Almost over

Tomorrow the ballet competition will be over. They will announce who the winners are. The winners will dance one more time. Then everyone will go home. It has been an interesting competition. The first night of round three, in the middle of a dance, a non-competing partner fell down and couldn't continue. They said he had ruptured a tendon. Ouch! His partner went with him to the hospital, so she didn't finish that dance or dance her contemporary dance. Last night she was able to complete the classical dance with another partner and danced a different modern dance.
Unfortunately yesterday a water main broke and there was no water pressure for most of the day. When I got to the auditorium there were rows of port-a-potties on the east plaza. Our aging pipes need to be replaced. How embarrassing. They are announcing the winners tonight on TV but I will get to see them tomorrow night in person. I have decided next time to buy only one ticket for myself for the competition since I couldn't get anyone to go with me to rounds two and three. For the same money I can get really good seats!

Getto mom at the ballet

Okay, the ballet was going as usual. Dancer performs, then there is a minute or so wait for the judges to mark the points. Next dancer is announced and so on. I think I have already commented that some parents were bringing toddlers to the competition. Well, Evelyn Hart, one of the hosts, was filling up the wait time talking about how hard the dancers' coaches work and how we should give them a round of applause, when getto mom shouted, "He's just a baby, alright!" Then, "I'm not leaving. I bought a ticket," and some other stuff I couldn't quite understand. Then security came out from backstage. All was quiet but how embarrassing. If I had been the next dancer, I would have wondered if another outburst was coming in the middle of my dance. There should be an age limit for those in the audience. Get a babysitter, people.

IBC is in town

The International Ballet Competition is in town for the next two weeks. The opening night was great. The first half was the usual greetings from every official in town and some from out of town. Then Rasta Thomas and the Bad Boys of Dance took stage and really livened things up. There was a packed house, including some crazy folks who brought a whiney toddler. What were they thinking? Even with that distraction just down the row, the dancers were fantastic. In the next to last dance the Bad Boys danced with blow-up dolls. It was Hi-lar-i-ous! Martin was glad he had come.

About to get busier

Yes, it is summer. School is out and we finally got our contracts for next year. Because of budget problems we will work four fewer days next year. Not a bad thing, if you ask me. So, why the title of this post? School is out but summer school started Friday with no prep days. There are field trips to arrange, lessons to prepare, and lost kids to find. Of course, one kindergartner was lost the first day. The bus driver left him at his cousin's house, down the street from his house. His father called me. I called the bus dispatcher, then called the father back. His mom went to look and found him down the street. Yea!
Next problem-will the blackberries be ready by Wednesday? If not, should we switch the movie with the farm or just forget about picking berries? I can't decide. The kids will really enjoy being outside and eating the berries but switching the trips will make my life more complicated.
Ballet competition begins next Saturday. That will make next week busy with afternoon and evening sessions for four days. Cousin will be in town for those days and I will still have to get things together for summer school. Throw in visiting parents at two different locations and it will be a busy week.
Once again my room at school is not really packed up so I need to go there after summer school until it is in better shape. The kids also asked for more games and art materials. Then there are two quilts that need to be finished. Reservations for our trip to Prince Edward Island need to be made. The EEIS newsletter needs to be edited and the officer form for JARC needs to be filled out and sent in. It is only two months late!
Summer should be a time to sit back and relax. What am I doing?

Senior Recital

One of my former students invited me to her senior piano recital. I first met her when she was in second grade and had just come to our school from China. She didn't know any English. A few years later she told me about her first impression of me. She thought I lived at the school because my classroom had sofas and a rocking chair. She came to see me last week at school. I had a newspaper photo of her on my door. She is one of the top five students in her senior class at a large high school. Heading for Duke University in the fall.
This is what I love about teaching. I really like getting to work with students for several years. I see them grow and make progress. It makes up for lots of things like paperwork and stupid tests and idiots on power trips.

Too much to do

WARNING Don't read this. I just had to get this out of my head. Should have written it in my journal but here it is.
I don't feel like doing anything and yet I have too much to do. I want to just sit outside and read in the shade or go to the pool and swim all by myself. But this afternoon I ran here and there getting signatures on forms for summer school field trips. I found out we don't have enough money to pay the admission fees for the field trips and don't really have enough money for the buses either. The whole idea is to get the kids to places they don't usually go. There isn't money to buy the new summer reading books either, so I may end up buying them myself.
After getting the paperwork to the final office, I went to see my dad. He goes over the same concerns almost every time I visit. He doesn't like it there and wants to go home. There isn't any way he can go home because there is no one to care for him. Mom is not well enough and everyone else is working. I feel really guilty when I read about other families who take their elders into their homes. This stresses me but I don't think I could take the stress of the alternative any better. I don't like this 'season' of my life.

Quilting again

Started the new quilt. Everything is cut out except for one block. Tomorrow I hope to start putting the blocks together. There will be 20 diamonds each made from 4 blocks.
Looking for the final Percy Jackson book. One of my choir kids said she had it and would lend it to me. Didn't realize the same author wrote the 39 clues series. Showed my third graders the six books I have read in the last two weeks and they were amazed that anyone could read that much. I've got a long way to go with that group.
There is so much to do to get ready for summer school and not much time to get it all done. I've got to make a list and get going.