End of Month Already??? 5-31

It is the end of the month already, wow.  We are having the weirdest weather this year.  It was over 90 degrees Sunday and Monday and then starting Tueday, it cooled to the 60s.  I had to pull the sweats out again because I was cold.  Tomorrow is supposed to be raining all day and in the mid 60s.  Saturday is supposed to be in the high 60s with Sunday starting in the mid 70s for the week.  I like the high 70s weather much better than anything else since I tend to ache MUCH LESS in that type of weather.

I missed choir practice tonight because of the subdivision meeting.  I got there rather late because of teaching, but that was okay.  I heard the important stuff.  I did pretty well with the snack food they had.  I had one piece of chicken and that was it.  I am pleased about that.  I stayed for a bit afterwards and talked to some neighbors.  One of my neighbors, Mr. Torkelson, has Alzheimer's like momma did.  His daughter and family also live in our subdivision.  She and her mother are taking care of him at home and so far, are able to keep him home.  I gave my neighbors son in law some suggestions on how to bathe him because he is moving down into the dining room for a bedroom.  I told him about the shampoo that you wipe on hair and wipe off.  I also told him about the pre-moistened and pre-soaped wash clothes.  He hadn't heard about the.  He said he would tell his wife and mother in law about it.  I did talk to another neighbor and asked about her daughter.  She and I used to play together as children.  Kay Kay (that is what we called her) is doing well and has teenage sons.  She lives about an hour from me.  Kay Kay as always very nice to me and my friends.  Our backyard was the cool backyard of the subdivision.  Everyone loved to hang out in our backyard.  I shudder to think of what my backyard looks like at this point.  The gardens are growing weeds so beautifully.  I think I have a couple of shrubs left in the back yard, but I am not sure.  I haven't actually looked at my backyard in a while.  Hm, perhaps I should see what shape it is in.  I can't go out the back door because the steps are missing so I will have to walk around to the back yard.  I know there are two small trees that Sean and Carolyn are going to cut down on the patio.  The patio stones so desperately need to be re-leveled, it is just something I can't do.  The ground where the poplar tree was is sinking in so more dirt needs to be put there.  There is just work I can't do so I am not going to worry about it right now.

Anyways, I am quite tired tonight and after a full day, I am going to read for a bit before turning in for the night.  I do hope I sleep through the night, although, we all know how hard that can be.  I do hope physical therapy helps my poor sleeping a bit, even a tiny bit would be a great improvement.  I don't think physical therapy will be able to make a huge dent in the sleeping issue as it is caused from fibro, but a small dent would be an improvement.  Happy last day of May!!!!!

physical therapy evaluation 5-30

Today was the evaluation of Physical Therapy.  I met with the Therapist who will be working for me.  We have 4 goals: to be able to stand longer, walk farther and longer, vacuum and scrub my own floors, and I can't remember the other one.  I am looking forward to learning the exercises that will help lesson the pain of arthritis.  I need help for sure since I can't take my arthritis medicine anymore because of the ulcer.  I suspected that but now I know for sure.  I hope that this really works.  Last time I went to Physical Therapy, I remember it did help but I don't do all those exercises anymore.  I liked the Therapist and he seemed confident that he can help me.  I figure between the Physical Therapy and the eating healthy, I should have some relief from the pain.

My lovely twins did very well in their piano lessons tonight as did their older sister, Aubrey.  Brooke and Jillian have learned the new hand position so I am very happy that they are happy again.  The three girls are so cute and interested in learning.  It is so nice to be able to teach children who so want to learn.  Tomorrow I have 6 lessons.  Thursdays are my biggest days, not only because of lessons but also because of choir practice.  Tomorrow I will not be in choir practice because of the sub division annual meeting.  I have to remember to bring my checkbook to pay my yearly dues.  I look forward to the meeting and seeing neighbors.  I will miss choir though since I like it so much.

I have been feeling a bit better these days as far as sadness is going.  I still miss my mother terribly and all the time, but I find that I can enjoy myself at times and not cry as much.  It is still hard for some things, but I figure they will get easier.  With the new goals that I have, I feel a bit stronger about the future, something I couldn't do about a month ago.  I am not sure how long this will last as mourning seems to be step forward, little step back, step forward, little step back.  Today, I am doing okay with all this.  A friend from high school just recently lost her mother.  The funeral and stuff were last week.  I couldn't read too much of what she was writing because it reminded me of Mom and her funeral.  Her mom was my 5th grade math teacher.  She hadn't been healthy in the last few years though.

I had the Arthritis doctor appointment today before the Physical Therapy.  I hadn't stopped taking the meloxicam until today because it didn't occur to me to stop.  I am not sure that is what caused the ulcer, but it is possible, since it can happen.  I will find out how the ulcer is healing next month on the 21st.  I am not looking forward to that but I will go and get it done.  I have to get X-rays on both hands.  Since I have no lessons on Saturday and Sunday, I will go on Saturday to get the X-rays.  You don't have to make an appointment, you just walk in and sign in.  I have the X-ray orders so that is all I need.

I have found myself heading to bed earlier than usual these past few weeks.  I am getting up early too, which is so not like me.  I am not minding though because sometimes I am awake a bit longer during the day so that is a good thing.

Since I don't have lessons this weekend, I am hoping to meet up with some of my friends.  I haven't seen them in a while.  I just have to wait to see what their schedule is for the weekend.  Sunday, of course, will be church, but after that, I am free for the day.

It is a bit colder now this week than it was last week.  Tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 60s.  Back to wearing pants instead of shorts.  I don't mind.  I have shorts waiting to be washed.  I can do this on the weekend.  Ugh, laundry!  I have plenty to wash.  I will be busy washing laundry this weekend.

Tuesday 5-29

Today was my Charlie's last lesson.  I am so sad!  He was such a great student and such a wonderful young man.  I will, however, see him in June at his Graduation Party.  I am not sure what to get him for graduation though.  I will have to think about this.

Tomorrow I have to go to both the Arthritis Doctor and Physical Therapy.  I am nervous about the Physical Therapy because I don't know how much it is going to cost. That part really worries me, the cost.  I will find out tomorrow.  I think the Arthritis Doctor will take me off the Meloxicam tomorrow because of the ulcer.  I am not sure what all to do about this because I don't know if I can deal with not having the Meloxicam for the arthritis.  I know she hasn't been thrilled about me taking it at all, but I need to be able to walk at night so I am not sure what she can do about this.  I will find out tomorrow.

It has been a long type day today.  I am not sure why.  It just seems like it was a rather long day.  I woke up early and then went back to sleep.  I finally got up and then did my errands for the day before lessons.  Laith was a bit more sillier than usual for his lesson.  I think it is a reaction to his mom having breast cancer.  She is having surgery next week.  I sure hope they get it all and that she will beat this disease.  I won't see her for about a month now so she can recover from the surgery too.  I also have a stomach scope on one of Laith's lesson days.  I won't have any lessons on that day because the doctors say I shouldn't, so I won't be.  If it like last time, I will sleep most of the day anyway.

I am now on book 5 of the Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  I finished the Goblet of Fire this morning.  Time to read for a bit.

Saturday - 5-26

It is Memorial Weekend this weekend.  I had one student today and will have none tomorrow but 3 on Monday so that is good.  I would have had Rick's lesson (he is back from being out of town for 2 1/2 months) tomorrow but as I already made plans I asked if we could do either today or Monday just this weekend.  He chose Monday.  It works fine for me.  I am looking forward to tomorrow with the girls in the afternoon.  I think we will either do dinner or ice cream after.  Pretty much whatever they choose works for me.

I am still re-reading Harry Potter number 4 right now.  I am about 1/2 way through it.  I am at the part where Harry just performed the first task of the competition and Ron realizes that someone wants Harry dead.  It is such a good book.  I just love it.  Of course, I love all the books of Harry Potter.  The girls are re-watching the Lord of the Rings movies right now too so I am bringing the extended versions for them tomorrow.  Their dad rented the Fellowship of the Ring theatrical version so I am bringing them the extended ones for them to watch.  I love those movies too.  I tried to re-read the books (I think I read them in high school because I had to) and I just couldn't get into them.  I will stick to the movies because they are so good.  I am watching the extended version part 2 right now, the commentary.  The cast commentary is so interesting.  I don't listen to all commentaries on DVDs but this one and a few others I do because you learn so much about how they did the movie.  That stuff is very interesting, not interesting enough for me to want to do that type of stuff, but fascinating as a film viewer.  These are such good movies and has several of my favorite actors, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and Sean Bean.  Sean Bean is in the movie we are seeing tomorrow too.  He plays the King in Mirror Mirror.  Julia Roberts plays the evil queen and I think it will be so good, or at least I hope so.  At the very least, I will have a lovely afternoon with my beautiful girls and that is the best part, spending time with them.

