I'll take "Things that are moving" for $200, Alex...

Let me get one thing out on the table right now. I love the theatre. I especially love being front-row center at a show. And the best part is that that's where our season tickets for Broadway in Saginaw are. Wow. Last night, amid all the chaos that is my life this week, my friend Shelly and I took two and a half hours out to go see Rent as part of the Broadway in Saginaw series. On the way to the theatre, we were talking about what is quite possibly the most powerful and moving theatre experience in my lifetime, which is when we went to Toronto and had box seats for Lion King. In the beginning of the show, performers were scattered throughout the theatre for the African chant part (if you've seen the movie, you probably know what I'm talking about; if not, I can't describe it), and one of them was right next to us! The sheer power and emotion of it brought me to tears, which, if you know me, you'll know is not an easy thing to do. I've never been accused of being overly emotional, if you know what I mean. So anyway, while we were talking about it, I mentioned to Shelly that I thought that was the only show that had ever made me cry. Flash forward to the second act of Rent - the scene where Angel dies. I had completely forgotten that this show, too, was very moving, had also brought me to tears when I first saw it, and did it again last night. Comparitively speaking, I think I liked the first cast better - last night's Joanne had a lisp or weird accent of some kind, and her voice was kind of annoying to me, and I don't know how anyone could ever top the Angel that I originally saw, but the cast last night did an extremely good job. I also see that Anwar from American Idol was playing Collins, so if you know who that is and it impresses you, so be it. I have no clue who he is/was, but the lady next to us was very excited about it, and he did a wonderful job playing Collins, so there you have it.

Meme challenge... thanks, Jayne!

The rules go like this. You link to five of your favorite posts(of yourself) but they have to have the following criteria:

1. must be about family:
Catch Up... - rereading this one made me tear up remembering Aunt Ginny, who passed away almost a year ago. Family isn't always just blood relations - it's so much more.

2. must be about friends:
Friends - one of my very first posts, but still very true.

3. must be about yourself:
Encyclopedia of Your Ordinary Life - all about me, and the start of my ongoing encyclopedia project

4. must be something you love:
The Happy Couple - includes not only the husband that I love, but part of one of the songs that I love - what could be better

5. can be about anything you choose:
California dreamin' - another earlier post, reminding me of the fun Kate and I had in California with Aunt Rose.


I'm going to tag Rita for this one. You go, girl!

Crazy me!

For anyone who didn't know, we got rained on last night/this morning. That's right, on top of the snow we had piled up. Needless to say, it didn't make for very good roads this morning. Well, guess who had to sing at early service at our church today. That's right! So, I set off to pick up Mom and head to warm-up. We were supposed to be at church by 7:40, and I was supposed to pick Mom up at 7:30 for the seven minute journey across town. As I turned onto her street, I knew I should probably just head home, because I went into a spin and ended up facing opposite the way I wanted to go. Not a good sign... But, we persevered, and at about 7:53, pulled into the parking lot. Let me just say that any time it takes 23 minutes to drive what should be a seven minute trip, you've got trouble, my friends. To make a long story short, we arrived, got inside, and found that we were two of 22 people at church, including the pastor. Fully half of these people were crazy choir members just like us. Once I got back home, I settled in to relax and read, and my friend Shelly came knocking on the door. I forgot about the baby shower I was supposed to go to with her, even though she'd reminded me Friday and Saturday about it. So it's official... I'm certifiably insane. I'm going to run away and join a different circus - this one's getting too strange even for me!

Happy Weekend!

Not much going on around here today, but I just wanted to pop in and say Happy Weekend to anyone who cares to read it! Wish me luck - my 4-wheel drive quit working at some point in the last 6 years (I just discovered it during our 14-inches-of-snow-storm), so I have to take my car up to the dreaded dealership, with which I have had many, many, many problems in the past. The nice thing is that they're going to have a loaner car for me to use in my travels this coming week, which will be many - back and forth to Jackson twice, and a side-trip to Grand Rapids thrown in there as well. So, if I don't post much this week, you'll know why - it's hard to type while driving a car... Have a great week, everyone!

Open your Encyclopedia to F...

As part of my commitment to myself to finish my life encyclopedia (if not in the cute scrapbook album that I made for it at CKU, at least here in my blog), I bring you, my faithful reader, the letter F:

F

Family: I have been incredibly blessed to have a great family, even my brother - sometimes. I have been even more blessed in the in-laws that I inherited a little over two years ago. I've always thought my family was kind of unusual - my aunt is 25 years older than my mom because their side of the family was a "his, hers, and ours" type of thing. So I have cousins who are older than my mother, which is a little freaky when you think of it.

