366 Post, the last

2008-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

10, 9, 8........
Go back and check out my posting from January 1 of this year, this is too cool. Last year I spent New Years at The Imp, then at Jenny and Jason's. I dug that same outfit (plus accessories) out of the closet for this year, then re-created the picture, complete with the finger over the flash. How cool is that?

7, 6, 5........
Last year I resolved to: Keep myself better organized- Yes, I managed to, although I'm not quite where I want to be yet, I have a lot more places for things, with more things in their places. Buy a house-Done and done! If you missed it, go back and check out April and May. I couldn't be happier with the place. Lose weight-Maybe a little........Okay, so I have something to work on for 2009.

4, 3, 2.........
I'm sad this blog is about to come to a close, and yes, a little relieved. It's difficult blogging every single day, and I didn't miss a single one, even when I didn't have internet access. I kept the laptop next to me and typed up the entry in a notebook entry. Really! I will continue to keep a photo blog, however, just not daily. Follow me on over to http://www.sugarbumkin.blogspot.com

1...........
Happy New Year.

Chi-Chi a Go-Go

2008-12-30T22:23:00.000-08:00

Today was a blur of airplanes and airports. We got up and went into Reno, where we found out our flight was going to be just barely too full for us to get on. (As in, we would have only had room for half the family to be able to go) So we decided to go home via a different (as in crazy) route. Reno-Boise-Salt Lake City-Chicago-Kansas City. Read that again, seriously. Just let it sink in. Yup. It was the only way. The good news is, the first THREE legs of the flight were on the same plane so we simply sat on the plane, it emptied, filled back up, and we continued on on the same aircraft. Unfortunately, that also means we couldn't get out to get books (aaaah, I ran out on the first flight!) or food. Luckily, we had a scant half hour layover in Chicago and were able to eat there. We walked to the food court, got food, snapped a picture, and walked on to the flight to Kansas City. *Sigh....* Chicago. How I loved being there, how I miss it. I really want to take the girls and Jason and show them what I did, what I saw while there. I could seriously move there and be happy, I love that city. Here's a picture of Jason and the girls next to a trash can with the same logo on it as the picture I took my last day in Chicago this Summer (check the beginning of August, it's that Friday's picture) Jason wondered why I was going to take it and I said, "Well, I already have one of ME next to the poster......." We touched down in Kansas City a little after six and I had Jason drop me off at Hype 7 rehearsal. Tiffany gave me a TON of Kinder eggs from Germany. Score! Hey, America, thanks to your sue happy stupidity we can't legally have awesome things like Kinder in America. (Duh.....it's a non food in chocolate, that must mean we're supposed to eat it! Now let me eat the prize from my cereal box, too.......duhhhhhh.....) When I came home after, Sparticus was so happy to see me. I missed him, cutie kitty. It's good to be back home.

You owe me an IOU

2008-12-29T22:55:00.000-08:00

In the stockings my mom had prepared for us yesterday was a post it note that said "Admit one to Despereaux" Today she made good on her post its. (I like post its. You can trust them.) The movie was really cute, we enjoyed it. I love how in this picture everyone knew I was taking it, but the girls are too fixated on the popcorn in front of them to care. (FYI-it looks dark, but I assure you I took this picture BEFORE the movie started, not during.) After the movie we drove around looking at Christmas lights then took Lynette back to her place. We put the girls to bed and Jason called to make sure we were good on our flights and he was told, "Oh yeah. There's no way you're getting on a flight tomorrow." Um......okay......so we checked online to see what else we could do, what kind of funky connection we could make (Reno-Chicago-Kansas City? Or perhaps through Portland? Arrgh!) when we noticed how cheap the flights from Reno-Vegas-Kansas City were. So he called again and they told him, "Oh yeah, your flight looks great. No worries." Wait, what? Give us information that is accurate and trustworthy, please. So it looks like tomorrow should be okay....now let's see if we can pack all these gifts into the two carry on suitcases we brougth with us.......

Mum's the word

2008-12-28T23:03:00.000-08:00

Isn't my mommy the purdiest? Her so cuuuuute! Today we celebrated Christmas with my folks and Lynette. Leigha oh so conveniently just HAPPENED to find only her and Brianna's presents when we first began opening things, and was disappointed to find toward the end that all the rest belonged to Jason and I. Funny how that works. At one my maternal grandparents, Uncle Scott, Aunt Susan, cousins Kate and Zak, Uncle Jacque and Aunt Laurie all showed up and we had a 'New Year's' party. We had snacky foods, played games, and told stories. My family has some of the best stories of all time, seriously. There's a trivia game we play at family reunions to see if you can match which person said or did this or that. It's fun! My mom gave me the Christmas newsletter today and I read through it. Much to my amusement, my dad actually plugged a link to this blog in it. If you're a family member who was lead to this blog from the newsletter, hey, what's up? Oh yeah, and why haven't you commented to let me know you're reading this? Sneaky, sneaky! After everyone had gone home the girls and I watched Mamma Mia! with Lynette and my mom. It was a really cute, super fun movie, I enjoyed it. Oh yeah, and while they were doing that, Jason totally smoked my dad at Wii golf in the other room.

Airportin'

2008-12-27T23:26:00.000-08:00

Today we got up and went to the airport. Flying standby is not at all fun this time of year, but the fact remains that I would like to see my family, they live far away, and this is the only way to do so for us, financially speaking. So we play the game of "What airline/route/city has the most available seats?" Nine times out of ten we end up calling my parents from a random airport and telling them "We'll be in {city} in about two hours. Start driving!" Today we happened to have to fly into Sacramento via Denver (the original plan was to be in Reno via Las Vegas...two bumps, a shuffle, and a "get off the plane there's been a problem, no wait you're good, go back on the plane" later and we ended up getting on a flight.) The West coast is seriously spread out, airport-wise, compared to the East. Trying to get into Northern Nevada is difficult sometimes. At least Sacramento is only a three hour drive (compared to the next closest cities, San Fran, Boise, and Las Vegas, which are about six.) We landed at 7:30, had some In-N-Out Burger, then took I-80 into Reno, picking up my sister, Lynette, on the way to the house. Aaaaaand....now it's time to crash, I'm uber zonked.

Grussgott, y'all!

2008-12-26T23:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Boxing day, everyone! Show those nun puppets who's boss! Today was uber happy. I got to see my Tiffanytiff for the first time in like seven months! She's back in town visiting the folks for Christmas. It was so great to see her! We met up for sushi and perused the mall, then I bought her some Starbucks and we came back to my place so we could talk unimpeded by mad shoppers out for blood. She told me stories from Germany, I showed her around my place (we had just moved in before she left), it was really nice. After she left I started sewing furiously with my new toy. (Ahh, it's awesome! Love it!) I found the cutest pattern for a wraparound dress with a circle skirt for Bri. She's going to just adore it, I can't wait to finish it and see what she thinks. I couldn't play any Guitar hero until Jason came home since we accidentally left the Wii power cord at the airport yesterday, but that's all right. After the girls went to bed we quickly began rectifying the situation. I don't like World Tour as much as the last one, they super simplified some of the songs and they got rid of the fun quotes and put up lame "helpful hints" between songs. Blecch. The good news is I can still play Midori. I love her, she's adorable!

The eagle may soar...but the weasel never gets sucked into a jet engine.

2008-12-25T22:06:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from my family to yours, whoever you may be! We got up early this morning and unwrapped our presents. Although there were no hula hoops or hippopotami, we all got some special gifts. The girls got their hot chocolate mugs and rag rugs that I had made, along with some other things, Jason got the special present that I waited in line for on Black Friday (Guitar Hero World Tour, wo0t!) and I got a brand new sewing machine! (squee!!! It's so nice and it's magical!) Jason had to work today, poor thing. He's the only one who works day shift on Thursdays (excluding his manager who has today off because it's Christmas.......), so instead of him spending the day all alone at the airport and us all alone at the house, we decided to all go to the airport for the day! Here's how it works: Planes come in every couple hours or so and Jason works furiously for a half hour...ish....assuming there's no delay or call from another airline with an issue (not all airlines have mechanics at every airport and if there's an issue they pay another airline for the use of their mechanic for however long it takes to get the issue resolved.) Between planes, there's not a whole lot to do on a regular day. So, again, we went to the airport with Jason today. We brought the Wii and played Jason's new Guitar Hero game all day long. Since we were at the airport and Starbucks was open, we got some coffee. It was nice! Jason appreciated having us around and we enjoyed ourselves a lot more than we would have at home without him. Most people try to avoid spending Christmas day at the airport. There's nowhere else I would rather have been today.

Warmfuzzycozyhappy

2008-12-24T22:53:00.000-08:00

Tonight we watched a movie together then went upstairs to the living room, illuminated only by the glow of the Christmas tree, and we drank egg nog. Perfect. The girls went to bed and Jason and I wrapped a few last minute presents before stuffing the stockings. They are so very excited, but when last I checked, they were sound asleep. I doubt there are sugar plums dancing in their heads, perhaps they are dreaming of My Little Pony? Good night everyone, try to get some sleep!

Jigsaw

2008-12-23T22:02:00.000-08:00

Two days before Christmas....how did that happen? I mean, really, how? Jason and I got a few last minute preparations out of the way today and took a short trip to the library, and that's about it. It's hard to find motivation to do anything outside the house when it's so dreary and midwestern outside. Not to mention the crazed hordes of shoppers out there. There's a reason I start my shopping in March, people. Practice was uber low key tonight. Cerrome and Zak weren't there and Nifer dropped out of H7, so Jen, Patrick, Joe and I got together to talk about what's going down. I'm really excited by a few of the things we talked about, the changes we're going to make and whatnot. We did a lot of talking and a little rehearsing, then called it a night.

Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah!

2008-12-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

This is Ed, Pete, Scott, and Trish at the Kansas City improv community's get together tonight at McCoys. We had a blast getting together and hanging out as a group, and a lot of people came! Tom Farnan came in from Los Angeles this evening and had Jen drive him straight to Westport from the airport. Nice! I'm so glad I got to go. The bulk of today was spent with Jason and the girls. We did some cleaning and watched some TV, but mostly we just hung out together. I love days when we all get to just chill together like that. My family is awesome.

Intermittent Mittens

2008-12-21T21:26:00.000-08:00

The church Christmas program was tonight. I wanted to post a picture of all the angels as a group, but somehow my camera managed to make every child on that stage have a major case of red eye, and it looks like a demonic choir instead! Yowza! So here are Leigha and Brianna, if you know any of the other kids at my church and you didn't see the program, just imagine their face and hair in place of Leigha and Bri there and you'll get the same effect. Yay identical costuming! Oh, yeah, if the kid you're trying to picture is a boy, add color to the robe and then a striped cloth and circlet over their head. Instant shepherd, voila! The kids did a fantastic job, and nobody fell off the stage! (It happened last year. See? I'm not the only person to ever have fallen off a stage mid performance! Nyeah!) Today I got some fleece for a small project I'm working on (it's on sale at Hancock Fabrics for $3.99 a yard, woo hoo!) but when I went to sew on it, my machine was snagging and screwing up again. I thought I had fixed the problem. Perhaps I need to readjust the tension or stitch length, but this is just getting frustrating. Yarrgh! Oh, and for a little extra fun on today's blog entry, the subject line is a tongue twister I came up with today. Go ahead, say it aloud! It's fun and I know you want to! *waits* I know, wasn't it great?

I go to De Vry!

2008-12-20T21:45:00.000-08:00

The last Roving Imp show of the year. This is Justin and I looking all inspirational and reminiscent about it, or whatever. I don't know what the scene is that we're doing here, so let's just pretend it was about kittens and right now we're listing our favorite things about them. I'm about to say, "They're fluffy." (FYI-that's never, ever happened in a show or rehearsal, it's just fun to list random stuff in the blog sometimes.) Yay for kittens! If you don't have one, buy one! Jason's mom came out today. She bought a new SUV for herself and it was up in Liberty, so she drove up here and we had lunch together. It's really nice! It has a sunroof and DVD player, leather seats, and thanks to the gas prices+current economy=cheap SUV's equation, she got a great deal! Oh, and for anyone worried about the 'carbon footprint' I can't believe she's being so irresponsible, etc. etc., you can stop right now. She lives on a farm and needs to haul horses sometimes, and the sedan she drives to and from work just won't haul 2000 pounds worth of trailer and horseflesh. Kittens!

Academic comma

2008-12-19T21:56:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of school for Leigha in 2008. The school had it's Christmas parties at 10am (???) and Bri and I went to help out. I was hot glue gunning together some reindeer utensil holders (come on, they're called ornaments people! They're small and the kids will use them!) and some glue splooted over the edge of a googly eye and onto two of my fingers. HOTHOTHOT!!!!!! I tried to wipe it off but it cooled off so quickly that it stuck to my skin and fried it as I was frantically trying to pull it off. Finally I ran to the sink and ran cold water over my fingers until it cooled enough to peel off. I have two rather impressive blisters. Just out of sheer curiosity, what exactly is it like to go a full day without maiming yourself in some fashion? I'd like to know at some point. Can anyone describe it to me? Thanks. While we were at the school the principal came on the intercom and announced that the cafeteria was making deli sandwiches for parents who wanted to stay for lunch and to just let the teacher know if you planned on staying. Leigha's teacher asked for a show of hands so I looked at Leigha and she started going, "Ooh, ooh!" And making an emphatic pointing gesture, so I said, "Okay, I guess that's a yes from me." After lunch Bri and I came home and I was trying to think of what to do with the rest of my day when Melissa called. One thing led to another and she ended up at my place to play Guitar Hero for the first time. She was so funny! She got all excited every time she got booed off the stage but had made progress, percentage-wise, in the song. Right before she left she managed to beat "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" on easy and started jumping up and down saying, "Yeah! I rock, I rock!" Go Melissa! After dinner this evening Jason and I felt like getting out and about for a bit so we decided to go to Cabelas and wander around and whatnot. We took the girls into the aquarium part and Brianna said, "Hehehehheh......the fishes are singing!" And then imitated their opening and closing mouths before making up songs that they were singing. *sigh* Rotten kid.

