Acutely aware of our mortality right now

We've had a heckuva year:

• The Chief's mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer in January and put on home hospice care.
• My mom died very suddenly of cancer in February.
• Her older brother, who's been fighting cancer for several years, was put on hospice care at the end of April.
• The Chief's cousin learned in May that her cancer was back again.
• I just flew out to KY last week for the funeral of KL's partner (might as well have been her husband). He was only 42 years old, so his family & friends will be reeling from the shock for quite awhile.
• And we got the call about my uncle earlier this evening. God finally answered his prayers and called him Home. KY funeral last week, MO funeral this week. The Chief is debating whether to go with me or stay put, in case he needs to travel to his mom's funeral. We were just up there last weekend for a visit; my MIL looked pale but seemed otherwise strong, though that doesn't necessarily mean much.

And various friends have been facing all kinds of challenges, not fatal but still demoralizing - unemployment, health problems, financial straits, kid worries and so on. I generally have a pretty positive outlook on life, but lately it's been rather a challenge to look on the bright side. It all makes the joy of C&D's wedding seems like ages ago, not a mere month.

The remodel is DONE!!!

The Chief started demolition in the front bathroom in mid/late December, the first workmen walked through the door the first week of January, and the last one left Thursday. Hallelujah!!! That's SEVEN months of crews and carpenters, and 7 1/2 months of living in a combination construction zone and storage unit.

The Chief barely shut the door behind the carpenter on Thursday before starting in on the next big project - cleaning up the mess and putting everything away. We'd already done some, of course - we put away most of the bathroom stuff a week or two ago, when the cabinet was finished, and I filled most of the built-in bookshelves a month or more ago. However, now that all the tools and construction supplies are gone or put away, we can start in earnest to dust and wash and vacuum. The curtains in the living room and office went into the wash yesterday; I hope to wash the rest of the lace curtains tomorrow. Tonight the Chief & I reassembled the guest bed frame, though we won't add the mattress & bedding until we finish cleaning in there.

Two reasons for the big push - Dad is coming for a visit in mid-September and, more importantly, we can't wait to have the place looking like a home again, instead of a dusty old attic.

Oh, so close to the END of this remodeling!

The Chief has just about finished painting the back bathroom - nothing left but the fine work around the door jamb and such. Carpenter still has to do the plumbing access hatch for the tub/shower, but the wall cabinet is finished and already half stocked. The towel bars and such are in place, the shower curtain & liner are up - soon as those 2 little things are done, we can CLEAN the bathroom and put the bath rugs back down. For now, the old raggedy curtain is back in place until I get the fabric sewn up for the new curtain. We're already using the bathroom, although some supplies are still in boxes, so we're still a long way away from being able to find things right away.

Dad will be coming for a visit in September; we're looking forward to showing him our nice, new bathrooms and the rebuilt closet and lovely floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in what will be the guest room once we get everything put away and cleaned up.

Great night for a simple dinner!

Crazy work day today - sudden shortening of a deadline (from Thursday to "before you leave this afternoon"), phone call with some news that threw a monkey wrench into the mix, key app being incredibly sluggish, some eval prep dropped into the mix... Perfect night to come home to spaghetti sauce over spinach noodles with a glass of white zinfandel, followed by the last of the farmstand strawberries with a dollop of vanilla yogurt.

This week's schedule is pretty chopped up, which will make it a challenge to stay on top of everything. I've got a few extra hours on the books; if I do this right, I'll be able to take off a bit early on Friday and get a head start on my weekend.

I write like...

The Flibbertigibbet posted a link that offers to analyze a text you give them and decide which author's writing style yours most resembles. I decided to give it a try. My results? I was told I write like David Foster Wallace. Having never heard of him, I submitted another text and was told I write like Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The third text I submitted (all of them blog posts) was judged to resemble Neil Gaiman's writing style.

Of these 3, I've only heard of Douglas Adams. I may have to check out the other 2 the next time I'm at the library.

Some nicely done stop-action work

Found on an LJ:



Lyrics:

Sun been down for days A pretty flower in a vase A slipper by the fireplace A cello lying in its case Soon she's down the stairs Her morning elegance she wears The sound of water makes her dream Awoken by a cloud of steam She pours a daydream in a cup A spoon of sugar sweetens up And She fights for her life As she puts on her coat And she fights for her life on the train She looks at the rain As it pours And she fights for her life As she goes in a store With a thought she has caught By a thread She pays for the bread And She goes... Nobody knows Sun been down for days A winter melody she plays The thunder makes her contemplate She hears a noise behind the gate Perhaps a letter with a dove Perhaps a stranger she could love And She fights for her life As she puts on her coat And she fights for her life on the train She looks at the rain As it pours And she fights for her life As she goes in a store With a thought she has caught By a thread She pays for the bread And She goes... Nobody knows And She fights for her life As she puts on her coat And she fights for her life on the train She looks at the rain As it pours And she fights for her life Where people are pleasently strange And counting the change And She goes... Nobody knows

Explosive situation?

Fireworks are legal in Missouri and it seemed the Chief and I saw fireworks tents every fraction of a mile from the time we left the St. Louis airport until we were well beyond the city limits. Some of these tents were in lots right next to gas stations. Am I the only one who thinks that's not such a great idea?

"Drowning doesn't look like drowning"

This blogger wants everyone to know that the symptoms of drowning look nothing like what you see on TV or in the movies. With pool/lake/beach season here, please be sure to read this so we can keep each other safe.

http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket...

The newlyweds graciously dropped me at the airport on their way out of town for their honeymoon, and did so early enough that I was able to get on a flight that arrived 2 1/2 hours earlier than the one I'd originally booked. That earlier flight landed about 10 minutes ahead of schedule, the usual 15-20-minute wait at baggage claim was more like 1 or 2 minutes, my bag was one of the first out of the chute, the parking shuttle was waiting outside when I went out to flag it down, we filled up almost immediately so that we headed for the lot in short order, and I was the 2nd drop. This is the first time I've ever had an arrival go so smoothly!

Now if only I could get the temperature back down into the 90s...

Get me to the church on time

A friend I've known since grade school is getting (re)married this weekend! I'm so looking forward to seeing her parents again, and all 3 of her siblings (now that they're so far-flung, this will be the first time they've all been in the same place at the same time since the last family wedding). Wedding festivities Saturday, 4th of July fun on Sunday, then she & her new hubby will head out to the cabin, which they're using for about a week before continuing east and south to the ocean.

The Chief was back out at the cabin yesterday taking care of last-minute checks - water on, clean sheets & towels, cobwebs chased, instructions, keys, info on things to do, maps... I think he's more excited than I am that they're taking us up on the offer.

Domestic diva to go

A friend of ours finally bought his first house a couple of months ago and has been doing some major repairs in addition to the usual settling-in things. I offered to make him some curtains to help him keep expenses down, so a couple of weeks ago we went shopping for curtain fabric. He found several "candidates" for the kitchen curtains. I explained about swatches, so he piled up the bolts and headed off to the cutting table. To my surprise, the woman wielding the scissors gave him pieces perhaps 3 inches by the full 45-inch width of the bolt! Sure made it easier for him to decide which fabric he wanted in the kitchen, though I did go over there last week (at his request) to tell him my choice from among the 3 "finalists". I told him how much fabric to buy and will probably get them sewn up sometime in the next few weeks, depending on when he gets the fabric.

We had friends join us at the cabin this weekend (temps in the 90s and no a/c - we spent most of the weekend being limp and letting their baby entertain us). When I mentioned I was sewing curtains for DB, or maybe it was the costuming I've helped with, she wondered if I'd be willing to show her how to sew. Then this morning she asked me how to make chicken soup w/ a carcass; picking up on my passing reference to drippings for gravy, she followed up by saying she didn't know how to make gravy from drippings, either. I've since sent her instructions for both gravy and chicken soup, and said that if she buys the supplies for a basic sewing project, I'll help her through it. They live about an hour away so we'll have to make an effort to schedule this, but it should be fun.

