she made it to round II

DD passed through round 1 of her competition! :-D She will be doing 2 contemporary pieces tonight and hopefully pass through to the final classical round tomorrow. I am so happy for her, but it has been bittersweet. My mother was so proud of DD and her dancing. When DD called today the first thing I wanted to do was call and tell my mother.
I didn't get the picture from the paper yet (I haven't given up). I emailed the New York Sun hoping they would take pity on a mother far away, but no response. I did, however, receive this in my email today from DD. While she has been at the competition a photographer chose a few of the dancers to model for some pictures. Some are going to be used for dance articles, but she took a lot of extras in a number of different poses and is creating a portfolio for each dancer.

anyone live in nyc?

I had an eventful afternoon yesterday. I was sitting at my desk working when a text message comes through from DD. She is currently in NYC competing in an international ballet competition. It says simply "hey get new york times me and dance partner have a sweet pic in the arts section." So being a proud mama who has spent the better part of 13 years sitting in dance studios and is looking for some form of payback in the form of a "sweet pic" from the paper set out to see what can be found. A search of the New York Times reveals nothing searching on his name, her name and the name of the competition. Text her back and ask "Today's paper?" Another message back "no yesterday". More searching. Nothing. Figuring maybe it is only in the print paper I call DH and tell him to go to bookstores to see if he can find a copy. I send a plea out to all of my fellow workers to see if anyone subscribes. It being a software company most only subscribe through the web and have access to what I do online. Someone suggests going to the Library. Now why didn't I think of that?? Take a quick walk to the Library to check and learn that in Maine we get the New England edition not what is distributed in the city and the pic was nowhere to be seen in their copy. Bummer. So I go back to my desk and do a Google search on the competition and find an article in the New York SUN from the 18th, but no picture of them. I call DD and leave a message "Are you sure it is the New York Times??? I found an article in the New York Sun. " Text back "it is n y sun.. sorry. can you get that?" Arrrgh! Needless to say after hours looking I have learned some things. 1. My coworkers are great and were all ready to jump right in to help out. 2. The New York Times has a separate edition for those of us in the great north east. 3. Nowhere in Maine carries the New York Sun AND lastly, 4. DD is a creative soul and really doesn't pay much attention to detail.
Now for my plea. Does anyone live in the NYC area and receive the New York Sun??? It is attached to this article. I would still like my payback picture. :-D

me... not me...

This looked like fun over at DebGeyer Quilts so I tagged myself.





Me.

So not me.

ME.

Too ornate for me.

Me all over.

I like my bears nekkid.

Me.

Not me.

Me. Yumm.

Not me.

Me. I absolutely love Shaker!

Not me.

I'm anything chocolate.

NOT me.

Has to be me.

Not me.

Me.

Not me.

Me.

Not me.

Me me me.

Not even near me.

I think I got a little carried away, but it was so fun.

will it help if we cry uncle?

This has not been a good year at our house. My FIL passed away on Friday morning. He had a heart attack before my mother died and had developed pneumonia. He was recovering well and had spent 2 months in a rehabilitation facility. The day he was scheduled to go home he was taken back to the hospital with stomach pains. Last Monday he had another heart attack and elected to go with conservative treatment. He was 86 had heart problems, emphysema and a lot of other medical issues, so it was not unexpected, but still difficult.
It has been made more difficult by Contintal Airlines. I am going to rant on about airlines so if you would like to skip feel free I just feel the need to vent. I am currently waiting for DH to get home from New Jersey where his parents have been living with one of his sisters. DH was scheduled to fly out on Continental Friday night at 6:30. As I was trying to check him in online his itinerary changed to leaving Saturday afternoon at 2:30. No one talked to us they just changed it. I called customer support. They were rather surly until I explained that my FIL had passed away that morning, so they put him on the 6am Saturday. This meant we had to get up at 4. He made it fine, but tired. His return flight was scheduled for tonight at 8:30pm. He got there, checked in and was waiting at the gate when they cancelled the flight. They said because of thunderstorms so they did not have to do anything for him. I checked online radar and there were NO major storms between Newark and here. They rescheduled him on a flight to Manchester ENGLAND instead of NH. Luckily, he noticed their error before he got on the plane that was supposed to leave at 9:20. He was to land over an hour ago, but last check of the Manchester airport flight schedule says he isn't going to arrive for another hour and a half which probably means they haven't left yet. There were a number of other disgruntled passengers who were also being rerouted with him and they were going to rent a car together and drive to Maine. He HATES phones and sees no reason to carry one with him so I have no idea when he will be here or if I am going to have to pick him up anywhere.

UNCLE! UNCLE!

finally!

Here it is. Finally! I finished my Jo Morton sample for Jan's shop. Had anyone guessed what it was going to be? I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I couldn't get a very good picture of the inside, but there are 5 pockets as well as a carabiner to hold keys. I am very lucky to have a very talented DH who cut a piece of plexiglass to stiffen the base for me.

It took me SO long to finish. I had expected to be done last weekend, but we buried my mom the Thursday before and I just couldn't seem to get my feet back under me. I think it is harder when the burial isn't right after the funeral. My friend, who is originally from Indiana, said she had never heard of waiting after the funeral until she moved here. I guess it is a Maine thing because of the weather. I think the funeral keeps you busy right the death, but then when you have a burial weeks later after you think you have started to heal it just hits you again how much you have lost. I just couldn't seem to get back into the swing of things. Had a lousy week at work and pretty much wasted my time off for Memorial Day weekend.

I did spend some time on Memorial Day planting a memorial garden. DH hates mowing the lawn so had wanted to make some gardens to take up more of the grass area. :-D He cleaned out this area for me under one of the trees. I divided a lot of my mom's shade plants and brought them home. I have to get more as you can see it is pretty sparse so far, but I know it won't take long for those Hosta and Violets to start spreading.