the unit is closed!!!!!

The storage unit (which I have had for 3 years) is officially closed and empty!!!  Kathy and Tony graciously came out to this end of the state this weekend to help me close it.  Well, this afternoon we did!  it is empty and the boxes are gone to the respective places that they need to be at.  Most of the stuff was donated and that is good.  Some of the stuff was not able to be donated so I need to ask my Katie about that because she mentioned the library she works at wants old reference books and boy do I have them.  The business boxes and a few treasure boxes of mine are all in the garage along with a few boxes of books.  I am thrilled to have them.  Tony, I must admit, did most of the work.  Kathy and i watched.  He is very good at seeing where things will fit and how they will go in (unlike me!)  He did a fantastic job.  We had 2 loads to go and that was it.  Having a van really made the difference, I think.  We used both my car and the van to bring stuff to the donation center.  I am just so happy that this is over.

After that Kathy and I went to get some blizzards from DQ.  I don't know why, but I had a taste for one so we went and got one.  Then we went to the thrift store so Kathy could look around.  She found some really cute things for Jacob and the girls.  Unfortunately, she didn't find anything for Matthew (who is now taller than his Mother!)  We went back to Kathy's house for dinner and enjoyed hanging out and talking.  Dinner was wonderful, it was pizza and it was something I haven't had in years!  It was very good.

I must say it has been such a good day!  We accomplished a big task that was looming over me like a dark cloud and now it is gone!  Tomorrow is a day of planning and rest!  Time to plan the details of the rest of the house.  I do hope your day is good and that it is sunny for you too!  (It was here all day!)

Friday

I woke up later than I expect today but that was okay as I didn't have anything scheduled that had to be done at a certain time until the later part of the afternoon.  I went for the regular hair wash before I took a run to Walmart to pick up my medicine and a few items (like Milk).  As usual, I went to get 3 items and came out many items and dollars later.  Someday I am going to be able go in and only pick up what I plan to get, until then, I will just try to do that.  I am not to hopeful that will ever happen as I always remember I need a few other things before I get to the checkout.

This has been a decent month for me.  I have been able to pay all of my monthly bills (except taxes) and with the closing of the storage unit tomorrow, it should be even better for me.  I am thankful for that.  God is really helping me by providing what I need just in time of me needing it.  I am doing better with just giving the financial worries to God.  He hasn't let me down yet, so I don't think He will.  I just have to keep believing that it will happen.

I think I was missing Mom more last night because I had seen a few neighbors that I hadn't seen in a while and they were asking me how I was doing since Mom passed away.  That was nice that they asked, but it made me miss her more.  It was the first meeting without Mom that I have gone to for the subdivision.  It was a nice meeting.  We had some nice snacks and caught up with neighbors.  I met our newest neighbors, Eliza and her husband.  I invited Eliza to join my book club.  I do hope she does.  I hope she calls me.  She has 2 little ones and moved in on the next street over from me.  I sat with my neighbor, he has an almost 5 year old and was inquiring about lessons.  His daughter is adorable and his wife is very nice.  Barbara Jean also sat at our table.  It was a nice night.  i spoke a bit to Barbara Jean about my plans after the meeting.  It is hard for her right now as she was very good friends with our friend and neighbor Irv who passed away a few weeks ago.  Her children called him Uncle Irv and they simple adored him.  He was a very nice man who would do anything for a friend.  He helped me her too and one time was able to rescue Mom when she left the house looking for me.  I was in the house sleeping and he and Rosemary brought Mom back home.  It could have been a terrible situation as I had no idea Mom left the house, but thankfully, they saw her and immediately realized I was not with her so they took action that kept her safe and sound.  I am thankful that I have neighbors that look out for my family and me.

Acer had his lesson today.  We started Fur Elise with two hands.  I am hopeful that this will be wonderful for him.  He even used his thumbs!  I was so excited.  He has decided that the next vocal piece for him will be Candle on the Water.  Acer did pretty well with it today.  A few words he needs to learn, but over all, he did great!  It was nice to spend some time with the Little Man alone.  He is such a Joy, he really is.

