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Latest Costume Adventure

2010-01-03T04:46:00.000-08:00

My costume adventures usually start with some study. I did a little LIGHT reading to begin this adventure! Light reading, my eye! I strained my hand just picking up this book, which belonged to my father.

I am not a Shakespeare scholar, never have been. I've read two or three of his plays as a duty in high school and college, and vaguely know where "Out, out, damned spot" comes from. My Father quoted Shakespeare often, and I know some of his favorite sayings came from various plays.

What Fools These Mortals Be! Now I know who uttered that phrase!

I read every word of "Midsummer Night's Dream" and I must say, I enjoyed doing it. The words are beautiful, and even though he modifies verbs by putting his negative adverb "not" after the verb, I still like it. After all, don't we put "not" at the end of phrases now-a-days? Like, I enjoy cold weather--NOT!

And now I know, Puck says the wise words about the foolish mortals!

So reading the play only helps me to understand the plot line, understand a little about the characters and their relationships, but does not help me to paint a picture in my mind of how they should be dressed. For this, I have to rely on the vision that the director, Scott, has in his mind. He wants iconic images, readily recognized, from the 1950's, '60's to say something about the characters. He wants color, style of clothing, and images from the past to help us understand the characters. Can you remember the Honeymooners? (To the moon, Alice!) You might see Ralph Kramden in this show. What about Father Knows Best? The kids will show up here! Remember when the Supremes and Diana Ross reigned supreme? You'll be reminded in this show. And that extra smooth lady, Diana Riggs from "The Avengers" will make an appearance also! And my high school yearbook may inspire some of the girls' costumes! I swear one of Scott's internet images shows exactly how we looked in our yearbook pics, way back when!

So this will be an adventure to say the least. It will be an adventure in thrift store shopping, closet cleaning, and maybe a bit of sewing. Luckily, I have an experienced costumer who will aid me in collecting, and we ought to have a great time shopping together! I'm up for a challenge, and this just has a few weeks to be pulled together.

Wish me luck!

Cheeky Personal Trainer--Just what I needed!

2010-01-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

I, like many others in the U.S., have a fascination with the stories shown in full living blubber on "The Biggest Loser". I'm amazed at what these people have to go through mentally, physically and emotionally to overcome their weight problems. And judging from the amount of flesh shown in the first month by these folks, their weight problems are gigantic! But, the transformations are amazing!

Now, if I were standing in front of American in my pink sports bra and jogging tights, I'l have more than enough to show, but never quite as much as these folks walk around with. So, to say I could use a personal trainer is not understatement. I need someone to goad me on to bigger and better things, or should I say smaller and better things! Smaller belly, smaller butt, smaller arms, etc. You catch my drift. Enter Bob and Jillian--could I have someone like them in my life?

Now, I have no real excuse for not getting into shape on my own. I have a perfectly good treadmill downstairs, paired with an equally nice elliptical machine. Both are instruments of torture in my estimation, especially my elliptical. I can't stand to be on that more than 11 minutes at a time, it is such a painful experience! Lately, they've made good clothes hangers, dust collectors and are definitely in the way when the exercise room becomes the costume shop. I have the TV set up in front of them, a pleasant room to work out in, and there is no excuse for their neglect. The bathroom scale reads the same as the one at the doctor's office, so why not get going?

Why not? It is all SOOOOOO PAINFUL!

Lately I've tried a different workout, it is called KettleBells. These are weights, shaped roughly like a tea kettle, with a rounded handle attached to a ball of weight. I got several weights, and 10 workout videos to use with them. So far, I've made it through 1-1/2 of the introductory workout with the Kettlebells. I think it was doing some good, but I found that I needed the extra time in the weeks before Christmas, so I haven't done Kettlebells since Dec. 11.

My children must have seen that mom needed an extra boost in her fitness regime, because I was gifted with a Wii Fit for Christmas. They wanted to set it up for me on Christmas day, and when it asked me to step on board in front of the entire family, I rebelled! I'll do this in the privacy of my own living room, thank you, not in front of the entire family! I'd make a terrible contestant on "The Biggest Loser"--I won't even fess up in front of my family!

