DDD and I had a girls date last night. We went to see Avenue Q at the Orpheum. Tickets were scarce, so we ended up in the Mezzanine, but the view was still very good and we were not so far away that we couldn't see expressions.

We've enjoyed the CD for a while now, and it was delightful to see it all put together with the puppets. If you're ok with swearing and "controversial subjects" being put to music and humor, it is an awesome show. It was fun to hear the audience reaction from some of those who clearly hadn't heard the soundtrack prior to seeing the show. Actual guffaws.

DDD thinks this is one of "her" shows. She thinks she could be Kate Monster/Lucy. She's found that she comes across as a bit of a comedienne anyway, so it's right up her alley. She has a handful of these shows that she thinks are perfect for her. She's done one of them already (Gypsy), and is always looking for auditions for her others. After a weeklong intensive workshop in New York this summer, she's more convinced than ever that she wants to go give it a try...

Anyway - go see Avenue Q if you can - We gave it two thumbs up.

Dinner Theatre

We still have the remnants of the 26 year old who spent nearly a year in our garage, and LK decided to make the best of them. She set up some TV trays and brought chairs out for us. They were set up in a nice little line, except for the one that didn't quite fit. That went a little to the side. But the dolls in the little highchair and stroller made the second row not quite so lonely.


Then she found plates and the fruit on the counter and a plastic knife from her kitchen set. She used it to "cut" the fruit into pieces which were arranged on our plates just so.



The little platform in front of the trays was her stage and we all enjoyed our "dinner" while she sang some goofy songs to entertain us.

Dinner Theatre at its best.

Unclear on the Concept

One day last week we went outside to find someone who was just a little unclear on the concept of fishing.

Either that, or she knows something about our pool that we don't.

Coincidentally, we were having fish for dinner that night. We pretended she caught it for us.

It was lovely.

Happy Mother's Day

We finally celebrated Mother's Day last evening. Rather, I finally got tired of waiting for the tickets to be purchased which were promised for Mother's Day. DH was complaining about how the prices have gone up astronomically and it wasn't worth it anymore. I proved to him that non unreasonable (is that an allowable double negative?) tickets were still to be had ON the lower level, but maybe not in the center section, up front. He continued to protest that he couldn't find any tickets under $250 each, so I just up and bought us a couple for less than 1/2 that. Yes, we sat on one of the sides. No, there were no obstructions to our view.

But the real point to this is that it was SO MUCH FUN! What an entertaining show! We pretty much smiled from start to finish. The songs were nearly non-stop, the story line was woven in smoothly and wasn't stupid (a real plus). Then there was the cast. It amazes me that there are so many casts out there right now - that is one heck of a lot of falsetto singing every night. How many guys are there with the right look who can do that? Apparently plenty.

We saw the second set of performers for the SF run. The reviews say they are just as lively and good as the first. I can totally believe that. I did not feel we had any lack of talent up there at all. They were all great singers in their own right and fun to watch together. The women were probably the weakest point, not for their acting, but the singing. But then, this isn't a show for leading lady voices. The one female song definitely paled in comparison to the guys'.

So, if Jersey Boys tours near you - feel free to take my opinion that it is definitely worth seeing.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm just wild about Harry

omg - I am such a Harry Potter dork.

I loved the book. The author simply amazes me that she can think of all these events! How does she come up with that stuff? Did she think it out from the beginning or did it grow over time? Did she know how she wanted to end it, or did she struggle with five different endings before deciding? How in the world can she keep up the action? I think it's amazing, and I am impressed.

I want to read it again - already - but DH has dibs on it while we're on the beach in Hawaii. Then DDD gets it. After that, I might be able to get my hands back on it. Next up - the audio version of it. Jim Dale is fabulous. If you haven't listened to any of the HP audiobooks, they are totally worth it - even if you've read the books.

I'm done being effusive about Harry.


maybe.

Things to do

See you in about 800 pages or so...

The Big Talk, part 1/2

LK: Where did I live when I was in your tummy?

me: [thinks "I knew this was coming sometime soon"] We lived in this same house before you were born, but I didn't get to have you in my tummy. You have a different mommy who had you in her tummy, but she couldn't take care of you. So they called us and asked us if we wanted to come take care of a little baby girl and we said, "YES!" So we picked you up and came home.

