an iffy kind of day

I had one lesson this afternoon and it went pretty well.  I am used to the hour lessons now so they are okay.  Now to get used to a piano lesson for 45 minutes on Tuesday!  Lessons generally last 1/2 hour but the new company will schedule for 45 and 60 minute lessons for different students.  At first it was difficult to pace but now it is not a problem.

After the lesson I had some lunch and was reading a bit.  then, the strangest thing happened.  My ear started ringing and wouldn't stop.  I got rather tired and the ringing made my head hurt worse so I went to lie down for a bit.  The ringing has finally stopped but I am a bit dizzy and my tummy is a bit upset.  I don't know if they are because of the ringing or just being annoying.  With my tummy, it could be either of them.

I am doing laundry right now.  The laundry fairy just hasn't shown up so I had to break down and do it myself.  I will be right back.  The undies and stuff are now in the dryer so I have fresh clothes again.  Yeah!  Always nice to have fresh clothes.

I have finally seen Harry Potter.  I need to see it again as I was so enthralled with it.  I loved it.  I wish they had shown the feast at the end of the battle when they won, it would have been nice to see the Malfoy's there looking kind of strange on the right side for a change.  Although I do like what they did with them at the end, where they were walking away from Voldemort before the final battle.  Lucius was just not looking so good at the end.  I like how Narcisca called for Draco, grabbed his hand, turned and left with Lucius chasing them from behind.  Mama power that is what that was.  I would have also liked to have seen more characters in the very end when they jump up to 19 years later.  It was nice to see them as grown up with their children but I would have like to have seen Teddy Lupin and Victoire as well as perhaps George with his wife.  I can't wait until the Pottermore website with more back stories comes out.  That will be super cool.  I love Harry Potter, the books and the movies.  I think number 7B is my absolute favorite.  I loved when Maggie Smith (Professor Mongongall) said, "I have always wanted to do that spell" and gave a brief giggle.  I loved that part a lot.  There are so many moments that I loved.

I am watching Beauty and the Beast right now on ABC family channel.  The one that was playing harry potter for the last few weekends.  I guess they are done with Harry for a bit.  I love the music from Beauty and the Best.  Belle is my favorite princess.  She loves to read just like me!  She can read books over and over again, just like me!

Anyways, my head is still not back to normal yet, I am hopeful that it will be better tomorrow.  Although, I am completely out of my tramodol so I don't have that.  It really helps taking the edge off the pain.  I will call the doctor tomorrow so hopefully it will be refilled tomorrow or Tuesday.  Tylenol just doesn't cut it but in a pinch it is all I have.

I hope today was a good day for you.

ew kind of day

It is a bad headache kind of day.  I am not sure if it because of the weather changes we have been having or just that my head has decided it is time to be really bad.  Either way, it is bad.  I have taken all the medicine I can take at this moment.  I plan to head for bed rather early so that perhaps I shall sleep some of it off.  I can only try.

I did watch some interesting TV last night.  I shall write about it when my brain allows me to think better.  Right now thinking is hard to do.

I did pay another $175 on my property taxes today!  That is $275 for this month, just $25 under my goal with several absences this month too so I am pleased with myself!  Pray that I am able to continue this until they are all paid and up to date!

Anyways, off to bed to let my head rest.  Thank goodness it wasn't super bad until after Breanna had her lesson.  I hope you are having a good day!

more paperwork

I got my bank statement today, thank goodness.  I need the last 3 statements to send in to the hospital so I can find out if they will help me pay that huge bill that I have.  I have the application, the bank statements, the income statement, and a pay stub from the new company teaching all ready to finally be copied and sent in.  I just have to type the letter.  I am so glad that this hospital has a foundation to help people like me.  I can do a low monthly payment, but I owe about $1200 now so it will take forever to pay and probably will owe more when I crash again.  So far the health crashes haven't been bad enough to go to the hospital. I am really glad about that.

It is a quiet day here.  Katie had her lesson and we have picked what she is going to sing in the concert.  Now she is having trouble deciding what to sing at competition in February.  She wants to have the decision down by September 1 because of her school schedule.  It will be super full and she wants to have tough decisions done as soon as possible.  Normally, I don't even start discussing competition until October, however in her situation I agree that earlier will be best for her.  I don't mind, we can work on the stuff and other things too.  She loves the new Italian piece I gave her today.  It is my favorite out of the entire book.  It is called "Se Tu M'ami".  I don't remember exactly what it means but it is such a fun piece.  Now she is divided between the German piece and this new Italian piece.  She is also torn between which inspirational piece to do.  She is deciding between a beautiful medley and "My Lord What a Morning".  Both are great pieces that really show off her maturing voice.  She is such a beauty too.  Both inside and out, she is simply a wonderful young woman.  I am so proud of her and what she has accomplished with her life.  She will finish in June with not only her high school diploma, but her associates degree also.  Talk about a hard road!  It does require her to take a lot of credit hours, but she feels she is up for it.  It is just wonderful.

It is pretty nice out today.  It was starting to rain a bit when I came in from the store, but my brown grass really needs it so that is okay.  The temperature wasn't too high for a change, only around 81 or so.  That is a good thing.  It is possibly more rain tomorrow.  I don't have anywhere really to go except the bank tomorrow and the bank can actually wait another day if it rains bad.  I only have 1 lesson tomorrow so I can go in between rains.  Pain level is regular, nothing standing out too much.  It is a normal missing Mom day.  I don't think either of those things will ever go away so they are just at the normal range for me.  I do hope you are having a good day.

tuesday

It was a 3 lesson day instead of 5 lesson day.  Elizabeth wasn't scheduled, I am not sure what is going on with her and McKenzie's family had a death in the family so they had to reschedule to next week.  Both Rachel and Laith started learning bass clef notes.  I am pleased with them.  Charlie had a 1 hour lesson to make up from last week.  I love how he makes up lessons instead of totally skip them when he can.  He will miss next week too so the following week he will have another hour lesson.

Not much going on other than the few lessons today.  I am re-reading the Sherbrooke Bride series.  i love those books.  I am on the third book right now.  I will probably finish it tomorrow or maybe later tonight.

It is so nice out today for a change!  It is low humidity and in the mid 80's, in other words, it is simply beautiful!  I could have spent the day outside but I was teaching instead.  I wasn't too hot or cold going outside today for a change!  It was so nice.  i really like this.  Unfortunately, by the weekend it will be in the low 90s again with chance of rain.  The rain doesn't bother me because my poor brown lawn needs it so bad.  My little violet flowers are drooping so bad.  They need some water.

Tomorrow is 2 lessons, Katie and Carson.  I have 2 new songs for Carson and I have a new CD for him filled with new music for him.  I have typed out two songs so far and will type them as we go along.

Well, I am going to watch NCIS and then head for bed.  I am hoping for a better night's sleep tonight.  I am pretty tired tonight so let's hope for a better sleep!  I do hope you are having a good night!

oh my I need a personal assistant

Yesterday, much to my distress because I screwed up, was my lovely Katie's baptism.  Yeah, I wanted to go because it is so important to her and I mixed up the weekends.  I had it written down as last night, but I NEVER looked at my calender yesterday.  How awful is that?  It is simply too awful for words.  I really wanted to go.  That would have been the coolest thing ever!  I was so honored that she asked me to go and then I didn't go.  How awful and terrible and oh my.  I have been screwing up my schedule between yesterday and today.  Today's episode?  Oh, I nearly missed Beth's lesson at 2 pm because I forgot to check my schedule last night.  Had I done that like I usually do after Rick's lesson, I would have seen to go last night.  Well, fortunately, Beth called me when I didn't answer the door.  Wow, thank goodness for that!  I quickly got dressed and ran downstairs to start her lesson.  I am not sure what is up with me these last few days, but something sure is.  I do hope it has run its course and I am fine now.  I sure hope so.  I called Katie, I know she is at work, but I had to call and apologize to her.  I can't wait to speak with her in person.  I can't believe I did this.  boy, when I screw up, I do a good job.  How disappointing for Katie.  She was expecting me to be there and I didn't show up.  I would be very disappointed too.  I was napping when her baptism started too to make it worse.  Wow, I am just so disappointed in me.  I hope the rest of the week is better because these last two days, were awful with what I forgot.

