Friday 3-30

I haven't done too much today except have a few lessons and get my hair done.  I am going to spend tomorrow afternoon after Camille's lessons at Acer's house.  I will watch Acer while Bill goes grocery shopping.  Heather B-T and Calli will be going to Goalball practice.  I hope to watch her play someday.  Right now they go to practice about once a month.  They have to drive a couple hours away to get there, but they do it.  Calli is working very hard to make sure she exercises so she can play a better game.  Everyday she exercises no matter what.  She has 10 pound weights too that she uses.  I can barely lift 10 pounds a long and this young lady does 2 10 pound weights at the same time without a thought.  I am so proud of her.  I wonder if Acer will want to play when he is older?  It is hard to say.  He is only 7.  I think Calli started playing Goalball at about 9 or 10 years old.  She even goes to Goalball camp every summer.

I don't have too many plans for the weekend except for Camille's lesson and going to Acer's tomorrow.  I have church on Sunday and then I need to get gas for the month.  I only need to get gas about once every 3 to 4 weeks since I don't drive that much.

My head isn't so bad today although I was so tired when I woke up.  I had such a hard time getting up.  I am just exhausted from this week.  First I don't sleep much on Tuesday night because of the Headache, then Wednesday in the ER, and then last night, the nightmares.  I had to get up.  I just couldn't lie there anymore since the dreams wouldn't go away.  I called the Neurologist that Jasmin suggested but she is on medical leave until July and the other doctor in the practice doesn't have anything available until July so basically, neither have room until July.  I think I will make an appointment with the lady and then try to see if I can see someone earlier.  I will then cancel that appointment.  I just don't know.  I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to wait that long since I have been having these for so long, what is a couple more months?  Not much.

I am going to read for a bit and then I am heading for bed.

Thursday 3-29

It has been a rather interesting couple of days.  My appointment went well.  I am going to try Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, depending on how much it costs and what Medicare covers.  I will call on that tomorrow.  Anyways, I had had a bad headache from the night before.  I didn't sleep very well on Tuesday  night because of the pain.  It didn't matter what side I was laying on, it hurt, bad.  I mentioned it to the arthritis doctor and she said to go to my primary care doctor.  I said I would.  Well, I had lunch and went home to teach lessons all the while the head was getting worse and worse.  I taught 4 lessons and how I do not know.  After the last student left, I decided to go to the ER.  I really didn't want to go but it just hurt so much I couldn't stand it anymore.  Nothing was working for it either and I mean nothing.  It was like all I took was a sugar pill.  So I got the ER and it wasn't that busy.  I didn't wait very long, what a surprise!  A nice one though!  I got some pain medicine almost right away.  I was so pleased!  I got some tummy medicine as it was upset too because of the pain.  I had a CT scan also because of my history of blood clots they always have to rule that out.  I don't mind because the test is quick and it doesn't hurt.  It came back clean so that was a relief although I didn't think it was a blood clot because the pain would have been a sudden pain and this wasn't sudden so I did not think it was one.  I stayed for a long while because they couldn't send me home right away because of the strong pain killers they had given me.  I chose not to stay because the head felt much better.  Instead of the pain level of 10, it had gone down to 8, which to me was good enough.  I did have an upset tummy when I was being discharged but I didn't say anything.  It didn't last too long and from experience, I knew it wouldn't.  I got home and had a sandwich to eat because I was very hungry at that time.  I hadn't had anything to eat since 1 pm in the afternoon.  I did make the right decision that I could go home because I don't have a super bad headache tonight, only a slightly bad headache.  I asked Laith's mom if she knew a neurologist that was good.  She gave me the name of one and I will call her tomorrow and make an appointment.  It is time to go and see what is up.  For the last few months I have had bad headaches at least 4 to 5 days a week.  That is just too many to have.  I did forget the prescription for the tummy medicine at the ER though.  That upsets me.  I didn't mean to forget but I didn't put it on my purse like I normally would.  Oh well, I don't think they would send it to me.

I am rather tired because of not having much sleep on Tuesday and last night too.  Ugh, at least I can sleep in tomorrow!  That is good!

Well, I am waiting for the weatherman to tell me what kind of weather we will have for the rest of the week then I am heading for bed.  I will read a bit too.

Tuesday 3-27

It has been an interesting day.  I did wake up with a super bad headache, which I still have at this point.  I had a couple of lessons this evening that went well.  It is an NCIS night and Dance Moms night.  I will watch the NCIS Los Angeles episode on the computer later this week.

Katie stopped by to pick up the disc she needs for the scholarship competition she is participating in.  I found on another disc the accompaniment for the 3 verses of the song.  The disc that came with the book only has 2 verses so I was glad that I found the 3 verse one for her.  Since she will sing 3 verses, it is important that she be able to practice with a disc that has all three verses.

Tomorrow is the arthritis doctor appointment.  My left shoulder is burning tonight.  It hurts so much.  I have had much problems with this shoulder for the last 4 years.  I don't know why.  It just started one day and got worse but then it started to get a bit better but now it is starting to get really bad again.  It is very frustrating since I have no idea how it started.  When the shoulder hurts, it makes my entire left arm hurt.  I will be heading to bed soon.  I have taken some pain pills for it.  I will take a couple of Advil before I head for bed.  I have to be up by 9:15 am tomorrow for the appointment.  It should be a breeze.  I do have to mention that my hands have been hurting a lot again and that they go numb when I am sleeping.  I am bringing a notebook to take notes with.  I don't usually do that, but I don't want to forget anything this time since I am having issues with some things.

Well, I am going to read a bit and take some Advil to see if the headache will go down a bit at least enough to let me sleep.

Sunday - a day of grocery shopping

Calli and I went grocery shopping this afternoon.  It was fun.  I had a nap after church this morning and woke up to go get Calli.  She is 12 now so she gets to sit in the front seat now.  I smile when I think of that because it is so important to her that she gets to sit in the front seat.  We headed to Walmart.  I asked Calli if she would like to stop and get a drink before or stop in the store for a drink at Subway.  She chose Subway.  This way she can have her drink while we are shopping.  I did get a few things that wasn't on my list but they were good to get.  I picked up some salmon and some cod fish for dinner this week.  I also picked up a corned beef pack that I put right in the freezer.  I got some more uncrustables too.  I know that may seem rather silly to buy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that are frozen but as I don't eat sandwiches that much so I end up throwing away a lot of bread and I hate wasting food that way.  I did get organic milk a couple of weeks ago and it lasts a long time, thank goodness because I also have wasted a lot of milk.  Right now my freezer is full so no other food will fit in it.  I will have some nice choices if I want to cook dinner in the next while.  Sometimes I do feel like cooking, but not too often.  It is hard to stand that long at times.  I did get some meatballs and spaghetti sauce along with some Alfredo sauce.  I accidentally bought whole wheat spaghetti today though.  I don't mind whole wheat, but I prefer regular spaghetti.  I won't waste it though.  I will eat it.  Calli and I giggled a lot while shopping.  I picked up the gift certificates for the boys for Easter and I got the girls cute stuffed animals.  I think they will like them.  I know that Matthew and Jacob like i-tunes.  I also got a package of spiderman stickers.  i have some students who really like the spiderman stickers.  I picked up a new thumb drive.  I am going to see how many CDs I can put on it since I am running out of room on my computer.  I didn't get new slippers because they didn't have any in my size that I liked.  Oh well, these ones haven't totally fallen apart yet so I am good.

I can't wait for 10 pm when Jon Bon Jovi is on TV!  He is on Oprah's master class.  I haven't watched her master class series yet so this will be the first for me.  I expect it will be interesting.  He always has interesting interviews and he doesn't air dirty laundry.  That is what I like the best.  He is also very involved in several charities, which is always a good thing.  I think it will be interesting.

Tomorrow, I have my Muglia girls for their lessons.  I have to remember to bring the Harry Potter book. I also have to pull the Titanic music too for Selma.  I need to copy the spring concert music I need for tomorrow too.  I want Rachel to start working on her piece.  We now have a set date for the concert, May 21, Sunday.  I am happy about that.  I can make the flyer and pass it out now.  That is good because then everyone will know when it is.  So far, we have about 30 songs in the concert.  We will have to have an intermission this time because of the amount of songs.  So far, everyone is planning to attend.

I am watching a marathon of NCIS.  So far, I have seen all these episodes but they are so good that I can see them again and again.  Army Wives will be on at 9 pm.  I really like that show.  I am not sure if it I like it because I am an army brat.  I never moved because we never lived on base (or post as it is in the USA) and Mom was in the reserves.  I had some big fears when I as small about wars and combat.  I think if Mom was in the service now, she would go to combat.  It comforted me when she would say that she was a teacher in the army and would not go to combat but I bet she would now.  She had a very strong sense of duty to both Canada and the United States.  She raised us to be proud of our Canadian Heritage, but never forget we were raised as Americans.  I had a dream when I was small that my children would be the first Americans in our family just like the immigrants when they came through Ellis Island.  I read about that in the history books in school and that was what I wanted.  Of course, I don't have children and won't be having any so I can become an American.  I am saving for the fee to become an American.  It costs about $400 for the main fee.  I am not sure about the fingerprinting fee or any other fees.  I am checking into them.  The biggest obstacle is knowing how often I have left the country.  Since my family is in Canada, I leave the country often.  I have to keep track for 5 years.  Yup, 5 years so you can see my obstacle.  I always forget to write down in my log when I left and when I came back.  Someday, I will get this right.

