Cookie & Elsie

We were moving VERY slowly Monday morning (4/29)….Michael had a golf date scheduled, which he had already decided to cancel due to the rain.  I got up with the dog at 6:45 and told Michael I would take her in the media room so that he could get a little extra sleep….the phone rang at 8:20, catapulting both of us up out of our dream like states….it was one of the golfers asking about golfing on Tuesday instead.  We moved slowly through the entire day, only perking up after we all had had our naps….me downstairs….Michael in the media room, and Cookie & Elsie on the fainting couch:

 

We had party leftovers for dinner and I did manage to get the shawl collar on my entrelac sweater picked up and knit on while we watched TV in the evening.

last performance, cast party

I hopped up Sunday morning (4/28) and started right in on making cornbread (to go with the soup) and the dough for onion buns (to go with the lasagna).  While I was working on that, Michael made us a terrific mushroom/spinach/cheese omelet and toast, which we shared for breakfast.  We cleaned up from that and set out as much party stuff (dishes/napkins/silverware/etc) as we could before leaving at 1PM for the theatre.  It was another wonderful show…but really sad when it was all over  L.  My neighbor came over while we were at the show to put in the lasagna and enchiladas…so the house smelled wonderful when we got home.  I got the rolls baked and people started arriving…it was a terrific day and evening:

Lauren (stage mgr), David (husband), Jack (son), Jason (asst stage mgr), Elyse (the star Becky), Brett (my love interest!), Caitlen (ingénue), Michael (Becky's love interest!), Deb (Ginger), and Polly (THE DIRECTOR!) 

a silly pose before our last performance

 

a typical backstage activity (at least for me) while waiting to go on


 

 

Brett got each of the ladies a beautiful rose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I surprise Lauren with signature hat

handing out presents (the bags you’ve already seen, plus shots from the liquor store called PORN STAR (you had to see the play to understand that!)):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

our gift to the director…..her favorite….Patron tequila and a bag of limes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

after 8 weeks…we’ve all bonded:

 

Lauren & Caitlen doing what they do best…having fun:

 

everyone decides to do their shots:

Jason, Lauren, Caitlen, Polly

It was just a great show, a great cast, a great group of people.

food for cast party!

We hopped up Saturday morning (4/27) trying to fit in everything we had to get done.  After a quick breakfast, Michael left for the driving range, to try to get in some practice before it started raining.  I got 2 loads of laundry going and started making food.  I made a pan of lasagna:

 

a small macaroni, cheese and sauce casserole for our neighbors (who have received some not-so-good health news).  It doesn’t look like much, but will taste terrific once it’s baked:

and a dozen chicken enchiladas:

I had sauce/wrappers/filling left over, so I decided to make 2 enchilada lasagna-type casseroles.  I started by greasing 2 pans and pressing in softened wraps to cover the bottom and up the sides, then spread one layer of filling:

 

 

I covered that with enchilada sauce, then put down another layer of wrappings and another layer of filling.  Then I topped it all with the remaining wrappers and poured enchilada sacue over the whole thing.

 

I used up every bit of the leftovers and then popped these into our neighbor's freezer for the future when I don't feel like cooking...or need a meal for a friend/neighbor.  Michael came home from the driving range and since neither of us had had any lunch, he made us mac & cheese around 3 PM for our dinner.  We gathered all of our supplies after that, and headed off to the theatre.

It was another fun show, although the rain made it somewhat difficult.  When it rains, it sounds really loud in the theatre, and you have to really amp up your volume to be heard...that was hard on all of us.  We were home at 10:30 for a little TV and then bed....only one more show and I think both of us will be glad when it is over and we can get back to our regularly scheduled life!

Cookie, triple chip bar cookies

Generally when I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is head to the kitchen and put on water for my big cup of tea.  When Michael gets up, he goes through his stretch routine (to keep his back loose).  Eventually one of us is ready to get dressed, and we make the bed then.  When I headed back to the bedroom on Friday morning (4/26) it was obvious that someone didn’t want to get out of bed:

Do you have to make the bed now?  I just got here!

