Fred the Owl

The room never cooled down so after a very hot night with little to no sleep I called
the front desk to have someone come look at the AC. While RL and I waited for the
maintenance guy to come to the room Sarah and Leyla went down stairs to buy their
wonderful sweet moms some Starbucks coffee. The first guy who came to the room
took one look at the AC and offered us a change of room. It was a nice offer, but
frustrating since we all had already unpacked everything and organized all the costumes
and makeup. We agreed to move rooms only if we would be upgraded to a nicer room
otherwise we would wait for them to fix the AC. The maintenance guy went back
downstairs to see about an upgraded room and said he would let us know in a few
minutes.

Shortly after he left the girls were back with our yummy coffee. We would have made
coffee from  the coffee maker in our room but I think housekeeping forgot to ever
clean the coffee maker out because the water was yellow and smelly. The good news is
that at least I could use the creamers for my StarbucksI opened a creamer to poor it
in my coffee but instead of a smooth white fluffy cream I got chucks of curdled milk
My yummy coffee was now brown cottage cheesy, the room was hot, and I was feeling
like the day was not starting off the way we had hoped. When the girls told us that the
maintenance guy wasn’t looking into getting us another room but was instead standing
around talking to the Starbucks girl I just about lost it!!!

Instead, I called the front desk and asked to speak to a manger and after a few minutes
of polite but direct conversation he agreed to change our room for us right away and
included two free breakfast tickets as compensation. By the time we got in the new
room it was 10am and the girls were starving. The girls joined their friends downstairs
for breakfast while RL and I once again unpacked the room. I HATE to complain but
enough is enough and at this point we did not benefit by coming up Thursday rather
than Friday. We were not at all rested and were unpacking when the rest of the team
was checking in and eating breakfast together. The new room was not an upgrade
but the AC was working great!! At that point I allowed the AC to cool my temper and
decided to make the best of the situation for the rest of the day. Besides, my lovely
Leyla went back to Starbucks and explained what happened to my coffee and
they were nice enough to give her a new one…so

 I finally had both AC and coffee; the day was looking better already.

We arrived downstairs and joined the other dance force 1 moms. We all hung out while
the girls were playing on computers and being kids. Then we took the Hotel shuttle to
go explore Albuquerque and grab a bite to eat. The shuttle guy must have partied hard
the prior night because he almost hit a parked car on the way out of the hotel. He was a
very nice guy but every time you would ask him a question he would slam on his brakes
to avoid hitting a car in front of him. At first it was funny and we all laughed but after
the second time coming close to hitting a car we all agreed to not ask him any more
questions until we arrived to our destination safely.

One of the girls on the dance team, Allison, loves owls and has a wooden owl named
Fred that she keeps around her all the time for good luck. What is funny-odd about this
story is that Allison was playing around with one of the other girls while on the shuttle
and started telling her “fortune”. After a few minutes of “fortune teller theatrics” she
suddenly went quite and in a long drawn out whisper summed up the fortune telling
with the word “Biirrdd”. As all the girls were still in their quiet suspense filled state
Leyla happened to glance under one of the shuttle seats and saw a small wooden owl.
She promptly pointed and started screaming “Allison look it an OWL! ” It was Fred.
Allison had dropped him during the early morning shuttle ride to from the Airport and
never knew he was missing. Fortune came true…. Then in serendipitous fashion, the
restaurant where the shuttle dropped us off was across from “Bird Land” pet store,
which was close to the store where Allison originally saved Fred from the anonymity of
a souvenir shop shelf and to top it all off as we got off the shuttle I happened to look up
and guess what was in almost every tree in the area….you guessed it… OWLS!! Turns
out that almost every tree in the area had wooden owls on their branches ….Bizarre turn
to the day and it was just lunch….

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First night in Albuquerque, NM

I think I’m finally recovering from the Albuquerque, NM - Regional Competition.  We left Thursday night of last week and returned home Sunday around 8pm.   I never knew it was possible to experience so many mixed emotions in such a short amount of time.   

