Lakeland - Cheer Competition #1

We attended the first competition of this season in Lakeland this past weekend. For our first competition, all of our gym's teams did awesome! All squads took either first or second except for one. Carissa's squad did the best they've ever done and looked amazing! Here is her team's video. She is usually on the far left of the screen and has two black ankle braces on:



Yep - quite amazing! They took 2nd ut of 3. There were a few mistakes, and the team that beat them had a flawless routine. They were really good. We were thrilled, however, at how well Carissa's team did because they showed an unbelievable amount of improvement in 3 weeks. Three weeks ago the routine did NOT look like that! =)

Our co-ed team got 2nd but should have gotten first. The two teams they were competing against each had stunts fall, and our team didn't have any deductions. Somehow they got 2nd, we aren't sure why or how. Our owners and coaches contested the decision, but it appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Therefore, they promised that cheer organization that we will never be back for another of their competitions. Quite a loss for them as we usually bring all of our teams (8 teams of about 20 girls at about $50-$75 a pop).

My favorite part of the day is that they didn't have ugly make-up! Here is a picture of MAC's makeup last year (Carissa with Kaitlyn - click on it to make it bigger):




Here's the makeup this year (Carissa with Alana - click on it to make it bigger):





I think it's MUCH better, don't you?

Next up - Jacksonville on January 19-20.

All-Star Cheer Season #3, BETA Club, and Band Concerts, Oh My!

Well, we're off and running on another all-star cheer season! It's hard to believe this is her 3rd year. She has really come far in every aspect of cheer - tumbling, flying, general stage presence. We saw the stage presence thing last week at a BETA Club performance at the school. Her BETA club was getting ready for the regional convention, where the kids compete in different competitions. Her group performed the different selections at a spaghetti dinner. Right before she went on, she was bitten/stung by some insect outside. She was in pain and it was itching, as she's allergic to bug bites, but we NEVER would have known from her performance! She was cute, smiled, danced, etc as if nothing was wrong. I guess she got that from cheer. My little trooper. Who would have known that the toddler that would scream as if she was on fire when she skinned her knee would ever pull off something like that!?

Her first cheer competition is this Saturday in Lakeland. They have 4 teams in their division. She's very excited. The routine looks good, the girls are excited. I'll post pictures and let you know how it goes!

As for BETA, she competed in Group Talent (where a TON of the kids danced, sang, tumbled, etc. to different songs), Songfest (they took the song Respect and changed the words to be a BETA theme) and Living LIterature (they staged a scene from Hansel and Gretel and had to hold the pose frozen until the judges were done with them - about 6 minutes). Some of the other kids participated in other various competitions such as Brain Bowl, Spelling, Math, Crafts, etc. They took 3rd in Group Talent, 4th in Living Literature (did I mention that Carissa was Gretel? She was sooo cute!), and (drum roll, please) FIRST in Songfest! This qualifies them to compete at Nationals in Myrtle Beach over the summer! Everyone is excited. You can click on the picture below to make it bigger.



As for band, they have their winter concert on Thursday. Carissa will be performing with both jazz band and wind ensemble. The bad news from band this week is that the band director will be leaving any day for the remainder of the year. It's good news for the band director, as she and her husband are adopting a baby, but really bad news for us. This is Carissa's 3rd band director since she's been in middle school! That's a new director each year!

Happy Anniversary!

Well, today Steve and I have been married for 14 years! I spent some time today remembering that special day. How he looked, how excited I was, how everything was perfect. It still is. I still love to be around him, he still makes me laugh, and somehow my day is always brighter once he's home. Here's to another 14 happy years, Honey, and MANY more beyond that! =) xoxo

Vacation!

I am on vacation now! I will still be busy each day until I go back to work, but I'm glad to have time to do what I want. I don't go back to work until the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Updates: Carissa is doing well. She is almost back to normal. SHe started tumbling again, and this week actually threw a round off back handspring tuck. It was really high and really pretty. It was a little uncomfortable when she landed, but it didn't hurt for long. She's mostly complaining about some back pain - a result of having not tumbled in 2 months. She needs to get those muscles back into shape. Her first competition is Dec 8!

I have been busy at work. Working 6 day work weeks on occasion. That's not fun. The sale of the company should be announced soon. Rumor has it that layoffs will begin on Dec 3. I have no idea where I stand in that or if they'll even keep the offices in Orlando or move them to Boston. I would be willing to relocate for the right money, but I'm sure Steve and Carissa wouldn't want to go. Therefore, I stay, too. Out of a department of about 50 people, I'm about at #25 in seniority. So I might be okay if they don't get rid of more than 1/2 of the department. I'll have to blog more about that as it happens.

