Weirdest Headache Ever

Well, I had my first migraine headache on Friday. How do I know it was a migraine? Well, I had the migraine with auras - flashing colors and blind spots. I described it first as a prism that started in my vision and then it grew into a VERY LARGE, sickle-shaped object of flashing colors and blind spots. It had black lines between colors so it kind of resembled a stained glass window or a kaleidoscope (only it was sickle shaped). And it didn't just occur in one eye, it was both. I felt generally odd/not right, and my neck (at the base of my skull) mostly felt like I needed to go get cracked at the chiropractor. I was a bit nauseated.


Luckily this vision part of this headache happened as I was driving into the driveway (making navigating into the garage kind of tricky). I then went upstairs into the den, began googling "prisms in vision" and then realized that seeing small things was all but impossible.

After several minutes in the dimly lit den, the vision started getting back to normal. Then...tiredness set it. I was wiped out!

While all of this going on, the left side of my face tingled a bit and I was having a really hard time making my thoughts come together to make clear sentences. I kept having the children check to see if my smile was symmetrical and to look and see if my tongue stuck out straight. It did. . . so I determined that there was no stroke going on - ha.

Today, my neck had the same cricked, needs to be cracked feeling, but no headache or vision event. Go figure. Life is crazy sometimes.

A Few Words to Catch Up

Again, it has been a while, but things are going well. Currently I am waiting to go get in carpool line to pick up several little girls to transport to a 13th, joint, birthday party.

Julia turned 13 in September and due to being cast as Betty Parris in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" we didnt' get to really celebrate. So she has joined in with two other of her friends to have a joint 13th birthday party. The whole class (20 people - boys and girls - plus two others - 20) are being transported to Edisto Beach where they will have a "dance" party followed by a game of Man Hunt.

The boys will be transported back and will leave at 10:00 pm and the girls (and several of us Mom's) will spend the night. I am in charge of lunch tomorrow. After lots of questions and turned down suggestions, I finally got from Julia that we should have Nutella and croissants and chicken salad. I have added grapes and potato chips and sodas, and I think I will have a hit of a lunch. I'm only feeding 13 girls and 5 parents, so I should be ok.

Julia did a fantastic job in The Crucible. The whole play was crafted extremely well. The directing, the set, the acting. It was great. I saw it several times and feel as if it were like stew or soup - it got better the longer it went.

The job is going well, 7th and 5th grades are going well. Legare decided he hated football this year. Could be a lazy thing. Could be that due to his birthday he was put on a team that had none of his classmates - only older school mates. He was the youngest boy on a team of 6th and 7th graders. And one of the biggest guys. And their team ended up being one of the smallest ones in the league - which means they didn't even earn a first down until the end of the season and finally scored points in one of the last games. They did win their last game though - having earned several first downs and scoring 3 touchdowns.

Anyway - time to go get in carpool line. Maybe some pictures later.

Oh, My!

Several things to blog about...

The most ornery thing is that my 12 year old's hormone's are really starting to kick in! Did I say that they are starting to "kick in"? I really meant - they are "ROLLING OVER US ALL WITH A STEAM ROLLER". Her included.

How do I know they're kick in/rolling over us, you say? Well - she can't keep her room clean for starters (even if I give it to her clean to start with). She has also shed more tears, thrown more daggers and awful looks, has had more attitude, and given Legare more undeserved crap in the last two weeks than she has done cumulatively for the last 2 years.

I thought hormones effected you for a short period each month. Mine certainly do. But this all month long BS is for the birds.

But then, if I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, I could say it's all because of her diet. All she's eaten lately is citrus. Grapefruits at breakfast, oranges at lunch (among other things) and at snack. it's almost like she's put herself on the grapefruit diet - and she doesn't even know what a Grapefruit Diet is!

So, we are all alive. All in tact, and surviving the storm that is Julia. I know it will get better - I'm already seeing glimpses!

The awful thing that happened last Friday (or RIP Oscar)

It was approximately 6:00am and I realized that I was awake, and awake because I had heard a funny sound.

A few minutes later I heard the sound again and it sounded vaguely familiar. Kind of like the sound that your nose sometimes makes after you've blown it. You know the sound - kind of squeaky - like your nostrils have somehow stuck together at the end of the blow. I instantly felt sorry for Julia - I was thinking she hadn't taken her allergy medicine and was paying for it as she woke.

Then I heard it again...this time it sounded like one of my cats crying out (well, kind of crying out). It was disturbing enough that I jumped up to see what was going on. Was this Julia, or was it a cat? And if it was a cat, which one was it?

As I flew down the hall, I noticed that Julia was sitting up in her bed. I stopped at her door and asked if she was ok. She quickly responded that she was, but that something was wrong with Oscar.

As I rounded the bed, I could see him crouching in the floor. I instantly thought he was dead. Then he looked up at me, with the wildest look in his eyes, and let out the sound again. At this point I also noticed that his tongue was kind of thick looking and starting to turn blue as it fell out of the side of his mouth. My thought instantly took me to thinking he was choking on a fur ball. Having worked for a VET in college, office practices and an old Red Cross class took me over as I grabbed him and began probing his throat to see if I could dislodge the hairball that I knew he must be choking on. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find anything.

I kept on trying to find a blockage, feverishly probing my fingers down his throat. I then began giving him my version of a feline Heimlich maneuver followed by some mouth to mouth and chest compressions. For a split second I just knew I was going to save him. Why else would I have thought to do all of this? My children watched me acting like a fiend with wide eyes. I was calling to Oscar, begging him to stay with us. I wasn't admitting to myself that he had just died in my hands. But he really was gone.

I began crying, all the while checking to make sure that he hadn't miraculously started breathing again. He was like a warm little rag doll in my hands. Felix looked on with a spooked expression. I was sobbing in the floor. Legare was sobbing with me. Julia and Bryan both seemed bewildered and unbelieving of what they had just witnessed.

I then placed my sweet Oscar into a used USPS "Priority Mail" box and kept checking to make sure he wasn't really breathing. Then, my sweet husband took my shell shocked children to school (I sent teachers an email about the mornings happenings) and he came back home to gather up Oscar and take him to the farm to bury him. Oscar now lies in peace in "Pet Row" next to all of the other pets...Drake, Poogan, Calhi, Deacon, and a friends dog whose name I don't recall.

I haven't dwelt too much on it - I still have a cat and two other dogs to love and care for - no time for miring down in sadness. I have shed a few more tears. One when I was reading a Harry Potter book and they described someone's tongue hanging out of the mouth as they struggled, and again tonight as I put together this post.

