Hello again!

Yes, it's been awhile since I've written, and the longer I wait the more there is to write and I get all overwhelmed and don't want to write anything. I've had very little motivation to write anything since school ended and I guess I've just been taking a little vacation from it! But life has been trucking right along. Our memory card broke, and now the computer won't read the new one, but as soon as I can I'll post some pictures of Tarzan's new haircut and Scooby's new glasses. Tarzan's enjoying cubscouts and baseball, Scooby starts a free month of Tae Kwon Do lessons this afternoon, and Cinderella is staging elaborate Barbie shows in her room. I've been trying to take advantage of my "vacation" days - while the kids are still in school, but before I begin teaching summer camps - to work out a lot. I'm currently doing two training schedules. I'm following a 10K training program, which would theoretically have me able to run a 10K by the end of July, not that I have plans to actually do one. I'm running three days per week, crosstraining for two, and either doing yoga for one and resting for one, or resting for two, depending my weekend schedule. So far, I'm on week two. On the crosstraining days, I'm using some P90x videos that someone gave to Don. I've only done two so far, and they are tough. The first was "Chest and Back" and requires the use of a pull-up bar, which I don't have, and wouldn't be able to do even if I had it, so I modified the exercises quite a bit, but still got a good upper body workout. The second way "Plyometrics" which is lots of jumping, lunging, squats, etc. I was actually able to do most of this one, with very few modifications, thanks to all the Rapier and Dagger lunging, probably. My knees are complaining a little today, but I was able to complete today's run without any trouble. I'm running 4 miles, interpersing one minute walk breaks for every five minutes of running. The running stretches get longer in week four. So there's my exciting entry for today! Was it worth waiting for?

One of the things I've been up to

This is our last practice session before our fight final tomorrow. Please excuse my professor's terrible camera technique.
Rapier and Dagger fight practice

Holla

I got the link to view the new set of headshots I had taken...from the professional, this time. Please click on the link, http://www.wcgreen.net/viewing find my name, and type in password AmyD1909 to view. Opinions, please!

Went to Tarzan's ballgame this afternoon - first one I've been able to go to. They lost, but he did great! Got two hits - both times the first pitch, although he hit both of them right down the first base line and didn't make it to base. But still, those were his first hits in a game! He also tagged a man out to close out an inning while playing third. I was so proud!

Don and I went OUT last night!!!!! Alone! To a movie! Actually we went to CinemaCafe, where you can eat and drink beer (or wine) and watch a movie at the same time. We saw Date Night with Tina Fey and Steve Carrel, and it was really good. Well written (mostly), funny, and a very accurate portrayal of marriage, I thought! Then we went to Chick's Beach, for the first time, and sat for awhile. It's right on the Chesapeake Bay, and somehow for me, the lights of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge extending off into the darkness kind of ruined the view for me. Don liked it, though. He thought they looked like party lanterns.

No news about the school yet. Report cards came home yesterday, though, and Scooby got all A's again and was very proud. As was his mommy.

It's already sent...so I hope it wasn't a mistake

Some names have been changed for the protection of, well, me, really. I mailed this letter today. Was it a mistake?


Dear Gifted School that will remain unnamed here Staff;
I am writing to thank you on behalf of my son, Scooby, for considering his application to attend Unnamed Gifted School next year. He is currently placed on the waiting list, and we are holding out great hopes that a spot will be found for Scooby before the school year begins. We are aware that you receive many more applications than you have available spots for students, but I felt I must take the opportunity to ask you to consider Scooby’s application again.
Scooby has always been an excellent student, with an exceptional facility with language and an aptitude for grasping mathematics. Since he was a small child, Scooby has gravitated towards older children and adults, as they were more able to converse on his level. He demonstrates highly creative thinking both in academic assignments and in his time at home. Of course, all of this information can be found in his original application.
What I would ask the committee to consider is the benefit that I feel Scooby will receive from attending a full-time gifted school such as Unnamed Gifted School. We are very impressed with the values and mission statement of Unnamed Gifted School. Honesty, responsibility, self-control, and respect are not only the honor code of your school, but priorities in our household as well. In addition to being an excellent student, Scooby is also a well-mannered and trustworthy young man who enjoys being encouraged to take risks in an environment that feels safe and respectful. Scooby is somewhat small for his age and a little slower in physical development and ability than other children his age. I am greatly concerned that the intimidating physical environment of a regular middle school could be extremely difficult for Scooby, whereas a school populated by like-minded academically focused students would relieve some of the pressure in this area. In addition, we are still new to this area, having moved to Virginia Beach last August for me to pursue my master’s degree at Regent University. Since the move, Scooby has had difficulty in making new friends. The beginning of the year, before Scooby tested into the gifted program, was very challenging for him, as he was not only adjusting to the move, but dealing with some behavior issues of other students in the class. Again, we feel that being in an environment where he is surrounded by like-minded students will allow Scooby to focus on his school work, and hopefully develop some solid friendships.
Thank you again for your consideration of Scooby’s application. We know that the decision process is very difficult, and I wanted to try to give you a more complete picture of Scooby in the hopes of helping the decision process. Meanwhile, we will be waiting anxiously in the hopes that a spot will become available for Scooby at your excellent school.

Sunny, at least

Had another run up "stomach-bug" hill this week, and managed to again avoid catching it myself, knock wood! Cinderella was sick Monday evening into Tuesday, which meant I had to miss class on Tuesday. I did get a fair amount of work done, but somehow didn't manage to save it on my laptop (although I swear I hit the Save button) and had to do it all over again on Wednesday. School is intensifying up a bit as we head down the home stretch - I can't believe my first year is over in about six weeks! Truly, where has the time gone? I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to continue my part-time job - oops, I mean my volunteering -- at the elementary school. Yet, I'm afraid to not be there. Next week is Spring break for the kids, so it's a break for me too - at least from their school, though not from mine. And thankfully, Granny is coming to visit! Yay!! Hopefully the nice weather will stick around for her. I'm still feeling angsty about Scooby's school situation for next year. Nothing to do but wait, which I HATE! Last year at this time, it was my own school fate I was waiting to hear about. So much can change in a year. Hope the drowned rats in RI are starting to dry out. Sounds pretty crazy up there! Can you drive anywhere yet? I managed to run over to Barnes and Noble today and pick up a few books from the Easter Bunny. (Pinkerella sticker book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself book, and The Toilet Paper Tigers - all specifically pointed out as desirable by each respective kiddo.) And, Scooby finally lost a dangling molar tonight (thanks for the gum, Grandma!) so our house will be host to several mythical visitors this weekend.

Busy

You may have noticed some weird comments popping up lately, so I've added comment moderation as an option on the blog.

I spent the past weekend fighting, falling, and recovering. On Friday, I took and passed my Unarmed Combat skills proficiency test - a big deal! On Saturday, I took a class on fight techniques for film, Swashbuckling with small sword, left and attended Scooby's All-City orchestra concert, returned and took a class on Apache Knife fighting, attended a screening of a new film called "Eyeborgs" and then attended a student written and directed original musical called "Disorientation of Butterflies." On Sunday I took a class on Falls and Rolls, a "Dangerous Rapier and Dagger" class, and an Unrehearsed Shakespeare class.

I survived. I'm tired.

Oh, and Mom and Dad were here, I think. Didn't see much of them!

Besides Scooby's orchestra concert, Cinderella had a Chuckie Cheese birthday party and Tarzan had a ballgame.

Thankfully, it rained today and my Little League concession stand duty was cancelled!

It's awfully quiet out there...what's going on??

Laser Lemon

That's the color of crayon sitting on the desk in front of me. What does that even mean - "Laser Lemon"? The lemon part I suppose I understand, but what a laser has to do with describing a color is beyond me.

Sunday morning we had our first experience with x-rays. Of course, it was Tarzan. Sometime on Saturday, while I was at You Can't Take it With You and Don was working in the front yard, Tarzan figured out how to get from the top of the swingset/fort onto a tree branch and swing down onto the grass. That was so fun he decided to do it again, but the second time his foot caught on the slide and tipped him sideways, landing him on top of his arm. But he didn't want to tell Don he'd hurt himself, because he was afraid Don would be mad he was swinging on the branch. So we didn't find out until the next morning, getting ready for church. He was complaining about the arm hurting, he couldn't lift or straighten it, and it hurt to the touch. So off we went to Patient First. They did x-rays, but fortunately it's not broken. Just a "contusion." So they gave him a split and a sling to wear for a couple of days. After one day of not being able to write in school, he decided to ditch the splint. He's still got it in the sling, and we're skipping a couple days of baseball practice, but he's already almost back to full mobility.

