Cutest Nursery Ever!!!

The glider finally came in this weekend and now we have all of the furniture in the baby's room.

It took us four hours to tape off the room in order to get the strip effect. We are so happy with the outcome though it was worth the effort. Nathan did a great job with the painting.
Another shot of the crib wall with the wall art and the quilt I made for the baby.
Here is a close up of the wall art.
A close up shot of the quilt I made.
I am thrilled with how the room turned out. I just think it is unique and has a very happy feel to it. Now all we need is our little one and the room, as well as our hearts, will be complete.

Are you kidding me?

I am not the biggest fan of United Airlines to begin with. They never seem very organized and the leg room is nonexistant. This might be the final straw:

Big announcement from United Airlines this morning: Domestic passengers will have to pony up $25 to check a second piece of luggage. The policy change applies to travel on or after May 5, and to tickets purchased today or later.
The new policy appears targeted at the occasional leisure traveler: It applies to customers purchasing nonrefundable domestic economy tickets who do not have either at least premier status in United's Mileage Plus programs, or silver status in a Star Alliance program.
About 25 percent of its travelers check a second bag, according to United, and the airline believes its new surcharge will generate $100 million in revenue a year. The company faced bankruptcy just a few years ago, but in 2007, it earned a net income of $403 million (its first year of profit since 2000).

I never have more than one checked bag. However we were talking about taking the little one on the road this summer, so for the first time every I would have a second bag. Besides you know this is just going to lead to more and more jerks bringing rediculously large carry ons.

Correction to previous post

Snow Day Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!

What to do with my snow day? Not sure yet but I will think of something.

Things I dislike about winter:

1) Bitter Cold …the kind you just cannot shake. When the wind blows you think to yourself, “I should have worn two pairs of pants.” Once you finally get inside, the cold goes right down to your bones so you still shiver.
2) Driving in snowy/icy conditions… it is not just the bad weather that bothers me but the hoards of morons on the road who do not seem to notice the snowy conditions. I never feel bad when they get in an accident but what about the one or two innocent people they take with them?
3) Snow is pretty for three days then it turns grey and stays that way until it melts.
4) Static cling
5) Chapped lips…I swear I have gone through three tube of Chap Stick this winter alone.
6) Shocking myself every time I go to turn a damn light on! (This one actual inspired my little rant.)
7) I know it is going to be a long time before summer break.
8) Not being able to go on walks on the trails near my house. I guess I could but then again we have dislike number one.
9) Winter clothing is more expensive
10) Cold feet in the bed with me, warming themselves on my already warm feet.

That is it for now…

Welcome Lauren Christ

Yesterday at 6:53PM a new addition was added to the extended family. Lauren Christ was born weighing a healthy 8 pounds and 21 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well. Big sister Anna goes back and forth between being intersted in her new sibling and not caring all that much. Congrats to the whole family. We can not wait to see the new addition.

Surprise

I had to take a sick day today for a doctor’s appointment. Not really a doctor’s appointment, but I had to go to the hospital for a Rhogam shot. It is not a big deal. They do have to monitor you for a little while afterwards and they only had morning appointments, hence the sick day.

So I got the shot and I was sitting in the waiting room. While flipping through my book of course I have to get up and go to the bathroom. (That is probably the most annoying thing about pregnancy.) As I approach the bathroom I notice it is a unisex bathroom with only one toilet, not a big deal. As I open the door there is an old guy standing there going to the bathroom! He forgot to lock the door, at least I hope he forgot and is not a weirdo. I have never walked in on a man peeing before out in public. I hope that was the last time as well.

Vicks

A few months back I posted an item about Vicks Vapor Rub. It stated that if you had a bad cough put Vicks on the bottom of your feet and put socks over them and with in a few moments your cough should clear up. I had just heard this from a friend and did not try it myself.

Well I have had a cold for a few days now and last night it moved into my chest and I developed a horrific cough. You know the kind of primordial cough where it almost feels like you are scratching your throat you cough so hard. After about an hour of trying to ignore it I decided to give the Vicks thing a try. I am happy to report it worked wonderfully. I guess some of it could be psychosomatic, but I do not care. My cough cleared up and my sinuses did a little as well. Since I can not take any decongestant while I am pregnant it was nice to hit on something safe to use. I will be using Vicks (actually the generic stuff) again tonight.

A Magical Place

As most people know I am a little bit of a neat freak. Well I found a store that definitely plays to my OCD, the Container Store. It is a magical place with row after row of ways to organize every room in you house. I am definitely going to have my closets done there when we move in a few years. Yesterday I bought a bunch of 13x13x13 mess bins to store stuff for my little one. They will fit nicely in the large cube shelving unit that should be arriving in a few days. I am hoping this will be a game plan to help my house stay looking neat. Nathan keeps laughing at me when I say this though.

Also while I was there yesterday I got a device to help organize my spice shelf. I will admit I had more fun than probably the normal person organizing that yesterday. I also bought an organizer for my sock draw. I filled it up and was delighted until I went to put it in and found it was just a little too big, alas. I am going to see if I can use it once we put the baby’s dresser together

Camcorder

Nathan and I are in the market for a camcorder to capture all the firsts of our little one. However, we have no idea what to get. DVD vs. hard drive vs Mini DV? is one better than the other? Right now we have a fuive year old computer that probably couldn't support doing a bunch of video editing, but that will probably change in a year or two. We do have a dvd burner, so the hard drive one might be the way to go. What are good brands for camcorders? We are also not looking to break the bank espicially if we have to buy all the extras like a long life battery, case, and tripod.

Just kickin it

The baby has started to kick hard enough to make my stomach move! It was the strangest thing. I was sitting on the couch reading my lastest baby book. The bottom of the book was resting on my stomach and I was looking down while I was reading. Then BOOM my stomach clearly moved. And just to make sure I did not think I was crazy the baby did it again. I have been feeling the baby for weeks now, but to start seeing the baby's kicks on the outside took me aback.

I know I am having a baby and Nathan and I could not want anything more. However it is still so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that a little baby is actually growing inside of me. And I am blown away by every little or not so little change, because it just continues to reconfirm that pretty soon we will have a little one!

I laughed....

but I felt a little bad about it.

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2922293/subchannel/viralvideo

Baby Shower

Here are a few pictures from my baby shower in St. Louis. The first one is me with my sister-in-law Sara and Nathan's couisin's wife Sara as you can see it was battle of the bellies. The next is Nathan and I holding the cake and finally a nice group shot. All and all it was a fun time and we got so many cute things for the baby.

Get Political

I want to be an informed voter in the up coming elections. I do try and watch the news and interviews with the canidates, however I am not avid about it. So I am concerned about making an informed choice. Nathan forwarded me this link that allows you to pick the answers to tough questions you like the best and at the end it tells you which canidate your views are most like.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/candidatequiz/

Baby Update

We had our 20 week appointment two weeks ago and everything looked wonderful. The baby is 10 inches long and 14 ounces. (I have a feeling this baby is going to be tall like daddy.) I decided to wait to post about the visit because we did not get a CD of ultrasound pictures due to a mix up at the doctors office. They told us we could come back after Thanksgiving and have a CD made, but they have been so swamped this week it does not look like we are getting in. So as soon as I have a CD of photos I will try and post a few.

