Happy Valentines Day to me!

It's been a while since I posted - well, a whole 2 days and I promised Julie I'd post at least once a day. :) Sorry, Jules!
It's been a LONG and LATE week! The next night of rehearsal was even later and I returned home and crawled straight into bed at 4:45AM! An hour later my alarm went off for Geoff to get up for work and I just plain refused to get up. He had sweetheart prayers kneeling next to me lying in bed. Poor guy but was understanding. :) He left and instead of staying up to get breakfast and my chores done - I slept until 7am when I finally woke up the kids. They headed out the door to school at 8am and I was back in bed immediately following the door being shut. Had to wake up to teach a few lessons and head back yet again to the theatre but the adrenaline kicked and all the caffeine I'd sucked down helped too, I'm sure. I could own stock in Diet Coke this week! I was concerned about the weight I'd put on with all the soda but yahoo - I weighed myself this morning and the stress must have caught up with me. I lost 6 pounds since Saturday morning!! Let's hope I can keep it off and continue with it.
Preview night was magical and the house (term for audience) was great! They were even fine with having to wait 20 minutes for the house to open and wait for the curtain which was 20 minutes late. It was so worth the exhaustion and fear when you hear the audience gasp and oo/ah over the rain, and the humming along to the overature with the familiar tunes and the laughter, smiles and applause. My fav moment of the night was in the scene where Don Lockwood is swooning Kathy Seldon for the first true moment. He has 'set up' the scene to sing "You Were Meant For Me" to her. He began the song and just as they started to dance in the style of Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse I looked around the audience. Just below the balcony, I saw the cutest elderly couple cuddled together and she looked up into her sweethearts eyes with tears streaming down her cheeks and just smiled. He squeezed her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead. Tugged at my heart and made me smile! The audiences are eating it up and makes me happy! Worth the late nights and hard work? OH YEAH!! This is why I love the arts!!! Music truly is a language of love and speaks to the soul on so many levels!

Last night was preview and I thought we'd be out early but tech stuff kept us again 'til after 1:30AM. I came home again to a dark house and sleeping family. Geoff tries to stay up - worries about me out late - but he has to work so we've gone back to the old standby: calls before he goes to bed and I kiss him when I get home. He seems to remember the kisses on his cheek more than if I tell him I'm home. :) What a sweetie! I had a hard time getting up this morning again. Kylee had all the kids up and dressed when I was woken up by her at 7:22AM. I was worried they wouldn't make it to school on time but they did. After they left I went back to bed, yet again, leaving breakfast dishes and other chores to wait. As I headed back to bed, I went to the front room to watch the kids head out down the street on their bikes and I found this waiting for me:




Geoff and the kids picked them out for me! The girls chose the flowers and the boys the bear and chocolates! Geoff was the 'supervisor'. What a sweetie! I love getting flowers and chocolate and gifts but I hate knowing how much it costs. Geoff warned me before I did banking today that instead of using cash as he usually does, he used the debit card and not to freak when I saw how much he spent. UM . . . holy cow! Those flowers are made of pure gold! :) My sweeties take such good care of me!
Tonight was opening night and Geoff went with me. He enjoyed the show and got roped into working the show with me each night starting next weekend. He and I will work backstage and be in charge of the rain deck. Will be nice extra money and 1 1/2 hours of working together 3 nights a week. Can't pass over $1500 extra a month!?!?! Especially for only 12 hours a week. :)

Well, I have laundry to finish, floors to mop and our bed to strip in the morning and wash before we head out of town for our weekend. Better hit the hay! Oh, and grocery shopping for the house this weekend. UG! Less than 12 hours away and I'll be relaxing away!! Have a great weekend and I'll see you all back next week!

Enjoy your sweeties - even after the holiday!!