Two parts=one quarter

This morning Bri and I awoke bright and early to help Tiffany put together a yard sale. Nifer showed up and helped too, and we had fun clowning around and talking in fake North Dakotan accents and amusing Tiffany's mom, but at one thirty Nifer had to go to her improv class so she didn't get to stick around for the "wow, a 56J, what can we do with THIS" fun. Tiffany and I are quite the pair. *snicker snicker* After the yard sale Tiffany and I went out for some coffee to relax a bit, then I came home and Nifer met me after her class and we rehearsed our Fluffer Nutter-ness. Our first show together is next Saturday, eep! Jason and I rented and watched "Dan in Real Life." Pretty much the sweetest movie in the world. If you haven't seen it yet, yeah, go ahead and do so.

Get around downtown

Bri and I had lunch with Jason today. We drove up to the airport and picked him up then went to Platte City's Taco Bell. Lately I've had a problem with random strangers interrupting my conversations with people to talk to said people. Melissa and I had been interrupted by a woman a table over who desperately wanted to talk about what a bad parent her daughter was last week, and today some random guy walked up to our table while Jason and I were trying to have lunch and started gabbing his ear off with questions about where he went to school and stuff. Like, I was literally in the middle of a sentance and this guy neither of us knew just came up and started talking to Jason. I started talking to Jason again and this guy just started into it again, then asked us to consider voting for some guy. Yeah, buddy, if your politician is anything like you I'd never even give it a second thought. Rudeness=negative one vote for your candidate. After lunch I dropped Jason off then went to look for a Home Depot. I thought there was one right by the airport but it turned out to be something else, so I drove south, hunting, and ended up crossing the extremely high Missouri River (seriously, is it flooding or something?) and into downtown. Luckily I know exactly where the Home Depot is in Westport, so I ran in, grabbed what I needed, and left. It was strange being downtown on a weekday afternoon, so many business types running around in suits and such. Sometimes I forget that's what downtown is for. Everyone in my neck of the woods works in the vicinity pretty much, except Jason who works at the airport. I left downtown and remembered I had to grab some dinner for tonight so I went to Wal-Mart, got some fixin's, and ran back to the car only to discover it didn't respond to the fact that I was definetely manipulating the ignition with a key. Not even a blip. 100 degrees in the car, frozen foods, and a three year old who needs a nap. Craaaap. I called Jason and told him what was going on and his first suggestion was to tell me to smack the steering column. Nice. Then he told me to pop the hood and sure enough there was a little wire that had joggled loose, so I plugged it back together and it started up just fine. Hooray for cheap cars and cheap fixes!

One last thing: I've decided if I ever write a book I'm not going to plaster my face all over the back of the hardcover edition. So many authors do that and it's a little creepy. Right now I'm reading a Nora Roberts book. She's not smiling, one of her eyebrows is slightly cocked and she has a knowing look in her eyes. It's like she's telling me, "I see you. I know you're reading my work of art in the bathroom, and I don't approve."

Manos: Hands of fate

Helped out with putting together VBS crafts all day today. For helping out, Cherie bought me lunch (wicked sweet!) at Culvers. I've never eaten there. It was actually pretty fantastic, although I had a hard time believing fast food pot roast could be any good. Maybe I'll try that some other time. For today, though, the burger I had was just perfect. Jason came home and took the girls so he could meet his mom in between our houses (it's a three hour drive). Leigha is going to be spending the weekend at her place riding horses. She'll pretty much be in little girl paradise. Brianna is insane with jealousy, so we'll just have to make sure we do nothing fun to really drive the point home. (Awww.....) Yeah, no, not really. Anyhow, today was our first Roving Imp rehearsal in a couple weeks, John told us to take last week off. We had a guy auditioning tonight as well, so the evening was a little crazy, but fun. This is Salvator, Julie, Nifer, Nifer's evil bionic hand that she had to pin between her knees to keep it from killing, and the auditionee, Josh. He was pretty good, I hope he makes it. After rehearsal we sat around talking for a bit and Salvator got on a huge "Superman and Batman aren't real superheros" soap box, which was pretty funny. He got so worked up his glasses actually flew across the room. There's a superpower for ya. Nifer and Salvator are still dating. They were being cuddly in the parking lot as I drove away. It was adorable.