Oscar was a great pet. He was a bit aloof, but he always purred when petted. He was also very quick to reveal his tummy for you to pet whenever you began petting him elsewhere. Did I mention that his fur felt like mink? Well, it did. He let our neighbor's child carry him around like a Raggedy Ann doll and never seemed to really mind it. Oscar also loved jumping on the back of the couch when I was sitting on it. He would not sit beside me (or on me as Felix often does), instead, he would take that flat spot at the top of his head and rub my head with his several times before he would settle down by my head to purr and sit with me for a while. He could always be found napping somewhere - he loved napping. He would take month long turns at which ever spot he chose. He loved Julia's bed the most, but frequented everyone's. There were lots of times I would wake in the night to the soft feeling of Oscar snuggling down beside my shoulders or head.

Oscar was a truly special cat. I guess that's why I tried so in vane to save him. He wasn't sick (to my knowledge), and certainly didn't act ill. This came out of no where and smacked us all in the face. But life goes on. We rescued him from the pound in '05 when he was around 4 or 5 years old (or so they say). Of course this means that we offered him a much longer life than he was going to have at the shelter (this was NOT a no kill shelter). By best guesses he was 9 or 10. Given the way shelters like to underestimate ages to get animals adopted, he could have been much older than that.

Rest in Peace Sweet Oscar. You were a wonderful part of our family!

The Biopsy That Turned Into a CAT Scan

It's been so long I almost forgot my login user name. How funny is that?

OK...Aunt Susie asked for a biopsy update. Well, the good news is that the surgeon sent me for an ultra sound instead of a biopsy. We scanned the swollen node and my thyroid (thinking that if something was wrong with it, that would be causing the swelling in the lymph node. Well, the long and short of it is that I have a small node on my thyroid. Apparently if you lined up 15 women, 12 of us would have one. This thing is no big deal. Unless it turns into cancer (which is a "possible" kind of thing, but not an "always" kind of thing). The lymph node measured 1.5 cm x .6 cm. Nothing looked abnormal. We are scanning the thyroid again in 6 months just to have two good baselines (kind of like a mammogram - you get one to have a picture so that you can see if things change when the next one is taken). This first one will be my picture that we compare the one in 6 months to.

In 6 months I'll let you know what happens.

July was All of Sudden a Long Time Ago!

July - that seems so long ago. It was a time and place where there was warm air and swimming. And a new puppy in the house. I know I have no readers left to speak of, but I'm going to try to get started again. We'll see how well I do. Please leave a comment regarding some of the things you want me to write about. The list of things that have been happening in life are all up for grabs - cast a vote - let's see if there's anyone still out there - lol!

So, what have I been doing since July?

August - creating and organizing a "mobile" storefront for the school store while the building is under renovation. This included buying a rolling "tool cart" from Sears (Craftsman - that later need replacing due to faulty wheels), and filling "school supply" orders for the 200+ students who have ordered them. Trying to plan a Happy Birthday for my son, Legare and also celebrating with my niece, Eliza - they share the same birthday. School Started.

September - the month got kicked off the my brother-in-law's death. He was 40 and passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. He laid down on his bed and never woke. Julia's birthday was the day after his funeral. Life has seemed very surreal since then. This horrible family event was quickly followed by my dad's "roof" accident. Short story is that he fell off of a roof, got tangled in the ladder on the way down and compound fractured his tibia and fibula. This required emergency surgery and a rod placed in the tibia. I was also asked to be a board member for the fledgling theater company, "Threshold Repertory Theater". Oh, and I started a part time job. (this month left me feeling kind of numb).

October - My husband and brother-in-law's birthdays (back to back - 10th and 11th). Legare's football team is in the championship bowl and won. Bryan and Legare have taken up hunting with some guys from the team.

November - the first Thanksgiving without Thomas. My Dad was given permission to "toe touch". My first quail hunt - pretty cool!

December - Threshold RT held their first production (I was so busy and numb I didn't even attend - not that I didn't want to, I just couldn't produce the extra time anywhere in my schedule). Julia had her first round of exams (ever). Her lowest grade was an 88. Pretty good, I say. Watching her study was an event in, and of, itself. The first Christmas without Thomas. A first (and possibly only) snow of the season that happened the day after Christmas.

And that's about it. Oh, and I have been pretty tired and kind of convinced that my thyroid may be to blame. So I went to the doctor. He ran some blood work and all came back fine. I have a swollen gland in my neck, and because the blood work came back fine, he's sending me for a biopsy of the node. I go for the surgical prelim on Monday. This weekend our family will be spending New Year's with some dear friends who have invite us to join them at Sea Island, Georgia. Bryan and I will go the the ball at the Cloister. I'm kind of looking forward to this, except that Legare's new Leopard Gecko, Fleck, should probably be cared for - as well as Eloise. She's likely to scarf all of the food in one day instead of letting the free feeder do its work. I'll have to get on seeing if someone can take care of her and Fleck.

So - in a nut shell - that's what's been consuming my life since July. I know you have all been busy too. Comment or otherwise respond and I promise to post sooner than later! Welcome back, and thank you for coming back, AGAIN, to check to see if I've posted. You knew I would sooner than later!

- A

How Do I Name Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

I apparently use pop culture to name mine. Let me tell you about our pets' names...

When I was a little girl my mom and dad got me a chocolate lab puppy that I named Cocoa. He was a great dog. Shortly after we moved from the town where we got him to where we live now, he ran away and/or got run over because he was trying to run free. He roamed a lot when we moved here - I think that's just what dogs do.

Around the time of Cocoa I also went through a hoard of kitties. The one I remember naming was Town Clown (I was a big Captain Kangaroo fan). I don't remember Town Clown being around for long. I'm not sure what happened to him though I have a vague memory of one of the many kitties we tried to have become part of our family getting killed by a neighborhood dog.

After we moved to Charleston we got a new, fluffy, gray kitty when I was in the second grade, and my brother named him George. I think it was because of the cartoon where the Abominable Snowman finds Daffy Duck looking like a "Pink Bunny Rabbit". You know, "I will name him George and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him. And I will pat him and pet him and rub him and caress him". I loved the name and loved the kitty but was always a bit jealous that my brother's name for him was the one that was picked.

George died while I was in college. It was very sad for me, George had always kind of been my cat - sleeping on my bed every night, sitting with me in the family room. I missed him when I went away to college and Bryan, my then boyfriend, now husband, purchased some gerbils for me for Valentine's Day. I named them Rocky and Bullwinkle. (From "The Bullwinkle Show" aka "The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky". Are you seeing a naming trend yet?) Rocky and Bullwinkle were some cool gerbils. They had precious personalities and lived several years with me moving to and from college and even lived on the sorority hall with a hamster and a guinea pig. (all of which I might add were breaking the dorm rules).

After moving off campus, a neighborhood cat started hanging with us. Since he always came to our front porch at the same time every day, I lovingly started calling him "Porch Monkey". I think there is some kind of politically incorrect undertone with that moniker, but Porchy was a great cat and I loved his name. I saw nothing wrong with it.

I then adopted Cahli (sounds like Callie). That name was short for Calhoun, the son-in-law of the founder of the University I attended. I wanted desperately to name her after Clemson somehow, or one of the characters from the movie "Shag", and Calhi was the only thing I ended up liking.

