Tuesday I did not need to be to set until 11am.  Even so I woke up at 5am wanting to see if a miracle had happened with our phone lines and internet.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was all working again.  I had played with the cords most of the evening trying to trouble shoot the problem myself.  I guess I had done something right.  I called to cancel the technician.  Got Zyla off to school and came home to leisurely get ready for set.  Around 9am the phones and internet went out again.  I was not liking AT&T.  I spent an hour on my cell phone with AT&T trying to resolve the issue to no avail.  Finally they let me reschedule the tech to come to my home.  I left for set irritated by the whole experience.  Megan had gifts; she gave Alex and me nail polishes.  I got a blue, a black and a sparkly blue.  She was always so thoughtful and kind bringing everyone gifts all the time.  I sat around all day watching the pre-shoots and rehearsals.  Since my girl was only in two scenes they weren't up until 4pm.  Then I was finished by 5pm, but did not get wrapped out until 6pm.  I came home to wonderful smells of dinner cooking in the kitchen.  Ed made my favorite.  We all sat down to eat, then I helped Zyla with some homework before watching the final episode of Hung.  I thought it was a weird ending, sort of left off on an abrupt note in the middle of the night.  The behind the scenes showed an alternate ending as well as deleted scenes that did not make the show because of pacing.  I fell asleep to dreams of vacations, shopping sprees, cakes and star tattoos. 

Wednesday, Zyla had off of school, so we slept in.  I did not need to be to set until 10:30am.  Zyla was spending the day with her friend Jaron going to see Hotel Transylvania.  I arrived to the stages early and found Megan.  We got breakfast.  Catering had decorated for Halloween, with lots of spooky pictures.  As usually happens on show night we did not work, but watched the camera refresh take place.  Afterwards, Alex, Megan and I all walked down Ventura Blvd to Mexicali Cocina Cantina for lunch.  They have tasty drinks there; I especially liked the mexi mosa which had St. Germain Elderflower liqueur, champagne, and a splash of orange juice in it.  When we arrived back to the stages a coffee truck was parked out front.  I got a caramel ice blended coffee.  The evening went by quickly amidst conversation and a visit to set to see our favorite scene with Dean Norris singing Seal.  We all read the script for the next episode, which was really funny.  I snacked on Swedish meatballs, jalapeno poppers, brie and crackers, before KFC was brought in.  I grabbed the crispy chicken with mac ‘n cheese.  Wrapping out at 9:40pm, we walked off into the night admiring the spooky moon's hazy glow through the gauzy clouds. 

Thursday was another typical day in Zyla's school library, earning my service hours, reprimanding children who don't seem to know how to behave in a library.  I came home to relax and watch Little Ashes, a movie about Salvador Dali and his relationship with poet Frederico Lorca.  Robert Pattinson did an excellent job playing the genius.  I loved the mood of the film shot on location in Barcelona.  At 3pm, as I was walking to my car, I noticed an AT&T truck parked in front of my building.  I went out to ask if he was here to service my internet and he said yes.  I asked why he was so early since my scheduled appointment was between 4-8pm.  He made it seem like he was in the neighborhood and just stopping by to see if it could be done early.  I said no, I had to pick up Zyla and that I would be home between 4-8pm.  He said he could not wait or come back but that the night crew would come at 4:30pm.  By 5:30pm, no one had showed up so I called AT&T to find out what was going on.  After waiting on hold forever, then being transferred, put on hold again, etc, they said the technician that showed up at 3pm, had cancelled my appointment and since he could not do the service then I needed to reschedule.  I was really upset and complained that I had made an appointment for 4-8pm and was it AT&T policy to send out technicians at the wrong times?  They finally got through to dispatch to resend someone out.  When the techy arrived at 7:30pm, he could not get my phones and internet turned back on.  He said it was an issue on AT&T's end and that he would put in a service order for the following morning to have someone come out and check phone lines.  At first he said I did not need to be home for it and that my service should be back on by the weekend.  Then he said just in case I should be home all morning.  This was becoming such an ordeal and inconvenience to me, not to mention the hardship of having no phone or internet all week.  I called up AT&T first thing in the morning to find out what was going on and ask for compensation to my bill.  I was on hold for 30 minutes when the tech called on my other line and I had to switch over.  He was working on my service and would be to my house shortly.  I hung up with AT&T for the time being.  The new tech arrived saying that the technician last night had been lazy and that it was not that complicated and he would have me up and running shortly.  He said AT&T had hired new techs with no experience and that was the issue with the guy the evening before.  He said he found one of my two wires loose probably from a previous repair job and once he connected everything, it was all back up and running smoothly.  He gave me his card in case anything happened and said to call him direct instead of AT&T.  I immediately got online to deal with my weeks worth of accumulated emails.  About an hour later AT&T called to make sure I had service.  I asked for compensation and was transferred to some call service in the Midwest.  They credited my account for the week of no service.  After catching up on email I spent time getting more involved with Women In Love.  Zyla and I ran errands all afternoon, feeding Roseblood her rat, getting a gift for the Birthday Pool Party Zyla's friend was having the following day.  My sister called saying she and her family would be joining us in Big Bear over Thanksgiving and going to the play Oliver with us.  I was so excited they could come.  Ed had to stay late at work because he had to run the jumbo tron and film the Crespi Homecoming game which they won.  Zyla and I ordered Dino's pizza and watched Gypsy.  I had heard some of the music before but never seen the musical in its entirety.  Finding it on instant Netflix was wonderful.  Bette Midler was fabulous, I was happy to share the moments with Zyla. 

