Missouri Music Educators conference at Tan-ta-ra

I spent most of my week at the MMEA conference down at the Lake of the Ozarks.  I went Wednesday noon with Margaret Lawless, the orchestra teacher at Hickman and the violist in Prairie Strings and my good friend.  

 

 

I shared the room she had at the resort as well as the ride down there.  We both had to attend because we both had All-State students - both violinists.  Here I am with Arnold Chen, my sophomore violinist.  The orchestra performed Mars, Venus, and Jupiter from "The Planets".  REALLY hard music.  I, in fact, have never performed it.  The kids did a phenomenal job (well, except for the trumpets.  They were quite typically high school sounding).

 

 

This is Arnold's mother and older brother.  The old folks in the back are their adopted grandparents. Both are retired MU professors - he from the law school (yes, he knows Steve) and she from textiles management. 

 This is the view from our room.























Note the rooftops.  That is because we were on the top floor with NO ELEVATOR!  It was 150 steps up to our door.  I told Margaret that when she makes the reservation for next year, she has to tell them that she is OLD and cannot do stairs.  (She is 4 years older than me)

The resort is very lovely but the weather was super cold all week. Thankfully, our room was connected to the main convention area via walkways so we didn't have to go outside at all.  And, thankfully, we did not have snow or ice.

The orchestra people had five hour-long workshops and five 30-minute performances by middle school, high school, and college level orchestras throughout the four days.  That was it.  As I talk to others who attended and to people who attend other types of conferences, the whole experience was a mix of good and bad.  Good to listen to amazing performances and to connect with old friends and network.  Bad because most of the orchestra workshops were either extremely boring or so overwhelming because I am struggling to find time now and how could I ever have time to implement what was being taught. And, I am only a part-time teacher!  I cannot imagine how the full-timers feel.  Sigh.

I did get to enjoy the free chocolate at the vendor exhibits AND, I was able to catch up on this season's Once Upon A Time and I watched on DVD the first three episodes of LAST year's (season 3) Downton Abby during my breaks.  WiFi was available but terrible (imagine the load with a 1000-plus guests all with smart devices).  I had hoped to accomplish so much more on the internet but alas, it was not to be.  

I got home last evening and it was so great to see Steve.  And the dogs went wild, of course. 

I really can't think of any news from Monday or Tuesday.  Steve and I both had Monday off - we talked to our financial advisor (snoozer) and tried to buy a bedside lamp at Lowes but it was faulty so I returned it on Tuesday.  I had cello lessons that day.  And my school time was spent getting things set up for a substitute the rest of the week.  Oh, the external hard-drive is DEAD.  SOOO sad.  And, on that note, I'm out.

Oh technology, how I hate/love you

Our computer came back and it is bug-free.  Our external hard-drive, however, has failed.  Steve and I are not very bright when it comes to technology because we did not back up our external hard-drive.  I guess I stupidly thought that it WAS our back-up.  Floppy discs (remember those) could get wet or bent, thumb drives could get lost or crooked.  But that little 5 X 7 black box - how could that get corrupted???  It is currently sitting in Personalized Computers getting diagnosed but my last phone call with them was not promising.

Well, all my photos can be found in Picassa so I guess I DID do that kind of back up.  But, Steve has over FIVE YEARS of his journal on the external hard drive and nowhere else!  And, now we fear that history may be lost.  It just breaks my heart.  We are going to call the manufacturer.  We are going to plug it in one last time to see if maybe, just maybe we can at least retrieve Steve's one WORD file.  It is prayer time, for sure.

On a brighter note, I DID manage to scan in maybe 100 photos of my oldest sister - from her birth to about 1976 - for her kids to compile a slide show honoring her 80th birthday in February.  And, I also managed to burn these photos onto a CD (well, it actually took 3 CD's because I had to learn how to import the picture files correctly).  Scanning can be a mind-numbing occupation but I have discovered how to minimize the scan window to half my monitor screen so I can watch a movie on the other half.  During this most recent scanning session, I have been catching up on this season's "Once Upon A Time" which is really the only show I watch (except Steven's morning news program on Channel 17).  It is sometimes cheesy, occasionally brings a tear, and it feeds the fantasy geek in me.

Orchestras took up a lot more of my time this week than usual.  I made two trips to the FARC (Fine Arts Resource Center) to look for music to play for District Music Festival in March.  I looked both for the two full orchestras and for small ensembles.  That is a lot of music to find and to heft back to my car!  I had a Friends of the Rock Bridge Orchestra meeting Tuesday night.  Work on the spring-break Chicago trip continues.  I prepared substitute lesson plans for when I am gone this week to the state music conference.  There was an RTO rehearsal yesterday afternoon - we are in the final preparations for a performance at Parkview Manor Nursing Home February 1st.   And, I attended the Rock Bridge Show Choir premier Thursday night.  Whew, THAT is a LOT of time and energy that I am happy to not be involved in.

The highlight of the week has been the two birthdays - Steve on Friday and Quinn on Saturday - and our trip to St. Louis those two days.  Steve had Friday off but I had to teach at Lange so we didn't leave for St. Louis until the afternoon.  After attending the temple, we headed over to Southerlands.  While Emily and Joe went out (a shopping date), grandma and grandpa watched Lilo and Stitch with Lucy and Noah.  Such difficult babysitting....

Then, Saturday morning, Steve and I helped with preparations for a little noon-time party for Quinn.  Photo highlights:




The birthday boys...




Lucy and Quinn waiting for the celebrations to start



This dinosaur balloon was a huge hit with Noah and Lucy




Quinn loved the balloon bouquet




The living room was set up with all sorts of pop-up tents. Noah walked around the house wearing three like a giant caterpillar.






