Wicked - Defying Gravity

A couple of my students wanted to sing a song from the Broadway musical Wicked. I had never heard of it but wanted them to be able to have the chance to do what they wanted so I started researching. Then I kind of became obsessed. I love the premise, the music, and how clean it is. Its a really cool story. Anyway, this is one of my favorite pieces from it. Its called defying gravity. Not the best recording, but you get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5Z-1tcLwlc

Phantoms and schoolkids

Yeah...things have been pretty much SUPER CRAZY BUSY around here. I don't know how y'all guys with kids do it, because if I added ANYTHING else tomy plate I think I might explode, or have a nervous breakdown one. Well, first off I have been practicing with my theater students for the play we will be putting on somewhere and sometime, I just don't know when or where yet! And no one will answer their dang phones! Ahem...so anyway there's that. Then on top of that I have all of these IEPs to do which is basically a gripload of useless paperwork. Then, there are my music students. In Acadia Parish, we have begun working on our pieces for Spring Concert and I have been working hard trying to get all that in the works...then there is the stuff I have volunteered accidentally for. I have been working with these kids on The Phantom of the Opera everyday after school. Sometimes the practices go until 6:30! It has overall been a GREAT experience getting to work with really dedicated kids who actually have a TON of talent. I have loved every minute of it, but it doesn't make for lots of home time. Luckily I got pretty organized this Monday and made a menu for the rest of the month and went shopping for everything needed until next wednesday. (that's something i NEVER do) But it has made life SOOO much easier. Now right when I get home, I can start working on dinner rather than think about what is in the freezer that I can defrost and "what can I make with all these random ingredients? I don't know...let's just go out to eat!" LOL this way is better and cheaper! So anyway that makes dinner more efficient.

Something funny that happened to Daniel this week was he thought he had a program due in his class so he worked for like 2 days solid on it even when he was at work and he was freaking out about it saying he was going to quit school and stuff and then he goes to turn it in the next day, and it wasn't due for another week! LOL It was SOO funny! He texted me several times that day telling me all about it! Oh yeah, speaking of texting...we got new cell phones! I don't know Daniel's number, but mine is 337-581-7924. We are At&T so if you've got it its free! Anyway, something else that happened was...my sister stood up some crazy way, and when she did she tore her miniscus (is that how you spell it?) and is going in for sugery sometime next week. whew...lots of stuff. Anywho, ttfn.

Well talk about starting the new year off right. Since returning home, I have produced a very successful dinner theater show, begun writing music for another show that I am not even really a part of, returned to work, made booklets of a Shakespearean play for my students, began practicing that play, all while starting up the remodel again. Whew. Needless to say, the dishes have not been done, and the laundry is clean but not put away. I am going totally out of my mind. But my walls are starting to look really good. I have taken some pictures and will post them later, but the pics look like a diarrhea brown. Its really actually a pretty color and I think its making a cool effect on the walls. (they kinda look like stone) so overall I think I will be happy with it. If not, there's always more paint :)

But the most important thing of all is that my cute husband turned 29 on the 20th! Crazy! I love him super duper much. He is the cutest person on the planet. We couldn't actually do anything on his birthday because he was literally in school and/or working all day and then we had institute that evening so we didn't get home until 10:30ish. But I did cook him a really noce meal on Monday and we sang to him. He is just the best husband ever so I want to make things special for him.

Anyway, we love you all, and I feel bad for not blogging as much but know its not because I don't want to, but don't have the time.

Managing my home with flylady

In relief Society this Sunday, we had a lesson on Managing our homes. I thought it was an awesome lesson! I really needed it and there was a lot of good advice going on. One of the things that was brought up was a website called flylady.com and she helps you get your house in order a little at a time rather than overwhelming yourself with it all at once. And in the process, developing habits to keep your house this way. I just did Day 1 today. And the only thing she has you do is shine your sink. She also gives a step by step process of how to do it and I LOVE that!! Because I have never had a shiny sink and never tried to shine my sink. It is really awesome and I'm actually not grossed out by my sink anymore. I am excited to see what day 2 holds.

Here is my shiny sink :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Christmas in AZ was a blast! We got to spend lots of time with the family, and play with the little kidlets. I love them! I finally got to see Sheena's house and we went to Filibertos until we were sick of it. :) Next time we will probably fly and rent a car though, because I think that will be cheaper than driving. See, we got a ticket on the way up and on the way back. GRRRRRRrrr!!! I am really having a hard time not hating police officers in Texas right now. On the way back, we weren't even going ten OVER!!!! Oh well...it has happened and there is nothing we can do now except pay them. But there was something cool that happened on the way home.

It was the middle of the night and both Daniel and I were kind of delerious so we decided we were going to stop at a rest stop. But it was FREEZING and we had no blankets or pillows or anything so we decided that we needed to stop at a place to by a blanket. These places in TX are few and far between so, we had to go for quite a while in this dangerous state (very tired) until we came to one place that I thought may have one. I asked a lady in the back and she did not speak English. ( I was not speaking it too hot myself at that point, so you can imagine that conversation.LOL) Then I went to the front and asked if they had blankets for sale. SHe said they did not but she had one in the car I could have. I was naturally a little wary and did not quite understand what she meant. (I couldn't even see straight much less comprehend conversation) Anyway, she brought me out to her car and gave me a cute little worn quilt. I was really touched. Actually I began crying because of her generosity (and exhaustion). I told her this was not necessary, and we would be able to find one. She said she wanted to give it to us and "Merry Christmas." WoW!! There are good things in Texas. So that was a little Christmas miracle that happened with us. And although it was just a little thing, it taught me a great real-life lesson.

"For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me:
I was cold, and ye gave me a blanket :)
...Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

This year I am going to try to have more charity. And I will work as hard as possible to be the person in this scripture. Whether its with my family, friends, or a complete stranger.



This is the quilt :)

Pam

We only met her a few days ago. And only knew her a short while. But in that time she touched our hearts and we will never forget her memorable smile, her sweet laugh, or her precious way of asking guests if they want Pepsi :) We love her. Our hearts and prayers are with Kelly, Aubrey, and Raul as well as all her other loved ones still on the earth. I'm sure the family rejoiced when she joined them!

Recent Activity

Hi All!
We have been having fun over here in Louisiana keeping busy with all kinds of things. We are now ward missionaries in our ward and that keeps us pretty busy doing new member discussions and such. I have also been working hard to prepare my students for their performance which is coming up on Thursday night. They are going to do well I think. For my theater students, we just had tryouts for the play we will be doing "Much Ado About Nothing" They did SOOOO well. I think our performance is going o be phenomenal. And with all that going on, we also had a performance of our own yesterday. I sang in the Messiah with the Vernon Parish Community Choir. The choir director was my fifth grade music teacher and he is a really funny old black man! I just love him! My siblings and I have been performing with these guys for many years so its kind of a family tradition. Daniel didn't sing with us this year but he was sad he didn't. So now he is excited to do it next year :)
Its fun, but exhausting. And now we are ready to head up to AZ!! Woo Hoo! Actually we're not quite ready. We have got some packing and CD burning and all that jazz to accomplish. (Not to mention my kids' performance. We will see how it turns out!