Tomorrow will be better

The girls really are growing up so fast. Most of the time. Brianna DID wear an oversized Target plastic bag this evening and insisted it was her 'magic bag.' I let her hop around in it like a potato sack until she tried putting it on her head then said, "Okay, no no, that's dangerous." I explained to her why that was the case before ripping it in half and putting it in the trash. Yikes. Had a brief but incredibly productive rehearsal this afternoon. This scene is really coming together! I hate memorizing lines, but after they're down, it's purely playtime. Aw yeah!

Care Bear Stare

Saw this advertisement at Target tonight. All I could think was OM NOM NOM NOM NOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, we're there.

Busy, busy day. I had a rehearsal, then went to the girls' Girl Scout 'World Thinking Day' event, then drove THEM to a rehearsal. Here they are in the back seat of a 'car' being driven around by Gus, the other kiddo in their scene. We're working around the set of 'The Odd Couple' for the next week while it runs, so it's kind of a pain. It sure was entertaining, though. Bri is supposed to make funny noises during the scene and my friend Graham is the driver (though Gus tried hard to usurp him) and at one point he turns around to say something to her while she's making the noises and she hissed at him like a cat! It was too too funny. "Yup. That's your kid all right..."

The Fix is in

Today was our eleventh wedding anniversary. Wah-how. Wow. The day was kind of like a play in that it had two acts and an intermission. In act one, Jason drove my clothes to me and got me to the school in time for class. He left to go fix my car. Dreading a dead engine I was pleased by the text that informed me it was just the compressor. (Dude, it BLEW UP! Like, really, literally blew up!) which is a $250 easily accessible part. *whew!* He's totally like Superman, I swear. He fixed that car so fast I wasn't even finish with my classes for the day yet! So I thanked him profusely and told him to go on with his day while I bummed a ride from the school with one of my friends. When I got to the car I found roses waiting for me on the front seat! (Awwwww!) I drove home and got ready for the evening (intermission.) while Jason dropped off the kids to spend the night with some friends. We went to a swanky place in Union Station. A lot of people must have ordered martinis or something because the waitstaff kept walking through with shakers. The ice inside tumbled around loudly, so every time it happened I'd yell out (quietly) "YAHTZEE!"

No bad days, just good stories

Yeah, so I gakked my finger pretty good today. I was walking through the scene shop and I went to close the heavy sound door when my ring got caught on the door handle and PULLED. Pain shot up my arm and it instantly began to bruise and swell. The ring itself bent into an ungodly shape and has a divet in the metal. Great. We got ice and someone made the point "Well at least you didn't pull your finger off. They can't take a lot of force, you know." No, I didn't. Cool. Now I get to have nightmares. Tiffany came out to the school to see The Odd Couple with me tonight and I had just finished telling her this story when she said, "Well....uh, you may not want it now, but I got you something." She instructed me to hold out my hand and close my eyes and I couldn't help but laugh my head off when I felt her sliding a very pretty antique ring onto my right hand. How sweet! How ironic! After the show we came out to find that it had snowed heavily and the roads were all slick. We tested the roads by getting a group together and hitting the IHOP. We had a blast, but when we went to leave I turned my car on and black, stinky smoke filled the cab of the car. I was the last person leaving the parking lot so I called Matt Yale and asked him to come back (he was the next to last to leave) and Jason to see what I should do. It was late, the girls were asleep and driving conditions were very dangerous. It was decided that I would go to Matt's grandma's place and sleep in the guest room and the car would be dealt with in the morning. What a horrendously long day. But hey, what a story, right?

Shadrach, Meeschach, and Tabedyago

My dearest Jessica,

Was it something I said? We don't spend enough time together, darling. I miss the press of your cheek against mine. Listening to the rise and fall of your breath at close range. The chance of you sucking an errant feather into your lungs as you softly snore. I fear we are growing apart and can only hope that my desperate plea will allow me to find myself once again in your embrace. For both of our sakes, come back to me my dear, and hold me as you once did.