Explaining my choice of curtain fabric for DB's kitchen made me feel like something of an expert, and having my girlfriend ask me for help with so many domestic things makes me feel that I actually know some stuff worth knowing. ;)

The end is near

We're finally coming into the home stretch with all these umpty-gazillion remodeling jobs. The tilers come tomorrow to start the floor and shower in the back bathroom! The Chief has already scheduled the plumber to come in on Monday to install the new toilet and sink & shower faucets. The new bookshelves are completely done, the closet doors just need the knobs installed (the Chief got some temporary ones which he'll swap out when the porcelain ones come in). The wall cabinet in the back bathroom still needs handholds cut in the drawers, faces on the drawers, and the doors (handles will ship tomorrow, from the cabinetmaker who made the vanity and medicine cabinet).

The carpenter is taking far longer to do his things than we'd ever anticipated (he sorta promised everything would be done by mid-April - 2 months later, I'm wondering how much longer this is gonna take) but at least the finished product looks really good. I'd love it if this is all finished and the workmen packed up & gone by the end of next week. It could happen - the tilers will be finished sometime Friday, the plumber will only need a few hours on Monday to do his thing, so it comes down to when the carpenter finishes. I've taken a few interim pics, but will take more pics of the finished work; I'm really looking forward to taking those "Hallelujah, it's OVER!!!!" pictures.

One of the reasons I enjoy this strip

That felt good...

My voice teacher's studio recital was this afternoon, at the church where she's the music director. When I warmed up at home, I was loosening a buncha crud and couldn't seem to clear my throat, so I just focused on singing past/through it. NA warmed us all up (5 of her students, plus her daughter - the two of them sang a couple of Brahms duets) and I felt pretty solid, so I wasn't nervous about going first. Had a bit of a comic moment when, just as I was breathing for my first entrance, the church's bells started to chime the hour! NA mouthed at me to "stop!" while she went to an instrument panel and did something to silence the chimes. We then started over, with no further interruptions.

I still felt that I was singing through crud, but I pumped up the energy, let myself enjoy the music ("Hear my cry, O God" by Cesar Franck and "O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion" from The Messiah) and got through it with no glitches. That must have worked, because NA was very pleased with how well I'd done. The Chief also thought I'd done well. He rarely gets to hear me sing - last time was the cabaret workshop I did last summer - so he was able to hear that I'd made progress.

One of my fellow students had also sung in the last recital, two years ago. This time he sang a very ambitious program (2 Samuel Barber songs, an aria from The Student Prince and "La donna e mobile" from Rigoletto). While he forgot the words in one place in the Italian piece, when he got back on, he not only acted as if nothing had happened, but nailed the rest of the aria. I enjoyed seeing how much his voice and self-confidence have grown in 2 years.

Turns out his mother is quite the musician - big soprano voice, used to be a recitalist, has taught for years, plays violin and so on. He had been told once that he couldn't sing (!) and hadn't told his mother he was taking voice until he'd been at it for a few years. She was a bit put out, I think, that he waited so long to tell her, but was justifiably proud of how well he did.

One thing I've come to realize - the more progress I make with this singing stuff, the harder I'm working physically. It's work to keep the energy up and maintain the spin in the tone, not to mention keeping the runs in the fast parts in tempo and on pitch. But if I can keep this up, I may have a better chance of getting called back when I start auditioning for things next season.

Now open your hymnals to page...

My siblings and I all get our love of puns & wordplay from Mom. She would've loved this little gem a friend forwarded to me today:

The Workman's Hymnal

Dentist's Hymn: "Crown Him with Many Crowns"

Contractor's Hymn: "The Church's One Foundation"

Baker's Hymn: "I Need Thee Every Hour"

Weatherman's Hymn: "There Shall Be Showers of Blessings"

Ophthalmologist's Hymn: "Open My Eyes That I Might See"

Tailor's Hymn: "Holy, Holy, Holy"

IRS Hymn: "All to Thee"

Shopper's Hymn: "By and By"

Teacher's Hymn: "Be Still and Know"

-- Author Unknown

Remodeling update

Oy, how long has it been since the last update on the Great Remodeling Project of 2010? The front bathroom is done! Full of stuff that will eventually get stored in the (larger) back bathroom, but it still looks much nicer than it did before.

The back bathroom is still in progress. The drywall is all up, including on the ceiling, the backerboard for the tile ditto. The Chief has finished painting walls & ceiling, barring a few touch-ups once the molding goes up around the doors and window. The medicine cabinet is up and lit, and the shower light has also been installed. Still to do: door and window molding, tile on the floor and in the shower; the tile should be in tomorrow or Friday.

And in the bedroom between the 2 baths, the bookshelves are finished. The Chief just finished working in the support pegs for the last of the shelves, so they're all ready for me to load 'em up. The rebuilt closet in there is mostly done; the doors still need handles and something needs to be worked out so the left-hand door doesn't hit the doorway molding when opened. The new closet has a big light in it and the hanging bar is high enough for just about anything to hang full length. And if need be, we can even shove those things to one side to make room for whatever an overnight guest might want to hang up. ;)

The worst of the dust-producing stages are behind us. We've already started dusting the books and things on the bookshelves, and today the Chief moved the double-wide bookshelf into the front bedroom, soon to be redesignated the library. Once I get the new shelves loaded up, the overflow (e.g., all my foreign language dictionaries and other reference books) can go into the library.

Look - light at the end of the tunnel, and it looks like it's not a train!

Forget the solstice, it's officially summer

The lightning bugs started appearing a few days ago and the crape myrtles are in bloom - forget the "official" first day of summer, those are signs enough for me. There's a clump of crape myrtles sort of across the street from my building with lovely lilac-colored flowers. We've had just enough rain lately that this promises to be a good year for them. (Now watch us get no more rain for weeks...)

Switch stitiching

I helped with some costume pieces for a local show and had both my serger and sewing machine set up on the kitchen table. I needed the serger to edge 10 lengths of "tartan" as well as 10 neck ruffles and pieces for 8 jabots. Then it was over to the sewing machine to gather the ruffles and jabots and sew them to their ribbons or neckbands. It had been years since I'd had my serger out; now I remember why I thought it was worth investing in the Rolls rather than a Chevy or even a Cadillac. Not only does mine have variable-speed dogs for doing ruffles, it also does a very nice rolled edge.

I guess it's my version of power tools - the Chief has a router, table saw and so on, I've got a serger and sewing machine.

Lovely long weekend at the cabin

We got out to the cabin for Memorial Day, had lovely weather almost the entire time. Met some new "neighbors" when the Chief & I went knocking on their door to find out who installed their retaining wall, ended up sharing dinner (chez nous) and dessert (chez eux) the next night.

Dessert included some wonderful strawberries we had picked up at a farm stand on the way out to the cabin. We managed to wipe out both boxes by Monday morning, so of course we just had to stop there again on the way back and get more. My, but they were marvelous with a bit of vanilla yogurt.

I got a nice, lovely massaaaaahhhge, which I need to do more often, so my favorite massage therapist doesn't have so many knots to untie.

I picked up another spearmint plant to replace the one that didn't make it through the winter; said plant is now ensconced in a pot on the deck. Last year's peppermint, on the other hand, is coming back beautifully. I plan to take a chance and transplant it from its current pot on the deck to a bare spot down the hill from the cabin in hopes that it will spread and provide some ground cover.

We had to have several trees taken out, most of them dead or dying, with a few that were too close to the house for fire safety. One of the biggest trees removed was on one side of the driveway; the driveway will be much straighter once we get the stump outta there, but in the meantime, we've got reflectors in front of it lest an unsuspecting visitor wreck their vehicle's undercarriage on it.

The one flaw in the weekend was that something was in bloom that had the Chief's allergies reacting in a big way. With his croupy cough, explosive sneezing, and frequent noseblowing, it's a wonder either of us got any sleep at all.

Donate miles

If you've got frequent flyer miles you can't use, put them to good use. Fisher House provides free on-base housing to family members traveling to visit a loved one in the military who's recuperating in a military hospital.