So, today, I got time to set it up. Bad news--I'm obese, have a high BMI, need to lose 50+ pounds to be my ideal weight (which I haven't been since my youngest child was born!). And I'm inflexible, have bad posture, can't balance to save my life, and who know what other bits of bad news I could get. So what else is new? I chose a svelt young man as my personal trainer, he was gentle but straightforward about my lack of ability on the balance board. And now, I get the idea that he might sass me if I miss a day!

Just what I needed, a cheeky personal trainer. I'll have to let you know if he shames me into becoming fit.

Can't we just take a skinny pill and make all transgressions of the past melt away?

209 in 2009

2009-12-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

This is my last post of 2009. It is my 209th post of the year.

To all my readers, may you have a blessed and happy New Year. May all your dreams come true, or at least may your move toward making those dreams come true.

To those who are sad and lonely, look to your friends to be there for you. Reach out to others, doing for your fellow man can bring a light into your lonely world.

For all, be happy, healthy and may this year be a good one for you all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Carol--Part 1

2009-12-31T16:43:00.001-08:00

The Hawthorne Players of Florissant, MO. presented Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" on Dec. 20-22, 2009. This was the second time this show was presented by this group, the first presentation was in 2007.

The story was adapted and directed by Nancy Crouse. She also designed the set. I designed the costumes, and constructed many of them. We saved the costumes from 2007 and were successful in recruiting most of the original cast to play the parts. This year, I had to remake about 20% of the costumes. Those little kids grew a lot in 2 years! Plus, we had some new actors and actresses involved in this show.

Paul James played Scrooge, growing facial hair and shaving his head and beard to make him look very authentic as Scrooge. Marley was a new actor, he also played the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come--Paul Luft was the actor. We also got a new Tiny Tim, as our last Tim got too big to be tiny! Thomas Yonke played this role, and sang like an angel!

Judy Yordon played the Grandmother, and Ken Clark played Old Joe. Both added their many years of stage presentations to do an excellent job in their part. Ken made himself up as Old Joe, he was unrecognizable by those who knew him best! Great job, Ken! Judy's many years as a theatre professor, specializing in oral interprettion, made her vital role of setting the scene clear to the audience.

I was also in the cast, making costuming and playing parts a double-juggle job. I guess it all worked out OK.

PROLOGUE

Judy as Grandmother, reads to her grandchildren on Christmas Eve. She chose the story "A Christmas Carol" to read to them, because they wanted stories that had romance, ghosts, adventure--this story has all of those elements.

The carolers mark the beginning and a running theme through out the entire show by singing "Carol of the Bell"--as the bell tolls to mark the passage of the hours.

Female and children carolers walk across stage to begin the show.

All pictures taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Part 2

2009-12-31T16:35:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMAS PAST

Scrooge sees his old mentor, Fezziwig, who is a bouyant and generous man, hosting his friends and neighbors on Christmas Day. "No work, boys, bring on the food, the drink, the decorations!" Fezziwig and Mrs. Fezziwig welcome their poor neighbors in for a feast and festive party.

Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig demonstrate the dance, welcoming all to join them.
The neighbors, young and old, join in the dancing and festivities.
Men drink freely, and cheerfully toast the Fezziwigs for their generosity.
Even the kids get into the act of the singing and the dancing!
Maids and cooks join in also--that's me on the right.

All photos taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Part 3

2009-12-31T16:24:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Scrooge's nephew, Fred, has invited his uncle to dine with them on Christmas Day. Scrooge dismisses Fred with a series of Humbugs! and Good Day, Sir! Fred regales his party guests with stories and games surrounding the circumstances of that dinner invitation, Scrooge's gruff demeanor, and finally a toast to Scrooge, "whatever he may be!"

Fred's party guests
Fred's party guests--I am on the far left
The elegant setting of Fred's home

The women dance and sing while the men keep time. Even this old lady could kick up her heels on this dance!

All photos taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Ghosts

2009-12-31T16:16:00.001-08:00

The ghosts mark the hours through the night, as Scrooge sees his past, the present and things to come.

Ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge's late partner. He is weighed down with the chains of money and distain of his fellow man (60 pounds of chains!)
The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge through his boyhood and young adult days, showing the pain and hurt caused by his uncaring ways for others.
The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge how things will be this Christmas Day
The final ghostly spectre shows Scrooge how he will be viewed in death--motivating Scrooge to change his path of life to become a generous helpful person.

All photos taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Part 4

2009-12-31T16:07:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

The Cratchit family, poor but loving, celebrate their Christmas with a tiny goose, and lots of love.