No news on the waiting lists.

I've accepted the summer camp position, so now just have to work out all the details.

Cinderella is doing a Reader's Theater piece in school tomorrow. She's playing Pinky the Pig in an adaptation of how the three little pigs explain to the big bad wolf the difference between solids, liquids, and gases. And who says there's no more good theater out there?

Busy weekend coming up. Scooby's got All-City orchestra, and I've got the Virginia Beach Bash, and my SAFD testing for Unarmed Combat.

It's flowering tree and daffodil season - my favorite time of year! Now if I could only get outside and enjoy it!

Short stories

Okay. In no particular order...

First of all, remember me bitching about the process to apply to alternative middle school programs for Scooby? I'm pretty sure I did that on here. Yesterday we got letters from both that he'd been wait-listed for both programs. Because apparently, yes, they are THAT exclusive. Whatever. The one program I'm not 100% sold on anyway - not really sure why, just a gut thing, kind of. The other, though, I was kind of hoping that would pan out. And it still may, we'll see. Did I mention I HATE wating and seeing? Wait-lists are evil and should not be allowed. I'll be calling the school tomorrow (on the elementary gifted teacher's advice) to find out where he is on the list and how much hope there actually may be that he'll get in. I've tried to talk to Scooby about all this and see how he's thinking and feeling, but all I get is "I dunno." Of course I don't even know how I think and feel about all this, so how can I expect him to? Still waiting on the gifted elem. school application for Tarzan, and I won't know about gifted status for Cinderella until May. WAIT AND SEE. Blah.

Second...there was an attempted carjacking near Regent on Tuesday night, and the emergency alert system went haywire. From 11:43pm until 3:14am (although I shut my phone off at 2:00) I received 20 text messages alerting me about the attempt and the fact that the police were looking for the suspect and not to be alarmed. Also, 4 voicemail messages, and 4 emails. Thank you for the alerts. It's nice to know you're on the job, now shut the heck up!!!

Third...Tarzan started baseball this week. He has two 1 1/2 hour practices and one game every week. It's a league requirement that all players wear a cup to practices and games. Seeing his eyes when he learned what a cup was, was priceless. Me trying to find a cup small enough...also priceless. (ps: there aren't any small enough. The kid looks like he's walking around with a grapefruit down the front of his shorts.) Parents also have requirements, although they fortunately don't involve unfortunate crotch bulges. At least, not yet. Instead, I've been signed up to a. sell concessions, b. volunteer manpower at the Bingo Hall, c. provide snacks,and d. sell Pampered Chef and Virginia Peanut products for a fundraiser. And that was all at the first practice. Remember when I said I sold my soul to the Little League? I WAS RIGHT!!!

Fourth...I was offered a position with the Regent Summer Camps for the junior camp (ages 10 - 14) which runs June 21 - July 11. I was hoping for the Sr. camp which is July/Aug, but that didn't pan out. It's for the Dance Teacher/Choreographer position. They're doing Mulan, Jr. I'll probably take it, but Don's stressing to try to figure out how much it breaks down to per hour. I'd have to figure out what to do with the munchkins for the first two weeks, as the camp runs 8:45 - 5:15 Mon through Fri. I was thinking maybe I'd try to send them to Pittsburgh - St. Philip's KidzKamp runs that first week,and maybe Don could take them up and stay for at least one week. I want to try to get up to Mass. for a couple of weeks too - maybe the end of July?

Fifth...I've been spending at least two hours a day in Cinderella's classroom for the past two weeks, helping out her teacher. I was going to vent a lot about this, but I don't think I will. Suffice it to say, I'm glad I'm there, and even though it's eating up a lot of my homework time, I'll continue as long as I can.

Finally, we needed to get the brakes fixed on the green car this week - it was kind of an emergency situation so we dropped the car off at Meinke that evening, and were told it should be ready by 9:00am the next day. Well, we've had enough experience to know that probably wouldn't happen, so we made plans for me to borrow someone else's car for the day, and give Don the van, just in case. We drove over in the morning, around 8:30, and the car hadn't been touched yet. Then Don realized he'd forgotten his ID at home and I left him there while I went back to get it. By the time I got back, around 9:20, the car was up on the...what do you call that thing? The lift? Anyway, it was being worked on, supposedly. But when I went into the office to give Don the ID and see if he was going to wait for the car or drop me off at school, he and the other two people in the waiting room were sitting with stunned expressions on their faces, listening to the employees and the manager screaming at each other behind the (very thin) closed door. This wasn't just a little argument, there was major profanity, breaking glass, threats of "I'm going to f&$&#ing kill you!" and it went on, and on, and on. It was unbelievable. If the car hadn't been up on the whatchamacalit, we would have left and gone somewhere else. I plan on writing a shocked and appalled letter to the company. Don elected to stay, partially to make sure they weren't going to bust out the windows in the car, and got to work very late, since the car wasn't done until 11:30. But, the brakes seem to work.

And that's all the news I'm awake enough to print.

Next time...on Passing Understanding

I'm way too tired to post right now. Things to post about later:
Demands on the parents of baseball players
Wait list letters
Summer job
Crazy emergency texts in the middle of the night
Volunteering in Cinderella's classroom
Crazy people at Meinke brake center

I need sleep.

Grrr.

Good day at school, bad day at home. Don't really feel like going into it right now, but I had some MAJOR fail moments as a parent today. I'm mad at myself for dropping some balls, and yes, I am juggling quite a lot, and as fast as I can, but it's still not acceptable. Totally lost it on Scooby this afternoon. I was actually crying in frustration at not being able to deal with his behavior. And he's a good kid - he really is. I know it could be a lot worse. And I can't even deal with this small amount of bad behavior and attitude. I commented on Facebook that I couldn't WAIT for the teenage years...totally sarcastically, and somehow people thought I meant that sincerely. NO! Not at all. I don't know how I'll be able to handle it when I can't even handle him at 10. I know, cut myself a break, I'm really busy, blah, blah. Tomorrow's another day. But right now, I'm feeling really defeated and directionless.

James Madison

The play itself was about what you would have expected from a 5th grade play staged in the cafeteria and written by students at James Madison College. But Scooby was really good! Except for a couple of moments where he looked like he was taking a little snooze during a particularly slow moving scene, he was loud, clear, energetic, and knew what he was saying! Plus, he looked so darn cute.





In other news, Tarzan is playing for the Yankees this year! Sorry, Grandma and Grandpa!

Tired of looking at myself

I'm pooped. This week is going to be nuts. Today I had an interview for Regent Summer Camps, then class, then helped the first grade teacher, then class, then wardrobe crew, then homework. Tomorrow, Scooby's play, then class, then helping the first grade teacher, then Walmart, then wardrobe crew. Wednesday, class, helping the first grade teacher, pick up Scooby from cast party, class, take Tarzan to first baseball team meeting/practice, wardrobe crew. Thursday, take Scooby to school at 7:15 for field trip, class, help first grade teacher, class, pick up Scooby from field trip, parents night and meeting for baseball, wardrobe crew. Friday, help fifth grade teacher, class, wardrobe crew. Saturday, baseball field cleanup, drive Tarzan to birthday party, combat workshop, wardrobe crew for two shows. Yes, for some of these I may have to be in two places at once. I'm pooped.

New cropping - my favorite so far

Headshots

I've been informed that I need a new headshot. (Which, if look on the Regent website and compare the quality of mine to others, I definitely agree. Those were taken with our crappy camera and they just don't reproduce well.)A friend of mine, an undergrad theater student, is also a photography buff and has a nice new camera, with which she's offering to take shots of people on campus for practice. She took some of me yesterday, and I've posted some of them on Facebook. For those of you not on FB (Lisa) I'll put the top six up here too...please vote! The department is also having a professional photographer come in April to do shots - $225 for a total package, $35 for a mini-session (one outfit, five minutes). Since I'll be here for two more years and may look different when I graduate, I'm opting for the mini-session. So, I'll end up either using one of these, or one of the five minute mini-session shots. Even if you voted on Facebook, feel free to vote again here!

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5th grade homework.