The Fisher House Foundation also administers several other programs supporting military families, including the Hero Miles program, which provides free airfare to military members traveling for medical treatment and for their families' travel to visit them. The way Fisher House can do this is by having individuals donate their frequent flyer miles.

Different airlines have different donation procedures, so the Fisher House website has made it easier to donate by listing links to each airline's process here. It even includes instructions for donating miles you earn with a credit card. If you can't use those miles yourself, donate them to someone who needs them rather than let them go to waste. And if you can use them but would rather donate, well, even better!

Coming into the remodeling home stretch at long last

The built-in bookshelves and closet are looking good; they just need the finish trim. I hope to be able to start loading up the new bookshelves this weekend - can't wait! The carpenter will then start assembling the wall cabinet for the back bathroom, which we hope will be finished and installed by the end of next week.

The contractors finished the drywall in the back bathroom today and will put the molding around the doors and window tomorrow, along with a little bit of finishing work. The Chief plans to start painting tomorrow, hoping to prime and apply one coat of paint, then do a second coat on Saturday.

This evening the Chief and I went back to the tile place to finalize our order. The installer still has to get back to us, and of course we still have to order the tile, but once it comes in, that'll be the last step - 3 or 4 days to do all the tile work (floor and shower) and we can do the "bye bye, contractors!" happy dance!

We'll still have all the construction dust to get rid of (and drywall dust is remarkably insidious!), but at long last we'll be able to start putting things away, after living with things "stored" in the living room, dining room, and kitchen or jumbled up on the spare bedroom all year (the demolition started before Christmas). We'll definitely be throwing a party to celebrate once this is all behind us!

Interesting lesson today

My voice teacher, a soprano, has become more & more convinced that I'm a soprano too. This isn't a huge surprise, as my two previous teachers spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out whether I was a soprano or a mezzo with a top extension. Today we closed my lesson with her pulling an aria for me to start working on; one of Susanna's from The Marriage of Figaro. The first soprano aria she pulled for me was something by Puccini but it left me cold; Mozart, on the other hand... Well, it's Mozart - what's not to like? No telling when, or if, I'll ever perform it, but it'll be fun to work on, and a new challenge.

Survived Mother's Day

First Mother's Day since Mom died wasn't as bad as I'd feared. A few tears in church (especially as the prayer for mothers who'd lost a child was immediately followed by one for mothers who'd died), and in the dressing room as people came in saying "Happy Mother's Day", but having the show to distract me was a big help.

Called Dad, who sounded OK. He'd gone with K and family to the middle son's college to have lunch there, which he enjoyed. I need to call him tonight, too, as it's Mom's birthday.

Sure wish I could tell Mom about Wednesday's audition (sang well enough, but sight-read poorly; oh well), my garden, the remodeling progress...

How my garden grows

It's early days in the garden, but things are looking promising. The geraniums & million bells for the deck planters are looking just fine, despite having waited 2 weeks in their little nursery pots for me to plant them, and the tomato plant is doing just fine. The thyme and (partia? pratia?) I bought as groundcovers for the driveway are hanging in there too. Best of all, I still have some mazus reptans from a few years ago that came back despite the poor soil and the abuse it took over the winter. (That part of the driveway got rather trenched as we tried to maneuver cars in & out the narrow channel we'd shoveled out after all the blizzards.)

My impatiens haven't done much, but they haven't died yet, either. The ones closest to the house are so far under the eaves that they always need watering, and one of the 3 I planted between the downspout and the driveway got dug up, probably by a squirrel, and doesn't seem to want to reestablish itself, poor thing.

One of the azaleas in front took quite a brutal beating during the winter and may have to be replaced. The sad-looking bush has only a few leaves & blooms on it; for the most part, it's nothing but a great big bundle of sticks. I'd hate to lose it, but maybe I'll replace it with a forsythia, or try something new and get a camellia, which I'm told do well in our clay-ey soil and climate.

For the first time in several years, my irises actually bloomed! This morning when I left for work, there was a single yellow iris standing tall in a clump of little boxwoods, and a couple of purple ones right next to some (trillium?) of the same shade of purple. Lovely!

"You have a big mouth"

Good voice lesson today, as I prep for an audition tomorrow for a (paying!) church gig. I'm only auditioning for the list of substitutes (too many ailing out-of-town relatives to make a full-time commitment right now), but it would be quite an accomplishment to make the list. My voice teacher was telling me that there's only so much she can do - I have to practice, and practice enough that I learn to feel when I'm doing things right. She assured me I can sing "inspired" if I just do the work: "You have the voice and the musicality, you have a singer's body and a singer's mouth." When I asked what a singer's body and mouth looked like, she mentioned the size of my ribcage, my cheekbones and "you have a big mouth". She was referring to the size of the resonating cavity, but it was a pretty funny moment as she realized that last comment could conceivably be taken the wrong way. :D

Funny? Depends...

Spotted this on someone's Live Journal page the day before Birdie opened. Very funny at the time, but at that night's dress rehearsal one of the scenes I'm in completely fell apart. Maybe we shoulda had our lines written on the inside of our paws...

Passed on from Dubheach on LJ

So the idea is, comment here and I will give you a color. Then, in your blog, list ten things you love that are that color. Dubheach gave me red, "For your passion when performing."

1. red hair (especially on small children)
2. the red geraniums, impatiens and million bells I bought for this year's garden
3. steak cooked the way I prefer it
4. Mom's hat, which my sisters decided looks (and fits) best on me
5. tomato-based pasta sauces
6. my favorite soup, with its tomato-based stock
7. the cashmere shawl the Chief bought me while he was deployed
8. cardinals and pileated woodpeckers
9. most of our Persian carpets
10. jonathan apples

Cuisses de grenouilles

The Chief & I went out to a nice little restaurant last night to celebrate our anniversary. He had decided he wanted French - we'd never been to a French restaurant - so we went to one a colleague of mine had found on line which had gotten very good reviews. They certainly treated us well - when we booked on line, we mentioned we were celebrating our anniversary, so they gave us a "VIP table" set into one of those little bays found in late-19th-century townhouses (the restaurant is in 3 former houses joined together) and brought us 2 glasses of complimentary champagne. Full-size glasses, not just little token sips.

They actually had frog's legs (cuisses de grenouilles) on the menu so I decided to try them for my appetizer. There were 6 on the plate, fried, with diced eggplant and potato in the garnish. They were actually pretty good! No, they didn't taste like chicken; more like a meaty fish - think tuna or swordfish rather than trout or flounder.

Lovely evening, good food - nice romantic dinner. We noticed that there was a German restaurant on the ground floor of the same house(s). Their menu boasted spargel (white asparagus), which we both love, and the Chief's eagle eye noticed the size of the beer glasses and steins, so we want to try that place sometime soon. It'll have to be very soon; spargel season only lasts until early or mid-May.

We almost forgot!

When I called the Chief from work this morning, he wished me a rather rueful "Happy Anniversary", confessing that he remembered only because a friend had sent us an anniversary e-card. I told him it was OK; the only reason I remembered is because I had it on the calendars in my purse and my work Outlook. We're now waitlisted for a nice French restaurant outside of town for dinner Saturday night.

We did this last year, too. I was on my way to the airport for a business trip when the radio announcer gave the date & time and I realized it was our anniversary. While I was stopped at the next light, the Chief called to wish me "Happy Anniversary".

I blame it on 9/11. The Chief was still in the Reserves then and got activated. We ended up spending our first anniversary 2 continents apart. We celebrated about a month later, using our tax refund for a "meet in the middle" vacation in Paris. This year, he's right here; full of construction dust, but right here where I can give him a kiss or a cuddle if I want to. The rest of it - cards, presents, nice dinner out - is just fluff.

Oh, and one more thing...

As if I didn't have enough annoying, inconvenient things in my day today, our professional-electrician neighbor stopped by just as I was starting to fix dinner to help the Chief with the electrical circuitry in the back bathroom. After about half an hour of testing circuit breakers and seeing how many of the wires in the bathroom actually worked, the Chief told me to go ahead and eat.

