Thanks Spidey Sister!!!

Thanks Brenda for the very thoughtful card and cute Red Hat pin :)
you were very sweet to think of me and it was so nice to recieve it on a day when I am feeling under the weather. It perked me up and I am even getting some things accomplished :)

Saturday with Nanny McPhee

No rehearsal on Saturday because Rob convinced me that with a three day weekend kids would not show up. Puck went over to the theater to work and I was feeling guilty until one of his crew members rang the bell looking for him. That allowed me to repose guilt free. Maddie got home from the slumber party at noon, having had a wonderful time of course. They are a fun group of girls.

I had talked to Puck about going to see Nanny McPhee since it would be our last chance until the play was done to get to a movie. Maddie was up for it, but when Puck got back from the shop he was ready to veg. Mad and I went with his blessing though.

We stopped at Goodwill to look for a chorus girl costume for her for Kiss Me Kate. She tried on several nice pairs of shorts (they need to be a 50's style) and I convinced her to look for a shirt she could tie just under her bust for a middie look. They are singing "Too Darn Hot" and it is supposed to be between acts of Taming of the Shrew. It is a little bit of an odd choice since it is highly unlikely that actors would switch into their practice clothes between acts, but I am not the costumer. She found a great pair of black shorts and a cute little plaid sleeveless shirt. It was good to have that problem solved. I found a cute little amber stoppered bottle for my gypsies too.

we then went off to to the movie. What a beautifully colored film. It is almost indescribable. Both Maddie and I commented over and over again about the vivid colors used on the walls and clothing. The costumes were astounding. Emma Thompson was unrecognizable until she spoke. Even with the snaggle tooth her voice is difficult to disguise. The child actors were very good as well. The fat little baby was a hoot and the oldest boy has the the most haunting eyes. Handsome Colin Firth as the beleagured dad was charming. Derek Jacobi plays a very minor role in the movie, but is hysterical. Emma must have talked him into it. I kept remembering Claudius in his merry, fey, undertaker.

Overall the film was delightful... not overlong and so lovely to watch. I was not aware of the books it was based on so I cannot compare it to them, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sunday was a long rehearsal 1:00 - 5:00 I started feeling crappy sunday morning and today I am home with a crappy cold. I would have gone to school if we had rehearsal tonight, but there is a band concert so I stayed home. No sense infecting the cast and we are in the home stretch now. Only three weeks till show time

I think I will go back to bed now

Less Busy today, but got a lot done

After re-reading yesterdays blog I think I need to pay much more attention to spelling.

Like I said Puck and I went into the theater to do some work since we had the day off and there was no rehearsal. Maddie and Tyler (Her boyfriend on and off stage) had a vocal rehearsal too .

Puck went up a little early and Maddie and walked up together. She went to sing which Puck and I legged and castered platforms. Puck's design has Dr. Wolverine's office and the gypsy scientist lab up on platforms 3 feet off the floor... Between them is a central staircase and behind the walls of each are stairs going down which are exits for the actors into the interior of the abbey. There also is one extra exit down stairs on stage right out of the lab.

We have been rehearsing with tape on the floor and the actors really have no clue how they will be able to be moving on the stage. They are merrily hopping down the taped out illusion of stair and cutting corners where there will be a three foot drop. Puck has been working like a dog to get us a working set, but it is difficult.

All sets need to be mobile because of the multiuse factor of our theater. This is why we are putting casters on all the platforms... The week before the show all the pieces will be lashed together, but that is the only time we can have any permanence.

We finished up the legging and castering at about 3:00 and with Maddie and Tyler's help we were able to flip two of the completed platforms over so they can now be rolled. That only leave one that still needs to be flipped, but it was too heavy for Puck and me alone.

Puck fixed my desk too... The glides were coming out of the center drawers and they were tipping downward and impossible to pull out. It is a great little desk with a lovely shape. Not too expensive, but a good prop. We have used it in three shows now and there is no place to store it except in our garage. If I ever win the lottery I am buying the rental next door and turning it into a properties and costume storage facility. That would be a dream come true.

