MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The sun is shining for the first time in awhile.  No more fog, but also no more hoar frost.  I'm sorry about that, because it is so beautiful! 


All is well here, and we hope that your holidays are bright and festive.  We'll soon be off to finish delivering gifts, eat dinner at Olive Garden, and attend church.  Afterward we will settle in for a wonderful night together.  God bless you all!  You are dear to us.

The Christmas Carol

Last weekend Bailee performed in the ballet "A Christmas Carol."  She had several parts, but her main role was that of the ghost of Christmas future.  She did an amazing job.  We're very proud of her.

Finally Back

Computer difficulties with Blogger have prevented access for months.  Glad that Cableone and Blogger and Google are finally all talking to one another.  Technology is great when it works and a pain like no other when it doesn't.

Too much has happened in the past five months to probably ever catch up on, but here it is in a nutshell:

1. Bailee did a one week master class with the New York City Ballet in Jackson during the month of August.
2. I had a reaction to prednisone and an antibiotic in the later part of August that turned my life and my chemical levels inside out.  I was very ill for a month, and am still trying to recover (my iron levels are still erratic).
3. School started for all of us.  A rough beginning for me (being so sick), but it is going all right.  Diana loves her new principal.  Bailee loves high school.
4. Bailee is dancing with the Moscow Ballet of Russia on November 25th in their local presentation of THE NUTCRACKER.  She's in the Chinese Tea Dance.
5. Bailee's studio is doing THE CHRISTMAS CAROL again this year.  Her main role is the ghost of Christmas future. 
6. Mom had some issues with her heart, but is doing better now.
7. Mom's brother and sister-in-law came to visit in September.  It was great seeing them again.
8. Diana has been passing tiny kidney stones for months.  I guess if you have to have stones, then tiny is the way to go.  We're hoping that we can get a handle on the cause in the near future.
9. Bailee is buried under homework thanks to her four honors classes, but she is holding her own.  She wants to join the track team this spring.

That's it, I guess.  We're eagerly looking forward to the Thanksgiving Break and time away from school.  The break begins tonight for Diana and Bailee.  I have to wait until the 27th for the start of my vacation.  Sure could use the time to catch up around the house.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!



 

Bailee's Surgery

When Bailee was around 3 years-old, she was jumping on our old sofa in the family room.  On her last bounce, her feet went behind the cushions and straight down into the sofa.  Unfortunately, she also connected with the inner framework of the sofa.  End result, she sliced through the toenails on her little toes.  Odd that it happened to the same toes on both feet, but that's the way it fell out.  It was off to the pediatrician for some Rx.  They healed up pretty well, but looked a little strange.  No big deal though.  Until now.

Now they look really strange, and they've become very painful - especially when shoved into pointe shoes.  As Bailee's foot doc said,  "Time to take care of this problem at last."  And so we did.  He removed the damaged portion of each toenail.  Bailee, never a big fan of shots, decided she better bring Nemo along to squeeze.  Getting shots in your toes is no fun, especially when you're a ballerina with rather impressive calluses on your toes.  This photo is right after the shots.  Worst part over. 

Well, worst part if you're the numbed up girl I suppose.  Watching the process was definitely not fun.  Removing a toenail, even a part, is pretty extreme.  Bailee peeked around her screen to watch him do the left toe and thought it was cool.  I did not find it cool.

She had some pain last night, but had a pretty good night.  She also walks like a penguin now, which is rather amusing.  For the next two weeks we're be soaking her feet in Epsom salts 4x a day so a scab does not form.  Scabs are bad in this scenario.  So, if you wonder what we're up to ... we're soaking feet most likely.

Remember Us?

I really get disgusted with people whose blog I'm following and they go months without updating.  It irritates me.  Yeah ... I haven't updated our blog since March, and yes, I am aware that this is a period of three months.  I am ashamed.  I have an excuse, but I'm still ashamed.  Sorry.

The excuse - the slow death of a laptop.  It was a pill for two months.  I couldn't get the darned thing to do anything on the internet really.  It was a pain.  In May I got a new laptop.  I had to reconfigure everything and transfer things to the new computer.  It was a little time consuming, and in May I do not have much in the way of time.  June is ballet intensive month, so time is nonexistent then as well.  So - no updates.

Till now.