I have borrowed a nook from the library to try.  i am excited about it.  I, of course, have to figure out how to work it, but I am sure I will figure it out tonight.  I am really happy to be able to try it out before I buy one.  This way, I will be able to know for sure whether I really will use it or not.

I remembered to do some laundry today.  Sometimes I forget, but today I didn't!  I have summer clothes ready too for warmer weather.  It is supposed to be mid 80s with high humidity on Sunday and Monday with the possibility of rain but tomorrow is supposed to be mid 70s and no rain.  That will be perfect for closing the storage unit.

I do hope your day is going well and hopefully nicer weather too.

I am missing my mom a lot tonight.  More than usual.  I think I will go and look at some pictures and then read for a bit.  I really miss her.

Wonderfully Busy Day!

The day started with Breanna's lesson, then lunch, then a nap, then Amanda's lesson and soon the subdivision meeting.  It will be the first one I have been to without Mom.  Seems kind of strange to go to one without her since technically, her trust owns the house, not me.  While I can still live her, it is strange (although I am getting used to it) living here without the little lady with me.  I can't say I like it any better, I am just getting used to it.  I was dreaming the other night that Mom was still her and calling my name.  She used to do that all the time.  You would hear "Heather" hollered from another room all the time because she had to know where I was at all times.  (this was the last few years of her Alzheimer's)  She would get so frightened if she didn't know where I was even if I was at the store and she was with me.  I quickly learned to leave her a note if I went upstairs to do some work or just brought her up with me.  She liked to help me and since she was a good filer, hey, I had her do some filing for me or some other job like that she liked.  After we lost the store, it was easier for her to keep track of me.  Although I will say about 1 1/2 years ago, I think about December 2009 to January 2010, she would stand at the top of the stairs (where she was gated in) and holler my name at 7 in the morning.  Yup, she did this for about 2 weeks straight.  I was totally exhausted from that.  Fortunately, I was able to break that habit, just took 2 weeks to do it.  I had her anxiety medicine changed and that did it.  She was calling me because she couldn't see me when she left her bedroom.  My old bedroom was in front of her but my new one is in the corner so when she would come out of her room she would turn and miss my room.  Those were two very long weeks for me.  It definitely tested my patience and sometimes I would lose mine because I was so tired.  Thank goodness that stage went quickly.  After that she would come into my room in the morning and sit on my bed until I woke up at around 11 or so.  Then it gradually went to where she just stayed in her bed laying down until I got her up.  I didn't mind when she would come into my room while I was sleeping.  She never bothered me.  She would just sit at the end of my bed until I woke up.  I have no idea what time she would get up because at that time she would sleep in past 7 am.  (Thank God for that one!)

So tonight we will be electing a new subdivision president because Irv, my friend Rosemary's husband, passed away a few weeks ago.  She had originally thought she would go to the meeting but when I called her today she changed her mind.  Hey, I don't blame her.  It has only been a few weeks for her and I know how tough this new life is.  It has been 7 months for me and I am barely used to this new life.  To have to see us elect a new president because her hubby is gone would be a bit much I think.  I don't think I could take that either.  Next week she and I are going to go to lunch together.

I am borrowing a nook from the library!  This will tell me whether or not I want one of these things.  I love reading so we shall see.  I am excited to try it out.  I get it tomorrow when Heather and kids come for their lessons.  It should be awesome.  I plan to try it out tomorrow evening.  I will be ready that is for sure.

