Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is my Dad's birthday. I called him (late) after rehearsal and was apologizing for the late hour of my call when my Dad said, "That's okay. Nina called last night and the alternator on her car broke down on her way home from work. She didn't even get four blocks and it died. So today she called to say that everything was being fixed and whatnot and I said, 'Janina, aren't you forgetting something?' She said, 'Um....thanks for the alternator?'" Nice. We had a great Hype 7 rehearsal tonight. Patrick did in fact make it in, by the way, and he's fitting in really well. We did some experimental things tonight, worked on some old and new games, and talked about things. When rehearsal was over I was talking about some things with Nifer and Jen in the lobby when Julie came in, fresh from a brisk walk. We had a brief, but refreshing, conversation. I'm so lucky to have great friends with so much in common. I love hanging out with my gals!

Puddle 'o' cat

I have an online job where I answer people's questions (Thank you, Michelle!) and today I got one that really amused me. It said, "Why is Spartacus considered a hero?" My initial thought was, of course, "Because he's a snuggly-wuggly fuzzy baby!" But then I answered with the correct response which is, of course, "Spartacus was considered a hero because he was a slave who led a rebellion against an evil empire." He's been extra super cuddly today and I think it has to do with the fact that we hadn't seen him in nearly two days. Either that or because he's sleepy due to probably going through a growth spurt. *shrugs* Meh. We didn't do a whole lot today, what with the being sleepy and all, so there's not a whole lot to report. Leigha had volleyball again and when she came home she discovered another loose tooth. (unconnected to the fact that she had v-ball practice outside the timing factor) Here we go again! Oh, and P.S.-this is the first you guys get to see of my new couch and a little of the end table. You likey?

Beachy Keen!

In the morning we got up, checked out, ate some breakfast, then drove back into Los Angeles. Our plane didn't leave until afternoon, so we had two hours to kill. What can a young, energetic family of four do in Los Angeles in two hours? Well, my first thought was, of course, the beach. So we headed for one of my favorites, Santa Monica. The pier you see in the background is just so cool. Also, Santa Monica has playgrounds and boardwalks on the beach. Wicked sweet. We took a few shots (like this one that makes it look like Jason is wearing a faux hawk. Yay for coastal winds!) played in the waves, dug in the sand, and the girls found some sea shells. After a while it started getting pretty cold so we decided to drive to Hollywood by way of Beverly Hills. I convinced Jason to take Rodeo Drive so I could get some more pictures and freak out over the brand names on the shops, even though they're the same ones you can find at your local Nordstroms. (but it's so much cooler and shinier!) Then we drove into Hollywood and saw the sign on the hills and remarked yet again at how positively disgusting Hollywood Blvd. is except for the block and a half by Graumann's. Seriously, it's like walking down Troost here in KC. Blecch. After our whirlwind tour of famous shiny things, it was time to go back to the airport. We turned in our rental car, checked in, got annoyed at security, paid too much for airport food, and finally arrived back home in Kansas City.

Barbie gets married...no, really!

Today Jason and I got the girls up eaaaaaarly, headed to the airport, boarded a plane for Los Angels, rented a car, drove to Camarillo, checked into a hotel, ate some In-N-Out Burger, then went on to Santa Barbara for his cousin Barbie's wedding! You may recall the last time she and Gary were featured in my blog, along with daughter Serena, as they were wearing Bass Pro Shop hats. Sweet. Today's affair was far more upscale than the last time we saw the happy couple. Jason and I arrived early and had some time to kill so I went to a board shop and bought some surf wax. Why, you ask? Because it's a great way to keep antique furniture with wooden drawers from sticking and sqeaking. Odd use for surf wax, I'll admit, but when you think that it's typically used to allow a fiberglass board to glide faster over water while someone stands on it, it dosen't seem that off the wall. We got some coffee, then walked to the beachside clubhouse where the wedding and reception were to be held. The wedding itself took place on the lawn outside, and there was a walking path on the beach just beyond, so when the wedding party started walking down the aisle, there was a huge line of people on foot and on bikes staring at us. It was funny, and also really cool to share that moment with perfect strangers. The wedding was just gorgeous, they couldn't have gotten better weather if they'd paid for it. The reception was also wonderful, Brianna asked for cake at least five times before they had even begun dinner. Also, when she heard it was time to toast the bride and groom she said, "Yay! I want some toast!!" We danced, ate, laughed, and caught up with a lot of Jason's family, it was just great. We got a lot of comments along the lines of, "We can't believe you guys came all this way!" How could we not, really?