I was worried at my last appointment because I had only felt the baby kick a few times and all the liturature said I should be feeling it regularly. Well that has certainly changed. The baby is rocking and rolling all the time now. It almost always starts to kick after I have eaten and it always falls asleep (or at least does not kick) during my full band rehearsals. So I am guessing if it sleeps through 80 junior high kids playing full barrel we are going to need to put in quite the sound system in the nursary.

In others news we did recently get back from a great trip to Paris and Rome. I decided not to blog about it because my friend Julie, who went with, posted the mother of all posts about the trip on her blog. So please refer to her blog for all the trip details. I am working on a photo album and I will show that off once I have finished.

Toddlers

Found this on YouTube; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLKukwm9ODo

I can not wait!

I got this bit of wisdom in an e mail...

I got this bit of wisdom in an e mail. I am not sure if it is true but I will definately give it a try next time I am coughing.

During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can 'taste' it.Some of us have used Vicks Vaporub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.

This is still gross to me

So a few days ago, I was driving around in Countryside. As I wait at an unusually long light I look in my rearview mirror. To my horror an older woman was picking her nose! She did have a tissue between her actually finger at the nasal cavity, but that is still gross. I know everyone picks their nose. However when you are in a car you are surrounded by windows. Why do so many people think they are invisible when they are in their car? Anyways I was grossed out.

Registering for baby gear

So Nathan and I went to register yesterday at Babies R Us and Target. It took alot longer than we expected. Even though we bought the consumer reports book and went through it picking out items beforehand many of the items were not at either store. So we were fored to start from scratch. Their is also so much more you have to register for than I ever expected!

We did not even get to funiture we decied to go back another day when we were fresh and after looking though the book Best Baby Buys.

We did register for more high end items than we though we would, such as the top of the line stroller, Chico. However once we got in there and played around with the stuff I saw why it was worth the extra money. Speaking of high end, I had my heart set on a Bumble Bee theme for our nursary, but the only bedding set we could find was $250 dollars. That was just for the bedding not the valances and other decorative items. So I was dishearted until we can home and I found this set brand new on ebay. Not only was it a lot less money, but it included a lot of extras like decorative pillows, valances and a diaper stacker. So I am happy to say we are going ahead with the bumble bee theme! I know bedding is something people usually register for but, I am pretty sure we have enough on the registery for people to find something.

Happy Halloween

Next year it will be pictures of the cutest baby ever in a costume, for now we will settle for a few doggie photos.

A story for my book...

I have always joked about writing a book filled with funny stories from teaching. Well a student helped me add one to the collection this week. For the sake of this story our student’s name will be “Bill.”

It is 7:30 in the morning and I have just finished rehearsing jazz band. As the students are packing up their instruments, one boy pulls out a red ball and starts throwing it around with another boy. Although I do not have a sign up that saying no sports in the band room, this was not going to be tolerated. Visions of my new chimes being hit started running through my head. So as I am collecting late grade checks from three students and writing a pass for a student to come in for help during lunch I yell, “No balls in the band room.” Looking back on this situating I probably could have chosen my words more carefully. Seizing the opportunity to get a laugh Bill yells, “I guess all the guys have to leave.” As any teacher will attest to, very often something that you might laugh at in your real life you have to terminate in the teaching world.

So I inform Bill he has a lunch detention that day for the inappropriate comment. He takes his lunch detention as a badge of honor and starts telling everyone how he earned it. My intention of helping him realize that was not the right thing to say was not being accomplished. So I have to think fast before every kid in the room gets pulled into this fiasco. So I go over to Bill and I tell him that if he is so proud of his wit, we should call his mom and he can tell her how he earned a lunch detention. That was the magic thing to say. Bill has never been so quiet ever! He served his detention quietly and was even quiet during band the last period of the day. After school I ran into a couple of Bill’s other teachers and told them the story. We shared a good laugh at how dumb my comment was and on how you just have to bite your cheek sometimes to keep from laughing.

Baby Update

So we had our 16-week appointment and everything went well. We heard the heartbeat and all my vitals were good as well. I was so excited I only gained ½ a pound. Our next visit we will get an ultrasound. In fact, they told us to bring a VHS tape so we could get a recording of it. I am looking forward to that. So far we are still leaning towards being surprised by the sex of the baby. However, I can see me trying to call the doctor after the fact because I just cannot wait another second to know. I really do not care if it is a boy or girl. When I see a little baby girl on TV I want a girl and when I see a boy I want a boy. Eventually I want at least one of each, so I really do not care which I have first.

In other baby news, we went to Babies R Us last weekend. We didn’t register or anything. Our goal was just to start to get an idea about prices, safety items, and the style we liked. After going we felt a little overwhelmed. So we went home and ordered the Consumer Reports book and I called some girlfriends who have kids for advice. I feel like we are starting to get a handle on everything now, although we are still going back and fourth about whether or not to get a convertible crib. On one hand if you get a convertible crib you will have to buy a new one for every kid. On the other hand if you get a good convertible crib they are suppose to last until the kid leaves the house. We are still not sure but it does seem like most cribs out there are convertibles. I am all ears if you have any advice on the subject.

Sick and Pregnant

There are many great things about being pregnant and many not so great things. There are days I am convinced this is no longer my body and days I just have to laugh at what is happening. Many of these things I will not blog about for anyone to read, but feel free to talk with me in person about it. One thing that I have been dealing with the last few days is being sick and pregnant.

Both items mess with your energy level. So, when you put the two together it makes it hard to go for more that six hours without needing to sleep. Also, it is hard to find relief when you are sick and pregnant. There is a short list of medicines that you can take without worry of harm to the baby and unfortunately none of then help with sinus pressure and pain. You can take Halls and use Vick Vaporub. I have been eating Halls like candy. But I cannot stand the greasy feeling of Vicks on my chest, so I have not gone that route. However, in my need for even a moment or two of relief I have found two safe weapons, a steamer meant to give facials and Shower Soothers. I bought the little facial thing for 20 bucks over a year ago and I use it every so often. However, I have been using it three times a day lately just to give me some temporary relief and break up the sinus pressure. I also tried those Shower Soothers and they work well, but are also temporary relief. You put this mentholated puck in your shower and let the hot water dissolve it. It releases a really strong mentholated vapor that helps clean you out if only for an half an hour or so. I am all ears if anyone has anything else that a pregnant lady can use for sinus pressure and pain. Lastly, for anyone reading this thinking about getting pregnant, stock up on safe alternatives for when your sick beforehand. You will not have the energy to run to the store once it happens.

