Today Darly & I went to an Art & Craft "festival"
We headed over pretty late so I parked a bit further from the "festival" than we had to so I could get us a spot in the shade. It was kinda hot out but not too unbearable...there were lots of bunnies to see on the way.
We get to the "festival" and start looking around. First off, well the "festival" is all contained in part of just one parking lot. Hummm not much of a festival in my book. We had a lot more art to look at when they did Parker Days two weeks ago. The first booth we come to is a food booth...no surprise there. There were 3 in a row and it is clear the organizers expected crowds to be a lot larger than there were. There was also a tented "stage" area for live music. (music should probably also be in quotes, but that's kinda mean. ;) )
There were several booths that contained items that were clearly NOT arts or crafts. I had to fight the urge to ask "did you make these?"... of course I know that they didn't make the books or toys as I have been to these distributor parties before. :p
We didn't see any art or craft that we needed or like very much. We probably walked a bit too fast but the walk to and from the "festival" took us longer. But it had bunnies, so that was cool!
We then headed to Walmart to get more yarn for me to make some crafts with.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Thursday, June 25, 2015
We're still alive!
Sorry for the dramatic title and I'm also sorry that there are no pictures. :( Once you hear the story you'll understand why.
Tuesday I went to the basement to search for some yarn so I had something to work on during Darly's activities...she had voice lessons AND rehearsal that day.
When I go to reach for my yarn what should I see?
In my basement?
A SNAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay breathe... it was just a small garden snake. about a food long and no bigger around than your thumb.
First question: HOW DID IT GET IN HERE???? no idea (still!)
Second question: HOW IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO GET IT OUT OF HERE????? especially since we had to leave for Darly's voice lesson.
Darly came down and we tried to get the snake, but it crawled under a cabinet before we could catch him and we had to leave...so we just had to hope that we could find him when we got back.
I grabbed some yarn and we left.
When we returned the snake was in a sunny spot near the window. GOOD! easy to find.
But it was in the set of wire cube shelves. BAD! easy for him to get away again. SIGH!
So I went to the garage and got some snake catching tools... leather work gloves (in case he bites!), a plastic child snow shovel (why do we still have this???) and a bucket to put him in.
I used several items from the basement to block the snake from escaping again...we also tried to get the snake to come out into the open...but the snake wasn't that dumb.
The snake went behind the wire shelves. sigh
So I moved the shelves and a bunch of other stuff. Luckily the floor where the snake ended up was very cold, so he wasn't in the mood to move very fast.
Eventually I was able to use... none of the snake catching equipment I had brought... I took a plastic shoe box and put it over the snake. Then I took a part from some scrapbooking storage thingy a friend gave us to scoop up the snake alike you do with a bug, glass & cardboard.
The snake...now dubbed Melvin was witness relocated (after many yells at Lilly to get out of my way) to the strawberry patch of my garden. He didn't seem all that upset by his move once he got there. But I haven't seen him since.
In other news it has been storming like crazy here (perhaps the reason Melvin sought shelter in our house?), lots of warnings of bad things, but so far just rain.
Tuesday I went to the basement to search for some yarn so I had something to work on during Darly's activities...she had voice lessons AND rehearsal that day.
When I go to reach for my yarn what should I see?
In my basement?
A SNAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay breathe... it was just a small garden snake. about a food long and no bigger around than your thumb.
First question: HOW DID IT GET IN HERE???? no idea (still!)
Second question: HOW IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO GET IT OUT OF HERE????? especially since we had to leave for Darly's voice lesson.
Darly came down and we tried to get the snake, but it crawled under a cabinet before we could catch him and we had to leave...so we just had to hope that we could find him when we got back.
I grabbed some yarn and we left.
When we returned the snake was in a sunny spot near the window. GOOD! easy to find.
But it was in the set of wire cube shelves. BAD! easy for him to get away again. SIGH!
So I went to the garage and got some snake catching tools... leather work gloves (in case he bites!), a plastic child snow shovel (why do we still have this???) and a bucket to put him in.
