All performances are over now, til after Christmas!

I guess the last time I blogged was before Thanksgiving. Geesh, do I have a lot to catch up on. So let's start with THanksgiving.
We'd had it early at mom's house and it was terrific. Then Thanksgiving Day, well it was ok I guess. We went to Rusty's dad's kinda early so we'd have time to visit with them before jetting off to Aunt Joni's. At some point, I can't remember now if it was before, during, after, or whatever, but Rusty and I had our usual traditional holiday argument so that much was right in line with tradition lol. It's never anything big. It's always something little. So much that I don't even remember now what. All I know is we do it every THanksgiving and CHristmas. And sometimes other holidays. So anyway, we went down to Aunt Joni's for the rest of the afternoon. We were there quite a long time actually. BUt we had a good time. Got to visit with Ken and Connor as well. When we got home that night, our electricity was out but only in HALF the house. It was weird. Rusty and Donnie started going through breakers and boxes and outside junk. Finally at some point, Rusty turned the oven on and as soon as he did all the power came back on. It may have just coincidentally came on as he was messing with the oven. But it was really weird. We've not had anymore trouble since. So who knows!?!?


My friend Heather was in town from Atalanta with her new baby over THanksgiving so we go to see and hold the sweetest little baby girl! Always makes me want another one. BUt not really lol.


TAnner and I were so proud of ourselves for actually getting the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving! I was so afraid this would be one of those years that were the last minute getting it up. Little did we know what JACK had in store for us. Our Christmas tree has been around for 18 seasons. It has lived through I don't know HOW many cats. Not to mention all the moving and rearranging that I've done to it here and there. But the tree did not last a week with Jack. He climbed it, pulled limbs out of it, pulled all the ornaments off and took them all over the house, and knocked it over so many times that the base finally broke, once and for all. The only way it is still standing in the picture below is because I leaned it against the wall:
I decided I just did not need the stress right now. I took it down and threw it away. Bah humbug! lol. We kept the very top portion of it though and made ourselves a tiny tree for this year. I told Tanner we would just always remember this year as the "year we had a tiny make-shift tree" and it would be funny forevermore. I don't want to spend the money on a new one right now. And if I did, I"m not sure Jack would survive til New Year's if he destroyed a brand new one. So in interest of "Peace and goodwill toward men (and cats)" we are gonna make do with this one:
So far Jack has not bothered this one. I guess he can't climb it so it's not fun. BUt hopefully he will keep ignoring it. Everyone seems to get a kick out of seeing it. Especially those who saw Jack's handiwork.

Ok. Beginning the SUnday after Thanksgiving I had a series of constant performances it seemed like. The Madrigals performed at a special service at my doctor's church:
THen a few days after that I took the Madrigals and another choir I had thrown together at the last minute to the local Christmas Carol contest that is put on by a radio station. They all did well but I don't have any pics because nobody went with me. The Madrigals did not make the top 3 of their division, but that other choir of mine did! THey were excited. I just put that group together because I had realized that none of those kids had ever gotten to be in the caroling contest. I thought that was awful. But by the time we decided to do it we only had 4 days to practice. So we didn't figure on winning anything, our goal was just to go and see what it was like. We made it to the top 3 and had to go compete again on another night. They did very well. We ended up coming in 3rd, but we still got $500! Not bad for 4 days work if you ask me. They were happy about it also. All's well that ends well.

The Madrigal Feast finally came. I've been working on that for the better part of 3 months now and it has REALLY taken all my time. I think that evening was the climax of my stress level. But it ended up all being worthwhile. To start with, a gigantic storm with tornados and hail and stuff hit RIGHT about the time we were to start seating guests. People were so concerned with the weather that I ended up having to start 30 minutes late so that some of it could pass over. Thankfully we had pre-sold most of the tickets so everyone braved the weather to get there since they'd paid $25 a ticket lol. We didn't exactly sell out, but we came close. We made enough money to break even, which was what I expected. And everyone totally LOVED the show. And people are talking about us out in the community. So, once again, goal accomplished. The kids were on top of the world that evening. They've never done anything like that and now they can't wait to do it again. Makes me wish I had not come to the agreement to alternate years with the other high school lol. Because now we won't do it again til 2010. BUt that's ok, I don't think I could handle one EVERY year. Pictures from the Madrigal Dinner , which included dinner, a concert, and a play put on by some really talented kids that I pride myself for picking. You can see that even I dressed in Renaissance clothing.......I can't resist costumes any more than TAnner can I guess. I sewed ALL of the servant costumes, and ALL of the actors costumes. The Madrigals already had theirs. But I put some major hours into that show but I was very glad I did. Jenifer ended up choosing Tanner to be her volunteer from the audience and he had to eat "worms in dirt", which were gummy worms in cookie crumbs. But he had a great time. Mom, Pat, Tanner, Tyler, Brook, Rusty, Keith, Cheryl, and her mom all came to the show. Everyone said it was great, and we will have it on TV probably by next weekend.


