Well that was fun

I can finally blog about this. It's been chewing at me since summer!

Cat & I decided to surprise our little far-away friend, Dani, for her 30th birthday. She's in grad-school as a writer in Washington. She misses us. We miss her. We thought we'd rectify the situation & bought plane tix after clearing it with her folks.

Here's the nitty-gritty of the weekend:

We arrived just before noon on Friday. The flight was nasty. We had the worst turbulance that anyone one the plane (including the flight crew) had ever experienced. The flight attendant & 2 others puked. That's how bad it was. The flight attendant people!! Anyway after getting off of the plane we had on our bright pink wigs (apparently now a birthday tradition for us) & survived the odd looks of the security. Dani was expecting one pink wig but not two (her mom had to leak that Cat was showing up but I was still a surprise). After hugs & smiles & meeting mom, Neva & Dad, Roy we stopped by a new little bakery/coffee house for a little lunch. Delicious. We headed to their house, got settled, played a game of "Scene It" & then headed out to dinner & then to a play. We saw "Souvenirs". A great little play. The costumes, however, left much more than a lot to be desired. At one point Cat & I actually cringed back in our seats, making the stinky diaper face before looking at each other in disbelief. Wow! But like I said. I great play. I'd see it again.

We woke up Saturday to fresh baked apples with craisins & cinnamon for breakfast. After leisurely getting ready we headed out into the frigidness that is known as Liberty Lake, Washington (have I mentioned it was rarely about 32 degrees the whole time we were there?) We drove by the beautiful lake, through beautiful country & headed to downtown Coeur de Laine, Idaho. Yep, crossed the state line. We shopped & lunched in the cute little downtown area after seeing the lake & stopping to take some photos. Got a couple stocking stuffers there so the Christmas shopping has officially begun. We ended the day with Dani's birthday extravaganza by heading out to some of her favorite haunts & she showed us off to her local friends. Tea at the coffee house, pizza at the Catacombs, dessert at Ella's with a side of jazz, a game of Sorry & 5 games of pool at the bar. Dani & her friend Heather won 4 games but Cat & I finally snatched a victory on the 5th game.

Dani made us crepes for breakfast on Sunday. We then headed to downtown Spokane to checkout a new store chalk full of vintage jewelry & clothes. We then headed to the historic Davenport & checked out the candy shoppe, ballrooms, Christmas tree raffles & had a little bite in the peacock room. I can't even wrap my head around a life style that would include such a place. After a stop at the neat-o book store & game shop we headed home for dinner.

We slept in on Monday, had homemade pecan pie for breakfast & were treated to hot stone massages by our dear little masseuse, Dani before heading to the airport. Pie for breakfast, the company of great friends & a free massage. Could it get better? I think not!

Thank you my friends for a great weekend. Dani, we miss you already. Cat, you're amazing. I love you both.

Late-Night Literature

As promised, here's our masterpieces from Saturday night's Food On A Stick Night:

#1 Trotting ponies are cute & fiery and flames ruin stables. Ponies can't barf so they poop alot over grass covered lands. Riders guide many ponies through flaming fields of smoke. Hopefully the jockeys purchase ambulance insurance so they will survive eternally. Falling asteroids fall. Impact can often frighten riders' ponies. Now that the stables blaze brightly on their hellfire & tigers. Happenstance dictates the ponies exponential growth of mermaids. Oceanic tsunamis cause massive pony trauma. Veterinarians often chat with damaged ponies because therapy sometimes helps. However, usually the ponies bite seahorses. in the end, mermaids die without veterinary love.

#2 When children scream viciously to my mirror I retreat swiftly. Diagrammatically speaking, children posses an uncanny likeness of pigeons. Therefore we should all burrow vigorously under the bomb factory. Someday poop boy will relieve himself while skipping. Subsequently, holes from the droppings of elephants levitate. Until magical birds sprinkle seeps upon elves, raptors swim swiftly toward huge buoys. Furthermore, walruses' tusks tear open flesh. Somehow squires save the bananas extinction. Today, yesterday, and tomorrow bananas will triumph over evil.

and our favorite:

#3 Why does the rain fall so beautifully? I have never seen the dew form so quickly on the man. Therefore, hypothetically, when I sing gaily I look very gay. I sew blankets of wool for sheep. These animals are worthy of my efforts. So I continue my sewing endeavor at my leisure. Occasionally naked sheeplings run coldly through rivers of man dew. Consequently the water from farmers flows like on the asphalt. Once this group is over sheering they die.

