Thursday, April 12

It is almost mid April.  Can you imagine?  In Michigan, that means anything as far as the weather is concerned.  For example, last week it was in the 70s and sunshine, beautiful weather, Tuesday?  It was snowing and in the 30s.  We have had frost warnings the last few nights.  Now, I don't have any plants that need to be covered up, but many I know do.

It has been an okay day today.  I had a few lessons and choir practice.  I am not sure if I am going to sing with choir on Sunday because I will have at that point, have had no pain medicine but Tylenol for one week and I don't know how that is going to be.  Tomorrow my tummy medicine and my blood thinner medicine must stop too.  I am nervous about that tummy medicine stopping.  i am not sure what will happen and how many tummy symptoms will return.  After being ill last weekend, I am nervous about this coming weekend.  I am praying it won't be too bad.  That is the best I can do.

I don't have to teach this Saturday, which is unusual.  I usually have 1 lesson to teach but not this week.  I will miss Camille but she is unavailable for lessons this week.  She is such a wonderful student.  I do have Emily and Natalie tomorrow along with my Calli and Acer.  Saturday night I am having a couple of friends coming over to play games.  It should be rather fun, I think.  My friend, Mani is coming.  I don't know if he is bringing a friend with him or not but I haven't seen him in about 10 years.  We reconnected on face book.  I had often wondered about him over the years but I lost his address and his phone number.  I am not sure if Star is coming.  I hope so.  I will need to pick her up though since she doesn't drive yet, but I certainly don't mind at all or I wouldn't have invited her.  She wasn't feeling too well today but I am hoping Saturday will be better for her.  Kelly Lynn is not available because she is helping her older sister move this weekend so maybe next time.  I am anxious to see Mani and find out how he is doing.  I went to college with him so I have known him since fall of 1988.  Wow, that is about 23 1/2 years at this point.  The first day i met him was in Marching Band practice.  He said he was 26 and his name was Scott.  I had just met Julie and we so believed him.  Well, we soon found out he was just teasing.  He was really about a year or two older than me (I was 20 at the time) and his name was actually Manvydas, otherwise known as Mani.  Now he goes by Monty, but I have trouble remembering that.  I don't know if he minds being called Mani or wants to be called Monty.  It is really hard to say.  I just can't wait to see him until Saturday.

I need to change the table cloth this weekend too.  I have a beautiful spring table cloth.  I like the Easter one, but since Easter was Sunday, well, it is time to change it.  I got the spring table cloth when I bought the Easter one.  I got them from JoAnn's near my house.  I like that store.  Mom and I used to call it the dangerous store.  Another dangerous store is the bookstore.  Yup, both were dangerous for us to go in because we always spent way more money than we should whenever we were in one.  Mom was just as bad as me in either store.  When we were in the bookstore, she would find books that I might like.  She would be like, what about this one?  Same with the piano music store.  I sure miss shopping with Mom.  Well, I miss everything about Mom, truth be told.  I just miss her a lot.  I haven't gone to the JoAnn's store too much because I am not into sewing at this point.  I love to sew, but right now I am working on other projects.  I do have the material I will be using for next Christmas presents for my students.  I just couldn't sew this year.  Because I sewed with Mom a lot, I am having a lot of trouble sewing again.  It is just really hard to sew and not think too much of Mom.  Anyways, I should be okay by this coming Christmas.

Tomorrow I am getting up early because Mariela is coming to vacuum and clean the kitchen and bathrooms.  I am going to read some more and then go to bed.  I hope tomorrow is good for you.

Wednesday 4-11

I am such a silly.  I totally forgot to write down that my 5:30 and 6:00 (3 girls) will be absent today so naturally, I got worried and called.  Fortunately, her mother just giggled a bit about it.  I apologized for interrupting her day since she DID tell me that she was going to be absent.  If I don't write it down, then it doesn't happen, that is just the bottom line and well, I didn't write it down.  I also forgot to copy the music that my lovely Allison needed.  I didn't write that down either.  With brain fog, I must write everything down or I will never remember.  Of course, sometimes I must be prompted to write it down so I remember. Fortunately, I have very understanding students and they do giggle when I forget to go and write stuff down.  I kept a sticky note pad by the piano so I have it to take notes in.

