Tracey

Emailed posts not posting.

2009-11-03T18:58:02Z

I sent two posts yesterday that haven't posted yet. Does anyone else email their posts? Are you having issues? Any help is appreciated.

NaNoWriMo day two wasn't bad. Day three is yet to be seen. I'm still behind in word count if you go by the 2010 word per day. Oh well! As long as I get over my last attempt I'll be happy (6200 total).

Orange Tabby Tom cat looking for a good home

2009-10-19T17:53:54Z

There is an orange tabby tom cat wandering around my SIL's neighborhood.
He looks like he's a little over a year old and he's very skinny. He wants
to belong to a family really bad based on his meows when my SIL and I came
out of her house last week. His family moved and abandoned him. My SIL
and her neighbor are feeding him since he's so skinny and will go in 1/2
way for him to get neutered and have his shots if someone takes him.

Neither of them can take the orange tabby in because of other cats who are
sensitive or little dogs who would attack it.

Does anyone reading this have a place for a very friendly kitty who just
wants a family to belong to? Preferably around the Pittsburgh area.

Signs that you are tired

2009-10-12T19:38:26Z

While unpacking the Vue last night I rammed my right thrum into the
doorjamb. I should have left everything in the garage until today. Now I
have a nice red bruise on my thumb knuckle. So far it only hurts when I
try to write. I wonder what color it will turn tomorrow. *sigh*

On a brighter note we sold things over the weekend! Even me - although I
don't have the cash in hand yet. She did take my email and was very
insistent that she wanted a pair. Guess I need to create business cards
for my poi making. Heh.

Wild Rose Ren Faire

2009-10-05T17:52:48Z

The Faire was sparsely populated the first weekend. It rained a bit on
Saturday and a heavy wind blew the Easy-up over my and celticmoons' heads. One bolt broke on the Easy-up which will,
hopefully, get fixed this week. It was recommended to us that we stake the
corners down so that it wouldn't happen again. The wind upended the
Easy-up during the last Hangman show of the day and all the participants
that were watching came over to help with the recovery. On Sunday we put
up three walls for a wind break and had all of the corners staked down, it
didn't blow over so we did good.

Cold and muddy was the name of the game this weekend. I'll be helping next
weekend so I'll make sure to bring my thermal underwear this time, both top
and bottoms if I can find white ones. The Catskill moccasins held up for
the most part. There were a few parts on the boots that I missed
waterproofing so I'm going to clean and re-waterproof them this week.

I didn't get home until 10:20 P. M. and what do you think I should find in
my driveway? Four deer. This was the first time during the whole weekend
that I saw any deer, despite being by a State Forest. Thankfully they all
turned and ran when I slowly went down the driveway. As I passed my flower
bed at the end of the front walkway I noticed all the green was gone. I
guess the deer decided to finish off the pears and eat the greens as a
desert. *sigh*

We were told that the Faire is always slow the first weekend and picks up a
lot the last two. We shall see. I did get two pois created over the
weekend. I've decided to cut all the yarn and fabric I'll need during this
week so I can work on it while I'm there. I'm thinking I should weave a
couple of belts this week so I can display them this weekend. We'll see
what happens since I have a busy week planned.

Past events

2009-09-18T18:05:48Z

Vacation - Aug. 19 - 27
Pittsburgh Ren Faire - Sept. 7

Enjoyed vacation immensely! Faire was about the same this year as last year

I plan to do a detailed vacation post soon. (Famous last words)

American Clean Energy and Security Act

2009-09-17T13:27:10Z

Please tell your state Senators to vote NO on the American Clean Energy and
Security Act. The title makes it sound nice, but it is just a huge tax
increase on all the energy (gasoline, natural gas, electricity) that we
consume. The electric companies will be taxed and pass it on to us like
they do every other tax on them. This bill will also impact any of our
food that has to be shipped since shipping uses the energy that will be
taxed. If you think cost of living is high now, just wait until this bill
gets passed; I predict a lot more people will be out on the street or
struggling to make ends meat.

Quick update

2009-08-06T03:49:12Z

This is going to be a very quick update. I've been wanting to post a lot lately, but other things seem to distract me. I have decided that since I have so many subjects to write about that I will make it one post a subject. The subjects are: painting, ballroom dancing, reflexology and pressure points, writing, Confluence and our upcoming vacation. More to come. Now it's time for bed.