On to the next animal, the first black lab daughter that Bryan and I adopted. I wanted to name this puppy something after Charleston since that was the place I grew up and I longed to get back. We housed her on our sun porch for quite some time, and after a week or two of trying to come up with names like Stono, Cooper, Ashley (all rivers here in town), or Folly, Sullivan or Edisto (all beaches around here). I then started with old Charleston names and never found one that struck me.

This poor puppy started out her life with us being kenneled on our sun porch when we went to work (or law school as was the case with Bryan). That's where she got paper trained and left all by herself until someone got home in the evenings or did a quick trip to come home for lunch to spend time with her. That's when it hit me (or hit a friend of mine - I can't remember who came up with it first)...Poogan. Poogan had to be this dog's name.

Why? Well, there was (and still is) a restaurant in the historic district, inside an old Charleston single house, called Poogan's Porch. It got its name because of the dog that used to frequent the porch. And so our little puppy got her name...Poogan.

Since then, Poogan and Cahli learned to love each other and are now both in that "big pet heaven in the (where ever it may be)". Because of this we now have more pets in our brood.

There's Oscar (who took over after Cahli's 14 year life ended [could have been only 12]). I let the children name him though I should have just done it my own self. I don't really know what my name would have been, but I don't think it would have been Oscar. But it pretty much suits him now. He was named for Will Smith's character in the movie "Shark Tale". For no particular reason other than they liked that movie at the time. We now like to pretend that he is a prim and proper English gentleman.

Then along came Felix (you also know him as my Trouble Cat). He's a black and white cat who is a fluffy version of Felix the Cat from the first 1960's animated show on TV. In the name deliberation process I was hoping for Bovine (Bo for short) or Holstein (as in the cow breed) because of his markings making him look like a fluffy Holstein/Bovine (aka cow). But none of the family would bite on these for some reason. So my mom offered up Felix in an ode to us having a Felix and Oscar of The Odd Couple from 1970's TV fame. Only my Felix and Oscar had swapped personalities from the ones on the TV show.

After Poogan died we adopted two dogs that we found with the help of Lowcountry Lab rescue.
The naming of the black one, Willis, was due in part to all of my old standby Charleston names and places being thrown out - AGAIN - and my jovial reading of signs in a mountain town as we traveled from visiting her. Jaunita (of Juanita's Taco Palace) was rejected as well as Ingle (of Ingle's grocery store), and several others (whew). Then I again, jokingly, threw the name Willis in the mix after seeing the sign for "Willis' Auto Body Repairs". With this dog being a girl I was truly joking (though it had a nice ring to it), and I was thinking, "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?" in the back of my mind when 3 year old Legare pipes up that he likes that name and that we should definitely call her "Lillis". And so there you go - that's how we got Willis.

That day of visiting Willis, we also decided to love and adopt a Yellow Lab (female) as well. Since we deliberated so long with naming her, and I kept calling her Yella Dog, and because Julia wanted her to have a girly name, unlike Willis', we chose Ella. Sounded like Yella (which she had already been responding too) and I convinced Julia that it was short for Cinderella. She bought it and thus...Ella had her name.

Along the way we had several fish, two of the last ones were named Cosmo and Melman (again from some kind of kid's tv shows or movies. Cosmo from "Fairly Odd Parents" and Melman, from the movie "Madagascar".

So that makes a total of 14 pets. 10 of which have definite ties to TV shows or movies (planned or not).

All of this to bring you to the name of our new furry baby. We planned and made lists just like always and have come up with the name Eloise ("Weesie" if you're in a hurry). Eloise, because we like the name. Not because we see her being a trouble maker like the little girl that lived in The Plaza hotel, but because we like the name AND the nickname it lent.

Since Eloise has had her own book and movies, and since there was Weesie Jefferson from "The Jefferson's", I guess it is now safe to say that, over my lifetime of having pets, the total is now 11 of 15 pets having to do with TV shows or Movies in some way or another.

Our New and Furry Family Member

This is the (sleepy) face we met this morning. We went looking for puppies and were a bit disappointed when we got there and only males were left. The owner promised there was one more female puppy and that her favorite place to sleep was wedged under the ramp that went into their storage shed.

Well she was there. DEEP back against the leading edge of the ramp and DEEP asleep. We finally got her out and it was very difficult to have her break her puppy coma. We decided we loved her and wanted her. The cheer the kids gave to Bryan when we had him on speaker phone making sure this is what we wanted was one like I haven't heard. And I've heard some good ones.



So we got her home and she perked right up. Excited to see her new surroundings and her new Big Sis Willis (our adult black lab). She frolliced and romped with Willis and showed Willis a toy so they could play. And then.....
And there she has been (for about 2 hours). I hope this doesn't mean she'll be up all night.
We haven't named her yet, but we have a list started.

Anyone want to add your 2 cents to the list? We're open for suggestions.

Why You Should Always Look Where You're Going

This is what will happen when you walk backwards and hit the mug of hot water that your mother is carrying to the sink. Doing this will also make your mom cry once she has gotten a cold towel on you and mopped up the water that found its way to the floor. A trip to the drugstore for burn cream makes it feel much better. 5:00 medication will help your mother feel better later on today. (approx. 8:30 am)

3:30 pm burn update: The cream has been working ok. The lines are now more definitive. There are some popped as well as unpopped blisters. The portion right below the open, popped, pink blister looks like it may be the worst (besides the open, popped, pink blister). I think the opened blister is due to him grabbing the area as it happened with his shirt still on him. I think that whole action caused all of the blisters that are popped, to pop.

I'll take busy over this!

Thought me and several of my "blog reads" had been taking time off because of the busy things life sends our way. One of my blog friends has just opened a restaurant - so needless to say she's been pretty busy and hasn't been able to post much. I wasn't really sure what was up with Farm Girl Fare except that it's summer time and the lambs on her farm are growing up and this is usually coyote season. And hay baling season. Well boy was I wrong.
She's just had a run in with a copper head that landed her in the ICU for a week. You should check the story out by clicking here.

Hope everyone is staying busy. And safe!

I've Been Doing Lots of Things

Hey, there! It's been a while.
A long while.
That means time must be Hauling Ass. I feel like I just posted the other day.
I can't believe that it's already the middle of July.

Well, read on if you want some quick snapshots of what we've been up to.

The children are (almost) finished with their summer math books. Julia is finished with almost all of her summer reading. Legare is 1/4 of the way finished with it. I'm getting nervous whether he'll finish or not without a big struggle (he's currently giving very little effort to it)

Aside from summer math and reading, what have we been doing? Well....

We replaced the 2nd of the long time fish. (Both of the new fished died, and we decided to retire the bowl for a while. I still kind of miss seeing the fish as I walk by the book shelves.)