I am getting tired and boy that is not a good thing since I want to stay up to watch the Jon Bon JoviNCIS for now and hope to stay awake until the interview.

Saturday 3-24

It was a lovely day.  I had Camille's lesson.  She is doing awesome.  I am so pleased with her progress.  After that, I went to Acer's house for games afternoon.  We played many games and it was so much fun.  He is a lively young man who was very serious about being a good host, which he was.  He was a very good host.  I stayed for dinner after being invited to go to the movie night at church with them.  We saw "Toy Story 3".  Calli played games with us too.  Acer invited his sister to play with us.  He is 7 now and growing up so fast.  He really is maturing as is Calli.  I love spending the day with them.  Tomorrow Calli and I are going grocery shopping.  I need a few things and she is a wonderful assistant.  I really enjoyed my day with the kids.  It was a nice and relaxing day.  My head was a bit sorer than usual, but thankfully, it did NOT turn into a bad headache, just slightly bad.  Heather was exhausted after a bit so she went to lay down and take a nap.  She did not join us in the movie night.  She was just so exhausted.  Heather B-T has had bronchitis for about 5 months now.  The doctors just can't seem to get a hold of it and find the proper medicine that will clear it up.  She is so not feeling too well a lot and so tired.  I am very worried about her since she can't seem to shake this illness.  We had a good time together yesterday too, just Heather and I.  It was lovely.  Calli thinks it is cool that I will see her 3 days in a row and she is right.  I find it nice too.  They are a nice, loving family, which is so good to see since so many families are splintered right now.  Yesterday, Calli had a Snoopy t-shirt on that said my heart belongs to Daddy.  I feel it fits her so much.  She is definitely their girl.  I feel lucky that I get to be a part of both her and Acer's life.  I feel that way about all my students.  How lucky am I to be a part of their lives.

Tomorrow evening, Jon Bon Jovi will be on Oprah's Master Class at 10 pm.  I am so there watching it.  I am trying to contact Kathy about it too but so far, she hasn't answered yet.  I emailed her again.  I hope she has the OWN network so she can watch the show.  It should be very interesting, at least, I sure hope it will be.  Kathy and I have been Bon Jovi fans since high school when they first came out.  He had really long hair at that time.  It looked good on him but so does his short hair now.  He is aging very well.  I should be so lucky.

I have an appointment with my arthritis doctor this coming week.  The tummy doctor reschedule for the following week.  I am not sure why but it is okay.  The tummy is feeling ever so much better tonight, thank goodness.  The arthritis in my hips and lower back has been rather painful, especially the left one.  There is a little fly in the house tonight.  Ah, spring and the bugs.  Yuck on the bugs.  I will fin it eventually.  I will have to take care of it myself as Mom is no longer here to take care of them for me.  I would be hollering there is a bug in here.  It made her smile.  She knew I wasn't too fond of bugs.  Ew, the thought sends chills up my spine.  Anyways, I digress.  The doctor appointment is actually on Mom's birthday.  It is a day I am slightly dreading as I am afraid I will be very sad although, earlier this week I had a sad day thinking about her.  Sometimes, doubts rule my mind and I wonder if I could have done things differently.  I wonder if I did do things differently, would she still be here.  What stage would she be in?  These are the thoughts that occasionally plague my mind at times.  Usually, they don't come very often anymore.  They used to haunt me for months after my lovely mom passed away.  I miss her everyday but it doesn't always hurt physically like it used to.  I plan to buy a cupcake and put a candle on it to sing Happy Birthday Momma on it.  I want to honor her birthday, not be sad.  She was such a happy person the last 10 or so years.  It was rough on her when we were growing up with all the issues going through our family, the drug days, the divorce, teenage rebellion, and a mouthy daughter (that would be me) but after we grew up she relaxed and became much more content and happy.  I love looking at her smile.  I can picture it in my mind right now.  She had a beautiful smile.  Her eyes would twinkle when she was happy.  Andrew inherited that from her.  When Andrew smiles, his eyes twinkle just like Momma's.  I love his smile too.  Then again, I really like truly happy smiles, especially a child's. One sound I love is a child's laughter.  I also loved Momma's laugh and my brothers, both of them but truly love a child's laughter the most.

Anyways, it was a lovely afternoon and evening.  I plan on getting up early for church tomorrow.  I haven't been there in about a month now and that is not good.  One week we weren't singing and last week I didn't feel well so tomorrow I plan on being there.  I feel okay as far as extra pain is concerned.  I have just the regular pain with a slightly more headache.  I hope your day was a wonderful as mine.

Friday/Saturday 3-23/3-24

Once again it is 1:40 in the morning and I am awake.  I went to bed at 10 pm because I just couldn't stay awake, all the while knowing I would wake up in a few hours and be somewhat awake.  The somewhat awake is because the tummy is being annoying as usual, only more annoying than usual.  I don't have to get up early tomorrow so that is good.  I have only 1 lesson at about 1:15 so I can be up at regular time and be wide awake.  I am heading back to the Bowman-Tomlinson house in the afternoon as I as invited by young Mr. Acer to come and have a games afternoon.  How awesome is that?  I would say it is super awesome!  Then on Sunday, Calli and I will be grocery shopping so basically this means I will see the B-T family 3 days in a row!  I think that is pretty cool.

Heather B-T and I had a nice lunch of Chinese food.  She made some Chinese type dumplings and they were super filling.  We had a nice chat and I got the adult time I was aiming for.  I left in time to get my hair washed and dried while she went to pick up children from school.  Emily and Natalie had their lessons too.  So far, several of the students have their Supercalif... music for the concert.  i have to copy and make discs for Natalie and Allison's duet, My Favorite Things.  I think Calli, Breanna, and I am not sure who are going to do the Double Trouble Trio.  I do have to redo it in Finale though as the disc really is missing in action.  That totally bums me out because I know I have seen it in the last year or so.  I did find Katie's Rest Sweet Nymphs but I can't find Double Trouble.  I need to have a better system for discs that have only one song on them.  I think I will have them numbered with the book or sheet music they belong to.  That is the only thing I can think of to do with them.  i am open to new suggestions though.  I will do the song this weekend so I can give it to Calli and Breanna this week.  I originally wanted Calli, Katie, and Aggie but Katie isn't taking lessons right now and I am not sure how often Aggie would be in town to practice so I need to find another person.  I really wanted Isaac to do it, but he is nervous about it.  I think he would do wonderful with it, but he is unsure so he doesn't want to do it.  I may need to really convince him he can do this because I need a third person for when the song goes into 3 parts near the end.  We shall see how it all works out.  Maybe a duet would be okay.  I just don't know.  I will figure it out before the concert.  I need to ask Bill and Heather if there is word on when the concert will be.  I requested either May 20 or May 21.  There will be about 30 or so numbers in it with some of the kids doing duets and trios plus the group song.  I think it will be lots of fun though.  i will have the kids sit in the front 2 rows in order so that the concert will go at a good clip without much lag time in between numbers.  While they are being announced, the student will be heading up to the piano or the microphone for their performance.  This will be Charlie's last concert.  I am super sad about that because he is such a good student!  He is wonderful and I could go on forever about him.  He starts college in July so this is truly the last one.  I plan to have a big cookie that says congratulations for him from the cookie place in Rochester.  I will have to pick it up on the Saturday though because they are closed on Sunday.  I also will have the spring newsletter with a spotlight on him.  I will need about 10 to 12 pictures of him growing up to do that though plus he has to write what he wants to do in the future.  Goodness knows he doesn't want me to write it!

Well, I think I can go back to sleep.  My tummy medicine is slowly starting to work its way around the tummy.  It hurts less than it did when it woke me up about an hour ago.  Silly tummy, if only it wouldn't get like this so often!  Not much I can do about that though.  I was born with tummy troubles and will have them forever I think.

Just think, in 12 hours I will be at the Bowman-Tomlinson house again!  wow, that is a weird thought but it is true.  I am expected by 2:15 so I will be there with bells on!