The Cratchit Family singing together
A happy family dances to celebrate Christmas
Tiny Tim sings "Silent Night" for his family

CHRISTMAS YET TO COME

In Scrooge's vision with Christmas Yet to Come, he is shown how he will be viewed upon his death. Nothing but his valuables are of any use to those around him.
Upon Scrooge's alledged death, his servants try to sell anything of value of his to Old Joe the pawnbroker.

All photos taken by Gerry Love copyright 2009

Christmas Carol--Part 5

2009-12-31T15:58:00.000-08:00

FINALE

Scrooge is finally convinced by his night visitors to change his life, be kind to his fellow mankind, and smile! He celebrates by breaking into a glorious chorus of "Gloria, In Excelsis Deo!" joined by the carolers. He and Tiny Tim wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, with Tiny Tim's blessing, "God Bless Us, Everyone!"

Scrooge and Tiny Tim greet the audience at the curtain call
Look at that smile--a man has been transformed!
Carolers as they introduce Act II

All photos take by Gerry Love, copyright 2009.

Off to the airport!

2009-12-30T16:35:00.000-08:00

Over the river and through the woods, to the St. Louis Airport they go!

The SUV knows the way over bright and glistening snow.

Over the river and through the woods, the guests have all gone home!

I love you all, but really now, our holiday is almost gone!

Movie Review--Invictus

2009-12-30T16:24:00.000-08:00

I must say, going to the movies is not something I usually do. Something has to really motivate me to want to go and sit in a cold dark theatre to see a movie. I hate going so much, I usually wait til the movie makes it to DVD, and if I'm still interested in it, I get the DVD. Sometimes, I actually watch them after I buy them! You should see my collection of never-been-opened DVDs on my rack.

Today my siblings and I decided to go to a movie. There is a pretty good selection of ones that I would consider paying to see, but we chose the movie "Invictus".

This movie is the story of Nelson Mandella as he took over the presidency of South Africa in the early 1990s, and how he managed to inspire the country to bond together as a homogeneous group, rather than two ethnic cultures who still remained apart. His wisdom was something that guided him to do this, taking steps to see that reverse discrimination didn't take hold, once he was elected as president.

Morgan Freeman made a wonderful Nelson Mandella, and Matt Damon made a great white leader of the rugby team. I had never seen a rugby game before in my life, and it doesn't look like something I'd like to engage in, but it seemed to bring the country of South Africa together after centuries of apharteid. Mandella saw to it that this occurred.

The story is taken from a book, so I'm sure there is some truth to the story. It was predictable and somewhat slow, but interesting, and Freeman/Mandella made it very believable. The final rugby game went on just a mite bit long, with the outcome predictable, but that was OK.

Clint Eastwood directed this movie, and perhaps he was setting the example for our country as our black president struggles to unite our people. That thought struck me as I watched, because Mandella was an outstanding and wise leader. And a silly game of rugby seemed to unite the people of South Africa in a common cause, as they struggled to become #1 in the World Cup Rugby world in 1995.

Very interesting piece of history. I did sort of nap at the beginning until it got interesting and I slept off lunch. But, all in all, it was enjoyable.

Ta-Da! I made it!

2009-12-30T06:13:00.000-08:00

I made my goal today with this post. I've made 200 posts in 2009. Maybe I could bore you all and make 209 in 2009!

I'm a goal oriented person. I look to a goal, figure out what it will take to get to that goal, and work toward it. It has been a trait that has taken me through some rough times. It got me through school and to my degree and to my chosen profession of being a teacher. I must say, some Divine Intervention also got me there! So, I'm not taking all the credit! I've definitely felt the Hand of God in many circumstances that led me forward!

I've known people who aren't goal oriented, and they drive me crazy. How can you just go on in life with no goals in mind or to work toward? I don't know how they think, but it certainly isn't my style!

In this goal orientation, I have an uncanny internal clock that tells me just exactly, almost to the minute (well maybe to the day) how long it will take and how much effort must be expended to get to the goal. Often, because I do sometimes procrastinate, it's last minute right up to the deadline before the goal is reached. That's because I sometimes piddle around getting started on the work. Oh well, nobody's perfect! I've certainly tested my internal time-line clock more than once when doing costuming for my shows!

