oh yeah...the blog

I've been incredibly busy lately, between school and home and...okay that's it.  School and home. 
At school: We had auditions  for the spring season.  They're doing The Runner Stumbles, Medea and Bye Bye Birdie. I got called back for the Nurse and Medea in Medea, and Rose and Mae Peterson  in Bye Bye Birdie.  I  was suprised to be called back for Rose - I never thought I'd have a shot at it.  I think the auditions went well, too.  But both Medea and Rose went to girls who are graduating this year, and they're both very good.  Can't complain about those decisions.  I was a little disappointed not to snag another lead, but I was cast as Mae Peterson, the obnoxious, overbearing mother in Birdie.  It's a featured part, and a comedic one, which I haven't had a chance to do here yet, so it should be fun.  Today I signed up to do my final crew assignment on Runner Stumbles, so I'll be done with that in early February.  Yay! Right now, I'm just starting my third one - Prop Crew Chief for The Last Night of Ballyhoo.  We have tech today and tomorrow, then dress rehearsals Mon - Thurs, and the show opens Friday.  We're off Thanksgiving weekend, then have another run of shows the first weekend in Dec.  Midterms went well, and I've registered for Spring classes.  It seems almost impossible to believe, but I'm just about half-way through! Our next auditions will be for our thesis roles.  Crazy.

At home: Scooby has continued to struggle with the amount of homework he's getting.  He's got all A's, except for a B- in Social Studies, so he's keeping up, but the amount of time he's been putting into assignments is outrageous.  We've tried to give him a quiet, consistent place to work, (although quiet is relative around here) and I've tried to be supportive and helpful while still allowing him to work through things on his own.  But it was getting extremely frustrating for all of us.  So I scheduled a conference with his teachers (four of them - math, science, English, and Social Studies) and the guidance counselor.  We talked about his perfectionistic  tendencies - how he'll get stuck on something and be absolutely UNABLE to move past it to something else, and his  inability to start working on something until he has it completely worked out in his head.  They told me they expect 20 - 30 minutes per subject, max.  After that, whatever he didn't get done stays undone.  If he doesn't get something, he's to circle it and ask his teacher about it the next day.  Anticipating major freakouts when this policy was implemented...but it hasn't been that bad.  We've stretched the 20 - 30 minutes several times, but he is spending less time than before.  And he seems a little more relaxed about stuff.  He likes me to make him a schedule, and he tries to stick to it the best he can.  I think it's progress.

Tarzan and Cinderella are doing well.  I finally had a conference with Tarzan's teacher, and he's getting all A's...they're working on  trying to find ways to continue to stretch him.  We also talked about his "sensitive heart" and how he takes to heart some of the admonishments given to  a whole class or lunch table.  We also called him over and asked him to talk about anything else that was bothering him in class, and he mentioned a boy who sits next to him and uses inappropriate language.  He got all teary-eyed when the teacher asked him to repeat what he said, so she let him spell it.  It was B-I-T-C-H (he spelled it right) and F-U...something.  Kind of like fudge.  Yikes.  So the teacher's going  to call the other kid's mom.  Tarzan also has a yucky cough right now, but at least the mystery rash seems to be gone.

Cinderella is doing fine in school too.  Math is excellent, she struggles with writing.  Don't know where these kids came from.  There's a girl down the street that has been  coming over to  play, and we're all struggling with whether this is a friendship we want to encourage.  Cinderella doesn't really like this girl all that much, and the family situation is not good.  Theyr'e really pretty stereotypical "trashy" family...smoke in the home, two pit-bulls, shirtless Dad, mullet-sporting kids...but the girl seems okay, and probably needs a friend.  And I want them to develop friendships and play with kids other than each other...but.  Why can't a nice, well-adjusted family live nearby? Oh, that's right, they did.  Then they moved away. 

Well, my dinner break is almost over and I have to make sure I pee before tech starts back up, so I'll sign off for now.  Hope to see much of the family over Thanksgiving break in DC! I'm ready for a break!!!