The weekend flew by.  I spent a lot of my time reading more of Women In Love.  Lawrence had a way with words and relationship dialog that was slowly growing on me.  Saturday Zyla went to gym at the new earlier time.  Afterwards we had some lunch then watched Glee Season 3 which had come on disk from Netflix.  The first episode included a scene of Lea Michele as Rachel Berry singing ‘Somewhere' very much like Barbara Striesand.  Oh the memories that flood in when I hear that song which was played over and over again during brainwashing sessions at my cult like boarding school of CEDU.  Ed and I dropped Zyla at her friend Kamsi's party, then we went hiking at Stough.  I was craving some of Ed's wonderful homemade lasagna so we grabbed up ingredients from Sprouts.  He crafted an amazing meal before leaving to pick up Zyla from the party.  I was off to my girls' night out with Jodi and Shawna.  We were to watch Snow White and the Huntsmen. 

Sunday was mellow, we finished watching the Glee disk.  Went to Mass around 1pm.  I found a cute French foreign film called Elles starring Juliette Binoche which Ed and I enjoyed watching.  Zyla wanted to see her Jane By Design show.  We only had two episodes left before saying good-bye to this adorable new ABC family show we had grown attached to.

Waking at 5am, I started getting ready for set.  Time to get back to Whitney.  The episode this week was really funny.  Classic Whitney.  I ran into Megan in the parking structure and we walked together to set.  Had some breakfast, spinach feta eggs and pigs in a blanket, with some fruit and potatoes.  The rehearsals went smoothly, most of the scenes were in Mark's Low Bar.  My girl sat on the same bar stool in all her scenes so not much notes to take down.  It was great having Tone back as the bartender and his stand in Robert.  Just for the Network run thru, I was used as featured BG for the Mystic Pages scene, which is a new age type bookshop where Nate played by Lance Barber worked.  He was playing one of Whitney's ex-boyfriends who came to make amends with her according to his AA program.  Lance was cool, introduced himself to me.  We hang out at the top of the scene; he shows me a book and offers some incense before I wander around to look around the shop more.  When Alex character knocks him to the floor I leave the shop.  The Tag scene was also in the Mystic Pages and most of the stand ins were asked to play customers in the scene again just for the run thru so the executives can have a better idea of what the scene will look like with BG in it.  Afterward, we helped with the lighting before wrapping out at 3pm.  I made it home a minute before Ed and Zyla arrived.  While Zyla did her homework, Ed and I finished watching Elles.  Then we all took a walk down the street to Granada's for dinner.  I was so happy the weather had finally cooled off.  No more scorching heats.  It finally felt like fall, with cool breezes and dewy mornings.  After watching the last Jane By Design with Zyla, we sent her to bed.  Ed's turn to pick a movie, he chose 3 Magic Words.  I really enjoyed the editing the trippy feel of the movie as well as all the cool quotes and the message.  While the movies 3 magic words were ‘I am God', I felt they should be ‘I love you' or ‘I am love'.  It reminded me of what is truly important and not to let things get to me and remember the higher purpose of this existence that can sometimes be pushed aside with all the drama life throws at me. 

Tuesday was wear your favorite set shirt day on Whitney.  The prize for best set shirt would win a cake!  Zyla really wanted me to win her some cake.  I woke up at 5am again to get ready putting on my Dexter season 5 prop department shirt.  I dropped Zyla to school then headed into the stages.  Breakfast was scrambled eggs with steak, potatoes, fruit.  I looked at the call sheet and it said oldest set shirt wins, so I knew instantly that would not be me.  Andy had on a jacket from his days when he worked WKRP In Cincinnati!  Jane had on a Cheers jacket.  A new stand in named Nick arrived.  He was needed to cover Mark, since Matt had to cover the guest star Lance in the big bar scene everyone was in.  The pre-shoots took forever.  At one point Rhea just wanted to stay on her bar stool for lighting of her close up so I waited in the wings.  I had heard rumors she used to do stand in before making it, so I guess she was comfortable hanging with the rest of 2^nd Team.  A hot snack of chicken pot pie and beef pot pie came.  I ate some then took a nap in my car during the walk away lunch.  Megan pulled up my imdb page and I was a little apprehensive.  I always had a fear of people pulling it up and finding out about my past while I am on set.  I know what an issue my past is for mainstream and did not want drama or to loose my job over it.  She only seemed interested in looking at pictures and since there is only one on there, she did not say anything else about it.  I decided to just let it go.  After all, the past is the past and if people are still going to judge me off something I did almost 20 years ago there really is nothing to be done about it.  I was tired of living in fear and had accepted myself for who I was and others should too.  After the pre-shoots we were supposed to do a reshoot of a scene from the week before, but we were so behind it got pushed to first thing Wednesday morning.  Another hot snack came in the evening, spicy chicken, sausage gumbo with rice.  I loved it.  Then I had a little po-boy sandwich.  Finally wrapped out by 7pm. 

