I Don't Like Coffee

When I mentioned that it might be awhile before I was able to blog again, I thought it would be just because of the busy weekend and upcoming drama classes. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

We ended up spending all day Saturday (about 9 hours) at the emergency room. Lincoln, in his always-running state of busyness, managed to pull a cup of really hot coffee down off the kitchen counter onto himself. He sustained some first and second degree burns on his shoulder, right arm, chin, chest, back, and neck.

It has not been fun around here the last few days. :(

Overall, he's been a trooper and even though he is refusing to take the pain medication the hospital sent home with us, he's not complaining much. I can't believe how strong he is!

We actually started off at one children's hospital and had to be transferred to another branch via ambulance. The nurses thought he would be scared of the experience. He doesn't look very excited in these photos, but believe me - he perked right up when he saw that wheeled stretcher. Why? It was a TRUCK.

Riding the special truck down the hall.

And the really nice paramedics flashed the lights and the siren for him as we got into the ambulance. I could have done without the entire experience, but my goodness this kid was really happy about riding in a big noisy truck! I'm thankful his truck obsession is still alive and well.

First ambulance ride at 2 years old.

We have some recovery time ahead of us, so for now there is just a lot of movie watching and snuggling at our house. I have a drama class beginning tonight, so I'm trying to get organized for that this afternoon while the kids are both (miraculously) asleep. We're still planning to take him to meet Thomas the Tank Engine next week and hoping to cross at least a few items off our bucket list - but he's not supposed to be in the sun much while healing, so we're going to have a lot more indoor fun this summer, I think.

I knew we had some ER trips ahead of us with this boy, but I wish he didn't have to deal with this while he's so little. This mama's heart is not enjoying this time in our life very much. :(

Chip & Dale is the favorite cartoon right now.
He's all bandaged up like a little mummy.

Who knows when I'll be back this time! I try to keep up with Twitter and Instagram, so feel free to follow me over there.

27 weeks, 5 days.

I don't blog much anymore. In case you haven't noticed.

I also don't sleep much. Even though I need more sleep.

I also don't craft much. And that makes me sad. :(

But I am done with fall drama classes. I am about half done with Christmas shopping. And I have a relatively free schedule from now until baby...and then three months of maternity leave. So I am hopeful. Someday....someday I will be caught up.

Sad to report that I don't think 2010's 20 batches of cookies resolution is going to happen. I have the recipe for Batch #6 sitting on my kitchen counter. It's been there for weeks. I'm always out of one ingredient or another. Right now it's eggs. Oh well.

busy. tired. excuses.

It's been awhile. Longer than I like. Sorry, blog world.

I have no fun photos to share because I haven't had time to organize anything. I'm slowly getting the house back in order after the performance of Lost and Foundling last weekend (it was fantastic!).

My foot is feeling somewhat better, though not great. I've been wearing Laura's foot brace (aka my "Bella" boot) a lot, and it's helping to keep the foot from impact. I also caved and finally bought some new tennis shoes, as well as a couple pairs of summery supportive shoes. I guess age 23 is when it all starts falling apart and I have to cease being cute. I was so devastated to NOT wear heels for Lost and Foundling last week. :(

Missing DisneyWorld. Wanting to make that album - before we visit again next year (yay!). I'm a little irritated with myself for taking 2000 photos on the trip in January, which now have to be sorted through in order to start the project.

We've decided two things about next week:

It's National TV Turn Off Week, so we're participating. I'm pretty sure we actually do waste a lot of time sitting in front of the television, even if it doesn't seem like it.

It's also Ali Edwards' "Week in the Life" project. Which I'm also going to do. Excited to document a typical crazy busy week in my life. Of course, who knows when I'll have time to make the album. But maybe it will be soon.

That's it for now. Just thought I'd let the world know I'm still here.


Days til NYC: 15!

layouts lately...

Happy Easter! We had a really busy day yesterday...several different family gatherings to attend. It was kind of a long day for me as I have developed tendonitis in my right foot. Just what I need, right? The doctor at Urgent Care on Saturday said, "oh, well just don't walk for 3 days. You'll be fine." Ha. You can imagine how well that's going. I'm home from work today to try to avoid standing on it most of the day. Still have drama kids coming. But at least that's only a little 3-hour window in my day.

I guess I've reached a point in my scrapping life that I have been waiting for....for years. About a month or two ago, it would take me about a week to finish a layout. It would sit in the basement in front of the TV, and every night I would add a couple of small things to it. I don't know what happened - but now I somehow seem to be putting out a complete layout every time I sit down for 2-3 hours.