THe next day at school I had given Mrs. Leese the day off, since me and the kids were going to just CHILL for once and talk about the performance. Mrs. Leese sent me a poinsettia with a card that said great job and that she was proud of me. Made me feel good! And I had the students write some of the good things they had heard about us from other people on the board...
Sometime in the midst of all that, there was a Christmas parade that Tanner and Cody were in, riding on the elementary school float. THey had a really terrific float this year. They had a good time for sure....

Also, in the midst of all that, we played another show at Julio's. We are minus a drummer now after all. So Trent filled in with us. In fact, since that show happened, we are now minus a singer as well. Just was not working out with Laura. She had a hard time getting here to practice and stuff. And just a hard time in life in general. So we've found another female singer. THis one is 21. And I swear if people start asking me if she's my daughter I'll DIE. lol. But she's real good, seems real mature and all too. So hopefully it's gonna work out for awhile. But with a new singer and fill in drummers, it's kind of like being back at square one again. I hate square one. But maybe it won't take long to get back on our feet. Here is a pic of Steve and Trent that evening.

Last night I went to watch our Jr. High School choir concert. They have a new director there as well and he and I are trying to stay in communication for recruiting purposes. He has 86 kids from 7th and 8th grade which is awesome. I have 50 total, and I have 9-12 grades. Lots of building to do. BUt looks like he's giving me a great start for the next few years.

So pretty much right now, I'm just POOPED. It's exam week at school, which is great for a choir teacher. I don't give an exam so kids don't have to come unless there is an exam. So I'm now going through music looking for what we will do for contest in February. I also finished up the auditions for the musical and that project begins right away after Christmas. Many kids are real happy with me and the part they got. But there are several who are just aggravated at me because they didn't get what they want. That's a weird spot to be in, but guess I"ll get used to it. Not everyone can be this and that. But what they don't realize yet is that pretty much every part is a really cool and fun one.

Rusty bought me a new video camera as an early Christmas present. It's awesome! Digital and all. I'm still learning to use it. BUt soon I should have cool videos each week maybe!

Tomorrow night we go to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra for the 5th year in a row lol. Every year we say we're gonna sit it out this year, but we always go. It's great. Both the kids and Blake and Brooke are gonna go too. It's fun to see with someone who hasn't seen it before. Thursday night will be my Christmas party at work. So things really haven't slowed down much this week, I just don't have any concerts. I'm aiming to get back in the gym over the holidays. And read some books. Because January - March is gonna be tough on me. Fun, but tough.

I have begun teaching myself something new. I'm learning to delegate and ask for help, and to stop being a "micro-manager" all the time. I'm not learning this because I neccessarily WANT to. I'm learning it because I simply have no choice! lol With so many projects happening, so many rehearsals, so many late hours at work......I just have no choice. I've got to learn to let other people do stuff, even if it's their way instead of mine.

So I've gotten the Choir Booster Club started, even though it's only a handful of parents. It's still people to help me out. I got one mom to sew the jester suit for the Madrigal Dinner. I'm gonna get another lady to help me sew the peasant "sacks". I've got another mom opening up a checking account for us to be able to more freely use our funds for the things we need instead having to go through district red tape all the time. I've got one parent who is in charge of coming up with fundraiser ideas and co-ordinating that stuff, and hopefully soon will be taking care of all that paperwork too. I"ve got students designing and printing out flyers and tickets and any stuff we need like that. I've got the kids at home doing dishes. Not very well, but doing them. They're learning the washing machine and dryer this weekend. I'm well on my way to being able to let people do things lol.

But I still don't like it much. It helps take a lot of stress off of me. But I worry about things not getting done the way I would do them myself. I guess I'll just have to learn to be ok with that. The money thing makes me a little nervous. I want to know where every penny comes from and goes. But at the same time it's driving me nuts trying to keep up with it all by myself. I will still know what all goes on, we've all agreed on security measures. But still. Hard to get used to.

