I ain't no Holla'Back Girl......but.....

It was brought to my attention that my sister Andrea had done some serious blog-posting recently. Gotta love a good stir of the pot from mom.... so "hear" goes!

After reading the last post I wrote I could easily write DITTO--I didn't think all that much was going on in my life (Who can top cheese making and Eddie Coker concerts? And Farmer's Markets that have slides and sheep? I am shipping myself to TX!!!) But.... here it is: All things Connecticut!

First of all, I am covered with paint. That is from finishing up all the trim left for Dan's new room as well as for the taco costume. That's right.... I said Taco Costume. Not quite on the same holy-level as cheese making, but.... it's cute. There is a huge annual craft fair at the Ag high school in town, and one of their big fund raisers are these "walking tacos". Basically, you take a little snack sized bag of Fritos, open it and put taco toppings in over the chips, eat it with a fork or spoon. Voila--a walking taco! A good friend of mine at school has a daughter in the Ag program, so she asked me to (secretly!) make her a walking taco costume she will show up with in at the craft fair. It turned out really cute. She hasn't seen it yet--but I know she will love it.

Dan's room is coming along very nicely. Scott is really outdoing himself and it looks great. The floor is in and now it is trim time. There is A LOT of trim. Last night we measured, and Scott went off and bought over100 feet of various trims for the windows, doors and walls. This is where DIY construction turns down a dark and winding path... But it looks soooooooo good, it is worth it in the end. Aidan has been the trusty side-kick as Alannah and I have been busy with other things the past couple weeks.

I have been back to working quite a bit--this week and next not so much because it is the beginning of the second 10 week term. (if you can believe it) Probably after next week it will pick up and I will have steady 3 day weeks all the way through Christmas and January. Then the play will start, and I will be there every day anyways until April. Plus...I have been sewing for people--like taco costumes.... hahahaha

As far as the play goes, we are definitely doing Little Shop of Horrors--have the contract and the plant rented for the end of March. The rehearsal calendar is ready for the first draft to go to the school planning office, and my set design is almost ready to go to the tech guy. He will like it--it is built off the exact same design we came up with last year. (It is a very cool design that he is very proud of!)

The kids are super-excited about it. It is funny how some of them are totally kissing up to me, and others just kind of silently haunt me....I can feel their mental pleadings channeling sweat-ily across the halls..... Oh, the power of the director.... (evvviilllll laugh.......)

Other things I have been doing that also elicit some caliber of evil laughter is getting myself invited to the church leadership retreat. That was earlier this month. I felt good about it--I haven't been asked to DO anything with the church leadership yet--probably everyone on the retreat is still in therapy, but will ask me soon. (ha ha) It was actually a very nice retreat. You have done the work of one church, you have worked them all. Just like school boards and gubernatorial elections. (groan!) They are the same anywhere you go--same problems, same people, same drama. Amen for LOVE, GRACE, FORGIVENESS (and let's not forget beer and chocolate!)

giggle.

Alannah is doing great in school, but she is exhausted from all the hard work. I am really proud of her coming home every day and working hard at studying and homework. She is especially getting a lot of attention in Choir. Her director is giving her all of these extra things to do--she just finished up singing with an invitation-only regional choir last week. Next up is an audition-only choir. She has also been recruited for a special music school in Hartford along with a few other students. It is a major time and $$ commitment, so we are all thinking about it. I am not sure she loves singing enough at this point, but.... we shall see. It would be an excellent opportunity for her if she did. She is also still enjoying being in color guard. This weekend is Homecoming, and it will be the first time with the entire show being put on. Next week they have a major competition.

Aidan is doing well in 8th grade. It is already time to discuss next year--gotta love CT with it's endless choices for high school. Recruitment letters are pouring in, and Aidan is enamored by every one of them. I have a meeting with her guidance counselor today, so hopefully he can help us help Aidan make the right choice, and not be dragged along by the glamour of glossy brochures. (Yes-glossy brochures, special reception nights and recruiters visit the middle school--very, very different from NY)

We are actually considering sending Aidan to the Technical Arts High School down in Torrington. They have an architectural program that seems like it would be an interesting fit for her. I am not sure that the classical arts high school is right for her--I think she would do ok, but not necessarily shine there like Alannah does. They are different girls, different students. I am a little nervous sending Aidan to a school that is 12 miles down the road, but they do bus. (Around here that seems like a million miles away! Alannah's high school is only 2 miles away!)

Aidan (finally) joined the drama club on tech crew--we had to do some smoke and mirrors with her teachers, but they helped to draw her in. She seems to enjoy being there. The play is the beginning of November. Maybe after that she will be enticed to join some of the Winter things going on.

Scott has been busy and happy at work, which says a lot in this day and age. It is a gubernatorial election year here in CT as it is in NY. We are suffering through all these horrible slasher ads. Honestly. I alluded to it before, the local school district is having trouble--many school districts around here are having to deal with the possibility of consolidating and closing schools. Between that drama and all of the election drama it isn't much fun to watch TV anymore. (not that we have had much time to...even with football/hockey season upon us!)

The garden is done, sad to say, but it ended just about the time that Scott admitted he was tired of it, too. At least he was off the hook mowing for most of the Summer because it was so dry. He was debating whether he should do it at all before we have to clean up the leaves, but the neighbor guy went and mowed his lawn. Darn it! Guess we have to now.

We have millions and gazillions of quarts of all kinds of things made of cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. The freezers are bursting. It was a fun and delicious Summer! Everything turned out really good. I am especially proud of my green tomato pickles. Scott will want me to mention he made an amazing Arrabiata sauce that we will be eating with hot sausage. I am not sure that the Habenaro Pepper sauce we made is legal--I keep thinking the meth-lab detection SWAT team will be investigating us.....That, or the EPA. It is pretty wicked. We will be trying that out in the chicken wing sauce one of these days--with the fire department and 911 on standby.

