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My Thoughts On The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Polycystic Kidney Disease.  Have you heard of it?  If so, did you hear about it from me?  I have it.  So does my mom. So does her youngest brother.  So does my cousin. So did my grandpa.  It stinks.  3/5 of us have had transplants. One may be in my future and the future of my cousin.  There is no cure. And not a lot of people know the disease exists.

I was challenged by my friend Katy to do the Ice Bucket Challenged. I gladly accepted for several reasons.  A colleague of mine lost her husband to ALS.  I have heard what he went through.  I have watched the countless videos of ALS victims sharing their thoughts on the challenge.  I'm about to make a donation.  My husband was challenged by our son, who desperately wanted to participate.  Before we let him do it just for fun, I explained it to him.  I used PKD as my example. "You know the disease mommy has in her kidneys?  ALS is another disease. We're doing this to raise awareness so that other people will take some time to learn about it and give money to help scientists learn how to develop medicines to help it."  I'm not saying that to brag about my parenting, which is often less than stellar, I"m telling you because this challenge HAS helped raise awareness.  Before people started dumping ice on their heads all  over Facebook,, I maybe thought about ALS once every few months, when it happened to come up in converstaion.  Now, I think about it multiple times a day.

I hope someday that PKD gets its "15 minutes" in the spotlight.  I can tell you right now that if someone told me they'd make a sizable donation to the PKD foundation if I balanced kidney beans on my nose for 15 seconds, I'd do it in a heartbeat.  There are a LOT of diseases that need to be brought to public attention.  Recognizing them one at a time is so much better than ignoring them altogether.

If you choose not to do the Ice Bucket Challenge, cool!  Totally your call, and I very much respect that, no matter what your resasons.  There is not really a wrong or right where it's concerned.  I just hope that it brings to mind a disease or challenge that IS close to your heart, at the very least.

We are all put on this earth to help each other. All we have to help ourselves get through life is the wonderful grace of God and each other.  We need to spend more time gently supporting each other, in whatever way we're able.

Get In Shape, Girl

A few weeks ago, I wrote about taking control of my health, namely my weight.  It's now been almost a month since we started our daily workouts at the theatre over our lunch hour. I feel SO good.  I can tell I've dropped a little weight, but I haven't weighed myself.  I think constantly staring at a scale is counter-productive to me, as I'll put pressure on myself to achieve a certain number, losing sight of the goal of overall health.  I go to the doctor next week, so I'll see what I weigh then.  I did buy some new clothes last weekend, and the pants were a smaller size than what I've been wearing, so there's that.

 

We have been mixing up our workouts a little.  The 30-Day Shred, level 1, is our go-to, but this week, we started mixing in Richard Simmons' original Sweatin' To The Oldies.  I got this DVD because I have fond memories of doing the video with my mom over the summer when I was a 5th or 6th grader. I remembered it being more like a fun dance than a workout.  I figured it would give us a nice break from Jillian Michaels (and believe me, you need a break sometimes), but would still keep us active.  Y'all.  I sweat more doing Richard Simmons than I ever do with the Shred.  The beginning is pretty gentle, a nice three-song warm up, featuring some silly moves, including what we all call The Original Twerk.  Then comes "Great Balls of Fire," where you do the twist for 3 and a half minutes.  No wonder people were so skinny in the 60s.  "Wipeout" is next, and you get a killer cardio workout.  It's so much fun, but it also kicks your tail. And you can't get mad at Richard Simmons. Seriously. The man is so happy. And just when you start getting frustrated, he'll start singing or scream out "We're on Broadway!" or something to make you giggle.

Taking control of my fitness makes me feel good. My body is craving good food, so it's easier to eat right.  I'm drinking a ton of water, as usual, maybe even MORE than usual.  Most importantly, I know I'm doing SOMETHING to better myself.  I'll report back after my doctor's appointment.

Taking Control

At my last nephrologist appointment, the doctor doubled my dose of blood pressure medication.  I knew that was going to happen. I can always tell when it's running high by the little headache behind my eyebrow.  What surprised me a little was that it wasn't really related to my kidney function, which was perfect. (Woo hoo!)  Work has been stressful, so that could be part of it, but so could my weight.  While I do a good job of avoiding sodium in my diet, I've been doing a fairly bad job (for a while) of controlling my calories. So I've decided to take control.

A group of about 5 of us have been working out on our lunch break each day for the past week or so.  Usually, we do level 1 of the 30 Day Shred, which is NO JOKE.  Today we took a Pilates class.  It helps that we have each other. We keep each other accountable. When the ladies from the administrative office show up over here in production wearing sweats, I close my door, change my clothes, and go downstairs.  No excuses.  We're lucky that we have a dance studio and a small theatre space downstairs where we can work out each day.