Sigh. Better be a good rehearsal tonight...

Stress? What stress?

[primal scream] This afternoon I learned from an e-mail that I suspect was meant for someone else that an app I've been fighting with since last June has a known problem! I didn't think it was operator error; now I've had that suspicion confirmed. But oh, how aggravating to learn I've been banging my head against a brick wall for 10 months, wasting untold taxpayer-funded hours, because of this. [scream]

Last night I went to a music rehearsal - another waste of time for me, as they never touched any of my music. So I have to go tonight because they didn't manage last night's rehearsal time well. Which is bad enough, but I have only cut out the apron I need to make; haven't even marked the pattern pieces yet. I sure coulda used the time last night to sew, instead of sitting around waiting for a turn that never came. Bleah.

Latest audition results

I got a call the other night from the Music Hall producer: they didn't cast me because "we got too many women" auditioning. Which is much nicer than telling me they didn't need a bellydancer and weren't interested in what flabby singing voice I had to show them.

However, they'll be happy to have me as a barmaid (the ticket price includes beer/wine and snacks). It seems the barmaids also encourage the audience to sing along at appropriate places, though as I've never even attended a music hall, I don't know where that audience participation might come in. But singing? Sure, I'll be happy to!

The producer also promised to pass my name along to the costumer as someone willing to help. We'll see how much time and work that ends up being.

Cats & fish

Two Lumps is a cute strip. Usually funny, but the April 16 offering is punny:

Red flowers for Mom

I finally got to the nursery yesterday to get impatiens for the front flower bed. I also bought two 6-packs of ground cover for the driveway, some geraniums and million bells for the flower boxes on the deck railing, 3 phlox plants to fill some holes, and one itty bitty tomato plant that I hope to persuade to grow in a pot on the deck. (And hope the squirrels don't do all the harvesting!)

This year I bought impatiens in red (for Mom, who has had red impatiens for years), a dark coral, and a couple of pinks (with one little purple one that snuck into the nursery pack).

For the 3 flower boxes, I bought one geranium and one million bells for each - a purple million bells with a 2-toned pink geranium, a red million bells with a white geranium, and a peachy-orange million bells with a red geranium. Like the red impatiens, the red geranium is a flower I'll always associate with Mom - Dad gave her red geraniums for Mother's Day for years, until the trees in the yard got big enough to make it too shady for geraniums. That's when her red flower of choice became impatiens.

I wonder how my flowerbox choices will look with the purple-and-yellow violas that not only came back from last year but seem to have propagated just a bit. Maybe I'll try to divide them so I have at least one in each flowerbox.

Theatrical weekend

Having a theater weekend:
- Friday: attended a local production of The Producers (and see several theater friends in the audience).
- Yesterday: helped paint the Birdie set. Outdoors, with pollen blowing everywhere, so I didn't last very long, but I did get a first coat in Kim's bedroom window and a lot of molding for the Macafee house.
- Today: tickets for a production of The Mikado with a couple of people from my recent Grand Duke in the cast.

With luck, I may even manage to cut out my Mrs. Macafee apron. That was supposed to happen yesterday, but what with set painting, gardening, then spending the evening with the Chief at a friend's new house, sewing never happened.

That's not how it's supposed to work.

Had an audition this afternoon for a musical review, warmed up in the car on the way over. I was nervous about the singing only because it's tree season, my worst for allergies. My voice was actually cooperating as I started to warm up, but by the time I got there, my throat was starting to feel tired and the voice was feeling clogged. Warming up isn't supposed to make my voice worse! Sure enough, when I went to sing, my voice just didn't want to cooperate. The directors didn't cringe or run screaming from the room, but I'm sure they've had a lot of practice at smiling politely while thinking "Get the hook!" No, I don't really think I was that bad, but I certainly wasn't singing anywhere near my best.

On the plus side, they did seem quite impressed with the "party trick" I also brought along, since the audition notice said they were looking for specialty acts. I dug out my old dance "sword" and balanced it on my head for them, doing a few belly dance moves and even turning w/ it on my head. When I added that I could also dance with other props (finger cymbals, cane, veil), the director scribbled it all down.

I don't expect to get anything but chorus based on how I sang today, but if they can work it in, I wouldn't be surprised if they ask for a sword dance.

Going for the respiratory dysfunction trifecta

1) Tuesday the cold moved from my head into my chest and the cough had me barking like a seal. You know, the kind that scratches all the way down. After-hours clinic doc said it wasn't bronchitis or an infection (a relief), gave me a breathing treatment, put me on prednisone.

2) The tree pollen musta spiked yesterday, because the cough, which had been getting better, started getting worse. Presumably tree pollen-induced asthma on top of the cold; oh goody. Oh, I started Mucinex DM for the cough too (I love the 12-hr pill instead of every-4-hours cough syrup - so much easier!)

3) This morning I was coughing much more often, despite the prednisone, my peak flow readings were down 100 points from healthy, so it was back to the doctor. She told me that I now do have bronchitis, so she added an antibiotic to my Rx load. My ears are still blocked from this cold, so she also put me on afrin so I can fly tomorrow without bursting an eardrum. She also sent me home with my very own nebulizer, an acquisition I'd successfully managed to avoid for lo, these many years.

So there you have it - cold-induced cough, asthma, and bronchitis for the hat trick. With oral inhalers, the nasal meds and all these pills, it's a wonder I don't rattle!

Spring's always been my toughest allergy season, but this year takes the cake. And it's only gonna get worse, as the pollen counts have yet to hit 4 figures.

Successful culinary experiment

I wanted to dress up some frozen tilapia, so I brushed the thawed fillets with a little bit of olive oil, sprinkled w/ cumin & tarragon, and baked for about 10 minutes (less would have been better). I picked the spices by opening bottles and sniffing to see what might go well together - the Chief & I both like this combination. Definitely a keeper! (Wish I could share it with Mom.)

Vintage costume!

The costumers were at Birdie rehearsal last night with lots of stuff for us to try on for size. I was delighted to learn that my "Ed Sullivan dress" (when the Macafees appear on the Sullivan show w/ teen idol Conrad Birdie) is an actual vintage dress! Not colors I'd've chosen, but an elegant print. Even better, it was made for someone essentially my size and shape; all I need to do is restitch a couple of seams. The fun part is that it's got a semi-dirndl skirt (with pleats rather than gathers), so I've got a crinoline, which may well be of the same vintage, to wear under it.

My housedress is nothing special, but I'll have fun making the apron to wear over it. The costumers want me to make it plain white, so I'm hoping they'll let me put a retro applique on one or both pockets to make it more 50s-looking.

Mom moments

The cough with this cold was particularly rough - one of those that scratches all the way down. Triggered the asthma too, enough that the doc ended up giving me a nebulizer treatment and putting me on a short course of (shudder) prednisone. Which made me remember how Mom could always hear in my voice when I was on the stuff. Once I'd been off it for at least a week, but sure enough, when I called, Mom asked if I'd had to take it.

This afternoon I was putting some things away in the kitchen and spotted Mom's big old turkey roaster up on top of the kitchen cabinets. (It's too tall to fit into any of them.) All those years she pulled that thing out for one of the Christmas turkeys, the other being sent off to my uncle for smoking on his grill. When she eventually went to a different pan, I got the old veteran. I haven't used it much, but every time I see it, I think of her. When the Chief & I were there for Christmas the last two years, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her, prepping dinner, serving it, cleaning up after. When the Chief and I went to leave, Mom said she'd miss her "kitchen buddy". Me too, Mom.

NB: Don't nuke the bear.

Got another cold, which moved from head to chest the other day, so I've been drinking copious quantities of hot tea with honey. (Temporary relief, but that hot honey feels so good going down a raw throat.) When I first pulled the honey down from the cabinet, it had crystalized a bit so I popped the bear-shaped bottle into the microwave for what I thought would be a safe 15 seconds. Poor bear emerged ever so slightly lopsided, and subsequent reheatings only worsened his posture.

