April 29

I'm grateful we finally laid Tornado (the dumpy tree frog) to rest today. My freezer had been serving as a makeshift cryonic chamber for the past (ahem) 14 months. It's amazing the stuff I'm finally finding the time to do!

April 28

Believe it or not, most of the lower seats in that photo were actually full by the time the curtain went up (the photo is of Dawn, looking just a wee bit nervous before the show).

After last night's dress rehearsal, I was considering running away and not showing up for the performance. To put it mildly, we stunk. But tonight, everything clicked. Sure, there were nerves and minor glitches in places, but we adjusted and rolled with it. We had fun and we gave the audience a great show.

I'm grateful for the entire staff, actors and stage crew and costumes and lighting and musicians and sound and ushers and audience and everyone, for making this a wonderful Almost Broadway show. But I'm especially grateful to Sherrie, who went to church this afternoon and prayed with Pastor Dave. I do believe those prayers were heard!

April 27

Tonight was the last dress rehearsal for Almost Broadway. The theatre looks considerably different from the stage! I'm grateful that all of the children survived the long hours (we didn't get out of there until nearly 10:30 p.m.) and were quite well-behaved given that a good chunk of the rehearsal occurred after their regular bedtimes.

I'm hoping we don't run into as many hiccups at the actual performance Friday night as we did tonight. But that's what dress rehearsals are for, right?

April 26

WooHOO!! I'm grateful tonight that I finally earned my keyring at Weight Watchers. This cute little metal symbol signifies that I lost 10 percent of my starting weight. The great thing is that it's well made and really works as a keyring instead of falling apart and dumping all of your keys somewhere. Nice!

April 25

I'm grateful that tonight was the very last 2006 Almost Broadway Steering Committee meeting I'll ever have to go to again for the rest of my life.

No really, although it was the very last meeting, I'm actually grateful for the the hard work and dedication of all the wonderful folks on the committee. And I'm beyond excited that, on Friday evening, everything will finally come together.

April 24

This week is gonna kill me.

I'm grateful tonight that there was something sweet in the freezer when I finally got home after Almost Broadway rehearsals. Unfortunately it wasn't chocolate and had no fat and tasted like mango, but at least it was sweet.

April 23

I'm grateful for the wonderful costuming talent of Leecia. This afternoon was Almost Broadway's first dress rehearsal and the costumes are terrific!