Mayela is a good listener.  She has a soft heart and very good ears.

She came to church with me yesterday morning.  I've been wanting to take someone to church for ages.  I asked her.  She said yes.  She thought it over for weeks. Best of all, she liked it.  I think she genuinely did.  Her son performed in a drama piece and he did well.  She was proud of him although she was quiet about it.  I could tell she was nervous beside me too.  I was introducing her to people, and this being a small town, and she being involved with the school, everyone already knew her.  Good grief.  I want credit for bringing a new person and she knows more people than I do.  For eight years she's never come to this church.  She could have, but she didn't.  I like talking with her because she's interested in the Bible.  Iron sharpens iron.  I'm looking forward to some good debate with her.

I got a new chair for my desk and it cost $160 and I don't like it.  I'll have to return it if our son doesn't like it.  I have a nerve in my behind that gets pinched in this chair and makes my leg ache.  I'm bummed about it.  Hate to package it all up and drive 75 miles one way to make a return.  Maybe I'll buy one of those giant exercise balls and see if it makes a good seat.  The executive chair also takes up more space than I expected.  I don't wanna tell my husband because he was so nice to make a special trip to take me to the store.

Proud Mary was the new routine we did tonight and guess what.  Everyone loved it!  It is the most rewarding thing when the class really likes a song.  It's so worth all the practicing.  A lot of them were singing it and a lot of 'em whooped and hollered and then they clapped afterward.  Wow.  What a rush.

After cool down I reminded everyone that Zumba is for all ages.  I told them that in the workshop I took there were people from age 18 on up to their 60s and 70s and it's a true fact.  One of my students today mentioned that we have a wide range of ages in our class.  That's a compliment although not an intentional one.  I hope it stays that way.  I told the class tonight that there's a wide range of ages because they are understanding that Zumba is for everyone.  You simply must adjust the fitness level for yourself and make it high impact or low impact dependent upon your body.  Then I told them to all give themselves a hand for doing a good job and we clapped again!  I love being a Zumba instructor.  I have such wonderful students.

But tonight we had a little incident.  There are movies after Zumba.  The movie people come in at 6:30pm and set up their stuff.  I was running five minutes late because I couldn't decide what song to take out of rotation, so Proud Mary put us at 65 minutes.  Well, James the movie guy pushed the button to bring down the giant movie screen.  I was doing cooldown and the screen, if I didn't move, would hit me and crush me.  Okay, might not crush me but it was right overhead.  I asked (while I'm teaching) him if I should stop.  He said no, but he did not stop the screen coming down.  So I moved but then no one would see me if I was on the wrong side of the screen, so he said move in front of it.  I was a little close to the edge of the stage then.  Well, I am too quiet.  This is a known fact.  And I just tried to finish on the edge of the stage.

So class was done.  I did my little talk.  We clapped.  Class is done.  And a visitor, a lady whom I chatted with before class, well, my goodness, she went off on James for pulling down the screen on me.  Oh dear.  I ignored it because I didn't know what to do.  Then two gals came to me and told me I better say something.  So I went over and said, "It's okay, it's okay.  He's a volunteer."  Well, she wasn't buyin' it.  lol.  She went on for a good five minutes.  I let James fend for himself.

Truth is, he shouldn't have brought down the screen on me.  He's a little quirky that way.  But I don't want to make waves and get kicked out.  I called Nadine to give her a heads up on the incident just in case she hears about it.  Ya never know.  Better safe than sorry so I'll let her know what happened so she doesn't get any surprises.  It's not a real big deal anyways.

I don't like altercations.  I don't like arguments, disputes, noisy arguments, or controversy, thank you very much.

I talked with James and he seemed okay about it.  He wasn't mad.  I said I was sorry.  I'm not telling my husband I said sorry because my husband gets mad at me for it.  Says I say I'm sorry too much.  Know what I say when he tells me to stop saying I'm sorry?  I'm sorry.  Hehe. 

I can't help it.  I have a sorry problem.

I'm one of 10

Uncle Jim put me in his will.  Me, and nine others.  And I can't tell him thank you because he's not here.  I would never have thought he would include me and my sister in his will.  I feel really bad and really happy at the same time.

