Tuesday, May. 29, 2007 - 5:38 p.m.

Long, Short, and Perspective

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Wow, I didn't really realize it had been so long since I updated this thing.� Busy is just the one and only excuse I have.� I don't usually have time to sit down and compose thoughtful, content oriented entries that are worth someone's reading time.� Suffice it to say its not because I haven't WANTED to update, but I have had to allocate my time to other things.��

I suppose I could recap the last few weeks...

Ren Fest Auditions:� I always enjoy auditions no matter how great or how scary those auditioning are.� We had a bumper crop of good people this year come out and try their hand at becoming part of the performance company.� A few had me almost wetting myself with laughter as they were not afraid to go all out and make those bold choices and had us in stitches.� I believe he decided to offer everyone who auditioned a role.� I am glad he chose who he did to portray Mary Boleyn.� She's a hoot and will give the character a certain "joie de vivre" she needs.

The UpStage Theatre Variety Show and Silent Auction Fundraiser:� Wow.� We raised approximately $3,500 in conjunction with the event.� It was well attended, though not a sell out.� Almost all of the items up for auction sold, but most well below what we had hoped to earn from them.� The performers were superb, the host was perfect, and all the volunteers had a good time and were just as helpful as could be.� And special kudos to those working behind the scenes on tech, at the reception, concessions, and backstage.� We've already had a post mortem to go over the good, the bad and the ugly and will implement new procedures for next year.� Yes, this is to be an annual event.� I will produce and direct the show portion for next year, and the reception and auction will be handled by someone else.� There are faboo photos of the evening here.� Only problem is that I didn't get photos of the actual show.� If ANYONE has pics, please send them my way.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:� I am in rehearsal for this awesome production which is a restaging of a piece we performed as a one hour competition piece 4 years ago.� This time we are staging the entire script.� We unfortunately don't have our original Dr. Jekyll (Sam Smith) back as his school and teaching schedule is a killer, but we have a very talented young man, Randy Creager, to take his place.� This show is intense drama, with an emotional impact.� It is sometimes violent, sometimes tender, but will leave you thinking.� I highly encourage you to come and see it.

The Wee Bairns:� Seems my last major update was about the fiasco with the fish tank.� Well, despite the one fishy casualty, everything turned out alright, and I got a brand spanking new purdy tank that same afternoon, and they next day at Ren Fest auditions, I was telling the story as part of an improv exercise.� Good times.� Good times.��

This past Sunday in this house was a comedy of errors as well.� One of our cats has had a kidney infection and has not been using her box, but instead uses the floor.� If a towel is put down, she will go on it, thankfully.� Those end up in the washing machine to have the ever living holy crap bleached out of them.� Sunday morning, after cleaning up the pee, first thing after waking up, doing the kitchen, taking out the trash, putting away toys, making the coffee, feeding the dog and the cats, and making sure the kiddos were fed and diapers changed, I ran the towels through the wash, and just for good measure, ran them through a second time.� Hubby noticed a funky odor emanating from the general direction of the laundry room.� I told him it was ammonia which cat urine is mostly comprised of.��

During the laundering of the towels, The Destructor came running into the den covered in powder, my loose cosmetics powder (he LOVES this stuff).� Well, he had dumped it all over the sofa in the bedroom.� That took some time to clean up, and for good measure I cleaned out my makeup drawer as well and finally put a childproof latch on it.� Cleaning up the makeup drawer required the use of an oil eater to get up the bits and pieces of various makeup pencils and what not.� Total cleaning time:� one hour.� As I was finishing up and taking the jug of oil eater back to the laundry room, that's when I saw it.� Dark, dirty, PUTRID, stinky, disgusting water all over the laundry room floor coming from under the washing machine.� Yes, the water from the urine soaked towels had backed up and was now ALL OVER MY LAUNDRY ROOM FLOOR.� After I had what can only be described as a mini-meltdown, I sent the hubby in to clean up the filth.� He proceeded to move the appliance and get the wet vac to do the job.��

In the meantime, it had started to rain, and he had left the door to the garage open, as well as the actual garage door open.� I noticed that the dog was no where to be found.� We went outside and started shouting for her.� She came up to the front door, and no, she was not the white doggy that had trotted out earlier unseen.� She was brown and STINKY having rolled in some business, a pastime she is quite fond of.� I immediately grabbed the shampoo and took her around to the backyard hosed� her down.� Hubby decided he was taking a break from cleaning up the gunk in the laundry room.� After I finished scrubbing the dog, I commenced with the cleaning of such, on my hands and knees as mopping this scum up was getting us nowhere, and cleaning it by hand was the way to go.��

I FINALLY finished, inspected the washing machine and discovered a kink in the drainage hose.� I straightened it out, put the washer back in its place, and ran water through.� It drained like a charm.� Whew!� Crisis of repair averted.� Just as I was about to sit down and relax, I noticed that there was liquid all over the top of the drier.� Turns out, the bottle of oil eater had a leak in the bottom and had just leaked all over the top of the drier ruining the diaper bag that was sitting there, and a vintage book I had purchased for the Travinator.� And some had run down into the lint screen shaft.� I was NOT happy having just spent the entirety of my day cleaning up after stuff that never should have happened.�

I got that cleaned up,� was about to sit down and relax when I noticed more brown water seeping out from under the washer and drier.� After having another mini-meltdown, we pulled back the drier to clean up the gunk.� Turns out it was from the same incident earlier, we just hadn't cleaned out from under the drier before.� Got it cleaned up.� Thankfully, that was the end of the day's mishaps, and from start to finish, from the time Travis spilled the powder to the time we finished cleaning the floor of the laundry room was about 8 hours.� I was in bed by 9:00, but no, oh no.� No going to sleep for me.� Mcro-Dude made sure there was to be none of that for me.�

Putting It All Into Perspective:� You have to look back on days like that and just laugh.� Its funny, but perhaps not right in the midst of it.� There is a sweet woman in Perth that reads my journal.� She often leaves comments in response to mommying issues, or things our kids have done.� She is a mom herself to two young girls and has just had a baby boy.� He is 4 weeks old.� During pregnancy, after an ultrasound, she and her hubby were told that the baby potentially had Cervical teratoma.� Her baby was delivered early with the expectation of such a defect.� Well, that is not what happened.� Her baby boy was born with lymphangioma.� Either way, she is heartbroken that her sweet baby boy has to endure something like this, but is happy that he is alive and actually healthy and thriving, and is resolved to make the best of it.� I wish that I could be resolute as she in putting things into perspective.� If any of you moms reading this would please, leave her some kind words of encouragement.� I just hate HATE seeing things happen to babies. I hate the emotional trauma that mothers go through with their babies and can only thank God that its not me.�


Song Virus du Jour:� "Aunt Marge's Waltz" from the "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" Soundtrack ~ John Williams, Composer


Useless Trivia du Jour:� I figure if you made it this far, you really don't need to be reading anything else.

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