This is cute...

http://producten.hema.nl/?whatthefark

Don't let the weblink fool you--this is very cute. Someone has a terrific sense of humor!

While I was making dinner last night...

Ryan and Lily were running around, making lots of noise. In an effort to make the noise 'happier,' I asked if they knew a happy song they could sing while they played. Ryan sang:

I love you,

I love you,

I love you,

Grandma!

It is my new favorite song. ;)

Heard while playing (Wii) Truck Excite with my four year old grandson...

"You're not going to be a very good driver when you get older."

Also heard:

Grandma: Man, I really stink! (at this game)
Ryan: Then go take a shower.

Some photos of the set in progress...

I didn't have my camera with me for the first few days of work. I finally got a shot of the set in total disarray, but with some of the painting done.
Sorry the photos are so dark--the stage lights were not on. In the left foreground is a dressmaker's dummy that will be used in the 'dry goods store.' Stage right: the lower level will be The Courtroom, upper level The Town.
The bright red monstrosities had to be painted to look like they belong in a courtroom. Painting is my job.
The chairs turned out pretty well, although it is difficult to tell from this shot. At least they are not bright red!
We are much closer to finished, now. Last night, the floor of the courtroom got painted to look like 'grass.' Not really, but the best I can do without spending untold hours on it. I was painting the floor of the platforms at the weekend, making them look like flagstones (at the request of the Stage Manager) when the director came in and said "How about grass?" meaning 'not flagstone-grass.' Crap. I told her it was my understanding that the other floor would be grass...well, she really wanted both, but flagstone on the platforms is fine. Then yesterday when we were there(All day for the MLK holiday), she came in and said "Oh, you're here. I'll call Carmela (The Stage Manager) to come help you." Great, I can always use help--but what she really wanted was for Carmela to set me straight about what she wanted on the floor of the courtroom. Poor Carmela arrived, all apologies, saying she didn't mean to interfere with my set, but Katie called and wanted her to come over. I really wasn't upset about it, even though I did understand that Katie didn't think I could do what she wanted on my own. No matter, now I had help! So, the floor is painted with brown and four shades of green. Maybe I don't give audiences enough credit, but I don't think they will get that the courtroom is on the lawn of the Town Square because the town is on trial. I hope someone I know sees the show so I can ask!

Here's the Story...

It's Christmas Eve at Jen's house. T.J. is packing for his trip to Utah. ...

This girl cracks me up!

Happy Birthday, Anne!

Today, my niece Anne celebrates her birthday. Anne is over eighteen, so I won't announce her age without her permission...but she is still young enough to enjoy her birthday and happy birthday wishes.

Anne is a middle child, just like me, but she doesn't seem to get lost in the crowd as some of us do. She is sometimes quiet, but has a ready smile and is always eager to chat at family gatherings. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Anne. And many, many more!

Happy Birthday, Jim!

Today is brother-in-law Jim S.' birthday. Notice the initial after his first name--that is becasue my other BIL is named Jim, too. But I digress...Janet and Jim have been married since 1987. They have a son, Evan. Jim is a very patient and nurturing father, at least in my view. He has always taken the time to explain things to Evan and seems to understand where his teenaged son is coming from, too. Evan has videos on his MySpace that Jim helped produce. There is one about a Rube Goldberg machine for getting a tissue when you sneeze...that's Jim sneezing at the beginning.

Happy birthday, Jim! You've been a great addition to the family.

Picture this:

You're out for dinner with a group of adults, people who may or may not have met before--book club, baseball parents, women's club, for instance. The food has been served and several people have picked up their utensils and begun to eat. Another member of the group calls for the attention of the person who organized the outing, saying "Shall we say Grace?"

This person is told "Of course you may. We usually say it to ourselves."

What do you think?

I always forget...

...how much it hurts to spend all day long working on a set! Honestly, I go into every sh0w excited at what we are going to do and completely forgetting that climbing up and down ladders, moving set pieces, crawling along the floor and painting for hours is going to take a toll. Then I am surprised when I get home and can barely move from the sofa.

