The Show is Over

Boy, am I tired. My knee hurts, my feet are swollen, but we had two good shows today. Last night we had a dress rehearsal and we were at the theater until 10:00PM and had to be back this morning at 10:00 AM. The shows were at 2:00 and 7:00. My husband and son came to the evening performance and we went out to eat after the show. I have rubbed down with old lady cream - icy/hot. I am too tired to sleep but tomorrow afternoon I will try to catch up with my sleep.

BTW I got a new iPod video with a recording attachment and a lapel mike for my birthday. It is so cool. I even downloaded PacMan from the iTunes store. Before we have a show or competition we have to tape ourselves singing in the chorus. With my new iPod I can record and then email it to my section leader to review. No more buying tapes and batteries. I am so high tech. :)

Birthdays

October 26th is a special day. It's my birthday. Tom has been treating me all week and I'm not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but he's been leaving me notes with #'s on them and telling me to choose. So far I've picked #'s 1,2 and 4. We have eaten at three of my favorite restaurants so far, Claim Jumper, Red Lobster - where I had jumbo shrimp cocktail, and On the Border. I am hoping a movie is part of tomorrow's plans. Tom only goes to the movies on special occasions, where I could go every week - and sometimes do. I think I've mentioned my age before but since some of you may have missed it - I will be 64. I am not sure how that happened, I don't feel 64. The only age I remember not wanting to be was 30. I was in graduate school at Chapman College (now University) and most of the students were going straight through so they were younger than me. So at 29 I was the "old" one. Now I am proud to be my age and would not want to be 29 again. so, was there an age you didn't want to be and/or do you tell your age? Now if we were talking weight - that's totally different.

Saturday

I am sitting outside on my patio in this great weather. I just finished balancing my checkbook, or rather making sure I have written down all my checks and ATM withdrawals. The bank had $201 more than me, and I found a $100 sub error, in my favor, but I can't find the other $100. I don't add it in to my checkbook I just note it, then usually it works itself out eventually.I am such a great accountant. At least there is money in the account. YEA!

Acappella is performing this afternoon at our church. I am looking forward to that. Our show is one week from today and this morning as I was going over my music I found a couple of mistakes I have been making. It is so hard to unlearn wrong notes. I think I will be glad when the show is over. We have several smaller performances between now and Christmas, but they shouldn't be as stressful as this show has been. I don't know why I get stressed - I have been doing this (singing with Sweet Adelines) for over 20 years. I have taken a couple of breaks over this time period. I am afraid if I take another break I won't go back, so I will keep singing a while longer.

I like this picture better

New picture

I am not very photogenic and I really am getting tired of seeing my picture when I write in my blog..... so you now get to see my baby. This is Murphy, my six pound toy poodle. Isn't he cute?

Still Exercising

We just got back from the Y and I walked on the treadmill for 25 minutes, did 5 minutes on the elliptical machine and lifted 10,000 pounds in weights. That sounds like a lot of weight but that its ten machines going around twice. I was on one machine that works on your outer thigh muscles and the lady who got up had her weights set for 162.5 pounds. I asked her if that was how much weight she did and she replied, yes, two sets of 20. I promptly changed the weight for me - 37.5 pounds and I did one set of 10. She of course was younger than me and a lot thinner. We feel so much better when we go and because both Tom and I go we hold each other accountable.

And the winner is...

The chorus contest was wonderful - even watching it on the webcast. The International champions for 2006 is the Richtones Chorus from Richardson, TX. Because lightening hit a tower in Las Vegas several choruses were not able to be seen, although you could still hear them on the live webcast. So if you go here you can see and hear the winning performance. They were incredible! I am begging you to listen - esecially Scott. You can actually understand the words. The archived performance is even better than when I watched the live webcast. It is clearer. So you Texans can be proud of another thing. BTW the winning quartet is SALT. They were also incredible. Please go listen to the chorus.

Pay Day

Yea, I got my three days sub pay today. It goes to my checking account automatically and so after checking my bank account online I feel a little richer. I was going to buy an i-pod with the extra money, then I thought about putting it toward a dishwasher and now that it is in the bank I will probably be spending it on groceries and eating out. I didn't work any this week but I have agreed to three differrent dates in Oct and Nov.

I listened to the webcast of the Sweet Adelines International Competition all day yesterday - from 10:45 AM until 8:30 PM when they announced the top ten choruses that will be in the finals on Saturday. They don't tell you what place you are in going into the finals, they just draw for placement. The San Diego chorus, which is representing our region will be in the finals. There are some really great choruses so if you possibly can tune in on Saturday do it. The link is here Now that I have figured out how to link things here is another great link my chorus We have our show coming up this month and you can see our great flyer as well as click on our competition songs from last regional contest. Today's quartet finals start at 12:00. Our directors quartet, SPARX, came in 14th place, not enough for the top ten but if a quartet scores in the top 15 they can compete at the next international without having to compete in their region competition again. The quartet, XTREME, will be competing today and the members of that quartet are from my former chorus in CA, Harborlites. Pam, the lead, is the director and she has won with a former quartet called PANACHE. I will be rooting for them today.

