Now Playing: New Blog
I've started a new blog here: http://http://ronnisrants.blogspot.com/ because I like the layout better. The "links" section isn't as easy to use, but I'm sure I will figure it out eventually.

Now Playing: New Play
Topic: Personal
Well, I just got cast in another play!

I'm going to be playing "Aunt Caroline," otherwise known as "Miss Amory," in "Black Coffee," a Hercule Poirot murder mystery. It's a bigger role than I had originally thought, and memorizing lines is going to have to start early. I'm usually the last one off book.

I'm also costuming the show. It's set in 1949, which is a pretty easy period to cover. It's all in one house, so no hats (except for Poirot and Hastings), gloves, or bags, and I already have a good collection of period stockings for the three women. Most of the characters need two costumes, but some have only one.

Not like "The Women," coming up this season, which has 25 roles, with up to 8 costumes each. That might be my greatest costuming challenge to date; and I feel honoured to have been asked to dress it.

Now Playing: Mother
My Mom was no fun. I like her a lot more, now that she's gone. She died 28 years ago, so I have very few adult memories of her. I moved away when I was 17, and made only sporadic visits after that.

Mom was the stuff of pioneers. I could see her, walking along beside the wagon, pitching into any chore, and singing while she did it. She knit, sewed, crocheted, gardened (heavy on gardened), canned, and baked. She tended chickens, cleaned chimneys, and split firewood.

She sang like a bird, knew what to do with half a dozen knives and forks per place setting, and frequently went and hid when people dropped by.

She was an enigma.

A Bunch of Things About Me
Now Playing: Stuff about me
I was born in 1949.
I like other people's dogs.
I eat pop tarts in the middle of the night.
I am adopted.
I like coffee ice cream.
I like cats.
I wish I could sing.
I saw most of the best bands of the late '60's and early '70's.
Except for the Beatles.
And Jimi Hendrix.
I still haven't forgiven my parents for that.
I love clothes, but don't dress up much.
I love acting.
I am pretty good at cooking, as long as it all comes out of one pot.
I love theater costuming.
I LOATHE rice pudding.
One of the very finest things I ever ate was barbecued shark.
I like to drink really good Scotch straight up.
Jose Cuervo is NO friend of mine.
I like Marmite (ducking beanie babies).
I sometimes whistle the Welsh national anthem.

Now Playing: Ads for Personal (Very Personal) Products.
Topic: rants
Is anyone besides me fed up to the teeth with ads for cures for things we NEVER, EVER used to mention in company, mixed or otherwise?

Maybe I'm among the lucky. I don't take especially good care of myself, but remain (knock wood) boringly healthy. I had an easy time with menopause, and, so far, my bladder is holding up just fine, thank you!

I have a 7-year-old grandson. So far, I haven't had to explain any of the things that make me cringe. I think he tunes them out, as he does most commercials that don't hawk toys or fast food.

I suppose most of us are aware, by now, that Medicare/Medicaid, which won't cover birth control, happily pays for drugs to cure erectile dysfunction. I'd just as soon my tax dollars were not spent to buy such.

When I was young (before the Flood), they couldn't even put a person on TV in a bra! The Maidenform™ that lifted and separated, did so on a plastic form, or on a woman dressed in a leotard UNDER the bra.

Now we are treated to endless commercials for products to control bladder leakage, erectile dysfunction, hemorrhoids, herpes, menopause, birth control and menstruation. Most of these products are prescription drugs, with side effects scary enough to make your hair turn white. But, don't worry--they will probably come up with a drug to cure that!

If people need the products being advertised, I think they should ask their doctor or pharmacist, peruse the aisles at the drugstore, or visit an herbalist or diet consultant.

But don't force me to watch these utterly degrading advertisements on TV each and every day.

Now Playing: Schools
Topic: Round Rock
I just received a copy of the new (to me, anyway) Austin Monthly. It has a list of the top 10 public high schools in the Austin Area. Three of the four Round Rock schools made the list. The one that didn't is a fairly new school that is perhaps not yet up to snuff.

My husband is a middle school teacher, so I get quite a bit of info on the inner workings of his school. Frankly, from what I've heard, I'm surprised any of them are providing any sort of education at all.

We have a severe overcrowding problem in most, if not all, of the schools in Round Rock. A bond issue to build more schools was defeated at the polls this Spring. Why? The (now lame duck) administrator put together a package of proposed buildings that was a bit more luxurious than the voters thought we needed. It was certainly more than I thought we needed! What we need is schools. Buildings, desks, cafeterias--what we don't need is landscaping and other frills that the administrator proposed. He would not allow the proposal to be trimmed down, so the voters did it for him. Cedar Valley Middle school, where Husband teaches, has approximately 1300 students, and was built to hold 800. Lunch starts at 10:40 AM, and is still being served at 1:30 PM. Each grade level is on a different schedule, which means that they can no longer use the bells, so everyone has to keep track of the time on their own. Husband's largest class last year had 38 students.

I have an idea to raise money for new schools: let's bring in a dunking booth and put that administrator in the hot seat!