"Inherit the Wind" is coming along nicely. We had two folks stop by to help today. John is acting in the play--just a small role, no lines or anything. He has some experience with the Ballet in Florence and he is an artist to boot. He got a lot done in the two hours he was with us today before rehearsal. Jessica is sort of new to theater. She has done some stuff in high school, mostly acting. She got the email Liisa sent out asking for volunteers and decided to come lend a hand. She had some difficulty getting into the building--which can be tricky if you don't know where to go because our theater is at the back of Patriot Hall. There is a door marked 'Stage Entrance' but it refers to Patriot Hall, not the theater. Anyway, we got her inside today and she said she wants to do whatever she can so Tom got her started painting a wall to look like brick. I forgot the camera again today, so I have no 'before' photos--just imagine a blank wall. Tom made a 'stamp' using sponges on a wood frame to make six 'bricks' - three in a row. Jessica managed to almost finish the first step on the whole wall. It looks pretty good, too. We'll add some other color and texture, some highlights and shadows and it will be great. I spent my time painting wood to look like wood. Sounds so stupid, I know. But we are making the set pieces look like a courtroom, and that means wood. We chose to use the same color in the bricks as part of the wood grain, to bring the town into the courtroom. I hope it works! What we finished looks good, if I do say so myself. All the benches are done, and the lawyers' tables, as well as the jury box. I still need to do the witness stand, the judge's bench and a platform for the jurors. I think Tom may be adding molding to the set pieces, too, so that will need to be painted later. I feel pretty good about it, now that we have some help. I was getting worried that Tom and I would be doing the entire set alone--we could do it, but it would be really exhausting. Lots of people said they would come help, but with the holidays and all, no one did. These new folks are really promising-they are very helpful and seem to want to come back. Yay!

Happy New Year!

2008. Wow. Doesn't it seem like the Millennium was yesterday? But time moves on and we are looking forward to good things in the coming year. Tom will retire from the military at the beginning of November and we will move closer to our families. We will have to decide what we want to do in the "Real World." We'll buy another house, find new jobs...scary stuff--and I can't wait! Tom and I both feel the need to spend more time with our extended families and I really want to see the grandkids, too. Poor Jen and Jay must be so eager for us to have our own place up North, so that they can have their home to themselves at the holidays!

Anyway, Christmas was wonderful. We drove up the Saturday before and stayed with Jen and Jay. T.J. had arranged with them that he would come on Christmas Eve after he got off work in the early morning so that he could give the kids their Christmas presents and spend some time with them before catching his plane to Utah and Jodi. It was really nice to have that time, and the kids loved getting presents. Tom and I drove T.J. to the airport, stopped at the grocery store for a few necessities, than back to Jen and Jay's with the steamed shrimp we bought for dinner on a whim because it smelled so good!

Christmas morning, the little ones slept later than we expected. At about 8:00am, Tom and I started hearing people upstairs. Ryan sometimes likes to wake us up, but by 8:15 we decided we'd better get ourselves up there or we would either miss or delay the fun. As we were dressing, Ryan opened the door--he was disappointed to see us both up, and told us to get back in bed and he would come back and wake us up! We were 'wakened' with a kiss each and allowed to finish dressing before rushing upstairs for present opening. Funny that the gift that got the best reaction from Ryan was Sesame Street fizzing bath color tabs. He immediately ran up the stairs claiming he wanted a bath! Lily seemed to enjoy the unwrapping as much as the gifts themselves. It seemed like every shred of wrapping paper had to be removed before she could focus on the gift inside. Zach, being nine, was much quicker about opening his gifts. He found several he sat back and enjoyed before moving on.

Blogger is being weird and not allwoing me to add photos right now. I'll try again later.

Closing for now. Hope to add more later. Again, Happy New Year, Y'all!