My Birthday

I said in a previous post that I was going to discuss why my birthdays suck. I was going to whine and complain, name names, and leave nothing out. But now it's been a week and I've moved on. I guess at this point in my life it's not about me anymore.

GASP!

I know we're all shocked. At this stage my life is lived for my girls and my family.

Growing up as an only child my birthday was almost a holiday. My mom would put it on the local bank sign and the world would revolve around me. I'd get flowers or balloons at school and that day we'd go eat at my favorite restaurant. When I got married I inherited a family that doesn't do birthdays up big. The first birthday I had as a Mrs. was spent at the Flying W Ranch in Colorado Springs, one of my favorite places on earth. The lead cowboy starting mentioning who all was there to celebrate their birthdays. I wasn't named. That's when it started.

This year I spent the day doing stuff for other people. The whole day. Oh, and getting yelled at a few times. I spent four hours sitting at my old high school across from the office. In the back of my mind I thought how wonderful it would be if I had balloons or flowers delivered to me. When that exact thing walked in the door I was almost teary. Then a cute 17 year old got them.
Sigh.

Oh well. At 11:15 that night I finally got to sit down and enjoy some ice cream. My birthday treat.

Okay, so I whined a little bit. But I'm sure you all understand.

Anyone else out there feel the same way?


And just so you don't throw a pity party for me, on Sunday evening I got to pick one of my favorite restaurants for dinner (my choice was based entirely on good french fries) and it was followed by Pink Swirls for dessert. (A live culture yogurt bar) I got all the gifts I'd asked for, crossed the finish line of a wonderful 5k that morning, took a three hour nap, and was surrounded by family that loved me. So maybe as you get older you just celebrate it when you can. Again...sigh....

Prank Night

Even though I was in four musicals in junior high and high school I had never heard of prank night.

Until Saturday that is.

I was hiding in the auditorium until it was time to tell anxious people that there were no tickets left (that's really something you have to work up to) when one of the leads came in with Bitter Orange. He was telling a few of the other cast members about it and one brave soul even volunteered to try it. Apparently Bitter Orange is a spray to keep cats and dogs away from areas. The taste of it will ensure that they don't ever go there again. When I asked where they were planning on putting it I got the answer I was expecting but afraid of.

The whistle.I couldn't help it, I cracked up. I bent over with laughter. Tears came out of my eyes. And then I did the unthinkable. I tasted it. My mouth will never be the same. After my eyes stopped watering I headed to the water fountain and drank until I thought I'd float. And then I dug through my camera bag searching for gum. It took nearly an hour before I couldn't taste it anymore.

When the musical got to the scene where Captain Von Trapp blew it for the first time I was poised in the back with my telephoto lens on ready for the reaction. He is such a good actor that it didn't phase him a bit.

But when Maria had to blow it?

It took her three tries.

I was poised and ready when Mother Abbess was sitting at her desk, but she didn't react to the scary picture hidden in her paperwork. And when Maria looked at herself in her wedding gown with a hand mirror she didn't crack a smile when she saw the funny picture taped to it.

And who was behind the pranks? That would be the director. She was in her fair share of musicals in college and learned all about pranks. She made sure that nothing would cause harm or disrupt anything, but still made it fun.

It just makes me love her even more.

Why I Haven't Been Posting

Since Monday at 4:00 I have spent 34 1/2 hours at the school. That's because of three dress rehearsals, three performances, and 8 hours of ticket sales.

But it was all worth it. The musical was wonderful. Memories were made. New friends were made. And a pretty nice photo cd available for only $10 was made.

4,000 pictures later here are some of my favorites.

The Von Trapp children with Maria. Kennedy is third from the left on the front row. She was Marta.

My nun and my Marta. And one of the best back stage helpers the school has ever seen:c)I learned a lot about my camera during the week of 4,000 pictures. I shot almost all of them in TV mode while adjusting my shutter speed. Of course, until last night when Shawn told me it was my shutter speed, I just called it the fraction number thingie.My friend Christie is an amazing seamstress and spend many more hours than me working on costumes. The costumes in the first picture were my favorite. They were made out of the curtains Maria finds in her room. Of course, that meant Christie had to make curtains and costumes. And the children only wore them in one scene for about 2 1/2 minutes! Their uniforms were worn the most. They were so cute!The nuns though wore their choir dresses with a long sleeve button up shirt. The first night I helped McKinley (second from the right) tie on her wimple. It was a bittersweet and funny moment. When I put this picture on Facebook several people commented about them all having braces. My friend Keron said they must have a good dental plan to the convent!What I love most about the musicals is that each year our principals and superintendent are in it. Our school system is so small that Pre-K through seniors are all in three buildings in a 4 block area that are all connected. That means it really is like a big family. Our superintendent is very involved. He fills in for crossing guard duty when needed and I've even seen him mowing the grass during the summer. The three principals are great guys, too.

