The Servant's Quarters

Usually, I don't go in for this sort of thing, but I found out about this fun web site on a blog that I read several times a week. It's a promotional site put up by Burger King to publicize the Simpsons Movie. Basically, you upload a photo of yourself to the site, and their conversion software turns you into a character from the Simpsons.

So, without further ado, here's what I would look like if I were a character on that popular animated show. (Of course, my faithful dog, Walker, would always be at my side.)



Below is me taking Walker for a stroll past the famous Kwik-E-Mart in Springfield. Note that that we're being followed quite closely by a really nosey, annoying Burger King logo.




If you want to see yourself as a Simpson's character, check it out at Simpsonize Me!!

Monday night was our first meeting and read through as the cast of A Christmas Carol. There were upwards of 40 people on the stage. It was our first opportunity to see who had been cast in which roles. Of course, the part that we were most interested in was Scrooge. The only thing that I knew for sure is that I had not been given the role.

The gentleman's name is Art. He and I had read for Scrooge together, and our approaches were markedly different. I wanted Scrooge to be a gruff, grumpy guy but I wanted to be careful to avoid caricature. I wanted to play him like a real guy. As a result, I suspect that my performance went off as a bit on the boring side. Art, however, threw himself into it, playing Scrooge as over-the-top nasty. Guess whose approach was the correct one?

I couldn't be happier for Art. While we were reading together during the audition, he confided in me that he had not been in acting for quite a long time. He told me that he's always loved A Christmas Carol, and Scrooge is a part he's always wanted to play. All that, plus the fact that I'm happier playing Cratchet, makes me extremely grateful for Angie's (the director) choices.

So, we all read our parts on Monday evening. I was surprised actually at how little Cratchet gets to say. However, I'll be on stage quite a bit. And it's going to be a blast. The kids did really well, too. Nathanael, especially, is going to make a wonderful Tiny Tim.

Last night, I went by myself up to the theater for my first blocking rehearsal. (Cratchet appears in the opening scene in Scrooge's office. Nothing for the kids to do yet.) Angie's a very kinetic director. During blocking, she stood on stage with us and moved through the scenes with us. She's also fun and runs a very relaxed rehearsal. Another thing that I enjoy about her is her resourcefulness. The stage upon which this play is going to be performed is incredibly small. We're talking seriously tiny. She explained to us how scene changes and staging were going to be handled in this limited environment. It all sounded really cool.

Towards the end of rehearsal, Angie caught me for a minute or two of private conversation that really made my day. She practically gushed about our family and told me how she thought of us a gift. A family that just dropped into her lap and who were perfect to play the Cratchets. She also told me exactly how I got the part. And now, it can be revealed - How I won the coveted role of Bob Cratchet. The scene I was given to read was the juiciest one for old Bob. It takes place in Christmas Future after the death of Tiny Tim. It's a real tear jerker. And the clincher for me was - I actually wept during the audition. I cried. Quite a bit in fact. When I came off the stage, Angie met me on the stairs, cupped my face in her hands, and said, "WOW!" Last night, she told me that after that audition, she knew that she had her Bob Cratchet.

As busy as the coming weeks are going to be, this is going to be a lot of fun!

Well, our big news arrived sooner than I thought. But it's all good!

Monday night after we returned from vacation, the Community Theater Group in Wayne was holding open auditions for A Christmas Carol. Olivia, Philip, and Nathanael all wanted to go to try out. It didn't take much effort on their part to convince me to take them. As a bonus, I thought it would be fun if I auditioned with them.

We showed up at the State Wayne Theater on Monday evening. The tryouts went very well for all of us. Angie, the director, told us that we were welcome and encouraged to come back the next night and read again as it couldn't hurt to be up in front of the production staff as often as possible. So, we all went back on Tuesday night. By the time we were done on Tuesday, we had a pretty strong feeling that we were being considered for various members of the Chratchet family.

Callbacks were Wednesday night, and after we got home on Tuesday, we received a phone call inviting us all back the following evening. Needless to say, we were delighted and enthusiastic.

The next night, we returned to find that we really didn't have much to do. It was obvious that Angie was still considering the kids for the Cratchet roles, but it eventually dawned on me that I had been called back only because the kids were. I read only a couple of times for Scrooge, but it was mainly to help out other actors that were being considered for other parts. I was kind of a designated actor, sitting in when someone needed a person to read with. This was either very good (meaning Angie already knew which part I was getting) or very bad (meaning I wasn't going to get cast). Before we broke up for the night, Angie told us that if we had received roles, we would be called by 8:00 PM Thursday night.

We all went home, excited and a little bit nervous. I was mostly afraid that some but not all of the kids would be selected. I REALLy hated the idea of tackling that disappointment. We had experienced something similar when both Olivia and Philip had auditioned for Peter Pan.

