Fast

I can not believe how fast time is going! It hit me yesterday that we booked the cruise six months ago! SIX MONTHS!!! How did that happen? I realized this because I’ve written 180 blog posts! Another thing that’s been flying by!!! It’s amazing! Can you tell I’m excited tonight?

Today was the final performance of Flood Stories, Too. It went VERY well and I was sad to see it end. One of the stories that was included was about two men who worked flood relief and, to ease the stress, would spray each other with shaving cream. At the end of the show today, the cast came out for curtain call with shaving cream on their heads, faces, hands, outfits, etc. It was high amusing. In fact, I will even go so far as to say that it was difficult to sing the final song knowing that they were all there covered in Barbasol.

Another milestone passed. The last two weeks have flown by! It’s insane! I really feel like we just started rehearsing the music for Flood Stories and now it is over. Now my Bicentennial Choir moves back to our regular music. Now I can move on to the next milestone: the final payment.

How did this happen? How is it already St. Patrick’s Day? Ten days and I will be paid off. I will officially be on the boat. Then I can start worrying about packing and spending money and last minute odds and ends. Until then…

Sorry. I really just don’t have much to say tonight. My husband and I watched Wreck It Ralph tonight. It was cute! I recommend it. I’m tired, as I haven’t been sleeping well. So, I’m off to bed. I’ll attempt to put more effort into a post tomorrow night.

One Reason

I turned on my computer tonight for one reason only: to write a blog post.

I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day. I want to go to bed.

I woke up to two boys laying on me, one on each arm, and while one was awake and asking me to feed him (and it wasn’t like it was late, as it wasn’t even 8am yet), the other was laying upside down in my bed, his feet by my face. I fed the older boy, went back to bed for a few minutes, and when my daughter woke up, I got up to feed her too.

Today was another one of those days when I just couldn’t get moving. I made the coffee just after feeding my daughter and went back to my room to get my glasses, which I’d forgotten to put on, and to take my medication, which I’d forgotten to take. When I left the room, my youngest was still sleeping. However, sometime in the twenty seconds it took me to go from my dresser to my coffee maker, he woke up, came down the hall, and claimed his seat at the dining room table.

After breakfast, I folded some laundry and then went to Walmart to get a birthday present. Home for lunch, then a shower, and it was off to the birthday party.

Did I mention that it snowed today? Yeah… NOT a happy camper!

Anyway, on the way to the birthday party, I stopped at Dunkin for an iced coffee (yes, even in the snow) and then stopped for gasoline. Now, I don’t know about where you live, but here, our grocery stores have their own gas stations. When you shop and use your rewards card, you earn points toward gas. For every one hundred points, you earn ten cents off a gallon of gas. Every dollar you spend on groceries earns you a point. I redeemed ninety points today. However, I waited behind the S L O W E S T person EVER today at the pump. He was pumping when I pulled up and got in line. When my van finally made it to the front of the line, I pulled in behind him, thinking he should be about done. The line continued to form behind me, so I couldn’t have moved even if I wanted to…which I did. I sat there waiting for him to finish pumping… I sat there watching every car before and quite a few who came after me get their gas and leave. I sat there for almost fifteen freaking minutes!!! I was about ready to get out of my car and rip the nozzle from his twenty year old Ford POS SUV and tell him to go back where he came from, but I didn’t. And once I thought he was finished filling his vehicle, he proceeded to fill SEVEN GAS CANS!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t make this shit up!!! I was LIVID!!!

Eventually I filled my tank and was on my way to the birthday party. We were there for just over two hours and then it was home for dinner and straight back out the door again for Flood Stories, Too.

The performance was great, but it’s almost done. Tomorrow is the final show! Another milestone will have passed. I can’t believe how fast these past two weeks have gone… It’s insane! The show tomorrow is at 3pm, so I’ll have a normal post for you tomorrow night. I might even discuss packing a bit, since a certain someone who is going on the cruise and already paid off her cabin put the idea into my head that I need to make sure everything fits and do it LIKE NOW!!! So, who knows. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

In the meantime, have a great night and an amazing Sunday!!!

Warm-Ups

I baked two batches of cookies today. Last week at one of the shows for Flood Stories, Too, one of my choir members came up from the green room with a cookie. By the time I got down there, they were gone. Yesterday, a friend of mine brought Jell-o jigglers for the cast members. I decided then and there that I was going to make cookies to bring in for everyone to enjoy.

This morning, I checked my baking supplies and had JUST enough on hand to make one batch of chocolate chip cookies. One batch yields about five dozen cookies. There are roughly sixty people in the cast. I knew one batch wouldn’t be enough, so I ran to Walmart and got more flour, butter, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips. Of the roughly eleven dozen cookies I baked today, three dozen stayed here. The rest went with me to the theater tonight. I wish I could say that I came home with an empty container, but once my cookies were gone, someone dumped the remainder of the store bought cookies into my carrier, which still sits on the table at the theater. Oh well. I’ll be back there tomorrow anyway.

One of the things I like to do before a show or performance of any type is to warm up my voice. Usually I do this in my car on the way to wherever it is I am going to sing, but I was enjoying the silence in my car for once and never turned on my music. This lead to me trying to find a quite place in the theater to warm up, as I prefer to do so without an audience.

I had an audience.

I was singing Green Finch and Linnet Bird from Sweeney Todd when all of a sudden there was someone standing beside me! Talk about EMBARRASSING!!! Now, I don’t think that I’m a bad singer, but when I’m warming up, I tend to do things a little differently than I would if I was just singing. The guy who came up on me said that I sounded good, but still… I sing differently when I know I have no one watching or listening. That’s why I tried to find a quiet place to sing!

Lesson learned. Warm up in the car. But the silence was great!

So on the cruise front, my friend Jenn and her roommate paid off their cruise!!! Part of me is jealous, but it is the part of me that reacts that same way any time anyone posts about having the cruise paid off. I said to her that I would have mine paid off in two weeks…and then it hit me.

TWO WEEKS!!! Our final payment is due in TWO WEEKS!!! Anyone not ready for that yet? I’m not sure how I feel about it! I mean, really! While I’m excited that it’s coming up, I know that this will make it real for me. Up until now, it’s been something intangible, something that was coming, but still a long time off. Now all of a sudden, it’s here!

Well, not quite yet, but you understand. Once that payment is made, it’s official. I’ll really be on the boat! Then the themes will come. Then the packing will start. Then the nerves will set in.

I’m not looking forward to the nerves. I just know that I will have an upset tummy from it. When I’m nervous, it goes straight to my stomach! I’ll be perfectly healthy, but my tummy will be rumbly like Pooh looking for honey!

…I’m such a mom.

Anyway, two weeks until final payment! Two months from now, some of us will already be in Miami! Nine weeks from now, I’ll be in Miami!!! It’s insane!!! It’s coming!!!

Crowds and Comedy

Humor can be found in anything. It might not always be appropriate, or seem that way, but it’s true. Take the flood that Flood Stories is based on. By all rights, this should be a VERY depressing topic. However, there are many points of levity in this show! But you can throw jokes until you’re blue in the face. If you don’t have the right audience, you may as well be talking to the wall.

Today was a day of opposites. I won’t get into the dream I had last night too much, but I will tell you that Jason Isaacs (one of my favorite actors) was working at an amusement park undercover while researching for a movie role. He and I met and then ended up at some movie and music award show where he introduced me to Michael Jackson and Donnie Wahlberg. There was A LOT more to it than that, but that’s the basics. So I started my day on a strange note, having woke up from that bizarre dream, and had a perfectly normal morning. Ate a nice breakfast, folded some laundry, and then had lunch. After that it was time to go to the theater.

