The summer of all the things

Yes, I know, perfect grammar with that title, but I can't think of anything else that would work. We've really had a hodgepodge of a summer so far.

Since our last episode I have officially finished and graduated with my Master's degree. It is SOOOOO nice to not have to come home and do homework on the evenings and weekends. I need to savour that for a while before I start into a Doctoral program. Yes, I do have plans to finish off my doctoral degree because I am just crazy that way. Don't know how long it'll take me, but it is in the works. I need to be able to get out of the public secondary education system somehow.

J and I have done a few more events, but we finished Salt Lake Comic Con 2016 last week. So glad that is over with. This year they decided to combine all the Star Wars groups into one large group and while the booth looked amazing, there were issues with it all that need to be addressed for next time. I didn't get too many pictures because I really wasn't there all that often. I'm hoping to find somethings soon that has to do with the panel I spoke on and what little I did with the booth. J did a lot since he has an easier time getting time off for the event.

However, J didn't have it all that easy considering he is currently in a show that plays nightly. We were hoping that it would be double cast so he would just have his double do that weekends' shows, but the entire show ended up being single cast so he had to go back every evening to make it. He is looking forward to this all being done at the end of September. I kind of am too. I'm used to being on my own with the shows that J has to do but this one has been a bit harder.

I've also had a bit of a health scare the past month. Starting after Springville Folk Fest, I started having issues with shortness of breath and dizziness. It still hasn't been resolved so I am still going through all sorts of tests and x-rays and the like to figure it out. What is funny about it all is the fact that my O2 saturation levels are between 97-99%, yet I am having a hard time breathing. After a couple of x-rays, there is no damage to my rib cage and no lung damage that they can see. Bronchial tubes are clear, as well as no blood clots. So strange. Next week we start with an echocardiogram and some stress tests to see if there is anything with the heart, then another full blood work-up. I'm getting sick and tired of being poked and prodded and having to go to doctor's offices where most of the time is spent waiting. I swear I am going to scream if I am kept waiting in a room for a half hour again.  But I really want to figure it all out. We've changed the diet up as well to increase iron and B12 complex in case of anemia. The shortness of breath has lightened (now it's every 5-10 breaths instead of every one), but it is still there. I exercise like normal and didn't notice anything worse than the fact that I am a little out of shape.

But things continue to move forward. Costumes need to be made (I've got a shoot later this month), Sadie and Jimmy are cute and annoying as ever, jewelry business start-up, and I am still teaching---hoping to remedy that soon enough.

Sadie decided that she wasn't going to bed one night and snuggled down into one of my shoe boxes.

The Masters of Dueling at the Ren Faire at Thanksgiving Point. J wasn't able to do any of the shows there because of his other show, but they still had time to get some goofy pictures taken.

Jimmy being helpful as always. He loves it when I pull out fabric. He goes straight for where I'm working and plops down.

This was the surprise waiting for me when I got home one day. Because the show is set in the 1940s, J had to lose the hair and beard. Yeah.....I can't wait until they come back.

Springville Folk Fest went this year rather stressfully. We had about a 12 hour rehearsal plus same-day show due to the 24th of July being that Monday and the show starting on Tuesday. These costumes look great on stage, and that is all that mattered (they don't look that great close up).

One picture from Comic Con. My mum came up for a couple of hours and went around with me. Her favorite character is still R2D2 and when she heard that these are all fan made, she is warming up to my idea of making one myself. I'm excited. Plus, my dad is interested as well. Something for him to do.