The first week of summer we vacationed at Kiawah with the family. Loads of fun.
We've celebrated mother's day, father's day and my Dad's b-day in one pool or another.
We buried a friend's 10 year old daughter last week (amoebic meningitis).
I've seen Julia off on a week's vacation to the Adirondacks with some good friends (she's coming home Sunday).
We've had weeks and weeks of 3-a-day swim practices and two swim meets a week (sounds like a lot, but it's actually kind of fun - Bryan I'm sure would beg to differ). The City Meet is happening this Sun through Tuesday and we'll be officially done with swimming.
I had lunch with a long lost sorority sister who was in town.
We came home from Kiawah to a green pool and a house full of fleas.
Had to replace the salt-to-chlorine unit (it was under warranty yeah - no expense). Once it was fixed, the pool "blued" right up.
I've Medicated the crap out of the animals for the fleas.
We bombed the house for fleas the day we got back from Kiawah.
Just this week I sprayed down the yard for fleas. This coincided with re-medicating the animals - AGAIN. I think I've been doing this every 3 weeks instead of the recommended 4. Is that animal abuse?
We got new (to us - but they're hand-me-downs) bunk beds put up in one of the bedrooms at "the red tin roof" house.
We finally got most of the stuff out of the upstairs bedrooms at the red tin roof house.
We have full use of the dining room out there again due to another cleaning (thank you Spencer - for relocating your office stuff and being such a great overseer while you were having your temp office there).
We put the boats in the water. I think we've already used them more this summer than last.
A few friends came out to the farm (aka "red tin roof house") for a pre-4th celebration.
Bryan and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary (by celebrating I mean we went out to the farm and I got to crawl under the house to run a pipe.)
This pipe means there is now water at the dock (yea!).

I've placed the order for the school supply kits for about 200 children. (I'm in charge of the particular committee that handles that).
I have also ordered the few misc. things that need to be in the kits that our supplier couldn't find.

I've been to the DNR Office twice. Once right before the 4th to get a registration sticker for the boat. Again today to replace faded registration stickers for the motor.
I've watched my precious child, Legare, learn to hydro-slide. (and since it's on a Hydro-Slide brand knee board, I can call it Hydro-sliding).
I put Julia's finger in a splint for a little over a week due to thinking it was broken because of pinching it in the hinge of the boat ladder (I've never seen such a black finger tip - ouch!)
I attended a Guerilla Cuisine event (underground supper club) at Blu. (very interesting and great food!).
I will be going to the mountains in August.
Legare will be attending Camp St. Christopher in August.
Both children will go with Mom and Dad to Holden Beach in August.
At some point I have to order school uniforms (new this year - 5 days a week, not just on PE days.) I can't decide if I'm excited or not.
I've applied for a job or two (no responses).
And I've been doing lots of laundry. Drinking lots of beers, and been enjoying my children.
What about you?

One Down....

So we've had these fish for quite a while. We've lived in this house for three years, and we had them for at least 3 before that. I didn't go out looking for fish to buy, or otherwise add to our brood, it just kind of happened.

I had a friend who gave fish as the "party favor" at her child's first birthday. My daughter was two and my son was not quite 6 weeks old. Both children got a fish that day (Tank and Orange-Orange). One died before the sun set the next day. And since it was already lovingly named by the two year old I felt obligated to get a new one. Thanks to the refractive nature of the glass bowl, she didn't realize there was only one fish until I was able to spend the twenty or so cents to replace.

Not to much time had past (several months, not quite a year), and these guys died. No big deal. And then, sweet Aunt Chelle gave each child a Beta fish while they were in her care for a weekend while we attended a football game. I can't complain - it was free babysitting. Now, my son was around 2, totally into the fish. We went through a few Beta's before I decided no more. Then, the cuteness of the children, and their willingness to spend their own money, got to me and I caved and took them to Walmart to get more fish (Cosmo and Melman). I steered the children to the "Gold" variety, helped them pick their bowls and a decorative bowl statue and we were on our way.

It wasn't until we moved in here that the fish moved in together - thanks to a slip of the bowl in the ceramic sink (my fault, not the children's). With nothing else to move Cosmo into, he and Melman became bunk mates; and have been until last week when Melman died. Upon looking back, I think it wasn't old age that took him, but the jump into the colander during his bowl cleaning that lead to me having to pick him up. I may or may not have had detergent on my hands at the time. This may or may not have killed him.

Well, Cosmo started looking sick. He just sat at the bottom of the bowl. Bryan was convinced he was on the way out too. I had changed the water after Melman's death and thought surely old age was taking the toll on him too. Then cuteness prevailed again, and Julia convinced me to splurge and I spent twenty nine cents and let her get a new fish.

So now we have Kevin. A cute goldfish variety that is silver on his bottom half with a blaze, neon orange top half. Very cute. And much smaller than Cosmo (chalking that up to being much younger). The craziest thing is that Cosmo has perked up and isn't just laying around on the bottom anymore. So instead of being on the countdown, "One Down, One to Go", kind of thing, we're back where we started. Again.

We have all decided that Cosmo was suffering from a bout of depression due to Melman's passing. Now we're all taking bets as to how much longer these guys will be with us.

Just a Parking Space

Julia is doing a Power Point Presentation and needed these photographs. The bottom two are of my neighbor, reguilding the monument last fall. The other is a stock photo of the Iwo Jima monument showing the monument and the golden area that my neighbor and her guilding friends re-guilded.

These pictures are needed due to her presentation being about gold leaf guilding. Her class is learing about WWII battles, so we thought this was a pretty neat coincidence!

Pictures for Julia's Power Point.

Jailbird Updpates

Jailbird #1: Sentenced reduced from Burglary 1 (15 years to Life), to Possession of Stolen Property over $1000 (not more than 5 years) due to lack of physical evidence of him being in the house.

Bond: $50,000. If he can make bond (coming up with 10%), he will be under house arrest and have an order against him to stay more than a mile away from my neighborhood.

Getting ready to have another count of Burglary against him.

Jailbird #2: Still sitting in jail, waiting for a Preliminary Hearing to be scheduled.

Just thought you'd want to know.

Mocking Birds and Jail Birds

Mocking birds...they mock. They can sound like chickadees, blue jays, wrens.
And this morning the new sound I heard was the sound of a door alarm. Our door alarm.

Mocking birds. Yep, they mock. As I sat this morning, windows open, I realized I was wondering why our door alarm was going off. Pretty funny how it got my attention. Then I realized it was just a bird.

Jail birds...did you know that both of our burglars are sitting their lousy asses in jail? Yep. I even went to the bond hearing of the sex offender (bond denied due to the charge against him with a possibility of bond in 3 weeks). Let me tell you, he was scary. The hearing was held via closed circuit TV from the jail, so I didn't have to be in the same room with him, and he was STILL scary looking (and acting).

