Hot weather with storms

It is so hot and humid today that I broke down and turned on the a/c.  It is 79.5 degrees in the house, it is nice and cool in the house.  I did briefly go out this afternoon, but it was only for a short time.  I need to get gas but I can't until I get my disability on Friday.  When Carson has his lesson tomorrow I may be able to get some gas then too so that is good.  I am glad to see June as May brought many storms and much storm damage to many people.  I was lucky, I didn't have any storm damage so for this stormy season.  I hope that there isn't anymore storms that will damage houses.  It has just been such a horrible season and it has only just begun.

Charlie had his lesson this evening.  He called to let me know that he will be late because traffic was just horrible.  I used to have a student right after him, but now I leave the 1/2 hour after him empty because I know what traffic is like at that time of day.  My next student will start at 6:30 and she begins next week.  She is an adult and will be taking singing.  I will be getting the music ready for her this week.

I have a lovely blood test tomorrow at 11:10 am.  Yuck, that is what I think.  I am not looking forward to it because my arms have been so sore lately and I don't have any regular pain pills right now.  My arms have been so sore and weak for a couple of weeks now.  It keeps me up more at night than the regular pain that I have.

I am hoping the doctor will refill the prescription by tomorrow.  I was able to sleep a lot last night but that might be because I didn't sleep at all Sunday night.  I slept until about 2:30 this afternoon.  I know, that is insane but I was so tired and dizzy.  I have had a problem with dizziness lately.  I don't know what that really means.  I do have anemia so I researched a bit with that and apparently, dizziness is a symptom of anemia.  I try to take iron pills but they make me sick to my tummy so what can I do?  I have to learn what foods have high iron as I also can't take a general vitamin because of the coumiden I take.  General vitamins have vitamin K in them and that is a natural blood clotter something I don't need help with that. Sometimes I just feel so lost in the mist of all these syndromes, vitamin deficiencies, and other symptoms.  At least, that is how I feel today.  I am just at my wits ends trying to figure out what to do with some of these things.  It is just so overwhelming at times.

My friend, Deb, wrote an excellent post today about fibro and Chronic Fatigue.  It is wonderful.  If you get a change, please go and read it.  It makes you really think about these illnesses and how they impact your life.  Here is the web address: http://debsfibromyalgiablog.blogspot.com   It is the post called "Have you ever?"  It is an excellent post.  I was nodding my head at almost everything.  Yes, I have asked loved ones not to hug me as I was so sore, yes, I have a headache all the time, yes, I have been so tired I couldn't even take a shower, and on and on it went.  Definitely, an excellent read and really shows what this illness so many of us have is all about.

I am hoping that tomorrow I will clear the dining room table and change the table cloth for the summer.  The summer one is underneath the Easter one.  I was so exhausted the day I changed the tablecloth, I just put it on top of the other.  It is long enough that you can't really tell that there is another one underneath.

I do hope that this finds you doing well and having a great day!  Please don't forget to read my friend, Deb's post from today!

Memorial Day

I did not sleep at all last night.  I think I drank too much Diet Coke.  I went out to eat yesterday and I shouldn't have had so much pop.  I also was having problems with my arms.  They were weak, uncomfortable, and they hurt no matter how I tried to sleep.  I finally got up at about 5:30 and went downstairs to read.  I finished the Secret Second Life of Bree Tanner and started the Illustrated Guide of Twilight.  I read until about 8:30 am and then went back to bed for a few hours.  I still had a bit of trouble sleeping, but I was able to sleep a bit.  I read some more this afternoon before taking a couple of hours nap before Emily's lesson.  She did very well.  She is just learning how to read notes so flash cards are a bit hard for her but she did it very well.  I am hoping to sleep better tonight.  It is so hard when the arms aren't very comfortable and they hurt.  They still hurt a bit, but I don't know why and it is driving me crazy.  I hope it is better tonight.

The Bachelorette is on right now.  It is insane show but I don't think there is anything else on.  It is a holiday and the usual shows are over now with most of my shows having their season finale last week or the week before.  I am hoping that I will be getting very sleepy soon so that I will go back to bed and hopefully sleep tonight.

I have a slightly busier week than usual as I have a blood test (the usual one, not a special one) on Wednesday.  I have to be there at 11:10 and I don't really like being up that early but I can always go to bed early if necessary.  I have 3 lessons that afternoon that I am excited about.  Tomorrow is Charlie's lesson.  He is collecting returnable cans and bottles for the relay for life that he and his girlfriend are participating in next weekend.  I have some more for him.  I meant to give it to him last week, but I forgot before he left.  I will hopefully remember before he leaves from his lesson.  He is the only lesson I have tomorrow so all the plans I had for the weekend (that I didn't do) I will do tomorrow.  The only thing I managed to do was to get the Little Women books out of the garage.  There are so many boxes in the garage right now that need to find a better home in there.  I will work on that later this month.  The inside of the house is my first priority.  I do hope by the heat of the summer my car will be in the garage now that the door is fixed.

It is finally warmer out, only we skipped the nice spring weather and jumped right into super hot and humid summer weather.  We are supposed get storms again tomorrow and then, possibly, 5 days in a row of no rain!  Can you just imagine?  It has rained so much these last few months that I forgot was sunny day after sunny day was like.  We had snow at the end of April and then pretty much tons of rain in May so I wonder what June will be like.  I am hoping that the summer will be filled with nice weather but not super hot.  I don't do very well with super hot but I will take that over super cold because at least I have air conditioning.  Thankful for that!

I am going to read a bit now.  I am re-reading Little Women.  I haven't read that book in many years.  My Mom bought me this edition in 1994 when the latest movie came out.  I have seen the other two, but the Elizabeth Taylor one was an exact remake of the Katherine Hepburn one and neither movie was exactly like the book, but the Winona Ryder one was closer.  Mom and I saw it together and I mentioned I would love to read the book again because I gave my old copy to a neighbor when I was 16.  At the time I was getting rid of all my "children" books because I was almost grown up and too old for these books.  Yeah, right.  Well Mom and I went to the book store a few days later and she bought me the book along with the Little Men and Jo's Boys books.  I was so pleased to discover last weekend that it did NOT get donated with the boxes of other books I had donated to the Rummage Sale 3 years ago.  This find really made my day last Saturday even better.  It just added to the excitement of closing the unit and having Kathy here for the weekend.  It was all around good.

I do hope this week is good.  Outside of the blood test, there isn't anything special or exciting just lots of wonderful lessons.  In 2 weeks I will go to the Arthritis Doctor for my test results.  I wish it was sooner, but it isn't.  Oh well, I can somewhat be patient.  i just hope my arms let me sleep tonight!

I hope your day was wonderful and spent with family and friends!

stormy evening

Well, we have warmer weather and the late afternoon/early evening thunderstorm.  The tornado alarm a few miles away from me was going off when I was coming home from Walmart.  I can hear the thunder where I am sitting.  There is no hail though.  I have the news on right now.  It is moving towards Ontario now and apparently it is an awful one.  It is very loud here at home when the thunder rolls.  We are again, expecting a lot of heavy rain.  Nothing new for this spring.  It has rained more than usual this spring.  It seems every other day it is storming bad.

I had lunch with Donna this afternoon.  When I woke up I decided I didn't want to do anything downstairs today and I didn't want to be home alone all day so I called her to see what she was doing.  She wasn't doing anything, so I said I am coming to get you and I did.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon.  She bought us lunch.  I had enough money for us, but she insisted.  I no longer argue as she is difficult to argue with, there basically is no point in arguing so I didn't.  I just said thank you and went to get our drinks.  Donna wheeled herself to the table.  She is confined to a wheelchair most of the time now.  Her spine is just a mess.  She, herself is an amazing woman.  How she had survived what she has survived is amazing.  About 16 or so years ago, she was on the top floor of the school she taught in and slipped on some water that wasn't marked wet floor and went down 3 floors through the atrium area.  I can't even imagine how she survived that, but she did.  Her spine is now has 2 rods in it.  Unfortunately, she was in a car accident a few months ago and I think the hardware in her back loosened.  The specialist thinks so too so she is in a lot of pain most of the time.  We were at the restaurant for about 3 hours and enjoyed ourselves.  I just didn't want to be home today.  It was one of those days.  It was a year ago today that Mom went into the nursing home, which is the time when she started going downhill.  I just couldn't deal with staying home all day alone, I needed company.  After lunch I came home and then I remembered I needed some milk and a few items.  I bought some dinner stuff so that I could have my own little BBQ here at home.  I have one lesson tomorrow so I will have the little BBQ earlier in the evening since the lesson in evening.  I am very glad that I have the lesson.

