Post of Randomness, Completely out of order

Stella and I finally rode the train around Zilker park this morning (The Zilker Zephyr). What a blast! Stella was very quiet and still; I think she was just taking everything in. That's Stella's buddy Jake in the background. His Mom Debbie and I talked about all sorts of stuff on the train. Like the fact that her friend conceived a BABY on the train in Zilker. I may be a prude but I cannot even imagine the logistics of this. Of course, the parents were teenagers at the time, which explains a lot;) We went to the park Monday evening and I got this picture of Tim and Stella swinging. It is definitely one of my top favorite all time of the two of them together, and it's even cuter in sepia:

We also got Stella a haircut last Friday and the little hispanic lady who cut her hair was so sweet. She kept talking about how beautiful Stella was and calling her "Stellina", which I absolutely adore. My father called me his "little chalupa" when I was little (I was born in the Valley) so I have a soft spot for Spanish-y nicknames. I also loved how she'd slip in and out of English/Spanish. Like she'd say, "Okay, I'm going to cut her bangs tambien." I like it when that happens because I actually feel like those years in Spanish were not a waste, I know what she's talking about! (BTW, that's a really simple sentence. She would just slip in and out of Spanish totally absentmindedly. I found it charming, which may be totally condescending, but I don't intend it that way!)

All 34 pounds, 97th percentile, 36 inches, 90th percentile of Stella in a bucket (we had her two year check-up last week):

I cannot BELIEVE I have not posted about THE social event of the season, no the year, no the decade, Tara and Jeff's wedding! Wow, what a great time. At the rehearsal dinner I got drunker than I ever have in my entire life and then proceded to have the worst hangover of my entire life Saturday. That sort of sucked. I was not drinking Saturday, which distressed Tara's Stepmom Iza, so I of course had to partake in some of the champagne she had delivered to the bridal suite. Her family adopted me after I totally ate it Friday night (completely sober, btw), while walking in my slippery sandals on the slippery asphalt. And Tara wore, definitively, the most beautiful wedding gown I have ever seen. Seriously, I actually loved it more than my own. Tara's family especially was really impressed by how close all of us clowns are. And we try to avoid getting too mushy most of the time, but yes, we all love each other and it's pretty damn special to have so many people who you know have your back. And you have theirs. And it was such an incredible honor to stand up for them and witness the most natural thing in the entire world. Watching two people who are so perfect for each other officially pledge their lives to each other. Amazing.

Welcome to marriage, Tara and Jeff, it's a pretty awesome thing.

Go see Stop Kiss!

I just wanted to recommend to all you Austinites that you go see Stop Kiss at The Vortex (put on by Different Stages) before it closes next week. What a deeply moving and funny show with fantastic performances by some of Austin's best actors. If you don't catch it, you'll be kicking yourselves for months while all your friends talk about how great it was!

Also, in lieu of creating new content, which I don't have time for this morning (we're off to spend all weekend in the yard making up for how much we've neglected it this Spring), I would like to point you to this very interesting post on Retro Renovation about whether 50's tract homes should qualify for historic preservation and my comment. Because nothing like stealing content from other sites to pad your blog;)

Here's my comment:
I agree with Christopher that 50 years ago nobody saw the wisdom of saving turn of the (20th) century homes because they thought they were old hat. So I think it’s important to save at least some of these old 50’s neighborhoods even if those in charge do not find them “architecturally appealing”, most likely because that’s what they grew up with. We always pine for the past and you won’t hear me arguing for saving 70’s or 80’s houses because that’s what I grew up with. Although perhaps my children will love that style. But we also have to respect individual property owner’s rights. It’s a very fine line.

Perhaps it is better to put in place guidelines for the remodeling of your home that keeps at least the exterior in line with the rest of the neighborhood? But then again, I also agree with Christopher’s other comment about HOA’s sucking. I came from a 2000’s neighborhood that sent you a letter if your grass got brown (in July. In Texas!) to one that was built in the 60’s and doesn’t have an HOA. I love the fact that if my grass gets a little long because I’m busy that week, I can just blow it off until next week. And that I was able to paint my house aqua blue without consulting anybody. I don’t know, this is a very difficult issue!

Vacation Decisions and "Seriously, how can I be so broke?"

