Thursday, December 10, 2009

Odds and ends...




'Sup dudes? I hope everybody is doing well.  Have you gotten all your Christmas shopping done?  I have.  Yep.  I was able to get everyone I know something completely on the cheap, which is a blessing because these economic times have not been kind to this girl's bank account.  The solution? I am giving everyone hugs. Practical and very eco-friendly.  I'm just a trailblazer that way.  I don't think I used that phrase properly.  But whatever, it's my blog.

So, let's see...what do I have to tell you.  First off, it needs to be said that today was stupid.  Like really stupid.  And that's all I have to say about that.  Wait, no, I have one more thing to say about that.  The upside to the downside is that I got in a fantastic cry that lasted a good portion of the day.  I can't tell you how exciting this was for me.  Seriously, you know how things just build and build and build and it's getting all intense, but thanks to the survival instinct thing you've got going on, you haven't exactly cried yet?  But then when you finally do, it's like oh sweet relief?  Yeah, that's the kind of cry I got today.  Totally cathartic (is that the right word?  I swear my brain thesaurus/dictionary is on the fritz.).  Acutally, I don't think I'm done yet either, so I'm hoping I have a few good crying days ahead of me.  Fingers crossed.

I seriously need to reboot the hard drive in my brain these days.  It's like a forgotten to-do item floats into my thought process at some random moment, and all synapses on duty start working on the Oh Yeah! memo to the rest of my brain.  And then immediately all of those synapses clock out for the day, and the Oh Yeah! memo is just left on the desk in the dark allowing the to-do item to float right on out.  So it never gets done and this just annoys me to no end. Wow, that was some analogy huh? (Why am I picturing my synapses as elves?  Santa's, not Keebler.  Hmmm.) Point being:  I still have not cooked pumpkin yummy goods for the pumpkin givers.  I know right?!  How does one FORGET to bake a magic pumpkin?  Especially when there's practically a keg of it in the freezer.  What is that about Brain? Huh? Can you please offer me some explanation as to your completely flaky state these days?  So, I'm deeply sorry, dear pumpkin friends, that you have yet to taste the satisfaction of healthy sugar-free pumpkin muffins (shut up, they are so awesome.). However, in an attempt maintain my living room picture frame status (seriously, I'm in the living room! In a frame!), I am going to throw the "My Dog Had Surgery" card.  That's right.  I went there.

**Quick sidenote:  Just so you know, Deedra & Bel, Pumpkin Givers Extraordinaire, are the wonderful pet parents to Cooper, Lola, and Codi that I told you about a while back?  Remember those kids?  Just trying to give you all the pieces to this puzzle. :)**

So next up on our agenda today:  Literary Christmas. Sigh.  (Hang tight.  This is where the banner pic gets explained.)  For the past 2 or 3 years, my Aunt Terri has hosted a Literary Christmas Party at her house.  The concept is for everyone in attendance to "perform" a song, reading, poem, game, whatever of a Christmas nature.  It is, in a word: awesome.  My family is HUGE by the way.  Like Catholic family in the 50's huge. My mom has 9 brothers and sisters.  Yeah.  It's fantastic. So this mass of people gets together (aunts, uncles, cousins, grannies...) contributing everything from 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to Christmas Jeopardy.

Up until last year, I had been strictly a spectator.  The night before last year's party, I was hanging out at my cousin, Val's, house.  Somehow the conversation turns to the party and that the two of us should do something. The conversation goes as follows:

Val: We could do a skit.
Me:  I love it.  Of what?
Val:  Beloved Christmas classics
Me:  Like A Christmas Story
Val:  Or It's a Wonderful Life
Me:  What if we did a dramatic re-enactment of It's a Wonderful Life...as told by sock puppets.

Literary. Christmas. Gold.

The next morning, we made a quick trip to Wal-Mart for a bag o' socks, and after some Sharpie magic, we had our Bailey family.  We gave the lady socks yellow yarn hair of course, and little Zu Zu even got red ribbons for her pigtails.  Even puppets must maintain their feminity.  There was a short outline of key scenes in the movie and maybe 1 or 2 dress rehearsals, and after a total of 15 minutes of work, we were stage ready.  And let me just say...we nailed it.  At one point, I was laughing so hard I couldn't even say my lines.  Val had to cover for me and play George Bailey AND Mary at the same time.  Luckily, she is quick on her feet (or hands), and would just shake my puppet hand while she talked so people would know which character was talking.  That is professionalism at it's finest.  It was so much fun, and everybody really liked it.

Here's the problem:  We set the bar too high. Literary Christmas is only a week and a half away, and I got nothing.  I mean, there was an encore request on Christmas Day!  How do we compete with that?  I know I shouldn't be too concerned really, considering last year's Tony winning show was cooked up in about 10 minutes the night before while watching Christopher Walken and drinking a couple of beers.  But the questions have been coming now since the party announcement:  "What are Val and Jenny gonna do?"  Is this how Meryl Streep feels?  I'm thinking yes. 

Stay tuned...




3 comments:

kathryn said...

Oh, the pressure! I don't envy you that! You've outdone yourself already...and now you've got to think FAST!

I'm sure you'll come up with something BRILLIANT. Let it percolate for a bit!

Lise said...

Hahaha that is so awesome! The last time I did a skit I was 10. Im impressed girl, you are brave. Pretty puh-lease post a you tube video of this year's epic performanc so we can all clap and cheer for you? Think about it, thats all im saying ;)

And PS Love and hugs to brave gracie girl - she melts my heart every time I see a pic.

kathryn said...

It's me again. Thought I'd say hey.

Hey.

I've got something for you at my place. Just click here:

http://www.theinternalmakeover.com/2009/11/congratulations.html

I hope this link works!