We paid for Sary to take 10 classes in what was called "Story Ballet" which this school classifies as a "community outreach" class. While in this class we also signed up for a performance which was advertised to the class participants and parents. The performance package cost as much as the 10 lessons but what it included was: 4 weeks of rehearsals, use of a costume, two tickets to the performance, a cast party, and a DVD.
It was kind of intense since Sarys regular class and rehearsals both fell on a Saturday. For "Story Ballet" Sary could wear whatever she wanted and have her hair however she chose. (I tried to keep it in a ponytail.) We did buy her proper ballet shoes for the class.
For the performance rehearsals she was required: to attend ALL of the rehearsals, tights/leggings, ballet dress, ballet socks, ballet shoes and "performance ready" hair. Which was intimidating as Sary and I are lucky to get her hair brushed most days and performance perfect buns seemed out of the realm of possibility. I asked a dancer we know at church for hair tips.
At some point when she was in full swing of this rehearsal schedule her Story Ballet teacher and I discussed putting her in "curriculum" classes possibly starting immediately with a transfer. This got me excited that she was performing well and learning. It also made me a little nervous. Afer emailing repeatedly and calling the school during office hours the assistant director in charge of admittance couldn't bother to return my phone calls or emails.
As the performance got closer I started to get more irritated. Is there just something in my past that makes me resistant to the conformity of a ballet conservatory. Or is it just natural to get irritated when an organization cannot get themselves organized enough to make it convenient for my friends and family to order tickets but have very high expectations of me and my four year old? She was expected to be on time for rehearsal though the teacher often made them wait to get started so she could walk her dog or make announcements to parents. The announcements the week before the performance were as follows "I don't know how much the tickets are" "I don't know when they will be available" "When I said pink tights in the class announcement I really meant peach." Make sure the have performance perfect hair no matter how much gel and hairspray it takes." "Drop your kids off in tights and a hoody only"
We found out how much the tickets costs the Thursday before the performance on Sunday. So much for inviting friends. Not a good way to run a fundraiser you would think they would want to sell out.
We arrived ten minutes before the drop off time which was "too early" "you must be new to the conservatory because ballet time is always at least ten minutes late". The performance started ten minutes late. The performance went okay. But I think they would have done better if they had practiced they day before instead of trying costumes on the whole time. So after the performance we were not allowed to take pictures of the kids in their costumes after they left the stage and we were not allowed in the dressing rooms. But Sary was not being let out of the dressing room because all she was wearing was tights and a hoody. ugh When I tried to go in they said we have to do it this way we haven't lost a dancer yet. But my 4 year old is in there frustrated because she cannot express that those are all the clothes she has because that is how the teacher told mommy to dress her for drop off.
When asked if she liked is she said "It was bored". humph
So we went out to Red Robin and celebrated as a family Burkets enjoy celebrating life.
Then on Friday at 7:30 pm we receive an invitation to the cast party 2:30 -4:00 on Sunday party dress required. I was so done with the school at this point Jake says we have to go so we can get the DVD. I asked Jake to take Sary to it. But then Sunday Sary asks that I go with her because all the Mommies will be there. I get her dressed in her party dress and squeeze her feet into last years dress shoes. We go we wait ten minutes and then it finally starts. Then they play the 12 and 3 o'clock performances simultaneously on opposite sides of the room. The cake has egg and the drink is pink lemonade which Sary thinks is too sour even if it is pink. She eats the oreos and rice krispie treat I packed in my purse with water. We get our goody bag full of cheap pinata hard candy. Her performance teacher did not come to the party which clearly disappointed her. BTW DVD are not ready yet we will get an email at some future time and be told when we can pick it up.
There is just some thing wrong with the messages they are sending these girls. It is very important how you look. But you do not have to respect others time. You do not have to respect others feelings. You are not responsible to make sure things are organized in such a way that it is easy for the people you are working with as long as they are easy for you.
