Pump up the jam!!!

Go pump, go!!!!

It seems that our little sump pump is the 'Little Pump That Could'!!! Thankfully, in spite of the non-stop flow of water, our pump is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. The water in our basement is being kept at bay, even though the rain continued to fall throughout the day/night yesterday, and the lawn surrounding our house it BEYOND saturated.
It's like walking on a soaked sponge out there. Gross.

A section of our street is once again closed because the river is running OVER it, as opposed to under it. It's crazy to see all that water flowing where it ain't supposed to be!!!
I'm glad that we don't have to deal with severe flooding - unlike those unfortunate people in other parts of the state. Not to mention the folks in some parts of Rhode Island. On the news last night they were showing cops riding around neighborhoods on Jet Skis. Insanity.

The rain has stopped for the most part and we have some warm and sunny days ahead, which I'm hoping will help us all out.

Jim and I have a 'date' tonight with his mom. We're heading to 'Babies R Us' to look around and get some more ideas about what we want to buy and/or register for. Jim went with K & B a few weeks ago and got a TON of great ideas(I had to miss out on the fun, due to my strep attack), but we wanted to go back with his mom and do some more looking around. She was VERY excited about it, so I'm sure we'll have fun.

I'll be sure and let you know how it goes!!!

Happy Hump Day!!!!

Totally random, but here's a picture from the SpeakEasy event last week....

From left to right...Seth Rudetsky, his partner James, Me, Jim

And the rain kept falling....

Boy, have I been a horrible blogger.
Truth be told, work has been making me CRAZY. Between training and trying to remember what I’ve learned – it’s leaving very little ‘free’ time.

OK – it’s Tuesday…..and it’s STILL raining. So far, our basement is holding up OK, but I’m paranoid that our sump pump is going to stop working. That would be disastrous and would result in a lot of water, where water shouldn’t be.
Of course, I have no reason to think that it’ll stop working, and I’m sure it’ll be fine, but I’m paranoid like that.

The past weekend of shows were all great, with Saturday being the best performance so far in the run. It was a GREAT audience, and a very good show. It’s nice when that all works out, isn’t it?!?!?

Tonight we’re heading to my sister’s house to celebrate my nephew’s birthday. He turned 13 on the 13th, but he’s so busy with various sports that this was the first time that we were all available when he was around. I can’t even believe that he’s 13……yikes.

This is a short week for me, since we have Friday off…..AWESOME. I’m very excited. It’s supposed to be a beautiful day, which will be a very welcome change.

I hope all is well in your parts of the world……..xoxo

Coffee Talk

Sorry I neglected the blog yesterday, but I was busy first thing in the morning yesterday, and then once my training was over for the day, I was once again busy, trying to get all my 'notes' in order and make sense of the stuff I just learned.
Joy!!

Anyway...the 'return to RENT' went quite well last night, considering the fact that we had three 'RENT free' nights. There were a couple of legit RENTheads in the audience that seemed to love every single second of the show. It was kind of fun having them there. They were two girls, sitting in the front row, off to the side, and they CLEARLY knew the show inside and out. You know the type, getting very excited for specific things moments before they occurred, and singing pretty much full out during 'La Vie Boehme'.
The best part was (and I love this about die-hard fans of any musical) that they were singing along and knew every word of the song, especially the sections that the cast was always struggling to remember in rehearsal. That song has lots of words in it...list after list, and those gals knew their lyrics!!! :-)
I saw them in the lobby after the show and they seemed totally start-struck with the cast members that were chatting with them. It was so fun to see them having such a great time during and after the show. Hooray for live theatre!!

So, on my way too the theatre I always stop to grab a coffee at the local Dunkin' Donuts. Last night I walk in, and there's a guy at the counter waiting for his coffee. He turns to me and says "Hey buddy, what's up?" I'm like "Hey." and noticed that he wasn't quite 'right'. He was kind of slurring his words and his eyes were glassy and bloodshot. He wasn't drunk, since I didn't smell any booze on him, but he was definitely on something.
Interesting.
And no...I know what y'all are thinking....he was not cute. He wasn't ugly, but he certainly wasn't what I'd consider attractive.
Of COURSE the conversation didn't end there (why me?) and went a little like this:

Wasted Man: This place is awesome. They let me add my own mocha, so it didn't overflow and spill.

