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. ;)

triumph!

ha! There have been many naysayers, but I told you I would finish the Harry Potter books before the movie! I have just finished reading Half-Blood Prince - which, granted, is not the final book, but IS the movie that debuts this evening at midnight. I have not yet decided if we're going to the midnight show, as it will make for a very long night - and we have a VERY long day ahead of us tomorrow. Not sure the complete lack of sleep is best for our health. Also my leg is cramping - rather like it has lost circulation, so sitting in a really crowded theatre at 1am is not sounding like the most fun option.

Anyway. Just wanted to brag that I DID IT! :)

weekends are just not long enough!!

I could use another 2 days of rest, as my weekend was really not that relaxing and I accomplished practically nothing on the never-ending to-do list. It seems far too soon to be back at work starting another week. *sigh*

It was a fun weekend nonetheless, with a 4th of July wedding and spending time with some friends who were visiting from out of town.

CONGRATULATIONS to Eddie, Christi, and Peter Parker on the birth of baby Liberty last Wednesday!! She is beautiful and Auntie Jewels is really excited to meet her. I don't know when this will take place...but hopefully soon. :)

Harry Potter update... I'm about 450 pages into Order of the Phoenix. I've started having treadmill/reading marathons in an attempt to get the books done in time. I think I can make it. Unless something drastic happens.

I've been working on the BSCT Little Princess / Secret Garden DVD project. I'd forgotten that it's a lot more difficult to edit a video with 3 takes than it is with just 1. I have promised so many people I would have this project done by now...I feel guilty, but even my guilt does not provide enough time to get the project under control. I'm averaging 3 hours editing 10 minutes of footage. At that speed, for two hour-long shows, you can imagine the dark scary path that lies before me. ugh. Editing is a full time job and I don't have that many hours left in my life!!

So far most of my flowers are still alive. My thumb may not be completely green, but at least it has a hint of color in there somewhere. :) The roses, unfortunately, seem to be the choice snack food of some pest living in my yard. We've talked about working on a solution, yet haven't had time to go to the store to search for something yet.

And that's about it. Hard to believe summer is half over already...it feels like I should have a nice big vacation here sometime soon. Oh well...