I used several items from the basement to block the snake from escaping again...we also tried to get the snake to come out into the open...but the snake wasn't that dumb.
The snake went behind the wire shelves. sigh
So I moved the shelves and a bunch of other stuff. Luckily the floor where the snake ended up was very cold, so he wasn't in the mood to move very fast.
Eventually I was able to use... none of the snake catching equipment I had brought... I took a plastic shoe box and put it over the snake. Then I took a part from some scrapbooking storage thingy a friend gave us to scoop up the snake alike you do with a bug, glass & cardboard.
The snake...now dubbed Melvin was witness relocated (after many yells at Lilly to get out of my way) to the strawberry patch of my garden. He didn't seem all that upset by his move once he got there. But I haven't seen him since.
In other news it has been storming like crazy here (perhaps the reason Melvin sought shelter in our house?), lots of warnings of bad things, but so far just rain.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Who can it be now?
Yesterday at Church I overheard one of the other women mentioning that she didn't finish a project because she was interrupted by a phone call. This got me thinking about our culture...
I remember as a kid that every time the phone would ring it would 99% of the time be for you and only some times be the wrong number. It would also be a call that was important to you and NOT someone on the other end trying to sell you anything or take your money.
My how things have changed.
I remember as a teenager that the calls became more frequent because sales calls started up. My mom hated these calls so much that she made me become her answering service. I would have to answer the call and let her know who and why the caller was on the line...of course if it was a sales call I would simply tell them that my mother wasn't available and hang up.
Sales calls started getting pushier back then as businesses hired folks to do nothing but call and sell their products and the lively hood of these poor folks depended on them selling. So sales folk started asking when my mother would be available to take the call. Back then saying the truth (NEVER!) was considered rude so I had to invent some lie to get them off the phone.
Eventually we got an answering machine and screened our calls. They still called, but we didn't have to answer.
When it was just mom & me living together I put the outgoing message on our machine the chorus to a BeeGee's song "I've just gotta get a message to you... hold on...hold on..." Unfortunately that lasted all of a week because my mom's friends complained that they didn't know who they were calling. I thought it was quite clever and her friends should have been smart enough to know that only one person that they are calling would have such a message...the HUGE BeeGee's fan. oh well
Years later we got caller ID and this was wonderful because our friends no longer had to wait through the answering machine to get though.
But those pushy businesses and scammers started getting sneaky and changing their caller ID... and then everyone and their brother got a cell phone and caller ID went out the window. So back to letting the answering machine do the screening.
My husband got upset with me for "being rude" and not answering calls from numbers I didn't know. But when he would answer and try to get rid of the caller he quickly picked up on how difficult it was getting to get them to understand the word NO. He doesn't answer as much anymore. The last call he picked up they asked for me and it turned out to be a political survey. I hung up and rolled my eyes at him.
It is clear to me that for now, the callers are relying on folks still considering the phone call to be important to them.
However, that isn't happening at my house. If you are lucky enough to have my phone number, expect that I won't answer it.
Sorry, not sorry.
I remember as a kid that every time the phone would ring it would 99% of the time be for you and only some times be the wrong number. It would also be a call that was important to you and NOT someone on the other end trying to sell you anything or take your money.
My how things have changed.
I remember as a teenager that the calls became more frequent because sales calls started up. My mom hated these calls so much that she made me become her answering service. I would have to answer the call and let her know who and why the caller was on the line...of course if it was a sales call I would simply tell them that my mother wasn't available and hang up.
Sales calls started getting pushier back then as businesses hired folks to do nothing but call and sell their products and the lively hood of these poor folks depended on them selling. So sales folk started asking when my mother would be available to take the call. Back then saying the truth (NEVER!) was considered rude so I had to invent some lie to get them off the phone.
Eventually we got an answering machine and screened our calls. They still called, but we didn't have to answer.
