A December 25th to remember

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I also hope you were able to spend the day with people you love.

Ky and I were scheduled to fly from our home to visit my parents in Texas. Christmas Eve was spent packing and opening presents with DH and trying to remember the things that are so easy to forget. I received a notice in my email that I could check in both of us for our flight on American Airlines. I clicked the button and printed off the boarding passes. I checked to see when we'd need to be at the airport. The screen said "Departure: 12:30 p.m." so I planned to get to the airport by about 11 to be through security in plenty of time.

We arrived at the AA self-check-in screen and I scanned my credit card. It told me it couldn't find my reservation. I had it search using my name instead. Same error message. I looked at my boarding pass (for the first time, actually,) and it said, "Departure: 10:45 a.m."

Okay, you know the panicky feeling I had then, right? Ugh. I went to the ticket counter. This was Christmas day, so there were two ticket agents, neither of whom could do anything without checking with the other one. There were two families with multiple children in front of us, but we finally got to the counter. "Honey, everything today is waaaay overbooked." I was pleased that she called me "honey" since it sounded so young but the "overbooked" made me think of spending days upon days in the comfort of Terminal D. She told us the next flight was at 4 and gave us stand-by boarding passes.

DH kindly returned to the airport to pick us up again. We went home, where I cooked lunch since I really needed to do something that would seem productive and keep me from kicking myself repeatedly.

At 3 we returned to the airport, got to the gate and waited with about 30 others who seemed to have the same type of boarding passes as we did. The incoming jet was delayed, so the 4 o'clock flight became a 4:15 one, then 4:30 and finally, 4:59. Unfortunately, that gave everyone a chance to be on time for their flight. The plane left with me and my above-mentioned 30 closest friends still sitting at gate D71. The gate agent told us that she'd put us all on the 7:15 flight. Fine.

Ky and I grabbed our stuff and headed down Terminal D's wide passageway in search of food, drink, and a clean bathroom. They have replaced all of the convenience food joints with restaurants. What does one do with one's two carry-ons while one eats a meal at a sit-down restaurant? How does one actually have enough time to eat a sit-down meal? We finally found a Ben & Jerry's.

Okay, Ben & Jerry's isn't haute cuisine, but it was just what we needed right then. We both ordered a small of some variety of chocolate and ate. That just made the entire day much brighter. We bolused and headed back for the gate, stopping a couple of times to pick up a bottled beverage and hitting the bathroom.

We sat in Gate D 73's area for a while and chatted and watched people and wasted time. Six o'clock arrived and I went to visit the gate agent to beg for boarding passes for the 7:15 flight, since we still weren't assured of seats on that flight. I went back to sit with Ky and pulled out my testing strips and slipped one in the meter attached to my pump. The way the pump is designed, it is more convenient for me to hold the pump so that the screen is upside down to me. I read the result: 489. What??? I turned the pump so that the screen towards me and noticed that the pump no longer had any tubing attached to it! It was cleanly severed.

The panic that hit me then far surpassed any panic I had felt earlier. There are ominous physical symptoms that accompany such a high blood sugar. My stomach felt queasy and I felt very heavy and slow. Imagine your teeth at their dirtiest. Double or triple that feeling and you've got how my mouth felt. I've heard others describe it as their teeth hurting and feeling "hairy" and that is almost right. Terrible thirst, nausea, and someone has put weights on me. Ugh.

Ky rummaged through her bag and gave me one of her unused infusion sets and I dashed off to the nearest restroom. The gate agents were letting passengers onto the plane already. I quickly inserted the set into my abdomen and ran back to the gate. Ky was trying to gather up our things. I reattached the pump and programmed it to give me a huge correction bolus. Hooray! We got in line to board the plane.

I heard an alarm on my pump, signaling that the line was occluded. NOOOOO! When it rains....

On to Plan B. We found our seats and Ky got out a regular syringe and tried to harvest insulin from the old syringe. After several attempts, she had enough and gave me a shot in the arm. I knew that would buy me some time, but I still needed to get a new infusion set in.

The plane took off and as soon as we were allowed to get up from our seats, I grabbed my larger carry-on and found yet another infusion set. I went to the plane's spacious (and clean) bathroom and inserted it.

Meanwhile, Ky was refilling my pump with more insulin and filling the new tubing. When I returned to my seat, I connected it and sat back down to wait.

My biggest fear, I guess, was that I might throw up right there in the aisle. I remember the old days in the 60s and 70s when at least one person per flight threw up. (What happened? Did people evolve into tougher animals in the 80s?)

Alas, the excitement was over. I'm happy to report that my blood sugar returned to normal within a few hours and I was almost normal again at the end of the flight. I shudder to think how different things would have been had Ky not been there to help me. Thanks, Ky!!!

So, how was your Christmas???

I'm happy!

December again

We had a great Thanksgiving visit from Ky and can't wait to have her home again for her birthday!  Thank you, VT, for having exams early enough so that we will be able to see her soon!  

We took pictures of her visit, but I believe they were on her camera :-)  

We'll just have to wait!

What a sight!

We have had a rather gloomy week, weather-wise.  It's been damp, dark and a bit windy all week long.  I got up this morning and started my usual weekend chores and at about 3 p.m. or so, decided the dog might need to go outdoors.  (He'd been out before, don't worry!)  I looked out my front window and saw that the sun was shining pretty brightly, but it was raining.  I grabbed the umbrella and the dog and headed out.  As we got to the sidewalk and turned toward the northeast, I noticed a rainbow up against a very dark backdrop of sky.  It was unusual in that it filled the complete sky.  I could see all 180 degrees!  I was noticing how I could distinguish all the colors, too, which is a feat for me since my distance vision has always been lousy.  I enjoyed it for a couple of minutes and then turned to figure out what the dog was doing and when I turned back, it seemed like I could only see about 160 degrees.  I wasn't sure, though, and I walked a bit further and encouraged the dog to keep moving.  When I turned back, only about 3o degrees of the rainbow remained.  It made me a bit sad to see it go, but I'm so glad I went outside when I did!  

The Blue Pearl

Arrrr.

Well, DH and I participated in Trunk or Treat at our church.  It was quite a lot of fun.   I would have loved something like this when I was younger.  In case you haven't heard of it before, a church turns part of the parking lot over to families or groups who set up a booth or demonstration or something similar and have games and candy for the neighborhood. 

Our small group decided to go as pirates and one of the families decorated their blue van as "The Blue Pearl!"  DH and I bought parts of costumes, as the entire costumes were either too risque (for me) or too popular and sold out (for him.)   

I thought they decorated their van in such a clever way, and I can't get that picture to load.  I'll try again later.  Sorry.  Sorry Blogger.

Don't have but a minute...

...because I'm packing to visit Ky in BBurg.  I can't wait to see her!  It has been 62 days!  

Gotta pack!

My pic

Okay, I finally posted a picture.  Only one of the characters is really me, though we are both rather scary.    The photo was taken near the Tower of London.  No, really, it was! 

Date Night

Last night, K and I went to a concert in beautiful (?) downtown Frederick, MD.  We had a great time listening to Phil Keaggy and Fernando Ortega.  No, neither of them lit their musical instruments on fire, but it was a wonderful concert, nonetheless.  I was a bit dismayed to see that the average age of the members of the audience was...ahem...let's just say it was close to my own age.  I really can't imagine getting to see and hear a better guitarist than Phil Keaggy.  He was amazing.   

