Kennywood

And then...

Little speedbump.
Buyer's ex-husband-to-be won't sign papers.
She wants to back out.
Crap.

So now...

Kudos to Lisa for noticing that the "staging" of the house uses the same plant in every room!

So we came to an agreement on the price, signed the contract and are now waiting for the house inspection, FHA inspection, radon inspection, pest inspection and appraisal to happen sometime in the next 15 days. Hoping all goes well!!!!

I spent last night and today painting the basement floor, which hurts no matter how you do it, and we're working on a few last touch up jobs before the inspectors come. I'm sure they'll have more for us to do! Just hope it's not more than we can handle.

On Friday we dropped Scooby off at baseball and Tarzan, Cinderella and I went to the "mini-prom" at their school (fundraiser for cancer research) As we left the parking lot, Tarzan (after dancing like a wild-man the whole time, air guitar and all) said "I have to admit it, Mom. That was fun."

I'm ba-a-a-ck!

Sort of. For the sake of my brother's lonliness and sanity, I will attempt to make an update. The past three to four weeks (I've lost count) have been a whirlwind of deciding to sell this house, attempting to ready the house for sale, and listing the house. In the past six years that we've lived here (and bear in mind, we moved in with a four year old, a one year old, and a newborn) we've kept just about everything that's come into the house. Baby furniture, clothes, toys, books, etc. Every now and then I'd do a sweep and send some things on to the cousins, but for the most part, we still had almost all of it. Now imagine trying to lay hands on every one of those items and sort them into catagories: Give to Mom and Dad to save for Melissa and J; Cart over to Carol's house for a yard sale; Pack into boxes now; Leave unpacked; and throw away. This process was HUGELY overwhelming, and I've literally never physically worked so hard for so long in my life. Labor was harder, but over much more quickly. During that process I literally (and I really mean literally, not literally in the sense of "figuratively" which is how most people use the word), I literally went through more than 30 large sized trash bags either in yard sale or trash. Plus about two dozen boxes. The first yard sale netted about $140 for us and about $5.00 each for the kids (we let them sell their own toys) The next one is scheduled for May 30th. We had too much stuff and not enough time to sell it all in the first one. We also carted a whole truckload of baby stuff up to Norwood to transfer to Mom and Dad, who drove it back to Mass, to save for Melissa and J, in Providence. It's a long way around, but it seems to have worked. At least the stuff isn't in this house any more!
The next step was starting to prepare the house for listing. This meant removing all personal photos from the walls, emptying about 3/4 of the books out of the bookshelves, clearing off the kitchen countertops and cabinet tops, clearing off the shelves in the entryway, packing up about 1/2 my china, Clearing out the playroom side of the attic to lay down carpeting, repairing and painting the water damage in the front hall, retouching paint on walls, doors, and mouldings, scrubbing down the exteriors that we could reach, washing all the curtains and cleaning all the windows, and cleaning all the rooms of the house from top to bottom. Oh, and getting rid of the big ugly shelves from our bedroom, and moving the treadmill to Don's sister's house for the duration. Are you tired yet? I sure was!!!
Then, last Monday (the 4th) we met with the realtors and went over the paperwork, and the house was officially listed on Tuesday the 5th. We had our first showing on Thursday, another on Friday, two more on Monday, and one on Tuesday. Yesterday, we received an offer on the house. Today we made a counteroffer. Now, we still have to go through mortgage approval, inspections, appraisals, etc., but I'm quite please at the pace this is going so far.
The scary thing is, Don's job search hasn't quite kept pace with the house sale. There have been some developments, but it's been very frustrating overall. I can't really go into details, but if you're praying folk, please send some his way.
We're looking at a tentative move date of July 1st. Thinking about all that needs to happen between now and then is enough to make me nauseous. Because in addition to all this, I've been working, Don's working, and the kids still have school, baseball, birthday parties, and lots of nerves to assuage.
One bite at a time. That's how you eat an elephant, and that's been my survival strategy for this process.

yelp

Sorry, been a bit busy. Trying to sell a house sucks. Will write when I can!

Happy Easter

Went to T-ball practice this morning, then baseball practice. Both went really well - I think this will be a good year for both boys. Good coaches, good teams, some skills seem to be kicking in. Kind of exciting! Froze my patootie, but managed to get a little sunburn on my forehead. We then went to Granny's for an early Easter celebration...5 cousins, lots of aunts and uncles, two violin and one flute recital...lots of noise and merriment. Don took advantage of a lull to say, "We have a little announcement..." which has previously always been followed by a pregnancy announcement, so moving was almost anti-climactic. Got home and did the Easter bunny thing...thinking about what I need to do tomorrow to get ready to pack up and head to NY for Grandma's funeral. If I had a second to stop and breathe, I might be more able to focus on contemplating the reason for Easter, but for now I'm just trying to keep my head in the game and do what I need to do. Love to you all!

On a completely different topic...

I stopped at my favorite consignment store today to look for a pair of baseball cleats for the boys, and discovered they're no longer selling children's clothes. I was bummed, and then I found out the reason why, and now I'm really bummed! Check out this website:
http://handsandhearts.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=98
This could mean no more kids clothes at thrift stores, no more kids books, no more used toys...that's where I do a LOT of my shopping! This is really crazy and kind of scary too. Way to make things even harder in this economy!!!

VA Beach bound!

Well, we've officially told the kids, so I guess we're going!
Lots of decisions yet to be made, but this one is at least done.
I'm feeling better about it every day - Don still struggling.

The kids reacted about as could be expected. They all cried - Tarzan first, loudly, with big wet tears. Cinderella second - louder, but no tears. Scooby last, lots of tears, but trying to be brave. None of them want to go. They brought up missing their school, Granny, their friends. Cinderella wanted to know if we were bringing her stuffed animals and her mattress. Tarzan wanted to know if we were going before spring break was over. Scooby had lots of questions - he came downstairs after the other two went to sleep and we cuddled and talked for awhile. We told them that right now we don't know the answers to a lot of their questions, but we'll let them know as soon as we can.

My brain hurts.

Well, finally...

Well, I finally tracked down the bas-tuds at BU and got them to admit that they weren't making me an offer. They took 1 student for directing and 2 for theater ed. I guess I can't feel too bad with those odds!
So, now I officially have all the information I need to make a decision. Notice, that's all the information "I" need. We are looking for a job in the VA beach area for Don - it doesn't look encouraging. The pay scale there is even lower than it is here!
Will have to make the decision "official" by Monday, and will have to tell the kids shortly afterwards, as we'll be seeing family over Easter, and will probably want to announce it then.
Schnikees - remind me why I'm doing this again?

The hole of silence

Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)


So, jumping out of silence.

First the easy part - we got a van. It's not that great of a van, but it was within our price range. We decided, with other decisions looming on the horizon that have the potential to be extremely costly, that we would scale back and get what we could afford now, rather than reaching for something nicer that was somewhat out of our comfort zone. It's a burgandy (again) Chrysler Voyager, 2002, with 83,000 miles. It's very similar to the one we lost, but slightly smaller on the inside. It's very basic, not many bells and whistles, but we don't need those. I just hope it keeps running. We bought it from a private owner, who was the only owner and took great care of it (service records, oil changes, garage kept, etc.) Hopefully it will turn out to be a good buy.

Now the harder part. We are strongly leaning towards going to VA beach. However, neither of us it totally peacefull about the decision. They would like us to tell them TODAY whether or not we accept, but I'm thinking about asking for a couple more days. For one thing, I still haven't heard anything from BU. It's probably a negative, if I haven't heard by now, but I don't like making a decision without having all the information in front of me. Don thinks the fact that I would consider BU if they offered means I'm not 100% sold on Regent, and I should be 100% sure if we're going to uproot our whole lives. Well, I don't know if I'll ever be 100%, because I'm very aware of how disruptive this is going to be for everyone. But as I said, we're leaning that way. Right now my plan is to wait until the mailman comes, see if there's anything from BU, then decide from there if I need to ask Regent for more time. I'm hoping they won't have a problem with giving me until, say, Friday.