On my way out of the building I said a little silent good bye to the extremely impractical uncomfortable siezure inducing benches in the parents observation area. I very patiently let Sary walk on the retaining wall even though she was in her party dress and I was anxious to get out of there.
I think we will stick with Petite Dance at day care this spring and find a new ballet school in the fall. Petite Dance Ballet starts on Tuesday. I am looking forward to dressing her in her pink t-shirt and ponytail.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
There is a Rotten Tomato Under My Rose Bush
About a year and a half ago in September 2010 when I returned from vacation there were random vegtables in my front and back yard I blamed it on squirrles but thought it was weird that they were in the front bushes and the backyard.
Around October 2010 my neighbor began harassing me about my cat Sammy. She complained that he had been tearing up her screens, we offered to fix them. She complained that he would go in her house when she had the door proped open to bring in groceries, I told her to call me and I would come get him. She said to keep him inside or she would have him taken to the pound. My issues with my pregnancy for Piper had just been diagniosed, I took Sammy to my parents house, I couldn't take the stress. I blocked her from all of my social networks and email.
Random rotten fruits and vegtables continued to land in my yard.
After Piper was born her husband made her make dinner for my family stuffed shells and chocolate chip cookies. She labeled the cookies as containing egg because she knew about Sary's allergies. She didn't label the shells as containing egg. Sary threw up all night. Jake made me write her a thank you note. Jake gave it to her with the pan from the shells.
Then in the spring she started slamming her SUV door into the Scion. Jake turned the other cheek. On the evening of June 16th I parked in the spot adjacent to hers because when I got home Piper's Ocupational Therapist was in my usual spot. She slammed her door so hard into my Jetta that the mirror on the door was pushed back and there was a definent mark.
We installed cameras. She confronted me sort of about the cameras. (Is that even legal? Legal yes!Acceptable by HOA yes! I checked.) She continued to slam her door into the Scion. She threw cheese at the Jetta. Jake wrote an email to her husband he said to take the matter up with the wife. She never responded to the email after Jake forwarded it to her email address. She stopped slamming her door into our car but parked right on the line everytime even if she had to back up to pull in a gain and get closer.
Random rotten fruit and vegtables were lobbed into mine and Sary's garden hitting our tomato plants. I wrote an email to the homeowners association they said it was a police matter. We were not ready to escalate. Jake built a shed to protect my garden from her assults.
Two weeks ago I started driving the Scion to work because I am parking in a tight parking garage for work and well it already has damage. She started getting more aggressive about slamming her door into the car again.
On Friday Feb 24th morning I walked out to the car at the same time as she did in the morning I got Sary into her seat the neighbor loaded her bags into the drivers side of her car. She came around to the passengers side of the car and stood there as I prepared to back out. She opened the door into my mirror as I backed out. She gave me a dirty look I gave her a dirty look. She closed the door. I pulled out stopped and asked another neighbor if she had seen it. By the time we were finished talking she was inside her house.
On Saturday Jake recieved an email from her with some sickeningly sweet greeting asking for my email address describing me hitting her mirror and almost hitting her and suggesting we be more careful around the cars for the sake of the children. I told Jake to ignore her.
Jake asked around and decided to respond on Monday. She then stated that she had reported me and the car to the police. I assumed for a hit and run since you can't report someone to the police for a civil matter.
I reported the incident to my insurance. Then on the way home from work I called Fairfax County Dispatch to see if there was a police report out about a hit and run at her or my address. She said there wasn't an existing report. The dispatcher said that I could call back and get a police officer to come out ant write and incident report.
I called when I got home and got a different dispatcher this one not as nice and sympathetic. He told me that it was too late to report the accident but he did dispatch and officer to discuss the harassment I had been recieving. The officer spoke to me and advised me on strategies to prevent further incidents and also advised me it was not technically harassment (yet). He also spoke to the neighbor and advised both of us to report all vehicular contact to our insurance and if the other party did not provide insurance information to call the police.