The preliminary hearing for the other jail bird (who's bond was already denied previously) is coming up on May 5th. He's been sitting in jail since March 19th with no option for bonding out. I plan on going to his hearing too. Hopefully he'll either be denied bond, or it will be so high he won't be able to afford it.

Funny Thing

So last night we put the kids to bed and I started my nightly couch sitting routine (trying to watch the bunch of nothing that was on TV last night, and starting to play cards on the computer). Bryan was sitting on the other couch, forcing the issue of watching the military channel because "there's nothing else on" (and sadly he was right).

As I sat, with the laptop open and on my lap - cause you know, I'm getting ready to play something, anything other than having to watch whatever it is that Bryan has chosen to watch - and I heard the "bing"on my iPhone, notifying me that I had an email. I chose to go see what the email was on the laptop. And in this day of identity theft, imagine my surprise when this comes from Apple:
"How to reset your Apple password" was the subject. The body of the email read like this:

"To reset your Apple ID password, simply click the link below. That will take you to a web page where you can create a new password.
This link will expire in three hours."

Since I haven't been to my Apple account in a few days, I got a bit nervous until it dawned on me that this must mean that Legare was trying to download a new App to his iPod Touch. While he was supposed to be going to sleep! So I called him to the den to ask him.

Luckily he didn't lie and was honest about trying to enter (multiple times) what he thought my password might be so that he could get a new App. We laughed about how iTunes ratted him out and how he should always come ask me first.

I'm glad he was being honest. I rewarded him for this by not being mad. And Bryan and I got a big kick, and good laugh, out him him being "outed" by the electronic gadgets.

WHAT IF....

What if I had been awake at 4:30 several weeks ago?
What if I had been sitting on the couch when those thugs decided to come into my house, or upstairs?
What if I had heard that noise on that night?
What if I had found myself face-to-face with them as I came down the hall, or got up to see about a noise?

What if my dog hadn't woken up, what would they have taken then?
What if they had looked into the kitchen and seen my laptop on the table?
What if then they had looked into the den and seen the others?

What if they had come down the hall to our bedrooms?
What if I had just not been so tired when I heard Willis walk down the hall?
What if I had decided to listen, or follow Willis down the hall?

What if they had vandalized things - like cutting up the tv or couch downstairs?
What if they had taken Legare's book bag as a carry off bag (would he have been ok after that)?

What if the sex offender had decided to offend again?

What if they had seen my keys hanging on the post downstairs?
What if they had seen Bryan's that were in his unlocked car that was sitting in the driveway?
What if I had left my purse and phone in my unlocked car?
What if they had the gun they stole from across the street when they got here?
What if they had shot my dog when she came down the hall?
What if worse then that had happened?
What if I had just woken up and had a chance to see them, or tackle them?
What if we had all been woken up scared and terrified in the middle of the night?
What if my kids were now scarred for life over this?

What if "they" come back to look at "the scene of the crime" and decide to go for one more load of stuff?
What if that's why the neighbor's dog is barking?

What if they don't catch this guy?
What if the other one gets off?
What if he can make bail (when the time comes)?
What if I keep having the "what if" dreams?
What if making bail makes the "what ifs" worse?
What if the "what ifs"don't go away soon?

What if this happens again?
What if God hadn't protected us so?

I have played every "what if" scenario I can think of in my head since this happened. Sadly, there's hundreds more. I have decided that the best thing that could have happened if you get bruglarized, did happen. We slept through it. No one was hurt. Things of not much significance were taken. No one had to confront these guys. They didn't ransack the place.

And because of all of this, I say God is good! He is so many things to me, and on that night, He was my protector. What if I hadn't had Him?

HOLY SHIT

A Sex Offender (attempted lewd act on a female child under 16 - her age is listed as 8) was in my home. Gotta read what the story was in today's paper.

And here is his SLED Sex Offender registry page.

I HAD NOT Lost My Mind

It has been three weeks since I woke and found out we had been burglarized. I'm sorry that's all I've posted about lately, but it has really been the thing that has been on my mind.

I don't think I wrote about it initially, but the morning it all happened, after I found my purse safely on the counter upstairs, I went straight to the dining room to check on Bryan's mamma's silver. After seeing that the box was there (hhhmmm- I actually haven't opened it - another thing to do in the morning), I glanced up at the corner, glass door-front china cabinet and something missing caught my eye. Crystal. Not whole shelves of crystal, just several pieces from a top shelf and an odd open place on the bottom shelf. I brought it to Bryan's attention and he quickly removed the silver storage box. Then he (and a few other people over the course of a week or so) kept telling me that maybe I had misplaced the crystal, taken it somewhere, or had otherwise done something with it. Why would people who stole Wii's, xBoxes and their games want crystal?

After a week or so, I started thinking that maybe I had broken some and not remembered (though I was having to talk myself into this scenario), or that I had offered them up for some party that I hadn't remembered. I didn't really buy this scenario either, but what else could have happened? And if the crystal was missing, at the hands of these burglars, then this would mean that they had breached the sanctity of my living quarters and come upstairs. So I was starting to buy the "maybe an old housekeeper or her assistant had picked some stems over the course of their cleaning and I hadn't noticed" excuse. Because, let's face it, the other option was not one I wanted to deal with...bad people in my home.

But the housekeeper as thief didn't add up either...I haven't had a house keeper for over a year, and I had just hosted the "Cookie Swap turned Gift Exchange" in December, having brought out(and had) all of my crystal.

But for two weeks I still fretted over the crystal. And Friday, when the Detective made her third trip to my house to deliver some more recovered items, she let me know that the suspects had started getting blabby and brought up some crystal. At this point, she had not brought up to them anything about me missing some crystal. So Friday was the day she let me know that I had not been losing my mind. And I felt vindicated.

And then quickly, I felt violated all over again. The violated feeling had gone away with the first delivery of recovered items and then "poof", gone with delivery number three and the realization of intruders in the living quarters.

Other missing things surfaced this weekend. Not only had they taken my Vera Bradley bag that I used for my Bible Study tote, but they had take Julia's large and her small Vera duffel bags that were in the laundry room, under the laundry table. We realized this when we needed them to pack with this weekend. More violation.

So all in all, here's the rundown of crap they got from us....

One Wii Game Console (w/ cords) - RECOVERED
4 Wii Wands - RECOVERED
1 “Motion Plus” accessory (wand extender) - RECOVERED
4 Wii Nun chucks - RECOVERED
1 Wii Microphone

1 Xbox Game console (w/ power cord) - RECOVERED
4 controllers - only one recovered
1 Xbox IR remote control and receiver

Game Cube wireless remote receiver

Vera Bradley Bags – "Vera", "Large Duffel", "Small Duffel"
Crystal – Gorham Lady Anne
wine glasses – 3
goblets – 2
highball - 1

Wii Games (18 +) - 19 RECOVERED

Xbox Games (13+) - 10 RECOVERED

Game Cube Games (15+) - all but 6 RECOVERED (we had added to this list and I don't have the new count.)

