Yes I changed it...

I like renewal, so I changed the title of my blog. Apparently Pandora's Box has too much attraction for the porn crowd, so I dug up my own little box title. I have always told every child that drove me crazy that I would put them in a corner in a box, or that they could find me there if I went batty.

Knitting can be dangerous!

As a woman I have always prided myself on my ability to make anything work. If you don't have the right tools improvise, right? Instead of rooting around for the toolbox and the correct tool as a man would do, I have used skinny thick vases as hammers to hang art, butter knives as screwdrivers, and my husband's work shoes as a sledgehammer to beat the garden fence posts into the ground. This flexibility has usually served me well, until today. This morning I was attempting to not wake my family up and still get some cleaning done. My crafts are usually all over the place (along with my shoes) and I thought I would tackle that task (like that alliteration?).
I was cleaning out my knitting bag, there was lots of yarn and it was all tangled. I wanted nice tidy little balls of wool. After discovering my scissors were gone, again, I decided to break the knotted yarn with the fire starter. You know, to just burn through the yarn? Well it worked fine on 5 tangles, then the black yarn really caught fire. As I attempted to blow the little tiny burning bits out, I had a drop of burning synthetic yarn stick to my finger. I immediately put my finger in my mouth, burned my lip, and now I have a blister on my lip. I am sure by tomorrow it will look like I have the herpes. That is what we called it where I come from, the herpes.

Graduation Moments

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

The letting go...

Last night I beheld my daughter with her battle scars. After a night of traveling softball she came back to me with a fat lip and bruises all over her legs. I did not freak, or get all mushy, I just looked, asked if her nose felt broken and continued eating my ice cream. I was at my son's game all night while she was away at another field with my husband. She seemed mighty proud as she stood before me, daring me to have a fit over her face, and I didn't go there. After all, what mom wouldn't freak just a little?. According to the coach of the pitcher who damaged her, the only way she was going to get on base was by getting hit with the ball. I guess they really wanted her on that base, but they shouldn't have spoken so soon. She was able to bang one back at the pitcher and I am happy for her. Hopefully as she graduates and sings the Star-Spangled Banner this Friday night, she won't look like Quasimodo and ruin her own pictures.

Update: They won the whole championship, she slid into almost every baseman for the rest of the season. Crazy...
BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.


AND, my husband had to shave his beard and mustache, the other coaches had to shave their heads... Unbelievable, I think he should have shaved his legs instead, I like the beard and mustache...

What a weekend!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Photos courtey of Warren Ogden, Jack Mazzeo Studio's, Dave Buckley, Rus ____ and myself.

Well, it is not over yet, I am still working my way through our theatre opening weekend, but it has been a lot of hard work and a blast to boot. Friday afternoon, I arrived to find our sign in place and a torrential downpour that flooded the municipal parking lot. Since we had an overflow tent in our parking lot, I was worried about our soft opening. Luckily, everything came together, area carpets were loaned so we could protect the new carpets and keep everyone from slipping in the bathrooms. SO much donated food arrived, the staging area was like a cruise ship banquet hall. I could not believe how generous the local restaurants and pastry chefs were. Volunteers we didn't even know we had showed up and kept the cocktail party beautiful, elegant and well staffed. We didn't even run out of wine or those amazing cheeses. I have never spent $65 on cheese before,(I split it with a friend, so we had $125.00 worth) but it was amazing, and I still have a bit left for a wine and cheese party at my home.
Saturday dawned cloudy and became a beautiful sunny day as soon as we cut the ribbon. The local media showed after all the performances on the stage were through, but I think they still had decent footage. Dj was great, as were the groups performing inside. The venders had a good time and the food was delicious. There were griddle hot dogs on wonderful buns, glad I had one, it was split open open down the middle and fried flat on the griddle, then it was enceased in a nice chewy roll. YUM! Well, we have our big premeire tonight, wish us luck!
BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Organically Grown

I made a little discovery yesterday, the market that I had been shopping in for fifteen years had a wide organic meat selection. It was in a freezer next to the fresh meats and I had never bothered to look at the sign. They had rabbit, beef tongue, various steaks, and sausages all made out of grass-fed animals. The prices were dear, but it was nice to know that the people with the financial wherewithal have choices among their cuts of beef. I should not have been surprised, this market features the most amazing cheeses and varieties of produce and pasta. They also carry fresh breads from bakeries in Philly and butcher their own cuts of meat in the back. Bagliani's offers wholesale produce out of the back, and very good prices on produce for the retail customer. I went in there yesterday to get their fried chicken and home-made macaroni salad. They fry their chickens in a pressure cooker, which gives it a nice crunchy skin. I will try their organic meats next week, I didn't get anything yesterday because I did not have any recipes for rabbit on me, and I was in a bit of a hurry. I will take the kids with me and we will choose something. I am normally not a fan of frozen meats, so I think I will be getting some of the more exotic cuts.
The funniest thing was me standing in front of the lettuces and spinach and realizing that I did not have to purchase anything because my garden is really enjoying our rainy early summer weather. At least one row of my lettuces will have to be picked and reseeded this week.

