Desperately seeking sleep, and spring and other elusive things.....

I am sitting here (when I started this that is) at 6:30 in the am wondering how in the heck I find myself checking my powerball numbers (no bueno) and sitting in the dark instead of sleeping.  Sort of the story of my sleep life lately, either I am awake a long time (which is fairly typical) or I wake up by one means or another early in the morning (sigh), or a more recent occurrence-  become awake at 3 in the am and then not get back to sleep.  I really do need someone to lock me in a room with sedatives and/or margaritas and a pillow and keep me there for a few days.  Shove some food under the door but don't for heavens sakes wake me up at 6 am.  Ah well.

So the play is almost complete, and it has been a really good one.  A few minor glitches here and there that ALWAYS happen, but it has been a powerful synergy of fun.  The costumes are gorgeous (rented specialty costumes are the way to go!) and the lighting is spot on!  (HAHAHA)  We have been really working together so so well, and that doesn't always happen.  It has been a special group of kids to work with!  

My stagecrew members are almost all first timers with a couple putting in their second year.  This is somewhat unusual, as most years I have a few 3 or 4 years experienced kids.  This causes a small set of problems that involve them worrying all around me while I continuously tell them that this is an easy play to change.  Don't worry, it'll be fine!! They do believe me now.  They get so worked up about things sometimes.  And then they miss some of my best jokes!!   Not yesterday though!  Last night when intermission hit we had to get the ship off stage.  There are a lot of pieces/parts to it, so it takes a lot of the kids to do it.   We safely got all the sea-life off stage,  and I walked out into the middle (these things pop into my head, no fore-planning) turned and looked and said ok, we need to move the ship- ALL HANDS ON DECK! HAHAHA! Oh I was on fire last night!!  There were more but that one was fun.  Most of them laughed, but I may have seen an eyeroll.  I guess you had to be there. I told them that is what they get when the art teacher gets to take a nap!! 

Sunday performance is the most relaxed and sometimes a little unscripted.  It used to really worry me  because people have been known to get carried away.  Since I feel responsible for what goes on during the performances, for the most part, I remind them that there are people seeing it for the first time.  We don't want to ruin the integrity of the play, I feel sometimes like I am no fun in that regard.  Some visual jokes are ok, but......   You know what I mean.  So they have fun and I spend a lot of time monitoring the undertones.  And speaking with some prime suspects during makeup sessions.  I think we will be good, though.

So, I would like to say that spring has unnecessarily teased us with her warmth and now- what gives here Missy!  I have a spring weekend to enjoy and the high yesterday was like 31*.  COME ON!!!  You can do better than that.  I wanted to go for a walk this morning and it is 21.  Seriously.  I'll probably go anyway, but I refuse to wear multiple layers.  SPEAKING of spring- a certain partner in all things hiking and Bayfield and Washburn and photography and I just MAY be planning a day trip- soon very very soon.  And we don't care what the temperature is or if it wants to snow or whatever.  Take that spring!

In spring's defense, though, for the time being the snow is almost gone, and my daffodils have peeked their little heads up to see if it is safe.  I told them to hunker down for a little bit, not quite warm enough for them.  It is so nice to see bits of green!  I need to go out and chat with Lola too- I miss taking her photo every day.

With the end of the play upon me, I suddenly have time after school.  The 3rd quarter is up on Friday, so I will have a lot of things to do for that.  AND I certainly need to spend time in my art rooms catching up.  I may go as far as to go home, walk and then go back to school like I did in years gone by....  We shall see.  But I need to spend time in my room organizing and (pretend your aren't reading this anyone of you who feels the need to tell me no all the time) climbing around and putting things away on all the  high shelves that I haven't been able to get to.  I need a minimum of 3 sessions, one for each of the rooms I have.  Then I have to change the display cases and probably prepare for an art show or two.  SO much to do in my rooms.  I have kept up with the necessities, but now I need to dig in deeper.

