Kaylee's Talent Show

 Kaylee's day care center puts on a talent show every year now. This is the first one I've seen. Kaylee is the little one in the middle with the peace sign on her shirt and the white shorts.

 She has no fear about getting up on stage to perform and I was surprised. I shouldn't be really because my Mom and Dad were involved for years with theater productions through the Lions Club and a theater group they belonged to when we were growing up. 

I made sure Kaylee could see me taking pictures so she'd know she had her families backing but it wasn't necessary. The little one is a ham. She loves the stage! And I had a terrible time trying to take pictures with little kids jumping and dancing in front of my camera down on the floor in front of the stage. They were all trying to mimic the moves the kids on stage were doing. 

 I was dismayed to see that someone (not stage savvy) had positioned two big kids in the front line up...effectively blocking the smaller kids behind them. All my time was spent moving around trying to get a good shot of Kaylee behind these two big kids.  I never really got to see the actual dance they were performing. Oh the trials and tribulations of being the family photographer!

 Every once in awhile I'd get a clear shot of Kaylee and she'd have that little smirk on her face that let me know she was perfectly aware of all the gymnastics I was performing while trying to get a picture of her through a sea of little (kids) arms and heads bobbing and waving in my way. 

Next year I'll be better prepared now that I know there is an obstacle course involved. 

Luckily I didn't have to fight to get this last picture of Sara and Kaylee after the show when we stopped for dinner.

Fused Glass Class

 Four of us (KC; Bunny; Anne and myself) recently attended a class on Fused Glass at the Art & Soul Studio in Windsor. We had a blast! And some people in the class actually learned something too. I was not one of the ones that learned anything...in fact my group was too busy having a good time to actually bother to learn anything. But some of the other people in the class were asking intelligent questions so I'm sure they learned something. We were just idiots having fun. (luckily there was no quiz at the end)
The top picture here shows how my jewelry started out....before firing. 

 And this shows how it came out after firing. Pretty isn't it? I haven't completely decided what I'm going to make them into although I took findings to make at least one a pin and possibly the other one will be a book mark. 

 This is how Bunny's started out. (being blurry was not part of the plan...that was my fault)

This is how they ended up. Love the colors!! 
I haven't had a chance to take pictures of Anne and KC's creations but I'm hoping I'll get a chance to take pictures of them too. 
The woman that owns the place said we can come back for 'bench time' if we'd like...that means you don't have to buy another whole class again. Instead you can pay her $5 per hour to come and make more and that's called bench time. There would probably be an additional fee for supplies but it shouldn't be much. We all like the idea of doing it again. I want to make something a little bigger next time but I still have no idea what it would be. I like the idea of winging it!

Warm Wine?

I asked Justin for a little ice for my wine because it was warm. This is what he gave me when he came back!

I'm An Over Achiever!

Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot. This tissue is called the plantar fascia. It connects the heel bone to the toes and creates the arch of the foot.


I managed to get plantar fasciitis by having a totally awesome time dancing to techno music for hours on end. I didn't feel any pain for a couple of days after my dancing. Eventually I went to see my doctor and was told I had bruised my heel....understatement of the year. After weeks of limping I finally went to a specialist. 

He took x-rays and told me I had plantar fasciitis, which I still can't pronounce. I was given medication to try; told to take it easy and it will heal on it's own. I thought to myself how does one take it easy when ones heel is injured? Stop walking? Stay in bed? Learn to walk on your hands? I kept limping and it kept hurting. The medication gave me violent stomach pains. 

I was given this apparatus to wear to bed every night. It kept me awake for about 4 nights and I often woke up during the night and removed it just to get some sleep at all. I was not allowed to walk in this apparatus...only to wear it while laying down. That meant I had to remove it if I was getting up for anything during the night. I quickly became proficient at suppressing the urge to pee. Eventually total exhaustion set in and I also learned to sleep with it on all night long. 
Some improvement started to be realized but other bone issues in my feet were realized, making for a nice stew of 'that feels better, but now this hurts, doc". 

Two days ago I finally consented to cortisone shots in the joints of my right foot in an attempt to ease the pain and inflammation so I can walk more like myself and less like a woman of 90 yrs old. There was a numbing of the surface skin while the shot was being administered. Just when it was becoming quite painful it was over. I felt very little until the numbing agent wore off a few hours later....then I became well acquainted with both a throbbing pain and a sharp stabbing pain. Oh joy! This must be getting better, right?

I'm sure this will feel better in a few days. I can see and feel slow improvement every day. The swelling is coming down; my shoe fits again; and it no longer keeps me awake at night. A good thing too because I  have a hiking vacation trip coming up in the near future and I can still hear the techno music calling to me! 

Plumbing Must Be Tiring Work

 My first thought when I noticed my kitchen ceiling looked wet was.....Oh Crap! A week and a half later when I finally got the plumber to show up and take a look at it, I knew I was in for a ride. I don't even want to discuss the plumber really. I still can't decide if he is incompetent or a con artist or both. He seemed to need a hell of a lot of help to do the job and had the audacity to try to bill me for HIS hours (some of which were spend actually sleeping in my tub!) as well as some other guys hours ($40 per hr) and I still don't know who that guy was. I even provided him some extra help for free in the form of Mark, who did the messy job of cutting the hole in the ceiling for him. 

 

 Well I waited to be sure that the job was actually tested out sufficiently before paying him. And I did NOT pay what he billed me for the extra guy. I did not authorize that so I'm not paying for it. I told him this on the phone too...we didn't see eye to eye on that. Oh shucks! Then when he finds out that I've also deducted his tub sleeping time from the bill he's probably going to be very disappointed isn't he? lol

My ceiling is still not put back together yet. But that's ok. Mark is going to do it and as long as Tom the (supposed) plumber has nothing to do with it I'm sure it will end up being just fine.