A group of us left Thursday night to Albuquerque even though competition didn’t start until Saturday.   One thing that sucks about planning your traveling for dance competitions is that you don’t always know which days you need to be at the theater until a week or two before competition.  We all got a great deal on our tickets and didn’t want to risk the cost of the flight increasing or not being able to get a direct flight so we booked the trip from Thursday thru Sunday. As it turned out the girls were only performing on Saturday and Sunday.  Robin and I thought that having an extra day would give the girls plenty of time to relax before the competition.

We checked in to the Doubletree by Hilton around 9:00pm.  I am not a fan of Hilton hotels; and it does not have anything to do with Paris Hilton. I just haven’t had one good experience in any of their hotels.    We were all hungry after the flight and had to order room service for dinner because the hotel restaurant closed early.  We had  used a shuttle service from the airport so we didn’t have any other options.  The next thing we did was check out the pool.  Leyla’s dad had brought her a new swim suit for the weekend and Leyla was looking forward to swimming with her friends.  I was looking forward to sitting in the Jacuzzi while doing absolutely nothing.  We walked through the hotel gym to get to the pool.  There was just one little small missing detail in the online description about the pool ….IT HAD NO WATER… and there was no Jacuzzi.  It never crossed my mind that the hotel wouldn’t have a pool available for guests year around.  I have never been to a hotel that didn’t have a pool.   Wow what a big disappointment!!    

Dinner was delivered to our room and we forgot to order drinks.  Opps..   We were pretty lucky because our room was right outside from a vending machine full of cool refreshing beverages.  Leyla and Robin searched the room for change and could only find a dollar.  The cost for a beverage was $2.00 but oddly enough the machine magically spit out a dollar bill. We thought that it would be ok to take the dollar bill under these circumstances since we couldn’t let the kids go thirsty.  Leyla inserted the first dollar bill but the vending machine kept spitting it out.  Both of the dollars was not accepted and we were all dying of thirst.  The end result is that we were a dollar richer and had to drink tap water.  When I told Leyla I was going to use the bathroom water to fill up the cups she just about had a heart attack.  Its sounds gross and in her defense she never had drank tap water before. It was actually pretty good.  It may sound crazy that she has never drunk tap water but there was a refrigerator with filtered water everywhere she’s lived; which is a little funny because I was raised on tap water.  Wow I’m getting old!!   

Robin lowered the air in the room since it seemed a little stuffy.  The best part of a hotel is the cool AC and being able to lower down the temperature to your likings.     We were disappointment when we found no refrigerator in the room and felt horrible to have to throw away our left-overs.  We were planning on buying food and eating healthy and now we had to rethink the food situation.  We found out later that we could have gotten a refrigerator for an extra $10/per night. 

 After dinner Leyla turned on the TV and flipped to the Disney channel and to our surprise there was a cost of $3.99 per episode. We decided to get ready for bed.  Robin open the door to the hotel to get some cool air in the room and notice the vending machine had spit out another dollar.  I thought maybe we were on Candid Camera and we were being filmed to see how many dollars we would take.  Our first Thursday in New Mexico was turning out to be an interesting start....

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Last chance workout!!

Click here to watch a short video  http://kccreativedesign.com/journeyoftucsondancemom#h219ff6d3

 Sunday was the dress rehearsal for all of the dances that had not already been performed in a competition or that needed a little more practice.  Leyla was feeling horrible and had been fighting a bug since Thursday of last week.  She was complaining about a sore throat, felt warm, and had a light cough.   Strep throat has been going around and since it was Sunday so we had her checked and got her on some antibiotics.  They worked and Leyla started feeling better within a couple of days. The bad news is that her friend Sarah on the dance team now has a sore throat and Leah, my middle child, has had a 101 fever all day.  At this point I would be happy if we made it to competition alive. EmergenC has become our family’s best friend and the girls love the punch and berry flavors.  I just keep telling myself Think Happy Thoughts!!