Sammy Hagar

Sammy Hager has been abducted by aliens.  He says they downloaded his brain, or uploaded it, or both.  Happened in Fontana, California.  I didn't know he was a member of Montrose.  We luuuuved Montrose in the '70s.  Rock Candy.  Rife with angsty, angry lyrics and head banging for the 17-year-old.

Excellent article at WSJ, "Why do we let them dress like that" today.

Saturday night we went to a Zumba master class in Cruces. It was good. I want to try some things Nathan Blake did. Someday. I want to learn how to split the class and dance two sides facing each other.

I have two friends. I think. And I thank God for that. They are beside me in the photos. I feel good to be with them. They are both beautiful to my eyes. Mayela drove. She offered and I said okay. I didn't tell her the lights hurt my eyes at night, so I was very glad she offered.

Yesterday I learned I am in Uncle Jim's will. I feel bad about it, but happy also. Shocked. Undeserving. All the nieces and nephews are named. Ten of us. I cried to hear of it. My dad, dear, sweet, tender Dad, said, "Aw %$#*, you're not gonna start whining and blubbering now are you." lol. I'm used to him by now! I am a new creature in Christ, praise be to God! Uncle Jim and Aunt Delores worked hard all their lives and accrued much. I wouldn't have guessed in a million years that my sister and I would be in a will, in his will. He left $100,000 to his dearest sister who is closest to his age. She is my Aunt whom everyone loves. I think she can't stop crying. She misses him. They were close. It was always cute to hear the siblings chide one another. I will miss hearing that banter between all of them. If only we could save time in a bottle. If only.

No looting in Japan

There's no looting in Japan because they are Japanese.  They set the highest example for the whole world.

Simply the best

I had simply the best Zumba comment ever today.  After class I walked outside to put my speaker in my truck and two of the ladies were chatting.  I overhead the word "inspirational" but I assumed they were having some kind of non-Zumba related conversation.  They stopped me and said how much they liked the class, that the music was so inspirational.  And then the lady with no hair told me she's had chemo and that she believed that coming to my class helped her avoid a blood transfusion recently.  She said her blood levels were good and she was convinced it was attributed to her coming to Zumba once a week.  Wow.

It made my day.  It made my week.  It made my month!

I have two Christian songs in my playlist.  One hip hop, one for cool down.  I pray each person is blessed when they come to my class.  I pray before class.  I pray after class.  Without fail.  Sometimes I even thank the Lord while I up there dancin'!

The mom of a 16-year-old boy in town told me her son told her I have the body of a 24 year old.  My, my, what a nice compliment.  Then he said, althogether, I look 45.  Well, I'll take it as a compliment too, being as how I'm going on 52.  Then he said the thing is, I need to color my hair.  Bwa hahahaha!  Sweet kid.

The hair is not getting colored.  Eveh.

I didn't get sick!  Our son was down one day with a fever so I know I got it from him, but it's gotta be the Zumba that helped me to not get fully sick.  Yay for Zumba.  It's so curious.  I wonder if my body is better at making antibodies or what. 

The newest routine I introduced Tuesday was a big hit.  It received the most claps of almost any song since I started.  It's always nice to find a widely popular routine.  Once in awhile you pick a stinker and I did that once too.  Class was silent after we did it.  Haha!  I was petrified because I was new.  Live and learn.  I dropped it completely after a month.

I hope my cousin stops by on her way to Nashville.

Husband had a basal cell thing taken off his back.  It was small but looked very weird.  Last year he canceled the first appointment I made for him.  They did a biopsy about 10 days ago and I phoned about it today and found out it was cancerous.  He goes in tomorrow to get it scraped and cauterized.  Well, I told him, from now on you better not cancel any more doctor appointments I make for you!  Very quietly, he said,  "Thank you, Honey."  :)

Don't get sick!

A sore throat and fever are trying to get me. I think I'm beating them though. I feel better now than I did earlier  I was emailing with my friend, Mayela.  I have a friend named Mayela.

Rectus abdominus. I've been waiting to use that word, er words, since I took the toning workshop. Tomorrow I'm going to say it in front of people. When the instructor said it at the Zumba toning workshop I laughed because before she finished the whole phrase I thought she was saying rectum.

