In the Swing of Things

Now that our weekly rehearsal time with the orchestra is on hiatus, I need to find a new time devoted to this here blog. Sunday afternoon was perfect for that while practice was going on, but that particular window is now filled with private cello lessons and miscellaneous non-conducive-to-blogging type activities. So here I am on a Tuesday. *waves* This might actually work.

Meanwhile get comfortable, here's what's happening in Peepville:

Back on the orchestra topic, for next season our sweet Cellist Girlie has her sights set way up high and is looking to audition for the Grand Poobah of youth orchestras called the Philharmonic. And if that doesn't pan out, she's more than happy to return to the same group she's been with over the past year, Youth Conservatory. Total win-win situation either way. As long as she's happy and I get my Orchestra Mom chair back while Hubs and Younger Brother hang out at the homestead watching whatever sport happens to be in season, it's all good for everyone involved.

CCD class. Can you believe we are left with only 6 actual days of class and 1 final prayer service? I sure can't. While at times I did feel like the weeks were crawling along at a snail-like pace, reminiscent of slow running/Spyware laden computers I recall cleaning up back at the Mercy Sisters Assisted Living Center, the final days are zipping along all speedy on me. 7th grade has not been an easy one for any of us, but having a fierce co-catechist as a side-kick to keep the chatty types in line has been a serious blessing in disguise. In fact, we worked so well together that we're teaching yet another class next year, only next time 8th grade instead of 7th. Confirmation here we come!

So what else is new? Here's what: Yo Yo Ma. With the oldest turning another year older in a few days, what better way to celebrate than by taking her to see the Cello Master in real life. That's right, Girlie and I will be witnessing Yo Yo Ma as he teaches a Master Class at the music hall (not open to the general public) and then listen as he plays in concert the very next evening. Two days in a row of mind-blowing Yo Yo Ma - I know! Anyway, we'll also have a cake/presents celebration at home, because concerts are great and all but a birthday wouldn't be right without some sort of party involving frosting and wrapping paper.

Hold up... this means we're about to have a TEENAGER in the house.
Holy *expletive here*.

On that note, this one's for you Teenage-Girlie-To-Be:
Yo Yo Ma; Diana Krall, "You Couldn't be Cuter"

Bowl Bloggin'

This week's blog is not being generated by me while sitting in the usual Orchestra Mom Chair during rehearsal, but rather by me standing in front of the kitchen television at home as Peeps and I cheer on Colts playing against Saints in Superbowl XLIV. Why? No rehearsal this week due to a performance conflict, so musicians and parents get a break from the action on a day that just so happens to coincide with Superbowl Sunday. WOOHOO!!! Oops, sorry for that excessive celebration there. But how sweet is this as we get to watch an amazing football game along with all of those funky commercials in between? Very, I say.

Favorite commercials: KIA's Sock Monkey, McDonald's Nuthin' but Net, Google, Taco Bell with Charles Barkley.

So my personal biggest scoop(s) of the week: 2 new clients accepted my bid/estimate for web projects. I won't expand too much on these new developments until the actual projects roll out, but I will say that I'm thrilled as all get out to add both to my portfolio. Lots of happy dancing here.

As for the CCD'ers, we made good on our promise to celebrate Christmas belatedly with a fantabulous party during our usual class time, complete with pizza - thanks for delivering to us personally, Hubs; treats - thanks for remembering to bring these, students; and games - thanks for sharing the tennis ball for 'Mummy Ball' playing, CCD'er friend. We all had a well deserved, faith-filled celebration together. Yay, us.

On that note, here's something that deserves a serious shout out: Co-catechist and I proudly joined up with 2 CCD students to deliver parish donations to the local homeless shelter. We gathered up clothing, board games, blankets, sleeping bags, etc., and loaded it all into a vehicle, then headed over to the Open Door Mission where volunteers couldn't have been more gracious - they even gave us cookbooks containing favorite shelter recipes. We all left that little white building praying our gifts made a difference in someone's life in some way.

