Heigh-ho

Our heat was on this morning.  (Zoe was a good girl!  Christina Latella is awesome!)  Tomorrow it's going to be near 90.  Somewhere in the middle would be perfect for me.  We're celebrating John's birthday tomorrow.  His birthday is Cinco de Mayo!  Last night I made (and pressed) the layers for his birthday cake.  I also make cupcakes.  Yellow cake, chocolate cupcakes.  Homemade frosting to come.  (Chocolate on the yellow cake, white ((Grandma's frosting)) on the chocolate cupcakes.)

I really need to buy a new pair of sunglasses.  I've broken 2 pairs already this 'season' and one of them I actually spent a little bit of money on.  (In other words, not my normal $8 pair from Walmart.)  It's really sunny today, and I hate driving without sunglasses.  I squint a lot and then I get a headache.  Even my kids at work know that my sunglasses are broken and they ask me about them frequently.

So Saturday is John's party, and Sunday will be busy as well.  First, church.  Then at noon there's a special memorial type thing during the opening ceremony of Rotterdam Little League for Tyler.  We're going to that.  Then the rest of the day will be spent doing YARD WORK!  We've got lots of landscaping to do out front.  Soon we'll be getting a new front door and building a new front porch!

For now, I'm off to work.  Capris and flip flops.  Can't wait to spend lots of time outside today!

This is me.

1. Always on time, but a massive procrastinator.
2. Love a clean house, but not the actual act of cleaning.
3. Cooking dinner makes me feel accomplished and domestic.
4. Spiders freak me out.
5. Hate putting on eyeliner.
6. Closet eater.
7. Used to be scared of German Shepherds.
8. Want a baby more than anything.
9. Love my morning cup of coffee.
10. Fast driver.
11. Energy waster.  I leave lights on all the time.
12. Kid lover. 
13. Rather do it myself than delegate.
14. Playing piano makes me happy.
15. Relate to kids better than adults at times.
16. Family is my top priority.
17. Sinner, saved by grace.
18. Room rearranger.
19. Planner.
20. Wanna-be singer.
21. Broadway ambitions.
22. Too old for American Idol.
23. My bed is rarely made.
24. Sunshine makes me happy.
25. So does rain.
26. Homeschooled 6th-12th grade.
27. About to leave my 20's.
28. Need a new computer.
29. Not creative in the least bit.
30. Leaving projects unfinished like it's my job.
31. Recovering Facebook addict.
32. Water drinker.
33. Couch potato.
34. Daughter, sister, wife, aunt, friend.
35. Dishwasher envy.
36. Psychology was my favorite college class.
37. Hate drama.
38. Can live without milk.
39. Hate when the coffee filter folds over.
40. Take my temperature every morning.
41. Don't charge my cell everyday.
42. Prenatals every night...for 2 years.
43. Hoarder.
44. Jewelry owner, rare wearer.
45. Jaw is constantly popping and snapping out of joint.
46. 2 pregnancies, no kids yet.
47. Haven't been to the dentist in years.
48. Forgetful.
49. Don't swear.
50. Care far too much what others think of me.
51. Pinky toe, only bone ever broken.
52. Never been fired.
53. Toenails always painted.
54. Hospitalized 3 days for dehydration.
55. Right handed.
56. Cry easily.
57. Music lover.
58. Pulled over many times.
59. Been in many accidents.
60. Have an amazing husband.
61. Hate cleaning the tub.
62. Junk food addict.
63. Love candles.  John doesn't.
64. Love natural light.
65. Ice cream daily.
66. Shower, car, home alone singer.
67. Talk to myself.  And my dog.
68. Blogging is a release.
69. Shy.
70. Need for acceptance.
71. Hate all seafood.
72. Bug hater.
73. TV-aholic.
74. Love to read.
75. Straighten my hair almost daily.
76. Boat owner.
77. Love to bake.
78. Love to be tan.
79. Pro gun.
80. Cruise lover.
81. Enjoy sewing.
82. Like scrapbooking, but am way behind.
83. Proud of my firefighting hubby.
84. Can't decide between short and long hair.
85. Snowman collector.
86. Reminiscer.  If that's a word.
87. Wear a bigger size than you'd think.
88. Bad at returning messages.
89. Don't want Lost, Glee or 24.
90. Love spicy food.
91. Love the smell of fresh cut grass.
92. Love lilacs.
93. Interested (mildly) in politics.
94. DVR is my best friend.
95. I hate fighting.
96. Impulse shopper.
97. Subway lover.
98. Dislike juice.
99. Don't like talking on the phone.
100. Looking to the future with hope and faith.

Subway Saga

...and it continues...

While on my way home from work tonight I decided to stop at Subway.  It's always a thought now...will they have the bread I want?  At least they weren't busy, that's usually a good sign.

I walked right up to the counter and told them I'd like a Spicy Italian on Italian Herb & Cheese bread.  The guys says, "We're out of Italian Herb & Cheese bread."

I can't imagine what the look on my face was...I couldn't believe my worst fears were being realized...

Then he says, "Well, I do have 2 halves..."

I was like, "Sure, I'll take the 2 halves."  Inside I was dancing for joy!!  And the awesome part was, the 2 halves were both the 'bigger' halves.  You know how when they cut the bread in half, one side is always bigger and one is smaller?  Well, these were both the bigger pieces.  Score!

And just to round out my awesome Subway experience, when I got up to the counter to pay she told me it was $5.40.  I pointed out to her that I also had chips...I knew the $5.40 was just the sub and tax without the chips.  She just said, "Yeah," and charged me $5.40.  Don't know why.  But I'll take it.  Free Doritos!  Double score!