Quadra crap!

I took Brianna to McDonalds today to let her play in the playplace and let me work on the rag rugs while drinking a Dr. Pepper. Some parents never cease to amaze me, you know? There was a woman sitting near me, you know the type, upper middle class, couldn't stop waving at her son every five seconds...yeah. She was on the phone describing his every move to the person on the other end, and she said, "Oh, it was adorable, he spit on another kid and when I told him we don't do that, he started swaggering around!" She was laughing about it. Uh....ew. If my kid spit on another kid, they wouldn't have anything to swagger about, believe me! Tonight was the Friday night show. I showed up for warmups, and we were on stage getting revved up when I looked at the door and saw Melissa standing outside! She came to see me!!! I ran over and gave her a hug and then it was time to go backstage. We had a really great show! I got to play a mutated dna dinosaur baby in 1862. Fun! Melissa laughed so hard, it was her first improv show and she enjoyed it very much. I'm glad we did a good job for her!

Cloodle me this...

Today I went shopping with Melissa. I pretty much dragged her all over town, I had a lot of errands to run so she was along for the ride mostly. We had fun, shared laughs, got coffee, and since we were in the vicinity, had lunch at the airport with Jason. I came home and finished wallpapering the kitchen (it's almost done, yay!) made and ate dinner, then went to rehearsal. I am not feeling the best tonight so my energy was a bit off, but it still ended up being a lot of fun. I got to play a singer/songwriter hippy-esque character who had all the important jobs in a small town, that was fun. After rehearsal we all played Cranium. I love that game and I've played it several times, but I think I've only ever been on the winning team twice. Oh well, that's not what I'm in it for anyhow. We were talking about shows and rehearsals we've done in the past and Julie said, "Hey guys, remember that one where we all crammed into the alcove on the back of the stage? Let's all do it now!" And we did. Just because. And that's why I love improvisers.

Here we go again!

Leigha lost another tooth today. The one on the bottom middle, next to the one she just lost. They were loose at the same time, so it's no surprise. What WAS a surprise was Leigha's note to the tooth faerie thanking her for the book and money, then asking for her to leave the movie "Camp Rock" and write back. Oh boy, here we go! I drafted a letter in reply in cursive, so she'll never know it was me. I always print....badly. Why don't I use cursive often? Well A. it cramps my hand B. Keyboard, duh. The note basically says thanks for the teeth, Camp Rock is expensive, save up for it with the money I left you. Only, you know, nicer. I rolled it up and tied it like a scroll with a short length of twine. I hope it's years before she realizes I did all this, the fact that she would write to the tooth faerie and expect a reply is so very sweet.

Reluctantly crouched at the starting line....

We dropped Sparticus off at the vet this morning. Poor thing. Jason and I had a fun fun fun day going to the DMV and then to two hardware stores looking for hinges. I began painting the front door today, it's gonna be preeeeetty. I went to Hype 7 rehearsal/audition tonight. Patrick from Roving Imp auditioned. It was a really fun rehearsal, we did a lot of good stuff, and if he made it or not, well, it hasn't been announced and I'm not at liberty to say. Hype 7'ers guard our secrets well. *mysterious eyes* Plus, Patrick reads this blog. Hi, Patrick! After rehearsal/audition we went to the dive bar next door for discussion and sixty cent slyders. While we were there they were having some kind of promotion for "Crown Royal." I got a blinky button, nice. Apparently there's a big Nascar race at the Speedway this weekend and they had a pace car in the back. We went outside to investigate and a guy came up and said hi to us, we asked if we could get a picture with the car and he said sure, then said, "Do you know who I am?" I said, "No." He said, "I'm Jamie McMurray." His name was on the side of the car. As in, he was the driver. I said, "Oh! Oh, hi! I'm sorry, I'm actually not really a racing fan." He said, "That's okay, not everyone can be." Then offered to take our picture. My camera kept shutting off (I hate how it runs out of batteries without notice) so we took this picture on Nifer's camera phone and she e-mailed it to me before we even drove away from the parking lot. Ah, technology!