Let's see.... We have a couple more weeks to hit Six Flags. Scott attempted to take Aidan, Susie and Dan there a couple weeks ago but Aidan chickened out, so then Susie wouldn't go in the haunted house either. Poor Dan (and Scott) were very disappointed. I think we are going to attempt going on a date night there soon. I think I can handle it--I have two teenage daughters for heavens sake!

Susie and Dan are busy with piano and gymnastics. Susie is also taking Baritone horn and violin. Dan is in Cub Scouts. That is only a drop in the bucket--It makes ME tired to hear about it all. When they come here to visit they basically COLLAPSE!

The dog is adjusting to everyone coming and going again. Like me, he prefers the house to be full of everyone. This weekend he and I will be in our glory with mom and dad, Susie and Dan as well as football, friends and neighbors all here enjoying the fall weather!

Hopefully all of you are happy and healthy and braced for the holiday season hurtling toward us...........

God Bless! :)

Vroom, vroom, new room!

We got the attic all hauled out in the house this week. Scott demo-ed the shelves in there, and started working on the electrical. So far, (no 911 calls), so good!

I got in there with measuring tape yesterday. Had to dust off all of the interior design crap-er-knowledge still floating around in my brain somewhere circa 1990 college course. It is a small space, but fairly straight forward from a design standpoint. On paper it turned out kind of classy. I have a feeling that once it is done, there will be some serious coveting going on, and maybe not just from the kids!

The design includes a loft/built in bed with a large storage drawer underneath, a play nook, built in bookshelf and a closet/storage space that reaches under the eaves. Scott is warming up to all of my built-ins, but I think in the long run it will add to the long term usability of the space.

Food: Susie and I made pizza dough and fresh sauce all from scratch yesterday. The kids, of course, had plain cheese pizza, but Scott and I made a pizza with onions and hot pickled peppers from our garden. My mouth is still burning! Today I made the green syrup for the icicle pickles. The kids deemed it tasty, but creepy. Funny, that was the same reaction I always got from it when I was a kid.... We picked (I am guessing) about 30-40 pounds of tomatoes last night. We finally decided to make a giant pot of sauce for canning. They should be ripe and ready for that tomorrow. Scott's mom is due in Tuesday, so I also have to make a massive grocery run at some point as we have run out of everything (except vegetables). Tax free week starts tomorrow, so the kids are itching to get school shopping done. (Not that that has anything to do with food, but there is a Ben and Jerry's store at the shopping center.....)

Mundane things to do this weekend: A dump run is getting over due. Not my favorite thing, but rather necessary especially since we hauled out the attic this week. (What possesses us to keep some things? HONESTLY)

I realized this morning that Dan has been wearing the same pair of pajamas since...Wednesday night. Maybe it is time for him to take a bath and put some real clothes on? (Oh well! He seems happy!!!!)

Tttttt-tomatoes!

Time to go down into the basement and pull up the food mill attachment for the mixer..... Yeee hawww!

Have enough cherry/slicing tomatoes getting way too ripe, ready for about 2 gallons of juice and about 2 gallons of sauce tomatoes that I am debating: sauce or just can whole.... hmmm.... Maybe just can whole and see what that does. The juice I will freeze, reserving a cup or two for Bloody Mary's with brunch this weekend! (oo la la!)

This weekend I made three quarts of hamburger dill chips. They turned out really delicious. I am getting brave and not following the pickle recipes to the letter. I took a couple kinds of pickles to the bible school picnic Friday night, and had many compliments on my sour garlic dills and bread and butter pickles. Alannah was remembering Grandma G.G.'s icicle pickles, so we found the recipe and got a gallon of them going. They take two weeks to make--it is quite an event, but will be worth the effort: A very syrupy sweet, impossibly green and strangely iridescent pickle.

We ate our first sweet corn last night for dinner. Inadvertently, as I was merely cleaning off stalks that were knocked over by the skunks. (or whatever) I realized that there were really ears that were ready to eat! They were SO GOOD.

Scott built planter boxes for under/along the deck. There appears to be enough Summer left to start some late crops of onions and lettuce at least, maybe some more peas. Maybe we will get ambitious this week and fill them. I think there were still seeds for sale at Stop and Shop--Otherwise I will have to go digging in the junk drawer because I think I ran across some left over ones there a couple weeks ago. (scary junk drawer!)

VBS was last week, and I have a feeling anything that comes along this week (errr...or doesn't) will be seriously anti-climatic. The kids are BORED. I keep trying to give them jobs every time they say they are bored, but they actually like having the jobs--that is how bored they are!!!!! (I don't know what their problem is--we were never bored!?!)

Hey......!!!!!!!
I'm not bored--I WISH I could risk being just a little bit bored!!!!

We are way over due for a Six Flags trip, so hopefully the last of the hoodies can be shipped this week, and we can get up there again within a couple of days. It is going to be HOT for most of the week, with at least three days predicted to be close to 90. (yuck!) Not much better place to be than the water park.

Major blog hiatus: living it up on the fam-plation

Hi everybody! Didn't want you to think that I gave up on here... ha ha.

We have had a busy and eventful Summer, and I will give you the very briefest of highlights since the furnace guy is coming and then I need to hit the studio:

1. Studio, you ask? I am in the throes of a major Steelers Hoodie production--8 orders due the end of this week. They were supposed to be done and shipped by the end of JUNE, but....

2. Our Summer was majorly interrupted by Susie getting acute appendicitis at Summer Camp in NY. We zoomed down there June 30th to find out Susie's appendix had burst--one of the worst abdominal traumas the surgeon had ever seen. She was in the hospital in Northern PA for ten days. I was basically a refugee for two weeks--thank goodness my parents live near there so the girls could stay there and come back and forth to visit. (I did not, would not, COULD not leave Susie!) Scott ran back and forth taking care of work, the house, the dog and the kids. Mom and Dad provided food, clothing, shelter and cheerleading. And....FRAPPE'S. Yes, there are restorative powers in McDonald's caramel frappes. I've proven it.

Susie was very scary sick, and even needed a second operation to clear up a secondary infection, but now she is ok and doing better each day. (AMEN!) Thank you so much for all of your prayers, cards and words of support.

