Friday Favorites The Upfront Theatre

The Upfront Theatre is a great place to spend some time laughing your head off. It's an Improv theatre owned by Ryan Stiles of "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" It opened in 2004 in Bellingham, Washington and has proven to be a great success!
The 85 seat cabaret style venue offers live improv comedy every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Performers from all over the northwest as well as local talent present many styles of improv comedy ranging from short form games to one act improvised plays, musicals and competivive improv. I LOVE the fact that the tickets are only $5.00!
They also offer classes for all ages. I think I may enroll in Improv 100 and see if it is as fun as it looks. My favorite player at the Upfront is Billy Tierney. He is brilliant at improv. He makes me laugh just looking at him. He is clever, witty and has perfect timing! Last night he had us rolling in the isles.

Ryan Stiles usually performs every Thursday night for the show called "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." All of the players offer their own unique, creative personality to the mix. For the most part the humor stays family friendly. It is fly-by-the-seat of-your-pants, so at times it can get it bit off color. For the most part it is good clean fun. :) Go see for yourself. You will be surprised at how much fun you will have.

How He Loves Me

I need to write. I don't have anything very funny to say. I don't have anything interesting. No news, now strong viewpoints. I just need to write. I feel a bit overwhelmed these days. I have a lot of questions that don't have answers screaming back at me.

That takes patience.
That takes strength.
That takes faith.

I am not very good at any of these things.

I can't even wait in a line.
I am a baby.
I doubt almost everything.

I know that when I want to just freak out and run down the road there is only One place I can go. There is only one Safe Place. There is only One Person who can really handle me at my worst. And I have a lot of "me" for Him to deal with. There are moments in life, when I realize I am totally out of control. I am not able to make things go my way. I am not able to hold back the hurt. I am not able to save me from my own self. It makes me fearful, it makes me angry, it makes me feel helpless.
Then.....
I throw a fit.
I cry my head off.
I try to fix things.
I give up.
If I am smart anyway.
Sometimes, I repeat those first three things about fifty times.
I am currently in round thirty-seven.

That is when I remind myself......

He is Patient
He is Strong
He is Faithful

He is more than that...

He is Righteous
He is my Father
He is Eternal
He is my Redeemer
He is Lord
He is Sovereign
He is Beautiful
He is Holy
He cannot lie
He is my Refuge
He is my Rock
He is my Salvation
He is the Prince of Peace
He is Forgiving
He is my Shelter from the storm
He is my Shield
He is the Beginning
He is the End
He is my Shepherd
He is Loving
He is Jealous
He is Forgiving
He is Just
He is Kind
He is the King of Kings
He is the Lord of Lords
He is my Savior
He is my Coming King

He is all of the things I need and more...that list is just a start.
I think of the worship song "How He Loves Us". It makes me so thankful He loves me in spite of myself. He loves me when others just want to throw in the towel.
I am not worthy or deserving.
His Grace truly is Amazing.

Ken Doll Hate Crime

On New Year's Eve Kyle was here visiting. Yes, Kyle...the first boyfriend. He is still around and he is really growing on us. He told me that Autumn and her friends were putting Barbie heads in his shoes. I just looked at him and blinked.
"Really?" I asked. I wasn't shocked. He didn't seem shocked either. He is getting used to the way things work around here.

I was in the process of making breakfast for the Lohmann's. They slept over on New Year's Eve and we were making Quiche and Dutch Babies. I walked over to the egg carton to start cracking and screamed when I realized one of the eggs had Ken Doll hair. It was so freaky having him look at me with that silly smile....he must have been wondering how he went from Kyle's shoe to my egg carton...and he also must have been mad he was missing his body. I looked around and saw Cassie smiling. Ha. Ha. Nice....I put his head on the window sill until I could locate the rest of him. I think he is out of luck though. Today I saw his leg in the bathroom and his torso on the counter downstairs.
Another barbaric act against an innocent "Barbie Doll". It will go unnoticed like the countless others before him. Sorry Ken.....

BARF-mitzvah

My Mom's boyfriend, Castro made us the best Mexican dinner on Christmas night. We had Chicken Enchiladas, Steak Tacos, Rice & Beans, and Seafood Pico de Gallo. We were all so excited to taste it. Well, except Chase...he is the classic "Picky Eater". He always gets stressed out at dinner time. If I would serve him Dutch Babies and Crepes everyday, he would be happy.

He looked at the food that night nervously. We assured him he would be just fine. We told him the steak tacos would be his favorite. He wouldn't touch anything. I told Castro to not feel bad because he even refuses to eat macaroni and cheese! Castro looked at Chase and said, "What kind of American kid are you if you won't eat macaroni and cheese??" I explained that we are amazed he has the energy he does because he barely eats. Castro said "Then you must be......Jewish....what do Jewish people eat, anyway?" I said "Well I know they eat Matzo Balls and Challah bread." Castro looked down at Chase and said "Don't they eat... "Barf-mitzvah?" Tayler thought that was hilarious. Chase was still worried about that steak taco, which had no steak in it and was really just a hollow corn tortilla on a plate.

We had planned on going to see a movie and knew this could take all night, so Scott told Chase he was giving him five minutes to finish his food. He then set his iphone timer and held it up. If it was Brussels sprouts or broccoli, then I wouldn't make him eat it all, just a tiny bite. But he eats corn chips with ease on other days, and this was just a glorified corn chip, so I had no mercy. I didn't want him hungry in 30 minutes or just eating candy at the movie, so I said, "Hurry it up...the timer's ticking."