Camille had her last lesson today.  I was very sad because she is such a good student and girl but she has moved and lives too far away to come to me anymore.  She was so sad too.  I gave her my email so she can write me.  Camille is really a good pianist.  I will miss her so much.  so for now, I just have Brianna on Saturdays.  Brianna is new to our group but not the newest.  Faith is the newest to our group.  She is also my neighbor.  Faith has had 2 lessons and is doing really well at this point.  Next week she will switch to C position and then the following week, Faith will start learning how to read music.  She is very excited about playing so I hope to keep that excitement.

I am not sure what I am going to watch tonight.  I am just going to relax and look at what music I need for students next week.  Perhaps I will actually start ahead of time, instead of waiting for the last minute.  One never knows with me, I am a procrastinator at times.  I am working on not procrastinating all the time, but so far, it is an uphill battle that I am so losing!

I hope your weekend is going well so far, mine is and tomorrow will be awesome.  I will need most of Monday to recover, thankfully I only have 3 lessons and they are spread all throughout the day.

Light Day of Teaching 5-25

Acer and Calli did not have lessons tonight.  I knew Acer wouldn't but I thought Calli was going to a little later than usual but either they forgot or forgot to call and say they weren't coming.  Maybe Heather, Calli's mom, was sleeping and didn't tell Calli about the schedule change.  I will see them next week.  Emily and Natalie had their lessons though.  Emily was rather excited about finishing 1B books and starting level 2.  I was happy that she was finishing up the books too.  Natalie is starting a new Broadway song.  The problem?  I didn't have the copy of the CD that I needed.  I burned a new one for her tonight so I will give it to her next week.  Camille is having her lesson tomorrow and then I am done with lessons until Monday at 10 am when Isaac will have his rescheduled from later in the day, lesson.  Antoinette and Selma will be having their regularly scheduled lessons.  My little Rachel is absent this week.  I will miss her a lot.  She is such a cute little girl.

I am not sure what I will do tomorrow afternoon.  Maybe I will watch one of the movies that I own that I haven't seen yet.  I do have about 5 to 6 of them piling up waiting for me to watch them.  Sunday, I will be busy until evening.  I am so looking forward to that.  It should be a good day.

My left shoulder seems to be doing better.  I can lift it higher than I have in a while so I am happy about that.  I hope it stays that way.  My head is about the normal pain for the day.  I have been out of my zantac medicine for about 5 days now.  I will call the doctor on Tuesday and have them call in a refill since they haven't done this yet.  I thought the doctor did when I saw her last but I guess she didn't put enough refills.  I won't see her again until after the next scope to see how my ulcer is doing.  I don't seem to get as much heartburn and stomach aches as I did nor do I feel like I am going to throw up all the time like I was before the prilosec medicine was added to the list of medicines I take.

I am looking forward to having a pretty busy weekend.  I hope yours is good too.

Choir Night 5-24

My Katie joined choir tonight.  She was so worried about whether or not the choir would want her.  Well, they all welcomed her with open arms as I knew that they would.  I introduced her to Lee, the choir director and he was very excited to see a new person in our midst.  I am excited about this too.  Oh, I have to email Katie the songs we are singing.  I will be right back.  There, it is done!  I am so happy she will be able to sing with us until she goes to college in the Fall.  I will miss my beautiful girl.  She is such a nice girl and has grown to a wonderful young lady.

It has been rather nice out these past few days.  I am very happy about that.  It has been about 80 or so degrees outside, which means the house is a nice temperature too.  I have pulled out my shorts outfits for the summer.  I love most of them even though they are old and a certain relative says to throw them out and get new ones.  Well, they aren't worn out yet and I like them, so I will keep which ones I like.  I don't dress for people, I dress for me and comfort, definitely for comfort.

Lessons were light again today.  My lovely Breanna is finishing up her school year so she had to cancel her lessons today.  Faith had her 2nd lesson and her sister, Courtney came with her today.  They rode their bikes and then they were headed to ice cream.  Courtney said I could borrow her and Faith for Chipotle's any day.  I said that was good info to know and will be keeping that in mind.  Faith is so excited to learn that it is so wonderful to teach her.  Courtney seemed to like her sister's playing.

I am looking forward to the weekend.  I only have 1 lesson on Saturday and so far, none on Sunday.  I do have a couple on Monday so that is good.  I have a busy Sunday planned.  I am going to church, then I have an appointment with a friend of mine, and then the movie with my girls!  It will be busy, but nice.

I start Physical Therapy on Wednesday.  I should have started a couple of months ago, but I kept forgot to call and then I waited a few weeks to get in.  I am not sure how much this is going to cost me so I am only trying it out and then I will know how much it costs.  I am kind of excited about Physical Therapy because I am hoping it works well for me.  I just hope I can afford it.  Two chances I suppose, either I can or I can't.  I will have another appointment with the Arthritis Doctor sometime soon.  I just don't remember what day.  I also have to see Dr. Gradolph next week for my protime test.  He wants to see me this time though.  I don't know why, but I will make an appointment for next week.

I am now on the 4th book of Harry Potter.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  I started it yesterday.  I will probably finish it this weekend.  I loaned Maggie a couple of Kristen Hannah books for her to read.  I know she will like them.  She has 2 of my favorite, of course, since I wanted her to read the best of Kristen Hannah.

Well, it is time to read before bed!  Tomorrow I will have all my Friday lessons.  Next Friday, our choir is having a singing party to see what music the church has that we like and will do.  The church has so much music that the director wants to weed out the ones he doesn't like or we don't like.  Of course, he has final say.

Tuesday 5-22

It is the usual NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles night here in the house.  For some unknown reason, NCIS Los Angeles is on first followed by 2 episodes of NCIS.  It doesn't really matter to me what order they are in, not one bit!

It was a very light day for teaching, only 2 lessons, my little Samuel and my little Rahul.  Sam is 5 and Rahul is 4.  Both are very cute.  Rahul has this cute habit of leaning on me when we are doing his workbook.  It is quite cute and he is such a cutie.  He also has no problem walking on me to put the crayons away or to get the crayons.  He just walks on my legs, which actually does hurt because of the fibro but I don't say anything because he is so small.  Charlie and David are both absent today.  Charlie is at Cedar Point.  Today was definitely a better day for Cedar Point than yesterday as today is cooler and yesterday was so warm at about 82 degrees.  I am not surprise it is as warm as it has been since winter was so warm.  I foresee a hot, sticky summer.  That I am not too happy about but I will stay in my nice and air conditioned house.

I haven't been sleeping too well lately.  I have switched back to Tylenol PM hoping that would help, but it didn't so tomorrow I will go and get some Advil PM.  I ran out of Advil PM, which is part of the reason I switched to the other, but since it doesn't work too well, I am switching back.  It has been taking at least about 3 hours to fall asleep.  I will doze for a bit and then I will have to get up and out of bed to get rid of the extra pain before crawling back into bed.  It is getting a bit ridicules now.  I am hoping for a better night sleep tonight.  One can dream, can't they?  I can and do.

I just checked the movie guide.  Mirror Mirror is still playing!  Thank goodness!  I am so glad about that!  So I have messaged the girls to see if the time I picked will work with their schedules.  I figure we can go and get ice cream (for them, not for me) or something like that after the movie.  I love my girls!  We should have a good time, I think and we will see a good movie too.  I am not sure how many students I will have on Monday, since it is a holiday, but I am hoping at least a few.  Rachel will be absent and I am not sure if Isaac will be having his lesson, but i will find out as we get closer to the weekend.

I am getting tired now.  I may try to go to bed shortly instead of waiting until the regular bedtime.  The woman who does the vacuuming and scrubbing for me is coming tomorrow.  I have her come once a month to help.  It really helps me a lot because I have such a hard time doing the vacuuming and scrubbing myself.  She does a decent job so I am happy about that.

I finally received a phone call about physical therapy.  I am going to go to one session and see how much it is going to cost me because if it is too much, then I can't do it.  Although, I am not feeling as bad as I was when i saw the arthritis doctor in March so maybe that was a good thing.  I DO hope that I can try physical therapy because I do think it will help.

I am now on the 4th Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  I love Harry Potter books.  I simply do.

the start of a new musical week 5-21

I was watching NCIS Los Angeles on USA.  It was from the first season.  I don't know why, but it suddenly dawned on me that the bad guys always have horrible aim even when firing machine guns and the good guys are great shots with only pistols.  I don't know why it hit me today, but it did.  Of course, I do want the good guys to catch the bad guys, I am just noting how they always miss or get lucky shots in, that's all.