At least the lessons, when I had them, went well.  Beth did very well with her new and old songs.  Bob is really coming along with his Clementi and Mozart pieces.  Young Emily just started with G Position.  It is a bit hard for her since it is brand new.  Her flash cards are getting a bit easier for her but they are still not quite where I would like them to be.

I am having the strangest sleep patterns these days.  I need to somehow fix it.  I just don't know how.  I go to bed at a decent hour, I just don't sleep well until after 5 am.  It is really getting annoying.  I can't take anymore sleep medicine because I am already taking enough.  Somehow I need to shift my sleeping to start around 12 midnight so I get up earlier.  I do hope to stop taking naps in the afternoon and evening too.  That helps screw it around too but I get so tired that I can't stay awake.  I haven't slept well since I lost Mom.  I had thought that by now I would be sleeping better but I am not.  It is even worse than ever now.  I hope to be able to turn it around a bit so that I am getting up a bit earlier and going to sleep earlier.

Anyways, lessons were good, the rest was not.  Being this upset over missed events and almost missed events make me ache more so today is a complete achy day.  I hope tomorrow and the rest of the week will be better.  I hope you are doing better than me.

did it rain today?

I think it rained for a few minutes this afternoon.  This is what one of my friends who live near me on Facebook said.  I was asleep because I was so tired this afternoon that I slept about 3 hours.  i could have slept longer, really, I could have but I forced myself to get up.  Harry Potter number 4 is on again and Harry Potter 5 is on at 9 so I will watch it until I fall asleep or decide to go to bed.  I love Harry Potter movies and books so much.  It is kind of weird because I am not really into a lot of things right now, but Harry is one of things that I am into.  It does make me think of my mom because she loved Harry Potter movies a lot.  She read me the first book when I was in the hospital with the blood clot.  I was pretty out of it a lot during that week.

I did have a good lesson with Rick today.  We started a new song for him.  The song is "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin, the movie.  I love this song.  It has a beautiful range that will definitely be a stretch for him.  We did go through it but we are focusing on the first part today.  He seemed to really like it so that is good. I now have a date for the Summer concert but unfortunately, Rick and Bob won't be there as both will be out of town.  I am bummed but I knew there would be some people it wouldn't work for.  I am hoping that for everyone else it will work for.

I can't wait until next weekend.  Kathy will be here in town and we are going to see Harry Potter together!!!  Finally!!!!  I can't wait!!!!  I just can't wait!!!  Not only for the new movie but to see Kathy too.  I just talked to her.  She is planning to watch Harry number 5 in a few minutes too.

I am off to watch Harry now.  I hope your day is good and cool.

Sleepy

Sometimes I feel like all I ever do is try to sleep.  For the last few months I have been awake off and on until about 5 am and then I sleep for a couple hours, then I need to roll over because of pain, sleep a couple more hours, roll over again, and on and on it goes.  Today, I rolled over at 10 thinking I would get up in a bit and start my day.  The next time I woke up it was 2 pm.  I had actually slept for 4 hours straight!  I was excited, still exhausted, but excited.  Why couldn't I do that earlier so I could get up a bit early?  Who knows.  I got up and got ready for the day, which was partly over more than usual.  I went and mailed a letter that is due next week.  It is, I hope, the last of what is needed for the IRS from the store.  The nightmare never ends it seems when it comes to the store.  I do hope this is the last of it.  

I didn't have any lessons today so I read some after I went and got some Chipotle's for dinner.  Since I woke up super late I figured I would have a bigger meal now and a smaller meal later around 7 or 8 or so.  I have one lesson tomorrow so that is wonderful!  I love lessons and I really think that is the only time I feel like I am achieving something.  I do think that some other times when I am with friends or doing something at home other than watching TV or reading but often, I feel like I am in a rut and can't get out.  It isn't always like that, but often enough to bother me.  I think it is because I am still trying to find the new me without Mom.  When I had Mom here, I had a purpose and that was taking good care of her, which mostly I did.  Now my purpose is gone and I don't know what my purpose is, outside of teaching that is.  I am thankful I have more students now that I have had in the last few years.  It is very helpful and fun.  I simply love all my students.  I don't have one that is forced to play so that is a wonderful thing.  I have had a few in the past, and oh, my that was the hardest teaching ever.  Can you imagine trying to teach a child music to a child who really could care less about whether they play it right or not?  Believe me, I think I would rather bang my head against a wall than to do that again.  Fortunately, all my younger students play because they want to learn.  Thank God for that!

I don't have any plans for the rest of the evening except to relax and watch TV.  I am exhausted again and I have only been up for about 4 hours.  I probably will go to bed at the regular time because I will only toss and turn if I go early.  I can't wait for the lesson tomorrow.  I am debating which new song to give him.  I am not sure.

It is a bit cooler this afternoon that it has been in the last few days.  Next week is supposed to be back in the 80s so I can't wait for that.  I do hope that you are cool and staying out of the heat.

A Bit Cooler of a Day

It is still hot but not as hot as yesterday!  thank goodness for that!  I went and got an oil change for my baby car this afternoon.  The oil change place has changed hands and I didn't notice it until I pulled it.  It wouldn't have matter as I needed it done.  They don't vacuum out the cars anymore though and I was really counting on that.  I will go and vacuum out the car next week when the weather is a bit warmer.  I did get rid of all the garbage in the car in the door spaces.  I will not let garbage go in them anymore.  It is too messy and I want a clean car now.  I also found some cream containers in the passenger side of the car.  I was not happy about that because cream can smell when it is spoiled.  I know who did it and it won't happen again because I won't allow it.  Also, the 3 bottles that were in my car were not from me either and that isn't happening again either.  bottom line, my baby will stay clean from me and others.  I just have to wipe the dashboard and the sides of the doors.  I also need to clean the inside of the windows next week too.  My car will be spiffy and beautiful again.  No more people going, you need to clean the dashboard and the windows.  I bought some cleaning cloths for the car that I will use.

Acer didn't have a lesson today as the little man's mom was not feeling well.  Heather B-T gets some dozy of headaches so they needed to stay home.  Acer has decided though what songs he is going to play at the concert.  He will play 3.  Hey works for me.  He has also moved on for singing songs too.  He is finished with Caro Mio Ben (he only knows 1/2 of it right now) and is wanting to know Feed the Birds.  That works for me too.  Acer and I don't always follow the general pattern that I set for each lesson.  He works much better this way and so I do things a bit different for him than I do for most other students.  Sometimes you just have to change the style for what works best for the student.  This is definitely needed for Acer to keep him challenged and interested.  I am pleased with how well he is doing.  Acer is also still working out new songs all the time on the piano.  It is so nice to have him say, listen to this and I do.  Calli is a bit more structured of a lesson.  This is due to partly her age and her level but also she works well with a bit more structure.  I am pleased with how well she plays and sings too.  It is nice to have students again who range in age.  For a while, I only had older students but now I have some little ones again too.  I really like that variety of ages and levels with my students.

We have a date for the Summer concert/BBQ.  It is August 28 and I am thrilled.  I will be working on the flyer this evening.  I want to be passing it out next week.  I do know that Bob will be absent because they will be in Maine.  I am disappointed, but hey, he will be having a good time in Maine!  Everyone will hear him at the Christmas Concert.

Katie is going to help me put away the music at the end of the summer.  I am so grateful.  I have tried to put some away, I just don't stand well enough for it.  Also, at the middle to end of August is when Lily and Julie are available to help with the family room.  That works for me!!!  I think I will have Lily help decorate the house for Christmas again this year.  She is very creative and I am not always that creative like she is.  I am going to have more decorations up I think this year.

Pain is a bit high today, I think mainly because it has been so hot.  I ache more in the extreme temperatures.  My head hasn't been too good these last few weeks.  I am hoping next week will be a bit better.  I am missing Mom as usual.   It is hard to believe but it has been just over 9 months since she passed away.  Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday and other times it seems like it has been forever.  I just want my Mom back.