When I pointed this out to the Chief, he said "Wouldn't it work just as well to set the bottle in some hot water?" Of course it would, but this was faster. Maybe next time I'll nuke the water, then put the bear into it.

"Mom moments"

The first of what I'm sure will be many little moments when I find myself wishing I could call Mom and say "guess what?"

Making gravy at the cabin yesterday, I was putting away the baggie of corn starch and realized it was not corn starch at all, but powdered sugar! Didn't ruin the gravy, though of course it didn't thicken as one might have wished. Mom once reached for vanilla while baking and got the liquid smoke instead! She said Dad ate the banana bread (or whatever it was) anyway and said it tasted just fine.

We've got some mystery bulbs coming up in force in the hellebore bed on the north side of the house, the crocuses are coming into their own, and today I noticed one little snowdrop in the front yard, next to a yellow crocus. The daffodils are shooting up and could be blooming in as little as a week if the weather is warm. In a few more weeks I should be able to find impatiens for my annual bed. I wish I could share this with Mom, who loved gardening and gardens, even if she had little time or opportunity for them.

At least it's March, not February

We got a new water heater installed Thursday as part of the bathroom remodel (the old one was at least a coupla years passed its expected lifespan). Unfortunately, the new tank had a defective gas valve, which the plumber said was quite common. We won't have a replacement until tomorrow, so no hot water at the house since Thursday. The Chief & I had been debating whether to go to the cabin this weekend; that settled the question, as we knew we'd have hot water out there.

When we got home this afternoon and went to set the thermostat back up, nothing happened. The blower runs, but heat? None. The Chief tried several things but no luck, so we're having someone come look at it tomorrow. Unfortunately, the anticipated lifespan of a furnace is 15-20 years and ours is nearing 16 years old. I'm crossing my fingers that this will be a repair, not a replace.

If we have to be without heat or hot water, at least it's now, when the low temps are in the 30s and 40s, not a month ago, when the highs were only in the 20s. And we're both grateful that our bedroom has a baseboard heater, so at least one room in the house is warm.

A first I hope will also be a last!

I had a cold all last week. A bit annoying, especially the few days the head congestion was giving me some ear pain, but nothing too worrying. Until Friday, when the cold started to move from my head into my chest. I could still sing Friday night, so I wasn't too worried. Then I woke up Saturday with bad laryngitis; so bad that, despite all the orange juice & hot tea w/ honey, I had to farm out my sung & spoken lines to other people. I still went on, but mouthed all the "singing". This was particularly annoying because my good friend KL had decided, after learning of Mom's death, to come into town on a flying visit and that was the only performance she could get to. So she got to see me on stage, just didn't get to hear me.

Ah well, at least it wasn't yesterday's matinee that she attended. By then I'd developed a fever; only a low-grade one, but enough to give me chills & body aches and, worse, make my knees rubbery enough that I didn't even "suit up" to go on. Fortunately, castmate AG had stood in for me while I was out of town for Mom's funeral, so she changed her costume and took my sung & spoken lines and my place in the quartet choreographies. It was weird to see someone else doing "my" bits, but I thought she did an admirable job, especially with almost no rehearsal. As our Baroness noted, I was the only person in the whole show with an understudy. And how often does that happen, for a comprimario role!

Unfortunately, it was that last performance that the Chief attended, as he'd planned to stay for strike. Instead of watching me on stage, we watched together from the back of the house, and he ended up taking me to the after-hours clinic as soon as I'd collected the various costume bits & pieces I'd loaned out.

This is the first time I've ever missed going on - I earnestly hope it never happens again!

Is it the cancer? Alzheimer's? something else?

The Chief called his mother this afternoon. She's been spending more & more time "living in the past" - last week, she had just learned her mother had died (nearly 30 years after the fact), and told me she couldn't talk long as she had to get ready for school (she retired from teaching 7 or 8 years ago). Today was worse - she asked her own son how his mother was and how the kids were.

We know the cancer is spreading quickly; maybe it's reached something in the brain? Maybe it's Alzheimer's? In any event, it was pretty disconcerting. She'll turn 90 in another couple of weeks and all of us will be in town for the occasion, even her 2 great-grands and the grandchild who lives in California. The Chief and I are hoping she makes it that long. Though she could fool us and the docs and live for quite a while yet.

Doing "Birdie" after all

The director of the Bye Bye Birdie I auditioned for a couple of weeks ago called me earlier this week to ask if I'd like to play Doris Macafee. Since that was one of the 2 roles I'd specifically requested, I said yes. Went to my first rehearsal last night. We have plenty of teen girls, no boys (at least none there last night), and very few adults. Needless to say, the company is advertising for additional chorus members, especially teen boys. I sure hope they get 'em; gotta have at least 3 or 4 boys for "Telephone Hour" and the dance numbers.

Tech week? What tech week?

The Chief and I got home from Mom's funeral Thursday afternoon, giving me all of about 2 1/2 hours to pull together all my theater stuff (make-up, hair curling supplies, shoes, tights, jewelry...) and get to the theater for the preview performance. It was very nerve-wracking: a quick drill for the 4 "garland girls" of the processional bit at the top of Act II, so I missed vocal warm-ups, and of course one of my 2 tiny solo lines is the first solo line in the show. I hadn't laid eyes on the set until about 1/2 hour before downbeat, hadn't tried on my costumes or done my hair & make-up or worked with the props. It didn't help that I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I don't usually get nervous before that first downbeat, but having missed essentially all of tech week, I was a nervous wreck as we waited to go on.

I felt like a flake all weekend, had to really work to concentrate on what I was doing, but at least 2 or 3 people who knew my situation said they never would've guessed there was anything wrong. In fact, at Saturday's cast party the MD thanked me, said "we could use more like you." He noted that I was "up there singing your heart out, smiling, really getting into it." I guess I'm getting good at this acting thing if I can fool people into thinking I knew what I was doing. ;)

RIP, Mom

Wow, that was fast. Mom went in for a biopsy Wednesday morning, was admitted that night because she was having breathing problems. By Friday night they were talking metastasized cancer and hospice care. My brother called at noon on Saturday to say "Get on a plane!" and not 3 hours later, as the Chief was driving me to the airport, my sister called to say Mom had "let go of her body".

I was at the Grand Duke Sitz when my brother called, so as soon as I called the Chief and asked him to find me a flight, I told a few key people I was leaving immediately to pack and would let them know when I'd be back. The trip was surreal - mostly consisted of repeating "I can't believe she's gone."

We're all still in shock, trying to digest the fact that she isn't there any more. We just settled that the wake will be Tuesday night and the funeral Wednesday morning. The Chief is flying in tomorrow (he had stayed home, in case he got the same kind of call about his mom that I'd gotten about mine) and he & I will go home Thursday.

Did someone get the license numbers of that fleet of semis that just hit our family?

Fun audition but not what I'd hoped for

Auditioned for Bye Bye Birdie last night. I thought the singing and reading went well, and the dance combo was fun. The director called a little bit ago and offered me the mayor's wife, essentially a named chorus role. Not a big enough role to make me want to do the show again, so I declined. There's only one more spring show out there that I want to audition for; at this rate, I may not be doing a spring show. Ah well, the Chief won't mind not being a Theater Widower.

Keep the prayers coming

It was bad enough knowing that the Chief's mom won't be with us much longer. We learned this afternoon that my mom went in for a liver biopsy yesterday morning, then started hyperventilating and had low oxygen levels. They ended up admitting her and will keep her until at least Monday for tests and to get her "vitals" back up to par. When I talked to Mom ever so briefly this afternoon, she sounded out of breath the whole time "because I'm so weak". Too weak to breathe easily?!? Not good! The docs still don't know why she's been so uncomfortable and fatigued, and has also lost her appetite. Please add my mom to your prayer list.

Time for a new vacuum...