When I listen to the music of Fernando Ortega, I am moved by his depth of feeling and how he can transport me to where I can see the landscape of the New Mexico area he loves.  He sang quite a few of the songs I love to hear and I found them to be a bit different from his recordings, probably because he accompanied himself on a piano instead of playing with a guitar.  The songs were emotionally stirring and I could understand each word.  He is a classically trained musician, and he even sings properly, in a pop/folk way.  

I had a great time!

Whistle While You Work

I wish I'd had the seven dwarves around this weekend to help me clean.  I'd have been happy to have had even ONE helper!  Oh, well, I guess I can do more throughout the week.  As if the work days aren't long enough....

At least I'll be back at work tomorrow and not see the mess.  Because, of course, the mess is messier since I am only about halfway through cleaning.  :-)

Columbus Day

Christopher Columbus.  How I love you!  Because of you, I don't have to go outside of my house to work tomorrow!   (I'm sure I'll find plenty of work inside!)

At our school, we have a very complicated schedule of how to get close to 1000 students into and out of all of their non-core classes and lunch, which is called a 6-day cycle.  This also allows every grade level to go to these "specials" classes at the same time, which delights the teachers.  It has become so complicated that we have to have a binder in the office with a listing of each student and his/her grade level and their team number and letter.  Then, we have a set of tables to use to figure out exactly where each little darling is studying movement or music or art or dance.  This year, thanks to the fact that one of our specials teachers is a techie, the specials "DAY" is shown all day on each and every television, alternating with the lunch schedule, the announcements, coming events and generally a nice picture or two.  On Friday, the teacher found the coolest picture for Columbus Day!  It was a picture of two ships sailing toward a cliff and one of the ships was in the process of falling off the edge of the world.  I didn't hear any concerns about whether it was a little too frightening for the youngest and most sensitive of our students, but it was a great picture. 

What is your favorite?

What is your favorite Mexican food?  Of course, I guess that could mean "favorite type of Mexican food" or "favorite Tex-Mex restaurant" or "favorite Fast Food 'Mexican' food," so have at it--answer it however you like.   

Salute to Ky

If you know me, you know that I have lots of connections to diabetes.  Some people are really turned off by that.  I guess they are afraid that if they acknowledge diabetes, they make themselves more vulnerable to it.  I wish it were that simple.  It grabbed my family long before I was born, by taking my grandfather when my mom was 13.  

Then, many years later, it was diagnosed in my little brother when he was ten.  It was pretty cruel to him and finally took his life in 2001.  I walked in many walk-a-thons  for him when I was young.  When he was diagnosed in 1970, we were told that a cure was ten years away. 

Diabetes grabbed me in 1982 when I was 26.  It was the same type of diabetes, Juvenile Onset, but it had allowed me a few extra years before it changed my life.

If that wasn't enough punishment, diabetes visited my family again when my three-year old daughter was diagnosed.    She has made the best of it all and although she cannot ever remember a time when she didn't have diabetes, I can.  I wish she could enjoy the carefree joy of eating food for the taste, not for the carb count.  

Rant over.

Ky has formed a team to walk in a Diabetes Walk A Thon in Roanoke, VA this weekend.  She has a site for information and donations at:

http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87177414

Okay, blogger wouldn't let me post it without retyping it all, so if that isn't right, please let me know.    I  hope you'll visit this page and encourage Ky on her walk or, better yet, donate!!

Thanks!

A Somber Day

Although today is somber in the remembrance of what happened seven years ago, I'd like to wish my niece Happy Birthday yesterday and my sister Happy Birthday tomorrow.  I'd love to be with both of them, or even either of them, but distance will prevent that.  I love you both!!

Monday, Monday

So, why is a Monday such a dreaded day?  

I think a Monday, in itself, isn't so bad.  I think the dreaded part is that it feels like it is so far from Friday.

Here in lovely Fairfax County, elementary school kids get off school early on Mondays.  It is supposed to allow the teachers to have time to "collaborate," and "plan,"  and whatever else they do.  I can't exactly say what the teachers do during their Monday afternoons, but they have now progressed to the point that they get substitutes to collaborate and plan on other days of the week.  We've got to be the most collaborative, planned group that has ever existed.  

Of course, we're also known for having a very tough school system and we turn out lots of wonderful high school graduates.  Of course, high school is a long way from elementary school.  

I'm totally against the idea of trying to teach kids that school is fun.  School is hard work sometimes, when you are surrounded by your peers, I guess, but that in itself isn't always fun.  Learning is fun.  And to learn, one must work.  I think a lot of kids feel like they have been deceived when they reach about third grade and find that those multiplications tables are no fun at all and that there is no easy way to learn them.  I still have trouble remembering some of the 6s, 7s, and 8s.  I get them eventually, but I have to think about them.   

Hooray!

Hooray!  It was beautifully dry today!   

I'm so glad I didn't clean out the squirrel nest that was in our squirrel feeder in the gazebo! During the storm yesterday, I took the dog out and noticed something was in the feeder/nest moving around.  I could see why--it was dry and nothing else was!   I never saw who it was, but I am quite sure it was a squirrel--or two.  

The basement is okay now and I hope we can get the sump pump fixed before the next deluge.  I am, however, quite behind in my weekend work because I missed getting to do chores yesterday.  Ah, well, the laundry is done and the house can be a little messier than usual for a few extra days.  

We went to an Empty Nest party last night.  It was a lot of fun and each couple's children's ears should have burned all night!  It is almost like withdrawal, however, to return to a household without a child in it after at least 18 years!   

Prayers, please!

We are now getting the rain from Hanna.  It isn't bad, it's just that there is a lot of it.  And our basement is flooding.  Please pray that our backs will  hold out and that we can stay ahead of the rain!

Thanks!

Hello to Ky!

Two down...

Man, this year is going slowly!  

As a team-building exercise this year, we all got little buckets.  Little tin buckets with our names on them.  The rest of the staff got an explanation and a bunch of large drop-shaped papers and they knew what the little buckets were for.  We, in the office, have made our official "team" motto:  "Last to know, first to get blamed."  So, we had the little buckets and no idea why.  I had nicknamed them "little buckets o' blame" for the fact that we really do get blamed for everything, whether we had anything to do with the problem or  not.  

When I arrived today, however, I had a little drop paper in my bucket that had a nice thing on it.  Something about my greeting this anonymous person with a smile every day.   (If I'm grumpy some day, will that drop evaporate????)  Then, later, one of my APs put another drop in the bucket.  Apparently, the buckets are supposed to be places where you can give each other kudos.  Some day, when I have nothing to do, I'll think of something nice someone has done and give them a drop.  If I can find their bucket.  Which will be in their locked classroom unless they are in said classroom, which will make the drop not a surprise.  