I do hope this finds you doing well and staying cool.

a record hot day

It was just over 100 degrees today and with the heat index it feels about 110.  I can't imagine how my friend, Missy and other friends can handle the hotter weather down south.  I did have to do a bit of grocery shopping today, I wish I waited until tomorrow but I need milk and lunch meat for today.  I went in for a few things and I came out 40 items later!  I got a new thermometer for me.  I have noticed that there are days it seems I have a low grade fever so I am going to be keeping track of my temperature.  Today it is at 98.4 so that is good.  Last night I had the night sweats again.  I get them a few times a week again.  I am not sure why, but I will be keeping track of myself.

Breanna had her lessons this afternoon.  She takes both piano and voice.  She went to Pittsburg to audition for American Idol.  She was able to audition but the judge said she was too young.  She is 15 and I thought they were taking 15 year olds again this year.  Whatever, anyways the judge said to come back another year so I thought that was pretty positive for her.  It gives us another year to work on maturing her voice so that she will be even more ready next year.  Breanna has a very strong chest voice and her head voice is getting stronger but I think 1 more year will really make a difference for the young lady.  She is a lot of fun to work with too.  We have a date for the summer concert so it is time for her to decide what she wants to sing.  I think she should do the song she played and sang today from Pink.  It is really neat and definitely has the Wow factor in it.

I only have Acer for lessons tomorrow.  Calli is at camp.  I do hope she is having a great time.  Acer is at day camp this week so I can't wait to hear how his camp is going when I see the young man tomorrow.  I was hoping to take Lily to see Monte Carlo on Saturday but she will be busy getting ready for her performance in Summer Music Theatre next weekend.  I thought it was over, I am glad it isn't because I would like to see the performance if I can still get tickets.  If not, I will have to wait until next year.  Lily and family will be going on vacation so when they come back we will work on the rest of Mom's and the family rooms.  I think that will be good to work on at the end of summer.  It is too hot to work on it right now.

I do hope you are staying cool in this super hot heat.

Midweek!

It is Wednesday and I only had 2 lessons this afternoon and evening.  I normally only have 2 lessons, but this was 1 make-up lesson and 1 regular lesson.  Carson is absent as he is on vacation this week.  His mom called to tell me this morning, but I already knew because he told me last week.  Bob will be back on his normal Monday next week but Beth will have her lesson on Monday in the afternoon.  She is going on vacation next week so she will have her lesson first and then off to vacation for Beth!  I like that she is having a make up lesson before she goes on vacation.  What a dedicated student.  this is the kind of student I really like.  Anyways, Charlie and Carson will be back next week too so that will be a good week.

It has been a regular quiet week so far.  I have done a lot of reading this week.  I ended up reading until about 2 am this morning before I realized how late it was and needed to go to bed.  I was looking for some fresh reading material when I found a book I never read downstairs in the family room.  It is a book by one of my favorite authors and I was thrilled to find it because it belongs to a series where I have the rest of the books too.  They are not totally tied together series, but loosely tied together.  I was planning to purchase the book but now I don't have too so I am pleased about that.  Anne dropped off 2 books for me.  I meant to send one home to Maggie today but I forgot to give the book to Bob.  I also, once again, forgot to loan him the Eclipse movie.  I have been meaning to loan him this for months because I know that Maggie would like to see it.  She has read all the books and has seen the first 2 movies.  I haven't seen Eclipse yet but eventually I will.  I wanted to see it last summer but Mom couldn't have handled that movie.  I didn't go because I decided I needed to spend the time with Mom instead.  I do not regret my decision.  I can see lots of movies now, but I can't spend the time with her.  I would rather spend the time with Mom.  I so miss that.  I miss the companionship even with her Alzheimer's.  We could still have a good time together.  I picked things for us to do that she could handle.

I just saw a commercial for back to school.  Oh my gosh, it is too soon isn't it?  It is only July.  The only good thing about back to school shopping is that I am running out of cute pencils for teaching and can get a bunch of them on sale.  I like princess pencils and Tinkerbell pencils.  I had bought some Tinkerbell pencils but I don't know what happen to them so I need some new ones.  There is another back to school commercial on now.  Oh my.  I am losing my mind!  I will need to check my office supplies to see if I need anything new.  I think I have enough folders and notebooks, but I am not sure.  I will check this week.

It was a quiet day.  I enjoyed reading a book I haven't read in a few years.  It is super hot outside.  It really is.  Tomorrow is suppose to be close to 100.  Yeah, there is just something wrong with having temperatures that high.  We are supposed to get storms too, but I don't think the humidity will go down.  Fortunately, next week temps should be cooler.  I will hide inside most of the day from the rain and the heat.  I hope you stay cool too.

Another Hot Day

It is about 93 degrees with so much humidity again today.  Tomorrow and Thursday will be close to 97 degrees feeling over 100 degrees.  However, as hot as it will be here, I am thankful I live in Michigan than Texas right now because they have it so much worse than we do.  The south is just having such a heat wave.  I don't know how the people who live there are doing it, especially those without A/C.  I am very thankful for the A/C that I have.  I was out in the heat for a bit today and came back with a headache and a tummy ache so I had to lie down for about an hour or so.

I am so disappointed about my newest student, Georgia.  Well, she is going to take lessons at another place where she can also take guitar too.  I understand it is much easier to take from one place, I am just disappointed because she is so excited to do this.  This is the 9th adult student I have had start since January and the 7th to quit right away.  Thank goodness for Beth and Rick.  I am so thankful for them.  They both take an hour lesson and are doing really well.  Georgia will bring back my book and CD tomorrow after 1 pm.

Rachel, Laith, and Elizabeth all had their lessons today and are doing very well.  All three of them are about to start learning to read music.  I am pleased with where they all are right now.  It is kind of funny to have 3 little ones at the same place in music so I hear the same songs on Tuesday three times.  I don't mind as the songs are very cute.  I have been listening to them for about 10 or so years when I switched to this series of books.  I love how the books all work together.  What you learn in the lesson book, you also learn in the theory and the solo books.  It is really a good series.  All three of the little ones are either 6 or 7 and heading to either 1st grade or 2nd grade.  My older kids are just going to love them.  They are all so neat.  I really like days that I have lessons.  Tomorrow I have Bob and Beth, 2 of my adults.  Bob usually has his lessons on Monday and he had to work so he rescheduled to Wednesday.  It works for me.  Carson is absent this week because he is on vacation with his family.  I do hope he is having a good time.  They are at a ranch this week.  I will miss him tomorrow.  I will also be working on a Carson CD this week for him for his lesson next week.

I am not sure when I am going to see Winnie the Pooh.  Rachel went to see it yesterday, but Elizabeth still would like to see it so I am hoping to come up with a time to go with her and her family.  She loves Piglet best.  I love Winnie the Pooh best.  He is my favorite character ever.  Belle is my 2nd favorite character ever.  I think it is because she loves to read too.  I am finished with all the Harry Potter books so I will be reading the books Anne gave me.  She brought me 2 books from NYC.  She works at the Oxford Publishing Company in NYC.  She was in town this past week.  I had lunch with her on Thursday and it was a great time.  I really miss seeing her every week for a lesson.  I am glad she is doing well at her job and likes living in NY.  I just miss her a lot and would like to see her more often than 2 or 3 times a year.

It has been a good day while I was teaching, but afterward, not so good with the head and the tummy, but now it isn't so bad right now.  I do hope you are staying cool and having a good day.

busy Monday!!!!

What a wonderful busy day.  It started with meeting Wendy at Tim Horton's for lunch.  It was great.  We visited for about 2 hours.  After that Katie had her lesson.  We started a new song that she is so excited about.  It is a medley of 3 traditional spirituals, Steal Away, Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, and Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child.  She loves it too.  I think this arrangement is the best arrangement that I have ever heard.  Katie is also working on a German song too.  We also started a new Broadway song, I Enjoy Being a Girl.  It is a fun piece that Katie will really enjoy, I think.  Emily did okay with her lesson.  She is having trouble reading her notes in the songs right now.  She does pretty well with flash cards but reading the notes while she is playing is difficult with her.  I had a new student, Georgia tonight.  she is very enthusiastic about singing and singing properly so that is good.  It seems like she will stick with singing lessons for a while.  We even talked about rescheduling her lesson in August for her family reunion.  Hey, works for me.  I will gladly reschedule!

