Friday, May 22, 2009

Five for Friday

1. Two weeks ago, I took Reilly to see a ballet performance of Sleeping Beauty. Our neighbor, Regina Day, was dancing in it along with her sister, Emalee (who is Reilly's buddy).

I was very impressed with the performance, however, it was almost 3 hours long with 2 intermissions. I think Reilly lost interest after the first hour, but it was still fun to go and show our support to the girls.

I'll go ahead and admit it, I really want to appreciate the ballet more than I do, but I just have trouble following the story when there isn't any talking. I feel the same way about the opera...Both of these things make me edgy! There!--I said it!


I wanted to take them flowers, however, I was having trouble finding single roses that looked decent or gerbera daisies.

I decided to purchase a dozen roses and make my own arrangements. The orange roses really stood out to me, so I bought those ($10 per dozen--thank you Wegman's!) I used spirea (the chartreuse color foliage)--it's actually a landscaping shrub, but I use it a lot in arrangements because the color always pops whatever else I have in there. I also used lily of the valley
and pink azaleas. Lately, I've been loving the pink and orange combination. It's so cheerful!

I was very pleased with how these arrangements turned out...(I actually made 3 of them). My friend Heather and her daughter also went with us to see a friend of theirs that was performing in the ballet as well.

2. Ellie's last day of pre-school was yesterday. I must admit that I'm slightly relieved to have that be over with for the summer. Although it was nice to have 3 mornings a week where I had 2 hours to myself, I always dreaded the interaction with the other moms while we were standing in the hall waiting for the kids to go in to the classroom.
I never understood how everyone would chat during the field trips that we went on but then the next day, act like they had never even met you. I was perplexed by this and struggled all year with this "cold shoulder" kind of attitude.
Perhaps everyone felt like, since this is pre-school, we'll never see each other again after this year is over? Whatever the reason, it made for many awkward hallway moments, trying to act extremely interested in some kids artwork just to avoid having to talk with one of the other mothers.
No, this is not one of my daughters!
3. Jake's third grade class has been learning about Egypt, so they all had to dress up for a big Egypt day celebration. Apparently the men back then wore eye make-up as well as heavily jeweled collars.
This was what our costume interpretation looked like.
I was so ticked off with him yesterday because he forgot to take in his collar! (One of the main elements to the costume). Not only did I spend $14 on a huge bag of jewels, but I ended up having to hot glue every one of them on after the elmer's glue that he had used didn't work.
I get very frustrated with his scatterbrained ways!


4. After school yesterday, Brady and Jake got together for their usual frogging escapades.
I had to laugh when Brady came running over to tell me that he found a pregnant frog. I asked him how he knew, and he said it was because of all the eggs that were on her belly.
I'm no frog expert, but I'm pretty sure those aren't eggs but rather pores or something along those lines...

5. I just had to document this! Just one of the many things I did yesterday--a freshly vacuumed van!
I really should have taken a before picture to fully appreciate the magnitude of my accomplishment! Let's see how long we can keep it this way!

**Are you a fan of ballets?

*Do you like orange and pink combinations?

**Have you ever been snubbed by pre-school moms?

**Would you have laughed at Brady's remark about the frog eggs?

**Do you struggle to keep a clean car?


14 comments:

  1. ahh, I love hearing about you and your family's escapades. the flowers look great also! I've only been to one ballet, and I can't remember much about it, so I think I'm with you there:-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your flowers look great!

    I threw a bridal shower for my friend last year, and we orginally were going to do purple and brown. Until I saw fuschia and orange, and I changed colors. When I told her, she wasn't buying it, until I sent her pictures. Everything turned out so beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the flowers you have such a talent for that...My kids never did preschool, but I know what you mean about being snubbed. That's one of the reasons I don't like VT'ing. Someone can be your "friend" for a year, but when you are changed from their route, they suddenly don't talk to you anymore.

    I totally struggle with a clean car especially during baseball/softball season. We do a lot of eating on the run...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I feel the same way about ballet, opera and symphony performances. I go from an excited, interested feeling to feeling antsy and wanting to be home. Now I've said it too.

    The floral arrangement is gorgeous! I love the mix of flowers and love the jar as a vase. You have so many talents!

    That's weird about the cold shoulder feeling with the other moms at preschool, but it must be really unpleasant if you're glad preschool is over.