My hair has whiplash?

2008-12-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Whupps! Guess who forgot her camera today? Yup, me! I think it's kind of cool in an ironic sort of way, because just a few days into this blog I had forgotten to take any pictures until late and I took one of.....well, I forget. Go back to January, it's there. So it's kind of a neat little bookend as the blog winds down. Enjoy my "I'm sheepish and trying to look cute about it" pic. I had to run to the fabric store today. I was sewing a present for my mom yesterday and bent the needle on my machine, so I had to get more. If anyone wants a good fish hook, though, go ahead and call me, I'll give you the old one. Due to the massive amounts of ice I had Jason drive me to rehearsal tonight, and since I didn't need my keys, I completely spaced grabbing my purse (ohhhh, thaaaaaat's why she forgot her camera) so it felt very odd going to rehearsal (which was loads of fun, especially when I trekked across the parking lot for a Mountain Dew in my insubstantial shoes. Yay dedication!) and then Wal-Mart, after Jason picked me up, without my purse. It makes a gal feel naked to be out in public with no purse! Unless, maybe, you're one of those girls who is like, "pfft, I got my keys and my wallet, whatever." Weird.

He loves me!

2008-12-17T21:03:00.000-08:00

The green tape message on the filters says "Thinking of you. Love ya!" That boy is so good to me. *melty melt melt*

Blame it on the snow

2008-12-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about what to do, blogwise, when the year ends. This is, if you didn't know, a once a day photo blog for the 366 days of 2008. As in once December 31st rolls around, it's OVER, suckah! I have really enjoyed doing the photo blog thing, but once a day gets a bit exhausting (especially if, like this last summer, I'm in rural Minnesota driving around searching for WiFi for the laptop) so here it is: I'm going to continue photo blogging, but not every single day. I will also post multiple pictures if I am so inclined. There have been several days when one picture didn't cut it, but that's the limit I had set, so yeah. As of New Year's, you can jump on over to my other blog (http://sugarbumkin.blogspot.com) and continue to keep informed on what's going on in my happy little world. Okay, so, today I was looking at Craigslist and discovered that some people were giving away the leftovers from an Estate sale for free, so Jason and I went to the house and loaded up on some neat stuff. There were some vintage clothes, fabric, and a few handy items like gardening tools. Score! We also found another ice scraper, which will be especially useful since we got about six inches last night and it's still snowing. After rehearsal tonight Jen and I went to Yard House to chat. It's good to have an awesome friend like her. We can talk about anything and she really listens to me. Most of my other friends who are that close to me live far away (boo hoo!) So, yeah. Jen, I appreciate the crap out of you!

I'm a Jessicle!

2008-12-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

Today it was freezing with a capital 'T!' I think the high today was something like 18, and it didn't even get that high until about 4pm or so. Brrrr and yuck! Jason and I went to Target for some essentials and a couple presents for the cat (guess who's getting a new collar with a mouse design and a bell? I bet he's glad he's an animal and therefore hasn't got any self image awareness.) This evening we took the girls downtown to look at the Christmas lights. I love living in a city and being able to see the streets decked out in full splendor. The Mariott downtown always uses the side of their building as a ginormous animated lite brite, and one of the animations we saw tonight showed a sprig of mistletoe, a girl walking in, then a guy walking in, then they kissed! Super cute! I love it when LED diodes fall in love! After driving around for a bit we went to a book store then got some coffee so I could thaw out my poor hands. And you thought it was just for drinking. Hah!

Wild party, man!

2008-12-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

Today after church Alanna and her crew came over for lunch. The kids tore up the basement while Alanna and I had a nice quiet coffee upstairs and chatted. It was lovely! Jason was cleaning out the shed so he can move some things from the garage to the shed, which will give us enough room for the garage to house one car, yay! Too bad we don't have openers yet. Next year perhaps. At least until then he'll be able to fix cars and change oil in the comfort of not snow. At four we all went to Braelyn's 2nd birthday party! It was so cute, she stared at us like we were all idiots when we were trying to get her to blow out the candles in her cupcake. One of her gifts was a princess dress up set, which Brianna got very excited about. She pointed at one of the corners of the box and exclaimed, "Those are the SHOES!!!" After the party Jason went to a football watch party while I came home and put the girls to bed. My body has been trying to come down with something for about four days now and I'm finally giving it permission to feel yucky, at long as I'm better by Tuesday night. I only accept planned viruses.

I like hot things, sir, but you don't fit the bill. In your face.

2008-12-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

The subject line is a line of song I sang tonight during the game "musical improv." Musical improv is so much fun, I'd really like to try it during longform sometime. Oh to have the talent of Jill Bernard......as if I'm the only one to have ever thought those words. Tonight I did the 'Red Rubber Ball' show at the Imp, it's basically whoever's available and up for it get together and do a couple longforms. At nine was Hype 7 (with free hot chocolate. Woo!) Both shows were fun and pretty good quality too, I'd say. I got a couple complements on some characters I had played (specifically a lady who flipped out over the fact that a McDonald's employee offered her fries and a wine swilling lady who always entered buildings via the window) which is always cool. I like specific comments because it tells you what the audience liked and want to see more of. Jason brought the girls to the first show and Brianna brought Rosalina as well. Earlier in the day the girls and I had run out to the mall because I was out of hair junk and had a coupon for a specific shop that happens to carry my brand of hair junk. Brianna had brought Rosalina then, too, and when we got out of the car she pulled the doll out of the car and said, "Oof. You're getting heavy!" Silly duckling.

Hear you me

2008-12-12T12:47:00.000-08:00

Bri and I went to Lawrence today. We walked a good length of the downtown area, perusing shops and hanging out. There's a really cool fabric store down there, fyi. I'd never been there and I just about went into an epileptic seizure when I walked in the door, as every synapse in my body simultaneously switched to overdrive. There was SO MUCH fabric, and all of it cuteamacute! Unfortunately, all I needed was a single yard of white cotton. (Gah! Boring! Gah!) Next time, next time. On the drive back I was listening to the radio and the DJ started talking about a new Weezer single. I went, "Mrrruh?" And my ears perked up. (Mrrrruh is a technical term, shaddup.) He played the single (titled "The Greatest Man that Ever Lived") and it was incredible. Seriously, 19 year old Jessica was jumping up and down inside my brain. (She's the one who was all, "Ahhh! Weezerweezerweezer! Greatest band in the world, I love them!!!" Seriously, just walk up to me and give me the title of any of their b-sides and I'd be happy to sing every word of it for you.) The song was epic, very Bohemian Rhapsody-esque. Very different from their usual stuff. After that they talked with Rivers (19 year old Jess-Ah! Rivers Cuomo, he's awesome!) about the writing of the song and whatnot. They're planning on touring in May and it looks like KC is on the menu. Hmm.......

Now starring?

2008-12-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

Today was fun, Melissa and I went to a couple estate sales. I loaded up the car for about $20! *squee!* Saving money is fun! We were in the vicinity of Westport so we decided to hit Jerusalem Cafe for lunch. She's never had mediterranian and she loved it! We got back just in time for Brianna's nap. I made my awesome chili for dinner then went to Roving Imp rehearsal. There was a lot of strange happening, due in large part to a couple people having had bad days, but we did have a good rehearsal. This is John indicating his "This is what a perfect longform should look like" Vanna White style. It would take a while to explain what some of those terms mean (game and relationship don't quite mean what you think they mean when in an improv context) so if you really want to know, ask and I shall go into enough detail so you get it. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could imagine different animals in place of the words on the pie chart and arrange them biggest to smallest by which one of those animals you think has a better chance of winning a cage match. Just trying to make the blog a little fun for those of you who don't feel intellectually stimulated by my words. (America)

Catloaf

2008-12-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

As the weather turns cold, many cats will retract their feet into their bodies for the duration of the winter. Spartacus is no exception to this rule. A couple minutes before this picture was taken, he was playing with a balloon Leigha brought home from church. The balloon kept sticking to his fur due to static cling and he was getting pretty annoyed with it. Finally he caved to the pressure of primal instinct, extended his claws, and *POP!* jumped about 20 feet in the air. Nice. Today I had a great conversation with my friend Sam (go back to around February, there's a picture of us having coffee. Go figure.) who used to hang out with me when we lived in Denver. I'd visited her in D-town several times but as of August she moved to Minot, ND. It was great catching up with her, I miss having my awesome shopping buddy around. We're hoping to meet up in Minnapolis at some point next year. The Pitch came out today (local free publication for events in Kansas City) and Sketchy Thoughts wasn't mentioned at all, despite the fact that the arts reviewer was in attendance Saturday night. That's actually a pretty huge relief to me, he is pretty harsh and usually just reading the titles of some of his reviews makes me cringe. Basically what I'm saying is, since we weren't mentioned, we must have been pretty good! This evening as we were tucking the girls into bed, Brianna was playing a game where she tries to guess what you smell like when you give her a hug. Don't ask, just know that she takes after her mom. At any rate, as I hugged her she said, "Hmmm......you smell like........marshmallows." I replied, "Oh yeah? Well you smell like rotten little girl!" She rolled her eyes and sighed. "No I don't. I smell like pombegramine juice." Again with the 'she takes after her mom' bit. Strange duck.....

The number 7

2008-12-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

Jason and I went to the library today. While we were there I figured I'd take a look at books on comedy and sketch writing. Our library has a really good fine arts section, they even have improv books, it's great! I went to look through the writing books and picked out one that looked good.....I couldn't quite stomach the thought of making the first book I checked out on the subject "Comedy Writing for Idiots." Hopefully I'll glean some valuable techniques. Here's a shot from rehearsal tonight. We were getting ready for an improvised musical game in which we take someone's day and make up a song for it on the spot. Individuals sing different songs about a person in the audience's day, and the group chimes in as needed. That's Patrick, Jen, Jen's guitar, Zak, and Nifer. Cerrome had stepped out to make a phone call at that moment. Oh, and the weather has turned, which is kind a huge duh, but from 60 degrees yesterday to snow today is a pretty big change. At least today you're not looking at my feet, eh?

Oh, the truth.....

2008-12-08T22:15:00.000-08:00

I've always joked that when I can't figure out what picture to take, on days when not much happens, I'll take pictures of my feet. Look at me proving myself correct! Although, this is not just a "do my toes look happy?" post, no, this is a "look how warm it was at one point in December" post. Seriously, it was like 60 degrees and the perfect amount of humid today! Beautimus! So when Jason and I ran to Target for milk and bread, I went out in flip flops with no jacket on. Because I could. I'm not saying nothing happened today, but do you really care that I enjoyed teasing the cat and beating songs on Guitar Hero that I had been previously unable to conquer? 'Cause that's your alternative.......wait, what? Uh, okay then. Sorry about that. Next time, maybe?

Cookies at midnight for Jessica

2008-12-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

This afternoon was the final production of "The Spirit of Christmas." I asked Leigha how she felt about that when we were on our way to the theater. She said, "Sad." Yup, she's got the bug. Go figure. (yay!) The good news is that we can look into children's theater for her this Summer. I have always hoped we'd be in plays together, and it looks as though that could be a very real possibility. (not that I'd ever make her do one if she didn't want to. Living vicariously through your kids is lame.) Jenny and Jason came over this evening for some pizza and Wii. It was a blast! We did some bowling then shredded a few tunes on Guitar Hero. Jenny and Jason both made Mii's and I was showing her a few that we had, and I stumbled across Nifer's. Jenny said, "Huh, it looks just like her." Keep in mind that Jenny and Nifer have never met. It's so funny how many of my friends "know" each other through my blog. The kids played nicely upstairs, for the most part, although there was one point where we were all in the kitchen and Trent came running in, saying something about how something was loose and he couldn't get it, Jenny went around the corner, and a second later came back in asking for a baggie. He had just lost a tooth! Apparently he was wiggling it and she nudged his hand and it just came right out. Nice. After they left Jason and I continued playing Guitar Hero because it's been a while since we've really played together. Even though we only have the one guitar it's much more fun to play when you know there's someone watching and waiting to tell you you rock, in agreement (or lack thereof) with the game. After we stopped playing and were watching I Dream of Jeannie I got a craving for cookies, so I decided to make my famous 'Greatest Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World' cookies. They are so good that Carl once accused me of baking crack into them. I've chosen to accept that as a rave review. I'd give you all the recipie, but there really isn't one. It's basically a stick of butter, one egg, then enough sugar, enough brown sugar, that looks like the right amount of flour, oh shoot that might be a lot of baking soda but it's too late to go in and take it out now so what the heck, a dash of salt, oops there's vanilla in there too, and oh yeah, the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 'till they look done. That's about as precise of measurements as I can give, sorry! Oh, yeah, funny story.....I found out today that my good friend Carla, who we visited in October, was in a Christmas play with some members of my family (I knew that part, here comes the info I didn't know) and that her director was Chad. That's right, the Chad that was in Sweeney Todd, which we went to see during that same exact trip in October! I guess she put two and two together just before the last performance of the Christmas play and said, "Hey, I know Jessica" and then he got excited and hugged her, they talked about me and my family, and now they're friends! What are the odds, seriously? I know it's a small town, but still! It's been almost a decade since I've lived there and they just now met! Apparently he's encouraged her and her family to try out for another play early next year. How fun! Real quick here, I just want to say that I feel right now that I'm poised at the precipice of a change for the better in my life. I don't know what it could be, but I'm really excited for whatever comes my way next. Here's hoping! All righty, I'm going to leave now, but since you made it through this semi-monster post, here's a little treat for you. Sing the subject line of this blog to the chorus line of "Springtime for Hitler" from The Producers. Wasn't that fun?

