Christmas Letter 2009

The odds of this actually getting mailed out are slim, me being me, so I'm going to post on this blog so at least my closest friends and family will have it. Love you all - Merry Christmas!

*****

Happy Holidays! (She types, optimistically believing that THIS will be the year the letter gets printed and mailed - maybe even when that phrase might still apply) To put this year in a nutshell will challenge my editing skills, but I’ll try:

We are still actively involved with Westminster Presbyterian Church; Julio helps with the computer lab and with projection during our 9am services, Harrison is enjoying being in the older group of Sunday school students, and I sing with the praise band and give the occasional children’s sermon. In the summers, we try to host at least two of the neighborhood association parties, this year we again coordinated the July 4th parade/potluck and the Kid’s Carnival.

Harrison bid farewell to 5th grade and elementary school and kicked off his summer by taking a video game programming class at Kirkwood College with his friend Avery. When not at his class, he worked as a counselor for my daycare, leading our students in various activities and giving me much-needed assistance, while earning a substantial supplement to his allowance. He also spent several weeks taking daily cello lessons in preparation for joining the 6th grade orchestra at Franklin Middle School in the fall.

Our entire family had the privilege of being cast in Starlighters II Theater’s summer musical, The Music Man. It was an enormously rewarding family project, and we made some wonderful new friends. The show closed just in time for school to start, and Harrison jumped into Middle School with both feet. He plays harp and cello in orchestra, and sings tenor in the show choir, FLaPCo (Franklin Light and Power Company). He also participates in PACT (Program for Academic and Creative Talent), and made his Franklin theater debut as a Phantom in their fall play, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Soccer practice and weekend soccer games ensure he doesn’t spend too much time playing his beloved video games, and he’s been able to juggle his schedule well enough to make the honor roll at school.

In the spring, I did my final “tour of duty” as the speech coach at North Cedar High School, and directed my final Spring Play, You Can’t Take it With You. I had the pleasure of once again working with my Dad, who came on board to be tech director for the Spring Play, last year’s memorial benefit (when Harrison joined the tech crew and ran the curtain), and this year’s fall musical, Anything Goes. The students absolutely love working with Dad, and his expertise and connections really reduced the pressure of putting those shows together – it was a great way to end my time at North Cedar. We have some loose ends to tie up yet, and hopefully I’ll still be able to pull together one final Debbie Harms Memorial Benefit, as there are a number of family members and alumni who plan to perform, and we hope to kick off the Debbie Harms Scholarship and officially christen the “Debbie Harms Auditorium” at this year’s benefit.

Julio continues his daily commute to his job at Pearson in Coralville, and helps Harrison’s soccer coaches by refereeing their weekend games. His 25th high school reunion was held in Kearney, Nebraska this summer, so we took the opportunity to visit his collegiate alma mater while we were there. It was a treat to share that experience with him, and I even coerced a nice young man into letting us take pictures of his dorm room; the one that Julio once occupied. We had a super time at the reunion itself, and were thrilled that Julio’s dearest high school friend, Amy, was there, so I could finally put a face with the name. Julio’s host parents, Lloyd and Lael Vauthrin, drove from Franklin to meet us for dinner, and the four of us got to visit their daughter Christine’s new home before it was time to head back to Iowa.

In September, our family had the honor of singing for the wedding of our cousins, Kate & Trish Varnum. Their victory in winning the legal right to marry was one of the highlights of the year, and it was thrilling to be a witness to, and participant in, that historic event. It was a proud time to be their cousin, and a proud time to be an Iowan.

As I was packing up the props from our annual haunted garage (Grammy & G-Boy joined several of Harrison’s friends in making this the creepiest Halloween yet), it struck me that Harrison is nearly 12 years old, and hasn’t been to Disneyland since he was about 5. Julio immediately kicked into emergency vacation planning mode, and come November 14, we were Florida-bound, for Harrison’s (and my) first visit to the World that is Disney. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and had a “Savannah-view” room, meaning there were animals (giraffes, zebras and wildebeests, to name just a few) in the courtyard right outside our room – we were able to stand on the balcony and feel like we had our own private zoo.

After a heady week in that stepfordian utopia where everyone is so cheerful and kind you don’t even notice that you could feed a third world country with what you pay for one small meal, we returned home to have a brief but fun Thanksgiving celebration with the Shaffer family at Mom and Dad’s house. Then we headed back to Nebraska to reunite with Julio’s host family in Franklin. Harrison loves it there – he was just as excited to spend all day in a car to get to Nebraska as he was to fly for just a couple hours to go to Florida and Disney World. It was very grounding and centering, especially to hear all the stories that the Vauthrins have to share after being married for over 50 years.

Now, as we scramble with last minute Christmas and New Year preparations, we wish you and yours a very fulfilling holiday season and a new year filled with wonder and blessings.

