Daycare is closed for the 2nd day due to the flu. There goes my sick time!

Job Survival according to Christopher Damon

My dad called around 1:45 today. He was passing through Des Moines and wanted me to stop out in the Onthank Parking lot and meet him. Sure, no problem. I love seeing my Dad even for 5 minutes at a time. (Coincidentally, he must have forgot about meeting me for lunch today. Which for the first time was ok, since I had also completely forgotten and brought leftovers.)

So, I basically skip out to Dad's truck around 2pm. (I really do love seeing my Dad in Des Moines. It does wonderful things for my mood.)

I open the passenger side door and sitting on the seat is a plate of cookies. Pumpkin shaped and decorated, pumpkin flavored cookies from the Amana Colony bakery. Oooohhhh! Yes. There are about 13 cookies on the plate. All mine? Nope. He brought them for my work people!

"Dad, why do you keep bringing treats for my co-workers?"

"Well, if they are thinking of lay-offs and for some unknown reason your name comes up... maybe some baked goods will have good influence."

That's right, Folks! My Dad thinks that cookies and scones are job security. And he's probably right. According to my aunt Linda, I should never finish any project, just have everything carry over to the next day. That way they'll hire more people when they can and not make do with just the few of us who do it all now.

Between the 2 of the them, I think I am as safe as can be. :)

Valley Fest

So, ValleyFest was this weekend. (For those of you who are not Iowa Band Geeks, ValleyFest is an all-day band competition. First a day show and the the night competition referred to as Showdown. Shannon and I performed for a total of 6 years in Des Moines.)

It was freezing. Literally. We woke up to snow. In my 14 years of ValleyFest experience as both a performer and a spectator, I have never been this cold.

Here's a little run down of our day:

Weston got all bundled up (it's all about the layers) and watched 4 bands during the day competition. He was a little rowdy during the breaks, but he seemed to really love the actual music part. And he actually sang along with a few shows. It was awesome. Shannon has the best pictures. Scott and Weston headed home after the day show. After all, Iowa beat Michigan Saturday night, and kick-off was at 7:05. Shannon and I back in the stands for Showdown. We had stopped by Wal-mart for more blankets and other necessities. We were freezing. She put heat packs in her shoes, we each had some for our hands, and I had put one on each knee to defrost my legs.
Waukee (I think) performing their "Africa" show. They placed their entire Pit (for the novice, this is the Mallet Percussion section consisting of bells, marimbas, timpani drums, accessories, etc. Mine and Shannon's section) on the field. So, that was unusual for Shannon and I. Then imagine our surprise when the entire band marches off the field onto the sidelines! It was crazy. Apparently its also legal now... so long as the Pit is on the field.

Urbandale... a Des Moines school did a 007 James Bond show... it was pretty cool. This was the one Weston sang to during the day competition.

Unfortunately, the freezing cold air of the night wrecked havoc on one soloist's Soprano Saxophone and her clarinet... the reeds kept freezing and she couldn't play. It was incredibly sad and frustrating because she had done so well during the day show.

We had a blast... but we left early. A family squeezed (literally) next to Shannon and that was uncomfortable and whatever fragrances they had showered in before coming were so potent that even in the freezing cold, they were giving Shannon and I headaches. Combine that with the cold weather, and we left. Which sucked. We missed some of our favorite bands: Waterloo West, Ankeny, Irondale (Minnesota) and of course Valley High. But, IPTV filmed everything, so we hope to catch up as soon as it's televised.

On a sad note... for some reason, this year was more theatrical than musical. 2 or 3 schools used recordings (eew) and another actually had the drum majors perform and narrate the entire show to a loosely-based theme of the Twilight Zone. double eew. If I wanted to see Off-off-Broadway, I'd buy tickets to a high school play, not sit in the freezing cold wanting marching bands.

I actually preferred Des Moines Roosevelt's massacre of a John Williams' show to any of the theatrical performances. And that was an awful show. (I know, I performed John Williams, but I love his music, and it just was not a good performance. Maybe they should have marched with music or had a different arrangement. But it was still preferable to the narrations.)

I'm at Valley Fest and DSM Roosevelt just massacred John Williams for 15 mins!

When the Caged Bird Sings... or Not

Last night I had a wonderful time out to dinner with my good friend April. She and Weston had their usual fun and we got to talk. So, I was driving home in the almost dark from Pleasant Hill (about a 15-20 minute drive into my garage) and I was chatting with my mom on the phone.
As I pulled up to my garage I noticed some feather coming out of Scott's garage door. It looked like he had caught a bird in the garage door! I was mortified. I thought the bird was dead. So, as soon as I pull in, I'm hollering (best word for this, trust me) at Scott to open his garage door. I rush over and what do I see? A tiny baby bird, fully awake now and alive. All fluffy and still looking like she has the soft baby feathers. She hops about 2 feet away to hide by our recycling bin. So, Scott shuts the garage door and we go see that she has once again buried herself in the corner of the door. So, I snapped a few pictures and talked to her. I wasn't sure she could fly, you see. Well, I got close enough for a picture, and I was stupid (like a child) and reached my hand out (I know, it's a bird, not a kitten) and she freaked out and flew to the tree (or giant twig) in our front yard. Guess that answers the question as to whether or not she was old enough to fly. :) Here she is though, all tiny and round and fluffy. I know, I'm a dork.

An addition to the world of Social Networking...

My brother has finally joined the social networking revolution. He joined Facebook and finally made me his friend. Yea... I'm "friends" with my little brother on a social networking site!
Ha. I'm just happy that he finally got online. Even if he has issues scanning pictures. :)

Here's his profile pic with my niece Paisley, who looks adorable here!

My morning...

Back to work... yuck. It's such a downer to be here now.
But at home? This is what I had to play with around 7 am this morning:

And after the fun weekend we had.... I did not want to come into work this morning.

He started to eat all by himself with a spoon (and it was a huge hilarious mess!)

And then he started making faces at me and squealing just for fun! He was such a blast this weekend. So much fun to be around! I wish I could have video on him all the time.

This is one of those pictures that he is going to kill me for later! :)