In a matter of several minutes, my mother and I will be off to enjoy a night of culture at the theatre.

A professional acting troupe is putting on "Lost in Yonkers" at the auditorium here in town, a mere five minutes from my house.

I saw "LIY" in high school, and don't remember being awed by it. Of course, I was a punk high schooler, and probably just didn't "get it."

It should be fun. I'm older, wiser, and going with my mom, who is about as local as you can get...she'd wear sweatpants if I let her...but she likes getting out to these sort of things, and my dad doesn't touch this type of stuff with a ten-foot pole, so the burden falls to me to expose my mother to visceral experiences. *sigh*

I love my parents and I realize I just slandered them.

Anyway, ta-ta for now, lovelies.

I'm sure you are all wondering why I did not title this entry "Got To Give It Up Part Two." I'm also sure you've realized my reluctance to plagiarize the great, late Marvin Gaye.

Anyway.

Last fall, I performed in my first community theater production, called "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940." It was really fun, and sort of reignited that acting bug that I had in high school, but had faded in college and after. So, shortly after this show, I was asked to join the community theatre board of directors, which is quite sudden when you think about it, and probably tells you how desperate they were for new blood.

So, here I am, on the OCT Board of Directors. Not really knowing what's totally going on, but hey, I like drama.

Well, auditions are here for the first play of the new season. Guess who's been roped into assistant director?

I just returned this evening from my high school's production of "Little Shop of Horrors." And WOW! Yay them!

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there, but for me, "Little Shop of Horrors" is a movie moment that hovers on the edge of nostalgic obscurity. I remember seeing it, but remember nothing about it. Rick Moranis was the lead, I recall...but I liked him better in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and "Parenthood".

Anyway, so that's where I was, knowledge-wise. I have a few of the actors in my classes, and naturally, this whole week has been a tremendous build-up for them. And I must say, it was a damn fine performance. Everyone could sing, everyone could act, everyone played their part well. Particularly, the voices of Audrey and Audrey II were remarkable (high school kids, mind).

The only bad thing was the orchestra was too loud and it was hard to understand the singers' voices at times.

The set was fabulous, though, and the plant itself - COOL!

I took my mom and the two oldest children, and, with my teacher's free pass and reduced prices for the kids, we paid a total of $11 for two hours' worth of entertainment.

Not a bad night, all in all.

Again, way to go OHS drama department!

The great 80's band Loverboy once sang, "Everybody's working for the weekend."

I'm sure Loverboy was not singing their catchy little tune from the frozen snow-covered tundra that is Iowa.

After yet another snow day from school, I am NOT working for the weekend. It came a day early. And I am at loggerheads. It's a DAY OFF! Halle-frickin-lujah! But, a snow day now means another day in June...

You understand my emotional rendering.

Anyway, onto the weekend. We are supposed to be going to Ames tomorrow to watch ISU men's basketball versus Texas Tech. We're staying in a hotel with a pool (pets welcome for Mitsy). However, Ames got some major dumpage yesterday (maybe even a little today), so we'll see how fun THAT trip will be.

I hope we are able to enjoy ourselves. Ames is a town Brent and I always love to visit...we went to college there, and we just love going to our old haunts, etc. It's also kinda nice to eat at restaurants now that we wished we could have afforded when we were poor married college students. I'll also be able to visit a decent-sized bookstore, a Target, and other various shops I do not have much access to in southeast Iowa.

OK, guess I'll go now.

This is Mitsy. We brought her home from the Humane Society yesterday. She is a 4-year-old Boston Terrier...and just the sweetest thing.

She's turning out to be a wonderful addition. She's playful, but she has long relaxing periods where she just lays at your feet. The only problem so far is the cat. She doesn't seem to be taking to him too well.

Anyway....pics!



and gnawing her Nylabone...