Hi again

I forgot I had a blog. My friend Sara moved to New York and is hinting she wants to start one, to which I say "YES" so I can follow her adventures. Which got me to thinking..."Wait a minute!" I have adventures too! (sometimes, not the New York kind, but in my own way I do ) and maybe I can actually articulate them in a place where those who might condescend to stop here can read and follow. (again, they are not ever going to be exciting, not if I can help it!)

So, here I am after a lengthy absence. What has happened??? I started the U of U this fall as a new and fresh man, and it has been really hard, but good. I am about thirteen years older than most of my classmates, and honestly, I find it a touch frustrating (though there are more my age than I thought there would be, which is good). I have never been one for school, and was an extreme disliker of all things high school, and I find there to be more similarities to the high school scene than I had hoped. But what did I expect?
But the actual program itself, the Actors Training Program, is so far much to my liking. Except when I have to make up a movement piece that shows the real me to my class. That was rather petrifying, I don't quiet know how I did it.
I am shy, and I am an aspiring actor/singer/performer... tell me how those work together. Seriously, someone tell me.

Gratitude for Wednesday
I'm grateful it was a happy day- for no reason at all, a good day sprang up out of the blue in the middle of lots of crap days.
I'm grateful my house was cleaned today (not by me, which is even more reason for gratitude)
I'm grateful I actually talked to some people today.
I'm grateful there is a glimmer of hope that Rex might actually get some real help for this hellish business that is running him, and running me...

Distracted

I guess I have been distracted with all of the internet channels used to communicate. I feel like I've been cheating on my blog with Facebook. Sorry, blog, to neglect you. I don't even really like Facebook that much, and I think of you the whole time I'm there.

Time marches on, and it is so gradual sometimes that I don't even notice it. I am done with spring semester only to hop into summer semester next Monday. Then up to the U of U in the fall. If you can call August the fall. I am very schooled out. But it's just beginning. I only hope that my acting classes will be better that English 2010 (argument essays are what I imagine hell to be) I think that's another reason I haven't written in here- I am so tired of writing. And to think I almost became an English major. What was this brain thinking? Actually, that is the problem... it can't do that so well...

The biggest news since last I wrote is that we got our yard installed. After almost three years of mud and weeds, we are now officially a house. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting a couple of Sundays ago that was all about weeds. I have become very familiar with them in this town. I bought my first tree today to plant. It's a flowering cherry and it doesn't really go with the exterior of my house, but I don't care. It's so beautiful. I seriously got all teary when I saw it. I knew it had to be mine. Trees are scarce where I am, and seven years ago when we moved here I was struck with urgency to plant some trees. It's been a long wait. I pray it doesn't die.

Gratitude for Today
1/ I am grateful for a clean bathroom
2/I am grateful I can see. (see #5)
3/I am grateful I got my Mother's Day gifts all figured out. It's always so hard to know what to get.
4/I'm grateful for my treadmill.
5/I'm grateful Rex can see. It wasn't the case last week when he sprayed crap in his eyes, and for one day I knew what it would be like to have a blind hubby. It sure would change things, and I am glad his sight returned. Scary. There is so much to be grateful for.

A New Bubuh

TAH DAH!!!! Here she is, the latest addition in my gaggle of nieces and nephews. I missed the delivery by an hour, because of my history test. My sister was induced this morning and five hours later the cutie was born- I thought I had plenty of time, but I would have skipped class had I known how fast she was going to come!!! We are all so excited to have another baby in the family- and this one was kind of a bonus because my sister thought she wasn't going to have any more kids ( she turns 41 in another month) But I am so happy that she is here and that everything went smoothly. A happy day!!! I get to be a doting auntie once again!