When it was just mom & me living together I put the outgoing message on our machine the chorus to a BeeGee's song "I've just gotta get a message to you... hold on...hold on..." Unfortunately that lasted all of a week because my mom's friends complained that they didn't know who they were calling. I thought it was quite clever and her friends should have been smart enough to know that only one person that they are calling would have such a message...the HUGE BeeGee's fan. oh well
Years later we got caller ID and this was wonderful because our friends no longer had to wait through the answering machine to get though.
But those pushy businesses and scammers started getting sneaky and changing their caller ID... and then everyone and their brother got a cell phone and caller ID went out the window. So back to letting the answering machine do the screening.
My husband got upset with me for "being rude" and not answering calls from numbers I didn't know. But when he would answer and try to get rid of the caller he quickly picked up on how difficult it was getting to get them to understand the word NO. He doesn't answer as much anymore. The last call he picked up they asked for me and it turned out to be a political survey. I hung up and rolled my eyes at him.
It is clear to me that for now, the callers are relying on folks still considering the phone call to be important to them.
However, that isn't happening at my house. If you are lucky enough to have my phone number, expect that I won't answer it.
Sorry, not sorry.
BUSTED!!! ???
Friday I received a call from School Public (this is what my caller ID said). I didn't answer this call because:
1) I don't answer the phone for any number that I don't recognize...so for my friends using cell phones, start to leave a message and I'll pick up, because YES, I'm LURKING! The phone is right in front of me!
2) I don't have any child in public schools so there shouldn't be any reason for them to be calling me!
3) In the past when I HAVE been called by the public schools it has been the elementary school that's just across the way and not related to me at all (I didn't answer that one either!)
Back to this call...it goes to the answering machine and roughly it says this is Mrs Blahblah calling because my child "Jason" (I don't remember the exact name, but it was a boy's name) was absent from school and I needed to call them back about it.
Okay, you may have picked up on this... I don't have a boy child! and again, I don't have any child in the public school system. It is summer, so the missing child must be part of the summer school program. So I didn't call back.
But I did do some googling and found that the number was from a elementary school in the northern part of the next city over from me.
I figured that when they school didn't receive the call back that they were looking for that they would do some research on their own to find out why...like 1) checking that they dialed the correct number. 2) googling the number to see if it goes with the child.
apparently they didn't do any of that because today I got another call!
So I let it go to the machine to verify that it was the same school (stranger things have happened!) and picked up... I immediately said "You have the wrong number."
The gal on the phone said "what?"
I repeated that "you have the wrong number. I don't live in "your town", I live in "my town."
I could hear the dawning in her voice (that she had been duped) ... she thanked me for letting her know and we ended the call.
I imagine the scenario at the school... if the child is there today he is called in to explain himself...and if the child is not home some internet searching to find out all they can about him.
I'm guessing that this child gave the school the wrong number and ditched school. It is possible that the child had tried to give the school the number that is close to mine that now belongs to a local Subway shop, but either way, the number isn't the one attached to his parent.
I would "love" to know the rest of this story...sort of. Actually, no, don't bother me.
1) I don't answer the phone for any number that I don't recognize...so for my friends using cell phones, start to leave a message and I'll pick up, because YES, I'm LURKING! The phone is right in front of me!
2) I don't have any child in public schools so there shouldn't be any reason for them to be calling me!
3) In the past when I HAVE been called by the public schools it has been the elementary school that's just across the way and not related to me at all (I didn't answer that one either!)
Back to this call...it goes to the answering machine and roughly it says this is Mrs Blahblah calling because my child "Jason" (I don't remember the exact name, but it was a boy's name) was absent from school and I needed to call them back about it.
Okay, you may have picked up on this... I don't have a boy child! and again, I don't have any child in the public school system. It is summer, so the missing child must be part of the summer school program. So I didn't call back.
But I did do some googling and found that the number was from a elementary school in the northern part of the next city over from me.
I figured that when they school didn't receive the call back that they were looking for that they would do some research on their own to find out why...like 1) checking that they dialed the correct number. 2) googling the number to see if it goes with the child.
apparently they didn't do any of that because today I got another call!
