Thursday 1-5

It was a rather busy day.  I had a few lessons then it was a fast dinner followed by choir practice.  We met a bit earlier than usual and we ended earlier too.  We had a sub director tonight so maybe that was why.  It was fun no matter how early we ended.  Carolyn, my neighbor, was also there as well as our friend, Audrey.  She is about 28 to 30 years old and is starting culinary school in about 2 weeks.  Carolyn is 16 and is a wonderful young lady.  I like everyone I have met in choir.  One of the men, Mark - I think that is his name, has a granddaughter who has had the same operation I had!  She is 11 and has scoliosis just like me and just like me, the curve was too far to have a brace, surgery was the only option.  It has been 3 weeks since she had the surgery and she is up and doing pretty well.  I was very pleased to hear that.  I hope this first year goes quickly for her because a year of no twisting at the waist is very difficult, I know, I have been there.  I had a difficult time with it, but I did survive.

I watched Project Runway All Stars and it was interesting.  Now 24 hour catwalk is on.  It is another weird  fashion competition.  This one has 4 contestants and 2 of them get the chance to make an ENTIRE collection in 24 hours.  I just would not be able to do that.  then again, I can't draw.  I can take a dress from a picture in a magazine and create something close to it.  I have done that for some of my friends for homecoming and prom.  Now that I have a sewing room, I will hopefully start sewing again.  In a few weeks I will go to the Mary Maxim store to pick up a few kits.  I can't this week because I have to pay the mortgage and a few other bills.  Sometime in the next month or two I will go.

Tomorrow I have Calli, Acer, and Emily.  Calli is working on Minuet in G by Bach.  Acer is working on a song called "Om Pa Pa".  It is from the Alfred Basic Piano Series level 1B.  He is working pretty hard right now trying to use his thumbs more often and not sliding his fingers from one key to the next.  I am happy with what he is doing.  Emily is doing alright.  She is having trouble memorizing her notes.  If I start her on the proper sentence, she can read her notes, but if I don't, she isn't sure what to do.  I had hoped that at this point she would know her notes better.  I have to think of something new to do with her to help her.

I am tired now as it is getting a bit late.  I will be heading to bed shortly.  I look forward to my students tomorrow.  I also am going to be working on getting rid of the boxes in the kitchen.  I have two boxes that have my stuffed animals in them.  I will be bringing them upstairs tomorrow.  I have another box in the garage to bring in and unwrap everything.  There are a few things that will go in my room and the rest in my mother's room.  I have a few picture frames that need pictures in it.

It has been a nice day, a bit of a bad headache this afternoon and night, but not super duper bad, just a bit bad.  I hope yours has been a good one.

Wednesday - mid week 1-4

The New year is 4 days old today.  I am simply exhausted tonight.  I am done teaching for the evening and I am now relaxing in the dining room watching TV.  I think I will definitely be heading to bed early tonight.  I have choir practice tomorrow night.  I haven't been in a couple of weeks because of Christmas and new years but I will be there tomorrow and at church on Sunday.  I wonder what we will be singing.  I shall find out tomorrow.  I wonder if Katie will be able to be there.  I guess I will find that out tomorrow too.

Other than a few lessons, I can't say I did a whole lot.  My new little ones did so well.  The 3 of them split an hour so that leaves 20 minutes each which is working really well for them.  Two of them are only 4 and they are doing so well with only 2 lessons!  If only my other 4 year old would too.  I am not sure of him.  he and his brother (who is 5) are having a difficult time with finger numbers.  The older one is doing alright with some notes, but I am not sure how he will do when he starts reading notes.  The problem is that they don't practice at home and at this age, that is not recommended because eventually it is going to get too hard.  I am worried about them.  I am not sure they are going to last too long without starting to practice.

I don't have too many plans for the weekend except for going through some paperwork on the table.  I have to mail a paper to the IRS for the store.  They LOST the one I sent.  I sent 2 papers at the same time and they got the first one, but somehow lost the 2nd.  I have no idea how that happens, but it did.  Then I found out that I should have sent them separately.  Oh my.  What can I say?  I get so confused with the IRS.  I haven't heard back from the IRS lawyer over Mom's tax issues either.  I need to email him tomorrow because it has been almost 10 months since this started.  Wow, that is a long time but I guess the IRS moves slowly.

I asked the girls (Muglia's) if they could come over and help me file the music that is in piles in my office.  Julie and I are going to take the bed out of the one room and make it my office.  The downstairs office will be just where I store music and a few other things.  I like that idea a lot although I will need another lamp for upstairs.  Originally, the upstairs room was an office for Mom and I but then Andrew moved back in and he needed the room to sleep in.  I will have one guest room and then my room plus an office.

