We went to the doctor for Mom today.  She got 2 new prescriptions, one for an appetite stimulant and the other for depression.  I hope they work.  She weighs 94 pounds, so that is 10 more than I thought so that is good.  She is skin and bones though, although, hopefully she will gain a bit of weight.

She is eating dinner right now, one of those smart ones frozen dinners.  We like them.  She had 1/2 finished but I told her she needed to eat the rest.  It looks like she might.

I pulled her off the serax the Windsor doctor put her on.  It was making her lethargic during the day and more confused and she ate even less than normal!  I looked it up last night on the Internet and made the decision to not give it to her anymore.  She was having too many side effects and it wasn't that effective either.  I found out it was for anxiety and agitation, well, she already has medicine for that, she didn't need anymore for it.  I also researched more on stage 6 of Alzheimer's.  For the sleep disturbances, there is no medicine to fix that, at least none anyone has found.  At least she is still talking and eating (even though it isn't much) and can still enjoy somethings.  As long as I can keep her with me, I will be happy.  I plan to keep her as long as possible.  If I have to place her in long term care, I will reluctantly do it.  I won't do it willingly.

Tomorrow is the spring concert.  There will only be 6 students in it.  After this I have to make the program.  It will be a 1 pager that is for sure.  It will be the smallest concert ever, but since I couldn't change the date too many won't be able to attend.  It will still be fun and the kids will enjoy it.  There will be a total of 11 songs so it will be very short.  Maybe afterwards, the kids and I will go for ice cream, that would be a perfect end of the day.

It is a bit cooler today than yesterday, although still nice and sunny.  I have changed into my spring jacket and put mom in hers this morning.  She is only wearing 1 hoodie and the spring jacket, better than how much I had to layer her for the winter.

I was late for Frank's lesson tonight.  I lost track of time at Walmart's.  I was only picking up a few things and dropping the prescriptions.  Fortunately, I had my phone on and not on vibrate, so I heard them call.  They waited.  I felt so horrible about it.  I try to make sure I am on time for every lesson and not miss any.  He and his mom were fine, they said they are late a lot so it is no big deal.  I can at least say I rarely miss a lesson due to forgetting, but it does happen.

Pain is normal today.  I feel relieved knowing Mom weighs more than I thought and we have some new medicine to try for her.  She ate pretty well for her for dinner.  All in all, a decent day.

Mom ate her donut and 1/2 her muffin without too much trouble today.  I should have some answers by the weekend.  She is drinking water without me reminding her too, so that is good.  We are going to my friend, Heather's, for knitting today.  Calli has a half day so she will be there when we arrive.  She is so cute and sweet.  She is very excited about the concert on Saturday.  I, too, am excited about the concert.  I just have to make the concert program tomorrow and then print them up.  That won't take to long.

Mom is in the whispering mode again.  Being partially deaf, it drives me nuts because I can't hear her and she won't speak up so I end ignoring her because I can't hear her.  She just doesn't get it anymore.  She is afraid people will over hear what she is saying.  Like anyone, outside of me, cares?  She has always been a freak over this issue, but is worse now that she is older.  She does this too me quite frequently and I am getting a bit angry at it.  I can't hear her.  Plain and simple, I am partially deaf and whispering or talking so soft that I can't hear makes my head hurt worse.  I expect that when I remind her that I am deaf, for her to speak up, does she?  No, she does it again, then I get mad and speak harshly, which isn't so good.  I need prayers for patience.  I just am running out right now with all these issues.  Other than these two she really is easy.  I know what she needs help with and I help her.  She doesn't get mean, even when I am yelling or speaking harshly, she does what I ask (except for the 2 issues) she goes to bed easy now.  So I don't have a lot of room to complain.  She has even stopped wandering around the house.  I still gate her upstairs, in case, because I certainly don't need her wandering outside again.  Been there, done that, not happening again.

