Teaching

 From the time I was young, I knew I always wanted to be a musician. I never ever waivered on that.  I was a born musician.  I think I sang long before I spoke.  I learned how to dance and then added acting classes.  I was working on a career in Broadway.  That had been my goal since I was about 8 years old.  I had been put in theatre class beginning when I was six.  I recall my parents speaking about this as if theatre class would channel my being dramatic.  It didn't.  It made it worse.  I learned how to cry on cue.  I only got away with crying on cue to get one of my brothers in trouble once.  The second time, I got in trouble.  I did deserve the time out.  

I have no idea how many students I have taught over 38 years.  Too many to count.  I have been lucky enough to have a career that I could support myself and I was proud of my work and what I did.  My mother was so thrilled and proud that I was a teacher.  She loved assisting me at competitions and rehearsals.  She really did.  Mom was always so helpful.  Mom and I were very close.  She came to most of the music competitions, there was only one that she didn't go too and oh my!  I heard about it the entire weekend.  All of the teachers that knew my mother asked where was mom?  Why did you leave her at home?  Let me just tell you never again.  I brought mom with me after that.  Mom laughed a lot when I told her all about it.  

I love teaching.  I love sharing the thing I love most in the world with people.  I do not know how to market myself in this new world of media.  I cannot work full time.  I haven't been about to for 19 years now.  I would like several new students.  I do like teaching here.  It is enough.

Starting Small with Old Hobbies I Love

 I learned to sew when I was in 3rd grade.  I was 8 years old and home because I was very sick, so was my younger brother.  We both missed about 2-3 weeks of school, I am not sure really how much as it was so long ago.  My mom made all of my clothes for school and church up until 4th grade.  That was when I had to actually go to the store and buy my school clothes.  The meltdown is a whole other story.  Because my mother had us rest in the morning and in the afternoon, we felt pretty good after the first few days.  Naturally the medicines helped too.  It was very common to see my mother sewing during the day.  I kept asking her questions of why are you doing this and that.  What does that do?  I had shown interest in sewing before, however, not as much as then.  Mom brought up my little table and chair.  Thus began my love of sewing.  

About 6 or 7 years ago, I had finally admitted I could no longer so because my hands simply ached too much.  They also shake a lot.  I decided to give a friend my sewing stuff and whatever material I had left.  I wanted someone to enjoy my stuff.  My friend, Pattie came and got my machines and all my sewing things.  I had lunch shortly after that with her and her daughter.  Pattie had made me a quilt.  It is so beautiful.  I love it.  I was very very surprised too.  I did not expect that.  The quilt is music themed.  

By the time I was in junior high, I could sew my own clothes with very little supervision.  Mom and I still sewed together, it was our bonding thing, I just didn't always need her help.  In 8th grade, the night before Halloween or the day the school was celebrating Halloween, I decided that I was going to make my Halloween costume after all.  I had picked out the pattern and the material plus all the notions a week before.  I had planned on making the costume for Halloween at school, but that week was awful.  8th grade was one of the worst years for me when it came to me being bullied.  It was cool to be as mean as you can to me.  There was a point system for what you did to me.  It was just insane.  There was one girl in my homeroom class that was the worst.  My homeroom teacher was never in the room and when I told him about it, he did nothing.  I went to the library as many days as I could.  My homeroom teacher was actually happy when I couldn't go to the library during homeroom.  He laughed and said things like you can't go to the library today.  I had friends, none stood up for me.  One ofter joined in if she was mad at me for some ridiculous reason.  She would get mad at us for the most insane reasons like not writing her a not during whatever hour we were in.  She expected a note from all of us every single hour no matter what.  I wrote all of my notes to her at night at my house so I would have them ready for the next day.

Anyways, I digress.  I began making my costume after school. I finished the costume about 11:30 that night.  No, my mother was not that happy that I was still up when she came home from work.  She did see the finished garment.  I had made a couple of whoopsies, nothing anyone who doesn't sew would really know.  Mom said I did a good job.

Nervously I put on my costume and went to school.  I tried to brace myself for mean comments and mean things.  I was not prepared for nice comments and impressed classmates.  All of my classmates recognized who I was in my costume: Laura Ingalls.  The TV show Little House On the Prairie was a favorite among many students.  I was asked all day where did I get my costume.  I said I made it.  I was also asked, did I make the bonnet also.  Yes, I did.

I made a lot of my church clothes in high school and I also made a lot of homecoming dresses for classmates and a lot of prom dresses for classmates and the dresses I needed for singing competitions and perfromances.

Recently I bought some Christmas Ornament Kits that you sew.  I am starting with those.  We shall see how my hand do.  They don't ache as much as they used to, I am hoping that means I can do some sewing.  I do miss it a lot.  The picture is of me in 3rd grade, the year I began learning to sew.  Mom made that outfit.  I absolutely loved it!