Bailee had a wonderful time at her summer intensive in Pocatello at Brindusa-Moore Ballet Academy.  Despite having her phone stolen (we tracked it down and got it back - long story I'll blog about later), it was her best experience yet.  She had a wonderful time seeing all her friends from past intensives.  She also got to work with Constantin Apetrei (Ballet Apetrei in New Orleans - he trained at the Bolshoi Academy in Russia), Vladimir Bykov (Artistic Director of Central Florida Ballet and the World Ballet Competition), Monique Betty (Ballet Idaho), Geoffrey Bennett (acting instructor), and of course Sergiu Brindusa and Beth Moore.

 

 

They performed the ballet "La Fille Mal Gardee" (yup, they put this together in 3 weeks), and Bailee did an amazing job.  We were very proud of her.  This was her 5th year at intensive, and her 3rd year in the advanced class.  Such an amazing experience for her.

After the first week of intensive, Bailee's ballet studio put on a recital featuring the classical ballet variations the older girls have been learning (as well as some of their modern dance projects).  I still cannot believe I got this photo of Bai airborn.  Way to go phone!

 

 

These are some of the costumes she wore for the performance.  We made most of them, and yes, that does mean Bailee helped.  She's learning so much!

 

 

One of the cooler things about the performance was the fact that Bailee's artwork was used for the program and DVD cover.  She was very excited.

Mom is working with a home health group right now.  They are helping her to get a handle on her blood pressure and are doing physical therapy with her as well.  So far, she is doing very well.  That is very good news.  We were really worried about her in May.  Now it appears that she has turned the corner and is on the road to improvement.

Now that we are done with our ballet commitments for a time, we're going to concentrate on home.  Bailee is having her little toenails partially removed tomorrow (she injured them when she was 3).  Mom has 5 billion yard and home projects for me, so I will be very busy I'm sure!  Tired too.  ha ha

The Update on the Trip

 

 

I did a quick post to let everyone know the results of the audition, but then life got away from me.  Well, it actually ran over me, slapped me upside of the head, and stomped on me several times.  Life does that sometimes.  Today I am motivated by guilt to finish the update.


We left after school on the 8th in a blizzard.  Seriously!  Heavy snow, blowing, the whole deal.  We really had our doubts about proceeding, but our Smart Phones came to the rescue.  I was tracking the storm on radar, and saw that it eased up after Blackfoot.  We hung in there (passing on the news to the other parents driving down behind us), and were relieved to find that the storm didn't extend southward.  Such a relief!  We had great roads for the remainder of the trip.  We pulled off at Brigham City around 7 to get  some dinner, connecting with Mary and her mom, who were right behind us.  The girls were thrilled to have the chance to eat together.  (They'd been constantly texting throughout the trip.)


Salt Lake has changed a great deal since the Olympics ... certainly for the better!  I was very impressed by the changes which had been made.  We pulled in to Salt Lake around 8:30 p.m.  Definitely don't love ten lane highways - my least favorite thing about SLC.  However, we were once again thankful for our Smart Phones AND our GPS apps.  It made getting around SO much easier.  Bailee, who has never been to a large city (in her memory) was blown away by Salt Lake.  It's the first time she's seen skyscrapers up close and personal.  Once we got to our hotel (just off the U of U campus), Peggy and I concentrated on getting Bailee settled for the night.  She had a terrible cold, and felt miserable.  Luckily, the medicine I gave her helped her to have a good night.  She felt a wee bit better when she got up the next morning.


We spent the morning touring around SLC.  We found the building where her audition would be, then headed off to Trader Joe's.  I have several friends who are big fans of Trader Joe's, and they have gifted us with some of the products available through the store.  Needless to say, we were excited to check it out.  Bailee loved it.  Really loved it.  She can't wait to go back - with coolers.  After stocking up on some items, we toured the downtown area.  The highlight was seeing the Capitol Theater where Ballet West performs.  Bai was really excited.


Before we knew it, it was time to head back up to the university for the audition.  Bailee was excited to see her friends, but they were all pretty nervous.  The parents opted for going out to lunch since we couldn't watch the audition and didn't want to just hang around for two hours being nervous.  We had a great time together.  When we returned for the girls, they all felt that they had done pretty well.  By this time, the weather had turned on us, and it was snowing heavily.  The others went out for dinner, but Peggy and I decided that we should probably get on the road before it got any worse.


Our roads got pretty dicey around Ogden, and remained so until we passed Malad in Idaho.  Lots of slideoffs, but we did okay.  So thankful for that!  Bailee basically passed out in the back seat.  Once we passed Malad Pass, our roads were great.  We got home around 9:30.  Trip over.