This is the best thing that's ever happened to my scrapbook life!! I'm accepting that it's okay if I don't make the perfect page every time. And I'm actually loving my pages more even if I don't think they're perfect - just because they are done. So exciting. I'm hoping this attitude stays around for a long, long time.

Anyway - here are some of the recent quick layouts. All of these have been created since a week before last Saturday, March 27. And they are all based off sketches I have found online, and in Creating Keepsakes magazines. I am loving sketches lately. And I have about 4 more layouts done that weren't "post-worthy."

Love my occasional Archiver's shopping sprees. :)

All the hype in the Creating Keepsakes world (and all over the blogosphere) is to make pages about yourself. Here's one of my first attempts. This one makes me sad today because my foot hurts so much...I have no idea when I'll get to run (or walk) again. :\

Coldstone yumminess at the Lake of the Ozarks after our first Murder Mystery gig last year. Really like these photos. The light is interesting.

Since I made a page about me, I wanted to make a page about Andrew, too. This was one of our set build days for Little Princess / Secret Garden last February. This was about the time I learned about tilting the camera for artistic value.

And apparently I can't take a straight photo. I got this to my computer to crop it and said "seriously? that's the best you can do?" Anyway, this is from the Michael Hogge radio interview for Little Princess / Secret Garden. I invited some of the homeschooled cast members to attend along with us. We all had a great time! Andrew took the "ON AIR" photo for me (he actually said "so you'll have a title for your page!" - awww).

I'm thinking since I'm home today, I may be able to get in a few more pages. And maybe I'll get around to printing off another round of photos. I haven't printed anything later than June 2009. Definitely time for some new material to work with.

Here's hoping the foot has a miraculous recovery today!

ah, weekend.

It's a glorious rainy Saturday. And I'm spending it at work. Not quite my ideal day. :\

Working today means I did not have to work yesterday - and it's sometimes equally as nice to have a Friday off work. We spent most of the day working on the disaster area garage. Here's a before photo.

All this stuff has accumulated over the course of the entire 2009 AGDT Season, as well as BSCT's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. Pretty much what happens is, at the end of a performance, everything gets thrown in the back of the garage and I just hope it will disappear. Unfortunately, it never seems to get the hint.

Here's what it looked like at the height of the disaster yesterday, after we had pulled everything off the back wall to sort and reorganize.

It's not finished yet, but I'm hoping to wrap the project tomorrow afternoon. I have a huge carload of stuff to take back to my mom's house, another huge load of stuff to take to BSCT, and yet another huge load of TRASH to be dealt with. After I move all of that out, it should be a nice sensible organized space.

Here's my layout for this week's Studio Calico sketch challenge. It took me most of the week - finally finished it last night. I love having a timed challenge to inspire me to get the page done!


This was a fun night of babysitting a little over a year ago. I can't believe how much these kids have grown up since then. Time is just flying by...can't even imagine what it's going to be like when I have my own babies.

Happy Saturday, all!

it was a productive monday.

Spring is HERE!!

At least, it's consistently been above freezing lately (for three days anyway). This new development is SO exciting. I've had my windows open the past couple days...I'm excited for spring.

On Sunday, I went on a mass organization frenzy and mostly redid the living room and the office. This desk formerly held the top half of a Walmart bookshelf - which was stuffed to overflowing. We condensed the books - excited for garage sale season! - and were able to move the small half-bookshelf to the garage, where it will eventually hold my AGDT library.

I'm excited to have the bulletin board hanging as well. I think I bought it in last year's Lakewood garage sales...so 9 months ago.

The hall coat closet went through a major overhaul as well. The floor was previously covered with tons of bags - plastic, paper, and otherwise - and random cardboard boxes. I think this stuff had been in there since we moved in. I also organized all of the winter accessories on the top shelf - they used to be all shoved in just one basket. Obviously they did not fit and it was very difficult to find anything.

Yesterday I spent part of my last free Monday (AGDT starts next week) at Hobby Lobby. A quick shot of all the goodness waiting to be unloaded at home:

I have been working on a wall art idea for probably 6 months - and I finally decided to make it a reality. Here is the finished product -

It features photos from our shoot with Lindsey at the Plaza last October, and has the lyric from the finale song in Beauty and the Beast - which was our wedding recessional. ♥ it.