I believe in taking a step of faith - making a decision based on the belief that it is the right thing to do, even if you don't steps 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. all figured out ahead of time. Don has asked me if it wouldn't also be a step of faith to see a "good" opportunity, but pass it up for what might be a better one ahead. (A better one meaning reapplying to Pitt next year and hoping that I get in this time.) I suppose it could be, but I think if we went that way it would be more about fear and less about faith.

Is this a great time to be trying to look for a job, sell a house, get financial aid? Hm. Let me think. No. It's not. But this seems to be the time that we are in - the time that the opportunity is there.

So anyway, that's where we stand. It's very hard. Please keep praying and stuff. I'll try to stay more on top of sharing our process and not crawl back into the hole.

UPDATE: Well, the mail came, and still nothing from BU. I've sent an email to Regent asking for a couple more days.

Let me 'splain...

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Still looking for a van - have found several possibilities. The rental car is nice. I bought a new car seat and used the rest of the insurance car-seat replacement check for groceries.

Got an official offer from Regent University for their MFA program. I'm seriously considering it, which is throwing our home life into a tizzy. Even more of a tizzy. (Except the kids don't know anything about it yet, and I don't want them to yet, so shhhh.)

I have THE most amazing friends and family. Sheesh, post one meltdown blog post and everyone comes running with love and support and stuff. Maybe I should do that more often! (Just kidding)

I have a killer headache right now, so I'm going to eat some toast and go to bed.

Love you all!!!!

Warning...turbulence ahead.

Okay, fine. Fine! I'm NOT fine. I've been trying...TRYING SO HARD...to focus on the positives, to count my blessings, to be thankful for all we have. And I AM. I am thankful, and there are lots of positive blessings.
BUT.
Right now I'm going to vent. If you don't want to be spewed on, stop reading now.

The van is totalled. MY van is totalled. Which means, the insurance company now owns it, and they will, eventually give us some money for it. About $3800. Do you know what kind of minivan you can buy for $3800? Model: Jack. Make: Squat.
And, of course, they want the rental car back tomorrow. How am I supposed to function without a car? How am I supposed to look for another car without a car???
And the car seat.
Did I mention they have to destroy the car seat? The boosters are okay, but our nice, expensive toddler seat/convertible booster has to go.
I spent the day on the internet looking for cars. I found some exciting possibilites, but none panned out. What I want, what I'd really like to salvage out of this situation, is to upgrade to a nicer van, with low mileage, that won't break down within three months.
Alas, it is not to be. Because everything in our price range is crap. Cruddy looking, high mileage, leering at us, ready to break down if you blink at it.
Why is this always what it comes down to? Stupid frigging money. Everything is about money. Where we live, what we drive, what I fix for dinner, what activities the kids can do. I'm freaking sick of it. I HATE complaining about money. WHAT could be more boring. But guess what? It's boring living it too. Boring and frustrating and shitty. I know lots of people are living with it, dealing with it every day. I know many many many people are worse off than we are. I know these things. I know it's just how things are, and tomorrow, I'll go back to putting my head down and plowing through. Facing the day. Worrying about the future. Tomorrow.
Right now, I just want to be pissed off. And about that weight loss thing? I EAT when I'm pissed off and scared and frustrated. So poop.

Update

Everyone is fine. Repeat. Everyone is fine.

The van is at the repair shop. We will find out today if it can be repaired or if it will be totaled. Until then, I have a free loaner Chevy Malibu. Just call me Barbie.

The other car had a barely scratched bumper and a tiny dent. They stopped in front of Don to make a left turn, and he just didn't see them in time. He was turning the wheel as he tried to stop, which is why there's more damage on the driver's side.

Our airbags didn't go off, and the car drove home fine, so those are good signs.

According to the insurance lady, we need to replace the carseats, though. At least Cinderellas - she's not sure about the boosters. Another thing they'll let me know sometime today.

Everyone is fine.

Just...beyond words tonight.
Don hit someone else's car with the van, with all the kids in the car.
They are all fine. Don is fine. The other person is fine.
The van is a mess.
Unbe-freaking-lievable.

Spring-eve

Not a whole lot to say today. Kids got report cards - all good. Scooby has A's in Math and Social Studies and A plusses in Language Arts, Science, Spanish and Violin. He's such an underacheiver. The other two don't get letter grades yet, but are doing really really well. I'm so proud of them. I got the scripts and the videos of the school tour shows that I'm subbing in for - three are about bullying and one is about drugs. In fact, the drug one is the same basic script that I did - what was it - 17 years ago? It's been updated, of course, and some much needed improvements have been made, but overall it's pretty much the same. Kind of funny. The bullying ones seem pretty good too, although one seems pretty cheesy on paper. I'm hoping it translates better into video or live. I've got a week to learn the four scripts, so it will be a challenge.
I was scheduled at Pitt this week as a training tool for Psychiatric faculty to learn the methodology of the upcoming Psyche "Observed Clinical Education Training" (that's not quite right, but it's close enough.) Unfortunately, 4 out of the 5 faculty that were supposed to show up didn't, so in the room were another Standardized Patient, myself, the co-ordinator of the SP program, and the head faculty member who was running the seminar - all there to train one poor guy. It went all right, I guess. The two cases I'm working this week are a Med-seeking Valium addict and a Manic-Disorganized Bi-Polar patient. They're pretty interesting. The manic one will be a challenge, because I basically have to talk rapidly and non-stop unless I'm forcibly stopped by the students. I hope I can think of enough to say! It's hard because it can't be stuff about "me", it has to be stuff that's relevant to "patient" who has her own back-story, family history, work life, home life, etc.
To those of you participating in the weight loss challenge, I will NOT be posting my starting weight and BMI here on the blog. If you want to know it, to keep me honest, I'll email you.

Small graces, part 9

1. The engine light wasn't anything serious - same emissions code as before, possibly a loose gas cap.
2. Got everywhere I needed to go today - three different jobs - and all went well.
3. Enjoyed talking to Mom for awhile.
4. Beauty and the Beast is going to be a good show!
5. Tarzan's new Ranger Rick magazine came.

On the frustrating side, I emailed Regent and BU to see if they could give me a timeline for finding out...no answer yet from BU, and Regent said it could be a couple more weeks. WEEKS! Aarrgh!

small graces, part8

1. Going walking yesterday and walking a steep hill today. You've got to start somewhere!
2. Tax refund check
3. Remembering to buy deoderant at Walmart
4. Scheduling some more acting work for the month of April
5. A beautiful warm day

Praying that the engine light that popped on today doesn't mean anything serious!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Click below:

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/KYaAXiQoOZbQ5JROXTwg

Play song - look at pictures...repeat

Random pictures

A couple more pictures:

These are the two watermelon costumes that appeared in the Odyssey project. The one on the left is the one that caused my chainsaw injury. The cut piece of styrofoam is inside the fabric. The one on the right is actually the one that Scooby wore in the presentation.

Scooby made this barrel himself - it's supported inside by a basket and a pizza pan.

Tarzan's teeth are finally starting to grow back in, but you can't tell in this picture.

This is our St. Patrick's Day cake - made out of 6 cupcakes and a square cake. Idea by Tarzan, design by Mommy, decoration by all.

Meh...Updated!

Long day today. I'm feeling pretty beat down and discouraged. The audition went...okay, I guess. They didn't give me a callback, but their rejection phone call was very polite and friendly, and at least they let me know right away. I spent last night and today doing "Play in a Day" which is a lot like an Odyssey problem squished into 9 hours. It was a lot of time to spend with 5 ten-year-old girls. Lots of squealing and hair twirling. There's lots of laundry to be folded, and the cupboards are looking mighty bare again, with no paychecks coming in in the immediate future. Off to bed now. To sleep...perchance to dream...maybe I'll dream about a way out.

