Being Sentimental....

So, one (out of two) of my oldest friends is getting married on Saturday.  Andrea Loder and I met in first grade (thanks to Amanda for introducing us).  As children the three of us had one of those friendships where we were best of friends until someone was mean, then all bets were off. But I seem to remember that we never stayed mad at each other long.


Here are some random things I think you should know about our friendship:

1.  For some reason when we were 12 I decided that since Andrea's initials were A.M. I would look up what a.m. radio was.  So....for a while I called her "aptitude modulation". Around the same time I also called Amanda Jean (A.J) Apple Juice....I was a strange child. Did you remember that Andrea???

2.  Andrea can catch cheese balls in her mouth better than anyone I know.

3.  Andrea has been married before.  To my brother.  She was 11 and he was 6. 

4. We have an inside joke involving Miracle Grow that I can't share....but couldn't leave it out.

5.  I have many, many embarrassing pictures of Andrea that I'm holding hostage for when I need them.  If you're lucky I might share one with the world soon.....hehehehe

6.  Andrea's iPod has a name.  It's Stella.  One time Stella broke.  When she started working again we sat at the piano and composed a song about Stella and how she got her groove back.

7.  Andrea, Amanda and I have a knack for getting ourselves into precarious situations.  If you ever meet a guy who says he needs to run and get his 'grabbers'....leave.  Quickly.

8.  I'm a very emotional person.  Andrea is NOT.....this caused MANY interesting conversations when we lived together!

9.  Once Andrea tied my bathroom door shut with a rope....while I was inside. She sat in the hall and laughed.

10.  Andrea is the only person in the world who I would take a morning off work to bake 150 miniature buttermilk pies for.  :)


I could probably keep going forever. 

When you have been friends with someone for more than 25 years there are obviously countless big events that you share.  When I look back on my life and think about all the important things, Andrea was there.  In the last few years I have watched her walk through the hardest time in her life with grace.  And now in the last  year I have seen her happier than ever. 

Andrea and Scott, there's no way I could say these things to you without crying (well, because you know me) so I'm saying it here:  I am so blessed to have the two of you in my life.  Thank you so much for choosing to make me part of your special day.  I look at what the two of you have and it makes me so happy for both of you.  Here's to the next 25+ years of friendship.  Love you!

C

Randomness

* I love my job!  Who else  do you know who gets to sing and dance all day and get paid for it?

*  My Ranger dog is making me crazy.  He brings sticks in the house through the doggie door.  Not little sticks, mind you.  We're talking 2-3 feet long.  AND, in the process of getting them in the house he cuts his face so I'm constantly doctoring a wound....

* Speaking of Rangers, even though they were PATHETIC last night I shall not lose hope.  Wearing Ranger Red today in support.

*  Annie Get Your Gun runs one more weekend.  I really love music directing at the theatre...may even do the big Christmas show.

*  Andrea's wedding is in a little over two weeks!!

*  I have to make 150 miniature pies before the wedding....why did I agree to this???

Time to shape young minds!  Have a great day everyone.

See You In The Funny Papers

Well, I just posted the previous blog and had a startling revelation. 

I didn't even realize how I ended my last post until I hit publish.  I know that the phrase "see you in the funny papers" is strange to most of you. 








I haven't heard it in years and it's not something I ever say.  My Grammy who died in 2010 used to say it when as a form of goodbye.   So....just had to share that with anyone who cares.  Love you Gram!

Feeling Random...

I went back to work yesterday.  I have mixed emotions.  No snarky comments are needed from the peanut gallery about having summer off.....you chose your career and I chose mine.  But I digress....not the point. 

Last year at this time I was basically in survival mode.  I was basically trying to figure out how in the world I was going to be ready for the first day of school. This year, I've decided that if I'm going to teach in a room covered in brown paneling I'm going to do everything I can to make it cute this year.  So, I've chosen a color scheme of hot pink, lime green, yellow and black.  It's going to be fantastic.  However, now I'm suddenly worried I've bitten off more than I can chew!  Right now there are five newly painted bookshelves in the middle of my classroom drying and the rest of the room looks like a tornado hit!  I'll let you know how it goes...

In other news, today is Carson's birthday. I can't believe my youngest boy is a year old already!  No more babies.  :(.  Any of my siblings out there ready to have a new baby for me to spoil?  No?   Oh well....

I think the dogs are really sad that I had to go back to work...well, the boys anyway.  Honey sleeps 23 hours a day so I'm pretty sure she didn't even notice.  The boys on the other hand ate a book while I was at work today.  The bad part is that I was about 30 pages from the end of the book.  I guess I'll be going to Target tonight. 