So I let it go to the machine to verify that it was the same school (stranger things have happened!) and picked up... I immediately said "You have the wrong number."
The gal on the phone said "what?"
I repeated that "you have the wrong number. I don't live in "your town", I live in "my town."
I could hear the dawning in her voice (that she had been duped) ... she thanked me for letting her know and we ended the call.
I imagine the scenario at the school... if the child is there today he is called in to explain himself...and if the child is not home some internet searching to find out all they can about him.
I'm guessing that this child gave the school the wrong number and ditched school. It is possible that the child had tried to give the school the number that is close to mine that now belongs to a local Subway shop, but either way, the number isn't the one attached to his parent.
I would "love" to know the rest of this story...sort of. Actually, no, don't bother me.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
A Wicked Good Time
We learned that the musical Wicked would be coming back to Denver last summer I think, and tickets went on sale sometime during the fall. Since it is such a popular show, I went ahead and bought tickets for Darly & I to see it. I gave the tickets to Darly as a Christmas present even though the show didn't actually get here until June 3rd. She was very thrilled and excited to finally see it.
Darly had started following the Wicked Facebook page and learned that there would be an event at a local mall with a costume display (that will still be there for most of this month until it moves onto the next tour stop) and some of the actors from the show would sing a few songs and sign autographs. We of course had no idea what actors would be there, but hey, it was free so we went.
That turned out to be a very good trip. The mall was running a promotion where several of the stores were offering discounts or free goodies and if we collected 5 stamps from participating stores we could enter a drawing for some Wicked merchandise and mall gift cards. sweet! Darly got a Wicked mini-make over at Sephoria.
The actors who showed up for the event turned out to be the understudy for Galinda and the stand-by for Elphaba. (we later learned what a stand-by is... it is an actor who is paid to be dressed and ready to go on stage during the show. So if the regular actor gets hurt or something she was ready to take her place... kind of a bummer most of the time, but the regular actors do take days off so she would get to perform then.) Galinda being a regular understudy could perform as an ensemble character(s) during the show. The girls offered us a really good show and were very sweet signing autographs and taking pictures...although we had brought a black framing mat and the one used a black sharpie to sign it...oops!
Since the mall is really close to a museum that had a Mythical Creatures exhibit going on, we went over there and saw that. Pretty cool, but we would have liked for there to be fewer people, better behaved children and more creatures. lol
Then last night we went to see Wicked! The show was very good. I think the only bummers about it were that our seats were too far off to the side so we couldn't see all of the back part of the stage, but could see backstage when they opened the side curtains! Kinda distracting to see the actors goofing off over there. Also the couple that had the seats in front of us really don't get the "be considerate of those around you" concept... the guy kept putting his arm around the girl and taking it down when his arm would tire...obstructing our view of the show. I really wanted to pop him in the head with my program.
After the show there was a Q & A with some actors...again, no idea what actors we were getting...and of course we got some very minor actors...well the one was pretty major. We got an ensemble/understudy for Elphaba - she was the one who explained what a stand by is to us. She differs from the stand by in that when she isn't Elphaba she CAN be in the ensemble. She told us that since the beginning of the tour she has actually only gotten to play Elphaba once.
There was a Swing - who is an actor who has rehearsed and is able to stand in for all the minor parts. This particular night she stood in for the mid-wife. She's also the understudy for Nessa Rose, but didn't play that part that evening.
We got to hear from Chistery - the lead flying monkey who can speak but is losing that ability thanks to the Wizard.
And finally and a little later one of the male ensemble came out. He didn't have a named part but we were told that he was the one who was lifting all the ensemble girls. LOL!