I am having a good day.  I am glad I am busy, it makes the day go faster.  I did take a wee nap before Amanda's lesson.  i am just super tired lately so when I need a nap, I take one even if it means less sleep that night because sometimes I just can't keep my eyes open.  Pain wise it is an okay day.  My headache is it's normal headache so that is good.  Outside of weak arms again, I am having a normal pain day.  I do hope you are having a good day with less pain too!

mid week

I had 3 one hour lessons starting at 4:30.  It was nice.  I miss teaching one lesson after one lesson.  The lessons started with Carson's piano lessons.  He is doing pretty well.  He will be starting to read bass clef notes next week.  I can't wait.  It should be fun.  I asked him to please bring his flash cards next week.  We will need them.  Then he got 2 new vocal songs.  He was pretty happy to sticker 2 songs that we are done with.  He did ask if he could sing one of them if he wanted too.  I said sure, you can sing it all the time if you want.  Carson is such a cutie.  He is 8 years old and has been singing for about 6 weeks now and playing piano for about 4 weeks now.  Rick is back from his yoga trip so he had is lesson this evening.  We started two new songs tonight too.  Beth brought her audition material so we worked on it for about 1/2 lesson.  I was happy that she brought the music so that we could work on it.

Other than the lessons, not much is going on.  I bought some new wet swiffer cloths but I didn't feel like cleaning the floor so I didn't.  I will do it tomorrow after Breanna's lesson before Amanda's lesson.

It has been an okay day, it definitely improved this afternoon.  I was tired and a bit bored but since I slept in I didn't want to take a nap.  Kathy called right before my little guy's lesson, I was happy to talk to her.  We spoke for a good 20 minutes until Carson arrived.  She is coming to town to help me on Saturday.  I can't wait for that stupid unit to be empty!  I am so looking for it.  I am also very happy to see her this weekend.  I am thankful for the help.  Julie is going to help me with the family room after Emily and Lily are out of school.  Emily graduates this year.  Oh my gosh!  Emily turns 18 on Friday!  Oh my!  I just remembered that.  I remember her when she was 6, now she is going to be 18.  Wow, that was fast.  At least I have Lily for a while longer.  She is 13 and growing up super fast.  It is hard to believe how fast she is growing too.  Aggie is going to be 21 on Friday.  She reminded me of that last week.  Students grow up way too fast, that is all I have to say.

Pain level is okay today, just normal, nothing more than normal.  My head is a bit worse than usual today.  I don't know why.  It just is.  I hope it is back to normal tomorrow.  I hope your day was okay.

thoughts of the day

It was such a fun lunch today!  i met up with my friend Jennie at Applebee's and talked for about 2 hours.  I really enjoyed myself a lot.  I got to see a few scrapbooks that she had put together.  One was from their first trip to Disney and the other was a family tree of her husbands family.  They were both done so nicely! I have to put some of the pictures of Mom in a scrapbook of just her.  I want to make one for each boy as well as one for myself.  I think the boys would like it a lot.  I just don't know if I will be able to sort the pictures enough to do that.  I will try this summer when my sewing room is finished.  I will have room there for crafts and scrapbooking too.  All in all, I would have to say lunch was great.  I love meeting with Jennie and hearing how the family is doing.  She has 4 children, the oldest 2 are twins and they are 10, then an 8 year old with the 20 month old finishing the family up.  She is also planning to go to the 25 year reunion this October.  I wanted to check for sure.  I am glad she is going too.  I am planning to go and so is Kathy with her husband, Tony.

I realized that because I was so wiped on Sunday, I missed Army Wives!  I did!  I can't believe it!  How did I miss it?  I was in bed about 8 pm.  I just couldn't stay awake anymore.  I will hopefully be able to catch up with the episode on the Lifetime channel webpage.  I am going to try to watch it tomorrow afternoon before lessons.  I have never watched anything on the computer from the Internet before.  It will be a new experience for me.

