the night before the concert

As usual, I am printing the concert program tonight when the concert is tomorrow.  This is normal for me.  I used to try to print the concert earlier in the week, but I always had so many changes that I had to print and reprint over and over again so now I print the night before or in the case of the Christmas Concert, until wee hours of the morning.  I am simply hoping to miss that part of getting ready for the concert.  I am printing the covers now, 1 set is done and it is on number 31 of 35 copies.  I sure hope 70 copies of the program is enough because that is all I am printing.  It should be enough since there are only 25 students and the rest are for their parents.  The little ones won't need a program though as some of them can't read yet.

I am watching Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix on ABC family channel.  Apparently, it is a 4 day weekend treat to watch the movies.  Yes, I missed the first four but as I have them on DVD, I can watch them at any time.  I love these movies.

Well, I will finish printing tomorrow morning.  I am really too tired to continue right now.  I have 30 printed so far.  I also almost forgot to make the disc for Bill.  It is done now.  Thankfully, I only am missing one disc.  Of course, it is one that I need but what can say?  It could have been worse, I suppose.  I am tired of going to get discs that are missing.  Well, sometime during the year I will get a replacement for it.

I can't wait until tomorrow with the concert!  It should be a good time.

Friday 5-18

I have the concert order done and who is announcing who.  However, I don't have the program finished yet.  I will work on that tomorrow and Sunday.  I do have to remember to get ink for the printer in case I run out in the middle of printing.  I am not sure how many to print.  There are 30 songs, but only 17 families so I am not sure how many.  I think 60 should be enough, then the students can have one each too.

I am working on losing weight.  That is my new thing since I got weighed at the doctors.  Yeah, needless to say I bet it is a miracle that I don't have diabetes.  My biggest problem is the vegetable food group.  I love vegetables but I really like salads.  The problem?  Lettuce has a lot of vitamin K, which would counter act the blood thinners I take for my blood disorder.  I am not sure if I should just have my medicine adjusted and eat the salads.  I just don't know.  It is a balancing act I am working on.  I have managed to mostly stop the drive thrus with bad food so that is good.  I am open to suggestions on what to do about this.  I have to lose weight or eventually it will be really bad for me.  I am not considering surgery at all because of the blood disorder and the massive amounts of side effects after the surgery.  It has been suggested to me but I am just not interested.  Also, it would take a year before I could have the surgery because of everything you have to do before the surgery.  I need to work on this with good food and increase exercise.  That always has worked for me.  I am hoping that when I lose the weight, I will be able to exercise more.  I have pulled out my Richard Simmons' Sit Tight DVD to help with the exercise part.  I am going to be doing some at night a few hours before bed from now on.  I just have to do this.  I tried last summer, but I didn't follow through.  This year (after getting weighed at the doctor's office) I have to.  I have just gained way too much weight.  I know a lot of it was from the Lyrica, but I was overweight before that and gained some since then.

I am still waiting for the physical therapy place to call me back with an appointment.  It has been over a week now.  I am not sure how much it is going to cost me either.

It will be a very busy weekend with the spring concert.

thursday 5-17

Hmmmm, it has been a rather quiet type day.  A few lessons, one of them new, then picking up yet another prescription from the pharmacy.  Sometimes, it feels like I am there everyday picking up prescriptions.  Oh my.  Anyways, my neighbor's daughter started lessons today.  She is 9 and very cute.  She did very well with her first lesson.  Her mom was supposed to go to the bank while we had her lesson, but she feel asleep instead.  We put her to sleep with our calm piano music.  I think this will be fun for both of us.  At any rate, she can just walk here to her lessons.  That will come in handy this summer.

Speaking of summer, I am not sure how many students will be stopping lessons for summer.  The last few summers, not many have stopped and several have started.  In June, it will be a year for my beautiful Rachel.  She started just before her 6th birthday.  I am so thankful for the students who started last summer because most of them are still taking lessons!  I will be finding out in the next few weeks who will be stopping for the summer.  Hopefully, not too many.

