School is nearly upon us!!

I am yearning for the autumn.

I am also yearning for the structured scheduling of the school year.

It's almost here!!

I'm most looking forward to my British Lit course. Some of the stuff I'll read:

Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Hamlet
The Importance of Being Earnest
Paradise Lost
Peter Pan
Frankenstein
Emma
Wuthering Heights
A Tale of Two Cities
The Great Divorce
Pygmalion
Lord of the Flies

...and a bunch of other stuff. I'm super excited!

a day in the life of a stressed out actress, who, despite the chaos, loves what she does

Today was such an interesting day, I thought that I'd share my schedule with ya'll.

- 5:45... my alarm goes off. See, I wanted PLENTY of time for me to curl my hair...I decided to stay in bed until 6.
- 7:30... I actually get out of bed, get dressed, and curl my hair.
- 9:08...cold slice of pepperoni pizza for breakfast.
- 9:10...church!!
- 12:20...lunch at Wendy's. I had no self control and got a strawberry frosty shake. It was yummy.
- 1 ish...we get to the theatre...costumes, makeup, warm-ups, etc....
- 2:00...curtain!
- 3:45ish...rain starts. We track the weather on cast member's internet-enabled phones.
Storms are a-comin'.
The sirens go off.
The show stops.
The actors are sent to their dressing rooms.
The audience members are ushered to the basement.
It's all okay for a while. I took the bag of bubble gum that I use for the radio scene to the orphan's dressing room to distribute gum. Because kids like gum. And I got Clarissa a banana. Because she was hungry. I was still in costume, squeezing through the audience, crowded in the basement. A little kid waved at me.
Then...the electricity goes out.
The storm passes over..
..but it's still dark. So people leave, but there's still no electricity.
- 5:00ish...we head over to the Jepsen's house for the CAST PARTAY.
- 6:00...we leave and go to VBS...

It was a fun day.

Today

1. I really need to fold my laundry.

2. My sisters are watching "Pride and Prejudice" with Keira Knightly, then are planning on watching "Pride and Prejudice"...the one that's super, super old and the costumes aren't period. Hmm.

3. I think I'll go swim laps later. Wait...laundry...

4. We have "Annie" rehearsal on the Fourth of July. The 4th is my favorite holiday! And we have rehearsal. We might get done early....but still. I think I'll take the ancient laptop to the theater and watch "1776" during breaks....

5. "Annie" opens exactly one week from today. Gulp.

6. I have gone swimming once in, like, the past three weeks. I think something is wrong with me....?

7. I have applied to be an Equity candidate....so that's kind of cool.

8. I like making lists.

9. Matthew burned his hand a few days ago. Mom took him to the ER, where they gave him a cute little blue bandage that looks like a cast. He got lots of sympathy, which, of course, he loved.

10.

I really like the skirt of this wedding dress. Clarissa and I like to amuse ourselves with looking at pictures of wedding dresses...It's like watching "Say Yes to the Dress" minus the drama..."I like this dress!" "But, honey, darling, it's $5,000 over your budget!" "But when I put it on, I can just FEEL that it's the one! I can FEEL it!" (starts crying) "Alright, honey, if you can FEEL that it's THE ONE...." Then they buy the dress, despite the fact that it's not in their budget. What a great show!! :/ lol

11. I feel the need to go on an adventure. Anybody have any grand ideas?

chickens

The Light Family has four chickens.

In keeping with tradition, we have named our chickens as follows:

drumroll...

1. Frankie
(short for Franklin, as in Benjamin)

2. Eleanor
(as in Roosevelt)

3. Amelia
(as in Earhart)

4. the one that is yet-to-be-named
(because we're letting Clarissa name it, and she isn't home from Colorado yet...)

There you go!

Confession of the Day

Today's confession:

You know how you aren't supposed to iron clothes while you're wearing them? Well, I have. Multiple times.

That's all.