Writing about states of matter, chemical changes, physical changes. Did you know that florescent lights are a plasma? "We" are having a grand time. If we both survive this paper, it will be a miracle.

Edit:Here's the paper!
Matter By: David Dunlap
Matter is everything you can see and touch. It is all around us. Matter changes both physically and chemically. Many of these changes can be seen in everyday life, but some can only be observed by scientists. The rest of this paper will explain what matter is, and what physical and chemical changes are.
Matter has many unique qualities. All matter is made of atoms. All atoms are made of protons neutrons and electrons. Matter is any substance that has mass, takes up space, and exists as a solid, liquid, gas, or plasma. All matter is made of elements. Matter can be measured by mass (the amount of space in an object), density (the measure of how tightly packed an object is), and weight (the force of gravity between earth and an object). These are just some of matter’s unique qualities.
There are many ways matter changes chemically. A chemical change is when there is a temperature change, odor change, a color change, or when heat, light or a new substance is produced. A compound is two or more elements chemically combined. An example of a compound is a molecule. An example of a chemical change is when you mix baking soda and vinegar. A new substance, a gas, is produced. These are some examples of how matter changes chemically.
There are many ways that matter changes physically. A physical change is when matter changes from one form to another. An example of a physical change is when a solid turns to a liquid, a liquid turns to a gas, and a gas turns to plasma. The changes are caused by energy in the form of heat. As the temperature changes, the state of matter changes. For example, as the temperature of ice rises, it becomes water. As the temperature of water rises, it becomes vapor. Water’s boiling point is 212°F, or 100°C, freezing point is just below 32°F or 0°C, and melting point is just above32°F or 0°C. This can be measured with a thermometer. The changes that occur in mixtures and solutions are also physical changes. These are a few ways that matter changes physically.
Learning about matter helps scientists understand the world around us. By understanding the world, they can help people in their lives. For example, florescent lights are plasma made by running electricity through a gas. Without scientists’ understanding of plasma, this invention, and many others like it, could have never been invented.

Grades and taxes and poop. Oh my.

Yeah, not much going on here either. I had my Rapier and Dagger midterm yesterday. I think I did okay. Actually, I think I did well on the written part, so-so on the actual fight. I blanked and did a parry 2 instead of a parry 3 right at the end. I know, right?? What was I thinking! I got my first three grades for Text Analysis and they're all good. And I got an A on my first scene in scene study class. So all is well. Spent this afternoon wrestling the kids about their homework. Scooby has a paper to write about chemical and physical changes in matter...I had to look up a lot of stuff before I understood the assignment. Cinderella is struggling to get through chapter books for her reading assignments - her attention span poops out pretty quick and then we have to fight to push through to the end of the chapter. Tarzan...still doesn't have enough homework. Scooby's been playing around with the animation program Dad linked to me...it seems a bit clunky to me, but he's having fun with it. Spent the weekend doing taxes. I used HRBlock online, and then Don insisted we do them again with Turbotax. HRBlock is giving us $1000 more of a refund than turbotax,so I think we'll go with them. We can't quite figure out how they're figuring everything, so I'm not sure why the difference. It's something about the Lifetime Learning Credit, or the tuition and fees deduction, but I'm not sure exactly what. Then I filled out the FAFSA and started applying for some scholarships for next year. Fun, huh? And the cat smelled really poopy tonight so I gave him another mini-bath. Don't you wish you had my life? : )

Next Season

We got an email today letting us know what the 2010-2011 Season will be here at Regent. This is big news for several reasons: The shows we're cast in play a big part in coloring our experiences here at the school. Both for whom you'll be spending a large chunk of your time with and for what kind of material you'll be immersed in. Also, it informs what kinds of material we should be working on for the May Juries, which serve not only as a final grade/audition technique workshop but also as an actual audition for first couple of shows of the season. The second years are even more invested in these choices, because their Thesis roles will be selected from among these plays. Out of the six shows, I'm only familiar with three of them, which just means I'm more ignorant of the theater scene than I should be! Right now, I don't have a huge reaction to this season either way, positive or negative. I will be trying to track down the three shows that I'm unfamiliar with, along with most of the other MFA's, I'm sure, and then I'll have a better sense for what I might be up for.
They are:
September: Leaving Iowa, by Tim Clue and Spike Manton
October: Our Town, by Thornton Wilder
Nov/Dec: The Last Night of Ballyhoo, by Alfred Uhry
Jan/Feb: The Runner Stumbles, by Milan Stitt
March: Medea, by Euripides
Apr/May: Fiddler on the Roof, by Joseph Stein, Jerry Block, and Sheldon Harnick

In a week and a half I start my production hours for You Can't Take it With You, and after the run of that show I have about two weeks before the production hours begin for Godspell. I put in an application to work at the Summer Theater Camps here in July and August. I'm immensely qualified, but apparently the competition for jobs is pretty tough. Hopefully that will work out, although I don't know what the pay is like yet!

Outside Perspective is a Good Thing

So he's not going to play. He wants to play baseball, but not on a team. He still likes the game, but doesn't want to join Little League. (insert sad face here)
I went and signed Tarzan up, and sold my soul to the Green Run Little League in exchange for a discount on registration. They WILL be calling me to volunteer. Grr. Thank you all for your insight.

Parenting Dilemma

So...
tomorrow is the last day to register for Little League baseball. Assuming we can swing a deal with the league to help us lower the cost of the registration fees, it's our last chance to sign the boys up for the season. Tarzan is excited, and definitely wants to do it. Scooby is extremely ambivalent. He got pretty upset when I asked him if he wanted to play, but seems unable to articulate why. He "kind of likes it and kind of doesn't." He "kind of wants to play and kind of doesn't." He's kind of driving me crazy. Of course, my best guess is he still likes baseball, but doesn't feel very good about himself when he's playing, since he's not actually that good at it. (Shhh) So, do I encourage him to do it, let him take the easy way out, or what??? My inclination is to strongly encourage him to do it, but I'm afraid I'd be setting myself up for months of struggle and fighting. Or, he could love it. Thoughts? Advice? Help!!!

Speaking of creativity

http://regentbackstage.blogspot.com/2010/02/reflections-from-cast-of-elephant-man.html

Creativity

We are required to keep a journal in my Scene Study class, and every week we are given a topic to write about. This week's was creativity - how did we express it as a child, and how to we continue to feed the creative well today. I will probably add more to this entry in my class journal over the weekend, but I thought I'd compy some of the initial thoughts over to this blog as well.

When I was little, I used to put on records and dance. Particularly vivid in my mind is one record (yes, record...made of vinyl and everything) called "Gypsy Melodies" which had a photo of a very exotic dark-haired woman on the cover, with lots of eye makeup, hoop earrings, and a red tank top with one shoulder strap drooping off the side. The appropriate attire for dancing to this record was an ankle-length chiffon purple circle skirt that had been my Mom's in high school, bare feet, and a sheer white curtain which could be used as a veil, a scarf, a belt, or whatever else the movement required. I would entertain myself for hours, dancing to this record, and many others. Sometimes I would create a storyline, sometimes just move free form to the music.
Other times, I would recruit my brother and sisters and the neighbor children to act out stories with me, using the big metal drum full of dress-up clothes we had in the basement. Hansel and Gretel was one of our favorites, and Cinderella, and Annie. I always loved dressing up.
We also used to play outside a lot, and most of our games consisted of "play-acting" stories. I was never much for organized sports games, and I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 12. Instead, I tromped through the woods acting out Robin Hood adventures, or building fairy houses with moss and twigs, or searching for the wicked witch's house amongst the gone-to-seed apple trees. I had raging cases of poison ivy as a kid. The large rocks deposited on each piece of property in our town (built on a granite quarry) were host to many imaginary scenes as well - picnics, and tea parties, and anguished last stands.