A little unbelievable

Last Wednesday Nathan and I bought a Black 2007 Toyota Rav4 with FWD. We did this after learning on Monday that the blue one we wanted had already been sold. So we called a dozen different dealerships looking for the exact one we wanted for the price we wanted to pay. After much searching and haggling over the phone, Elmhurst Toyota had a Black 2007 Toyota Rav4 with FWD and taupe interior for the right price. Although it was not blue, we knew the 2007’s were going fast and we needed to settle. Well when we went in on Wednesday our Rav4 looked great but it had grey interior. I much prefer that so I was excited. I though we just wrote it down wrong on Monday since we talked to so many dealerships. So we sign the paper work and drive home in our new SUV. The next night we get a phone call that they let us drive off the lot with the wrong car! Our car with the taupe interior is sitting on the lot still. We have a 2007 Black Toyota Rav4 with 4WD sitting in our garage. Someone else already has their name on it and is coming it to get it this weekend! So we said we could bring it in on Saturday and switch. I am blown away how could you give someone the wrong car? I am a little sad I am losing my grey interior. I hope the people getting this SUV do not mind the fact that we put over a 100 miles on it in three days.

So here are a few pictures of an SUV that is not ours in our driveway. Just imagine taupe interior if you want to know what ours looks like.

Annoucment!!!

I could not be more excited to announce Nathan and I are expecting a baby! We are so happy and we feel unbelievably blessed already. We decided to wait until the end of the 1st trimester to make the official announcement to the world just to be on the safe side. I am happy to report this past Thursday we had our 12-week doctor visit and everything looks great. We heard the baby’s heart beat for the first time! We also got another ultrasound and we saw our little one doing a back flip. Can you believe it? My baby has only had arms and legs for two weeks and he/she is already a little gymnast. You will have to forgive the proud mommy to be for gushing!
So far I have been very lucky having few pregnancy symptoms. I have noticed I am much more tired than usual and that my taste in foods has changed quite a bit. I no longer care for chicken, which I use to love. I also find myself liking things that use to turn me off, such as salt and vinegar chips. One other thing I have noticed is a sharp increase in crazy dreams. I have always been prone to having wacky dreams now and then but lately it has been every night.
My due date is March 31st. So the plan is for me to leave for spring break and not go back to finish the school year. I have many friends who are teachers. Does that not just sound awesome to you? Spring break is never long enough. I will miss my students terribly, but I am working hard to find a suitable replacement. I am confident I will be able too. One question we have been asked many times over is, “Are going to find out what you are having?” I can not answer that right now. Nathan wants it to be a surprise and I am torn on the issue. I have a feeling the moment I am far enough along to tell what we are having I will desperately want to know. So I guess we are still debating the issue.

B-Day Dinner

Last night Nathan and I went to the Kinzie Chophouse. It was delicous and I highly recommend it. The prices make it a little to expensive for just a Friday night dinner. However, if you are looking for a place to go for a special occasioan, give Kinzie a try. Nathan and I both had steak, I had the filet and he had the porterhouse. They were both delicous. Nathan thinks it was the best steak he has ever had. Before we ordered they gave us a presentation about the different kind of cuts of meat and recommended tempatures to eat them at, which I found helpful. Although for me the best part was the parmesian spinach! I am going to try and recreate that one at home.

Decisions, Decisions

So we started car shopping today. We have narrowed it down to two kinds, the Ford Escape and the Toyota Rav4. I liked both when we test drove them and the prices and warranties are practically identical so that is not an issue. In order to help me sort through it all I have made a list and so far it seems like the Rav4 is the winner. I was wondering if you have any recommendations? Also any advise on how to haggle for a car? Right now Nathan and I are thinking of walking in with a check for the amount we think is fair and saying take it or leave it. Neither one of us think we can out-haggle a professional sales person.

Escape
Better financing
Like the look
Roomier
Quieter engine


Rav4
Consumer Report rating much higher
Smoother ride
Floor storage compartment
Back seats fold down easier
Higher NHTSA Crash-Test Ratings

School is in session

Long time no post, but in my defense school has just started and I am a little swamped. So far so good on the school front, but this coming week is going to be a bear with Beginning Band recruitment. The hours are long and I almost always get sick. Last year I thought I might beat the plague with lots of vitamins, but I still got a nasty sinus infection. This year I bought some spray hand sanitizer. Please keep your fingers crossed it works. I think my symphonic band is going to be a good group this year. They certainly seem to be following directions better than my group last year.

Other than that I have been on a quest to find comfortable dress shoes and a digital camera. I looked into buying some Danskos but they do not come in wide enough widths for me. I wound up buying a really expensive pair of orthopedic arch supports that I can put in most of the shoes I wear. Ever since my back injury I am having to be more old lady when it comes to this kind of stuff. I also just bought a cannon power shot 570IS. We knew we wanted to upgrade our camera however the old one just died so we upgraded a little sooner than expected. I hope this blog finds you well and a little more well rested than I.

Last day of freedom

So how does one spend their last day of freedom before returning to work…

4:30 am woken up by storm (That was not how I pictured starting my day)

6:30 finally fall back asleep

8:30 wake-up for good/do my back exercises (my rehab doc would be proud!)

9:00 eat breakfast/watch Bringing Home Baby on TLC (The couple was bring home triplets!)

9:30 go for a walk before it gets to hot

10:45 return from walk and shower

11:30 go to TJ Maxx/Target (Man, decorative pillows are expensive! No purchases were made.)

12:30 Contemplate stopping for ice cream but decide against it and go home.

12:45 Lunch

2:00 Dentist

3:00 rehab

4:00 watch T.V. (nothing special)

5:00 make dinner (Spicy noodles with broccoli)

5:30 watch Nathan eat dinner; my mouth was still numb from the dentist

6:00 check email and blog about day

I suspect I will just putz around for the rest of the evening. I wished I had napped. Going to the dentist was a drag, but other than that I am pretty happy with my day.

Fruit Of The Loom

You know those annoying Fruit Of The Loom commercials? Well I have always wondered what the fourth guy in commercials were. It is obvious that one guy is dressed like an apple and you also have two different colors of grapes. The fourth guy however is sometimes green but usually a brownish color on the commercials. So what is he? After debating this with my husband, I went to the website and found out he is a leaf. That explains the two color variations but not really why he is in the Fruit Of The Loom commercials. A leaf is not a fruit. At least now when those annoying commercials come on I will no longer be asking myself what the fourth guy is supposed to be.

Strange Dream

This dream is so weird, it’s one for the record books. Garth Brooks started teaching at my school. I was talking with him and mentioned I was super busy and I could not get to the dry cleaners and pick up my wedding dress. (I have no idea why it was at the cleaners, it has been in my closet for three years.) The next day he tells me he picked it up for me but it is at his house. So I go with him after school to get it and we are talking and enjoying one another’s company. Once we get to his house he tried to kiss me and asks me out to dinner! I excuse myself to the bathroom, call Nathan and let him know where I am at, but I do not mention the mess I am in the middle of. I go back out into the main room and remind him I am married but if he would like to go to dinner as friends that would be fine. Then I see there are a million Christmas decorations up and the door bells starts ringing like crazy. The first people through the door are Nathan and my parents. I am relieved to see them although I feel silly and just want to leave. So, we grab my wedding dress and turn to leave but tons of Garth Brook’s family is in the room now and they are all singing me happy birthday. After that a ton of his aunts surround me and starting asking me to sign Christmas cards, which I do not want to do but I do anyway. Then all of a sudden I realize by signing their cards I am RSVPing yes to their holiday parties and I get very nervous and upset because I do not want to go. Also, while all this is going on one of the aunts tries to pull on the sweater I am wearing so I show more cleavage. She tells me I am young and I need too show more. I look over at Nathan overwhelmed and then I wake up. Have you ever heard of such a crazy dream? I am not even really a Garth Brooks fan. Why is he in my dream?!?! This is not the first weird dream I have had but I just felt like sharing.