You are the words and the music
You are the song that I sing
You are the melody
You are the harmony
Praise to Your name I will bring
You are the Lord of lords
You are the mighty God
You are the King of all kings
So now I give back to You
The song that you gave to me
You are the song that I sing

Name change!

Change is good, most of the time, right? So I decided that, since "Why, Hello There" was a very uninspired name that I chose only because I couldn't think of something better, I would change the name of my blog to "It is Well," after one of my favorite songs. I'm eventually planning on changing the entire layout of the blog, the background, etc. Just not now...too much change at a time can be a little frightening.

Just a note, I'm going to be gone/busy for the next several weeks, but when I'm not gone/busy anymore, expect lots of pictures:) Love and miss you guys!!

Another note: It occured to me that, basically, the only people that read my blog are Fine Linen people. I miss my Fine Linen people. So yes, if you are reading this, know that it is very likely that I really do love and miss you! :)

We missed Philip...

As I mentioned in previous posts, one of our camping friends was missing from our trip on Mother's day weekend....Philip Warren. Here is our little photo project dedicated to him. Not nearly as impressive as "THE HIKE III" aerial pictures....

My siblings and I drove The Hike III route this morning. Parts of the road were washed out as a result of the storm, and the low water bridge where we all "took off our shoes and stockings and paddled" had quite a bit of water over it and was borderline terrifying...just kidding. There was quite a bit of water, but it wasn't too bad. We picked up a turtle on the way and named him Edwin Sherman the second...Edwin Sherman the first was the turtle I found on the Hike.

As we were driving, we were saying things like, "Here's where we spelled out "THE HIKE III," "This is the stretch where we were playing 'Going to the Beach'," and "Look, there's the bottle I picked up."

Driving the route, with 25 cent slushies and air conditioning, was much more pleasant than walking the route, but not nearly as much fun!

camping pictures...for lack of a better title

Mrs. Wiles, with Michael and Matthew.

Will....climbing.

The kangaroo....seriously.

Me and...Iron Man?

This one perplexes me.

Will Gaines...my bff.

The Gaines siblings....love you guys!

Stephanie and the sister

Mary Kate and the sister

Mary Kate and Stephanie

We invaded the park store...

An "attitude adjuster"....

Trying on pink hats...

...and sunglasses...

Visiting in the bathroom in the visitor's center

They both had French braids, courtesy of my sister.....but you can't see the braids at all, which I believe was the whole point of the picture....

An animal in the garbage bin..

Rachel, Ransom and Mary Kate

Mary Kate....flying.

Clarissa and Mary Kate

Fun was had by all.

A jolly good way to spend Mother's Day

Last weekend, we (along with our "camping group"....the Gaines, Brunos, Bransons, Grabers, Hartmans and Wiles) took a trip to Sam A. Baker state park. We (the camping group) have an annual spring trip (to Sam A. Baker) and an annual fall trip (to Big Spring...my favorite place in Missouri!). We cooked biscuits on sticks, built dams, hiked, waded, and had an overall jolly good time.

The most unexpected event was the spotting of a man carrying a....baby kangaroo.

(Yours is pink, but mine is blue!)

Points for whoever knows what I am referencing :)

Yup. A kangaroo. She was on a leash. And the man was carrying her because, as he told us, she's spoiled and likes to be carried. Her name was Jingles. The man showed us her pouch. It was very, very unexpected.

The man said that he bought a male and a female in Maken, Missouri (I do believe that's how you spell "Maken," correct me if I'm wrong) at an "exotics sale." The daddy kangaroo and mommy kangaroo had a baby kangaroo...hence, Jingles.

She was ten months old, and about as big as my beagle.

Weird.

Fun was had by all. And we have a new name to add to our list!

THE SAM A. BAKER.....UM, LIST
1. Big fat man in boxers
2. Little fat man in trunks, with the...harmonica
3. Dr. Pepper pants boy
and, the new one...
4. Red shirt boy!!

Congrats, Red shirt boy! You will live on in our memory as....well, as red shirt boy :)

I love our camping group.

