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!

Livingroom Reno update- um what number is this??

PROGRESS!!!!!  The taping and mudding has begun.  Am I starting to see the end in sight????  Well YES I AM!!! 

I am in LOVE with this arch- I can't tell you how much pleasure this is giving me.  It is going to be like my bathroom- I will enjoy it every single time I go through there for a long time.  My visual world rules my senses and I do mean it, I note to myself every time I look at my tile floor in the bathroom or take a shower how much I love the tile.  And I do that every time I see a pic of or look at my archway.  I feel the love!!  :) I don't get to look at it very often as I am exiled to the front room where I am scrunched in between a wall and a half of a couch.

Front room angle

The MA and I (together for heavens sakes) have arrived at a paint color for the living room, it is going to be in the warm gold tones, using the wood floor, which we sanded a little bit of and saw color like you won't believe, as a mid tone, and one wall and the ceiling will be lighter and the other 3 walls, darker.  I am super excited!  The FLOOR, you guys, is beyond my wildest expectations!!!  It has tones of gold and even a bit of a reddish look- at least from a preliminary sanding.  We are thinking it is maple!

Anyway, I have to move along here, so here are my shots of the room, I don't know how different it will look tonight, as it is another layer of mud - so we shall see I guess!!  It seems like the electrician will be here on Thursday to hook up the outlets and the CEILING FAN AND LIGHT!!!!  WA-HOOOOOO!!!

Front room angle

Kitchen angle

Kitchen angle, right

Kitchen angle, left

Hallway angle

hallway angle, far right

Hallway angle, ceiling

Window angle- arch

It is the little things that lead to a whole lot of joy!!

ON TO PLAY WEEK! (is it done yet?) and weekend wrap up

Play week is not for the faint of heart.  It is a tremendous amount of work and I will be standing a lot this week.  A LOT!!  I hope I can find my black crocs, because I am going to need them.  Which reminds me, I have to find a black t-shirt sometime this week, or go buy one or something, because the ones I had are just too unimaginably big and I think I thrift shopped them.  I am so impetuously compulsive sometimes about that sort of thing.  I am sure those big t-shirts would have been fine.....  ugh.

So tonight, it is full dress and makeup dress rehearsal, and I am going to be putting makeup on the main cast members.  I am excited about this, being able to do the lions and scarecrow's makeup, PLUS the witches and the tin man!!  And Dorothy, but I just need to glam her up a bit, she can do fine on her own mostly.  I adore this part of makeup, including sliding eyeliner on the nervous and blinking furiously boys that are in the cast.  Some of my favorite moments of hilarity and bonding have taken place while staring at the anxious eyelids of the play cast members.  It is an intimate moment in time, so to speak, lots of fears have been revealed over eyeliner.

I am making sure to pack healthy food, including some of the copious amount of hummus I made last night and probably will have some almond milk along to make a protein shake.  I will need the energy to teach all day, then go directly to makeup and then to staging and marking for dress rehearsal tonight. The first dress rehearsal generally finishes after 8:30 pm.  With 49 munchkins involved......  oy.  They will soon find out that the witch really resides behind the stage, as I do not take any fooling around when we are in character..... something that the big kids understand, but the little kids don't quite get.  Sorry kiddos, Mrs. Oswald has been taken over by one of her other personalities.

So weekend update- I did end up getting the card table- even though we went and had Chinese last night to avoid the whole cooking thing.  Which is cool as I have lunch now for today, since I did not get all the cooking done I had planned yesterday.... but that is fine.  I had NO IDEA that the Chinese place had a tofu dish.  YAY!

I got a 5.5 mile walk in also, even though I swear people were conspiring to goof up my afternoon to myself.  I didn't exactly get what I planned for, but oh well.  It was good enough.

One week from today people- one week from today begins my spring break, and I begin it with............drum roll.............. a dentist appt!!!  WTF?????  WHAT WAS I THINKING??????? I can't even.

But then I can go to the gym all day if I want!

Can't think about that now, too much to do before that.

So a few weekend photos, I have a couple including a stone house one or two and a few other little things.  Because it reminds me that life will be back to "normal" soon

peek!

