Wednesday 8-31

I can't believe it is the end of August already.  I am glad that it is going to be fall though as I will have a few more students than I do now.  I have a new one starting next week.  I also received another phone call this afternoon about a new student too.  I hope that student's mom calls back soon.  I also have a new student with the Takelessons, unfortunately, it is at the very same time with my other new student.  Yup, I called when they had it marked as a possible new student so they are fixing this issue.  I called again this evening that is how I found out they are taking care of it.  Thank goodness for that.  I do hope these students last longer than the ones I had last winter.  As a matter of fact, I do not have ONE student from that time at all.  Many were adults that quit, a couple were temporary students, and the other s quit for the summer so I have no idea if they are coming back or not.  I shall find out as they call the online company.  I do hope that Amanda comes back for the school year.  She is a lovely girl who is starting 8th grade.  She was a good student to have.  I am friends with her on facebook.  I don't know if Kayla will come back or not.  So far all of my summer students are planning to stay so that is awesome.  I am pleased with that.

I went to get my hair done but they were closed.  I don't know why because it was the middle of the week and the middle of the day.  I will try again tomorrow and if I can't get it done there I will go to another place near by.  I also need to take a package to the UPS store for my Uncle's girlfriend.  She needs to exchange one of the packages she ordered.  They were a pair of shoes that were a bit too bag.

It has been a decent day except for my dear friend, Julie, has been very ill.  She is home from the hospital now, but it was a scary moment for the family.  She had a bad reaction from her migraine medicine.  It was apparently very close call.  I am so glad that she is doing better.  That is really a good thing but it will take a bit for her to totally recover.  I had no idea except for I had called Lily to ask her when she and her Mom were coming over to help with the family room.  I got a call from Ross this morning and he gave me the scoop.  Yeah, obviously, they did not come over.  Julie needs to totally recover from this issue, then we will deal with the family room.

Tomorrow I have Breanna's and Logan's lessons.  Logan has had one lesson so far.  He is a piano player.  I wonder if Breanna is going to join the band that wanted her too.  I will have to ask tomorrow.

Friday is just the Bowman-Tomlinson kids' lessons right now.  Elizabeth may be switching to Friday soon.  I just don't know.  She is very sporadic for her lessons and I don't particularly like that.  I prefer regularly scheduled lessons.

I don't have any plans for the holiday on Monday except for any students who want their lessons.  I have to purchase Emily her books on Friday.  I will probably grocery shop on Saturday.  I have to get Jessie's wedding gift and card then too.  I am excited about her wedding.  I bet she will be a gorgeous bride.  I just can't wait for her wedding.  I will have Rick's lesson at about 1:15 pm so I will be on time for the wedding.

I have had a bad headache most of the day.  It isn't as bad as it was earlier today, but it is still extra sore.  I don't particularly know why.  I have had many more bad headaches this summer than usual.  I thought last week that I would have to go to the hospital for it, but it went down a bit so I was glad.

Beth had her lesson today.  She is doing so well.  She knows what play the theatre she belongs to is doing this winter.  They are doing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  I have some of the music for that musical.  I don't know where it is right off hand, but I do have about 3 of the pieces, 2 for women and 1 for men.  I love the music from that musical.  i think she will like it a lot too.

It hasn't been too bad a day despite the headache.  I was able to sleep some of it off this afternoon, but I still have a bit of a bad one right now.  I do hope yours was a good day too.

Tuesday 8-30

Today is Jessie's Birthday.  i think she is 26.  She is getting married on Sunday!  I am so excited about that.  I really am.  I am planning to attend the wedding and reception.  It should be a good time.  I am just so looking forward to it.  I can sleep in on Monday so that is great!

I missed Designed Star last night.  I totally forgot all about it.  Fortunately, I can watch it on my computer without commercials!  That is rather neat so I plan to do that as soon as I am done with this post.

It has been a busy day.  My Uncle's girlfriend, Michelle came over with her son, Jayson.  She had ordered some items that had arrived.  One more came after they left but they will pick it up next week or the week after.  We went to Red Lobster for lunch and boy was it yummy.  I got a nice salad with some grilled shrimp on it and a bread bowl of Clam Chowder Soup, which is my all time favorite soup.  We had a really good visit.  Jayson is 4 and will be starting Junior Kindergarten next week.  It is hard to believe he will be in school already.  It seems like yesterday he was only 1.  Wow, boy time flies especially with the children.

I had 2 lessons tonight.  Charlie had his plus a make up lesson for last week and McKenzie had her regularly scheduled lesson.  Both are doing so well.  Tomorrow I am meeting with a potential new student. She is a friend of another student so that is very cool.  The daughter is 11 which is a perfect age to start singing.  I also have Beth's lesson tomorrow night.  She is also doing very well.

Not much is going on tonight.  I need to mark McKenzie's lessons and then I will watch Design Star on my computer.  It shall be a good and quiet night.

I do hope you are having a good night too.

I love Mondays!

Mondays are the best day of the week because I have the most students.  I have 6 lessons most Mondays.  Once a month I have 10 students on a Monday, yes those ones are tiring, but still rather lovely!  I am all filled on Mondays, I cannot have any more students on Mondays.  However, i have several openings on the rest of the weeks.  I have resolved the Rachel/Aaiyana scheduled at the same time problem.  What happened was that Rachel switched from Tuesdays to Mondays but Takelessons accidentally put her on Tuesdays at the proper time and then scheduled me with a new student on Mondays at the same time as Rachel's lesson.  I had to call the new student and have them switch.  Fortunately, her mother was very understanding and took care of it.  I now have it correctly in my schedule.  Tuesdays are also full.  I have  no spots left on Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday are pretty open with either 1 or 2 lessons each.  I am almost to the point of what I can handle, which also co-insides with how much I can earn with the disability.  I am not going to fool myself into thinking that I can handle more that a few more.  I think I can handle about 4 more and then that will be it.  I just looked at the old schedule and the total for new students is 5.  I can handle 5 more and that is it.  I am hopeful for a few more, if I get 5 that would be great, if I don't that is okay too.

I am so glad it is almost September. I really am.  This summer has been pretty okay as far as summers go.  It has been hard summer in some ways as it is the first I am alone.  The fall will be easier and harder all at the same time.  The one year anniversary is coming up in October.  I have no idea how I will feel about it.  I plan to not be alone on that day.  It will be on a Tuesday and I will have lessons that day so that is a good thing.

Tomorrow only has 2 lessons because Rachel and Laith had their lessons today because of schedule needs.  Elizabeth will be switching to Fridays come school time.  I am not what exactly she is doing, but that is okay.  Wednesday has just Beth's lesson but Julie and Lily are coming to work on the Family Room.  I am a bit nervous because I have no idea what is down there right now.  I do know there are boxes of books that just need to go back on shelves.  I do have some Christmas Figurines that can either be given as gifts or donated.  They were Mom's and I just don't have the room for them.  I also have some nice Thomas Kincaid Christmas Houses that I don't have room for.  I don't know what to do with them either.  I love them because they are beautiful, but I haven't used them in about 10 years or so.  I no longer have a bar that they would sit on for Christmas so they will probably be either given away or donated.  I have a few boxes of Christmas Crafts that my students will be doing this year.  We are going to have a craft day in either October or November.  I also have some sewing crafts that I want to keep because I will do them for gifts for the family and friends.  I don't know how much we will get done, but we will get a good chunk done, I think.  It will be one more step forward to customizing the house the way I want and making it mine.  Eventually, I will re-paint the house and re-do the carpets, but that is months and months away.  I need to take care of the taxes first.  With the new students that I have been getting this month and the new one next month, I will be close, but I should be able to pay the 2010 property taxes and begin on the 2011.  I know it will take a couple of years to catch up, but I am sure that I can do that.  Somehow I will.  I am thankful that I was able to pay $275 in July, but I couldn't this month so I need to make that up.  I have 6 months left.  With the new students that I have at the end of this month, it will make September much easier.

It has been a beautiful busy day.

I do hope you have had a good day too.

Summer Concert Day

We had the Summer Concert  with the BBQ today.  It was wonderful!  Everyone did pretty well, some better than others, but overall I am pleased with how they did.  Afterwards we went into the social hall for some BBQ hamburger and veggie burgers.  There were not that many hamburgers left or veggie burgers.  It was a nice time for everyone.  My little ones got to meet my older ones.  Katie loves little ones so I made sure she went and met the newest little ones.  Calli and Natalie did the announcing.  They did a good job of it.  Calli likes announcing and I think Natalie does too.  In the past Natalie's sisters, Hannah and Lydia, have announced too.  I am rather tired now from the long day.  I woke up at 10:30 to finish printing the program.  We had just enough.  I will have to make more for next time.  I am glad we had enough though.  I only printed 40 of them so I wasn't sure.  Often we have many left over but the little ones have lots of grandparents and great grandparents to come to the concert as well as some aunts and uncles so that is nice.  We like big audiences for concerts.  The next one will be Christmas.  I will be pulling some of the music after Labor Day.  Much of it is in the Living Room or a box in the office so it is handy.  We will also be looking at Competition music starting after Labor Day so we will be rather busy with music in the house.  I don't mind, it gives me something to look forward too.  I just love my students.  I have a new one starting after Labor Day but the new company made a mistake of the day for another one of my students so that is going to take some fixing.  I was not too happy about that but i didn't notice until they scheduled the new student.  I also am not taking any new students on Monday.  Mondays are full now.  However, I have time the rest of the week for lessons.