Headache Day 3-22

I have a bad headache today.  I woke up with it so it is just one of those things.  I didn't go to choir practice  because of it and I plan to go to bed early too.  I slept very, very poorly last night.  I went to bed at 10 pm thinking that it would help.  I was very wrong.  I did fine until about 11:50 pm.  Then I woke up at 1 am and then at 2 am.  I finally got up about 2:30 and went downstairs.  My tummy was upset and too full all at the same time.  You know how sometimes you finish eating and several hours later you tummy starts to feel super full but you haven't eaten anything else since dinner?  Well, that was my tummy last night and then it started to be upset.  Ah, IBS is such a lovely thing, NOT!  I have a tummy doctor appointment next week, I just can't remember when.  It is either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.  Fortunately, they will call me and let me know.  I also have the arthritis doctor appointment one of those days too.  I will get a call the day before for that one too.  Thank goodness for reminder calls!!!  Without them, I would be missing appointments left and right.  That is not good so I am glad they take the time to remind me.  This way, I don't miss or I reschedule the day before so I am not charged for the miss appointment.  Speaking of appointments, I need to make one for the pro-time test next month.  When I called back for my recent results, I was not at home so I couldn't make the appointment, which actually worked out well because their computers were down.  I wouldn't have been about to make the appointment even if I was home.  I hope to remember to that tomorrow before I go to heather B-T's house.

I am looking forward to visiting with Heather B-T tomorrow.  We rarely get a chance to sit down and have a chat just the 2 of us so it shall be a lot of fun, providing, of course, this stupid, bad headache is back to the normal, much more manageable headache.  That is what I am hoping happens tomorrow.

Today's lessons weren't super hard with the bad headache, just medium hard.  The students were extra nice to me and tried really hard.  I told them that I had a bad headache and they were so sweet.  All the students did well, even my 2 who don't practice at all.  Benjy is learning his notes despite only seeing them once a week.  Joiene was a little bit more nervous to play her new song because the letters inside the notes are now gone.  After a little bit of coaxing, she did play her new song and did well.  Joiene also doesn't practice at all either.  I think their mom is not sure what to do even though I showed her.  I am hoping that Benjy will start playing on his own at home and then encourage Joiene to play too.  He has such potential, not that Joiene, doesn't she does, but Benjy is doing really well despite his not practicing.

Starting next week, students will be beginning their spring concert songs.  My really small ones will be learning their songs a bit differently than usual because their music is a bit harder than what they play in the lesson books.  I also will have the group song ready.  I have to re-burn the discs because of a mistake made in the pausing between tracks.  Yup, 14 discs were thrown away because of my mistake!  Yuck!  I will do that this weekend.

I have some bills to pay tonight so I better get on that so they can be mailed tomorrow!

Spring has Sprung! 3-22

I think Monday was the official First Day of Spring but we have had spring-like weather for weeks now.  I am loving every minute of the day with that spring-like weather.  The sun was shining, the sky was a blue, blue, blue, and the clouds were white puffs of cotton.  It has just been a week of wonderful weather.  I am more tired when I wake up but I perk after about an hour.  Tomorrow I will be getting up a bit early because my Katie is coming to pick up some music for the scholarship competition.  Breanna is going to do the competition also.  Carolyn, I think, is not.  That is okay.  I have also asked if the woman who is in charge if she can accompany my 2 students as I don't accompany.  She is very nice.  Her name is Bea.  Bea did a great job accompanying Katie and Rachel last year.  I sure hope Breanna and Katie will do well.  Katie has picked her two songs.  She will sing her German Song and "Rest Sweet Nymphs", an old English Song.  Breanna is not sure what she is going to sing.  I know one of them will be "Caro Mio Ben".  She likes that Italian song a lot.  The English one, we are not sure about yet.  She has sung some lovely English Songs in the past year.  We both agreed it would be best if she sung a song we have already finished since the audition is just around the corner.  It ill be nice to see Katie tomorrow since I haven't seen her since Christmas time.

Jillian, Brooke, and Aubrey all had their lessons tonight.  They are so cute.  Jillian and Brooke are 5. They were so excited to get new books this week.  They just finished the level A book and are now in level B.  I am so proud of them and their sister.  Aubrey will finish her level 1A in a few weeks.  The smiles they give are so lovely.  The girls are so excited to learn.  It is wonderful to teach children who are so excited about learning piano.  I look forward to their lessons every week.

So far, the spring concert line up is really shaping up.  Allison picked her song today.  She will sing "Candle on the Water" from Pete's Dragon.  I don't remember the movie but I do know I have probably seen it since we have seen a lot of the Disney movies thanks to Mom.

Friday I will be meeting my friend, Heather B-T for lunch and tea at her house.  I just want to have some fun down time with another adult.  I love being around my students, but sometimes I need to speak with adults.  It is just one of those times.  I don't have anything in particular to talk about, I just want to have a nice afternoon talking to her.  It should be a nice afternoon.

I am tired now.  I think I will read my book for a bit and then head to bed.  I am reading Danielle Steel's book, Rogue.  It is good so far but I think I have read it before.  I can't remember but parts sound vaguely familiar to me.  I will then continue to re-read the Anne of Green Gables books starting with the Anne of Avonlea book.  i love those books so much.  She is my favorite author of all time.  I have a bit more of headache than usual tonight.  I hope it goes back to normal soon.

Tuesday 3-20

Wow, mid march has come and gone!  We have such beautiful weather that it seems impossible that it isn't April or end of March.  I do hope that we DON'T get a blizzard in April, that would be a slap in the face.  I have a new rug for the landing at the front door and I simply love it.  I moved the old welcome mats and moved them outside so I have room for the new rug.  It blends in really well with the carpet in the living room and the hallway.  I had originally bought 2 of them but they were bigger than i though so I returned the second one since I didn't need it.  Heather B-T helped me put it down and fix it right.  Calli also helped put the old ones on the front porch.  Calli is such a helpful young lady and she is growing up so quickly.  I can't believe she is 12 already!

Tonight is NCIS night.  I love this show.  I think I say that a lot.  The USA channel runs re-runs a lot during the week too and they have awesome marathons on the weekends.  Anyways, Andrew is the one who actually got me into the show.  Silly little brother!  He watched it and kept telling me to watch it.  Andrew loves these type shows a lot.  I finally sat down and watched it with him.  I had to agree, it was a good show.  I have the first 6 season on DVD.  I didn't get the other ones because I have seen them all.

My birthday is in 3 weeks and 4 days away.  I am not sure exactly what I am doing outside of spending the day at Kathy's parents with her and her family!  I did invite a friend to come over to play games the week after the Easter.  I am looking forward to hanging out with Kathy for the whole day.  Her husband and kids will be there too.  I love spending time with them.  Her parents are really nice too.  I have known them most of my life too since I have also known Kathy most of my life so that would make sense that I would know her parents for that long too.  It is the second time in my life that my birthday is on Easter Sunday.  All of my childhood I wanted it to be on Easter.  I have had it on Good Friday, Maude Thursday, the day before Easter, the day after, Palm Sunday, and the days in between, but never on Easter Sunday until a few years ago.  I think it is kind of cool.  Andrew's birthday often falls on Mother's Day.  Mom always said that he was a good Mother's Day present.  I am not sure if I will be able to see him on or near his birthday.  He is very busy all the time.  He and Angie want to move to Toronto soon.  I think there is more work for Andrew there.  He is an outreach worker.  I don't know if he is going to go on to become a counselor or not.  I haven't asked.  I don't think about it when I see him.

I was reading a book about two women who were switched at birth.  One was from New York City and the other was from Pennsylvania and an Amish family.  It was a very interesting story.  I have always been interested in the Amish and Mennonite because they are so different.  I wonder if all the technology we have is really worth it?  Would our lives be better or worse without all the modern conveniences.  I wouldn't mind visiting life like the Amish but I must confess, I really like my modern conveniences.  I like the central heating, a/c, electricity, driving a car, playing on the computer, hot water, and so on so I could only visit, I couldn't stay permanently.  It was a very interesting book though.  I read another by this author.  It was a Christmas book and it was really good too.  It was about a family who lived in North Carolina in Charlotte.  They were well off until the father lost his job.  He never told his family and managed to get scammed so they lose everything.  they planned then to move to New York to her parents who aren't really that nice of people.  On the way, the stop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and gets lost.  They get in a car accident.  The Amish man they almost hit offers them to stay at his house with his family.  They do and after a few weeks they find a new way to make money and choose to stay near their new friends.  It was a lovely book.  I think I will have Maggie read it too since I know she will love it too.  Kathy really liked it too.

I was super tired when I woke up today.  I felt so tired.  Every muscle in my body felt so tired and was moving so slow.  I finally feel a bit better.  It was just rather strange.  I will be heading to bed a bit early tonight to make sure I don't have that happen again tomorrow.  That is my hope anyway.

Sunday 3-18 & Monday 3-19

It is the day after St. Patrick's Day.  I wonder how the hangovers are for the people who partied all day?  I am sure some of them are perfectly awful.  That is one reason I have never had the urge to get drunk.  One, I really can't stand the smell of alcohol and second, I don't particularly like the throwing up that happens when you drink too much.  So with the combination of both, I stay as far away from alcohol as possible!  I did have one employee who refused to believe I have only had about an 1/2 inch of a wine cooler when I was 21 and that is all the alcohol I have ever had.  It is true though.  It doesn't bother me when I am out and others want to drink, that is certainly their prerogative.