During the Q&A we were invited to a charity event next Monday where the actors will all be singing any of their favorite songs while auctioning off some cool stuff like a walk on part in the show. While we would have loved a shot at the walk-on, Darly has her first rehearsal for her show that night and I'm sure the director (her friend) would probably hurt her if she didn't show up for rehearsal. bummer
After the show and Q&A we ran into some of our friends. One Darly has been in a few shows with and the other we just met but she is in Fiddler also. Funny, R (in Fiddler) had told C (in other shows) that she was going to be acting with Darly, but since R didn't know Darly all that well C didn't realize she meant my daughter until we saw her. C exclaimed that she would definitely come see Fiddler now and we laughed that she didn't want to see it when it was just R. Ah well, good laughs. C was very sweet and even greeted me which I totally didn't expect as I'm just another mom, but then I also helped dress C in Peter Pan...I guess she remembered that.
Now Darly is still fast asleep, recovering from her adventure. I wish I could sleep. sigh
Darly had started following the Wicked Facebook page and learned that there would be an event at a local mall with a costume display (that will still be there for most of this month until it moves onto the next tour stop) and some of the actors from the show would sing a few songs and sign autographs. We of course had no idea what actors would be there, but hey, it was free so we went.
That turned out to be a very good trip. The mall was running a promotion where several of the stores were offering discounts or free goodies and if we collected 5 stamps from participating stores we could enter a drawing for some Wicked merchandise and mall gift cards. sweet! Darly got a Wicked mini-make over at Sephoria.
The actors who showed up for the event turned out to be the understudy for Galinda and the stand-by for Elphaba. (we later learned what a stand-by is... it is an actor who is paid to be dressed and ready to go on stage during the show. So if the regular actor gets hurt or something she was ready to take her place... kind of a bummer most of the time, but the regular actors do take days off so she would get to perform then.) Galinda being a regular understudy could perform as an ensemble character(s) during the show. The girls offered us a really good show and were very sweet signing autographs and taking pictures...although we had brought a black framing mat and the one used a black sharpie to sign it...oops!
Since the mall is really close to a museum that had a Mythical Creatures exhibit going on, we went over there and saw that. Pretty cool, but we would have liked for there to be fewer people, better behaved children and more creatures. lol
Then last night we went to see Wicked! The show was very good. I think the only bummers about it were that our seats were too far off to the side so we couldn't see all of the back part of the stage, but could see backstage when they opened the side curtains! Kinda distracting to see the actors goofing off over there. Also the couple that had the seats in front of us really don't get the "be considerate of those around you" concept... the guy kept putting his arm around the girl and taking it down when his arm would tire...obstructing our view of the show. I really wanted to pop him in the head with my program.
After the show there was a Q & A with some actors...again, no idea what actors we were getting...and of course we got some very minor actors...well the one was pretty major. We got an ensemble/understudy for Elphaba - she was the one who explained what a stand by is to us. She differs from the stand by in that when she isn't Elphaba she CAN be in the ensemble. She told us that since the beginning of the tour she has actually only gotten to play Elphaba once.
There was a Swing - who is an actor who has rehearsed and is able to stand in for all the minor parts. This particular night she stood in for the mid-wife. She's also the understudy for Nessa Rose, but didn't play that part that evening.
We got to hear from Chistery - the lead flying monkey who can speak but is losing that ability thanks to the Wizard.
And finally and a little later one of the male ensemble came out. He didn't have a named part but we were told that he was the one who was lifting all the ensemble girls. LOL!
During the Q&A we were invited to a charity event next Monday where the actors will all be singing any of their favorite songs while auctioning off some cool stuff like a walk on part in the show. While we would have loved a shot at the walk-on, Darly has her first rehearsal for her show that night and I'm sure the director (her friend) would probably hurt her if she didn't show up for rehearsal. bummer
After the show and Q&A we ran into some of our friends. One Darly has been in a few shows with and the other we just met but she is in Fiddler also. Funny, R (in Fiddler) had told C (in other shows) that she was going to be acting with Darly, but since R didn't know Darly all that well C didn't realize she meant my daughter until we saw her. C exclaimed that she would definitely come see Fiddler now and we laughed that she didn't want to see it when it was just R. Ah well, good laughs. C was very sweet and even greeted me which I totally didn't expect as I'm just another mom, but then I also helped dress C in Peter Pan...I guess she remembered that.
