TGIM

Surely I'm not the only mom that actually looks forward to Mondays? And it's not because the kids head back to school or anything, since only one of my three goes to public school (and that's mostly because you're not allowed to homeschool foster children in our state.)

Weekends just throw our routine all out of whack. And for a person who doesn't really have/want/thrive on routines...I sure do like my version of normal.

Last week was crazy busy. Here's a recap.

Monday - accidental audition (see previous posts.)

Tuesday - early celebration of the hubby's birthday. He is now 42 and I have no idea how I came to be married to such an old man.

Wednesday - hubby's actual birthday, which meant that I bought him lunch. Headed to church to teach my class of wild and crazy first graders, but sneaked out early for callbacks (see Monday.) Came home, sat down, and clicked "refresh" on the Theatre Guild website until the cast listed was posted. Panicked.

Thursday - company meeting for the show, which basically consists of giving them money (for t-shirts, scripts, etc) and reading through the script. Y'all. This show is hilarious. I am not exaggerating one bit when I tell you that I had tears rolling down my face while I was trying to read, I was laughing so hard. I don't know how in the world I'll ever memorize all of these lines, and especially how I'll do this show without laughing all the way through!

Friday - what did I even do on Friday? Oh my gosh, now I'm losing days. Oh yes, I went to the grocery store, because Friday was pay day and we were out of absolutely everything. Note to self: clean out the back of my van. It was like grocery Jenga trying to cram everything back there, and crackers fell out on my foot when I got home and opened it back up.

Saturday - first real rehearsal - just me and the other half of the Odd Couple, Olive. I love that the director sat us down first thing and talked us through really examining our characters' thoughts, frames of mind, and motives. Then we got to work...flopping across chairs, chasing each other around the stage, and yelling a lot. It was fabulous.

On Saturday night, we went to a party (at "Olive's" home, which is gorgeous and made me want to come home and clean...I didn't do it, but I did think about it) for the cast of the last show that we did, The Homecoming. It was great seeing everyone again...I think this should be a thing after every show. If you've never been part of a community theatre group, I highly recommend it. Even if you're not a singer/dancer/actor, there are so many other ways to be involved - selling tickets, working backstage, etc - and it really does become a second family. That, as much as the shows themselves, keeps us going back for more!

Side note: I tried a new Pinterest recipe for this party, and I'm so glad I did. It's always a little scary trying a new recipe when you're taking it to a social gathering to share before you've even taste tested, but this one worked out great:

These were sooooo good. Moist and chewy and fudgy and ohmigosh, I'm going to go finish off the few that were left as soon as I'm done with this post. Milly helped me make them, and they didn't take long at all. I did have to bake them for an extra five minutes to get the top layer nice and browned, but then they were absolute perfection. You can find the recipe on this blog: Living Beyond Measure

Sunday - technically the first day of this week, but I'm going to call it the last day of last week, because this is my blog and I can do that.

We woke up to SNOW! Now, I spend 364 days a year wishing for snow (365 days on leap years), and very rarely get it. On the one morning that I didn't want snow...snow. Thankfully, it was warm enough that it didn't stick to the roads, and church proceeded as usual. Because...

...my Milly was baptized this morning! I am so proud of my girl, and so happy that she made this decision. She looked fearless in that baptismal in front of hundreds of people, and came bouncing back to our seat afterward in her poofy white dress, white sweater...and black combat boots. Because, you know, that's my kid. Bless her, she's going to be the rebel in any situation.

Gene also did a great job baptizing her. I would give any amount of money if I had a blooper reel to show you of him rehearsing his 'lines' in the days prior to the baptism. In our church, it goes like this:

Baptizer: (Name), have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?

Baptizee: (affirmative response)

Baptizer: Based on your profession of faith, I baptize you my (brother/sister/daughter/whatever) in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

*splash*

I've heard this enough times that I knew it ver batim...so I texted it to him early in the week, giving him plenty of time to read and re-read in preparation. And he practiced...and practiced...and practiced...and still didn't *quite* have it down on Saturday night. He was terrified. Shaking and stammering and it was so, so funny. (This is why he leaves the whole theatre thing to us girls.) But he absolutely nailed it on Sunday morning. I was very proud.

And now it's Monday. I've cleaned my bathroom and done very little else. The girls begged for a day off from school, which is only fair since the public schooled one (whom I still have not given a blog nickname) didn't have school today either. Maybe I'll hit another productive spurt later on this evening...but if not, that's okay too. Days that we get to stay at home without a laundry list of errands and things to do...well, they don't roll around very often. So we are being bums and enjoying it to the fullest.