Calli had her lesson this afternoon since she was absent on Friday.  As usual, she did wonderful.  She learned the last line of Minuet in G by Bach.  We are doing hands separate this week because it is a bit of a tricky part of the song, but that is okay.  We often do hands separate for the more advanced students because it makes it a bit easier for them to learn.

I am not feeling well tonight now.  I am not sure if it is allergies or a cold but my head is a bit stuffy.  I am getting very tired now so I think I may be actually heading for the little bed.  I am just very tired, more than usual.

For someone who was sooooo tired, I couldn't sleep until after 2 am.  I was not a happy camper about that, that is for sure!  I am hoping for a better night's sleep tonight.  It is now Monday evening.

It appears that I may have not gotten a full fledge cold.  I am feeling much better today than yesterday.  I will take the nighttime cold medicine again tonight just to get rid of what is left of the cold.  I should be fine by tomorrow.

We are having some of the most beautiful Spring weather ever.  It has been in the 70s for the last 3 days and will be until about Thursday when it will go back into the 60s.  This has really been the  winter that never was as far as temperatures are concerned.  I haven't minded.  All the snow we have had melted with in a day or two after it had fallen.  Last year we had so much snow so I am glad we didn't have too much this winter.

I have spent a lot of time these past few days thinking about when we were children and the adventures we would go on with mom.  She was never one to sit around.  I remember when I was about 6 or so and we were camping in the Algonquin Park in Ontario.  Mom wanted to take a hike and wanted us to go with her.  I was not a big hiker fan but I had to go since the rest of the family (Mom, Andrew, and Richard) were going.  She said we would go to the short hike, not the long one.  Well, I think she made a mistake because we ended up on the long trail.  I would sit down so much and the boys would get so mad at me.  I remember being so exhausted from all that walking.  Mom said as soon as we got back to the campsite I went right into the tent and fell asleep for a few hours.  Here is an old picture of Andrew, Mom, and I.

I know it is very blurry.  Here is another one of us 3.

This one is much clearer of us.  Look how little that I am in the picture and Andrew!!  

I am having an okay day as far as the pain level.  It is just the normal pain level, not so much higher than that.  The head is the normal headache, nothing more than that so I am very glad about that.

I do hope that your day was good.

Friday 3-16

It was so beautiful again today, mid 70s, sunshine, clear skies!  I only wish my mother was here with me to enjoy it.  It is the type of day she would say to me, let's go for a scooter!  She would walk and I would ride my scooter.  We loved these type days together.  We had so many of them that I can think of.  Mom loved nature so much.  When we were small, she would take us for walks to see flowers, trees, cloud patterns, anything like that.  We would be so into whatever she was showing us.  At one time, I could tell you all the cloud patterns, unfortunately, I can't do that anymore.  I still love nature though.  One time, we were walking through the park nature path, we saw a baby deer and a doe.  We must have been about 5 or 6 at the time.  We stood really quiet so we wouldn't scare them away.  I remember think that it was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen.  We camped a lot when I was young too.  One summer, I think it was 1977, we spent most of the summer living in a tent.  We had a big cabin size tent to sleep in and another tent was the kitchen tent with a fridge.  It was a carefree summer for us kids, but the worst summer for mom since my so called father was making her life miserable.  He even tried to kidnap us.  He would eventually kidnap my older brother about a year or so later.  He showed up at the camp and our sitter, Susan, went to the office to call my mother.  My mom had to have a helicopter come and get her so she could get to us right away.  The guards went to the front of the camp so he could not leave with us.  (we were at an Army Cadet Camp).  The campground was on lockdown so we would be safe.  I remember being surprised to see my momma during the day.  She literally ran through the woods to the helicopter and then went back to the camp to get her car to get to us.  My dad had no idea that Susan had called my mom.  I think he expected to be able to take us without any problem.  WRONG!  Mom had plans in effect should he show up.  It is hard to look back and realize that he only wanted to kidnap us to hurt my mother.  He didn't want us and neither did his new wife.  My dad didn't want us but he DID want to hurt my mother and he tried, but she was strong.  She came through it with us intact.  It was hard, but eventually my father did return my brother, but it would be a long time.  It seemed to me that he was gone for years, but I don't really have a good sense of time from back them.  Anyways, for me, it was one of the best summers, but it was the worst for mom.  To me it shows how much she didn't want us to know what was going on.  We were upset enough with what we did know.

Today was just one of those days that I wish mom were here to enjoy it with me.  I have lots of those days.

Emily had her piano lesson today and stayed a bit late to work on the group song.  she did very well.  I hope to work on it with Camille tomorrow.  Tomorrow night, Kelly Lynn and I are going to see our friend, Star, in her play in Roseville.  I hope that I am feeling good tomorrow.  So far, it seems I have not gotten the cold although I am exhausted today.  I really slept in this afternoon and when I got back from running errands, I had to take a brief nap before Emily's lesson.  It is just insane!  My throat doesn't feel like it did last night, but my nose is a bit stuffy.  I have a bad headache, I think because of the stuffiness.  I hope by tomorrow I will be feeling back to normal.  That is my goal for tomorrow!

It has been a decent day, despite the extra exhaustion and the missing of mom a lot today.  I hope yours has been good too.

another beautiful day - weather wise 3-15

Today it reached the mid 70s.  Yes, mid 70s in March in Michigan!  What a dream!  However, the storms are making me ache a lot!  I also think I am on the brink of a cold.  I shall take some cold medicine tonight to see if I can beat it!  I don't need a cold right now at all.  Okay, I never NEED a cold and I don't know anyone who does, but you know what I mean.

It was rather strange going to get lunch without a jacket on and going to choir in a spring jacket instead of the winter one.  It was very strange let me tell you!  Choir is going well.  I surprised myself by actually knowing much of Sunday's song by heart.  Since I have brain fog it can be difficult to remember songs.  I will have help though because they always post the words on the screen at the back of the Sanctuary.  That will save me if I have a bad brain fog day.  It is so funny and sweet though because our director gets so excited about what we are singing and how these things go.  It is nice though because it makes it easier to want to sing really well.  Carolyn had to leave early tonight for some reason.  She, I think, will be there on Sunday.  She is such a nice young lady.  Her whole family is just very nice and friendly not to mention rather helpful!  I actually owe them some homemade cookies.  I need to do this for them.  I keep forgetting when I have time.  I have time tomorrow so I will make them then.  I also need to copy some music tomorrow too for Emily.  Laith has picked his spring concert song tonight.  He wanted a short one and not Disney so he picked Do Re Mi from Sound of Music.  So far, almost everyone has picked out a song.  There are only a few people who haven't picked out songs yet.  I figure by the end of the month everyone will have songs picked out.  Tomorrow, Emily and I are going over the group song.  I hope to be able to go over the group song with Camille on Saturday.  I know someone has the original music papers, but I can't think of who has it.  I have to copy the song Saturday along with all the spring concert music.  That should be fun!  Ugh, the standing for it.  They don't have chairs at the copy place unfortunately.  I will get it done though so that will be good.

Well, I am going to read a bit and then go to bed.  My head and throat feel like they are about to explode into a cold so I am hoping to head it off and be ahead of the game instead of behind.

Pi day 3-14

Apparently, it is a Pi day!  I don't know why we celebrate it.  Perhaps, one of my bloggy friends might know.  I am not a mathematician, so I don't really know the deal with celebrating of this.  Either way, happy Pi Day!

I have all my info turned in to Julie for my income taxes.  I thought I had everything in the folder, but apparently, I was missing some info.  It is all there now!

I am rather tired now.  I don't want to go to bed yet because I don't want another night like Monday when I woke up bright and early at 2:30 in the morning and couldn't sleep into 4:30 so I will stay awake for a while longer.  I took my nighttime medicine a little later than I used to so I am hoping to sleep better tonight.

Today was a bit of a busy day with lessons.  Acer had his lesson today instead of Friday.  They have a cheerleading banquet that night.  This weekend is the last of their cheer competitions.  It is also Calli's 12th birthday on Saturday.  She is a St. Patrick's Day baby.  It makes me smile to think of her birthday.  Last year I went to her house for a birthday dinner and brownie cakes.  We played games too.  It was a good time.  She will have her lesson on Sunday instead of Friday because of the banquet.

Jillian and Brooke are almost finished with their first books.  I went to get them and they are totally out of the solo books.  I couldn't find them at all and I know that they carry them.  The help in the evening are not very helpful at all.  The girl looked right where I looked.  Well, I knew they weren't there, I had looked where they normally were.  She also took my order on a piece of paper so I am not sure they will get ordered.  I will call Annie in the morning to check on the order.  I also need one theory book for Aubrey.  She will be done with her books in a few weeks too.  All three are doing really well with piano.  Not to mention, they are beautiful girls.

I am rather achy tonight for some reason.  My hips are stiff and achy.  I hope they improve by tomorrow.