I can has Barbara Walters filter?

Isn't him a cute little demon? Yes him is! And right now he is piiiiiiiiiissed off at us! Spartacus is getting neutered tomorrow and at eight this evening we had to take away his food. Jason went to grab the bowl and stuck it in the cupboard. Spartacus heard the cupboard open and came running...then slowed....then his tail slowly dropped to the floor and he started sniffing around. Poor baby. I poured myself a bowl of cereal later and he came running, only to find his poor little kitteh hopes dashed yet again. Oh well. He feels better at this moment than he will in about twelve hours. Jason had a leg doctor appointment today, and since we were in the vicinity I managed to rope him into taking me to Dean and Deluca and then Crate and Barrel. I only shop at stores with "and" in the title. We came home and put Bri to bed then relaxed on the couch with some coffee. I worked on the rag rug a bit, it's coming along quite nicely. Can't wait to see what it will look like when it's done. Leigha had volleyball practice today, she's having a lot of fun with it. I am really looking forward to seeing her first game. (did you know some of those start at like eight in the morning? On a Saturday! That's just mean!)

Ghost orbs?

People of earth: Run. Run fast and run far. These mythical ufo orbs have invaded our city, invaded our homes, invaded our very lives. They may be in your home right now for all you know! *cue b horror flick from the 50's scream* Jen, Nifer, Tim and I got together this afternoon for a little thing we like to call "Instant Coffee Comedy Hour." Jen's grandmother was recently placed in a nursing home and she thought it would be great to get together a group to put on an improv show for them. I signed on board. Yay for the free agency that is my improv career! (I'm such a rogue) Jason's parents came by to drop off the doors, kids, and the living room set they needed to get rid of (woo hoo, new couch!) It's nice having legitimate furniture in my house now, but now I get to do the, "No! That couch is for SITTING, quit standing on the cushions!" Not that we let them stand on them before, but now it can not only hurt a kid, but a couch that I care what it looks like as well.

Arts District

This morning the girls and I got up and dressed and we headed into town with Sheila. The little town she works in had it's fall festival today and her medical practice always does a float in the parade. Every year since we've lived here now we've been in it. We decorated the float with balloons and some of them were the long kind, so I made several balloon animals for kids. Sweet. We got on the float then took our position in the line. I saw several grown men and women with mullets and rattails, completely without irony or shame. Ah, Missouri. Sheila is coming out tomorrow to give us our doors, and she offered to keep the girls overnight. So about 2:30 I left so I could get back on time for my shows tonight. Jason came with me and watched our fantastic 7 pm performance, then at 9 was the improv jam, in which everyone who wants to can come up and participate in games. I signed Jason up unwittingly (mua ha ha!) so he did a few games. This is him and I playing "Hitchhiker." I'm the driver of a car (with an 'L' shaped steering wheel?) and he's a hitchhiker I picked up. The object of the game is for me to guess what his 'quirk' is. (He was a huge nerd.) He had a lot of fun, and actually got quite a few laughs. I enjoyed watching him. After the show we went to the house of some amazing 'regulars' that frequent the theater, then Jason and I ducked out quite early and went out just the two of us for a late late dinner. I love getting to go out with him and not watch the clock.

