Welcome mat mystery

Just a quick follow-up on my previous post. The welcome mat was in the yard when I got home from picking up Norseman at 10:20 last night. But... it was gone when I left for work this morning at 7:20. It was dark for eight of those nine hours. Flat scrollwork mat not highly visible in the grass. Only four people knew it was there (the three of us and Mr. UnNeighborly).

Curious.

True story of a day's demise...

I got off work early today, and had the pleasure of picking up the kids up from school. We encountered no traffic, got home before 4:20, and figured we'd have twenty minutes before we needed to head back out to go to Plaza. It was shaping up to be a great day!

Walking up the front walk, I see a brown pile on the black doormat. "Good Lord, what IS that?"


Why yes, it is poo. Poo #5. The next door neighbor's Yorkie leaves passive-aggressive presents for us. Still. Despite my asking her owners three times to either clean it up or keep her in their own yard.

Poo #1 was 8/22

Poo #3 was 8/29

So I was already grumbling as I unlocked the front door, and walked into my house to see...

this:

"Wow."

Just.... Wow.

And the culprit?

Hiding.

As I surveyed the mess again, I noticed a few things.

--Staggering amount of slobber and snot on the window. Staggering. It was gross.

--Mountain of shredded blind slats behind the couch. Shredded slats all over the living room, under the couch behind the television stand.

--Stack of frames scattered across the living room, one of which has been broken, the glass in dozens of pieces.

--Dog hair ALL over the couch, which is off limits to dogs.

...

Something on the other side of that window (i.e. in the side yard) clearly had my border collie riled up. And being riled up, she got tangled in the blinds. And then she panicked.

My memory tickled, aided in part by the pile of poo still on my doormat, and I remembered that the #$%@ Yorkie was in my side yard as I left for work this morning, while her owner worked under his truck, completely oblivious.

:-/

I stopped by Lowe's and picked up another pair of blinds, cleaned up the inside mess and hung the new blinds. Totally did not want to deal with the poo, so I honestly just dragged the whole doormat to the driveway. It's a duplex, and by the time I got home, my doormat was in my side yard with remnants of poo still on it. That's where it rests still, and will stay until I get home from work tomorrow.

I'm at a loss. Passive aggressive Yorkie with un-neighborly owners. A bored border collie. I have not the energy to deal with this stuff after a long day at work. And who the heck photographs poo?!?

Commence new normal

I have Footloose pictures to share, so I thought I'd post an update, too.  Will put the pics in a separate post, though.

School started this past Monday, as did Plaza Academy, and as expected it was a crazy week. It'll take a few more weeks for us to get into the groove of the new schedule, but we're getting there. Finding time for homework is going to be a challenge, especially for the AP and Pre-AP classes both kiddos are taking.

It was also my first full week on the job. I did have two mornings of training (I'm now CPR certified), but spent the rest of the week doing my real job. And had a fairly productive week! I do like my job, and I think I'll be good at it. I plan to front-load my week so I can take off early on Thursdays--our craziest day.

And as though we didn't have enough going on, Ragtime rehearsals started this week! What a wonderful cast!  Only music rehearsals thus far, but holy nugget we sound amazing. I'm excited because I get to be a hoity-toity resident of New Rochelle. Which means I get to wear a hat. And not just any hat. A fabulously over the top turn of the century ladies' hat. Such as those I was so envious of and didn't get to wear in Millionaire.

It's good to be busy, though I think the dogs would prefer us to be less so. The border collie is having some issues with me working all day and then us going to class and/or rehearsal. Need to find her some better toys and chew-things.

Next weekend is the last weekend of Forever Plaid, so we'll have a few weekends of no shows before Ragtime opens. We'll see Arsenic and Old Lace a few times, of course. And we'll have to continue our Fab Friday ritual of getting small ice cream cones at Braums, which started opening weekend after the Friday show. Five Fridays so far, dozens of flavors from which to choose, but each week it's been a frozen yogurt twist, a peppermint scoop, and a caramel apple scoop. We don't stray too far from our favorite things. :)

Also in the pipes: It was nearly a year ago that Mom handed me that stack of papers she'd printed from the Plaza website, and we plan to celebrate with a Woot Day Soirée in a couple of weeks. Woot! One year at Plaza!! It'll be after I get a paycheck, so we might even be able to have some real furniture in time for friends to sit on it!

That's it for now. Will post Footloose pics next.

Internet access!

Buahahahahah! It's ALIIIIIIVVE! (The computer, I mean).

We were without Internet access for nearly a month! Okay, when I say 'without Internet access', I'm speaking of REAL internet. We had our phones, which I guess count--we could facebook and browse reddit and whatnot. But it sure is nice to be able to type with ALL my fingers on a full-size keyboard!

