pie vote

ACK! i just remembered i have to bake a pie for our 4th of July party. it's a great annual party with old neighbors from my childhood neighborhood. our families have known each other forever and they've taken me under their wing since my folks died and my marriage crashed and burned. and boy, am i lucky to be under that wing! they go all out for parties: the 4th of july party consists of clams, lobster, steak, corn on the cob, watermelon, drinkies...and the price of admission is a homemade pie. the dessert table is covered with a plethora of pies brought from all around southern california. in the past i've made apple and key lime. so, you guys tell me: what should i make this year?

108

boy, is it hot today. while running errands, sweating and feeling dehydrated, i stopped to get a jambajuice. peach passion hit the spot. my coworker had a craving for ice cream. when she came back i asked her what flavor she decided upon: rainbow sherbet.

what's your favorite ice cream? i'll tell you mine a bit later ;-)

date update

Update:
It seems the only dates I have these days are court dates. My court date last week went extremely well. So let me just say right now: Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, good vibes, karma, voodoo, etc… I am very thankful for your words of encouragement and general commiseration regarding my predicament. Here’s what happened: the ex did not get any additional visitation with Son; he must agree to take Son to any sports practices when on a scheduled visitation; all future summer vacation days must be used consecutively (this is a very good thing, because he’s been arguing with me about vacation days here and there & it’s become quite frustrating when it should be so simple).

My ex somehow thought I was badmouthing him to Son’s preschool teachers, which is sooooo far from true. I spoke with the court appointed pyshco doctor back in December to get his advice on whether I should tell people about the perv dad. He said it could cause prejudice against Son so I should refrain from saying anything. I took his advice and bit my lip…but Son’s teacher mentioned to me that Son seems to act out regularly after he’s been on a weekend with his dad…so Perv dad subpoenas the director of the preschool on our day at court. What a buffoon. She came up to me in the hallway, thinking I had done the subpoena. She was quite surprised to find out it was the dad…since what she had to say wouldn’t help him at all. She also confirmed that I’ve never said anything derogatory about the dad. Ever. Woo for me! Am I a good girl, or what? I will always try to do what’s best for Son. Always.

the money pit

don't you hate it when you catch someone stealing money out of your purse? it hurts.







meet the money pit:


he's the one on the left, the male in my life & the silkiest muscle bound body pillow you'll ever experience. he is my rebound relationship and definitely the most faithful sidekick i've ever had. i got him from a rescue group several years ago. he's my incorrigible eighty-six pound mutt who thinks he's a lap dog. some say he's a bit pit and chow, but i prefer to see his retriever qualities; and if digging through my purse and pulling out a twenty to eat makes him a retriever, then so be it.

baby got back

I’m embarrassed to show you my back yard. The previous owners didn’t do anything with the corner yard, so it consists of cinderblock walls, poured concrete and dirt. No imagination. No greenery. No nice place for my dogs to pee (there’s no grass to soak up the pee smell, it’s a bit musky back there). Plus it’s become infested with rats, and ants. Oh, joy.

The other night, around 11:00pm, I let my dogs out for one last piddle before hitting the hay. They went bonkers as they had discovered a rodent of some sort and were intent on trapping it. I knew I couldn’t call them in, so I let them have at it. I was expecting a mouse, of which I have not fear, so I kept poking myself outside to watch their hunting antics. Since I really didn’t want the lil bugger scampering into my house I decided to shut the door and let the dogs do their thing. Then I heard it. not a squeak, but a loud shriek - painful. pissed. What the hell did they catch?! It took a minute or two for the animal to die, then it was ceremoniously brought to the door for my inspection. It was the biggest rat I’ve ever seen.

So, now I bring the dog food in each night to keep the dead rat’s relatives away.

Oh, wait. This was supposed to be about my back yard. Well, anyways, I have my old gardener from my previous house coming over to check out the situation. I’d like to make that little back yard awesome: a fountain in the corner, maybe three dwarf Italian cypress along the east border…take out some of the concrete and have a raised flower bed added…
i dunno. it sure needs something.

prayers and good thoughts are needed!

on a serious note...tomorrow morning i will be in court fighting my ex hubby who wants more visitation with our son. this man is a ped - o - phile (sorry...i don't want or need anyone googling that activity and landing here) and i do not want him to have any more time with him AT ALL. the courts and pyscho drs. have said that because he's only a threat to little girls, visitation and sleepovers with his son are okay.

don't get me started on all that. i've been fighting in courts for four years now. it's like a glacier. i can't stop it from advancing...

anyways, please say your prayers that my lawyer talks a good talk and convinces the judge to keep the existing order in place.

thanks.

mck.

comic sans

i’m impressed with standup comics. it’s completely different from acting. the timing is unique and you’ve got to have your personality on the line…or at least your pseudo personality. it’s a craft that i’ve never contemplated – until recently…not professionally, mind you, just enough to see what it takes to create a joke. that’s the tough part - coming up with something uniquely funny.

well, today i thought up my first stand up joke:

i know a lot about marriage, how tough it can be to make it work. i’ve been married for 25 years - (applause from the audience) - four marriages, but hey, it’s still 25 years.

i still get anniversary cards – from my lawyer. he’s actually my longest relationship…


thank you. thank you very much. you’ve been a great audience...

himself

ever have a connection with someone so profound and comfortable that it just felt right…but it ended all wrong? Whenever I’m in a show I think of this person. I haven’t seen him in decades, but I feel a part of his spirit is with me…or maybe a part of my spirit is caught up with him. …or a little fabric of his being is tucked in my breast, to be pulled out every now and then to be remembered and cherished. I don’t know. I have a memory of him that I can’t escape. I liked everything about him. He was cute, in a goofy way; talented as a character actor who was always on the money; liked by teachers and classmates alike. He was kind, funny and sweet. Kindof a young and silly Jimmy Stewart. He was a bit older and was fun, secure, sweet, exciting and safe.