With sincerest heartfelt love,

Your Pillow

Mindblowing force

Had a volleyball game tonight. Wore this shirt. I like this shirt. I think my favorite part of it is the fact that her hair is blue. They drew an outline and stuck it on a blue shirt instead of choosing to color it a 'normal' shade. 'Normal' hair color. Right, like most of the people I know have their natural hair color. At least I choose to be honest about it.

Hello Raisin

Pretty sure this was inspired by Valentines day....either way Brianna is an odd duck. As soon as I snapped this picture she said, "I wanna see what it looks like!" I pointed to the altered poster. "Just like that, Bri." Silly girl. Busy day for me. The girls didn't have school but I did, so this morning was rather hectic. I fueled myself with coffee when I had time...at three...

Weekend Update

So I got a bit behind on the blog and had a bit of an epic weekend. The girls were gone, Jason was gone, so I took advantage of the alone time to sort out thoughts, relax and enjoy myself. The details and events are mine to keep, however, because I want to keep my special time close to my heart, as lame and squishy as that sounds. So instead of the typical 'one post a day, one picture per day,' here is a collection of images from my weekend, no explanations. Enjoy! Regularly scheduled program resumes tomorrow, same bat channel.

Me or them.

I treated myself to a pair of insanely cute shoes the other day. I ordered them online and waited in anticipation as they went out of stock, back into stock, shipped, no answer at the door so no signature so UPS left us a note...and finally here. I put them on this morning with the though, "Kitty shoes. It's gonna be a good day. It's GOTTA be a good day." Then stumbled as I realized I haven't worn clunky mary janes since the '90's and holy cow they are very heavy. I had forgotten that. But you know what? It was a good day. Spent some time with a few good friends, didn't have anything due, no tests, just a nice chill day. This afternoon Jason took the girls down to meet Sheila halfway so she could take them for the weekend. He is leaving tomorrow morning to go skiing with his brother and I have a few rehearsals this weekend, so she was fantastic enough to take them for us, so Jason and I went out. Not too late, though, his plane leaves way way early. So happy I get to wake at my regular time.

Tooters who toot flutes

Poorly lit gyms are not the best place to capture distance shots. At least they weren't moving much. Leigha had a band concert at 8am today (????) so we frantically scrambled to get ready for the day as we figured out how to get Jason there (as he comes home at 8am) and how to get Bri to school (as it went until 8:30 and her bus comes by at 8:15) what a mess. Somehow we made it work and caught a roomfull of fifth graders frantically blowing into instruments. The baritone player was out for blood, it was great. Oh, and the conductor made the bold decision to not showcase the crowd-pleaser 'hot cross buns' which blew my mind and upset some of the more hardcore fans. I held up my lit cell phone in appreciation for their work, however, as they were actually pretty good considering their amateur status.

I need a suggestion

I'm a doodler in class. It helps me pay attention, actually. However, I find that the intro to theater class I'm taking (because it's a prerequisite for the class I REALLY want to take next fall) is not one I have to jot down a lot of notes for because I already know the bulk of the material during this introductory phase. Not that it's not interesting, it's just that I don't need to keep notes about a lot of it. This has been causing an excess in doodlage for me, as seen above. Meet the 'Good Omen Guinea Pig.' Because bean bags with feet need heroes too.

HBDSP!

BEHOLD the cherry yum yum pie in all its glory! Behold it I say!

The Unreliables

We recently acquired a Jack in the Box here in KC, but it's a bit of a drive so I haven't gone yet. Jason decided to get a bite there today, however, and when he went he got an antenna topper. His antenna is bent so he gave it to me. Excited, I altered it to my own specifications and gleefully went out to put it on my antenna....only to discover that I don't have one on my car. What? Come on, Toyota, I want a whole car here! The antenna is a very important form of self-expression, equal in value to the rearview mirror! The stuff you put in your car is very informative and personal, and I like to personalize everything I have because it's much more fun that way. But alack, one thing I do not have is an antenna.

Flying to save the day

I had a busy busy day today. Helped Tiffany pick out a couch for her place, had some IHOP, a rehearsal, and then I took in a rock show for my friend's band. It ended up being a really great day, even if I felt like a frazzled hamster by the end of it.