About 45 minutes after we arrived home, the phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, and I felt a little excited and nervous as I picked it up. It was Angie. Although she had said she wouldn't call until the next night, she wanted to tell us the news right away. We had all been cast as the Cratchet clan. I received the role of Bob Cratchet, Scrooge's perpetually put upon clerk. Olivia was awarded the role of Belinda Cratchet, Philip was cast as Peter Cratchet, and last but certainly not least, Nathanel was given the all-important part of Tiny Tim.

Wow. I'm still shocked and delighted by this marvelous news!!!!

God bless us! Every one!!!

I knew it was only a matter of time before I fell off of the "Blogging My Entire Vacation on a Daily Basis" bandwagon. However, it wasn't because I got too tired or lost my creative energy.

It was simply because there was nothing to blog about.

Our vacation ended with a whimper, not a bang. We hung around the lake house a lot. We ate ice cream. We watched TV. We sat around some fires.

That's about it. The kids were a little bored, but Rita and I were highly relaxed.

The wrap up - Vacation 2008 was very restful and very nice.

Now, as soon as we got home on Monday evening, the Butlers immediately got another iron in the fire. Watch this space over the next two or three days for a special announcement. It's going to be exciting stuff!

(At least for us!)

As I mentioned yesterday, we journeyed to Borne Mountain Resort in order to spend about 5 hours at the water park there. We had an absolute blast. Rita and I took turns watching Aidan and Christopher in the kiddie pool. Both of them were willing to try some of the bigger rides, but they mainly stuck to the less intimidating portions of the park. For my part, I hung out with the older kids a lot. We had a lot of fun playing on a log in the biggest pool. Isaac and I went on some slides together, and Nathanael and I did some racing. It was really nice watching the kids kind of pair off and go in their own directions. Except for the littlest ones, they didn't really need us watching them every second.

Man, were we tired when we got home. And we were sore. Well, okay - I was sore. Motrin is a beautiful thing.

Today, we're sticking close to the lake house and relaxing. We took a walk down by the lake, but that's about it. Right at this moment, I'm typing this while I'm watching my beloved Wolverines getting destroyed by Oregon.

Ouch! Well, vacation can't be all fun!

No entry yesterday because nothing happened! At least, not much.

We spent all morning lazing around the house. In the afternoon, Olivia and I went to Prudenville to visit a gift shop and do some grocery shopping. Meanwhile, Rita took the rest of the kids and Walker swimming in the lake.

Later that evening, we went to Nibbles for ice cream and got home in time to gather around the TV set for the two hour season finale of one of our video guilty pleasures - the SciFi Channel's Who Wants To Be A Superhero?

It's raining today, so we've spent the day so far indoors. However, later this afternoon, we're heading north to the indoor water park at Boyne Mountain.

More later.....

Man, are we all tired.

Today, we made our annual trek to Mackinac and Michigan's Upper Pennisula. In addition to the usual horde of Butler's, we brought alone the most excitable dog in the world, Walker. We managed to get out during the morning hours, but our arrival at the Straits was delayed by the inevitable stop at Sea Shell City, tourist trap extraordinare.

Our first stop in Mackinaw City was the park right on Lake Huron, where we ate a picnic lunch within sight of the Mackinac Bridge. Various sandwiches and milk were on the menu, and the seagulls pretty much left us alone. In fact, they were hardly the most difficult form of animal life that we had to contend with.

Walker was much worse. Everytime the kids wandered away to skip stones or explore the beach, he went nuts. We finally just took him back to the car.

After that we decided that Tahquamenon Falls was the vacation destination for us. So we crossed the bridge to the Upper Pennisula. However, before heading to the Falls, we took a brief side trip to the latest attraction in St. Ignace - The Weird Michigan Wax Museum. We sincerely wondered if this was a place we should go. The brochure promised murder, mayhem, hauntings, etc. Potentially scary stuff. But the kids were intrigued and the adults were somewhat curious, too. So, we decided to risk it, agreeing that any child that was too weirded out by the displays could be pulled from the joint.

When we pulled up, there were two things that were obvious at once - this place was brand spanking new and we were the only ones there. A young man who turned out to be the owner took our money. He told us that he had been in business for three months and was doing well. He told us that we could take our time and enjoy the many displays of wax figures awaiting us. We went in.

What followed was about a dozen scenes from Michigan history and lore in a single darkened hallway. To say that it was intriguing would have been to overstate matters. To say that it was fun may have been acurrate. (We had a lot of fun laughing at the cheesey displays.) To say that it was educational would have been stretching things to the breaking point. Needless to say, we witnessed recreations of such iconic moments in Michigan history as the Snake Princess of Belle Isle, the Soop Cemetary Hauntings, the Bearded Baseball Team, The Wooden Leg Killer of Grand Rapids, the Civil War Soldier who was actually a Michigan Woman, The Dog Man of Michigan (pictured below), and the Melonheads.

