shook up.

Not like I'm obsessed. Or anything.

But a critic came to last Friday's performance.

Read all about it here.

at a loss and wanting nothing.

I thought that I should back up and post something that I missed due to the whirlwind that is life.

Clin's sister, Arianne, got married sometime in February... I think.

Ben, Clin, and Arianne

The girls were princessified. And Millie only pulled the curlers out of her hair once.

recapping the oscars.

I know. You probably do not watch the Oscars. You probably don't care. But Clin and I have this thing. You know. Where we watch them.

We used to throw mini-oscar parties. Where the guests were all required to bring something to eat that represented a nominated film. My favorite was when Krista brought a cake in the shape of a fetus. It represented Cider House Rules. Now that I think about it....I don't believe we have held a party since. Hmmm. I knew I hated that movie.

So my highlights from last night:

1. Hugh Jackman sings. I just like any host that sings. Hugh Jackman or not.
   


2. Anne Hathaway - I love you more each day. And you sing!
   


3. During his acceptance speech for Best Animated Feature Film (WALL-E), Andrew Stanton said, "I guess I'd be remiss if I did not thank my high school drama teacher Phil Perry for 28 years ago casting me as Barnaby in Hello, Dolly!. Creative seeds are sown in the oddest of places so, uh, thank you so much to the Academy for this." Shout out to a drama teacher and Hello Dolly! in the same sentence. Can it get any better? Or more like-able?
   


4. Ben Stiller, you're funny. Not always. But tonight I laughed.
   


5. Man on Wire won Best Documentary. And the subject of the doc did a coin trick and balanced the oscar on his chin. Come on! That's entertainment.
   


6. Kate Winslet - I love you. I'm glad you won. But your award should have come years ago for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
   


7. Slumdog Millionaire won! I haven't seen it. But I always root for movies from India with very like-able looking leads.

photo via bananawacky

spreading good news!

Lupe and Judy (my highly photogenic sister) at work

One reason to move to Texas? My sister is Teacher of the Month! Now if only I could move there AND go back to grade school. That would be awesome.

So that's the good news. That and Ellis seems to be okay from our trauma of last week.

What else?

Tonight is officially opening night, which means I no longer have rehearsals.

And whenever someone young is kind to me, I'm always taken aback. (Where does that come from? Have I always been shocked by kind hearted babes?) The talented youth from the show - we're talking talent of the insane variety: dancing, singing, flipping, and looking beautiful all at the same time WHILE keepng their clothes on - have been so kind to me. Proof? I've been invited to be their friend on Facebook. Serious!!! I know! So next time you visit my profile, go check out the beauties on my friend list.

Only 4 more evenings of babysitters and then Daddy's home. We CAN make it.

a laughin'...

I love you Amazing Race! And I love you cheese!

shameless...

...okay a small bit of shame in my personal piece of self-promotion. But it's pretty great. And I'm not talking about me, but the musical in general. It's a piece of cotton candy fluff with deep undertones of love, and happiness.

I got a lot of joy out of watching the other cast on Saturday night. That's right. I love it so much that I chose to celebrate Valentines with this musical piece of happy, rather than my own husband. (Who was carefully making peace with his other love.)

It also happens to be the reason I've been neglecting this blog.

I've had a really great experience. And I'm completely in love with my character. I never want her to go away.

So come enjoy some Elvis tunes. A whole lot of humor. My personal attempt at dancing, and probably the last musical I will do for another 5 years.

Hale Center Theater Orem - Now through April 4

I'm in the Monday, Wednesday, Friday cast. (Although not March 4th). But my double is really great as well.

So go see it whether it's me....or my double.

too emotional to even think of a title...

Today Ellis decided to do a swan dive out of the grocery cart, into a forward flip, and land on her lower extremities in Wal-Mart.

As I ran toward her, trying to stop her mid-flight, I screamed damn it. And then quickly scooped her into my arms, ready to see blood, or broken, or something outside of normal.

She cried and seemed okay. Looking at her, as she wiggled, incessantly pointing away from me, I had visions of blood pooling in her brain. Ready to sit down in the aisle and cry a bit, I chose to ignore my emotions and carried her towards her pointer finger. Where she stopped crying to talk to a princess backpack.

That's right. She risked life for a princess backpack. Damn those princesses.