Okay, there's a fire drill tomorrow.  Our first of the  year.  We must have one per week for the first four weeks, then one a month for the rest of the year.  It is a wonder we get anything else done.  I'm generally in charge of the grunt work for the fire drills and tomorrow we'll see how many mistakes I've made updating the lists and procedures.  We have a crazy-huge population for an elementary school, so seldom do these things go off without some sort of fire faux pas.  You must call one phone number ten minutes before the drill, then another number when the fire drill is pulled and get outside.  Sometimes someone decides they have too much work and they are just going to stay indoors.  Sometimes the fire department comes anyway and they inspect the building.  If they find someone inside, the fire drill doesn't count and we have to do it all over again.  So much planning takes place prior to the drill!  It can't be a day when we have visitors (groups) or when we are testing.  It needs to be while groups are in classes and not in the halls.  The weather needs to be just right.   It needs to be before lunches begin (10:50 a.m.) or after they end (1:40) and not between 1 and 2, when the Head Start kids are napping.  It also can't be after 10:30 a.m. since that is when the cafeteria staff eats their "lunch."  Mondays are out entirely since our student's day ends at 12:45 on Mondays.    What a pain.  When I'm queen, I'm just gonna walk out in the hall and pull the lever.  Done.  That is how fires happen, anyway.  

We did have a fire once.  Or twice.  One time was just as our renovations were being completed and an electrical closet caught fire.  It was a week before school was to begin, though, so it didn't count.  :-|  The second one was odd.  In the office, we smelled smoke and couldn't decide where it was coming from.  Finally, the Principal decided to just call 911 and pull the fire alarm to evacuate the building.  The FD arrived and we told them about the smell.  They went into the office with a weird-looking gun and pointed it around the room.  A few minutes later, we returned to the office and I noticed that my computer monitor was being taken away.  It had been on fire!  They showed me what it looked like through the weird gun.  Yikes.  I coulda burned up!   

Wish us luck with the Fire Drill.  Oh, yeah.  We are really wild at HW!

First Day of School

Is there any day more depressing than the first day of school?  Okay, stay-at-home moms are not allowed to answer that!  

The phones rang all day long!  We had parents who couldn't wait to get rid of their kids and those who couldn't stand letting their children go to their assigned class alone.  (We are supposed to discourage parents from going to the classrooms because it is so disruptive.  Also, parents have a way of asking the teachers "just one more question...")  I try to direct all of my communications to the student, since I like for the child to have a chance to learn how to talk to adults and I feel that I am a safe person for them to practice on.  Sometimes, the parents won't let their child answer anything.  I feel that such children benefit more from school than from anything else!  

Oh, well, it was the usual crazy day at school.  

One down, 179 to go.

That is really depressing.

Home Sweet Home

Last Friday, we drove two cars down to BBurg to move Ky into her new "home."  She lives in a great dorm at Tech and has a wonderful roommate who shares her first name.   In fact, the one thing that seems to be stressful for Ky is that there are so many of them who have the same first name!  I'm sure things will even out once classes begin tomorrow.  

When we arrived, the campus was packed and wall-to-wall lines of cars jockeying for position in the limited "unloading zones."  We finally made our way to the right side of campus :-) and took Ky's things up to the 4th floor.  I love elevators!   I didn't notice that this picture had a door open that obscures some of the room.  Just imagine two built-in wardrobes and small desk/vanities and a sink on the right.  

Please join me in praying for a smooth start for Ky's freshman year!

Ky, please keep us updated with pictures!

How Big IS That Dorm Room?

Happy Birthday to BTTB Bob!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful BIL Bob!  Here he is with Ky at her graduation!

He's BTTB!

XO

She's home!

Sorry for the week-long hiatus from blogging.  K went to Blacksburg to pick Ky up last Saturday.  Ky had a great experience there and won an extra small scholarship from the campus bookstore!  She came home exhausted and has spent a lot of time asleep.  My main concern is that she gets enough time off to be ready to hit it again in only two weeks!  

This past week we spent (mostly) shopping.  It is funny, but we spent a good amount of time in places like Bed Bath and Beyond and Linens 'N Things and each place had at least one or two other Mother-Daughter off-to-college teams.  

Needless to say, I've thoroughly enjoyed my week!

:-))

Tomorrow's the day!

Guess who comes home tomorrow!  I can't wait  to see Ky again.  We have a few short days before she has to go back for the fall semester.  Please pray that she will have a great semester and that all her travels go smoothly.  

Thanks!

Visiting Tech

Well, we just returned from a visit to Virginia Tech.  You see, our daughter, Ky, is scheduled to begin school there within a month.  She was admitted to a special summer program called STEP which stands for Student Transitioning into the Engineering Program, or something similar.  It started June 29 and we'll have to drive back down next Saturday to pick her up.  On June 29, I was not sure I'd survive this long.  

Ky has had three classes during this summer program: Chemistry, Calculus and Engineering.  How's that for an exciting summer camp experience!  She is getting a taste of what school will be like in the fall.  They are hoping to give these students an idea of how rigorous the coursework will be in the fall.  And how little sleep they'll get!

VT is in a nice college town.   It reminds me of what Bryan and College Station were like when we lived there in the 80s.  I love college towns.  

I wish I had taken some pictures.  Okay,  just close your eyes.  Picture a nice college with everyone you see wearing either bright orange or maroon.  There.  That's it!  :-)

   

Interesting visit today

I went to church last night so I could attend a different church this morning.  I'm supposed to sing at this different church next weekend.  I sang with this church throughout the fall a couple of years ago, starting with the rehearsals for their Christmas program until the program was performed and then I was done.  It gave me a good look at the place.  

The place itself is nice.  It is modern (I like that) with clean lines and open spaces.  The choir (of which I was a part) sits off to one side while the majority of the congregation sits in the "audience" area.  The Director of Music had only been there two weeks by the time I first arrived, so he was quite confused when I suddenly was gone at the end of December.  He is an excellent pianist and organist.  The most important part of the music here is that it is traditional.  That is getting more and more rare these days.  

The senior pastor is a man who looks like one of my old bosses.  He has some of the same mannerisms, too.  This man, however, is a very controlling guy.  He is nice and has a charismatic personality.  

I got involved with this church a couple of years ago when two friends from Chorale asked me if I wanted to sing with the choir for Christmas.  I love to sing Christmas songs and I've noticed that choruses often are able to sing things that aren't typically sung.  I mean, more than Jingle Bells and other little ditty songs.  My friends told me that this church is very liberal and that they are congregational.   That is an odd description, to me.  Anyway, after listening to this pastor speak for a couple of months, I have concluded that they have no theology.  I honestly don't know why they gather.  

The service starts off with a nice prelude played on the organ or the piano.  They have a welcome and announcement monologue.  There is a song while the candles are lighted.  Then, they have a written prayer that everyone reads in unison, ending with the Lord's Prayer.  They specify that we are to say "trespasses" instead of "sins" and I guess that is very helpful.   The pastor opens the floor up to anyone's prayers and praises.   During this time today, they announced that there would be a special time on a certain Sunday evening in August.  They will be having a demonstration and time for reflection using Tibetan Singing Bowls.  

Next, is the Time of Centering.  During this time, the pastor reads a story or poem (NEVER does it come from the Bible) and then offers to let everyone close their eyes to meditate on it.  After that, they have two readings.  At least one is from the "Hebrew Bible" which is what they call the Old Testament.  The second reading today was from the Hebrew Bible, as well.   

The pastor then delivers his sermon.  It is sometimes a story or sometimes it starts with a Bible story.   Today, it was about Guardian Angels and came from the text in Genesis 28 about Jacob's Ladder.  I've heard numerous sermons about Jacob's Ladder before, but this one was unique.   In it, somehow, the pastor came around to explaining about God's love.  He said that their denomination was different.  "The reason we are different is because we are worthy of God's love."  I was watching for fire from above or something similar.    None came, probably because God already knew what was going on there.  I believe he was probably making reference to the fact that this denomination claims that they accept people from all walks of life, all religions are free to worship there with them and everyone is allowed to believe whatever they choose.