Halloween, and a couple of other random pictures

This year's pumpkin



All three trick-or-treaters



Scooby's Phoenix costume - jacket made by Aunt Lisa a long time ago (inside of Fireman's suit) and the rest created by Scooby for his Latin class assignment "Mythical Creature" costume.  For class, it had 20 body parts labeled in Latin.

Tarzan's toothbrush costume - idea by Tarzan, execution by Mom

Cinderella's Reese's cup costume.  Her thought, "Maybe if I'm dressed like my favorite candy, I'll get my favorite candy!" It worked.

Scooby's TaeKwonDo instructors

Scooby acheives yellow belt

Men at work in Norfolk

Hmmmmm

Children's Festival in Norfolk

Happy Halloween!

Show, Con't

Press release about Our Town

My Show

Timmy's Paper

Assignment: Write a "How To" Paper
Brainstorming page - What I do well
1. Feed cat
2. Give attention to cat
3. Anoyy Mom/Dad
4. Anoyy bro/sis
5. Fechting bones
6. swiming
7. Ignore someone
8. ride a bus
9. video games
10. TV
11. computer
12. eat
13. counting
14. math
15. blow nose
16. drawing
17. Brainstorming
18. writeing
19. skiping
20. takeing a test

How to Feed your Cat
This is how to feed your cat.  First you need to get your materials.  Your materials are a cat, cat food, and a bowl.  Next let your cat smell your finger.  Then put the food in the bowl.  Finally watch your cat until your cat is done eating.  Now if your mom asks you if you fed your cat; you can say that you did!

If you haven't seen this yet, you're missing out.

Smells like a Monster

Brrr!

48 degrees this morning.  All the fall/winter clothes still in storage.  Brr!
As you may have surmised, it's been a little busy here lately! Rehearsals for Our Town are chugging right along.  It's really tiring being onstage for three acts every night with very short breaks at intermission.  The fatigue is making it hard to keep the lines in my head.  I can paraphrase the night away, but I'm trying to be a stickler for word perfect memorization and there are many similar sounding lines that are kicking my butt right now.  The show's going okay - there are some strange idiosynchrasies that some of the actors have that drive me nuts, but in the interests of not knowing who's going to read this, I'll not elaborate further!
Scooby is belt-testing for Taekwondo next week.  More money, yay! If he passes he'll be up to yellow belt (the first step up from white belt.) It's a pain in the a$$ getting him there three times a week, but I think it was the right call.  He likes it, it's exercise, it gets him out from in front of the computer for an hour.  Good deal all around.
Tarzan ran for Student Council Secretary, but didn't win.  He had cute posters and a great speech, but the political machine spit him back out.  He did, however, win "Citizen of the Month" for September, so we get to have a sign in our yard for another month.  I swear, we've only gone about two months since we've been here that the sign wasn't in our yard.  Not complaining, it's kind of fun...although Don doesn't like mowing around it.
Cinderella's doing fine too - I'd love to get her into a class or something, but it's going to have to wait awhile, unfortunately.  She seems to be doing well in school - math is better than writing for her, and she's still struggling with telling time (but honestly, I still struggle with it sometimes myself!) and her reading is getting much better.
Oh, and I had a birthday yesterday.

More Pictures!

Don't know what that white car is in the first picture, or how it snuck in there! The pictures go in reverse order, due to my amazing organizational skills.  Yes, time is actually flowing backwards.  You'll see Cinderella's outfit today, followed by the Sandcastle competition at the Neptune Festival this past weekend, then Cinderella's birthday, Fourth of July, Visiting Grandma and Grandpa's, Scooby's birthday and Tarzan's birthday.  Grab yourself a beverage and settle in for awhile.

Some old pictures

I'm trying to get some pictures up...these are from the summer - beach days, Scooby's birthday party in Sewickley, Tarzan's cubscout camping trip.  More to come, soon!

The Hugging Incident

So Tarzan and Cinderella are having their after-school snack the other day (we have almost an hour before Scooby gets home from school - it's ridiculously quiet) and Tarzan says, out of the blue, "Your teacher is mean."
Cinderella - "Well, a little."
Me - "Why is she mean?"
Tarzan - "She said, 'You better not do that, or else -' and I didn't hear what else she said."
Me - "Do what?"
Cinderella - "Hug him."
Me - "Wait a minute. She told you not to hug each other?"
Tarzan - "Yeah."
Me - "Did she know you were brother and sister?"
Cinderella - "Yes, she knew."
Me - "What exactly did she say?"
Cinderella - "I don't remember."
Tarzan - "She said, 'You better not do that, or else -' something."
Me - "Huh."

