No, I Do Not Have My Act Together

It is Wrist to Forehead Sunday indeed.  I have been alternately looking at my blank “Add New Post” page and scrolling down Facebook.  I can’t say I was looking for inspiration.  For one reason, I can write a blog post with inspiration (so those of you gearing up to give me a lecture on the hollowness of waiting for inspiration can just stand down).

The murder mystery last night went pretty well.  The audience enjoyed themselves and the actors had fun, too.  Now I plan to take a long break from theatre.  It is time to get my act together, clean my house, and write, write, write.  I mean more than silly blog posts and murder mysteries.

I confess, today was not the first day of Getting My Act Together.  Then again, I have never been able to accomplish much on a Sunday.  That is one reason I started having Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  The feeling that I ought to be getting something done but yet am not getting anything done is very distressing.

Wow, I am not even having an easy time writing a silly blog post.  Can I save the day with a monster picture?

“You say I look like whom?”

I downloaded this beauty a couple of days ago in case of just such an emergency.  It is Alec Guinness in The Lady Killers.  I have never seen the movie, although I hope to catch it sometime.  I love the picture, because I think he looks

like Nosferatu.  Regular readers know of my affection for Nosferatu.  I’ll have to watch that movie again soon.  I have it on two different DVD collections.

I guess that isn’t really a monster picture, so I’ll finish with a repeat.

“Just popped up to say hello!”

I have no idea who this handsome fellow is.  I must have downloaded him one day when I was trolling the internet for monster pictures. Get it?  Trolling?  Because a troll is a kind of a monster.  I know, you aren’t supposed to explain puns.  Cut me a break on Wrist to Forehead Sunday!

 

Remembering to Breathe

Oh, this is bad, this is not good, this is a problem.  OK, breathe, Cindy, breathe.  And drink some coffee.  I think I will have to call this a ScatterBrained Saturday post.  All I have done so far today is have a headache, wash some dishes, and feel nervous about tonight’s murder mystery.  I came up with the headline just now when I was messaging my friend Kim on on Facebook, whining about my flustered state of mind.  I typed, “I am trying some coffee and remembering to breathe.”  Only when I typed “remembering”  I missed the “b”  (could have been clumsy fingers, but let’s blame my laptop keyboard; I hate for EVERYTHING to be my fault).  I sat there saying “remember” in my head to figure out where the “b” went.   So I added, “And how to spell remember.”

Maybe my headline should have been, “Where Does That Damn B Go Anyways?”  Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself.  Who forgets how to spell remember?  It does lighten things up when you can see the humor.  And a cup of coffee doesn’t hurt.

I have half my costume on and, as I had feared, my pants don’t want to stay up.  They are fancy silk-looking purple pajama pants. I daresay they look fabulous, but there is no place to put a belt and anyways,  I have them pulled up too high.  Maybe I could tuck them under my bra (oh goody, I just made myself laugh again) (until somebody says “TMI” because I mentioned my bra; you can’t say anything to some people).  My shirt is real silk, a black sleeveless blouse I rarely ware (YES, I remembered to shave!  Talk about TMI: what a personal question!).  I think my earring choices are good, but which socks?  Decisions!

So I guess this is my blog post today:  me dithering and whining.  But what is a blogger to do?  I have a show tonight!  I hope I break a leg.

 

Add more Monster Pictures and Keep Typing!

“You called?”

I am having a Nosferatu kind of a day.  By that I mean that I just feel like opening my blog with a picture of my favorite guy (uh, I mean my second favorite guy.  Obviously Steven is my FAVORITE guy).  And since it is Lame Post Friday, I shall. Oh who am I kidding?  When I feel like putting in a picture of a vampire, I do.  That is one of the things that makes blogging such a fun hobby.

I have had quite a day.  Work was stressful, but that was mostly my fault.  Fortunately, this is not a blog about work.  After work, I went and worked out.  It did not go as well as I could have hoped, but you’ll have that.  I feel certain that my body derived some benefit from it.  After coming home, having my usual recovery beverage of chocolate milk, and showering, I went out on a mission.

My mission was to find artificial tulips for props for Spring Into Murder.  I went to every dollar store in the area and then to Wal-Mart (I know, these are not the kinds of stores I normally plug, but in the interests of accuracy, I mention them).  I met success at my last stop.  If I have success in constructing the props, perhaps I will write a blog post titled Adventures in Tulips.

In the meantime, this is my Friday Lame Post.  Unfortunately, I see now that my picture of Nosferatu is completely unrelated to my post.  What to do?  Add more monster pictures and keep typing!

But the full moon is not until Sunday!