Monday night/Tuesday Morning

It is about 2:45 am my time.  I can't sleep.  I went to bed about 10 pm and slept for about 4 hours before I woke up again and couldn't sleep anymore.  I figured that instead of tossing and turning (which is what I had been doing for about 30 or so minutes) I would just come downstairs.  I am wide awake at this point, ready to take on the world.  Of course, in about an hour or so the ready to take on the world will fade and I will be tired again, or at least I hope so, so I can go back to bed to sleep some more.  This happens to me when I go to bed early most times but I just couldn't stay awake anymore so I had to go to bed.  I think I need to take my nighttime medicine later again.  It is so hit and miss with the nighttime medicine kicking in.  Some days it is right away, most days it is like I didn't even take anything, and some days it kicks in 2 1/2 or so hours after I take it.  I am hopeful that I will go back to sleep in a while.  I mean, it is only 3 in the morning, it isn't like I want to stay up at this point and begin my day.  Although, I would possibly get a lot done!

It was a very exhausting day, not because I was super busy or anything, just trying to catch up on losing an hour sleep on Saturday night.  I slept in and then I had to take about an hour nap before Rachel's lesson.  I was just so tired.  Rachel is doing pretty well.  I have to get her gift certificate to Toys R Us this coming week or next.  She earned enough points to get one.  She earned her $250 points to get her $10 gift certificate.  Next week Rachel will begin to work on her spring concert song.  Isaac was one happy young man yesterday at his lesson.  His music to Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter came in.  We began it right away.  He is so excited to be learning it.  Isaac also picked his vocal piece for the concert, "Be Kind to Your Parents".  He said he can't wait to see the look on their faces when he sings it.  I know both his parents have very good sense of humor so I know they will find the piece as funny as he and I do.  I just know it.  I think the concert music is shaping up very well.  I will be copying a lot of music this week for the little ones, the medium size ones, and the big ones.  I am taking the books to Kinkos because my scanner is only for an 8 1/2 by 11 and music is a bit bigger than that so I have to shrink the pages to about 93%.  It shouldn't take to long.  I also have to copy the Supercalifrag... music and CDs to pass them out to students so they can start learning the music.  Some kids already have theirs and most will be getting it in the next 2 weeks.  I plan that everyone will have their music by the end of March.  That gives us about 7 weeks or so until the concert.

Well, I think I may possibly be tired enough to head back to bed after I take some tummy medicine.  Naturally, the tummy isn't feeling to hot right now.  That may be what woke me up in the first place.  Silly tummy!!!!

visitors day!!

My Aunt Michelle and Uncle John as well as my cousin, Jayson were here for the afternoon.  I went to the MMA meeting at 1 pm.  It was okay, just talking about the competition last month.  Some issues were issues that have been brought up year after year so I am tired of listening to it.  There are some categories that are going to just be gray, no black and white.  That is just the way it is going to be.  We will have songs that cross over, there is no doubt about it.  I was able to be there for the entire general meeting but I had to leave before the end of the board meeting because my aunt and uncle were going to be over around that time.  Fortunately, I didn't miss much.  I called Diane to see what I missed.  We had a nice chat and it went well.  I will not be doing the program but that is okay.  I will do something else, except the judges.  I will do almost everything but that!  That is too much for me after what happened this year.

After the packages were opened, Aunt Michelle, Uncle John, Jayson, and I went to Red Lobster for dinner. Boy, was it wonderful and I am so full!  Aunt Michelle brought some of her dinner home.  I ate most of mine there.  We came back here and chatted for a while before they had to get going.  Uncle John has to get up about 4 am tomorrow so they couldn't stay too late.  I am glad that I got to see them today.  Jayson is growing up so fast.  He is now 5 and in junior kindergarten.  Next year he starts kindergarten.  It seems like yesterday he was turning 3.

I am now getting super tired.  I am watching Army Wives.  I love this show.  I have the first 4 seasons on DVD.  I don't have the 5th season because I saw them all on TV last year so I didn't buy it when it came out.  I am not planning on purchasing season 5 either.  I am going to try to watch all of season 6 on TV.  I am not purchasing as many DVDs now like I used to.  I do have most of the TV series that I want.  There is the Father Dowling series that I would like.  I will get it soon.

Today was a good day with my aunt and uncle stopping by.

Saturday 3-10

Next week will be Calli's 12th birthday.  It is hard to believe the young lady will be 12.  Lily just turned 14, another surprise.  I wonder when I will be able to take the young lady out for her birthday.  I hope in the next week or so.

I checked on prices for Guinea Pigs but I can't afford the stuff the little animals need so no Guinea Pigs at this point.  I am glad I checked into it because I was so unsure about whether or not I wanted one.  Apparently, they smell so I don't think I will get one at all.  I don't want my house to smell at all.  It would not be fun.  I guess my beanie babies will be my pets then.  I like beanie babies and Winnie the Pooh animals too.  Right now, all the stuffed animals, beanie babies, and Winnie and friends are all on the piano I don't use right now.  That piano has something wrong with its middle C or D, one of the two, I can't remember which one.  As soon as I have the pianos tuned, it will be fixed.  Sometimes on the piano I am usually using, one of the keys echoes but not very often.  I plan to have the pianos tuned in the spring after winter.  They haven't been tuned in a couple of years.  For not being tuned, they are not badly out of tune, thank goodness!  They are only slightly out of tuned so they are still useable, thankfully.  So far, I think I am the only one who really notices except perhaps Acer, who has perfect pitch.  Speaking of Acer, he is doing a good job at his piano and voice lessons.  He learned the first line of "Windmill" and started the group song for the concert.  I think the group song will be pretty awesome.  We have never done a group song that has harmony before.  Usually, I pick a song and then everyone pretty much already knows it.  I pass out the words and then they sing.  This is something totally different.  We will have rehearsals and everything so it will be ready for the concert.

We lose an hour of sleep tonight.  Yuck.  I hate losing an hour of sleep.  It takes so long to actually get used to it although I am confident this year it will be better or so I am hoping!  I am not as tired as I thought I would since I as up super early yesterday and went to bed at regular time.  I did sleep a bit better than usual for a few hours, which was so awesome.  I was very tired when i woke up for my lovely Camille's piano lesson.  I had originally thought I would take a little nap after Camille's lesson but I had lunch and then Aaiyana was here for her lesson so no time for a nap.  That is alright though, I would rather have the lesson than a nap today.  Aaiyana is a sweet girl most of the time.  Camille is simply a wonderful girl, just simply wonderful.  I have a lot of wonderful girls and boys as well as adults.  Tomorrow is a meeting for the Michigan Music Association.  It is the wrap up meeting from the competition.  If my Aunt and Uncle come to see me tomorrow, I won't go to the meeting.  I would rather visit them instead.  I don't get to see them very often since they live an hour and a half away.  I do go and visit.  I plan to see them a lot during the spring and summer.  That is when they have a lot of family visiting.   They have a pool but I am not interested in swimming.  When I as younger, then I was interested but not now.  The last time I swam in Uncle John's pool I got a bad sunburn on my back.  It was horrible and Mom was on vacation.  I had to have Andrew get me some sunburn stuff and put it on my back.  He couldn't believe how bad it really was.  I didn't realize I was burning or I would have covered up.  My cousin, Cathy and her children were there that day too.  I hope to see her soon too.  Maybe this summer.  I don't have anywhere I plan to go this summer except for a few days at Kathy's.  I always stay at a hotel right near their house.  I usually pick one that has a indoor pool so the kids and Tony can swim while Kathy and I chat.  I enjoyed visiting her last year although I didn't get a chance to go and see her in the summer.  I had gone in the fall of 2010.  I really enjoyed going to see her when I was at competition.  I was able to spend the Friday afternoon and the Saturday evening with her.  I was so exhausted by Sunday afternoon.

II's Diamond Jubilee.  It is pretty cool that she will be there for that.  I will watch a lot of it on TV.  I am sure they will televise it.  Amazon carries the coffee mug of the wedding of William and Catherine.  I believe we have a tea cup of Charles and Diana.  Mom and I were royal family fans.  I think it is the Brit and Canadian in me.  For mom, she was in the Canadian Military so it isn't surprising.  I have been lucky enough to have seen Queen Elizabeth as a teenager and the Queen Mother twice as a child and teen.  All three trips were extremely exciting to me.

I think tomorrow I will also start putting the china cabinet stuff back in it.  Some of the stuff was packed because my cousins were certain I was moving to Canada.  I am not moving anywhere so I need to put the stuff back in the cabinet where it belongs.  I have to go through the collectible thimbles though because I know there are some duplicates.  I don't know what to do with the duplicates.  I had asked Lily if she wanted the duplicates but she didn't seem to interested.  I have asked on face book if anyone wants them.  I am hoping that someone will want them.  Most of them are very pretty.  I also have to put the plates back up at the back of the china cabinet so they will be displayed.  I have one of the queen Mother and one of the Queen too.

I caught my hair on the garage door opener in the car this afternoon.  It hurt so much and pulled some of my hair out.  The clip is what caught my hair in the ponytail.  Fortunately, I was able to get my hair out it pretty fast.  I hope I don't do it again.

I have a semi bad headache tonight.  I think in part because of the hair getting caught in the clip of the garage door opener.  My back isn't as sore as it was last night.  Brain fog is not as bad as the other day, but it is a problem a lot of time.