Waxing poetic

This afternoon I got my eyebrows waxed for the very first time. I don't even pluck, fyi. This morning I helped put together some craft things for VBS, which is next week. The kids are just going to love it. We're doing a flip flop craft, which is my personal favorite. I went directly from there to the cosmetology school where I met up with Tiffany. She got her bangs trimmed then we both got manicures and eyebrow waxes. She paid $15, I paid $12. Nice, huh? I told Jason the amount and he just said, "Is that good?" He doesn't get it. I hate it when I tell him I got a fantastic deal on something and tell him the amount and he says, "Is that good?" It's one of those guy things I just hate. I wouldn't brag if I got a bad deal, or even regular price! Nurr! I feel really restless right now. I know I just got back from North Carolina, but my feet are just itching to wander. I swear I would be the happiest Nomad in Christendom.

Corporate licking policy

Here's a picture of everyone from H7 licking Tiffany. No, I'm not kidding. (I'm sorely tempted to let that be the end of this blog posting......I can't do it!) Today we got the carpet installed in the basement (yesss!!!) which is fantastic. I was going to post a picture of the girls dragging each other across the floor (that's what you do in a newly carpeted room when there's no furniture, didn't you know?) but in all the pictures their shirts had creeped up from rubbing on the floor and I don't want any sickos going, "Ooh, child flesh!" So no, you can't see their cuteness. Thanks for ruining cute for everyone, pedophiles, I hope you're proud of yourselves. Well, no, I really don't. So, yeah, new carpet, sweet! Rehearsal tonight was deliriously fun, everyone seemed crazy out of their mind with nervous energy. I don't know why, but it made all our scenes and games super heightened which was cool. We played our favorite game, "Corporate training video" that we made up (even if someone else does it, we don't know about it and therefore came up with it on our own even if it might already exist, therefore it is ours in that respect.) and one of the topics suggested was "company licking policy." (must have come from the crazy vibe we were riding.) Basically it just degenerated into "everybody lick Tiffany."

It's a tiny party!

Zak had a graduation party today, which basically translated into most of Hype 7 caravaning together to Kearney, MO, just north of KC. His parents have a cute place out in the country and we spent most of our time in the screened in porch talking, eating, and playing Apples to Apples. (Super fun, I need to buy it. Oh, and I won twice.) This is Nifer, Tiffany showing her true colors, Zak, Joe, Jen (Zak's girlfriend) and me. Jason was kind enough to take this picture for us. While we were playing Brianna ran onto the porch, said, "Happy birthday, Zak!" Then ran back to play with the other kids. We all laughed big time at that, Zak's birthday is in September. In Brianna's little mind, though, if there's cake, it's gotta be a birthday. We later gathered in the kitchen and sang happy birthday to him while he pretended to be embarrassed...and might very well have been. Just a tiny bit. Nifer came by later in the evening and we discussed logistics for our two person group as well as hotels for our Chicago trip. We were able to find a suite for $114 a night in a really amazing location. We booked it faster than a cop taking down a minority group juvenile delinquent. I am so so excited for this trip, and it's really coming together well! We're going to have such a good time!

Making base camp

Flew home today. Michelle gave me an astonishing amount of food to eat and take with me (all of it was SOOOOO good, too. It was well appreciated!) and we said our goodbyes as I drove my rental car back up to Raleigh. I wish I could have stayed longer, I've missed her. The girls and I made base camp at gate 27 due to a lack of seating (thanks, Southwest, for making the boarding process exactly as difficult as it's possible to be, it's awesome. Seriously. *sarcasm beads up and drips off the previously typed sentence*) It's a frequent occurance for us. There's always some jerkoff that walks right through our circle, too. I've never understood that one. It's not like we stake out busy areas, either. Anyhow, we flew to Nashville, spent three hours there (my first time there, and I can't really say I was there since we didn't leave the airport. ) They're renovating so it's a little rough currently but there were some good shops. It's going to be great when they're done. From what I could see in the air I'd like to visit Nashville on a non airport related matter sometime. The flight from Nashville to KC was a little choppy so it seemed much longer than it was, and then finally we were home. I missed Jason so much, and thanks to him the basement is about 90% ready for the carpet guys now, yay! We had a blast and I truly hated to leave, but it is good to be home.

The Visitings

Today Michelle and I took the girls exploring yet again. We walked to some shops we had been unable to hit yesterday. Fayetteville is a really charming town, I'm really enjoying it here. We went to a paint your own pottery place after lunch today. Every time I go to one I paint a tile commemorating the experience because I really only go to those when I'm traveling. Someday it would be cool to incorporate them into a piece of furniture or my kitchen. We took a breather this afternoon, played with the dogs and watched a movie, then went right back out again. We came back downtown to watch the movie "The Visitor" at the local movie theater, The Cameo (which is awesome, by the way.) It was a really great movie, I highly recommend it. Leigha thought it was really sad and I explained a few things to her about what was going on and such. Brianna fell asleep, poor thing. She looked so cute splayed out over the armrest of the theater seat. Must go now, it's late and I'm typing this in a coffee shop. G'night, y'all!

