It's been too long

Okay, I am WAY overdue on the whole writing thing here! The kids started school Aug. 24. Evan is a sophomore this year. He went to two days of practice for football and decided he didn't want to play anymore. Now everyone knows how much I love football, but if his heart wasn't in it I couldn't see myself sitting through every game watching him stand on the sideline for the majority of the game. So I gave him my blessing, but made him tell Jeff who told Maia he was disappointed, but we would respect his decision. This change in schedule will allow him to do Driver's Ed this fall instead of this winter. So I anticipate him taking it sometime in October.

Maia is in 6th grade now. Hard to believe. At the end of last year we agreed to put her into all Pre-AP classes. So far she is complaining she is bored, but I imagine that will pass once they get through the beginning of the year review stage. Since we moved out of the Northpointe area, I received a special permission to keep her there, but I am responsible for transporting her to and from school instead of taking a bus. She doesn't mind. She wasn't too fond of the bus, riding with junior high kids or catching it at 6:40 a.m. Her main teacher is Mr. Snell, and older man who has been teaching since 1979 and spent 25 years teaching in Ecuador.

Maia is now a Super Nova in gymnastics. It has been just a little over a year since she started at the Cypress Academy of Gymnastics and she has advanced six levels and now goes two days a week, but also costs me $100 a month now. However it seems she has found her "thing" she likes to do outside of school. Her favorite apparatus are the floor and uneven bars and then the vault and balance beam. It's exciting to see Maia do so well and her coaches really give her positive encouragement when they are working with her.

Choir officially started two weeks ago with our fall kickoff which they decided to have in humid mid-90 degree weather under a tent to commemorate 10 years since they dedicated the property the church is now on. Instead of three services everyone came in for one at 10 a.m. and stayed for lunch and activities afterwards. The church is still in its growing phase. Where we currently worship is not the permanent sanctuary, but will actually be the fellowship hall. I'm not sure what the master plan is, but they will build the sanctuary adjacent to the current one. There is a youth building, school from Preschool to 5th grade, soccer/lacrosse fields, softball/baseball field and newly dedicated walking trail. Musically the anthems selected for the first two months are boring and kind of one note for the altos. Luckily there is still ASH (A Servant's Heart) the praise team that keeps things interesting.

I am still at the magazine. As of today I am one week away from my writer's deadline to turn their stories in to me and then I will have a week to edit them and turn them in to the office for design for the Winter issue that will be out in mid-November. My work on this issue will mark a year since I started with Cy-Fair Magazine. I have some good stories coming up for the issue and I'm sure we'll end up with a good product. This issue I'll be writing a story about the new President of the Cy-Fair Chamber and a listing of Asian restaurants in Cy-Fair in addition to my other responsibilities as editor including Notes and News, Event Calendar, Campus Profile, Health Bulletins and my editorial.

I also took on a job at the end of July with the choreographer of the Disney's High School Musical show I stage managed this past summer. One day he called me and asked if I would be interested in managing the office since his current and now former office manager was leaving to run a dance school. It is also part-time although I think he would like me to consider full-time after the new year. There are two sides of the job. One is danceStaff.com. Basically a staffing agency for dance teachers and studio owners. You can check it out at www.danceStaff.com. The site is currently in its Beta phase, but we are hoping to go live by the end of the year. We like to compare it to the monster.com for dancers. Dancers will be able to post their information on the site and employers can fill positions in their schools. Beyond the "head hunting" or recruiting aspect of it, we will also do a placement or concierge service meaning beyond submitting the potential teachers to the studio owner, we coordinate the interview, handle contract negotiations and also handle the paperwork and payment of the teacher. The owner treats the student as their employee but pays us directly. To date we have 7 clients and have placed a teacher in Virginia as well.

The other part of the job is the production side. Last month we took over an event from a client who defaulted on her contract and brought Tabitha D'umo (one half of the hip hop choreography team Tabith and Napoleon) from So You Think You Can Dance and local dancer/choreographer from the Bravo show Step It Up and Dance Nick Drago. We went from only having 50 attend to having nearly 120. It was a lot of "doing" (marketing, sales, registration, merchandise) etc. to do in a short time, but we pulled it off and had a great event! Another bonus is that the pay I receive for being on staff at these events (this time I was a production assistant) is above what I am paid to be in the office. Our next event will be the Telfair International Music Festival www.telfairlifeimf.com Oct. 3 which is a day-long event I will also be working on.

