whew! Another busy Monday!

I had 5 lessons today.  Not as many as last Monday, but still quite a few.  I had two new little ones start today.  I hadn't bought all the books they need because I was not sure if they would continue or not.  It is hard at times when they are small and the  mom isn't sure they want to play.  Both did very well with their first lessons.  Joiene is 5 and Benjy is 6 and they are so cute!  Camille, Bob, and Emily all had their lessons too.  I am tired now as I haven't had 4 lessons in a row in so long!  It is a nice tired feeling though, not a bad tired feeling.  I am thankful that I can teach that many lessons in a row and starting next week I will have 5 lessons in a row on Mondays because Rachel will be switching to Mondays.

My lovely neighbors, the Hubels, are edging my lawn.  Talk about being awfully neighborly!  Addison hasn't done it at all, he started to do one part and because it hadn't been edged in years, he got frustrated and stopped.  I didn't really care although I prefer an edged look.  since I can't do it myself, I am not going to make Addison do it although now that it is done, he can continue with it.  That would be good.  I am going to bake a lot of cookies for the Hubel family for doing this for me.  They are wonderful neighbors.  Their daughter, Carolyn was the young lady who came and stayed with Mom when I would go shopping for groceries and stuff like that.  She was very good with mom.  Her mom was one of the first people I called when I found out Momma couldn't swallow.  They are a really nice family.  There are 5 kids and they are all homeschooled except for Melissa who is in her 2nd year of college.  She seems to be enjoying it there.

Overall, it has been a nice day.  Everyone did very well at lessons and I like my new students a lot (not that I doubted that one!)  I plan to finish reading my book, watch design star and sometime soon make me some dinner.  I think I will have a pasta meal.  They are awfully yummy and I have a few left in the freezer.  I didn't pull any chicken out to eat today so that sounds yummy.  I have an exciting week ahead of me.  Tomorrow is a few lessons but I will need the time to straighten up the dining room table, vacuum the floors, and generally clean up the kitchen, Wednesday my lovely friend, Kathleen and her 2 little ones are coming for lunch.  I will pick up a few things tomorrow for it.  It should be an lovely time. I am so excited to see her.  The weekend will bring a party at Charlie's and then the summer concert with the BBQ after so all in all a great week for me!

I do hope your day is great too!

A Rather Quiet Day

It is so quiet in my house these days.  I like it though.  I don't have to have noise around me at all times like I did when i was younger.  I will watch TV in a bit for a while before heading for bed.  It has been storming again around here this afternoon.  I went out after Rick's lessons for ink for the scanner and it was sunny.  I came out of the store and it was pouring with dark stormy clouds and everything.  by the time I got home, it was sunny again.  Yeah, weird weather in Michigan today.  My grass is green though unlike all of July when it was brown.  Addison will cut it again soon, I am not worried nor do I really care as long as it is done soon before it gets too long.

Next Sunday is the Summer Concert.  We haven't done one in so long.  I am excited about it though because we haven't done it in a while.  We are having a BBQ after.  That should be super fun.  I have to pick up the hamburgers, plates, cutlery, napkins, and cups for Sunday.  I am so looking forward to this.  It really makes summer fun.  All the students have been practicing for it.  I also need to start the list of who is bringing what since it is a potluck one.  I bring the main dish, everyone else brings something else.  I will go to the GFS to get the stuff.  You can get things in bulk there that you can't anywhere else.  I don't belong to Sam's Club or to Costco so GFS is the next best thing.  Either way, it shall be a great day.  Tillie is coming for it.  She used to come with Wilbert to a lot of my concerts.  She enjoys the music and the kids.  I am glad about that.  I also need to let her know her packages are here.  I haven't opened my new packages either which is bad.  I will take care of that this week when I clean the kitchen and the dining room.  I have to clean off the table because I will have company on Wednesday.  My friend, Kathleen is coming for lunch with her lovely 2 children.  It will be so much fun.  I haven't seen her in years, and I mean years, like about 25 of them.  Yes, I haven't physically seen her since 1986 when we graduated from high school together.  I am so excited to see her though.  She and I talked online every so often.  i will also see her at the 25th class reunion.  That will be fun.  I never thought I would go to one because I didn't really have a good time in high school.  I was teased a lot because of my weight and they knew they could get to me.  Once I started having some backbone, it wasn't as bad, but I still disliked high school a lot.  On graduation day all these girls were crying because they were going to miss everyone, me, I was thrilled that I wouldn't have to see them again.  Now that I am older, there are people I would like to see so I am going.  Kathy is going too.  Karlyn just messaged me and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up with her on Friday instead of going to the party (not the actually reunion, that is on Saturday) I said sure as I wasn't going to the game or the party afterward.  That will be fun, I think.  I am not sure when Kathy will be in town for the reunion, but I know she will be there on Saturday at the actual reunion.  The before and after stuff, I am not sure.  We shall see how I feel.  I anticipate it going very long on Saturday and not getting home too early so I will probably be sleeping in on Sunday a bit plus I do have a lesson in the afternoon.

