well, it's been a crappy week already & it's only tuesday!
first, my husband is sick. that just sucks just in general, cuz he's a terrible patient. most men are, but he's so high energy (i.e. ADHD *smile*) that it's impossible to keep him in bed. when i left this morning to take alexander to school he was in bed asleep hunkered down under the covers. when i got home, he was outside moving boxes out of the basement to take to the duplex. still feverish. still nauseous. stupid man!
of course, i'm sick, too. i've got a sinus infection that makes my head ache something awful. and i've still gotta get up & get the kids up & dressed & fed & get alexander to school. i was proud of myself cuz i went to the gym anyway, even though i felt like ca ca. amazingly enough, the workout felt good. it kinda cleared my head a little, which was awesome.
but then i got home and found out that i didn't get chosen for my first juried craft show. i really anguished and agonized about which photos to send, cuz you only get to send 3 thumbnail size pics. and i've got over 13,000 pics on my computer, most of which are jewelry. that was a really tough choice! i'm on the waiting list, and my sister made me realize that it could be worse. i guess i won't sell off all my inventory of beads and start panhandling or anything :)
but on the upside, we got a great package from grampa yesterday containing fabulous movies for the kids, and some movies for MOMMY! i was so excited, cuz usually the box contains nothing for the parents, and tons of stuff for the kids. but my dad is letting me borrow the complete 1st season of the tudors, and i'm totally stoked! my friend kellie are planning to have lunch dates to sit and watch them while the kids are in school :) yay me!
and i'm anxious about my first jewelry party. my friend kellie is hosting it at my house, and i'm really excited about it. i'm working on making new displays for it & trying to get my inventory ready. i just need to know that people are coming! i'm terrible at throwing parties. for my 21st b-day party i was so convinced that no one was coming that i was pretty toasted before the 1st guest arrived! oops! :) i'll try to control myself a little better this time :)
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
...on corsets and choral interjections...
well, i'm just back from dropping my family off at grandma's house. i have to sing at church tomorrow and then opera rehearsal, so i didn't get to have a sleepover. oh well. but since i had the car to myself on the ride home, i took the opportunity to work on the opera i'm working on -- lucia di lammermoor.
i'm really excited about it, cuz it's my first repeat opera. unfortunately, the last time i did it i sang alto & now i'm singing soprano. for most of the show, it's not a problem. but occasionally the chorus has a random interjection that's in 4 parts, and my brain goes to what i know, and not what i'm learning. it's amazing what your brain remembers! :) and of course, i'm practicing in my car, which has always been my favorite practice space, so i'm not looking at the score. i've got my handy note-cards with me & using passing headlights to see the words i can't quite remember, but i've got no way of seeing the notes. so most of the time i'm cool with what i'm singing, but every once in a while, i'm not quite sure if i've done the soprano part or the alto. oh well. i guess i'll find out in rehearsal tomorrow :)
and i had my costume fitting on friday before rehearsal. this show is awesome cuz we've got fabulous corsets that are REAL corsets. they hook in the front & tie in the back. 8 years ago, when we last did this show, we had a fabulous dresser in the ladies dressing room, and she could really yank on those corset strings. i felt like i was in gone with the wind or one of my books holding on to my bedpost so my maid could get me into my corset. and we looked FABULOUS! it's amazing what proper foundation garments can do. :) but i was surprised this time, becuz it's been 8 years & 2 babies since i last did this show. it's the same production, so we have the same costumes, but i don't have the same body. but once i put on the corset & had the dresser cinch it up tight, YEE HAW! :) the do have to do some alterations, but they told me that if they don't let the skirt of my gown out a little bit, christopher will never let me do another show :) sometimes it's not good to work in the same company of your husband. :)
i'm really excited about it, cuz it's my first repeat opera. unfortunately, the last time i did it i sang alto & now i'm singing soprano. for most of the show, it's not a problem. but occasionally the chorus has a random interjection that's in 4 parts, and my brain goes to what i know, and not what i'm learning. it's amazing what your brain remembers! :) and of course, i'm practicing in my car, which has always been my favorite practice space, so i'm not looking at the score. i've got my handy note-cards with me & using passing headlights to see the words i can't quite remember, but i've got no way of seeing the notes. so most of the time i'm cool with what i'm singing, but every once in a while, i'm not quite sure if i've done the soprano part or the alto. oh well. i guess i'll find out in rehearsal tomorrow :)