I think it has been a pretty good day so far.  I really enjoyed visiting with Wendy and my lessons.  Tomorrow is my three little ones' lessons.  Charlie is absent so I hope he is having fun up north.  Other than lessons, I don't have much planned for the week.  I finished reading all the Harry Potter books and now I am on to some of the movies sometime possibly later this week.  I will just see what happens this week.

Katie is being baptized this Sunday.  I am so excited about that because she asked me if I wanted to go so I am going.  It will be wonderful to see.  I also went to Calli's baptism when she was baptized.  I am very thrilled that I am going to Katie's.  It will be at the church that I will be attending this fall.  I will be joining their choir in the fall.  I haven't sung in a choir for a few years so this will be fun, I think.

It has been a good day.  I hope yours has been too.

Sunday, July 17

I finished the 7th Harry Potter Book tonight.  I love those books.  I am now ready to see the movie when Kathy comes to town.  Yeah!  I started the book this afternoon and am now finally done.  Almost all of the HP books are down here in the dining room right now waiting to be read again when I feel like it.  Eventually, all the books and DVDs will go in the family room where they belong.  Then the dining room table will be turned to face a different direction and I will be able to have the table center underneath the light in the dining room instead of where it is.  It bugs me that it isn't centered but right now it won't fit the proper way.  I will be getting rid of the desk that is in the dining room.  I just don't particularly like it in the dining room, it just is in the way.  I don't really need it either.  The one thing I want brought up though is the Elliptical machine.  There is a corner of the dining room it will fit in so that I can watch TV while I exercise.  That is necessary so that I can concentrate on the TV instead of the exercising.  The move will happen sometime this summer.  I don't know why it was moved in the first place, but it was.  One more thing that shouldn't have moved.  I do hope by fall to have the house somewhat in order and ready for the cold season that will arrive.  I have a gas fireplace downstairs in the family room that needs to be checked over by a professional before I have it lit.  It hasn't been lit in about 5 years so I don't know what shape it is in.  I am not going to have it lit until it is checked.

I have been watching the "Finding Sarah" on the OWN network.  She just did a 26 mile trek through the coldest part of Canada.  They left from Yellowknife and went out so many miles and then came back.  The temperatures were about -35 degrees F.  Yeah, wow, talk about being super cold.  That is so not for me.  She did it though, and boy do I give her credit for doing it.  I just know I couldn't do it.  I could not walk 26 miles and drag a sled that weighs about 45 pounds full of gear.  Yeah, that is too cool she could do it.

Rick had his lesson this afternoon.  He brought a recorder so we recorded many of his songs so that he could practice better.  The lesson went well.  After that I went and read some of the book until I was so tired that I had to take a nap.  Once I woke up, I came down and ate dinner.  Then I read the rest of the book.  It has been a rather quiet day and that was good for me.  I needed some quiet days this past week. Tomorrow is an exciting day because I will be meeting with my friend, Wendy for some get together time.  After that I will have my Katie and Emily's lessons.  I will also have a brand new student tomorrow night, Georgia.  She is an adult but I am hoping she will last like Beth and Rick have.  We shall see.  I will be pulling the music for Georgia in the afternoon probably after Katie's lesson.  Georgia just called to get directions and my address for tomorrow.  I am so excited about this lesson so I am really hoping she will like lessons and stay.

I am heading to bed shortly.  I will be setting my alarm because I don't want to miss meeting up with Wendy.  that would just be awful.  I do hope this was a good day for you too.

A Lovely summer afternoon

I have been enjoying a quiet afternoon of reading Harry Potter number 6.  I am about 1/2 way through it at this point.  I don't think I will finish it tonight but probably will tomorrow.  I got up earlier today than I have been and that is good because I have been going to bed later and later which means getting up later and later so I should be going to bed at my regular time tonight and getting back on schedule.  I have one one hour lesson tomorrow.  I do enjoy Rick's lessons very much.  He doesn't practice too much during the week at times, but when he does practice he does very well with it.  He is having trouble with the tempo of "They Call the Wind Mariah" song.  It is quiet fast and there really is no help from the accompaniment, which is hard to follow unless you are very familiar with it.  I find even when I am playing his part at times I am off tempo and I am very familiar with the song.  One of the other Broadway pieces, "If I Loved You" beginning is getting better.  Most of the song plays the melody in the piano part except at the beginning, of course, the hardest part of the song.  Over all, I am mostly pleased with his progress.  His will be the only lesson tomorrow.  On Monday, Bob has rescheduled his lesson to Wednesday because of his work schedule but Katie will have her lesson so I am very happy about that.  I love my Katie!  Actually, I really like all my students from my little ones who are so adorable to my adult students who are very nice.  Beth is really getting into singing because we started a new song and she wanted to know what we will be working on with this one.  I was pleased.  I give songs for specific techniques most of the time but most of the students don't really ask why so it was surprising by a nice surprise, that Beth asked what was the technique to work on.

I am going to try to get my little ones together to go and see the newest Winnie the Pooh movie this week.  I really want to see it and I have already talked to the parents about all of us going.  I always have parents go too when little ones are involved.  It is best.  I have a lovely gift certificate that will allow me to go see both the Harry Potter movies and the Winnie the Pooh movies.  I am very grateful for it as you know, I am trying to pay as much as I can on my property taxes from 2010 so I can start on my property taxes 2011 before the deadlines of both sets of taxes.  I don't allow much fun money for myself as I have quite a bit of fun stuff here at the house and don't need too much.

I am hoping that in the next few weeks Julie will be available to help with the family room.  I have to call on Monday the Salvation Army to pick up the stuff.  I think about it when I can't call and when I can, I don't think about it.  What can I say?  I am me.  I also want to put the china cabinet back together with all the stuff where it belongs.  Right now some of the stuff is in a box and the rest is just sitting in the cabinet not where it belongs.  Yeah, I really wish that had not been touched.  It really didn't need to be moved or anything removed.  At least the stuff on top of the cabinet hasn't been touch.  Okay, it does need to be cleaned, but not removed.  I plan to take this summer to do a good housecleaning through the house.  I have done some but not near enough yet.

Anyways, it has been a very nice afternoon and evening so far.  I am preparing myself for the new Harry Potter movie with reading the books.  Next will be watching the movies.  I have loaned the 6th and 7th part 1 movies out but I will get them back soon, I am sure.  I have seen most of movie 3, all of the 4th and the end part of 5 so I am almost caught up and ready to see the latest and final movie.  I hope Kathy gets to see it tomorrow.  She isn't sure that she and her boys will be able to, but we are all hoping they can.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

Mid July

We are supposed to be getting a heat wave starting tomorrow all week next week.  Yeah, a full week of aching more than usual.  I ache more in extreme heat and extreme cold.  i don't know why, I just do.  The cold makes sense but not the heat.  I have no lessons tomorrow.  It will be another Harry Potter day.  I do have to do some vacuuming since I have put it off this week because I was reading all my Harry Potter books to get ready to see the newest and last movie.  It is sad that this is the end of the movies because they are so good.  Yes, I still like the books best, but the movies are very good too.  Mom really liked them too.  Pretty much anything I do or see I immediately think of whether or not she would like it.  Since we liked so much the same, everything reminds me of her.  It is bittersweet to do things I know she would like without her.  It makes the happy somewhat sad.  I am going to wait until Kathy to come for the weekend before I see the movie.  I know that she will see it before me because she is planning to take the boys so she will see it again with me.  I also plan to see it another time with my Muglia girls.  They saw it last night at the midnight premier.  I was up until about 2 am reading book number 5 last night so I didn't get up to early.  I am going to get up at about 12:30 tomorrow.  I have some things I want to do before I sit down for a lovely afternoon of reading.  I will be starting book 6 this evening and finishing it up tomorrow along with starting with book 7, the last one.  I loaned Bill, Heather B-T's husband the 6th movie as he hasn't seen that one or the 7th movie part 1.  As soon as Charlie sees it and returns it, then I will loan him that one.  It is interesting to see the earlier movies and see how young the characters are.  The have grown so much.  They started as children and now they are all adults.