3. We were given Dr.'s blessing to return to CT the middle of July where we have been whooping it up, Winsted style, ever since.

4. Season tickets to Six Flags have proven a very worthy Christmas present. Susie can't swim or ride the worst, er, best, rides, but she is a good sport and finds many things she can do there. We attended the Mitchell Musso concert there last week--(he is a co-star of Hannah Montanna...cute teeny bopper dude) it was cute. Scott and I embarrassed Susie and Dan by showing them how to act at a concert. Alannah and Aidan were very glad they were at their Dad's for ten days and missed that!

5. Our home life has kept us very busy in our garden which is 4 times bigger than it was last year. Our garden is churning out a king's bounty on a daily basis. We are having fun keeping up with canning pickles and freezing beans and squash. The kids are master bean pickers. Tomatoes are just starting to overwhelm us (never a problem). The corn is probably going to be ready in a few weeks if we can keep the skunks from knocking it over when they dig for grubs. I guess that is better than Dad's problems with racoons who eat the corn.... ours is just growing lying down on the ground. Other fun things in there: peas, beets, summer squash, winter squash, lima beans, collard greens, hot peppers, sweet peppers and cabbage, rhubarb, onions, leeks and horseradish. The Dr. at my annual appointment said I should take a daily vitamin.... yeah, right! I will eat a fresh tomato every day, thank you!

6. We are still enjoying the fire pit with weekly cookouts and neighborhood s'mores. Neighborhood firework displays are dazzling. The kids have no end of things to do.

7. Vacation Bible School is this week and all four kids are either attending or helping there. I remember loving that as a kid, so I am glad that my kids seem to love it just as much. Susie loves the music, crafts and bible stories. Dan loves the games and snacks. Aidan loves....the counselors. (SIGH!) Alannah has had appointments all week, so today is her first day and she is helping with the 3 and 4 year olds. I bet she will need a nap this afternoon.

8. It will be my (big, scary 40th) birthday in a few weeks, and so far Scott's mom is coming to visit. Scott and I are going to see Tom Petty in concert in Hartford. I think we are going to have some kind of cook out or something... there is a lot of whispering and wheeling and dealing going on.... The big town fireman's field days are that week--a seriously big deal around here. Dan saw the signs with all the pictures of the carnival and events and Scott told him that was my birthday party. It was pretty funny--he has Dan believing that the whole town is invited to my party!

9. I guess that is the most of what is going on. The Summer goes way too fast, even though school here is starting "late" this year--September 1st. It still has flown way by too soon. Alannah starts band camp the week before that--she is joining the color guard. I think that is a great idea!

Hope you are all well and enjoying Summer as much as we are! Stay cool!

Avacado paint: It's back in style!

We painted our deck this weekend, and all of a sudden I realized that it was the same color as my (hideous) first car! That brownish, greenish green/brown of the early 70's..... Oh My Gosh, it's BACK! It actually looks really amazing. Very regal and rich. Next, we will paint the doors an equally rich dark red color. Unfortunately, like every single other homeowner in the world: as soon as you do one thing to improve your house, then everything else around it looks shabby and needs to be re-done as well.

Other fun developments from the weekend:
Susie and Dan got to be here for an extra day, which is always awesome and welcomed!

We initiated our Six Flags season passes Saturday night. That was a BLAST. What a great idea for a present! The drive to the park was a bit "wild", but beautiful, winding around all the hills and back roads of Northern CT. It took just under an hour to get there, probably by the end of the Summer we can get it down to 45 minutes seeing that we had to stop a few times and turn around for overshot turns. It is remarkable that this huge amusement park is literally in the middle of NO WHERE. We are driving along on these country roads.... nothing in sight.... and BOOM: HUGE AMUSEMENT PARK.

The weather was perfect, and it wasn't horribly crowded for being a Saturday night. (I am sure that onward into the season it will be better to go during the week and early). It is a very clean park, which is a relief. Very well attended by friendly and helpful people. The only draw-back was Dan was too short for the most exciting rides, and feeling too old for the kiddie ones. We picked up a park guide so we can better plan for next time--I am sure there are many things for him to do, especially when the main water park is open.

Our favorite ride was the family water raft ride--we didn't really get wet from the ride (a giant innertube raft spinning freely down a giant twisting water slide) but at the bottom there is a place where spectators can pay money to run a machine that shoots water at the ride participants. There was a very well armed and enthusiastic group to greet us and we were SOAKED by the time we got off the ride. I am sure the kids will be talking about that one for a long time!

We really only got to enjoy one section of the park before it was time to go. We ended up just getting a little snack in the park and stopped for dinner in Granby on the way home. Some people I work with reccomended the Mexican resturant there, and it was pretty good--even approaching authentic. Much better than any Mexican food we have found in CT so far. Not as good as dad's.... not as good as the Mexican street food in Pittsburgh...but.... not bad at all, and the service was fantastic. Alannah had fun testing out her Spainish with the (very authentic) staff.

Mom and Andrea made it to TX with the girls and cats. Mom says the house is gorgeous, and the neighborhood full of exciting things to explore. Of course, that means that Stephanie wants to EXPLORE--not UNPACK. Always fun when your kids have different (and probably better) agendas than we do!

I am off to teach a drawing class. I am much happier in the art room than the math room, that is for sure. Or Phys Ed. (yuck!) After school I have to run and get something for dinner (chili dogs?!) and then rush home and get painting a second coat on the deck before the rain comes in two days.

Warm Sun.... almost time to PLANT THE GARDEN!!!!

Enjoy our new family picture!

We had a very nice weekend with all the kids at Kennedi's first communion celebration. Her mom threw a gorgeous party for her, and the weather was perfect. Angela won her softball game--but it was very windy and dusty, so we didn't linger and visit for too long as this huge storm blew threw right towards the end. Some of Scott's nieces and nephew were there as well--the kids had a blast playing together on the playground during the game.