crab rangoon

I had one of my favorite foods in the whole world for lunch today: Crab Rangoon. Normally they are an appetizer you share, but I ate a whole order by myself. Unfortunately I soon started to pay for eating that much greasy food at once. Over a year ago I started cutting way back on anything fried because of my liver. No big deal, I just have to eat healthy. Anyways every so often I will try and eat like I use to. My body has taken to reminding me just how terrible of an idea that is. So after my lunch time indulgence I was struck with a terrible tummy ache. The really sad part is I will probaby do this again to myself in three or four months after I have forgotten about this afternoon's troubles.

unrestful sleep

Last night I got a terrible night's sleep. It seems that a few times a month I will toss and turn, doze in and out of sleep, and dream about not being able to sleep. When the alarm finally does go off, I am still exhausted. I know that I have gotten some sleep when this happens although I am not sure how much total. I do not know what triggers these bad nights. I have noticed they do tend to happen on Sundays most often. When it happens my mind does seem to be racing before hand and I can not seem to make it stop. I do try and watch a little TV before bed just to clear my head and slow down before bed. Maybe being up later the night before hurts me when trying to go to sleep although I am usually not up ridiculously late any night. Maybe if I take a nap that day, it comes back and hurts me. I don't know what causes it for sure. Any suggestions to solve my restless sleep problem?

funny stuff

I am a fan of Will Ferrell and I loved the video he did online called "The Landord" and I am guessing most of you have seen it. I just saw the follow up one "Good Cop, Baby Cop," and it is also very funny. Check it out if you have not seen it http://funnyordie.com/videos/33f2687080

Herniated disc

I am in the process of recovering from a herniated disc in my back. For those of you that do not know what that is or what the symptoms are let me fill you in. A herniated disc, or rupture of the intervertebral disc of the spine occurs when, the cushion that sits between the spinal vertebra is pushed outside its normal position. A herniated disc would not be a problem so often if it weren't for the spinal nerves that are very close to the edge of the intervertebral disc. Because of all the nerves that are so close to the disc when it gets pushed out of place it keeps touching the nerves and it is incredible painful. Common symptoms of a herniated disc include Leg Pain, Parasthesias and muscle weakness. There are a few other symptoms, but luckily I was spared those.
To put what I have been going through in real terms I herniated my disc last Thursday. Six days later is the first day I can walk around unassisted for about thirty minutes before I need to lay down again. For the first few days everything hurt, laughing, sneezing and walking was out of the question. I actually did try to walk last Friday to go to the doctor and I fell down, it was not a good scene. I do not wish this pain on anyone, so the point of this blog is to forewarn people to be careful. I was not doing anything tremendously strenuous when I did this, I was putting in grout on our new tile floor. I felt my back starting to get soar and I ignored it and kept working! I have been paying the price ever since. So the moral of my story is listen to your body especially your back when it tells you to take a break.

Helpful hint

Learn from my mistake. If you are pulling up linoleum flooring use a heat gun. It took us three hours to do a 1/3 of our floor without one and one hour to do the rest of the floor with it.

Mmmm

I have recently discovered a new delicous cold treat for these hot summer months. If you have not had orange sherbert and vanilla ice cream mixed together than you are missing out my friend. You can even buy them already mixed. Go to the store right now and get some, you will thank me later.

Lost Luggage

So as Nathan and I were preparing to leave Myrtle Beach we were talking with our brother-in-law about how lucky they were that their luggage made it to Myrtle Beach since their connector flight ran late. Nathan went on to say the same thing happened to us and we were fine. He also added that he flies about eight times a year for work and in the seven years he has been doing that he has never lost his luggage. I am a bit superstitious so I said right after that “knock on wood” however their was no wood to knock on in the car.

After breakfast we said our goodbyes and Nathan and I hopped on our connector flight to Charlotte and then off too Chicago. We get to O’Hare and are standing at the baggage claim. Twenty minutes later we are still standing at the baggage claim. Another twenty minutes and we are the only ones left from our flight still standing at the baggage claim. So we register our lost luggage and they reassure us that it is probably still in Charlotte but that we should have it by tomorrow. The next morning they are still looking for it and tell us to check back later. I call around noon and the completely unhelpful woman on the other end says there is no information about our bags in the system at all. They are completely lost. Well at that point I really start to get angry and start thinking just how much it would be to replace everything in my luggage as well as my luggage. I sat down and wrote out everything I could remember taking and including my luggage the cost was just over $2000, just for my stuff. I was blown away by how expensive it would be. A few hours after that the airline called and they found our luggage. I my rethink my packing strategy the next time I travel and take a full size carry on with my valuables. Nathan says I am carrying it though.

Do not look for me at Thanksgiving

So Nathan and I just booked a trip to Paris and Rome with our friends Julie and Dennis for this Thanksgiving! I am so excited. I have not been out of the country for a while, I think it was 2003 when we went to Germany. Anyways I am so excited I am going to rent those travel videos by Rick Steves. I was thinking about getting Spanish tapes this summer, but maybe I will change to Italian, although Spanish would come in more handy here in the U.S. It has always been a fantasy of mine to go to a forgien country and be able to communicate with them in their language. It would certainly help dispell the stupid American sterotype that is out there. I have been to Paris twice before so I think I have a pretty good handle on what to see and do. But if you have any pointers about Rome, I'm all ears.

Free at last!

I had my last day of school yesterday! (well for a while anyway) I do have to go back this next week and do some curriculum writing for our 7th and 8th grade general music program. We are going to be moving from a lecture based program to a lecture/activity program. We are going to cover fewer composers and pieces of music, but learn about them more indepth. I will also be teaching summer band starting the week of July 16th, but other than those two things I am going to take some much needed time to recharge. My plans consist mostly of going to the gym, sitting in the sun, napping, and reading for pleasure now that I have no more grad school books to read! Nathan enjoys me on summer break too, I cook a lot more and I take over all the cleaning. So everyone wins when summer comes.

Plants

I have a theory that you should not have kids until you can keep a pet or plants alive for a period of time. I have done no research to prove my theory, but I do think it has merit. Kids certainly take a lot more work than a bonsai tree but it is better than having never tried to keep anything alive first.
I have never had much of a green thumb, although my mom is great at it. Go figure. I wanted to get a puppy, but Nathan said no way, which brought me back to plants. For the last three summers I have tried to keep some flowers alive on my deck in planters without much success. In my defense the first summer was ridiculously hot and my little plants could not take it. Last summer I got them to survive, but they looked pathetic, very twiggy, and not many flowers. This summer I was determined to have pretty flowers. I did some research and found a type that loves tons of afternoon sun and I splurged and bought the expensive Miracle Grow Potting Soil with moisture control. So far my flowers are looking fantastic. I wish I could take all of the credit, but I do think the expensive potting soil helped quite a bit. So if you are having trouble keeping your plants looking good try that stuff out. Just to prove my plants are looking good I took a few pictures of them last night, enjoy.