I have to work on the program tonight.  I kind of haven't started yet outside of listing everyone in the concert.  Natalie and Hannah are working on the program covers.  We will have 2 of them since each of them will be creating one.  They are so good at art.  I would have to use clip art for the cover otherwise.  I am splitting the concert in two with a brief intermission so I can change the students around.  Students can sit with their parents in the half they are not in except for the group song.  Acer has requested that both his songs be in the same half.  I forgot to ask Calli but as she is announcing, I don't think she particularly care where she is in the concert.  She is singing and playing piano in the concert.  As of today, there are 31 songs in the concert including the group song.  It should be a good concert.  I hope so anyway.

Can you believe that it is the middle of May at this point?  I can't.  Time moves so fast some days and then other days it drags.  Weird how that works.  I remember one day when I was in 4th grade.  I felt like I had been there all day and that it was time to go home.  I looked up and it was almost 12 noon.  Yes, what felt like all day was really almost 3 hours.  I remember feeling so upset at that time.  Now, of course, it seems like that was forever ago.  Time is such a weird thing, isn't it.

I woke up this morning (yes, I mean morning - about 9 am) with such a bad headache but instead of what I usually do, which is nothing just roll over and hoped it would go away.  Instead, I got up and went downstairs to take some medicine!  Yes, I actually did!  When I finally got up for the day, my head was down to the normal pain level.

I hope you are having a good day.  Mine was nice and quiet.

mid week! 5-16

It has been a good day.  I met my friend, Jennie for lunch 1/2 way between each of our houses.  She is planning to come over in June for both a voice lesson and for what we call, "friend squad".  Jennie helps me around the house with jobs I can't really do myself.  I am sure there are a few things I need to get done.  There is so much upkeep with a house.  I am doing pretty well with it.  I do have someone come once a month to help vacuum and scrub the tile floor.  I just can't do these tasks myself.  Vacuuming can cause extreme pain in my lower back, hips, and legs.  I only vacuum if I have absolutely no choice.  It is worth the money to pay Mariela to vacuum for me.

Since I got up earlier than usual today and due to a horrible night sleep, I am getting rather tired now.  I see me going to bed rather early and hopefully have a good nights sleep.

I am re-reading all the Harry Potter books.  I just finished the first one, AGAIN.  I don't know how many times I have read these books.  I really love them a lot.  It is a toss up which books I like best, Anne of Green Gables or Harry Potter.  It is a toss up.  i just don't know.  Both are such good books.  I want to watch the movies again too.

I am going to go and see how long I can use the exercise machine whose name I can't spell at this time.  I can't even remember its name.  Yup, good old fibro fog!  Anyways, it is in the family room and I do like it although I can't be on it too long because I am just starting to use it.

I hope your day was good.  I had such a good time at lunch with Jennie and the girls' lessons went well too.  Brooke, Aubrey, Jillian are so cute and so excited to learn.  It is fun when the student really wants to learn.

Tuesday 5-15

Tonight is NCIS night.  I am relieved to find out that my beloved NCIS WILL be back next season.  I am so glad about that as I totally love that show.  The season finale was amazing and of course, a cliff hanger, which generally I don't care for but I have no choice in the decision to make them.  NCIS Los Angeles is on right now and it is a 2 hour season finale.  I love that show too.  They are my favorites at this point.  Mom liked them a lot too until she couldn't handle TV anymore.  I used to buy them on DVD but since I am able to pretty much watch them all, it isn't necessary to buy them plus they show the re-runs on USA.

It was so nice out today.  The sun was shining and a beautiful light breeze.  Oh my, was it wonderful!  I had to go and get some music today for my new student on Thursday.  She is a neighbor girl and I am very excited about this.  I have seen the young lady before and I have been at her house, but we have not been formally introduced yet.  Her mom is on the board of the subdivision like I am.  She is very nice.  I don't have much room for many more students, but I do have some room.