Jessie is getting married in 2 weeks.  I am so excited about that.  She was my student when she was young and now she is getting married.  I haven't gotten her their gift yet.  I will do that closer to the wedding.  I am not sure what I am getting them yet but I will pick something they want.  That is the nice thing about registries.  You know what they want and if you want to get them something else, that is okay too.  Hers is the shower I missed a few weeks ago.  Yup, that was smart of me.  I wrote it on the wrong weekend!  I won't miss the wedding though, that is for sure!  Mike is coming with me.  I haven't seen him in a long time too.  As a matter of fact, the last time I saw him was at Mom's viewing.  Wow, that is just over 10 months ago.  I knew as soon as I got the invitation that he would love to go because he worked with her too.  We will have a great time, I think.

Other than prep work for the concert and lessons, I don't have too much planned except for the visit from Kathleen.  It should be a good week.  I have 2 new little ones starting tomorrow.  I am not sure how long they will last because their mom wasn't sure they want to play from when I spoke to her.  it was all very strange.  She asked if I taught flute, and it was just very strange.  Her kids are 5 and 6 years old.  I am copying their material for this week because I don't know what is going to happen.  I haven't added them officially to my income/bills list because I am not sure they are going to stay.  I hope so, but it is hard to say.

Stormy Day

It is thunder storming out right now and it has been for the afternoon.  I can hear the rain hitting the attic fan right outside my room when I was up there a bit ago.  No lessons for the day.  That is a normal Saturday right now, but I am hoping in the fall that will change.  So with no lessons, there isn't much going on.  I am reading some of the books I found in the box in my room yesterday.  I am very excited about that.  I have some movies that I haven't watched yet that I might put in the DVD player.  I don't know.  We shall see.

My head is a bit worse than usual, but not like it was yesterday, just a bit so I am glad about that.  I have one lesson tomorrow and then I have to go and pick up some ink for the scanner so I can scan some music in for my new students.  Their mom was really wishy washy about getting books so I am not even sure she knows what she wants.  In a case like this, I am just copying the music I have.  I will not go and buy their books because she sounds like she doesn't know if they want to play the piano.  I have already had one mom not pay me back for the books and I don't need another.  Most do, which is why I often pick up the books, but not all of them.  With the addition of these two young students, I will have students from 4:30 to 7:00 solid, I am very excited about that.  Mondays will be brilliant and beautiful.  My Rachel from Tuesday at 2 pm will be moving to Monday at 4:30 pm because of school.  I am not sure what time my Elizabeth at 3 pm on Tuesday will be moving to.  I shall find out in the next few weeks.  So far, I am so glad about all the lessons that I am getting.  I had 18 students last week and it was wonderful.  This week will not have as many as my Muglia girls are only once a month but I will be busy with the 2 new ones on Monday.  All in all, fall is shaping up pretty well.

