Moving right along. . . .

That phrase always makes me think of the Muppet Movie; and that makes me smile. Muppets are my go to movies when I just need something fun playing in the background....that or musicals or Fraggle Rock. (Yes, I know, I'm strange).

Anyway, life has just been chugging along. J hasn't been in any shows so it's been nice having him at home, but strange at the same time. I know that sounds weird, but it is strange for me to have him at home in the evening. We can actually get things done, but don't. I mean, we both work on stuff but nothing really seems to come of it.

Our master bedroom is still a disaster due to the pipe burst. While we fixed the pipe, we haven't put the wall back together, therefore our room is still in pieces. Procrastination I know, but now that football season is over with, maybe we'll be home on the weekends to get it put together.

Talking about football, I'm glad that is over. Not that I mind the first few games since it's warm, I just have an issue with being outside in the cold. Never liked it, but I did get some fun this season (when I wasn't sick--which happened more often than not this season)

J and I usually do a light's parade with the Star Wars Costume groups yearly and it is usually freezing! This year, luckily, it was great weather and I was able to convince a couple of my friends to come up with me. I wish I could have taken more people, but they wouldn't fit in my vehicle! It was an easy parade, good weather, not too many horses in front of us, and great car conversation (seriously, almost the entire drive up was talking about dinosaurs and movies with dinosaurs).

They had to. I thought it was funny =)

Holidays are the hardest time for me. It seems that everyone expects things from you and doesn't understand when I say that we've got something else to do, or "thanks but no thanks". There are times that I'd rather be at home with just a few close friends than at a party with people I don't know. I'd much rather host and know that the food I cook I can eat rather than be somewhere and get asked multiple times why I'm not eating and people not believing me when I say I can't due to food allergies. I actually had one person ask once "are you sure you're not anorexic?" I replied with a yes, and I'd rather not end up sick and in the hospital because of food, so back off. Yeah, that didn't end well at all.

Oh well. Hope everyone's holiday will be great! While I tend to be camera shy, and would much rather take picture of J, he's getting in the habit of taking a few pictures, so maybe there will be more pictures of me. We'll see.

Life, the Universe, and a cookie

You ever feel like you're stuck in a rut and can't really get out? That seems to be me the past couple months.

After that disaster downstairs, we were able to fix it with the help of my father, some FiberFix resin strips, and gorilla tape. Yes, not the most elegant fix and certainly not the fix that the plumber wanted to charge for ($1200?! no way!), but it's holding. No, the wall isn't back up yet so I don't exactly have my master bedroom back, but it's making due.

J decided to go for his Trifecta in the Spartan Races this year and completed them a couple of weeks ago. A Trifecta is when you do all three levels of their races within 1 year's time; a Sprint (up to 5 miles with obstacles), a Super (up to 8 miles with obstacles), and a Beast (12+ miles with obstacles). You don't have to do them in any particular order, just within the calendar year. I'm proud of him for doing this! He's much braver than I am considering I don't go anywhere near water if I can help it.

We went up to Boise Idaho a few weeks ago for a couple of things. First, we had a film shoot that when we arrived, was postponed. Luckily we had something else we were up there for otherwise I would have been rather miffed that we drove all that way for nothing. It was Boise's first Comic Con. It was small and different. I guess I'm just used to all the huge cons that we've participated in that a small con was missing something for me. Easy and relaxed, we were able to make it to some of the panels as well. We also got to meet and chat with a few of the celebrities that were there. There wasn't a lot of attendance, so the celebrities were able to go out and talk with people (well, some of them did) and it was hilarious to see how many of them ran up to us in costume and wanted to take a picture with us! There was $1200 raised for Make*A*Wish Idaho and the lady started crying when we handed over the money. Apparently it's about half a wish up there.

This is Mark Dodson. The voice of Salicious Crumb, one of my favorite characters (and one that I want to get a puppet of so I can carry him around while in Slave Leia). He actually friended me on Facebook after we got home! He was super nice and yes, I fangirled a little when he did the Salicious laugh for me.

Jakob was able to be part of the Star Wars vs. Star Trek panel. They were amazed at how many people showed up and how it actually was a good experience. There wasn't too much bashing of one side or another, and the discussion was apparently well received.

Another one of the celebrities that came over to us and asked for our picture. That is Felix Sila. He was an Ewok and knew exactly who we were and what we were doing. He is so nice! and yes, that short. He stayed at the same hotel we were at and we saw him at breakfast a couple of times.

