Friday

I am so glad it's Friday!  The week is almost over!  Yeah!  I have 3 lessons tomorrow and then Sunday with Donna.  I am looking forward to that.  I am rather tired, as usual today, there is nothing new about that.  I am always tired it seems.  I had Calli and Acer's lessons this afternoon.  Acer and Calli are so cute and such good musicians.  They are working on their concert songs right now.  They are singing a duet and then doing both piano and vocal solos.  Calli has decided on 2 piano pieces, On Top of Spaghetti, and Goodbye Old Paint.  So far she is just singing Candle on the Water.  She and Acer will be singing Rainbow Connection together.  Acer will be doing Rock Song, a Chinese Song for piano and Day Oh for vocal.  I am not sure whether or not drums will be a part of Day Oh or not.  Hard to say with the little man, he doesn't know yet.  I am gathering the list of songs that everyone is performing so that I can get the layout of the concert this weekend.  I will not, however, create the actual program until next week.  I have learned this over many years of last minute changes.  Acer will be near the beginning because he is so impatient.  There are only about 10 or so students in the concert.  It will be a good one even though not everyone will be in it.  The Muglia girls won't be in it because of the arrival of Thomas.  He is due right around the time of the concert.  I can't wait to see the little guy.

It has been an okay day today.  Right after I got up I went and got my hair washed.  I have decided to go 2 times a week instead of one.  by today, the bangs are definitely droopy and I don't like droopy bangs.  So after that I went for lunch, came home and talked to Kathy.  They are pretty sure they are coming on the 21st and the 22nd to help close the storage unit.  I have some boxes in the back of my car they need to be removed and put in the garage right now.  I am going to ask Katie to help me put them in the garage.  If it doesn't rain on Sunday, I will go and get more from the storage unit.  I can't wait until it is closed!  I really can't.

I have a bit of a tummy ache tonight.  I am not sure why but it is pretty bad.  It hurts and everything too.  Time to take more tummy medicine.  I just took some and I hope it works.  I am not up for a sore tummy all night long.

The other night I was reading some of the posts from a year ago.  It is amazing to think that last year was the last Mother's day Momma would ever spend.  I did take her out to dinner which she liked.  We spent the day together and had a great time.  I don't remember if we saw a movie at home or out, I didn't comment on it.  She got a cute outfit for Mother's Day from me.  I don't remember if either boy called her.  They didn't always.  We did call Jennifer (my brother's wife) and wished her a Happy Mother's Day.  I will do that on Sunday.  Momma had a good day on that Mother's Day.  We had a nice, low key day, which was typical for us.  I read a few between then and when she passed away.  I cried as I read the ones where she was sick in the hospital or in the nursing home.  I so wish I could turn back time and redo last May to the end.  Actually, I would like to redo from 2003 on with her.  I didn't know that some of the things she was doing were symptoms of Alzheimer's.  I could have had her on medicine from 2003 on instead of 2006.  I don't know if she would still be gone, but she may have had an easier time of it.  But, you can't go back into time, can you?  I just wish we could.  I so miss her.  It will be strange not to spend Mother's Day without her.  I have NEVER had a Mother's Day without the little lady.  I have always had her with me since I was born.  Seems weird and strange to me.

Anyways, I do hope you have had a good day.

hmm

It has been a decent day so far.  I got my Breanna for her lessons and then went to the bank to make a deposit.  I have almost 1/2 for the house payment due in 1 1/2 weeks.  Breanna is deciding on what to sing for the concert in 2 Sundays.  She did decide what to play on the piano so she will be practicing those two pieces all week.  Next Saturday I will print the program after I get color ink for the printer.  I don't have any right now in it so it won't print very well.  The new printer prints so slow that I will just use the old one for the program besides since I need to print on both sides, I can do that on the old one much easier than with the new one.

