I Heart Weekends :)

Friday - 9:45 AM
Since I have off on Fridays, my weekend begins now! My favorite part of weekends in general, and Fridays in particular, is getting to catch up on all the sleep I’ve missed throughout the week.

Today I wake up to discover that one of the actors in the Vacation Bible School dramas I’m directing needs a ride to rehearsal later that afternoon; since I only have room in my car for two people, and Maggie will be riding with me, I call another actor to see if he can give him a ride. He can – problem solved!

Friday mornings are my time to do little tasks and relax. I wander around downstairs greeting my family, then I put away my clean laundry, write emails, make my bed, and generally tidy my room. I think about breakfast but lack the motivation to fix anything real so instead I snack on low-point things from my fridge – nonfat string cheese, blueberries, etc. I go to brush my teeth and take a minute to spray the upstairs bathroom with cleaner to make it easier to deep-clean later.

I also get my first “Good morning!” text from my best friend, Robin, who lives in Alabama. We make sure to keep in touch via text and phone call throughout the day – it makes us feel more connected even though we’re hundreds of miles apart! We text back and forth for a while about our plans for the day.

I realize I’m free tonight and text another friend to set up a dinner date – we’ve been meaning to get together to reconnect for weeks but this is the first time both of us have had free time! We plan a meet-up for 6:00.

12:00 PM
Time to get dressed. I’m in a quandry, since I want to be comfortable for rehearsal but also look nice for dinner. I try on various outfits – it’s one of those days. In the middle of my “fashion show”, Maggie comes in to ask my advice on a project she’s working on. Once she leaves, I choose a long denim skirt and fuschia polo – bingo!

12:45 PM
Time to leave for rehearsal. Maggie and I load into my truck and discuss where we want to grab lunch. Strangely, both of us are craving McDonalds (something I NEVER crave!) so we make a pit stop for Chicken McNuggets and a grilled chicken sandwich.

On the way to rehearsal, I get a call from one of the actors, saying he’s running late and will be at the church “in thirty minutes.” I’m confused, since rehearsal doesn’t start till 2… right? There is some momentary confusion but we eventually confirm that yes, rehearsal starts at 2 and he is in fact running early.

On the way to rehearsal, Maggie and I run through our scene together several times, getting the dialogue right. I was originally going to only be directing, but one of our actors needed to be relieved and I discovered that I had read the part so many times that I knew 90% of the lines anyway. Now I’m just trying to get the other 10% down.

1:55 PM
Four of the six cast members are already here, and while we wait for the other two members to arrive, we start an epic discussion, topics including but not limited to: whether the Lord of the Rings books are waaaaay better than the movies (definite yes, although we all agree the movies were well done); whether anyone can rival Tolkien in creating the most far-reaching fictional worlds (possibly George Lucas’s Star Wars galaxy); whether you can really credit George Lucas with the development of the Star Wars galaxy since so many people have contributed to it (at least a lot of credit – he was a definite before-his-time visionary); whether George Lucas has lost his filmmaking talent (we’re split here, with half of us saying “No way!” and the other half saying “Yes”); whether Steven Spielberg ever HAD any filmmaking talent (again, we’re pretty evenly split on this issue); whether “aliens” can be used as a catch-all plot twist to solve any and all gaping plot holes (believe it or not, we’re split on this issue, too); whether the newest Indiana Jones movie was good or ridiculous (slight majority says “ridiculous”); whether George Lucas should remake Star Wars with a younger cast (only one person dares voice this, and he’s loudly booed); whether Tron: Legacy was any good as an extension of an older movie (yes).

By the time these important issues have been hashed out, the rest of the cast is here and it’s time to rehearse.

4:00 PM
Rehearsal is over – time to get Maggie to her OTHER rehearsal on the other side of town. Since she’ll be in rehearsal till late tonight, we stop to get her a sandwich.

5:00 PM
I drop Maggie off and head towards the bank to cash my paycheck. Our bank is sooo slow, but I still have a few minutes until I have to meet my friend, so I duck into the nearby Kohls in search of some summer shirts. The sales are great and I find several nice shirts. By the time I get through the checkout line, it’s time for dinner.

6:00 PM
I meet my friend Becka at a local Asian cuisine restaurant and we pore over the menu – everything looks so good! In the end, she orders veggie lo mein and I get an order of dumplings and an order of water chestnut pudding – soooo good (kind of like crème brulee)!

7:15 PM
We have a lot to get caught up on, but by now we’re ready to stretch our legs, so we head to the nearby Marshalls to do a little window shopping. We have fun trying on clothes in the dressing rooms, checking out the housewares department and imagining decorating our own little apartment someday, and hitting the clearance aisle, where we find: a plastic bunch of grapes, a glass artichoke...