Anyway, blogging has been a lot of fun for me. I don't know who reads this stuff, but it is a good outlet for me. I can share the joys and woes of the world with anyone who cares to read it.

Thanks, Blogger! And thanks, readers, hope you had some time to enjoy my posts!

Whoosh, it's gone!

2009-12-29T15:17:00.000-08:00

Put the cardboard collection outside today--on advice of my children who also live in this fair city, the recycling truck will take it away, and someday bring me a dumpster for it all. And the city will pay for it. Whoosh, it was gone when I came back home!

Went to do errands, including returning some unwanted, duplicate or ill-fitting gifts. The time it took was just two hours, but the money? I don't think I came out ahead, especially at the Mart of K's, where they still had their very attractive wool coats on sale, a long black wool coat for $55, I had to have one! Whoosh, the money that I saved by returning stuff was gone!

Came home and snuggled down for a short afternoon nap, which elongated into a long afternoon nap. Whoosh, the daylight was gone!

Now, I wish something would come through here and whoosh all the leftovers from Christmas out of here, the dirty sheets, dried up left-overs, crumbs, Lego pieces, and put away the dishes we used all weekend.

I guess I'd better get started, I think I'm the whoosh that will have to be doing all of that!

A Christmas Story hits home

2009-12-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

Gift giving in our family has become sort of complicated. We had 15 people in the house on Friday, all eager to accept and give gifts. But the rules of who to give to, what kind of gift to give, and who to just skip has gotten cloudy over the past few years.

Of course, most people want to give something to the little kids. They like everything, except that my most wonderful gift that I had chosen for Little Miss M was completely rejected by her. It was a darling gift set of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (Dwarfs????) with DVD of the movie. She took one look at it and said, "I don't want this". Her mother was aghast! So was I. But we had folks who cheerily adopted the dwarves, and we gave her the movie.

Then there are in-laws, uncles and aunts of various generations, big teenage kids who are problematic as far as who to include. We have people in our family who are in very different circumstances in regards to finances, so what works for one doesn't necessarily work for all.

So last year, MonkeyGirl devised an excellent plan. The siblings would give to each other. SewWhat, who is sibling to 3 and mother to 5 would give to all. That seemed to work out fine.

For my siblings, we just give to each other. It isn't an extensive gift list to fulfill, and it works out well. My brother is single, so I make sure he has a bounty of things he wants, and my sister does the same.

My children decided to do something different this year, and it turned out to be a big hit. They played "Rob Your Neighbor" for their gifts. Even though there was only 5 of them, it worked out OK. And there was robbing! But the theme of the day was "A Christmas Story" Two of the gifts were "leg lamp" ornaments, one accompanied by PJ's that had pithy sayings from the movie, such as "you'll shoot your eye out", "it's a major award" "fa-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra!"

My children love that movie! More than one spent Christmas Eve watching as much of the 24 hour marathon viewing of it as they could. And I have a new appreciation of it myself after sharing it with my students a few weeks ago.

So the "Rob Your Neighbor" thing may be the way to go next year. I'm not sure how they/we will be able to come up with any more interesting gifts than these kids came up with this year. A surger protector shaped like a human? Alien ice cube tray? Pac-Man hot mitt? How do they find these things? And the leg lamp ornaments and PJ's. I'm not sure how this can be topped.

But we have all year to figure it out--watch out, Christmas, 2010!

Getting close to the finish line

2009-12-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

The end is near!

Dire predictions of the end of the world?

No, just looking to changing the year on the checks I write for 2010.

Somehow, this change in numbering isn't nearly as momentous as it was to change from 1999 to 2000. We had to say a whole new number to start our year. I hear some people say Two thousand and ..... One guy who was a business owner here in St. Louis and did his own commericals always called it 20-0-6 (or whatever model it was, he was a car salesman).

So what will you say? Two Thousand and 10? or Twenty-Ten?

Only time will tell what will win out for the next decade.

Until then, date your next 10 checks with the year 2010 right now, lest you forget until you get used to the new year. Maybe you never write checks--forget that then, just have a good new year!

Do something, anything, you lazy person!

2009-12-28T16:25:00.000-08:00

After the craziness of the past few weeks, or should I say months, I barely crawled to the finish line of sending off my houseguests on Sunday standing up straight. In fact, I was laid low by a stomach bug that bit me in the night, and wanted to deliberately stay away from my guests so as not to impart them with an unwelcome virus. So I said good-bye, crawled into bed and there I lay until early Monday morning.

