Adventures in Cleaning

We have Tom's family over for Thanksgiving every year, and while I love having them and our friends Portia and Butch over, it seems like it takes longer and longer to get the house to the minimum health standards required to have company!  We had to stop the cleaning service when Tom lost his job in September, so the house hasn't really been cleaned since September.  GROSS!  Well, I have cleaned the bathrooms and litter boxes several times since then, but I haven't done a whole vacuum, dust, wash the kitchen floor kind of cleaning.  I love having a clean house, but sincerely despise cleaning (which is why I had the cleaning service so I wouldn't have too)! 

My plan of attack was simple:  clean the house on Monday; shampoo the basement carpet on Tuesday; bake a couple of pies and get a manicure and pedicure on Wednesday. 

I am already behind. 

However, in my defense, it was a nice day, so I did a bit of outdoor work instead.  I cleaned and arranged the furniture on the front porch (I'll do pictures tomorrow).  I cleared off the back deck - there were some chairs that were rusting and filthy from being outside and I put them on the curb for tomorrow's trash pick-up (actually, some people drove by later and picked them up - I think they will regret it once they see how crappy they are, but that's not my problem); took the old cushions off the bigger outdoor chairs that go with the table on the back deck and put them by the curb too.  My intent was to put the bigger table and chairs out on one side of the front porch and the smaller bistro table and chairs; the wicker sofa and chairs on the other side. 

This is when the calamities began:  Tom was mowing the back yard and there was a terrible sound and cursing.  He mowed some of the cable for the new satellite - I had to run inside and make sure we had TV both upstairs and downstairs and we did, however, it appears that the living room has limited channels at this time, but we didn't find that out until later.  While I was cleaning the bigger outdoor chairs, there was another terrible sound and Tom came out to the front and told me that he blew up the lawn mower.   Apparently, he had not put oil in the motor and it burned out.  So, he hopped in the car and went to Lowes to get a new lawn mower. 

I decided to move the table from the back deck to the front porch while he was gone - it went really great.  I rolled it through the living room on an old sheet and out the front door with no problems.  I got it cleaned up and put into place.  I had to move the armoire that is in the entryway by the front door so I could get the table out and when I was pushing it back in place, I broke 2 of the legs off one side.  I was pushing it on tile and it got caught in the grout lines.  It wasn't an antique or anything - it came from Target - but it is a nice piece of furniture and holds a lot of stuff.  So while Tom was putting together the new lawn mower, I was emptying out the armoire so I could move it more easily to try to glue the legs and front facing back on that side.  We have this stuff called "Gorilla Glue" and Tom lifted up the armoire and I put the legs in place and he set it back down and it appears to have worked.  We loaded up the armoire and so far, so good.  *fingers crossed*  Tom said he would get his nail gun out and nail it in a couple of places to make it sturdier.

I had picked up a Stouffer's lasagna at the grocery store earlier, so I stuck it in the oven and did a bit more here and there.  At that point, I felt like I was 800 years old and could hardly move because my back was so sore.  I took an 800 mg Motrin and by the time dinner was over, felt almost human again.  After doing the dinner dishes, we loaded up all the newspapers and took them out to the curb for pickup and I went up to finish cleaning the upstairs and Tom headed downstairs to clean out the big freezer and fridge in the basement.  I think there was meat in the big freezer that we moved with us when we moved into the house back in 1998!  I got the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms cleaned and changed the litter boxes.  Of course, literally seconds after I filled up Teddy's litter box, he had to jump in and use it - why do cats do that? 

The revised plan:  Tuesday:  go to Lowes and get some new cable and other stuff to see if Tom can fix the cable that he mowed; go grocery shopping for Thanksgiving dinner; clean the main level and basement; shampoo the carpet in the basement.  Wednesday:  bake 2 pies and get a manicure and pedicure.

Let's hope I can stick to the rest of the schedule.

Stephen Sondheim at The Strathmore

For those who don't really know who Stephen Sondheim is, but might recognize the name, he is the arguably one of the greatest, if not the greatest Broadway musical composer there is.  He has had a part in some of the greatest muscials of this century.  You might recognize one or two:  Saturday Night, West Side Story, Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Do I Hear a Waltz?, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, The Frogs, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assasins, Passion, Bounce and Road Show.

On November 14th I was able to attend the Sunday at Strathmore with Stephen Sondheim with my sister-in-law, Margaret.  I had been looking forward to it for a long time and it did not disappoint.  This was a talk or interview with Stephen and a Washington Post Theater Critic, Peter Marks.  It lasted about two hours and the time just flew by.  The house was packed and everyone was rapt with attention and enjoyment at listening to Stephen talk about his craft and his life in the theater.  Stephen was witty, self depracating, smart, generous about his collaborators and while he didn't talk about his personal life, he did share lots of wonderful ancecdotes about some of the muscials he had worked on.  He graciously answered Peter's questions, and also many questions from the audience (we were given cards to write our questions and give them to the ushers before the show started).  I was trying to tell my friend Jill about the event earlier this evening during a phone call and I kept bouncing around from topic to topic as I was remembering snippets of his conversation and I am sure I totally confused her.  I know I will remember it much more coherently later on as I have time to think about the afternoon, but I wanted to share what an exciting experience it was.  I certainly hope we haven't heard the last from Stephen, even though he is long past the age where most of us would consider retiring.   