The day after the concert is back to regular music.  The Muglia girls had their lessons today.  Natalie started voice after her piano lesson.  Both Hannah and Natalie are playing the same Clementi Sonatina.  It is one of my favorites.  Both girls fly through the sections that they know really well and then slow down when they don't know the part very well.  Lydia does the same thing too.  It is something we will be working on for a while I foresee.  Overall though, I am so happy with how they play.  They are really quite good at this point and they are getting into some beginning advanced music.  I am so proud of them. Sarah is almost ready to start a new position next month.  She is doing very well.  Their younger brother, Patrick plays several songs by ear so we are thinking that perhaps in September the young man might start piano.  We shall see if he is interested.  He will be almost 7 at that point.  They are a very musical family and I am glad they do what they can with keeping up lessons.

Rachel had her lesson this afternoon too.  She is such a doll and a sweet girl.  She also likes to pretend she is a kitten during the lesson at times.  Today it was while we were doing flashcards.  I always know when she knows the answer, she scratches the card like a cat.  Fortunately, she does answer the question pretty quick or it would be hard to finish the flash cards.  Rachel started a new book a few weeks ago.  She is in her 3rd book now.  Selma also is getting ready to start a new book.  She will be in level 2 next week.  I have to go and pick up her books this week because I had to order them.  They are in now.  I will pick them up tomorrow.  I also need to copy some music for David tomorrow too.  Isaac has decided to finish working on the Hedwig's Theme.  He played the main part of the theme for the concert and we are working on the second part for the next few lessons.  He is such a talented young man.  If only he would practice more!  I know he is very busy, but he is just so talented.

I also just remembered, need to call the guy to cancel cutting the grass this week.  It doesn't need it so I don't want it cut.  Sean cut the 2 trees down in my yard today.  He found an old hose under one of the trees and apparently, it has been leaking.  Yeah, I wonder how long?  So Sean turned the water off at the tap and thinks it is turned all the way off now.  I sure hope so.  Sean is such a nice young man, just like his sister, Carolyn.  In fact, the entire family is wonderful and so very helpful to me.  We also get together for dinner and a movie nights.  I truly enjoy being with them.  I am very blessed with the friends that I have.

This weekend, I am planning on picking up my girls (the Muglias) and going to see "Mirror Mirror" with them.  It is the Julia Roberts version of Snow White.  One of my favorite actors is in it.  He plays the king, which I know, is not a huge role, but that is okay.  He is still in it for a bit.  If it is not at the regular theatre we are hoping it is at the $1 one, if not, we shall see something else.  I just love hanging out with the girls.  They are really good kids and don't get to go out too much so I like to come and take them when I can.  Plus, then I have someone to see movies with!  So all in all, it is a good trade, I get the girls for a while, catch up on their lives, and we all see a movie or do something together.

I hope you had a good day too!  My arm is a bit sorer than usual tonight.  I am not sure why.  I took my pain medicine a bit ago so I am hoping it starts working soon.  I am going to lose myself in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for a bit now.

Concert Day 5-20

It was the Concert today!!!  All my students did so well!  One of my newest students, Brooke, went up there and place her hands at the proper place, but she didn't start to play!  I went up and she said she was fine, but then we sent Jillian (her twin) up and apparently, Miss Brooke was needing the music.  Oops!  After a long pause, Brooke played her song beautifully!  I am so proud of all my students.  We had some students who just wore nice outfits and others wore costumes.  The lovely Muglia girls and Isaac all dressed as Harry Potter characters while Brooke, Jillian, and Aubrey all dressed as Disney Princesses.  I was very happy that some had costumes.  All in all, I think it went very well.  I am thankful it went well and now it is over.  I went to go to Chipotles to pick up dinner but the line was very long so I drove thru Panera and got soup and a salad.  I love salads a lot.  I decided that at this point, I must lose weight so I will have the doctor adjust my blood thinners for me to eat salads almost everyday.  I have to eat more veggies and salads are the best way to do this so that is what I will do.  I also have given up all fast food because that has helped with the gaining of poundage.  Well, anyways, it was a lovely afternoon with a nice dinner while reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  I am in the middle of re-reading all of them again.  I am on number 3 right now.

My lovely Natalie wants to start voice lessons tomorrow.  I have to copy some music for her.  I think she will do well.  She just wants the basics so that is what I will give her.  We are going to start with a couple of Broadway songs.  I am thinking of giving her Feed the Birds and another Disney piece.  I am not sure about an Italian song although it is what I give students her age.  Natalie is a wonderful pianist.  She is doing very well with her music.  I also had her and her sister, Hannah create the Spring Concert Program. I had 2 covers, one by Hannah and the other by Natalie.  The program covers turned out quite nicely.  I had asked Charlie for some pictures and a paragraph about himself for the program.  I called yesterday because I still didn't have it.  Turns out the email went to spam instead of my email.  I got the pictures and the paragraph in time so that ended okay too.  Usually, I have a newsletter spotlighting the senior, but since I have no reason to have a newsletter, I had the Senior Spotlight on the Spring concert program instead.  It worked out well.

Oh my!  My legs and hips are rather sore tonight because of the walking at the concert and my new flats, mostly the up and down to the piano and back.  I have the usual, after concert headache, which is not a surprise as this happens after every concert.  I think the stress of getting ready for the concert adds to the extra headache.  It is hard to tell with me.  One never knows.  Army Wives will be on in about 35 minutes so that will be good.  I love that show a lot.  It is a nice one.

the night before the concert

As usual, I am printing the concert program tonight when the concert is tomorrow.  This is normal for me.  I used to try to print the concert earlier in the week, but I always had so many changes that I had to print and reprint over and over again so now I print the night before or in the case of the Christmas Concert, until wee hours of the morning.  I am simply hoping to miss that part of getting ready for the concert.  I am printing the covers now, 1 set is done and it is on number 31 of 35 copies.  I sure hope 70 copies of the program is enough because that is all I am printing.  It should be enough since there are only 25 students and the rest are for their parents.  The little ones won't need a program though as some of them can't read yet.

I am watching Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix on ABC family channel.  Apparently, it is a 4 day weekend treat to watch the movies.  Yes, I missed the first four but as I have them on DVD, I can watch them at any time.  I love these movies.

Well, I will finish printing tomorrow morning.  I am really too tired to continue right now.  I have 30 printed so far.  I also almost forgot to make the disc for Bill.  It is done now.  Thankfully, I only am missing one disc.  Of course, it is one that I need but what can say?  It could have been worse, I suppose.  I am tired of going to get discs that are missing.  Well, sometime during the year I will get a replacement for it.

I can't wait until tomorrow with the concert!  It should be a good time.

Friday 5-18

I have the concert order done and who is announcing who.  However, I don't have the program finished yet.  I will work on that tomorrow and Sunday.  I do have to remember to get ink for the printer in case I run out in the middle of printing.  I am not sure how many to print.  There are 30 songs, but only 17 families so I am not sure how many.  I think 60 should be enough, then the students can have one each too.

I am working on losing weight.  That is my new thing since I got weighed at the doctors.  Yeah, needless to say I bet it is a miracle that I don't have diabetes.  My biggest problem is the vegetable food group.  I love vegetables but I really like salads.  The problem?  Lettuce has a lot of vitamin K, which would counter act the blood thinners I take for my blood disorder.  I am not sure if I should just have my medicine adjusted and eat the salads.  I just don't know.  It is a balancing act I am working on.  I have managed to mostly stop the drive thrus with bad food so that is good.  I am open to suggestions on what to do about this.  I have to lose weight or eventually it will be really bad for me.  I am not considering surgery at all because of the blood disorder and the massive amounts of side effects after the surgery.  It has been suggested to me but I am just not interested.  Also, it would take a year before I could have the surgery because of everything you have to do before the surgery.  I need to work on this with good food and increase exercise.  That always has worked for me.  I am hoping that when I lose the weight, I will be able to exercise more.  I have pulled out my Richard Simmons' Sit Tight DVD to help with the exercise part.  I am going to be doing some at night a few hours before bed from now on.  I just have to do this.  I tried last summer, but I didn't follow through.  This year (after getting weighed at the doctor's office) I have to.  I have just gained way too much weight.  I know a lot of it was from the Lyrica, but I was overweight before that and gained some since then.

I am still waiting for the physical therapy place to call me back with an appointment.  It has been over a week now.  I am not sure how much it is going to cost me either.