Me: Cool.

WM: So, what do you do for work? Are you in construction?

Me: No, I work in software.

WM: Oh, I saw the work boots and hoped you were in construction. I'm a carpenter, but I haven't built a new house in like three years. I mean, I've done some work on remodels, but nothing new in a long time. (To the girl behind the counter) Do you guys have those little cream containers?

DD Employee: Ummmmm, no, but I can put some cream in a small cup for you.

WM: That would be awesome.

(I still haven't ordered my coffee at this point)

WM: (knocking on the DD counter in front of him) I love these countertops. My mom just put in new marble countertops at her house and they're amazing. They have like all these really shiny things in them so when the light hits them it's like a friggin' laser show in the kitchen...it's called midnight, electric blue and like, I'm not usually a fan of marble countertops, but these were cool.
So how did you get into software stuff?
(To the cashier) So you guys have sugar packets?

DD Employee: Actually, we're all out of the regular sugar packets, but I can put some in a cup for you if you want.

WG: (handing her his coffee) Actually, can you just put some more sugar in this? Like two or three scoops? That would be awesome. (To me) Sorry dude, I'm being such a pain in the ass....it's like I'm at Burger King or something - you know 'Havin' it my way'....

(A few, blessed moments of silence while I order, pay for, and receive my coffee, all the while he's stirring his and pouring in all the cream she had given him previously)

At this point, I'm getting my straw, and walking to my car, with him hot on my trail.

During the next 'exchange' he was totally doing that straight guy thing where he talks and sub-consciously rubs his stomach at the same time.
Normally I find that 'intriguing' - but not so much in this case.

WG: So like did you go to college and stuff?

ME: Yup.

WG: Like two years?

ME: Actually, I went for 4....in New Hampshire.

WG: New Hampshire? That's awesome. So how much does something like that cost? I'm wicked out of the loop when it comes to college and shit. I just haven't worked in so long and it's wicked hard with the economy and stuff and I love being a carpenter, but I need to go where the money is and I just don't know what I should do and when things are going to get better.....

ME: Well, that was a long time ago and I'm really not sure what it costs these days.

WG: Yeah, well my buddy's girlfriend - he let me borrow his truck - went to college to be a medical assistant and she owes a ton of money to the school and she's not even done yet, but she's a beautiful, beautiful girl and she loves it, so when she's done she'll have a masters or bachelors

ME: (interjecting) ....yeah, probably a bachelors......

WG: ...or whatever, I think and then she can like do whatever she wants as a medical assistant...and like travel and shit, which is awesome...

ME: Well, I REALLY have to take off. Good luck with everything and hopefully some work will come up for you.

WG: Yeah buddy, take care....good talking to you.

Sweet JESUS!! I thought I was going to have to call the theatre and tell them I was going to be late.
Thinking about it now, it's kind of sad. Actually, it's very sad.
He was CLEARLY on something, and unless he just came from donating blood (he was wearing short-sleeves, and I've seen enough episodes of Intervention on A&E to know what 'druggie arms' look like) I'm guessing it was something more than recreational use.

Oh well...hopefully he'll find some work in construction soon. Either that of he'll be moving into the vacant cube across the aisle from me. :-)

Have a GREAT weekend my friends....talk to you on Monday!!

xoxo

Wednesday, Wednesday....

Let me start off by saying; if I didn't have training today, I'd still be in my bed.
I am SOOOO tired.
Last night Jim and I went to the SpeakEasy Stage Company Gala and had an AMAZING time. The event was great from beginning to end, and to make things even better, Jim and I were seated at a GREAT table.
We ended up being seated with Seth Rudestsky and his partner James!!!

For those of you who know me and/or read the blog with any kind of regularity you'll recall me mentioning Seth quite often in the past. I posted a picture of the two of us together last September, when I met him in New York. He hosts a show on Sirius radio, writes for Playbill, does a weekly show in New York where he interviews super fancy and fun Broadway folks, and he does a bazillion other fun and crazy things...way too many to mention. Anyway, as luck would have it, Jim and I were at their table. Also at the table were a couple of the people who performed at the event, the event's emcee and Paul, the founder and Artistic Director of the theatre, along with his husband Jeff, (we've known them both for many years).

