Ants, black sludge and the like...

The past few days have consisted of fighting the great ant infest of 2012 with gusto and boric acid and ant traps. I cannot think of a time when I have worked so hard to get rid of something and it just won't go away! Typically when I want something to go away, and really put all my energy behind it - it's gone! Not these damn ants! I swear to God that they look at those ant traps and just laugh and give me the finger. I shared that with the guy at the hardware store downstairs and he cracked up! It's sad when you stand in the kitchen with spray in hand just waiting for one of the little buggers to show themselves so you can pounce. Spray and wait and wipe with paper towel...and repeat.
Just when I thought I had hit bottom in the "how I spent my summer days" category, we woke up yesterday to a sink full of black sludge in the kitchen. "Great, just great," I say out loud to my self. I call the landlord...
Me: "Hey Janet! How are you?"
Janet: "Hi Shelley! Actually, I'm doing pretty good today!"
Me: (well I'm about to ruin your day missy) "Well, I'm sorry to say that we have a sink full of black sludge in the kitchen."
Janet: "OH! Well my goodness! Well take all the stuff out of it."
Me: "The stuff from out from under the sink?"
Janet: "no the stuff in the sink."
Me: Oh, okay - but should I go ahead and take the stuff out from under the sink?"
Janet: No, just make sure to take the stuff in the sink out."
Me: "Umm, okay...there's just a couple things in there waiting to be washed...so..."
Janet: "and don't pour any drain cleaner down there - we don't want to ruin the pipes."
Me: "Right - sure! I won't...
Janet: "I'll let Carl know (her husband) and he'll come over and check it out."
Me: "Great! Thanks Janet! See you soon then."
Janet: "yeah, okay hon!"
I walk into the kitchen and take out the empty yogurt container, the ice tea pitcher and the spoon and the bowl I had my morning yogurt in and put them in the dishwasher. Done!
Now...I wait....and wait....and wait...
The landlords came by around four o'clock in the evening and proceeded to take everything out from under the sink...???? unscrewed the elbow pipe and let the sludge (which was by now filled more than half-way in the sink) fall into the blue bucket strategically placed under the sink. All the gunk began pouring out into the bucket. It looks a lot like oil so we joked about the discovery of oil on this here land and that we'll all be rich - until the city finds out and puts an oil tax on us or something.
Anyway - Carl began using the snake thing (technical term) to rout out the pipe. This went on until about Nine in the evening....needless to say, we ordered in from T's across the street because cooking was out of the question. Promises of being back tomorrow and scratching of heads occurred as we said our goodnights.
Fast forward to this morning when I went into the kitchen first thing and there sat about a quarter of water in the sink - but this time it was brown! Which set me into a panic of...uh oh, where is this coming from now? I figured they would be calling and saying - "we're on our way!" So I waited...and waited...and waited...nothing. I walk back into the kitchen and the sink is quickly filling up to the top! I put on the trusty flip-flops and my Sam Adams ball cap and run down to the Aquarium that they own and run. I burst through the doors to see Janet with a customer and Carl in the back with another customer. The store looked great! I hadn't been in there in a while.
Me: "hey you guys - um, the sink is filling up rather quickly and it's on it's way to spilling over..."
Janet: "Oh, i guess we better check on it then..."
Me; "yeah..."
Janet: "Carl is waiting on someone right now..." (Carl walks toward the front of the store) "hey, the sinks filling up, better get up there and see whats going on."
Carl: "yeah, I had a couple of leaks I had to fix here this morning, put out some fires, you know."
Me; well, the sink is about ready to spill over...so..."
Up the stairs we go!
Another day - add the granddaughter - the son-in-law and more opinions of what is happening, coupled with time in the basement digging through all the suspected pipes and it is now eight-thirty in the evening and we hear a bang on the door between the dining room and the kitchen. We walk into the kitchen.
Janet: "I was just getting ready to call you."
Me; "you could've just opened the door"
Janet: "no, I don't open closed doors..."
Me: "....okay...?"
Janet: "well, we're gonna break down and call a plumber. He'll be here in the morning. You gonna be home?"
Me: uh, yeah, I'll be home..."
So..tomorrow I'll be waiting for the plumber to fix the sludge problem. I should ask him if he has any advice on killing ants but one thing I know I'm likely to be doing tomorrow is...waiting and waiting and waiting...sigh.

A Dad...

