Friday, February 29, 2008

Hunter Has Arrived!

Hunter Benjamin was born 43 minutes ago at 3:52am! When the call went out he hadn't even been weighed or measured yet. I'll let you know the particulars later.

Meanwhile, Happy Leap Year!!!!

The Stats: 8 pounds, 9 ounces
20 inches long


My new nephew is almost 9 hours old and I still haven't seen a picture of him. Email, anybody???

I hear he's really, really adorable.

I wouldn't know.

No pictures.

I just talked to Grandma Christy. Her Charter email is down so she can't send pictures. Maybe later. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!


Thursday, February 28, 2008

Waiting for Hunter



This is the only picture I have of my grand nephew Hunter.

So far!

His mom is in the hospital at this very moment awaiting his arrival. Last I heard, though, she was only dilated 3cm.

Come on, Hunter! You can do better than that.

Let's go, young man.

There's a family longing to love you.

See you soon!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

I'm in the Muni



I got the call this morning.

I'm in the Muni...Band that is.

The work call for the 99th season of the Long Beach Municipal Band is out and I'm in.

Our summer season begins Tuesday, June 24 and runs through Friday, August 15.

So all you who couldn't quite find the time to join us in the parks last year, mark your calendars now.

Summer begins when the music starts.

See you there!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Frankenstein Work Call



I just got a mysteriously delayed work call for Long Beach Opera's production of Frankenstein with Michael York.

Since I saw Michael York and (my favorite) conductor Andreas Mitisek at the pool last week, I was already chomping at the bit. I'm really looking forward to this production. I get to play some flute and some piccolo. I already have a recording. It actually sounds do-able (ask me again when I get the music).

Meanwhile, Bob continues to suffer in unabated agony. That is so rough.

We have reservations for the Grand Californian at the Disneyland Resort for 2 nights a week from tomorrow. We're beginning to think that trip might not occur.

Instead maybe I'll be able to pop up to the Central Coast to see my grand nephew Hunter...if he has arrived by then.

How about it, Hunter? I can't wait to meet you!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Shingles...Bob has Them



It started out as severe back pain. That made sense. Bob had done an entire load out up and down bleacher stairs by himself the night before.

The pain just got worse. Then came the swelling. He spent the night moving from sofa to comfy chair trying to find a position to sleep in. He didn't sleep much, and when he did he dreamed of talking cats ("cats are easier to talk to than people" said one nightmare cat!).

He set off for work today only to turn around halfway through his route in Van Nuys. He proceeded through a deluge to the local Urgent Care center. After an hour wait he discovered he hadn't hurt his back. He was sick. He had shingles.


Say it all together now: OUCH!!!!!!!!

He's now home in agonizing pain taking an anti-viral and praying for healing. You can tell he's feeling really bad because when he's awake he's a Chatty Cathy. That only happens when he's delirious.

Please pray for rapid healing and relief from the pain. We both would appreciate that.

Thanks!

A Taxing Proposition

I hope you've been keeping up with the twitter side bar, because I've had very little time to blog lately.

That's not going to change, at least not this weekend.

I've got a tax appointment on Tuesday.

Usually that would not be cause for alarm. I have been a devoted Quicken user for decades. Taxes involved a few clicks of the mouse and TA DA! A complete summary of the year was at my fingertips.

Not this year.

I stopped keeping current with Quicken in, gulp, July. That's a lot of back-tracking to do.

So while Bob is on the road, suffering mightily from major back pain as he works, I will be hunkered over my tax materials trying to refrain from colorful metaphors.

Please pray for me!

Monday, February 18, 2008

A Ravishing Orpheus



I just got back from "Bob's Opera" AKA Long Beach Opera's production of Orpheus and Euridice.

It was ravishing.

The singing was angelic, the clarinetist was divine, the setting was mesmerizing, and the sound was perfection.

Who knew a pool could be so artistic?!?

If you can, run, don't walk, to tomorrow's final performance. They have an extra surprise planned for you at the end.

Don't miss it!!!

Bob's Opera

Here is a glimpse of "Bob's Opera". You know, the one I'm not playing in (I love you anyway, Andreas!)

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Drained

Judging from the absence of blog posts, I clearly invested every ounce of creativity at my disposal into my recital on Monday.

I'm in the midst of the recovery process. That involves much sitting about and drooling. Oh, and laundry. Much doing of laundry.

I have a quintet rehearsal tomorrow morning. My flute hasn't seen my face since Thursday (don't tell anybody!).

Seriously, I have found the best way to avoid burn-out is to chill, chill, chill for a few days. Then it's back to work.

I've got a flute to play!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

My Romance Specialist


I just returned home from a loooonnnnngggg day of teaching. My dear husband had just learned that his grandmother passed away.

I wasn't feeling the need of Valentine's Day affirmation.

Why?

Bob shows me he loves me in big ways and small every single day. Sometimes he even verbalizes his feelings!

