Holidays and more

Happy Holidays everyone! No matter what you do or do not celebrate, hopefully you'll have a good season and the rest of the year will treat you well.

So we've been having fun with some local friends. Most people we know have families so trying to get together is kind of hard, but we do make it work. I've known these people for almost 13 years now and we're still not sick of each other. Unbelievable right? ;) Anyway, we are a bit crazy when we get together. I'll post some pictures later about our adventures in eating out.

But Court is an artist and she always gives us a comic for Christmas which is always the highlight of the season. We always wait for the comic because she is amazing! Anyway, we have these "alter egos" that we created for this childrens book we're writing. Enjoy!


(and just for the record, I'm the little tiger)

I've got friends . . . .

in odd places. Amazing isn't it?

. . . in every branch of the Military and while I support them and their efforts (even though I necessarily don't agree with their choice), I don't support the war.

. . . who I see on a regular basis and we always keep in touch.

. . . who I never see unless they want something or are in trouble and know that I'll listen to that trouble and see if there is anything I can do.

. . . who believe what I love to do is a waste of time.

. . . that think I have all the time in the world to watch their kids on short notice because I'm a teacher, so I automatically know how to take care of kids and because I don't have any kids of my own.

. . .who respect me for what I do and who I am.

. . .who are closer to me than family.

. . .who when I'm around them, it is like having a bunch of kids around and I love every minute of it.

. . .in places that all I have to do is talk to them and I can make the best laid plans fall apart in an instant.

. . .that I've been attracted to since I met them. That doesn't mean "sexually" attracted, but more like "caringly" (yes I made that up and I'm going to use it) and they help light up the room.

Why am I writing this? Strangely enough I've had everything on this list happen to me in the past year or so and I just needed to reflect on a few things. There are a few things that I usually take for granted such as friends who love and care for me like family; and those friends who only use me for what I know and what I can do.

The past month hasn't been the brightest for Jakob and I, but things are beginning to get better; but unfortunately my worrisome attitude isn't going to get any better starting in January. See, Jakob starts his student teaching in January which means he isn't going to be working regularly. Oh, sporadic days here and there (when there isn't any school) but that means that it falls into our savings and my "wages". And since I lost my salary position and had to move to hourly, we've taken a large hit. Oh, I've got friends and my family who will help keep my spirits up and bright for the next few months while this is all going on, but I will be happy when Jakob is finished in April and "graduates" (again) with his teaching license. But then we're back to the uncertainty of him finding a teaching position close enough that we don't have to sell our home (which we technically can't sell for 3 years unless we want to pay back the stimulus money). What I'm hoping for is all the contacts that Jakob has in the film world will start to pay off for him and he and his fight assistants can start something that they've always wanted. We'll just have to see if what I have in mind plans out. And no, I'm not going to say much other than that. I don't want to jinx any of it.

Unusual Friday

*beware, this is a super long post*

You'd think that after getting home super late from a 20 hour day yesterday I'd be able to sleep in a bit better, but no. It could be because Jakob and I were so tired that we forgot to put the cats in their room and they started meowing at about 4-5am for breakfast. It could be the fact that Jakob snored a little bit and when he snores, he's getting sick. I could also be the fact that I've been replaying the events of yesterday in my head over and over again. (I personally think it's the last one).

Yesterday Jakob and I plus a few of Jakob's friends/fight crew worked on a movie up in Logan, directed by Richard Hatch (yes, that Richard Hatch from the series Battlestar Galactica). Jakob was the fight choreographer, I was the stage play props/wardrobe, Matthew and Adam were Jakob's assistants. We were told to be up at the theatre at 7:30am for crew and 9am for the rest of the fighters/extras. So, it being a 2 hour drive, we woke up at 4:30am (well, I woke up, Jakob took a bit of convincing) and started on the road at 5am. Picked up Adam (who brought music to help us stay awake) and started on the 2 hour drive up to the Ellen Eccles Theatre in Logan.

Got there about 7:30 because of some weather stuff, so I texted one of the A.D.s that we were going to go get breakfast and then head to the theatre. So after a not-so-healthy breakfast of Carl's Jr. we headed back to the theatre and took a look around. It is a gorgeous restored theatre. We had a blast walking around and looking at all the architecture while waiting for the rest of the film crew and Jakob's fight crew to show up. As the fighters began to trickle in, I saw a couple of the A.D.s talking and I overheard that they were going to move on to a different location so I questioned them about it and they told us that the stage and the theatre was the fighters until noonish so they could go over their fight and make sure that they worked out all the kinks. Nice, but that wasn't exactly what I had asked for. I had asked if it would be possible to schedule the fight stuff in the morning so then a good majority of the extras would be off set and they could finish the scenes with the main actors. Oh well, you can't get everything you wish for.

So 9am rolls around and everyone from the fight crew has showed up except one of the girls. Jakob tried calling her but no answer. Luckily enough Jakob had the foresight to have an alternate there and he stepped in (it ended up working well too). And they start going over the fight. Jakob giving directions, Matthew and Adam being his assistants by watching and reinforcing the directions and style of fighting. It went well and the morning actually went by really quickly. We started getting everyone into costume so they could try the fight with the costumes (and see if there was going to be any problems) and realized that between what they had brought themselves (which wasn't much, but at least it was something!) and what Jakob and Adam had brought, we costumed every one except for 2 pairs of pants and 3 pairs of boots. Worked out well. They rehearsed from 9:30am to about 11:30am, took a break, then worked in the costumes from about noon to 1pm when the crew and actors from the other locations started arriving.

When the director arrived, things started moving a bit slower than they had before because he started changing things when he saw what the guys had done. After about another 45 minutes of rehearsing the changes and working with one of the leads, they guys went down to the break room. By now it was 1:45-2ish.

Quick break in things and let me back up. Like I had said before, when I had asked that the fight stuff be done by now so the actors could leave? Yep, they hadn't started filming in the theatre space yet. It was now afternoon and we'd been there since 7:30am. Back to the story . . .

So from 2ish on the guys are sitting down and just relaxing a little, chatting, and getting something to eat. Yes, there is actually a lot of down time on film sets (believe it or not). I went to go look at the wardrobe and see if the main lady needs any help. She did so I start to help her and once again, somehow hyper-extend my index finger lifting some heavy costumes. So I wraped it up and continued on. I'm grabbing guys as they are just sitting there to move costumes out of the truck (so they've now become my lackeys) when they get the call to go up on set. By now it is about 4:30-5ish.

Moving back to the stage they start setting up a shot and the director is then informed that the rest of the extras will not be arriving until 5:30-6pm. (Yes, communication wasn't exactly their strong point on this film shoot--yet again). So the guys are just sitting/milling around on the stage for the next hour or so. I'm getting a little miffed because they are asking me to do things that I was never assigned to do, and I'm getting antsy because if they start shooting and there is a wardrobe problem (the way there was with Jakob's mask and someone tried to fix it and ended up making it worse) I wouldn't be around to fix it.

Another side note: I hate wasted time. I hate wasting other people's time (especially when the extras/fighters aren't getting paid and many of them took a day off work/school/family to come and be on the shoot--all day). So if you know me, I start asking questions and trying to get things moving along.