It is so beautiful outside.  I don't even need a coat on, it is close to 80 degrees.  How heavenly.  Even Mom was getting a bit warm inside Walmart and walking in and out of it.  I am putting on her light jacket when we leave for my friend's house.  Tomorrow is supposed to be wet and a bit colder, but spring, at last is here.

We have a sub division meeting tonight.  I enjoy them a lot.  We see our neighbors, talk about what needs to be done and have a good old time.  We will be in bed as soon as we get home though because Mom gets tired there, especially with her not eating enough.  I don't expect her to get fat or anything, just gain a few pounds so that she weighs at least 100 pounds, that is what the doctors want.

Pain is normal for the day.  I expect it to be a bit worse tomorrow because of the rain, but today is alright, it is doable.  Okay, a day without pain would be the best, but that isn't going to happen until there is a cure.  So let's hope there is a cure someday in the future!

Have a good afternoon and evening!

Mom ate a small plateful of chicken and mashed potatoes for the first time in 2 weeks.  We were at Tillie's and she had her bath and Teri said Mom looked like she lost another 5 pounds this week.  Well, of course I flipped.  I was not a happy camper, that puts her at about 85 pounds with clothes on.  (Since she was 90 pounds with clothes on when I weighed her a couple of weeks ago)  Tillie pointed out that if she keeps this up she will end up in the hospital.  Mom was upset by that.  She is afraid of the hospital because she is afraid that the hospital will then move her into the nursing home.  I am afraid of that too.  I want her with me.  She drank a full ensure at Tillie's, so I am happy with what she has eaten today.  I am taking her to the doctor tomorrow because the physician assistant for my tummy doctor said there is medicine to help her increase her appetite.  I will ask about that.  She does take a multivitamin now.  It is a chewable.  I wonder if this lack of eating is normal for Alzheimer's.  I haven't read anything about it, but that doesn't mean it isn't normal.  Mom has always been weird over food to begin with, so now she is just weirder about it.

She is all spiffed up from her shower and hair wash today.  I will be asking for a prescription for a shower and hair wash over here to make it easier on me and hopefully we will get it 2 times a week.  She likes getting all nice and clean and it is very hard for me to help her with that.  So I spent last week researching and finding out what we can do here and how to do it.  I figured it all out and now I will enact upon it.  Anything to take care of Mom.  That is my first priority, Mom.

Pain is high today, not surprisingly though because of the lack of Mom eating these last two weeks.  When I worry about her, I ache more.  I have a medium size headache tonight and my arm is pretty sore too.  I am also rather tired.  

This weekend is the spring concert.  Should be rather short since about 6 of my students aren't going to be in it because of illness and schedule conflicts.  I planned it a few months ago so I can't change the date especially since the store where we have it at  is completely booked for the month of May, which is when I usually have the concert.  I figure it will last about 1/2 hour.  I am getting used to short concerts, unfortunately, the length of the concert doesn't change the price of the room.  It is still $125 to use whether it is for an hour or a 1/2 hour or 2 hours.  I don't really miss the 3 hour concerts we used to have because I had so many students.  I do miss having that many students, just not how long the concerts were.  I hope in the next few years I have my student roster grow.  I am going to take some of the money we found and place an ad in the newspaper, a regular ad, not a classified.  I tried 6 weeks of classified and they didn't work.  I will see how much it is to put in a small regular ad, maybe I will be able to put it in for more than 1 week.  We shall see, all boils down to the dough, how much does it cost.  That is what matters.  I am putting it in the little C & G newspaper, we only need our area so I won't be putting in ads in more than one newspaper, just the Shelby News.  I like the newspaper, it has pretty much only local news.

It is getting warmer again!  yeah!  Sunshine!  I am so happy spring is here.  Mom loves the sunshine.  I don't know how much we will walk since she is so tired all the time.  After we fix this little eating problem, we will try to go for our nightly walks.  I take the scooter, and she walks next to me.  She really enjoyed it last year, she would get restless if we didn't go unless it was raining and then she didn't want to go (smart lady, my Mom!)  I hope to hear from Richard soon to know when he is coming to visit.  Mom and I are anxious to see him.  I haven't seen him in over 1 1/2 years, way too long!  Way, way, way too long of not seeing the big brother.  I miss his kids more than him though, I don't know if they will be coming or not.  As he is in and out of work, like so many in this country, it all depends on cost.  I hope they do, but I am not holding my breath about it though.

