TRGX4!: A New Year

I've gotten trapped in a vicious cycle for a couple of months now. I got behind on the blog to a point that I knew when I finally sat down to do it, it was going to take a long time. So then I was trying to wait until I had a lot of time to sit down and do it. And that time never came and I got further behind. And so on. So I've missed lots of opportunities to write about wonderful things as they happened which I regret. But I've just got to start back from the current date I guess. But let me at least give the important events in a nutshell:

1. Tyler was released to drive, but the paperwork and red tape has proven to be ridiculous. So we’re still waiting on this that and the other. But he will soon be driving!
2. We played our big local rivalry game at the end of October. It was FREEZING cold and POURING down raining. Rusty was sick with terrible bronchitis. But we all went to the game anyway, even Clay went along to watch Tyler's team play. By the time halftime was over Rusty’s clothes were soaked through and he was shivering and coughing uncontrollably so he had to go sit in the truck the rest of the game and listen to the game on the radio. Me, Tanner, and Drew stayed behind and watched. I’m talking some MISERABLE cold and rain that you would only sit through for your kid. Lol. The game was going well and it got tied up at 7-7 pretty early on and then NOTHING. It ended with 7-7 and we went into overtime. Double overtime at that. And, lo and behold, Tyler's team scored! So we won the game 13-7! Incredible! WE lost EVERY other game this entire season but that one. And that was definitely the one to win! Beating your cross town rival is always awesome, but particularly so this year. The other teams had been doing pretty decent and even got to go to the playoffs. So having our team, who had won ZERO games, beat them was ungodly embarrassing lol. They didn’t behave very well either, they wouldn’t shake our teams hands and one of them even punched one of our guys who went up and tried to shake their hand. At the end of the game, all of our players flopped down in the mud and slid and rolled and had a big mud party. EVEN TYLER, who has always despised being muddy and dirty! At Thanksgiving time, the local newspaper did an article on and his dealing with narcolepsy and playing football. It was an awesome article that most of you have seen.
3. Our puppy, TJ, has been doing alright. He improves all the time. We’ve curbed his chewing habits with rawhide chips and pig ears. We are learning his bathroom habits, and he is learning what we want him to do lol. But we’re not there yet. Just takes a long time really. But there is constant improvement.
4. Tanner played his one and only football game of the year and BOY was he excited! He played on the B team and they played against the cross town rival 7th grade B team. Tanner’s team won! Woohoo! They really should do more practicing and playing with the 7th graders but they don’t. Keith went along for the game and took lots of really good pictures which are at the bottom of this post.
5. I had 2 concerts since I last wrote. Which probably explains my lack of writing. But we did the Fall Concert and then the Christmas Concert. Both went pretty well, I can’t complain much. I’m definitely glad to be getting this break though!
6. Thanksgiving we went to Aunt Joni’s house, then we cooked a little at our house on that Friday. I ended up very sick by Friday, bad cold. Probably whatever Rusty had at that game we won lol. But for the most part, Thanksgiving break was very enjoyable.
7. I did auditions for our Spring Musical right before Thanksgiving and I had to experience something I really didn’t foresee. Last year we had around 50 total parts to fill and about 45 kids auditioned. This year we have only about 27 parts to fill and we had 70 kids audition. MANY did not get picked that were otherwise good enough to do things, I just simply didn’t have anywhere for them. Most musicals are 25 people or less. There just aren’t that many with such a huge cast. Anyway. I experienced the wrath of the scorned high school students. They whined, complained, cried, said nasty things, etc. Not where I could hear them. But everywhere else heard and it kept getting back to me. It was a bit disturbing and disappointing. But I grew some tough skin that day lol. And by the time we were back from the holidays, they had pretty much accepted and forgotten the whole thing. No more problems since.
Photos below!

Ok. Christmas Vacation has been terrific. We got a trip in to Alabama and I got to see babies galore! Brandon and Christie's kids are just pure joy, all the time. I'm sure they NEVER cry or act up! That's how it seems anyway lol. It really was nice to be around some little ones for Christmas. I also enjoyed getting to see my family in Alabama and getting Rusty to see the lakehouse for the first time.
I haven't done SQUAT at home over the holidays. I've done the bare minimum upkeep. But besides that I've just done a lot of sleeping. I haven't even read books as much as I had planned. I have done a little work on the musical but not as much as I needed to. I have slept and slept and sat on this couch doing nothing. I begin to feel guilty about it but then I stop. If that's what I've done and wanted to do, then it must be the very thing that I need. I push myself 90 to nothing the rest of the time so if I feel like being a bum I'm gonna do it while I can. Life is too short to never meet my own needs. So I'm gonna sleep on, til Wednesday when I have to dive back in. Full force. (What does that saying "90 to nothing" mean anyway? It struck me as odd once I said it. HOpe I used it right.)

New Years Eve came and went. We played at Beechwood and there was a sizeable crowd there. We played the best we ever have. We've got a good drummer right now that's very good and comfortable to play with. They got the sound board nicely balanced and it was just the best we've EVER had it. The whole night we're thinking.....yeah, this is it, finally! Then as we were leaving around 4:00 am, our singer quit. lol.

It snowed today. Lots of powdery snow, but none sticking.

One of my students died 2 days before Christmas. She was a freshman that was in my top choir. I taught her back when I was teaching elementary school as well. Just a doll. I had her in the madrigal choir until November when her parents took her out to home school her over some drama of some kind. Anyway. She was driving a 4 wheeler in the woods down in Yokena and had two 6 year olds riding with her. They wrecked and she was killed, the two little ones were badly injured but I think they are going to be ok. The paper said they had to clear 25 miles of trees and brush to get an ambulance back to them. I went to the visitation and it was just so sad. I hope I never have to know what her parents are going through. Her mom just kept telling everyone "Never let your kids on a 4 wheeler!"

The kids have mostly been playing video games the whole 2 weeks. Rusty, too, for that matter. I don't have any New Year's resolutions except to maybe keep this blog up better and to get this weight back off. Musical rehearsals start next week. I'm both looking forward to AND dreading them. I know the rest of my life pretty much shuts down until Spring Break. But it such an accomplishment when it's over. It's worth it. How to diet, exercise, AND conduct musical rehearsals this year is going to be the hard part. Maybe I'll just go up and down the auditorium steps for 20 minutes straight each day.

And now, for some pics of the past few months:

I have put several of Tanner's football game. He only got one game, so gotta put all the pics in that I could lol. He is number 94