Later: I write an email..."Ms. ______, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you at the Open House, I was at the middle school with my older son. Perhaps there's a morning I could come in and help out for an hour or so before school sometime. I was concerned to hear about an incident the other day. E. said she got in trouble for hugging her brother in the hallway. T. was kind of upset about it. He's a pretty sensitive kid and was worried that he'd gotten her in trouble. He's also been missing his big brother since he went to middle school, and was probably happy to see E. I'm confused as to why they were not allowed to hug each other hello? Please advise me on this when you get a chance."

The next morning, I get an email in return. (I'm paraphrasing) "E. did not get in trouble for hugging her brother. She lifted him up off the floor and I asked her not to do that in case she dropped him or another child in line ran in to her if they weren't looking. I told her my preference would be a silent wave. I'm sorry if this caused (crap, I can't remember the word she used...friction, maybe?EDIT: It was "ill feelings.") I don't need any help in the mornings at this time. Thank you for letting me know."

I posted something on Facebook and got a huge response of outrage and indignation over the kids not being allowed to hug.

Now, part of me understands somewhat. Cinderella can give rather...exuberant...hugs. I can see how that might be disruptive in the middle of a crowded hallway. On the other hand, why shouldn't siblings who actually care about each other and are happy to see each other be allowed to express that? Isn't it better than the alternative? I don't really want to make a big deal out of it, and I probably won't say anything else to the teacher about it. But I have to say, this has raised some warning flags with me. I don't want a repeat of last year, where I waited too long to intervene it what was not a great classroom situation for Cinderella. I was hoping she'd have a better year. And she seems pretty happy with her classroom and her teacher. I'm just...frustrated that this is even an issue.

People commented on FB that this is why our schools are so bad, this is why I homeschool my kids, etc. Well, homeschooling is not an option. Even if I weren't in school and working, I don't have the temperment to homeschool, and besides, they're smarter than me. I have to work within this imperfect system. And I'm trying to make it a positive lesson for them. I said, "Those are the rules in school. You're not allowed to hug each other. I think it's a dumb rule. But, it's the rule, and you need to follow it. However, please give each other extra hugs right before school and right afterwards to make up for it."

Sometimes there are rules we don't agree with. Even for grownups. And sometimes it's good to have to discipline yourself to follow a rule that you don't agree with.

But really, it's a dumb rule. Talk about legislating affection! There's a difference between high schoolers making out in the halls, and a second and third grade sibling giving each other a hug. Somewhere in the tangled system of burocracy, human reason should play a part and make some distinctions.

When you see your loved ones today, give them a hug.

Rules be damned.