We also have a product called The Prodigy Project which is a music theater intensive program that can be facilitated by community theater organizations teaching basics in acting including preparing for the audition process, dance (basics of tap, jazz and ballet) and voice (singing). The main Prodigy Project is a week in NYC immersing the students in "what it's like to be on Broadway." One of the founders of the project with my boss is an actor who will be on a new Disney sitcom called The Wannabes. You can Google that and it will come up. He will play the school principal. So I'm busy and I've heard through the grapevine Houston Center Stage would like me to direct Annie for mid-Feb. but I'm not convinced I want to do it.

Eli is not quite officially potty trained although he knows how and will do it on his own if he's not too busy. You know it's time when he asks me if I'll change him if he poops and goes and gets the wipes and pull up on his own. He still goes to Esmeralda's now every day when I work and so I know he's well taken care of. Last week we went to the Halloween Express store and bought him a new Batman costume. His other two are way too small now and so now he has an official "Dark Knight" costume...this would be #3.

Okay, so that's it in a nutshell! I'll be back to write more...there are a lot more adventures on the horizon...and remind me to tell you about being stuck in the elevator at the Westin Galleria (swanky hotel in Houston) for 35 minutes!

Official back up singer!

I have more to write, but just wanted to share that yesterday I recorded tracks for two songs on our Worship and Arts Director's CD he is recording at his home. He has a full sound studio in his house. He's recording a CD of Christian Contemporary music and yesterday at church asked me if I could come in and do some recording. Of course I said yes! How often does one get to get credits on a CD as a backup singer! :) So I did both the soprano and alto part for one song and just the alto for the other. It was fun! I'll blog more about other stuff later today or tomorrow. :)

Sickly - ness and stuff

Well it started last week Sunday, Eli woke up from his nap with a fever that he had for four days until I took him to the doctor who said his ears, lungs and chest were clear. He was concerned we might have to take him to get further testing to rule out pneumonia, but luckily his fever went away after "treating" it aggressively alternating Tylenol and Motrin every three hours and a prescription cough medicine he prescribed. It just so happened Maia woke up not feeling so well, so I had him check her out too, and he gave her a medicine that is supposed to be administered as soon as you get the flu, but it made her sick to her stomach, so she hasn't taken it since! Maia is also feeling better after a couple of days of fever, but she says her throat still hurts. Of course mommies who kiss their children are bound to catch some form of their sickness. Mine started with the sneezing and has morphed into a runny nose, stuffiness and an occasional cough. Ugh!

On the other side of things I accepted a new job last week and started last Monday. I am now working part-time 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. for a company called Round Rock Entertainment and danceStaff.com as the Director of Operations. I was asked by the choreographer of High School Musical 2 if I would be interested in the job since his current DO is leaving to run her own dance school. With the hours and earning potential, I couldn't say no.

Round Rock oversees the production of events. For example we will be bringing Tabitha and Napoleon from So You Think You Can Dance to lead a master class Aug. 22 to Houston. If you follow the show, they are a husband and wife choreography team who has also done work on America's Best Dance Crew as well. We are also trying to get Philip who was just let go from SYTYCD a few weeks ago who is also from Houston.

danceStaff.com is in beta right now, but will be officially launched in September. I guess the best way to explain it is that we will be the "monster.com" for the dance school business. We will send candidates to studios who need teachers on a temporary or permanent basis. So my job so far has entailed sorting through 8 lists of clients, vendors, etc. so we can upload them to a master list and database.

For now I am still doing the Cy-Fair Magazine thing, which I have enjoyed, but I have always felt that being paid at the beginning of the issue and at the end - I work for free for two months in between magazines. I am also VERY micromanaged, and as editor all I do is oversee the stories and have nothing to do with the layout, design, what stories get cut, etc. and don't really see a finished product until it's about ready to go to print. My new boss is very aware that I need to stay on board with CFM until I get paid for the fall issue. If I leave before then, I know I won't see any money. Then I'll speak to the publisher about if she wants me to stay on although I won't be able to go to as many networking events as they would like me to.