Calli and Acer had their lessons this afternoon.  Acer now is learning, officially, the Caro Mio Ben song just like Calli.  He also wants to learn her "Feed the birds" song.  It is so fun to teach them their lessons.  Acer is almost finished with the level 1A book for piano and will be starting 1B rather shortly, like in about 2 weeks.  I have to find the level 1B Cd for Acer.  He likes to hear his songs that he is learning on the CD.  He also likes playing along with the CD which is what it is for.  I like watching him play different songs on the piano, it is interesting because every week he comes with new ones he has figured out during the week.  He plays music all the time, the drums, the piano, the new accordion.  It is interesting to see what he will bring to his next lesson.  For the next 2 lessons though, he will be the only one having lessons as Calli will be having a great (I hope) time at camp.  She goes for 2 weeks on Sunday.  She had a good time last year so I am pretty sure she will have a good time this year.  I really do.  I can't wait to hear all about it in 3 weeks.

It has been a short day today as I am tired earlier than usual.  I may head up to bed soon.  I could sleep right now so that would be good.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

visiting day

I went to lunch with Anne today.  She is on vacation from NYC.  We went to Olive Garden and had a very good time.  I really liked visiting with her.  She is going to a Harry Potter party tonight before they go to the movie at midnight.  As much as I love harry Potter, I am NOT going at midnight tonight.  It will be very crowded and people have been lining up all day at the various theatres.  I do hope she and her friends have a wonderful time.  Anne and I had a lovely lunch and chatted away.  I got the latest scoop on her life and told all of mine.  It was a pleasant way to spend some time.  

After lunch I went to the doctor's office for the usual blood test.  Yuck on that one.  There was a new nurse and I was very concerned she wouldn't be able to get me as that is always my concern.  I was like you get one chance and that is it.  It hurts too much.  Well, much to my surprise, she actually GOT me!  Surprise!  I know!  She was excited about it because everyone told her how hard I am to get so now she can go and brag she said.  I thought that was kind of cute, brag to the rest of the nurses that she was able to get me when very few can.  I also had to call about my bill because they did something goofy with it.  It has been taken care of now.

I have no real plans for the weekend.  I am not able to go to the family BBQ as I just don't have the money.  I am actually not that upset by that because I am really working on getting my bills in line and pay the property taxes so to spend that extra money would not be good right now.  Not at this point.  I do plan one trip to Canada this summer and that is when Mom's gravestone in put on her grave.  That I plan to go and see.  Her ashes were buried in Chatham, Ontario right near where she grew up and was born.  The family farm that was sold during the war and her grandfather's farm are somewhere around the cemetery that we put her ashes in.  It is next to a historical church that she attended as a child.  She wanted to be buried in Canada with her grandparents so that is where we put her.  If anything happens to me, that is where I would like my ashes to be buried to.  Right near Mom.  I need to be near her.  Anyways, I am skipping the family BBQ in lue of that.  I think that is super important to save the money to go to.  Other than that, I am not planning any trips or anything like that.  I need to put all my money on the taxes so that it is taken care of by the deadline.  I am more confident now that it will be okay with the way the bills have been paid for this month and the plans for the rest of the month.  I am very happy with how I am doing with the bills.

Well, it has been a great day.  I do hope to see Harry soon, but not this coming week either.  I am hoping that when Kathy comes to town, we will see it together.  She will be here the last weekend in July so only 3 weekends away.  Yeah!  I do hope you have had a good day too!

It's a Wednesday!

I only had 2 lessons today.  I was just about to eat lunch when Carson arrived for his lesson.  He often comes early so I put my lunch aside and went to the living room for his lesson.  I finished my lunch when he was done.  He is going to be absent next week.  That is 2 absences next week.  Boo!  I do hope both boys have a great time even though I will miss them.  Beth will be here next week but needs to reschedule for the following week.  Hey, no problem there!  I like rescheduling.  Beth did very well in her lesson this evening.  I had a new song for Carson all ready but we didn't like the accompiment so we dropped the song.  I was disappointed to discover it is not piano but full orchestration which is very hard for young people.  the book was edited for boys Carson's age.  Yeah, it was a disappointment.  Beth did get a new song.  She finished On My Own and started Wouldn't It Be Loverly.  I was happy with how her lesson went.  She is also learning how to sight read and really seems to grasp it.  I am very glad about that.

the rest of the day was a reading day as I am trying to get ready for the newest Harry Potter Movie.  I am about 1/3 of the way through book number 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  I think one of my friends said that this book is her favorite.  I am not sure what my favorite is.  I love most of them the same.  I don't like book 7 as well as some of the others, but I do like it.  I like the Epilogue the best.  I wish she had included the list of who married who like we saw in the TV special that was aired about the same time book 7 was released.  Mom and I watched it together as she was also a Harry Potter fan.  She loved the movies.  When the movies first came out, I didn't want to see them.  As a matter of fact I refused to see the first 2 movies in the movie theatre then one day I was babysitting the Marchetti boys and we watched the first movie on DVD.  Well, I was hooked, they did such a great job with the movie that I went and purchased the first two movies on DVD.  I made Mom watch them with me.  She loved them.  When the 3rd movie came out Mom and I went to see it.  I found out that the IMAX theatre was showing the 3rd movie so I ordered tickets for my students and about 30 of us went to see it.  On that big screen it was simply marvelous.  I sat next to my student Mark and his mom.  He was fun to watch because you could tell how much he loved it.  Mom loved it on the big screen too.  I have seen each movie in the theatre ever since.  I am hoping to go with Kathy when she comes to town.  I can't wait to see it.

I am not planning to go to the movies this weekend.  I plan to see Winnie the Pooh probably next week sometime.  I am not sure.  At first I was thinking Wednesday, but Bob is having his lesson on that day instead of Monday due to his work schedule.  I will have to wait and see.

I am meeting Anne tomorrow for lunch at Olive Garden.  I used to go there a lot, but I haven't been there  in a really long time now.  I still have some gift cards from Richard that I am going to use it.  I haven't seen Anne since Christmas.  She is in town for about a week and I am very excited to see her.  She is going to a Harry Potter party tomorrow as well as the midnight showing of it.  She will have a good time.

I do hope you are having a good day too.

3 lesson day!

I should have had 5 lessons but Elizabeth's uncle is very ill and is in the hospital so I only had 4 lessons.  I hope to see her next week.  Rachel just turned 6 and is doing very well.  She is so tiny and adorable.  I think she such a great kid.  Laith is also doing very well too.  He was absent last week because he was in Mexico.  He is such a cutie too.  Charlie had his lesson and is doing pretty well.  He needed to redo one exercise this week, there was just too many small mistakes, so he is doing it again for next time, which will be in 2 weeks since he will be absent next week.  He is going up north with his girlfriend's family.

Today is a good weather day.  It is not super humid for a change.  I am really liking that.  It is going to be like this for a few days so woo-hoo for that!  This weekend gets pretty hot again, but I will just hide inside like I do during the heat of the summer.

Breanna had a make up lesson this afternoon since she will be absent on Thursday.  She is leaving for the audition of American Idol this afternoon.  I am excited for her.  She is pretty ready.  I think she will be practicing all the way there.  She has her 3 songs that she needs.  Starting tomorrow at 8 am, they will pass out the wrist bands that have the order of the auditions.  She is planning to camp out in line so she will get one right away or as right away as she can do.  Friday at 8 am the auditions start but I think they have to be there by 6 am or something like that.  I do hope she does well.  I am so excited that she is going.

It has been a busy day, I had my hair washed and dried this afternoon too.  I have such a hard time doing it with my shoulder having issues that it is better to go and have someone else doing it.  It really isn't too much money either, only $4 each time so I am able to do this.  I am done teaching for the night and will have dinner shortly.  I have the words for Carson's new song printed and the CD is copied for the young gentleman.  He is such a nice young man.  He usually comes to his lesson earlier than scheduled but I told him that was okay since it is summer and the only other lesson isn't until later in the evening.

I am getting myself ready for the newest Harry Potter movie.  It seems strange to see the last two movies with Mom as I saw the rest with her, but I am planning to see it.  It looks really good.  I have finished the first 2 books again and am on the 3rd book.  I am about 1/3 the way through.  I really love the Harry Potter books.  My absolute favorite books though are the Anne of Green Gables books.  Harry Potter books are the close 2nd favorite books.  I do like the movies although they are NOT enough like the books like I would personally prefer however, they are very good.

