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.

something's knocking

Well, it seems I’m going to be in a play. My playwright/producer friend called me up yesterday, asking me to help him out of a bind. An actress walked out of his play and he needs to someone to step up to the plate pretty darn quick. Opening night is in three weeks, so I’ve got a lot work ahead of me.


It’s a fine little play; one hour in length and it has a comfy down home feeling to it. I first met John when we did Our Town together about six years ago. This play has the same feeling of family and old fashioned, small town values. I know I’ll like playing this part, even if it is a bit of a stretch for me…age wise. The character, Hattie, was written to be 65-70, but John will work to make it 55-60, which of course, is still a stretch. People will have to willingly suspend their disbelief at the theatre door ;-)

I wasn't going to take the part, as I really don't like spending time away from my son. Then I looked at a calendar and saw that most of the performances will be when he's with his dad, sooo...I better stop blogging and start memorizing.

100 things... part II

11. i was shy and a tad insecure during my freshman year of high school. Some people thought i was stuck up.
12. John Wayne’s son was my first kiss. his older sister knew i had a crush on him and she paid him a dollar to kiss me. when i found out, i said, “Ethan Wayne, your lips will never touch mine again.” kinda dramatic for a 10 year old girl.

13. my favorite color is green
14. i was a contestant on the $25,000 pyramid in the early 80’s
15. i unknowingly smuggled drugs into the united states. i’ll have to blog about this someday. it would actually make a good movie.

16. i shared a hotel room with senator ted kennedy’s daughter, kara, when on a trip to see India’s taj mahal. We had our palm’s read in the hotel lobby.
17. I get a bit claustrophobic sometimes…that’s one reason why i hate going to the mall. get me outta there!
18. my favorite beverage is fresh lemonade

19. i once owned the meanest bunny in the world. i named her Rambo. I didn’t know rabbits growled.
20. i don’t like frito’s corn chips, brussel sprouts or beets.

branded

Did you see this one in the news? I read about this a few days ago and something stuck in the back of my brain…

###

Saturday , May 20, 2006
Foxnews.com

It seems one Ogden, Utah, man was a little more than a casual fan of the occasional cold one after work.

Last year, a property manager Ryan Froerer went out to check on a townhouse, but when he got there he realized he’d missed the party.

KSL-TV reports that Froerer was greeted by a barrage of beer cans — tens of thousands of them — piled high on the floor of the otherwise abandoned abode.

"As we approached the door, there were beer boxes, all the way up to the ceiling,” Froerer said. Froerer snapped a few pictures of the boozy metallic mountain and e-mailed them to friends, but soon they were circulating among beer fans everywhere.

Luckily for Froerer, once the townhouse was de-brewskified, it was clean enough to lease out again. The estimated 70,000 cans (that amounts to 24 beers a day for the beer dude's eight-year stay) were recycled for $800.





I figured out what it was: that guy was loyal to his brand.

summer shots

I thought I’d share some photos of my hometown. Can you guess the location?


This is the path I’d take to get to the beach



Famous landmark that’s been around since 1906


Loved it as a kid; still love it today



Teenage years I was either here or playing tennis

don't be mad at me, but...

i told a lie last night. I never lie. Well, rarely. I don’t lie about important things. I like having a good reputation of being a trust worthy person. I value my reputation.

But this was too good to pass up.

Last night I gave my son half of a chicken sandwich from Starbuck’s for dinner. It was yummy on dark pumpernickel bread. As he started to eat the sandwich, a Subway sandwich commercial came on the tv. My son is a commercial addict. Anything he sees he asks if we can get it…allergy medicine, tree mulchers..anything.

“Momma! Can we get that?”

It really is pretty funny. I call him on it and he gives me a sheepish grin and he admits his weakness for the shinny promises commercials offer… “Pleeeeease? We need that.” He nods his head emphatically.

He looks dreamy eyed at the television screen, wishing for something as exciting as a Subway sandwich. I tell the lie, “Honey, that is a Subway sandwich on your plate.”