I sat next to James and he was so friendly and funny. It was great to meet him in person. Seth does a ton of video blogs (vlogs) and James often shows up in the background, trying to avoid being filmed. He also shows up from time to time in photos that accompany Seth's weekly Playbill column, so I've 'seen' him a bunch of times, but never actually met him.
The night was full of great food, entertainment, and above all, it made a LOT of money for the theatre, which was excellent, as that was the main purpose for the event. :-)

It was so nice to see so many people I hadn't seen in a long time (Hi Richard!!) and having the chance to catch up on all the things that have been going on in our lives.

I'm going to try and make it through the day without collapsing on my desk...
I'll let you know if I'm successful or not. ;-)

3 Down, 15 to go!!!

Hooray!!!
We had a VERY good opening weekend. :-)

Opening night was very exciting and the show went well. Saturday night's show wasn't quite as good as Friday's but in spite of a few flubs here and there, it was a really good show. Surprisingly, the best show of the weekend was Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure why, but it was definitely the best one. It could have been because Friday night was all about getting over our 'first performance nerves', and Saturday was a bit nerve-wracking because there were a LOT of 'theatre people' in the audience. Sunday's show was kind of like..."OK, there are lots of old people in the audience. Have fun and make sure they know what's going on!!" Apparently that's the way to go. :-)
Either way, I'm happy to say that we had a few great shows, and now we just have to keep it up for the next 4 weekends.

I'm THRILLED to have the next few nights off though. Tonight I have nothing planned beyond going to the gym after work and getting to bed early. I'm still not quite caught up on my sleep yet. Sad, isn't it?
Tomorrow night, Jim and I are going to SpeakEasy's yearly benefit/fundraiser which will be fun. It was my Valentine's Day gift from Jim and I'm VERY exited about going. They're honoring our friend (and local theatre performer) Kerry Dowling, as well as Seth Rudetsky, who I'm a big fan of (and have mentioned here from time to time). He's a musician, author, actor, etc...etc...and he's also the host of the Broadway channel on Sirius radio.
I met him last September when I was in NYC and he was sooo funny and friendly.
I'm looking forward to see him again. I'll be FUN!

Well my friends, I haven't much more to report.
Jim and I have been watching the new series 'Parenthood'. Have you seen it? I think it's VERY good. Whenever we watch it there's always a point where I'm thinking "Oh my GOD - I don't want children." But then by the end of the episode, I can't even wait for us to get one. Great show.
:-)

Happy Monday!!!!

Opening Night!!!!

Well, the day has arrived. Opening night is here!!!
Last night's rehearsal wasn't the best we've had, but by the end of the night, spirits were high and everyone was (is) SUPER excited to get the show in front of an audience. I'm very excited to see how it's going to be received.
Fingers crossed!!!

Needless to say, I'll be sure and let you know how it goes.

In non-RENT news, my training at work has taken a very interesting 'turn'.
As I assumed, my manager is soon going to be the 'owner' of the application we've been learning about. Once the training is finished (ASAP) we'll be in charge of the entire thing, which includes the managing of all the off-shore folks that do all the 'hands-on' work (developers, testers, etc.). None of that was a surprise to me - but what I didn't know was that we were essentially taking the application away from someone who APPARENTLY is not too happy about losing it.
Hooray for conflict!!
She found out yesterday that she was 'losing' the application and from that exact moment she began bombarding us with emails regarding any and all issues that are being sent to her. In other words, she's being a huge baby about the whole thing. Rather than dealing with it like an adult and helping us with the transition, she's doing her best to make our lives as difficult as possible.
Awesome.
Thankfully, I'm not the number one person in charge of the application, so I don't have to deal with the brunt of her idiotic and immature behavior, that's for the V.P.s to deal with. I just have to restrain myself from losing my mind when reading all the idiotic emails she sends.
My boss assured me that things will get better as soon as we take everything over completely, but until then, it seems that we'll just have to grin and bear it.

