Life after the school year

After the school year ended, things did not instantly become calm (refer to previous blog posts of remodeling projects in the Noah's Ark room and sports room and Julina's wedding/family reunion).  After everyone returned home after the wedding, though, things became amazingly, blessedly, joyously peaceful.  Wow - so that is what my life was like before last August?  Back to serene mornings working out in the yard.  To regular power naps.  To cello lessons in the afternoon in my delightfully cool studio.  To evenings wide open for sewing / movie watching.  The rest of my house painting is on hold because the only "have to" on my agenda has been preparing for the J.I. Young family reunion in Payson, Arizona this coming weekend and my two-week trip to London and Germany with my sister, Juli starting on July 1st.  So, in between my gardening, naps, and lessons I have
1. gotten new glasses and prescription sunglasses (my first pair in over 40 years!  LOVE THEM)
2. obtained an international driver's permit (gonna drive the Autobahn - hee hee)
3. sewn a neck pillow and face mask for sleeping on the plane
4. found pants at Goodwill to alter into capris.  I found some cute tops while I was there, too
5. prepared quilt squares for coloring for a service project at our family reunion. (cut out 13" squares of white sheets and trace cute designs found in coloring books)
6. arranged for a rental van to take Steve, me, Emily and her three kids to Arizona
7. arranged for lodging while we travel and while in Arizona (THAT has been a odyssey - lots of internet time on this one thing)
8. looked up places in Germany and devised an itinerary for my sister and me. Some of the time, we will travel with Juli's daughter Jamilyn but some of the time, she and I will venture out on our own (eeee - neither one of us speaks German!)
9. found and booked tickets to Hawaii - yes, you heard me - when we visit Beckie in September.
10. arranged for rental car and hotel in Los Angeles on the return from Hawaii - so I can attend my 40th high school reunion.  I am OLD!
11. applied stain to the deck with Steve - still finishing up that project. 
12. driven to St. Louis on Friday to help Emily pack and prepare to move.  She is NOT having a calm summer, poor girl. 
13. played in weddings - last week, it was a bride-zilla.  Yesterday it was subbing in TWO different string ensembles.  One was down in Argyle, Missouri (look it up - waaay in the middle of beautiful Ozark nowhere) and the other was near Harrisburg (under a canopy of beautiful oaks but in supreme mugginess).
14. watched the Harry Potter movies. I am currently in the middle of #6.
15. watched other movies:  Skyfall (loved it), Shallow Hal (yes, Kirsti, it was surprisingly good)

Here comes the bride...

We had a wedding on June 7^th!  Julina married Alex Smith in the St. Louis temple.  We were not sure it was going to happen on that day because, while he had a civil divorce, he needed an ecclesiastical divorce from the First Presidency in Salt Lake City and THAT did not arrive until exactly one week before the planned date.  Had it not arrived, we would have just had a nice family gathering (all our children were here) and postponed the ceremony until after the letter was in hand.   

Thankfully, we did not have to go that route.   

SO, below are photos from the big day and the gathering we had on the next.

Julina chose to not get a wear-only-once bridal gown.  Brides wear special white dresses in a temple ceremony and they are not brought outside the temple. SO, she opted for something she could wear again and again.  Yellow is such a happy color! 

 Here she is with her instant family.  Stratton is 11, Imogene is Alex's mother, and Shilo is 14

 Here we are all together in front of the temple.

 Julina with Noah, Quinn, and Lucy

 Noah in some kind of mode - not sure what?!?

 Julina with Emily

My seven children

                                                         

 My prince charming

  Melanie (adopted daughter ) and my sister, Juli, from Arizona

    
                                         

 On Saturday, we had a picnic out on our front lawn.  

The weather was perfect, the food was easy and delicious

                                           
                                        Joe, Lucy, Noah, Steven, and Stratton playing lawn games

 Shiloh holding Sadie, even though she was extremely allergic to all our pets.  Poor girl was miserable for two days at our house.  Sorry, Shiloh.  That's Imogene sitting next to her.

 

 We finally celebrated Steven's birthday while everyone was home. Only half a month late!

the sports room

the Cardinal wall

the Yankee wall

I am free at LAST

Columbia's newest (and third) high school was dedicated on Sunday.  It is named after a long-time Columbia Public School educator, Muriel Battle. Steven’s wife, Tamara, will be teaching Spanish at the new school.  I decided to attend the dedication because I didn’t think it would last as LONG as it did and I also wanted to take a tour.  Tamara was my guide and we saw her lovely classroom.  I wanted to see the fine arts wing.  The Performing Arts Center is very nice but I thought the band/orchestra room was a bit small and I did not like the carpet on the floor (think of brass players and their spit valves……um hum).  But overall, it is a beautiful building.  