I have almost finished all the books I got this week from the Doubleday book club.  Boy, that is not good.  I need more to read.  Good thing I brought home from the storage unit.  I have already brought some in, but we just brought some home last weekend so I will get them this week.  I have already read them, but it has been years since I have read them.  I know that Little Women is one of them along with a few others by Louisa May Alcott.  I really like that book.  Mom first bought it for me when I was in elementary school.  When I hit high school, I took all my children's books and gave them to a neighbor.  I have since re-bought a few of those because I still like them.  The Anne of Green Gables is another series that has had to be bought again.  The Emily of New Moon books are another set that I have re-bought.  The amount of money I could have saved!  But I have the books now, so I am happy.  I had thought those books were donated to a rummage sale, but I was so happy to discover, they weren't!  Now that the unit is closed, I have the books in the garage.  Eventually they will go back downstairs on the book shelves.  I love books!  I am going to read some more this afternoon.  I am tired now.  It isn't quite bedtime yet, but it will be soon.

I have been a bit lightheaded again today.  I have been having that problem lately.  I am not sure why.  I also get weak super easy at times too.  I don't know why for that either.  I have a lot of questions about the new symptoms I have had.  I have read about anemia, which I do have.  I am wondering if it is getting worse.  I can't take a multivitamin because there is vitamin K in it, and that would work against the blood medicine, and iron pills make me throw up, literally.  They make me so sick to my stomach that I just can't take them.  I don't know what to do about this.  I will find out more on June 13 when I go back to the doctor and get my test results.  i suppose there hasn't been anything too bad because I haven't heard from them and I think that I would if there was something horrible.  I don't know.

I think I am going to read for a while now.  It is almost time to take my nighttime medicine.

Saturday

Not too exciting of a day here.  I had Rick's lesson, which was exciting as all lessons are to me.  I get excited and look forward to pretty much every single lesson I teach.  I was simply born to teach music.  Anyways, he had a very good lesson and he does seem to work pretty hard on the music theatre songs.  I love music theatre.  It is by far my absolute favorite genre.  I could listen and sing it all day and night and still not get tired of it.  Mom introduced me to music theatre when I was quite small.  We would listen to the records she had and I would learn a new song to sing all week long.  It drove my brothers absolutely crazy because I literally sang day and night.  One time, when we were coming home from Disney World (this was in 1973) I sang "It's a Small World" all the way home and we were driving!  Needless to say both brothers and my dad were rather annoyed at me by the time we arrived home.  To make matters worse, Mom had bought me the little record with the song on it!  I played that record over and over all the time.  I don't remember the drive home as I was 5 at the time, I just remember being told I did this by Mom.  It still makes me smile to think of driving my brothers crazy with that song.  Mom always encouraged music for us.  When Richard wanted to play the saxophone, she rented one for him and he joined the band.  He was quite good.  Unfortunately, he did quit due to other interests, but he was very good.  The Andrew wanted to play the violin, she got one for him.  That lasted a year then he switched to Saxophone and then to the Trumpet.  He played through junior high and then quit.  We still have (I hope) somewhere, the saxophone and the cornet.  I played the flute for my first year of band and then switched to the clarinet.  I still have both of mine and simply love them.  Mom also encouraged me to sing.  i remember I wanted to try out for a special choir in 4th grade.  Mom helped me practice my audition piece.  One of the things I loved to do was sing with certain singers and try to imitate them.  Mom reminded me that morning to sing like me and not anyone else and I would be just fine.  I got in the choir.  It was so much fun but I was sad because Kathy was not in it.  She didn't try out for it so we were apart for recess on Choir practice days.  I think that was probably one of the first times we did something separate on recess.  Fortunately, she was in band with me.  She played the clarinet too.  We used to practice a lot together as I loved practicing.  I would take my dolls and stuffed animals and set them in an audience style seating to play for them.  Mom also listen to me practice too.  Every so often I would hear, do that one again, it didn't sound quite right or she would come in to help if I had trouble with something.  Mom was very involved in my music and when I started dance at 16, she became pretty involved in that too.  She was never a stage mother, (thank goodness!) she just encouraged me to do my best.  She was thrilled when I started teaching.  In fact, Mom was the one who taught me how to write out lesson plans.  I had no idea as I was only 18 when I started teaching.  My dance teacher told me that she had signed up 2 young people for voice lessons and I was the teacher.  It was a shock let me tell you as I never had any intention to teach at that point.  Thank goodness she did that!  It certainly turned out well for me!

I have been reading an awful lot lately.  I just finished Shania Twain's autobiography.  It was good, at first I was unsure but as it went on it became very good.  I am going to start reading the Kristen Hannah book tonight.  I love Kristen Hannah.  She writes such good books.  I loaned Kathy a whole bunch of her books and so far Kathy has read 3 of them and she only got them last Saturday!  Kathy loves her writing as much as I do.  It is so nice to have a friend who has the same taste in books as I do.  That way we each can buy a different book and then switch them to read.  Saves money.

Tomorrow I am going to do some work downstairs in the family room.  I don't have any lessons tomorrow at all.  I usually don't on Sunday, but next Sunday and the following Sunday I will have lessons in the afternoon.  Makeups for Rick as he can't attend his normally scheduled lessons on Saturday for the next two weeks.  I also have to go and get a few important groceries tomorrow so that is on my list too.  I am out of a few staples that I must get.  I will do a good grocery shopping next week at the end of the week but I need a few things so that I will have enough until next week's grocery shopping trip.  It is just going to be a low key holiday for me, I think.  I am not really up to having extra company right now with being so extra tired lately.  I did wake up a bit earlier than usual this morning with somewhat energy so the three days in a row I have had better sleep has really helped.  of course, by this time of night, I am exhausted again.

another rainy and cold day

Last week at this time it was about 85 degrees with lots of humidity.  Today?  it is cold and rainy.  I am not sure what the temperature is exactly, but it can't be super high because I have been cold all day.

I had a semi decent sleep last night!  I was so excited when I woke up and realized I slept for 5 hours straight!  That doesn't happen too often with me.  this is also the second night in a row for this!  How cool is that?  I am praying for a 3rd night in a row!  I can only hope!

I have reread the Twilight series this week in preparation for reading the Short second life of Bree Tanner and the illustrated guide to Twilight.  They arrived yesterday.  I have already flipped through the Illustrated Guide and boy it is so cool.  I also ordered a couple of other books too.  I now belong to the Doubleday Book Club.  Dangerous I know, but the beginning orders are only $1 so how could I turn it down.  Then I will just buy 4 more books in the next 2 years.  I can do that.  There is bound to be at least 4 books that I want in the next 2 years not to mention there are birthdays and Christmas to buy for.

Calli and Acer had their lessons tonight.  They were a bit late but that is okay because I didn't have anyone after them.  Acer left his Fur Elise Music at home but he pretty much has it memorized.  He even does the parts that he learned last week playing both hands at the same time.  I couldn't show him the next two hand parts because, well, we didn't have the music and I don't have it memorized.  Calli started a new vocal song and it is one of my favorites.  She is doing well with her piano piece.  She counts very well.  I think we will be starting a bit more classical for her voice lessons this summer.  Not too much, just a bit.  I usually wait until they are about 12 close to 13 or 13 close to 14, but her voice is rather mature now and I think she could handle it.  All in all, both kids are doing very well and I am happy with their progress.  Acer is working on Candle on the Water for his vocal song.  It is so cute because he wants to learn whatever his sister learns.  She just finished Candle on the Water so it is his turn.  I wonder what he will do with the classical Italian music.  That will be interesting to see.  I look forward to hearing a 6 year old singing in Italian, because he generally knows his sister's music as well as his own.  They, like the rest of the kids, are such fun to teach.  I really like it a lot.

I don't have too many plans for the holiday weekend.  I was going to invite some people over, but I changed my mind.  I don't have the house the way i want it right now and I just am not up to being a hostess plus I don't have the money after all to pay for what I would want to serve.  I will wait and maybe have people over for July the 4th.  I will see.  I have one hour lesson tomorrow with Rick, one of my adults, and then Emily on Monday but nothing on Sunday.  I am pretty tired now, I wasn't earlier, but now I am.  I am just going to spend the holiday quietly and resting.  Soon, I will be starting to work in the family room.  I do plan, this weekend, to put all the VHS tapes in a bag ready for the thrift store.  When Kathy and I were there last week, I noticed they sell them so I am going to take them there.  Then I plan to put all the books that will fit back on the one set of shelves that is downstairs.  That will get rid of many boxes in the one side of the family room.  That is my goal for the weekend.  I think I can do that this weekend.

