Music Monday

In the car, on the way to school this morning, the girls were excited about how today was going to be Music Monday.  They both definitely have a love for music, they love the days they have music in school.  Last year, in fourth grade, they got to learn to play the recorder, and will pick that up again in the spring. 

We did Concert Chorus last year and are both doing that again this year.  So on most Wednesdays and Fridays you can find them at school at 6:55 am getting ready for their winter or spring performances and mini-tours.  They especially love that they get to have donut parties in September and January and they get to go to Perfect Swing after the mini-tours.  Ulterior motives aren't a bad thing.

Carson started piano last December and after a short break for the summer will get that started up again tonight.  Her teacher, Ms. Shirley, is wonderful.  We had a couple weeks delay in the start of her lessons, Ms. Shirley's husband of 57 years got sick recently and we learned yesterday that he had passed away earlier this month.  So sad.  When we talked yesterday she said that she was very glad to be seeing her students and teaching again.

In 5th grade, in Norman, everyone has the opportunity to join the orchestra.  We didn't think that the girls were interested in this, but it turns out that Camy was.  We went last week and officially rented-to-own her very own violin.  She was very excited to lug it to school with her stand, book and everything else this morning.  She will have rehearsals Monday thru Thursdays during spelling time.  Carson was not interested because she didn't want to miss spelling.

So it's Music Monday at the Craig house.  I, as always, have my ipod going at work, with headphones to eliminate distractions.  I love love love music!  Right now I'm listening to a little Dixie Chicks (I was listening to The Courtyard Hounds earlier), and it makes me wish for a new album.  What are you listening to today?

My Little Swimmer

Last week Camy officially joined the swim team at the Y.  I am so excited about this, and I am trying to not really let on to her the exact level of my excitement.  I want her to want to do it, but for her and not for me.

Her first practice went well and she was completely exhausted when we got home.  She had her second practice last night and had lots of fun.  I get there in time to see the last fifteen minutes of practice and that usually consists of kick boards and starts. 

Last week when her coach was working on starts at the end, she thought about trying to go off the blocks, but when she saw how high up it was changed her mind.  Her coach was still having them work on their starts from the side of the pool, and honestly the kid can't dive.  Last night she did get up the courage to go off the blocks, but both times her feet hit the water before her hands.  Oh well, she'll get it eventually.

We did go shopping for a swim cap and bathing suit this weekend.  We had no luck finding suits in her size, according to Academy they are out of season.  Seriously, they know nothing about swimming.  We did some searching and ordered new suits for her and I on www.swimoutlet.com, they will be here this week. 

I think she was a little worried about the swim cap, so we practiced putting it on.  I just think she looks so cute.  She even told me after practice last night that having her hair out of her face made her goggles stay on better and it was easier to swim.

Now I just have to worry about the fact that she is practically blind without her glasses on.  I sure hope she can see where the wall is.

So for now we'll just keep going back, and see how it goes.  It clearly is in her blood to be a little fish, and I have great memories from the years I swam, so that's not a bad place to start.

Random Pics...

In April we loaded up the girls and drove to Sulphur, OK for a night of camping.  I didn't camp, on account of the fact that I had a 5K to run the next day, but I did load up and drive down. 

I have had two pics from that trip on my desktop as my background for a while, and I just love them.

I just love this picture.  Camy, Paige, Zoey, Carson and Caeli, they all look like they are having so much fun.  The water was way too cold for a normal human, or adult, to get in, but the kids all wanted to play around in it.

I believe this was the next morning, when they did actually get into the water, again it was too cold.  Although, this looks bad since my daughter has on the same clothes that she had on in the previous picture even though it was the next day.  Go figure.  So here we have Camy, Caeli, Dan, Paige and Hailey.

Today

For the last couple of weeks I have not been sleeping very well.  I have no trouble falling asleep, it's the staying asleep that is causing me problems.  Last night, I woke up around 2 am and my mind just started racing, and I could not get it to shut down and go back to sleep.

Some people can function on minimal amounts of sleep, but I am not one of them.  I go to bed early because I get up early and I know that I need my rest.  I still got up and went to swim this morning at 5:30, but the workout energy I had afterwards is now starting to wear off.  My head hurts and my eyelids are heavy.

So, let's talk about something good that happened this weekend...

I ran in the second annual Moore War 5K, sponsored by my high school's alumni association.  I ran in the first one last year as I was gearing up for a fall full of running, and my time wasn't bad, 28:04, which was my fastest 5k up til then.  I was hoping to be able to better my time this year, and I did.  Just over 6 months after my knee surgery I finished up at 27:11.  Needless to say I am very excited about how well I did.  It's been a tough year, with the surgery and having to start from scratch with my running again, and I think all my hard work has paid off.

Up next, the Brookhaven Run on Saturday and my own version of Cupcake Wars at my house this weekend.  I sure could use some sleep first!

Cupcake Craziness...

So I am one week away from the biggest cupcake adventure ever!  Well so far, anyway.  I got a referral from a co-worker, one of the people that have benefited from all the practice I have put into my cupcakes in the last six months, to bake 600 cupcakes for a bike rally/wedding over Labor Day weekend. 

The idea has sunk in, I have bought all my supplies except for the milk, strawberries and blueberries, and have a plan laid out.  I am more than a little terrified and have been loosing some sleep over the whole thing for the last couple of weeks.  I wake up in the wee hours of the morning and my mind starts racing, thinking about all those cupcakes.