My get-up-and-go genes kicked in about 4 a.m. this morning. I had the urge to get up and do something, anything, and chastized myself for being such a lazy slug yesterday. But I deserved some rest, so eventually I forgave myself. I was up, showered and dressed, and had to wait for the 4:30 a.m. news to start!

What to do when you have no plans? Nap? No, I did enough of that yesterday. Read a book? Good idea, but maybe not today. Go to lunch and then shop, OF COURSE!

I owed MonkeyGirl a birthday lunch and a gift--she was laid low by a different winter bug and was sick on her birthday, Dec. 26th. So we arranged to meet for lunch, then she went off to visit a friend and I went shopping. Found 4 pairs of black shoes, a pink dollhouse, and some more toys for little grandson who will turn 2 in three weeks. What else could that child want than all the loot he got for Christmas, but we mustn't forget those January birthdays, even though January birthday boys probably have lots of toys to tide them over for the upcoming year.

I also managed to get a building permit for a fence we will be building at the M & M's house. Instead of it taking hours of bureaucratice manuevering, I got the permit in 15 minutes. This is unheard of in this fair city, but I think the guy wanted to go to lunch, wanted my $15, and saw no reason to mess around with me. Hooray!

I also got to IM chat with my BFF for the first time in about 2 weeks. We managed to both have a hour to spare early this morning for some good old chatting. Also got my laundry done during our chat time.

So, for a day that looked like it was going to be very unproductive, it turned out to be decent in accomplishments. Now, what to do tomorrow? Return stuff, that ought to be lots of fun. And maybe finish my housecleaning, which was interrupted by Christmas--never did get that 3rd bathroom completely cleaned!

The party is definitely over!

2009-12-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

Dec. 27--and all the guests are gone. The gifts are strewn all over the house, but the 2000 pieces of Lego that entered this house are somewhat sorted and hopefully have gone home with the rightful owners.

There are boring leftovers in the fridge, many bottles and cans to be recycled, and the trash dumpster is overflowing!

The memories are good though. Memories of cousins who don't get to see each other very often playing and having a great time together. Memories of little almost 2 year old grandson who gleefully exclaimed "Grandma's house!" as they pulled into the driveway! He came to find me over and over again during the visit, a somewhat sharp difference from the last time, when he was still clinging to Mommy. He was so good, and barely had any meltdowns. He even spent about 16 hours up and around on Christmas day and stayed cheerful until he fell asleep in his mothers arms about 10:30.

My own daughters were suffering from winter colds, and someone gave me a touch of the stomach bug, which wielded its ugly head during the night last night. So, I just hope no one catches any of that that, especially those far away from hom.

So today was nap day. They all had left by noon, dodging a short-lived but serious winter snow event. I hope the ones who drove to Iowa didn't get into a lot of snow, it was supposed to be east of us, not north of us.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. I spent many hours napping today, who knows what this night will be like, but I do have my good memories and a couple of good books to keep me company should the gods of sleep not come my way tonight.

Talent oozes out and spills on us!

2009-12-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

Today, when I went out to get my morning paper (even though it was noon), I saw a piece of paper blowing across the yard. I picked it up and was about to toss it in the trash can, when I glanced at the writing--

You are cordially invited to the Dickson's Family home for Christmas Cheer, food drinks, and a special holiday performance by the Dickson String Quartet.
When? Tonight at 7 p.m.

I was sure glad I picked up that piece of paper, because in the Dickson house, (our new neighbors), filled with a family of 12, the children all have talent oozing out of their pores, and it spilled out on us tonight!

This family moved into the house in November. The house is huge, it has 6 bedrooms, at least 3 baths, and several very large family rooms. I guess each of the 10 kids don't have their own rooms, but there are several sets of twins, so I guess they can share space. Mystery surrounded their move, because following the regular moving van came a piano moving truck, and even though I didn't see what they moved in, I knew it must be a very special instrument to get that kind of treatment. It is a huge concert grand piano, which takes up almost the entire width of the room.

Word filtered through the neighborhood, and one day was confirmed by Mrs. Dickson, that their kids are all musicians, and there are 4 of them who are attending UMSL on music scholarships, this is the Dickson String Quartet. Tonight they performed a short Christmas concert for the neighbors right in their own living room.