Stone house

Little Cabin in the snow

Winter shadows

Until next time, be a joy giver and avoid those joy stealers!!  HEY, and if you find yourself to be stealing someone's joy, give it back. You both will feel better!  :)

Daffodil watch, 2013

I think this is an exciting new addition to the Mad-Art Teachers Blog!  Daffodil watch!  I live for the days in the spring when my daffs are blooming.  I adore them and their little sunny selves with a passion that I hardly understand.  I have probably 15 - 20 different varieties of them, ranging from huge Alfred yellows to teensy little minis, whose names escape me in my tired delirium.  Minnows?  nope, um, I'll think of them.....  Anyway, lots of sizes and colors and assortments.  I know I have a bunch that need dividing, too, so that gives me a duty for the summer.  (HA!  I was actually right- Minnow is one kind, and Tete-a-tete and Sundisc)  whew!!

Anyway, this was spurred by a few incidents that have happened lately, the main one being that once again I missed the American Cancer Society's daffodil day..... for heavens sakes.  I know approximately when this happens, and yet every year I miss it.  So of course I happened on a lovely bouquet of them on the school secretary's desk and was immediately enthralled and frustrated.  Sigh. 

 The next thing is way good for me, as I have a lovely arrangement of spring flowering bulbs that have been growing for the past 4 weeks.  I got them from a sweetheart of a friend for Valentines Day.  YAY.  Anyway, I have had 2 different purple hyacinths bloom now, plus some gorgeous red tulips and just lately some orange ones, but this morning, hidden behind a tulip was this...... 

I gasped when I saw it.  Seriously, I need to buy myself some more, because I have been staring and sniffing this poor guy nonstop since this morning.

Just when the snow and cold becomes next to unbearable (or at least my whining about it does) then that little darling bundle of yellow peeks out at me.  YES!!!

Anyway, hidden underneath of this  white   is a huge assortment of my gorgeousness in yellow... and orange and pink and white and a touch of red........

I kinda dig this swirly pic on its own terms!

So here begins Daffodil watch 2013.  Expect weekly (at least) updates on the progress of said floral feats of delightfulness in yellow!

What a great way to anticipate some joy!!  

Pic of the day!! and a few other things....

For being a bit of dreary afternoon- which as soon as I got my snow-covered self into the house was sunny again- I was out in the right place at the right time.  I sort of love this pic.  A perfect combination of clouds, sun, white, dark, shadows and light.

Sun and shadows and snow

To review yesterday's post-

I accomplished most everything and then some! This is awesome.  Today I should be able to mostly do what I want, but I need to take in Dorothy's dress.... something I didn't realize I had promised to do.  which is ok, since I adore the Dorothy in question (Rachel) and have known her all of her life.

I am weirdly sore today from BEAST MODE weight lifting.  I hit my back muscles hard,  which  is unusual, since I always do my chest workout first in the week.  It was a weird week, so I decided to change things up.  It is a strange feeling having the back all stiff and sore and not the chest.  Usually I am so sore from benchpress I don't notice my back at all.. Interesting sensation.  I am looking forward to balancing it out this morning!

So I got a little cooking done and a little (a LOT OF) laundry, but did not get the card table. It is weird trying to live without a table to eat at and a couch to plunk down on......  But it is temporary and I can put up with a lot temporarily.  Actually I can put up with a lot, long term!  Lol, hence the ugly carpet and paneling.  I am going to work on the card table next!

Anyway, now that I am over my morning feel-sorry-for-Debi fest (mornings kill me, I am always doubting myself and wondering why)  look out at the sun rising and am hoping for a great, relaxing day, because it will be a few days before that happens again.

An added job for the day is to choose a paint color, so I need to do some looking and thinking and google some images of wood floors......  I'll keep you posted on this color the walls thing.  and I am really thinking that the front room is going to need to be painted too, in a few weeks.  I'm seeing a blue-grey perhaps!

So, it is pancake day, and time to get the MA up, who went through one of his can't sleep nights last night, which of course resulted in me being able to use all 4 pillows to make myself comfy (**grins guiltily**) and sleep for at least 3 hours very deeply and contentedly.  AHHHHHHH!!!  I have to imagine that he was playing bejeweled blitz last night, as there is no tv--- as you all know.

I think I should send this pic to Justin on channel 9- even though I won't be seeing the picture, which really is unfortunate.  But oh well, it's all temporary........ she keeps telling herself!

