Hello out there

Quite the catchy title there, eh? I'm not feeling very witty this morning, I guess. And this will not be a blog entry with any real focus. Just giving you fair warning in case you wish to move along to a more inspiring or thought-provoking site.

I got out this morning for my walk with Lauri. After working out in the basement on my treadmill and with my weights the last number of days it was nice to get out in the fresh air again and chat with my walking buddy. We talk about everything and nothing in particular. It makes the time speed by and I don't focus on how much longer until I am done - which is what I most certainly do when I'm walking by myself. When I'm on the treadmill the numbers flashing on the screen at each tenth of a mile keep me going for a while. It can be tough to push through a full hour, though, and I often want to give up after about 30 minutes. I barely get to the 45-minute mark before I declare myself done. Watching movies helps a bit but it's not the same.

This past Saturday, grandma and I took the girls to see a community theater production of "Beauty and the Beast" and it was amazing! I wish I could have taken some pictures to show you the incredible costumes that were (I assume) made by this local theater group. I was just thinking that it is possible that they rented some of the costumes - they were that good - but we do live in a very diverse community with lots of local talents so I would not be surprised at all to hear that they were made by the local costume designers. I know a few of the people involved in the production - both on stage and off - so I'm going to ask about that because I'm just curious. The group also did a great job with the casting for this production. The woman who played Belle has a beautiful voice and she looked adequately diminutive next to the 6'7" guy who played the Beast. When he finally removed his "beastly" attire I was shocked to see how tall he still was. I had assumed it was the costuming that made him appear so much taller than Belle! The other lesser parts were equally well cast and I was reminded once again how fortunate we are to live in a community filled with such talented people across the generations. There were kids in the production - most of whom I would guess have attended one or more of the local ballet/dance schools in the area - as well as high school students, college students from some of the 5 local colleges/university (quite a few of those actually - most of them studying theater or a related field), and of course adults of a wide age span. Everyone was fabulous and it was an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. Of course, it makes me want to get back to NY soon to see another Broadway show, but that will have to wait until later in the year - hopefully some time in April or May.

Today is a 'teacher work day' and both R and A have the day off from school. So far, they have been playing nicely together but there have already been a couple of skirmishes and I've had to threaten to "separate them" if the fighting continues. They loathe the thought of being separated, even when they are at each other and don't seem to be enjoying each others' company. Go figure. So, it's a threat that sometimes works to keep the peace. Sometimes I have to resort to actually separating them - and listen the resulting screeches of "not fair!" and "I hate you!" - but usually the threat is enough to get them through a rough patch. It's almost 9:30a and I still need to shower and dress but for now I'm just drinking my coffee and hanging out on the computer. This afternoon A has her gymnastics class and I've roped grandma into coming over to stay with R and E. Once I drop A off at gymnastics I'm going to use my kid-free time to get the grocery shopping done. You gotta multi-task when you have those kid-free moments, don't ya know?

I've been receiving some personal email through Classmates.com of late. Seems that there are some people out there who have mistaken me for someone really OLD who is coming up on her 20th high school reunion. Ha. It was not THAT long ago that I graduated from high school. Someone thinks their little gag is soooo funny. I mean, really. Was it really that long ago that we were wondering "Who Shot J.R.?", playing Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man at the arcade, learning the lyrics to "Karma Chameleon" and "Like a Virgin" on the radio, watching the latest Brat Pack movie, and dressing preppy in our pink and green ensembles with little alligators on the chests of our shirts (collars in the 'up' position, of course) and our jeans appropriately cinched and cuffed at the ankles? It wasn't that long ago that typewriters were commonplace in homes and offices, they used mimeograph machines to make smudgy purple copies of tests and homework assignments, Trapper Keepers with cutesy covers were the norm among the organized high school set, and the Rubik's Cube was the newest, most annoying toy on the market....was it? Wait. Don't answer that...I don't really want to know. If it's all a delusion of my own making, I'd prefer to keep it that way for a while longer.

Ok, the girls are getting restless, E needs to go down for her morning nap, and I need to clean up those breakfast dishes. Have a good one!