Painting

2009-07-24T03:25:08Z

It took me way too long to paint the ceiling in the office. Now I have to do it again because I missed spots and want it to look uniform. Arrgh! I definitely don't like painting textured ceilings. Back to the drawing board on that one. Need to borrow a tool from my SIL before attempting it again.

I finished painting the prop box for the play being performed Saturday night at Confluence. It looks pretty good. It's still tacky right now so I have to wait until tomorrow to put everything back in the box. Going to be leaving the house around 11 to get there around noon to help set up the art show. Lots of things going on this weekend, just hope that I remember everything that I want to bring.

Time for bed now. Goodnight LJ.

Tiring day.

2009-07-06T03:17:21Z

Spent most of the day trimming bushes with my hubby. We decided to do them all despite the heat. Wow, what a job! I'm glad that it's done. Jay kept saying how much he loathes the job. I don't mind the trimming much, just the picking up afterward.

The pool was used on July 4th by friends and family. Jay pushed his sister in the pool while she was fully clothed. She wasn't, and probably still isn't, happy about that. Enjoyable gaming after swimming and eating.

Tomorrow is play practice. I get to pick up the prop box from adelheid_p's house on the way to rehearsal. Jay said it should fit in the Vue, so I'm hoping he's correct.

Okay folks, time for me to head for bed. Goodnight!

Lots of things....

2009-06-28T18:47:26Z

Basement: All of the baseboard is off the walls and laying on the floor. Today I get to fill all of the nail holes with wood putty so it will dry in time for Tuesday when I'm having valancy17 over to help me sand them. The paint has been bought for the walls and the three gallons of the same color have been combined so that we have a consistent color throughout. Painting comes after the spackling and sanding. Lots of prep work before painting.

Pool: The pool is swimmable! Jay took a water sample to Aquadoc and they said that the pool is balanced. Yay! What are people planning for the 4th of July? Jay and I were thinking of inviting everyone over for a pool party.

My body went 150 days without a period and now the hormones are thoroughly throwing me off-kilter. Today is officially day 1 and it seems that I'm going back to my high-school/college days and having "bad periods". What this means is having hot flashes, getting cold shivers and feeling sick-to-my-stomach all at the same time. Thankfully it comes in spurts, but when it happens it's horrible. It's happened twice today and I'm hoping that it doesn't happen again. I plan not to push myself.

BRD: We went to ballroom dancing yesterday and had two really good group lessons in cha-cha. Learned a new pattern in the second class and I got to practice my hip swivels in the first.

Birthday wishes.

2009-06-25T20:21:25Z

Happy Birthday to autographedcat, may we finally meet face-to-face one of these days.

Colors

2009-06-21T21:37:36Z

Went to a housewarming party yesterday and got some terrific ideas for the new basement colors. I loved the metallic one best. It's either going to be our family room color or the office. Still need to figure out the accent colors. Oh, and I'll also need help painting if anyone is so inclined. Probably either this week or next.

I'd like for the ceiling to either stay the say or be a lighter color of the wall. Decisions, decisions.

Rain and echoes.

2009-06-19T21:07:00Z

Many thanks goes out to keleyat, Scott, Cyndl, Jeff and Pete for helping us clean up the mess. The carpet and padding is totally gone from our basement and has, by now, arrived at the local landfill. That was all thanks to keleyat and Jay hurrying to get it cut, scraped off, rolled up and transported to the curb before the garbage men showed up. We gave them two cans of coke and two glasses of ice for their trouble. I didn't even have to give up a sticker! (They require stickers around here for larger items.)

The under the stair storage is now back in order and the washing machine and dryer are currently in use. I still have to move everything out of the downstairs bathroom in order to clean the floor. I'll probably work on that tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to still go to Kira's housewarming party tomorrow, despite everything that needs done here and Jay going to Beaver in the morning. We'll see how that goes.

Nothing else to report on, except that without carpet the whole basement now echoes. I'm definitely going to be repainting the downstairs. Jay wants some kind of warm tangerine for the office and I think I'll be going with Cyndl's suggestion of a sage green for the family room. Unless Courtney (Cyndl's old roomie) has an alternate suggestion that is.

Recital

2009-06-08T20:29:29Z

We had two shows on Saturday. The first started about seven minutes late and ran until 4:45. The second show started only one minute late and it ran more smoothly. I made two mistakes in the first show and no mistakes in the second show. Guess which one was taped? Yep, the first. Arrgh!

Jim said I better stage presence this year. I felt really good about the dance, so I guess that came through in my performance. I went out with Larry and the teachers after the show, didn't get home until around 1 AM.