This denomination has gone gender-neutral, which has really caused some inconveniences.  They had a couple of baptisms today and I was surprised to hear them baptized in the name of "the Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost, Creator of the Universe and Mother of Us All."  That's the only time I've heard "father" and "son" used.  Usually, the trinity is referred to as "Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost."  I'll admit, the changes make me listen more intently, because I don't hear the usual phrases.  It has wreaked havoc with the hymnals.  They are ALL gender-neutral, so the older folks are singing their old familiar songs, knowing that "man" refers to "human" and willing to call God their "Father,"  while those who are reading the hymns are tripping over odd phrasing and convoluted rhyme that just doesn't often make much sense.  I tried to sing those with an open mind, after all,  I can remember as a young girl wondering why God seemed only concerned with "men" in all the songs.  

Okay, after the very PC sermon, there is an offering and then the Doxology and another hymn and the pastor gives a benediction.  It is all ended with a glorious postlude played on the organ.  I REALLY enjoy listening to an organ that is well-played!  

I have enjoyed getting to know this church.  We have had to change churches at times for one reason or another and each move has caused me to reexamine what I believe and why I believe it.  I sat next to a woman on the plane last week who went to a church that I know a lot about and she told me that her denomination was right because they did one thing that mine doesn't do.  I told her that was fine.  She then told me that Jesus told his disciples to do this thing at a certain interval.   I turned to her and told her that I have searched through the Bible and have never found that to be true.  She said, well, the Bible says that the Early Christians did that.  No, I told her, that is not in the Bible.  I really hope she went home and searched for herself.  I am appalled at people who are supposedly well-versed telling others the wrong stuff.  

This pastor today said that Jacob was the first Biblical character who set out to go away from someplace with no knowledge of where he was going.   How could he miss Abraham, or Noah's sons, or even Adam and Eve when they were sent out of the Garden of Eden?   He also described Jesus' baptism as "John pouring water over Jesus' head." It made me thing that he, like so many others, just teach to shock people.  I wish he'd get his facts straight and teach.    There were people there who needed him to tell the truth about the Bible.    I guess I sound old-fashioned.  Maybe that's not a bad thing.   

Radar, again

His best side.

Okay, Blogger just doesn't like the photo I'd like to post.  I'll try again later.

Thanks Blogger!!

8-((

Radar, again

Isn't he cute?  

I'm having trouble uploading another picture.

We play catch sometimes, but it really is "Radar in the middle!"

Okay, it won't accept the next picture.  I'll have to try again later.  

Blogger = :-((

Okay, here's another interesting item listed on my local freecycle postings list:

Offer:  Polish Pottery Large Cheeselady

What in the world is that?

Things

Ky seems to be doing well.  She has plenty to do to stay out of trouble, but it is hard to find yourself planted in an entirely different environment with complete strangers and to function well.  If anyone can do it, she can.  

The group she is with had a cookout yesterday and watched fireworks and saw a movie.  Sounds like fun, doesn't it?  I hope she makes some good friends there.  

Please keep her in your prayers.  

Thanks!

We're back!

Well, we took Ky to V Tech today.  It was sad to know that I'll miss her, but it was great to know that she will have such a wonderful opportunity.  She is at STEP, which is Students Transitioning into Engineering Program.  It is a five-week workshop in which students who are entering Engineering at Tech study Chemistry, Engineering, and Mathematics study those subjects with real professors.  They will have tough assignments and lots of work.  They will see how tough it is and how much work they will have to do before it really counts.  They will use computers like those they will use in the Fall.  These are tablet laptops and I would think familiarity with them would be a plus before the semester begins.  

It is possible that Ky will decide she really doesn't want to do this much work for 4-5 more years.  That's fine.  I think she's been doing comparable work for the past year or two (five AP classes this year and two the year before and one during her sophomore year) and will enjoy the challenge.  She is also still somewhat shy, but is learning to deal with that and has become much bolder in the past few years.  She tells us that she plans to meet each of her profs just to meet them and she plans to not be ashamed to ask them for help.  

Today, I was reminded how much I love college towns.  Blacksburg is a cute little town arranged around the campus.  It has a neighboring town called Christiansburg.  I feel the area will suit Ky just fine.  They even have a bus system to use--even if they want to go to the nearby WallyWorld!  Is that great, or what?? 

As smart as she is, and as hard a worker as she has become, I plan to pray for her daily.  I hope you'll join in and pray for her, too.  

I'll miss her a lot, but she really seems to belong there.    

Packing for the next stage

Today is devoted to packing Ky up for her five-week stint at college.  :-(

The frown is for her dad and me. 

She is ready, of that I am sure.  We are not, of that I am also sure.  We'll survive, but it will be hard to change our lives this way.  Other friends who will be packing their kids off to college soon will be able to add, "well, at least we won't have his/her temper tantrums" or "the house will finally be quieter" or something like that.  We don't really have an upside that I can predict because Ky is fairly quiet, respectful and a very peaceful person.  She is the same in public as she is in private.  Just. plain. nice.  

Wish I could say I know the secret to raising a really, really nice child into a great adult, but I don't.  She came that way, pretty much.  We were very tough when she was young (18 months until about 4) because we felt everyone needed to learn discipline and the younger you learn it, the easier and more naturally it comes.  She is the most disciplined person I've ever known.  She learns quickly and remembers everything.  (Too much, sometimes!)

All in all, the only explanation is that God gave us a wonderful child who has grown into a fantastic adult.   He gets all the credit and deserves all the glory.  I'm sure she has only begun her journey and I'm excited to see where she will go.  As long as she goes where He chooses, she'll do well.  

Please pray for her and for us. 

Thanks.  :-)

How Time Flies!!!

Could it really be that Ky has finished high school?  As much as I'd like to deny it, she finished, and she finished well.   This is a shot of her receiving a "Scholar's Medal" which is given to graduates with over a 4.0 average.  There were 28 students who received those, I think.  She worked very hard for 13 years to do that.  I don't think it is something one can just decide to do once one enters high school, but it takes years of dedication and hard work.  I'm very proud of her for her educational accomplishments, but am even more proud of her the quiet, gentle spirit she wears so naturally.  

What a week!

This has been a crazy week!  Monday seemed tame enough, but at work things were chaotic, as usual.  I mean, chaos is standard procedure in my school.  Then, Tuesday morning, a girl in our sixth grade who had been suffering with an inoperable brain tumor died at 8 a.m.   For some reason, the principal waited until about 1:30 p.m. to finish the letter she wanted sent home to all the parents via backpack.  That meant we had to duplicate the letter, manually fold it and stuff it in envelopes, count it out and get it to all the classrooms by 2:30 p.m.  We have over 1000 students, so this was a monumental task.   Chaos, as usual.

We arrived Wednesday, as did about 10 school psychologists and social workers to try to help any children or their parents deal with this tragedy.  Little Amy hadn't been in school since early December, and I remember being very sad at that time.  