Creativity today. Every time I'm confronted with this question, I'm flooded with a feeling of guilt and dissatisfaction. In a way, I'm engaging my creativity every day, through the simple fact that I'm pursuing an MFA in theater. Much of my creative energy is poured into my classes, my homework, and of course, the work that I do on productions here. I have seen and been a part of more theater in the past four months than in the previous five years combined. But I think in order for the creative soul to be fed, the critical mind needs to be silenced. At least temporarily. And that is quite difficult to do.
When I was a child, I played creatively because I loved it. It was fun. And that was all. It wasn't for a grade, for recognition, or least of all for a paycheck. And once all those things are added on to the creative process, it changes it somehow. The answer seems simple - be creative in ways that you love, and do it just for you! Simple, but not easy. There's the time factor, there's the guilt factor (if it 's not earning me money it's not worth pursuing) and there's the fatigue factor. Pursuing creativity takes energy - yes, it feeds energy as well, but it is certainly more taxing than kicking back and watching American Idol.
So, I try to be deliberate about it. Reading plays for enjoyment, rather than for class. Playing the piano. Writing in my personal blog. It's an effort, to be sure, but I recognize the importance of it, and I hope that by being mindful and pursuing it deliberately will eventually reap the fruit of the joyful involvement of doing it for the sheer pleasure of doing it.

What about you? Is creativity important to your life now? How did you express it as a child? How do you feed your creative well now?

Thursday

I had every intention of updating last night, but I fell asleep in a chair at 8:45pm. Moved upstairs around midnight. Guess I was tired!
Took Scooby to the new pediatrician yesterday for a well-child check-in. They couldn't do all three on the same day, for some reason, so I had Scooby yesterday, Tarzan today and Cinderella tomorrow.
Everything's on a pretty even keel right now - classes are going well, the kids are doing okay in school, Don's work is chugging along.
We may have an interesting situation with our landlords. They want to break their contract with the Property Management company, and rent directly to us. If that happens, they're willing to cut us a break on rent if we re-sign with them for two more years. They'd drop our rent by $80/month. Since I can't really see anything forcing us to move out of this place before Regent is done, I think that might be a pretty good deal. We'd been contemplating (well, Don more than me) looking around for someplace cheaper, but the thought of having to pack everything up and move it again this soon was making me physically nauseous. So we'll see how that works out.
Who's ready for spring???

Life goes on

Okay. They don't hate me. I can't leave that up anymore.
We're okay.
I don't have the ambition to write much tonight, though. They had haircuts today, and bought some Valentine supplies from Michael's Craft store. We gave the cat a bath last night because his belly was all caked with mud. He did very well and we all survived. I gave Scooby Lisa's suggestions for practicing violin - he really liked the last part about no commentary from the other room. I told him I'd promise to do that if he'd promise to do the rest.
We'll see.

They hate me! They really hate me!

Just in case you were wondering, I am the meanest Mom in the world. Yes, that's right, the contest is over, and I've won. Get ready for a recital of my crimes.
1. I made my son practice violin. (Actually, that battle is still being engaged - he's sitting with the violin on his lap, but hasn't actually made any sounds come out of it yet. He's too busy weeping over my cruelty)
2. I made my other son stop screaming at his sister because she kept shooting his guy on Wii Lego Star Wars. In fact, I made him stop playing altogether and go to his room. That's right, his ROOM. Filled to overflowing with toys, books, and stuffed animals of every shape and size. *Shudder*.
3. I wasn't pleased when my daughter spilled red food coloring-dyed water out of the ziplock bag onto the rug. Granted, I didn't scream that time - Don did, so I got a few mean-ness points deducted for that. But still, I wasn't pleased.
4. I may have cursed slightly at my phone when I got the alert that school was cancelled again today. I don't think I did it so the kids could hear, but still, I wasn't filled to the brim with the joy of the prospect of another day housebound with my darling angels, and that makes me a bad mother.
You see, it snowed. On Saturday. A whole seven inches. And since then, (gasp!), it has continued to be cold outside and so, mysteriously, the snow is still there. Therefore, the roads are a deathtrap, people, BLACK ICE!!!!!, and no-one in their right mind is allowed out of doors. School must be cancelled. Businesses are shut down. Families are quarantined inside their houses and left scrounge the cupboards for the last can of spaghettios and scratch each other's eyes out. I really need to go grocery shopping, but I have 20 dollars in my purse, and oh yeah - DEATH TRAP!!! BLACK ICE!!! So I guess we'll just have to suffer.
Other mean things I have done: Forced them all to watch movies and play video games. Enforced book reading time. Required the oldest child to make chocolate chip cookies. Sent them out in the snow to (eek!) PLAY.
It's true, people. WORST MOTHER EVER. I'm expecting the statuette and the big giant check any minute now. As soon as it comes, I'm going to the grocery store, BLACK ICE be damned.

Elephant Man update

Here are some photos of my character in Elephant Man. The shows are going amazingly well. In fact, I've been nominated for an Irene Ryan Acting award (from the KCACTF adjudicator) The process of pursuing winning the actual award is kind of intensive, so I may not pursue it, but it's a huge honor to be nominated, and I'm pretty psyched about it!
On more of a bummer note, both our shows tomorrow have been cancelled due to the forecast of a possible foot of snow for tomorrow. They've added a show on Sunday evening to try to accomodate the audience, but it's really sad not to be able to do the shows. I'm really going to miss this work.

New Apple Product

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!

One weekend down...

Opening weekend has gone extremely well. We've gotten great feedback and I feel really good about how the show is going. We had an adjudicator from KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival - Whew - almost as bad as SPEBSQSA!)come to the show last night and she had lots of good feedback both about the show and for me in particular! (Other actors too, not JUST me, but she did have some for me) I have lots of homework backlogged, and the kids are really missing me, but I have to say again...I love what I'm doing. There should be some pictures coming soon, I hope.
Wish you all could see it!

Still ***cough***cough*** here

Opening night tomorrow!

Tech - Tock

Tech rehearsals aren't much fun. Today was "dry tech", which means the lighting, sound and slides guys figure out how to make what the director envisions come into reality. We crew and actors sit around and sigh a lot, and stand onstage if they need a body on which to focus the lights. Tomorrow is "wet tech" where, in theory, we run through the show moving from cue to cue and working transitions. I say in theory, because at the rate we were moving today, we'll finish the "dry tech" process sometime after opening night on Friday. Seriously, we were averaging two hours per scene. There are 21 scenes in the show. By the end of this evening, I'm estimating they'll be finished with scene 6. The good news is, the actors were only called in four hour blocks instead of the whole rehearsal. Tomorrow we have to be there the whole day - 1:30pm until around midnight. Yippee.

The Pinewood Derby was fun, although I didn't get to stay for the whole thing. The boys didn't win anything, but they liked seeing all the other cars and getting a chance to race theirs. Cinderella got to go to a birthday party today, so she had a good weekend too.

What's going on outside the theater walls?

Stolen, but lovely

This is from one of the blogs I follow called Notes to Self. You can find the blog at www.notestoself.us This post could completely be about Scooby. It's perfect and makes me cry.


Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Cusp
He stands in the music section of Barnes and Noble, the twenty dollar gift card burning a hole in his pocket, indecision burning a hole in his heart. In one hand, he clutches yet another definitive field guide to Pokemon, the cartoon characters that have been his obsession since first grade. In the other, an object of recent desire, a newly remastered Beatles cd. He is ten years old for only seven more days. He is moving into the in-between place. Moving out of childhood.

One night, several weeks ago, I peeked into his bedroom, and saw the baby in his sleeping face. The glimpses of that are so rare now. I gazed from the doorway a long moment, not knowing if I would ever catch that sweet sight again.

I wonder how aware he is of where he stands poised, how much consciousness undergirds the angst he feels as he weighs the little boy's book against the young man's music. I remember being his age, holding my favorite doll and stuffed animal to my breast at night, weeping quietly with the knowledge that I was passing from their world into another, one where I wouldn't be able to hear them speak.

Sometimes I look at my own weathered, sun-spotted hand, and am amazed to think it is the very same hand that once closed around my mother's finger, and grabbed at my father's beard. It feels like we move on as we go through life, but we never leave our own skin. I wonder if my baby self ever visits my face at night.

He chooses the Beatles album, and in spite of--or through--my own poignant projections, I'm pleased. I discovered their music the summer I was eleven, and listened to nothing else until I got through junior high. It's a good map.

We get home and rip the cd to his new MP3 player. Not many "pretend" toys in his pile this year. I toss it to him over the back of the couch, and he catches it. "Thanks, Mom!" He can rest his chin on my shoulder easily. It's time for braces, and middle school, and talks that I am nowhere near ready to deliver.

He puts on the headphones, and jumps to his feet, bigger than mine. My little boy is gone, I think. Into a world where he won't hear me speak.

Then he skips across the family room like a runaway shadow, and I smile and think, not yet.