I'm sure by now, Jakob and Adam are getting sick of all the pacing back and forth that I'm doing between the two of them with giving updates and making sure everyone was still okay, and being my normal worrisome/antsy self (sorry guys!). Between trying to get the stage stuff all set and ready, I'm being pulled around by the other wardrobe person with getting the downstairs wardrobe location set for another scene (which they were supposed to film first so we could put away some of the unneeded costumes--which of course didn't happen). Finally I hear them working upstairs and it was a good thing that they prepared so well--Jakob, Adam, and one of the fight guys got bumped up with lines! Apparently they were able to get everything they needed in 1 to 2 takes on all the shots (way to go guys!) so then they were sent back down stairs. It was 8pm when I looked at my clock. And it was 8pm when David realized that he needed to pick up something super important from his work at 5pm and we were 2 hours away. (So sorry David about that. Hopefully everything works out!).

About an hour later at 9ish they were asked back on set and filmed 2 more quick scenes and then just stood around in the wings for another hour or so until the director finally released them--but under 1 condition: a few of them would stay and film a few more scenes downstairs ("It'll only take an hour" he says. "We have to be out of the theatre by midnight"). I think Adam and Jakob wanted to stay but since we had a 2 hour drive a head of us, I pushed for us to be done and gather up the rest of the costumes (which took another half hour) and load up the car. They still hadn't gotten to the scene with which they needed the guys running around downstairs (and I don't know if they ever did). But we took off after that.

It was around 10:30 that we finally pulled out. And after a lot of caffeine, lots of talking about Bond movies, a round of Dr. Horrible, AC-DC, we finally pulled in to drop Adam off a little after midnight (yes, we made better time coming down than we did going up--probably had something to do with the weather).

All-in-all it was a good, but long, tiring, sometime frustrating day. Jakob and I don't get paid for our work unless the film sells (which we're hoping that it does, so then Jakob can pay his assistants) but it was good exposure for Jakob, Adam, and Matthew. I took some promo shots just with my little point-and-shoot, so I'll post them a bit later. I don't think I got that great of photos, so I'm going to wait until the on-set photographer gets everything posted and I can choose what I want. I want some good shots of the costumes (of course!) but I also want some shots of Jakob, Adam, and Matthew to help build their portfolios (both acting and fight). And the funny thing is, I didn't think to get some footage of them actually doing the fight with all the haze and the lead actor. All I got was rehearsal stuff. But I'll ask if I can have some footage for their portfolio. Don't know if I'll get it, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Thanksgiving and more

I have so been enjoying this 4 day weekend. I really needed this break from those students of mine. Those students drive me nuts and I really don't enjoy the job but at least it is a job and I have a paycheck. I just have to continue to repeat that to myself. The one thing I don't especially like about the schedule for this year is the fact that school doesn't let up until December 21st. Yep, just a few days before the holidays. Not fun. I was really looking forward to a longer break this winter instead of a week and a half.

But Thanksgiving was great. We spent it with my family and my mom really made the family favorites. We're really not turkey people so she just made a little bit, but we had a bunch of steamed and sauteed veggies, coarsely mashed potatoes, rice, and cake/pies for dessert (which was actually eaten many hours later). Always good to eat and enjoy good company. We did end up working on my brother's costume, but we'll not get into that at the moment.

Jakob is getting ready for his student teaching. He'll know where he's student teaching next Friday. It'll be good to know so I can do some research on the programs and Jakob could possibly go out and meet with the teacher before hand and make sure things are ready. It'll also give him the chance to get familiar with the curriculum before he is "thrown" into it.

We don't really have many plans for the next while. We're trying to stay within our means because Jakob may not be working while he is student teaching and I really don't want to get another job, but it looks like I'll have to get a temporary evening job to make sure things stay afloat.

We both have a film coming up in the next few weeks, so Jakob does get to fight a bit and I get to do some costumes again, but that is all the way at the other end of the state so we're not looking forward to that drive on those days. Then Jakob is thinking about going down to the Fiesta Bowl with some friends to do the parade the day before. I'm not a fan of that, but if he wants to go, I can't exactly stop him. I can't go because the day after is when school starts up again and when you are a hourly employee you only get 4 days the entire school year that you can miss and I don't want to use them unless I absolutely have to.

Anyway, 1 year into the house ownership and we're finally putting stuff up on the walls. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but we have a few pictures, movie posters, and a few swords up on the walls and we're still looking around for some more frames. We should have the armory shelving up soon and most of the stuff in my sewing room will finally move into the armory and onto the shelves. Although I'm using my sewing room, it still isn't the way I want it to be. I need to get a TV/DVD unit down there so I have something going on when I'm working. Most of the time I still have to move my projects upstairs and use the living room because of how open the floor is. My sewing room isn't that big and we're thinking of moving it upstairs into the back room and moving the "storage" downstairs into that room, but I'm not too much of a fan of that idea.

Sadie and Jimmy are still with us and being silly as ever. Sadie likes to snuggle with you if you have a blanket, but Jimmy doesn't like to. If he jumps up, he just wants to sit on Sadie. Yes, sit on her. I don't get it either. They have figured out our routine and when we divert from that, they get a little antsy. They know when we're supposed to be home and they meet us at the door; which is nice unless Jimmy tries to move around and get outside.

Well, I've got to go shovel the driveway before it starts to freeze underneath. I hate snow, but at least it is the fluffy stuff and not the icy stuff.

Animal as Yoda=Epic!

So a friend of mine sent me this link and it brightened a day that was totally bad!

Enjoy!

1 year

It's been one year (well, it will be by 6:30 this evening) that Jakob and I signed a stackload of papers to become homeowners. It was kind of nerve wracking for the first bit with actually having to take care of something to large where so many things could go wrong. Luckily I have some amazing parents who live a few minutes away and came over (and continue to come over) on many occasions to either quell my nerves about something or help me fix something that I had no idea how to fix.

We haven't done much in the way of remodeling this year (thanks in part to my losing my teaching position) but we did tear up the back yard. It was a pile of weeds anyway, so we decided to destroy it even more, and in the process found out that our sprinkler system wasn't hooked up to anything, so next spring we've got our work cut out for us. We're just now getting to the point of putting up pictures, swords, shields, decorations on the walls.

Thankfully our neighbors next door moved out and that house now sits vacant. The first set of neighbors was a blind woman, her husband, their adult kids (with a baby that cried forever!) and about 6 cars, which they would proceed to park wherever they chose. They finally moved out and I thought the house was being sold, but I was wrong--it was rented by that family and it was being rented again by another family . . . or should I say families. There were a total of 5 families living in that house with the next group that moved in. They had more cars and more kids than the first and those kids didn't care which yard they played in or who they disturbed. They have all moved out and now the house is vacant.

I have managed in this past year, to annoy our other neighbor with asking them to keep their kids out of my yard, away from our cars, and for them to clean up after their dog when he decides to use our lawn as his toilet. Needless to say, those kids and parents don't chat with me anymore. But on the other hand, I have met with another set of neighbors that live up the road and he is really a good guy. He's a hunter and has helped me a few times (especially when the snow would start coming down, he would come out and help shovel it and chat with me while doing it).

But we've had some ups and downs, and now with property tax coming up (I didn't know they did that separately and wanted it all in one month!) we're understanding some of the joys and illusions of having a house.

But we wouldn't trade it one bit.

Ugga-bugga

This job has really been taking it out of me. I enjoyed last week when I had Thursday and Friday off for Fall Break and since Jakob's show is over I actually got to spend a Saturday with him doing the things we needed to catch up on and actually working on some projects. Amazing. Plus, last night we were actually able to go on a date (first time in forever!) which was really nice to be able to sit at a restaurant and talk, not worried about making a rehearsal deadline or having to do to a charity event.