It was great to get to visit with Scott's sister, dad and step-mom over dinner later that night. Not only that, but our hotel had an indoor pool and hot tub. You can imagine how quickly everyone conked out that night. Mother's Day we drove up to Albany and had one last hoop-la with my family before the moving van came Monday morning. My sister, my mom, my nieces and three cats are all en-route to Austin, TX via car. Christian flew out yesterday to get things settled for them, and to prepare to begin work next week. It is very exciting! They were able to find a very nice house in a great, family oriented development. I hope that it is everything they hope for and that they will be able to stay for a few years.

I am working today, but it is a light day. I am covering a bunch of different people throughout the day. Alannah was recognized at a special freshman breakfast this morning. Boy, the food service department here makes some amazing food--Belgium waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, fresh fruit salad, bacon, sausage, home fries..... I am stuffed! (I got to go too, seeing that I was a freshman teacher for three months) I am looking forward to getting home and have a nice long weekend with Susie and Dan.

The weather is dreary today, but should clear up for tomorrow's big Pet Parade downtown. I think we are going to try and get to Six Flags as well, and initiate our Season passes for a couple of hours.

Happy first anniversary to my sister Eva and her husband Josh--I can't believe it has already been a year since their wedding!

God bless, I am off to teach tennis! (Math and gym class in one week..... scary, eh?)

Spring, glorious Spring!

Wow--what a gorgeous week of weather we are having. Even the thundershowers throughout the day yesterday were pristine. Suddenly, everything is GREEN! This past weekend we were looking at the mountain across the lake from us commenting that it still looked an awful (and awful) lot like Fall. All the leaves popped out in the past two days, and it looks magnificent.



Our yard is looking pretty magnificent as well. The new section of driveway looks so much better. There is much more light in the house with the extraneous trees removed. We invited the neighbors to firewood and mulch, so that helped to clean up the after-mess. We have a whole new section of beautiful top-soil for more gardening at the top of the driveway, as they Bob-catted the scrubby woods section at the back of the garage. Aidan is starting pumpkin and melon seeds to put up there next to/as part of the compost pile.

In the garden now are onions, peas, cabbage and green/wax beans. Ready to go into the garden are sweet peppers (all colors), banana peppers, some basic tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, beets and squash. I did mention our garden was 4 times bigger this year? I need to remember to stop out at the organic place and get some more specialty tomatoes too. Hopefully we won't have that horrible blight problem again. Other green things, planted in bins for the season: carrots, mescalin, spinach, 3 kinds of lettuce, kale, radishes and many herbs. It was so cute! The guy who did our driveway was amazed that we could grow our own vegetables. He couldn't get over it. He and his girlfriend just bought a condo, so I think I will make them a planter pot with some stuff in it so he can too.

It is tempting with this weather, as usual, to want to get out there and plant the whole space, but I should know better that we will have a couple more frosty periods before it stays warm for good. Dad is tempted too, but impressed upon me to wait until May 20th! :) (Thanks Dad!)

Now that we have friends who own chickens, and are willing to share, I am starting to tease/nag Scott to build me a chicken coop. That new space behind the garage would be very nice for that! :) (I love to say the word "chickens!" because it gets Dad excited and mom freaking out....)
hahahahahahaha

My big teaching job is done now, and I am back to call-in subbing. No break for me yet, I am booked all this week already and most of next. This is teacher appreciation week, so there are all kinds of treats to enjoy.

In the meantime, I am trying to get my sewing room organized for "Operation Hoodie". I was out there this weekend sewing, but it was mostly just fun stuff for me and the girls. I am making us all Summer dresses for our various events. This weekend Scott's daughter Kennedi has her first communion, and it is Mother's Day. In a few weeks Susie has a piano competition and right after that we are attending Scott's nephew Andrew's high school graduation in Baltimore. I made four dresses this weekend, but couldn't get one done for Susie because we grabbed the wrong sized pattern.

Dan talked to me for the longest time on the phone last night. It was AWESOME. He doesn't always talk--that is hard for a six year old to grasp--so I cherished it. I got to hear about all kinds of things he is doing. He is really into some kind of new toy--and I can't remember what it was. Some kind of construction set that you can add-on to. Susie is getting ready to go to Piano Guild, and is going through state testing this week. Susie continues to advance in gymnastics, and seems to still enjoy going. Alannah and I landed lucky tickets to see The Blue Man Group in Boston this past weekend with the music department. It was a fun day. Scott and Aidan went fishing and out to dinner.

One of the men who works at the high school with me, come to find out, is a good friend of our friends Donovon and Wendy. He and his wife Michelle live just up the road from us and have two boys Susie and Dan's ages--just like Donovon. He invited us up during the Summer to swim and ride on their Go Kart track through the woods. Dan will think he died and went to heaven with all these BOYS around!!!! That is the other Scott news--he sent the motor out to be re-built for the new go-kart.... its all over now! :)

We definitely are going to Ocean City for a few days in June. We have our beach condo. I am so excited! I haven't been to the (ocean) beach for a long time. I wish we could go for longer than 5 days, but this way we maybe can hit Disney later in the year again.

OK--time to get back to class. (And grab a cookie before hand from the teacher's room!)

Enjoy!

Lucky break on plants!

We were watching TV yesterday morning, and our local Lowe's announced they were having a special one day sale on vegetable plants: buy one get one free. We went down, and along with an additional coupon were able to get a bunch of tomato plants, sweet peppers, onions, herbs and cabbage for less than $1 a plant! Most of them were $3-5 apiece.



Most of the weekend was spent working out in the garden. We have quadrupled the size of the plot we had last year. Hopefully we will have a better Summer, weather-wise, that will be a lot warmer and drier, and minus all the disease we dealt with. So far we have: Watermelon, cantaloupe, radishes, beets, all kinds of herbs, lettuces, five kinds of tomatoes, squash, beans, peas and corn.