Once we’re up, Cookie jumps up on the bed and snuggles in the covers until we make her move.  She just loves rolling around in the sheets.

We headed out to IHOP and had a lovely, leisurely breakfast before heading on to other errands.  I dropped off 2 machines to be serviced (my embroidery machine and my serger), then we hit the liquor store, a grocery store and after a stop at the chiropractor’s, we headed on home.  I got my hair set for the evening’s performance, then made a new bar cookie recipe to take to share (triple chip cookies - easy and excellent!):

 

They were a big hit.  Since the oven was one I also made a new peanut cookie (Not peanut butter, just peanut cookie) from the King Arthur Flour Baking Sheet. We had leftovers for dinner and left to go to the theatre at 5:30.  It was another good performance, with lots of friends in the audience.  We came home, watched a bit of TV and headed to bed.

michael & deb, whole cast, new charity hat

I don’t know what to say about Thursday (4/25) except that it seemed to go by in a flash!  I went to quilting in the morning.  We had a wonderful class…I got home around 1:30 and Michael made me lunch, then I took a long nap (I think I wore myself out doing all of the remaining bags yesterday), then it seemed like it was time to leave for the theatre (we had a REALY early 5:30 PM call…since we haven’t done the play in 4 days, we did a line bash right before the play.  A line bash is where everyone sits in a circle and says their lines…in order…we go all through the play…we just don’t move around the stage).  We got through the line bash just 15 minutes before the play started…talk about cutting it close.  The play seemed to go by at lightning speed, then we came home, watched a bit of TV to unwind, and hit the bed shortly after 11 PM.  Luckily I have a few other pictures to show today….here’s a very early one from our rehearsals…Michael and I sitting in Becky’s car:

 

and the whole cast from our very first dress rehearsal:

Jack & Caitlen, back row: Brett, me, Polly, sofa:Michael, Elyse, David

 Oh…and I did finish yet another hat:

 

bags, bags, bags!

Michael left early for golf on Wednesday (4/24) and I headed to the studio to work on….wanna take a guess…..of course….BAGS!!!  OK….while I still am excited about making and giving them…they are getting a teeny, tiny bit….TEDIOUS!!!  I worked all day, except for dinner when Michael took me to the local ball game to get a hotdog (they are FABULOUS) for dinner and by bed time…..THE BAGS WERE DONE!!!!!  All 15 bags are finished….HOORAY!!!  I think I ended up with 5 different colors on the bags….now I can’t wait until Sunday to give them out:

furry kids, pizza

I spent Tuesday morning (4/23) with Nancy, while Michael was out running errands.  Nancy sent me home with 2 pieces of pink lemonade pie – YUM! (one of which was my quick lunch) before Joanne picked me up.  We headed to Stitch & Chat and had a great time for just an hour, then headed for home.  Joanne is getting company on Wednesday, and still had a lot to do to get ready and I wanted to work a bit on the bags.  I worked for a couple of hours, then headed upstairs to start dinner.  This is how our furry children spent the afternoon:

Cookie loves snuggling on the sofa with 'dad'

while Elsie prefers feeling the wind in her face!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had leftover roll dough from Monday night’s soup and rolls dinner, so decided to make pizza for dinner tonight (pesto and tomato pizza):

 

Then my honey took me to the movies for a date night.  He wanted to surprise me with the movie, so I didn’t know what I was seeing until it actually started…and it turned out to be the original JURRASIC PARK in 3D.  It was terrific…I was totally surprised and thoroughly enjoyed it!  We got home just after 10 and I finished another embroidery on a bag before heading to bed.

I finished my library book this morning (Monday, 4/22) on my stationary bike…it’s called THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS….what an incredible book….each day I could hardly wait to read it…to see what would happen next…the characters were compelling and the situation, totally unique.

