Looking Back

Since I post pictures of my guard kids...I figure I probably should post a few pictures of myself from back in the day. These pictures are from my first year in the independent winterguard. I was a Sophomore in college at the time...

Yay for old pictures :) haha!! And one last one...I couldnt grab any action shots from 2005 (my 2nd year in independent guard), so this is one of the few that I have!

Im sure you can probably pick me out of this one :) Dont ask what we were doing though...because Lord only knows!!

I probably should have saved these for Show and Tell...but I wont be home on Saturday, so can I participate tonight???? :) hehe

Parents these days

I was pretty fortunate growing up that my parents were pretty involved in everything that I did. I was involved in 4-H from 3rd grade through the summer after my freshman year of college (which is the total amount of time you can be in), I was a cheerleader 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, and 11th, and was in the marching band all four years of high school, which of course, is where I started colorguard. I also was in the winterguard for my junior and senior years of high school (they were the first two years our school had the program). And I also continued on into college with an independent winterguard.

My parents were with me every step of the way through all of this. They attended, assisted, cheered, praised, hugged, laughed, and cried. They both had full-time jobs and still made the time to put in extra time to help out with whatever they could in the activites that I was in. Im not going to lie, I was a busy child and if it was offered, I tried it at least once. All except for brownies/girl scouts :)

Like I said, maybe I was just extremely fortunate that my parents made it a point to be involved. I almost feel sorry for my guard kids. Maybe this generation of parents was not brought up the same way as mine were?? I dont really know. I honestly have one set of parents, plus a mom out of my 9 kids who have made any attempt whatsoever to help us with this season. It's actually pretty sad that we have so little parent participation. I understand that times are hard, but all I am asking is that you just be there for your kids!! I mean is that really so much to ask?

The really sad part....my parents have devoted more time to this season than the other parents. And Im the director!! I mean really...if you dont have the money to drive to contests, carpool!! These kids need the support to get them ready to perform!

Now...the kids didnt do horribly this weekend. Our score went up, we moved up a couple spots in placing. We were 11th out of 20 this weekend. It was definitely not our greatest show. Everything we had spent the last week cleaning, pretty much looked like we hadnt touched it. But...we upped our score.

We go out again this weekend and there are only 16 in our class, so I am hoping top 8 :) That would be awesome!! That would help us to be on our way to getting into that top 20 at State Prelims and move us on to State Finals :) Well...without further ado....these are my kids!

All natural?? Or stimulated??

That is the question that I have been posing to myself here lately. In regards to IVF by the way. I have been doing some reading on Natural IVF with just an HCG trigger to ovulate or going the normal/extremely expensive/no insurance coverage so I am giving both my arms and both my legs for payment route. I am of course still doing my research. I have actually found a Dr. who blogs who totally believes in Natural IVF and has had lots of success. My doctor however, does not do Natural IVF that I know of. Well, he doesnt advertise it anyway, so that pretty much leads me to believe that it's his way or you're screwed :)

So my next step is to email them and see what kind of response I get back regarding Natural IVF. I really think it could work just as well. Then you wouldn't have the risk of overstimulation and have all the embryos left over that you have to make a decision to get rid of or do whatever with. I dont know. I guess I'm just going to have to keep doing my research!

Im feeling pretty good after my wreck. I thought that I would be pretty sore yesterday, but I wasnt. The only thing that was even remotely sore was my neck. My legs and bum were sore, but that was from guard stuff on Saturday. Yeah, I actually had to teach something (dance stuff) at practice...lol. Other than that, I have felt pretty good.

So, the rental that I am driving is interesting. It's a Kia Rondo and if you dont know what that looks like click here. I dont really like the car, but it's a way to get around :) I hopefully will only have it for a week and then will have my SUV back. This car kind of reminds me of a station wagon, but a little shorter...lol.

So if anyone has any suggestions on the Natural vs. Stimulated IVF or a personal experience please send your info my way :) I am open to all opinions!! Thanks!!

So what did you do this weekend?? Well...

This weekend was supposed to be a nice non-stressful weekend. But do they ever turn out that way when you would really like for them to? Of course not. Well, things were well until last night...

Friday night I didnt do too much, just mainly stayed in and tried to make a schedule for our guard practice Saturday. No big deal, nothing to stress over at all. I was just kind of glad that we did not have a contest because we hadnt been able to practice all week! (Damn ice!)

Saturday practice went well. We got a lot accomplished in our 7 hours! Lots of cleaning and fixing things. After practice, I was to meet my family at a really awesome restaurant that has the best fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn (one of those old country restaurants), for my dad's birthday which is on Tuesday. Meal went well, we visited, and we were off again to our seperate locations.

The restaurant is on a country road that of course, had not been totally cleared. I went around a corner not even 30 yards from the restaurant and slid. I couldnt have been going faster than about 25 at that moment, but I guess I hit the ice just right and couldnt get my control back. I slid sideways into the other lane right into a telephone pole. Luckily I hit right in front of my passenger side door.

Im alright. My neck hurts a little bit. I slammed into my console in between my seats and bent it a little bit, but other than that, Im fine. My SUV on the other hand, I think might have more damage than we thought last night. Of course, we could tell that my passenger side was pretty messed up (my door wont open all the way, and it doesnt close all the way either), but I noticed while driving it home (yeah, I drove it home) that there was a lot of air coming in on my driver's side. When I got home, I shut the door hard enough to make sure it was closed, and it isnt closing all the way. That could be really bad...Im a little worried.

The important thing is Im alright. The car can be fixed (hopefully). We will have to make a trip to the insurance agent tomorrow morning and take the car in to the shop :( Have to get a rental asap too.

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!!