Last night the Chief and I moved the dining room table so the electrician could check the wiring for the fan (the power on one circuit shorted out last week). I wanted to vacuum the rug before we rolled it up out of the way - the deep-red carpet was almost pink in places, there was so much dust! - only to find that our vacuum doesn't suck. Even after we checked the bag and cleaned the beater brush, it still just moved the dirt around instead of picking it up. The Chief has been talking for a while about getting a new vacuum; looks like that's gonna hafta happen sooner than we thought.

Funny birds

Yesterday en route to rehearsal, I passed the huge swath of open space in front of the nearby university. As I approached, it looked like there were the usual flocks of Canada geese, but in "serried ranks assembled". As I went past, I could see a long, wide swath of green, presumably over a steam tunnel. That green swath was packed with geese over most or all of its considerable length. Those birds are no dummies - why freeze their tailfeathers sitting on snow when there was a warmer, green place to sit!

The other day I looked out onto the back deck to see at least 5 or 6 robins out there, sipping at the water dripping off the back gutters. Their feathers were all puffed up against the cold, making them look at least half again as large, and you could almost see the poor things shivering. I wanted to get a picture but something scared them off before I got to my camera. Or maybe they were camera-shy.

We're rehearsing again - hallelujah!

Last night we had our first rehearsal in two weeks, and it was SUCH a good feeling! We were all a bit disoriented, I think, and had forgotten a lot, of course, but it was lovely to get to run the music and blocking, review stage business, talk props & costumes, and generally try to get this show on its feet again.

Today we had a marathon 7-hour rehearsal in an attempt to regain lost ground. We worked through the entire show, fixing and tweaking here, reviewing and woodshedding there. Near the end, the director announced that we were in good shape, considering the unplanned hiatus, and that she felt confident we'll be just fine come opening night.

Tomorrow we work the Act I and II finales and one or two other numbers with more complicated movement. Then we have just 3 more rehearsals before the Sitzprobe next Saturday, load-in and cue-to-cue Sunday, then the marathon rehearsals.

Our costumer just learned she has to be out of town for work for part of Tech Week and asked me to help organize the costume situation in her absence. I said yes because I like that sorta thing, I've worked with her on several shows and know how she works, and - this is the most important factor - she assured me she'd get all the major pieces done beforehand and would send me a detailed costume plot. Wish us luck!

update on the once-and-future bathroom

The ridiculously heavy snowfalls slowed the work on the bathroom but didn't stop it entirely. The Chief and BT, our contractor, have now got all the "mud" on the walls, picked up all the moldings and trim, and have the picture rail and crown molding up on all but one corner, that being the corner that needs a bit more detailed cutting to turn the corners. BT apparently teased the Chief that once this bathroom is finally finished, we'll use it more than the back bathroom (the one right across from our bedroom) because it'll be so much nicer. The Chief was commenting that it's already warmer than the back bathroom because they packed the walls with so much insulation before they put up the new drywall.

The nice thing is that work is resuming in earnest. The electrician comes Monday to install the light over the shower, the heat lamp and the fixture over the medicine cabinet, and the painting can start as soon as the last of the molding goes up. I'm not sure at what stage BT will install the new framing around the window; hope it's soon, as that will go a long way toward making this look more finished and less like a construction zone.

Even though it'll be at least another couple of weeks before it's all done (the tiling alone will need at least 3 days, and the sink & toilet can't go in until after the tile is finished), I can finally see light at the end of that particular tunnel. In a burst of optimism, I even ordered color swatches for the new towels the Chief wants for the "new" bathroom.

And once the front bathroom is done, we start tearing apart the library so BT can replace the current closet with a properly built one and do that wall of built-in bookshelves. I'm hoping that phase won't take as long. Having to box up all my books and music for the duration will mean having to reorganize the books, which have gotten rather jumbled. I'll also want to figure out how best to organize my music, which currently is just grouped together in the same general area, with most of the church music together, possible audition or repertory pieces in the same stack, and so on. Ideally, once all is said and done, I might actually be able to find things without having to dig through a stack or shelf of random, loose sheet music. (I can dream...!)

Snowverkill

Since Friday we've gotten over 3 feet of snow. Feet. In an area where snowfall is measured in inches, usually 4 or less. Work is closed again today, which means I've missed the first 4 days of my 2-week class, and no telling whether they'll be dug out enough to open tomorrow. After all, even if you've got the equipment to get all this stuff out of the way, where on earth are ya gonna put it all? Even if you could get it to a nearby stream or other waterway, those waterways are already full to overflowing. At this rate, it'll take until at least April to get rid of all this mess, even if we don't get another flake, and Monday's forecast is for a 50% chance of additional snow.

I've done enough baking that I'm hitting bottom on both the flour and sugar canisters. We'll run out of milk tomorrow or Saturday, although we have enough of everything else that we're in no danger of starving. Good thing we have all these leftovers, as I'm actually getting tired of cooking and starting to look forward to a meal I don't have to cook or clean up after. (I hadn't realized how much eating out we do until we couldn't do any at all.)

Today will probably be a heavy-duty Grand Duke day - listening to all the choruses repeatedly, reviewing blocking notes, etc. Can't practice the choreo, as there's no room, between the construction equipment and snow removal gear, but I can mark it.

Uh oh...

In baking the apple cake, I realized I'm down to the bottom of our flour supply, and very close to the bottom of the sugar. No more baking from scratch until we can get out to make another grocery run. Yes, we could do mixes if we were truly desperate, at least until the eggs run out, and maybe I will pull out that box of gingerbread mix (lovely warm, with applesauce on top) but suddenly we feel like we're living close to the (baking) edge.

Shifting "domestic goddess" gears

In a slight shift of domestic gears, I only fixed a batch of Moroccan carrot salad (with this morning's infusion of carrots; the ones bought last week were long since gone into soup) and a batch of brownie mix. We're down to a single slice of mince pie, so I'll probably make an apple cake tomorrow with the apples we bought this morning.

In a switch from cooking to sewing, I made a petticoat to go under the dirndl-style dress I may be contributing to the Grand Duke costume mix. (The couple of pettis I already have are too long.)

Which has me wondering just how many pettis I've made over the years? I made at least two sets of tiered petticoats* when I was in the Hungarian folk dance troupe, and this is at least the 2nd petti I've made on my own initiative for a stage costume. If you add in pettis made to go under ballgowns for Merry Widow or Die Fledermaus, the number goes up considerably, as I've made at least 3 or 4 "bustle pettis".

Lest you think I'm still strictly housebound, my asthma is back under control at last, so I grabbed a shovel and excavated a path to the recycling and trash bins. Took a bit of doing, as I had to work past my car, which is still only partially cleared, and I discovered several bags of construction debris which were in the way, but now we can take the trash (and its smell) outside. While I was at it, I also liberated the lower branches of the dogwood tree on that side of the house. Poor tree was quite badly weighed down. Fortunately, it only lost a few small branches.

* These were some pretty substantial pettis. These had an upper & lower tier; the bottom one, worn closest to the body, had 4 yards of fabric in the upper tier and 8 yards in the lower tier. The next petti had 5 and 10 yards, and the top petti had 6 and 12 yards. And they only came to just above the knee. Check out that silhouette! (These are from Voivodina, now part of Serbia.)

Small victories

The Chief and I drove to the commissary this morning to restock a few things They opened almost an hour late because they had to wait for employees to get there to stock shelves and such, but they were open and they had milk, some fresh produce, and all but one other item on our list.

We also topped up the gas tank, bought gas for the snowblower, mailed off a coupla catalog returns, and found out just how poorly some of the roads had been cleared. Some major, 3-lane roads had only 2 or even a single clear lane, and one main artery was so patchily "cleared" that it was worse than some muddy dirt roads I've traveled.

Such a deal!

Finally got around to logging on to the Metropolitan Museum's catalog to buy some half-price Christmas cards, only to find that they've been further reduced - some of the cards that retail for $17.95 a box are now going for only $4.49. The 5 boxes I just bought cost only $30 shipped - gotta love it.

This kind of gray hair washes away.