It will be a very busy weekend with the spring concert.

thursday 5-17

Hmmmm, it has been a rather quiet type day.  A few lessons, one of them new, then picking up yet another prescription from the pharmacy.  Sometimes, it feels like I am there everyday picking up prescriptions.  Oh my.  Anyways, my neighbor's daughter started lessons today.  She is 9 and very cute.  She did very well with her first lesson.  Her mom was supposed to go to the bank while we had her lesson, but she feel asleep instead.  We put her to sleep with our calm piano music.  I think this will be fun for both of us.  At any rate, she can just walk here to her lessons.  That will come in handy this summer.

Speaking of summer, I am not sure how many students will be stopping lessons for summer.  The last few summers, not many have stopped and several have started.  In June, it will be a year for my beautiful Rachel.  She started just before her 6th birthday.  I am so thankful for the students who started last summer because most of them are still taking lessons!  I will be finding out in the next few weeks who will be stopping for the summer.  Hopefully, not too many.

I have to work on the program tonight.  I kind of haven't started yet outside of listing everyone in the concert.  Natalie and Hannah are working on the program covers.  We will have 2 of them since each of them will be creating one.  They are so good at art.  I would have to use clip art for the cover otherwise.  I am splitting the concert in two with a brief intermission so I can change the students around.  Students can sit with their parents in the half they are not in except for the group song.  Acer has requested that both his songs be in the same half.  I forgot to ask Calli but as she is announcing, I don't think she particularly care where she is in the concert.  She is singing and playing piano in the concert.  As of today, there are 31 songs in the concert including the group song.  It should be a good concert.  I hope so anyway.

Can you believe that it is the middle of May at this point?  I can't.  Time moves so fast some days and then other days it drags.  Weird how that works.  I remember one day when I was in 4th grade.  I felt like I had been there all day and that it was time to go home.  I looked up and it was almost 12 noon.  Yes, what felt like all day was really almost 3 hours.  I remember feeling so upset at that time.  Now, of course, it seems like that was forever ago.  Time is such a weird thing, isn't it.

I woke up this morning (yes, I mean morning - about 9 am) with such a bad headache but instead of what I usually do, which is nothing just roll over and hoped it would go away.  Instead, I got up and went downstairs to take some medicine!  Yes, I actually did!  When I finally got up for the day, my head was down to the normal pain level.

I hope you are having a good day.  Mine was nice and quiet.

mid week! 5-16

It has been a good day.  I met my friend, Jennie for lunch 1/2 way between each of our houses.  She is planning to come over in June for both a voice lesson and for what we call, "friend squad".  Jennie helps me around the house with jobs I can't really do myself.  I am sure there are a few things I need to get done.  There is so much upkeep with a house.  I am doing pretty well with it.  I do have someone come once a month to help vacuum and scrub the tile floor.  I just can't do these tasks myself.  Vacuuming can cause extreme pain in my lower back, hips, and legs.  I only vacuum if I have absolutely no choice.  It is worth the money to pay Mariela to vacuum for me.

Since I got up earlier than usual today and due to a horrible night sleep, I am getting rather tired now.  I see me going to bed rather early and hopefully have a good nights sleep.

I am re-reading all the Harry Potter books.  I just finished the first one, AGAIN.  I don't know how many times I have read these books.  I really love them a lot.  It is a toss up which books I like best, Anne of Green Gables or Harry Potter.  It is a toss up.  i just don't know.  Both are such good books.  I want to watch the movies again too.

I am going to go and see how long I can use the exercise machine whose name I can't spell at this time.  I can't even remember its name.  Yup, good old fibro fog!  Anyways, it is in the family room and I do like it although I can't be on it too long because I am just starting to use it.

I hope your day was good.  I had such a good time at lunch with Jennie and the girls' lessons went well too.  Brooke, Aubrey, Jillian are so cute and so excited to learn.  It is fun when the student really wants to learn.

Tuesday 5-15

Tonight is NCIS night.  I am relieved to find out that my beloved NCIS WILL be back next season.  I am so glad about that as I totally love that show.  The season finale was amazing and of course, a cliff hanger, which generally I don't care for but I have no choice in the decision to make them.  NCIS Los Angeles is on right now and it is a 2 hour season finale.  I love that show too.  They are my favorites at this point.  Mom liked them a lot too until she couldn't handle TV anymore.  I used to buy them on DVD but since I am able to pretty much watch them all, it isn't necessary to buy them plus they show the re-runs on USA.

It was so nice out today.  The sun was shining and a beautiful light breeze.  Oh my, was it wonderful!  I had to go and get some music today for my new student on Thursday.  She is a neighbor girl and I am very excited about this.  I have seen the young lady before and I have been at her house, but we have not been formally introduced yet.  Her mom is on the board of the subdivision like I am.  She is very nice.  I don't have much room for many more students, but I do have some room.

One of my student's mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer just last week.  Wow, I am stunned.  It is always a shock to be diagnosed with cancer because no one expects this type of diagnose.  Jasmin is such a nice woman.  She is a doctor.  Jasmin delivers babies.  Laith seems to be taking it okay but he is only 7. He is a darling of a student but a bit of a mischievous young man.  He likes to come in the house and pretty much dive to the couch, which of course means I have to go and get him.  This is his plan, of course.  I get him and put him on the piano bench and during the lesson he tries to get away to the couch. He has been doing this for a couple of months now.  Generally, his mom does not like that he does this, but that doesn't seem to faze the young man.  Once in a while, I do get upset with him on this and then he behaves very well, but generally, he plays in between the escapes so I don't complain too much and he does come back to the chair when I ask him to.  Charlie had his lesson today too.  He was absent last week.  Next week he will have an hour lesson to make up for missing last week.  We will actually be having 2 one hour lessons in a row to make up for another missed lesson.  I love how he makes up the lessons instead of just being absent.  David had his lesson and a make up lesson for last week.  I have to copy some music for him next week plus his sight reading papers.

I just realize (as I looked at my planner) I am having lunch with my friend, Jennie!  I am so excited about this.  I had to cancel last month because of Breanna and Katie's practice with the pianist for the audition.  I am glad I didn't have to cancel this month.  She is so busy with the family that we would have to wait until next month so I am glad we are going to be able to meet tomorrow.  I only have a few lessons tomorrow.

The first hour of NCIS Los Angeles is over now.  So far, the mysterious killer has killed about 3 NCIS agents.  I think, but I am not sure, (according to the previews) Sam gets killed.  I don't like it when they do that.  I really like that character a lot.  Okay - good news, he is NOT dead and didn't get blown up in the warehouse.  I am rather glad about that.

Pain level is normal today.  My hands and feet get numb so easy these days depending on what I am sitting on or what i am doing.  Sometimes, when I type on the computer my hand goes numb.  I just don't know.  It is just a part of Fibro, I think.  When I was taking Effexor, it did help with the numbness but not too much for the pain.  I stopped taking it in 2008 because I couldn't afford the medicine.  Once I was off it, it didn't seem too different except for the numbing of hands and feet.  I don't take an anti-depressant at this time.  I tried Lyrica too.  Oh my, I don't think it worked all that well but I did manage to gain about 80 pounds on it, give or take a few pounds.  I have NOT managed to lose those added pounds either so that kind of stinks.  I do hope by the end of summer to have some of those awful pounds gone.  That is my goal.  I will also eat at home more like tonight.

Mother's Day 5-13

I can't believe it is Mother's Day again.  Wow, how time seems to speed up some days.  I had a really good day.  I went to church and brought Donna, it was a great service with a good message about words and are we using them to build up or tear down.  It really gave us all something to think about.  Then Donna and I went to brunch.  We ended up at Burger King because Big Boy's parking lot was super duper full.  We chatted for a couple of hours before I dropped her off at home.  Then I came home and talked to my best friend, Kathy.  She was having a good day too.  Her twin girls gave her flowers in a pot for Mother's Day and cards they made at school.  We talked for a long time.  After that I took my usual Sunday after church nap.  I was invited to go to dinner and a movie at the Hubel residence.  It was a good movie and naturally, a wonderful dinner.  Sean grilled the hot dogs and we had salad along with beans and a few other things.  It was a wonderfully pleasant way to end the night.