So many reasons why I do not teach marching band...

As I have mentioned before my 8th grade students this year are a challenge. Getting ready for the parade has been no exception. Everyday kids whine that it is hot and they do not want to march. Once outside I keep having to remind them to keep their instrument at attention, guide left, and move their feet in time. Many of them think the percussion keeping the left left left right left on the snare drum to be just a suggestion. So last week we are marching back in towards the school and up our parking lots long driveway. My low brass are not guiding left as usual and I have had it. I start yelling “guide, look where you are going” just as this statement passes my lips I run into a road sign. Talk about not looking where you are going. I was fine, it took me a few seconds to register what had just happened and then I fell over laughing. Most of the band was oblivious and just keep marching. Only the last two rows of kids actually saw my face make contact with the sign. Even if they did not see it happen everyone knew by the time we were inside, what can I say good new travels fast. In fact a few of the teacher got to see reenactments of it in the hallway after school. I asked one of my kids why did you not tell me I was about to walk into a sign and his reply was, “I was too busy listening to what you were saying Mrs. H” (that was the first time that ever happened.) Just to add insult to injury the sign I hit was a handicapped sign!

Damn birds

A plethora of geese have made a home in the field next to the parking lot at my work. I despise those damn birds and today just furthered my long held hatred. So I took my car to the car wash this past weekend…do we see where the story is headed? Today when I walked out of work my car was coating in a nice shellacking of goose poop. Damn birds

My weekend in pictures

So Friday night we celebrated Nathan's Birthday. I surprised him by organizing an outing to Medieval Times with some friends. He was really surprised and had a great time so I was happy. Then on Saturday I graduated with my Masters in Education. Technically I am not done until the end of June, but everyone walked this weekend. So enjoy the pictures and take care.

The Walk and Work

Nathan and I took part in the March of Dimes Walk today. We could not have asked for nicer weather. I recommend this event to anyone. We raised money for a great cause, over $500 and we got our exercise in for the day. Thank you everyone who donated!

Other than that this past week I had a weird Thursday. I broke my shoe walking into school; I should have taken it as a bad sign. During my first hour class I gave my students a few moments to review their notes before we took our test. As they were quietly looking over their notes I noticed something in the corner, a mouse stuck to a mouse trap! I thought (prayed to God rather) that I could call maintenance down to remove the little bugger before anyone noticed. As I was dialing for maintenance I here a student yell “Oh my God!” Well as you can imagine junior high students will use any distraction to keep from taking a test. You can not come up with a better distraction than a live mouse caught in a trap. I ended the day with my Spring Band Concert. I usually have a very strong opinion about how we perform, but I am pretty vanilla on this one. The kids have definitely played better in the past, but the concert was far from bad. I do not know maybe it was just a very Twilight Zone day.

Work

I was not going to post today. However I was inspired by a few friends who I have not heard from in a while ;) I have been quite busy lately, that does seem to be everyone's story. I was at work until 8:30 for the last two nights. We had a Parent Music Association meeting at my school and then I had a night rehearsal for an upcoming contest. It is hard when you feel like your whole day was eaten by work even if you love what you do.

So my night rehearsal last night was a mixed bag. It was an 1 1/2 hours long and it some ways it flew by. I made the mother of all lesson plans to prepare for it. I had the other band director and my principal, a former band director, act as mock judges at our rehearsal during the school day. I also recorded our run through for analasis. So between the comments and the recording I came up with five pages of corrections! We certainly did not get through them all, but we did start making some nice headway. On the flipside my group this year has maturity issues so anything that is different or special they have trouble handling and I had a ton of chatty cathy's last night. I was exhausted when it was over. We have our big contest this Saturday and then our concert next Thursday, April 26th. You are all more than welcome to come. My mom was not interested in coming until I told her I have a trash can ensemble playing. She is one weird cookie. I never know what she will like.

Youngblood Brass Band

Last night we went to see Youngblood Brass Band. They were fantastic. They are a New Orleans Style brass band, but they are very different. Instead of favoring jazz they favor hip hop. I know it sounds weird a hip-hop brass band, but it was great. They played about 15 songs in total and about 5 of them featured a rapper. I was not the biggest fan of the rap part, although it was Nathan's favorite part. Most of their songs were just instrumental. They played with such intensity and power it was infectious. I have a seen a few brass bands now and this one has something special. We will definately see them again.

March of Dimes

On April 29th Nathan and I are going to be walking for the March of Dimes. This is a great organization that helps prevent birth defects in babies. Visit the site http://www.walkamerica.org/jenhaselhorst to sponsor us! Thanks for thinking about it!

I finished!

I wish I could say I finished grad school, but I still have a few more months on that one. I did however finish this big research project I have been working on for months, three weeks ahead of time I might add! I am so happy I would break out into dance if I had not just thrown my back out at the gym this morning. I promise I will dance once I am feeling better. In the mean time feel free to ask me anything you want to know about nonverbal communication in the instrumental music classroom. Yippie I finished my research paper!

I love Sun Shine!

We just got back from San Diego last night. We had a great time. The weather was mid-sixties and sunny most of the time. It was pretty windy, which we were told was very unusual. We will just have to go back some other time and check it out for ourselves. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Here is a picture of Nathan and I our first night in San Diego. We actually forgot our camera for most of that first day. In my opinion the weather was nicest that first day we spent down by the harbor. I could have sat there watching the waves and enjoying the sun forever. This picture is at a jazz club/restaurant called Croce's. The music was great and so was the food.

This is a shot of the San Diego sky line from the bridge to Coranado Island. The famous Coranado Hotel is where they filmed the movie Some Like It Hot. We learned a lot about San Diego by taking a guided tour bus. This tour was nice because you could get off at every stop walk around and then catch the next bus once you were done looking around.

Here is Nathan and I just taking a break from walking around Balboa Park. Balboa Park has seven different museums as well as the zoo! The park is huge and many of its buildings were constructed for two different World Fairs in the early twentieth century.

This was one of my favorite pictures we took at the zoo. The San Diego Zoo is by far the biggest and nicest Zoo I have ever been too. Don't the hippos look so cute cuddling one another!

Here is our reenactment of the hippo picture.

We have lots more pictures and stories to share about our trip including how I found out I get seasick. Yuck! We will tell you all about it next time we see each other or maybe I will do a part two to this post.

I am trying to get a little culture

So I just bought season tickets to the CSO (Chicago Symphony Orchestra for all you uncultured people.) I love going to hear the CSO and I usually go once maybe twice a season. I never thought about buying season tickets until I started looking at prices. I bought a five concert series for about what it would cost to go to three concert if you bought the tickets separately. So all and all it is not a bad deal. They also have a new mini-series thing you can buy. Three concerts for under $50. I would have bought that one except it is all Baroque music and I am really more of a Romantic and Contemporary fan.