He choked down a couple of bites as his siblings cheered him on. They didn't really need to chant the count down out loud, I will have to admit. Then I heard the sound.....that horrible, gagging sound. Tayler had the camera. I started yelling, "Oh! He's gonna throw up! Hurry Tayler!" Scott yelled back at me, "Calm down, he is not going to throw up!" Well, he was so caught off guard by us that it came up.....but not OUT. (Sorry. I know. Gross.)

"See!" Scott said. "He didn't throw up." I was looked at Scott. "No....I wasn't worried about THAT, I just wanted Tayler to catch it with the camera for my blog if he DID!!" Tayler said to Scott, "Ya Dad...and you made us miss it!"

I asked Castro if he knew he was going to get dinner and a show. Tayler said, "Well, at least we had our Barf-mitzvah"

How To Spot A Clean Freak....

It is no secret that Scott is a clean freak. He LOVES to clean the house. It makes him happy. He recently bought me an electronic dustpan. It's called the iVac. He was thrilled over it. I thought he was joking. There had to be something different in the box. Nope....that was it. A black contraption that was going to make my life easier. I nicknamed it the iSore. It's a great idea...you sweep up the dirt in front of it and it turns on and sucks it up. The thing is, it turns on when you are walking by it. It turns on when you drop a Sorry game piece and inhales it. It turns on when the cat decides to sit in front of it. If you ask me it creates more work.....but he loves it. He loves to wash walls, floor, counters. We all watch in amazement after a party. Within twenty minutes everything is back to normal....Husbands especially watch with jaws dropped...wishing he would just stop.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Malissa and I were standing in the kitchen talking. Scott was on his laptop drinking coffee. He reached over to grab something and knocked his cup over. Only a true clean freak would do what he did. Instead of letting the coffee hit the floor he threw himself in front of it to catch it. He would rather scald his skin right off his chest than let that liquid hit the floor. Scott even had to laugh at himself. Instead of changing, he got a towel to get any drops that may have missed landing on him. First things first.....

So if you want to spot true clean freak...look for the shirt soaked in coffee...it's a dead giveaway!

Up On The Rooftop

Nobody can accuse me of being a high strung Mom. I know I can get a little worked up at times, but overall....I am pretty laid back.... in my opinion....when it comes to the kids.

Last week while we were at our home schooling classes, Beau called me to say he was locked out of the house...in his PJ's. I told him to call his Dad to see if there was a key. Scott said there wasn't a key to be had so he got a ladder and climbed on the roof to see if he could get into his room through the window. The window was locked. The ladder fell to the ground. The next call I got was from Beau telling me he was now stuck on the roof. I explained we still had an hour left of classes and then we would be home. He had a coat he said, but his feet were freezing. I guess I should have left right then, but I just knew he would be okay. I was in the middle of signing the kids up for the next semester of classes, and if I stopped what I was doing, the classes might fill up. I called him back fifteen minutes later to see if he would like to take the Math class or not. "MOM! I don't care about that right now, my feet are FREEZING!" I didn't sign him up.
On my way home, he called me to ask exactly where I was at. He wanted to know what landmarks were around me. "I just passed the cow in the field, and I am at the blinking light." As we passed in front of our house we could see a little red speck lying flat on the roof. "There is Beau!!" Autumn yelled. We pulled into the driveway and I saw the ladder on the ground. Beau walked over to us and asked Chase to hurry and open his bedroom window so he could climb in.
"Did you do the dishes?" I yelled up to him. "Ummmmm, no, I have been stuck on the roof," he said. "Likely story....." I mumbled. Tayler was in the kitchen when I walked in. I commented that Beau in fact did NOT do the dishes like I had told him to do because he was stuck on the roof.
"He so did that on purpose," Tayler said.
Poor Beau...but he did get to defrost his hands in the warm dishwater. Oh and come to find out, there was a key, but Scott was worried Beau would LOSE it....Beau is such a good sport and was able to laugh about it. Such a great quality to have. :)

Friday Favorites....Triple Barrel Curling Iron

Do you remember the "crimping" irons from the 80's? Well, I happened to love mine. I used it all of the time in high school. I was really sad when crimped hair went out of style. I thought it looked so pretty and natural. We now have something close to that "look". The triple barrel curling iron! It creates those lovely waves. The best part is that it isn't expensive. I got mine at Sally's for only $30.00. (I KNOW!!!) It's a lot of bang for your buck! If I was a decent blogger, I would have thought to take a picture of my hair last week after I used it...."Duh Tupid" ( I am quoting my niece Scarlet here)

Here are a couple of tips that my amazing hair dresser/sister gave me.

1) Straighten your hair one day, then triple barrel it the second day.
2) Use a product called "Shine" on your hair before use.
3) Use smaller strands
4) Spray each strand with hair spray first for more defined waves

Jodi, Jessica and I were practicing on our hair a few weeks ago. My Brother-In-Law came home and Jodi asked him if he liked the way it looked. He said, "Look, if you guys want to have an 80's party while I am at work, that's fine with me"
Ok...it might look a bit 80's, but that is the whole point. Styles seem to cyle about every twenty years, so we are right on schedule. :)