Through speaking with the officer I came up with the idea of petitioning the homeowner's association to move visitors spot between our assigned spaces. The President of the association said he would email the request to the board and that we would have to pay for the numbers to be repainted. If it doesn't get passed via email I will have to go to the board meeting the second week of March to make the request in person.
Yesterday I saw a rotten tomato under my rose bush.
Around October 2010 my neighbor began harassing me about my cat Sammy. She complained that he had been tearing up her screens, we offered to fix them. She complained that he would go in her house when she had the door proped open to bring in groceries, I told her to call me and I would come get him. She said to keep him inside or she would have him taken to the pound. My issues with my pregnancy for Piper had just been diagniosed, I took Sammy to my parents house, I couldn't take the stress. I blocked her from all of my social networks and email.
Random rotten fruits and vegtables continued to land in my yard.
After Piper was born her husband made her make dinner for my family stuffed shells and chocolate chip cookies. She labeled the cookies as containing egg because she knew about Sary's allergies. She didn't label the shells as containing egg. Sary threw up all night. Jake made me write her a thank you note. Jake gave it to her with the pan from the shells.
Then in the spring she started slamming her SUV door into the Scion. Jake turned the other cheek. On the evening of June 16th I parked in the spot adjacent to hers because when I got home Piper's Ocupational Therapist was in my usual spot. She slammed her door so hard into my Jetta that the mirror on the door was pushed back and there was a definent mark.
We installed cameras. She confronted me sort of about the cameras. (Is that even legal? Legal yes!Acceptable by HOA yes! I checked.) She continued to slam her door into the Scion. She threw cheese at the Jetta. Jake wrote an email to her husband he said to take the matter up with the wife. She never responded to the email after Jake forwarded it to her email address. She stopped slamming her door into our car but parked right on the line everytime even if she had to back up to pull in a gain and get closer.
Random rotten fruit and vegtables were lobbed into mine and Sary's garden hitting our tomato plants. I wrote an email to the homeowners association they said it was a police matter. We were not ready to escalate. Jake built a shed to protect my garden from her assults.
Two weeks ago I started driving the Scion to work because I am parking in a tight parking garage for work and well it already has damage. She started getting more aggressive about slamming her door into the car again.
On Friday Feb 24th morning I walked out to the car at the same time as she did in the morning I got Sary into her seat the neighbor loaded her bags into the drivers side of her car. She came around to the passengers side of the car and stood there as I prepared to back out. She opened the door into my mirror as I backed out. She gave me a dirty look I gave her a dirty look. She closed the door. I pulled out stopped and asked another neighbor if she had seen it. By the time we were finished talking she was inside her house.
On Saturday Jake recieved an email from her with some sickeningly sweet greeting asking for my email address describing me hitting her mirror and almost hitting her and suggesting we be more careful around the cars for the sake of the children. I told Jake to ignore her.
Jake asked around and decided to respond on Monday. She then stated that she had reported me and the car to the police. I assumed for a hit and run since you can't report someone to the police for a civil matter.
I reported the incident to my insurance. Then on the way home from work I called Fairfax County Dispatch to see if there was a police report out about a hit and run at her or my address. She said there wasn't an existing report. The dispatcher said that I could call back and get a police officer to come out ant write and incident report.
I called when I got home and got a different dispatcher this one not as nice and sympathetic. He told me that it was too late to report the accident but he did dispatch and officer to discuss the harassment I had been recieving. The officer spoke to me and advised me on strategies to prevent further incidents and also advised me it was not technically harassment (yet). He also spoke to the neighbor and advised both of us to report all vehicular contact to our insurance and if the other party did not provide insurance information to call the police.
Through speaking with the officer I came up with the idea of petitioning the homeowner's association to move visitors spot between our assigned spaces. The President of the association said he would email the request to the board and that we would have to pay for the numbers to be repainted. If it doesn't get passed via email I will have to go to the board meeting the second week of March to make the request in person.
Yesterday I saw a rotten tomato under my rose bush.
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