Fourth Friday

This morning the girls and I loaded up and flew out to North Carolina. We had a layover in Chicago, where I imagined I saw Mick Napier and saw a girl successfully shoplift an "I heart Chicago" bag. We touched down in Raleigh early this afternoon and rented a car to drive to Fayetteville, NC. My awesome friend, Michelle, moved here late last year and I've never been to NC. She encouraged me to come out and see her before they moved again (military) and I took her up on her offer. Fayetteville is an adorable town with a thriving downtown area. Every fourth friday of the month all the shops stay open late and there are sidewalk vendors and music. It was so cool. I got to see a reluctant sports mascot being shoved in front of a crowd to dance with belly dancers. Pretty much one of the oddest things I've ever witnessed. We had dinner and walked around the shops. You may have noticed the similarity of this picture to yesterdays. I have my reasons, and they are twofold. Reason the first: Michelle works at the coffee shop we are currently at, and where the coffee came from. Reason the second: Michelle, Melissa and I used to be a tight knit trio. Drinking coffee and shopping Main Street USA was totally our thing. I like that we now have very similar pictures in our blog to keep us connected.

Our house in the middle of our street

Melissa called today. She needed to get out of the house and breathe (I so fully understand). We ended up getting lunch, running to Target to get a present for a friend, then coming back to my house for coffee and chat. Somehow we managed to snap a picture in the middle of it all. We're hot. It was great catching up with her again, I'm so glad she called. Leigha's last day of school was today, which was bittersweet for her because it kicks off summer vacation, but she's going to a different school next year and won't be rejoining her friends. She was pretty bummed, but she makes friends so quickly and she got people's numbers so hopefully we'll get her cheered up pretty quick. After dinner this evening we took the girls out for ice cream. They were out of Brianna's usual (cherry flavored Star Kiss) but they had something similar (red, white and blue Star Kiss, flavor unknown) so she got that instead. She flipped out because she's never seen one in multiple colors, and by the time we got out of the car at Home Depot she had so much blue on her mouth and hands she looked like a smurf!

Preparing a space for Mrs. Pumpkineater to live

The baby pumpkins were placed in their new home today, aren't they adorable? (*collective round of "Awwww!*) I planted them in the morning when Leigha was still in school. Brianna insisted on trying to help but ended up basically dragging the rake around and singing a little song to herself. Leigha was really excited when she came home from school and I told her to go check them out, so she said, "Brianna, come on, let's look at the pumpkins!" But in Bri's little mind since we planted them they MUST have grown, and she demanded to know where the pumpkins had gone and was upset they hadn't sprouted full grown since that morning. *rolls eyes heavenward* Jason and I finally finished all the prep work for the basement and I found a paint color that I like, so we're on our way to being completely done by the time they come to put in the carpet this Tuesday. It's about time, too! I need the desktop set up, and soon! The laptop's keyboard tends to stick really bad and it's beginning to drive me crazy....er.

What beautiful weather we're having

Today was a gorgeous day. Perfect temperature (yeah, I don't know if I'm going to explain what's going on in this picture, it's too good.) sunny, just the perfect amount of humid. Mmm. I've been getting the ground ready since I realized that "crap, those pumpkins have to go somewhere..." and I think I'm going to plant them tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have some success! This morning Jason and I went to a doctor's appointment for his leg. Part of his artificial leg was recalled. Seriously. We go a letter in the mail and they recalled a part. This has never happened to him and he's had the leg all his life. Luckily it looks good so far so I don't know that they'll have to rip it apart to get to it and replace it, he's only had this leg for a few months now. After the appointment we went to the park for Leigha's class picnic. I can't believe there are only two days left of school! She's going to go into the THIRD grade!! Brianna was upset when we left and wondered why we were leaving Leigha at the park. In her mind "because the school day isn't over" isn't a good enough reason. This evening brought Hype 7 practice, which is where I got the above shot of Zak and Nifer. (Okay, all I'm going to say is that he's not about to spank her, if that's what you were thinking.) Everyone seemed to be lost in their own worlds tonight so it was a little scattered, but still a lot of fun. I got to deliver a good line during a scene in which we were in a deli, post apocalypse, of course, and Tiffany was a ghost. She came and put her hand in front of my face and said, "You see? You can see right through my hand!" And I came back with, "Yeah, and apparently on the other side of your hand chips are a dollar ninety-nine." Jen and I grabbed a coffee and vented some frustrations afterward, it felt good to listen and get a couple things off my chest. I needed that.