Family Reunion: The weekend after Labor Day every year, without fail. It's always held at South Higgins Lake State Park, and is always a good time.

Friends: Just as with my family, I am so blessed in my friends. They have been there for me in good times and bad, and I wouldn't trade them for a moment. If I ever had to hide a body, I could definitely call at least a couple of them, and they'd help me do it. That's just the kind of friends they are. Another couple of them would go a bit further and scrapbook the experience, but, hey - I probably would, too!

Fonts: I am a HUGE fontaholic. I think I have over 1500 fonts on my PC right now, and would probably have more if I didn't keep myself away from the font sites. Sigh...

French: I wish I had taken more semesters in college. I remember very little anymore.

Proud of myself...

I know it's a little thing, but I'm very proud of myself right now. I just cooked my first roast for dinner tonight. That's right. I did it. You may all applaud now. Hee hee. I was very apprehensive, but I even managed to make gravy to go along with it, even though it wasn't as good as Dad's is. My father makes the best gravy ever. I don't know what he does to it, but yum! Anyway, I digress. I got up this morning and put a little pork roast and a little beef roast in the crockpot on low, and by the time Brian got home at 8:45, it was super tender and yummy. I feel more confident now. It's amazing what a little bit of cooking success can do to you. Next thing you know, I'll be using that springform pan I bought a year and a half ago - just because I might need it someday. Or my Kitchenaid mixer that I've only used once. There's no stopping me now! Watch out, Emeril - here I come!

Tagged again...

Jayne got me again, even though she knows I have no one to tag back (well, unless you count her). This one's a book meme.

The rules as stated are:
1.Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2.Open the book to page 123.
3.Find the fifth sentence.
4.Post the next three sentences.
5.Tag five people.

Here's what I get:

Voice would go faster. Jani berated herself as a series of Lyssa's files disappeared in a rainbow flash. Then she rehacked her way through the document tangle, once more by touch.

From Code of Conduct by Kristine Smith - a sci-fi book I'm keeping at work to read on lunch.

My First ATC.

Well, here it is. My very first ATC. Sorry for the bad angle on the picture - I couldn't get my scanner to work today. I'm pretty happy with this design, and Jayne assures me that it's up to snuff, so to speak, so here it is. Coming soon - snow pictures...

Snowy Days...

These are some of the things I came home from Jackson (4-5 inches of snow) to Saginaw (12 - 16 inches of snow) to see:

Exhibit A: Snow getting ready to fall off of Aunt Rose's garage roof.



Exhibit B: A whole ton of snow where I could see remnants of grass when I left Tuesday morning.

Exhibit C: Aunt Rose's backyard - those hedges are probably about three feet tall.







As you can see, there was a bit of snow. Not exactly what I wanted to come home to, but we do what we have to do. Unfortunately, instead of warming up so some of this junk can melt off, we're supposed to be in the single-digit temperatures tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to getting up before the sun to play bells for church. If you see a Jen-sicle along the road tomorrow, please stop and thaw me out - I'll need it!

I'd like to thank the Academy...

...Or at least my most excellent friend, Jayne! Thanks for the award - you're too sweet!! Now, for the most excellent of all blogs that I read:

1. Jayne - of course. How you find all the wacky, wonderful (except for the mouth eyes - those were just plain scary) things you do, I'll never know. I bow before your abilities.

2. Nancy - I love reading your blog, especially since I don't get to see you as much as I would like. Your organizational talents shock and awe me! :)

3. Rita - a new blog for me, but still very excellent. I'm loving the song titles game!!

4. Even though they'll never know it, I have to give props to Jessica Sprague and Candice Stringham. I am in serious awe of Jessica's writing style, not to mention the major digital scrapbooking talent/knowledge that she has. And Candice's pictures - WOW is the only word I can come up with.

Keep up the excellence, guys! Love y'all!!

Double play!

Well, just as I finished the last post, I got a comment from J-Fab that I've been tagged, so here goes...

Jayne tagged me with an informative and innovative game -- here are the rules --
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don’t have a middle name, use your maiden name. {If you don't have a maiden name or a middle name, I don't know what to tell you - pick something}).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

OK - here goes...

My middle name is Lynn...

L - The softball team I coached and played on lost every game last year, but we had so much fun no one cared.
Y - Yazbek is one of my favorite musical artists that no one has ever heard of.
N - It's true - I'm a nerd. :)
N - I am SO not organized - at all. I need help.