I can't wait to see if there's a fourth trip of recovered items. I'll be sure to let you know.

Rotting In Jail

That's right...there has been an arrest made. I received a phone call this morning from the detention center that there had been an arrest made (there supposedly were two perpetrators, so there hopefully will be a second arrest coming).

I haven't talked to a detective to have any true details, just the officer from the detention center that there was someone being detained there. He wanted to know if we wanted to be alerted if bail was posted...well of course I do.

Nothing else has been returned. I'll keep you informed of the next step.

Recovered

In one week's time many things have been recovered. I don't know the details...but one car from somewhere in the neighborhood.

Our Wii console. All 18 Wii games. 4 controllers with 4 nunchucks and 1 motions plus attachment. The "gun" accessory, and 1 Game Cube game. 1 Tiger Woods golf game that we had forgotten about.

Hopefully some kind of future arrest...CPD is hot on the trail.

Still missing - the Wii microphone (we're not going to play Boogie for a while, I guess), the Xbox and its games, all but one of the Game Cube games (those can be played on the Wii).

Again...thanks to my wonderful husband for having that serial number!

Wii Love Charleston PD

That's right...the investigator typed in our Seriel number into the Pawn Shop data base, and this morning around 11:00, I got a call that she was bringing the Wii back. There were only 6 of the 18 games, and only 1 of the 5 controls, but still. They found our Wii.

And they have the name of the girl who turned it in and they're trying to find her for questioning. And because "Burglary" is the charge - a pretty hefty one considering that means it was done in the cover of night (and people were home) - they are hoping that she will crack and drop some names and details. Then maybe we can get more stuff back, our neighbors up and down the street may be able to get their iPods and cell phones, and one neighbor may actually be able to get their car back. Well, I guess all that is pretty wishful thinking. But I can dream, right?

When we got the Wii console back, the detective wanted me to boot it up. When we did, we found several new "Mii"s that were not ours. Looked like one was created by a girl - and from what I saw on the evidence bag, it's the same name as the one who turned it in. There were a few other created by people with initials that I didn't recognize and a guy's name that I didn't recognize.

All in all, as we did the list of missing items, we realized that between the old xBox, the Wii and the old Game Cube, at least 46 games were stolen. Guess that's why they needed my Vera Bradley bag.

So, a pretty odd week ends on a much more decent note than where it started. And I'll get to end the evening grilling out on driveway on this beautiful day!

While You Were Sleeping

It started with the dog waking in the middle of the night and me hoping she didn't want me to get up to let her out. This was in the wee hours of the morning - I don't really know when, 'cause this time I didn't look at the clock to see how much more time I had to sleep.

At 6:15 the alarm went off and I did the unusual thing of snoozing until 6:30. I hadn't done that since I had kids that need to be up and getting ready for school.

I headed to the kitchen, making sure the children were awake as I passed by their rooms. All was o.k .considering it was the first true day to require waking up since the time changed. I began getting ready to make breakfast when the dog came into the kitchen and wanted out - NOW. She usually wants out, but this time she didn't do her normal saunter, she wasn't waiting around. Which I thought was an urge to go potty.

As I was letting her out, it occurred to me that I could see light shining from the garage onto the driveway. This was not a good sign, this probably meant that Bryan left the light on, potentially inviting someone into the garage. Or, a bay door could be open possibly letting the dog out into the neighborhood (just an FYI - we never leave our garage doors open at night).

So I went down to check and I found not only the light on, but both bays open. CRAP. I checked my car (because I usually leave my purse in it), and the door was not shut all the way. My purse wasn't inside (I won't make you wait on this one....but it was up in the kitchen for the first time in like, EVER). So I headed in to see if my purse was in the house when I turned around and realized that our hide a key was in the door and then it dawned on me that the playroom light was on. So, I went in. And then noticed a big pile of papers where my Vera Bradley bag had been. And of course I kept getting more irritated at Bryan for leaving the bays up (he likes them up when he's outside) and leaving the key in the door. As I entered the playroom (did I mention my house is raised, so the garage laundry and playroom are on the ground floor and you go up stairs to get to the main part of the house?), my eyes took a second to focus on the fact that the entertainment console was bare. That's right - BARE (except for the dust).

And by BARE I mean no Wii console, no XBox, no games, no remotes, no cords. Nothing. Simply nothing. Luckily the TV is big and mounted on the wall - not so easy to pick up and take.

Long story short - I spent the morning with the finger print crew, mid morning thinking someone was in the house because of an opened door that had previously been closed and locked (this required the second visit of Charleston's Finest), mid afternoon shaking in my boots and answering a plethora of phone calls from concerned friends, loved ones and lock smiths. And then this evening I got a call from a neighbor telling me we weren't the only ones...about 4 other houses on his end of the street had been robbed. We don't know if they had been burglurized as we had been (the trespassory breaking and entering of the dwelling of another at night with an intent to commit a felony therein - and yes, they were in my house while we were upstairs sleeping), but apparently it had happened all over the neighborhood.

So back to the dog getting up in the wee hours, I think she heard them, went to check them out, and actually kept them from getting away with more. I keep thinking maybe they came upstairs because I am missing several stems of crystal from the dining room. And I keep saying "they" because the officers informed me that a patrol of the neighborhood was made in the middle of the night due to another neighbor calling because of seeing suspicious people out and about. So there was definitely a they.

So sad the fridge is out of beer right now. I sure could use one.

'Tis But a Mole Hill

Resume, resume, resume....my eyes are going crossed due to the nit-picking details that go into creating a resume. Oh, my neck...oh, my eyes.

Well, needless to say, that because of all of the time spent in front of the computer over the last week or so (or in the dentist chair because I broke my implant crown - yay me!), I have fallen behind on my laundry. But because I have been doing little loads at a time, Mt. Laundry is just a mole hill right now.

No More Mt. Laundry

Since the New Year, I've been doing a load of laundry a day (this I learned from my Momma). Doing things this way usually includes 1 load of towels a week. And believe it or not, this actually makes it feel like I'm not really doing laundry at all. I highly recommend giving it a try.

Well, last week we had a "head lice scare" and everything in the house got washed, including EVERY towel, last Wednesday.

Well, fast forward to this morning. It was time for towels again, and I thought it looked like the pile was bigger than it should be. As I begin placing the towels in the washing machine, I realized that there were WAY TO MANY TOWELS TO FIT ALL OF THEM INTO THE MACHINE (did that look like maybe I was a bit frustrated? Well, I was). After I did a quick count, I realized that my small family (2 adults, 2 pre-pubescent children) had dirtied 13 bath towels and numerous wash cloths and hand towels. This didn't even included the 3 kitchen towels I wanted to clean. With all of these smaller towels, I'll round 13 bath towels to a total number of 15 (even though, all-in-all there were more, I figured the smaller ones added up to a total of 2 bath towels.