Flip flop fail

Today I did some gardening (yay!) Pulled weeds, tilled dirt, leaned on a rake, all that good wholesome stuff. We have about seven pumpkin seedlings that have survived out of the twelve (some animal knocked over the tray when I put them out for some sun one day) and they're getting ready to be transplanted. Hopefully they'll do well! Tonight I went to the Westport Coffeehouse for a longform get together thingy. This is Joe, girl whose name I've forgotten, Nathan, Trish, Tim (behind the pole), guy whose name I've forgotten, Ryan, other guy whose name I've forgotten, and Jared. Caroline showed up for the first half but left before this picture was taken. Visualize her in any of the empty seats if you so wish. Girl and other guy are from Comedy City and tonight was their first night interacting with the improv community outside classes there. That's really exciting. I don't know how the first guy I don't know fits in, I've never seen him before and nobody introduced him around so I assume some people know him. *shrug* We practiced a bunch of scenes and stuff and it was pretty good. My brain pretty much refused to engage tonight and I hate it when that happens because these are people I care about what impression I give and when I'm stumbling over words and muttering, "Um...uh...pudding?" or whatever, it's a little embarrassing. It's Monday, what are you gonna do. Oh, and while there I broke my favorite pair of flip flops and I'm really bummed. It's very hard to find good courderoy flip flops for a good price (these were marked down from$16 to $.97 when I bought them a few years ago) and flip flops are impossible to wear once broken, so I had to drive home bare foot, which I hate doing because it feels weird and I'm pretty sure it's illegal. Not that a cop has ever pulled me over to check the status of my footwear. RIP awesome cheap courderoy flip flops, I shall miss you.

Parties galore!

Today was the kickball tournament to raise money for the Kansas City Improv festival (coming this September!) I couldn't possibly tell you who all is in this picture (in other words I don't know everyone's name) but I can tell you that at least six troupes are represented here, and several people weren't improvisers, but supportive friends! Oh, and Tim Marks from Improv-Abilities is holding out the "trophy," a lovely flat squashed beer can that doubled as home base. We kept it professional. Jason's team won, I was not on that team. It was so much fun! Afterward we went to Trish Berrong's place, (second from left, front row) a trendy and crazy cute loft near Westport, and had a party on the roof. While there I was standing with some improvisers in a circle, talking shop, and Bri came up and handed me a cup. "Peanuts, Mommy?" Without thinking I immediately responded, "Peanuts, thank you." Then realized that was the correct response if we had been playing the popular improv warmup game, "Red Ball." Nice. We left Trish's place, briefly went to Home Depot for some basement finishing stuff, then went all the way down to Stillwell, KS for Tiffany's graduation party! Her parents live in the most adorable neighborhood. We had a bonfire in the backyard and all of Hype 7 came to celebrate with her. We demonstrated a couple games for the other guests and it was a lot of fun. Nifer brought her new guy....Salvatore from the Roving Imps, and introduced him around. (Yup, I've known for a couple weeks but they were keeping it on the DL for a while so I zipped my lips) I think it was strange for him to see her with another troupe, but he warmed up and had fun. Jason talked with Zak and Joe for quite a while. S'more's were made, the first of the season, and lightning bugs came out just as dark settled. Hans and Jen brought fireworks and sparklers and the girls chased each other across the lawn with blue and red and green fury. It was such a great time, I love everyone in that group. Congratulations, Tiffany, we are all so proud of you!

Congratulotions!

Today was the big graduation! Unfortunately Barbie, Gary, Serena, and Rita had to leave just before it started in order to make their plane, but it was so great seeing them. Barbie had to hit Wal-Mart for some baby formula on their way out. Being from California she freaked out about it. "Oh, your Wal-Marts are soooooo big here, I love it! And they have produce!!!" The graduation went well. The commencement address speaker took FOREVER, though. He was the kind of person who likes to speak slowly and pause for a few minutes before changing subjects or making a point. Dude, you're talking to a couple thousand people and all we really want to do is see our particular person walk across the stage, then party with them. I commented to Jason that it's interesting how college is where they teach you to think for yourself and you really become your own person, and the last thing you do before leaving is walk into a building in a straight line dressed exactly the same as everyone else. We had a small lunch with Tim, just family. He's probably going to be partying with friends tonight. We drove home in the early evening. It was still light out when we got home, just after eight. Jason and I put the girls to bed then he went out and got us some sushi, which we ate outside under the stars. Pretty much the best way to wrap up an evening.