One of my student's mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer just last week.  Wow, I am stunned.  It is always a shock to be diagnosed with cancer because no one expects this type of diagnose.  Jasmin is such a nice woman.  She is a doctor.  Jasmin delivers babies.  Laith seems to be taking it okay but he is only 7. He is a darling of a student but a bit of a mischievous young man.  He likes to come in the house and pretty much dive to the couch, which of course means I have to go and get him.  This is his plan, of course.  I get him and put him on the piano bench and during the lesson he tries to get away to the couch. He has been doing this for a couple of months now.  Generally, his mom does not like that he does this, but that doesn't seem to faze the young man.  Once in a while, I do get upset with him on this and then he behaves very well, but generally, he plays in between the escapes so I don't complain too much and he does come back to the chair when I ask him to.  Charlie had his lesson today too.  He was absent last week.  Next week he will have an hour lesson to make up for missing last week.  We will actually be having 2 one hour lessons in a row to make up for another missed lesson.  I love how he makes up the lessons instead of just being absent.  David had his lesson and a make up lesson for last week.  I have to copy some music for him next week plus his sight reading papers.

I just realize (as I looked at my planner) I am having lunch with my friend, Jennie!  I am so excited about this.  I had to cancel last month because of Breanna and Katie's practice with the pianist for the audition.  I am glad I didn't have to cancel this month.  She is so busy with the family that we would have to wait until next month so I am glad we are going to be able to meet tomorrow.  I only have a few lessons tomorrow.

The first hour of NCIS Los Angeles is over now.  So far, the mysterious killer has killed about 3 NCIS agents.  I think, but I am not sure, (according to the previews) Sam gets killed.  I don't like it when they do that.  I really like that character a lot.  Okay - good news, he is NOT dead and didn't get blown up in the warehouse.  I am rather glad about that.

Pain level is normal today.  My hands and feet get numb so easy these days depending on what I am sitting on or what i am doing.  Sometimes, when I type on the computer my hand goes numb.  I just don't know.  It is just a part of Fibro, I think.  When I was taking Effexor, it did help with the numbness but not too much for the pain.  I stopped taking it in 2008 because I couldn't afford the medicine.  Once I was off it, it didn't seem too different except for the numbing of hands and feet.  I don't take an anti-depressant at this time.  I tried Lyrica too.  Oh my, I don't think it worked all that well but I did manage to gain about 80 pounds on it, give or take a few pounds.  I have NOT managed to lose those added pounds either so that kind of stinks.  I do hope by the end of summer to have some of those awful pounds gone.  That is my goal.  I will also eat at home more like tonight.

Mother's Day 5-13

I can't believe it is Mother's Day again.  Wow, how time seems to speed up some days.  I had a really good day.  I went to church and brought Donna, it was a great service with a good message about words and are we using them to build up or tear down.  It really gave us all something to think about.  Then Donna and I went to brunch.  We ended up at Burger King because Big Boy's parking lot was super duper full.  We chatted for a couple of hours before I dropped her off at home.  Then I came home and talked to my best friend, Kathy.  She was having a good day too.  Her twin girls gave her flowers in a pot for Mother's Day and cards they made at school.  We talked for a long time.  After that I took my usual Sunday after church nap.  I was invited to go to dinner and a movie at the Hubel residence.  It was a good movie and naturally, a wonderful dinner.  Sean grilled the hot dogs and we had salad along with beans and a few other things.  It was a wonderfully pleasant way to end the night.

Andrew went to Mom's grave sight this afternoon to put flowers on her grave.  He took a picture of it and sent it to me.  I would have liked to have seen him, but I didn't know when he was going so maybe next time.  I know he misses Mom a lot too.  Andrew doesn't really talk about it too much, I am much more the talker in the family.  Yes, I know, shocking!  NOT!  I have ALWAYS been the talker in the family.  What can I say?  Chatterbox has been my nickname since I could speak for a reason.  I think as time goes on I miss her more than when she was first gone.  I think now the shock and disbelief has worn off and the reality of missing mom is more real.  I know it was real when it happened, I was there through it all, it just didn't seem like it could be happening and there was so much to do that I didn't have time to really think about anything.  There were so many decisions I had to make in such a short time.  I think, looking back, that I did make most of the right decisions.  She wanted to be buried in Canada and her ashes are buried with her grandparents.  Mom adored her grandmother so I am sure she is happy with that.  I had her in the hospice unit in the hospital in case something else happened medically that I couldn't take care of.  I am not sorry about all the time I spent with her.  I just wish there was more time with her.  I didn't in the last few years spend much time away from mom.  It was like I knew we were on borrowed time.  Anytime I was away from her I worried about her though.  What was she doing, was she upset, things like that.  I often was told to make sure I had enough time to myself and for some they thought I didn't take time for myself, I took what I needed.  The biggest thing I needed was to be with Mom.  I miss her and I know that someday I will be with her again.  Jesus has promised us that.  I am just so impatient to be with her again!  I have so much to tell her and to know how she has been doing.  My friend, Chantal says the same thing, she is so impatient to see her mother again too.  Someday, too, she will be with her mom again.  I hold on dear to that promise.

