I Hate . . .

Word 2007--can't even stand it.
Vista--don't get me started.
No seeum (invisible) bugs--hate inhaling a bug, or swallowing one.
Mud--I've lost small vehicles in some of the mud puddles around my house.
Cold sores that appear right before an important event.
Wrinkles under my eyes and between my eyebrows.
Kids that can work computers better than me.
The jiggly fat I can't seem to exercise off.
Touching wet fingers in the pool.
Sleeping with any of my kids--they kick me all night, or pee on me, or both.

I guess that sums it up. My daughter asked what prompted this post. Easy--trying to deal with Word 2007. It simply makes no sense. And the help pane is no help at all. Makes me want to scream for a long time!!

My daughter performed in the play, Curious Savage, and one of the characters, Mrs. Paddy, only had a few lines, but every time she spoke, she listed what she hated. It was very humorous and then touching at the end when she finally said the one thing she loved--Mrs. Savage.

And the list of things I love is much longer than this one :).

Proud Mamma

Wow, this week has flown by. The end of the school year is always jam-packed with activities, concerts, projects, plays, and, this year, award presentations.

I have a daughter who will be graduating from high school in two weeks. She has been involved in theater all four years of high school. This year she's served as the secretary of the troupe. She played Mrs. Harcourt in the fall musical Anything Goes and a sweetly insane Florence in Curious Savage in February. She is now playing the lead, Madeleine, in the play The Clearing. She's worked extremely hard this year to learn and then apply what she's learned to her acting and last week she was awarded Acting Student of the Yearfor her high school. She was shocked, but so pleased with the award as it was a validation of sorts. After all, we artists are a sensitive bunch and every positive message we receive makes a big difference.

A couple of nights ago we were invited to another awards night where she was recognized as the student with the most improved GPA. Her freshman year was kind of nightmare as far as GPA goes, but she worked really hard to raise her GPA and for a trimester had a 4.0 (while being heavily involved in theater and attending early morning seminary). Her dad and I were very proud of her accomplishment in raising her GPA.

We so often hear about the bad things teenagers are doing and too often fail to recognize their accomplishments. I was struck by how many kids received recognition awards and/or scholarships. One young man receive a scholarship valued at $168,000. Others received four-year full-ride scholarships as well as other monetary awards for outstanding service and scholarship while in high school. Several students received numerous awards and recognition and it was gratifying seeing so many young people not only work hard, but receive recognition for that work. We have many, many good kids graduating from high school.

My daughter was awarded a ring for her GPA improvement and we bought her a dress to go with it :). I'm so thankful she, and the rest of her siblings, are making good choices. In a world where it's easy to do the wrong thing, I am grateful every day when my kids choose to do the right thing. While there's plenty of evil in the world and Satan stands ready to gently lull any and all who will listen down the road to hell, I am ever so thankful there are those youth who ignore Satan's subtle tricks and instead listen to that still small voice that will guide them to true happiness.

Yes, today I am a Proud Mamma.

The Curious Savage

For anyone who's followed my blog, you know that my kids are all into theater. Some families spend their time on the football field or the gym, we spend our time in the theater watching plays. Last year, I had kids in 3 different plays all at the same time. I've had kids rehearsing for as many as 4 plays at once. So, yes, we are into theater--which makes sense since I have so many drama queens and performers at my house.

For the last two weekends I had two daughters performing in the play, "The Curious Savage." It's a play that's set in a sanitarium--many of the characters are crazy, but very sweetly insane. My older daughter played a character who fixated on a doll thinking it was her dead son. One of the characters survived a plane wreck in the war and lost his mind in the process, another was OCD about everything, while another one stopped talking 20 years ago because her husband told her to shut-up. One other character couldn't distinguish between reality and fantasy. What was interesting is how each actor developed such a unique character.

When the sane Mrs. Savage is committed to the institution by her money-hungry children who are intent on taking the family fortune for themselves, the patients befriend Mrs. Savage. She learns to love the patients and the last scene is about how she sees each of the patients. It's such a sweet and touching scene. She sees my older daughter as a mother to a real child (my youngest daughter played the son in the last scene) and it was so sweet. I cried.

If you ever have chance to see this play. take the opportunity. It's a well-written play that ties up so nicely at the end, and leaves you with a good feeling. I watched it 7 times and enjoyed each time.

Of course, it wouldn't be my life unless there was something else that happened. I let my youngest daughter have piece of gum to keep her occupied during the performance on Friday night but told her she'd need to spit it out before she went on stage. She did. On me. Or, my pants to be exact. So when it was time to go backstage for her call, she stuck to my pants with a gooey, sticky gummy mess. Color me displeased. I frantically tried to scrape gum from the back of her pants and finally had to send her on stage. Needless to say, she's not allowed to chew gum for the rest of her life.