While at Hobby Lobby to purchase the supplies for this wall art, I realized that they have coordinating fabrics to the paper I selected!! I immediately decided that new couch pillows were in order, to try to give a cute pop of color to my mostly bland living room. So this is the fabric - will definitely post photos once the project is underway.

Also randomly decided that the house needed some cute floral arrangements. Here is my "test" one - I really love it and am planning to make a few matching ones, to set on top of the piano as well.

Book club at work last night - we made miniature kites. Wow, it's difficult to get 14 little girls to work on a project that involves small pieces and tying knots. But success - everyone went home with a finished product.

All in all? It was a good Monday.

Now, today? It's been okay so far. But check out my to-do list for tonight/the rest of this week:


Yep, that's just half the list. I'm off to cross off one thing...finishing this blog post! Woohoo! :)

it's the start of another 3-day work week...

...and wow, has it been quite the start. I arrived at work this morning to find that the library was closed on Saturday due to the ongoing blizzard in our town, so all of the books from the drop box (basically all returns since last Wednesday) had to be checked in, as well as the 22-page pick list, and all the other normal crazy Monday morning stuff. And there is hardly anyone working today!! I was the third highest in command...and people kept asking me questions! It was weird. But kind of nice. :)

I've been inspired today by what I read on Ali Edwards' blog. She's made a challenge to pick one little word for 2010 and let it make an impact on your life in the next year. I'm still debating my word choice, but right now...I think it may be CALM. We live life at such a harried pace right now, and I think it stresses me out more than I realize. We've already talked about slowing down in 2010 as we're going to have some new things in our life...grad school being one of the big ones. So I am hoping that the new year will bring me some time to reflect, relax, finish the projects, and realize that it's really okay to say no when I'm asked to do something new.

We had a pretty great Christmas. It was absolutely wonderful to have so many days off in a row. It was like a little vacation - and we get to do it all over again this coming weekend (though without a major holiday to add tons of insanity to our plans!). We are going to see A Christmas Story at the KC Rep on Thursday afternoon - Andrew got me tickets for Christmas. I'm super excited!

On top of that joy, it's only 17 days until our delightful vacation. Still haven't tried on any of that swimwear, though it's been in my house for probably a week. Hoping to get to that today! :)

Another favorite gift (also from Andrew)? Project Life. It has not arrived yet, but it should be here very soon. And I am very excited. It's going to be a beautiful way to document 2010...so whether or not I ever finish my scrapbooks, at least I will have something. :)

I'm working on the AGDT scrapbook again. I'm caught up to the Summer 2009 performance (haven't printed Fall 09 pics yet, but I'm working on weeding them so that I can!). So I've started putting together the TEEN scrapbook - starting with pictures from our first teen production, Little Women, in 2007. I have so many photos and I just can't bear to not include them all...so it's going to be quite the scrapbook!! It may have to be just one album for each production. We'll see...

i know i promised photos BUT...

Really, most people just don't understand what I mean when I say I am too busy to do anything. They assume I'm making excuses. Or I'm just lazy. But really - really - I am that busy.

I'm reading this book right now (in 2-minute snippets). The chapter I read last night said that I need to determine what I want to do more than anything else in the world...and stop saying "yes" to anything that does not support accomplishing those things. So, you might ask, what do I want? That's kind of the problem. I want a lot of things. I want to have a beautiful, happy family, and be an uber-cool, all-the-neighbor-kids-love-me, Godly mommy. I want to throw all this midwest nonsense out the window and live in a tiny little 10th floor apartment in NYC and sing on Broadway for a few years. I want to work out more than once a week (my sad average so far this year) and actually feel like I am in shape. I want to write a book...or 20! I want to continue AGDT and have it grow to the point of actually needing a studio. I want to be caught up (or at least have a fighting chance at being caught up) in my scrapbooking endeavors - and I want to think up new and interesting techniques and submit them to CK and see my layouts published in their articles. I would even love to be on the Dream Team, or work as a contributing editor! How cool would that be? I would also really like to just be able to think of a different meal to cook every single weeknight...and have it on the table when the hubby gets home from work.

So those are my biggest goals in life. They're so varied, it's pretty difficult to imagine all of them coming true. But I can try. I'm setting my New Year's 2010 Goals a bit early this year. Maybe if I have time to meditate on them before the year actually arrives, I'll be able to get a better handle on them. The 2009 resolution list is looking pretty sad and neglected at this point. But - the new year is on the way. And I am hopeful.

In other news, the Twilight Ball was an amazing success!! We had 90 people attend the program - probably more than at any program hosted at this library other than a summer children's event.