LK: But did we live here?

me: Yes.


moral of this story - Nephew A. likes to know all the details. LK just wants to know where we lived. geez, mom.

Admission

Can I just say, regarding that post a couple of days ago... I can see where symptoms could get annoying after a while.

just saying...

I.T. Artwork

I work in an IT department at a reasonably large health care center out here in the fair and wonderfully warm California. The people I work with are a very odd lot - in a very good way. Some of the nicest people I've ever known work there. We're all pretty geeky and we all know it and embrace it.

One day, a little something caught my eye, and as I've done several times, I marveled about how art in IT is always a little different than in "normal" places.


I'm entertaining ideas. What do you think this is?


From a telecommunications project.


From a similar project 20 years prior.
20 YEARS!!!

This is a wireless access point disguised as an IV pole.
Or maybe a dart board. hard to tell.

I don't think I'll ever work anywhere with real artwork. What would be the fun of that?

Symptoms, FINALLY!

I know many women don't share my enthusiasm for this but they probably haven't spent years waiting for some symptoms - ANY sign that perhaps my body will stop acting like a teenager sometime in the future.

Sleeping disturbances and hot flashes! Hold the presses! It really happened, and it's happened enough that I am comfortable that it really is what I think it is, which means it really means what I think (and want) it to mean! Thank heavens. I won't be buying feminine products into my 90s.

Of course, the sleeping disturbances could be due to something else...

Where's my baby, part 582

A red letter day today. Take a look.

And we'll see if this will work...

(and take a look at what a great job the town has done patching up our streets. I'm so proud.)

tidbit

We drove past a dead skunk today on the way to school.

LK: OOOooo - that smells like Rolo. (one of our stinky dogs)

me: no, that was an animal who was hit by a car.

LK: Well, then it must have been a stunk.

me: Yep. It was a stunk.


When they've got it right, why worry about one little letter?

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day

This is what happens when your kids are old. Even when they all still share a roof with you.

One kid is who knows where. Maybe garage, maybe not. He’s 26. We frequently don’t know.
Next kid is in Boulder celebrating friends’ graduations.
Next kid slept over at a friend’s house. Yes, he knew it was Mother’s Day today.
Last and final child is a late sleeper and is snoozing away in my bed while I try to clear some of my emails from last week’s vacation.

Flashback to days of cuteness.

Once upon a time, I woke up to the sound of baby giggles and singing. Nursed a baby while just about sobbing because "OMG I am a mother"! There is no more incredible or awesome feeling than the one you get when you look at that infant of yours.

Once upon a time, I would be jumped on in the morning and covered with slimy kisses because Daddy said “It’s Mother’s Day, let’s wake Mommy up with kisses”.

Once upon a time, I got a breakfast of pancakes (have never eaten pancakes), eggs, toast, cereal, fruit, coffee (have never, ever been a coffee drinker), tea, orange juice and a cookie. In bed. With a flower from the garden. Aphids and all. I did my best to eat part of everything, but I did invite everyone to join me.

Once upon a time, I had a little waiter and waitress, complete with pencil, paper, and pre-made menu, come and get my order for breakfast. I was ordered to stay in bed. Breakfast appeared, just as requested. With a flower from the garden. And aphids again. It was wonderful.

Once upon a time, I had older kids who knew the drill perfectly, created a wonderful breakfast in bed and had it delivered by a very cute toddler who spilled most of it for me. I might have even gotten ice cream with that one. Not sure if that was the year or not! Regardless – it was awesome.

Once upon a time, I had a teenager who learned enough in her high school computer class to put together a page of pictures for each family member, print them all out, bind them together with string and give it to me for Mother’s Day. Some of the pictures got a little stretched to make it look good, but it looks SOOOO good.

Once upon a time, I had another teenager who thought it would be a super good idea to wash my car for Mother’s Day. It was.

Once upon a time, I was told, “Mommy, you have to sit down! You are not supposed to do ANYTHING today!”
I wondered who made that silly rule, and sat down.

Once upon a time my children were small and their world revolved around their dad and me. Now they’re grown, mostly anyway, and their world is much bigger. It’s sad in a way, but it’s also really wonderful.

