Catching Up

I haven't been keeping up as much as I would like to lately. It's the paradox of blogging . . . when I have time to do it, I have nothing to talk about. When I actually have stuff to do, I have no time to blog.

Here's a pic I've been meaning to post. This blanket is a token of my retirement from sewing. It is such a dumpy blanket! The ties are bunchy, the batting is bumpy and the binding is a joke. And I hate it because the fabric is cute AND expensive. I originally wanted to do a gray back, but nooooo . . . my mom convinced me to do the Georgia red. I asked several people about it bleeding but they promised if I washed the 2 fabrics separately first, it would be fine. WRONG! Not only is the blanket dumpy . . . it's now PINK! Here I am, trying to make a manly blanket for Charlie and it comes out pink. The more I wash it . . . the pinker it gets! I hate sewing. Hate, hate, hate. I'll stick to paper, thank you.

We finally all got over our various ailments, thank goodness. John had double ear infections, Charlie had double ear infections and bronchitis and I had one ear infection, a sinus infection and bronchitis. That was one busy week, hopping from doctor to pharmacy over and over again. John had to go to Scout Camp for 5 days in the middle of this, of course. It actually wasn't too bad. I had been dreading John being gone for months, so it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. And yet . . . Charlie had diarrhea in the tub. He does that ONLY when John is out of town. No joke. But, on the bright side, though Charlie was very sick he didn't wake up once during any of the nights John was gone, so I got rest. But then, of course, the first night John gets back, Charlie was up half the night. I can't win.

The Road Show is keeping me busy. It's a weird experience. Some days are very hard. I will never understand why people wage campaigns against something that has nothing to do with them. So what if you don't like dancing or singing or acting? You don't have to do it! It has nothing to do with you! Stephanie and I have gotten a lot of flack . . . not from the youth, who are the only ones required to do it (and are having a blast, BTW) . . . but from people who should thank us for the insane amount of effort we're putting into this show. Because of us, they don't have to have anything to do with it. I don't understand why some feel the need to bash something just because they aren't comfortable with it. I don't play sports . . . I don't like sports. But I don't throw a fit when we have a church softball tournament. I could care less. I just don't get it. You'd think we were putting on a burlesque show by the way some people react to this. The Stake asked us to put on a show, and we're putting together an AMAZING one.


On a happier note, I've had so many wonderful experiences working on this show I could've never anticipated. Stephanie, the director, and I have become great buddies. She is so talented and I've learned so much from her. I thought she was insane to want to do so much dancing. I tend to see limitations whereas she only sees possibilities. I'm very grateful to get to work with someone so positive . . . and another twisted artsy soul like me!


As I mentioned in a previous post, the Primary's part in the Road Show got off to a rough start. But since then, it's been nothing but fun and joy. I love those kids to death, I honestly do. It's so fun to get to interact with them outside of church on Sunday. They are hilarious . . . I seriously think I'll have to devote an entire post to the hilarious things these kids say. For example, one girl gave the closing prayer for one of our practices. She was completely sincere and serious when she gave the following prayer:


"Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for this day and that we could come to this activity. Thank you for letting us come here to learn High School Musical and 'Burn, Baby, Burn.' We pray no one will get hurt before the show. We pray the show will be good. Amen."


They are all such loving, good kids. They have all caught the "bug" and get more and more excited as time gets by. I love to see them enjoy this and look forward to this . . . it gets me pumped, too! I cannot wait to see them dancing to "Disco Inferno" in sequins and afros (yes, the boys are going to be wearing 'fros!). It's especially neat to see the potential a lot of them have. We seriously have a couple of little stars in our branch that have real talent. It's just a lot of fun seeing that come out of them.


Last night was the first night we met with the youth. I was in charge of choreographing and teaching the YW a dance to "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (holla at me 90s kids! hee hee). I have been terrified, literally, for a month about this. I have never worked with YW before. Teenagers totally intimidate me, especially since what I needed them to do was potentially "lame." I made up a dance that I thought was cute, but you never know, right? I tried to be positive when I came into YW on Sunday to tell them about it. They were totally silent. I asked them if they had any questions and one of them asks, "Do we have to do it?" Oh great. I was nauseous even as we pulled into the parking lot last night. John had given me a little blessing a few days before, but it had worn off (JK). As I walked into the room, one of the girls ran up to me and told me how she saw a video of me dancing to "Cotton-Eyed Joe" at a dance like, 10 years ago (she's the little sister of a friend of mine from high school ). Oh no. Not good. I still would like to get my hands on that video . . . anywho, the girls started to do this little dance together. I watched them and was like, "Is that the Hoedown Throwdown?" (I'm somewhat hip.) They giggled and said yeah. I told them we could work it into the dance, but first I wanted to show them part of my dance. I barely got through the first 4 counts before they were squealing with excitement. "This is so cute!" "We're going to have the best show!" "This is so fun!"


THANK YOU!


You have no idea how good (and at peace!) that made me feel! They were so into it and were talking about putting their own practices together outside of church. I would never have imagined a response like that, ever! Yay! I seriously had a blast doing that with them. It was so fun. I'm grateful to have a chance to be a little "choreographer." I love dancing and doing stuff like that . . . which I don't often get to do. I'm so relieved that these girls are excited. It just makes everything that much more fun.


Oh, and I guess I should recap what happened last week as well. My brother-in-law Paul (who is playing Frankenstein), Stephanie's hubby Christiam (Igor) and I (I'm going to be a zombie girl or something) had our first "Thriller" run through. I did the choreography on that one . . . I just took moves from the music video. It went so well and I think people are going to die when they see us doing the head ticks and know that we're going to do "Thriller." I'm so glad to not be huge and pregnant so I actually get to be IN the show this year. Dancing while dressed as a zombie? That's like, Autumn nirvana, for real!


Speaking of zombies and dancing . . . that Shane Sparks routine on SYTYCD this week was awesome! I usually don't like his stuff, but last night was amazing. Then, Wade Robson performed "Ramalama" with some of the contestants from Season 2. I was expecting a little more, so I was disappointed. But, it was amazing to see Hok and Jamie perform "The Hummingbird and the Flower" routine again. No routine has yet to beat that one for me yet.

I just realized this post is insanely long. I'll have to post some new card pics and stuff later . . . I gotta go!