I am going to go and make some dinner now then I am going to read.  I am a bit tired and I expect to go to bed a bit earlier than usual (which means sometime before midnight, 1 am , 2 am).  I did sleep a bit better last night with the pain meds.  I do hope your day is good too.

friday

I woke this morning with the worst headache ever.  I mean, ever.  I finally dragged my sorry self down the stairs to take some pain pills and Advil.  Then I dragged my sorry self back up the stairs back to bed.  If I sat up, the head would just pound like I haven't had since 2008, it was somewhat better when I was lying down.  I was able to get up at 3 and it was better.  I have had some bad headaches this summer but this was the worst one since 2008.  At first I thought if it didn't improve I would have to go to the ER.  Fortunately, it did go down to almost normal.

After I got started for the day, I had my lovely Calli and my wonderful Acer's lessons.  They are such a joy to teach.  Their nicknames are so appropriate for them, Sunshine and Joy because that is what they send when they are around, sunshine and joy.  Both kids are ready for the recital next week.  That is good.  I may not be ready, but they will be.  I will make the program next Friday and print on Saturday before I go to the Pig Roast at Charlie's house.  The Bowman-Tomlinson family, I think, is going too.  It should be a good time.  I haven't been to the last 2 because the one 2 years ago, my friend was in town and last year Momma wasn't feeling up to going so I am planning to attend this year.  I just have to find my chairs.

I don't have any lessons tomorrow and I don't have any real plans outside of some housework and laundry that needs to be done.  I have to wash some outer clothes so I have something to wear for next week.  Yeah, you know me, wait until the last moment to do laundry!  I was like that when Momma was here too.  Poor thing, she was dependent on me for her laundry and I was always behind.

I am tired tonight, a but more than usual, I think because of the bad headache.  They wipe me out something awful when they get that bad.  I found 2 more boxes of paperback books today so that was awesome.  I brought a few down to read over the weekend.  Some of the books I knew I had, I just didn't know where they were.  Now I do.  I also have a drawer full of books in my dresser that I need to get out and put downstairs when we do the family room.  I will be reading for a bit then heading to bed.  I hope I sleep pretty well like I have been this week.  It hasn't been a too horrible sleep week.  I think exhausting myself out on Monday helped my sleep pattern improve plus getting up a bit earlier most of the week helped too.  I am going to keep setting my alarm so I get up a bit earlier so that I sleep better at night.

It is a normal missing Mom day.  i miss her so much.  Yesterday it was the 10 month anniversary of her passing away.  Sometimes it seems like years and other time like yesterday.  Either way, I miss her so much.  I know I say that a lot but we were very close and I took care of her.  I miss both the Mom she was before Alzheimer's and the Mom she became with Alzheimer's.  I just want my mom back.  Too bad life doesn't work that way.

I do hope you are having a good day with less pain and lots of sunshine.

2 day lesson

I had Breanna and a new student, Logan.  He is 16 and very nice.  He is not comfortable reading his notes, especially in bass clef.  He does sight read pretty well, better than I think he thinks.  I have him starting a Sonatina by Clementi and he borrowed a book for sight reading.  He has flash cards and will be doing them in the next two weeks.  He won't be able to practice next week because he will be at his dad's but when he gets back to his mothers, he will be able to practice again.  I really like him.  My teenagers are going to really like him as he is very nice and I think they will think he is cute.  Breanna did very well today.  She has picked her piano song, she is going to play "Money Can't Buy Everything" from her lesson book.  She is singing 2 songs with her guitar.  She brought another song from Lady Gaga, but it wasn't as good as the other two.  It was a good song, but I just think the other two that she picked are better than this particular one.  Breanna has a harder time with piano than she does with voice.  She is practicing so she is really getting better but I think at times she doesn't see the progress she has made.