Stephen turned 80 on March 22nd of this year, and Broadway honored him with two birthday concerts at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic and stars from his shows singing their character's songs.  PBS will air the birthday concert on the night before Thanksgiving, November 24th.  This is something I won't be missing!  In addition, a revue of his work played for about 3 months this spring and summer, starring the amazing Barbara Cook, who is also an octogenarian, Tom Wopat, Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis, Leslie Kritzer, Euan Mortan, Erin Mackey and Matthew Scott at the Roundabout Theater (formerly Studio 54).  I was lucky enough to be able to see it, and I can tell you, it was a wonderful, amazing experience.

The production included the live performances of the great cast and was interspersed with footage, both current day and footage of old intervies, such as his Merv Griffin Show appearances, etc., of Sondheim talking about his shows, his work, his life.  It was very effective and a wonderful way to include Stephen in every show.  I never "got" the song "Franklin Shephard, Inc." until I saw it performed live in this show.  This just confirms my belief that there is nothing else like live theater.  No other medium can compete.  I must confess, I have the soundtrack to this show and I crank it in the car stereo and sing along with all the songs.  I can only imagine what those people sitting next to me at stop lights must be thinking, LOL!

In September of this year, the Henry Miller Theater was renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theater and it's opening show is The Pee Wee Herman Show!  What a fun way to open a new theater.

 

Tea Time

I went to tea today with my tea ladies at The Pink Bicycle in Occoquan, VA,   http://www.pinkbicycletearoom.com/.  I had a great time with Cindy, Debbie, Elaine, Nancy, Rosemary, and Nancy's daughter, Jennifer.

The tea house is very cute.  They have dozens of different tea cup/pot patterns, pretty painted furniture, and art by local artists is hung on the walls.  We drank pots of jasmine tea, cinnamon tea, their house blend, which was really nice, and a few pots of the white chocolate toffee tea.  The white chocolate toffee tea was delicious.  We all had The Queen's Tea that included either a cup of soup or a salad.  Deb had the salad which had blueberries and pomogranates, and the rest of us had Pumpkin Spice Bisque - YUM YUM YUM!

Then they served us white chocolate scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream (we got a second round of the scones because they were so good) and then they brought out those cute tri-level trays laden with little egg salad sandwiches, ham salad on corn bread rounds, cucumber sandwiches, honey pecan spread on raisin bread, cantalope slices and orange slices and for dessert, banana bread with apple, cinnamon butter, truffles and triple chocolate brownies.  Oh, and the water had sliced cucumber floating in the pitchers - I loved it.  It added such a nice flavor and was such a nice change from lemon and lime slices, which I am not fond of.  I think I am going to try that at Thanksgiving and see if  anyone notices.  We ate every crumb and sloshed out of the tea shop! 

After eating all that delicious food, we wandered through the historic section of Occoquan and visited several shops, did some Christmas shopping, bought some things for ourselves, and had a wonderful time.  There are so many great shops and eateries Occocquan.  They even have a wine shop that sells only Virginia wines.  The had these really great wrought iron wine racks that hung on the wall (and I didn't get a picture of them) but I did get a picture of the adorable wine cork wreath.  What a great incentive to drink a lot of wine and use the corks for a craft project.!

HAIR

I saw HAIR Saturday afternoon at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, with Cindy and Rosemary.  It was AWESOME!  DC is the first stop on their national tour, so if you find out it is coming to a locale near you - go see it.  You won't regret it.  Check this link for tour dates and locations: 

http://www.broadway.com/shows/hair/buzz/152384/hippies-hit-the-road-as-hair-sets-national-tour-dates/

HAIR debuted Off Broadway at The Puiblic Theater in New York City in October 1967 and made its Broadway debut in April 1968, and although I knew of a lot of the music from the show, I didn't really know what it was about..  I was a little too young to understand about what was going on in the late 1960's and early1970's -- the hippies, the war in Viet Nam  the whole Hait Ashbury scene.

I won't go into the plot here, what plot there is is thin.  The main thing is The Tribe (the cast members) and the amazing songs!  The cast is young, and they have to be because they are constantly in motion - running up and down the aisles, jumping on and off the stage, dancing, singing - I think I lost weight just watching them!  Actually, I probably would have had to have an IV after the second number if I was up on stage trying to do that show!

If you haven't seen the show or heard about it, be forewarned that the all get naked at the end of the first act - it is only for about a minute and then they leave the stage.  They are all in great shape from all that running and dancing they do, and they are young, so no sagging!  Honestly, they were all beautiful!

They invite the audience to come up and dance on the stage at the end .  I didn't get to go, I was in the middle of my row and the people on either side of me weren't going up to the stage (Cindy and Rosemary) so I didn't get to go dance with Berger (and boy, was he a honey)!

VALS Fall Institute

The VALS Fall Institute and Board of Governors Meeting was held the weekend of October 2-3, 2010 in Glen Allen, VA.

