Dallas Summer Musicals List for 2009 Revealed!

I was anxious to get my Sunday paper today because today is the day they were going to reveal the shows for next season's Dallas Summer Musicals. As many of you know, this is my first season to be a season ticket holder and I have really enjoyed it!! I got season tickets by myself because none of my friends would commit to the whole season, but I have had a blast getting to know the people in my section and I have loved almost every single show!! A couple of friends have expressed interest in going in for tickets this upcoming season, but I've decided that I'm renewing tickets whether or not they choose to join me.

So here they are:

1. Tarzan (March 17-29) - not really sure about this one
2. Happy Days The Musical (May 26-June 7) - again, not really sure about this one, but I liked the show and the music should be good, right?
3. Wizard of Oz (June9-21) - I'm kind of excited about this one, I love the movie, so I'm hoping that I'll love the musical too
4. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (June 23-July 5) - this may be my "Ring of Fire" musical - no interest in seeing it at all
5. A Chorus Line (July 7-19) - I'm soo there!!
6. Legally Blonde (July 21-August 2) - this is the musical I've been waiting to see!
7. Mary Poppins (September 24-October 18) - I'd really like to see this one too......

In addition - they have some special shows:
1. Rent (May 5-10) - YES!! Two of the original Broadway/movie actors (Anthony Rapp/Adam Pascal) will be in this tour - I'm soo there!
2. Fiddler on the Roof (May 19-24) - not too interested in

As I was talking with my aunt this AM, I agreed with her and my cousin's philosophy: You usually have a strong season followed by not such a strong season, then it rebounds. I'm hoping that the season we are just finishing is a strong season (and I think it is), that next season is a weaker season (which I think it is) and that means that the following season will be awesome!!

Here's to another year with Roland & Sylvia and the Gay Commentary Couple!! WOO HOO!! :)

Should I go to my 20th High School Reunion?

My 20th High School Reunion is 3 weeks from tonight. I'm not sure that I want to go. I'm really wrestling with the idea of attending.

If you've noticed my poll to the right of this post, please vote if you haven't done so. Vote even if you don't know me. I'm curious as to what people think.

Why am I hesitant? Well..... I've changed a lot since high school, some for the better, and some maybe not. Girls (I went to an all-girls school) can be so judgemental and harsh... and while we aren't girls anymore, I just don't know if I'm ready for that were it to happen. While I feel like I'm an accomplished person, I'm not married and childless and to some people..... that I'm missing those things....... makes everything else insignificant.

So I'll go ahead and pay my $40 for the Friday night event and take it from there.

If you've had your 20th, did you go? What did you think? What advice would you give me?

I have 21 days to figure this out....... and I don't want to regret the choice I make...... so talk to me!!

Meet Latarian Milton......

Latarian is an adventurous seven year old boy who lives with his grandma in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. One day he got mad at his momma and stole his Grandma's Dodge Durango and went joyriding with another 7 year old friend who "smokes with cigarettes." They hit parked cars, moving cars, and wrecked the car into a sign.

I love his reasoning why he did this: "I wanna do it because it's fun - fun to do bad things." Lovely.

Grandmama wants to beat his butt and would if she wouldn't go to jail. Perfect. And Latarian's punishment: "No video games for a weekend??"

You know, I can't do this justice..... here you go:



(I'd like to thank John for introducing me to Latarian!!)

You might think that's all we will hear about Latarian. But.... ohhhh... noooooo.... Latarian was at his neighborhood Walmart with his Grandmama when he wanted some chicken wings. Grandmama said no, but he ordered it anyways and when Grandmama put her foot down, Latarian done come undone.

So now he's in a hospital for a mental evaluation......



Moral of these stories: Don't make Latarian mad and let him have his chicken wings!!

We interrupt your lives for this important message......

Clay Aiken is GAY!! No, really, I'm totally serious!! I know - this is amazing news! I would have never thought that!! How surprised are you?? Are you in shock?? (C'mon, he wears more makeup than I do!!)

Well, if Clay Aiken is gay than I'm an almost-40 year old, overworked, underpaid, single and never going to get married dried up old bag......... oh, wait, I am!!!

You may now resume your lives already in progress........

Stitches are finally out!!

I feel like the skies should part, a ray of sunshine should shine down on me (but only if I have sunscreen with at least a 45 SPF and my sun hat), and the choir should be singing, "Hallelulah" as I'm now done with my skin cancer!!