Wednesday I took Zyla to school then came home to finish getting ready for set.  I had to be in at 10am for the re-shoot of a scene from the last episode.  Ran into Megan in the parking lot and told her how I felt about her pulling up my imdb page.  I asked her not to bring up anything about it while we were working on set.  All she had wanted was to see more pictures of me, so I told her to go to my krush site, with all my BG photos on it.  We were super early and so headed to the breakfast area.  The first thing up was Scene E reshoot from last week's episode.  I vaguely remembered what that scene was and we weren't given any scripts when Antar asked us to come down and block it out for lighting.  Going off memory we showed him what the scene entailed.  Thankfully when it came time to shoot, we had been right in what we remembered the scene being.  New dialog had been added to the ending of it, so they were just reshooting the last half of it.  It was done quickly.  Snacks came, chili and corn bread, but I opted for the amazing salad covered in grapes, Gorgonzola, and tomatoes.  Camera refresh went by quickly and by 1pm it was break time until 4pm.  I went home to make dinner for my family.  They would be getting home around 5pm after Zyla's Mock Trial class, so I wanted it ready for them when they got there.  I headed back the stages after eating and found an ice cream cookie truck waiting!  I got fresh baked chocolate chip cookies with chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream, yummy!  All the stand ins gathered in the AD office.  Megan found a program of the Whitney show that is usually passed out to audience members.  We were all pleasantly surprised to see on the back of the program all of the crew listed including us the stand ins!  The evening went by quickly, I read from my Women In Love book and texted a lot with Zyla.  Had a little sandwich snack, then later Carney's food arrived.  I had a chicken apple sausage on hot dog bun, with mustard, onions, shredded cheese and cabbage.  Everyone was busy with something, Matt watching movies on his iPad, Alex playing games on her cell, Megan reading fashion magazines.  By 9pm we were wrapped.  I made it home in time to do prayers with Zyla before kissing her goodnight.  Ed and I sat down to watch a couple episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 8 that had just arrived on disk from Netflix. 

Thursday I woke up and it was back to Zyla's school library earning those service hours with the 3^rd and 4^th grade.  One child asked if I liked being a librarian.  I love books!  Not too much drama, some stuff animals being tossed back and forth across the room that was quickly shut down with a threat to return to their classroom.  Afterward, I went to pick up Jodi and we headed down to Mimi's for a Mimosa brunch.  I spent the afternoon reading, took a little nap before picking up Zyla from school.  Fed her some dinner before she was off to gymnastics. 

Friday I was supposed to go hiking with Megan, but she was called into Whitney to stand in for a guest star, so I went hiking by myself up at Stough.  Prayed the rosary as I made my way to the far picnic bench.  The air was so fresh and clean after the rains that fell most of the previous day.  I felt invigorated and refreshed.  Read some more of Women In Love before getting Zyla from school.  We had a mellow afternoon.  She worked on her Halloween art project for school.  Ed spent the evening filming Jodi's son Jesse in his school theatrical production.  With Zyla over at her friend's house, I spent time with Marilyn in Manhattan, a cute documentary about the superstar's days in New York starting her own production company.  I also watched De-Lovely.  I love Ashley Judd, she did an amazing job playing composer Cole Porter's wife Linda, in this musical love story. 

Saturday, I was excited for Megan's house party.  After Zyla was done with gymnastics, we had a mellow afternoon, watched an episode of Glee, which had finally been added as instant on Netflix, no more waiting for disks.  Around 6pm we arrived at Megan's house to celebrate Havdalah.  She had so many tasty Jewish dishes, I could not stop eating!  It was the first time she was meeting my family and my first time meeting her composer husband Liam.  We all had so much fun, drinking, laughing, telling stories.  They had recently bought a new microphone, which we used for some karaoke before heading out to their pool and Jacuzzi under the stars.  The evening ended with ghost stories before our drive home.  With blessings of Shavua Tov we parted for the night. 

Sunday, I woke up early but then went back to bed since no one else was waking up.  Finally around 10am everyone stirred.  Ed had to film Crespi's theatrical production of Dead Man Walking.  Zyla had to finish coloring her Halloween art.  I read some more of the never ending Women In Love.  I still stand by my statement that I preferred Lawrence short stories best.  We watched another Glee that featured a mash up of two Adele songs.  It reminded me of being at Megan's where I had sung ‘Someone Like You'.