Doorway to heaven

I got up at the butt crack of dawn this morning and drove to my Mother-in-law's. It's a long drive, it was very early. I stopped by the drive up Starbucks on the way down for some caffinated magic juice, then made the long three hour drive, arriving at about 8:30. She needed help loading some junkyard-bound items into the horse trailer, so I was lifting and moving with her, when we got to the wicker couch on her porch. We moved it all the way down the stairs, along the sidewalk, across the driveway, and onto the lawn in front of the trailer before setting it down to figure out how best to get it inside. Leigha started saying, "Uh! Uh, wasp!!" And pointing at the back of the couch. I said, "Leigha, don't worry it's all right." Sheila craned her neck and said, "No......it's not all right." I looked back there and lo and behold, there was an entire metropolis of wasps swarming around a gigantic nest, right in the middle of the back of the couch. *shudder* We told the girls to get in the car then went searching for bug killer, but finding none settled on foaming carpet cleaner. We braced ourselves, then began spraying liberally. To our surprise, the angered wasps' wings were too heavy with foam to allow flight, and they were trapped! Take that, winged instigators of terror! We then proceeded to knock the nest off, spray and stomp on any escapees, and finally threw the couch into the trailer. After dumping the haul at the surprisingly efficient junkyard we continued to a fantastic discount home improvement store where I bought up a bunch of doors for my house. The old ones were beyond needing replacement. We also went to Sam's club and loaded up on candy (about $100 worth) for the fall festival parade tomorrow. We had Sonic for dinner, shown here in this picture of Sheila and Leigha watching Bri do her 'I've been in the car too long!' dance.

It's not conspicuous...

I went to Leigha's parent/teacher conference today. I was told the same thing by every teacher Leigha has ever had, "She is way too talkative in class." Big shock. But this time I was talking to Leigha and telling her that talking was for recess and lunchtime and she said, "We're not allowed to talk at lunch." Whaaaat? "Yeah, we just use a lot of sign language." What's up with that? Lunch conversations are the best! The book fair was also going on so we went to the library after the conference and I got the girls a couple books for Christmas. I didn't want them to see the books so I asked for a bag to put them in. The librarian looked around, stupefied, then found this giant Price Chopper bag for me. Nice. I felt like I was buying oversized novelty liquor. Roving Imp rehearsal tonight was a lot of fun. We did a warm up game that had everyone doing weird things and it got so silly that my stomach hurt laughing. It's so hard to put into words what makes us laugh sometimes. The best laughs always come from those, "You just had to be there." Moments. I love those.

Invisbl coffee

Michelle is in town (went to her place in Fayetteville, remember? She lives in Georgia now) for a visit. Her husband's family lives nearby and he's being deployed to Iraq soon, so he gets time to visit them. How convenient! She was gracious enough to use some of her precious time to get together with Melissa and I today, so we did what we used to do while she lived here: We went to Weston and shopped our cute little brains out! I love antique stores, they're so cool. It's amazing the amount of handcrafted things you can find here and how much we've lost from generation to generation due to machine made items. I would never think to beautify some of the things I saw today, yet some housewife from the fourties thought it was important enough to hand embroider. That is so cool! I like to learn from them and try to bring those kind of skills into my own world. (the braided rugs for Christmas, for example.) We had a great time reminiscing over the time I tripped on a fire hydrant that happened to be in the middle of the sidewalk but I couldn't see it because I was holding Brianna. I just stood there saying, "What did I hit, what did I hit?" While they laughed at me. Ah, memories. We were going to get some coffee but Melissa had to get home so we took a picture of us miming drinking coffee. It amuses me that the gesture took on three completely separate manifestations with us. Michelle is clearly clutching a disposable cup, I have an oversized mug, and Melissa looks like she's slurping on an ice blended drink. Good times, good times.

And nothing but the tooth!