I called today first thing to see if I could get in the AM, but the best they could do was this afternoon. But..... they are out, everything is healing perfect, and I'm good to go.....

.... that is for the next two weeks - then I have my 3 month checkup and the fun gets to begin all over again!!

STAY OUT OF THE SUN!! WEAR SUNSCREEN!!

Happy Hour.... with Children??!?!?! UPDATE

I regret to inform all of you that "Happy Hour.... with Children" ended with one child going to the ER for poking a stick in his eye. Guess it's good that there was only one bottle of wine for adults, so that they could think quick and get the appropriate medical attention.

I still stand by my earlier blog...... and I do love children..... just not as much as their parents love them......

Happy Hour.... with children ?!?!!?!

So..... you've had a rough week, you want to relax and enjoy the upcoming weekend, so what do you do? Go to Happy Hour, right? Have a few drinks, some snacks, and just relax - thankful that the week is over and you've got some time for yourself.....

Not for everyone.....

My sister was invited to a Happy Hour of sorts..... her friend with kids invited them over for Happy Hour tonight (who does Happy Hour on Saturday?).... there will be 1 bottle of wine (this tells me either to bring more wine or that drinking more than a glass around their "precious cargo" will be frowned upon) and some appetizers.... however, only people with children can stay for pizza dinner with the kids... others may use this as a jumping off point for their evening activities......

WTF?

What if you have kids and don't want to bring them? Is that okay?

What if you have kids and don't want/like pizza? Is that okay?

What if you are childless and love pizza? No dinner for you?

What if you are single, childless, hate wine, and love pizza?

I'm kinda confused by the whole concept.... I think sometimes people with children think that everyone loves to be around kids. If you think back, you probably didn't like being around other people's whiny, dirty kids when you were childless. You know what, get a babysitter and go out for goodness sakes! Don't subject us childless people to pseudo events disguised because you either don't want a babysitter or think everyone loves your kids as much as you do!!

Or, if you are too cheap for a sitter....... then invite us over later on in the evening after the anklebiters have gone to sleep.... we can drink and visit, your kids can sleep.... and the two don't mix!!

For me personally, after a week in a school, the last thing I want to do on the weekends is to act like I love being around kids when I don't have to/want to be..... (Ed.'s note: I LOVE children!! On Mondays-Fridays from 7:20-3:20. When I'm not working, I want to have the choice of whether I am around them or not. Most of my friends have cool kids and I love being around them. Some, however, do not.)

I'm sure the comments are coming, so let 'em rip!!

Hello, dumbass!!

Okay, it's been 24 days since my skin cancer surgery. Today is the day I'm getting stitches out..... or so I thought!

I left school, came home to change clothes and then I was heading to Plano. I pick up the paper I got when I had the surgery to take with me. It originally said I was to return in 12 days (09-08-08 at 3:20 PM). Then it had both of those marked out and under the 12 days, it then said 19 days.

So I assumed that it was now the 19th. Hello, dumbass!!

So as I read the paper, it's got the office hours and it shows that today's hours are from 10-2. There's no way that my appointment was today. So I get a calendar and count 19 days from my surgery. It was on Monday, 09-15-08. One week after my 12 day appointment on 09-08-08.... lovely!!

So basically I'll have these stitches for an extra week and who knows when they can get me in to take them out??

Why didn't someone call and confirm my appointment on the 15th? I would have been there if I had a call!

I'm sooo frustrated and mad right now!! I guess the good news is I'm home for the weekend early for once.......

Richardson Reads One Book.... and Mr. Mackey's New Career

Last night, I decided to do my yearly literary outing with my sister. Sarah lives in Richardson. While I've never lived in Richardson, I did go to RISD schools. I began my teaching career in Richardson. It has a special place in my heart.

Each year, they do a program called "Richardson Reads One Book." They select a book and invite the author to come and do a talk. We've seen Jodi Picoult and Jeannette Walls the last two years that we have gone. This is free to Richardson residents (I'm telling you...... free tickets and discounts on the Wildflower Festival.... I really may need to consider moving!)

The two previous years, we've had to park and hike. It's crazy - like every old gal over the age of 60 is there! It's a who's who of retired RISD teachers and librarians. It's held in the auditorium of Richardson High School (BIL Mike's alma mater - gonna mention Mike in my blog every chance I get!!).