Monday, back to set on Whitney, was an easy day since my girl Rhea was only in two bar scenes.  Not many notes to take.  Megan got to the parking lot at the same time as me and pulled up next to me on the roof.  We walked to set together and had the usual breakfast.  Lunch was amazing Indian food.  After the run thru, we had to help with lighting in a theatre auditorium down the way from our stages.  One of the scenes was being pre-shot there, the following day.  After we figured that out, we walked through all the scenes in the bar for lighting before being wrapped out.  I got a text from Kids Management for Zyla to go back to Mistresses the following day if she wanted, working out in Malibu.  I did not call in for it; school was just too much to make time for set for her on top of it.  Zyla had tons of homework and did not get to bed until 10pm.  I felt bad for her since she had to get up early so Ed could drop her at school on his way to work.  I had to be to set by 7am. 

Tuesday, I left for set early because I wanted to make sure I got some of the catered breakfast before it was all gone.  I knew crew call was earlier than the stand ins call and that 80 BG were showing up.  I pulled into the parking structure and ended up parking next to Megan who was just exiting her car.  She had the same idea.  We needent have worried because it was a huge catered breakfast where we usually have the show night lunch/dinner.  I had a custom made omelet from the omelet bar, then some blueberry French toast from the truck.  We got our vouchers at the stages then headed over to the location auditorium.  I was never used the entire time we shot, so I hung out under the cool shade trees.  The weather was climbing back up into the 90's again.  For snack I had a Cobb salad, then it was time for our catered lunch , a rare treat for a Tuesday.  I had Maui Maui with mango topping, some tri-tip smoked steak with caramelized onions and sauce, veggies, pasta with vodka sauce.  All very tasty.  After lunch, we went back to the stages to watch Whitney and Chris shoot some antics type stuff on the green screen for commercials and the opening to the show.  Camera blocking finally commenced. The Tag had been changed so that my girl was now in it.  As usual Andy is amazing and we got out by 5pm.  I was home in time to make dinner for my family.

Wednesday, I took Zyla to school, then headed home to get ready for set.  She forgot her P.E. shirt so I dropped it at the school on my way to work.  I parked down by the river and met up with Megan at the stages.  We had some breakfast then sat around all morning while the camera refresh commenced.  Afterward Patti needed us for a few minutes for some lighting tweeks before we could leave to lunch.  It was early enough that Megan, Alex and I all went across the street to Teru Sushi again.  Afterward we made our way down Ventura Blvd back to Mexicali Cocina Cantina for some Mexi-Mosas at the bar.  A coffee truck was waiting for us back at set.  I spoke with Todd about what was happening with the advertising marketing campaign for the premier of the show.  Last year the push was huge, billboards, bus stops, etc and since it was originally scheduled to premier this week, I was worried. He told me that its premier date had been put on hold, so they were not doing a promotional push for the show yet.  If it did not air within the next few weeks, we would not get our back 9 episodes.  I read more about it online and was happy to learn it was not just Whitney NBC was holding but also Community which was in it's 4^th season.  Whitney had been scheduled to air on a Friday night time slot which I read is a death sentence for any show, so this postponement could mean the show getting a better time slot and moving on to more seasons.  The evening seemed to fly by and before we knew it the Pastrami/Meatball sandwich guy arrived.  Wrapped out by 9pm.

Thursday, back to Zyla's school library.  Thankfully the weather had cooled off again, it looked like it might rain, I kept my fingers crossed.  I came home for a snack, then picked up my Glendale library books to return.  I just could not seem to finish Women In Love, I think I had 50 pages left, but it was due and I was done with it.  I had found a cute quote from it that I copied into my quote journal.  I ended up taking back a few other library books I had not even started, just was not in the mood.  Zyla was getting out early for the Earthquake Drill day, thankfully that meant no homework since the kids were required to leave the building with no backpacks or anything, pretending it was a real earthquake.  Kids Management texted about Zyla being on Hart of Dixie, it was unbelievable how many texts I was getting for her, but we could not take the job, the timing just did not work out.  I looked up more info about Whitney and found out NBC announced today that the show would premier on Wednesday nights starting November 14^th.  I was really excited because that was a much better time slot for us and we still could get the back 9!  All I want for Christmas is the back 9!