and i had my costume fitting on friday before rehearsal. this show is awesome cuz we've got fabulous corsets that are REAL corsets. they hook in the front & tie in the back. 8 years ago, when we last did this show, we had a fabulous dresser in the ladies dressing room, and she could really yank on those corset strings. i felt like i was in gone with the wind or one of my books holding on to my bedpost so my maid could get me into my corset. and we looked FABULOUS! it's amazing what proper foundation garments can do. :) but i was surprised this time, becuz it's been 8 years & 2 babies since i last did this show. it's the same production, so we have the same costumes, but i don't have the same body. but once i put on the corset & had the dresser cinch it up tight, YEE HAW! :) the do have to do some alterations, but they told me that if they don't let the skirt of my gown out a little bit, christopher will never let me do another show :) sometimes it's not good to work in the same company of your husband. :)
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
I AM NOT A HOARDER! :)
it's rummage sale time again at my church. it's really my favorite time of year. i volunteer during the set-up week, since i can never work or go to the sale since i work. i've fallen into a routine with the ladies -- everyone has their section that they sort. my section contains sweaters, pants & skirts. it's really an awful section for me to work, cuz my weakness is sweaters & cardigans. i love them. and every rummage sale, i come home with an enormous pile of *new* sweaters. but every rummage sale, i go through my stuff & the kids' stuff and get rid of stuff. i really don't understand how i can get rid of so much twice a year, and still have so much stuff!but this year is a little different. we're planning a move, and so christopher is all about getting our house ready to put on the market. since we're planning to live in the house while w
e're trying to sell it, it needs to be ready to show at any moment. and that means that we need to downsize the amount of junk we've got. that means *I* need to reduce the amount of junk i have. but as i'm going through my stuff, yeah, i've got a lot, but no where near as much as i thought i did.there was a trunk in our under-porch storage area that i've had since i graduated from high school. i had it shipped over to the states from germany when i started college. it went into storage
every summer in ithaca & has gone everywhere with me since. i really had no idea what was inside. but what i found really surprised me -- there 
was really nothing inside! lots and lots of moldy junk (since we had a water problem under the porch), but nothing of any real importance. i mean, i found a lot of sentimental crap, and i did find my passport (which expired in 1993), and pictures of my brother & sister from high school, and a fabulous letter to charlie peltz, orchestra conductor & sex maniac extraordinaire. :)
i'm a sucker for pictures. i found a photo album of pictures of me taken in a random park. really odd. i also found 2 composites from my fraternity in college. totally awesome, but i really don't remember some of the older girls in the
fraternity. and the hair! my word! :) we thought everything was so important back then. and some of my fraternity sisters are still really good friends, even 20 years later :) but most of the stuff that was in the trunk that i thought i absolutely had to keep got thrown out. letters from high school friends in texas about people that i don't remember. posters from shows i don't remember doing. really random stuff that i don't remember why i decided to keep it. it actually feels good to let go and stop allowing myself to be defined by the things i own. now, if only i could feel that way about my shoes.
i have an entire collection of heels on a special shoe rack in my bedroom that christopher built for me. they're all arranged by color. i have an entire row of red shoes and one of purple shoes. i'm searching for the green shoes i see in my head. i only have 1 pair of orange shoes, but they're flats, and i'd love to find a pair of pumpkin pumps. :) but i only wear them on sundays to church. i don't go anywhere any other day that wearing clickety-clickety heels would be appropriate. i definitely couldn't stand up in them all day at the salon. and i'd look weird wearing them to drop alexander off at pre-school. so why do i need so many pairs? it always seems that i wear the same ones all the time anyway. but i love to look at them. christopher tried to get me to keep them in the basement, but i need to be able to see them. on sunday mornings, sometimes i'll lie in bed and look at them while i try to decide what i'm wearing. OOH! i just bought a new pink silk cardigan at the rummage sale that i think would go with my pink slingbacks for church on sunday with a white shell & a black pencil skirt :) nice! i love it when inspiration just hits me :)
Friday, September 10, 2010
who's that girl?