I am not feeling very well tonight.  My concentration seems to be not so good tonight.  I have this problem a lot.  I get Brain Fog so easy.  It is almost time for bed.  I hope I am not so tired tomorrow.  We shall see!

I hope your day has been good too.

Tuesday, 1-3

It was a rather busy day today.  I had to go and pick up some music for my students.  While I was there I had to order some music because they were out.  I don't need them until next week, but I had hoped to have it all in order by this weekend.  I do hope the music comes in soon.  After teaching, I went to a meeting with the subdivision.  I am on the board of directors of my homeowners association.  It is fun and I get to see my neighbors.  I had no idea where the house was tonight though so I had to call my other neighbor.  I had the address, but I couldn't see the addresses at night.  I did find it though thanks to Barbara Jean.  She was walking over to the house and I could see her.  Silly me!  Next month the meeting is at my house.  I don't usually volunteer but the house is coming along so well that I am proud to have my neighbors come over.  I will put the leaves in the dining room table to have enough seats for everyone.  I think there are 2 folding chairs in the furnace room.  I know I have two more.  I am hoping that the dining room chairs are fixed by then.  I just thought about that.  That is another 3 chairs.  I should have enough by then.  We did decide to have a block party this year.  We even picked a date for it and a back up date incase of rain.  I haven't been to a block party since I was a child.  I was never really interested as a young adult, but I think it would be fun this year.

I have another busy day tomorrow.  I am looking forward to being busier than I used to be.  I have plenty of time to rest included though so I pace myself very well.  So far, it is working out quite well.  I have my lessons with rests in between.  Yes, it takes up potential lesson time, but since I only teach a few, it is okay.  I am not going to fill that time up anyway so it works out for me.  I am almost up to my limit of what I can take for teaching.  I won't go over it because that would be too much for me.  I get exhausted so quickly and then I don't feel very well either so that would be bad.  Once that cycle starts, oh my, then the ER visits kick in.  I am just not going to go there this year if I can help it.  i don't want to get into that crash and burn cycle again.  I really don't.  It is such a hard thing to deal with when it happens.

I am watching Extreme Couponing All Stars.  It is insane.  They take two extreme couponer and have them compete against each other.  They have 30 minutes to shop and whoever has the highest percent of savings wins.  I am amused by these shows for some reason.  At least these shows benefit the food banks so that is really good.  I don't usual have good luck with many coupons because quite often the sale prices are often lower than what I have for a coupon.  They can even pre-order the items.  Usually, the coupon shopper takes almost all day to shop and go through the check out.  I have even watched episodes where they have to break up their order into 35 little orders.  I don't know why, but they are entertaining to me.

Anyways, some shows are just crazy and entertaining all at the same time.  I often have the TV on at night while I am on the computer.  I don't know if I can just sit and watch TV and not do anything.  i plan to get a couple of sewing projects in order for next Christmas.  I plan to go to the Mary Maxim store this month to get a few kits.  I have to replace the kits that were donated without me knowing.  I don't need as many, but I do want a couple.  I will only get a couple at a time.  I love sewing.  I hope I can sew after I get them.  I was unable to make my students' presents because every time I went to sew, I would remember how mom and I sewed together and that would make me cry so I am going to start small with these kits.

I hope your day was good too.

The New Year has begun 1-2-12

I only had 1 lesson this evening, my handsome boy, Isaac.  He had a good Christmas and New Year's.  His Dad has some cousins up north so they went to visit them and to go skiing.  I am so glad he had a great time.  I miss skiing.  I used to love to go skiing, but with the new medicine, I can't go, but that is actually okay as I think I am too big to go now.  I could break something and that would be bad.  Bob had to reschedule as he is just recovering from being very ill this weekend.  He is coming on Wednesday instead, which works out just perfect.

I have to pick up some music tomorrow for my new students.  These ones are from the online company.  There are 3 of them.  I have to pick up some other books for a couple of my other students too.  I will pick them up tomorrow when I go to the music store.  I have written down what I need including the number of books I need of each.  This way I will not make the same mistake I did last time.  Next week my 3 new ones will be starting.  It should be a good January with not many absences planned at this time since there is no big holidays.  Tuesdays are my light days at this time.  Thursdays are booked completely now.  Wednesdays are pretty booked too.  I have left spaces open to rest when I need to.  I won't get to the point where I am getting sick again and will end up back in the hospital.  I only had 1 visit to the ER in 2011 and I would like to make 2012 a hospital free year, that is my goal.  I need that this year.  I was very lucky though because I owed the hospital a little bit of money from my last few ER visits.  I called the hospital to see if I could get a smaller monthly payment.  I had to send in some papers and then I got a letter stating that the hospital foundation paid the ENTIRE balance that I owed!  Talk about a cool blessing!  This included the last ER bill.  They didn't even send me the latest bill, they just paid it.  It was very helpful to me.