I went down to the secretary of state this morning to renew my license and my tabs.  Ooh, not to self, put new sticker on tomorrow morning before driving!  Anyways, naturally, I missed the deadline as usual, so I had to pay 2 late fees, one for the tabs and the other for the drivers license.  What can I say?  It is done now!  I didn't even have to wait that long.  I think it was about 15 minutes, which for our secretary of state is really unheard of.  It is completely unheard of when you are renewing your license.  The picture will be awful as usual, but as I am not really a photogenic person, I don't particularly care about the picture.

I have cleared my schedule for Monday's scope and recovery.  All students have been accounted for and only one has cancelled for the week so that is a plus!  I am so happy about that.

More randomness:   Apparently yesterday a female sportscaster was covering the Detroit Tigers game when it started to snow.  My friend, Kathy was watching or listening, one of the two, and she said something to the effect of here is something you don't see everyday, snow during the Tigers game.  My friend had to laugh and post this to face book, I had to laugh too.  She must not be from Michigan, many a baseball game has been played with it snowing in April in Michigan.  You can't be totally clear of the possibility of snow until May down here.  I am not sure about up north or in the Upper Peninsula.  I thought it was super funny.

Another fact:   one of my favorite actors, Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings, National Treasure, Percy Jackson, Troy, to name a few movies he has been in) dies in a lot of his movies.  I never really noticed until it was pointed out on the Internet.  Anyways, he is in the TV series, Missing, and I guess the beginning episode his car blew up and it was thought he was in it.  Since I have missed this, (I know, horrors!) I think the interviews have all said his character was not in the car when it blew up.  I was meaning to see this since it sounded very interesting, but I have no idea when it is on.  I will be checking it out this week so I hopefully will be able to watch the episodes I have missed online and catch up.  I also really like Ashley Judd and she is the main character. I will let you know if indeed, the character Sean Bean plays actually dies in this show like he did in Game of Thrones (not that I watched that, I found that out from my friend who does watch the show.  I don't have HBO).

Well, that is all the randomness I can think of tonight.  Nothing to interesting in the news today except we are expecting more cold weather for the rest of the week until Sunday which is supposed to be in the 70s.  Welcome to Michigan!

Tuesday, 4-10

Easter was a good day.  I spent the first part of the day till afternoon with Kathy and her family and then went to Julie's for the evening.  It was a wonderful day.  I really had a good time.  I enjoyed the day with Kathy and her children.  I remembered to bring the candy for the kids but I forgot the gift certificates for the boys and the stuffed bunnies for the girls.  Yup, talk about brain fog!  A definite brain fog moment.  I will be sending them to the kids this week.  At least I remembered something, I suppose, but I tried so hard to remember everything.

Good Friday night ended up being a horrible night.  At first I was upset that Natalie missed her lesson but then about 15 minutes into what would have been her lesson, it was a good thing she was absent because I was ill right in the middle of it and for the rest of the night.  It was so upsetting!  I was so exhausted and my chest was so sore the next day from it.  I think I literally slept the entire day and night of Saturday.  I was up maybe an hour or so twice all day long.  I did have to run to the store because I was out of the basics like bread, milk, jello, you know, the tummy friendly food.  Anyways, I was feeling much better by the end of the day but completely exhausted.  I wasn't sure if I would be up for singing in church early in the morning and the Easter activities, but I was fine.  I was one very tired girl when I got home, but that is nothing unusual.

I will be getting the tummy scoped on Monday.  It isn't too much of a problem as I will be sound asleep while it happens.  It is this week before the scope that will be difficult for me because I must stop all pain medicines except for Tylenol, and all arthritis medicine 7 days before which means it is day number 2 without any tramadol.  I also must stop all tummy medicine and blood thinner medicine 3 days before the procedure.  I am not looking forward to this week at all.  I am just not.  So far it hasn't been super bad but Tylenol doesn't do too much.  It does help some, but not too much, enough so far and that is important.

