Friday, April 25, 2008

Texas Shows and Poodle Skirts

My daughter is in 4th grade. Her music teacher decided to make Texas the theme for the 4th grade music program this Spring. I think the kids only had like 2 weeks to work on the show, and when you only have music 1-2 times a week, that isn't much! The first time I heard about the show was when I got a notification that the program date had changed. Changed? Ummm....I didn't even know there was A show!! In this notification, attire was only mentioned with the sentence, "I would like for the kids to not wear shorts and t-shirts" then it was mentioned girls in another teacher's class could wear prairie skirts. I asked Jennifer what she was supposed to wear, all excited that I could make a prairie skirt (they're super-easy!!). She said she was supposed to wear a poodle skirt, according to her teacher. I scratched my head for a really long time, and not because I had lice or fleas either! What in the world do poodle skirts have to do with a music program about Texas??? Jennifer said her class was doing the song "Wooly Bully". Ok, now I'm REALLY confused!!! What in the world does "Wooly Bully" have to do with Texas???? Isn't that a 1950's sock-hop song? Ah HA! THAT'S where the "poodle skirt" fits in, but still...this is TEXAS!!!
So I oblige. I couldn't get ahold of the teacher, so I end up going to the store, seeing some polka dot fabric on sale, and purchased blue with white polka dots. I purchased some lime green felt rick-rack and a few iron-on rhinestones. I had white fabric and white chenille at home. Oh yeah, I purchased some tiny check lime green gingham and some lime green tulle. My daughter is obsessed with lime green and blue these days. I worked hard making her a full-circle poodle skirt, complete with white poodle decked out in chenille and the leash/collar were made of the lime-green rick-rack and the rhinestones decorated the collar portion. If I say so, it came out really cute. To add fullness, the gingham was used to make the petticoat and the lime green tulle was sewn on the bottom of that so it barely peeked out under the blue poodle skirt. To complete the look, Jennifer had some lime green and blue beaded bracelets, a pair of white sunglasses, and wore her hair in a high ponytail. She had tulle for a belt, hair ribbon, and a neck scarf. She looked really...umm..."Californiaish".
So after neglecting ALL my other responsibilities for the 2 days it took me to make all that, we show up at the program, still not quite done, but done enough we hope nobody else notices. As it turns out, Jennifer was the ONLY student dressed like that. ALL the other 80+ kids were in blue jeans, bandanas, cowboy hats, prairie skirts, boots, etc. ALL western wear!! Umm....oops!!! But in my defense, Jennifer insisted her music teacher specifically said, "Poodle Skirt"!!! See, that's just proof that us moms should ALWAYS listen to our gut!! When you have that urge to scratch your head in confusion, that generally means, "DON'T!" ;)
I think I covered well...when I got those quizzical looks from other parents there about Jennifer's attire, I just nicely replied, "Oh, She's playing the part of a Hollywood Queen who just relocated to Texas and doesn't quite fit in yet!"
I still say she was cute. They DID do "Wooly Bully" and basically, she was the only one dressed to match the song...all the other kids were out of place. hehehe
Here's some pictures:
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