This week I will be organizing what I need to do for the year.  I have some of the things on my 2011 list left, but many are crossed off.  It makes me feel good that they are slowly getting done.  I am so thankful to Julie and Ross because they have helped a lot.  It is nice because they ASK what I want and what I don't unlike the previous help I had.  I have gotten rid of many things in the family room.  I love how my family room looks so far.  I am planning to put pictures up on the walls this summer.  I am not sure which pictures I will put up, but I will find some.  I know that there are some really good pictures in the box under the shuffle board.  So far, there is no plans to move it.  Right now it is on the sewing side of the room.  It isn't in the way like I thought it would be.  I am glad about that.  I will decide later what to do with it.  I have the exercise equipment I don't want in the middle of the room in front of the fireplace.  My machine that I am keeping is in its place ready for me to use.  I plan to start this week.  I hope I can work up to 30 minutes eventually.  Right now, I think I am up to a minute, if that.

It has been a decent day especially with Isaac's lesson.  I do hope your day was good too.

New Year's Day

It is 2012.  Wow, what will this year be like?  I have no idea.  I was supposed to go to the movies this afternoon with the Muglia girls, unfortunately, 4 out of 9 have the flu so no movie for us.  We will go another day, perhaps next week.  I want to see the new Chipmunk movie.  It looks really cute.  I also want to see the Muppets movie, but I probably won't be able to see that one until it is on DVD.  Then again, you never know.  I hope next weekend or the weekend after we can go.

What is your New Year's Resolution?  I am not sure what I will be working on.  I really don't know.  I don't feel as if I am in survival mode like I was but I don't feel completely out of it either.

I have to work on the newsletter for our subdivision.  I have one article for it already from Jerry, my neighbor.  He fixes exercise equipment and since many people make their resolution to lose weight and exercise more.  I will start working on the newsletter tomorrow.  There isn't much happening this month in the sub, but that is okay.

Law and Order:SVU is having a marathon right now.  I have watched about 2 1/2 episodes so far.  I do like this because I haven't seen any of the ones that I have watched.  I was going to watch Harry Potter, but this caught my eye first.  All the Harry Potters are still on sale.  I am debating on whether or not to get the Ultimate Editions.  They have special features that aren't on other versions.  It is very tempting but I do have other things to pay for at this time so they are not high on my list right now.

It has been such a lazyish day, with the exception of doing my laundry!  I have clothes for the week now.  I have to work on the paperwork on my table and in my box this week.  Most of the stuff on the table has been accounted for, I have a few papers to mail and then put the boxes away.  The house is coming along nicely and I am pleased with how it looks.

I do hope your New Year's Day has been very good, I got some laundry done so I am glad about that.

New Year's Eve

It is hard to believe, but it is here, New Year's Eve.  I will be with Calli, Acer, Heather, and Bill this evening.  I am looking forward to it.  It should be a lot of fun.  Calli and I love to play Uno so I anticipate a few games of Uno between the 2 of us.  I am not sure what else we will play, but it will be fun.  That is for sure.

Well, I have to go now.  More later after I come home!

I am home again!  Happy New Year!!!!  I had a LOT of fun at their house.  Calli and I played Uno, then we all played Apples to Apples, Would You Rather, and finally the kids, Brandon, and I played another game that the name totally escapes me.  It was a lot of fun.  It really was.  I was home by about 12:45 am.  I don't like to be on the road too late on this night because of crazy drivers.  There were a lot of drivers on the road when I was.  I was only about 2 to 3 miles from home so this was a short drive, but I was surprised how many people were on the road at that time.