15. That's almost 4 towels a piece. And I think most of this excess is being fueled by the children's use of towels. Is it just me, or does 13 (much less 15) seem a bit excessive?
I know what my "Parts of the Day" will be tonight around the dinner table.

20 Years Later and I'm Finally Not Looking Back Quite so Hard

Today used to be a day that I watched for on the calendar. Watched for it. Waited for it to. And dreaded its arrival. The whole month of February used to cause me lots of stress (for many reasons that happened in a succession of years after the thing that happened on the 21st).

20 years ago, the 21st was a Tuesday, I believe. I was at college and was getting ready for a 4 way mixer (2 sororities and 2 fraternities)...it was going to be a blast - we even had a t-shirt printed for this one! I had eaten dinner and went back to my room to primp. My mother called. We chatted about the goings on of the day, and the Mixer that awaited me that night. Her call waiting beeped, and since this was the days before caller ID, she decided to let me go get finished with my party preparation and go see who was calling on the other line. So we said our "I love you's" and went about our ways.

I arrived at the party, began drinking some beer (not quite legal, but I was close enough know one said anything), dancing and taking pictures with my friends with the "Flash" (photographer) who was there. The party hadn't been going for too long when someone told me that Bryan was looking for me.

Now this took me by surprise, because we weren't mixing with Bryan's fraternity. Why in the world was Bryan here? This was really odd. They wouldn't let him into the party because he was not an invited guest, so I had to go the front for him. The look on his face was very serious. My mind kept wondering why he looked so seriously serious. We hadn't been arguing, no fighting, but my mind kept wondering why in the world he was picking a mixer as the appropriate place to break up with me. And what had happened for him to even want to break up with me?

I simply couldn't get my mind around it. Plus, I had just started catching a buzz, he was going to ruin that for sure.

So, as I get to the front, show him my surprise at him being there, and then try to get him to come into the party, he gently tells me that he needs to talk to me. I say o.k., let's talk. To which he tells me we should probably go outside. He's being very tender, not at all like he's getting ready to dump me, but my mind is still on the "what is he going to do, dump me?" train of thought.

So we go to the parking lot, and he somehow tells me (this is kind of blurry) that my dad has had a heart attack and that we need to go home.
....
....
....

Wait. Did he just say that my dad had a heart attack?! I was just on the phone with my mother and she didn't say anything (turns out that call waiting was the frantic phone call from a collegue of my father's that they had called 911 because they thought he was having a heart attack). Why would Bryan know and not me? Is Dad alive? When did this happen? How am I going to get home? Do I need to call my mom? Where is my mom? Is my brother with her?

Oh, so many questions. And Bryan didn't know how to answer them. All he could say is that my mom had called and needed him to come get me so that I could come home. At the time she called Bryan, Bryan thought Dad was alive. But I could tell he wasn't really sure.

So somehow I find myself back in my room on the phone trying to reach my my mom. I somehow get to the CICU waiting room. I don't recall how I got the information to even get the number to that phone or how I even knew which hospital to call. Bryan may have had that information. Before I can actually get to Mom, I remember that my Godparent's answered and told me that he was alive. They asked me how I was and then passed the phone to my brother. I knew I would get the straight scoop from him. He was 4 years younger than me and a Junior in High School at the time.

Joe sounded awful. Simply awful. He told me that Dad was alive. But when I asked if I needed to come home (tonight or could it wait until tomorrow), without hesitation he said that I had to come home RIGHT NOW.

Oh no. I don't even remember if I got to talk with mom or not. Everything got really blurry.

My mind started racing. I had a lot to get together so that I could get on the road ASAP. Bryan has said he would drive me ...I didn't need to be driving. Not only because I had recently had a few beers, but because it was late and it was a 4 hour drive to get home. I had to let my roommate and suitmates know that I was going home and that I didn't know when I would come back. Oh, and that I also wouldn't be attending our Sorority's formal in Atlanta this weekend.

I think I finally got home somewhere around 4:00 am. And when I say home, I mean the hospital. The 4 hour ride hadn't taken quite that long - Bryan had a good lead foot. Don't forget that 20 years ago was before all college kids had cell phones (it was even a big deal for parents to have cells at this particular time), so during this long ride home I had no updates on Dad's condition. Had he gotten better? Had things turned sour? Or had he really been dead this whole time and no one wanted to tell me over the phone?

I had no idea what the news was going to be when I arrived at the hospital.

I found my way through the maze of halls and up to the CICU, where the waiting room was full of loved ones. I think Momma and Joe were in the room (but they could have been somewhere else at this particular moment in time). I think my Godparent's were in the room. But I really don't remember who was there. I think it was Joe that I saw first. I think I burst into tears. Please, someone tell me if my Daddy is still here! That was all I could think.

I was relieved when I found that he was still with us. And apparently doing fine. I think there were more tears. The nurse found out that I was "the patient's" daughter, and she broke the "only every 4 hours" visitor rule and let me go in to see Dad. Mostly because Dad had been asking a lot about me. He was worried about how long (and how late) Bryan and I were on the road, and she knew it would ease his stress level (which would be good for his heart). So, the wonderful nurse let me in the see my Daddy.

My mom was the true Steel Magnolia. She did all the right Mom things. Hugs and kisses and lots of reassurance that Daddy was fine. She also warned me about all of the hoses, tubes, needles and machines that Dad was hooked up to. She didn't want me to be alarmed. She also cautioned me that I needed to be careful if I hugged him because his chest was burned from the 11 (yes, that was ELEVEN) different times they had to hit him with the defibrillator to keep him from leaving us.

Holy Cow! This was a much bigger heart attack than I was thinking it was.

So as I enter the room, I am relieved to see Daddy smiling at me. I think we're all a bit upset, but I was trying very hard not to be crying when I went into his room. I didn't want to upset him (most of you know what a great crier I am).

And Mom was right, there were more tubes, hoses, cuffs, and beeping machines than I had ever seen in anyone's hospital room before. And it was HOT in there. They had apparently pumped so much blood thinner in Dad, that at this point, his blood was running ICE. I swear it was every bit of 80 degrees. And even under about 4 thermal blankets he was still shivering.

Of course I hugged and kissed Daddy. Deep inside I was kind of afraid to touch him, I don't want to hurt him, or knock covers off of him and make him cold. He and Mom showed me how strong his heart looked on the monitor. He showed me where all of the monitor leads were hooked, and the bruises and burns on his chest (while kind of laughing I might add). And mostly he just looked like my dad. Only he was hooked up like he was in an ER-type TV show.

And then it hit me. I almost lost my Dad. I could have arrived and found my dad not here. At this point I had been running on adrenaline since about 9:00 or 10:00 (whatever time it was when Bryan came to get me). And the adrenaline decided to turn in to a rush of relief. And this rush decided to come over me as I stood there in Dadd's room. And I almost passed out.