I have been getting calls for lessons in the fall.  One Mom called and she wants lessons for about $15 a half hour which is not the going rate at this time.  The rates are anywhere from $20 to $25 per half hour.  I don't know where she gets her prices as she said she has called a few and that is what they are charging.  I hope she finds a teacher within her price.  I charge $21 per half hour.  I talked to another Mom who has 2 children so I may have them starting soon.  I don't know for sure, I will find out soon.  I do need a few new students, that is for sure!  I am hopeful for more students this fall.  I will need to contact my old students to see what they are planning to do.  I do not know if Kayla or Amanda will be coming back.  Amanda is such a good student.  She is enthusiastic and works so hard.  Kayla works hard but she is so picky about songs.  If she doesn't like it right away, she won't do it, which makes it a bit hard to pick songs for her.  She is a lovely girl though and I do enjoy working with her.  They are the only two who quit for the summer so I am hopeful that they will come back.  I am thinking I should be in a better position than I was last fall but of course, I am alone with the bills now instead of having my little mom with me now.  I am thankful for the students I have and am hopeful for a few more.  I only need a few more because then I will get to the amount that I can earn before it affects my disability.  I am thankful to be close to that.

It has been a good day.  I had a bad headache this afternoon.  I finally took some Advil and then went to take a nap.  That helped bring the head down to the regular headache.  I am glad that the nap helped.

I do hope that you have had a good day too.

Wednesday

I went and picked up Donna at 12:30 at her house to take her to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2.  She loved it.  When Bellatrix was killed by Molly Weasley she gave me a thumbs up!  She loved how Lucius Malfoy went chasing after his wife, Narcissca and his son, Draco.  It was great.  Anyways, it is an amazing movie and oh my!  you just have to see it.  It was so amazing.  I haven't been this excited about  movie since the 6th movie.  Okay, I have been excited about almost all of the movies since I first saw the first one many years ago.  I didn't actually see the first movie in the theatre.  As a matter of fact, I refused to see the 1st 2 movies because I loved the books so much that I just couldn't possibly be as good as the books.  Well, enter my students, Matthew and Michael and their brother Andrew.  I was babysitting them and they wanted to watch a movie.  Naturally, it was the first Harry Potter Movie.  I rolled my eyes in my head (so they wouldn't see) and sat down next to Andrew (he was about 4 or 5 at the time) to watch the movie.  Well, needless to say, I loved the movie.  I was hooked.  It was so well done and it followed the book pretty well enough that it didn't bother me when it didn't.  I promptly went home and said to Mom we have to get the first 2 Harry Potter Movies so we went to get them.  This was all right before the 3rd movie came out.  When it came out we went to the Henry Ford Museum IMAX theatre and saw the movie there.  I got group tickets for my students and their parents.  We had about 30 parents and students going with us.  It was great.  My little guy, Mark sat right beside me with his mom on the other side.  Wow, he must be in High School by now.  He was so small at that point.  Now he is so much older.  They grow entirely too fast.  Just look at Lily.  She is now 13.  Wasn't she just 6 the other day?  It sure seems that way sometimes.  She is on vacation right now.  I have read the posts her mother and sister have written and it seems like they are having a good time.  I sure hope so.

I didn't have any lessons today.  I have to copy some music for my new student tomorrow.  I am not sure of everything I will give him.  He is an adult but he doesn't speak very good English so we shall see if he shows up tomorrow.  I also will have my new piano student from Takelessons, Logan.  He has his lesson at 7 pm.  Breanna has her lesson at 12:30.  I was so exhausted I had to lie down.  I slept on and off for 2 hours.  I hope I sleep okay tomorrow.  I have to be up a bit early for Breanna's lesson.  She is such a neat girl.  She is almost 16 and ready for her driver's license.  She has finished all her hours and tests.  She just needs to turn 16.

Dance Moms is on tonight.  For some crazy reason I like the insanity of the show.  I don't know why because I am not usually into these type of reality TV shows but I do like this one.  I think it reminds me a bit of my days practically living in a dance studio but my dance teacher was not this insane.  She had favorites and it showed, but she wasn't as crazy as this lady is.  She didn't pit the students against each other like I think this lady does sometimes.  Two of my friends are dance teachers and a 3rd student from our studio owns her own studio too.