AGDT's fall performance was a couple days ago. The kids were awesome, as usual. Kayte came to do everyone's hair even while she was not feeling spectacular - what an amazing friend she is!! While I love teaching, and love watching those girls perform, and just generally love spending time with them - I am not sad that I have a 3-month break before a new set of drama classes begin. I realized yesterday that I did 4 semesters in a row this year - Winter was Little Princess / Secret Garden at BSCT, then Spring, Summer, and Fall were AGDT. I have directed 10 plays this year. My little dramatic mind needs a break!! I am going to offer a Christmas Crafts Club to the AGDT girls - but it will just be crafts. No drama. No props. No costumes. No set pieces. No crazy performance day. 4 weeks of crafting fun. I think I can handle that. ;)

My hubby fixed the toilet in the master bathroom yesterday. You have no idea the joy this puts in my mind. That toilet has been broken for like 3 months. At least. I can't even remember!

Next big project on the list is the MCPL Homeschool Expo on Wednesday this week. I am dressing in full Civil War attire (chemise, corset, and the works) and doing a demo on women's fashion in the 1860's. Basically - I'm letting an army of little girls try on some hoop skirts. Hopefully they'll think it's cool! The good news is, the Expo is at the MGC, where Andrew works, so I will get to spend at least the morning/lunch with him. :)

That's all the news of the day. Someday I'll have time to actually post pictures of things. Really. Maybe when people start reading the blog I'll make more of an effort.....

it's almost done!!

Ahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty excited. I only have FIVE (count them - one, two, three, four, five!) pages left to create in my honeymoon album! This project has been so consuming of my free time for the past few months, I can hardly even imagine moving on to something else - but soon, I will be doing just that!! Come to my house and I will show you my beautiful glorious album. I am perhaps a little too proud of this book. But I just can't help it. ;)

Other news -

• Planning a Twilight Ball at work. I am getting paid to make dozens of Team Edward / Team Jacob buttons, and for the actual ball, I get to dress like Bella, eat food, and watch the movie. It's gonna be fabulous.
  
• Audition week is done. We're currently trying to find a Santa Claus for our production. Sadly, if we don't find one by next week, we're going to have to cancel the show. :( I'm messaging everyone I can think of.
  
• AGDT is currently in the 5th week of practice. That means I have 3 weeks left. That means I seriously need to get some costume and prop work done. I have done practically nothing for these plays. Yikes.
  
• People are starting to think I will never finish the AGDT Spring and Summer DVDs. Hey, I'm starting to think I'll never finish them!! I have a day off next Saturday when I will be home by myself all day. I'm thinking...I should probably have a video edit marathon.
  

That's about it. Hopefully next time I update...the honeymoon book will be done! :)

it's a rainy monday.

Apologies for my absence. I would like to be one of those bloggers who writes about fascinating things on a daily basis, but I don't have that many amazing things happen - and when they do, the last thing I have time for is to write about them!!

I spent most of last week suffering through a horrible allergy/cold/sinus mess. I finally caved and went to the doctor on Thursday (symptoms started on Sunday), and she said it was entirely allergy related. I'm just not sure, because it was pretty awful. Anyway, it ended up as a sinus infection and thank goodness I got meds when I did, because there were a couple NOT pretty days over the weekend. Yuck.

It's my birthday week!! I get pretty excited about a week before my birthday, because I get email coupons from Zio's, Red Robin, Moe's, Coldstone, Dairy Queen, Baskin Robbins, Texas Roadhouse, Famous Dave's, V's, Red Lobster, and Buca di Beppo saying "we love you SO much, we want to give you FREE FOOD!!" Granted, I don't need that much food in one week...but it's nice to be loved. :) So far, I have just used the Moe's. Hoping for Zio's, Red Robin, and of course all the ice cream!!!

People think my job is easy. They don't realize that sometimes, I spend hours searching for books on the "Origins of Agriculture" for 3-year-olds at the Ivy League preschool. Apparently we're trying to create some little geniuses, but I'm pretty sure they will find a lot more interest in "My First Big Farm Book" than anything that has a serious historical content.

