365

Opening night went amazingly well.  My director gave me this before the show.  Awesome. :)

365 Valentines Day

A box made from barn wood that I embellished.

A vase covered with found birch bark, from Jay's hometown. 

A new place for Jay to drop his keys after work.

Jay's present was all about things from New Hampshire... Not pictured here is the New Hampshire spoon ring that he has yet to take off.  :)

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Jay found a vase at an antique store that was thirteen years old when we got married thirteen years ago.  He took it to the flower shop and ordered thirteen different flowers.  How cool is that?

365 ? I might give up!

I'm exhausted.  I think I've been sick for a full three weeks and have just refused to acknowledge it. Right now I'm sneaking a few seconds to myself, but I feel bad because the kids are hauling in the groceries alone. The groceries Jay offered to get because I wasn't feeling well....but I'm not going to let him do the shopping after a full day of work!!  I was mostly fine, until the debt card wouldn't work.  I knew I had money, so I tried again.  Then I tried the credit card, and IT wouldn't work!!!  WTF?  I freaked out and then tried the other card, and it was fine.  You know that feeling? When everyone at walmart stares at you like you are some kind of poor bum? I wanted to scream at the whole line of morons..."I HAVE money, it's her MACHINE!"  but I didn't.  I started sweating and ran like hell to the car.  I hate today, and the hard part isn't even over yet.  Shit.

365

Jay, Laurel, Miah and I made this.  Just for giggles.  My car accidentally got splattered, but it came off. There was paint all over the garage, so we actually had to mop it! 

365

Sorry! I forgot to rotate it.  Our fortunes from the restaurant.  Mine is the third from the left.  Creepy.

365

Jay finally picked out his new wedding ring.  I love the black diamonds, so I'm going to find a band to add to mine so we match a bit more.  I can't wait till September when we can wear them! 

365

Gary.  This is his best side.  He's the stage manager, and he acts like he's a paid professional.  I assure you, he's not.  Today he accidentally drilled a hole all the way through his middle finger.  He refuses to go to the hospital, even though I cautioned him against MRSA and such.  I joked that he had just lost half his vocabulary.  hahaha

365

My "fake" linguini for the play.  I made fresh pasta, baked it, painted it with tomato paste and basil, then let it dry for three or four days.  Then I sprayed six layers of polyurethane on the top and bottom.  I made seven, one for each performance.  All told I made more than twenty, because Harley ate most of them, and we used some for practice.  It was a ton of work, but I think they look great.

365

Miah and Harley...So cute.

Groundhog Day- Why?

Groundhog Day is a holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter-like weather will soon end. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.


The celebration, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 1 and also involves weather prognostication. and to St. Swithun's Day in July.

An early American reference to Groundhog Day can be found in a diary entry, dated March 5, 1841, of Berks County, Pennsylvania, storekeeper James Morris:

Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.

In Scotland the tradition may also derive from an English poem:

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop

mbolc (also Imbolg or Oimelc), or St Brigid’s Day (Scots Gaelic Là Fhèill Brìghde, Irish Lá Fhéile Bríde, the feast day of St. Brigid), is an Irish festival marking the beginning of spring. Most commonly it is celebrated on February 1 or 2 (or February 12, according to the Old Calendar), which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere.
The festival was observed in Gaelic Ireland during the Middle Ages. Reference to Imbolc is made in Irish mythology, in the Tochmarc Emire of the Ulster Cycle. Imbolc was one of the four cross-quarter days referred to in Irish mythology, the others being Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. It has been suggested that it was originally a pagan festival associated with the goddess Brigid, who was later Christianised as St. Brigid.
In the 20th century, Imbolc was resurrected as a religious festival in Neopaganism, specifically in Wicca, Neo-druidry and Celtic reconstructionism.

Irish imbolc derives from the Old Irish i mbolg "in the belly". This refers to the pregnancy of ewes. A medieval glossary etymologizes the term as oimelc "ewe's milk".
Since Imbolc is immediately followed (on 2 February) by Candlemas (Irish Lá Fhéile Muire na gCoinneal "feast day of Mary of the Candles", Welsh Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau), Irish imbolc is sometimes rendered as "Candlemas" in English translation; e.g. iar n-imbulc, ba garb a ngeilt translated as "after Candlemas, rough was their herding". -Wikipedia.com

365

Script.  Outlined in the most anal way possible. It works though.  I've been called weird more times than I can count by one particular person in the play.  I don't mind though.  If she thinks I'm weird then that means I'm not like her.  So there.