Tonight I went to the homeowner's association meeting.  We are planning a block party this summer.  Boy, it will be huge.  I have contacted 2 of my friends to see if one is available for face painting and balloon animals and the other for her sons' band.  It should be rather fun.  I have never attended our subdivision party so this will be a first for me too and I have lived here my whole life!  Usually, we were out of town when they would have it or I was working or teaching or who knows what else!  I am looking forward to it.  I don't really know a lot of my neighbors as I keep close to myself a lot unless I am teaching.  One of my neighbors would like me to teach her daughter piano, so she is going to call me.  I am looking forward to that.  That will be rather fun, a new student.  I have room for a few more but not too many.  I am almost full up to the rim for lessons.  I am thankful for the students I have.  Not only does it help to pay the bills (you know the never ending bills!) but for something to do.  I really like teaching and I feel I was born to teach.  I did like performing and at times I miss it, but generally, I think I was born to teach.

A note of randomness from the news today.  Did you know that tax day has the most crashes than any other day of the year?  I didn't know either.  Just some random fact that they mentioned on the news.

Tomorrow I have to get up a bit early because I have some errands that must be done before teaching.  I dread getting up early, but it is a necessity or I wouldn't be getting up early to go that is for sure!  I am not a morning person!  I never have been, never will be (at least at this point in my life!)  More randomness, when I was small, my mother used to have to get me up about 15 minutes than the boys.  I would come down the stairs and sit on the bottom stair in a daze until my brain realized I was actually up.  Too this day, I still sometimes have to do that.  It generally takes a few minutes for me to realize I am actually awake.  It is kind of funny now when I do that.

Well, time to read for a few minutes before heading up the stairs to my lovely, wonderful, cloud like, super soft, warm bed.  I hope you have a good night too!

Good Friday 4-6

It is so hard to imagine what this means to me and other people at times.  How do you explain feelings of total awe that someone loves you so much that not only did He die for you, He went through pure torture for you, without a thought of Himself?  I marvel at that.  I would like to think that I would die for someone I love instead of them but how do I really really know unless I am confronted with that situation?  Anyways, the miracle of Easter is very awe inspiring to me.

Sunday is my birthday.  I will be 44.  Oh my.  I remember when I was younger (in my teens), I thought 44 was sooooo old.  Now, I don't think it is old at all.  My body feels old, but my spirit feels young.  I met up with some wonderful students and their parents for ice cream at the local Baskin Robbins.  Oh my, what a joyous occasion it was!  Several were able to attend so I was very pleased.  Even my neighbors, the Hubels were able to attend.  I had such a good time.  Aggie was there and she was very excited to see Acer and Calli as well as meet some of the newer students and their siblings.  Camille, Wama, Deema, Lulu, Mina, Ella, Acer, Calli, Antoinette, and her nephew were there as well as Carolyn, Peter, Sean, Rachael, and Melissa Hubel.  I had such a good time.  It looked like they all had fun too.  Surprisingly, I got some really nice presents!  I was not expecting presents!  I got a new salt and pepper shaker, a stuffed bunny that is just adorable, some beautiful flowers, wonderful cards from the students, and a beautiful snowman mug.  I really liked what I got.  It as such a surprise.  I also got a beautiful basket filled with a garden type stick that has a stone that says inspire as well as a chocolate bunny and chocolate eggs.  Yum on the chocolate!  Overall, it was a lovely day shared with lovely people.  I had a very good time.

Calli and Acer had their lessons this evening.  Both are doing very well.  Calli was finishing up putting both hands of Minuet in G by J. S. Bach.  She is playing that for the spring concert.  Calli is going to sing "Once Upon a Dream" while Acer will be singing "Summertime" and playing "Heigh Ho".  Acer and I finished "Heigh Ho" today at the lesson.  My friend, Kelly Lynn's friend, is going to see about changing the key of Summertime for Acer and I.  I hope it sounds okay and does well.  I should be getting it back after Monday.