The rest of the yard and house are shaping up as well. The giant pine tree in the front yard is reduced to a bare pine post and a heap of branches. The mulcher comes tomorrow. Scott keeps joking that he is going to have them leave the post and he is going to carve it into a totem pole. (Ooookkkaaayyyy.......?!?!?!) I think he has been working just a little too much! The guys are also going to trim off the big oaks lining the driveway, but we are playing phone tag with the electric company as they will have to come drop the lines and supervise because of how close the oaks are to the wires. We also decided to go ahead and pave the driveway and walks, AND re-stain the deck. People driving by are not going to know where they are!



Other than that, things are pretty Spring-y around here. Everyone had good report cards, everyone is getting into Spring. The girls are all going to camp here at Silverlake. Poor Dan is still a few years away from getting to go. He is NOT happy about that. Alannah is still playing Ultimate Frisbee most weeks. Scott started golfing again. We are getting into our Summer plans all around with plans to go to the beach, Six Flags and of course, all the birthday parties for Alannah, Aidan and Susie!



I am still teaching full time, and will find out again this week if I am going to go on any longer, or if the guy is going to come back before the end of the year. My juniors and seniors are finishing up a unit on Capote--if you ever need a book or two to read, Truman Capote's short stories are really fun. My Freshmen are finishing up Romeo and Juliet this week. They are putting together final presentations (acting out scenes) which should be really fun (for most students!) Next up are the final units on Lord of the Flies (freshmen), AP exam practice (Juniors) and "The Way We Were" (or something Vietnam) for the seniors. It will be very strange to return to day to day subbing.... but... OK. I am looking forward to days I am home to work on things here.



My sister Andrea and her family are getting ready to move to Austin, TX soon for Christian to begin a new gameing artist job there. It was nice to have them so close, but time to say goodbye. The girls are getting soooo big and are so cute. I will miss them! Andrea is very good at sending pictures and updates, though, and Hartford is adding direct jet-blue flights to Austin.... so maybe not too bad! :) Mom is going there for a week or so now to help with the girls so Andrea can go house hunting. She will also drive with Andrea there when they move so she can help with the girls and the cats. Mother's Day we will all be able to get together for one last big hoop-la before they leave.

Better squeeze another on in!

Well, here it is: our vacation is over already. SIGH. I had really thought that my long term sub job would be over as well, but I have at least two more weeks before the regular teacher comes back. (methinks I should not being doing my job quite so well?!?!) I procrastinated all week finishing up grading and making new plans. But, I suppose I better get to it! Tomorrow will be coming along all too soon. At least we managed to get a whole 26 hours without kids.... I don't forsee that happening any other time soon!

It is still very chilly and drizzly here, which makes it all the more challenging to get moving. It is very much a day to curl up in a blanket and snore. Not so much going out to the garage and cleaning up the sewing room, or gardening, or even go fishing! It will warm up tomorrow--OF COURSE--seeing that we all will be back to work and school.

Scott and I did manage to meander out to Farmington and do some shopping. He needed new pants for work, and Kohl's was having a decent sale on sheets. We stocked up on both! (Just 300 thread count, mom...nothing to get excited about! But we did pay the extra $10 for the special no-care professional finish chinos....) On the way back home we bought stuff to make a big plate of nachos for the hockey game. Yum!

I have just enough time to take a little nap before the girls come back from their dad's and it is time to make the nachos. ZZZZZ!

hey

hey waz up. at this point i am at grandmas and grandpas house.

Saying goodbye, er...meow, to an old friend

Greetings, all!

We are actually in Owego for a few days. It is a good thing, seeing that Connecticut is being tortured by a nasty cold front at the moment. I believe it is in the 40s and raining there.... Here it is GORGEOUS. I try not to feel too bad for Scott back in Connecticut, but he does have a people free house for three days.... all to himself. It can't be all bad!

Some sad news, our kitty died earlier this week. He was a salty old man at 14+ years of age who lived a very long and exciting life. He has moved six times, navigated city streets and deep dark forests. He braved all kinds of weather to go outside year round. He fearlessly battled alley cats, wild animals, and outlived a multitude of family pets. He terrorized dogs, and many neighborhood children. Mice parents will scare their children with stories about him for generations to come. He was one good kitty!

His health kind of hit a wall in the past couple of weeks, but I just couldn't bear dragging him off to the vet. If there was anything that poor cat hated was the vet--and worse was the car ride to get there. I vowed as long as he wasn't in hysterical pain, we would try and keep him at home.

Up until the day he died he was still heading out to the woods for his daily prowl. Monday morning he could not get up by himself. We wrapped him in a towel and took him downstairs, taking turns holding him out on the porch in the sun. That seemed just what he wanted, because then he (I'll be darned if he didn't) simply smiled, sighed and was gone.

Scott made him a nice box, Alannah wrote a poem for him and Aidan helped find a spot for kitty out on the edge of his favorite prowl spot. Scott had the kids put a bench out there so they could have a little spot to visit Kitty any time they wanted. I waited to tell Susie and Dan when we got here-that just isn't news to share over the phone. They were sad too: Susie wondered who was going to keep her toes warm at night now, since Kitty has always, always slept on her bed! Dan was worried for Coal, because now Coal didn't have a friend to play with.

Coal did seem to understand what was happening. Up until a few weeks ago he would kind of chase the cat around trying to play and be friends with him. It was as if he knew Kitty wasn't feeling well because he started keeping his distance and treating him with respect. While we were holding kitty on the porch, he came up and nuzzled him, and then lay down on the porch with his head on his paws. It was very sweet.

When I talked to Alannah's dad Curt on the phone later that day (he was the one who picked out Kitty in the first place) he was sorry too. Curt wanted to know if he could get Alannah a kitten this weekend. I said NO, but...thank you. I have been a cat owner pretty much for my whole life. It is time to take a break. Besides, after that cat, there just might not be a better one to be had! :)

Happy Spring!

We made it!

The play was a huge success! I will have pictures on here soon, but for anyone of you who has a facebook account, I believe that there you can friend The Gilbert School Grease page. I know my mom put a bunch of stuff there.