The kids are so fun to play games with.  Acer and Calli both are a lot of fun to play games with.  Their cousin Brandon was over (he is a college student now).  He also, is fun to play games with.  Right after our bubbly (sparkling juice), the kids headed right to bed.  They did come down for hugs but then right back upstairs to bed.  I left rather shortly after.  We did miss the countdown on TV this year, but it wasn't a big deal.  Acer was cute though, no, I don't want to do a countdown.  (We did one anyway and he joined us).  Acer is getting so big now.  I was so proud of his practicing these last couple of weeks.  He is learning not to scoot his fingers from key to key and to use his thumb more.  I am glad he is taking that very seriously.  I heard him practice with some compositions he has written.  I think he has finally figured out that the more complicated songs that he learns with me, the more complicated songs he can make up.  He is really doing much better and I have told him so.  Some of the melodies he makes up are quite pretty.  Acer very well may be a composer some day.  You just never know with the young man.  If he can make pretty melodies at just turned 7, what will he be able to do at 17?  With Calli, she has a vocal range like an adult.  As a matter of fact, she has a wider ranger than any of my singers.  Can you just imagine what she will be able to sing when she is older and her voice matures?  It is such a joy to see ALL my students develop and grow musically.  It really is the best job.  I actually think now that it is a good thing I can only teach part time.  This allows me to put all my energy into the few lessons a day I have and not spread out the energy over lots of students for the day.  I did not feel this way at first, let me tell you.  I was disappointed that I couldn't handle as many as I used to, but now, I see the silver lining in it.  I still get to teach and can manage my illnesses much better.

My goal for the next week is to get my Power of Attorney Health Advocate papers signed and copied then sent to the people who need them.  I will also get my regular Power of Attorney papers in order too.  I have a couple of keys to copy and then my emergency papers are all in place.  With the seriousness of some of the illnesses I have had, I should have had this done a long, long, long time ago.  When Mom was better and could remember things, she was a big help, but even then I should have had things in place, but I didn't.  My theory is, if the papers are in order, I won't need them.  I hope not anyway.  I was very lucky in 2011, only 1, yes 1, ER trip and that was for the dizziness issue I was having.  I think I have fixed it mostly.  I was able to hold off a couple of crash and burns by resting a lot when i felt my body go into that mode.  It used to be that I would end up in the hospital over it.  I also was lucky that I haven't had to cancel too many lessons because of bad headaches or flares.  When my legs were in the flare, I just stayed in the living room in between lessons if I had a break between them.

I am supposed to go to the movies with my lovely Muglia girls tomorrow.  We shall see because a few of them are not feeling so good.  I talked to their Mom earlier today.  I told her to see how the girls were feeling and if they weren't feeling too well, we would just postpone it, not a problem.  We will still see the Chipmunk movie, we just may not be able to see it tomorrow.  Yes, I am disappointed by hey, kids (and people in general) get sick.  It happens.  For all I know, I could come down with something.  I am feeling okay right now, but you never know.  If I don't see the movie tomorrow, then I will take down the Christmas decorations and put them away in the new tote that I have.  I will also leave the lights on the tree and wrap the tree in the big plastic garbage bag I have.  I am planning to store it in the garage.  With the big bag over it, I figure it will keep the bugs out of it.  I love how my friend, Heather B-T put the lights on it.  I really do.  They look so beautiful.  I also love my Disney ornaments.  It was kind of funny that I got comments on how my friends were not surprised to see a Disney Tree.  Mom taught me well.

It is weird to start a new year without the little lady Mom.  It is the 2nd year since she has been gone, it is just very strange.  I do feel better than I did last year about everything.  I don't feel that my life is consumed by fear, yes, I still have many fears, but I don't feel consumed by it like I did before.  Between the disability and the few students I have, I AM able to pay my bills now.  The bankruptcy is behind me.  I have payment plans for those things that need it.  I also don't think I am in as much as survival mode as I was a year ago.  Yes, much of the year is a blank to me, I don't remember too much stuff that went on, but that also could be partly because I have memory and concentration issues.  Sometimes it takes about 3 separate times to finish a post.  That is just my reality these days.  I do miss my mother all the time, but the times it hurts physically aren't as often as they used to be.  I think that is a good thing.  I can recall some memories that make me smile, although I can still picture her perfectly in the hospital that last week.  She looked so small and fragile.  She was fragile at that point.  I am glad that I was able to keep her without until almost the very end.  I will forever be thankful to God for that.  I hope I made her last few years good.  I hope I did okay at the last 8 months of her life.  It is hard to know but I think I did okay.  I did give her my best even if my best wasn't perfect for the day.  I tried to make sure I always put her first and make sure that I was doing alright health wise too.  I don't expect to ever stop missing her but I do expect, eventually, it won't hurt as much.  This year will be hard at times, I expect.  I was so numb last year that this year some things are a bit harder.  Thanksgiving was especially hard.  Thankfully, I had 2 wonderful friends and their families to spend it with.  The few days before Christmas were hard, although the holidays themselves was not so bad.  Spending the New Year's Eve with another dear friend was also good.  I can laugh a bit more now than I did a year ago.

Well, it is getting rather late (even for me!!) so I better finish this up.  I do hope your New Year's Eve was a good and safe one!!!!