When you walk in, there are blue tickets, pink tickets and yellow tickets. Yellow is the preferred color, with choice seating in the front. Pink is good seating, and blue is the free and cheap section. The last two years we've had blue seats, not great seats, but good enough.

We decide this year to have a plan. Mike is going to drop us off at the front right at 6:45 when the doors open so we can bust in and get good seats. He'll pick us up so we don't have to fight the traffic. This is genius!! So Mike drops us off at 6:45 and we are the second people in the door. We rush to the front of the blue section and grab our seats. PERFECTION!! So we spend the next 45 minutes chatting and people watching. (Ed.'s note: There was a plastic rat in my seat. Was it saving the seat for someone? I don't know... I put it in the seat in front of me, the girl was clueless and the rat ended up on the floor by my feet. If you set a rat free and it comes back to you, then it is yours. So it's in my purse waiting to scare the &*%#$*& out of someone sometime soon.)

The featured author is Chris Bohjalian (prounounced Bo-jay-lian). He was a great speaker and very engaging. Time flew!! We were so proud of our choice seats until we noticed that the place was not near as packed as last year!! We did not let this discourage us in the least!!

We decide that for next year we are going to make a donation and see if we can break into the pink/yellow sections. But we are definitely using Mike's shuttle service for the future - it rocked!!

Mike was waiting when we walked out and we were gone before most people had exited the auditorium. We head to eat dinner at a restaurant in Richardson (it's all about Richardson this night!). We get a table and choose to sit outside because it's sooo beautiful out.

Our waiter was a lively jovial fellow who only said.... "mmmmkay" and "thank you." Here's how it started out:

Waiter: What would you like to drink?

Sarah: A glass of wine

Waiter: Wine? mmmkay, thank you

Waiter (to me): And you?

Me: Water

Waiter: mmmkay And Sir? (to Mike)

Mike: Wine

Waiter: thank you... mmmkay, would you like bread?

Basically, it's like this video clip, just insert wine, bread, pasta, pizza in between the mmmkays and you'll get the drift:

You get the idea? It's like Mr. Mackey from South Park!! Dinner was good, th company was better and I enjoyed my literary cultural event. Now we have to wait until April or May to hear who will speak next year!! I can't wait!! :)

My Brother-in-Law Mike

My sister Sarah has been married for a little more than three years to Mike. I like Mike. He is a good guy, he treats my sister well and makes her happy. Our family isn't the easiest group to break into, but he's done a super job! He's smart, he's sarcastic, he's fun to go with for dinner and beer. Mike & I get along really well. (Ed.'s note: At least I think we do.... for all I know, he may hate my guts, but I don't think so!!)

Mike doesn't like chocolate (which amazes me that ANYONE would not like chocolate). He is an avid golfer - most weekends when I call Sarah, he's hit the links. Mike really enjoys meat, cheese, bread and beer. He ate 3 cheeseburgers for lunch the other day, thus earning the name the "Burger King." Mike hates "The Hills" and it drives him crazy that smart girls like my sister and me love to watch that show. Mike and I can annoy my sister when we gang up on her to talk about things, like his sandwich shop (I can't say the name, but it's a good one!).

So on Friday, Mike and Sarah meet me for dinner at the Blue Goose in Plano. It was 8:15 on Friday and we got a table right away, which was awesome! So, I'm not really sure how we got to this conversation, but we started talking about Facebook. My sister is kinda getting into it (but I don't think she wants to admit it), and ironically, Mike was having Sarah look up names too. But he just thinks that Facebook is ridiculous. So is My Space (which I do kind of agree with him on this one). He asked me, "How old are you? 18?"

But he really went crazy when I told him I had a blog and that I blogged. "Why do you blog? It's a diary online." I tried to explain that I'm funny, people like to read what I write and that it's usually very sarcastic observations about life or my obsessions with musicals, books, and Facebook. I got the same lecture that I did when he realized my sister and I love to watch "The Hills." He finally realized that he wasn't going to win this conversation, and we changed the subject.

So for fun, I told him I'd do a blog entry all about him...... so here it is!

PS - I talked to my sister today. They went to eat with Mike's family last night. Apparently Mike asked his younger sister (age 30) if she had these things (blog, My Space, Facebook). She did not. But he found out his older sister (my age) has all 3. ALL THREE!! So he told Sarah that it must something "our" (meaning his older sis and me) generation does and that "they" (meaning Mike, Sarah & Mike's younger sis) don't.

