Competition Day!

Today was the first marching band competition of the season. Last night we thought it might be Meagan's "nemesis triangle" (Power Ranger speak). We've been seeing a chiropractor for her IT band Syndrome issue for a while now. Lately he's been working more on her shoulder than her leg. It seems that the short repetitive motions during the fast parts of the set cause issues. The muscles bunch up and cause a lot of pain. When I got to the practice field last night, Meg was sitting out in tears. I didn't know what to do except to try to call her down so that she could possibly be less tense (which I thought COULDN'T be good for her shoulder). I hated not being able to make things right and I hated knowing that SHE knows that she may lose her drum major position because her injuries hurt the band. I didn't know what I would be walking into when I got to the competition today.

The band left Conyers after practice and eating lunch at the high school. I had to get some things done at the house and at church to get ready for worship tomorrow, so I left at 2. (I wanted to get going at 1:30 but time management is really not my thing.) When I got to the competition, the band was at the warmup field which just happened to be right by the place I parked...which is a good thing since I'm pretty much directionally challenged as well. I had visions of wandering around the campus never finding the band until AFTER they performed! Meg had her arm in a sling and seemed to be in a fairly good mood. Apparently they reconfigured some things so that Meg being one arm down wouldn't throw them off too much.

Jo is dead-center in photo with Meg in her sling on the podium.
My actual favorite part is the Field Crew member who is supporting
the podium but looks like he's peeking at the duet!!

I found the rest of the field crew and shortly afterward found myself watching the band perform while I kept my eye both on Meg and on Jo while reminding myself to breath. I don't know how the drum majors did at being a team, but Meg looked really confident. I know she was hurting but I couldn't tell from her face...although she did rub her opposite shoulder after they got done. Hope she hasn't hurt that one now!

The awards will be in about an hour. I really hope they did well, both as a band and as drum majors.

On another band note, Jo did really well with her duet. She was so worried that she could mess it up.

I'm so very proud of my kids.

That's right! I did it!

This morning I was making my morning smoothie and decided enough was enough! I had HAD it! I had finished a jar of the natural peanut butter we'd been using and so opened a new one. Problem: this was the kind where the oil had separated and I had no idea what I was doing. I figured I needed to stir it, right? No problem. Wrong! Big problem! I got that oil all over the jar, all over my hands, and all over my counter. I didn't get the peanut butter and oil integrated into each other. So I gave up. I pushed the spoon all the way to the bottom and got a spoonful to put in my smoothie and then I capped that jar up and threw it away! Yep! I did! I'm such a rebel.


Okay, so that may not be a big deal to YOU, but it was to me. I hate throwing useful things away. Normally, that jar would stay in my pantry until a) I found someone to give it to, b) it rotted or got broken, or c) I Googled what to do with the peanut butter/oil issue and fixed it. Confession: after I typed out c) I totally thought that I ought to do that and then go home this afternoon and fish the jar out of the trash and fix it! Oh. My. Word!


I think there's a screw loose somewhere!

Catch-up

I’ve been pretty quiet on the Daniel Plan front, haven’t I? I’ve kind of been quiet on all fronts. I

"If you can't say something nice, don't say nuthin' at all!"

learned from Thumper that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. And frankly, I haven’t had a lot to say nice. Well, that’s a lie. I can always find something nice to say…although I don’t always say it. It’s just that there has been so much that it’s been shadowing everything. But I’m determined to not let it anymore. I've said more before but I'm not going to here. I'm walking the Thumper Road and since I can't say something nice, I'm not saying nuthin' at all!

Anyhow, back to the Daniel Plan. Tonight is the last meeting. Yep, we made it through the entire study. Kenny’s lost almost 20 lbs (stinker) and I’ve lost anywhere from 5-10 lbs…depends on if the scale decides to like me that day. I am very proud of myself for getting through the entire six week study. Kenny’s and my 40 days of eating the Daniel Plan way ends next Friday since we got such a late start due to not beginning until after we took Lorie back to school. Kenny is so happy with his weight loss and with how he feels that we’ll pretty much stick to the Daniel Plan way of eating as a normal way of life (at least that’s the plan. It was the plan when I did it back in January but the nasty foods crept right back in).

Meg in uniform

We are firmly into marching band season. We have a little more than 2 weeks until our first

competition. It’s very exciting. We haven’t used the props yet, but hope to get them on the field at the next game which is the week after next.

I’m still trying to work out what my job is and what it isn’t. It’s kind of frustrating sometimes but I do really like the people I work with and am happy that I can dress up and not find myself crawling around on a teacher’s floor trying to re-hook some piece of electronics that someone unplugged.

Pretty boring stuff, to be honest.

I will take some time to hype an audiobook I just listened to, “Unglued” by Lysa Terkeurst was really well done. I could totally relate to this woman and if she lived anywhere near me, I would want to be her best friend because she totally gets me! I laughed, I cried (a little), I was struck speechless a LOT. I think I’m going to purchase the paper book of hers so I can highlight and write some notes. I’m also going to look her up and get another one or more of her books. She’s part of the proverbs31 woman website, so I’m going to have to give that another whirl. I’d stumbled across the website a couple years ago. I don’t remember why I haven’t been more engaged with it.

And last, but certainly not least, Jo has her driver's permit. She conned me into letting her drive home from Walmart the other day. My fingers have finally unclenched themselves from the claw form they were in, but there are permanent fingernail grooves in the handle of my car. Poor thing.

She's actually not a bad driver for an absolute beginner. But there's just something about being in a car with your 15-year old at the wheel and your heart being in your throat that makes you want to go berzerko!!

My sweet Meagan

Had this email conversation between Meggie and me last Friday in anticipation of her first game in drum major uniform.


Me: Do you have your gloves for tonight? I have your “stars” in my jewelry box at home. Do you need them?

Meagan: Yes... I thought I had lost them!!!!! Oh my goodness thank God!

Me: You ding-a-ling! We decided I’d keep them so you WOULDN’T lose them! J I just gotta remember to get them!

Meagan: Oh... I don't remember that. Ok cool.

Me: Will you be home before the game? It’s in one of the little drawers…think it’s the second one.

Meagan: I got them. I left my wallet at the house so just got home and on my back
 

Me: Child, please!! You may need to go to college in Georgia just so we can rescue you from yourself!

Meagan: Lol... Well I had totally forgotten, well I mean I still don't remember doing that, but yeah. I was planning on going to the army surplus store to get new ones or borrow lories old ones.

And funnier still, when I got to the school to volunteer with the band, I found out that her boyfriend (sweetheart that he is) had driven to the army surplus store for her and purchased new leaves (got that wrong by calling them stars...oops!) for her.

I can't be too irritated with her because the apple don't fall far from the tree! :)