"It's the Hard-Knock Life"

Ah, musical comedy. To quote "42nd Street", the two best words in the English language. In LDS lingo, a congregation is called a ward. A stake is comprised of 10-15 wards. In each ward, the women's organization is called the Relief Society, the largest women's organization in the world. Basically, we rock. This past weekend in Hunstville, all the Relief Society members from the stake I belong to got together for a meeting on Sam Houston State University campus. The first part of the meeting we had speakers. There was a break, and then each ward's relief society had been invited to present a musical number/talent during the second part of the meeting. I was put in charge of our ward's entry, and it wouldn't have a Kate touch on it if it wasn't a chorus number from a musical, would it now? I decided on "It's the Hard-Knock Life" from the musical "Annie". Semi-appropriate since we are all students, attending a student/singles ward, and might in a stretch of the term be considered orphans. We had a few rehearsals and were off to Hunstville by 7am Saturday morning. Talk about sacrifice--7am, on a Saturday morning, for a bunch of students?

I did not take part in the number, but began it in the role of Ms. Hannigan. It was lovely. I got to come out in my bathrobe and yell. I'm sorry the pictures are kind of blurry. In the photo above, I have just found the girls awake at 4am and am letting them know my frustrations. From left to right are myself, Stephanie Brown, Rachel Condie, Jenna Crider, Ruth Ashurst, and Nicole Wanlass. My friend in the audience with my camera is cousin's with Stephanie so often, orphan number six, Sarah Murdock, is absent from the shot.

Here's a shot of all six, right before the song starts.

I believe this is somewhere near the end of the song, when my friend in the audience learned how to not make pictures blurry. Also included in this shot, is our fabulous piano player, Rebecca Cooper.

Cheylee even discovered how to take videos with my camera (I really need to pull out the owner's manual) and I am pleased to present a short clip from our number. Watch, enjoy, and then watch your own favorite musical and sing along to every song!

Death of a Sunday Shoe

I have inherited many traits from my dad. He's a great man, and I have no problem looking or acting like him. Of those traits is included my inability to throw things away, and to use items until they are completely unusable. I have clothing from fourth grade I still wear and holes in my socks.

Take for example, the Sunday shoe pictured below.


I have had these shoes forever! I have been trying since Sunday to determine just how long I've had them. I have documented use of them in a photograph from 2003, but I know I had them while I was still in high school because I remember wearing them to dances and to young women's. It is pretty safe to say I've had them at least ten years.

In the past year or so, the top sole has been fighting for its freedom from the bottom. As illustrated in the picture below, the white-ish/yellow-ish stuff along that seam is not filth and build up from years of use. Oh no, it is rubber cement glue! However, my shoes finally gave in.

Last Sunday was a sad day for me. I was getting ready for church, had finished brushing my teeth, had slipped my Sunday shoes onto my feet, came down stairs, gathered my bag and scriptures, got my piece of gum, when I noticed my left shoe seemed squishier than usual. I looked down to discover a large crack running from the top of the heal almost to the base. Doesn't look to bad, you might say?

To give you a bit better perspective of what I saw when I looked down at my beloved shoe, the picture below shows what a slight bit of pressure does. I stood there in total disbelief before I realized I had to come up with something appropriate to wear on my feet for church. Thank goodness for spray-painted black character shoes!!

These shoes have been all over the country with me and it is hard to believe the rubber cement will not be able to fix them this time around. I have concluded two things from my cracked shoe. Either I'm supposed to apply for a job at Grand Canyon, or it's time to buy new Sunday shoes. Anyone up for shopping?

"Big River"

This evening I was able to attend the local community theater's production of the musical "Big River". It was outstanding. I have been to a few of the other shows they have produced, and tonight's performance was far and away my favorite. For those who don't know, it is an adaptation of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The kid who played Huck was superb. He had the facial expressions, the characterization, the singing voice, the energy, and the stage presence to pull off a masterful performance. Huck's character has a tremendous amount of lines, as the show is written with Huck as the narrator throughout. The kid was just outstanding. Jim was also perfectly cast. He had a nice deep bass and played his character quite well. The Duke and King were grand in their own right. I'm usually not a fan of walking through the line at the end of the show, but I did tonight because I had to congratulate the cast. It was so well done. It was a grand two hours of my life. I'll be singing the songs from the show for the next week. I highly encourage you to see "Big River" if you get the chance.

Ring Day

In Aggieland, there is the Aggie Ring. While some of us would find considerable amounts of dust on our high school class rings (I know where mine is, I don't know the last time I wore it) The Aggie Ring is often worn for the rest of the individual's life. Today in Aggieland was Ring Day. It is the day those who have attained enough credits and have paid the (ridiculously expensive) money, pick up their Ring. The Ring is apparently recognizable to Aggies around the world and as one of my brother's friends stated "can open doors". That is open doors to jobs, not breaking them down, although by the size of some of The Rings the men purchase, it would be a handy accessory if indeed a door did need some extra umph opening. Along with Ring Day, there is a Ring Dance for all those who received their Rings. However, the tradition most associated with The Ring, is dunking it. For many, this means purchasing a pitcher of beer, dropping The Ring to the bottom, then chugging until the ring ends up in your teeth, and before your stomach regurgitates in protest. For those of us of the LDS persuasion who don't consume alcohol, there are some other very creative alternatives to beer. There has been V8 Splash, pudding, root beer, ice cream sundaes, and the like. This evening, I was able to participate in The Ring dunking of two of my friends. They opted for sparking cider which had been opened and allowed to go flat. They are pictured below.

On the left is our Relief Society president Ruth, and on the right is our IWA president Heather. They only had one pitcher, thus the large cup. Here is a picture of them with their rings in their teeth.


Congratulations girls on your imminent graduation!

One hour...

...of mixed CDs. Browsing through my eclectic yet selective collection of CDs, I stumbled upon a mix from my high school days, and took a lovely trip down memory lane. Funny, I remember when Vitamin-C's Graduation (Friends Forever) song came out. What really got me was the line "So we talked all night about the rest of our lives, where we're gonna be when we turn 25". That age has come and past and it's cool to see what I've done that I wanted to, where I've gone that I didn't expect to, and who I've become which is different than I dreamed, all in good ways. However, the song that got put on repeat, that gave me joy was Matchbox 20's Back to Good.

The curtain opens...

...away we go, another openin' of another show." (Kiss Me, Kate)
For quite a while, a debate has been raging over blogging or facebooking. As you can see, blogging won out. So, my dear family, friends, and misc. readers, I welcome you to 'One Hour of Life'.