Video is on YouTube

Just got an email from the director of The Miracle Worker. He has posted a rough video of Saturday night's performance.

In the scene where all of the little girls are on stage, Julia is on the crutches in the back of the little girls that are on the left side of the screen. (her giving Annie the gift from the girls hasn't happened yet)

Then...when there is a boy in the upstairs window, in some scenes there are people standing in the downstairs doors...Julia is the eerie girl in the middle door.
Click HERE to see it.

Revelations from the Children

1st...I found out yesterday that my daughter has officially reached the age where "just my presence" embarrasses her. I found this out when I asked what they thought of my presentation of the check for the MUSC Children's Hospital fundraiser that their school did. I was met with some "you did great"'s and even a "you didn't even embarrass me". This statement led to the conversation about when that may have started. Then my precious son blurted out that he still likes having me around.

Thank you, Legare. You are my hero.

We also discussed the workings of a typewriter. This discussion was at the tail end of the kids letting me know how much they enjoy "keyboarding" during computer class. That's when I realized that my children will probably never use a typewriter. They will never know how to properly load paper into one or understand the true meaning of using white out. They'll look at the typwriter (even the electric ones) as I used to look at the old "candlestick" telephones...just some old thing that may be fun to play and pretend with.

The same will probably hold true for lots of things....
cassette players and 8 tracks, lp/record players, walkmen, bag phones, built in car phones, computers that used to fill entire rooms, tests where you fill in the bubble for your answer, just to name a few.

Sad isn't it?

2 Down, 8 to Go

That's right, The Miracle Worker opened Friday night. So far, they've done two performances and there are 8 to go. The next 8 are made up of Thursday, Friday and Saturday night performances and Sunday matinees for the next two weeks.

Aside from the fact that I really feel as if my daughter did a fantastic job....being a blind girl on crutches handing a gift to Annie Sullivan, and then being a scary looking, crotchedy old woman with an eerie voice, the play was fantastic! The cast and director really nailed it. The story was great (as you probably know, who isn't intriged by Helen Keller?), but laced with some funny (to me) unexpected lines. I am so glad to be able to say that if you are to go just to see Julia, you won't be sitting around waiting for her to come on stage, you are really getting a great dose of theater that she just happens to be in.

There is a rumor that there will be a clip on youtube. If that happens, I will be sure to post to let you know. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the Perkin's Girls portion of the play. Julia is the cute one with the crutches.

Suck and Blow

For those folks who don't believe in the power of the central vacuum system...
I changed the bag and cleaned the filter today and found the following...
1 - permanent marker
1 - yellow crayon
1 - partial, card board toilet paper roll (could have been a paper towel roll)
20 lbs of fur and dirt

I was expecting the fur and dirt and maybe the crayon.
I don't recall sucking up a marker OR a cardboard roll.

A shower is a MUST when I'm finished. I'm gray and covered from head to toe.
That sucker kept on sucking even though those things were in the way.

Glad I thought to change the bag today - now I'm sure it will suck even harder. Watch out Legos and American Girl outfits...Here I come!

Felix is so Good, He's Getting Hired Out

You all know the stories of Felix earning his keep here with our family. I've talked about them here, and here.

Well, we have a favorite little haunt around the corner from the children's school. It's a very European "corner store" that sells a little bit of everything. Coffee, sodas, snacks, candy, baked goods, produce, boxed food items, beer, wine, milk, etc, etc. They even make the best crepes you have ever had. I had never had a savory crepe before eating theirs, but you can serve me one of theirs with goat cheese, ham, spinach and dill sauce any time. And that's just one of them that I'd take any time. I've slowly eaten my way around their crepe menu and haven't found one that I wouldn't get again.

So anyway, back to Felix. The other day I decided to stop and let the children get an after-school snack since I had some "Uncle Ken Money" (that's what the children are calling the money Mom gave us for Christmas because she said Uncle Ken always used to say you needed "walking around" money), and there was plenty of parking on the street.

Well, with all of the very unusual cold weather we're having, the rats have apparently decided to move in to the little store (very old, historic building with plenty of drafty holes) and Legare and I happened to see one. Well....we made light of seeing this furry creature when we went to the register and they were lamenting the recent "move in" that had taken place and that they needed a cat. Well....

....I shared with them the stories of Felix's prowess and they seriously asked if they could borrow him. So after I dropped Julia off at her play practice last night, Legare and I took Felix to the corner store.

With Litter box, food and a toy in tow. As we got there I took him straight to the back room (the room with the fancy beers and milk coolers). He got a scent and right away went around sniffing out the place. He was doing this all the while letting out the saddest cat cry you ever did hear. I think he thought we were going to leave him and never pick him back up. He finally went under a beer cooler and stayed.

Legare and I said good bye and good night, we left the girl my phone numbers in case she needed us, went on our way. Needless to say I thought about Felix all night. You could also tell that the other cat and the dog were kind of acting odd. We all wondered if we imagined it or if they were wondering where the heck Felix was.

Anyway, I picked him back up this morning after dropping the children off for school. I got there right before the store opened and we saw no signs of a dead rat. We did see signs of two TWIX bars being eaten. I don't know if they were there before or after we left Felix. At any rate, we can see no evidence of Felix being up to his normal stunts.

I offered to let them try it again. I also offered to help them pick out a cat at the Charleston Pet Helpers. We'll see what happens.