I'd love to lose 20 pounds.  But more than that, I'd love to decrease my BP meds and just feel healthier overall.  I want to tone up and feel better about my appearance.

And I can do it. I AM doing it.

We shall be fit and gorgeous.

Solitary

My guys have been gone for 17 days. SEVENTEEN. DAYS.  If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may know that we take a long trip to visit our family in Virginia each summer, usually for 2-3 weeks.  This year, with my new job, I have no vacation time available for such a luxurious trip.  Since this is usually the only time of year we see that side of the family, it was very important that the guys still go on the trip.

So I've been alone for 17 days.

They'll be home tomorrow, THANK GOD, because 1. I am bored. 2.  I miss them. 3. I'm pretty sure the cat's plot to kill me is nearly complete.

I've kept myself busy and have actually had some very enjoyable times while they've been gone.  I've been out with my work friends and a few other friends I don't get to see very often, which has been nice. i've gotten to know several new places in and around Birmingham.   I certainly have not minded sleeping as late as I'd like on the weekends.  I've made foods the guys don't like for my dinners. 

My routine, however, is practically non-existent.  More than once, I've woken up with dark rings under my eyes because I forgot to take off my makeup the night before. That's something I always do while Marcus brushes his teeth, right before we go to bed.  I've done laundry exactly four times since they've been gone.  The loads are tiny when they're just for one person.  I miss matching Dean's tiny socks.

Today, my last day without them, will consist of cooking, soaking up a few more hours of horrible television (Totally 80's on VH1, anyone?), and sleeping all over the entire bed.

I can't wait for them to be home.

In Our Own Backyard

Dean and I had a trip to my parents' house planned this weekend, but Mom called yesterday to say they are both under the weather.  Dean had a live flu vaccine (the mist) this week and is a little more susceptible to catching a cold, and I just got over the stomach bug or food poisoning of death and doom, so we'd like to avoid sickness if at all possible.  We stayed home.  I had already promised Dean he didn't have to go to preschool on Friday, so our change of plans did NOT change his mind about that!  I was scheduled to teach a webinar to some lovely theatre students in Louisiana at 10:00, so I set Dean up in his tent with a fun tv show to watch, a few snacks and lots of toys.  He entertained himself quite well while I did my Skype session upstairs, which is more than I can say for my cat who made several cameo appearances.

After my "class," we headed to the library, our favorite place in the world lately. We go nearly every day.  They have a nice collection of DVDs, wonderful books of course, and a decent selection of music CDs.  Dean recently discovered books on CD. I grabbed the CD of Dr. Seuss's  "Horton" books for long car rides, and he's been really enjoying it. (Dustin Hoffman reads--how could you NOT enjoy that!)  We picked out some fun Halloween-themed books, a classic Mickey Mouse DVD and a Veggie Tales CD.  On Fridays, the cafeteria at the university where Marcus teaches has "Fried Chicken Friday." I often eat with him when I'm able.  The cafeteria also provides lunch for Dean's preschool, which is on campus.  A nice man named Mr. Keith brings their food over each day.  They once took a little field trip over to the cafeteria, which they call "Mr. Keith's Restaurant."  Marcus invited us to join him for lunch and Dean was so excited he could hardly stand it.  He devoured a plate of food--2 chicken drumsticks, fries, orange Jello with whipped cream and an ice cream cone. (So healthy.)  He also flirted with every single college-aged lady he met.

After lunch, we headed to Dollar Tree.  Dean has recently re-discovered Dollar Tree, when we went last week to buy trinkets and things for his school's Halloween party.  We put together treat bags late last week. Since I'll be back at work full-time when Halloween actually happens, I thought it best to go ahead and put our bags together now.  He was a great helper, methodically filling each bag with stickers, plastic spider rings, chocolate eyeballs, and Tootsie Pops.  Yesterday, we picked out some fun Halloween decorations to help make our house look "Haunted."  We got an orange skeleton for the bathroom door, a vampire for Dean's room and a little kit to make door hangers.  My crafting prowess ever obvious, I put one of the door hangers together upside down.  Who does that? ME, that's who.

Today is Saturday and we've got tickets to see THE GINGERBREAD BOY at Birmingham Children's Theatre.  We may hit a movie or the museum at some point, and I imagine we'll end up back at the pumpkin patch.  Sometimes it's fun to rediscover the simple, fun, inexpensive things to do in your own town.

Have you ever done a "stay-cation?"  What fun things do you like to do around your own town?