I do hope you had a great Mother's Day and celebrated it whether your mom is here on earth or in Heaven.  Mother's are such a beautiful gift from God.  I am so thankful for mine.  She was the best and still is!

Fibromyalgia Awareness Day 5-12

Yup, today is National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day!  I am not doing anything exciting about it other than posting it on my facebook.  Our local support group had a conference last Saturday.  I didn't attend as I had lessons so I needed to teach the lessons.

There is not much on TV right now.  For someone who has over 100 channels, you would think I would find something I would like.  Yeah, not so much.  Home Improvement is on TVLand right now.  I am getting tired and I have a bad headache tonight.  Tomorrow, I am getting up earlier than usual because I am picking up Donna for church.  It is only 15 minutes earlier but you know me, I want as much sleep as possible for as long as possible!

Carolyn is going to braid my hair tomorrow for church.  I am looking forward to that.  We 4 (Carolyn, Audrey, Melissa, and me) will look cute with our new hair dos.  We are singing one of my favorite hymns tomorrow, "He Leadth Me".  I simply love that song.  We are also singing some other old hymns that I must confess I have no idea what they are and have never sung them before.  Perhaps I should actually download them, that might be a good idea.  I know that the words are always on the back screen, but it is getting harder to read that back screen these days.  Yes, I need new contacts.  I hope to have them by the end of summer.  I know I also need to change both lens in my glasses too.  I may hold off on that.  I barely wear my glasses.  As a matter of fact, I think these glasses are about 10 years old and are still in great condition since they sit in the pink case all the time.  I love that my glasses case is pink!  The doctor's office was giving pink glasses cases out to women during October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I think I am going to rest for a bit.  My head is very sore tonight.  Time to take some more medicine for the headache.  I hope your day has been good.

Friday 5-11

I finished cooking the corned beef in the crock pot this afternoon.  It tasted pretty yummy.  I didn't use the new bags I bought so after I empty the grease out and clean it out, I will be able to exchange it since the high setting doesn't work.  At least I finally cooked it.  It has been in the freezer for a while.

Tomorrow is laundry day and rehearsal day along with Camille's lesson.  I just called her mom and Camille can attend.  We will have a 1/2 hour to hang out while we wait for everyone to arrive.  I am nervous a bit about this rehearsal but it will go well, I am sure.  I am always a bit anxious when I am trying to something new.  I have much anxiety before a concert until it is completely over.  I have to remember to order Charlie's cookie.  I just wrote it in my planner.  I even wrote to pick up the cookie because that is half the job.  I have had some other anxiety the last few months too.  I am not sure why.  At least, as of tonight, I have not had an anxiety attack, thank goodness, just a lot of anxiety.  I am planning on talking to the doctor about it.  Some days it is okay and other days, it is bad.

Calli had her lesson first today.  Usually, Acer is first but Calli had a birthday overnight to go to.  She accidentally locked herself out of her bedroom.  They are hoping that Bill will be able to get into her room so they can drop some clothes off to Calli for the sleepover.  Calli was very excited about the party.  It is a classmate's birthday.  Acer did pretty well except he can't find the CD that has the song on it that we got higher.  This is a bad thing because that was the only copy.  I sure hope Bill did put it on his computer so that we have it.  Otherwise, we would have to use the original which is actually too low for Acer.  I do not want him to sing accapella though.  I want him to use music.  I sure hope Bill has it or knows where it is.

Next week I need to make sure I have all the students songs on my computer so I can make the disc for Bill for the concert.  All week I will be working and thinking about the concert since it is a week from Sunday.

Mother's Day is Sunday.  It is making me miss mom a lot since I always made a big deal out of Mother's Day.  We usually had a special dinner when we were younger and in my 20s.  When the boys moved out, I would take her to a movie and out for dinner.  The boys would always get her something nice too.  The last few years, I tried really hard to make it a great day for her.  I am dreading this day.  I would like to just stay in bed and completely pretend the day doesn't exist but that isn't a good and healthy thing.