Ethnic celebrations

I was discussing what to do for St. Patrick’s Day with a friend and she told me she does not celebrate St. Patty’s Day because she is not Irish. I said everyone is Irish on St. Patty’s Day and besides she should not be bitter because her people have Casmir Pulaski Day. In my opinion St. Patty’s Day kicks Casmir’s butt, but I digress. Anyways it got me to thinking that I am only a quarter Irish-American. So what about my three quarter German- American heritage? Do the German-Americans have a day? Well it turns out we do according to Wikipedia.

Steuben Day is held September 17, celebrating Baron Friedrich von Steuben, who arrived in the United States as a volunteer offering his services to General George Washington, and is generally considered the German-American event of the year. Participants march, dance, and play music.

Steuben Day is celebrated in Chicago, Illinois in early September with a parade and a country fair serving German food, with music, costumes and other items, and in New York City on September 17 with a parade and Oktoberfest-style beer tent complete with food and live music in Central Park. This celebration was incorporated into the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

I vividly remember the parade scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but I had no idea Chicago had this big celebration. Has anyone ever been? I am totally going this year! First I will celebrate my birthday and then the next weekend Steuben Day, who is with me?!?

San Diego, anyone?

My husband and I are planning a trip to San Diego. Does anyone have any suggestions of places to go, things to do, food to eat? Currently we are planning a trip to the zoo and a whale watching cruise. I am so looking forward to some warm weather!

blogger trouble

It has been forever since I posted but it is not my fault! When ever I try to log on to dash board it will not take me to the sign in page. So how am I blogging now you ask? Well Julie, my good buddy, is allowing me to post from her computer. Now I think it is my my browser rather than a problem with my account.

So what is new with me? I decided I needed to read a classic. So I bought Dante's Divine Comedy last night. Other than that I am really into New Orleans style brass band music. Well I should go and hang out with everybody. Take care and I hope to be blogging regularly soon.

I hate this new version of blogger

Snow Day!

Wisdom Teeth

I am getting my Wisdom Teeth pulled tomorrow! I am nervous about it so please keep your finger crossed for me.

Life is all about ass

Life is all about ass;
your either covering it,
laughing it off,
kicking it
kissing it,
busting it,
trying to get a piece if it,
behaving like one or
you live with one!

Blah

I think I have that disease where you get down in the dumps due to lack of sunlight. That’s it, I need sunlight! I have to take the next week, maybe two, off of work and go some place warm and sunny. I would not want my condition to worsen.

Bowling

As many of you may know I am not an avid bowler. When I was in junior high I played in a league. Our team was made up of all cousins except me. I was friends with one of the girls. Anyways, in between games one of the cousins, Kelly, liked to sit on the step at the back of the lanes. Her mom was always telling her not to sit there because she would get hurt. (Do you see the direction this story is headed?) Well just before our third game Kelly was sitting on the step and I had to bowl first. I asked her to move out of the way so I could start. She moved directly behind me. I looked to make she was no longer sitting to my right and I did not see her. I swung the bowling ball back and heard a crack. I thought I hit the ball return. The sound of the splitting was not that of the plastic ball return but rather Kelly’s skull. When I turned around she was pasted out on the floor. My friend was so mad, I though she might just hit me with her bowling ball. Luckily Kelly’s mom saw the whole thing including me telling Kelly to move because I needed to bowl. Her mom said, “Well she always has to learn lessons the hard way.”

Even though this was a total accident I have shied away from bowling ever since. Consequently I am not a very good bowler when I do go bowling. This past weekend Nathan and I went bowling with some of his work friends and I bowled a 116! To many that score may not seem like much but that’s record breaking for me. I was so excited. Nathan also bowled a great game; he got a 175. By the way I told my tragic bowling story to my band last year before we went bowling and every time I went to bowl at least three kids yelled, “She Hit Me!” Apparently that never gets old when you are in junior high.

DDR

So I played DDR for the first time the other night. DDR stands for Dance Dance Revolution. DDR is that machine you see in arcades that has the different foot petals that you follow along to a screen with dance moves. I first heard about this a few years ago from my students. It is still just as popular as ever and many of my kids have a home version. Over winter break, my husband said he had better rhythm than I did and challenged me to a dance off. Unfortunately the DDR machine was broken at the movie theater we were at so the challenge had to be postponed.

This past Saturday we were early to a theater we were meeting some friends at and Nathan threw down the gauntlet again. Although I had never played this game before, I was confident I could beat Nathan. I know I have a better sense of rhythm than he does! To make a long story short, we played three rounds on the beginner level and I won ever time! The game is pretty fun. I recommend giving it a try if you never have before.

puppies and books

I want a puppy! Unfortunately, the man I live with does not want one. I am pretty sure I want a Beagle…I am a sucker for floppy ears. Look at this face, how could you resist this face???

Well, Nathan can, that's who. I even have his name picked out, Philip Sparke. That is actually the name of a band composer I am a big fan of. His name is pronounced Spark, but I would just call the puppy Sparke. I understand Nathan’s point that we should have a backyard. It will be a way bigger pain in the butt to have to take the dog out every morning rather than just opening the door to a backyard. But, they are so cute. I have done a little bit of reading about them. They are supposed to be smart and very good with kids, but they can be strong willed and hard to train. They can be an inside or outside dog but they do like to howl. Before I actually got one I would want to spend some time with the dog to make sure their temperament was what I was looking for. It would probably also be a good idea to talk with a vet. But here I am going on about a dog I will not be getting any time soon L.

In other news I finished a book called Maybe A Miracle by Brian Strause. It was pretty good, I would give it seven out of ten stars. If you are looking for a nice light read definitely give this book a go. Also if you are Catholic or a baseball fan you will probably enjoy this book. The central character is a teenage boy who is fairly jaded and witty, but only in his own head. That is a concept I think we can all relate to on some level. I know I always have the best comeback several minutes after the situation has ended. Although I do think I am getting better at that sort of thing as I get older.

Happy New Year

What to do on New Year’s Eve? That question always seems like such a big deal to people my age. In the last few years a familiar new year’s gang has formed and we always have a lot of fun. My buddy Racheal and I have spent more New Year’s Eve’s together than not since high school. As we got married our hubbies were brought into the fold. The group then progressed into four couples adding in our friends Julie and Matt along with their spouses. Not that we have spent every new years together or that we always do the same thing. One year we all went to a Japanese restaurant where the chef does all the knife tricks. Another time some of us went to Navy Pier.

This year we decided to do a pot luck dinner at my place. We enjoyed good food, laughs, and board games. It always seem like when ever we get together with a group and play games it turns into boys verses girls. It is funny that no matter how old we get that seems to be everyone’s favorite way to divide into teams. Why is that? Anyways for those of you interested the boys won at Scene It and the girls won Taboo. I knew the boys would win at Scene It because Nathan has a freakish ability at that game. Take my advice if you are every playing that game and Nathan is an option as a team member, pick him. Or better yet have it be everyone verses Nathan and see how you do.

Christmas in review

We just got back from St. Louis. We spent Christmas with Nathan’s family this year. Before we went to St. Louis, I went to a band conference in downtown Chicago. I usually dread going to those things. It always seems like the people I spent four years trying to avoid at U of I are the ones I run into and the conference only has one or two lectures I really like. That was not the case this year. Every lecture I went to was great and I learned a lot. Also I got to spend some quality time with two of my favorite professors from U of I. I am so glad I went.