I am still very tired tonight.  I am looking forward to Breanna and Logan tomorrow.  I am nervous about the adult student because they just don't stay very long, most of them.  I am going to go and get the music and copy it.  I hope you are having a good night too.

not as busy as yesterday but still busy

I had 4 lessons today.  That was good.  Only 1/2 as many for yesterday but still a good day nevertheless.  I went to pick up some new books for Rachel, McKenzie, and Sarah.  I needed to get both flash cards and level B books for my little ones.  After that I ran to Chipotle for lunch before my first lesson.  Elizabeth had her lesson.  It was the first one for about a month.  When I checked my schedule again, she was not listed in my takelessons schedule.  I called and fixed that because her Mom called me to say they were coming.  After that, I went to get my hair washed.  It is now $10 to get it washed and dried.  I am not sure I will be going anymore because it is getting too expensive.  That is $40 a month for my hair.  That is almost an electric bill.  It is more than the doctor's office payment.  It is also the same as a hospital payment so I need to do some major thinking about this.  In March, it was only $3 so that was really good, but I am not sure if I can continue to have them do it.  I may have to figure out a way to do it myself.  I did it before but this was so much easier to do.  I will have to really think about it.  I don't know if I can afford $40 to $50 (when there are 5 Tuesdays in the month) to have my hair washed and dried.

After coming home I had Charlie's, Laith's, and McKenzie's lessons.  Charlie had an hour lesson because he was making up the lesson he missed at the beginning of the month when he was at Band Camp.  Laith actually changed his lesson time today only because his mother was running behind.  It actually worked out better because Charlie and I could get an hour in.  McKenzie was late for her lesson and I was beginning to get worried, just as I booted up the computer, she arrived.  I was glad they arrived.

I am now watching my favorite show, NCIS.  I love this show.  I think I say that every week.  It is one of the best shows ever.  McKenzie and I had a nice chat during her lesson about Twilight and Harry Potter.  She is not a major fan of Harry Potter but she has watched the marathons on the ABC Family Channel.  I thought that was rather cute.  She is, however, a huge fan of the Twilight series.  I like the Twilight series too but I do think Harry Potter is better.  I could, of course, change my mind when the new movies come out.  I can't believe we have to wait a YEAR between part 1 and part 2.  That is just wrong.  At least Harry Potter only made us wait 6 months.

Only a few weeks until the kids all go back to school.  In Michigan, the students start school the day after Labor Day.  They used to start in August, but now the law has changed to the day after Labor Day.  Lily will be an 8th grader at her school.  It is hard to believe that she is going to be an 8th grader.  It really is.  Only 1 year before High School.  She is in Europe right now, I hope, having a good time.  From her mother's posts, it seems they are having a good time.  I do hope so.  I know the family was looking forward to it.

After Labor Day, I will be planning the music for the school year.  First up will be the Christmas Concert, then Competition, and lastly, the Spring concert.  In a few weeks, Katie will be over to help put away the music.  I think we will leave the Christmas music out because in October I will be pulling it all back out for the concert.  I am thankful Katie makes the time to come and help me with this music.  I think she is such a wonderful young lady.  She is visiting a college in Kalamazoo this week.  I am glad she is able to go and visit these schools and then make a decision of what one will fit her needs.  I didn't have a lot of choice for colleges, we couldn't afford to send me far.  I went to the community college and then to Wayne State in Detroit.  It was a good school.  I enjoyed my time there.  I would have loved to have spent a semester in a dorm though.  It is one of things I wish I was able to do.  I lived at home during my college days.  Most of my friends from school were in the same position as I was, we all mostly lived with parents.  We all worked too.  I hope Katie chooses a good school for herself and then gets lots of scholarships to pay for it.  Schools are very expensive these days.

It has been an interesting day.  I do hope yours was good too.

a very busy Monday

I had 8 lessons today!  It was wonderful.  I had my lovely Muglia's this afternoon plus the regulars after, Bob, Camille, and Emily.  Beth needed to have a lesson today as she is planning to be out of town on Wednesday so that brought the lessons to 8.  I am rather tired now but it is a nice tired for a change.  I plan on going to bed early as I want to be up a bit earlier tomorrow because I need to pick up some flashcards for McKenzie tomorrow night.  I also need to get Rachel and Sarah their level B books.  I think Laith will also need them too rather shortly so I think I will pick them up tomorrow too.  This way I have them when I need them.  I am not sure about the books for my new students because she isn't even sure they are going to stick with piano.  She sounds rather dippy.  She didn't understand what I was saying about books.  I am not going to buy the books for her because I am afraid she won't pay me back like Elizabeth's Mom.  She didn't pay me back for Elizabeth's books so I won't be buying anymore books for her.  I am going to buy the computer game and Emily will be the first one to borrow it.  I will load it on my computer first and then she can try it.  I plan to loan it to Rachel the week after when I get it back from Emily.  Then I will have one of the Muglia girls download it for Sarah next month.