That's right. Melonheads.

Still not sure about that one.

Vowing never to return, we turned the call toward Tahquamenon Falls. Just north of St. Ignace, the first sign we saw told us that we had over an hour to drive. Yikes. We debated for about 15 minutes, and since it was already 4:00 PM, we decided to retreat back to Mackinaw City. There, we ate at Audies, bought fudge, and did a little bit of shopping.

Then, we jumped back into the car and returned to Higgins Lake.

Which brings me back to the beginning of this entry. We are all bushed.

More tomorrow. Good night all.......

This morning brought more downtime. Rita started cutting hair, and the rest of us settled in for some reading, TV watching, game playing, etc. For myself, I grabbed the TV in the back bedroom and settled in to watch a movie on Lifetime. Ah, Lifetime - television for women. It's hard to believe that you could create an entire 7x24 cable network dedicated to women being abused, oppressed, neglected, taken for granted, endangered, etc. And getting even with the men who put them through this torture. This morning, I watched a docu-drama called, Death of a Cheerleader. All I can tell you is that Kellie Martin killed Torrie Spelling in retribution for Torrie doing something really awful to Kellie. Kellie went to jail for what she did, but not before pointing out the moral of the story - it's our paternalistic, male dominated society that caused Torrie's death. Kellie's just another victim.

Sigh.

Since the forecast called for thunderstorms in the afternoon, we decided to go indoors for our fun. We drove to Gaylord and made of annual vacation visit to Call of the Wild. (Or, Call of the Mild, as we say.) It's the premiere collection of stuffed animals in the midwest. For some reason, the kids always love it. It only takes about 15 minutes to go through the museum, but they're always enthusiastic. We also spend quite a bit of time in the gift shop, which is first rate.

Before leaving, one of the ladies working at Call of the Mild told us of a place up the road where we could check out a herd of elk. They were fenced in, but the kids would have no problem coaxing the elk to the fence with offers of grass to eat. Even though it was raining a bit, we went. Not only were there a large number of elk but a fair share of deer in the herd. As promised, both the deer and the elk came right up to the fence to eat out of our hands. The children were delighted.

Burritos for dinner, and Rita gave me a long overdue haircut. Now, I wouldn't normally mention this except for the...... unusual nature of this haircut. Everything was going just ducky for me and my head. Rita did her usual good job. She thinned my hair, lowered my ears, trimmed my sideburns. The works. I checked the mirror to see what I looked like. Not bad at all. She was just finishing up by shaving my neck with the electric clippers when she decided to go after some stray hairs on the back of my head.

rrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr

She gasped and said, "Oh no." Isaac and Olivia ran over, checked out the back of my head, and started laughing hysterically. Rita couldn't stop apologizing. Philip came out of the shower, and Isaac whispered something to him. Then he ran around behind me, saw the back of my head, and started laughing.

&*$%!#

Liv loaned me a mirror so I could check out the back of my head. Well, I made a joke of it at first, complaining that Rita had given me a huge bald spot right on top. But there was no denying the true damage. Man, having a big bald head is bad enough. I mean, it doesn't really bug me, but I don't dig it either. But now, my big bald spot has a little friend.

Oh well. I got my money's worth for the haircut. (No pictures. Sorry. I'm not vain, but I'm not THAT easy going either.)

For the entire morning, I was afraid that we were experiencing our second down day of the vacation. No one seemed to want to do anything. We sat around, ate breakfast, and watched TV. TLC was having a Labor Day Marathon of a show that we really enjoy, Little People, Big World. We watched episode after episode while the morning slipped away.

However, after lunch, the day picked up. We decided to drive to Roscommon and rent canoes for the afternoon. Rita and most of the kids had done this last year and had had a fabulous time. Now, we were all going to make a go of it.

We almost didn't all make it. Christopher, who always struggles with new experiences, was nervous about canoing from the get go. He announced before we left home that he refused to participate. We all tried our best to encourage him. I chose to buddy up to him, telling him that I wouldn't let anything harm him and that I would be his canoe partner for the day.

As we drove to the canoe livery, rented our boats, and were driven by the owner to the launch site, Chris became increasingly nervous and upset. Finally, the first boat was in the water, and it was time for me, Philip, and Christopher to climb aboard. I put on Christopher's life jacket, and the stress of the situation finally reached the boiling point. He screamed, cried, and threw himself down on the ground. I begged and pleaded with him to get up, but he kept on crying. I picked him up and tried to explain to him how we could climb into the boat without any trouble. He was inconsolable. Finally, Rita decided that she, Aidan, and Olivia would take the first boat. She hoped that seeing Aidan having a grand time would help Chris out. No dice. He didn't care. He simply wasn't going to get into the boat. He was making such a scene that I was truly getting embarrassed and I considered backing out of the whole thing.