On Friday after the conference Nathan and I met some friends for dinner which was great fun. After dinner Nathan and I exchanged gifts. I got Nathan some dress shoes, a shirt, and Family Guy on DVD. (He is watching them as I type.) Nathan got me a pair of white gold hoop earrings and a digital picture frame. Then we headed south early Saturday morning.

St. Louis was good. We got a chance to see both sides of his extended family as well as his good buddy Andy. It was fun to run around after his little niece Anna. I had a great heart to heart with Matt, Nathan’s brother. I like Matt a lot but I have never had a serious talk with him, so I am glad we got a chance to do that. Other than that it was just your standard family fun. I will attach a couple of pictures, enjoy.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas this year.

Shopping for the Holidays

So yesterday I was determined to finish off all my Christmas shopping. I did a fair amount early online. I was feeling confident that I was well on the way to getting everyone something they wanted on my list. Then that ship kinda sailed.

I pulled Nathan’s cousin Mike for the family gift exchange. Mike is a great guy, however, he is very hard to shop for. I know that could be said about most guys, but I think it is extra true for Mike. I asked his sister for hints and after that did not work out I found myself in Borders. I was standing in the bookstore like a deer in headlights. After I accepted I was probably not going to pick the perfect book, I decided to go for the laugh. At first I grabbed a coffee table book about Tu-Pac, but that was a fair amount over the budget. Next I grabbed an orange fuzzy book about gay Muppets, but then I chickened about. Finally, I settled on a book called “Superstud.” It was written by the creator of the TV show “Freaks and Geeks.” I was smiling reading the back cover, so I hope Mike likes the book or at least gets the joke. I continued my Borders experience by finding they did not have the Civil War book I was going to get my Dad. I just asked a person browsing in that section to recommend one for me. I hope that the lady knew what she was talking about. I ended my shopping trip by buying myself two sweaters. They were not on my gift list, but aren’t those the best gifts, the ones you stumble on for yourself? Anyways, I am now done with shopping for Christmas… I think…I hope…

so cute

Take a minute and visit this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk
I laughed til my cheeks hurt, it is so cute!

Fighting

I am fighting off a cold. A pretty nasty flu bug is going around my school. I can not get sick before my concert on Tuesday (all are invited by the way.) So I am taking Zicam, vitamin C and Zinc to try and stay healthy. If you could keep your toes crossed for me that could not hurt.

nephew part 2

So I gave my nephew the stupid cards he said he wanted just last weekend at Thanksgiving. Let me paint the picture at Thanksgiving. I am sitting across from him at the dinner table. Jen: "Michael, what do you want for you birthday?" Michael: "I like Yu Giou Cards and Pokemon Cards." Jen: "Which one do you like better?" Michael: "Yu Giou." Jen: "Any specific type of Yu Giou Cards?" Michael: "No, I like them all." Flash forward to this evening. Micheal opens this present and his smile immediately goes away. Jen: "Michael isn't this what you asked for?" Michael: "Sort of." Jen: "What?!?! You said Yo Giou cards any kind." Michael: "Oh."

Cindy I know you said you hate when people give cash and to be honest I do too. It takes no thought and that is why I dislike it. However, I might have to resort to giving this kid cash, otherwise I might strangle him. Nathan almost had to hold me back this evening. I was so close to blowing my top. I bought the kid exactly what he wanted. Maybe he just gets some kind of sick pleasure out of not liking gifts from me.

nephew

My nephew’s birthday was yesterday and we are going to go see him this weekend. I always dread giving him presents. Not because I am a miser or anything. He just never seems to like what I get him. I got him a really neat present last year for Christmas (well I thought it was neat). He was going through a dinosaur phase and he had recently told me he wanted to be an archaeologist. So I bought him this dinosaur replica encased in stone that you had to chisel out and then assemble the pieces. Did this not meet the two criteria of his life ambition and his favorite toy? Well he looked at me like I just gave him coal. Then he tossed the thing over his shoulder and I never saw the thing again. This year for his birthday I got him Yo Guio cards. I have no idea what these things are or even how to spell the damn thing, but he said he wanted them. I gave up trying to figure out what he would want. My nieces are so much easier. I always hit a home run and I never have to ask them what they are into. Maybe it is the whole girl buying for a girl thing. All I know is I just spent a lot of money on little things that look like baseball cards and he better not just toss them over his shoulder.

Complaints and Confessions

Nathan and I bought a living room set when we bought our house. When we made our purchase we bought the deluxe stain guard protection. The fabric was supposed to be completely covered for five years. Since then the furniture store went out of business. I used a generic Febreeze type spray to freshen the fabric but it stained our couch! Actually I think it bleached it instead of staining it. I am so mad I could spit. Of course the company that bought out the furniture store we got our stuff from said too bad so sad. So beware of fabric fresheners they can really mess up your couch.

So now for the confession... Nathan and I have been "borrowing" internet access from our neighbors for a while now. Recently the signal has been very weak. So after a couple of weeks of almost no internet access we are getting our own. It will be such a luxury to get on line when ever I want. I guess I will have to blog more.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. I was hosted my family this year. We did not make a whole turkey for three reasons: 1) there were only eight of us; 2) nobody really loves turkey in my family; and 3) I was afraid of cooking a whole bird. I do not like to cook anything for the first time for people. On the other hand when would I cook a whole turkey for just Nathan and me? So we marinated and barbequed several turkey breasts. I thought they turned out terrific, no dry flavorless turkey this year. One quick question though. Someone spilled red wine on my table cloth. Does anyone know a trick to get that out?

Today I went to a spin class to try and burn off a little bit of yesterday’s meal. I really like spin classes. I am exhausted afterwards but in a good way. Later in the day I did not want to join the huddled masses in the stores, but I got bored. I decided to wander over to Target. To my surprise Target was over staffed and very organized. I was able to cross my aunt and nephew off my Christmas list. I think I might try and do some online shopping this year as well in an effort to minimize my exposure to impulse shopping.

One last note, I did write a Christmas letter this year.

Should I do a Christmas letter?

Should I do a Christmas letter? I have asked myself this question for the last few years. In a way it would be like a blog about my year. I like the idea of keeping those I care enough about to send a Christmas card to informed about my life. I always read the Christmas letters I receive.

On the other hand I hate how some letters come across so braggadocios. I mean life is not all gum drops and pay raises. If I compose one, I want it to be real. Do people want “real” around the Holiday? How long is too long? Right now I am thinking one page double spaced. Just enough to give the big highlights and a few antidotes, right? Having never composed one of these little beauties, I have no idea.

Other than that I had a hard week. Nathan was gone on business, Except for today, I felt very ineffective this week as a teacher. My kids will not play with good tempo and I spent all week pulling teeth on this issue. Today I held an American Idol-like contest concerning tempo. The winning section receives a fabulous edible prize on Monday once the votes are tabulated. I had all the sections play and everyone voted on who kept the best time. The two rules were you could not vote for your own section and if I called on a student for talking during the contest, their section was disqualified. The kids really worked hard on playing with good time and keeping quiet. Although this was a nice break from the normal rehearsal, I need to get them to stay quiet and focused on tempo without playing games.

