Busy Calm Busy

This weekend has been rich with much-needed down time. Last week overall was really rough on me. We got back from Louisiana late Monday night, and I had to be at work bright and early Tuesday morning. I got the stomach flu Tuesday and actually threw up twice at work but somehow miraculously made it through the day. I came home at 4:00, and it got worse from there. I flopped on the couch about 10 seconds after walking in the door and pretty much didn't budge from the couch the rest of that night. I had a terrible fever and chills and couldn't keep anything down but Gatorade. Talk about a romantic way to spend Valentine's day.  (I couldn't care less about Valentine's day, actually).

But... I woke up feeling hungry on Wednesday, which I took as a good sign and went to work. I actually felt fine all day, so it must have just been a 24 hour bug. Thankfully, it didn't cost me any more time off work, since I had just had a sub for 3 days, but it cost me a night of doing homework, which was rough... especially since we had an appointment with Vinny's therapist Wednesday night in Valencia. Normally, we see her in Woodland Hills, but since I was out of town, I had to move the appointment to Wednesday in Valencia. By the time we got home Wednesday night and I got Vinny to bed, it was like 9:00.  I was up until like 1am doing homework, which meant I was a zombie on Thursday.

In addition to my own homework, I have been trying really hard to keep up on lesson plans and papers and stuff. So far, so good. Having a student teacher actually makes it significantly easier. I don't know that I would want one every semester, but I think I actually kind of like it overall.

It is also musical season in the theatre department, which is a wonderful thing for my soul, but exhausting at the same time. Nothing makes me happier than musical theatre, really. The feeling of seeing it come together is like nothing else. I really can't describe it. Sadly, still no dance teacher, so I am choreographing it right now. This is not as laughable as it seems. Although I have very little formal dance experience, I am not a terrible dance instructor. I am trying to teach like Kris did at our Broadway workshop in New York, plus the MTI show kits come with a choreography dvd. Some of what is on the dvd is useable- some is not, but it definitely is a great jumping off point. Overall, I am really excited about the musical.  Some kinks and stuff to work out, but I am having a positive attitude about it and glad we started early. The show isn't until June.

Anyhow... with teaching, grading, homework, rehearsals, etc., last week, I was ready for a calm weekend. I slept in late Saturday and then spent hours on the couch in my pajamas paying bills and then doing my taxes. The taxes were not as much of a bummer as I thought they were going to be (but still a bummer, we definitely owe). In the afternoon we ran some errands and then went out to dinner (which was pretty much a disaster), but made it home early.

Today, Vinny got baptized at church. :-)  He has been asking for a while. I was a little bit nervous to bring it up at church, since Lutherans baptize infants, but we have not been in Lutheran churches, so our kids were dedicated as infants, not baptized. I completely understand why they baptize infants, and I really don't think it is a huge difference, but when we joined this church, we weren't going to rush into baptizing our kids or anything- at this point, I want it to just be up to them, but Vinny had been hearing about it and had been asking, so we finally set it up. I was afraid people were going to ask about Tiana, but of course no one did. I should have realized Lutherans just aren't like that.

Vinny was very excited. He said, "I'm gonna get baptized because I believe in Jesus and I'm gonna party with Jesus in heaven forever." Hahahaha.

He has kind of nervous and shy, since he was up there in front of the whole church, but he was so cute when he got home. He wanted to know if you could still see the oil in the sign of the cross on his forehead. When I said, "No, but it's still there," he said, "I know... now it's in my heart, because Jesus is in my heart forever." They gave him a baptism medallion, and the cloth, and his candle, and the first thing he did when he got home was went and put them all in special places in his room so he could see them every day.

The rest of today, I pretty much sat around and did a lot of nothing. I did homework until I couldn't stand to do homework any more. I can't believe tomorrow is not a school day. It totally doesn't feel like it. I am glad to be getting some down time though. Perhaps I can get the rest of my homework done tomorrow and have a relaxing week the rest of the time. Tuesday is Mardi Gras and Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, so things are going to be a bit busier this week. Hoping I can see some friends tomorrow and have some "me" time.    :-)