i've spend a significant portion of today in the kitchen. so much so that i have my practice disc of lucia di lammermore set up in the kitchen cd player & my music stand with my opera score set up right next to it. i never imagined a life where i'd bake my own bread and granola on a regular basis. and i've actually even graduated from using my bread machine to making the bread with my kitchenaid stand mixer & kneading it by hand. hunh?
any of my roommates from undergrad could tell you that the kitchen was never my domain. i was always the last to take care of the dishes or cleaning up of any sort. and i think joanna had just about given up on me ever actually washing the silverware. she once commented that i was the only person she knew that could wash dishes without getting my hands wet :). and here i am now with 2 kids, baking artisan bread on a weekly basis and making gourmet granola on request -- special with nuts just for my husband to take to school for breakfast.
even though i never actually had clear picture of what the future held for me, i know it wasn't this, and it's taken me a while to be comfortable with it. my husband and i are still in the process of redefining our roles. i don't think i will ever be a typical housewife/stay at home mom. i was raised by a mother who routinely tells people to "bite me." it really does make you feel better, even if you don't say it out loud. my husband, on the other hand, was raised as one of 8 by a good catholic mother who took in sewing. so we have very different images of what a mother should be doing during the day. my vision includes surfing the web and tending to my online business. his vision includes pearls & and apron, meeting him at the front door with his nightly scotch. :) needless to say, we've still got some work to do to find the middle ground. but we're getting there.
luckily, he's progressive enough to realize that he's got to adapt as well. his mother once mentioned to me that his father never changed a diaper for any of the 8 kids, while christopher will often be the one to offer to take care of that duty. and he's awesome with vomit. my therapist thinks that i have an actual phobia about vomit. thank goodness i didn't have morning sickness with either of my pregnancies. but last night when alexander threw up at the top of the stairs, christopher didn't even think to tell me to clean it up myself. before we had kids i told him that i would do poop forever if he'd take care of the vomit. and there were many instances with isabelle especially where i was called upon to get poop out of all of the nooks and crannies. gotta love that runny breast-fed baby poop! it tends to get everywhere. not so much of a problem with a boy, but a completely different situation with a girl. ick! :)
but i'm excited, cuz i start rehearsal for my next show on monday. it's always nice to slip into a different personna every once in a while. i get to dress like an opera singer and go somewhere with other adults and sing in a foreign language. and i've heard they're the same costumes from the last production of lucia, which involved fabulous corsets. the kind of corsets that go from right under the boobs to your hips & require you to perch on the front of your seat with perfect posture. and last time we had an awesome dresser who really tied us tight into our corsets. we looked fabulous! i can't wait! yay me! :) i just hope our lucia this time is as fabulous as the last one. without an awesome lucia, both vocally and acting, the mad scene really sucks.
any of my roommates from undergrad could tell you that the kitchen was never my domain. i was always the last to take care of the dishes or cleaning up of any sort. and i think joanna had just about given up on me ever actually washing the silverware. she once commented that i was the only person she knew that could wash dishes without getting my hands wet :). and here i am now with 2 kids, baking artisan bread on a weekly basis and making gourmet granola on request -- special with nuts just for my husband to take to school for breakfast.
