Observing nesting habits

Despite the oppressive heat, I drove out to Burbank to help Precious and Superman move a few things out to their new place in Pasadena. Sure, it was a good time to meet with Dynamic Mommy (Precious' mother) and update her on the baby shower (and hear about her new passion: teaching retirees how to talk about their lives to a camcorder, and edit together dvd's for their children and grandchildren!). And it felt good to move things that the heavily pregnant Precious shouldn't, and push my ankle a bit. But I might just have wanted an advanced screening of the new house, and talk to them about how they did it.

Buying a house seems like such a major ordeal. Everyone I know who's bought a house seems to get sucked into it ... disappearing from social events, never going on vacation, spending all their money into fixing up the house and buying appliances, worrying about gophers and plumbing and termites.

And yet, I am envious. A home. Somewhere to totally invest in, emotionally as well as financially. Freedom to get that snuggly cat and leaning labradoodle I've been dreaming about. Not being disgusted by partially washed dishes in the dish rack. Where I can organize, and clean (or not) to my heart's content. A place to belong.

~~~

Made it back to the west side in time to shower off the swelterings of the day, and go see Mrs. Activities's latest mini-Shakepearre productions. Small, amateur, heavily edited down, with whatever talent is available from the YSA's at church. Enjoyable ... if only to see people that I know doing something they find a lot of joy in.

First part was "Much Ado About Nothing." Satine put everyone else to shame. Hard to be very excited about it because it borrowed very heavily from this brilliant version directed by Kenneth Branagh, which I just adore. The borrowing was too problematic, but the bungled lines and unequal performances between Satine and the rest of the cast was. The best parts of the skit were a) Satine in general, b) Benedick's fumbling under the table, and c) thie curious amalgam of Hey Nonny Nonny and What You Do To Me.

The second part, A Midsummer Night's Dream was much better. Mrs. Activities had weighted the more vivacious and talented actors (although there were some exceptions) to this performance. The most entertaining was Puck ... an energetic slip of a girl who absolutely buzzed and mischiefed across the stage all performance long. Helena (played by Puck's sister) was also notable. The gag with the wig almost brought hysterical tears to my eyes.

All in all, kudos to Mrs. Activities. No an easy to task to do what she did. But a fun time was had by all, and that's the point, I guess.