Ya' know Dani, not everyone's gotta go to grad school to write brillliance. Maybe you learned a little somethin' somethin'. :-)

"Now there's somethin' you don't see every day"

Nothin' brings a group a friends closer than a marshmallow war. I know. I live to tell the tale.

Last night was The 2nd Annual Food On A Stick Night to celebrate Daryl's 31st Annual Birthday. In a word...Delicious. We had much the same fair as last year. Fruit skewers for as an appetizer & added this year to the course was 'lil smokies on toothpicks (as requested/demanded by Kaisara). Our main course this year was the same. Grilled build-your-own kabobs with shrimp, tri tip, chicken & all the veggies one would need. For dessert was the gooey goodness know as fondue. Daryl requested a caramel fondue so I nixed last year's marshmallow cream recipe & found a caramel one online. Because of the change in fondue I added crisp granny smith apples & rice krispy treats to the dipping menu along with the typical strawberries, bananas, pound cake, oreos, marshmallows...aaaahhh the marshmallows.

After we were finished gorging ourselves and we couldn't find our Apples-to-Apples game, the night took an ugly turn. Dana innocently tossed a mallow at Daryl who innocently volleyed it back to her. This went on for a time or two & then somehow (I have to remain neutral here) there was a wrestling match for the mallow between Katie & Dana on my couch. Before too long there was all out war & mayhem in my living room, dining room, kitchen, entry way, & bathroom. It was awesome! 7 grown adults having a full on marshmallow war. Poor Melanie was sleeping on the floor & was forced to sleep in self imposed exile on the floor of my bedroom.

Our war came to a slow end as eventually all of our ammo got gooey (at which point each mallow was retired) or Zelda snatched them up before we could pick them up to fire them off again. They're the perfect thing to pelt at a loved one. When you get a good, square hit it makes an awesome sound to let you know you hit your target but it doesn't hurt the target (even when it's in the face after being thrown HARD by an avid softball player).

We followed the war with a story telling game (outside on the patio since we were all sweaty). Someone starts with 1 word & then each person around the circle adds only one word to make a sentence & eventually a little story is born. I'll post our literature soon. It was crazy. Of course it was 1am & we were on a sugar high, but at the time our stories seemed hilarious.

We're all looking forward to the tradition of Food On A Stick Night continuing next year. Perhaps a new little tradition was born too!

Now I'll close with a "Ghostbusters" quote that I'm sure came to your mind.

Dr. Peter Venkman: What is it?
Dr Ray Stantz: It CAN'T be!
Dr. Peter Venkman: What did you DO, Ray?
Winston Zeddemore: Oh, shit!
Dr Ray Stantz: [somberly] It's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Well, there's something you don't see every day.

Back in the Saddle, Again

So after a pitiful mileage tally for October, (life just got a little nuts there), I'm back on the bike. I rode from Kaisara's new work to my work twice last week (it's 1/2 mile further than his old work) and rode to church this morning (4.35 miles with several hills). I just did a little adding & came up with just over 500 miles for my so far annual total. Yeah me! I did it! I've even got 1 1/2 months to go.

Due to Tuesday's beloved Sewing Circle I can't ride that morning but I'm hoping to do the comute ride at least thrice this week. I eventually want my bike's saddle bags to not actually be my very own.

I Need A Nap!

Mom & Dad asked Kaisara & me to dog/house sit for them while they went to Vegas to visit Daddy's cousin who was there for a conference. We said "sure". Then the scheming began of something we've wanted to do for them for a while now. We called up the sis' & we got started. We re-did their bedroom. For weeks before we've been buying paint, new bed clothes, fabric for curtains, crown molding, base boards, a couple new pictures for the walls, hinges & knobs for their cupboards. We knew we'd only have 4 nights to pull it off so we prepped as much as we could before hand.