Well, the kids started school on Tuesday, and so far so good! I promise to post pictures as soon as I find a working card reader. Scooby catches the bus at 7:15 and gets home around 4:15. It's a LONG day. But so far, he hasn't complained about any of it...the waking up at 6:15, the longer walk to the bus stop, any of it. I am very aware that it's only just begun, and I'm sure there will be more complaining as the weather gets colder and he starts carrying his violin back and forth every day. On the plus side, they actually have music stands at school and he won't have to carry that. On the minus side, he needs two new music books, a better chin rest, and a metronome is highly recommended. Anyone have an extra metronome laying around? So far his favorite subject is Latin - he thinks discovering the etomology of words is cool. Tarzan misses Scooby on the bus, and there have been a few moments of tears and some organizational frustration, but he's learning to cope with it much better. However, the binder I bought is not up to snuff, and he needs a new zippered one instead. I tried passing down Scooby's from last year, but it's falling apart too much, so I guess he'll get a new one. He'll have to wait until Monday, though. Cinderella likes her teacher, and has a couple of friends in her class from last year, although none of the ones that came to the sleepover. She's enjoying wearing all her new outfits. This morning she wore the sparkly black one from Grandma with the sparkly pink scarf and matching ponytails. She spent some time before the bus dancing in front of the mirror and singing, "You! Yeah, You! You are a rock star!" and then she informed me her rockstar name is Madame Medusa.
I've been super busy myself. I'm working at my Theatre Administration GA job 13 hours per week, mostly from 10 - 1. It's kept me busy up until right now, when I have to wait for a professor to get out of class and approve something before I can send it along. Hence, the blogging. At least I look like I'm still working! I have lots of reading to catch up on, but if I do that, it's a little more obvious that I'm doing school work instead of work work. Rehearsals started for Our Town on Monday, and I have to work on stamina! I never leave the stage, and I rarely sit down. By the end of the rehearsal, my back is killing me. I'm trying to apply the "spine" work we've been doing in Vocal Production class and release extra tension so I'm not so stiff, but I'm not succeeding so far. I really like the director they've brought in for the show, and I think I'm going to learn a lot from her. She's doing the rest of the characters in the show as they're written (1901 - 1915 period) but I am a modern character (and I'm female) dressed in sort of Eddie Bauer with a feminine twist. Let's see...my other classes. Playwriting is very time intensive and I'm pretty behind right now on all the required reading/discussion board participation. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up some on Saturday. Broadsword is...heavy. But actually a lot easier than Rapier and Dagger, particularly because most of the footwork is the same, and many of the attacks and parries are very similar. Screen Acting is kind of lame so far. We're working with one-liners and short scenes from 90210 and Babylon 5, because those are shows that the professor worked on and cast. He knows what he's talking about, and I'm learning a lot, but the material is dreadful. Today we are Telepaths being destroyed by Aliens. The line is "Help! Somebody please help me!" I preferred the dialogue in Macbeth.
So I'm busy. My day looks like this: 6:15 - wake up, get Scooby ready for school, walk him to the bus stop. 7:30 - get Tarzan and Cinderella ready for school, walk them to the bus stop. 8:15 - 9:00 - Run 9:45 - go to work. 10 - 1, work in my chilly cubicle. 1:00 to either 3:00 or 5:00 - class. either 3:00 or 5:00 until 6:30 - kid homework, reconnect, and dinner time. 7:00 - 11:00pm - rehearsal for Our Town. 11:00 - 1:00, homework. Except sometimes I fall asleep before 1:00.
Good thing I love what I'm doing.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

Our exciting plans? NOTHING! I have nowhere to be today, tomorrow, or most of Monday. I do start rehearsals for Our Town on Monday night, and we took Granny to the airport at 4:30 this morning, but apart from that, the weekend is free, free, free!
In case anybody's interested, here's some of what I do for my job at school. The two most recent articles are mine.
http://www.regentbackstage.blogspot.com/

Home again, home again

It's been a whirlwind of traveling, first week of classes, auditioning, preparing for Cinderella's 7th birthday party, traveling again, traveling some more. Good, but super tiring. Tomorrow starts week two of classes, and Tuesday night is a sleepover party for at least 5 girls. Next week starts rehearsals for Our Town, and school for the kids. It's going to be a good semester, as soon as I can blink without feeling like my eyes won't open again for eight hours. I catch up when I can, but for now...we are here! we are here! we are here!

The Wiz is over

And I'm going home.

For an upcoming audition workshop

If you were to cast me in a TV or movie part, what would it be? (ie: Patricia Heaton in Everybody Loves Raymond, or Kathy Bates in Misery) What "type" do you see me as?

Wednesday

Monday, while on the phone with Mom and Dad, the kids told me they smelled something burning. After about 5 minutes and a gradual intensification of the smell, I discovered a plastic water bottle had flipped out of the dishwasher rack onto the bottom of the dishwasher and lodged itself under the heater coil. It was proceeding to melt at a rapid rate, and filling the kitchen with the smell of burning plastic. Mmmm. I retrieved it with a pair of tongs and tossed it in the sink. When we came home from rehearsal hours later, the house still reeked. Two days later, everything that was washed in that load, even though we ran them through again, still smells like melted plastic. Tasty.