Anyway. For some reason all that was my first thoughts as I sat to write the blog. But certainly not the important or interesting things of the past 2 weeks. Tanner has had TWO piano recitals and he did wonderfully! He was a little teensy bit nervous at the first one and wondered all day if he was going to be the kind of person who gets stage fright. He found out quickly that he is NOT. AFterwards he said, "I'm just like my dad, I LOVE the stage!" And he did lol. His first recital was a boys only recital with several teacher in the area putting all their boy students on display. The 2nd recital was just the students of Mrs. Leese, and he wasn't worried a bit at that one. He did his thing and enjoyed his applause. I think he's really going to enjoy the attention part of musicianship lol. And, yes, just like his DAD lol. Here is the video from recital #1 and some pics from both recitals.

And speaking of performances, I got my first one of the year over with and GOD do I feel much better now! Whew! I have worried and fretted over that for weeks just NOT knowing what to expect or how we would do, or how well we would be received by our tough audience, or how I would compare as a director to others and all of that. I just didn't know if I was going to survive that day or not. The stress level was at maximum capacity lol. But I made it through. And it went well. And the show choir that I've worried over so much was not only well received, but they are STILL getting rave reviews from students, parents, and anyone else who saw them. All the kids in my other choirs are begging to be in show choir now. And word is traveling around the school as well, so I'm thinking that will help me get a good turnout for auditions for next year's choirs for sure. All of my choirs did well, as well as could be expected. We have some issues but they're just facts of life mostly. Problems we have due to my kids being mostly younger kids, and very few of them, and lack of training, and perhaps lack of experience on my part as well. But they have made progress and done well since the start of the year so I was proud of them all for sure. And the parents seemed pleased. So what else can I ask for, for now? I had our friend and bass player RustyH was kind enough to come out and video it for me, but I don't have any videos short enough for posting. I'll have to see if I can do that. But I do have some pics that Keith took. Mike and Cheryl and Matthew even came out to see the concert as well, I totally appreciated that! And everyone had nice things to say so I was thankful for the great evening. It was a boost for me. And most of all it was a huge boost for my choir kids.

And when I say we have a tough audience, I mean we have a TOUGH audience. The first parent I interacted with on that evening was a drunk uncle who was raising cane because no one would tell him where his niece was supposed to sit. She already knew where to sit, bless her heart. Another woman and her 6 kids sat down in an entire row that I had reserved for a choir to sit. I nicely asked her to move up a few rows and she told me NO. She said she had 6 kids with her and she was sitting by the DOOR! So I just chose to let that go I guess. What else was I gonna do? lol. In general, parents just seemed GROUCHY at the beginning of that evening. I mean, it was a shock to me that so many seemed more inconvenienced than anything else. But ALL of my students showed up for the performance except for one. That was AWESOME. I'm proud of that fact, I never even had that happen in elementary school. I guess it helps that I can give them an F for not showing up, but however I gotta do it! lol Anyway, by the end of the show parents seemed to be in a much better mood. I think that the concert was shorter than they expected and it ended with the show choir making a huge impression and singing/dancing to more upbeat and crowd pleasing music as opposed to the artsy stuff of other choirs. So everyone seemed much more pleasant in the end. I'll just have to keep all that in mind in the future. To be sure to have plenty of crowd pleasing songs and to get it over with by 8:00!

Me conducting the women's choir:

Me with the Varsity Choir, my largest group:

Jenifer getting her groove on with the show choir!


I did a little video presentation thing with one of the songs. It was really cool, but could hardly be seen because the kids didn't get the right spotlights turned off lol.

The Madrigal Singers:

Mrs. Leese at the piano:

Jenifer, during the song "Seasons of Love" from the musical "Rent". Terrific song!
Speaking of Madrigals, I guess I'm as bad as Tanner with the costume thing. I had to buy my own Renaissance dress to wear with them when do certain performances now and then. On Halloween day we went around the school singing in hallways and classrooms and such. Perfect opportunity for me to wear mine, so I did. The Madrigal kids thought it was cool lol. Many of the other kids around the school didn't realize I was the teacher at first lol. Here we are on that day:

Come to think of it, I took a short video of them performing in a classroom that day. So here is an example of at least one of my choirs performing....not perfectly, of course. But this is probably my best group musically as far as performing 4 - 6 part harmony and blending well.

The night after the concert, mom did Thanksgiving at her house and it was the PERFECT timing for me lol. It was SO nice to be able to get together and celebrate and to have that concert over with lol. The food was awesome, wish I would have had the time to do any cooking or helping out. But mom pretty much had it all covered. We didn't need sweets, mom, I know my four folks just enjoyed the REAL COOKED FOOD more than anything lol.