even though i never actually had clear picture of what the future held for me, i know it wasn't this, and it's taken me a while to be comfortable with it. my husband and i are still in the process of redefining our roles. i don't think i will ever be a typical housewife/stay at home mom. i was raised by a mother who routinely tells people to "bite me." it really does make you feel better, even if you don't say it out loud. my husband, on the other hand, was raised as one of 8 by a good catholic mother who took in sewing. so we have very different images of what a mother should be doing during the day. my vision includes surfing the web and tending to my online business. his vision includes pearls & and apron, meeting him at the front door with his nightly scotch. :) needless to say, we've still got some work to do to find the middle ground. but we're getting there.
luckily, he's progressive enough to realize that he's got to adapt as well. his mother once mentioned to me that his father never changed a diaper for any of the 8 kids, while christopher will often be the one to offer to take care of that duty. and he's awesome with vomit. my therapist thinks that i have an actual phobia about vomit. thank goodness i didn't have morning sickness with either of my pregnancies. but last night when alexander threw up at the top of the stairs, christopher didn't even think to tell me to clean it up myself. before we had kids i told him that i would do poop forever if he'd take care of the vomit. and there were many instances with isabelle especially where i was called upon to get poop out of all of the nooks and crannies. gotta love that runny breast-fed baby poop! it tends to get everywhere. not so much of a problem with a boy, but a completely different situation with a girl. ick! :)
but i'm excited, cuz i start rehearsal for my next show on monday. it's always nice to slip into a different personna every once in a while. i get to dress like an opera singer and go somewhere with other adults and sing in a foreign language. and i've heard they're the same costumes from the last production of lucia, which involved fabulous corsets. the kind of corsets that go from right under the boobs to your hips & require you to perch on the front of your seat with perfect posture. and last time we had an awesome dresser who really tied us tight into our corsets. we looked fabulous! i can't wait! yay me! :) i just hope our lucia this time is as fabulous as the last one. without an awesome lucia, both vocally and acting, the mad scene really sucks.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
working out
ok, so i've been going to the gym & working out like a fiend. not becuz i really care, cuz my clothes fit for the most part, but mostly becuz my dr. told me that if i can commit to working out 5 days a week for at least 45 minutes of cardio i can get off my meds. awesome! but for the past 2 weeks, i've taken alexander to school & gone directly to the gym 4 days out of 5, and i've actually GAINED A POUND!!! really? what's up with that!?
now, i've been going to the gym and doing at least 35 minutes on the elliptical machine (cuz 45 minutes is too blasted long!) and then either walking on the track if kellie's with me, or doing some weights or something. and i'm trying to make better food choices cuz if i'm doing the physical part, i might as well get skinny, right? but i still feel fat and sluggish, and this morning i actually had to cut my workout short cuz i thought i was gonna pass out. thank goodness i'd packed some apples for isabelle & i for afterward, cuz otherwise i would have gone straight to the drive-thru at mcdonalds :) i would have gotten a smoothie, but they're SO good with a small fry. and the calories cancel each other out, right? :)
so i'm starting to think there's something else going on. i need to see my dr. anyway to talk about this mysterious non-carpel tunnel pain in my hand, so i'll mention this to her as well. i know my dad's pre-diabetic & my brother's hypo-glycemic & i'm a hypochondriac, so... :) either i'll be fat & medicated or skinny and neurotic, so we'll see what happens...
now, i've been going to the gym and doing at least 35 minutes on the elliptical machine (cuz 45 minutes is too blasted long!) and then either walking on the track if kellie's with me, or doing some weights or something. and i'm trying to make better food choices cuz if i'm doing the physical part, i might as well get skinny, right? but i still feel fat and sluggish, and this morning i actually had to cut my workout short cuz i thought i was gonna pass out. thank goodness i'd packed some apples for isabelle & i for afterward, cuz otherwise i would have gone straight to the drive-thru at mcdonalds :) i would have gotten a smoothie, but they're SO good with a small fry. and the calories cancel each other out, right? :)
so i'm starting to think there's something else going on. i need to see my dr. anyway to talk about this mysterious non-carpel tunnel pain in my hand, so i'll mention this to her as well. i know my dad's pre-diabetic & my brother's hypo-glycemic & i'm a hypochondriac, so... :) either i'll be fat & medicated or skinny and neurotic, so we'll see what happens...