Today was big, big deal in our family. Brianna and Leigha both got some major childhood firsts...Bri's was quite unfortunate, in that she had her first bee sting. Poor thing. She put herself to bed early and when I went in to check on her she was cuddled up with her little hand under her cheek and a band aid wrapped around her finger. Leigha's was quite exciting, she lost her first tooth! I came home from a fantastic Hype 7 rehearsal to find that she had it hanging by a thread, so I reached in and pulled and it came out like buttah. Leigha tensed up and went, "Uh!" But before she could even say "Ow!" it was over. She was surprised by how little it hurt. Here you can see every ounce of excitement in the moments just after. In case you're wondering, the tooth faerie is bringing her fifty cents and a book called, "Dear Tooth fairy." An adorable picture book with envelopes on the pages that contain real letters and little treasures from the tooth faerie. Future teeth will get more money, it's just that this book is pretty huge and I think she'll be quite happy. We went to the library today and I found out that there are quite a few improv books in the fine arts section. I checked out "Art by Comittee" by Charna Halpurn, and on the front of the book is a giant yellow sticker that says, "CAUTION: the library is not responsible for damage caused by using this product." For the record, none of the other books or DVD's we checked out had any such sticker.

High viscosity

Hype 7 had a sketch writing meeting tonight at my place. Due to business and sickness it ended up being Nifer, Joe and I. We got a few ideas banged out, some that might even end up being written. I had a sheet of paper in front of me, but when Nifer left after an hour it only had a scribble on it that indicates that, yes, my pen works. I'm just not a note taker. Jason came downstairs and we all chatted for a while, then Jason took off his leg to be more comfortable and we were laughing because it looked as though he had been horribly maimed, so he stuck his stump out and placed the leg at an angle that would have been impossible outside horrible injury if he actually had a knee there. Ah, the fun hijinks that come from having a one legged husband.

And then there were none

Today was the last day of the improv festival, a very bittersweet performance. We were all ready to be done with the constant performances, but we had so much fun with it. We couldn't wait to perform, but it was Zak's last show with us before he goes on a sabbatical to focus on school work. We decided to make the most of it. Jen and I carpooled and showed up about 10 minutes before call time, so we spent the time putting our things in the green room and doing last minute mysterious lady things involving makeup, mirrors, safety pins, and giggling. We sat in the front row with the other troupes for the same orientation talk as we had on Friday night, then roamed around Union Station for a bit before settling in our seats for the show. First group was Exit 16 out of Liberty, a talented group of high schoolers. Then we saw an amazing set from makeshift Militia, then after intermission it was The Hypothetical 7's turn to take to the green room and warm up. Weird how both my groups went third in the shows. We had a pretty okay set. After us was Comedy City. I'd never seen them perform before...interesting. I'm not into sports themed things so much, but it was a cute faux competition format. We took a group shot then Hype 7, accompanied by Julie and Carl, went to Aladdin's Cafe to toast (with hummus!) to a great evening, great friends, and a reluctant goodbye to a very talented guy.

I'm only happy when it rains

We have had a ton of rain lately. Today we got a little bit of a break, though, the sun was halfway out for a couple hours. The girls and I stayed in all day and watched movies and worked on projects, it was fun. When Jason came home we ate potato soup then went out on the back deck for a bit to watch the rainbow that arced across the entire sky, it was just breathtaking. This picture is a little dark and slightly blurry, but it looks so much better than the one I took with the flash and I like the Tim Burton-esque quality and colors in this one. We got the girls into their jammies and Jason dropped me off at the theater (remember? I left my car there!) for the Hype 7 show. It was pretty fantastic, there was a really great energy among the troupe tonight and we had a really good sized audience. I love the feeling you get after a really good show. Hopefully that will carry over into our performance tomorrow, the last night of the improv festival.

Now it's our turn!

Jason got off work a little early today. I drove to the Imp so I could carpool with John, Carl, and Patrick and I'm so glad I did. It was absolutely POURING rain, and a tornado warning followed us all the way into Missouri! We got to Union Station right on time, though, and cozilly ensconced ourselves into the front row so Trish and Tim could give us the rundown on how tonight was to go. Roving Imps were slated to perform right after intermission, so we got to sit and watch the first two groups (Loaded Dice and Counterclockwise Comedy) perform. It went pretty well after some technical difficulties (Ironic because Some Technical Difficulties is a troupe from Liberty. It would have been more ironic if they had performed tonight...) During intermission we went back to the green room and warmed up. Here you can see us doing the classic, "Where have your fingers been?" You do a little song then someone points to another person and says a location and the person pointed to acts out a little scene using their index fingers as the characters. Quite fun. We were called up after a few minutes and waited in the wings, then ran out and did our set (it went okay, nothing too spectacular, but not half bad) then went back to the green room. Oh, and by the way, they had it stocked with snacks for us. Sweet. We talked for a minute or two before running around the back way to the lobby and sneaking back into the theater to catch the last part of Tantrum's set. A good kickoff to the local weekend of festival, if you ask me. We all went to McCoy's for the after party and there was much rejoicing. I rode back with Julie and we were sopping wet because of the torrential downpour. I don't think we got over 40 mph the entire way home. It was raining so hard that I asked her if she could just drop me off at home instead of back at the theater. I'll get my car tomorrow.

