Fun In the OLT Light Booth And Other Stories Of Gracie's Weekend

Friday night, Natalie and Michael weren't gonna be at the theatre because of a thingy going on at their church. I was a terrified of being in the light booth all by myself because I didn't think I could do things right. And I thought I'd ruin the show and make everybody mad at me because I messed up. So, I got my friend Amanda to come help me up there. We had a good time. I think she really enjoyed the show. Soon, I came to realize that maybe...just maybe....I didn't really need help. Maybe I COULD do it all by myself. So, I told Amanda to just let me try. And what do you know? I did it! I really really did it!! Except for one time in Act 2 when, instead of a blue spot light to make it look like night-time, I accidentally put a green one... But I still wasn't nearly as nervous about messing up on Saturday night because Mikie and Natalie would be gone again.



Saturday, I woke up and did some chores...which weren't too fun. Then I went and ate lunch at Natalie LaCombe's house. I hadn't seen her in awhile. That poor girl is always either at work, or at Cosmetology School. I miss her! So, that was fun. Then she had to leave to go to work at the Dollar General...



So, I came home and I decided to write the story that I've had in my head for awhile. I spent the entire afternoon writing my story. It's been in my imagination for a few weeks and I like it alot and I didn't want to forget it. So, I'm writing it down.



Then Natalie Sibille's dad, Mr. Kent called. He and Mrs. Tara were gonna be at the theatre helping with concessions, even though their kids wouldn't be there. So, since Natalie and Mikie usually pick me up and give me a ride to the theatre, they offered to pick me up. I knew that Mom would greatly appreciate not having to get out to bring me there, so I said, "Sure!"



About 30 minutes later, Mr. Kent called again. This time he was asking if I wanted to go spend the night over there. Well, of course I did! I asked Mom, and she said that it was fine. Then I told Mr. Kent to keep it a secret and not tell Natalie or Mikie. They had both been gone all day at a very boring thing at their church. They had to go early in the morning and were gonna be until quite late at night. So, it would be a wonderful surprise for Natalie to see me, because she was miserable, listening to people talk to her all day. She needed fun!



So, finally it was time to go to the theatre. I went backstage to socialize with the backstage people and the actors until it was time for the show. Casey told us a hilarious story about some people scaring him with a ginormous water beetle thing inside a movie case..... Me and Jay were just laughing and laughing. We had a good time...



Then it was time for the show! I went up in the light booth, flashed the lights, and then dimmed them. The curtain opened, the lights came up, and Duncan started talking. The show was starting off flawlessly! I knew I could do this!



A little while later, I heard a strange scratching noise over to my right...I wasn't really sure what it was, but I happened to glance over to that corner and what did I see? A HUGE rat!!!!!!



No, I'm not afraid of rats, I just think they're germy and dirty and gross. So, I didn't really want him to come by me. Plus, I just really didn't know what to do if the rat started crawling all over the floor in the light booth....or chewing on wires or something.... So I went over by the ladder and told Mrs. Sonja. She said, "What, honey?"



I whispered, "There's a rat in the light booth!!"



A few minutes later, up comes Mr. Jeff with a broom. I'm not sure exactly what he planned to do with it, but nevertheless...he had a broom. Then, all during the show, me and Mr. Jeff are up there hunting for a rat. Finally we figured out that it must have gone in a hole in the wall, so we should plug up that hole and maybe the rat wouldn't come back for now.



So, we filled up the hole with paper bags and plastic Wal-Mart bags. And the show went on without any other strange events...



During intermission, I went backstage and said, "I had a friend up there in the light booth!"



Casey said, "Oh. Really?"



I said, "Yep! A rat! A big one!"



Casey and Jay started laughing at me! Then one of them...I don't remember whether it was Jay or Casey, but they said, "So, did you name him Templeton?"



I hadn't...but that was his name after that...



Act 2 went great. I did everything, without any problems! I even put a blue spot light for the night-time scene! Then near the end of the show, Mikie and Natalie got to the theatre! They got out of their church thing earlier than expected!!

So, after the show, me and Mrs. Tara started getting creative. Since Mrs. Tara's dad was there, Mrs. Tara had to leave pretty quick to get him home, so we told Natalie that my mom said she wanted me home as soon as the show was over, so I had to go with Mrs. Tara.