The format was a little different this year, starting at 10 am to allow for members to travel on Saturday morning to attend the legal education, instead of having to spend an additional night at the hotel. It worked out very well, and everyone there liked the 10 am start!

The format for the actual legal education was a little different as well. We had 5.5 hours of legal education, as usual, but it covered only 2 topics and a leadership/membership workshop, instead of several different topics. The two topics were: Fighting Elder Financial Abuse by Retired Richmond Police Officer William H. Lightfoot and Important Legislative Changes and Health Care Reform by Roy Ramthun of HSA Consulting Services, LLC. Our VALS President-Elect Linda Kelly, PLS and Vice President Kelly Hickey, PP, PLS, presented a leadership/membership workshop on Mentoring and Membership Tips.

I really liked the format as the two topics covered so much information. We didn’t have to rush through all. Both speakers were very good and I learned so much! BTW, I tweeted most of the facts/figures our speakers talked about as VALSUpdates, so if you are on Twitter, look up @VALSUpdates for more

information!

Criminal Minds Season 6 Opener "The Longest Night"

Tim Curry guest starred as Billy Flynn, The Prince of Darkness, in the season 6 opener of Criminal Minds, The Longest Night, which is the conclusion of the creepily eerie season 5 cliffhanger Our Darkest Hour.  I really enjoyed the cliffhanger, but I am a bit ambivalent about the conclusion.  Erica Messer, who wrote Our Darkest Hour, created a wonderful story, atmosphere and UNSUB and I really wish she could have written the conclusion to the story.

There were many elements of The Longest Night that I really liked, but I felt that the stand down between Billy Flynn and Morgan was too easy, too pat.  It was disappointing and I guess that could be contributed to the high expectations I had for the episode and the fact that it wasn't written by the same person, it just didn't have the same feeling.

I liked the imagery of Flynn's daydream of dancing with his mother as a young boy, especially when you see Flynn as a young boy smile and he has those nasty teeth!  The whole episode had beautiful cinematography and was well directed.

Tim Curry was absolutely amazing and I adore him and his work.  He was completely believable from beginning to end.  I certainly hope he submits his work for Emmy consideration because it was completely worthy. 

AJ Cook was also amazing in a part that had to be very difficult for her, her penultimate episode on CM.  Her soliloquy, talking to Billy over the emergency band radio, was masterful.  Every beat, every word rang true for her character.  I loved the cuts between Hotch listening to her and her talking.  Even more than missing the scenes between AJ, Emily and Garcia, I will miss the scenes between JJ and Hotch.  Their rapport, respect and affection for one another is readily apparent every time they interact, more so than any of the other characters. 

Garcia, Hotch, Prentiss, Reid and Rossi were all very good as well.  Hotch and JJ had some lovely scenes that they both do so well.

This episode to me had two objectives:  to foreshadow JJ's leaving the team and to showcase Morgan, oh and I guess the third objective was to close the case.  JJ's foreshadowing was nicely done, but totally transparent.  Morgan was a total ass in this episode.  He is my least favorite character and even though he isn't the team leader, and despite the temporary promotion last year, never has really been the team leader.  He continually goes his own way, despite Hotch's orders or directions, just as he continually questioned Gideon's actions.  In my mind he is a Doubting Thomas.  Questioning decisions or authority isn't necessarily a bad thing, but to continually do so because that decision it isn't what you want to do is annoying and a waste of time.  Snapping at Garcia and saying she needed to be more professional and throwing what happened to Hotch and his family last year in Hotch's face when he was trying to get his way was completely uncalled for.  He was only partially redeemed because he apologized to Garcia.  To my mind, we could lose his character and it would make absolutely no difference at all.  He is superfluous.

The thing that really bothered me about this episode was the character of Ellie, the 8-year old daughter of Detective Spicer, who Billy murders in front of her, and then kidnaps her at the end of Our Darkest Hour.  This is an 8-year old. a second or third grader, who just experienced witnessing not only the beating and raping of her aunt, but the murder of her father and being abducted by his murderer, and she is cool as a cucumber?  She was so mature and cunning, constantly taunting Flynn, being the fly in the ointment to his grand plans.  She was so composed, even at the end when they show her with a tear running down her cheek and hugging Morgan.  It kind of creeped me out.  Someone said that it was like she was a serial killer in training, and I kind of have to agree.  Either that or she will become a vigilante.

All in all, it was a good start to the season, and it sets the bar for what I hope will be a great season for Criminal Minds.

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory season 4 opener aired Thursday night.  Not only did it win ratings in every category here in the US and Canada, I was literally laughing out loud while watching it and a second viewing still had me laughing.  What I really liked about it is that every character was allowed to shine and I honestly can't figure out which story was funniest:  Sheldon's first date with Penny as chauffer/chaperone or Howard's "Pooh getting stuck in the honey tree" conundrum with the robotic hand.  If you have not seen this show, go out right now and buy, rent or borrow seasons 1-3 and see if you can find the first episode of this season on iTunes or YouTube.  You won't regret it!

Thanks to http://whatisonmytv.blogspot.com/ for letting me steal the above picture from her blog!