superbowl Sunday, 2-5

It is the Superbowl today although I will not be watching.  I am watching the Law and Order SVU marathon.  I went to see "Beauty and the Beast" 3D today with my girls.  It was a lot of fun.  I really enjoy being with my girls.  They are all so cute.  Lydia is almost as tall as Natalie.  She has about 1/2 inch to go and she will be as tall as Natalie.  I think Hannah is a bit taller than Natalie.  Sarah, of course, has several years to go before she will be as tall as her sisters.  Sarah is 8 while the twins are 16 and Lydia is almost 15.  She turns 15 this month.  We all really liked the movie.  It is my favorite.  We are hoping that they will also release "the Little mermaid" as a 3D too since it is Natalie's favorite.  I am sorry we missed "the Lion King" last month.  It was only showing for 2 weeks so the window of opportunity was very short so we missed it.  It appears the next one will be in the fall, "Finding Nemo".  I remember that movie.  It was good.  I saw it with Mom and Lily.  Mom really liked it, too.

It was a quiet weekend.  I did go to Heather B-T's church last night for game night.  We played Dungeons and Dragons again.  I think we will be playing that about once a month now.  It is okay, I am getting more familiar with it.  I cursed the bad guys again last night.  I play a cleric.  My character name is Luca.  It was Lucas when the guy played him, but now that I am playing the cleric, I changed the character to female and  changed her name.  Calli plays the game too.  She was also knitting last night.  Calli is very good at knitting and was learning a new technique, one she had never used before.  I think she was doing a good job.

The cold is almost gone.  All that is left is some extra exhaustion.  I have slept more this past week than I have in a long time.  I will freely admit, that I have been enjoying being able to sleep a bit better than usual.  It has been rather nice.  I am not sure if it is the NyQuil I have been taking although I did take some DayQuil too and I still fell asleep with it.

Tomorrow is a lighter day for lessons as Bob has rescheduled for Wednesday and Rachel for Saturday.  I just love little Rachel.  She is such a cutie!  She had her lesson yesterday and is almost ready to start a new hand position with new notes.  Rachel and I giggle a lot during lessons.  Nothing is a beautiful as a child's laughter to me and their smiles.  I love it when their whole face lights up with their smile and laughter.  I loved it when Mom smiled and laughed too.  I guess I like all laughter and smiles.  Rick is doing well.  He will be here for 2 or 3 more lessons before he will be gone again for several months.

Competition is in 2 weeks.  I can't believe it is so close.  I am anxious to see Kathy that weekend too.  I sure hope she is available to hang out.  I hope to see her  a couple of times that weekend.  I am leaving early on Friday so I can spend some time with her before going to the hotel, if she is available.

Apparently, TNT has a Law and Order marathon too.  I am watching the regular Law and Order right now.  I will alternate between the SVU and regular one.  A pleasant night for me!  I do hope you are having a pleasant one too!!!

cold is going away slowly 2-3

I am slowly getting better.  I am still very, very tired, but that is to be expected with having such a bad cold.  I did sleep a bit better last night, but I am sure it is the extra cold medicine that is helping me sleep.  I am planning to, again, go to sleep earlier than usual.  I am teaching at 11:30 tomorrow.  It is Julian's last lesson tomorrow.  She is a temporary student who is learning music strictly for the musical she is in.  She is such a wonderful girl.  The musical she is in is "Mulan Junior".  I didn't even know that there was a play of "Mulan".  I thought it was just a movie.  Boy, was I wrong.  She is doing so very well with her part.  Julian is playing the part of Mulan.  I think she will be wonderful.  The play is in either March or April.  I can't remember which.  I will ask again tomorrow.  I also have my lovely Rachel tomorrow.  I was sick on Monday so Rachel couldn't have her regularly scheduled lesson.  She has to also reschedule because her grandmother is on vacation for most of the month.  I will only see her for 3 lessons this month.  She is such sweet little girl.  She is 6 and very excited about learning piano.  Tomorrow I will also see my cousin, Hayley as long as the weather holds out.  I hope we will go out for lunch/early dinner too.

