Christmas 2001

Christmas 2001

Hi Everyone! Another year has passed and we are happy to announce the addition of…four new smoke detectors in the Ellwing household. As the girls get older, they and their friends need a “gentle” reminder that candles, cigarettes, and any other combustible items are not to be used in our home.  We point them out to everybody with pride!

Diva Cassie (13) had her first vocal competition at Northwestern Univ. Her vocal teacher gave her specific instructions on what to do and bring, repeating the information weekly for months.  Cassie was first to sing – 8:00 AM on a Saturday in Evanston. After much ordeal, we made it to the parking lot with seconds to spare.  Cassie looked at me and said, “Did you bring the music?” I replied, “No…you know your song by heart.” Cassie proceeded to tell us that she was supposed to bring the ORIGINAL music for the judge! We were astonished. As we told Cassie’s voice teacher about the missing music, she was stunned that Cassie could have possibly forgotten.  Steve took the teacher’s manuscript, and took off to find a copier.  There was one in the building, but the copy center was closed at that early hour.  He then sprinted towards the library to make a copy.  The library was closed, but a student working there suggested another building that had a copier.  The building had two copiers, both turned off. Steve ran around until he found someone to turn on one of the copiers.   He waited 10 minutes while it warmed up. Steve then realized that he only had a $20 bill, so he ran back to the library, borrowed $2.00 from the girl working there, promising he would return and re-pay the “loan”.  He put his money in, but the copier jammed.  He then had to warm up the second copier, another 10 minutes. Of course, Cassie’s time to perform had come and gone. Her teacher (who was accompanying other students) kept coming in to the performance room, and I kept shaking my head “no”, Steve’s not back!  Meanwhile, Steve again needed change to copy on the other machine.  He found a stranger outside that had $16.00 – so Steve gave him the $20 bill for the $16 in dollar bills.  He then copied the music.  Steve got back and gave me the music, but in his haste, he had copied some pages twice, and others not at all. He sprinted back out. Steve stopped in at the library again (now open) then re-copied the material. When he finally returned back, we realized that again, in his rush, he cut off the bottom of some of the pages, so the accompaniment was missing.  I transposed the accompaniment, while Cassie’s teacher tried to put all the copied pages in order.  Finally, at 11:00 AM, Cassie sang her stupid song!  Somehow she still managed to get a “1”, despite the late hour and the missing music.  Wonder what her encore performance will be at next year’s competition?  As you might imagine, by the time Cassie sang, Calley was swinging upside down off the chairs in the auditorium.

As for Calley (10), she has perfected the art of tying up and hanging dolls from nooses, performing surgeries on dolls (she’s really proficient at amputations and cutting open their chests for open heart surgery) and using household items in unique ways.  This summer I was the school nurse at one of the Special Ed schools from 8AM – 12 Noon. I am used to being surprised at what I find upon my arrival home, but one day I was especially impressed. Above our family room is a loft, where my office is located.  I arrived home, entering the house from the garage located under the loft.  The entire family room was white (when I left, it was black and green).  Not just the floor, but also all the furniture, including the black leather sofa and chairs.  Calley had apparently heard about Christmas in July, because that was what my home had become. I buy powdered laundry detergent from Sam’s club in those huge containers. Calley somehow managed to haul the full container up the stairs to the loft, then made it “snow” in my house. A winter paradise it was not – though the slippery floors, carpet, chairs and countertops would have been a perfect place to do barefoot skiing! We have not dared to try to shampoo the carpets yet, with all the soap that must still be in the fibers and padding.

The latest entertaining incident occurred a couple of weeks ago – Cassie asked me if she could invite a new friend (she’s in High School, Mom) for dinner.  I said, “Sure” and proceeded to make the kids hamburgers.  Dinner was delayed, though, when a police officer arrived at the front door.  Seems I was “harboring a run-away” at my house!… "But officer, she’s only supposed to stay for dinner…"

Steve’s still with the AMA.  I am having a wonderful time out of the corporate world.  Now that I am working for Special Education, I am home after school with the kids.  Actually, now that I think about it…the travel was nice…

I can go on for hours and hours, but by now you get the idea – nothing has changed with the Ellwings.  We continue to be the ideal American Family.