It has been a nice weekend.  Yesterday, Heather B-T and family went with me to Charlie's house for a pig roast.  It was so much fun.  We had a blast.  The only thing I shouldn't have done was go done all 67 of the cement stairs to watch the kids swim.  My legs are STILL sore from that.  What was I thinking?  Oh yea, I wasn't!  I won't do that again.  It was crazy and I honestly thought at one point I wasn't going to get up the stairs.  Thank goodness I did.  Never again.  I will actually think before I do something like that again.  I just wasn't thinking.  I was thinking I wanted to watch the kids swim, that is what I was thinking.  Next time, I just won't do that.  I will bring a book to read while the kids are down at the lake. I will stay up on the upper deck at the picnic table.  Over all though, it was a great time.  We were there for several hours.  Acer had a nap in the afternoon so he would be ready for it.  Calli, before the party, and I went grocery shopping for the BBQ today.  She is a great assistant, she really is.  She did try to drive the scooter at Walmart though.  That was pretty funny.  She was fascinated by the scooter.  She did really well will helping in picking the groceries up.  I also had to buy a new camping chair.  I now have one again.  That works for me.  Overall, it was a grand weekend.  I am so tired though from both days that I think I will be in bed again early like last night.  That would get me on a good start for the week.

I do hope this finds you doing well and having a good weekend too!

Reading old Posts

It is very strange to be reading things I wrote starting from May 2009 to December 2009.  The things I was worried about.  Mom was the biggest worry and so was pain.  My left shoulder and arm were so bad at that point, now they hurt every now again, but I still can't lift my arm up over my head very well.  I am so used to it that it doesn't matter.  It was weird because at one point in July of 2009 I commented that I thought I may have a year left with Mom living at home before I may have had to place her.  Strange to think that in reality I had 1 year and 3 months left of her being here at all.  I also think we did see a lot of movies that summer and out to eat a lot.  I at least can smile over that.  I also wrote about family wanting us to move to Canada, wow, has that not changed at all?  I am glad that I did decide not to move as I do really like where I live.  I have a nice house with a good size yard.  I have everything I need in the house including some guest rooms now.  My living room is perfect for teaching and the family room will be perfect for sewing/crafts with a TV/library on the other side.  I love the neighborhood and the town I live in.  I think it is very pretty and everything is very convenient for me.  My church is nearby and friends are near too.  It was not obvious to me at that time how some of the issues Mom and I had with her health back then would totally haunt her.  I was reading how one day at Tim Horton's, Mom choked trying to eat her donut.  It is amazing because swallowing was the issue we had when she passed away.  I did smile at some of the things Mom and I would do.  We would go for a walk (well, I would be on my scooter) almost every day that summer and fall.  She loved being out doors, she was definitely an outdoors girl.  When I was small, she would try to encourage me to play outside more but I just liked being inside better.  In order to get me out of the house to play, she would take my books or dolls or barbies and put them outside.  She would then tell me they couldn't come in until she said so.  I still am an indoors girl to this day.  I do try to go outside for a bit everyday because I know fresh air is important, but given a choice, I would choose the inside.

I did talk about my pain much more in 2009 than I do now.  I guess I am more used to it or I have better medicine or the combination of both.  It is hard to say what is really the change.  Maybe I just know it is there all the time that I don't need to say it.  I don't know and it doesn't matter why.  I am glad that some days I can read stuff about me and Mom and it not be painful or as painful.  I know that I am going to miss her forever, but someday it will be a bit more bearable.  There are days that it is a bit more bearable than it used to be but overall, I am getting through this day by day and with bad days, moment by moment.  I talk to her a lot at night.  When I write in my private journal, I write it to her.  It makes me feel closer to her.  Mom and I were good friends as well as mother and daughter.  I am glad of that.  So many I know just aren't that lucky with a Mom like I had.  I think it our friendship that I miss the most.  We loved going to movies together, out to dinners together, playing games, or just hanging out together. I am thankful that I have good friends and family to help me muddle through this thing called mourning. Thank you to all my friends and family members.

Getting Ready for the Concert

I just finished the concert order and emailed a copy over to Calli as she is also planning to be an announcer.  This way she can Braille out the order for herself so she will feel more confident in announcing.  She does a very good job.  She is simply a wonderful young lady.  Calli is also coming with me to go grocery shopping for the concert as there is a BBQ afterwards.  I am really looking forward to that.  Calli will be very helpful to me.  She is a very helpful young lady.  We do have to go to 2 different places tomorrow.  I am picking her up at about 1:30 for shopping.  The only thing left for the concert is the program cover.  I am going to do that tomorrow as I am getting tired right now.

It has been a good day.  Calli, Acer, and Breanna all had their lessons today.  I spoke to a young girl about voice lessons but I do think that she lives very far away so I don't expect to her back from her again.  I also spoke to a mom who is looking for musicians for her son's band.  I did talk to Breanna about it because she is the one I thought about.  I did consider mentioning this to Logan, but he is still working on learning to read music so he may not be ready.  I will think about mentioning this to Logan when I see him on Thursday.

Tomorrow is also the party at Charlie's house.  He won't be in the concert as there are family members who come to the party and plan to stay until Sunday evening so he won't be available.  Heather B-T and her family are planning to go to the party too.  I have to mapquest his address so I know where I am going.  I am planning to go for a little bit of time not a long time.  I am excited about going to the party.  I haven't been to a party in a while.  I have to look for my chair in the garage.  I sure hope it is there.  I don't want to have to buy another camping chair.

Calli helped me with the laundry tonight.  I needed both outer and under clothing.  I have them now done thanks to my lovely helper.  She is such a good helper.  Apparently, she does a lot of laundry at home.  Acer and Calli are learning to cook too.  That will be good for them when they are older.  I do know how to cook a lot of things, but unless I have company, I don't really like cooking.  That is my biggest problem, the fact that I don't particularly like cooking.  I do need to take my indoor grill to the appliance repair store so that I can get a cross bar for it.  Until I have it, I can't use my grill and that stinks.

This week is going to be a busy week.  Julie and Lily will be over to help with the family room on Wednesday.  Monday is filled with lessons and so is Tuesday.  Thursday will have 2 lessons, one early and one in the evening.  Friday will be the usual Calli and Acer.

I am feeling better today than I was yesterday.  i didn't really sleep that well last night, not that that is unusual or anything, but with me not feeling well, I really needed to sleep better.  Tonight I will be setting my alarm so that I get everything done that I need to in a timely manner.  I have some prescriptions that need to be picked up too and I need to make a deposit at the bank.  I will do that before I pick up Calli simply because the bank is close to my house and the store we are heading for is close to her house although she does only live 8 minutes away from me.  The other thing I need to do for the concert is to make a CD for the concert.  I won't have the music for Aggie's songs, but that is okay.  Next time I will try to remember to copy her CD before the concert so I can make 1 CD for the concert.

I hope you are having a good night and that tomorrow will be nice too.  I am looking forward to tomorrow evening's party at Charlie's house.  I have been wanting to attend for a couple of years but because of other commitments and issues I just couldn't attend so this will be my first pig roast ever.

another sleepy day

I wasn't feeling too well today when I woke up.  I was so tired.  I ended up going back to bed at about 4 pm and sleeping until 8 pm.  I did get a call while I was sleeping but I didn't really hear it.  My Elizabeth will be in the concert on Sunday.  I am very glad about that.  I left a message with her mom on her cell phone.  Cell phones were such a great invention.  Her mom is very hard to get a hold off so having her cell number is very helpful.

Project Runway is on tonight.  I never thought I would would like the show, but I do.  It is very interesting.  I also like Design Star.  I watched it on Monday.  The one thing about designers is that they don't always listen to the client.  One of the sons of the client wanted bunk bed and the designer assigned to the room did not put one in.  She claimed at the evaluation session that it would make the room dated.  Well, the son is a little guy so for the next 12 to 15 years, the bunk beds would work for him.  I would be angry at the designer for something like that.  My cousin is very good at designing and organizing.  She once told me that she would make our living room super formal with dark, rich colors.  I had to smile because my mom is not into super formal living rooms.  She liked bright, sunny rooms.  However, my cousin has been very helpful in helping me to organize my room and the spare room in the past.  I have no plans in the future right now to repaint the house although someday I will have to, I am just not doing it right now.  I like the house the way it is so that works for me.

One of the designers wants to go home.  She is going home.  Wow, she worked so hard to get to this part in the show and now she is quitting.  I think some of the challenges have been rather crazy and not in the real world so that may be some of the issues she has with this.  It is nice to watch but some of them I would not want to make.  The woman who is going home is Cecilia and she is an excellent Tailor and designer.  She makes very classic, elegant clothes.  The type that mom and I liked.

I will read for a bit after this show and then I will go back to bed.  Basically it has been a sleeping, not feeling so great day.  I hope tomorrow will be better.  I think it will since I have caught up on my sleep today.

A Beautiful Day

It has been a truly good day.  First of all, I met up with my friend, Kathleen.  She came and picked me up to go to Subway.  I was very excited to see her.  She brought her 1 year old, Gianna Grace.  What a cutie!  I mean she is just so precious it is unbelievable.  We had a good lunch and then we ran through Starbucks before going back to my house for a bit of a visit.  Gigi (as we call her) was playing a game with me.  I have some craft paints on a stand in the dining room (lack of a better place at this point).  She would take one off the stand and hand it to me.  She smiled as she did it.  She is such a happy baby and Kathleen is a happy Mom.  Kathleen has 4 children: Attea - 20 (she is married), Daniel - almost 16, Luke - 3, and Gigi - 1.  Yes, Gigi and Luke were beautiful surprises!  We had such a good time visiting.  I hadn't seen her since graduating High School in 1986.  She has just moved back from Vero Beach, Florida.  I am so glad to see her.  I am hoping that I will be able to see her again soon.  I know I will see her at the class reunion we are having in October.  I believe the date is October 15.  On the Friday of that weekend we are planning to attend the Homecoming Parade.  Some of the Alumni may be in the parade, however, I will not be because there is no way I could walk that far and I don't think my scooter would be fast enough.  After that Kathy, Kathleen, Karlyn, and I will go out to eat.  We may attend the game but I am not sure.  Saturday evening is the 25th reunion, we all are attending that one, and then Sunday there is a get together at the Yates Cider Mill.  I am not sure about that because I teach on Sunday.  I also have to be careful of how tired I am from the reunion itself so for me, the Yates Cider Mill is up in the air.  That is what it is like with Fibro, you have to play many things by ear and wait and see how you feel.  From what my friend, Laura wrote today, it is 52 days until the reunion.