I need to seed the front and side grass.  I don't know if first I should have it raked though because I have never been in charge of this before so I am not sure.  We have several bare spots that have never been in our lawn before.  Not good, if you ask me.  I wished I had paid more attention to Mom working outside now.  I never was very interested in working outside so I didn't pay attention.  Not a good thing, I know.  We have several big bare spots and a few small bare spots.  Breanna's mom said they should be raked first. I have a rake but I am not sure that I can stand long enough to do this.  I will try tomorrow afternoon if it isn't raining.  We have a thatching rake too but I remember how heavy it was to pull so I am hoping a light rake will work too.  I shall find out.  Originally, earlier in the week, the weatherperson said it was supposed to rain a lot this weekend, now they say mostly on Saturday.  I wish they would get their predictions a bit more accurate but I suppose with something like the weather, it would be hard to do.  I want to put seed down before the rain so that it doesn't have to be watered in since I no longer have any sprinklers.   All of them are gone.  I don't think I have one left.  The hoses are in the shed but I don't know what kind of shape they are in right now.  I don't really want to buy a new hose or a sprinkler, I would rather it rain.  I am at a loss of what to do with the yard right now.  I don't have enough money right now to fix it up too much.  I plan to save for next summer and put in some bushes in the empty spot out front.  I don't know.  It is giving me a headache thinking about it.  I will worry about it later.

I have told the storage unit people that we will be empty by the end of the month.  I am so excited about this.  I just don't want or need the unit anymore.  So far, it seems the snow globes have survived the storage unit.  I am glad.  I plan to take a few more boxes out of there tomorrow.  I just have to empty my truck with the book boxes and then the trunk will be ready.

On Sunday, Mother's Day, I am taking my friend, Donna out for lunch.  Since I miss my little Mom so much and I don't want to be alone.  I am picking her up at 11:30 and we are going somewhere, I just don't know where.  I will see what we feel like on Sunday.  Most places will be busy, but that is okay, we have all afternoon and I won't be alone.  It will be the first without Mom so I had to do something special otherwise I might hide in my room for the entire day, sleeping.  (Hmm, that actually doesn't sound so bad, sleep!)  Andrew is not going to visit Mom's gravesite so neither am I.  I just don't really want to be by myself for the entire day.  Part of the day, that will be fine, but I don't want to be alone for the entire day.  Sundays are usually my day to sleep in really late and do whatever because I don't teach that day unless it is a make up.  I need to have one day to myself even though right now I do have a lot of time for myself, I am hoping to be teaching more soon or at least by the fall.  Right now I am thankful for at least 1 lesson at day Monday through Saturday.

I don't have anything else to do this afternoon except for housework.  Yuck.  I don't mind most of it.  I am tired as usual today.  I did get a wee nap in before the Breanna's lessons but now I am exhausted again.  I don't know if I will just go to bed early or take a little nap now.  It is a bit late so I just don't know what would be best.  I will see in a bit.

Pain level is normal, nothing out of the ordinary.  I have pretty much completely forgotten what it is like not to have a headache, body aches, and joint aches everyday.  I don't remember what pain free days feel like.  I am sure they are wonderful, but I don't know them anymore.  I also don't know what it is like to be full awake all day long.  It seems so long ago when I felt like that.

I do hope this finds you doing well and having a less pain day.

oh noes!

It didn't work.  I can't get the award on my layout.  It only showed an address.  bummer.  This happened to me last time too.

a good day!!!!

I received an award from my new friend Christine!  Here is a picture of it.  I will attempt to put it on the blog, but have no guarantees about it.  I will try it after I finish posting.  Anyways, I am thankful.  The last award I got was from Missy!  Unfortunately, I was not able to post that one because I just stink at that kind of thing.  I am not very technologically advanced.  I am lucky I learned how to post.

So, it has been a good day despite the lovely blood test I had this morning.  the doctors office called to have me come in early so I went.  I made the appointment in the afternoon so I wouldn't have to get up early and here they call me to go in early, I just can't win on that thing!

After that I went to the storage unit.  I brought home 5 boxes, mostly books and a few other items I want.  Then I loaded the front seat and the back seat of stuff I was donating.  They went this afternoon.  The trunk still has the books in it though.  I will empty them tomorrow.  I have about 8 business boxes that have to come home.  I am not sure after that what needs to come home and what is going.  Some of the boxes I haven't seen in 3 years so I want to look at them.

Here are some rules for the award:

I am not sure how to link to the person, but I will try.  Here goes nothing!