As I sat in my exhaustion and he in his grief, I thought I would do him a favor when I said, from my heart, "We don't need to do anything for each other for Valentine's Day this year because every day is a Valentine's Day with you."

Whereupon he went to the closet and presented me with these:



Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

So to my special Valentine, you so totally rock! Happy Valentine's Day!

P.S. Bob just handed me a magnificent homemade card and a 2GB microSD card for my phone. That is how it is done!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Recital Picture Teaser



Here I am surrounded by fellow flutists following last night's blazing recital. Thanks for attending, ladies!

Although Bob got a bunch of great recital pictures, between this post and the last you have now seen the sum total of the pictures from my camera. Uploading pictures and actually blogging are beyond my capabilities right now.

I'll be spending many, many hours at APU over the next two days, but will try to re-surface on Friday.

Meanwhile, to all of you who took the time to join us last night, thank you, thank you, thank you for your support! You helped make that recital my favorite of all time. Thank you!

A Blog Family Reunion



I'll post more on the fun, fun, fun recital later (maybe tomorrow). Many, many friends and lots of family attended (pictures to follow).

A very special family reunion took place tonight; a blog family reunion.

Darleene from Darleeneisms and I had never met in person. We follow each other's blogs and lurk around on Facebook, but we'd never met face to face...until tonight.

Darleene and her husband Trinity (he took this picture - Thanks Trin!) traveled out from Agoura Hills to Darleene's first classical concert ever. You rock!

I love my blogging family!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Ready To Roll!

Tonight's the night!

After many months of preparation, Joel and I are ready to have a great deal of fun at tonight's recital.

I've got the hardest part of all nailed; I've had my outfit for months and have an appointment for hair and make-up this afternoon. The flute I can play!

So come on down if you can. It will be a blast!

Update: Remember the part above where I said the hardest part of all was nailed? I just got a call (10:13am) from the spa where I made my appointments 6 weeks ago saying the hairstylist was sick and couldn't come in. Oh, and to be sure I had a nice day. Interesting.


Update: I'm going to do my hair and makeup myself. Yipeeeeeee!!!!!

Update: Less than 3 hours before the recital this professional flutist (yes, it's flutist, not flautist) has done what only a professional hair stylist and makeup artist should do with interesting results, and is laughing because even though it feels like a big deal, it's not a big deal. I am commencing to get over myself!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Recital Tomorrow, Practice Today

After months of preparation, the Faculty Recital Series concert is tomorrow. What does that mean for today?

I'm going to indulge in a nice, long warm-up followed by slow passes at the difficult passages in each piece. That'll about do it. Slow. Easy.

The most difficult part of performing is the head game. Joel and I have been working on ours for months. We can easily play the music. It's just about keeping our heads under fire.

We hope you'll be able to join us for some fun tomorrow night. If you can't be there in person, please remember us in your prayers.

It's going to be one sweet time!

Friday, February 8, 2008

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Operatic Irony



Long Beach Opera will be presenting Orpheus and Euridice next weekend. Unfortunately, this particular production is lacking a flute part. Rats (as in the year of?). I was suprised, then, to hear from LBO conductor Andreas Mitisek this afternoon. Had he come to his senses and decided he had to have a flute no matter what the musical score demanded?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

He wanted a sound man.

Fortunately, he called the right person. My dear husband Bob is a magnificent sound man. The catch? He only has a few hours to pull together the gear for a rehearsal at the Belmont Pool. Tonight.

He's assembling gear even as I type. The rehearsal runs from 10 to midnight. God be with him.

And me? I'll be home dreaming of LBO's next production in March. THAT has a flute part...

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Super Tuesday



It is Super Tuesday here in California.

I exercised my right to vote for the candidate of my choice.

Have you done the same?

Saturday, February 2, 2008

All Atwitter

In a continuing effort to emulate my blogging hero beFrank (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery), I've added a "twitter" side bar to the blog (it's on the left under the "about me" section).

What is "twitter"?

"Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service, instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific." Wikipedia

Yeah, whatever.

It means that I can send little blog updates during the day from my (new Voyager that I'm still loving) phone. That way even when I'm too swamped to blog, you can still keep track of my escapades (and they are many, let me assure you).

So be sure to check the twitterpated side of my blog, especially if you haven't seen a new post recently.

I love technology.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Fully Insured

It's a miracle!

As of today Bob and I both have health insurance.

I have had health insurance through The Farm Bureau for 11 years. What started out as excellent coverage went south in a big way when Healthnet took over the group plan. My rate was due to increase 44.8% on March 1 to almost $500.00 a month for a policy with a $5,000 deductable.

Meanwhile, Bob has had no health insurance whatsoever.

Thankfully, my excellent broker found us a great plan with Aetna. We were both approved and as of today are fully covered for the same amount I was going to have to cough up for just me.

Celebrate with great celebrating!