Sunday Jay, Scott and Cyndl replaced the struts on Jamie's car while Jamie and Paul helped me tie up the spire evergreens we have by our door and in the back. We found out the hard way that Paul is allergic to said spires. Not good. They look a lot better tied up.

Tonight I'll be at play practice at adelheid_p's house. I'm hoping not too much was done last week without me. Now I'm off to make food for Jay. We won't be eating it until tomorrow.

Cat taxi and pool cleaner.

2009-06-02T23:10:18Z

This morning I received a worried call from my SIL about her cat Lacey. Why worried? Because Lacey threw up this morning and it was pasty and she didn't want to let my SIL give her the usual affection in the usual way. Also, her belly seemed hard and her bowel movements were shorter and harder.

In short: I took Lacey to the vet at 10:30. Because they were backed up I had to leave her there to get x-rays and bloodwork done. At 3:30 they called and I picked her up from the vet and brought her home (paid with SIL's credit card). As soon as I unzipped a cat size hole in the carrier out she flew. Lacey laid down and let me pet her a bit and she purred for me, glad to be home. When she had enough she went to eat and I followed, concerned.

I called my SIL to tell her that Lacey was home safe and sound and she told me that it wasn't that big of a concern, more constipation than anything else. We'll be getting the blood work results on Thursday. I also suggested that we go out to dinner, so we did. I had a nice spaghetti dinner with the conversation centering around Lacey. My SIL treated me since I took care of Lacey today. That was nice, she was very grateful.

I went to check the skimmers when I got home and found the filter off. I checked the breaker and it wasn't tripped. The timer was on manual and it was off, don't know why. I turned it back on and the pump started running and is currently running fine. Very odd. The skimmers just had the usual dirt and insects in it. We had another casualty, another toad and a bird. That makes five total so far. This is the first time for a bird. Another oddity. I hope Jay will have an explanation when he gets home for the pumps behavior.

Wicked weekend and other things

2009-05-28T17:00:02Z

Even though I didn't get to ride Wicked Twister I still think of it as a wicked weekend. Why? Lots of sun, friends and roller coasters makes for a happy me. I drove most of the way home with three sleepy passengers. Thank goodness I had my iPod to keep my mind happy and awake. The Prius performed as expected and I was happily surprised that it had enough room to take four people and all of their stuff on a trip.

I don't know when the next trip to Cedar Point will be. We're going to play it by ear.

This Saturday I'll be helping out with a cancer fund-raiser, then it's off to my studio dress rehearsal. Arthur Murray group classes after that and then our private with Sarah. Sunday is a long awaited voice lesson.

Our pool is now open and I can see the main drain after only three days. Wow!

My thoughts are all over the place. I think it's because of everything going on and me trying to find some sort of routine. I should be cleaning the house, so I'm going to end here and do that.

Cedar Point bound!

2009-05-22T14:19:09Z

Going to Cedar Point with keleyat, threestepsback, ginskye, elwing2000, her hubby and brother, another writer friend, and, of course, my hubby.

Going to enjoy each and every ride and might try something new. This is a time for me to ignore what happened on Monday and just have fun. It is what I intend to do, despite the possible crowds.

Nobody is safe

2009-05-18T19:39:49Z

My carpool partner and I were talking about the layoffs that happened on Friday in his team. He said that three people from his group were laid off, and 40 total from the building. I made a comment that I thought I was safe because I'm the only one in our group that is supporting the web/java app that the plant uses. Guess I was wrong. Why? Because at 8:30 I was asked by my boss to go into Brian's office. When I arrived there a guy introduced himself because we never met before, he was from HR. As I sat down I got a weird feeling in my stomach. I looked to Brian, since it was his office, and he said that John had something to say. John started off with how the economy was bad, how they idled things, how they let go the contractors and then laid off the P-temps, ending with that they stalled as much as they could, but are now laying off full-time employees. I am one of the 40 from the building. I'm getting my full salary for another 44 days, then unemployment starts and whatever compensation the company throws in for the next 9 months - up to 60% for 6 months then 50% for three.

Right now I'm still in shock. Once tomorrow comes I'll get moving with unemployment and updating my resume. At least that's the current plan. I need time to digest what the HR person said, since he implied that our team workload was low (bull) and the layoff's were based on what work the team had and their performance, which implies that even though I was doing everything asked of me the higher ups thought I was performing worse than others (who take too many sick days in my opinion).

