Dearly Departed test audience

I got to be a test audience member tonight for the upcoming production of Dearly Departed. It seems that the director wanted to make sure the actors got used to people laughing during the show, so he asked some people to come and help out. I asked Marcus to come with me and happily he did. I think he had a great time.

This show is so funny - seriously, I have never laughed so hard! I'll review it at some point, but if you're in Fairhope and love Southern comedies, you have to call the theatre immediately to get tickets! The box office opened today!

lying in the hammock

Almost four years ago, I purchased a hammock at a silent auction. It came in a package with everything you need to make really good margaritas and a beach umbrella. The umbrella has been used so much it fell apart last summer and I took the margarita stuff to a party held by a Jesuit Volunteer who was working at my former place of employment while I was still there, so that took care of that. The hammock, however, has been sitting in the closet in the front room, waiting to be used. Yesterday, I bought a hammock stand and today I set the hammock stand up in my back yard and had a very nice afternoon reading outside in it. I remembered why I paid for the thing in the first place - I love them! I had just purchased "No Nest for the Wicket," the next book in the Meg Langslow mystery series by Donna Andrews. I love those books! Anyway, this one is screamingly funny and a perfect book to read outside, as much of it takes place during an extreme croquet game.

It was a lovely afternoon, and as the weather continues to warm up over the next few weeks, I look forward to many more like it!

Work doesn't have to be horrible

Just dropping in to say something very quickly. I've come to the realization that work doesn't have to be horrible. It is entirely possible to really enjoy your job. I know I do now, and it makes all the difference in my outlook, my mood, and my ability to enjoy life in general. It's great to be in a good place again!

counterpane 1

It's been a busy week, both at work and after work. I've been spending about an hour a day writing after work, which has been working out very well. I'd update the progress bar, but I forgot where I got the code and I can't find a good progress bar anywhere! I'll do some searching this weekend.

I've also been working on a very fun knitting project! My aunt gave me a ton of Christmas yarn last December, leftovers from her crocheted Christmas throw, and I finally found a pattern that I want to use. It's a counterpane square pattern, and I'm using some of my extra acrylic to test knit a square. Here it is:

The squares are large, so you only need four of them for a small throw. The first time I saw a complete version of the blanket, I thought the leaves all coming together in the center looked a bit like a flower, so I decided to make it a poinsettia. It obviously won't look exactly like one, but it'll give a nice impression of one, especially if I do the leaves in red and the background in green. The pattern has some clearly defined sections, so I'm changing colors in the logical places and will hopefully use up most of the yarn my aunt gave me. It'll probably end up being a gift for my mother, because she saw the pattern and loved it. I'll see how I feel about it after it's finished. I may love it too much! It's quite easy and quick, which kind of shocked me. I expected it to be very difficult. Well - we'll see how I feel when I get to the next section!

what a weekend!

I'll be posting about my film festival adventures on the Casual Critic blog probably this evening. A more detailed description of the weekend will be there, because most of the weekend was spent participating in the festival and then spending time with the kids.

In case you were wondering, I decided not to participate in Script Frenzy this year, mostly because I... um... forgot about it! I was going to prepare and do an outline and everything, but in all the insanity surrounding getting a new job and everything, it just slipped my mind. Oh well... I didn't have a good idea anyway, so it's not a loss. What I am going to do is to concentrate harder on the Draha outline because it is taking FOREVER to complete! It's my fault, I haven't been committing the time I need to commit to it and it is suffering as a result. I will recommit to it and finish the entire detailed outline (all 5 books) by the time NaNo rolls around. I'm not sure how other writers do this, but my detailed outlines tend to be a chapter by chapter summary, including major plot points and scenes that are important to the chapter, so each chapter may have several long paragraphs describing what happens in it. Of course, this often changes, but it's so useful to have that framework. If it is done sooner, I will go ahead and start over on the first book (so much has changed from the original draft!) and do the second for NaNo. If not, I'll do the first book during NaNo and continue with the others at a pace similar to NaNo (with the detailed outline, that is usually possible) until all five are in first draft form. At least, that's the plan.

I just started a new knitting project that I find very exciting! Details and pictures later.

The View

No, I'm not talking about the TV show... the view from my desk in my office. Check it out, isn't it cool?? I love my office, I love my job and I love my view. I eat lunch at my desk every day just so I can spend lunchtime looking out the window at the cars that zoom by on the Interstate. It's nice. Most of the time I have the blinds only slightly open because of the intense amount of sunlight that comes in, and also because I don't want to be distracted by the view, but at lunchtime, I like to open the blinds and let the sunlight come in. It's a nice way to spend a lunch break.

feeling better

Thanks for the kind words, both of you! I'm feeling better now, although not 100% yet. I decided to give my back one more night of rest before diving back into the exercises, but I did do a bit of yoga today and it felt really good to stretch out those muscles!

I'm completely exhausted tonight. Not sure why, but I am. I think I'll make a nice cup of hot tea, take a steaming hot bath and go to bed early. What an exciting life I lead, right?