I didn’t know he had a girlfriend.. I found out that he did at a party. There was a picture of her in his bedroom. A professional 8x10. she was pretty – a model, someone said. She was in New York doing work. That’s all I knew. I cared for him. I was falling for his goofy ways.

I have one very specific memory of him wearing goulashes and dancing in a huge water puddle in front of the drama department. I never got to see our relationship to a deeper level. His girlfriend could sense something in his voice and she knew she had to fly home or lose him. She flew home. I lost him. Maybe I never had him, but he sure had me – had my heart.

It wasn’t a fade to black; it was a crash and burn. She had to meet me - to see ‘the other woman’ (I was 18 and so naive, vulnerable and in the dark). I had no idea what I was getting into. I met her on the steps of the drama department (her call) and she pointed her finger at me and basically called me a whore for taking her man. I didn’t understand how I was so wrong, what I had done wrong - how I had hurt someone I didn’t believe existed. The rumors of her didn’t seem real, and when I mentioned her to him, what I heard in his words made it seem like she didn’t really exist. She was a thing beyond, in a distant, thick fog. Not real.

She belittled me in front of classmates. She had her revenge and I was a sacrificial lamb of sorts. The burnt offering from him to her. I was cut to the core. Humiliated. Shamed.


I still think of him sometimes. Whenever I’m in a play.

it's electrifying

I thought this was an interesting tidbit, so I thought I'd share:

On this day in history, in 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted an experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm. Earlier, in 1750, he published a proposal for an experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a storm that appeared capable of becoming a lightning storm. On May 10, 1752, Thomas-François Dalibard of France conducted Franklin's experiment (using a 40-foot-tall iron rod instead of a kite) and extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15, Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment and also successfully extracted sparks from a cloud (unaware that Dalibard had already done so, 36 days earlier).**

**note: the above passage was flagrantly stolen via copy/paste from Wikipedia.


That’s all. Class dismissed. No running in the hallways.

yowza!

You know you’re sick when you sneeze so fast and furious that there’s no time to get your hand and/or tissue over your mouth and your keyboard gets coated with alien looking slime. Gross.

down and dirty

no time for a well thought out post this week, kiddos. tech week (hell week) is upon us, as opening night this friday looms in the near horizon. i am sicker than a dog. the diva is divaing, the cutie is cutifying, and i am feeling a bit of pressure as the late comer with the bulk of the show resting upon my still developing character.

i've shifted hattie from being a happy camper to a sour puss, which works much better. it's not what you say but how you say it, and having her be a grumpy granny makes for a better transition for the end scene.

gotta run - 7pm rehearsal call.

sucky blog

My blog well has run dry. I can’t think of anything profound or witty to say. I guess I could talk about the show, but that seems so boring.

Opening night is next week. I still have a lot of memorizing to do. The cast has yet to be all together at one time. one of the main actors has shown up a total of… once…since i joined the cast. not excused, mind you. She just chooses not to show up. The one time she did she was wearing a bathing suit, and had a bit of a 'tude going on. I guess some people actually have a social life and hers was apparently being cramped. there has not been a full run though. For a professional play, this would spell disaster, but I think we’ll be okay. Everyone in the cast (sans me) has done this play before, so they pretty much know it down pat.



* * * Show Trivia * * *

Here’s my favorite line in the play: “Reesa Mae, why are you makin’ such a racket? You’re gonna wake the dead.”

…oh, and I sing a tad: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine….” That’s all. Just that phrase.

The guy who plays my son is fairly easy on the eyes. I do not feel motherly towards him at all. He sings a lot in the play and has a nice voice..apparently he's easy on the ears, too. I must try be a very good actress and not let the audience get a hint of my racing pheromones.

We found a gray wig for me and I look like Vicki Lawrence dressed up as Momma.

Being the fantastic director that I am, I have to hold back re-directing the show. I have said, “Hey how about if we try this…” too many times, but can I be frank here? Most of my blocking sucks.

I asked the director a question about costuming and she replied, “Oh, I’m not a visual person.” What the??…directing is 99.99% visual. Sigh. No wonder my blocking sucks.


My next rehearsal is tomorrow night and this will be the very first time in four years that I have ever left my son with a (gasp) babysitter. My sister has always watched him on the rare occasion that I go out, and for him, it’s just playing with his cousins and hanging out with Auntie and Unc. It sure will be interesting to see how this plays out. The babysitter is a young 12 year old in my new neighborhood. My boy has joined her friends when playing outside, so he’ll know her, which is cool.

I have no idea how much to pay her. This is her first babysitting gig and her mom is kinda helping her, so it’ll be a joint effort. They have no idea what babysitters are making these days, so we’re all novices on this point. I do know I need to have ice cream in the freezer.

okay, okay, okay...one more quickie post

doesn't my ex-hubby #1 (the good ex; not the bad one) look a tiny bit like elvis?

all dressed up and nowhere to go

i haven't felt very bloggy lately, but i thought i'd share something that made me LOL today:



my rather conservative company sent out an email memo regarding appropriate corporate casual clothing for the upcoming summer months, accompanied by sample pictures of what's considered appropriate and not appropriate clothing options. one of the shoe "don't" examples cracked me up.




darn. now i have nowhere to wear my f-me pumps.