Sending healing thoughts

2009-05-14T12:59:02Z

My uncle is having surgery today. I'm sending warm, healing thoughts his
way for a full recovery.

Yanni concert

2009-05-13T19:57:51Z

It was interesting to hear Yanni's compositions with lyrics. Can you
believe it's been four years since they were last here in Pittsburgh? Eep!

The preset had a curtain covering the whole stage from the audience. That
curtain ended up being a scrim. A scrim is a piece of cloth that is opaque
when you light it from the front and transparent when you light it from
behind. They opened the show with an introduction of each singer on a
different part of the stage while having cloud formations projected on the
front of the scrim curtain. It was neat to see and I'm happy that we were
facing straight on. The opening number was, of course, Santorini.

I saw many people sway and tap their feet to the music throughout the
performance. I couldn't believe some people actually left before the whole
show was totally done. What I thought was really funny was that after
Yanni and the singers took their bow the band was egging us on to keep up
the applause for him to come out again. Of course we did and he did and
the show finally ended around 10.

Melissa and I saw Charlie after the show and I got a picture taken with
him. We waited so long with Charlie that I almost missed getting the
signature from Yanni that Lynn wanted. The weird thing? The people that
were there speaking to Yanni were the same two women that my SIL and I were
waiting with four years ago to see him. Neat coincidence.

I got home at 11:30 and barely made it to horizontal by midnight. I'm
really dragging today and am seriously thinking about skipping the
jazz/hip-hop class in favor of the Bronze III Fox Trot so I can get home
earlier. (Bronze III, yes you saw right! Emily said we could go. Oh,
speaking of Emily, we might not have her as a teacher anymore. Don't know
how things will pan out there.)

Reunion and Warrior

2009-05-11T13:45:10Z

The multi-class reunion was interesting. For the first few hours I felt
like I did in high school: invisible. Later I spoke to people who actually
remembered me and felt better. The roast helped too. Jay and I did dance
and we ended up being the only ones on the dance floor for four dances. I
know we definitely got noticed, both by people in the room and the lobby on
the other side of the open doors. Received complements as well. Guess we
were the entertainment for the night. We left at 10:30 since we were both
tired. Too bad Tonya arrived late, or I would have had a better time from
the start.

No word on Warrior extra casting. I now know of three people who have
gotten cast, so I'm kind of depressed that I didn't get contacted. I gave
them the benefit of the doubt and sent my information again. Hopefully
I'll hear something from someone this time. If not there is always the
next time something films in Pittsburgh.

Belated birthday wishes

2009-05-07T15:18:08Z

Happy, belated, Birthday to moonitic! Apologies on the
lateness, much was happening on that day for me.

Happy, belated, Birthday to my red-headed adopted little sis. Since I
spoke to you just before I guess it's not really belated. Just belated in
this message.

Showcase and critique.

2009-05-07T13:32:03Z

Showcase was Sunday, it started at 2:00 and ended about 9:30. We arrived
about 1:30 and I went to the dressing room to find someone to help pin me
in. Thankfully Emily and Karen were there, but Emily didn't recognize me
at first. She was startled when she did recognize me. There was all form
of ball gowns to be seen when I walked in the ballroom, some more elaborate
than mine. I was glad I wore the one I did because I would have felt
underdressed if I wore my black one. However, I should have brought it so
I could wear it for the rhythm numbers. Oh well, live and learn.

Jay and I started off with Heat 4 - Fox Trot. We situated ourselves facing
each other so we could do our choreographed part and I felt it was fun and
went great. It was a slower Fox Trot so I even got the last turn in on
time.

Next was Waltz with Tango right after (Heats 11, 12). In our Waltz
choreography I was supposed to do a develope with my left leg and then step
on my left foot to turn down the floor. My foot got caught in my dress so I
didn't get any extension at all, but I managed to do a heel lead to get out
of it and finished the turn. Closed position for that number felt a little
off, but that was it in my book. Jay said the whole number felt off.
With Tango we flew around the floor and I managed to stay in my knees for
most of the dance.

There was a long break for us between the smooth and rhythm dances because
our level is only Bronze II and the dancing went up to Gold IV. Heat 35
ended the smooth section then they had 13 smooth routines.

Heat 43 - Cha Cha was our next dance and I thought it went off nicely.
Including the traveling sweethearts with the turn variation. I was proud
of myself after that dance. Heat 46 - Swing - another one of the dances
that I had fun in. Jay pulled a Bronze IV move and it went off well. Heat
50 was Rumba and we on the floor the same time as Bronze III and IV. That
was good since Jay pulled off a Bronze IV sequence. At one point our
signals got crossed and I was a little off time, we found out that the
judges definitely saw that blunder too. Figures.