I have many blessings. They are all healthy. They are, mostly, happy. They not only live nearby, they live under my roof (OK maybe that’s not exactly a blessing, but it’s not bad) and they still manage to call from time to time (though I had to pull out the “LK and I’ve been gone all week and NOT ONE of my children has called me” card out this week.).

I also have this little one who will be getting up any second and expecting me to be in bed so she can ask me what I want for breakfast. Once upon a time continues…

Where'd the GOOD go?

Two days in a row, I took a 2.5 mile walk here at my Dad's community in Phoenix. Two days in a row, I passed several other people doing the same thing. They're always polite and most of them smile as they say "morning". I smile and say "morning" too. Sometimes first, sometimes in response. What's been striking me is that we all leave off the "good" part of that. It's understood, of course, but it's still a little sad. Do we need to be reminded of what portion of the day we're on? Are we so busy that we can't say "Good Morning"? And what's busy got to do with it? We're out taking a walk for chrissakes.

So tomorrow morning, I will take my 2.5 mile walk and I intend to wish every single one of the people I pass a very GOOD morning.

Prom #2 That's all.

A rainbow of pretty girls, one brave guy in a white tux













An SUV limo that was more than 30 minutes late













At the end of the night - tired kids, but a fun time.

Class pictures

Class pictures are always a little cute, a little silly. Most of my kids' class pictures have a goofy smile, strange hair, clothes which indicate their parent clearly forgot it was picture day, or some other faux pas.
I loved LK's picture this year. The story is that all the boys had a plain blue background. When it was her turn, they pulled down this gazebo thing and her face lit up. Yes, they did something a little funky to "fix" her hair, but the smile is real and you can tell she feels pretty. That's worth every dime that package cost.

She's in a preschool class of all boys and her. She loves it. It makes no difference to her. The next younger class has plenty of girls and when she needs girls to play with, they're usually available. Besides - she has between 4 and 8 boys she can marry today if she wants. (She doesn't want.) What great odds! We can also see that she didn't have the patience to leave the pretty dress on for the class picture. T-shirt and jeans. That's my LK.


Ah preschool.

I saw it first!

We had a conversation about a light in our kitchen which was notably starting to give out.

BK: That light..

BSM: Yeah, it's been doing that for a while, I noticed it...

DDD: Oh it's been a week or so, I saw it...
(notice how no one actually ever gets to complete a sentence in my house)

LK: NOOOO!!! I SAW IT FIRST! I CAME IN ONE DAY AND THE LIGHT WAS FERKULING!

BK, BSM and DDD are rendered speechless. (save the not so well suppressed laughter) LK not only gets the first full sentence of the conversation, she got it right! That was EXACTLY what the light was doing.

Prom #1, Part 4 The Couple

Need I say more?

Prom #1, Part 3 The Planning

Back to the prom (but not much longer, I promise)

Good News: Not all Junior Proms require dinner out at a fancy restaurant. Some are hosted at a generous family's home. I very much like the idea.

Also Good News: Not all groups of kids are allowed to rent hotel rooms or beach houses for afterwards. I am one of those parents who do not allow that. So, apparently, are these other parents.

And Still More Good News: Since 16-17 year old kids generally are still in the "provisional" stage of their drivers licensure, they cannot drive each other to the prom. I've come around a little on the whole limo thing (I used to think it was incredibly overboard for a teenager's dance and I'm still not completely over that), but I loved this group's solution... They rented a small bus. 36 kids, one bus. The bus is rented for several hours after the prom is over, so they drive around the city and visit the Golden Gate Bridge, Treasure Island and other beautiful sites. All together. Stretching out the fun, AND STAYING SAFE on the roads!

We got these plans about a week or so ahead of time. (Names and phone #s obviously removed)I'm still a little amazed at the organization. Pretty sure we'll be not-quite-so-organized when it's BK's turn to host.

Overachievers.

Thank heavens.

Overheard

Taking a break from prom stuff. Overheard in the last couple of days...

LK: OOOO - I HATE this house!
BK: Why?
LK: (dejectedly) 'cuz everyone's the boss.


LK responding to knock at the door: "Hey, R! It's you!"