When we finished I suggested to Puck that we go see a movie. Maddie was at a party with friends and would not be home until late. He asked me to drop him off downtown so he could write a check and get some cash and I drove home to check movie schedules. First we stopped to see the new library which just opened. We have one of those typical Carnegie library's, but it was too small and not handicap friendly. We had a referendum and it was decided to add a wing. It was quite a battle and my crazy friend Susan took the city to court several times to get the building stopped. Sometimes there is just no understanding her.

They basically built a twin Carnegie and set it right next to the old. It is certainly more spacious, but I miss the lovely plaster frieze with the naked cherubs that sat over the fireplace and the oak reading room with the display cases. I asked Barb how she liked it and she said it was nice, but that she now had to take many more steps and that it was tough on her body.

Puck was not showing up and movie time was getting closer so I drove downtown to collect him. I was a little pissed that he was lollygagging and visiting on his second drink. I was snappish with him, but he explained as we were leaving that one of the new bartenders was being fired and they had asked him to work that night and the owner had brought him a drink in thanks. I was still miffed, but got over it. We decided on Brokeback Mountain. Powerful film and heartbreaking. I loved the scenes of the sheep going through the mountains. It was so beautiful.

Got home, Puck took a shower and was off to work. Maddie woke me up at midnight to tell me she was going back to the party to spend the night. I kind of figured this would happen so was not too surprised.

This morning I am dragging. Puck went back over to the theater to build some railing so the kids don't fall off the platforms. (Some I would like to push off) and I was feeling a little guilty until a couple minutes ago when Jonathan rang the doorbell looking for him to help work. Yippee for Jonathan!!!!! Jonathan is ED and has been a very difficult kid all the years he has been in school. He really likes Puck though and Puck says that he has been a great help on the set. He has learned to use the electric drill and screwdriver and can be left alone to work on a project. His painting skills are not so great, but I am impressed that he is going up to work on a Saturday.

Still no Maddie, but I suppose she will not be good for anything anyhow after a slumber party.

Busy Day

My lab was so packed and my day was so frantic I forgot to play the quizes dang it all.

On thursday afternoon after our rehearsal I heard noise in the scene shop and went back to see who was back there. I found Carla (the director of Alice and tech director of Kiss me Kate) in tears with another teacher (Pete) blotting stuff off of her. Being totally unable to stay out of anyones business and the fact that she was my friend I raced over to see if I could help. It turned out she had been bringing paint cans over from her car and slipped on the ice. She hit her chest with a paint can which popped open and spilled paint all over her and the drive outside. She really came down hard on her face wrist and knee as well,

Both Pete and I were trying to get her cleaned up and comforted. She apparently had laid on the ground for a little while until the wrestlers came out from practice and found her. They ran to get Pete (their coach) I insisted over and over again that Carla needed to write up an accident report and make sure that the building supervisor was made aware of the conditions back there. Carla was worried about the paint spill and all the paint she lost. She ended up driving home and then going to the emergency room. She checked out ok, but badly bruised and came into school the next day.

I found out that morning that it was her dang birthday too so I quick put together a big balloon bouquet (thank heavens we have that little balloon company at our school)and signed it "from all your friends" They got it delivered and she said it really perked up her day.... I took pictures of all her bruises too for evidence if it is needed later. See, watching all those judge shows has paid off :)

The Lab was full from start to finish. I ended up with e-mails from all sorts of folks needing stuff done. First I had to figure out how many drama medals we were going to need for the 3 year vetrans. That took a little searching. Next I sent off a note to the building supervisor and theater supervisor informaing them of the accident and the trecherous conditions at the back entrance. I remeinded them that our two productions were building and that many students and faculty would be using that back door.