Thursday before New Year's Eve! 12-29

What a day this has been!  Well, I had just one lesson as my little ones didn't show up.  I tried to get a hold of the parents, but no luck.  I did have my Aggie's lesson!  She gave me a CD of her singing Christmas Songs for Christmas.  I am glad about that.  It is a lovely present that I will listen to tomorrow.  1/2 of it is in English and the other half in Polish.  She is fluent in Polish and French.  She is planning to go to competition this year.  I am not sure who else is planning to go outside of Rebecca (who I haven't heard from all month.) and Katie.  I have the information for Isaac in case he would like to go.  He has an awesome voice and he is such a good boy.  I have known him since he was born.  He is growing up very fast.  He is very talented too.

I have been thinking of the new year.  I am not sure what I want to work on this year.  Except for last year, I usually pick one characteristic of mine that needs improving.  Instead of making several resolutions, I pick one thing I need to work on.  Last year, (well, this year still) I was just trying to survive the loss of my mom.  It does make me sad to know that I am the only one who is still so devastated by her passing.  It seems to, on an average day, be better than I am.  I know Andrew goes through his days of pain, but he, overall, is doing alright he says.  Richard, I don't know but he is always looking forward and never back so I really don't know.  The last time I actually talked to him about this, he was doing fine.  It was months ago and before he was mad at me.  I know my Uncle misses her at times too.  I want to take a couple of the pictures of him and mom and enlarge them.  I will put them in a frame and give them to him.  I have a favorite that I want for sure to use.  Here it is:

I love this picture so much.  they both look so young and carefree.  That is the mom I remember.  A smiling mom, a laughing mom.  We shared many a laugh me and Mom.  I wish the boys could have really spent more time with her and seen more of her laughter, lighter side but they couldn't.

What do you do for resolutions on New Year's?  I haven't decided.  Weight is always a thing I am working on.  I don't make that my resolution because I have made many resolutions to lose weight.  i want something better.  Last year, a bloggy friend called the it the year of "embrace".  I may choose something like that.  I am just not sure right now.  I may just not make any resolutions at all again this year.  I am still in mourning, although I have more good days now than bad.  I still miss her a lot of the time and sometimes it still hurts physically.  

Tomorrow Julie is coming over.  We are going to work on the Dining Room and Kitchen.  Lily changed a few things around last time she was here.  My canned food is in the pantry cabinets in the Utility room.  I need to move the DVD shelves downstairs and the one little shelf unit in the living room for the kids' toys and pictures.

I bought a new tote tonight.  It was on sale for $5 and I needed a new one so I was rather glad about that.  I also bought a Disney Movie that was on sale.  I can't think of which one I bought off the top of my head.  Walmart has several on sale for Family Night.  There are several others I want to that are only about $10 or $15.   The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, the Lion King, The Fox and the Hound, and several more.  I need a new Valentine's Day table cloth.  They aren't out yet and it is too early to put it out.  I have a regular one I will put on the table in the meantime.  I will take down the Christmas stuff in the next couple of weeks.  I have a nice bag big enough for my little tree so I can put it away in the garage for next year.  I won't have to leave it up all year long.  I have the Easter stuff put away too now. Yeah, I hadn't put that away either.  Now it is in the box ready to go to the furnace room for storage.  I will wrap my Christmas ones too and put them away too.  The furnace room is pretty well organized unlike my office.  I have about 5 stacks of music that needs to be put away.  I am going to see what I need in the stacks and put the rest away.  Now that Christmas is over and the music will be coming back in for the next week or two.  I have to get the regular music back out again.  I do hope that this year, I will be putting the music away instead of leaving it on the piano bench for a year.  Right now there is only a couple of books on the piano bench right now.  I will also be getting the CDs in order too.  right now they are on a table in the living room.  They so need to be put away.  I will be working on that project first.  I have about 5 or 6 stacks of them, not to mention the 2 stacks in my room of the originals.  I want to change out some of the cases to sleeves so that they don't take up too much room.  They really don't fit in the one box anymore so I need to do something about that.  Then I need to compare the originals to the copies to see what needs copying.  I don't give out originals very often.  Katie has a couple of them right now, but she is going to copy them for herself.  I will then make copies for the next person who uses that book.

I am watching "Sweet Home Alabama".  It is a good movie and I have seen it before.  I am heading to bed shortly.  I am very tired again.  I hope I am not so exhausted by the end of the weekend.  I do hope you are having a good evening too.

Midweek, 12-28

It is Wednesday already.  I accidentally slept through my blood test.  Apparently, I was exhausted.  I went to bed at 9 pm last night and slept until about 2 pm this afternoon.  Yeah, that is a lot.  I did wake up about 5 times to get up and walk because of pain in my hips and legs but I walked to the bedroom door and back then went back to bed.  I am still a bit extra tired tonight.  I will head for bed soon.