This is a great picture I got of the marching band at the Homecoming parade. I just like this pic for some reason.

Let's see. What else. We've just been cruising along at lightning speed the last few weeks I guess. I won't be able to stop and think of Christmas until about Dec. 12. But that's nothing unusual really. We went trick-or-treating with Terri and the kids in her neighborhood, Brooke went with us too. Afterwards we all ate at Pizza Hut.

Terri is enjoying her new nursing job/s but she's working so much we never see her anymore. But can't beat the money, I'm sure. We had Homecoming week at school that last week of October. The kids all dress up some different way each day, and one of the days was "Tacky Day". Tyler never does any of the dressing up, but Kyle and Blake and Jenifer could have won a prize on Tacky Day:

One Saturday I got Rusty and the dad of one of my kids to come up to the school and help me go through the sound and lighting on the stage. We spent several hours in there, but found out everything works that's there. And I was able to see how it all works, so we accomplished a LOT. I was thankful for their help because it would have taken me months to try to figure it out by myself. Last weekend we went to Mike and Cheryl's for a nice relaxing campfire evening. I love doing that. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows of course. But it was nice just to sit and talk and stare at the fire. The best thing about going somewhere and doing stuff like a campfire or a pool party is that when we do it, I can ONLY do that. I can't sit there and do work at the same time, and I can't be cleaning on something or in the process of something else. All I can be doing is that ONE thing. Roasting a marshmallow. At that very moment in time, my only purpose for being is to get that marshmallow roasted, nothing more and nothing less. lol









This weekend, we went to the opening night of the movie "Twilight". I've had the tickets booked for 3 weeks because Tyler has read the book and couldn't wait for the movie. We found out Brooke wanted to go Friday afternoon so I was still able to book one more ticket and we all went. Personally I really liked the movie myself! I think Tyler, Tanner, and Brooke did as well. Rusty hated it though lol. I think there was a little too much plot, emotion, and drama in it for him. He prefers his vampire movies with lots of blood guts and gore, lots of action and excitement. And leaning more toward the "B movie" flavor. But this vampire movie was a little different I guess, more like "Interview with the Vampire" probably. Chock full of romance and internal conflicts. It was all he could do to get through the movie without a cigarette but he made it and we all had a good time anyway lol.

Last weekend Jenifer and Tanner talked me into "highlighting" their hair. I had some blonde stuff already that I had bought for Tyler last summer to do the tips of his hair blonde but we never got around to it. Jenifer went out and bought her some stuff that was actually meant for highlighting. So we did the job. Jenifer's turned out pretty good, you could tell a difference for sure. I couldn't tell a bit of difference on Tanner's. But oh well lol. He had fun.

Tyler's been doing alright lately I guess. When on all of his medicine, he rarely has spells. That I can see anyway. He says he still has them. But you take just ONE medicine away for even one day and you will notice an immediate increase in spells. That's the way I see it anyway. The only time I've seen him have any at all is when he has run out of one medicine and we haven't gotten the refill yet. I've been getting them pretty quickly, he never tells me til the last minute. But he has had to go a day or 2 here and there without one medicine or other. And when he has, that's the only times I've seen him fall out. He doesn't think there is any relation. But I do. We are supposed to go back to the doctor this week but I'm gonna probably have to postpone it because I can't find a sub for Tuesday. It's a check up and he has plenty of meds so it won't hurt if we have to make it a week or two later. Other than all that, he's doing alright I guess. He's quiet and to himself most of the time, but he's happy and in good spirits always. He's going back to church again. His asthma is flaring up this weekend kinda bad so we had to use some connections to go get him a good breathing treatment yesterday. He's still short on breath today, but he's better. I went ahead and gave him the round of medicine the doctor gave me to keep around for the really big flare ups. We've managed to hold off on it for nearly a year, but I figured we better go ahead and use it this time, being this time of year and all.

My busiest 2 weeks of the whole year so far will begin tomorrow. Musical auditions from 3:00 til 7:00 on Monday, Tuesday, and then the MOnday after Thanksgiving. After school rehearsals EVERY other day through the 9th for the Madrigal Dinner. Nov. 30 the madrigals are singing at my doctor's church that evening. The night of Dec. 2 is the caroling contest and I've put 2 groups in it, plus Im playing for Laura to sing. The night of Dec. 4 I'm taking a group of kids to a Mississippi College choir concert. Dec. 6 is the caroling contest callbacks if we make it, and Slaphappy is supposed to play at Julio's that night also. Dec. 8 is a massive dress rehearsal for the dinner that will probably take about 4 hours. Dec. 9 is the Madrigal Dinner. Dec. 10 I have after school callback auditions for the musical. And that's about as far as my brain can get right now lol.