Look at me, look at me, in a land that's cable internet free

Got a couple of Summer essentials at the mall today, tank tops and nail polish. Sweet. I'm looking forward to it and it's almost here! After Jason got home from work we drove down to my mother-in-law's. All the family is here because Tim is graduating from college! This is Gary and Barbie, and their eleven month old daughter, Serena. Leigha and Bri had the best time with her and with the attention heaped on by grandma, great-aunt Rita, and their great-grandfather. It's nice to see everyone. If you look closely in this picture you can see that Gary and Barbie are both sporting "Bass Pro Shop" caps. They went there today and thought it was a hoot. They're from the Los Angeles area and this is a total culture shock for them.

One pissed off kitty cat

Tonight after rehearsal Julie invited us up to her apartment above the theater for snacks and conversation. This is Carl's back, Julie's head, Nifer, some lights that kind of look like ghost orbs, Denise, and John. There was fruit. It was delightful. Nifer and I found out today that we're going to be in Chicago at the same time in August...weird. Cool! I'm so glad, we're going to have so much fun. I'm going for a class and she just happened to have her vacation scheduled for that week and has been planning on going to Chicago. Funny how things work out sometimes. Today was both a "bad hair day" and an "I feel fat" day. I hate it when those two things coincide. Maybe tomorrow will be better in that respect.

Yarrrr!!!

This is a hand drawn map to my house gone horribly, horribly awry. See if you can tell at exactly what point I took over the pencil....So anyway, today Tiffany called and said she got an au pair position in Germany! A whole year! She's so very excited and I'm excited for her. Guess who's going to get her passport renewed...We decided a victory lunch was in order so we went to Jerusalem Cafe together, then went to Arizona Trading Company, followed by the Westport Coffeehouse, then we ogled the cute animals at City Pets. Much fun. I'm going to miss her. Before we set out for downtown I had helped her address some graduation invites and she gave Brianna a pirate hat, eyepatch, and sword from a pirate themed birthday she had had. Ironic considering that tonight at church Shannon was trying to describe to Natasha where I lived and started drawing the above map, and then I couldn't help myself and freaked it up. I tend to do that.

Flower child

Today Jason and I went to Lawrence to run a few errands. It worked out nicely because Tiffany and Zak's theater class was having their final today so we called Tiffany up and had lunch with her before setting off to KU. We walked up and down Mass street (Massachusetts street, the main drag in Lawrence, KS for you non-locals) and ran into some modern day hippies. Tiffany decided to get a free tarot card reading from them, Brianna and I talked with the girl who was holding an adorable fluffy puppy in her lap. Jason sat on one of the stone planters and rested his knee. (it's hurting him pretty bad, poor guy) We went to KU after that to go to the theater class final. Basically they had set up a difficult classroom situation and were inviting people to come up and try to be the teacher and figure out how to handle the whole thing. It was really interesting. Zak and Tiffany both did a great job. Jason and I had to leave before it was completely over (who knew it would be a two hour long thing?) so we could pick up Leigha. We came home for a bit and after dinner I went to rehearsal. Conveniently enough for me, it was at the Roving Imp theater tonight because John was coaching us to help us with some concepts. Nifer and I met a little early for Fluffer Nutter practice (better focus, but we still have quite a bit of work ahead of us.) then Hype 7 rehearsed. It was pretty much amazing. We really gelled tonight, John helped us out a lot by introducing us to things we've never even worked on before. Thanks a ton, John, you're awesome! It's been great having the coaching sessions these past two weeks, we're really coming together! I came home and went into the girl's room to kiss them goodnight. Leigha was awake and as I hugged her she said, "Mommy, I stayed awake just for you!" She's such a sweetheart.

