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.