Tamara in front of the Battle High School mascot, the Spartan

Muriel Battle's widower and Kim Presko, Battle's principal, FINALLY cut the ribbon

The carpet layers came last Thursday to put down carpet in the Noah’s Ark and sports rooms.  Steve and I moved the furniture back on Saturday.  And, today I hung pictures in Noah’s Ark.  Steve started hanging pictures in the sports room and ran out of heavy duty hangers so I will post a photo of that room after it is finished – hopefully in the next couple of days.

 

 

 

I notice that you really cannot see the new carpet. It is dark blue.

Here is what the garage looked like before everything was completed for the rooms – the shelves and picture frames that needed to be painted.

This is our new yard project.  

 

 

  Steve first sprayed Round-up to kill the pseudo lawn (it was really just weeds) that was growing there.  Now he is systematically shoveling up the top layer of dead weeds.  It is a slow process because his back is not the best and neither is his free time AND we have had so much rain lately that it was just too muddy. 

 

This is some of the mulch that we will spread on the dirt patch.  Ultimately, we will plant rose bushes to go along with the two hazelnut bushes and the saucer magnolia bush you see already growing. 

All this seems to contradict the title of this blog.  To explain:  When I came on board with Columbia Public Schools last summer, I was led to believe that I had to get my teaching certification reactivated ASAP and, given my crazy teaching schedule, the earliest I could do this was now – summer 2013.  So, my mindset all year has been to take a college class in the summer – either on-line or at MU.  I found a class at MU that looked interesting -   Current Topics in Music Education – and I went through the steps to enroll again at MU.  Because I was a “non-degree seeking post baccalaureate” student, I could not actually register for the class until after the first day.  I plugged the class times and days into my summer calendar – it looked tight but, hey, I had to do it so it was forge onward.  I did get this thought last week that I ought to check with the Human Resources office with CPS just to confirm that yes, I really did need to take the class, but I could never get through to the woman I needed to speak except to leave a voicemail.  She left me a rather confusing voicemail back that really didn’t  answer anything  so, oh well,  I attended my first class yesterday afternoon at 1:00.  Aaaaaand, it kind of drove me crazy (meaning my hyperactivity streak kicked in). The first hour was OK.  But, the second hour involved a skype connection with a professor who wrote a scholarly article on rehearsal techniques.  We were to have read this article before time.  So, imagine my squirminess when he proceeded to tell us everything that we had already read.  And, he used a power point presentation that was poorly constructed (I couldn’t read half the lettering because it was either purple or blue on a black background!) Plus, I have never had a statistics class so I didn’t understand his graphs.  All through his presentation I thought, should I bring my knitting to future classes to help channel my pent-up fidgeting?   I just am not in a place anymore to deal with scholarly stuff – articles, professional journals, research, etc.  and I KNEW how little time I would have in these next four weeks to devote to all of the above (wedding, Young reunion, more painting, trip to Germany) so I left the class with a knot in my stomach.  I decided to call the illusive woman with CPS Human Resources one more time – and, she was actually IN HER OFFICE – so I quickly drove over to the administration building and here is what I learned.  Apparently, “ASAP” means four years!  I can meet the continuing education requirement of 24 hours through professional development hours through the school.  In fact, I have already accrued 6 hours through various music department meetings throughout last year! Since I have already met 1/4 of the required hours with hardly any thought, I seems  very do-able to obtain the remaining 18 hours in the next three years.  So, why spend over $500 to make my June a living hell when I can do everything for free and in more time?  Well, THAT was a no-brainer.  You can imagine how completely free I felt the rest of yesterday.  It is the best feeling in the world.

Yes, we WILL have a marriage this Friday.  The letter from church headquarters in Salt Lake City dissolving Alex’s marriage to his previous wife arrived just five days ago – one week exactly before Julina and Alex’s planned date of June 7^th.  Whew – that was a close one.  Because we were unsure whether it would arrive in time, we have not sent out announcements.  And, now it is too late to do something BEFORE the ceremony.  We will most certainly mail something AFTER but it also means we will not be having a reception this coming Saturday.  And, THAT is also an extremely liberating feeling.  I can just sit back and savor and enjoy every moment of the experience with the marriage and with time with family.  Everyone will be here.  Kirsti arrives Wednesday, Elise and my sister, Juli come in Thursday.  Beckie is still here.  

So, friends, here is to a fantastic summer at last….