Thank goodness it's over!

Well, recital is over for another year and things went pretty well.

Friday was sort of nighmarish, considering that we had to load in a set that was 40' long by 16' high and had almost no help. Only one dad was available to help get it loaded during the day. Fortunately some other dads showed up after they got off work and it turned out okay.

Katey was more help than anyone can imagine. I don't know how I would have gotten everything done without her. I told her I would have to fly her in every year!

We were able to strike the entire set last night in less than an hour and a half, including loading it onto the truck. Of course, it is currently sitting in the floor at the dance studio until we can figure out where to store it. Oh well, that's a problem for another day!

Some of the parents on the petite team got me a gift certificate for a massage as a thank you for all the work I did with them. I can't wait!

And so it begins...

I have been up since before 7:00 this morning, even though everyone is out of school now. BUT -- all the costumes are ready to go and all the accessories, etc. When I leave to go get the set ready to load I can take everything and won't have to come back.

This is going to be such a long day. I don't even know when dress rehearsal is over tonight. Tomorrow will be much more relaxed, even though it's recital day.

And did I mention that my Katey is here!!!! I picked her up yesterday afternoon and brought her to the studio in time for practice. I think she gets the prize for coming the longest distance to be in the recital. The kids were so thrilled to see her. Both of them kind of launched themselves at her as soon as they realized who it was -- I am so good at keeping secrets!!! lol

Ian got glasses yesterday. They're really cute on him. He doesn't seem to be bothered by them at all. Fortunately, no one teased him or anything. He doesn't have to wear them every minute, so he'll be okay without them onstage.

Hectic weeks

This week feels as hectic as the week before Christmas!! I am so tired -- only about 3-4 hours sleep last night. But the set is painted!! I can safely turn over the finishing to other people until time to load it on Friday. Yay!

Nick gave me a scare tonight. We were at my mom's visiting my sister and nephew who came for the night. The kids were all playing around in the yard while we sat on the patio. They were all laughing and roughousing. Then I heard Nick yelling, "I can't breathe" over and over. He sounded like he was playing and common sense told me that if he really couldn't breathe he couldn't yell that loud, but the mom sense kicked in instead. We saw the outlines of the other 3 kids pass by the fence but didn't see him or hear him. I called out to him but he didn't answer so I started over to the gate to check on him. Then I heard him coughing -- not a great sign. When I got out there he was okay -- said he was mocking Ian cuz that 's what he says when anybody touches him. I'm still not convinced there wasn't a slight problem though because he was coughing like he was. I really wish he wouldn't "play" like that.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for everyone. Nick has one more exam, and the others get out at 11:30. Still busy though; I have to go to the frame shop to help finish up the picture packages for dress rehearsal on Friday. And Nick wants Lauren to come over. As far as I know I don't have any appointments though. So far I should have about $200 from picking up the ad contracts. I'm going to use that money to open my business account. So things are moving along with that.

Gotta go -- I need sleep!

My Pampered Chef party was last night and turned out okay. Only 3 people showed up, but they all ordered something. I don't know why people don't let you know whether they are coming anymore. No one calls, no one says anything. I had a feeling that I wouldn't have many when no one called to get directions to my house. Oh, well, it's a busy time of year for everyone.

I did nearly work myself to death yesterday getting my house clean. I didn't have time to do the bedrooms but the front of the house is sooooo clean -- I even moved the couch to vacuum underneath. Now if I can just get the bedrooms done before school is out on Wednesday there's a hope of it staying reasonably clean!

I'm going to Arts Alive in a little while to look around. Should be fun. Of course, I have no money to spend, but it's cool to look at things and I always see people I know. Later this afternoon I'm going to the dance studio to finish the set. Hope I can get enough dads with tools to help!

Yay! I think I did everything yesterday except call people about my party. That can wait until this afternoon.

Big news: I have decided the start an errand service. There is nothing like that in this area so it should do pretty well and will give me the flexibility I need right now. If I can just make it till it gets going... I have my first job today.

