Smellyann Strikes Again

A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama

Y'all did know that's, like, a palindrome, right? That's not news? Anyway. Not where I'm headed. Nor is this collage of silly pictures I took of myself early this morning when I meant to be writing up plans and writing... Read more →

Back In The Saddle Again

Chloë took off the better part of 3rd grade from acting and modeling, because she had about 8 teeth missing at once. No one would hire her like that. And she wasn't really in the mood anyway, so the timing... Read more →

"An Origin," Featuring Chloë Odette

An Origin from Chris Strider on Vimeo. "A Man living in a surreal world where reality and time aren't linear, encounters three different characters who are blinded by this same logic of what reality truly is." Written, Directed, Filmed and... Read more →

Our Day In D.C.

On Saturday, La Familia Odette made the nine-hour round-trip up to Washington, D.C. so that Chloë could reshoot part of her role in the short movie Boom. The director, Olivia, had received a grant to rework the film a bit,... Read more →

Your Name Rhymes With Snot

On Friday morning, I drove out to EBF Chesapeake to pick up Stephanie and wee baby Luke (who, at 8 months -8 months already!!!! - is really no longer "wee" at all) and carry them back to our house. They... Read more →

I'm The Only One Who'll Leave A Light On For You

Don't ask. It won't make sense anyway. Today: Sophia looked particularly adorable. She dressed herself, as always, and even though I told her it was about 1100º out and she would be far too hot, she insisted on wearing the... Read more →

Nutella No-Go

Busy day. I should be sleeping by now. I did take the sleeping pill last night and slept a full night, and I haven't been tired since then. I'm still wide awake, too much so to settle down and try... Read more →

Ego Stroking

So, I stayed up after I posted last night, until about 0500, knitting on that kimono. It really doesn't look like anything recognizable yet, which is why I haven't shown it to you at all. I think it'll have to... Read more →

Mixed Emotions

Welp, I'm still sick and still getting sicker. I was in a pretty cranky mood yesterday, for no other reason than that I just feel like total shit. I was hoping that having a day off from work yesterday would... Read more →

Six Hours Later...

...which is much nicer than my alternate title of "Clusterf**k," which would describe what is going on in my brain right now! To explain the latter, I have once again run out of my Side-Effexor and missed last night's dose.... Read more →

When It Rains, It Pours

Phew. I am feeling wiped. It's been a busy day. Ish. I don't know what I did, but somehow my alarm clock was set an hour ahead, so when I woke up at "8 AM," I thought, "Oh, well, the... Read more →

"Boom"

Here is a video of the very rough first cut of the movie Chloë was in, in January. Have a look-see, and tell me what you thought! Fin. Read more →

Old Man Winter

Whew! What a freezing, cold, blowing, raining, blustering, snowing day! We had to get up at 0430 this morning, in order to meet Chloë's 0900 call time in Charlottesville. (I later got yelled at by both Jack and Sophia, who... Read more →

Triumphs

Here is the first of Chloë's three commercials for NOVEC. Check her out! What do you think? I weighed in this morning. In the month since surgery, I have lost 29 lbs, for a total of 40 lbs since Jan... Read more →

The Longest Day

Whew. I am bushed. Our day started at 0530, which is crazy early for me. The last time I woke up that early (on purpose) was... okay, well, it was one month ago today for my surgery! I'm a month... Read more →

Bubblehead

My children woke up before the alarm went off this morning. All three of them were up by 0630. What the?! Have they met me? Do they hate me? Eh, it was just as well; I couldn't sleep, either. I... Read more →

On The Real

I'm going to try and make this a quickie, because Shana wants to go to bed, so I need to get out of her hair. Our visit is going well. I'm glad she came, though it's so short: she'll be... Read more →

Moving Right Along

Today was Bunco day, so the kids helped me make cupcakes during the day. I had camnesia, so no pictures, but they turned out pretty. We made spice cakelets with orange buttercream frosting. As usual, they clamored over who was... Read more →

Judith Barsi

So it's been driving me nuts, all evening, who plays the voice of "Charlie" in All Dogs Go To Heaven. I could go look on the back of the DVD, but I'm sitting here, so I looked it up on... Read more →

NEWSFLASH

I just got an email from the owner of Casting VA. Chloë got the part of "Little Girl" on the SAG project, Boom. I *think* it's the part I told you about, opening and closing the short, but I may... Read more →