Tragic Kingdom

September 11th, 2008. Now the official "Earliest date I've ever seen Christmas decorations on the shelf of a store that does not exclusively sell crafty items." Speaking of September 11th, I would like to acknowledge that today is the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks, as we all know, and I'm glad to say that while Americans will never forget (just like the bumper stickers say) it is nice to know that we are all moving forward with our lives and that seven years ago on this date it seemed as though life would never return to normal and nothing would ever be the same in our country...that has not been the case. Yay for true Western culture grit and gosh darn persnicketyness! This morning I had a great conversation with Leigha. I was teasing her and I said, "Leigha, time to wake up!" (she was eating her cereal and just gave me a look) "Rise and shine, sleepyhead! It's a brand new day and you can do anything you want with it!" She perked up at that. "Really?????" "*laugh* No." "Oh....just imagine if you could do anything you wanted for one day." "What would you do, Leigha?" "I'd borrow a wand from a faerie and make UNICORNS. They'd be so pretty. I'd name one Charlie." Such a girl! Bri and I went to Target today, hence the Christmas ornament picture, and the Halloween items were out. She got SO scared, poor thing. Jen and I met up for coffee then came back to my house so I could giver her a few things and she could give me some blue thread (making rag rugs for the girls for Christmas. There are a lot of Christmas mentions in this post.....) Rehearsal was a lot of fun, I'm really starting to relax more and more with improv. I used to be pretty uptight when I'd go onstage. I have a little ways to go yet as far as relaxation, but I'm getting there.

Merry Christmas, everyone! And God bless us, every one!

A room of one's own

My closet is DONE! And isn't it oh so beautiful? This is my very first walk-in closet and I negotiated with Jason to get the whole thing to myself, as it is quite small for a walk-in. He gets the garage and the shed as his own space, this is MINE. *Squee!* I do have to put in the organizer on the other side (the side I was standing in to take this pic) but that will come with time. Rome wasn't built in one day, and my closet is WAY cooler than Rome....*thinks about that statement for a second, shakes her head* So yeah. I finished what I wanted to do pretty quick today, so I spent a lot of time in the closet today (in the literal sense, you jerk) but I did go to Wal-Mart earlier to grab some foodstuffs, and ran into Melissa, Tom, and Braelyn! That was unexpected and nice. Bri and Brae (hee hee!) were so happy to see one another that they hugged overenthusiastically and fell on the ground together. Poor Braelyn hit her head on the ground pretty good, but she's okay. Went to church this evening and Shannon and I snuck to Quick Trip for drinks...felt like we were back at camp. "Hey Jess, wanna go to Wal-Mart with me?" *looks around to make sure no campers are near* "Yeah, RUN!" Nice.

It's a nice day for a white wedding

Big news, everyone! Everybody's favorite celebrity couple, Ketchup and Mustard, got married today! I happened to be nearby as they were about to climb into their stretch grease paper basket to go on their honeymoon. It's so exciting to be in the right place at the right time, you know? I did ask if they wouldn't mind signing the photo, but unfortunately, Mustard was very bitter about the whole thing and threatened to stain my shirt if I got too close. Oh well, at least I managed to snap this shot first.