After Kathleen and Gigi left, I pulled out the book I was reading and finished it.  I recently have found some of my books in 2 boxes (I had forgotten that they were even there!).  I pulled out an old Danielle Steele book, Crossing.  This book has definitely see better days.  I bought it in high school, well, Mom bought it for me in high school, and I loaned it to a friend and they returned it with the cover ripped off along with many pages that were no longer fully attached.  I obviously never loaned that particular person a book again.  I treat my books very carefully.  The rest of the book fell apart today too so it will be heading for the trash, much to my disgust.  After I finished that one, I started another one I was glad to find.  I have the sequel to the book and really wanted this one.  I thought it had been donated when I donated 17 boxes of books 3 years ago so imagine my happy surprise when I found it in the box.  I have found several books that I am so excited to find.  I also did find some that I can take to the used book store and turn in so I can get more books at a lower price.  I found a couple of books that are duplicates and I plan to turn those in too.  That will happen in a few weeks not anytime soon.

Sunday is the Summer Concert.  I will shop for it on Saturday.  I don't want to shop too early and have the food not be at its best.  I am looking forward to the concert.  We haven't had one in many years so I am looking forward to it.  Many of the students will be in it.

I have no lessons now tomorrow because Breanna needs to change to Friday this week.  I don't mind at all.  Friday will work very well for us.  She is coming after Acer and Calli's lessons.  I just have a really good group of students right now.  They are excited to learn, they practice, and they are fun to teach.  I hope to get a few more in the fall, I actually do expect to get a couple for the fall.  I usually do, so from past experiences I do expect a couple.  It would be nice to get 4 but 2 are good too.  I am not sure if my Amanda will be coming back, I am hoping, but I am not sure.  I will be messaging her Mother shortly.  I don't know about Kayla.  I haven't heard from her all summer.  I know that Amanda is interested, I just don't know if she is for sure coming back.  I am hoping she does though, she is such a good student.  She really is.

I am going to watch Dance Moms and then head for bed.  I can sleep in tomorrow.  I do hope that because I got up early and I didn't sleep very well last night, that I will be able to sleep better tonight and earlier than usual.  Lately, I have had the problem of not being able to sleep until 4 or 5 in the morning.  Often that means I am not up until about 1:30 in the afternoon.  I want to be up by noon.  I can get a bit more housework done and will be able to spread it out over the week better.  That is my goal for fall.

I hope your day was a wonderful as mine.  Beth had a great lesson and I had a wonderful visit with my friend, Kathleen!

whew! Another busy Monday!

I had 5 lessons today.  Not as many as last Monday, but still quite a few.  I had two new little ones start today.  I hadn't bought all the books they need because I was not sure if they would continue or not.  It is hard at times when they are small and the  mom isn't sure they want to play.  Both did very well with their first lessons.  Joiene is 5 and Benjy is 6 and they are so cute!  Camille, Bob, and Emily all had their lessons too.  I am tired now as I haven't had 4 lessons in a row in so long!  It is a nice tired feeling though, not a bad tired feeling.  I am thankful that I can teach that many lessons in a row and starting next week I will have 5 lessons in a row on Mondays because Rachel will be switching to Mondays.

My lovely neighbors, the Hubels, are edging my lawn.  Talk about being awfully neighborly!  Addison hasn't done it at all, he started to do one part and because it hadn't been edged in years, he got frustrated and stopped.  I didn't really care although I prefer an edged look.  since I can't do it myself, I am not going to make Addison do it although now that it is done, he can continue with it.  That would be good.  I am going to bake a lot of cookies for the Hubel family for doing this for me.  They are wonderful neighbors.  Their daughter, Carolyn was the young lady who came and stayed with Mom when I would go shopping for groceries and stuff like that.  She was very good with mom.  Her mom was one of the first people I called when I found out Momma couldn't swallow.  They are a really nice family.  There are 5 kids and they are all homeschooled except for Melissa who is in her 2nd year of college.  She seems to be enjoying it there.

Overall, it has been a nice day.  Everyone did very well at lessons and I like my new students a lot (not that I doubted that one!)  I plan to finish reading my book, watch design star and sometime soon make me some dinner.  I think I will have a pasta meal.  They are awfully yummy and I have a few left in the freezer.  I didn't pull any chicken out to eat today so that sounds yummy.  I have an exciting week ahead of me.  Tomorrow is a few lessons but I will need the time to straighten up the dining room table, vacuum the floors, and generally clean up the kitchen, Wednesday my lovely friend, Kathleen and her 2 little ones are coming for lunch.  I will pick up a few things tomorrow for it.  It should be an lovely time. I am so excited to see her.  The weekend will bring a party at Charlie's and then the summer concert with the BBQ after so all in all a great week for me!

I do hope your day is great too!

A Rather Quiet Day

It is so quiet in my house these days.  I like it though.  I don't have to have noise around me at all times like I did when i was younger.  I will watch TV in a bit for a while before heading for bed.  It has been storming again around here this afternoon.  I went out after Rick's lessons for ink for the scanner and it was sunny.  I came out of the store and it was pouring with dark stormy clouds and everything.  by the time I got home, it was sunny again.  Yeah, weird weather in Michigan today.  My grass is green though unlike all of July when it was brown.  Addison will cut it again soon, I am not worried nor do I really care as long as it is done soon before it gets too long.

Next Sunday is the Summer Concert.  We haven't done one in so long.  I am excited about it though because we haven't done it in a while.  We are having a BBQ after.  That should be super fun.  I have to pick up the hamburgers, plates, cutlery, napkins, and cups for Sunday.  I am so looking forward to this.  It really makes summer fun.  All the students have been practicing for it.  I also need to start the list of who is bringing what since it is a potluck one.  I bring the main dish, everyone else brings something else.  I will go to the GFS to get the stuff.  You can get things in bulk there that you can't anywhere else.  I don't belong to Sam's Club or to Costco so GFS is the next best thing.  Either way, it shall be a great day.  Tillie is coming for it.  She used to come with Wilbert to a lot of my concerts.  She enjoys the music and the kids.  I am glad about that.  I also need to let her know her packages are here.  I haven't opened my new packages either which is bad.  I will take care of that this week when I clean the kitchen and the dining room.  I have to clean off the table because I will have company on Wednesday.  My friend, Kathleen is coming for lunch with her lovely 2 children.  It will be so much fun.  I haven't seen her in years, and I mean years, like about 25 of them.  Yes, I haven't physically seen her since 1986 when we graduated from high school together.  I am so excited to see her though.  She and I talked online every so often.  i will also see her at the 25th class reunion.  That will be fun.  I never thought I would go to one because I didn't really have a good time in high school.  I was teased a lot because of my weight and they knew they could get to me.  Once I started having some backbone, it wasn't as bad, but I still disliked high school a lot.  On graduation day all these girls were crying because they were going to miss everyone, me, I was thrilled that I wouldn't have to see them again.  Now that I am older, there are people I would like to see so I am going.  Kathy is going too.  Karlyn just messaged me and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up with her on Friday instead of going to the party (not the actually reunion, that is on Saturday) I said sure as I wasn't going to the game or the party afterward.  That will be fun, I think.  I am not sure when Kathy will be in town for the reunion, but I know she will be there on Saturday at the actual reunion.  The before and after stuff, I am not sure.  We shall see how I feel.  I anticipate it going very long on Saturday and not getting home too early so I will probably be sleeping in on Sunday a bit plus I do have a lesson in the afternoon.

Jessie is getting married in 2 weeks.  I am so excited about that.  She was my student when she was young and now she is getting married.  I haven't gotten her their gift yet.  I will do that closer to the wedding.  I am not sure what I am getting them yet but I will pick something they want.  That is the nice thing about registries.  You know what they want and if you want to get them something else, that is okay too.  Hers is the shower I missed a few weeks ago.  Yup, that was smart of me.  I wrote it on the wrong weekend!  I won't miss the wedding though, that is for sure!  Mike is coming with me.  I haven't seen him in a long time too.  As a matter of fact, the last time I saw him was at Mom's viewing.  Wow, that is just over 10 months ago.  I knew as soon as I got the invitation that he would love to go because he worked with her too.  We will have a great time, I think.

Other than prep work for the concert and lessons, I don't have too much planned except for the visit from Kathleen.  It should be a good week.  I have 2 new little ones starting tomorrow.  I am not sure how long they will last because their mom wasn't sure they want to play from when I spoke to her.  it was all very strange.  She asked if I taught flute, and it was just very strange.  Her kids are 5 and 6 years old.  I am copying their material for this week because I don't know what is going to happen.  I haven't added them officially to my income/bills list because I am not sure they are going to stay.  I hope so, but it is hard to say.