Update:
Bedlam breaks out at NYC 'Top Model' auditions
March 14, 2009, 7:35 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- Three people were arrested and six others hurt Saturday after bedlam broke out while they waited to audition for "America's Next Top Model," police said.
Police didn't know what prompted the chaos involving hundreds of people outside the Park Central New York hotel in Manhattan.

I'm guessing...hunger.

Rolling with the punches

Could this be more generic???

"I regret to inform you that the Department of Theatre Studies did not approve your application for admission to Brown University’s Graduate School for the 2009-2010 academic year. Admission decisions are made on a comparative basis and are the result of a careful evaluation of each candidate's application, taking into account academic achievement, preparation for advanced study, and other supporting materials.

The majority of those who apply to the Graduate School have strong qualifications and demonstrate an ability to do advanced academic work. We regret that we have to disappoint many bright and talented students.

Thank you for your interest in Brown. I wish you the best in your academic endeavors."

Not a surprise, but now it's official. For the directing program, at least.

Whatevs.

Class

I started teaching a class today for Saltworks. It will be every Thursday for 9 weeks, from 4:30 - 7:00pm. I have 9 girls, ages 14 - 18. We're going to work on A Lion In Winter (one of my favorite Katherine Hepburn movies - she's amazing in it.) It's about Henry II, Eleanor of Aquataine, and their sons Richard (to become "the Lionhearted"), Geoffrey, and John (of Evil Prince John fame in the Robin Hood movies) They're quite a family, and it's quite a script. If I ever got into grad school and had to write a thesus type thing, I'd be interested in pursuing these Plantagenets. Other plays they appear in are Murder in the Cathedral, Becket, Henry IV, V, and VI (Shakespeare), and several others. Class went well, and the girls are resigned if not excited about playing men. They're part of the Saltworks "Young Company", which means they've been around awhile and taken a lot of classes, and are used to playing men. In fact, last summer, I had some of them in my Antigone class and one of they played King Creon.
It feels good to get my teaching chops working again.
I also have an audition this weekend for a Pgh Theater company's summer season. They're auditioning Equity actors too, so I don't expect much, but at least I'm getting my butt out there again. I've been hibernating since NY, as far as the acting thing goes.

Small graces, part 7

Hm. Seems I missed yesterday. Weird. I thought I wrote something, but I must have just imagined it!
It also seems that since I made the declaration that I would try to be more grateful for the little things in everyday life that more and more aggravating things have started to happen. Nothing super huge, just little niggling annoyances that make it harder to see the good. But here goes!

1. More buds coming up through the ground - Cinderella's lilac bush is frosted in green.
2. I found three Madeleine L'Engle books at Half Priced books today that I didn't have. Two poetry books and a very early novel. And they were only $3.00 each!
3. I've picked up some more work in the past couple of days - more days at Pitt and another weekend of classes.
4. I think I found a babysitter for Friday afternoon, if she doesn't back out.
5. I'm having Scooby teach me violin on his quarter-sized little one. I can play Ode to Joy almost recognizably. I think Scooby and I are about the same level right now.

Missing everyone out there...write something in your blogs! I'm lonely!

Some Odyssey pictures

David and his friend - what is it about the blondes???
Setting up during the performance - you can see the anchor sign, barrel, and mast, all created by David, if you look really closely!

Notice the two-headed Pirate Germ in the back

Team Dunlap

David - the old sea captain

Sixth place. Sigh. Frankly, I think they were robbed. But, they're taking it well. Better than me, I think! Somehow, I don't seem to have a picture of the watermelon costume that scarred my finger. I'll try to find one and post it when I get it.

Small graces, part 6

1. Lots of sleep this morning - the kids were quiet and we skipped church.
2. Quality Lego time with the boys - they built, I watched.
3. Granny coming over to spend time with the kids and bake cookies while we cleaned the office.
4. Did I mention they baked cookies?
5. A whole weekend of warm weather and only a little bit of rain.

OM

Well, they came in 6th, so no states this year. They did really well, and I was very proud of them. We're disappointed, but at least we'll have more evenings free now!
REALLY tired, so no more posting for now.

small graces, part 5

1 - 5:
By this time tomorrow, the Odyssey of the Mind Regional Tournament will be over!

Just Yale if you need me

So, I got my official rejection letter from Yale today. I'm not broken up about it, because it was pretty obvious they weren't going to accept me when they booted me after one round of auditions. I was going to try to write some kind of funny entry about "what Yale wrote" and "what Yale was really saying" but when I went to pull the letter out of the trash to copy what they wrote, I discovered Don had already emptied the can and I'm not digging through leftover peanut butter and coffee grounds to find it. So basically, what Yale wrote is many are called, few are chosen. And you ain't one of 'em. Eh.

Today's graces:
1. Warmth! Sunshine! Warmth!
2. Got all the copies I needed done for free.
3. Found the green facepaint I needed locally - saved me a 20 minute drive.
4. Kids did so well at Beauty and the Beast rehearsal I let them go 1/2 an hour early.
5. Coriciden is a great cold medicine.

Night all!

Oh yeah, my blog.

I was on my way to bed (nice talking to you, Lisa!) when I realized I hadn't written anything yet today. Slightly better day today. Yesterday was a lot of things - PMS, getting a cold, hearing too much bad news in a short amount of time, jumping through Medicare benefit renewal hoops. The thing that tipped me over the edge, though, was an email from one of the school's I've been accepted at, which will remain nameless due to potential dangerous Googling, (right Steve?) but if you've following along it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out which one. Anyway, I've been trying to get some questions answered for awhile now about the program and financial aid stuff, but have experience really BAD communication skills from this department. Finally yesterday I sent another respectful email requesting the answers to the same questions I'd been asking. I got one back saying that they thought I'd declined admission, so that was my status in their computers. Oh, and there's no money available for first years anyway. Oh, and this person's going to a conference for two weeks, so I can contact her again then if I want to change the status in my file. I firmly but respectfully replied that I had NOT declined admission, and forwarded the chain of emails stating that very thing, and that this person had replied to herself, saying to just let them know when I'd made a decision. I immediately got back one of those automated "out-of-the-office" replies. Tells me something about the organization of the school and the difficulty I might have ever trying to get anything done through the administration. So as of now, the two schools that have accepted me are two that I didn't have to audition for, and that I very well may not want to go to. (Savannah's a whole nother story...I'll get into it later, maybe.)
So, still waiting.

Bad day

Grateful for God's faithfulness.
The end.

Small graces, part 4

1. Going back to bed after Don went to work. Shh - don't tell him!
2. Getting enough done around the house when I finally got up again to make it look like I didn't spend the morning in bed.
3. Getting the gift package from Mom and Dad's cruise - I love my hat and earrings, the kids love their banks and "water globe" (NOT a snow globe, Mommy) and Don loves his little tiny cup. (That's what Cinderella called it...I think it's going to stick!)
4. Finding out that another Odyssey team is actually scheduled earlier than us - at 7:42! This gives me strange joy.
5. Being able to read and giggle at some very funny postings on Facebook by friends. I like having funny friends.

Quick update

Sad news today. Some friends lost a baby at 8 1/2 months of the pregnancy. Everything was normal at the checkup one week previous, then yesterday they couldn't find a heartbeat. They did an emergency C-section and the baby was stillborn. They figure the placenta detached somehow. I can't even imagine what they're going through.
Crazy week ahead, getting ready for the Odyssey tournament on Sat. We also have parent conferences on Friday - I think I put the fear of God in Cinderella today when I told her that. She's been having some discipline issues at school - too busy socializing with her BFFs to listen to the teacher!
I was so proud of myself tonight - I figured out how to burn a CD after converting a video from youtube into an mp3, and then decompressing it. And yes, I'm sure there IS an easier way, but that's not the point! I did it all by myself!
The calendar says it will be spring soon, but it sure isn't looking like it on the East coast.