First Day of Rapier and Dagger Class

Advance.
Retreat.
Advance.
Advance.
Pass Forward.
Pass Backward.
Retreat.
Hop Forward.
Extend.
Lunge.
Recover.

Smile.


ps: When one is being sincerely thanked and appreciated, it is impolite to correct the grammar of the thanker.

Happy New Year!

We are back in Virginia, after a wonderful - if germ filled- Christmas at home Mass. So great to have all the family there! Played cards (too) late into the night, drank wine and ate lots of cookies. Yeah, so everybody was sick and hacking all over each other. What's Christmas without a little communal Mucinex abuse?
But we're back, and already full into the swing of things. I have four classes this semester - Text Analysis, Scene Study, Rapier and Dagger, and "Surviving the Dance Call" which is basically a Dance class focusing of a different style every three weeks or so. Started up rehearsals for Elephant Man again tonight - show opens in two and a half weeks!
Scooby was cast in his school play about James Madison. He's playing...James Madison! "The part was so big, they split it between two people!" He's pretty excited.
Don is feeling overwhelmed at work. But he still likes this base better than the other one.
So in between classes this week I need to finish unpacking and take down all the Christmas decorations. Blech.
Thanks to everyone who made this Christmas so great for the kids and for Don and I. We are very grateful and love you all!!!

Some Christmas Stories

By the kids

The first is Cinderella's (age 6)

The titull is the list of caldr days itill Christmas

The star oh the star
it is so beautiful!

the angel oh the angel
her wings is so beautiful.

the camel oh the camel
his bumps are so beautiful.

Babby Jesus oh babby Jesus
he is so handsome.

the sheep of the sheep
her wool is so soft

the cow oh the cow
she shared her manger.

the donkey oh the donkey
she carried Mary to the stable.

the wisman oh the wisman
they brot prasits to Baby Jeus
the prasits are beautiful.




An Acrostic Christmas Poem by Tarzan (age 7)
(minus the "R")

C hrist the lord was sleeping in his manger when men three of them were right there.

"H abdaba!" said the lord.

I (wich is a litte sheperd.) tryed to calm him down.

S o I took him to Mary and Josef.

T wo of the men walked by. The lord scremed agin.

M ary said "Go away!" to the men.

"A present we bring." said the men

S o the men gave the present but Mary said "My son is not a king." "Yes he is" said the men. "The star lead us to you." "Relly?" said Mary "Yes" said the men

Travel plans

For those who don't already know, and want to...
All 5 of us are driving up on the 23rd. We can't leave till Don gets back from work, but he's only working a 1/2 day. The plan is to drive the whole way. We'll see. At any rate, we'll be getting in really late. Don is flying out on Sunday, the 27th. His flight goes out of Boston at 6:00pm. Maybe if the weather cooperates, we could spend the day in Boston first? The kids and I are staying until Jan. 2nd, then we'll head back. Maybe all the way, maybe as far as Lisa's. (If she's okay with us crashing there again, even if she's not there!) Apparently I'm teaching choreo on the 29th. Don and I would love to go out to a movie, sans kids, sometime while he's there. So maybe on Saturday?
That's the plan!

Advent - Day 17

Not really much to write, just trying to get ready for Christmas on a zero budget/zero time system. In some ways, it really simplifies things. I did drive to the beach and get some sand shovels for the kids - big ones, better for digging and stuff. Boy, those kitchy beach crap stores have really lonely and desperate employees in December. Also got the Christmas letters written, printed and mailed. Elephant Man rehearsals are going well. I think the show's going to be pretty intense - in a good way. My three main concerns right now are 1. Intelligibility of the Elephant Man. The actor is Chinese, playing a lower class British accent, of a character with severe speech impediments. He's doing an amazing job, but I'm afraid we may lose some of our core audience (those over 70). 2. The stage. It's raked (ie. slanted) at a severe angle, and it's a reverse rake, which means the highest part is in the front and the lowest in the back. I have to admit, it's very visually interesting, but creates HUGE sightline problems. 3. Wearing Victorian garb on the aforementioned rake. Heels, petticoats, corsets, long skirts, gloves, hat, etc. It's going to be very challenging.
Kids all brought home great progress reports today. I haven't received my final grades yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm headed for all A's. Yay me!
Can't wait to see everybody!!!

Advent - Day 14

(Yeah, I skipped a few days. It was a show week.)

Little Women complete, first full day of Elephant Man today. Yay!

Kids are all healthy except for some residual coughing from Scooby.

Lots to catch up on this week!!!

Marmee

Marmee and the girls

Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy

Beth (actually Kenna) Sweet girl!!!

"Father sent all sorts of loving messages to his Little Women."

Advent Day 6

Cinderella seems fine.
Scooby has a fever.
All 3 are scheduled for H1N1 shots at school tomorrow. Do they get them even if they're sick?
The Christmas tree is up - the stand broke a little, so hopefully it will stay up.
Kids all got haircuts today - Cinderella's is chin-length! She's been asking for two years now, and she even paid for it herself, so I finally gave in. It is VERY cute, but too grown up looking. Edit: Pictures posted!
PRAYING that all are well enough to go to school tomorrow and that I don't get sick. My stomach's been mildly protesting all week, but hasn't gotten any worse, so I'm determinately ignoring it. This is finals week/production week for Little Women - I CAN'T GET SICK!!!!!

Decorating the tree - all three new haircuts - Amahl and the Night Visitors on TV in background

Advent Day 5

Cinderella seems to be okay today. No more incidents. Hooray. (Celebrating cautiously, just in case it's premature...)
Today's agenda - return library books, homework, Tech rehearsal for Little Women, homework.
Tomorrow's agenda - church, Christmas tree shopping, haircuts for the boys.

Advent Day 4

Yeah, so, I got every parent's favorite phone call today. "Mrs. Dunlap? This is the school nurse. Your daughter threw up on the bus, so we need you to come get her."
Fortunately, I didn't have anywhere I HAD to be during the day today and was able to pick her up and hang out all day. She seemed to feel much better once I got there, and didn't get sick again today. The new coat she was wearing for the first time got quite a dosing, but it cleaned up okay. She really didn't tell me she wasn't feeling well, and frankly, if she had I probably would have ignored it, considering all the "stomach aches" they've had before school.
The school nurse is very nice. She changed her into clean clothes and bagged up the dirty ones for me.

The checks were for the PTA sponsored Holiday shop at school. They have an assortment of gifts the kids can buy for family and friends, ranging from about 50 cents to 15 dollars each. The kids are supposed to decide who they're buying for and how much to spend on each one, but we didn't have a chance to do that before they went to school. So, I just gave them all 15 dollars and sent them off. THey all came back with a baggie of presents, and they all said they had enough for what they wanted to get, but I haven't seen the results yet!

Here's praying I stay healthy for the next several weeks!!!

Advent, Day Two

Had kind of a rough day today. Started off in a flurry and a rush, as I overslept and Tarzan woke me up 5 minutes before the bus came. Didn't have time to go over holiday shop budgets with the kids, just slapped a check in their envelopes. Should be interesting to see what they came home with. Cinderella was trying to tell me her tummy hurt, and I guess it did, since she came home wearing a "nurse's office" pair of pants and had her poopy ones in a baggy. No phone call, and I guess she felt better after that.
Found out in the middle of rehearsal today that one of my cohort's wife had a miscarriage tonight. He was very upset and had to leave rehearsal. So sad.
So, I've had better days, but mine wasn't as bad as some other people's.
Don's still having a very unpleasant time at the new base. Hopefully he'll get transferred back soon. Or, this contract will end and they'll find him another one somewhere else.

Advent, Day One

Yeah, no promises to keep up with every day, but I'll try.
Long day today. Got kids on the bus, went running, movement class at 10:00. Worked on RP or Standdard British pronounciation over lunch, Acting class. Came home, got kids off the bus, pottied and packed with their homework into the car. Drove Carol to the airport. Got kids home, finished up homework, fixed dinner, and off to Little Women rehearsal. Did a full run-through of the show for the designers, then went to Elephant Man rehearsal to work on British again. We also have finals coming up next week. Oh, and the kids need money tomorrow for the Holiday shop and school and I put my only $20 into the gas tank today. Hope the school takes checks.
Through all this, I'm still loving school. I love almost everything about it. The only things that really drive me crazy are the lack of sleep, the lack of money, and when other people in the program aren't as serious about the work as I am. I am paying too much money and investing too much time to have to work with slackers. Seriously. I know, preaching to the choir here.

