c is for closing the curtain April 27, 2008

Today marks the last performance of Willy Wonka. It’s been a great experience with so much support from our friends and family. It was a blast to go out to Culvers after the show with our family – Ma, Pa, Tim, John, Lucas, Christy, Tom, Chris, Thomas, John and me. They were all very sweet to Thomas and he felt it. He’s keeping it pretty level headed though. I’m really proud of him.

So one more today, and Grandpa and Carol are coming to the show. John will finally get to sit through the entire performance as I did last night. He and I have been helping out a little backstage and at the box office. We hope to enjoy an ice cream treat or something with G&C after the show.

It’s been wonderful having Tom with us. He accompanied us to the farm yesterday so we’d have a chance to visit with Dee and Will. It was a houseful! My mom made soup and sandwiches and chocolate pudding dessert. And it was a fun time to sit around the table with everyone. My family is great!

So off to church this morning, welcome center duty and all. Then we have to be at Edison by 1:30. It will be a full day. I am longing to just to be home, cook a meal and have everyone sit around the table and not have to rush off. Maybe one of these days! The week ahead is filled with National Volunteer Week activities and prom preparations for Chris. (He went with the black tux, silver vest and tie.) Looking forward to the happy exhaustion.

o is for opening night April 24, 2008

Wonka went great tonight!  We’re exhausted, but it was a blast and the kids did great.  Feeling very proud of our Thomas.  Chris came to the show tonight and enjoyed it.

Earlier today, I went shopping with Chris.  We got his glasses fixed, ordered prescription sunglass for his summer job as a lifeguard.  Then we headed to Target and picked out a camera.  It’s a Nikon Cool Pix L18 in red.  Snazzy.

I then went to work.  Lots of running around dropping off potting soil, plants and tshirts.  Picking up boxes and ribbon.  Packaging cupcakes for volunteers.  Picking up Thomas after school and running him home.

I went to the school early and got stuff ready – good volunteers tonight and we had a good time.  The play was over in 77 minutes.  Amazing!

Now we are all chilling. Chris was just telling me about his plans for prom.  He ordered his tux today – black long coat with silver vest and tie.  Again – I say snazzy.

d is for dress rehearsal April 24, 2008

Wonka went well last night – only about 15 minutes worth of stops and starts, mostly due to a malfunctioning stage curtain. Anticipating a great opening night tonight!

Chris and I are off to pick up his glasses and pick out a camera for his travel adventures next year. He doesn’t start school until noon today.

Then I have a busy day at work, including a board meeting from 4-5. After that I will meet Thomas and John at the school for Wonka!

The most delightful occurrence today: Now that Kate has internet at her house we are able to google talk outloud!! We dialed her up and put the microphone on the kitchen table and it was like she was right here. We’ve never been able to do this before because she always had internet in public places. This morning was really fun.

Business abounds! But we continue to tackle it with thankful hearts.

c is for collide April 23, 2008

Wonka and work are colliding in my brain this morning!

We spent our second night at tech week for Wonka last night and it was grueling.  This was the rehearsal where the director wanted to correct every set change and blocking problem, etc.  Did it need to be done?  Absolutely.  Did it take forever?  Certainly seemed to!  Tonight is the last official rehearsal then tomorrow is opening night.  Exciting.  I think we have the parent volunteer roles worked out.  Last night I took a bunch of twizzlers for the kids at the end of rehearsal.  They are working really hard and were pretty fried after last night.  They have a half day of school today, so everyone should be well rested tonight.

Work is ramping up for next week’s celebration of National Volunteer Week.  We have lots of events planned, including a couple of media appearances.  Today I am doing Penny for Your Thoughts, next week the Ch. 3 news morning show.  We have one event that for which registrations are sluggish; hoping we don’t have to cancel.  Anyway – just lots to juggle.  We are waiting on a donor for some critical supplies – can’t hurry that along but really need to have the stuff.  No biggie – just a lot at once.

We are having a delightful house guest this weekend too – Tom will be with us.  Unfortunately it’s because he is attending a funeral and memorial in Bloomington, but for us it is a treat.  He will even be able to slip in a Wonka performance while he is here!  We will also be delighted to see Tim, Dee and Will.  How fun for Thomas to have so much support!  He is doing great with a big responsibility.

We are enjoying a patch of delightful sunny, warm weather and that makes everything seem better.  I am thankful for that and so much more this morning.  My heart is full.  Smile.

w is for weekend’s end April 20, 2008

Sunday evening and all is well.  Thomas has spent the afternoon hanging out at friends’ houses, playing, dogsitting and having a relaxed day before tech week for Wonka begins tomorrow.  John and Chris and I all enjoyed naps this afternoon.  I had a walk, then we got going, got some paperwork done and went out for Chinese (well, Chris has Italian beef, actually.)  Early on in the afternoon, we skipped lunch and went to the Custard Cup for birthday ice cream treats.  Ma and Pa joined us.  It was a beautiful afternoon and fun to celebrate John.

We saw a couple of movies this weekend, Juno and Dan in Real Life, both I had seen before but was happy to share them with John.  John and Thomas also saw Forbidden Kingdom, a martial arts film.  Actually Chris saw it too at the end of a long day of volunteer work, summer job interviews, work, youth group and a movie with friends.  He got the job and will be a swim instructor/life guard this summer for the Champaign park district.  Cool.

The week ahead is a wild one with Willy Wonka every evening, performances beginning on Thursday.  Better get rested up!

e is for earthquake April 18, 2008

Early this morning we had an earthquake.

We were all asleep when we felt two separate rumbles that shook us all awake. We all stumbled to the hallway, bumping into each other. We headed downstairs, not really knowing why, not really knowing what happened. After looking at TV a while and finding no information, we headed back to bed a little bit mystified.