It has been a rather trying day, I hope your day was better than mine.  Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a better day for me.  I have knitting with my friend tomorrow.

We had lunch with new people today.  We see them all the time at Tim Horton's and today I invited them to sit with us.  They are very very nice.  Mom enjoyed it too, she told me so.  She, as usual, is falling asleep in her chair, only she has her coat still on.  If I don't take it off, she won't for hours, but she wanted it left on today, so I left it on.  She is now standing for a bit, she says.  She goes back and forth between standing and sleeping all day long.  Poor thing.  Must be hard to have Alzheimer's.  I would think so anyway.  It's hard on me and I am not the one who has it.

Mom and I will be visiting Kathy in a few weeks.  I have some games I wish to give them.  We aren't going to play them anymore (Mom just can't - and I get tired of playing for her).  I think her boys will like them a lot.  I am going to bring them some monopolies, sorry, trivial pursuit, and checkers.  

Katie is sick today so she won't have her lesson.  Frank will be having his on Friday instead of yesterday since he was out of town all last week, and apparently he had a cold the whole time they were gone.  Poor kid.  Nothing like being on vacation and ill.  Those two words should never go together, know what I mean.

I am very tired today.  I may take a wee nap in the living room.  I didn't get up early or anything, I just am more tired.  My head is sore more than normal today too.  Stupid head.  That's all I have to say about it.  I have to find something better to do with my time than what I am doing.  I don't know what, but I have to find something.  I would like to find a job that I work at home doing so I don't have to put Mom in daycare, but so far I haven't any luck.  The best thing would be more students!  That would be the best.  I am debating on whether or not to take some of the money we found and use it to place an ad for lessons.  Even if I only get one, it is worth it.  I have to find out how much the ads are though.  I am planning on calling this week.  Ads might work for more students.  I know this isn't the season for a lot more students, but maybe one or two would be interested in learning.  We shall see.

We are now onto season 10 of JAG.  I love that show.  We will begin watching it this weekend on Saturday afternoon.  Then we will move onto Walker Texas Ranger season 6 and then season 7.  We enjoyed that show too, a lot.  After that, we are out of shows to watch so we will watch something we already have.  Mom doesn't remember them, so it doesn't matter and often I am doing something else too besides watching the TV (Nintendo DS Lite!!!! or knitting).  It gives us something to do together and she likes it, so why not?  I don't really watch much TV, and could often care less if it was even on, but Mom likes the noise of it.  It can get really quiet here in the house and she doesn't like that.

Julie will be here this weekend and she is going to help us with Mom's clothing issue.  She is going to go shopping with me and Mom after tax season.  She is a tax prep person, so you can only imagine how busy she is right now!  No one sees Julie during tax season, she is also very good at what she does.  I have to ask her to do the sales and use tax returns for 2007 and 2008 for the store too.  I forgot to ask how much that would be because I really need it done.  The state keeps asking me for it, like every month since I lost the store.  I don't miss the store anymore.  With Mom in the shape she is in, it is a bit better now that we don't have it.  We are paying our bills and not being late with most of them.  I am about to pay a car payment that will bring me current with the car and no more late fees!  Yeah!  About time!  I hate paying late fees, it is like burning money to me.  I can waste money easy, I don't need any help by having to pay late fees.

It is sunny and it is getting warmer again.  It is suppose to warm up as the week goes on.  I hope so, poor Mom is just so cold.  It is also getting closer to when Richard is coming to visit.  I can't wait to see him!  I miss my big brother.  It is also getting closer to when we are taking a day trip to see my little brother, Andrew.  I miss him too.  My brothers just live too far away from me and I don't like it.

