so I have to ask....

WHAT did Carin do to her mom to deserve this?

everyone complains about money in December...

but we seemed to be particularly low on funds. and then last night I figured it out. I made two house payments this month. kinda weird that I would do that. I guess the combination of Beauty and the Beast and the holidays just ate my brain.

speaking of B&B, I didn't take any pictures myself and a few people have sent some, but nothing with a really clear view of my monstrous costume. but anyway, here's one of me and Chip.



I think probably the top was supposed to be tucked in, but the skirt was a few sizes too big and I wore suspenders just to be sure I wouldn't lose it.

my weekend....

yesterday was a lot of this look from the puppy. we tried putting a sock on her foot so she would leave it alone, but it kept coming off. Then we went to the store and got an e-collar for her and that was an even worse torture to hear her tell it.

success!

Been trying to think of a reason to link Russ at TacJammer. (something that wasn't "OMG, what else can go wrong!?") cause he sent me a nice thank you note a while back and he's a commo vet and he's owned by a wonderful kitty.

anyhoo, I really amused myself tonight with a bit of bad poetry in the comments here. and it looks like it amused him too. yay! (you have to check out the video linked in the previous comment to fully understand it. apparently Russ spent some time in Korea.)

just what I wanted to do today

took Roxie to the vet. she'd been giving extra attention to one of her paws. turns out she'd torn off a claw again.

I gave up yesterday and decided to just be sick and get it over with. I've been fighting to not get sick for a couple weeks, but now that the show is over and Christmas is done with and the office is closed I figure I'll just wallow in pitifulness. but then I had to get dressed and take the dog to the vet. yay!

shuffling through classical things...

and one of my favorite things came up. The end of the first act of Tosca. The juxtaposition of Scarpia's scheming and the church service starting around him strikes me as a nice bit of theater. couldn't find a clip on youtube that I liked, but at least this one has subtitles. or there's the hilarious Lego Tosca.

anyhoo, got to sing that one with Tulsa Opera chorus ages ago with the added bonus that we could go sit in the audience for the second and third acts or go home. whatevs.

tune I never thought I'd hear a techno version of....

and with a Christmas light show no less.

record numbers....

Santa brought me a 160GB ipod so I was wondering if it will hold everything.... I think it will and I'll have room to grow a bit too. cleaned out the LP files on the hard drive so current count is 2537 files, 222 folders. about twice as much as the last time I checked. but I'm not remembering how much space that's eating. oh well. the cd's take up just over 30GB in itunes so I think I'm set for a while. yay!

for all three of you that are dying to know....

you got it wrong. I took the box of ornaments. I included a few paint brushes and a Santa Pez dispenser. I would have included the paint, but it had all gone bad.

Anyhoo, closed the show tonight and maybe some day I'll have pics. supposedly some people took some and will email them. I didn't because the place was so cramped it was all I could do to get my humongous costume on and find somewhere to sit out of the way til "places" was called. and then during intermission I usually spent a while in the bathroom on a "costume break" so,um, it was an experience.

We'll be heading out tomorrow to see my family so I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

what day is it?

this working everyday is really confusing me. anyhoo, tomorrow they're having a white elephant thing. so I have to take something ugly and something to eat. made cupcakes tonight. red velvet, which was kinda creepy. I told RTO as I started mixing it, "it looks like it's bleeding" the cake mix was brown, but once it hit the wet ingredients it turned bright red. but they're tasty. (I had one because for once I managed to make 24 and the dessert stand mom sent only holds 23 and I needed one to experiment with decorating) They just have white frosting and red and green sugar and some red, white and Christmas tree sprinkles.

so. on to the ugly, I think I'll make it a poll.....

stayin' busy...

I offered to work extra this week since year end is coming and the office closes the week between Christmas and New Year. so my supervisor was all, "okay, I don't know if we'll need you or not" I worked til two yesterday and then they told me to call today before I came in (in the afternoon because I do stuff Tuesday mornings) Anyhoo, I call the office and they say, "yeah we got 60 invoices from XXX come on in" and I'm thinking "yay! I love doing invoices from XXX" really, it's the most mindless work so it's approaching zen. I look up the numbers, write down the different numbers that Oracle prefers and then I enter the invoices. don't have to deal with any people and at the end of the day I've moved the pile of papers from one side of my desk to the other.

anyhoo, so I entered a few other things they left on my desk first, get up to get a drink and when I come back there are EXPENSE REPORTS ON MY DESK! I hates them. okay, everyone hates them so I get to process them. I guess there can be amusing things about them. when you get really bored you can start making up stories about what these people have been doing on business trips. There's the guy that's always eating at Hooter's. The guy that's relocating and being reimbursed for shipping his three pomeranians. but otherwise it sucks having to represent "the man" and crack the whip on offenders for what seems small to them (and me) but rules is rules.

so i spent something like five hours looking at receipts (or not, if they lost them) worked til five thirty. and then RTO didn't get home til just before eight cause he was "team building" uh huh.

so, uh, in other news, does anyone else think it sounds crazy to pay six bucks for two pairs of black socks? I just can't bring myself to do it, but I've visited two Targets and a Walmart and the kind I like seem to be that price. maybe I shouldn't be so particular about them.

apparently delinquent cats are spam...

a little bird told me that I'd been sent pictures of Eddie(!) but I hadn't received them. so I checked the spam folder and there he was.