Jen doesn't work Mondays & Greg took of Monday so they could do all of the moving out. Kaisara worked 1/2 day on Wednesday & had all of Thursday off. It's a good thing. We'd never have made it! After working all day then re-doing bedroom all evening 'til 12:30am-ish. I'm beat. We're all beat. Daryl even came over to help a couple nights.

The room's finished & the parental unit is home. They love it. It's so nice to be able to do something for the people who've done so much for me.

Here's a before pic. with a couple afters.

We're Safe

Sorry about the lack of updates. We're fine. We're all fine. Turns out that the fire got 0.6 miles from our condo & 0.3 miles from our friend Katie's condo. It would've only taken just the right gust of wind & just the right ember & we'd (correction, no we. our stuff) be done for. Super stinky but we're fine. Katie & her tiger-sized kitties only stayed one night. We were glad to have her & her boys. Somehow it's comforting to me to comfort someone else. I guess the caregiver, mom type emotions kick in & I just need to make sure my people are fed & have a place to sleep with a warm blankie.

Other than the fires life is CRAZY swamped. Halloween parties, surprises for others to prepare for, birthday parties to plan, work, laundry, extra office work for the extra mooola, preparing for my craft faire. yikes! gotta go.

Sorry again to leave you guys wondering if we were crispy critters or not!

Play it once, Sam.

Your Love Life is Like Casablanca

"Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time." For you, love is never finished. If you've loved someone once, you'll always love them.You're an old fashioned romantic... even if your relationships don't end up as romantic as you'd like. Your love style: Traditional and understated Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Complicated and ambiguous

http://www.blogthings.com/whatmovieisyourlovelifelikequiz/">What Movie Is Your Love Life Like?

En Fuego! Really.

So this is a little scary. The fire is about, as the crow flies, 1.5 miles away. We came home early from work & are ready to flee to mom & dad's if need be. Our friend Katie's house is right next to the fire so her & her 2 kitties are here with us.

Prayers would be good. I'll keep you posted.

The Birthday Boy's Back!

Today's my boy's birthday. The big 3-4! Wow we're gettin' up there! He got a chair from me for a gift. He has sat in it every time we're in Target for the last year or so. I figured it was time to make it his own.

In even better news...Kaisara gave notice at his job!!! His last day is the 30th & he starts his new job the 31st. This has been a HUGE burden on Kaisara for months (and therefore on me). So much so that he hasn't been him. He didn't know he wasn't him but trust me, he wasn't. I hated it. I wanted him back! The morning after he gave his notice, while I was readying for work, he was laying across the bed on his stomach and was trying to clap with his feet. I didn't say anything at the time, I just stopped what I was doing and watched with a smile. HE'S BACK BABY!

Happy birthday, Birthday Boy!!

Guess What I Got Two More Of

Yep! godchildren. My first goddaughter & my third godson! Cool, huh?

Cat & Randy asked Kaisara & me if we would consider being their kids godparents. Like with Geoff & Melissa, after asking what that meant to them, we gladly accepted the honor. Abby & Alex were baptized this morning & we were able to be a part of that. Baptism & godparent-ness is are things I take very seriously. Biblicaly, I believe that baptism is not required for, nor does it grant salvation but it's still a huge thing. I get goose bumps at baptisms. I get goose bumps & a little scared being asked to godparent a child. I'm accepting some responsibility for their spiritual well being. Wow, that's huge.

I hope I do my precious godchildren the service that I've promised them, their parents & my Creator that I would do & that I would do it with love and grace.

I'm Okay With That

You Are a Brownie

Decadent and intense, you aren't for the weakhearted.Those who can deal with your strong flavor find out how sweet you really are.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatdessertareyoumostlikequiz/">What Dessert Are You Most Like?

Not Very Bloggy

Sorry 'bout that folks. I just haven't been very bloggy lately. Nothing extraordinarily good nor bad. Just didn't feel like typing about it. Here's an update:

Race For the Cure was last week. Team Galatians 6:10 was small but mighty this year. We raised over $500. Donations are accepted 'til the 19th of October so if you'd like to give, click here. Cat walked it with me while her man Randy ran the thing. Holy cow! I know that it's only 3.1 miles but please, run it? Some of it's up hill, man! Truth be told, after last year I wanted to run it this year but that just didn't happen. Several reasons but we won't go there now.