Let them eat cake

Happy birthday, Jason! Day two of "low key" holidays at our house. Fortunately for Jason (and the girls) cake mix is easy and inexpensive. Plus, I know how to make awesome frostings and glazes to top them. Today was a strange but good day. It seems like everyone I know popped out of the woodwork to call or come by my house. This morning I helped plan some crafts for VBS (Vacation Bible School) and we met at my house, even with the "everything's in boxes and all over the place" warning that comes standard with every visit to our new place. I think they wanted to see it. :-) Later I called Selena to talk with her about our upcoming trip we're taking this Summer, and also to catch up, it's been a while since we've been able to talk. Not long after that I went to Target to grab some last minute things, then both Tiffany and Erin called to see if they could swing by for a brief moment. Jason was at our old place mowing the yard and fixing up last minute things to make sure we get all our security deposit back, so I said they could and we hung out for a little while. Tiffany complained of not being in the blog for a while and I took a picture of us that was really cute, but this is Jason's day. Oh, and Tiffany, may I remind you that you are in the background on Tuesday's blog. This evening I got a call from Anika (wedding plans) and Jennifer (car trouble). Nice to know I'm so loved and have awesome friends. This evening Jason and I finally dropped the keys off and got our full security deposit back (yesss!) which finally turned the house we've lived in for the past two years into just another house on an unremarkable street in a cookie cutter neighborhood (that's right, WE made it special. We are awesome. And humble.) Oh, and in case you're wondering what the birthday boy is up to in the final hour of his special day, he's hooking up the washer and dryer and priming the basement ceiling. *blows a party noisemaker, throws confetti*

Happy Mother's Day!

So this is what I look like when I'm drowning in children. Just so you know. Mother's Day was a very low key affair in our house today, mostly because of the whole "we just bought a house" thing. Oh, and before you go and say how convenient that is for Jason, his birthday is tomorrow. Yeah. So we decided to keep the sentiment and postpone the presents, for both holidays. I think that's a good solution. I did receive several handmade things from the girls, which I just love, and Jason took the girls out for a couple hours so I could just relax for a bit. That was really nice. The most exciting thing that happened today was all about Jason, though. His dad recently bought a new car and we asked if they'd be interested in selling us his old one to replace Jason's poor, limping, accident damaged Escort. They hemmed and hawed and finally said, "Consider it your birthday present." So we met Jason's dad halfway to pick up the Rav4 and get the key. Um....wow? I mean, seriously, holy crap! Jason and I now both have cars with fewer than 150k miles on them, which is saying a lot. (Jason can fix anything so we don't worry about so-called "high" mileage, but it's nice to not worry about the transmission falling out and whatnot sometimes. My van stayed with us until it hit the 256k marker, if that gives you any idea of how awesome he is at such things) It was so nice to drive down and back. Jason and I love road trips and car rides, but with gas prices the way they are (and if anyone of the oil powers that be are reading this....um, stop what you're doing because enough is enough already. Seriously.) we pretty much don't go anywhere that's not entirely necessary anymore. The grass was almost fantasy green, the trees have just gotten their leaves, and the sky was so blue. Add two giggly girls in the backseat and it was a perfect Mother's Day.

You spin me right round, baby, right round

Today was yet another one of those days with fifty kajillion potential things to do and then everything falls through and you end up doing something you didn't even know was an option. I seem to get that a lot, perhaps I should just plan nothing on days when I have twenty things I could be doing. At any rate, the girls and I had a lazy morning, which is always fun. They made up little songs for me and played silly games with me. When we finally got up and dressed it was around noon, and one of Leigha's friends came over to see if she could play. I pretty much didn't see her again for another four hours. Brianna went down for a nap and I had a huge chunk of time to myself this afternoon. (Yes!) While I was reading I saw a car pull into my driveway. I wasn't expecting anyone, so I was surprised when I saw our good friend Dustin exiting the vehicle. (usually when we see him he's with the rest of the family and they drive the minivan) He knows our insurance guy and apparently he was hired on to take pictures of houses with new policies on them, and ours was on the list! Funny how that happens sometimes. I showed him the inside and he oohed and aahed at the appropriate moments, then he told me he was going to the church to practice drumming since he hadn't been there Wednesday and was wondering if Jason and I would like to go jam as well. I told him we had limited time due to plans later in the evening, but we could swing by for a bit. While at the church I got a text saying my other plans had fallen through, so we just stayed all evening. It was fun, I love singing. (this is all well and good, Jess, but what's with the picture?) After playing for a couple hours we went to Home Depot to get some things to be able to (FINALLY) hook up the washer and dryer. I don't have any clue what I'm holding in the picture there, but it sure was fun!

Run, Nifer!