Natalie wasn't buying that.

She said, "Well why don't I just come with ya'll?"

So we told her that we didn't have enough time for her to get her stuff. So, I hugged her and told her to call me when she got home and we'd talk then. I knew that Natalie had had a long, boring day, and that this was just making it worse, but I also knew that she'd be so happy that I was at her house that she wouldn't even care about this.

So, when we got to the Sibille's house, me and Mrs. Tara talked for a little while. Then we heard them get home. So, I went in Natalie's room, shut the door, turned off the light, and stretched out on her bed.

When she opened the door, she had the most overwhelmed expression on her face.

Then she sort of collapsed on me, "I love you..." she muttered.

The rest of the night we had a fabulous time. We watched "Little Women: The Musical" and we talked and talked late into the night in her bed...It was wonderful.

In the morning, we went to church. Then we ate lunch at her grandparents house. They made some sort of enchilada something casserole, which sounded really yummy to me. But then when I tasted it, I didn't think it was so great...

When we arrived at the theatre. I discoverated Jay and Duncan up in the light booth crawling around doing something....I'm not very sure what. But I think maybe they were checking the rat traps that Mr. Jeff had set the night before, after we met Templeton.

Duncan turned around when he saw me. He said, "That was a big rat!" and he motioned with his hands how long it was, "and that's not even including the tail!"

And Jay said, "I respect you, now. That was a big rat. You were very brave." or something like that.

So, apparently, they had caught Templeton in one of the rat traps. Mrs. Angie was pretty impressed, too. She said that it was a good thing it was me up there and not her because she would have screamed!

We went backstage before the show, like we usually do. Jay let me play the funnest game ever on his phone! It's a maze with a ball and you actually tilt the phone and the ball rolls in the direction that you tilt it. It's quite frustrating. But, I enjoyed it and I plan to play it some more on Thursday when we go.

The show went great....Natalie LaCombe was there. I do believe she enjoyed it!

After the show, me, Natalie L., and Megan went to Sonic and got drinks, then for some reason, Natalie and Megan wanted to go to Stage. Since I never say "no" to shopping, we went! We had a pretty fun time. They had a couple of cute dresses.

Then we decided to to home. On the way, we passed in front of Quizno's, which is where Ashley Brown works. We saw her car in the parking lot, so we stopped there to say hello to Ashley. And I got this AMAZING double chocolate chip cookie! It was so so SO delicious!

And finally, we came home.

And that was my weekend! :-)

Getting Through The Weekdays....

Tuesday ended up being a pretty normal day for me. I brought my American Girl Doll, Kirsten, with me to Zoe's. She was simply thrilled by that. She loves her very much. Now, Mrs. Lydia is thanking me for getting her daughter interested in those expensive dolls!

Tuesday afternoon was just normal. I didn't go to my voice lesson because the rest of my family was going to the Belfour's house for supper, so I wasn't gonna have a ride. I had another dress rehearsal for the play. This time it was my turn to do the lights and sound all by myself. I was nervous! I wasn't doing my normal thing! Fortunately, I had a script to tell me when to do stuff, so my plan was just to get ready way ahead of time for each thing. Unfortunately, Mikie, hadn't written hardly any of the cues in there!!! If he hadn't been up there, I would have missed alot of things! As it was, I was already barely making it in time for each of those cues...

So, my Act 2 in the light booth was almost as stressful as my Act 2 backstage!!

Wednesday morning, much to Zoe's happiness, I brought Kirsten again. We played with her and dressed her. And we had a pretty normal Wenesday. Wednesday afternoon, we went to tutor at the Hill House. I helped Tavian add and subtract fractions...fun!

Then, we had Youth Group. Rachel Vander Molen came again this week! (She came last week, too) That was fun. We played a game sort of like dodge ball, but a little different. When you get hit, you squat, instead of being out of the game. Then, if the person who hit you gets hit, you get to stand up. It was fun! Especially when it started raining! We all just stayed out there getting wet! It was wonderful!