Last but nowhere near least, Girlie Peep wins Overachiever of the Week with all these activities completed over the course of a mere 7 days:

• Field Trip/Seminar: Strategic Air & Space Museum trip with classmates and gifted seminar on Flash Animation (a favorite web tool of mine - great choice!)


• Instruments: Clarinet and cello daily practice, weekly lesson with private instructor


• ACT: Completed her very first standardized college entrance exam several years early by way of Duke's TIP program. *Fingers crossed for massive scholarships*

Next week: Parent/Teacher conferences, dentist appointments, and a much needed haircut for a certain Boy Peep.

Who Put Mustard on My Chair?

Back at Orchestra rehearsal in my favorite mustardy-colored plastic cafeteria chair all ready to blog about the week in review. So let's start with Monday, the day hubs took off on a business trip to Denver while the peeps and I carried on with life as usual. Well, life wasn't exactly usual if you consider the fact that our cello playing peep was scheduled to perform in a BIG HUGE orchestra festival that evening, the same night that involved monstrously powerful freezing winds that I had to fight while commuting to and from the performance site. And what exactly made the festival so BIG and HUGE? Basically, orchestras from all of the school district's high schools and middle schools combined themselves to perform several pieces together, and they were nothing less than STUPENDOUS. In fact, they were so amazing that I'm posting a favorite video at the bottom of this blog. (A-MA-ZING, no?)

On with regular IT consulting work and school activities then to teaching religious education where the CCD'ers talked me into rescheduling our previously canceled Christmas party to next week, because they were completely gypped of partying when blizzards forced everyone to stay home after schools shut down. Those poor kids, I know! So my co-catechist got right on it and called all of the parents, bless her heart, and now we're back in the business of having the most exciting belated Christmas party ever experienced in the land of religious education. Hopefully, that is. *fingers crossed*

Finally we reached the end of the week, Salon Day Friday, where I parked myself in the salon chair while Diva Stylist Woman worked her magic on me. But wait! Not only did she clean me up, but together the two of us made a plan for transitioning toward a new longer length 'do, because while I'm totally in love with this new shorter look she has going on for me, I'm so not in love with burning myself while attempting to flat-iron those crazy hard-to-reach short sections located directly at the nape of my neck. I mean, I'm talking actual scars on my hands from this torturous process! Anyway, being the professional that she is, Diva Stylist Woman knows exactly what to do and has me on the fast track to Longer Hair by Summer. Love that woman.

So then along came Saturday, when Cellist Peep and I found ourselves at the funkiest orchestra retreat ever experienced, complete with a highly decorated guest conductor, loads of snacks, and free wi fi for parents to waste a little bit of time on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Can you say spoiled rotten with food, fun and free internet? All this as the guys hung out at home watching basketball on ESPN while shooting a few rounds of their own (Nerf Hoop-style), a total win-win afternoon for everyone involved.

What's next? Here's what I'm seeing on the calendar, not that events listed on the calendar always take place according to plan, but let's give it a whirl: Haircut for the youngest peep, a couple of middle school field trips, and someone taking the ACT 4 years early. *channeling scholarships here*

Gimping Along

Back to my famous Orchestra Mom Chair where I can finally wrap my head around last week's events by posting a blog about it all. So where to start? How about Monday... oh yes, Martin Luther King Day when the kids enjoyed a day off from school and spent the entire day lounging in their pajamas while getting reacquainted with the video games they received over Christmas break. The holiday was like Déjà vu all over again, MLK-style. Meanwhile, I spent a good chunk of time cleaning up the aftermath of that big birthday party we threw the previous weekend, cleaning that is still in progress. Can you say maid service needed?

