That got the attention of a producer for BBC News who DMed me and asked if I’d be interested in doing a live interview later in the day.
So I spent the next four hours mildly freaking out. In the meantime, we had dozens of people walking by, taking pictures and cheering us on and getting our very special throws (custom Rosebud Motel/Krewe of Moiras keychains with glittered keys.) Steph was interviewed by the AP! (she’s much better at this kind of thing but you know my Anglophile heart wasn’t going to let anyone else do this BBC thing, sorry friends.)
Oh, and it was literally freezing. We had a hard freeze last night, and it was in the 20s standing out there all morning, but we were committed! Thank god I had a loose dress that I could put plenty of layers on under. And wigs and giant papal hats are also good for staying warm. (Life hack!)
Finally, it was time to do the interview, which was done via Zoom, and as usual, I couldn’t be still so I was kind of all over the place and it might make you nauseated. You’ve been warned.
Me during the interview, everyone posing in the background. hee hee!
Maybe the best part was getting a text from a friend in Ireland that said (I’m paraphrasing) “ARE YOU ON THE BBC RIGHT NOW?!?”
So yeah, it was live, too, no pressure. And hey, now I’ve been on the national news and international news!
Anyway, and then I was able to relax and have fun seeing all of the people coming by. People loved the house and our costumes, because the show brings people so much joy. If you haven’t started watching it yet, what are you waiting for?!?
Now I am exhausted and am going to sleep until next Mardi Gras. But the Krewe of Moiras will live on!
It’s almost Mardi Gras and my friends and I have been busy getting ready for it. I know what you’re thinking. “There aren’t any parades this year!” That’s true, but there are floats. House floats! And we have turned Stephanie and Chris’s house into one.
Let me back up a bit. Before we knew Mardi Gras was being “cancelled”, a bunch of friends had decided we were going to dress up on Mardi Gras day as the “Krewe of Moiras.” We had all binged Schitt’s Creek and were pretty obsessed with the show and let’s face it, the many looks of Moira Rose would make for great costumes.
And then the parades were cancelled, and COVID wasn’t getting any better, and walking around on Mardi Gras day didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore. And then someone in our neighborhood came up with the Krewe of House Floats and it spread across the city and now you can hear about it on CNN and other big news outlets.
So we decided to do a Rosebud Motel house float! And on Mardi Gras day we’ll be wearing our Moira costumes. We even have special throws for the day (but those will remain top secret for now.)
Full credit for the construction and painting go to Chris and Darrell. The girls helped but mostly bossed them around.
And now for a zillion pics of the house float…
If the weather cooperates, we’re going to visit the other Schitt’s Creek houses around town on Sunday in costume so you may get a sneak peek then!
PS If you’re local, the house is located at 504 Vallette in Algiers Point. Come see us and take a pic with our sign (be sure to tag it #kreweofmoiras!)
Let’s see, Saturday started out early with an hour plus drive in dense fog to Houma, a small town with a vicious soccer team. The boys played well, but alas, their team lost. It was only their third loss (the first was a friendly, so that doesn’t really count, right? and the second was in a tournament that they ultimately won so I don’t count that either, heh.) Anyway, whatever. Onward!
Once we got home, I got to rest for about half an hour before I had to head across town to the girls’ tournament to be a field marshall, to fulfil my volunteer requirement since we get financial aid. And I got a sunburn. Ugh.
Sunday was better. We went to the World War II museum for the first time (well, it was George’s and my first time. The boys had been with camp a few years ago.) I probably should be somewhat ashamed to admit how much I learned – it helped me understand a lot about the different parts of the war and how it all happened in various parts of the world.
And I got to launch some torpedos, which is always fun.
We didn’t get to see it all, but hopefully we can go back before too long. We got a free pass from the library, which was invaluable – the tickets for everything we saw would have cost us nearly $200 if we’d had to pay. Yikes.
After that, Terry and I took the kids to get crawfish. Yum! We somehow missed eating crawfish last year completely, which is a travesty, and I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again. We took them to a restaurant that was lined with taxidermied animals. And not just any animals. There was a lion. And a monkey. It was creepy and weird and I won’t be going back there, that’s for sure. Eeek. But the crawfish was good, at least.
Yesterday was also the 15th anniversary of owning our house, which is crazy! 15 years! I know I complain about it being too small (I mean, to be fair, we weren’t expecting to stuff it with boys when we bought it.) but I hope we stay in it long enough for the boys to bring their kids one day. 😀
It’s times like this I’m glad I’ve been blogging forever. Here’s my post about our super fun closing!
Ziggy, meanwhile, is obsessed with this squeaky ball that lights up that we caught at Mardi Gras. He very carefully carries it around in his mouth, and GOD FORBID it squeaks. And don’t try to take it from him. If you even go near it when he doesn’t have it, he’ll grab it so you can’t get it. It definitely seems like a love/hate relationship. It’s the cutest thing.
Last week (on Wednesday), I turned 44 and it was a great birthday week. I’ll try not to make this too wordy, but I mean, a lot of fun stuff happened, so I may fail.