Steve is busy with pottery. He will be selling some star bowls at a seminar soon. The star bowls relate to the program that is being presented, so he hopes he does well. They're VERY cool bowls and he plans to sell them at a reasonable price. Other than that, he's doing a special project with a professor at Rollins. His 5th graders and her college art students are participating and they are all learning a lot about the ocean and about themselves. It's cool. You can read more about it on his blog, Still Learning. I have the link over on the recommended blogs.

Exciting? No, not really. But that's about all that's going on. I'm thankful for the relative peace and calm and am REALLY looking forward to sleeping in for a week! =)

Happy Turkey Day!

Halloween '07

This year Carissa made the announcement that she would be Toadette for Halloween. Toadette is a character from the Mario Party video game. Toadette is not a toad, as her name would imply, but a toadstool. A female toadstool. Yeah, I know. Her counterpart is Toad. Also a toadstool. A male toadstool. They are boyfriend and girlfriend. Here are their pictures:



SO . . . I scoured the internet for a costume. Of course I couldn't find one and settled my mind on the fact that I would have to make one. So we found a pink skirt and shirt on sale. Easy. I knew I could make the hair by shoving styrofoam balls into pink tights. The question was, "How the HECK are we going to make the mushroom hat?" Well, Steve, being the genius that he is, thought of a chef's hat! eBay is wonderful because I found a pink chef's hat for pretty cheap. Hat accomplished. We made the vest out of a red t-shirt and yellow duct tape! That was my awesome idea. Then I found brown slippers at Target that look like brown fuzzy Mary Jane's. She put them over ballet flats and was set! Here is how it looked:




Oh, yeah! Riley was Toad. They swear they aren't boyfriend and girlfriend, even though Toad and Toadette are! I still find it a little peculiar and convenient. =) Here is the picture of them together:



Her other friends also decided to dress up as Mario Party characters. Kelsey was Mario, Sarah was Luigi, and Marissa was Princess Peach. Here's the group picture. From left to right, for those of you that are not in touch with Mario Party video games, are: Luigi, Toadette, Toad, Mario, and Princess Peach. You can click on the picture to make it bigger.

Ghost Tour!

At work, we have talked about taking a ghost tour just about every year I've worked there. This year we actually made it happen. A group of 11 of us took the Orlando Ghost Tour. It was not as great as I'd hoped, but I was at least entertained. They first walked us around town showing us the exterior of buildings that have reported ghost activity, but we didn't get to go in any of them! It was still cool to hear about the stories, and a little about the history of downtown Orlando. Did you know one of the building on Church Street was pretty much a brothel? I didn't. Then we went to the Orange County History Center, which used to be the old courthouse. Here they gave us little meters to register "activity." Really these are tools used by electricians to detect energy leakage. It was cool . . .

There's a possible orb over the exit sign. You have to click on the picture to enlarge it to see it.










Here is the sensor they gave us to detect energy.











Here is where Ted Bundy scratched his name into the defendant's table while he was on trial. Click on picture to enlarge it. The photo is very clear.











Finally, here is Steve pointing out the reason our detectors were going off in the Grand Jury room of the courthouse. There was a motion detector in the middle of the room. Every time someone moved it would go off and set off our sensors.

UCF Game

Carissa went with some friends to the UCF game this weekend. This was her first game. She had fun. UCF played Tulsa and won. This picture is of her friends that she sat with, Riley and Kelsey. Kelsey made the shirts that she and Carissa are wearing. They were cute!

Cast Off

Carissa is now cast-free. She got the cast off on Tues. She was most excited when the doctor told her she didn't need another cast, that she could go back into the boot, AND she could walk! I wasn't expecting that part. So she's walking a little. It still hurts if she walks too much, so she brings her crutches with her still. She's less reliant on them than before, so that's good. Her follow-up appt is on Halloween.

It's a Jury Duty Day

Yes, I have jury duty today. I hear that collective groan out there. Fact of the matter is, I like jury duty. I don't normally like the idea of sitting in the jury room all day, but this time I'm looking forward to it. A day of having to do nothing official. I love it! The idea of being nosy if I get called to be questioned for a potential jury. Love it! I always am interested in what people have done to get themselves in trouble. Maybe because I try to avoid trouble at all costs. Today I have my laptop, I have a book (Story Time, by Ed Bloor), and yes, even a little work. Just don't tell my boss. I'm not supposed to bring it into public places. It's all very secret right now. I always see at least one person I know while I'm here. I've already seen my "known person" today, but I haven't spoken to him yet. I will soon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to complete my civic duty. =)

