Random Ramblings of an Overwhelmed Mind
So, my almost-3-year old daughter is parked on the couch, watching "Wow Wow Wubbzy!" and I thought I'd take the opportunity to update my journal at long last. She's actually waiting for "SpongeBob Squarepants" to start, having just finished watching "Dora the Explorer" on Noggin, which never goes the full half-hour timeslot, so fear not for her poor, TV addled mind. She's still brilliant.
Her doctor, the other day (not her regular pediatrician) thought Audrey was at least 3 1/2 based on her speechifying abilities. My genius! My little chatterbox! She just started at a Montessori School last week, but didn't go at all this week due to A) sickness and B) weather. She's going next week, even though she says she wants to stay home. Tough. You're not gonna fake-sick your way through school like I did, kiddo. In fourth grade I missed 20 days of school. 20 times. That's 11 more times than Ferris Bueller. Take that, John Hughes.
I'm not putting cuts in this post, because I can never figure it out. It's all those days of school I missed.
We've just discovered the cartoon series Charlie and Lola on Playhouse Disney. It's an adorable show about a British brother and sister. I love it. I recklessly ordered the DVD set of the first season, because I simply can't do without it. But it's for my daughter. Really.
My husband and I just got cast in a local production of the musical "1776". It's about just what you think it is. The creation and signing of the Declaration of Independence, and it's actually an interesting and very funny show. There are only two women in the whole thing: Martha Jefferson, and Abigail Adams. I'm playing Mrs. Adams, and I've gotta say she was one fascinating woman. Quite ahead of her time, but not really. She still believed a woman's place was in the home, which makes sense at that time, considering all the things that needed to be done around the home without the benefit of our modern conveniences. Who'd have thought that the automatic dishwasher freed countless women to go out into the workforce?
I've got three scenes, all with songs in them. She's only really there in imagined conversations with her husband, who is frustrated beyond belief that the rest of the Continental Congress doesn't share his opinion that the Colonies ought to declare independency from Britain and its tyrannical King George III. Some of the dialog between them is excerpted from the real letters from the preserved correspondence between Abby and John. They shared a likeness of mind and heart that sustained their marriage through many long separations. She's witty, she's helpful, and she knows how to stand her ground. I love her, and I love their marriage. The nicest song they have together is a running theme entitled "Yours, Yours, Yours". It's gorgeous, and I'm gonna love playing her.
My husband is playing Edward Rutledge, the youngest member of the Continental Congress, and a delegate from South Carolina. He's described as a dandified Southern aristocrat, and he's somewhat of an antagonist to the lead character of John Adams. He's all smooth and genteel Southern charm, as he's requesting that the anti-slavery clause that Jefferson included in the Declaration be taken out, or he won't sign it. He's got a big song in the second act entitled "Molasses to Rum to Slaves" that's guaranteed to make everyone squirm uneasily in their seats. It's about the triangle trade, which my husband, Todd, has read didn't really exist. It was just made up by proponents of slavery to make abolitionists look like hypocrites who benefited from the Slave Trade, or by the Temperance Movement, who wanted to turn people off of rum by associating it with the Slave Trade.
So, anyway, my husband is playing a "bad guy". Kinda hot. Really hot. Although he'll have to shave. He's had a beard for about 8 years, and I love the look. He's all rugged. But not lumberjack rugged. Alas, men in Colonial times were mostly clean-shaven, so goodbye, Todd beard. For a while. I'll be seeing you again very soon. He'll also be wearing knee-breeches with stockings and shoe buckles, and who knows? Maybe a powdered wig! Mmmm.
With all this stuff about Britain and King George III, I got curious about royal families, and found an interesting, and very titillating book by the great-great-great-great-(twenty four more greats) granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eleanor Herman. She's also related to most of the royal families of Europe, because they're ALL frickin' related to each other! All this marvelous inbreeding is related in her book "Sex With the Queen"
Talk about your screwed up, dysfunctional families. The royal families of Europe were and are a bizarre bunch. Probably no more bizarre than the rest of us slobs, but certainly not as high-minded and better-than as they liked to think they were. I mean, who were they fooling with all those arranged marriages to drooling first cousins who couldn't chew food properly due to their misshapen jaws?
All they did was create miserable unions where the husband and wife hated each other, took lovers, and neglected their children. Queens and Princesses were separated from their children, which had to create marvelous insecurities in the poor babies. At least some of the adultery lead to introducing some fresh DNA into the mix.
Marrying your first cousin. Ick. Even Queen Victoria, and her beloved Prince Albert were first cousins.