And we quickly checked out when she pointed at her cheek and said, ow. I could not stop comparing the two sides of her face. Was that a black eye? A swollen cheek? Was this side of her lip swollen. The bone next to her right eye seemed larger than the bone next to her left. Was I imagining something? Was there more blood pooling? Is her ear red? Can she hear me? Is she deaf now? Why does she keep ignoring me? Oh, a princess wand. Damn those too.

And I checked to make sure her pupils were dilating correctly. To see if she could walk. Could she laugh? Was she happy? And when she fell asleep I kept nudging her every 5 min or so just to make sure she was responding. And she was. And a few nurse phone calls and a nap later - she is now climbing on me, teasing, and laughing. as if swan dives and flips are natural genetic actions in this family.

And to a mother that is surviving off of 5 hour nights, I say hallelujah and damn. All at the same time.

postponing my addictions.

My dear friend, the DVR, is working overtime right now. This is what I'm wishing I had time for and looking forward to catching:

Battlestar Galactica

24

Heroes - as long as it gets better. I may be giving up on this one.

Fringe - kind of gross, but J.J. Abrams has me hooked again.

Leverage - check this one out. Like-a-ble.

Burn Notice - the lead looks just like my bro-in-law Nate.

American Idol - love, love, love, love. (Hate bikini girl. Agree with me. Please????)

The Real World - I'm too old for this. I know. But there's a Mormon on. I can't resist. Throw a Mormon in the mix, and I'm hooked.

Real Housewives of Orange County - I really hate this show. I don't like one person on it. I love hating this show. I'm shocked that this is reality for some people. And I hate that.

Top Chef - If you aren't hooked, you should be. Everything I know about cooking? Gleaned from this show.

Lost - Oh so good... Again.

The Amazing Race - Next Sunday night! New season! Can't miss!

And then there are those that I'm keeping up with on the weekends:

Office
30 Rock
How I Met Your Mother
The Big Bang Theory

missing...

Dear Clin,

How are you doing? I thought that perhaps we could open a new line of communication via blog. That perhaps it might make up for the amount of time we are not seeing of each other. You know, the few minutes between your after school rehearsal, 30 min drive home, quick dinner that flows into bathing of the girls before you speed off to performance, or I run to rehearsal.

I saw you for a few minutes last night, in the shadows of the bathroom light, as I washed the stage makeup from my face. You were asleep.

But we connected somewhere around 3:00 AM when I heard a noise and asked if it was Millie. You grunted a noise that I took as yes, and it was nice to know that we were thinking the same thing.

Jackie

getting personal.

I'm really not feeling inspired. I used to come up with 8 blog posts a day. But all my inspiration is being funnelled into Matilda (currently my alter ego) and yesterday I gave Matilda 4 plus hours of my personal time. Doing her make-up, trying to fit short hair into a pony tail and curling all the pieces that fell out. Incorporating bobby pins into each curl so that they weren't visible to the human eye. Mixing a couple of foundation colors to find one that might match my current skin tone of pale. Shaving. Yeah, Matilda shaves. Who knew? And plucking the brows. And then there was the eye shadow. Lousy eye shadow. The inventor of eye shadow is not on my list of personal heroes. And to those of you sporting it daily - you are. Kudos to you for dealing with it. And making it work.

But before the process of beautification, there was the lovely 2 hour jaunt to the store. With the 2 girls. During nap time. Who's idea was that? Matilda. I totally blame Matilda. For bobby pins, hair spray, glue for fake eyelashes, makeup wedges (which I forgot), and the crowning glory of Matilda-hood......a nude leotard with bra incorporated. You know, cause Matilda would never do a quick change in her all togethers. I tried on 4 nude leotards at Wal-Mart. (Yes, they have them. Count on Matilda to answer the most pressing questions of the day.) And all 4 were a bit tight, but I guess that's the point; to hold everything in. But instead of getting the one that was the least tight, and best fitting? I had to try my luck and go to Kohls. (None in my size. Small on top, and long and large everywhere else.) And then to Target. (No one piece leotard.) And then back to Wal-Mart where I chased down the lingerie cart as it was returning items and could not find the only one that was my size. And Ellis threw the last pack of smarties on the floor as Millie was trying to steal it from her hands, and I knew that we were through. And that's when I spotted it. At the bottom of a cart full of clothes that had yet to be sorted. And I dug through the cart and rescued it for Matilda.

All things I would never do for myself. But for Matilda? Anything.

smellin'...

like Big O Tires.

But that's okay.

Because after 2 hours in the waiting room wrestling a 1.7 year old I have a new water pump and belt.

Just what I've always wanted!