I think we're alone now......

2008-12-06T22:51:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those days you just don't want to end. Seriously. I went to the Westport Coffeehouse about 3pm to get in one (LOOOONG) last rehearsal with Sketchy Thoughts before our show this evening. The rehearsal was a tad rough, but we powered through then took a short break for dinner then it was time for our first performance. Seriously, four hours of rehearsing, a 20 minute break, then we performed. Exhausted? You better believe it. But the show was tight and well timed, the set changes were snappy, and everything clicked pretty well! It was so strange doing theater WITH props and costumes again, and in sketch comedy you only get about 3 1/2 minutes per sketch or so, so that's how long you have to change and/or get your props together, assuming someone else is on top of changing the set. It was complete chaos and I loved every minute of it. (and got paid, wo0t!) Oh, and the coolest part was, when the show was over, we bowed and Clay announced all our names, and when he said my name someone in the audience actually whooped. That's never happened to me before and it felt so good! From left to right: Nick Rigoli, Matt Massey, Aaron Bagby, Mandy Bannon, Joe Henley, Clay Morgan, Jen Harmon, and me. Oh, and my dress thingy is one I designed and sewed myself, and I didn't even have a pattern. Just a 49 cent bundle of cloth from Goodwill. Nice. Jen and I had driven together so after the show we went to McCoy's, briefly, and sang some karaoke. I've never sung karaoke before, it was fun! I sang "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany. I think I made the right decision in regards to my first karaoke song.

I'm a big fan of Elvish

2008-12-05T22:36:00.000-08:00

Opening night for "The Spirit of Christmas!" It's amazing. I can do a performance every weekend and getting ready is just a blip on my radar. The second the kids are in a show, it's like, "HERE WE GO, people, get the costumes together, let's move! Move! Didn't you have shoes on a second ago? Don't tell me you don't own tights, I specifically bought them for.....is that dinner burning I smell? Aaaah!" In the end, it's beyond worth it, however, and by the time I got them fed and trussed they looked perfectly adorable. I love this picture even more because in the bottom left hand you can see Spartacus contemplating a mistake. The play was really cute. Basically it's all the elves in Santa's living room. They've finished their toy making and are taking a well deserved break before the big drop, and the toys come in to entertain them. So basically it went, "Look, cute elves. Oh, wow! Here come some ballerina toys they made! They're daaaaancing! Pretty!" The Christmas faerie goes around animating all the toys and the kid looked like she was getting pretty sick of it because by the end, she'd get up, wave her wand once or twice, then make a beeline for the wall. It was basically like she was saying, "There, I did the minimum work required, are you not entertained?" It was cute. The best act of the evening was Raggedy Anne and Andy. They were two teenaged girls who were in gymnastics or tumbling or some such, and they were just incredible. Leigha did a great job with her singing parts (ensemble, no solos, but there were only about six in the group.) and I could clearly see Brianna instigating trouble among the other elves, and at one point she yawned hugely and made absolutely no attempt to hide it. Ah, to be young and without social shame. All the kids did a really great job and it was so cute. At the very end Santa came out and handed all the kids candy canes. Brianna thought that eating it and having peppermint breath was a good excuse to not brush her teeth. Nice try, kiddo.

Our lips are sealed

2008-12-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

Today was rather special. Jen came over and we made some candy (chocolate covered pretzels and peppermint bark) which was a lot of fun. Drawing on yesterday's theme, however, who feels like an idiot? Show of hands? Anyone? No, just me? Okay, good to know.... I put the pretzels on wax paper and picked it up from the bottom to stick in the freezer to cool, when the wax paper slipped and I started yelling, "Help. Help! Help!! HELP!!!" Jen ran up and grabbed the other side as three chocolate covered pretzels slid off and onto the floor and the other side twisted and stuck to the rest. We hit the ceiling of the freezer with the melted mess and created a chocolate stalagtite. Luckily, we only lost the three that fell on the floor. As we wrangled the rest of the chocolate/pretzel conglomeration into the freezer Jen said, "Hey, Jess......got cookie sheets?" I replied, "Well, yeah, but apparently no intellect." Yurt-de-durrrr! We did some one on one improv workouts for funsies and it was an absolute blast. After dinner the girls went to their final dress rehearsal for the Christmas show and I went to the Imp for our rehearsal/once monthly free show. The show part was pretty fun. All seven of us were there and it was great to have everyone there. This picture is us backstage before we went out, (left to right, top to bottom) me, Nifer, Julie, Josh (look close) and Patrick. Justin volunteered to martyr himself out of this picture by taking it, which was way sweet of him, but I gotta get him in this blog sometime soon. I'm about to run out of time here! Either way, thanks, Justin. It's a great picture, but your visible presence would have greatly enhanced it. I ran to Wal-Mart on the way home for a few essentials and got back to find my awesome husband doing the dishes. He's just to great, seriously. So I fixed him a nummy snack for being so great and we came downstairs to watch some TV. Mmm.......great day.

Good Hair Day!

2008-12-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

If I didn't tell you I took this picture myself, I doubt you'd be able to tell.......... . . . *cough* Readers of my blog, rejoice! Behold! I have had a good, nay, GREAT hair day! Behold it I say!!!! My hair was shiny, curled ever so perfectly, and was frizz free. What could possibly go wrong on a day like today? Well...it is still me..... This afternoon I was hanging up some Christmas garland when I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. I happened to be holding the garland up with one knee as I grabbed for the phone with my left hand. Distracted, I answered and discovered that it was a fellow Sketchy Thoughts member looking for Jen's phone number, which, of course, I have. Flustered, I tried to gather my scattered (and perhaps, yes, just a little sketchy) thoughts when I noticed the cat beginning a reckless climb up the Christmas tree, popping out artificial branches as he ascended. Engaged as I was in the activity of trying to hold the phone and garland at the same time, I reached for the only weapon at my disposal at the time-my scariest "You're in big trouble now" mom voice. "NO!!!! No, get OUT of there! Arrrgh!!!!" Suddenly I realized that I was yelling directly into the phone. "Uh.....I'm sorry, er, my cat is climbing the Christmas tree." "......Uh, okay....." Show of hands, who feels like an idiot? Anyone? No, just me? Okay then. Good to know. Later on Bri came up to me and said, "You know, Mom, you COULD make an elf costume for Rosalina." (Rosalina is Brianna's favorite baby doll. Interestingly enough, Rosalina is a boy. Yes, she came up with the name, it wasn't on a tag or anything.) I had enough felt so I made one up for her in about 20 minutes. She giggled and clutched the doll to her chest as she ran upstairs. After I got home from taking the girls to their rehearsal, I recalled the event to Jason. He said, "Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you. One of the other kids came to the dress rehearsal yesterday and they had the same doll as Rosalina, and it was wearing an elf costume." Ah, that explains that. FYI, Rosalina is an early '90's Cabbage Patch baby. It is really rare to see the same exact model, though. What are the odds?

Don't let the halo fool you...

2008-12-02T23:05:00.000-08:00

This is as close to angelic as Bri gets. Today we decorated our tree (yay!) and Spartacus will NOT leave it alone. He's climbed it several times and likes to get under the tree skirt and just hang out. Fortunately, Jason and I forsaw such events and reinforced the base of the tree. Mua ha ha. The girls had their first dress rehearsal for the play tonight. They were very excited as they donned their little green felt tunics and pointy hats. I went to rehearsal myself and had a great time. We did a french braid (three scenes, each revisited three times in succession) that was really messed up and super fun. I played a girl who was such a fierce stalker that by the third scene my character had literally morphed into Zak's character. Jen and Joe were a wealthy man and his robot wife, and Patrick and Nifer were a newly wed human/robot couple who survived the apocalypse while on their honeymoon and were now captives of a polar bear colony. It really is amazing what the human brain comes up with when you're making stuff up off the top of your head. I swear we're not crazy......for the most part. I got home just after Jason and the girls and we put them to bed. Ah, good 'ol peace and quiet.

They prefer the term "little people."

2008-12-01T23:09:00.000-08:00

This afternoon the girls INSISTED on building a snowman out of the tiny amount of snow we got. Ta da..... We didn't do a whole lot today, just some grocery shopping and the girls had rehearsal this evening. Jason and I wandered Home Depot while they were there, discussing various future projects that likely won't be feasible for several years. It's fun to dream, though. I also finished the elf costumes for the play. They are going to look so cute!

Reassembly: Complete!

2008-11-30T22:54:00.000-08:00

This morning Jason and I left the house at 6am and braved the semi-intense snowfall to get to his mom's house for our family Thanksgiving celebration. The girls (as you should know) have been there since Wednesday so it was great to see them again. I don't know if they were quite as happy as we were, since Grandma has like, 12 horses, but they seemed at least a tiny bit glad to see us again. Sheila and I went to Wal-Mart to get some last minute things and on the way down I saw a McCain/Palin poster, only someone had cut out the McCain part of it. That was pretty much super amusing. We got home, finished the meal, and we all sat down to the table to enjoy a nice, albeit belated, Thanksgiving meal. After dinner we decorated the tree and Brianna got bored about 10 minutes in. Great......we haven't got our tree up yet, what's she gonna do then? This is us in front of the tree just after it was decorated. If you look just to the right of the tree you'll see an oil painting portrait of a young girl holding a cat. That's Sheila when she was nine years old. The ones above the fireplace are Paul and Rita, her older siblings. There are also portraits of Paul Sr. and Betty, Jason's maternal grandparents. I think it's really neat that they had portraits done, especially since there's another of Sheila from when she's about 18 as well. She's standing in front of a horse, it's beautiful. About three thirty we left. The snow was starting to come down pretty hard and we wanted to get home before the roads iced over. When we got to Kansas City it slowed then stopped, yay! Safe driving is happy driving. I had Jason drop me off at the Westport Coffeehouse and I caught most of the Sketchy Thoughts rehearsal for the evening. We ran through the show twice, which is great since the show is next week. It's going to be an absolute blast, I'm really excited. When I got home I Dream of Jeannie was just about to come on, so Jason and I curled up comfortably on the couch to watch. Home sweet home, and everyone in the family back under one roof. *contented sigh*

What's in your head?

2008-11-29T22:03:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty much pure bliss. I decided I would sleep until I woke up naturally, so at the crack of one pm I was up. Blame it on the cloudy skies outside, whatever, it was amazing. I had a nice leisurely lunch (well, what was I supposed to have? Breakfast?) and went downtown. I decided I would go to a few vintage shops, since I could browse without fear of children thinking they were hilarious for completely disappearing into clothing racks full of irreplaceable items that will, in fact, soil when touched by sticky little hands. (not that I let my kids go without washing their hands, but for whatever reason, they always manage to have peanut butter on them when hanging around expensive/one of a kind items.) After hitting four stores and browsing to my heart's content, I decided to do something I have never done before. I went to a coffee shop BY MYSELF and read for an hour. I go to coffee shops all the time, but I'm either with someone or I'm in a hurry to get somewhere. Today I decided I was just going to chill. It was wonderful. By the time I finished my mocha and decided it was time to skeedaddle, I had just enough time to get home, get ready, and leave with Jason for the theater. We had two really solid shows and it was an absolute blast. Weird coincidence, though, a guy had come to the classes earlier that day. Apparently he used to be in Funny Outfit waaaaaaaaay back in the day with Trish and Guy and all the improv masters of Kansas City. He also used to work at the airport with Jason! In fact, he's the guy that found the iPod and gave it to Jason to give to me. Funnily enough, before I knew he was the guy that found it, during the show I brought up the fact that my iPod had been found on an airplane. What are the odds? Seriously! So they talked for a while and the guy stayed through the second show then he and Jason exchanged numbers so they could stay in touch. After the shows Jason and I went to Yard House. They have half price appetizers on Saturday nights. Mmm.... It was so great. I've really, really enjoyed the last several days.

P.S.-First snow of the season today. Yay!