When did they figure out that inbreeding was a really bad idea? Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip are second cousins. And he's a prize.
Well, folks, hope you enjoyed the update. Who knows when I'll get the urge to do it again?
Her doctor, the other day (not her regular pediatrician) thought Audrey was at least 3 1/2 based on her speechifying abilities. My genius! My little chatterbox! She just started at a Montessori School last week, but didn't go at all this week due to A) sickness and B) weather. She's going next week, even though she says she wants to stay home. Tough. You're not gonna fake-sick your way through school like I did, kiddo. In fourth grade I missed 20 days of school. 20 times. That's 11 more times than Ferris Bueller. Take that, John Hughes.
I'm not putting cuts in this post, because I can never figure it out. It's all those days of school I missed.
We've just discovered the cartoon series Charlie and Lola on Playhouse Disney. It's an adorable show about a British brother and sister. I love it. I recklessly ordered the DVD set of the first season, because I simply can't do without it. But it's for my daughter. Really.
My husband and I just got cast in a local production of the musical "1776". It's about just what you think it is. The creation and signing of the Declaration of Independence, and it's actually an interesting and very funny show. There are only two women in the whole thing: Martha Jefferson, and Abigail Adams. I'm playing Mrs. Adams, and I've gotta say she was one fascinating woman. Quite ahead of her time, but not really. She still believed a woman's place was in the home, which makes sense at that time, considering all the things that needed to be done around the home without the benefit of our modern conveniences. Who'd have thought that the automatic dishwasher freed countless women to go out into the workforce?
I've got three scenes, all with songs in them. She's only really there in imagined conversations with her husband, who is frustrated beyond belief that the rest of the Continental Congress doesn't share his opinion that the Colonies ought to declare independency from Britain and its tyrannical King George III. Some of the dialog between them is excerpted from the real letters from the preserved correspondence between Abby and John. They shared a likeness of mind and heart that sustained their marriage through many long separations. She's witty, she's helpful, and she knows how to stand her ground. I love her, and I love their marriage. The nicest song they have together is a running theme entitled "Yours, Yours, Yours". It's gorgeous, and I'm gonna love playing her.
My husband is playing Edward Rutledge, the youngest member of the Continental Congress, and a delegate from South Carolina. He's described as a dandified Southern aristocrat, and he's somewhat of an antagonist to the lead character of John Adams. He's all smooth and genteel Southern charm, as he's requesting that the anti-slavery clause that Jefferson included in the Declaration be taken out, or he won't sign it. He's got a big song in the second act entitled "Molasses to Rum to Slaves" that's guaranteed to make everyone squirm uneasily in their seats. It's about the triangle trade, which my husband, Todd, has read didn't really exist. It was just made up by proponents of slavery to make abolitionists look like hypocrites who benefited from the Slave Trade, or by the Temperance Movement, who wanted to turn people off of rum by associating it with the Slave Trade.
So, anyway, my husband is playing a "bad guy". Kinda hot. Really hot. Although he'll have to shave. He's had a beard for about 8 years, and I love the look. He's all rugged. But not lumberjack rugged. Alas, men in Colonial times were mostly clean-shaven, so goodbye, Todd beard. For a while. I'll be seeing you again very soon. He'll also be wearing knee-breeches with stockings and shoe buckles, and who knows? Maybe a powdered wig! Mmmm.
With all this stuff about Britain and King George III, I got curious about royal families, and found an interesting, and very titillating book by the great-great-great-great-(twenty four more greats) granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eleanor Herman. She's also related to most of the royal families of Europe, because they're ALL frickin' related to each other! All this marvelous inbreeding is related in her book "Sex With the Queen"
Talk about your screwed up, dysfunctional families. The royal families of Europe were and are a bizarre bunch. Probably no more bizarre than the rest of us slobs, but certainly not as high-minded and better-than as they liked to think they were. I mean, who were they fooling with all those arranged marriages to drooling first cousins who couldn't chew food properly due to their misshapen jaws?
All they did was create miserable unions where the husband and wife hated each other, took lovers, and neglected their children. Queens and Princesses were separated from their children, which had to create marvelous insecurities in the poor babies. At least some of the adultery lead to introducing some fresh DNA into the mix.
Marrying your first cousin. Ick. Even Queen Victoria, and her beloved Prince Albert were first cousins.
When did they figure out that inbreeding was a really bad idea? Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip are second cousins. And he's a prize.
Well, folks, hope you enjoyed the update. Who knows when I'll get the urge to do it again?