International Competition for Sweet Adelines

This year's International competition for Sweet Adelines is being held in Las Vegas. In order to compete at the international level a chorus, or a quartet must win first place in their respective regions. My chorus, Tucson Desert Harmony, came in second in the spring regional competition and the first place winners, which was Harborlites, from CA (my former chrous) came in first. They will be competing next year in Calgary, Canada. I just finished listening to the webcast of the semi-final quartet competition. You can hear Thursday's semi-final chorus, or the finals for quartets on Friday or finals for choruses on Saturday. You just need to go here and check it out. If you have never heard Women's Barbershop I think you will enjoy it. The times are on the website as well as order of appearance.

Waiting for LIFE Group

I did sub all three days last week - Wed thru Friday and the secretary knew better than to call me today. The house is clean and I have about thirty minutes before our LIFE group arrives. I hope it is not as controversial as last week. Of course we are still in Acts chaper 2 and will go through 2:38 today. We shouldn't have any controversy unless the couple who are not members of the coc want to discuss whether we are saved before or after baptism. Should be interesting.

Remember when I said I cut my finger and did not go have stitches. Well, it isn't healing right and I have an appointment this afternoon - even will have to leave LIFE group early to have it checked. Both Tom and I had fasting blood work this morning and the vampire lady (the one who draws blood) said I really should have it looked at. Of course no one could look at it while I was already in the office - that would have been too easy. I sure miss my CA doctor.

We had hail here this morning. It didn't last long. Last night we really had a lightening show. But the days are getting cooler - only about 80 right now, with a breeze. I don't even have the air conditioning on. Guess I will read a few blogs before group comes.

I Subbed Today

You may or may not remember that I couldn't make up my mind if I was going to substitute teach this year or not. I hadn't subbed since last October. I signed up this year and then made myself unavailable. This morning at 8:00 I got a call from a school secretary at the Elem school I like. The Special Ed teacher for the 4th and 5th graders was going home. I said I would come in and now I have made myself available for that school only, with the understanding that I won't work more than 2 nor 3 days a week. We had an interesting day. Even though I knew some of the students when I subbed in their primary class their day was still different and most Sp Ed students don't deal well with any change. Just after we came in from recess where one of the boys had been given a time out that boy went off, and started beating up on the girl sitting next to him. While the two aides in the room eventually got him out of the class and to the office, but not until he had spouted a lot of obscenities I was wrapping my arms around the girl while she just bawled. The other students sat with their fingers in their ears. He had to spend lunch recess inside with another teacher and after lunch he was fine. He also apologized to everyone and shook our hands. After school the aides and I were talking to the Primary Sp Ed teacher and she was even surprised that this particular student had a problem. According to one of the aides - "This was a bizarre day". You might think I would not want to go back but I absolutely will, if the teacher is out again tomorrow. General education is so boring :)

Frustration

Our afternoon LIFE group just left and I am feeling a little frustrated. You know how I am the oldest blogger in at least one circle, well I am the youngest member of our LIFE group. We have one couple who comes that are not members of the coc. The wife is Christian Missionary alliance and dresses very much like an Amish and the husband is Baptist. The wife never talks during group time. Anyway we were studying Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost and that went fine, but somehow we got off on instrumental music. You may think this is not an issue, but for the people in this life group, except for the non-coc couple and me, and maybe Tom, it is. I showed them the book, The Other Side of the Keyboard by Milton Jones and offered to let anyone borrow it. No one did. I really don't want to argue, but I wish we could just discuss it without someone saying that it is not in the NT therefore we can't have it and that's it. End of discussion. Tom told me he wished I would just keep my mouth shut, even though I was not the one who brought it up - I naturally jumped in. I prefer accapella music, but I believe it is not a sin to worship with instrumental music. The frustrating thing about this is that there are topics that I would love to discuss, not just about instrumental music, but women's roles, pattern theology, grace, and I don't feel I have an outlet for these. Maybe that is why I enjoy reading blogs from so many younger people - they talk about anything, and a lot of times it makes more sense than the typical Sunday school class, or Wed night class.

Blogaholics

Here is the first meeting of Blogaholics Inc. If you wish to join please send your $100 application fee to Scott

ACU lectureship

We got home from Abilene Friday afternoon, went to a wedding that night, which was beautiful - outdoors wtih twinkly lights - and cleaned up the van from the Texas bugs on Saturday. Actually the people at the car wash cleaned it up. I had a mini-detail with the carpets shampooed. We stopped on our way home from Abilene at Apple Annie's Orchard/Produce in Willcox, AZ. So Saturday night we had fried green tomatoes, fresh corn on the cob, fresh green beans cooked with salt pork and a Pork Roast. Tonight I will make fried okra and some more corn on the cob along with the left overs. YUM YUM.

Now about the lectureship. Of course the highlight was the blog party at Cole's on Wed. night. Thanks, Cole for hosting the party. Tom and I were a little late because we actually went to the lecture on Wed. night. We met Cole, Beverly, Candy, and Tracy. We had already met Scott when we went to Hawaii in May, but it was great to see him again. We missed Katie and Jeremiah - they had already left when we got there, but we had seen them at Highland on Sunday as well as at the lectureship.