This morning, I babysat the Boagni's. That was pretty enjoyable. Mary-Charlotte is two now and getting so big and she's talking so much! But she's adorable. This afternoon, Natalie Sibille's coming over for awhile and we're gonna watch "Little Women: The Musical". Then tonight, is opening night for "The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged". I hope it goes well!! We'll see....

Double Pirouettes and Dress Rehearsals

I had a very adventurous Monday...

I woke up only be informed that Sophie, our cat, was having kittens. So, we all were in the living room where Mom had set up a little bed for her seeing the brand new baby kittens. There are 3 little kittens. One is white with a gray head, one is a little mini Sophie (a gray striped tabby cat), and the other one is black, I think. They're very teeny tiny! Sophie is being a good mommy. She's really tense and alert. At any little noise, she sits up, pricks up her ears and looks all around. Lottie, our puppy, would really like to meet them, but unless she wants to lose a nose or something, she better stay away. Lottie is like a scary monster to Sophie and her kittens and there's no way Sophie will tolerate Lottie for very long...

Grandma-Mona came over to meet the new additions, too. She stayed for a very long time too! Until almost lunch time! But, in that time, we all had some good conversations. AND we convinced her to come to New York City next month with us!! She and I are gonna be roomates! Woo hoo! She said she hopes I don't snore. I said she should be glad her and Lydia aren't gonna be roomates!

When Grandma-Mona left, we ate lunch. Then we got ready for dancing....then we went to dancing. It was a good day for me in ballet and jazz! Ballet, was just great because I felt like I was getting all the combinations right and really feeling pretty and graceful when I was doing them! In jazz, we were doing some combinations with pirouettes in them. Mrs. Shayna told us that if we were already good at pirouettes, that we could try a double pirouette and that it might fit in with the music better anyway. So, I decided to try. And guess what!?!? I did it!!! I was unbelievably excited!! I got it finally! I'd been trying to do a double pirouette for the longest time! Sometimes I could get around twice, but not well and usually it was just 1 1/2 or 1 3/4...but not yesterday!! Yesterday, I did it a bunch of times, and they felt good and right! I am still very proud of myself for that accomplishment!

From dancing, we headed to the theatre for our dress rehearsal. The way me and Mikie planned to do it was this: Mikie would do ALL the lights and sound for one dress rehearsal and I'd do ALL the lights and sound for the other one. Well, last night was Mikie's night...so I was pretty bored. Ashley Brown didn't make it to rehearsal...we don't know why, but anyway, she wasn't there. So, they were short one person backstage. Since, I wasn't doing the lights, last night, I offered to take Ashley's place backstage. Well, let me tell you, backstage is not easy in this show! Those guys are always running offstage grabbing props, costumes, and in Jay's case, wigs (he plays almost all of the girl characters). Ashley usually is Jay's costume and prop person, so I had my work cut out for me....and on top of all that, I had NO idea what I was doing! It was pretty overwhelming! But, it was funny. One, time Jay ended up with his skirt around his neck....They told me that I actually was helpful...a little...I had fun though!

After practice, I showed Natalie, Mikie, Megan, and Duncan my double pirouettes and they were adequately impressed. When I got home, I tried to show my mom my double pirouette, but it didn't work!! I was so thoroughly angry with myself....I tried and tried, finally I got it, but not as amazing as it felt earlier...

Well, okay...that's my Monday for you!!

Fun Weekend

My weekend was pretty fun! Friday, Natalie S. and I both took a half day of school and she picked me up right before lunch. Then we went to her grandparents house and ate Quiznos (yum!). We had a nice afternoon, just hanging around, doing nothing very special. A little later Ashley Brown and Megan Christie came and met us because we were going to go to Books A Million since "Twilight" was coming out on DVD at midnight! They were having some sort of party thing. So, we all dressed up as our favorite characters. Natalie dressed as Bella, of course, and naturally, I was Alice. Megan was Victoria...(I'll say more about that in a minute...) and Ashley used Natalie's "Elle Woods" wig to be Rosalie. We all ended up looking alot like our characters. I don't have any pictures of us from that night, but I know that the other girls do, so I'll put some up when I can.