I am watching this new show called "Extreme Cheapskates".  It is insane, completely insane.  One man found $7.50 in the couch and went to the Butcher's Shop.  He bought Goat Heads for dinner that night!  Yes, Goat Heads!  It was gross to watch him eat it so I had to change the channel.  It was too much for me as I was eating Cream of Mushroom Soup.  I love my soup!  That was my dinner with some vegetables tonight.  Now Toddlers and Tiaras is on.  It entertains me.  I remember Dance Competitions and these are similar in some ways.  I also like Dance Moms.  It is nice to know that many dance studios are filled with crazy parents like ours was.  Of course, the moms on Dance Moms are way more obnoxious than the ones in the studio I was in, but still there are some similarities.  Like our Dance Teacher, this one has favorites too.  I never liked that about the dance studio, but since I wasn't in charge, except for my classes that I taught, there wasn't anything I could do about it.

I had a few lessons today.  Natalie Z's mom forgot about her lesson.  We rescheduled for next week.  Katie had her lesson.  We have narrowed down her Inspirational Category for competition.  We know what she is doing for Classical and for Broadway.  She has a sassy, jazzy piece called "Adelaide's Lament" from Guys and Dolls. She loves the piece and does a really nice job.  I really like it for her.  It so fits her sassy, jazzy side.  Katie is doing a German piece for Classical.  She has chosen not to do a pop piece.  That works just fine for me so it is okay.

I am having a difficult time finding judges for competition.  I seem to have enough for vocal, but not enough for piano.  That is the problem.  I have a judge who wants to do classical so I let Julie know that we need to have Classical on Saturday or Sunday as she is not available on Friday.  Julie said she would let me know if that is possible when the entries come in.  Well, that could lead to a big problem if she puts classical on Friday.  I was not a happy camper at all.  Diane is sure it will all work out but I am not so sure.  I am going to be calling the people who judged in 2008 when we were in Kalamazoo last time. I know that Georgette and Diane want new people judging, but I think we have exhausted our contacts and I will have to call those we have used before.  I will start this work again next week as I am on the count down now.  I never want to this job again, ever.  I don't think it is fun and it is very stressful.  I would rather do something else instead.  I just would.

I do hope your day went well.  Mostly mine was good (what little there was of a day).

Tuesday 12-27

It was a good day today!  I met with Kimberly and she had a lovely surprise for me!  She brought her Mom with her!  It was so lovely to see them both.  Kimberly brought me some of the cookies she made.  They were very, very yummy!  Yeah, they are already gone.  I tried to wait, but I couldn't.  My tummy called their name and they jumped inside my tummy.  What can I say?  It happens!

After coming home from meeting up with Kimberly and her mother, the Emerton family came over with gifts for me!  I had sent home Emily's and Lily's presents last week.  I LOVE what I got.  I got this beautiful Angel plaque that is the Guardian Angel of the Home and Family from IRELAND!!!  Yes!  They got this for me when they went to Ireland this past summer.  I also got a gift card for movies!  That will so come in handy on Sunday when I go out with my girls!  And....I got the Anne of Green Gables Treasury book!  I gave up hope of ever getting one of these, but I did!  I will get the Christmas Treasury one later this week, then I will have them both!  I am so excited about that!  I love this book.  Anne of Green Gables is my absolute FAVORITE series and books EVER!  Yes, I am crazy about Harry Potter books, but these are my top of the list favorites!  Right now, Calli is reading the 2nd book to the series.  She got it for Christmas.  I am so glad she loves these books.  I gave Mom's Anne of Green Gables doll to Calli and she had the doll next to her while she read the book.  I thought that was so cute!  I know how much Calli likes the Anne of Green Gables books.  They are simply wonderful books.  I even had to go to Prince Edward Island because of those books.