Home field advantage

2008-11-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

This morning I faced down one of my greatest fears-large masses of people, single mindedly bent on the same prize as I. That's right. For the first time in my life I went Black Friday shopping. (ker-POW-ow-ow....) Usually when I get stuff for Christmas, I avoid things that most people are getting for one another, simply because my family doesn't need or want those things, and by Thanksgiving I'm usually done with the bulk of my shopping anyhow. This year was no exception on that front, but this year......this year I was after THE gift. A gift of such maximum awesomeness that those who behold it in all it's glory Christmas morning will weep from the sheer beauty of it's majesty. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it is, because Jason is the only member of my immediate family who reads my blog. Last night I carefully set the stage, and this morning at 4:35 I was out of bed like a bullet fired from a gun. First stop, the kitchen, to flick the switch on the coffee maker, which I had set the night before. Then, leaving my pajamas on, I threw on a sweater, coat, and shoes. I filled my carafe, grabbed a book, and I was out the door before Jason got up for work at 4:45. I arrived at Target a few minutes later. The line was already pretty long and I had scoped the store Wednesday night before they closed. I knew full well they only had 20 of the item I was after. A voice in the back of my head told me to just go home, but, determined, I parked (pretty close, actually!) and walked toward the familiar red building. I took my place in line, cracked open my book, and snuggled up with my coffee. Not long after that several people began leaving the line. Apparently they thought the store opened at 5 instead of 6. Sweet. I moved up several feet. A news chopper flew overhead just before the store opened and it was then I realized that I was close to the front of a line that literally wrapped around the building! At 6 they opened the doors and we were off! Store clerks were standing just inside with an army of shopping carts. They'd throw one out and someone would catch it without even breaking stride! The mass of people headed off toward the back of the store (and I knew we were after the same item, it was all anyone could talk about!) but I knew my way around and headed off at Children's Clothing Pass, leaped a clothing rack and sprinted through the toy department until, behold, I was standing in front of my prey. There were three racks holding said object and most people were swarming the top two, so, still sprinting, I ducked down, grabbed one off the bottom shelf, and did an abrupt u-turn to the checkout counter. Another shopper was checking out at the same time as I, and with an identical object in his basket. We grinned at one another as I headed toward the exit. People were still swarming into the building as I left and they were locking and unlocking the doors to let people out so no one would try to squeeze in the exit. I walked, triumphant, back to my car. Some other would-be shoppers were standing near as I skipped through the parking lot, and one of them remarked, "Oh, she's happy, look at her!" It was only then that I realized I was literally chuckling to myself in a self-satisfied (and maybe a little smug) manner. I forced myself to be less creepy. I drove home, victorious, and went right back to sleep. During the afternoon I got all dolled up (I straightened my hair!) and Jason and I went to John and Denise's for an after Thanksgiving party. We had a good time watching TMX Elmo have a seizure on the coffee table. Have you seen that thing? It's like.....creepy entertaining! We were only able to stay for about an hour before heading off to the Westport Coffeehouse to see Tantrum and The Union. (Tantrum=improv comedy from KC, The Union=sketch comedy from Chicago) It was a stellar show, I laughed so hard. We all went to McCoy's afterward and boguarded the big room with the round tables so we could sit rather than hang out around the bar. Jason and I split a "Juicy Lucy." I'd heard of them from Jill Bernard, but never had one. It's a cheeseburger with the cheese INSIDE the burger. Oh man, it was greasy, heavenly goodness.

Food for thank

2008-11-27T21:41:00.000-08:00

I tried to find one picture from today that completely encapsulated the spirit that is the great American Thanksgiving. Did I do a good job? In my quest to make a blogular time capsule of my life in 2008, there are very few pictures that I've taken that can be considered "timeless." I do believe this is one of them, and if it were black and white, it could very well have been taken in the 1930's for all you know...if you replace the paper plate with something slightly more permanent such as an actual plate. (Who wants all those dishes? Yurcch!) I went to Joe and Cherie's house at noon today and there was, what else, food, conversation, games, good friends, and warm feelings. After dinner we took a nice, long hike through the woods and up a couple HUGE hills. While we were entrenched in the wilderness we stumbled upon a ravine with some rusted metal stuck in it. Upon closer examination, the rusted metal was actually a really old car that looked as though a flood had overtaken it at one point and it was now stuck in the side of a hill with a tree growing right through the middle of it. How cool is that? We walked a bit further and found it's liscence plate embedded in the trunk of a tree, only a small corner visible. The plate was rusted and there was no paint on it, but the embossed letters clearly read, "Kansas 42." Awesome. We returned to the house and snacked on leftovers and had some pie. A little later Jason showed up, straight from work. He had his food and we all went upstairs to play games. My favorite was "Pictionary Telephone." Everyone writes a phrase or an action on a piece of paper then passes it to their right. That person then takes the phrase and draws a picture portraying it, then you pass the paper to the right again. You then look at what the person has drawn and write what you think is happening in the picture, then pass it again. After about three or four rounds of this you look at them all to see what has been drawn and written. It was great! My favorite was the one where someone had written, "I just stepped on a frog." The drawing was of a person stepping on a frog. From there, someone else wrote, "A frog getting stepped on." The drawing for that was of a disheveled looking stick figure standing on a frog. The next words were, "A hippie squishing a frog." This was mine to draw. I drew a guy with round mirrored glasses, a bandanna, long hair and a fringed vest. Peace sign on one hand, the other was a fist clenched around a frog, eyes bulging. There was stuff flying in the air, and the word, "SPLUUURGH!" Written in the air above. The last phrase said, "Hippie Dippie." About that time I did what I'm famous for. Something clumsy. This time I spilled an entire styrofoam cup of hot coffee all over myself, and it was time to leave. We said goodbye to our friends who so graciously opened their home to us, and I drove home like a madwoman to expedite the process of getting into pajamas and washing my soiled clothing.

Elipses...

2008-11-26T22:45:00.000-08:00

Today I took the girls to Joanne's to get some green felt. I have two elf costumes to make! (Leigha did get a singing part, by the way) While we were out I thought I'd look for a sweater to go with a skirt I made. I want to wear the skirt to a couple post Thanksgiving parties we've been invited to and I wanted a basic cream colored v-neck sweater to go with it. Apparently that's a difficult item to find, short of dropping a load of money at J Crew or whatever. I went to Old Navy, Kohls, and then Target. Frustrated, I took the girls home, put Bri down for her nap and had some coffee. While she was asleep I looked at the JC Penney's website (I was determined. All the shops are going to be closed tomorrow, after all, and I want to wear this stuff Friday.) and found one that looked about right. Success! So after Bri woke up we went and I ended up snagging a cream colored sweater. About time! It's so hard to find basic stuff when you're looking with a specific style in mind. (Am I right, ladies? And what's the deal with airline peanuts?) Tonight Jason met his mom halfway between our houses to drop off the girls. Tim is going to be at her place and he wanted to see the girls and she's off the rest of the week, so they offered to take the kids off our hands. We think it's a great plan and since we'll be going down there Sunday it works out well for all of us. I went to rehearsal while he met up with her, and after he was done he came to the theater for the "post show we usually play games right now but tonight we're talking" gathering. It was really great having him there with us. I love hanging out with my friends but it was so much better being able to have Jason there as well. He enjoyed himself as well.

Thank you for reading between the lines.

2008-11-25T21:53:00.000-08:00

I had a rough morning today. I got some unpleasant news just as I was really beginning my day and it pretty much tainted the rest of the day for me. Jason is awesome, though, and asked what I wanted to do to kind of shake it off. I asked him to take me to the Nelson Atkins museum of art. We went, and it was great, just, you know, CLOSED on Tuesdays. Dangnabbit. So we walked through the garden and teased the modern art sculptures, which is always fun. They're handy for relieving stress. Since we were right there we also hit the Plaza, which I just love. Brianna had to use the bathroom while we were in Pottery Barn so we went to the Gap, which is just two doors down and I know where the bathroom is in the building. As we were walking through I decided to check out the women's jeans since I just ruined my favorite pair (fyi-don't accidentally kneel on paint can lids. I'm just sayin'.) I've been wanting a pair that were medium blue with wide cuffs. As we were walking out...there they were. Beautiful, shiny, half off, and, oh yeah, MY SIZE! I grabbed them and started toward a fitting room. Jason looked at me like, "?" and I said, "Don't stop me, this could be denim destiny!" I went to the fitting room and tried them on. Ladies, you all know what it's like to find THE jeans. Comfy, not too tight, make you look skinny, and no muffin top whatsoever. Oh yeah, these were THE jeans all right. (half off, HALF OFF!) So we got them, putting a sizeable dent into the gloom clouding my day. (That's right, y'all. You can take my happy for a little while but I got some awesome jeans today, so there! In your face!) This evening Jason took the girls to their rehearsal while I went to mine. It was fun and we worked on some good stuff. As we were walking out I started talking with Jen about my frustrations and she suggested we get some coffee and talk about it, so I let Jason know and off we went. It was so, so good to talk with her about stuff. She is such a great friend and I really, really needed someone to talk to. Thanks for listening, Jen, you helped more than you know. I feel so lucky to have such great people in my life.

Why the Grinch stole Christmas.

2008-11-24T22:01:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the girls' first rehearsal for the Christmas show. They are both going to be elves. Aww! Leigha tried out for a vocal solo tonight too, but we don't know yet if she got one. We dropped them off at the theater then went to the store to grab some milk, bread, and time without the kids, then went back to get them. When we walked into the theater all the kids were sitting on benches and the stage, being read to by a middle aged couple (I'm guessing they're Santa and Mrs. Claus.) Brianna saw us and immediately started waving and making faces at us. Oh boy. This bodes well for her behavior opening night...we tried to explain to her after they were done that you have to behave a certain way on stage but she was too wound up to listen. Perhaps we'll talk to her BEFORE rehearsal tomorrow.

Am I harring this correctly?

2008-11-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

This afternoon was a special "we only have two weeks before the show and oh yeah, we should probably run through it once or twice" rehearsal for Sketchy Thoughts. It was pretty intense, we ran the whole show, some sketches several times over. This is a picture of Clay and Joe Henley. Clay is interviewing Joe for an accounting position but he keeps mixing "accountants" with "trout" in his mind. It's quite funny, even with the absurdly wacky premise. One of the sketches we ran over and over and over and over was one with me and Joe. I'm at my "husband's" funeral and at a couple points I become hysterical and Joe slaps me to snap me out of it. The stage hit is a fine art in and of itself, especially when you factor in exact comedic timing. He must have smacked me across the face about 30 times (Not once did it hurt, mind you) before we finally got everything exactly the way it needed to be. After a while we realized how odd the situation was. *SLAP!* Me: "Arrgh! No, that's not it!" Joe: "Yeah, I know. Wait, what if I hit you like this?" "Oh, yeah, and I could really lean into it, that would be great! Hit me!" Wow. I'm well adjusted, right? Right? Anyhow, yeah, by the time we were done everyone was pretty happy with the show. I'm really looking forward to performing this thing.

2 cute 2 be 4 gotten

2008-11-22T22:10:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those days where the second my feet hit the carpet they took off running. *whew!* The girls auditioned for a Christmas play today. Yes, both of them. This is going to be Brianna's first play! It's basically one of those things where if you show up you're in it, but they both tried out for speaking parts. Brianna tried out for the role of a shepherd and she was actually semi-audible 3/4 of the way back! I'm so proud of her. She was even doing her "I'm pretending I'm shy, look how cute I am!" Routine. Leigha tried for a couple parts too and she did a pretty good job of speaking up as well. After the auditions were over we went to the airport to have lunch with Jason. I had a ton of stuff in my arms as I walked in from the parking lot, including my lunch, so I was only able to hold the girls' hands with one of my hands. They didn't mind sharing, though, and the action induced much giggling. We got down to the mechanic shop and I set my stuff down, only to discover that I had dropped my sandwich somewhere between my car and the shop. Gentleman that he is (and knowing I would not be able to get back into the secure area without him) Jason decided to retrace my steps all the way back to my car, but alas, my poor sandwich was nowhere to be found. I had a delicious lunch of an apple and two crackers, followed by consoletory Starbucks. I can't believe I dropped my sandwich, I feel so stupid (and amused at myself). After lunch I went to Alanna's and the kiddos played while we talked. She invited Jason and I over for dinner, so Jason swung by after work. We had a lovely dinner and we watched Wall-E, which was really really cute. By the time we finally got home Spartacus was pretty happy to see us. Poor kitty. We'll pet him into a coma tomorrow to make up for it.

Sensitivity FAIL!

2008-11-21T22:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at the sale I found a bunch of old patterns, mostly children's styles. They were like a quarter each so I grabbed a bunch that I liked and got them. I was going through them to see what I had, and to my shock (and supreme amusement) I saw this one. Did you miss it? Read what the top of the pattern says. That's right, "Adaptable for chubbies." I can just imagine what the modern shopper would say if she came across this in the Simplicity catalogue today. "How dare they, she's big boned (etc.)" I just can't believe that at one time it was perfectly acceptable to mass produce something so brutally honest. Take that, PC age. (not the computers, you Mac users, get over yourselves. Elitist snobs.) Jason did a couple hours of overtime today and we didn't get around to having dinner until nearly 7:30, which made the entire evening feel odd and abbreviated. Interesting how just an hour and a half can throw every other thing off like that. On the bright side, I finished the dress I've been working on and it came out pretty darned cute! I can't wait to premier it. (shaddup, I can call it what I want.)

Everything, everything will be all right, all right

2008-11-20T22:31:00.000-08:00

Today I went to a sale in the vicinity of my good friend Amie H, so I called her up and asked if she wanted to get together for coffee. She was free, so we got together for coffee...then we went grocery shopping.....then we had lunch. All in all, the "quick coffee" turned into about a four and a half hour hangout. That's still better than the record setting "swing by for lunch" that turned into five days. (car trouble, Christmas time, flights are full, you get the picture.) It was great. I really wish we lived closer. This evening was Leigha's Thanksgiving production (curse the darkness of the picture!) She had some lines and she delivered them perfectly without the flat tone some kids get when reciting. Wonder where she picked up that skill? It was really really amusing to see the army of parents stand up in unison to ready the camcorders. I actually got a picture of that, too, it's very funny. I understand the why, but the follow through is still amusing. We took the girls out for ice cream afterward and when we got home they were both shivering. They didn't seem to mind horribly, though.