Life really is a good, enjoy the ride everyone!!  And find your joy whether the driver or just along for the trip.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I hope you all enjoy your St. Patricks Day! 

 I remember wearing green in junior High and High School, but we really didn't celebrate this holiday at home.  I think my mother was too busy with 4 kids to bother with any extra holidays.  I was pretty stoked to find out as a high school student that indeed on my Mom's side of the family there was some Irish!

Along with a whole lot of other stuff.  (I am very much northern European.) The Dickinsons, especially, have been in the country a LONG time (Emily Dickinson, John Dickinson (constitution author) ), where the Germans on my Dad's side were recent immigrants by comparison.  Anyway, I enjoyed finding out about this, especially when I went to college!  I think that is all we need to say on that subject!

Anyway, I love thinking about St. Patrick's Day, because of the memories I have with my boys.  In grade school, their awesome kindergarten teacher (Kathy Rose)  did this thing called a leprechaun trap.  Probably every kindergarten teacher on the face of the earth does this, along with the Leprechaun hunt, the teensy little footsteps, the stealing of the day's treats, and the like.... but the Leprechaun traps took hold at our house. And we all know it is because it involved money and their father fed into this whole scenario- big time!!!  It eventually started sometime in February and continued until mom couldn't take walking through the livingroom and tripping over the traps anymore.  The whole idea is to try and lure the leprechaun (I know you all probably know all this, but just read!!) into the trap with a coin and then have him get trapped inside.  Yeah, like that worked, but the leprechaun was good at leaving money in his place.  And so the little boys in the house had a great time accumulating coins in this way, and on the actual St. Patrick's Day, they got dollars!!

There were all sorts of elaborate and simple traps constructed and the tired leprechauns, many times in a panic - when they heard the stomping, um, er, the pitter patter of little feet upstairs, of children waking up - quickly pitched a handful of change into the trap and knocked it over.....  whew!!  It was all quite hilarious, and I know the boys remember this well.  There were boxes and pails and legos and sticks and string and all sorts of crazy things involved in these traps.  I sure wish I would have taken a photo of this, but I believe those were the days where film was on it's way out (and I was a bit preoccupied with kids and subbing and beginning my teaching career to be bothered taking a lot of photos on non-essential holidays!)  and I was too purist yet to  obtain a digital camera.  (oh the snobbery)  

Anyway, I love the day if for nothing else than revisiting a time when my kiddos were little and there wasn't a lot of expectation other than putting up with their creativity and throwing some money under a box! 

 I am lucky to have such good boys!  :)

Anyway, Happy Saint Patrick's Day.  I hope you have a good day!

Find your joy in whatever you do to celebrate it- big or little or inbetween.

Going into the weekend....

So there is super good news on the reno front, as just discussed in my previous post- just scroll down, sweetheart, and now I am looking forward to a pretty good weekend.  I have a lot to do, but have scheduled my sanity time into it:

(sanity time highlighted in red!)

Saturday:

*Drink coffee and relax a bit!
*Fetch black paint for stage from the Builders
*Get myself to the gym for a back and biceps workout
*go to grocery store
*go to Seed and Feed
*go to lunch
*go to school to paint stage black
*go home!
*walk or snowshoe 
*have dinner at some point

Now that sounds like an interesting Saturday!  I'd like to scavenge a card table somewhere in there, but I am not sure where to find it.....  one of my mad friends certainly must have one I could use for a week.

Sunday:

*Drink coffee and relax some MORE
*putter around in the house
*Get myself to the gym for a chest and tricep workout
*Go home and make lunch
*Do whatever the hell I please!
*Cook some stuff
*Walk and/or snowshoe, and TAKE PICTURES!!!
*oh shoot- go to Shopko and get makeup for the play....

This is my plan and I am sticking to it!!

I am thrilled about the progress of the house, I was so happy to do over an hour of cardio last night!!!  I am delighted to be done (mostly) with scenery painting and I do NOT have to sew a pair of witches legs for the play, as they have been purchased!!  Of course you know I will promptly find the old ones I had sewed many years ago.  I know they are at school somewhere.

Play week is next week and it will be insane- but it is what it is.  And I need to relax and enjoy this weekend instead of worrying about the days after that.

AND I am ignoring all talk of snowstorms for Monday too.  I just won't have it!

Until next time, be a joy giver!!!  And enjoy your weekend!