Happy library tidings, the scrapbooking club at work is beginning this month! We had our first scrapbooking class last week - and I honestly will say I was not impressed with the style of scrapbooking used by the presenter of the class. She covered the basics pretty well, though. She will be at tonight's class, and next week's class - which is doubling as our first official "Crop Club" meeting. After that --- it's all me. Woohoo! I would love to work for a scrapbook magazine or company, but I guess this is a decent first step. Hopefully it will be so popular that I will be "forced" to expand it into multiple nights every month. Heh. ;)

On the scrapbooking note, more happy tidings! I finished 4 pages in the honeymoon album last night!! The poor book has been sitting there, just looking at me and haunting me all week - as I spent most of my time at home curled up on the couch wishing my head would just go on and explode! - and finally - finally I was able to work on it yesterday. I wrapped up the entire American Museum of Natural History 4-page spread, and there was much joy in my house!! I have about 23 pages left to complete. I can't remember how many pages there are in total...but I think I'm over halfway done!! yay! (so much for having it done by the end of June...remember that goal?! ha!)

Andrew and I spent a few hours last night cleaning out the garage. Wow, it's amazing how much junk can accumulate in the course of just a few weeks! We had not yet put away anything from the Summer AGDT performance...that was most of the problem. Thankfully, the space is now functional - just in time for the Fall AGDT class that will be rehearsing there today. I believe strongly in procrastination!!

In other news, we finally hung up some wall stuff in our bedroom this weekend. I bought a shelf set approximately 6 months ago, and it's been sitting on the bedroom floor ever since. We picked out a great giant wall frame with a quote - "Life is not measured by how many breaths you take, but by how many moments take your breath away." - or something to that effect. Anyway, we got that and the shelves hung and I'm super excited! I think I want to paint something soon. Most of the walls in my house have specks and scratches and holes and dirt and general yuck covering them. So it's time for a little revamping. Naturally I decide this a couple weeks before we start another BSCT production - when my life will descend into utter chaos and I will lose all sanity and lack of ability to accomplish anything from my to-do list. Oh well. :)

And those are my random thoughts for the day. Sometimes I wish there were a cohesive thought to the way I write...but then, this style pretty much describes my life right now, so I guess it's all right. Here's hoping I don't wait weeks to post again!

there are some things...

...that I truly enjoy.

• ...the 5 hours I spend off work on Monday afternoons (during the very short break between AGDT classes - this semester it's 4 weeks, 2 of which are now gone, and 1 of which is Labor Day and doesn't really count). It's the one time of the week when I feel that my house is not a lost cause, I might eventually catch up on the laundry, and there is hope for all of the never-ending projects.
  
• ...finding that there is a new specialty scrapbooking store in downtown Lees Summit, less than 5 miles from my house. It was especially nice to find that they carry a lot of specialty papers that I previously had to drive to Archiver's to acquire. I hope that someday I can have my own little business in a quaint little shop on a downtown street. Such fun!
  
• ...Date Night with Andrew. Sure, I might accidentally leave my delicious leftover Zio's on the table (along with the picture that he drew me with crayons on the tablecloth), and I might be horrified that some Hollywood genius picked Eric Bana to play Henry de Tamble in The Time Traveler's Wife movie adaptation, but... Gap's 40th birthday party meant piano music, free cake, bottled water, and M&M's at the checkout counter, PLUS $20 off delightful new jeans and an additional 15% off my total purchase. Eric Bana may be a crummy actor, but the story was still beautiful and I cried through the last half hour of the movie. Plus I spent time with my amazing man, without worrying about any of the silly projects waiting in my house. Yes, date night is a good thing.
  
• ...the feeling of accomplishment when I finally finish - or even start - a project. I put together the preliminary stuff on the AGDT Spring 09 DVD today in about an hour. That's a really good feeling.
  
• ...having my iPod at work. Really, what's better than being able to tune out the world around you and surround yourself in Josh Groban, fantastic Broadway (Little Mermaid, Shrek, Young Frankenstein and more), Coldplay, Owl City, and random old favorites from Straylight Run, Snow Patrol, Augustana, and Sarah Brightman. It really makes life much more bearable.
  
• ...eBay. There's something remarkable about online shopping, but eBay really takes the cake. I mean, you can find some amazing deals, interesting and exciting things that are either not available in America or out of print altogether, or just about anything. There's really nothing quite like the thrill of winning an auction in the last 5 seconds of bidding. And on top of all these good things, when it's all said and done, you get a surprise package in your mailbox containing these amazing purchases a few days later! It's all around just a good thing. And hey, if you have time and inclination, you can even make money selling things on eBay too. :)
  

That's it for now. What do YOU truly enjoy? Make time for one of those things...it's always worth it.