Boxes, ribbons, and bows

2008-11-19T22:29:00.000-08:00

Today I spent a good chunk of the afternoon wrapping Christmas presents. I only have a few more to get and I like to have the bulk of them wrapped pretty early so as to prevent "accidental" discoveries. The remaining few things will be wrapped as I acquire them. Tonight was the Thanksgiving dinner at church and there was a plethora of delicious delicacies from which to choose. (I decided to make the previous sentence slightly more cumbersome than it really had to be. Why not?) There had been a sign up sheet the week before, to designate who would bring what, but by the time it finally got around to me EVERYTHING had been signed up for, so I took one of the remaining slots not filled: Gravy. (Uh...oh boy?) I was thinking "gravy, gravy, gravy, gravy....." all day to myself, but, with the gift wrapping marathon, it was nearly time to go by the time I remembered to get to it. So I frantically threw some stuff in a pot, stirred it a few times, then accidentally overpeppered it. I was certain it was going to be a complete disaster but it came out pretty delectable (ever notice how a lot of words for "yummy food" start with the prefix "del?" Dang I'm feeling literary tonight.) and I got several complements. Seriously. For gravy! (Oh boy!) There's a reason I'm fat, y'all. I'm a good freakin' cook.

Paintings in the sky

2008-11-18T22:27:00.000-08:00

Jason and I had a very busy day. We started out by going to the house of our friends, Joe and Cherie. Jason is working on a project and Joe has tools to help him out. So in the meantime, Cherie and I talked and she dumped out all the baby dolls in their house for Brianna to go nuts with. (And she did.) After the boys were done Cherie asked if we'd like to join them for lunch at a barbeque joint down the street, so we did. Awesome. When we finally got back to the house at 3:30 Jason and I started working on our bedroom. We've been putting up wainscotting and today we finished to top off with some chair rail molding. It's so pretty now, it looks like a grown up's bedroom! *squee!* *ahem.* We reassembled our bed and put in the nightstands. Very nice. Rehearsal was fun this evening, we did longform again (oh yeah.) which makes me a happy Jessica.

Take pity on me, this is what I live with.

2008-11-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

......They are soooooooooo weird!

The chicken or the egg?

2008-11-16T22:01:00.000-08:00

This morning, for whatever reason, I woke up CONVINCED that there was a potluck at our church. I had Jason check the calendar and text Jarod, but he hadn't replied by the time we had to leave...until we were walking out the door. There was no potluck this afternoon. So I scrambled to throw potatoes, carrots, and a chicken into a roaster and throw it in the oven as we were leaving. We started practicing and I told Jarod about how for whatever reason I was CERTAIN there was a potluck and he said, "Oh, yeah. Origionally we were supposed to have one, but with Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday we're not doing one today." Aaaaaah. That explains that. Jason and I had a lovely afternoon together. He decided to mow the lawn one last time and rake the leaves. We have a ton of big old oak trees in the neighborhood, and when the wind blows they just don't seem to care if they're in the yard their leaves settle on. I don't mind, trees are super sweet. It sure looked funny to have a leafy yard on either side of our now spotless yard. The best part is, because Jason mowed it was a crisp line, too. So it looked like some freaky force field. This evening I went to a Sketchy Thoughts script reading, but when I got to the theater there was another group rehearsing there. Apparently the owners of the Westport Coffeehouse had accidentally double booked it. The other group is doing a live staged version of "Raising Arizona" and their performance is tomorrow, so we got booted out, understandibly. We decided to walk across the street and see if we could snag a private room at McCoy's in which to rehearse. I've really only been in the front part of McCoys, so imagine my surprise when we walked around the back (called, "The Foundary") and up a set of stairs into what was, essentially, a 1970's living room, complete with bean bags and a pac man table. Nice! I immediately flopped down on a bean bag with gusto. I came home earlier than usual to spend a little time with Jason before he left to get some overtime hours. One nice thing about his "four ten hour days, three weekend days" schedule is that if he signs up for overtime on the weekend he still has two days to recover. I'm really looking forward to spending that time with him, too.

Pick up/Drop off

2008-11-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

Leigha's final volleyball game was today. Ironically, it was the only game her team lost. They didn't seem to mind too much, however, since it was a well played game and they got cupcakes afterward. We had two great shows at the theater tonight. This is a picture of me trying to pick up Nifer. Her location was Home Depot and I used the line, "So....you wanna shop for playground equipment for our future children?" The girls really enjoy coming to the theater. Partially due to the fact that Dairy Queen is right next door and sometimes they get ice cream, but still. I like to flatter myself into thinking they enjoy what we do as well. We have a huge group of regulars that come every so often, and they showed up tonight. They're so much fun! Tonight they invited us all to their place for pizza after the shows. Among their group tonight was a man and his family, and one of the daughter's has downs syndrome. She wanted to sing us songs and tell jokes, and after a bit her father was trying to gently tell her the show was over. She said, "But Dad, I probably have a hundred jokes to tell!" He said, "How about one? We've got to meet in the middle on this one." She heaved a sigh and said, "Cut me some slack, Dad." It was hillarious. And sweet.

Let's coffee klatch

2008-11-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

I'm not feeling 100%, but I'm not feeling as bad as I predicted I would, either. All in all, that's pretty okay with me, considering. Today Bri and I went to a sale and I came out with a few vintage dresses that I plan on selling because they're too small for me and in uber mint condition. Not to mention cutema-cute!!! I also got a pattern and a sweater (both vintage) that I'm keeping. I'm guessing I'll be able to sell the dresses and get enough money from them to keep me in my happy little habit, with extra for coffee on the side if I so choose. Vintage dresses go for A LOT on Ebay, and I'm only shelling out about $2-6 a pop. While Bri and I were out I took her to McDonalds for lunch and she got a plastic toy that talks. Why, McDonalds, why? I already don't like you, do you have to rub it in? I haven't taken Bri to Mickey D's for lunch in MONTHS and already I'm reminded why. When I got home from running around (sale, fabric shop [buttons!!!], grocery store, bank, home) I was exhausted. (Like I said, sick.) So I brewed some coffee. I had just sat down to relax, enjoy my coffee, and do some embroidery, when the power went out. What the.....? Grrrah! They're doing construction down the street, so this isn't exactly uncommon, and it's really getting on my nerves. They were very lucky I had already brewed my coffee before it went out, or I might have gone down the street and......um.....done my cute little 'tee hee, what you do affects people' routine. I dunno. Shaddup! Anyhow, I wasn't happy and I was starting to think of alternate dinner plans (electric stove, hello! And I just got my groceries, too! [see above]) when the power FINALLY came back on. Gah! About time. I got pretty far on my embroidery, though (sitting in the sun). Isn't it cute? I'm thinking of arching the words, "Happy Coffee" above the cup. I managed to get dinner cranked out before Jason got home, and we had a lovely dinner before settling in front of the TV for "Don't Forget the Lyrics." I could take or leave that show, but Leigha just loves it, and Bri could care less as long as she has the cat to torture, so on Friday nights, that's what we do. (I sew. Remember how I make a habit of un-wasting wasted time?) So yeah. That's mah day and I'm sticking to my long-winded story. Apparently sickness makes me ramble.

Blawh.

2008-11-13T22:08:00.000-08:00

This picture basically sums up the mood that has prevailed our household today. Blah...... I got Leigha off to school, got Bri up and got her food then took a shower. When I got out she was on the couch huddled in a blanket. I asked her what was going on and she said, "I'm cold." Aw. We got shoes and jackets on and left to hang out with Melissa for a bit. We came back just before Bri's naptime, so I put her in her room and shut the door. She sleeps until Leigha gets home from school, but when Leigha got home from school and I told her to make her lunch and do homework, Bri hadn't shown up yet. Leigha went to play at Anna's house for an hour. When she came back, still no sign of awake Bri. I told Leigha to get her up since I was busy making chicken soup. Bri wandered in the kitchen not long after that with big grey bags under her eyes (Aw!) I went downstairs to finish something I had started this afternoon and realized Bri wasn't downstairs with Leigha and I, so I went to check on her (when she's quiet, you know there's trouble.) I found her on the couch in her blanket again! I asked if she was okay and she dully nodded her head. I felt her forehead and it was burning up, so I got her a big glass of water and wrapped her up tighter in her blanket. Jason came home from work and we had dinner. I told him Bri was coming down with something and to keep an eye on her, then went to rehearsal. It was good, but when I sat down during "talk about what we've learned" time, I got hit with a massive tidal wave of exhaustion. Ugh........I made it through the rest of rehearsal, but felt like I was dragging myself the whole time. I came home to find Spartacus looking exactly how I feel right now. Nice. Hopefully this is just a quick bug and will burn off quickly.

Bisque-it!

2008-11-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

This morning Bri and I went to a paint your own pottery place. I wanted to make the girls personalized hot chocolate mugs and after comparing prices I found that it would be the same price, if not cheaper, to do it myself. Plus I got the added enjoyment of making them myself. Here are the mugs half done. When finished, the blue will be speckled and look like snow falling on the white hills on the bottom. The top edge has blue dots around it and the handles are rainbow colored. Around the outside they say, "Leigha's/Brianna's hot chocolate" and on the inside rim they say, "Marshmallows go here" with an arrow indicating down. Very cute! Can't wait to see them all shiny. Bri took my leftover glaze and made that gorgeous picture in the right central portion of the pic.

Meet loaf

2008-11-11T22:58:00.000-08:00

Today I wore one of the vintage dresses I'd purchased a little while ago. Funnily enough, tonight's dinner plan was meat loaf. So in the interest of keeping the dress clean, and to see how retro I could go, I donned one of my vintage aprons. See that smug/knowing look on my face? That's my, "Oh, that's right...I went there." look. Jason and I went to the library this afternoon and managed to find some books Leigha had been asking for us to get for her. She just about piddled when she got home from school. Rehearsal was great tonight, we got to focus on longform, which was great. I'm so tired of shortform (the game like stuff. Long is where you basically make up a play) lately.

If you catch me at the border, I've got visas in my name.

2008-11-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

Today we began the long haul back home. We could have done the simple(ish) Reno-Vegas-Kansas City, but Jason's mom was flying back from Anchorage today. So instead we opted to fly from Reno-Phoenix, wait an hour for her flight to come in, and have a nice sit down dinner at the airport before we boarded a plane bound for Albuquerque, and from there to home. Leigha enjoyed playing games with Grandma on the flights, and if you look just to the right of Sheila between her torso and the tray table, you can clearly see Brianna's sleeping head. We flew over some gnarly weather on the way. You'd look out the window and see just blackness, then suddenly lightning would illuminate the tuft of cloud sitting just under the wing of the plane. After we tucked the girls in and said goodbye to Jason's mom (She has to work tomorrow. Suck!) we flipped on the Weather Channel. We're totally getting that rainstorm here tonight.

Don't quail.

2008-11-09T22:14:00.000-08:00

Today we had a nice brunch of specially handcrafted personal omelettes. Everyone picks what they want in their omelette, puts the ingredients in a plastic baggie, then pour the egg mixture over it, seal the baggie, and boil it. Mmmm. Bellissimo! My dad kidnapped Jason not long after that, so the rest of us (My mom, sisters, the girls and I) watched a movie at the house. We had to run to my mom's library to get something for Janina, so the girls got to pick out some books before we hugged Nina goodbye and she left for home from the library. (FYI, she locked her keys in the car in Mojave. Nice. She's back on the road right now, though, so she's just fine.) The rest of us went to the grocery store to pick out dinner and not long after we got back the guys got home so we ate then played a rousing game of Skip Bo. (my mom looks like she's trying to leap into the picture there. That may be my fault.....) Lynette and I won, with little to no cheating involved! There was hot chocolate and marshmallows and '50's music. Cozy. Lynette left after that and we got the girls to bed. My parents followed suit not long after that. I think we may have worn them out. At least I know we've done our job!

Yeeeeeeeees?

2008-11-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

Goodness sake's, I have beautiful sisters, don't I? We got ready this morning and drove to Lake Tahoe. My mom's cousin, Sandi, got married today. It was a very intimate ceremony, taking place in a suite at a resort in Zephyr Cove, and my extended family made up about 70% of the guest list, give or take. The wedding was absolutely beautiful. The groom cried the whole time, it was so sweet! We had champagne and cake, then everyone had coffee or tea. From left to right, that's me, Lynette, and Janina. Middle, oldest, youngest. Ironically, as far as shades of dark brown go, our cups go: darkest, lightest, middle. After the wedding had concluded we piled onto the elevator and went out to eat with my family. (Jason, girls, sibs, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles.) We had a great dinner then went to Grandma and Grandpa's for some conversation and togetherness time. It's so great to have everyone here at the same time! It can be quite lonesome living so far away from your family. At least in Kansas City we have Jason's family closeby, when we lived in Denver it was a 16 hour drive in either direction just to see anyone! We came back to my parent's house, got the girls to bed, then we all watched Uncle Buck. I'd never seen it. Bravo, John Candy, we miss you.

