Tuesday, December 2

Hubbie set the clock alarm to wake us at 5 a.m., so I could be ready for the video crew to arrive at 8 a.m. The alarm didn't go off, drat it, but I woke up at 5:38 a.m., anyway. We discovered at 5 p.m., when the clock radio came on, that Hubbie had set it for p.m., instead of a.m.



We were ready in plenty of time, though, since the video crew didn't arrive until 8:30 a.m. I got more and more anxious as the minutes ticked on. Finally, three senior high girls equipped with two video cameras arrived, and a few minutes later, two public relations ladies from the local bank also arrived.



I gulped down a glass of water, hoping to alleviate my dry mouth, and got ready to speak. I was directed to stand by one of the dining room chairs and announce my name, followed by, "and I'm a heart attack survivor. For the past several years, I've attended the Go Red luncheon for women...," except it came out, "I've attended the Red Hat luncheon for women."



Oops! Take two. I started over again, this time managing to stumble through my lines.



That took care of the video portion. Next came the voice over, in which I was to describe my heart attack, what I did about it, what advice I had for other women, and what I am doing to enjoy life after the attack. I launched into my completely unprepared speech, gulping loudly (dry mouth again) halfway through, and babbling on until I ran out of things to say.



The crew declared I'd done a great job. I said I was sure it was obvious how nervous I was, but they said, no, they couldn't tell I was nervous at all. Maybe they couldn't tell how nervous I was (or maybe they were lying because they were in a hurry to get the whole thing over with), but I'm pretty sure anyone who knows me that is in the audience the day of the event will know. I didn't get to see a preview of the tape, so I dread it being shown up there on a big screen.



Once they had the video and voice over they wanted, they filmed me doing an embossed card craft, photos of grandkids on the stairwell, and me pretending to dial 911. They left a little after 9 a.m.



After that, Mother came over, and she, Hubbie, and I, decorated the "white" Christmas tree in the living room. The tree is actually green, but it is decorated with clear miniature lights, pearl garlands, white silk poinsettia flowers, and mostly white ornaments, with a few blue and gold ones scattered throughout. This is Hubbie's favorite tree, which he can see from his chair at the dining room table.



Speaking of dining room chairs, once the tree was trimmed, I decided to put an angel and other Christmas things on the top of the China cabinet. But instead of getting a step ladder to do this, as Hubbie suggested, I just stood on a dining room chair. On my third trip onto the chair, I felt it wobble. I thought one leg might be on top of something, so I jiggled around a little. It wobbled some more. I got down, and turned the chair upside down. I discovered that one leg was cracked and about ready to break off.



I hated to tell Hubbie about this, but he had to know. He was disappointed that the leg was broken, but didn't blame me for it, saying he doesn't think I weigh enough to break such a heavy wooden chair.



The next task, then, was to find a furniture repairman. They're scarce in this town, but Hubbie located one at an antique shop just down the road from us, who said to bring the chair right down and he'd fix it and call us when it's done.



The rest of the afternoon was without incident, thank goodness.



Last night, we attended the dress rehearsal of a musical play our community theater is doing. The director asked all the board members to be there to offer input about the production. This time, the actors were wearing mics, which helped the audience hear them. But during the first half, the piano accompaniment overpowered the singers, so we noted this to the director. In the second half, the mics were turned up, and the piano was toned down, which improved the sound.



The problem is, there aren't enough mics to go around, so we were unable to hear four minor actors in the second half. Also, there was some language in the play that we thought should be eliminated to make the production family friendly.



Otherwise, it was a pretty good production. We thought the actors sounded very professional, and the costumes and set pieces are very good. The failure of the play is not with the actors, set, or costumes, but with the lighting and sound. Of course, it's also being presented in a theater that is acoustically poor.



I'm just not sure that the production chosen is quite suited to the Christmas season, so I wonder how well it will be attended...especially on this weekend, when so many other competing events are going on around our small town.



I thought the play started at 7:30 p.m. At 7 p.m., Hubbie checked the time on our e-mail invitation to be sure, and it said curtain time was 7 p.m. We arrived late, but it didn't matter, since the actors were still warming up when we got there, and it was closer to 7:30 before they actually started.



A cold wind was blowing when we left the theater, so we were all ready for cups of hot chocolate when we got home. It was a long and busy day, so I was plenty ready to wind down.