whew

So, in the last couple of weeks, life has been a combination of blurred, insane, ludicrous, and exhausting. Apologies for the lack of posting, but 1) no one reads this and 2) I have so many things to do, I'm actually starting to forget things and make mistakes. This doesn't happen with me, so I'm pretty upset. I've started using my Outlook calendar at work, but all that's doing is giving me angry messages when something is overdue. :(

Sometimes I think to myself, I really need to start saying "no" to every new idea. I really need to reduce the level of stress in my life. I really need to remove some of the projects I have taken on so that I have time to stop and enjoy life, rather than rushing through it at the speed of light. Unfortunately, of all my various activities, the only one I'm willing to give up (at least part time) is work, and more unfortunately, that's the one I have to keep because it pays the most. *sigh*

Lousiana was hot and humid, and it took us most of forever to get there and back...but it was lots of fun. We stayed in a sweet little bed and breakfast called Susan's Cottages and it was very nice. I'll try to post pictures sometime. We attended the wedding of Andrew's college roommate and helped to fill the getaway car with balloons and streamers. The drive home was remarkably long, and our GPS friend Jane took us a ways out of the way. But eventually we returned to Missouri and when we finally got home around midnight, I discovered a beautiful PIANO waiting for me!!! It needs to be tuned, but it's wonderful. My husband is amazing. Happy Anniversary to us! :)

The following weekend (Aug 6-8) we traveled to Jefferson City, MO so that Andrew could attend the Missouri State Genealogy Association Conference. We stayed in the hotel where the conference was being held, ate some pretty bad hotel restaurant food, and went on a pretty boring tour of the Missouri State Archives. I also managed to forget my toothbrush, toothpaste, snacks, and tweezers, so I journeyed out to Walgreens to save myself from certain doom during the trip. I found a Goodwill store and had fun just browsing for a little while...the problem with my life right now is that I never get to just BROWSE! :) The rest of my time was spent in our hotel room, where I set up a mini scrapbooking studio and watched the entire first season of Grey's Anatomy on DVD. Creative freedom + Dr. McDreamy = a very good weekend. :)

When we returned on Saturday, we had to rush to Blue Springs for the first annual BSCT picnic! Sadly, only about a quarter of those who RSVP'd showed up, but hey, we had some fun times.

The following week was wild and crazy, as I spent every evening trying to prepare for the AGDT performance, which was on August 15. I got the AGDT scrapbook completely caught up (aside from Little Women and Ms. Scrooge, which are going in a separate TEEN book), the night before the play. So yes. It was up to date for less than a day. Oh well. I'm determined to stay on top of it so that it can't take me 2 years to complete again. And maybe now that that's out of the way, I'll have time to actually finish my honeymoon book! *fingers crossed*

Anyway, the AGDT performance was great! I have to admit, the classes drain me, but when we get to that performance and I see all those little girls beaming at curtain call, it's all worth it and I want to do it all over again. I love teaching.

And...that's about it. I've spent a good majority of my time since Saturday sleeping, watching TV with my hubby, and feeling guilty because I'm too exhausted to clean my house. But oh well. The house is getting there. Sorta.

Less than 4 weeks until fall classes start, so I'm trying to coordinate all of that. Fun times will be had by all!...if I can get the schedule worked out and fill up the classes. Of course I do all of this by email on my work time. Someday I will have more time. I know this is true. I know it, I know it, I know it.

Oh, random call from the Murder Mystery folks means a quick job this Friday evening, plus a weekend later in September! Yay for getting paid for something I actually enjoy - PLUS a completely free weekend getaway! :)

Well, there's a brief wrap on my life the past month or so. I'm off to accomplish more things. Date night tomorrow! I'm excited. :)

another monday...

Why do I always seem to write updates on Mondays? Is it just because Monday is the longest day in the history of the universe and it knows how much I hate it and it seeks to destroy me? That seems likely.

2 more weeks remain of AGDT classes. I have gathered very few props, but most of the costumes are done. Everyone has at least SOMETHING to wear. Thank goodness! I am counting down the days to when AGDT will be my only "full-time" job. It was so sad; my public school student asked me today what the fall classes would be...and I didn't have the heart to tell her there won't be one for her age group in a time slot that falls after school. Poor kid. I want to give these little girls the opportunities they can't find elsewhere! I haven't decided about summer classes for next year because I will (hopefully) be entirely too busy being onstage in Beauty and the Beast. :D

Finished up with Harry Potter last night - WOW, I forgot a lot of things!! I think I only read book 7 once and it was probably in about 12 hours, so I didn't really absorb much. Anyway - excited for the new movies but am speculating on how destroyed they will likely be. But now that I've left Hogwarts for awhile, I've moved back into my current favorite chick lit, Sophie Kinsella. (no Hogwarts...but still in Britain!) I've knocked out the Shopaholic series and am now reading Remember Me? which is good so far (chapter 6). There are too many treasures out there waiting to be read; there just aren't enough hours in my day. Oh for the summers I spent doing NOTHING but reading up a complete storm in order to win every local reading contest.

