Theater debut and big hair

Yesterday afternoon my oldest heathen called me at work and was all in a tither. Now mind you she is 16 years old so tithers happen several times a day and when she calls and the first word out of her mouth is Mom.................in a shaky, high-pitched, drawn out kind of voice........I have to decipher if it is an oh my god I am bleeding to death sounding mom or a guess who I just passed in the hall and he smiled at me sounding mom. So I most always say something so June Cleaver or Carol Brady like "Hello, my brilliant beautiful offspring....how can I make your life easier" and this is said in a very even and calm voice so as not to give away that I cannot tell the mood in which she is calling.

It is after school and she has been staying after school for several weeks for theater practice. This child is also the child that has always enjoyed being the center of attention. (I think she gets that from her Dad) However, she has only worked "backstage" on the school productions because she is to "afraid" to be onstage.

"I am going to be onstage" she says still in that squeaky, shaky voice. "What" I say. I am thrilled because I know this will open the door for her to want to be onstage. "Wait" my brain says - Hold the phone - Back the truck up. For the first time in history, the production is a musical. Alarms go off, will she have to sing? Dance? Does she know how?

Yea, one of the other girls can't perform tonight and I am going to do her part. She tells me. She also mentions that it is not a large part and must be that she knows it okay or she wouldn't have been asked to do it. But she swears me to secrecy. You see her dad and both sets of grandparents and her sister and I are all going to go tonight. I must also mention that we are not going any other night and purchased the tickets in advance so what are the chances of this happening.

She was beautiful, seriously beautiful and although I realize that this happened several months ago. I was just going through my old posts and found this and decided that you needed to know it anyway.

P.S. Follies are coming up soon and she isn't "on-stage" but she is student director and that is a HUGE DEAL.

I.....

I live my life waiting for it to start.



I work in hell.



I talk in incomplete sentences, which drives people crazy.



I wish I would have lived my life less afraid.



I enjoy a good discussion/argument.




I look hideous in yellow.




I smell almost everything before I eat it.




I hide from the vault guy.




I pray for my children.



I walk around the cemetery when I am angry or hurt.




I sing to relieve stress.




I can survive.




I watch movies that I love over and over and over again.




I yearn for solutions.




I daydream about running away to the woods.



I want my children to know that they have a place to call home.




I cry, to easily and in front of people and shouldn't.


I read to escape.



I love unconditionally.




I wonder why there is hate?




I touch everything when I shop.




I hurt people with sarcasm.




I fear alot less than I used to.

I hope that my girls know how wonderful and powerful they are.

I break easily.



I eat hotdogs on my pizza.



I quit smoking this year.



I bathe nude.



I drink cheap wine and I like it.



I save corks.




I hug a pillow when I sleep.




I miss my grandma.




I forgive easily.




I learned not to trust everyone before they give you a reason not to.




I have so much more than I realize.



I don't have patience for lies.



I kiss fish before I release them.




I wonder why we are where we are, for what purpose and where are we going?

Tag assignment

Deb tagged me and I was supposed to post the fourth picture in the fourth folder in my pictures folder. I was so excited, it was my first blogging assignment. So I immediately went to my pictures and the fourth folder and oh no, there are only 2 pictures in there and they are scans of cards I made. My hands got a little sweaty and the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I was afraid. I was afraid because I know how Deborah likes to follow the rules and now I am going to bend them and I don't want to ruffle Deborah's feathers (okay she really isn't a bird for all you rule followers out there, it is just a figure of speech) because she will be at my house during Thanksgiving and she could short sheet my bed or something. What will I do.

So I improvised, I went to the next folder that had more than four pictures and this is what I got. This is probably one of the worse pictures that I have of my beautiful baby girl. I am not sure what she is doing. I do know that we were celebrating Christmas at Nana G's because of the other pictures in the folder. I don't know who took the picture and I am not even sure what song is playing on the CD player. I didn't want to cheat or make anyone think that my life is a blur of perfect digital pictures. Because my life is not a blur of perfect anything.

So I hope that I fulfilled my tagged responsibility and this made me think. Can I start my own tag? Can I Deb. Because you are my only reader or at least my only commenter, I am asking you for permission to start my own tag.