In fact, I do not intend to howl tonight.  I am sitting on my couch, chatting with my husband, and watching Dateline.  I believe another episode will follow, or at least one will be available on another channel.  I would like to crochet.  I think one more monster picture and I will be on my merry way.

Next Friday, I think I’ll go dancing!

 

Looking for a New Throwback on Non-Sequitur Thursday

So last week I did a Throw Back Thursday with Non-Sequitur overtones.  Then I realized I had used the same photos together in a previous post.  I suppose these things happen, but I hope to avoid such a thing today.  I am posting in haste (posthaste is a word you don’t here much these days, but I like it).  I have rehearsal for Spring Into Murder later, and I am doing laundry now.  You know, that murder mystery we are doing at Morning Star Methodist Church on Saturday, April 28.  I wonder if any tickets are still available.  I should share the Facebook event again, in case local readers are interested (see what I did there?).

“I don’t always do Shakespeare plays, but when I do, it’s with LiFT.”

This is Tucker just before a performance of The Tempest last summer with LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company.  Tucker is in Spring Into Murder as the trophy husband of Holland Mills, CEO of Two Lips Cosmetics.

“Whoooo says Cindy can’t write a blog post?”

This cute little owl caught my eye.  As I type this, I see part of the title of the book he’s sitting on:  I Hated, Hated, HATED This Movie! by Roger Ebert.  I just love reading unflattering reviews, although I disagree with Ebert on some of his assessments.

Here’s to hasty blog posts!

I end with a shot of Steven and me doing what we do best:  hanging out and having a good old time!  My sister, Cheryl, took this picture at Woodland Farm Brewery in Utica, NY.

Well, three pictures and over 250 words, I call that good enough for a pre-rehearsal post.  I hope to see you all on Lame Post Friday!

 

Murderous Mental Meanderings.

I do not think it is any too early for this blog to become All Spring Into Murder All The Time.  I have six days to get my act together!  AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!  OK, got that out of my system.  I have just time for a fast Monday Mental Meanderings post before rehearsal.  And I just thought of my headline. I bet I’ve used it before.  Well, these things happen.  We must make the best of them.

I just walked to the library to print out a sort of a program for Saturday night’s performance.  I say a sort of, because it only lists the character’s names with a short identifying phrase.  No actors’ names, not even the title.  After all, WE don’t know there is going to be a murder.  It is always a little disconcerting when an audience member says, “So there’s going to be a murder tonight”  or, worse yet, “We’ve never been to one of these before, what are we supposed to do?”  I don’t want to break character (as we actors say), but I also don’t want to leave people in the dark and/or rudely not answer their questions.  We find ways of dealing with these things.  That is part of the fun of live, interactive theatre.

Yes, I am tired and definitely feeling Monday.  Luckily, I am not driving to rehearsal but bumming a ride from my friend, Kim.  She is very tired too, but I hope to keep her awake enough to drive with chitchat.  I am rarely too tired to chat.

The murder mystery, once again, is Spring Into Murder, at Morning Star Methodist Church at 36 Second St., Ilion, NY, 5 p.m. Saturday, April 28.  $20 includes a delicious roast pork dinner (I know this, because they feed the actors and this will be the third one we’ve done there).  Advance tickets must be purchased by Thursday by calling 315-894-4093.  You can go to the Facebook Event for more information.

 

 

Fast Post on a Sunday

Every Sunday it is the same thing.  I start the day thinking I’ll get all sorts of stuff done. Sometimes I even do a thing or two.  But at some point, I remember, because my body reminds me:  there is no point in trying to get anything done on a Sunday.  I had rehearsal for Spring Into Murder (MUST write an entire blog post about that!).  Steven and I have a dinner date later.  Having gotten a couple of things done but feeling inclined to accomplish nothing further, I thought, “I’ll do my blog post.  Easy, fun, and useful.”  Of course the usefulness can be debated, but you may discuss that among yourselves if you are so inclined.

To make a long story longer (I bet you thought I was going to say, “make a long story short,” and you were taking a breath to say, “Too late!”  Gotcha!), I could not do a blog post earlier. I just sat there scrolling up and down Facebook and watching the clock till it was time to go to rehearsal.

Rehearsal went pretty good, by the way.  We discussed costumes.  I had brought what I intend to wear:  loud purple pants and a louder jacket.  Actually I had two colorful jackets to choose between, and one cast member insisted I must wear the louder one.  I agreed.  Kim had brought every glamorous black dress in her wardrobe for our inspection.  Oh come on, like none of you has more than one glamorous black dress?  I personally have none, but I’m weird. We all know that.  I am unusual among women in that I do not long for the elusive little black dress.  Be that as it may, Kim has some wonderful frocks, and we all enjoyed voicing our opinions.