That's right. I was trying not to stress out Dad, and here I go, almost monkey-ing in his room. I'm going to blame it on the heat in there. Did I tell you how hot it was in there? After I got a cold cloth (and I think some smelling salts, but I may be remember a part of a different hospital room story that I'll try to remember to write about later), I got myself together enough to try to keep it light and laugh at myself so that Dad wouldn't have to be worried about me of all things. And that's when I tried to have a moment of comic relief. And that's when I outed with, "Daddy, you know if you had done this 24 hours earlier, I could have saved the $6.00 I spent today at the Laundry Mat." (of course meaning that I could have brought all of that dirty laundry home instead.) I think it worked - we all laughed.

And that is what we still all laugh about today. Although today almost went by without me calling Dad. I actually saw him today and forgot to tell him Happy February Birthday. And when we did talk, he reminded me that next year he'll be legal. Good Ol' Dad!

20 years after a major heart attack, with no other cardiac events to follow, is a pretty big milestone I say. Along the way, he stopped smoking, was invited to DC to receive the Ecotrin Heart Award a few years later (the actual award was an amber colored, Bacarat crystal heart), and has lived to see both of children get married and become parents.

Happy February Birthday, Daddy!

(And if anyone wonders the reason for the heart attack...in short, an allergic reaction. To drinking non-stop coffee and smoking non stop packs of cigarettes as he got through the long hours of working around the clock to keep a television station on the air - and equipment repaired in it - after Hurricane Hugo hit in September, just a few months before.

It was so much nicotine and caffeine that he had basically saturated his body and his heart finally had an allergic reaction to all of it. No blockages. No bi-passes. Just no more nicotine and no more all day caffeine.)

There's No Place Like Home

Suzy went home today! Yay, Suzy!
She is my friend's niece who was hit in the head by the pine tree while building a snowman last Saturday. To read her story, go to this journal on Caringbridge.

Snow, Man!

The snow was fun, but short lived. It was soft and fluffy enough that rolling snowman body parts literally picked up all the snow in its path. We started the night at Folly Beach with friends (it was our Winter Break from school) and as we drove back to the house Saturday morning (all of about 3 miles), it was like a line was drawn - from where the snow didn't stick, to where the winter wonderland started. And the snow just got deeper as you went further inland (duh, right?). Here are a few snow picks... when I can find the others (meaning, I've done this in multiple parts and can't figure out where I've saved them to the computer) I'll post more.

Miracle Worker Pictures

Whew...the play is over. I didn't realize how much time I actually had during the day until I got it back. I miss it a bit (the play that is...I know Julia does too), and I'm so thrilled that Julia was able to be a part of a performance that was truly a great piece of art. I have uploaded a few pictures to share with you. Of course, I wasn't able to take photos during the performances (I was able to attend 3, I was backstage for 3 others). It was a fantastic first time experience.

Here goes.....

These are the directors, the main director, Mark, is an attorney by day, avid actor (you should have seen his bio) and director by night. He had a remarkable attitude and Mary, the Assistant Director and Stage Manager, was equally wonderful. This photo was taken after the final performance.

Helen Keller, the cutie with the blue bow, her "Mom and Dad and Brother" and Annie Sullivan to the left. They were wonderful. It was weird seeing "Helen Keller" being such a normal girl, smiling, laughing and giggling with the rest of the girls during the intermissions when she was able to come sit with us. Sometimes "Brother Keller", aka Tyler would come back stage and sit too. The girls loved him, he was constantly making them laugh.
Julia as her "Old Crone" character standing in the door that she opened during the play to say her lines. She was a Perkins Institute Girl (the school for the Blind that Annie Sullivan came from), and these are some of the friends she made standing with her. She started as a Perkins Girl, and ended the play as a Crone...that's why she looks so creepy. I had several people say she "looked like a booger" and some others say she was a great "Creepy Girl". She was thrilled when she "got" her Crone voice. The director told the three crones that they should play around with what they thought their crone sounded like, and bring him their interpretations. He really left it up the them to come up with the sound and then he directed their delivery.
The smiling Crone. Those are just odd shadows on the dress, there were no stains. Notice the boots. I think she was as excited about the boots as anything. We had to purchase them (the stage/wholesale discount of $11.00), so they are now in her closet. She can't wait to wear them again.
This was actually taken during the curtain call. The girls who saw me take it gave me grief for taking pictures during the performance. My defense was that there was no flash, so they shouldn't have cared, ha.
The theater is very small. There are only two dressing rooms that the principle actors used (and there were a number of costume changes for them), and since there were 9 girls, they got to have a little spot in the props warehouse. Can you say COLD. This was during the run of our unseasonal 20 degree nights. We couldn't get the space heater to get above 55 degrees. Lots of blankets were in use. This shot is in the back part of the warehouse...we didn't go back that far, I just thought it would give a great impression of the kind of place we were being housed.
Julia putting on her creepy makeup - lots of white powder and purple under the eyes and in the hollows of her cheeks.
Cute little Solomon. He was the only little boy hanging with all of the girls. He is 9. He was in charge of the dog that was in the show. He is Annie and Helen's servant that stays with them while they are in the garden house. He is in his "sleeping clothes" here..

Here's Ryan, the dog. He was precious. Much cuter than the picture shows. He was also very gas-y. Lot's of HEAVY air biscuits. Back stage mothers were also in charge of walking him during the two intermissions. We got to go through the door in the back of the warehouse and walk him in the cobblestone, foliage lined alley. He was a hit with the actors and the audiences. He was "Momma Keller's" dog in real life. He won the role after the pretty, yellow lab blew it during opening night. He was never on stage when the house lights were all the way down and when he came out the first time and the audience oohed and aahed at him, he started barking. Annie Sullivan did a great job of doing an ad lib around it.Julia and some of the girls hanging out, waiting. In her Crone makeup.
All of the girls. Hanging out again. Waiting some more.
I'm sure I'll upload some more later, but this should do for now.

Oh, on a total other note, this week I got my hair done. I toned my blonde (I used to really be blonde without any help), and darkened it up. I like it. Only the people at my Bible Study noticed. I guess no one noticing (including husband) must mean it looks fine, otherwise I'm sure he would have said otherwise. Maybe a picture of that soon. Oooh, and of us playing in the snow we're supposed to get tonight. We NEVER get snow that sticks (2000 was the last time and 1989 before that). How exciting!

6 Down, 4 to Go

Julia actually didn't have rehearsal tonight. Or basketball. Or cotillion. We actually got to have supper as a family. And bedtime for her was 8:00, not the 11:00 or 11:30 it has been. And those times have become such the customary thing that she said she wasn't tired at 8:00. So she went to bed and read for while. That must feel like a luxury for her about now.

She's definitely been a trooper. This coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and Sunday's matinee are the final performances. It's been such a long time coming that it really is hard to think of it being almost over. Pictures will be coming soon.