I do hope you are having a good day too.

A Monday

Harry Potter number 5 is on family channel right now.  Boy is this movie sooooo different than the book but it is still good.  I am glad I thought to check the family channel to see if was on.  I love Luna.  She is such a great character and the actress who plays her is very pretty too.  The movie is almost over so I did most of it, but that is okay as I can watch it on DVD if I wish to watch what I have missed.

I am feeling a bit better over the big brother situation.  I pray this ends soon.  It is awful to have someone you love that angry at you.  It really is.

I had my Muglia girls this morning for their lessons, all four of them.  I simply adore them.  The girls are all doing so well.  The youngest taking lessons, Sarah, just started a few months ago.  She is doing very well for having lessons once a month and missing last month.  The older three are really playing some hard pieces right now.  I am very happy with their progress.  Bob as usual, had his lesson and did very well.  We worked on the 3rd page of the Clementi Sonatina he is learning.  I am so pleased with how well the students are doing, all of them even my new students.  I have a new student next Monday at 7:30 pm.  She is not from the new company, she found me on the web.  I am so glad I added myself to different directories for lessons.  Most of those ones I am on the vocal lesson directories, there aren't that many for piano right now.  I check every so often.  I have a website that I my friend, Laura created for me.  It is just a one pager, no need for anything to fancy but it works well.  Anyways, the newest student is an adult, which makes me nervous since I have had 8 adults start and quit since January, but she wants to start at the beginning and doesn't mind classical.  Her ultimate goal is gospel music so I am hopeful she stays for a long time.  She sounded very nice over the phone.  She is going to call next Monday to get the address.

I love this part of the movie when Sirius says to Mr. Malfoy, get away from my Godson.  I don't like the part though where Sirius dies.  Dumbledore has arrived and he and Voldermort are dueling.  This is such a good movie.  I wished I had seen the entire thing.  I may have to put the DVD in tonight after lovely Emily's lesson.  Fudge just arrived and noticed that Voldermort is actually back.  Took him so long to figure it out.  Harry tried to tell him at the end of the last school year but he didn't want to believe it.

I do hope you are having a good day.  So far it has been alright.  It could be better, but I can't change that at this point.

A fresh week

It is Sunday and the start of another week.  I do hope this week is better because, well, to put it bluntly, last week totally sucked, completely sucked.  I am trying to get a hold of my younger brother to see if perhaps he can help with the property taxes.  I think I will have enough by the deadline in a few months, but I am not sure.  I have buckled down to really put every penny I can towards the property taxes.  I should be able to make another payment either this week or next depending on what bills come in since it is the beginning of the 2nd week so that is good.  I am learning to be like my lovely mother, she was very good at money, she was thrifty and knew how to save when she wanted something or needed something.  I am not like that, money slides out of my hands to trivial stuff quickly.  I am learning to be thrifty like Mom.  She was just so good at so much stuff that I need to learn.  I will learn this though, I am determined.

It has been a decent day.  Rick's lesson went really well.  I am very pleased with how well he is doing with his music.  His range is started to expand, which is awesome.  He did really well on "If I Loved You" at the end with those high notes.  He is a bass and the range in that song is very wide.  He has a few other musical theatre songs too plus a few classical pieces.  I am really happy that he is continuing lessons.  He is anxious to be in the summer concert, which I am not sure when that will be yet.  I do hope to have the date soon because August is next month.

Tomorrow I get my Muglia girls for the first time in 2 months.  I am very excited about seeing them.  I have pulled the music I needed for them and it is at the front door waiting to be taken to them.  I am anxious to see what they think of the music I have picked out for them.  The pretty much love so much music that I have yet to actually pull something that they didn't really like.  That is a good type student to have.  Young Sarah, the 6th Muglia and the 4th girl, is just beginning and doing super well.  I was nervous about having a beginner only have 1 lesson a month, but since she practices so well and she has 3 older sisters if she has problems, that it is going really well too.  I just love Sarah.  She is so adorable and such an enthusiastic student.  I also found a book I forgot I had that Carson will do well with.  They are Broadway songs that I think he will really like.  I just have to copy the CD for him before Wednesday.  I am planning to copy it tonight or tomorrow.  Either way I have the music waiting to go.  I have to type out the words for him.  He also likes to know how many words are in the song so I know put that on the bottom of the song for him.  I don't know why he wants to know, but that is okay.  I will put it down.  It is easy because word counts words for you as you go along.

I called Tillie today and let her know that I will not be coming to the family BBQ on Saturday.  I just don't have the money.  I really don't.  It comes down to choices, either I spend the money on gas and the tunnel plus the dish to pass or I pay bills.  I had to choose the bills.  Summer months are just very tight for me so I have to be careful of what I spend my money on.  So far, I am doing very well with it.  I am pleased with my efforts.  I do know that I am planning a trip to Canada this summer for the day but that will be in August when my Momma's gravestone is placed.  I need to see it.  I will meet Andrew there that day so I am saving my gas money for that trip between this month and next.

Anyways, it has been a decent day so far.  I had a really good lesson, I took a nap, and now I am watching some TV.  I picked out some new music for my girls.  I also even put away the book that I didn't need after I pulled it.  I didn't put it on a pile, I put it away.  That is good for me.

I do hope today is good for you too.

A Harry Potter Afternoon

I slept in, mostly dozing for a while before I finally got out of bed.  I didn't really feel like so I didn't get up very early.  I am just feeling worse than usual, mental stress more than physical these last few days.  I do hope I improve in the next few days because I have many lessons to teach this week and I must be on my toes to do it.  The quick gist is that I managed to anger my older brother so much that he is not speaking to me at all.  I don't know if he will ever speak to me again.  I really don't.  It has upset me because I can't even explain why I chose to make the decision I made and I think he thinks I did it to upset him, which I didn't.  I really had no choice.  I truly didn't and if I could explain, maybe he would be less mad, at least I would know that I told him the truth about why I did what I did.    I just feel so alone right now with him so angry at me.  I already feel like an outcast in my family, he was the only one I felt really was on my side and supported me and now this.  I am truly alone in the family or at least that is how I am currently feeling right now.  It may not be rational, but it is what I am feeling these days since the terrible phone call a few days ago.  Maybe it won't be so painful in the next few days.  I can only hope although I don't have much of that either right now.

I am watching the 3rd Harry Potter movie.  In preparation of the newest and last Harry Potter movie, the family channel is doing a Harry Potter movie marathon.  I missed the first two.  I don't know when they played the first two, but I only missed the first few minutes of the movie.  I caught it as they were on the train to school with the Dementors were about to get on the train and go into the car where Harry and crew were.  At least I have a good evening ahead of me.  Lots of Harry Potter!  Something decent for this horrible week.

I don't have any lessons today.  I have a lesson tomorrow so I am thankful for that.  It will be a busy few days with Monday being one of the busiest.  I have my lovely Muglia girls on Monday.  I am very excited about it.  I haven't seen  them in 2 months because their dear mother became so ill right after the baby was born.  She is, thankfully, healing and slowly getting better.  I am so glad about that.  Anyways, I have 17 lovely lessons this week and I am so thankful for that.  At least I still have teaching, I have something.

A Calm Day

I didn't have any lessons today.  I was so tired.  It has been an absolutely horrible week with the exception of lessons.  They all went well, but the rest of the week is horrible.  It all starts and ends with family.  You know, the people who can make you super happy and super mad in less than a few minutes.  I don't expect it to blow over anytime soon, but there isn't anything I can do about it.

I also am not going to the family BBQ next weekend because I just don't have the money for the gas or the tunnel.  I really don't.  Not to mention I don't have the money to bring a dish since it is a potluck.  I just don't have it.  I have to count every bit of money and need it too pay the property tax.  I know that if I buckle down I will have everything I need to pay the taxes by the deadline in 2012.  I have made a start of a payment plan and I am happy about that.  The county doesn't do payment plans, but they accept payments any time no matter the size so I have my own private payment plan that should work if I am diligent with saving money.  I can do this.  I hope to have my 2 students who quit for the summer back in the fall plus 1 or 2 new ones for the fall too.  That will definitely allow me to pay the house bills and the taxes much easier.  I can only hope.