This evening Nifer came over to practice with me for our upcoming Fluffer Nutter show in June. I told her to come by around eight, which is the girl's bedtime. Poor thing never knew what was coming. She walked in the house and I was on the phone with Tiffany, and Leigha and Brianna start cornering her, and in their heads if someone is over past their bedtime they MUST be spending the night, (What could possibly happen after they go to bed, after all?) so they started asking if she was going to sleep in their room and such. I think the girls would have jumped on her and started wearing down her defenses with hugs if I hadn't gotten there just in time to rescue her. Jason was outside cleaning his car out, I was her only defense. In case you're wondering, our practice was very disjointed....we were both distracted by various things, not the least of which is the fact that my basement echoes pretty bad. I can't wait to get that carpet in.

I got a trezsjure!!!

Forgive me for the horrendous spelling in the subject line, it's the phonetic spelling of how Brianna described the lip gloss ring she was awarded after being such a good girl at her first dentist appointment. Leigha is eight and has yet to lose a tooth, meanwhile her permanent teeth are coming up...BEHIND her baby teeth. We figured it would be a good idea to get her in, and why not Bri at the same time. The girls seemed to enjoy the dentist appointment, although Brianna jumped and shied every time the lady brought out the sucker thingamajig, poor kiddo. They both got toothbrushes and floss, and Bri kept putting pieces of floss in her pockets to save for later. Leigha got to school late because of the appointment, but that's okay. She chose a sticky stretchy lizard as her prize, by the way. Rehearsal tonight was interesting, we ended with a scene where there were six people crammed into a Miata. Basically it went Kyle (new guy), Salvatore, Me, James across all three of our laps, John leaning onto Kyle and Salvatore's shoulders, and Ryan leaning into Salvatore's and my shoulder. Scenes like that are fun to do sometimes. That one got a little TOO silly, but for rehearsal, it was kind of freeing to just be able to cut loose like that. Jason and I are working on painting the basement tonight. I can't wait to have it carpeted so we can get the TV set up. We don't watch a lot of TV, but it would be nice to have the option!

Two men and a little lady

I was asked to sing this week, so tonight after our "class" (We hung out and talked instead of delving into Psalms...ooh, we're delinquents!) was music practice. My good friend Alanna (who came by the house for the first time today and thought it was fabulous) is singing with me this week, and was faced with the usual dilemma: What to do with two month old baby Kennedy during practice? Fortunately Mike and Kyle were there (Mike is the sound booth guy and has been previously featured as "death" in my blog, Kyle is his roommate.) and are good about being helpful with the kiddos. Kyle was feeding her just before we all got started, it was so sweet. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that. There's just something cute about guys holding babies, especially tiny ones.

Wardrobe Malfunction

Scott (remember Antiprov?) came to Hype 7 rehearsal tonight to help us work on a few things. Improvisers have certain words and phrases that bug them sometimes. Scott's trigger word is "Actually." He says it's a completely unnecessary verbal hesitation, and Jen pointed out that it can lead to subtle denial of your scene partner's suggestions, which is a huge no no in improv. This is a picture of Scott throwing colored pencils at anyone who said the word "actually." I believe my count was three. Not bad compared to some. Jason needed his airport security badge renewed today so Bri and I came along for the ride so he could take the class required to renew it, and I could kill time at shops I normally don't get to go to. We had lunch, then went straight to a doctor's appointment to check up on his diabetes. He's doing great, by the way. (Go Jason!) We've moved from the kitchen to the basement, fixing up stuff. It's going to be so amazing when we get it finished. I can't believe we're going to have two living areas! This place is so fantastic.

Angerlust

Got my hair cut today, yay! I had been growing it out to undo the damage I did to it last year, dyeing it repeatedly and whatnot. (that's not to say I WON'T dye it this year, tee hee....) It feels soooooo good to have short hair again. My hair is really really really thick and curly so it's like growing your own sweater. Bearable in the winter, not so much in the summer. This afternoon Jason and I worked on the kitchen. He cleaned out the cabinets and repaired things, I did a nifty job of contact papering the shelves. Sometimes we remind me of a couple from the 1950's. Mr. and Mrs. Nuclear Family. The girls and I planted some pumpkin seeds in seedling planters today. Hopefully we'll have nice big homegrown jack-o-lanterns this fall. This evening I went to an undisclosed location and participated in mysterious goings-on. It was a lot of fun. (P.S.-the previous sentence will self destruct after you read this. Oh, and in case you re-read this, it regenerates then self destructs again. It's on a loop.)