...and a ceramic taper candle holder than looks like a lumpy avacado.

We head to the checkout line and make a quick stop at the bookshelf, where I pick up a book, skim through it, and am immediately sucked it. Arg! It goes in my cart. We go back to my truck and listen to a few songs from Jackie Evancho’s “Dream With Me” album – love!

8:30 PM
Time to go pick up Maggie, but I arrive with a few minutes to spare, so I pull out my book. I love little quiet moments like this in a hectic day!

9:07 PM
Maggie is out! I’m craving an IceFlow slushie from AMC, so we pull in.

9:27 PM
This may be the longest I have ever waited for a slushie, no matter how good. I snag a few more moments of reading in the drive-through line.

9:37 PM
Slushies in hand, we head home.

10:00 PM
Maggie fixes a snack while I chat with my parents. I remind them that I am taking Maggie, Anna, and Ruth with me to the movie theater to see Cars 2 with our cousin tomorrow, and I get handed ticket money (yes! J). I head upstairs to my room. I want a shower, but Maggie beats me to it. J I relax on my bed with my issue of Rachel Ray Everyday magazine that came today. I see an article about doing Disney World with children and make a mental note to pass it on to Abby’s parents.

10:30 PM
My turn in the bathroom! I finish my magazine in a warm bubble bath.

11:00 PM
I comb out my hair and let it air dry while I light my favorite sandalwood candle, relax, and use my computer to journal the day. A friend texts me with a list of books she needs for an upcoming college course, so I hop up to check my bookshelves (the upside of being an English major is that you can locate almost any book in your personal collection). I have quite a few on her list, so I text her back and set them aside for her.

12:01 AM
Time for bed! Where did time go?!? :)

Happy Birthday, Abigail June!

Abby turned 3 this past Saturday - 3! I can't believe it, it's just too much to believe the last year and a half have gone by so quickly. My "silly goose" is growing up... all last week she would come to me very serious, and say gravely, "Sa'ah, I all growed up now. I big, like you. I not little anymore." :*(

On the other hand, there are moment when she still tickles with her childishness... for instance, last week she was sitting at the kitchen counter eating breakfast while I was brushing her hair and putting in pigtails at her request. I had one pigtail done and was working on the other when all of a sudden -
"Stop!" she ordered. "Shh!"
I paused, listening, but I didn't hear any airplanes or helicopters (the usual sounds we stop to hear) so I finally said, "What do you hear, Abby?"
"My pigtail!" she whispered. "Hear it? Oink, oink," she added surreptitiously. I cracked up.

Her party location - my grandfather's pool - sprang a leak, so we celebrated with a small group of family.

Her beautiful cake... Abigail was absolutely entranced in it and would have literally dug right in if her parents had let her, I think. :)

Natalie set up a craft table for the kiddos.

Daddy lit the candles.

Then it was time to blow them out!

And open gifts. Momma helped. :)

So much fun!

Trying out one gift - a little beach chair, just her size, with TinkerBell on it to boot!

"Aw, a bunny rabbit!" :)

Abby wasn't really sure what to do with the cards... she'd open them and then had a rather cheated look, lol.

Her love of balloons being no secret, almost everyone brought some for her. :) I love balloons too!

I wonder what sort of things we'll learn and do in the coming year... she has changed so much in the last year that I can only imagine.

Some things we're currently working on:

• Eating with silverware... especially now that she's outgrown her highchair and eats at the kitchen counter with the adults!


• Trying new foods, and eating a wider variety of foods - she'll now take one bite of a new food without any protest. Once she's taken one bite, I don't care if she has any more - the point was to try it - but I think she's surprised herself at how many new foods she's ended up loving!


• Following directions - we're not really working this one too hard yet, but I know it's a skill that will help get her ready for preschool/kindergarten, so I got her a workbook with a simple color-by-numbers so she'll get used to following instructions. So far, she loves it. That it's Pooh Bear-themed only helps. :) And I've started giving her multi-step directions around the house to get her used to them - such as when we come home, I might say "Can you take your shoes off, put them nicely away, and then bring your toy into the house?" She's really good at verbal directions!


• Listening to the teacher for instructions - mostly this only applies at gymnastics, lol, but we just started music class so we're learning it there, too. Abby is very good at this and only needs to be reminded once in a while. :)


• Saying "Hello!" and "Goodbye" to our teachers/adults around us... This one is a little tougher, since Abby is a bit shy, but we're going slow. Right now I just encourage her - "Can you say hello?" Sometimes she substitutes a very shy wave in place of words, but we're definitely moving in the right direction. :)