This is our elementary principal. He was the Nazi official that came to Captain Von Trapp to give him his commission papers. He had quite a few lines and did a great job!This is our high school principal and his wife who works in the elementary library. He was my Algebra 1 & 2 teacher and although I don't remember much, he was a great teacher. He did lie though when he said I'd use it every day. He and his wife were a couple that visited the party the Captain threw for Baroness Shrader. His wife had a little flirtatious moment with the Captain that had the audience cheering.Our middle school principal was the hardest to photograph. He was the Nazi official that ran in to report that the Von Trapp family had left the concert and were gone. He ran in, said a quick line, and ran off. It took me four nights to get this picture.But here's my favorite, our superintendent. He was the priest that performed the wedding ceremony. He didn't have any lines but was the most memorable person. This was the first dress rehearsal he came to so he's not in costume yet. But the cast was still excited to see him. Look at the smile on Kennedy's face!At the cast party last night a group of moms were standing around and one asked if we'd seen her son in the nun chorus. He'd been begging the choir teacher to let him be one. She finally caved after making him sing the song to make sure he could do it. So Franz the butler became a nun. Luckily I'd decided to take a few more nun pictures last night and had one of him!Since I had been taking pictures the superintendent asked if I'd take a group picture on the stage with the amazing set that had been purchased. And while I was at it, why not add the entire cast also. No pressure there. So after the last show I stood in the second to back row, on the chair arms rests, and snapped about 20 pictures. I was terrified that I wouldn't get a good one. But I did! And if you look at the last person on the right, you'll see Franz the butler wearing his wimple!

So another year of the musical is over. It's such an amazing thing to be a part of. But now it's time to move on to another of the projects I listed a few days ago.

Know what I penciled on my calendar for May 26th?

Collapse.

I can't wait.

Good Grief

Did anyone notice that in my last post about how busy I am I forgot to end the last sentence?

Yep, that's how crazy it is right now. I can't even finish a sentence.

Coming soon.

Why my birthdays suck.

Let me warn you now, it will involve whining.

But really, don't most of my posts include that??

Why I Am Stressed

What I'm currently working on:

*Tickets sales for the All School Musical which starts Thursday
*Fielding up to 20 calls a day from people who don't want to go buy tickets on the days they are being sold
*Having two children in the musical
*Doing hair and makeup for both girls Tuesday through Saturday because the makeup person is scary and mean and consistently late
*Taking pictures at all the dress rehearsals to sell on show nights
*Editing the 3000 pictures I've already taken to choose 100 to have printed and put on cds
*Heading up the 5th grade promotion for 107 students. I send out e-mails, notes, hold meetings, handle all the money, and coordinate all the days events and the parent volunteers
*Working on a fundraising auction. I have to describe each of 100+ items to create a program from.
*Running a 5k this Sunday
*Fundraising $3500 for a half marathon in October
*Having a garage sale Thursday-Saturday. I'm selling our things to raise the $1000 needed to buy pool paint and selling donated items to go toward my fundraising.
*Pricing all the stuff that wonderful friends and family have given me to sell. I haven't seen my 200 square foot patio in three weeks because of all the stuff.
*Healing! I am still having a lot of foot pain but only because I can't take any time off to heal!
*Getting costumes together for Book Character Day this Friday. Why oh why would they have this the week of the musical and the week before state testing?
*Staying calm and organized. I'm really trying.

Things I'm not currently working on:

*Working out. I ran Monday and rode the bike yesterday but can't fit it in again until the 5k Sunday.
*Cooking. After making 9 dozen cookies (for a dress rehearsal) and 3 loaves of bread Monday I haven't been home a night all week to make dinner.
*Cleaning. I am working on laundry because apparently the people I live with need clean undies. But the rest of the house is in shambles.
*Calorie counting. I have given up hope on that until Monday. My birthday is Friday so I have just decided to celebrate my birthday all week. I've been good, but I haven't counted.
*Staying calm and organized. I don't think I'm doing a good enough job.

Wow. Seeing it all there typed out makes it

What I Miss

I am head over heels in love with my new camera. I'm still not smart enough to own it...but classes start next month on educating this ol' girl.

I miss the old one though.

Every once in a while.

I miss zooming without changing lenses, I miss the lens cap popping off as I hit the power button, and most of all...I miss the macro feature.

