Thursday, November 29, 2012

glimpses: i love theatre

When we get to the hall, there are already people there. The dim voices and strains of music travel down the stairs and through the entry to our waiting ears. I run up the stairs because I know I only have thirty minutes until show time. Tonight is the last dress rehearsal and it involves full costume: clothing, face, hair, shoes and a right mind. My costume always seems to take longer to install on my person than I assume it will.

There are friends gathered at the front, chattering. Some are practicing certain measures of the music over and over. Some are already in costume. Some are laughing. Some are quiet. Each exudes comfort; we are in the presence of friends, working towards a common goal. It feels homelike. Parents sit in random seats throughout the auditorium, waiting to help their children into costume or put on makeup or comfort them if their shoes seem to have disappeared.

My beaded robe slides over my head easily and my hair goes up with a twist. I ask my mother-in-law where the shoes are. She has such a great closet and we all tend to borrow from her. She points them out and voilĂ !  I am no longer tracking dirty snow everywhere. And my feet sparkle, which admittedly, is far more important.

Two of the girls come up the stairs carrying dishes. "We brought food!" Everyone's ears perk up. A few minutes later, the green room is filled with people laughing and talking with their mouth's full. So many of us come straight from work with no time for eating. Roast beef and buns have never been so relished. One of our musicians is also a teacher of the fiddle and she is endeavoring to teach over the noise of the people. I overhear her say, "Funny how four people make so much noise." She looks annoyed and she is... but she isn't really. One of us will make it up to her later, somehow.

My roast beef is washed down with some water and I am back in the dressing room. I help put makeup on one of the girls and am about to begin another when it is announced that the makeup lady is back. She wants to do me first since my transformation will be intense through the show. She begins by making me smear lotion all over my face. She runs an eyeliner pencil under my eyes. It hurts but I know the end result will be worth it. She's that good.

"2 minutes!" the director announces. My makeup isn't done but the artist assures me that it will be. And she's right. By the time she's done with my face and I have managed to put on my microphone, it's only just time to walk on stage. The over-voice starts to drone... show on. My nerves begin and my adrenaline is sky high.

Last dress rehearsal. Show time is for real tomorrow. 

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Saturdays

One of the days in the week that should be reserved for resting. Guess what we did today? Jesse installed our new toilet, which my father-in-law gave to us as an early Christmas present. Btw, we are very happy about that gift. Isn't it amusing what makes you thrilled when you own a house? ;-)

Jesse wasn't entirely sure about installing said toilet because he had never done it before. But I asked... and asked... and he decided that he could probably figure it out. The hardest part was getting the old toilet out. But he did it. I am so proud of him. And happy to have the toilet installed!!

While he was doing that, I spent the entire day baking. Our bosses at work have been planning a Christmas party for a month or so and I was elected to bring some goodies. Ever since I learned of this, I have been plotting and planning. Magazines were pored over; ideas pondered; old recipes from my childhood were tracked down; new recipes snagged. Finally, I had a list. Then, Lydia and I went grocery shopping. Did you know that allspice comes whole (not crushed) in Carlyle? (Thank goodness for my mortar and pestle!)

Thursday, I made pumpkin bread/muffins and banana chocolate chip bread/muffins. Friday night, I made lemon squares and raspberry lemon streusel muffins. Today, I made cranberry almond bark, cranberry walnut rugalach, chocolate vanilla marbled cookies and vanilla cut-out cookies. I made up two separate platters for the party tonight. They're big, beautiful and bursting at the seams.

I have lots of leftovers. I think we will be freezing them for when my siblings come for Christmas. Or for after the play ends on Sunday. Something along those lines. 

Friday, November 16, 2012

A Good Life


Again, my time is limited. My email, blog and facebook all suffer. But, I am living. Sort of.

Pharmasave, teaching, theatre. Cat, husband, sister. Prepare for Christmas. Still take time to talk and snuggle with husband. Take annoying cat off of head.

Christmas! It’s only over a month away.  After Remembrance Day had passed, Lydia started to decorate the house. This is her first Christmas in over 16 years, so she is very excited. Mr. Fox is very excited too. Anything that dangles or rattles or even remotely hints “Catch me if you can” is in imminent danger of being attacked with great vigor. As Lydia and I put up garland around the house, he was always one step behind us, clawing, biting (not us, thankfully) and being annoying. Lol.