Small things, part 3

1. Good mystery show tonight - good audience, nice feedback.
2. Good Odyssey meeting this afternoon - no injuries, everyone there, got a lot done.
3. Good haircuts for the kiddos this morning. Cinderella's is up to her shoulders - she's been begging to get it cut, and loves it!
4. No mail today, for some reason. And yes, I've decided to count that as a blessing.
5. Scooby and I are now reading "The Black Cauldren." I LOVE sharing my favorite books with my kids!

Late things

Late post tonight - I went out for a "work" meeting at a beer joint. We were supposed to be working on paperwork for Odyssey, but it just turned into a bitch session. With beer. The most fun meeting I've been to yet!
So, no list today. I'm tired. Although probably not as tired as Steve, who seems to be treating the whole Vegas experience as one long sleep-deprivation experiment. I got off the phone with him today and Scooby asked me, "So WHO's torturing Uncle Steve?" Hard to explain, really.
Scooby had mandatory baseball "tryouts" tonight, so the coaches could "draft" their teams. Pretty painful. He wasn't very happy afterwards. This will be the make or break year for baseball, I think.
Tarzan's reading, and greatly enjoying, the "Captain Underpants" books. I managed to steer Scooby away from them, but no such luck with Mr. Independence! He decided to strip down yesterday and BE Captain Underpants for awhile. Of course, he's been doing that for awhile...

Grace, part 2

1. I received an acceptance into Savannah College of Art and Design's MFA in Performing Arts program. Not sure if I want to go there, but it's nice to be wanted.
2. My house has been very peaceful and quiet today. It's nice.
3. An article Scooby co-wrote was published in the local paper today. He'll be thrilled!
4. Tarzan has a playdate today. He's already thrilled.
5. After tonight, all the songs for Beauty and the Beast will be choreographed - now we just have to review them. Over and over again.

Grace in small things

1. The sun is shining, and I actually had to switch the settings in my car from heat to vent.
2. I cashed my teensy tiny paycheck and it was enough to cover a week's worth of groceries.
3. All three kids, although somewhat coughy and sneezy are well enough to go to school.
4. Scooby brought home three tests last week, all with a score of 100%
5. My finger, although itchy and ugly, is healing quickly

As today is the first day of Lent, I'm going to attempt to write something in this blog every day, even if it's "only" a list of things to be grateful for. I'm going to attempt to focus on the positive, and reignite my awarenesss of the blessings in my life.

Not to say that there won't still be days of venting and complaining.

But I'm going to try, in this season of reflection, to be more present, more transparent, and more grateful.

We'll see how it goes.

Blug.

Tarzan has a new post on his blog. Click the link on the left...

Turns out, pretty darn low

How low can you go?
How low can you go?
How
Low
Can
You
Go.......

Limbo, con't

Who thought up these lyrics?????

Get you super, Limbo Girl!
Give they check to Limbo World!
There’s a Limbo Moon above,
You will fall in Limbo love!
Jack, be Limbo! Jack, be quick!
Jack, go under Limbo stick!
All around the Limbo Club!
Hey, let’s do the Limbo Rock!
Ahahahou!

Limbo

I feel like I'm in a state of limbo, waiting for these schools to get back to me. For the past three weeks, I've been in a place of having done everything that I can do to expedite the process, and am merely waiting for the judgement to fall.

Limbo
1.
(often initial capital letter) Roman Catholic Theology. a region on the border of hell or heaven, serving as the abode after death of unbaptized infants (limbo of infants) and of the righteous who died before the coming of Christ (limbo of the fathers or limbo of the patriarchs).
2.
a place or state of oblivion to which persons or things are regarded as being relegated when cast aside, forgotten, past, or out of date: My youthful hopes are in the limbo of lost dreams.
3.
an intermediate, transitional, or midway state or place.
4.
a place or state of imprisonment or confinement.

5.
a dance from the West Indies, originally for men only, in which the dancer bends backward from the knees and moves with a shuffling step under a horizontal bar that is lowered after each successive pass.

Out of the above definitions, the one that I was thinking of when I thought "limbo" was number 3, a transitional or midway state. Neither here, nor there. Incapable of making future plans, or investing in present circumstances. However, upon reflection, number 4 also seems to fit. Also, number 5. Bending backwards, shuffling, as the bar is lowered.

Ouch.

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

See, there was this hunk of heavy styrofoam that was roughly shaped like a half of a watermelon, and they needed a watermelon costume, so how perfect is that? But it was heavy, and kind of too big, so we were going to cut it in half, length-wise. So we tried a hand saw, and yeah, that was working, but they're only fourth graders and not very strong, so it took about 20 minutes to cut down a quarter of an inch, and we had about 2 feet to go. So then we tried hedge clippers, but they didn't do anything. So I got out the small chainsaw that we have for tree limbs. I figured, other parents let their kids use power tools, under supervision. We were really careful, and I showed them how to turn it on and off, and had everyone else stand way back, but SOMEONE had to hold the styrofoam steady, and a kid sure couldn't do it, and...

Anyway, no one else got hurt, the styrofoam got cut, and it makes quite a nice watermelon. In retrospect, we probably should have found another way, but it DID work. And my finger will heal.

Warning...graphic picture below.

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Happy President's Day

Mine will be spent much as my Valentine's Day was...in full Mommy mode. V-Day, I took Scooby to a "Spontaneous Fun Day" at his school - to practice sponteous problems for Odyssey of the Mind. I know, it's an oxymoron. And they still haven't learned to build tall towers out of random materials. No structural engineers in this group. Then, I took Cinderella to buy a birthday present for her friend and dropped her off at the party. Then we picked her up and went to the library to renew Scooby's Battle of the Books reading selection. Hm...it's kind of a blur after that. Today, I have Beauty and the Beast rehearsal and then a LONG Odyssey meeting where we be exploring the comparative merits of liquid nails, hot glue, and sewing. I'm tired already, just thinking about it. I spent all night dreaming about subway card machines that wouldn't give me change and leaving baby strollers in the middle of the street. A tribute, I think, to both Steve and Melissa. It shows you're on my mind!

Holes

This is what the hole in our bedroom floor looked like.

For about 8 months now, we've noticed a significant dip in the floor (underneath the carpet) in our bedroom, right in the middle of the room. It was very hard to avoid. It was also, I noticed one day when I was downstairs, directly above the chandelier in the dining room. (Or what we call "the blue room" since we don't have any dining room furniture in it.) It appeared rather suddenly, and the kids, despite being threatened with a river dunking, enjoyed jumping into it. I had great trepidation about this hole, and even had dreams about it being filled with swarming termites chewing their way through our house. We didn't quite know how to go about exploring the problem, however, as we have wall-to-wall Berber (sp?) carpeting, and a very small bedroom crammed full of heavy furniture. Finally, Don sweet-talked a carpet-laying friend of his to come over and take a look. This meant the day before I had to clear off my dresser (no mean feat), carry all the drawers into the boy's room, take all the storage boxes from under the bed into the boy's room, strip the bed and put the blankets and comforter in the boy's room, put the end-of-the-bed bench into the boy's room, and hope like hell they wouldn't have to move my huge shelving unit, since I had loaded it up with everything from off the dresser. That morning, Don and I moved the mattresses into the boy's room, disassembled the bed, pulled the dresser into the hall...no wonder my back still hurts! So anyway, the guy came and pulled back the carpet, and it was no big deal. A small support piece had come off (the nail bent) and two pieces of the hardwood had dropped down. Nail the support back on, replace the boards, problem solved. Then, the best part, the guy fixed the carpet - by "kicking" it back into place. I don't know how many of you have ever seen a carpet being "kicked" but MAN, does it look painful. There's this tool that stretches the carpet flat, then you jam the end of it with your knee and it pushes the carpet under the baseboards. He did both walls in about 5 minutes. It was really something to see. So for the rest of the day I vacuumed places that haven't seen the light of day in 5 years, washed sheets and blankets, and put the room back together. Not a bad day's work.

GroundHog Day

Stupid groundhog.

