Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Fantasy begins...



Well We finally have most of the main character costumes done and they look good...All except for Peter pan who looks like he is wearing a basketball uniform. OOPS!! That is being changed! amazing how one person's vision gets twisted in another person's mind! And Nana the dog is made of STRIPED fur. Ever seen a tabby DOG? Neither have we. But we will live with it...Our ostrich and our Lion are still not done yet...WAHHHHH!!! but we have a very forgiving Press up here, and since tonight is technically still an official rehearsal, we can go forward. The Press will be here and the cast families. We still have a week to go before opening night. By then everything will magically come together and no one will knoe just how hard a very few people have worked to make this happen. SOme of us are close to the breaking point, but we will all make it!!

Now to just get those tickets sold!!!!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Still Busy

Along with everything enumerated below...I have a spreadsheet to make for the Coupeville Festival Grant Meeting next Monday. I LOVE spreadsheets. and the New Office 2007 Excell is WONDERFUL!! I just have not figured out all the buttons yet.

There are over twenty five Grant applications all wanting a piece of the pie, and we have to review them all and select the most worthy. I am still VERY new to this job, so I do not not what all goes into qualifying an application. Judging from the apps though, it must be all arts and crafts and history I will know more soon.

I have 1/2 the light cues assigned to dimmers for PETER PAN and will or SHOULD finish them tonight, then I will be concentrating on the paperwork, ie: PROGRAM Finalization, Biographies for the Lobby, Photos for the Lobby etc. We open in 10 days, with Press Night on this Thursday, so we are getting close. Once the show opens, I will be on a downhill slide, and can relax and get myself ready for the Holidays.

This will be Tim's first Christmas home in YEARS and I am really looking forward to it. He is doing so GOOD, (Thank you Lord!) and calls once a week. That is such a worry off my mind. As hard as it was to say no to him for Bail money, and make him face his obligations, It was the best thing that ever happened to Him. I think He thinks so too. He is totally off drugs now, and swears he will never go back to them. (now to work on the cigarettes!)

We are having an EXCEPTIONAL Fall here this year. COOL and SUNNY. makes up for the crappy summer we had I guess. WOnder what winter will bring. I saw only one Wooley bear caterpillar, and it had a BIG orange stripe, so who knows....

This weekend will be more applesauce, and then I am done canning for awhile, unless the mighty hunter finds some other windfall fruit, or gleans more fields for veggies.

Gotta run...

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Almost Halloween

It has been an absolutely beautiful month! Sunsine and chilly. The trees are really colorful right now. We have not had our usual October Storm yet either.

Bob has filled my new wood ricks so now I have 2 cords of wood dried and ready to burn, so I wont freeze. I also have been putting up apples. A make really chunky applesauce with cranberries in it and it is really good, almost like pie filling. My kids scarf it all down as soon as they know I have some made. 1 case of apples will make about 20 qts of applesauce.

I am canning pears too,and Wednesday I took a day off and stayed home to rest, and got to looking at my filthy house, and cleaned! Never even stopped, just cleaned away. I made some applesauce that night, but then started right in on thursday canning pears. I was bringing a five gallon pot of pears down to the table where I was working them and I dropped the damn thing all over my kitchen floor. boiling hot syruppy pears and syrup. Sadie ran like hell thank you Lord, and did not get burned. It plashed onto my pants and my warm suede slippers but I did not get burned either. I was so freaking mad!!! the floor had just been cleaned! SO I grapped an armfull of old towels and got it all wiped up, but then the floor was sticky, so I had to rewash the floor with hot water to get all the syrup up. I was not in the mood to finsh, so I turned everything off, and went to bed. By this time I was in sever pain. SO I hit the Ben Gay and wenbt to bed.

Today I was still in pain, but I managed to finish the case of pears. I was going to start in on the other one, but the corner store was out of wide mouth qt jars, and they didnt have any fruit fresh either so I will do some tomorrow night after I play all day with the lighting for Peter Pan, and go eat Pho.