I hope your day is going well and is sunny out too!  I have had enough of this rain.  Although I tell myself often: April showers bring May flowers and I love May flowers!

I was wrong!  There IS a season 12 of Murder She Wrote!  I don't know when it comes out, but it will be soon, I imagine.  Season 11 came out in February.  Even Amazon doesn't know when it comes out.  Dancing with the Stars is on right now.  It isn't as exciting without Donny Osmond.  I just love him, he is so entertaining to watch.  It could be because I am also pretty tired today.  I had 4 lessons which is normal for a Monday, but I woke up tired for some reason.  More than usual.  Mom is pretty tired today too.  Although I think the new sleep medicine isn't helping her too much and it is making her drag during the day.  That is why I didn't want prescription sleep medicine.  She is tired enough.

Not much going on, just the usual, pay a few bills, make dinner, clean up dinner, and make Mom drink more water.  I think it is just the let down after a busy day.  I was hoping to talk to Richard this weekend, but he was busy and didn't call me back.  I tried again today.  I will try later this week, he may be working out of town this week for all I know or he could be working at home.  Like I said, I didn't get to talk to him so I don't know.  I am looking forward to seeing him soon.  I want to take Mom to Seattle during the summer, but that isn't going to happen, Mom won't be able to handle it.  She had a hard time just going to Tillie's.  We are heading there Wednesday after my doctor appointment.  Then we will be coming home after dinner.  She will have an appointment next Wednesday, so we won't be going to visit that day.

I am glad spring is finally here.  It is a bit warmer today than last week but not quite warm enough for us to be able to take walks in the evening.  I can't wait.  Mom really enjoyed it last year so I am hoping this year she will like it too.  It's hard in some ways because she was so much better last summer than she is right now.  She could handle so much more.  Now she really can't.

Pain isn't so bad today for a change, especially since I am so tired.  Usually that means much more pain.  My elbows are a bit sorer than normal though.  Weird I know, what can I say?  I have a weird illness.  So many of my friends have the same one, it is nice to know people know what I mean.

It has been an okay day despite the exhaustion.  I hope your day is doing well too.

Not much going on today.  I spoke to Kathy for, oh, about 1 1/2 hours on the phone!  Glad I get so many minutes a month and weekends are free because man, can we talk!  It was fun.  Mom was drinking her ensure while we were talking.  She is almost finished with it.

I had to return the cute shoes I bought her.  I noticed as I was about to cut the tags off, that they were wide and she has narrow feet.  Oops!  I will look later this month with Julie for cute shoes for Mom.  Julie is going to go with me after we figure out what Mom needs in clothes for the wedding.  She she help Elyse plan the wedding, it works out perfectly.

Mom isn't eating good again.  She is trying but, she needs to eat more.  I almost lost it at Tim Horton's for our breakfast.  She only ate 1/2 of her soup instead of all of it.  Last time she at 3/4 of it and I was happy.  I told her she only had to eat 1/2 though because she kept saying she was full.  She also ate a donut.  She loves her donuts.  She now weighs about 90 lbs.  She will get weighed when she sees the doctor again.  I have to make the appointment (I will be doing that tomorrow)  I also need to send a check into them too!  I will be writing out bills this evening after I check our bank account again.  I check it everyday so I know how much we have, what has gone through, what hasn't gone through, you know, stuff like that.

Mom is pretty tired today though, she was sleeping in her chair when I was talking on the phone.  We have to go to Border's later today for a book for book club.  I may wait and get it next week when the new coupons go out.  I have until May 22 to read the book, so time is not an issue.  I have plenty of it.

We are going to watch New Moon today and some more of the last disc of Murder She Wrote.  It is almost over.  :( :(  We have watched almost all 11 seasons now.  When we finish disc 5, we will have watched the entire series on disc.  Mom really likes that show, although I think sometimes she can't see the TV so good so I will bring down her other glasses for her.  She is stretching now, she does this all day because she sits a lot.

