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!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
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!)
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!)
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