Thirty

Well, I did it! Posted something every day. A lot of it was schlock, but hey, it's up there. Had my first Elephant Man rehearsal tonight. It's going to be a great show to work on, I think. Little Women opens (gulp!) next week.
Granny goes home tomorrow. Boo hoo.

Twenty Nine

Don looked all through the van. I looked all through the van. I looked through every jacket and pants pocket he owns. I looked through the dresser, mail shelf, cubby shelf, and desk. We drove up to the base and Don retraced his steps. No ID card.

We came home. Carol went out to the van with a screwdriver and took apart part of the dashboard.

She found the ID card.

I really don't want her to go home.

Twenty Eight

My Christmas lights are up! Everything but the tree. Need to scope out where the cheapest trees are around here. It's weird trying to fit your old lights to a new house, where the layout is all different. I ended up using our "net" lights to decorate the chained-up hot tub out back, as a backdrop to the scarecrow with the jack-o-lantern head and the Santa hat. It's unique. The front is a little more traditional. I'm using the candles in the windows for the first time in a long time, as they never fit on the windowsills in Sewickley. It's nice. The stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and Thanksgiving dinner tasted just as good the third time around.

Don somehow lost his ID to the base today. So tomorrow will be spent retracing steps and turning the van upside down to try to find it.

Carol put a patch on the tear in the footstool tonight. It looks better now, but I don't think it will hold for long. One good grab by Monkey or one good bounce from Tarzan and it's gone again.

It was actually quite brisk this morning, with wind chills in the lower 30's, but by mid-afternoon it was mid-50's and sunny. Perfect for a slow jog through the fallen leaves.

Twenty Seven

Had a relaxing day today. I convinced Scooby to snuggle with me a bit this morning and watch TV, thereby avoiding the daily fight over the computer. Went for a run. Finished my paper on The Lion in Winter. Played a multiplication matching game with Scooby and Tarzan. Played Chinese Checkers. Watched Amahl and the Night Visitors. Make Chocolate Chip cookies. Ate homemade turkey soup for dinner. Went to Holiday Lights on the beach. Read stories. Surfed the internet for Christmas gift ideas.

Tomorrow I plan to take down Thanksgiving decorations and start putting up Christmas ones. Also, do some research for Elephant Man, and review lines for Little Women.

Good day.

Twenty Six

With love and sentiment of true Thanksgiving for all....

My Thanksgiving blog entry is thus....

Muppets sing Bohemian Rhapsody

Twenty Five

I've been trying to catch up tonight on some academic work that has been slipping behind, so that I don't have to worry about it over the weekend. However, I don't think I'm going to quite finish. My final paper for my Research and Aesthetics class, my "mock thesis" is almost done, but I'm still struggling through the stupid MLA formatting stuff and I need to give it another round of proofreading when I'm not so bleary-eyed.

I've also been participating in an online discussion group that was set up in lieu of having face-to-face class today. We're discussing modern examples of Gothic storytelling utilizing the presence of "self" vs. "other" and the symbolism in Tennessee William's "Suddenly Last Summer." It's interesting, but I'm spending way more time checking the discussion board than it would have taken me to just go to class.

Feeling a little melancholy not to be seeing Mom and Dad and sibs this Thanksgiving, but it is wonderful to have Granny here. I'm being totally spoiled once again. It's amazing how much pressure it takes off me when I don't have to worry about meals for everybody. I really don't like to cook. I do like to eat, however.

The running has been going pretty well, though. I'm down 9 pounds now - my goal is 11 more.

Hope everyone is traveling safely and giving lots of hugs to loved ones!

Twenty Four

Don's job didn't go much better today. The boss at this base is a real piece of work. He was warned ahead of time, but still got to experience it for himself today. The poor guy. He's really trying to have a good attitude about it.

Not much to say today. Good classes, good rehearsal. Now to maintain what we've done until next Monday!

Twenty Three

Caught up on Grey's Anatomy on Hulu.com. I basically enjoyed the (apparently) last episode of 2009, but was a little peeved they crammed all three holidays into one show. The music was good, though. I think I recognized a new Ingrid Michaelson song. I like her.

Good run today - 35 minutes without stopping. And then a little more after that, but that was only because I had to go to the bathroom!

Kids brought home great report cards today. I'm so proud of them! Scooby made honor roll and got about 5 free meal cards to various restaurants. The grades were from their previous teachers, since that's where they spent the whole first quarter. Tarzan is still having a little trouble adjusting the another change, but he's hanging in there.

One of my cohorts got punched in the face accidentally in Combat class today. Not fun.

Little Women rehearsals are going pretty well. We got some walls on our set today, and a bookcase and fireplace. I can't wait for our props and costumes! I actually like wearing a corset.

Don didn't enjoy his first day at the new base. He said everyone is unfriendly and the girl he's working with is psycho. Hopefully it gets better tomorrow.

Twenty Two

Who knew?
Slug Eating Cat Food

Twenty One

Twenty One? Really? Boy, this month is flying by. Went to the beach this morning to try to get some Christmas card pictures done - boy what goofy looking kids I have!!! It was sunny but pretty brisk - in the mid 50's. Cinderella looks frozen and tortured in almost every picture, and the boys aren't much better. Definately some "Calvin" faces. I'll see if I can cobble something together, though. I wanted to try to get them out fairly early so I could let folks know about our change of address. I think I'm past the mark for early, though!

We ran a couple of errands and then I went to a short rehearsal for Little Women. "Jo"'s grandfather died on Friday, so she had to fly home for the weekend, which limited what we were able to rehearse. Back here, Granny and I relaxed with the kids while Don got the check-engine light on the car diagnosed and test-drove the distance to the new base he's starting at on Monday. It's going to be another fun commute for him, I'm afraid. On the good news side of things, the check engine light was the "loose gas cap" signal that I love to hear! If you've got to have a check engine light on, that's a good reason to have.

Tonight I"m going to try to catch up on some reading for school. Tomorrow is church, then Don and I are ushering As You LIke It, (so we can get in free) and then maybe going to dinner. A date! Who would have thought it possible?????

Good to talk to Steve and Lisa this weekend. Melissa and J - how are you guys? What's new in RI? J, it's been way too long since you've updated.

Twenty

Okay. Don is booked on a one way ticket from Boston to Norfolk on the 27th. Granny Carol is helping out with the cost. Steve, you weren't home when I tried to call, I guess. He's planning on driving up with us on the 23rd. The kids and I will drive back here on the 2nd.

So, done, and done.

Saw Regent's dress rehearsal for As You Like It last night - kind of an uneven performance, but some really fun moments. Still rehearsing Little Women, around the As You Like It schedule,which is frustrating, but it's coming along.

Carol and I also went Christmas shopping for the kids today. Found some cute clothes, but need to make one more round for a toy or two.

It's going to be a lean Christmas, all around. If I can just be with family, and have everyone healthy, I'm good.

Nineteen

Copout post!!!!
I'm tired. I stayed and watched As You Like It at school tonight. I'm so tired!!!!
Still not feeling 100%.
Hopefully better update tomorrow.

Eighteen

Really tired tonight, and feel like I'm starting to fight off a cold. Fell asleep in my car in the parking lot between classes - that was NOT my plan! So super short post today. Tomorrow's going to be a LONG day for me and the kids, so think positive thoughts our way.

Post Seventeen

Granny Carol is here! Hooray!

Good day today. Good run in the morning - 31 minutes running, 5 walking on either side. Good classes - felt like I'm larnin' things. Bible study with the Dean at lunch, then another good class in the afternoon. Homework with the kids, then rehearsal for Little Women. Then home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Boys started their new classes yesterday. Tarzan's having adjustment issues again, but not quite as bad as before. He said today went better than yesterday. Scooby's doing fine, so far.

Nothing deep and introspective today.

Post Sixteen

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/12/steven.curtis.chapman/index.html

My acting professor sent me this article today and asked us to discuss it as a class. Here are my thoughts below. Any thoughts from you guys?