I have the heater on again tonight.  I am just so cold!  I have a sweatshirt on too, but still, I am cold.  Tonight is NCIS!  I love my NCIS!  It is the season finale though, I think.  That disappoints me, but hey, what can I say?  I love my NCIS shows.  I think I have been able to see the every episode of the last two seasons.  I know I have missed a few of NCIS Los Angeles this season and last, but I think I have seen all of the regular NCIS episodes.  I am sure if there is one that I have missed, I will catch it on the reruns.  I don't watch a whole lot of TV, it just isn't interesting to me right now, but I don't miss the NCIS shows if I don't have to.  I did watch a lot of HGTV but it is getting boring now that there are a lot of repeat shows.  I have started reading a lot more again.  The used bookstore is great for that.  I need some new authors.  I think I have read every book that my favorite authors have written, if not, it is darn close.  I take suggestions, so if you have any, let me know.  I was very into Kristin Hannah a few months ago.  I have read almost all of her books now.  I own about 8 or so of them now.  I think I have read most of them 2 times through.  I have read all the Harry Potter books at least 5 times now not to mention the Twilight Books at least 3 times each.  I am not sure where the book New Moon is right now either.  I know that it is downstairs somewhere.  I can't wait until the books are back where they belong, on the bookshelves.  I am bringing the bookshelf downstairs that is in the living room right now.  I will replace it with another shorter bookshelf for the children's toys that I keep for siblings waiting for piano lessons taking place.  Acer has asked if I had other toys other than the cars, legos, and stuffed animals.  I had to say, I am sorry, no I don't.  I don't know what other toys to add to the collection.  I am on a very tight budget and would not be able to add any more for a few months.  I will ask him for suggestions.  Maybe there is something at the Thrift Store that the kids would like.  It has to be a silent toy though and Acer really likes ones that make noises, not that I blame him, they are the fun ones.

Today was a really good day.  I enjoyed lunch with Jennie and Charlie had a really good lesson.  I gave him all the returnable cans because he and his girlfriend are collection them for the relay for life.  He was happy about that.  I was glad to help.  I had at least $10 worth of returnables for him.  I hope tomorrow is as good as it was today.  I have 3 one hour lessons tomorrow starting with Carson, then Rick, and finally Beth.  I am very glad about that.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

is it really May?

It is so cold outside again.  Is it really May?  The calendar says so, but the temperature tonight has wind chill in it!  What is up with that?  Last week we had 2 days of upper 70s and now we have 30s.  Such is the life with Michigan weather.  Ugh, is all I have to say about that.

I am so excited about tomorrow.  I will be meeting my friend, Jennie for lunch!  I only get to see her every few months because of her work schedule and the fact she lives 1 1/2 hours from me.  We meet 1/2 way in between us at Applebees.  I am so happy to be seeing her.  Then I just have my Charlie's lesson.  I am very excited to spend an hour or so with Jennie.  We have been friends since we were in Junior High.  We met in band class.  Jennie plays the tuba (still does with a civil war reenactment band) and I played the clarinet (I still play too!)  We were in band together all the way into high school.  I bet I have pictures of us somewhere in the house from band camp.  I loved band camp.  The first year I roomed with Kathy and Karlyn and the second year I think I was with Kathy again, but I am not sure who else.  Kathy and I have been friends since we were three.  Facebook certainly has been a good thing for me as I am now in touch with friends that I haven't seen since High School.  I am actually planning to go to the 25 year reunion.  I haven't attended one, so this will be the first but many of my facebook friends (and kathy and Jennie) are planning to attend also.  It won't be until October though, so I have many months before it happens.

I have had to turn the little heater on again tonight because I am just so cold.  This weather is just insane! I hope the weather where you are it isn't so insane like it is in Michigan.

Because it is so cold, I have a bit more pain in the lower back and hips than usual.  I do hope there is something that can be done about it.  I feel the ache all the way to my bones, not just the muscles.  I have to wait until June 13 before I go back to the doctor.  Although, I suppose if they find something, they may call me in earlier.  I will wait and see.

This weekend will be exciting as I am CLOSING the storage unit!  It is 1/4 empty.  I have a few more boxes that need to come home and the rest will be donated!  I can't wait until it is empty and closed!  No more paying for the stupid storage unit.  I should never have opened it at all but at the time I thought I was doing the right thing.  The plan was to move from where we are now to closer to the store (I still had it at that time).  Well, we ended up losing the store before we moved, which in the long run ended up being better than us moving with how quickly the little Momma went down.  I am also very glad we never moved.  I would not want to live in a new house without here, at least here, I have many good memories of us.  My first (and favorite) memory is me walking down the stairs and Momma was doing something in the kitchen.  I was almost all the way down the stairs and Momma looked up and smiled at me.  That is my earliest memory.  I have many good ones like that.