In case you are wondering, Mike is 4 years younger than me. Not a generation younger. Nice try, bro-in-law!

Mike, when you finally join the program and get a Facebook page, will you send me a "'Lil Green Plant" for my Green Patch? I can blog all about it!

Mamma Mia!!

Despite Ike's best attempts to mess with today, Danyielle and I went to the Bass Performance Hall in Ft. Worth to see "Mamma Mia!" I loved it!! Having seen the movie numerous times, I was hoping that I'd love the musical..... and I did! I always love me some good ABBA music!

The Bass Performance Hall is beautiful and amazing - it was my first visit there. It's a small theatre, only seating 2000 people. We had amazing seats, downstairs on the right side. We had a great view of the stage.

The music was great and the storyline was good. At the end, everyone was up on their feet clapping and singing as they did the two closing numbers..... what fun!!

It was a great day, despite all the rain!! Hoping my Houston friends are safe!

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Now you can subscribe to my page and never miss a beat. Scroll down to the bottom of my page and find the subscribe button!

Now there is no excuse to keep up with my adventures being 38 and Absolutely Fabulous!

Remembering the Day.....

It's hard to believe that it's been 7 years since 9-11. The memories are still fresh in my mind. I was living in Tallahassee, teaching 4th grade. I was teaching math when my principal came in and handed me a folder and told me to read it. I remember it saying something like:

"There is a terrorist attack happening in NYC and Washington, DC. Do not turn on the TV or alert the students about what is happening. Stay calm and we will keep you posted. We will meet after school briefly to discuss what will happen tomorrow."

She left my room and I tried to resume teaching. I kept repeating the same phrase over and over and the kids knew something was wrong. We took them to special areas and sat in one of the classrooms, watching in shock. The towers collapsed while we sat there, crying and scared. I remember picking up my class and trying to stay positive. It was the longest day ever!

Students starting getting picked up early and the remaining kids said, "Why is everyone going home?" - I think I told them that they all had dentist appointments. Somehow we made it through the day, met with our principal, and went home.... not sure what the future held for us.

During that car ride home, I called my Mom, Dad, and Sarah. I was scared. It was then that I decided I was moving home to Texas once the school year ended.

One of my fourth graders lost her aunt and uncle in the World Trade Center towers. My heart still hurts for her and all the others who were lost.

So.... here we are 7 years later..... today we wore red, white, and blue to celebrate "Patriot Day." But are we really celebrating..... or remembering? As I interacted with kiddos today, I realized that our kinder, first and most of our second graders weren't even born.... and our 4th graders were toddlers and don't remember it......

I don't think I can ever forget it.

God Bless America!!

(Ed.'s note: My normal whiny, sarcastic self will be back on the next post. I needed to mark this day in a serious manner.)

Something to Look Forward To!!

Well, you know how I love to travel to places and have new adventures. I'm starting to line up my travels for the rest of this year and for next year. Here's what I've got so far:

November 2008 - Thanksgiving in Villa Ridge with Sigh Sister Betty and Cousin Kate. We'll do some things in St. Louis (Anheiser Busch brewery, City Museum, Italian food on the Hill), then cruise down to Branson and Eureka Springs for a few days. So it's like a trip within a trip....... and be sure to check out the blogs from the road on my adventure!!

March or April 2009 - Return trip to Bartee Meadow and Hot Springs. Our last visit was October 2007, so we will be overdue for a return trip.

July 2009 - Middle America Tour...... Two chicks, a map, and an RV..... heading to Mt. Rushmore.... where will we end up and what will we find.... (you know I'll find us some good stuff!)

(Ed.'s note: Whenever I say "Middle America," I use my Pauly Shore voice from "Son-in-Law" when he lays on the ground, saying, "Mii-iid-dle Aa-mmerr-iii-ca"! Anyone?)

And even farther on down the road....

• Sigh Sisters Retribution Tour - You wouldn't come to us, so we are coming to you!! Watch out!! Stops might include New Jersey, Wash Mo, and Richardson
• Oh, Canada! Tour - visiting our neighbors to the north and to celebrate my big 4-0 (but FYI, that's a LONG time from now!)

I love knowing I have adventures waiting for me!! WOO HOO!! :)