Anyway, now I gotta tell ya'll about Megan's costume! In the picture below, Victoria is the girl all the way to the right. You see that fuzzy white thing? Well, Megan actually wore something like that! It was pretty funny and awesome! But, she used a rug! Yes, a white fake fur rug from Wal-Mart. People definetely gave her some funny looks, but that's ok, cause she looked an awful lot like her character. We all laughed, though, even Megan!


Then, on Saturday, I was brought to Krotz Springs at 12:45 to meet up with Jennifer's dad. We were surprising her for her birthday! Actually, her birthday was in December, but so are most of her kids and husband and Christmas, and then New Years Day...so Jennifer never got to celebrate her birthday! So her sister planned a party for her. I was to be the babysitter for 10 kids, although 2 of the 10 kids were a help. So, me, Claire, and Laura Rose took care of Ethan, Blythe, Owen, Evelyn, Jesse, Macy, Drew, and Lily. It was a fun night! We had our own little party over there! The kids were all so sweet and cute and hardly gave us any trouble at all. They all went to sleep pretty well. I'm very proud of Ethan and Blythe. Neither of them had their blankies, but they both went to sleep! (after I sang to them....Owen was so cute while I was singing to him!) The only one that wouldn't go to sleep was Macy, but we didn't mind because she didn't bother us at all. She sat and ate a late night snack of mint-chocolate chip ice cream and laughed and talked with us!

The adults got back at around 11:30, I think....I'm actually not sure, but it was quite late! Apparently, the party was a huge success and lots of fun! Jennifer had been thoroughly surprised! I think she had a really special night!

Sunday was a pretty normal day. We went to church and then came home. I spent the afternoon watching "Titanic" (which is my favorite movie right now). Then me and Mom went to Wal-Mart and got wireless internet for my laptop, which I am taking advantage of right now! At the exact time that we returned from Wally World, Nony arrived at our house. We had barbecued chicken and sausage and potato salad and snap beans for supper! We hadn't had barbecue in awhile since Dad has been having some troubles with his back. It was SO good! And we all watched "Twilight" together. Mom hadn't seen it yet, but she has read all the books. I think she really liked it. I enjoyed watching it with Nony. She had seen it before, so we were whispering to each other the whole time about stuff going on! It was very fun!

This morning, we haven't done any school at all, yet. My mother is being a mid-wife for our cat. Sophie is having kittens right now, as I speak. And I am told that if I go and see kittens being born that I get to skip science for today.....I don't like science, so I believe that I'm gonna take advantage of this opportunity. Last I heard there was 2 white ones! :-)

Enjoying Simple Things

We have had a good week in the Feucht household. Well actually, two good weeks in a row! The week before last, there were some mission teams in Opelousas from colleges in Iowa and Tennessee! It was really fun! They painted the Hill House where we go tutor on Wednesdays a bright sunshiney yellow! It's really awesome! You can see it from Main Street. Plus I made some new friends. I met Kelsey, Molly, Chelsea, Samantha, Maggie, Sarah, and Samantha just to name a few. And also, Mirae that had come last summer was here again too! Me and Natalie LaCombe spent a whole afternoon with them. We played games with some of the kids from the Hill. And when they went home, it wasn't quite time for Youth Group, yet, so we hung out at the Hope House (which is across the street from church) for about 45 minutes, just talking to some of the girls. It was really fun! And really cool to meet all these college people who are so obviously living for Christ!

This week started off with me and Hannah Sonbuchner attending little Mary-Charlotte Boagni's birthday party. It was pretty adorable. It was her second birthday and the decorations were all pink and green and flowers and bunnies! So sweet!

Monday, I had dancing, which was marvelous as usual. I particularly enjoyed ballet this week. I usually have one class that stands out each week as being better than the other one. This week, it was ballet. I was just getting all the combinations right, and I felt pretty dancing! :-) After dancing, we had practice for "The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged". I am the "Light Fairy" (or some boring people like to say that I am doing the lights for the show...oh and the sounds some nights). It's a hilarious play. Casey Harmon, Duncan McBride, and Jay Mantell (I definetely don't know if that's how you spell Jay's name, but I hope it's right!). They are so funny. I haven't gotten tired of the show yet at all! Usually just watching the show, I get tired of it, but they just always make me laugh!