I think I am going to go to sleep now.  I am super exhausted now.  I have some laundry to do tomorrow as well as a meeting (unless my uncle and aunt come to town).  I hope your day is good too.

Is it really morning? 3-9

It is very strange to be up and wide awake at this hour.  I woke up at 6:30 am and I was very thirsty.  I came down had a drink and went back upstairs.  By the time I got up the stairs, I was wide awake so I went back down the stairs.  I am usually only awake at this hour on Sunday since I have to be at church by 7:30 am and I HATE being late, however, today is Friday and not Sunday.  I have no idea why I am awake.  i didn't sleep too great since I had nightmares of someone breaking in my house and hurting my mother.  It is strange when I have these nightmares because when I dream them I am in my old room and not my new room.  I don't know why but that is what happens.  I haven't had these nightmares in a while.  I had them almost every night right after mom passed away for about the first 6 to 7 months but I haven't had them in a while.  In my nightmares I can't call 911 because my phone is too complicated and I can't get it to dial, which is probably why I won't get one of those new smart phones.  I am afraid that in an emergency, I won't be able to dial 911.  I know this is not a rational fear, but it is a fear nonetheless.  I don't have as many fears as I had right after mom passed away, but I still have some fears left over.  Slowly, they are going away too.  God has taken good care of me so far, I can't imagine that he will stop.  He just isn't that type of a God.  I think some of the old fears have come back because of the new car.  My trade in paid for the entire 2 years of my lease and now I am scared I won't be able to afford a car at the end of the lease.  Another irrational fear, I think.  I am doing much better with my money than I ever have, and yet, I still have much more thriftiness to learn but I am learning.  God has been so faithful as He always has been so I have been learning to lean on Him much more than myself.  That was something Mom always tried to teach me.  Mom was a strong woman because she was so strong in her faith.  She knew that God would help her with everything and she lived that way.  Even in the midst of the horrible divorce, she was sure God would be there and He was.  My mom did not falter when it came to keeping us kids, a roof over our heads, and a way for her to make a living.  My father tried to drive her crazy and put her in a mental institution.  He did NOT win on that one.  Now that I am an adult and can look back at what happened, I just don't understand how a man can one day love his family and the next hate them.  I will never understand how he just decided one day he didn't want to be a husband and a father anymore.  Never.  I did learn a really important lesson back then though.  Be a Mommy's girl, not a Daddy's girl because Daddy left and Mommy never did.  I remember being very upset and devastated because I was a daddy's girl.  I was all about my dad unless I was sick, then I wanted Mommy and only Mommy.  After he started moving in and out, I became my mom's girl and there I stayed.  She used to call me her "gal".  I can still hear her asking where her gal is in my mind.  I haven't heard her voice in 16 or so months but in my memory, I can hear her perfectly.  I have several pictures that will be going up of us from the last few years.  I can't find the picture of Mom and I at Kathy's wedding though. Come to think of it, I can't find ANY of the pictures that were professionally taken at Kathy's wedding.  I know that they are in a box in the guest room and that is it.  I want to put up the one with Mom and I, and the one of Kathy and I.  I remember how excited Mom and I were on Kathy's wedding day.  I think my mother was as excited as I was and I was super super excited!  I loved every moment of her wedding.  It was beautiful and she looked so beautiful and happy that day.  I loved her wedding dress too.  It was a rose print white satin dress with long sleeves (she did get married in November).  I remember at her parents' house the photographer fluffing her dress and me giggling.  I had bought Kathy a bride's survival kit that contained a pair of Snoopy and Woodstock undies.  She wore them on her wedding day.  It did have some practical stuff in it too, but I loved that I bought almost ALL of the stuff right in front of her and she had NO clue!  I loved doing that to Kathy.  I could buy her Christmas present or her birthday present right in front of her, she could even pick it out, and she never realized it was for her.  This has been a major fun thing for me over the years.  I used to do that to Mom too.  One year, she tried on 2 pairs of pants at the store and I bought them for her for Christmas.  She couldn't understand how they both fit perfectly on her when she tried them on at Christmas.  Mom had totally forgotten she tried them on in the store!  It was awesome.  The other day was a totally missing mom horribly day when my friend, Vickie, sent me a message over Face book saying she felt that my mom was sending me hugs that day.  It was on her heart to tell me this.  This was on the horrible missing mom day!  How cool was that?  I thought it was really awesome.

Well, I am actually getting a bit hungry so I need to check the milk date to see if it is still good.  Something tells me it isn't though and I will need to run to Walmart to get some for breakfast.  Since I am rarely up this early, I am not sure what time the stores open but I think Walmart is a 24 hour store.  I will check online.  I hope your day is amazing and wonderful!!!

Choir night!

We are not singing during the first service Sunday.  The children's choir will be singing instead of us.  I don't mind, believe me.  I love listening to the children's choir.  They are so cute and they sing very nicely. We also lose an hour sleep Saturday night.  I am so not looking forward to that.  I hate when we "spring ahead".  Fall's gaining an hour isn't so bad, but the spring one is very hard on my body.  It will take about 3 or so weeks to get used to it.

Choir went well this evening.  We worked on next week's music and the Easter music.  I am not sure if I will be there Easter Sunday.  It all depends on when I need to be at Kathy's parents house.  It is now an hour away so I have to factor in driving time.  I like spending the holidays with Kathy and her family including her parents.  Since I can't spend them with Momma, this is definitely the way to go.  Kathy and family may need to stay at my house when they come in town sometimes if her brother and his family is coming too.  Like I would even mind!  It would be a good time for all of us.  I have the room for them.  The boys would probably have to use an air mattress and sleeping bags, but somehow, I don't think they would mind at all.  Kathy and Tony would take mom's room and the girls would have the other guest room.  We would be nice and cosy.

I feel like I have a lot of brain fog this evening.  My head feels like it is swimming.  I don't like that feeling.  It happens a lot though.  It is something I haven't really gotten used to it like I have with some (not all) of the pain and the exhaustion.  I don't think I will ever get used to the brain fog.

I think my laundry is done drying now.  I can't hear it running.  I think the bell that tells me it is finished is not working anymore.  I am hoping to get another year or so out of the dryer before I need a new one. So far, it is holding up.  I am not sure how old it is.

We are expecting weather in the 60s next week.  Wow, it is March.  We have had so much warm weather this winter.  It has been a totally unexpected winter.  I am glad about that.  I have ached less than last winter and I like it.  I just hope summer isn't too hot.

I am very tired now.  I am heading for bed in a few minutes.  I have to check on my laundry to see if it is ready to go upstairs.  I have another load to do tomorrow, my dark clothes and another load of whites.  I hope you are having a good night.

Wednesday! 3-7

Tomorrow is Lily's birthday.  She will be 14 years old!  I haven't seen her in a couple of months since Christmas, but I plan to take her out to eat for her birthday as soon as she is available.  With her busy schedule, it could be a while.

It has been a strange type week for me so far.  A very strange week indeed.  I am so tired last night.  I did wake up a few times as usual but I couldn't get up until after 12.  I was just that tired.  I am still exhausted.  I will be heading to bed soon.

Benjy should be a happy camper tomorrow evening.  The new lego people came in today.  There are many  lego people in the kit.  That should make him extremely happy as he loves playing with legos while his sister is having lessons.  Joiene likes to play with legos too and the cars.  I have to move some of the music books downstairs tomorrow.  I haven't done it yet.  The stuffed animals are on the other piano now and the ones that belong on the couches are now there.  Over all, the living room is looking really good.  My office is taking shape too so I am happy with that.

Tomorrow, Breanna will not be having her lesson.  She is catching up on her homework from her vacation.  She says she will be here next week.  I will have Benjy, Joiene, Wama, and Deema for their lessons.  Thursday is my busiest day.  I don't mind.  I have choir practice tomorrow night too.  It is always a good time.  I really enjoy being in the choir.  I plan to be at church bright and early on Sunday. I can't believe that we have to change our clocks again.  It is too soon.  I don't like this time change stuff. It takes weeks to get used to the new schedule for me and losing an hour of sleep is a bad thing for me.  I am still recovering from getting up early two days in a row.  That was why I slept in today, trying to catch up on the sleep.  I should be up by regular time tomorrow.  I also have to do laundry tomorrow.  I have a couple of loads to do.  Yuck!  I wish laundry would wash itself.  Wouldn't it be awesome?  Wash itself, dry itself, fold itself, and then put itself away.  That would be so great.  It really would!  However, since laundry doesn't wash itself, I will have to do it myself.  Laundry is one job I hate a lot.  I always wait until the last minute to do it.

Jillian and Brooke are almost finished with level A in piano.  They started piano in December 28, 2011 so this is totally awesome for them.  Their sister, Aubrey is almost done with her first book too.  It is so amazing how well the three of them are doing.  They are also at the point now that they don't need their parents help with practicing anymore.  Mom may have to remind them and they go and play their assignment.  I am so proud and pleased with their progress and I told them so too.  Allison is also doing very well.  She is singing very well and her sight reading is coming along very nicely.