Ever had Pho? oh yummy!! gotta try it!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

I need time to breathe!!




I have been so busy!!! Friday, I had to work on the Program for Peter Pan, and then I went to Aquarobics, then rushed on to a Play reading. A group gets together and reads from the script, a play that the playday committee has chosen to submit to the membership for next season. We read CASH ON DELIVERY which was a British Farce, and FUNNY!!!! I drove home through the ground fog around 10:00, and hit the shower and crashed. I was so tired!
I went in to set the lights for the show on Saturday, and worked on them for 5 hours, until time to head home. They still aren’t done. I will get the cues set into the computer this week, and finish moving the lights next weekend. I will be so glad when this show opens. For some reason, I am really stressed out over it, More so than most. Might be the huge cast and all the kids that don’t listen. (ya THINK?)
Today I got up and processed a case of apples into applesauce. I have another case in the garage, along with two cases of pears. But those are going to have to wait. Tomorrow I have a dentist appt, then swimming, then aquarobics, then rehearsal. Tuesday I have a meeting with a member of the Coupeville Festival Board, to show me the ropes on their office computer. I will have to have the minutes ready, from the last board meeting and the spreadsheet done for the grant applications, all by November 3rd!
Thank God for vitamins! And coffee!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

It's Autumn...ya THINK?



Every year in October, Coupeville has a scarecrow contest and each business tries to participate, this year's theme was COWS I guess, because most of the ones were cow related. I only took this one which is Island Transit's entry, and the cutest by far.



Our one and only grocery store, Prairie Center had their display of Pumpkins out front and it just looked really fallish, so I took it.




My Sister's friend Nancy's Husband Al puts up a different theme every year also...this year it was a big black BAT!

When traffic is not so bad, I will try to get the rest of them for you. we only have one main street, and during the day it is too busy to get good pictures, because you have to stop in the middle of the road, and the tourists get really cranky!

The weather took a drastic turn too. It got COLD last night, almost freezing, but not quite. Donna lives on the mainland, and she has already had to scrape ice off her windsheild. Yep, one week of summer and now it is Fall. I expect Winter to be right around the corner. I saw my first wooley Bear, and he had a small brown stripe and big black ones, so that means COLD IS COMING...

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Passing the Turkey platter!

Beings as how I have the biggest house, and I am the oldest, I have always held Thanksgiving here. Last Year Phyllis wanted to go to the community center with her church, and ended up here.

This Year, Donna has offered to cook for Bob and I and Tim at HER house, so Phyllis and Sherry and Mike can go do their thing without feeling bad about not coming to my house this year.

Actually it works out GREAT, as I will be right in the middle of Peter Pan and will be really busy not to mention TIRED.

Donna's Husbands boss always gives them a turkey for thanksgiving, so all that she will need to do is stuff it in the oven, and cook the potatoes, and I can bring the rest! COOL!!!

I kinda feel bad about NOT having family over, but they say they wanted to go eat with the community center, so there ya go! I will still do my Killer Prime Rib Roast for Christmas dinner though. Already have it in the freezer!!

Bob brought me over 2 boxes of fuji apples and 2 boxes of anjou pears to put up, so I had better get busy huh!

for those of you that DON'T have my email it is marylouchandler46(at)gmail(Dot)com
so your comments will go there and I can post them. easy now!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

I'm SOrry

I'm SOrry, But I have an anonomous commenter that is making derogatory remarks, and since I am not smart enough to remember how to delete the comments, I just turned them all off for a while. When the weather clears, I may return them, in the mean time, you know how to reach me.

I will still continue to post, just not allow comments for awhile.

Please keep checking.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Am I Missing SOMETHING?

When I was a little girl, we lived in a 2 bedroom 700 SF house, Phyllis and I shared a bedroom, we had 1 bath, a kitchen and a livingroom. We felt very secure, we were loved, and we rented because in those days Military people just did not BUY houses, because they would be transfered in two years.