Oh I almost forgot, I get to tag four people.

Dic Dic

Kenzi

Kirsten

Mom - try starting a blog and posting a picture. Really it could be fun. You could blog about retirement with dad.

Mimi and the girls big adventure part 4

We decided to stop in Mackinaw City and do a little shopping and thought we might get something to eat. One bad thing about Honey Mustard Pringles is they don't last very long. So we started looking for some fulfilling nourishment.

Sorry, but I have to interupt myself here and insert one of the most insane things that I think I have ever seen. A petosky stone vending machine. WHAT!!!! really WHAT!!!! I understand that people have just about picked the beaches clean of petosky stones and they are getting harder and harder to find, but seriously. When you find them in the gift shops they are polished and all pretty, sometimes you find them in jewelry or used as a paperweight - but WHAT!!!! These were not polished and they were not in jewelry or some other type of souvenier. They weren't expensive, if you don't mind paying for something that with a little work you can find for free. Oh wait I guess the same could be said for bottled water and heck I buy that, so what am I thinking - Crud, I could have bought a petosky stone and missed the chance. Oh well, there is always next year.

Back to the fulfilling nourishment, we start looking around and there is Subway, Pizza, Burgers, wait we can get this stuff at home. So back in the car we go and decide to cross the bridge into St. Ignace there could be something there to eat. Wait, halt, hold the phone, back the bus up.........Did I just say CROSS THE BRIDGE. I did, I said cross the bridge. Not just the proverbial "we will cross that bridge when we get to it" bridge. THE bridge, the might mac, the largest suspension bridge in the continental united states. Maybe even the largest suspension bridge ever. Heck, I think it may just be bigger than the great wall of china. I am pretty sure it was what Simon and Garfunkel were singing about when the sang "Bridge over Troubled Water". And I was going to drive across it. Remember me, I am panicky, and can't drive to the nearest shopping mall by myself. ...........

And there goes the last exit in the lower pennisula. Um..... Hello...... I am driving across the bridge and you know what it is kind of fun. It is really high and there is a slow moving vehicle in my non-grated lane, My youngest is sitting in the front seat and has never seen the bridge from the front seat and we are singing and this vehicle is moving so sloooooow. So being the great adventurer that I am passed this slow vehicle. Now passing this vehicle means that I have to drive on the grating here we go and it made a cool humming sound. For years when riding across the bridge I wouldn't let my driver go onto the grating and here I was driving on it - Woooo Hooo

The last few weeks

Hey - remember me. I have been crazy busy lately. Here are my excuses - property tax time at work. That means hours and hours and hours of calculating and smiling and collecting and balancing - in between all of those numbers - I have been running the female brat pack to cheerleading and volleyball and band practice and theater. After all of the rain we got, I had to mow the lawn (It needs it again now) and then the carpet needed vacuuming and then one day last week the dog wanted to go outside and then the darn canine wanted back in again. Didn't he know I was busy. Oh yea and I had to go to the grocery store and then I had to feed my darling offspring and then they needed help with their homework and then...and then....and then.... and then..... and I still need to tell you about crossing the bridge. Okay okay Deborah calm down, I know that you are my only reader and at the very least my only commenter. How do I know that you ask.. because even Mom's comment the other day was really me!!! Yep she was standing behind me but it was me.......

Mimi and girls big adventure (part 3)

So off we went. Headed North, Mamma Mia soundtrack blaring, snacking on our new favorite Honey Mustard Pringles (only available for a limited time). I should also mention that Kirsten is driving, so I can sit back, relax, read and wait until one of us screams, "Hey, I want to stop there". Well it wasn't too long and we passed a little giftshop that looked right up our alley. Woodstock gifts in Lake City. Now to say this was right up our alley was an understatement. We love cabiny (new word) stuff. There were bears, there were moose, there were indians, there were tractors (?), Lots of wood, t-shirts, sweatshirts, candles and even a bathroom. Wow, why did we think that we wanted to go any further? We hung out here for about an hour and then it was back on the road.