I do hope you are having a good day too.

more rain

Yup, more rain today.  no storms so far, but there are some expected tonight.  I went briefly out in the rain for a few minutes and then came right home.  I don't expect to be out in it tomorrow at all as it is expected to storm some more tomorrow.  Three days of storms is not a good thing for many people's basement.  Fortunately, flooding in my sub is rare and we don't have a basement so it would be the furnace room, the family room, and my office.  Boy, that would be bad.  But, like I said, it doesn't happen here too much in our little sub.  I also live 1/2 way up a hill so that helps too.  Thank God for huge favors like that.  I have watched so much flooding on the news that it breaks my heart.  And the tornadoes!  They scare me to death!  I can't imagine how those people do it, rebuilding their lives, but they are strong and they do it.  We had a tornado near our home last year, a couple miles a way, but we were alright.  It was the first time in many years that I saw so much hail.  It did frighten me and I had to close the drapes so Mom couldn't see it because she would have been a nervous wreck shaking and everything.  She was so terribly frightened of storms at that point.  If a storm happened at night I would always get up and see if she was awake.  Only 1 time was she awake and she was crying and shaking like crazy.  I just went and laid down next to her and held her until she fell asleep.  Then I covered her up nicely and went back to my bed.  Poor little Mom, it was so hard on her.  She was only afraid of storms the last couple years, before that they didn't frighten her at all.  Of course, she was so scared in general the last 2 years.  I can't even imagine what it must be like to lose your memory like she was.  It must be super scary.  At least, I would think it is.  Sometimes she would shake for no apparent reason and I would ask what is wrong.  She would just say I am scared.  I always gave her big hugs and held her at when it happened.  usually she would calm down and be okay, but boy, I just can't even imagine.

Today was the last day of my Amanda's voice lessons until fall.  I do hope she comes back.  She is such a nice young lady.  She practices a lot and works really hard so that is wonderful.  Amanda did a great job at the concert as did everyone else.  Acer did steal the show with trying so hard to reach that microphone during his and Calli's duet.  You just can't beat that picture.  You just can't.  Tomorrow is Calli and Acer's lessons and then I have one on Saturday.  Rick has moved from Tuesday to Saturday so that is good.  I don't have any plans for Sunday so I don't know what I will do.  Monday I have Emily's lessons but no plans for the holiday.  Without Mom here, there really isn't anyone to spend the holiday with.  I will enjoy the sleep in I get and then probably read a bit.  I may possibly do some housework.  I find if I do a bit everyday, it gets done and then the house is reasonably clean.

Lily will be out of school this coming week.  I bet she is excited.  I know I would be.  She is going to be an eighth grader in the fall.  Where has the time gone?  It seems like yesterday she was starting 1st grade and piano lessons.  Now look at her, she is growing up and a teenager now.  She is almost as tall as I am.  I expect soon she will be taller.  Both her sisters are, not by much, but they are taller.  Of course, I am only 5ft and a 1/2 inch tall so being taller than me isn't that big of a problem.  I only have had 1 student who didn't get taller than me.  She was only about 4ft 10 inches at 16 years old.  I think she has been the only one in 25 years.

The Muglia's newest little guy arrived on Monday.  Thomas Joachim was 7 pounds and 11 ounces.  He is adorable!  I have seen the pictures of him.  I will see him live and in person the first Monday in June when I see my girls for their lessons.  Wow, number 9 in the Muglia family.  I bet there is never a dull moment in that house with that many kids!  I have told the older girls that if they need peace and quiet they can always come here.  I have peace and quiet almost all the time!  A little noise would be nice during the day with them.

It has been an exhausting day.  I had to take a nap because I was so tired.  It is getting pretty bad again.  The exhaustion is overwhelming me at times.  I am going to go and make some dinner now.  I do hope you are having a good day!

Rainy Day

It has been raining all day.  Yup, ALL day!  With lovely thunder and lightening with it.  So lovely!  I woke up to thunder and lightening and I will probably go to bed to thunder and lightening.  The rain itself isn't so bad, it is needed usually, but it has been raining so much this season.  There is a lot of flooding in people's houses.  Fortunately, where I am, we haven't had that problem, and I hope we never do.  I am cold today too because the temperature has dropped a bit.  You would think that at 73 degrees in the house I would be warm enough.  NOT!  I have my Tinkerbell Fleece jacket.  I am just so cold today.  I get cold so easy.  It seems the older I get the easier it is for me to get cold.  I carry a jacket with me in the summer because I am often cold in the air conditioning.  Mom used to do the same thing and now so do I.  It is kind of funny now.  I have never been so cold until these last few winters.  The doctor says it is because of the blood thinners I have to take.  Before that I was hot all the time.  It is because I have such thin blood now or so I am told.  I believe it.  After the blood clot, I began being cold easily.  Anyways, i have adorable fleeces and hoodies to wear so I am fine.

I realized this afternoon that I spend an awful lot of money going out to eat.  I will be cutting way back on that.  I could have paid a few bills with the money I spend.  I know at times I have to leave the house because I am going stir crazy, but those days are not as often as they used to be.  Since summer is traditionally lower income because of students who stop for the summer and many vacations, I have to tighten the belt a bit more.  This is the way to do it.  I feel really good about this decision.  I will be able to get through financially speaking, to fall where lessons traditionally pick up.  September and January are when new students start.  yes, there are the students who start other times, but the bulk of new students happen then.

My little guy, Carson, had the stomach flu today so he had to cancel lessons.  Poor guy, that is just no fun.  Beth had her lesson though.  She was about 15 minutes late because of the weather.  I actually expected it because of the weather.  We lost power a few times for a few minutes each time, but that was about it.  I am hoping that we won't lose power anymore with the storms that are supposed to be here tonight, all day and night tomorrow, and during the day of Friday.  I think I will be hiding inside from the storms these next few days.  I did go out this afternoon in between storms for lunch and then I realized, I have lunch ingredients in the house.  I have good buns, yogurt, cereal, soups, why did I feel the need to go and Burger King?  Really?  What was I thinking.  I wasn't, that's what.  i just went out of habit.  It is a bad habit that I will be working on.  I have really good soup here at home.  I also have yummy yogurt that I love but still, I went out for junk.  I will work on this.

Anyways, Beth is getting ready for her audition for the Music Man on June 12.  She is doing very well.  She knows the songs pretty well and is really working hard.  I am so pleased on this.  Tomorrow is Breanna's and Amanda's lessons.  I am looking forward to them.  Bre takes both piano and voice and Amanda takes voice.  Amanda is stopping for the summer but I think Breanna is continuing except for when she is on vacation.  I think so anyways.

Richard will not be coming for Andrew's graduation.  I am disappointed but there isn't I can do about it.  Maybe I should have waited to ask him.  I am not even sure that the graduation is on that day.  Andrew hasn't given me the exact details.

quiet evening

I had Charlie's lesson and then I decided to go to Chipotle's for dinner.  I was feeling a bit Mexican and since I don't cook Mexican food, that I needed to go and buy some.  Tomorrow I have 2 one hour lessons that I am looking forward too.  Charlie did well at his lesson.  His Tenor Saxophone reed was a bit squeaky for the first part of the lesson so he switched.  He was fine then and the rest of his lesson went well.  He finished a few exercises and started a few more.  We are working on Articulation and that is one of his weak points however, with as many exercises we have done, he is doing much better.  I am a stickler for Articulation.  There are teachers who are not, I don't know why, a slur should be slurred, a staccato should be staccato.  It drives me nuts when musicians ignore articulation.  I mean, if the composer didn't want a specific articulation, then they would not have written it that way.  I always had teachers who were very particular on that.  I did have some teachers who worked for me who blew it off for beginners.  Unfortunately, I had a few of them for students after the other teachers and found it very difficult for them to learn a new habit after blowing it off for the first few years.  It is part of the reason I don't play with the student during their lesson.  Every teacher I know who doesn't focus on articulation plays with their student.  My theory is they can't hear what the student is exactly doing because they have to focus on what they are doing instead of just on their students.  I don't play with my students because I never had a teacher who played their instrument with me.  I need to focus on my student and what they are doing.  This is just my OPINION but I am not sure I am giving my full attention if I must also focus on what I am doing.  Like I said, this is just my opinion.

I am watching, as usual, NCIS!  Yes!  It is Tuesday!  That means it is time for NCIS.  I won't be, however, watching NCIS Los Angeles because the finale for Dancing with the Stars will be on and it is the day we find out who wins the mirrored ball trophy.  I don't know who is going to win.  This time, it isn't clear on who will win.  They are all good and I like them all.  That is the hard part, I want them all to win.

I met with Rosemary today for lunch.  I went up to Tim Horton's and she was already there.  I was pleased to see her.  I have been wondering how she is doing.  It has been a few weeks since Irv passed away and right now she is so busy with paperwork that she is doing okay.  She did say it is hard getting used to stay in the house at night by herself.  I know what that is like.  She is working on her garden which I am sure is therapeutic.  My mom said that working on her garden was soothing for her.  I wish I could garden and be soothed but I don't have a green thumb.  Mom had that and I did NOT inherit it.  My brothers were better at yards and gardens than I am.

I have also realized that even though I want to go and see Richard, even if he sends for me, I can't really afford to go.  I need all my lessons to pay the bills and with summer comes more absences.  It would be best for me to go at Christmas when I save more money to pay the bills when I am missing lessons.  However, I don't expect Richard to send for me.  He is so busy right now that I just don't expect him to have time.  I am hoping that he will come and see Andrew's graduation next month.  We shall see.  I miss my brother.  maybe I will get lucky and he and his family will come to town this summer.  That would be the best plan.  They could stay here.  I have enough room now.  Between my room and the guest rooms, there is plenty of room for the family.  I would really like to see Jennifer and the kids.  I haven't seen them in 3 years.  I need to see my niece and nephew more than every three years.  They are now 10 and almost 12.  It is crazy how fast they grow up.  I do want to see them again before they are 18 and in college.  That would be nice.

