Ready for Spring!!!

Here in the lovely Midwest, we have had the pleasure of dealing with snow for the past couple of days. No big deal right? Except for before the snow, came ice...and quite a bit of it. We have about an inch of ice beneath our 4 1/2 inches of snow. I know, I know, that may not sound like a lot, but when you mix it with ice, it's a bitch!! Most of the trees in our lovely city have suffered greatly. We have had people without power for over 24 hours now and they are saying that they may not have power through the weekend. Hopefully, it will start to thaw soon, but it isnt supposed to warm up until at least Saturday.

My poor tree has suffered too. We are going to have to cut it down this spring, which we knew might have to happen anyway, but it definitely has to go now. Here is a picture of our poor tree :(

You might not be able to tell by the pictures, but the tree is starting to get a little sparse in the limb department. Last year we had a pretty bad ice storm that took out a lot of branches too. We had some wind after a hurricane that brought down quite a few and now this. The poor tree has held up longer than I thought it would :) Once those big limbs come down, there wont be much left to look at, which is kind of disappointing, because it shades most of our backyard in the summer.

On to other things! We have not been able to practice at all this week, which is making me a little nervous. Luckily, we dont have a contest this Saturday, but still. Our next contest is the 7th and there was a lot that I would have liked to get done this week. Oh well! We have a nice long practice on Saturday!

On the IF front...my BCP's are making me feel like Im 15 again!! I am extremely broke out right now on my chin. And it sucks!! Not much I can do about it though. I guess I will have to suffer through it.

Not much else going on. Somewhat stranded because I dont like to get out with the icey roads if I dont have to (other than to go to work today). I do have 4 wheel drive, which is nice. It gets me where I need to go. Until next time!

Our first contest!!

So I just wanted everyone to know that we did pretty well this weekend. Especially since it was our first contest and most of the kids didnt really know what to expect. After looking back at the video, I realized it wasnt as bad as what I had originally thought. Of course, I am the biggest critic when it comes to my kids, and I am also the biggest perfectionist when it comes to my guard.

We placed 13th out of 20, which was really good considering they were up against some really great groups! However, the one thing that makes me extremely giddy (and Im not exaggerating about that) is the fact that the director that I have had some problems with for the past year or so (he used to be at our school in 2006/2007, but was fired) was also there. And (feeling sorry for his kids, because I can almost hear the speech he probably gave) they placed 20th. However, it makes me so excited to know that, really, he still sucks at writing/choreographing shows. Now, if I could just get my 3 juniors who are unhealthily attached to him to realize this, things would be right with the world.

Can I just say that I wanted to rub it in his face when I got the recap, but I was a bigger person. He even managed to get to my girls before I could talk to them and let them know what place they received. That did NOT make me happy, but I have to ignore it.

So Im happy with the end result. It was a really great day!

The stress is getting to me

We are getting so close to our first performance. It's tomorrow night (Friday) at our home basketball game so that we can get our first show jitters out of the way. Then, we wake up bright and early Saturday to head to our first contest. I think they are ready. We had a really good practice tonight and I think they are finally understanding what it takes to put this whole show together and make it look good :)

However...Im a little peeved at the present. Somehow, the winterguard has become the red-headed stepchildren of the school. Two years ago (I was only a tech), we were kicked out of our Elementary school for various reasons due to the director then. So, we were pushed back to the high school to find space when there was a gym available. We also used our Jr. High (attached to the high school) when we really had no where else to go. Well, this year, I was told we were not allowed to use the elementary school, for various reasons (all stupid), so we were again having to find space in the high school. I have been lucky enough that when we cant get a gym in our high school, we could get one in the Jr. High. Which honestly is still pretty crappy considering we are a high school function, but of course, sports takes precedence, even when that sport isnt even in season (baseball and softball workouts). It's pretty much bullshit.