Halloween has come and gone. I didn't dress (don't judge!), but J certainly did! He wanted to try out his Scotsman gettup. He and Adam look smashing, don't they? We hung out with some good friends that night instead of giving out candy. The fact that our porch light was off didn't stop kids from running up the stairs, ringing the doorbell or kicking the door, and screaming for candy! Yeesh! It doesn't matter that lights inside were on, the porch light is--and always will be--the cue. I wish people taught their kids that instead of just going from door to door. I even had a sign there "No Candy", but it was removed by one of the kids because when J and I left later that evening, it wasn't around anymore.

My older brother was in town for a couple days and although I ended up getting vertigo the night he could actually do something, I did get to see him as an assistant coach to St. Mary's Woman's Volleyball team the next night.

I've also been cooking a lot lately. It's strange. I go through these swings of "Yes! lets cook!" to "no way do I want to step into the kitchen right now". Yesterday, I guess was one of the good days. On the menu: homemade bread, scratch made gnocchi soup, brown rice, slow cooker pulled chicken in a vinegar, soy sauce, and brown sugar glaze, scratch made cinnamon rolls, and scratch made twix chocolate cookies. Lets just say that much of the cookie dough didn't make it to the oven. :)

When disasters strike. . .

. . .they strike hard.

Disaster One:
J and I came home from an evening out to discover that our curtain in our bedroom had pulled completely away from the wall. Like, pulled through it and was laying on the floor. We thought that was odd and took a look at the wall. It was mushy. Like put-your-finger-easily-though-the-drywall mushy. We called my dad (because who else would I call at that point with my mom in Spain) and he came over and helped us rip away the crumbling drywall and behind it was mold. Gross, stinky, mold. Automatically went on the hepa filter and masks, and we continued to pull stuff away. The drain pipe that leads from our kitchen has a crack in one of the elbow joints and you could see the sediments that had been building up there. So we called our home insurance and asked for someone to come over and take a look, which they sent someone on Monday. He is a mold and restoration expert and said it wasn't as bad as what it looks like (which is pretty gross) and that we just need to get the pipe fixed first. He was actually really nice and told us exactly what we needed to do, what products to get, and how to use them. That almost never happens, especially coming from someone who's job it is to do this kind of work.

So we've got a plumber coming today to fix the pipe (so we can use our kitchen again). Cleaning all the mold, sealing the wood, and putting the drywall up will move slowly because we want to do it ourselves (with the help of my dad of course). I don't believe J has ever put up drywall before, so it'll be a first for him. I'm not too worried about painting it to match the wall considering we are going to put up cabinets across the board there. I'm a little concerned about putting up cabinets attached to the wall with the pipe right there. What is something like this happens again? I'm hoping it won't, but you never know. Maybe I'm just better off putting something like an dressing closet there bolted to the wall instead of cabinets.

Just a look at the pipe and all the loveliness that goes along with it.

Disaster Two:
Unbeknownst to us, the school district I work for was phished. Yep, some older person at the district office who had a TON of sensitive information on their computer, answered one of those emails and EVEYRONE in the district had their information stolen. Yep. NOT HAPPY! And to top it all off, they didn't tell us until Monday. Yep. MONDAY! 3 weeks after the fact. :(

I haven't noticed anything yet, and I'm putting a credit freeze up. It also effects all our family members who had information stored on that computer. Who in their right mind keeps sensitive data like that in an UNSECURED Excel file?!?! Dumb move. And to top it all off, the district is telling everyone to keep quiet about it, not to talk to the media. Like HELL I WON'T! If someone asks me about it, I'll comment. It is within my rights to talk to anyone about it I want.

Disaster Three:
We experienced our first light frost last night, so all the remaining tomatoes on the plants are now mush. :( Sad.


But there is one little bit of good news: We finally removed that old clunky over the stove microwave and replaced it with a lovely hood. Opens up the stove so much more. I love it! Now to just figure out what kind of back-splash I want to put up. =)

Weekend

I am sick. After this past weekend, it always happens.

J and I went to Salt Lake Comic Con, and every time we finish with this event, I am sick. I guess cramming 120,000 into a small space with people not taking showers or even looking at personal hygiene, that's what'll happen.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it. . . .mostly. The people who all they want to do is to complain and moan and bitch the entire time that what we are displaying isn't for sale ("why are you displaying it if it isn't for sale?" "that's dumb you aren't selling because I want that". etc) or that what we do is for charity. I actually had a lady come up to us and say "Wait, so you don't get paid for anything you do? What a waste of time." I actually had to restrain myself from replying "and you're a waste of space and air.". Yeah, lets just say that I wasn't in the best mood when Saturday rolled around. After a week of catching crap both at my teaching job and at the convention, I had it.