Wednesday afternoon, around 2 or so, the wind whipped up and a storm came through.  We lost our electricity and even though it was dismissal time (at 3:15) we sent all the children downstairs as if we were having a tornado drill.  Parents started phoning in asking what we were doing and whether we'd be dismissing the kids into this terrible storm!  Over and over again, we answered that we'd keep the kids in school until we felt it was safe to release them.  Parents started arriving at school to pick up their kids.  Why do they think their little sedan is safer in a tornado or a bad storm than a big, heavy school bus with professional drivers and a staff that had coordinated the routes around the closed roads?  There were many roads closed due to fallen trees.  The traffic lights were mostly out.  Extra cars on the roads help out a lot!  

We got the kids home safely that day and dealt with power outages at home, too.  Our power was out until midnight.  Ugh.  Fortunately, the refrigerator was not very full and we didn't lose too  much in the way of food.  We kept our freezers closed and that food was fine.  

The next day was Thursday.  I arrived at school a little before 7 a.m. and noticed that we still didn't have power.   One of my co-workers called the principal, who told her that we were supposed to have school that day even though we had no power.  There were about 40 schools without power that day.  They had all the children arrive, then let us know (unofficially) that they were going to release us early--around 11.  We only got official word at 10:15 or so!  That means that 1000 kids have to call home to be certain there is an adult to meet them.  Several of our phones weren't working and many of the children didn't know a phone number for their parent.  Some kids got verbal permission to go home with someone else on a bus, but the bus driver wouldn't let them because they didn't have written permission.  Needless to say, that was another hectic dismissal with confused kids and angry parents.  

Today was Friday.  Our school, along with about six others, still had no power.  I got to stay home today.  Sounds good, right?  We'll have to stay in school an extra day since we missed a day today.  Actually, we are still getting out a day early, however, since they already shortened the year by two days just about two weeks ago.  Confused?  Yeah, me too.   All of our deadlines have suddenly changed.  Ugh.

Another chaotic week at Hunters Woods!

Update

I just went outdoors to the gazebo and found that the babies are all out of the nest.  So's the mom.  It could be that she moved them since the nest had become so popular.  They were pretty big already, though.  They have skinny rat tails instead of nice, bushy tails.  Their mom wasn't much larger than they were.  I hope they can survive.  We have a neighbor cat who would love to torment them.  Radar likes to think he will catch a squirrel, too.  

Babies

We have a gazebo.  It's not pretty, but it came with our house.  I hope we can sell our house before the gazebo needs to be dismantled.  Nuff said.

Anyway, a few years ago, when the squirrels were keeping fat on our bird seed, Ky and I made a squirrel feeder and put it on the gazebo.  It is not that close to the bird feeder, so it might work.  

For a while, we were good at keeping it stocked with peanuts, but peanuts also have a cost and the squirrels were  always walking out without paying for their meals.  The squirrel feeder soon became just another odd ornament.  About two months ago, I cleaned out the squirrel feeder, which is mostly a gallon jar in a wooden harness.  I felt good about having the thing at least look clean.  About a month ago, I noticed that someone had filled the jar with leaves or mud, or something brown.   I mentioned this to Ky, who investigated and saw that it had become a nest for some baby squirrels. 

Okay, I can't get the pictures to be "below" so you'll have to scroll back up to see them.  I'll try with another shot:

Didn't work.  Oh, well.  I think the little squirrels are cute.  Pretty soon, they'll be eating up lots of seeds and causing trouble.  Still, it is fascinating.  Mom Squirrel likes to sit in the entrance and watches every move we make.  If we get too close, however, she runs off and that's how I got the pictures.  

God made some pretty animals!

Prom 2008

Prom was a little more than a week ago.  This year, Ky and her good friends, Mag, D, Cath, J and M all went to eat at a restaurant and then to the prom and finally, to the After-Prom.  Why don't they have an After After-Prom?  

Graduation is coming, heigh ho, heigh ho!

Ky graduates on June 16, 9:30 a.m.  Anyone who wants to be there, is welcome.  I plan to be there.  She is going to the prom this weekend.  She has finished 4 of her 5 AP tests this year.  The last one is a make-up test since she had two scheduled at the same time.  It is on the 23rd, I believe.  It is English, which is a good one to finish out on.  That means the tough ones--calc, German, computer science and physics, are done.   Okay, English won't be easy, but having the others a couple of weeks after the rest would be torture.  

Ky will have several pieces of graduation regalia to wear for the different honor societies.  I can't recall all that she will wear.  She's heard nothing from NHS (Nat'l Honor Society) and it appears that the hardest part of that group was the application.  Just about the only part of NHS was the application!  They have a choice of cords and tassels for most of the honor groups.  

My graduation had no such fun stuff.  I was in NHS, but don't recall that we had anything to show for it.  I lived back in the boring old days.   I need to remember to do a post on my early, black-and-white years.   I don't know how (or why) we stayed awake during it all!

Anyway, stay posted for exciting graduation/prom stuff.  I'll see if I can find time to count down the days, too.  

I'm really proud of Ky for working so long and so hard!  I only had 12 years of school!  She's had an extra year--Kindergarten!  I'm surprised I was able to get through all 12 years, and here, she's ahead of me.  How did the teachers cram learning colors and letters and numbers into first grade with all that other stuff.  Memories of first grade--that's another post!

Ky's prayer requests!

FYI:

Ky is taking her AP tests this week and next.  Then, she has one final one on the 23rd.  Please keep her in your prayers.  She has worked VERY hard all year and knows just about everything the teachers have tried to teach her, but I just pray that she'll be able to pull it out of her memory in the correct order and think straight during her tests.  Today's test was Computer Science and the teacher admitted early in the year that he would only be teaching them about half of what they needed to do well on the exam :-(   That makes for a rather depressing beginning to the testing weeks, doesn't it?  Regardless, Ky remains confident that she is ready for tomorrow's test--BC Calculus.  Someone asked her the other day if the BC stood for "Before Christ!"  That brought all sorts of fun pictures into my head, of guys riding donkeys with slide rules and calculators, doing derivatives and integrals!   I don't know what BC stands for, but it is the tougher of the two Calculus classes.  

Next week, Ky has German and Physics (ugh) and finishes up the AP testing on the 23rd with English.  

Also, Ky and her dad will be performing at a youth group coffeehouse on Friday night.  They will play Orange Blossom Special--one of my favorite fiddling tunes.  They sound great!  Prayers for that would also be appreciated!

Monday, Monday

I used to hate Mondays at work.  I mean, they always seemed to catch everyone off-guard.  More mistakes were made and lots of interruptions occurred, etc.  At my present job with my present boss, however,  every day seems like a Monday.   

There is a great poster from Despair.com that I just really enjoy.  Here it is:  

http://www.despair.com/leaders.html

Our plan of action each day is:  

1.    Wait for fire.

2.    Put fire out.

3.    Do damage control.

4.    Repeat.

I know it seems like I'm joking, but I'm not.  

Take today, for instance.  About eight kids were in the gym today when a fire extinguisher was used.  The principal spoke to each child and had him/her write their version of what happened down.  Each kid claimed they were innocent, so the principal called each parent and told them that since no one would rat out the perp, they all got to stay 1.5 hours after school each day  this week to work as the custodians' assistants, since the custodian was the one who had to clean up the mess from the fire extinguisher.  

