Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong

Overwhelmed (sorry, it's long. I'm venting)

I'm sure someone out there is wondering where I am. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? It's been a very crazy, insane, stressful time. There's a lot going on and I'll try to update without boring anyone to tears. Then again, this is a good archive for me so humor me.

Where to begin. Let's work kind of backwards in time. My FIL had a minor stroke last night. He's doing well all things considered. He's got a little bit of slurred speech, and he's got some problems with his fine motor skills on his right side but the prognosis is good with a little bit of physical therapy. Now it's just a matter of stabilizing and all should be just fine. After calling 911, he was at the hospital within 30 minutes which of course, every minute at the beginning improves the chances of good recovery. Thank goodness for his wife Marie. Not only is she a nurse, she's a wonderful lady. Wish she'd let me help and come up to visit and just keep her company, hey that's family is for, but we'll go up over the weekend and do what we can then. She knows I'm only 45 minutes away and can be up there at a moment's notice. Still, that was a little scary last night but thank G-d he's doing much better today.

There's plenty of crap going on with various issues at the Directors Guild. I was reelected to the AD/SM/PA Council for a full 2 year term. I was previously an alternate having taken a few years off. I was a Council member for 8 or 10 years going back to 1992 when I first became a member. There's a lot of stuff going on with our live/variety shows and we need to protect our jurisdiction and work days. So having gotten back involved last August with a specific show problem, I've jumped back in two big feet first in terms of getting entrenched. On a few committees, been in a few private issue meetings, bla bla bla. So lots of emails are taking up my time and just trying to keep everyone informed on what's going on in the "real" world.

C's school situation has been a nightmare for the past 3 weeks. OMG, I don't even know where to begin. Part of it goes back to January when the Temple decided that they're going to ultimately merge the two campuses into one at the Tarzana location. At that time, we brought up the potential that C's class would be small for the fall and just didn't want to find out in August that it's too small to be economically feasible. This has continued since the first of the year. Dissolve to three weeks ago when we had the "sales pitch" meeting to tell us all about the Gesher (advanced pre-K) program and how amazing the one teacher, Aviva, is. We, the parents at that meeting, said we'd do our research and make our decisions and the school director promised check with the other pre-k eligible class to determine who, if anyone, would be old enough and ready to join our class to help make the class size more realistic. At the time there were only 5 out of 9 kids in her class staying for next year. In the meantime, G and I have been researching the prospect of going to a local private Jewish Day school. We both grew up in public schools and really believe in them, assuming there are decent school options, which we do in our neighborhood. But we did the application and the tours to check out this school to make sure we had options since the situation at West was changing hourly. We both really liked the school and can see the benefit of how their program could really benefit C and her personality. I wouldn't say that for every kid or every one of my kids (if I'm that lucky) but for C in particular, it could be a really nice fit for her to flourish. So yet another option to weigh.

Now, jump to last week and the one kid we've all been having troubles with, her mom tells me that she's moving her daughter to the Tarzana campus. Yay that C won't be in a class with her and her meanness for next year but boo that we've lost yet another child. In the meantime, a bunch of us moms are still talking and trying to figure out exactly who could or would be in this one year plan Gesher class for next year. Yesterday, I got a phone call from the Director telling me that there will officially NOT be a Gesher class at C's West campus and that C and another boy in her class are invited/encouraged to come to Gesher at Tarzana. Now it's decision time.

I have to tell you that the last three weeks have been unbelievably stressful. The situation and who's in, who's out, go here, go there has changed almost hourly. Each scenario makes perfect sense at that moment. The pros and cons are endless, the "what if's" are endless. The only "good" thing is that fact that a decision was made at West. For 3 weeks, we've been spinning our wheels without any guidance or information from the administration. It was really unfair and I'm still quite angry at being jerked around. None of the things that were promised to be looked into were and there's been little or no communication from the Director other than "have you made any decisions?" Hey, I paid my deposit. Stop asking what my intentions are. I gave you money. So now we have to decide which is a better situation. Going to Tarzana where C'll know a bunch of kids going in, the Rabbis are the same, the philosophy is the same but it's still a different school. It would also buy us a year in determining exactly what we want to do for elementary school - public or private since she's only got one more year of pre-school anyway. Or do we dive into private school. This school is terrific and C would do well there and it makes sense to get in on the ground floor. If it turns out that it's too religious or we're not comfortable or whatever, we could still pull her at the end of TK (they call it transitional kindergarten) and still enroll her in public school for K. Of course, if we love it and are sucked in, it's a huge financial commitment for private school and it's just not something we initially planned on. I have no doubt that C will have a fantastic year at either place so that's not really a factor. But it's just a big decision no matter which way we go. So it's no wonder that I've had more to drink in the last 3 weeks because of stress than I have in the last 3 years. If anyone reading this diatribe has an opinion, please share. It's pretty much been whoever blows in my ear at that moment is where I lean and right now G and I are pretty much split 50-50. We're not leaning either way which is what's making this so difficult.

So that's been pretty much all consuming. Haven't slept much. G's been VERY busy with work. The finale of "American Idol" has just concluded on the East Coast. Haven't heard who's won but I sure hope it was Jordin. Love her and have from early on. I hope America got it right this time since I still can't say the name Taylor Hicks without spitting. G's on his way to NY tonight for two days for rehearsals for the Tony Awards. He comes home for the weekend and then off to NY again on Monday night for two weeks for the whole show of the Tony Awards. I start work on a silly show for Spike TV. More on that as it unfolds. It'll make for some good blogging. Let's just say "Guys' Choice Awards". Think pole dancers. Anyway, G comes home the morning after the Tony's and goes right to the Daytime Emmy's which I will have also started by then. He's got a few days off after that before starting BET Awards, goes on a golf trip the next day and then back to NJ for the Live Earth concert. So he's pretty much on the run until July 8. Oh and at some point, I'll start "Big Brother 8". Crazy, crazy time.

Are you drinking yet? Has this post blurred your vision? Perhaps if you had a drink it would become clearer for your eyes. Anyway, that's pretty much it. I did take a scrapbook workshop last weekend (3 projects) from my favorite designer Teresa Collins. I'll save that for another entry and will have a few photos to post accordingly.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for your support.

posted by Juls @ 6:12 PM