I remember reading about this story when it happened, and praying that God would somehow shine through the incredible pain this family has experienced. (Imagine what the son who was driving must have felt)

I believe that God has given artists an exquisite gift in the ability to use their art to heal themselves and others through the expression of pain and grief. Chapman himself discusses this in the article and how God allowed him to grieve and heal through the music he was writing. He was not, however, able to do it immediately. There was a time of separation from the art for awhile, before the pain was ready to be processed. I think this is where grace and wisdom need to enter in. If a situation is too raw within us to allow any distance, it probably isn't ready to be fuel for our art. In such instances, the use of emotions can turn into therapy instead of art, and isn't a proper or effective expression. However, once some time has passed, and the healing process has begun, it is not only appropriate but necessary for us to use ALL of ourselves in our art. Not only including, but ESPECIALLY the deeply painful areas, because those are the places out of which our most powerful communication can arise.

For Chapman to be able to sacrificially give himself over to his music, and consequently give that gift to the world, is a powerful testimony to God's transformational power in our lives.

There's a fairly famous C.S. Lewis quote about pain being "God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." The point being, sometimes God allows pain in our lives in order to rouse us from our complacency. As humans, we resist being roused, we resist pain. And as artists, I think we resist the thought of "using" our pain in our art, as somehow disrespectful or dishonoring of the pain. I disagree, however. I think by allowing God access to the pain in our lives allows Him to transform it into something beautiful and possibly helpful to others in their own walks through grief. Being the instrument of this transformation is the most respectful and honoring thing we can do for ourselves and those we have lost.

Post Fifteen

Random Thoughts:

Burning candles in the fireplace really is surprisingly cozy. However, one of them has kind of a funky smell. However again, they're too pretty to blow out.

Tonight has signalled the parade of the slugs through the wall by the front door. Four and counting. Where did they come from? What do they want? Is what we've told Scooby true - that they are afraid of heights and would NEVER climb up to his top bunk while he's sleeping?

The November Nor'easter has significantly messed up my running schedule. I feel fat.

My kids RAKED THE YARD today without being asked!!!! No, they didn't rake the whole yard, and yes, they did a crappy job, but who cares!!! Major kid-points accumulated today.

Visited another church today...probably not a keeper, but very nice people. I'm beginning to feel like Goldilocks. Too hot, too cold. I don't want to keep floating around, but I don't want to settle just because I'm tired of floating around. When is it time to say, "this one is good enough?"

Don is mopping the kitchen floor. But, he has a really bad attitude about it, so the points only count for half.

Tomorrow the kids go back to school. Huzzah!

Post Fourteen

Yeah, so. It's still raining.

I had rehearsal again today. It's coming along. One of our major challenges is taking a mediocre script of a beloved story and finding the active character choices within it. How to make "Marmee" a living breathing person instead of an iconic "perfect" mother, like Carol Brady or Caroline Ingalls; and also not the melodramatic, sighing version written in this particular version of the script.
Kids are still enjoying their impromtu vacation. They've watched "Up" and "Monsters vs. Aliens", brushed up on their Wii skills, and finished all their required reading for the month of November. Cinderella's reading is coming along, but she still gets fatigued quickly, and slides onto the floor, gasping dramatically.
I've been working on my latest paper assignment, which is a "practice" Thesis - not the whole thing, just the Introduction and the Works Cited page for the first Chapter. In preparation, I've been reading couple of Theses from the past years in the Regent library. Interesting reading, but kind of daunting when I think of the magnitude of the task ahead. The play I've chosen for my practice Thesis is A Lion in Winter, which is one of my favorite plays. (You may know the film version with Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn.) In retrospect, I probably should have chosen Elephant Man, and saved myself some work! Oh well.

Post Number Thirteen

Happy Friday the 13th!
Again, no school, no work for Don. Still flooded in...but I had rehearsal tonight anyway. I had to plow through some pretty deep water on our street to get there, but I made it, and our street was the worst one I had to go through. It was good to get out for awhile! Played Dora Chutes and Ladders, Pirate Treasure Hunt, watched more movies. Tried to make travel plans for Christmas. Pleh. Looks like we are staying here for Thanksgiving, especially since Don will only be getting paid for two days work this week. Not sure how we're going to swing Christmas, but right now I'm trying to find a flight for Don to come back here on the 27th. I'll plan on driving at least partway on the 23rd, and starting back here on the 2nd. There's some tension about going at all, but I'm being pretty stubborn about it. Fun times.
I miss school.

Post Number Twelve

Oh, dear Lord. No school for anyone today, no work for Don. No school for anyone tomorrow. I may strangle someone before the day is over. Feeling a little claustrophobic for some reason...

Here are a couple of pictures I took today - Scooby probably took more, but I don't know where his camera is. I didn't take that many because, frankly, it was really wet out there.

Thanking God that we no longer live near a river and that the roof on this place seems pretty solid so far.

Post Eleven

It's a blustery day, Pooh bear!!
Remnants of Ida are causing quite a monsoon-like situation today, which is supposed to continue until Saturday. Lots of rain, lots of wind...so far we haven't lost power, but our TV antennae isn't working very well!!! I actually went running this morning, although it felt more like swimming at times. Surprisingly, it was a good run. Apparently my lungs like 100% humidity. Who knew? I came home on my break today and snuggled with the kids and watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. It was awesome. Then I had to go back to school.
Boy, that wind is loud.
Tarzan seems a little better today. No fever, but still lots of congestion and coughing. I think he'll be able to go back to school tomorrow, though, unless something changes overnight.
Oh, and Don's friends Dave and Tammi (Tarzan's godparents) had their baby...a little boy named Jay David.

Post Number Ten

Yeah, well, nothing brings you back down to earth quicker than a sick kid.
Kept Tarzan home today with a fever and a barky cough. Kid actually slept for two hours in the afternoon, so I KNOW he wasn't feeling good. Luckily Don has tomorrow off, so I won't have to juggle like I did today. He perked up a bit in the evening, but has been coughing a lot in bed. We'll see how he's doing tomorrow, I guess.
Tarzan and Scooby both start in new classrooms on Monday. Such a wonky system. They have the "gifted" kids divided into two classrooms, about 4-6 kids per room. Then they have the special-ed kids in another room. Then, they take everybody else and divide them between the four rooms (making sure there's an ethnic balance - yes, they actually said that.) So there are two rooms of gifted kids + regular kids, one room of special ed kids + regular kids, and one room of just plain kids, which is where they've been up until now, I think. So now they move into one of the gifted + regular kids classrooms, where they'll receive small group instruction and enrichment projects on occasion, and the rest of the time do the regular curriculum with the regular kids. It's very bizarre. And if they'd listened to me at the beginning of the year, maybe they could have STARTED as a regular kid in one of the gifted + regular classrooms and they wouldn't have to start AGAIN with new teachers and new classmates. It's a good thing, but a WEIRD system.
Just rewatched Little Women with Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon. And Claire Danes. I can't stand Claire Danes. Watching her cry makes me want to slap her and I find myself quite happy when Beth dies. Not what they were going for, I don't think.

Post Number Nine

If I could fly...
I'd leave the doubts and debts and darkness down on earth/
I'd soar over ocean and shadow the dolphins stitching their bodies through waves/

Fleeing the fear and freeing the child me inside/

Release and free and expand eluding no longer/

I'd circle the tree tops seeking most glorious leaves/

Opening, unblocking, turning old patterns inside out/

I'd race the clouds across the star studded sky/
I'd cradle the kids and listen to them laugh as the wind raked their hair/
Touching down, but never getting stuck/
Always, always, returning to flight/
If I could fly.

Post Number 8

Cutting it a little close to the wire tonight, but I had two assignments that needed to be turned in by midnight, so I did those first.
It was, indeed, a beautiful day outside. Cinderella woke me up by bouncing the whole bed with full-body hiccups and announcing that she was REALLY hungry. After breakfast we went to church - we're enjoying this church, but still not 100% sold. It's very big, and we're feeling like it's going to take forever to connect with people. Plus the parking lot is a nightmare. So we're debating going to check out a few more places, but today fell into the trap of inertia and ended up going back again.
After church we headed to the back yard where the kids played and I tried to read some school stuff. I was a little distracted by the balls bouncing off my laptop, though. I put away the Halloween decorations that have been piled up in the study, and put out a couple of Thanksgiving ones...actually managed to do that this year instead of discovering them when I went to get the Christmas ones out in December! Read with Cinderella, bathed the kids, read to them all, did my school assignments. Did not run. Did not have rehearsal. Did not collect $200.