Then I got an e-mail from the hs director again asking me about costume storage. Apparently their costumer's father had passed away (Her mother passed away a little over a month ago). She played the stress card on me which pushed buttons like crazy. I am very sympathetic to Julie's (the costumers) grief and stress. The only reason she took on the job of costumer is because her daughter has the lead. Her friend Trudy (also a busy woman) who's son is in the play is taking over. I really resented Ellen closing her e-mail with "Let's do all we can to help these wonderful ladies". Ellen has a tendancy to only see the trees in her own production and not the forest which surrounds her.

She knows dang well that we have wonderful ladies and gentlemen at both the elementary and middle school that are working with stress which may not be apparent to her. I told her that alliviating her stress puts more stress on me and to please keep all of us in mind when requesting help. I explained the wardrobe situations again and made some suggestions as to how they could perhaps solve their storage issues.

I then had a rather heated discussion with the punk smart ass teacher in my lab about how Jeeves is not the best search engine. He disagreed, until I pointed out that it gives a false sense of searching to students by lulling them into looking on the web as a giant encyclopedia. Jeeves works pretty much the same as all engines... looking for key words, but it does not force the user to think in those terms, which I feel is a disservice to the searcher and student. Besides Google is so superior in it's format and resources the results are likely to be better there anyway.

His project was on the 1920's and it was astounding how little he knew about that time. Initially he wanted the kids to do all their searching blindly on the web. I suggested that he start with the links Kevin and I had put together for another teacher doing a similar project and he sort of poo pooed that. "Oh they will be able to find what they need pretty easy" I guess he has not seen these kids search for information before. Of course he is only 27.

I have to be a little careful about how much I help the students on any historical project or pretty soon they are asking if I was around then LOL

School finally ended and then off to rehearsal. That went fairly well, but the kids are still way too noisy backstage. I collected money for t-shirts and tried to keep everyone orgaized. Our assistant director has been out sick all week and I miss her terribly.

After our rehearsal there was a parent meeting for the hs. I brought in three dresses that might work and talked to Trudy about how I could help. She will do a fine job.

Today is a day off and Puck and I are going to work on the set later today. Maddie has rehearsal and then a bowling party... Life is full

Oh and she lost her case against Socrates

The Trial of Socrates

Today Maddie is lawyer for the prosecution of Socrates. They get extra credit for dressing up and more if they stay in costume all day. Last night she wrote her closing arguments and I was suprised at how passionate it came across. I think she may have a little bit of lawyer in her.

It was a half day yesterday but the afternoon went way too quickly. Mad had too much homework. She had missed classes due to a Forensics meet and had to write a 5 paragraph essay on video games contributing to violent behavior. They had a class debate and so she had to make that up on paper. Then she had an assigment for health class to look up three colleges and compare them under 10 different catagories.

Sometimes I forget how difficult something that seems so easy to me can be for other people. I am a good internet searcher. Not on par with our peerless Mum of course, but I can hold my own. I am good with Key Words and quickly discarding useless information. Maddie had spent four days in the computer lab at school looking for three colleges that had majors in Forensic Science and come up with very little.

In 15 minutes I found her three schools which offered reasonable majors translatable to degrees in Forensic science here in Wisconsin. She was up till Midnight searching the college websites, but was able to finish the health homework.

This morning she dressed up in her chiton (basic tunic) was a beautiful gold floor length dress with just enough gold thread pattern to make it look interesting. I had bought it a few years ago for our renaisance unit here or perhaps a play, but no one ever wore it. I had a nice long piece of white gauzey fabric with a silver thread going lengthwise through it that she used for a hymation. I suggested her bangles go up on the bare arm and she scooted them up. I quickly rummaged through my necklaces and found a very nice rather byzantine looking gold one with lacy dangles. I had another bag full of giant 80's earrings and I found a very nice pair that looked like hammered gold. We had only a couple minutes to get her hair swept up and out the door. She looked pretty cool though even though we were running so late I couldn't get a picture. Hopefully tonight .