Tonight we are having a welcome home dinner for my friend Susan who has been away while she fights breast cancer for the last several months.  I'm so excited that she's back!  Here's an interesting story for you:  Pre-cancer when Susan would come to my house Reese would go crazy.  He wanted to sit in her lap...litteraly.  He wouldn't calm down (with most people it takes about 3 minutes for him to calm down once they come in).  So, when Susan was diagnosed with cancer she said "you know how Reese acts funny around me?  Maybe he can detect cancer!".  We have half joked/half seriously said that when she got home we'd have to test Reese's cancer detecting abilities.  I'm happy to report that when Susan came over the other night he did nothing....wagged his tail then laid down.  Susan will now be doing her 3 month checkups at my house!

I guess that's all the rambling I have for today....See ya in the funny papers!

Gabriel Turns Two!

Gabriel will turn two years old tomorrow and since I couldn't get the Sunday off, Mom and I went to see him a couple days early.  It was so great to see him and he's old enough now that he remembers us from one visit to the next.  It was so awesome to have him run up the sidewalk to greet us! 

We went to the Woodlands mall in Houston and had lunch.  After lunch I was lucky enough to get to take him on the carosoul....which was a blast.  He would wave to Mom, Dad and Nana each time we passed them.  After the carosoul we went to the Disney store and went crazy.  Of course, Mom and I couldn't help but spoil him just a little.  Like his cousin Aiden he is crazy about the Cars movie and picked out several Car things....most importantly some awesome Cars shoes which Nana promptly bought him!  After that we made a pit stop at the fish tank then headed to the Lego store where he seemed to know which kits were recommended for two and under and handed them to us.  We of course complied....

He fell asleep on the way home.  It was such a big day.  I can't believe he's TWO!  Time flies. 

Footloose

If you know me at all you know that I spent the majority of my summer doing Footloose at Wichita Theater.  It was my second show to direct the music for and I LOVED it!  Got to reconnect with an old friend from childhood and make a whole batch of new friends.  Here are some pictorial highlights:

Sarah (Kouri) Ohmsteade and I went to elementary school together and hadn't seen each other in many years.  I was so excited to get to work with her and she was a fantastic Rusty!

 

Nancy Brasfield played Mama....and just happens to be a very dear friend.

With my directorial friends, Stephanie and Abbie.

Footloose

Kick off your Sunday shoes!

There's rumors going round about the new kid!

Guest appearance by the director as the principal.  She was fantastic of course!

Learning To Be Silent

I Need a Hero

It's not your fight!

Nancy Brasfield as "Mama"...she was HILLARIOUS!

"Someday"

He's really hurt coach!

I'm Free

Let's Hear It For The Boy

Mama Says

Almost Paradise

Oh Willard...

Footloose

In January I had my first experience directing music at Wichita Theatre.  I guess I did a decent job because they asked me to come back for the big summer show.  Auditions started for Footloose in May and we spent the last two months working really hard.

The show opened last night and it was FANTASTIC!  I'm so proud of the cast.  It will continue to run every weekend in July so if you live in Wichita Falls, or know how to drive here I highly recommend you come!  Here are a couple of pictures of the show. 

Ranger

Ranger was about 16 months old when I inherited him from a friend who couldn't keep him.  I was a little shocked that I agreed to take him at first but it was a great decision.  He and Reese are best buds!  He's still got a little puppy in him and he's very accident prone but I wouldn't live without him now!

Interesting facts about Ranger:
1.  He's TERRIFIED of thunder (hence the picture in the bathtub).
2.  He can't seem to remember to duck his head 3 inches to go out the doggy door and has an almost constant bump on his head.
3.  His favorite thing to do is bring in sticks, grass, tree limbs etc and shred them in the floor.....sigh.
4.  His name was Ranger BEFORE he became my dog.  It was meant to be.

The day he came to live with us.

Yes he's on the couch.  I'm a sucker.

Best Friends!

It was thundering when I took this picture.  During a storm he is either in the bathtub or my bed.

What a pathetic excuse for a blogger I have been!


So, I have recently been thinking "hey, my friends with blogs have quit blogging'.  Then I realized I can't really complain since I too quit.  So, this is me un-quitting.  I can't believe that I haven't posted since October.  I could blame it on the new job, the new house, the new everything else but I'm not really sure there's a why.  I do know that I miss being able to look back and see what was important to me last week, last month or last year.  So, here's the very brief version of the last nine months:

October:  Second trip to the World Series!  This time I cheered my Rangers on with Mom, Dale and Toby.  We won the game I attended.  Pictures will follow....probably.