False starts

2008-11-07T23:07:00.000-08:00

Today I went to an estate sale and hit the jackpot. Tons of vintage clothing, patterns, fabric, and household items! I walked away with three bursting bags full of goodies, including an authentic crinoline that I snapped up for a buck. They cost $50 at Boomerang. Ker-ching! When I got home I packed clothes and we all went to the airport. Our itenirary was: Kansas City-Las Vegas-Reno. Unfortunately, the flight into Vegas was delayed by about an hour and the flight leaving for Reno would have left by the time we got into Vegas. By ten minutes. *Sigh* We figured we'd try again tomorrow. On the shuttle bus to the employee parking lot, Jason was on the phone with his mom (not yet to Anchorage) and he was explaining what was going on with us when a Southwest employee said, "Oh, that flight from Vegas to Reno is also delayed." What? It is? That's great!....why didn't the guy at the counter tell us that? Either way we got off at the next stop and ran back to the terminal. The lady behind the counter said, "Yup, it's showing a delay, it's supposed to leave at 9:50 but won't leave until 10:25." Our delayed plane was supposed to get to Vegas at 10, perfect! We went through security and checked with the gate agent to make sure it was still delayed going into Reno. Right before we boarded we checked again and he said, "Oh, now it's not showing a delay at all." Whaaat? Jason and I decided to get on the plane anyhow, knowing full well that if we didn't make the connect it would mean spending the night in what is hands down one of the absolute most disgusting airports in America. The flight was pretty noneventful, aside from the lady who kept tattling to the flight attendant about other passengers. (I was trying so hard not to laugh, it was just like that Family Guy episode!) Jason and I planned our 'exit strategy' and sprinted off that plane the second the door was open. We got to the gate for the Reno plane just as it was getting ready to board. Turns out they had a 10 minute delay! Sweet! The guy got on the announcimajigger and said, "Okay...there are about 20 people going on this flight to Reno, so.......everyone on the plane!" Heh heh. We got on the flight and I snapped this picture of Bri, falling asleep before we even left the lights of Vegas behind.

Getting bent

2008-11-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

I've had a pretty rough couple of weeks. There's been bad news piling on top of bad news lately and it's getting old. I'm feeling frustrated and tired a lot lately. Today was the kind of day where I really feel I should have just stayed in bed and just tivo'ed past, but unfortunately, I have not tivo. Not even on my TV. Here's a picture of Jason and the girls plus a couple other kids at the theater tonight. We had a free 'show' during rehearsal. Enjoy the reflection off the toe of Jason's shoe as I go watch some tivo-less TV and try to salvage at least a little bit of good today.

A little princess

2008-11-05T21:52:00.000-08:00

Since Halloween Brianna has wanted to wear her princess dress every day. She gets up in the morning and says, "Mom, can I play dress up?" I tell her yes if we're not going anywhere for a while, and there she is in her Cinderella outfit. It hasn't gotten to the point where she gets upset if I tell her to change because we're leaving the house...yet....so I'll let her have her fun for now. She looks so sweet, after all, especially when perusing the American Girl's catalogue.

Civic duties

2008-11-04T20:16:00.000-08:00

I voted today, did you? If not, and you're over 18 and eligible, shame on you. I don't want to hear you complain about anything political. For once I'm not joking. They said on the news that there were huge lines and people waited for up to three hours. Jason and I walked in, signed our names, and voted right then and there, no wait. Awesome. I'm watching the news right now and McCain just conceded, which means we will have our first African American president. Wow. I wonder what the next four years will bring?

I dunno, Alaska!

2008-11-03T22:11:00.001-08:00

Jason's parents drove up this morning and took us out to breakfast. They're beginning a loooooong drive-Missouri to Alaska. Jason's dad is a contract nurse and his new contract begins in the next couple weeks, in Anchorage! (Yup, we're so going to visit!) We had a great breakfast with them and then the headed off into the...mid morningness. (see, that's why people should always leave in the late afternoon/early evening.) Jason and I have been busy little bees today, fixing up little things around the house, painting a few trim pieces, installing wainscotting, and somehow we managed to get a full grocery shopping trip in as well. It's nice having our own place to fix up. *hearts and loves!*

Happy Daylight Savings everyone!

2008-11-02T21:28:00.000-08:00

This is Jason's "Cherub Rock on Hard" face. Have you ever watched someone's face when they're playing Guitar Hero on the harder levels? It's extremely amusing. Jason's eyebrows twitch wildly. He's ever so cuuuuuuute! This afternoon, through major team effort, we got the new interior door to the garage put up. It's so pretty! And since it's not super dreary 1970's dark brown, it really lightens up the hallway. (It's white, but anything that wasn't dark dark brown would have lightened it up) I can't wait to get the rest of those doors up. This evening I had a Sketchy Thoughts rehearsal. (yup, we finally got a name!) It's going really well, I'm having fun. I enjoy the super laid back atmosphere.

Set, Spike!

2008-11-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

Leigha's team is undefeated. The funny thing is, they keep winning the first two sets then just losing the third. It's best two out of three, so they win the game overall, but it's almost as if they just get tired of winning or something. Rather funny. After the game we went out and got some coffee beans then came back to the house. I told the girls to get some lunch then came downstairs and looked on Craigslist to see if there were any good estate sales happing today. Oh yeah, there was one. The person described the sale as "a digger." He wasn't kidding. We got to the house and every room was packed, PACKED with clutter! Every closet, every nook and cranny, every piece of furniture. They had a few pieces out on the lawn that had price tags on them, but it looked as though they had given up after that. So I dug, and dug, and dug. Through the basement, closets, bedrooms, even the sun porch where I had to move aside a swing to get to a huge pile of cloth. There was just too much to look at! I think I scouted out maybe a third of what was there, and it wasn't for lack of trying, believe me. In the end I ended up getting two old suitcases and about seven yards of vintage fabric. (blue and purple plaid!) Nice. Leigha found a little stuffed dog that she liked and had brought sixty cents with her. She said, "Oh...it's probably more than sixty cents." I said, "Leigha, just carry it around, you'll probably be surprised." We got to the cashier and she said, "How much is the dog?" He looked at her and said, "I think he was waiting for you. That's a gift!" She said, "But....but I've got sixty cents!" He said, "That's okay, you keep that. Buy your sister something later." What a sweet guy. She was absolutely over the moon about it, too. After we got home I washed it out good, though. The house was filthy, goodness knows what kind of ick was in that dog's fur.

Trikkertreet

2008-10-31T22:57:00.000-07:00

This afternoon Leigha was getting a piece of paper from the printer to write a letter to my mom when she suddenly shrieked and jumped back. I said, "Leigha, what's wrong?" She said, "There's a huge spider!" She grabbed the corner of the sheet of paper and got out of there quickly. I went back to concentrating on the sleeve I was stitching, when suddenly I heard a "WHAM!!!" I jumped and looked over and there's Bri with a book by the printer. I said, "Brianna, what did you do?" She shrugged and said, "The spider needed to be killed." Very matter of fact. Holy cow, kid.... This evening we got the kids into their costumes and went trick or treating around the neighborhood. It's our first Halloween in this neighborhood so we weren't entirely sure what to expect. It ended up being pretty great, actually. Better than at our old house, in fact. There were less people driving 50 mph down the street weaving around kids, which was a huge improvement. We walked around the block and filled up the girls' buckets to the top and then some. Brianna's Cinderella costume was a huge hit, people thought she was so cute. She blew her own cover, though, when she walked up to little old ladies and yelled, "Trick or treeeeeeEEEEEEEeeeat!!!!" Leigha saw a little boy dressed as a cowboy and thought it was pretty great. "He's my trick or treat twin!" We came home and got them to bed, then began sorting candy and sneaking aside some of our favorites. Later on in the evening our friend Mike B. came by to borrow the furniture dolly we borrowed from some mutual friends....who borrowed it from some mutual friends. Mike bought a house and closed on it today. (Treat!) He pulled up into the driveway and said, "Guess what. I just bought the house today and it's already been TP'ed." (Ooh.....trick) At least now he'll know that next year instead of passing out candy he can just wait in the bushes with a hose to put the smack down on the culprits!

Tribal carvings

2008-10-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

After dinner this evening we told the girls to get into their jammies, spread newspaper on the kitchen floor, and carved our pumpkins. We only managed to get three done before the little ones had to go to bed. They both have cat pumpkins (Leigha got to carve hers by herself for the first time) and mine is kind of anime-esque. Nice. Hans and Joe Stude came over this evening to work on a project with Jason, so while they did that I roasted the seeds, fed some to the kids and got them to bed. After they left Jason finally started on his pumpkin. It was one of those warty pumpkins and I thought Jason would like making a funky face on it. Little did we know those warty pumpkins have REALLY thick skin and a super hard outer shell! Jason said, "It's going to take me forever to carve this thing!" I said, "Duh, that's because it's not a pumpkin, it's a fortress." Finally he got it finished, but some of the pieces didn't come out quite right because Jason was literally having to saw his way through it. Oh well, it's pretty cute anyhow.

Participation

2008-10-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today was rediculously ordinary, tonight was rediculously messed up. The contrast was so severe that I'm completely discombobulated. Today I went through my ordinary routine and managed to sneak in some time to (finally!) begin painting wainscotting for the master bedroom. Yay! This evening I went to church, had dinner, then fully expected to do music practice, but then Jarod came up to Jason and I and told us that the kids were doing some kind of activity and they didn't know how many adults needed to help and to just kind of stand by until it was clear what was going on. Uh, okay then, cool. Meanwhile I'm trying desperately to swap nursery duty with someone else, and in the back of my mind I kept thinking, "Well, if we're not going to practice the songs then I need to get to our special Wednesday night rehearsal because it's Wednesday this week instead of Thursday, and oh yeah, my car is back at home...." Finally pieces fell into place and we began music practice. We kept it short because of all the activity around us, and after about fourty minutes a herd of kids came in and we played a song for them. When they left Jarod told us we were done, so we went to look for our kids so Jason could take me to rehearsal. Apparently all the kids were running around in the dark looking for grown ups with their flashlights. We had no clue this was happening, so we got Bri and then spent a good long time looking for Leigha. When we finally found her I was like, "I gotta go, I gotta GO!" And only then did I find out that it wasn't just kids running rampant through the dark, but a planned activity. Huh....okay then. If I'd known I would have not been freaking out about where my kid was. Poor Leigha, I feel bad about that. Jason dropped me off at rehearsal and I was there for the last hour or so. John kept disappearing during that hour and I had no clue what was going on until he came up and apologized and said that Denice's cat had died (Oh, how sad!) and she was really upset. So for the most part, it was unsupervised MADNESS! (Improv is ALWAYS madness, this was just unsupervised.) At one point we were all sitting in a circle discussing what games to play at our next show and I asked everyone to put their feet in for the picture of the day. Julie put her hands in. Carl opted to try and scoot out of the way to prevent me from stealing the soles of his feet. (ba dump, ching!) Joke's on you, Carl, I got one of them in there!

What a twist!

2008-10-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

Over the past week gas has dropped almost fifty cents a gallon. In case anyone from other parts of the country are wondering, we are sitting at $2.07 here. Yup, wow. Still, I can't help but feel the need to continue to conserve gas, so when Jason and I wanted drinks this afternoon, we decided to walk to the gas station. Bri always gets tired after a little while so Jason put her up on his shoulders. It was really cute. I'm trying once again to make myself like tea. So far I've found a couple kinds that I like (both contain fruit juice), but I'd really like to work up to the 5 calorie crap they have in gas stations and such so I won't want soda as much any more. If I'm successful I might try to force myself to like pasta...we'll see. It really stinks, I'm not a picky person at all, I just happen to strongly dislike two major staples of the American diet (and ketchup, but that's easily avoided.) Rehearsal was pretty fun tonight, I got to play the queen of Norway and I was ordering around Zak. Awesome. After rehearsal, Nifer, Patrick, Jen and I decided to go to Yard House for a bit. I took a picture of my martini (straight up with a twist. Martini glasses are so pretty!) and the wipes they gave us. The back of the package declares them to be "Awesome wipes!" I wouldn't know if they're awesome for the hands or not because the only people who used them were Nifer and I, and only as a joke. (tee hee!)

Come and knock on our door!

2008-10-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

I finished painting our new front door today. It's a lot more of a red orange rust shade than it looks like in this picture. Goodness sakes, the flash makes it looks like something awful off a 1960's game or comedy show! Yecch! Just take my word for it......it's prettier than that. That being said, doesn't it look cool against the color of my outfit? (enough about color, Jess, no one cares.) Well nyeah to you. We went to the library today and got some foodsie items, but for the most part we just stayed home, played games, and read stories to the girls. Leigha did have v-ball practice tonight as well. It's nice to have a day to chill after running around the country and whatnot.

Do we have to, honey?

2008-10-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

After we went to church this morning with Aaron and Areasha, we all went out to eat some lunch. I remembered that I had to get a picture of them and said, "Ooh, you guys, get together!" Aaron made THAT face, I took the picture and we all laughed. He said, "Okay, okay, let's get a good one now." So we took another. In the second picture it ended up that Areasha was making a face. Nice. I decided to post the first one to make Aaron look like the bad guy for starting it. Heh heh heh...the power! After lunch we said goodbye and drove up I-25 to Denver. We had a little extra time so we buzzed the downtown area before heading to the airport. Nothing has changed, from the highway at least. It's still hard to believe we lived there sometimes. Not really all that long ago for that matter. Funny how everything can be the same and still so foreign to me. We flew home this evening and put the kids to bed. There's a cold front coming in, for those of you who live in KC. We had pretty good turbulence as we rode over it. Just a heads up.

Thank you, Stephen Sondheim!

