FLOODS, WRAPPING, AND THE COMPANY OF GOOD FRIENDS

The rain never let up all night and today, when I head out in my little red car to buy a Christmas floral arrangement for my hosts, the roads are flooded everywhere. The announcer on the radio says that there are dozens of road closures around the valley. I am hoping none on the routes I usually take are affected because I don't know my way around enough to take an unmarked detour. On one corner, the flooding is so bad it is keeping a pedestrian from being able to cross the street in any direction. As I wait for the light to change I can see he is frustrated that he can't get where he is going as he assesses the situation over and over and can't come up with a solution.

The flowers are bought and in the house, and I set back out on the road to Ron's to pick up some wrapping paper. He wouldn't let me buy my own the past two days when we were out shopping as he has lots of it and wants me to use his. When I get there, he and Nelson have just arrived home from the gym. The plan is to go to Pinocchio's for lunch. As the boys shower and get ready I use Ron's iPad to check the Lifetime Movie Network to see if I can stream On Strike for Christmas now that I am in the states and I can. So I watch some of it until it's time to go. We head out to lunch and I have a burger and we all have 'bottomless champagne' with orange juice. Ron spends most of his time on the iPad trying to book a van for our trip into LA tomorrow as the rental agency has just called to say they won't have one for us as they're all booked up. He is successful and so we are good to go tomorrow. Once lunch is over we head to the dollar store so that I can get a gift bag and, of course, that's not all I buy. Everything in the store is one dollar and there are a few bargains. I pick up a car air freshener because when I got in to my car this morning, it smelled like a fish had died in it overnight. Not sure why but it was most unpleasant and I need it gone.

Once we are done shopping we head back to Ron's and I select a roll of wrapping paper from his stash and head back to my place. I need to get all the gifts wrapped but first I get on my laptop and continue watching On Strike and finally see my Knitting Consultant credit. So great! I then go about adding the credit to my IMDB page. The movie is really well done, I think, and has a hilarious scene with the guys trying to bake cookies.

The movie ends I finally get down to the business of wrapping gifts. It takes a couple of hours and when I am done I go into the family room to chat with Bob and Ada. After 15 minutes or so I can hear a phone ringing and it sounds like it's coming from my room. Bob gave me a spare cell phone they have for me to use while I am here so that I can take calls from Ron without using up all of my 15 minutes of roaming charges I paid for before I left home. I run to get it and just miss the call so I call him back and he asks "Is this where I can order a Bible? Is this the Gideons?" I laugh and then he says, "Hold for the Duchess of Milton." The duchess is a wonderful man by the name of Michael Rowe, a well known author from Toronto and someone I often verbally spar with on FaceBook over politics and religion. Michael gets on the phone. "I would like to order one religious fanatic to be delivered to the Oliver household as soon as possible." I laugh and tell him that they are both crazy. "But how long will it take for you to get here?" Ron had earlier told me that Michael and his partner would probably be tired and cranky from their long day traveling from Ontario and not be in the mood for company tonight. Apparently that's not the case and they want me to come over. So I pack up the gifts that I have just finished wrapping and head out.

It ends up being a wonderful evening of light banter that eventually turns into a lively discussion and debate about Christianity, false Christians, faith, miracles and a host of other related topics. It's a perfect evening and I am loving it. And, one great thing that comes of it is that, on Christmas Eve, we are all going to head over to a nearby church (that Liberace used to attend regularly) for their special Christmas service so that we can sing carols.

Church Liberace Attended













Ron Oliver. In church. I can hardly wait.

ON STRIKE FOR CHRISTMAS

This Sunday, December 5th, at 8pm you can watch another movie I worked on this year, on The Lifetime Movie Network. It's the one I wrote about here called On Strike for Christmas. You can go see a trailer for it here - and again, it doesn't seem to work in Canada. Booooo!!!

I mentioned in that other blog post that I taught several of the ladies with key roles in the movie, including Daphne Zuniga, how to knit and that I had joked with the producer that I wanted a credit as 'knitting instructor'. Well, I talked to the producer, Jim, the other day and he told me I DO have a credit at the end for 'Knitting Consultant'. I was super thrilled to hear it. So my name will appear in the credits twice - the other time as Script Supervisor, of course.

So watch the movie and let me know if you saw my special credit. I don't get that network up here in Canada so I can't see it for myself. Jim did promise to send me a DVD of the movie though. I hope he remembers!

IN THE CHRISTMAS MOOD

I just completed 6 weeks on two movies for the same producers. The second one was a Christmas movie to air on Lifetime Movie Network on December 5th, called On Strike for Christmas. It stars Daphne Zuniga of One Tree Hill and David Sutcliffe of Gilmore Girls. What a super nice guy he is. I just loved his personality and he's an amazing actor with great instincts and impeccable comedic timing. My youngest is a huge Gilmore Girls fan so I had her bring down one of her boxed sets when she was passing through on a recent trip to Disneyland and had him sign it for her. Julia Duffy was in the cast and I loved her from the Newhart show (she was the maid in the Inn he owned). She is a delightful lady and I envy the women who get to call her a friend.

One fun thing; I got to teach 3 or 4 women on the cast how to knit. In the story, the main character owns a knitting store and the ladies sit around and knit as they chat. Daphne didn't know how to knit and so I taught her and a couple of others. Daphne was hooked and continued to knit through the entire movie while waiting between setups for lighting to finish. She completed a piece that was the perfect shape to make a little hat. She gave it to an actor who was playing her son but it ended up on the head of one of our producers, Jim. Here he is with Daphne wearing the hat. I told Jim that I want a credit at the end for 'Knitting Instructor'. I hope I get it. That would be fun.

The art department did such a fantastic job of turning an empty storefront into a knitting shop that we actually had women coming in to browse for wool while we were all on lunch!




































I had a great time and I don't think I have ever laughed so much on a show before. I am really sorry it's over BUT... I got the kids series so I will be working until the end of April, thank the Lord!!!!! It's a four day work week and only 10 hour days so I will actually get to have a life. The trade off is not as much money but I am fine with that.

The show is called Mr. Young and is for YTV, a kids network here in Canada. The premise of the story is that the main Character, Adam Young, is a child genius and graduated university at age 13. He is now a teacher in the high school that he would normally be attending. So in his classes are his sister, his best friend, and a girl he has a crush on. It is a sitcom, the first ever to be shot in front of a live studio audience here in western Canada so it's a pretty big deal to have gotten it.

I am so in the Christmas mood, thanks to the show I just finished. We spent 10 days in a house that was decorated for Christmas inside and the last two nights outside in a cul-de-sac that was ablaze with Christmas lights and decorations. It was so much fun!!! (except for the deluge our first day/night outside - blah! We all got soaking wet through).

So, as a result, I have started Christmas shopping. I have three people completely bought for; a few more smaller gifts bought; and an almost complete list on my cool new iPhone app, Christmas List. I LOVE it!!!

OH!! And, AND, I have booked my trip to Palm Springs for another Christmas in the desert with all of those fabulous (gay) men. I can't wait!