a new beginning...

My first post...what an exciting thought!  I think of myself as a food and fiber floozie because I am easily seduced by the next great recipe...or the next pretty yarn or fabric.  Instead of just avidly collecting recipes, I hope to make new ones and blog about them.  Instead of just reading other blogs, I hope to create a record of my fiber addiction and what is created from it.  And, of course, my life with Michael will be documented as well.

I was up early this morning to go over my lines (the play is HARVEY and opening night is this coming Thursday).  As you may know, Michael (the TRUE community theatre star) has the lead of Elwood P. Dowd.  I (the reluctant actress tag-a-long) have the role of his social climbing, hysterical sister.  I have enjoyed meeting new theatre people and getting to know them.  I haven't even minded all of the rehearsals and the time they have taken away from what I really want to do....sew, bake, knit, etc.  What I have hated is learning my lines.  Once again I have a whole new respect for people on TV, who learn a new script every week.  We had a very tight rehearsal schedule, and I am sure I was simply awful to live with for the first 3 weeks while I was trying to learn my lines.  I was, quite simply, totally panicked that I would NEVER learn them.  After all, once you get out of school, when do you ever have to sit down and memorize stuff???  That fear translated into hysterically complaining to Michael about WHY I did this to myself again, and the fact that I needed to drop out of the play (I'm sure I said that every other day), and that I was an IDIOT for doing this again!  He has since promised to slap me if I ever consider trying out again.  I can't believe he does this to himself, and actually seems to enjoy it!  And, since he has the lead, he has WAY more lines to learn than I have.  Anyway, I have gone over my lines once already today, and hope to do it one more time before our rehearsal at 5 PM.  This is the beginning of H-LL week (also TECH week), meaning we go to rehearsal, and we get to go home when the director thinks that we are done, or when the lighting/technical guys think they have figured everything out.  It should be an interesting day…

Although the Saturday night audience did not seem as appreciative as Friday night (less laughing and clapping), they gave us a standing ovation at the end…so I guess we did something right!  We all went out to the Tavern after the play and it was nice to sit and eat and talk with most of the cast.  Sunday morning we were moving VERY slowly!  We finally made it out of the house before 9:30 to head to the Quail Hollow golf tournament.  Michael followed Phil (Mickelson) for 3 holes and we also saw Rory Sabatini, Charles Howell III, Brendan Steele, Padraig Harrington, Joe Ogilvie, Fancisco Molinari and Martin Kaymer.  We got home around 3 and were both BEAT!  I watched/slept through a bit of TV downstairs while Michael did the same upstairs!!  We had ham/bean/barley soup for dinner (along with cornbread) and then snuggled for hours on the couch, actually watching TV at the same time.

Monday was another day of recovery!  Michael got to play golf, and I spent the day at home in my sewing room.  I am making another art quilt, so it is very slow going.  I don’t think I like the block I made yesterday, but don’t know what to do for something else.  I also got embroideries done on fabric for 2 tote bags for the children’s home.  We went out to dinner with Jan and Walt, and again relaxed and watched TV in the afternoon.

I was supposed to get together with Nancy Tuesday morning, but she wasn’t feeling well so I stayed home and worked on the cuddle blankets for the children’s home.  I got all of my green polar fleece cut for the blankets (no small task let me tell you, since I had a bolt of it!) and began embroidering.  Each of my embroideries is taking about 2 hours, so I only got 3 done.  In the afternoon I made a quick visit to Stitch & Chat club and in the evening I sang in the second Mother’s Day program (put on for people working during the day….since our first one was Friday morning).  We had an incredible thunder and lightning storm overnight; still haven’t checked outside to see if all of my plants survived.

Wednesday was another great day.  Michael left for a senior golf tournament, and I spent it in my sewing room.  I got another cuddle blanket done, and got some knitting done on a shawl I was doing.  We had a pick-up rehearsal Wednesday evening so that we are once again ready to delight our audiences for the next 4 performances.

Thursday was a whirlwind from the time I got up until I went to bed.  Jan and I spent the morning at quilting, then had lunch with the quilt ladies on the way home.  I was home just before 1:30 and between then and square dancing at 3:30. I got 2 loaves of banana bread baked (one to take to the play for us to eat backstage) 1 loaf of regular sandwich bread and a bunch of cookies for Michael’s cookie jar.  We did square dancing from 3:30 – 5, hit Wendy’s for a quick bite, then came home to shower and pack 2 sandwiches for cast members that come right from work, and hit the road.  Our play went off without a hitch, and everyone agreed that it was our best performance to date!  That was good, because on the way home, Michael told me that the ‘judges’ were there for the MTA awards (sort of like the TONY’S, they will be given out in November).  We came home and collapsed and watched TV for an hour before heading to bed.

Friday morning I finally got to spend time with Nancy and we talked and talked and talked and talked and TALKED!!!  She left around NOON and I finally got to eat something, and then settled down and embroidered another cuddle blanket.  Michael and I were both exhausted and got to take a nap in the afternoon, getting up just in time for a quick dinner and then it was off to the show.