I am getting tired now so I think I shall head to be shortly.

Ground Hog Day 2012

I have no idea if the ground hog saw his shadow or not.  In Michigan, it never seems to matter, there is always much more winter to go!  This has been a strange winter, but believe me, I am NOT complaining!  I am liking it because I haven't been freezing as usual.  Usually at this time of the year, I have the little heater going every night but I don't because it hasn't been below zero too much.  We have had a bit of snow but not too much.  I know more is coming but I don't know when because I didn't watch the news today.  I will check the website.  Be right back!

It is going to be in the mid 40s for the next few days.  No snow until next week at this time, thank goodness for that!

I didn't go to choir practice tonight because I am still not feeling 100%.  I hope I am feeling better by Sunday, we shall see.  This cold has really been a bad one in the way that it wipes me out a lot.  I think I slept from Saturday afternoon to Tuesday evening straight through and then yesterday I slept a lot when I wasn't teaching, same with today.  I plan to rest a lot again tomorrow when I am not teaching.  This weekend my cousin is supposed to stop over when she is shopping in town.  I have a couple of packages that she had ordered here to give her.

I wonder if she wants to go out to eat after she picks up her packages.  I have a couple of gift certificates that I can use.

Anyways, not much going on.  I have had a bad headache for the past few days because of the cold.  It just makes the normal headache hurt more.

Oh my!  Breaking Dawn part 1 comes out on February 11.  I will have to get that one.  I have to eventually watch the Eclipse movie.  I still haven't watched it.  I did see Breaking Dawn part 1 though.  I can't believe we have to wait until Thanksgiving to see part 2.

I do hope you are having a good day.  I hope I am feeling back to normal tomorrow.  Having a cold and fibro at the same time is not a pleasant experience!  Ugh!

Slowly getting better 2-1

I am slowly getting better after a few days of being down and out.  I DID teach lessons today.  I am glad that I was able to teach today.  I had my Muglia girls and Bob as well as my usual few.  I think it was a good day all around.  Yes, I am very tired.  I will go to bed early again tonight.  I did sleep okay last night. I didn't wake up as many times to blow my nose as I did the other nights.  I think I will be up for a movie on Sunday with my girls!  "Beauty and the Beast" here we come!  (As long as it is still playing!)  The girls did well in their lessons.  I was surprised (a nice on though!) that the three older girls picked to play a classical piece as a part of their assignment.  They like all types of music and that makes me happy.  They like classical and don't mind playing it, they actually like playing the classical stuff.  They play it beautifully too.  Right now the twins are playing a Sonatina by Clementi.  It was kind of funny that they both picked the same piece.  It just spoke to them.  The other picked a different Sonatina by Spindler.  Both Sonatinas that they picked are some of my favorite.  I just love Clementi's music so much.  His sonatinas are simply wonderful.  My girls are going to come over in the next few weeks and help me file away my music.  I so need some help with this.  I am drowning in the music that needs to be put away.

I have several absences tomorrow.  Breanna is still very ill so she won't be here.  Brooke is in Disney World with the dance team at her school.  They are competing in the Nationals.  I am so excited for her.  Her sister, Brianne has a basketball game so basically, they are all absent.  I have choir practice tomorrow.  I hope my voice is up with it tomorrow.  I guess I will just have to wait and see!

I had sent a check yesterday for my luncheon ticket.  Silly me, I don't have to pay for that since I am on the Board of Directors.  Pattie called to let me know and also to see if I would like to sit with her at the luncheon as i have no one else going to the luncheon.  I said yes and also told her to shred the check.  I voided it out from my check book.