Lola writes

I just thought you should see how Eddie's been waiting out the ice storm. I'm really disappointed in him...I think I might have to have a talk with him.

heh, let's schedule the intervention for Christmas Eve. I mean really, Mexican beer?

ow

I've just been bitten by my cup of coffee.

lately it seems I don't know how to make it, which is weird.

also, last night I earned the title of "Mrs. falling over all the time" because I'm doing that lately. although last night was the first time I did it in a show not on purpose and my knee hurts today. I scraped it pretty good. thankfully, I didn't land on the little girl I was holding.

because I know some of you will find this highly amusing....

and I just have to blab about it.

I got a letter Fedexed to me the other day saying I've potentially won this thing. they say "potentially" because I had to send back an affidavit stating that I qualify according to the rules (I'm old, live in The States, not related to anyone involved, blah, blah, blah) and I guess they're going to verify it somehow. still ,until I have them in my hands I find it hard to believe. My thoughts keep swinging between, "I won something!?" and "Someone is playing an elaborate hoax on me to steal my SS number." *sigh*

maybe I should look into some kind of cat video

or I suppose leaving the dvd player on would be cheaper.




yep, he was so mesmerized by the dvd player "screensaver" he didn't even notice Roxie was so close. I took some video, but forgot that I don't have anything to rotate the image with, so it's sideways.

it's Barneycam time!

Holiday in the National Parks

and while I'm posting holiday stuff....

the end is in sight....

the end of the Christmas albums that is. I've got one boxed set left to record, but first....

The Great Songs of Christmas Volume six: I've talked about this one before because it's one of my favorites. It's still up there. there's just so much packed onto one record. Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, the New Christy Minstrels, Ray Conniff, Bing Crosby, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and yet more people you've probably never heard of. ugh, Carlos and I have started our afternoon battle of wills. he's determined to sit on my lap no matter what. anyway, nothing too crazy on this album, just good, solid Christmas tunes.

Back Home for Christmas - Record 1: The first side is religious stuff, the second side is more "contemporary" there's various artists and as usual (it's a Reader's Digest boxed set) a good mix of vocalists and instrumentals. A couple of interesting bits... Julie Andrews sings a tune written by Sir Arthur Sullivan of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear and there's a different version of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day sung by Henry Belafonte. I'm probably biased, but I kinda prefer the more well known tunes and there's probably a reason they're well known. Anyhoo, RTO will be happy there's a track of Kate Smith singing It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. ;D

Monday recording

it looks like many years ago I hit the jackpot on Christmas albums because the last few have been 25 cents from Vintage Stock. (wow, looking at locations, I had no idea there were that many. I was under the impression it was a local thing. huh.) anyway, on to the records

We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Ray Conniff and the Ray Conniff Singers: kind of an odd one in that each side has only three tracks. Four medleys o' Christmas music plus the Twelve days of Christmas and Ring Christmas Bells (which is just Carol of the Bells with some different, clunky lyrics) They keep things pretty peppy through the whole album. I've heard snippets of this one before on a few Christmas CD's I've got. (We Wish you a Merry Christmas and Hark! the Herald Angels Sing broken out of their medleys)

Christmas in Germany: lots of children's choirs singing German carols that I don't recognize, except Silent Night. But my favorite thing on here is Weisse Weihnacht (White Christmas) sung by Kenneth Spencer? (ah, quick googling and I'm fairly certain this is him) anyway, so I turn the album over for side 2 and go "whoa!" two tracks, one small one and the second one has no variation in it, guess you'd just have to see it, it's kind of unusual. so the second track is a medley of carols with church bells between each song.

The Spirit of Christmas vol. II: this one was distributed by TG&Y so it's a mish mash of artists, but not as jarring as some compilations can be. probably my fave track was I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Johnny Cash. Jingle Bells by Jim Nabors didn't annoy me as much as I thought it would and can Robert Goulet mess anything up? (God Rest You Merry Gentlemen)

Jingle Bells - The Mexicali Brass: honk-shoo. only White Christmas really stood out as having any rhythm and the rest was pretty straight forward. I guess Go Tell it on the Mountain is still sticking in my head right now..... which actually isn't on this album. bwah ha ha haaaaaa.