I drove her in and managed to spill my coffee on her dress, but I think it will dry ok Sheesh! Today I helped one of our former teachers to scan and convert her overhead presentations to powerpoint. Lots of scanning and fussing. I think she will be able to do much more on her own now. Lucky I had a teacher cancel most of the day on me so I had time to help her.

the weather is finally above freezing and you would think it was summer... Friday is another day off, but we could sure use the rehearsal time

Sunday

It has been cold cold cold.... temperatures below freezing and dangerous windchills. Cars started, but this morning the pipes in the bathroom were frozen... took a couple hours to thaw them. Threw one load of laundry into the dryer and got a second one going in the washer and went to rehearsal.

We will have rehearsal almost every day from now on. We were missing quite a few kids which made the rehearsal tough and they are a chatty group so Rob and I needed to hollar at them way too often to keep quiet backstage. Puck came in to work on the set and told me that the washer drain had clogged and dumped water all over the basement. He had spent half an hour sucking it up (sigh)

The high school was rehearsing before us and we cordially stayed in the lobby until they were done at 3:00. Just as we were trying to get started the assistant director came up to me and asked me where they could put their costumes. I had sent an e-mail to the director earlier laying everything out and she told me she would pass the information along. Apparently it did not get passed!. I told Stacy that since we were the next play in there we had the two wardrobes after us the elementary school would have them. The High SChool had them last. I also told her that since we had 44 kids in the show that we would be needing all the space in both wardrobes until all the band concerts were done. The two big rolling clothes racks could not be used for storage either since we would need them during the show.

The band uses the dressing rooms to store cases during concerts so the dressing rooms are not safe storage areas even though they are locked up. She then asked me about another wardrobe and I told her as far as I knew the rest of the wardrobes were storage for the high school and she was free to rearrange them as she saw fit.

When I went back to look for a costume prop I saw that they had taken all the hangers out of one of the HS wardrobes and tossed them willy nilly onto the floor of one of the wardrobes. I was might pissed. there were perhaps 50 wire hangers entangled all over my props on the floor and eventually I discovered that they were covering the prop I was seeking. I would not have minded them moving the hangers into our wardrobe, but to be so inconsiderate was frustrating.

I saw the director later as I was locking up and told her how frustrated I was. She gave me a good front, but I know her better and no one will ever hear about it from her. I may have to send another e-mail to their costumer.

And to top it all off Puck went and got pizza and instead of green olives they put green peppers on the dang thing... Sheesh

I am in a growly mood

more pictures

There should be a squirrel somewhere in this picture

This is the road up to the school which is just up over the top of the hill and to the left

This Morning's Snow Pictures

This is Across the Street from my front door

Snow Day!!!!!!

All that whining payed off and it is snowing like crazy outside. Puck got a call to sub this morning so I very dissapointedly got out of bed and got ready for school. I hopped on the computer which cut our phone line off from communication.

I had watched the news and our town did not show up.... I woke everyone else up at 6:30 to get ready and they both came down bleary eyed. I packed my lunch and drank my second cup of coffee. Got into the shower and was just soaping up when a knock came to the door. Not too unusual when three people are trying to get ready in the morning with only one bathroom available. Maddie came bursting in... still wearing the "Wicked" t-shirt she bought on her field trip to Chicago yesterday to see the play.

"Mom they just announced... we have no school!!!!!"
"Tell your dad to get off the computer" (as I am drying off) "Get me the call list, I am going to have to call the person who is supposed to call me and backtrack"

Maddie found my calling tree and I quick called... it took four dialings before I got it right... I finally found my glasses, but on top of that the kitchen phone is so old most of the numbers are worn off so it is difficult to see what you are dialing. I hope I didn't wake too many people up.

Finally got ahold of Lisa who told me she had tried to call, but the line was busy. I told her I would quick call Brenda, but she told me she had already done that. She is a good woman! Everyone else in the family went back to bed, but I had just enough coffee in me that I lay down on the couch for a while. The snow had stopped, but is now coming down with a vengence. We could get 10 inches... Thunder and lightning too.... it is cool... I hope my pictures turned out .

