September 2014 – Snippets and Tidbits

Suck It In

Posted on September 8, 2014November 6, 2014 by Sharon

At the end of September, I’m going to a Steampunk function. For anyone unfamiliar with Steampunk, it’s a combination of Victorian era/inventor/gears/corsets/sluttycostumes/anythinggoes. For example:

I’m not that into this, so I didn’t want to spend insane amounts of money on a costume. I figured I could cobble something together.

Did I mention you can spend insane amounts of money on this stuff?

I decided that an old shirt and skirt I have might pass muster if I gussy it up enough and get a corset. Since I was going to get a corset, I wanted one that would really fit. I found someplace that produces a pretty substantial corset and wouldn’t cost me too much, so I ordered one.

Today, my corset came. Of course I had to try it on! I’m certainly glad I got the SMALLER size (did I really just say that?) because if I’d gotten the other one I was looking at, it would have been far too large. My opinion? It’s actually pretty comfortable. Sure, you can’t bend over quite like you do without it, and a deep breath isn’t really something that you get right away, but I wore mine for about 6 hours and after the first couple, I got used to it. My posture definitely improved and I noticed it wasn’t so hard to breath anymore.

Then hubby came home. I showed him my corset and told him how I couldn’t get it as laced up as I wanted it. I must have forgotten he’s been working out, because HE certainly could lace that sucker up. Still, it wasn’t TOO bad. I’m sure I’ll look like the country mouse at this event, but meh… I’ll do the best I can.

BTW, hubby doesn’t have any costume at all so far. Doh!

Musings and Mutterings

Headaches and Dreams

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Sharon

Seems I have THE wonkiest dreams whenever I have a headache. A storm system passed through last night and once in awhile I’ll get sinus headaches. This one must have started while I was asleep, because I had a disturbing dream that woke me up at 3:17 a.m.

I dreamed I was doing the dishes and one of my cats (Sally) was sitting by the dish drain watching me. In reality, Sally and Scout love to be near me and watch me all the time. I have people who come take care of my furry friends whenever I travel who warn me that Sally/Scout may not be there when I get home because they’ve fallen in love with the two of them. They really are very interested, engaged and loving animals. Which is why this is such a disturbing dream, but I digress…

Anyway, she was watching me do the dishes and I was in a good mood, so I decided to give her a little treat. I opened a container and found a little blue tablet that had 30 on it and remember thinking just before I gave it to Sally, “That looks like it would be a good treat!”. She scarfed it up, like she does any treat, and looked at me. Then I remembered I was supposed to give her some medicine (she’s fine and healthy, so I can’t pin why I felt the need to medicate her). I gave her the proper dosage and the minute she finished it off, I realized that I’d not given her a treat previously, but instead had given her triple the amount of medicine in one tablet and her proper dosage of medicine in the other tablet.

I felt panic.

I grabbed Sally, who was looking a bit off already, and tried jamming my finger down her throat to get her to puke up the pills, but she wriggled for a very short time and then went limp. I was crushed and sobbing and woke up.

I’ve decided that wasn’t a very good place to leave my dream, so in my waking world the real ending is that she had a great nap and woke up playful. That’s got to be it, because all day – in my waking world – she’s been very lovey and hasn’t wanted to leave my side.

Musings and Mutterings

My 19th Season

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Sharon

Tonight I begin my 19th season with the chorus. Whoa.

Sometimes, I can’t fathom how that’s even possible. I know that for 12 of those years I was a parent of a singer. I know that I’ve now been to England, Italy and France with the Chorus. I know that I’ve been blessed by being in the same company as hundreds of children and their unique and lively spirits. I know I’ve been backstage at Carnegie Hall, met Condoleza Rice and the Vice Premier of China, rubbed elbows with Maestra Marin Alsop and had my name appear in the liner notes of a Grammy nominated CD. I’ve made countless friends, listened to outstanding music and learned about composers and music history. I’ve learned new software, developed procedures and have a cadre of workers helping me now that the Chorus has grown to over 400 students. I’ve worked with a wonderful woman who is incredibly talented and truly a caring person who openly shares that with the students who all have great respect for her and want nothing more than to please her.

I am a happy camper.

weekend, willow

Hello September

Posted on September 1, 2014September 1, 2014 by Sharon

Every time I open WordPress (the site that hosts my blog) the interface is different. I’m not sure if this is a good or a bad thing, since it takes me awhile to re-learn where everything is to post something. Sheesh!

Here we are on September 1st, which is both Labor Day this year and my grand daughter’s 14th birthday. Oh. My. She’s 14. I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this one, people. I was thinking about her today and realizing that when I talk to her again it wouldn’t be like I was talking to a kid anymore. When she called me and wished me a belated Happy Birthday and proceeded to use the word “derogatory”, I had to take a big gulp to swallow down the grandma panic that bubbled up.

Her sister turns 13 in November. Another difficult realization. Another gulp.

In the middle of August, my youngest daughter – also known as #4 in past posts on this blog – got engaged. Both Hubby and I knew it was coming, since her fiancee came in July to collect her engagement ring. (family heirloom that she’d inherited) What we didn’t expect was that she’d buy a dress within the same week! Since I wasn’t able to be present in Pittsburgh, she drove down to show me her dress. It’s gorgeous. She’s gorgeous. I held it together, but I’m sure I’ll be weepy when the time comes. Looks like we’ll be traipsing off to a tropical wedding destination sometime next year. Sorry, can’t show you any photos yet!!

My birthday was in late August and the only thing I wanted to do was eat junk food and go kayaking. Since my dear Hubby loves me, he indulged me by facilitating both. In fact, just simply because it worked out that way, I was able to eat junk for two weeks straight. I had pizza, sushi, doughnuts, carrot cake, carrot cupcakes, burgers, pancakes, ice cream, fried mushrooms, beer (lots of that) and wine (and lots of that!) and just about anything else I could think to nosh on. It was great, but by the time we were nearing the end of the second week, my body was screaming “VEGETABLES!!”.

10645270_10201473753725371_2063023217962797072_n — Yes, the cake is as tall as the glass of water!

Hubby and I agreed that beginning today, September 1, we were going back to our cleaner eating habits and would step up our exercise routine before we go jaunting about the planet in 2015. Not only will I go to a tropical island for a wedding, but I’ll be visiting Germany and Austria as well.That two-week stint of junk-food heaven cost me about 9 lbs, fatigue, swelling, and daily fluid in my ear due to ignoring some food sensitivities. I’m ready to get down to business now.

10659281_10201469230372290_7083641664903847109_n — Hello 51!

We finally got to go kayaking. It was wonderful and peaceful and I loved it. We even started looking at what a kayak might cost us. We have the Subaru, so we need the kayak, yes?