Can't sleep

So it is 12:30 on a Friday night and I can not sleep. I ate a greasy dinner and it is not agreeing with me… that will teach me to not eat healthy. I should be sleeping I need to be up early. I have an IMEA jazz festival to go to tomorrow (today). After that my fall from hell will be over! Next weekend I am free as a bird. My plan at the moment is to sit on the couch and do nothing all weekend long. I might have to modify those plans slightly since I am hosting Turkey Day this year. However I am certainly looking forward to my free weekend.

I just finished parent teacher conferences and everything went smoothly. I had rehearsals with my bands for four hours the first day of p/t conferences and we got a lot of wood shedding done on our music. As the band director I only had two parents request my presence at their student’s conference. However I go to all of them….well most I usually just catch in the hallway and give a quick up date too. My students rarely have significant issues maybe they forgot to turn in a practice chart or two and that is about it.

Nathan and I saw a great movie this evening, Stranger than Fiction. I really like Will Farrell. He did a nice job although it was a bit of a departure from the goofy guys he usually plays. He just has a real likability to him, the kind of guy you would want as a neighbor. Anyways I would recommend the movie. Now I am going to go lie down and pretend to be sleepy.

Did you vote?

I did! I did have mixed feeling about the race for Governor. I am tired of the adage “the lesser of two evils.” I want a person who can do the job, not the least amount of damage. Although I understand why some people would react by not voting, I believe that to be the wrong choice. If nothing else, vote for the Green party. Then you are actually sending a message. Not voting is not sending a message. It is letting other people decide for you. It scares me what a small percentage of people actually decide who runs our government. Mr. Rodey would be so proud of me right now.

Freedom

Freedom!! (In more ways than one) The big IMEA festival I was helping organize is done. That is a gigantic weight lifted off my shoulders. It’s not like I spent every waking moment doing things for this festival, but I will have some more free time now. I am glad I did my part to help the cause and now I am glad my tour of duty is over.

My student teacher is no longer with me, which is also a bit of a relief. There are many factors which contributed to this, none of which are appropriate to air on the internet. I wish things could have worked out, but I think in the long run things will be better for everyone. However, this turn of events will give me back my plan times for myself rather than coaching some one else. I am looking forward to that.

This week is my Mom’s birthday. I gave her and my dad a trip to Door County WI for a week as a present. I thought that was a really thoughtful gift. However, they decided at the last minute not to go and it was already too late for a refund. Let’s just say that will be the last time I send them on a vacation. I might have tried to use the reservation myself for at least a few days if I had not been so busy with work

Where did Jen go?

It is been so long since I posted. Sorry for the delay. I think if you have a blog, you should try and give a quick post at least once a week (I am not trying to guilt you Tony…well maybe a little.) In my defense I truly have been in over my head lately, so I am here and a lot has happened. Let’s start on a positive note shall we:

1) Nathan bought me flowers for no reason! He is so sweet, I love him.

2) In the last six weekends we have been to St. Louis four times. (high school reunion, two family weddings and this past weekend a funeral)

3) I just finished up a course for grad school which involved a semi-in-depth project and a five page paper about nothing.

4) My student teacher is taking more time and energy than I thought he would before the school year started.

5) Lastly, I am busy with IMEA stuff.

All the above things have just added up to the feeling I am overwhelmed. However, I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We came home late Saturday night and Sunday I was a giant bum and I think that is just what I needed. I am really looking forward to this semester coming to an end. Then I will be done with IMEA stuff and my student teacher will have moved on. Then at the end of this school year I will be done with grad school!!! So for now I am telling myself, “just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” That is a cute movie.

Work Stuff Mostly

I have been so busy with work lately. This past Thursday I took my 75 member band down to the University of Illinois. The choir and orchestra from my school also went so we had quite the caravan going down I-57. Anyway, I had two parents on each of my busses. I was going to be on one and then my student teacher on the other. However, when we pulled away from the school at 7:30 AM, my student teacher was nowhere to be found (That is a story in itself). I was afraid this was going to be an omen for how the day was going to go, but luckily it was not. My kids were fantastic. Their behavior was awesome and was only exceeded by their playing. I really feel like we got so much out of our visit, from the Sousa Museum, to working with Ken, to the kids listening to Symph. I rehearse. I do not think we could have asked for anything more.

This past Saturday was IMEA auditions. I am the band chair for my IMEA district this year. That means that I make tons of copies and the day of auditions I run around like a chicken with my head cut off for 13 hours entering scores and putting the IMEA band together along with a handful of other nuts like myself. I have to say I am so glad that day is over and that I only have a handful of responsibilities left as band chair for IMEA.

Today was my niece Ariana’s Birthday party. She is such a cutie. I have a picture of her below.

U of I and Gilmore Girls

I am taking my band to U of I tomorrow. I did this a few years ago and it was a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to this, my kids play well this year and I think Ken will be able to do a lot with them.

Other than that I have been pondering how I feel about the TV show Gilmore Girls. I have been a faithful follower of the show from its start, however I currently have issues. I am tired of them ripping Luke and Loralie (sp?) apart. They need to pick a course of action and stick with it. I know this is a tried and true TV formula. In my opinion you only get to go back and forth so many times before you lose your audience. I think the show has hit the limit. They are currently reintroducing Christopher as her love interest and I would be fine with that, but let’s stick with this plan Gilmore Girls.

Showcase Concert

This year is the first year that every child in my band program has only known me as the head band director. I have been looking forward to this for a while for two reasons. First, all my students know the way I teach, my quick pacing, how to read when I am angry, and the kind of quiz grader I am. Since the students are so familiar with me, it just makes everything run that much more efficiently. The second reason is that my current 8^th grade class has always been very strong. We were very excited about them as 5^th graders because the group was just so natural and large.

However, this year did not begin with the focused musical achievement I was expecting. I was worried about our concert last Thursday night. The kids, however, morphed into the outstanding young musicians I knew them to be. Last Thursday was really one of the strongest concerts we have ever given. A few of the kids said, “I have never seen you smile so much while conducting.” We played a wonderful arrangement of Children’s March, Country Wildflowers, and Fanfare and Flourishes 2. I hate it when a band just barely gets through a piece and then they are too ignorant to know they didn’t make any music. I was so afraid we were just going to get through the music. That could not have been further from the truth. My kids were so sensitive to the style of Children’s March, the phrasing of Country Wildflowers, and the dynamic changes in all three of the tunes that I was blown away. Now how do I get my kids to be as focused as they were at our concert all the time? This truly is my mission, although I do understand I am a little crazy for thinking I can achieve this.

Nothing new

Not tons new here to report, just real busy like everyone else. So, I though I would plug a new product I am now enjoying: Downey wrinkle releaser. It works pretty well. I always overstuff my drawers and then my shirts get wrinkled. I never have time to iron in the morning, nor do I think ahead the night before. So many of my shirts just sat in a wrinkled ball in my drawer but since using the wrinkle releaser I have access to a much larger wardrobe.