Here is a group picture of the students from the concert yesterday afternoon.  They all did so awesome.

Notice Acer in the corner not wanting to be a part of the group.  I did get a good picture of him and Aggie together.  He is such a character.  I simply adore him as well as all my students.  We are going to have a BBQ concert this summer in August.  I think it will be a blast.

I do hope this finds you doing well!

Spring Concert day!

The Spring Concert went well.  All of the students who performed did very well.  One little one, decided at the last minute he couldn't do this, but that was okay.  He has only had a few lessons and that was just fine.  He didn't want to stay to watch the concert so his mom took him home.  I will see him at his lesson this week.  I also mentioned to him that he has the option to sing with someone at the concerts and Aggie was right there and said I will sing with you.  He smiled at that so I think for the next concert, Aggie will sing with him.  He is such a good student not to mention an adorable young man.

We had a bit of a reception after the concert which went well.  All the students talked to each other and started to get to know each other a bit.  It was wonderful.  A couple of students couldn't stay for the reception, they had to go right away, but that was okay.

I am just waiting for it to become time for bed.  I am so tired.  These concerts take a lot out of me, but I wouldn't miss them for the world.  I love the concerts that we do.  I love the students showing what they have learned and how they have progressed.  I really do.  I finished the program in plenty of time last night, the only thing I did do though was leave Calli's CD here at home.  yup, I had to race back home to pick it up before the concert started.  Boy was I missing Mom for organizing me for the concert.  Usually, the bag is packed the night before.  i remembered that in the middle of the night but I was too tired to come and pack it at that time.  I packed it this morning and forgot the CD.  Thank goodness i remembered before she sang or it was too late to come back and get it.  We even got started close to on time with this oopsie that I did.  The concert lasted about 45 minutes to an hour.  We all stayed for about another 1 1/2 hours after chatting away before we cleaned up and left.  I am rather tired now but I was fine while I was there.  I brought home some pop that was left over and a few cookies and 2 brownie cakes.  They will be for this week.  Boy are they yummy!  I will eat 1 a day and not have too many in one day.  That is my goal.  I have done pretty well with eating better this last couple days.  I will do even better this week.

I have a busy week of the usual lessons.  I also have a subdivision meeting this week too.  It is the annual meeting.  I have to remember to set aside the dues money that will be collected at the meeting.  I should be able to pay it while I am at the meeting.  It would be better if I did, that way I won't forget all about it like I have in the past.  Not a recommended thing to forget.

Pain levels are a bit higher than usual, probably because of the rain.  My hands are sore tonight too.  It has poured rain all day.  I hope next weekend is good because Kathy and Tony are coming to help empty the storage unit.  It should only take a few hours on Saturday and then we should be finished with it.  That is my goal!  I do hope this finds you doing well and having a good day.  Maybe even some sunshine for you!  As soon as I get the results of all the testing being done, I will post them.  I have started having some night sweats again.  I am hoping I won't tonight.

getting ready for the concert

I am printing programs as we speak with the new printer.  Boy, is it slow.  I thought they were supposed to be faster and better.  I think I will use this one for scanning and copying only after this.  My oldie, but a goodie, prints much faster than this brand new one.  It isn't even like there are a ton of pages, we are talking, 20.  Then I get to design the front of the program and wait forever for it to print too.  I do like creating the programs though.  that is fun for me.  I don't know what I will do on the front, but it will look pretty.  My old printer can print on both sides which really comes in handy for these things, but I am out of color ink and it doesn't behave properly if I don't have both inks.  I have discovered this the last few months.  I will get the new ink later this month.  It just isn't on the important to do list.  I am looking forward to tomorrows concert.  I have 10 students performing, so I am printing 20 programs.  I hope that is enough, if not, oh well.  I will print a mast copy for the announcers.  It is easier that way.  I also have a master one for me.  Mom used to save them all but I have no where to put them anymore so I don't save them anymore.  Boy I miss mom for these things.  She used to help me get everything in order for the concerts and now my assistant isn't here anymore.  It is amazing what she used to help me with.  I would have had this program yesterday if she were here instead of today.