    Wow, Jake makes a pretty Egyptian!

    Seeing the underside of that frog takes me back to my dissecting days in biology...ew.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I washed the inside of my car's windshield yesterday (how does that get dirty anyway?), but really need to vacuum. I keep my car pretty clean, because I'm hyper about trash removal every time I get out of the car, but the floors get quite crumb covered and dirty.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have to admit... I can't stand ballet. I'm just not an "expression through dance" kind of person..

    I do, however, LOVE opera, but only when there are supertitles. If there aren't supertitles, forget it.

    And I LOVED the frog comment!! It was especially good since I saw the picture of the frog first and thought it was a dead frog and my heart kinda stopped for a minute... and then I read the comment. Loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. i do LOVE the ballet, (a good ballet that is). something about what they can do on their tip toes that completely fascinates me! however, THREE HOURS with two intermissions! holy crap! that's a lot to taken in, especially if they're not professional dancers.

    your flowers are so gorgeous! i really am flower arranging "challenged". but i do know that i love orange and pink together! you can just never go wrong with a bright polka dotted orange ribbon. lovely.

    if i were a mom in your pre-school class i would talk your leg off at field trips AND in the hall. :)

    i have dreams about my van being this clean. hopefully soon now that the weather is warmer. i will NEVER post a before photo though, yikes.

    GREAT POST! i love to read about lots of little miscellaney.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. A good ballet is wonderful. The rest are TORTURE!!! We don't even invite grandparents to my oldest daughter's ballet recitals any more because it is sooooooo boring. And goes on and on and on ...

    I loved your flower arrangements. You're very talented. I thought it was one of the prettiest floral arrangments I've seen. Really.

    Preschool Moms. I think in junior high I got the idea in my head that very few people are actually interested in meaningful real interaction and have no real expectation from people, especially preschool Mom's in the hall. Although, in life, I do find that an occasional person is really quite heartfelt and wonderful. It's always such a nice surprise. I'd talk to you!

    I'm just jealous that your son can find and catch frogs. That sounds like so much fun. We do have frogs around here. I can hear them at night. But they are not accessible to be caught by the children.

    Clean car. HAHAHAHAHA! I tried with the first 3 kids. I vacuumed it and cleaned it out on a regular basis. But at this point in time I admit that if something makes it into the car there is a good likelihood that it will become permanently lost. And vacuumed? If I vacuumed it ever single week there would still be at least 4 days during each week between vacuumings where you could not tell that it had EVER been vacuumed. We are getting better about not bringing things into the car and taking it out when we are done. But the next time I think my car will look as nice as yours did after you cleaned and vacuumed it will be when we buy a new car. Which I'm trying to put off as long as possible until the kids are older. Hopefully older children don't trash cars as much ...?

    ReplyDelete
  10. you have some aweomse talents!!! wow!!! i love that arrangement. it's beautiful!

    i know the snubbery. it's weird, isn't it? ick.

    not so much a ballet fan. i think i harbor ill feelings towards it as i never have been a ballerina body. :) but those would be buried deep within my unconscious...

    that frog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok, so my future passed before me as i looked at that. made a mental note to not live where there are frogs- then scratched that...cause every boy needs a frog. :)

    and i love your vacuumed car. in an envious kind of way. i SOOOOOO need to vacuum alaska out of my jeep....i have a winter's worth of who knows what in my backseat!

    ReplyDelete
  11. You are a brave woman indeed to post a photo of the inside of your car! I don't think mine has ever been that clean--nice job.

    That flower arrangement is just about the most darling, cheerful thing I have ever seen! I love the flower and color combinations--pure genius, I'd say.

    I'm laughing at your ballet/opera confessions. I feel the same way, though I do get a considerable amount of enjoyment from just examining the costumes.

    ReplyDelete
  12. yes, sorry i am a fan of the ballet - nothing more beautiful and inspiring than a great ballerina - but she has to be great or else it is boring. you are so talented with those flowers - i see a flower shop in your future. really amazing job.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love orange so much that I planted an orange rose bush last year. I can't wait till they bloom this year!

    The orange and pink combination is very refreshing. Makes me want to eat a slush or something summery and cold.

    The arrangement is very darling!

    ReplyDelete
  14. UGH! I hate the whole preschool scene. I know what you mean about those moms! Then again, I have encountered that attitude in the upper levels too!

    ReplyDelete