The weather was gorgeous today! When I got out of my car to walk to the theater, I shed my coat and took my time walking. Actually, I had my windows down on the drive into town. The crowd for the matinee just sort of sat there and watched the show. They chucked a couple times, but there was no energy there. It was still beautiful between the shows.

The night performance was a complete opposite. Packed house. Lively crowd. There was a pulse in the house that we fed off. It was great!

Then the show ended and I went outside. It was COLD walking back to my car! I turned the heat on in my car! Now I’m home an exhausted…again. Sunday school and church tomorrow….or rather today, as I just realized it’s after midnight. Then home for lunch and to relax for a while before heading back to the theater. Doing this show is making me realize just how much I miss the stage. I was actually talking to someone between shows tonight about how to become more involved. We’ll see where it goes. In the mean time, week one of Flood Stories is almost over. One more week and another milestone will be gone!

And just FYI, ten weeks from right now, we’ll be partying on deck!!! WOO!!!

Preview Night

Tonight was the preview night for Flood Stories, Too. It was nice to see how the cast reacted to having an audience. Only two or three times did I notice someone flub up a line, but the show went on, as it must. The best part of the night was watching the crowd.

From where I sat, I could see the entire house looking back at me…though I’m certain they weren’t looking at me, specifically. There were a few people in attendance whose stories were used for Flood Stories, Too, and watching their faces when their characters were performing was amusing. They would laugh. They would shake their heads. They would nod knowingly.

They would remember.

My own flood story isn’t anything interesting. We lost power. We had no water damage in our house. None of our property was damaged. My kids went to school that morning, the morning the rains really started falling, and I remember thinking that I needed to get a shower. The school district called to inform us that schools would be closing early…and then the power went out. It wasn’t out for long, but when it came back, I rushed to the shower. About ten minutes after my shower was finished, we lost power again…

…and it didn’t come back on for four or five days.

Where I live, I have a well where I get my water. So as soon as the power came back on, I had safe drinking water. The town wasn’t as lucky. This Flood Stories thing is making me remember those days, those two weeks where the kids were home. Listening to the radio because they were the only ones broadcasting, and listening to them talk about moving around and how they would stay with the flood coverage. The silence in my house, everywhere. Sitting on the couch reading until it got too dark and then trying to entertain the kids with flashlight games. All the food in my fridge and freezer was lost. We ate sub sandwiches from the local gas station sub shop. (and before you go making “ewwww” faces, they’re actually REALLY good.) One afternoon, my husband took the kids for a walk down to the water line before the creek started receding. I have pictures of them standing by the water…and vivid memories of walking down the middle of Route 11 east heading into town by the fairgrounds. Eerie. That’s the only word to describe it.

After the flood, that section of Route 11 that was under water was gone. It had completely washed away. There are still gouges in the original road from God only knows what, but they weren’t there before the water came.

All this because of Flood Stories, Too. I’m remembering all of this because of that.

On a lighter note, ten weeks from now, I’ll be getting ready to leave for Miami! My bag will be (mostly) packed. The weather will be warmer, the sun will (hopefully) be shining, and I’ll be in high spirits. The only water I will be worried about will be the Atlantic Ocean and the water I intend on taking in my carry on.

Ten weeks. We’re almost there!!!

First of Many

Today I went shopping. I was in need of white shirts and dark pants. I also went to the grocery store, but that’s because I needed veggies for my stir fry tonight. I ended up with four shirts and no new pants. I’m going out tomorrow to see if I can find some. But why, you ask? Simple!

Back in 2011, my town was devastated by Tropical Storm Lee. The way the town came together after the flood was nothing short of a miracle. The community theater is doing Flood Stories, Too, which is opening on Thursday night. Tonight was the first dress rehearsal, and it went rather well, if I do say so myself. However, because I remember what it was like to be on stage and under all those lights, I purchased short sleeve shirts. I forgot that this stage is about half the size of the high school stage. I also didn’t take into account the fact that I will be mostly stationary for the duration of the show. Therefore, along with the pants, I will also be on the hunt for a white sweater.