Thank you Christine!  Here blog is here: christinemurray.blogspot.com


1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5 new-found blogging buddies.
4. Contact the winners to congratulate them


7 facts about me:

- I am the middle child of 3 children.  I have 2 brothers, one younger and one older.
- I was born in Canada but I was raised in Michigan.  I consider myself an American although I don't have the money for the fees to become an official.  I have started a fund for it.  It is about $400 to file paperwork
- I love Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis and it is all my mother's fault!  She had seen it on TV one Saturday afternoon and thought I would enjoy it so the next week she taped it for me to watch.  I was hooked after one episode.  Just shows what a great Mom I had!
- My best friend, Kathy and I have been friends for 40, yes I said 40 years!  We met in Sunday School at church at 3 years old
- I am Godmother to my cousin, Brandon.
- I have been to Disney World 13 times, only 2 of those times were without Mom.
- My students have sung in Epcot twice, once in 1999 and the other in 2008

Now the hard part!!!!  I am giving this to 5 new found blogging buddies.  Wow.  I have met so many people it is amazing.

1.  Bevie at: dreamsofpurelove.blogspot.com
2.  Angi at: sewloquacious.blogspot.com
3. Karen at: somedaysarediamonds-karen.blogspot.com
4. Amanda at: frugalnavywife.blogspot.com
5. Missy at: missyschranz.blogspot.com

Okay, I will admit that I have known Missy for a while now, but she is such a dear friend, she deserves this award and Karen and Angi are also wonderful friends who have really helped me through this very rough year.


I will attempt to put the award on my blog shortly, I hope I do it right.  I did put the other things on my blog, so hopefully this will work out too.

I do hope your day was as nice as mine.  It would be even nicer if the sun would shine with warmer weather, it is May after all!

banks

Banks are very annoying these days.  The bigger they get the more hassles you have.  A few weeks ago I received a phone call stating that my check card would be cancelled because they were just notified of the bankruptcy.  Now, I am not bankruptcy a bank account or the house bill or anything like that.  It is just their new policy to close bank cards until it has been 3 months since you filed and then you may reapply.  Well, at that point it was 1 week away from being 3 months since I filed.  I was so annoyed because it really caused some issues with some bills that I pay with the bank card.  I got them straightened out to the best of my ability but there are still a couple that only can be paid by credit card or bank card, of which I had neither so I am still working on that one.  So I went in today with my little proof of filing.  It took 45 minutes to do this!  I should be getting the new card in 5 to 7 business days.  What a pain in the rump this has been.

Charlie was over earlier than usual today to pick up some more of the trash from the bushes.  He decided not to use bags as they burn the wood at their house, so hey, works for me!  So next week he will take the last of it.  I am so happy with the job he has done.  He really has done a good one.  Now if only the inside would look as nice as the outside bushes do.  I can't say the outside in general because now that the grass is growing, I have noticed 3 big bare spots in the grass.  Ugh, oh well, I can't do much about it.  The grass will need to get cut in a few weeks but it won't need it before, thank goodness!  I am not worrying about the grass this year because I don't have the money to fix it anyways, so next summer I will worry about the grass and the bare spots.  I will put some seed down in the fall, which I guess is supposed to be the best time?  I am not a green thumb so I am not up on these details.  My cousin, Kyle, probably knows the answer.  Plus, I have a lot of crab grass which is ugly, but it covers the lawn so I guess that is something.  A young man wanted to cut my grass today but it doesn't need it so I don't want it done right now plus I already told Addison he could do it again like last year so to have another do it would not be cool.  Thankfully the snow seems to have disappeared for now.

So Charlie did his lesson and is coming along very well.  I have a busy day tomorrow as I have a blood tests plus 3 lessons!  An exciting day in the Paxton house.  Two of the lessons are make ups, Bob from Monday and Amanda from Saturday plus the regularly scheduled Carson.  I am so thankful that I now have at least 1 lesson everyday of the week except Sunday.  I need one day to not teach and leave it for make ups or other plans.

I am planning to go to the storage unit again tomorrow to pick up some more boxes.  I don't think there are that many more that need to come to the house.  I also have to remember to pay for the unit for the month and let them know that it is the last month we will have it.  I am going to pick up about 6 boxes tomorrow and if possible some more on Thursday before the rain sets in for the weekend.  That would just suck.  I have trunk space now available that I didn't have the first time I went.  The scooter is in the garage waiting to be used.  I can't wait to go scootering!  I love my scooter.  Mom and I would go for long walks/scooters together.  I so miss that.  I don't think there is really anything I don't miss Mom for and this weekend is the Mother's Day.  I am going to scan lots of pictures and just remember her or if it is too painful, I will just ignore it and take a nap.  That seems to help the upsets I get.  Andrew isn't doing anything for mother's day.  He says it is too soon to go and visit her grave site.  I know the feeling.  I miss her too just like he does only I miss her everyday and he doesn't.  He misses her, but she wasn't a part of his day to day life like she was mine.  I miss her every minute of the day.