I was the only one who laughed.

Tonight I had fewer people, 27, and made $5.00 more. I earned $135.00. Apparently my book-keeping is not so good. I better not let Yr do an audit on me. Anyhoo. I'm sooo happy. I'm taking my husband and son out to dinner tomorrow to a nice restaurant.

I have a little headache so I took a Tylenol PM.

There's a movie called Julie/Julia on tv and I always thought it was about a transexual or something so was never interested, but it's about a girl who decides in one year to cook everything in Julia Child's cookbook and she makes a blog about it. So far it's kind of a cute movie.

It was a bad homeschool day. For me anyways. Couldn't get him to write an essay. So I let it go. It's optional so, hmmm. He did get 87% on his algebra unit test with his dedah though. My husband teaches the mathematics. He got "daddy" backwards or something when he was a tot and so Daddy and been Dedah ever since. I was overtaken by math in first grade of homeschool and husband took it over. What to do about high school. I'm still not sure.

My iPod isn't transferring a particular song very well. I had to re-download it and add it in. Tonight during class I noticed it was missing. Stopped and checked my iPod. Couldn't find it anywhere. By then it had been a couple minutes and everyone caught their breath. I'll be more careful to check the list on my iPod from now on. I let 'em off easy tonight. Oh! Three ladies came up and danced on stage with me. It was fun!

Hair is 49 7/8".

ZumbaZumbaZumba

Can't stop thinking about it lately. Had 32 in my class Tuesday. I'm stoked. Floating.

There is a new girl in town got licensed to teach. I called her, congratulated her, and invited her to teach a few routines in my class. She was surprised and I think is looking forward to doing it. She'll be in my class Saturday. Had her over yesterday to make sure her iPod will work with my setup and we could hardly stop talking to each other. I like her. I hope it goes really well Saturday. I took the high road. I want to have a positive working relationship with her.

I just introduced a quebradita routine last week. Seems everyone likes it. It's high intensity. And next week I'm doing a reggaeton song. Reggaeton. It's a vast wasteland as far as lyrics. Full of misogeny and violence and raw sex. I settled for the violence aspect. Found a song with no profanity and it's only about a boyfriend threatening to shoot another guy if he messes with his girlfriend. Well, I need one serious reggaeton song to round out my playlist and I need also to keep class appealing to the younger crowd. Actually I love the reggaeton beat. It's the words that are so repugnant. I'm doing Prrrum and the routine is here. The routine is very good.

I already have my next two routines selected. One will be a second song routine, a merengue, from Zumba on their DVD. I like it because one step is where you hold up your arms as if you're at a concert and they're playing your favorite song. Okay, I sound like a blonde, I know it. The other! I wanna do "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner from 1973. Fantastic song. Starts with probably the most famous locution on a song ever. I found a base routine and I'm going to change it up a bit. Gonna add a bit more of original Tina moves to it. I saw some routines to this song with moves like a body roll, but to me, that doesn't work. I was there in 1973. You need to use some moves from 1973, not 2011. Man, it's musical history. Give it some respect.

A student in class asked me if I could come to the private school where she teaches and teach a Zumba class to little kids. I told her it can't be Zumba because I'm not licensed to teach little ones, but she said she didn't care. So I'm going to teach a movement class and not call it Zumba. I can do that. I've already picked some cute, cute songs and a game. I'm looking forward to it. Can't believe I'm saying it, but I'm am looking forward to it. Songs I've picked so far are Xibom Bom Bom," "Funky Town" by the Chipmunks, and "Magic" by Selena.

Bible study is going great. The Bible, it's like gold. Pastor made a remark that stood out to me. His son died only last year of leukemia. It's not right losing a child. It's been hard on him and on the family. I feel so bad for them. How they must miss their son so. He would have been 40 this year and left behind three kids and a beautiful wife. Well, someone commented on how God always has a plan and God had a plan when he took Pastor's son. Pastor said he prefers not to say God took his son, but that God received his son. Mmmmm. So true.

March 13 is the time change and March 20 is the first day of Spring. Time is moving so fast.