Anyway, here's a recap of my trip to NY. Here's what I know for sure now, that I didn't before I left. I'm not going to Yale. I'm not going to any of the other schools that I didn't specifically apply to (the ones that showed up for the URTAs). New York actually can be fun to visit. Especially when you can stay for free with your brother and he buys you all your meals.

I flew out on Saturday in a tiny little plane that made me slightly airsick during landing. We had a powerful tailwind and arrived 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Not bad for a flight that should have taken an hour and a half! I took a cab from LaGuardia to the corner of 87th and 3rd, then stood outside in a freezing gale for what seemed like 20 minutes waiting for Steve. (It was probably about 3 minutes, but it was really cold!) We settled in to his apartment and he promptly got me hooked on past episodes of "LOST", a show I swore I'd never watch, since it seemed such a pain to understand. And yes, it is, but I also enjoyed it a lot. After feeling like a slug for awhile, I dragged Steve outside to show me his neighborhood.

We walked up to a little park along the East River, had a nice chat, and took a short subway hop home. We ordered pizza and watched more "LOST."

On Sunday, I took the Metro-North railroad from Grand Central up to New Haven. I decided to walk from Union Station to the Yale campus, which went fine after only one short stint of walking the wrong way for about 6 blocks. I found the campus and called my friend Cassie, arranging to meet up after the audition. I was still a couple of hours early, so I found a nice vegetarian place for lunch and had some hummus, falafel, tabouli, and baba ganoush. I think I mostly spelled those right. And no, I still don't know what baba ganoush is, but the falafel was really delicious. So then I had my Yale audition. There were 16 of us assigned to the 2:00 hour. We met with the auditioners (two of the heads of the MFA drama program) to hear that they were really very nice people, and if we don't make it don't take it personally, and yadda yadda. The same speech I was to hear about six times over the course of the week. We then went in one at a time and did our two contrasting monologues in four minutes or less, and then waited for the end of the hour callbacks to be posted. Then there were to be end of the day callbacks, and then another round of callbacks at the end of February. I have two friends who auditioned for the Directing program in past years, and both were called back several times, and both ended up not being accepted into the program. So I decided that if they weren't going to accept me, I'd rather know right away rather than being put through the suspense. So, they obliged me by not even asking me to the end of the hour callbacks. And, although I was of course disappointed not to even make it past the first round, I was glad that the decision came sooner rather than later, and I can definitely cross Yale off the maybe list. If only I could get my $100 application fee back.

Anyway, next I met up with Cassie and we went out for a bite to eat.

Except the place we went to wasn't serving food at that hour (it was about 4:00 and they didn't start dinner service until 5:00), so we had tea until 5:00 and then ordered dinner. I went to CMU with Cassie and we survived the Directing program together. We were even roomates for a year and loved each other, and fought a lot, and argued over housekeeping roles, and learned a tremendous amount from each other. She's almost intimidatingly intelligent and insightful, and has a way of making clarifying statements about life situations that make you reconsider all your previous assumptions and strive to dig a little deeper into yourself. She's also warm, thoughtful, and embracing. I find her incredibly challenging, stimulating, and encouraging to be around, and can't imagine how I've gone for so long without her presence in my life. So after our dinner, I took the train back to Grand Central, and the subway back to Steve's apartment, and watched some more "LOST" until passing out.

Monday I had the audition for Brown. I applied to both the acting and directing programs, and so had separate auditions and interviews for each. I met with the head of the MFA Directing program first, and I think it went okay, except I didn't have any "supporting materials" with me and I think she expected me to. Things such as photos from shows, press clippings, director's notes, etc. First of all, I don't have many of those, and secondly, I didn't really want to lug them to New York for one interview. It said such material was welcome, but not necessary. So anyway, we talked about the program, and what my vision of theater is, and what hers is, and a lot about motherhood (she has two children, ages three and five.) I think we hit it off personally, but I don't think I impressed her professionally. They only accept two people into the directing program. Next I auditioned for the heads of the MFA Acting program, and did my two contrasting monologues in under three minutes, and chatted with them for a bit. They were very nice, and seemed to like the audition. Two hours later there was an orientation meeting where they explained about the program. They are big into collaboration and the making of the "whole theater artist", so I think it's a plus that I applied to both programs. I REALLY liked the sound of the program, and would love to be accepted there. That said, I'm trying to remain expectation free. I should hear from them one way or the other by the end of February.

After I was done there, I walked around a little by Central Park, spent some time in FAO Schwartz, and window shopped on Madison Ave. Then Steve and Sue and I went out to dinner at a nice French place where I had scallops and leeks, and a really nice wine.

Tuesday was the Screening audition for the URTAs. There were about 75 people there for the orientation meeting, and we each auditioned for two judges (two contrasting monologues in under 3 minutes) who determined whether or not you were worthy to be seen by the actual representatives from the 30 or so schools that attend. I ran into someone from the murder mysteries that I've worked with, and it was nice to see a familiar face! I was, again, one of the oldest people in the room. That was a theme for the whole week, by the way. 99 percent of the women seemed to be right out of undergrad school. The men had a few older looking representatives, but most were still in their twenties. At the screening audition, I saw one women who looked slightly older than me, and one man who was a lot older. He warmed up by doing Tai Chi in the middle of the room. The orientation was at 8:30 and my audition was at 11:30. Then we had to come back tor the results at 5:00. After my audition, I went back to Steve's and fell asleep. I'd had every intention of getting some packing done for him, but I guess I was tired! So I went back at 5:00 to get my results and was very happy to see I'd been passed on to the final auditions! (The guy I knew from Pittsburgh was not.) That was a good night.

Then Steve and I and his friend Lauren went to a barbecue place for dinner, and then met up with Sue for dessert at a German place, where she was hit on by a very drunk guy at the bar. He liked her glasses. And her stylllle. We had chocolate fondue. Yummy!

Wednesday was another 8:30 call for orientation for the Final URTA auditions. Mine was at 9:52, and the results would be in at three. I had coffee at Starbucks with a nice girl from New Haven named Iris (whose first choice school is Yale). She was one of the "older" women - 25. It was slushy and rainy on Wednesday, and NOT very fun to try to walk around, but I decided to stick it out, and walked over to the Museum of Modern Art for awhile. And I decided, yeah, I really still don't like most modern art. But it was cool to see the actual Andy Warhols:

and Jackson Pollocks:

and Van Goghs:

So I went back for the results at 3:00, and received a disappointment. The schools that are interested in you schedule an interview that day at the hotel. So you don't know until your receive your results whether you'll be seeing no one, or a whole slew of people keeping you there until late in the evening. It is for these interviews that you are supposed to bring 10 copies of your headshot, resume, and school transcript. I received one request for an interview, from the University of Wisconsin. And there were two other people there with me. I think they called back everyone, in order to try to recruit people to their school, because, let's face it, it's in Wisconsin. So that was disappointing. Not that there were any schools there that I was dying to go to, but there were several I was at least interested in, and if anyone was going to do the turning down, I wanted it to be me!

That night, I went back to Steve's and DID do some packing, ordered pizza again, and watched more "LOST". I flew out Thursday morning and got home without incident.

Overall, it was a good trip. I enjoyed the sights of New York

and travelled around without any problems whatsoever (which I had been worried about.) I felt I auditioned well each time. I was confident, prepared, did my monologues well, and received good feedback overall. I did everything right, that I had any control over. I was somewhat disappointed in the return on that investment, but again, those are things I have no control over. I sort of wish I had been at this place 10 years ago, but I wasn't. I didn't want this 10 years ago, I wanted my babies. And I have them, and they're amazing.

So whatever works out, I'm along for the ride. I should know within about six weeks what all the schools I actually applied to decide, and I'll go from there.

Onwards!

Oh, yes.

There will be more, soon. But this, snapped during my visit to the Museum of Modern Art, pretty well sums up my trip.