We ended up raising $1,007.68 for Make*A*Wish Utah, which was fantastic. That means that this year alone, we've helped raise a little over $2500 for Make*A*Wish Utah. That is about the average price of a wish. That is worth all the sniffles that I'm dealing with right now.

Taking down the Weta Workshop booth. Apparently at other conventions they don't allow the vendors to help each other do this; only here. And we are happy to help. It is long and tiring work, but it gets it done faster for them and we get to play with the merchandise and hang out with them all.

Daniel Faulkner is a designer for Weta Workshops and last year the people who came up to the convention didn't give him his patch, so we presented him with another patch and an pin.

With the Weta Workshops crew at midnight after the first half of taking items down. It may not look like much has been done, but a lot has.

One of the few pictures that J and I got together. So tired and by the look on J's face, he's going crazy too.

J wanted to be covered in the MAW stars that we collected and here, some of the base members decided that he was vulnerable enough to do something about it. 

Football season is starting again and that means that my weekend will be taken up with J pulling me along to the games. Well, it is more my mother needing my help at the tailgate she runs before the game, but then J pulls me into the stadium. I'd much rather be at home where if the game starts to get boring, I can pull out a book, or fabric, or just switch channels. I find it annoying to actually be in the stadium. J, on the other hand, loves it, so that means I do endure it from time to time just to be able to spend some time with him. The first home game is Thursday (which is a really weird time to have a game if you ask me), but that is what it is.

I've been trying to figure out what I need to do in life in order to make things happen for me. Yeah, this weekend really summed it up. I don't know if I want to continue to do what I'm doing for the next 20+ years. I hate it. I really do. I dread getting up and going to work. I dread being there all day, around those brats (and lets face it, 95% of them are just that this year), and the other faculty and staff aren't any better. I think that if you work in a school for too long, you start to act just like the students you teach. Not something I want to do. I'm thinking of branching out with my Master's degree, but again, I don't want to spend that much money on something that is just for making money (because that is all I'm doing right now is going through the motions to make the paycheck at the end of the month).

J said something rather strange the other day. He's been in shows almost non-stop for almost 2 years and he doesn't have anything planning right now in the way of a show for the rest of the year. He said that he is looking forward to the "steadiness" or "monotony" of normal life. Something a little more scheduled I think is what he said. I'm not sure what he means by that, because I can tell that he'll go stir crazy pretty soon. That's just his personality.

But I guess time will tell and we'll see where things go.

J's latest show

J has been cast in Les Miserables in Payson, so it's been an interesting month.

Originally he auditioned for Thenardier, that is the one roll he would love to play in show, but didn't get cast as it. He did get cast as core ensemble and ended up getting a few other "featured" roles. He seems to be enjoying the experience since he hasn't done this show before--and now that it is back on Broadway there is the possibility that they won't have it available for theatres to do anymore. I haven't seen it yet (should see it some time this week) but from the pictures and what I've heard, they are doing a good job.

J is center back in the blue vest. We had to search high and low for those grey pants in the correct style. It drives me nuts when pants are just overlooked and they end up being the wrong style for the timeframe. His aren't. )

J as the Pimp during Lovely Ladies. He told me about this character but I didn't know what he looked like until now.

This is one of the creepiest roles I think he's done so far. Just take a look at how slimy he looks in this photo. That is my raven cane he's using, but this picture just creeps me out. When I asked him where in the song is this, he proceeded to act out the part for me. . .using me as the other lady. Yeah, creepy!!

He comes home from the show so late that he spends the week exhausted. Luckily it is a very short run (one week) so his schedule should get back to normal soon; then it's off to his next adventure. . . 2 obstacle courses in 1 weekend in October.

Start of another school year

This school year I'm not going to talk too much on this blog about my teaching; that'll all go to my teaching blog (you can find the link on the right of the screen for it if you're interested). I'm going to try and make sure that it is only stuff about other things gets on here.

But August has seemed to just roll by. I was thinking the other day that I had time to try and get things done and just enjoy what was left of the summer, but that didn't happen. I spent most of the time laying on the couch (which we got a new one! I'll post pictures soon) because I didn't feel like getting out of the house. I had a few meetings, but that I all that I left for. Yeah, I became very much a home body. Not that I minded that one bit and I totally wish I could continue doing that, it made it really hard to get up and get moving again last Thursday.

I didn't meet my goal this summer of a new costume a week, but I did get 3 made in the beginning. Maybe I'll be able to finish a couple more before the year is out, we'll see.

J is in Les Miserables and that has taken up most (almost all if we're truthful) of his time the past couple months. I'm happy that it is only a week run and I don't think he has any plans to do another show coming after that. Originally he did, but he is going to try and go for his Trifecta in the Spartan races, and he has two in October in California so that would get in the way.  I'll see if I can download any of the pictures from his Spartan Beast race.