But I'm gonna go for now. ANd try to catch up on the past few weeks of everyone else's blog.

Posting about work cuz that's ALL I did this week.

Me! Me! Me! It's all about me! lol I hate to be that way, and I know I have been lately. But I'm still just NOT settled into my new life yet. I don't know when I'll be.

Things I did this week that were not work:

1. Tanner and I went and rented horror movies and we all watched them Wednesday night.

2. Took Kyle and rented a car for mom.
3. Got Tanner's costume in the mail. He was begging to be a werewolf. And talked me into buying him a $48.00 werewolf costume. But have to admit it's a pretty good one. I also ordered a couple of costumes for the madrigal dinner and he had to try those on too, of course.

And I don't think people really want to hear about work. But otherwise, I have nothing to write about. And God knows I could stand to tell SOMEBODY about work because no one wants to hear it much these days lol. So, I guess, I'm going to be writing a lot about work this week. So anyone uninterested might just skip this week. But I think I need the outlet. Anyone bored enough to read, thanks for listening! You're awesome! lol




Sometimes you just reach a point where you are SO overwhelmed and backed up on work and have too many irons in too many fires that you just have to STOP. And I reached that point this week. So today I just STOPPED. Figured Friday was as good a day as any. So I started planning on Tuesday to just STOP on Friday. I told Mrs. Leese don’t worry about coming in on Friday. One choir had earned a party by having 100% of their choir fees brought in (still waiting on the other 3).
One choir, who has been rather easy to deal with all year, decided to take their turn at being a pain in the ass this week. A girl got pissed at me on Monday morning and went off at the mouth as only a teenage girl can do. So I had to write my first choir kid up for the year. Then Wednesday morning the entire alto section decided they hate this song that we’ve been working on forever (probably because we’ve worked on it forever) and basically just quit singing it. They’ve decided they’d rather do all Christmas songs. Which is not going to happen. Didn’t plan a party for THEM on Friday, needless to say. But since some of our dresses came in I decided we would just take the day to try on dresses and get everyone’s perfect size so that I could order more. And if there is any time left I would search through the shelves and look for emergency easy songs we can throw together fast for the concert Nov. 18 in case they continue to go on strike for that one song.
Show Choir has managed to do ok in about the last 4 weeks. Although for the last week we’ve missed Jenifer and worried about her, and had several students out sick a lot it seems. Everytime we got to the "Ice Ice Baby" section of "Dance Evolution" the girls would stop and say "aw this is the Jenifer part!!!" They had a hard time doing it without her, just didn't seem right lol. That's the section that Jen made up. But hopefully everyone will be back next week. But we’ve only had one significant uproar in about 4 weeks now, which is GOOD for them. And on that day I just stood in front of them, turned my head, put my hand up and said…….. “I can NOT WORK with you PEOPLE!!!!!” in as dramatic a fashion as I could muster. They stopped, but grinned. I like it when you can do something that totally shocks them and they get thrown off. Nothing more fun. Anyway, the point is, I decided to let them have a party today also because they’ve made progress. And because they found out about the other class having a party and were GREEN with ENVY. But they insisted that I have a completely different pot of rotel dip for them because they don’t want to be eating out of the same pot as some OTHER choir. This is probably my most frustrating, but most entertaining group of kids! Gotta love ‘em.





So. In women's choir, 13 girls put the HURT on some sausage rotel. They would have eaten double what I brought if I had brought it. And that's on top of cupcakes and cookies they brought as well. And in show choir, there were only 6 people there and they ate yet another complete batch of rotel and would have eaten more. I had intended to invite Tyler, Kyle, and Blake for lunch to eat the leftovers but I forgot. I was glad I forgot because there weren't any!



Madrigals are WAY behind on knowing their music for the Madrigal Dinner. I find myself drilling little details to DEATH in every song, sometimes spending the whole hour on 2 or 3 pages of one song. I know that’s not a good thing. It’s not that they can’t do it. It’s just not perfect yet and that makes me nervous lol. So today I decided we would just STOP, take a look at the big picture, and set goals for what to know by what day, etc. It ended up that show choir had so much fun listening to Seussical music while eating that they would not leave and go to lunch. So they stayed, and together with the Madrigals they sang Seussical music and then the Madrigals wanted to learn the show choir music so they did that. It was actually an interesting process to watch. Show choir kids teaching Renaissance musicians to sing and dance with soul, emotion, and flair. They actually made for one awesome group. Gave me ideas for next year at least.