The Chief was priming the walls of the once-and-future bathroom and managed to paint himself a little white stripe along the top of his head. He was busy in there today - did a bit of sanding, then the priming.

No, no more snow!

Oh just lovely. The National Weather Service warns that we've got yet another winter storm headed our way. They're claiming this one is likely to dump at least another 7" of snow, possibly as much as 10" or more, between Tuesday and Wednesday. Rehearsals for those nights have already been cancelled; this is getting ridiculous! We may have to lay on 8-hour rehearsals this coming weekend in hopes of making up some of the time we've lost. Pray for our director's sanity - she's probably bald from pulling her hair out!

The Chief is planning a grocery run tomorrow to restock the things we're running low on. I'm crossing my fingers that they'll have gotten deliveries of milk and such so that the shelves won't be bare when he gets there.

OK, Mother Nature, what on earth did we do to get you so pissed off and how can we make amends?

"Blue skies, smiling at me"

The sun is shining from a nearly cloud-free, blue sky and its light is just about blinding off all this snow. It'll probably melt at least a little - thank goodness the neighborhood shovelers got down to bare pavement, or nearly, yesterday - but I can't help but wonder how the roads are. Work is closed today and tonight's rehearsal is principals-only, so no need for me to venture out just yet. I would like to, if only to get some pictures - the icicles hanging off our gutters look like huge fangs. My asthma numbers are better, so I might bundle up and go out, if only to ease the cabin fever a little.

No surprise

No surprise that today's make-up rehearsal is canceled, given that we've all gotten over 2 feet of snow. Some of us live in areas with official totals over 30 inches, and none of us got less than 2 feet. I just hope things get dug out enough that we can get to a rehearsal tomorrow night. At least we'll have plenty of time to go over music and review blocking & choreography notes, since none of us can go anywhere yet. Well, assuming people aren't too worn out from shoveling...

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Actually, it's a gorgeous day in the neighborhood! Bitter cold (up to the mid-20s as of 11 this morning) but the sun is shining and sparkling off all the 2+ feet of snow the "blizzard of 2010" dropped on us.

The Chief is outside, renewing the attack with shovel and snowblower, along with a couple of neighbors, as they try to dig out cars, widen sidewalks, and make sure both ailing, elderly neighbors are dug out. We've been very lucky with our neighbors - most of 'em are conscientious and able-bodied and were out at least a couple of times yesterday to make sure the snowfall didn't get too far ahead of the digging out. And everyone who went out did at least at least their adjacent neighbors, which means our block isn't too bad.

The biggest problem with this kind of snowfall is a logistical one - when you dig out, where the heck do you put all that snow?!? Our yards aren't all that big so they're gonna fill up fast. The mounds along the driveways and sidewalks are already at least waist-high, and they're still digging out. Worse, the forecast for Tuesday night still includes snow, as if we haven't had enough, and more than enough, already.

The Chief was able to determine that our dryer vent is clear, so it's safe to throw his wet things in the dryer. Yesterday we didn't know that, so he had his many layers hung up in the bathroom and shut in with the space heater. My, that bathroom was warm & toasty! I just worry about all the snowblower fumes he's been inhaling; wonder if drinking lots and lots of water will help, or should he be doing something else...?

My asthma's still being uncooperative. I resent the way it's making me feel like an invalid, so I'm trying to make up for it by cooking like crazy - gotta keep my Knight in Snowy Armor well fed - and today will probably try to get some laundry done, now that I know it's safe to run the dryer.

In case anyone was wondering

Yesterday's cooking bout produced the following:

• a BIG pot of vegetable-beef soup with lotsa great oxtail stock from simmering on the stove for 6+ hours;
• a huge vat o' salad, so all we have to do is throw it in a bowl;
• rinsed grapes, picked from the stems and added to the collection of tupperware in the fridge;
• a single batch of hummus; and
• a double batch of salmon spread.

In finding a storage container for the salmon, I realized I had filled up all the larger containers and most of the fridge. (The veggie-beef soup had to go in the fridge in the soup pot.) I think we could feed the whole block with what we've got in the fridge now, though what's left of the pies (about 1/2 each of the mince and apple, the latter only an 8" deep-dish) is probably only enough for a sliver per person.

Hungry and don't feel like cooking? If you can get to our house, we've got plenty of food! :-)

Just keep praying...

We finally got a chance to talk to the Chief's brother today; the docs give their mom 3-6 months. They're arranging for in-home hospice care, but my BIL was waiting for a call back from the social worker so we kept it short. The Chief & I still need to learn whether there's anything we can do to help, what they can do for her, etc.

As if that weren't enough, I learned yesterday that my mom had a CAT scan yesterday in hopes of learning why the serious back pain she had in September is not going away, and why she's had such lingering fatigue since before Christmas. No telling how long it will take to get the results read, but we can't help but remember that this is how they found mom's lymphoma a few years back (long-term, unexplained pain and fatigue). As a result, my sister the occupational therapist (OT), who's working on her PhD in a gerontology specialty, is trying to make sure all 5 of us siblings have all the same information about our parents' health, their decisions about extreme medical care, burial arrangements, whether and where they'd want to move if they find themselves widowed... Not fun, but if we think about it now, when we have time to get details from Mom & Dad and make sure everything is written down and shared among all of us, that'll be so much better than having to make those decisions while trying to accept their serious illness or death.

With that news, and 2 feet of snow and counting, and my asthma trying to get worse instead of better, well, I could sure do with some spring right now! I had Beethoven's 6th on while assembling veggie-beef soup, but the Pastoral wasn't quite enough, when I can still see way too much snow out the windows.

This bathroom will be done eventually...

But it'll be at least another coupla weeks. The tiler won't be coming until the 22nd, and the tile laying is apparently a 3-day process - wall prepped day one, tile up and grouted day two, then finish work on day 3. And only once the tile is finished can the toilet & sink go in.

At least the Chief & our contractor can do other things. The electrician is coming this week to install the lights: one over the shower, a heat lamp, and the fixture going in over the medicine cabinet. Which will also go in sometime this week. Not sure when the new shower curtain rod (which we still have to order) will go in, but it hangs from the ceiling, so it can go in anytime after the ceiling paint dries.

The Chief plans to pick up the paint this week for the walls and moldings, of which we'll have 4 rows - baseboard, "chair rail", "picture rail" (don't ask!) and a little bit of crown molding. The baseboard will probably be a medium/dark blue with a lighter-blue accent, while the rest of the molding will be white. The walls will be shades of yellow: palest between the crown molding & picture rail, somewhat yellower between the picture & chair rails, and the yellowest paint below the chair rail.

Time to start that soup...

The oxtail package is no longer a brick. Now to start that pot of soup going and let it simmer for hours, until not only is the meat falling off the bone, but the bones themselves are falling apart. Just in time, too, as we're down to the last tub from last weekend's batch.

However, if this winter keeps dumping snow on us, I'm going to need to broaden my "storm soup" repertoire. This veggie-beef stuff is yummy, warming and a complete meal (protein, veggies, carbs from the barley), but a bit of variety wouldn't be a bad thing.

If I have to be snowed in while having an asthma flare...

... thank goodness the Chief is snowed in with me this time! The mega-meds are doing their work, but I can still feel the tightness and don't want to risk making things worse by trying to help get rid of all this snow. Per one of the local forecasts, we had 19" as of 7 a.m. and it's supposed to keep snowing for at least another 10 hours!

The Chief did roust me outta bed at 6:45 to help him bring the snow blower through the house - the snow was MUCH too deep for him to take it around the side of the house from the back patio. He did a bit of snow removal, came in to get some breakfast, and is back out again now. Took a few more passes along the sidewalks, though he couldn't get as far as he managed last night, and dug a path from his car to the street. He hasn't cleared anything off the car, but once he does, he'll be able to get it out.

We still have power so far, thank God! I guess that's one advantage to the winds - it blows the snow off the power lines and tree limbs so they don't get quite so overloaded. One of our neighbors said they had a holly tree come down. While they were sorry to lose a big, beautiful tree, he said he was grateful it fell into the backyard, not onto the house.