Jason and I worked around the house rearranging crap in the garage. We have a ton to sell/give away at the moment. Can't wait to have that free space, wo0t! Rehearsal was pretty sweet, too. I played a character named Angsty McEmo. At one point I mimed taking off the hood on the hoodie I was 'wearing,' and Cerrome said, "Oh, that's the first time I've actually seen your face." Nice. Jen, Nifer and I went to the dive next door for a bit afterward, and Julie joined us. It's great having a group of gal pals with common interests and talents, we can chat for hours without exhausting topics.

They're grape!

Jason and Brianna had a tea party today. "Daddy, have a tea party with me!" "Okay. Mmmm...this is good tea, how's your tea?" "Daaaaad, it's grape juice!" Ah, yes, of course it is. I love the colder, gloomy weather we're having lately. Midwest weather is severely underrated, I think. It's perfect for curling up on the couch with coffee and a good book. What's better than that? What do you mean 'world domination'? Lame. Leigha had her first volleyball practice this afternoon. She seemed to enjoy it. Jason picked her up and he said she came running up to him and said, "Daddy, look at my arms!" And proudly extended them toward him. They were bright red. I'm really looking forward to her first game!

Sleeeep! Yay!

I have no idea what made this picture come out blurry, but I'm not changing it because it looks like Jason is shaking hands with Spartacus. Aw! (I need to clean the family room tomorrow, there's no blurring out that.....) Today was a deliciously do nothing day. Go ahead and say that a few times, doesn't it feel good to verbalize? We slept in and went to the late service at church today. I had been looking for something in my room before we went and I had to move my suitcase to get to it. One of my razors was still inside and wouldn't you know, I found it with my thumb. The only band-aids in the house were Hello Kitty, so I taped myself back together and off we went. Jason and I happened to have nursery duty today, and all the little girls were impressed with my character bandage. Nice. I knew it happened for a reason. (ow, typing hurts!) I'm feeling icky, but not nearly as sick as I thought I would be. I think it's more my body's way of trying to slow me down rather than an actual cold. That's good. Today went by in a lovely haze of playing with the girls and catching up on e-mail. I haven't checked it since Thursday. The past two days the only computer things I have done is post the blogs for the day. If I hadn't made a daily blog commitment, that wouldn't have even happened. Alrighty, I think you've suffered reading this enough. Have a pleasant day/afternoon/evening/whenever you happen to read this! I'm going to watch some TV.

Reinventing the wheel

I love the colors in this picture! Mmm! Anyhow, yes, that is Jill Bernard. She's an improviser from Minneapolis who does a lot of improv, including her famous "Drum Machine" act. Basically, she goes out by herself and does a one woman improvised MUSICAL. Yes, that's right. Not only is she alone onstage making everything up of the top of her head, but she does full length songs that rhyme and everything. It's incredible. I took her workshop this morning (the workshops are part of the festival) and Dan Izzo's class in the afternoon. Both were superb, but I feel like I'm starting to come down with a cold and I was really flagging by the end of Dan's class. Nothing a little Starbucks with Jen couldn't cure, however. (it's pumpkin spice latte season, woo hoo!) From coffee we had just enough time to go to her sister's house, change clothing, and head back to Union Station for night 2 of national weekend. I ushered again today, which is pretty fun, actually. In fact, a couple guys walked in, I handed them their program, then one of them stopped and did a double take. "Were you in that two girl group at Thunderdome last week?" "Fluffer Nutter? Yes!" "Oh!.....Oh, you guys were amazing! I voted for you!" "Really? No way, thanks a lot!" "Yeah, oh, man, your humor was so intelligent!" (It was? Score!) He was literally gushing. I've NEVER had anyone gush over me. Wow. Weird but cool. The shows were just incredible, everyone took what they had done last night and dialed it up about 15 degrees. Just amazing. At the end Der Monkenpickle did a special sketch about Harry Houdini that was brilliant! We all headed to Bar Natasha for the afterparty, and somehow I ended up sitting on a couch next to Jill Bernard. We talked for a bit about this and that. It was really great. I ended up coming home early due to not feeling well and having an early morning tomorrow. I get to have a break for a few days now, then next friday is LOCAL weekend. Meaning it's my turn to do some performing. Yay!