And, it was awesome! They are such accomplished musicians. They are in training with the Ariana String Quartet, that is why they moved to St. Louis from Washington state. They did a medley of Nutcracker music and then a Christmas Carol medley, and ended with a rendition of the very famous "Our Father" which was transcribed just for them. I loved every minute of it. Most of the neighbors attended, and even the little kids enjoyed it. They did an impromptu Christmas Carol sing-along, improvizing their parts as they played. Whoa--that is talent when you can make it up on the spot!

My dream when I heard that they all played strings was to one day hear them play. This was so special of their family to share their childrens' talents with the neighbors. Hopefully, this will become a tradition for them for as long as they stay in St. Louis, which we hope will be for a long time to come.

Merry Christmas, Dicksons! And thanks for a very special evening of fellowship and music!

Hooray!

2009-12-22T12:13:00.000-08:00

Hooray for two day shipping! My Christmas shopping will be helped immensely by this service!

Hooray for awesome neighbors! My newest neighbors have 10 kids, and they all play instruments. They are giving a holiday concert tonight for the neighbors, won't that be fun?

Hooray for sweet little boys who live next door and who are just old enough to inherit my own grandkids outgrown toys and equipment. The "Thomas the Tank Engine" set has found a new home and hopefully an excited recipient.

Hooray for gift bags! Makes wrapping a whole lot simpler than all that paper, ribbon and tape. And they are recyclable also. All gifts are now wrapped.

Hooray for all the nice Christmas letters and cards I've gotten. I'm so apologetic that you may not get a card from me this year, at least not before Christmas. But I appreciate everything you have done to remember me.

Hooray for friends and family! You all make the season have meaning and purpose. Love you all!

One for you, Two for me!

2009-12-22T02:17:00.000-08:00

I did 90% of my Christmas shopping yesterday. Usually, I'm well finished by Dec. 21, but not this year. I did it all in one day. I even got to online shopping, with the promise that it would be here by Dec. 23.

The problem with this shopping spree was that I found one gift for another and two for me. This confounds the Christmas shopping budget, to be sure!

So far, I have a DVD or two, a new outfit, a Christmas CD, warm socks, some Christmas snacks (chocolate, of course!). I quickly got myself out of the electronics department after eying a new flat screen TV (I don't even know where I would put it!), new camera (don't even use the old one!), computer (I hope to keep this one going for a while longer). I didn't even stop at the jewelry department--that would be very bad for the budget. I even found some necessaries, like Cheerios and printer paper.

Today, it is off to stores early this morning to get another gift for my brother, and perhaps order my Honeybaked ham for Christmas dinner. Then I hope to get going on trimming the tree and making this house ready for Christmas Celebrations!

Happy Dec. 22 to you all!

Yes, Virginia, there MAY BE a Santa Claus

2009-12-22T02:01:00.001-08:00

My dream day was yesterday. When I am in the midst of spending almost every waking hour working on costuming a play, my dream day is the day when I no longer have ANY RESPONSIBILITIES in regards to costumes. That day was yesterday, when I returned the last of the rental costumes to their rightful owner, and was finally free of my duties.

So--on to shopping. My dear friend from Mid-Mo had a doctor's appointment in STL, and that is always a good excuse for us to get together. Her appointment was late afternoon, so we met for dinner.

She was supposed to be finished about 4 p.m, and we were going to meet. I spent time lolling around Sam's Club to be near our meeting place, Applebees. She didn't call and she didn't call. Since her appointment was to consult about something potentially very serious, I got more and more concerned. Finally about 20 to 5, I called her. She said she would be finished in a short while and would meet me at Applebees.

Well, I figured it would be some time later, so I decided to go to Target to pick up a few things while I waited. Target is about 3 miles from Applebees. This was taking place at 4:45 on one of the busiest retail/going home roads in our city, Manchester Road. That word can conjure up nightmares for those who use it on a daily basis, and going quickly to Target WAS NOT A HAPPENING THING! In about 20 minutes, I was about 1/3 of the way to my destination. As it turned out, I wimped out before I got there, saw a mall that had a few potential stores where I could find what I want, and went in.

Meantime, my friend had gotten quickly out of the doctor's office, and was at Applebees, waiting for me. By the time we finally got together, she had waited a L-O-O-O-N-G time. But our meeting was great.