2008-10-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

This morning we got up and had a nice breakfast with Aaron and Areasha before loading up and heading into the wild that is Southeastern Colorado. We did the "what has changed" tour of Rocky Ford and Swink (Oh, and hey, Mom, Dad, Lynette-they're FINALLY four lane-ing Highway 50 between Pueblo and Fowler!) before finally arriving in La Junta. We spent the day with our good friends, Jacob and Carla. Their oldest daughter, Destiny, is Leigha's age. In fact, she took her first steps at Leigha's first birthday party! The kids had a blast playing with one another and we got to see Destiny play volleyball. How cool is that that she and Leigha would have that in common? We did the obligatory trip to Wal Mart to see if we'd run into anyone we knew (yeah, it's that small of a town) and played Mario Kart on Jacob and Carla's Wii. It was pretty much perfect. As evening drew near Jacob and Carla took the girls to a fall festival and Jason and I drove to the Picketwire Theater to see Sweeney Todd. *Squee!* My friend Chad got the part of Sweeney Todd in the show and we planned this weekend specifically so we could see the show. They did such a great job, too! The girl who played Mrs. Lovett was just brilliant! And Chad....oh my goodness, Chad was incredible. I totally believed him every step of the way. It also turned out that he designed most of the sets and costumes (uh, wow!) so he proudly showed us the razors and the chair and whatnot, and was kind enough to oblige me when I asked for a picture in the chair. A stagehand asked me if I wanted to go down the slide as well and I was like, "Uh....YEAH!" So after taking the picture Chad hit the release that dropped the hinges, and I rode down the slide to the bottom level of the stage. It was great! The best part? Chad had no clue we were coming. We surprised him! He was thrilled, it was just great. I'm so glad I got to go see the show and see everybody. After getting the kids and sing goodbye to the cast of Sweeney Todd we made the drive back to Pueblo. We couldn't have planned today any better, it was just perfect.

Wigwam Mall

2008-10-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

Jason and I have been planning this trip to Colorado for a while now, but we weren't sure what flight we were going to take. One flight was filling up fast and the other was on Southwest, which we hate. About three today Jason called and said one of the flights was late and we'd be able to get on it. Score! In order to make the flight I had to leave when Leigha got out of school at four. Procrastinator that I am, I hadn't even packed yet, so I got my butt into gear and by 3:30 I was done. At 3:40 my mother in law called and asked if we were going to be home tonight. She has an early meeting tomorrow in Kansas City and wanted to spend the night at our house. I said, "Well, we're not going to be here, but I'll hide a key for you." "Oh. Well what time are you leaving?" "In 20 minutes." "Wow....I'm glad I called you when I did!" We got to the airport and flew to Denver. This picture is the inside of the main terminal at Denver International Airport. The first time I ever saw DIA (at the age of 15) I wrote in my diary that it looked like a shopping mall that they ran out of money for and they had to resort to creating a roof out of tents, then I drew a sketch of it and dubbed it the "Wigwam Mall." I'd say that was a pretty accurate statement. We got our rental car and drove to Pueblo where our good friends, Aaron and Areasha live. We haven't seen them since Bri was just a tiny baby, so it's been great catching up. About 10 this evening Areasha and I sent the boys to the store to load up on Ben and Jerry's, and they came back with several of the 3 oz. sizes. Nice. (Jessica tired, over and out.)

Running afowl.

2008-10-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight after rehearsal we decided it would be fun to randomly pair people up and put the smaller of the two people on the bigger of the two people's shoulders. It seemed to make sense at the time. Why not, after all? Notice the guy in the back giving the thumbs up sign? That's Justin. Tonight was his first rehearsal. He's been around for a while, though, as he's Patrick's friend and he was on one of the student teams. Jason and I both had a pretty stressful day. He blew off steam by hanging out with Hans while I was at rehearsal. Jen came by our house as well and played My Little Ponies with the girls. I came home just after they left and Jason and I just kind of looked at each other and exhaled. It's been a long day.

12 Ounces, No Baggie.

2008-10-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

This morning Bri and I went to Bonner Springs with Melissa. They have a cute little thrift shop downtown and I managed to snag another sweet vintage pattern for twenty five cents! Since we were already there and it was raining, we decided to hit up Jet Fuel Coffee. I love love love them. They've got a great aviation theme with bright cozy colors and amazing coffee. Today was the first time I've ever tried their pumpkin spice latte and it was better than Starbucks' PSL. And Starbucks NAILED the fine art of the PSL. I gotta get back there before the season is over. When I went to the library the other day I picked up the first season DVD of The Office. I watched three episodes this afternoon when Bri went down for her nap. It was all right, I thought it was pretty funny. From what I hear it really grows on you, especially around season 2. I'm guessing I'll be hooked eventually, but I'm not there yet. I'll let you know when I am.

Noteworthy

2008-10-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

Jason and I ran around this afternoon. We had a ton of stuff we needed to get, including a new kitty litter box, since Spartacus has outgrown his baby kitten one. (aww...) They grow up so fast! I love that Jason has three day weekends, it's wonderful having him around so much. Tonight's rehearsal was special since Tom Farnan was there to coach us. He basically turned us upside down and shook off the bad yuckable that creeps in when you forget what you're SUPPOSED to be doing, then replaced it with the good stuff, like making sure you don't invent stuff to talk about and focus more on the relationships in the scenes. I'm beginning to think you never stop finding that reminder helpful in improv (experienced improvisers, can you confirm?) After rehearsal we decided to hang out at Yard House and I gave Patrick a ride from the theater to Y.H. He was taking notes from the session (it was his first workshop!) while on the way and I was trying to help him by reminding him of things that had stood out to me. We were discussing character and I mentioned something and he said, "Wow...that's actually really helpful!" Then wrote something down. I didn't see the note but I saw in parenthesis after it it said, "(Thanks Jess!)" Glad I could help, Patrick. My pleasure!

The word of the day is: Apple!

2008-10-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

We went to the library today. Every time we go we take the girls (or in the case of today, just Bri. Leigha was at school when we went.) to the children's section to get books. We try to help Bri pick out books since Leigha pretty much knows what she wants and Bri can't reach all the books. Today she was having none of it. "What about this one, Bri, it's about kittens!" "No! I want to pick my own book! *grabs random book off the shelf* And I want this...*pauses to look at the cover* Frog book!" She's rotten. (and we love her and blah blah....) I found out today that my 'Aunt' Deborah reads my blog, so I'd like to give a shoutout to her, hey there! Welcome! And also, I'd like to tell her (in response to an e-mail she sent my mom that my mom forwarded to me) that yes, I love love love vintage hats. In fact, the first vintage thing I ever bought was a 1950's hat. A guy had a tub of them at a garage sale we went to when I was a kid. I think I still have the hat somewhere...white velvet with bows on the side and netting...ah! Lovely. Oh yeah, we did other stuff today.

I dream of Jessie

2008-10-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Being one of two girls in a sketch group is a little much, especially if the other girl is mostly confined behind a sound booth. We read through several scripts tonight (one in which Joe Henley and I got to be vampires and hissed at one another. Fun!) and began talking about the name again. Still haven't got one. Oh well, maybe later this week. One thing's for sure, though-it's a good thing I'm quick with memorization, a skill I rarely use as an improviser. Jason and I have settled into a Sunday evening routine of working on various projects while within the general vicinity of the TV. A local station shows retro TV shows Sunday evenings, including my personal favorite, "I Dream of Jeannie." I love love love that show, but haven't had much opportunity to see it on a regular basis due to the fact that my parents didn't do the whole cable thing, even when we lived in a remote corner of Colorado and only got like two channels. (Yes, Mommy and Daddy, that's right. I know you read this blog and I'm totally outing you on the matter. ;-) (Yes, everyone else, I do call my parents Mommy and Daddy still. I never saw the need to change what I called them as I grew older. Got a problem with that? Deal with it. ;-) (Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause. ;-) But I digress....Thanks to "I Dream of Jeannie," and other fine programs, such as the ones featured on The Weather Channel, I finished Leigha's rag rug and am about halfway through with Brianna's. I thought those would take much longer. Woo!

A little bird told me....

2008-10-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Leigha had another volleyball game this morning. Same deal, three games (or trimesters? I'm still not sure) of 15 minutes each. Their team won 2/3 of the games (?). Yay! Jason got to take a couple hours of vacation time and watch her game, which was great. After the game I took the girls downtown to check out a vintage clothing warehouse I had heard about (it was incredible! I got the cutest gray fedora!) that sells vintage stuff for thrift store prices. Since I was already downtown I hit up City Market for some produce then the girls wanted to go to a book store so I swung by Half Price Books. Love that place. Tonight's shows were pretty cool, Leigha volunteered during the game "historic dance." Basically, you get a historic event then three things associated with it. Music plays and three people who have been assigned to the things come out and do a dance based on their suggestion, and at the end the person on the side of the stage guesses. The historical even tonight was the birth of Christ. John was baby Jesus, Patrick was a sheep, Julie was a reindeer (ha ha, who suggested that one?) Leigha ended up guessing the event and then baby Jesus and then sheep (after saying 'goat.' Oops.) She didn't get reindeer, though. Either way it was remarkable she was able to guess anything! So after they did it, Patrick had to guess the second time around, this time with Leigha dancing as well. Leigha was supposed to be a cannon but she didn't quite know how to interpret that, so Julie helped her by "lighting the fuse" and Leigha ran and THREW herself across the stage! It was great! She really commited and everyone was laughing. No question, she's totally my kid and she's totally got the acting bug.

From Stillwell to Smithville.

2008-10-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

After Leigha got on the bus this morning, I hastily shellacked myself into a vague resemblance of 'human,' and headed out the door, Brianna in tow. I had heard about an estate sale in Stillwell, KS (about 20 minutes south of KC) that had antique furniture and vintage fabric. Jessica says, "Ca-CHING!" (and take your mo-nay...) I found a great yard or so of fabric for $2! Score! I also got a neat wall-hanging thingy. From there I drove north, planning on hitting up Westport for a few things, but when I parked my car it started POURING rain. No matter, I was about a block from my first destination, so Bri and I walked to Arizona Trading Company. Oh shoot...they don't open 'till 11:00 and it's only 10:39. No matter, I'll head to Re-Runs about two blocks away) since it's so close. I figure I'll give them a second shot....oh, shoot...they don't open 'till noon. No matter, I'll go to that antique store....that one right there that's closed for remodeling. Aaaaand it's still pouring. Okay, fine, I'll go to Broadway antiques. I went around for a bit, looked at a bunch of stuff, found a great "Greetings from Colorado" postcard, and headed back to AZTC. (yup, still pouring) Tried on jeans, looked at purses and shoes...eh, nothing. Aaaaaand I was late. I jumped back in the car, Brianna in tow, and headed to the airport to have lunch with Jason. It was still pouring, and it had gotten worse. Semis all across America decided to unite to thwart my efforts as I struggled against the rain and the semi-spatter (the fine mist that even the best of windshield wipers can't do diddly about) valiantly making my way up north. Aaaand of course, I got to Barry Rd. and it stopped. Hee hee, nice. Jason didn't have a lot of time by the time I got up there, so we went to a drive through and went back to the airport so he could work on the plane when it came in. That's him sticking out of the engine in the picture. I'm thinking of submitting it to www.omnomnomnom.com. (never been? Go!) After lunch I headed out into the dazzlingly radient sunshine to go to Smithville where I heard there was a great vintage clothing store. There's not any more, fyi, but there was an ARC and a great antique shop/cafe' next door that had great cookies. I got one for Bri, since she had been so good. She ate half and gave the rest to Leigha when she got home from school. Jason didn't get back from work until late due to a major traffic jam on the way (car accident) so I let the girls have a picnic dinner in front of the TV so they could watch their favorite show, 'Are you smarter than a 5th Grader.' One of the questions was, "True or false. Crawfish are fish." Leigha said (in a very knowing tone) "Pssht! False!" Of course, the answer is false and the lady answered as such. Leigha piped up once more with, "Duh...there's no such thing as crawfish."

Berrong and Bernard: Much more than a B&B.

2008-10-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight when Jason got off work we dropped the kids of with Dustin and Alanna to see the world premiere of the 'Brownies Don't Lie' show. Jill Bernard (remember the festival?) and Trish (remember the festival?) had been at an improv class in LA for the past week. Since Jill had to come back through Kansas City on her way back to Minneapolis where she lives, she and Trish put on a show together! It was great, they were a well matched team and it was obvious they were having a blast together, and we had fun with them as well. Good improv should be exactly that, in my opinion. The performers are inviting the audience to have fun with them. Before Brownies Don't Lie took the stage, we were treated to some great performances by Spite and Babelfish. Babelfish does this format where they're 'entertaining themselves' while waiting for Jill Bernard to show. A la Waiting for Godot. Tonight was the first time they performed it while Jill was actually there (what with the 'she lives in Minneapolis' thing.) so it added a deeper level of funny since we knew full well Jill was watching the whole thing from the seventh row (or wherever. )

Unsupported arches

2008-10-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Today I saw the movie Casablanca for the first time. Loved it! Seeing old movies puts 99.7% of today's movies to shame. Remakes, endless sequels and TV shows from 30 years ago? What's that about? Yuck! You can keep your 'Land Before Time 17: Bigfoot Goes Shoe Shopping,' thank you very much. Tonights rehearsal was...eh, rehearsal. We're preparing for the Halloween show and one of the games is called "dead bodies." There are two people onstage, they 'die,' then a puppetmaster controls their words and actions. A third person will enter about halfway through. It's really fun to see the puppetmaster control the people, especially since we all know they are very much alive and concious. There are ghosty orbs in the picture as well, but when I pointed it out everyone was like, "It's dust." Like I didn't know that. I reject your reality and substitute it with my own, and I choose to believe they are faeries. Take that.

Save your oragami for your mommy!