Yesterday I went to tea with Cat & Kathy, our mentor-turned-dear-friend. We hadn't seen her in months so having tea turned into a 3 1/2 hour event. It was lovely. The tea was great (can't go wrong with a good English Breakfast), the food was tasty & the company was perfect. I love my girls! Now Cat & I hold our breath for the next Sewing Circle. We need our fix.

We saw Invincible on Friday. I don't like sports but I like sports movies. I dunno. Just do. Anyway, it was really good. The 1975 clothes were awesome & seeing Mark Wahlberg in 1975 hair is worth the rental fee alone (of course Jeremy & Dana rented it so that was even better).

Heroes is back on T.V. I love that show. I'm disappointed in every episode but I love it. Again, I dunno. We went to Daryl's house to watch it last week. We're going to Brendon's tomorrow. Remember we don't gots cable so we only gots snowy-vision.

I went back to work last week & am working on the 1st installment of A Christmas Carol. One of the original actors retired last year so they had it in this year's budget to rebuild her stuff for the recast. I get to do it early so when the normal build comes, I'll be done with her & just have the others to do. I think I'm pretty much booked through January work wise so that's great.

I sold one of my purses on Lucky Zelda. It was my 6th sale but my 1st one that was something I'd made. That was exciting. I'm getting a bunch of others ready to post & also have for a craft fair I'm doing in November (more to come on that later).

That's all for now. Ciao!

Man Survey (stolen from Melissa)

1. Who is your man?
Kaisara

2. How long have you been together?
18 years

3. Dating/Engaged/Married?
Married 10 years

4. How old is your man?
33

5. What’s his middle name?
Leon (but with an accent over the o. Don't dare pronounce it without the accent)

♥You or your man♥

1. Who eats more?
He does. But I eat more often.

2. Who said “I love you” first?
He did.

3. Who weighs more?
He does.

4. Who sings better?
I think me. He's good too though.

5. Who’s older?
Him.

6. Who’s smarter?
Him, by a long shot.

DIFFERENT WAYS
7. Who’s temper is worse?
Yah, that'd me me.

8. Who does the laundry?
Me again.

9. Who does the dishes?
Me again.

10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
We're one of the only couples that I know of that don't have sides. We switch.

11. Who’s feet are bigger?
Kaisara's.

12. Who’s hair is longer?
Me.

13. Who’s better with the computer?
I.T. Guy vs. costumer. You do the math.

14. Who mows the lawn?
Don't gots one.

15. Who pays the bills?
I think Kaisara's written 3 checks in his life. Yeah, that's me again.

16. Who cooks dinner?
Me again.

17. Who drives when you are together?
And again, me. Hey! He's got it too easy!

18. Who pays when you go out to dinner?
AAAHHH! Me but it comes out of the same pot so I guess that's both.

19. Who’s the most stubborn?
Him.

20. Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong?
Me, I think.

21. Who’s parents do you see more?
Kaisara's

22. Who named your dog?
Zelda came with a name but I came up with her middle name, Ruth.

23. Who kissed who first?
He kissed me first.

24. Who asked who out?
He asked me.

26. Who’s more sensitive?
That's totally me.

27. Who’s taller?
Kaisara

28. Who has more friends?
Me, but we share almost all of them.

29. Who has more siblings?
Him.

30. Who wears the pants in the relationship?
He does. There's one job I refuse to take.

Wickedly Good

Kaisara & I finally saw Wicked. I got our tickets for my birthday & Dana got her & Jeremy's for her birthday. Last Saturday the four of us went to dinner at The Clubhouse before heading up to Hollywood. Is that ever a decent drive? I think not.

As a side note, Dana & I both looked super hot in our new dresses.

Anyway, we really enjoyed the show. The set was ugly & I would have done a few things different as far as costumes go but other than that...it was super good.

Kaisara REALLY loved it. As we were walking out he said he could see it again right then. I have to say that the close of act 1 gave Dana & me a wicked (excuse the pun) set of goose bumps. I finally had to tell him to stop gushing over it since we just saw my show the night before that I'd been killing myself over for a month & he had nothing to say about that one. Sigh...

I thought the last scene was unnecessary. It would have been a much more tragic ending without it & therefore less of a crowd pleaser but it would have been truer to the book (of which I'm really interested in reading now).