Okay, the principal didn't catch one parent, so, before she left for a meeting, she had me relay the message to the parent.  Luckily, this parent took it all pretty well and that wasn't so bad.  Then, however, school was over and these eight kids reported to ME to find out what their after-school duties were.  The custodian on duty at that time speaks very little English, so I had to escort the kids around the building to locate her and try to explain to her what to do.  She had to stop her work and give them all the supplies they needed to clean the windows, walls, etc.  Have you ever seen what a window looks like when a 12-year old is asked to clean it?  A 12-year old who doesn't really care whether it is clean or not?  I think the kids did a little time cleaning some of the bathrooms, too, but they seemed to have a great time.  

Time with principal:  0 minutes

Time with me, keeping me from my work:             20 minutes

Time with custodian, keeping her from her work:  1 hour

Guess what?  This scene will be repeated each afternoon this week!  

Day after day, I am left in the office with several kids who were too unruly to be handled in the classroom.  Am I trained in classroom management?  How about child behavior?  Am I licensed to care for any children?  

Answer "NO" for all the above.

Do I have a job to do besides watching unruly kids?  

The principals (we have a principal and two APs) are in meetings nearly every day, many of them are offsite.  I'm not sure how they are supposed to use all this newfound knowledge they get during these meetings since they are seldom in the office.  

I've decided the policy-makers haven't been in a school (on the front lines) in so many years, they have no idea what actually occurs in a real school.  Do they really think kids sit in desks in straight lines and walk quietly to and from the lunch room?  

Instead, should someone from the superintendent's office happen to come by, we must suspend our work for two days cleaning and decorating so they will think things are wonderful in the schools.   I'd love to have the assist superintendent walk in while a teacher, a counselor and an assistant principal are trying to coax a mean, unruly little eight year old (who weighs about 70 pounds) into the office so his screaming and crying and whining won't disturb anyone except those of us in the office.  

Schools aren't what they used to be!

 

Waning Senior Year!

Well, Ky is finishing out her senior year.  She is taking 5 (count them FIVE!) AP classes!  The AP tests begin on May 6 and occur almost daily until May 13, then she has a make-up test on May 23.  She is doing very well in all of her classes, but some of the teachers are not teaching to the test and have told the classes to expect lower scores just because they haven't been able to cover all the required material.  That's okay since Ky didn't really need any of the credits, but she's done an awful lot of work and it will be disappointing to see that, although she has mastered the material she has been given, it is still not enough.  

She decided to attend Virginia Tech next year and is in the process of filling out all the necessary forms.   There is the "themed housing" application, the "STEP" summer school application, and the other scholarship applications that must still be submitted.  

Keep Ky in  your prayers, as her allergies have kicked in for the spring and she isn't able to get much sleep.  

Hang in there, Ky!  I'm proud of all the work you've done!

Back Home Again!

Thanks for the prayers for our trip.  This year, we had great bus drivers, great buses, great kids and great fun.  We didn't get great scores, but that's okay.  That's not what the trip is about, IMO.  It didn't rain inside the bus this year, so I was happy.  The driver didn't pull over for a nap in a deserted gas station, either.  

The buses were pretty cool.  They were new and had an interesting DVD system.  Every six or eight seats had a video screen where you could watch either a DVD or DirectTV.  I was in the front right seat and was in control of the entire system.  No manual, but no worries.  I hate manuals and wouldn't have read one anyway.  

Disney World is a great place.  It feels like utopia.  If everyone acted and reacted to others the way the Disney employees do, the world would be a better place.   It all comes at a cost, though.  $$$$$

Okay, the pope is in town.  I'm not Catholic, so I just don't get the importance of it.  I like not having to go to God through a priest or a pope.  The red shoes were cool, though.  I don't know why anyone would go to the trouble of going downtown to watch the pope on a giant screen TV.  It doesn't seem like you are really seeing the person, to me.  They have started putting a few opera performances out on the giant screens like that and I'd love to see one of those.   Hearing the pope's voice in person isn't worth the trouble to me.

****************

I've been doing a lot of thinking in the past week or two and I hope it will make me a better person.  Keep me in your prayers!

OFF TO ORLANDO!

Keep us in your prayers!

Travel for Dummies

Speaking of traveling, I'll be chaperoning 51 orchestra students from my daughter's school on a bus to Orlando.  Yee-ha.  Ya know how many hours that is in a bus???  

This will be my fourth trip.  The first year, I was mostly a spectator.  Bus trip to Orlando.  A long trip, but a lot of fun.  During this trip, one of the other chaps asked me to join the Orchestra Boosters Board of Directors, which I did.  That pretty much guaranteed me a spot on any trip we took.  

The second trip was to NYC.  Short trip, crazy trip and although I enjoyed NYC, I don't want to escort 50 teens there.  We saw Phantom of the Opera and hadn't really told the kids where the bus would be afterward because the chaperones were supposed to call the bus driver after the show and he'd tell us where he was able to park the bus.  (Not many bus parking lots there!)  So, when the show was over, we had to herd the kids and try to scream to them the location of the bus.  We had a few mishaps, in addition, that night, but we eventually got everyone to the bus.  Moral of that story:  it is really crowded after the shows let out in NYC.  The theaters are generally in the same area of town, many on the same block, and they all finish their shows at approximately the same time.   It reminded me of the hallways in high school.   

The third year's trip took us to Atlanta.  Okay, so it was quite a bit less exciting than the other trips.  We did, however, get to hear the Atlanta Symphony play.  Earlier the same day, our kids had the pleasure of performing in that very same performance location!  If you are a performer, the previous sentence means more than if you've never performed.  

On the ride home from Atlanta, the one of the other chaperones and I talked about where "we'd" like to go this year.  I told her, in no uncertain terms, I would love to return to WDW in Orlando.  Why?  Well, in spite of the fact that the trip would be long, the thing I like most is that there is so little to plan.  Really, most of what you do is arrange a bus trip down and a hotel for the stay.   When you visit a city, you have to do that AND arrange some sort of entertainment.   The Broadway show and a walk through Times Square at night.  The kids were walking blindly down the street trying to take pictures in every direction and the chaperones were having to herd them back onto the sidewalks and keep them from crossing streets in front of cars, etc!  It was crazy.     Try to find a restaurant that will feel 50-60 people at once in NYC that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Try to find things to do that are legal that 50 teens won't roll their eyes at!  When it comes right down to it, Orlando is a chaperone's dream.  Take 'em to the park, tell them you want them to check with you at noon so they can pick up the money you have for them for lunch, then repeat for dinner and give them a time for evening pick-up.  

Just in case you ever find yourself planning a trip for a large group of teens!

Blogs

Have you ever thought about what different people's blogs are like?  Just read a few and you'll get an idea of the "message" they are sending.  

Some like to just journal.  "Went shopping today.  Saw a movie."  

Some are based on a theme.  (ho-hum)

Some are like regular editions of a newspaper.  Monday is about X, Tuesday is about Y, skip Wednesday, Thursday is about Z and Friday is about the weekend.    I admire people who blog like that because by the time I get to my computer to blog, I'm so tired I can't recall what day this is!  

Then, there those who like to read all over the internet for odds and ends.  It's almost a one-ups-manship type of thing.  Okay, that may not be a word.  Sorry, but you get my drift.  It reminds me of Google's or Yahoo's "odd news" links.  I guess that is interesting, but if I wanted to find the weirdest story online today, I'd be doing that instead of reading your blog.  

What is my blog like?  I don't know.  There's no rhyme or reason to what I write.  My purpose for writing is often to signal to the few who read it that I am still alive.  