So, my friends....that's the latest news.
Please send positive thoughts my way around 8pm (EST) tonight!!!

xoxo

OH - I also heard that there was indeed going to be a promo video shot for YouTube. As soon as I get my hands on it, I'll be sure and post it. :-)

It's the Final Countdown!!!

Well, my friends, as expected - last night’s rehearsal went swimmingly. I had ALL of my costumes and all of my costume changes went quite smoothly.
In addition to that, all the ‘stuff’ on stage went quite well also. Even though we only had the two keyboards, we stayed focused and really had a great run through. There were a few technical things that need fixing, but I’m guessing those will be sorted out in time for tonight’s run through.
There were a few odd lighting things happening, but to be honest, I’m not 100% sure if they’ll be fixed. Something tells me that’s the way they were designed. :-)

Anyway, I did have one ‘fun’ moment last night….that had me in hysterics.

The set is designed so that we can cross backstage from stage right to stage left whenever we want to, as long as the on-stage door (that’s part of the set) is closed. If it’s open and we try to cross, the entire audience will see us randomly walking across the back of the stage. Not cool.
I discovered a couple of nights ago, that the way things had been working out (with my costume changes and everything) that I have to get from stage right to stage left during one of the very few times that the door is open. Not a problem. I can easily go out the back door of the theatre on the stage right side, cross outside across the parking lot, and re-enter on the stage left side. It’s a very common occurrence at this particular theatre and even though I’m the ONLY person in the particular production that has to do it, I talked to one of the directors and it’s totally fine for me to do. ANYWAY.

The time comes last night for me to make the cross and I do it without an issue.
I arrived stage left and after about 5 seconds of standing there (watching what was happening on stage) I realized that I was dressed and ready to make my entrance – TWO SONGS TOO EARLY. Nice.
I was a bit freaked out when I realized that not only was I very early but I was wearing the wrong costume. However, I didn’t panic because I had plenty of time before I had to be on stage. Well, I noticed that the on-stage door was still open, so I had to head out the back door, into the parking lot and over to the stage right door. No problem at all. That is until I get to the stage right doors (outside) and realize there are no handles on the doors and they’re not propped open. Really.
I started banging on the doors like a complete lunatic and after about a minute or so, one of my fellow cast mates came to my rescue. Naturally, he was wondering why the HELL I was locked outside. I quickly explained what had happened as I was getting changed into the correct costume. Thankfully, all I had to do in order to ‘fix’ my costume issue was to throw on my overcoat, hat, and scarf and I was ready to go. Once I was dressed, I repeated the process…running across the parking lot, over to the stage left side door, re-entering through the UN-LOCKED door and was able to make my entrance. At the right time.
PHEW.
I can guarantee that I won’t do that again!!!!

Tonight is the final dress rehearsal with the full band and full tech. No stopping unless there’s a complete and utter collapse – or one of the actors is locked outside in the parking lot. :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

I completely forgot that today was St. Patrick's Day until I heard it on the radio this morning. Had I remembered, I would have dragged out my green shirt....damn it.
Oh well...

Let's see...I didn't write an entry yesterday because I was all frazzled when I got to work and had to rush off to training. Sorry!
I'm back today though and in here nice and early, so you get an entry. :-)

RENT is coming along nicely. Monday night's rehearsal was a little discouraging, just because cast morale wasn't all that high. We were all dealing with getting used to the stage, the set, the costumes, and after having such a kick-ass sing through with the band the night before, it was a difficult transition back to hearing just the keyboard. We also had a substitute guitarist who was there for the first time, so he was getting used to everything as well.
The good news is that we made it through the entire show that night and despite some (OK, a bunch) of flubs, it went fine.

Last night's rehearsal was a complete 360 from Monday night. It was our first time running the show on the stage with the entire band, which was very exciting.
Personally, I only had an OK show, but I was SO happy that we made it through the entire thing from start to finish. We only had to stop a couple of times to fix some 'big' issues, so that was a great thing. I think I have about 90% of my costumes set, and the few minor remaining things will be arriving tonight. I would LOVE to have at least 2 full run-throughs with the EXACT stuff I'll be wearing, but if I only get one, I'll survive.