I fell in love with all things macro when I discovered the flower on the dial. My new camera has that same flower, but it doesn't work its magic as well. It's a bit picky and just has to have something to focus on. Picky picky.

Saturday during our second of three straight days of rain, I felt the raindrops on the tulips in the front flowerbed calling my name. I put on the telephoto lens so I could stand where it was dry and set out.

I just couldn't get a good picture though.Pretty, but not what I wanted.So I put on the regular lens and got a little closer. Not bad...but still not it.

So I flipped the dial. The little flower and I decided to give it another try.

Nope. I'd hoped to focus in on the drop at the bottom. But since it wouldn't shoot because it wouldn't pick the drop, I got this. So now getting dripped on I got closer and tried again.

And once again, nope. One last time (I could feel my hair curling tighter with all the moisture) and I got it. Not as close as I'd like, but better than the others. I'm hoping they cover this in my upcoming class. I certainly can't justify a $450 lens to take pictures of rain drops now can I?

No really, can I?

Colonial Fair

Just to keep non-sewing mothers hopping, the 5th graders at our school have a Colonial Fair assignment. If you'll remember, in 4th grade they had the Land Run. Luckily we had an old all school musical costume of McKinley's that Kennedy wore.

And guess what?

We made it work for the Colonial Fair as well.

Each group is responsible for a structure, items to sell, and costumes. I lucked out after McKinley's year and inherited an amazing structure. It's been waiting on our patio for three years. And now that this year is over, it will be waiting for another three years. After Reagan is done with it I plan to auction it off to the highest bidder.

When McKinley did this we handmade marbles with bake-able clay. We then painted every single one, put them in little baggies, and added directions on how to play. After all that work, I'd lost quite a bit of money, and quite a bit of my sanity. This year? Since I'd supplied the structure and tables, the other mom supplied all the candy to sell and jars to display it in. She also let all three girls spend a night at her house to count everything out and set it all up. I was truely blessed. I'm praying I get that lucky in three more years. Did you hear that God?? There was quite a variety of items for sale.

Soap and bracelets, candy,chocolates,hores rides, :c)and stilt rides.And everything was a low, low price.Some even got historical with their prices. The teachers were even in character.I loved when I came across one of the merchants sampling his items.
Emmie's had it's fair share of business and I only got one Jolly Rancher out of the entire experience. But from the other booths I feasted on Twizzlers and popcorn, got a flower for my hair, and a feather for Reagan's. My friend Jan and I forced Kennedy and Blake to stand by each other for a picture. Neither one was happy about it and this is as close as they got. Since each of them was upset with their respective mother, I love how they are looking at the opposite mom. After I followed the principaland librarian around to see what they bought,I sat down and took it all in. As a lover of history it's so fun to see the students get excited about it. I'm actually looking forward to doing it again in three years.

And raking in the cash for the sale of my structure!

When Clumsiness Attacks

If you remember, after my Easter debacle, I became a proud owner of crutches, and the proud borrower of Walter the wheelie cart. But with those two things came something else. Bruises.



Warning...these pictures might scare the life right out of you.



Don't judge me.



Just pity me.And for the actual injured area?Yep, a little tiny bruise. The main thing you can tell from this picture is that I desperately need a pedicure. But having someone touch my foot right now is not an option.

See, you should pity me.

PSA

We apologize for the inconvenience, but this blog is being ignored by the writer
who can not keep her big yap shut and keeps saying 'Of course, yes' when she should answer with a big fat, 'NO'!

I'm Well On My Way!

Thanks to amazing friends, some I don't even know in person like Kim and Peggy, and some awesome family like Robin, I have reached $1,150 in my fundraising!

But I still have a long way to go. If you feel lead to donate please visit my LLS page.

Because Mitchell's family will be moving to Texas at the end of May, Tracy will not be able to be our mentor. A mentor sends out e-mails, is always available for any questions, and is just an encourager where needed. I was honored when I was asked to fill that need. And to be asked to attempt to fill Tracy's shoes, wow. I will never come anywhere close to giving the encouragement that she gave me and all of the Mitchell's Angels. But I'm honored I'm being given the chance to try. So wish me luck!

Since our team Saturday morning runs start in the middle of May I really need to fast forward this healing on my foot. I told a friend today that if I could just take two weeks off and not do anything, I'd be fine. But as many other moms know, that just isn't possible. So for now I just overdue it every day and around 7 I try to make up for it by putting it up and alternating heat and ice. So far, no good. But I'm hopeful. It feels great every morning!

So, here I sit, relaxing....thinking of the millions of things I need to be doing. Typical mom thinking, don't you think? Man, considering I'm on pain pills, I'm doing a lot of thinking!