I think I am coming down with a cold or something.  My ears are hurting a bit.  Last night it was the right ear and tonight it is the left one.  I hope it is nothing but one never knows.  My head hurts a bit more than usual tonight.

Choir Night 5-10

Tonight was choir practice.  We worked on 3 pieces that we will be singing in the next 3 Sundays.  We are also going to be teaching the congregation a new song during corporate singing.  It is a song we sang in choir for special music a few months or so ago.  It is a nice piece that I think the congregation will like. I won't be in church a week from Sunday because of the Spring Concert.  I have put it in PCO to let them know I won't be there but I wanted to let the director know ahead of time.  He chuckled when I said I would most likely be printing the program on that Sunday.  He was a teacher so he totally understands.  I don't create the program too far in advanced because there are always changes or mostly always.  For the last few concerts, I haven't had to change too much.

My new crock-pot does not work on high.  Once this roast is finished (it is being cooked right now) tomorrow, I will have to clean it and exchange it.  I am very bummed about this because I love using the crock-pot.  I will take care of this on the weekend.

I was working on the subdivision newsletter when I realized I accidentally erased the Easter Bunny pictures.  I was rather upset with myself but fortunately, Carolyn has them on her computer so she will copy them again for me.  I am glad about that!  Now I can finish the newsletter this weekend and have it printed and passed out.

I called the tummy doctor again but I missed the person who has the results so I need to call tomorrow after 10:30 am.  I will call again tomorrow when I wake up because it WILL be after 10:30 am.  The only day I am usually a morning person would be on Sunday for church.

Melissa was at choir practice tonight.  She is home from college so she is coming to sing in the choir with her sister.  Carolyn and Melissa are both such nice young ladies.  Actually, all 5 of them are wonderful.  There are 2 boys and 3 girls in the family.  Both Carolyn and Melissa have good voices.  We three sing the second soprano part when it is called for.  I no longer can hit the super high notes I used to be able to hit.  Most of the time it doesn't bother me but sometimes it does.  I don't think I appreciated the sound on the high notes that I had.  I miss them sometimes now.  On Sunday, Carolyn is going to braid my hair the way she braided hers and her sister's hair.  Looks so cute.  It is a french braid the stars on one side of the head and go around to the other.  I really liked how it turned out.  I have to be at church even earlier now so I can get my hair braided.  I am also picking up Donna, as of right now, anyway.  I am supposed to call and remind her on Saturday and then call on Sunday to wake her up.

I am getting tired now.  It is almost time for bed so I will read for a bit and then head for bed.  I hope your day was good too.

midweek!!! 5-9

Today is my baby brother, Andrew's birthday!  He is one year, one month, and one day younger than me.  We think it is very cool how that happened.  No, Mom didn't plan it.  As a matter of fact, Mom wasn't really planning children at all, but God had other thoughts and plans for her!  She liked to say we all just arrived.  Also, never once did my mother ever say she was sorry she married my father no matter how bad the marriage turned out.  Not once, EVER.  She would say she was glad she married him because if she hadn't, she would have us and we were the best thing that ever happened to her.  Talk about a great mom.  My father was a horrible person at the end of their marriage and put her through torture and other bad things, yet she says she is glad she married him?  Wow, that to this day still blows my mind.  Mom said the three happiest days of her life were the days we were born.  It is so nice to know how loved we were and still are because I believe she is loving us from Heaven too.  I don't think that love ends because the person goes to Heaven.  I made sure that the last 5 years or so of her life that she knew how loved she was.  I told her everyday (even if I was upset with her for some reason) that I loved her.  I wanted her to remember that.  I believe she did.  I really do think so.

This year for Mother's Day I am picking up my friend, Donna for church and then brunch.  I changed my profile picture to a great picture of mom for Mother's Day.  I thought she deserved to have her picture on display.  Mom was so awesome, she just was.  I am glad though, that many of my friends think they have got the best moms.  Well, I HAVE the best!  he he he!