Andrew went to Mom's grave sight this afternoon to put flowers on her grave.  He took a picture of it and sent it to me.  I would have liked to have seen him, but I didn't know when he was going so maybe next time.  I know he misses Mom a lot too.  Andrew doesn't really talk about it too much, I am much more the talker in the family.  Yes, I know, shocking!  NOT!  I have ALWAYS been the talker in the family.  What can I say?  Chatterbox has been my nickname since I could speak for a reason.  I think as time goes on I miss her more than when she was first gone.  I think now the shock and disbelief has worn off and the reality of missing mom is more real.  I know it was real when it happened, I was there through it all, it just didn't seem like it could be happening and there was so much to do that I didn't have time to really think about anything.  There were so many decisions I had to make in such a short time.  I think, looking back, that I did make most of the right decisions.  She wanted to be buried in Canada and her ashes are buried with her grandparents.  Mom adored her grandmother so I am sure she is happy with that.  I had her in the hospice unit in the hospital in case something else happened medically that I couldn't take care of.  I am not sorry about all the time I spent with her.  I just wish there was more time with her.  I didn't in the last few years spend much time away from mom.  It was like I knew we were on borrowed time.  Anytime I was away from her I worried about her though.  What was she doing, was she upset, things like that.  I often was told to make sure I had enough time to myself and for some they thought I didn't take time for myself, I took what I needed.  The biggest thing I needed was to be with Mom.  I miss her and I know that someday I will be with her again.  Jesus has promised us that.  I am just so impatient to be with her again!  I have so much to tell her and to know how she has been doing.  My friend, Chantal says the same thing, she is so impatient to see her mother again too.  Someday, too, she will be with her mom again.  I hold on dear to that promise.

I do hope you had a great Mother's Day and celebrated it whether your mom is here on earth or in Heaven.  Mother's are such a beautiful gift from God.  I am so thankful for mine.  She was the best and still is!

Fibromyalgia Awareness Day 5-12

Yup, today is National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day!  I am not doing anything exciting about it other than posting it on my facebook.  Our local support group had a conference last Saturday.  I didn't attend as I had lessons so I needed to teach the lessons.

There is not much on TV right now.  For someone who has over 100 channels, you would think I would find something I would like.  Yeah, not so much.  Home Improvement is on TVLand right now.  I am getting tired and I have a bad headache tonight.  Tomorrow, I am getting up earlier than usual because I am picking up Donna for church.  It is only 15 minutes earlier but you know me, I want as much sleep as possible for as long as possible!

Carolyn is going to braid my hair tomorrow for church.  I am looking forward to that.  We 4 (Carolyn, Audrey, Melissa, and me) will look cute with our new hair dos.  We are singing one of my favorite hymns tomorrow, "He Leadth Me".  I simply love that song.  We are also singing some other old hymns that I must confess I have no idea what they are and have never sung them before.  Perhaps I should actually download them, that might be a good idea.  I know that the words are always on the back screen, but it is getting harder to read that back screen these days.  Yes, I need new contacts.  I hope to have them by the end of summer.  I know I also need to change both lens in my glasses too.  I may hold off on that.  I barely wear my glasses.  As a matter of fact, I think these glasses are about 10 years old and are still in great condition since they sit in the pink case all the time.  I love that my glasses case is pink!  The doctor's office was giving pink glasses cases out to women during October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I think I am going to rest for a bit.  My head is very sore tonight.  Time to take some more medicine for the headache.  I hope your day has been good.

Friday 5-11

I finished cooking the corned beef in the crock pot this afternoon.  It tasted pretty yummy.  I didn't use the new bags I bought so after I empty the grease out and clean it out, I will be able to exchange it since the high setting doesn't work.  At least I finally cooked it.  It has been in the freezer for a while.

Tomorrow is laundry day and rehearsal day along with Camille's lesson.  I just called her mom and Camille can attend.  We will have a 1/2 hour to hang out while we wait for everyone to arrive.  I am nervous a bit about this rehearsal but it will go well, I am sure.  I am always a bit anxious when I am trying to something new.  I have much anxiety before a concert until it is completely over.  I have to remember to order Charlie's cookie.  I just wrote it in my planner.  I even wrote to pick up the cookie because that is half the job.  I have had some other anxiety the last few months too.  I am not sure why.  At least, as of tonight, I have not had an anxiety attack, thank goodness, just a lot of anxiety.  I am planning on talking to the doctor about it.  Some days it is okay and other days, it is bad.

Calli had her lesson first today.  Usually, Acer is first but Calli had a birthday overnight to go to.  She accidentally locked herself out of her bedroom.  They are hoping that Bill will be able to get into her room so they can drop some clothes off to Calli for the sleepover.  Calli was very excited about the party.  It is a classmate's birthday.  Acer did pretty well except he can't find the CD that has the song on it that we got higher.  This is a bad thing because that was the only copy.  I sure hope Bill did put it on his computer so that we have it.  Otherwise, we would have to use the original which is actually too low for Acer.  I do not want him to sing accapella though.  I want him to use music.  I sure hope Bill has it or knows where it is.

Next week I need to make sure I have all the students songs on my computer so I can make the disc for Bill for the concert.  All week I will be working and thinking about the concert since it is a week from Sunday.

Mother's Day is Sunday.  It is making me miss mom a lot since I always made a big deal out of Mother's Day.  We usually had a special dinner when we were younger and in my 20s.  When the boys moved out, I would take her to a movie and out for dinner.  The boys would always get her something nice too.  The last few years, I tried really hard to make it a great day for her.  I am dreading this day.  I would like to just stay in bed and completely pretend the day doesn't exist but that isn't a good and healthy thing.

I think I am coming down with a cold or something.  My ears are hurting a bit.  Last night it was the right ear and tonight it is the left one.  I hope it is nothing but one never knows.  My head hurts a bit more than usual tonight.

Choir Night 5-10

Tonight was choir practice.  We worked on 3 pieces that we will be singing in the next 3 Sundays.  We are also going to be teaching the congregation a new song during corporate singing.  It is a song we sang in choir for special music a few months or so ago.  It is a nice piece that I think the congregation will like. I won't be in church a week from Sunday because of the Spring Concert.  I have put it in PCO to let them know I won't be there but I wanted to let the director know ahead of time.  He chuckled when I said I would most likely be printing the program on that Sunday.  He was a teacher so he totally understands.  I don't create the program too far in advanced because there are always changes or mostly always.  For the last few concerts, I haven't had to change too much.

My new crock-pot does not work on high.  Once this roast is finished (it is being cooked right now) tomorrow, I will have to clean it and exchange it.  I am very bummed about this because I love using the crock-pot.  I will take care of this on the weekend.

I was working on the subdivision newsletter when I realized I accidentally erased the Easter Bunny pictures.  I was rather upset with myself but fortunately, Carolyn has them on her computer so she will copy them again for me.  I am glad about that!  Now I can finish the newsletter this weekend and have it printed and passed out.

I called the tummy doctor again but I missed the person who has the results so I need to call tomorrow after 10:30 am.  I will call again tomorrow when I wake up because it WILL be after 10:30 am.  The only day I am usually a morning person would be on Sunday for church.

Melissa was at choir practice tonight.  She is home from college so she is coming to sing in the choir with her sister.  Carolyn and Melissa are both such nice young ladies.  Actually, all 5 of them are wonderful.  There are 2 boys and 3 girls in the family.  Both Carolyn and Melissa have good voices.  We three sing the second soprano part when it is called for.  I no longer can hit the super high notes I used to be able to hit.  Most of the time it doesn't bother me but sometimes it does.  I don't think I appreciated the sound on the high notes that I had.  I miss them sometimes now.  On Sunday, Carolyn is going to braid my hair the way she braided hers and her sister's hair.  Looks so cute.  It is a french braid the stars on one side of the head and go around to the other.  I really liked how it turned out.  I have to be at church even earlier now so I can get my hair braided.  I am also picking up Donna, as of right now, anyway.  I am supposed to call and remind her on Saturday and then call on Sunday to wake her up.

I am getting tired now.  It is almost time for bed so I will read for a bit and then head for bed.  I hope your day was good too.

midweek!!! 5-9

Today is my baby brother, Andrew's birthday!  He is one year, one month, and one day younger than me.  We think it is very cool how that happened.  No, Mom didn't plan it.  As a matter of fact, Mom wasn't really planning children at all, but God had other thoughts and plans for her!  She liked to say we all just arrived.  Also, never once did my mother ever say she was sorry she married my father no matter how bad the marriage turned out.  Not once, EVER.  She would say she was glad she married him because if she hadn't, she would have us and we were the best thing that ever happened to her.  Talk about a great mom.  My father was a horrible person at the end of their marriage and put her through torture and other bad things, yet she says she is glad she married him?  Wow, that to this day still blows my mind.  Mom said the three happiest days of her life were the days we were born.  It is so nice to know how loved we were and still are because I believe she is loving us from Heaven too.  I don't think that love ends because the person goes to Heaven.  I made sure that the last 5 years or so of her life that she knew how loved she was.  I told her everyday (even if I was upset with her for some reason) that I loved her.  I wanted her to remember that.  I believe she did.  I really do think so.