Footloose at BSCT wrapped yesterday. It was supposed to be a pretty simple strike - and I suppose it was - but by the time it was all said and done, we were exhausted! We had to go with the group over to the Civic Center to make sure everything was put back where it belonged. Not a fun task, since there are construction trailers surrounding the building and getting into our prop room is like going on a wild adventure to nowhere. But, all was completed, and there will be no more cutting footloose in Blue Springs for awhile.

The honeymoon scrapbook, which has been sadly not mentioned in quite some time, has even more sadly not made much progression. I believe we are currently at 17 completed pages; I'm in the midst of a 4-page spread on Madame Tussaud's. AGDT and BSCT have been consuming all hints of "free moments" so I usually work on the scrapbook in 5-minute segments, after I eat dinner, or while waiting for the laundry to finish in the morning. Oh well. My goal was to have it done before a year had passed, but hey - at least it is UNDERWAY. Most of my projects don't get CLOSE to that!

We leave town on Thursday night to head to Louisiana for one of Andrew's college roommates' wedding. I can't say I'm overjoyed that we'll be spending roughly 13 hours in the car on our 1-year wedding anniversary, but it's okay. I'm sure we'll survive and it might even be fun! Andrew found a really cute little bed and breakfast where we'll stay while we're down there. Hopefully we won't get attacked by an alligator. :)

sick days are no fun.

The plus to a sick day is that I get to stay home, sleep, be productive, and do things I normally can't even dream of doing (scrapbooking, watching chick flicks). The downside is that, well, I feel awful. I guess it's the price we have to pay.

I'm plodding away at this LPSG DVD. Roughly 18 minutes of footage is done. It's going a little faster today, but my eyes are starting to hurt, so I'll probably take a break soon.

Saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the crazy busy midnight opening! I have heard a lot of mixed reviews, but I thought it was one of the best as far as adaptation. I'm now reading book 7 for what I think is just the second time. The book was released back in 2007, about a month before I met Andrew and became really busy falling in love. :)

Yesterday I had a really bad craving for cupcakes. Someone brought delicious chocolate ones to work, but I ended up leaving work early and so only had one. When I came home and was wearing pajamas, I felt inspired to cook the one remaining cake mix in my home into red velvet mini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I'm now living entirely on those. We have no groceries whatsoever. It's pretty sad. But I don't feel well enough to put on makeup and brave the grocery store. My wonderful husband has volunteered to do the shopping tonight while I am teaching my AGDT class.

I know no one reads this, but come see FOOTLOOSE next week at BSCT!! I'm dressing up in crazy 80's fashions just to sell concessions and tickets and StarGrams, and it'd be a real shame for you to miss seeing me with a scrunchie-bound side ponytail. It's pretty fantastic. And the show's good, too!

That's about it for today. Sorry I'm a bore. But wait - no one actually sees these posts! I guess we're okay then. ;)

rescued from dark despair!

One of my AGDT students arrived practically in tears at my 2:30 class yesterday. When asked what was wrong, she explained that her miniature "Nellie" doll had just accidentally rolled down the drain in front of my house. Poor thing, she was trying so hard to not be completely devastated, but having been an American-Girl-obsessed-8-year-old in my lifetime, I understood what she was going through. We decided to get through class and then see if we might be able to get the doll back.

Class ended a few minutes early, so the girls and I headed out to the drain. We tried flashlights and I was lying on the concrete slab trying to see inside, but the angle was such that all I could see was the little ladder inside the manhole. This gave me inspiration and I ran back to the garage to get the best tools I could find...a hammer and a screwdriver. The screwdriver proved ineffective, but the hammer was very useful in prying the manhole cover partially off the hole. WOW, those covers are incredibly heavy!!! By the time I had gotten a corner lifted, one of the moms had arrived and came over to help me drag it off. I was pretty afraid someone was going to lose a toe, but thankfully we were okay. Once the cover was off, we could look down inside the hole - and great joy! There was Miss Nellie O'Malley, resting facedown on the ground far below us. The girls were so thrilled to at least see her, but I still had to get her out.