Catchup

Wow.  I just opened a new post screen, then closed it quickly because I was intimidated. By my blog. Which I own.  Just because I haven't written in a while. How silly. 

I never know how much to say or keep to myself on here. My family reads this, and some friends, some strangers do, too.  How much is too much?  Will something I say upset my parents?  Will people think I'm a bad mom?  Do I care?

Our summer ended right on cue, with Dean and Marcus returning to school and work. Dean was VERY ready to go back to preschool, even though he told me the morning he was to go back that he quit. Once he walked in, saw his cubby and hugged his friends, I didn't even get a goodbye. He's having a blast in the four-year-old class. One of the big kids.  His days consist of play, play and more play.  They are so great at his school. They make collages and doctor kits and play with blocks and climb on things and sing songs. Dean is slowly but surely accepting the fact that yes, child, you do have to learn to write. He will tolerate writing his name now, which is an improvement.  I've never met a kid who hated coloring more than this one, though.  But there are plenty of other things to do at school. I mean, they have an entire table devoted to Play-Doh.  I'm always amazed at the sheer amount of stuff they do each day.  No wonder he'll nap for them.

I started, ran and finished a show that I loved this summer.  The cast was a dream--one of those special groups you get to work with far too infrequently.  When the show was over and they all went back to NYC, I didn't delete a single one of them from my phone.  That's a big deal.  I broke in a new assistant. She's not just any assistant, though, she's one of our "kids," as Marcus and I call them.  She was my student when I was an adjunct professor and she's been in Marcus's classes for the past four years.  She graduated and I hired her. To say she's doing well would be the understatement of the century. She is SOARING. I'm so proud.

I have another new assistant, too, one I enjoyed working with so much in 2008 that I brought her to Alabama for a whole year.  It's fun to have her back in my life and great to have her working with us.  She and I are very much cut from the same cloth and I think she's going to be a fantastic fit here.

Dean continues to blow my mind.  His imagination, his vocabulary, his sense of humor...they are the greatest.  My favorite thing he says right now is, "last day," which means yesterday.  For a while, I corrected him, but then I left it alone, if for no other reason than the fact that it's adorable. He'll figure it out soon enough.  He passed his language, speech and hearing evaluations done at school this week.  He is begging to go to the airport so we can go back to the beach. He is working on being gentler with our cat.

We bought Dean a big boy bed this summer, a real full-sized deal. He chose Buzz and Woody bedding and asked for wall stickers.  Then he asked for more wall stickers.  And more. When we started to put the new ones up, I was going to take down the Curious George ones that adorned his nursery walls. He refused, which secretly thrilled me.  His walls are now a hodge-podge of Curious George, Buzz Lightyear, Superhero Squad and Angry Birds.  It's very busy, but very fun.

My mind is extra-swirly lately with thoughts of this and that.  I've already managed to freak myself out about kindergarten several times, even though it's a year away.  I miss my grandma. Fall always brings a huge wave of nostalgia and this year is no different. I need to lose some weight.  I have taken control of my health and, at my doctor's urging, put some new preventative practices into play, including eliminating caffeine.  (I'll hold for a second until you've revived yourselves because I know several of you just fainted.)  I'm down to one cup of coffee a day and an occassional iced tea or Coke Zero. I drink 96 ounces of water a day and I feel really good.  The headaches have finally stopped and I like knowing I'm doing something good for myself.

I'm enjoying a little breather from work til mid-October when I begin rehearsals for A CHRISTMAS CAROL. How I have lived this long and worked in theatre for this many years and NEVER done a production of this show is beyond me. But now I shall. And it shall be epic.  Until then, I intend to enjoy football season, play with my family, cook like crazy and maybe even attend a college reunion.

But now I have to hit publish because my cat is staring at me wanting to be petted and it's starting to freak me out.

 

 

Itchy and Scratchy

Dean's preschool recently shared the dreaded head lice with our family.  What a lucky bunch we are.  I debated whether or not to write about it for all of 3 seconds before reminding myself that DUH! Every single home remedy and trick that worked? I learned from another blog mom friend.   Amalah recently wrote this awesome guide to Plague and Pestilence, which I turned to at the first sign of nits.  Her recommendations are excellent, especially the comb. 

Stacey of Tree, Root and Twig was my lifesaver when it came to lice.  She's the mom of five kids, so she's pretty much seen it all.  Her home remedies saved me a bundle of cash and heartache.