High School Musical 2 opened last night. We had 335 in the house. Tonight was interesting because just as I was arriving at the college a storm was brewing and it started to rain. Which by the way we most definitely NEED the rain around here, but when it comes we usually get deluged and the sewers can't always handle it. Then it dries up and you never knew it rained at all! Anyway, the ensuing thunderstorm knocked the power out in the Fine Arts Center. So we went on hold for 45 minutes, and just about the time we were going to cancel the show for the night, the power came on and we ran the show. Tomorrow we only have 42 seats available for walk ins (the theater holds 425) and then the Monday morning show is Sold Out! This is an 8 show run. We'll finish up next weekend with one Friday, a matinee and evening show on Saturday and a matinee on Sunday.

Then....I get my life back and my family gets me back too! It's been one heck of a roller coaster ride being the stage manager for this show. And while the end product has turned out better than expected, I don't need this stress in my life for a long time to come!

That's all for now! More later! :)

Catching Up

Okay - well my only excuse is it's been a busy summer so far. We are still in production for High School Musical 2 which has proved to be unlike any show I've been involved in before. To date, the whole experience has reminded me why I never did summer shows in Scottdale and why I retired from the theater last spring! Not all, but a core of kids have no focus and are really making progress slow. We have three weeks until opening and not all of the numbers are choreographed and what the director considers blocking is "done", but the cast doesn't really know it because there has been no repetition. After our show closes on the 24th, I will probably not stage manage another show, will not work with this director and will look for an opportunity maybe next year to be IN a show instead.

Evan has been "on vacation" with Mike for a little over a week now. They are traveling today to Connecticut to see more of his family. Thankfully Evan will fly home Thursday.! :) It will be the first Fourth of July he will spend with us in a very long time!

Work has been busy for me getting things ready for the Fall issue of the magazine. My Dine Out section has been particularly challenging. I don't know if it's because the photographer I assigned it to handled it poorly or what, but I've never had the issue of restaraunts not wanting want amounts to FREE advertising! Now we're coming up on the holiday weekend and photos are due by July 6!

It's been really hot the last few weeks. Nothing less than the mid-90's with some days with a heat index of 105! Thank goodness for air conditioning and the pool!

Okay - This was a short update but one none the less. More later.

Moving in - busy as ever

One view of the pool.
A view of the kitchen.
Evan relaxing on the floor before we "officially" moved.

Wow, you guys weren't kidding when you said I hadn't blogged in a long time! Oops! So we made the big move this weekend. Last Saturday Jeff got the keys to the house. Tuesday I was here to let the cable guy in because you know you can't be without cable for the TV and Internet! Evan also got out of school early that day and had two of his friends come over to swim.

I guess the chlorine was pretty strong so the next day when we took Maia's friend Kaitlyn with us I stopped at Wal-mart and bought goggles and some rings to float on. The pool isn't too big, but it's big enough for us to cool off and enjoy. The thermometer in my car read 93 today.

We actually had all of June to stay in the other house, but Evan will be leaving for two weeks with Mike on the 19th, and frankly we needed Evan to help lift stuff with Jeff in and out of the U-Haul. Not to mention I don't think he wanted to leave on house and come home to another after two weeks.

So Jeff rented a 14 ft. truck Saturday and while I was at play rehearsal with Eli and Maia in tow, he and Evan packed up the truck and unloaded it twice!

Our "new" rental is within walking distance to the high school so Evan will be a walker next year. I signed a special waiver for Maia to stay at her school at Northpointe and will have to drive her and pick her up every day.

By the way, Maia had all A's for her final grades for her fifth grade year. Hard to believe she will be in sixth grade and Evan will be a sophomore next year. I have yet to receive his grades for the year, but I expect them to be A's and B's.