Stormy Day

It is thunder storming out right now and it has been for the afternoon.  I can hear the rain hitting the attic fan right outside my room when I was up there a bit ago.  No lessons for the day.  That is a normal Saturday right now, but I am hoping in the fall that will change.  So with no lessons, there isn't much going on.  I am reading some of the books I found in the box in my room yesterday.  I am very excited about that.  I have some movies that I haven't watched yet that I might put in the DVD player.  I don't know.  We shall see.

My head is a bit worse than usual, but not like it was yesterday, just a bit so I am glad about that.  I have one lesson tomorrow and then I have to go and pick up some ink for the scanner so I can scan some music in for my new students.  Their mom was really wishy washy about getting books so I am not even sure she knows what she wants.  In a case like this, I am just copying the music I have.  I will not go and buy their books because she sounds like she doesn't know if they want to play the piano.  I have already had one mom not pay me back for the books and I don't need another.  Most do, which is why I often pick up the books, but not all of them.  With the addition of these two young students, I will have students from 4:30 to 7:00 solid, I am very excited about that.  Mondays will be brilliant and beautiful.  My Rachel from Tuesday at 2 pm will be moving to Monday at 4:30 pm because of school.  I am not sure what time my Elizabeth at 3 pm on Tuesday will be moving to.  I shall find out in the next few weeks.  So far, I am so glad about all the lessons that I am getting.  I had 18 students last week and it was wonderful.  This week will not have as many as my Muglia girls are only once a month but I will be busy with the 2 new ones on Monday.  All in all, fall is shaping up pretty well.

I am going to go and make some dinner now then I am going to read.  I am a bit tired and I expect to go to bed a bit earlier than usual (which means sometime before midnight, 1 am , 2 am).  I did sleep a bit better last night with the pain meds.  I do hope your day is good too.

friday

I woke this morning with the worst headache ever.  I mean, ever.  I finally dragged my sorry self down the stairs to take some pain pills and Advil.  Then I dragged my sorry self back up the stairs back to bed.  If I sat up, the head would just pound like I haven't had since 2008, it was somewhat better when I was lying down.  I was able to get up at 3 and it was better.  I have had some bad headaches this summer but this was the worst one since 2008.  At first I thought if it didn't improve I would have to go to the ER.  Fortunately, it did go down to almost normal.

After I got started for the day, I had my lovely Calli and my wonderful Acer's lessons.  They are such a joy to teach.  Their nicknames are so appropriate for them, Sunshine and Joy because that is what they send when they are around, sunshine and joy.  Both kids are ready for the recital next week.  That is good.  I may not be ready, but they will be.  I will make the program next Friday and print on Saturday before I go to the Pig Roast at Charlie's house.  The Bowman-Tomlinson family, I think, is going too.  It should be a good time.  I haven't been to the last 2 because the one 2 years ago, my friend was in town and last year Momma wasn't feeling up to going so I am planning to attend this year.  I just have to find my chairs.

I don't have any lessons tomorrow and I don't have any real plans outside of some housework and laundry that needs to be done.  I have to wash some outer clothes so I have something to wear for next week.  Yeah, you know me, wait until the last moment to do laundry!  I was like that when Momma was here too.  Poor thing, she was dependent on me for her laundry and I was always behind.

I am tired tonight, a but more than usual, I think because of the bad headache.  They wipe me out something awful when they get that bad.  I found 2 more boxes of paperback books today so that was awesome.  I brought a few down to read over the weekend.  Some of the books I knew I had, I just didn't know where they were.  Now I do.  I also have a drawer full of books in my dresser that I need to get out and put downstairs when we do the family room.  I will be reading for a bit then heading to bed.  I hope I sleep pretty well like I have been this week.  It hasn't been a too horrible sleep week.  I think exhausting myself out on Monday helped my sleep pattern improve plus getting up a bit earlier most of the week helped too.  I am going to keep setting my alarm so I get up a bit earlier so that I sleep better at night.

It is a normal missing Mom day.  i miss her so much.  Yesterday it was the 10 month anniversary of her passing away.  Sometimes it seems like years and other time like yesterday.  Either way, I miss her so much.  I know I say that a lot but we were very close and I took care of her.  I miss both the Mom she was before Alzheimer's and the Mom she became with Alzheimer's.  I just want my mom back.  Too bad life doesn't work that way.

I do hope you are having a good day with less pain and lots of sunshine.

2 day lesson

I had Breanna and a new student, Logan.  He is 16 and very nice.  He is not comfortable reading his notes, especially in bass clef.  He does sight read pretty well, better than I think he thinks.  I have him starting a Sonatina by Clementi and he borrowed a book for sight reading.  He has flash cards and will be doing them in the next two weeks.  He won't be able to practice next week because he will be at his dad's but when he gets back to his mothers, he will be able to practice again.  I really like him.  My teenagers are going to really like him as he is very nice and I think they will think he is cute.  Breanna did very well today.  She has picked her piano song, she is going to play "Money Can't Buy Everything" from her lesson book.  She is singing 2 songs with her guitar.  She brought another song from Lady Gaga, but it wasn't as good as the other two.  It was a good song, but I just think the other two that she picked are better than this particular one.  Breanna has a harder time with piano than she does with voice.  She is practicing so she is really getting better but I think at times she doesn't see the progress she has made.

I have been getting calls for lessons in the fall.  One Mom called and she wants lessons for about $15 a half hour which is not the going rate at this time.  The rates are anywhere from $20 to $25 per half hour.  I don't know where she gets her prices as she said she has called a few and that is what they are charging.  I hope she finds a teacher within her price.  I charge $21 per half hour.  I talked to another Mom who has 2 children so I may have them starting soon.  I don't know for sure, I will find out soon.  I do need a few new students, that is for sure!  I am hopeful for more students this fall.  I will need to contact my old students to see what they are planning to do.  I do not know if Kayla or Amanda will be coming back.  Amanda is such a good student.  She is enthusiastic and works so hard.  Kayla works hard but she is so picky about songs.  If she doesn't like it right away, she won't do it, which makes it a bit hard to pick songs for her.  She is a lovely girl though and I do enjoy working with her.  They are the only two who quit for the summer so I am hopeful that they will come back.  I am thinking I should be in a better position than I was last fall but of course, I am alone with the bills now instead of having my little mom with me now.  I am thankful for the students I have and am hopeful for a few more.  I only need a few more because then I will get to the amount that I can earn before it affects my disability.  I am thankful to be close to that.

It has been a good day.  I had a bad headache this afternoon.  I finally took some Advil and then went to take a nap.  That helped bring the head down to the regular headache.  I am glad that the nap helped.

I do hope that you have had a good day too.

Wednesday

I went and picked up Donna at 12:30 at her house to take her to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2.  She loved it.  When Bellatrix was killed by Molly Weasley she gave me a thumbs up!  She loved how Lucius Malfoy went chasing after his wife, Narcissca and his son, Draco.  It was great.  Anyways, it is an amazing movie and oh my!  you just have to see it.  It was so amazing.  I haven't been this excited about  movie since the 6th movie.  Okay, I have been excited about almost all of the movies since I first saw the first one many years ago.  I didn't actually see the first movie in the theatre.  As a matter of fact, I refused to see the 1st 2 movies because I loved the books so much that I just couldn't possibly be as good as the books.  Well, enter my students, Matthew and Michael and their brother Andrew.  I was babysitting them and they wanted to watch a movie.  Naturally, it was the first Harry Potter Movie.  I rolled my eyes in my head (so they wouldn't see) and sat down next to Andrew (he was about 4 or 5 at the time) to watch the movie.  Well, needless to say, I loved the movie.  I was hooked.  It was so well done and it followed the book pretty well enough that it didn't bother me when it didn't.  I promptly went home and said to Mom we have to get the first 2 Harry Potter Movies so we went to get them.  This was all right before the 3rd movie came out.  When it came out we went to the Henry Ford Museum IMAX theatre and saw the movie there.  I got group tickets for my students and their parents.  We had about 30 parents and students going with us.  It was great.  My little guy, Mark sat right beside me with his mom on the other side.  Wow, he must be in High School by now.  He was so small at that point.  Now he is so much older.  They grow entirely too fast.  Just look at Lily.  She is now 13.  Wasn't she just 6 the other day?  It sure seems that way sometimes.  She is on vacation right now.  I have read the posts her mother and sister have written and it seems like they are having a good time.  I sure hope so.

I didn't have any lessons today.  I have to copy some music for my new student tomorrow.  I am not sure of everything I will give him.  He is an adult but he doesn't speak very good English so we shall see if he shows up tomorrow.  I also will have my new piano student from Takelessons, Logan.  He has his lesson at 7 pm.  Breanna has her lesson at 12:30.  I was so exhausted I had to lie down.  I slept on and off for 2 hours.  I hope I sleep okay tomorrow.  I have to be up a bit early for Breanna's lesson.  She is such a neat girl.  She is almost 16 and ready for her driver's license.  She has finished all her hours and tests.  She just needs to turn 16.

Dance Moms is on tonight.  For some crazy reason I like the insanity of the show.  I don't know why because I am not usually into these type of reality TV shows but I do like this one.  I think it reminds me a bit of my days practically living in a dance studio but my dance teacher was not this insane.  She had favorites and it showed, but she wasn't as crazy as this lady is.  She didn't pit the students against each other like I think this lady does sometimes.  Two of my friends are dance teachers and a 3rd student from our studio owns her own studio too.