So anyways, that's the plan for tomorrow.  i don't really want a blood test but considering it could mean a blood clot if I don't get it check and that hurts worse than the blood test, I will just go and get the test done.  Then I will stop at the storage unit and then back home for lessons.  Teaching at home is such a wonderful thing!  I really like it a lot.  I like it so much better than going to people's houses or to a studio.  It is much better for me.  If I need music, I just pop down the stairs to pick it up.  I can copy right away if necessary too now that I have my new scanner/printer.  I love it too.

Well, on to pay some bills.  Yuck!

thoughts

It has been an interesting day so far today.  Of course, the news is full of the death of Osama Bin Laden.  10 years later and they have finally caught him.   I have read so much on face book about it.  People's reactions have been interesting.  My only thought is good luck explaining to God the plan to murder 3,000 just because they happened to be in New York, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon.  I would NOT want to be the fly on that wall.

I am not as tired as I was yesterday.  I woke up in time to go to the Muglia's house.  Naturally, I left the 2 sewing machines that are supposed to go to them at home on the shelves.  Yeah, wasn't that the brilliant thing?  I don't think so.  I think at this point the thing to do would be to put them in the car and take them to the girls whether it is lesson day or not.  Just put them in and take them.  That is the new plan.  If I wait I know that I will continue to forget the day of their lessons.  I also need to get Lydia her $20 gift certificate for Joann's.  She has reached her 500 points so she needs this.  It takes almost a year to get 500 points.  You get points by practicing.  Each day you practice, you get a point.  If you practice 5 days a week and you don't skip 2 days in a row (and lessons don't count as practice!), then you get 2 extra points.  So the most you can get is 10 points.  That would be practicing before your lesson and after your lesson and believe me, I have students who do both.  Hannah and Natalie will no longer get points.  They gave it up today.  When they turn 16 they don't get them anymore anyways so Natalie said she didn't want them anymore because she likes to practice and she doesn't need them.  Wow, talk about growing up?  I was pleased to hear that she likes to practice and doesn't need points.  She does still need to keep track of her practicing, but she just won't get any points anymore.  Her Alla Turca sounds so nice now.  All three girls are doing quite well, and for young Sarah (7) is doing wonderful!  She has learned both treble and bass clef C position.  I am quite pleased with her progress too.  Both she and Emily, I think, will get along very well.  I am very happy with how all my students are doing now because they all practice and are anxious to learn.  That is what so important to me.  I don't have any students right now that don't practice like I have had in the past.  I am very glad about this.  It is unusual, but I am sure I will get those type again, but not for now.  One good thing about money being tight for everyone, only students who really want to learn are learning right now.  I don't have to try to convince a student that practicing is fun.  (Which, to me, it is - I love practicing and always have)

I don't have the bad headache again like I did yesterday.  I am so glad about that!  It went away in the night.   It went back to the regular headache.  I had a difficult time sleeping last night.  My left arm was sore and would not get comfortable to sleep.  I finally came down the stairs and tried to sleep a bit in the comfy chair.  I slept there for about an hour and then went back upstairs to my bed.  The last time I peeked at the clock, it said 2:45 am.  I fell asleep soon after that and didn't wake up until 10:08 am.  I was so thankful I had several hours in a row sleeping.  I am tired as usual, but not the extreme exhaustion that I had yesterday.  I now have my pain medicine after not having any yesterday so I am hopeful that I will sleep better again.  that is my hope anyways!

Pain level is normal, not super bad, just the usual bad.  The pain meds really only take the edge off the pain at times.  Sometimes they do more, but not usually.  Usually, they only take off the edge.

I do hope that you have had a good day.  With 4 lessons, it was a good day!

tired day

I am so tired today.  I think I have slept through most of it.  I have had a bad headache all day so for today. After Army Wives, I will be heading back to bed again.  I haven't even gotten out of my pajamas yet for the day.  Exhaustion just hit me this afternoon like I haven't had it in a few weeks.  I got up late and then after a couple of hours, I went right back to bed.

Tomorrow I have to get up because, I get my MUGLIA GIRLS!!!  I haven't seen then in 6 WEEKS!  Way too long.  I am excited that I get them tomorrow.  I need to see my girls much more often than I get them.  They just can't have lessons more than once a month but I am thankful I see them that often.

