The Big Reveal

Yesterday, Riley and I went to pick up his glasses.  They've been in for awhile, but when you don't have a car, and the eye doctor closes before your husband gets home, it makes it hard to get things done.  Luckily, they are open Saturday mornings.  Here is the before picture:

And here is the after:

He doesn't look like a little boy any more!  They make him look so grown up.  I don't like it - he's only eight!  He does look handsome, though.  I just don't like that he looks older.  He said he could see things much better.  It was cute, he said, "Mom, I can see through the fog with my glasses on!"  It's been foggy here lately.  I thought it was funny.  He also said everything looked smaller when he first put them on.  The eye doctor said that was normal, and things would adjust themselves.  Being able to see clearly makes your brain think things are smaller at first.  I guess.  I don't remember.  I was in fourth grade when I got my glasses.  That would be twenty-two years ago.  Yikes.  He's still getting used to them.  Today, he forgot to put them on.  I hope that's not something I am going to have to always remind him to do - like feeding the dogs, or doing his homework, or making his lunch for school the next day, or doing his chores. 

Paradox Video Blog #2

Here's Dez's newest video blog:

I know!  Right!?

P.S.  If you didn't see Dez's first video blog, scroll down to January 14th's post. :)

Nerves and Self-Conciousness Are Not My Friends

Monday, my friend posted his facebook status.  It said, "So an actor just called me. A conflict has come up. Her sister is getting married on one of the performance dates. My first thought was, 'well, I guess you're missing the wedding!' She left a message. Trying to decide what to do about this. Do I replace her? Find an understudy? Actually tell her to skip the wedding? (That's what i'd do.) Thoughts? It's still early in the rehearsal period..."
I couldn't help, but think, "What?  How could you just find out about your sister's wedding?"  Mine took four months to plan.  That puts her wedding in roughly 40 days.  Yikes.  That's fast.  Personally, I would have said to my sister, March 12th is one of my performance dates!  Do you want me there, or not!"  Then she would have a fit, and say something about how selfish I am because it's her day, and she should get to get married whenever she wanted.  Then ultimately she would probably change the date.  Because I am awesome, and her wedding just wouldn't be the same with out me! :D  
I posted back, "This is a conflict she should have known about and told you about (duh! Weddings don't just come up and they certainly don't plan themselves!) when she auditioned. I'll come be her understudy. ;)"
I didn't think he would really want me to!  I didn't even audition for the play.  I think I forgot.  Not really sure, but that seems the most likely thing that happened.  That and I need new head shots, so I'm not really working much right now.  Lame excuses - I know.  I'm full of them.
But he responded with this post, "‎@ Melissa - You will? Seriously? I'm thinking of telling her two performances instead of just the one.  She said in the voice mail she found out last night. (or over the weekend, I'm don't remember. I've only had an hour of sleep.)"
He needs an Ambien, or something.  Everybody else was telling him to replace her.  Someone said he should be nice.  I agree with that.  So now, I am the understudy to Mable in the play An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde.  I get two shows.  March 11th and 12th.  At the Draper Historic Theater (in Draper).  Come, and see me if you can make it.*  I would love it!
I am a little overwhelmed, though.  Wednesday, I got the script, and I had no idea Mable has so many lines!  She's not that prominent a character in the movie.  She is, but she isn't at the same time.  It's scary.  I hope I can memorize all my lines by then.  Last night's rehearsal was fun, though.  I just need to figure out where I fit in.  I've never been an understudy before, and I'm coming into rehearsals about at week and a half late.  Everyone has already had a chance to get to know one another, and start to meld as a cast.  The guy who plays Lord Goring (Mable is in love with Lord Goring) seems really nice.  I need to get over my shyness, and stop worrying about my English accent.  It's making me nervous, and I'm not used to being nervous on the stage!  :P  

*If you can't make it, you can watch it on YouTube, but the 1969 version is the one most like the play. ;)

Knockin' 'Em Down!

Today was our nephew, Kayden's birthday.  He is now eleven years-old!  I can't believe it.  Well, actually I can.  But we always say that when we are commenting on how fast kids grow.  We were invited to his birthday party at Boondocks tonight.  I got the kids the 2 pack pass.  They got to do two activities and play some of the games for tickets.  Kaleb wanted to go bowling, so he and I used his 2 pack so that we could bowl together.  It was his very first time ever.  The smallest ball they had available was a six pound ball.  It was too heavy for him.  I tried to get him to put his fingers in the holes and roll it down the lanes, but he said it was too heavy.  So I rolled it down the lane for him.  He said, "I wanted to do it!"  Kurtis suggested he take it to the line, and roll it down the lane.  That worked!  He was so cute!  I put the bumpers up for him and down for me, so of course he won.  The score was 53 to 46.  Not too bad, but I got a lot of gutter balls for some reason.  I started getting better towards the end, so I guess I just needed to warm up a bit. ;)  He was so excited to win, though!  It was fun to watch him, too because he would run up to the line, stop, drop to his knees and roll the ball.  It rolled so slowly down the lane, too.  Awesome night!  I took some pictures with my phone.  This one is my favorite:

I love his little bowling shoes!