And now for the biggest news of the week: Face-to-face meeting with a potential new client who discovered my business by way of Better Business Bureau - a HUGE deal for me as a fairly new BBB accredited business member. So guess what? I left the meeting with the impression that we hit it off fabulously, and I even submitted a bid for one of their web projects the very same day. Needless to say, I'm feeling hopeful about adding them as a new client soon - knock on wood. Speaking of which, I also reconnected with another new client, a cancer patient, who has regained enough strength to move forward with his web plans. More on that within the next few weeks. *insert happy dance here*

On the Religious Education front, in addition to our regular class time I had the honor of taking part in a 7^th grade Confirmation retreat with my lovely CCD students. Let me tell you, the retreat was nothing less than magical with @100 kids and catechists participating in prayer-related activities. We read scripture, meditated, discussed the many forms of prayer, hammered nails into crosses, casted stones, created collages, etc. Who would've thought 7^th graders could encounter Jesus alongside friends as their cell phones were being held hostage outside the retreat center? Not me, as I imagined myself at that age grudgingly attending because I had to and rolling my eyes all the while. But not those kids. The maturity factor was surprisingly ginormous, and I'm still left in awe of what I witnessed that night. BRAV-O.

Last but certainly not least on my Must Blog About list is that dreaded muscle strain report. If you've been bravely following my Facebook &/or Twitter status posts then you know how on January 3^rd, I crazily submitted myself to an overly strenuous Wii EA Active and elliptical workout that resulted in a painful hip flexor injury that I've been nursing ever since. Holy smokes did that episode ever put a damper on my everyday getting around, not to mention those interrupted nights of sleep! So I've been resting as much as possible (not very in my case) and am finally able to get around a little more quickly. As I mentioned to a Facebook friend, ibuprofen is my new BFF and has been my saving grace during this way-too-long healing process. And now I'm happy to report that I was able to get back into my workout routine (light!) yesterday. Alleluia.

So what's happening next? In a nutshell, another week of complete madness with an orchestra festival and retreat on the agenda. Only here's the good part in two little words:

SALON VISIT
*repeat of happy dance here*

Who Hid Mom's Chocolate?

No escape from the Heartland of America this week, but that's not to say I'm no longer considering a permanent visit to San Diego, Portland and/or Cocoa Beach. Instead, celebrating our youngest peep's birthday ensued, complete with eating out at Famous Dave's (saucey amazingness!) and partying it up at home with friends (pizza, cake, ice cream, Wii games, Nerf darts & tackle football). Even I must admit that this year's birthday was most definitely a birthday to remember, at least until we outdo ourselves next year. Or try, anyway. Let's be optimistic here.

Behind the scenes of all this celebration madness, our oldest peep, the cellist, found herself in search of a full size cello to replace the ¾ cello she has outgrown, something that seems so odd when I can vividly remember when the ½ size one was taller than HER. Anyway, to do this, she recruited Mom (yes, me) to make a litany of phone calls in search of said replacement and to schedule actual cello viewings with her private cello teacher at local music stores. Who would've thought we'd be running all over tarnation in search of a simple cello replacement? Yeah well, unfortunately our search came up short, so that particular item remains on the 'To Do' list for yet another week, month, *insert random time frame here*.

Calendar check time - hey, cool! Another school day off for the peeps so that they might take some quality time to properly celebrate Martin Luther King Day by playing video games in their pajamas and building snow creatures outside for me to photograph from the window, mostly because I don't own long underwear or snow pants and would much rather stay inside where it's not FREEZING COLD. Makes total sense to me, but there I go digressing again.

Uh oh... wait, here's the not-so-cool thing on our calendar for the week: CCD Retreats. Will be getting back to you on that one. Lordy.

