Me made May

I was reading on various blogs - kazz the spazz and oona balloona among others about me made may.

It sounds like fun! The challenge to wear something created by me everyday during may. I then set to thinking about if this was a manageable task. I think it might be if one is allowed to include bags....

But if I really think about it.

I have made dresses, skirts, tunics, shorts, pants!!

1 - wrap dress - plum with white polka dots
2 - the same wrap dress with a changed fastening in a blue and floral print
3 - a black satin overlaid with crepe dress (which needs tweaking)
4 - a tunic made out of some lovely vintage fabric
5 - a knitted skirt - lane splitter from knitty
6 - a pair of thick cord shorts that need tweaking
7 - a Moroccan print dress that needs finishing
8 - a summer skirt that's waiting on a waist band
9 - purple pants!
10 - the blue coat
11 - the brown bag
12 - the green bag

This is actually more than I realised. I think I might be able to do me made may quite easily.
I just need to make some tops,

Can you keep a secret?

Hey interwebs.

Can you keep secrets? I have one and I am not allowed to share!

Needless to say its quite an exciting secret.

I am actually fairly good at keeping secrets. So I shan't tell! I shall just think back over all the secrets I have had to keep over the years. Nothing life changing. But things that other people would love to know. I think perhaps that that is the defining thing about a good secret. It's something that others are wanting to know.
But on the other hand, I don't like surprises. I think i might be a bit of a control freak. Little surprises are fine, but major surprises aren't great!!

Moan moan moan!

I am not really a moaning minnie, I tend to just try and get on with it, however this morning I am in the mood to have a moan!!

At the office job my duties have changed slightly, in as much as I am now dealing with prescription requests, in it's self not a big deal, as long as you pay attention to what you are doing it runs pretty smoothly. That's not the issue. The issue is the work station. The printer is to the left of the computer, which might not sound like a major thing, but issue a couple of hundred pxs and it is! I tend to issue, print, correlate with request and put in the correct file for each px. Colleagues of mine print everything then correlate everything. Personally I find there is too much room for me to make an error doing that! So I do it my way.

So I have started getting an ache across the right side of my chest. From the sternum out and now working its way into my shoulder. Went to see my amazing GP who said that the painful injury is not related to the 16 hours of teaching I do a week. This is on the grounds that although we repeat things it is often very even and that I warm up and cool down. She has told me I need to tell the boss! That won't go down well I fear.

Off to find some ibuprofen gel now!

An awesome evening.

Last night I went on an adventure with my two cousins. They are 3 and 6 years older than me.

They have held influence over my musical tastes sice I was a young teen, S being 18 when I was 12, and J being 15, and influenced by S. J was responsible for my first gig attendance. We were trying to work out just how old I was. It was before J had her son so she was around 17, which made me 14 and the youngest person in the room! (and the shortest!). We went to see the Levellers in bournemouth and J's mum and dad dropped us off and picked us up. We had tickets in the seated balcony, I don't think we cared either way!! But then there was a chance meeting with 2 people who happened to have standing seats and wanted seated seats. So they offered to swop! We were delighted and proceeded to dance the entire evening. Turned out they had free tickets because she was the bass players auntie.

So last night we went to Bournemouth again. To the old opera house which is now known as the O2, to see my favourite band, James. Mr G sorted out tickets for my birthday.

I don't even know where to start. It was immense. I got home and couldn't sleep because I was so hyper afterward, and even today I can't stop smiling. They played absolutely every song I wanted to hear. And finished with my favourite song of all time.

I was still pretty much the youngest in the building (excepting the children of the fans who were in their thirties 20 years ago!)

An update on the list!!!

5 lifespan tasks. - only 1 to finish!!! Woo!

80 or so invoices. Done and dusted!

A trip to the bank to find out what that message was about. They didn't know!

A trip to the tip to ditch a billion boxes. - the boxes went to lovely t I used to work with!

3 classes to teach - toddlers and adults. The toddler class had a special moment! Will talk later about that!

Many loads of laundry. (many more to do!)

A husband to be spoken to! (he's only home for a week!) - husband has gone again :(

My accounts for 2012/13 to be finished up. - they were finished and dealt with!!! 

A letter of resignation from my job - - i chickened out!!!! the straw that broke the camels back has happened!!

Some show planning. Lots done!

A trip to IDS in Devon to look at their costumes - had a fantastic trip!!

Toddler ballet

During half term I taught my toddler classes. 

I had a new little friend. A little sister of a pupil, she had come and watched her sisters class and wanted to join in so badly that I told mum about the toddlers. She thought she might bring her.

L came and was amazing! There is a twist to this, she suffered a traumatic birth and is disabled, I think cerebral palsy. When I first met her she couldnt walk unaided. She's grown in strength and confidence so much in the last few months.

Anyway she join in for the two sessions and managed beautifully. It was so fantastic to see her beaming at me. Mum afterwards told me she was astounded by how much she managed. Both her and I were so proud! She turned on her toes, she was a starfish, she grew, she was a raindrop and she rocked her baby!!

Lazy lady is lazy (again)

People keep telling me I do loads. And in some respects I guess I do, but there is always more to do.