I got some new books for my birthday.  We went to the used bookstore and they had some oldies, but goodies.  I got six new to me books.  I have read 2 of them, but I love them.  They are some of the books that got mixed up and went into the rummage sale last year.  There was one box that wasn't for the sale (it had my favorite books in it) but somehow it went too even though I marked it NO.  Things like this happen a lot it seems in the Paxton house.  

I bought a new electric kettle because the cord got thrown out with other stuff when the kitchen was being cleaned.  That actually made me mad because that was about $23 to re-buy when I had a perfectly good one.  I am tired of buying stuff that I already have, like Mom's clothes.  She had a perfectly good outfit with a cute blouse (a high collar one because she thinks her neck is too thin), it had a jacket, vest, and a skirt.  Mom looks very nice in it and I knew she would want to wear it to the wedding.  Well, the blouse and the skirt are gone, they went into donations along with most of her blouses, skirts, jackets, and sweaters.  All her church going clothes and some of her pajama pants and sweat pants too.  Basically, she has the one pair of jeans she wearing, some t-shirts, and her new hoodies left.  I wasn't that happy about it, I was pretty upset.  I didn't get a chance to look at anything they donated because they didn't ask me and I didn't realize they were upstairs, so all in all, not good.  I am not as mad as I was, but it still bothers me when I think about it.  I will get over it, that is for sure, but I have to have some time.  Sometimes Mom wants to wear something other than jeans.  Fortunately, her dress pants are still there, 2 red blouses, and a few jackets.  I should be able to come up with something for her to wear at the wedding.  She also may want a new dress for the wedding and in that case, let's go shopping!

I do have to get her new shoes because all her old ones were heels and she can't wear heels anymore.  Those were donated too.  (That was the good part)

It is nice and sunny and a bit warmer out today.  I am liking the weather!  Hope it stays like this for a few days before the rain comes back.  I hope your day is good, mine isn't too bad right now.  More later!

Here is the weekly link:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/fma/fibromyalgiaaware_2009winter_v2/ 

We went to the Olive Garden for dinner.  Mom ate 3/4 of her soup.  I was impressed.  She usually only eats 1/2.  I only ordered her soup though because I didn't want to waste any money by ordering her a dinner.  She also drank some milk, I brought the rest home since I ordered a child size.  It was really big, for a child size.

We had book club today and it was fun.  Maggie and Debbie were there.  Aggie is very ill this weekend so she wasn't here and I think Katie was at work or she is still ill too.  Not sure.  I will ask on Tuesday when I see the young lady for her lesson.

We talk about so many things at book club besides the book although we do discuss this in detail.  I have liked most of the books we have read, only one I didn't like and didn't finish.  Which I consider pretty darn good.  Debbie picked the book this month.  I asked her too because next month is her last month before she moves out west.  She has a great opportunity to move to Seattle and I am glad she is taking it even though I will miss her a lot.  She is such a neat young lady.  She is now 23.  (she turned 23 on Saturday last week).  

We are supposed to see Hayley possibly tomorrow.  I certainly hope so.  I didn't really get a chance to talk to her the last two times she was here because she was on her way either to or from Tennessee and the kids were in the car.  So I am hoping I get some time with her tomorrow.  We might see her here or we might see her in Port Huron, either way works for me.  She likes to shop around here.  I don't really like shopping at all unless I am on vacation or in the book store or the Disney store or at Disney World, then, I like shopping.  I am hoping to go to Disney World in 2011 with Kathy and her family.  All depends on the funds and when they are going and all those type details, but I do hope I go, it will be a blast.  We (Kathy and I) are planning to have the girls get made up like princesses at the princess boutique.  Aggie, Jacqueline, and I did the hair and make up last time we were in Disney.  It was a blast.  Mom didn't want to get her hair done, I found out later she thought we couldn't afford it.  I felt horrible because if I had known that was the reason, I would have gotten her hair done for sure.  The twins will look adorable in princess dresses and their hair done.  The boys will be off on the big rides with their Dad.  They will have fun.  I don't know what I will do with Mom for a week unless I can bring her with me.  I am not sure how that will work.  I will figure all that out later.