Friday I dropped Zyla to school then headed over to Fryman Canyon in Studio City to hike with Megan.  I followed her directions and found Fryman off Laurel Canyon Blvd, but then I drove to where the street dead-ends at a yellow gate.  It looked like the beginning of a dirt hiking trail, with street parking.  I called her and found out the parking lot she wanted to meet me in was back down the street at Wilacre Park, which had literally been on the corner of Fryman and Laurel Canyon.  I drove back and paid the $3 fee to park.  At 8am there was plenty of parking available.  We entered at the trail head sign that said Betty B. Dearing Mountain Trail.  We hiked up the hill into the woods, the weather was chilly perfect.  The trail led to TreePeople, a place I hadn't been to since chaperoning Zyla's 1^st grade field trip.  The trail was just under 2 ½ mi and looped us back around to the parking lot, which was insanely crowded with a line of cars waiting for a spot.  We were insanely hungry so I followed Megan to Crave Café where we shared a huge omelet.  Afterwards we stopped in to Trader Joes before saying good-bye.  I made it home in time to put the groceries away, fax back Jessica's List my new Talent Agreement contract securing my place with them for another year, then picked up Zyla from school and took her to lunch.  Jessica's called with a job for Monday on Pretty Little Liars.  Ed's cousin Michelle was in town with her husband and 4 children.  Zyla had never met these cousins of hers and we had tried to work it out on Monday when they were at Disneyland, but I got off work late and Zyla had 4 hours of homework.  Now that it was Friday, we hoped to see them before they flew back to Minnesota.  Michelle called me saying they were at the La Brea Tar Pits.  When Ed got home, we drove down to Miracle Mile to meet up with them at Callender's Grill next door to the Museum area.  It was actually a Marie Callender's probably the last one left, because the one by us in Toluca Lake was gone and the one I used to go to in Redondo Beach was gone.  They had a huge banquet table waiting for us. Zyla instantly bonded with her cousins who were excited to meet their cousin who had been on ‘Wizards of Waverly Place'.  I enjoyed a glass of Pinot Noir and shared a Gorgonzola, sausage, sautéed onions pizza with Ed.  Live piano music filled the air and I wanted to sing karaoke but it was not that kind of place.  It was the most upscale Callender's restaurant I had ever seen.  Before we knew it the night had passed us by and the reunion was over.  We all said our farewells in the lobby before heading home. 

Saturday morning I woke up early to meet Shanna at 9am for a hike at Stunt Road out in Calabasas/Malibu.  I arrived early, but was low on gas and the spot we were meeting sounded tricky so I drove back to the freeway area to find a station.  For a moment I panicked with no gas station in site and my needle in the red, but I drove back across the freeway and down Mulholland Drive praying for a gas station when one finally materialized.  I don't like to be late and I should have gotten gas before leaving.  I kept calling and texting Shanna but she was not responding.  I got my gas and drove back up to Stunt Road and tried to find her.  She had sent me directions to meet at the 2.8 mi mark sign.  She had said it was tricky so when I found a little itty-bitty sign at the 2.8 mi mark and just a dirt turn out to park on I got out and explored.  It had been raining all morning.  Nothing crazy, just that amazing light misty magical rain.  I did not see Shanna's car anywhere and since she still wasn't responding to my calls or texts I went hiking on the trail marked Backbone Trail to Piuma Road.  It was glorious hiking in the rain, one of my favorite things to do.  The forest was alive the colors so vivid.  After walking for 20 minutes Shanna called.  I thought maybe she was calling to cancel due to the rain.  Instead she had been waiting at another trailhead for me and had no signal on her phone there, so since I was late she drove to where she would have a signal and got all my messages.  She drove up Stunt Road in search of my car and found it.  I ran back along my trail to meet up with her.  Some other hiker was out, just starting the trail, excited to see someone else on it.  I followed Shanna in her car back down Stunt Road to the 1 mi marker at a large dirt parking area I had passed 3 times that morning!  We hiked down the trail catching a bit of the misty rain that had slowly stopped falling.  She cut some wild sage for me that smelled amazing.  Afterwards I drove with her back up Stunt Road to the look out at Saddle Peak.  It usually is a place with an amazing view looking out to the Pacific Ocean in one direction and turning around to look out at the entire valley.  But we were socked in with a spooky fog, so looking out you could hear the ocean and smell the salt sea on the breeze, but see nothing but ghostly grey white.  At the top is a three way stop for traffic and it was eerie glancing down the road in every direction seeing the road disappear into fog, not knowing who might be approaching.  She drove me back to my car and I followed her to Islands restaurant.  After a Maui burger and fries I felt better.  I drove home feeling refreshed.  Ed had taken Zyla to gym, then off to Halloween town to get the finishing touches to her costume.  I headed out to go shopping for drab pajamas, robe and slippers for set.  I only had red which was not a color wardrobe would approve.  I was playing a patient on Monday and was excited to get paid all day to hang out in comfy clothes.  I usually hate shopping and today was no different.  The parking lot and store was insanely crowded so by the time I got home I had a headache.  I took a nap while Zyla finished her weekend homework.  In the evening, Shanna texted that her friend she was going to Disneyland with had cancelled.  I had told her earlier that my family was going the next day and we were going to try to meet up with her.  Instead of meeting up, I told her to meet at my house by 7am and she could ride with us.  Zyla wanted to watch a Glee, and the next one up was the 'Extraordinary Merry Christmas' episode.  I loved this episode, and Ed wanted to find it on CD.  They sang ‘My Favorite Things' from the Sound of Music.  My dad used to sing me this song my entire childhood so it meant a lot to me and made the episode all the more special. 