2008-10-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

I'm not the only one who's crafty in my family. Leigha got an oragami book from the library recently and has caused a small paper explosion in my living room. The white one directly above the left page of the book is a butterfly she made for Brianna. Sweet of her. I went to the doctor today to check out my foot from when I kicked Jason's fake leg. I had been concerned that I may have broken it, due to some new bruising around my toes yesterday, and wanted to make sure. The doctor looked at it and sent me to get an x-ray. She called me this afternoon to assure me that it wasn't broken or fractured, but I bruised that sucker and bruised it deep. I am really really good at injuring myself. At least I know comfortable ways to elevate my foot while sleeping. *sigh* Rehearsal was interesting tonight. We tried a different longform that I had never tried before. It ended up being pretty fun.

Knowledge is power!!

2008-10-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

We were going to fly to Chicago today to bum around since Leigha had the day off school, but we ended up not going due to the large amounts of people flying. Oh yeah...it's a holiday weekend. Bummer. So we stayed home nearly all day, save for an outing to the library. For the most part, we spent the day cozied up on the couch watching movies. Jason had never seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang before and he really enjoyed it. I myself didn't see it until I was an adult. At the end I said, "Hey, Jason, get ready for a HUGE cinematic cop out." And then they revealed that he had only been telling a story. Why did they do that to themselves? Seriously. Building this big beautiful world that we believe in and want to believe in and then BAM, they're on a beach again and it was just a story. Lame! Leigha read a lot of books, to herself and to Brianna. Bri got the book "Twelve Princess Stories" from the library and Leigha read almost all of them to her after dinner. They are too sweet!

Heidi deidi die!

2008-10-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today was the Instant Coffee Comedy Hour's show. We rocked the socks off that nursing home, I tells ya! Here's Nifer and I, Tim, Scott, and Jen is sitting playing guitar. It looks for all the world as though Tim is mugging for the camera. It was absolutely hysterical. We played a game called "Wedding shower" in which the 'bride' is given four gifts: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and she has to guess what they all are. When Jen asked for a suggestion of "something old," one of the ladies shouted, "One of us!" Niiiiiiiiice!!!! Elderly people are so cool. Jason and the girls came to watch and the show and some of the older ladies just loved seeing them. One of them told us there was an ice cream parlour at the back of the massive lobby we had played in, and sure enough, there it was. A self-served, free ice cream parlour that featured six kinds of ice cream! How cool is that? After the show Jen and I headed in to Westport. We had another sketch writing meeting so instead of driving home, killing half an hour and driving back, we decided to go vintage shopping. I found a 1950's dress pattern at Boomerang that was just peachy, and only $2! While I was looking at the hats the door to the shop opened, I heard someone gasp in excitement, and suddenly there was a skinny person hugging me. I stiffened and froze, unsure of what to do, when the skinny person stepped back and materialized into Joe Henley. I said, "Oh! Oh, hi! I had no idea who you were for a second there." He said, "Yeah, I felt your reaction and I was afraid I had just run up and hugged the wrong person." Heh heh. We chatted for a bit then Jen and I left for the meeting. It went pretty well, we read through a couple scripts and talked more about what our name should be (I suggested 'Schtick Figures') and such. I arrived home early and Jason and I bathed a very upset cat. Ah, life's little pleasures.

A volley of questions

2008-10-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

This morning Leigha played her first volleyball game, well, games. They played three times, each lasted 15 minutes. Her team won the first two times then tied the third. They decided to play to the next point and the other team got it first. Pretty much at this age it's all about the kid managing to get it over the net on the serve. Leigha got a point! She actually did pretty well until she started being hyper aware that people were watching her. Can't imagine where that awareness comes from. I ran lights at the theater for the seven and eight o clock shows tonight. It was fun! I loved getting to pick the songlist and I loved the fact that there's a "blackout" button on the light box. Sweet. Playing Carl was fun! The nine o clock show was a Hypothetical 7 show, so we got to play. We had a pretty good first half, and the second half was and Armando. Keith Curtis was kind enough to step in and be our monologist, his first time getting to do so, apparently. I think he really enjoyed himself, and he did a great job. It was Patrick's first Hype 7 show and he did a great job as well. Our edits were super tight and snappy. I ran across that stage so many times I was sweating buckets. It was the kind of show where it didn't actually matter to us if the audience was even there because we were having so much fun with it. I love that kind of show.

A hunting we will go!

2008-10-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

The girls and I went to a pumpkin patch today. They had no clue where I was taking them, so when I started following the round orange signs there was much rejoicing from the back seat. I found a really cool place, too. Most pumpkin farms charge admission (?????) that costs more than the pumpkin you were there to buy in the first place. Please to explain? So I searched online and found one that had a free hay maze, tractor rides to and from the field, and a playground. No admission. Yeah, baby! Here are the girls on the tractor going back to the store. Leigha is holding Jason's pumpkin because she wanted a white one but they were all by the store. Brianna wanted a small pumpkin and squeaked when she saw the one she ended up getting. We paid for the pumpkins and put them in the car, then went back and did the maze. It was cool, they didn't use dinky bales of hay, they used the big round ones and they had placed them on their sides so they stood up really tall. We went around through several dead ends before coming to a place where you could choose to either go through a small pipe or go around the hay to the other side. The girls opted to go through the pipe...and so did I. Leigha was amazed that I fit through there and she was laughing hard about it. Luckily I had worn my black cords I got yesterday, so not only did the hay cling, but the black color showed every particle of dirt stuck to me. Worth it! I let the girls play in the playground for a while then we got back in the car. Leigha said, "Mom, that was fun. Let's go back there next year." We probably will. In case you're wondering about the pumpkins we planted in the back yard, they were doing great until we got all that rain in July and they became water logged, broke, and died. Dang.

I sit down and the posts just fall out of my brain.

2008-10-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today was cool. Jen and I went thrifting. Wo0t for $3 courderoys! I've been wanting a pair of non-jean pants for a little while now. Rehearsal was fun this evening. We rehearsed a couple formats we're doing for next week's show. I don't remember exactly what scene this was, but Julie and John are waiting over the border (Canada? Nebraska? I don't know, we did several similar scenes. Callbacks are fantastic.) to get Patrick should he make the decision to go back over the line there. After rehearsal we talked and played games. Julie made us some awesome yummy fried squash with garlic. Mmm. Everything is a little more magical when fried.

Oh yeah, that's nice.

2008-10-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

You know what? My local library loves me. Mmmmm.

A fork stuck in the road

2008-10-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

I had a good day today, the weather was perfect (yay for rainy coffee/book days!) I love fall so very much. Jason and I were goofing off this afternoon and we started wrestling in the living room. Seriously, like, the girls were running around laughing and we were jokingly swatting them and each other, and at this particular moment in time, I had Jason in an arm lock. I went to "kick" him, and at that exact moment his fake leg moved forward, and I seriously kicked his fake leg. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!!! You can see the bruise in this picture, and for a while my foot was swollen as well. Ouch. I had to go to rehearsal about five minutes after it happened so I grabbed a bag of ice and headed out the door. I did a lot of standing still on stage tonight....

Always a bride.

2008-10-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

My best friend from kindergarten is getting married in January and asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. I wonder if anyone has ever said no to that question? She told us we could pick our own dresses, it just had to be wine red in color. So, after a long search I found the perfect dress (on ebay no less!) and it arrived today. Isn't it gorgeous? The skirt is full, the waist nips in making me look super duper skinny.......and it gives me Rennaisance boob syndrome. (what the heck? It has a high neckline, too!) Perhaps I can minimize a couple things before the big day. I wouldn't want to *cough* overshadow the bride. With proper undergarments and dropping of a few pounds, it shouldn't be any kind of an issue. Jason and I ran several errands today, and while we were out and about I dragged him to a super cool modern arts and crafts store that I found in a local online directory. I was looking for vintage fabric reproductions and stumbled on their website, and began to salivate over the pictures of the store. Recently I had sketched out a few design ideas for some clothes, so I picked out a few different fabrics and I'm going to start making myself a shirt. If you're thinking to yourself, "Geez, Jess, you're already making two rugs, learning to play the mandolin, AND your hair looks cute." Remember this....I may take on ten gajillion projects at the same time, but almost all of them can be done while kicking back in front of the TV, thus un-wasting wasted time. Oh, and thanks, I think your hair is TOTALLY cute too. I mean it!

Two adorable

2008-10-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Today me and my freakishly disproportionately large head (trick picture.....I hope) spent a lot of time with Jen and her cute, dainty little head. At two this afternoon she came by my place and gave me a ride to Instant Coffee Comedy Hour practice. The show is next week, yay for low key lightly rehearsed shows! We had a lot of fun, I really enjoy working with Scott which I haven't gotten to do since Antiprov, and Tim who I've really never worked with. Getting the chance to play with some new folks is just great. After, Nifer, Jen, and I went to the Westport Coffehouse. Nifer and I have been invited to participate in a sketch show and Jen is teching. We had a meeting about details and writing styles and whatnot, then a quick freeform improv session to gage everyone's personal comedy styles (to figure out who to write our sketches around and how to cast them) I think this is going to be a lot of fun. Jen and I then had a quick dinner and drove to her place where the boys (Hans and Jason) were hanging out, building robots and whatnot. (it's cute that you think I'm kidding.) They had fun chillaxin', as did the girls, as did Jen and I. Nice how that worked out. Some time Jen and I have to chillax with the girls so Jason and Hans can go out together.

How to race the clock and win

2008-10-04T20:34:00.001-07:00

This afternoon I was going about my usual Saturday lunchtime routine when I remembered that we hadn't gotten a present for the birthday girl whose party Leigha was going to attend at one o clock. It was noon when I remembered. So I asked Leigha what the girl was into and Leigha said "Bunnies." Bingo. We have tons of stuffed bunnies that the girls have been given for Easter and some still have their tags and everything. So I went searching through the boxes in the garage and found a nice one with jointed arms. I felt bad about just grabbing something out of a box so I decided I would whip up a dress real quick for the bunny. I told the girls to eat lunch and I told Leigha to make a card, and I started furiously cutting and piecing fabric together. Somehow or other, thanks to my mad sweatshop skillz I didn't know I posses, I whipped up a cute little dress just in time to send Leigha out the door (that's about to be replaced) to the party. *whew!* This evening we all went to see the Trivial Prov-Suit show at the Imp. It's one I haven't been able to catch yet. It was pretty fun and we had a good time. As we were walking out the door, to head to Wal Mart, I realized that all three of us girls were wearing skirts, which never happens. I wonder if anyone mistook us for menonites?

Who's in, who's out?

2008-10-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

I hosted a Discovery Toys party tonight. As with the other times I've tried hosting parties in the past, it was a bit of a bust. The only attendees were Julie, Carl, and their friend Sarah. They couldn't stay long as they were on their way to something else, but they get mega huge super bonus points for showing up at all because they don't even have kids but were sweetly thinking of their nephew. Thanks guys! You rule! I've pretty much decided that means I'm free from any kind of obligation to go to other people's in home shopping parties in the future. Rachel, the consultant, was packing up her things and Leigha latched on to this hidden picture book. We got sucked in one by one until we were staring at this picture book like it held the secret of life itself. Seriously, the animals in the pictures were hidden really really well! Brianna took the opportunity to bond with/torture the cat.

Where have your fingers been?

2008-10-02T23:38:00.000-07:00

One of the warmups we do is called "Where have your fingers been?" We all stand in a circle and do the chanting song, then someone points to someone else, gives them a location, and that person acts out a scene with their fingers. It's so much fun! Tonight at rehearsal we played an EXTREME version of that game. John set up a tabletop and had us act out scenes with our fingers, only this time they moved around and such, as you see Josh and Jeremy doing here. A few of the scenes John would say, "Okay, now do that in real life!" One such scene was one I found myself in with Nifer. We were on Mars and my finger was bouncing really high because of the lessened gravity (don't know or care if that's factual, it was an improv scene.) and then Julie's hand entered the scene as the Mars Rover and my hand representing my character rode out on it. John said, "Okay. Now show me THAT scene in real life." Whoa! So I entered jumping and out of nowhere Jeremy came up behind me and picked me up every time I leaped, so I was literally BOUNDING across that stage! Then at the end Julie entered, crawling, as the Mars Rover and I literally got to ride her off into the sunset. How fun is that?? I was giggling so hard! I don't think I'd had that much fun in a scene since Chicago, although there have been super fun scenes since. This is why I do this stuff.

Oktobreakfast

2008-10-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

While looking through some things today I came across some old Daria videos (yes, videos) that I had taped a looooooo-ooooooooong time ago. I happily flopped on the couch and worked on my various crafty projects for Christmas while watching old episodes and laughing at how out of date the 'Fashion Club's' outfits are now. (ha ha! Late nineties babydoll shirts, nice!) That show really takes me back. Anyhow, after church tonight I went to Ihop with Elsbeth who I haven't seen in a looooong time. In fact, I think there's a picture of us....from like February. Anyhow, so I laughed at her when she unrolled her napkin and placed her silverware JUST so (look at the upper left hand corner) and she said, "What? That's how I like it." I said, "Oh, that's cute!" Then, for irony's sake I unceremoniously unrolled my napkin and basically dumped the silverware in a heap, then crumpled the napkin on top and said, "That's how I like it!" We both laughed and then she said, "You should take a picture of that. It'll be all arty and you'll probably make a million dollars and I'll be like, 'I was there!'" And that's what I did. Except for the million dollars thing.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2008-09-30T22:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-09-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

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!