The good, the bad, and the ugly

It has been a looooooooong time since I wrote so I'll start at the beginning.

Last week was our night out to see "Phantom of the Opera". I have wanted to see this show for years and years...at least twenty years. I first heard of the show in high school and I got the soundtrack, the book, and even the dialog book (it wasn't a script since none of the stage directions were on it but it had the dialog and the words to the songs in it). I absolutely love the story. In a nutshell, this guy who was born very deformed escaped from his imprisonment as a freak show draw and hid under the opera house where he lived his whole life. He never showed himself but 'haunted' the opera. He starts to give singing lessons to one of the ballet girls, who he falls in love with. It goes from there. They start the opera with an auction where they are selling off stuff from the opera house and when they get to the chandelier (which the Phantom brought down on the audience in a fit of rage..."Lot 665 then"), they pull it off the stage and up to the ceiling! Of course, later in the show it is brought down again. The show was amazing. The actors/singers were fabulous. The staging was awesome. I wondered how they'd do the lake under the opera house and it was really cool. I can honestly say that this was one of the best, if not THE best, birthday presents ever. I really enjoyed it. I even managed to find a decent outfit and shoes to wear so I didn't look like White Trash Mama at the show!

Then on Saturday, I had a bachelorette party for Patti (Lynne's sister). The bridal shower portion was held first and Jeri and I laughed sooo hard reminiscing about our bad 80's hair! It was great fun. Patti got some very lovely gifts and I think she had fun. Then we hung out and had the bachelorette portion of the evening complete with a penis cake, pin the cucumber on the hunk, and jello and pudding shots. Since I had to drive anyway, I was a designated sober cab. We ended up going to Bogart's in Apple Valley to listen to the live band. I thought they were really good but I was the ONLY ONE who wanted to dance!! Oddly enough, I ran into some of the members of my MOMS Club there. The Moms were boogeying down but the bachelorette party were sitting all demurely in the back! The groom needs not worry. There was absolutely no debauchery that night!

Then today my digital camera decided to die. I called the camera place and explained the situation. I keep putting new batteries into the thing but it says that the batteries are dead. Today, I changed the batteries and the thing wouldn't even turn on. The guy explained that it is most likely a short in the camera and that fixing it would most likely be more expensive than just buying a new camera. Y'all, I cannot tell you how bad this is for me. I LOVE my camera and I take pictures nearly daily. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean I don't take them! And I adored the fact that it took video with sound. Now, one week before Vegas, the darned thing decides to flippin' die on me. How can I do Vegas without a camera??? I can't, I tell you. So I don't know what I'll do.

I'll end this post with two funny stories.

Last night, I was craving something sweet. Odd, I know. So I said "Katie, go get me a treat. Cookies, or a granola bar, or go to Coborn's and get me some cake or maybe a pie". She replies with "Mom, I can't go to Coborn's because I'll get in trouble and arrested and thrown into jail forever". I said "No, Katie, I'd get into trouble and thrown into jail and you'd have to go live with Gram-mam and Pap pap. I'll take that chance. Would you like to stay here and have to live with us or do you want to go to the store and live with Gram-mam and Pap pap"? "Well," she says, "I like you both and I don't want you to go to jail forever". It took her a while to come to that, though!

The last story is quick. Katie was putting together a puzzle that has a map of the U.S. on it. Mike came over and asked her where Texas was and she showed him. He asked where Florida was and she showed him that, too. (The kid knows more geography than I do...sad.) So he says "Katie, I lived here, here, here, here, here, and here. I've lived in six states". She looks at him deadpan and says "That's nice. Good for you, Dad". !!! Brat. :)