When it rains it pours, I need an ark

Remember that cult movie Afterhours, when all the guy wanted to do was go home but kept getting pulled into weird situations? He's taken over my body or I fell into his movie and I can't get out. Slave that I am, of course I scheduled to work all weekend, naturally I signed up for the wine stroll so I'd have 700 people to entertain. I'll just really take that Friday off and catch up on my sleep....right after I follow up with that producer and our long shot on some american pickers show. She's waiting for the lisa/marisa blog and it has to be perfect. I'll spend all morning obsessing over it. Gee how much money did I just spend? I owe people, they know I'm home. A few rounds of the shell game, I cover it barely. I'll just pop into the shop to make sure we're ready for the onslaught of wine drinkers. I'm only moving furniture...2 hours later. I'm so grateful for that solid 3 1/2 hours of sleep. Then I get the call. You know that big break to do something completely creative of my choosing for a prominent client and their fundraiser for the MOCAD (www.mocadetroit.org museum contemporary art detroit)? Only it's 6pm and it's a 30' space and we have 21 hours to conceive, hire, amass, transport, design and install it at said community leader's home. I'm on fumes, I call in the big guns (my husband and his 20 year olds www.richardgagedesignstudio.com) We spend that relaxing evening together wracking our brains, mentally inventorying what's lying around at our shops and what kind of magic we can make. Would have been handy if those goods from Brimfield were in but noooo... I start with this chicken wire man, and those bed springs. Rick has a burn basket, the 12' grain auger. I bank 5 more hours of sleep and we head to our shops. Oh yeah wyatt, what are we doing with him? It's peasant day care, you know pickin' potatoes with the baby on your back? Wyatt's been on the crew since he was born. At 4 months he was in the sling while I set up a show in Ann Arbor, so packed was my van I had to thread him through the window. He's good for 2 hours of running small jobs. Luckily the client has kids. Wyatt's like the pied piper with the kids, the nannies want his number, he's better than nintendo. Moving right along, we start the artistic process...you know stand around and argue over minutiae, assemble this, make the crew break it down and assemble that...Wait!! I have a new brilliant idea. We do that 50 more times. We're having a blast but I'm gonna pass out if I don't eat something. We get food from "the chef" but no silverware and we are filthy. The 20 year olds don't care if they eat with dirty hands, the perfectly plated tenderloin on a bed of bitter greens with a feta and herb pesto. These guys are into this 5 star plate. "I thought we smelled hamburgers. What's arugula? It tastes weird. The "steak" isn't cooked and what's that stuff all over it?" I'm punchy now. I gotta come up with an invoice and get to the wine stroll. I'm two hours late and my phone is ringing off the hook this whole time cause nothing is priced. I follow the designer to find out how to get the check...nothing more nerve wracking than the money part. I mean how much is a junk sculpture of wire and scrap? The clients come outside to see our work, they love it!! She wants us to come back tonight for the festivities, I'm gonna say no? We have dinner plans (...one of the calls that came in, of course I can cram that in) We settle up and I race back to the shop. David King is my hero, running interference at the shop. I grease his palm, send him for more wine, start the shuck and jive for my 700 new prospects. Out at 5:30pm, a good day of business, I lie down for 10 minutes, shower and get into costume. This crowd will be dressed to the nines. I pull out the vintage lace number from the opera singer's estate, my pawn indian jewelry, a leather jacket, cowboy boots, war paint, we're off for dinner. Dinner is at Ross Yedinak's house. His cooking is the real deal, there's always room in the schedule for a Ross meal (www.walnutonline.net --he's also an artist). The food is like that off the chart stuff we ate in Brooklyn. Wyatt is having no part of it, well except the dessert. He wants to play badminton outside. He's been good all day, I'm diving for the shots, lace dress and all. We head out for the event. Oh my god, what you can do with an unlimited budget and imagination. They have guys on dirt bikes creating "art" on their front lawn (it gets re-sodded on Monday). They have a live death goth band in full regalia and a smoke machine going, it's ear-splitting. All the big name Detroit art supporters are on hand, it's like fashion week. The people watching is superlative. Wyatt is sneaking around snagging cookies off the tables. We are seen by some of our best clients, this was a good move. Rick carries a sleepy wyatt to the car, I'm in bed by 11:30. I've got until noon to rest and then I have to open the shop....So heads I getta call at 6:00am, tails I sleep in, wanna call it?