So Tim had a really great idea and we are going to spend the weekend in Houston looking at mid-century homes and shopping, eating, going to cool bars, etc. and then spend Sunday and Monday night in Galveston. I think this will truly be the best of both worlds and be seriously low-stress since I know how to get around in both cities. We should be able to get a good deal in both places since hotels downtown are cheap on weekends because they're intended for business people and hotels in Galveston are cheap(er) on weekdays. If you have any suggestions for places to stay in either local, send them my way. Yay for decisions!

In the bad news department, we got our tax appraisal. And it was a LOT more than I'd expected it to be. Totally reasonable considering what we paid for the house, but they never appraise your house at what you paid for it, you know? Anyway, I was saving enough to cover the amount as my "worst-case scenario" amount, but now we'll need all of it. Grump grump grump. I think "broke" is a bit misleading, but I do feel like every last cent is already accounted for, especially since we're about to have to start paying off the A/C improvements. I was going to lower the 401k and savings contributions a wee bit to cover that, so we didn't feel the burn, but Tim totally freaked me out and said we still weren't saving enough for 401k. Apparently we are going to be eating catfood and need to actually eat catfood now in order to save for retirement. I still think the calculators for that sort of thing must be incredibly conservative. I mean, for example, I don't plan to have a house payment then, so that is a huge chunk of change I won't need every month. And I feel really guilty that I am not putting any money in Stella's college fund right now. And she doesn't go to school or classes or anything. My investment in my child's future this week? $5 on a Play-doh Animal Activity Bucket I bought at Walmart yesterday. (She loves it by the way).

What a ramble! I shouldn't complain, I just always thought that if my family were making as much money as we do I'd not have to worry about a thing. I don't even know what people who are making way less than us with families of 4 do. And they usually have gas-guzzling behemoths and car payments. We share a paid-for car that gets 30 miles to the gallon. I really worry this recession could be BAD. Because we are feeling the burn and we are truly blessed when it comes to our financial means.

Let's Just Camp in the Backyard

Tim and I are finally trying to plan the vacation we've been talking about for months now. The 2nd choice vacation that we are doing because we can't afford to go to Mexico. And it is just not happening. Tim wanted to go to Big Bend/Marfa and I was leaning towards South Padre, but still had Big Bend/Marfa on the list. Then Tim started researching Big Bend and there was a page called "How Not to Die in the Desert". Yeah, that finally scared both of us into saying that perhaps this is not the vacation for us. At least not this trip out. I looked at places in South Padre, although no where was really jumping out at me, and Tim is now looking at Oklahoma City. Yes THAT Oklahoma City. The one in Oklahoma. We could go to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. Whee. Tim picked it because he said there are a lot of Mid-Century Modern homes, which I also remember my father saying. Yes, my father was trying to get us to go to Oklahoma City. But I cannot honestly imagine telling people that I went to Oklahoma City on my vacation. That is the lamest. A guy who was my age (24) who worked with me when I worked for the Dragon Lady lived with his elderly parents and they all went to Oklahoma City to go to the Memorial on their vacation. LAME!
So I'd hoped to at least plan where we were going tonight and ideally know where we were staying. Especially since we're planning to go in just a little over 2 weeks. But obviously that is not going to happen. ARGH!
I guess this is the problem when you're picking your 5th choice for vacation and you aren't really enthusiastic about anything. Perhaps we should just save the money and stay home.

Incredibly adorable Stella Moments

A couple of incredibly cute Stella moments from today, one sweet, one bittersweet. Stella pulled out one of my old diaper bags today and was walking around with it over her head (or rather over most of her entire body because it was so large). Unfortunately I did not get a photo. But she eventually wanted me to help her get it off and when I did a bunch of old stuff like tissues, fossilized gum, etc, fell out. Also, one of her old clips that attached her binky to her clothing fell out. Stella was like, "binky!" immediately. I told her, yes, you used to use that when you were a baby to keep your pacifiers attached to you, but we don't need it anymore and that we should put it away. And she said, "for baby sister!" I was astounded, she is so smart. (And no, there is no bun in the Thomas oven.)
Then this evening we were feeding Lucy and Punky and she came back to get a second cup of dog food to put in the second bowl (which we no longer have out because it was Roxie's). And so I said, no, we only need one cup of food and she said was adamant about getting another cup, kind of whined a little and said, "Roxie's food." (Of course, she says "Doxie") Oh, man, I have been dealing so well today, but that just made me cry. I scooped her up and said, in a very shaky voice, "No, Stella, Roxie's in heaven now and doesn't need food anymore." Stella got her very sad face and held onto me very tightly for a moment and then I said, "Let's get Punky's food." Which she did and moved on. But it was so sad.