The hardest part for me is that I like to make all my cupcakes from scratch, but for this I am doing what the bride has asked me to.  She wants 200 pineapple upside down cupcakes, which create an interesting problem since you don't actually bake them in a cupcake holder, but actually should save me a little time because there is no frosting involved.  There will also be 200 angel food cupcakes, with a frosting made from cool whip and cream cheese fruit dip.  Who would have thought that?  She also wants a slice of strawberry and a blueberry on all of these.  Both of these will be made from a box mix.  Oh no!  Again, she's the bride and she has hired me to help make her wedding all she wants it to be so that's what I'll do.  The final 200 are half devil's food with peanut butter butter cream and half red velvet with cream cheese frosting.  So I get to get my cupcakes into the mix.

It's going to be a busy weekend.  I am taking off Friday to start baking.  My plan is to have everything baked on Friday so all the frosting will take place on Saturday.  I am also planning to squeeze in a 5k, the Brookhaven Run.

And make time for Hurricane Hannah's pool party for her birthday.  

I am lucky that I will have Josh, who is also taking off on Friday, I am thinking he will be on dish duty and helping to keep me on track.  The girls will be out of school Friday as well, so I'll get to throw in some free child labor.  Camy is so excited and really wants to help me ice the cupcakes.  We'll have to see about that.

It should be a stressful, exhausting, fun filled weekend.  Who knows I might never want to see another cupcake in my life, but I doubt that.  If I can do this, I can do anything.  I am thankful that my friends have been so supportive of my new business venture.  I do already have an order for cupcakes for Thanksgiving, pumpkin with cream cheese frosting.  Sure hope they get that pumpkin shortage worked out this year!

My Grandma...

This is my grandma.  This picture is from a few years ago, but this is her.  This is the woman that took four little kids and took care of us in what was probably the hardest year of our lives.   We lived with her the year after our mom died, she had planned that we would be with her for three.  She made room for us in her every day life.  She bought us bunk beds, we learned how to swim in her backyard, she used to read at night. 

I so love the woman that she was back then.  She was so strong for all.  I thought I'd list a few of my memories...

• The first time we visited her in Florida, Billy walked right in the house and yanked the chain on one of Grandpa Ralph's clocks that hung right by the door.  Grandma took the fall for that one, and I wonder if he ever knew that Billy was the one that broke it.
• She used to make us eat all sorts of foods that I would never make my kids eat today.  Mangoes, grapefruit to name a couple.  I still can't eat grapefruit.
• When we got head lice, she stood in the sun for what must have been hours combing through our long hair with a little black comb because she refused to cut our hair off.  I think she even washed my hair and Jen's with what could only have been motor oil to try to kill them all.
• I remember a story she read us about a great redwood tree, I have no idea how that has stuck with me all this time but it has.
• I remember walking to the grocery store for her, something I would never have my 10 year olds do now, but at 7 in the early 80s it must have been okay.
• The bunk beds that I remember as taking up almost all of the tiny room that Jen and Karen and I shared.
• I will always remember how much she loved my mom.
• Cornbread with syrup.
• The pool in the backyard that we learned to swim in.
• She used to yell at Uncle Frank for playing his music too loud in his car when we were with him.

In the last ten years or so, we had not seen her often, and the visits were always difficult for us.  She was no longer the grandma that we remembered from our childhood.  Her life wasn't easy after we left, and it was never the same for her.

She passed away in her sleep last night.  I am very lucky to have had her in my life.

My Desk...

So, there was a slight mishap in my office on Friday afternoon, and I must say I have not laughed that hard in a really long time.

My desk is U shaped, and a co-worker (we'll call him Ramsey) was sitting being me partly on the side partly on the bottom of the U as we were looking at a new software program we are launching this morning.  I got a call from downstairs, apparently Kaiser's, a nearby restaurant/soda fountain, was going out of business this weekend and some other co-workers were going on an ice cream soda run.  I placed my order and hung up the phone. 

Ramsey decided he couldn't live without an ice cream soda and as he was reaching for my phone moved a little further on the bottom of the U that was my desk and that's when all hell broke loose.  That part of my desk came crashing down, one of my candles broke, my water spilled everywhere and everything that was sitting on that section of my desk fell to the floor.  It took a second to realize what had happened and then I was laughing so hard I could barely speak.

I called our warehouse manager and could not get the words out that I was going to need a broom, I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard.  We did manage to get some help and removed the top part of the broken portion.

So here is my desk after the broken piece was removed.  So we decided that I wasn't really gonna need the back part since the top part wasn't going to be returning.

We did have to completely shut my computer off at this point because everything is plugged in through the hole in the part that we were going to remove.

So this is what my desk looks like now, it's no longer U shaped, it's two parallel pieces. 

On a positive note, we are in the process of remodeling our area and in a few weeks I will no longer even have an office.  I use the term office loosely here, it's more like a shoebox.  If you shut the door that's about what it feels like.  Don't even get me started on how the door won't slam, that really made me mad one time.

What more could you ask for on a Friday afternoon when you are trying to wrap up the month, except a whole lot of comic relief from a co-worker!

Ah Ramsey, you crack me up!  Your timing was absolutely perfect on that one!