Don't get me wrong, I like working charity events. There are just some events that don't do well with me--perhaps it is certain people who show up at events that make them unbearable. I have fun getting in costume and bringing smiles to faces, but there are just some people who do what we do and ruin it for everyone by the way they take it. I know that sounds jumbled, but it makes sense to me. I guess I'm too much of a behind-the-scenes person to really want to be up in front and interacting. I like making sure other people look like they are put together (and some of those people need it!).

Eh, anyway.

What did make me smile the other day was the new "Smell like a Monster" Grover ad that a friend sent me. It made my day. So fun. And that made me want to go back and watch the Muppet Channel on YouTube. Yep, they have a channel. All I'm waiting for is for them to release the next season of The Muppet Show on DVD so I can continue my collection. These are just fun things to have going in the background when a movie doesn't sound too appealing and I'm sewing or working on fabric stuff. Plus, when I was growing up, it was something that would actually make my dad sit down and watch with us (that and animated movies).

Well, back to the real world; at least until 3pm

Fall in the air

The weather is finally turning colder (yay!) and I'm excited for fall clothes. This may be one of the girliest posts I've done so far, but I really like the clothing that comes out for fall. All the great rich colors and the sweaters and shalls/scarfs (I'm a sucker for a great shall). Also the mountains around here start to turn and turn colors they have. I'm thinking that 1 weekend when we don't have a football game or Jakob doesn't have rehearsal we're going to go up for a bbq and have some fun taking pictures. That also means the shopping trip with my mom to the Park City Outlet Mall. I'm thinking of getting a few friends together this year and going up. We didn't spend that much time there last fall because the stores that we usually go to closed (so sad!) but we're going to try it again this year.

But with fall in the air that means that Jakob has more shows to do and more auditions coming up. It seems he does more shows in the fall than he does in the summer. There is a great opportunity for an audition for him and I'm hoping he gets the invitation. If he got in it would mean that I wouldn't see him for 4 months (literally, it is a touring show) and we would have to push back his student teaching until Fall 2011, but it is a good resume builder and opportunity for him. We'll see where everything goes.

I haven't been working on costumes all that much lately because I haven't had the energy. I get home and I just want to collapse. I don't have a film project upcoming and I really don't have much in the way of charity events I am doing, so many of the costume stuff is on hold. I need to finish up the Cinders dress for Michelle and then a Star Wars dress for me. I'm also hoping that my fairy costumes will sell so I can recoup some of my costs for those. I should be listing them in the next week.

Stuff

Lately it has been hard to find the energy to want to be in front of the computer writing. Usually I love being on the computer doing something creative or finding new things to help me be creative in the "real world" (whatever that is), but not this past week. I guess its just the fact that this new job isn't what I wanted for this fall, but it's what I have.

I've had a few emails lately from people saying that I complain too much. That I should be happy that I at least have a job and it gives me a paycheck at the end of the month. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that I have a job and I do have money coming in, it just isn't the job I want to be doing. Thats all. Plus, this is my blog and I can complain if I want to. So neh ;p .

But seriously, I am just tired by 3:30pm after doing lessons every half hour with a new group of kids and only getting a half hour lunch/rest period. I don't get rest periods. It is 8:45-9:15, 9:15-9:45, 9:45-10:15, etc. . . . kind of wears you out after a while.

But I do have time now in the evenings and afternoons to do what I want to do. I don't have to worry about Parent/Teacher Conferences (although I didn't find them as bad as some other teachers do), I don't have to worry about grading, and I don't have to think about giving a standardized test. It does give me some time to be creative and spend time with family and friends.

We actually were able to do that last night. The Hale Center Theatre (west valley) was having its 25th Birthday party and since Jakob has been part of theatre we were invited. It was fun to see Jakob and Matthew Carlin playing around again together. It never gets old with the two of them. Unluckily my camera died right when things were getting funnier, so I wasn't able to catch too many moments, but I did manage to capture this gem of a picture:

Seriously, I love these boys. They always make me laugh. Just add in Adam and man, they are a trio. You'll be doubling over.

I have posted a few pictures over on my costume blog of the dress that was on the Cinders cover. I'll post more when I have a chance to look at the disc that Michelle sent me and I figure out how to add a picture view to a page in blogspot.

What a weekend

This weekend was fun, albeit long. I was asked to do the costumes for a film entitled "Capital Punishment". I read the script and since the costumes were easy, I did it. They filmed up in Northern Utah, which for me is at least a 2 hour drive, so when they said the call time was 6:30am, I realized that I had to get up a 4am to get on the road by 4:30am to make it to that call time. And that was Saturday and Sunday. Long days, but I had fun. Most people don't realize that if you're not acting, lights, directing, or camera operator you have the "hurry up then wait" syndrome. You have to get everyone and everything ready before hand while people are telling you to hurry up because they are needed on set and then once they are on set you are just waiting until someone needs a touch-up or wardrobe fix. Other then that, you have a lot of time on your hands.

The other thing is my dad's work had a party on Saturday night. I wasn't able to make the food section, but I was able to make everything else. It was fun. We were able to see some of the dancers that we worked with at the performance a few saturdays ago. It was nice to be able to see them in their element. They also had some dancers/performers from the Broadway Stomp come and perform. They did pretty well. There was one girl that I wasn't too fond of. All she would really do was a few flips. The street dancing wasn't all that good. But there were some amazing performers. I'll see if I can get the video posted. I took a little bit of video, not from the best angle, but at least I had something.

This week is going to be interesting to say the least. I've actually got time for myself in the afternoons. Jakob is at rehearsals this week so I'm a theater widow once again. He's in Antigone which will be going up at UVU within the next month or so. I'm not too sure of the dates, but once I have them, I'll post them.

My "adventures" blog

So since I'm not teaching CTE this year, I was thinking about shutting down the blog, but then I thought "wait, I'm still instructing, so maybe I can still have things to write about" so I'm going to continue to use my blog, just chronicling the stuff I do with the P.E. class I'm teaching. Its only been the first two days and I've already got a few things written on there and I'm sure there are going to be many more.

I'm hoping that this year I won't have as many parental problems, but it is amazing what the teachers say about the parents and what the parents try to get their kids out of when it comes to P.E.

But now I've got to get over the hives. I had to use bleach to clean something up in the gym and I'm allergic to bleach. Yep, what a start to the year.

Show went well

Well, the show last night went better than planned. Despite all the problems, it seemed like the general audience enjoyed it. The first show was bigger than the second, but it seemed like the performers were ready to stop anyway. I'm just happy that I don't have to work with some of the people again. Jakob and Brad did well with their fight; although the first performance went better than the second one. Jakob did his dance stuff on que as well.

The only thing that went wrong was I dislodged a few fingers on my right hand when the costume rack went bonkers. Story goes that the costume rack was only supposed to have 15-20 lbs of clothing on it and we overloaded it a bit. The first time it cracked was when we were trying to get it in the elevator. I felt something in my hand kind of pop but didn't think anything of it right then because I've hyper-extended my fingers before and that is all it felt like. But then we were moving it into the room that we were going to stage everyone out of and we didn't see the vent in the middle of the floor (who puts a vent in the middle of the floor?!) and it caught on that and there was a loud snapping noise that made me turn around and I saw the rack coming down so I reached out to stop it and that wasn't a good idea. The rack was heavy and came down wrong on my hand. When everything was over, I was on the floor with the costume rack on my hand and my pointer finger on my right hand pointing the wrong direction. I was able to pop it back into place, but that was a really rough night for me. I still had to costume everyone and trying to tie a bow with your ring and pinkie fingers is really different. I taped everything together, but it was still a rough night.