Oh, Sunday is the Superbowl.  Hm, you sure can tell I pay attention to football.  I wonder if this means the movie theatre will be less busy?  One never knows.  I am not sure that the movie is even playing still.  I will check right now.  Yes it is still playing.  It is playing more times at the Theatre near me and only a few times at the theatre near the girls.  I am not sure what one we will go to.  I will decide by Saturday where we shall see the movie.  Also, there is a Law and Order marathon on TNT Sunday.  wow, "Beauty and the Beast" and "Law and Order" marathon!  Great day for me!!!  Not to mention 2 lessons. Aaiyana and Rick.  Aaiyana is a make up from yesterday and Rick will have his regularly scheduled lesson.

I am really getting tired now.  I think I will read a bit and then go to bed.  I do hope you have a good evening and a good night's sleep!

Tuesday - still sick

I again, had to cancel lessons this afternoon.  I had to yesterday too.  I haven't had to cancel lessons due to illness in about a year or so or more.  I am feeling better tonight than I have felt since Saturday afternoon when the cold seemed to arrive in full force.  I foresee being able to teach tomorrow though, so that will be good.  My nose has improved as well as the coughing.  I pretty much have slept all day and night since about Saturday afternoon when I finished teaching and came home from lunch with my cousin.  I called all my students and let them know about no lessons tonight, then I went right back to bed.  I will be heading back there rather shortly.  I am getting tired again.

The commercial for the Excelon patch was just on.  It makes me think of Mom and how much I miss her.  She was on the patch for a couple of years until about the last 8 months of her life when it wasn't doing anything for her.  There really isn't to help at the very end stages, unfortunately, at least nothing that helped Momma.  She was such a smiling mom.  She smiled a lot.  If she wasn't, I would say, where is the pretty smile?  and she would smile.  I miss her smile and laugh most of all.  I miss her hugs and kisses and giving her hugs and kisses too.  She was so easy to give a hug or a kiss to.  I told her every day how much I loved her.  Sometimes I would ask if I had told her how much I loved her today.  Sometimes she would say yes I told her and other days she would say, no I didn't.  Mom was just so cute.  I wonder if the boys miss her as much as I do.

Not much is happening tonight as I am still rather ill.  As I said, lessons were canceled.  I feel alright right now, I am a bit more tired than usual at this time of night, but that is because of the annoying cold.  I do hope you are feeling fine and have missed the cold and flues that are floating around.  Stay as healthy as you can!!!!

Some eye candy of the little lady!  I love the smiles!

Sunday - the end of the month

So far I have finally stopped coughing.  I do wish the nose would stop running, not get stuffed up, just cleared up.  It is like a faucet, it seems to never end.  It woke me up in the night too.  However, since it could have been much worse, I will take the leaky nose and all the other symptoms instead of the vasculitis.

Not much has happened today.  I missed church this morning because I just didn't feel well.  I emailed the director last night as I knew there was no way I would feel well enough to go.  I did teach one lesson this afternoon then I took a brief nap.  Wendy came over to pick up the weight bench she needs.  I had one in the indoor patio and I certainly don't need it.  After she left, I went back to bed for another nap.  I am really tired tonight and I foresee going to bed early.  I am getting up earlier than usual because of lesson tomorrow.  It is the once a month lessons for my girls.  We were supposed to go and see "Beauty and the Beast" but with me not feeling so good, I had to postpone to next week.  I hope it is still playing next week.  Star Wars is coming back into theatres too in 3D although there will be some screens for the regular movie too.  Thank goodness for that!  I am not sure about this 3D.  I am trying it with the "Beauty and the Beast" so we shall see how I do.  I have a hard time with stuff coming at my face.  I have always had this issue.  I think I should be okay with the "Beauty and the Beast" movie since I know it really well, at least I am hoping it will be okay.

Well, there is a Law and Order SVU marathon on right now.  I have seen this episode before and it is a good one.  Then again, there aren't really any bad ones that I have seen.  I enjoy watching Law and Order both the SVU one and the regular one.  I also liked the Trial by Jury one they had a few years ago.  Unfortunately, they cancelled it and that was that for it.  I did buy the DVDs for that season.  I have watched them a few times.  Mom liked them too.  Before she became afraid of TV, Mom and I watched them weekly.  Once she became afraid of TV (about April to May 2010), we didn't watch them anymore.  I haven't seen any new ones in about 2 years now.  I don't even remember when it is on TV now.  It used to be Tuesday at 10pm, but I think it is Wednesdays now but I am not really sure.  I also know that the character Eliot has left the show but Olivia is still there.  I like the actress who plays Olivia.  She is really good.