Today I laid on my mums sofa in her sun drenched conservatory and watched red kites circling through the glass roof. I closed my eyes a bit. I turned cartwheels for daisy. It was a very nice way to waste an afternoon.

I should have been at my house mowing the front lawn, hanging out washing, sorting junk out, finishing the one remaining tasks have left for my lifespan exam. Or putting washing away.

I just looked at the clock. It's ten to six and my kids haven't been fed! What a naughty mummy I am, the dinner is on now though. The kids have played the day away outside, delighted to have space, air, sunlight. Hopefully they will sleep well tonight.

In other news, 10 days into the tour and I am ready for himself to come home!

Bodies.

My body doesn't do quite what it's told anymore.

It remembers when it used to be able to do things like putting my foot above head height at the side. It tries.
Really hard.

But it can only get there if it gets helped now!!

Why? One might ask? Why, because to pass the advanced ballet exams you need to be able to get those legs up there, you need to jump, you need to be dancing every day. And this it the target I have set my self because I am slightly crazy.

So today my body got subjected to a good three hours of ballet. 1 class this morning and my adults who I teach this evening. I can already feel the burn. I hope to be able to walk on Friday morning! I will be off to another class then. The professional class at the local school. Hopefully it will be more dance and less chatting!!!

I can still fold and bend and throw the limbs around, but they won't stay up where you extend them to.

So tired now. But have the lunches to make, and laundry to put away and all sorts of things.

Bed calling, what will win? House stuff or the duvet!!

Music.

Is massively powerful.

I use a lot of music as I teach dance, music to envoke feelings, music to help the child find a beat, music to tell a story, music to let go.

Music makes a difference to how you move and how you feel. Listen to a song on the way to work on a grotty evening when it's heaving with rain and the kids have run you ragged all day. Make that song Lemon Jellys 'Nice weather for Ducks'. Now try not to be in a good mood.

Or how about stuck indoors doing the housework you have been avoiding for days. Pop on a bit of Dreadzone and I dare you not to dance with the Hoover.

Or perhaps you are washing up, staring out of the kitchen window at the rain. It's April and still cold cold cold and you had to boil three kettles to get the water warm enough to wash up because the boiler was broken. So the iPod goes on to try and make it bearable. Up pops the best song ever (in my opinion though you can pick your own), James Sometimes. It ends up on a loop.

Maybe you are driving somewhere else. To pick up the lovely husband. And radio one and a half presents you with music from your youth.

Music does something special.
Music is essential as a dancer.

Never stop listening.

Mr g has gone again

This time they are on an extended tour of the states and Canada. The band he works for are only going to get more popular and carry on getting more famous!
They are going out with Iron Maiden soon, south America. One can only assume on the iron maiden plane. Which is very exciting.
He doesn't come home until mid may which is a little sad. 5 weeks! (though give me a few days to settle in to the routine and I will be ok!)

This next few weeks will be spent doing house stuff - tidying and junk sorting and getting rid of a million things we don't need and convincing the kids to help tidy up, finishing some sewing projects, completing an essay I have been writing for MONTHS! Gardening the gardens. Lots of work to do.

Smallest boy has taken on the cutest persona, he is playing imaginary games, his favourite thing is to be the baby to D's mummy, however if you were to describe him as a baby he gets really cross.

And finally, D wrote me a poem for mothers day.

M ummy
O verworked
T errific
H ugable
E notable
R espectful

Line 2 is by far my favourite!!!

An interesting question (on lifespan)

Task nine that i have nearly finished is actually quite interesting from a dance teachers point of view. It's basically about what you could do within the arts if you don't think you would cut it as a dancer.

For me - I never wanted to be a dancer. It just wasn't what I wanted. But because I am bossy and a bit of a control freak in some respects I did want to teach.

There are so many jobs in the arts field.admin, technical things, musician things, costume making, usher or in the box office, lighting or sound. All I need to do now is suss out how people get into the fields.

Right - back to the housework and the kids and their own particular brand of chaos then back on to the theory stuff. And trying to make the printer work so I can send out the invoices for class!!!

Relief!

I have submitted those tasks that were driving me mad. One and a half to finish. And the feed back has been positive. Just a couple of tweaks and we are all good. Just the essay and the observations to do and I am done with DDE ballet, just need to get my head down and get one with it!!!

Then I can get on with show planning. Which is fun. I went and looked at the costume shop and saw many many lovely things. I already have the plan for the firework costumes, they are amazing in my head! And we shall be having an ugly bug ball too, and a maypole, and penguins and about a million other things! I want to try and raise funds for costumes and am trying to come up with a scheme for it!

In the name of accessibility no child should be excluded because their family can't afford a costume.

Life span is not interesting!

I am currently trying to catch up with the tasks in the life span book.
They are supposed to be handed in this week. We shall see!

There are 10 tasks to be completed and I have done 8 and 3/4. Task 12 is done, task 9 is almost finished. Just a bit of tweaking. Then on to 11 and I am there!

So what am I going to do tomorrow? I am going to Devon to look at dancing show costumes!! Because not only am I studying, but I am also planning exams and a show too. I went into the fabric shop today. And found some amazing fabric for my firework costumes! Love it.

Just reviewed a 'local dance school' and how they make themselves accessible, was a horrible tricky task and I really didn't like having to do it. Now time for bed!