But my marathon day is over and now I've got another project to work on, but while I'm working on that I've got to get ready for my new "teaching" post . . . elementary physical education. Yeah, it isn't teaching as much as instructing. This should be interesting.

Trouble in Paradise

Well, I wouldn't say that around here its been paradise, but I'm in a creative mood and that is about as creative as I can get with blog titles. First off, I do want to say Congrats to Court and Coryn for graduating!! Woohoo! Yay ladies! (even though you didn't let me know when graduation was for you . . . =p). Now I can get into the meat of my post.

I've been off busy these past few weeks, but I've also had a lot of "downtime" within all that. Sounds contradicting, but it really isn't as weird as it seems. I had spurts where everything needed to be done and my day was completely filled out and others that I slept until late morning and really had nothing to do other than read and enjoy my time. However, not everything has been like that.

Let me explain problem number 1:
I've been "contracted" to this show since end of April/beginning of May. It is for a book release by a local author. I met this author at a filmmakers meet and greet and he and Jakob hit it off really well. He saw that Jakob is a fight choreographer and told us about this event he was doing in August and wanted some fight stuff from the book incorporated into the event. Jakob agreed and then mentioned that I do custom costumes and the author jumped on the opportunity. We started working on what everything should look like when we met the "director" of the whole thing. I wasn't at the first meeting, but at the second meeting, things started going south. First, this guy decided to take over on almost everything. He said that he already had the costumes and that he was going for more of a dance routine instead of fighting. When Jakob mentioned that the author had requested the fight, the director backed down but still said he was going with the costumes he had. At the 3rd meeting he brought everything that he had--it was a disaster! He wanted to put the "fairies" in some 1920's style clothes and the warriors into these crummy looking pleather pieces. I said that if this is what he wanted to do, I wanted no part of the project. I was not going to have my name associated with this. Well, eventually we came to an agreement and I started working on the costumes.

Fast forward 1 month. They only had 1 rehearsal and very little communication with Jakob and me. Fast forward another month. 1 more rehearsal with very few people there and changes to the costume line-up. I didn't have an issue with it because I still had 1 month to finish the 6 custom costumes I was doing and adjust the others we were getting from the costume house. Then came the big 'blow-up'. For the past 3 weeks we've been trying to get into contact with the director and had no luck. Absolutely nothing. Here I am with costumes that need to be fitted to the people and I have no way of doing that. Monday was the first rehearsal that everyone was supposed to be at--very few people showed up and they weren't able to run everything together. Jakob and his fight partner have been getting together almost every week to run their stuff and when the director decided to put everything together he changed a few things regarding the fight and that completely threw Jakob for a loop. As for me, I couldn't fit everyone with the costumes because not everyone was there and they didn't have the right underclothes for me to fit the costume to. To top it all off, all the work that I have done on the wings for the fairies might go down the drain because the director thinks "they won't work with his vision" and he "doesn't like the craftmanship" on them. I about blew up. Yes, they still need to be adjusted for the dancers, but everyone else who had seen them really liked them and said they were unique. Even the author who was at the rehearsal saw them and loved it. "They have personality" he said and I realized that that was the first time that anyone associated with the show had said anything nice about my costumes (besides Jakob).

To make a long story short (yeah, I know, I know . . . .) I'm still not happy with the way things are going and the event is this Saturday evening. At this point I may not show up. I don't know.

Anyway, I'm off to work on the wings a bit more. I've got to figure out a way to get them more secure than what I have now. Uggg.

It's Here!

Michelle's book is now available! Click here to go to her website where you can order from her or from a couple of other sources. I would recommend ordering from her since you'll get a signed copy and you'll be supporting her more than the "big box" stores. She also has a couple of difference ebook versions in case you've got one of those readers.

Enjoy!! Plus you can say that you know someone on a cover of a book.

Fun stuff for the week

Since it's summer, I've been out of the loop when it comes to the blogging stuff. I used to do it frequently because I was sitting in front of the computer all day at work, but now that I'm at home I'm either working on costume stuff, working on the house, or just taking some time to relax.

However, just to keep it fresh in people's minds, the book that a good friend of mine is publishing comes out the second week in August and she's having a contest. If you'd like to enter it, CLICK HERE! and it'll take you to her author site and you can read up on it there. Plus, you can always brag that you know someone who's on a cover of a book. (I still can't believe that it's me on there.)

On other news, we've been doing some more updates to the house. Nothing really major but it is enough to start making a difference. We bought a new dishwasher because the old one was becoming a nuisance. We had to wash the dishes again after it went though a wash cycle because it wasn't cleaning correctly. And to top it off, a good majority of the pegs on the inside drawers were broken off (that is how it came). Now we've got a new one that is a stainless steel interior and uses EcoSense, which is a newer technology that "senses" how dirty the dishes are and adjusts the temperature and amount of the water so it only uses the right amount. Plus, it's black on the outside and that is the color of appliances that I want to go for when I redo the kitchen entirely.

We also, just recently, got a new fridge as well--and it comes with a interesting story. My parents have 2 fridges. They have one in the house and one in the garage. The one in the garage finally went kaput after 14 or 15 years of working. So they went shopping for another one. Jakob and I were sitting talking in the kitchen when my mom gives me a call saying that they bought a new fridge and were taking it over to our house. I was a bit confused and then she explained that why was she going to put a new fridge in the garage when we could use a new fridge and she could take our old one (which was working) and put that in the garage. So now I've got a new black fridge to match my dishwasher. All I need now is a oven that works and a above-range microwave that is easier to work with and I'm set.

Jakob is in Pirates of Penzance, which plays at the Castle Theater this weekend and next weekend, then goes to the American Fork Amphitheater for the first week in August. You won't be disappointed with Jakob's performance. It is classic Jakob. To be honest though, ignore the Cops when they come on. They really aren't that good. Some of the Maidens are worth watching, but the rest just make some of the show drag. I'm filming it either tonight or tomorrow (Saturday) night again because my first recording didn't turn out so well. My camera had a bunch of glitches and I didn't like the way the recording turned out, so once again I've got to sit through it. The only real reason I'm recording it is we're trying to put together a archive of Jakob's shows and his fight choreography so he can send it out to agencies.

My two little ones are driving me bonkers but I love them. Jimmy has learned a new talent: he can open base cabinet doors. I never thought I would have to go and get child proof locks to ward against a cat opening cabinet doors. Sadie has learned that she can get on top of the china hutch and see everything that goes on within the main floor and Jimmy can't get to her, so she spends a good majority of her time there.

Funny videos

While I was taking a break this morning from working on costume stuff, I found these videos. Enjoy! I thought they were kind of funny.

This next one I didn't find too funny, but I thought I'd put it up here anyway. It was sent to me by a friend.

Car glitch

So, earlier I was talking about the trip we took to Southern Utah. Well, it wasn't without incident--can't my trips go without a major setback? So the story goes as follows:

We started the trip out at around 1:30pm. We didn't have to be there until around 5pm so we were thinking of taking the scenic byway and enjoying some stops (considering it was one of the few weekends that I would have Jakob before his show). Right before the exit to the scenic byway I started noticing that my car would lurch every once in a while, so I clicked off the A/C and after discussing it with Jakob we decided to stay on the main interstate as an "in case" scenario. We're happy that we did because about an hour into the trip the Check Engine light came on and every time the car tried to accelerate, the RPM would go up but the car would slow down. We got off at the nearest town (Fillmore) and tried to find a mechanic to talk to. We found one, but he took one look at my car and said it was 'too new' and he didn't have the right equipment to figure out what was wrong and the guy in town who did was closed for the day. (Closed? at 2:30pm on a Saturday? Yeesh, small towns). He told us to continue down to the next town after letting the car sit for an hour or so to cool down. So we let it sit for about 30 minutes because I wasn't sure if the car would accelerate and we had to take it super slow in order to get it anywhere.

