Last night I went to the Guys and Dolls rehearsal an hour early to audition for a solo. I haven't auditioned for anything in decades, literally. This show has several small solo parts, and I liked the little one at the beginning of the song "Believe" from the movie Polar Express. I know I saw the movie, but I didn't really remember the song. Once I got there, I also went up and auditioned for one of three solos in a song called "O Sifuni Mungu." Kind of fun. Then I stayed a half hour afterwards to audition to be part of a six-woman descant in two other songs, "Song for an Unsung Hero" and "God Bless the U.S.A." I'm hoping I get at least one of those things, but there were actually a lot of good singers going up for these parts. That's really the other reason I went out for this. I wanted to hear and see who else came to try out. I enjoyed listening to all of the other people. I won't be at all upset if I don't get anything. The whole process of trying out was fun for me.
Oh, my, it brought back so many memories of being on the other side of the audition process when I was the one sitting and listening to all the kids coming up one at a time to try out for solos. Our director is doing these auditions on two nights, but I'll be driving up to Maryland next week. She videotaped all the auditions in order to listen to them once the two weeks of auditions are over. No announcements will be made before then, so I can just sit and relax now. I'll be missing the next two Tuesday night rehearsals.
Today Mark will build that new succah. I'm going to take pictures of its various stages and post them later, maybe on tomorrow's blog. If I'm able, I might drag out some pictures from previous succah-building days when the kids were young. I should be able to scan them into the computer and then post them, also. We'll see if I'm successful tomorrow.
Like so many Wednesdays, I'm down a pound and a half today. I'm starting to see a pattern there. I think I see a horrible number on Tuesday's weigh-in, eat right that day, and drop one or two. Now if I can only sustain that good-eating habit for an entire week! Tonight's dinner is heavy on calories, so I am eating my usual good breakfast and lunch in preparation. The key to eating right tonight is portion control. I can have some of everything, just not a LOT of anything and definitely no seconds. You know the drill. I'll tell you tomorrow how successful or unsuccessful I was at that.
The landscapers are mowing the back yard right now. Usually they do it on Tuesdays, but for some reason they are doing it now. That's good because it will be short when Mark is putting up the succah. Around 3:45 or 4:45 (I can't remember which one) the sprinklers are going to go off. Our company is coming at 5, so I can't put the table and chairs out and set the table until I've seen those sprinklers go. They run only about 10 minutes, then we can go out and dry the succah and drag out everything. If it's the later time, our guests will be helping with that task. Back in Laurel, I tried to have everything ready and the table set before the guests arrived, but there were some times when that just didn't happen, usually because of coming home from work late. We always had our guests help bring everything back in. I hope these guests will be as amenable to helping out. I think they will. They seem very nice, down to earth types.
I am enjoying my memories of all of our years of dinners in the succah in the past. In some ways I used to dread the week because of all the work involved, although admittedly Mark did most of the work and he always loved it. Now I'm thinking back with great fondness on all the many guests and dinner parties we had in that old double succah. I hope tonight will be the start of a new tradition down here. Maybe some of our former Maryland guests, or even our kids, will join us someday down here for dinner in the succah.
If you are building a succah, or have already built one, I hope you have some lovely dinners in them and not too much rain to wash out the fun. Our temperatures will be in the 80s today with low humidity, a lovely light breeze, and little chance of rain; however, if you are up north, you might be bundling up. I can remember wearing coats and shivering in the succah, too! Enjoy the holiday.
I just read your last two days of blog entry and really enjoyed them. I am so glad that you are getting into singing. I hope that you don't get too discouraged about the weight issues. I think that you will start having some success as you are not giving up on it. Don't forget that many women have a harder time losing weight on Arimidex I've heard. (I was only on it a short time myself several years ago and it started making my blood pressure go up) I am thankful that you are not having problems with your blood pressure like I did and that your weight is stable. I love your enthusiasm for life. It always lifts my spirits to read about all of the fun things that you and Mark are doing. I am on my way to chemo in a few minutes and later today when I get back I will look up and read about Succoth. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited that I was able to post a comment today. This is the first time I've been successful for a few weeks at being able to post.
ReplyDeleteHi Rhonda,
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm glad you can post comments again, too. I've really missed them. Even though we email each other, I still get a thrill out of seeing a comment right here on the blog. Thanks so much for being such a loyal reader and commenter!! I really LOVE it.
I'm glad I can lift your spirits. That's a nice thought for me.
I had not heard about weight loss and Arimidex issues, but I wouldn't doubt it. I know that as women lose estrogen during menopause, just the natural process, most women start gaining weight. I can truly believe that suppressing whatever little bit is leftover after menopause by taking the Arimidex would just add to that problem. Because I check my weight and add up my calories so often, I know that I don't need many calories each day just to maintain, probably in the neighborhood of only 1700-1800. My metabolism always checks out as normal, but it still doesn't allow me more calories than that. It's hard to stick to that, so exercise is the answer to consuming more calories. Unfortunately, I haven't been doing that part. That's where I need to improve, too.
Thank you again for inspiring me!! How are you doing these days? I hope all is well for your health and home life.
Becky,
ReplyDeleteI am doing alright. I was disappointed that my doctor didn't give me my chemo today. I haven't been feeling like normal since I went to the ER a week and a half ago. He took some blood cultures and tested me for c diff. That brings up horrible memories for you I know. I am thankful that he is being careful even though I missed my chemo today.
OH, my, that's terrible. I will pray that you do NOT have C diff. You are right that it dredges up horrible memories. Please keep me informed!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you are singing again. I could hear your lovely voice and see your smiling face as I read your blog. I can't wait to see you next week. I hope you have a lovely time in your new succah. I hope to go to the synagogue's succah on Saturday. Today my new wheelchair was delivered as I was working with clients, so I have spent the rest of the day getting used to it. So far so good. I will be able to show off all it can do on Simchat Torah. 'Til then - Happy Succoth! With love, Nadine
ReplyDeleteHi Nadine! So glad to hear from you. Wow! A new chair. Does it go up high like the old one? I thought that was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen, especially when you could lift up to sing in the choir. Can't wait to see you and see the new tricks you can do with your chair!! Fun.
ReplyDelete