My Mom and Dad

Fathers Day is approaching and once again I find myself preoccupied with
thoughts of my Dad and that I'll be spending another fathers day without his laugh and his sparkling eyes making everything wrong in this world so much better.
My dad was the most charming man I had ever known. I can see why my mom fell for him. He had a laugh that could make you laugh even if you had no idea what he was laughing about.
My dad encouraged me to always go for what was next with gusto. Even if I had just been promoted or jumped a big hurdle, he would say, "okay, what's next Shell?"
My dad may not have been around much when I was growing up, but he worked hard and I never doubted his love for me.
My dad was an incredibly talented woodworker. I have many items in my home that are reflective of his handiwork. He would get lost in his workshop and we wouldn't see him for hours. He would come into the house smelling of freshly cut wood. When I smell that smell today I think of him.
My dad was a gifted gardner. His tomatoes were some of the biggest and juiciest I've ever had. He grew other vegetables and beautiful flowers in the garden in our backyard.
My dad was a wonderful grandfather to my two step-sons and to my two daughters. He welcomed the boys into his life with open arms and accepted them as his grandsons and loved them as if they were his own flesh and blood. To my girls, the sun rose and set in Grampa, he could do no wrong.
My dad was a die-hard Cubs fan. He taught me a love for baseball and football that I still have today.
My dad suffered through the loss of my older brother when my brother was twenty-one years old. As a young girl I watched my fathers hair turn white over night. Our house was never the same after Rick was killed.
My dad owned a patent for an invention he and another man created for a device in the steel mills. Growing up, I never knew this.
My dad and his brother Clarence Donald, would laugh so loudly at family holidays that we couldn't hear each other talk. I love that.
My dad worked at Marshall Fields as a newlywed while he went to television school here in the city, not far from where I live now. He quit because the stress and exhaustion were killing him and they needed more money.
My dad had aspirations to work in television as a director or producer. He wanted to move to either California or New York but my mom, apparently, didn't want to move. I often wonder what our lives would've been if he had followed his heart.
My dad was my friend and my confidant. I loved him with all his flaws. I loved his fight. I loved the saggy skin under his chin, even though he hated it. I loved him in a ball cap. I loved him in blue jeans. I loved his silly walks. I loved when he would sing and forget the lyrics.  I loved his white hair. I loved that he went to work one day and came back because he forgot his teeth.
 I love how much he loved me.
My dad passed away from lung cancer in 2005. I miss him every moment of every day.
Happy Fathers Day Dad.

The End of an Era

Last night a few of us gathered at Illinois Theater Center in Park Forest, IL, where many of us had spent many years performing. ITC, as it is known, was a small Equity theater in the south suburbs of Chicago. I happened upon it back in 1986 when I was doing a production of The Fantasticks and my co-star and friend Richard told me he was planning on auditioning for a production of Sweeney Todd at this theater. I asked him if I could join him for the audition and grab a ride and the rest, as they say, is history.
I was fortunate to be accepted into this loving, supportive, dysfunctional, rewarding, exhausting, challenging, funny, theater family. After spending the summer of 1986 as the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, I went on to many wonderful and glamourous roles at ITC for the next 20 years. I was fortunate enough to receive my Actors Equity union card from this theater as was my daughter Erin when she and I played mother and daughter in their production of Kander & Ebb's, The Rink. What a joy that was!
Sadly, due to the death of the surviving co-founder, Etel Billig a month or so ago, her family and the theater board have made the difficult decision to close the theater. A place that has been the jumping off point for so many talented and successful performers will no longer produce.
SO, those of us who've been around for many years spent the evening - some spent the last week - cleaning up the theater and pulling out props and furniture and costumes to sell in the estate sale. The theater is in debt and they need to make some money to pay off this debt. We spent a little money too, getting things that would remind us of all those wonderful years.
I am grateful to ITC. Grateful for the opportunities they gave me, the belief they showed in me all those years ago, the guidance that afforded me, the roles they trusted me with and the family I received because of it all. We have family that we are born into - you love them because they are your family - plain and simple, but these are people who came into my life as a result of our sharing something together. We laughed and cried together, as family, we buried our mentors, we've watched our children get married, we've celebrated occasions together - we are a family. A dysfunctional, funny, opinionated and loving family. One that I cannot live without.
The theater may be closed, the curtains may be pulled and the lights are dimmed, but our little theater family will be together for as long as we can - on or off the stage.