Michael left for golfing coming home later with an 88 (even though the course was really bad and very long) and I had a quick breakfast and headed to the studio for (yes…say it loud….) more canvas bags for BECKY’s NEW CAR!!!!  I did have a lovely visit from Connie to break up the tedium, but otherwise I was there all day and night embroidering and sewing on handles.  No, totally finished bags by bedtime….but several that are very close.

Sunday breakfast, 3 more bags

Sunday morning (4/21) we lazed in bed until almost 9…it was heaven!  Then it was jump up and get started on breakfast, which turned out like this:

 

yum, yum!!  I headed downstairs to start more embroideries while Michael cleaned up the kitchen. 

I have to digress for a moment to tell you a funny thing that happened last night.  There is a funeral scene in the play.  I am outside of the house (backstage) waiting to knock on the door and go in.  In the instant after I knocked on the door, I suddenly thought ‘is there a step up into the house’?  I just didn’t remember.  So, I start to look down, but the husband opens the door and I go into my line, and promptly trip over the step that (yes!) was there.  It was only by the grace of God that I didn’t fall flat on my face into the living room of the set!  Such are the trials and tribulations of being in a play.  On the other hand, last night at Elyse’s party I remembered why people do plays.  It was totally awesome sitting there with a group of new friends that you really like, listening to stories of disasters in other plays!

Anyway, back to the bags…I spent all day downstairs and completed 3 more bags (and started a new car color):

 

and got 2 additional ones embroidered, before staggering upstairs at 7:30 to lie on the couch with my honey and watch TV before falling into bed yet again!

Although it was wonderful having a day off on Friday, and I thought I was recovered, apparently I was mistaken because I continued to move in slow motion through Saturday (4/20)!  I made a quick trip to the grocery store early in the morning, and by the time I got home, Michael had left for golf (don’t ask me how he not only got through 18 holes, but with a score of 88…he was DRAGGING when he got home).  I had a wonderful long talk with Janice in the morning, and got bread dough made before heading to the studio to try to be productive.  I got 2-1/2 more embroideries done, but that was about it.  I took a loo-o-o-ong nap and got a teeny tiny bit of cleaning done in the afternoon.  I got the 2 loaves of bread baked just before we left and as usual I made one big loaf and 2 mini-loaves.  The 2 mini-loaves went to Jan’s house, and our neighbor’s house as a small thank you for watching Cookie.  I also got waffle batter made (Michael’s favorite waffles are a Belgium waffle recipe made with yeast, that needs an overnight rise in the fridge). Then it was another quick dinner (thank goodness Nancy made a special batch of sloppy joes just for us because that is what we’ve been living on for the past 2 days) before it was time (once again) to get cleaned up and head off to the play.  The audience was incredible on Saturday night…they laughed at EVERYTHING!!!  Even the things that we thought were emotional or sad…they laughed….oh well…they gave us tremendous applause and totally enjoyed the play, so that’s what counts.  Elyse (the lead) invited everyone over after the play and we had a great time eating spaghetti and talking over ‘war stories’ of when plays go bad….people forgetting their lines, the props not working, etc.  I loved hearing all of them.  We were finally home and in bed at 1 AM…I told Michael ‘I’m getting WAY too old for this’!

spring flowers, cast gifts, Cookie, SHQ name tags

Waking up Friday (4/19) felt positively luxurious!  Other than a chiro appointment in the morning, there was nothing else we HAD to do during the day.  We got back from our visit and went through a lot of paperwork that had been building up.  I also got some pictures of our front garden, where our bulbs have exploded over the last couple of warm days: 

then Michael took Cookie for a walk and I finally ended up back in the studio at NOON.  I finished bags 2 & 3 for gifts:

 

 

 

and got embroideries done on 2 more before we had to leave at 5:30 for the play.  Once again, there were about 10 people there that we knew and it was great fun to talk to them after the show.  We went out for a quick bite with several members of the cast and got home around mid-night and promptly fell into bed.  Luckily our little baby was having fun for most of the night with Jan and Walt and a couple of their grandkids:

 

 

I'm also posting a picture I;ve been keeping for awhile....we had 37 people at our quilting retreat on Thursday and I did embroidered name tags as a surprise for all of them:

 

just a sampling, I tried to use a bunch of different colors
 

 

ham & cheese enchiladas, another charity hat

I was up early on Wednesday (4/17) to get my hair set in rollers and everything collected before June picked me up at 8:45.  We headed to the church to get the set up done (along with 3 other people) for our retreat tomorrow.  Michael left around 9:30 for a brunch date in Ballentyne.  A former 6^th grade student of his had flown into Charlotte from Alaska, to give a deposition in a trial.  They have been in contact for quite awhile on FACEBOOK and it was a rare opportunity for him to connect with a former student…she is married and a mother of 4 ranging from 6 – 9 years of age…so they really keep her hopping.  I got home close to NOON, made some calls and finally had a chance to sit down and eat something around 1 when Michael got home.  Then my sweetheart of a honey offered to go to the grocery store and CVS so that I didn’t have to be seen in my curlers  J.  We both got a nap in the afternoon and I put together my HAM & CHEESE ENCHILADAS for my retreat contribution.  You roll up a mixture of ham/cheese/onions/chilies into tortillas, then pour a seasoned egg/milk mixture over all:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They ‘perk’ overnight in the fridge, to be baked the next day.  We had a quick dinner before leaving for the theatre at 5:30.  We had a small audience for this last dress rehearsal and WOW what a difference with an audience.  I think they liked the play, they didn’t seem to want to leave, they were all standing around talking about it!  When we got home, Michael watched a bit of TV and I started the embroidery on a third bag, and started sewing handles on number 2.

Thursday morning (4/18) I was up early again.  I just had time for a shower, and setting my hair before packing the car and heading off to the quilting retreat for 8 AM.  I think I can sum it up by saying everyone had a wonderful time….but I am very glad it is over because I am exhausted!!!  Did I dream about the play at night?  No….I dreamed about the retreat…night after night…and it was one disaster after another!!!  The very last dream I had, the fellowship hall was flooded by a foot of water….and all of our machines and projects were ruined!  Anyway, I left at 3 and came home to unpack, take a nap, have a quick dinner and leave at 5:30 for OPENING NIGHT!!!!  I got another hat finished last night, modeled by one of our stage managers Jason:

It’s easy to get some knitting done, the call is for 6 PM (meaning what time the actors have to be backstage) and Caitlyn and I don’t go on until almost 8:30.  Yes, we have to do hair and make-up and costumes, but that doesn’t take very long.  Although it was a smallish audience (somewhere around 40) they were VERY appreciative and included several of our neighbors.  We were home early (10:15) and sat out on the porch with our drinks and a bowl of popcorn and just enjoyed an hour of talking and relaxing before heading to bed.

new hat, play characters, first cast gift done

I neglected to mention that over the course of the marathon rehearsal on Sunday, I did finish another charity hat and had a new model (the husband in the play):

 

Here’s the ingénue backstage:

 

 

And another couple (although not a ‘couple’ in the play) that you might recognize:

 

Anyway, Tuesday (4/16) I was running from start to finish.  I got a bit of paperwork done in the morning while Michael was at the chiro, before picking up Nancy H around 9:30 to head off to the Viking store.  I got 30 bobbins wound so quickly that we had extra time and Nancy said ‘let’s get a demo on this new machine’.  (Later, when I came home, I said to Michael ‘I want points’….he said ‘what for’….I said ‘for not coming home with a $6500 new machine’!!)  After that Nancy and I hit the nearby Mexican restaurant and it was terrific.  Nancy (who apparently can remember everything, unlike me who doesn’t remember yesterday) said it was only the third time we have been out to eat together in all the time we have known each other!  I dropped Nancy off and hustled on home.  I looked at the clock and thought ‘ok…I have 12 minutes to pee and maybe comb my hair’ before Joanne picked me up for knitting.  We sat and knit (or rather Joanne knit, I mostly visited and talked) and when I got home at 3:30, I did a couple of final things for the retreat, before going back to working on the play bags.  I got the first one finished:

 

 

before belting down some pizza and racing off to rehearsal.  Home at 10:30, a little TV, then off to bed.