Refreakinfrigerator

It took me SIX HOURS to clean my fridge yesterday, and I am very bitter. As if I didn't have better things to do. But it got to the point where I was just shoving things in there, and it couldn't be born no mo'. I have cleared Tuesdays of school and work to dedicate to organizing my cluttered house. Last Tuesday I did major laundry all day, and I can actually walk into my laundry room now. But this kind of work sure takes its toll. This is not my strength nor my joy in life, being organized. It does keep me sane, and I enjoy a clean house just as much as anybody, but it's amazing how frustrating it is to have to spend all of your one day off cleaning-it's so exhausting. And I thought that I would be able to get to both my fridge and freezer yesterday, but the one side took the entire day. I don't mean to complain, because I am lucky to have a house, a fridge, and a laundry room. But my house is too blasted big. I wish I would have chosen a smaller plan, but we got excited at the chance to build our dream house, that I didn't think of how long it would take me to clean it. Which I don't really know because I mainly just don't clean. I shove things into the closets. This is kind of a confession for me, because I really feel like I do pretty well mostly, but I have been lying to myself. Which I think I deep down knew inside, because I had a feeling that fridge would be difficult. At one point, after I had emptied everything out, I found myself scraping some kind of red goo that had oozed down and fossilized against the back wall of my fridge behind the drawers. In a moment of utter exhaustion, I closed the fridge with the scrubber and the 409 inside while they got all nice and chilled. I lay there prostrate at the foot of the beasty icebox until I realized I had to go on, or all the food would have spoiled. I'm so mad.

Gratitude for Wednesday....

1-I'm grateful that we have a sewer hook up, some places here in Lake Point have septic tanks- even though we did go to court over the hook up fees. (we did win, though)

2- I am grateful that we have someone coming out next week to give us an estimate for our landscaping. I cannot wait to get our lawn in....

3-I'm grateful to be home.

4-I'm grateful next week is spring break

5- Can't think of a fifth-Oh- I'm grateful for freedom. That's always a really really good one.

Traddles

Here is my dog.....

Traddles....

The sunshine of my life, and the bain of my existence.

The reason I write five things I am grateful for in this blog is because of my tendency to be ungrateful. I have been making it a point not to be grateful just to be grateful, but to look around and what really is fabulous in my life, and to realize how happy it makes me. For instance, Traddles. I am so grateful (mostly!) for my little dog. He is a pain in the arse, but he is so freaking cute. I appreciate so much his little face, how such a creature could come into existence and brighten mine. I have had him for almost six years, and every day he makes me smile. He is spoiled, bad, and he bites me when I try to brush his teeth or his hair, ( or put leg warmers on him) but it's all my fault. I feed his badness, and have created a little two pound monster. He knows he has me wrapped around his cute little paw. When I am at school or otherwise bored, I doodle pictures of Traddles in my notebook. I can't draw to save my life, but am amazed at how well I capture his essence. I will need to be committed to a mental hospital the day he leaves this world, if it is without me. It is sick, I know-- we have a very unhealthy relationship, he and I. But we need each other, and I am grateful to be needed by a creature as swell as he is. I think that suffices for my gratitude for today, don't you think?

Comment probs

Sorry if I don't leave a comment on your blog. I have stopped trying because it says my password is invalid, and I am, to paraphrase the words of the spleen of lucy, tech-motarded. So even though I don' t comment, (or comment anonymously because it's the only way i can...) I am reading and loving your updates.

Mr. Pollyanna

So I was driving my voice teacher to the bank today after our lesson ( it's not very Christian, but I intenstly dislike giving him a ride-he's pretending he still lives in New York where you can get by without a car without inconviencing anyone, plus he's my voice teacher and I think it's unprofessional to ask your student for a ride) and I was really trying hard to make conversation. When you are trying to make small talk to someone you don't really connect socially with, you comment on the weather right? I was talking about how happy I was that the snow had cleared up this afternoon, because it has been awful lately- we have had so much snow, and I am so so tired of it. And what a lot of people say around here when we complain about the weather is that we should be so grateful because come summer we will be really glad we had this winter, we need the water etc, etc. Which is what I used to say. Until I said that to a hairdresser once, and she said " I hate it when people say that!!!" I normally would have been offended by this, but the way she said it wasn't offensive, and I thought about that today when Mr. Cheery was trying to look at the bright side of this most depressing and unending snow. He went on and on about how awful the drought has been, and it just said to me- "You are depressing, and negative, and I am going to show you the bright side of all this beautiful white stuff so you can appreciate it in a new way, because you obviously don't, you drought lover"
And I had to agree w/ my hairdresser- I hate it when people say that we need the snow!!!!! Especially people who don't have a car and don't have to risk their lives driving in it!!!! Grrrrrrrr!!!