Kirsten was getting tired of driving (after mis judging a four way stop in Lake City - but hey it could have happened to anyone and will) so I jumped in the driver seat and off we went. Now right after we left Lake City we decided to head East and get on I-75 to head up to Gaylord. We thought (acutally I thought) we might stay there for the night but the girls wanted to keep driving and it was early so off we went. Our next stop was the last rest area in the lower pennisula with - Yes, you guessed it - a scenic overlook. So off we went to the scenic overlook - it really is beautiful. The girls were waving at the cars passing below and we were all thrilled when someone waved back or honked. We are easily ammused, but the entertainment was free.

Next stop Sea Shell City. The man eating clam. The City of Sea Shells. We had never been there. Oh, we had seen the signs, we had the desire to stop and see the city where the streets are paved with sea shells. We just knew that we would see pirates and mermaids and shipwrecks. What else could be at Sea Shell City. We could taste the Salt Water Taffy already. (Get it, Get it Salt water taffy, man I crack myself up). Off the exit, into the parking lot, take a picture by the sign to prove that we had been there. Here we go.......

What...... just another gift shop. No paved in sea shell roads... No mermaids.....No shipwrecks. Okay really you could buy all of those things and every conceivable type of shell you could think of. There really were alot of cool things to look at and maybe, I really did know all of this going in, but it is fun to dream. Maybe I will go watch The Little Mermaid.

Next up...... crossing a bridge

Mimi (and girls) big adventure part 2

In our last installment, Mackenzi had to take in a (clear throat) sample. I forgot to mention that everything was perfectly fine - she just had changed soap and it didn't agree with the ummm area.



So we are off to breakfast with in Hastings with Grandma and Grandpa. Nothing to exciting to mention. Grandma is in food love with the multigrain pancakes at Mill's Landing in Hastings.






So off we go north on M-66 we had no itinerary or schedule. We only knew two things, we were going to have fun and we were going to stop whenever we got the whim. So off we go, through, Ionia (we were there once this summer to attend the B-93 birthday bash) and further north to Stanton, this is where something happens. I'm not sure what happened but all of a sudden we knew we weren't in Kansas anymore. All of a sudden the road wasn't - um - how should I say it - of the best quality anymore. Seems the asphalt was a little more - um - bumpy. Apparently we zigged when we should have zagged, Jigged when we should have jogged. Anyway we ended up on a road that was not north M-66.






Now the girls tend to get a little panicky if they think we are "lost". They have asked many times on road trips - "Where are we" - not because they are wondering when we will arrive at our destination, but, they do not trust me to get them to the destination. I do not have a history of becoming extremely lost, so I really don't know why they would question my capability. I on the other hand think that it is fun to get off the beaten path - I have said for years that you can't get lost in Michigan. You either run into water (that being one of the great lakes) or Indiana or Ohio (two of the lesser states) (Sorry Deb, really I am just kidding) or a really big bridge (one of the bigger bridges).


Another funny thing that has happened since I have gotten more mature is that I actually use that little navigational tool that is built into my car known as the compass. I am directionally challenged. I know, I know, look for the sun and I know where it rises and where is sets and blah, blah, blah. Well it was overcast and you couldn't find the sun and because I was driving Mom's car I was not able to use the little directional thingy. So I was not 100% confidant that we were headed in the right direction, however, I was about 82% sure and we know that the odds were with us. Well, after about 30 minutes we ran right into M-66 again and all was right with the world. So here we go again, North on M-66. Through six lakes (actually the place that we found M-66 again), through Remus, Barryton, (during this time we have been discussing when we should go East and get on I-75, just haven't decided when to).






When all of a sudden we pass the cutest little church. Seriously little church. We just have to turn around and check it out. That is what we are doing on our adventure, checking out new things.









So we stop at the "Wayside Chapel".





The most adorable little chapel. There is room for four parishioners and a pulpit. There was a "guest book" and some of the people that had visited had left prayer requests also it seemed that the chapel was non-denominational as there was several different versions of the Bible and several different types of hymnals.



We thought this was an appropriate way to start our adventure and a little prayer to keep us safe didn't hurt at all.



To be continued.........