Even though Sunday was a late night, we were up early on Monday (4/15) because there was a lot to get done.  Michael made his breakfast and sat down to watch the last (taped while we spent all day at rehearsal) day of The Masters.  I headed downstairs to start my first embroidery on the cast gift bags, and to figure out how much additional canvas fabric I needed to buy.  This show is very heavy on lighting cues and the tech team needs to do a lot of work.  Plus, we will be having 2 tech teams, one for each weekend, and it would be hard to give a gift to one and not the others, so I will do my best to get 13 – 14 bags done by the 28^th.  The hardest part is actually the embroidery which takes somewhere between 2 – 3 hours.

You know, as much as I enjoy having people read this blog…it is nice to be able to do this whole project and actually ‘talk’ about it as I go along!  I can’t always do that…since I am frequently (sometimes?) working on projects for people that I am pretty sure are going to read about it!

Anyway, I stopped embroidering around 10:15 and headed up to my volunteer meeting at the Lake House, with a visit to Joann’s for more canvas after that.  That chopped 4 hours out of my day and when I got home at 2, I continued embroidering on the first bag.  Michael came home from golfing with an 85 and I continued embroidering until 4:30, when I needed to wind a new bobbin, only to find out that my machine wouldn’t do it L.  I had a lot of trouble pushing the bobbin winder into position, and then it made a horrible noise as it spun around (although that was nothing compared to the horrible noise I made as this was happening!!!)  I sent out a distress email to 2 clubs in Sun City, and called the local Viking dealer to see if Jan’s new machine (Christmas gift from Walt) could wind my bobbins….no deal  L.  However, Judy (lady who works at the Viking store) recognized my voice and called me back to tell me that I was welcome to come into the store tomorrow to wind bobbins….halleluia!!!  I called Nancy (since I see her on Tuesday mornings) and she is totally up for a road trip tomorrow morning…so that’s where I’ll be.  I continued working on cutting out the bags and handles, and at 9 PM when I was done, headed up to watch TV and snuggle with Michael.

I spent Sunday morning (4/14) and early afternoon cleaning.  Michael and I are both very lucky that we don’t have allergies, because there is a thick layer of yellow pollen on EVERYTHING!!!  Unless we want to close our windows and put on the air (why bother as the temps are gorgeous), we get a layer every other day!  We also spent a bit of time packing up the car for the start of H-LL week for the play.  We left the house at 2:30 PM for rehearsal and didn’t get back home again until  11 PM…..yes…an incredibly long day.

Luckily, we have great friends and neighbors to take care of Cookie while we are away, and we came home to find Jan sitting in our kitchen.  She said that Cookie looked so sad when she tried to leave, she decided to stay until we got home  J.  Now THAT is a great friend!

2 new bags for HOPE

We slept WAY late on Saturday morning (4/13) and it was heavenly.  Michael decided to take Cookie for a walk before having breakfast, while I just relaxed and read the paper.  I spent the rest of the day and early evening in the studio, finished up 2 bags.  The first was to check the new sizing for the bags I am making for cast gifts for the play:

 

 

and on the second one, I tested out the embroidery of the car we will be using (since the play is BECKY"S NEW CAR):

The cast gifts will be a pearl gray canvas color and I got 3 of them cut out and started the hemming before heading upstairs.  Michael and I “promised” the cast that we would be able to provide them with an empty champagne bottle for a prop…so of course we were forced to drink a bottle while we watched TV and snuggled on the couch for the rest of the night.