On Wednesday, Kelly Lynn, Star, and I went out after I finished teaching.  We went to Barnes and Nobles and were there until it closed then we went to Ram's Horn.  We stayed until 1:30 am.  Oh my, it was so much fun.  I was so exhausted the next day though!  I had to get up early for an appointment with the tummy doctor.  I have to get a tummy scope again.  Ugh, although since I have been having major issues with the tummy again, I guess I have no choice.

My tummy is getting super upset so I am heading to lie down.  I just don't feel so good right now.

Okay, I guess the doctor is right in getting me a tummy scope.  For some time now, I have had upset stomachs for no reason.  Usually, I can talk myself out of it and calm my tummy down, well, apparently, not tonight.  Thank goodness for the empty box right near me.  I get so upset when I get an upset tummy for no reason.  My stomach is fine now, naturally.  I don't get it.  Why is this happening?  I don't understand.  I also have been getting super full about 1/2 hour or so after I have eaten.  I don't have to eat much or even a lot, it just happens.  It is very frustrating.  I suppose I will have some answers in a couple of weeks when I go for the scope.  I hate these scopes though.  I think one time I got sick in the middle of it.  Since I was asleep, I never noticed, thankfully!  Well, on the 16th at 9:15 am, I will have the scope and hopefully some answers.  I am just tired of this happening.  I think I really am going to lie down for a while.  It isn't anywhere near when I go to bed usually, but this has been a rough night now.  As soon as the washer is finished with my clothes, I am heading to bed.  Good night everyone!

5 days until the birthday!

5 days and I will be 44.  When I was young, I thought 44 was soooooo old and yet it isn't!  I feel older than 44 at times.  Sometimes, I feel that I am almost 90 and other times, like I was 10 or so.  My spirit feels very young, but my body is very old.  I think most of us who have Fibro, feel very old in the bones or at least the ones I know do.  Sometimes, when I am resting, my dreams take me to such wonderful places.  Places I have been or seen on TV or in a book or in a magazine.  I dream of doing things that I know I cannot.  One is walking the great Chinese Wall.  Yeah, that would most likely never happen since the stairs to get there would totally wear me out before I got very far.  I also dream of doing things like skydiving (although the thought of jumping out of a perfectly good plane scares me when I am not dreaming), scuba diving, running a marathon, traveling the world by backpacking.  Sometimes, I get inspired to do something and then reality hits and I realize that I can't physically do that.  I don't usually mind my limitations, but some days it does bother me.  Last night was one of them.  I want to have "adventure in the great wide somewhere" (like Belle sings in the Beauty and the Beast movie and play), "I want it more than I can tell". Today though, it doesn't bother me.  I am watching NCIS, which is pretty typical of a Tuesday night.  When I was very young (about 11), I fell in love with the stars, the moon, and space in general.  I wanted to be an astronaut.  Momma and I researched what I would need to do.  The first thing was that I would join the Navy.  Then I would become a fighter pilot and fly those lovely jets.  During that time, I would become a US citizen because in order to work for NASA you must be a US citizen.  Unfortunately, I didn't grow tall enough to become a fighter pilot, then came the scoliosis.  I fell back into the music dream again, then.  I am not sorry though because as it turns out, I truly feel I was born to teach.  I love teaching much more so than performing, although I do love singing in the church choir and I do like to sing solos once in a while, but overall, I would rather teach than do almost anything.  I am thankful that my dance teacher started me teaching and that Mom helped me so much with how to do it.

Dance Moms is on right now.  They are in New York City getting ready to audition for the Joffrey Ballet Company summer program.  They are such a good program.  I would have loved to train with them.  The moms are being so loud while the audition is going on.  It is just crazy.  That is partly why I like the show because they are so outrageous.  It amuses me.  It is not how I run my music lessons.  I work very hard to not have any favorites.  There is something special about each of the students.  It just takes a bit of time to find that specialness of each student, but I find it.  Anyways, I do find Dance Moms to be entertaining.  Tonight is the first episode of Dance Moms, Miami.  It should be interesting, I think.  I am not sure if I will stay up to watch it since I am very tired now.  I may just watch the end of this one and head for bed right after it.  Oh my, the Abby Lee Company just got a 10th place.  I don't think they EVER got 10th place before.  It was a definitely a blow to the egos.  On the other hand, Chloe won the scholarship to the ballet school for the summer.  That is awesome.  She will learn so much this summer from them.