Tuesday, something wonderful happened! Nony came down from New York for a visit!!!! When she got home, I showed her a chocolate cheesecake recipe that I found in the Kraft Food and Family magazine. Then we decided to walk to Super 1 Foods and get the ingredients that were neccessary to make this delicious dessert. So we did!

And that is what it looks like! (Only we definetely left the blueberries off!) It was quite yummy, I will have you know! Tuesday, I had play practice again. Oh! And it was St. Patrick's Day. I totally didn't wear green and I only got pinched 3 little times: Mom, Lydia, and Natalie Sibille!

Wednesday, was probably my favorite day this week. Alot of marvelacious things happened. We got to see Nony again, which is always a good thing, cause we love her! Then, we went to tutor at the Hill House. When we came back from the Hill House, Mom and Dad had a "surprise" for me. Honestly, I knew all about it. Well first of all I'll tell you what the surprise was, then I can explain much easier. So, here it is, in all it's glory: my new LAPTOP!!!

It's yellow!! Okay, so here's the story: I decided awhile back that I wanted to get a laptop. I thought it would come in quite handy for college and everything next year. I also thought that it would be extremely convenient for me... :-) So, I started searching for a good deal. When I finally found one, I was totally ready to buy it. So, mom said I could. I have plenty of money in savings. So we ordered it!! I was surprised at how readily Mom agreed to buying something so expensive, that's when I got suspicious. Then when Mom wouldn't let me open the laptop when it arrived, I KNEW something was up. Later on in the afternoon Mom and Dad gave it to me! It was wonderful! I really like it!

Yesterday (Thursday) was a nice day, too. It was pretty boring at first, but then Natalie LaCombe got home and we decided that we should get ready together. We were going to see Natalie Sibille and Mikie in their school play, "Big River". It's the story of Huck Finn. They both did a fabulous job! They play was pretty cute, too. Then afterwards we went to eat at Casa Ole'. It was really fun!

This week, Lydia also got a pet bunny. She named him Jo-Jo. He’s cute and soft and fuzzy! I think she’s really liking him!

Today was a good day also. Me and Natalie S. both took a half day of school. Now, we're at her house just hanging out, being friends....talking about silly things...very silly...just enjoying our lives! :-)

Life is good...

My life has been quite enjoyable. Mostly normal things going on. I've got dancing on Mondays, babysitting Zoe and Voice lessons on Tuesdays, babysitting Zoe, tutoring at the Hill House, and Youth Group on Wednesdays, play practice Monday-Wednesday nights, and lots of time in between spent with my dear friend, Natalie Sibille! So, like I said, life has been very nice lately! We had some beautiful weather today! I went and did my schoolwork up on the roof. The temperature was perfect and there was a nice gentle breeze occasionally! Ahhhhh... :-)

Here are some pictures of Gracie's life recently:

"Try on you glasses?"

"Now, you wear dem, Gwacie"
Lottie, our new puppy!

We were princesses!


I'm obsessed with this outfit! Me and my friend, Amanda, went shopping and I had to try on that full length dress! I love it!! I want it!! Now, I just have to convince my mom that I really need it.....

Oh dear...

Well...it seems that I've done a super super awful job with my blog lately. I bet anybody who ever read it has given up on me by now...Well...I'm back people! So, here's what's been going on lately!

Well, in February, we celebrated Dad, Lydia, Natalie LaCombe, and Uncle Stonnie's birthdays. Natalie's came first, so I'll tell all about that one first. Natalie's birthday is actually January 8 and she'd been planning to have a party, but she works so much that she just wasn't getting a chance to plan it. One night Natalie Sibille and I were talking on the phone (like we do nearly every night...), but we weren't really having anything interesting to talk about. Natalie S. said that it was because we didn't have anything in the near future to look forward to or talk about or plan. So, I said, "Let's plan a surprise party for Natalie!"