Ky used to journal a lot.  She was determined to write something every day.  So, most of her entries were, and I quote:  "Norm day."   Those are some of my favorites.  I'm so glad she wrote.  It captured a time period in her life that I'd otherwise have a hard time remembering--the day to day stuff, for certain.  What will parents of kids do these days to do that?

Spring Break

Today was back to school day.  I really could have used another four hours of sleep!  So, after Spring Break, we're on the downhill slide into summer!  Hooray, if it weren't so long this year!  

Over Spring Break, however, I got to do something I enjoy more than most anything else--spend time with Ky!  She is such an interesting person and we had a couple of fun days at the mall looking for prom dresses!  I'll remember those days for a long time!  

We also went to visit one college that Ky was accepted to, but ended up not liking so much.  That is progress!  The choice is down to two, now!  The decision must be made before May 1.  I think the schools are as different as they can be, but we haven't visited one at all.  

Does anyone know much about Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute?  It is between RPI and Virginia Tech.  RPI is near the Hudson River (close to Troy, NY--brrrrrr.)  VT is in the hills of Virginny--Blacksburg.  As Ky mentioned to me earlier, she didn't choose any warm places to go to school.  

Well, cast your votes here, folks!

 

Five months

In about five months, Ky will be going off to college.  I can't believe it will happen so quickly.  If she goes to VT, I believe she'll also be there for about five weeks during the summer, too.  

What am I gonna do?

  

Spring Ramblings

Spring brings many thoughts to mind.  

...Flowers

...Showers

...Seed catalogs

...Warmth

...Break

...Pollen

...Allergies

...Cleaning

We're in the midst of our Spring Break right now and I have a bad case of the lazies.

We just got back from a road trip to Cleveland to check out a potential college for Ky.  She liked the college less than the brochures, so I guess that's the last trip to Cleveland for us for a while.  It is a nice place and the school was nice, but it has to be compared to Virginia Tech and that will be hard to beat.  

When we returned home, there was a very happy puppy dog who served as our official Welcome to Virginia committee.  We had a neighbor teen come by three to four times a day to walk him and play with him and check on him.  She is an exceptional girl who Radar has seen on walks before.  

Today, he won't leave my side.  It is great to be loved and missed!

 

Ready, March!

Can it be March already?  

It is funny how time flies as I age.  A day used to seem like a lifetime when I was a child.  The week seemed like ages when I was in school.  Now, the hours, days and years seem to fly by.  Must be relativity at work.

Ky just picked up her graduation announcements.  I remember when she was a year old going to another one-year-old's birthday party and the mom holding up her glass of juice (or probably milk) and toasting September, 1995.   Why?  Because that would be when we'd each put our kids on a school bus for the first time and finally have a life of our own again.  Preschool was good, but small and I felt like I still had some control over my little one's life.  The first day of kindergarten was a nightmare.   For Ky.  As soon as she got home, the questions began.  "Do you like your teacher?"  "Did you make friends with anyone new today?"  "Do you have homework?"  Believe it or not, that last one was asked in hopes that she did have homework.  I just couldn't wait until she had homework.  Last year, I was thinking that this would be the last year I'd have her home, but although she is home, she has a grueling schedule and enough homework to last three years.  

I know it is preparing her for college.  Without me.  That may be the hardest part of the equation.  She doesn't need me for much anymore.  She walks, talks, reads, writes, she even drives--all by herself.   

 

She has turned out rather nicely, if I may say so myself!  

So, as we wait for the college decisions to be made, we'll talk and laugh with each other and maybe, just maybe, get to sneak out for a Starbucks every so often together.  

Radar, The Innocent

Just wanted to post another picture of Radar, the wonder dog.  He's enjoyed a weekend of being pampered since Ky's been out of town.  He is perfectly happy being spoiled rotten and nothing is too good for him.  

What goes on in that itty-bitty brain?  Not a lot, I'm certain.  That's okay, his innocence is very appealing.  

Have you ever noticed how innocence is appealing that way?  People love children and pets for their innocence.  Think of some adults who demonstrate some innocence.  I like nearly every one of them I can think of.  There aren't that many adults who allow themselves to seem innocent.  

Think of the people who consider themselves just the opposite of innocent.  Worldly wise, sophisticated, "been there, done that."  How many of those folks do you hold dear?  Not many, for me.  

Just something to think about.

Fine Tuning

Well, I listened to the tape of my recital today.  Or at least most of it.  In other words, I've heard enough!  

Given:  I missed a crucial note in Glitter and Be Gay and I will be sad about that until I am able to do it properly in public.  

Okay, now for the rest of the tape.  It really wasn't too bad.   I need to take it to my teacher and see what he says.  He'll be all happy and say how great it was.  Okay, I'm not deaf.  I know where the mistakes were.  It helps me to just get them out in the open so I can deal with them.  But overall, I am pretty pleased.  

I learned a lot.  First of all, be certain of the order of songs before you agree to do a recital.  I had planned to to the hardest piece last.  It got placed as the third from the last song I did.  That threw off my timing and I didn't feel I was ready for it and that is my theory of how I missed the note.  (It was Glitter and Be Gay--a torturous song from Bernstein's opera Candide.  You can look it up on YouTube, especially when Kristen Chenowith does it and you'll love it.  I happened to study the version done by Dawn Upshaw.  I love her musicality better than Kirsten Chenowith.  Dawn Upshaw actually sings it, Kirsten Chenowith gets silly and wimps out of the lower parts.    

All of this is just me being picky, I know.  I'll have to listen again when I have more time, but school resumes again tomorrow WAAAAY too early in the morning, so I need to get to bed.  

Twenty-four hours ago

Twenty-four hours ago, I was a basket case. Okay, it was really about 30 hours ago.  I felt sick and worried.  I really wanted to call off the entire performance!   I finally decided I couldn't bail out and that helped make things a little better.     We had all been up late Friday night due to my dress rehearsal, so I expected us all to sleep in.  Kim got up and went to his early-Saturday-morning small group Bible study.  He is the most reliable person I've ever known!   I got up and made brunch around 10:30 and Laura got to eat a little before she went off to a rehearsal.  She and a group of orchestra members accompanied the District High School chorus.  It was about 3:30 before they actually performed, so Laura rehearsed, came home to do a little homework, went back and performed and then had to do some shopping for her German Club.  I tried to lay low all day to rest up for the night's performance.  

 

In the meantime, Kim was keeping everyone going.  He coordinated Laura's comings and goings, took pictures of their performance and helped her arrange her schedule (of which I was pretty much oblivious!) to be sure she'd be home in time to ride with him to my recital.  From our house, it takes about an hour to get to the church on Capitol Hill.  He took me to dinner on the way to the bus and got me there just in time to catch the bus, which was a few minutes early.  Whew!  

I got to the church and waited for everyone else to arrive.  Tim arrived and we both admitted that it was quite a frightening evening ahead of us.  

The performance went quite well, but there were not very many people present.  That was good, in that I made plenty of mistakes.  That was bad because it was a fund raiser for the church choir.    I still had some fabulous friends show up to hear me.   Many thanks to Pam, Janelle, Cheryl and George!  Okay, George was invited by Paul, but I believe he came to hear me.  He is, by the way, a very talented pianist himself and I hope to get him on a stage soon.   

Several of the choir members were there, too, and it was great to see them there.  Traveling to Europe with that choir was a highlight in my memories and those folks are very special to me.  