Speaking of sad, Tim has a wonderful post about Roxie over at his blog.

Goodnight my Sweet Rockstar

So we did have to have Roxie put to sleep this afternoon. I'm just thankful that we didn't have to make a decision, the doctor said that she should be put to sleep, her quality of life was not going to improve. Even though I was prepared that this would happen, I still was not prepared for how painful it would be to hear the doctor tell us. Wow, was it difficult. We stayed with her as she went, which was also difficult but thankfully it was extremely quick. Everyone was so kind. And now she is young again, younger than we ever knew her, frolicking in heaven and happy. I can't reflect on what happened now, but I just wanted to let everyone know that she passed and to thank them for their kind words.

Push it Down!

Yep, that's not working anymore, as in Hank Hill's advice to a heartbroken Luanne after her boyfriend either broke up with her or died, "you need to swallow all that pain." And then Luanne says "but it still hurts" and so Hank says "just push it down further." Or something to that effect, I don't remember the exact quote. But I'm a Texan and that's what I'm trying to do with this little bit of trauma.

Roxie's dying. She can't walk anymore. Tim has a post about the details if you care to be filled in. We have an appointment with the vet tomorrow afternoon. And I think it's going to be THE appointment. I'm dealing with it by not thinking about it or dealing with it. I've talked about her dying in the abstract for so long that now that it's probably finally going to happen, I can't believe it. She looks pitiful and I really don't want to her to go through pain anymore, although at the same time I feel guilty even considering putting her to sleep. But she can't walk. And she has trouble standing upright. So I can't believe that can be any kind of life to live for a dog. Damn, getting old sucks.

Where's my family?

Tim's parents picked him and Stella up nearly THREE HOURS AGO to take a walk around Town Lake. Man, I kind of wanted to spend some time with my family today too. I felt a little too out of it to go for a walk three hours ago, but I'm kind of missing them now. I wonder how long before I should call out a search party?

Totally Charmed Kind of Life

We had Tara's Bachelorette Party last night and man, was it a bitchin' awesome time! We started things out at Opal Divine's with drinks and appetizers (although not enough appetizers to sustain the drinks), then headed back to our house to party some more, play "Pin the Hose on the Fireman" (which I called two porn shops and went to Forbidden Fruit to get), eat pizza and share way too much information with each other. Because that's what us chicks do. I shared too much, other people shared too much, it was awesome. And Laurie and Mary staged a girlfight; also awesome. But there was a moment when people started talking about very sad things that made me feel really really really REALLY fortunate to have the life I do and the life I have had. Man, I feel so freakin' well-adjusted. My family always thought we were so dysfunctional until other "perfect" families started cracking at the seems and showing some REAL dysfunction. Then we just realized we were odd, but odd in a good way and about as functional as any group of 4 related people could be. And now, of course, I have the stereotypical been married nearly 9 years, have my first kid, thinking of the second and man I could not feel more fortunate to be so boring. THANK YOU GOD FOR BORING!

And thank you for fantastic friends you can get totally sloshed with and talk to about anything. Love you ladies!

Welcome to the 90's!

So tonight is 90's night around Chez Thomas. Actually, Tim's out for Jeff's bachelor party so I'm Home Alone (smacks cheeks in incredibly adorable way). I just watched Reality Bites for the first time in eons and man, has that movie not held up well. Although I think it's not the movie, but my age. When I first say Reality Bites, I was a Junior in High School and I went with my friend Shannon to the Spring Lowe's across from my high school. It was Spring Break, I believe. I was carrying an Ammo Box from the Military Surplus store as a purse that I had decorated with pictures of Morrissey and Priscilla Queen of the Desert and other things I considered to be counter-culture. This was before the weight of the ammo box made my arm throb day and night and I had to retire it. I still have it. And I have been known to keep counter-culture items in it. Tee hee.

(*Note to self, remove counter-culture items, if they still exist, from Ammo Box. That will be the first place the cops will look now.)