So off we were again to the next town which was about 50 miles south. The car again didn't accelerate when called upon so we had to gently get it up to 60, turn the cruise control on and use the hand accelerator. It still had issues but at least I got up to somewhat interstate speeds. Unfortunately the speed in that area is 75-80, so I was going 65-70. Yep I was the slow grandma in the right-hand lane. Took us twice the amount of time to get to the next town (Beaver) because of it. When we pulled into Beaver, we looked for the mechanic that the first guy had told us to and when we did, he didn't look happy to see us. There wasn't a greeting or anything. In fact he looked like we were disturbing him. Anyway, I let Jakob deal with him on almost anything and I answered the questions about the car when Jakob couldn't. The guy took one look at it and said that my car was 'too old' for him to look at because he had just replaced the sensor hookup for his equipment. (By the way, my truck is a '95.5. Since when is that old? It's 15 years only and I just barely broke 100,000 miles. My yellow Oldsmobile is a '86 and it only has 87,000 on the original engine). Anyway, after staying there for another hour, I called a friend who was coming down as well and asked where they were. Luckily enough they weren't far behind, so after the "mechanic" saying that since the car was still working to just continue on and ignore the check engine light (I'm never going back to him) we continued on. When the turn-off came, there were 2 vans that had pulled behind us and then pulled in front--yep, it was the friend and their caravan. We were the caboose the rest of the way there and it was not fun.

When we finally got to the location, we ended up leaving the car and seeing if a long rest would do it some good. We were planning on coming back after the event that evening, but we ended up staying the night. We took off the next morning and here's the kicker: there was no problem on the way back. None. We were fine the rest of the way. We had my mechanic look at it once we got it back into town and he kept it for the day running every test he could think of and there was nothing in the computer's history codes that suggest anything went wrong. My guess is that my truck was throwing a tantrum because it didn't want to go down south and it knew we were coming back up so it ran smooth.

Ugg! I had to drive up to Ogden the next few days after that for some teacher's workshops and there was nothing wrong with it. It didn't give me one symptom. I really think that my truck has a mind of it's own. And what's even worse was the guy in Beaver suggested to me to "get a newer truck, one that I could handle". Yep, never going back to that guy again.

I'm not crazy . . . .

It's been an interesting past couple weeks. First off, we had the Freedom Festival booth to take care of. It went soooo much better than last year. We didn't have all the stress and the conflicts that we did last year and everyone that showed up said they had a blast! We didn't raise the same amount as last year, but we still raised money for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Now, we've got projects coming into play. Jakob has a show on the weekends (again) and I've got a few costume projects due this weekend and next weekend. We've also got 2 make-a-wish events that we're going to. These are great events. Makes what we do worth while.

But the other thing that has started again is clogging. Yep, I'm getting back into it. I've healed enough and I've gotten stronger, so I want to do it again. I had a class last week and man, it felt good. There were a few things that jiggled that had never jiggled before and it felt amazing to sweat again. Yes, I exercise daily but this was a different type of sweat. It got my mind going again. It was interesting to see my feet know what to do but my mind try to take over. Interesting battle. Woot!

First week in July

This upcoming weekend is a double edged sword for me. On one hand it is the 4th of July with all the fireworks and the hot air ballons and the bbqs. On the other it is the Freedom Days festival with our booth. Yep, we are doing that 3 day monster again and I don't know how successful we're going to be considering we don't have the support we need from the garrison people. It makes the event more enjoyable if we have enough people to take shifts and let people have breaks and enjoy those who they will be spending the next __ hours with. I'm a little worried that this will burn me out a little again and it will burn out others because of the demand. Also, we have to have people at the booth during all times of the festival, meaning that if there is only 1 person in costume and 1 spotter, then that is all there is.

ugg, we'll see how it all goes.

However, Jakob and I had a great weekend by going down to Panguitch and seeing some hot air balloons and doing some trooping. I'll post pictures once my camera starts working again. But we did have a glitch in my car last weekend: we went down and after about 1 hour of driving, the check engine light came on and the car started losing power and it continued all the way down. I'll post more about it later.

Lookie!

I'm on the cover of a book that is coming out in August!

Click me for a look at Cinders Scroll down a little bit and you'll see the trailer for the book.

Michelle is an amazing writer and it has been a blast to be part of this project. She is self-publishing this book and you will not be disappointed with it. Plus I got to do the dress for the cover and then I got to "model" for it.

Once the book is out, I'll do a full review, but for now I don't want to say much.

Keep an eye out for it!

Out of it

I've been out of it for a while. Sorry about that. We've been switching around computers because my laptop is on its last legs I think. I've had it since 2002 and it is beginning to cause major problems, so my brother dug the old family computer out of the garage, cleaned it and set it up at our place. He's been great at finding new parts for it. It still runs, slowly, but runs. Luckily enough Mike figured out that it can take a memory upgrade and found stuff online for it. It is great to have my own person IT Solutions guy handy.

With me finishing up at the school, I am jobless . . . until the fall. No, as of right now I'm not teaching in my field in the fall, but I am teaching. I was hired as the PE instructor at one of the local elementary schools. No, it isn't my forte, but I've got a great resource (my mom!) so I think I'll be in good hands for a while. I'm still looking around for a job in my field and many jobs won't open until August, so at least I've got something for the fall in case I can't find anything else.

Jakob and I got home earlier this week from Joseph's graduation (he's my brother-in-law). He is the last of the 8 kids to graduate high school and it was fun to go and see him and get to spend some time with him. We saw the sights of Seattle again and experienced that great weather. I liked walking around and getting to have some cooler weather. I'm super happy we could find the great deals on air fare that we did and we could fit it into our budget and schedule. Congrats again Joseph!

Then the past few days I've had a teacher workshop (yep, even though I'm not teaching I've still got to go to those things) and while some of it was worth going to, I don't think it needed to be 2 days worth. I've got another one at the end of June that I've got mixed feelings about. It is for TV Broadcasting/Film Production and I'm not teaching it any more. I'm wondering what people are going to say when I show up and tell them what has happened this past year. I've got a few people on my side because they've worked with me for a few years. The flip side of that is that it is a 2 hour drive away. So that is 4 hours of commuting every day for 3 days. I know, I could probably get a hotel room and save that on gas, but the district isn't paying for anything and I don't want to spend anything I don't have to.

I was looking forward to a trip that we were going to take this weekend, but it ended up not working all that well with our schedule. Jakob has rehearsal this weekend that he couldn't get out of and I've got a couple of costumes that needed to be finished, so it just ended up not working out. We've got another trip planned for next weekend so hopefully that will hold and we'll be able to go and see some hot air balloons (my favorite!)

Once my camera starts cooperating with me again, I'll see if I can post some stuff from our Seattle trip (I really don't have a lot, I just wasn't all that camera happy this trip around).

Almost There . . .

I'm excited and worried for this week to be over with. I'm excited because it means that I will have time to explore my other skills and talents and find some new ones this summer. I'm making some goals for this summer and one of them is to become more comfortable in front of the camera. Luckily I've got some good friends who are photographers and hopefully that will help me get over the phobia of being in front of the camera. I have no issues being behind the camera and I really enjoy doing that but I've been told that I need to be more comfortable with being in front. I'm also excited to be working on a few different projects. I really enjoy sewing and designing clothes . . . at the moment anyway.