I had Kayla and Amanda's lessons this morning.  They are ready for their first concert.  Both are nervous, which is understandable as it is their first.  I am not sure outside of Calli who the announcers will be.  Probably Aggie will be one and then Calli.  Usually the Muglia girls take care of this for me, but they are unable to be in the concert because baby should be arriving any time now!  I am quite excited about the arrival too.  This will be number 9 in the family.  They are such a nice family.

I went and got the X-ray today.  The technician took 5 pictures of my hips and 5 of my spine.  Boy that table is super hard.  I am glad it is over and that I don't have to do it again for a while.  I wonder what they will find and whether or not it will tell them why I have been so sore, weak, and exhausted so much.  It is really getting in the way of doing things, the weakness I mean.  I am feeling okay mostly, today, but still my arms are so weak and uncomfortable.  I don't know what it means and I am tired of doctors.  (ooh, the printer finally stopped printing!)  I will be right back.  Time to make the cover and print that too.

Cover is done, just needs to start printing, which it should in a few minutes.  It takes a while for the printer to start too.  It is kind of annoying because part of me always wonders if it is going to print and print right.  I shall find out shouldn't I?  It is starting to print.  The first page printed backwards for some reason.  I fixed it.

So today was a slightly busy day with the lessons and the X-rays.  I hope that the testing is all finished at this point.

Tomorrow after the concert I am going to Calli and Acer's for dinner.  We will be having beef stew.  Yummy!!!  i love beef stew.  I make it in the crock pot every so often.  Right now my crock pot is waiting for the dishwasher to clean the inside pot.  Then this week I am going to make the last of the corned beef that I have.  I love corned beef but it is a seasonal thing for a roast although you can get it all year for lunch meat.  Sometimes I do that.  I really like corned beef a lot.  When my brother is in town and we go to the Irish Pub, I always get the corned beef meal.  It is so yummy!!!  Once, they messed up and made the wrong corned beef meal for me and they let us keep the mess up on free while they made the proper one.  I was glad because then Mom and I had a corned beef dinner for the next night.  Although I would have paid for it but they said no because they messed up.

It has been a good day, normal for pain wise, except for the weakness of the arms and body again.  Outside of that, I am having a normal pain level day.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

friday

I am so glad it is Friday.  I have a busy tomorrow planned already.  First up, I have 2 lovely lessons with the beautiful girls, Kayla and Amanda.  Then, I will be going to get my xrays on my hips and lower back.  I also will be creating the program and the CD needed for the concert on Sunday.  I don't have to make an appointment for the xrays, so I am really happy about that.  I am going tomorrow right after the lessons to get it out of the way.  I had the blood test this afternoon.  I went in to show the nurses what tests were being order so they could tell me if I could get it done at my primary care doctor's office.  Well, since I was there they said, we will do it now so I had the test today.  They took 3 tubes of my blood.  It isn't the most I have had taken, I have had 12 tubes taken before when I was at the Cleveland Clinic.  That was a lot plus I had to do a blood culture too.  That means you get poke and then you wait an hour and get poked again.  Yeah, not fun.

Callie and Acer had their lessons this afternoon.  Today was also Acer's Happy Gotcha Day.  This day 4 years ago, the Bowman-Tomlinson's went to China and picked up the little man.  It has been a great 4 years ever since.  Both he and his sister are such amazing children.  I simply adore them.  I adore all my students, they are great kids.  I have the best.  Katie has decided not to sing a solo at the concert.  She is so overwhelmed right now with school that she just doesn't feel like she is ready for the concert.  I said, no problem.  She is going to sing the duet with Amanda, but no solo for her.  She will probably do solos next concert in the summer, if we are able to have a summer concert, if not, Christmas will be good for her.