Kids say the darnest things.  Jillian noticed that I had a hole in my shirt.  I had forgotten about that but it is there.  I also have paint on my shirt too.  Jillian and Brooke are learning a new hand position with several new notes.  They are doing pretty well, but we have a bit of work to do.  Aubrey has her spring concert song totally memorized.  I am so thrilled about that!  I just love these girls.

I am planning to go to bed early again tonight.  My goal is to be in bed between 10 and 11 pm instead of 12 or 1 am.  Tomorrow will be a big day because I have several lessons plus a make up with the lovely Rachel!  I am excited to see the lovely girl since I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks.  I miss my students when they are absent.  Like Breanna, she has been absent for 2 weeks.  So far, it looks like she will be here tomorrow of which I am glad.  She is singing and playing the piano at the same time for the concert.  Breanna is going to sing and play "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You".  She is doing a wonderful job on it.

I called the tummy doctor again to see if results of the biopsy is in.  It is STILL not in.  It has been 2 1/2 weeks now.  I had the scope done on the 16th of April and it is the 9th of May so you would think it would be here by now.  I am not expecting too much from it because I already know that I have an ulcer.  It is just a matter of is it caused by bacteria or medicine or stress.  I would say probably medicine but there isn't too much I can do about it.

I am watching Cold Case.  This episode is about a father who was killed shortly after they were released from the internment camps in California for the Japanese and the Americans of Japanese descent.  It is so hard to understand why the government would do such a thing.  This is where part of my nightmare about being sent to a camp comes from.  It wasn't just the camps in Germany and Poland but the camps here in our country.  Thankfully, they closed them and we don't have them any more.

I have been rather tired this week, a bit more than usual for some reason.  I am not sure why.  My head pain is the normal pain same with the rest of the pain.  I have more trouble with the fatigue part of Fibro than I do with the pain mostly.  I do know I am so tired because bodies were not made for continuous day in day out all over pain.  I don't take sleeping pills anymore because they were too expensive and they gave me nightmares.  I just take Tylenol PM or Advil PM, whichever I have on hand.  Sometimes, I have to take a couple doses before I get any sleep.  I think that is why I spend so much time in bed.

I do hope you had a good day.  I am going to watch some more TV for a while then try to get some sleep.

The Usual Tuesday, NCIS 5-8

Tonight is NCIS night!  I love my Tuesday TV!  NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles are such good TV shows.  They are almost over for the season though.  I have missed a few episodes that I hope to catch in re-runs.

Today was a light day.  Both Charlie and David called to cancel lessons so I only had the little guys.  Laith is now starting level 2 and Samuel is about to start with level B.  Rahul started a new book a few weeks ago, he is in the little Mozart series.  He is doing okay, but would be doing better if he would practice.  I am hoping his dad will start practicing with him.  David won't be in the concert because of his work.  Since someone in his department will be on vacation that week, he has too work.  I am disappointed but I do understand.  Rahul is also not going to be in the concert as he is just not ready at this time.  His brother, Samuel, will be in the concert though.  I am having a rehearsal for the group number on Saturday in the afternoon.  We are going to practice both this Saturday and next Saturday.  I am anxious to see how this group song is going to work.  It is the very first time I have ever had all students (including piano and tenor sax students) sing in harmony.  It shall be interesting.  I sure hope it works out well!  If the students can't keep up with the harmony, I will just have them all sing the melody.  I just hope it does work out well!  I will find out this weekend.  It will be the first time any of them to sing it together so I am nervous of how it is going to work.  I can't believe the concert is less than 2 weeks away.  We have 33 numbers this time.  Several of the students take 2 instruments and I have a duet so that is why there are so many numbers.  I think it will be a good concert.  Of course, I don't think we have had a really bad concert, we have had some long concerts, but no bad ones.

I am getting a bad headache now.  It has been the regular pain one most of today, but now it is getting bad.  Thank goodness I am done teaching today.  I am going to take some headache medicine and head for bed early tonight.  I am not as tired as I was yesterday, though at this time I am tired.  I am usually tired at this time of night.  I usually try to last as much as possible to at least 11 if not 12, but I don't think tonight is going to be an 11 or a 12 night.  I just don't see it tonight.

I have to work on the subdivision newsletter now since I have been putting it off for a week now.  I hope your day was good and that you are having a good evening.