I've got an interview for another job Wednesday. This job is at another school in the district and I think it is a bit of a step down, but we'll see what comes of it. I've also got my resume at every school district within an easy driving distance, so we'll wait and see what comes of everything. I guess that is what I'm a bit worried about. I don't have a solid job for the fall and I don't have summer work at the moment. I'm hoping to get a few film jobs or possibly a local job, but I just don't know. Many people I know are in the same boat--looking for a job--so the market is saturated. Not as saturated as other places, but still getting there.

Jakob will start his student teaching in January and will "graduate" (again) April 2011. I don't think he's going to walk again, but we'll be happy to have the teaching license and then it is trying to find a teaching job for him as well. The state isn't doing well with teachers so we'll have to take what we can where we can. We can't go out of state so we've got to stay within the metro area. Luckily enough Jakob's current work isn't going anywhere and he's starting to check with them about taking a break for the duration of his student teaching, finding an evening job that can help with the bills, then go back once his student teaching is over with.

We've got some fun summer plans coming up. Jakob's younger brother is graduating so we're heading back up to Seattle, plus we're going down to St. George a couple of times; once for a event which we haven't gone to before and another time with a set of friends. I've got a couple of workshops that I want to go to in order to make me more marketable. Then 4th of July weekend, we've probably got the booth set up again at the Freedom Festival downtown, but after that, I've got some time to "chill". I actually like being busy with stuff I want to do instead of what I need to do.

I'm watching Sadie and Jimmy just chill out on the floor in the sun. You'd think with all that fur on they'd not want to be in the sun, but they love laying on the carpet in the area by the window. We have this ledge of sorts from the loft over the front room and they like to go up on that ledge and look down over everyone. Kind of a "king of the castle" type look out. They make me smile.

Salt Flats Book

So, a couple of years ago I was part of a film shoot out on the Salt Flats. The pictures were lost for a while then they showed up, so I got a copy of them and decided to create a book. It's still in the editing phase, but here it is!

Photo Book

Yeah, it's still a little rough, but its getting there. You can also click on this link to see the book in more of a "book format".

Rain

It seems like the seasons around here are beginning to shift over. We've got rain scheduled for the next few days. That's okay because it means I don't have to water my lawn and the fertilizer I laid on the grass hopefully won't wash away. But it does hamper the ability to get my back lawn killed off and my garden planted back there.

Plus the rain at the moment matches my mood. More and more things are coming to light about my job and I'm not liking any of it. A slap in the face is the best way I can describe it.

House chores

I really don't mind cleaning my house. I usually stick in a movie and have that playing in the background as I'm moving around. I don't mind folding laundry or putting it away. I like to vacuum and I don't mind dusting when I have the extensions on the vacuum. The one place that I really don't care too much for is the bathroom. I've had issues using cleaners before so luckily I have a great hubby who--when he's home--cleans the bathroom for me. We've started using white vinegar for a lot of our cleaning stuff, so I'm able to do more of it. We've had some issues with drains being clogged (but the house came with really bad drains) so we've been using a fun science experiment to help clean the drains: baking soda and white vinegar. Pour about 1 cup of baking soda into the drains and add hot white vinegar and cover the drain. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes or until the bubbling has stopped, then rinse with hot hot water. It's been working rather well. I've also used baking soda and hot water (when I ran out of white vinegar). Check out Vinegar Tips for more uses.

The one household chore that I really despise is bringing in the groceries and putting those away. I don't know why, but I really hate it. I love to eat and cook, but bringing in the groceries is not on my happy list. I love shopping for food and I know where all the deals around town are and which days to go and get the freshest produce. My mom is on first name basis with the owner of one of the markets and he lets her know when they've got some good deals coming through. There has been a new grocery store that just opened up (WinCo Foods) so when all the hype dies down I'd like to go in and take a look at just what "deals" they've got. I usually don't like dealing with chains because you just don't have the local knowledge of where things are coming from.

Star Wars Day and stuff . . . .

Yesterday was Star Wars day (May the 4th be with you) along with being my anniversary. No, I swear we didn't plan that. In fact we didn't really realize the connection until one person from our wedding party came in the room and said that phrase. That is when we started laughing and realized it was.

Jakob and I celebrated a little bit yesterday. We didn't really have all that much time because both of us worked until late, then he had a workshop with some of my students to help them with their fight stuff for their film. So we decided to go out to dinner at Red Robin on the way home then watch some tele (poor Jazz!). But Jakob did surprise me by doing the dishes and sending me this while I was at work:



Cute huh? He wanted it to come while I was in class but the timing was off by 5 minutes. The flowers arrived 5 minutes after the last bell rang. Although the ladies in the office had a good time with it. Jakob's name when he doesn't want to sign his own name is "Scruffy" so he puts that on cards. The ladies read the card (since it wasn't in an envelope) and they wanted to know who Scruffy was. But it was nice to get a surprise and a smile like that after the last few days that I've had. And I know the picture isn't the best but those roses are super super dark red in some parts they are almost black (my favorites).

Life continues to plug along. Jakob has his show so I don't see him as much, but now his work schedule is a little back to normal I will get to see him a bit more. I'm on the job hunt yet again. I don't feel as angry as I did last week because I'm choosing to look at this with a positive outlook. I've been so negative in the past week because of the way my "surplussing" was done now that I realize that I've got other opportunities and some of them involve starting my business back up and doing film costuming a bit more full time. We'll see what the summer has to hold.

Sad News

I'm angry and sad at the same time. Read my post on my Teaching blog to figure out why.

Jakob's Show

Go see The Three Musketeers at the West Valley Hale Theater on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or the first matinee on Saturday to see Jakob. No, he doesn't have a "major" role but he does have some speaking lines as a villain and gets to fight throughout the entire show (as well as die 3 times as 3 different characters). He also does his little high pitched "yipe!" (so listen for it in Act 2). Then after the show they are out in the lobby. Jakob is one of the Cardinal's Guards and I think he enjoyed playing the villain. If you go on Tuesday, Thursday, or the evening 2 shows on Saturday you'll see our friend Matthew play Porthos. It runs through June 5th.

I got to see it with Barta last Saturday and I enjoyed it. I don't like what the playwright has done to the story such as adding a character that is d’Artagnan sister and there is a bunch of un-needed dialogue. Some of the scenes were set for a traditional stage instead of the theater in the round, but if you know the story you'll get the jest of what is happening. The set is great with the constantly evolving and moving parts. The Mother Superior character I could really do without. She doesn't do much for the show. Some of the fights are a bit to breathy for my liking, but so be it.

Overall, go support Jakob. I'm sure he'd love to see you there!

You know it's Monday when . . . . .

. . . you get whiteout on your thumb and you have no idea how it got there.

. . . none of the computers at work are running smoothly after being shut down for the weekend.

. . . you get a surprise e-mail stating that your funding may be cut because the state still hasn't posted your workshop credits.

. . . you are already looking forward to your lunch break (chocolate cake w/blackberry icing)

. . . you realize that today was the day you were supposed to receive a package and it never came.

School Lunches=National Security Threat

Yep. What people have been saying all along about the state of school lunches and food in general is coming out in full force and now, maybe, with the military behind this, something could be done? Finally?

Perhaps with Jamie Oliver and the Military saying something about school lunches something will finally change!
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I can hope, can' I?