“It IS?! Oh, THANK YOU, momma!” He looks adoringly at the leftover as if it were gold.

100 things... part I

1. I have a weakness for gummie bears
2. I have a thing for books. I’d love to have a library containing the 1st editions of my favorite novels.

3. I’ve been in two television commercials
4. I love a good thunderstrom
5. I like roller coasters
6. I’m a dog and cat person
7. a glass of red wine at the end of the day is a pleasure
8. no tattoos and I don’t plan on getting any

9. I enjoy campfires
10. I make the best marinara sauce and fantastic meatloaf
11. late night talk show host craig ferguson makes me laugh

12. I don’t enjoy shopping and I hate going to the mall

shake it, don't break it

this is too funny not to share. enjoy.

satisfy me

In today’s world of political correctness run amok am I crazy to like the elvis song “a little less conversation”? some women rant that the song is sexist. I think it’s sexy.

This song sounds like a real man wrote it. no flowers and doilies, no endless chatter and perfunctory romance. It’s frank and basic. It’s leather and stubble. it’s a shoulder grab and a long hard kiss…and that gets me a little bit hot.

I’m not a poetic writer. I kinda keep things to the lowest common denominator. Keep it easy to understand; you agree or disagree. That’s how I see this song. i like it. now, don’t misunderstand, I like mushy stuff, too. Romance makes my heart flutter and I get all warm and fuzzy, it’s fireside cozy and blankets. But warm and fuzzy can’t compare to hot. Warm and fuzzy is driving the speed limit and looking at the scenery. Hot is…driving a stick shift on a curving road to its limits, wheels screeching, music blaring, wind blowing and the top’s down, with a hand grazing my thigh. That’s this song.

Elvis Presley - A Little Less Conversation

A little less conversation, a little more action please
All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me
Satisfy me baby

Baby close your eyes and listen to the music
Drifting through a summer breeze
It's a groovy night and I can show you how to use it
Come along with me and put your mind at ease

A little less conversation, a little more action please
All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me
Satisfy me baby

Come on baby I'm tired of talking
Grab your coat and let's start walking
Come on, come on
Come on, come on
Come on, come on
Don't procrastinate, don't articulate
Girl it's getting late, gettin' upset waitin' around

A little less conversation, a little more action please
All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me
Satisfy me baby

craving wood

i’ve been flirting with the idea of taking up the guitar again. i learned how to play when i was a kid and took lessons through high school. back in the mid 80s when i was a broke newlywed, we had a garage sale to make rent…and damn it all, if i didn’t throw my guitar into the pile. looking back i wish i hadn’t, as it was a gift from my parents and a piece of my childhood.

i’m currently listening to jack johnson’s cd entitled “on and on”. it’s mellow acoustic guitar tracks has me feeling like i’m sitting on jack’s front porch, bare feet up on the wooden railing, listening to him on a lazy afternoon while we’re both sipping cold coronas.

Virtual Mystery Date

Okay, here’s a game: The virtual mystery date.

I have gotten very comfy in my cave these past four years and every once in a while I poke my head outside like a lil prairie dog
to see what’s happening in the real world. I’m not bold enough to venture out and try to actively date, but I do get a thought about it every once in a while.

So, how about if you set me up on a virtual (not real in any sense of the word) mystery date and let’s pretend. Tell me all about my date and where we go. Do I dress up for the theatre or are we going back packing in Yosemite?

I’ll go get a manicure while you think up the details.

a cup a cup a cup.....ahhhhh

Over the past several weeks I’ve caught a case of the clumsies. I’ve tripped, slipped and ripped. I broke both of my favorite coffee cups, which sent me on a shopping expedition to find just the right coffee cup: not too big or too small; one that heats nicely in the microwave and has a bit of personality.

I want to show off my new coffee cup. The quickie pic turned into a semi-photoshoot and bathroom counter clean up. Here’s the result: a bathroom still life.

Notice the cup. It looks just like a Starbucks venti paper cup. It’s got some personality, a little humor and it’s the perfect size!