As a free-lance costume designer, I take work as it's offered to me, usually. I have to look past the current project, past the next two, three, four, five projects, to keep work on my calendar. Sometimes I have small, much-needed breaks, and sometimes the calendar is overfull. Most of the theaters I work for are in the Twin Cities metro area.

As a mom, I have to oversee my three children's schedules, schoolwork, parties, playdates, events, activities, nurture their interests, and keep them fed/washed/presentable. Sometimes things fall through the cracks. I hope my husband will pick up the slack, but he works fulltime, and has his own activities and events to get on the schedule as well. And mostly, it works.

My main reason for starting a blog now, is because my life is going to be crazy-busy for the next few months, and I want to be able to track what I'm doing. I am costuming SIX (yes, 6) plays in three months; I am acting in one of the plays; five of these plays are at a summer stock theater in northern Minnesota; and the sixth one is at an outdoor classical theater in the Twin Cities. This means: a lot of driving, especially in June; a lot of costumes to build/pull/buy/alter; a lot of actors to dress; three directors to keep happy; and three children to keep track of, often from long-distance.

I don't know what the exact costume count will be. I plan to track the costumes, accessories, shoes, and wigs through my posts. Same with the actor/character count, and the driving time and mileage. The casts have changed a little bit over the last couple of months, but I think they are all finally set.

My next few posts will detail the plays, the theaters, the directors, and the design process. I need to get back to being a mom right now. My younger daughter's birthday party is on Friday, and I need to start getting ready for that. More about that later as well.