Disney World Great Escape 2009

From November 14-21 we entered the fantasyland that is Disney World. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and had a "Savannah View" room, meaning there were animals right outside our balcony. Giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeests, and more. The service was phenomenal and if we could afford to, we would make the same journey every year. As it is, about half way through the week, we all agreed we have to start saving for a return visit as soon as we can afford it.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:

SNOW DAY!!!

Perhaps you've heard, Iowa is in the midst of a two-day long snow storm. Julio was able to use some "use it or lose it" vacation time to stay home today, and he'll be working from home tomorrow, so we've been able to really enjoy the beauty of the snow without worry.

It really wasn't too bad today. The roads were cleared by 10am, so Julio, Harrison and Keigon (the only daycare kid whose parents had to work today) joined Mom and Dad and me for our daily walk.

What do I mean "our daily walk"? Well, as of the middle of last week, after I drop the last of my daycare kids at school, I swing by to pick up Mom & Dad and we head over to St. Luke's hospital. In the cardiac rehab area of the hospital, there is a cushioned walking track that circles a rehab fitness center. Use of the track is free, and there is a small fee to use the fitness center, which will be the next step in our workout regimen.

Anyway, the boys joined us on our walk and it was a good workout for all. Mom doubled her original number of laps, Dad increased his original number by half, and Julio & I worked up a sweat trying to catch up to the two boys, who trounced the rest of us by completing 32 laps (the equivalent of 2 miles).

Feeling far too fit and healthy, we all went to Ryan's buffet for lunch.

Julio took the boys sledding when we got home, then we hunkered down to watch our new DVD of Disney/Pixar's "UP", while chugging hot cocoa and snarfing down popcorn.

It was a most excellent snow day.

It is now just past midnight and Harrison and I are winding down from walking Zuki (it is hysterical to watch her loping through snow which is deeper than her legs are long) and doing a quick "once-over" on the driveway. It's a lot like using a child's toy bucket to empty the ocean, but we figure that's another 3 inches of snow that won't have piled up by morning.

Harrison stayed outside to build a "snowbaby" (the snow isn't sticking well enough for a full-sized snowman just yet) while I came in to take a warm shower. There's a special fun to building a snowman when it's nearly midnight and the snow is illuminating the earth, making everything bright as day, but in its unique, ethereal manner. I strongly advise everyone to take time to build a midnight snowman sometime this winter, if you get the chance. You'll be glad you did!

Speaking of midnight, I need to get Harrison and myself to bed. Thank goodness there's no school tomorrow!

It Is Finished

I finally got fed up enough to resign from North Cedar. With every show I've caught flak from the kids who didn't get the parts they wanted, along with dealing with kids whose parents didn't want them in anything at all. This year they added a new dimension. The kids who didn't like their roles were disruptive throughout the rehearsal process, quit, then complained that they didn't think I was nice enough to them when they quit. Then their parents got in on the act. I've been harassed and bullied via cell phone, internet, and at rehearsals. So I threw in the towel.

Mom is mad at me for letting down the kids who were not causing these problems, but you need to understand that those kids are the only reason I even tried to go back this year (same goes for last year). It has been a constant battle since the very first show, and it costs an average of $200 per show MORE than what I get paid to direct the show, once you add up my mileage and all the things I pay for without being reimbursed.

Will there be a Memorial Benefit this year? I don't know. If there is, will I be part of it? Also unclear.

I have been lambasted for suggesting they try advance ticket sales. Raked across the coals when I had to cancel callbacks due to the flooding in Cedar Rapids. There are about three kids who, along with their parents, don't despise me for not being Bobbi. And none of them steps up to defend me when somebody is backbiting me for not getting the speech kids to All-State (it's my fault they didn't bother to learn their lines or attend rehearsals). At the same time, I apparently had nothing to do with the total refurbishment of the facility, or the groups that DID make it to All State, or anything else positive that has happened over the last 3 years.

I am emotionally and physically exhausted, and the last straw was when two of my "project" students from last year decided to rally the troops and actively campaign for my ouster. (Guess who didn't get the parts they wanted in the musical - ironically, that was the music director's elmination, not mine - still, my fault). Did any of the "good kids" or their parents hasten to my defense? Not a single one.

So I'm done.

It's great to finally be free of the pressure that obligation was exerting on my life, and I can't wait to reconnect with my husband and son, who've gotten used to only seeing me about 4 hours a week, but I have to confess that I'm more than a little bitter that, rather than appreciate my extreme efforts to maintain and build on Bobbi's legacy, instead I'm reviled just because I'm not her. And I'm particularly resentful of the horrible way I've been treated by people who should have been grateful for the opportunities I worked to create for them.

I guess it's true what they say. No good deed...

Hey, at least maybe I'll be able to sleep through the night, now.

