Remembering why I married him

This project for work took me to a much warmer clime. When I got on the plane to come home, the high there was near 80; when I got off the plane here, the temp was unseasonably cold, only in the upper 30s - brrrrr! TW, bless his thoughtful little heart, was waiting at the gate w/ both a sweater and my winter coat, knowing that the fleece jacket I'd packed wasn't going to be nearly warm enough. I can definitely recommend marrying a man with a "mother hen" streak. :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year

No, not that - auditioning for the winter shows. I've got 2 auditions coming up for very different shows - an 1885 Gilbert & Sullivan on Sunday, and A New Brain on Monday, which premiered only 2 years ago.

The G&S audition is going to be a bit different from the usual routine; in addition to a song, they want a monologue! I've done cold readings at some G&S auditions, but this is the first time I've been to one where they warned you to prepare a monologue. Since I'm auditioning for one of the contralto roles, I plan to work up Katisha's monologue about being an acquired taste, appreciated only by the educated palate. I've never (what, never? that's right, never!) memorized a monologue for an audition before - wish me luck! Not that I expect to get the role, given the caliber of the folks who audition for this company, but maybe I'll get as far as callbacks.

A New Brain is being done by a company I've auditioned for a few times before; haven't been cast yet, but I'll keep trying. Only 2 mezzo roles, but both are older women (the contral character's mother and a homeless woman), so if the G&S doesn't work out, maybe I should hope that no other mezzos audition for Brain. (Oh, and bring your ice skates - we're going to Hades.)

The timing could get interesting - the G&S is auditioning Sunday & Monday, w/ callbacks on Tuesday. Brain is auditioning Monday & Tuesday, w/ callbacks on Wednesday. If I have very good vocal days Sunday & Monday, I could conceivably have callbacks on both Tuesday and Wednesday, making for auditions on 4 successive nights! What an ego boost that would be, even if neither company offers me a lead (though of course I hope they do).

Reminding him why he married me

After a month on the road, then Thanksgiving dinner out of town (in other words, no wonderful leftovers), I was going through cooking withdrawal. Sunday I fired up the crockpot and made some chicken & vegetables; not bad, but nothing to write home about. Yesterday it was pot roast in a mushroom sauce. That was a resounding success! A bit salty but falling-apart tender, and the aroma was to die for. TW was raving about it and even suggested having another dinner party w/ that pot roast as the entree. Tomorrow I plan to try a pork & cranberry sauce recipe. The crockpot is getting a workout and TW has been going on about what a great cook I am.

And I have not yet begun to bake! :D

Free rice and free vocab

Found FreeRice.com on Shelly's blog. She's a librarian, so we share a love of words. FreeRice is a funny little site - you take a vocab quiz which keeps feeding you questions as long as you want to keep answering. For every so many you answer correctly, you donate 10 grains of rice. I don't know how many questions I answered (I got 'em all right; it pays to read a variety of genres set in different historical periods), but I donated 500 grains.

Check it out - have fun testing your vocabulary and do good while you're at it.