The Lion King, A Review (Also titled, I believe my mother thinks I'm blind)

For Hannukah, my mother bought tickets for she and I to see The Lion King at the Bushnell in Hartford. Here is the play by play.

My mother came to our house at about 5pm. She came barring biscuits and rawhides in an attempt to win over Penny (Rex has been long since won over, but she brought him stuff too.) Penny gets a bit scared in new situations, so when my mom walked in, her tail went between her legs and she went into full defense mode. She came to my mom for treats (thumbs up) and then my mom gave her the rawhide and she chewed away, but whenever my mom looked at her she growled. Yes, just looked at her. So I said to my mom, who was walked over to Penny, "I wouldn't do that". "Seriously mom, leave her alone". "We don't have time for an ER visit". Finally we had to leave and she left Penny to chew in peace.

We decided on Max Burger in West Hartford for dinner. I'd been there before, I knew it was good, I knew it was a safe choice. And then in mom fashion she read the menu to me. "They have sweet potato fries, Stace, you like those." "They have a burger with brie." "They have a beer called Arrogant Bastard". I know mom, I read it too. We ate and she deemed it better than Plan B, previously her favorite burger place in all the land. And then in mom fashion she tried to talk me into a dessert that neither of us needed. "The have whoopie pies". "The have an ice cream with bacon in it." All through dinner never failing to remind me that she hopes our seats are good for the show. She hopes the seats aren't too far to the side. The beginning is really the best part of the show, Stace. Its worth it to see the show just for the beginning.

We left Max Burger and headed to the Bushnell. We got there way too early and stood around for a while because they wouldn't even let us into our seats yet. "I really hope the seats are good." "If they are too far over I'm going to be so pissed".

We finally get to our seats and THANK ALL THAT IS GOOD they weren't too far over. The beginning of the show really was amazing. Very intricate and imaginative and wonderfully done. "Stace, did you see that?" "Look over there" "Isn't it amazing?" The actors were really wonderful. Usually there's a least one that I could do without, but this entire cast was really great. The only thing I didn't like (and Dee, this is the part where you can stop reading cause I know you are seeing it next weekend) aside from the beautiful costumes and scenery, the story was, almost word for word, from the Disney movie. I knew every joke before they said it, and that made them way less funny. (Even less when my mother would elbow me in the side, telling me to get a sense of humor). I guess I was expecting more of an adaptation of the movie and not retelling of the movie by actors.

Be it known also that I am not someone who laughs out loud at theatre or movies or TV. I never have been. I blame something obscure from my childhood. So, when the show was over and my mother turned to me and said "Did you like it?" My response was, "Yes, it was really good." "But you didn't look like you liked it" "I did." "Are you sure". "If you ask me again, the answer is going to change." Keep in mind too that it was now 11pm, about 2 degrees outside, I was tired and a bit annoyed that my husband was leaving for Miami in 5 hours and I wasn't going with him.

To recap, Penny has a bit of food aggression, as well as being greatly scared. Max Burger is excellent and does have both a beer called Arrogant Bastard and some sort of ice cream that had bacon in the title. The Lion King was very good and our seats were not too far over. And I only teared up a little seeing the adorable kids all dressed up, all excited watching the show with their parents.

Happiness

Everyday I have to stop and remind myself of my New Year's Resolutions. Especially the one about staying calm and not getting worked up about stuff. You know, like how my job sucks ass and how everyone around me is pregnant and having babies and how Penny has an intestinal parisite *again* and how I've had a headache everyday for the last ..... days. So what I've been trying to do is to search out the positive. More specifically, to really notice and acknowledge things that make me happy. Especially the small things, things that I never realized make me happy. And you know what? It's actually working a bit. On top of which, it's interesting. Such small seemingly stupid things.

You know what makes me happy? Matching pajamas. Pajamas where the top and bottom match. For years and years I've been wearing random t-shirts with random bottoms, and then I recently found this awesome pj set in the bottom of a drawer. They are light blue with penguins on them. What a great find! So cute! So fun! When I obtain some more money, I shall buy myself some more. (Tina Fey was wearing these awesome ones on "30 Rock" recently that had cupcakes on them!)

You know what else I love? Stew Leonard's. Sometimes I get really wrapped up, comparing Gordo and my relationship to what I think it "should be" or what other people have. We love to go to Stew's. We walk through, we see the new food, see the weird people, sample the awesome samples. Some people have fancy resturants, we have Stew's. And that, my friends, is okay with me.

Nail polish makes me happy. Looking at pretty painted nails is nice! Warm and fuzzy. It makes me happy.