I don't have any lessons tomorrow either.  I don't have any plans for the day right now outside a few house chores to do.  I am going to rest for most of the day probably.  I have had a bad headache for about 4 days now.  I do hope it goes back to the normal headache tomorrow.  I don't like this at all.  It makes me even more tired than I already am especially with the week I have had.  I hope next week is a bit better.  Boy, I really miss my mother tonight.  She is so needed with the bad week I have had.

what can I say?

It hasn't been the best of days.  I hope tomorrow is better.  I did have 3 lessons, Breanna, Calli, and Acer and that was good.  They are all doing rather well.  Breanna has picked her songs to sing for her audition and she will have 1 more lesson before she leaves on Tuesday instead of Thursday.  I am excited for her to go and audition.  I hope she really enjoys the experience.  That is one of my goals for her, to enjoy the experience.  I have other ones too, but that is an important goal.  I really hope she does well and sings wonderfully.  This is one of her dreams so I can only hope she rocks the house.  Calli and Acer are both working very hard on the Italian song "Caro Mio Ben".  We fixed one of their small mistakes today.  They forgot a small section of the song.  No problem, we fixed it.  Calli is doing really well with her other music too and so is Acer.  He learned the entire Indian Drum song.  He is so cute as he plays it.  We are working on proper fingering for him, but he still doesn't like using his thumbs when he plays.  He will, he would just prefer to use other fingers instead.  Hey, he is 6 and plays wonderfully.  He figured out a song off of one of his xylophone toys and did it perfectly, black keys and all.  I was happy about that.  He is such a creative young man that he is so fun to work with.  Calli is a lot of fun too, we have many giggles together.  She works so hard that it is wonderful to see.  She always practices and works so hard at both piano and voice.  Between the 2 of them, it is hard to say who works the hardest and it shows.  The progress Calli has made this past year is amazing.  It really is.  She is already singing Italian Art songs and has a 3 1/2 octave range.  She is 11, yes 11.  It is an amazing range.  I have never worked with an 11 year old who has that great of a range.  The change between her chest and head voice is so smooth too.  Her voice is very mature for her age, it is very strong and pretty.  Music will take both kids very far, that is for sure and then add Breanna to that makes me a very happy teacher.

Other than the lessons, the day is rather dull.  I have 2 days coming up that has no lessons.  I don't know what I will get done or if I will get anything done.  I will see how I feel when I get up tomorrow.  I am not making any set plans.  I will play the next few days by ear and see how they go.  I may go and see Donna, but I don't know.  I will see.

Midweek!

It Wednesday already.  I had 3 lessons and paid a few bills.  I need to pay two more bills right away and then the rest can wait a few days.  I mailed 3 bills this afternoon.  My bank account hates me right now as usual when I am paying bills.  At least this month I did NOT have to borrow anything for the house payment.  I am very happy about that.  Thankfully, I was able to re-arrange the order of the bills.  I am happy with what I did.  I did get a few new students at the end of last month so that will help a lot.  This week I have 1 student who is absent, he is in Mexico with his Mom on vacation.  He is one of my new little guys.

Bob had his lesson today.  His Mother-in-law is still hanging on.  She is coming home from the hospital this week.  She is now a Hospice patient too.  I think Bob said she is about 93 years old.  Wow, I can't even imagine.

Carson had his lesson.  We worked on a couple of newer songs and one new one, Country Gardens.  I love that song.  He is doing pretty well.  I have pulled out a couple of CDs for him, I just need to pull out the books that go with the CDs.  I will be doing that this Friday and Saturday.

Beth had her lesson too.  We started sight reading and she did very well.  I went over reading notes and key signatures with her.  She seems to understand it pretty well.  I was happy with that.  I just wish Rick was a bit more enthused with sight reading, but he isn't so we won't do it.  Beth is doing very well with her music.  We worked a bit on interpretation this week and last.  She seems to be doing very well with it.  Since she wants to be in community theatre, I figured it is very important to work on this too.

The day started off okay, but ended up really bad.  I can't even talk about it right now.  I am just too upset.  I hope it will be better tomorrow.

where did the weekend go?

all of a sudden, it is Tuesday!  What happened to my 3 day weekend?  I vaguely remember having 2 lessons on Sunday but that is about it.  I had grand plans for the weekend reorganizing my music and teaching CDs, plus my room, yeah, nothing really happened.  I was tired on Saturday so I went to the bookstore and got some new to me books.  I ended up going to bed rather early.  I just couldn't stay awake.  I don't remember too much about Sunday, but I think I went to bed rather early that day to or I took a nap, I can't remember which.  Yesterday, I had a bad headache (still have it today, just slightly better than yesterday) and pretty much slept all day and night.  i got up, took some medicine, went back to bed, got up, got some lunch, took some pain medicine, went back to bed, got up again, read for a bit, and went back to bed again.  I pretty much spent all day in bed.  My head was just so bad and I was very, very tired.  So, so much for getting things done.  I will do them another time.  I think this weekend, when I am not teaching, I will do a little bit at a time instead of all of it at the same time.  Maybe then, i will get it done.  I certainly hope so.  I have music in small piles all over the table in the office.  It needs to be cleaned up so that I can put the office in order.

I had 4 lessons today.  3 were regularly scheduled lessons and 1 was a make up from yesterday.  Laith was absent today.  He is in Mexico with his Mom.  I do hope they are having a good time.  I have been to Mexico a couple of times, both times on a cruise ship.  The first time, the stopover was in Cozumel.  That was a nifty city and I enjoyed my time.  The second time, Mom and I went to 3 other places on the west side of Mexico, the names escape me right now.  Mom and I had a really good time.  I really liked going on vacation with Mom because she was so much fun.  Much more fun than going with some of my friends at the time, except Kathy.  Kathy and I always have a good time together.  Mom and I had so much in common with our likes and our dislikes that going on vacation together was always fun.  Mom would stay up a bit later than me planning our adventures for the next day.  Sometimes she was so intent on making sure I saw everything I wanted that she wouldn't tell me about what she wanted to see.  I would have to say, Momma what do you want to see?  I made sure she saw what she wanted.  I think one of the best vacations (it is hard to choose as they all were wonderful) was going to Prince Edward Island.  I loved that place so much.  It is where the author of Anne of Green Gables is from and where Anne of Green Gables takes place.  We had so much fun there.  Of course, by the time we got to Anne's land, I was already broke.  We were at the beautiful house that was a childhood home of Lucy Maud Montgomery.  Her great grand nephew was the curator and he told us story after story about his aunt.  Mom and I loved every minute of it.  The pictures he had and just everything was great.  We spent about 6 hours there.  I saw 2 lovely books I wanted but I was broke so Mom said, they will be your Christmas present.  Hey, I was all for it!  The funny thing was, but the time Christmas came, she had forgotten about them.  I didn't but I didn't want to say anything right then and there.  Fortunately, a few days later she found them in her closet and then I got them.  One was an Anne of Green Gables Christmas Treasury book (it isn't published anymore either) and the other was one of her journals.  Both are really good books.  I also have a Little Women treasury book and a different Anne of Green Gables treasury book.

It has been a pretty good day despite the bigger than usual headache.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

the 3rd

Tomorrow is July the 4th.  I plan to work around the house.  I had 2 lessons today, one earlier in the afternoon, Rick, and then Katie's this evening.  I made the mistake of procrastinating about going to Walmart to pick up my prescription.  They are only open until 6 on Sundays I got there at 6:20.  Oops, I don't know if they will be open tomorrow or not but I will check by calling ahead before I leave so I don't go for no reason.  I already picked up the milk that I needed and the grapes.  I was out of both.  I did pick up a chocolate chip cookie, one of those big ones that was decorated for the 4th.  I don't particularly like it. I thought I would, but I don't.  I will be giving the rest of it to some of the students this week.  I am not going to finish it.  i was disappointed because it was $8.00 but I know I won't buy it again!  That is for sure!

