Community spirit

Last night I went to see my eldest two belles dance at a dance show at their high school. The belles do dance at weekends but this was something they had been doing on lunchtimes and after school for fun - street dance. The school had invited several of the local primary schools and a school for disabled children to take part too. The nicest thing about the Belle's school and one of the main reasons we were drawn to it as a choice was the inclusive spirit of the school. It's small by todays standards, less than 900 pupils. They have a considerable number of students from the hearing impaired unit and the pupils are from a wide variety of backgrounds. Unlike several other local schools they don't cherry pick their pupils on academic prowess. The atmosphere last night was wonderful. The pupils compered, managed the lights and curtains, sold tickets for Sports Relief and looked after their guests from other schools with minimal assistance from staff.
The dance covered everything from Street, to Ballroom, to classical ballet, tap and hip hop. All the performers were great.
The dancers ranged in age from year 4 primary up to age 16 school leavers. One performer was in a wheelchair, several had learning disabilities and some dancers were hearing impaired.
I don't think there was a single person in the sell-out audience who didn't enjoy the show.

Everybody dance now!

Belle's have their first dance performance this afternoon and the second one tomorrow. The house is covered with glitter as costumes, tights, shoes are piled everywhere as the belles hunt for clips, eyeliner and ballet pumps.
The sink for the cloakroom has finally turned up - the only snag is that we'd planned to do the cloakroom during halfterm, now by the time Mr Nell's shifts allow him time to do it we're at the start of December. Just what I need as I try to reclaim the house into some semblance of order before the fat guy in the red suit rolls up on December 25th.
And what I really want to know is why the book I'm not supposed to be writing is clamouring in my brain, while on my contracted book, everyone appears to have gone off in a mighty sulk?

Halloween

Hope you all had a good Halloween? I love Halloween, we get the house all decorated with cobwebs and bats and candles. I'm lucky in that we live on a small estate and Halloween is a lovely time for meeting up with neighbours - the kids trick or treat in costumes between 5.30 and 8 and only to the Halloween friendly houses - there are signs up for the ones taking part. Everyone is out and about and it's so cute to see the kids meeting up to compare their costumes and their loot. The Mom's and Dad's all seem to enjoy it as much as the kids.
The writers workshop was great - really fun and it was lovely to see so many people there. I got soem great tips from Jeff and I'm looking forward to reading his book, Box of Tricks.
This is the start of my crazy fortnight - yes it's the annual dance show for the Belle's on Saturday and Sunday at Netherton Arts Centre. So it's costume labelling, rehearsals, and mayhem. Plus I've still got a college to look at with the eldest belle even though she's decided on her first choice. Fingers crossed she gets the results she needs to go there. She plans to study business studies, Applied ICT, Sociology and Dance - well thats her plan at the moment.

On with the dance!

Well, we're back in the regular routine again now - dance school runs - show is in November so it'll be costumes and rehearsals again before there's time to blink. All of which is serving to remind me that I still haven't done my taxes and Christmas is sneaking up scarily quickly.
I'm also going to be doing a few extra hours at the day job - great news for my bank balance but not so good for my writing schedule so I need to get a move on. I'm sure I'd work faster if my neighbours would keep their dogs quiet. I love dogs and normally these dogs aren't noisy but just lately they are driving me nuts. It's like nails on a blackboard everytime they start and I lose my concentration. Argh.

On with the show

Boo had a nice birthday, I can't believe she'd 12 already. She loved her thick fluffy Snoopy dressing gown. I took her and her friends to see HSM3 - lets just say I needed wine when I got back!
Dress rehearsal went okay although I need to fix Shaggy's top hat with elastic and spray it with hairspray to stop us getting covered in silver glitter everytime anyone even breathes near it. First show tonight and parent teacher interviews this afternoon.
It looks ominously dark outside and I'm hoping it doesn't snow.

Breather

No rehearsal tonight! Yay! I've given the belles the night off as they're all tired. I sent notes to the two youngest's teachers saying they wouldn't be doing homework this week either. This is no big deal as the homework they get is pretty dreadful, (usually some badly photocopied sheet minus proper instructions). My cold is worse so I sound like Darth Vader - not attractive. I'm hoping a nice early night might help.
Tomorrow is my last day at work. My new job starts in two weeks and I'm going to be working for a charity, which is a market garden project set up and run by and for people with disabilities, it's about helping people to eat well, grow food, and improve their physical and mental wellbeing through the medium of horticulture. Very exciting!
Writing has taken a back seat for the last few days as I feel lousy but the proofs are on their way for Blue Remembered Heels so I'm hoping my head will have cleared by the weekend and the shows are out of the way.

Snatching a minute

between running back and forth to rehearsals for the belles. The house looks as if a bomb has hit with discarded tapshoes, metallic streamers from the twirly batons and reminders about school stuff. Somehow in the midst of the chaos I'm supposed to help boil eggs and decorate them, fill smartie tubes with money for the PTA and finish off all the stuff I need to do before I leave my job.
Oh, and write a book.
I'm sure I'd do it all much better without a bunged up nose and that underwater feeling in my ears.

Busy with a capital B

This week is going to be frenetic. I have a head cold which is driving me nuts as my ears feel all congested. The belles have dance rehearsas every night this week with the shows on Friday night and matinees on Saturday and Sunday. I've spent an hour already today labelling costumes and preparing things. I also have a full week at the day job culminating in a leaving party on Friday.
Yes, I'm leaving the NHS after twenty six years, almost eighteen of which have been in my present role. It's a bit scary to be stepping out into the unknown as my new job is very different. It's a job that will use all my skills gained from all my jobs, my health skills, my management experience, my pr and marketing skills and my IT know how. It also combines my love of gardens and passion for preventative health. It's a job share, so I'll be working three days a week giving me more time for my writing and my family. In short - the best of all worlds I hope.
So by next Sunday I'll be looking rather dazed.

More sun!

It's been chilly but sunny here today. We had a drive out to collect Mr Nell's new car. The countryside looked so lovely with a crisp white frost, bright blue sky and faint mist clinging to the ground in the fields. There was even a hot air balloon floating overhead.
I finished the sixteenth chapter of Animal Instincts and sent it off to Jess in between organising all the different pick ups and drop offs for dance rehearsals and cooking dinner. Phew! The show is in four weeks, Alice in Wonderland this year and I've heaps of costumes to label and hang, elastics to stitch, Boo needs new ballet shoes and eldest needs new tapshoes. Great.
Now to find all the school stuff ready for tomorrow and Tuesday because it would be too easy if they all went back the same day.