Broken Ankle update

Well, thankfully there has been nothing noteworthy to post recently about her ankle. The pain has subsided and she hasn't much complained lately. That's good! When her ankle stopped hurting is right around the time she got sick, though. So since she's feeling better now, it's the first time in 3 weeks that she's been herself. I had promised some pictures of her with her cast and crutches, so here they are. The crutches are each wrapped in a pink/orange ribbon and we put pink fleece on the top. She's gotten quite the reaction everywhere she goes. The orthopedist said she should set up shop outside his office and charge $10 a crutch and that she'd make a fortune! =)

We got back to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully they'll take the cast off. They'll do more x-rays first, and then decide. I think, if nothing else, they'll at least put a new cast on her because this one has gotten big since the swelling has gone down. I'll repost with new info soon.

Here is Carissa with her cast:











With her crutches:











Close up of the cast:












Evidence that with a cast, you can play Wii:












and, with a friend, burn brownies:

A broken kid!

Wow! It's been a long time since I've written! We've had quite a bit of excitement around here lately! Carissa broke her ankle!

She was at a birthday party at the cheer gym and did a punch front (like a front flip) on the tumble track (like a loooonnnnnggggg trampoline) and rolled her ankle outward. It looked pretty bad. I took her to the ER and they said it was either a slight fracture or a bad sprain. They put her in a splint and recommended follow-up with the orthopedic doctor.

At the orthopedic doctor, he said he felt it was a fracture and he asked for a CT scan, which she had the following day. He put her in a boot that she could take off to shower - but she couldn't put any weight on her foot at all.

On Thursday she started having a different pain in her foot that she described as a burning or stinging, and it was worse when she'd stand up after having been sitting for a while - like when the blood ran into it. She was in quite a bit of pain and stayed home from school on Thurs. On Friday when she was still in pain, I took her back to the doctor. We saw a different one this time. I took the films from the CT scan back with me.

This doctor read the films and said it is a fracture. She said it is through her growth plate and across the joint (we later found out that means she broke both her tibia (shin bone) and fibula (the skinnier bone that makes up your ankle)). She said she wasn't as concerned about the growth plate issue as the joint issue. She said if the joint dislocates, that Carissa would need a pin. Therefore, she put her in a hard cast. She said she'd be in the hard cast for 3 weeks, then back in the boot. For the next 3-4 weeks she'd be able to start putting some weight on it and would start rehab. She said as for the burning pain, she thought maybe the swelling was affecting a nerve.

So that's pretty much where we are. We had to make another trip to the ER last weekend because of the burning pain. The doctors still don't know what's causing it, but they definitely don't think it's circulatory because she's not showing any other signs of a circulation problem. If she does too much, it hurts. If she doesn't do too much, it doesn't hurt. Seems like problem solved to me!

I will post pictures of her hot pink cast and decked out crutches later this week.

Steve has a blog, too!

Well, my husband appears to have decided to keep a blog now, too. First a myspace that he called a "social experiment" where he refuses to request people to be his friend. All the people on his friends list have requested him. Now I find, from his myspace, that he has a blog he's been updating. It's very good reading. You should check it out. It's in the notable blog link on this page. It's called, "Still Learning."

Back to School!

Steve and Carissa are back in school. They started on Monday. Carissa is sad because one of her very best friends got rezoned to a different middle school. It doesn't help that this friend is miserable at the new school. She has a lot of friends in her classes, though, so she's fine. Carissa is relatively happy with her schedule this year, and is very excited to be an 8th grader. These are the classes she has this year:

0 - jazz band (this is before school)
1 - Advanced American History
2 - Advanced Lang Arts
3 - Honors Science (Earth/Space Science)
4 - Honors Algebra
5 - Service Learning (working with handicapped kids)
6 - Wind Ensemble

Steve is enjoying his class so far. The kids this year appreciate his guitar playing and songs, so I bet he'll have a better year than last year. He has one kid that is hearing impaired and one kid that is vision impaired.

Who's Going in the ARMY? Not Me!

Here is what happened to me tonight, in play form (just for Jenny):

[I enter Firehouse subs and order a sub - regular turkey, no onions or mustard. While waiting for above mentioned sub, an older black gentlemen sitting in a chair starts to speak to me]

Man: Excuse me, young lady. I am recruiting people for the army. If you're interested, I could have you signed up by the time we are done waiting here.
Me: Excuse me? [with a slight tone of disbelief] ME sign up for the ARMY?
Man: Yes, that's right. I could sign you up and take you away from all of this miserable heat.
Me: So I could go be in the heat "over there?" No, thank you.
Man: What if I raised my right hand a promised you wouldn't have to go "over there?"
Me: No, thank you. I have a family.