But other than that, life has just been rolling along. Trying to figure out exactly what I would like my future to hold is proving to be difficult. There are times I don't like being a grownup. Oh well.

Summer Rollin' Along

Okay, so apparently I did something really wrong and deleted all the pictures from my blog. Yep. All of them. Gone. Don't know how I did it, but it happened. &*$&#  (if anyone knows how to get them back, I'll be most appreciative!) So bear with me while I try to recover a few things if I can. I'll try but I think a few of them may be gone gone.

Anyway, summer is moving along. Things are both winding up and down at the same time. Yeah, weird but such is my life.

FolkFest is coming up again at the end of the month and I am involved again. It is a way for me to dance, but sometimes I wonder if it is really worth it all. I'm really not all that important and I'm sure there are better dancers than I am who would like a spot. And to be honest, I sometimes think that the artistic director only puts me in because she feels sorry for me in one way or another. I don't know. I'm probably being hard on myself again (seems to be my lot in life).

Early in July, Jakob and I were able to go to the first FantasyCon in Salt Lake. It was . . . interesting. We went as part of our charity group to raise funds for Make*A*Wish (final tally was $750; not bad). There was a great start to it though:

These are some of the actors that played the Dwarves in the Hobbit movies. They were there as guests of the convention, but the convention did a Dream Night. It was a "preview" night for the con specifically for Children's Charities. Jakob and Adam did a lightsaber demo show and these guys stopped by and watched the end. They Jakob handed over his lightsaber to Graham McTavish and they politely posed for a picture. I think they had fun.

Jakob was able to take an afternoon away from the booth and wander around in his costumes (outside of Star Wars). I was planning on going around with him, but chickened out at the last minute; plus if I would have left, no one would have been around to run the booth. Jakob did get a few compliments on his costume. Rather proud of him since he's the one that did the armor from scratch.


Recently though, I was asked to be part of a small ensemble for the Days of '47 Pops Concert with a singer named Clive Romney. I'm not familiar with the name, but he was a really nice guy and his little band was fun as well. They kept us entertained and being dancers, we always like to run though everything before stage and we would move over to the side. The band members would follow us and tap out the beat and sing the versus for us, without us asking. It was fun! Although, the song got stuck in our head really easily (diggin' in the dirt). Clive really did like having us around, and when he asked if we would like to do more shows this summer/fall, we said yes! And we may be choreographing other dances to their songs.

We got to perform in Abravanel Hall. I haven't been there since I was in elementary school and sang there (and I still have the t-shirt and wear it). It was nice to be back in a real performance hall again.

We'll just have to figure out how FolkFest actually runs. I'm hoping that my little depressed low isn't going to get any worse.

Comfortable out the window

So glad summer has started. That last school year almost killed me. I'm serious. I got sick multiple times, and even on the end of year evaluation the vice principal said that my stress level seemed very high this past year. My goal was to not go back to my classroom until August, but that was voided when I was told that I needed to show up today because a "newer" set of computers were coming in to replace my older ones. Yes they are faster, but it took J and I 3 hours to move everything out, clean what my students didn't clean, then move the new computers in. And no, we didn't hook anything up. I'll leave that to the "tech" that was supposed to show up to help us and didn't.

Arg, okay off that train of thought.

I'm enjoying everything so far on this break and I'm trying a few things that I'm not very comfortable with. One problem that I've been having lately is my anxiety is getting worse and worse. I'm having more panic attacks than I've ever had and for things that I've never had attacks over before. Something as simple as going to the mailbox can put me into a panic attack and I've done that how many times before? Yeah, weird. But something that I'm not too comfortable with is being in front of any camera. So, I have to organize photoshoots, leave my camera at home, then bring costumes. And then it takes 3 people to convince me to get into a costume and most of that time, I end up hiding somewhere else.

Here are a few moments caught on camera. J looks much better in front of the camera than I do, but there are few of me mixed in:

Photo by DragonWing Photography. Yes, I hand-dyed that fabric and it was a pain in the &^# to get everything right. . . and it still isn't right.

See? Jakob is amazing in front of the camera. That is his craft. I always look. . . .awkward. But apparently I need to be more comfortable in front of camera so I keep trying.

I was able to costume a few people, so hopefully I will post things soon on that blog (and I've got a Facebook Page for Black Rose Costume Design too.)

I also hate showing pictures of what my house actually looks like inside. I feel like it is never presentable to other people, so when Z (my younger brother) said that he would help me install some cabinets that had been sitting in our garage since we moved in 5 years ago, I wanted to show a before/after picture.