So....we used the Jr. High on Saturday and left our tarp out overnight because we needed to do some touchup and glue down our fabric. Apparently that was a big no, no. One of the custodians came in (with her family) and threw a fit because they were on the schedule for the gym at a certain time. We were putting the tarp up at this time mind you.

I received an email yesterday from the Jr. High principal stating we are no longer allowed to use their facilities because we were painting our tarp, using the gym when not scheduled, and left the gym trashed which caused more work for the custodians the next day. Okay....first off, I was doing "touch-up" and it would have been done no matter what gym I was in. Secondly, I ALWAYS make sure we clean up after ourselves when we leave a gym. Thirdly, no I wasnt on the schedule, it was a Sunday for crying out loud!! I mean really, come on. So Im a little pissed right now and Im about to take everything to our Superintendent and tell him how ridiculous things have gotten. Including the fact that we are a school function and everything else takes precedence over our program no matter what it is.

At this point, we are pretty much screwed on gym time. And if we dont have a gym to practice in...it pretty much defeats the whole purpose of winterguard. Anyone have any suggestions on this situation? Our band director is pretty mad that we are being treated like this and is about to do something about it himself, which would be really nice. It would actually be really nice if we got just a little bit of respect occasionally.

Sorry about the rant. I needed to vent and this is where I vent :) If you stuck with that, wow, way to go! You are a trooper!!

Are we there yet??

Let me just say....I am exhausted! My mind has been going so many different directions for the past week and a half that I am just ready for a break. However, I wont get a break until after Saturday when my group performs at their first contest and I can stop worrying about whether or not I have actually prepared them for that moment. Well, it's almost to the point that I have done everything that I can do for now and it will be up to them to follow through.

I have a fairly young guard this winter. Young as in, inexperienced in performing in front of large crowds without the band behind them. Only 5 of my kids were in the fall program (which is actually just over half). So I'm hoping they dont freak out when they get in front of a large crowd.

Sorry that my last couple posts have been guard-related, but that seems to be what most of my "free" time is devoted to right now. Not too much to report on the TTC front. As usual. Did I mention that I hate BCP's?? They really messed up my system last month and it was not cool. Just ask hubby. He had been feeling a little deprived for literally the last few weeks (poor guy) :) You will be pleased to know that I think he is feeling better for the time being ;)

Okay....so Im gonna ask again if anyone has any good ideas for raising money to help with IVF costs. It might be a little selfish, but anything that I can do to contribute to our savings (or lack thereof at this point) would really help us out. So if you have any really good ideas, or just ideas in general, please throw them my way!! Thanks in advance! :)

A little show and tell

So I said that I would post them...so here they are. Yes, pictures of our winterguard tarp that is (I hope) finally finished!! Im not really sure how well the fabric is going to stay on the actual tarp...it makes me a little worried right now. I will let you know how it goes when we pull the tarp back out tomorrow night. Yikes...Im definitely a little worried. However, for the time being it looks nice.

So the end result was to actually make the design look like it was coming out of the tarp. Did we succeed? I think we did a fairly good job of it. The fabric (velvet, to be exact) was a pain in the butt to put on the tarp. We will never be doing that again!! And it was not my idea in the first place...but oh well! lol

We have our first contest this coming Saturday and everything is slowly coming together. Now if I could just get my kids to perform the show better with more expression. It will come. I hope. :)

Hmm...Interesting

So we decided to grab some Chinese for lunch today. We eat out a lot at my place of employment, which is bad I know, but oh well :) Here is what my fortune says for today.


***You shall soon make a long, overdue personal decision.


Im curious. Im thinking along the lines of looking for new employment, but who knows. Anyone else care to take a stab at it??

New Look...New Year

New look for the blog. Let me know what you think. Do I need to add anything? Do I need to change font colors? I also added a description under my title. I'm bored at work because I dont want to do client notes right now :) So I'm working on my blog...

It's a crazy life we live sometimes!