I keep thinking that one day I'll go to work and all of a sudden they will just magically know everything. Like, it's gonna all come together, all in one day. One can hope.




And as for the 6th period general music class – they’ve just been oddly well behaved lately. Probably because so many are suspended right now lol. Seriously, I average about 5-7 out of 24 kids suspended on any given day. But I decided to give some kids a chance to make up work they either didn't turn in or were absent for, which was almost everyone. So they made up work. And I taught about 4 of them how to play the theme to Halloween on the piano which kept them all entertained for about 30 minutes.





Ah. And I built my own "closet" in my office this week. My office is seriously getting cram packed. But I have all these costumes and dresses and stuff, I need somewhere to hang them that people can't get access to. And also, while plundering around in the stage set storage room I found some cute little flower things that looked perfect for our Dr. Seuss musical we're gonna do. So I took them on down with me and put them in the office. My mission with the plundering is to find a paper mache boar's head that they swear exists, but so far no luck finding it. I may have to commission the sculpture of a new one.



After school today, for the FIRST time ever, I had ALMOST all of my madrigal actors present for rehearsal. We are always missing at least half of them. But today, we were only missing 2. And I got to see a much better view of what we are going to have for the comedy portion of the dinner. And I felt much better. Now if they will just all memorize it, keep showing up, and find decent costumes. I've been doing actor rehearsals after school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and show choir practice after school every Tuesday and Wednesday.





Have I mentioned that a few weeks ago one of my students asked me, basically, if I would finish raising him? Like be his legal guardian? FOR REAL I am NOT kidding. Floored me. He is involved in one of those push-pull custody kinda things between parents, grandparents, other family, etc., always back and forth. I politely explained that I just couldn't do that, having kids of my own and all. I've probably just said way way too much on the blog here, but that one I just couldn't keep to myself any longer. And then there was the girl one day who said "Mrs. Gardner my doctor told me something really bad yesterday and I can't tell you what it is." I said...."ok......". A little while later she said "want me to tell you what it is???" I said only if you want to. She started to tell me and others were listening so she said she'd tell me later. I really didn't want to know. She never did tell me. And she has not come back to school since then. Makes me feel bad now. There's just NO telling. I'm sure that's all TMI as well. Then......me, the maid, the security guard, and the assistant principal have been trying to catch 4 boys smoking all week long. They stand at the end of the building up the hill and smoke. If I walk out the front door of my building they see me and run off. They aren't close enough for me to identify. I took my camera today and tried to zoom in to their spot but they didn't come today. At this point, it's becoming a mission of mine. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes now to catch them, and I DON'T know why. I'm GOING to find out who they are lol. And can't wait to see them get caught. I guess I'm morphing into a true high school teacher after all! But I've still not yet learned to go ballistic over shirt tails. And I'm not yet insane enough. Give me a few more months.




I had a choir parent meeting Thursday night at 6. To start up the official Choir Booster Club. We got a lot done, officers elected, brainstormed ideas. But we were there til 7:30! An hour longer than I had expected. Rusty was like...........where the #$%^ are you at????? It was after 8 by the time I got home. But I'm very glad to have a parent group to call on now.





My every single day is a complete and total different adventure. I totally love it. But at the same time, I'm having to neglect so much else I'm worried I'll burn out too fast. I hope not. I've got to teach at least 16 more years.



My first order of concert dresses came in this week. I did a GREAT job picking them out. No matter what size, height, weight, body style any girl had, the dress looked AWESOME on them. They were all smiles and twirls. Even the ones who have been bitching all this time (I don't want that ugly ol' dress, etc) liked it. I ordered one of every size for us to try on to get sizes. Now I just have to order the rest. And get the money to order the rest lol. Aren't they lovely? If nothing else, I can receive credit for bringing Vicksburg High School into the 21st century this year. I'll be proud of that fact for years to come. These beat choir robes anyday, if you ask me.

