OK Maybe Not!

So I guess dependability isn't TOTALLY dead yet!

Unbelievably we pulled off our concert!

No more squishy balls needed; just a good foot spa!

So as not to leave you hanging (really? was anyone hanging?), I wanted to fill you in on the rest of my dramatic choir weekend.

Soon after my last post on Friday afternoon, I received an email from our director saying that after some serious looking, he was able to arrange for a man named T. Mychael Rambo (pictured below; check him out here)--someone he had never heard of, let alone met before--from St. Paul, Minnesota to drive down to Des Moines to be our guest soloist for the Saturday night performance. Talk about walking blindly into a concert. BUT at that point, we were willing to take about anyone.

So, Mr. Rambo got in his car and drove down from MN Friday at 5:00 pm, pulling into our dress rehearsal at 8:40 pm. When he arrived, our director handed him the music and said "Let's give this a try." What a great sport he was. He jumped in and tried the music (even though he doesn't really "read" music--just sings really well. That was an adventure!) Then, to make things even more exciting (nail biting), for his own performance (he needed to take some time to sing his own songs to fill time given to our other guest) he didn't have any accompaniment. Enter another guy we literally pulled out of the woodwork that night (not even sure who contacted him???) by the name of John Cheatem here in Des Moines. He hasn't taken piano lessons since he was 12 but miraculously just has an "ear" and a "talent" for playing. He stepped in and, having never heard the music Mychael was singing, accompanied him by ear.

Anyway, they rehearsed a little on Saturday, and then showed up for the concert Saturday night. And WOW! what a show! I still can't believe we pulled it off. It was as much a performance FOR us as BY us. He took about 20 minutes to do his own stuff, complete with dialogue and audience sing-a-longs. And he was great.

At the end of it all, we pulled it out of a hat. All credit goes to our director who kept his cool under huge pressure. And from what I hear, Mychael put on a better show than our original guest would have done (who many say is past his prime anyway). At any rate, it is over, we survived, and now we have a summer to recover before our rehearsals start up again for next season. Thank goodness some people are still willing to step up to challenges and be dependable after all.

Is Dependability Dead?

Anyone have one of these squishy balls handy?

As some of you may know, I work for the Des Moines Choral Society, the group I also sing with just for fun. {Some day I plan to blog about that whole adventure, trying to be a working mom who is also a full-time stay-at-home mom, but not today--too stressed!}

Anyway, we have our big 30th anniversary concert tomorrow night. And on top of all the normal stresses associated with putting on one of these concerts, we found out Wednesday night that our special guest performer, a big name here in Iowa, bailed on us. He said to our director that he felt like he was getting sick and didn't think he would be able to perform with us.

No effort to tough it out {mind you, he wasn't in the hospital on his death bed--didn't even have a doctor's note that he was officially ill--just felt like he was getting sick. Arghhh}. No effort to find a replacement. No concern that he was leaving us high and dry, having sold 500 tickets with his name on the ticket. No nothing. Just "can't make it!"

As of right now, Friday afternoon, we still don't have a plan B. Not sure what the next 30 hours are going to hold for us, but it should be an adventure.

Week In Review

Here are some random happenings from our last week or so.

Olivia presents facts about Eagles and India (Eagles was assigned; India was her topic of choice) at a class project presentation.

Kids help with Easter rolls and die Easter eggs.

We find a surprise when we open said Easter eggs to make the traditional deviled eggs for Easter Dinner.

Kids enjoy an Easter egg hunt with friends.

Surprise visit from cousins from Washington. We are so glad they made the trek east--now we will enlist them to lobby the rest of the family to come visit next summer.

Drunken Sailor? No, just another fun trip to the Dentist for Olivia. After finding a new dentist to fix yet another filling that had fallen out, she found out she had three more cavities. We were laughing pretty hard in the waiting area when she came out with her dead face.

Life is fun and definitely not boring!