Sunday morning Shanna arrived on time and we all headed down to Disneyland.  I was only planning on going to the California side since my family had just done the Disney Halloween side a few weeks ago.  Ed still hadn't been on Radiator Springs Racers.  We got in line for the fast pass and waited 20 minutes to get tickets for 1:15pm.  Next we did Tower of Terror, but Shanna did not like elevator rides and waited that one out.  The weather was amazing, a light drizzle in the air.  We walked to the back of the park for California Screamin, which I assured Shanna, had no elevator drops.  It was her first time, she loved it.  The line for Flying Over California was short so we rode that before going to the Disney side.  Shanna had not seen the Halloween decorations yet.  Her annual pass was expiring in a 2 weeks and she had not been since April because she hurt her knee.  I told her she had to experience Ghost Galaxy Space Mountain, so we went there first to get fast passes.  Everyone was starving so we ate lunch at the Pizza Port before hopping on the Disneyland Railroad to take us to New Orleans Square.  The line for the Haunted Mansion was really long, a 45 min wait, but we had to do it and it actually moved quite quickly, not taking as long as they said.  Afterwards we went to Pirates before jumping on the Disneyland Railroad back to Ghost Galaxy with our Fast Passes.  Zyla and I got the front seats, the ride seemed so much faster in the front, the cold air whipping through our hair as we jetted through outer space.  We exited the park and went back to the California side for our last ride on the Racers.  It was Shanna and Ed's first time and a much better experience than when it kept breaking down when Zyla and I had gone last August.  Zyla wanted churro bites with cinnamon spiced chocolate dipping sauce before leaving Cars Land.  Once outside the park, we all grabbed Jamba Juice before taking the tram back to my car.  A good time had by all, but everyone fairly exhausted and falling asleep as I drove us all home back up the 5 freeway.  We got home later than I had planned and did not have enough time to make Mass.  Shanna said good bye.  Ed started up the grill for dinner.  Zyla wanted to watch another Glee and I had to get to bed early for set the next day.

Monday, the weather was looking overcast and a light drizzle fell as I arrived to the wardrobe trailer of Pretty Little Liars.  I found out I was playing a mental patient in a psych ward.  Ed said that was the perfect role for me.  Wardrobe loved the clothes I brought, so I cut the tags and slipped into my comfy new clothes and slippers.  We had an easy day on set of stage 8.  We were allowed to eat the crew breakfast after they went through.  I got eggs, hash browns, and sausage.  I had only seen one episode of the show, so I did not recognize anyone, but Zyla had been jealous I got to go since she enjoyed watching this new show.  I was rotated around the day room of the women's mental unit.  One scene I sat in a chair beside some blinds.  Another scene I sat across from another patient and we played checkers.  At walk away lunch, I headed back to my car hoping my chicken salad sandwich had stayed cool.  It had been 8 hours, and the ice pack it was resting on still had ice in it and the sandwich was still chilled.  I ate it then headed back to set.  Kids Management texted with another job on Hart of Dixie.  If Zyla were home schooled she would be making serious money, but yet again I turned it down because it was too much to juggle into our schedule at this time.  Back in holding, I overheard two girls who were with Jessica's List saying that Rhonda had been fired because of emailing talent when Jessica did not allow that.  I remembered the conversation I had with Jessica when she was mad I had emailed my availability to Rhonda last month.  I was sad that Rhonda lost her job and heard she was doing BG work again.  I wondered if I would ever run into her on set.  I had no idea what she looked like, just her voice on my phone all those times she called me with my details.  I had wondered what happened to her since she hadn't called me in a while and a new girl name Elaine kept calling me instead.  Now I knew.  I wondered if because of all this Jessica had decided not to have her annual talent party where we get to meet everyone that works at Jessica's.  I had missed last year's party because I had to take Zyla to her friend's party.  I was planning to attend this year's, and now it was not scheduled.  I hoped some day to meet Jessica, Mollye, Nan and everyone else who worked at Jessica's.  The last scene of the day I sat at the table with art supplies to color a picture.  I was excited, then the 1^st AD moved me to the seat across from the coloring pad and I played with blocks that you could turn to design different patterns.  Got an hour and 15 minutes of overtime before wrapping out.  I was home in time to go to dinner at Granada with Ed and Zyla before we all sat down to watch Jesus Henry Christ, a new movie with my favorite actress Toni Collette, it was awesome! 