I've also realized that on days when I dress nice for work, I usually feel better about myself. Granted, on days when I'm just khakis and long sleeve tee I'm comfier, but that's not what we're talking about here. I guess I feel like more of a "professional adult" when I've got on fancy shoes and pants. Which is all well and good, but let's be honest here, it ain't gonna happen often.

My husband's stupid jokes make a happy.

Rex wagging his tail when I walk into the room makes me happy.

Penny sleeping between my legs, resting her head on my shin makes me happy.

Going to Washington DC over April vacation makes me happy.

The best part of my day

We walked a different route today. An older guy was standing outside his house, and I smiled and said Hi. He said, Hi and then said "You've got two good looking walking partners there." I sure do, my friend, I sure do.

Trash Burgler

So we've got this guy in our neighborhood who goes through everyone's trash on garbage night. We call him the Trash Burgler. Its like the Hamburgler, but way less cool.

I think it was during the summer that we first realized this. First, our friend's iPod was stolen out of her car. Then, Rex would start barking~ no~ howling in the middle of the night out of the big window. We would get up and look, and there he would be. Sometimes driving his car and stopping at every garbage can, sometimes walking with a flashlight. Initally we were more annoyed that our dog was waking us up at midnight or one am. So when we realized that he was only going through the recycle bin, we kept it up by the house and brought it down in the morning. Gordo actually called the police to inquire, because he was going through our stuff, and they said that once the garbage is at the curb, it isn't really ours anymore. I felt kind of bad for the guy, I mean, who goes through people's garbage? And I figured, we threw it away, we obviously didn't want it. So up by the house the recycle bin stayed, and we didn't hear from the Trash Burgler (or Rex) again.

Until last night. Having Penny means that we are getting up at all hours of the night to take her outside so that we don't have accidents in the house. At midnight I took her out to pee. And there he was. Flashlight in hand, pajamas on legs he went house to house. And then I saw it. He went to a house diagnol from ours that didn't have their garbage can at the end of the driveway. He walked straight up their driveway to where the garbage can was~ leaning against their house. Wow, that's balls, I thought. Penny peed and I went back inside. I yelled to Gordo that our friend had returned and he came to look out the window. Rex caught sight of him and started in with the howl. Rex alerted Penny and she began to bark and howl. Did this stop the Trash Burgler? No, of course not. We lost sight of him for a minute, but then we saw the bounce of the flashlight. Again, we saw him in a driveway, right at someone's house. OMG, my friends, OMG. All these months that we've had our recycle bin by our front door; was he walking right up to it? I mean, has he no shame? Is nothing sacred? Not even our garbage?

I'm trying to understand the Trash Burgler, put myself in his shoes. He's a forty-something guy who lives with his parents. Lives with his parents three houses away from us. I want to understand him and feel for him, but I just feel kind of weirded out.

At one thirty when we finally went back to sleep, I may have told Gordo that if I ever get to the point where I am going through people's garbage, to shoot me in the foot so that I can't.

Infuriating

Yesterday my day started by filling a DCF report, my first ever in seven years. By the end of the day I had gotten my period. Want to take a stab at the wonderfulness that happened in between?

I am so infuriated with people who are parents, but do not *parent*. On the news the other night, we saw a report about a woman who went to the tanning salon and left her two kids, 3 years old and eleven months old, in the car while she tanned. It is seriously about 15 degrees outside. I wouldn't even leave my dogs in the car for that long. People who leave their kids at home to fend for themselves while they go out and do who knows what. We had a family of kids here at school years ago who were living in their apartment, on their own, for who knows how long, living off of ketchup packets.

I don't get it. So many people in this world who want to be parents so badly. To love that child, and raise that child, and care for that child, and be there for that child. But can't. And then there are these people, who have children and don't give a rat's ass about them. People who are so self-absorbed that they could never dream of loving someone else and put someone else's priorities in front of their own. It just doesn't make sense to me. None of it makes sense to me.

Resolutions

For 2010, I resolve the following~~

1. To actually do something about the things in our house that I hate, instead of just hating them. (To start, repaint the front and back door, as to hid the fingerprints from Gordo's childhood.)

2. To go back to the gym, instead of just paying the bill. (I'm going back to yoga today!)

3. Try to be a bit less concerned with everyone else, and enjoy myself and my life as it is, and remember that we are healthy and happy. (And so lucky for it!)

4. Try to enjoy my job a bit more, enjoy my students a bit more and care a little bit less about my co-workers. (Starting tomorrow, ack!)

5. Live each day with less worry. (Starting now!)