I'm supposed to tag four people, but it looks like all the people I know have been tagged already, so I'm gonna have to break the chain. Sorry!

I wish...

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Today I had the Rascall Flatts song (I think it's called "My Wish") in my head, and I got to thinking about wishes and the sorts of things I wish for. For example, I really wish that I could get up the motivation to exercise. I know there are people who enjoy it, and I wish I were one of them. But alas, I'm not. I wish that I could start writing on my blog and think of something so profound that people would weep when they read it (well, maybe not, but you get the idea). I wish I was better at money management. I wish I could draw/paint. I wish I could speak Spanish more than a few words. I wish we got together with the extended family more than twice a year. I wish that XTC would reform and release many more albums. I wish abundant happiness for all my friends. I wish that people wouldn't be so quick to discriminate against others because of the color of their skin, where they worship, or who they love. I wish that I could remember not to be crabby and irritated with the people who love me, because we never know how long we'll have with them. These are my wishes. Some are spoken, some are unspoken. Some things I don't know I wish for yet. Some I don't know how to articulate. But they are wishes, and they are mine. So when you find that magic lamp with the genie in it, send it my way - I could use the help.

Yes, it's on...

It's official - I am still alive... just very, very busy right now. I'm still travelling three days a week (four this week), and now our training has started, too, so I'm not going to be around much for a while.

Anyway, it's probably time to get back to ye olde dictionarie... this post brought to you by the letter "E"

E

Excel: I love Excel. I like to play with formulas - the more complex, the better. I've found very little that I can't do in Excel, and frankly, I like that.

Evita: One of my favorite musicals by Andrew Lloyd Weber, who happens to be one of my favorite composers of Broadway stuff. I even liked the movie version with Madonna - who knew Antonio Banderas could sing?

ethereal: A fun word to say - I've always liked it for that.

emotional: I don't think I tend to be very emotional. I'm not the kind of person who cries at the Brady Bunch reunion - I'll leave that up to Mom. It's not that I don't feel anything - I just tend to keep it inside and it takes a lot to get me all choked up.

This was a difficult letter for me - it was hard to think of "E" words to use. What's your favorite "E" word?

New Obsession

I know it seems like every time I go to a show I get this way, but my new obsession is with The Producers. We saw it a week and a half ago at Broadway in Saginaw, and I loved it! I ordered the soundtrack and it came the other day, and I've been listening to it pretty much non-stop. I also ordered the DVD, so I think I'll be watching that this weekend. I can't wait!

Cyber Stuff...

I participated in my very first cyber crop at Cropper's Cottage yesterday. I'm really enjoying the board - there are lots of great people on there, and they understand my "habits". (Really, I can stop taking pictures any time - I'm not addicted... hee hee) I worked on a couple more digital layouts. I haven't decided if going digital is faster for me or not. On the one hand, it limits the types of embellishments I can use, which can be a good thing, but on the other hand, I spend a lot of time looking for the brushes I want to use and trying to figure out how to do the things I want to do. I'm enjoying it, though, and I have really been revitalized after taking pictures of the nieces and nephews around Christmas. I guess I was getting a bit bored with travel stuff.

You Might As Well Face It, You're Addicted to...

I'm starting to worry that I might be addicted to CSI (the original Las Vegas version - not the knockoffs). This got me thinking about the other things I worry that I might be addicted to: chocolate (duh), reading, overtime, The Sims (actually, I know I was addicted to that - it's why it's not loaded on my computer now), my iPod - the list could go on. I don't think I have an addictive personality - but would I know if I did? Maybe I'm just channeling my addictions into safer things than alcohol, tobacco, and/or illegal drugs. Anyway, on with the post. I'm thinking I really need to continue with my encyclopedia, so here goes:

D

Dunkin' Doughnuts - I love their chocolate chip muffins. Unfortunately, the one closest to my house hasn't carried them for at least a year. Hmmm... that's another thing that I'd have to worry about being addicted to if I could actually get them.

Douglas Adams - One of my favorite authors, and the mastermind behind The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I was very sad when he passed away because that meant one more author who would never release a new book for me to look forward to. Sigh.

Dogs - I miss having a dog in the house, even though right now with me being gone to Jackson so much of the week, it's probably good that we don't have one. Still, hopefully one day we'll be able to say we are the proud parents of a small, hypoallergenic dog.

Dork - Yep, I am one. And darn proud of it, too.

I got creative today!