Tuesday the weather was still chilly overcast, perfect for a hike at Stough.  I dropped Zyla to school then went hiking into the hills praying my rosary.  I made it to the far bench and lied down across it meditating on the energy of the universe flowing through me.  Another hiker approached as I got up to leave.  I did not see any animals out, the trail was damp from the rains, everything smelt amazing, fresh.  I stopped at Sprouts on the way home to get Vampire wine for Jodi's Halloween Party the following week. 

The remainder of the week went by in a twilight zombie blur.  Jessica's called really late Tuesday evening around 9:30pm with a booking the next day on the movie Baggage Claim.  It was through Christopher Grey Casting.  I was to play a 1^st Class Passenger in the airplane scenes.  There were no details available until the following morning since production was still shooting at 11pm.  I fell asleep to dreams of being late to set.  Fortunately I woke up and got my details around 8am.  My call time was 12:30pm, so I took Zyla to school then came home to get ready.  Packed up clothes for set, showered and was on my way by 11am.  I did not have to go far, location was at the Air Hollywood stages I had shot the plane scene for Californication last year.  I had some breakfast, got checked in, went through wardrobe.  Everyone was really nice making the day enjoyable.  Most of the afternoon and evening I spent in holding.  Things moved fairly slow.  I sat with two lovely ladies chatting about Paulo Coelho, Celestine Prophecy and movies that inspired us.  We had only shot one scene by lunchtime.  I enter the plane and take my seat in the 3^rd row middle of 1^st class next to the principal actors.  Lunch was amazing, tri tip steak, mahi mahi, steamed veggies, salad.  It tasted like the lunch I had just had last week at Whitney.  Back in holding, I was not used the rest of the evening.  Kids Management texted for Zyla to be on 90210 but she had to have pageant girl experience and costumes, so she did not qualify for that call.  Around 10pm we were told that of the 6 scenes up, only 3 would be completed today and that all the 1^st Class Passengers needed to be recalled for the following day.  I had to let Zyla's school library know I would not be able to come in the morning.  I was wrapped out by 1am, but others were kept until 3am.  My tentative call time for Thursday was 6:30pm.  I went home to get some sleep, but woke early when my family did.  In a half daze I made Zyla breakfast and packed her lunch.  Ed took her to school and I fought to stay awake so I could listen to the hotline at 9am with the details.  My call time had been changed to 9:30pm, but crew call was 3pm, so they were bringing me in right after lunch.  It was going to be an all night shoot, so I immediately crashed out for the rest of the morning and afternoon.  I woke up around 2pm and showered before picking up Zyla from school.  I made dinner for my family, then took Zyla to gymnastics.  Ed and I watched Clash of the Titans before I went to pick her up from gym.  I finished getting ready for set and left a little after 8pm.  I arrived early to the parking lot and shuttled over to set.  I was there in time for the lunch, which was grilled chicken, mash potatoes, salad.  I brought my set chair with me, and settled in for the night.  We were told we could read books on the plane as long as the camera did not see the cover.  When I was brought to set, I continued reading Beautiful Disaster.  I really felt like I was on a long plane ride all night, just sitting reading.  The scenes seemed to move quicker than they had the previous night.  Around 1am hot food came, but they would not serve the background.  Later I found out that they had not brought enough for the BG, but the casting director knew I was hungry and told me the situation and asked me to be discreet about sneaking out to have some.  It was a round breaded pastry stuffed with chicken and cheese grilled on an open flame.  Topped with salsa and cabbage, very tasty.  I was all set to stay up all night when we were told that the scenes they had recalled us for were finished and we were wrapped for the night!  I got home by 2:30am and fell asleep.

Friday, I woke up half dazed.  I took Zyla to school, but knew I would need to crash again to catch up on sleep.  Thankfully I was not needed at Whitney for any guest stars.  I relaxed in front of the TV to finish watching Clash of the Titans.   I also watched the episode of Glee called ‘Michael' that Ed and Zyla had watched without me while I was at work the night before.  Wow, simply dazzling.  I loved all the songs, sets and choreography that they poured into this inspired episode themed after Michael Jackson.  I finished up Beautiful Disaster, which while not my favorite novel, did help me stay awake and get through the night shoots and if nothing else I was thankful for the easy distraction from drowsy thoughts.  After picking up Zyla and doing lunch, I crashed out for some much needed sleep.  She woke me a few hours later wanting pizza for dinner.  I awoke to the evening at hand, ordered up our favorite pie from Dino's and set about getting my weekend groove on.  Ed was working late running the jumbo tron at Crespi's last homegame, so Zyla and I enjoyed our pizza, a bit of karaoke and some Glee.  She went to bed just as Ed was getting home around 10:30pm.  Our friend Andrew showed up before midnight with tasty goodies from Auntie Em's in Eagle Rock.  I loved the strawberry lemon bread pudding, pear upside down cake and mini cupcakes.  I had so much fun laughing harder than I had in a long time. 