But the house looks very festive in spite of him! Or perhaps, because of him. He loves to climb the Christmas tree. He also thinks that ornaments were made for the sole purpose of honing his “how can I rip this out of the tree” abilities. Yes. We love him.

Last year, I decorated the house by myself. This year, it has been nice having Lydia’s extra hands and inspirations. Having a sister around is like having an extra brain. We've been taking turns wrapping gifts. The pile is growing ever so gradually. By the time December rolls around, we'll only have baking left to do. :-)

Jesse and I have been married 14 months. It is still marvelous, in case you were wondering. We have our small disasters. The other night, we were having salmon. Jesse loves making rice to go with it, so he put on the pot. When I came downstairs from teaching, I smelled something burning. Lydia passed it off as the salmon, so I opened the oven. Nope, no burnt meat. You aren’t supposed to lift the lid on the rice until it is finished cooking, so I didn’t touch it. Then, the smoke alarm went off. Apparently, Jesse had forgotten to turn the rice down. It was so burned. But it was hilarious, especially because of the smoke alarm.

The bad part of this story is about how we couldn’t figure out how to get the rice scrubbed out of the pan. We ended up not using it for about a week before Lydia brought home some cleaner from work. Amazing stuff, btw.

If you ever come over for dinner, you’re going to have to get Jesse to make you salmon and rice. It is truly a divine platter. Also, I believe I am going to get him a rice cooker for Christmas.

 Snow, snow, snow. Yes, we have snow. We got more snow overnight than we received all winter last year. I have to admit that, in spite of the presented challenges, I love how the moisture. The more, the better. After looking at the drought across the south, down to Mexico, one cannot help but be thankful for the white stuff. Here’s to the lakes rising another foot and all the greens of the grass and trees.

There are times I wish I had more hours for writing. But that will come eventually. Life; ‘tis good. The best part is that I am capable. Great joy can be found in this. :-)

Schedules are great things.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Trip to the City... Whee!!

Jesse, myself and my sister Lydia are planning a trip to Regina on Sunday night, the 11th. I was wondering if there was anyone in the city who had the space and was willing to put up three people (or two... or one) for a night. If you've already been generous to us previously, please don't feel obligated to put us up. Thanks in advance. :-)

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Courage my friends, it is not too late to make a better world. 
Tommy Douglas

Monday, November 5, 2012

November 5th


We are all a little weird and

Life's a little weird,

And when we find someone whose

Weirdness is compatible with ours,

We join up with them and fall in

Mutual weirdness and call it Love.

-- Dr. Seuss

Two years ago today, Jesse told me he loved me. He also asked if we could date. I said yes. 
I thank God for bringing us together... for giving us courage to step into the unknown.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Wednesdays & Carrot Pie

Wednesdays are full. Actually, that's an understatement. So are the words 'busy', 'hectic', 'crazy' and 'crammed'.

Wednesdays consist of getting Lydia and myself out the door by 8:30 and to work by 8:45-ish. Therein, we work until 2 pm, go home and teach from 3:30 until 6:30, rush out the door for theatre practice at 7 pm and hope to be home by 10 pm.

Somewhere in that whirlwind of life-on-Wednesdays, we have to find time to eat, drink and use the facilities. It can be hard to remember to breathe, let alone sit down with a plate. I've found that using Ideal Protein meals can make it a little easier (shake, heat and drink), plus they fall into my diet plan. ;-) But even so, I still miss "real" food.

Because I teach until right before we have to go to theatre practice, there is little time for eating before we go... and absolutely no time for making anything. So my mother-in-law has been helping us out. Last week, she brought this amazing greek turkey pizza to the theatre. It was delicious and this is coming from someone who is really picky about what's on her pizza. This week, she sent Jesse a bbm informing him of the existence of pie and pizza at their house. Would he come pick it up? I believe his exact response to this was, "Hurray!"

Sidenote: Dianne makes carrot pie. Pure deliciousness. I never realized how good carrots can be until I tasted her carrot pie.

So, thank you. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to help with our busy schedule. I love the family I married.