Update on the job: I went for my pre-employment testing yesterday. Had my very first breathalyzer test, on which I scored a .000. Shocker. She even gave me an escape clause... I'd been sitting in the waiting room for more than 35 minutes, but she asked if I'd used any cough syrup or mouthwash in the last 15 minutes. Um, no. I think hair gel/spray is the most alcohol I've been in contact with in the last six months. She laughed at me 'cause I was just a wee bit excited--I'd only ever seen breathalyzers on television! Now I have first-hand, hands-on experience!

I had to be able to lift 25 lbs with only my arms, measured with a spring gauge. I got to 72 lbs before she stopped me. Had to step up and down the stairs at a specified pace for three minutes. I don't even think my heart rate elevated. What is sad is that there are young, so-called 'able-bodied' people who would not be able to meet these requirements.

Got a TB skin test, which I have to go get checked tomorrow. Right now it looks like a teeny needle stick.

Also tomorrow! Going to see Urinetown at ICT in Irving. My friends Caroline (Annie and Fiddler) and Jerry (Foreigner and Fiddler) are in it. I'll be taking Sunshine, another theatre kid, and my Ethel double Heather with me! (Norseman will be Plaiding). Very excited!

And yeah, still apprehensive and a little melancholy, but I choose happy.

Kinda freaky

Just a smidgen freaked out. One month before my house sold, I had a dream, detailed in this post: Celebrity Dream Oddities. In that dream "Rod Stewart showed up at our house, except it wasn't THIS house, you know what I mean? He drove a little blue Mini Cooper."

A month after that post, almost to the day, I learned that we'd be moving to another house. Our new landlord, Mike, sort of resembles a manly, bald Rod Stewart. And, get this... HE DRIVES A LITTLE BLUE MINI COOPER.

*goosebumps*

Little did I know...

I've been without Internet access for a while, and so much has happened since I last blogged, that I'm a little bit at a loss where to start. In my last post I said life was calming down. Ha. HahahahahahahaHA!

Little did I know that my house had been sold in foreclosure that very morning (but I wouldn't find out for another week). I won't go into gory details, but suffice to say life was NOT anywhere near a calming-down point.  Within three weeks I found a new place for the three of us to live, picked up, and moved. So easy to type, but really a STRESSSFUUULLL thing to do.

Our saving grace throughout the whole ordeal was Footloose and our amazing castmates. The fact that all three of us had that escape, where we could take the stage together, become other people, struggle as our characters and triumph every single time... It was precious.  I had no idea when Footloose opened just how much closer to Ethel's life mine would become. I had no idea what stress she would see me through. I had no idea how much those 'I love you, Mom' hugs from JB, my terrific stage son, would mean.

So after Saturday's closing show, all day Sunday, and into Monday, I was a hot mess. The show, and our saving grace, has ended, even though life's craziness goes on. The people that we've grown so accustomed to seeing over the last twelve weeks are headed back to their regular lives, many to college in other cities. We miss them already. A lot.

And a new chapter of life begins for us, too. I've got a new job, with Tarrant County Mental Health and Mental Retardation services as an employment specialist. My official first day is August 21st, but I've got pre-employment appointments next week. I haven't worked full time for someone besides me in a very long time; I've never worked full time as a single parent. It's going to be a huge adjustment for all of us, and I'm honestly a little scared. (What? Stacey scared?)

Tonight I went to preview night of Forever Plaid at Plaza. We helped with the changeover on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Norseman was asked to Assistant Stage Manage... It is such a cute show. Not as high-energy as Footloose, but quite entertaining nonetheless. It was still sad for me, though. One week ago, I was Ethel on that stage. I'm not sure if it helped or not to know the eyes I painted for Footloose are still there, visible if you know to look for them, under the cheesy Fuselounge wall fringe.

I did have a hard time letting go of Annie, largely because it was my first show. But at the time, I was already cast as Yente and had something to jump directly into. Millionaire's close was sad because it was such a small tight-knit cast, but I had no emotional attachment to Emma (frankly she annoyed me), and I had Guys and Dolls immediately after. Footloose, though... *sigh* This one has been especially hard to let go of. Ethel was me, and I was Ethel. She wore my clothes, now I'm wearing hers. She struggled and nurtured and danced victorious. I'm struggling and nurturing, and I hope someday to dance victorious. And I have nothing to jump directly into. Ragtime auditions are the evening of my first day of work. I may get cast, I may not. Even if I do, Ragtime is a big heavy show like Fiddler, not high-spirited and fun.

Until work/Ragtime, we're getting settled into the new place. Unpacking, moving in, adjusting. Trying not to think too much about upcoming changes. Missing our stage family (Sunshine and JB would argue about whose mom I was. "She's MY mom." "No, she's MY mom.").

God never gives you more than you can handle. Right about now I'm clinging to that promise.