I am still very tired tonight.  I am looking forward to Breanna and Logan tomorrow.  I am nervous about the adult student because they just don't stay very long, most of them.  I am going to go and get the music and copy it.  I hope you are having a good night too.

not as busy as yesterday but still busy

I had 4 lessons today.  That was good.  Only 1/2 as many for yesterday but still a good day nevertheless.  I went to pick up some new books for Rachel, McKenzie, and Sarah.  I needed to get both flash cards and level B books for my little ones.  After that I ran to Chipotle for lunch before my first lesson.  Elizabeth had her lesson.  It was the first one for about a month.  When I checked my schedule again, she was not listed in my takelessons schedule.  I called and fixed that because her Mom called me to say they were coming.  After that, I went to get my hair washed.  It is now $10 to get it washed and dried.  I am not sure I will be going anymore because it is getting too expensive.  That is $40 a month for my hair.  That is almost an electric bill.  It is more than the doctor's office payment.  It is also the same as a hospital payment so I need to do some major thinking about this.  In March, it was only $3 so that was really good, but I am not sure if I can continue to have them do it.  I may have to figure out a way to do it myself.  I did it before but this was so much easier to do.  I will have to really think about it.  I don't know if I can afford $40 to $50 (when there are 5 Tuesdays in the month) to have my hair washed and dried.

After coming home I had Charlie's, Laith's, and McKenzie's lessons.  Charlie had an hour lesson because he was making up the lesson he missed at the beginning of the month when he was at Band Camp.  Laith actually changed his lesson time today only because his mother was running behind.  It actually worked out better because Charlie and I could get an hour in.  McKenzie was late for her lesson and I was beginning to get worried, just as I booted up the computer, she arrived.  I was glad they arrived.

I am now watching my favorite show, NCIS.  I love this show.  I think I say that every week.  It is one of the best shows ever.  McKenzie and I had a nice chat during her lesson about Twilight and Harry Potter.  She is not a major fan of Harry Potter but she has watched the marathons on the ABC Family Channel.  I thought that was rather cute.  She is, however, a huge fan of the Twilight series.  I like the Twilight series too but I do think Harry Potter is better.  I could, of course, change my mind when the new movies come out.  I can't believe we have to wait a YEAR between part 1 and part 2.  That is just wrong.  At least Harry Potter only made us wait 6 months.

Only a few weeks until the kids all go back to school.  In Michigan, the students start school the day after Labor Day.  They used to start in August, but now the law has changed to the day after Labor Day.  Lily will be an 8th grader at her school.  It is hard to believe that she is going to be an 8th grader.  It really is.  Only 1 year before High School.  She is in Europe right now, I hope, having a good time.  From her mother's posts, it seems they are having a good time.  I do hope so.  I know the family was looking forward to it.

After Labor Day, I will be planning the music for the school year.  First up will be the Christmas Concert, then Competition, and lastly, the Spring concert.  In a few weeks, Katie will be over to help put away the music.  I think we will leave the Christmas music out because in October I will be pulling it all back out for the concert.  I am thankful Katie makes the time to come and help me with this music.  I think she is such a wonderful young lady.  She is visiting a college in Kalamazoo this week.  I am glad she is able to go and visit these schools and then make a decision of what one will fit her needs.  I didn't have a lot of choice for colleges, we couldn't afford to send me far.  I went to the community college and then to Wayne State in Detroit.  It was a good school.  I enjoyed my time there.  I would have loved to have spent a semester in a dorm though.  It is one of things I wish I was able to do.  I lived at home during my college days.  Most of my friends from school were in the same position as I was, we all mostly lived with parents.  We all worked too.  I hope Katie chooses a good school for herself and then gets lots of scholarships to pay for it.  Schools are very expensive these days.

It has been an interesting day.  I do hope yours was good too.

a very busy Monday

I had 8 lessons today!  It was wonderful.  I had my lovely Muglia's this afternoon plus the regulars after, Bob, Camille, and Emily.  Beth needed to have a lesson today as she is planning to be out of town on Wednesday so that brought the lessons to 8.  I am rather tired now but it is a nice tired for a change.  I plan on going to bed early as I want to be up a bit earlier tomorrow because I need to pick up some flashcards for McKenzie tomorrow night.  I also need to get Rachel and Sarah their level B books.  I think Laith will also need them too rather shortly so I think I will pick them up tomorrow too.  This way I have them when I need them.  I am not sure about the books for my new students because she isn't even sure they are going to stick with piano.  She sounds rather dippy.  She didn't understand what I was saying about books.  I am not going to buy the books for her because I am afraid she won't pay me back like Elizabeth's Mom.  She didn't pay me back for Elizabeth's books so I won't be buying anymore books for her.  I am going to buy the computer game and Emily will be the first one to borrow it.  I will load it on my computer first and then she can try it.  I plan to loan it to Rachel the week after when I get it back from Emily.  Then I will have one of the Muglia girls download it for Sarah next month.

The concert plans are coming along nicely.  I started the list of who is playing what.  Naturally, I can't remember who is doing what and I just saw 6 people who are going to be in the concert today.  I will write it down next week when I have the students lessons.

Tomorrow is just a shorter day, 4 lessons.  After Elizabeth's lesson I will go and get my hair washed and dried at the hairdressers.  I go once a week because it helps me a lot.  With the left shoulder rather frozen, I have a very difficulty washing my own hair as I can't lift that arm up very high so I go to where I get my hair cut.  It is very helpful to me.  I go every Tuesday.  Wednesday, Katie is coming over to help put away some of the music.  While she is putting away the sheet music and books, I will tend to the CDs and put them away.  Then I will have her bring up the original CDs to my room.  She is such a lovely young woman.  Katie has grown so much in the past 4 years.  I am so proud of her and so happy to be a part of her life.  She is planning to go to competition this year.  I told her if her parents don't go with her she could just stay with me as I will have a suite because I am on the executive board.  I will be getting the judges and help with the luncheon.  I am very nervous about hiring judges because I have never done it before.  I will be working on the luncheon with Jessica and she has done it for the last few years so that won't be so bad.  Both Patty and Diane said they would help me with getting the judges like where to start, websites to look at and things such as that.  I am not sure how many I will have at competition this year.  I know that Aggie and Katie are going.  I am not sure if Rebecca will be back and go to competition.  I think Breanna is planning to go to competition but I know Beth is not.  I don't know about my new little ones for piano.  Hey, as long as they continue to learn as the play and sing that is the most important to me.  I am happy for those who want to go.

I have 2 new little ones starting next Monday.  I tried to talk to the Mom about the books they will need and she seems like she doesn't understand.  I will have to get a theory and a notespeller books because I don't have them.  I have to check to see if I still have the lesson book because I know Charlie has one but I don't if I have anymore.  I have the numbers written down so I can go and pull them.  I am not buying the books until she says either she will pick them up or will pay me back.  I will price the books tomorrow so I will know how much she will have to pay whether or not she picks them up or I do.

Outside of being super tired at this point, I have had a really nice day.  I forgot what it was like to have taught 8 lessons in one day.  I am very happy about that.  The pain level is normal mostly.  I am getting a bit of a worse headache than usual, but I think that is because I am so exhausted.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

not that exciting of a Sunday

I had Rick's lesson today.  Last week his car was getting repaired.  It is still in the shop but he has a loaner right now.  Car repairs definitely make the list of not so good stuff.  He didn't practice these past 2 weeks.  He usually practices the musical theatre stuff and ignores the classical stuff even though he does know it is the classical stuff that will help him a lot.  I hope he practices something this week.

I was lucky enough to be on facebook at the same time as my Hannah so we had a lovely conversation about HP.  They got to see the movie again today with their father.  He hadn't seen it yet.  Their mother needs to see it in the movie theatre now.  She says she can wait until it comes out on DVD but the 4 of us (the 3 Muglia girls and me) just don't agree with that.  This one is so good, it needs to be seen on the big screen.  I do hope to see it again before it comes out on DVD.  I think this is my favorite movie of the whole series.  I do plan to start reading the books again and then as soon as I finish reading the book, I will watch the movie.  I just need to get movie 6 and 7 part 1 back from my students in order to begin.  I do think part 2 could have been much longer.  I really do.  We didn't get to see Tonks or Remus fight, that would have been cool.  I think they could have spent much more time on the 19 years later and also I saw cuts of the banquet after the last battle where the Malfoys were sitting there rather uncomfortable, that would have been cool to see.  I think I saw a seen of that.  I have seen so much that I can't always remember properly.  The whole movie is just so good along with the books.  I think the books are really some of the best I have ever read.  They rate up there with Anne of Green Gables books.

Anyways, I think I have raved enough about Harry Potter over the last few years, that pretty much anyone who knows me or has read my blog knows that I am a huge fan and that I love to read.

I have been reading a lot of books by Kristin Hannah lately.  I like her contemporary books a lot.  The first one I read was called Firefly Lane about 2 friends and their life long friendship.  It got me hooked on her books although my absolute favorite is called Magic Hour.  It is about a young girl who was kidnapped at a very young age and lived in a cave with the kidnapper.  She escapes him and is found in town.  The story is about how she and the psychiatrist bond and how she becomes more like a little girl instead of the wild child like when they found her.  It is a beautiful book.  The hardest book to read was Night Road because it is about 3 teenagers who drink and drive.  They get in an accident and one dies.  The driver goes to jail because she thinks this will atone for her drinking and driving although the person who was supposed to be driving was more drunk than she was.  In fact, all three were completely drunk.  It is hard to read something like that when I know many teenagers and I know that some of them have done drinking and driving.  My brother also drank and drove at many times of his life.  Actually, both of them have, not just one.  It was still a really good book to read though.

It is a bit chilly and rainy today.  I don't mind.  It has been so hot this summer so a nice change of cool air is a good thing.  I can't remember what it is going to be like this week, but I don't think it is going to be super hot, just normal heat, lower 80s I think.  I am hoping anyways!  I don't mind lower 80s with a low dew point, it is when that dew point gets too high that the humidity kicks right in.  Then I ache and ache.