What Teachers Make

Don't have little ears in the room when you watch this - or use earphones. But watch this. It's worth it.

Perspective: Priceless

The Monster Mash - Starring Grammy & Co

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Super Salesman

Harrison has always been a very lucky kid. Combined with a little bit of honest effort, he has managed to parlay that good fortune into considerable "wealth", by standards of children his age.

Last year he worked so hard on the school fundraiser, he actually won an electric scooter for being the top salesman in his grade.

This year, he worked his tail off selling magazine subscriptions, and managed to sell 22. This number fell shy of the 25 subscription goal he had set for himself, and was 28 short of the 50 he needed to sell in order to qualify for the Nintendo DSi he was hoping to score for himself.

He wasn't disappointed, however. For each subscription he sold, he received a ticket which he could place in a school wide drawing for a 16GB Ipod Nano. Of the 640 kids at Franklin, guess who won the Ipod.

That's my boy!

Testing 1, 2, 3...

Wow, I didn't post a single thing through the month of September - but it wasn't for a lack of trying!

We currently have our high speed internet via Mediacom, and from July through September their service was so unreliable we only had internet connection for a total of about 2 hours per day. I say "a total of'" because it came in spurts that usually didn't exceed 20 minutes at a time.

We tried everything to get to the bottom of the problem - but we never did, because of course, to get to truth of the matter, we would have had to encounter an actually competent representative from Mediacom, and apparently they put all those people into the marketing department.

I even spent a morning waiting for the service man to come "between the hours of 9 and noon". When he finally did show up at 12:15, he plugged a meter thingy into a few of our outlets, walked around outside and couldn't find our hookups, then came in and told me there was nothing more he could do, but if we wanted to pay $30 they would replace all our cables with theirs, which we would then have to pay a monthly fee to use. Unless we purchased all their hardware, they wouldn't make any further efforts to troubleshoot the problem.

There's way more to the saga; a long backstory of frustrating call after frustrating call to Mediacom. They always had an automated message saying there was a "service interruption" in our area (that we received only after dialing down to the "internet service" part of their multi-tiered call system). After over a month of those messages, I took the extra 15 minutes to wait for a human and was scolded for being stupid enough to believe that the "service interruption" was always an internet issue, just because we were only having a disruption of internet service and had reached the internet service part of their phone menu before reaching the automated message.

And on and on. If you've ever dealt with Mediacom, you probably have had similar experiences.

At any rate, I'm dipping my toe in the blogging waters once more. If I can actually get this message to post, I'll scrounge up all the information I've been suppressing for a month and try to edit it better than THIS post before I put it out here.

I'm not spending too much time on this one, because the last several times I tried to blog, I spent a lot of time wordsmithing and editting, only to lose it all when I tried to post it, because it hadn't even autosaved.

Wish me luck!!!
Here goes nothing...

If My Sump Pump Weren't Working, You'd Be Dead

I had what I hope will forever hold its record as The Scariest Day of My Life on Friday. The letter I sent home with my daycare kids probably tells the story best:

28 August 2009

Parents,

This is to inform you of an incident which occurred this morning at Franklin Middle School, which you may wish to discuss with your children.

I had just dropped off Haley and Harrison at the “Girls’ Entrance” and turned right to drive past the main entrance of the school, when a boy whose father had stopped in the no parking zone across the street tried to run around our van as it was driving past the school. Unfortunately, because he came from behind the van, I didn’t even see him approaching until he actually ran into the van. Luckily, I had my foot over the brake as we were coasting through a high traffic area, so the boy was not seriously injured. (He did get a nasty road rash on his ankle, but it didn’t look swollen or broken. His father drove him to an urgent care clinic to get it checked, and I haven’t heard anything further.)

I called 911 immediately after they took the boy to the school clinic, and they dispatched an officer who, after investigating, informed me the only way this accident could have been avoided would have been for the father to have dropped his son off in an appropriate area, and/or for the boy to have had the common sense not to run in front of a moving vehicle (but those of us who have kids know that an excited young person on his way to the fourth day at a new school has plenty else on his mind). The officer issued no traffic tickets, and repeatedly told me (I was a bit upset) that if anybody were to receive a citation, it would be the father who parked illegally and encouraged his son to jaywalk into traffic.

The boy and his father were very apologetic; the father gently admonished his son for running into traffic and not looking carefully, and the boy let me give him a hug and said he knew I did everything I could to avoid him.

That notwithstanding, I will forever be haunted by what could have happened. If I had been distracted or in a hurry, if the road had been saturated and thus my tires not had traction when I hit the brakes, if our sump pump had not kept our basement dry, and I’d been up all night vacuuming water out of our basement like last summer so I was tired and not as alert this morning…that child could have been seriously injured or killed. So many lives ruined in an instant because Dad was in a hurry to get to work.