A week later we got the e-mail telling us that Bailee hadn't been accepted.  Her ballet teacher was stunned.  Mary and Aleks couldn't understand why (and both cried on her behalf).  Bailee, however, was fine with it.  She just said "God doesn't want me to go this year.  That's okay.  He has a reason."  She then told us that she had been struggling with a bad feeling about it since we returned home.  So, we don't know why it's a no go this year, but we're willing to accept that there's a reason.  She'll try again next year.


Meanwhile, she'll attend her usual summer intensive in Pocatello with Sergiu and Beth.  We also are hoping that we can arrange for private lessons with either  a former Ballet West dancer OR Risa Mochizuki, a Japanese dancer currently working with a ballet company in Romania.  Either way, Bailee will have a chance to continue to develop her ballet skills.  I'm glad that she has had the opportunity to find out that the disappointments in life don't have to destroy you.  Life goes on, and so do we.



Not This Year

Bailee was not accepted to the Ballet West summer intensive program.

Take a deep breath ...

The hotel reservations are made.  Our friend, Peggy, offered to drive us to Salt Lake since she doesn't trust my van (no one in their right mind does).  We leave after school on Friday.  Bailee registers at 11 am and her two hour audition begins at 2 pm.

Your thoughts and prayers will be appreciated.  We're hoping the roads are decent.  Bailee is pretty calm so far.  The adults, not so much.  You'd think WE were auditioning.  Wish I could observe, but the audition is a very private affair.  Bailee and the other students applying will have to demonstrate their proficiency at bar and floor work, technique, and prove their stamina is up to the company's standards.  It's going to be rough, but I know Bailee will do well.  She is very excited, especially since her good friends Mary and Aleks from her studio will be trying out as well.  There are also several students from the Pocatello studio attending as well.  I'm glad she'll have so many friends there.  I am especially glad that the older boys from Pocatello will be there to watch over their little dance sisters.

Next week I'll recap the trip and tell you how things went!

Winter is TOTALLY here!

 

Idaho got off to a slow start on winter this year. Really slow. We still had green grass in evidence in early December. On Christmas Eve we were blasted with our first bout of snow and cold. Once started, Idaho went crazy. What followed was a month of sub zero temperatures, cruel wind chills, and inside recess days. It was miserable. My van hated it, and as a form of vengeance started having troubles. It would start overheating every morning ... which would mean pulling over and letting it cool down (which, given the weather, didn't take long). The heater also ceased to work properly. It usually took about 30 minutes to start feebly throwing out lukewarm air. Like I said - miserable.  I ended up having to replace a cracked water pump, serpentine belt, and thermostat this past Friday.

 



 

We got one cold day off from school on January 14th, as temps were -20+ F and wind chills clocked in at -30+ F. Ugly stuff. It was SO nice to huddle in the house that day watching the gas and electric meters spin.  On the 16th, I attended an informational meeting on retirement.  They advise that you do so a few years before you retire so that you understand the process etc.  It was a long day, but I learned a great deal  A portion of our retirement money is invested in stocks ... and I learned what exactly I have stock in --  IBM, Proctor and Gamble, Mircrosoft, Apple,  Goldman Sachs, Johnson and Johnson, Walmart (ewww), Exxon Mobil (double ewww), Wells Fargo, Coca Cola (triple ewww) Samsung, and Schlumberger.  In view of all this cold and miserable weather, retirement and the need to haul my body over the river and through the woods to work every day, seemed mighty tempting.  Luckily, just as my spirit was beginning to wane, the inversion to blame for it all finally broke (on Friday). There was much rejoicing in the land.

 

Of course, once the inversion broke, the winter storms moved in.  On Sunday morning we woke to about 5 inches of white stuff.  Today several more inches were added, plus a great deal of wind.  Once again, schools are closed.  The roads are a nightmare, so I am very thankful that I do NOT have to fight them in order to get to school.  No sign of snow plows yet, so we're more than happy to hibernate.  We actually had a leisurely breakfast.  I'm going to do some laundry and bake some bread.  I am really thankful for this little gift of time that winter gives us sometimes.  I just wish more businesses had the sense to put the welfare of their employees ahead of their pursuit of a buck.  I hope that those forced to go to work in this mess arrive safely at work and then reach their homes safely tonight.

Bailee and I shoveled out yesterday, but today we were "rescued" by our wonderful neighbor, Alberto.  He is the best ever, and arrived early this morning to shovel us out.  No small job, and I was thankful the snow was lighter than yesterday's fall.  It at least made the task somewhat easier.  We certainly are blessed with good neighbors.