'A PIE FOR EVERY REPLY': PART 4

LAST MINUTE PREPARATIONS

It was the day before the shoot. In order to get everything ready, we both decided to take the day off of work. First, I went to the salon and got all ‘dolled up’. I don't know why I paid to do that, since the next day, no one would be able to tell the difference! Then, we lugged up all the supplies from our hiding place in the basement and packed up the car before the kids started swarming around. It felt like we were going on vacation…the car was filled to the gills. Just the boxes of pie crusts alone took up a huge amount of trunk space! Thank goodness we didn’t get 500 replies; we would have had to rent a U Haul!

Then, we got the kids all set, making sure there was enough food in the house to feed the teenagers and money for a fast food meal, if they forgot how to cook! The oldest was going to supervise and spend the night. “So where did you say you guys were going again?” “Uh, I’m not sure. You know it’s one of our milestone anniversaries, and Dad has decided to take me somewhere locally. He wants it to be a surprise.”

We said goodbye and headed on our way, hoping for a safe trip. We already knew that it was going to be a messy one! We could just picture getting pulled over by the cops…“The pie crusts in the trunk, officer? Uh, hard to explain. But if you check out this website…!” We checked into the hotel and laughed as we filled the transport cart with all the supplies. The boxes of pie crusts looked pretty suspicious, so we draped some beach towels over them to get past the front desk without too many looks from the clerk! A few more trips for the rest of the stuff, then finally ‘the white chair’ was brought in through the back door! We kept reminding ourselves that we were going to leave most of it down the drain!

The room was plenty big enough, and we had asked for one with an eastern exposure to take advantage of the morning light. Little did we know, that it would be overcast and rainy all the next day. The room had previously been a smoking room, and you could still smell the lingering scent in the carpet and furniture. But we figured the shaving cream would probably take care of that! The only other challenge was the layout of the bathroom. It was the kind that you had to enter, then turn around and close the door in order to get step in the shower. It was not what you would call 'user friendly'! But we did have a kitchen with a sink, so between the two areas of running water, we hoped that it would be fine.

We decided to get all the supplies ready that night, because we wanted to get up the next day, fill the pie crusts and start the pie barrage. We still needed to get a few other things, so we went out to dinner, then hit the local grocery store to buy the pancake syrup, chocolate syrup, cherry pies, banana cream filling and everything else that we needed to complete the list.

Then we went back to the room and started to set up. This is where we realized a pie wrangler would have been nice to have! Taking off the plastic covers and bending back the sides of 119 plus pie tins was literally a pain. I ended up getting a blister on my thumb, that to this day, instantly reforms every time I get near a pie crust in a tin! I must have sat crossed legged on that hotel floor for hours too. Actually, I did - the preparation ended up taking us nearly 4 hours. We had to move the furniture, tape down the tarps from the shooting area to the bathroom, put up the backdrop, set up the tripod, take the tops off the cans of shaving cream, get the signs in order, blow up the kiddie pool, and get all the extras ready in order of the replies, like the cigar, glasses, syrup, banana cream, chocolate syrup, cake batter, etc. We took a picture of the ‘Wall of Shaving Cream’ as I like to call it – it was amazing to see! We were exhausted, so we called to check in on the kids, then went to bed.

END OF PART FOUR...TO BE CONTINUED...