It was sunny today, although a bit chilly with the wind.  I really didn't appreciate the wind, but I did appreciate the sun.  I hope it is sunny and warmer tomorrow, I am sick of rain already as it rained so much this week.  Rain makes me ache a bit more and often gives me a bad headache.  Not a happy camper with that, that is for sure.  Anyways, I hope your day was good like mine!

We went to Red Lobster for late lunch/early dinner for my birthday.  Mom ate 1/4 of her potato and none of her fish.  She said wasn't hungry and since we ate breakfast late (we didn't eat as much as usual) so I wasn't upset.  I will give the rest to her for dinner later tonight when she gets hungry.  Tillie was here and came with us.  It was fun.

Not much happening right now or for the rest of the night.  We are just watching the news.  Like I said, nothing interesting.  Maybe we will go and get some ice cream.  I don't know, we will see.  Mom likes ice cream a lot.  Mom is doing well with every time I remind her it is "take a sip of water time" and then she takes a sip.  It much easier this way.  She had milk for dinner but didn't finish it.  She can finish it later.

I picked up my taxes yesterday.  I am so lucky to have Julie do mine for me and it doesn't cost too much.  She is an expert and does a nice job.  Unfortunately, I owe, so I will be sending the check this week.  At least it isn't much.  I am saving all receipts for next year so I will be in a better position.  It is hard though to keep everything in order.

I think we are going to finish up with Murder She Wrote this weekend.  We will then have seen all 11 seasons.  We wish there were more as we both really enjoyed the show.

I have a bit of a bigger headache than usual, Darvacet works pretty okay to bring it down to normal.  I am really a bit tired today but I am sure that won't help when I go to bed.  It is a dreary day outside, no sun, just cloudy.  I hope tomorrow brings us a sunny day!

Hope you had a great day!

Today is my birthday.  I am happy about that in a way, except I am now 42.  Same age as Kathy!!!!  She is four months older than me.  Mom is getting her picture her taken and now she isn't happy about it.  Oh well, it is being done anyway.  

We are back from Mom getting her picture taken.  For someone who glared at me when I mentioned it, she did a great job getting her picture taken and worked well with the photographer.  It was expensive, but well worth it because who knows when this would happen again?  So I picked out four 5 x 7's (we are getting five - ones a dup), 24 wallets, and one collage of three pictures.  They come in on the 21st.  Two weeks isn't bad for a turn around time for this.  I will let Richard and Andrew pick out what they want, you can see them on the Internet.  Isn't that cool?  I am emailing them tonight with the information.

Not too much happening right now, but more later, when we go out again in about 1/2 hour.  Mom is cold and I thought it would warm up but it didn't.  I will have to put her in her heavy winter coat, I have it handy.

It is cold out and my jaw hurts.  I don't know why, I don't think I clench it when I sleep because it doesn't usually hurt unless it is the first time I am chewing a food, then it hurts.

We are celebrating my birthday dinner tomorrow night, I don't really want to go tonight so we will go tomorrow afternoon.  Maybe we will see a movie, it's a possibility but I don't know what is playing.  We haven't seen a movie in a while so I am not up on what is out there.

It is cold and rainy here, I hope wherever you are it is nice and sunny and then please send some my way.  Hope you are having a good day.

I have Mom back with me.  I won't be doing that again soon that is for sure.  First of all, I decided I really like having Mom with me (most of the time anyway!).  Second, our house is too quiet with only me in it.  I don't sleep well without Mom in the house.  I start to freak over a possible break in.  Yes, I am aware that it wouldn't matter whether or not Mom is here, if someone wants to break in, then they will, but I sleep better and don't start hearing noises if Mom is here.  I don't know if Mom enjoyed her time away but she says she is glad she is back.  I think it confuses her more if she is not home and going back and forth to another house.  After we get back she asks when we are going home and while we are there she asks when are we going home.  So you can see why I think she gets more confused about where she is sometimes.  If we are home more, she doesn't ask unless she is very tired for the day.  I also don't think she sleeps well anywhere but at home and she doesn't sleep all that well here at home.  She was up 3 times last night and one time Monday night.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I will be 42.  Hard to believe, it seems like yesterday I was turning only 30, and here it is almost 42.  Mom is getting her picture taken and then I will have knitting with my friend Heather.