This year for Mother's Day I am picking up my friend, Donna for church and then brunch.  I changed my profile picture to a great picture of mom for Mother's Day.  I thought she deserved to have her picture on display.  Mom was so awesome, she just was.  I am glad though, that many of my friends think they have got the best moms.  Well, I HAVE the best!  he he he!

Kids say the darnest things.  Jillian noticed that I had a hole in my shirt.  I had forgotten about that but it is there.  I also have paint on my shirt too.  Jillian and Brooke are learning a new hand position with several new notes.  They are doing pretty well, but we have a bit of work to do.  Aubrey has her spring concert song totally memorized.  I am so thrilled about that!  I just love these girls.

I am planning to go to bed early again tonight.  My goal is to be in bed between 10 and 11 pm instead of 12 or 1 am.  Tomorrow will be a big day because I have several lessons plus a make up with the lovely Rachel!  I am excited to see the lovely girl since I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks.  I miss my students when they are absent.  Like Breanna, she has been absent for 2 weeks.  So far, it looks like she will be here tomorrow of which I am glad.  She is singing and playing the piano at the same time for the concert.  Breanna is going to sing and play "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You".  She is doing a wonderful job on it.

I called the tummy doctor again to see if results of the biopsy is in.  It is STILL not in.  It has been 2 1/2 weeks now.  I had the scope done on the 16th of April and it is the 9th of May so you would think it would be here by now.  I am not expecting too much from it because I already know that I have an ulcer.  It is just a matter of is it caused by bacteria or medicine or stress.  I would say probably medicine but there isn't too much I can do about it.

I am watching Cold Case.  This episode is about a father who was killed shortly after they were released from the internment camps in California for the Japanese and the Americans of Japanese descent.  It is so hard to understand why the government would do such a thing.  This is where part of my nightmare about being sent to a camp comes from.  It wasn't just the camps in Germany and Poland but the camps here in our country.  Thankfully, they closed them and we don't have them any more.

I have been rather tired this week, a bit more than usual for some reason.  I am not sure why.  My head pain is the normal pain same with the rest of the pain.  I have more trouble with the fatigue part of Fibro than I do with the pain mostly.  I do know I am so tired because bodies were not made for continuous day in day out all over pain.  I don't take sleeping pills anymore because they were too expensive and they gave me nightmares.  I just take Tylenol PM or Advil PM, whichever I have on hand.  Sometimes, I have to take a couple doses before I get any sleep.  I think that is why I spend so much time in bed.

I do hope you had a good day.  I am going to watch some more TV for a while then try to get some sleep.

The Usual Tuesday, NCIS 5-8

Tonight is NCIS night!  I love my Tuesday TV!  NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles are such good TV shows.  They are almost over for the season though.  I have missed a few episodes that I hope to catch in re-runs.

Today was a light day.  Both Charlie and David called to cancel lessons so I only had the little guys.  Laith is now starting level 2 and Samuel is about to start with level B.  Rahul started a new book a few weeks ago, he is in the little Mozart series.  He is doing okay, but would be doing better if he would practice.  I am hoping his dad will start practicing with him.  David won't be in the concert because of his work.  Since someone in his department will be on vacation that week, he has too work.  I am disappointed but I do understand.  Rahul is also not going to be in the concert as he is just not ready at this time.  His brother, Samuel, will be in the concert though.  I am having a rehearsal for the group number on Saturday in the afternoon.  We are going to practice both this Saturday and next Saturday.  I am anxious to see how this group song is going to work.  It is the very first time I have ever had all students (including piano and tenor sax students) sing in harmony.  It shall be interesting.  I sure hope it works out well!  If the students can't keep up with the harmony, I will just have them all sing the melody.  I just hope it does work out well!  I will find out this weekend.  It will be the first time any of them to sing it together so I am nervous of how it is going to work.  I can't believe the concert is less than 2 weeks away.  We have 33 numbers this time.  Several of the students take 2 instruments and I have a duet so that is why there are so many numbers.  I think it will be a good concert.  Of course, I don't think we have had a really bad concert, we have had some long concerts, but no bad ones.

I am getting a bad headache now.  It has been the regular pain one most of today, but now it is getting bad.  Thank goodness I am done teaching today.  I am going to take some headache medicine and head for bed early tonight.  I am not as tired as I was yesterday, though at this time I am tired.  I am usually tired at this time of night.  I usually try to last as much as possible to at least 11 if not 12, but I don't think tonight is going to be an 11 or a 12 night.  I just don't see it tonight.

I have to work on the subdivision newsletter now since I have been putting it off for a week now.  I hope your day was good and that you are having a good evening.

the start of a new musical week 5-7

I love teaching.  I just wish that I could teach as much as I use too, but with the reality of fibromyalgia and other illnesses, it just isn't possible.  I used to be able to teach 50 to 60 students a week and some of them were hour long lessons or the student took 2 instruments.  However, as much as I lament what I used to be able to do, I am very, very, very thankful for what little I can do.  It keeps me busy so it is a good thing.

I am so tired tonight.  I did get a nap in but I am still very tired.  I will definitely be going to bed early tonight.  My head isn't so bad tonight, just the usual headache.  It seems so weird to think that a headache everyday is just normal.  Really, it shouldn't be, but for me, it is.  I know so many that this is the normal too.

Isaac had both his lessons this afternoon.  He plays piano and sings.  For the spring concert, Isaac is playing "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter and is singing "Be Kind to Your Parents".  I think he will do very well.  Antoinette had her piano lesson.  I asked her if she was working on the group song but she wasn't because I forgot to give it too her.  Yup, whoops!  I didn't mean to forget so I quickly printed off the words and gave her a disc.  I sure hope I haven't forgot to give the disc to anyone else.  I guess I will find out this week.  I am printing the spring concert info flyer right now.  I am excited about the concert.  Everyone only gets to perform 1 solo though because I have too many students for each to perform 2 solos.  We discovered that at Christmas.  There is the group song and one duet.  Natalie and Allison are singing "My Favorite Things" as a duet.  It should be rather fun.  Selma had her lesson this evening too.  She is almost ready for level 2 along with Laith, Emily, and Antoinette.  I will have to get the music tomorrow for Laith.  He is the closest to being finished with his books.

I am hoping by tomorrow I will be able to find out if my ulcer is from medicine or from bacteria.  I hope it isn't from my medicine because that will cause a big dilemma for me.  I need the medicine I take for pain management and digesting my food.  The medicine that may have caused the ulcer is the Meloxicam for Arthritis.  I sure hope it isn't from that because without the Meloxicam, I can't walk by the end of the day. I also, now, have the number for the physical therapy place that Dr. Aloot wants me to attend.  I will call them tomorrow and see if it is covered by medicare or not.  If it isn't covered, then I will not be able to get physical therapy because I can't afford it.  I do think it may be covered though so that is my hope.

I am going to read for a bit.  I hope your day is going well.

Family day Sunday 5-6

My Aunt Michelle, Uncle John, and cousin Jayson were here this evening.  We went out to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner.  Oh my gosh!  Was it ever good!  I had a rib eye steak and my uncle had a t-bone.  I don't eat steak to often anymore, but boy it is yummy when I do.  After that we headed to Walmart so Michelle could pick up a few things she needs for a birthday party next week.  The little lady who is having the birthday likes Dora and Cinderella so Michelle picked up a few things for her.  I think she will be really happy with what she is getting.  I thought they were cute.  Michelle ended up accidentally leaving her wallet in the cart when we loaded the car so when we couldn't find it here, she called the store and then went to get it.  Someone was nice enough to turn it in.  Everything was still in it, thankfully.

I really enjoyed the evening with my aunt and uncle.  I have an old photo album that I didn't know who was in the pictures.  They start in 1921 and end at my parents' wedding.  There are, to my relief, several pictures of my mom as a toddler.  She was 3 in the pictures and there are about 6 or 7 of them.  She looks so adorable at that age.  She was making faces at the camera too so they are just too cute.  I am so thankful that I have them.  I plan to take them and get them enlarged so I can frame them.  They are the youngest pictures I have of Mom.  I know that at one time there was a baby picture of mom but I am not sure where it is.  The sun was starting to ruin it so Mom put it in a drawer.  I haven't seen it since and I was a teen when this happened.  I am hoping it is in one of the many boxes in the spare room.  I hope the family home movies are in there too.  I would like to take the slides and make them into a disc as well as the home movies too.  That is a job for next year though.  I have to save the money to get it done in the future.  There are also some nice pictures of Mom with my Uncle when he was a little boy.  Mom adored her baby brother and took care of him until he was about 5 or 6 when she joined the air force.