When the radio alarm went off this morning, I discovered that what had happened to us was the lead story on the ABC national news. It was, in fact, an earthquake measuring 5.4 on the scale, centered in southeastern Illinois.

What a different start to the day!

b is for beautiful day April 17, 2008

Today was an ideal spring day – although just a little windy.  I enjoyed it immensely because I was at home today.   I took my time getting going, had a long on line chat with Kate and saw everyone off for the day.  I got some work done first thing and then took a long walk.  After a visit with Chris when he came home for lunch and mixing up a batch of Rice Krispie treats, I took off for a few errands.  I needed to pick up the last of the birthday items for John and buy some cards to encourage a friend who is getting ready for her daughter’s wedding.  I’ll be able to send them off every few days over the next couple of weeks.

Then I went to FedExKinkos which is were my day unraveled a little bit.  I am working on a project for Chris’ graduation that’s gotten a little out of hand.  But whatever.  At Kinko’s my goal was to copy many childhood photos of Chris.  It took me about an hour to get them all scanned in because I didn’t really understand the concept at first and had to rescan all the horizontal shots.  Then after another half hour of rotating and editing shots, I had them already to print.  After about 15 prints, the machine ran out of paper.  No big deal.  Right?  Wrong.  They had no supplies on hand.  They could not take supplies out of another machine.  They had to call the driver and have some delivered from another store, which would take about 40 minutes or so.  All this time, I realize that if I cancel the job, I would lose all my scanning and editing work.  So I can be patient.  Besides my debit card is INSIDE the machine because that’s the way it works.  Anyway, then my mom calls and she is in town.  I am delighted and want to go meet her at Panera.  The manager, Kevin, and I come up with a way to tape over the debit card slot and put up an out of order sign.  He promises to call me when the supplies arrive and the photos are printed.  I go to meet my mom and we have a visit.  She looks great and is happy about announcing her retirement yesterday.  Even her blood pressure was lower today at her check up.  So we visit for about an hour, and still no call from Kevin at FedEx Kinkos.  I finish up my errands which include picking up makeup for Willy Wonka, and head back to Kinkos.  Guess what?  The driver had come and gone and no one had bothered to ask him for any photo supplies.  So they call him and he claims to never have heard of the order and will have to start all over.  At this point, I can take it no longer.  I authorize Kevin to cancel the job, losing my valuable time and effort on my perfectly cropped photos.  I retrieve my debit card, and Kevin does at least credit me with the amount I already spent and promises me I can have free prints when I come back to finish the job.  yeah right.

I came on home defeated and watched an episode of Gilmore Girls to cheer myself up.  After that I fixed a salad, welcomed Thomas home, and headed off with my salad to my Beth Moore bible study group.  I got there to find a rather empty parking lot.  There was a note on the door saying the teacher had the chance to go to the beach and so class was canceled.  I’m just not sure that I am okay with that.  I know we all filled out cards with contact information – could we not make some calls.  I only drove a few miles to get there; some came from much farther.

So now I am home, unexpectedly.  Not much going on for a change.  Kind of nice.  I guess I should head back out to Kinkos and copy those photos…

f is fast pace April 14, 2008

Life is moving quickly.  In the next few weeks, we’ll tackle Willy Wonka, National Volunteer Week, a ten day trip to Poland and Ukraine, high school graduation, a conference in Atlanta, the end of school, a great big party, a good friend’s daughter’s wedding, and more.  Whew!  I have anticipatory exhaustion.

I have been an absentee blogger, but now that Kate has daily internet my resolve is renewed to keep a record of our day-to-day activities, if nothing elso – so I don’t miss something myself.  With the pace at which we are moving, at least I will be able to go back and read what actually happened!

I will report on the weekend’s activities:

Friday night – pizza with all four of us at the dinner table, a rare event.  Thomas went to a lockin at his friend’s church and John and I spent a quiet night at home.  Chris went to his friend’s sister’s birthday party, but wasn’t out late.  He had an  early morning.  At 7 AM, he met another Rotary outbound student and off they went to Springfield for a get together with inbounds, and yet another opportunity to see the Lincoln sites.  He got to break out his Rotary blazer for the first time, very spiffy.  It was a $5 find at the Springfield Salvation Army – a Ralph Lauren jacket which we had the sleeves lengthened and it fits perfectly.  Year.

We picked up Thomas at 8 am and promptly fed him and put him to bed.  He had literally been up all night.  He slept all day while John and I did grocery shopping errands and tasks around the house.  We woke him up in the late afternoon before we went to see the movie “Leatherheads.”  I described it as tedious, campy and cartoonish.  Maybe that’s what they were after, but the acting seemed very wooden and rehearsed to me.  A couple of funny lines, but mostly not that great.

Saturday night was pleasant as my friend Kellie came over to watch a movie on Lifetime.  She had read the book and was curious to see the TV adaptation of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Of course, it was a disappointment, even laughable at times, but we had fun watching it together.  T and J made them self scarce watching Terminator-3 on the TV upstairs.  It was a night of exact entertainment opposites.

On Sunday, Chris returned.  He had an okay time and no problems with the drive.  He was glad to have had Ethan’s company.  John let him take the Pilot – a little more road worthy than the Subie.  We all had lunch together after church (nachos/tacos) and then J, T and I headed out the farm.  We had a delightful visit, saw the newly updated toolshed (looking very spiffy indeed) and then were able to give Lucas a ride back to his mom’s.  A nice after noon.

The big news of the weekend is that John bought his ticket to see Kate.  He leaves the 4th of May and will return on the 14th.  How exciting!  I made it very clear to Kate that she must not lose him while he is there!    He will be completely reliant on her which will be an interesting dynamic indeed!

Off to work; it is Monday afterall!