Then it was off to shopping for more things. The quest lasted until 9:30, way down in South County, very far from home. But, for the most part, things went well. So far, I have something for everyone except Monkeygirl. And her birthday is Dec. 26, so I need to do double duty on gifts for her. But today is another day--I'll pick her brain for ideas, and hopefully will finish the shopping today.

And, Virginia, Santa Claus may indeed show up at this house!

Now to chase the dust bunnies away, and find the tree to put up!

P.S., my friend is fine, no serious problems--that is probably the best news of the day!

One more for today

2009-12-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

Today is our last day of "A Christmas Carol". To say I'm sad about that comes with mixed feelings. I'm sad to leave fun and friendship of my theatre buddies. I'm sad to not have a purpose in every day, to finish costumes for the show. But I'm happy to have some time to myself again. And I'm happy to NOT have costumes in every room of my house!

It was a good show, the best we could make of it. Our audiences were appreciative, and we had fun and some laughs backstage. That's what makes community theatre fun and why people will put in so much time and energy without much compensation! Or any compensation!

Hope all of you have a Merry Christmas, and as Tiny Tim says, "God bless us, everyone!"

Hope to have some pictures later this week.

The claws of deflation

2009-12-20T06:18:00.000-08:00

No, I don't need to consult my spell checker about that title. It is describing cause and effect.

I've been using my stability ball for light exercise and as a computer chair for the past two months, ever since my physical therapy sessions, where I was taught some exercises to use with the ball. It works so well as a computer chair, because it is softer on my "sore spot" and adds light core exercise as I sit and type.

Enter the cause, or claws, as was stated in the title.

I have a cat who can be described as psycho, bipolar, Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde--you get the picture. A sweet loving kitty craving affection turns to a vindictive beast, turning into an ankle attacker at a moment's notice. Touch his belly, you are in for blood-letting. He has no problem using his weapons (claws and jaws) at the least provocation. Maybe this is cause for big concern, but his loving affection when we nap together outweighs his bad habits.

He loves to check out my meals. He will get to lick the bowl when I am finished with cereal, pudding, Taco Bell, ice cream, turkey, fish and other tasty cat treats. He is constantly by my side as I'm finishing up with cereal in the morning. His choice, milk is fine, soy is not for him!

Well, I was sitting on the stability ball last night, checking my email, and he did one of his climbs up to my arm for affection. On his way down, he forgot to retract the claws, and sunk them into the stability ball. Whoosh! I was on the ground in minutes, hissing sounds accompanying my slow fall from grace.

To say I was p*ssed off was an understatement. I chased that cat for 30 minutes, shooing him off the bed all night (until I fell fast asleep and didn't notice his return). So now, I need to add 65" stability ball to my Christmas shopping list. May just see about getting those claws removed, or at least cut down!

D*mn cat!

Need to catch up!

2009-12-20T05:54:00.001-08:00

On Sleep! Too many 5 hour nights and no afternoon naps!

On Housecleaning! Costumes will be out of my life and my house in 3 hours!

On Blogging! Even with my pledge to do 200 in 2009, I'm really behind on my pledge!

On Christmas shopping! Can we put off Christmas for another week? Maybe then I'd be ready!

On the Christmas letter and cards! Maybe not this year.

On Recycling! The aluminum can bin is overflowing and the newspapers are ready to eat my leg every time I walk by the pile.

I could go on and on, but you catch my drift!

187 and counting

2009-12-16T06:03:00.001-08:00

One faithful blogger counts her blogs for the year, and I just looked at my count. While I don't blog every day, 187 isn't a bad number for the year, it works out to about 1 every other day.

So, now, my goal is to do 200 for 2009. I hope they all can be interesting and worthwhile, not just "tweets" posted as blogs. This one might count for a tweet, because it is going to be short.

As our tech week goes on, my energy level is ebbing. I'm looking for the adrenalin to kick in and start the energy flowing again. I think my fellow actors and actresses are feeling the same, our rehearsal seemed to lack energy last night. We'll kick it up a notch by Thursday, I'm sure!

Tonight is hair and make-up night, with a photographer on board to catch the action. The set is really taking shape, looks fabulous and I think by this afternoon, I'll have the costumes tweaked and in good shape. I can only hope!

Come on adrenalin, kick in, but only during waking hours, not all night long! I need my beauty sleep!