Stardusters

Today marked the official end of Stardusters.  What took us 2 plus weeks to assemble came down in less than two hours.  *sigh*

It was a good show.  It definitely had its moments.  Although considering that Wednesday night we were still struggling to play completely through a piece without stopping, Friday went exceptionally well.   I promised myself I was not going to cry during the show.  I would like to proudly proclaim--------I failed.  I was fine until the final notes of Stardust.  At that point there was nothing else for me to do, nothing to obsess over, nothing but think.  To be a part of something that has gone on for 68 years is amazing.  I got to contribute to that tradition for 9 years of my life.  I consider it a great honor and privledge and can only hope I have done it justice.  The coolest thing though is that Pauline has not missed a Stardusters yet (that I know of) and is one of the newest members of the Stardusters group on Facebook.  What an amazing lady!!!!!!

Our annual Starduster prank was a huge success.  We built a Johnny on the Spot and put it in the band office.  It is probably going to sit in the band room for a while, it is that stinkin' cool.  I'm sure it made the people that used the band room for forensics on Saturday wonder.  The best part of the prank was watching him obsess over having his vehicle locked all week and making a conscious effort to not turn his keys over to anyone.  I have to admit, the post it notes last year were a stroke of genius and probably the best prank, until this year. 

Lastly, I include a picture of my favorite photographer boy.  We were having a camera war one night at break.  We were basically ambushing people with our cameras and got some good and some not so good shots (you should see the trick under the leg shot!).

Back to the Grind

After a very relaxing Spring Break where I did not do much of anything, today was back to work.  Not only back to work but Stardusters week to boot.  I spent most of today in the auditorium.  We got a lot accomplished and had some very good middle school helpers.

Here is what I did do over Spring Break.  I finally got some more paint on the walls in my house.  After finishing can #1 of paint I went to the garage for can #2.  Can #2 has set in the garage all winter long and evidently that is not good on paint.  After much stirring, I could only get the paint to a cottage cheese consistency, very gross.  So after a quick trip to Lowe's on Sunday I finally got the unpainted part of the kitchen done and threw some paint up in the stairway.......well, as far as I could reach without a ladder.

When we primed the stairway, hubby stood on plank stretched from the top step to an extension ladder stood at the landing of the stairs.  I have offered alcohol and food to my friend who claims to have crazy, mad paintbrush taped to a stick skills.  I prefer not to walk the plank.

Spring Break Begins

After getting a few projects done for Stardusters on Friday, Spring Break officially began.  It started with freezing my butt off Saturday at a KSU baseball game with our friends Wayne and Paige.  After warming ourselves up at Little Apple (at which time the sun finally came out) we headed home to watch THE basketball game.  I'm assuming I don't have to tell you which one.  Sunday was absolutely and totally unproductive.  Today I have tried to get some cleaning done but the progress has been slow.  I like for things to be clean I just don't like getting them that way.  The downstairs bathroom is now clean and the hallway floor upstairs has been stained.  I guess I will go work on the kitchen now.  It has suffered from a week of rainy weather and two little dogs that have not been trained to wipe their feet before coming inside.    The next goal will be to find the horizontal surfaces that one might call tables.  Wish me luck!

Random Dozen

1. How old is the oldest pair of shoes in your closet?  Well, I just recently got rid of a pair of boots that I bought in high school.  My next oldest pair would probably be a pair of black dress shoes.  I don't wear them that often.

2. Did you buy Girl Scout cookies this year? If so, what variety?  Yes I did.  I bought 2 boxes of Trefoils (the shortbread ones).  They have different names for them here up north and I still can't get used to it.

3. Do you know how to ballroom dance? If not, would you like to?  No, and I would look really funny dancing by myself.

4. Were you a responsible child/teenager?  I was very responsible.  My parents would punish me by making me go to town on a Friday or Saturday night and I couldn't come home until after 10:00.  I thought going to town was a huge waste of my hard earned gas money.

5. How many of this year's Oscar-nominated movies did you see? I don't even know what movies were nominated, but it is doubtful I saw any of them.

6. If you're going to have a medical procedure done, such as having blood drawn, is it easier for you to watch someone else having the procedure done or have it done yourself?  I would really prefer not to watch.

7. What is your favorite day of the week and why?  Any Thursday during the summer because that means I get to go hang with my golfing gals.

8. Do you miss anyone right now?  I miss Sharon, our schedules have not allowed us to get together since before Christmas!

9. Do hospitals make you queasy?  Any place with doctors makes me uneasy.

10. At which store would you like to max-out your credit card. Not that you ever would, you responsible person, you.  Home Depot, there are a lot of things I would like for my house.

11. Are you true to the brand names of products/items?  Yeah, most of the time.

12. Which is more difficult: looking into someone’s eyes when you are telling someone how you feel, or looking into someone’s eyes when he/she is telling you how he/she feels?  Both are difficult.  My explanation for or against either one would require a lot of details about prior experiences that are best not shared.

Paradox

There is an episode of the Simpsons where Bart cheats on an aptitude test and gets sent to a gifted school.  When Bart is asked to give an example of a paradox, he states "you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't."  This pretty much sums up my past year.  No matter what I do, it always seems to be the wrong thing.  I am admittedly a people pleaser, but when I try to take some time for myself it is considered selfish.  When I don't take some time for myself then relationships in my life seem to take a hit.  I wish balancing your life was as easy as balancing the checkbook.  That I can do.

The winds of change are blowing and the more I think about things the more I am beginning to recognize the positives.  Granted, there are still a few tough decisions to make but I'm going to try to not to dwell on them for right now.  We'll see where the wind takes us.

First day of Spring Training Games

 A short video clip in honor of the first day of Spring Training games.  Please note that this is not necessarily rated PG, but it is one of my favorite scenes so I couldn't resist.