Aside from the costume stuff, I had a couple of lyric 'confusions' (Sleigh Bells? Stockings? Santa Claus? Candy Canes? What the hell is it?!?) but I'll take care of that tonight. At least when I make my mistakes I made them with complete conviction, to the point where a few people thought THEY were the ones that screwed up. Hey, if I'm going to f' it up, I'm gonna do it with confidence!
Tonight we're back to the 'reduced' band (those people are costly to have around) but I'm sure in spite of that fact, we'll have a GREAT run through.
Positive thinking!!

On that note, and in honor of the day, I leave you with a few images from one of my favorite blogs: Cake Wrecks.com






And my personal favorite...



Yikes.

Enough with the rain....

It has been raining here non-stop since Saturday morning.
Add to that the fact that we 'lost' an hour this weekend, and that makes for one ROUGH morning. When the alarm went off this morning (at 5:15) I was convinced that it was a mistake. :-)

That being said, the weekend was fun and super-productive. I spent it alone (poor me) because Jim took a last minute trip to Provincetown with a couple of our friends.
I haven't caught up with him yet to get the details, but I'm pretty sure he had fun. ;-)

On Friday night I had rehearsal, followed by a lil' post-rehearsal b-day celebration for a mutual theatre friend/boyfriend of one of the RENT cast members. It was a nice way to end the week and a chance to wind down after what was a VERY good rehearsal.

On Saturday morning, I got up early with Scooter, relaxed on the couch for a bit, and then headed to B & K's place for an 'emergency head shot photo shoot'.
You see, at the theatre, they put all the actor's head shots up on a board out in the lobby and the one they have on file for me is WAY outdated. It's a great picture, but it looks nothing like the 'current' me. Since they needed a more recent head shot, I checked in with B to see if she had a free moment on Saturday to help me out and take a quick shot or two. Thankfully, she had the morning free and was able to squeeze me in.
It turned out to be super fast and SO much fun....of course.

Here are some pictures from the day....all credit going to B, naturally.

I brought munchkins, which I LOVE!!!



And I'm not the only one....



This is the one that I decided to use for the lobby...



This is the one that B liked a lot...



This was just for fun.



After my photo shoot, I headed home, changed, and then headed into Boston to go see the 4pm show of 'Adding Machine: A Musical' at SpeakEasy Stage Company. It was very good. I had no idea what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. I've listened to the original cast recording before (of COURSE I have...theatre dork), but to be honest, I was NOT a fan. It's not exactly my cup of tea, and it's not really the most 'tuneful' musical I've ever heard. However, that was one of the reasons that I wanted to see it so badly. I was hoping that seeing it would make me change my mind, and it really has. I'm not saying that I'm going to throw the CD on and listen to it every day, but I am going to give it another listen. Now that I 'get' what's going on in the show, I have a feeling that it will be easier to listen to. Don't get me wrong...when I listened to the CD for the first time, I was able to figure out the story, and what was going on, but I want to give it another listen now that I've seen the show.
I loved the set, loved the cast, and I thought the staging was SOOO cool. It was a really interesting show, visually. It's not going to be everyone's 'thing' - but it was certainly well done.
If you're reading this, and you go see it...let me know what you think.

After the show, I made it home in record time, let Scooter out, fed him his supper, and then met up with a bunch of friends for dinner at Johnny Macaroni's, one of my FAVORITE local restaurants which I've mentioned here before.
Thankfully, it's close to home or I would have been super late. Dinner was SOOO good and we had a great time chatting and laughing.
After dinner, I stopped by our friend's house (in the next town over) for a quick visit. They were having a 'Beatles Rock Band' (on X-Box) party, and I said I would stop by. Since it was fairly early (10-ish) I decided to stop in, but I only stayed for a little while. I was tired and had a long Sunday ahead of me....not to mention the fact that we had to turn our clocks ahead, so I was going to lose an hour no matter what time I got home. Boo!

I got up on Sunday, played with Scooter as much as possible (he had a LOT of pent-up energy, poor thing - damn rainy days) and then headed out for my 'Super Sunday' rehearsal.
Rehearsal went well. I'm still not 100% sure about what I'm wearing at all times, but a lot of that will get sorted out tonight....I hope. We ran through the show and got as far as we could before it was time for dinner break.
After dinner, the cast gathered on the stage with the band for a sing-through.
That's always one of my favorite rehearsals, and last night was no exception. It was great to hear the band, and it was so much fun to be able to just stand there and sing without having to deal with all the 'technical' stuff...like moving. :-)
The day ended around 10pm which made for a long day, but it was super-productive, and a nice end to a very busy weekend.

