It's BALLET season again!

Did I ever mention how much I love ballet?  How much I wanted to take dance lessons as a child but my mother kept telling my my legs were too thick and I was too short!  

So I got the piano lessons instead - which wasn't all bad.  I love the piano also and lessons taught me concentration, memorization skills, and how to practice, practice, practice and patiently wait for the results. 

In fact, I was the only one of my brothers and sisters who didn't quickly tire of their lessons - whether dance (my TALL with thin legs sister hated it) or piano.  So my mother gave me the family piano and then many years later as an adult, when I loaned my youngest sister the piano for her daughter to take lessons while my hubby and I remodeled our home, my mother gave away my piano.  I'm still in shock and pain over that one....  oh well, with all I learned from piano lessons I was able to graduate from college with a master's degree and now make enough money to buy whatever damn piano I could ever want!

Oh, but I digress, Carmina Burana opens this Friday, Oct 29th I have like really up-close seats for the hubby and I  can't wait!

 I took a friend to see a ballet rehearsal last week.  Imagine sitting on folding chairs about 3feet from real live ballet dancers whose sweat and pain you can see in their muscles and faces as they practice, and practice and practice until the get the perfect results!  What dedication those artists have for their craft.  They could all just be sitting at home watching TV but instead they choose to dedicate themselves to give some beauty to people like me who have too thick and too short of legs to ever be good dancers but who dream and live that beauty they create.

Be brave, be grateful and go buy some ballet tickets this season!  I suggest if you are a first timer - be sure to go to Sleeping Beauty in Feb of 2011.  That one is both fun and beautiful and a good way to break into Ballet. Do it - you owe it to yourself and these fine artists!

Picture Time!

Grandson on the left!

And grand-niece on the right.

Born within a week of each
other.

Am I lucky or what!

Fratelli's Ristorante 9300 So. 1000 East

Just one thing to say - Wow! Loved it, Loved it. (Thank Amy for the head's up on this one). But save room for desert - hazelnut Gelato! lemon Gelato! (you actually get 3 scoops of your choice). A very pleasant restaurant that made me believe I was back in Italy...

I had to add a copy of the poem I was assigned to write for my 7 year old niece, Karmen so she can read it again. She gives me (the teacher) homework assignments, you see. After all, she did write me a book about my cats that I begged her to write!
So my first poem back to her was:

I have a young niece named Karmen,
Who's sweater she couldn't get her arm in.
She struggled and pulled
and she yanked and rolled
So we now put a sock on her arm to keep warm in!

Karmen said I got an A+ on this one - so there you have it! I must be teacher's pet!

Yeah, I know, I'll stick with the science job thingy.

bracelets made from wedding announcement

As I promised, here are the five bracelets I made from a wedding announcement.

They really are beautiful and I hope the recipients love them as much as I do!

If you read the earlier blog about these, the wedding colors are light gray, eggplant purple and silver. The paper beads are the tube beads, the brides have her name and her new husbands name on a bead. The purple I found to go with them as satin string beads.

Put a few silver and AB swarovski with them and TA DA.

Now a life time keepsake.

P.S. for fun, try the blog: catalogliving.net What a hoot. someone takes catalog pictures and then writes lines about them as if it were a couple talking about their daily lives. A quick fun read! - see my link on the left or just type in your address line: catalogliving.net Thanks Amy for the info on this blog! love it!

Too many decisions - Life isn't easy!

I just received the 3rd book in the Hunger Games series today in the mail, "Mockingjay". This is a very popular book at the junior high I work at so I have to read it - plus I liked the first two in the series so... no problem, right? Not quite!

I also received in the same box, the 3rd book in the Dragon Tattoo series, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest". Now I REALLY like that series and can not wait to read the 3rd and final! But, hold on, it is still not that easy...

I also downloaded "The Secrets Monkey Island special edition (1 and 2) to my ipod touch! I started playing these games back in the early 90's and passed them on to my nieces and nephews and am so thrilled they have been re-worked and up-dated to be glorious in detail so I can see them so well on my little Ipod Touch screen that I just can't believe it.

I have worked months on the puzzles in the past. I have dreamed of playing these games again. If you are not familiar with them, you really need to try them. Lucas Arts! App download for less than $10.00 each - best entertainment around.

BUT WHICH SHALL I DO FIRST? WHERE DO I START?

Oh and school started again - yes, I had to set up rolls and emails and wash and press clothes and go to bed EARLY and all that but only so I could read a bit and then play a bit of a game before bed.

Life is just not as easy as it once was. Too many choices.

Remember when there were only 3 TV channels - and one was junk like Eugene Gelesnik talent showcase!

And yes, I am almost done with the wedding bracelets - which really have to be done before all the other fun stuff. But I think I'll get "Mockingjay" out of the way - easy read. Start "Kicked the Hornet Nest" and play "Monkey Island" one half hour before bed to "get my eyes tired"!

Sounds good, huh

"Terry dear, can you please do the laundry, vacuum and fix dinner tonight? I'm way busy! - with work and all!"

Wedding announcement paper bead bracelets! and other blurbs

I got a call out of the blue from a customer who would like bracelets made for a bride, her bridesmaids, her mother and soon to be mother-in-law. The bracelets are to have beads made from the wedding announcement. Colors are a very soft gray and aubergine purple. The bride will have paper beads with her and new hubby's name on them and the other women just get the edge of the paper where a silver streak will zip across the bead. I found some gorgeous purple satin string wrapped beads along with some small silver seed beads to go with them. The above picture is of the ingredients so far! Come back in a few weeks and I'll post pictures of the finished products!

And yes, new grandson is now 11lb 8 oz. If I can ever get over this nasty cough and stuffed nose, I'll go kiss his little cheeks! He is such a sweet, happy baby!

School has started again! and I have the 3rd book in the "Hunger Games" trilogy coming any day now - a real favorite of my junior high students! Planning is started for a trip to Scotland and No. England for probably July or Aug of 2012! So life is good.

As far as my IIH condition (I refuse to call it a disease - see:www.ihrfoundation.org), after a brain MRI this summer, I definitely have an "empty sella" and "dilated optic nerve sheathes". But at least I am not dripping CSF fluid and my headaches seem to be under control at the moment so we are making some progress. I will have 20 lbs off by Jan. 1, 2011 or else! Check back on my progress there also.

I'm a Grandma! finally! ok, step grandma, but I'll take whatever I can get!

My stepson's wife just had their baby this morning. A 9 lb. 14 oz., 22 inch long baby boy named Parker Hub Wright.
Mom had to go Cesarean Section but seems to be doing OK.
I'll get to see her and baby in a few days, I hope.
The new Dad says little Parker Hub is blonde.
If you know Cody, the dad, that's a real duh... Cody has nearly white hair
and his wife is dish-water blonde -
so no dark hair, dark eyes like Grandma Brenda.
Oh, well. I can still spoil him crazy!