Okay, so I saw the movie and I wanted it to BE my life. I thought Lelaina (played by my once girl crush, Winona Ryder) and her friends were the coolest people on earth. They drove around and smoked cigarettes and filmed themselves and smoked pot and danced in gas stations. Of course, that was when I was 16 (and I also thought that the other 65 times we watched that movie throughout high school and probably into college). Now that I watch it at 30 I'm like, "wow, all they do is drive around and smoke cigarettes and film themselves and smoke pot and dance in gas stations." Although I was mightily nostalgic for the driving around smoking cigarettes. Some of my favorite memories are drivingly aimlessly with friends smoking cigarettes. But that could be tinted by the fact that I quit smoking 3 and a half years ago;) And I did once buy snacks for all my friends at a Shell station on my parents' credit card (sorry Mom and Dad; it was Christmas Eve and nothing else was open. Hey, it's not my fault you guys got me an '81 Ford Fairmont for my first car, I could fit a football team in that thing!)

What was MOST interesting was the fact that this was the 10 year anniversary edition and they had a great "Looking back" documentary. And Janeane Garofolo said that she lives across from NYU and every year kids STILL come up to her and say, "wow, I love that movie, that is the most awesome movie." And she said that of course they love it because they see it and think, "hey, even after I graduate I can still hang out with my friends and talk all night and go see my boyfriend's band. Yes!" So that's it. The movie is not for nostalgia for us old farts, it is for the young to watch and pine for. So I bequeath Reality Bites to you kids. May my once favorite movie, the movie that made me want to name one of my children "Lelaina" for like 10 years inspire and excite you. And may you be as jealous of Winona Ryder's amazing gravity-defying unashed cigarette as I once was.

Extra Fun Fact: Janeane Garofolo was up against Anne Heche, Parker Posey and Gwyneth Paltrow for the role of Vickie. She won out partially because she was actually the most well-known of that group at the time because of her work on the Ben Stiller Show and The Larry Sanders Show.

A Bad Day Gets Worse

It's always the bad days that last forever, isn't it? Topping off a day where Stella acted like a stereotypical two-year-old all day and we didn't make it to the park because:
1) The phone rang after I'd already set the alarm. Because my child can't resist picking up a ringing phone, we answered it and I had to disarm and rearm the alarm.
2) I couldn't remember the code for the garage and could not get the stroller.
3) I went inside to go into the garage from the house and Stella refused to put on shoes.

We had later adventures like Roxie peeing on Stella's floor and then sitting on it because her back legs had suddenly failed. Her legs are now working again, although they are shaky and she's unsteady.

The topper is that Tim is at some Austin Scriptworks talk with playwrights and assured me he'd be home at 7, same time he usually is. Well he just called and even though it was supposed to start at 5:30, it was just starting at 6:25. So who has any clue what time he'll even be home. Like I said, the worst days are always the longest! All I can say that any hope of leaving the bottle of wine we have unopened until tomorrow are pretty much zero.

And Stella just decided she wanted to pound on my chest with her little fists. That hurt like hell. (Don't worry, we don't condone hitting in this house, she's been reprimanded.)

Stop Peeing!

I am sick of cleaning up Roxie's pee. Truly sick. This morning we had 3 new puddles. And one of them was quite an amazing one in the dining room that ran all along the grout of about 6 tiles and was just everywhere. Another one was in the living room, which is BAD because that's hardwood. We do NOT want to ruin the hardwood. I think she peed like 5 times yesterday. At night, I understand, because we leave her out or else she will bark and make us wake up to let her out, but during the day, it's like WE'RE RIGHT THERE! I've decided that today I will put her out every 30 minutes in the hopes of avoiding accidents. Although I'm not too confident it will work. Or that I will remember. Tim suggested pee pads this morning and I think I'm going to go get some of those tomorrow. No clue if they will work, but I am willing to try at this point.

I try to be patient because if you haven't seen Roxie lately, she is really bad off. She has trouble walking and she is really really skinny. We are feeding her a commercial dog food that she seems to have an easier time eating than the Science Diet, which we ran out of, so maybe that will fatten her up. Although hopefully it won't cause a return of her tummy troubles. She is such a sensitive dog. And she really needs a haircut, but I can't imagine taking her to the groomers as skinny as she is, they'd probably call the Humane Society on me!