FIRST SIGNS:

Ok, so, how do you differentiate between lice and plain ole dandruff?  Lice lay eggs, called nits, which attach to your hair shaft.  You'll usually see them about a quarter inch (or less) down from the root. It's easiest to spot them around the ears and base of the hairline, though most of Marcus's were around his part on top of his head.  When you move the hair, dandruff will fall downwards while nits will stay attached.   As they hatch, the lice move around your head, causing itching. (Grossed out yet?  Me too.)

TREATMENT:

Here's where Stacey's brilliance saved me.  Her suggestion was, rather than buying costly products that can be full of chemicals, use household products to saturate the hair and smother the lice.  We went with her top suggestion of olive oil.  All three of us held our head over our kitchen sink and poured olive oil liberally over our scalps.  We rubbed it all over and through our hair, taking care to really saturate the area behind the ears and at the hairline.  Marcus wrapped his head in saran wrap, which was HAWT, while Dean and I rocked disposable shower caps.  Rather than spending over $10 per bottle just for Rid shampoo, we spent $6.99 for 2 bottles of olive oil (they were buy one get one free at our store!), $2 on shower caps and right around $7 for the comb to end all combs, the RidVantage Lice Removal Comb.  Steel combs are where it's at for lice removal.  Don't even waste time with the plastic ones. 

So, once we marinated our heads for about 4 hours, we rinsed out the olive oil using regular shampoo (baby shampoo on Dean).  It left the hair a bit oily and slippery, but that made things easier.  I used the awesome comb to go through each little section of hair, rinsing after each stroke, picking out any nits that were stubborn enough to stick around.  This part takes FOREVER, especially if you have long hair like Marcus and me.  Dean's nits slid right out of his very fine hair.  That  night, I washed his hair again with baby shampoo, mostly to get the oil out, combed it once again (while he was in the tub! Distraction with bathtub fingerpaint FTW!), then blew it dry. I think the blow-drying was the worst part for him--he's not a fan.  I have not seen one single nit in his head since.

Marcus and I were not so lucky.  For whatever reason, we had a reoccurrance and finally had to use Rid shampoo. Y'all.  That stuff smells HORRIBLE. I did mine first and complained to Marcus that I smelled like the bathroom of a dollar store.  He laughed at me, then did his own hair.  He came out of the bathroom claiming to smell "old people, flea dip, that hand soap that sort of smells like bacon, lighter fluid and kitty litter."  In other words, the bathroom at a dollar store.

So far so good, though we'll be doing another olive oil treatment tonight and combing, combing, combing again, just to be sure.

FOR YOUR HOME:

It's importatnt to know that domestic cats cannot contract human lice.  I called the vet immediately, dreading we'd have to pick nits out of Chutney.  Luckily, she  is in the clear.  She wishes we'd all stop wearing shower caps.

I bought Rid's home lice spray and have used it on our mattresses, couches, carpets, dining chairs, car seats, curtains and rugs.  I had a few extra pillows I'd bought last summer when they were on sale, so we tossed the old ones and brought in the new ones. We've wiped down all our surfaces with bleach and mopped the floors.  I vacuumed with baking soda.  I have washed approximately 4000 loads of laundry in hot water and dried them on the "heavy duty" setting.  For Dean's school nap mat, which we're pretty sure started all of this in the first place, I washed it, dried it, then immediately sealed it in a platic bag and put it in the trunk of my car until we got to school this morning. Toys that may have gone near someone's head have been soaked in very diluted bleach or sprayed with Lysol. 

I feel like we've got a handle on things, though I will continue to be EXTREMELY vigilant for the next few days.

I want to be sure to point out that having lice doesn't mean you are a gross person or that your home is unclean.  In fact, lice can't stick to dirty hair.  It's just part of life, especially in the deep south.  I had them as a kid at the same time I had chicken pox. (That was a bad week.)  I imagine this may not be our last time to deal with this, so long as we live in this region and have a little kid in our house.

Have you ever had lice? Got any tricks up your sleeve to get rid of them?

Disney...On Ice!

Last night was a very worthwhile splurge for our little family.  A couple of weeks ago, Marcus heard a radio ad for Disney On Ice and decided we should take Dean.  Never one to turn down a night out or anything with the word DISNEY in the title, I wholeheartedly agreed.  He poked around online a bit and found that there was a 20% opening night discount.  Then he bought front row tickets, declaring, "If we're gonna do it, let's do it right." And boy howdy, did we.

"Mama, what's gonna HAPPEN?"

(Also, LOOK! Actual photographic evidence that I go places with my family! Who knew you could just hand the camera to your husband and make that happen?)