Bob will be having his lesson on Wednesday.  I have my blood test that day too.  Yuck, at least I haven't had one for a month.

It has been an all around yucky day for me, I think.  It is a really bad missing Mom day.  The short time I have been up I have been crying and missing her.  I just want her with me.  My friends, Rosemary and Kimberly are just starting the grieving journey and I know how much it sucks.  At least they have each other and their families.  I have friends and that has helped a lot but I still just want to be with my mom.  That hasn't changed since she died, I don't really expect it to ever change.

I called and asked Tillie what she was doing for mother's day, she is going to Darrin's I guess.  Last year she was alone so I was going to ask her to go to dinner, but I guess I will be the one alone on that horrible day.  I don't look forward to that day not one bit.  Maybe i will just hide that day and it will pass me by.  That might be what I have to do.  Last year, I took Momma to Olive Garden and we had a good time.  Now she isn't here.  I was going to go to her grave site, but I didn't want to go alone and Andrew isn't going so I guess I am not.  It is a long drive to go by myself.  It is about 2 hours away.  Andrew is graduating on the 17th of June as of right now.  It is on a Friday, which is kind of strange but okay, I will just reschedule lessons for that day.  As it gets closer I will check the date again with him.  These dates have been to change.  I do know he is planning some sort of party too but I don't know much about that either.

I hope your day is better than mine.  Army Wives is on now so I am going to watch it.

what a day

I got up early to go to Irwin's funeral Mass.  I sat with the Hubels, friends and neighbors.  Rosemary was holding up pretty well.  It was a nice service with nice music.  The one thing I do like about the Catholic Mass is how much music is involved even in prayers.  Being Methodist, we have our hymns and praise music, but we don't sing prayers and I thought that was pretty cool.  I have only attend a couple of Mass services in my life so it is always a surprise for me.  I did tear up a bit which I expected as Irv was a good friend to Mom and I.  I sat with an old friend from High School at the luncheon.  I didn't even know she was there.  Her name was Julie Hoffman Moses, she married a classmate of ours too.  I asked her if she was going to the reunion and she didn't know anything about it so I told her as much as I could.  I gave her my email address so hopefully she will email me and be able to attend the reunion.  I have my ticket.  My friend, Laura, gave it to me as I can't afford the ticket price.  With limited income, I just didn't see how I could afford it now that I am on my own, so I inquired about lower price tickets for people like me and she had an extra ticket so she gave it to me.  I am so thankful for that.  I am looking forward to it.

Anyways, it was really nice to catch up with Julie as I haven't seen her since graduation although we used to live a street away from each other.  I also sat with the Hubels.  They are such a nice and neighborly family.  When I needed someone to stay with the little Mom while I went grocery shopping, their daughter Carolyn came to stay with Mom.  Mom liked her.  Sometimes Carolyn could even get Mom to finish an ensure!  Those were good days for sure.  I sorely miss her so much.  I expected the funeral to be a bit harder, but outside of Julie's parents telling me they were sorry to hear about Mom, I did pretty well.

This afternoon I was thinking about funerals in general.  You know as a Christian, I am supposed to be happy that a person is home with God.  All the scripture says so (the ones they read at both Mom's and Irv's funerals).  We are supposed to rejoice that they have been called home.  Yet, they are the saddest things ever.  How can we rejoice and be sad at the same time.  On one hand, I am so glad Mom is not in any pain and doesn't have Alzheimer's anymore, but on the other hand, I have never been so sad in my life.  This sadness surpasses even when I was a teenager and thought the world was a horrible place.  I am trying to be happy that Mom is in a better place, she is with God and what could be better than that for her?  Nothing, but for me, it is the worst thing that EVER happened to me.  Selfishly, I want Mom with me, despite her Alzheimer's and I know that is not best for her but it would be good for me.  It makes me feel bad because I want her back and I know that she was not doing well at the end, but I still want her back.  Yes, I am aware that it won't happen, but it doesn't mean that I don't want her back.  I know that is selfish, but sometimes I can't help being selfish.  It isn't all the time, just most of it.  How can I settle the selfish part of me to be happy she is with God?  I have no idea.  I just know that I miss her more now than I did when she first passed away.  I think it is because when it first happened, I had family all around me so it wasn't like it was real, then when they went home it became real.  Now I have been alone for about 4 months now and it is so real.  Before, it was like a dream.  If I closed my eyes I could see her and talk to her.  Tillie was here, Maia was here, Richard was here, Cathy was here, and Kathy was here, now it is just me.  I don't mind it so much.  I like living in the house even though I am alone.  I am not as scared as I was when I lost mom, I no longer want to live with Richard out of fear.  I would like to see him more, but he lives so far away from me.  I know I can pay my bills and stuff so I am not as scared as I was.  I do still get nervous by the end of the month if there are any bills left over, like there are a couple this month but they will get paid.