Riley and Zach played laser tag.  They thought it was amazing.  On a sadder note, the boys went to the eye doctor.  Riley needs glasses.  He seemed uninterested, and like he didn't want to get them.  I don't blame him.  Zach, on the other hand, was mad that he didn't need them.  That's messed up.  I had to nag Riley to pick out a pair.  He picked girl ones that were brown on the outside and green on the inside.  The only reason I knew they were girl ones is because they had cherries on the sides.  I was talking to Kurtis on the phone, and he very aggressively said, "Do not let him get girl ones!"  We found him some blue ones that are really nice, and we will post a picture of him when they come in.  But I thought it was kind of funny that Kurtis would get so upset about it. 

Harry Potter and the Mormons

Today, while we were driving home from church, Kurtis asked the boys if they learned anything in their classes.  Zachary said, "Yes!  We learned about Josh the Baptism!"  Kurtis and I giggled, and said, "Who is that?"  Riley said, "John the Baptist!"  Kurtis said, "That's right.  What did you learn about John the Baptist?"  They said something about how his parents were old when he was born, and Kurtis said, "Yeah, they were so old!  He had white hair!"  Kaleb chimed in:  "Like Dumbledore!"

I Really Didn't Think This Was Possible

I am an actress.  Currently, I play a small role in an upcoming web series.  It's called Paradox.  Here's a little teaser trailer.  That girl in the video?  She's my sister.  Her character is Dez.  She's 15.  Have fun watching! :D

Aren't you super excited to see this now?  I know I am! 

I Do Not Like Them On My Face! I Do Not Like Them Any Place!

When I was in fourth grade, I was sitting in church next to my mother (we always sat in the back row for some reason).  I looked up at the numbers the chorister posted to tell the congregation the page number of the songs we were going to sing in the hymnal.  I turned to her and whispered, "Mom, the numbers are blurry!"  She looked confused, and so I said again, "The song numbers are blurry." And I discreetly pointed at the front of the chapel.  She sighed, and said, "Oh, that's just great."  Or something like that.  She was never very happy when I was a kid.  I blame it on the fact that she was either pregnant or just had a baby most of my childhood.  That woman needed sleep!
To this day, I need glasses, or contacts.  Someday, I will get lasik.  But that day isn't for a couple of years yet.  I will be sure to blog about it when I do, though.  I'll also blog about when I get my tummy tuck.  Yes, I will be getting one someday.  Mine is gross.  But that is off the subject.
Last year, when I went to the eye doctor, he said I had an astigmatism in both my eyes, and wanted me to try a couple of contacts and see which ones fit me better.  That was news.  I thought I only had one in one of my eyes.  He said he would call, in a week.  He didn't call.  His secretary didn't call.  I finally got a call about two weeks later.  Both pairs were uncomfortable and I wanted to try something else.  I went back in, and got something else to try.  Again, they said they would call me in a week.  Nobody ever called me.  The reason for this is most likely that they were in the process of training a new secretary so the old one could move to another state.  I had some contacts left from the previous year, so I didn't worry about it.  I would just finish the boxes.  Well, I am supposed to throw away each pair after two weeks.  I ran out of contacts in October or September.  Finally around Thanksgiving, I decided I really couldn't wear them any more.  They were starting to irritate my eyes, and I put back on my glasses.  I could have called the eye doctor then, but then he would have wanted to do another eye exam, and my insurance only pays for one a year.  Besides, they also only cover contacts once a year.  If I had them get me contacts in November, I would  not have been able to get them again in February.  You see my logic? 
I hate glasses!  I look just fine in them.  I just don't like the way they look on me.  I don't like that they fog up when I am outside and  simply breathing.  I don't like that when Kurtis tries to kiss me, he smudges them.  I don't like that Baby E has decided she must try to pull them off my face (unsuccessfully - I'm too fast for her, but still).  I don't like that when I look up or down it's blurry.  I don't like that when I turn to check my blind spots when I am driving that I am suddenly blind.  I don't like that when I open my hot oven, they fog up.  I don't like that I can't wear my sunglasses (the sun hurts my eyes, and makes me squint which will give me wrinkles!).  I don't like that when I hug people they get knocked off my nose a bit, and I have to put them back on.  I don't like that even though they were adjusted for my nose and face, they still slide down.  I don't like that I can't see with out them.  I use my glasses for reading at night after I take out my contacts, and so I don't trip on things before I go to bed.  I liked that arrangement.
I got really frustrated with them a week or two ago (I can't remember why, but it was probably a combination of some of the above), and wanted to throw them at the wall.  I didn't do it, though.  Then I wouldn't be able to see at all, and that would suck even more.  I know this is trivial, and that I sound really spoiled, but I haven't worn my glasses since I was finally allowed to wear contacts at sixteen.  I'm old and set in my ways now!  This experience is making me grateful for my contacts, and long for lasik a bit more.

I will be going back to the eye doctor in a month, so hopefully this inconvenience in my life will be remedied.  I will still be seeing Dr. Allen.  I like him.  They just made a little mistake.  I could have called them, but if you tell me you are going to call me, I will not be calling you (and also the above story about my insurance is still true). I just hate wearing my glasses so much.  So very, very much.  

 Hee hee hee!  See?  I'm adorable! :D

Drama Belongs On the Stage

So my friend posed this question on her blog:  What are you doing, or teaching, your children to help improve the world?
Well, apparently nothing.  Because Riley thinks that if he steals something that belongs to his brother, and his brother takes it back from him, his brother is stealing from him.  And his brother has committed the greater sin.  So much drama tonight.  Yikes.  We may need to have a family meeting about what stealing is, and just ethics in general.