The glamorous life

Not much exciting going on here...just trying to run down the list of errands before I leave tomorrow. Return library books, print out itinerary for Don of my activities and the kid's activities. Double check babysitting arrangements and rides to activities for kids. Get copies of headshots made(a pain in the butt, but too boring to elaborate on). Mail some long overdue forms. Try to burn into my brain where I have to be and when and what form of public transit I'm taking to get there. I have phone numbers of two friends from college, one in NY and one in CT that I'm going to try to connect with while I'm gone, I hope that works out. Clean the fish tank. Pick up Scooby's new glasses. Organize my clothes. Go to the bank. Exciting!!!
Today I'm packing and cleaning the dentist office, getting a travel book from the library, and making another trip to the post office. My flight is tomorrow at 11:30! Pray for me - or at least do what they say in England...hold your thumbs for me!

Brr

I suppose it will sound redundant to most of the country to admit that it's cold here. Freezing. Quite a bit below freezing, actually. Like minus 2 degrees. Now, I know in Norwood, that's backyard barbeque weather, but here it's kind of a shock to the system. Thankfully, our furnace works, the car has been starting and the heater for the one remaining fish in the tank hasn't conked out. Despite these blessings, however, it's pretty freaking miserable. The kids' hands and lips are all chapped, the cat is incredibly cranky, and I'm about ready to sign up with any school south of the border. Winter sucks.
Don is away for the weekend on a guy's camping trip with 5 of his friends. Fortunately, it's wussy camping, in a heated cabin with cigars and beer. Hopefully he'll have fun. His Christmas vacation was kind of defeated by the coughing and hacking. Then next week, I'm off to NYC for my auditions!
Can I mention briefly how freaked out I am? I was totally planning on losing 20 pounds by this time, and getting in a couple more monologue coaching sessions. Oh well. Stress-eating demolished the 20 pound plan, and financial woes nixed the coaching sessions. I'm trying to just view it as a fun trip to visit Steve, (and help him pack...) with a side of a few insignificant auditions along the way. Que sera sera.
On the home front, Cinderella's front teeth are coming in nicely, Tarzan's been bumped up another reading group level at school, and Scooby's considering entering a Shakespeare monologue and scene contest. (He's not being influenced in that decision at all. Ha ha.)
Time for a possett and a hot water bottle.

She lost the tooth!

All it took was an (accidental) elbowing from her older brother.

Movies Becki will not be seeing in 2009

I have stolen, um, I mean, borrowed the following entry from my friend Becki. Actually I asked her permission first, so it's not really stealing at all. Read it and see why she is my friend. I like to surround myself with funny people!


Movies I Will Not Be Seeing in 2009

Well, here we are, on the cusp of a new year, and you know what that means! That’s right! The media telling us what we’re going to like for the next twelve months! Following my perusal of several “must see” movie-lists, I’ve come up with my own “must not see” list.
After all, a girl’s got to stand up to the man.


1. My Bloody Valentine, 3D. If you have ever had the good fortune to spend more than 30 seconds with me, you know that I am a huge chicken. The line between “fear” and “fun” is very thick, well defined, and guarded with electric fence.
And barbed wire.
And gnomes, with guns.
I have never been able to comprehend the phrase “It’s not scary! It’s FUNNY!” How can you possibly get those two things confused?! “It’s not scary, it’s ALLEGORY!”, okay. “It’s not scary, it’s a DOCUMENTARY.” Sure. I’ll even go so far as “It’s not scary, it’s a METAPHOR FOR THE ROLE CULTURAL RELATIVISM PLAYS IN THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF CIVILIZATION.” But funny?! No.
I could spend all day complaining about why horror movies are not entertainment, but I know that some of you make your living as the voice of serial killer Vic Towbridge in “Exit Speed” (out on DVD now!). So I’ll just sum it up and say that just thinking about a horror movie in 3D makes me want to curl into the fetal position, and I can do that for free in my own home, thank you very much.

2. Fast and Furious. Am I delirious, or was this movie already made? Let me check the ol’ IMDB.com….hmmmm….yes. Yes, it was, only it had a few “ands” and “thes” that are now absent from this brilliantly concise title.
I have a few questions about this whole franchise. If you can answer them, please. Enlighten me. First of all, I would like to know who is seeing these movies. Single men? Frustrated married men? Single women trolling for lonely single men? Mechanics? Vin Diesel’s mother? Whoever they are, they must be stopped. Next, I would like to know if Vin Diesel’s last name had anything to do with his acquisition of this Role Of A Lifetime. I mean, it’s a car movie. And his last name’s Diesel. That would be like David Spade being in that “Holes” movie from a few years back.
You with me? Anyone laugh at that? No? Okay, moving on.

3. The Pink Panther 2. Let me just clear this up: I love Steve Martin. Love him. With the intensity of a thousand suns. And I also love stupid comedy. I mean, come on. I’m a Toth. It’s in our genetic makeup. But this…this is asking too much.
Steve Martin and a cast of commendable actors who clearly owe Steve Martin huge favors (perhaps he donated organs to their children?) run around and solve crime. Whatev. But you know what really gets me? Steve Martin’s girlfriend in this movie (Emily Mortimer) is, in real life, 26 years younger than him. Let the record show that if I was dating someone who was 26 years younger than me, I’d be escorting a 3rd grader on his field trip to Old Economy.
Twenty six years. Sheesh. Where I come from, that’s two generations.

4. Bride Wars. This really isn’t fair. I wouldn’t see this no matter who was starring in it, but the fact that it’s starring Anne Hathaway (who reminds me of a brunette Ronald McDonald) pushes this over the precipitous edge. I get it, I get it. Girls who are getting married morph into Mothra, and will eat your face off if you catch them on a bad day.
To be honest, I’m not a fan of the romantic comedy in general (with a small number of notable exceptions), and one could probably make a compelling case about my distaste for rom-coms and my general cynicism toward all things mushy being in direct proportion. But honestly? Are we doing women any favors with movies like this? Do men really need one more reason to think we’re cranky, overly emotional, and irrational? Or am I just thinking too much?

5. Land of the Lost. Oh. Em. Gee. People, only one thing terrified me more as a child than the army of Oompa Loompas in "Willy Wonka", and that is the Saturday morning television program, "Land of the Lost". A little history for you Becki-Buffs--Saturday mornings in my house were piano lessons for my mom. My siblings and I were permitted in the TV room ONLY during this time--apparently, we were "loud", "distracting", and "incredibly annoying". Anyway, once my siblings latched onto the fact that I hated this show, I was forced to watch it every freaking week. All channel changes must be democratically decided, of course, and I was outvoted 2-1 every time.
As some of you know, I have a paralyzing fear of dinosaurs. I had to leave "Jurassic Park" because I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I blame this show--even with it's lousy special effects, it did the trick and scared the crap outta me.
I read an interview with Will Farrell yesterday (he is starring in this movie, along with a bunch of people I've never heard of) in which he makes this comment:
"We thought it was better served if it errs more on the side of 'Jurassic Park' in terms of realism, and the dinosaurs are just scary as s---, and the comedy plays off of that. You're not going to see the zipper up the back of the Sleestaks' costumes."
Are you kidding me with this? I'd have to be hospitalized. No thanks.

And that, folks, ends not only our list of "Movies I Will Not Be Seeing In 2009", but also a sublist:
"Reasons Why Becki Will Die Alone In A Trailer Full Of Cats". Thanks for joining us.

Happy 2009!

Yes, it's January, 2009 and I can no longer procrastinate looking at the ever so scary "financial aid" portion of the college application process. The new FAFSA (federal student loan application) is available and at least one of the schools needs it completed by tomorrow. Of course, the information on the FAFSA is dependent on your 2008 tax return, which I cannot yet complete since I've only received one of the forms out of the 5 DIFFERENT ONES I need, and the one that Don needs in order to complete it. So I spent about two hours today trying to fudge my way through completing a tax form so I could at least get some estimated numbers to put into the other form. In the meantime, the other form timed out and I can't currently retrieve it. Which is probably okay, because I have to go pick up the boys in 15 minutes so I can drag all three kids to a production meeting for Beauty and the Beast. Then we'll return home, I'll fix dinner, nag them to do their homework, do baths, and try to get them to bed so I can finish the freaking form in time to watch the new episode of Grey's Anatomy. On the plus side, I'm way ahead in terms of completing our taxes.
I'll write more about the holidays at another time, when I'm not so crabby. They truly were wonderful, despite the bronchitis.

ps: 8:45pm There. It's done. Stupid forms.