Photo heavy

I spent the day at the Cunniff daycare one day last week.  :)  My Mom was watching all 3 of her grandkids, so I stopped by to help for a bit.  Plus I just love spending time with them!

This is Caleb at lunch.  He wasn't too into eating, but he had eaten a lot of crackers earlier, so that's probably why.  While he was sitting like this at the table he started fake snoring.  He's so funny.

Olivia enjoyed her lunch in the walker.  She did not like the fish sticks, but she did like the cheese!

Zach and I.  He was very sleepy and headed for nap when I scooped him up to snap this photo!

Zach and Livy were playing for awhile under the dining room table.  This used to be one of Caleb's favorite hang-outs when he was little too!  I think it feels like a fort to them!

Here are the 3 kids, eating crackers and reading Bible stories!  How cute are they?

Caleb absolutely loves Olivia.  He likes to hug and kiss her, and is always willing to share with her.  When I went to take their picture, he just put his arm around her and said, "Cheese!"

Not without a hitch...

One performance down, one more to go!

And if my blog title didn't clue you in, there were a few minor (okay, a couple major!) mishaps.  But the cast did an amazing job of covering and recovering.

One cast member missed an entire scene in which she had many lines!  I sat there looking at the stage, thinking, "What the heck are they going to do?"  But amazingly, if you didn't know how it was supposed to go, you may not have even realized a character was missing.  The kids did that well at covering!  They made up some lines, changed some lines so it would make sense, and thought of things on the fly! 

In another scene, undoubtedly the most dangerous scene in the musical, a 'ghost' comes to Tevye in a dream.  This ghost is a teenage girl, on a teenage guy's shoulders, and they're covered (from her neck to his toes) in a long flowy white nightgown.  There are eye holes for the guy to see through.  Little eye holes.  And I don't know if he could see or not last night...but he ran (with the girl on his shoulders!) right smack into the bed on stage, sliding it over.  At that very moment, I thought they were going to fall, and with the momentum they had going, it seemed they would fall right on me.  I was seriously scared.

But fall they didn't.  He recovered well, she didn't fall off, and the rest of the scene seemed to go perfectly.  There was one definite scream from the audience when he ran into the bed.  I think it was that girl's poor mother, who was already nervous about the whole set-up.

The music seemed to go well.  When I'm playing the keyboard for something like this, I always worry there won't be a good balance.  I don't want the keyboard to be too loud and over powering.  It's supposed to just be a fill-in kind of sound.  But I also don't want the keyboard to be too quiet.  I don't want people to be sitting in the audience wondering why I'm even up there because they can't hear anything I'm playing!

My husband and sister both assured me that it sounded good.  I hope they're not lying.

So, time to get ready for the second show. 

Actually, it's time to go grocery shopping for food for my Mom's birthday tomorrow.  Then make a birthday cake for her.  Maybe start on the pasta salad.  Then get ready for the show.  Niskayuna High School, 2pm, $5!  If you've got nothing to do this afternoon...it's a great show!

Late nights and caffeine

I'm playing (keyboard) for a musical (Fiddler) this weekend (April 23 & 24).

We've had late night rehersals all week.

I'm really going to have to 'de-tox' from this caffeine overload when it's all over.  Seriously...there have been a couple nights of only 4 hours of sleep.  Thank God for coffee.

Thankfully I'm off today, performances are tonight and tomorrow afternoon, and then I can RELAX!  I had 2 days off this week (instead of 1) which has helped.  But my mind has just been racing all week, and I'm anxious to get back into my regular old boring life.

I had a dream last night that the auditorium was PACKED for the first act.  After the intermission, no one stayed except the parents of the kids performing.  The auditorium was basically empty.  Hopefully that's not some kind of sign...

Well, I'm off to do laundry and practice.  No other housework besides that.  I've been too busy, and I know the chores will still be there when the musical is over.  Maybe I'll make another pot of coffee as well...

Revenge

I have this thing.  Maybe it's an issue.  It's most definitely a fear.  Maybe it's a phobia?  I hate spiders.

And spiders like to congregate in our entryway.  It's not actually in the living part of our house, it's the stairway that leads either to the basement or outside.  There's a door from the kitchen which is always shut.  Until I have to go outside.

And every morning I proceed to pull the vacuum cleaner from the laundry room into the kitchen, in preparation for opening the door.  There's almost always a few spiders, every morning.  John sprayed for them, but the spray isn't working like it did last year. 

So as I open the door to let Zoe out, vacuum hose in hand, I scan the ceiling and walls for offenders.  Zoe knows my routine, and instead of rushing down the stairs for the outside door, waits patiently till I'm done.  I suck up the spiders, then let the vacuum run a few additional seconds to make sure they're really dead.  Not just dead, really dead.

My routine didn't change much today, except that there were 2 spiders actually in the house.  One right by the kitchen door, and one in the hallway by the bathroom.  I saw the one in the hallway out of the corner of my eye while I was drying my hair.  I stopped to vacuum it up, then continued with my morning routine.

As I was straightening my hair, my mind wandered to the spiders.  I was wondering...how many are there?  I mean, they keep coming!  Every day there are more.  And are they smart enough creatures to know what's going on?  Do they realize I'm killing them off, one by one?  Could they possibly seek revenge? 

All of a sudden, in my mind I see a group (flock? herd?) of spiders, working in tandem to control a vacuum hose.  Evil laughter breaks out as they manage to harness the hose and aim it in my direction....

Okay, maybe not.  Atleast, I hope not. 

I'm gonna go check for more spiders.