Back to the house. It is a one story on a corner lot, three bedroom, 2 bath, one pool, spa (jacuzzi) in the master bath tub. It is indeed smaller than the house we came from, but I'm so happy I don't have to walk up and down stairs anymore! I have no doubt that this will be a year long stay as was the last one with the hopes of buying next year!

I am up to my eyeballs in rehearsal for High School Musical 2 with Houston Center Stage/Lone Star College Cy-Fair where I am stage manager. We had auditions May 8 and 9 and started rehearsals May 16. I am there Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until we close July 27. I'm already planning a family get away to anywhere after it's over!

We brought Furby last night after we were done moving and brought Midnight and Franklin today! With the exception of clearing out the refrigerator. All I have to do is clean things up at the old house and turn in the keys Friday to Renee our soon to be former landlord.

More soon! :)

Still Here

Ok so I jumped the gun on the swan song to Furby post. The Tramadol that he was prescribed seems to have worked as I look over at him and he is laying on the floor nearby a I write. It did take a couple of days for the medicine to kick in, but he is living his usual dog life, however is getting a can of food a day with his medicine hidden in it. I think I even caught him running a few times! I suppose he'll stay on it until it doesn't mask the problem anymore, but for now he is enjoying life again.

My Summer issue of Cy-Fair Magazine came out this week, and aside from a typo that I didn't make (although it's in a story I wrote) I think it looks great! I'm getting ready to type up my list for the writers to choose the stories they would like to do for fall. I'll be sending a copy to a few of you, and they haven't yet posted it online, but when they do you can read it there. www.cyfairmagazine.com.

Tomorrow Eli and I are going to look at a house in Tomball by the high school as a potential rental. We'll need to move out of here by the end of June. Evan will be going with Mike for two weeks at the end of June, so I think it's better to move while we have the extra body to help with the process.

Eli seems to have recovered from his strep although he will stay on the antibiotic for a total of 10 days. I'm convinced he's going to turn into a chicken nugget, fries and a Sprite one of these days!

Evan's Spring football game will be next Thursday (the big red and white game). I guess last year they had 3500 people there. They have a catered meal you can purchase, games, etc. Major fundraiser for the Tomball Athletic Booster Club of which I am the Chair of publicity. Appropriate don't you think?

Well that's it for now. Time for my beauty sleep! :)

Furby

Well it looks like the end of the road is coming for our dog Furby who is 10 years old and has outlived two other dogs and several cats. We weren't sure he was going to make the move to Texas, but instead we lost our other dog Koda who was killed when someone poisoned her a few weeks prior to us leaving.

We've known for about a year that Furby has arthritis in his back legs. He has enjoyed a good life since moving here living in an air conditioned home with no collar since we let him out the back door to our fenced in back yard where he can lay on the patio on cool nights and do as he pleases.

Recently our cat Midnight became an official outdoor cat again too. He likes to be out at night and sleeps on an empty bed during the day until it's time to go out again. Maia about had a fit when he first got out thinking she would never see him again, but Midnight is a very smart cat. He hops the fence to explore, or sometimes he is content just to stay in the back yard, and has taken to scratching at the door or meowing until someone lets him in.

Back to Furby. Last Friday he started yelping when he would lay down. The first time I noticed it was when we gave him Eli's usual leftover chicken nuggets and he yelped when he went to get one. I made an appointment at the veterinarian who my friend Angie recommended for Monday. However during the weekend he went from bad to worse. He would cry horribly any time he had to lay down or stand up and stands pathetically wanting to sit down but afraid of the pain.

So Jeff and I took him yesterday. We were all prepared for them to tell us it was time to put him to sleep. He was seen by a young doctor who checked him thoroughly telling us what we already knew that his back hips are bad as are his shoulders. She said aside from hip replacement there is nothing to "fix" him but she could give him various medicines to make him comfortable.

We are going to give it a few days to see how it goes. We are mixing his medicine every 12 hours with canned food he is eating. He's had two doses now and there isn't a whole lot of change. As I write this I think he's been standing for three hours just panting and looking at me sadly. I'm sure her job is to save animals, but Jeff and I are looking at this realistically that if the medicines don't allow him to at least lay down and stand comfortably without the agonizing crying that we will ask her to put him down at the end of the week.