Like I mentioned earlier Maddie went on a field trip to Chicago to see Wicked ... grrrrrrrr. I spent the whole day being jealous of her. She splurged on the t-shirt, which is awesome... black T with the word Wicked in big white letters across the chest and a tiny green witch on a broom dotting the i. I was glad they made it home safe since she did not get in until 9:00

Rehearsal again yesterday. Getting a little better every time, but still a long way to go. Puck is missing a crew call today which is not good, but he hopes to do some work tomorrow after school. Missing today means we will have a rehearsal on Sunday to make up for time lost.

I am making some chili (I stocked up last night just as the storm was starting) I had some frozen tomatoes left from summer so they are stewing in the oven. It should taste good on a snowy day. We three have not all been together for quite some time

Valentines Day with Yami

Spent most of the evening with the cats. Puck had to bartend and Maddie decided she would rather spend the evening keeping her boyfriend company while he lifeguarded at the pool.

Me and the cat snuggled in and watched Supernatural, with me mostly under the covers. I really like the show, but it scares me too much so I revert back to my childhood watching matinee monster movies with a pillow at the ready to cover my eyes from the pod people or the monolith monsters.

I brought in chocolates for the staff. They seemed to go quickly, but as many of you know teachers are voracious. Suzi in the library brought me a chocolate bar and was teased me that I beat her to the punch since I left chocolates at her desk first. I only beat her by a few minutes too. Late in the day Puck brought in flowers. It was very sweet of him. A lovely bouquet of daisies and irises. I teased him about just doing it to make sure I never said anything bad about him, but it really was sweet.

After school was rehearsal. I hauled a few costumes in for some of the needy. Although I ask the kids to supply their own costumes there are always those who do not quite fit my ideals. I want things to look good so I supply what I can. I sure wish I had a better system for storage.... It is getting harder and harder to find things in that attic easily.

The kids are doing quite well with their lines. We have most of the major characters off book now and the minor characters who just got their new parts are doing well too. Now we need to work on blocking and acting. And what to do with those hands that young actors never know where to put. They sort of hang them out like tentacles.

I gave Puck a tie (bought at goodwill of course) and a large jar of dry roasted peanuts... very romantic. I think the card was the most expensive. Maddie got gummi bears and heart socks :) She and her boyfriend did not exchange anything. They are not terribly romantic LOL


Yesterday when I went to get the card I went to goodwill of course and found a cute little faux fur cape for only 4 dollars along with a great 60's jacket and one more trenchcoat.

Got several movies too.

Just when I was feeling sorry for myself Maddie came home early... showed off her new dance moves and is now playing "I got rythem" on the piano

how do I get this picture into my blog 

Shall We Dance

Oh my aching feet... well actually my aching ankles and knees. The band made up of faculty members played at a local tavern. They play a big mix of rock and roll. This is their second big outing and they have since added our choir teacher to their ranks. The call themselves Da Edjucaters.. that might be how they spell it.. it is some bastardization of that anyhow.

Puck had to work so I went stag. The place was well packed with other teachers so they had a good crowd. I danced and danced and danced for two hours... Had my single Tequila sunrise then switched to seven up... did pretty well on the dance floor. I had a good time, but today I can hardly walk. Pretty sad. I missed Puck too since he loves to dance. Once very nice looking young 20 somthing boy asked me to dance once so that was rather flattering. Well it was until his beer slipped out of his hand and sloshed the floor LOL

I was not feeling too well on friday so was not certain I would make it. I sort of felt obligated though since the lead guitar player is my boss and I didn't want to seem like a leaker.It was fun.

Saturday morning Puck had a crew call, but only one little person showed up. Maddie and I came over and we moved platforms and unbolted castors for a couple hours... I drove the little person home since we got done early, then came home and went back to bed.