The plows have been through, but only making a single lane. They've been moving at a pretty good clip, too, for the conditions. I imagine they're probably all to painfully aware of just how much of this white stuff they have to move and from how many streets, many of them quite hilly.

At this point I'm assuming I won't be getting to church in the morning and am wondering whether tomorrow's rehearsal will go ahead as scheduled. Sure hope so!!!

I think I married a snowman

As planned, the Chief went out with the snowblower around 7:30 to do the sidewalks. He ended up making 2 passes on both sides of the block, and also did aprons (the bit of driveway between sidewalk and street) for our house and that of those neighbors with driveways. He also did our front walk. He did get some beer for his troubles from one neighbor; he was delighted, as he hadn't stocked up before the snow started and was down to one bottle.

By then the snow was coming down pretty fast & heavy. When he came back in an hour later, the top of his hat was completely white with snow, he had at least half an inch of snow on his collar and shoulders, the wrists of his gloves were full of snow, and he was very grateful for the wellies he bought in England, which kept his feet and legs nice & dry.

They're saying we could have 15-20 inches by morning, with the snow expected to continue into tomorrow night. Several area counties, including ours, are officially under a blizzard warning until at least mid-day tomorrow, as the winds started picking up around 7 or 8 o'clock. Several areas have lost power; I'm praying we don't join them! We'll be able to eat (thank heaven for a gas stove!), but oh, it'll get cold!

Cooking up a storm

Work let out early today so people had a chance to get home before the snow got too bad. I was shocked to stop by the cheaper gas station to find that they had NO 87 octane left! 6 pumps and no regular gas left. Long as the grocery lines were yesterday, I was glad we did our grocery shopping then, as the parking lots of the 2 grocery stores I passed on the way home were utterly packed. There was even a line to get into the lot of the store with the smaller parking lot!

Once home and lunch eaten, the cooking frenzy began. I started w/ pea soup, which the Chief loves. At his request, a mince pie was next (another item he loves and I don't touch), followed by a small apple pie. After all, I wanted to use up the pie crust left over from last week's pumpkin pie - couldn't bear the thought of letting it go bad! ;) Meanwhile, the Chief was making cranberry sauce, with two of the oldest apples thrown in for variety. Hey, if Ocean Spray can sell people on cran-apple juice, why not throw an apple or two into the cranberry sauce, right? I also plan to make another vat of vegetable beef soup, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow, as the oxtails are still frozen solid.

We still have enough tetrazzini left over for 2 more meals, a little bit of last week's veggie beef soup on hand, and even one last portion of pot roast. We've got plenty of our usual staples, so what with that, leftovers and soup, we're in no danger of starving, even if we don't dig out until Monday.

And it will be interesting to see how much snow we end up getting. The more conservative forecast of the two radio stations we had on in the kitchen was predicting 16"-24". The other station was predicting 20"-30"! Every forecast seems to agree that this storm will outsnow the one we had the week before Christmas, which was more than enough snow to suit me, thankyewverrymuch!

We're now missing 4 rehearsals in 8 days to all this snow - Saturday, Tuesday, tonight and tomorrow. They've added rehearsals the next 2 Sundays and this Wednesday in hopes of catching up. Given that we open 3 weeks from tonight, I earnestly hope we don't have any more snow, or at least nothing significant, until after we close the first weekend of March. Actually, if this were the last snow we get all winter, I'd be quite happy, although there are rumors of yet another snowfall Tuesday or Wednesday. No, please, no more snow!!! We can't afford to lose any more rehearsal time!

Update

Tonight we finished off the pumpkin pie. That's the last of the "real" pumpkin; if we want any more pumpkin anything I'll have to [shudder] open a can. Oh, the horror! ;)

We ended up getting 4 or 5 more inches of snow overnight; wetter than the stuff we got on Saturday, so I ended up starting my day by shoveling a path from the front door to the car at 0545. Bleah. Worse, they're warning us we've got another snowstorm headed our way that should start mid-day Friday, bringing 12-20 inches by the time it's all over, and someone at work today was saying he'd heard there's yet another storm behind that one, which could mean we'd get more snow around Tuesday. I guess we're paying for the past several winters during which we got maybe 6-12 inches all winter long. But ya know, I'd be just as happy to forgive that "debt"...

Because of the snow, we lost another rehearsal last night, and it's not looking at all good for rehearsals on Friday & Saturday. We've already scheduled make-up rehearsals for this Sunday & next Sunday, and if we actually get to rehearse next Saturday, I won't be at all surprised if we run long in an attempt to get caught up. Given that we open 3 weeks from Friday, I imagine our poor director is probably tearing her hair out over all these cancellations - we've got a lot of work still to do!

Asthma's no better, so my allergist has me maxing out on albuterol and taking prednisone. Poor Chief - I warned him he might want to find some friends to go stay with for a few days.

Heard from my sister that she's "safe - for now", but there will be more lay-offs later this year. Now we just have to pray that her husband's PSA test next week shows that they got all the cancer when they operated in November.

Had the tetrazzini for dinner tonight. The sauce was a bit runny; not sure if that's my technique or the recipe, but it's tasty enough that I'll keep making it, maybe play with it a bit the next time. We can probably get 2 more dinners out of it; not enough to get us through the snow we're supposed to get this weekend, so the Chief is off to the grocery store tomorrow to restock the larder with provisions to get us thru the duration.

The bathroom is making progress slowly but surely. The plumber has repiped the sink area and reconnected the tub, so the only plumbing left is the installation of the new sink and toilet (which still needs to be ordered). The drywall is just about done, including the braced hole where the medicine cabinet will go. Even the ceiling is just about done. The electrician comes back next week to install the light over the shower, the heat lamp and the light fixture over the medicine cabinet, and the tiler is due either late next week or early the week thereafter.

"Snow" is a 4-letter word

More snow. Yeah, it's pretty, but I really got it out of my system after shoveling 18" of the stuff back in December. Then we got 6" Saturday, and now it's snowing again, with 3-6 inches predicted (Will I get a snow day out of it? I'm not counting on it), so tonight's rehearsal was cancelled. And they're calling for more of the white stuff Friday and Saturday. Enough already!

And what's #3?

Tonight's been rather a night for bad news. The Chief's brother had to take their mother to the hospital last night for bleeding. He called tonight to tell us that she's got massive tumors on both lungs and at least one kidney. They can't really operate because she's nearly 90 and in fragile health; they're afraid she wouldn't survive the surgery. The Chief & his brother weren't on the phone very long, but it sounds like all they can really do is send her home & make her comfortable.

Then I saw my sister post on her FB status that her company is laying people off and rumor has it that those in her building may find out tomorrow whether they still have jobs. To add to the fun, her husband works for the state, which is also considering layoffs. He's the newest member of his department, so he's understandably nervous about where he stands.

Standing in the need of prayer!

What to say to someone we'll never meet?

The Chief wants to leave a letter in the bathroom wall before the medicine cabinet goes in, intended for some later owner of the house. I've got a line or two so far, just saying why we're remodeling. If you were opening a wall and found a letter, what would you want the previous owner to tell you? Price of gas or groceries? Who won the Super Bowl or World Series? Comments on politics, weather, the neighborhood? Ideas, please.

Feeding frenzy

You can bet the rent - if we get a snow day and there's any food in the house, I'll start cooking. Not only did I make that huge pot of soup Saturday (now decanted into several containers), but yesterday I did make that pumpkin pie, and a huge vat o' salad for the week's lunches. While I was slicing & dicing, I cut up some green peppers for the Chief to snack on. Oh, and I still gotta do something with the turkey breast I took out of the freezer the other day while it's still good.

The Chief split one of the containers of soup w/ the contractor today. This after sending over pot roast, mashed potatoes & salad when he was in the hospital, so his wife would have at least one meal she didn't have to do anything but heat. The Chief had also fed him some of the salsa I made a week or so ago so there'd be something easy & reasonably healthy for him. The contractor reportedly asked if I liked cooking. Um, ya think? :D