Monday, August 30, 2010
joining the 21st century
well, my mp3 player died a bit ago. and then while we were on vacation earlier this summer, i killed my husband's as well. so i've been in need of a new mp3 player, and i've had my eye on an ipod. i'm a mac user, so ipods just made sense. i have a dell as well, but the only reason it's still connected to anything is for music downloading and mp3 player syncing.
so my brother has recently found not one, but 2 ipods -- a nano & a touch. i totally covet the touch, but could only manage to get him to sell me the nano. really, the nano is more than acceptable for my needs. and it's the color i wanted, so it's even better :) . but in order to add all of my music to this ipod, i need to transfer everything from wma format to aac format. i'd had the brilliant idea a bit ago to simply upload all of my music from the dell to a thumb drive and then transfer it to the mac. that worked partially, but on my mac, anything that wasn't in mp3 format at least was ignored. and i couldn't figure out how to change the settings in itunes to get it to recognize anything else. so now i'm faced with the option of downloading itunes to the dell & converting everything from there. unfortunately that'll take another 6 or 7 HOURS! i have about 95 hours of music on my computer & i've converted 9.5 hours so far... what a process! i hope it's worth it. :)
but i'm excited to have a working mp3 player again. i've committed to going to the gym every day. i have to get up every morning to take alexander to school, so isabelle & i will go straight from there to the gym and get in a nice workout. i've managed to drag my friend kellie along with me for the past week, but there will be days (like tomorrow) that she can't go. and working out without conversation or music is really difficult. and my favorite fabric artist is making a custom qpouch for me with an armband so i can wear it while i work out. i'm hoping she gives me a discount since i gave her the idea for the armband (hint, hint *smile*).
ok, maybe i'm misunderstanding some of the numbers my computer's telling me. it's still gonna take forever, cuz this computer is about 8 years old, which is about 250 years old in computer years :) . i'm hoping that i'll be able to get to bed sometime before tomorrow :)
now that i have a new ipod, i need to get a new computer that will allow me to upload photos and be on the internet at the same time, and a new camera that will let me take photos indoors. it seems that all of my electronics have issues :)
so my brother has recently found not one, but 2 ipods -- a nano & a touch. i totally covet the touch, but could only manage to get him to sell me the nano. really, the nano is more than acceptable for my needs. and it's the color i wanted, so it's even better :) . but in order to add all of my music to this ipod, i need to transfer everything from wma format to aac format. i'd had the brilliant idea a bit ago to simply upload all of my music from the dell to a thumb drive and then transfer it to the mac. that worked partially, but on my mac, anything that wasn't in mp3 format at least was ignored. and i couldn't figure out how to change the settings in itunes to get it to recognize anything else. so now i'm faced with the option of downloading itunes to the dell & converting everything from there. unfortunately that'll take another 6 or 7 HOURS! i have about 95 hours of music on my computer & i've converted 9.5 hours so far... what a process! i hope it's worth it. :)
but i'm excited to have a working mp3 player again. i've committed to going to the gym every day. i have to get up every morning to take alexander to school, so isabelle & i will go straight from there to the gym and get in a nice workout. i've managed to drag my friend kellie along with me for the past week, but there will be days (like tomorrow) that she can't go. and working out without conversation or music is really difficult. and my favorite fabric artist is making a custom qpouch for me with an armband so i can wear it while i work out. i'm hoping she gives me a discount since i gave her the idea for the armband (hint, hint *smile*).
