Finster Finds

Last night I went to an APN function of sorts. Brian Dooley is the new Edmonton Liaison and he and a number of other APN folks were at the Rice Theatre lobby to meet with members and discuss what the needs of Edmonton members were. Other than "official APN people" there were only 3 members in attendance. One of these was a former APN Board member. Anyhow, it was nice to get a chance to tell what I felt I needed, although I got the distinct impression that they had an idea of their own and much of the meeting was spent brain-storming about that. Although the idea itself was not abhorrent to me, it really didn't address my personal needs. I got the impression they were targeting those playwrights who were already established at a certain level and I really am not there yet. I need help to get there. After the "meeting" APN had arranged special tickets with The Citadel to see Half-Life . It was an hour and a half with no intermission which felt weird, esp...

I do not know why the next post has the video it has - I thought I changed it! Second try... And yes, that is me you hear laughing... sorry.

Oliver's drama class finished up last week. The previous weekend was the "show" that they had been working on. I think that Oliver's performance may have been hampered by the vest he was wearing as his costume as he obviously loved it and this affected his participation in the hand actions, but he actually had a lot of lines and he really loved the class. We were quite pleased with Foote Theatre School and plan to get him in again next Fall .

Just finished colouring the eggs with the boys. Gibson has been so excited about it ever since we bought the Dora Colouring pack at Shoppers the other day. The whole colouring thing took about 15 minutes. Next year I may have to make more eggs. The trouble is having all those hard boiled eggs lying around. I am not fond of them myself. As a child, I loved colouring Easter eggs. I was a bit of the artsy-crafty kind of child so I loved trying to make patterns and doing cool things with the decorations. However, my favorite part of it was throwing the dye on the snow. Living as we did in Fort McMurray, there was a 95% chance of snow on the ground at Easter time. My boys had a blast doing that part today. A big laugh for the yellow dye and the requisite don't eat yellow snow jokes. It was much fun.

Arthur C. Clarke died. A legend and a visionary. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/entertainment_clarke_death_col

Yesterday afternoon AM and I went to see The Drowning Girls at The Catalyst Theatre. I am highly recommending it. It was wonderfully written and well-performed and visually amazing. The only disappointing thing was the size of the audience. I think that there is such wonderful theatre in this city and if people really want to support Edmonton as an active Arts Community then they need to be in the seats! This is a show definitely worth seeing and the ticket was less than $20. The show features Vanessa Sanbourin, Natascha Girgis and Beth Graham. All of these ladies are talented and they are so tight as an ensemble. Here are two reviews independent of mine from their run in Calgary. http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/entertainment/story.html?id=f38a8a8e-dce8-4847-a280-e3579132957f http://jam.canoe.ca/Theatre/Reviews/D/Drowning_Girls/2008/03/07/4937656-sun.html I highly recommend it. The show runs until next Sunday. Tix can be purchased at Tix on the Square.

Last night Mark and I took the girls from the store out for dinner as a thank you for the great work this past year. Afterwards we went to WEM and saw Enchanted. I was hopeful ever since I first saw the trailer almost a year ago and I was completely enchanted with it. For a Disneyphile like myself it was perfect! The production number in the park was a major highlight stealing ideas from Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. There were also nods to other Menken show (theme songs on the TV shows, etc...). I also loved that Idina Menzel was the actress who ended up with the Prince. I didn't clue in that it was her until I realized that it was her voice on the soundtrack. DUH! I knew she looked familiar. Great movie!

I haven't had much to report lately. So sorry. I think I am a little lost in the Scrabulous vortex and I do like a good game of Collapse , and then there is laundry... there is always laundry. There is so much to do around the house. Each day I do a little, but it never seems to amount to much. One of the draw backs to being a 'stay at home' mom is that the kids are home in one combination or another a lot of the time. Therefore they mess stuff up - a lot. I spent one day tidying up the front room and then went into the kitchen to do something (can't really remember what) while Gib listened to School House Rock in the front room. When I returned, 1/2 an hour later, the room was restored to its pre-tidy state. Gibson, apparently, prefers the chaos. About School House Rock - Gibson is a fanatic... it is so cool to listen to him singing Conjunction Junction , or Ready Or Not, Here I Come , or My Hero Zero . AND he knows most of the words. He does a lot of t...

A friend of mine posted this link on his Facebook wall - I thought it was very funny. Enjoy (and I hope you get it - please don't tell me if you don't). http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/you_know_whats_stupid Oh, yeah, I am hurting. I can't believe I went to a Step and Core class the day after Manuela's Cardio Kick-Start . I am surprised I can even move. BUT I have to do it because, as my weigh in told me yesterday, I have a lot of work to do.

Well, the scale shows the story... thankfully the clothes still fit so it could be worse. I went to Manuela's Class at the YMCA today. I also did a circuit yesterday at the Y during Gib's pre-school, however, nothing is like Manuela's class. She is killer and she rocks and you cannot leave there without working hard. I will be sore tomorrow (especially my right buttock - I can tell). I am scheduled to go in tomorrow for a Step and Core class, but if the soreness is too much I may just walk the track. I have also scheduled baby-sitting for Friday. I should be okay for that class. It may be a good thing that Manuela only does the Wednesday class. It is probably too late for this week's weigh-in. I am still working off those martinis and the movie popcorn and the rice krispie squares. Don't get me wrong, they were worth it, but now it is back to real life and I have to start being accountable to myself! I want to be in size 14 for the summer.... It can ...

Okay, so I only got as far as Toronto , but in the big scheme of things it was very East of here! I had a lovely visit with my sister and brother-in-law and my good friend Tina (from high school and before). I got to tak ethe time for a manicure and a pedicure and my hands and feet are grateful. I also saw 2 movies, one was even a recent release ( The Other Boleyn Girl and Michael Clayton ). We went for drinks at the Hyatt ($15 martinis --> tres fun!) and saw the sketch comedy show at Second City (tickets were kindly provided by Dave and Janine who also performed in the Improv section of the evening). It was great to be out in Toronto after so long. Once the kids came a long my travelling was greatly decreased. I also got out to Oakville to see Tina's home and see her boys and husband. Hard to believe they are so big (well, so old - they take after Tina in the stature department). The only damper was the weather, but February anywhere in Canada is pretty unpredictabl...