Overall, I think I am doing pretty well, despite being so sad most of the time.  I am enjoying teaching and being with my friends when I am.  Teaching is going well despite the fact the a lot of the students from the new company don't last.  This is a problem I have never had, but I live farther away than I guess the students' and the student's parents realize.  That is okay though, I am doing okay.

I hope this finds you doing well and enjoying the last day of April!  Tomorrow is May Day, one of Mom and I's favorite day.

royal wedding day

Yes, I confess, I am a Royal Family Watcher.  It could be because I am 1/2 British.  My father was from England and both sides of my family go back to England and then Scotland.  We are definitely a Celtic family.  There is also Native Canadian in us from my Great Grandmother's side.  I did NOT get anything from the Native side, Richard did, but I am all Celtic from the pasty, pale white skin to the almost black hair.  I actually don't mind my skin as it does sometimes look nice (usually helps if I have make up on).  I try to stay out of the sun since I burn so very easy.

I wanted to get up early to watch the wedding, but I finally fell asleep around 4 am so I missed it.  I went to get my hair done.  I have decided that I should get it done 2 times a week since I don't like droopy bangs and by today, they were droopy.  I went to the viewing of Irv, my friend, this afternoon.  I talked to Rosemary and to her daughter, Kimberly.  Kimberly used to babysit me when I was young.  She was a great babysitter.  Charlie had his lesson today as well as Acer and Calli.  I have been watching all about the wedding since after the lessons.  I plan to watch the special with Barbara Walters at 9 pm.  The pictures of the wedding are simply beautiful!  I love her dress.  It was so simple, yet so elegant.  I have a few plates, thimbles, and cups that have the Queen and the Queen Mother on them.  Some were Mom's and some are mine.  I do not plan to ever give those up.  Mom was an aide for the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and a few times she was his aide when the Queen and the Queen Mother were in Toronto.  Those were such special times for me to remember.  I remember mom and I standing where the press were in front of the ropes for the Queen's walk about.  I think I took a whole roll of film myself of the Queen, same when the Queen Mother came to Toronto.  It was just really neat some of the things we were lucky enough to do because of mom's work.

Part of me dreads the funeral tomorrow.  The viewing wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I expected it to be harder.  It is so hard when someone you know passes away.  It did bring back some memories and feelings of when Mom passed away but not as much as I thought.  We shall see how I do tomorrow.  I talked to Kimberly today when I was there.  She was doing alright when I spoke to her but I know how that can change in a moment.  I remember that much from the fog of Mom's passing.

Acer and Calli did pretty well for their lessons today.  Acer is so creative that getting him to sit down to play his assigned songs can be a challenge but we got it done.  He is playing a Chinese Song that he learned in school and he figured it out on the piano.  We also played a game today.  He has perfect pitch.  Yup, 6 years old and has perfect pitch.  He got every note I played perfectly right including the sharps and flats.  Amazing young man he is.  Traditional lessons are not really something he and I really do.  We do a mix.  Calli is doing very well too.  She is in level 3 now and starting to play some pretty complicated pieces.  She hasn't decided how many pieces she will sing at the concert.  That is fine as we have 3 weeks until the concert so we have plenty of time to decide.  Acer will sing 2 pieces, 1 with his sister and 1 by himself and his drum.  It should be very cool.  He now has some videos about drums that answers questions about piano and drums.  They are very cute.  He also mentions that he practices drums all the time.  He says it is very important.  I love the videos.  He has 5 of them so far.

I have a bit more of a headache than usual, but I am not surprised with how my day went.  I expect one again tomorrow.  I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it.  Tomorrow will be stressful as funerals often are.  It is just so sad because he was a good man, and it was unexpected.  I fully expected him to recover from the pneumonia he had.  I didn't know about the leukemia.  They couldn't do anything about it because he was too weak to get it so basically, there wasn't anything they could do for him.  The only thing we can do is pray for the family.