Charlie had is lesson tonight and it was for an hour because we needed to make up last weeks missed lesson.  I really like how he likes to make up lessons instead he of just skipping the lesson.  I really appreciate that about the young man.  I don't have anymore lessons tonight.  It is NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles tonight!  Tomorrow I have to get up early tomorrow for my blood test.  I have new students tomorrow.  I am excited about that!  I also have Allison and Natalie.  I have to pull some books for them tomorrow!  Wow, we are back to regular music again.  Christmas is now over so no more Christmas music.  That makes me sad, but until next fall, we are finished with it.  Time to dig out the Italian Songs and the Broadway pieces.  Bob has a lesson tomorrow too.  He was arriving home from a cruise on Christmas Day so he changed his lesson 2 weeks ago.  It was good foresight as I wasn't home after all, I was at my Uncle's.  Tomorrow is a few lessons of which an hour of it is new students.  I have 2 new 4 year olds and 1 6 year old.  They are going to share an hour.  I simply don't have an 1 1/2 hours available at this time.  The Mom thought that the hour would be better as the 4 years are rather young.  They are good readers though so that is good.  I am going to put them in the young beginner books.  If they don't work, then we will switch to the Little Mozarts for the really young children.  Since they read, I think the regular young beginners will be good.  I just realized though that I bought 1 theory book, 1 notespeller book instead of 2 of each.  The twins can't share their theory and notespeller books.  What was I thinking?  Obviously, I must not have been.  Silly me!!!  I did get a call that the Snell books I need for Brianne and Brooke are in.  That is a good thing.  Next week I will go and get the rest and pick up the rest of the twins books.

I am freezing tonight and it is supposed to be very cold tonight.  Oh my!  That is not good news, but it is expected as living in Michigan, you get cold weather.  I have a sweatshirt on and my Tinkerbell Fleece.  I am so glad I bought them as I find myself wearing them quite a bit in the winter.

I do have to go and get some garbage bags this week along with some pop and bread.  My milk is good until the 2nd but after that I will need to get more.  I plan to do that on Sunday.  I think the garbage bags shall wait until Sunday.  I also am going to see a movie with my lovely Muglia girls on Sunday.  It will be a perfect day to spend New Year's Day with my girls.

I do hope you are having a good day!

Boxing Day

In Canada, it is Boxing Day.  In Ireland it is St. Stephen's Day.  For me here?  It is just the day I went and visited my aunt and uncle along with my brother.  It was an interesting day.  As soon as I got there, I gave Jayson his gifts and also the gifts for Michelle and Uncle John.  I had the special gift for Andrew, I thought he would be a bit sad over it because Mom is not here, but he chuckled and said he wasn't too surprised.  Mom often hid Christmas presents and then forgot about them.  He is right, but she was here to give them to him and now she isn't.  I am glad he wasn't too sad and that he liked it.  I am not sure if I could have held myself together if he was sad about it.  Andrew was later than we thought because he had stopped by Mom's grave to look at the headstone.  He took some pictures of it to show us.  He has a new iPhone now along with a new number.  I guess because of the work he does, he has to change the number a lot.  It makes it very confusing for me, but if it keeps him safe, then, I will deal with the fact I don't always have his number.  He is an outreach worker.  Right now he is working in a homeless shelter.  I am not sure what all he does, but he works there 2 nights a week and then 3 days/nights at the restaurant he has been working at.  He and Angi (his girlfriend) are about to move again to a safer neighborhood.  That would be a good thing.  I have never been to his apartment since he moved to London.  Maybe this one I will see.  Andrew and Angi brought their dog, Jagger, with them today.  It was quite funny because Jagger is a pug and Uncle John has a Newfoundland dog named Raven.  She is huge, almost like a tiny horse.  Jagger would go up to Raven and bark and then Raven would back away.  To see this small dog chase the big dog was funny.  It really was funny to see.  Jagger also likes people food and was trying to beg from Angi and Andrew.  I don't give dogs people food because I have no idea what they can and cannot eat.  I don't want to accidentally poison Jagger or any other dogs.

I got a nice Tim Horton's gift card from my Uncle and Michelle.  Now I have 2 of them.  I am happy about that!  I got a beautiful picture frame and sweater from Andrew.  The were really nice.  I wanted one of those type picture frames because I want to put some family pictures in it.  I want the family room to have the family pictures from 1989 and other family pictures, especially one with Mom in it.  I will take pictures when I have them all in order.  That won't be for a while though since I am working on other stuff.  The pictures in the house are the last to be worked on.  I have other more pressing issues to deal with first.

I am really tired tonight.  I think I will actually go to bed shortly because I am so tired.  I am getting up early tomorrow to go and see Kimberly.  I am excited about that.  Have a wonderful night!

It's Here! Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!  It is here!  Christmas Day!!!

