My Evil Alter Ego

I bet many of you are unaware that I have an evil alter ego.

At least, I did while in Annie Get Your Gun.

I was the understudy for Dolly, the show's villain, and actually ended up playing this character for three matinees and one regular show.Dolly was a mean, selfish, racist woman whose main goal was to get what she wanted (Frank Butler) at any cost. Oftentimes she was made to look quite the fool during her pursuits, but in the end she discovers love in a very unexpected way.

Here are a few pictures my friend Jenny took:
Gotta love the maroon wig!


This is my partner Randy (aka "Messenger") that I danced with during the shows when I was in the ensemble. The other lady is Bridget, the actor who filled my regular role when I was playing Dolly.

And don't ANY of you reading this (especially siblings) dare suggest that I was type casted.

Well, maybe Leesha can seeing how I made her walk around on a broken leg for three days while our parents were gone and I was in charge. In my defense, the leg looked fine (no swelling or bruising) so I was not purposely subjecting her to painful torture.

Or maybe, it was my "Dolly" side coming out :)

Project Potty

What do you get when you have this:


And this:

Plus this:

And him:

We'll keep you posted!

"Treasure" Sssurprise

I was busy making dinner yesterday when Mathison stepped outside on the back porch. While in the middle of peeling a potato, I heard him come inside and exclaim, "Look Mom - I found a treasure!"

'How cute,' I thought, as I cut the potato. Mathison had just finished watching a Blues Clues episode, and here he acting out what he had seen.....or so I thought. But as I glanced over at the "treasure", something definitely seemed off. At first I thought Mathison was holding a thick shoestring or a small rope, but it didn't take me long to realize I was looking at the underbelly of a snake dangling in his hands.

It appeared dead, but I wasn't taking any chances. I had Mathison put it on the floor, then rounded up my snake expert and extraction specialist - Bronson. He grabbed a paper towel and carefully turned the snake over. My heart started beating faster as I saw the markings; it definitely looked like a baby rattlesnake.

Meanwhile, Mathison was starting to ask when he could get his "treasure" back.

So, what was a rattlesnake doing on our back doorstep? I'm guessing that one of the cats killed it and deposited it there; in the past, we have found birds, mice, and even lizards they have "brought" us. I'm hoping they found the snake on the mountain; I don't even want to think about the possibility that it was lurking somewhere in our yard.

Most of all, I am extremely grateful that Mathison wasn't hurt. Next time, I hope he'll go hunting for a more traditional "treasure"!

Demotion

Whenever I ask Bronson a question, I can be sure to get the truth - plain and simple, without any sugarcoating.

Bronson started college classes on Monday, and when I asked him today how things were going he stated, "Fine. I'm just not happy about the demotion."

Demotion?

When I asked what he meant, Bronson replied, "I had to work four years in high school to become a senior - and here I am, starting over as a freshman again."

At least freshmen in college don't get stuffed into lockers and aren't given whirlies :)

(NOTE: For those of you who are interested, Bronson is taking 14 credits this semester and is majoring in English.)

Bookworm

Mathison has been quite interested in "adult" books lately - those with many pages and no pictures. He'll often pull one off of the bookshelf in the family room and "browse" through it before selecting another one.

A few days ago, Mathison and Krissia were alone in the family room when he began browsing through the books again. Krissia noticed that he had suddenly grown very quiet, so she began watching his behavior. Mathison seemed to be taking his time with a certain book, turning the pages carefully and "reading" it from cover to cover. After he'd turned the last page, Mathison sighed and said,"That was a really good book."

He then turned to Krissia and exclaimed, "You should read it, Krissia!"

Hooray for 5k!

Run, that is. $5,000 wouldn't be bad, either.

Anyway, most of the Beatty family participated in a "Beat the President" 5k run this morning as part of Dixie College's Freshman's Weekend. I'm happy to say that everyone finished and no one was incapacitated :)

Krissia finished first out of our family with a time of 21 minutes. Not bad for someone who hasn't run since April! Jefferson finished next in about 26 minutes, and was proud of himself for not stopping to rest at all during the race. Bronson and DEl came in around the 30 minute mark, with both of them posting times which beat the college president. Everyone that did so won a 25% discount coupon for merchandise at DSC's bookstore.

Mathison had a late night and no nap the day before, so he was sleeping at home with Mom. I totally plan on running next time; it sounded like so much fun!

I'm so proud of my family members, as this was their first 5k for each of them....go Beatty family!!