Thursday

Well, it is another no lesson day today.  My poor Breanna broke out in hives around 1 am this morning.  She had an allergic reaction to some medicine she has been taking however, she is just not up to a lesson today.  I was supposed to have Christine's lesson tonight, but as I had a feeling, she cancelled her lesson.  She is also stopping lessons for the summer.  What?  I know, it isn't even summer but I had a feeling when she started last month she wouldn't last because of the distance to my house.  It took her longer to get here than she thought.  Her mom commented on that when she first came for the first lesson.

I do have a new student starting from the new company.  However, she is an adult so I am aprehensive as whether or not she will last.  The track record for the other adult students at the new company is zero so it is wait and see mode for me.  She is interested in trying out for community theatre so I am hopeful she will last longer than the one month that they pay in advanced.  I really am hoping that is for sure.  I love working with people who want to audition in community theatre because it is great to have such a good goal and I know of several theatres that are wonderful.  They put on great productions.

I am very, very exhausted again today.  I tried to take a nap but the phone woke me and I couldn't sleep any longer.  I am hopeful that I will sleep okay tonight.  I am getting up early tomorrow to go and see a movie with Lily.  That will be fun.  We are going to see Soul Surfer.  It looks good so I am pleased with her choice.  I am picking her up at 9:30 in the morning.  I think we will stop and get breakfast before the movie as it doesn't start until 10:55.  I have Charlie's lesson at 3 pm and then the regular lessons for Acer and Calli.  I also need to have my hair done sometime in there.  Should that not get done, I will get my hair done on Saturday so that is fine, either way will work with me.  I have decided, though, I will get it done twice a week because once a week my bangs droop and I don't like droopy bangs.  I like fluffy, perky bangs.

I am kind of bored right now because I was planning to have lessons and they aren't happening today.  I look forward to having lessons tomorrow and seeing Breanna next week.  She is such a good student as most of mine are.

I do hope we aren't going to get the bad weather than many others are getting.  Way too much bad weather this spring so far.  We are supposed to get more storms this week and weekend.  Ugh, I am not enjoying this weather so far.  I do hope you and your family are safe from this weather.  The weatherman is on right now, 166 tornados yesterday.  Wow, that is awful.  We had flooding all around us but we have been spared so far.  More storms on Sunday here.

Pain level is okay, nothing to serious here just the usual amount.  It is a missing mom bad day though as I have been alone all day today.  I am very tired and I am hoping to head for bed early as I am getting up early.  I do hope you are having a good day.

midweek

It's Wednesday again!  I had Carson for his lessons.  He just started piano today.  I am pleased with his first piano lesson.  He is doing well with singing.  Amanda had her make up lesson today.  She will have her regularly schedule lesson on Saturday.  She is doing very well.  She started My Heart Will Go On today.  I don't have the accompaniment for it so she will need to get it.  I tried to get it off the Internet but I am just really bad at the technological type stuff.

I just got a call from a good friend/neighbor of mine.  Mom and I's good friend, Irv, died this afternoon.  Oh my, I can't even imagine what his wife is going through.  I know how bad it is.  One of his sons is on the plane on the way here.  He doesn't know that his father died.  I know how heart breaking this is.  When I lost Mom I thought my heart was going to go with her.  This reminds me so much of losing Mom.  It is tough to lose your parent, and for Rosemary, it is tough to lose your husband.  I just can't even imagine.  Barbara Jean will keep me posted with the details.  I don't know if I am strong enough to go to another funeral, but I will because they were dear friends of ours and they came to mom's.

I am extra tired today for some reason.  I don't really know why.  I think the rainy weather earlier made a difference.  I will be heading for bed somewhat early tonight.  Friday I will be going to a movie with Lily.  We are going to the early showing because she is picking up her friend from school to spend the night at her house.  I think her friend is spending the night both Friday and Saturday.  That will be fun for her.  We are going to see Soul Surfer.  It looks very good.  At least this is the plan today unless something happens with the planning for Irv.  Sometimes these things move fast.  We shall see.  I know with Mom we could have had something right away but that was bad for Richard so we waited until the Friday and Saturday.

I had an okay day until the phone call.  Now I am having a sad day.  I feel so sad for Rosemary and her children.  Losing a person you love is so hard.  I hope your day is better than ours.  Please pray for my dear friend, Rosemary and her family.  I will be.