I think that if/when the show is ever done on a community level the Dana MUST audition for Glinda. It was like watching Dana up there & I know she's got more than enough voice to pull it off.

I love the theatre. I could go every night.

It's Been A While

Soooooooo, where to start...

My show is up and running. There wasn't enough theatre magic to get all of the costumes on stage for the first preview audience. But they were all up there for the 2nd. (Preview audiences are the first to see the show before the official opening. They get a discounted price with the understanding that the show may not be completely polished.) All of the costumes were however completely finished (100's of yards of trim and all) by the 5th preview (out of 6). So the day of opening was a complete breeze. I was even able to help the shop with the next show even though Amy had hired me for the week to work on any and all notes from A Little Night Music.

Kaisara & I went to opening night on Friday. I really enjoyed it. Musically and costume period-ly it's my favorite Sondheim that I've seen. Which isn't that many really. It's only beating out Into the Woods & Sunday in the Park With George. Story wise Into the Woods is my favorite. The story of this one is basically not being happy with who your with & sleeping with those you want. Not very moral but still a darn good show!

If you click on the link above you can follow a link to a slide show. Three of my costumes can be seen (on the slouchy girl with a big, blond, wig). My favorite costume didn't even get photographed let alone make it to the slide show. Probably because it's only on stage for 10 seconds. Anyway, in the slide show my costumes are, a turquoise chiffon robe, a light pink lace dress (in the background of 3 couples) and a peach with white lace dress (in that picture especially you can see my girl's stellar posture. AAAAAHHHHHH!)

At any rate, the magic of theatre got us to an easy opening night (we didn't even think that would've happened 1 1/2 weeks ago) and I'm fired for the week before returning to rebuild 1 actor's worth of costumes for A Christmas Carol. This week is to be filled with scrapping with my sis', pinning and finishing a quilt, scrapping with Katie, and getting more items on Lucky Zelda.

Not Gonna Make It

It's just not gonna happen. I put in over 9 hours of overtime last week & over 14 this week. (awesome paychecks, btw). Our first audience is this Friday & opening night is the following. We're just not gonna finish. I know I've blogged about the magic of theatre before & how it always gets done. Those of you in theatre know what I'm talking about. But this show would call for a ocean liner full of fairy dust to get it up on time.

All last week we concentrated on getting act one wearable since their first dress rehearsal is today (not this Wednesday as would be normal). Totally plausible right? WRONG!! My actress has 5 costumes, 4 OF THEM ARE IN ACT ONE!!!! They wanna wear Act two by Tuesday. Act two?!?! It's literally still in pieces under my table & I've still got hours of cutting to do on it before I can have the thing sew together let alone wearable.

The good news (I guess it's bad news too) is that everyone is this far behind. It's not just me. We started this far behind. For the AD's to think that a shop of this size can built 75% of "A Little Night Music" in 3 1/2 weeks is insane. We're supposed to start on the next show this week. No comment. Just hire more people you say? We've no where to put them & no machines for them to sew on if we did. I had both of my minions sewing last week while I was cutting. I was at a point I need to sew a littlebut there wasn't an open machine anywhere. We're tripping over each other there's so many of us in the shop.

Wait 'till you see what I've been making, though. GORGEOUS!!! I'm really excited about them. My actress has been a total head case but at least she's hasn't been mean (except for complaining to stage management that we were "picking on" her). In our last fitting, she's head to toe in fabric that's barbie pink with silver sparkle with her decolletage for all to see & she complains that she looks like a boy. WHAT?!?!?! She wants more shape. BUT YOU WON'T LET ME LACE YOUR CORSET TIGHT ENOUGH THAT I CAN'T PUT MY ENTIRE ARM IN THERE WITH YOU!!!! Of course you've no waist. In an earlier fitting she was freaking out, literally gasping for air & breaking out in a cold sweat because her corset was "too tight". I was able to get my entire arm, with room to spare, in her corset with her to do some pinning. How is that too tight? And I don't gots small arms!

All-in-all though, it's totally awesome. I love what I'm doing. I love the people I work with. It's hard, it's stressful, it's scary at times and yet my spirit smiles for the blessing to do what I love to do. Thank you, Jesus for the opportunity. I try every day not to take it for granted.

