The Death of a Musical

After two months of long, hot rehearsals, many late nights and tons of energy, the play was cancelled. Unfortunately, the person who was directing this play did not have her "ducks in a row" prior to doing this. The positive side of this is that I can be back home in the evenings with the family. Today I have to think "What have I learned from this adventure?" Well, first I found out that I love being in the theater, and I hope to maybe do another play sometime. Second, when you put faith in other things, you can get burned. The only place I can ever put my faith is in the Lord. Honestly, I am sad. Sad that I have made my family be without me, sad that my wonderful husband had to be a "single parent" for nothing.

The Death of Me

Here is what is left of a 14 ounce bag of plain Adventures of Indiana Jones M&M's. For some reason these little buggers have been my addiction for the past few days. I bought them for our first Bunco club night. Yes, I enjoy an occasional M&M, but to be this obsessive! I think it has to due with the colors, they remind me of my favorite season Fall, cool days, cooler nights, fresh apple cider, pumpkins, leaves, Halloween. Or maybe there is some unseen force within, maybe it is some kind of addictive chemical they put in these candies? The more I eat, the more I want, the more I eat. Whatever it is I have to get these out of the house, I do not want to know how many calories I have consumed the past three days. I have totally bagged my Weight Watchers this weekend. Yikes!

Costuming!

All in the fun of "Seuss" I have been working on costumes for the play now. We were all in charge of our own costumes, and being the little Mother that I am, I told my fellow Bird Girls that I would make their costumes. I am also making Gertrude McFuzz's dress, and did the Sour Kangaroo, and made bloomers for my pal Candie's daughter. Now alot of you know that my sewing skills are not that advanced, but will say I have come a long way, thanks to the wisdom of Laura, my mom, and Brian. I love to take on a new challenge, and the more creative I can be the better. But "Oh, the things you get into when you bite off more than you can chew!" ( this is me trying to sing my dilemma with "Oh, the things you can think! from Seussical. LOL!) I set unrealistic goals on myself. For instance, I wanted to get everything done in one week. Of course that does NOT happen and there I am sitting in front of my sewing machine at 2 in the morning, frustrated, bouncing my leg and complaining against every injustice in the world. Not to mention I am jacked up on Diet Pepsi, chocolate, and I have just seam ripped the same seam for the fourth time. Arrgghhh!
But my friend Candie a.k.a. "Mrs. Major" in the play, is keeping me sane. She is my partner in crime. We have been fabric shopping, web surfing ideas, drawing, and sewing. She has been a great help when it comes down to embellishing the costumes. I could not do this without her.

The Garden of Eatin'

Here are "Farmer Lavinia" and "Farmer Liam", but alas, "Farmer Avin" refused to be in the picture! What a stinky boy huh? This a proud moment for them. Today Liv told me that "there are tomatoes out there Mom!" Honestly I would not know. I have been so involved we the musical, and the normal household stuff, I have not been out there. We have had alot of rainy, humid and warm days, so I do not doubt there are tiny treasures in there. Hopefully, we can have enough to store for food storage.

The garden we need to get those tomatoes staked I think...

Brian's Labor...

The order that seemed to never end, 13 swords for a school in
Canada. So worth the time and hours spent on them.

On to the next order! Unfortunately, it is 3 in the morning.

Sigh! One huge sword order finished, but alas there is always one following right behind! I was heading to bed this early morning or (late night) and I saw this in my dining room. Forever boxes, oodles and oodles of swords, and a very tired, hard working husband.

The Fourth of July!

Happy BirthDay America the Beautiful!

The day was pretty low key, not much happened. We pretty much spent most of the day catching up on things around the house. I was able to go visit a friend who I had not seen forever. We had a nice time sitting in the sun and having some awesome laughs about life.

Originally I had thought of having a cook-out with family and friends, but that got pushed aside due to just having alot on our plate. We did have my friend of thirty three years, Wendy and her son come over to watch the fireworks. My sister, Henry and Sam came too. But about 20 minutes before the fireworks were to start, Sam had other plans and crashed on me. So they took him home. Where we live we can see the firework show from Downtown Toledo. However now that the kids are older we said next year we want to go downtown to watch them.

After the 25 minute "Red, White and Boom" show, we put the kids to bed, and Wendy, Brian and I watched the fireworks that people in the neighborhood were setting off. It was so bad that the neighborhood was full of egg smelling fog.

Liam getting to hold his "first" sparkler. He was pretty geeked about the whole thing, that was until he felt a spark on his hand! Then he just had everyone else hold them for him. This was his first fourth of July where he stayed up to see the fireworks. Every time one went off he would point and yell "Da Fireworks, seeee, Firewoorks, I see the fireworks!"

The big hit was the Snaps you throw on the ground. They are alot of fun, except when you have a million little papers all over the place! : )

A very burned Henry, Lavinia making sure these Snaps are just paper

and funky sock Samuel.

A Day for Art

We love art! Brian and I have always had that in common. We have both been blessed with not only the love of art, but we have some creative genes of our own. Though Brian by far is the most accomplished in his creativity! Every year the Toledo Botanical Gardens hosts the Crosby Arts Festival. The artists come from all over to set up in one of the most beautiful places here in Toledo. Brian had never been to the festival, so I was excited for him to go. We got a babysitter for a few hours and made it a date "day" of it.

The coolest artist was a doll maker. She hand makes these dolls. I really wanted one. Each doll had their own individual look and story. We spent some time talking to her, she was just as cool as her creations. Her business is called The Doll Makers.com. Check them out!

Throughout the gardens are incredible sculptures. This one is one of my favorites. However, this photo does not give it justice. It is very three dimensional and enormous. Plus I think it is time to update our camera, it is not acting right. Or maybe just maybe it is the operator!





This cabin once belonged to the famous Toledo settler and War of 1812 scout Peter Navarre. He was the brother to my 5th Great-grandfather, Antoine Navarre. I wish these walls

could talk! The cabin was brought to the gardens years ago for protection and safe keeping.

THE FRUIT OF THEIR LABOR

Our garden is producing! Lavinia will not let a strawberry go unoticed. As soon as she sees one it is off the plant and in her mouth! However she is not the only one who is enjoying the garden. Our dog Lily has noticed the strawberries and manages to snag a few too. So much for a "bumper crop" of berries!