It is hard to believe that we are heading to the middle of August.  Summer has flown by.  Not that I mind, because some days drag on forever it seems.  I guess part of me looks at it as one day closer to being with Mom.  I just miss her so much all the time and it doesn't get any better.  I am not saying I have a wish to die, but I do miss her a lot.  There are times when it is overwhelming and other times it is not.  So far today, it isn't overwhelming.  We shall see how the rest of the day goes.  I know that my younger brother misses her because he has posted it a few times on facebook.  I have too.  It is hard to believe that it has been almost 10 months since she passed away.  I can remember last summer so well.  I knew it was her last summer, I was just hoping it wasn't.  I was hoping she would last a few more years but I knew, deep down, I knew she wasn't going to last much longer and I was right.  I have found some more family pictures that I plan to scan.  What I can't find are the family slides.  We have boxes and boxes of slides and they are missing.  I have now idea where they are.  We also have boxes of family movies (the old kind) and I can't find those either.  It really bothers me that we can't find them.  I hope when we clean out the family room they will appear but as of now, I don't know where they are.

I do hope you are having a good day.

what is a family?

I have been wondering about that lately.  What makes a family?  Being related to each other, sharing parents, or grandparents, or friends?  There are a lot of people that I am related too.  I have a good size extended family.  I think my little family, the one with Mom and my brothers, separated when we lost Mom.  One brother isn't speaking to me at all and I am not allowed to get in contact with him, and the other, I hear from so infrequently, I wonder if he even remembers I exist at times.  When Mom was here I felt like I had a little family, now I wonder who is my family.  I have friends I am very close to and I feel more like a family with them.  Do you have to be related or adopted to be a family?  I don't think so.  I think at this point my little family are my close friends.  I still have an extended family, but I am closer to my friends than I am to most of them, not all, just most.  I mean, I like most of my relatives, I get alone well with most of them, but sometimes I am so alone when I am with them at family gatherings.  At my and Darrin's birthday party, I felt so alone and I was sitting among my relatives!  Yet, I still felt so alone.  I felt that way at the Christmas Dinner too.  Yet, when I was at Kathy's parents house for Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Easter, I felt like part of a family.  Yes, Kathy is my best friend and we have been friends for 40 years so I have known her parents for a very long time and they are very welcoming, does that make a difference?  I didn't feel lonely when I was with them and with my family I feel alone.  It is very weird to me so it has made me wonder, what makes a family?  I feel close to some of my cousins and not close to others.  It is just something that I have been feeling since I lost Momma.  I think I have just been lost myself without her.  I think my identity and my purpose, at times, was caught up in with my mother. I was her caregiver as well as her daughter and I was proud to be.  I am proud that I was able to keep her here at home and not had to place her in a home.  I know how lucky I was, I really do and I do NOT take that for granted.  Now I am redefining my life.  I am still a teacher and I love teaching.  I have loved teaching since I started.  Mom was so proud that I was a teacher.  She wanted so badly to be one herself. Finally, about 10 years ago when Mom and I were talking about it I was able to point out that she was a teacher, that is what she did in the army as well as other jobs.  She was also our brownie leader, den mother, and all things with scouts.  I just followed in her footsteps in a way.

Pain level is normal today as well as the head.  This last week the head hasn't been super bad, but it was for a few weeks at the end of July.  I was lucky if I was able to teach and then I had to be lying down because my head felt like it was going to fall off.  It has been a tiring day.  I have been so exhausted today.  I do hope to sleep well, for me, tonight.  I have 1 lesson tomorrow and I have 8 lessons on Monday.  I need to be well rested for those lessons. 

I do hope you had a good day too.

a good day

I received a call from a former student who is now a teacher.  It was great to speak with her.  She has just started teaching a few months ago so she wanted some suggestions of books that has good songs for young children.  She came over this evening and looked through some of my books.  She borrowed a bunch of them.  She is just starting out to create of a library of books.  i suggested that she also catalogue them.  I have mine in the computer and when I need a specific song, I just type it in then it pops up for me to go and pull it.  I am really happy that Mom put them in a computer for me.  That was a great idea that she came up with.  I am very pleased when I saw how easy it was to use.  Thank goodness for Momma that is all I can say.  Kelly Lynn looked through all the books, a couple of them she had so she left those ones here.  She has some small students to adult students.  She is teaching both voice and piano and is very interested in competition.  I told her about MMA.  She seemed interested in sending her students.  I hope so because I think competition can be such a good thing for students.  I encourage my students to go but I don't force them.  I don't like it when they are forced because then they are even more nervous than they would be if they wanted to go.  They also tend not to play as good as they can if they are forced.

Acer and Calli had their lessons today.  Acer is all set for the concert.  He started the 1B book today.  Calli finished the Prelude song in book 3.  She re-recorded the Caro Mio Ben because she accidentally erased it.  She didn't mean to, it just happened so we re-recorded it together.  She has picked her both her piano songs and her voice songs for the concert.  Acer has his piano songs too.  I am happy with how Calli is improving so much with her voice and her piano.  She is in level 3 of her piano books.  Calli is also doing very well with the Italian Songs.  We will be starting the "Ave Maria" by Schubert right after the Summer Concert.  With the concert 2 weeks away, I don't see the point of having her starting a new piece because she won't be focusing on her concert songs.  Acer has decided that he wants to continue learn what Calli learns.  That works just fine for me.  They both did pretty well for lessons today.

I have no plans for tomorrow except laundry.  I must do some laundry because I am going to be officially out of outer clothes Sunday so it is essential I do laundry.

This afternoon I also ran into a former student and his grandmother.  It was really nice to see them.  I gave them my card so that his aunt, who was also my student, can call me.  I can't believe Andre, who was about 7 to 9 when I knew him, is almost 20.  He is in college which is awesome and Crystal, his aunt, lives pretty close to me.  I do hope she calls because I have wondered how she is doing these days. She has finished college so she should be about 28 or 29 at this point, I would say 30 at the oldest.  I just can't believe that she is that age.  I haven't actually seen her for about 8 or 9 years.  I do hope I see her soon.  I also hope to see her mom and her nephew soon too.  It was just awesome to see them today.

Overall, I would have to say that it was a good day.  I had my Calli and Acer, as well as seeing Andre, Jacqueline, and Kelly Lynn.  I do hope your day was good too.

Thursday

I woke to the phone ringing and it was Robin.  Apparently, she was the person who called 2 times earlier only I didn't hear the phone.  She wanted to know if I wanted to go to lunch with her and her son.  Of course I did, so I was to meet them at Olga's, one of my favorite restaurants.  Unfortunately, I was at the wrong Olga's meeting them.  I called Zach because I couldn't imagine why I beat them there.  That is when I found out the were going to one near my doctor's office (blood test day) and I didn't know it was there.  Well, I flew back into my little car and raced over to the proper Olga's for lunch.  It was wonderful.  Zach is a sophomore at Central Michigan University and he heads back to school next week.  Wow, quick summer for him.  He is a theatre and broadcast arts major.  He was my student while in high school and has a very good voice.  He is really good and I can only imagine that with college training under his belt, he will be even better.

After lunch I went to the blood test.  Only one try again and she did it!  Of course, this was Julia and she is one of the few who can get me in 1 try.  I can clear out a room of nurses and technicians by just signing my name on the patient list.  There are only 3 nurses at the doctor's office that can find my veins and get them to give them blood.  At least it didn't hurt this time super bad, just a medium bad.  It was quick this time too.  She found the proper vein (there are only 2 that work, 1 on each arm) and boom, she was done!  thank goodness!

I am very tired right now and could go for a nap.  Why can't I be this tired when I go to bed, or when I am, why can't I sleep right away???  I am tired of taking hours to get to sleep.  It is very upsetting to me. I think I feel asleep for a few hours at about 5 am.  Before that, I was awake every hour to turn over from pain.  Nothing seems to help the nighttime pain right now.  It takes a few hours just to relax and try to get to sleep.  I don't even plan on sleeping anytime before 4 am anymore because no matter how exhausted I am when I go to bed, I don't sleep until after then.  A couple nights ago, I went to bed at 10 because I was just so tired and couldn't stay awake.  I had forced myself to stay awake all day without a nap, and then I woke up at 1 am and couldn't sleep until 6 because I actually slept for 3 hours between 10 and 1.  I was rather annoyed so now when I need a nap, I take it no matter the time because obviously, forcing myself to stay awake and go to bed earlier doesn't help any.

Project Runway is on tonight.  I actually was surprised to realize I liked the show.  i watched 2 episodes and it is very interesting.  I am looking forward to that tonight.  Other than that, I have no plans for the evening.

I do hope you are having a good day.  It is simply beautiful out right now, just simply beautiful!

The beginning of a cooler week!

Thank goodness it is suppose to be cooler this week.  I am very excited about that.  We are looking at high 70s and low 80s instead of the 90s that we have been having.  I think I can breathe better now.

It has been a decent day.  I had 4 lessons.  I didn't have my girls because their Dad is on vacation but I will see them next week.  I am possibly having another new student from the new company starting possibly next week.  I am really hoping so!  I am hoping for a few more new students this fall.  That will make it so much easier for paying the property taxes.  As it is I am not sure how I can make a payment this month.  I really don't know.  It is the beginning of the month still so I shall have to wait and see how the month goes.  I do have 1 new student next week who will only have 1 lesson this month because of the way the month works.  I do have McKenzie again next week for her lesson.  If her mom sees that she is practicing without being told to, she will switch to every week lesson.  I do hope that she is doing well.  She needs to brush up on her Treble Clef notes and learn her Bass Clef notes.