Ooh, I just remembered I need to mark my lessons today.  I better do that now.

Tuesday 3-6

It has been a good day.  I had a few lessons that went well.  Ria has picked her Spring Concert song.  She is also going to sing a duet with Allison.  They will be singing "My Favorite Things".  It should be nice with the two of them.  Charlie was absent again this week.  He is going to do an hour next week and the following week to make up for the weeks he missed.

After lessons I went to the Homeowner association's meeting.  I am on the Board of Directors.  It is a nice evening to meet up with neighbors.  We were planning the block party and the Easter Egg Hunt.  I am the editor of the subdivision's newsletter so I will be passing one out by the end of the week.  We have a few events coming up so I want to make sure everyone knows.

I woke up super early this morning.  I am not as tired as I thought I would be at this time.  I am hoping that I sleep better tonight.  I will be heading to bed shortly.  I have a few lessons tomorrow and some more music to get ready for the students.  I have to get the music for the duet ready and for the group song.  That is the plan for tomorrow.  I also do expect that I will sleep in a bit compared to today or at least I hope to sleep in a bit compared to today.

I think I will read a bit now before heading up the stairs to bed.  I am reading a pretty good book right now and I am about 1/2 way done with it.  I have 2 new books waiting for me to read them.  I finished "Home Front" by Kristin Hannah on Monday.  It was very good as all her books are.  I loaned it to Maggie so she could read it for our little book club.  We are going to meet together once a month.  It is just the two of us because the others are in college now.  It will be fine.  I enjoy Maggie's company and we will have fun.

Monday 3-5

I got mad at my car yesterday because of the repairs that need to be done so I went online to see what kind of value the little red car had.  I received a call from a car salesman.  I went to see how much the car would cost and things like that.  Well, after careful consideration and calming down, I realized that fixing the alternator is much cheaper than a car payment.  As nice as the 2012 focus is, it really isn't practical or necessary to get a new car.  I mean, the car is 6 years old, in good condition, and only has 55,600 miles on it, which is why they are so anxious to have my car.  However, with a cool head, I have decided to just fix the little car and go from there.  I also talked it over with Bob before I made my final decision.  He also agreed that it was better to wait to get a car when I don't really need a new one right now.  So I will keep the little red car and drive her for a longer time.

I woke up again, with a bad headache.  It finally went down about 3:30 or so.  My tummy was so upset most of the day.  I actually thought I was going to be sick at the car dealers.  Fortunately, I didn't and the water helped calm down the tummy.  It is still a little off now.  I figure it will be better by bedtime or I am hoping it will be better.

Bob did very well with his lesson.  His spring concert song is really coming along nicely.  I am pleased with his progress.  Little Rachel is learning a new hand position.  She is working on G position and can read the new notes pretty well for just getting the hand position last week.  Isaac is learning to play 2 notes at one time.  Next week he will start with playing both hands at the same time.  He will need a new classical piece next week.  Overall, most of the students are doing really well and most practice.  I do have a few piano students who don't practice and that is frustrating to me.  I don't understand how the parents and students expect to learn and retain the info without practicing.  The kids are cute and all, and for not practicing they do advanced but it is very, very, very slow, especially for the youngest ones.  For the 4 1/2 year old that doesn't practice, we often do the same pages for a few weeks before adding a new page.  He can imitate anything I play for him, but he doesn't understand how the read the music on the page.  His brother is doing a bit better since he is older but not by much.  On the other hand, my other 2 young students are doing very well.  I think much of the difference is that my young man 4 year old cannot read yet but the other 2 4 year olds can read.  I believe that makes a big difference as well as the fact the the other 2 4 year olds practice almost every day.  Anyways, it was a nice Monday for lessons.

Tomorrow I will take my little car in to be fixed.  Poor little car.  She almost was traded in.  I like the car again.  I am not mad at it anymore.  Sometimes I need to calm down and think about things before reacting to them.  That is all the trip to the dealer was about, pure and simple.  It was about a reaction because I have to put more money in the car.  It has been a good little car and I am sure she will continue to be a good little car.

I hope your day has been a good one.

company day! 3-4

Today Wama, Deema, Lulu, and their mother came for dinner.  They also helped me put away some things in the office and the living room.  I just have the table left to do and that is it.  I am glad about that.  I have some things in the craft room that need to be taken care of soon.  I will look at it tomorrow.  I am very tired tonight now.  After we worked for about 1 1/2 hours, we sat down for dinner.  It was good.  She brought a tomato based sauce with noodles.  I made rice pilaf and corn.  I bought 2 salads from Panera Bread and the girls really liked the dressing.  I thought I had some Italian and Ranch, but I was wrong, I don't.  I also bought a berry coffee cake.  The girls were full and it was time for them to go home, so I had a piece after they left.  It wasn't bad, a bit dry, but it was okay.  Not quite as good as the cakes I make but passable.  We had a nice conversation at the table and I discovered that 5 people do fit quite nicely at the table.  It was a beautiful way to finish the afternoon and start the evening.  I hope that before they leave we will do this again.  It was a lot of fun and we got plenty done.  The girls and I were pleased with what we had finished.  The living room rocks! The office is starting to rock!  In the living room I have to go through the music that is on the table.  I do need some of it in the living room, but most of it can be put away.  The same with the CDs.  Some I need, some I do not.

Tonight is the season premiere of "Army Wives"!  I cannot wait!  Less than one hour and it will start!  I do, however, have a bad headache now.  I didn't earlier, but now I do.  Ugh, I did take my nighttime and my pain pills are a part of the nighttime meds so I should be okay.  If not, I will take some Advil to help it along.  I am not dizzy or lightheaded today so that is a step in the proper direction.  I did miss church again this week because of the car.  I am nervous driving at all with it needing an alternator in it.  I don't wish to buy another battery because I drove too much with the car.  I am taking it in tomorrow to get fixed.  I do hope it isn't too expensive since I don't have that much money right now.  Between the 3 emergency cards there is about $450 or so.  See what I mean about the irresponsibility factor???  Yeah, I am back on track now.

Last night I had a strange thing happen.  I was trimming the toes and when I bent over to do the right foot, I got a cramp in my chest.  I thought, wow, okay, maybe I was bending wrong so I tried a different way and it happened again.  I stopped what I was doing and went to bed.  I will try again tonight before bed and I hope it won't happen again.  It is hard to say.  I have never had pain like that on my right side, the left side when I had a blood clot, but never on the right.  I hope it doesn't mean anything.  One never knows with Fibro and Arthritis!  We live on a roller coaster at times, don't we?  Strange pains, extra exhaustion, dizziness, tummy issues, and a host of other things that plague us.  What can I say?  Life can be rather interesting.

I will be wrapping up the Christmas Ornaments this evening while I am watching "Army Wives".  It is a 2 hour episode so it will be good.  I am thankful that I have help with the house.  Julie has helped a lot too and Lily.  Speaking of Lily, she will be 14 this week!  I can't believe it because I so remember her as a little girl.  She is so grown up now.  Lily has lost that little girl look and looks like a little adult.  I am so proud of her.  She is doing awesome at school.  Her father is in the hospital right now with a post-op infection.  Her mother, Julie, needs a heart valve repair operation.  That will get done next month.  I do hope her dad recovers quickly and comes home safely.  The whole family is such a nice family.  Mom really liked them too.  Both Ross and Julie were so helpful when Mom needed something and when she was dying.  Julie came with me to the funeral home and Ross figured out a way to Skype the funeral service for my brother and uncle.  Now my uncle can cross the border so I have seen him a few times at my house since then.  I really like that he can come over now.  I plan to invite him, my aunt Michelle, and my cousin, Jayson for dinner some time this month.  I now have crock pot liners so when I make the roast, I will just have to toss the bag and wow, my crock pot is empty.  Talk about an easy way to cook!

Well, I think I am going to wrap my ornaments now.  I have to re-glue an arm on one of the Huey, Dewey, and Louie ornament.  I do hope your day was fun too!

more to fix on the little red car! ugh! 3-3

I had to get a new battery today, unfortunately, I also need a new alternator.  Ugh, I hope this is the end for a while as I will NOT have anymore room on the emergency credit cards.  Oh, my irresponsibility!  I could just scream at myself over this!  I have credit cards for emergency use only, yet, since I have gotten then (I think in the fall), I have used them for non emergency use.  Now some of it was for emergency use such as needing new batteries for the scooter and the toilet to be fixed but that is all!  I will spend the next year paying them off as soon as possible and then leaving them in the safe!  If I can't pay cash, I can't get it.  That has been my motto for several years and until I received the new cards, that was what I did.  Then the cards came my way.  Oh my, what can I say?  I have been reckless and irresponsible.  I will fix that and go back to my thrifty ways.  I liked that I paid cash with everything.  I really did.  It made me feel good about my finances, now I do not feel good again about them.  I will fix this.  Also, 2 of my non-online students quit today.  Their old piano teacher retired rather abruptly so then they came to me, well she is taking a few students back on so they are going back to her.  I totally understood, it is just a drag and I really like these girls a lot.  I have a feeling they will be back soon, I just don't know how long.  Their mom would like to continue with me when that happens.  I have no problem with that.  Until then, I will just miss my girls.

