Zumba on Good Day New York...Fox t.v.

Here's the link if you wanna watch. I have much to say about what actually happened behind the scenes. Now I know why LIVE t.v. is so difficult. There are no re-takes! If something goes wrong you just have to run with it...more on that later. I've been up since 4:30am; gotta go to bed!

EEEK! I'm gonna be on live tv tomorrow!

OK, most of you know that I teach a little something called Zumba. You may have heard me mention it at some time or another. wink
Anyway, I'm in the "in" crowd here, Zumba-wise and I've been asked to participate in a Zumba segment on Fox TV tomorrow morning. They're doing a spotlight on Zumba and the Zumba instructor who is heading it up at the Fox studios has invited me to be on air with them...I'm sure I'm just gonna be a backup dancer. EXCITING!!!!
I have to be at the Fox studios in NYC by SEVEN A.M. That will be a feat in and of itself...now the big question; WHAT DO I WEAR!!!!???
Oh, and now I have to wash my hair. Dangit!

Camp in the Poconos

Sam (almost 12) went away to camp this week. It was just for three days but it was a first for all of us. It was with a school group so he knew a lot of the kids there from school and it was held at a YMCA camp somewhere in Pennsylvania, in the Poconos. I don't really know what the Poconos are...mountains maybe? Anyway, I held my anxiety level down as much as possible as I'd had 6 months to get used to the idea of him going off to camp. I didn't even cry when I dropped him off at the middle school to get on the camp bus. Yea for me!

All that first evening I kept saying out loud, "Sam's fine, don'tcha think? I'm sure he's having a good time, right? He's not in a cabin full of bullies who are playing mean pranks on him, surely, right? Sam's OK, right Dave?" Poor Dave. He put up with me very well.

First thing the next morning, we get an email from the town "announcing" that there had been a tragedy the night before. A boy in our town was practicing with his recreational football team and collapsed shortly after the warm-up and died on the field. It was his 13th birthday and his mom was at home during the practice making his birthday cupcakes. Holy Cow. My heart goes out to this family. We live in a small town, relatively speaking, and everybody knows each other. Luckily we haven't lived here long enough to know this family but it has really hit the town hard.

ANYWAY, shortly after I read the email (and by shortly I mean within minutes), I get a call from the nurse at Sam's camp! I almost started hyperventilating but she immediately told me that everything was fine but that Sam had had a headache the night before and she had given him a Tylenol. They are supposed to call and ask permission first but since it was late at night she took the liberty of giving him the Tylenol and called to "report" it to us in the morning. She said that he was feeling fine now, was having a great time, and was a really nice kid. Whew!!! Crisis averted; it was only a headache.

We made it through the next two days (Caleb and Peter REALLY missed Sam; it was kinda cute) and he came home today. He had a grand time and said the days flew by. He felt like he'd only been there one day instead of three. They did all kinds of fun things: rock-climbing, canoeing, skits, survival training (building shelters), pillow fights, s'mores, etc. I don't think he missed us one bit; I don't think he had time to even think about us!

Anyway, I asked him about that first night with the headache and he has NO idea what I'm talking about. He swears up and down that he never had a headache, he never saw the camp nurse, and that he was never given any Tylenol! How weird is that? So now I'm thinking the nurse reported to the wrong parents...she distinctly said Sam's name and she even called Dave at work (when I didn't answer at first) and Dave said that she said Sam's name, too. Now I'm wondering really just how organized and professional WAS this camp? How competent IS this place? I'm gonna try not to think too much about that now. Especially since Caleb will be going there in two years. I'm sure it'll be fine...right?!?!?

August

Yeah, it's August and I'm sitting here in long pants and a sweatshirt. What's wrong with this?!?!? What ever happened to global warming? Why isn't it warm in AUGUST?!?!?

Oops...

Oops, I didn't realize how long it'd been since I blogged last! Or last blogged. Guess what?! It's almost 2am and I'm blogging! Why? 'Cause I'm crazy, that's why!