School Lunches pose 2030 National Security Threat

Superhero to the Rescue

So a friend of mine e-mailed me this like to Make Yourself a Superhero and here's how mine turned out:



Yeah, I know cheesy, but I didn't have a lot of time to figure out anything. I think I'm going to have Jakob do one when he gets home.

Weed pulling

In addition to working on a costume for Michael, he helped me pull weeds along my drive way.

Before:



As you can see the flowers are completely being choked by the weeds and such that has been growing there.

Then after 2 hours of pulling and digging . . .

After:



Tada! We have a side garden that looks relatively clean. While we were pulling, we ended up pulling some things that looked like weeds but ended up being flowers, and left some weeds that we thought were flowers except when we went for a second look.

One edge down, 2 full yards to go. We've got a lot to do in order to get things working in the back yard. We've got to kill everything that is back there so we can pull them up, then rototill the ground, add the nutrients and re-sod. I was hoping that we didn't have to re-sod but nothing came up that is grass and from what I can see the previous owners didn't care about the yard. We've also got to fix the fence (front and back), add some slats, re-stain the fence and the front stairs, strip and paint (or replace) the door, and finish the front yard.

Happy Tax Day

I know, some think there is nothing happy about this day, but I think it's just another day. I've turned in my taxes. I'm done. No last minute rush.

However, there is one thing to be happy about. There are a bunch of businesses that are doing Tax day Freebies. Just do a search in your local area for businesses doing those. Some are free food, others are free services. Take a look and see.

Not HAPPY!!

Let me tell you a little story . . .

My truck has been having some problems lately and they got so bad that I was getting poisoned from my truck (again). It wasn't as bad as the first time. I take good care of my car. I change the oil every 3,000 miles. I make sure transmission fluid is always at a high level. My tires stay at the recommended PSI and I rotate them every few months (depends on my driving). It has had it's 60,000 and 90,000 tune-ups and checks and will soon be getting it's 120,000 check.

A few weeks ago was the time for my truck to have an oil change (this will come back into play later on in the story). I went to a place that I didn't really have a good experience with the last time I needed a change, but I was on a time crunch and it needed to happen. So I'm waiting from them to finish the oil change and they come over and say that I needed_____ and ______ and ______ to make sure my car was running okay. I didn't want them to change it because I know how to change all those specific things and I knew I could get it cheaper. So I did. When I was driving away, I noticed that my hood was popped up on one side. When I got home I popped the hood and saw that the transmission cap was off and resting on the side. Yep, they had slammed the lid closed over the cap, denting my hood.
"Great," I thought and took a look at the hood. "Not happy," I grumbled as I wiped the grease off my hands and closed the lid.




Fast forward 1 week.




I have to commute to work about every day and I started noticing that there was a really strong odor of exhaust and gas in the cabin of the truck. I had this problem before and it was because of the exhaust line being cracked and split. "Not again," I thought and the first opportunity I had, I scooted under the truck to take a look. No, no cracks or holes I could see. Didn't mean they weren't there where I couldn't see. So I put it in the back of my mind and continued on. I would drive with the windows down as often as I could to ventilate. Finally it started being a bit too much and my headaches were getting worse and worse every time I would start the engine.




Fast forward to this morning.




I get a text from my mom saying that she is coming to get the car while I'm at work and take it to my trusted undercarriage mechanic. According to the information relayed from my mom, my mechanic took one look at the undercarriage of the car and saw exactly what was going on under there, but he wasn't going to be doing any welding until we got the problem fixed with the gas line and he didn't specialize in it. Luckily enough he knew and trusted someone. My mom took the car to him and he opened up the hood and it about blew him away with all that was going on in the engine. 3 of the hoses had been ruptured. The gas line had a couple of holes and tears in it on the underside. A few of the engine points were out of whack and there was barely any oil in the tank.

'No oil?' you are probably thinking to yourself. Because if you remember earlier in the story the truck had gone through an oil change. Well, apparently they took the oil out but didn't put any back in.




None!

Meaning that I had been driving around for a week with no oil in the car. I could have lost the engine.

Needless to say I will NEVER be using their services again. I will be going back to my old guy and have him do it because at least he is friendly and tries his hardest. He isn't chain. He personally runs the business and is always around. Even when he has someone very unhappy with him he tries to keep a smile on his face and doesn't carry it with him. Also, when going in for a simple oil change, they'll take a look at the rest of the car and show you what is going on and what the possibilities are to fix it.

At least we caught it with enough time to salvage the engine and I'm out on a few hundred dollars instead of a few thousand to buy a new truck/engine.

Another Blog

Yes, I know what many of your are thinking. Another one? Really? Well, yes really. I decided not to clutter up this one by posting my costumes and clothing here and make one that is specifically for that. Black Rose Costume Design The link is also on the right side of my blog.

I'll be putting finished works and major progress updates as I get stuff done. I'm kind of excited for this summer with a couple of possible projects in line. Plus with Jakob in a show every evening I've got to have something creative/fun to do.

My Cat can Fetch!

Yeah, I've probably posted something like this before, but Jimmy has this knack of fetching. He will bring that crumpled up piece of plastic over to us if we're sitting down and he wants to play. The other day when Jakob was home, we were up in the loft and Jimmy came running up with this piece in his mouth, dropped it at Jakob's feet, then sat there and looked between Jakob and the piece until Jakob picked it up and threw it. He ran after it and brought it right back up to the loft. This went on for about a half hour until Jimmy decided he didn't want to play anymore.

Funny cat.

A Bit Trigger Happy

I got a bit trigger happy with my cats the other day and the camera. They just looked so cute and the lighting was fun streaming through the blinds.








Yeah, I know. I'm crazy, but these two are funny. They are looking a bit raggedy right now since they are shedding; plus the fact that they tend to wrestle with one another and I find patches of fur everywhere.

We also figured out--at least we think--what Sadie is a mix with. She is just a domestic long hair but her fur is super soft and she is long and lean (Jimmy is so long limbed it is amazing) so after talking with a few people we think that she is a Turkish Angora mix. Would explain a lot of the personality traits.

Honestly?

Yeesh, some people are taking this just a bit too far. . . .

Parents Accuse Educational Institutions of Socialist Conspiracy

Spring Break!

Woot! This week is going to be nice. A chance to recharge my batteries and get some of those nagging projects off my table. I've also got a few costumes in the works that I really really want to get done. They are just taking up too much time and space in my brain and I want them down in fabric. I've got them sketched out, but since I'm not much of a sketch artist, I've got to create them in order to get my point across.

But the weekend started out great with an event at Barnes and Noble in Orem. I'm working with a project called Worlds of the Crystal Moon. It is a book series that the author is taking input from the fans about what traits each character should have or about storyline ideas towards what he's already got down. When I met the guy, he was a blast to listen to and to be with. I could see that he's passionate about it, even if he doesn't call himself a writer. I've almost finished the first book and I've got some great costume ideas. What's even greater about all this is that in August there will be an event at the SLC Library where Jakob gets to choreograph a big fight! I'm so proud and happy for him. YAY! Plus, Jakob gave me a compliment: "it's great that I married a costume designer. That way, I know that the costumes will work with the movements I have planned". I think that was a compliment.

Anyway, Happy Easter to everyone (whether or not you celebrate it). The "easter bunny" left stuff for us this morning, so yay for chocolate!

Jakob's parents and younger brother are in town this weekend so it was good to be able to see them. That and now I've got a clean house from top to bottom! I'm just glad that things have gone smoothly so far.