I was in the school newspaper this month. In there twice, actually. In a photo on the front where they were signing the contract with our Adopt-A-School partner. I was asked to be there because I didn’t have a class that period. Then they did an article on all the new teachers. My picture in that one was terrible. But the article was ok. But where it says child/person, I had just said child. I imagine some teenager made that change so as not to be considered a “child” lol. But was probably a good idea. As far as hobbies, I started to say "I no longer have hobbies, I'm a high school choir director". But I figured I could at least reminisce about my OLD hobbies. A few of my 6th period kids asked me how I got in the paper TWO times. I told them it was because I am extremely important to the school. roflmao! I stated that I "attended" USM and MC. The way they put it, it sounds as if I graduated from BOTH places. Which is fine by me. Your best salesman is always yourself, right? And I actually said MUCH more stuff than they quoted, as you can imagine. I had to write it down on paper so you KNOW I was doing some talking there. If they had asked me in person, I'd have had very few words:

“Tracy Gardner is the choir director. She graduated from USM and MS College with a major in Music Education. Her hobbies include reading, home improvement projects, playing the piano, learning about computers, spending time with her family, and traveling. Gardner said, ‘I have taught at both Cedars Elementary and Warrenton Elementary, so many of the students have had me as a teacher.’ I believe in educating the whole child/person. I teach choir and music related topics, but I also believe in taking advantage of teaching anything else that may arise, whether it’s English, history, or even manners and etiquette.”

Yep that’s me. As far as the manners and etiquette, we’re talking BASIC skills here because so many of these kids just do not know what an appropriate response to any situation is. And they seriously just DON’T know. Like, how to respond to a performance of a choir or orchestra, etc. How to speak to elders, when to NOT flip out over something. I have one student who absolutely can NOT refer to me by anything resembling a proper name. And he seriously just doesn't know better. He's called me "man", "boo-boo", "hey you", "yo lady", and so on. I'd get pissed if I didnt' realize that.............he just doesn't know. He has finally learned to call me by name. Thank God, for his sake. I could go on about this topic but anyway…..


People at home are starting to get frustrated I think. Rusty and the kids have all been excited about my new job for me all this time, and eager to hear about my days and such. But things are starting to happen that they are getting tired of, just little things lol. Tanner just can’t BELIEVE we’re out of tea all the time. I’m just not home to make it til nearly 6 on most days and then I just don’t feel like it! He and Tyler both know how to make it but they so far won’t do it. I told him once they want it bad enough they will make it, and that I only make tea on weekends now. Rusty has picked up some cigarette route work in Jackson and has had to go there after work 2-3 days a week and doesn’t get home til late either. NO laundry gets done except on weekends. My Wal Mart habit has drastically been reduced. We run out of stuff lol. Nobody wants to hear about my day anymore, they’re tired of hearing me worry about choir money and fundraising and talk about kids being good or bad. So I guess it’s just frustrating all the way around lol. Not sure yet what to do about it, guess we just have to get used to it. It’s going to get really rough from January-March. Or really NOW through March. But after March, things should be great.





I'm currently rolling on the floor. Tanner just walked in and said......"OK it's FRIDAY can you POSSIBLY make us some TEA NOW????"





So I guess I'll go make tea.

October starts

Ok I'm finally here blogging. It's been quite a month so far, particularly quite a past week. First and foremost we lost a dear friend this week, untimely. Keith's wife Angela passed away. I mean, I don't even like typing the words, it just seems so unreal. I think she was 34 years old, 35 tops. I think most of us are all still just sitting around in shock, with the world just kinda tossed around and out of order. Don't know what else to say about it.

I don't know. It's October and it's usually my favorite time of year. Just today did it finally cool off any and we have been able to open windows and turn on the attic fan. I've been waiting for that moment for 2 months. The fresh air has been nice, and blowing out all that cigarette smell is the best thing of all. Of course, it won't all completely go out. It's permanently in my house. But getting some fresh air in is nice. I usually am decorating for Halloween by now, but I've yet to get the spirit I guess. I'm considering getting the stuff out today though. We did at least buy one new thing this year so far. I had to have it. Wal Mart had this bowl with a hand sticking out of it. When you reach in the bowl to get candy the hand grabs your hand lol. And even though I KNOW it's going to do it every single time, I STILL jump or flinch when it happens. The kids laugh at me. Here is a little video of Tanner demonstrating the Halloween hand bowl:

We were out of school that first week of October which was nice. But I was so terribly afraid of losing all the progress that we have made in the choirs at school that I scheduled rehearsals for 4 days of that week for 2 groups. I probably should have just NOT done that. But I was just worried. Very few kids actually showed up for the rehearsals anyway. But the ones that did - we did make some progress. So I guess it ended up worth it. Tanner and Tyler stayed home alone most of the days and played computer games, ate food, and trashed the house. But I guess they enjoyed their break. I have put them solely in charge of the dishes everyday for a few weeks now. They do all the dishwasher loading and unloading. I have to remind them constantly. But at least they are doing something. Soon it will be laundry. I'm just never here during the week it seems. I work kinda late and I've been trying to get back in the gym and just one thing after another. I don't cook anymore either. Today is SUnday and I made the statement that I'm in the mood to cook all day. I think folks around here are excited about that lol.