I tried to call Abigail again to wish her a happy birthday.  She turned 12 yesterday.  I got Richard's machine again.  That is all I ever get.  I mean, doesn't he ever answer his phone?  I am at the point where I am just not going to call him at all ever again.  That is how I feel because he hasn't answered the phone in months, nor does he call back.  The last time he did was over the lawsuit from the store which he can't totally blame me as he was in it just like me.  He knew what was going on with the store, I held nothing back from him.  There was no surprises at all.  I know there is a family member who seems to think I blindsided him, well, I didn't.  He got weekly, twice weekly, emails, phone calls, visits, I mean, I was in constant contact with him.  So the last time I actually talked to him in person was in April when he called to completely yell at me and I mean yell.  I was holding my phone away from my ear and I could still hear him and I am 50% deaf in both ears.  However, before that was the same thing, he never answered the phone.  I have been at the point where I don't want to call him because I know he isn't going to answer me.  He also doesn't answer emails very often.  If he does, maybe one word answers.  Nothing like you would expect so I don't know.  I am tired of always doing the calling and getting the answering machine.  It really bothers me today and it has for a few months now.  At least last year I got to speak to Abigail personally on her birthday.  Come to think of it, I left 8 messages for William at his birthday and didn't get to speak to him at all.  I just don't know what to do with my older brother.

Rick start some sight-singing today, but i don't  think he is too thrilled with it.  We talked a bit about key signatures and how to figure them out and he was like, why?  what difference does it make?  We only ended singing one of the exercises, not 4 like I had planned.  I don't know if I will do this again with him, I will decide that next week.  I am going to introduce sight-singing to Beth.  I think she will be interested because it will help her with auditioning for musicals like she likes to do.  She didn't get in the chorus of Music Man.  I was disappointed too.  She worked so hard for that audition but they had her try out with a part she didn't know she was trying out for.  The director said for her to try out for the next one and keep working so that is awesome.  She is working very hard on improving her voice.  She practices a lot so that the next play, she will get in.  Katie is excited because she has her first German song.  German is not a language I am very comfortable teaching, but fortunately, she is pretty fluent so between the two of us, she will do well.  I am excited for her because she gets so happy with these type things.  She will be emailing me with her schedule for the next two weeks to plan her next lesson.

I am watching a program about Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.  It is very interesting.  I think I will plan on watching it from now on.

I am hoping tomorrow to finish the putting away of music and the CDs but I will be happy with putting in a dent in the job.  I may wake up and go and see Donna tomorrow.  I don't know.  I will see what tomorrow brings.
I have a bit of a bad headache tonight.  I don't know why but it is here again.  There are fireworks going on in the neighborhood right now.  It scared me the first time as I didn't realize it was fireworks time again.  We usually hear them starting on July 1 to about July 5.  Usually around midnight they stop lighting them off.

I hope you are having a good weekend.  It has been a pretty good day with 2 lessons for the day and reading some new-to-me books.

It's a Hot One Today!

It is probably not as hot as some people, but for me it is hot and very humid.  The sky is getting blacker now though as we are expecting a thunderstorm.  It has now started to rain and it is very windy.  The rain is coming down sideways right now.  I was going to go out, but I changed my mind when I saw the sky a while ago.  It is not necessarily super necessary to go right now.  I have enough milk for tomorrow morning's cereal plus I have a loaf of bread with lunch meat too so I am really all set.  I just wanted to see what special treats they had made for July the 4th.  I didn't want anything big, just something small like a small piece of cake.  They sell them by the piece at the grocery store.  I know I don't really need it, but I wanted it.  I am hoping by tomorrow I won't want it since I didn't go and get it.  You see, in order to get cookies, cake, and stuff like that I have to go out and get it because I don't keep this type stuff at home.  I also have run out of fruit so I need to get some more for tomorrow and this week.  I am really liking eating fruit everyday.  I was nervous of it because of my tummy issues but with the reglan that helps digest my food, I can handle fruit again!  I am very excited about that.  I haven't been able to eat fruit since the early 90s.

I didn't get too much done today as I was very tired and I was reading a bit too.  I did go to the used bookstore like I planned and then I came back to take a bit of a nap, which lasted 2 hours.  Then I got some dinner, just a small one as I wasn't very hungry, only a little bit hungry.  Tomorrow I have 2 lessons so that will be fun.  I will be sorting the music tonight and tomorrow to put away.  I will also be putting my new breadbox in its place tonight in the kitchen.  I do need to go and get my hair done tomorrow.  They are open on Sunday this month so that is good.  After the lessons I will go.  I should have done it yesterday but I don't remember why I didn't get it done.  I know why I didn't get it done today as I took a nap instead.  I was just so tired.  I am so tired on days I don't teach or I teach only 1 lesson.  It is more exhausting to look at a day without a lot of plans than one that has 4 or 3 lessons.

The sky is lightening up again.  The rain is over for now and the sun is trying to come back out.  I don't know if we will get anymore rain or not but I am safe inside if we do.  I have started my list of what is going to donate next week so I am slowly getting done what needs to get done.  I just remembered to add something else to the donate list.  I am going to call them on Tuesday to schedule the pickup, hopefully on Friday since I don't have any lessons on that day.  My Friday lessons will be on Thursday because they are going out of town for a vacation.  I do hope they have fun.

Today is my niece, Abigail's 12th birthday!  She was born in the morning and I saw her in the evening the day she was born.  She was so small!  I guess she was regular size but to me she looked so small.  She was such a cutie!  She still is.  Abigail likes to swim and do crafts.  Next year, she will be in 7th grade already.  That is so hard to believe as time as gone so fast.  I haven't been able to talk to her for a while.  I left messages yesterday on both her mom's and dad's phone.  I also emailed Richard a message for her too.  I hope she gets them all.  I really wanted to talk to her but I do know how hard it is to get a hold of everyone in that family.  I don't know Abigail's phone number either.  Both she and William have phones but I don't have their numbers.  Maybe Richard will give them to me so I can call them directly.  Who knows?  I don't.

I do hope you are having a good day.  It has been a bit of a boring day to me but tomorrow will be better.

expect the unexpected

Acer and Calli had their lessons today.  Acer has informed me that he is finished with "Candle on the Water" and was ready to start his Italian song like Calli.  Calli just started Italian classical music two weeks ago with "Caro Mio Ben".  She is doing very well with it.  So I smiled and pulled out the Italian book and Acer sang "Caro Mio Ben" and he did a really good job with it.  I long ago realized that Acer would be full of surprises and just go with the flow.  When you have a student like him, regular standard lessons don't always work.  He is an on the go guy with perfect pitch.  Yes, I said perfect pitch.  The young man can tell you any note you play and he is always, always right.  He can take any pitch and tell you what note it is.  He will be right too.  I have witnessed it.  It is amazing.  Calli does very well too, but she being a bit older, likes the structure of regular lessons.  Today we finished Brailling out the "Feed the Birds" Song.  She is 2/3 finished learning the "Caro Mio Ben" song.  I do hope Acer doesn't want to sing "Caro" for the summer concert as Rick has already called it.  I may have to start a different Italian song with Acer.  I am going to be pulling out the Easy solos for the beginning singer books for him.  He learned a new hand position today in piano.  I am very pleased with how they are doing.  Most of my students try really hard to do their best so I am happy with all of them.  I can't wait for the 11th when I see the Muglia girls for the first time in about 2 months.  I will also be able to finally meet Thomas!  He is smiling now!  I will be going to see Harry Potter with the girls in a few weeks.  I am not sure when yet, but we will work it out.  The girls and I are all Harry Potter fans!  The girls have practically memorized every line in all the movies so far.  It is quite cute to see.  I wonder if they will ever make a Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit Game.  I had heard years ago that they were going to but I don't know if they did.

I am going to go to bed after the season finale of "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" show.  It is so good.  I love the glimpse of the Gypsy lifestyle you get with it.  I was surprised at how strictly the girls are raised, that was surprising.  It was also surprising how they don't emphasize education for the girls.  The show takes place in Great Britain, but I think they are going to create one for the USA.  That would be interesting too and to compare to it.

I was so tired today that I didn't go and get my hair done like I usually do.  My shoulder has been doing pretty well lately so I thought I would try to do it myself and see how it works.  I will see how it is going tomorrow.  I have no lessons tomorrow so I have a lot of things I want to get done.

I do hope it is a good day for you and have a good day tomorrow!