Calypso Noel - St. Peter's R.C. Church Choir from Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad: of all places I think i found this in an antique shop in OKC. So it's a nice record for what it is even with African Noel on it. They sound good for a small church choir. The album cover only lists the women, but I'm hearing some male voices so maybe they aren't regular members of the choir. who knows? I liked Jingle Bells Calypso, Ring Those Christmas Bells and the different descant on Silent Night.

Hawaiian Christmas - Noelani Kanoho Mahoe with the Leo Nahanahe Singers: a nice mix of traditional English (usually sung in Hawaiian) and Hawaiian tunes. They're accompanied by guitars, drums and "vibes" I just like the harmonies, the ladies blend well and the tempos and rhythms are a nice change on the English things (The Little Drummer Boy, Deck the Halls and Auld Lang Syne in particular). Oh, and they do Christmas Chopsticks!

Christmas Time - Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians: I took this one out of the sleeve and said, "ugh, what was I thinking?" it's in bad shape, surprisingly only one track skipped on the first side, the second side I'm not sure there's a track that didn't skip. my ears are tired. this one had some nice potential musically. liked, The Sleigh (Kountz) and the Alleluia by Liadoff-Gearhart. okay, sleepy time.

so what happens if you have a matinee and no one shows up?

Saturday Recording!

The Sweet Voices of Christmas - children's choirs of Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral: actually it says, "features the massed children's voices fromt he choirs of famous Westminster abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral" and on the cover you've got a picture of four kids copied over and over to look like a choir. anyhoo, this one was in pretty bad shape, which is too bad cause it was kind of nice. just really quiet kids singin traditional stuff and then the orchestra doing a few numbers (Sleigh Ride and Frosty the Snow Man) Why they couldn't fill the whole album with children, I don't know.

What if Mozart wrote Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - The Hampton String Quartet: This was a good find. I remember hearing an ad on the radio when we lived in Tulsa and it played this string quartet version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and I always get that snippet of it stuck in my head. Now I've heard the whole thing and the rest of the album is just as catchy. according to Wikipedia they're still around and working. I may have to find some of their other things on cd.

Friday recording

Happy Holidays vol. 22: this one seems a little more together than vol. 16 a bit heavier on country acts NTTAWWT. oh, forgot to mention these are promo albums for True Value Hardware. I also got this one for 25 cents. w007! anyhoo, nice version of Silent Night by Ella Fitzgerald. kinda wish Dolly Parton had provided a more acoustic sounding White Christmas, but it was the eighties. which is probably why this whole thing was a bit bland.

Christmas in Zitherland - Ruth Welcome: not as exciting as it sounds, and I was so looking forward to this one. Her playing is very mellow and there's some chime or celesta accompaniment which is nice, but there's no pacing, the whole thing is slow and slower. anyway, first side is traditional tunes, second side is pop stuff. but really it takes effort to make Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer relaxing.

Tuesday recording....

cause it's just so relaxing.

The Little Drummer Boy - The Jack Halloran Singers: Not one of my favorite Christmas tunes, but it's growing on me. Most of the numbers are a capella with some harp added on a few tracks. Mostly traditional stuff with Prince of Peace, taken from a church cantata written by Mrs. Halloran. The album cover says there are 17 singers but they don't sound like that small of a group.

Happy Holidays vol. 16 - Various artists: I think somebody looked at the list of tracks here and said, "screw it, I'll make this as jarring as possible." How else do you get Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra and Chorus performing Angels we Have Heard on High followed by Christmas is Here Again by Roger Whittaker? or on side two we've got Dottie West singing You Are my Christmas, Carol followed by Placido Domingo with Ave Maria. Anyway, pretty sure I've heard the Ella Fitzgerald Sleigh Ride before and Julie Andrews just annoys me, what's up with her diction? but this album was still quite the deal at 25 cents.

what I'm up to lately....

okay, okay, something fun for today.....

Kitty wigs. found via Cute Overload.

did some looking around the site and found that the founder is also responsible for subversive cross stitch.(probably NSFW) which I don't know if I've ever posted about it, but I've seen it before. kinda funny.

so long as I'm posting links my mom wouldn't approve of. This had me in tears a week or two ago (oh, I'm giggling again just looking at it now), and I was really tempted to at least send Lola one. but I would use a picture of Carlos. (found via Sarah W at the pw pub)

in other news I kept meaning to mention how RTO's been all about fixing things lately cause usually I just complain about him or make him look silly, but he's not really. well, most of the time at least... so the list o' things he fixed:

1. Garage door
2. my ipod shuffle
3. the vacuum (sorta) it's unclogged now, but it still sounds funny to me, but I'm the only one that hears it. yeah.
4. not so much fixing, but he's been helping with set building. a lot.