My very favorite audience members were there on the front row:  Kim and Laura.  They have been so supportive in the past few weeks.  I am so blessed to have them both in my life.  

Ugh.

Well, I just got home from a ragged dress rehearsal.  I don't think I was able to sing any of the songs as well as I had hoped.    That is scary.  

Then again, it was wonderful to be up on stage and to push myself so hard.  I really enjoy performing and I love to perform with my accompanist and with the other soloist.  

Now for some hot tea and rest.

Countdown!

Today I had a lesson with my voice teacher--the last lesson I'll have before my recital.  I thought he'd just run through several songs and give me a pep talk.  No, we worked hard and I've got several things to try to correct before Saturday night.  Ugh.  

I've sung in public many times.  I've sung solos many times in public.  Each one is a little scary, but not nearly as scary as I used to think it would be before I started performing.  In fact, while practicing, I can think of a way I think I might mess up and nearly always, that is what I'll do onstage!  I really have to just keep myself from thinking of those things!  

This performance is different.  Before, I either was in a chorus or singing one or, at the most, two solos.  This time, I may be singing eight solos and one duet.  Okay, the duet also has a solo in it.  That seems doable, but I need to keep my voice strong to get all the way from song 1 through song 9.  Plus, song 9 is much tougher than songs 1 through 7.  The last two are very tough.   

Also, it isn't too hard to sing nine songs, but it is hard to sing nine songs loud enough to be heard in a church sanctuary--all the way to the back.  I doubt we'll have that many people, and maybe they will sit closer, but it is tough.  

Okay, now I've expressed most of my troubles.  No pity or negativity allowed from this point on!  

Tomorrow night, we'll go straight through the program and I'll let you  know what I think.  

Gulp!

Feb 3

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday, dear Ki-im,

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Okay, once again, you can see that I can't turn the pictures around.  Maybe that should be my blog's theme!

Recital plans

Here is a poster my friend Tim did for our upcoming recital.  I cannot figure out how to have it read correctly.  I have re-done it about eight times and it remains sideways.  I also can't figure out why my text is underlined.  I'd appreciate any help from anyone who has a solution to either of those problems.  Anyway,  just turn your computer on its side and you'll be able to read this.

Impatience

I have decided that I am impatient.

Why? Okay, only those people who don't know me well will say that. Those who know me will wonder what took me so long to admit it! I just got a hankering for an Uncrustable. Have you ever eaten one? I never would have if Ky hadn't been around. She dislikes sandwiches. I don't know that she has ever actually eaten a sandwich, but she is extremely sensitive to food textures. She's not quite a "food can't touch" type of person, but she's close. When she was young, she threw up every time we had spaghetti. I eventually realized that it wasn't because she was ill, but she simply couldn't tolerate the texture/taste mixture. Anyway, somehow she had an Uncrustable. She liked it, so I got some more. I eventually tasted them and I agree. They are good.

Uncrustables are pretty weird, though. They are a blob of jelly surrounded by an even layer of peanut butter which is surrounded by two slices of bread crimped all the way around in a circle to keep everything neat and tidy. No crusts, either. (I LOVE crusts, but that's a different story.) Uncrustables are meant to be kept in your freezer and you get one out and it thaws in about half an hour.

As I said, I got a hankering for an Uncrustable. Got it out of the freezer and carried it around. I don't really want to know what would happen if I microwaved it. It would be a cool experiment, though! I finally ate the thing frozen. It just took too long and I was thinking about all the pb & j goodness. MmmmmmmmGOOD!

It's not really very good frozen.

Now you know and you don't have to try it yourself.

I think I need some Diet Dr. Pepper!

Texas, our Texas

Here I am in Texas, until tomorrow, that is. I have been visiting my parents at their home in the Lone Star State. I was hoping for some warm weather, but they have had weather comparable to that taking place in my hometown. Thanks, Texas. It really doesn't matter. Who spends that much time outdoors, anyway? Certainly not I.

We have had a good time together, but my mom apparently hadn't been to a hospital in a few weeks and needed to go. Yesterday afternoon, that's where we ended up. She is still in the hospital, but she seems (to me) to be back to her normal wonderful self. Now, all she needs to do is convince the doctors that she is back to herself and she can break out of there.

Have you ever noticed how hospitals keep the peace? The do it by keeping visitors/guests/patients confused and lost. Lots of doors, misleading signs, multiple sets of elevators. Most people in hospitals look as though they are wandering around in their jammies. While visiting Mom today, I left to retrieve a newspaper. I went downstairs, asked for directions and followed them. Each path was traveled several times as I felt that I was following the signs, only to find that they led to dead-ends or a set of double doors with "Authorized personnel only" signs. I eventually went outside, found a small building and asked a workman for directions. He sent me off in a different direction. Once I found the correct building, I asked a security guard for directions. He told me to go to the "vending area" I'd find at the end of a certain hall. I went up and down that hall about eight to ten times before I found the newspaper machine. Then, I needed a drink. I decided I had explored pretty successfully already and I took off down a different hallway. I had already traveled about 15 minutes in order to find this vending area, so I felt I would have to ask for directions to return anyway, so I might as well explore a little more. As I took that hallway, I noticed that things looked pretty familiar. Aha! There was the cafeteria, but certainly it couldn't be the one that was across from the elevators I had taken down at first. Ah, but it was!

Well, I fly home tomorrow. I wish I could be here to help my dad while my mom is hospitalized, but I can't. I've had a good visit in spite of Mom's problems and I was glad to be here to help out.

Building character

Yesterday was interesting. After work I had to rush home, pick up three girls and drive them down to Old Fairfax City. The four girls were playing background music for a dinner honoring two scholarship recipients. It was quite nice, but long. The girls started playing before 6 and got finished around 8:15. That is a long gig. They played several things three or four times. They also sight-read some music. All in all, I thought they sounded pretty good.

Ky also had homework. Her school has block scheduling, which means she has periods 1, 3, 5, and 7 on "Red" days and 2, 3, 4, and 6 on "Black Days." On Friday, a Black Day, she had to go to District Orchestra. It is an honor to be chosen for District Orchestra, but once you are in, you are committed to two long days of rehearsing. She was there from 9-4 Friday and 9-6 Saturday, but still had homework to do. We went out to eat Saturday night and got back home around 9 p.m. The homework began and didn't stop until 2:30 a.m. this morning. Ugh. This online Physics class is just eating up much more time than it should. I admire Ky for persevering. She is also staying as active in church as she can. She's building character. I admire her!

Recital

Things have been up in the air for the past couple of months--in terms of my upcoming recital. First one thing, then another. It has been looking quite grim especially in the past two weeks. Then, today, I received an email and a phone call that has me excited again about singing. I relayed the information to my DH and he was very supportive. He usually (for 27.5 years) doesn't give me his opinion on anything, even if I ask. (Wouldn't it be great to have that kind of self-control??) This time, however, I think he knew how desperate I was, so he helped me sort through my options and see things from a different perspective.

As a result, I will be singing in a recital on February 9. Now, all I must do is write my bio, find the additional lyrics and translations, practice, practice, and practice. Oh, and try to invite my friends. Everyone I ask says, "where is it?" and when I tell them, they suddenly have other obligations. Sigh. It is on Capitol Hill in DC. Quite a drive from here, but a great building to sing in. The acoustics are pretty good. Much better than most places around here.

Wish me luck!