Saturday, we decided to have a mellow weekend and catch up on sleep.  Ed had been working overtime and needed a break.  I took Zyla to gymnastics then went for a quick hike at Stough.  The weather was back to insanely hot.  Why was it mid 80's for Halloween weekend?  The afternoon was spent napping, then we all went to Mimi's for a lovely French dinner together.  The next Glee episode in our queue was ‘Heart' with the Valentine's Day theme.  Afterward Zyla went to bed, while Ed and I watched The Moth Diaries to get into the Halloween spirit.  I really enjoyed this cerebral vampy girl film, but did not find it violent or scary as it was listed.  I did end up having nightmares of an evil witch that I had to fight with prayer, waking up overheated, spooked, nerves rattled, walking downstairs to turn down the a/c.  The movie did mention a cool book called Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu that I wanted to read and found at the Beverly Hills library the following day.  It was published in an anthology of LeFanu's ghost stories.  I also found some other interesting books at the library including Cyndi Lauper's memoir. 

Ended the restful weekend with another nap, then to Mass.  Ed grilled up filet mignon while I steamed some broccoli with sautéed onions and garlic.  We watched another episode of Glee before it was time to call it a night.  I had to be up at 5am with an early call time back to Whitney again.  The full moon light shone bright through my window and I lit a candle for the Back 9.

The new episode was fun, we had a new stand in Derek or Brady as he sometimes called himself.  I actually knew him since we had worked together a year and a half ago on the Nickelodeon show Bucket and Skinner, then he worked one day standing in on Whitney first season.  He was standing in for our guest star John Ross Bowie playing Eddie, a new boyfriend date of Lily.  Rhea was only in two scenes in the bar so I had an easy day of it.  The network run thru was scheduled at noon and I was out early enough to get Zyla from school.  That evening after strolling down the street for a tasty Mexican meal from Granadas, Zyla and I watched The Worst Witch.  It was one of her childhood favorite Halloween movies with Tim Curry and Fairuza Balk.  Afterward, she went to bed and I was inspired to read the first few chapters of Carmilla to Ed.  It was a ripe full moon out and he played spooky background music as I read the old English words of the frightfully fun ghostly story.

Tuesday, I was brought into Whitney at 8:30am even though Rhea was not coming in until noon.  I sat around watching our new guest star John Cleese.  He came in to pre-shoot three scenes for episode 211 ‘Space Invaders' which wouldn't be shot until mid December.  He was so incredibly funny I was dieing laughing during every take.  He was playing Whitney and Alex new therapist Dr. Grant brilliantly!  I took a nap in my car on the walk away lunch, then was pleasantly surprised when they wrapped me after Rhea was done at 3:30pm.  I was able to pick up Zyla from her Mock Trial practice on time, get her home and feed her dinner before the pre-Halloween rituals begun.  She was going to be a Punk Rocker and needed all her nails done.

Halloween Show Night!  An announcement was made at Whitney that no one was allowed to dress up in costume since the behind the scenes NBC crew was still going to be filming all day on the sets again.  They had been there all day on Tuesday doing cast interviews.  A few rebels in the midst dressed up claiming that they weren't in costume, playing off military and captain looks.  I woke up early with Zyla to help her adjust her costume, fix her hair and take pictures.  Ed was spooking himself up to be a zombie mental patient exorcist.  My call time to set was 10am.  I had breakfast, pumpkin pancakes before taking my seat in the audience section to watch the camera refresh.  We were scheduled to shoot a new TAG scene for an episode we shot three weeks ago, but I guess things ran behind and it was pushed to the end of the night after the audience was released from the live taping.  The refresh ended by 2:30pm and I headed home to pick up the Vampire Wine for the Halloween party at Jodi's house.  Zyla had gone home from school with Jaron and his sisters and I met up with them around 3:15pm.  Jodi and I shared a drink of Vamp juice before I had to head back into set.  I knew the party might be over by the time I was wrapped and was happy to have a few moments with her before things got crazy crowded with party guests and trick or treaters.  By 4pm I was back to Whitney ordering an iced Carmel latte from the coffee truck provided by the writers.  Lots of yummy treats awaited us at craft service all night.  There were pumpkin shaped carrots and hummus, ghost shaped cucumber sandwiches, skull short cake with bloody red strawberries.  Later in the evening pizza arrived.  I had so many laughs with all the stand ins sitting in the AD office all night.  Megan took silly Halloween pics of everyone.  I grabbed a program for the evening and had all the stand ins sign it like a yearbook for me.  Eventually the episode was finished and we were all called into the bar for the reshoot scene from the previous episode.  Blocking was easy as all the cast was sitting around a booth.  About 11pm we were wrapped for the night and I quickly made my way to the parking structure and back to the party.  Jodi had saved the last glass of Vampire wine for me.  Shanna had brought me some spooky drawings she had made for me of Corpse Bride and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas.  After a few drinks, the kids started dropping off to sleep one by one and Zyla was ready to head home.  I said good night and drove home with Zyla reminiscing about her adventures of the evening.  Halloween success and a good time was had by all.