ok, maybe i'm misunderstanding some of the numbers my computer's telling me. it's still gonna take forever, cuz this computer is about 8 years old, which is about 250 years old in computer years :) . i'm hoping that i'll be able to get to bed sometime before tomorrow :)
now that i have a new ipod, i need to get a new computer that will allow me to upload photos and be on the internet at the same time, and a new camera that will let me take photos indoors. it seems that all of my electronics have issues :)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
sleepytime songs
i'm a singer, so when i put the kids to bed, i sing songs i know, and they just happen to be in multiple languages. i didn't really think that was odd until i realized that my kids sing along with me in my multiple languages. and they have names for everything:
the daddy song: "can't help lovin' that man of mine", from showboat
the mommy song: "adieu" and "prison" by faure
the isabelle song is made up by me, but sung to the tune of "silver bells"
the alexander song is also made up by me, but sung to the tune of "top of the world" by the carpenters
the german song: "gretchen am spinnrade" by schubert
ninghe: "cancion de cuna para dormir a un negrito" by montsalvatge
the new song: "someone to watch over me" by gershwin
the summertime song: "summertime" by gershwin
i've also sung random songs from shows that i'm working on. i've done bits from carmen jones, and most recently "uzh kak po mostu mostchku, pa kalina vim da sochkam, vainu, vainu, vainu, vainu!" from eugene onegin. they never actually asked for that one, but... :)
now christopher, he has a completely different idea of what sleepytime songs should be, and they tend to be more participatory in nature, which i totally don't think is the point. and his songs tend to me more camp-song in nature. oh well. we can't both be musical snobs :)
alexander is incredibly musical and can already match pitch and sing along in the right key, an octave higher (especially when he's singing with daddy). i have visions of marketing us as a mother/son duo for "amahl & the night visitors" soon. i love the mother's role, and he'd be an awesome amahl. at least until his voice changes :)
isabelle, on the other hand, doesn't do as well. i can't remember alexander at this age, cuz it seems like he's always been musical and sang well. i feel bad for her, becuz there are times when alexander won't let her sing along with him cuz "she's bad" he says. i keep trying to tell him that she's still little & singing with him will make her better, but he's not buying it. oh well. it would really be a shame for her to be the only completly unmusical member of an incredibly musical family. i can't really say she's getting better, though. just louder :) but just becuz she doesn't sing well doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy it. she doesn't realize how bad she is. i just hope there isn't a music teacher somewhere down the road who decides to burst her bubble in a really mean way. not everyone can be the fabulous mr. laret :)
the daddy song: "can't help lovin' that man of mine", from showboat
the mommy song: "adieu" and "prison" by faure
the isabelle song is made up by me, but sung to the tune of "silver bells"
the alexander song is also made up by me, but sung to the tune of "top of the world" by the carpenters
the german song: "gretchen am spinnrade" by schubert
ninghe: "cancion de cuna para dormir a un negrito" by montsalvatge
the new song: "someone to watch over me" by gershwin
the summertime song: "summertime" by gershwin
i've also sung random songs from shows that i'm working on. i've done bits from carmen jones, and most recently "uzh kak po mostu mostchku, pa kalina vim da sochkam, vainu, vainu, vainu, vainu!" from eugene onegin. they never actually asked for that one, but... :)
now christopher, he has a completely different idea of what sleepytime songs should be, and they tend to be more participatory in nature, which i totally don't think is the point. and his songs tend to me more camp-song in nature. oh well. we can't both be musical snobs :)
alexander is incredibly musical and can already match pitch and sing along in the right key, an octave higher (especially when he's singing with daddy). i have visions of marketing us as a mother/son duo for "amahl & the night visitors" soon. i love the mother's role, and he'd be an awesome amahl. at least until his voice changes :)
isabelle, on the other hand, doesn't do as well. i can't remember alexander at this age, cuz it seems like he's always been musical and sang well. i feel bad for her, becuz there are times when alexander won't let her sing along with him cuz "she's bad" he says. i keep trying to tell him that she's still little & singing with him will make her better, but he's not buying it. oh well. it would really be a shame for her to be the only completly unmusical member of an incredibly musical family. i can't really say she's getting better, though. just louder :) but just becuz she doesn't sing well doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy it. she doesn't realize how bad she is. i just hope there isn't a music teacher somewhere down the road who decides to burst her bubble in a really mean way. not everyone can be the fabulous mr. laret :)
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