I am happy at myself! I created not one, but two digital layouts of the pictures I took of my niece and nephews last weekend. I was reading my scrapbooking magazines and felt the urge to come do some digi-scrapping, and here's the result. I'm pretty happy with it - especially considering that this is only my second ever digital layout.

In other news, I am NOT ready for Christmas yet, but I'm getting closer. Unfortunately, the fates are conspiring against me - the husband of one of my fellow choir members passed away and his funeral is tomorrow, and the choir has been asked to sing, so that will take some time out of the day. I'm just hoping I can sing - I've been coughing pretty badly the last couple of days, but so far, so good - I haven't lost my voice.

Here's wishing everyone out there a very merry Christmas!

Good news...

In the past couple of weeks, we've gotten some pretty good news from several different people. First of all, we found out that my mother-in-law is coming up from Arkansas to visit for Christmas. This is good news because it's probably the only Christmas for a long time that all of her kids will be in the same general area for Christmas, since Brian's brother and his family just moved to Saginaw temporarily while he looks for a church and Brian's sister and her family will be moving to Boston after the new year (which isn't all that great of news, because we'll miss them, but is good news because Bill will enjoy his new job). Secondly, we found out that both of my sisters-in-law are pregnant and due sometime this summer, so I'll be an aunt twice over again next year. That's good news - more kids to spoil! :) And Christmas is just a couple of days away - also good news, because it means the nerve-wracking part of preparing bell solos and knowing that by the time Christmas Eve is over my brain will be fried will be over soon, not to mention that we get to spend time with both of our families.

Anyway, while I was thinking about all of the good news we've gotten lately, it made me think about Christmas, too. Lately I've been kind of bah humbug-ish - tired and kind of crabby, and just not in the Christmas spirit. I didn't really care if we put up a tree or made cookies, or any of that stuff. I was (well, still am) sick of the traffic in town and the way people get really crazy with their driving and cranky in line behind you (like the lady behind me in the self-checkout at Wal-Mart who counted my items and made a huge deal out of the fact that I had more than 10). But then I stopped, and had a blinding flash of inspiration (it's a good thing I can touch-type, eh?). I realized that I was acting more like the Grinch than anything, and that I need to focus on the real reason that we celebrate Christmas. It's not about Santa, or shopping, or slapping stuff on the tree so you can win the best decoration prize. It's not about the inflatables, or the blinking lights, or the presents. It's about love, and about compassion, and about being a better person, even if I don't remember that all the time. It's about what out department at work is doing - adopting a family and making sure that they have a good Christmas, but even then it's not about the "stuff" - it's about being able to help someone who needs it. I'm amazed at what we've been able to do for our Christmas family - a single mother with four kids under ten years old. And it makes me feel good to know what a great bunch of people I work with, because I know that none of us are doing it just to mark it off on a checklist as something you "have to do" at Christmas time. That's what Christmas is about - taking the time to help those who need it. It's also about letting the people you know know that they are loved and important to you. So here's to my friends and my family. I love you all and cherish the fact that you are in my life. Have a merry Christmas, and may Santa bring you everything you want!

Bad to the bone...

I know, I know - I've been a very bad girl - no posts for 11 days! It's just been a little crazy around here trying to get ready for the holidays (and prepare two bell solos) while still going back and forth out of town. I'll make it through, though, and I'll be sure to post again soon. Until then, stay warm and cozy - and out of the winter storm we're experiencing right now. Yuck!

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me...

Since I need to get back to my encyclopedia before I totally forget about it, here goes....

C

Cookie Monster: I just had to add him because of my title for this post. I'm so glad the rumors about him changing into the Veggie Monster were just that - rumors.

Cool Websites: I love to find cool new sites, usually from other people. My current fave - freerice.com. You can improve your vocabulary and donate food for people who need it at the same time. Who wouldn't love that?

Commas: Very important things, but it's also possible to have too many of them. Many, many written passages are ruined because of comma overusage. It's a sad thing when people get comma-happy.

Cole: My youngest nephew. He has been through so much in his short two years, it's amazing. I can't imagine going through everything that my sister- and brother-in-law have been through with him. He was born with kidney problems - one didn't function at all, and the other one functioned at only about 25% capacity. He had a kidney transplant last year, and is doing very well, but it was pretty scary for the first few months of his life.

Cooking: I didn't know how much I would enjoy cooking until I moved out of my parents' house. The chance to do more than just the basics was exactly what I needed - I've branched out, and cook a lot of different things that were never served at our house when I was growing up. And you know what - it's fun!

Comments: I love to see them! Please don't be shy! :)