Merry Merry!

Tonight we had Christmas at the Dunlaps - and much merriment ensued. Also some angst, a few tears, a toothache and far too much consumption of sweets. All in all, a good party. We did our annual White Elephant gift exchange - and Scooby ended up choosing one of the gifts I'd brought, much to his chagrin and everyone else's amusement. Tarzan got a 2 foot bottle of vinegar and peppers shaped like the Eiffel Tower, and a birdhouse kit. Cinderella was my designated helper, and she picked out a bag for holding stuff in the car - quite a sophisticated choice, if I do say so myself.
Tomorrow we pack feverishly while the kids enjoy their school Christmas parties, and then head off to Mass. - all in one go if the DVD player and weather both cooperate. I don't anticipate much posting while we're gone, since most of the people who read this will be in Mass. with me, so while we're away, let me wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a better 2009 than 2008 turned out to be, and a few moments of peace amongst the parties.

Acceptance Number One

VCU in Richmond sent me an acceptance letter today! Yay!
But I won't find out about other schools until March....hm.

Betty

This is my god-daughter, Amanda. The last time I saw her was 5 or 6 years ago, when I think she was just starting high school. She told me she was changing her name to Betty. I guess she meant it! I found her recently on Facebook. This is a self-portrait she took recently. Although she looks nothing like her mother, who was my best friend in high school, the sadness on her face reminds me of her.

In addition:
I posted this really quickly this morning, and I forgot to say that I LOVE this picture. I think it's beautiful, and I plan on printing it and hanging it up somewhere. Nice job, Betty!

Recording my immediate first impressions - one week later

Yeah, so I took this little side trip after Thanksgiving down to Virginia to visit two of the grad schools that I applied to, Virginia Commonwealth University (hereafter to be referred to as VCU) and Regent University. As I was driving back, I kept thinking, "I must record my impressions right away, so I don't forget and all that valuable gut feeling stuff won't be lost!" (That, and "Boy, I'm really glad we have this satellite radio so I can listen to three straight days of NPR!") So then life happened, and here we are a week later, which isn't exactly immediately, but still isn't too terrible in the scheme of things.
I went to VCU first, as Richmond is closer to DC than Virginia Beach is, so it made a kind of logical sense. And I have to say, I was quite pleasantly surprised by Richmond. I was expecting a big, dirty city and at least the part that I was in was quite quaint and pleasant. The campus area is much like the University of Pittsburgh, with campus buildings interspersed among townhouses, apartment buildings, cafes, and small storefronts. It's a pretty, pleasant area to walk, and the parking garage only cost $5.00 for the whole day. And students are only $3.50! (At Pitt, it's more like $5.00 per hour)The arts building is medium sized, and a little shabby, which is what I've come to expect from arts buildings in general - they get a lot more hard use than lecture rooms. The people were very nice, very helpful, willing to answer all my questions. They did not audition me, although the website called it an interview/audition, and apparently the reason they did not is because there really isn't any performance quotient to the program. It's a theater pedagogy program, and it focuses pretty exclusively on teaching. In fact, many of the grad students TA the first semester and have their own classes by the second. The pro side of that is, it's great experience, and it looks great on your resume. They are very focused on post-school preparation - helping you build up your resume, write a good CV, publish articles, etc. The con side is, I'm not sure how much I'd actually LEARN, besides what I already know, about different aspects of theater. Granted, I have a good background, but there's still a lot I don't know, and part of the reason I want to go back to school is to fill in some of the gaps. Financial aid seems pretty random and kind of "do it yourself". You have to scramble for assistantships, on campus work, etc. and don't find out until very last minute what aid you've received, if any. The curriculum is quite loosely structured, allowing a lot of flexibility in designing your own program. The cost of living in Richmond seems to be even lower than Pittsburgh, although finding a good school district in an area we can afford to live in will be a challenge.
The next day I went on to Virginia Beach. (After an overnight stay in Williamsburg with my first best friend, Laura. We had a great time reminiscing about what dorks we were as kids!) My first impressions of Regent weren't all that great, but for kind of strange reasons. The campus is pretty small, and very self contained. It's set off the main drag and it really feels like you're entering your own little world when you go into it. The buildings and grounds are all beautiful and perfectly maintained. There was a swan pond, complete with swan, and a pasture with several lovely horses. There were, however, hardly any people walking around on the campus, and it had almost a Camazotz feeling to it. (Referencing "A Wrinkle in Time" - the planet where everyone is exactly the same, because they are all part of the great MIND of IT") However, it was right after Thanksgiving break, and it was COLD. So I'm assuming the people were all inside. Once I got over the strangeness of how nice everything was, I began to enjoy and appreciate it. The Arts building is HUGE and lovely - marble tiles, crystal chandeliers, hand-painted Chinese silk tapestries. Again, the people were very charming and helpful. I did have an audition, and I think it went very well. I wasn't nervous, and I did good work, so regardless of the outcome, I feel good about that part. The program is very different from VCU. It is an Acting MFA, with an option to add a Directing emphasis. It's highly structured, and pretty time-intensive. Much more like CMU. The con side is, there's little to no focus on post-grad preparation, like there is at VCU, and it doesn't seem that there would be opportunity for teaching, since the program is so intensive. However, on the pro side, I'd learn tons of stuff that I don't already know, and would really like to. Voice and Speech training, Stage Combat certification, and many performance opportunities, which also look good on resumes. The financial aid is spotty here too - there are several University and College scholarships to apply for, but nothing is guaranteed. Virginia Beach itself seemed like kind of a hard place to get around, compared to Richmond. It's definitely a driving community. Of course, there is the actual beach to factor in. Which I'm sure will be even more pleasant when the winds aren't blowing at 20mph.
So, in summary, I liked both programs, and both places, but they are very different. I think ultimately both would get me to my goals, but they are very different approaches.
The next step is the audition week which includes Yale, Brown, and the URTAs which comes up at the end of January. Then, it will be wait-and-see time.
So that's the latest school info.
Personal stuff will have to wait for now. I need coffee.

Tarzan and Grandpa/Tarzan and Grandma

More posts to come soon!

What Scooby's throat was thinking...

Hm. It's been awfully quiet in here lately. Sort of light pinkish and damp - everything functioning the way it should. Painless swallowing. Loud shouting - no problem. Constant obnoxious noises - no problem. Ho hum. Kind of boring like this. What? Thanksgiving is coming up? That holiday where we see two different sets of relatives in 48 hours? Small suceptible children, and single adults who have a compromised immune system due to their lack of exposure to small suceptible children? Those relatives who've already said, "Hey, ha ha, those kids of yours aren't sick are they? Ha ha? They won't be infecting the entire family with that bug that lasts until New Years will they? HA HA????"
Hm.
Maybe I should gunk things up for awhile. Turn red. Make swallowing painful. Make kid grouchy. Oh, and make sure he sleeps in his brother's bed the night before to maximize potential germ sharing.
Bwah -hah - hah!!! (Evil laugh)
Mission accomplished.

Twenty Dollars

I dragged a huge shopping bag and box full of books to Half-Price Books today, and they gave me $20 for them all. Eh. At least I cleaned off some space on my bookshelves - and I decided to consider it a $20 gift card and promptly spent it right back. Snow today, supposed to snow tomorrow. Hopefully it will clear up a little during our drive time this weekend. I'm looking forward to this trip to DC/Virginia, but I'm kind of nervous too. So many things can happen on road trips, and this is the first time that Don will be traveling back alone with the kids. I do it all the time, but it's new for him. Hopefully the DVD players will be working and it will be an uneventful drive.