Gratitude for today
1-I am grateful the snow cleared up today and the sun peeked out, you!
2-I am grateful that I finally had the motivation to add my links so I can keep better tabs with you all- Sorry its taken so long!
3-I'm grateful for the delicious dinner compliments of Siegfried's. Their sourdough bread, sauerkraut, and Weiswurst (spelling, Lolly?) is so heavenly.
4-I'm grateful for the tulips I have blooming by my kitchen sink.
5-I'm grateful I let go of the idea of studying tonight. It's just not going to happen, and I am glad to accept the fact.
6. Okay, I'm not grateful for the snow right at this precise moment, but I do like having water to drink- there, I did it!!

Catching up

It's been a while since I have written, and I need to stop thinking I need to be profound or entertaining when I write, not that any of my previous posts are either of those things, but I guess I just need to let go of my idea that I need to have something exciting going on in my life to let everyone in on before I write.
January is over, thank heavens. Not that February or March are going to be much better, but I am so ready for winter to be over, and the fact that it is February makes it that much closer to spring.
School is going pretty well I guess, I didn't go to class today. ( please do not follow this example, you young nephew of mine that may read this.) I just had too many other things that needed to be done, and I need a break. But mainly I like going to class. Both of my professors are extremely entertaining, I never know what is going to happen. My last class had my english professor growling at certain students. He seriously growls, like a monster on the muppets. He closes his eyes, sticks his tongue out , and growls with his hands at his ears.... I so so so wish you could see him. It's unbelievable. He is probably the most eccentric professor I have ever had. And this is including one of my old music theory professors that I though could never be beat. I don't know why he is the way he is, but I am so glad for it. Although it is a little creepy when he talks about getting out his syringe and killing us...where do these people come from?

I have an audition next Saturday for the Actor's Training Program up at the University of Utah. This idea came to me over Christmas, and I decided that this was my next course of action in my academic/artistic life. Whether or not I get in is another story, but auditioning is my next step. It was all I could do to get the application in-what with asking people to write letters of recommendation for me, and coming up with a 500 word essay on why I want to make theatre my career path... not my cup o' tea. I know this is standard procedure for some people, but not for me. This was the equivalent of climbing Everest for old Rural Rosy. But it's all finished and sent in, thank heavens, and now all I have to do is go audition, hah! I thought the application was nerve racking...
And then there is the NATSAA singing competition I have thrown my hat into-That happens March 1st, and I have eighteen songs (in three different languages besides english) to memorize and get into my voice-I haven't sung classically like this for a long time, but it's been very good for me to get back into shape, vocally. I have come to the amazing realization that I do not have to be a perfect singer to do this, and it has been sort of liberating. Sort of. Singing is a hugely love-hate endeavor for me- one day I am screaming and throwing things because of how badly I sound, then next day I am thinking I am the most amazing thing ever. Talk about bipolar.

So there is the update, I am now caught up.

Gratitude List
1-I am really glad I have a husband who gets obessive about fixing cars-i don't have to wait long for new windshield wipers
2-I'm grateful I am decent at growing house plants- its surprisingly rewarding, especially in the winter
3-I'm grateful for my treadmill
4-I'm grateful for the prospect of getting our landscaping in this year-I think it will drastically improve my mood ( i have a feeling I am my mother's daughter, we will see!)
5-I am grateful that I had the energy yesterday to deep clean my bedroom. There is something so heavenly about having things really really clean. I wish it would stay that way forever...