I always make it a point to ensure that none of my daycare students EVER walk in traffic to get to or from their school buildings, even if I am walking with them. Furthermore, I lecture them constantly about being careful in parking lots, driveways, and along the street from our house to the pool – but particularly before and after school, when people more concerned with getting to work or home are not paying attention as they should. Please use this near-miss brush with disaster to emphasize traffic safety to your child, and please please please NEVER put your child in the situation of having to cross a busy street to get to school or other activities. It is so worth the extra 5 minutes to get them to a safe drop off point.

If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to discuss with you – but please give me a couple days so I’ll feel up to talking about this. I still get shaky when I think about what could have happened (hence this written communication – I don’t feel up to explaining to each parent individually just yet).

FLASHBACKS

Well, another seven or so inches of rain yesterday had us reliving the wonderful memories of last June. Our sump pump worked overtime, but kept the basement dry. Our neighbors didn't fare so well, especially since the water rose slightly higher than it did last summer.

early on

sandbagging...again

water on its way up the street

pitching in

this could be a picture from last June

volunteers appeared out of nowhere again

there goes the swingset/fort...again

the white pole marks the high point from 2008

eagle scout project: flood gauge
(interestingly we didn't see the
eagle scout at all yesterday)

currents stronger than last year

walking Zuki while the rain is stopped

neighbors got hit hard again

playset not set in concrete - but tied to the shed

irritating sightseers made themselves
at home in our backyards -
I took this picture from our bay window
notice the dry feet and clean clothes -
she wasn't there to help, just gawk.

floating swingsets

Harrison & Avery watch the water rise

water reached last year's peak during daylight
only slightly passed that mark at night

park by the pool across the street from
the park by the creek - those little poles
sticking out are the top of a public grill

greenery on the fence kept water out
of the pool area...almost

rain in the poolhouse may mean the pool
is closed for the rest of the season


pool itself full to overflowing


path to the pool flooded

house across the street and down
from ours - backyard flooded

backyard of the house directly across from ours

nightfall brought more volunteers from St. Pauls UMC
and the Cornell College football team

Improvised lighting came from our car headlights

football players at work

the smart way to sandbag

finally done sandbagging

8/25 - First Day of Middle School

Starting the new year with a loud dash of self-expression
"Mom! Doesn't this just scream 'I love video games'?"

Julio left late for work so he could
see his new 6th grader off to school

The whole family excited for a new school year

Waiting with Jaycie for her bus
(the school bus stops right in front of our house)

hanging out at the bus stop

traditional picture on Grammy & G-boy's porch

Harrison's new school

"sneak shot" by Mom
- don't let on that pictures are being taken!

Harrison and his "peeps"

8th Grader Emilee after school

"I gave Harrison a big hug when I saw him
- I hope he wasn't too embarrassed!" ~ Emilee

"I could get used to Emilee hugging me every day" ~ HD

6th Grader Dylan after school

6th Grader Bentlee (aka "Winthrop")

6th Graders Malcolm and HD after school

calling to invite Grammy & G-boy
to lunch at Ghengis Grill

HS Senior Emily (aka "Zaneeta") after school

Ghengis Grill for lunch

After lunch, we picked up Keigon (daycare kid) and took a short break until 2:45, when all the other daycare kids plus Jaycie, Maddie and Avery came to help set up for the Kids Carnival that started at 5 and lasted until 7.

Jaycie and Madison were in charge of admission,
temporary tattoos, face painting, crafts, the claw machine,
the candy jar guess, and the whac-a-mole tower game.

Harrison was in charge of the dive challenge,
diving board dunk tank, and balloon animals.

Games not pictured include: Keigon running the duck pond and lollipop pull, Piper and Avery running the bean bag toss, teddy bear bowling and cups game, Justice running the tether-ball bowling game, and Haley running the cakewalk and subbing for other "carnies" so they could play the games, too.

We also had some "All Play" games, including this relay
race to fill a cup with water using a sponge and
water from a decorated bucket.

We also played "Six Corners" - kind of like the game played at rollerskating rinks, but here we did it by having the kids swim around the pool and go to a corner when the music stopped. Then we'd roll a die and whoever's corner number was rolled, was out (the diving board and basket ball hoop were our additional two "corners"). The last 3 kids still in the pool won prizes.

for prizes, each game had candy and pinata filler,
or tickets that kids could use to enter a drawing
for one of our larger door prizes.

Julio got home from work just in time to help load everything up and take it back to the house. He took us to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner, because we were exhausted and starving in spite of the hotdogs and chips served at the party. It was a really great day, and Harrison is absolutely thrilled about Middle School. Thanks to spending the summer going to music lessons there every day, he has no trouble navigating the halls, and he has a friend from Kenwood, soccer, or cub scouts in every single class.

2009-10 promises to be a wonderful school year!