Every teacher in town would pay good money to throw those balls, and so would I!

Now Playing: Hairy Man Road
Topic: Round Rock
Hairy Man Road, or Harry Mann Road, is now known as Brushy Creek Road. As the two spellings of the original name suggest, there are two different stories about the name.

The first says that there used to be an unidentified hairy man who roamed the vicinity, a la Lancelot, who went loony toons and ran wild in the woods for several years after the thing with Guinevere didn't work out. The second is that a man by the name of Harry Mann originally owned the property through which the road runs.

There used to be a low water crossing, so low it was almost a ford across the creek. It made for a beautiful view, but, as folks regularly wound up in the water because there was a very sharp turn onto it, it was eventually replaced with a bridge.

The overhanging trees, chuckling creek, and fern-encrusted bluff make it arguably the prettiest drive in Round Rock

Now Playing: Ah, The Memories!
Topic: Personal
When I was 18, I somehow came to the conclusion that true love had passed me by. I met a squirrelly and mildly entertaining little chap in Toronto's hippie culture, and married him. He was arrested for selling pot to a police officer. This particular memory is of his lawyer. The lawyer was a public defender, and I wish I could remember his name. I'll bet he has made a fortune as a defense lawyer.

Brian was 18, and his best friend, Willy, was a couple of years younger. Willy was young enough to have his case processed through the juvenile system. He had already pled guilty and been whisked away to Nova Scotia by his parents.

The first thing the lawyer did was to insist that Brian go back to school and get a job, a haircut and a suit. He then proceeded to convince a jury that 16-year-old, apple-cheeked Willy was the dominant member of the duo and Brian his unwitting dupe. The pot had been sold by the "nickel-bag," in an envelope, with the word "dope" written on it in multi-coloured letters. Brian would have had to be blind, as well as unwitting not to know what he was selling! Nevertheless, the first trial ended in a hung jury, and the second, in an acquittal.

That's a hell of a lawyer!

Now Playing: More Dead Kids
Topic: rants
In the little town of Zion, IL, two second graders were found dead in a park. The father of one of them has confessed to the crime.

The word "crime" is too tame to describe this heinous act. The killer, Jerry Hobbs, just got out of jail in Wichita Falls. He was on probation, which he violated by not attending anger management classes and drug abuse meetings which were a condition of his probation. He was sentenced to 10 years probation because he threatened his live-in girlfriend and neighbours with a chainsaw. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a chainsaw.

Anger management? Why not just shoot him with marshmallows?

Said live-in, whose name is Sheila Hollabaugh, had been attacked many times over the years by this man, yet she chose to stay with him, and chose to bring three children into the world using sperm donated by this cretin.

Catching up to the present, Sheila permitted Hobbs to move back in with her, her children, and her parents.

I am sure that, when he got there, he realized that she was getting on quite well without him, thank you very much, and decided to re-establish control of his woman and kids. Somehow, he believed (supposedly) that his daughter, Laura Hobbs, had stolen $40 from Sheila. Laura was grounded for this. Sunday, Mothers' Day, Sheila decided to rescind the grounding and let Laura go out and play. Hobbs didn't approve. He waited till Sheila lay down for a nap, and went looking for Laura. He found her with her best friend in the park. He told her to go home. She, poor little thing, had got way too used to his being gone, and actually talked back to him, refusing to go. She was 8. He hit her. He says her friend pulled out a potato knife to defend her. At that point, he hit the friend, grabbed the knife and stabbed the both of them; 21 times for Laura, and another 10 for her friend.

I strongly doubt that 8- and 9-year-old girls travel on bicycles with potato knives. I think the bastard took the knife with him.

He's a coward and a bully and needs to die. Sheila has got to be the most stupid woman I've ever heard of, and should be charged with child endangerment.

What in the Hell is the matter with these people?

Mood:  sad
Now Playing: Mothers' Day
Topic: Personal
Well, I've just had the crappiest Mothers' Day that I could ever imagine! Chandra didn't even call (though she did bring me a nice present on Friday), Vanessa called, but she mostly wants reassurance because she has surgery coming up on Wednesday, And Brendan totally spoiled dinner at Johnny Carino's.

He has spent the weekend doing a project that was assigned weeks ago, and due tomorrow. Consequently, he wasn't thrilled about taking time to go out to eat, but didn't want to say anything about it because he knew he would get lectured about leaving things until the last minute. So his attitude was poor, and his table manners worse. When queried by Jim about his sulkiness, the truth about the project came out. Jim (of course) couldn't resist the lecture, and Brendan said "You don't have to be such a prick about it!" Jim could not have been more upset if Brendan had slapped him. He recoiled in much the same way. Of course Brendan refused to apologize; the meal had been ordered, so Jim didn't want to leave, and we ate in a very uncomfortable atmosphere. Brendan did apologize to me, but that only made his refusal to apologize to Jim more glaring.

He did apologize a couple of hours later, as I figured he would, but things may be beyond truly repairing.

I feel like such a failure!