Moving

I killed the treadmill off yesterday.  There I was, in the middle of a show, while I was walking at a rapid clip, and suddenly the treadmill starting making a noise something along the lines of "Get Off Of Me!"  So I finished the show by pacing around in my living room.  It's not as fast or consistent, but it's moving at least.  Steve looked at it later, and said a vital piece underneath has broken, and it's not repairable (by him, anyway), so it looks like after many years, I finally wore it out.  The good news is, it was a gift from Chuck and Judy who basically said "Get this out of our house" so it never cost us, and the bad news is, it's the only way I can consistently get exercise in to keep myself in check.  Walking outside doesn't happen.  I don't like being cold, hot, rainy, sweaty, snowy, etc., and I can't watch a TV show while I do it, so I don't.  What can I say.  ;)  So...we'll probably see if we can find an inexpensive treadmill somewhere.  I don't need it to be fancy, I just need it to move at various speeds, and have some kind of shelf so I can put the iPad up there.  That ought to be easy enough to find, I think.

Kaylee's a good kid.  She went to a friend's house the other day and had dinner, and they specifically made her a Caesar salad.  She doesn't like salad at all, and Really doesn't like salad dressings.  But because they made it specifically for her, she sat there and at the whole thing and didn't let them know she didn't like it at all.  Which is better manners than most adults and about every teenager seems to have these days, so I was proud of her.  The part that made me laugh, though, was that she was telling me about it hours later, at evening, while I was driving her home, and she said "But Mom, the biggest problem is that every time I burp, I taste pickles.  I didn't EAT pickles."  I burst out laughing, because I know what she means.  So the next day I had a Caesar Salad with grilled chicken at lunch because she made me hungry for it.

Kaylee's musical group sent out a letter asking for parent help (of course).  Kaylee sent me a note and asked me to please volunteer for something, because it really helps her out.  She hasn't really asked me to help with the other stuff, I just usually did because it was usually required.  This isn't required, but she asked.  She looked through and said "There's a lot of volunteering to watch kids.  That probably wouldn't be your thing.  I don't need you yelling at the kids and telling them to be quiet."  I am offended--I didn't do that at Curtain Call when I had to be room monitor!  :P  But they needed food.  I can buy food.  So today I went to the store and bought $20 worth of food they still needed.  Hopefully good enough...the rest of the volunteer spots are for "Supervision" of a very large group of high schoolers.

Tonight was the Howard County Festival.  All the ladies dressed in floor length evening gowns or prom dresses, and the gentlemen wore suits and ties.  There were over 300 kids there singing vocal/choir, all the choir groups from Howard County schools.  Then there was a large I don't-know-how-many-people band as well.  The kids had hardly any time to practice any off the songs.  Kaylee was a little stressed because the songs were complicated, involved a lot of people, and had a couple of VERY difficult vocal and saxophone parts, and they had almost no practice.  Like they had a few days ahead of time in their own group, and the day before they got to practice with everyone, and she said it was a disaster.  Well, by tonight it wasn't perfect, but the choir sounded REALLY good, they only got off a bit on one part for a few seconds when it was a capella and they had to sing on the off-beat, which was tricky.  The band, which she was most concerned about, they too had a time or two, but honestly, they sounded really good!  I tried to get photos, but didn't get good ones of her.  I did also record several songs on my iPhone that I'll upload when I get a chance.

Ann's not feeling well, if you could send up a prayer or two for her.

We've got a lot of rain coming tomorrow, so I'm guessing I'll have time to upload some photos and videos then.  For tonight, though, I'm tired...