Shhh

I had a horrible drive to my show last night - Friday night rush hour traffic through Pittsburgh, with the rumors of snow making everyone have to be out, in their cars, right now, going the same way I needed to go, REALLY slowly. I showed up 45 minutes past call-time, but still in time to do the pre-show mingle. Stressful.
When I got home, I learned Scooby had a bad headache and needed me to snuggle him. I did, and our pre-midnight quiet time was actually quite lovely. No rushing to finish homework, practice violin, get to the dentist, get ready for bed, finish that dinner, brush your teeth, try to listen to three urgent conversations at once. Just quiet attention, and little shared intimacies. He regressed a little in his speech patterns, as his sleepy eyes closed and his sweaty hand clutched my sleeve. This morning there were remnants of my show makeup on his PJs.
Cinderella crawled into our bed this morning and turned on the TV. A couple of minutes later she gave a little squeak, and said, "I lost my tooth!" This is the front tooth that's been hanging on by a wish and a prayer for about a week, and it was suddenly just missing! I asked her where it was and she shrugged nonchalantly and said, "I must have swallowed it." However, upon inspection of her bed, it was lying there in the middle of the sheet, like a tiny seashell washed up on shore. She and Tarzan now have matching jack-o-lantern grins.
I'm trying to motivate myself to get off the computer and get on the treadmill. And I guess I should call Starbucks today about my application. And I have another show tonight. It's an hour away, but I'll give myself two to avoid the stress.
The kids are filling their minds with junk via the computer and TV, but it's been a super-busy week (auditions at QV, dentist appointments, Awana club, Mexican fiesta at school) and they need down time. Later I'll make them practice violin and piano, and read their school assignments, and finish their dinner, and brush their teeth, and listen to their urgent conversations. But right now, I'm sipping my coffee and enjoying the quiet.

Haul out the holly...

So I went to the opening of the new L.L. Bean store at Ross Park Mall today, because the first 500 people in line were going to get a gift card "valued between $25 and $500". By the time I got there, there were about 1000 people in line - no exaggeration. It was triple deep and curved around like Disneyworld, only without the fun ride at the end and about 70 degrees colder. But did I give up? No, I did not. I waited in this line, in 20 degree temperatures and yes, snow, for 1 1/2 hours. And were there any gift cards left when I got to the front? No, there were not. There was also no room to walk around the store once it was full of 1,000 people. So, I left. But then I went to my friend Michelle's house and scored a pink fuzzy body pillow and pink bedspread for Cinderella, a box of Tinkerbell and friends fairies, half a dozen Scooby DVD's and almost brand-new bikes for Scooby and Tarzan. Tarzan's is the Bumblebee Transformer bike and weighs about 100 pounds. Miraculously I fit it all in my sleigh, (oops, I mean minivan) and got it all home. Now...where to store it until Christmas???
I have two "Rudolph the Dead-Nosed Reindeer" shows this weekend, so it truly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I guess I should explain that I didn't actually post the wish lists as suggestions for what people should buy my children, because that would mess up the carefully arranged divvying up of suggestions amongst different sides of the family, besides being entirely crass. I merely posted them because I got a kick out of the wording and such. I haven't posted Scooby's because all he's given me is a list of Webkinz. If they actually got all the Webkinz they asked for, we'd have to rent a storage unit. Tarzan continues to add to his diligently, and has even included a couple of illustrations for Santa's benefit. When told that some of his choices were kind of on the expensive side, he informed me that Santa's got enough money, so I shouldn't worry about it. Well thank goodness for that.
Speaking of money, I dropped off an application to Starbucks on Saturday, requesting the opening shift. Which, in case you are curious, starts at 5:00am. I haven't heard anything from them yet, which could be due to the fact that I attached a list of all the dates I can't work because I'm out of town or already working one of my other jobs. Do I want to get up at 4:00am and go to work in the dark? NO. However, I've had 5 shows cancelled in the past 3 weeks, and have shelled out about $500 in college application fees, and we're in a dark, dark place right now. It's cold out here. And there are wolves. (Little Simpsons reference there)
Anyway, on the good news side, my ex-college prof finally wrote letters of rec. to Yale and Brown, after much nagging on my part. I felt the need to nag, as she missed the deadline for the extremely complicated and hoop-jumping filled fellowship application that I was working on earlier in the fall, and blew my chances for being considered at all. After I'd supplied an official transcript, official MAT scores, 5 essays, and 3 other letters of recommendation, both online and hard copies. I could have spit, I was so mad. But I had to keep being nice, since she hadn't written the other ones yet. But now they're done. Hopefully she didn't take out any annoyance with my persistent reminders in the letters.
Today I spent about 4 hours doing crafts for the school holiday shop. I volunteered back in Sept. and they have to be in by Thursday, so of course I didn't start until today. I painted some picture frames, a couple of trinket boxes, and some refridgerator magnet clips. It's not a lot, but it's all they're getting. They turned out pretty cute, I think. If I can find the camera, I'll post some pictures. I've also been making real progress on Cinderella's stocking. There's a distict possibility that it might be finished by Christmas!
This afternoon we have call-back auditions for Quaker Valley's show. We're doing Beauty and the Beast this year, which should be fun. Hopefully the kids will behave at the auditions. Then we're supposed to go to a bible study, but I'm blowing it off again. I've decided it's just too far to drive 45 minutes each way for an hour long meeting. I've felt an obligation to try to keep going, but when I find myself dreading it days in advance, it's time to drop out.
Off to grab a quick shower before the bus gets here!

Cinderella's Christmas Wish List

Money machine that gives real money (actually, no, mommy, I'll make that myself out of paper so never mind)
My own Scooby phone, but not a real one
Barbie dollhouse
Hair Clips and Bows
Snowman Webkinz
Seal Webkinz
Charcoal cat Webkinz
Beagle Webkinz
Love Puppy Webkinz
Hairbow - pink
Tinkerbell movie
Pants that say angel on them

Tarzan's Christmas Wish List

Webknz and Lil'Kinz:
8. Cocoa Dinosaur
3. Eagle
2. Orca
4. Parakeet
1. Snowman
5. Blue Trigger Fish
6. White Mouse
9. Seal
7. Hummingbird
10. Cardinal

Random Toys or Stuffed animals
hot wheels Games (more)
Chineese Checkers
(1) World Rcord Book
my own gumball machine
IndIana Jones Set (with an Indiana Jones guy)
Junie B. Jones is a beauty shop guy
Junie B. Jones is (Almost) a flower girl
pogo stick

So just write anything...

What I should be doing: Putting dishes in the dishwasher, running on the treadmill (stupid cold weather), working on Cinderella's Christmas stocking (I'm determined to finish it this year! Baby's 1st Christmas 1999 has played its course), folding laundry, dusting. What I'm actually doing: reading blog posts. And feeling guilty about not updating mine.
Not much going on here. The kids all had really good teacher conferences and report cards. They're doing great in school (as Don says - So far...) He keeps waiting for them to hate school as much as he did. Even Cinderella's doing well - although the day after her great conference she came home with a "yellow card" for pushing somebody in line.
I had another training today at the medical school for NPEs or Normal Physical Exams. I learned how to take a blood pressure, how to use an oto/opthalmascope (not sure about that spelling), how to percuss a liver, check for chest expansion, use the reflex hammer, all sorts of fun stuff. So when I go for the exams in December, I can actually instruct the med students on their technique. Things we don't have to do are: invert the eyelids during the eye exam, check the gag reflex, and breast, pelvic and rectal exams. Thank heavens. No teeth scaling either. I'll practice on the kids this week, and next week I'll get tested for my certification. (I'm just certified to actually be examined, not examine other people)
We had another show get cancelled for this upcoming weekend. The economy sucks in all kinds of ways.
My life isn't terribly exciting right now, sorry!