The concert plans are coming along nicely.  I started the list of who is playing what.  Naturally, I can't remember who is doing what and I just saw 6 people who are going to be in the concert today.  I will write it down next week when I have the students lessons.

Tomorrow is just a shorter day, 4 lessons.  After Elizabeth's lesson I will go and get my hair washed and dried at the hairdressers.  I go once a week because it helps me a lot.  With the left shoulder rather frozen, I have a very difficulty washing my own hair as I can't lift that arm up very high so I go to where I get my hair cut.  It is very helpful to me.  I go every Tuesday.  Wednesday, Katie is coming over to help put away some of the music.  While she is putting away the sheet music and books, I will tend to the CDs and put them away.  Then I will have her bring up the original CDs to my room.  She is such a lovely young woman.  Katie has grown so much in the past 4 years.  I am so proud of her and so happy to be a part of her life.  She is planning to go to competition this year.  I told her if her parents don't go with her she could just stay with me as I will have a suite because I am on the executive board.  I will be getting the judges and help with the luncheon.  I am very nervous about hiring judges because I have never done it before.  I will be working on the luncheon with Jessica and she has done it for the last few years so that won't be so bad.  Both Patty and Diane said they would help me with getting the judges like where to start, websites to look at and things such as that.  I am not sure how many I will have at competition this year.  I know that Aggie and Katie are going.  I am not sure if Rebecca will be back and go to competition.  I think Breanna is planning to go to competition but I know Beth is not.  I don't know about my new little ones for piano.  Hey, as long as they continue to learn as the play and sing that is the most important to me.  I am happy for those who want to go.

I have 2 new little ones starting next Monday.  I tried to talk to the Mom about the books they will need and she seems like she doesn't understand.  I will have to get a theory and a notespeller books because I don't have them.  I have to check to see if I still have the lesson book because I know Charlie has one but I don't if I have anymore.  I have the numbers written down so I can go and pull them.  I am not buying the books until she says either she will pick them up or will pay me back.  I will price the books tomorrow so I will know how much she will have to pay whether or not she picks them up or I do.

Outside of being super tired at this point, I have had a really nice day.  I forgot what it was like to have taught 8 lessons in one day.  I am very happy about that.  The pain level is normal mostly.  I am getting a bit of a worse headache than usual, but I think that is because I am so exhausted.  I do hope you are having a good day too.

not that exciting of a Sunday

I had Rick's lesson today.  Last week his car was getting repaired.  It is still in the shop but he has a loaner right now.  Car repairs definitely make the list of not so good stuff.  He didn't practice these past 2 weeks.  He usually practices the musical theatre stuff and ignores the classical stuff even though he does know it is the classical stuff that will help him a lot.  I hope he practices something this week.

I was lucky enough to be on facebook at the same time as my Hannah so we had a lovely conversation about HP.  They got to see the movie again today with their father.  He hadn't seen it yet.  Their mother needs to see it in the movie theatre now.  She says she can wait until it comes out on DVD but the 4 of us (the 3 Muglia girls and me) just don't agree with that.  This one is so good, it needs to be seen on the big screen.  I do hope to see it again before it comes out on DVD.  I think this is my favorite movie of the whole series.  I do plan to start reading the books again and then as soon as I finish reading the book, I will watch the movie.  I just need to get movie 6 and 7 part 1 back from my students in order to begin.  I do think part 2 could have been much longer.  I really do.  We didn't get to see Tonks or Remus fight, that would have been cool.  I think they could have spent much more time on the 19 years later and also I saw cuts of the banquet after the last battle where the Malfoys were sitting there rather uncomfortable, that would have been cool to see.  I think I saw a seen of that.  I have seen so much that I can't always remember properly.  The whole movie is just so good along with the books.  I think the books are really some of the best I have ever read.  They rate up there with Anne of Green Gables books.