Now Darly is still fast asleep, recovering from her adventure. I wish I could sleep. sigh
Friday, June 05, 2015
Congratulations to my girl!
Last Friday (May 29th) Darly auditioned for Fiddler on the Roof... I should go back
So remember when we had that dilemma of auditioning for show A would mean we couldn't do shows B & C?
Well we ended up not auditioning for show A at all because in the end she didn't really want to do it because it would mess up her chances for B & C which she wanted to do more. There were also a lot of unknowns with show A as it was a new to the area theater group and they seemed to be promising a lot of things that just didn't seem possible. As it stands now show A is in rehearsals (to the best of my knowledge) and seems to be actually happening... but we're glad for them and us to not be a part of it.
Darly DID audition for show B but unfortunately she didn't not earn a part. That company seemed to cast the show with mostly adults except for a few friends who did get in. Darly is actually happy with that as while she wanted to break into another group she wasn't so thrilled with the particular show.
And show C has not had auditions yet.
In the mean time there was an audition announcement for a show that is on Darly's "bucket list." I signed her up to audition for it and she got all prepared to do that. But right before auditions she got sick...really sick. So we gave up her time slot. But that seemed to be divine intervention as she got a text from a friend...
the gist of the text... "You ARE auditioning for Fiddler aren't you?" Whoa! An offer she couldn't refuse! So Darly used her audition song that she was planning to use just two weeks before for the other show and recycled a monologue that she had used before.
And now Darly has been cast as Chava in the show! Even better is the guy cast as Fyedka (Chava's "love interest") is a really nice guy and Darly is thrilled to be working with him. It probably helps that he's also pretty easy on the eyes. ;) Don't worry, I don't foresee any off stage romance going on here.
And show C? That's by this same theater group. So now Darly's chances of getting into that show are even better.
btw: In case you're wondering why I'm being so "stealth" about the names of the shows and the theater companies is 1) If I list the shows, someone searching for that particular show might end up here needlessly and be annoyed with me. 2) If she isn't in the show, it doesn't matter that much.
So remember when we had that dilemma of auditioning for show A would mean we couldn't do shows B & C?
Well we ended up not auditioning for show A at all because in the end she didn't really want to do it because it would mess up her chances for B & C which she wanted to do more. There were also a lot of unknowns with show A as it was a new to the area theater group and they seemed to be promising a lot of things that just didn't seem possible. As it stands now show A is in rehearsals (to the best of my knowledge) and seems to be actually happening... but we're glad for them and us to not be a part of it.
Darly DID audition for show B but unfortunately she didn't not earn a part. That company seemed to cast the show with mostly adults except for a few friends who did get in. Darly is actually happy with that as while she wanted to break into another group she wasn't so thrilled with the particular show.
And show C has not had auditions yet.
In the mean time there was an audition announcement for a show that is on Darly's "bucket list." I signed her up to audition for it and she got all prepared to do that. But right before auditions she got sick...really sick. So we gave up her time slot. But that seemed to be divine intervention as she got a text from a friend...
the gist of the text... "You ARE auditioning for Fiddler aren't you?" Whoa! An offer she couldn't refuse! So Darly used her audition song that she was planning to use just two weeks before for the other show and recycled a monologue that she had used before.
And now Darly has been cast as Chava in the show! Even better is the guy cast as Fyedka (Chava's "love interest") is a really nice guy and Darly is thrilled to be working with him. It probably helps that he's also pretty easy on the eyes. ;) Don't worry, I don't foresee any off stage romance going on here.
And show C? That's by this same theater group. So now Darly's chances of getting into that show are even better.
btw: In case you're wondering why I'm being so "stealth" about the names of the shows and the theater companies is 1) If I list the shows, someone searching for that particular show might end up here needlessly and be annoyed with me. 2) If she isn't in the show, it doesn't matter that much.
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