All Hail the Wee Folk

Well, I caved. Maybe it was the chocolate chip cookie he left the leprechaun yesterday. Or maybe it was this morning's note: Dear Leprechaun, Plese leve me one just one piece of gold. Form: D.D. For Leprechaun
I crumbled the cookie, took the note, and left a polished rock painted with a gold glitter shamrock on it. Maybe I've crimped his creativity, but he'll sure be happy in the morning.

Holiday Traditions

How necessary is it that I, as a mother, participate in/encourage my children's desire for holiday traditions? We already have quite a few. We do the whole Santa thing - stockings, leaving milk and cookies, writing a note, listening to the bell from "Santa's sleigh" to see if we really, truly, beleive. (Thanks Polar Express)We do an Easter egg hunt, and the Easter bunny leaves cutout paper footprints from the kids' rooms to the baskets in the morning. The tooth fairy visits and leaves not only money, but a sprinkling of fairy dust, and sometimes a note, depending on the difficulty of losing the tooth. We make Valentine's for each other, and the kids sign their names to the store-bought Batman and Scooby kid valentines. Really, there's quite enough to fill our days with nostalgic joy and fond memories.
So why do I feel so much guilt about refusing to enter in to Scooby's latest fascination/obsession: St. Patrick's Day.
Wait, you say, St. Patrick's Day is over. Shouldn't we already be thinking ahead to Easter? But no, St. Patrick's Day cannot yet be truly over, as we haven't been visited by a leprechaun.
Scooby is very adept at craft making. It's just about his favorite thing to do. So for St. Paddy's Day, he made a leprechaun house out of paper and tape, and put it outside. He also made a trap - digging a hole and covering it over with leaves - to catch the leprechaun (I guess if the house wasn't a sufficiant lure)He fully expected to find SOMETHING in either the trap, or the house on the morning of the 17th. Perhaps a leprechaun. Perhaps a pot of gold. Or at least a ribbon. (Why a ribbon? Your guess is as good as mine!) But there was nothing. Why? Because me, BAD MOMMY, didn't play along and provide anything. Really, I thought. We do enough. And he'll forget about it soon enough. Wrong! Today, March 21st, 4 days after St. Patrick's Day, he went outside before catching the bus to put a cookie in the house. Maybe THAT would lure the little green folk.
So, do I just keep waiting for him to refocus on the next holiday, or do I give in and go stick a ribbon in the paper house? Which is more important? Limits, or encouraging imagination and fantasy?

Internet stalker

Okay, most of you already know I'm an internet stalker. I like to google people and find out if they have a presence on the World Wide Web. I don't really do it to be intrusive, I just think it's fun...and if anyone out there posts a resume, or a blog, or a livejournal, for instance, I think it's pretty much fair game to be read. Well, last night I found my high school boyfriend. I had pretty much assumed that he was either dead in a ditch by now, or at least shacked up with a relative somewhere in Lowell, but apparently he moved to Wisconsin, completed a master's degree in piano performance, and is teaching private lessons while - get this - acting as Music Director for a church! Those of you who know who I'm talking about probably need to take a moment to pick your jaws up off the floor. I even found a picture, and while the past 20 years have treated him about the same as they've treated me, and he does have considerably less hair, he looked peaceful and healthy. I'm so happy for him. I'm considering further stalking to try to find an email address. Yes, Hubby knows I'm doing this, and it's just for friendly inquiry, so don't freak out, Mom. It's good to know that people can change. I know I certainly have, and I don't know why it's so hard to recognize that in other people as well, instead of holding a frozen image of them from a previous time. So here's to change. And stalking.

A Day Off

Today I went nowhere. Except for a walk around the block pulling Cinderella and Tarzan in the wagon. I did spend a strangely exhorbitant amount of time on the phone or email, doing work-related stuff, but the kids were unusually cooperative and it really wasn't painful at all. The same day that I lost a cast member of Godspell, I gained a potential new (possibly better, in that he's a guy which is what I really needed for the part anyway) one. I folded two loads of laundry and put away a total of 5 - there were three that have been waiting for a couple of days. I played Superheros in the backyard,and snuggled Scooby and Tarzan on the couch while watching educational television. (Although I really do find Arthur entertaining, and architect Frank Gehry was the "guest" for this episode, teaching the kids about treehouse design. It was pretty cool. Sidenote - how do you do that when you're already in parenthesis, LW? Did any of you see last weeks entry on Bringing Up Ben and Birdy? Very thoughtful and somewhat disturbing references to another Arthur video. I really recommend reading Catherine Newman's blog, and book "Waiting for Birdy")
Where was I?
Oh, yes. We had chocolate bananas for dinner and squashed grapes in a strainer to make our own grape juice. (Scooby's idea) Everyone had a drizzle. I talked to a friend for an hour on the phone after the kids were in bed. I sorted Cinderella's clothes and put the ones that were too small in the attic, and packed a box of borrowed ones to mail back to their rightful owner.
I put Cinderella on the phone with Grandma and Grandpa and got to listen to her say "Hi-yo, Pa Pa! Hi-yo!" for about 5 minutes at full volume.
I wore sweats and slippers all day.
Yes, my life is nuts. Yes, the pressure is all still there.
But today was a day off.

Insanity

I usually pride myself on handling stress pretty well. I don't hit my children, swear at strangers driving by me, or smoke cigarettes. Sure, I may eat an occasional tub of cookie dough, but I rationalize it by drinking skim milk with it. I also try to get a healthy dose of sleep, (which is totally dependent on whether the kids decide to get a healthy dose of sleep, but that's really out of my control) and to maintain a spiritual awareness. Why I felt it necessary to test out the full range of my stress management potential, I'm not sure, but apparently I did.
I work in theater. Therefore, my work is totally cyclical, and inconsistent. Sometimes I'm doing NOTHING work related (and by work here, I'm using the loose definition of expending energy to receive a paycheck, no matter how small, in return. This doesn't include the everyday highly demanding work of raising three kids and a husband and a cat) and other times, like now, I'm completely inundated. For the past 14 years, I've worked with the local high school, choreographing their musicals. This year we're doing ByeByeBirdie...and I've so far managed to avoid poking out my eye with a fork from hearing WELOVEYOUCONRAD 9,000 in a row. Project #1. After a three year hiatus, I've returned to the Christian Elementary/Middle School to direct Honk, Jr. The musical story of the Ugly Duckling. Project #2. I've also decided to direct Godspell at my church - a huge undertaking which barely qualifies as "work", based on my above definition, since I'm only drawing my regular staff salary and not being paid any additional money for taking on a full-scale musical. Project #3.
So what am I currently contemplating? Project #4!! Some old friends of mine run a murder mystery dinner theater, and have asked me to read for them to understudy a couple of shows. Sounds easy enough, right?? Except there are 7 rehearsals scheduled during the month of April, which is already booked pretty solid with Projects #1, #2, and #3. I haven't been able to say no yet, though, because they are friends whom I would LOVE to work with, it is an ACTING job, and it would be really really fun. Plus, it holds long range potential for the dead time which will be coming after the others are over. So do I try to work it out? Do I go for it? Or do I just drink some more coffee, eat a cookie, and focus on the current commitments to insanity?
I'd love to keep writing, but it's time to wake up Cinderella and go get Tarzan from preschool.