I didn't get to talk to Jim at all because he was in bed when I got home, but I'm pretty sure he had a great time in P-Town. When I got in last night I noticed that he'd folded the laundry, prepped the coffee machine for this morning, and made my lunch...so I was able to just go right to bed when I got home.
Thank you Jim!!! xoxo :-)

OK everyone, I'm ready for a nap - but unfortunately my day is just beginning.
I hope you have a great day, and if the sun is shining where you are - PLEASE enjoy a little of it for me.

One More Week!!!

Before I get to the topic at hand, I want to let you know that I will DEFINITELY be finishing my antibiotic. I didn't mean to imply that I was going to stop taking it...just that I was totally 'over' it.
I'll be done on Sunday, so it's only a few more days.
Thanks for your concern. ;-)

Also - the show will not be videotaped. However, in the past, the theatre has compiled a 'commercial' of sorts for promotional purposes and those are usually available for posting. I know that a lot of my 'not-so-local' readers would LOVE to see a clip or two, so if those should become available, you can bet that they'll be posted here. Keep your eyes peeled!!

Anyway....the rumors are true.
RENT opens one week from today.
Yikes.

I can't even believe that it's here already. Boy, that went by fast!!
Starting on Sunday at 1pm, I am going to be taking up partial residency at the theatre. :-)
Every day next week I'll pretty much be coming to work, stopping at home to change, heading out the door to rehearsal, and then going home to bed.
It'll be a whirlwind of activity, but I'm SURE it'll be a great time.
Yes...we've got a ways to go before we're ready for an audience, but I'm guessing that by.....Tuesday or Wednesday all the big things will be sorted out and we'll have a couple of decent (and flawless) run-throughs before opening night arrives.
I'll certainly keep you posted if that changes. :-)

OK folks...off I go to training.

It's Friday!!! Do something fun and Friday-like.
xoxo

Thursday, Thursday, Thursday

Good Day!!

It's another beautiful day in the neighborhood!
Well, it's not exactly beautiful, but at least it wasn't freezing out this morning...and the sun is shining!

As much as I despise losing an hour of sleep this weekend because of Daylight Savings Time, I love that it'll be lighter out when I arrive at work, and still be light out when I leave.

Hmmmm....let's see....my training classes have been going well. The application I'm learning is HUGE, but it's not too difficult to understand. It does a lot of 'stuff', but thankfully the app itself is fairly user-friendly. That always makes things a lot easier. As far as the classes are concerned, they're interesting and if nothing else, they've made the days go by quickly.

I'm on day 7 of my antibiotic and I'm SO over it. When I first started taking it, my stomach was feeling all crazy, but I think I'm finally used to it. I'm going back to the gym today which will be nice. I just hope it's not too crowded. I like my space. :-)

Can I just tell you that last week they removed all the toasters from our building's 'kitchenettes' because they're apparently considered a 'safety hazard'?!?!? It doesn't affect me in the least, because I never once used it, but I find it a little bit crazy that after God only knows how many years of having toasters in office buildings, they're suddenly too dangerous to keep around. As far as I know, there wasn't any specific incident that led to the 'Great Toaster Ban of 2010', but now it's a non-issue.
No toasters = no safety incidents.

I just hope they don't decide that the microwaves are too dangerous to have around as well...that would cause an UPROAR!!!

OK my peeps....I'm getting back to work. I got some stuff to bang out before I go to class.

Have a GREAT day!!!

PS - I didn't even mention that the final visit with our case worker went VERY well. She needs the hear back from all our references and write up the official home study document for our approval. Once those two things are completed, we're officially DONE - and the real waiting begins. Yikes.

Tonight's the night.....