I do hope you have had a good day.  I think I have slept through most of it and plan to go to bed soon.

Yup, it is official, it is only a cold! Whew, what a relief!

I am a semi happy camper today.  I say semi because I feel like crap but I am happy that it is only a cold and not the start of vasculitis.  I always worry that the vasculitis may come back but so far, it hasn't!  Thank God for that!

Anyways, I have a cold, but it is only in my head, so that is good.  I was able to teach the 3 lessons without much trouble though so I glad about that.  I will be going to bed rather early tonight though because I am very tired.  I am actually ready for a nap right now.  Wow, this is crazy!

Lessons went well except for the brief coughing attack in the middle of Brooke's lesson.  I quickly got it under control and we went on.  Both girls are doing really well.  Camille finished her level 2 books and is ready to start level 3.  I am so pleased and proud of her.  She seems to love piano and is doing a wonderful job.  She finishes these books awfully fast, let me tell you.  I am sure she will do the same with these books too.

I hope you are having a good day.  I am going to nap now.  I am going to put my pajamas on and crawl back into my warm, comfy bed.

I want a new Nose 1-27

My little nose has been running on and off since last night.  I would literally wake up to blow my nose.  It is very annoying.  Of course the fear shoots through me, is this just a little cold or is the vasculitis back?  Ever since I had a bout of vasculitis in 2003, a runny  nose just sends fear right down my back until it turns into a cold.  I am hoping it turns into a cold.  I do have a bad headache tonight, and that could also be either  a cold or vasculitis so for now, I just wait.

I at least, feel less "off" today than I did on Wednesday.  That could be either the beginning of a cold or vasculitis.

Anyways, it has been a decent day.  I got my hair washed and dried and had some lessons.  Carolyn, my neighbor and fellow choir member, came over to go over a new song we got last night at choir practice.  It is a good one, but the last page is very hard so she and I went over a few times.  I feel a lot better about it now, I just hope I feel good about it next Thursday during practice and next Sunday when we are singing it.  I simply love being in this choir.  The music is a nice mix and the people are very nice.  It is also very nice getting to know Carolyn and her family better.  We have been neighbors for over 20 years, but it seems like in the last couple of years that I have been getting to know them much better.  They are a very nice family.  Carolyn was the young lady who would come over and stay with Mom while I went shopping or had appointments.  Mom really liked Carolyn and they got along rather well.  Barbara Jean (Carolyn's Mom) was one of the first people I called when they said Mom was dying.  She came over right away.  They are a nice family who I like a lot.  I have spent several evenings with them. Right now they have my first season of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" DVDs.  They have seen the pilot movie and the 2nd episode.  So far, I think they all like the show a lot.  I know that Mom and i spent many hours enjoying that show both when it aired on TV and watching the DVDs.  I also told Carolyn and Rachel, that they were welcome to come and borrow any DVD of mine that they wished except the few that belong to Andrew because they would not be family oriented or appropriate for them to watch.  I plan to eventually pull those from the library and donate them.  I don't watch rated R movies.    At this point, they just don't interest me.