Some of the delicious foods.  I discovered the Buffalo chicken wing dip for the first time.  YUM!





the front-door monster that greeted the guests



monster party favors made by Emily.

 
 Quinn's monster birthday cake.

We returned to Columbia by 2:00 so we could rehearse with RTO at 3:00.  The rest of the day I worked on school stuff and gave Sadie a bath and Steve a haircut. And our week is done.

Strange week

One week ago today, Steve and I were sitting at home with snow falling outside.  Church meetings were cancelled.  School was scheduled to begin the next day but it was cancelled for two days due to the horribly cold weather.  Fortunately, temperatures started to climb Tuesday afternoon and by Friday, we had a THUNDERSTORM.  Trissy went crazy and attacked more wicker and, then went on to vinyl and trashed a storage cube.



Totally destroyed.  I bought a new one yesterday.  I posted this on Facebook and got a really good idea - buy lots of wicker from Goodwill and put it all in a room and, when there is a thunderstorm, just throw Trissy into the "Wicker Room".  Hmmmm....

Today, temperatures are in the fifties!  Only in Missouri.....

Boy, it was SO HARD to get back into the school thing.  Attitudes in my two Lange cellists; missing parts from a music envelope; the thought of all the paperwork I will have to go through to re-order these missing parts; finding "return to sender" marked on an important letter sent in mid-December regarding our Chicago trip; overall worry about the Chicago trip; having the orchestra being overlooked YET AGAIN with RBHS All-State results.  One of my six students made it into the orchestra.  He was the "dark horse" and now I have questioning parents about the validity of the CD's we had to make of their auditions (thanks, again, to the weather).  Needing to coordinate substitutes and lesson plans for when I am down at the music educator's conference because I have a student in the All-State orchestra.  Civic Orchestra started up on Tuesday and the music is really FAST.  And the conductor didn't have us sight read in a slower tempo.  Ugh, I felt like a 2nd year beginner.  Our computer finally came out of the shop Tuesday but when we hooked everything up, our external hard drive - the place where we store EVERYTHING - wouldn't open up.  I bought a new USB cable to hopefully fix the problem.  Nope.  It is now in the computer shop and I HOPE HOPE HOPE that the data on it can be retrieved.  Sigh.  I have been in a funk for three days. 

Only could Friday afternoon and yesterday pull me out of this malaise.  Steve and I watched "Iron Man 3" after having our neighbor, Jan Murphy, over for dinner Friday evening.  And, we drove up to shop at the Amish grocery stores yesterday afternoon and we ran into two faces from our far past:  Nikki and Myra Phillips.  They were shopping in one of the stores and I didn't recognize them.  Nikki recognized me and she and her mom approached us.  Wow, what a pleasant surprise.  (for those who need a refresher:  I watched Nikki and Kelly Phillips before and after school when we lived on Route Z.  Myra is their mom.  Nikki is Beckie's age and they were good friends.  They lived in a trailer park on Mexico Gravel Road)  Myra now lives in Moberly.  She didn't say anything about Kenny, her husband, so I don't know if he is in the picture any longer or not.  Nikki has three children and lives in Sturgeon.  Kelly, her sister, was killed in a car accident 10 years ago. 

One of my new years resolutions is to walk twice a day - Monday through Friday.  I admit I did NOT get all five days in this past week but here is a shot from Wednesday, I think.  The dogs LOVE this daily adventure.  Sadie even walks the whole way - no doggie back pack for her.

Trip to Indiana

We spent the New Year with Julina in Indiana.  We left REALLY early Tuesday morning from Emily and Joe's  (think 4:20) to drop Elise off at the airport in time for her 6:00 am flight and we just kept on driving to Greenwood and arrived before lunch.  In time for Imogene to take Julina, Steve, and me to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch. (Alex had to work Tuesday and Wednesday).  Our entire visit was just so relaxing and peaceful.  I brought my jewelry-making box (part of Shiloh's gift from us was to help her make her own necklace) and I was able to putter with some of my own jewelry, make some baby hats, grade some RBHS orchestra tests, and just visit, visit, visit.

We greeted the New Year sunrise Wednesday morning out at the small Greenwood airport where Alex keeps the plane he is working on.  We got snow on Thursday - about 5-6 inches.

Here is Julina working at her desk in the room where all the computers and Imogene's card-making projects are kept.

Juli and Alex bought a used piano from his cousin and I was able to put new strings on Julina's cello.  My old music teacher heart is gladdened to see music back in Julina's life.   I just wish there was an RTO nearby for her to play in.

Shiloh and Stratton joined us Thursday night.  They opened Christmas gifts.  We made the necklace.  And, then it was time to leave the next morning for home.  Although there was snow on the ground, the interstate was clear.  However, we passed by over half a dozen jack-knifed semi trailers in Illinois - debris from the day before - so I am glad we didn't have to travel then.  We got to Emily's for lunch and a little nap and then we went to the temple.  We ate dinner at an Applebees in Wentzville (got to catch some of the Orange Bowl and MU vs. OSU) and we were home in Columbia by 9:15 Friday night.

Our Saturday was spent putting Christmas away.  Temperatures got into the mid-40's so we even got the outside decorations down.  Sarah came over to do some laundry and that is why Bones is in the above picture - begging for doggie treats.

Snow started falling last night and it was coming down steadily this morning and forecasts were so bleak for today and tomorrow that church was cancelled and school is already called off for tomorrow.  It is REALLY COLD out there.  I am so thankful we have 4-wheel drive because we were able to fetch the elders and Lizzy and Melanie and we had a lovely pulled-pork dinner tonight.