The last few weeks were wild. I was beyond exhausted, as was my family and my crew. But we did it, and it was fantastic. From what I am told, we had a record breaking audience and profit, as well as my uber-boss telling me that it was the first time we had a production of this magnitude from which he recieved NO COMPLAINTS from anyone--not even the janitors.

(And for any of you not affiliated with education, that is HUGE)

My exhaustion, as well as the overwhelming amount of clean up to do is steeled up by the never ending stream of compliments I get to bask in. Tons of email, tons of phone calls--many of them from people I have never met just to let me know how awesome it all was. The best part of what they tell me is that they noticed how much FUN the kids looked like they were having, how happy they seemed. Seeing that was my main goal, I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do.

Poor Scott is still trying to catch up on rest--it was the third morning in a row that he was still in bed when I left for work. The kids are trickling back to school--I noticed a large # of my cast were out for a day or two! I found myself stuck on the couch Sunday and could not move. The laundry is still piled up, and the house is only partially clean, but that will all sort itself out in the next week or two, I am sure.

We go get Susie and Dan tonight, and they will spend their Easter break with us next week. Mom and Dad will get here Sunday and spend the week since I still need to cover for the teacher I have been in for for six weeks now. I think he will be out for another two or three weeks or so. I haven't heard officially when he will be back. Alannah and Aidan both get report cards this week. It will be interesting to see how the play has impacted us all......ohhhh boy!!!! Hopefully not too badly.

I will get more on here very soon--bear with me.

Spring? (shhhh!)

It is a lovely March day outside this morning. The temps are supposed to get up to the high 40s and even higher, maybe! Yay!

We won't think about the storm headed our way from out west though.... surely winter is not over yet.

Things here are ok. The play is in full swing. I am feeling very good about where I am--the tickets are printed and ready to sell. The program is planned and will be ready to print with plenty of time. The costumes are just about done--just a couple more dresses to finish and a heap of small alterations. The pit band has been practicing and the piano player has joined some of the rehearsals. Yay!

I wish my cast was up to speed--some of them are where they should be--on the brink of PANIC. Others are still off in la la land. (hahahahaha) And we have certainly had our share of bad luck. But that all bodes well, does it not?

The "best" bad luck we have had so far is that my lead playing Kenickie (the bad guy with the car) broke his leg last week. NOT dancing in my rehearsal, but fooling around playing basketball afterword! Everyone was so surprised I was taking it so well, but that is just the way it goes in theater.

Of course we are going to try and keep him in. He even has his part reworked to explain his injury. Falling off a motorcycle, or something like that. He is quite the trooper. The nurse and I are going to have a hard time keeping him in the prescribed wheelchair. He is ready to dance in the dance contest and jump off the car..... We might need to hire some thugs to hold him down for the next two weeks in order for him to heal up at least a bit more!

Saturday we started really working on the set, which was fun. That should come together nicely. (I hope!)

I had my first full week as full time teacher last week too. That went pretty well. I think the kids are settling into my routine vs. the regular teacher's. I gave my first quizzes and assigned my first papers to seniors. They didn't whine too much.

Alannah and Aidan are doing ok. Grades come out this next week for the first part of the 3rd quarter. Hopefully no awful surprises. :)

Scott is busy at work. It has been so miserable with weather that there isnt all that much going on outside. Any projects we have had are all play related, so nothing new and exciting around the house.

We went out to eat at a new Mexican bar/resturant in town--a very cute little place and the food was ok. Not nearly as good as Dad's, but authentic enough that it was worth the visit. Scott had the tacos and I had two appetizers: Pork Empanada's with Habenaro Cream and Beef/Potato cakes. We weren't that hungry, but they had chili relleno's on the dinner special menu that looked awesome at the next table. We learned that they are getting famous for their tamales and burritos, both which looked like they would feed a 3rd world country. The tamales have a 30 minute wait time listed in the menu--they better be good!

Today we are off to church, some major shopping and sewing as well as hopefully getting outside for awhile.

Have a good one!!!!!

(Wednesday is the big soda bread contest at work.....I have to start researching recipes!!!!)

New Pics!

If you click on the new picture of the Grease Costumes, you will link to my new slideshow with all things January and February.

We are having another snow day today!!! Can you believe it? Yikes! :)

Winter, *sigh!* is still here!

Well, we got LAST week's storm THIS week--the weather people insisted we would get only an inch or two Monday night, and we got about FIVE between Monday night and Wednesday morning. It made it a little bit exciting for my big make up rehearsal, but luckily not too bad. I am glad that I got it over with--although today and Thursday look like they will be fantastic weather. (there is absolutely no way to WIN scheduling rehearsals--don't ever let any director tell you otherwise!)

We are still operating in a deficit of rehearsal loss. I am trying very hard not to succomb to panic attacks. The people that really needed to be at rehearsal yesterday were the ones that didn't come--go figure, but the kids that did show up worked hard and we got quite a bit of stuff done. Hopefully some of the other things coming up will come together quickly and we will have some extra time to work on the things we missed.

I was hoping to have some pictures for you--my big idea of having Alannah bring her camera to practice yesterday to photograph a major costume fitting fell through since NONE of the girls that I made costumes for showed up--the two that did the dresses need some serious adjusting. (I think this pattern that I am using is made for people with boob jobs!!!! And they are still big on top even when I consciously adjusted the pattern!) Oh well--hopefully next week.

Today we are working on the Beauty School Drop Out costumes--I think we have settled on a clear shower curtain cape with white fur trim, and a headress made out of a towel-wrap with a towering pile of glittered curlers on top, and shower curtain ring earrings. Alannah's quote: "It is really weird....but I love it!" The girls will wear white tank tops and I made them each white satin baby doll tap pants. With glittery tights and glitter sprayed shoes they should look really cool. (Think wacky Rockettes!)

I have to be short today as we are off to appointments--cramming them all in before I really start hitting the ground next week.

Enjoy!

I'm on a serious roll, here!