The movie "Titanic" will be re-released as a 3D movie.  I have one student who absolutely loves that movie.  Selma is planning to see it on Thursday.  She has been waiting for the movie to come out for so long now.  I saw it in the theatre when it was originally out.  I liked it, but there were parts I didn't like.  I am not planning to see the movie.  I think there are other movies I wish to see and I don't do very well with 3D and things coming at my face.

I forgot again to call the hospital for physical therapy.  I have been meaning to call since last Wednesday.  Whoops,  I have got to do this.  I am supposed to have physical therapy for 1 month, 3 days a week and occupational therapy for 1 week, 2 to 3 times.  The occupational therapy is for my hands, which are having a hard to closing.  It hurts so much at times.  The physical therapy is for the back and hips so maybe they won't hurt so much.  The idea is to stop taking the Meloxicam but I am not sure that will ever happen.  I know the risk, but I can't walk at the end of the day if I don't take it.  I am not sure if I will ever stop taking it for arthritis, risk of bleeding or not.  How will I function if I don't take something for the arthritis pain?  I have to take that risk because otherwise I can't move by the end of the day.  At this point, I have no choice but to take it.  I can walk at the end of the night because of it so I don't see stopping anytime soon unless something better comes along.

I am going to read for a bit before I go to bed.

Monday 4-2

Can you believe it is April already???  It amazes me how fast winter went and how warm it was this year.  I am thankful it was warm though because I ache less in the warmer weather (not hot though, I ache more in the super hot weather).  Today I only had 2 students, Rachel and Selma.  bob rescheduled for Wednesday and Isaac is absent this week.  On Friday we are going to Baskin Robbins for ice cream to celebrate my birthday on Sunday.  My little Rachel, can't make it.  She won't be with her Grandma that day, she will be at the sitters so her Grandma decided to go and get the three of us ice cream sundaes.  Talk about a wonderful person!  She said since Rachel and she can't make it on Friday, she would be bring the ice cream to us.  It was wonderful!  We sat and ate ice cream while we visited together.  They came earlier than usual because Rachel is off school for vacation.  I am so thankful for that.  We had such a good visit.  My lovely little one gave me lots of hugs for my birthday.  She is such a wonderful little girl.  Rachel is doing well with piano.  She is really coming along.  Rachel started last June and has almost finished the first two books.  I am so proud of her.  I have her level C books.  We are just waiting for the solo book to come in.  She will finish her level B books next week.  She is playing the last lesson book songs and working on the last of her note speller and theory books.  I just love her.  She is one of my amazing students.  I have lots.  I think all my students are awesome and doing very well.

Most of the students have the week off because of Spring Break.  It used to be called Easter Vacation and it would start Good Friday to Easter Sunday but a couple of years ago the school systems around here changed when it would be so now it is the first week of April.  It was confusing at first, but not now.  I don't have as many absent this week as I thought I would so that is good.  I have a full schedule except for Charlie tomorrow.  He is going to Georgia with his girlfriend's family.  I hope they are having a great time so far.  I think they left Saturday.

I was so tired this afternoon.  I got up for my lovely Rachel's lesson and then after they left, I must admit, I did take a nap until Selma arrived.  Selma arrived at 6:30 so i slept for about 1 1/2 hours.  I am still rather exhausted but I expect to sleep a bit better tonight.

I am excited about Wednesday this week.  I will see my friend from high school, Wendy that day.  We are meeting for lunch and I expect it will be fun.  Wendy is so nice and I am so glad we have gotten to know each other better.  We didn't really know each other in high school and reconnected on face book. I am thankful for face book because I have reconnected with several friends and school mates.  It has been wonderful.  I will see Jennie in a couple of weeks and that will be fun too.  We meet about once every few months.  I saw her in February so I am looking forward to seeing her again.