Then Rita had a brain storm. She suggested that we swap Christopher for Aidan in her boat. Since she was already in the river, it would be easy to do. She paddled over to the edge of the river, and I lifted Aidan out of the boat. Christopher carried on more violently than ever, but I ignored him. I picked him up and lowered him into the canoe. Then they took off, Chris complaining all the way.

Aidan, Philip, and I jumped into our canoe and followed quickly. By the time we caught up, Chris had settled down and was beginning to enjoy himself. By the end of the journey, he was a huge fan of canoing.

The trip was wonderful. We even pulled our boats to the bank of the river at one point so the kids could wade and play. (Mom and Dad took a much needed break.) Philip and I were the master boatsmen, finishing the course well in advance of the other canoes. We all had fun but agreed that we would no doubt be sore tomorrow.





After a very nice dinner of chicken alfredo, we went out for ice cream at our favorite place, Nibbles. Returning to the lake house, we put the younger children to bed over a family read-a-loud and settled in for some Yahtzee!

Despite our best intentions, today turned out to be our first down day of the vacation. After going to church and hearing a pretty convicting sermon about preparing ourselves for the end times, we came home and just hung out.

Originally, we had planned an outing to a local petting zoo, but we just didn't have it in us. After we got out of our church clothes, the TV went on, and we were soon engrossed in nature programs and news specials. The kids did this and that, and before we knew it, 4:00 PM had rolled around. Too late to do anything really.

This evening, we had a hot dog roast and visited our favorite ice cream place, Nibbles.

Here are some pictures:

Finally, life has slowed to some kind of reasonable pace, and I can now fit in a little bit of writing on the side. At last! I've missed writing my thoughts down on this site. I'm more than ready to get back into it. What better place to start than the Butler family vacation!

Actually, our annual vacation to Northern Michigan officially kicked off yesterday. We had intended to start things out right with our usual dinner of fat burgers at Miller's Bar in Dearborn. I got off of work early (as usual for a long weekend) and decided to use the time to good advantage. I took our van to a local Quick Lube for an oil change and tire rotation. Three hours later, I was pulling out of the parking lot. (Insert your own joke about "quick" oil changes here.) The kids were starving, Dearborn was a half hour away, and we surely had at least an hour's wait at Miller's for the best cheeseburgers in the world. We decided to go for greasy, fatty food closer to home. We went to Culvers, which is 5 minutes away and guaranteed to satisfy our glutenous urges. We weren't disappointed.

I'm so ashamed.

We dragged our over-fed bellies home and spent the rest of the night packing for the journey.

Up early the next day, I walked with the dog for exercise. (HA! What a joke. The fat burger was still sitting in my stomach. I was completely full from the day before's dinner. But as you're about to find out, that didn't slow me down much.) We all got dressed and went for breakfast at Golden Corral in Westland. This is a joint that must be experienced by all. For about $40, my family of eight was unleashed in the land of all you can eat paradise. Made to order omelets, french toast, pancakes, waffles, donuts, cereals, cookies, and candies followed.

It was a grand feast.

Below is a picture of Nathanel and Aidan finishing up their meals. If you look carefully, you will notice that the bowl they're eating out of is full of candy. That plus the pop and ice cream they ate the night before would ultimately come back to cause me some major problems.



What were we thinking?

We hit the road shortly after that. For those of you who have not experienced the joy of making a car trip with a family of eight, I thought of giving you a comprehensive narrative of the journey. But to tell you the truth, nothing happened. No one threw up. No one wet their pants. No one fell out of the van. We only had to stop to go to the bathroom once.

The sugar did kick in. But that story is just too frustrating to tell.

We made a couple of stops. Rita wanted to go to Pinconning to get some top notch cheese. We went, but didn't stay long. The store we picked was full of delectable cheeses, including cream cheese and chocolate cheese. It was also staffed by some older ladies who get a little grumpy with kids who get too interested in the cheese and other foods they were selling. (It didn't help when Christopher picked up a sausage about as big as he was and threatened to shoot me with it.) Here's what it looked like:





Later, we stopped at the outlet stores in West Branch so that we could buy some church shoes for Than and some....... unmentionable undergarments for Rita. (Look, I don't blog about stuff like that in public, okay?????) Things got too dicey when the kids had a sugar induced bad behavior meltdown and all the boys (including me) ended up back in the van while the ladies wrapped up the shopping.

And here we are!!! Safely at the lake. We had pizza for dinner. Then Rita went grocery shopping while I bathed the kids. Now, we're winding down with a little TV, some games, and some snacking.

Stay tuned. I'll try to provide an update everyday of what we're up to.......