(Nellie is the little spot of blue on the left side of the photo).

I ran into the house to get tennis shoes and then carefully lowered myself into the hole.

Nellie was unscathed aside from a bit of grass debris in her hair and on her dress.

I brushed her off and handed her up! Getting out of the hole was a little more difficult than getting in, but it was definitely worth it when I heard the cheers and saw the look on Holli's face when her doll was saved.


So the adventure ended. Crazy thing - I'm dying to go back down in that hole and explore. It's creepy...but definitely cool.

AGDT summer classes are here. Back when I was planning them, it seemed like they were so far away. Well, they're here! yay. The kids are fun, as always. But the exhaustion and lack of time are here, too. Oh well. Someday I will catch up on everything. At least, that's what I will tell myself forever.

My sparkly Times Square page is giving me fits. The sparkly paper will not accept my normal adhesive, so I bought a liquid glue today. Hopefully this will force it into submission.

Hobby Lobby has scrapbook paper and wall art on sale this week, so I also bought almost all of the supplies for my scrapbook room wall words project. I'll post pics once it's done.

Last Friday, we spent the day working in the yard - ripping up the old, dead shrubs in the front yard, and replacing them with new beautiful shrubs and flowers. It was a long, tiring day, and both Andrew and I were rather sunburned, but the result was worth it. I now have such pretty flowers! I don't remember what they're all called, but they are purple and pink and gorgeous! I even got a little "Knockout Rose" bush. It's adorable and I ♥ it!!

I have progressed to page 134 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. 23 days and 2 and 3/4 books to go. There is hope yet.

I promise one day I'll stop the constant complaining!

Some days I wish I had no hobbies. Or projects. Or part-time teaching jobs. Most people think the weekend is a time for relaxing, spending time doing little or nothing, partying, hanging out, just general fun, low-key, no-stress stuff. My weekends don't work that way.

Thursday-Sunday were a complete whirlwind. In the midst of all the plans mentioned in my last note, I was also trying to make about 10 props for my AGDT performance (coming up this Saturday, May 16!), thrift store and garage sale scavenge for shoes for the drama kids who have outgrown my stash of little-girl shoes, catch up on laundry (I think I have 2 loads waiting still), and clean the house (kitchen...half done, master bath...done, spare bath.......well, at least the floor is clean). Between housekeeping, teaching, volunteering (willingly or otherwise) at the theatre, and working at the library, I kind of feel like I have 4 full-time jobs.

It's 11:55 Monday morning. I am so tired. I rolled out of bed at 7:20 and somehow managed to clock in at work at 8:02 (yes, I showered, partially blow-dried my hair, and even applied makeup). I'm leaving in 5 minutes to take my literally stuffed-to-the-roof car to the church to unload all the AGDT costumes and props for today's dress rehearsals. Then it's back to work for AG book club. Here's hoping I get a decent amount of sleep whenever I finally get to crawl in bed tonight!!!

It was a beautiful, dreary morning....

It was the perfect day for sleeping in...which is what I did. Apparently my alarm didn't go off. I woke up 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at work, so now I will be staying until 5:30pm. yay. Unfortunately the rain has stopped. I love dreary days, and it's starting to look like it's going to be sunny again. *sigh*

Last night was productive. I made *4* cards! This is quite the accomplishment for me. It's my goal to make dozens of glorious, beautiful cards and have them ready and waiting to be sent out at my every whim... Well, 1 of the 4 from last night has no definite purpose. I guess 1 is better than nothing. I am making progress.

My mom sewed me an adorable colonial costume for one of my AGDT plays this semester. I have very few things to costume Felicity's time period, so I decided it's time to start expanding the collection. Especially since I have another Felicity play in my summer drama session this year! One of these days I will get a sewing machine, have loads of free time, and sew costumes myself. Until then, I am perfectly content to let Mom sew everything for me.

We're getting ready for a busy weekend... Tonight I am doing dinner and a movie with Terra, while Andrew is running lights for Sisters Rosensweig at BSCT, tomorrow night we're seeing CYT's HONK! Jr. because several of my drama kids are involved, Saturday night we're seeing You're a Good Man Charlie Brown at VanHorn Highschool, and Sunday we have the final performance of Sisters and strike, and it's Mother's Day! Also, somewhere in there, I have a 2-page to-do list that needs to be finished. Wow, seeing all that written down - I realize why I am usually exhausted!

Til next time...