Life is a little crazy at the present. And oh yeah, this is my 100th post!! It should have happened a while ago, but I have definitely not been posting very often. I need to work on that!

I really dont have much going on in my little life. I am, of course, worrying about money. But who isnt these days? Hubby and I have a few bills that we would like to get paid off before we go into treatment again. We also have to put a new roof on our house. So the money we get back for our taxes this year, will be going toward that. Oh yes, and that ancient window in our living room that gives us a draft all day long! That will hopefully in turn help out on our utility bill! Which in turn will help us save that much more (however much that is) for IVF. Sounds like a plan right? Do you think it will actually work out that way? Haha...I dont. Plans never stay the same, there is always something that puts a kink in them. Of course, that could just be my pessimistic side coming out.

So in the TTC front, we are at a stand still. Basically, we will be on a break for a while because there is no way that I am going through IVF without having my doctor take a look at the good ol' uterus to make sure we dont have to clear anything out again. Plus, we have to save some money.

I need to start coming up with some creative ways to help us with our saving. One of my ideas is to, of course, have a garage sale. Not sure we will get much out of it, but any little bit helps. How much do you think a Bowflex workout machine will go for? Hopefully quite a bit! That is going to be one of my summer projects. If anyone has any other good ideas please share!! Im open to suggestions.

I Want to Jump Up and Down and Scream................but I cant

So I turned 25 on Tuesday, January 6th. I dont feel any older. I'm not really sure what I am feeling right now. Numb? The start of the new year is supposed to make you feel re-energized and I have yet to feel that. Or did I just dream that up?

Anywho...my life is kind of blah right now. I am working hard to get my guard ready for their first contest on the 24th. Im definitely getting a little nervous. The class we are in is pretty competitive and I would just like to make it to State Finals (which is Top 20) this year. I really think we can do that too. We shall see!

So I think I am about the only one in the blogosphere who has not discussed my New Year's resolution(s). I honestly have not set any. Well, actually I take that back. I have had some in the back of my head, but have yet to have the time to start putting them to action. I am going to start going back to the gym on my off days from guard. However, this week I have had something to do with that every flipping night! Of course!

Another thing that I am going to work on is my cooking skills. I dont have the patience to fix a big meal...ever. It also doesnt help that hubby works 2nd shift and isnt home to eat dinner with me, so I feel that it is so pointless to make a nice meal for only me to enjoy. It's never as good the second time around!

That's pretty much it. I have no expectations for this year. 2008 was a Piece of Shit, so why would 2009 be any better. Especially when we dont have the money to throw into more treatment. My Negative Nancy is coming out tonight. She's bitter and rightfully so.

I Havent fallen off the face of the Earth...

No matter how much I really would like to sometimes, I havent. However, I have been buuuussssyyyy!!! Like, no time for myself busy. At all. I have been painting a huge 50' X 70' tarp for our upcoming winterguard season and it has taken up the past 5 days of my life. No joke. So I dont have much to update on.

I can tell you that the BCP are annoying the crap out of me. Having to remember to take them again is one thing, but the other thing is they are screwing up my system!! And It's not enjoyable. More like disgusting and cant enjoy my time (the little that I have) with hubby :(.

To top it all off...I have been sick. Yet again. For the third time in about 3 months. Well, less than 3 months. So, yeah, sick for the past almost 3 days. Im feeling much better today, but it started Sunday night and I was up most of the night not able to keep even water down. Sorry, TMI :) But Im definitely feeling better now!

So...back to the real world (work) tomorrow and hopefully some free time on the way. Here's my nice little project I have been working on...

If you cant tell what it is...it's a Compass Rose. Of course, it's not done in these pictures. Half of the triangles will be an actual fabric we are going to put on the tarp. Plus, there are two circles and more small triangles that go around the outside of the compass to make it complete :) I will post pictures when it is completely done!!

For now, Im glad to be finally feeling better and done painting!