Well, tonight is our FINAL homestudy visit. I think I may have said that last Tuesday was our final visit, but after I said that, I found out that our case worker was sick and couldn't make it - so we rescheduled.
I can't remember if that's old news or not and I'm too damn lazy to go back and search.
Either way...tonight is the final visit - and I'm very excited. :-)

Last night's rehearsal was VERY good. We had the E-N-T-I-R-E cast there for the first time in what felt like a really long time and even though there were some things that clearly need to be cleaned, polished, or in some cases, scrubbed ;-) we're on our way to making it a pretty damn good show. I can't wait to put everything together.

I have to sit my ass down before Friday and plot out 'my show'. I know I'm going to have a bunch of costume changes and I don't want them to take me by surprise when the actual costumes arrive. I need to plot out all my scenes to be sure that I know where I'm supposed to exit, where I need to end up for my next entrance...and more importantly, who I'm entering as!

From what I can tell, I should have at LEAST five different costumes and I go back and forth between them throughout the show. Thankfully, there are two of them that I only wear once, and I should have plenty of time to get in and out of those two one without having to rush.
We shal see!

Enough of this RENT talk...I need to get some coffee before today's training marathon gets under way!!!

Happy Tuesday!!

Strep-a-licious!!!

It's a banner day here in the world of my blog!
For some reason, my old settings have returned, so I'm taking full advantage.
That means you're getting a fun and picture filled post for today, before something bad happens!!

Quickly though - there's some 'talky stuff' to get through.

I found out on Thursday evening that I had strep throat. All morning I was feeling a little yucky and as the day went on, I was getting worse. I called my doctor, and while he had no appointments available, he said that I should come to the 'urgent care clinic' that night in the office. As it turns out - it was a very good thing I did. I had a fever of 102.3 as well as strep throat.
Yikes.
The good thing is (as many of you know, I'm sure) that when you get strep, you usually start feeling better very soon after you start taking your antibiotics.
Thankfully, he had called in a prescription for me, so I was able to start taking it that night. I got home from the doctor, called my boss to let him know that I wasn't going to be in on Friday and then called the RENT choreographer to let her know that I was going to miss rehearsal on Friday night as well, since that would still be within my 'contagious' period. I ended up going to bed early on Thursday night and spent the majority of the day on Friday, couch-bound.
Scooter was thrilled to have me home with him. :-)

By Saturday morning/early afternoon I was feeling a LOT better and it was a beautiful day out....YAHOO! By the time Saturday night rolled around, I was not only 'officially' no longer contagious, but I felt well enough to keep my plans for that night, which was to go see Varla Jean Merman and The Gold Dust Orphans in their production of 'The Phantom of the Oprah'.
I'm not going to go into a ton of detail about it, but I will say that if you're in the Boston area - you should really go and see this show. Really.
Not only is Varla Jean Merman an absolute RIOT in the show, but the entire thing was incredibly funny and so well done. I'm a big fan of The Orphans anyway, but adding Varla Jean Merman into the mix made it even better. They usually have a show of some sort going on down in P-Town during the summer, so if you can't get to Boston anytime soon, look for them down there...it'll be a guaranteed great time.
Check out their website for details.

Sunday morning, Jim and I went to church and then I headed off to an all day/night rehearsal for RENT. We're working on the actual stage now, so that's fun....and while we still have a lot of work to do, it's all very exciting and the show is going to be GREAT. We had a sing-through of sorts with the band last night (it was really their rehearsal and we were there to sing along) and that was super exciting. It was their first time playing together as a group - and they were beyond good.
I can't wait to hear them again on Sunday, when we begin our tech week.

OK - so it's Monday and I'm going to be in training from 9-1, so I gots to get my ass in gear. The one class I've been to (we started on Thursday, and I was out sick on Friday) was really good - so I'm having high hopes for this process...I think it's going to be OK. :-)

First, I'm going to show some pictures of the latest updates to the nursery. For those of you on facebook, they may be old news and they were taken with my iPhone, so they may not be the clearest pictures ever, but you'll get the idea.
Also, they were taken at night, so you can't tell how bright the room can get. Trust me, it's much nicer when the sun is shining in.

Second, I'm going to throw in a couple of pictures that Barrie took from the rehearsal last night, so you can see the RENT set....which is a work in progress...not completed...so no criticisms. ;-)

Happy Monday!!!











This is a baby blanket that one of my best friends from college made for us....it's awesome.