Tomorrow I need to work on the subdivision newsletter.  I plan to work on it tomorrow afternoon and have it ready to be printed by evening after lessons.  Mondays are a good day.  I have just enough lessons to fill the late afternoon and rest in between.  We are 2 weeks away from the spring concert so that is our main goal for all the lessons of the students who are planning to participate.  Only a couple of students can't.  Selma is one because she has dance at the same time.  I am disappointed but I do understand she already has another activity that she is committed too.  Selma is a very nice young lady.  Jayson played the piano a bit today.  I had forgotten that my uncle also had lessons as a child.  he doesn't remember too much about it.  I asked him if he remembered my mother playing the guitar and he did remember mom's guitar.  He doesn't remember her playing it, but he remembers the guitar.

I had a regular pain day so that was good thing since I had company.  My aunt had a bad headache earlier, but she took some medication so it is better.  My head is just the normal pain right now so that is good.  Church was good this morning.  I love all the songs we sang during the service.  We also had communion today.  We have it once a month.  Our choir director, Lee wanted to be the one to service us communion so the choir went back to the choir room instead of going into the service.  After communion, Carolyn and I went back into the sanctuary for the rest of the sermon.  It was on stealing and working hard.  It is a good series they are doing right now on sins.  Last weeks was on anger.  I do have a lot of that that I am trying to work through.  I am very angry (still) at my father for not only leaving us but what he did to my mother when they were getting a divorce.  He was just so out of control and mean.  I had no idea a person could be so mean to someone they once loved.  It was just awful.  I also am angry at a couple of extended family members because of past events.  I am NOT as angry as I was, but parts of me are still angry.  I am working on it.

Saturday - 5 - 5

I had lunch/dinner with Laura.  It was alright.  I had a nice visit.  Afterwards, I went to get gas and go to Walmart to pick up some medicine and a few other grocery items.  I needed some mashed potatoes (I like the pre-made Bob Evans type), meat, pasta, etc...  $95 later, I was finished.  I couldn't believe I spent that much so quickly, but it was all on medicine or food (except for the Time Magazine special edition on the Queen of England and her 60 year reign).  I am working on eating at home more often so I can save a little more money and be able to pay both the tax payment and the rest of the new sink.  I know I can do this.  I am pretty positive that if I am careful, I will be just fine!  It will just take a bit of thought and discipline so I can do this.

I spoke to my friend, Donna on the phone this evening too.  We were talking so long, my phone died.  Yes, that long.  (It didn't seem like it was that long)  Apparently, we were on the phone for about 2 or so hours.  I need a new battery for my phone but I keep forgetting to get one.  There is a battery store right up the street from me so it isn't like it is far away.  I just don't think about it until the little phone dies like a while ago tonight.  What can I say?  Out of sight and out of mind with me!

Tomorrow my Aunt Michelle and Uncle John will be coming over.  I am excited about this.  I haven't seen them in a couple of months so this will be awesomely fun.  They are coming over after church tomorrow.  Their church is at 9 am while mine is at 8:30 am.  Next Sunday, I am picking my friend, Donna up at 7:15 am for church that day.  I have to pick her up super early because I have to be there an hour before the service.  She says she doesn't mind so hey, okay, I will pick her up early.  I am not sure if she will need her walker or her wheelchair.  I guess we will figure it out that day.  I am anxious to see my aunt and my uncle to have some good visit time and also with my small cousin, Jayson.  He is 5 now and such a doll.  He is really cute and pretty well behaved for a 5 year old.  I don't know if we will go out to eat or not, but I have food in the house if we don't.  I can make a pasta dish or a roast or chicken.  I did just shop a bit so that is good.  I am all set for company, I will just have to clear the table because, as usual, it is totally covered with music, DVDs, and bills.  I have a bill file, but I can't say I use it all the time.  Okay, I still find myself tossing the bills behind my computer on the table instead of opening them and placing them in the bill file folder.  yeah, I am working on that.  I am better than I was, but still not where I want to be.

Pain level is a bit higher than usual tonight.  I think it might rain tonight.  There is a possibility and my aching bones say so too.  My head is a bit sorer than usual tonight too.  I am getting bad headaches several days a week now instead of just once or twice like before.  I have the everyday headache, but I can usually work with it most of the time for short spurts.  If I rest in between lessons, then I am okay.  It is the days with the bad headaches and no rest between lessons that are bad.  Fortunately, I am able to schedule some down time on busy days and most days are only a few lessons.  I can only teach a few lessons a day because it is too much for me.  It is hard to believe that only about 5 years ago, I could teach 50 to 60 lessons a week, six days a week.  Now, a week full of about 20 lessons are just enough. I still teach everyday except for Sundays, and even then sometimes I have one student or a make up lesson, generally.  I do love teaching, I just can't teach as much as I used to.

I am also very tired tonight too so I will be going to bed early.  I plan to get up in time for church tomorrow.  I am glad I am back into the habit of going to church again.  The week always starts off better if I go to church on Sunday not to mention I simply love singing in the choir.  It is wonderful to be able to sing in a choir again.  I had to stop singing in the choir when it became too hard for Mom.  She loved me singing in the choir.  No matter what choir I was in, Mom could always pick my voice out.  She was attuned to my voice when I was young.  What else are Moms for?  Next Sunday will be the 2nd Mother's Day that Momma is spending in Heaven.  I wonder what kind of celebration they have for Mother's Day?

new sink in! 5-4

The new sink came in this afternoon and it looks so pretty!  It is very strange to have a white sink when the rest of the bathroom is the 60s green.  I don't mind though because I hope that some day I will be able to redo the whole bathroom (with the exception of the new sink, of course) with a white tub and a white toilet.  Right now, I am just thankful that they work beautifully and I am having no problem with them.  For that, I am one thankful lady!!!!!  God is good!!!!!  Even in this upset, He is good!  The company I had come and change the sink is a company we (meaning Mom and I) have used before.  They let me be on a payment plan, which I am not sure other companies would let me.  I am so glad about that.  It is definitely a blessing.

I woke up super early (for me) to wait for the plumber.  I forgot to check my phone and missed a call from the plumbing company telling me they would be there in the afternoon because of an emergency.  I waited and waited in the living room.  Finally, at noon I checked the phone and realized it was still on vibrate from choir the night before.  Yeah, they called at 10 to tell me and I missed the call.  They did leave a message though but I could have gone back to bed instead of sleeping in the chair with my feet propped up.  Silly me.  Anyways, he arrived in the afternoon before lessons and installed the new white sink.

I only had Emily's and Natalie's lessons this evening since the B-T family is ill.  Both Acer and Heather have pneumonia.  I do hope they get better rather fast.  Pneumonia is not good.  Andrew has had pneumonia about 4 times in his life.  I think he has had close shaves at least 2 of the 4 times.  I know when he was a tiny little baby he had pneumonia and both Richard and I were sick too that Mom got a call from the hospital he was at to come and see him because he was dying.  Mom quickly went and as soon as she walked in the door and called his name, his vital signs jumped right up.  Whenever she left the room, he would go down so poor little Mom had to stay in the room no matter what to help him get better.  With Mom there, Andrew got better in record time.  He is definitely a Mother's Boy just like I am a Momma's Girl.  We are not fools, we knew who would take care of us, Mom.  That was actually how Mom knew I was faking being sick when I was very young.  If I went to Dad (except in the middle of the night, for some reason I always went to Dad in the middle of the might) in the morning, I was faking, if I went to Mom, I was really sick.  Since generally, I was ill, I went to Mom most of the time.  One time though, I really was sick and Mom wasn't home, Dad did have me stay home.  Unfortunately, neither one of us knew exactly what Mom would do so when he had me put my pajamas back on, he told me to leave my undershirt on.  Well, that made me hot and sweaty.  When Mom came home, I had a fever and was a pile of sweat.  Within minutes, I found myself in the tub with fresh pajamas for when I got out and fresh sheets since mine were all wet with my sweat.  After that, my Dad and I knew what to do if it ever happened again.  It didn't since I think he left pretty soon after that.  I am not sure, I just don't remember.

Emily and Natalie are almost ready for the Spring Concert.  Everything is shaping up nicely for it.  We have set the group rehearsal for the group song at the end of the concert.  Natalie M and Hannah are working hard on the covers to the concert program.  I will figure out the order of the songs next week and start working on the program.