A lovely night

Sent Leigha to school this morning, entertained Jason's dad all day, then Jason got off early so we could go to the Kansas City Improv festival! Yay! I ushered tonight, which means I passed out programs, ignored dirty looks from people as I sat them, then picked up trash afterward. The show was absolutely incredible, we had four troupes from all over the country perform for us. I was completely dazzled the entire time, it was just amazing. As for just who the guy is in the picture...well, I'm getting to that. Now, if you watch Saturday Night Live, you've probably been waiting for me to confirm what you already know. Yes, that is Jason Sudeikis. Suprise! He's origionally from Kansas City and is in the group Der Monkenpickle, as is Corey Rittmaster, who I performed with a while ago at the Imp. I went up to him after the show and explained that I have a photo blog and that I'm a local improviser, and asked if he wanted to be guest star on my blog. He said, "I'd love to, what do I have to do?" "Smile!" "Oh, just a picture? Cool!" Sweet. A lot of people who knew him when were there. Anyhow, after we all went out to Californo's for the after party. It was great. Free appetizers and drink specials. Woo! Also, there was a great piano player there and she invited me to sing with her. I sang "Someone to Watch Over Me." Gotta love Gershwin. I'm so glad Jason got to come with me (Jason my hubby, not Jason Sudeikis, although that was pretty sweet) we had a great time, and it was wonderful spending time with him in the improv world, which we don't get to do just the two of us very often. Mmm. Magic.

That's what she said.

Today was interesting. I spent a whole lot more time behind the wheel than I normally do. My father in law, Bob, flew in today and I went to pick him up from the airport so he could sleep for a couple hours (he came straight from his overnight shift at the hospital he works at.) While he was sleeping I met Jen at Scooter's so I could pick up my badges for the improv festival, which starts tomorrow night. (eeeee!) I love, love, love the staff badge. It makes me giggle on the inside. Rehearsal tonight was odd, but after break it was really good. I enjoyed the choices that I made and I had a lot of fun with it. We played a couple games of dominoes and Skip Bo after, during which we had interesting political conversations peppered with frequent occurances of "That's what she said!" It's only funny in that it's really not funny. Seriously, try saying it next time someone says something completely benign like, "Well, I'm gonna go get the mail now..."

Oh the things I could hide....

Thanks to the dramatic (nearly 30 degree) drop in temperature between yesterday and today, I am wearing long sleeves for the first time since....April? It feels nice and cozy, two of my favorite things. I stayed in all day doing rainy day chores like folding laundry and drinking coffee (what? Someone has to do it!) Brianna desperately wanted to go outside today. Why, I'll never know. It's not like she's ever had a burning desire to do so before now. *shrug* I finished painting the stripes in my closet (yay!) now I just have some touch up and trim work to do, then it'll be ready to hang clothing in. This is taking a while because I have a ton of other stuff to do at the moment and technically the closet falls under the category of "labor of love" so on the backburner it goes. I don't mind.

Hypothetical Sven

Joe did the monologues for our Armando at rehearsal tonight. He seemed to have a fun time with it. Absolutely no one was able to focus tonight. My belief is that the barometric pressure is partially to blame. The remains of hurricane Gustav are headed directly for us and should hit us tonight. Honest to goodness, we're going to get a tropical rainstorm tonight and into tomorrow. It's still circulating and everything. Weeeeird! We went out for a bit after and Nifer drank soy sauce right out of the bottle. Ew. Nice.

I wanna be a cowgirl, bay-bee!

Today we got up and went to our favorite local restaurant for breakfast. Jason's brother, Aaron and his grandpa hit the road from there because it's so far to town from the house. We did some cleaning and sorting for Jason's mom and the girls got to go riding, which they just loved. After dinner we left and made the three hour drive back to KC. On the way we saw a bunch of light up signs with info phone numbers for Gustav refugees. Jason and I both said, "Huh....I never thought about that." But after that we noticed that sure enough, there were cars on the road with plates from Mississippi and Louisiana. I hope they're enjoying their unexpected trip.