Dress rehearsal was intense!  I think there were some dances that never got to run their whole dance number all the way though.  April, the owner,stopped the music for every little mistake the kids made and even made them doing push ups.   This had me VERY happy!   I know what kind of mom am I?? Tough Love!! Yah!  Hey, the way I see it is that you 'll never know when you’ll see the Abby Lee dance Company and we want to make sure we give them a run for their money (or beat them).

I recorded the dress rehearsal so that everyone can see little clips of some of the dances that are going to this week’s competition.  The girls have worked very hard and I hope we do well in competition.

I am happy to announce that I conquered the competition hair without the help of anyone else! Woo Hoo! Oh wait, there is more; I am done putting Rhinestones on everything!! Watch out world here I come.  Ha ha   Charlie surprised me today,no, not a wedding ring but with a UPS box that had clear panel garment bags and an On the Go Travel Companion.  He knew I had a tough time finding the right costumes because I had to go through every bag and it was always in the las tone I looked in.  So he found garment bags that have clear vinyl in the front and a solid color on the back. They should fit around 3 costumes each. Perfect!  I also picked up extra earrings and extra pairs of tights.  Tomorrow I am picking up fishnet stockings and eyelashes.   I am excited about the trip and have to admit that it feels really good to be prepared; what a relief.  I don’t want to jinx myself but my rookie days of being a dance mom might just be over.

Charlie is doing a photo-shoot event with out me while I’m in Albuquerque.  He even rented a kick butt lens that I won’t get to try until I get back in town form competition.  I know he’ll do a great job because he one of those people who is good at everything.  In fact he is making me look bad with the other dance mom’s.  He sewed the clips on Sarah and Leyla’s costumes and then on Saturday he baked both Gluten free and regular chocolate chip cookies for the girls and made enough so we could take some to the other girls at the dress rehearsal.  When Robin asked Leyla if I had made the cookie she replied“no it was Charlie.”   I’m sorry; I have to laugh at this point.  I don’t want to complain because Charlie is definitely my better half.  There is no other person in this world I rather take this journey of life with.            

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Before I knew it, it was hailing rhinestones.



Me & Robin counting, counting, counting

This is so much FUN!!

 I can smell the competition in the air; it’s in the aroma stemming from the mist of sweat streaming off of the dancers practicing nonstop.  Yummy =)  The mothers are running around  like crazy hoping that all the costumes arrive in time to have the rhinestone added before  the competition that is only days away.  It’s such a bittersweet feeling.  I’m excited to see all the girls dance but I was not excited when I received this month’s bill.  My grand total was $951.00; not counting the traveling expenses for the competition, or the hospital bill for me after I fainted when I looked at the bill.  The only good news about this bill is that $279 was a mistake.  I did not realize that the $60 I paid per costume was just a deposit.  The high bill was the additional cost of the costumes that were not covered by the deposit.   While in shock I was asked by one of the other moms, who had to leave the dance studio for another obligation, to cut the girls Lyrical dance costumes.  The costumes were long so we needed to trim the length by 2 ½ inches.   Out of all the dance mom’s in the world why would you ever ask me??  Apparently none of them read my blog.  Before I could respond to Lalita she was gone!!!  Do you blame her?   I asked Robin “RL” to rescue me from ruining the costumes.   I felt horrible for asking her since she was recovering from strep throat and just wanted to rest.   Robin laughed and said yes, but I knew she wasn’t excited to help.  But I figured that between the two of us we could get it done without inflicting any major damage.  When it comes to messing up competition costumes I don’t know who I am more scared of; the girls or the other dance moms.  We decided to do our girls costumes first to make sure any mistakes we made would be to our girls and not anyone else’s.   After 20 minutes on one costume we built up confidence and a rhythm and completed the rest of the costumes by the time the dance class was done.  I have to add that we made no mistakes and receive “two thumbs” up from April.  