When My Dad retired, and we were permanently in one place, we rented again, this time an older 3 bedroom home, that was floated in from Seattle where they were tearing down neighborhoods to build the Seattle World's Fair. AND I-5. It was bigger than anything we had lived in before, had a fireplace, a dining room, a bath and a half, and a HUGE eat in kitchen. It was probably 1200 SF a two story home and needed repair. We felt Loved and we had room to grow in. Phyllis and I shared a bedroom and Mike had his own small room, but we all shared a closet.

When I married and moved on, we lived in a 3 bedroom home around 1200 SF, with a bath and a half one story with a dining room and a kitchen, a typical rambler. We felt secure, and we were loved, and we were comfortable.

Years passed and I was single again and Tim and Donna and I all lived in a tiny TINY studio apartment with a tiny tiny bedroom big enough for a twin bed and nothing else. We had a pull out couch in the living room, a kitchen and a full bathroom. It was a mother in law apartment attached to the main house, but it worked for us, we felt secure, cramped but secure, and we were loved.

More years passed, and I was transferred to Adak, Alaska where I made more money than I could spend there, so I saved! I came home on leave one summer and bought a home. The one I live in still. It is 1400Sf with 3 small bedrooms, and 2 full baths, and a HUGE great room and a kitchen. an attached garage also. I had to put a standard despoist down on the mortgage, and also had to take out PMI (private mortgage insurance) as I was single and had never owned a home before. I was finally secure again, and alone, but I was happy with what I had.

Yes, I dreamed far above my means, and swore if I ever had the money I would build the dream home I always wanted, a log home with tall rafters, and a view of the Water. HA! That aint gonna happen. I lived within my means, sometimes not making other payments but always making my mortgage payments.

Now I am looking at the stock market crashing again, today, with banks failing in Europe and the United States, from mainly sub-prime mortgages and corupt banking practices.

People were buying homes FAR above their ability to pay, and far bigger than they ever would NEED. we are talking 4-5000 SF homes, with Master suites, 5 bedrooms many baths and a family room, living room, and a bonus room. WHY? because they were unwilling to settle for something they could afford at the time. THey were unwilling to invest in a smaller home, and then upgrade as they could afford it.
The Banks and Mortgage companies were encouraging this also. Developers were cutting down forests and building gated communities in places that were safe and secure anyway. The American Public gobbled up the lies and dove head first into a puddle that was not as deep as they thought, and now those homes are being forclosed and those people are sitting there with mud on their face wondering what the HELL happened?

Let me Tell you what happened folks. YOU GOT GREEDY!! ALL OF YOU!! You KNEW you could not afford that house, You KNEW that the bubble would someday burst and still you continued with your insane ways of doing business.

It is now going to be up to ME who I will say is still living in a 1400Sf home that I CAN afford, with a mortgage that is half way to being paid off, to bail you out! Why should I have to be taxed to Bail YOu out of your mortgage? Now I am not talking about those who really did buy within their means, a modest home with a modest mortgage. I am talking about those people with McMansions, three cars, etc. and now in foreclosure.

I am retired, and drawing Social Security and now the GOVERNMENT has just given those same banks and mortgages brokers a 700 BILLION dollar bailout. I have heard that they are also going to help YOU keep your McMansion, while I am still left struggling to pay mine off. My taxes are going to help you, and NO ONE is helping ME.

What did I Miss? Should I have bought a bigger house? should I have let my mortgage go? I dont understand.....SOmething had better CHANGE in WASHINGTON!!!

Friday, October 03, 2008

Getting set up

GADS! I forgot what all it takes to get your computer set up the way you like it. The problem I am having right now is my Bose speakers are not working!! GRRRR

I still do not have my address book imported from gmail into Outlook, but soon I hope. I also do not have every one saved in my favorites. Since I blogwalk from my FAVORITES and not my side bar, I am sorry to say that it is not up to date. If I am neglecting you, let me know!!!

I LOVE this monitor though. It is HUGE! a 24" viewing surface! I can almost open 2 pages side by side!! Great when I am working on a spreadsheet.