I don't mean to be insensitive, it really does break my heart to see her like this. I dread the day when I find that she hasn't woken up. Although perhaps I'm fooling myself to think it will be that peaceful. We honestly worried a bit at my parent's ranch that she'd wander off and go die somewhere there. She wandered really far away and my father had to go track her down on his Mule (not the animal, the vehicle). I just don't want her to have a dragged out prolonged death or any suffering, you know?

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go mop the floor. Again.

I Went Shopping!

I went shopping this afternoon while Stella stayed with Baba and got some great new clothes, all super on sale. Of course, I really shouldn't be shopping (as in spending money), but when you desperately need clothes, sometimes you just have to go for it. I'm tired of spending every penny on the house, that's no fun! Besides, in one sense I actually saved money. I needed a shaper to wear under my bridesmaid's dress because it's satiny shiny fabric and fits tightly right at my midsection so it's like a neon arrow pointing at my post-baby pooch. The lady at David's Bridal said I could use Spanx. But have you seen how much those things are? SIXTY-TWO DOLLARS! No way, Jose'. I'll just add a giant rhinestone belt to my midsection and highlight my pooch. Maybe I could get it engraved with "POOCH" in pink crystals. That'd be classy. And cheaper.

So I went to JCPenney to look at their shapers and found one that was $21, a third of what Spanx are and I figured it would work at least a third as well. Then I got to the check-out and it was only $5. Score! So I figure I have at least $15 extra to spend on me, right? Penney's had an incredible clearance sale so I got 2 dressy tops and two new tank tops for $8.99 each. Then I FINALLY found some capris at Macy's, also on sale. I was starting to worry those things had gone out of fashion and I'd have to wear jeans all summer and die from the heat. 'Cause I don't wear shorts unless it's an emergency. Luckily, these are Levi's "Curvy Fit" Capris and look pretty damn awesome. Then I went all over the mall trying to find a denim skirt, but couldn't find anything other than skorts or those Junior's minis that are really just a skirt version of cheerleader panties. But I did find a pair of cute little silver shoes to wear with my bridesmaid's dress. They have just a tiny little heel so they're actually comfortable too. Double score! They're open-toed and have a little bow. I plan to paint my toenails to match my dress. Just in case anyone notices my feet. Maybe it will distract from my POOCH;)

Then I headed over to Target because I was still needing a black skirt and/or a denim miniskirt. No dice on the denim, but I found a couple of cute a-line knee length skirts super cheap; one black and one grey. I also bought a pair of shorts because sometimes you have to break down and wear those and they were cheap. AND, and this is going to shock you, I actually bought a pair of LEGGINGS! They were only $6.99 they had little sparklies in them, and they will make me feel less scandalous in a dress I already own that's a little on the short side and has a bad habit of flying up in the wind. 80's revival, here I come!

Now I must go get ready to go to the Long Center and see The Rude Mech's Method Gun, which from all accounts is supposed to be better than the Second Coming. Let's hope so, because it's been a while since I've seen a Rudes show that I wasn't severely disappointed with!

Who would steal from a 2-year-old?

The people who live in our old house, apparently. Unfortunately Stella's wishlist was tied to our old address, but we didn't realize it until my best friend Sarah emailed me to ask if Stella had gotten her present. After much research we discovered it was sent to our old address. So I sent a letter to the occupants (the guy who bought our house rented it out, so I can't find their phone number or anything), a week ago asking if they could call or email me and I'd come pick the present up. Nothing. So I guess they just decided to keep it. Nice. At least I know that their karma is currently taking a terrible hit.

So Over Potty Training

Really. Seriously. Because it is not Potty Training, so much as Stella sitting there on her seat on the big potty while Mommy reads to her for 30-45 minutes every couple of days. A fellow Mommy in Stella's playgroup had great success with her little boy and the 3-day Potty Training System. So we're going to try that, (actually, I have to be sure Daddy is on board too!), although first we have to hide the potty for 30 days so that we can start from scratch. Apparently the woman who has this system says that one of the biggest problems with other potty training methods is that children start to see it is as toy. Amen, sister! It's confusing to them. So Ashley's letting us borrow some cloth diapers and we're going back to those for the next month, then we'll try the 3-day system and please oh please maybe we'll be done with this by Memorial Day!

You know, it's not even that I care about changing diapers that much, it's just that we cancelled the diaper service and I hate piling up all these disposables, and I don't want to draw the process out forever. I want to be done with it!