We decided to just invite everybody that Natalie LaCombe knew (well maybe not everybody, but alot of people) to meet at some restaurant and have a party for her. We didn't know when the next time Natalie would have a Friday or Saturday that she wasn't working, so we could have the party. We waited only one week to find out that Natalie would have Friday, February 13 off! Well, the restaurant ended up being Chili's. We invited people from the theatre, church, family, friends, her cosmetology school, and OHS (her highschool). Of course, not everybody that was invited came, but we still had a pretty big group! We told her that just me, Natalie S. and her were going to go out to eat, just the 3 of us. And we did tell her that it was for her birthday. She didn't suspect a single thing!!

When we got to Chili's Natalie L. told me to get down and see if there were any tables. (We told her that since it was the day before Valentine's Day there might be a long wait). It was so perfect that she told me to do that because I could go in and see if the other people waiting for us had been seated yet. Well....they hadn't. So I went out and told Natalie and Natalie that there weren't enought tables for us, so we had to wait 15 or 20 minutes before going in. A little while later, I went in again. Mom said to wait about a minute or two, and then come in. So I went back out to the car and we waited a minute or two, then went in. On the way in, though, I could see all our people through the window, so I was pointing to the sky in the opposite, I was saying things like, "Wow...those clouds look really pretty. Look at that star....Oh, there is no way that's a star. It's way to big. It must be a planet. I wonder if it's Venus because if it was Mars it would look redish...."

When we went in, right as we went around the corner where the table was, I covered Natalie's eyes. When I uncovered them, I think she was kinda shocked and had a little minute of taking it all in! Then she turned around and looked at me and Natalie S. (of course we were both bursting with smiles of pride that we actually pulled off the surprise). She said, very bluntly, "I'm gonna beat ya'll."

It was a very fun night. We had a really awesome cake that Natalie Sibille made for her. That was another surprise! Then after we ate, we had another surprise for her. We found out that there was one theatre in Lafayette that was still playing the movie "Twilight". (Actually Natalie LaCombe was the one that informed me of this). So, since Natalie L. was the only one that could drive us there, we told her that she couldn't know where we were going, but we were just gonna tell her where to turn and stuff. Well, it turns out that we got in Lafayette way early, so we stopped at a Starbucks for a little while. I got a chocolatey chocolate frappuchino, which, needless to say, was amazing. Then when we got to the theatre, we blindfolded her. But, when we walked up to the theatre, the fire alarm was going off, so I decided that it would be considerate to unblindfold her. We had to wait awhile and the entire theatre had to be evacuated. Finally they discoverated that some teenagers or somebody had pulled the fire alarm and there was really no need for panic. Then, we finally got to go in and watch the movie. Of course, Natalie LaCombe started falling asleep...it was pretty funny. I kept "accidentally" bumping her arm to wake her up. Then we went to spend the night at the Sibille's house. It was alot of fun!

For Lydia's birthday, she had an American Girl Mystery Party. It was pretty cute. She and her friends had a good time. We all wore costumes. Natalie Sibille came and helped with the party, too. For Dad's birthday we had a cake and I wrapped all the presents in coordinating paper (they looked fabulous, if I do say so myself, the even matched his German Chocolate cake!)


We also celebrated Uncle Stonnie's birthday. It was at my cousin's camp. We went over there and spent the night. It was alot of fun! We spent time with all of my Dad's family because Uncle Stonnie is his brother. We had a great time!

Here are some pictures of the February Birthday Parties:

Natalie's special Twilight cake. It was a white cake, but Natalie Sibille used red food coloring on the inside. Natalie LaCombe LOVED it!

Everybody!

Natalie at the theatre blindfolded and pretending to drink my Chocolatey Chocolate Frappuchino...

Lydia blowing out her 11 candles!

Dad's cake and presents!
Uncle Stonnie (Dad's little brother), Aunt Theresa (Dad's older sister), and Dad.
Nathan fishing out on the docks at our cousin's camp. I thought he looked so adorable with his bare feet and jeans rolled up! Ha ha...

Okay...well that's it for my February. I mean, obviously that's not everything that happened to me, but that's the highlights.

Coming Soon:

March 20- Older sister Nichole/Nony coming home for a visit.

March 26- "Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged" Opens. I'm doing lights and sometimes sound.

April 10- Off school for Easter Break! Nony and Frank come for a visit!!

April 11- My Birthday!

April 17- !!!!!!!!!!!!!LEAVE FOR NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!