Kidney transplant a success!!

The surgery is over and the transplant looks to be a success. The kidney is starting to work and they're going about the business of rehydrating little Joseph and watching his creatinine levels go slowly down (that's a good thing). He's of course in some pain, but they're managing it. He'll be in the hospital for a while for sure, but this is another step towards his living a more normal life.

Man, it sure is humbling to see such a tiny person go through all of this. My sister and bro-in-law have been awesome through the whole thing too. It's inspiring. There's just so much that I take for granted right now. I have good health and a healthy son. I curl up like a baby when I get a sinus cold and I freak out when my son gets a low fever. Looking at it universally, those are really small potatoes.

Their whole family (Joseph has an older brother) needs to get a free trip to Disneyworld or something after all of this!

My nephew has a donor!

I rarely post in this blog, but this is the biggest news my family has had in a long time and the more good thoughts that end up going towards my sweet 3-year-old nephew the better.

My nephew Joseph was born with no kidney function (and a host of lesser issues). Earlier this year he became big enough to receive a kidney and then it was the waiting game to move up the list. He's been at the top of his state's list for a few months now.

Last night my sister got the call. Joseph has a donor. He goes into surgery today. We are all waiting with hope and lots of prayers for the operation to be a success and for Joseph to take one more step towards becoming just a normal little boy.

Please, when you're sending your good thoughts his way, spare some for the family who lost a child too early in life, thereby making Joseph's transplant possible.

I finally have a new website!

Same ol' URL, but I finally created a new website with an all-new look and my new Pixie pictures to go with it. There's now a page for my student troupe, Lotus Bloom, and an easy button to sign you up for my email list if you are so inclined.

Check it out and tell me what you think (especially if you find broken pictures and links, typos, etc)!

www.rakschristina.com

Update

Yeah, I've been a non-poster for a while, mostly due to a combo of being in a climate change induced funk and just being too damn busy!! How the heck did I get this busy? I have shows up the wazoo coming up!!

Wed, Oct 17--Lotus Bloom and Blue Lotus Tribe at the Martini Room in Elgin
Sat, Oct 20--Blue Lotus Tribe at the Helping Hips Aids Benefit in Chicago
Sun, Oct 21--Me at the Jasmin Jahal Fall Hafla in Chicago
Sat, Oct 28--I'm hosting a Halloween Hafla at the Martini Room in Elgin

Also I taught a tribal fusion choreography workshop last Sunday, an Egyptian finger cymbal choreography workshop yesterday, and have to finish learning the level 4 stick dance by Wednesday's class as well as my choreo for the Oct 21 hafla and the halloween hafla. That's 3 choreographies created in as many weeks, plus one learned!

Yeah, perpetually busy and tired. yay me

In-law visit days... Hell, I don't remember what we did on which day so....

* Finished stripping, sanding, priming, and painting the shutters. What was white is now blue!!

* Fixed and reglazed broken bedroom window, stripped it, primed and painted it. Other bedroom windows to follow post-visit, but it should be pretty smooth sailing since Wayne taught Michael the right way to do it.

* Cut a big hole in the enclosed patio and put an additional door in there. Used to be you had to go out onto the driveway then back in the gate in order to go into the backyard from the house. Now you can go straight out!

* Built drawer/pullout shelvy thingys for the pantry cupboard (a fridge-sized one next to the fridge). Result is one additional shelf and mucho more organization!

* Built drawer/pullout shelvy thingys for the pots-n-pans cupboard. Again, stuff is easier to find and get to. A small loss of storage space, but there were some things in there we don't use much, so they went above the stove.

* Fixed both gate latches and re-hung the gate that was hung wrong.

* Took out the aluminum screens/storms on the South windows and stripped the paint. Those windows will be reglazed and the windows and framing repainted today. The rest of the downstairs windows will follow post visit. What was white shall be gray!

* Stripped the trim above the front door and the front door.... ready for a fresh coat of paint. What what white shall be blue!

All in all, this has been a productive 10 days. The house is looking better all the time and there's more to do this fall and in the spring. On the one hand, old houses are a ton o' work. On the other hand, putting the work into it is totally worth it to have it done right and make it YOUR. This is fast becoming OUR home with every improvement and project and ounce of sweat we put into it.

And yes, pics will be posted sometime soon... when I have more "after" pics and get the time to upload and post them. It'll be worth the wait. The in-laws just left, sadly, but we are armed with the info and materials we need to finish the windows and trim repainting. Hopefully that much can happen before winter hits.