I spent last night and all day today at Kathy's Parents' house.  It was such a good time.  We went to church last night and then we all went back to the Knight's house for the unwrapping of presents.  The kids were so excited!  Alicia and Samantha did really well during church.  It was an unusual church service because there was no sermon.  Yup, no sermon.  Anyways, they broke up the Christmas Story with lots of music.  It was very nice.  Matthew and Jacob did well too although at 13 and 10, they are able to sit through the service unlike the little ones who are only 5.  After opening presents, the kids started playing with some of the toys while the rest of us chatted and had a good time.  I like being with Kathy's family.  Because Kathy and I have been friends since we were 3 (that would be 40 years now!), I have known her parents that long too.  They are very nice and it is really nice to be with them.  I got some nice presents too.  I got a Barnes and Noble gift card, some tea, a new mug (I love mugs!!!), a new bookmark (Harry Potter - you can never have enough), new slippers, and a few other goodies in my stocking.  I really like what I got.

I left when it was time to give the girls a bath, I came home.  Unfortunately, my lovely angels (Samantha and Alicia) had very upset tummies last night.  It started with Samantha about midnight and apparently, poor Alicia joined in soon.  They were okay during the day today, but Kathy had to limit what they could eat.  This did bring some tears from the girls as they are too young to totally understand why Mommy wouldn't let them eat cookies and cheese and everything else they wanted.  We did get them some medicine but they wouldn't take it, so I have no idea if it would work for them.  I sure hope they do well tonight.  It is so nice with the little ones now, because they aren't shy with me at ALL anymore!  They remember me each time they see me.  I get lots of high fives and hugs.  They are so cute.  All of Kathy's children are cute and really neat kids.  Matthew is 13 now and he is about 5'6" so he likes that he is finally taller than me.  I am the first measuring stick for them.  Jacob is catching up, let me tell you!  It won't be too long until he is taller too.  They are such good kids.  They all were very happy with their presents, there wasn't any, I wanted this and didn't get it type comments.  I like that they liked what they got.  I took a lot of pictures (okay - 28) that I will upload a few of them tonight here, and the rest of facebook.  I even got one of Kathy's Mom, but i didn't get one of her Dad this year.  Maybe next year or when I see them next.  Kathy's mom even sent me home with some yummy food.  She is a VERY good cook.  We had meatloaf and ribs that were so heavenly, as well as the usual mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and salad.  We had 2 types of salad, regular lettuce salad and coleslaw.  I had some coleslaw.  I also took home some yummy biscuits.  I have food for the next few days.

Tomorrow I am going to my Uncle John's for the afternoon and evening.  I have a few small gifts for them and one for Andrew plus the ornament from Momma.  I have new wrapping paper for the presents.  I am watching "Legally Blonde" again.  I do own it somewhere in the DVD shelves.  I have the sequel too.  Mom loved this movie.  We would watch it about once a year when we would have our comedy movies marathon.  "RV" was another goodie.  That was another one that would totally get us laughing.  I do miss watching TV and movies with her.  I can watch some movies now that I couldn't before because it would remind me too much that she is gone.

I really had a nice day.  I missed mom but it wasn't painful missing like it was a couple of days ago.  Next up is New Year's Eve where I will be with Miss Calli and family.  That should be fun too.

Kathy and I had to stop here at home while we were out getting tummy medicine for the little ones.  I had 2 big and I mean big, boxes of games for the kids.  A couple of them weren't even open.  Kathy, Samantha, Alicia, and I played Disney trivial pursuit, the old version, and I won.  The girls came and went during the game, which is totally expected with 5 year olds.  Alicia and Kathy's Mom played the disney Sorry game I brought over too.  I saved me the regular Sorry game for when I have company and want to play.  We started to play the Magic Kingdom game but Samantha got bored of it while we were playing.  The trivial pursuit questions weren't all Disney, like the other one I have.  It had a mixture of lots of types of things from music, science, sports, geography, and some Disney questions.  I am glad I kept the one I did because most of the questions are about Disney and the movies.  I love Disney.  I told Kathy that the next time she goes to Disney, I have to go with her.  We also decided we need to go to Disneyland.  Kathy was mentioning today that when she was working in California, that she passed Disneyland all the time but wasn't interested in going there because it is a smaller version of Disney World.  She now regrets that decision.  I would regret that too.  I still remember Momma telling me she left me and my 10 day younger cousin at his house with a babysitter while Mom and my older brother along with my Dad, uncle, and aunt, all went to Disneyland.  Now really, just because I was 4 months old doesn't mean a thing!  Just kidding!  I would have definitely left my 4 month old with a trusted sitter instead of Disneyland too.  How else would Mom be able to enjoy herself?  She wouldn't, she would be tied with me.  I have no idea when we will be able to get there, but one never knows.  Sometime in the future I suppose.  Kathy goes home Tuesday early in the afternoon since I believe she has to work in the evening on that day.  I have lessons starting on Tuesday this week.  I am rather glad about that.

Well, this is getting long, so I better end it now.  I hope you had a great Merry Christmas!