Fortunately Unfortunate

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #27:

Fortunately/Unfortunately

Fortunately we got our garage cleaned out last weekend.

Unfortunately we have a rat living in there.

Unfortunately a bird got into the garage and got stuck in the rat trap. 

Unfortunately our kitchen and basement flooded on Sunday.

Water damaged sheet rock pieces

Towel party

Damaged paint

Fortunately the damage was minimal. Crappy, for sure, but not as bad as it could have been. 

Unfortunately we haven’t had a working ice maker all week.

Unfortunately I have burned myself three times in the past two weeks. Once: I dropped my curling iron on my thigh. Twice: I sloshed boiling water on my bare foot. Thrice: I burned my thumb on the curling iron.

Fortunately I had burn spray at the ready from my kids’ hot glue gun habits.

Unfortunately our swamp cooler stopped working on Tuesday.

Fortunately the pump went out which is relatively cheap and easy to replace compared to central air.

Fortunately I got free chicken nuggets at Wendy’s yesterday.

Unfortunately they gave me spicy nuggets instead of regular ones, so I didn’t eat them (yuck). 

Unfortunately my frosty was melted, and I didn’t eat that either.

Fortunately the next day at Jimmy John’s they gave me an extra sandwich. 

Unfortunately some poor stranger didn’t get their sandwich.

Unfortunately I spilled tomato sauce all over my kitchen the other night. 

Unfortunately the dinner I made with said tomato sauce was gross.

Fortunately Papa John’s had pizza for 50% off.

Fortunately, even though this week was crazy, it went by fast. I can’t believe it’s already the weekend again!

Ew, Eddie

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #6:

Unappealing

Nicky has a friend named Eddie that has some pretty gnarly, ungroomed (i.e. unappealing) feet. He's super proud of them and likes to send pics to people to gross them out. One night he convinced one of the theatre moms (let's call her Betty Boop) to text a pic of his feet to Nicky anonymously. Nicky came home from a fundraiser meeting and told me that someone had sent him a pic of Eddie's feet - Eddie's feet are that distinct; people recognize them. 

As retaliation on Nicky's behalf, I went and had the photo printed and put it in a frame and had Betty Boop's son put it on her nightstand (I won't be sharing the photo... because feet pics). 

A few days later, I found a pair of custom printed socks in my drawer with Eddie's feet on them - courtesy of BB. 

(For the record, I was concerned about using Eddie's feet to play pranks on people, and I talked to BB about this, and BB talked to his parents and him about it, and they were all for it! In fact, Eddie was hoping I would give him the socks because he liked them so much... more on that later...)

As to make sure BB got her money's worth, I took Eddie's socks with me to California back in June and had a lovely photo shoot - sending all the pics to BB for her viewing pleasure. 

Enjoying the drive:

Relaxing at the condo:

Had to get some palm tree action on the patio:

At the pool with flip flops on (if you're gonna be tacky, make it count):

(Yes it was incredibly uncomfortable, but these were the only shoes I had, as I will explain in more detail below)

At California Adventure in front of Award Wieners:

At Disneyland with a churro:

In line for Space Mountain (I lost my mind and forgot to take shoes on this vacation, and all I had was a broken pair of flip flops that I found under the seat of the van. Since we went on a spontaneous trip to Disneyland, I swapped back and forth between my flip flops and Daisy's yellow Crocs):

Enjoying a corn dog at the Little Red Wagon:

Hanging out at the beach:

Color coordinating with the blossoms at Knott's Berry Farm:

Since my time with Eddie's feet socks was well spent, I decided last weekend that it was time to pass them on to him. He was really excited, and I've heard rumors that he's been wearing them to school. In the words of his sister, "We're just glad he's wearing socks."

A Few Zucchini Recipes for Your Consideration

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #16:

Ingredients

In a normal summer, we have tons and tons of zucchini from our garden. This year is not normal - we haven’t had nearly the amount of zucchini we usually do. Luckily we’ve had some. Just not tons. It’s nice to not be overwhelmed by zucchini, but at the same time, it’s a bummer to not have zucchini available at all times. We have to wait for it and hope we don’t miss the thirty second window in which the zucchini goes from “too small” to “big as your thigh."

Over the years I’ve tried a lot of different ways to eat zucchini - some of the more interesting ones being mock apple pie and zucchini jelly. 

Here are a few zucchini recipes that we’ve kept around and used often (sorry for the lack of photos - lists of links to recipes drive me crazy. I want pictures!):

1. Fried Zucchini Spaghetti 

 

The lemon juice and fresh basil in this recipe really make it really yummy, and it’s kind of a unique dish.

(This is what I’ve been trying to make all week, but I haven’t had the proper zucchini appear in the garden yet. Meanwhile the basil is waiting patiently).

2. Chicken Zucchini Casserole 

My friend Julie passed this recipe on to me, and it’s delicious comfort food! Pretend it’s healthy… it has zucchini in it, after all! Most of my family really likes this, but not all members of this family will eat zucchini. Zoe usually eats around it.

3. Zucchini Corn Chowder

I’ve only made this once but intend to make it more.

4. Lemon Parmesan Chicken 

This one is on the healthier side.

5. Cashew Chicken

In this one, I just swap out all the veggies for exclusively zucchini.

The Journey to Harold and Marian

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #2:

Theatre

For this prompt, I originally used "Theater/re" so I could have the freedom to use it for "theater" (movies/cinema) or "theatre" (plays/drama). I decided to officially go with "theatre," but I have two different posts I want to write about "theatre," so I might go ahead and use it twice! Or maybe even three times because I might also decide to go the "theater" route at some point this month. Look at me going wild over here!

----------

When Nicky was in junior high, he went to the auditions for the school musical and ended up not trying out. We had very little information about the tryouts, and when he got there, he found out that he was supposed to audition with a partner. He didn't have anyone to audition with and felt really uncomfortable and scared, so he didn't do it. This was a sad mom moment for me. When Nicky called me and said, "Can you come pick me up, I'm not going to try out!" I was so devastated. At that time, Nicky had no friends at school, and it broke my heart to see him so vulnerable. He was trying to put himself out there and get involved in something, and it didn't work out. He never ended up doing any theatre in junior high even though he wanted to. 

In 9th grade, he tried out for the high school musical, which happened to be Addams Family. It was a little easier because he had friends trying out, and the high school theatre teacher was a lot more informative about auditions. He really had to put himself out there, though, because he needed to sing a one-minute solo for auditions, and he had never sang like that before. He went with "Master of the House" from Les Mis and ended up getting cast into the ensemble as a "lost soul." He enjoyed doing the musical but didn't know if it was something he wanted to continue doing. He wasn't sure if the after-school time commitment was his thing, and it interfered with the golf team. 

Cast Photo from Addams Family

Getting Nicky's dead makeup on

Awkward photo with the parents

Nicky was unrecognizable in that face paint

In 10th grade, fueled by FOMO, Nicky decided to do the musical again - this time it was Cinderella. There was an optional set of choreography he could learn via video for the audition process. Nicky decided he wanted to put in the extra work to learn the additional choreography, so he asked Daisy to help him. They stayed up late learning the dance (which Nicky had a hard time doing in our house because he's so huge, and we have light fixtures and low ceilings that get in the way). When the cast list came out, Nicky was thrilled to be cast as a knight. He felt like he got a special part because he was willing to put in the extra work. 

Nicky's facial expressions in this role were intense and hilarious

Nicky and his friend Clayson living it up in a chase scene (the knights were very comedic, and they had so much fun doing this scene)

Nicky loved being a knight, and when we saw him perform, we were shocked. We didn't know he had that in him. We learned so much about our son when we saw what he did on stage!

Later that year he had the lead role in his theatre class's production of Everyone Gets Eaten by Sharks. 

Spoiler alert: everyone gets eaten by sharks!

Nicky also did a scene with his friend Addie from A Woman of no Importance for a district theatre competition and ended up medaling at State (watching Addie's joy when they medaled was so fun! It meant a lot to her! Nicky didn't care so much other than for Addie's sake). 

Addie and Nicky at the district competition

On stage at the showcase for parents

At that point, Nicky decided to try out for the competitive theatre group (known as the "Play Productions" team, or "PlayPro" for short). He was chosen for the team and did that for 11th grade and is doing it again for his senior year (though, when I first asked him if he wanted to do PlayPro he said no because he didn't want to do any Shakespeare or classic theatre) (he still really doesn't like Shakespeare or classic theatre, but he does it to be a good sport). 

At the Shakespeare competition last year

Nicky, Addie, and Clayson in their Shakespeare get up

In 11th grade, Nicky was cast as Winward, one of the seahorses in The Little Mermaid alongside one of his best friends, Clayson. They had a great time and were so funny on stage together, as always!

Nicky presenting King Triton

Clayson and Nicky as Leeward and Winward

At the end of last school year, they announced that the musical for this year would be The Music Man. Naturally, we all started thinking about who would play all the roles in the performance. Addie was a shoe-in for Marian, and Addie's mom, Laurel started suggesting that Nicky would be a great Harold Hill. My reaction was, "Nah, Nicky doesn't really sing. Nicky is a side-kick, not a leading man. There are other boys who want it more." (Nicky had the same thoughts). But as time went on, I started to realize that Nicky really could be Harold Hill. In fact, there isn't a more perfect leading role for Nicky. He has the look and the personality... and he has always been really intrigued by conmen (Frank Abagnale is his hero, much to my dismay). It's just that darn singing...

I ended up asking Nicky if he had any interest in going for Harold Hill, and he said yes, but he didn't think he could really pull it off. He genuinely thought a couple of his friends would make great Harold Hills, and he didn't want to take that opportunity from them. Over time, he became more familiar with the character and the story of The Music Man. One day he asked, "Mom, is Harold Hill a conman?" and I said, "Yes." And at that moment we decided that Nicky at least needed to try. We found a voice coach and put him in voice lessons. Nicky listened to (and sang) the songs all summer. Laurel and I turned into weird theatre moms, dreaming about the possibility of Nicky and Addie (who happen to be best friends - platonically) playing Harold and Marian and having to kiss. 

Addie and Nicky always trying to prove they are strictly platonic

Auditions were the second week of school. Nicky sang "Supercalifragilisticexpialicidious." We decided that would be a good "patter" song to showcase a similar style to Harold Hill (though I wanted Nicky to sing "Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?" from Only Murders in the Building). After the first audition, Nicky came home feeling completely defeated. I don't know what happened (he never really told me), but he was really upset. I felt really bad. But he got called back for Harold Hill, and that's what we were hoping for (he also got called back for the Mayor but not for Marcellus. Marcellus would have been his second choice for a role because he loves the Shipoopi song).  

Nicky's voice coach was so kind and reached out and offered a lesson the night before callbacks, so Nicky was able to get in a few minutes of extra training. Then Nicky and Addie got together to rehearse a bit so they could be ready. This was good because they were able to confront some of their discomfort with the romance (Laurel and I kept joking that they should just make out and get it over with. They don't think we're funny). 

The most "action" these two have had together

(This scene is from The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon in which Nicky and Addie high-fived and ended up conceiving a child who happened to be Rapunzel, which, in turn, made Laurel and I co-grandparents)

The day of callbacks, Nicky was super nervous and spent all day pooping his guts out (we are nervous poopers in this family). Then when he showed up to the actual callbacks, he said he felt incredibly calm and happy and supported and loved by friends and teachers. He was ready to get it done and sincerely enjoyed being there. 

Then we waited...

That Saturday afternoon, the list was released, and Nicky and Addie were cast as Harold and Marian. My mom heart soared. 

At the time of the cast release, Nicky was backpacking in the Uintas with Scotty and had no cell service, so we all knew that he and Addie got the parts, but Nicky didn't know. He ended up hiking to the top of a mountain to find cell phone service. He called me, and I was able to tell him the good news. Here are a few screen shots from when Nicky got the news:

"Mom, is the cast list out?"

"Yes! You and Addie are Harold and Marian!"

(Seriously makes me cry).

I am amazed to see the growth from that first junior high audition mishap to now. I have to give some credit to Laurel for initially suggesting that Nicky could play Harold Hill. I don't know that it would have crossed our minds - Nicky was never seeking a lead role. I don't know if the theatre teacher had Nicky in mind - who knows, maybe he was always a contender. But it was really special to watch Nicky work for this over the past several months and have it happen. As an added bonus, Daisy is in the ensemble, so we get to enjoy watching two of our children perform together.

Now they are in the thick of rehearsals, and we hear The Music Man pumping through every speaker in our home and car constantly. It's always playing on the TV, and every person in this house walks around singing, "Marrrrrrrrrrrian.... Madame librarrrrrrrrrian!" (And yes, we are sick of it already). 

This opportunity for Nicky makes me weepy. I'm just so stinkin' proud of him. I love that he worked hard for something and it paid off. I can't wait to see him on stage! 

(Also kind of weirded out that I'll have to watch him kiss a girl. That's something I'm not yet privy to). 

Diagnosed

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #4:

Diagnosis 

The other day I wrote about some of the changes I’ve experienced this year. One change I hinted at but didn’t talk about specifically is that I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. 

The path that led to that diagnosis was a bit bizarre. I went to the psychiatrist for ADHD, and she strongly urged me to do a sleep study. She said a lot of ADHD-like symptoms turn up with sleep apnea, and since I snore (embarrassing and true), it was one of the first things she wanted to check. I was resistant - I had no reason to think that I stopped breathing at night. I asked Scotty if he’d ever noticed anything, and he said no. Yes, I’m tired during the day, but not even close to what it was like when I had babies and toddlers, so as far as I thought, things were going pretty good sleep-wise. At first I said no to the sleep study, but then I thought, well, it wouldn’t hurt to rule out sleep apnea. 

This process started in May, and I did an at-home sleep study in June (I didn’t even know such a thing was possible). 

The dummy modeling how to attach all my sleep study gear

Five “events” per hour is the criteria for sleep apnea. Turns out, I stop breathing an average of 23 times an hour.

I had no stinkin’ clue. 

(If you’re curious, 23 puts me in the “moderate” category. Thirty is “severe”). 

Based on my sleep study results, my diagnosis is quite firm. I definitely have sleep apnea, and now that I know more about what sleep apnea really is, I’m like, “Ooooh. Yeah, I have that for sure.” I feel my throat close off when I lay down, but I didn’t know that was sleep apnea. It turns out, a lot of medical problems/symptoms I’ve been dealing with for the last ten years can possibly be linked to sleep apnea. So maybe, just maybe… if I can get my sleep apnea under control, I’ll get a lot of other problems managed. 

So the ultimate result of seeing a psychiatrist was not at all what I expected. Now, after nearly four months, I have a CPAP machine. I picked it up last Wednesday. It’s so ugly and uncomfortable, but if it makes me feel better eventually, I guess it will be worth the hassle. Getting used to it is going to be quite the chore. I feel like there’s an octopus suctioned to my head, and I look like I’ve been abducted and subjected to alien experimentation. And I just do this for… the rest of my life? Okay then. 

I’m happy to report, though (as I finish this post from bed at 6:11 Tuesday morning) that last night, my CPAP gave me a score of 100/100, meaning I absolutely rocked my therapy. 

So if you see me today, and I seem to have a little more pep in my step than normal, it’s probably because I breathed seven hours straight last night. I’ll try not to brag about it.

Three Trips Down Memory Lane

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #26:

Way Back When 

For Labor Day we spent a few hours organizing our garage. We do this a few times a year, and it never keeps. Our household has a constant battle with “stuff.” But that’s not what I’m here to write about. 

I’m here to write about way back when… as inspired by a box of photos I found in my garage during the aforementioned cleaning session.

Way back when I was 8 years old…

My mom took me to Glamour Shots. These are just two of the many fabulous proofs that came with my photo package. People were kind of critical of my mom for taking me to get dolled up and photographed, but I LOVED it and felt like a million bucks. 

Way back when I was in high school…

I was on the dance team, and for one of our costumes, we cut the crotches out of panty hose and stuck our heads through the holes and wore them as cropped tops. 

And those jeans? We had to cut those holes ourselves! No one wore holey jeans on the regular back then, let alone bought them that way. 

Way back when I got married…

Scotty and I were standing in the reception line when my cousin Brad came and got me and told me he wanted to dance with me. I thought it was really weird. I didn’t plan on any special dances (even though we had a DJ). I was kind of embarrassed because my cousin and I were slow dancing to some random love song, and everyone waiting in line to greet us had just been ignored and abandoned. 

Then the song turned off, and “I’m Too Sexy,” started playing. A bunch of guys wearing sunglasses started dancing around me with silk roses in their teeth… my cousins and brothers of all people. It ended up being pretty darn funny, and I had no idea it was going to happen. This was my mother’s doing. Yes, the same mother who took me to Glamour Shots when I was eight. 

These things are pretty common nowadays in the post-flash mob era and reign of social media, but back then, it wasn’t common. It was quite the scene!

Change Unexpected

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #7:

Change

Normally when I do the September Writing Challenge, I get a head start and have a stockpile of posts ready to go. Not so this time! I’m finishing up this post at 10:30 pm on September 1. It’s only Day One, and I’m already barely hanging on!

Every now and then, I mention in vague terms that this year has brought a lot of change. I turned 40 this year, and, while I didn’t plan on it being a life crisis in any form, something shifted after my birthday, and things got weird.

One of the biggest changes that has come about this year is that I got a job. It wasn’t really my plan - it just kind of happened! I started working at the end of January, and I love it! That has been a positive change. It has made me reassess how I spend my free time, and it has forced more independence on my kids. However, my kids haven’t been the biggest fans of me working. Some of them lay on the guilt, and I have to not let them get to me. I work very part-time (15-18 hours a week), so they can deal! Plus, they’re at school while I work anyway, and during the summer, I went into work around 5:00-6:00 in the morning so they would be asleep for part of my shift, and then I would come home around noon. 

Shortly into the year, I found myself losing interest in a lot of things I used to love. After several months of this, I’m still not sure what to make of it. This is one of the telltale signs of depression, but I wasn’t sure if that’s what  it was (is). Since I started working, it could be that I needed to make shifts in the way I spent my time. Maybe I was just starting to let things go to use my time differently. Or maybe I was severely depressed. Maybe both. I was startled to find that I could no longer read. I felt no draw to it anymore. There have been a couple of circumstances in my life that have made me struggle with reading. I could never read while I was pregnant, and I didn’t read for leisure while I was finishing my degree. Other than that, I’ve usually read three books a week. Back in April, I fought through a book and then just stopped reading. I used to listen to audiobooks at work, and I stopped doing that too. I couldn’t focus on any form of “reading,” and I also flat out didn’t feel like it. 

I started to struggle with meal planing and budgeting, which is something I’ve always enjoyed doing (as in when I had free time, I was actually excited to sit down and catch up the budget and make my grocery list). When it came time to plant the garden, I didn’t feel like it. I did it, but with far less passion and interest than I’ve ever had. I didn’t care about my garden this year like I have in years past. I haven’t done any canning or freezing from my garden. 

I had a couple of game nights with friends where I wasn’t feeling it. I couldn’t strategize, and my brain felt pre-fried (usually my brain is fried after a series of intense games, but it was fried before we even got started). I stopped walking with my friends in the mornings - something I’ve done for years and years. This was partially because I was going into work so early, but on days when I didn’t go into work, I didn’t want to walk. I also haven’t enjoyed blogging as much, and I don’t know what to write anymore. 

Me, Julie, and KoriAnn heading out to walk at 5:45 am

I found myself constantly wondering what was happening to me (I still wonder… I won’t be coming to any conclusion in this post).

In the spring I started going to a psychiatrist. She made some medication changes - switched my antidepressant and added an ADHD medication. Another thing that’s been going on this year (beginning last fall, actually) is some medication roulette, which I do not love. I’ve had analyze the usefulness of everything while also trying to determine if I’ve been having any side effects. 

A note: I do not have an official ADHD diagnosis. I have had symptoms all of my adult life, but since I didn’t have the predominant symptoms as a child that determine a diagnosis, the doctors I’ve seen don’t “diagnose” me with ADHD. However, they have still offered treatment for the symptoms via mild meds (I can’t take stimulants because I have high blood pressure, and I also don’t want to). I wasn’t ever seeking out medication, but I ended up trying two different ones because one of them also treated depressive symptoms and the other lowered blood pressure, so I tried the “kill two birds with one stone” approach to ADHD meds. I decided not to stick with either one in the end as I didn’t notice a difference.

As a result of seeing the psychiatrist, I ended up with a surprising diagnosis (which I will save for another post because I have a writing prompt for “diagnosis” that I strategically stuck in my September Writing Challenge).

Me surprised at the psychiatrist’s office 

This isn’t an exhaustive list of the changes I’ve experienced this year (I haven’t mentioned that my hair has gone curly, and hamburgers have started tasting yucky), but suffice it to say, I haven’t really felt like myself this year. I’ve changed a lot. It might not be a bad thing, per say, but it’s been hard to not know who I am and to not be able to fall back on what’s always been comfortable.