[Meanwhile I'm thinking, "ARE YOU NUTS?" Plus, "Am I not too old for the army?" I decided not to ask, as this would just prolong this bizarre conversation further]

[At this point, I start thinking about the conversation I had with my dad when I was about 8. He told me if I was ever going to go in the service, I shouldn't go in the Army because I'd have to crawl around in the jungle with bugs - not something I'd handle well. I shouldn't go in the Marines, because that's just stupid. I shouldn't go in the Navy because I'd have to sleep with someone's feet in my face. He advised me to go into the Air Force (FYI - Something I did attempt later in life - but was rejected - I'll tell that story another time). I contemplated telling this gentleman that, but decided instead to smile politely and hope he dropped the subject. No such luck.]

Man: Well, I've been over there twice. And I've come back.
Me: That's good.
Counter person: Will? Your order is ready.

[older gentleman gets up, gets his sub and walks out without saying any more]

I certainly hope I wasn't rude. I didn't mean to be. I have every bit of respect for the people who serve our country. It's also the very LAST thing I ever expected to be confronted with in Firehouse Subs. Then I started thinking what possessed him to talk to me and what I should have said. I certainly don't look 18 anymore, and I would like to think I don't look like I need a steady job. Then I started to think that I should have said, "At this point in my life, the last thing I need is to go in the Army. I have a loving family, my master's degree, and a full time job. That would have told him I wasn't interested AND that I was too old to start out in the army and that I'm gainfully employed.

Hmmm. I'll have to file this one under "Weird Occurences." What do you think?

New Summer pictures

Here are a few new pictures of Carissa. Her friend, Kelsey, took them. They're cute. Nothing new happening. The Storins come back to the house a few days before they go back to Japan. Carissa has cheer camp later this week and also has a trip to the beach planned. Saturday is Mom's birthday and also Kellie's birthday party. So she'll be busy!

Another cheer camp photo

On Friday night we walked down to the boardwalk on Daytona for dinner. On the way we found a big giant hole. The girls, of course, were compelled to get in it to have their picture taken.

The girls are:
Back row: Cayce, Andrea, Sarah, Nancy, Cha-Cha(not her real name)
Front row: Carissa, Shelby, Ashley, Allie, and Madison

I was chaperoning Carissa, Ashley, Allie, and Cha-Cha. They were good girls.

Cheer Camp

I chaperoned cheer camp this weekend. There were 120 teenage girls. I am exhausted.

The first day was just a fun day. We got there about 3, unloaded, got moved into the rooms, etc. We went to the boardwalk area for dinner at Johnny Rockets. It was a pathetically long wait and horrible service. So much so that we decided the mile and a half walk wasn't worth it the next night. On Sat and Sun, the girls rotated through 5 different stations - three were outside (running tumbling and two stunting stations) and two were inside (jumps and strength training). They also did a scavenger hunt on the beach which was fun (but I got sunburned because I didn't think I'd be out there for an hour and didn't have sunscreen on). On Sunday they went through the stations again and had a sand castle building contest. Her group won 2nd place. Here is a picture of Carissa's group's sand castle:












They also went down to the beach and put up 20 stunt groups! VERY cool. Carissa is on the far right in the group photo. Click on the photo to enlarge it:











Here's a close up of Carissa's lib. Again, click on the photo to enlarge it:

Steve has a myspace, too!

He resisted for a long time, but now he has one, too!

His URL is www.myspace.com/daddyocz

Go request him as your friend! =)

Bongos with Friends

The Genoves were in town this week and we got together with them tonight for dinner. Here are some photos (thanks to Carissa):

The Genoves: Joel, Nicolas, Alex, Cathy









Nicolas








Carissa and Connally








Steve and Jody








Me and NiCole









Me and Joan

Summer Oh Seven

Well, summer is well under way. We had a ton of house guests for a while, but things have calmed down now. Carissa is still having cheer practice over the summer and has started "partner stunting" with a friend of her's from school. The hope is that they'll get to compete next year. The boy she's working with has never partner stunted before, and they have quite a bit to learn to put a routine together, etc. So maybe next year. Partner stunting is where the boy is on the floor holding the girl up in the air. Instead of a group of 5 people doing the stuff, it's just the boy and the girl. It's pretty cool. They do it a lot on college squads. I'll post pictures if I ever remember to take my camera.

In the meantime, here are some photos from Carissa's summer. The cool thing to do when you are a 12-16 year old girl is to take pictures of yourself with your digital camera and post them on your myspace. Sometimes they set a timer, sometimes they just hold the camera out at arms length and shoot. The popular poses seem to be:

jumping:


















mouth part open with a surprised look:


















puckered lips:


















That's about it from here!