Wow! Two posts in a week! So many of you complained that I hadn't been updating. You flattered me, so now I am rewarding you. (feel lucky?!) hahahahahaha

My biggest new news is that I was formally offerred a full-time sub job for probably the next couple months if not the rest of the year. Guess what in? You got it--FRESHMAN ENGLISH!!! (For the third time!) That starts right after winter break and might continue into the end of the year. I am going to be very, very tired, but VERY VERY "RICH"!!!! :)

We are supposedly waiting for Storm "Barbara" to hit us at any moment and throughout tomorrow and possibly Thursday. If we miss any more school this week I am going to have to schedule a rehearsal over our winter break next week. The kids were thrilled--the adults not so much. We like vacations because we miss peace and quiet--I guess the kids miss each other! Susie will be thrilled because she really wanted to be here for a rehearsal. Maybe what I will do is bring Susie to rehearsal and leave Aidan home to play with Dan. (They would get really bored at rehearsal) She and Dan will join us this Friday and will stay with us through out break.



Tonight's rehearsal went really well. It was mostly choreography for the big prom/dance contest scene. It is a huge scene that feels like is taking forever to put together. I told the kids that today--that it takes two hours of practice to complete rehearsal for one minute of show time. They were pretty impressed. Using that formula this scene will probably take 20-30 hours to put together including music, dance and acting times.


Since I didn't have to run the rehearsal (I know you were all impressed thinking it....but I am not choreographing the play!!!!) I sat there with a stop-watch counting every time the choreographer had to ask the kids to be quiet. I read them the riot act before practice so I think they were being really good. They "only" wasted about 2 minutes, but if they do that for every practice we basically lose two whole scenes worth of rehearsal. The music director says that they will all start panicing in about two weeks and start really pulling it all together.

The other thing I accomplished today was a set design meeting. We hashed out some of the last construction details and went through the script scene by scene to find things that need to be made or found. I need to sit down with my prop girl and made a list of "stuff". Scott came with the boys today and they moved all the car parts up onto the back of the stage for construction. Everyone ooooed and ahhhhhed because it looks really cool.

The costume room is shaping up. A couple kids came in today and remarked that things are coming along. They are.... but there are still a lot of things to do. I have been struggling with sizing--dresses are running either too big or two small. No wonder there is a fortune to be made in alterations! But I think I have it figured out now. Some of the girls actually changed into their dresses today while they were dancing to get the feel of dancing in them. With a big snow day (or two) tomorrow and possibly Thursday I cut out a ton of stuff today and brought it home. It would be really terrible to end up with nothing to do! I will try to remember to have Alannah bring her camera in so I can take some pics for you all.

I found out yesterday that I am battling my third double ear infection of the season as well as a massive sinus infection. Yuck! My Dr. gave me a round of steroids to see if they knock it out of wherever an infection might be lingering before she sends me off to the ENT specialist. No wonder I was feeling tired. I guess I better get over it quick, because I will be needing every ounce of energy I have over the next couple months!

zzzzzzzzzzz

Go Saints!

A fun Super Bowl--watching without any pressure of being any particular fan. Ahhhhhh!

It was a quiet night in, in spite of several tempting offers to go out and about to watch the game. We munched on local pizza, slow cooked bbq ribs, chicken wing dip, chicken wings and popcorn among other various and assorted treats. Oh yeah, Aidan baked a cake too. (today: groan!)

The weather here is cold but beautiful--we didn't get one speck of snow this past weekend. Perhaps it is a bit of karma for all of you that didn't get snow last year when we got buried. Although they say that we will "get ours" later this week.

This is not good news for play practice, seeing that I had made every effort to not schedule rehearsals during our winter break next week. If we miss any school this week I might need to reconsider. Ack! Panic attacks are setting in!

Although my team assures me that we are right on schedule as far as production goes. The set is planned and being constructed. The costumes are shaping up. (anyone want a little project package sent to them?) It took a few goes with some of the patterns to settle on size and style. Some of the dance dresses were just dwarfing some of my girls, so we decided to stick with the little simple one. It might be a slight stretch on the authentic department, but it is a cute close cousin and I think will fit the production just fine. (They are also--halelujah--the easiest dresses in the world to cut and sew!)

The best part is everyone seems very happy and positive, which I guess was not so much the case last year. I just hope it continues.

Report cards came in, and unfortunately we are all having to re-group and adjust to mom's new play schedule and increasing challenges of high schoool and middle school. (oops!) Nothing too out of control, and the girls seem to realize what they need to do to improve. Overall it was pretty good.

The girls are getting involved in youth group outings--Alannah will be joining girls choir this week. The girls will be joining sled parties and hockey game trips to Hartford in the next couple of weeks. Susie and Dan will be here all next week. Hopefully we will get some skating in and shopping in down in Danbury with all the cool gift cards we recieved over the holidays. Scott is busy as always at work, and is helping to build the car for Grease. His concept is awesome, and he now has a very enthusiastic and talented couple of boys helping him out. (That is if Aidan doesn't get to them first..... she was hilarious when they have come over!)

Hope all of you are warm, dry and well! I am off to Torrington to track down some more fabric and costume supplies.

xxooxxoo!

The doggie is just happy to be in the middle of everything.

It's Raining! It's Pouring!

I am at work waiting for the day to end.... it is always fun to sub for Department chairs as they often have the last period of the day free. They also do not have Homerooms.... AND they often get the coolest kids to work with! Today was especially easy: I had pretty much every other period free.

BTW--the Title of this entry is because a hurricane is screaming outside--WOW--I certainly hope it lets up before we have to leave for the day. I don't think I have ever seen rain so hard before.

All of this "free time" gives me lots of time to work on the play. We are heavy into rehearsals now, at least one group or another is meeting to rehearse every day. Many of the smaller scenes/musical numbers are pretty much done. Some of the bigger ones are daunting, but I try not to show my fear to my students. Everyone keeps assuring me that things will come together in the end. I am inclined to agree in spite of my frequent bouts of hyperventilating.