We have to start on Tuesday when the washing machine broke. I know, this birthday week isn’t starting out too promisingly, is it? Particularly since it was the day the boys went back to school, and I had literally been counting down the minutes until I had some peace and quiet and solitude in the house. Instead, I had our friend Chris come over to try to fix the washer (he determined it wasn’t easily fixable, and we’d already fixed this thing a zillion times) so happy early birthday to me, I went to Home Depot and picked out a new washing machine.
I mean, exciting, except for the part where you have to pay for a new washing machine. (It wasn’t delivered until Saturday, but I’ll skip ahead and show you a picture of this beautiful giant that can wash enormous loads of laundry.)
Aw, our poor lil’ dryer is dwarfed by it.
Okay, so Tuesday night is when the excitement really started. Kiki flew in! I picked her up and we went to Mopho for dinner and had pho and these really delicious chicken wings.
And then Wednesday, it was my birthday! Yay!
I woke up bright ‘n’ early with the boys and got them off to the bus stop, and then Kristina and I went to Orangetheory, where, duh, we wore shirts that I made (kind of like the ones I made for our trip to Harry Potter World.)
I got so many birthday wishes! This was a great idea she had. Definitely do this on your birthday.
Next, we went home to shower, then hopped on the ferry (it was a gorgeous day) with mimosas and met Teresa for lunch at French Toast. (I’m friends with the owners, and I had been wanting to check it out since it’s pretty new.)
Ferry mimosas
Irish coffee
Lunch!
After lunch
Next, we went in search of a king cake since I knew that it would make the boys happy, and it could also stand in for my birthday cake. After we found it, we got an Uber back to the house so we could meet the boys at the bus stop.
We hit up Ann Frances’s birthday party for a while and took our usual birthday pic together. ❤
7 and 44!
We rested for a little while and then we went and had pizza for dinner at Tavolino, a restaurant in the neighborhood.
And after dinner, the boys gave me cards (Linus didn’t want me to share his, but here are the ones I got from Oliver and Miles, and of course I cried a bit.)
And then we had king cake!
And then Kiki and I went to have a nightcap at the pub. But we didn’t last too long, we were exhausted.
Thursday, Kristina spent the morning cleaning the crap out of my kitchen, which is basically her favorite thing to do. Meanwhile, I got a much-needed haircut.
Awkward, exhausted selfie! But dang my hair looked goooooood.
Later, we went to a fabric store that I love so Kristina could pick out fabric for the skirt I was going to make her. Then we went to get 80 minute massages at a spa. Oh man, that was heavenly! That night, we made a pot of Italian sausage and kale and tortellini soup for the grown ups and sushi rolls for the kids. I also made a cucumber salad for the boys AND THEY ATE IT AND LIKED IT. So obviously the apocalypse is upon us.
Friday morning, we went back to Orangetheory, and then had a late lunch at Turkey and the Wolf. We split a bologna sandwich and a collard green melt. It was good, for sure, but we were both scratching our head a bit at how a hipster sandwich place got named “Best New Restaurant in America.” (The collard green melt was too spicy for me, sad sad sad.)
Kristina spent every spare moment organizing my pantry and the rest of the kitchen, and it’s pretty amazing right now. She loves to do that stuff. And then she was supposed to leave Saturday evening, but there was snow forecast where she lives for Saturday night, so she changed her flight to Saturday morning. SAD PAM.
I brought her to the airport while the new washer was being delivered, and then spent the rest of the day resting and getting ready for the CAMAN Ball that I was attending that night with friends. It was a speakeasy theme, and it was a lot of fun getting all glammed up. Jen was my date.
Oh wait, so now I have to tell you about the presents I got because it’s kind of funny how excited I am about them. Well, funny if you don’t sew. But George got me a cordless iron! And my mom got me nice scissors (now I really do feel bad for sneaking her nice scissors for cutting paper when I was little) and a new ironing board! I mean, not just ANY ironing board. This thing is TALL and WIDE and NOT WOBBLY and the base for my new iron sits on a holder on the end and it doesn’t squeak and it’s all very very exciting. If you sew, anyway. Also my lovely friends got me Joann gift cards and THE FUN NEVER STOPS.
I’ve been eyeing this pattern for a while, but I held off for a few reasons. First, it looked too complicated, even though the skill level was supposedly “advanced beginner” (which is what I think I am.) Second, well, I guess I just didn’t think as someone who works from home and rarely dresses up, would need it. But mostly it was because it looked hard.
Well, it really wasn’t. I mean, it had a lot of steps, sure, but they were pretty straightforward, and the instructions were thorough as usual. I had bought the paper pattern because printing out PDFs isn’t my favorite (well, really it’s the taping that I hate) but since I didn’t want to cut into the tissue in case I had fit issues, I traced the pattern onto pattern paper, which took forever. Anyway.
And as far as not needing dresses, I do have an event coming up for the mom’s blog where we’re supposed to wear jewel tones (for photos) and I had this lovely fabric, so I figured this would be the perfect time to make it.
The dress has a few options – a v-neck or scoop neckline, and a box pleated or gored skirt. I decided to go with v-neck and gored, like the photo (of the designer) on the website (above).