Today is a talent show to benifit the Sterling North home. (he wrote the book Rascal) Maddie is performing with her litergical dance group. She skipped church to attend her boyfriends confirmation at the Catholic Church. I just know he is enticing her over to the dark side LOL

they are just so dang clean cut... perhaps it is just a cover for all the devious things they are really doing. The weather is chilly and the snow is fairly non-existant... We were supposed to get some, but it did not materialize.

Still need to hunt up some costumes in the attic. It would not be so difficult if it were not for the cats, who come running whenever they hear the attic stairs come down. They will not come for a can opener, or a plate being set down on the floor, but they come a running to investigate the attic... then it is nearly impossible to find them and remove them.

Wish Me luck

Flying apart

spent most of the day one hair shy of a panic attack. Not really sure what the hell was going on. I have not had too many.... but I sure recognized the symptoms. Starting at the pit of my stomach and my head feeling like I simply could not hold onto anything.... It felt like my whole being was only held in by the thin skin at the tips of my fingers... a very odd feeling indeed.

I did manage to accomplish some things though. Not terribly busy so I tried to get the calendar fixed for next year for reserving the theater time. Ran into a little snag, but hopefully will have that sorted out tomorrow.

Learned how to put links on my blog... That was fun and I was glad it turned out to be fairly straightforward. Listening to the Viking Kittens made me feel a little better.

Did my little show and tell with my 20's stuff and that went fairly well. The kids didn't make fun of me when I played 5'2" on my tiny banjo :) They actually seemed fairly interested. The teacher had a nice raccoon coat and I topped it off with a straw skimmer. It was fun.

I wrote a little note to my friend Jeannie to find out how she is doing. I miss her so much. She would have understood exactly how I was feeling and known what to do when I had no idea what to do. I don't have that kind of friend at shcool anymore and I miss it.

Rehearsal went pretty well. The kids are doing a nice job memorizing their lines and going with the change in actors we keep throwing at them. They still want to visit with each other way too much, but I guess that is better than them hating each other.

Came home and spraypainted the helmet... I feel very tired... I think I might take a nap

Seems all my posts lately have had Goodwill in them

We had a half day today although there seemed to be enough to do for a full day. The lab was pretty much full all day and the kids, of course, were wired. So was the staff.

I brought in a bunch of 20's stuff for my friend Joy for her introduction to the roaring 20's... I bet she didn't call the previous unit the Gay ninties, but I digress. I brought in my grandmothers wedding photo (she was a cute little flapper) I have a beautiful little Art Deco plastic box that is black and green. I pulled a strands of french jet and one long art glass necklace. I tuned up my banjo=uke and might even play them a little tune. I grabbed one old beaded purse with an art noveau pattern, a little bakelite scottie dog pencil sharpener and a nice men's straw hat.

I was going to look for some more things, but I am tired now. I sorted through all the play stuff and put in all the corrected rhehearsal stuff. Deleted and added actors. sometimes feel a little like God.

Last night we changed the blocking on a scene and the director decided that a helmet would look better than having the actor hold onto (fake) live wires. Of course he turned to me and said "couldn't we just use a colander and attach a few bolts to it?" and of course I understood that to mean "Lori, you can do that can't you?" I inwardly sighed, but my brain was set in gear trying to think up a cool weird helmet.

Today with the whole last half of the day looming before me I raced to the resale places. I started at the local place and found a fabulous oak chair for only 3 dollars. Very mission looking. It should look good on the set. I wish we had the room to keep it. I got some bobbins for my sewing machine, a portfoilio for the music teacher character, some necklaces and bracelets for the gypsies, and a clip board for the real estate lady. As I was checking out I noticed two very cute hats and bought them too. No colanders though!!!!