Stuff to do today

Let's see...
1. Make an attempt at mowing some grass. It has to look like I'm at least making an effort.
2. Get everyone's dance stuff ready for class today.
3. Go to the frame shop to help identify kids in pictures.
4. Get finger food for the drama awards tonight.
5. Get Nick's clothes for the awards just in case there's no time to come home.
6. Call to see if Mother can get the kids from dance.
7. Talk to Kelli about the Pampered Chef show on Saturday -- gotta choose some recipes!
8. Pick everyone up from school.
9. Take Ian to dance.
10. Take Olivia to Daisy Scouts.
11. Take Nick to dr. appt.
12. Get Olivia from Daisys and take her to dance.
13. Take Nick somewhere to dress for awards.
14. Go to awards.
15. Get the kids from Mother.
16. Call people about the party Sat. to see who's coming.
17. Fall into bed.

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it!

Things I accomplished today

1. I finished ALL the gloves!!! (86 total) They are out of my house!
2. I finished retouching all the pictures (80 total)
3. I started helping identify the kids in the packages.
4. I got all the kids to all the places they were supposed to be, wearing the correct clothes, at the correct times -- no small accomplishment. Especially today.
5. I got my first errand job. Starts Friday.
6. I remembered to write in my blog.

By the numbers

Things accomplished today:

32 photos retouched
22 gloves totally finished and delivered
12 more gloves cut and ready to sew

I am sooo tired. I'm planning on getting up about 5:30 to sew for an hour before I get the kids up. After I take them to school, I have to go to Lowe's to buy paint for the set, then go to the studio at 10:00 to paint. Tomorrow is a long day -- Ian has dance, followed by Scouts, with dinner at my mother's thrown in between things. Grrr! I dread it. But if I can get it all done tomorrow, the worst will be over for the week.

Things are getting crazy!

Let's see -- I need to finish the gloves today, paint the set tomorrow, make sure everyone knows about the extra practices for Olivia's group, go get Ian's opening number costume...

And Papa just brought me a CD with the package proofs on it to be touched up b/c there was a dust spot in his camera -- over 70 shots have to be reprinted. He also wants me to help identify the kids in the shots. Whew!

I'm working on a business idea that would allow me the flexibility I need plus the income I have to have to survive...may be promising. I'll post more as things progress. Keep your fingers crossed!

Sewing, sewing, sewing...

Laura called me on Thursday and asked if I could make 42 pair of fingerless gloves for the recital opening number by Monday. Of course I said yes, cuz that's money for me. I spent all afternoon trying to find black lycra that matched the black of their tops and we finally had to order it overnight air from Texas. I've been working on them non-stip since yesterday. So far, I've finished 15 pair.

Went on a Weebelos campout with Ian on Friday night. They had fun and he got to use all the camping gear he got for Christmas. I like this group of parents -- they all believe "roughing it" is relative!

Gotta go -- gloves to finish before the rehearsal at 1:00.

The sun is out

and it's gonna be 90 degrees today! Yay! I'm so sick of cold weather!

Things don't look so grim this morning since I vented on here last night. Of course, nothing is actually different, but I'll get through it.

Met Nick's new counselor this morning and he seems pretty nice. I think I like this one better than the other one -- he seems a little more proactive.

Not a week I want to repeat

Haven't posted since Sunday morning because so much has been happening -- all of it really crappy.

Let's see, on Sunday night about 9 p.m. I got a phone call from Dr. F about the job situation for summer. He offered me part-time (meaning: do the same exact work with the same hours, same prep time, same stress level, but for 2/3 of the money and no benefits) and I told him I'd have to let him know. No reason given for why I didn't get one of the 2 full-time spots since I'm #2 in seniority. Yeah, Happy Mother's Day to you too. Needless to say, I was pretty freaked. He told me to let him know by Tuesday.

Monday I had to take Nick to Bham for an appointment at the transplant clinic. They called on Thurs. and left a message for me to call, but I didn't get the message till Friday after they closed. So Monday morning I called first thing to find out what was going on. Turned out they wanted us to come at 7:30 a.m. (yeah, that was gonna happen) to start tests. We spend a few minutes rearranging things when I told them that we couldn't make the drive and get him there before 11:30 at that point. So away we went. They poked and prodded all afternoon and we didn't get finished until 5 p.m. Meantime, I'm not saying anything about the job situation to Nick or to my mom who went with us. I figured there was no point. We didn't get home until about 9 p.m. b/c we stopped to eat dinner. Oh, and we found out that we will have to stay in Bham for at least 6 weeks after the transplant instead of commuting after he leaves the hospital. Joy, joy, joy.