In-law home improvement visist... days 4-6

Thursday: I went to work at the salon, Michael went to work downtown, and the Wanye went to work in outside. He finished stripping the paint off the house where the gutters are going to go soon. Bonnie did a bit of work on the shutters as well and helped me out by doing some house cleaning (at some point Wayne stripped paint above our open windows and got tons of paint dust inside). When I came home, Wayne needed to make a Home Depot run, so I took him and Alex. We needed more sanding wheels for the grinder. Dinner was had and I ran off to teach my classes. When I got home, everyone was in bed.

Friday: Salon for me again. Michael stayed home. He and Wayne primed and painted where the gutters would go. I think they did some other small stuff, but I'm not exactly sure. They were painting when I got home. We left at 4:00 for Alex's guitar lesson. Wayne wanted to come along to see Scott's work (he builds custom guitars.... from scratch!!) and pick his brain about techniques so he could have more to play with in his pool cue shop (Wayne builds custom pool cues from scratch!). The guys got along swimmingly and Alex had a good lesson. Dinner after the lesson and another early night to bed.

Saturday: They put the gutters up!! Wayne and Michael spent the better part of the day putting up gutters and are mostly done with the exception of the downspouts. I spent a good part of the day getting two of the shutters cleaned off and ready to prime and paint. There must have been 10 layers of paint or more on those babies, not to mention gobs of paint collected in the corners that had to be chiseled out. You know there's a lot of buildup when what looks like a nice bevel between layers turns out to be a 90 degree angle when the paint is all chipped off. My back is really feeling it today too and I still have two to go... ugh!!

In-law home improvement visist... days 1-3

Monday... I clean like a madwoman, teach a private lesson, clean some more, and go pick up the in-laws at Midway. We drive home. Michael has made dinner. We eat dinner and discuss what to do project-wise afterwards before going to bed.

Tuesday... after breakfast Michael, Bonnie, and Wayne make the first trek to the hardware stores to get the first round of needed stuff. I go teach a class at the studio. Wayne and Michael work on cutting the wood for the new cupboard drawers and I come home from work with just enough time to prep for my evening classes and go back out. Wayne walks around the house and plans out how to take down the gutters. I go to work for the evening. Everyone's in bed when I get home. I'm pretty sure the cupboard drawers are ready to assemble by this time.

Wednesday... Wayne and I go to Home Depot to get the paint for the trim and a few other items. Wayne and Michael begin to take the gutters down and strip the paint beneath them as Bonnie begins stripping the paint from the decorative shutters. I get sent out to run errands and do the grocery shopping. I come home. Michael and Wayne are back at the hardware store to get better gutter takedown and paint stripping equipment. Bonnie and Alex are in his room having grandma time. I go outside and commence brushing the dead ivy branches stuck to the brick off of the brick. Bonnie and Alex take Izzy for a walk. The men come home with new toys. They use the new toys to take down the rest of the gutters and strip the paint beneath them. Michael also continues stripping the shutters. I take to the front door, hand stripping the paint off of it. Bonnie is making dinner and Alex is at a friend's house by this time. My arms get tired. I stop stripping paint for a while and come inside and post to journal. I can still hear the hum of the "grinder" as Wayne gets paint off the trim in pretty speedy fashion.

See? Another entry in the same week!!

I am reminded this morning that my in-laws are arriving Monday evening. They are coming from New Mexico to help us replace the gutters and strip and repaint all the trim on the house, among other things. Now, aside from the fact that I have no idea where this gutter money is coming from (we're freakin' BROKE!!), I'm faced with a house that's not been properly cleaned in I don't know how long!! The hubby is good for limited amounts of cleaning at about half the speed I can work at, so I'm pretty much guaranteed to be doing the bulk of it. Aside from that I have gardens to weed, ivy to pull off the house (or my pop-in-law... whom I love dearly but who is staunchly against any kind of ivy... will kill it), and a basement and garage to organize to the best of my ability. Luckily, the garage is mostly there and I have a plan for the basement.

That's a lot to do in just a couple of days. I have to go to class this afternoon for a couple of hours, but the rest of the day will be spent on the house. I have class and rehearsal tomrrrow as well, but don't have to leave until 3:30, so I can spend most of the early part of the day working on the house. Fortunately, those are times when Michael is home as well, so perhaps I can nudge him to clean what I can't..... the mess that is his tools, his desk, and his gaming stuff all piled up in the basement/garage. All of that is kind of a no-touch zone.

Besides, he needs to have his tools organized if we're to FIND any of them to do the work!!

Monday I'll put the finishing touches on the house to make it all shiny before I pick them up from the airport. *sigh* I had hoped to paint the hallway and touch up some other spots as well as finish the window treatments for the dining and living rooms, but I guess it wasn't meant to be this time around.

Trying once again to use this blog thing and not just my LJ one.

Okay... the week in review then...