I think we are done with working on the house for right now.  I don't want anything else done right now.  The dining room, kitchen, utility room, and living room are finished and that is fine.  Mom's room is 1/2 done and I want to finish it myself, the garbage is out of the room, so that is really all I need.  I need to go through what clothes Mom has left and see what fits her, and see what she needs.  She doesn't really have anything for the wedding in June.  I do have a pair of black dress pants for her, and possibly a jacket, but all her blouses are gone.  They were turning color, from what Tillie said so they got rid of them.  If they were yellowing, they wouldn't do us any good.  Her shoes need to be replaced too because all she had for dress shoes were high heels, and no, she doesn't have the balance for those!  I will buy her a cute pair of flats that she can wear to church too.  She has dress boots, they are right in the dining room right now, but I will be moving them to the front closet.  Unfortunately, one of the tragedies of the clean up was my fancy skirt that I was planning to wear for the wedding (depending on the heat of course).  I don't know for sure that I would wear it, but the decision has been made now.  It is gone.  I think they thought it was Mom's and put it in the bag, but oh well, gone now.  Maybe next fall I can go to Liz Claiborne and maybe she would have a fancy skirt for the winter season then.  I can always make one too if I really want one.  In the fall they have some really nice winter color taffeta that would look real nice as a skirt.  I haven't worn in a few years and have worn it only about 3 times, all on vacations.  (cruises - formal night)  Like I said, I have a couple of pairs of really nice dress pants.  I need a new pair of flats too so I am going to be ordering them shortly.  I have a nice sweater that is light that I am planning to wear so I am all set for Elyse's wedding.  I just have to wait until June for it.

It is so nice having Mom here again!  I just had to say it again!  I really missed her.  I used the time to think about what it is I want.  I have come to the conclusion, I like taking care of her (most of the time - nobody can be happy with it all the time, I think) and I really like teaching.  I don't want to move, I like our house, it is just the right size for us.  We have a nice (now clean and fresh looking) living room that the pianos fit nicely in and so does some of my music.  We have a nice office in the family room that the music file cabinets fit and a table that I can put my big computer on and do some writing, editing, etc.  Our family room is kinda a catch all right now and we don't use it.  We have furniture from the living room in it and a nice table with 5 barrel chairs.  I have decided I like the furniture and the table and chairs.  If we have company and we want to go downstairs, we have the space.  In the fall I will get the fireplace (gas) started - yes, I will call the professionals for this one! - so if we want to use the family room, it will be ready for us.  I like the dining room furniture even though only 2 chairs right now are usable.  I will fix the other 2 this summer.  I think I can do it.  I just have to re glue them and then they will be usable.  So I have made some good decisions - ones that I can live with.  The violins and violas that are left over from the store will be sold and 2 will be given away on this blog.  I have about 25 of them left.  I will save 2 for the Michigan Music Association competition next year and then that will be all.  Also, 2 will go with my friend, Heather, for her 2 children.  Her son is just fascinated with the violins.  He plays with one every time his sister comes for her lesson.  I am going to sell my profession violin, student violin, professional flute, student flute, and student clarinet.  I am keeping my one student clarinet and my professional clarinet.

It is raining today so the pain is a bit higher.  I feel better about what is going on with the house right now.  I feel real good about it.  I made a few other decisions too that I was so upset about, I feel real good about that.  I really do so I am in a good place right now.  I am going to start doing more writing and maybe I will get something published.  We shall see!  I hope  your day has been a good one and your tomorrow is good too!