It has been an okay day.  Weather wise it has been simply wonderful!  It is so beautiful out.  Perfect temperature.  Pain wise, it is okay, nothing too different than usual.  the headache is the same as usual, nothing worse than normal.  Only the fatigue is higher than usual, which has been the usual for the last few weeks.  Only a few more weeks until is see the arthritis doctor and hopefully a few answers.

I do hope today has been good for you!

ahhhh

I had 2 lessons today, Bob and Emily.  Both were doing very well.  Bob has started a new Sonatina.  I told him to go home last week and try each movement, then decide which movement he wanted to start with.  He chose the 1st movement.  It is simply wonderful.  I loooooove Clementi.  i would have to say he is my favorite composer.  His sonatinas are simply delicious and I could go on and on about them.  I made a comment last week about Clementi being my favorite and Bob chuckled.  He said I figured that out a long time ago as we visit his music quite frequently!  Silly me!!!  I guess I should know I am transparent when it comes to loving certain songs.  Every student when they get to a certain level learns Clementi's Sonatinas.  The Muglia girls just learned their first one.  I think they really enjoyed it.  Emily is learning skipping notes.  She just started learning how to read music a few weeks ago, so she is doing very well with it.  I think I may copy some music for her to really make sure she understands note reading.  She is in 2nd grade and simply adorable!  She is such a cutie and so interested in learning piano.  She seems to really love music.  It is fun watching a young one learn music.

I am still feeling some weakness in my arms.  I mentioned it to my rheumatologist.  She didn't really say anything about it.  I will mention it again when I see her in a few weeks for the results of the X-ray and the blood tests.  I am a bit nervous about it.  The fatigue is really getting to me.  I mean, I slept most of yesterday away.  I could have done that again today.  I am tired of being tired, I really am.  It is worse than some of the pain at this point.  At least with the pain, I can take some pain medicine, but with the fatigue, there isn't anything to be done about it.  Sometimes, I am so tired I go to lie down and when I am lying down I am more awake than when I am sitting up.  It makes me wonder should I just do things while I am lying down?  I just don't know anymore.  I really don't.  I am hoping for some answers from the doctor on the 13th.  That is the day!  I can only hope that there are answers.  I am tired of not having any, we all know what that is like!  It gets frustrating when you don't get any answers.  I also have had my hands going numb again, that is fun, NOT!  I also mentioned this to the doctor too.  If necessary, I will mention it again.  My left hand is going numb as I write.  I had to move my hand to wake it up again.

The newest Pirate Movie came out this weekend.  I plan to see it someday, just not this weekend.  Maybe Lily would like to see it.  It is possible.  She is out of school next week.  I saw the other 3 with Mom and it makes me sad to plan to see the newest one without my movie buddy.  At least if I see it with Lily, it will be good.  Lily and I have seen a few movies together.  We were supposed to go a few weeks ago, but we couldn't because of the funeral and viewing of my friend and neighbor.

Harry Potter comes out in July.  It is supposed to be in 3D.  I do know they will show it in 2D too so that is the one I plan to see it.  Pirates is also in 3D but I will see it in 2D.  I just don't like 3D.  I can't stand stuff flying at my face.  It really bothers me.  I have never liked it.  The only time it didn't really bother me was when mom and I went to Henry Ford Museum IMAX theatre and we saw an ocean movie.  It was really good and they didn't have things flying towards your face so I totally loved it.  The ones in Disney World aren't too bad either, not too much flying in your face.  However, I think that Pirates and HP will having things flying at you so I won't take that risk.  It seems weird that I go to see movies without Mom, but unless I never want to see another movie again (ooh, that would be awful - I love movies) I have to learn to go without her.  I have seen movies by myself before.  When the Return of the King came out, I was there opening day all by myself.  My brother, Andrew couldn't believe I went alone, but I did.  i was enthralled by that movie!  I looooove the Lord of the Rings Movies.  They were and are so wonderful.  I loaned them to the Muglia's this past summer so the girls can see them.  They loved them too.

Pain wise the day was normal.  However, fatigue wise, it was pretty bad.  I will be heading for bed very shortly because I am so tired.  As far as numbness, that hasn't been too good either today.  All around, not a great day except for the lessons.  They were great.  I do hope your day was better than mine!

summer weather has arrived

Okay, I guess weather is just going to do what it wants despite what I want.  Yesterday was simply wonderful!  Quite beautiful and perfect temperature!!!  I really loved it!  However, today is a bit too humid.  Without the humidity, it would be beautiful, but it is a bit too humid for me.  I do have my shorts and t-shirts ready for the warm weather though!  I have them clean and ready to put on should I need them tomorrow.  (which I probably will because it is supposed to be hot and humid again before a cool down).  Yesterday was simply the best day to clear out the storage unit.  Why I am so tired today is a mystery to me.  It isn't like I actually did much of the work.  I mean really, the whole reason I had to have help was because I couldn't do it myself.  Tony did most of the work as Kathy and I watched.  We (Kathy and I) did help a bit, we just let Tony do all the big boxes.  I am just relieved that it is so over.

I am completely exhausted today.  I got up and about an hour or so later, I was back taking a nap for about 3 hours.  I could go back to bed now and stay there all night, but I am going to stay away a bit longer so that I will sleep all night through.  I find on Sundays I am often sleeping an awful lot.  I think it just all catches up on me and I crash.  Last Sunday I was in bed by 7 pm because I was so tired.  Tomorrow begins another good week of teaching!  I don't have any real plans for the holiday weekend next week.  I don't really know what I will do.  I have no lessons on Saturday and Sunday.  I am not sure if I will have Emily for her lesson on the Monday or not.  I do hope so because that would leave me 3 days in a row of no lessons and I am not used to that anymore.  I am hopeful she will have her lesson on Monday night.  I will find out next week.  I have (as of today anyways) 11 lessons this week.  5 of them are one hour lessons.  I love my one hour lessons because often it means the student is taking both voice and piano although 2 of them are just one hour lessons of voice.  They are adults and have interest in community theatre.  I am thinking that maybe I will get involved in community theatre in making of costumes.  We shall see.  I have plenty of time, but I am also hoping to get involved in writing again.  So far, I haven't written any fiction yet.  Who knows?  I don't know what summer will bring this year.  It is hard to believe last summer the little lady was here with me.  It has only been just over 7 months since she left me.  I just miss her a lot all the time.  My goal this summer is to finish the family room off.  Other than that, I don't plan to do anything else to the house.

I have the first step done for the house, now on to step two.  That will happen in June once the kids are out of school.  Julie will be coming over to help me with it.  I am very glad about that.  By fall, the house will be sparkling and every space will be functional.  That excites me.  I just wish Mom was here to enjoy it with me.  I am sure she is watching from Heaven.

Despite the amount of sleep I have had today, it has been an alright day.  I do hope your day was good too!

the unit is closed!!!!!

The storage unit (which I have had for 3 years) is officially closed and empty!!!  Kathy and Tony graciously came out to this end of the state this weekend to help me close it.  Well, this afternoon we did!  it is empty and the boxes are gone to the respective places that they need to be at.  Most of the stuff was donated and that is good.  Some of the stuff was not able to be donated so I need to ask my Katie about that because she mentioned the library she works at wants old reference books and boy do I have them.  The business boxes and a few treasure boxes of mine are all in the garage along with a few boxes of books.  I am thrilled to have them.  Tony, I must admit, did most of the work.  Kathy and i watched.  He is very good at seeing where things will fit and how they will go in (unlike me!)  He did a fantastic job.  We had 2 loads to go and that was it.  Having a van really made the difference, I think.  We used both my car and the van to bring stuff to the donation center.  I am just so happy that this is over.

After that Kathy and I went to get some blizzards from DQ.  I don't know why, but I had a taste for one so we went and got one.  Then we went to the thrift store so Kathy could look around.  She found some really cute things for Jacob and the girls.  Unfortunately, she didn't find anything for Matthew (who is now taller than his Mother!)  We went back to Kathy's house for dinner and enjoyed hanging out and talking.  Dinner was wonderful, it was pizza and it was something I haven't had in years!  It was very good.

I must say it has been such a good day!  We accomplished a big task that was looming over me like a dark cloud and now it is gone!  Tomorrow is a day of planning and rest!  Time to plan the details of the rest of the house.  I do hope your day is good and that it is sunny for you too!  (It was here all day!)

Friday

I woke up later than I expect today but that was okay as I didn't have anything scheduled that had to be done at a certain time until the later part of the afternoon.  I went for the regular hair wash before I took a run to Walmart to pick up my medicine and a few items (like Milk).  As usual, I went to get 3 items and came out many items and dollars later.  Someday I am going to be able go in and only pick up what I plan to get, until then, I will just try to do that.  I am not to hopeful that will ever happen as I always remember I need a few other things before I get to the checkout.