Last weekend was the Tribal:Pura workshop and show. Andrea and I headed up to Milwaukee for the day. The morning workshop, I have to say, was pretty much the same as when Carolena and Megha came to Bloomington, IN last year. I expected as much though, so I wasn't disappointed. I've been tribal dancing for a while now...8 years to be exact, but it's always refreshing to get the moves from the creator's perspective. She worked us through all of the basics and it was fun. After lunch we learned some cool combos that I'm going to keep in the back of my mind (and notebook) until after I'm done teaching the BSBD improv variations to my level 2 and 3 classes... then maybe we'll start back into new combos.

After a lovely dinner with Andrea and Kerrie at my fave Middle-Eastern spot to hit in M'wakey, Abu's, Kerrie met with some friends and Andrea and I went back to prep for the show. We were able to catch most of the first half and about half of the second half. Highlights were Khivan's sassy alternative fusion number, Hipnotic's powerful slow improv (and that damned multi-dancer turkish drop they do that always stops my heart for just a second), Stephanie Masters lovely Turkish style dancing, Trillium's straight-up FCBD improv with big smiles and tons of energy, and the Trillium/Stephanie number as well as their student troupe number.... lovely!! Andrea and I performed the tribe's Hallas Walla choregraphy (a Raquy and the Cavemen drum solo) to some pretty rave reviews. It felt good.... we felt "on." We were happy. My only regret the whole night was having to miss the Shades of Araby performance. I heard they did very well though.

Fat Chance and Denyavi, of course, ended the show with a long set of tribal improv. Ooooooo.... pretty colors!! I enjoyed it and saw some new things which gave me even more ideas for future implementation. Sorry I'm not so wordy with the reviews. It *was* nearly a week ago!! Needless to say, they were a pleasure to watch.

Post-show was the after party at the Safe House, another one of my fave Milwuakee haunts. Much merriment was had partying with all my friends and at some point I realized I had to drive home. Got home at 3:30am.... tired, but satisfied with the day.

Onto the week.....

* Monday was nothing special. Private lesson in the AM, taught my classes in the PM.

* Tuesday I taught my afternoon class and then again in the evening. Level 3 (the student troupe) stayed late to run our Martini room set. Everyone left feeling pretty confident... this is a good thing.

* Wednesday I was lazy. I had grand plans for cleaning and gardening that simply didn't come to life. I mostly did computer stuff and puttered around the house all day. The Martini Room gig was that night. Everyone was on time and I was very proud of my students' performance overall. Sure, there are always kinks to work out and things to improve on, but they did a great job and looked happy to be there! The crowd was a small but fun one and we even got some new folks out on the dance floor during the lesson segment. Blue Lotus Tribe took the stage (well, Andrea, Audrey, and I did anyway) and had a pretty good set too. Yay, us!! Ursula, part owner of the bar, was very complimentary and can't wait for the next one. DJ FLX (really.. he's a bellydancer's DJ) was on point as well. Some of us stayed for another martini far later than we should have, but we had a great time... lots of giggles and jokes. The night was a success!

* Thursday... that would be yesterday.... I worked at the salon. We have 2 new stylists who I met, Tracy and Jameson. Both uber cool and laid back. It was a good day. After Alex got home from school I took him back over there for his haircut. The mohawk is back!! he even deigned to let Shelly put *gasp* product in his hair!! Last night was my first of two freebie intro classes at a new studio. 7 ladies took the class and 4 immediately signed on for a full session! yays! From there I went over to my class at the college. Again, a good time was had by all.

Today, I work at the salon again. Tracy did a funky curly 'do on Heather during their downtime yesterday and now Heather wants to try it on me, so that should be fun. I really like working there.. low key, good people, and lots of free hair advice plus super cheap services and discount product. Can't beat that!! The pay's not much but the value of being there is great!!

Which reminds me....anyone reading this and living anywhere near the Dundee area, if you're looking for a new stylist, we gots four good ones!! The salon is La Femme Fatale at 210 North River Street in East Dundee. Call 847-426-2995. They'll make yer hair real purty!!

After work I plan to do all that stuff I was going to do Wednesday but didn't. Add to that website updates and some other bizness stuff and I have a pretty full day planned. No evening plans though, thankfully!! I need a night off!

Optimus Prime is God

In an attempt to use the tribe blog to a better extent, I give you the following cute little story about my son.....

Michael took Alex to the drive-in last night... a double feature of Transformers and Evan Almighty. I asked Alex for the report.

After giving me a brief review of both movies....one about alien robots who hide out on our planet disguised as vehicles, the other a modern-day version of the biblical story of Noah's Ark, he made the following observation:

"Sometimes I think that the Transformers could be real and that the Autobots are watching over us, protecting us from the Decepticons."

Uh... huh..... guess the whole "movie with God as a character" is less believable than our planet being protected by benevolent transforming machines.

The theology of the 8-year old boy is really quite interesting.