Once I get a few of my costumes finished, I'll post some pictures. I've got a lot of picture taking to do this week for already completed costumes, but I've got to wait until the snow melts (yep, it snowed last night. about 2 inches) so I can go outside and take pictures. I like the way natural sunlight makes the costumes look compared to artificial light.

Yucky Air!

Yesterday was a gross air day! I went outside after work to coach the High Jump kids and there was dust and dirt and grime everywhere in the air and the fact that there was a really strong wind didn't help any. I felt all that gunk getting into my ears and under my contacts.

When this type of weather starts happening I have a really hard time breathing and I usually get some sort of sort throat and allergy-like symptoms. I really hate it. But apparently there was a fire in the north that when the winds picked up it blew a lot of that dust and gunk around. Plus all the construction stuff that is going around in the city with vacant lots didn't help much. And it did sprinkle just a bit, but that was really dirty rain and now my car looks like I went off-roading with it.

I'm still having hard time breathing and I feel like trash! Yuck! Well, at least it is now snowing a bit so hopefully it will help to bring some of that gunk out of the air.

That happened to me today . . .

Ever have that morning that you wake up before the alarm clock and think you see another time than it really is and start to get up and realize that it is 2 hours earlier than you thought and now you can't get back to sleep?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning when, on your drive to work you are half way there and realize that you left everything you had been preparing for the next day at home and you have to turn around and drive back?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning that you get to work and lock your keys in your car by accidentally bumping the door--which is locked--closed and looking like an idiot with a stretched out coat hanger trying to grab the lock mechanism to unlock the door?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning that you trip on your way up the stairs and then just sit there looking pathetic?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning when you finally get into work and think that everything you set up yesterday for today is ready and then walk into the room and see things are completely thrown around and the movable whiteboard from your room is missing?

That happened to me today.

Ever have that morning when you are talking with an athlete about what they need to accomplish and how they feel about the new approach you set up for them only to hear from that athlete that another coach has changed it completely and the athlete doesn't like it but thinks he has to go with it?

Yeah, even that happened to me today.

And it is only 8am. I wonder what the rest of the day has in store for me.

Possible Excitement on the way.

So Jakob and I had a meeting the other night with some industry people and I'm excited to say that we may be getting ourselves into a project that is almost right up Jakob's alley. I just need to make sure I'm in the same alleyway so I can get taken along too.




More to come as we get more details.

Goodbye old friend

So my vacuum cleaner has finally bit the dust (so to speak). It has been struggling for a couple of years, but it's always been a really good vacuum. It was one my parents had for many years before they got a new one and I got it before Jakob and I got married. We've had it for the past 3 years and it has been struggling to keep up with everything for the past little while. It finally went kaput the other day and blew a lot of dust and a very bad burning smell into the air and now it is going into the garage for prop parts.

Time to get a new vacuum. Any suggestions?

Good times

So we had another little get together with the Group on Saturday. Good food (pulled pork sandwiches, bottled sodas, pie, cake, veggies), good friends (Court, Mira, Dustin, Jakob, Me, and Andrea!), Jimmy reacting to Andrea's twins, and some funny times. Apparently when we eat at my place there is something that always gets us kind of "high". This time it was the bottled sodas. I got a bunch of Vanilla Creames, Cherry Limeades and Tangerine Orange Creams (I found a really great deal) and we had some fun with them. That plus trying to figure out the storyline/characters of our book apparently made us loopy by the end of the night.

But life is great with a group of people like these!





Next on the agenda . . . . murder mystery game. Now we're just trying to figure out who exactly plays which character and we're bringing in a few other friends to play along.

Not a fan of DST

Okay, whoever decided that it was good to switch over DST to an even earlier date needs to be slapped. I'm not a fan of the switching of times. I really liked the idea of going to school when there was some light out I just wasn't looking forward to the fact I've got to go to school in the dark once again. There are times it gets depressing. I go to school in the dark and I leave when it's dark. It was getting better with the light, now it's back to what it was.
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And I've lost an hour of sleep.

War over signs?

I received this link in my e-mail and I've just read over all the articles regarding the war over signs. Yep, those signs like EXIT, Bathroom, Train, Escalator . . . can you believe the world has an issue with how the the US has it's exit signs? Take a look. I've linked to original article. They have 6 parts, with the 6th one being released tomorrow.

The War Over Signs

"Responsible me?"

A line from one of my favorite John Wayne movies "Rio Bravo". Dean Martin, John Wayne, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickson, Walter Brennan. Plus some fun moments and great lines.

Anyway, I was told the other day that I am one of the most responsible people this person had ever met. When I gave a quizzical look, this person continued to say that he's never met anyone who can get things done as quickly and "effortlessly" as I can. Apparently the quizzical look stayed on my face because he said that I don't stress out, I fight for what is right come hell or high water. I could just say Okay . . . . and nod my head.

Yes, I do fight for what I believe in and for what is right and for change . . . apparently come hell or high water. I'd rather take the high water out of the equation. I don't need a flooded basement. But my opinions and my thoughts and actions have gotten me into trouble before. I'm not too focused on what others are doing, only what will ultimately affect me and my way of doing things. Yes, that sounds selfish and to a point it is. I can only control me and my actions, so I'll do what ultimately is good for me.

Case in point: I have an issue with a few people in this group that I participate in. I know that I cannot change the way that they do things, so I will change the way that I do things. I do not associate with them outside of what I have to. I am diplomatic when speaking to them and if I can avoid seeing and talking to them at all, then I will. I have said my piece to them and if they take what I've said to heart, maybe they'll change, if not and they take it as an attack, then that is their problem and I'm not going to dwell over it.

I don't know if that is responsibility or if that is just the way I was raised and it is part of my character. Either way, that is what resonates when I was talking with that first guy.


But other than that, life is just moving along. I don't know how I got wrangled into doing it but apparently I'm working with the track team, specifically for high jump. Yep. Yesterday was the first practice meet they've had (with a starter and everything) so it was time to dust off the cobwebs. There are a few high jumpers who have potential, but none of the girls are jumping more than 4'6" right now and the guys have a huge gap between the lowest which is 5' and the highest which is 6'2". I think that with time and work ethic they'll do pretty well this year. I don't know how well they'll do at the state meet later this year because they'll be jumping against some of my mom's jumpers and I know her jumpers are in the high 6' range right now and the season just barely started.

Jakob is in The Three Musketeers at the Hale in West Valley this season. He's playing a Guardsman plus a few other small character roles. I'm happy that he got more than just a guardsman. It makes all those trips up there for rehearsal a bit more worth it. I'm going to see if I can go to one of the rehearsals and take some pictures. I don't know if they'll let me, but we'll see. Jakob said he likes the costumes he has, however he has to hold back with what he really wants to say. He's done a lot of research about the musketeers and the time period and he doesn't exactly agree with some of the stylized choices, but it seems that he's enjoying his time with everything. He comes home really late and really tired, so we haven't been doing anything together for a while.

Sadie and Jimmy are being their normal trouble-making selves. They love jumping up on the archway that we have in the room and peering down at us and lately they've taken to scratching the chair seats. I'm really going to have to think about getting them front declawed and soon. Yes, I've got scratching posts set up everything, but they rarely use it. And Sadie gave me a scare the other day. I was sewing and she had jumped up on the table to watch. She's done this before. She just sits up and watches the fabric or the string. But this time she got really close to the machine and stuck her paw on the front of the fabric right near the foot of the machine. Wow, I don't think I've ever had that quick of reflexes before in stopping the machine. She just looked at me and gave a little "preow" then tried to headbutt me like "what? I didn't do anything". I think I may have to start closing the door when I'm sewing.