 Robin and I cut 2.5 inches off

When I got home I had some wine and was feeling good about where I was in preparation for competition.  All of a sudden I felt a rhinestone fall on me.  I must either be dreaming or Charlie had put something in my wine.  I know I should had have stopped at my first glass!  Before I knew it, it was hailing rhinestones.   This couldn’t be possible.  I had only one costume left to touch up.  I must have fallen asleep on the couch while watching TV, Charlie will wake me up any second…WRONG!!  That was no dream it was a premonition!  I received a text from Robin about all the costumes that needed rhinestone makeovers.  You have got to be kidding me. I starting to feel like I was never going to be done with rhinestones.   At this point all I could do is laugh and pour another glass of wine.

 Today the Future Stars dance moms had the DF1 lobby looking like a Nike clothes plant.  They had tables lined up along the wall and were clustered in groups rhinestoning away; they even order pizza.  Robin and I were once again asked to count out rhinestones for the team.  What did I do in life to deserve being constantly worrying about rhinestones?  I just cannot escape RHINESTONES!!  Luckily for me Robin is so sweet and offered to rhinestone one of Leyla’s costumes for me.  Thank you, thank you so very much Robin.  Well, to be honest we made a trade.  She would stone up the “It's My Party Girl” costume and I offered to have Charlie sew the clasp on one of Sarah’s costumes.  Nice trade…for me. Charlie was great about it and knew it was important to Leyla and me.  When Leyla found out that Robin was going to help me her expression of relief said it all.   

Future Star



Page after a long day at work rhinestoning



This is not an ordinary dance bag!!

Can anyone please tell me where February went???  I cannot believe we are already in March!   Just yesterday I was telling you all about how well prepared I am going to be for this upcoming Albuquerque dance competition.  Now with only a couple weeks away it feels like if I don’t put the peddle-to-the-metal and get my stuff together history, yet again, will repeat itself.   I REFUSE to let that happen!!!

I have a check list of all the things I need or need to replace and am making all my on line orders by the end of this week. 

 1) The last competition I used Nude color garment bags for Leyla’s costumes.  I have decided to invest in clear garment bags so I could see each costume rather than digging through every bag to find the right costume (and yes, it is always the last one I look in).

2)  I need to replace my rolling clothes rack that I use to hang all Leyla’s costumes on.  The one I used last year is a complete joke!!  I did not get the cheapest, but rather the middle priced Single Garment Rack at Target.  This garment rack is difficult to roll around and it falls apart easily, it also has lots of small parts making it difficult to assemble and take down.  I’m sure I entertained a lot of the mom’s last year trying to operate the garment rack without it falling apart! (Soo embarrassing).   I felt a little better when I noticed some mom’s had nothing to hang their costumes on.  Then there were the super experienced dance moms who were smart and got the expressive garment rack and had no problem were rolling the rack around, or with pieces of it falling off.  At the end of the day the Single Garment Rack is a not a good one to purchase for any kind of traveling.  The rack was given an early retirement from the entertainment world and is now being used to hang cloths up that come right out of the dryer ,so I guess it was not a total loss.

I was doing a goggle search on garments bags and I found a site called Stage Studio Dancewear website. I found this kick butt dance bag.  This is not an ordinary dance bag but is a Dream Duffel Medium Package!!  I know you may be thinking, so what???  But take a look at this bag! For anyone traveling that needs/wants to know what is in the bag before they open it it’s like a dream come true.  It’s everything I need in one.  The only problems is I’m not sure if I going a little over board or if the bag is going to be a big pain to get around.  PLREASE let me know what you think. http://stageandstudiodancewear.com.au/index.phpmain_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=286

3) Finishing the Rhinestones and touching up the costumes to make sure they are all on securely and in straight lines. Plus knowing where the closest Michaels is located….just in case.

4) Buy two extra tights for each style, extra eyelashes, and extra pairs of earrings.

5) Buy gluten-free food to bring so Leyla and I don’t starve (and have a map of all the stores that sell GF food close to where we are staying). 

6)  Call the competition company who holding the event and get an idea of the set up.  I heard from another mom that she thinks they have racks for us to put the costumes on.

                                                        Is there anything I’m missing?  I sure hope not!!

   

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