I have 3 lessons tomorrow with 1 on Wednesday and 1 on Thursday.  I am thinking about picking up Donna on Wednesday for the afternoon for some fun.  We do inexpensive things so there isn't too much cost to that.  I am not sure what we will do.  I do want her to see Harry Potter because it is so good but I am not sure at this point because when I checked the movie website it didn't have the listing.  I don't understand why they don't have the listing but they don't.  I am going to check another theatre.  The other theatre does not have convenient times either.  I also think it is a more expensive theatre too.  I will check the AMC theatre tomorrow for Wednesday.  I don't know why it isn't listed.  The rest of the week isn't listed either so I will have to check again tomorrow.  I have never had this problem before with the website.  I know that Donna likes to do things really early but I am not a morning person so that is just not going to happen.  She usually wants me to pick her up super early but I am lucky if I can get there for noon.  It is one of the reasons I don't see her a whole lot because I have a difficult time getting up early.  I just don't get up too often before noon.  That is just how it works in the house.  I think the movie will be starting at around 12:30 or 1 pm.  That would be perfect for us.  Then I would be home in time for my evening lesson.

Katie is coming next week to help put away the music after her lesson.  That will be super helpful.  The Emerton's will be back on the 19th so after that they are going to help with the family room.  I am thankful for that.  I also need to call the Salvation Army for the pick up this week or next.  I have the desk in the dining room, a step machine in the family room as well as another TV and stand.  I also want to get to the bar stools, there are 5 of them.  The shuffleboard needs to go to but we won't be able to get to it until later as it is along the wall and we won't be able to get it out.  The one side of the family room will be a TV/Library and the other side will be for sewing and crafts.  I also need to get rid of some of the violins.  I am going to take a few of those to the resale shop for antiques and crafts to see if I can sell some. I made them for donations to schools to their school auctions but since the store closed, I don't really get any calls for donations.  I did donate 4 of them this year.  2 to my friend Jacqueline and 2 to Katie for the Red Cross.  I think that leaves me 12 left not including the 2 that have not been painted yet. I would put them in the garage except that it isn't good for them.

It has been a decent day.  I enjoyed my 4 lessons.  I have lovely plans for the week so it shall be a nice one.  I do hope your day is good too.

Sunday August 7

I had Calli and Acer's lessons today.  Rick called yesterday to cancel as his vehicle (an awesome convertible) is being fixed.  That just doesn't sound fun.  I had my two cuties and while we were having our awesome lessons, their Baba and Uncle James were fixing my railings to go downstairs.  Well, they weren't working to well.  The bottom line is they have to anchor a 2 X 4 on both sides of the hallway (I will have 2 railings, one on each side) in order to anchor the railings.  The anchors were just not doing the job.  They will be coming back and finishing it soon.  Hey, works for me.  I am thankful that I have friends to help me with these details.  It would be nice to be able to get up and down those stairs easier than what I can do right now.  I am not sure when they are coming back, but I know it will be soon.

I had such a headache this afternoon after the lessons.  I took some meds and then I went and to lie down in my room.  After about 2 hours, I was able to get up and move again.

I am registered for the new Pottermore website.  This website is created by J.K. Rowlings, the author of Harry Potter, and will have lots of cool stuff for us to do.  I can't wait!  I got registered on Friday thanks to Kathy.  Now that the registration is all finished, I am ready to explore the website.  I will get an email that will tell me when I can try out the website.  It shall be awesome.  My lovely Muglia girls also were able to get registered.  We get to "test" the website while they are putting the finishing touches on it.  I am so excited about this, it will be unbelievably fun!  I also hope to learn more on the back stories of people and characters that I love and even ones I love to hate for being so evil and twisted.

I want to see the movie again.  The piano Music to the Deathly Hallows part 1 is out but not part two.  I am disappointed that it isn't out yet but on the other hand the movie did just come out so maybe at the end of the month or the beginning of September it will be here.  I can't afford it right now anyway so I guess it is good it isn't out yet.  Silly me.  I would want it but I can't get it.  I already spent my spending money for the month on a new pasta pot.  That should arrive shortly.

I am looking forward to a busy lesson week.  I will not have my girls this week as I thought, I will have them next week.  Their Dad is on vacation so they are all doing day trips with Dad.  Not a problem.  They will have their monthly lesson next week and I will still be able to pay bills on time.  That is all that matters.  I have to copy some paperwork tonight.  I need it in the mail by tomorrow.  I better get offline and start working on it!!!

I do hope you are having a great day.  Pain level is back to normal now, just the normal everyday headache and aches all over.  It is a normal missing Mom day although I had major meltdowns on Friday night when I went to bed.  I think I cried for about an hour.  Hard crying, deep sobs type crying.  Then I fell asleep and was okay.  This mourning is very hard at times.  I just miss Momma so much all the time. I dreaded losing her because I knew it would be bad and I was right.

A boring Saturday

It is rather boring here today.  It is day 3 of no lessons.  Tomorrow, however, there are LESSONS!!!  Yeah!  That will be great!  I got an invitation to my youngest cousin's first birthday.  Naturally, it is on the same day as Jessie's wedding and I already RSVP that I and Mike are going so I am going to the wedding. I have to find the shower invitation because I think the shower is in a few weeks.  I have to figure out what kind of gift I am going to bring for them.  I am so excited that she is getting married.

I will have to give Tillie Esther's present when I see her next.  I don't know what to get the young lady.  I am thinking maybe a doll.  A nice and squishy one that looks adorable.  She is going to be one.  Seems like yesterday that little one was born.  That day is stuck in my head because that actually was the last time my uncle John saw Momma alive.  She died about 5 weeks after that visit to his house.  We were all at Uncle John's when Lia called to say she was going in labor.  I rushed Maia (Lia's Mom) to the hospital where Lia was.  Tillie was already there.  She didn't go to my Uncle's that day and it turns out it was a good thing because Lia needed a ride to the hospital.  We didn't stay because there were so many people with Lia and I didn't think Mom could handle it so we came home.  We waited for news of the birth.  Esther is so cute and adorable.  She is a happy baby.

I have Calli and Acer's lessons tomorrow.  Rick had to take his car in to be fixed so no lesson for him.  I am bummed about that, but I will see him next week so that is good.

In the fall I will be joining the church choir again.  It is at a different church than the one I grew up in, but that is okay.  I do have to be at church by 7:30 am and that will be hard, but I will do it.  I am joining my neighbor's church.  I will see what it is like.  I think it will be a good thing.  If not, I can always go back to the church I grew up in.

Well, not much going on tonight.  I am going to watch Princess Diaries on the ABC family channel.  I want to see Harry Potter again.  I will most likely see it again when it hits the dollar theatre.  It should be there by the end of this month.  It was such a great movie!!!!  I do want my friend, Donna to see it.  I think she will like it a lot too.  She likes all the Harry Potter movie.  I am going to do what Kathy wants to do.  That is to read the book then watch the movie.  That way we can see what the differences are.  In the earlier books, there isn't as many differences like there are in the later books.  Mostly, that is because they couldn't put everything in the movie because the books are so big.  I love both the movies and the books too.  Both are equally as wonderful!!!  I just love Harry Potter!  so did my mom.  She loved them too.  I miss watching the movies with her.  We also loved the movie Princess Dairies.  Julie Andrews was so wonderful in the movie.  I also love Anne Hathaway.  Mom and I saw this movie in the movie theatre when it was out.  We giggled so much through out the movie.  It was just so good.

I have a few bills to pay and some papers to copy and send to the hospital to see if they will either help pay the bill or allow a very low payment on a payment plan.

I do hope you are having a great day.

Pottermore!!!

I am registered on Pottermore, thanks to Kathy and the wake up call!  Yes, I  got up at 9am when she called to try to get online to the Pottermore website.  Well, as it turned out, so was so many other people that I couldn't get to the website.  Since Kathy was online and on the website, she helped me register!  So Dragonfloo13 (me) is officially registered and waiting to go on and check out the website.  I am anxious for the backstories of everyone.  That fascinates me.  I want to know did Luna and Neville get married?  Things like this.  What about George?  Did he marry Angelina?  Draco, who did he marry?  What about his parents, how did they do with being on the proper side for a change after the battle?  Things like this make me want to know what happens next.

It has been an interesting day with the Pottermore stuff.  Natalie and Hannah are also very excited about me being registered.  They are working on getting Lydia registered now.  We are all Harry Potter fans.  Yesterday was so fun watching it with the girls.  I simply adore them.  It is true.  Okay, I adore all my students, I admit it, but these three have been so fun to watch grow up and to be a part of their lives.  They are truly wonderful girls.  They really are.  Both Hannah and Natalie will be in 10th grade this year and Lydia will be in 9th grade.  That is so hard to believe as the were about in 1 or 2nd grade when I met them.  Sarah was just a tiny baby at that point and now she is almost 8.  she has beautiful curly, light brown hair.  She is doing very well with piano too, just like her sisters.

I have 2 sewing machines and a couple of sewing books to give the girls.  I must remember to put it in my trunk this weekend so I have it when I go to their lessons on Monday.  I have no lessons tomorrow so I am not sure what I will do besides hopefully remembering to bring up the machines for the girls.  Sunday will be a busy day!  Acer and Calli didn't have lessons tonight because they went to their great grandfather's funeral so they wouldn't be home in time.  It was not a problem to switch it this week to Sunday afternoon.  It works for me.  I am glad Sunday will be a busy day.

Kathy had a brilliant idea!!!!  I mean, it was absolutely brilliant!!!!  Oh, I must tell the girls this one, note to self, anyways, I digress, she thinks it would be cool if we read each book and then watched the movie right away.  I think that is simply brilliant!  I may start that tomorrow.  I am out of books to read again.  That is nothing new as I read rather quickly and since I read before bed every night not to mention sometimes during the day too.