Anyways, I think I have raved enough about Harry Potter over the last few years, that pretty much anyone who knows me or has read my blog knows that I am a huge fan and that I love to read.

I have been reading a lot of books by Kristin Hannah lately.  I like her contemporary books a lot.  The first one I read was called Firefly Lane about 2 friends and their life long friendship.  It got me hooked on her books although my absolute favorite is called Magic Hour.  It is about a young girl who was kidnapped at a very young age and lived in a cave with the kidnapper.  She escapes him and is found in town.  The story is about how she and the psychiatrist bond and how she becomes more like a little girl instead of the wild child like when they found her.  It is a beautiful book.  The hardest book to read was Night Road because it is about 3 teenagers who drink and drive.  They get in an accident and one dies.  The driver goes to jail because she thinks this will atone for her drinking and driving although the person who was supposed to be driving was more drunk than she was.  In fact, all three were completely drunk.  It is hard to read something like that when I know many teenagers and I know that some of them have done drinking and driving.  My brother also drank and drove at many times of his life.  Actually, both of them have, not just one.  It was still a really good book to read though.

It is a bit chilly and rainy today.  I don't mind.  It has been so hot this summer so a nice change of cool air is a good thing.  I can't remember what it is going to be like this week, but I don't think it is going to be super hot, just normal heat, lower 80s I think.  I am hoping anyways!  I don't mind lower 80s with a low dew point, it is when that dew point gets too high that the humidity kicks right in.  Then I ache and ache.

It is hard to believe that we are heading to the middle of August.  Summer has flown by.  Not that I mind, because some days drag on forever it seems.  I guess part of me looks at it as one day closer to being with Mom.  I just miss her so much all the time and it doesn't get any better.  I am not saying I have a wish to die, but I do miss her a lot.  There are times when it is overwhelming and other times it is not.  So far today, it isn't overwhelming.  We shall see how the rest of the day goes.  I know that my younger brother misses her because he has posted it a few times on facebook.  I have too.  It is hard to believe that it has been almost 10 months since she passed away.  I can remember last summer so well.  I knew it was her last summer, I was just hoping it wasn't.  I was hoping she would last a few more years but I knew, deep down, I knew she wasn't going to last much longer and I was right.  I have found some more family pictures that I plan to scan.  What I can't find are the family slides.  We have boxes and boxes of slides and they are missing.  I have now idea where they are.  We also have boxes of family movies (the old kind) and I can't find those either.  It really bothers me that we can't find them.  I hope when we clean out the family room they will appear but as of now, I don't know where they are.

I do hope you are having a good day.

what is a family?

I have been wondering about that lately.  What makes a family?  Being related to each other, sharing parents, or grandparents, or friends?  There are a lot of people that I am related too.  I have a good size extended family.  I think my little family, the one with Mom and my brothers, separated when we lost Mom.  One brother isn't speaking to me at all and I am not allowed to get in contact with him, and the other, I hear from so infrequently, I wonder if he even remembers I exist at times.  When Mom was here I felt like I had a little family, now I wonder who is my family.  I have friends I am very close to and I feel more like a family with them.  Do you have to be related or adopted to be a family?  I don't think so.  I think at this point my little family are my close friends.  I still have an extended family, but I am closer to my friends than I am to most of them, not all, just most.  I mean, I like most of my relatives, I get alone well with most of them, but sometimes I am so alone when I am with them at family gatherings.  At my and Darrin's birthday party, I felt so alone and I was sitting among my relatives!  Yet, I still felt so alone.  I felt that way at the Christmas Dinner too.  Yet, when I was at Kathy's parents house for Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Easter, I felt like part of a family.  Yes, Kathy is my best friend and we have been friends for 40 years so I have known her parents for a very long time and they are very welcoming, does that make a difference?  I didn't feel lonely when I was with them and with my family I feel alone.  It is very weird to me so it has made me wonder, what makes a family?  I feel close to some of my cousins and not close to others.  It is just something that I have been feeling since I lost Momma.  I think I have just been lost myself without her.  I think my identity and my purpose, at times, was caught up in with my mother. I was her caregiver as well as her daughter and I was proud to be.  I am proud that I was able to keep her here at home and not had to place her in a home.  I know how lucky I was, I really do and I do NOT take that for granted.  Now I am redefining my life.  I am still a teacher and I love teaching.  I have loved teaching since I started.  Mom was so proud that I was a teacher.  She wanted so badly to be one herself. Finally, about 10 years ago when Mom and I were talking about it I was able to point out that she was a teacher, that is what she did in the army as well as other jobs.  She was also our brownie leader, den mother, and all things with scouts.  I just followed in her footsteps in a way.