November: My great friend Lacy got married to a goofball named Mark.  I had the honor of taking the pictures at their wedding. 

December:  Aiden's first birthday and Carson's first Christmas. Trust me there are many pictures!

January:  I directed the music for a production of The Music Man at Wichita Theatre.  I have never done this before but had a blast!  It was a crazy busy month but worth all the crazy!

February: TMEA!  I'll save the details but it included the yearly time with old friends and driving home in an unexpected ice storm!  The week after TMEA I sliced open my thumb and broke my toe in two separate incidents.  Not fun at all.  The most fun part of February was the adoption (because I'm a sucker) of a sweet yellow lab named Ranger.  He'll get his own post later. 

March: Well....it must have been pretty boring.  Can't find a single cell phone picture that reminds me of it.  Thirty-first birthday was definitely less uneventful than 30!

April:  First Ranger game of the year!  You're shocked, I know.    The highlight of April was going with the sister to meet The Pioneer Woman.  If you don't know what in the world I'm talking about you need to look her up!  It was a dream come true for Anna and the beginning of an obsession for me. 

May:  The end of my first year teaching at Crockett.  I love my job more each day.  This school year flew by!

June:  I've been involved in my 2nd musical at Wichita Theatre.  This time it's Footloose.  It has been a blast and has taken up much of my time!  Of course, since it's summer I've managed to squeeze in plenty of Aiden time when his babysitter is on vacation.


Ok....you're caught up!  Of course now that I've looked back I can't believe I didn't post about some of these things while they were happening!   That of course means that you'll probably see more catching up pictures than you want in the next couple of posts.....which will probably come this afternoon.

Later, gator!

Update

It appears it's been a while since I blogged, so here's what's been going on:

*  My Rangers won three games in the World Series which is 2 more than last year.  Third time's the charm!

*  I still love my job!  There's nothing like seeing the look on a kids face when they are singing!

*  Reese is now living as a free dog while I'm at work.  So far he has eaten a lunchbox, the box that holds remote controls, a tupperware dish, his shock collar and apparently the windowsill tastes good too.....
Believe it or not he does less damage out of the crate....I just have to make sure to hide anything valuable out of his reach.  I think she could help but Honey doesn't do anything to help keep Reese occupied....

*  My three nephews are getting cuter every day!  I saw new pictures of Gabirle the other day and he's growing like a weed.  Aiden has 10 or so teeth now and is starting to look like a big boy instead of a baby.  Carson smiled at me last weekend.....life is good!

*  I have free movie channels for 3 months.  While they're free I'm taping every movie that sounds even remotely good!

*  My Great Aunt Laura gave me a set of bamboo sheets.  H.E.A.V.E.N!!!  You should try them!

*  Coca-cola products were on sale the other day and just out of curiosity I bought Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Diet Coke with splenda just to see which one I really like the most.  Turns out I really DON'T like Diet Coke with splenda!

*  Pumpkin Cream Cheese is awesome.

*  Reese sleeps on the furniture when I'm not home....and sometimes when he gets in the chair when I'm home I let him stay.  Does this make me a bad dog mom?


*  I've been watching Sister Wives.  It's very interesting to watch something that you don't understand.....

*  Waiting for the roommates (yes, I still call them that) to come over.  I'm making fajitas and homemade guacamole for supper.

I guess that's all for now! 

New Job

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have a new job. I am the new music teacher at Crockett Elementary, and I LOVE it!  Here's my schedule:

7:30 Cafeteria Duty (ok, not the highlight of my day)
8:15 5th grade
9:00 6th grade
9:45 2nd grade
10:30 1st grade
11:30 more cafeteria duty...
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Conference
1:15 Kindergarten
2:00 4th grade
2:45 3rd grade

The upside of having cafeteria duty is that I can leave when the kids do....not that I've managed to do that yet.

As you can see, it's a packed day, but I'm loving every minute.  The planning is taking quite a bit longer than I'm used to, but it's worth it.  Kids have started asking, "Do I get to have music today?", and that makes my heart so happy! 

I know that every job has it's challenges, but I'm prepared to take those in stride.  I'm exhausted at the end of the day, but it's a great feeling to get to teach kids to love music like I do every day!

Carson Allen Minniear

On August 17th we helped my step-brother Shane and sister-in-law Katie welcome precious Carson to the world.  I'm lucky to have such a beautiful new nephew!