Dean really didn't understand what we were going to see prior to the event.  He just knew he was wearing special clothes, big boy shoes and getting to eat dinner in a restaurant.  He enjoyed his cheesey pizza, declaring it "kinda good."  In true Disney form, you were immediately bombarded with souvenier options, most of which were astronomical in price.  We settled for the least expensive, but definitely the cutest, option:

Flounder hat and cotton candy combo for the win!

When the show started, Dean was very quiet.  He didn't really react at first, unless you count the fact that his eyes grew to the size of saucers when Mickey and Minnie entered the rink.  However, even Mr. Cool couldn't resist a squeal of delight when these guys appeared:

TIMON AND PUMBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dean said, "Daddy, you see that?"  We enjoyed the Lion King portion of the show, except for the fact that adult Simba looked more like a Jellicle Cat than a lion.  We loved The Little Mermaid and Lilo and Stitch.  I realized around 3pm the day of the show that Dean had no idea who Lilo and Stitch were, so we watched some YouTube clips so he would recognize him.  Their rendition of "Burning Love" brought the house down. 

At intermission, we watched the zamboni:

I'm a sucker for a zamboni.  When I was in college, we hosted a Russian production of Swan Lake on ice, for which our students served as crew.  One thing they asked for were volunteers to stay overnight and make the ice stage.  I was ALL OVER that, mostly because I thought the job would involve driving a zamboni in the wee hours of the morning. Imagine my surprise when I was handed a pair of rubber boots and a garden hose and told to "walk the ice" every half hour. LAME. But I digress.

The second act was all Peter Pan.  Dean absolutely loves Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, so it was nice that they happened to spend a lot of their time addressing our side of the arena.

Overall, it was an awesome night and certainly money well-spent. I hope he remembers it forever.

When The Ordinary Turns Extraordinary

Yesterday was just a normal day.  I went in to work to wrap a few things up from my show that just closed and attend a meeting. Dean went to preschool. Marcus taught his classes.  When I picked Dean up, he had just finished making a mask on a stick. (SURPRISE! It's name is Dean.)

The third eyeball atop the forehead is my favorite part, I think.

Dean "proper" told me a sordid tale of Dean the Masks's past as a circus performer. But then he got scared of the clowns (LIKE YOU, MAMA!) and decided to come live with us.  It's make-believe week at preschool, you see.  I kind of want to go to class...

We got home, sorted our Halloween candy, since somebody was too sleepy to do it on Halloween night, and played with all our plastic bats and skeletons. Marcus called and asked me to preheat the oven.  He arrived a few minutes later with some lovely steaks, baking potatoes and fixin's for a caesar salad.  We are foodies, you see, so if we're going to splurge on something, it's usually going to be a nice meal, and it's usually going to be prepared by one of us.  Dean took one look and said, "YUK!" so I made him some turkey meatballs, macaroni and cheese and broccoli, which he dipped in A-1 sauce.

While we were getting ready to grill, which for some reason, happened in the driveway, our neighbors came over.  Their son is almost 3 and loves to play with Dean.  We had tricycle races up and down the driveway as the sun set, then once it got dark and we lit the grill, Dean said, "Let's camp!"  He sat down in front of the flaming grill (at a very safe distance, mind you, lest his paranoid parents stroke out right there in the yard) and had himself a campout.  In a rare moment of mommy genius, I ran inside, grabbed a couple of bamboo skewers I'd previously soaked in water and some marshmallows and we roasted ourselves some appetizers.

 

It was a fine campout and the best part was that I didn't have to sleep in a tent.

Anything extraordinary happen during your ordinary day?

 

Still here!

OH, HEY!  Sorry for the lack of posting, y'all.  I've been stage managing a hum-dinger of a show.

 

That's a lie...it opened Sunday.

DRACULA!!!!!!!!  It's fun. And big. And there are explosions.  No one flies, but there's a ton of magic. I'm having a blast. It's also kind of nerve-wracking because there are multiple times when I could screw up and kill someone. Let's all hope that doesn't happen.  The audience for opening went insane every time something blew up.  It was so much fun.

Even Shakespeare got dressed up for the occasion:

 

He says he didn't write this play, but it's still pretty good.

Here's a sneak-peek at one of my favorite special effects:

 
That, friends, is what a vampire looks like after you stake it.  See the little round things by his head, hip and between his legs?  Those are pyro pots and contain enough flash powder to blow the sides off a coffin. (Told you the special effects were cool!).  This picture was taken looking down into one of our traps in the stage floor.  I kind of felt like this guy looked during tech week, but we made it through and have one of the best shows I've seen in a long time, so all the hard work was worth it!

To read more, check out our company's website:  www.asf.net, or like Alabama Shakespeare Festival on Facebook!

(Shameless plug over. But I have to admit...my job's pretty cool.)