Finally Friday

Oh my Lord, what a week it has been. The middle school talent show totally took over my life and now that it is over a wonderful sigh of relief should sweep over me...anytime now. So on to the long awaited middle school talent review. The day started with absolute craziness. Every child was super excited about the talent show and classes were even more difficult than usual. Thousands of questions about hair, makeup, wardrobe, dancing etc made me so sick of hearing my own name. For weeks I have been using every spare minute to prepare for this thing and I still did not feel prepared enough. But anyway, the show must go on. After students left school yesterday I stayed and worked on sound equipment and all sorts of technology that I know nothing about. Somewhere in my college education one might have thought to take a break from the 15th century choral chant study to learn about sound equipment... just a thought. So anyway, parents and students began arriving early and within minutes the auditorium became so insane. So many students and their family and friends were hanging around loudly.. I almost pulled a Brittany and had a nervous breakdown. But no, I had to pull it together for the children...or my paycheck, whatever. Of course some mishaps occurred. The janitor kept trying to help the sound by playing with it the entire time, one of the hosts did not show up, etc but all in all it was a successful first concert. One of my favorite students won the talent show which I was so happy about. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends Mr. Kelly Burns and Ms. Tiffany Gammell as special guest judges for the night and Mr. Brandon Heishman was the pianist. It was so encouraging/intimidating having friends there. Tiffany and Brandon are still in school learning to be professional musicians and I'm... well, different.

In other news last weekend was such a success. Mother Michelle and I pulled off one fun and cramped bridal shower for my friend Ms. Rebecca Bertrand. Rebecca's mother and sister flew in from Houston from the party along with 13 other guests. It was so exciting having mom in Oxford to see my new car, house and kitty. We had such a great time but the visits was too short. On Saturday we went to the extremely disappointing Ole Miss vs South Carolina game. The rebels started out strong and fell apart in the second half. Poor Michelle wore very uncomfortable heals for the sake of beauty and regretting it later. Her poor feet were actually bleeding by the end of the game so we left the game right after the loss. Unfortunately we did not get to go to the grove but it is just as well. Everyone was so confident after our win to Florida that we would beat South Carolina that the mood of the campus was very somber. This means several drunk fights among greek men would soon follow and I am way over that.

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY

Lastly, I am so excited about this weekend. I am going to Arkansas Blues and Heritage festival formally the King Biscuit Music Festival in Helena, Arkansas. Papa Pete is super jealous of my trip but he has an exciting trip of his own. He and his friend Mr. Ron are traveling to Knoxville to meet Mr. Ron's son Hunter. They are going to a big beer festival in Knoxville. Remember gentlemen: with the economy is shambles nobody has extra bail money lying around! The other part of the Bottoms clan will be at home for the weekend. Brother Ben is on fall break and right at home ordering the parental unit around and feeling quite comfortable as the spoiled young one!!

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! For Natalie's News this has been Natalie-Corinne.