And now here's a birthday blooper just for fun:

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' - Keep Those Doggies Rollin'

Back at orchestra rehearsal and with fellow parents sitting a chair away from me on either side. Must be careful not to blog about them – I'm nice that way. Anyway, so what's up with the clan these days? Let's see... oh yes, that handy bulleted list helps like nobody's business:

• School – besides Pre-algebra kicking the oldest in the pants, she's musical and literary and wants nothing to do with something so trivial/abstract as math even though it's in her blood to be amazing at everything she does, both kids are doing so well in school they're bored silly. Yes, the gifted programs challenge them to some extent, but still. Why so much reteaching every August? That's what they want to know. Unfortunately, that No Child Left Behind plan forgot the gifted peeps, so we deal with system as best we can.

• CCD – still loving this whole 7^th grade CCD teaching experience, and with students actually showing an interest in scripture. How odd is that? But it's true. My people are finding their way around the bible without breaking down and asking for specific page numbers (gospel, book, chapter, verse!) plus they're actually getting what it's all about. In fact, I'm so proud of those folks that Oreos will be making a special appearance at the end of class this week.

• Music – is keeping us so busy it's just crazy. The youngest is reaping the benefits of having private baritone lessons all summer by leaving fellow bandies in the dust, and the oldest has applied to participate in yet another orchestra, as if she doesn't have enough to do already, right? Crazy. Busy.

• Business Clients – involves more crazy busy-ness, but technology is near and dear to my heart, so I'm perfectly cool with it. In fact, I'm in the process of overhauling a client's website and feel like a kid in a candy store, or maybe IT person in Best Buy is a better comparison. The web redesign experience is like hosting a “What Not to Wear” episode, only web-style. It's like I'm Clinton & Stacey pulling outdated clothes out of the closet and dumping them into the trash, replacing them with spiffy-new-modern digs. Ooo-aahhh.

• Stylin' - amidst all these fun and exciting activities, I broke down and had a good hair chopping which basically gave me a refreshing new look & feel, probably due to the fact that my head is 10 lbs lighter, or something like that. A girl's gotta do what a girl's got to do.

Did I mention our Huskers are back in the game?

Life. Is. Good.

Getting a Grip

With August 2009 ending tomorrow, here I sit at orchestra rehearsal thinking back over the month while attempting to wrap my head around all of the goings-on, hence this blog. The biggest happenings popping into my head involve school, CCD, music, and business clients – but not necessarily in that order. So now a blurb or two about each just to show the extent of the whole head-wrapping process:

• School – both Peeps have us going all crazy as we run between 2 different schools all week, yet everyone's adjusting way better than expected. The youngest is especially content with having the oldest's former teacher, one whose teaching style we appreciated repeatedly in the past. Basically, that guy absolutely rocks the Elementary School Teacher Department, and we thank our lucky stars the principal welcomes student placement requests from parents. Hubs and I were all over that.

• CCD – I'm teaching one CCD class this time around, and coincidentally, the oldest child is in it. (Actually that's a giant perk in volunteering to teach, along with not having to pay tuition.) The biggest difference in the classroom this year? A co-catechist signed up to be my side-kick, helping with whatever the class and I need. So I've appointed her as Disciplinarian Co-Catechist, aka that SCARY-person-whom-CCD'ers-must-visit upon acting up making my teaching life difficult in class. And let me tell you, Scary Disciplinarian Co-Catechist has stricken complete fear in the eyes of at least 5 boys, the same guys who've enjoyed testing me over the last 2 years. Ha! The joke's on YOU now, dudes. :)

• Music – this year we have only one stringed instrument player in the family with our youngest dropping viola and taking up baritone and with the oldest continuing on with cello. The bad news? Now we've got not one but TWO big huge instruments to lug about town. Actually, that's really not such bad news if you consider the strength-building opportunities involved and, of course, free concerts throughout the year. Total win-win situation for everyone.

• Business Clients – keeping me busy outside all of these wonderfully fun family activities is business work with existing clients and also... a new one! This client is a former colleague with a business startup but without an online presence – fancy words for SHE NEEDS A WEBSITE. Not only that, but another new client is in the works. More later, don't want to jinx it.
  

So much for head-wrapping. Why does it suddenly feel like I'm wearing a turban?