MacBeth opens in two days. We're doing a condensed version, with 6 actors. I play Lady MacBeth, a Witch, a murderer, and a soldier. I die twice, once onstage and once off. I fight with quarterstaff, make sound effects with a wet finger on a wine glass, and scream bloody murder at least twice. We're performing in the library auditorium, which is tiny, and has no lights and a miniscule stage. So, we're seating audience in the last three rows, and in folding chairs set up in front of the stage, and using the middle part of the room, seats and all, as our performance space. Scenes are lit with camping lanterns, garage worklights, flashlights, and electric candles. It's got a very low-tech but creepy, Blair-witch kind of feeling to it. It's been challenging, exciting, and lots of fun to work on, and I'm really, really glad I agreed to do it. I'll miss it when we're done on Saturday.

Kids are doing fine, although Scooby came down with a little cold last night. Hopefully it will stay little! They've been troopers about coming to rehearsals with me, and a kind member of my cohort has invited them over to use their apartment complex's pool a couple times per week. Cinderella's water bravery is improving by leaps and bounds, and I guess that she'll be swimming by the end of our visit to MA in August.

Even quicker update

Survived week one of Wiz camp. Teaching dance four hours per night is tiring!! I don't remember it being this hard...
I want to run, but the only time I have now is 6:00am so I'm back before Don has to go to work...and when I get home from teaching at 11:00pm, that's very difficult. The sweat equity I'm putting in is about the same as running, but I miss the training schedule I had going. Maybe next week I'll try to get back to it.
School before school still primarily a success, although Cinderella rebells against the writing assignments. The reading is going full speed though - they've all almost completed their first log-sheet for the library program - 15 hours!
Two more weeks of MacBeth rehearsals, and no sitters lined up as of now. Should be interesting...

Quick update

My wonderfully geeky children have started "school before school" this week. This is where Scooby puts together a lesson plan for several different subjects (spelling, science, social studies, math, and "specials" (art, music, etc.) for each day of the week, and Tarzan and Cinderella actually sit down and do the lessons! They're on day one of a full three week plan. We'll see how long it lasts! So far they actually all sound like they're having fun, and learning something!
Last night was closing night and strike for Mulan, Jr., so I've actually survived phase one of my stupidly busy summer. The show was quite good for jr. high, and I think all the kids had fun. Today, we start the five week camp for the Wiz. I don't really feel prepared, but I'm praying that it all comes together. We've had a week of rehearsals for MacBeth, and all has gone well...I have lots of memorizing still to do, though, and not much time to do it. It should be a really interesting production when all's said and done. The kids signed up for the summer reading program at the library. Scooby's reading the "39 clues" series of books, Tarzan just started the "Series of Unfortunate Events" and Cinderella's re-reading all the Junie B. Jones books. My reading level has dropped significantly, but I found a copy of Noel Streatfield's "Skating Shoes" which was out-of-print for a long time, and I'd never read it before. "Ballet Shoes" "Dancing Shoes" "Theater Shoes" and "Movie Shoes" are all favorites of mine, so it was great to add another to the list! Frankly, it's not as good as the others, but still, it's fun to round out the series. I think there's still "Party Shoes" out there somewhere, but I'm not breaking my neck to try to find it.

Happy July

Sorry I haven't been posting more. I have been ridiculously busy with summer theater camp at Regent, choreographing and teaching dance classes. It's going well, but I am WIPED OUT at the end of the day. My time of solitude, quiet house and not doing laundry every day is coming to an end, as I'm off to Pittsburgh tomorrow to pick up the kids from Super-Granny's house. I'm planning on driving straight through on Sunday to come back, as I start rehearsals for MacBeth and have tech week for summer camp starting Monday night. At least Don doesn't have to work, so I have one more day kid-free to get my bearings. Also getting a cold, so driving all day should be fun. Happy fourth, wishing we could be in Norwood!

Scooby's birthday

Happy birthday, Scooby!
(Celebrated two days early, since he'll be in transit on the actual day)

First, we went to the beach...

Then pizza and presents at Doughboys

Miniature Golf at Jungle Golf

Scooby got a hole-in-one!


Lion tamers!

Fun day with Daddy

And Mom