Well, it has been quite a day and now I need to go and make some dinner.  I am not sure what I am making today but I will see in a moment.  I do hope to have a menu made for next week by tomorrow.  I have some nice fresh meat that needs to be cooked before it goes bad so a menu is necessary.

I do hope you are having a good day!

A Harry Potter Day!!!

Yes, it is true.  I was able to go and see Harry Potter 7B again.  I simply love that movie.  It is so good and there are so many parts that are great.  When Harry finds out Snape is a good guy, when the Malfoys walk away from Voldemort.  those are just 2 of the many, many, many wonderful moments.  I mean the character, Neville has just grown from the 1st book to the last.  He has turned out to be a wonderful wizard, a definite proud, brave Griffendor.  I just can't choose anymore moments, you must see the movie for yourself!  I just love how brave the students are and how they fight evil.  There are some sad parts too as with all battles some don't make it.  That is sad, very sad.  Losing a good person in a battle is not a good thing but they fought the good fight.  I like the part when Harry was in the forest where his parents show up with Remus and Sirius.  That was very cool.  It is neat when Sirius tells Harry that they are always in his heart.  Neville basically says the same thing when he comes face to face with Voldemort.  Overall, it is just a great movie.  I think it is the best out of all of them.  It is definitely done very well.

Going to the movie is pretty much all I did this afternoon.  I was so exhausted by the late afternoon and my head hurt so much, I had to lie down for a bit.  I had a rough beginning of the night so I didn't sleep that well.  I was fine until I was lying down last night, then all of a sudden, tears, lots and lots of tears.  I don't know why my brain all of a sudden starting thinking about what some of my relatives said about me not being over my mother, but I was crying, hard.  It didn't last too long, but long enough, then I was able to go to sleep.  Thank Goodness!  I was very glad about that.  I woke up and then hurried to get ready to go and pick up my girls!  We had a good time this afternoon.

I am watching Project Runway, something I have never seen before.  These designs are so something I would never wear.  It is really insane.  These shows are so interesting though.  There really isn't anything else on right now so this just happens to be on.  I am not really into fashion, although nothing is better than a good fit.  I do like the Elisabeth line from Liz Clayborne.  Her fits are so good for plus size people.  I am working on losing a bit of weight so that I can fit into my awesome jeans again.  I have great colored jeans but they are too tight right now.  I will fix that by Christmas!  That is my goal.  I want to stop having to wear my sweats during the winter because my cute pants are too tight.  That is why I started my other blog with Kathy so she and I can not only encourage each other, but get encouragement from others.  So far, it has been a big help because the biggest thing I have changed, is that I am adding more fruit to my diet.  I am working on NOT going to get food from fast food or Tim Horton's everyday.  that is this month's goal.  I also need to add MORE exercise.  I am going to be trying to exercise before I go to bed.  This way, 1 - I am exercising, and 2 - it will help tire me out and perhaps I will sleep better.

It has been a wonderful day!  I really enjoy spending extra time with my girls!  I do hope your day is good too.

Shopping and Bill Pay Day

Since it is the beginning of the month, it is time for the grocery shopping trip and to pay bills.  I am putting off paying bills until later tonight after I am done with lessons.  Yup, I am a procrastinator when it comes to watching my bank account go down down down.  I did pretty well with grocery shopping.  I am pleased that I didn't really need a whole bunch of stuff because I have a lot in the freezer right now.  I did pick up some fresh corned beef (Yes, in July, they actually had the stuff!!!!) and hamburger for dinner tonight and tomorrow.  I got my new planner for next year.  I am not planning to actually start using it until January even though it does start in August.  I have a planner I am using now and it doesn't end until December so I am just going to continue to use it.

I need to make my menus tonight for the next few weeks.  First, I will have to look in the freezer to see what I actually have.  I now I have a few pasta meals that are meant for 2 meals each package so that is always good.  Other than that, I am not sure what all I have in the freezer outside of chicken and veggies.  I have plenty of veggies so I didn't get any today.  I bought a ton of them when they were on sale in June so they are still good.

Carson has quit lessons.  I actually expected this as he didn't have a lesson last week because he wanted to play with his friends instead.  I kind of figured his mom would be upset and that might be it.  She also said he isn't practicing either right now so unless he practices, no more lessons.  I am bummed because I really liked him and I just finished putting together a CD for him with new music for him to learn.  Yeah, so much for that!  Oh well, I have it for another student to use in the future.  I just have to take the tag off of it and put a new tag on it.

Beth and Emily will both have their lessons tonight.  Emily usually is on Mondays but she needed another night this week.  It was not a problem.  I am so glad to change and reschedule rather than skip all together.  It is better for both me and the student.  I do hope Acer and Calli are having lessons this week. Breanna is not because of driver's training.  She has to take this class and a test on Thursday so no lessons this week.  Since the class lasts about 4 or 5 hours everyday this week with homework, there is no day to make it up on either so we have to skip altogether.  I will see her next week.

With Breanna absent tomorrow, I am picking up the Muglia girls to go and see the Harry Potter Movie again!  I am very excited about seeing it with them.  They are such Harry Potter fans.  It is just so cute how much they love Harry Potter.  It should be a good time.  I am pretty positive on that one.

My friend, Donna has 2 friends who are interested in purchasing my cookbook.  Isn't that awesome?  I only have about 800 more of them.  It would be great if I sold a few.  One, it would make more space in my garage and two, it would be great for bills like property taxes and things like that!  I am going to probably see her either on Saturday or next week sometime to give her the books and visit with her.  I haven't seen her in a while so it is definitely time.  She isn't doing very well right now.  Since the car accident, she has been in much more pain.  We (including the spine doctor) think the hardware that he put in a year and a half ago came loose during the accident so that is why she has so much pain.  I don't think her latest bone scan came out too well either.  I will find out more on that next week after she sees the specialist.  I think she said she sees him next week.  I have my lovely monthly blood test next week.  Oh, what fun!  NOT!  I hope it goes as well as it did this past month.  That was a breeze except for how much it hurt.

I do hope you are having a good day!  It is about 80 something here right now so it works for me!  It isn't super hot like it was but I am sure this weekend will be if I remember the news correctly.  I can't always remember.

3 lesson day!

I had three lessons today.  Charlie is at band camp so he will have an hour lesson next week to make it up.  I am watching NCIS right now as usual since it is a Tuesday.  I looooove these shows (NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles) so much.  Tonight's episode, surprisingly, isn't one I don't recall seeing before.  It is a nice surprise to be watching an episode I don't remember.  Yeah!  I know I have missed some NCIS Los Angeles this year, but I usually watch the regular NCIS.

Anyways, it hasn't been too bad for the pain without the main pain killers.  With the Meloxicam, the Tylenol is helping with pain.  I did have a bad headache for a bit this afternoon since I was so tired but I took some Tylenol and that has helped some.

I didn't get much sleep until after about 7 am this morning.  I went to bed at 10 like I often do.  I was very tired.  I slept until about 1:30 am and then I couldn't sleep after that.  I stopped taking my prescription Zantac to see what would happen.  Not a smart move on my part.  Oh my gosh!  By 3 am my tummy was so awful.  I had heartburn and acid like I haven't had in a while.  (Of course, I haven't had it in about 3 years except for the odd time because I take my Zantac)  It was just horrible.  I came down and took one about 4 am and some Mylanta at about 5 am.  It was just horrible, I felt so bad.  I finally fell asleep about 7 am for a few hours so once again, my sleep pattern stinks.  I will pray for a better night tonight.

I am excited to see Harry Potter on Thursday.  I looooooove that movie!  It is definitely the best one ever!!!!!!  and I mean ever of the Harry Potter Movies!!!!!!  It is funny because the 7th book is not my favorite book but the movie is my favorite, well the 2nd part of the movie is my favorite!!!  I am to pick up my girls at 12:30 pm and then we will go to the 1 pm movie.  It will be awesome.  We 4 Harry Potter fanatics watching the movie together.  What could be better?  Okay, so I do know of something that could be better, but this is the 2nd best thing.  I am looking so forward to seeing it with them.  I also can't wait for the music to be available for piano because I know 3 young ladies who will play every song in the book.  I know them well.  I, of course, will have to play them all first so that I can teach them the songs, but hey, that will be no problem.  I also saw the first preview for Breaking Dawn part 1.  That looks good too.  I will have to watch Eclipse still, but I will between now and November.  I am starting to get back into movies again.  I am also starting to enjoy reading again and not just to pass time.  I still miss my mother all the time and wish she were here, but it is getting better some days, especially on the days that I have more than 1 lesson on.  Tomorrow is a 2 lesson day.  Carson will get his new music and Beth just got a couple of new songs so she is all set.

August will be an interesting month with lessons and the summer concert at the end of the month.  So far, Rachel and family is definitely coming.  Laith is not interested in playing, just watching, so that will be fun.  Charlie will have his family's pig roast the day before, but he thinks he will be just fine to play in it.  Both Bob and Rick will be away so they will not be there.  It is a bummer, but hey, vacations happen and I knew that someone would have a conflict.  I also will be most likely, taking a trip to Chatham, Ontario to see the placing of my mother's gravestone.  That is the only trip to Canada I plan to make this summer.  Perhaps in the fall I will go and visit but right now I can't afford to go except for the one trip that I have planned.  It should be ready in a few weeks.  Andrew is taking care of it so I guess he will let me know when it is placed and when we will go to see it.

I do hope it has been a good day for you.  It was a pretty good one despite the lack of sleep again.