I was hoping to have my costume making supplies ordered and a costume shop opened for business this week. I have been working a lot again, so I haven't had a chance to get to it. It's a good thing after all since the original costume room I was given on the third floor has been taken back from me!!! Yikes! Now I will have a room on the first floor, so can you imagine the stress if I had already hiked hundreds of yards of fabric up three flights of stairs, plus sewing machines and supplies only to hike it all back down to the basement? In the long run, I think the move will be better. The basement room is bigger--more of a work room and has better tables.

I hope it gets set up quicker than the last one--it took two weeks to get a key, tables etc. the way I wanted..... I don't have that kind of time anymore. I will have to bake some cookies for the custodial staff as I have already been a pain in the butt to them.

Mom gave Aidan her old sewing machine this past weekend. I started teaching her how to sew, and this weekend she and Alannah both made Dan a pair of PJ's for his birthday this weekend. Aidan really picked it up quickly. Alannah had trouble--the machine kept jamming, she sewed the wrong pieces together, she accidently cut through the pattern....I am not sure exactely what she was doing wrong with the machine since I was working on other stuff, but she really struggled through what Aidan breezed through. (Ain't it the truth?!?!)

Scott was moaning about dealing with Aidan becoming a teenager after we had to deal with Alannah a few times this weekend (attitude on top of and unrelated to her poor sewing troubles!) I assured him that I kind of doubted that Aidan would have quite the same kind or magnitude of growing pains that Alannah has! (sigh!) They ARE all different, and thank God for THAT!

This coming weekend we will enjoy the company of mom, dad, Andrea & girls and Eva to celebrate Mom's and Dan's birthdays. Yay! I love company! :)

OK--off to brave the wind and rain.... yikes!

Phew!

We made it through the holidays! If you are reading this, then you must have too. (ha ha)

So far the "new" van is working OK. Each day that the things we depend on work....well....those are the things we count as BLESSINGS.

Unfortunately, we are still not blessed with reliable plumbing. Despite our Herculean efforts from last winter, our laundry room pipes froze again--I think the heat tape we wrapped the pipes in failed--so we have been about a month with intermittent laundry. This is not fun when there are up to 8 people in the house at any given time. And a hairy, smelly dog.

Thanksgiving was great. It was cozy chaos in Albany at Andrea and Christian's apartment. So fun with all the kids and the new baby. True to our nature there were as many desserts as dinner dishes as house guests. It was delicious and fun!

Christmas was equally abundant. For the first time in 15 years we all travelled to Mom and Dad's in Owego. The kids were so excited. It is nice to have such a nice range of ages. Dan more or less held it together although he was hysterical enough I had to wonder there for awhile. Susie has passed into the age of being rather sophisticated about the whole thing, but she was surprised and pleased with everything Santa brought her. Alannah and Aidan FINALLY got Mp4 players--they are electronic orphans being probably the "only" kids in the world without phones, personal computers or ipods. Scott and I enjoyed watching the scene unfold. It was nice to spend time with Josh and Eva too--we haven't gotten to see them much since the wedding.

I was thinking that we have been blessed with a steady stream of young kids for Christmas pretty much since Andrea and I were kids. Eva, Joey and Liz came to live with us just as Andrea and I were leaving the fun kids at Christmas stage. I started having a family before Eva really grew out of that phase, and now Andrea is filling in just about perfect timing before Susie and Dan "cross over" into that next stage.

The day after Christmas we left for Pittsburgh and enjoyed about a week's visit with Scott's family. Scott's nephews and niece are all about the same ages as Alannah and Aidan, so we had fun doing all kinds of teenage things. We went to the movies and bowling, watched many sports games and of course, ate and ate and ate!

In the middle of all this, I decided to take on directing the High School play. For whatever reason the school was going to have to drop it, but the kids were so sad that I couldn't help myself. We will be performing "Grease" the end of March. I have been involoved in many plays and musicals, so although challenging, directing a play isn't too much of stretch from all of the program administration I have been doing up to this point. (And don't think running a blended family of 8+ doesn't lend itself to so much drama in and of itself!!!!!) It has been quite a trip with arranging play rights, ordering materials, coordinating volunteers and casting. The kids are GREAT--I have such a fabulous cast. Any frustration I encounter is quickly neutralized by their talent and enthusiasm.

Other fun stuff: Alannah and I enjoyed our first adventure as choir members in the Community's Boar's Head Festival. This Renaissance Festival/Epiphany/Christmas Pageant has been presented in our community for 20 years. It has elaborate costumes, music and even live animals! Susie and Dan travelled up with mom and dad to take part in the festivities. Hopefully Susie can be in it too one of these years. She had several Sunday School buddies who were cast as family gentry--if you saw the costumes they got to wear, you would want to be in it too! Everyone liked the donkey best--he kind of stole the show during the entrance of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.....

The weather has been cold, but that seems to be the case just about everywhere. The fun part is the lake is frozen solid, so we have been able to go ice skating. Susie and Aidan seem to have picked this up the fastest. Alannah manages to clunk around the ice. Dan did really well last year, but this year seemed to get frustrated when it didn't come right back to him this year.

Scott is in his glory now that our big Christmas present has made it's way to Connecticut--we are now the owners of a Go Kart kit! Yay! All of a sudden Dan will talk on the phone to us now, getting updates on the progress of the kit construction. It is red, and will be very fun come Spring unless we get it together in time to take out on the lake with all the snowmobiles, dirt bikes and ATV's that are out there now. Scott is also heading up my Greased Lightening Car committee with some of the other engineers and mechanics from work. This should be fun, too! :)

Other than the play, I had a lot of fun creating gifts for Christmas. It is too cold to work in my workshop, but I have temporarily moved my craft stuff into the dining room. I made a set of animals and a mitten to go with Jan Bret's "The Mitten" story for Stephanie's Christmas present. A lady at work saw it and is going to order one from me for her niece. Scott's aunt enjoyed the jacket I made her for Christmas so much that she is going to pay me to make more for her friends. How cool it is when $$ is made from gifts and hobbies! I have been working a lot, even during this exam week. BUSY, as all of us end up being at some point or other.

Take care, until next time! (A Wop Bob a Boo Wop, a Wop Bam Boom!)