We've had a busy couple of weeks. For one, I got SICK. Had a terrible cold and am just now back on my feet. Of course, I never really realize just HOW sick I am until I start feeling better and then I'm like, "WOW, I feel so much better. I must've been really sick!"
For two, I have a new friend. Her name is Heather and she just dropped into my life out of nowhere. OK, not nowhere. She dropped in from Ireland. Seriously. Ireland. Long story short: she is from NJ, currently resides in Ireland where she has dual citizenship, she teaches Zumba and showed up in my class one day and it just went from there. She's also an Irish dancer (which explains why she resides in Ireland). If you're an Irish dancer and live in Ireland, are you called an Irish dancer or just a dancer? And what's with the whole Celtic thing? Are they different people? ANYWAY, she was here in NJ visiting family for the summer and hopping around to different Zumba classes to steal our awesome Zumba moves. ;-) It was awesome being with her as she #1 is always telling me what a wonderful instructor I am and #2 taught me a little about Irish dancing and #3 helped teach my classes while I was sick. Also, she reminded me how fun and informative it can be to go to other people's classes. Which I've been doing. Which, frankly, makes me even more tired. And as sad as I am to have her leave on Sunday and go back to Ireland, a small part of me will be relieved as maybe I can get some rest now. Did I mention she's TEN years younger than me?!

Speaking of 10 years younger than me, she taught me something else. It's called "text messaging". Or "texting" for short. She probably doesn't even have a CLUE that she taught me this! Dave has tried to get me to text him a few times and I'm like, "Ewww, no, I don't know how to do that. I don't want to do that. That's not my generation." Then one day a couple of weeks ago I'm sitting at the pool and my phone goes "bleep". I'm like, hmmm, that's a new bleeping sound. Never heard that before. So I look at it and it tells me I have a new text message. I figure out how to read the darn thing and then hit reply. I think it took me 15 minutes to type in my first reply which consisted entirely of "OK". Later, I learned they have shortcuts for such things but hey, I'm an old dog and I have no instruction manual here. I have learned that texting can come in quite handy. Say you're watching a t.v. show and you remember that you need to tell someone something but you don't really want to call them and have a whole conversation. You just text them; it's no big deal! Or maybe you just want to say Hey to someone to let them know you're thinkin' about them but you're on the way to an appointment and can't chat. You just text 'em...but not while you're driving!
Now the downside is that I don't think texting is included in our cell phone plan so I may be paying through the nose for all this 'convenience'. Cringe...

One funny thing. One day Heather and I were chatting about our own personal experiences with Beto Perez, the creator of Zumba. She mentioned being at a workshop with him in Houston last spring and that he coaxed her into dancing an Irish jig for him. As we were talking, I realized that I had SEEN that on YouTube. She was like, "What do you mean you've SEEN it?" Long story short, someone videotaped her and then posted it on YouTube and Heather had NO idea. She was completely mortified and embarrassed so I proceeded to email the YouTube link to her and everyone I know in New Jersey. Hey, that's what friends are for. And now I'm gonna post it here for your viewing pleasure! I'm such a great friend. I'm just paying her back for working me so hard these past few weeks. ;-)

Unexpected things...

On Wednesday, as I was getting ready for work, my boss called to tell me that classes were canceled for the morning. She said that, apparently, there had been a small electrical fire at the gym the night before and they were waiting for the fire marshall to come and clear the gym to re-open. She said they had no idea what time the fire marshall would decide to mosey on over so I didn't have to go to work! Wow! I was especially tired and sore that morning so this was like a miracle gift to me! At first, though, I didn't know what to do with myself. I wasn't prepared to have the morning off. Should I run some errands? Get my grocery shopping done? Clean the house? Decoupage? In the end, I spent most of the morning on the computer catching up on stuff and then I watched a movie! Nice!
Then yesterday, the UPS man brought me a huge, heavy package. I couldn't remember any of us ordering anything so I was really excited to see what it was or who it was from. It was addressed to ME, with MY name and address on it. Wow, this was exciting. And then I saw it was this:

A giant box of infant formula. The box says: Inside---two special gifts for you and your baby.
Hmmm...is there something I should know? Did I recently have a baby and then forget about it? I mean, I did once leave the house for work and forgot one kid at home and had to go back and get him. Where IS this darn baby? Was it a girl? Oh heaven help me if it was a girl. I've never had one of those...
On the flip side, I look dang good for someone who just gave birth. I would expect my chest to be a little fuller but if I'm not breastfeeding (apparently I'm using Enfamil formula) then maybe that's why I'm not lactating.