Before I even got started, I made the decision to lengthen the bodice, so I added 3″ to it, but once I had the darts sewn into the lining, I realized they were way too high, so I moved the bust darts down for the outer fabric. (Yeah, I said lining. Another reason it was intimidating.)
By the time I was done, I only had to unpick stitches like five times so I think I’m improving there. 😀 And the hem is totally wonky. At that point I just wanted to be done, so I didn’t take as much care with it as I should have. On the bright side, look how well I matched up the waistband at the zipper!
Cute sleeve!
In the end, I think it’s a bit too big in the bust so I’m going to try a different size next time, but it’s certainly wearable like this. I’m also going to reduce the amount I lengthen the bodice to 2″ instead of 3″. And heck, I might get the sleeve expansion pack next to add the cute little tie sleeves. We’ll see. I’m not really the “cute sleeve” type of person but maybe I can be, just this once.
I also was thinking of trying horsehair braid along the hemline next time to make it stand out a bit. When I first tried on the dress, I felt very…rectangular. Like, it’s not accentuating my waist enough. So between making the bodice a bit more fitted, and making the skirt flare out a tiny bit with the horsehair, I think I’ll like it even more. I just need to figure out if I can put in horsehair without lining the skirt. Hmm.
Anyway, I wore it to dinner with some friends last night, and got some pics in the French Quarter. Much better backdrop than my living room!
More pics from Fat Tuesday, plus our neighborhood parade on Saturday, NOMTOC, which was also NORMTOC because Norm just turned 70 so we made shirts.
Oliver’s studded pleather fingerless gloves he caught
All the Chicks!
Liam marching and embarrassed of us
Norm and his Chicks
A lady on a float gave me these! So proud.
Cool Linus
And on Mardi Gras day, we costumed in a Pixar theme (I really should talk about how amazing I am for pulling this together the night before, after going to a million different stores and crafting late into the evening) and walked down to watch St. Anne’s in the Marigny (a walking parade that has most excellent people-watching) and then tried to catch the end of Rex but it was too crowded and we were all exhausted. But it was fun.
Terry’s family’s amazing loteria costumes
Ollie is Dash from The Incredibles
Miles is Miguel from Coco
Linus is Russell from Up
I am Sadness from Inside Out
Sesame Street in drag
South Korean Rockettes
My goal in life is to one day do a group costume with friends that involves a dance we get to perform in the middle of the street, like these people.
I have to post about this because Friday night was the most fun night ever!
Stephanie and I went to a live show at the Orpheum of our favorite podcast, My Favorite Murder. If you like true crime (I mean, I guess I must) and cursing and laughing, you should definitely listen. If you don’t like all three of those things, maybe stick to This American Life.
Back in October, tickets went on sale. I was in London at the time and just finishing up a meeting when the time came for sales to start. I tried and tried and tried and just could not get tickets. Meanwhile, back in the States, Stephanie was also trying. Thank goodness she was able to get a pair for us. Not just any pair – second row, VIP!
VIP meant we’d get a few goodies but best of all, we’d get to meet the hosts, Karen and Georgia after the show! Eeek! For months, Steph and I planned what we were going to wear (I’d make shirts for sure, but what would they say?!?) and what we’d give them. (People often give them a little gift at the meet and greet.) Read More
Brrrrr, it’s gotten cold here! Everyone was excited when this showed up on the weather app:
The ever elusive snowflake icon!!!
And this is what we woke up to:
Okay, it wasn’t really snow, I don’t think. More like tiny ice crystals. But who cares? It looked like snow and it was white and it blanketed the ground, so good enough for us. (Though it would have been nice if it had stuck together for snowmen and snowballs. Alas.)
The boys had a blast, though, and that’s the main thing. School was out yesterday and today. The roads were too icy to drive on yesterday (because, people from the North, we aren’t used to it, and our infrastructure wasn’t designed to deal with it, so stop being snots about it) and I had some friends with burst pipes, which sucked for them. (Again, our houses aren’t built to withstand freezing temps for prolonged periods.)
Pretty much says it all. (Courtesy of my friend Lindsay)
Should warm up in the next couple of days which is a relief because I’m ready for the boys to go back to school!
Oh, and I threw together this post for NOMB the other night. My favorite (because it’s true.)
I was so sad when I woke up this morning and learned Baton Rouge was blanketed (I mean, relatively. This is Louisiana, after all.) in snow. I had thought briefly of bringing the boys to my mom’s last night so they could see it for the first time, but I figured if I did, it wouldn’t snow. (You’re welcome, residents of Baton Rouge.)
Here it’s been cold and drizzly, but I guess cold enough for a bit of slush to accumulate on my windshield, at least.
Frosty the Slushman! Isn’t he adorable? I’m a natural.
PS I’m not as sad now because apparently it snowed at school and they let the kids out to see it. It didn’t accumulate or anything, but I’ll take it!
PSS It’s not really the first time they’ve seen snow. Once they trucked in snow to City Park and we brought them. And it snowed once when they were babies, but they were at daycare, so no pics.
I’ve been eyeing 
pyjammy dot blog 