It would be nice to sleep before all of that is accomplished tho!  I see some amazing cloud formations outside, the pictures are asking to be captured.  I can feel a need that has to be satisfied here and pronto.  I quick walk to the flowage might just be in order- 21 degrees or not.  Because I can, and I know that simple things like walks are not always guaranteed.

Take advantage of your opportunities when you can and alway always be a joy giver!!

Mid-week bleh

I knew this would happen!  I knew that with all the stress my body has been under that I would obtain some gremlin virus in my system, and of course it comes during play week because that IS how it goes.  Ah yes.

While I am not rendered bedridden, I am not feeling my usual perky self either.  I'm thinking it is a cold, but it has occurred to me that last year I had about a month of some allergy things. I generally do not get that sort of allergy reaction, so I am a bit uneducated about it.  Frankly, I will take the cold virus.  CAN'T be as bad as 2 years ago during the play week, when my livingroom was being renoed and I had the stomach flu from hell and I missed out on the school performances.  That was a very sad Debi that year.

The real sads this morning is that I was really in no shape to go outside late last night and I see all sorts of people got fantastic Northern Lights photos!!  I was cold and hot at the same time and in bed before 10.  BOOOOO!  I would totally have gone out for that.  I live in a nicely dark area and undoubtedly could have seen them well....  another night I guess.

Well enough of the whining already.  So, the play is coming together nicely.  It is amazing how smoothly everything is going, the kids know their lines, the stage crew is coming together well.  Everyone thinks this is such a big play to stage, but it really isn't.  (The Sound of Music and Grease- that's all I need to say)  There isn't much down time, as the scenes are pretty short, so no one has time to get bored or fool around, which is good-  however, once we change one scene, we are planning the next one.  So we are blasting through it quickly during rehearsals, which is awesome.  I come home so dehydrated, as we seriously don't have the time to even think about find water.....

Tonight is rehearsal and then tomorrow is part of the play for the student body- elementary, MS, St. Anthony's, HS.  When each one is I am not sure- except the HS is at 11:20 or some such thing.  Early dismissal and then a little inservice in the afternoon (:/) and then Friday the performances begin.

I've been dousing myself with Zicam and aleve hoping to beat back the symptoms of this particular fun event, as I need to be on my A game.

It's Wednesday everyone, we can do this!! Be a joy giver and make the week go well.

Play week, 2015

Another play week is upon us here and the cast and crew of the Little Mermaid will make their first concerted effort to work and bring this all together tonight.  It is going to be a busy busy week for me, and I am beginning it a little tired.  Not an ideal situation, but am hoping it passes.

After a WONDERFUL weekend with Jon, Sarah and Ella, I spent the day yesterday sort of lounging about.  I did manage a 4.5 mile walk and made some curried lentils and sweet potatoes, so there was that!  **A quick aside to say, this recipe is sublime.  I alter it all the time, so don't worry too much about it.  I never have cilantro, and rarely jalapeno.  I put in red pepper flakes and last night used lemon juice instead of lime.  DO use some citrus at the end.  SO good.  Also, take the time to find the garam marsala! ** I even went to bed a little early, and fell asleep so fast.  YAY.

The first day of play week usually proves to be pretty tough on all of us.  First off after a full day of teaching (kindergarten, anyone??) I will jump right into dragging all the makeup out of the backstage and hop into making the kids up in the library beginning immediately after school.  I tend to the boys and their cute fluttery eyes and usually do the make up for a majority of the specialized faces.  Besides the fact I like to mess around with makeup, I love the bonding time with the cast.  And I can keep tabs on how they are feeling and do some calming and complimenting and give them a little boost if they need it.  After photos for the  newspaper, we will then begin the somewhat arduous task of beginning the scenery and props dance.  The sets will be marked for their final destinations, assignments will be given, curtains will be pulled, cast members will be tossed off stage. Lol We have some major pieces of scenery to move, and they will have to be attentive.  Fortunately, we have a slightly shorter play than normal, so perhaps I will be home before 9!  I hope so, as I MUST be home to watch Better Call Saul!  I'm hooked.