Then it was off to Goodwill. Not too much there... wandered up and down the aisles trying to imagine what would work as a helmet to no avail. I did have a 30 percent off coupon that a friend gave me, but it was only good on a single item. I found one nice tin that will be a good prop, a great punk leather and grommeted neck band, and a satchel that will work for our lawyers secretary who has been bugging me for weeks now for her prop! I was just about to leave when I spotted a great dress... It was red bias cut with a black velvet top and lovely cross hatched cutaway on the back. It was marked $15.00, but I used my coupon on that :)

On the way home the idea for the helmet came blazing into my brain. Duh I had seen some sliver tinsel pipe cleaners and thought they would be good spiraling out of my colander so I stopped back at the resale place. As I was picking them up I noticed the bike helmets and another Duh hit me. I found one for fifty cents... then I found two small spiral beaters that I think will punch into the helmet and look cool. A little silver spray paint and it will look sufficiently weird.

Now my brain is tired and needs a rest.

Down Memory Lane

Started off the day very close to error.

I got dressed in the semi dark that is my morning and as I was sitting at the edge of the bed putting on my second sock I realized to my horror that I had put my pants on inside out.... if I had put my socks on first I might not have noticed at all. Really dodged an embarassment bullet there. sooooooo close :)

Spent most of the day at work in a quiet lab trying to recover and reconstruct my blog. I had copied and pasted most of the months into word documents already, but the first few months were not available in full.

I uploaded my backed up blogs to my school account and set about finding what was missing and putting back in all the comments I could. It was very interesting reading back through 2003 and the end of 2004. It really put into perspective my motivations for continuing this blog and documenting my world. There were some very tough times in those years that I again thank my friends here for helping me get through.

I laughed again at some of the comments and missed some old names that used to blog with us. I may re-post the one blog about how we got started here or there or on the shelf or whatever it was. The stories were wonderful from everyone. The only sad part was the loss of the pictures from the old site. My backup just has the url's which apparently lead to nowhere now.

the other thing I found is that I am a terrible speller and should have spell checked all of them LOL

had to run rehearsal all by myself as my co-director had a dental appointment. I sort of rushed the rehearsal a little and only did a little bit of blocking. It was our first day off book and the kids did pretty well all things considered. We lost another major character too! Neither Rob or I were too sorry to see her go. She has a tendency to be rather noisy. A good actress, but a social butterfly. She will be fine once she can mature a little. They can take care of that in High School.

The girl we got to replace her stepped very naturally into the role and I think she will work out just fine. She, too is suffering a little with grades, but I think now that she has a bigger part she will work harder.

Went to Goodwill and found a small end table for the telephone to sit on (Had a 30% off coupon) and one peasant blouse for a gypsy. All in all a fairly productive day.

it was a bitterly cold one though.

Lovin that Freecycle

Have been searching for a couch for the play for over a month. There was one at Goodwill a few weeks ago that looked perfect, but our van was not working well and I had no means of picking the dang thing up. Checked periodically at the resale place too, but the only couch they had was a rather garish orange, yellow and brown one with a country scene. It also smelled nasty musty so I passed on that.

Last night someone on the Janesville Freecycle list offered a couch. I responded telling them that I needed one for the play. It is always a bit of a crap shoot telling people that you want something for a prop. Sometimes they think that this is a less than valuable home for their item. Lucky for me this was not the case with this Freecycler. She wrote back this morning that "as a former middle school teacher I would love to see the couch on stage as a prop" I asked Puck about picking it up today. His first response was "On Superbowl Sunday, you are making plans for me????????"

He had told me the game was in the afternoon so I did not think it was that big a deal. Needless to say I am not much of a sports fan. After a little grumbling he said we could get it between 2 and 3. I quick sent her an e-mail leaving my phone number and Maddie and I went to church. We had a good time at church. The songs were fun and the chorus (our drama girls) were especially goofy, pulling out the stops.

Tom, our pastor mentioned to me that he was considering doing "Little Shop of Horrors" this summer.... Sheesh Maddie has wanted to do this show forever. He said all he needed were 2 guys and someone who would build Audrey II.... of course the intimation being ... Please Lori would you do it. Frankly I would love to build Audrey II and her various puppet incarnations, but it would be a great deal of work. It would be a hell of a lot more fun to make than three plaid sport coats I can tell you that.