When I got to school Tuesday morning, I knew I had to finish grading papers, do averages, and enter grades and comments on the server. I also had to take Ian to the dr. so they could check on the thumb that he broke about a week ago. I stopped to talk to some of the other teachers and found out that Dr. F. apparently went nuts on Monday afternoon and refused to let R take until Tuesday morning to make a decision about whether to take part-time. (R had just gotten notice when he arrived Monday morning.) Apparently, he included me in that but didn't bother to tell me. I opened my email and discovered that as of 4:07 Monday afternoon he gave my position away since he didn't hear from me. No attempt to reach me by phone, cell, email, etc. except the one that said sorry, too late. I was furious!!!! I didn't really WANT to take it, but was leaning toward saying yes b/c I didn't have any other options. Then the choice was taken away from me.

So here I am, unemployed with 3 kids and no insurance and one kid needing a heart transplant. Could my life be any better??? Today I went to mother's house and hid while she was at work so the phone wouldn't ring. I just laid on the couch and read a book all day. Of course, everyone in my family is running crazy asking me if I've done this or that today or called about various things. I finally told my sister and my mother that they need to chill and give me a day or two to get my mind around this. Figure out what to tell my kids.

Good things that have happened this week: Nick and I had a very nice time when he took me to dinner for Mother's Day -- no arguments or anything! And today he got an award for drama at school. I was there even though he told me not to come. Yay!

Weekending

I've had a pretty good weekend so far.

Friday night I went to a Pampered Chef party at a friend's house -- yummy treats! I love the stuff from PC, so I booked a party for myself in 2 weeks. (Like I need any more gagets!) My house is approaching cleanish right now, so there's hope that it could be ready to have guests within the next 2 weeks. lol

After the party, I went out for a drink with another good friend of mine, something that neither of us get to do very often because of kids. I enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to pick anyone up since my kids were with their dad this weekend.

Then Saturday I slept until I woke up without an alarm clock -- what luxury! Then I hit a few yard sales because the weather was beautiful and I didn't have to be anywhere. I think I spent a total of $6 at 3 different sales. I got Olivia one of those art paper roll dispensers for $1 and a pair of used jazz shoes for $1. I got Nick a hardback copy of Stephen King's Night Shift for $.50.

I also found fabric for Erica's couch cushions which we were discussing at her PC party on Friday night. They just got a new red couch and were supposed to get red, green, & yellow plaid pillows for it to tie the walls and couch together. Turns out those pillows are discontinued. I offered to make her some if she found the fabric. She said she had found it but its $60/yd. Whew! Then I walked into this yard sale the next morning and find three perfect fabrics for $1 apiece. Two of them are big enough to make at least 2 pillows each. I called her and now she thinks I'm fabulous!! lol

I went to the bank with no one begging for suckers from the back seat, then to Wal-Mart without anyone nagging me to leave. Definitely a good day. Then I went to the carwash for FHS Drama Dept. where Nick was working and got my car washed. They did a really good job, so I donated $10 instead of the $5 I was planning. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing very little besides talking on the phone and putting away groceries.

I picked Ian up from dance at 5:00 and went home to get dressed for his dance company banquet. Downside of the day: I have nothing to wear. Everything is old and tired and I look fat in all of it. (News flash: I probably am fat; it is not an optical illusion.) I remembered to leave in time to pick up the nail studio gift certificate from my sister to to my mom for tomorrow and still made it to the banquet on time. The food was typical banquet food -- cold potatoes, overcooked chicken, and tiny brownies for way too much money, but the kids had fun.

On the way home, we drove past the fireworks plant and discovered it was the night of their unadvertised dealer show, so we got a great show from the side of the road. I love fireworks! The same thing happened to us on the way home from the banquet 2 years ago so it was a nice coincidence.

I got up this morning and decided to really start my diet. (Maybe if I post it on here, it will give me incentive to stick with it.) I would love to lose 15 pounds by the recital, since I think we're doing a teacher's dance again. Keep your fingers crossed!