Ponderous

I am rich. I am rich in friends. My friends love me. I love my friends, deeply. I hope they know that. I'm confident they do.

I am encouraged by my friends. Not because I'm been low & they've edified me. We all know that that happens, goodness me. Quite the opposite actually. I love that I have friends that aren't perfect & can come to me, or allow me come to them, while they're broken. They allow me to see them broken. They can (and have) seen me broken. It's not comfy. It's not fun. It can be scary & ugly. There can be tears, uncomfortable silence, uninterpretable glances, awkward smiles, and sometimes insincere smiles. And we continue on as family. Not ignoring the ugly, not condoning the ugly, not even necessarily agreeing on what the ugly is or how it should be treated. But we continue. Loving each other. As true family.

I found it odd that I'm encouraged by my friends' hardships. Sounds a little sick at first. To tell you the truth, I was a little horrified. I didn't get it & have been pondering it for a while. It's not their hardship that encourages me but the fact that I have people that love & trust me enough that they can be real. We can see each other raw, broken & bleeding. That's friendship. That's real family. It's not catching a movie together, or chatting over lunch. Real friendship is powerfully, wonderfully and, at times, incredibly uncomfortably worth every emotion we got.

I expect my friends to grow, change & deepen. They better expect the same from me. I do not take well to ineffective complacentness. They better not tolerate it from me. Does this mean years from now I can't make silly faces, giggle or just plain do a whole lot of nothing with a true friend? Oh please, bring on the silly face making! But I will not be the exact same person 20 years from now that I am today. Buckle up, 'cause some of it's not going to be pretty. God is going to mold me into the woman He desires me to me. I'm going to let Him. It's not all going to be comfy. I trust Him with me. I trust Him with my friends.

I say thank you to my friends: broken, struggling, content, or peaceful. I've got ones that fit in each box. I say thank you to those that are willing to reveal your real self to me. It is encouraging to me that you love and trust me enough with it. I will treat it like the treasure that it is. You are a blessing, no matter the box you're in at the moment.

Well, I'Declair

For months I've planned on forgoing birthday cake and getting the I'Declair at Claim Jumper. Yesterday was the day & six of us went last night to split it. That sucker's HUGE! Of course they still brought out the free slice of birthday mud pie. SOOOOO delicious. None of us had had it before. Seriously, how could you? After a meal at Claim Jumper who has room for dessert? Besides, you gotta get the whole mountain of eclair-y goodness. This was the perfect plan. It was the perfect amount of tasty treat for all of us. I think it was the first time I left there not completely stuffed.

Of course birthday cake was not completely skipped. I had pink cake with the family on Sunday. Yesterday we had chocolate cake & macaroon cake at work. Yum!

Family Time

My family's coming over for dinner tonight. It seems like forever since we've all gotten together. It was in mid-July to celebrate my mom's & greg's birthdays. We had delicious eats at Lucille's. It made me sad last week when Kaisara's dad asked me how my folks were & I had to say, "Fine, I guess. I haven't seen them in a while." That's just studpid! I only live 15 miles away & the best I could do was, "Fine, I guess!" Whatever!

So Daddy wanted to break bread on the most excellent patio table in existance so everyone's coming over for grilled burgers (homemade, not pre-fab hockey pucks), chips, salsa, guacamole, watermelon, salad & some early birthday cake for a little certain someone.

Yeah!

Oh yeah...it's really hot.

All Grow'd Up!

I'm not a baby anymore. I just found out today. To quote The Princess Bride, "Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

I went back to SCR today. We're building a WHOLE LOTTA costumes for A Little Night Music. My favorite period, Edwardian. I find out I'm building (and by building, I mean patterning), from scratch, 3 dresses, a corset, drawers, and a robe. Wow, okay. I knew there'd be alot of work and that's the easy stuff? You see, I'm the baby cutter. I get the easy stuff. Not anymore! There's a new baby cutter in town & I've been moved up. (Technically the title is "Junior Cutter" but I think baby cutter's more endearing). Along with the new scary work load I got a little some-in' some-in' in the paycheck department.

Sweet! I'll post pics weeks from now when the show's up.