More importantly, we ran the scripted part of the show a couple of times.  I think it is coming together nicely.  We discussed the black tulips, which are so important to the plot. We discussed the next rehearsal.

The murder mystery, Spring Into Murder, will be presented next Saturday, April 28, at Morning Star Methodist Church, 36 Second St., Ilion, NY, at 5 p.m.  $20 tickets include a roast pork dinner and must be purchased in advance by calling the church at 315-864-4093.

Now I must get changed for our dinner date.  Perhaps I will wear black, but not a little black dress.

 

I Scatter It Good!

It is the moment of my Saturday when I pause in my gyrations for a Scattered Saturday post before returning to the bra off, sweats on, wine drinking, TV-watching, husband hanging out with portion of my evening.  And I have scattered it pretty good today!

I did not leave the house till shortly after 10 a.m., when Steven headed out to work. I went to a rummage sale at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Ilion, NY.  It was $1 for three bags day.  Woo-hoo!  I only got two bags worth of stuff but felt I had gotten way more than $1 worth of goods.  Back home, I wrote one more post card (I had written four earlier) and walked to the post office.  I took the long way home, making for a half hour walk.  Remember, if you are too busy to exercise, you are too busy!

After contacting my friend, Kim, via Facebook, and making plans for her to come over, I spent almost a half hour frantically cleaning my living room and bathroom.  There is nothing like somebody coming over to motivate one for housework.  Did I make much progress?  Well, let’s just say that, luckily, Kim is not one to judge.  It was about 12:30 when she came over, which we deemed a good time for a mimosa.  For one reason, I had a bottle of Prosecco which I purchased yesterday when we went to the tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor.

Our first stop was at an estate sale I had noticed while on my walk.  The main thing I like about estate sales is walking through somebody’s house.  This was a really nice house!  Other than that, I find a lot of the stuff is priced higher than I want to spend and some of it is downright depressing.  For example, family photos.  Didn’t these people leave behind any family or friends who would want these pictures?  Perhaps I am over sensitive about these things.

Next we headed to Ilion to search for costumes for Spring Into Murder (you know, the murder mystery we are doing next Saturday at Morning Star Methodist Church in Ilion?  Perhaps I will write a blog post about it tomorrow).  First Kim pointed out a shirt she said would be perfect for me for any time.  After trying it on, I had to agree.  She found a gown we liked for her character for the mystery, then I found a shirt I liked for mine (I already have the purple pants).  Then it was on to New 2 Your Consignments, where we almost always have good luck.  And there were the perfect shoes for my character!  I also found a black tux shirt with rhinestones that I totally fell in love with.  Kim found  bunch of stuff as well.

By now we had worked up quite an appetite so went next door to Franco’s Pizza.  I had never been there before.  What a cool place!  Good food and retro ’50’s decor!  I’ll have to write a full blog post about it.  I even took some leftovers home which will be great for my lunch on Monday. Back home, we had another mimosa before Kim headed out.  What a great day!  I even had time for a nap before I had to start supper for Steven.

I have some great plans for tomorrow, too, including rehearsal for Spring Into Murder and Adventures in Housecleaning.  No, the second one is not another play, it is me cleaning my house. I thought if I put it in all caps I could generate a little enthusiasm in myself. I’ll report if it worked when I make my Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  I hope your  weekend is turning out as fun as mine.

 

Spring Into Wuss-Out Wednesday

Let’s see if I can finish my Wuss-out Wednesday post before my ride to rehearsal gets here.  Rehearsal is for Spring Into Murder, the interactive murder mystery dinner theatre at Morning Star Methodist Church in Ilion, NY on Saturday, April 28.  I’ll try to get a number for tickets, in case any local readers are interested.  In the meantime, I thought I would write about spring.

WHAT SPRING????  you may well ask.  I ask it too.  My thermostat said it was 41 degrees out this afternoon.  I am in desperate need of exercise, so I went for a walk.  I love to walk and thought I might be able to write a decent Pedestrian Post about it, but I’m afraid it was a depressing walk.  Everything was brown and crappy-looking.  We are over half-way through April, for heavens’ sake.  Would a few flowers, maybe some green spouts, buds on the trees be too much to ask for?  Apparently so.  Additionally, I have some things on my mind which I will not bore you with (Freudian typo:  I started to put “now bore you with,” which tells me it is boring of me to mention them at all, so sorry).

When I got home, I thought I saw a tiny flash of yellow in my back yard.  Was it… could it be… it WAS!  A crocus!  I rejoiced. Then I got my Tablet and took a picture:

Note the brown grass. Tsk, tsk.