Yes, my shoes used to be strewn all over that corner of the room and if you bumped those containers just right, the entire tower of boxes would drop. So, I now have some nice espresso colored cabinets installed in that corner and my shoes fit nicely into them. Three of the cabinets have my shoes. . . Jakob has one shelf. The other two have our linens and towels which used to be stored upstairs away from our room and made it a pain if we needed anything. Nice to see everything together. Now, to figure out the rest of that room; I've got a plan but lets see if actually all works. Next actually on the tackle list is the guest bathroom on the main floor. I think people are getting sick of the greenscreen green that the bathroom actually is. I've got a plan and yes, we'll probably be down to one bathroom while we get it done, but it needs to happen.

Our summer has just started, so we'll see what goes on.

Personality traits

Many people think that because I am a dancer and I've been on the stage for so many years doing things along those lines, that I'm just this big, outgoing person with a huge personality. That wouldn't be farther from the truth. I have had so many labels put upon me with everything that people just don't understand why I tend to pull away from situations or why I get embarrassed easily. Why I am very hesitant to meet and try new things/experiences. 

I've known what I am for a very long time but it has been difficult to communicate that to people in a way that they get it . . . until a friend sent me this graphic:

Explains how I feel about things and in "people" friendly language.

Take a look. No, I'm not really trying to put another label on me or on other people, but everything falls pretty easily into place.

So far recap

So, not much has happened since my last post. Life continues on it's normal trend and both J and I kind of fell into a routine of things.

J's show finished in March (yay!!) and believe me, I was a happy camper. With having such a small role, he certainly had a lot of rehearsals that he had to be at. We looked at it, and it seems that J has been in shows for almost a year straight. . .no breaks.

J's sister and niece came into town one weekend and it was fun to spend the little bit of time with them that we did.

Me? Well, I've been surviving. I'm happy that school is almost over because after this year, I need a 2 month "break"--not that I'm really going to have much of a break considering I've still got conferences that I need to go to; but at least I'll not be dealing with students and their parents. But judging by the 7th graders at the school this year, I'm in trouble for next year.

As for April, well, lets just say that it is going on with a Bang.
We start with a live sketch event. I've never done something like this before and believe me, I was shaking like crazy the entire time! Standing still for 20 minutes while people try to sketch you is hard!

Small group, and they had us waiting FOREVER but I think it turned out well. And I got to try out my new corset for the costume. I also now know exactly how much weight I've gained by how my skirt doesn't zip up very easily anymore.

Last weekend was FanX. We survived FanX. . .which is the April version of Salt Lake Comic Con. Yes, we did a booth again. Yep, and two panels (one of which I got the entire room to start crying--go me!). I don't know how in the world I survive two of these a year, but J has plans for 3 of them. This one, another one in June and yet a third one in September. . . . yeesh!

But at this con, J got to meet and be trained by one of his idols: Nick Gillard. He's a stuntman, swords master, and from what he tells me, an all around good guy. Yeah, J did a little fan boying at this event but he was so excited from everything behind it. He also got to "escort" him on stage during his panel.

Photo by b. Gibson.  This is the panel that I made everyone (including myself) cry. We talk about what it is we do and why we do it and I think we touched a few people in the process.

Photo by B. Gibson

At the end of Saturday. I'm so tired that I can't believe I actually managed a descent smile.The man in the middle there with the suit jacket is Dan Farr. He is the one that is responsible for bringing all this to Utah and making it happen.

Jakob wanted a "command" photo. We're missing 2 members of command, but pretty much it's CO, XO, PR and PR. And yes, that is a "replica" of the Star Trek: The Next Generation bridge.

Photo with Mr. Gillard. We gave him a patch and pin from Rogue Base. Making him an honorary member.

Heidi and Jakob with Sir Patrick Stewart. He was the "closing speaker" for the con. They didn't have enough time to actually talk to him but he gave J a look when he walked in wearing his Jedi costume. He actually wanted to thank him for all the work he's done for theatre but they were so behind and didn't start on time for any of the photos that they didn't get a chance.

J and the rest of the Rogue Base jedi walking Nick Gillard up on stage before his panel.

This was the Meet the Rebel Legion panel where we had the most problems with technology--and while our tech guy was nice, I don't think he was very knowledgeable.

As you can see, I tried to stay away from the pictures as much as I could. I didn't dress while I was there and I'm happy I didn't. I don't think I could have done everything that I did while in costume.

I'm happy that is done and over with though. Outdoor track season finals start this weekend and it gets hectic for the next couple weeks.