Calli was so funny tonight.  We giggled as usual through our lessons.  She stayed a bit after until her dad came to pick her up.  I went to take a picture of her and then she wanted the camera.  She took a lot of pictures and you should see some of them!  They turned out really good.  For a child who has a smidge, a very, very, very slight smidge of vision in the upper left corner of the left eye, she took some good pictures.  I was really impressed.  I also thought it was cute because she was so excited to take pictures.  Calli just had a ball with that camera.  I will post them on face book and tag her mother and father tomorrow.  I was going to do it tonight but I am getting rather tired.  I deleted the ones that were either too close or pictures of her fingers or my hair (she took a whole bunch of the back of my head!).  She did take 2 of her, they were a little bit clipped but overall, they were good pictures.  Calli is just filled with so many surprises.  Acer did very well too.  He wanted to do a siren for a warm up before his singing lesson.  I didn't have a problem with it because they are a good warm up before singing and I have asked both kids not to sing without warming their voices up.  They always warm up before they practice singing.  They are very serious musicians and I do love teaching them.  Acer has really become more serious these last couple of months about piano lessons and working hard with proper fingering that I am so proud of the young man.  Of course, all of my students are awesome and I am proud of them all.

Well, the news is on and the weather is on right now.  We are getting more snow in the morning, afternoon, and Sunday.  For the total weekend, about 2 inches.  That isn't too bad, but yuck, snow.  Otherwise known as the white stuff.  By Tuesday, rain.  This weather patterns are very strange for this time of year but I will admit that I am totally enjoying the warmer weather that we are having.  Last weekend was the first time the snow actually stuck overnight.  Of course, that has been gone since Tuesday when it started to rain.  I don't ache as much when it is warmer out.  I am not as cold tonight as I was last night.  I am not sure if it was warmer today or not.  It is hard to say.  Anyways, if you don't like the weather in Michigan, just wait a second and it will change!  That is the saying in this state!

I do hope you had a good day.  I am going to read for a bit and then head to my very comfy bed!  I love my new blankets!  They are so warm!

I am so off for timing today 1-25

Mariela was here this afternoon.  She is a very nice woman from Argentina.  She did a nice job cleaning and vacuuming the floors.  She scrubbed the utility/kitchen/dining room floor too and vacuumed the rest of the carpeted rooms.  She clean 2 of the 3 bathrooms and boy do they look awfully nice.  I am almost afraid to use them for fear of dirtying them up, almost.  I did make some beef stew tonight for dinner.  I am not really that hungry right now so I don't really want any tonight or at least right now.  I may want some later, I don't know.

I am so off on timing tonight.  I got mixed up at the little ones lesson.  There are 3 girls who share an hour. It works well for us except for some reason I thought I was running slow, when in reality, I wasn't.  Fortunately, her mom asked me about it and it was straightened out right away.  I was able to slow down a bit and do flash cards for each of the girls and then show Aubrey her new part of the theory game.  She was so excited about that.  It is so nice to see how excited they get about this stuff.

I managed to have all the water from the stew dry up.  Yup, I don't know how you can fail at cooking beef stew in the crock-pot, but I did.  I have never had that happen before.  Wow, what can I say?  I don't know if it is even salvageable.  I sure hope so.

I am watching TCM right now and Angela Landsbury is being interviewed.  She is so awesome.  I just love her!  I have seen so many movies and TV shows including "Murder She Wrote".  I have seen EVERY single episode of that show!  I haven't seen all the movies but some of them.  I plan to get the movies DVD soon.  She is such a down to earth woman.  She gives thanks to the people who she worked with whether they are the directors or the actors.  They are talking about "Murder She Wrote" right now.  It was just wonderful.  She is such a nice lady.  I like how she doesn't really talk abut her family.  She barely mentioned that she did talk her family to Ireland when her children were having trouble but she didn't go into detail.  I like that the interviewer did not try to get her to say more either.  He stuck to talking about her career.  That was so wonderful and I just can't describe it.  Apparently, she is the actor of the month for TCM.  They are re-running a lot of her movies.  I will have to check the website for the schedule.  I am glad I stumbled upon it.  I really am.  I was just channel surfing to see what else was on and lo and behold, there it was.  It made me smile when they talked about "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" as well as the "Murder She Wrote".  It made me smile with the memories of Mom and I.  Mom and I would watch "Murder She Wrote" every week together.  I have all the TV episodes but I need her 4 movies after the show was cancelled.  I remember Mom and I racing downstairs on Sunday evenings in our pajamas with our blankets to sit together on the sofa down in the family room.  Angela was also the voice of Mrs. Potts in the "Beauty and the Beast", my favorite movie ever.  I love her singing the song "Beauty and the Beast".  It is simply Beautiful.