All the speakers at ACU were good but my favorite was Don McLaughlin. We went to all three of his morning classes at 8:30 - very early for us - and heard him on Tuesday night. His main emphasis is on multi-cultural churches and what they should look like. He is very energetic and easy to listen to. We went to our first ACU lectureship in Feb and we definitely prefer September. It rained on Sunday but the rest of the week was beautiful.

Did you see Desperate Housewifes last night? It is going to be an interesting season.

Good Movies

Over the last week I saw two really good movies. The first one is R rated for language and it is Little Miss Sunshine. If you can stand listening to a lot of vulgarity, the movie itself is excellent. A really great story. Alan Arkin plays the grandfather in a rather unusual family and he is hilarious. Of course he is the one who uses all the bad language.The other movie is Akeelah and the Bee - it is out on video now. I am probably one of the last to see it It is a family film - and what a story. You've got to see this one. I love movies! Oh, I almost forgot I saw The Mermaid Chair on Lifetime. I had not read the book but it had been recommended to me a couple of years ago. I liked this one also.

From Food to Texas

Surprize! I actually cooked lunch. We had hamburger patties - cooked in the George Foreman grill, mashed potatoes and gravy, blackeyed peas, and some green peas. Oh yeah and some fried onions. Now I am resting up from all that work - before I clean up the kitchen. We eat out nearly every day - so any time I cook at home is a treat - for Tom anyway, even if it is just hamburger. I don't know why I don't like to cook, besides the obvious - cleaning up. I grew up with my grandmother making homemade biscuits every morning. My mother worked so she only cooked on Sundays. She used to stay home from church and her excuse was that she had to make lunch for my grandparents and me, while we went to church. I hated that she didn't go to church with us -sometimes it was just my grandfather and I, when my grandmother was sick. I remember walking to church with my grandpa and talking about Texas and living on the farm. My grandparents moved to Los Angeles when my mother was a senior in high school, so I wasn't lucky enough to be born in the great state. I always felt like a Texan though, since I grew up on red beans and cornbread. I have one first cousin in San Antonio. She was born in CA also, but stayed in Texas after graduating from ACU. I know I still have some more distant relatives still living there, but we don't keep in touch. Well, this was a rambling post. I guess I better quit procrastinating (another great trait) and go clean up the kitchen.

LABOR DAY

I am getting lazy about posting. I have always wanted to read rather than write, but for my loyal readers I guess I better do some writing. I titled this Labor Day because it IS Labor Day, but that is all I am going to say about that. Holidays don't mean much to me since I have been retired. Every day is a holiday. We went to the Y this morning to walk and do our weight circuit. After coming home and cleaning up we went to Little Anthony's Diner (a local 50's diner) with our Monday afternoon LIFE group. Our Sunday night LIFE group had gotten down to two couples so we decided we would go to another LIFE group on Sunday nights. We went last night and the group has been going through Jeff Walling's book, Daring to Dance with God. I had read the book quite a while ago - bought it from Jeff BTW, when he was our preacher in Mission Viejo. Anyway we read the wrong chapter, but we were able to participate just fine. It was a good group and we are planning to go back. We have a preacher who is coming to try out on the 23rd. His name is Tom Washburn from Enid, Oklahoma. Do any of you know him? OK, I've done my posting now I can go and read -much more fun!

I got it Right

I love these tests. I never wanted to be a nurse, but 34 years of teaching must have been a good choice.
I got this one from Kyle's post

Your Learning Style: Competent and Cooperative

You have a great head for facts and figures. You can remember and use any fact you've read. You Should Study: Dentistry Education Environmental Science Finance Nursing Nutrition Science Medicine Law

What Should You Study?

I knew I shouldn't wash Dishes

I only had a few dishes to wash up before our afteroon LIFE group was due. I planned to mop the kitchen floor after that. Somehow a glass slipped out of my hand and I ended up with a nasty slash on my little finger - right hand. I screamed - of course and both husband and son came to my rescue. They got the bleeding stopped, poured hydrogen peroxide on it and bandaged it - so tight the end of my finger was turning purple. I loosened the bandage, expecting blood to gush everywhere - it didn't, but boy did it throb. I got to the recliner and began barking orders. "Bring me some prescription ibuprofen - two please" Actually my first words were I need a morphine drip. I've never had one, but my husband did when he had a blood clot and he seemed to like it. If you haven't noticed from my comments I don't do well with pain. My son vacuumed the living room, but my floor didn't get mopped.

My pills kicked in and I made it through our group time. It was then time to pick up Murphy, our 6 lb poodle from the vet after his annual teeth cleaning and physical exam. He has to be put under for that, so he is still a little groggy. Of course with my major injury I couldn't possibly cook, so we went to Texas Road House where I comforted myself with a filet, medium rare, and a baked potato, with butter AND sour cream. I am feeling better now. Murphy and I are sitting in the recliner, writing about our adventures for the day. I love my Mac iBook. Tomorrow will be a better day.

This is Me

You Are 35% Indie

You're a pretty normal person, with a few unusual streaks. No one would ever call you a freak, but you've been called weird - once or twice.

How Indie Are You?