Well, I am going to read for a bit before going back to bed.  I hope your day is a good one.

April Fool's Day

I have never liked April Fool's Day.  When I was a child, I would manage to be absent from school on those days.  It isn't that I was always getting a joke pulled on, I just didn't find a lot of the practical jokes very funny.  When it comes to practical jokes, I do not have much of a sense of humor unless they are truly harmless.  Fortunately, as an adult I have not been around too many practical jokes.

It has been a quiet type day.  I went to church.  It was a good service.  It was communion Sunday as well as Palm Sunday.  We sang at the start of the service, which is unusual.  Usually, we sing sometime in the middle of the singing but not at the beginning.  It was a song we have sung before so we pretty much knew it by heart.  I wasn't sure I would, but I did.  We have a rehearsal earlier than usual on Thursday.  I have emailed my student asking if they can come earlier than usual because of this.  They don't have school on Thursday so I am hoping it will not be a problem.  If they can't, I will just be late.  That won't be a huge problem because I will let Lee know, I would just prefer to not be late so that I am sure what we are doing on Sunday.  After church, I will be spending the day with Kathy, her family, and her parents.  It should be a fun day especially as it will be my birthday as well as Easter.

I simply love Easter.  Sometimes I think I love it more than Christmas Day, but not the Christmas season.  I love the Christmas Season because of how (most of the time) people treat one another.  They start thinking of other people and treating each other nicely.  Easter is nice too because people do think of others, not as much as they do at Christmas, but it is close.  I went to Walmart yesterday for a few small things.  Okay, a lot (I mean a lot!) of money later, I came out without the second thing I needed from there.  Fortunately, I remember just as I was about to leave so I went back in and got what I needed.  I did manage to get a few things I didn't necessarily need, like a new book and a new DVD, Bambi.  I bought Bambi II a few months ago but realized that I didn't have the original Bambi so I picked it up yesterday.  Fortunately, I won't have to go there anytime soon so I don't have to worry about over spending.  As it is, I owe my savings account about $113 for shopping yesterday.

I am getting tired, soon I will go back to bed for the evening but right now I am drying some clothes so I have something to wear this week.  It is kind of necessary you know.  A complete boring job, but a necessary one since I don't have the money to buy a new outfit for everyday.  Wow, that would be a lot of clothes, I don't think that much would even fit in my closet or my drawers.

I do hope you are having a good day.

Friday 3-30

I haven't done too much today except have a few lessons and get my hair done.  I am going to spend tomorrow afternoon after Camille's lessons at Acer's house.  I will watch Acer while Bill goes grocery shopping.  Heather B-T and Calli will be going to Goalball practice.  I hope to watch her play someday.  Right now they go to practice about once a month.  They have to drive a couple hours away to get there, but they do it.  Calli is working very hard to make sure she exercises so she can play a better game.  Everyday she exercises no matter what.  She has 10 pound weights too that she uses.  I can barely lift 10 pounds a long and this young lady does 2 10 pound weights at the same time without a thought.  I am so proud of her.  I wonder if Acer will want to play when he is older?  It is hard to say.  He is only 7.  I think Calli started playing Goalball at about 9 or 10 years old.  She even goes to Goalball camp every summer.

I don't have too many plans for the weekend except for Camille's lesson and going to Acer's tomorrow.  I have church on Sunday and then I need to get gas for the month.  I only need to get gas about once every 3 to 4 weeks since I don't drive that much.

My head isn't so bad today although I was so tired when I woke up.  I had such a hard time getting up.  I am just exhausted from this week.  First I don't sleep much on Tuesday night because of the Headache, then Wednesday in the ER, and then last night, the nightmares.  I had to get up.  I just couldn't lie there anymore since the dreams wouldn't go away.  I called the Neurologist that Jasmin suggested but she is on medical leave until July and the other doctor in the practice doesn't have anything available until July so basically, neither have room until July.  I think I will make an appointment with the lady and then try to see if I can see someone earlier.  I will then cancel that appointment.  I just don't know.  I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to wait that long since I have been having these for so long, what is a couple more months?  Not much.