Tuesday and Wednesday is full dress rehearsal, but no makeup, so that takes a lot of work for me off the table for those 2 days.  Rehearsals will take less and less time each night, as we will hit our stride and begin to all work together as a team.   Mental note just made to buy extra batteries for flashlights and refreshments for my stage crew people.

Thursday is a half day of school and so we are going to jam our performances for the student body into the morning.  We will perform part of the play for each school and finish the second act after for no one.  The school performance can be a scary thing.  But they will shine- everything is going well.

Friday and Saturday will find me back at school by 6 pm and then Sunday the matinee is at 2.  This will be a full week, but that is how it all goes.  We may still have a few things to touch up later today, but as a whole the scenery is in good shape.  I feel the tension rising, tho, I always have so many little things to attend to this week.  I'll be on edge until I see how everything is going to go.

So I better get up and get myself going for the first day of play week.  I am glad that the early morning meeting I was supposed to have has been moved to a read the agenda meeting.  I will have plenty to attend to this morning.  Next week is already the last week of the 3rd quarter...... now where did THAT GO???  Oh wait, I know-- broken elbows.  sheesh.

Happy almost spring and be a giver of the joys today!  :)  MUAH!

Midweek and holding

It is now Wednesday of play week and I have gotten the two initial long days under my belt.  I am not quite so desperately tired as I was yesterday.  I woke up at 4:15 and knew that if I went back to sleep, it would not be for 15 min, it would be for 1.5 hours.....  and that would have sucked.  Well, that would have been a really good thing for me, but you know what I mean.  But I feel pretty awake, and Wednesday is generally a good day.

I do have to work on grades though, as I WILL be done with them by Friday!!!  I will not be doing my quarter grades over the spring break, no sirree Bob!  That will not be happening, so I have my work cut out for me today and Friday.  Thursday is off the table, as that is the day I am involved in the play from 7 am until 3:30- 3 performances of the first act, and the second act once.  But I can't get ahead of myself, tonight is a dress rehearsal, no makeup, which reminds me, I have to go clean the greater village of Park Falls out of #105 Covergirl makeup- those little munchkins are all so light, they need this color. Well, not all are super light, but the majority of them are.

Anywho, the scenes have all been taped, and tonight, if the stage crew manages to all show up, they will have a pretty easy go of it.  My impatience for a couple of those young people is growing daily, as I do not want to be waiting to change out these scenes because they are holed up somewhere playing a video game or texting or what have you..... I mean if I have my phone on silent, they certainly can too.  Oy.  And JUST when I get them trained, they go and graduate on me.  But that is the nature of High School!

Yesterday's events went fairly smoothly, even though there were some crazy delays.  But those can't be helped, and for some unknown reason, a usually dependable person was not there to be my door guard, which I had some stand-ins, but much of the time I was doing double duty.  We have a large auditorium and I covered a lot of ground between opening the top door, letting groups in the bottom door, talking to the judge as needed and then going back and closing the bottom door, and then the top door as the groups started performing.  You get the idea. Heard a huge variety of things- but super enjoyed hearing the jazz bands and the woodwind and brass choirs.  Awesome stuff, and our school should be very proud.  They rocked the house!  I was also very impressed that our superintendent was there to watch solo and ensemble!!  Granted he is a "band guy", but I don't think I have EVER seen a Sup't at one of these in the MANY years I have been participating in them as organizer/mom/worker.  And trust me, I've been to a lot of them.  YAY Mr. Anderson!