So far almost everyone has picked their Spring Concert song except for Calli, Aggie, Laith, Natalie, and Selma.  They are the only ones left who need to do this.  I have copied a few CD with the group song on it and will be making copies of the music for the students next week.  We will need to have a couple of rehearsals for this to work well.  I am confident that it will be awesome and the students will sing beautifully.  Oh, I just remembered, David needs to pick his out too.  Anyways, the spring concert is shaping up really well.  I can't wait to see how the students dress up for it.  I don't expect every student to dress up, just some but they all can if the wish.  I hope I don't forget my camera this time.

Camille is doing super for piano.  She is progressing so beautifully.  I am so pleased with her.  I really am.  She is just jamming away.  She picked her song this afternoon.  her little sisters have been invited to sing with the group at the concert.  One of them, Ella, loves to sing and she can start lessons this fall.  I just love my students!

Tomorrow, I have Deema, Wama, Lulu, and their mother coming for dinner.  I bought fresh broccoli and I have mashed potatoes ready to go.  I will also cook another vegetable for the dinner too.  I may make some pasta instead of mashed potatoes but I am not sure.  I have a nice coffee cake for dessert and rolls to complete the meal.  Overall, I am looking forward to it.  It should be a great afternoon, I think!  I think they are coming around 2 ish but I am not totally sure.  I am planning dinner to be ready for 4 pm so they may come around then since their mom is bringing the meat.  I hope they like what I am cooking.  I really do.  Two chances, I suppose, as my lovely, beautiful, wonderful momma used to say.  Two chances, either they will or they won't.  I am just looking forward to spending some time with them.  They will be moving back to Dubai at the end of the school year.  I will miss them so much!  They are great girls, all 3 of them.  Only 2 take piano.  Lulu (age 4), is still a bit too young.  She is a charmer though!  They all are.

It will be weird to go back to no lessons on Sunday for a while.  Rick is in Hawaii for the rest of the winter.  He will be back in the middle of May, just in time for the recital!  I don't mind having one or so lessons on Sunday, as long as it isn't too many because that would be too exhausting for me.  It is rather annoying that I must always consider the illnesses I have with whatever I do.  I try to be in charge of my life, not them, but I do have to be reasonable about it.  I have managed to stay out of the hospital since the last ER visit in October but if I am not careful, bam!  I will be back in for a few days.  It is truly annoying at times but since it could be so much worse than it is, I will just deal with what I have and be thankful it isn't any worse.  I could not be able to teach at all and that would break my heart completely as I love teaching so much.  I am thankful that my dance teacher, when I was 18, pushed me into teaching.  If it had been left up to me, I would probably never started teaching.  Mom helped a lot too because she taught me how to do a lesson plan whereas Karen, my dance teacher, just left me hanging.  The first few months were horrible because I didn't have much of an idea of what I was doing.  Now I can teach some of the songs, both piano and voice, in my sleep, that is how well I know a lot of this music.

I have to clear of my little round table now for tomorrow.  I have been busy burning CDs so I have CDs all over the table.  I am going to take them into the living room and them move the new books too so I will have an empty table tomorrow night for dinner!

I do hope that today was so much fun for you!!!

Friday 3-2

Mariela was here this afternoon.  She is doing a pretty good job.  I am pleased with it.  My floors get vacuumed and scrubbed along with the bathrooms.  All in all, I am really glad that I got her to help me.  It is well worth the money.  I also really like her.  She is very nice.

My car has the battery light coming on and off.  I sure hope it isn't too expensive because I can't afford to fix an expensive fix.  I don't think so though.  If it needs a new battery, they are not that expensive or at least I hope they aren't.  I think they are about $125, which is expensive, but not like brakes.  Ugh, more car repairs.  I am not ready to get a new car at this point so I will hopefully fix the light situation and then nothing else will go wrong.  Yuck, car repairs!  I am not ready for a car payment again at this point.  I am just not ready.  I am not in a financial position to get another car besides, I don't have a lot of mileage on the car at this point anyway so I don't see the point of getting a new car.  I am taking the car in after Camille's lesson tomorrow.  I already called the auto repair place so they know I am bringing it in.

Acer had his lesson today but Calli is ill so she didn't have her lesson.  Acer was kind of funny when he said he didn't want to sing the group song.  Bill laughed too and said he was singing it anyway.  Acer did.  He wants to sing the harmony parts too.  Emily picked her Spring Concert song tonight.  She is going to play The Bare Necessities from Jungle Book.  I like the song.  Camille is going to pick hers tomorrow during her lesson.  I don't have any lessons on Sunday for a while.  Rick is in Hawaii for a couple months so Sundays are free for a bit.  This Sunday, I have Deema, Wama, and family coming for dinner.  I am going to make a rice or potato dish and vegetables.  I just haven't decided what to make yet.  It is a rough decision of what to make for dinner.  I am also going to have some nice fresh bread.  I will go to the grocery store tomorrow after the car gets taken care of.

I catalogued some music today.  I also discovered that one of the ones I thought wasn't done, really was so I had to change the number on the music.  One book I can't find right now.  I know it isn't too far away, I know it isn't.  I just can't find it right this minute.  I am sure I will find it soon.  I have to copy the CDs too.  I did burn some CDs today while Mariela was here.  I actually got some work done.

I got a call from the doctor today about the tramadol medicine.  I finally have some!  Apparently, the pharmacy made a mistake and should have marked 2 refills not 1 so she did refill my medicine.  She was a little confused about this too but it got taken care of and that is the important thing.  I am not as dizzy or as lightheaded now that I have all my medicines.  It is awful when you are missing your medicines.  I do have a bad headache tonight but not as bad as they can get so I am glad about that.

I hope your day is going good.

Leap Day! 2-29 the beginning of March

Leap Day: Jennie came today and helped me with a few things.  She put up the other curtains in mom's room.  Then we went through the tools that were in mom's room.  The have either been put in one box or in my new tool box.  Then we went to lunch, Wendy's.  It was yummy.  After that I read a bit.  I am dizzy today on and off.  I think because I am totally out of my Tramadol.  I had enough for yesterdays morning dose but that was it.  I forgot to call the doctor to gently remind them that they need to send in a new prescription.

March 1: I was so tired last night that I went to bed early.  I was so dizzy and light headed that I just couldn't stay sitting up anymore.  I had to go lie down.  I feel asleep and woke up again about 2 am and then I went back to sleep shortly after that.  I ended up waking up for the day around 1:30 pm.  I was so exhausted but I think part of it is because of not having the tramadol medicine.  Because it has been 1 1/2 weeks since I haven't had it, I think my body is very unhappy about that.  It is used to getting it 2 times a day.  It does help with the pain, I have decided.  It also keeps my blood pressure from getting too low.  I think that is also part of the reason I am dizzy and light headed.  I remembered to call the doctor's office this afternoon.  I found out why she hasn't sent in the refill yet.  She doesn't accept email requests, only faxes.  I will keep this in mind for the next time I need a refill, which will be in about 2 months as she only gives the medicine 1 refill per prescription.  I don't know why but Doctor G did the same thing.  Maybe it is a law or something like that.  It doesn't really matter to me so it is just curiosity on my part.

I only had 4 lessons today.  Brianne and Brooke will have their lessons on Saturday.  The girls brothers are flying to Florida for Spring Break this coming week so they needed to reschedule.  I didn't mind.  They are still having their lessons only now it is on Saturday instead of today.  I did have Joiene and Benjy today.  They are such joys to have even if they are late most of the time.  I also love Deema and Wama when they have their lessons.  They are coming for dinner on Sunday at around 2 pm.  I am very excited about this.  I will come up with vegetarian rice and vegetable dishes and they are bringing the meat.  It should be a great time for us.  I will have to get one of the folding chairs, but that is okay.  I have 4 of them and only need 1.  Laith was absent and will be absent next week too.

I have a list started of who is playing or singing what for the spring concert.  Joiene, Benjy, Wama, and Deema all chose their songs tonight.  Emily and Calli will make some choices tomorrow.  I know what Acer is singing, but not what he is playing.  I have to pull one more piano book that I really hope is there for the students.

We will have possible storms tomorrow and close to the 50s for the temperature.  It is a strange, warm winter we are having.  So far, in our area, we have very little snow.  Last week, on Thursday, they were predicting a big blizzard north and west of Detroit.  We are north but not in a snow belt area.  However, schools were closing in anticipation.  Well, we got about 2 inches total and some areas, none.  Yup, big snow storm.  However, I will say that north and west (as predicted) got tons of snow.

Anyways, I have to email Rebecca her scores and comments from competition now.  I did call and say that I have the sheets, but her mother has not called me back yet so I am going to email them to her instead.

I hope you are having a good day.