Our Elphie

Some of us were discussing Wicked yesterday, and some saw Idina Menzel cast as Elpheba, the one on the soundtrack. Our Elphie was Caissie Levy, and I thought she was awesome. I liked her voice even better than the soundtrack, but that may have been just because it is always better live.

This first one is Elpheba and Glinda fighting, and then Elpheba sings "No Good Deeds." This Glinda is different, though. We saw Megan Hilty.



And of course "Defying Gravity." Each time she sings, "You can't pull me down" or "No one is ever gonna bring me down," the excess prolactin in my system is activated and I become a big crybaby.



And just to throw another one in, here's a clip from a PBS Documentary that highlights Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth rehearsing "For Good."

And The Biggest Klutz Award Goes To...

If life gives you lemons . . . just blog about it, and that makes everything all better! I thought I would share just one little example of my clumsiness--the grape juice spill:

All I did was try to get the grape juice out of the fridge and it just slipped from my hand, broke the lid, and splashed all over the kitchen as far as six feet away. And of course I had just mopped the kitchen floor a couple of hours before. I was just about to use some heavy profanity (like CRAP!!) when I realized, ooh, I can take a picture of this to put on my blog. Instant mood lift. The very sad thing about this incident is that I do this about 5 or 6 times a day. I'm much worse than the kids. Just think of how many more pages of a book I could read a day if I wasn't cleaning up after my klutzy messes!
Does anyone else have this problem?

Friday Fill-ins (#66)

1. Tonight I saw Jeopardy.
2. Roxette makes me wanna dance!
3. Splitting a few appetizers between friends is no good, I want them all to myself!
4. My 13-year-old daughter is someone I'd like to get to know better.
5. The smell of orange blossoms reminds me so much of springtime!
6. I told my daughter to eat a cookie when she informed me she didn't have dinner, and that made it all better. (Oops! Really bad parenting on a couple of levels!)
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to my husband coming home from Wisconsin, tomorrow my plans include scrapbooking with friends and Sunday, I want to spend time with family!

Rachael Ray's 30 minute Chicken Casserole

Kaylynn saw this on Rachael Ray and thought it sounded good, so she made it for us last night. It's sort of a casserole that you don't bake. What's fun about it is that the crunchy topping is made out of toasted, buttered English muffins ground up in the food processor. Yummy! I loved it just the way it was, but the kids were a little put off by the flavor of the Dijon mustard. To make it more kid friendly, I would just cut out the mustard and tarragon, and use poultry seasoning instead. Here's the link to the recipe:

Express Tuna or Chicken Casserole

Also, another fun questionnaire from Lorena. They are so hard to resist! This one is going to be a challenge for me because you have to answer in one word. AAAAHHH! I don't think I can do that. More words just pop into my head and want to come out! But I'll give it a try.

1. Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Your significant other? frugal
3. Your hair? poofy
4. Your mother? accepting
5. Your father? funny
6. Your favorite thing? librarycard
7. Your dream last night? forgettable
8. Your favorite drink? grapejuice
9. Your dream/goal? travel
10. The room you're in? diningroom
11. Your ex? short
12. Your fear? fear
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? college
14. Where were you last night? bookclub
15. What you're not? ambitious
16. Muffins? w/ butter
17. One of your wish list items? driveway
18. Where you grew up? Riverside
19. The last thing you did? laundry
20. What are you wearing? loungewear
21. Your TV? off
22. Your pet? rock
23. Your computer? Dell
24. Your life? acceptable
25. Your mood? anxious
26. Missing someone?
27. Your car? messy
28. Something you're not wearing? thong
29. Favorite store? Fredericks
30. Your summer? busy
31. Like someone? Everyone
32. Your favorite color? red
33. When is the last time you laughed? today
34. Last time you cried? recently

OH, how I wanted to elaborate!!! What a great way to shut me up!

Names I Go By

What a hoot! These are fun to read--I've read Lara's and Susan's. Here's mine:

1. My rock star name (first pet and current car): Shoo-Shoo Odyssey
2. My gangsta name (favorite candy bar and favorite cookie): Payday M&M
3.My "brotha" name (first initial of first name and first three letters of last name: Slac
4.My detective name (favorite color and favorite animal): Red Monkey
5. My soap opera name (first name and city where you were born): Shelley Fontana
6. My Star Wars name (first three letters of your last name and first two letters of your first name then the word "of" then a medication you are on): Zapsh of Q-Var
7. My superhero name (2nd favorite color and favorite drink with "The" in front): The Blue Grape Juice (This one must work better for people who drink alcohol!)
8. My Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers): Preston Martin
9. My stripper name (name of your favorite perfume/cologne and your favorite candy): White Shoulders English Toffee (?)
10. My witness-protection name (mother's and father's middle names): Lynn Dale

Happy April Fool's Day!

For April Fool's Day I wanted to replace my regular music with some rap songs, but after listening to a couple of selections on Playlist, I just couldn't do it. I'm no fun, what can I say! Here's a meme from Lorena's site:

Three names you go by:
1. Mom (usually in a yell or a whine)
2. Half-pint (my grandpa used to call me this)
3. Shelley
Three things you are wearing right now:
1. My "lounge-wear"- fancy name for pajamas
2. Slip-on shoes that I put on to take the kids to school
3. Socks that are too thin and too loose
Three of your favorite things to do:
1. Sleep
2. Laugh
3. Read
Three things you want very badly at the moment:
1. A flat tummy-have you noticed that every women's magazine every month tells you how to get this?
2. More time to do all the things I need and want to do - (I know all of you with jobs and younger kids are like "What!!??", but I actually feel this need more now that I have more time. Ironic.)
3. To see Wicked again - I think it has literally cast a spell on me.
Three favorite pets you have had/have
1. Rootbeer - our German Shepherd/Husky from my childhood
2. Cricetus Cricetus (Chris for short)- my hamster I had around age 13. I think Cricetus Cricetus is the Latin name for hamsters--Yes, I was a nerd back then too.
3. Yeller - I'm cheating here. Yeller was Cindy's dog that I loved. Such a great dog!
Three things you did last night:
1.Went to In 'n' Out - Dan is out of town this week and this is a tradition for the rest of us.
2. Watched 30 minutes of Northanger Abbey
3. Wrote some reviews of books I've read
Three things you ate today
1. Blue Peanut M&M's
2. Orange Peanut M&M's
3. Green Peanut M& M's
Three people you last talked to:
1.Amy
2.Jeremy
3.Anna
Three longest car/plane rides:
1. To Carpio, ND
2. To Albuquerque, NM
3. To Denver, CO
Three favorite holidays:
1. Christmas
2. Halloween
3. St. Patrick's Day
Three favorite beverages:
1. Grape juice
2. Chocolate milk
3. Sparkling Apple Grape