The Matriarch

A group of us went to an improv show tonight. Tiffany and I met up first around the area of my school. We found out that the pastry department was having one of its legendary bake sales so we went and got some yummy treats. We dressed up and met everyone at the theater, treated ourselves to an amazing show (chock full of friends) then went out for a bite. The best part of the night was the fact that there was a group of friends from school, and my improv buddies were there! Phil is in Improv-Abilities now, so I got to sit next to people I love from both groups. Hooray! The evening itself was one of those strange events where everything just feels...weird. Strange coincidences and occurrances kept happening all night long, one right after another. Perhaps there is a mythical Midwest triangle and we happened to stumble upon it? Who knows.

Awkward Turtle

So here's an awkward picture from rehearsal. I slap his hand away immediately after, FYI...*cough* It's going well, I need to work on memorizing stuff. Shoot, at this point, though, every day I don't rescue a hamster is a good day. There's a new bar, and it's a high one.

Bjork to the Future

This is Marsha. She goes to our church. That is her very first corn dog. Ever. How cool is that? She was kind enough to let me capture the momentus occasion. Awesome. I had an incredibly rude awakening. Brianna came running into my room, tears streaming down her face, blubbering, "Spartacus ate Leigha's hamster!" "WHAT????" "He did! I saw him!" Ohnoohnoohnoohno....bracing myself for a gruesome scene I ran into the living room to find Spartacus running low to the floor like he knew he was being bad, when all of a sudden something fell to the floor in front of him. Rocky! I ran toward him but he scooped the hamster up again then accidentally dropped him in the kitchen, where I was JUST fast enough to grab a poor, shaken, but otherwise completely unharmed hamster off the floor. Poor little guy! Leigha had neglected to check to make sure her door was all the way shut this morning. We gave her a talk about protecting her pet and moved the cage onto a more sturdy piece of furniture in the room.

Athel337

This is me post-Vball game tonight. It's kind of awkward to take pics while people are being active and whatnot. "Oh no, my BUTT is in those SHORTS are in that PICTURE!" Nah thanks. So I snapped a quick shot in the car shortly after we lost the game. (and so did you.) It was snowing a little bit on the way out of the gym and very slick on the roads. I didn't do faster than fourty-five on the way home, and yes, that's with highways. When I got home from the intense-focus drive I found out I didn't get a callback. I figured as much. Oh well.

Oh Jimmy....

Wow, that *is* a horrid photo of me. Oh well. Saint, Sommer and Jacci look great! During school today I had a lunch rehearsal between classes. Do you know how hard it is to pretend to drive a car while actually eating? I don't know how people who eat behind the wheel while they are really driving can do it! Either way it was fun and I got to practice my audition monologue with them as well! The auditions tonight went okay...I don't expect a callback, though. The show is Richard III for the late Spring, and the department is totally top notch when it comes to all things Shakesperian, so I know they were looking for correct iambic pentameter and whatnot. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

A Team, but not THE A-team.

We unloaded the trailer with Tiffany's worldly possessions today. I showed up and it was just Tif and her dad for a bit, then Matt Y showed up as well as one of Tiffany's dad's friends. We had a grand time pretending that the lightest objects were terrifically heavy. My favorite was the small makeup case that I needed two people to help me with as we made a big show of dragging it, taking breaks, and culminating in three imaginary hernias. When it was over Tiffany thanked us by taking us out for pizza, then (since Jason went to a party to watch some TV and the girls went along to play with friends) Tiffany and I went back to put some boxes into their proper rooms, set up her bed, and watched a movie. Olivia (her boston terrier) curled up between us and was snoring LOUDLY the whole time. That's about how we felt.

How Cats go Bowling.