Then I took a better picture:

It does my heart good.

I went out front, to see if there were any more crocuses.  There were not, but I saw some green stuff that might eventually be tulips and lilies of the valley.

I think this is the tulip.

I think these are lilies of the valley.

As you can also see, I have some yard work to do.  There are lots of last year’s leaves still to be raked, and some garbage to be picked up.  It isn’t my garbage; it blew there in one of the recent wind storms.  At least nobody came along and dropped a house on me.

While I was out front, I took a picture of what the sidewalk plow did to us, and to almost everybody else in the village.  I had wanted a “before” picture of that, so when I fix it I can see what a good job I did (or not, let’s be honest).

You know, I think those are new cracks in the sidewalk as well. Damn!

Look at me, I’m over 400 words!  I think that’s fine for a Wuss-out Wednesday!  Now I’d better get ready for rehearsal.  There is nothing like a little murder to perk things up midway through the week.

 

What to Wear on Wrist to Forehead Sunday

Hello and welcome to another Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  I am hoping to get a blog post published before what may be our final rehearsal for Secrets at Suiter House, the murder mystery we are doing to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society.  Do I know all my lines?  Do we have all the props?  Ooh, we totally do not have all the props.  Well, I will work on that during the coming week.

In the meantime, I am progressing on the next murder mystery, Spring into Murder, for Morning Star Methodist Church in Ilion on April 28.  I think I have a full cast now, if one more person says yes.  And if we can coordinate rehearsals.  I have remembered that I do not particularly like rehearsing on Sunday.  But one does what one must; it is a well known fact that the show must go on!

Oh dear, this is a very dull post.  I have not even shared any new information.  That is another reason why I am poised with my wrist to my forehead, ready to swoon.  I suppose I could take a selfie with my Tablet, so you could really get the picture, but I am not really dressed for swooning.  What does one wear to swoon?  I am thinking a negligee, something with lots of flowy draperies.  Then I need a pair of those mules, with heels and a fluffy thing on the toe.  You know what I mean.

Now I am laughing at myself.  I don’t exactly have a costume for the next murder mystery but I am figuring out what to wear while I have one of my dithery personal crises.  In fact, I just sent my husband, Steven, upstairs to figure out what he might wear.   I asked everybody to bring or wear costumes to rehearsal today.  I am going to bring my back-up outfit, which I think will end up being just fine.

Between laughing at myself and reflecting that my back-up outfit will probably be OK, I am feeling increasingly less inclined to swoon.  But I’ll let you know when I get dramatic again.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

More Murder and Mayhem!

I believe I have mentioned that I have another murder mystery to write.  I may also have mentioned (once or twice) that I have been having trouble writing ANYTHING lately.  Well, just now I surprised myself.  I wrote a brief overview of said mystery, to send to the venue for publicity purposes.  The venue is Morning Star Methodist Church in Ilion, NY, and the performance date is Saturday, April 28, 2018.  They are serving a roast pork dinner, which was quite delicious when we performed there last year and the year before.

So I have been writing this mystery in bits and pieces, and second guessing myself about everything.  I tried writing the overview twice on breaks at work today, to no avail.  Finally I sat down at my laptop and said, “Well, I’ve got to do this now.”  And here is what I wrote:

Spring into Murder takes place at the kick-off dinner for the Tulip Festival sponsored by Two Lips Cosmetics. The founder and CEO of the company loves everything to do with The Netherlands, so much so that she changed her first name to Holland and hired a bodyguard named Dutch. On the agenda for tonight is the unveiling of the spring line of lipstick colors, to be modeled by Holland’s spokesmodel and partner, the beautiful Ariel Angelica. Holland is accompanied by her new husband, Rod. Also on hand are Holland’s nephew Benedict and recently adopted daughter Windy, as well as the designer of this year’s colors, the brilliant if eccentric Giselle Ellison.

Unfortunately, all is not beauty and harmony at Two Lips Cosmetics. Rumor has it that Holland did not want to take on Ariel as a partner, that Benedict wanted Windy to be the spokesmodel, that Giselle feels badly paid for her work, and nobody knows quite what to think of Dutch. Additionally, we don’t know who sent Ariel a bouquet of BLACK tulips!
There may be murder before the night is out! Who will solve the crime?

I was rather pleased with it myself.  The new husband got his name as I wrote it, and Giselle Ellison (my part) changed from a dedicated secretary to a lipstick designer.  I think diva is much more fun than downtrodden.

Having written that much, I feel fired up to get the whole thing done.  I’ll share more information about the performance — times and prices — when I know more.