Tim Burton's Sick and Twisted Musical and You Can't Have it Both Ways

Man, we watched Sweeney Todd Sunday night and I think Tim summed it up perfectly when afterwards he said, "I really wish I'd never seen that." It was not poorly done. It was a well-made movie with great actors and really good singing, but it was just disgustingly depressing. I mean, it just totally put a damper on our Sunday night. I expected it to be dark (I did know what it was about), but not THAT dark! I guess it did a good job of showing that revenge doesn't pay, but man, I sure was tired of watching fake blood geyser all over the place. The tone seemed all off. By the time the gore of the throat slitting was supposed to shock us, we were numb to it, couldn't stand to see one more gullet get razored, as it had already been set to music in a montage where about 20 poor souls lost their lives. I did love Helena Bonham Carter though. She was a beautiful mess. Although she could have mumbled a little more. I think I caught three of her words without conferring with Tim what she had said. Johnny Depp was in the Javier Bardem role, a pretty thankless one, so I don't feel like I can say whether he was good or not. He looked sort of hot, like a gone-to-seed Robert Smith, and he did slit the throats with glee. I guess that's all that his role called for. But man, was that a downer of a movie. I hated it.

So I mowed the front lawn Sunday afternoon when we returned from visiting my parents at their ranch in Evant (more on that later). Man that was HARD work! We apparently have a push mower, no "self-propelled" action here, and I had to push with all my might to get the thing going up the teeny weeny hill (that I didn't know we had), in our front yard. It was mightily embarassing. But when we moved into this house, I had to promise to either help with the yard work or we had to hire someone to do it because Tim hates yard work. And we bought a house on 3/4 of an acre. And I am afraid to even get an estimate for having the yard done, it is HUGE. Tim was outside with Stella the whole time pulling weeds, and I thought perhaps his manliness would be shamed by passerbys seeing his wife struggle with the lawnmower while he stood by. I posed this question to him and he said, "is your womanliness threated when I help with the childcare, and cook, and help clean?" Oh, snap! So, yes, I married an incredibly 21st century man, but I was hoping he'd go caveman when it came to yardwork! But in all it only took 35 minutes to mow the front lawn, and I can endure anything for 35 minutes. Besides, it's a workout, which I really need since I haven't really been exercising lately. Of course, last night he asked me if I was mowing the back lawn this weekend. That is a WHOLE different story! I don't even think I could get the mower up the hill back there. So perhaps we can compromise and the front yard can be my domain. We'll see...

Take my closet-Please!

Seriously, I just decided to find something cute to wear tonight to the play we're going to see. Unfortunately, I was only able to go shopping in my closet, so I came up empty handed. It has suddenly turned cold, so I was forced to turn to the long-sleeved side of my closet and nearly everything there is about 3-5 years old and either totally outdated or I'm sick to death of it. And most of the stuff is too big to boot. I decided to ask Tim's opinion on some of the stuff and he liked the stuff I hated and vice versa. So I am wearing my boring brown sweater which I like because it is very flattering (aka makes me look really thin). But that's about it. I may wear my new sandals with it just because I want to have something interesting thrown in. Although I'm sure that a sweater with sandals is breaking all sorts of fashion rules. I must find time to go shopping. Although last time I did that all I found was two tank tops, so I don't old much hope out for that either.

Blah, what a boring post.

Quick Theatre Post

I have lots to post about our busy, super fun weekend, but first I just quickly have to post this quote from Wallace Shawn:

"But the reality is that I have the theatre gene. I really like going to plays. And I really love watching actors. If there are five people on stage and one of them is giving a wonderful performance, I’m pretty happy. "

That is me. So all you people who hear me bitching about horrible plays and wonder why I still go, it's because sometimes I go see a "Brats of Clarence" or a "Lonesome West" and the pants are entertained off me and I fall in love all over again. People don't go see one bad movie and decide never to see another one, do they? And I can usually find at least one entertaining morsel even in the most horrible play. Or at least I think it will make a great story later;)

The whole interview is here and I found it from the Wallace Shawn worshipping Rubber Rep's blog here. The interview mentions Shawn's "The Designated Mourner", which when Rubber Rep did it several years ago was definitely one of those transformative theatre experiences. Hopefully they'll bring it back one day!