Rhythm heats went to 88 and then they had 14 rhythm routines. (The heats
kept increasing in number so there were a total of 88 heats that day, both
smooth and rhythm.)

Critique: Monday we had an appointment with David to go through our scores
and discuss if our program is on track or not. The scores were a surprise
to us for the most part. They score on a medal system - bronze, silver,
gold and they can have a + or -.

David said that if the timing is off when they look at you the score starts
at a silver. If you're back on time the second time they see you then it
is a silver +. We got one silver + and that was in Rumba.

If you're above expectations of your level then you receive a Gold, this
would be on time, good frame, generally doing things technique-wise that
they don't expect you to have yet. We received three gold: Waltz, Tango,
Swing.

If the judges think you're exceptional they give a gold +. We received two
of those: In Fox Trot because we had a closed frame, took long strides and
traveled around the dance floor well. In Cha Cha because we exhibited
Cuban motion and good technique with tracking. Cuban motion isn't really
expected until Bronze IV I think.

Yay us!

Shopping and Les Mis

2009-05-04T19:25:00Z

Saturday I went shopping with my SIL for dresses. We went to Sears first
and found five dresses for me to try on. Three of the five didn't fit
quite right (gaped or hung wrong), while the other two were right on. I
decided on a gold one that had a gold top with cap sleeves and silver and
gold sparkles all over the top half. The skirt is full and reached down to
my ankles, it is made out of a gold satin fabric. It was priced around 150
and I got it for 119. I love sales.

We then went to JC Penny and I tried on three more dresses. All the
sleeveless ones were too small despite them being a 19/20. There was a
ivory and black one that would have been perfect, but they only had one and
it was a size 12. I couldn't even try it on. *sigh* Manufacturers of
women's clothing need to get together and decide on a sizing chart or
something. The dress I did buy from Sears was a 16 and it fit perfectly.
We had lunch then looked in Macy's without any luck and headed back to my
SIL's. By the time we got back and showed the dress off to my SIL's
neighbor it was 1:00 and time to leave for Les Miserables at Gateway High
School. My SIL decided not to go with me, so I went on my own and got
there 20 minutes before showtime (2).

The ticket for the show was $12 and was well worth the cost. The leads
were tremendous despite a so-so start for Cosette. "Bring Him Home" was
the best number of the whole show. The chorus numbers could have been
better and seemed to improve as the show progressed. They has a revolving
stage, of course Les Miserables wouldn't be Les Mis without that. I just
wish it would have been a little bigger or lighted differently because the
cast members exiting from the back were a little distracting. I blame it
more on the lighting design than anything else since the stage is only so
deep. The whole performance gets a huge Bravo from me. Larry Cervi, the
director, was very pleased with all the performances (saw him during
intermission and he was very happy). If the cast could have pulled it off
I'm sure people would have gone to see it this weekend too. I remember
adding a performance or two for our high school musicals because they were
sell outs. I guess they don't do that around here. Of course Gateway's
auditorium is a lot bigger than ours ever was.

Showcase went well. I'll be posting about it in my next post since I'm
running out of time now. Tonight I'm off to adelheid_p's house
for rehearsal.

Showcase rehearsal tonight

2009-05-01T19:38:48Z

Jay and I are off to Showcase rehearsal tonight. I got into work about
8:30 so I'm going to leave here at 5:30 and find something to eat on the
way to the Arthur Murray studio in the "South HIlls". I'm hoping to arrive
there in time to take the class before the rehearsal. It all depends on
where I stop for food and for how long. I'm definitely going the highway
and not down 19 all the way. Just the thought of taking 19 makes me
shudder. Emily asked us what dance we wanted to do in front of everyone
and Jay let me pick, so I said swing. I'm wearing a skirt for the occasion
too.

Tomorrow morning I'll be going to Westmoreland Mall with Lynn to try on a
couple of dresses that she found. We'll see what happens with that. The
only reason I'm even consenting to go with her is because all the dresses
she found were either 120 or less and on sale. I'm hoping to go see
Gateway's production of Les Miserables at 2 tomorrow. I've heard it's
really good.

Sunday is the "big day" and I'm going to be busy Saturday getting ready for
it. Before I turn in tonight I hope to have a list made of what I'll need
for Sunday and then pack my zebra print dance bag tomorrow. Lots to do!