I am going to read for a bit and then I am heading for bed.

Thursday 3-29

It has been a rather interesting couple of days.  My appointment went well.  I am going to try Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, depending on how much it costs and what Medicare covers.  I will call on that tomorrow.  Anyways, I had had a bad headache from the night before.  I didn't sleep very well on Tuesday  night because of the pain.  It didn't matter what side I was laying on, it hurt, bad.  I mentioned it to the arthritis doctor and she said to go to my primary care doctor.  I said I would.  Well, I had lunch and went home to teach lessons all the while the head was getting worse and worse.  I taught 4 lessons and how I do not know.  After the last student left, I decided to go to the ER.  I really didn't want to go but it just hurt so much I couldn't stand it anymore.  Nothing was working for it either and I mean nothing.  It was like all I took was a sugar pill.  So I got the ER and it wasn't that busy.  I didn't wait very long, what a surprise!  A nice one though!  I got some pain medicine almost right away.  I was so pleased!  I got some tummy medicine as it was upset too because of the pain.  I had a CT scan also because of my history of blood clots they always have to rule that out.  I don't mind because the test is quick and it doesn't hurt.  It came back clean so that was a relief although I didn't think it was a blood clot because the pain would have been a sudden pain and this wasn't sudden so I did not think it was one.  I stayed for a long while because they couldn't send me home right away because of the strong pain killers they had given me.  I chose not to stay because the head felt much better.  Instead of the pain level of 10, it had gone down to 8, which to me was good enough.  I did have an upset tummy when I was being discharged but I didn't say anything.  It didn't last too long and from experience, I knew it wouldn't.  I got home and had a sandwich to eat because I was very hungry at that time.  I hadn't had anything to eat since 1 pm in the afternoon.  I did make the right decision that I could go home because I don't have a super bad headache tonight, only a slightly bad headache.  I asked Laith's mom if she knew a neurologist that was good.  She gave me the name of one and I will call her tomorrow and make an appointment.  It is time to go and see what is up.  For the last few months I have had bad headaches at least 4 to 5 days a week.  That is just too many to have.  I did forget the prescription for the tummy medicine at the ER though.  That upsets me.  I didn't mean to forget but I didn't put it on my purse like I normally would.  Oh well, I don't think they would send it to me.

I am rather tired because of not having much sleep on Tuesday and last night too.  Ugh, at least I can sleep in tomorrow!  That is good!

Well, I am waiting for the weatherman to tell me what kind of weather we will have for the rest of the week then I am heading for bed.  I will read a bit too.

Tuesday 3-27

It has been an interesting day.  I did wake up with a super bad headache, which I still have at this point.  I had a couple of lessons this evening that went well.  It is an NCIS night and Dance Moms night.  I will watch the NCIS Los Angeles episode on the computer later this week.

Katie stopped by to pick up the disc she needs for the scholarship competition she is participating in.  I found on another disc the accompaniment for the 3 verses of the song.  The disc that came with the book only has 2 verses so I was glad that I found the 3 verse one for her.  Since she will sing 3 verses, it is important that she be able to practice with a disc that has all three verses.

Tomorrow is the arthritis doctor appointment.  My left shoulder is burning tonight.  It hurts so much.  I have had much problems with this shoulder for the last 4 years.  I don't know why.  It just started one day and got worse but then it started to get a bit better but now it is starting to get really bad again.  It is very frustrating since I have no idea how it started.  When the shoulder hurts, it makes my entire left arm hurt.  I will be heading to bed soon.  I have taken some pain pills for it.  I will take a couple of Advil before I head for bed.  I have to be up by 9:15 am tomorrow for the appointment.  It should be a breeze.  I do have to mention that my hands have been hurting a lot again and that they go numb when I am sleeping.  I am bringing a notebook to take notes with.  I don't usually do that, but I don't want to forget anything this time since I am having issues with some things.

Well, I am going to read a bit and take some Advil to see if the headache will go down a bit at least enough to let me sleep.

