The rip-roarin' score has just the right country-western flavor, featuring songs like "Texas Rodeo Angel," "I Think She's Got It," "Hot Stuff," "I Feel Lousy," and "Showdown."

OUTLAW FROM THE OUTBACK.  Kara was "Waltzin Matilda," an outlaw from Australia.  She refined her accent and did a really good job with it!  It was a lot of fun.

I'll include some photos.  The boots and the hat made the costume, of course.  The costume lady called me from a second-hand store on a Friday night: "Can you get Kara down here sometime this weekend, to see if these boots fit her?  They'd be perfect for Waltzin' Matilda!"  And they were.

Hope your week is sun-filled!  Kari

Happy Birthday to...

Hello and Happy Spring!

WARM (for a DAY).  It is fooling us today, with temps up to SIXTY-EIGHT!  Yes, you heard it here first!  68 degrees and sunshine in early March, in Massachusetts.  Intoxicatingly beautiful.

It's been a whirlwind, it feels like, with musical practices and dress rehearsals, and now Kara is actually performing the Middle School musical she's been working on for 2 months.  She's very excited, and Teresa (no longer in middle school) is helping with the make-up.  Photos soon on that, I hope!

SPECIAL DAY.  But we did get to celebrate Frank's birthday, yes, even the parents get special treatment here on birthdays.  It was spread out, mind you.  On his actual birthday the whole family was never in the same room at the same time all day, so we opted for a one-day-late opening of presents.

Then he went out of town for work, so we're having the requested Butterscotch Pie tonight!  6 days of celebrating because it took that long to get it all together.

WORDLE.  I did want to show you Teresa's gift to him...our family really likes to create at http://www.wordle.net/ This is the best website!!  (And it's free!)

You type in all kinds of words that seem to "fit" the person, and it makes a fun word-display out of them.  Even kids can do it.  With a variety of choices for different shapes and bright colors, it looks really nice framed.

It's a great inexpensive gift for Mother's Day, birthdays, or whatever.  Plus it's completely personalized because whoever makes it has to choose or think which words will go on it.  It's awesome.

Here is Frank's birthday "wordle."  The kids love his Saturday morning breakfasts, so that's where some of the words come from.

"STICKY."  I also need to clarify:  He makes one breakfast where you roll up the dough/cinnamon-sugar like in cinnamon rolls, only you don't cut it into individual cinnamon rolls.  You leave it in a roll, cook it, and cut it up after.  This is called "Sticky."  So when you see "sticky" on the wordle, it's not that Frank is sticky.  He makes sticky.

Frank w/his grandpa

BLAST from the PAST.  Here are some photos of our Frank!  His grandpa rolls him around in the wheelbarrow:

Surprise! w/both grandmas on couch, + sisters

Just a quick update this time.  Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!  The best friend and husband I could ever ask for.  Ok, he's a pretty good dad, too. :)

Frank w/his dad

Very cute senior in high school, posing w/his aunt!

Welcome, March!

Hola!

March has come in this week, and made a statement.  It kind of sounded like "Pleah," really sloppy, loud and messy.  We were spewed upon.

After a non-eventful entire winter, this week we got snow, sleet, slush, followed by rain, slop, and more rain.  Cold temps gave us the snow, and now it's being rained upon and icing up, etc., etc.  Still not much accumulation.  Just drippy.

EXCEPTIONAL EVENT PLANNER.  I wanted to post about our Future Party-Planner!  (Although, I am sure there is a fancy, official-sounding name for this particular profession.)  We have decided that Kara is a shoe-in for planning wedding receptions, corporate holiday parties, or quite possibly the opening for the 2020 Olympics.

We have a daughter who plans parties down to a science.  She plans:
Lists for Guests.

Possible themes.
Decorations we already have.
Decorations that can be made.
Guest assignments, where appropriate.
Invitation emails.
Invitation phone calls.
Paper invitations to send.
Food to be made.
Food to be bought.
Guest activities.
Lists for the supplies for those activities.
Which stores have those supplies.
Where the supplies are on sale.
Possible dates/times for Mom to drive her to get supplies.
Rough time table of when activities will begin and end.

You think I'm exaggerating, But.  I'm.  Not!

The beauty of the process is, that she knows every detail and pretty much does everything.  She's really good at decorating rooms and making food.

She asks her buddy from next door--what a sweetie, willing to work-- to come early to help set up with her, and also to stay late to help clean up.

Kara (11) just planned a Valentine's Day party/sleepover.  Yes, it was a little late.  And here's the best part of it: It was a little late!

She had a guest list of girls she wanted to come, and all calendars matched up on one particular Friday.  Because it was the Friday AFTER Valentine's Day, all candies and decorations and items for gifts were on huge sales!  50, 60, 70 per cent off.  It was perfect.

In the future, we will try to instruct a little on how much food is needed for a particular size of party.  There were 6 girls invited, planning for a total of 7 girls who would be eating "stuff."  Now, remember, these are middle-school-aged girls, not high school boys.

Before I could blink, she was in the process of making a fancy spice cake, platter of fudge, and dozens of little M&M pretzels.  Also from our stash she used Doritos, and crackers and cheese (hors d'oeuvres...this was in addition to the pizza we promised for dinner).  There was a lot of food.

Here are photos.  They had so much fun!

We also decided that her birthday celebration (2 weeks from now) will probably just be ... family.  :)


Next installment: Frank's birthday.