I do hope you had a good day!  We will have sunshine on Friday!  (finally!!!!!)  Tomorrow is rain and above 40 degrees.

another guest writer

This is one about massage and fibromyalgia by Jenna.  I hope you enjoy it!!!

T9:Massage and Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a frustrating illness. A syndrome rather than a disease, fibromyalgia causes muscle pain, twitches and even a sensation of burning in the muscles. In fact, the name fibromyalgia means “fibrous tissue muscle pain.” Up to 5% of the population suffers from fibromyalgia; as many as 6 million people in the United States have this syndrome.

Fibromyalgia causes pain in the ligaments, tendons and muscles of the body and those with this syndrome often say they feel they are aching all over. When muscles are not used, they are more likely to spasm, trapping oxygen, nutrients and waste materials inside the muscle. Your central nervous system – the brain and spinal column – is also involved in fibromyalgia and the syndrome can affect the neurotransmitters and hormones used by the central nervous system. Fibromyalgia is more common in women than men and has even appeared in a few children. It cannot be cured and the syndrome often lasts for years. Trigger points -- tender areas in soft tissue of muscles – are one of the signs of fibromyalgia. These are located in distinct areas of the body and are used to aid in diagnosis of the syndrome.

Massage therapy seems to benefit individuals with many illnesses, from headaches to mesothelioma cancer to  fibromyalgia. It can help reduce stiffness and pain and promote relaxation. Massage therapy may enhance the production of neurotransmitters and other substances that help to block pain, such as endorphins, serotonin and norepinephrine. The stroking, palpating and kneading of muscles help relieve tension and improve blood flow. Massage can also increase flexibility and range of motion, decrees stress and depression and help you sleep better.

Swedish massage, deep tissue massage and myofascial release are the massage techniques most likely to benefit people with fibromyalgia. Swedish massage is designed to increase oxygen delivery to the muscles and uses long, gliding movements, kneading, tapping and vibration. Deep tissue massage is a vigorous form of therapy that targets deep muscle layers and can help loosen areas where the muscles have become hardened or inflexible. Your muscles are covered with a thin layer of tissue called fascia that can become tight and cause pain. Myofascial release uses stretching techniques to help loosen the fascia.

Guest Writer

Hi!  Here is the article written by Julia.  I hope you enjoy it:

Gluten intolerance doesn’t mean it’s the end of your world; it doesn’t mean your bread-filled life has to be over. Gluten intolerance or Celiac disease shouldn’t prohibit someone from being able to enjoy foods that would normally have gluten in them. 

There are many companies that produce foods that are gluten free. Grains and starch from sources such as corn, potatoes, rice and tapioca are acceptable replacements for a gluten-free diet. 

Almond and gram flour are two good alternatives and can be used in the same ways that regular flour can. Different types of bean and soybean flours are also sometimes used in gluten-free products to add protein or fiber. 

There are even some gluten-free beers and alcoholic beverages starting to hit the market. These beverages are usually labeled as such, but there is still some controversy over what exactly defines a fully gluten-free alcoholic beverage. 

Gluten can be used in many different ways, so the gluten-intolerant and/or people with Celiac disease must be careful of certain unexpected products. For example, gluten can be used as a stabilizing agent or a thickener in foods like ice cream or ketchup. They should also take into consideration the ingredients of any medications, vitamins or cosmetics, which can sometimes contain traces of wheat or gluten in them.

Gluten-free diets are becoming increasingly popular as more people are becoming diagnosed with gluten intolerance or Celiac disease. There are now even things like gluten-free cake, pizza and gluten free bread makers available for these special dieters. 

There are a lot of unique possibilities with gluten-free diets, and all of these new options can help with them. Bread lovers who are gluten intolerant can finally enjoy delicious and satisfying breads and cakes from their own kitchens.