Tomorrow I will be picking up my friend, Laura for lunch/dinner.  We are going to hang out together for the first time in ages!  It has been probably at least a year since I have seen her.  I think I have seen her once since Momma passed away.  Laura was on vacation when Momma passed away so she couldn't come to the funeral.  I know she would have been there otherwise.  I am excited to see Laura for about an hour or so.  It will be fun to get together.  We should do this much more often than we do but she is busy with work and going to school.  She is taking culinary classes.  Laura loves to cook and is a good one.  I have eaten her cooking before.  The summer before Mom passed away, Laura invited us to have lunch with her.  Laura made some pasta type salad with some other stuff and boy was it yummy.  Even the little lady ate quite a bit for her.  I was rather impressed.  The only other person Momma would eat that good for (besides me) was when my Aunt Michelle would cook when we would go there.  Aunt Michelle even brought us homemade food during the summer that Mom would eat.  Mom really liked what Aunt Michelle cooked.  We went to my aunt and uncle's house about once every couple of weeks so my Uncle John could see and spend time with his big sister.  When Uncle John was born, my grandmother was so ill after the birth that when the new baby came home he went directly into my mother's arms.  My mom was responsible for the baby while her mom got better.  It is one reason my uncle has always said that my mom raised him through the first part of his childhood and it is true, she did.  Uncle John always said he broke her in for us.  We used to say, he didn't do enough. Mom was very strict but as an adult looking back, I am so thankful for that.  Mom was so particular about what we read, watched on TV, and what we saw in the movies.  I am glad because unlike some of my friends, I don't have some of those images in my memory and I am really glad about that.  Of course, at the time, I was angry and upset.

I am going to read for a bit.  Pain hasn't been too bad today, just the normal amount.  My cousin, Maia may have Fibromyalgia too as well as a few other things.  I have some books she can read if she is interested.  She has been waiting for a long time to find out what is wrong with her, just like so many of us.  I do hope she finds something that will work for her.  So far, the medicine I am on has been helping me.  It doesn't take away all the pain, but enough of the pain (most of the time) to make my day more manageable.  I hope your day has been good.

thursday 5-3

I had choir practice this evening.  Carolyn and I were the only sopranos for a bit before another soprano arrived.  I was thankful for another soprano.  One of the songs we are singing is wonderful and it goes rather hard because it is so high.  My high notes are gone.  They have been since I about 2008 when the steroids from the asthma medication.  I actually don't use my asthma medicine too often anymore.  I think the building my store was in caused a lot of the breathing issues.  Since I have been out of the building, my asthma has improved a lot.  I have had the odd attack but mainly it is under control.  I am thankful for that.  Anyways, we worked on the song we are singing on Sunday.  We were supposed to sing it last Sunday but when we ran through it, it just wasn't ready so we are doing it this week.  I love the song we are singing.  It is called "My Heart, Your Home".  It is so beautiful and simple.  I love being a part of the choir.

The new sink arrives tomorrow.  I have to get up early so I can let the plumbers in to do the work.  I plan to nap a bit while they work.  I think that is a good plan.  I also need to pay some bills tomorrow.  I am happy and sad at the same time about the sink.  I am happy that I will have one that doesn't have holes in it, but sad because it costs a lot of money.  This will completely wipe out the emergency fund.  It now no longer exists.  I have will have to work hard to get up back to where it needs to be.

I am going to read for a while.  I am getting tired.

I have the estimate - 5-2

I have the estimate and I have not fainted - yet.  It will cost about $400.  I can pay in 2 payments so that is a relief.  I also called the county this afternoon only to find out I should NOT have been putting my tax money in my savings account but sending it in.  Silly me.  So I will send a check to them tomorrow.  I kind of thought I should be able to make a payment at anytime, but I wasn't sure.  I guess I should have called in March, but I didn't.  I will take care of it so I will be on schedule.  I am behind one month of savings for payment but I will make that up this month.

The sink will be put in on Friday.  They will arrive between 9 and 10 am.  I will get up early so that I will be awake when they are here.  it won't be that bad because I will nap while they are fixing my sink.  I am anxious to see a nice sink in the bathroom that doesn't have rust holes, but hey, I am rather bummed that I have to do this now.  Then again, is it ever a good time to have to replace any type of plumbing thing?  I don't think so.  However, I am thankful I can deal with this and I have good company to work with.  We have used them before so I think that is what helped me be able to get a payment plan.

It was a light teaching day.  It usually is on Wednesday.  I don't mind because tomorrow is a full, well, as full as I get, teaching day although Breanna is absent again.  I am bummed but she says she will be here next week.  Bob had his lesson today since he was absent on Monday.  We worked on his Prelude by Bach.  We started the 2nd page.  There was a goofy fingering for the right hand on the first line.  We had to fix it.  He and I both agreed that you can't really slide finger one under finger two from an A natural to a B flat.  It is extremely awkward.  There was another awkward fingering, but there isn't anything we can do about that one.  We both tried and we came to the conclusion that he will just have to jump his left hand down.  There is just no other way to do this.  We didn't get time to play his Handel Sonatina, just ran out of town since we spent so much time on the Prelude.  It isn't such a big deal though.  I am sure it sounds good though.  Bob practices hard and works at making the music smooth without mistakes.

I need to have my bangs trimmed on Friday.  They are getting in my eyes and that is not good.  It bothers me when they do that.  I think I get the bangs cut every 6 to 8 weeks.  My hair grows kind of fast in the front, but slower in the back.  It is about 1/2 down my back right now.  My goal is to have hair long enough to donate but still be able to put it in a ponytail.  I like wearing my hair in a ponytail these days.

I am getting tired now so I am going to finish up a few things before I head for bed.  I do hope you had a good day.  I ached a bit more than usual today because of the dampness and mugginess outside today.    I did expect that I would ache more.  I have to remember to call the hospital tomorrow for physical therapy and occupational therapy.  My left hand pointer finger hurts a lot when I try to close my hand.  Sometimes it hurts even when I don't try to close my hand.  It is the arthritis.  I have it is several joints as well as my back and hips.  That is why I have trouble walking or standing for a long time.  I use a scooter for many activities because I can't stand or walk for a long while.  It is just the way it is.  I am hoping that the physical therapy will help.

the sink needs to be replaced, the pipes, and the trap

Welcome to May Day!  Yup!  It is May 1st!  I used to love this day so much!  Mom would make us May baskets and a Maypole to dance around when we were small.  However, today, my sink in the main bathroom is leaking and rusting.  I talked to the plumber we usually use about a payment plan.  When the plumber arrived he said we would work something out.  Thank goodness for that!  I will find out how much it will cost tomorrow when the lady from the plumber's office calls.  I will answer the call if I hear it when I wake up.  Since I do usually hear the phone in the morning, I am sure I will be able to answer it.  I am not looking forward to that call.  It is something that can no longer wait so I have to get it done since the pipes are now leaking too.  Yeah, it isn't enough to need a new sink, let's add some pipes and a trap (whatever that is) to the load.  Oh my.  Okay, I sort of know what the trap is.  I guess I shouldn't really complain about the work needed, I mean, it is the original sink and piping from 1966, so I would say it has held up pretty well.  It is just that I don't have the emergency fund in good standing as of right now.  As a matter of fact, I don't have an emergency fund right now.  I have had to use it for getting the toilet fixed, batteries for the scooter, and my brakes for my car.  Oh yeah, and the new battery for the old car, so it has been used but I will get it up again.  I will just be vigilant with my money in the next few months.  I also am in the process of saving for the taxes.  Ah, it could be worse though.  I do try to keep that in mind.  I could need all three bathroom sinks replaced and their piping and traps too, fortunately, it is only the one sink so I am thankful for that!

It was a decent teaching day.  I had a few lessons.  Charlie was here for his lesson.  I had some more cans for him.  Bob and Breanna gave me some for the young man.  He is such a good guy!  It is breaking my heart that he is graduating.  Of course, I have been through this before with other students who were wonderful and graduated.  You just want them to be small for so much longer than they can be.  I am lucky that I have awesome students.  I am so proud of him.  He is going to start college in July.  He will study for 3 months, work for 3 months, student for 3 months, etc.  Charlie is going to, as of today, study mechanical engineering.  He is so smart.

It was NCIS night again!  I am so glad they were new episodes.  I know the season finales are coming soon.  I do not plan to miss them if I can help it.  NCIS Los Angeles was a 2 parter that involved Hawaii Five-Oh last night.  It was good and I enjoyed it.  I like both shows.  I would say though, my 2 favorite characters are from the regular NCIS and they are Abby and Gibbs.  Abby is awesome.  She is the forensic scientist and Gibbs is the team leader.  Both are such good actors and the show is great.

Dance Moms Miami is on right now.  It is outrageous as the regular Dance Moms.  I have only seen one episode of this show and I don't really know what to think about it.  I think I am going to turn this off and read for a while.  That sounds like more fun.

I hope your day has gone well too.