Exam Avoidance

I thought I had seen it all. It is exam time and kids are faking sick, converging on the nurse's office en masse and conveniently "losing" their study guides. I was wrong, today I was treated to the sight of kids stuffing each other into lockers. There was no bullying involved, the "victims" asked for this treatment, they wanted to stay in a one foot by 4 foot space instead of writing an essay. When they were handed scantron sheets during social studies, they blanked out. One teacher reported that the students asked what to write on the subject line and said " And people wonder why I am retiring?" Our exam team of at-risk students were no better the students just circled any answer, thinking they were going to get away with it. They wouldn't even fill out their study guides appropriately unless we were policing them. One student wrote for the Social Studies term Lexington, that it was a small town in the middle of nowhere and the town of Concord was a small town in the middle of nowhere, next to Lexington. I really don't think that information will help him pass his exam.

Linear Perspective

Last night, as we were re-hanging (Don't ask) the borders and legs for the stage, we were treated to a little lesson on upstage and downstage. I knew where they were, but not the reasons why, specifically. Dwight told us about linear perspective, the Italians, raked stages and roman acting platforms. Upstage was where the stage was highest, in the back, since the audience was normally sitting on a flat surface. The audience could still see the actors that were furthest away from them. There is always a reason for the vernacular we use, we don't even think about it most of the time. As we set up theatre games for our younger theatre camp members I think we will incorporate some of the rich history that lies behind all the theatre terms. Thanks for the lesson Dwight!

Grand Opening!

Eagle Theatre Grand Re-Opening Set for Saturday and Sunday.
Hammonton's historic Eagle Theater, located at Second and Vine, will be holding its grand re-opening on Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7. The 200 seat theatre has been completely refurbished and is almost ready for the big event.

The schedule of events for the big weekend is as follows:

Saturday: Saturday begins with an open house from Noon to 4 PM with free refreshments and tours. At noon, there will be a presentation by Dance Magic. At 1 PM, Mayor John DiDonato will cut the ribbon during the dedication ceremony as well as the reading of a special proclamation. At 1:30 the Hammonton High School Choir will perform. This will be followed at 2 PM by a Shakespearean Monologue by Carl Howell. At 2:30 PM will be a presentation by the Paul Morris DanceXplosion.

Saturday evening will be the inaugural performance on the new Eagle Theatre stage. The program is "Broadway by Request" and features The Shaken Not Stirred Players. Curtain rises at 8 PM. Tickets are $25 and may be reserved by calling 609-561-1199. Tickets are going fast according to the members of the Friends of the Eagle Theatre.

Sunday: For the first time in many, many years, a special feature film matinee will be held. The movie is "Back to the Future". Tickets are $5 and can also be reserved by calling 609-561-1199. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

For more information, visit the theatre's website at TheEagleTheatre.com .

What is with the Chair?

I went for an important job interview yesterday and when I sat down, the chair tipped back. Every time I leaned back, just a little, the chair almost tipped over. I felt like I was being punked by Aston Kutcher. It was a rocking-type office chair that seemed like the back had lost its ability to stay upright. I could not relax and my concentration was severely affected. I even had to ask them to repeat a question.


I do not know if they do this just to see how the applicants respond. I won't mention the school, since it is local and I am TRYING to get a job there, but I thought that since they KNEW that the chair tipped back and told me not to lean back after my first tipping incident, it would have been nice to have been offered a different chair. Since there are many more applicants they need to see, I hope they have a heart and change out the chair. I hope I don't see myself on youtube.

Ah, the smells...

Today I was driving past the railroad and the smell of tar and resin drifted into my car. There were men working on the tracks and the scent was fresh and sharp. I was immediately transported back to the 6th grade when I used to walk home on the railroad tracks with my friends. We would go to a wonderful soda shop right across the street from our middle school. It was called the Campus, and we would buy SOME candy there. We would buy the rest of our candy at a little store in the neighborhood that we called Fishies. They sold those little gummy fish individually, you know, as in penny candy? I have no idea what the name of the store was, it was just Fishies to us.

We would take our candy and Yoo-Hoo's and walk along the tracks. There was a special spot we had to hang out, it was a manhole in the middle of a stream under the tracks. There were four of us on that manhole at least once a week, and we couldn't even face each other because there wasn't room. We stepped gingerly from rock to rock until all four of us were safely seated, our bookbags were left on the shore. Thank goodness we were skinny or we would have pushed each other into the water every time we shifted position. We shared our deepest secrets on that manhole, and lots of candy. Our backs to each other, we would talk as long as we could.

Sometimes we would get tar on our shoes and pick it off while we sat there, rolling the little balls of black into tiny voodoo dolls of the teachers we disliked or the kids that thought they were so tough. We could hear other students walking the tracks above us, but no one ever noticed us right below them. Luckily for us, we were shielded by a huge Mulberry tree during the warmer months, during the winter, it was a bit cold to sit on a metal manhole. The kids that rode their bikes on the dirt trails that ran along the tracks were the ones that we were afraid of discovering our secret place. They were the noisy boys that teased girls and played "Keep Away" with the bookbags.

Thinking about this time in my life made me realize how precious a few stolen moments with one's girlfriends can be. I have no idea why there was a manhole sitting in the middle of a stream. Where could it lead? Someday I will go back there and see if the actual place fits the picture in my mind. Or maybe I won't and just let the memory be.