Sunday - a day of grocery shopping

Calli and I went grocery shopping this afternoon.  It was fun.  I had a nap after church this morning and woke up to go get Calli.  She is 12 now so she gets to sit in the front seat now.  I smile when I think of that because it is so important to her that she gets to sit in the front seat.  We headed to Walmart.  I asked Calli if she would like to stop and get a drink before or stop in the store for a drink at Subway.  She chose Subway.  This way she can have her drink while we are shopping.  I did get a few things that wasn't on my list but they were good to get.  I picked up some salmon and some cod fish for dinner this week.  I also picked up a corned beef pack that I put right in the freezer.  I got some more uncrustables too.  I know that may seem rather silly to buy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that are frozen but as I don't eat sandwiches that much so I end up throwing away a lot of bread and I hate wasting food that way.  I did get organic milk a couple of weeks ago and it lasts a long time, thank goodness because I also have wasted a lot of milk.  Right now my freezer is full so no other food will fit in it.  I will have some nice choices if I want to cook dinner in the next while.  Sometimes I do feel like cooking, but not too often.  It is hard to stand that long at times.  I did get some meatballs and spaghetti sauce along with some Alfredo sauce.  I accidentally bought whole wheat spaghetti today though.  I don't mind whole wheat, but I prefer regular spaghetti.  I won't waste it though.  I will eat it.  Calli and I giggled a lot while shopping.  I picked up the gift certificates for the boys for Easter and I got the girls cute stuffed animals.  I think they will like them.  I know that Matthew and Jacob like i-tunes.  I also got a package of spiderman stickers.  i have some students who really like the spiderman stickers.  I picked up a new thumb drive.  I am going to see how many CDs I can put on it since I am running out of room on my computer.  I didn't get new slippers because they didn't have any in my size that I liked.  Oh well, these ones haven't totally fallen apart yet so I am good.

I can't wait for 10 pm when Jon Bon Jovi is on TV!  He is on Oprah's master class.  I haven't watched her master class series yet so this will be the first for me.  I expect it will be interesting.  He always has interesting interviews and he doesn't air dirty laundry.  That is what I like the best.  He is also very involved in several charities, which is always a good thing.  I think it will be interesting.

Tomorrow, I have my Muglia girls for their lessons.  I have to remember to bring the Harry Potter book. I also have to pull the Titanic music too for Selma.  I need to copy the spring concert music I need for tomorrow too.  I want Rachel to start working on her piece.  We now have a set date for the concert, May 21, Sunday.  I am happy about that.  I can make the flyer and pass it out now.  That is good because then everyone will know when it is.  So far, we have about 30 songs in the concert.  We will have to have an intermission this time because of the amount of songs.  So far, everyone is planning to attend.

I am watching a marathon of NCIS.  So far, I have seen all these episodes but they are so good that I can see them again and again.  Army Wives will be on at 9 pm.  I really like that show.  I am not sure if it I like it because I am an army brat.  I never moved because we never lived on base (or post as it is in the USA) and Mom was in the reserves.  I had some big fears when I as small about wars and combat.  I think if Mom was in the service now, she would go to combat.  It comforted me when she would say that she was a teacher in the army and would not go to combat but I bet she would now.  She had a very strong sense of duty to both Canada and the United States.  She raised us to be proud of our Canadian Heritage, but never forget we were raised as Americans.  I had a dream when I was small that my children would be the first Americans in our family just like the immigrants when they came through Ellis Island.  I read about that in the history books in school and that was what I wanted.  Of course, I don't have children and won't be having any so I can become an American.  I am saving for the fee to become an American.  It costs about $400 for the main fee.  I am not sure about the fingerprinting fee or any other fees.  I am checking into them.  The biggest obstacle is knowing how often I have left the country.  Since my family is in Canada, I leave the country often.  I have to keep track for 5 years.  Yup, 5 years so you can see my obstacle.  I always forget to write down in my log when I left and when I came back.  Someday, I will get this right.

I am getting tired and boy that is not a good thing since I want to stay up to watch the Jon Bon JoviNCIS for now and hope to stay awake until the interview.