Boo.....

I really hate those people you meet in your life that think they know how to do everything better than you.  Those people who are on a high horse all the time, like they have something to prove or need to verify that theirs is the best.   I don't claim to be an expert on anything, but I do know my job and what I've been trained to do.  I just expect some professional respect.  You do your job and I'll do mine and let's not criticize each other about the way we do our respective jobs.  I just hate it when people try to tell me how to do my job, when I'm the one who was trained specifically to do my job and they were not.  Grrrr.

  

So just another interesting story that happened in Salem......

So you learn something new everyday.  On Tuesday of last week, Nicole and I learned a very valuable lesson.  So the space we were in in Salem, IL was an old converted theater.  It used to be an old movie theater and now it is a stage theater.  So on every single armrest is a cup holder shaped like a giant donut.  Instead of the newer ones that have an X thru the middle to prevent  your cup from falling this one simply had a smaller circle.  Needless to say it would hold a regular soda cup but not a Dixie.  Anyway, we had all of our kids seated in the chairs before rehearsal waiting for a few stragglers to come in when Joseph, one of our Nasties, he was 8, gets my attention.  I go over and he is near tears in a state of panic.  I ask what's wrong and he says his arm is stuck.  I then notice that he has stuck his arm THROUGH the cup holder up to his bicep and is now stuck.  I asked what happened and he said, in just a slightly twangy southern accent, "I was trying to show off and I got my arm stuck." I try to calm him down because now he has convinced himself that he will be stuck forever.  Joseph is 8 but not a petite 8 year old and in his panic to get free he is sweaty and his arm is starting to swell.  Thank heaven I put ice in my Nalgene that morning.  Nicole grabs my water bottle and I proceed to pour ice water onto his arm and into the cup holder.  At this point our contact Lisa is now calming him down and I'm trying to wiggle his arm free.  So long story short we get Joseph free and big cheers from everyone.  He was fine and only had a slight indentation on his bicep from the cup holder.  So lesson learned:  To remove a sweaty child's plump arm from a cup holder apply ice water and breathing techniques.  

P.S. The very next morning we arrive and Joseph proceeds to have a seat and immediately place both hands into the cup holders.  I go over to him and ask him if he remembers the lesson we learned yesterday about cup holders.  He replies again in a slightly twangy southern accent, "Yes, Ma'am, " and places both of his hands neatly in his lap.  

Sorry.....

For those of you who are diligently following my blog, my apologies.  Internet is hard to find on the road.  I'd go to a coffee shop that has free wi-fi, but most of the towns that we've been in don't even have coffee shops!!  I'm having an amazing time.  Last week we were in Salem Illinois and I have never been so hot in my life! ICK!!  We were in a really cool renovated old movie theater, but the air conditioning decided to stop working and it was at least 85 to 90 degrees the entire time we were there.  It was disgusting.  You literally just raise your arms above your head and you're soaked.  Dripping.  It was hardly worth taking a shower in the morning.  Ish.  I felt really bad for the kids on show day.  They finally got the air conditioning working before the first show, but then between the first and second shows something happened and it ended up being sweltering backstage for the kids.  They were exhausted, sweaty and encased from head to toe in polyester fabric.  I felt awful for them.  By the time the show was over they couldn't be happier that it was time to change.  We stayed with the most amazing couple.  Beve and Don.  They went out of their way to make sure that we had everything and I mean eerything was just how we needed it to be.  Beve cooked for us and Don grilled and they even took us out to breakfast on the day we were leaving.  Super sweet and it really felt like we were at home there.  It was really nice.  They also had a small lake just out their back door that we got to float on whenever we wanted to.  It amazes me that in the towns we go to there are people just waiting to open their doors to us.  It's crazy.  We are complete strangers to them and yet they open their homes and theaters to us with open arms.  I can't believe it.