Where, oh, where did my sunshine go?

The weather has gotten noticeably more gray since last night. Fortunately I have these lovely photos of our trip to Point No Point on Saturday to remind me of the fleeting sunshine. It was almost 90 degrees, so after attending the Armed Forces Day Parade, we headed to the beach. Now, this is the Pacific Ocean . . . which doesn't every really seem to warm up at all. The water was particularly cold in spite of the warm day, but it didn't seem to slow her down.
And she's off!

Notice how I'm keeping my toes nice and warm on the sand. Meanwhile, the icy chill of the water sends her airborne for a moment.

But, she heads from "brrrr" to "wheeeeeee" in 3.4 seconds.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching her do this at full speed.

It was a glorious day, and I think she enjoyed herself.

Now, I'm going to close my eyes to block the gray I see out of my window, and reminisce about that warm sunshine.

Sunday Stroll

I'm a little late getting this posted today, but I finally got out for a Sunday Stroll this afternoon like Aisling suggested. I've so enjoyed looking at her beautiful pictures, and my mom-in-law has been participating as well. Unfortunately for me today, my camera didn't cooperate the whole time, but it was a beautiful, magical walk with my daughter anyway.
The day just couldn't have been any prettier . . . see?

My mom-in-law would have said these trees were dancing. There was a lovely breeze, and they had a nice swaying rhythm. It was fun to lean back and watch them.
We found these trees at a tiny little playground that is hidden on a side street a few blocks from my house. The park directly in front of our house was so filled with people that you could barely sqeeze another child on the playground there, but there was not another soul to be found at this one. Haleigh had the monkey bars all to herself, and I got to sit and stare at the beautiful clouds.

On our way down to the playground we saw how big the lavendar plants are getting that line one edge of the park. My camera ate that picture. :-( Haleigh and I were both captivated by these little poppies. The grow EVERYWHERE here! They are a burst of sunshine popping out of rock gardens and just randomly along the edge of sidewalks. They look a little yellow in this picture but they are actually a very vibrant orange.

Down the street a little further, we found the daddy-sized ones!

I don't even know what these are, but that color says tropical and summer like nothing else.
Of course, Haleigh is just as happy in a patch of grass that hasn't been mowed in a little while . . .

Yes, I have a little bunch of these wild white flowers on my windowsill right now, to remind me of our walk. :-)

I'm baaaaack

Hello, everyone! A lot of you know by now that I've had a little trip to the hospital. They finally let me out of there last night. I am feeling much better, and I really appreciate all the prayers and well-wishes.
At the moment, I am stressing out about the fact that I am supposed to be doing a show tonight. See, I had my appendix removed, and things are pretty sore. On top of that, I was actually sick with a pretty bad cold before I ever even developed appendicitis, and that cold is still hanging around! I'm trying to figure out a way to do the show in a wheelchair while attached to a breathing treatment. Do you think it would take away from the story? LOL
On a side note, this day at home has taught me something . . . the preservatives they are injecting into the faces of all the soap stars so that they never EVER age are getting better. I actually think, at this point, it might be embalming fluid. John's eyebrow doesn't even move anymore on Days of Our Lives.
I'll try to be back for more blogging later, but for now it is time for lots of rest! Thank you everyone for your kind words and thoughts.

Too busy to be sick

I am sick. Very sick. I picked up a whopper of an illness from the leading man in my musical. These particular germs have been on a rampage through our cast and we're dropping like flies.

Yesterday, I survived our last performance of the weekend, but that's about all I can say about it. My fever broke in the middle of our big song "There Once Was a Man", and I was left with clammy palms, a sweaty face, and mascara gathering in dark pools beneath my eyes. It was lovely.

Since last night, I've been in a vicious cycle. Let me just say: Theraflu is my friend. I take my 2 tablespoons, and about 1/2 an hour later I'm sweating out the fever. Then I have about a 1/2 hour window where I actually don't feel like I'm on my deathbed and alien life forms are trying to burst forth from my chest. I'm in that window right now, which is why I'm able to sit up and type this rather than curl into a fetal position and cry for my mommy.

The thing is, I just don't have TIME to be sick! I'm all by myself right now while the hubby is in Georgia. The dogs aren't going to walk themselves and Haleigh isn't going to drive herself to school. Today, she attempted to have me come pick her up from school early. Well, she called her dad's cell phone first . . . not a lot he could do from across the country! So, he called me, and I literally broke down into tears. Turns out she was just fine, and using the phone without permission, so I was able to suck down some more Theraflu before heading out to get her. (Do you think you can O.D. on that stuff?) I just feel bad for her though, bless her little heart. I'm really no fun at all right now.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to be doing a Pampered Chef party at the home of one of the eye doctors I work with. I've already had to reschedule once, and it's much too last minute to cancel now.

And Friday, of course, I'll have another performance of The Pajama Game. I don't have an understudy. I think I'll take myself to the doctor tomorrow and ask for what my mother calls the "voodoo shot". And for ME to ask for a SHOT, you know I must be desperate.

A special birthday

Happy birthday to my mother-in-law . . . most of you know her as Robbin with 2 b's over at Cedar Chest of Dreams. Today is her special day, and I hope she is feeling well and celebrating exactly like she wants. My husband is there with her in person, and her granddaughter and I wish we could be, too. We're sending lots of happy wishes her way, though.

Happy Birthday, Ms. Robbin. :-)

Love,

Amy & Haleigh (and Sam, Ozzy, and Jasmin)

Daughters

This child just takes my breath away sometimes.

It's been the two of us (and the dogs, and the kitty . . .) for the last few days while her dad is in Georgia. I've not gotten to see a lot of her during this time, because I've been performing every night since Thursday, meaning she's been shipped off to various friends.

In between these times, though, she has said and done some things that have absolutely astounded me. Maybe absence does make the heart a little fonder, but I have had a wonderful time just observing her when we're together. She's mesmerizing. She's a whole little person that didn't exist 7 1/2 years (and 9 or so months) ago. She actually started and grew in my tummy, and now she's a beautiful, brilliant, talented, and LOVING young lady who has a lot to teach her mommy. And her mommy forgets that sometimes.

Her mommy is going to try not to do that any more.

Doin' what comes natur-ly

I'm watching Annie Get Your Gun.

It just makes me so happy. :-)

I woke up feeling mighty poorly (sorry, I start talking like this when I watch Annie Get Your Gun) this morning. There's a nasty illness going around our cast, and the sickest so far has been the leading man. Considering that I spend the evenings rather up close and personal with him, it's only a matter of time before I get it, too. I've been putting up a valiant fight, though. I just had some Aloe-C (like Airborne) and now I'm sipping some yummy hot tea with honey and watching Betty Hutton perform my dream role.

I would give just about anything to play the part of Annie Oakley. I could actually do the backwoods uneducated drawl authentically, LOL! I love the music, the story, the character, EVERYTHING! In what other musical can you sing - in complete seriousness - "you can't shoot a male in the tail like a quail, no you can't get a man with a gun!"

Gotta run now. They just started "There's No Business Like Show Business!"