This has been a decent month for me.  I have been able to pay all of my monthly bills (except taxes) and with the closing of the storage unit tomorrow, it should be even better for me.  I am thankful for that.  God is really helping me by providing what I need just in time of me needing it.  I am doing better with just giving the financial worries to God.  He hasn't let me down yet, so I don't think He will.  I just have to keep believing that it will happen.

I think I was missing Mom more last night because I had seen a few neighbors that I hadn't seen in a while and they were asking me how I was doing since Mom passed away.  That was nice that they asked, but it made me miss her more.  It was the first meeting without Mom that I have gone to for the subdivision.  It was a nice meeting.  We had some nice snacks and caught up with neighbors.  I met our newest neighbors, Eliza and her husband.  I invited Eliza to join my book club.  I do hope she does.  I hope she calls me.  She has 2 little ones and moved in on the next street over from me.  I sat with my neighbor, he has an almost 5 year old and was inquiring about lessons.  His daughter is adorable and his wife is very nice.  Barbara Jean also sat at our table.  It was a nice night.  i spoke a bit to Barbara Jean about my plans after the meeting.  It is hard for her right now as she was very good friends with our friend and neighbor Irv who passed away a few weeks ago.  Her children called him Uncle Irv and they simple adored him.  He was a very nice man who would do anything for a friend.  He helped me her too and one time was able to rescue Mom when she left the house looking for me.  I was in the house sleeping and he and Rosemary brought Mom back home.  It could have been a terrible situation as I had no idea Mom left the house, but thankfully, they saw her and immediately realized I was not with her so they took action that kept her safe and sound.  I am thankful that I have neighbors that look out for my family and me.

Acer had his lesson today.  We started Fur Elise with two hands.  I am hopeful that this will be wonderful for him.  He even used his thumbs!  I was so excited.  He has decided that the next vocal piece for him will be Candle on the Water.  Acer did pretty well with it today.  A few words he needs to learn, but over all, he did great!  It was nice to spend some time with the Little Man alone.  He is such a Joy, he really is.

I have borrowed a nook from the library to try.  i am excited about it.  I, of course, have to figure out how to work it, but I am sure I will figure it out tonight.  I am really happy to be able to try it out before I buy one.  This way, I will be able to know for sure whether I really will use it or not.

I remembered to do some laundry today.  Sometimes I forget, but today I didn't!  I have summer clothes ready too for warmer weather.  It is supposed to be mid 80s with high humidity on Sunday and Monday with the possibility of rain but tomorrow is supposed to be mid 70s and no rain.  That will be perfect for closing the storage unit.

I do hope your day is going well and hopefully nicer weather too.

I am missing my mom a lot tonight.  More than usual.  I think I will go and look at some pictures and then read for a bit.  I really miss her.

Wonderfully Busy Day!

The day started with Breanna's lesson, then lunch, then a nap, then Amanda's lesson and soon the subdivision meeting.  It will be the first one I have been to without Mom.  Seems kind of strange to go to one without her since technically, her trust owns the house, not me.  While I can still live her, it is strange (although I am getting used to it) living here without the little lady with me.  I can't say I like it any better, I am just getting used to it.  I was dreaming the other night that Mom was still her and calling my name.  She used to do that all the time.  You would hear "Heather" hollered from another room all the time because she had to know where I was at all times.  (this was the last few years of her Alzheimer's)  She would get so frightened if she didn't know where I was even if I was at the store and she was with me.  I quickly learned to leave her a note if I went upstairs to do some work or just brought her up with me.  She liked to help me and since she was a good filer, hey, I had her do some filing for me or some other job like that she liked.  After we lost the store, it was easier for her to keep track of me.  Although I will say about 1 1/2 years ago, I think about December 2009 to January 2010, she would stand at the top of the stairs (where she was gated in) and holler my name at 7 in the morning.  Yup, she did this for about 2 weeks straight.  I was totally exhausted from that.  Fortunately, I was able to break that habit, just took 2 weeks to do it.  I had her anxiety medicine changed and that did it.  She was calling me because she couldn't see me when she left her bedroom.  My old bedroom was in front of her but my new one is in the corner so when she would come out of her room she would turn and miss my room.  Those were two very long weeks for me.  It definitely tested my patience and sometimes I would lose mine because I was so tired.  Thank goodness that stage went quickly.  After that she would come into my room in the morning and sit on my bed until I woke up at around 11 or so.  Then it gradually went to where she just stayed in her bed laying down until I got her up.  I didn't mind when she would come into my room while I was sleeping.  She never bothered me.  She would just sit at the end of my bed until I woke up.  I have no idea what time she would get up because at that time she would sleep in past 7 am.  (Thank God for that one!)

So tonight we will be electing a new subdivision president because Irv, my friend Rosemary's husband, passed away a few weeks ago.  She had originally thought she would go to the meeting but when I called her today she changed her mind.  Hey, I don't blame her.  It has only been a few weeks for her and I know how tough this new life is.  It has been 7 months for me and I am barely used to this new life.  To have to see us elect a new president because her hubby is gone would be a bit much I think.  I don't think I could take that either.  Next week she and I are going to go to lunch together.

I am borrowing a nook from the library!  This will tell me whether or not I want one of these things.  I love reading so we shall see.  I am excited to try it out.  I get it tomorrow when Heather and kids come for their lessons.  It should be awesome.  I plan to try it out tomorrow evening.  I will be ready that is for sure.

I am having a good day.  I am glad I am busy, it makes the day go faster.  I did take a wee nap before Amanda's lesson.  i am just super tired lately so when I need a nap, I take one even if it means less sleep that night because sometimes I just can't keep my eyes open.  Pain wise it is an okay day.  My headache is it's normal headache so that is good.  Outside of weak arms again, I am having a normal pain day.  I do hope you are having a good day with less pain too!

mid week

I had 3 one hour lessons starting at 4:30.  It was nice.  I miss teaching one lesson after one lesson.  The lessons started with Carson's piano lessons.  He is doing pretty well.  He will be starting to read bass clef notes next week.  I can't wait.  It should be fun.  I asked him to please bring his flash cards next week.  We will need them.  Then he got 2 new vocal songs.  He was pretty happy to sticker 2 songs that we are done with.  He did ask if he could sing one of them if he wanted too.  I said sure, you can sing it all the time if you want.  Carson is such a cutie.  He is 8 years old and has been singing for about 6 weeks now and playing piano for about 4 weeks now.  Rick is back from his yoga trip so he had is lesson this evening.  We started two new songs tonight too.  Beth brought her audition material so we worked on it for about 1/2 lesson.  I was happy that she brought the music so that we could work on it.

Other than the lessons, not much is going on.  I bought some new wet swiffer cloths but I didn't feel like cleaning the floor so I didn't.  I will do it tomorrow after Breanna's lesson before Amanda's lesson.

It has been an okay day, it definitely improved this afternoon.  I was tired and a bit bored but since I slept in I didn't want to take a nap.  Kathy called right before my little guy's lesson, I was happy to talk to her.  We spoke for a good 20 minutes until Carson arrived.  She is coming to town to help me on Saturday.  I can't wait for that stupid unit to be empty!  I am so looking for it.  I am also very happy to see her this weekend.  I am thankful for the help.  Julie is going to help me with the family room after Emily and Lily are out of school.  Emily graduates this year.  Oh my gosh!  Emily turns 18 on Friday!  Oh my!  I just remembered that.  I remember her when she was 6, now she is going to be 18.  Wow, that was fast.  At least I have Lily for a while longer.  She is 13 and growing up super fast.  It is hard to believe how fast she is growing too.  Aggie is going to be 21 on Friday.  She reminded me of that last week.  Students grow up way too fast, that is all I have to say.

Pain level is okay today, just normal, nothing more than normal.  My head is a bit worse than usual today.  I don't know why.  It just is.  I hope it is back to normal tomorrow.  I hope your day was okay.

thoughts of the day

It was such a fun lunch today!  i met up with my friend Jennie at Applebee's and talked for about 2 hours.  I really enjoyed myself a lot.  I got to see a few scrapbooks that she had put together.  One was from their first trip to Disney and the other was a family tree of her husbands family.  They were both done so nicely! I have to put some of the pictures of Mom in a scrapbook of just her.  I want to make one for each boy as well as one for myself.  I think the boys would like it a lot.  I just don't know if I will be able to sort the pictures enough to do that.  I will try this summer when my sewing room is finished.  I will have room there for crafts and scrapbooking too.  All in all, I would have to say lunch was great.  I love meeting with Jennie and hearing how the family is doing.  She has 4 children, the oldest 2 are twins and they are 10, then an 8 year old with the 20 month old finishing the family up.  She is also planning to go to the 25 year reunion this October.  I wanted to check for sure.  I am glad she is going too.  I am planning to go and so is Kathy with her husband, Tony.