So busy today I didn't even take a picture until late-ish. I had a great rehearsal today for the SET play at school. I'm excited to breathe life into this role, there's so much satisfaction in taking facets of your personality and incorporating them into a character, making words come to life and creating subtext out of thin air. I drove up to Tiffany's after, to help her fix up her place in preparation for her to live there! That's right, she's finally back in town and it was so good to see her back home where she has been desperate to return for two years now! I know that feeling like an old friend. We happily scrubbed her baseboards to showtunes and danced to numbers from Hairspray and Glee as we rid the house of grime from the previous renters. I returned home this evening to find Bri up to mischief, Leigha spending the night at a friend's house, and Jason being awesome and taking care of things. They were going to come out and help at Tif's, but the carpets had just been cleaned and her dad (he helped her drive out and he's sticking around to help move her in) said, "Yeah....we probably don't want kids to be underfoot here just yet." So I decided to try and wear out the hamster a bit so he didn't run on his wheel all night and keep me and Bri awake. (Sounds like a freakin' pencil sharpener.) Spartacus was INCREDIBLY interested in the ball, but whenever Rocky ran toward him he would flip out and back off, it was hilarious. "Oh, wait, I just wanted to LOOK at it, not DO anything with it! Shoot, get it away!!!"

Wonderful, wonderful day!

Jason and I went out to lunch during my school day today. There's a place nearby called 'Firehouse Subs' and holy moly, it is SO good! They cater to all things manly, for the most part (20 different kinds of hot sauce? What?) so I couldn't help but be drawn to the over-the-topness of this mural on the wall. Jason said, "That's probably how Spartacus sees himself." He's right, you know. This evening I went with a few friends from school to see a show at the Living Room for some extra credit for our various theater classes. It was really good, that space puts on some seriously high-quality productions! We went to a restaurant afterward and amused the waitstaff with our normal, every day theater kid antics. I honestly wonder if my type are their favorite customers, or if they dread our comings and welcome our leave-takings?

Something fuzzy this way comes

Oh, Leigha...those bangs need to be tamed. I had a great day today. Had a quick coffee/hot chocolate chat with Austin this afternoon. She hasn't quite figured out how to piece together her day so that it includes an affordable lunch option just yet, so today she improvised with a piece of bread and free condiments (PB&J) generously provided by the food court. Very Tom Hanks of you, dear. This evening Jason and I took the girls to spend some gift cards/birthday money they had burning holes into their pockets. Brianna excitedly bought three princess books while Leigha opted on a real-live, parent approved hamster named Rocky. So CUTE! But his wheel sounds like a pencil sharpener. Yuk. However, hamsters are nocturnal escape artists by nature and we have a cat. Leigha has decided it would be a good idea to start sleeping with the door all the way shut because of this. Thanks, Rocky!

How much ground would a groundhog hog?

Since it was a snow day, we decided the best thing to do was drive on the nicely cleared streets to the Guitar Center 15 miles away to welcome the new addition to the family. Brianna touched the wood of Jason's new bass and declared that 'it feels like a lobster claw.' That means quality, folks. Tomorrow is a snow day for the girls, but not me. The good news is it's also Jason's day off, so he can drown them out with the sound of his new bass. Either way, our district has serious issues if they keep calling school on account of road conditions when even the neighborhood streets have been plowed. Hope the girls have always been curious to know what it's like to have school in June!

Colder than Fever

This is a cat's eye view of my back deck in the midst of our 'great Midwestern blizzard.' *cough* I know 'blizzard' has more to do with visibility than snowfall (you can get a bunch blowing around, collect 1/2 and inch and it's a blizzard, technically) but the freak out was blown out of proportion in my mind, unless perhaps you were in southeastern Missouri. Either way we had a snow day and we will have one tomorrow as well. The girls spent the day constructing elaborate forts that they are now sleeping in (in Leigha's room. Fun!) and Jason shoveled the driveway so he could get to work. (He made it safely doing 35mph at best the whole way there. 4 wheel drive FTW!) I caught up on my online class and finished a small painting. As for the cat's eye view...I caught him staring at the birds in the backyard and making 'I wanna get 'em!' sounds so I sat on the floor with him by the sliding glass door and put him on my lap so he could enjoy the view from a warm seat. He purred like crazy until one jumped on the deck right by the window and stayed for a while. He cut off the purr immediately and whipped his head around to stare at it until it flew away, then turned back and resumed his 'I'll love you forever!' purring. Good day to be an indoor kitty.