Pirates

I got Ruth!!!!!

This Last Couple of Weeks

Life has been crazy for me the last couple of weeks. I'm rehearsing TWO plays at the same time right now. That in and of itself is incredibly stressful, adding nightly rehearsals, and double rehearsals on Saturday, into my already busy schedule. Not to mention the fact that the rehearsals aren't going all that well.

Romeo and Juliet is supposed to open this coming Friday, but frankly, I have my doubts. It doesn't seem like anyone has their lines down, particularly Romeo (in all fairness, I still have one scene that I have not yet memorized.) The guy who plays Romeo not only doesn't know his lines, but he can't even fake it, which is reeeeaaaallly annoying at this stage in the production. You see, in theatre, the idea is that if you suddenly can't remember a line, you make up a line that has the same general idea and also sounds like it fits in with the language. Romeo on the other hand just stops, says "Crap, I can't remember my line. What was it again?" Then he's given his line, he says it, and promptly forgets his next line so that any scene that he is in takes an eternity to finish. It's painful to watch, seriously.

As for Pirates of Penzance, I have never even gotten a straight answer as to what part I am playing! There are two daughters that actually have lines and solos, Kate and Edith. Between the two of them, Edith is a much larger part. There is also another "named" daughter part, Isabelle, but she only has two lines and no solos. All of the other daughters are unnamed and only sing in chorus. Well, the director had been trying and trying to decide who should be Kate and Edith. He would never give us an answer. Finally after our second to last rehearsal, his girlfriend and owner of the theatre said that she was playing Edith, another girl who had been promised one of the two parts from the very beginning (Rebekah) was playing Kate, and I would be Isabelle. I was very disappointed. It seemed unfair that they basically had all of the main roles cast before they even had auditions. What chance did I have to get a decent part? Especially if, when faced with a difficult decision he just cast his girlfriend? (I admit, that it is terribly unfair for me to think this, but I was upset and not being very fair.) Well, on our last rehearsal, apparently the woman who was playing Ruth suddenly dropped out so the director had Rebekah and I sing for that role as well. Honestly, I would love, love, love to play this part. The only reason that I didn't sign up for it in the first place was because she's supposed to be old. But, once again, I'm upset. I feel like hoping for this part is just setting me up for more disappointment. The girlfriend is in the running for this role as well, and they are calling around to other people, who didn't even try out, to see if they want the role. Blech.

On top of all of this, I think that all of this stress is making my fibromyalga flare up again. I had been feeling great, but now I'm exhausted and in pain all of the time. I had been trying to go to fencing every time, something that the girls had prevented in the past, but now I'm just much too tired to do it. The days feel like they last forever. This past week has been at least a month, I swear. Sorry to be so down and complaining, but I need to vent somewhere!

Petra and the Extraction

Petra lost her first tooth today. Well, I'm not sure that "lost" is the best term, but it comes to the same thing. She got a sore on her gum above one of her front teeth, so we took her to the dentist (actually, I had to find a new dentist since Glad Peterson's office dropped us because of Petra's Medicaid.) Anyway, the new guy said that her body was rejecting the crown and trying to push the tooth out so we'd better help it along. He actually did it awake! And, more impressive, she did just fine. The only part she seemed to mind was the shot, but even when he filled a cavity and pulled out her tooth, she didn't seem to mind all that much. Mostly she was just excited that she'd lost her very first tooth.

Chinese Night

At the beginning of the week I was feeling bored, so I decided to have a Chinese party for our family. Tonight, the older kids made origami, and the little girls made Chinese lanterns from the nickjr.com website. I made Sweet and Sour egg drop soup, egg rolls (store bought), ham fried rice, and sweet and sour chicken. Then, we all sat on the floor in the living room at a short table (made of a folding table, legs folded up, placed on top of cannery cans.) I bought chopsticks for us all to use, and I served the food in those little take-out boxes you get from Chinese restaurants.

Talia dressed up in the outfit I got her in China town last year.

It turned out to be a very fun evening. So much fun, in fact, that I've decided to do it once a month, with a different country every time. The problem now is just deciding what to do next!

New House

Heather was asking for some pictures of our new home, so I finally pulled out the camera and took a few.

Here is Talia's Room.
This is the kid's bathroom.

This is the stairwell, which you can see right as you enter the house, with a lovely plaque that Amanda made for me.

This is our new TV. I just stole it from Mom and Dad.

This is my living room. Amanda arranged the flowers (she's a florist) and I made the cushion for the piano bench.

I didn't take pictures of all of the rooms, obviously. I was too embarrassed to post pictures of most of them--too messy!

Earrings and Other Things

Yesterday, Petra got her ears pierced. She asked about it, and I decided that if she was old enough to understand that it was going to hurt, but she still wanted to do it, then she was probably old enough to do it. She picked out some pink studs, and she is thrilled to have "gotten my ears pierced for the very first time!" (and only time, I mentally add.) It really was a pretty good experience. I took her to Wal-Mart, and she behaved very nicely while I did the things I needed to do, and then I took her over to the earrings. She picked out a set that she liked, only $10 and free piercing with purchase, not bad! Then, she sat in my lap and two ladies cleaned her earlobes and marked where the piercings should be. Then, they both held an earring gun, and at the same time, they did both ears. She cried for a minute, but that's to be expected. The only bad thing was that one of the ladies missed the marked spot. They said that they would re-do it for free, but I didn't want to torture Petra by taking the earring out and re-piercing her ear. Honestly, it looked fine to me. She was really excited to show her Daddy--it was a big surprise for him!

On my end of things, I auditioned for two plays at the Virginia a couple of weeks back, and I just heard back from Ronnie (the owner.) I got the part of Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, and the part of one of the daughters in The Pirates of Penzance. I've done Pirates before in the same role, and it was really fun.

Talia had her two-year check at the doctor's yesterday, and everything looks fabulous. Plus, she's been doing really well with her toilet training. The last couple of days, she didn't have any accidents, and she's gotten really good about telling me when she needs to go. The only problem we've had is that she can't hold it very well yet. Yesterday when we were at Wal-Mart, right in the middle of checking out, she started yelling, "ba-room! ba-room!" I tried to go as quickly as possible, but we didn't quite make it.

And Dusty? Well, he's been walking to work most days, now that we live so close to the school, doing private tutoring three days a week, and fencing classes two days a week. So, as you can see, he is very busy these days!

Talia's New Undies

What with toilet training and all, we decided that it was time for Tal to get her very own undies. She absolutely loves them, and loves to change them several times a day. What with having a few accidents a day, that's not really a problem. However, she seems to find it more amusing just wearing them like this: