I got to see Les Miserables!!!!!

Brad took me to see "Les Miserables" on Oct. 11th!!!! The Arkansas Reperatory Theater (http://www.therep.org/) was showing it, and my wonderful hubby knew I would love to see it. We managed to buy 2 of the last 40 tickets sold, numbers 37 & 38 to be exact. Whew!

It was just amazing! I have the original Broadway cast soundtrack, and I've seen the 10th Anniversary Concert, but you really do miss a lot of action between all the songs. The Rep has a rotating stage, and boy did they put that to use. The acting was wonderful. The orchestra just grand. The singing was just plain awesome. The Rep is a small theater, so you really do get to see all the action on stage upclose and personal.

Of course, no cameras were allowed, so no pictures to scrap. We did bring home a program, though. So I'll have to get real creative when I get around to scrapping this!

Elizabeth asked what the saddest part was. Well, considering all of the main characters die, it's got lots of sad parts. She asked if she could go, but I simply told her that Les Mis. just isn't for kids.

Now, the movie "The Tale of Desperaux" which hits theaters in December....that's a different story. "The Tale of Desperaux" is Elizabeth's favorite book and when she heard it's being made into a movie, she was practically begging to go. My response? "I don't know, we'll have to see." hehehehe Little does she know that we plan on getting her tickets for Christmas. Sounds like a great day for a girls' day out, to me. Shhhh!!! Don't tell, it's a secret!

Karate for Christ

Our church started "Karate for Christ" a few weeks ago. It's grown tremendously over the past few weeks, so much that we're going from meeting once a week to twice a week. We have two classes each night, an hour for kids from 5 and up, and then an hour for teens and adults. It's free, as long as you go to church (somewhere, anywhere) on Sunday. Both of the kids are doing it, and are enjoying it. We missed one night a couple weeks ago, and both kids were bummed. Most of the parents who bring their kids stick around to watch, so it gives me and other adults from our church an opportunity to talk with them and get to know them.

Our head instructor has been trained in "Karate for Christ", and has a 3rd degree blackbelt in karate, working on his 4th degree. Brad has a 4th degree blackbelt in taekwondo and helps as an assitant in the kids class. We also have 2 teen girls who assist in the kids class, one working on her red belt, the other has a black belt. It's a good thing our head instructor has so many helpers! :-)

Brad then works out during the adult class. It's been so long since he earned his black belt, that he's forgotten some, but it's coming back to him. When Elizabeth was in taekwondo, Brad promised me that if I ever wanted to take taekwondo classes, he would do it with me and start over. Well, he's keeping that promise and starting over in the adult Karate for Christ class, even though I've told him he doesn't have to start over. It's nice having his experience in the house though. It means that if I work out at home, he's here to correct my mistakes. He's so supportive of me in this! He's there encouraging me along the way, and gives me that extra push when I think I can't do it.

Apparently I did push it a bit last night, though. Part of our warmup in Karate for Christ is stretching. Well, apparently I pushed myself a bit too much stretching my right leg. Yep, it REALLY hurts today, difficult to walk, and don't even think about asking me to do a flight of stairs. I hope this works itself out by Thursday night, because the adult class will be meeting again then. I don't want to miss anything!

I've surprised myself in what I can do, though. LOL I have more power in my arms and legs than I thought I did. I'm not anywhere near Brad's power, though...just WOW! Brad hits or kicks the big 'wave bag' we have, and that bag knows it's been hit. I'm proud of the work I've done, though. I'm learning a lot, thanks to our wonderful head instructor. More than that, I'm slowly getting myself in shape. It's not always easy, but I'm glad I'm doing it.

It's also nice that I'm not the only woman in the class. Our head instructor's fiancee is in the adult class, plus another mom started with us last week. There's also a couple other ladies who want to join in with us, so hopefully we'll see them in there soon!

Introducing Nikkie

This is Nikkie on 9/20/08. She's Brad's 1 yr. old bassett. This pose is normal for Nikkie, because being a bassett is hard work. It's tough sleeping all day!

When we first brought her home in March of this year, that sad, pitiful look got to me every time she got in trouble. It wasn't too long before I could look at her and tell her "That look won't work on me anymore." LOL

Nikkie is a joy to have in the family. She loves the kids, the neighbor kids, our friends, and pretty much anyone else that comes in the house.

There's actually been someone that she hasn't liked, so I really do believe she has a sense of who's good and who's not. Her and Digit get along, and actually play together. It took several days for Digit to stop hissing at her, but he calmed down and now they at least tolerate each other if they don't consider themselves buddies. When Brad comes home, she wags her tail so hard that her rear end wiggles. It's so funny to watch.

She thinks she's a lapdog, but convincing this 50 pound bassett that she's not a lapdog is a different story. So her and I comprimise. She can lay her head or front part of her body in my lap and we're fine.

On the 28th of September, we noticed a huge lump on the underside of her neck. It was about the size of a lemon, and I will be the first to admit that I was scared for her. So off to the vet she went a couple days later. The vet says it's an allergic reaction of some kind. She'll be fine, it's just going to take time to get her all better. Short of sending off blood for allergy test, it'll be a bit hard to find out exactly what she's allergic to. So for right now, the vet's starting with a possible food allergy. This means only her food, no scraps. Sure, tell that to Nikkie, who's a walking vaccum. She can find the smallest bite that the kids drop on the floor. Her dry food can stay the same, but her little multi-flavored treats are going to have to change since she can only have the light-tan colored ones. In the meantime, she's on an antibiotic and gets a medicated bath. In the past, she's taken pills just find when they're hidden in cheese. Not now. It was like wrestling a walrus for the first several days. It's easier now though, especially since Brad started hiding it in a small bite of turkey lunchmeat. Oh, except for when she finds the pill hiding in the turkey and spits it out. Hmmm....I wonder if that's why the vet's office told me "Get as much of this medicine down her that you can."

Giving her the bath is easier than the medicine! She just stands there. But she started feeling better a few days after seeing the vet. She's really feeling better now, but still on the antibiotic and baths.

I knew she was feeling better when I had to fish the water bottle cap out of her mouth. Yep, the walking vaccum has returned! It's times like this that I wish God had given animals (or at least my pets!) human-like vocal chords so they could talk to me. That or someone invent a translator thingy for animals like they have in Star Trek. Of course, I may not want to know the thoughts that go through my furbabies heads!