I realized that because I was so wiped on Sunday, I missed Army Wives!  I did!  I can't believe it!  How did I miss it?  I was in bed about 8 pm.  I just couldn't stay awake anymore.  I will hopefully be able to catch up with the episode on the Lifetime channel webpage.  I am going to try to watch it tomorrow afternoon before lessons.  I have never watched anything on the computer from the Internet before.  It will be a new experience for me.

I have the heater on again tonight.  I am just so cold!  I have a sweatshirt on too, but still, I am cold.  Tonight is NCIS!  I love my NCIS!  It is the season finale though, I think.  That disappoints me, but hey, what can I say?  I love my NCIS shows.  I think I have been able to see the every episode of the last two seasons.  I know I have missed a few of NCIS Los Angeles this season and last, but I think I have seen all of the regular NCIS episodes.  I am sure if there is one that I have missed, I will catch it on the reruns.  I don't watch a whole lot of TV, it just isn't interesting to me right now, but I don't miss the NCIS shows if I don't have to.  I did watch a lot of HGTV but it is getting boring now that there are a lot of repeat shows.  I have started reading a lot more again.  The used bookstore is great for that.  I need some new authors.  I think I have read every book that my favorite authors have written, if not, it is darn close.  I take suggestions, so if you have any, let me know.  I was very into Kristin Hannah a few months ago.  I have read almost all of her books now.  I own about 8 or so of them now.  I think I have read most of them 2 times through.  I have read all the Harry Potter books at least 5 times now not to mention the Twilight Books at least 3 times each.  I am not sure where the book New Moon is right now either.  I know that it is downstairs somewhere.  I can't wait until the books are back where they belong, on the bookshelves.  I am bringing the bookshelf downstairs that is in the living room right now.  I will replace it with another shorter bookshelf for the children's toys that I keep for siblings waiting for piano lessons taking place.  Acer has asked if I had other toys other than the cars, legos, and stuffed animals.  I had to say, I am sorry, no I don't.  I don't know what other toys to add to the collection.  I am on a very tight budget and would not be able to add any more for a few months.  I will ask him for suggestions.  Maybe there is something at the Thrift Store that the kids would like.  It has to be a silent toy though and Acer really likes ones that make noises, not that I blame him, they are the fun ones.

Today was a really good day.  I enjoyed lunch with Jennie and Charlie had a really good lesson.  I gave him all the returnable cans because he and his girlfriend are collection them for the relay for life.  He was happy about that.  I was glad to help.  I had at least $10 worth of returnables for him.  I hope tomorrow is as good as it was today.  I have 3 one hour lessons tomorrow starting with Carson, then Rick, and finally Beth.  I am very glad about that.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

is it really May?

It is so cold outside again.  Is it really May?  The calendar says so, but the temperature tonight has wind chill in it!  What is up with that?  Last week we had 2 days of upper 70s and now we have 30s.  Such is the life with Michigan weather.  Ugh, is all I have to say about that.

I am so excited about tomorrow.  I will be meeting my friend, Jennie for lunch!  I only get to see her every few months because of her work schedule and the fact she lives 1 1/2 hours from me.  We meet 1/2 way in between us at Applebees.  I am so happy to be seeing her.  Then I just have my Charlie's lesson.  I am very excited to spend an hour or so with Jennie.  We have been friends since we were in Junior High.  We met in band class.  Jennie plays the tuba (still does with a civil war reenactment band) and I played the clarinet (I still play too!)  We were in band together all the way into high school.  I bet I have pictures of us somewhere in the house from band camp.  I loved band camp.  The first year I roomed with Kathy and Karlyn and the second year I think I was with Kathy again, but I am not sure who else.  Kathy and I have been friends since we were three.  Facebook certainly has been a good thing for me as I am now in touch with friends that I haven't seen since High School.  I am actually planning to go to the 25 year reunion.  I haven't attended one, so this will be the first but many of my facebook friends (and kathy and Jennie) are planning to attend also.  It won't be until October though, so I have many months before it happens.

I have had to turn the little heater on again tonight because I am just so cold.  This weather is just insane! I hope the weather where you are it isn't so insane like it is in Michigan.

Because it is so cold, I have a bit more pain in the lower back and hips than usual.  I do hope there is something that can be done about it.  I feel the ache all the way to my bones, not just the muscles.  I have to wait until June 13 before I go back to the doctor.  Although, I suppose if they find something, they may call me in earlier.  I will wait and see.

This weekend will be exciting as I am CLOSING the storage unit!  It is 1/4 empty.  I have a few more boxes that need to come home and the rest will be donated!  I can't wait until it is empty and closed!  No more paying for the stupid storage unit.  I should never have opened it at all but at the time I thought I was doing the right thing.  The plan was to move from where we are now to closer to the store (I still had it at that time).  Well, we ended up losing the store before we moved, which in the long run ended up being better than us moving with how quickly the little Momma went down.  I am also very glad we never moved.  I would not want to live in a new house without here, at least here, I have many good memories of us.  My first (and favorite) memory is me walking down the stairs and Momma was doing something in the kitchen.  I was almost all the way down the stairs and Momma looked up and smiled at me.  That is my earliest memory.  I have many good ones like that.

Here is a group picture of the students from the concert yesterday afternoon.  They all did so awesome.

Notice Acer in the corner not wanting to be a part of the group.  I did get a good picture of him and Aggie together.  He is such a character.  I simply adore him as well as all my students.  We are going to have a BBQ concert this summer in August.  I think it will be a blast.

I do hope this finds you doing well!

Spring Concert day!

The Spring Concert went well.  All of the students who performed did very well.  One little one, decided at the last minute he couldn't do this, but that was okay.  He has only had a few lessons and that was just fine.  He didn't want to stay to watch the concert so his mom took him home.  I will see him at his lesson this week.  I also mentioned to him that he has the option to sing with someone at the concerts and Aggie was right there and said I will sing with you.  He smiled at that so I think for the next concert, Aggie will sing with him.  He is such a good student not to mention an adorable young man.

We had a bit of a reception after the concert which went well.  All the students talked to each other and started to get to know each other a bit.  It was wonderful.  A couple of students couldn't stay for the reception, they had to go right away, but that was okay.

I am just waiting for it to become time for bed.  I am so tired.  These concerts take a lot out of me, but I wouldn't miss them for the world.  I love the concerts that we do.  I love the students showing what they have learned and how they have progressed.  I really do.  I finished the program in plenty of time last night, the only thing I did do though was leave Calli's CD here at home.  yup, I had to race back home to pick it up before the concert started.  Boy was I missing Mom for organizing me for the concert.  Usually, the bag is packed the night before.  i remembered that in the middle of the night but I was too tired to come and pack it at that time.  I packed it this morning and forgot the CD.  Thank goodness i remembered before she sang or it was too late to come back and get it.  We even got started close to on time with this oopsie that I did.  The concert lasted about 45 minutes to an hour.  We all stayed for about another 1 1/2 hours after chatting away before we cleaned up and left.  I am rather tired now but I was fine while I was there.  I brought home some pop that was left over and a few cookies and 2 brownie cakes.  They will be for this week.  Boy are they yummy!  I will eat 1 a day and not have too many in one day.  That is my goal.  I have done pretty well with eating better this last couple days.  I will do even better this week.

I have a busy week of the usual lessons.  I also have a subdivision meeting this week too.  It is the annual meeting.  I have to remember to set aside the dues money that will be collected at the meeting.  I should be able to pay it while I am at the meeting.  It would be better if I did, that way I won't forget all about it like I have in the past.  Not a recommended thing to forget.

Pain levels are a bit higher than usual, probably because of the rain.  My hands are sore tonight too.  It has poured rain all day.  I hope next weekend is good because Kathy and Tony are coming to help empty the storage unit.  It should only take a few hours on Saturday and then we should be finished with it.  That is my goal!  I do hope this finds you doing well and having a good day.  Maybe even some sunshine for you!  As soon as I get the results of all the testing being done, I will post them.  I have started having some night sweats again.  I am hoping I won't tonight.

getting ready for the concert

I am printing programs as we speak with the new printer.  Boy, is it slow.  I thought they were supposed to be faster and better.  I think I will use this one for scanning and copying only after this.  My oldie, but a goodie, prints much faster than this brand new one.  It isn't even like there are a ton of pages, we are talking, 20.  Then I get to design the front of the program and wait forever for it to print too.  I do like creating the programs though.  that is fun for me.  I don't know what I will do on the front, but it will look pretty.  My old printer can print on both sides which really comes in handy for these things, but I am out of color ink and it doesn't behave properly if I don't have both inks.  I have discovered this the last few months.  I will get the new ink later this month.  It just isn't on the important to do list.  I am looking forward to tomorrows concert.  I have 10 students performing, so I am printing 20 programs.  I hope that is enough, if not, oh well.  I will print a mast copy for the announcers.  It is easier that way.  I also have a master one for me.  Mom used to save them all but I have no where to put them anymore so I don't save them anymore.  Boy I miss mom for these things.  She used to help me get everything in order for the concerts and now my assistant isn't here anymore.  It is amazing what she used to help me with.  I would have had this program yesterday if she were here instead of today.