I am very tired again today.  I have been so tired, more than usual, lately and feeling weak.  I do hope these new tests find out why or least find out something that may help me.  Last night I was in bed at 8 pm.  Yes, 8 pm.  I was awake for a bit at 11:30 pm to about 1:00 am, but then it was sleep until noon today.  I am really wanting to not sleep that much, but what can I do?  I don't know.

I have decided to keep taking the Meloxicam even though it has a high risk of bleeding.  If I don't take it, but nighttime I can no longer walk so that is just not a good thing to me.  Kathy and i are going to start a blog together to encourage us to keep on track to lose weight.  I really need to do this.  I have started this evening.  I had a nice bowl of cereal for brunch and had a burrito bowl for dinner that was loaded with veggies.  No more burgers and fries.  I don't even feel very well when I have too much fries, but I eat them anyway and then just deal with the tummy.  No more, nada, finito.  I am done with them.  I have nice lunch meat, yogurt, good veggies for dinners, plus nice meats for dinners.  I am going to stop going out to get lunch because it isn't the healthiest food and it is expensive.  How can I save money for a emergency fund if I go out all the time?  You can't so saving money is more important.  I have good lunch and dinner food in the house and that is what I am going to have.  I feel good about this decision.  When Kathy is here next week we will create our new blog for each other.  This way we can encourage each other as we live 150 miles away.  She is on the west side of the state and I am on the east side.  This way, we will be able to really be accountable to someone and who could be better than a best friend?  no one, that's who.

I do hope you have a good evening and that blogger is behaving today unlike yesterday!

lovely new student

I had a new student today.  She is 32 and wants to singing better because she is becoming involved in community theatre.  What a wonderful goal.  She is working on 3 songs and will begin some classical music next week.  She is very interested in singing well.  She plans to audition in June for the Music Man.  Next week she will also have her audition music too.  I am excited to work with her.  She has a nice tone to her voice and we worked on the basics, lifting her eyebrows, air flow, and a few other things.  Beth will also be working on her breathing this week too.  She has a really cute notebook that she brought with her.  She ended up being 20 minutes late because she got lost.  Just as I was turning the computer on to get her phone number, she called me saying she was lost.  GPS's always seem to get people lost when they are on their way to my house, same thing with directions from Google or Mapquest.  So I gave her the directions and she arrived about 5 minutes later.  She was rather embarrassed to be late but that is okay.  She was also very nice about having to change her time just for next week because Rick has that time as a makeup for the day before when he would be just arriving home from his vacation.

Carson also did very well with his lesson today.  He chose his 2 piano pieces and is planning to sing only 1 song.  He is such a cutie, he really is.  He is going to sing "I'd Do Anything" from Oliver.  He is playing 2 piano songs that we are working on.  Next week he will be learning to start to read music.  We start with bass clef first and then we move on to treble clef.  I am excited and I have to remind him to bring flashcards next week too.  He doesn't always remember to bring them.  We haven't really needed them until next week.  He forgot his other two books  today.  We did have some homework in the Theory book but I don't know if he did it.  I will find out next week if he did it.

I had to go to the arthritis doctor this morning.  She isn't really happy that I am taking Meloxicam.  There is a risk (apparently very high) risk of bleeding with it because of the coumiden I take.  I have to have an xray on my lower back and two hips.  I have been extremely weak lately and super exhausted.  I also have to get more blood tests done.  Ugh, as if I don't get enough blood tests, I need more!  Yeah, I will be getting that this week or early next week.  For the xray, it is a walk in clinic at the hospital.  Out patient services.  The doctor wants me to go to the hospital because it is where I got it before and they can compare the old one to the new one.  I don't know what to do about the Meloxicam because it really helps the hips and back pain.  I haven't had any bleeding problems since I started it so I guess it has been okay.  I just know that without it, the pain is excruciating and I can barely walk so I really don't want to stop taking it.  There isn't anything else I can replace it with and that is the problem.

Despite the not sure what to do about the medicine, it has been a good day.  I am tired, as usual, and getting ready for bed soon, but overall, I have to say it has been an okay day.  I miss Mom, but that is soooo normal.  Pain is normal too.  I am yawning like crazy now.  I hope you have had a good day too.