Pain level is normal today as well as the head.  This last week the head hasn't been super bad, but it was for a few weeks at the end of July.  I was lucky if I was able to teach and then I had to be lying down because my head felt like it was going to fall off.  It has been a tiring day.  I have been so exhausted today.  I do hope to sleep well, for me, tonight.  I have 1 lesson tomorrow and I have 8 lessons on Monday.  I need to be well rested for those lessons. 

I do hope you had a good day too.

a good day

I received a call from a former student who is now a teacher.  It was great to speak with her.  She has just started teaching a few months ago so she wanted some suggestions of books that has good songs for young children.  She came over this evening and looked through some of my books.  She borrowed a bunch of them.  She is just starting out to create of a library of books.  i suggested that she also catalogue them.  I have mine in the computer and when I need a specific song, I just type it in then it pops up for me to go and pull it.  I am really happy that Mom put them in a computer for me.  That was a great idea that she came up with.  I am very pleased when I saw how easy it was to use.  Thank goodness for Momma that is all I can say.  Kelly Lynn looked through all the books, a couple of them she had so she left those ones here.  She has some small students to adult students.  She is teaching both voice and piano and is very interested in competition.  I told her about MMA.  She seemed interested in sending her students.  I hope so because I think competition can be such a good thing for students.  I encourage my students to go but I don't force them.  I don't like it when they are forced because then they are even more nervous than they would be if they wanted to go.  They also tend not to play as good as they can if they are forced.

Acer and Calli had their lessons today.  Acer is all set for the concert.  He started the 1B book today.  Calli finished the Prelude song in book 3.  She re-recorded the Caro Mio Ben because she accidentally erased it.  She didn't mean to, it just happened so we re-recorded it together.  She has picked her both her piano songs and her voice songs for the concert.  Acer has his piano songs too.  I am happy with how Calli is improving so much with her voice and her piano.  She is in level 3 of her piano books.  Calli is also doing very well with the Italian Songs.  We will be starting the "Ave Maria" by Schubert right after the Summer Concert.  With the concert 2 weeks away, I don't see the point of having her starting a new piece because she won't be focusing on her concert songs.  Acer has decided that he wants to continue learn what Calli learns.  That works just fine for me.  They both did pretty well for lessons today.

I have no plans for tomorrow except laundry.  I must do some laundry because I am going to be officially out of outer clothes Sunday so it is essential I do laundry.

This afternoon I also ran into a former student and his grandmother.  It was really nice to see them.  I gave them my card so that his aunt, who was also my student, can call me.  I can't believe Andre, who was about 7 to 9 when I knew him, is almost 20.  He is in college which is awesome and Crystal, his aunt, lives pretty close to me.  I do hope she calls because I have wondered how she is doing these days. She has finished college so she should be about 28 or 29 at this point, I would say 30 at the oldest.  I just can't believe that she is that age.  I haven't actually seen her for about 8 or 9 years.  I do hope I see her soon.  I also hope to see her mom and her nephew soon too.  It was just awesome to see them today.

Overall, I would have to say that it was a good day.  I had my Calli and Acer, as well as seeing Andre, Jacqueline, and Kelly Lynn.  I do hope your day was good too.