I had Kayla and Amanda's lessons this morning.  They are ready for their first concert.  Both are nervous, which is understandable as it is their first.  I am not sure outside of Calli who the announcers will be.  Probably Aggie will be one and then Calli.  Usually the Muglia girls take care of this for me, but they are unable to be in the concert because baby should be arriving any time now!  I am quite excited about the arrival too.  This will be number 9 in the family.  They are such a nice family.

I went and got the X-ray today.  The technician took 5 pictures of my hips and 5 of my spine.  Boy that table is super hard.  I am glad it is over and that I don't have to do it again for a while.  I wonder what they will find and whether or not it will tell them why I have been so sore, weak, and exhausted so much.  It is really getting in the way of doing things, the weakness I mean.  I am feeling okay mostly, today, but still my arms are so weak and uncomfortable.  I don't know what it means and I am tired of doctors.  (ooh, the printer finally stopped printing!)  I will be right back.  Time to make the cover and print that too.

Cover is done, just needs to start printing, which it should in a few minutes.  It takes a while for the printer to start too.  It is kind of annoying because part of me always wonders if it is going to print and print right.  I shall find out shouldn't I?  It is starting to print.  The first page printed backwards for some reason.  I fixed it.

So today was a slightly busy day with the lessons and the X-rays.  I hope that the testing is all finished at this point.

Tomorrow after the concert I am going to Calli and Acer's for dinner.  We will be having beef stew.  Yummy!!!  i love beef stew.  I make it in the crock pot every so often.  Right now my crock pot is waiting for the dishwasher to clean the inside pot.  Then this week I am going to make the last of the corned beef that I have.  I love corned beef but it is a seasonal thing for a roast although you can get it all year for lunch meat.  Sometimes I do that.  I really like corned beef a lot.  When my brother is in town and we go to the Irish Pub, I always get the corned beef meal.  It is so yummy!!!  Once, they messed up and made the wrong corned beef meal for me and they let us keep the mess up on free while they made the proper one.  I was glad because then Mom and I had a corned beef dinner for the next night.  Although I would have paid for it but they said no because they messed up.

It has been a good day, normal for pain wise, except for the weakness of the arms and body again.  Outside of that, I am having a normal pain level day.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

friday

I am so glad it is Friday.  I have a busy tomorrow planned already.  First up, I have 2 lovely lessons with the beautiful girls, Kayla and Amanda.  Then, I will be going to get my xrays on my hips and lower back.  I also will be creating the program and the CD needed for the concert on Sunday.  I don't have to make an appointment for the xrays, so I am really happy about that.  I am going tomorrow right after the lessons to get it out of the way.  I had the blood test this afternoon.  I went in to show the nurses what tests were being order so they could tell me if I could get it done at my primary care doctor's office.  Well, since I was there they said, we will do it now so I had the test today.  They took 3 tubes of my blood.  It isn't the most I have had taken, I have had 12 tubes taken before when I was at the Cleveland Clinic.  That was a lot plus I had to do a blood culture too.  That means you get poke and then you wait an hour and get poked again.  Yeah, not fun.

Callie and Acer had their lessons this afternoon.  Today was also Acer's Happy Gotcha Day.  This day 4 years ago, the Bowman-Tomlinson's went to China and picked up the little man.  It has been a great 4 years ever since.  Both he and his sister are such amazing children.  I simply adore them.  I adore all my students, they are great kids.  I have the best.  Katie has decided not to sing a solo at the concert.  She is so overwhelmed right now with school that she just doesn't feel like she is ready for the concert.  I said, no problem.  She is going to sing the duet with Amanda, but no solo for her.  She will probably do solos next concert in the summer, if we are able to have a summer concert, if not, Christmas will be good for her.

I am very tired again today.  I have been so tired, more than usual, lately and feeling weak.  I do hope these new tests find out why or least find out something that may help me.  Last night I was in bed at 8 pm.  Yes, 8 pm.  I was awake for a bit at 11:30 pm to about 1:00 am, but then it was sleep until noon today.  I am really wanting to not sleep that much, but what can I do?  I don't know.

I have decided to keep taking the Meloxicam even though it has a high risk of bleeding.  If I don't take it, but nighttime I can no longer walk so that is just not a good thing to me.  Kathy and i are going to start a blog together to encourage us to keep on track to lose weight.  I really need to do this.  I have started this evening.  I had a nice bowl of cereal for brunch and had a burrito bowl for dinner that was loaded with veggies.  No more burgers and fries.  I don't even feel very well when I have too much fries, but I eat them anyway and then just deal with the tummy.  No more, nada, finito.  I am done with them.  I have nice lunch meat, yogurt, good veggies for dinners, plus nice meats for dinners.  I am going to stop going out to get lunch because it isn't the healthiest food and it is expensive.  How can I save money for a emergency fund if I go out all the time?  You can't so saving money is more important.  I have good lunch and dinner food in the house and that is what I am going to have.  I feel good about this decision.  When Kathy is here next week we will create our new blog for each other.  This way we can encourage each other as we live 150 miles away.  She is on the west side of the state and I am on the east side.  This way, we will be able to really be accountable to someone and who could be better than a best friend?  no one, that's who.

I do hope you have a good evening and that blogger is behaving today unlike yesterday!

lovely new student

I had a new student today.  She is 32 and wants to singing better because she is becoming involved in community theatre.  What a wonderful goal.  She is working on 3 songs and will begin some classical music next week.  She is very interested in singing well.  She plans to audition in June for the Music Man.  Next week she will also have her audition music too.  I am excited to work with her.  She has a nice tone to her voice and we worked on the basics, lifting her eyebrows, air flow, and a few other things.  Beth will also be working on her breathing this week too.  She has a really cute notebook that she brought with her.  She ended up being 20 minutes late because she got lost.  Just as I was turning the computer on to get her phone number, she called me saying she was lost.  GPS's always seem to get people lost when they are on their way to my house, same thing with directions from Google or Mapquest.  So I gave her the directions and she arrived about 5 minutes later.  She was rather embarrassed to be late but that is okay.  She was also very nice about having to change her time just for next week because Rick has that time as a makeup for the day before when he would be just arriving home from his vacation.

Carson also did very well with his lesson today.  He chose his 2 piano pieces and is planning to sing only 1 song.  He is such a cutie, he really is.  He is going to sing "I'd Do Anything" from Oliver.  He is playing 2 piano songs that we are working on.  Next week he will be learning to start to read music.  We start with bass clef first and then we move on to treble clef.  I am excited and I have to remind him to bring flashcards next week too.  He doesn't always remember to bring them.  We haven't really needed them until next week.  He forgot his other two books  today.  We did have some homework in the Theory book but I don't know if he did it.  I will find out next week if he did it.

I had to go to the arthritis doctor this morning.  She isn't really happy that I am taking Meloxicam.  There is a risk (apparently very high) risk of bleeding with it because of the coumiden I take.  I have to have an xray on my lower back and two hips.  I have been extremely weak lately and super exhausted.  I also have to get more blood tests done.  Ugh, as if I don't get enough blood tests, I need more!  Yeah, I will be getting that this week or early next week.  For the xray, it is a walk in clinic at the hospital.  Out patient services.  The doctor wants me to go to the hospital because it is where I got it before and they can compare the old one to the new one.  I don't know what to do about the Meloxicam because it really helps the hips and back pain.  I haven't had any bleeding problems since I started it so I guess it has been okay.  I just know that without it, the pain is excruciating and I can barely walk so I really don't want to stop taking it.  There isn't anything else I can replace it with and that is the problem.

Despite the not sure what to do about the medicine, it has been a good day.  I am tired, as usual, and getting ready for bed soon, but overall, I have to say it has been an okay day.  I miss Mom, but that is soooo normal.  Pain is normal too.  I am yawning like crazy now.  I hope you have had a good day too.

I was getting super worried abut Charlie.  He was 20 minutes late and didn't answer his phone when I called.  So when he arrived, I was relieved.  He is rarely late.  In fact, generally he is a few minutes early so you can see why I was very nervous.  Once he arrived he quickly got his instrument out and his music on the stand so we could begin his lesson.  He did pretty well.  He is almost ready for the concert, which is on Sunday.  He is playing 2 pieces on the tenor saxophone and 1 piece on the drums.  I am excited about the drums because I have never heard him play so this will be exciting to me.  Acer will be excited too, I bet.  It has been a slow day for me.  I was going to go to the storage unit but I am feeling so weak and tired today so I will go tomorrow as long as it isn't raining.  I also have my arthritis doctor's appointment tomorrow morning.  Ugh, that is all I have to say about it.  I need to update my medicine list and print tonight.  I can't forget.  There I just did it.  It should print anytime now.  I have to get new ink for the old printer this weekend.  I need it to print the programs I need for Sunday.  I like creating the programs.  They are fun.  I don't do anything fancy anymore, just something simple now.  I used to go all out and elaborate but now I just don't do that.  I may next year, but this year I am just going to do something simple.  This new printer prints very slow not at all what it says on the printer box.  I don't particularly like how slow it is but it is also a copier and a scanner so that is why I got this one.  I suppose I could have spent more money and gotten a better one, but I didn't have the money to spend so I have this one.