Happy Mother's Day everyone! Hope it turns out as well as the rest of the weekend.

Last day of school

The end is finally here! I'm showing 2 movies today so classes will be easy and I can grade papers while the movies are running. I have grades to do over the weekend so I can submit my final grade report on Tuesday. Yay!

Down side: I hope I still have a full-time job after today. We're supposed to find out on Monday.

WOW! I got hits!

I went to StatsCounter to check the stats for my site (something I do every day in hopes of finding out that someone knows I'm out here) and discovered that I got lots of hits (for me) yesterday! And 2 comments! Woo-hoo! Keep 'em coming -- although I wouldn't say some of the things on my blog to the people I see everyday, it's somehow comforting ot know that there are people somewhere out there who do know me...

All you computer whiz-type people out there -- I would really like to have the "What I'm Reading" and "What I'm Watching" etc. in my sidebar but I can't figure out how to do it using blogger code. If anybody can tell me how I'd love you forever!

All about me

Thanks to the Domestic Princess blog for the idea of a list of 100 things about me! You may find it interesting to read, or not, but it was kind of fun to write! Try it...and if you post it to your blog, let me know! I'd like to read it.

Book Thoughts

I got this from Our Home on the Hill:

1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the sentence to your blog
5. Don't search for the "coolest" book. Just use the one that is next to you.

Here's mine:
"No, I tell her, little Jason isn't dead, he's fine now, pulled out of his coma a week ago." from A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers.

Hmm, that one doesn't make much sense out of context. Well, really, it didn't make a huge amount of sense in context. I've been reading this book for 2 weeks (that's a REALLY long time for me) and can't seem to get it finished. I can't decide if I like it or not.

Making a living

Good news, bad news kind of day. The good news is we gave the final TOEFL today and were finished scoring it by 3 p.m. because yours truly figured out how to actually use the new server efficiently for enter the scores. The bad news is that we got an email informing us that there will be only 2 full-time positions this summer and 4-5 part time (1-2 of those will be given to people not already part of the dept.). We currently have 6 full-time teachers and 3 part-time. I think I may start throwing-up.

We are supposed to go to meet with the transplant team on Monday morning to discuss finances, etc. We aren't supposed to find out about jobs until Monday afternoon. Not sure how that's going to work out...I don't know whether to accept a part-time position or not. It will have no benefits and only about 80% pay for the same workload and hours. Maybe its time to start moving on.

Sticks and stones

Well, we find out this afternoon whether Ian will need a cast for his thumb. (He broke it doing a back handspring on Friday evening.) It makes me sick that he might be in a cast for recital, especially since he just got all his tumbling tricks back. (sigh)

I was up until 1:30 a.m. helping Nick finish his powerpoint about Zeus for English. Okay, when I say "help" I'm using that term loosely. He did all the research and wrote all the text, but was having trouble making the pictures work. And he needed more slides. Turns out he was a) trying to use thumbnail pictures as backgrounds and b) had too much text on several slides. At 10:30 I sent him to bed and told him I'd finish the documentation and make the pictures work better. Little did I know it would take 3 hours! It's a good thing he didn't try to do it or I would have never gotten him to school today. I really don't want him pushing himself too hard physically and he has been working on this since last week...

I am so frustrated -- he is obviously not being taught how to do research properly at school. I told him this morning he was going to do a research paper over the summer and I was going to make sure he learned how to do it right. He just gave me a look...I told him he should consider himself lucky if I don't make him go to summer school.

Monday morning

I REALLY didn't want to get up this morning. It was so warm and comfy under my big down comforter. But now that I'm here in my new office, life seems ok. I brought in the new things I got over the weekend at Pier One to decorate, so now it smells really nice. The sun is trying to come out and the tree outside my window has turned green. AND the semester is almost over -- we give our final test on Wednesday and have student evaluations on Thursday and we are free!

Life with a teenager

Why does everything have to be a battle between a teenage boy and his mother? Seems like it doesn't matter what I want him to do, he wants the opposite. I know he's sick, but I can't let that be an excuse to stop parenting. Unfortunately, he's as stubborn as I am! lol