II love sleep. I’m IN LOVE with sleep.  The couch here is fairly comfortable, I was warm in my blankets and had a sleep mask on.  I heard the house wrestle awake and was in and out of consciousness.  At some point Sammybear came over and tapped me gently to say he was going to school, that he loved me and would see me later.  I heard Jenn say she’d be back in a few.  That was around 8a.  I didn’t hear her come back with Jamey, I slowly came to and put my glasses on and saw it was 10:30, and I was very happy.  I thought about all that running around I did yesterday with Sammy bear and realized I was not only old, but if I can’t keep up with a five year old how do I expect to run a 5k or 10k this year?? More on that later. hahaha.  I recalled all the times my dadda would play with me and sister, all the days sister ben and I would play outside ALL day long on our bikes or playing tag with neighborhood kids.  I thought about playing with Riki when he was little and quietly whispered “sorry mom” and laughed.  MAN no wonder she was always so tired with all of us and our schedules and running around.  All you parents out there: You’re insane, appreciated, and deserve every beer or glass of wine you want at the end of the day.

Then, I sat up. heh.  By this point Jenn had gotten her oldest to school, her youngest was taking a nap and she had done her workout for the day.  Me?  Where was the coffee maker? What was for breakfast?  So she showed me how to use her Keurig, and I volunteered to make omelets.  Ham, red onion, and spinach, with cheddar and mozzarella cheese.  We put some of her green salsa on top and watched another episode of Once Upon a Time.

She had to teach her drama class today so I went with her.  Her students had already seen me once before, but didn’t know anything about me, hadn’t even heard me speak. Their assignment was to come up with a background story for me as a character and they also got 3 tries to guess my name.  The stories were QUITE creative.  Ranging from  being from the future and sent to assassin someone, being immortal and the actual ruler of the world, a mermaid turned human by wearing a magical pair of pants, being a spy in Romania and then marrying a broadway actor, to simplicity like being a lost princess whose identity was unknown and I was related by blood to Mrs. Moffett (that’s Jenn).  I was from Spain, from the ocean, from the future and everywhere in between.  When I spoke, I surprised everyone.  I said (with an accent…) Well! That was all VERY excitin’! I was not immortal, I was a normal girl from Texas.  My daddy was from Georgia, my momma was from Kansas but I was born and raised in texas.  I was a dental hygienist and the reason I was in Florida was because I found out Jenn was my half sister.  My name was Lurlene LuAnn Jenkins, and they could call me Lu Lu (this is an actual character I’ve made up before by the way. heh) When the questions started towards Jenn and me, I interrupted with (a british accent) Actually, that’s not my real name and  all jaws dropped.  I told them my name was actually Lydia, I was a professor of voice and speech in Ithaca in NY and I was friends with Jenn so I came to vacation and watch because I work with actors.  When questioned faces happened again, and questions about everything, I smiled and said I’m from California.  Born and raised, and I currently live in New York City.  I attended an acting conservatory in CA and am also an esthetician.  My name is Aiyani….and there was silence.  Then at the same time I started hearing “who are you?” “Wait…which one is true?” “Now, *I* don’t even know who *I* am”  I laughed, Jenn laughed.  And it finally calmed down.  I answered questions about who i really am, spoke about acting and creating characters with background stories and about auditioning for TV/Film and plays.  Spoke about the musicals I’d been in, understudied, etc.  All kinds of things.  It was the most fun I’d had with “acting” in over two years.

After school, we saddled the kids in and headed towards target.  Which was about a 45-hour drive away.  We all got a drink from Starbucks inside the Target–there is no starbucks closer than this one hahahahaha–and began walking around.  Eventually we split up and I took Sammybear over to the toys section while Jenn got things she actually needed without the five year old pointing and grabbing everything he “wanted.”  Then it was time to head home.

While Jenn fixed dinner for the boys I took Sammy outside and we played with his paper airplanes he made.  We flew them back and forth and over and through a tree, it was actually quite fun.  After the boys ate dinner, I gave them their bath while Jenn began making her delicious Shepherds Pie.  It was bedtime for the boys, and dinner time for the girls.

We settled in by about 8:30p on the couch with our bowls of Shepherds Pie and watched the last episode of Once Upon a Time, to bring us up to date, then after that we started watching Diners, Drive-Thru’s and Dives and wanted EVERYTHING WE SAW. Since we couldn’t have the Bruiser Burger, the Cheeseburger Soup (yes), or the Beer and Potato and cheese soup–we had more pie.  This time a slice of key lime pie for each of us, and a slice of chocolate pie for each of us.  By 11pm, we were full of pie, dreaming of food, and heading to dreamtown via nodville.

I dreamt my friend Kitten got married and didn’t invite me, that her kid whom I call Peanut, also forgot about me, and we drifted apart.  Sad face.  I also dreamt of burgers the size of my thigh with an appetite to match.