Newfangled Gadgets

I had a nice phone. It was cute. It was red. And it wasn't "old." It was actually somewhat new. See? That's pretty cute. I really liked that phone.

That cell phone died at the hands of a mean old water balloon at Bible camp last summer. Since then, I've been using my mother's old phone.

No, not her most recently retired phone. That one died in the swimming pool last year.

This was phone was her second cell phone. Ever. It's old. We're talking dinosaur.

Recently, my grandpa lost his cell phone, bought a new one, and then found his lost phone. He really liked the old phone better than the new one, so he gave the new one to me.

My new phone...hmm....how to describe it honestly, and still convince you that I'm thankful for it?

My new phone: It's like my iPod.


I'll explain: My iPod is one of the earliest iPod Nanos. It can hold one little wee GB.


It's not the "latest thing": it can't hold all the song I want it to, play video, connect to the Internet, cook bacon, or any of the other things that newer model iPods/iPhones may or may not be capable of doing...


But it's not the Walkman I had when I was five. I wore that thing out listening to Focus on the Family's Radio Theater The Chronicles of Narnia. Seriously. My Walkman has lived a good life, and exposed me at a fairly young age to C.S. Lewis. I loved that thing.

My new phone is like that. It's not an iPhone, but it could be worse. A lot worse. I'm not complaining at all.


It has a camera.

A camera.

And....Bluetooth.


I'm in heaven. What will I do with such a newfangled gadget?

Green Acres is the place to be...

The sister...

Hide-and-go-seek

Sliding

Meredith

Tee hee...I like this shot. It's blurry, but I think it captures Matthew's personality well.

Meredith

Eh...me..

Clarissa was there, too, but there wasn't a good picture of her. Sorry.

Finger cymbals, camping....and creeping.

After much labor and dedication on my part, I have mastered the complex musical instrument that is...finger cymbals. Tomorrow night I'm playing finger cymbals for Susan Holmes and three other talented ladies. They're singing "Mr. Sandman" (which, by the way, Mrs. Holmes arranged...it's a capella for SSAA and really awesome! ) at the RCAS Benefit Dinner. The Rolla Community Choir (of which I am a member) is performing as well, and we're doing lots of fun stuff! Our program includes an insane arrangement of "Cindy" (like, the folk song), "Isn't It Romantic?" from some movie that I have not seen (I really don't like this song :P), an arrangement of "Simple Gifts" that is pretty nifty, and....my favorite....a massive Irving Berlin medley entitled, "Irving Berlin, A Century of Song." It's wonderful :) I have a wee little solo that goes like this:
"What'll I do with just a photograph to tell my troubles to?"

Isn't that just the bee's knees.

It's going to be an awesome concert.

I would invite everyone to come, but...as mentioned above...it's a benefit dinner, which means you have to pay a lot of money to get in; you can't just come for the singing.

Sorry, Charlie.

----

We're going camping this weekend, and, even though we aren't going to my favorite place, I'm super excited.

Camping = junk food we don't get at home, chocolate milk, hiking, biking, clover-chain-necklace making, sweet camaraderie, endless telephone games around the campfire, Dr. Pepper pants boy, big fat man in boxers, and little fat man in trunks with that...groan.... harmonica.

The last three are inside jokes based on previous camping experiences.

Oh, that harmonica. That stupid, annoying harmonica.

:)

------

The pool men came today to open our pool. Short version of the story: they left, and hopefully my mum will convince them to come back tomorrow morning to open it. Anyway...I decided that I would make it an annual game of mine to creep on the pool men as they open the pool.

So I did a wee amount of creeping this morning, and, if they come back tomorrow, I'll get out the camera and do some serious creeping.

I hope that's not illegal.

It is?

Rats.

Speaking of rodents...that mole that I buried in the flower garden? He's still in the ground.

For now....

???

I got bit by a spider this evening. It hurts.

I went to a wedding this afternoon. I love weddings :)

I watched Beauty and the Beast tonight. I love the ballroom scene.

I need to go do the dishes. Okay.