I have to get music ready for Beth tomorrow.  She is a new adult, she will replace Amanda being going at the end of the month.  She wants musical theatre training so that is what we are going to do.

It was pretty nice out today again.  Tomorrow it is suppose to be in the mid 70's with high 70's on the weekend.  I am glad it is warming up.  I have been so cold this winter and spring.  It started in the fall with the temps dropping faster this year than usual.  I just don't want the super hot 90's weather so soon.  That weather I don't do well in either.  That is too hot for me.  I foresee doing what I do in the winter, hiding inside.  That is why I say I am a fall/spring girl although this spring so far has been cold.

I am so tired and weak today.  I did take a bit of a snooze this afternoon and I feel like I could go to bed right now.  This is insane.  It is only almost 8 pm.  My NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles will be on soon.  Maybe I will go to sleep right away for a change.  That would be a dream!  I have to be up early because I have the doctor appointment.  I may end up going to bed rather shortly and missing my shows.  If I knew how to tape them, I would but I don't.  I also don't have a DVR right now either.  I hope to get one this summer.  I am usually home so I don't miss much, but it would be nice to have for nights like tonight.  I don't have too much planned for the week except getting some more boxes out of the storage unit.  I am trying to get a few that I want out every few days so that when Kathy and Tony arrive, we just have to donate everything else.  I have to remember to tell Heather B-T that we are emptying the storage unit next weekend.  If she is available, she and Bill are planning to help.  I am excited about all the help I am getting.  Next up, the house.  Once the storage unit is empty and the boxes I need are at home, I will start my planning of the house.  Julie and Lily are planning to help me for that.  We will need muscle people when the furniture needs to be switched but that isn't right now yet.

I am so not feeling well tonight.  I think I am turning in shortly.  I am just so weak.  I don't understand this.  It hasn't happened in such a long time that I don't know what to think.  I don't know what is wrong either, but I will rest like my body is telling me too.  I am getting pretty good at listening to my body when it wants to rest.  The only advantage I can think of for living alone.  I can rest whenever i need and not have to worry about Mom.  Other than this, there is no advantage of not having the little Momma around.

I do hope you are having a better day than me right now.

Sunshine

It is so sunny out and I am loving every minute of it.  It is nice out, still need a jacket, but overall, it is so beautiful outside right now.  We are, of course, going to get some rain this week.  We were supposed to get it this weekend, but we didn't.  Now it is forecasted to be tomorrow and later this week.

Today is the baby brother, Andrew's birthday.  He is 42 officially now.  He he he!  We are exactly one year, one day, and one month apart in age.  It is super cool to us for some reason especially as my mother was not a planner when it came to children.  She was happy we came along, but she didn't have a specific plan for each of us so to be that exact apart is pretty neat.  God works in such mysterious ways.

Yesterday was a good day, I didn't cry at all and was able to think of happy memories of Momma.  Andrew saw my profile picture on face book and wanted me to tag him.  I then mentioned I had 4 albums full of pictures of mom and asked if he wanted them.  He said yes.  I will now tag him in every photo that I haven't tagged him in.  That is a lot of photos as my cousin, Maia scanned a whole bunch for me.  I have more to scan, but I keep putting it off until later and so far later has not arrived yet.  So my newest project is to tag Andrew in all of Mom's photos.  That should be interesting.  I don't think he realizes how many I have, but hey, he should have them too.  She was his Momma too.  I have a disc for Richard of pictures of Mom.  He doesn't want any originals (thank goodness - I get to keep them to frame!) He just wants the scans of them.  That works for me too.

I had one lesson so far today.  Bob and I decided that for the week he should concentrate on his recital music only.  With the concert a week away (it is Sunday!), I feel it is best that this week all students focus on their recital material only.  This way they are very comfortable with their music for performing. I will create the program on Saturday as I have learned from the past that changes happen all the way up to the day of the concert.  It is quite disheartening to have to redo the entire program and reprint it for the changes, now I just wait to the last possible day.  I just have to get colored ink for the old printer and I am all set.  I will do that this week.

I find that I am reading a lot more than I have since Momma has been gone.  I love to read and that was one of the things she taught me to do (I couldn't read until 3rd grade and once Mom found out that I couldn't read I learned in 6 weeks flat).  She loved taking us to the library and getting books out to read.  Now my problem with the library is I don't return them on time!  It isn't their fault, it is entirely mine.  I read the books and then forget all about them.  Now I go to the used bookstore once a month a get a bunch of books for a very low price.  I am thrilled to have discovered that I have 3 boxes of books that were in the storage unit.  I have even more books to read now!  I am set for the next few months, that is for sure.  I can't wait until my library is ready for me.  It shall be wonderful.

I am not sure what all I am doing this evening.  I have Emily's lesson at 6:30.  She is such a cute girl.  She really is.  She is doing so well too.  Emily will perform in her first recital on Sunday.  Other than Emily's lesson, I don't have any concrete plans.  I don't feel like doing housework, so I am putting it off a day.  I will do more tomorrow when I have the entire day to do it.  I have Charlie's lesson but not until sometime after 3.  He is coming early to pick up the rest of the garbage from the trimming of the bushes. He takes them home and burns them.  Hey, whatever works for him, works for me.  I have a pretty open schedule.

I talked to my friend, Rosemary who just lost her husband.  She is doing as well as can be expected.  We are going to go to lunch someday next week and she will come to the homeowners meeting with me.  I am glad to have the company.  She is a very nice lady and a very good friend.

Anyways, I am off to finish up cleaning the kitchen, I have to dishwasher going and I need to clear the counter and wash it.  I also am getting a bit hungry so I may make me some dinner before Emily's lesson.  We shall see how I feel after cleaning the kitchen.  I do hope this finds you doing well and having a good day too.  Pain level is normal so I am glad.

It's Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

It has been a good one despite not having Mom here with me.  I went and picked up my friend, Donna and we went to Burger King.  We had about 2 1/2 hours there laughing and talking.  It made me miss Mom less for a little while.  Then I went to Walmart because it occurred to me that they wouldn't be too busy today and I really needed some milk and bread.  i got some good buns.  I also managed to pick up a few other things too.  I never seem to be able to go and pick up only what I need!  I can out $56 later but I would have bought some of the food later this week anyways, so with the exception of the magazines (they had the Royal Wedding on the cover) everything will be eaten or consumed in some way.

Then I came home and called the #1 Mom on my list, Kathy.  We chatted for a while.  It was nice.  Her kids made her some stuff and hubby is cooking dinner tonight.  They may all go for a bike ride after dinner.  Sounds like a fun evening.  I will be making my dinner soon and then just relaxing and watching TV.  I have successfully survived my first Mother's Day without the little lady.  I was so afraid that I would melt down like crazy on this day but I didn't.  While I am missing her a lot, in is the same everyday.  It has changed.  I don't think it will.  Some days are just more bearable than others.  I don't expect that to change too.

Last year, Mom was still okay at this time of the year.  She was in stage 6 at this point.  We had started on disposable undies for her.  She could walk by herself without any assistance but she preferred to hold my hand for direction even in the stores that I ride the scooter in.  It was so cute!  She was very quiet, but that really wasn't anything new.  Mom was a pretty quiet person most of the time except around me.  We could chat all day about everything and we did.  She was able to watch TV at that point too and still go to movies.  It wasn't until late June that TV frightened her.  So we were able to spend Mother's day watching her favorite movies, old Disney flicks. She simply loved them.  I don't remember which ones we watched, had I known it was to be her last, I would have paid stricter attention to those details.  At that point, I expected to have her for a few more years, little did I know it would be months, not years.  I did take her to Olive Garden or Red Lobster, I am not sure which, we loved both of them.  We had a nice early dinner together and then we watched more movies.  We laughed and giggled all day together. I bought her flowers that she had picked out.  We went to the flower shop on Saturday and I asked her what her favorite flowers were.  I was surprised by her answer, because I always thought roses were her favorite, and while she loves them, tulips are her favorite.  We got a huge bouquet of tulips that lasted about 2 weeks for her.  She loved them.  They were so beautiful.  i was going to get me a bouquet of them but I thought that would make me sad so I didn't.  It was really one of the last months that were good for her.  July was a good month, but the end of May and beginning of June were awful for her and starting in mid August is when she really started sliding downward.  But at this point in May we were having a good time.  We also called my little brother because it was his birthday too.  She chatted a bit with him and so did I.  Over all, it was a good Mother's Day for her.

I have picked some pictures of her to show.

The first one was when she was 11 years old.  I love that picture.  The rest are just randomly chosen from when she was young to last March when she was 76 and about 7 months before she passed away.  I hope you like my choices!


Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Moms!!!!!  I hope it has been a good day for you too!