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Just in case some of you heathens were wondering, this is what the inside of a church looks like. Our church switched from one to two services today, causing mild confusion. Jason and I are involved in music. He's the bass player, and I sing on a regular basis, but not every week. This week we arrived early so he could do music, we sat through the first service, then Sunday school, but were unsure if we were going to stay after the music during the second service (there was a potluck after the second service....FYI, church people can COOK!) but during the shuffle between Sunday school and second service, Jarod (music leader) asked if I could put the song words up on the big screen. That solved that dilemma. Normally I can't take a picture during service, so I used my superior height gained by the booth to my advantage and took this shot during the sermon. I hung out with Melissa this afternoon (yay!) which was great, I had missed her so much! We had coffee and conversation, and I brought her to the house to see what we'd done with it, since it was completely in the raw last time, and she hardly recognized it. In a good way. Jason and I hit Home Depot this evening to pick up weed killer and such things. He mowed the lawn for the very first time today. It looks fantastic!

Ah, there it is.

Yesss! I got the funny release I was looking for tonight! Our shows were fantastic! It was Ryan and Salvator's first night of shows as Imps (Salvator's first ever improv performance) and they were great. The 7pm show was pretty good, between shows the girls talked to Nifer (picture) and the 9pm was fantabulous. We went out after the show to celebrate and we had the rudest waitress, like, ever. She brought one menu for seven people...who does that? Anyhow, really tired now. Must sleep. Night all!

Allygaytwoars

I sit here, victorious. Jason is over at the old house sweeping out the garage and ridding it of trash, and we are done. DONE! I did some moving out during the day and after dinner we went over to the house again to pack and clean. Jen came over and helped move things to the car, and then, like the blessed saint of a woman she is, she took the girls to Sonic for ice cream and to get them out of our hair for a bit. While she was doing that I managed to finish my vacuum and Febreeze technique, and told the girls to get buckled up. As we were going to the car, Brianna said, "Are we going home?" I looked at the sunny yellow house we've spent two happy years at and replied, "Yes. Yes we are." Goodbye Elm street, it's been a pleasure. Jen followed me, Jason followed both of us (trailing by about two minutes) and we formed a tiny convoy to the new place. We pulled up to find that the neighbor directly across the street had been TP'ed. Very, very well I might add. The tree the vandals had chosen was covered in pink blossoms and the toilet paper hung off the branches, waving gently in the breeze like ghostly tendrils. Rather poetic. I showed Jen the new house then gave her the concrete lions that had adorned the driveway. As Jason was buckling them into the backseat of Jen's car a band of teenagers showed up and began cleaning up their handywork while the mother of the targeted child said, "You're not leaving until all this is cleaned up!" The street is dark and quiet now, but the topmost tree branches still have rebellious ghostly tendrils hanging from them, waving gently in the breeze.

Negative Nelly

Today was not fun. It wasn't bad, really, just a lot of drudgery. I got up and took Leigha to school then went back to the old house (see picture) and cleaned, got rid of some trash, and moved things around to be more accessible. I came home, unloaded my car, and went out for sushi for the first time since I had my wisdom teeth taken out (I heard many warnings about not eating rice as it can get stuck in the holes in your gums.) I ordered Brianna a california roll in addition to the fried rice she requested. She picked up a piece of the sushi uncertainly and said, "Mommy? Do I eat the tape?" She was pointing to the seaweed that holds the roll together. Nice. I ran to Target on the way home so I could grab some breakfast bars since we don't have a fridge yet and can't buy milk without one, then came home so Bri could take her nap. I did some stuff on the computer then began to relax and read, when to my surprise I woke up and found I had dozed off (I never, never do that. I must be more worn out than I thought) and it was time to get Leigha from school. I picked her up, went back to the old house, grabbed a load of things, took them back to the new house, then met up with Jason for dinner and it was off to RI rehearsal. I was hoping for a fun reprieve from the day, but unfortunately it felt more like a chore than the happy fun goodness I had been expecting. We had a tornado warning and had to go down to the basement during warmups and after that my excitement for the evening had waned. On top of that we did a music inspired longform for the second half of rehearsal and mixed signals caused some confusion on the stage and it just wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped it would be. Don't get me wrong, there was some good stuff, but I wish I had gotten more out of rehearsal. Oh well, at least this is a performance week, perhaps I can catch a mental break then. After rehearsal I went back to the old house and helped Jason load up our friend Jason's truck and my car. I wish I could say they were the last loads, but they are not. We ran out of boxes and receptacles with which to put things in and it's very slow going here. The good news is we had an inattentive landlord who won't care that we weren't moved out by the first. (it was awesome having nobody checking up on us, our first landlords ever did that all the time. I remember one time the guy came over and sat on our porch watering the lawn for three hours while I was in the house.) We're almost done. One last desperate gasp and we should be completely finished. I can't wait.