Speaking of the gym, Brooke wanted to go to the gym with me yesterday so we went. I think she likes doing the weight machines and things and she's not afraid to sit down and try to figure out what each machine does. I introduced her to the girls side of the gym, where no men or boys are allowed lol. I like it over there, but I go to the co-ed side some too especially if I have Tyler or Rusty there. Tanner went with Brooke and me also, but I didn't let him work out because the last time I did the gym owner got mad because Tanner was goofing off on the treadmill instead of doing it right. So I think he needs to mature a good bit more before he works out again lol.

Overall school is going well I guess. I'm back and forth every single day from thinking "Oh my GOD I must be CRAZY and we're NEVER going to be able to do this Madrigal Dinner and this concert" to the next day thinking "Oh, yes, we are so awesome, we're going to be able to do anything and everything with no worries". And I never can predict what kind of day I"m going to have because these teenagers throw me for a loop every single time. We will be working hard together and doing well and everyone is pleasant and excited and they think I'm the best teacher EVER and they are all best friends with each other and they have all these terrific ideas and things for several days in a row. And just when I come to expect things to always be that way, we will have a day where they all come in pissed off or lazy or "so TIRED" of this or that, and this is not how we did it LAST year, and "do we HAVE to do this today" and "OMG I can NOT work with HIM" and "in my creative opinion, I think we should do this or that" and GEEEZZZZZ. It's a total rollercoaster. And I was taking it very hard and taking it very personally at first. But I am slowly learning to not give a DARN and to tell them - in a nice way - to get over themselves.

Anyway. I hope that we are all prepared for the November concert and most of all the big Madrigal Dinner project I've bitten off. My fear is that it will end up being more than I can chew....

We played 2 weekends in a row with the band. One Saturday at the Loft and the next Saturday at a little place in Tallulah, LA. 'Twas fun both times, overall. Well, let's just leave it at that I guess. Not a whole lot to say but that we did pretty good and we made really good money and we got to get out there and see how things are gonna go for us and all. I've got some pics I'll put at the end.

Report cards came out. Tyler has all B's and C's which is SO much better than last year lol. Tanner had A's, B's, and a C or two I think. This weekend Brooke and Drew have been here with us and Tanner's been in heaven pretty much. Dustin and Cody Friday night, Drew and Brooke Saturday night.

This past week Cheryl, Lysa, Lysa's friend and I went to see STOMP in Jackson. It was awesome. It's a bunch of percussion people that play rhythms on odd things like garbage cans, inner tubes, brooms, and they even had kitchen sinks lol. We went to eat at a place called Sal and Mookie's and it was terrific. I found a new drink I like called a Mojito. Tried to reproduce it myself at home this weekend, and it was not very good lol.

For the most part we're all just still trying to balance working and life, with the working part consuming the most time these days. Time is a rare thing. I miss everybody and hate never having time to see people or talk to people. If I don't obsess over my job every waking minute, I get BEHIND on things. I'm terrified of the consequences of getting BEHIND. But hopefully soon I will learn how to keep up and still have a life.

Slaphappy, LSU and Nascar......it just don't get any better than that in Tallulah, LA! lol

Ever have something come from way back in the depths of your mind and just suddenly appear in your brain? This past week a song came in my head that to the best of my recollection I last heard on the radio at my dad's parents house when I was probably less than 8 years old. They used to listen to the old style country-gospel AM radio station. Anyway, One Day at a Time Sweet Jesus! On days when I get flustered or overwhelmed with the dozens of projects I have going at once I find I'm telling myself "just try to take it one day at a time" and I guess that has triggered the memory. I could only remember the main chorus line there. But it stuck in my head so bad I had to go and find it on the internet and it does indeed sum up my situation for this month, or YEAR for that matter!:

I'm only human, I'm just a woman.



Help me believe in what I could be And all that I am.



Show me the stairway, I have to climb.



Lord for my sake, teach me to take



One day at a time.



Chorus: One day at a time sweet Jesus



That's all I'm asking from you.



Just give me the strength



To do everyday what I have to do.



Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus



And tomorrow may never be mine.



Lord help me today, show me the way



One day at a time.



Do you remember, when you walked among men?



Well Jesus you know if you're looking below



It's worse now, than then.



Cheating and stealing, violence and crime



So for my sake, teach me to take



One day at a time.