Yesterday was also pretty epic in terms of what a progressive school we do have, especially when you compare to others of similar size around the state.  Let us just say, we are not rolling in dough at this point in time. I try to avoid, like the plague, ANY knowledge of the school's financial situation as I get too stressed out by it.  I can't even.  But virtually NO school in the state is "comfy" shall we say.  But we have managed- possibly through a little grant money, idk, I stay willfully ignorant- to become a school that is using one to one computing now.  We have enough small laptops for each student to use in the HS every day.  This is pretty cool, really, and yesterday was rollout day.  I really don't want to have this turn into a debate about anything, so if you have something negative to say, keep your mind OPEN for crying out loud, and know that I will delete your comment if you bum me out.  I know that this is an awesome thing, and we all know that computers are not "the wave of the future" or the "up  and coming new thing" but a fact of life.  And we are pulling our students, who traditionally are insulated from the rest of the world by virtue of our isolated geographical location, right up into a modern mode of learning that will involve more fluid ways of working instead of the regimented and rigid system of bells, clocks and separation of school from all other aspects of their life.  whew, not sure where all that came from.  But it is the truth!!  This is a good thing, even though we actually have some pretty close minded kiddos who think this is "stupid".  But fortunately, they will benefit from this, they just don't know it yet.  :)

So the next few days we will have a huge learning curve and things may not go smoothly all the time, but it will be a good thing in the end.  And like most things, in a year this big move will be a matter of fact and not at all a big deal.

Fortunately there will be things at school that do not happen virtually, things like, oh I don't know, the PLAY and ART on a canvas and MUSIC in an auditorium and SPORTS and RECESS and other group and individual physical activities.  Things that make a person complete, things that stretch the mind and enhance your creativity and ability to solve problems and work well with others, which is what we all need as we grow up and move on....  And remember this is a techie chick talking.....

Onto Wednesday, I hope to get home to rest for a while tonight, and I tell you people, this second week of no TV is killing me.  I want to sit and listen to the news and have something funny to relax me and take my mind off of whatever is bothering me.  Which I have a few things of this sort, but won't go into it now.....

Make sure to find the time to spread some joy!!!!  Avoid those joy stealers.

Play week, on it goes

Today is a weird day, as even though it is play week, a pause in the action is in place.  Today is one of those early dismiss days that we are cursed with occasionally have, where we as teachers get to have our homeroom kids for a couple hours and they get to look properly grumpy and we get to try to teach them something that they don't want to know about.  But sometimes they have to just suck it up and hear about some of the necessary evils in life, in this case- internet safety.  Yeah, they will love that.

But part 2 to this pause in the action is that usually we would have an equally compelling inservice afternoon full of fun and delight (you do know sarcasm when you hear it, right?) but INSTEAD, many of us are working at the District level Solo and Ensemble for band and choir that our school is hosting this afternoon.  What a cool way to spend the time from 2 - 8.....  Because I am like this, a former band mom and choir fan and generally bossy helpful person, I invited myself to work in the auditorium where I will have the SERIOUS PLEASURE of listening to the jazz band among other things! With any luck at all, I will be able to hear a bunch of brass music as well.  I know our kids will be well prepared, I hope the other schools are as well.  Whatever it is, the venue is a big room, so the big ensembles will be playing.  I miss those days of running all over the schools, listening to my boys and being all nervous about how they are going to do.....  it was fun and I got to go all over the state because of it.  So this is cool!

ANYWAY, I get to listen to music this afternoon and make sure the judge is happy and my partner gets to beat the people back who are trying to get into the room before the groups are done playing....  Good luck with that Tom.  Been there and done that!

So how did the dress rehearsal go?? REALLY well!!  I had a GOOD time putting makeup on the leads, I rocked the Lion's look and will be finessing the heck out of it as the days go on here.  We are pretty much ready to go, of course there are a few last minute things that keep my from putting my paint away yet.  But we have today!!

I want to be a makeup artist when I grow up!

Wicked Witches of the West!

I am feeling pretty optimistic right now, I know that I won't be home until later tonight, but that is fine.  Tomorrow it turns out Mr. Donner has to play at lenten services, so I will be done at 6!!!!!! I will definitely be spending some quality time at home after we get done with practice, or maybe I should post some grades at school.... oy.

Hope tomorrow will bring me the same sort of optimism!  And an outlook of joy!