RENT set





Oh - this my new headset at work. :-)
I only use it for conference calls, but it makes me feel important.

Change is good....right??

I have to keep telling myself that....even though changes make me crabby. :-)

I think I mentioned this before, but I’m going to be training on a new system here at work. (It's s new system to me, not new to the company.)
I was told about this a few weeks ago, so I began sitting through several pre-recorded training presentations. Well, as it turns out, the ‘powers that be’ decided that they're going to begin another round of LIVE training sessions - so I'll be a part of that training.

The good news is that I won't have to sit through a bunch of pre-recorded sessions.
The bad news is I'll be in training EVERY DAY from 10-1 for the entire month of March.
Awesome.

I have no idea how it's going to affect my new schedule or if I'll still be able to take every other Monday off for the month of March, but I've asked my manager to let me know. I do know that it's going to keep me from attending my weekly committee meetings, as well as force me to eat lunch alone. :-(
Oh well...it's only for a month, and hopefully after the training, I'll eventually be doing all sorts of fun and exciting new things!!

Speaking of work stuff, I have some good news to share!!
I found out yesterday that I'm getting a bonus and a raise this year!
I can't remember the last time I got a raise, and while this one is miniscule, I'm not at all complaining. It's certainly better than nothing!!
The bonus however, was a HUGE surprise for me. I had a feeling I'd be getting one, but the dollar amount was what surprised me.
Grateful, grateful, grateful....

I hope you're all doing well and like me, counting down the days until Spring arrives.
The tulips that Jim planted last year are already popping up through the ground in HUGE numbers. It's kind of crazy.
Our front garden is going to look like something direct from Holland...and I can't wait!!

I have a few pictures to share, but for some reason I can't post them.
Oh well. It's better than yesterday, when I couldn’t post anything!
I'll take what I can get. :-)

xoxo

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

HELLO!!!

I can't apologize enough for my absence, but I was on vacation all last week. :-)
I know, I totally disappeared without any notice, but hopefully I didn't lose any readers because of it.
Please, as if. ;-)

How is everyone?!?!
Jim and I had a great week at home, doing all sorts of stuff around the house (finally finishing the nursery) but managing to enjoy the time away from work as well.

During the week we each met individually with our case worker and both of our meetings went VERY well. She told us that our family profile (that 63 page thing I MAY have mentioned once or twice?!?!?) was the best profile she's ever received (not to mention the longest) and as a result, our meetings with her were super-quick and a complete breeze to get through. She was amazed at how well-written it was and at one point she said to us "You can tell that you guys are really in love." How nice was that?!?!?

We're meeting with her tomorrow night for our final visit. At that point, we'll go over the final 'safety check' of the house, discuss the list of characteristics (what we're 'looking for' in a child), and give her our final list of references. Once that meeting is completed, we just wait for our references to do their job (they have a one page form that needs to be completed) and for our case worker to complete the home study document.
She'll write it up and once we approve it, it's sent to her boss for approval. Once her boss approves it, we are officially "in the system" and could get a call at any moment.
I got my 'official' clearance at work, so once we get the call, all I have to do is talk to HR and let them know when my time off will begin.
We're so close to the end of the process it's crazy. I keep reminding myself that just because we're getting to the end of the 'official' business part (paper work, meetings, etc.) it doesn't mean that we're handed a child as soon as everything is signed and dated. Yes, we certainly COULD be placed right away, but we could also be in for a long wait.
We'll just have to wait and see....and be ready for anything. :-)

On a totally different note - RENT rehearsals are going very well. We've touched on everything in the show (musically) and we just have to put it on it's feet. I think it's going to be really great. Even though there will be a few rough patches along the way, it'll be excellent.
It's always craziness the first time you try and move around on stage and sing at the same time. Everything sounds amazing when we're sitting down and singing, but take away the scripts and ask us to move and sing at the same time? We suddenly turn into bumbling idiots with who can't remember a single thing. However, it all comes back eventually and that's when things REALLY get exciting.
We've still got about two weeks of rehearsal and then we're into tech week, so that is PLENTY of time.
I'll be sure you keep you all posted.

Well, my friends...it's time for me to catch up on all your blogs....and I can't WAIT!!

Happy Monday!!

xoxo