Post Number Seven

All right, I feel somewhat vindicated now. I received letters today that both Tarzan and Scooby have been evaluated and deemed worthy to receive gifted education resources. It's quite an involved process, and I had to be pretty pushy at the beginning of the school year in order to make sure they were tested, but now I feel that my pushiness was justified. I'm not sure, but I think this means they'll be pulled out of their current classes and placed into a "cluster" classroom on a full-time basis with different teachers and peers. Not sure how that's going to go, but I'm pretty sure it's a good thing to get them into the "gifted" system.

All first graders are tested at the end of the year, so Cinderella has a couple of months to redeem herself.

Also, I made it up to 30 minutes of straight running today. My back isn't happy about it, but I did it!

For anyone who may not have seen them, I'm posting some Halloween pictures below.

Post Number Six

Happy birthday to my big sister today! I left you some messages, Lisa, but if you didn't get them, hope you had a great day.

Soooooo,

I went in for Cinderella's teacher conference today, and the poor teacher had to meet me at the door with, "Usually I would say things are going very well, but we had an incident today at lunch." Apparently, somewhere along the way, Cinderella has picked up the fact that giving people the middle finger means something and gets a reaction from people. She apparently showed it to another kid at lunch, who showed it to another kid, and the three of them managed to make the whole lunch table get involved. Apparently, when the principal (!) showed up, the whole table of first graders gave him the finger. And the instigator was my little princess. I asked her if she knew what that means, and she said no, she was just trying to be funny. She had to apologize to the principal (who told her he was "shocked") and to the lunch ladies (one of whom lives down the street from us) and has to have "silent lunch" on Monday with the other two kids who corrupted the rest of the table. We had a discussion about behavior with all three kids when they got home from school and hopefully that will be the end of it.

The rest of the conference went well.

Post Number 5

Ten things I'm liking right now:
Soup
Sunny mornings
Little Women rehearsals
My self-discipline
Listening to Cinderella read
Grey's Anatomy
Learning new stuff
Healthy family
Shuffle setting on the ipod
Getting email/facebook messages/blog comments

Ten things I'm not liking:
Scrounging in my backpack for enough coins to buy coffee from the vending machine
Dieting
Feeling tired every day at 5:00pm
Struggling with Scooby about homework
Cooking meals from an empty fridge
Back fat
Stress about travel plans/money/lack of time
Talkers who dominate class time
Stiff neck
Slackers

Ten things I accomplished this week:
Combat quiz on fight phrase 3
Combat quiz on self-choreographed fight
Made it up to 24 minutes straight running
20 action classical Movement barre
Discovered and developed new activity for Meisner class
Vacuumed floors
Meisner book Abstract
Submitted movement journal
The shortest teacher conference in the history of the world
Started daily blogging

Early to bed tonight, I hope.

Post Number Four

Another full day today. Got the kids on the bus, went running, and headed off to class. Today was discussion day in Research and Aesthetics and we talked about modern day examples of Romanticism and Melodrama. We pretty much decided that all super-hero movies (Spiderman, Batman, Hulk, etc.) are Romantic (in the sense of the genre, not necessarily lovey dovey) and Melodramatic. Lots of other films too - Titanic, Gone With the Wind, Independence Day...the list is long! Then I had scene practice for acting class. After that, I went to the post office and mailed Lisa her popcorn (enjoy!), ate some soup, and worked on my assignment for Movement tomorrow. (I thought about trying to explain it, but decided it would be too difficult without having a shared vocabulary about what we're working on.) I went back to school and got the paperwork for the Independent Study proposal, then met with my combat partner to review stuff because she was sick on Monday. In combat class we learned moves like the eye poke, the eye gouge, three different ways to break someone's neck, and the traveling side-kick. Then my partner and I performed and were graded on our mini-fight that we self-choreographed, (which was due Monday, but again, she was sick) and all of us were tested on the third phrase of our long fight. Next week we need to bring in a scene and add text to the fight. After that I had 25 minutes for dinner, and went into Little Women rehearsal. Because the show is completely sold out and the waiting list has been growing huge, we've been authorized to add another show on Sunday evening! It's pretty exciting. I can't wait to start wearing my petticoats and crinolines!!! Got out of rehearsal a little early, so I got home in time to read the kids stories, then started homework. It's now 11:25, and I have about another hour's worth to go. So, full day.

Post Number Three

And...we're out of the potty references for the posting numbers. Hooray. So glad that my brother has joined me in attempting to post every day. I enjoy company in my delusions.

The kids had no school today and came in to school with me. Except for the 50 pound duffel bag of entertainment (books, legos, board games, snacks) I lugged in with me, it was pretty painless. There were two very sweet undergrads who split the responsibility of watching them for two hours each while I was in class, and the day turned out to be beautiful and sunny so they went outside and chased each other around for awhile. We got to have lunch together and even squeezed in a game of Spongebob Life between classes. The day started off a little rough, as I'd tried to have one of the kid's teacher conferences this morning before class, but, of course, the teacher was running about 15 minutes behind. That left me time for about a 5 minute conference, which was pretty uninformative. I may try to reschedule another one, or we'll just wait and see what the results are of the "gifted" testing, and go from there.

I'm thinking of proposing and independent study for next semester about Grotowski, Artaud, Peter Brook and the "holy actor". If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't feel bad. It's a topic I didn't know anything about until I started studying for the entrance exam to Regent, and it's very intriguing to me. I'll see if I can put together a decent proposal in time for registration.

Post Number Two

I think I've licked this whole snazzy title thing. I'm going for "it's so boring, it's chic." I'm posting early today as I know I'm going to be whupped by the time I get home tonight. Just got back from my run, and I'm sitting here sweating all over Don's nice leather chair. I'd like to say I feel virtuous for running, but I'm still deep in the hole of guilt from all the Halloween candy I snarfed yesterday and I've got a lot of climbing to do before I get back to virtuous. One of the (many) things I like about where we live now is that I can plan out running routes that a) don't involve perpendicular hills and b) don't involve major highways or train tracks. True, there are many little water spots - creeks, ponds, lakes, that create strange byways and very circular routes, but I'm starting to get to know my way around them a little better. We live right next to a really nice neighborhood, and my current route fills me with nostalgia as I run past all the Colonial homes on streets like Natick, Tewksbury, Shrewsbury, and Revere. Especially now that it's November and the leaves have STARTED to turn colors (!!) I can almost pretend I'm home in New England. I actually ran for 20 minutes straight today. Walked for 5, ran for 20, walked for 5, ran for 6, and walked 6 back home. My goal is to be able to run at least 30 minutes straight. I still don't enjoy it. I'm waiting for those runner's endorphins to find me, but they are elusive indeed. It's still more slogging and grunting, but I'm getting out there, at least. I'm afraid I'm going to miss tomorrow, as the kids have no school and I'm taking them all to a teacher conference, then to school with me. I've got some people lined up to watch them while I'm in class. We'll see how that goes!
Off to start the day...

Post Number One

So that weird random rectangle on the top left of my page is a sign that I am, indeed, certifiably crazy. I have decided to challenge myself to posting every day for the entire month of November, and that emblem is the proof that I've entered into similar community of crazy people. Now, it says nowhere that the entries need to be of any particular length, or quality, so I'm promising nothing other than volume. And I'm making this commitment when? On the eve of what is going to be my busiest three months in the entire first year of grad school. I'm starting rehearsals for Little Women tomorrow night. Rehearsals will continue through the opening of the show, the week of Dec. 11th (with the exception of Thanksgiving weekend - yay!) and Elephant Man rehearsals start Nov. 30 and run until the opening of the show, the week of Jan. 21. (with the exception of Christmas - yay!) How I'm going to be at rehearsals for two shows at once, I'm not really sure.
We're starting to have an actual babysitter this week - someone coming on a semi-regular basis that we're going to pay for her services. Not sure how we're going to pay her yet, but we'll take it one step at a time.
Halloween was different this year... it was 80 degrees and we went to the beach for the day! It was gorgeous, but I think we wore out the kids too much and they dragged their feet all through trick-or-treating. Theirs were by far the cutest costumes..I'll post pictures on here as soon as I can get it together.
I have SO much homework to do tonight, but I spent 2 hours at a cubscout popcorn sale this afternoon instead of working. At least that's the last one of those for the year.
Feel free to drop frequent comments here, so I know my efforts at rambling are at least being viewed! Come back soon, y'all!