On the plus side, I have some plain white t-shirts that I can maybe bring on the boat!

For the next two weeks, I fear this blog will be a commentary on my love of theater more than my love of NKOTB. While I’m still super psyched about the boat in May, I need to get past this first. It is just another milestone on the way to Miami.

…and another milestone was just passed as I typed that last paragraph: I just saw my first Cadbury Creme Eggs commercial! Not the best quality, but you get the idea.

Anywho, Flood Stories, Too! Should you want to get a little glimpse at what I’m doing, click right here and you’ll see a local news piece on it. You won’t see me, but my choir is mentioned! Ha!

Anyway, I’m tired. Maybe I’ll post more in the morning. I actually really enjoyed writing a blog post with my morning coffee today.

Alma Mater

Sorry about the lack of a post from yesterday. I’m off my game. Promise it won’t happen again! Also, the “alma mater” in this case would be my old high school. You are being warned: I’m feeling nostalgic and sentimental tonight.

Tonight, another milestone was met, albeit not as much for me as it was for my niece. I love my niece. She’s beautiful outside and in, and incredibly talented. She was accepted into the music department at her university of choice, having completed a successful audition. As of tonight, she has also completed her final musical performance of her high school career.

My old high school, the same one my niece attends, has long been known for their spring musicals. When I was in school, we did Guys and Dolls, Joseph…Dreamcoat, Into the Woods, and Anything Goes. I was also part of three plays that were done in the fall by the Theatre Arts class, but only one of those could be considered a musical. (Beauty and the Beast, in case you were curious.) The ability to audition and perform in a musical every year is the thing I miss most about high school and the thing I hate the most about my town is the inability for someone of my age to get involved in musical theater. I love to sing, I love to perform, and I am in three choirs for a reason. I sing every day. We have a community theater here, but it is theater and not musical theater. Two COMPLETELY different things. I will be performing with that theater for the next two weeks, but it isn’t the same.

I went to the show tonight, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and the moment they first took the stage, I got emotional. I remembered my last performance of my last show (Anything Goes) and teared up a little. It’s something else knowing that you’re doing what you’ve worked so long on for the last time, no matter what show you’re in. Add into that the fact that you’re in your last year and there will be no next year for you and you’ve got a recipe for an emotional disaster. My father was also in attendance, something that NEVER happened. I almost fell off the stairs I was dancing on when I caught his eye in the audience. I know the feeling of being up there and knowing that it’s the last time, the final show. When act one finished tonight, I got a little more emotional. At the end of the show, I started crying.

She’s not my child, but I’ve been there, you know? When she was little, my sister was a single mom. I watched my niece a lot back in those days and though we don’t talk every day, my niece and I are close. It’s hard for me knowing that she’s growing up and heading off to college in the fall. Knowing that within a few weeks of me getting off the boat, she’ll be graduating from high school…

I made a comment to my mom tonight regarding something my niece told me and the person sitting in front of me shushed me about it. It’s a theater thing, but something that we now have in common. The guy sitting in front of me, the one who shushed me, asked how I knew of this thing I was talking about, and I told him that I got it during Joseph. Long story short, we discovered that I was in Joseph the year after he was born, and I spent a while feeling REALLY old… It was just another thing that made me miss the theater.

Tomorrow, or rather today as it is now 1am here, is going to be a busy day. This week is going to be hectic as I’m involved in the local theater production here…as part of the Bicentennial Choir. More on that later. However, I just want to say how proud I am of my niece. She was amazing in the show, as was the rest of the cast. The crew did a fantastic job, the set was amazing, and the pit played fabulously. It was an all over great show.

Now I’m going to go to bed and (hopefully) dream of being on the stage myself. Perhaps if there’s karaoke on the boat I will sing for you all. Ha!