Dusty's Day Out

Dusty and I went girlie shopping today. It was very relaxing, which is always nice. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory. The first picture is of Dusty enjoying the day out with an expensive drink. The other one is of recieving the check. Like I say, we had fun. :)

Everything Is Open!!!

(NOTE: I will be adding photos as soon as my internet stops acting up)
That's right! We've got three (count 'em THREE) shows on the two stages here at ASF. And man, was it a push to get them out there.
Bird Sanctuary
Good: Haliey Mills!!! And a wonderful play about an excentric Irish artist. Beautiful painting and scrim work...
Stress: Floor... two times the texture.
Treasure Island
Good: Arg! Pirates, me maties, they're more fun than a barrel of land lubbers. Glaizing piles of planks was surprisingly fun...
Stress: Having to redo the paint on the whole set... twice!! (are you seeing a pattern?)
Pure Confidence
Good: Good story about freedom. More woodgraining (we're experts at it now). Painting floor cracks has become very zen-like for an expert. Fairly easy paint show overall...
Stress: or so it seemed... until we had to redo all the fencing.

Out With The Girls

A couple of the girls I work with graciously agreed to go dress shopping (read: looking) with me today. It was a lot of fun, and I found a few dresses. To view them and give a vote go to my photobucket account by clicking this link... leave the vote here on this blog, though. You can view the dresses at the link. As you can see in the picture, Erin and Emily took pleasure in the shopping part by trying on a few clothes for themselves.

Me at 63

I had to share this with you. It's a drawing Erin did real quick while we were waiting for our food at Macaroni Grill after a long day of dress hunting. I thought it was really cute, and probably really accurate.

Order of Osiris

Okay, so I am a little worried. I'm covered in paint most every day and now I've got this invitation to a ball... a real ball. The Order of Osiris, which is the prim and proper of Georgia high society (as I understand, and could totally be wrong) are having a ball around Mardi Gras, and I'm going. It's a black tie affair... tails only. I'm worried because I don't have a dress yet... I know, typical me. I've been trying to find my wonderful Navy dress that my dad got me for prom that I absolutely love and like the idea of having another reason to wear it. But I can't find it, so I've started scouring the stores for something. Here are the requirements:
Costume De Riguer
No Colored Accessories
Floor Length Formal
Not too many, but worrisome for someone who wears their grandfather and father's shirts with paint covered holey jeans to work every day.
I've found one, and it's absolutely beautiful...
but it's a wedding dress. I was hoping it was a party dress, but it's got a train and everything.
I'm going out with a few of the girls I've met here to find something that might work. Wish me luck, as this is what worries me most of my free time... aka, when I'm not worried about work stuff.

I'm fine, and you?

The chins are soo happy to be home. Other than that, not much to report. Bird Sanctuary is previewing right now, and we're finishing up stuff on Treasure Island and Pure Confidence.
This is a picture of Bird Sanctuary. It stars Hayley Mills and Tony Award Winner Elizabeth Franz.
These are some of the boards I've done for Treasure Island. I've done loads of glaizing on this show. Mostly on boards like these. These ones aren't quite done yet, they're actually only about halfway, and the pile isn't even as big as it was, so...
This is a picture of Dusty admiring my work on the floor for Pure Confidence... another glaize.

Well, folks. This has been my life for the past few weeks, between all the bad stuff. Work's been good, and things are going fast as we get ready for the next few shows to open.
The weather's been wonderful. I wear a light jacket, and sometimes I don't even need that. Some of the guys at work wear shorts, and there have been days where it's a wonderful 80, and other days where we'll have freeze warnings. Welcome to Alabama.

So, yes. Everything is fine. And how are things with you?

Doctor's Note

I'm all better: car's back and running very good: chins are home and curious.
But I know the question is about the chinchillas and what exactly's wrong. Well, because I can explain it no better, here's a copy of the doctor's note:

I've received the lab results on Chimi this morning and evaluated them in light of the known normals for Chinchillas. The blood sugar is elevated, but as bad as I had feared. There are also some other biochemical irregularities that are probably a result of nutritional deficiencies or excesses. I recommend that we correct the diet and then recheck to see if these things are improving. I think this is more prudent than starting insulin or some other therapy at this time, as it is somewhat "uncharted territory" in Chinchillas. Attached is a document to help you with diet correction. The basics are using an high quality pelleted diet with the proper protein, fat, fiber ratio, avoiding mixture diets ( use pellet only) and a high quality hay such as Coastal Bermuda or Timothy. I would also look for a vitamin supplement that contains Vitamin D. I'd leave treats out of the mix right now, to be sure that they are eating the correct amounts of the right thing. Call me and I'll go over this in more detail. Once the diet has been corrected for 2-3 weeks, then rechecking the blood values is a good idea.

I hope this makes sense. They're doing fine, as far as I can tell, but blood work doesn't lie. So I'm going to slowly be changing their diet over the next few weeks. I hope this sheds light on everything and reassures everyone. Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns.

PS I've just put the finishing touches on Santa and His Elves log so check it out.

We're Waiting

Okay, here's the update:
SELF - Was: Sick with extreme vertigo, sinus infection, and flu like symtoms. Now: Besides the random dizzy spells I'm feeling 100% better.
CAR - Was: Battery Dead. Now: It's at the car place. It has a new battery in it, but it's getting a full overhaul 'cause it needed an oil change and such.
CHINS - Was: Unknown sickness and at the vet. Now: They're back home and doing fine. Chimmy went in today for some blood work to see if he's diabetic. There's only one documented case of a chinchilla having diabetes. So the bloodwork will see exactly what he has, infection or whatever it is.
WORK - Was: Crazy. Overtime galore. Now: We're in the winding down stages of mini-rep.
That just about covers it. Everything was falling apart, and now it's all slowly getting back to the way things are... it's just taking stuff to get it there.
I know this is short, but it's an update. Talk to you soon. Thank you so much for your prayers. Keep them up. I need all I can get.