Anyhow after church Maddie had to go to "Kiss me Kate" rehearsals and Puck had gotten a call from the couch lady. I called her back and got directions. Puck got dressed and off we went. Found the place with little difficulty. Had a bit of a challenge getting the back seat out, but finally maneuvered the couch into the van. Only a little bit sticking out. I asked if we shouldn't tie the back down, but Puck insisted that the wind would hold it down and that the couch was not going anywhere. I was skeptical, but off we went... Just as we hit the highway the hatch started floating up, against all laws of aerodynamics and Puck had to tie it down. Honest I never even said "told you so" About another 4 miles later the knot came undone and we were pulling a Sister Bertrille again. Stopped and tied down again a cranky husband and rather silent wife drove back to town. We dropped the couch off at the theatre with no more trouble and I think it will be perfect.

It really is a major blocking load off my mind. It has been hard to figure out where to put the kids using three chairs as a couch so this will be a huge change for the good. The couch gets the most use in the play and kids hide behind it sit and crawl over it and dance around it in a dream sequence.

I did a little grocery shopping and bought some anti-superbowl treats for Maddie and I. Puck went downtown to watch the game with people who are interested and interesting so we will not see him for quite some time. My big ebay purchase of vintage test tube holders came in and Puck scored a whole mess of fancy glass cigar tubes that fit in them. It is all coming together.

Now to go find a movie to watch

Private Eyes are watching me

Bella... the black cat has decided that the mouse on the computer screen is totally facinating. For three straight days now she has planted her little kitty butt right on the mouse pad and stared at my typing or mouse clicking. No matter how many time I toss her off she just jumps up and does it again. Occasionally she trys to catch the curser. It is odd.

Spent most of the first half of the day in my jammies... have been sort of feeling funky all week. Slept late and showered late... then just layed around for the rest of the day. Watched the Zorro sequel... it was a very flawed script with a lot of odd sequences. I cannot reccomend it.

Puck had to bartend and Maddie got a discounted ticket to see guitarist Jesse Cook perform at our theater here in town. They sold out the performance and she just got home. Really good concert she said. I guess I should have gone, but I really do not care for concerts. The drama club set up a coat check and made $50.00 in tips checking coats for people.

Tomorrow I really need to get some work done... maybe make a furry paw for a werewolf

Stranger in a strange land

This is going to take some getting used to, but I suppose Change is good occasionally.... Often though when I look back on our history I think "why can't we just be left in peace to spat and chat"

Rehearsal went well last night ... it was one of the messy sections of the play and a blocking nightmare. The little wolves are starting to know their cues fairly well. They could use some volume, but that will come. I cannot even think that we perform March 17. Monday they are supposed to be off-book. Rob has a dentist appointment so I will have to run that one alone. I am not looking forward to it. They really need to get comfortable with their lines though so they can start acting.

I really need to find a couch next week. It is a major set prop and the kids and we directors need it for blocking. Costumes hopefully will start coming in soon... so far I only have three of the 44 that should be coming. There are a few that I need to hunt up in the attic, but maybe I can do that over the weekend.

The lab is quiet today thank heavens. Maddie got me out of bed just as I was falling asleep because the computer froze on her right in the middle of her homework. It took half an hour just to log the dang thing in and recover her documents grrrrrr. I am so tired today... It always takes a little while to wind down and fall asleep and I had to start all over again. I switched on the TV and then got hooked on the ball room dancing finals on PBS.... Sheesh... how do they call those pasties dresses? They are remarkably skimpy... I like the latin dances, but I anticipated a costume malfuntion at any minute.... The formal dresses were so beautiful.

Finally at about 1:00 I had to turn it off and go to sleep. Woke up to a dreary rainy day

I will be glad when this one is put to bed

Miss Finster loves Harry 

Testing one two three

just a test