Of Dwarves and Elves

I never thought I would love dwarves so much.  But there I was, 7:00am yesterday morning, picking this up:

 They hadn't even put them on the shelves yet!  I win!  I had it in my car all day long, cuz if I brought it into work with me I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of putting in my laptop or downloading the digital version.

L-R: Bombur, Bifur, Dori, Gandalf, Bofur, Kili, Thorin, Bilbo, Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Nori, Gloin, Ori, and Oin. 
Aren't they cute??

so I get home and all I can really do is watch up til Rivendell.  I even closed my eyes during the scenes with Radagast because I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I actually ended up sleeping on the downstairs couch because I lay down for just a few minutes.  And 5 hours later... yeah.  Ani wasn't too pleased that I slept on his couch, and Kitty was so upset she scratched my forearms (apologies to my next-door neighbor for the screams)

But I will finish tonight - or at least get past the Riddles in the Dark scene, because I really want to watch the goblin fight-scene in slow motion.

In other news...
The play is coming along nicely.  We had a rehearsal of the full Act 1 last night, and we'll be doing Act 2 tomorrow night.  Tonight we have a read-thru of a potential script for the August show.  I have successfully transfered directorship of that to another person in the DC who actually wants to do it.  I'm willing to direct again, but I couldn't find anything I really wanted to direct that fit our complement of actors.  Then I have our Family Reunion this year to organize and prepare for, and then William Shatner is coming to Shore Leave in August, the weekend before the show.  It was just too much.  I'll be Assistant Producer instead, supporting Adam the way he's been supporting me.

I think I'm going to be leaving the Drama Club soon.  Yes, it's the fault of El Presidente.  I just don't want to participate with such a volatile personality.  Like a volcano, you go along with him thinking everything is fine, and then one day he just explodes all over you.  But there is another consideration.  I'm feeling myself move back towards wanting some sort of relationship again.  I blame Kili.  I've been telling myself Mary Jane stories about him and I would kind of like to feel that for real.  With a real person.  As part of the Drama Club, I have no time to date.  When I'm not working on DC stuff, I'm so exhausted I can't even watch my current favorite movie all the way through.

Church is ok, I'm one of the meetinghouse librarians, which is ok but not enough people come in with their babies for me to hold, and in RS I seem to be sitting on the wrong side of the room to be able to hold babies through then.  Doesn't help that I don't get in until after they've started and I have to leave before they end.  I miss the babies!  I have been putting bugs in the Bishopric's ears about going back to Primary, though.  I even mentioned to him once that I feel like I have some sort of black mark on my record because of my time in the Primary Presidency back in 1999.  It didn't go well.  I've only been called to Nursery ever since.  Or outside of Primary.  There's been a lot of that too.  Like no one trusts me with the kids. :(  I've got one of the current members of the Primary Presidency on my side, though.  She knows me, we were VT companions for a short time.

 Family stuff is coming along nicely, though.  I have commitments from 2/3 of my family, and promises from the other 1/3.  I'm so excited to have my family come visit me!!  At the funeral a couple weeks ago my sister had to silence me because I was getting a little loud, and while she apologized I told her she was right to do so.  "I get a little over-excited when I'm with family," I told her.  Which is why I'm currently looking for a job to take me back to CA.  I miss them so much.  And I keep spending lots of money to buy airplane tickets to go see them approximately every 3 months, even when I don't plan on it.

I think that's about it for now.  My daffodils are trying to bloom, but the weather has turned cold again.  Stupid weather.  I'm so ready for spring!

Breaking Hearts

I don't know where else to put this, so I'm going to throw it out here.  My niece had a baby last May, 4 months early.  He had to go through so many surgeries, but seemed to be doing so much better at Christmastime.  He only had two more major hurdles to go through--eat on his own, and breathe on his own.  Then he took a turn for the worse.  More surgeries were proposed, and his poor parents struggled with it all.

Then two weeks ago more surgeries were proposed, but this time his parents felt that it was time to let go.  So after a very tender moment on Sunday, March 3, where his mama got to hold him, and he looked up at her and smiled, Grayson passed away.  He was 9 months old.

I was able to fly out for the funeral, which was very tender.  My brother and his family--especially this particular niece--were so glad I was able to come.  I was glad I was able to go.  My work responsibilities were very low--no one had to cover for me.  My production responsibilities were ably handled by the production assistant.  My church responsibilities were handled by those who were in charge (ok, so all I was needed for was to open the library for Relief Society, but still).

My heart is still very sad.

I returned to work to find that my friend and co-worker had passed away.  He'd been diagnosed with brain cancer in January.  Such a kind, gentle soul--when he called me for work-related matters he'd always say, "I suppose you're sorry to hear from me," but I never was.  For a long time he thought I was about 10 years younger than I am--young enough to be his daughter.  When he found out from something I'd posted on Facebook, he was very surprised.  Yes, we were Facebook friends too.  I miss him.

This year is not starting out so well.  But spring is coming, and my daffodils are getting ready to bloom.  And rain will make the flowers grow.